This Week in The Tikvah Fund and its Not So "Open" University (6/27)
David Shasha
When is an “Open” University Not “Open”? When it is The Tikvah Fund Open University!
In last week’s Tikvah Tablet notes I began with an excellent discussion of the new Tikvah chairman’s close relationship to Evangelical Christianity:
https://groups.google.com/g/davidshasha/c/48ujOW29t1M
Here is form letter for the Christian leaders:
https://www.cfr.org/blog/christians-and-israel
A short time after I posted the Tikvah Tablet notes, we received word of the upcoming Tikvah “Open” University:
https://tikvahfund.org/summer-2021-open/
It is more of what you would expect.
There is Eugene Kontorovich, of the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University:
https://www.law.gmu.edu/faculty/directory/fulltime/kontorovich_eugene
He is, naturally, a Federalist Society macher:
https://fedsoc.org/contributors/eugene-kontorovich
And a proud graduate of the University of Chicago:
https://www.law.gmu.edu/assets/files/faculty/cv/kontorovich.pdf
Immaculate Tikvah credentials!
And where would an “Open” University be without Yoram Hazony, the Zionist bully:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mIGjVlWpqgYgp24AabfaDqm-8jngdKbn7ZqN99Jpnpo/edit
And Trumpscum acolyte:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DxHkOp4KpryDXxhnRSzmWg3McaUV0CcsWPvAmV7uJpo/edit
https://www.vox.com/21355993/trump-israel-yoram-hazony-nationalism-tikvah
Finally, we have Jacob Howland:
https://tikvahfund.org/faculty/dr-jacob-howland/
Howland and Hazony are on the faculty of something called the Hertog Fondation, a den of Neo-Con machers:
https://hertogfoundation.org/faculty
Indeed, it is well worth scrolling through the full list – you will find all the architects of Bush 43’s military interventionism, as well as Ross Douthat.
It is all you need if you want to get the full Neo-Con smorgasbord.
It is clear that Elliott Abrams is bringing the radical extremist firepower to Tikvah – an amazing thing given how radical extremist it already was!
Rabbi Meir Soloveichik and the Gipper
Our Tikvah Lamm friend is now embarking on “Bible 365”; one of many initiatives to study the entire Hebrew Bible in one year:
The initiative is not noteworthy in itself, but the way in which it has been framed:
As a participant in the Jewish Leadership Conference, you understand that ideas matter; that America and Israel are moral inspirations for the world; and that the Hebrew Bible is central to who we are as a people. This is why, back in 1983, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed a "Year of the Bible." And it's why our inaugural Herzl Prize winner Natan Sharansky looked to the Bible, in prison, for moral and spiritual strength in the face of Soviet tyranny.
For those who might not recall, the JLC is home to some of the great Straussians and Trumpists of our day:
https://groups.google.com/g/davidshasha/c/Z1rQJn812Hg/m/PRjFfXVuAQAJ
The Bible-thumping Gipper did not care for the poor and downtrodden, as the following New York Times editorial from the time shows us:
https://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/02/opinion/mr-reagan-s-war-on-poverty.html
Reagan was not a fan of those who had less than he did:
Poor people, especially those able and willing to go to school and to work, will suffer from the cuts that have already gone into effect. Consider the changes Congress has approved in Aid to Families with Dependent Children. It has lowered the amount and duration of permissible outside earnings and slashed the allowances for work-related expenses like child care. Think what effects those changes are likely to have; encouraging poor parents to take jobs is not among them.
But he loved the rich:
https://medium.com/@amereattempt1/the-reagan-precedent-c285dea63089
And fought against Universal Healthcare his entire political life:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan_Speaks_Out_Against_Socialized_Medicine
The Reagan Tax Cuts have become Republican dogma – and have failed the country:
They have fueled Wealth Inequality at an unprecedented scale:
And let us not forget Reagan’s religious compassion for AIDS victims:
https://www.vox.com/2015/12/1/9828348/ronald-reagan-hiv-aids
Soloveichik is all with the Gipper and his inhuman cruelty:
Listen here for a short "prequel" episode with Rabbi Soloveichik about how Ronald Reagan's 1983 declaration about the Bible inspired those longing for liberty throughout the world, and why we need a biblical renewal of modern culture, now more than ever.
I cannot think of a more appropriate example of what The Tikvah Fund stands for in its march to destroy the Jewish tradition.
Andrew Yang is Right about the Lawless Hasidim!
We move from Tikvah’s “Open” University, a den of Neo-Con Jewish HASBARAH with all its suppression of free thought, to Mosaic magazine and its fulsome praise for the lawless Hasidim and their ongoing attempt to avoid governmental education standards:
The article in something called Education Next comes at a propitious time for the sinking Andrew Yang candidacy:
The two authors of the article are Modern Orthodox YU types, whose support of general education for Orthodox Jews is less than robust:
But Yang got this right. Even if some Jewish schools do not teach the same content as public schools, if, as Yang put it, their outcomes are good, the city should let them be.
Indeed, we have heard this sort of thing before from the Hasidim themselves, who claim that their students are properly educated:
The idea is that Hasidim are a very wealthy community!
As Yang—who is famously data-driven—certainly realizes, no data support the view that outcomes are poor for students in Hasidic schools. While data about Hasidic economic and educational outcomes are limited, the information available does not suggest that Hasidim are particularly disadvantaged economically. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, average household incomes in Williamsburg and Borough Park in Brooklyn (home to many of New York City’s Hasidim) are 9th and 29th highest out of 50 districts city-wide. So too, it’s not clear that Hasidic students — who are largely English Language Learners (ELL) since their first language is usually Yiddish — would fare any better in public schools. For example, 8th grade ELL students in the Williamsburg public schools (where many Hasidim live) had a zero percent proficiency rate in math and English in 2016, according to the city’s own data.
This Tikvah view of Hasidic poverty was echoed by Batya Unger-Sargon in Tikvah Tablet:
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/the-reality-of-jewish-poverty-in-new-york-city
But the numbers are being manipulated to distort the reality of Hasidic poverty, which is pretty substantial:
https://www.bjpa.org/content/upload/bjpa/97_p/97.pdf
While the report shows issues with the elderly and Russian immigrants, it notes that over 25% of the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community lives in poverty. This correlates to a Kollel environment that exists in Israel as well:
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/haredi-employment-problem-needs-a-solution-577007
Last year we saw how Tikvah Tablet defended the lawless Hasidim in the face of Mayor De Blasio’s attacks for COVID restriction non-compliance:
https://groups.google.com/g/davidshasha/c/i8ZF-UUVpUg/m/EMmGrAQwAwAJ
As I pointed out in my article, the Hasidic apologia was not limited to Tikvah, but found its way into other less Right Wing outlets as well.
And, of course, Bari Weiss led the charge:
https://groups.google.com/g/davidshasha/c/uFhuGVvR9Ko/m/qGoRJZBGAwAJ
The militant support for the lawless maskless Hasidim was perhaps a pyrrhic victory, as their ignorant members were decimated by the Pandemic:
https://groups.google.com/g/davidshasha/c/LstFOI-6HoE/m/0h2UBhfjAQAJ
Indeed, their ignorance has continued as they continue to avoid getting vaccinated:
https://forward.com/news/467678/why-borough-park-has-nycs-lowest-vaccination-rates/
Young women are being instructed – against the science – not to get the vaccine:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/11/nyregion/orthodox-jewish-vaccinations.html
It might have something to do with the fact that they are all Trumpscum:
Isn’t ignorance a wonderful thing?
So, we once again see Straussianism in action: the atheist Tikvah Fund is out there doing the bidding of the Haredim and trying to justify their anti-government values.
“Open” Your Arms to Tikvah Gay Porn HASBARAH Pinkwashing
This one is really good:
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/jewish-men-of-onlyfans
Sephardim and Sephardic culture are most certainly not welcome at Tikvah Tablet, but Gay Porn is:
In many ways, Alex Grant is your typical nice Jewish boy. From Potomac, Maryland, he’s a sweet and unassuming mensch with a cheeky sense of humor and a mind for business. When he’s not studying information science at the University of Maryland, he loves spending time with his family and places great value in his Judaism and love for Israel. What most people don’t know about him, though, is that he is one of the top gay porn stars today.
The 22-year-old Grant, a self-described nerd with a “muscle jock” body, is known as @Alexzcee on Instagram, where he boasts nearly 100,000 followers; he has almost 350,000 more on his X-rated Twitter account. Neither of those sites brings in revenue directly, but both of them link to his page on OnlyFans, where he has become a sensation. Founded in 2016, OnlyFans is a content-based, paid subscription platform where creators can post anything online from fitness classes to music—some of its biggest users include rapper Cardi B and Teen Wolf star Tyler Posey—but most of the content is porn.
Because it is Pinkwashing HASBARAH!
Now that porn has given Grant a large following online, without having to answer to outside managers or producers, he has felt free to speak out on social media about other issues—particularly about Israel, during the recent clashes with Hamas. “I don’t understand how so many gay people are anti-Israel, because try going to Iran or Gaza,” he said. “Try going around there with a Pride flag. They’ll throw you off a roof.” He says he and his mom have been talking about antisemitism a lot lately, and his large following allows him to educate others who may just be following him for his looks and not his heart: “What non-Jew in the porn business is going to talk about these issues right now? I’m definitely a minority in this field, even if it looks like I don’t stand out,” he said. “If I have this big audience, I’m going to fight it and stand up for Jewish people because it’s just what I feel is right.”
It is another banner moment for the Whore of Trump and her devotion to the New Jewish Fascism.
I wonder how Rabbi Meir Soloveichik feels about it.
Zei Gezunt!
David Shasha