Apparently worse to some than the ICJ trying Israel for building its security fence, is the possibility for IDF soldiers to desecrate Shabbos by activating the fence’s electric sensors while walking through its gates. Amid concerns raised by IDF chaplains, the folks at Zomet are working on a solution.
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Political Zionism has betrayed Judaism as much as Christian fundamentalism has perverted Christianity. That is why, the same church that once labeled Jews as “Christ-killers,” as the “rejected” or “forsaken people,” now calls them “Chosen people of God” so that the “second coming of Messiah/lord Jesus” could be expedited. Likudnik Zionists are willing to ride this runaway train of Christian/Religious Right hoping that it is going to take them to their destination fast, unconcerned that such a ride could be suicidal on its path. Either group seems to think that it is outfoxing the other. It is but a dangerous illusion. Nevertheless, this marriage of convenience has given birth to many pseudo-analysts and -experts that are willing to lie and distort facts.
Habib Siddiqui counters the claims of WorldNet contributor Joseph Farrah, and presents hard-evidence of the place of Palestinians in the Old Testament.
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“When Rabbi Andrea London began the morning blessing, everyone assumed the lotus position, with backs straight, legs crossed and ankles on thighs as wisps of incense smoke wafted through the air. As the service progressed, each yoga posture became more aerobically intense than its predecessor. For the Shema prayer, the 15 or so congregants in attendance — mostly middle-aged women — each swung out a leg and stretched their arms around their bodies while chanting the most traditional Hebrew prayer in the most untraditional way.”
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Man, Jewsweek has given The Passion way too much coverage.
Speaking of which, The Associated Press reports,
Senator Norm Coleman says “The Passion of the Christ” got him and his son talking about God and the meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice.The Minnesota Republican, who’s Jewish, says if others who see Mel Gibson’s film are as moved as he was, it will be “a very good thing.”
Coleman says his wife is Catholic, and now he has a deeper understanding of her strong faith.
The Minnesota senator adds that as a public official, it’s important to him to have people with faith and values “speaking their mind and being involved.”
Fuckin’ capo. Nah, I’m just kidding.
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Is (the?) Shekhina (Shekinah? Shechinah?) a “she” or an “it”?
“The Shekhina is a woman,” Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy is quoted as saying in the latest issue of Moment magazine, in which the article “In Search of Shekhina” deals with Mr. Nimoy’s recently published book of photographs, “Shekhina.”
And yet in none of the following dictionary definitions is there any indication of femininity:
“Shekinah: A visible manifestation of the divine presence as described in Jewish theology.” (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language)
“Shechina: In Jewish theology, God’s presence in and throughout the world.” (The Encarta World English Dictionary)
Also “Shechinah: The presence of God on earth or a symbol or manifestation of his presence.” (The Random House Dictionary of the English Language)
So who’s right?
Your aunt. Clearly.
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“With the Academy Awards ceremony coming up Sunday, Jewish newspapers typically are offering up stories about the Jewish actors, directors, composers, etc., in contention for Oscars. Some observers argue that this yearly ritual is merely a reflection of Jewish pride. Others (psychologists) suggest instead that it functions as reassurance, signifying that we are part and parcel of American culture. As a people, we simply need more therapy.”
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“A female senior staff member at a large-city Jewish federation says that she faces a constant, subtle sexism in the patronizing way that male lay leaders and staffers speak to her.
“‘I’m more aware of being female here than I was where I worked before [at a non-Jewish organization],’ she says. ‘No one asks me to go get them coffee, but people speak to me differently. You can feel it.‘”
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In recognition of fallen astronaut Ilan Ramon, the Israeli Postal Authority has recently released this commemorative postage stamp, along with a flier detailing the Columbia space shuttle tragedy.
Click here to see more images of the stamp, or visit the Israeli Postal Authoirty’s website to order yours online.
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DJ Danger Mouse‘s Grey Album, which pits the vocals from rapper Jay-Z’s Black Album against sampled loops from The Beatles White Album, is all the talk of the town these days, with hundreds of bloggers yesterday hosting illegal copies of the album on their websites for free download, in protest of EMI’s recent clampdown on the recording.
Frankly, I’ve never been much of a fan of Jay-Z’s—I’ve never been able to get over the commercialism of his music long enough to listen to his lyrics, and those that I have heard seem to encourage negative behaviors that, if anything are holding Black people back, as opposed to helping them move forward. The Grey Album has, of course, changed that for me, somewhat, as I’m simply enamored with the production, and so I’ve had the album in heavy rotation for a number of weeks now. But while The Grey Album has certainly given me a greater appreciation of Jay-Z’s lyrical ability (if not his content), I recently picked up on a lyric that, mmm, well, rubbed me the wrong way:
In the third verse of “What More Can I Say,” the second track on the album, J-Hova (as he calls himself) makes what appears to be a statement about his inability to succeed in the entertainment industry because he is not a white Jew:
Now you know your ass is Willie / When they got you in the bag / For like half a billi / And your ass ain’t lilly / White / That mean that shit you write must be illy / Either that or your flow is silly / It’s both / I don’t mean to boast / But damn if I don’t brag / Them crackers gonna act like I ain’t on they ass / The Martha Stewart / That’s far from Jewish / Far from a Harvard student / Just had the balls to do it / And no I’m not through with it / …
Of course, I find this entirely peculiar considering that Marc Schneier and Russell Simmon’s Foundation For Ethnic Understanding recently awarded Jay-Z and Barry Weiss, president of Jive records, the Joseph Papp Racial Harmony Award for their efforts in “promoting racial harmony through music.” I didn’t know calling white people ‘crackers’ and suggesting that not being Jewish in the entertainment industry is a disadvantage, could be construed as promoting racial harmony. If Keith Van Horn said he couldn’t get ahead in basketball because he wasn’t “a nigger”, would they have given him an award too?
Jay-Z wisely preempts any questions of this nature, however, with a line in the track “99 Problems,” where he addresses his critics saying simply, “If you don’t like my lyrics you can press fast forward.”
Just some food for thought. I’m gonna go back to bumping this album now.
See my related piece on Russell Simmon’s fraudulent relations with the Jewish people.
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In what is, essentially, the last straw for me with Adbusters magazine (see my letter regarding the August 2003 issue), editor Kalle Lasn has written an inflammatory piece in the latest issue, entitled “Why won’t anyone say they are Jewish?”, which flogs the Jewish neo-con cabal theory to death. Accompanying the article is a list of influential neo-cons with black spots next to the names of those who are Jewish, though, you know, you’d think yellow stars would be more apropos, no?
Lasn writes,
Drawing attention to the Jewishness of the neocons is a tricky game. Anyone who does so can count on automatically being smeared as an anti-Semite. But the point is not that Jews (who make up less than 2 percent of the American population) have a monolithic perspective. Indeed, American Jews overwhelmingly vote Democrat and many of them disagree strongly with Ariel Sharon’s policies and Bush’s aggression in Iraq. The point is simply that the neocons seem to have a special affinity for Israel that influences their political thinking and consequently American foreign policy in the Middle East.
Yeah, and? Your point is? What?
As one reader remarked, “This article seemed to be on the verge of making a point, but I can’t tell what it is. It certainly isn’t what I expected from AdBusters.”
You know, in Communist Russia, a fair number of Communist Party members were Jewish as well, some who had Zionist leanings. Following on Lasn’s line of reasoning, the Communists decided to outlaw Judaism and kill off all their Jews in order to solve this “problem” of dual allegiance.
Too gruesome for you Kalle? Okay, I’ve got an idea—how ’bout we just ban all Jews from holding government positions. That way, you know, we can make sure they never manipulate American foreign policy in favor of Israel.
Oh, right, that was called The Nuremberg Laws.
Snap out of it, Lasn. You’re being an asshole. You’d think an Estonian who grew up in a German refugee camp would know better than this.
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Actor Jason Alexander will travel to Israel to help launch the new Israeli/Arab peace initiative “One Voice,” a project he first learned of in the home of Danny DeVito & Reah Perlman, which includes Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt as active board members. “Jason Alexander comes not as a celebrity proclaiming to have the answers… but as a dedicated and concerned supporter of peace and security.” Our Georgie?
UPDATE: Alexander kicks off his mission at the Beit El checkpoint
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Check out Aish HaTorah’s pro-war, pro-Israel and exceptionally creepy Purim Flash segment, which is making its rounds about the Jewish listservs this morning.
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Take a gander at “Magniv,” a new animated video produced by Israeli duo Oren Mashkovski and Dov Walles, based on the Kob song “Magniv,” meaning “cool dude” in Hebrew. The video is currently a finalist in The Greatest Story Never Told digital storytelling competition. Oh, and it’s probably NSFW. (c/o Macboy)
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“At one point while he was explaining to a largely Jewish audience how much he really likes Israel, evangelical Christian and 2000 presidential hopeful Gary Bauer deftly demonstrated his total goyishness when his kippah fell off his head. ‘Excuse me, I’m not used to this,’ he said as he bent to retrieve it, gathering appreciative laughs from the crowd.
“At the invitation of a congregation member (but at his own expense), Bauer recently made an appearance earlier this month at the Beth Sholom synagogue in the Philadelphia suburbs to explain why Jews and Christians (and, just perhaps, Jews and conservatives) should enjoy closer ties, given their common interest in the perpetuation of Israel.”
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Jewsweek‘s Benyamin Cohen just got back from a screening of The Passion. His response? “I walked out hating Jews.” His review will be online tomorrow.
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Heeb‘s debuting their next (and exceptionally controversial) issue tomorrow night (2/24) at the Knit, with DJ Handler on the decks, along with art installations and other high weirdness.
Also, for those of you interested, Mattissiyahu will be tearing it up, also at the Knit, tonight (2/23), with Lewis Black from the Daily Show, to benefit Atzum, which aids victims of terrorism in Israel. $30 for the comedy+music, $15 for just the music. Click for tix.
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Maariv raises concerns about Egypt’s assistance in programming guidance systems for Israeli missiles. After IBM discovered a large bug in the software, the paper speculatess the Egyptians may have installed a backdoor into the guidance system software in order to disable missiles in-flight. “The best-case scenario is that all of the information has already been exposed to Egyptian intelligence. The worst case is that it was also exposed to hostile elements.” (c/o Babylonian)
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