by Mobius [➚] · Wednesday, December 22nd, 2004
“You must accept the truth from whatever source it comes.” — Rambam
In 10 days (New Year’s Day, aka Sylvester, or the 20th of Tevet to be exact), the Jewish world will commemorate the 800th anniversary of our greatest Rabbinic sage’s death, Moshe ben Maimon, also known as the Rambam. While many events are being held here in Israel to celebrate the life and contributions of the 12th centruy physician and Biblical scholar, one which we can all be a part of, no matter where we are (thanks to the magic of the Interweb), is the Jewish National & University Library’s new exhibition “Writings of Maimonides: Manuscripts and Early Prints,” which offers, in digitized format, page after page of original manuscripts dating to the great Rav’s own era. Amongst the collection you’ll find an incredibly beautiful illuminated copy of the Misneh Torah, letters penned by the man himself, as well as early printed editions of his work. Give it a looksee, and give it up for the most highly revered Torah scholar who ever was. May his memory be blessed.
by Moishe Oofnik [➚] · Wednesday, December 22nd, 2004
WTF? Some settlers decided to wear an orange star as a protest against the disengagement:
The settlers new orange-badge campaign is aimed at shocking public opinion and crying out “against the uprooting of Jews from their homes.” During the Holocaust, Jews were forced to wear a yellow Star of David.
I still can’t figure out how many people are involved in this, lets hope not too many.
by Danya [➚] · Wednesday, December 22nd, 2004
The Rabbinical Assembly, the main organization of Conservative rabbis, has long had its approved tshuvot online but password-protected and available only to RA members and rab students.
They’ve just made the whole lot of them public, so now every Plony out there can read about everything from the Conservative take on in-vitro fertilization to body piercing or kashering glass, here.
by sashinka [➚] · Tuesday, December 21st, 2004
While I’m not a New Yorker (yet…), I’m very excited about seeing Modern Orthodox at Dodger Stages. It’s a gal’s dream come true: I know I’m showing my age if I say The Breakfast Club defined my early teenage fashion sense – listen to those pink bangles jangle – for this you get not one, but two celebrities-formerly-known-as: Molly Ringwald (every John Hughes movie ever) and Jason Biggs (American Pie) grapling with issues of faith and each other. Allegedly. They use Yiddish words, and everything. Only in New York, as they say. Or, as my grandma used to say, Merikey.
by Mobius [➚] · Monday, December 20th, 2004
Shabot gots him one creepy ass robovoice.
by Ari [➚] · Monday, December 20th, 2004
The good folks in Paris taped songs from both Hip Hop Hoodios and Matisyahu at concerts this past fall at La Scene Bastille. You can see a song each via KlezmerShack, along with the latest reviews from both me and from George Robinson (LI Jewish Week).
by Mobius [➚] · Monday, December 20th, 2004
The NY Times reports on the phenomena that is the Bark Mitzvah. We only scooped them by about 18 months. (c/o Carly)
by The Town Crier [➚] · Monday, December 20th, 2004
For those who have been following, The U.S. Justice Dept. is to again seek a delay in resolving the Hungarian Gold Train Case. That is not justice.
“The U.S. government has long called for restitution from other countries as a moral duty,” the congressmen reminded Mr. Gonzales. “It has held European countries and businesses accountable for the confiscated money and property of millions of Holocaust survivors.” Denying a settlement to the Gold Train survivors only would perpetuate the hypocritical betrayal.
Maybe Ashcroft’s replacement will have some holiday cheer left over during the inaugural bash.
UPDATE: Settlement! The AP is reporting that terms for a settlement have been reached.
Hungarian Holocaust survivors told a judge Monday they have agreed to settle claims that the U.S. Army wasted and pillaged family treasures seized by Nazis and loaded onto a train in the waning days of World War II.
…and to all a good night.
by Mobius [➚] · Monday, December 20th, 2004
So the majority of US seniors want medical pot legalized. I wonder if they know anything about this business:
This publication [...] reveals documented historical evidence that the suppression of the hemp industry was only one key part of a much larger conspiracy in the 1930s, not only by [William Randolph Hearst, Andrew Mellon, and DuPont], but by many others, as well.
Congressional records, FBI reports and investigations by the Justice Department, during the 1930s and 1940s, have already documented evidence of this wider plot. A list of the corporations named include Du Pont, Standard Oil, and General Motors, all of which were proven to be conspiring with Nazi industrial cartels to eliminate competition world-wide and divide among themselves the Earth’s industrial resources and commercial markets, for profitable exploitation.
It’s pretty out there, yeah, but not all together unbelievable if you take into account, for example, that Bush’s grandaddy was in business with the Nazis, or that Fanta was created by Coca-Cola so that they could keep doing business in Nazi Germany. Unfortunately, people always run their valid arguments into the ground when they whip out terms like “New World Order,” as the author does in this piece. The facts and the research are pretty thorough, though. Too bad no one has the balls to do anything about it. I guess other than George Soros.
by Moishe Oofnik [➚] · Sunday, December 19th, 2004
I wrote about the Israeli right wing recently, but there is a point worth repeating in the context of the Yesha council’s new declaration:
On Sunday the Yesha Council of settlers decided to adopt a strategy of civil disobedience as a means of battling the evacuation of settlements under the disengagement plan.
During the council’s meeting Binyamin regional council head Pinhas Wallerstein called on the public to “disobey en masse the ‘transfer’ law, even at the price of a prison term.”
Full Story.
If asked to point out Israel’s faults in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I think it is fair to assume that a significant part of Israeli society would blame the small minority of messianic idealists who have led the settlement movement. Yet the full responsibility for the settlements lies on all Israeli governments since the 1970′s with almost no exception. Israeli’s animosity directed at the settlers reminds me of the hatred against the ultra-orthodox; while it is their own, secular government that is funding the ultra-orthodox, some people tend to point their finger at the people on the receiving end instead.
What the settler movement does not seem to understand is that it does not have major political support in Israel. Its interests coincidenced with that of the military and the large political parties in the last 30 something years. But the reality of the occupation to which we all woke up to in September 2000 forced even PM Sharon to use the words like “occupation” and “disengagement”. While these words mean probably nothing to him, the fact that he even used them is something that no one would have imagined to happen just a few years ago.
by Ronen [➚] · Sunday, December 19th, 2004
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire, who was awarded the prize in 1976 for her Northern Ireland peace campaign, decided to compare Israel’s presumed nuclear stores to Nazi gas chambers:
“When I think about nuclear weapons, I’ve been to Auschwitz concentration camp… Nuclear weapons are only gas chambers perfected… and for a people who know what gas chambers are, how can you even think of building perfect gas chambers?”
Full Story
I know that people love to compare Israel to the Nazis– and as much as it strikes me as immoral and unjustified to begin to associate Israel’s self-defense measures vis a vis the Palestinians with Nazi mass extermination of the Jews, at least there is some basic (if misappropriated) correlation when you are talking about the subjugation of peoples, etc.
But, I mean, I don’t even SEE the analogy here!!
Israel’s nuclear weapons are clearly intended for self-defense and deterrent purposes with respect to hostile nation-states– not the mass extermination of any ethnic or other self-defined group (including the Palestinians). Furthermore, they’ve never been used at all. So what’s the connection? If you want to argue for disarmament, fine, but you’re going to need to present a logical argument!
Seems to me that this lady was looking for any excuse to compare Israel to the Nazis. She was at a press conference with Vanunu, and made up whatever she could. B’tachlis, this is another example of a so-called peace worker helping to thwart a realistic peace settlement in the Middle East by trying to placate Arab nations at Israel’s expense (I’m reminded of Nelson Mandela, Ghandi’s grandson and Jimmy Carter). I don’t hear her exactly calling for Syria to get rid of its Sarin and VX supply– so this is transparent, stupid and grotesque. Really.
by Mobius [➚] · Sunday, December 19th, 2004
The Israeli creator of a line of t-shirts which exploit the mystical names of God has had a falling out with the Kabbalah Centre because they wanted her to donate her designs to the cult, on top of the 10% tithe she currently gives of her salary.
Er, what’s the point of a Jewish football game? Talk about reinforcing negative stereotypes…
by Mobius [➚] · Sunday, December 19th, 2004
If you missed last week’s episode of South Park, I highly recommend bouncing over to Suprnova and grabbing a copy. (Requires Bittorent.) Go to TV Shows > South Park and look for season 8, epsiode 14. Un. Fuckin. Real.
by Mobius [➚] · Sunday, December 19th, 2004
Either the Beasties are reading Jewschool, or I’m just not that original. Peep the Beastie Boy’s newest t-shirt. Available in their online shop. (c/o Daily Jews)
by Mobius [➚] · Sunday, December 19th, 2004
Ugly and overpriced, explore the unremarkable fashions of Elisha.
by Mobius [➚] · Sunday, December 19th, 2004
But, like, they’re already chassidishe! Sigh. (c/o Yonah)
by Mobius [➚] · Sunday, December 19th, 2004
Check out The Jews Explosion’s heimishe parody of the Beastie Boy’s “Sabotage”, “Sabbothage”.
by John Brown [➚] · Saturday, December 18th, 2004
In yesterday’s International Herald Tribune, Dr. Roger Avenstrup writes that the idea of Palestinian schools teaching hatred of Jews in their textbooks may be primarily a myth.
“It turns out that the original allegations were based on Egyptian or Jordanian textbooks and incorrect translations. Time and again, independently of each other, researchers find no incitement to hatred in the Palestinian textbooks”
He notes that the US Consulate General in Jerusalem commissioned studies from the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI) and that:
“The IPCRI 2003 report [PDF] states that the overall orientation of the curriculum is peaceful and does not incite to hatred or violence against Israel and the Jews, and the 2004 report [PDF] states that there are no signs of promoting hatred toward Israel, Judaism or Zionism, nor toward the Western Judeo-Christian tradition or values”
Coincidentally, ICPRI has also issued a report [PDF] on texts used in the Israeli educational system. Could the often repeated claims of incitement in Palestinian textbooks be an attempt to find some alternative explanation to the understandable rage felt by Palestinians living under decades of occupation?
Original article
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