Sephardic Heritage Update 954
David Shasha
Friends,
We begin this week’s newsletter with an article I wrote on Trump-as-Murderer back in April, when we were just beginning to understand the depth of his criminal malfeasance on Coronavirus. In recent days we have seen this murderous impulse exposed in real time, as Nero Lysol continues to do nothing, pretending that everything is being taken care of and that the plague will disappear magically. It is a truly disgusting dereliction of duty, which has destroyed the welfare and security of all Americans.
Those of us old enough to remember the PTL scandal will recall the Snake Oil Salesman tendencies of the vile Jim Bakker. Not surprisingly, Bakker is all in with the Orange Pig, and has promoted him as the New Cyrus. My article discusses Bakker and the much larger problem of Evangelical Christian support for Trump as I review Pauline doctrine and its deleterious tendencies.
Roger Cohen discusses the problem of authoritarian politics and the subversion of democratic values in the Coronavirus era. His article reminds us of the virtues of democracy and its concern for the social welfare. As we now know, the despots have made their countries less safe and more exposed to the depredations of the disease.
Andrea Bernstein examines the role of idiot son-in-law Jared Kushner in the mishandling and criminal malfeasance of Trump’s response to the Coronavirus. Her article is a damning indictment of a corrupt patronage system rooted in ignorance and incompetence.
Tikvah Bari Weiss used her column on Coronavirus to discuss the old Neo-Con Culture Wars. It seems that the Straussians cannot give up the ghost of their hero, in spite of the death that now surrounds us. Her article provides an interesting example of the continued Right Wing ambivalence to Trumpism.
Hadas Binyamini interviews Nancy Sinkoff on the matter of Neo-Con pioneer Lucy Dawidowicz. In the history of the Right Wing Jewish reactionary movement, the work of Dawidowicz presents us with a very interesting take on Ashkenazi Jewish paranoia, insecurity, and anomie. It is an important discussion that has critical ramifications for the ongoing evolution of White Jewish Supremacy.
Liam Stack’s article on the devastation wrought by Coronavirus on the New York Ultra-Orthodox community gives us an indication of how that community has defied science and rationality and embraced magical thinking. An accompanying video presentation shows us the sad reality of a community that has remained in a primitive state, as it denies the Modern world and its scientific protocols even as it makes use of the new technologies. That attitude has only led to unnecessary death and destruction for them, as we continue to see.
We close with an article on Orthodox Jewish obscurantism and anti-scientific prejudice published by the self-hating Sephardi Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo. The article on the Mei Hashiloach enters into the Orthodox battle over Jewish Law and the will of God with some very mixed – and confusing – results. It is a discussion that has Christian overtones when it comes to God’s intentions and Torah Judaism. The confusion has been expressed by Cardozo many times, and this article – as is usual – completely ignores the classical Sephardic tradition of Religious Humanism in order to burrow into the many crevices of Ashkenazi dysfunction and factionalism. It seems to want to create “heresy” problems, where such problems should really not exist. But one thing about White Jewish Supremacy, as with Trumpism, is that you must never apologize for your ignorance. Rather than turn to his Sephardic tradition, Cardozo has remained vigilant in the way he has allied himself with the Ashkenazim.
David Shasha
Prelude to Death: The Trump Murder Machine
By: David Shasha
Snake Oil Salesman Jim Bakker: Cyrus Trump is the Hand of God!
By: David Shasha
Despotism and Democracy in the Age of the Virus
By: Roger Cohen
How Jared Kushner is Tackling the White House’s Coronavirus Response – Without Any Evident Expertise
By: Andrea Bernstein
The Coronavirus Makes Our Old Culture Wars Seem Quaint
By: Bari Weiss
Lucy Dawidowicz, Yiddishist Neo-Con: Interview with Nancy Sinkoff
By: Hadas Binyamini
‘Plague on a Biblical Scale’: Hasidic Families Hit Hard by Virus
By: Liam Stack
Zoom Shivas and Prayer Hotlines: Orthodox Jewish Traditions Upended by Coronavirus
By: New York Times Video
The Mei Hashiloach on the Relationship Between God and Torah
By: Yehuda DovBer Zirkind