Saturday, September 4, 2010 motzei Shabbat

This will likely be my last blog posting until after the conclusion of Rosh Hashanah. I would like to take this opportunity to wish my Jewish readers only good things in 5771 - that you should be inscribed in the Book of Life for a healthy, happy and prosperous year.



1. Peace Process? - This past week marked the start of the latest round of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The headline that struck me was this: Abbas: If Talks Fail, it Will Be Israel's Fault | Jewish News From WorldJewishDaily.com - which says to me - "we can do and say whatever we want, but if there is no success, it's not our fault". Not a good attitude, I'd say.



Also falling into the category of useless comments is Rabbi Yosef: "Death to Abu Mazen and Palestinians" | World of Judaica - see also PM distances himself from Rabbi Yosef's 'plague' comments. While I can understand that Palestinian leaders are seizing on this to make it into a big issue, which I think - to a large degree I think it is a case of "the pot calling the kettle black".


Here are a variety of other links on the peace negotiations subject:
2. Incapable of Words - If anyone ever doubted the type of genocidal types that make up Hamas - which utterly controls Gaza - this atrocious and sickening story should open their eyes - Four Jews Murdered in Arab Terror Attack - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News.


And this just makes it worse:
While the PA, the ostensible peace partner, "condemns" this terrible act of terrorism - Hamas vows more attacks to come, as PA condemns West Bank shooting - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News - you have to go to the source and get the whole story - what did the PA actually say? Try this:
"We condemn this operation, which goes against Palestinian interests," Fayyad said.
Salam Fayyad is the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority. Be still , my heart.......

In the meantime, may HaShem console the families of the victims among the other mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.

3. And Speaking Of The Guys In The North - US envoy Oren warns: Hizbullah has 15,000 rockets on border - boy, that 2nd Lebanon War and the whole UNIFIL things really worked out well, didn't it? Also - see - 'Hizbullah, Syria to cooperate on conflicts with Israel' - personally, I think that this is a good thing - it may be hard to hit at Hizbullah in their practice of asymetric warfare, but Syria is a sovereign country and if things get hot, then it's fair to strike against Syria.




5. I Guess He Forgot To Put It In His Book - "Hmmm - I've criticized the Turks, I've criticized the Muslims, who did I forget???Where are my editors!!

Relax, don't worry - antisemitism is always in style - German central banker criticized for remarks on Jews - Israel News, Ynetnews.

"By Friday, De Gucht was apologizing. In a statement he said it was not his intention "to cause offense or stigmatize the Jewish Community. I want to make clear that anti-Semitism has no place in today's world and is fundamentally against our European values."
One question, though - how can they come up with such eloquent apologies so quickly? Maybe Salam Fayyad (see above in item 2 could learn a lesson).





9. What Do You Think? Jewish congress wrong to oppose former Mayor Whitton: senator - an interesting philosophical question.

In Halifax, First Nations people have been and continue to be upset over the prominent use of the name "Cornwallis" - Cornwallis Street, Cornwallis Junior High School, Cornwallis Park and so on - for Edward Cornwallis, a British military officer who was the Governor of Nova Scotia from 1749-1752. He is infamous for ordering a bounty on the heads of Mi'kmaq warriors after a violent raid against European settlers. This led to an escalation of hostilities and mutual atrocities until a subsequent Treaty was signed.

In the case of Cornwallis, he lived in a different era, with different standards and at a time when Nova Scotia was, at least in some manner, a battlefield.

How do we judge people who came before us? Certain "people" are easy - Hitler and the Nazis, for example. But how do we judge someone like Edward Cornwallis, Mayor Whitton, or, as is noted in the original link - our former Prime Minister Mackenzie King?

I do not know the answer. Senator Segal's suggestion that judging past figures by today's standards is a no-win proposition may not be inaccurate, but seems superficial.



11. Jewish Life in Poland - right off the top of my head, prior to September 31, 1939, there were some 3,000,000 Jews in Poland who comprised about 10% of the total population. By the end of the war, there were some 5,000 left. In light of that - an interesting article - The Revival of Jewish Life in Poland By Steve Lipman - Jewish Action - OU.ORG


12. Jewish Life In Portugal - Many may be familiar with the impact of the Spanish Inquisition on Jewish life, but may not be familiar with what happened in neighboring Portugal. On the trail of the Jews of Portugal





16. Just In Time For The High Holy Days - Piyutim, Poetry In Conservative's New Prayer Book- Forward.com


17. Doubly Chosen - The Few, The Proud, The Chosen


18. The Beatles - for Beatles lovers - Rolling Stone releases Beatles 100 | Stuff.co.nz - how many bands had enough good songs to merit rating the top 100?


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