Month: March 2016 – ו׳ באדר ב׳ תשע״ו

Three Blind Mice

The Debate

By Chaim Bashevkin –

I saw three men last week
Arguing one night
And then the morning came around
They still were in a fight

They did not think
They’re being watched
That they were on a stage
I don’t think it would mitigate
Their anger and their rage

Everyone was yelling
That everyone should see
Why they would be best for it
“Everyone pick me!”

Each said they were better
More suited for the role
As if their arguments were real
To save somebody’s soul

They all ignored the protocol
Of those who should be picked
They pointed fingers at the other
Shouting, “Hey! He tricked!”

I think you are quite certain
Where this big fight took place
Bashevkin is referring
To the presidential race!

And the three men
Who were fighting
I simply can’t confuse
Bashevkin must be talking Trump
Rubio and Cruz

But that was not the argument
Of which I chose to write
Of course I simply do expect
Those three blind mice to fight

The argument I write about
Did not appear on stage
Despite that all contestants
They all seemed to rage

They weren’t simply debating
This was a real fight
It was not about politics
It was for a yahrtzeit!

“I deserve the amud!”
“No! I’m a member here”
“I gave this shul a Kiddush cup!
So I will go up there”

The amud it stood empty
They argued who will lead
Each extolling virtues
Of their every holy deed

I thought about the stooges
Who fight around like kids
And wondered what is different
Than these three fighting Yids

If one would be mevater
And give up his great stage
And with a clarity and focus
Try to act his age

The world would be a calmer place
Tranquility would reign
Neshamos would all elevate
And…
Candidates ‘dbe sane

From Yated, here.

Ron Paul on the Modern Roman Legions

Do We Need To ‘Rebuild The Military’?

By

March 9, 2016

The Republican presidential debates have become so heated and filled with insults, it almost seems we are watching a pro wrestling match. There is no civility, and I wonder whether the candidates are about to come to blows. But despite what appears to be total disagreement among them, there is one area where they all agree. They all promise that if elected they will “rebuild the military.”

What does “rebuild the military” mean? Has the budget been gutted? Have the useless weapons programs like the F-35 finally been shut down? No, the United States still spends more on its military than the next 14 countries combined. And the official military budget is only part of the story. The total spending on the US empire is well over one trillion dollars per year. Under the Obama Administration the military budget is still 41 percent more than it was in 2001, and seven percent higher than at the peak of the Cold War.

Russia, which the neocons claim is the greatest threat to the United States, spends about one-tenth what we do on its military. China, the other “greatest threat,” has a military budget less than 25 percent of ours.

Last week the Pentagon announced it is sending a small naval force of US warships to the South China Sea because, as Commander of the US Pacific Command Adm. Harry Harris told the House Armed Services Committee, China is militarizing the area. Yes, China is supposedly militarizing the area around China, so the US is justified in sending its own military to the area. Is that a wise use of the US military?

The US military maintains over 900 bases in 130 countries. It is actively involved in at least seven wars right now, including in Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, and elsewhere. US Special Forces are deployed in 134 countries across the globe. Does that sound like a military that has been gutted?

I do not agree with the presidential candidates, but I do agree that the military needs to be rebuilt. I would rebuild it in a very different way, however. I would not rebuild it according to the demands of the military-industrial complex, which cares far more about getting rich than about protecting our country. I would not rebuild the military so that it can overthrow more foreign governments who refuse to do the bidding of Washington’s neocons. I would not rebuild the military so that it can better protect our wealthy allies in Europe, NATO, Japan, and South Korea. I would not rebuild the military so that it can better occupy countries overseas and help create conditions for blowback here at home.

No. The best way to really “rebuild” the US military would be to stop abusing the military in the first place. The purpose of the US military is to defend the United States. It is not to make the world safe for oil pipelines, or corrupt Gulf monarchies, or NATO, or Israel. Unlike the neocons who are so eager to send our troops to war, I have actually served in the US military. I understand that to keep our military strong we must constrain our foreign policy. We must adopt a policy of non-intervention and a strong defense of this country. The neocons will weaken our country and our military by promoting more war. We need to “rebuild” the military by restoring as its mission the defense of the United States, not of Washington’s overseas empire.

From Lewrockwell.com, here.

One More Jew Rejects Clericalism

The Kaminetsky-Greenblatt heter – A member of the Philadelphia community respectfully requests an explanation

Guest post by a member of the Philadelphia community. She has recently been posting here under the name of Phillywoman. I asked her to write a post about  about how the Kaminetsky-Greenblatt heter has impacted her and her community. She is a product of the Beis Yaakov system and is married to a talmid chachom.

I will open up by saying that I have a tremendous love and admiration for both the Epstein and Kamanetzkys families. Both in different ways have helped me through difficult periods of my life, and helped shape me into a person I am proud of. And it is precisely because of my respect for the two prominent families of my community, that I have taken the time to compose this.

Like most of my peers I initially sided with “my family.” I sided with the Epstein because they are an outstanding and prominent family in our city. They were the pioneers, that helped this little town grow into a makom Torah. Like the people around me I never once questioned their desire to do the right thing. And even as I write this, I still don’t. I know they are good people who desire to do the right thing.

That preface brings me to my most crucial and main concern:

The poskim of our town.

As I have previously stated, I have a tremendous respect for the Kamanetzkys.

Like most people here, I was happy to hear he was involved in the situation. I trusted him. Most of the world trusted him.

I, like everyone around me supported the “free Tamar” propaganda. I rejoiced when heard she “was freed.”

I had unadulterated faith and trust in my leaders.

When the recent tension and controversy surrounding the heter broke out, I defended my leaders like all those around me.

When I heard about this blog, “run by some guy who was out to make the Epsteins’ life miserable, and with a personal vendetta against Rav Kamanetzky,” I came here just to snoop. Maybe even troll a little. I’m not too entirely sure.

But it’s irrelevant now, since what I saw here shocked me. I was shaken out of my slumber. I saw that there was so much more to this picture. For the first time, I realized what “the other side” and hetter issues were all about.

That’s when my emunas chachamim was fractured.

But it is the continuous silence from those I trusted that has shattered my world.

The world in which my leaders are perfect and do not error.

I looked up to the Kamanetzkys so much – that I have set them on a pedestal. I expect a Rav to be a person who takes responsibility, has credibility and makes his public wrongs right…

It is human to be misinformed, mistaken, and make bad decisions. I understand that my leaders are flesh and blood like me, and I know that they are not immune to mistakes.

What bothers me most is their silence. The lack of backing, the lack of clarity, and lack of answers.

Their silence fills me with a sense of betrayal, despondence, disappointment, frustration, and most of all hopelessness.

These are not easy emotions to battle. It forces one to introspect and question everything around them.

No wonder people rather blast out those who question their leaders. Now, I understand why people are so quick to point fingers at “the other side.”

It is so much easier to stay ignorant then to face the reality that our leaders have errored. Our beloved leaders have made the assur mutar. G-d’s holy Torah has been perverted by its entrusted keepers.

Facts have been obscured by a misplaced sense of hakares hatov, perhaps by what some may even call shochad.

It pains me greatly to write this, but I know that silence is even worse.

They say the greatness of the leaders mirrors the generation. What have we as a nation come to?

How much longer will we turn away and stay silent?

I am battling conflicting emotions and have no one to turn to, since everyone is too afraid to acknowledge my questions.

I am immediately deemed wrong for questioning, labeled ignorant, and told I am incapable of understanding.

“This is for the rabbis” they say. “Stay out of it. We don’t know enough”

And this is where I’m stuck. What was my Torah education worth, if not to discern between right and wrong? The halacha, Navi, Chumash, parsha, and mussar classes were for what then?

We were taught to think, question, and sharpen our minds. We are not blind sheep, we were taught. We have basic principles and fundamentals that guide us. We were told that asking questions is encouraged as long as we are interested in seeking the truth.

So what changed now?

Why the lack answers? Why am I suddenly unable to understand?

This matter is no longer private.

This matter has become public from the day the public donated money for the buses to traveled to MD to protest.

And now, when the rabbanim in Eretz Yisrael have stood up against my leaders, I want answers. I want to see my rabbis defend themselves.

Yes, I admit I want my community to give answers because I want them to be correct. I’d be lying if I said anything else.

But my Rabbis are silent. Their actions (or lack thereof) is what’s driving me away.

I can’t dispute black and white with the possibilities of maybes.

I await the day my leaders will step up to the plate.

I await the day when truth will prevail.

I await the day mishpat will no longer be perverted.

May we all merit to see the geula bimhaira biyameinu.

From Daas Torah, here.

Israeli Gun Bureaucracy – Murdering Jews by Proxy

Read this enlightening article by Honenu to find out how the state robs its Jews of self-defense.

One recent case:

In February 2016 a member of a rapid response squad in a Yehuda/Shomron community turned to Honenu for assistance after receiving an announcement that his gun license had been revoked because of a case that had been opened against him four years earlier for his conduct in handling an incidence of terrorist infiltration to his community. The case was closed very quickly because he was found to have acted properly. However four years later someone decided to cancel his gun license because the police have a case, albeit closed, on record against him.

Almost certainly his weapon will eventually be returned to him once the process of appeals is complete, however the process involves lengthy forms, filing appeals, and enduring postponements that last months, and can last up to and over a year, despite the fact that all parties involved with the decision are fully aware that there were no grounds to revoke the gun license.

Any doubt this is purposefully perpetrated from above? Disarming Jews while giving Arabs the weapons to kill them with is what Israeli politicians are historically great at.

Check out Honenu here.