ללא מחבר No Author

Are You Scared?

What Are You Afraid Of?

12 Iyyar 5777
Day 27 of the OmerRemember that childhood goad that never failed to get a rise out of you?

“What’s the matter? Are you chicken?”

Are you afraid to do the forbidden? Are you afraid of getting into trouble? Are you afraid of consequences? You should be!

It is the yetzer hara who tells us this today. Those who uphold the integrity of theTorah by maintaining that the practice of homosexuality is forbidden are immediately labeled homophobic. It’s not fear of Heaven but fear of homosexuals that fuels this objection. And out of fear of being viewed as fearful of sin, people, even many who call themselves “religious”, rush to excuse it and to be as open and tolerant as any avowed atheist. Some tactics of spiritual warfare are just too good to ever go out of style.

Now, there are those who say that those of us who oppose missionary activity are fearful of intereacting with Christians and the missionaries themselves take it up and say, “If you truly do have the truth then what do you have to be afraid of?” Well, I’ll tell you. There is only one thing ever to be afraid of and that is offending our Master and King – our Creator – and the fear of desecrating His Name. It’s what we call Yirat Shamayim – fear of Heaven.

And let me guarantee you this one thing. If you are not afraid now – “You will be. You will be.”

Continue reading…
From Tomer Devorah, here.

He Hates Mexicans, Blacks and Jews – Guess Who

What Do Leftists Celebrate?

By

May 10, 2017

May Day celebrations were held all across the fruited plain, with leftist radicals and unionists worshipping the ideals of communism. Communism is an ideology calling for government control over our lives. It was created by Karl Marx, who — along with his collaborator, Friedrich Engels — wrote a pamphlet called “Manifesto of the Communist Party.” In 1867, Marx wrote the first volume of “Das Kapital.” The second and third volumes were published posthumously, edited by Engels. Few people who call themselves Marxists have ever even bothered to read “Das Kapital.” If one did read it, he would see that people who call themselves Marxists have little in common with Marx.

For those who see Marx as their hero, there are a few historical tidbits they might find interesting. Nathaniel Weyl, himself a former communist, dug them up for his 1979 book, “Karl Marx: Racist.” For example, Marx didn’t think much of Mexicans. When the United States annexed California after the Mexican War, Marx sarcastically asked, “Is it a misfortune that magnificent California was seized from the lazy Mexicans who did not know what to do with it?” Engels shared Marx’s contempt for Mexicans, explaining: “In America we have witnessed the conquest of Mexico and have rejoiced at it. It is to the interest of its own development that Mexico will be placed under the tutelage of the United States.”

Marx had a racial vision that might be interesting to his modern-day black supporters. In a letter to Engels, in reference to his socialist political competitor Ferdinand Lassalle, Marx wrote: “It is now completely clear to me that he, as is proved by his cranial formation and his hair, descends from the Negroes who had joined Moses’ exodus from Egypt, assuming that his mother or grandmother on the paternal side had not interbred with a nigger. Now this union of Judaism and Germanism with a basic Negro substance must produce a peculiar product. The obtrusiveness of the fellow is also nigger-like.” Engels shared Marx’s racial philosophy. In 1887, Paul Lafargue, who was Marx’s son-in-law, was a candidate for a council seat in a Paris district that contained a zoo. Engels claimed that Lafargue had “one-eighth or one-twelfth nigger blood.” In a letter to Lafargue’s wife, Engels wrote, “Being in his quality as a nigger, a degree nearer to the rest of the animal kingdom than the rest of us, he is undoubtedly the most appropriate representative of that district.”

Continue reading…

From Lewrockwell.com, here.

הכרת המציאות בימי חתימת ההלכה

מוזיאון תלמודי לשם מה?

הרב אליהו סולוביצ’יק

מוזיאון תלמודי לשם מה?

תחילתו של רעיון הקמת המוזיאון, הוא במבחן שיגרתי שעשה איש ירושלים ‘רבי ישעי ברדקי’ זכרונו לברכה, בתלמוד תורה עץ-חיים בירושלים. היינו קבוצה של כתריסר ילדים שנשלחנו אליו הביתה להיבחן על משניות סדר מועד, על מנת לקבל פרס. בתוך דבריו אמר רבי ישעי בחיוך: “הביאו ראיה שסוכה שאינה ראויה אלא לילדים, כשרה”. עוד הוא שואל, והילד הנבון ‘מיארקא’ תשובתו כבר בפיו: “הנה סוכה שהיא גבוהה עשרה טפחים כשרה, ואין לך אדם מבוגר שהיא אינה ‘דירה סרוחה’ עבורו”. צביטה קלה על הלחי קיבל מיארקה, לאות הסמכה. “אבל” אמר רבי ישעי: דאס איז נישט אמת” (זה לא אמת), וודאי שדירה שאינה ראויה גם למבוגרים, פסולה היא, אלא שבימי חז”ל, וכך אף נהוג היום אצל הפלאחים (הערבים), לא היו יושבים על כסאות, אלא היו פורסים מחצלת על הרצפה, במרכזו הניחו את האוכל וסביבו היו מתיישבים בני הבית לאכול. התיישב לו רבי ישעי בטבעיות על הרצפה כשרגליו משוכלות (ישיבה מזרחית), והמחיש לנו את צורת הישיבה שהייתה נהוגה בזמן חז”ל ושבגינה נקבע השיעור של עשרה טפחים לדירה ראויה.

המשך לקרוא…

מאתר מטמוני ארץ, כאן.

Trump: Stay Home!

President Trump: Cancel Your Saudi Trip, Play More Golf

By

Ron Paul Institute

May 9, 2017

President Trump is about to embark on his first foreign trip, where he will stop in Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the Vatican, before attending a NATO meeting in Brussels and the G-7 summit in Sicily. The media and pundits have loudly wondered why hasn’t he gone on a foreign trip sooner. I wonder why go at all?

What does the president hope to achieve with these meetings? This is a president who came into office with promises that we would finally start to mind our own business overseas. In December, he said that the policy of US “intervention and chaos” overseas must come to an end. Instead, he is jumping into a region – the Middle East – that has consumed the presidencies of numerous of his predecessors.

On Saudi Arabia, President Trump has shifted his position from criticism of the Saudi regime to a seemingly warm friendship with Saudi deputy crown prince Mohammad bin Salman. He has approved weapons sales to Saudi Arabia that President Obama had halted due to Saudi human rights abuses, particularly in its horrific war on Yemen.

While visiting Saudi Arabia, one of the most extreme theocracies on earth – where conversion to Christianity can bring the death penalty – President Trump will attend a meeting of Muslim leaders to discuss the threats of terrorism and religious extremism. No, not in Saudi Arabia, but in Iran, where Christianity is legal and thriving!

Perhaps President Trump’s flip-flop on Saudi Arabia was inspired by the ten separate Washington, D.C. public relations firms the Kingdom keeps on the payroll, at a cost of $1.3 million per month. That kind of money can really grease the policy wheels in Washington.

From there, the US President will travel to Israel. Does he believe he will finally be able to solve the 70-year-old Israel-Palestine conflict by negotiating a good deal? If so, he’s in for a surprise.

The problem persists partly because we have been meddling in the region for so long. Doing more of the same is pretty unlikely to bring about a different result. How many billions have we spent propping up “allies” and bribing others, and we’re no closer to peace now than when we started. Maybe it’s time for a new approach. Maybe it’s time for the countries in the Middle East to solve their own problems. They have much more incentive to reach some kind of deal in their own neighborhood.

Likewise his attendance at the NATO meeting is not very encouraging to those of us who were pleased to hear candidate Trump speak the truth about the outdated military alliance. We don’t need to strong-arm NATO members to spend more money on their own defense. We need to worry about our own defense. Our military empire – of which NATO is an arm – makes us weaker and more vulnerable. Minding our own business and rejecting militarism would make us safer.

Many pundits complain that President Trump spends too much time golfing. I would rather he spend a lot more time golfing and less time trying to solve the rest of the world’s problems. We cannot afford to be the policeman or nursemaid to the rest of the world, particularly when we have such a lousy record of success.

From Lewrockwell.com, here.

300 Years of Peaceful Anarchy – Not Just Ireland

The Anarchist Republic of Cospaia

March 11th, 2015   Submitted by Anthony Caprio

The next time one of your friends says “name one place where Anarcho-Capitalism has been tried,” you can proudly respond “The Republic of Cospaia.” For nearly four hundred years, this tiny republic thrived in central Italy with no government, no rulers, no military, no bureaucracy, and no taxes!

Cospaia’s success is an unlikely story that illustrates how remarkably little is required for prosperity. Although it’s called a “Republic” it’s only in the sense that a council of elders with no enforcement power occasionally met in the church. This landlocked territory had an area of only 330 hectares (815 acres), about the size of a large farm. The population varied over the centuries but was usually around 300 people, with less than 100 households. In the beginning the population was illiterate, with the exception of the parish priest. The republic was never invaded, or placed under the control of a foreign power, except for a brief period during the Napoleonic Wars (a conflict they survived). Despite being a landlocked territory, with a largely uneducated population, removed from major trade routes, Cospaia thrived and became the envy of its neighbors, because for neatly four hundred years they avoided the oppressive hand of government.

The story of Cospaia begins in 1440. During this period the Italian peninsula was composed of numerous small kingdoms. One of these kingdoms was known as the Papal States, and was ruled by the Pope in Rome. Its neighbor to the north was the Republic of Florence, ruled by the Medici Family. In 1431 Eugene IV was elected Pope and took out a loan of 25,000 gold Florins from Cosimo di Giovanni de’ Medici, lead banker of the day and Chief Power broker of the Republic of Florence. This was not an era of central banking and fiat currencies, so even governments had to put up collateral if they wanted a loan. So, the Pope put up the town of Borgo Sansepolcro and its surroundings in the Upper Tiber Valley as collateral against the loan. Imagine President Obama putting up California as collateral to the Chinese to pay for Obama Care.

After 10 years the Papal States defaulted on their loan and surveyors from both Florence and the Papal States agreed that one of the new boundaries between the states would be a “Rio” (Latin for “river”) on the upper Tiber. But the surveyors made a mistake. There was more than one river in the region. An upper tributary split into two right where the village of Cospaia was located.

Even though the residents of Cospaia were illiterate, they realized right away their good fortune. Since they now found themselves outside the jurisdiction of both the Papal States and the Republic of Florence. The people of Cospaia quickly declared themselves an independent Republic. The rulers of both the Papal States and the Republic of Florence saw the value in having a “buffer state” between their lands, and neither pushed to have Cospaia incorporated into their states. Thus began 385 years of blissful anarchy.

In the beginning the economy of Cospaia was based on barter. Despite their lack of hard currency or education the people of Cospaia were better off than the neighboring villages under the rule of a state. As an Anarchist Republic they had no taxes to pay, no arbitrary rules imposed by rulers to benefit the well connected. The men of Cospaia were not conscripted to fight in wars for Rome or Florence, and since they had no rulers to represent them they had no one to get them involved in entangling alliances which could backfire and draw them into war. The inhabitants of Cospaia were free to pursue their trades and raise their families in the manner they saw fit. Being without rulers allowed people to pursue the most profitable use of their time and energy.

In 1574 the people of Cospaia discovered an extremely profitable use of their time and talent. A crop from the new world was introduced that influences the region to this day. The crop was tobacco. Tobacco has been extremely popular throughout history, everywhere it has been introduced, and Renaissance Italy was no exception. Cospaia soon became known for high quality tobacco. Adding to the demand for the crop were the restrictions imposed by states in the Italian peninsula on the cultivation and use of tobacco. Many people think that the prohibition of tobacco use is a 20th century invention, however the morality police were alive and well during the 17th century as well. In 1624 Pope Urban VIII issued a papal bull making the use of tobacco in any holy place punishable by excommunication. The prohibition remained in place until 1724 when it was abolished by Pope Benedict VIII. Of course the regulations against tobacco only helped the Cospaian economy, the decrease in supply and absence of any regulations or tariffs made Cospaia a hub of the tobacco trade. Soon warehouses were set up to take advantage of the lucrative trade. Many of these warehouse were run by Jews from Genoa, Livorno, Civitavecchia, Naples, and Ancona. Jews in Italy were a persecuted and closely watched minority by the surrounding states. At various times they were forbidden from owning property, and restricted from trading with Christians. So the laissez faire economy of Cospaia allowed this persecuted minority to survive and thrive despite the aggression of the surrounding states.

Throughout its history Cospaia had no rulers, no judiciary, and no written laws other than phrase “Perpetua et Firma Libertas,” which was inscribed over their church in 1610. Roughly translated, “Eternal and Firm Liberty.”

Continue reading…

From Daily Anarchist [Original article gone.]