Weekly Items of Note (4/21)
David Shasha
1. The following post from the great Matt Taibbi is a must-read:
I have prepared the post with my comments for SHU 580 but wanted to let our readers know about it now.
2. The +972 Blog continues to post pieces on Mizrahi music from Café Gibraltar. Here is the latest installment:
http://972mag.com/the-mizrahi-canon-classics-from-margins-of-israeli-society/68857/
3. Alternet has posted a take-down of Tom Friedman:
http://www.alternet.org/print/media/who-craziest-most-overrated-and-disgraceful-journalist-america
As a reminder, here is my post on Friedman’s recent column on the Middle East:
https://groups.google.com/group/Davidshasha/browse_thread/thread/8efcde9ef2b2e09b
4. I have been taking a very critical look at the writings of Rabbi Michael Broyde in the recent past:
A scandal involving Rabbi Broyde has just exploded on the various Jewish Internet sites:
Here is his response:
http://torahmusings.com/2013/04/my-nom-de-plume-exposed/
He has since taken an “indefinite leave of absence” from the Rabbinical Council of America’s Rabbinic Court:
The matter has spilled over from the Jewish blogosphere into the larger world:
Here we see Rabbi Broyde’s escapade being viewed in light of his position in the Emory University Law School.
At this point nothing should shock us. Rabbi Broyde’s writings under his own name are quite damning enough without the additional revelations. But the subterfuge of the second name shows us the corruption of internal Jewish religious politics.
5. With the ongoing tussle over Gun Control measures in our Congress it is a good time to take another look at National Rifle Association president Wayne La Pierre:
What this article shows is the resoluteness of La Pierre and his organization as opposed to the president and others who support Gun Control. To this point the NRA has been staggeringly successful in ensuring that its radical views suppress any attempts to achieve successful legislation in this area. It is a cautionary tale that should force the weak-kneed Liberals to rethink their strategy – though it likely will do little to change their minds. We will probably continue to see a tepid response to NRA extremism.
As always, it brings to mind the weakness of the Sephardic community in the face of the destruction of its religious and cultural heritage. It is always easier to give in to the other side and to make fatal compromises as the president and the Democratic Party have done with the political radicals who have done so much to make our society less safe.
The NRA had some great publicity this week:
The irony of a suicide by gunshot at a NASCAR event sponsored by the NRA is just too much.
Here is a brief post on the legal support that the NRA has secured in its lobbying efforts:
http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/legaltimes/PubArticleLT.jsp?id=1202596282656&slreturn=20130318080333
Another post looks at the law firm of Greenberg and Taurig and its own insider connections to the Washington political machine:
In the end we see that the NRA was once again successful in its crusade to prevent any reasonable Gun Control legislation:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/17/politics/senate-guns-vote/index.html
This excellent post reviews the relevant issues regarding the Second Amendment and how the NRA has scammed the American people:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/burton-newman/the-nras-fraud-fabricatio_b_3103358.html
On a more positive note, here is an artist-led initiative headed by Tony Bennett and featuring the great Paul McCartney that aims to turn back the vicious and dangerous propaganda of the NRA:
The initiative rightly targets those legislators who have been bought out by the NRA and looks to the general public to put pressure on their elected officials.
6. Here is an interesting post from Alternet on the evils of the Lottery:
This sort of gambling remains part of the American malady – which has been applauded by the vile Charles Murray:
It speaks to the get-rich-quick aspect of American life and the belief that gambling is in some way representative of the national ethos.
7. The following post brings together the words “Yemenite” and “Chabadnik”:
From the Zionist point of view the story is a triumph: It shows how Arab Jews can lose their identity and become Ashkenazim. This is what is meant by “assimilation.”
From the Sephardic point of view it is another example of how CHABAD and other extreme Ashkenazi Orthodox groups have colonized our community.
8. Rabbi Michael Knopf’s support for the Newsweek Most Influential rabbis list shows us once again how irrelevant Sephardim have become in the American Jewish community:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-michael-knopf/in-defense-of-the-top-rabbis-list_b_2980859.html
There has been a great deal of discussion about the list and others like it. These discussions usually deal with the issue of denominationalism and ideological perspective.
In many ways this marginalization of the Sephardim is a self-fulfilling prophecy: the more Sephardim are excluded from the discourse, the less “influential” they will be. It is something that puts the lie to any sense of Jewish “inclusion” as the matter is completely dominated by Ashkenazim with others left out of the accounting.
As an example of the way Ashkenazim understand Jewish “pluralism” we have this:
“Pluralism” in the Jewish world means excluding Sephardim from discussing “pluralism.” Only Ashkenazim can discuss “pluralism.”
For further views on what Jewish “pluralism” means see the following posts from eJewish Philanthropy:
The careful reader will note that while Homosexuality, Jewish denominationalism, and the religious-secular divide are all given ample space in the discussion, the Ashkenazi-Sephardi divide is not. In particular, the problems of Israeli Sephardim and their cultural exclusion are not at all addressed. This is largely because Ashkenazim are loath to examine their own prejudices towards non-Ashkenazim and due to the fact that many Sephardim have already acquiesced to this racist state of affairs and relinquished their traditional identity.
9. The following article from the Chronicle of Higher Education provides us with an important understanding of the power of Conservatives and the way that they have achieved that power:
The take-away from the article is that Liberals do not create institutions and their advocacy has not been as effective as that of their competitors.
It is something that Sephardim would do well to better understand.
10. The New York Daily News has an excellent article on corporate welfare related to Madison Square Garden:
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/msg-defends-imperiled-16m-tax-break-article-1.1316574
Alternet provides a more comprehensive discussion of the problem of Corporate Welfare:
While poor people continue to be abused by government and by our media pundits, the rich keep whining about their privileges.
11. Here are a few items from the wacky world of the Ultra-Orthodox:
http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2008/04/haredim-riot-on.html
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4368141,00.html
http://www.yourjewishnews.com/2013/04/26642.html
12. It is laudable that there are many Ashkenazi Jews who continue to support Yiddish and Yiddish culture:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4368307,00.html
Sadly, the situation in the Arab Jewish community is not at all similar. Our young people have been raised with a deep suspicion and contempt for the Arabic language and culture, It seems unlikely that the initiatives of Ashkenazi Jews will be duplicated in the Arab Jewish community.
13. In the following video of a recent talk at the Jewish Theological Seminary, Professor Ruth Calderon – much in the news of late – presents her views on Talmud study in Secular Israel:
http://menachemmendel.net/blog/video-of-ruth-calderon-talk-at-jts/
Professor Calderon has also made news by decrying racism in the Modern Orthodox community in this presentation:
http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/129947/ruth-calderon-calls-out-bigotry
It will be interesting to see how her positions play out over time.
14. Here is a pretty good example of PILPUL dealing with the legacy of George W. Bush:
The disastrous Bush presidency is clear for all those who have eyes.
But not for the writer of this post.
He takes each argument and turns it upside-down and inside-out. It is a fascinating presentation that shows how PILPUL is truly psychotic.
15. Israeli Labor party leader Shelly Yechimovich has written a letter to Bank overseer David Zaken demanding that financial magnate Nochi Dankner’s debt not be excused:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/167219#.UW6WvaLQrvU
16. Rabbi Ovadia Yosef is at it again:
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=8659
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4368672,00.html
Note well that the primary issue for SHAS is the drafting of Kollel students into the IDF. SHAS does not set poverty and cultural deprivation as their top items to lobby for, but have adopted the Ashkenazi Ultra-Orthodox agenda as their own.
17. This week we learned about the degenerate Hillel Nahmad:
The story speaks for itself but we should note that Nahmad is of Arab Jewish origin and represents a new breed in our community:
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2007/1224/080.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Nahmad
http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Dynasty-prepares-to-share-its-family-secrets/24560
It is another sad example of the degeneration of our community.
18. In yet another example of Israelis in the Diaspora, we have this:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4369304,00.html
The subject of the article is a former IDF Intelligence Officer who has now become the president of the Yale University Student Union.
One wonders if this is another Zionist success, or a Zionist failure.
19. A post from the London Review of Books points out some widely-held misconceptions about the late Margaret Thatcher:
David Shasha