It just hit me. It is about sex and sexual desire and not upholding any nuanced religious law.
How do I know this?
Because the men attacking young women and girls are doing just that, attacking young women and girls.
You never hear about them attacking a senior lady.
Something to think about.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
If Israel had been around the Holocaust would not have happened
I hear that a lot from Jews; both in and out of Israel.
From the Jerusalem Post:
http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishFeatures/Article.aspx?id=256504
-------- Here is the point which interested me the most:
The foundation’s Kalinsky also said that one of the the aims of the new award was also to raise awareness to the plight of an estimated 207,000 elderly survivors living in Israel, whose living conditions are very bad and whose needs increase as they grow older.
According to the organization, an estimated 50,000 survivors live below the poverty line and close to 35 survivors die each day. Roughly 60 percent of the survivors are immigrants from the former Soviet Union that arrived here during the 1990s and there are still some that are not eligible for certain specific pension funds aimed at helping survivors financially.
------------
And this information is publicized fairly often, that Holecause survivors go hungry, homeless, without proper medical care,
and on and on and on.
The State of Israel is Lucky I guess, soon they will all be dead and they can stop the meger funding they do offer.
Or is that bad for the State of Israel? Will the appointed political hacks who run the government holocaust funds lose their piggy bank?
Here are the facts:
1- Holocaust survivors have been treated pretty shabbily by the State of Israel over the years.
2- Not one Holocaust survivor should ever go hungry or homeless or without medical care in the State of Israel. Ever!
3- Israel has absolutely, barefacedly, hypocritically wrapped itself in the corpses of Jews while turning away from those who survived.
4- Not one shekel should go from the government to any holocaust museum and Israel has no right to hold a holocaust remembrance day until all the survivors are dead or fed.
The private organizations and individuals who are doing what they can are wonderful, but it shouldn't be needed. Israel utilizes the Holocaust at every turn, it is the government's job, it is their responsibility to provide for these survivors. This is why you have a government, to take care of issues affecting society. And since it's founding, Israel has disgustingly and brazenly absolved themselves of this responsibility.
From the Jerusalem Post:
http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishFeatures/Article.aspx?id=256504
-------- Here is the point which interested me the most:
The foundation’s Kalinsky also said that one of the the aims of the new award was also to raise awareness to the plight of an estimated 207,000 elderly survivors living in Israel, whose living conditions are very bad and whose needs increase as they grow older.
According to the organization, an estimated 50,000 survivors live below the poverty line and close to 35 survivors die each day. Roughly 60 percent of the survivors are immigrants from the former Soviet Union that arrived here during the 1990s and there are still some that are not eligible for certain specific pension funds aimed at helping survivors financially.
------------
And this information is publicized fairly often, that Holecause survivors go hungry, homeless, without proper medical care,
and on and on and on.
The State of Israel is Lucky I guess, soon they will all be dead and they can stop the meger funding they do offer.
Or is that bad for the State of Israel? Will the appointed political hacks who run the government holocaust funds lose their piggy bank?
Here are the facts:
1- Holocaust survivors have been treated pretty shabbily by the State of Israel over the years.
2- Not one Holocaust survivor should ever go hungry or homeless or without medical care in the State of Israel. Ever!
3- Israel has absolutely, barefacedly, hypocritically wrapped itself in the corpses of Jews while turning away from those who survived.
4- Not one shekel should go from the government to any holocaust museum and Israel has no right to hold a holocaust remembrance day until all the survivors are dead or fed.
The private organizations and individuals who are doing what they can are wonderful, but it shouldn't be needed. Israel utilizes the Holocaust at every turn, it is the government's job, it is their responsibility to provide for these survivors. This is why you have a government, to take care of issues affecting society. And since it's founding, Israel has disgustingly and brazenly absolved themselves of this responsibility.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Jewish Evolution
Life is change. Nothing stays the same.
Religion is no exception. Every religion has evolved; changed dramatically from what it once was.
I am Jewish, so my focus is on Judaism. I understand it best, I feel it instinctively. It is part of who I am.
But it could be any religion.
Look at Judaism: We used to sacrifice animals, now we pray in temples.
Yet so few religious jews know that temples were an invention of the Greeks, as they shifted from animal sacrifice to prayer in temples. And the Greeks ruled ancient Israel at the time, and the Israelites adopted prayer in temples. As we know from the story of Hanukkah, the majority of Jews at the time were assimilated Hellenists.
Or the concept of heaven and hell, or the messiah; none of which is mentioned in the old testament. jews adopted these concepts from other cultures.
In fact, Judaism originally was a polytheistic religion.
early Jews believed God had a wife.
The bible speaks of witches and magicians and talkers with the dead, all of whom drew their abilities from powers other than Yaweh.
In the 10 commandments it states, I am your God. Thou (you) shalt have no other Gods before me. Before me implies that one may have faith in other gods, but that Yaweh, the God of the Israelites, is the most powerful god of all.
And I read this great article in Haaretz newspaper:
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/gur-hasidim-and-sexual-separation-1.410811
Gur Hasidim and sexual separation
A really interesting article on how A sect of Ultra orthodox Jews relate to human sexuality.
My personal take is that over the last generation or more, there has been a huge shift where the other ultra-orthodox jews have tilted towards this group's outlook on sexuality.
But a few lines of particular note:
This is the Christian concept of sex. When their system evolved and banned priests from sexual relations this is the exact same concept that was used to create their new reality.
Judaism switched from Polygamy to monogamy directly from the reality of the dispersion from Israel and Jews living in majority non-Jewish countries.
and flash forward to the 19th century and we see the direct adoption of the Christian view of sexuality by Jews who had been living as a minority in Christian countries, for hundreds of years.
Look at the many flavors of ultra orthodox jewry today. The constant battles in Israel over separate seating on public busses, separate functions for men and women, sperate sidewalks on public streets!
all from Christianity. All of it. Every last drop.
Early Judaism was deeply rooted in the present.
The concept of a woman's modesty in Judaism comes from the story in the bible of Rebecca going to the well.
She went through the well, passing shepards, men, and the waters from the well came up to her.
As a tale, this is the story of a woman doing manual work, living in the world with men. She walked past the men, she was grounded in her reality and maintained her dignity.
This is the story which is pro the mixing and interaction and abilities of men and women to co-exist as equals.
Today, ultra orthodox Jew's have taken his empowering moment of our forbearer's history and twisted it beyond all recognition.
Today Jews have a State of Israel. We no longer need to adapt to living as a minority in Christian and Muslim lands.
Let's get back to Judaism. Let's be who we were meant to be; a people living in the world, a people with history and a family with legends and traditions, a people with guidelines on how to live in the real world, not cut ourselves off.
Religion is no exception. Every religion has evolved; changed dramatically from what it once was.
I am Jewish, so my focus is on Judaism. I understand it best, I feel it instinctively. It is part of who I am.
But it could be any religion.
Look at Judaism: We used to sacrifice animals, now we pray in temples.
Yet so few religious jews know that temples were an invention of the Greeks, as they shifted from animal sacrifice to prayer in temples. And the Greeks ruled ancient Israel at the time, and the Israelites adopted prayer in temples. As we know from the story of Hanukkah, the majority of Jews at the time were assimilated Hellenists.
Or the concept of heaven and hell, or the messiah; none of which is mentioned in the old testament. jews adopted these concepts from other cultures.
In fact, Judaism originally was a polytheistic religion.
early Jews believed God had a wife.
The bible speaks of witches and magicians and talkers with the dead, all of whom drew their abilities from powers other than Yaweh.
In the 10 commandments it states, I am your God. Thou (you) shalt have no other Gods before me. Before me implies that one may have faith in other gods, but that Yaweh, the God of the Israelites, is the most powerful god of all.
And I read this great article in Haaretz newspaper:
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/gur-hasidim-and-sexual-separation-1.410811
Gur Hasidim and sexual separation
A really interesting article on how A sect of Ultra orthodox Jews relate to human sexuality.
My personal take is that over the last generation or more, there has been a huge shift where the other ultra-orthodox jews have tilted towards this group's outlook on sexuality.
But a few lines of particular note:
"Gur Hasids drew the inspiration for separation from the heritage of Kotzk, a small Hasidic sect that existed in the early 19th century - the path of which Gur saw itself as continuing.
"The Kotzk Rebbe essentially claimed that love for the Lord and love for a woman do not go together. There is a rivalry between spirituality and sexuality, so sexuality has to be abolished," notes Wasserman, explaining the rationale"
This is the Christian concept of sex. When their system evolved and banned priests from sexual relations this is the exact same concept that was used to create their new reality.
Judaism switched from Polygamy to monogamy directly from the reality of the dispersion from Israel and Jews living in majority non-Jewish countries.
and flash forward to the 19th century and we see the direct adoption of the Christian view of sexuality by Jews who had been living as a minority in Christian countries, for hundreds of years.
Look at the many flavors of ultra orthodox jewry today. The constant battles in Israel over separate seating on public busses, separate functions for men and women, sperate sidewalks on public streets!
all from Christianity. All of it. Every last drop.
Early Judaism was deeply rooted in the present.
The concept of a woman's modesty in Judaism comes from the story in the bible of Rebecca going to the well.
She went through the well, passing shepards, men, and the waters from the well came up to her.
As a tale, this is the story of a woman doing manual work, living in the world with men. She walked past the men, she was grounded in her reality and maintained her dignity.
This is the story which is pro the mixing and interaction and abilities of men and women to co-exist as equals.
Today, ultra orthodox Jew's have taken his empowering moment of our forbearer's history and twisted it beyond all recognition.
Today Jews have a State of Israel. We no longer need to adapt to living as a minority in Christian and Muslim lands.
Let's get back to Judaism. Let's be who we were meant to be; a people living in the world, a people with history and a family with legends and traditions, a people with guidelines on how to live in the real world, not cut ourselves off.
"corporations Are people... my friend"
Yup. Mitt Romney is right when he said that corporations are people.
Mitt was referencing the supreme court which upheld corporation's right to donate to political campaigns as they too have a right to freedom of speech.
Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart had a funny take when they said that if corporations are people than Mitt Romney was a serial killer.
And while they made their point hilariously, they touched on a much deeper issue, that people have more responsibilities and less benefits than corporations.
People in a society are members of a social compact. We used to live in tribes and over tens of thousands of years we have transformed tribal living into large societies. But as people, our basic structure remains the same, we live within a group and most of us live within the accepted guidelines of the society... we uphold our social compact so that we can live as social beings.
I'm a capitalist. I'm all for corporations making money.
But if corporations have the rights of people, than they should also have the responsibilities of people.
In a community people shop, live, hire and interact. People instinctively recognize that we need to rely on and support each other in order to thrive.
Corporations rely on our communal structure to make and transport and sell their goods. The police that protects the community protect corporations as well.
And yet if a corporation decides to move overseas or outsource in order to cut labor costs or taxes, than how are they abiding with the terms of the communal social compact?
People are bound by law and their community regardless of their geography. If an american goes overseas and does something which is illegal in the states, they can be prosecuted in the states for their behavior overseas; for example, pedophilia.
And yet American corporations can hire slave labor or what we regular people call slave labor, with no legal consequence.
If Corporations are people than they have rights and they have responsibilities.
If corporations are not people than get them the hell out of polotics.
Mitt was referencing the supreme court which upheld corporation's right to donate to political campaigns as they too have a right to freedom of speech.
Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart had a funny take when they said that if corporations are people than Mitt Romney was a serial killer.
And while they made their point hilariously, they touched on a much deeper issue, that people have more responsibilities and less benefits than corporations.
People in a society are members of a social compact. We used to live in tribes and over tens of thousands of years we have transformed tribal living into large societies. But as people, our basic structure remains the same, we live within a group and most of us live within the accepted guidelines of the society... we uphold our social compact so that we can live as social beings.
I'm a capitalist. I'm all for corporations making money.
But if corporations have the rights of people, than they should also have the responsibilities of people.
In a community people shop, live, hire and interact. People instinctively recognize that we need to rely on and support each other in order to thrive.
Corporations rely on our communal structure to make and transport and sell their goods. The police that protects the community protect corporations as well.
And yet if a corporation decides to move overseas or outsource in order to cut labor costs or taxes, than how are they abiding with the terms of the communal social compact?
People are bound by law and their community regardless of their geography. If an american goes overseas and does something which is illegal in the states, they can be prosecuted in the states for their behavior overseas; for example, pedophilia.
And yet American corporations can hire slave labor or what we regular people call slave labor, with no legal consequence.
If Corporations are people than they have rights and they have responsibilities.
If corporations are not people than get them the hell out of polotics.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
An Interesting Thing on the way to Israeli Restaurant Review #2
So after my Kanibar fiasco I was anticipating the opportunity to eat out and write a review of a typical dining experience in Israel which is usually awesome.
Lucky me. Who knew it would come so soon.
The next day was a friend's 40th birthday. ( Hi R. Luv ya babe!)
6 of us went out to Temple Bar in the G center in Kfar Saba.
http://www.templebar.co.il/
I arrived first. While I waited I started chatting with the guy working the door. Big guy but fit and trim, maybe early 20's, nice smile... real friendly. And I speak hebrew with such an obvious American accent that anyone who knows a lick of English auto switches from Hebrew so they can practice their English.
So we started talking. He asked me where I was from, why I came to Israel... all the usual questions.
And I asked him where he is from.
And that's when things got sketchy.
You won't know it, he said. - Ok, maybe I will, and if not, I will now.
Yeah, it's no place you've been, he said. - Right, I haven't been to most of Israel, this is how I learn.
It's near Netanya (a big well known city not too far from me). - Great, I know Netanya a bit, what's your area called?
I'm not Jewish, he said quietly.
Huh?
I'm not Jewish he repeated in almost a whisper.
I paused. It took me a while to figure out where that came from and what that meant.
After I remembered that I aint in Kansas anymore, I looked him square in the eye and I said, Buddy, I'm from the United States of America. There are over 300 Million people in the USA and you wanna know something?
yeah...?
Most of 'em aint Jewish.
His face lit up and a big smile and wave of relief washed over his face. We shook hands and he said, I'm from Bakko, I'm an Israeli Arab.
We chatted a bit more and then my part showed up.
How happy I feel that a random person could offset a drop of what he has to walk around with every day in Israel.
How sad I feel that he walks around with this every day.
Now onto the review.
Overall Great!
Downside: The fries weren't great, which is a bit disappointing.
Upside: Fantastic decor, spacious and comfortable interesting ambience. Wonderful service. A huge beer and liquor selection. Irish/Israeli pub motif. Fantastic menu. Great food. Fair prices. Great presentation of food. Great service. (yes I said this before but service is a huge criteria for me). Decent live music, but not so loud that you couldn't interact with friends, in the middle of the week. Loads of parking.
Definite Must Go.
I had the sampler platter of sausage, wings, spring chicken and other assorted meats. But I sampled my friends foods... fish n'chips, Shepard's pie and more.
It was all really really yummy and the service was good and the prices fair.
What more do you want?
Lucky me. Who knew it would come so soon.
The next day was a friend's 40th birthday. ( Hi R. Luv ya babe!)
6 of us went out to Temple Bar in the G center in Kfar Saba.
http://www.templebar.co.il/
I arrived first. While I waited I started chatting with the guy working the door. Big guy but fit and trim, maybe early 20's, nice smile... real friendly. And I speak hebrew with such an obvious American accent that anyone who knows a lick of English auto switches from Hebrew so they can practice their English.
So we started talking. He asked me where I was from, why I came to Israel... all the usual questions.
And I asked him where he is from.
And that's when things got sketchy.
You won't know it, he said. - Ok, maybe I will, and if not, I will now.
Yeah, it's no place you've been, he said. - Right, I haven't been to most of Israel, this is how I learn.
It's near Netanya (a big well known city not too far from me). - Great, I know Netanya a bit, what's your area called?
I'm not Jewish, he said quietly.
Huh?
I'm not Jewish he repeated in almost a whisper.
I paused. It took me a while to figure out where that came from and what that meant.
After I remembered that I aint in Kansas anymore, I looked him square in the eye and I said, Buddy, I'm from the United States of America. There are over 300 Million people in the USA and you wanna know something?
yeah...?
Most of 'em aint Jewish.
His face lit up and a big smile and wave of relief washed over his face. We shook hands and he said, I'm from Bakko, I'm an Israeli Arab.
We chatted a bit more and then my part showed up.
How happy I feel that a random person could offset a drop of what he has to walk around with every day in Israel.
How sad I feel that he walks around with this every day.
Now onto the review.
Overall Great!
Downside: The fries weren't great, which is a bit disappointing.
Upside: Fantastic decor, spacious and comfortable interesting ambience. Wonderful service. A huge beer and liquor selection. Irish/Israeli pub motif. Fantastic menu. Great food. Fair prices. Great presentation of food. Great service. (yes I said this before but service is a huge criteria for me). Decent live music, but not so loud that you couldn't interact with friends, in the middle of the week. Loads of parking.
Definite Must Go.
I had the sampler platter of sausage, wings, spring chicken and other assorted meats. But I sampled my friends foods... fish n'chips, Shepard's pie and more.
It was all really really yummy and the service was good and the prices fair.
What more do you want?
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Presidential Religious Litmus Test
Ken Starr recently wrote an article calling on Americans to ignore Romney's faith as in America there is no religious litmus test to be president.
Ken Starr is correct.
And yet there are a few nagging points which need to be made.
Where is Ken Starr on President Obama? As a leader in the GOP he writes an editorial for a presidential candidate from his part but says nothing as his party continues to paint President Obama as a muslim. He allows this behavior to continue because the President's religion does matter to a large percentage of the population.
Yes, there is no religious litmus test in America. A qualified candidate may run for office no matter his or her religious beliefs. But why does this mean that the voter should not take the candidates religion into account? If a Mormon Democrat was running for office do you believe that Ken Starr wouldn't take that into account when he decided who to vote for?
So what we really have here is once again, the leader of a political party wrapping himself in the cloak of righteousness when in truth, he flings rhetoric to gain more power.
Yay for democracy!
Ken Starr is correct.
And yet there are a few nagging points which need to be made.
Where is Ken Starr on President Obama? As a leader in the GOP he writes an editorial for a presidential candidate from his part but says nothing as his party continues to paint President Obama as a muslim. He allows this behavior to continue because the President's religion does matter to a large percentage of the population.
Yes, there is no religious litmus test in America. A qualified candidate may run for office no matter his or her religious beliefs. But why does this mean that the voter should not take the candidates religion into account? If a Mormon Democrat was running for office do you believe that Ken Starr wouldn't take that into account when he decided who to vote for?
So what we really have here is once again, the leader of a political party wrapping himself in the cloak of righteousness when in truth, he flings rhetoric to gain more power.
Yay for democracy!
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Israel Restaurant Review #1
I've eaten at some amazing places: Trotter's, Carlos', King Louis 15th and Tru to name a few. And I love just as much to chow down on a hot dog and fries or a good pizza. All I ask is that the food be yummy and the service good.
In fact, I often find that the service makes the difference in how the food tastes. A bad server won't tell you if a dish is too salty, or won't bring the food on time, or make good recommendations. And when you're paying good money for food, if the service is bad your perception of the food is affected.
So now, after dozens of years of cooking non-professionally and professionally eating food from all over the world, it's time to start reviewing restaurants in my new locale: Israel.
A couple of my basic guidelines:
1) If you're an expensive restaurant than you better be great. If you're good or just ok than you're not worth that kind of money. There are too many top places to throw away the same cash on good.
2) have good service for your price range.
3)Don't Cheat! Don't you dare switch sauces in the bottles. If you're going to fill up a heinz ketchup bottle, for example, it better be with Heinz Ketchup. But if you put some knockoff in there to save a few pennies, how can I trust you on anything expensive? like the quality of your meat and produce, the time you spend on food safety & hygiene etc.
By and large I love Israeli food. Most of the places I've been have offered good value for their money, the food is fresh and the service friendly. There are loads of world class restaurants tucked away in little corners happily working their magic.
So I really expected that the first review would be of one of my favorite places. And just by chance I happened to take my kids to a fairly new local upscale hamburger place which was profoundly disappointing.
Kanibar Restaurant in Hod HaSharon. www. kanibar.co.il
Upside:
The food was tasty. They cooked the meat in my hamburger properly.
My daughter's schnitzel was juicy and full of flavor with a great even and pretty crust topping.
Yummy Fries (aka Cheeps)
It was the middle of the day and they attract a young crowd and even some kids, so the service was reasonable for that time of day.
Downsides:
#1 they put the meat and the vegetables on the wrong sides of the bread. You want the meat to be on the bottom and everything else building on top. There are reasons for this: 1st, simple construction. You want all your loose materials sitting on a solide wide base. 2nd, lettuce and onions and cheese etc. contain a lot of moisture. With the heat of the hamburger and juice dripping down, the moisture from those toppings get released and your base becomes a gooey mess. The alternative is to eat the burger upside down, with the round side down and the flat side of the burger roll up, which creates a terribly unpleasant sensation in the mouth. So good tasting patty killed by execution.
#2- they were out of some of the toppings I ordered. Really? No hot peppers? Walk down the street to the vegetable stand... literally just down the road.
#3- There was some brown stoneground style mustard in the Heinz Yellow Mustard bottle.
I happen to prefer a nice brown to the fluorescent yellow on my hamburgers. But they cheated! or the mustard had gone way way bad and I will be puking later.
#4- chicken wings came out barely coated in sauce and cold under the sauce there was. Yuck, cold wings and warm sauce. The microwave rectified the problem :-(
#5 - The onion rings: Decent but could buy the same at the grocery store frozen aisle. If you don't have great onion rings than don't bother.
My Recommendation: Don't go. Loads of great places for the same money.
In fact, I often find that the service makes the difference in how the food tastes. A bad server won't tell you if a dish is too salty, or won't bring the food on time, or make good recommendations. And when you're paying good money for food, if the service is bad your perception of the food is affected.
So now, after dozens of years of cooking non-professionally and professionally eating food from all over the world, it's time to start reviewing restaurants in my new locale: Israel.
A couple of my basic guidelines:
1) If you're an expensive restaurant than you better be great. If you're good or just ok than you're not worth that kind of money. There are too many top places to throw away the same cash on good.
2) have good service for your price range.
3)Don't Cheat! Don't you dare switch sauces in the bottles. If you're going to fill up a heinz ketchup bottle, for example, it better be with Heinz Ketchup. But if you put some knockoff in there to save a few pennies, how can I trust you on anything expensive? like the quality of your meat and produce, the time you spend on food safety & hygiene etc.
By and large I love Israeli food. Most of the places I've been have offered good value for their money, the food is fresh and the service friendly. There are loads of world class restaurants tucked away in little corners happily working their magic.
So I really expected that the first review would be of one of my favorite places. And just by chance I happened to take my kids to a fairly new local upscale hamburger place which was profoundly disappointing.
Kanibar Restaurant in Hod HaSharon. www. kanibar.co.il
Upside:
The food was tasty. They cooked the meat in my hamburger properly.
My daughter's schnitzel was juicy and full of flavor with a great even and pretty crust topping.
Yummy Fries (aka Cheeps)
It was the middle of the day and they attract a young crowd and even some kids, so the service was reasonable for that time of day.
Downsides:
#1 they put the meat and the vegetables on the wrong sides of the bread. You want the meat to be on the bottom and everything else building on top. There are reasons for this: 1st, simple construction. You want all your loose materials sitting on a solide wide base. 2nd, lettuce and onions and cheese etc. contain a lot of moisture. With the heat of the hamburger and juice dripping down, the moisture from those toppings get released and your base becomes a gooey mess. The alternative is to eat the burger upside down, with the round side down and the flat side of the burger roll up, which creates a terribly unpleasant sensation in the mouth. So good tasting patty killed by execution.
#2- they were out of some of the toppings I ordered. Really? No hot peppers? Walk down the street to the vegetable stand... literally just down the road.
#3- There was some brown stoneground style mustard in the Heinz Yellow Mustard bottle.
I happen to prefer a nice brown to the fluorescent yellow on my hamburgers. But they cheated! or the mustard had gone way way bad and I will be puking later.
#4- chicken wings came out barely coated in sauce and cold under the sauce there was. Yuck, cold wings and warm sauce. The microwave rectified the problem :-(
#5 - The onion rings: Decent but could buy the same at the grocery store frozen aisle. If you don't have great onion rings than don't bother.
My Recommendation: Don't go. Loads of great places for the same money.
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