Priorities

It really is time for Americans to remember who we are

Lets start with this wonderful essay by Sam Harris, “Why I Won’t Debate Critics of Israel.” Sam basically says everything you wanted to say, but couldn’t find the words to say it. The comments are interesting as well. With the majority of people agreeing with him, but interspersed you do have the odd Israelphobe with their mental health issues on full display. Now granted, considering that Sam has been an outspoken supporter of Israel since October 7, people wouldn’t tend to pay to follow his Substack if they didn’t agree with him. I do find it interesting though the number of people who pay so they could rage comment on his posts though. Of course, the money might not be coming out of their pocket, just like there are paid protestors, their are paid commenters too.

Think of it this way, according to reports, the Islamo-facist-slavers of Qatar have spent over 400 billion..that’s billion with a B..in the last several decades in creating a footprint in the US. How much of what we see, hear, or read is funded by those who want to not only genocide Israel and the Jewish people, but who want to destroy democracy, civil and human rights, freedom itself, and bring the world under sharia law?

Now if sharia law is your thing, ok. Be my guest.

But honestly, why any woman would want to be considered less than a man by choice, [a woman’s testimony in court is worth half of a man’s, guardianship laws, honor murders, forced marriage, etc] I don’t get it, but that too is their right. Well, I do question though how much it really is their choice within Muslim societies and how much is imposed, especially since killing female members of a family who bring “shame” is culturally acceptable. Moreover, it’s the idiocy of the western feminist saying that the hijab is a choice. Ok, maybe in parts of the west when a woman becomes a Muslim she may want to cover her hair. [ I also question how much choice a woman who lives within a Muslim community in the US has a choice as well], but do they really think that the women of Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, or any other conservative Muslim country actually has a choice in the matter? The morality police murder women in Iran if they don’t cover their hair just so…

And yes, married Jewish women are supposed to cover their hair. And there are Jewish religious laws governing marriage, divorce, and how to live your life as well. You can rest assured I do not cover my hair and would never ask a beit din [usually old men] to decide my fate. In fact, one of the biggest issues in the religious Jewish community are the women who live with divorce (get) refusals. What we these women call in hebrew agunote. (This is a stain on the community) Men, and only men, in the Jewish religion can decide whether or not to allow for a divorce. So there are abusive men who are given this power over their wives because under Jewish religious law from thousands of years ago, they decided that this was the way to go. Ok, back in the day it was not that simple. In ancient times men could simply divorce their wives without going before a court and simply abandon her. Jewish law came up with a solution that the man had to go before a court of 3 rabbis and explain why he wanted the divorce. It was basically societal shame to not abandon a woman you were supposed to spend your life protecting and caring for. Remember in ancient times, marriage was survival. Not so much today. In today’s world however, this law has been used as a weapon against a woman who wants to leave a marriage for whatever reason. I had a lovely friend who followed this rule. Her first husband actually used to hit her. When she went for a divorce, he demanded tens of thousands of dollars in payment from her family in order to sign the divorce papers, or she would be “chained to him” forever. Of course, they paid. And there were no consequences for the man within the community.

You could say that I am an equal opportunity women’s right advocate when it comes to how to live your life. I reject any philosophy that destroys another person’s soul, and takes from them their right to choose how to live their life. I reject misogyny in all forms- religious and/or civil.

And yes I am a Jewish Jew. (as if you couldn’t tell by reading my substack) But I live within the modern world and know my worth. While I do think sometimes modern religious Jews (such as the reform movement) have convoluted social justice with Judaism, I do hope that at some point the more religious out there will understand that simply because a law was written by those closer in spirit to when the law was given on Mt Sinai, it does not mean that law is infallible. ( An orthodox man I worked with once explained to me that the reason they don’t change these laws, is because the ancients who wrote them were spiritually more attuned to what was happening at Sinai. Personally, I think its an excuse by some very “small” men to retain whatever modicum of power they possess.)

There are Jewish religious laws that do need to be changed to reflect equality and give rights to women and girls. This does not mean that modesty, and compassion need to change. It does not mean we need to change the dietary laws. It does not mean we need to change how to celebrate holidays. But until a woman has the right to divorce her husband without his consent, there is no equality in Judaism. My girlfriend z’l (has since passed away from cancer) who had to pay her husband so he would divorce her, used to say to me “well that is the religion.” What I am saying is that it doesn’t have to be. Growth is part of life. We learn, we experience, we change as we understand our world. It is why it is said we need to continually read the Torah because at each level of our life, we will glean something different from the same stories. And religion, as a whole, should reflect that growth as well.

But enough of that…

Listen, you don’t get to impose any religious law in the US over the US Constitution. Catholics have church cannon law and Jews have religious laws as well. The interesting thing is that neither Catholics nor Jews actually tried or thought that their religious laws would be preeminent in the US. They certainly didn’t spend billions of dollars to propagandize western society into believing that democracy and human rights are evil. Our grandparents came to the US knowing full well they were going to accept the laws of the US. They not only accepted these laws, the rights enshrined in the Constitution, but they excelled in using them. They built and created worlds that our ancestors could only dream of. We have a society where within certain boundaries, you can do and you can be anything you want to be.

No it is not easy. No it is sometimes not fair. But what you are allowed to do in the US that you are not allowed to do in the majority of the world is to try to build the life you want. Think of that. It is why people risk life and limb to come here. Why do you think so many come here even illegally? Do you think they don’t love the countries of their births? For most Americans of the 19th century they loved where they came from, but there was no future there anymore. And yes they came here legally, until the US shut its doors abruptly in the 1920s, too many of the tired and poor. (except for the Chinese, they were actually never allowed to stay here.)

Now granted, I am not going to wade into the ICE versus imbecile debates that people are having. Simply don’t mistreat people if you are any kind of law enforcement, aka don’t be an asshole, but if you do break the law in coming here, you are subject to what happens to you. It is a chance you take. Does it mean the laws need to be changed? Well I have been writing about that for decades now, and unfortunately the people we have elected to congress have no balls. Unless you are planning to deport over 11 million and some say upwards of 25 million or more people then something needs to be done to bring these individuals fully into the mainstream of our society. We have a caste system in this country perpetrated by machiavellian individuals using desperate people who are looking for a better life for their families (Yes, there are also drug gangs and horrible people- who should be deported or jailed no matter the immigration law.). And honestly, whatever you do, rioting outside of an ICE detention center does not bring people to your side, and siding with those who want to destroy the USA, like Antifa or Islamists, is not gong to help that cause either.

Read my essay from 2010 in the way back machine “Illegal Huddle masses-It’s Called Human Trafficking”

I do think in the US we have lost the ability to understand who we are and the gifts we have been given by being born here. I used to teach a seminar to middle school students about their rights under the Constitution. I would tell them that they hit the universal jackpot by being born in the US. Sadly I think that so many in our world today have forgotten the gifts we have been given whether through propaganda or outright lies.

No the US is not easy. Yes it is easier to live in nations where you are not allowed choices. You are told what to do and what to think. You are told where you can live and what you can learn. If you stray you are castigated, shunned and disowned. It is authoritarian.

Sadly, the absoluteness of some political persuasions that have become paramount in the US seems to reflect this form of fascism. It is a religious, almost zealous view of the world. Because make no mistake, when there is no wiggle room from the guiding belief system that is fascism. When you are not allowed to think differently without being told how evil you are, that is fascism. When you lose your job, friends, compatriots, your place in society and even your life, because you do not tow the party line, that is fascism. When you think you have a right to murder someone of another belief system, that is not only fascism but the height of evil. When you have to create a bugaboo, a scapegoat, a fall guy in order to promote your political philosophy because the only way to make people accept your belief system is to tell them their fuckups were not of their own making, that is fascism. Always having to have an enemy in order to promote your ideals, that is fascism.

And yes, fascism is here in the US. Any absolute fanatical unequivocal unquestioning adherence to a political belief, be it left or right, is fascist. It is authoritarian. And guess who is the enemy? The universal scapegoat, the Jew. But not any Jew, the Jew who refuses to cower, the Jew who fights back, the Jew who stands tall and demands the same rights as all other people on the face of the earth, the Jew without trembling knees. Ok these modern day fascist authoritarians are happy to accept you as a Jew, as long as you reject your actual Jewish heritage. You need to turn inwards and ghettoize yourself. These political Torquemadas will allow you to remain in their midsts as a Jew as long as you forget who you are and allow yourself to be degraded and debased.

Not your problem? Remember, what begins with the Jews, doesn’t end with the Jews. Those who want to destroy the Jews, want to destroy our freedoms.

And then once this fascist politics becomes normalized, becomes accepted who do you end up with running for Congress? Sociopath abusers with nazi tattoos, defenders of al Qaeda who slaughtered the 3000 Americans on 9/11, supporters of terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah who want to obliterate the US and have also killed Americans, people who say that if you adhere to the first amendment and lobby your government (AIPAC) you are unAmerican, people who think that if you are successful and create an entire new worldwide economy that somehow you are the bad guy (jealousy and thinking you are entitled to someone else’s success), people who think that Hitler was the good guy in WW2, that Putin is the bomb, that the Ayatollahs are righteous, and that raping little girls to death- kidnapping Holocaust survivors, burning alive entire families makes these psychopaths heroes. Qatar has spent 400 billion dollars for just this outcome. Seems by their standards, it was money well spent….

So what is my philosophy and how do we rewire our brains? I think we need to remember who we are as Americans and stop listening to those who want to destroy this country. I don’t care if they are of a particular political party, podcasters, religious leaders, or financial prognosticators. If you cannot function in life without trying to destroy someone else, that is what makes you unAmerican. Pay attention as if your children’s future depends on it, because it does.

*****

May God Bless the US Armed Forces and the IDF.

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