Weekly Items of Note (5/19)
David Shasha
1. As I have noted in the past, the comedian Bill Maher tends to harbor harsh views of the Arabs and Islam. Even though he is strongly Liberal on most issues and is an anti-religious bigot who does not distinguish between the various religions, he consistently singles out the Muslim world for specific vilification.
On a recent program he went on one of his anti-Islam rants and was strongly countered by Glenn Greenwald:
http://mondoweiss.net/2013/05/greenwald-reason-mahers.html
It is a textbook example of how to deal with racist bullies when they go off without understanding the complexities of history and culture.
Here is Greenwald’s recent piece on Sam Harris – one of Maher’s New Atheist buddies:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/03/sam-harris-muslim-animus
Maher’s animus towards Islam has been getting some wider notice:
2. The following article on the “changing American Jew” has little to say about “America” or “Judaism” and much more to say about Israel and Zionism.
http://www.jpost.com/Features/Front-Lines/Jewish-World-The-changing-American-Jew-312720
It is interesting that the massive assimilation rates and the rise of radical Orthodoxy do not merit the attention given to Birthright Israel and Yom Ha’atzmaut. American Jews are seen not in light of their native community, but as a reflection of their commitment to Israel. This indeed has become the primary mitigating factor in the American Jewish community, the adherence to Israel rather than to Torah or to American civic values.
3. The train-wreck that is SHAS provides us with further evidence that Sephardim are in a very bad way:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4380049,00.html
When the Sephardim were once proud of their intellectual achievements, what we see today is a new religious fanaticism with all of the ignorance that entails. Emulating the Ashkenazi Ultra-Orthodox has not served us well.
J.J. Goldberg provides a more realpolitik version of what has been happening in SHAS:
http://forward.com/articles/176758/israels-shas-right-wing-kingmaker-party-takes-shar/?p=all
In the complex universe of Israeli politics the moves of Aryeh Der’i seem to make some kind of sense. But for Sephardim the whole thing is hopelessly muddled and reeks of deal-making rather than actual policy formation that would support Sephardic culture and its interests.
4. In response to my complaints that Sephardic culture is being thrown under the bus by Ashkenazi racism I am advised that Ashkenazi culture too is being ignored.
So while at the bookstore last week I was struck to find a new addition to an important series in Yiddish literature in English translation:
http://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/new-yiddish-library-0
http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/SeriesPage.asp?series=42
The latest entry in this distinguished and very impressive series in Moyshe Kulbak’s The Zelmeneyers.
We should all most definitely express our admiration for the brilliant work being done in tandem between scholars, philanthropists and Jewish institutions. It is just the sort of thing that can bring Jews back to our traditional culture.
But the point I constantly make remains: Such a literary project is not possible for Ladino or Judeo-Arabic works. Sephardic culture is lost to the Sephardic community whose leaders and apparatchiks are either Ashkenazim or Sephardim who want to be Ashkenazim.
Ashkenazi culture is being revived in critical ways while Sephardic culture is being thrown into the trash bin of history.
5. There appears to be a restored interest of the short-lived TV show “Arrested Development”:
http://www.vulture.com/2013/05/arrested-developments-persistent-cult.html
For those who have never seen the show – FOX canceled it after two seasons – be advised that along with John Cleese’s “Fawlty Towers” it is one of the greatest TV comedies ever made. It is brilliantly irreverent and laugh-out-loud hysterical.
The original series is being re-broadcast on IFC:
http://www.ifc.com/shows/arrested-development
http://www.ifc.com/schedule#series/Arrested%20Development
Netflix will be screening brand-new episodes of the series beginning May 26th:
http://www.npr.org/2013/05/14/183840292/the-last-word-in-business
Here is the trailer for the new season:
I recently re-viewed some of the old shows and they lost none of their edge or hilarity. They are essential viewing.
6. For those who are following the current troubles of the Obama administration I do not think I need to present the gruesome details. The cable news networks and newspapers and on-line blogs are consumed with the IRS, AP and Benghazi flaps.
But – as always – I was very interested to see how David Brooks would address what is going on:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/17/opinion/brooks-when-governments-go-bad.html?ref=opinion
As usual, Brooks pretends to take the high road by opening
his demolition of the president with a reference to the Conservative political
theorist and scholar Clinton Rossiter which creates an intellectually-credible
patina. In reality, Brooks rehashes in
elegant language the same basic talking points as the more
frothing-at-the-mouth Conservative flamethrowers.
Obama’s has finally given the sharks some fresh meat and the battle is now on
again.
I have done my best to address the basic problem in Obama’s weak and naively conciliatory position in my article “The Anatomy of Failure: Barack Obama and the Sephardim”:
http://groups.google.com/group/Davidshasha/browse_thread/thread/4e9d1c924e030754/96e074c9e92c71b1
In that article I made the assertion that weakness encourages one’s enemies to pounce and seek to destroy the things we believe in. I think it is reasonably clear that President Obama is a rational man who theoretically holds to basic Liberal values. But in his negotiations with an implacable enemy he has failed to uphold those principles.
It is far easier to compromise than to stand on principle and take the barrage of hits that inevitably come when we stand strong and refuse to give in to our enemies.
So what we see in each of the three cases that are filling up our media is an affirmation of George W. Bush policies that were supported by the very people who are now looking to excoriate Obama. Each of the scandals represents a serious political miscalculation and potential violation of Constitutional Law.
The covert activity of the CIA in Benghazi and the disastrous results of a failed attempt to impose US authority in the country; the illegal wiretapping of AP reporters’ phones; and the improprieties of the IRS in singling out certain groups for examination are all hallmarks of the previous administration and its cavalier and often dismissive attitude towards Constitutional rights.
Here is a short list of these violations:
By adopting the values of the venal and ignorant Bush and his rogue administration, Obama, like the Ashkenazified Sephardim, has shown that he refuses to stand for principle and has continued to be a juicy target for those who do not want an African-American as their president.
Brooks continues his tiresome promotion of “small government” as he refuses to examine the larger problems our society faces in the economic and political areas. The scandals are ironically a product of Obama’s fear of the Right and their disingenuousness when it comes to our Constitutional protections. The Obama lackeys have in effect been supported Bush-era policies while the Republicans are denying those policies that they enthusiastically supported when a member of their party was running the White House.
Americans need to understand that a continuation of the failed Bush policies is not tenable. Sephardim need to understand that becoming like the Ashkenazim who have so cruelly eviscerated our heritage while exponentially increasing the level of dysfunction in the Jewish community has been disastrous. Sadly, the two things are conceptually interrelated and the disaster requires us to wizen up and begin to understand where we have gone wrong.
Perhaps both Obama and the Sephardim will choose to change course. If they do not, their respective eclipses will continue to intensify.
7. Here is an important and passionate article from Carlos Zarur on the matter of Ashkenazi rabbis inserting themselves into Sephardic matters:
http://blog.pjvoice.com/diary/3256/reclaiming-the-anusim-the-sephardic-perspective
As I have repeatedly said, Sephardim must be given the opportunity to represent their own interests and Ashkenazi meddling is unacceptable.
8. Here is another excellent post from Café Gibraltar translated on the +972 blogsite:
http://972mag.com/from-umm-kulthum-to-woody-guthrie-thoughts-on-cultural-sovereignty/70834/
Once again we see that the indigenous culture of the Middle East can be a place for peaceful co-existence. It is something that we need more of – not this:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jason-alexander/onevoice-israelis-palestinians_b_3271691.html
We have had too much of this Limousine Liberal nonsense and not enough Um Kulthum!
Though I have tried to make the Egyptian Diva known to Huffington Post readers:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-shasha/the-voice-of-um-kulthum-t_b_595161.html
It is The Levantine Option and not the Ashkenazi option that is most needed:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-shasha/a-jewish-voice-left-silen_b_487586.html
David Shasha