ללא מחבר No Author

A MESHUMAD ‘Moetzes’ Member of Agudat Yisrael? That Wouldn’t Surprise Me…

The Viznitz tail doctrine. If this is not a cult what is?

R. Mendelle Vizhnitzer proclaims the tail doctrine. The doctrine urges his followers to think of themselves as tails with respect to their rebbe: just as the tail follows the body and cannot sever itself from it, nor control it –so ought a hosid follow his rebbe without any digressions, vacillation, or doubt. He even said the following:

Even if it seems that the Rebbe is transgressing a clear halokhoh from the mishneh beruroh, does not pray in public or not at all, or even if he does things that our forefathers did not do such as igniting a cigar in public or in the midst of a holy discourse –he [the hosid] remains clinging to his holy and pure rebbe… with a fealty of heart and soul, to him and to his pure path.

Believe it or not, in the recent Tail Doctrine campaign R. Mendelle taught his hasidim a new song to be sung before reciting the Psalms and after evening toroh lessons:

“we believe in the holy opinion of the holy Yeshuos Moshe (viz. his father, so named after a book that he composed), namely shvantzonus (the practice of being a tail; tail-ism)”

From The Jewish Worker, here.

Forget U. S. Republicans, and Save Your OWN Republic!

kicking the can down the road

Tuesday, November 03, 2020

There is no need to talk about why you should not vote for the candidate that supports abortion, LGBTetc, higher taxes, green energy and the destruction of the oil industry, BLM and Antifa, the imposition of a “two state solution” = treating Israel like a criminal country, etc. in today’s election. This is aleph beis.  The mistake some people will make is thinking that there are “safe” candidates within the party that supports all that.  Don’t be fooled.

But there is an even bigger mistake.  From what I hear and read it is clear to most people in our community that a vote for the D party is a vote against our interests, to the point that people realize that if the Ds are in charge life for us here will not be so good and maybe those aliya plans need to be looked at more realistically and moved up in time.  But if the R’s win, then shalom al yisrael.

The truth is that even with the R’s in charge, we’re just kicking the can down the road. The only difference is the amount of time we have bought for ourselves.

The loonies on the left will not go away if Trump wins any more than they went away after his first victory.  American society will not change for the better overnight.  And in our own communities, between the assimilation rate, the high costs of Jewish life here, the secular values that penetrate our self-imposed ghettos willy-nilly, the lack of true depth in religious fervor and experience, how much longer do you think this can go on?

It’s up to us to use whatever time we have here wisely. To stop building multi-million dollar mansions in chu”l and instead put that $ toward a home in Eretz Yisrael.  To produce graduates from our schools that can speak Ivrit without saying things like “Ani tachas omeid” when they want to say “I understand” (thanks to daughter #3 for that one).  For Rabbis and teachers and of course parents to encourage our kids to build there future elsewhere, even if it means giving up the lucrative career or life in the suburbs — those are not Jewish values last time I checked.

Let’s not wait until fear forces difficult choices upon us.   אמר עולא ייתי ולא איחמיניה וכן אמר [רבה] ייתי ולא איחמיניה

From Divrei Chaim, here.

Have Corona Tyrants Overstepped?

Civil Rebellion and Lack of Faith in the Health Ministry and Government

A government is elected (?) by the People, to serve and protect the People, not to cause economic distress, and unjust policies. Seems this is not being done to the satisfaction of the People.

Civil rebellion: Stores across Israel to open against coronavirus rules

Government approves in principle the decision to increase fines on those who operate against the law.

The announcements began on Saturday night with the “I Am Shulman” movement, which fights on behalf of self-employed people and small and medium businesses, with a video on Facebook stating that it was calling on street-side businesses to open on Monday at 9 a.m., despite regulations. “Go out and earn a living!” said one of the members of the movement in the video.

“The government has lost it,” added the member, asking why cosmetic services and schools were allowed to open while street-side stores were not, despite the possible risks presented by reopening schools.

The “I Am Shulman” movement will provide legal services to help businesses that decide to reopen. The member in the video stated that Haim Bibas, mayor of Modi’in-Maccabim-Reut, and chairman of the Federation of Local Authorities in Israel, promised him that he and the local authorities were providing their full support behind the decision to reopen businesses.

“We are giving the government 24 hours to think about it and to change their delusional decision,” said the movement in an ultimatum, saying that the government had until Monday to provide a logical and fair plan.

The BIG shopping center group followed the move by announcing on Sunday morning that it will open its open-air centers in green cities on Monday and will begin demanding full rent and fees from businesses located in the centers.

IN A LETTER to businesses in BIG centers, BIG group CEO Hay Galis stressed on Sunday that while businesses received support and compensation from the government and unpaid leave, the BIG group did not receive the same support and did not send workers on unpaid leave. The group also forgave rent and management fees.

“We did not receive a single shekel for this period, neither from the state nor from you,” wrote Galis, adding that the group had tried, and failed, to convince business owners to protest against the conduct and decisions of the government.

“The ability to open business is in your hands, from now the results are also passed onto your shoulders. Carry it and succeed,” wrote the CEO. “Now it’s your turn. The honorable government is playing with us, playing with you, asking for a few more days, and a few more days, because of the hysteria and disconnection of the Health Ministry and the prime minister’s inability or unwillingness to make a decision.”

Galis added that despite claims that street-side shops are safer than shopping centers, it is “proven” that in large shopping centers regulations are followed much more than in such shops.

“The store area is larger and therefore there is a possibility to maintain the rules of social distance. Opening only some of the retail space will certainly cause a crowding of people, who could have been better dispersed across more stores and retail space, if these were available to all,” stressed Galis.

“This time we too are tired – tired of taking responsibility time and time again and finding ourselves attacking alone. We are tired of the feeling that we are turning from fair people into suckers. We have run out of the desire and patience to support everyone instead of the government (supporting them),” added the CEO.

After the announcement by BIG, Zim Urban Life shopping centers announced that they, too, would open open-air centers on Monday, including in red cities, according to Channel 12 news. The centers are planning to open in locations such as Beit She’an, Arad, Netivot, Umm al-Fahm, Yarka, Tira and Tayibe, among others.

FINANCE MINISTER Israel Katz called on Sunday for the government to allow stores to reopen on Tuesday.

“The insistence of the Health Ministry is unnecessary and lacks a factual basis, and leads to anarchy and the lack of supervision, which will only increase infection rates,” tweeted Katz.

In response to the calls to reopen, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein warned that those who are calling to “recklessly” open the economy, “are leading us with open eyes toward another lockdown and an economic, social and health disaster.”

“I understand the plight of store owners. It is our duty to help them and provide them with an economic safety net, to really care – not just in statements,” said Edelstein. “At the same time keep in mind that a quick opening now means another closure later. Complacency will eventually lead to a death sentence for many businesses.”

Edelstein pointed to the lockdowns and spikes in infection rates being reported in Europe and other locations around the world, saying that Israel needs to “understand that the decisions to open the economy must not be a populist competition that could lead to the destruction of the economy instead of its rehabilitation.”

The Health Ministry and coronavirus commissioner Prof. Ronni Gamzu have pushing since last month to increase fines.

The proposed increases are as follows: Opening a business illegally: NIS 5,000 to NIS 10,000; holding a wedding or similar event against regulations: NIS 5,000 to NIS 20,000; and opening an educational institution against the law: NIS 5,000 to NIS 20,000.

The increase on educational institutions originally proposed by the ministry was to NIS 25,000. Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) lawmakers pushed back, saying that such an increase was unacceptable when the infection rate was declining.

“It’s crazy that we’re opening up in a dramatic way without raising fines,” senior Health Ministry officials were quoted as saying by Israeli media over the weekend. “It’s critical. Five-thousand shekels does not deter anyone.”

Hundreds if not thousands of haredi schools have opening illegally since the High Holy Days.

On Sunday, grades one through four opened classes, one-on-one activities and services (such as driving lessons or personal training) and alternative medical treatments were permitted to resume and salons and bed and breakfasts were allowed to reopen.

Last Thursday, the Association of Commercial, Fashion and Catering Chains warned it would no longer be able to prevent business owners from breaking Health Ministry regulations and reopening, and had ended discussions with the government.

“After our inquiries fell on deaf ears, we announce the cessation of discussions with the government,” said the association, according to Globes. “The government continues to pursue a policy leading to the destruction of businesses, and we do not want to be the factor responsible for the loss of livelihood of business owners. Starting Sunday, everyone will have to make the best decision for themselves, their employees and their family.”

Small business owners took to the streets on Thursday as the cabinet convened, begging the government to allow them to operate. However, ultimately, the cabinet decided to push off opening street shops another week, until November 8, unless there was a significant drop in infection.

About 400 retail and fashion chains around Israel announced last week that they would open next week on Sunday, November 8, even if Health Ministry regulations continue to forbid their opening. The stores only plan to open in open-air centers in green areas and follow Purple Ribbon regulations.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to calm business owners in a video message shared Friday: “To all of my friends, the merchants, I know how difficult it is. I request that you cooperate for another few days. We have promised to open next Sunday, maybe earlier if morbidity goes down, and this is the main problem.

SHOW THE PEOPLE THE DATA FOR ISRAEL, THE TOTAL DEATHS FOR 2020 COMPARED TO 1919 ON A MONTH TO MONTH BASIS

“Morbidity is leaping forward around the world,” the prime minister said. “With joint forces we succeeded in lowering it. We do not want it to go up again – and then we would need to re-impose the restrictions. I will help you in every way. We have helped you economically; we will help you with even more measures.”

LOCKDOWNS ONLY REPRESS INFECTION, NOT ELIMINATE THE ILLNESS

ONLY THE ELDERLY AND COMPROMISED NEED STAY OUT OF CROWDS

EVERYONE ELSE NEED TO LIVE NORMALY

SOCIETY NEEDS TO GROW

PEOPLE NEED TO LIVE

From Habayitah, here.

The American ‘Liberation’ (Read: MASSACRE) of Iraq

‘Iraq War Diaries’ At Ten Years: Truth is Treason

By 

Ron Paul Institute

October 27, 2020

The purpose of journalism is to uncover truth – especially uncomfortable truth – and to publish it for the benefit of society. In a free society, we must be informed of the criminal acts carried out by governments in the name of the people. Throughout history, journalists have uncovered the many ways governments lie, cheat, and steal – and the great lengths they will go to keep the people from finding out.

Great journalists like Seymour Hersh, who reported to us the tragedy of the Mai Lai Massacre and the horrors that took place at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, are essential.

Ten years ago last week, Julian Assange’s Wikileaks organization published an exposé of US government wrongdoing on par with the above Hersh bombshell stories. Publication of the “Iraq War Diaries” showed us all the brutality of the US attack on Iraq. It told us the truth about the US invasion and occupation of that country. This was no war of defense against a nation threatening us with weapons of mass destruction. This was no liberation of the country. We were not “bringing democracy” to Iraq.

No, the release of nearly 400,000 classified US Army field reports showed us in dirty detail that the US attack was a war of aggression, based on lies, where hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed and injured.

We learned that the US military classified anyone they killed in Iraq as “enemy combatants.” We learned that more than 700 Iraqi civilians were killed for “driving too close” to one of the hundreds of US military checkpoints – including pregnant mothers-to-be rushing to the hospital.

We learned that US military personnel routinely handed “detainees” over to Iraqi security forces where they would be tortured and often killed.

Ten years after Assange’s brave act of journalism changed the world and exposed one of the crimes of the century, he sits alone in solitary confinement in a UK prison. He sits literally fighting for his life, as if he is successfully extradited to the United States he faces 175 years in a “supermax” prison for committing “espionage” against a country of which he is not a citizen.

On the Iraq war we have punished the truth-tellers and rewarded the criminals. People who knowingly lied us into the war like Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, the Beltway neocon “experts,” and most of the media, faced neither punishment nor professional shaming for their acts. In fact, they got off scot free and many even prospered.

Julian Assange explained that he published the Iraq War Diaries because he “hoped to correct some of the attack on truth that occurred before the war, and that continued on since that war officially ended.” We used to praise brave journalists not afraid to take on the “bad guys.” Now we torture and imprison them.

President Trump has made a point of singling out the US attack on Iraq as one of the “stupid wars” that he was committed to ending. But we wouldn’t know half of just how stupid – and evil – it was were it not for the brave actions of Julian Assange and whistleblower Chelsea Manning. Journalism should not be a crime and President Trump should pardon Assange immediately.

From LRC, here.