Monday, April 20, 2009

Hate or Fear, What's the difference?


Anti-Semitism - noun: a person who discriminates against or is prejudiced or hostile toward Jews.

I've always been a believer in saying things like they are, and not mincing words. The definition above is just a nice way to say hate. Because isn't that what anti-Semitic behavior is after all?

Just read an article today on how Anti-Semitic hate crimes have risen sharply in the last 5 months, and most especially since Israel had Operation Cast Lead, to defend itself. This past Shabbos we experienced anti-semitism first hand in our community.

Racist and anti-Semitic stickers were placed on our Shul, other synagogues in our area and cars Friday night/Saturday morning sometime. Luckily some of the men from our community removed them before any of the children saw the on our shul.

Interesting how this act happened only a few days before the U.N. Racism Conference. Which has been boycotted by United States, Australia, Germany, Canada, Israel, Italy, Sweden, Poland and the Netherlands. There may be others, but this is the list I found. Note that England and France did NOT boycott. And they wonder why those countries are havens for terrorists.

The conference is a follow-up to the contentious 2001 conference in the South African city of Durban which was dominated by clashes over the Middle East and the legacy of slavery. The U.S. and Israel walked out midway through that eight-day meeting over a draft resolution that singled out Israel for criticism and likened Zionism the movement to establish and maintain a Jewish state, to racism.

Today at the conference Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was allowed to give a speech. To which U.N. diplomats walked out. Surprise! Why did they allow this person to speak? Then he said somethings that were racist, anti-Israel and anti-U.S., so some of them walked out. Why did they not see this coming is beyond me.

Some European diplomats immediately walked out of the room when Ahmadinejad said Israel was created on the "pretext of Jewish suffering" from World War II.

Ahmadinejad has always contended that the Holocaust did not happen. It is not really some revelation that he would speak about it again, given a world forum.

Another excerpt of Ahmadinejad's speech:
In a rambling speech, Ahmadinejad on Monday pointed the finger at the United States, Europe and Israel and said they were destabilizing the entire world.


So not only does he hate Israel and the Jews, but now everyone else is on his list of people to hate. Except I guess for North Korea, who is helping him in his quest for nukes.

After all of this the glaring question is why? Why has this man been allowed to get where he is? Why do we tolerate him testing and building nuclear weapons? Why does our President even suggest the idea of having "talks" with him? Why is he given the platform at a multi-nation conference to say the very things we knew he would? Why?

In this time why do people still hate? What are they afraid of? Is there really a difference in the two? Given the condition of our world don't we as a people have more constructive things to do with our time than to waste it on something so non-productive.

You know what is even less productive than hating, is expecting a different result. We all know people who are that consumed with hate never get passed it. It consumes them like a fire burning a piece of paper. Nothing else matters to them, and nothing will stand in the way of accomplishing the goal of removing the object of their discontent. Nothing.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Great Video

This is from Aish.com, and it is a must see. So right for our times!

5 Ways to Misery

Monday, April 6, 2009

It's Not Just About Matzo


As I get down to the very last preparations (YEAH!!!) in my home for Passover, many things come to mind about this time of year. This year in particular has a special event added to the calendar.

The sun rose for the very first time on Wednesday, the fourth day of creation. This Wednesday we will be witnessing the sunrise just as it appeared on that very first Wednesday of creation. In the Jewish calendar this occurs only once every twenty-eight years. The last time that the vernal equinox occurred on a Wednesday was in 1981; the next occurrence will not take place until 2037. This even is called Birkat haChammah.

Birkat haChammah is indeed a rare event—an event that recurs only every twenty-eight years. Even rarer is the occurrence of Birkat haChammah on the fourteenth day of Nisan, erev Pesach, as will be the case this Wednesday. On the morning of the Vernal equinox Jews around the world will make a special blessing, thanking Hashem for creating the sun.

This convergence of the renewal of the sun’s creation (the vernal equinox) and the maturing of the Jewish people (Pesach) is particularly rare. It last occurred in 1925 and the time before that was way back in 1309 (in medieval times). We have over 500 years to wait until 2541 – the next time that a Wednesday Vernal Equinox occurs on the day before Pesach.

We learn that when the sun and moon were first created they were equal in size and importance. The moon complained: "How can two kings rule at the same time." The sun listened to the moon’s complaint but did not say a word. Hashem rewarded the Sun for being satisfied with the job it had been given and made it superior to the moon. As we know now the light of the moon is now nothing but a reflection of the sun.

So many things to learn and contemplate this time of year. Everything is renewing itself, and reminding us of the blessings given to us. Just for a moment think about how incredible it all is, and your heart will almost burst.

Happy Pesach to everyone!