Shavua Tov, The Open Forum 12.22.22

Especially in the context of Israel, world news, current events and politics, what’s on your mind? Anything goes except hate, trolling and religious disputes.

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Seen any good videos lately?

Read any interesting articles?

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1,007 thoughts on “Shavua Tov, The Open Forum 12.22.22”

  2. AuntiE*TFL

    Politically Correct Twelve Days of Christmas

    On the 12th day of the Euro-centrically imposed midwinter festival, my potential-aquaintence-rape-survivor gave to me,

    TWELVE males reclaiming their inner warrior through ritual drumming.

    ELEVEN pipers piping (plus the 18-member pit orchestra made up of members in good standing of the Musicians Equity Union as called for in their union contract even though they will not be asked to play a note…)

    TEN melanin-deprived testosterone-poisoned scions of the patriarchal ruling class system leaping,

    NINE persons engaged in rhythmic self-expression,

    EIGHT economically disadvantaged female persons stealing milk-products from enslaved Bovine-Americans,

    SEVEN endangered swans swimming on federally protected wetlands,

    SIX enslaved fowl-Americans producing stolen nonhuman animal products,

    FIVE golden symbols of culturally sanctioned enforced domestic incarceration,

    (NOTE: after member of the Animal Liberation Front threatened to throw red paint at my computer, the calling birds, French hens and partridige have been reintroduced to their native habitat. To avoid further animal-American enslavement, the remaining gift package has been revised.)

    FOUR hours of recorded whale songs,

    THREE deconstructionist poets,

    TWO Sierra Club calendars printed on recycled processed tree carcasses

    and a Spotted Owl activist chained to an old-growth pear tree.

      1. AuntiE*TFL

        One of my vets posted that to my AM thread.

        By the way, my local market did not do Reisman’s Hanukkah cookies. They had some other brand. I passed on purchasing them for you.

          1. AuntiE*TFL

            I thought sure they would have that brand as they carry other things by them.

            I have a plan for our Sunday meal. Because I am in a 4:00 AM sleep cycle, I am going to start the crockpot on low just before I attempt sleep. It should be finished early afternoon. As we do not have to travel Sunday, the theme for food is flexibility.

          3. AuntiE*TFL

            Someone sent me Sleepy Time Tea. I am going to try it Sunday night. Currently, the cycle is working. It is probably best to try and change it Sunday night. Two more nights of this cycle makes no never mind to things.

          5. AuntiE*TFL

            Aha. You can answer this. My usual hot tea has cream and sugar. Is that allowed with the Sleepy Time tea?

          6. Sapper 9

            If I remember correctly it has a slight sweet taste on it’s own from the spearmint and another natural ingredient, I always drink mine hot and with milk .

            I wouldn’t use sugar when trying to go to bed, but, a little taste of agave nectar , or honey is nice at times.

          9. Sapper 9

            I am presently under investigation for excessive force from a incident two Sundays ago; nothing to worry about, just standard crap.

            I went to a domestic call about a man assaulting a neighbor with a cordless drill; when we pulled up, he pointed a rifle at us.

            The fellow was obviously out of his mind, so , I flanked him and drove him to the ground, hitting his head on the cement.

          14. AuntiE*TFL

            Someone needs to invent a screen we can pass things through. We could all exchange meals, snacks, beverages, etc.

          18. AuntiE*TFL

            My basic pot roast is:
            Lipton Beefy Onion Soup
            Carrots, White Onions, Potatoes
            Beef roast
            Rinse roast, pat dry coat with dry soup
            Slice carrots to bite size,
            Peel outer onion skin and one layer off
            If your potatoes are on the small size, simply clean them. If they are large, cut them in half.
            Coat your veggies with dry soup
            Place all your veggies in the bottom of your crockpot
            Place your roast on top of the veggies with the side that has any fat facing the top of the crockpot.
            I usually cook on low for about six to eight hours.

            I highly recommend purchasing crockpot cooking bags. It saves you having a big cleanup. You can simply wipe the crock out with a sponge.

          21. bill smith

            It’s contingent on the rub. Definitely don’t rub it the wrong way.
            Otherwise, my favourite trick is to cook it at the lowest temperature possible, but for a very long time.

          22. Sapper 9

            I was going to scorch it for a small amount of time to seal the juices in and then finish it as you suggested, low and slow.

            I consider myself to be a master of bbq and meat spice rubs. Lol

            I have already cut the bones off and tied them back on.

          24. AuntiE*TFL

            Now, what to do with your leftovers.

            My mother’s stuffed peppers:
            Coarse grind your left over ingredients all together.
            Remove seeds and innards of green peppers.
            Par boil green peppers.
            Half fill each pepper with your ground mixture.
            Place a piece of cheese
            Fill the remainder of the pepper with your mixture.
            Add a piece of cheese on top.
            Bake.

            Here comes the Caveat. I cannot remember the temperature setting or length of time. I would imagine any basic stuffed pepper recipe will suffice for temperature and time.

          1. AuntiE*TFL

            We are in mid 40s tomorrow with rain. The 24th it will be around 22 and warm to 28 the 25th. It has rained all day here.

          3. AuntiE*TFL

            UncleE is hearing a slightly different forecast than my phone. His is saying the temperature drop will hit tomorrow afternoon. As I have no plans to leave the abode, it will have little impact.

          4. Sapper 9

            Forecasters only need to be correct 1/3 of the time to be considered successful in their occupation.

          10. AuntiE*TFL

            UncleE pays more attention as he is out and about.

            Bless his heart. He brought my “big” down coat in from the back of the car in case I need to go out.

          11. Sapper 9

            We are having -6 Temps here, I had to drive two hours in a snow storm to get home, barely missing being in a 30 car pile up.

      1. Proud Conservative Mom

        No apologies necessary.
        One Menorah for every male old enough to make a blessing on it.
        (My youngest nephew here is 5 and change. They went to eat supper at my other sister-in-law’s house in town BH.)

        If you look closely, you’ll see that there are some smaller Menorahs as well.

        Children tend to light on Menorahs that are a bit smaller.
        It’s not a Halacha (Jewish law).
        It’s just very convenient.

        In Israel, the Menorahs are lit outside and kept in glass boxes.
        That’s the best way to do it.

        Outside of Israel, it’s not done because the diaspora is dangerous and it’s not safe to do so, usually.

        This is a picture from Israel of such a Menorah: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/650f1ec658851138f4dbfe510d08a02833c28e9aebaa6f3d603d86e65d222d56.jpg

        When my children (and one currently is), spent Chanukah in Israel, they used to take walks in the Jewish Quarter of The Old City and around Yerushalayim admiring all of the beautiful Menorahs.

        1. Sapper 9

          I had assumed that you had mentioned the number of males present for a reason, that is why I asked.

          Thank you for the information.

    1. Sapper 9

      That is probably more than the EU sent, other than their demands that the US send more to Ukraine. sarc sort of.

          1. Proud Conservative Mom

            👍👍👍

            I even did a report on President Hoover in sixth grade that has that information.
            (That was the luck of the draw that I picked when I chose a name out of a box to do a report on. Everyone had to do a detailed report on a different president.)

      2. Sapper 9

        I wonder why all of the Kennedy assassination files haven’t been opened up, no, not really, I can guess why.

    1. diaspora

      Beautiful Pictures!
      Mom, how is HP doing? Please say Hello to him and wish him a Happy Hanukkah from all of us at the NtJP forum. Thank you.

      2. Sapper 9

        That was my job for 27 years, I could cut those beams with c4 where it looked like a saw had cut them. Lol

    1. Proud Conservative Mom

      Just read the entire article.
      I feel so very badly for Ryan Cunningham.

      I’m so beyond grateful that I stuck to my guns.

      That vaccine indeed would have killed me.
      I never doubted myself.

      Every tragic story like this one, just confirms what I already knew to be true.

      Six months of miserable and debilitating post-Covid side effects after the not fun Delta Variant, was a price worth paying.

      2. Sapper 9

        I am glad that I skipped out on the vaccine , unfortunately, both of my daughters fell to the pressure and rolled up their sleeves.

        1. Proud Conservative Mom

          My husband, and all of my children, sans my youngest as well.
          My 21 year old didn’t want it, but wanted to study in Eretz Yisroel.

          When I had Covid, my husband tested my now 18 year old for antibodies.
          His were sky high.
          He was spared.
          He has the original Covid; a mild case of it the year before.

          My parents, and all of my in-laws were jabbed as well.

          I was the “crazy” one according to a few well meaning people.
          I was putting my life in danger, dontcha know, by not getting the vaccine.

          And after I got it and suffered terribly from nausea Hell, extreme fatigue, and brain fog, I was told by a few that I would have gotten a milder case, if at all, had I gotten jabbed.

          One cannot prove a negative.

          I KNOW otherwise.
          I would be DEAD.

          Hashem put a visual in my head of me looking at my own open grave.
          Every instinct was SCREAMING HELL NO.

          In addition, it also made no sense to me in any manner.
          The entire scenario was extremely fishy, to say the least on many levels.

          I’m not even allowed to get the flu shot.
          It’s all guesswork.
          Yet, I was supposed to be a lab rat for the “poison death shot?!”

          ABSOLUTELY NOT.

          I try not to think about the ones who are jabbed.
          It doesn’t help.
          I just daven for them.

          I tried so very hard to talk them out of it.
          💔💔💔😪😪😪

    2. AlgorithmicAnalyst

      A masters degree doesn’t seem to be enough to understand what is going on. Seems one needs some independent study, of history for example, including history of vaccines. Desert Woman was the best source of information, for me.

  47. bill smith

    The Sovereignty Movement Congratulates the Incoming Prime Minister and his Ministers for including the Quest for Sovereignty in the Coalition Guidelines

    The Sovereignty Movement enthusiastically welcomes the coalition agreements promoting the process of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria as another level in the realization of the Zionist vision.

    “The opportunity for great historical merit is opening for the leaders of the agreements between the Likud and the Religious Zionist Party and their partner factions to advance the State of Israel and the People of Israel toward the realization of the dream of generations, Israeli sovereignty over the cradle of the Jewish People’s birthplace, Judea and Samaria, say the co-chairwomen of the movement, Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar.

    According to them, it is evident that the coalition agreement seeks to implement in practice the will of the great majority of the people in Israel as was expressed by the results of the elections. “The incoming Prime Minister and his designated ministers will have to deal with a complex situation, with attacks, from home and from abroad, when foreign interest groups join forces with leftist bodies at the center of influence in the media, academia and the judicial system, seeking to weaken the government’s power and spread imaginary threats, but Mr. Netanyahu and his ministers must remember that by promoting the steps of sovereignty, they are expressing their faithfulness to the will of the people in Israel who have clearly stated: Yes to sovereignty, no to a Palestinian state. With these steps, the Israeli government will restore the State of Israel to the path of Zionism – building, development and strengthening the Jewish People in the Land of Israel.

    Our movement will support every step of sovereignty over the Land of Israel in every way and will back and encourage the decision makers in the incoming government”.

      1. Sapper 9

        And since a majority of the EU is in NATO and rely on the US to spend on their defense, they have extra money.

  58. Proud Conservative Mom

    To my Jewish brethren: Have a glorious Shabbos and Chag Chanukah Sameach in every single manner. May it be very inspirational, healthy, peaceful, restful, and pain-free. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ff985bed60134321dafb25b57cc7e923bdc292d9e7ea13e2d96276de86f117e4.jpg

    To my gentile friends: Have a fabulous weekend in every single manner! May it be healthy, restful, peaceful, healthy, and pain-free.

    For those who are celebrating, enjoy your holiday. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1a86a3339474c9ee17d6587ab138107da96f64e3d522bcc1eadf76691714d145.jpg

  67. Proud Conservative Mom

    Joseph and Preserving Someone’s Dignity

    By: Rabbi Dr. Avraham Twerski ZTL

    Parshas Mikeitz (Genesis 41:1-44:17)

    Joseph saw his brothers and he recognized them, but he acted like a stranger toward them (42:7)

    Jacob grieved relentlessly over the loss of his beloved son whom he assumed to be dead, and he refused to be consoled. “I will go down to the grave mourning for my son” (Genesis 37:35). Joseph knew what kind of agony his father was suffering. Even if he was not able to communicate to him when he was a slave of Potiphar or when he was in prison, he was certainly able to do so once he became viceroy of Egypt. Why did he not inform his father that he was alive and alleviate his profound grief?

    Furthermore, Joseph is referred to in Torah writings as “Joseph the tzaddik.” Is it characteristic of a tzaddik to wreak vengeance and torment his brothers the way Joseph did? We would expect that as a tzaddik, he would not harbor a grudge and would forgive them.

    The explanation I heard from my late brother, R’ Shlomo, addresses these questions and provides an answer that is both ethically and psychologically sound.

    If Joseph had forgiven his brothers for their shameful act, he would have been the magnanimous person who, from the goodness of his heart, forgave his offenders. The brothers would have forever been the groveling penitents who would have to eternally bear the guilt of their behavior. There would be no opportunity for them to make any amends. They would never again be able to face Joseph or their father. Their spirits would have been totally crushed.

  69. Proud Conservative Mom

    Trusting God

    by Rabbi Ron Jawary

    Parshas Mikeitz (Genesis 41:1-44:17)

    “It happened at the end of two years; Pharaoh was dreaming” (Genesis, 41:1). The Midrash points out that Joseph had to spend an additional two years in jail since he put his trust in another person and not in the Divine. One of the ways to understand this is that Joseph felt this man was the key to his freedom and thus limited the ability of the Divine to help him.

    In life, we have to make the appropriate effort, but we cannot rely on our effort alone to solve our problems. God is limitless and can send us a blessing through any means; we should not limit His ability by deciding where the blessing should come from. The Talmud teaches us that the source of a person’s success is hidden from him, echoing this same idea. This applies to every aspect of our lives, whether in terms of relationships, finance, health… We need to realize that, through the efforts we make and the trust we place in the Divine, we will be blessed. However, this blessing may not come in the manner we expect, but in the manner and time in which the Divine wants them to come. The options open to God are infinite.

  70. Proud Conservative Mom

    It’s NEVER too late!!

    I met a lovely single woman in her early sixties at a wedding about two weeks ago.
    She was a secular Jew who “Orthodoxed” many years ago.

    (On another note, she looks so very young and beautiful with an inner light that shines on her face as well. I was shocked at her age.)

    She told me that BH, her mother just turned 91. She “Orthodoxed” at 86 years of age.

    I am in AWE.

    What amazing heroines! ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

    I learned that when Hashem told Avraham Avinu (our Patriarch Abraham), that his children would be like the stars, Hashem literally picked Avraham up so that he was looking down at the stars.
    RASHI says this.

    A Jew is gifted with the ability to be above nature.
    A Jew has more power than he can begin to imagine.
    A Jew has the ability to move mountains and change his entire destiny.

    *****************************

    “It is never too late.
    It is never too little.
    It is never enough.”

    – Rabbi Yissochar Frand

    1. "Divergent" sgthwjack ✯

      Mornin’! A balmy 12° here at the moment but sunny and dry. No plans for this year. Be staying in and trying some new recipes, warm in the kitchen. 🤠

      1. Proud Conservative Mom

        Balmy 12 degrees! 🤣🤣🤣

        If you come up with any good recipes, please feel free to share them.

        Wishing you the very best always!

        I have to copy your Disqus I.D.
        I cannot remember it.

        I’ll save it to my phone, Be’Ezras Hashem.

        1. "Divergent" sgthwjack ✯

          Odd thing, I was remembering my grandmother used to bake gingerbread and drizzle it with a lemon sauce. Many years ago but absolutely delicious. Finally found a recipe for that sauce! Was at my little local grocers and there is a lady that bakes things and he sells them for her. There happened to be a small loaf of gingerbread so I got it, just after I found the recipe for that sweet and tangy sauce! This is the recipe for the sauce.

          LEMON SAUCE

          Ingredients
          1/2 cup sugar
          2 tbsp cornstarch
          3/4 cup water
          1 tbsp lemon zest
          1/4 cup lemon juice
          2 tbsp butter
          Instructions
          1.Add sugar and cornstarch to a saucepan over medium heat. Gradually add water and stir to combine. Cook until mixture starts to boil and then boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
          2. Stir in lemon zest, lemon juice and butter. Let cool 30 minutes before serving. Serve warm.

    1. "Divergent" sgthwjack ✯

      The full list:

      Blunt (MO)
      Boozman (AR)
      Capito (WV)
      Collins (ME)
      Cornyn (TX)
      Cotton (AR)
      Graham (SC)
      Inhofe (OK)
      McConnell (KY)
      Moran (KS)
      Murkowski (AK)
      Portman (OH)
      Romney (UT)
      Rounds (SD)
      Shelby (AL)
      Thune (SD)
      Wicker (MS)
      Young (IN)

        1. "Divergent" sgthwjack ✯

          Truth is timeless.

          “A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself.” Marcus Tullius Cicero

  74. AuntiE*TFL

    Grandpa was celebrating his 100th birthday and everybody complimented him on how athletic and well-preserved he appeared. “Gentlemen, I will tell you the secret of my success,” he cackled. “I have been in the open-air day after day for some 75 years now.”

    The celebrants were impressed and asked how he managed to keep up his rigorous fitness regime. He replied, “Well, you see my wife and I married 75 years ago. On our wedding night, we made a solemn pledge. “Whenever we had a fight, the one who was proved wrong would go outside and take a walk.”

    https://www.ba-bamail.com/jokes/marriage-jokes-and-wedding-jokes/?jokeid=131

  75. AuntiE*TFL

    Rand Paul’s annual waste report is out. I copied one page for everyone to see.

    The Waste of 2022

     Giving ineligible citizens COVID Economic Injury Disaster Grants (SBA)…..$4,500,000,000

     Using COVID relief funds to construct an 11,000 square foot spa…………….. $140,000,000

     Using COVID relief funds to purchase luxury cars ……………………………..$31,500,000

     Wisconsin school using COVID relief funds to upgrade turf fields………………..$1,600,000

     Camouflage uniforms that do not fit the Afghanistan environment (DOD)……..$28,000,000

     Funding a 1.5-mile park in Austin, Texas, used for yoga and concerts (DOD)…….$9,000,000

     Starbucks espresso machines (DOD)………………………………………………$192,592

     Interest Payments on the Debt (Treasury)……………………………………$475,000,000,000

     Maintaining 77,000 empty Federal buildings (GSA)……………………………$1,700,000,000

     “Basic education” projects in Jordan (USAID)………………………………….$210,069,000

     Expanding the Washington, D.C. Streetcar that’s rarely used and unreliable…….$175,000,000

     Helping illegal immigrants avoid deportation (DHS)………………………….. $168,000,000

     Mismanaged and un-tracked fuel purchases (State)……………………………… $77,000,000

     Subsidizing the free New York Staten Island Ferry (DOT)………………………..$70,000,000

     Overpaying government contractors for a terminated contract (GSA)…………..$69,000,000

     East Baton Rouge unused federal housing grants (HUD)…………………………$13,400,000

     Boosting the Tunisia travel sector during COVID-19 (USAID)………………….$50,000,000

     Unused hotel rooms for illegal immigrants (DHS)……………………………….$17,000,000

     Constructing a Gandhi museum…………………………. ………………………..$3,000,000

     Watching hamsters fight on steroids (NIH)………………………………………..$3,000,000

     Super Bowl commercials telling you to fill out the Census (Commerce)…………..$2,500,000

     Injecting 6-month-old beagle puppies with cocaine (NIH) ……………………………….$2,300,000

     Encouraging Ethiopians to wear shoes (NIH)………………………………………………………$2,100,000

     Training mice to binge drink alcohol (NIH)……………………………………….$1,100,000

     Studying the romance between parrots (NSF)……………………………………………$689,222

     Studying the social life and collective intelligence of ants (NSF)……………………..$675,000

     Using mice to study racial aggression (NIH)…………………………………………$519,828

     Redeveloping the United States hard cider market (USDA)……………………….. $491,794

     A radio campaign telling drivers to stop at railroad crossings (DOT)………………..$200,000

     Verifying that kids love their pets (NIH)……………………………………………$187,500

     Researching if Thanos could snap his fingers wearing the infinity gauntlet (NSF)…..$118,971

        1. Sapper 9

          One government flight with Nancy should surpass the desired effect.

          One flight with the “squad” will turn them racist.

    3. george linker

      Science is incapable of determining if someone loves yet they spend money trying to determine just that.

      Verifying that kids love their pets (NIH)……………………………………………$187,500

    4. Sapper 9

      I want to watch hamsters on steroids fight (sarc), but, I am not willing to pay to see it, especially $3,000,000.00.

      1. Sapper 9

        My poor chihuahua got frozen to the ground when it went outside, I guess I need to purchase a set of the dog shoes that I always make fun of.

  91. diaspora

    Chicago Joke

    Bob was sitting on the plane waiting to fly to Chicago, when a guy took the seat beside him. The guy was an emotional wreck, pale, hands shaking in fear.

    “What’s the matter, afraid of flying?” Bob asked.

    “No, it’s not that. I’ve been transferred to Chicago. The people are crazy there, right? Lots of shootings, gangs, race riots, drugs, poor schools, and the highest crime rate in the nation.”

    Bob replied, “I’ve lived in Chicago all my life. It’s not as bad as the media says. Find a nice home, go to work, mind your own business, and enroll your kids in a nice private school. I’ve worked there for 14 years and never had the slightest trouble.”

    The guy relaxed and stopped shaking and said, “Oh, thank you. I’ve been worried to death, but if you’ve lived and worked there all those years and say it’s OK, I’ll take your word for it. What do you do for a living?”

    “I’m a tail gunner on a Budweiser truck.”

    1. Weary Traveler

      Funny enough, there was a spot like this that was aired on RT recently.

      Funny how Putin has far more sense than most of our politicians.

      1. Sapper 9

        Most politicians are too dumb to do anything else, they are puppets of the “think tanks” and lobbyists.

        1. Weary Traveler

          Most politicians are so useless, they wouldn’t even be able to figure out how to use a screw driver.

        1. Sapper 9

          I think that it is an internet Russian television site, which is in english; however, I am not 100% positive.

          5. John Gillis

            TASS referred to the US as the last bastion of liberty some 10 years ago. They stated the reason for it: The 2nd Amendment.

        2. Weary Traveler

          RT = Russia Today. It’s a state run news agency from Russia.

          I’m doing good. Going to head over to Thompson St tonight after dinner, which is where all the houses have extravagant decorations, and walk around looking at the lights.

      1. Weary Traveler

        Somehow I anticipated that reaction. LOL

        Hope everything is well with you and yours, as well as can be under the circumstances anyway.

          1. Sapper 9

            Apologies i assumed incorrectly that the meme was on the ,good side of the line; unfortunately that meme does a good job of summing up the “woke” sheep’s recent indoctrination.

  93. Proud Conservative Mom

    Eternal Lights for The Eternal People
    Rav Avigdor Miller ZTL on Which Miracle Matters

    Q:
    Why is Al Hanisim (for the miracles (prayer)) mostly about the victory over the Yevanim (Greeks) and not about the nes (miracle) of the shemen (oil)?

    A:

    You have to realize that the even though the nes of the shemen was most important because it was a spiritual salvation – it was an especial manifestation of the Presence of Hashem for the Am Yisroel, but the people at the time when they were rescued, when they expressed להודות ולהלל לשמך הגדול what were they thanking for? Were they thanking for their spiritual salvation? No; they were primarily thanking Hashem for their physical salvation. That’s human nature.

    And therefore we have two levels. The truth is like the Gemara says, מאי חנוכה – “What is Chanukah?” and Rashi there says, על איזה נס קבעוה – “For which nes did they make Chanukah?” And the Gemara answers that it’s for the miracle of the oil. The nes of the shemen is the most important feature of Chanukah, that’s the truth. But still we should never lose sight of the fact of the physical purkan, the redemption from our enemies. If you lose sight of the smaller chesed because of the greater chesed, you’re making a great error. People should always remember that the chesed of gashmiyus is also very important chesed.

    However, there’s another factor even more important and that factor is as follows. What is the menorah of Hakodosh Boruch Hu? The menorah of Hakodosh Boruch Hu is the Jewish people. נר השם נשמת אדם. We are the light for the nations. We are His lamp. We are the ones that will never be extinguished. The nes that never does the flame go out means us. The Jewish people is eternal. Forever and ever the fire of the Torah ideals will burn in our hearts. That’s what we’re speaking about tonight and that’s what we’ll always speak about, forever and ever. That’s the real menorah of Chanukah. And therefore when Hakodosh Boruch Hu rescued our people by means of all those battles against the mighty armies, this real menorah didn’t go out. However, in order to appreciate this menorah it was necessary for the nes to happen with the menorah inside the Beis Hamikdash. But it’s all one nes. We are the menorah that doesn’t go out. We’ll never go out. And so even though the menorah in the Beis Hamikdash finally did go out but it burned miraculously for eight days to show us that Hakodosh Boruch Hu’s Shechinah rests on us and it will rest on us forever.

    And therefore when we speak on Chanukah about the miracles of the victories over our enemy, we should feel exactly like we’re talking about the candles, the lamps that never went out. They’re one and the same thing. Only that one explains the other.

    TAPE # 485 (December 1983)

      2. Proud Conservative Mom

        TYVM! It ignites my heart and soul.
        The lights are extremely holy and healing.
        Hat tip @IsraelReader:disqus.

        I say Tehillim (Psalms) for a full half hour after they’re lit.

        I am davening for miracles.

        I have a Chanukah Party at the last minute right now.
        Two are called for tomorrow, Be’Ezras Hashem.

        I’ll be on sporadically as a result.

        Wishing you all the best of everything…

          1. Proud Conservative Mom

            I remember vaguely when you posted something about you serving in Europe.
            I cannot recollect any more information.

            It was when I had very recently landed on the blog (very shortly after my abdominal surgery in 2020).

            Where and when did you serve and for how long, please?

  104. Weary Traveler

    Ron DeSantis may be a great governor, but I would sooner undergo a root canal without Novocaine than live in a tropical climate, and have to worry about alligators coming on to my property. No offense to any of our dear friends in Florida like Sarita. But in my never to be humble opinion, it is Hell on Earth.

    Out of the top destination states listed, if I were forced to choose on of them, I would go for Idaho. Specifically, northern Idaho, since it is wooded, and has lots of nice mountains and lakes.

    Personally, I think we need to fight for our homelands. These useless creeps called politicians have no right to displace us, and in turn, cause us to displace the locals in other states by adding more strain to their infrastructure with crowding, and driving up the cost of living.

    It’s the Newsoms and the Hochuls that need to be displaced. Permanently.

    Since Covid Lockdowns, New York Lost More of Its Population than Any Other State

    https://mises.org/wire/covid-lockdowns-new-york-lost-more-its-population-any-other-state

      1. Sapper 9

        They move to avoid the taxes, then vote for the same type programs that caused the high taxes.

        Liberals are very generous people, but, only with other people’s money, never their own; example A Bill Clinton claimed the donation of his worn underwear on his taxes.

        1. Sapper 9

          I get that. Lol

          I don’t normally post xthian songs, but, this one is funny and more political, and not so religious.Lol

          Rand Paul’s rendition of the Night before Xmas, about congress.

          Or as I call it The Nightmare before Xmas.

          https://youtu.be/wexNTPkQKxY

          2. Weary Traveler

            Just gonna take a walk with Carolyn after dinner.

            Just saw her a little earlier today. She’s trying to walk a lot more to get her energy back.

          4. Weary Traveler

            It is. Both for the mental and the physical. And you actually burn more talking and walking than you do just walking.

      2. Weary Traveler

        LOL…

        Although, seriously, I agree. If I am never served another turkey again for the rest of my life, it would be too soon.

        2. Sapper 9

          For thanksgiving , I cooked a turkey in an oil-less turkey fryer, the best I have ever eaten, but, usually I am not a fan of turkey.

          I got my family together on thursday for a big meal, and of all things , I attended a wedding today; the reason the couple chose today was a really cute story.

          The groom has worked for me for around five years as a mechanic, he lived in a big Rv which I allow him to park on our business property ; free rent for him, an extra set of eyes watching things.

          Last Xmas, I came across a young lady who broke down on the side of the road; her brakes had disintegrated and some of the reusable components were destroyed.

          I felt sorry for her and her child, I took her truck back to our maintenance bay, called in a favor with a friend that owns an auto recycling business and scrounged up the needed parts to get her back on the road.

          The young mechanic came to the shop and helped me fix the truck of the woman he married today. lol

          1. Weary Traveler

            That’s an awesome story. It proves you never know what good things are waiting around the corner for you.

          2. Sapper 9

            My unit was tasked with providing a funeral detail for a WW2 veteran, afterwards we were invited to a fish fry, something we would normally decline since we had a van load of M16s; however, we went to the fish fry held in honor of CPL Perkins, two of the men on the detail met their future wives at that gathering. lol

            At the funeral , a patriotic poem written by CPL Perkins was read, I complimented it to his daughter and received a copy in the mail, which I framed and put on the walls of my office; unfortunately, I have misplaced it since I retired from the Army.

          2. AuntiE*TFL

            Any other portion ProgenyE will gladly partake of. Both of us consume enough turkey, we may soon gobble gobble.

          3. Weary Traveler

            Come to my neighborhood sometime, we actually have plenty of wild turkeys roaming around. I actually saw about a half dozen of them walking across the street as I was out walking today.

          5. Weary Traveler

            They are quite an interesting site, actually. Apparently, they like to sleep up in some of the trees.

      1. bill smith

        Combine them, have chinese steak!
        They marinade in baking soda which makes it very soft… but tastes terrible so need a good sauce to make it with.

          2. Sapper 9

            Just submerge it in the coke , or use a couple of shots of whiskey with apple juice.

            For my fourth of July BBQ, which I haven’t had for the last two years, I always make my apple bourbon brisket, and it is always very tender; brisket as you know, is a tough piece of meat if not given lots of love.

    3. diaspora

      Bill, wishing you, your loved ones and all our NtJP friends a Very Happy Hanukkah! Please extend this greeting to Sarita & HP, they are missed. Also, please wish Filter a Merry Christmas on our behalf. Thank you for all the work that you are doing for all of us. G-d Bless.

    4. Proud Conservative Mom

      A Freilichen Chanukah!
      And for those who don’t do either one?! 😁😁😁

      I’m leaving to another family Chanukah feast shortly, Be’Ezras Hashem.

      I had asked my son in Eretz Yisroel to take a picture of the Menorahs in Yerushalayim.

      I’ll never forget when my oldest son called me on one of his nightly walks around Yerushalayim and described to me the beauty of seeing all of the Menorahs.

      He sent me this picture earlier today: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8e340d90de5854fb9bf64c4f3316699eb47c4f65c7239ff08769ab9485b7fa67.jpg

      On another note, we played a Jewish version of the “Apples to Apples” game called “Twisted Kichels.”

      I had several responses to choose from when I had a turn as judge (for the best answer).
      Once I started to laugh and grabbed my phone to snap a picture, everyone knew which one I had chosen. 😃😃😃

      As you would say: “Cheers.”

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/560bb57f894e7295ef97b4e39c8b3f9b4fdbd308ffba98b9a914567582099952.jpg

      1. Sapper 9

        My granddaughter gave my dog of 4 years a name last year, I just called it dog and when I was mad at it , Richard, it is now known as Bobbie, formerly known as DOG.

        The little dog showed up as a tiny puppy, at a time that I had experienced a great loss and was having a difficult time.

  117. Proud Conservative Mom

    https://twitter.com/LehiRed/status/1606713205329481730?t=5dHevYMStbaCc6W9Sv-f9w&s=19

    Hat tip HP
    (This is not his account. I would never betray a confidence.)

    The flame of the Jewish People will never be extinguished, BH.

    Am Yisroel Chai Lanetzach!
    ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱

    Chag Sameach, this last and most auspicious day for miracles, of Chanukah.

  121. Proud Conservative Mom

    I first heard these beautiful words from my father, may he and my mother have many more years together. May Hashem grant them a Refuah Sheleimah as well as Tzippora Chana bas Rochel Leah.

    I was about eight years when he told this to me.
    It made a lifetime impression on me (as well as so many other things…)

    It made me think: “Pinch me, so I know that I am not dreaming!”

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b08a0c9a4d3d5358be57cb3e502f7ecb756e89dd4d5dd8a8f0977c140b4903f4.png

  137. Proud Conservative Mom

    Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu would suspend plans to annex parts of Judea and Samaria, commonly known as the West Bank in exchange for the normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia, according to a report over the weekend.

    Talks are underway between Israel, the United States and Saudi Arabia to this end, Yediot Aharonot reported.

    — JewishNews24

  139. Proud Conservative Mom

    From yesterday:

    Three buses of recent migrant families arrived from Texas near the home of Vice President Kamala Harris in record-setting cold night.

    Texas authorities have not confirmed their involvement, but the bus dropoffs are in line with previous actions by border-state governors calling attention to the Biden administration’s immigration policies.

    — JewishNews24

    (EXCELLENT.)

    1. diaspora

      “…involving operatives from Judea and Samaria who were being directed by handlers from the Gaza Strip.” – and financed by Abbas, the PLO and Hamas!

  146. John Gillis

    Whoopi Goldberg called the Holocaust “white on white violence”. This coming from a black comedienne who culturally appropriated a Jewish surname to advance her career!

      1. John Gillis

        Thank God Goldberg didn’t live during WWII. She’d cheer for the Nazis because she hates our nation

      2. Sapper 9

        The old saying “sex sells” should also be “sex controls”; these diginerates fall into traps and are blackmailed into criminal and traitorous acts.

        Where did Epstein get the money for his own island and lavish lifestyle?; follow the money trail.

  154. Weary Traveler

    Very apropos to what Marty and I were talking about earlier, regarding the right to privacy and the importance of the fourth amendment.

    Do You Really Have Nothing to Hide?

    https://brownstone.org/articles/do-you-really-have-nothing-to-hide/

    This started on the misnomer that only they guilty would refuse a search. This lead to me explaining why the fourth amendment exists, which is NOT to protect the guilty from prosecution, but to protect the innocent from persecution.

    Saying “if you got nothing to hide” is the mark of a paranoid mind, and actually what a guilty person would say. Not an innocent one.

    1. Proud Conservative Mom

      Now why am I not even remotely surprised?
      We’ve become the United Socialist States of America.
      That’s the new “norm.”

      I very highly recommend everyone read this article.
      It’s incredibly written.

      We don’t have unequivocal rights any more.
      And INDEED, we’re all on a list!

      1. Weary Traveler

        Like I said to Marty last night regarding our conversation on a different topic, and the importance of the rights to privacy.

        The people telling you that “if you got nothing to hide …”, are the guilty ones. It’s their own paranoia talking.

        The only reason the government wants to violate your privacy is because they are guilty of committing crimes against us, and conspiring to do so. It’s their paranoia, coupled with their own guilt talking.

  158. Tony

    “Two Russian nationals, including Putin critic, found dead in hotel in India” [JP]
    Windows in Russia are ideal for jumping out of.

    1. Sapper 9

      And Jeffery Epstein hung himself with toilet paper, after his cell mate was moved, he was taken off suicide watch and the cameras decided not to work.

      1. IMSarahAnn

        I hope that your Chanukah was magnificent and grows even more so for years to come. G-d bless you!

      1. IMSarahAnn

        Where ever the antisemitism comes, from, it will return to the perpetrators more than they can ever dream of. Another word for Jew is chosen. Another word for Jew is royal, as in “royal people.” And still another word is Light as in a “light onto the nations.”
        I pray that you and your family experience great peace, joy and happiness during all seasons of the years to come. Stay safe, my friend. G-d bless you.

        1. Tony

          There seems to be far more of it reported over the last few years than ever before. I think it is just a substitute
          since anti-Islam comments are now banned.

        2. Weary Traveler

          The short answer, is that it is based on jealousy. This was the topic of the show Marty and I were watching last night, and the topic was “woke antisemitism.”

          The way the left works, is that the successful are the oppressors by default. The started with class under Marx, and would get extended to race with Hitler, and today’s wokesters who incorporate both in their narratives.

      1. AuntiE*TFL

        I must do something I dislike. My post office serves one of the largest zip codes yet has only six parking spaces!😫😟 I have a package that should have been sent last week. UncleE has volunteered to chauffeur me, making the trip less stressful.

        I had two night of good sleep. One night of none. I had another of okay. Things seem to be evening out.

        Have all your visitors returned to their homes?

      1. Weary Traveler

        Exactly. And it is was who they want us to think it is, they would already have a suspect’s face all over the media, if not already have someone in custody by now.

      2. Sapper 9

        The reporting is going something like this, “we don’t know who did this, but, but white supremacy ” , they are using weasel speak to imply that this was done by white conservatives.

    2. george linker

      I would suspect the people of extinction rebellion who are just fanatical enough to take things in their own hands.

        1. Sapper 9

          They did the same at a luxury car dealership, then tried to demand that the dealership provide them portable toilets, food and water.

      2. Sapper 9

        That reminds me of the college professor who was caught starting forest fires in the name of the “climate change” narrative, he wanted the fires to be used to push the narrative.

      1. Weary Traveler

        That’s the kind of thing right there that tells me there is a God.

        Carolyn sent that to me earlier today. It was too cool not to share.

          3. Weary Traveler

            It’s a pity we all don’t live closer together. We would have a fun time, the three of us, hanging out.

          7. Weary Traveler

            I have shared that with her last night. I may just be a step closer to getting her to join us here.

        1. Proud Conservative Mom

          I have heard and read many times in my learning, that every snowflake is unique.

          Out of curiosity, I Googled it and it appeared in an article by Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb and on the first page of a transcript of a speech by Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks ZTL.

          These men are (Rabbi Weinreb is BH still alive) and were (unfortunately Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks ZTL isn’t), brilliant men.

          Scientists had said for years that microbiology doesn’t exist and people died in hospitals after surgeries, for example, from germs that couldn’t be seen.

          Do you believe that science is the beginning and end to everything?

          There is a famous story of a person who heard a conversation of two very great Rabbis in the Talmudic era who were discussing the gestation period of a snake. There is an entire analysis of that in the Talmud (along with other animals). This person was in the midst of studying the snake and trying to determine this fact for himself. Meanwhile, the knowledge was known to my people. He ran over to the Rabbis in disbelief that they knew what “science” didn’t.

          Based on the reputations of Rabbi Weinreb and Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks ZTL, I am going to stick with what they wrote, with all due respect.

          I screenshot the relevant portions of the transcript from the speech of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks ZTL, and am providing the link as well, in addition to the Talmud.

          I screenshot the article in it’s entirety of Rabbi Weinreb because it’s a PDF file.

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/55332b5f8cdf32ce8b1090ebdbb0701b61192d72ee08d4fc28d1d1cec09a05a2.png
          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/38b5df613c7fdeeb37393ea17a7b0224a133198152d7f477c7621f783114b52c.png
          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/acd47860356ac548b2e9d998835b70f033ac03e806613b7089db7f49ea211101.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/372509c800a19af461f7993a695572029ca9667b958514299a668d00a4fc7969.png https://www.rabbisacks.org/archive/faith-lectures-jewish-identity-the-concept-of-a-chosen-people/

          https://www.sefaria.org/Bekhorot.8a.15?lang=bi

          There are many mysteries that science has still yet to discover…

          1. Weary Traveler

            Science is merely a pursuit of knowledge, is never fully conclusive, as theories and experiments get challenged, and even proven otherwise all the time. This is why I get irritated when I hear the words “the science says”, as for one, there is only science, not “the science.” Who’s science are they talking about?

            “The Science” once believed that the Earth was flat, and that the sun revolved around the earth.

          4. Proud Conservative Mom

            You must have read my mind!
            INDEED, the world having once been considered to be flat, was once a “fact.”

            I totally commiserate with how you feel when someone talks about “the science.”
            That’s PRECISELY how I feel as well.

          1. Weary Traveler

            It is a slur towards the Vegetable and chief, and for good reasons.

            A snowflake just doesn’t think we should call out the emperor being naked. LOL

        3. Proud Conservative Mom

          This attachment was supposed to have been part of my prior posting.
          I did not realize until this morning, that it did not come out correctly.
          I’m unsure as to why the screenshot failed.

          (English is a very wordy language in comparison to Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic. The bolded words are the translation of the words in the Talmud. The non-bolded letters, are English words added in order for the translation to make sense.)

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/74a4ffea9da783d9e34f25214e943da107a6b8f003762c7626a044e37d715b55.png

          5. IMSarahAnn

            Doctors and other business keep us occupied. Holiday was peaceful. Our daughter hasn’t been home yet. She has been on call, but plans to visit soon. Under the circumstances, we’d prefer her staying where she is because of weather and other situations.
            How’re you and yours? G-d bless you and thanks for asking, Rebecca. 🤗🥰💞🙏

          6. Proud Conservative Mom

            I’m so very grateful that you had a peaceful holiday.
            Understood why you felt that way because of the weather.

            We’ve been in a deep freeze since last week.
            BH, it will finally be warmer tomorrow.
            I came down with something for a change.
            The really cold and raw weather, makes me ill.
            BH, these things will pass.

            Chanukah was positively beautiful, as always.
            I LOVE spending time with my family.

            I’m always saddened to see it leave.

            I hold in my mind, heart, and soul, the memories of spending time in front of those beautiful Chanukah lights. They practically whisper to me: “You’re still here, and always will be!”
            ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱

    1. Proud Conservative Mom

      Agreed that too little of the article spoke about Covid.
      They should have spent less time on The Cold War, the internet, and 9/11.

      I see it more than just the internet having caused the bubbles of small town America to burst.

      From a religious perspective, and as a Torah Jew, I see the world differently.

      Torah is eternal.
      The Commandments never change.

      If one’s religion is evolving to accommodate whatever is going on at the time, with all due respect, it doesn’t say much about the religion.

      Judaism adapts to the world without changing the theology.
      No Orthodox Jewish Rabbi will ever condone homosexuality for example, because it’s an abomination before Hashem.

      Society might have temporarily lost its mind, but BH not all of us have!

      1. Weary Traveler

        One of the things it did point out is how the Episcopal church, which has shifted the furthest to the left, and for the longest time, is dying out. According to another article I read, the Episcopal church will be gone by 2050. So obviously, accommodating doesn’t work, because that means the institution stands for nothing.

        Carolyn and I were talking about this last night, and she added an element to my own theory, and how the lockdowns and other COVID related policies play a roll.

        She pointed to the obvious, which is the lockdowns themselves. I would add that by complying with the lockdowns, the churches failed their flock, because they became a part of what separated them from God, which is the exact opposite of their roll.

        I would add on top of that, that there is a reason we call it “the COVID cult”, or as I like to call them, “Branch COVIDians.” Because it operates like a religion, but with all the worst elements of religion amplified by 100,000 times, with none of the positives.

        Another example in history where a crisis actually pushed more people out of the churches, is the 30 Years War which followed the Council of Trent, which is was why secularism grew in Europe during the Enlightenment Period. Because that was when the Catholics and the Protestants were literally at war with each other, and people’s lives were ruined.

        1. Proud Conservative Mom

          Yup. It certainly pointed out the Episcopal Church, and the foolishness of their actions.

          FYI, Episcopalians don’t prosthelytize.
          So that aspect is a shame.
          I wish a huge missionary sect would die off.

          YES. Carolyn is correct. The lockdowns that prevented those from going to Church was a catastrophe.

          This was the case for shuls as well, but with a caveat. Many Orthodox Jewish shuls had outdoor services.

          Moreover, even at the beginning before that was set up, realize that Orthodox Jews daven at home, if need be.
          There’s no such concept of not davening and not learning Torah.
          In addition to those two things, keeping the Mitzvos (Commandments) keep us connected to Hashem as well.

          “Judaism is not just a religion, it’s a relationship!”
          (Hat tip Rabbi Tovia Singer)
          As always, he is extremely spot on!

          You are correct about the Branch Covidians and I love the terminology.

          That’s true. The Thirty Years War was indeed a disaster for Christianity.

          1. Weary Traveler

            FYI, Episcopalians don’t prosthelytize.
            So that aspect is a shame.
            I wish a huge missionary sect would die off.

            This makes me think of why that scene in the movie, Airplane, where Robert Stack is beating up the moonies is so funny. And also why that one gag from Married With Children is so hilarious; where Al is going to answer the door, and picks up a baseball said and say “I hope that’s a Jehovah’s Witness.”

            Or like the sign an engineer I worked with had on his door, with a kid holding a riffle, the caption read; “pa told me to shoot every third salesman that came. The second one just left.”

            Not so much that we think it is okay to beat people up for their beliefs, or profession, but because we are all tired of being bombarded with things we do not want for ourselves, and in our own lives, and them not getting the clue the first 500,000 times we said “no.”

            As far as the Episcopalians are concerned, I wont miss them when they are gone. If only they would take the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the Mormons with them.

          2. Proud Conservative Mom

            The scenes that you described are indeed hilarious! 😂😂😂

            I’m also reminded of when @Dump_Boehner:disqus used to say when a missionary came calling that he shoots every third missionary. When they ask how many had already come, he answers two. LOLOLOL!!

            Understood why you won’t miss the Episcopalians. They tolerate bad behavior.
            Yes, I wish these other sects would disappear with them!

            Absolutely, they cannot take no for an answer.
            I was dealing with a missionary like that today.
            They don’t know when to quit.

            I told him, even my Evil Inclination knows not to bother trying to entice me to commit idolatry.
            It’s a nonstarter.

            These people are so awful.
            I have nothing except for tremendous contempt, disdain, scorn, and derision for all of them.

          3. Weary Traveler

            The only thing intolerable to people like the Episcopalians is not tolerating intolerable behavior. In which case, in their minds, you may as well be Satan himself, or are worse than Satan.

            Luckily for me, I already got the whole Goth thing going for me, which only makes it easier for me to embrace that label, and really mess with them. LOL

  165. Weary Traveler

    My dad always said San Francisco wanted to grow up t be Detroit. What is sad, is that even Detroit is doing more to turn itself around than SF, or most any other Democrat run city is.

    Go woke, go broke! San Francisco mayor warns crime-ridden city now faces a $728m budget deficit over next two years, as remote work caused property taxes and public transit ridership to slump

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11549335/Go-woke-broke-San-Francisco-mayor-warns-crime-ridden-city-faces-728m-budget-deficit.html

    1. Sapper 9

      But, I am sure that they have plenty to hand out in universal income for transvestites and to pay the $200,000 salary of the poop patrol members

      1. Weary Traveler

        Same thing happened to New York. In the “summer of love” 2020, New Yorkers who could work remotely were moving to Arizona and Florida. And Cuomo was begging them to come back, saying “you have to come back.” Like Hell they do.

        The “leaders” of these cities and states caused the exodus, and so did any of the dummies who voted for them. This is one of the reasons why I strongly believe we need laws on the books that actively discriminate against Democrats in the same fashion Jim Crow laws discriminated against blacks.

          1. Weary Traveler

            They did write the original Jim Crow laws, and they try to impose them on the rest of us. Turnabout is fair play, I say.

  166. Weary Traveler

    Trump Was a Mistake

    The success of Donald Trump’s presidency dealt establishment politicians a heavy blow. A second Trump term might kill them—and they know it.

    https://amgreatness.com/2022/12/19/trump-was-a-mistake/

    The bottom line is, the party had no choice in 2016. The voters overwhelmed them. They created the Trump phenomenon by creating a leadership vacuum.

    “For the good of the party” is why the GOP have been the established “beautiful” losers for so long. A party is supposed to be about a platform that is supposed to offer benefit to the people, not themselves.

    They have ALL, Republicans and Democrats alike, have forgotten that they are public servants.

    This is why Michael Savage coined the terms “Demicans” and “Republicrats” back in the 90s.

    2. Proud Conservative Mom

      Your comment covered almost everything that I would have said.

      One of the biggest ironies in US history, is that they “kicked” Teddy Roosevelt “upstairs” in a position that has practically no power.

      As we all know because McKinley was assassinated, Roosevelt became President.

      I concur absolutely, that the GOP (and Dems), have ceased being our parties for a very long time already.

      1. Weary Traveler

        The parties seem to not understand fully why we fought a bloody war against the red coats in the first place.

        The fact that we kicked out one king should clearly indicate that we don’t want to be ruled by several kings. Seems some people really want to go back to Feudalism.

        1. Weary Traveler

          The way I figure it, since I live in a society that has totally devalued me, I may as well have no filter. LOL

    1. IMSarahAnn

      Jewish history bears this out. That and your sense of humor going back thousands of years. Endurance under the watchful eyes of Hashem.

    1. IMSarahAnn

      That’s true.Tthey need to get over themselves, lest they experience the real thing. There are some “snowflakes” which are all the same and my name is not Job. Nor is it Patience. lol!

        1. IMSarahAnn

          I’ve missed you too, Rebecca. Your comments and your humor are both thought provoking and your humor is a saving grace for all of us. !😄😁✡️

  178. Proud Conservative Mom

    Netanyahu seals remaining coalition deals ahead of inauguration
    Even before starting his record sixth term in office, the incoming PM has sought to quell fears at home and abroad his emerging government will endanger minority rights, harm the judiciary, and exacerbate the conflict with the Palestinians.

    By Reuters and ILH Staff

    Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu finalized coalition deals with allied parties, their spokespeople said on Wednesday, in final steps toward his political comeback. The swearing-in is set for Thursday, when Netanyahu will be officially inaugurated as prime minister some six weeks after the Nov. 1 election in which his Likud-led right-Haredim bloc won a majority in the Knesset.

    But even before starting his record sixth term in office, Netanyahu has sought to quell fears at home and abroad his emerging government will endanger minority rights, harm the judiciary, and exacerbate the conflict with the Palestinians.

    The coalition deals with the pro-settler Religious Zionist Party and ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism have yet to be formally published, but leaked clauses, recent legislation, and statements by future coalition members over the past few weeks have drawn wide criticism.

    Legislation ratified on Tuesday will ultimately enable the Religious Zionist Party to get a post of second minister within the Defense Ministry, granting it broad authority over administrative matters in Judea and Samaria.

    Further legislation to be brought to a vote on Wednesday, will grant new powers over the police for Itamar Ben-Gvir, head of the far-Right Otzma Yehudit, as national security minister.

    Prospective coalition members’ pledges to curb Supreme Court powers, anti-gay statements, and calls to allow a business to refuse services to people based on religious grounds, have alarmed liberal Israelis as well as Western allies.

    In statements and interviews abroad, Netanyahu has repeatedly said that he will safeguard civil rights, will not allow any harm to the country’s Arab minority or to the LGBTQ community and pursue peace.

    Hat tip HP.
    His comments: “Whenever a Socialist-Leftist govt. is in power, it lies and cheats about its very own shenanigans and even when its not in power any longer it still lies about the opposition now in power.”

  183. Proud Conservative Mom

    The real woke Jews
    If you are fixated on the identity politics of others, and wonder whether Jews should be represented on the continuum, then Yiddish is the place to start.

    By: Thane Rosenbaum

    (December 27, 2022 / Jewish Journal) As members of the progressive Jewish left continue to raise their fists while marching on behalf of movements that largely hate Jews and despise Israel, a beachhead of cultural pride and resuscitation was erected this week in lower Manhattan at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.

    The annual festival “Yiddish New York” opened right before Christmas and will close out 2022 with a sampling of the old-world Jewish culture of Eastern Europe and the Pale of Settlement (what is now Ukraine). It will involve the new world too. Yiddish made its way to the Lower East Side of Manhattan and served as the household language for many American Jews well into the 1960s.

    Visitors to the festival can, both live and virtually, discover Yiddish with the world’s finest exemplars of the language and culture, including scholars, folklorists, dancers, actors, visual artists, curators, authors, activists and, especially, the excellent musicians who have, for decades, showcased the lush melodies and bouncy rhythms of klezmer music.

    Indeed, the festival kicked-off with a viewing of Eleanor Antin’s 1992 Yiddish silent film, “A Man Without a World,” featuring an original score, played live on stage, by its composers—Alicia Svigals, the world’s foremost klezmer violinist, and the pianist Donald Sosin.

    If you are fixated on the identity politics of others, and wonder whether Jews should be represented on the continuum, then Yiddish is the place to start. All throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Jews living in Europe, Russia and the United States produced a rich and varied fusion of literature, music, dramatic arts and scholarship.

    Hat tip HP.
    His comment: “Woke Jews who don’t speak Yiddish let alone Hebrew trying to tell other Jews what Judaism is all about.”

    1. Sapper 9

      Unfortunately, a lot of people lump all Jews in with the Woke Jews; however, everyone here is already aware of that .

      In my area , I am only aware of “reform Jews” and *** Messianic “Jews” ****.

      ***I know , MJs are not really Jews of any sort.****

        1. Sapper 9

          It finally warmed up 69 degrees today.

          Last week we rushed to “climb a crane” before the cold weather hit; however, I have to go inspect it again tomorrow when it is around 70, so I am blessed.

          2. Sapper 9

            Climbing is another term for assembling the crane; we use what we call a climber, or slew cage to insert the next section to get it higher, hence the term , climbing.

            I lost my wallet last week and it arrived in the mail today with a hand written note that said the following: I am sorry that I could not afford to mail this to you, I used $10 from your wallet, sorry.

            I wished that it had some sort of return address , or contact information; I got the impression that they could have used the money inside, but, they were honest enough to return around $1,800.

          3. Proud Conservative Mom

            Very much appreciate the explanation.

            It’s always very heartwarming to hear stories like this.
            I really appreciate you sharing it.

            I used to get into work very early in the morning when I commuted.
            My bank was on the same block as my train station.

            I once noticed that someone left their credit card on the table.
            I was alone.
            I immediately called the number on the credit card and reported it lost.
            The customer service was flabbergasted that there are still some honest people in the world.

            I didn’t waste a prized opportunity to make a Kiddush Hashem (sanctification of Hashem’s Name). It’s one of the greatest Mitzvos that a Jew could do.

            I told the gentleman that I am an Orthodox Jewish woman who keeps Torah. G-d, forbids me to steal.
            Ergo, I would never dream of doing so.

            The gentleman told me that he always admired and respected Orthodox Jews.
            That’s always a wonderful and pleasant surprise to hear.

            All together, that truly made my day.

            It was a win-win on every single level.

          4. Sapper 9

            I didn’t even realize that it was missing, I normally carry two wallets, and this one is usually left under the seat of my truck.

          6. Sapper 9

            I hope so too, I would have gladly told them to keep the money and just appreciated not having to replace my driver’s license, credit card and gun permit.

        1. Chief Mac

          It was. Last week we got to -8 F but we are tracking up into the 50s today. Have been down with the flu for the past week but on the mend now.

          Hope all is well with you and yours

          1. Proud Conservative Mom

            Refuah Sheleimah, Chief!
            I’m so very sorry to hear that.

            I’m very grateful that you are on the mend!

            Very much appreciated. I’m on the mend from whatever I contracted during the deep freeze, BH.

    2. Proud Conservative Mom

      “In a meta-analysis of 63 studies of ivermectin versus COVID-19 in humans, 100% of these have shown positive results. Studies were from all continents except Antarctica. Considered individually, 29 of those studies were found to be statistically significant regarding use of ivermectin alone. Over the 63 studies in meta-analysis, pooled effects showed 69% improvement in early treatment, and prophylactic use showed 86% improvement. Of those studies in the meta-analysis that were peer-reviewed, overall improvement in early treatment was found to be 70% (64% in randomized controlled trials), and 86% of those in which ivermectin was used prophylactically showed improvement (84% in randomized controlled trials).

      Mortality from COVID-19 over all time periods of delay in treatment was 76% improved over controls (69% in randomized controlled trials), whereas mortality was improved 84% in early treatment of COVID-19 (82% in randomized controlled trials). Forty studies were excluded from the meta-analysis for complicating factors or insufficient detail reported, and these also showed 100% positive results.”

      The truth always comes out at the end.

      VINDICATION isn’t overrated.

      It’s a crime how this lifesaving information was covered up!

      1. Sapper 9

        I can state that I believe that it worked for me and I openly admit that I got it from a veterinarian supply source. Lol

          1. Sapper 9

            Not a vet , a veterinary supply store, commonly known as farm supplies.

            People around here even give their dogs and cats their own shots. Lol

          5. Sapper 9

            It is for killing parasites such as worms, if they controlled it there would be a big problem. lol

            1cc per 110 lbs, the same as for a pig. lol

          9. AuntiE*TFL

            Hmmm…killing parasites. Is it possible we could triple dosage and rid ourselves of Democrat parasites. Just one of my perverted thoughts.🤓😎😂

        2. AuntiE*TFL

          Interestingly enough, we are fully stocked in veterinary ivermectin and know the human dosage breakdown. More interesting is we are fully stocked, through a veterinarian website (California Veterinary Supply), in almost every antibiotic; amoxicillin, doxycycline, sulfa, Clindamycin, and one other.

  185. Proud Conservative Mom

    Israel can’t win against this weapon
    Groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad know a gift when they see one. The laws of war, an albatross around the neck of a conscientious IDF, are for non-state actors a dandy lever. The more civilians get killed in clashes the better Op-ed.

    By: Steve Apfel

    Dedicated critics who would condemn Israel with their dying breath don’t much care how they do it. The laws of war, a modified relic of 1949, are their weapon of choice. And a crippling one it is; the Geneva Conventions could be deliberately designed to entrap the Israeli military.

    “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” You may wonder why institutional critics – the State Department, Brussels and UN forums – insist that Jewish “settlements” are illegal. Well, it’s because policy-makers and diplomats plausible only to those who feel that Israel is detestable, took a law harking back to WW2 and grafted it on people of two religions in conflict over one piece of land.

    “Settlements” – Jewish communities in the biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria – are a special sore point. Israel’s different leaders – elected more honestly than the sitting American President – authorized some 100 “West Bank settlements” so cocking a snoop at allies who pre-booked territory for their precious two state solution. They desisted tugging the tiger’s tail over the legality of “settlements”. What’s to be gained? Exposing the fiction that they violate international law could be toying with a backfiring gun. Besides, the super lie spreaders can’t help knowing that no Israeli warlord in the mould of Stalin or Hitler made a decision to “deport or transfer” Jews to the “West Bank” and Gaza. On the contrary: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon transferred Jews, forcibly, out of Gaza.

    Other laws of war are meant seriously. They are not just applicable to Israel, but torment her like the mosquitoes on Galilee. One law criminalizes the intentional killing of civilians. A second, more subjective if that is possible, prohibits disproportionality in response – more killing and destroying than was necessary. Israel’s manic persecutors love to roll the name for such crimes off the tongue: ‘Crimes against Humanity.’ Every time the IDF ‘flattens’ Gaza it gets condemned for crimes against humanity. Even ethnic cleansing, in gravity second after genocide, must be quashed. Boycotters, for one, look on the ‘Zionist project’ as one big ethnic cleanser.

    Israel fights the troubling laws on different fronts. On one it contends with partial adjudicators of vague protocols, mainly the UN Human Rights Commission. A second front involves responding to rocket and terror attacks by favoured underdog groups, given by the partial adjudicators a wide allowance. No: given a free ticket by comfy armchair and ivory tower critics prone to look down disgusted noses at white Jews killing dark Muslims lobbing stones. If that nonsensical term “Social Justice” has meaning it means that facts are what IDF investigators say they are while correct ‘truths’ have passed Twitter, Facebook and Wiki factchecking.

    Groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad know a gift when they see one. The laws of war, an albatross around the neck of a conscientious IDF, are for non-state actors a dandy lever. The more civilians get killed in clashes the better for warlords to give Israel skunk status in the court of public opinion.

    Odd bedfellows interpose between Israel and her attackers. The Laws of war, progressive ideals and the International Committee of the Red Cross make a fearsome axis. It puts Israel front of stage in a costume drama conflict from which a plotted victor emerges.

    Jenin on the “West Bank” is an apt place to ponder the drama.

    The Jenin ‘refugee camp’ is a hotbed of jihad, terror plots and manoeuvres to dunk Israel’s name in the sewer. The Park Hotel Seder massacre – anti-Semitic terror without parallel – was cooked up in and executed from Jenin. The ‘great hoax massacre’ – a media stunt without parallel – was enacted within Jenin’s macabre confines. An Al Jazeera reporter and a teenager killed there in fire fights towards the end of 2022 are emblematic of decrepit protocols deployed to hobble Israel’s high tech, high morale military machine.

    Consider a real golden oldie, Article 51 (3) of the Geneva First Protocol. “Civilians shall enjoy the protection afforded unless and for such time as they take a direct part in hostilities.” Civilians can decide to take part in hostilities! One wants to ask if thereupon they slip into the military drill worn by the regular force. But they can’t do: the regulars don’t wear army drill. There nothing to make civvies look different from soldiers to help out an IDF trooper, in identifiable battle gear.

    Note the difficult terminology in the clause about that curious hybrid, ‘civilian fighters.’ …Until “such time as they take a direct part in hostilities.” The IDF trooper must hold fire to give the civilian time to transition into a fighter. He must twiddle the trigger finger until the civvy begins to “take a direct part”. What the hell is “a direct part”? Taking up a weapon? Signaling IDF positions to the other side? A slight move for what could be a concealed weapon? Standing close to a rocket launcher? Observing the firefight from the vantage point of a rooftop? Videoing the action while excoriating the IDF into a ‘mike’? After all, Qatar’s network Al Jazeera is a mélange of propaganda and incitement.

    The clause requiring “taking a direct part” expects the IDF to settle three things before firing a round in anger. Is the civilian (1) taking part in hostilities? (2) directly taking part? and (3) continuing to directly take part? Even then we are not quite ready.

    “In regard to the ‘directness’ of participation”, the scholar Gasser has noted, “the term ‘direct’ should not be understood too broadly. Not every activity carried out in war is a hostile act.” (D. Fleck: The Handbook of Humanitarian Law in Armed Conflicts, 32 (1995, p. 232)

    Who shall teach the IDF not to jump the gun, not to be trigger happy? The ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia) has put up a hand. The situation of the victim at the time of being shot shall decide if he or she was taking part in hostilities. Relevant factors are what the victim was doing; whether or not was carrying a weapon; the age, clothing and gender of the victim. Membership of an armed force could be a strong indication that the victim was directly taking part in hostilities, though is not proof on its own. Overall, “whether a person is a combatant has to be determined on a case-by-case basis.” (ICTY, Case No. IT-01-48-T, Judgment, 16 November 2005, par 34)

    When next the toll of civilian killing by Israel is announced we’ll know how the counting was done – or should have been. The compiler – often an Israeli or Palestinian human rights outfit getting money from people or a country with no love for Israel – had examined each and every fatality and ticked three boxes. If three boxes are not ticked then a civilian that was not taking a direct part in hostilities was killed. Then and then only, Israel committed a war crime. And so the toll is computed and a ‘dossier’ sent to the peoples’ court of opinion. And the court pronounces ‘credible evidence of war crimes.’ And we must accept that somewhere sometime someone failed to tick three boxes.

    Box number 3 especially is tricky. The IDF had to wait and see if the directly participating civilian was “ongoing”. Could be that he or she will put down the weapon soon enough; will get down from the roof; will stop videoing the action.

    An American diplomat once said that, “Applying different standards to Al Qaeda does not abandon Geneva, it recognises that we face a stateless enemy never contemplated in the Geneva Conventions.” No diplomat I know of gave Israel the green light to apply different standards to underdog terrorist groups.

    Professor Michael Lynk typifies high powered lawyers policing and prosecuting Israel on behalf of the United Nations. He acted as the Human Rights Commission expert on call.

    “The most recent violence has a depressingly familiar pattern to it. Israel and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza exchange missiles and rockets following dispossession and the denial of rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, with Israel’s far greater firepower inflicting far higher death tolls and injuries and a much larger scale of property destruction. Israel’s actions to stop the rocket fire from Gaza “constitute indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks against civilians and civilian property. These attacks likely violate the laws of war and constitute a war crime.”

    The Defence for Israel in the Court of Public Opinion:

    My Lord, the statement of the witness is pockmarked with fraud.

    -Prof Lynk’s “Palestinian armed groups” are defined as terrorists by, among others, the US, the EU, Japan, UK, Jordan, Israel – and my Lord, by his own government of Canada!

    -Armed groups and Israel “exchange rockets,” he said. My Lord, the American fleet in Pearl Harbour exchanged rockets with Kamikaze pilots.

    -(Bench interrupts) You make a wild analogy, do you not? You don’t mean to tell the court that the narrative is quite so ludicrous?

    -My Lord, I do. The next narrative is more grotesque. The professor makes a pineapple equal to a banana. He may enlighten the court. I for one cannot wait to hear the explanation why Gaza’s “armed groups” and the IDF are militaries of equal legitimacy or, to his mind, illegitimacy. (From the Bench: Continue if you please)

    -My Lord, in one breath the prosecution speaks of Islamist tyrants that seized the Gaza strip in a violent coup on the one hand, and Israel on the other. In Israel you may speak your mind more freely, my Lord, than you can in Professor Lynk’s own Canada. In Israel you won’t be ‘cancelled’ for saying that Wokeism is racist. You won’t be branded a hater for denying that men give birth, or for insisting that humans, like creatures, can have only two genders: male and female. (Incredulous laughter from the Bench)

    -The Prosecution spoke of “The occupied Palestinian territory”. He may consider that you preside over a kangaroo court, my Lord. I’ve more respect. When did case law, I should like to know, become an optional extra.

    -Prosecution spoke of Israel “inflicting far higher death tolls and injuries and property destruction.” The devil, my Lord, is ever in the detail, and he ran scared of detail. How many in the death toll were combatants plus civilians acting as human shields? How many of the properties destroyed were used for rocket attacks, the propaganda war and for shelter for combatants?

    -Israel’s “indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks against civilians and civilian property”. My Lord, the prosecution denigrates the dignity of your court. He wants to air personal feelings, well and good. CNN is one of many available venues. Surely entertainment is not for a court of law to provide.

    Hat tip HP.
    His comment: “Nothing new in ISLAM exploiting its peasantry as human shields in Allah’s name and age is no barrier either.”

    1. Sapper 9

      They are also going to keep investing their money with Black Rock, they have money to invest, who knew? sarcasm

  189. Proud Conservative Mom

    Sanctified Speech
    By: Rabbi Dr. Avraham Twerski ZTL

    Vayigash (Genesis 44:18-47:27)

    “Behold! Your eyes see as do the eyes of my brother Benjamin that it is my mouth that is speaking to you” (45:12)

    Rashi comments that the words, “my mouth is speaking to you” mean “in lashon hakodesh (the holy tongue.)” Purportedly, this means that Joseph offered as proof of his identity that he knew Hebrew.

    But in what way was this a proof? Until now, they communicated through an interpreter, whom they assumed to be an Egyptian who obviously knew Hebrew.

    But in what way was this a proof? Until now, they communicated through an interpreter, whom they assumed to be an Egyptian who obviously knew Hebrew.

    Rashi’s words may have an additional meaning. All matter is divided into four categories: domem (inanimate), tzomeach (vegetative), chai (living) and medaber (speaking). The last is the category of man, the only being that can speak.

    But is this really so? Is man the only creature that can communicate by sound? We know that many forms of life communicate by sound. Are the sounds they make not a form of speaking? Granted, human speech is much more sophisticated, but that makes it only quantitatively distinct from animal verbalizations, but it is not a qualitative distinction. More types of sounds and a greater vocabulary are not enough to give man the distinction of being “a speaker”.

    The uniqueness of man is not just that he has a more sophisticated form of speech, but that he can elevate his speech to being holy. By using his speech properly, by not speaking foolishly, by avoiding defamatory speech and carrying tales, man can sanctify his speech. This is something that animals cannot do, and it is this ability to sanctify speech that merits the designation “speaker”.

    Although the brothers’ action cannot be justified, Joseph was not totally innocent. The Torah says that “he would bring evil reports about them to his father” (Genesis 37:2) The Midrash states that all the evil reports were groundless, and Joseph was, therefore, guilty of lashon hara. During his enslavement and imprisonment, Joseph did teshuvah to purify himself of lashon hara, derogatory speech.

    However, Jewish law states that an offense against another person is not forgiven until one makes proper amends and asks for forgiveness from that person. In revealing himself to his brothers, Joseph wished to tell them that he had repented for the derogatory speech he had spoken about them. “I have corrected that defective trait. I have sanctified my speech. I am now truly a medaber, a speaker,” Rashi’s comment means more than that I speak Hebrew. Being polylinguistic does not yet warrant the designation of medaber. One is a “speaker” only if one’s speech is kodesh, only if one sanctifies his speech.

    We should indeed take pride in having the gift of speech, but unless we sanctify our speech, we are not yet unique. Avoiding the abuse of this precious gift is what makes us unique as humans.

  191. Proud Conservative Mom

    Jacob’s Elderly Appearance

    By: Rabbi Yehuda Appel

    Parshas Vayigash (Genesis 44:18-47:27)

    Jacob’s life was shortened as a result of his complaint.

    The powerful book “Chassidic Tales of the Holocaust” tells the story of a mother and her daughter, Livia, who somehow managed to survive the war. Looking out for each other, encouraging each other day after horror-filled day, they made it through the terror of several concentration camps.

    After the war, a sympathetic German woman looked at Livia and commented, “It must have been very difficult for people your age to endure all this suffering.”

    “How old do you think I am?” Livia asked her.

    “Maybe 60 or 62,” replied the woman.

    “No. I’m 14,” replied Livia.

    Terrified upon hearing this, the women crossed herself and fled.

    The enormous effect that sorrow can have upon a person’s visage figures prominently in this week’s Torah portion, Vayigash. In the narrative, the aged patriarch Jacob is brought before Pharaoh and gives him a blessing. Pharaoh then asks Jacob how old he is. Jacob responds: “Few and bad have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not reached the years of the life of my forefathers in the days of their wanderings.”

    The commentaries note that in fact Jacob did have a miserable life. For decades, he lived in fear that his brother Esav would murder him. Then he spent 20 years working for his wicked uncle Lavan, who constantly cheated him and made him work under the most difficult physical conditions. Then Dina, Jacob’s only daughter, was tragically raped. Later, Jacob spent many years in sorrow, convinced that his beloved son Joseph had died.

    But, despite going through all this pain (and perhaps in part because of it), Jacob managed to become a great tzaddik. In fact, he worked so hard on improving his character, that many classical sources describe Jacob as “the most righteous person who ever lived.”

    Given that he had reached such a high level of righteousness, Jacob’s comment to Pharaoh about his “life of great difficulty” seems inappropriate. While the average person may complain about life’s trials, a tzaddik is not supposed to!

    The Midrash goes on to describe God’s consternation with Jacob’s comment. The Almighty tells Jacob: “I provided you with a refuge from Esav and Lavan, returned to you both Dina and Joseph – and you’re complaining?!”

    The Midrash concludes that Jacob’s life was shortened as a result of these words of complaint. For if Jacob (or anybody else) does not fully appreciate life, then why should he be granted longevity?!

    Other commentaries, however, explain the incident with Pharaoh differently. They say that Pharaoh was overwhelmed by the ancient-looking appearance of Jacob, and asked about his age. Jacob, realizing that his appearance made him seem far older than he actually was, felt compelled to explain to Pharaoh the cause of this phenomenon, and described the difficulties he had faced in his life.

    Thus, in the view of these commentaries, Jacob’s words were not a complaint, but rather an explanation of his appearance. As a great tzaddik, he would not (especially to a public personage such as Pharaoh) utter bitter complaints about his life. Rather, Jacob was explaining how the tragedies of life had become etched on his visage … just as they would on his great-granddaughter, Livia, some millennia hence.

      1. Tony

        Thanks, Yes that’s me and my wife, and that is Zavvi the smaller pussy cat! At our daughter’s in London.

  193. Proud Conservative Mom

    Life Or Existence?

    By: Rabbi Stephen Baars

    Parshas Vayigash (Genesis 44:18-47:27)

    Great vacations do not equal a great life.

    Newly Revised

    “There are those who are rich but have nothing and those who are poor but have everything.” (Proverbs 13:7)

    When does death occur? When the brain ceases to function? Or maybe when the heart fails to pump blood?

    While this question is important, consider this: Maybe life stops long before either of these two calamities. Long before the ambulance is called, he’s already DOA.

    Life is not Coca-Cola and it’s not fast cars. To misquote a famous song, we are frequently looking for life in all the wrong places. These wrong places make us think we are alive for a brief moment. But they have no depth of meaning or purpose. They pass and vanish as if they were never there.

    After 60 years of chasing these illusions, the synapses of the brain may still be firing and the heart may still be ticking, but the life is all gone. This is the burn-out that we see on the faces of the old. They have given up because they never found the life for which they hoped.

    * * *

    “YOUTH FOOLS THE YOUNG, BUT AGING TESTS US ALL”

    In this week’s Torah portion, Pharaoh meets Joseph’s father, Jacob, and asks:

    “How many are the days of your life?” (Genesis 47:8)

    Jacob tells him:

    “…130 years…” (Genesis 47:9)

    Maybe you don’t find Pharaoh’s question strange, but consider this: As far as Pharaoh was concerned, Joseph was the wisest man in the world (Genesis 41:39). If you were going to meet the wisest man in the world’s father, would you ask him how old he was?

    I guess you don’t have to think too long about that one.

    Let me give you a clue: The reason he asked was because he already knew.

    Obviously.

    Not.

    Joseph is Pharaoh’s most important servant. Don’t you think the Egyptian CIA would have done a full background check that surely would have included his father’s age?

    OK, so if Pharaoh knew how old Jacob was, why did he ask the question?

    That’s easy.

    Not.

    Joseph is Pharaoh’s most important servant. Don’t you think the Egyptian CIA would have done a full background check that surely would have included his father’s age?

    OK, so if Pharaoh knew how old Jacob was, why did he ask the question?

    That’s easy.

    Not.

    Think about it, if you were going to meet someone who was 130, what would make you ask how old he was?

    Still can’t figure it out? OK, have you ever met anyone who was 130?

    Neither had Pharaoh.

    So, try and imagine what a 130-year-old man would look like. You’ve seen 90, maybe even 100. Just extrapolate to 130.

    Got it?

    Now, you meet someone who you know is 130. What would make you ask him how old he was?

    Because he wasn’t what you expected. I told you it was obvious.

    Pharaoh asked Jacob how old he was because Jacob didn’t look the part. Of course Pharaoh had his meaningful questions prepared, but when he saw Jacob enter with such life, such vitality, he couldn’t help himself but ask the question.

    Pharaoh is not really interested in Jacob’s linear age. Rather, upon seeing Jacob, Pharaoh wonders: Where is the shell of a man that one of your great age typically becomes? Pharaoh can see that Jacob is old, yet he bears none of the marks of a life of mere existence. Instead, Jacob exudes the appearance of a life that was fully lived. So Pharaoh asks: “How many days have you actually experienced living,” as opposed to merely existing.

    Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (19th century Germany) astutely explains:

    “When one counts by years, one does not reckon any more the days. It is only with a few select people that each day is full of importance and is considered by them as having a special meaning. A really true human being does not live years but days.

    “Similarly in the great psalm of Moses, in which the whole history of the world passes by as in a dream, it says at the end: ‘If even a thousand years of world history mean no more than one minute, then a day means nothing…. Teach us to count our days!’

    “Thus Pharaoh, too, says here: ‘How many are the days of your life?’ In these words, he reveals the deep impression which the whole appearance and dignified behavior of Jacob made on him.”

    * * *

    A GOOD LIFE IS NOT MADE FROM GREAT VACATIONS

    More secrets are revealed in this week’s Parsha. Jacob meets his son Joseph after many years of separation:

    “And Jacob said to Joseph: I have seen your face and you are still alive!” (Genesis 46:30)

    Now, if you remember the story, Jacob had thought that Joseph was actually dead all these years. When his sons told him that Joseph was really alive, he was obviously eager to see him.

    Is this what we would expect him to say? “You are still alive?” Did Jacob really think his sons would fool him into thinking he was alive as a trick?

    What is the meaning of of this verse? Is it possible that Jacob could see Joseph’s face and Joseph not be alive?

    Rather, when Jacob’s sons told him that Joseph was still alive they also told him another piece of news:

    “He is the ruler of all Egypt.” (Genesis 45:25)

    Which is a greater test, the test of poverty or the test of wealth?

    A rich man once answered my question thus, “Anyone who thinks wealth is an easier test never had wealth.”

    There is a principle of life: Anything that is meaningful is accompanied by difficulty. Wealth is meaningful.

    Poverty presents people with two choices: Be poor and happy or be poor and depressed. If you have absolutely nothing and you are unhappy, boy are you unhappy. It’s miserable.

    However, wealth gives you three choices: Be rich and happy, be rich and depressed or, be rich and depressed but think you are happy.

    You go shopping, redecorate, buy a new car. In other words, you avoid your issues and distract yourself.

    When Jacob heard that Joseph was the ruler, he knew he existed, but he wanted to know, did the wealth go to his head, was he still alive?

    For that, Jacob had to see his face. As our sages tell us, the eyes are the window to the soul.

    * * *

    OK, so here’s the rub. The lessons of the Torah are not just in what it says, but also in what it leaves out.

    Pharaoh could see that Jacob was alive just as Jacob could see that Joseph was really alive. So why couldn’t Pharaoh see that Joseph was alive?

    When one is young, especially young and rich, it is easier to fool yourself and others that you are really living as opposed to existing. It takes a discerning eye to see someone else’s life-style is really not going anywhere. Most people don’t want to look because to do so would also require a little introspection.

    But that’s the young. Everyone can see what kind of life you led when you get old.

    To experience a meaningful life, it must be filled with meaningful days. A great vacation now and again just won’t cut it. Smiling for the camera and laughing at the right jokes doesn’t make for a life. Don’t wait till it’s obvious; do something meaningful today.

    * * *

    1. Weary Traveler

      The opening alone is why I refer to where I “domicile”, as you put it, where I *reside*, as opposed to where I *live.*

      Still reading this, but I wanted to share my thought so far before I lose it. To me, life is about connection and relationships. And purpose. Without those things, we just exist. And at which point, it doesn’t really matter if our hearts are still pumping blood. The spikes in suicides over the last two decades alone is proof of that.

    2. Weary Traveler

      Now after having read the whole thing, I will say there is zero meaning in poverty. I’ve been there, and call me shallow, but there is zero way I see to be happy and poor. It’s not just due to lack of monetary wealth, but the limitations, especially with regards. Poverty is a prison. And not just physically, but mentally. Not to say that there are not kind poor people, because there are.

      However, poverty is also a mindset, and the thought process of poverty, and physical poverty tend to go hand in hand. There is a reason why I refuse to shop at a place like Grocery Outlet, or Walmart, regardless of how much money I may save, or even how tight my budget is. It’s because the environment is far too depressing, and I am not just talking about the esthetics, but the people, the mindset of the people, as well as the lack of quality of the goods.

      I have never been one willing to play the roles life tried to assign to me willingly, or even at all. I have always had a bit of a rebellious spirit, but not so much out of haughtiness, but self-respect. Poverty is death, which is why tyrants always impose it on the population, just as they work to destroy relationships. It’s only purpose to stymie, and even destroy the individual, and their potential.

      Now, that is no to say that wealth doesn’t come with burdens of it’s own, or that money can buy you happiness.

      I would say I get that, and am in a good place that when I envision myself as ultra wealthy, I spend more time thinking of the people I would spend more time with, and where we would go and what we would do together, without being limited to relying on the rat race to survive, far more than I think about all the goodies I would buy for myself, like a house, opening my own nightclub, and building my dream studio.

      Which leads to work vs vacation. Not to say that I never found any satisfaction working, because I have as my greatest professional strength is project management. However, the lack of appreciation, and reciprocation, no longer can suffice. Especially when you are in a place like the Bay Area, where any kind of meaningful human connection is so scarce = “Aspergers-Ville, you can’t even rely on that to compensate.

      So, yes, I have actually had more meaningful life experiences on vacation than at work, because at least I was exploring, and talking to folks whether locals or other tourists, and far more so in a single day than I would in a year where I currently reside.

      It also doesn’t help that my last employer tried to murder me with a needle in the name of some “greater good”, so my attitude towards work, namely the work world, has soured even further.

      At this point, I will confess, that it has turned in to outright bitterness and resentment.

      1. Proud Conservative Mom

        It really depends, in my opinion.
        My paternal grandparents were extremely poor.
        There was a time when my father was in school (one of many), and we were very poor.
        I NEVER knew we were poor.
        I got two new dresses a year in honor of the Jewish holidays.
        My mother always looked beautiful.
        Everyone said so.
        She was always very put together and knew how to shop.
        I had a childhood (until my mother got sick), where I felt very rich.
        Even with all of my mother’s medical expenses, when the cost was catastrophic, I still didn’t feel poor.

        I lived a very rich and fulfilling life.
        I knew that we weren’t rich.
        We never flew on any vacations.
        But that’s not what defines happiness.

        I had terrific toys, family, friends, and neighbors.
        I loved living.
        I never felt inferior.

        YES. Poverty is indeed a mindset.
        I have tremendous medical expenses.
        It’s financially very difficult for me.
        It’s very scary at times.
        My husband’s firm got sold again.
        We don’t know what will be and how they’ll treat the employees, etc.
        I was very frightened yesterday and for part of today (my defenses are down because I have been additionally sick on top of my regular insanity).

        I then told myself ENOUGH.
        HASHEM rules the world.
        It’s okay to be scared sometimes.
        However, I cannot let it destroy my quality of life.

        I know how to shop.
        I have a beautiful wardrobe without remotely breaking the bank.
        I also have some beautiful hand-me-downs that look brand new.
        Who cares?!

        It’s very important and imperative to treat one’s self now and again.
        It doesn’t have to be a huge expenditure.

        Never being able to treat yourself to anything, isn’t living.
        The dead don’t go shopping.
        My mother taught me that many years ago.

        I have heard of two very wealthy Orthodox Jewish men who were once poverty stricken that said that it’s far more challenging to be very wealthy.

        I never asked for huge wealth.
        I never wanted that test
        I just want for things to ease up.

        And Hashem CAN do it for me.
        Hashem is everything.

        He has to decide.

        Your work experience sounded like it ended terribly and extremely disappointing and unsatisfying to say the least, for just cause.

        Of course, I would love to be able to do some extra things like visit Israel again.
        I just know that I will make it back again.

        Vacations are wonderful, absolutely.
        But I wouldn’t want to be on vacation for my entire life.
        That would give me less of a sense of purpose.

        Moreover, it’s extremely important for one to have a schedule.
        Judaism teaches that.

        If one doesn’t have some semblance of order in their life, it’s very difficult to have a quality of life.

        I really hope that you will be able to achieve your dreams.
        Truly.
        I’m rooting for you.

        1. Weary Traveler

          I get what you are saying. We always had food on the table, but I learned the words “no, we can’t afford that” at a very young age. Which I always thought was messed up. And not just because I didn’t get something that I really wanted, but because I knew that my parents worked very hard.

          That was something that I didn’t think was right or fair.

          In reality, as you know, poverty and opulence are not the only two options, as there is a lot more variations in the middle.

          But poverty is a death sentence, and no one who actually works and is responsible should have it inflicted upon them. It is used as a weapon by the powers that aught no be, in order to make sure a person never realizes their full potential, and to take away their hopes and dreams.

          Marty and I were even talking about on the way back from Panera how screwed up it is that prison inmates get more chances, and more of a helping hand than someone who is struggling, and has never broken a law.

          We were actually entertaining the idea of recording a crank call to a state prison where he calls and asks them about what kind of education programs they offer, etc., etc., and then the follow up question, after they ask us what the conviction is, and saying, “Oh, I haven’t been convicted yet” would be “what kind of crimes would I have to commit and where to make sure I was sent to your prison so I could enroll in these programs? And how long of a sentence would I need?” LOL

          Just the fact that they get free cable TV is enough to make me want to have all inmates executed.

        1. Proud Conservative Mom

          You could never offend me.
          It takes alot to do so.
          You’d really have to work very hard on it. LOL!

          I tried to play the video three times.
          It’s not working, unfortunately.

          I have read about this concept of jealousy and I agree with it, absolutely.

          I believe that @dr_darko:disqus posted a posting about jealousy being the root of antisemitism. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8cf7045aeffbfe0c75c213e8f346ce685f033fd0b220bc707cf29aa396297ee8.png

          1. AuntiE*TFL

            Basically, he is asked about how Jews can stop antisemitism. His one word answer is; ”Fail”. It has been my belief, for decades, that it is the success that Jewish people have that causes the hard violent feelings. Lazy do nothings, with no work ethic, resent success.

            The exact same thing happens in academia with Asian students. Education is the prime directive among Asian parents. Failure is not an option. In fact, anything less then a B is completely abhorrent and punished.

          2. Proud Conservative Mom

            WOW. That’s a very powerful statement by Dr. Sowell.
            I know that the world would love for us to fail tremendously.

            BH, we’re a very stubborn people and don’t quit. Hashem purposely gifted us with stubbornness and tenacity.
            How else would we have had the strength to carry on?

            I know that the Asians are very strict with their academia.
            They’re also very bright.
            I’m horrified that parents would do that to their children.

            The average person has a subject that they’re weaker in.
            That subject for me, is math.
            I didn’t do well in junior high.
            I did well in high school, but it took alot of blood, sweat, toil, and tears.

            One of the biggest ironies in my life is that my husband is an actuarial consultant.
            Two out of five of my children struggled with math.
            My husband helped them.
            (THANK YOU HASHEM!)

            If my math teacher only knew, she would laugh.

          3. AuntiE*TFL

            ProgenyE’s BFF’s parents took his driving privileges, for three months, when he failed to write his National Honor Society paper. His attitude was he had achieved the academics and did not want to write the paper, hence preventing him from being an official member.

            Ready…my father was a CPA. He, literally, could add massive columns of numbers in his head. After sitting for academic ‘assessment’ tests, we all met with the counselor. My claim to fame is I achieved the lowest math score on the math portion. My father looked at me and asked if I answered any questions. I told him I answered what I could. My mother’s face was lite with glee when they said I achieved in the top 1% on the writing portion. My parents paid for a math tutor three days a week throughout my schooling. As like your children, ProgenyE strength is not math. He is not a strong writer; however, has very strong analytical abilities.

            The funny thing is it is I who manages the household money. UncleE would be totally unable to tell you what is in the bank account, bills, etc. His answer is the numbers are to small for him to deal with.🤓😎😂

          4. Proud Conservative Mom

            That’s so very funny that you manage the accounting.
            😂😂😂

            I understand totally about computing numbers in one’s head.
            My husband and one of my sons can calculate these complex equations in their heads.

            It blows my mind!

            BH, my husband deals with the family accounting and bill paying.
            I deal with other matters.
            We’re a partnership. 😃😃😃

          5. AuntiE*TFL

            UncleE is solely responsible for all things car, even gas fill ups. If it is warm weather, I may occasionally purchase gasoline. We share grocery purchasing. If he is out, he will make a grocery trip. He will not set foot in a postal service facility!! He has such an aversion I have been known to perform business postal chores. Hmmm…maybe I should be on payroll.🤔😎🤓😂 I could charge for time and mileage.🙀😳🤓😂

          6. AuntiE*TFL

            UncleE is solely responsible for all things car, even gas fill ups. If it is warm weather, I may occasionally purchase gasoline. We share grocery purchasing. If he is out, he will make a grocery trip. He will not set foot in a postal service facility!! He has such an aversion I have been known to perform business postal chores. Hmmm…maybe I should be on payroll.🤔😎🤓😂 I could charge for time and mileage.🙀😳🤓😂

          10. Weary Traveler

            To expand further on that episode of American Thought Leaders Marty and I were watching the other day, the subject was “Woke Antisemitism.”

            Wokeism is what you get when you combine the racism of Nazism and the class envy of Communism. Both have the same premise, which is those who have are the evil oppressors, and the have-nots are the oppressed class.

            Which is why such mentalities are dangerous to the Jews, or any group or individual that believes in the value of an honest days work, and has any ambition. Because automatically, you will become the enemy in such a society.

            This is a segment of that particular show that was I able to find on YouTube.

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPxTGGSR5Js

    2. Weary Traveler

      Reminds me of how the militant gays from the Castro would literally sneer at straight couples, and use the word “breeders” with contempt.

        1. Weary Traveler

          Usually at random.

          I remember Michael Savage even saying how he and his wife were greeted with that when they first moved here in the mid 70s.

          8. Weary Traveler

            Oh yeah, he likes a lot of Goth, some Metal.

            His avatar is of Ozzy Osbourne back in the 70s. I probably could have used Ronny Moorings for mine, but I went with one of the South Park Goth Kids because of the attitude. LOL

          16. Proud Conservative Mom

            You really helped to make mine.
            I’m sure you unfortunately had days when you were being pulled down tremendously, based on what you’ve been going through.

            When that happens to me (sans the time I had six badly fractured ribs), I find the gift of laughter to be a very priceless commodity.

            I appreciate all of your contributions beyond words.

            As you know, I am usually upbeat, but I am human.
            I have my days, just like everyone else.

            BH, I know how to pull myself out.
            Sometimes I need an assist.

            TYMK, for being that assist on more than one occasion.

            Never underestimate that power of being able to lift someone up.
            What goes around, comes around.
            I do it for others all of the time, and Hashem ensured that I had it today.

            I’m going to continue to build on that, Be’Ezras Hashem.

            Tomorrow I have a couple of appointments and have choir afterwards.

            BH, I will end the day in a positive manner.

            I’m going to sign off now because I want to get a normal night’s sleep if possible.

            Have a wonderful evening to you and everyone else.

            Sweet dreams, rest well, and wake up feeling incredibly healthy, rested, healthy, and strong!

          17. Weary Traveler

            I appreciate you sharing all that with me.

            Yes, I have had my days, and some rough ones at that.

            I am very thankful for the few in my area like Marty and Carolyn, that I actually can connect with.

            And am glad for the folks here that I can communicate with, and I also appreciate your friendship beyond words.

          2. Weary Traveler

            That’s exactly what it is, and why they try so hard to inflict it on others. It’s a very common thread with zealots, whether with politics, or religion.

            The need to control others is based on fear, and self-loathing, insecurity, and a sense of inferiority.

          3. John Gillis

            And reverse narcissism. Like Hitler, and his sexuality was often the topic for speculation.

            In WWII propaganda cartoons, the artists feminized Hitler in their drawings of him. They suspected something others didn’t!

    1. Weary Traveler

      Same with the cry of racism. It’s how the issue gets avoided, and shameless double standards never have to be addressed, now that some moral high ground has been claimed.

      It’s also like the “how often do you beat your wife” tactic.

      2. Proud Conservative Mom

        FYI, I had a crazy situation with a missionary today.

        He was royally losing the argument.
        He declared that I hate all Christians (can’t you tell)?

        He then swamped me with totally random and ludicrously interpreted verses nonstop and then he tells me “Sola Scriptura for the win.”

        BH, one cannot die from laughing.

        I was doing Sola Scriptura in context to prove my case.
        I didn’t throw out a bunch of verses that were non-sequitor. 😂😂😂

        I’m very grateful for missionaries who are obviously freaking idiots.
        The ones who know what they are doing and how to play people, are very worrisome to me.

        1. Weary Traveler

          It’s like arguing with Liberals. LOL

          I remember Pat Condell making a similar point; “Talking politics with a progressive is like talking religion with a Jehovah’s Witness. Unless you play it for laughs, it will drive you up the wall.”

          2. Weary Traveler

            They truly are antisemites. At least the Christians have the luxury of being directly attacked by the left. The Jews get attacked from behind by the left.

          4. Weary Traveler

            True. The crazies on the right, more like the so-called “alt-right” = Reddit incels, also at least attack from the front.

            They don’t pretend to be friends of the Jews like the left. I would argue the entire left is antisemitic at its core.

          10. AuntiE*TFL

            I once did a virtual ‘red pen’ correcting someone’s grammatical errors in…ready, an insult. One cannot seriously be insulted if the person cannot even write it in grammatical standards.

          15. AuntiE*TFL

            Did the bad weather i pact your fitness regimen?

            I fair well.

            My project is floor to ceiling bathroom cleaning. I foresee a major issue where the old bathroom rug left particles, practically, glue to the tile. The oven cleaner worked well on another area and, hopefully, will do the same. Yes, I know these kinds of projects are suppose to be spring and fall. I refuse to stay inside during such good seasons, hence winter cleaning projects.

          1. Weary Traveler

            He spent the entire weekend screaming about whites, southerners and Christians.

            He wasn’t having himself a very merry little Christmas, and for obvious reasons I am sure. LOL

            He has more than earned himself his place as one of the top three contenders for the NPC Tard of The Year contest. LOLOLOLOL!!

          3. Weary Traveler

            Speaking of “charming individuals”… I would almost pay good money to watch him and Sugar Mama go at it.

            I suspect it would probably make the NYC Transit System sound as wholesome as an episode of the Brady Bunch. LOL

          5. Weary Traveler

            Yes, but usually she will misspell the four letter words, substituting one letter for another, so that if you sound it out, it sounds very similar.

            She also got nominated for NPC Tard of The Year, but didn’t exactly make the finals. I think she was in 5th place. I’ll have to go back and check the spreadsheet I was using. LOL

          6. AuntiE*TFL

            Here is my bragging. I have an entire insulting sentence without a single foul word in it. It really is very easy to do if you have any knowledge of words.

          11. Weary Traveler

            I have done Administrative work in my time, and have done enough technical writing for jobs, so…

          16. Weary Traveler

            I had to in order to keep up with all the votes I was receiving. A lot easier than trying to go through past comments and keeping notes. LOL

          20. AuntiE*TFL

            Do not even get me started on Gus. I managed to shut him down the other day by giving three links with direct quotes. Absolute silence after that.

          22. Weary Traveler

            On the W3P news page.

            Gus is in the finals, and as of now is ahead of Jerry, with Jerry and MiMcompoop = Made In Michigan, tied for second place.

            I am actually getting ready to post the update and see if I collect any more votes tonight. LOL

          23. John Gillis

            Jerry and Gus are running neck to neck for biggest tardmo. Gus still has my vote fir #1 Npc tard, but I’m tempted to switch to Jerry.

          25. Weary Traveler

            I’m still waiting on some more votes. I was going to vote for Gus, but Jerry’s little Xmas meltdown earned him my vote, so I already cast it.

          28. John Gillis

            That looks like an old 486SX 16 Mhz computer with 16 MB or RAM. 😁

            Jerry must have gotten it from a garage sale!

          31. Weary Traveler

            More like cleaning the human poop out of it. Since we are talking about San Francisco and all. LOL

          33. John Gillis

            My first PC was a 386. I customized mine, replaced the planar board, CPU and memory. Damn, those were the days. It was a couple years later that I finally got A+ certified. I sometimes wish I could go back in time and start my business.

          34. Weary Traveler

            I got my first computer from trade school. I initially built it as a test terminal to test the components in our warehouse, and the instructor let me take it home with me since I got so attached to it. That thing was running DOS, and here I am now, a Mac user. LOL

          35. John Gillis

            That’s pretty cool! I started out as a video game junkie and every time something broke, I would take a trip to Circuit City and pick up new parts. In time, my PC looked like a Frankenstein project.

          36. Weary Traveler

            I remember Circuit City. I was more of an audiophile, so I mostly bought some stereo equipment there. That was actually where I bought my first CD player.

            For computer stuff for me, it was either Fry’s or Micro Center.

          37. AuntiE*TFL

            I am not white more a cream shade. Born and bred, to the marrow of my bones, southern woman who is Christian. Wow, I check all the boxes.

          38. Weary Traveler

            If it is any consolation, I told him during his little meltdown over the weekend that he would have made a very “good” German in the 1930s and 40s. He hates those groups for no other reason than he was told to.

            He didn’t want to fight with me anymore after learning I am a native Californian, 25% Hispanic, and also not a Christian.

            Once he realized I didn’t fit neatly in to any of his little boxes, he started ignoring me.

          40. AuntiE*TFL

            Bbbbuuuutttt, you are not a Bible toting, gun carrying, red neck southerner. Your only two faults are being white and religious.

          41. Weary Traveler

            What is hilarious, is that he bragged about having a white husband. He didn’t like how I only used that as more fodder against him. LOL

          42. John Gillis

            I’m porcelain everywhere except my cheeks, which are red. I’m often accused of wearing rouge. Scottish heritage. ☺️

  197. Proud Conservative Mom

    Worship song in Hebrew, Arabic, English shows ‘only Jesus can bring peace between Jews and Arabs’
    Israeli organization wants to promote salvation, unity through new trilingual worship initiative

    All Israel News Staff | December 28, 2022

    A Messianic Jewish organization in Israel is releasing covers of worship songs sung in Hebrew, Arabic and English in order to show that “true peace in the Middle East can only happen through the Prince of Peace.”

    “As I’m sure you’ve noticed, the worship song was in Hebrew, Arabic and English,” One for Israel President Erez Soref says at the end of one song. “That is because we at One for Israel believe that true peace in the Middle East can only happen through the Prince of Peace, Yeshya the Messiah.”

    “May we please ask you to take a few seconds right now and pray for Jews and Arabs to come to know Yeshua – the only way to peace,” Soref concludes.

    The version of “Waymaker” – featuring local Israeli worship leaders and performers Rebekah Wagner, Joshua Aaron, Nizar Francis and Shilo Ben Hod – is one of many One for Israel videos featuring worship songs sung by native Hebrew, Arabic and English speakers together. The video, uploaded five months ago, will have reached nearly 2 million views by time this article posts.

    One for Israel also released a Christmas song, “Mary, did you know?” in Hebrew, Arabic an English earlier this month. It has already garnered 589,000 views.

    The organization says on its YouTube channel: “We produced a series of music videos to celebrate the birth of our Messiah, Yeshua. No matter when you celebrate, our passion is to point people to the narrative of salvation and find unity in worshiping our King Messiah.”

    At the end of the song, which features a re-enactment of Mary and Joseph in Nazareth preparing for their journey to Bethlehem, Soref prays that viewers “will set your eyes to heaven to behold the Messiah’s beauty and majesty.”

    “God’s redemption is near. Please pray with us that God’s light will shine in Israel as the Gospel returns to our people once again,” Soref says.

    One for Israel, established in 1990 as a Bible college, is an evangelistic outreach in the Holy Land focused on bringing Jews and Arabs in the land to salvation. It is comprised of native-born Israelis.

    Another portion of the ministry is restoration of Israel and the unity between Jewish and Arab believers in Jesus.

    “We are seeing not only the physical restoration of Israel after a 2,000-year exile, but a spiritual revolution is taking place right in front of our eyes,” the One for Israel website says. “Jewish people are returning to their God and accepting the Messiah in numbers not seen since the early church! Not only that, but many Arab people are coming to the Lord and many Arab believers are finding a deep unity with their Jewish brothers and sisters.”

    https://allisrael.com/worship-song-in-hebrew-arabic-english-shows-only-jesus-can-bring-peace-between-jews-and-arabs

    I’m going to toss my cookies.
    I HATE THESE PEOPLE!
    😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

  201. Proud Conservative Mom

    Good night everyone! 💞💞💞
    TYMK for having me laugh so hard that I was almost in tears from the mirth.

    May Hashem bless you all with everything.

    Sweet dreams, rest well, and wake up feeling incredibly healthy, strong, pain-free, and awesome!

    That includes you, AuntiE!!

      1. Weary Traveler

        Consider the source = The Guardian. Anyone not either aligned with, or to the left of Stalin, is considered “right.”

    2. bill smith

      Further slide to the right is one way of putting it… but a better way would be to say… “An increased reaction to the nuttiness of the left”.

  229. Weary Traveler

    Some good points raised here, but in some areas, the author is a bit more cyncial than I, like stating that most people just want to be told what to do.

    I would argue if you put aside the actual totalitarians themselves, society breaks in to three groups; The useful idiots = the people who embrace the totalitarianism, the dissenters who openly and actively fight back against it, and then there are the “normies” = the people who may not like it, but only go along because it is easier.

    The latter is the largest segment of society, and the smallest are the rebels. The rebels can embolden normies.

    Integrity Lost and Regained

    https://brownstone.org/articles/integrity-lost-and-regained/

    1. Weary Traveler

      Because those people are groomers. And they are groomers because they are low value betas who are rejected by their own peer group.

  231. Weary Traveler

    Time to Trust Your Inner Expert

    https://brownstone.org/articles/time-to-trust-your-inner-expert/

    “The one who knows some real data could logically be called an expert. Unfortunately, we live in a time that is besieged by fake “experts.” Listen to the news when something unexpected happens. Part of the report will describe how “experts” predicted more or less of something than what actually happened. The Talking Head proclaims “more [or less] unemployment than expected by [unnamed] experts.” Or inflation… or whatever subject you pick. I assume those “experts” have some sort of certification procedure. Maybe I’m wrong on that.”

    This takes me back to my own earliest experience with experts, which was in the days following the Loma Prieta Earthquake in 1989.

    It went from failed predictions based on computer models of when the next big one was going to be, and of course, said dates came and went without so much as a single tremor. To, the current narrative that has been in place for the last 25 or more years suggesting that we are “overdue for a big one”, specifically on the Hayward Fault, since the last major earthquake to occur on that fault was over 160 years ago, and the limited seismology records suggest a pattern of once every 70 years.

    Granted, I am not a Geologist, or a Seismologist. I am a lay person. However, in the early to mid 80s we experienced a small swarm tremors, and they started rattling my nerves. To get me over my fear, my dad had me learn everything I could about Earthquakes, how they happen, and so on. The research taught me, long before Loma Prieta, that there is no such thing as “overdue” for an earthquake, and that they cannot be predicted.

    Fast forward to many years later when the East Coast would experience a tremor that was felt from DC to NYC, I noticed their experts, were signing a much different tune than the experts our local news media out here were signing. The east coast experts were actually repeating exactly what my own research concluded over 20 years prior.

    Even if you give the west coast “experts” the benefit of the doubt of not acting nefariously, what does that say about our media that they only talk to “experts” that express one view/narrative, and a view that creates a fear and panic among the populace? And also how that creates the illusion of a unanimous consensus that does not exist.

      1. Weary Traveler

        “Masquerading as morality” is exactly right. I remember Ayn Rand talking about the “moralists” and how they morality a bad name.

        It also touches on what I was thinking regarding the article I posted the other day about why Christianity is dying in America, and how it is declining even further in the age of COVID.

        Not to dismiss the role that lockdowns played, but I wonder how many others saw the similarities with regards to the piety and hypocrisy shown by both the “experts” and the political class, and of the church?

        The patterns were just too clear not to see.

          1. Weary Traveler

            That’s why I say, the second someone utters that phrase, get the hammer and nails ready. Crucify them long before they get a chance to crucify you.

    1. Proud Conservative Mom

      I want to profusely thank everyone who prayed for my cousin Tzippora.
      She passed away late yesterday afternoon.

      The funeral was at ten o’clock last night.

      It was one of the most heartbreaking funerals that I have ever been to.

      Wishing you all, the best of everything always.

      4. Chief Mac

        Am sorry to learn this. I was praying so much for a miracle. May the L-rd comfort the entire family

  237. Sapper 9

    https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/12/hunter_bidens_babymama_petitions_court_to_benefit_kid_with_biden_name.html

    Hunter Bidets “baby mama” has petitioned the courts to give the baby the Bidet name , so it can receive “benefits” from it.

    I wonder if she will try auctioning off it’s finger paintings and hand turkeys, or perhaps will get it a few board positions?, when Hunter was asked what his qualifications were to sit on the AMTRAK board , he answered, “I like trains”, I am sure the child likes trains.

    *** an arrest has been made in the stabbing deaths of the 4 college students in Idaho.***

  239. Proud Conservative Mom

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fuIa_KWM-Yw

    I’ve been listening to this song today.
    It was released 12 years ago, and remains a huge hit among Orthodox Jews.

    It’s in English.

    Avraham Fried was inspired by the following passage in Gemarah Brachos in writing this song.

    That paragraph in the opening part of the video is from it.

    Translation: In the hour when The Holy One Blessed Be He remembers His children suffering in between the nations of the world, two giant tears fall into a great ocean and His (pained) voice is heard from one end of the Earth to the other.

    (This is not to be taken literally, as no physical concepts apply to Hashem – not ever.)

      1. Proud Conservative Mom

        Apologies for first seeing this now.
        I’ll do so ASAP.

        Friday, I was in a total daze.
        My cousin’s funeral was on Thursday night at 10:00.

        I’m going to pay a Shiva call (condolence) tomorrow, Be’Ezras Hashem in Southern NJ where she was domiciled.

        💔💔💔😪😪😪

        1. AuntiE*TFL

          Such events and services lead to great distraction.

          If your weather is doing as ours is, you should have a good day for a condolence visit.

    2. Weary Traveler

      And also the worst drivers are in grocery store isles.

      Can anyone please explain to me why so many people’s IQs seem to drop by at least 20 points the second they enter a supermarket?

    1. Weary Traveler

      Depression makes it hard to do the most simple everyday things, which creates a very self-destructive cycle.

  250. AuntiE*TFL

    https://freebeacon.com/culture/2022-men-of-the-year-the-jews/

    2022 Men of the Year: The Jews

    Washington Free Staff

    On Oct. 8, Kanye West went on Twitter and issued a declaration of war against “the Jews.”

    “I’m a bit sleepy tonight,” he wrote. “But when I wake up I’m going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.”

    The backlash was immediate. Within 24 hours, the Nazi-loving rapper lost over $1 billion in sponsorships, in the swiftest defeat of an enemy of the Jewish people since the Arab armies lost the Six Day War.

    It was a massive downfall for the rapper, who went from dating supermodel Irina Shayk last year to palling around with a Hitler Youth cosplayer and creeping out Alex Jones.

    Kanye wasn’t the only public figure to peddle vile anti-Semitism this year. As the Washington Free Beacon has documented, there has been a disturbing surge in anti-Jewish bigotry, from top universities and celebrities to public officials. Attacks against Jews are at a record high in the United States, with horrific acts of violence reported daily.

    But even in the face of these challenges, Jews around the world brushed their shoulders off and continued to achieve excellence in 2022, proving yet again that haters can’t keep the Tribe down.

    In Ukraine, Zelensky has held off the entire Russian army since February while still looking great on the cover of Vogue. Doja Cat crushed it at the Grammys. Two Jewish economists picked up Nobel Prizes. Jerry Bruckheimer got another blockbuster with Top Gun: Maverick, a Jewish journalist broke the biggest news story of the year, and scientists in the Jewish state are on the cusp of curing diabetes, brain tumors and world hunger.

    For defying anti-Semitic losers while continuing to make monumental contributions across the globe, the Jews are Washington Free Beacon Men of the Year.

    1. Weary Traveler

      I was rolling with it until the Zelensky part, who is NO Jewish hero.

      https://thegrayzone.com/2022/03/04/nazis-ukrainian-war-russia/

      https://thefederalist.com/2022/11/09/volodymyr-zelensky-is-no-jewish-hero/

      Putin has shown far more good faith to the Jewish people than Zelensky has; https://newsrnd.com/news/2022-02-25-when-kgb-agent-putin-was-hosted-in-the-upper-galilee-by-the-man-deported-from-moscow-on-espionage-charges—walla!-news.ryfPvaUec.html

      All he has succeeded in doing is shaking down the western Deep state for hush money.

      I say let Putin do with Zelensky what he will, and let all the dirt on our deep state actors come out = Brandon, Mittens Romney, etc..

          1. AuntiE*TFL

            My perception is he is the one world leader who is focused solely on his nation. Two others in closer running are the President (not sure of that is his title) of Hungary and (Frightening to say this) Putin.

          2. Weary Traveler

            Actually, Zelensky is a globalist puppet installed by western intelligence. Remember when the Obama led had that little color revolution in Ukraine back in 2014 that installed Zelensky’s predecessor?

            Zelensky also tried to join the EU. That want you to think he is all about his nation, but not so.

            Viktor Orban — Hungary — I am only partly sure of. He took the IMF bribes to lock down his country during COVID, and actually imposed the harshest measures in Europe. I am not 100% sure I trust him, but he does upset the right people otherwise.

          3. AuntiE*TFL

            Zelensky is about Zelensky. He talked the right talk; however, like you say, he is a globalist.

            Orban upsets the “right people” by refusing to accept immigrants from Muslim countries and focusing on Hungarian sovereignty/culture.

            It is past 1:00AM here. I am going to complete one chore and try to sleep. We shall continue tomorrow.

  251. george linker

    Does anyone else have a problem that they are advertising vaccines to little children using sesame street cartoons?

    1. Weary Traveler

      It’s pissing me off.

      They always talk about all the money the wealthy have that could “feed the poor.” What about the untold billions spent on Vaxx propaganda?

        1. AuntiE*TFL

          The question becomes what kind of parent allows their child to watch such programming? The current programming is not what it originated as.

          2. AuntiE*TFL

            Their programming has still gone woke.

            This summer they were using the characters to push vaccination.

    2. george linker

      Here is one of the videos.

      https://www.google.com/search?q=sesame+street+covid+vaccine+video&sxsrf=ALiCzsby2iibV4fncICnkLCz5YUUek6dkA%3A1672457600212&source=hp&ei=gK2vY7K7CcOuqtsPjN-7oAI&iflsig=AJiK0e8AAAAAY6-7kElgD-pBnmjFj0fjOvSu2yMF-CHD&oq=sesame+street+covi&gs_lcp=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-k9g1XBoB3AAeACAAdYDiAH8HpIBCjAuMjEuMS4xLjGYAQCgAQGwAQo&sclient=gws-wiz#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:9059c542,vid:bwimt9n2JEk

      1. Weary Traveler

        They ruined Sesame Street.

        That is so sickening. I hope that PBS is completely defunded for this. And their producers sent to Gitmo.

      1. Weary Traveler

        They failed to control me. But then again, what did they expect me do, after treating me like crap for so many years?

        Some of us figured out that their system was designed to destroy us, and to punish anyone who dared to be an individual.

        1. AuntiE*TFL

          You may, or may not, have noticed I always type plandemic. People have attempted to correct me. There is a simple reason for that word. Approximately three-four days prior to Trump’s swearing in, Fauci stood at Georgetown University giving a speech during which he stated there would be a pandemic during Trump’s last months in office. If that does not classify as a plandemic, I have no idea what would.

          1. Weary Traveler

            Of course it does. These people are hateful and evil. And that they are being found out, they want “pandemic amnesty.”

            I am pretty certain that even God wouldn’t consider forgiving them for even a nanosecond, and I know I sure wont either. None of us should.

            They need to be made examples of.

          4. Proud Conservative Mom

            😂😂😂
            Shavuah Tov AuntiE! 💞💞💞

            How are you and your family doing?

            Have you been sleeping any better?

            I managed to get an abscess that could lead to cellulitis, Heaven forbid.
            I went to Urgent Care and am on topical and oral antibiotics.

            Never a dull moment.

            My sister Devora sent me a note on our sisters WhatsApp chat:

            I blotted out my name.
            (I just learned how to do it.)

            I responded that I am working on it. 🤣🤣🤣

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6c289b6402caf3d5f17aaacead73d16d92f2aab308893656216dae4c46fe6f7b.png

          5. AuntiE*TFL

            We fair well.

            You need to check your text messages!

            Abscesses can be very very difficult for your whole system. Urgent care centers are the best invention in the last decade or so.

            Oh, that is absolutely hilarious!

          6. Proud Conservative Mom

            Just responded.

            Absolutely. Abscesses are extremely dangerous.

            I also know how deadly cellulitis is.

            I use to have it chronically in my left leg.
            BH, I haven’t had it since 2020.
            Aggressive double antibiotics through an IV infusion daily for ten days finally zapped it out.
            Oral antibiotics weren’t really touching it.
            It always appeared to never really go away.

            I also have to put hot compresses on my stomach to draw out the infection.

          7. AuntiE*TFL

            Are you allergic to sulfa medications? I, happily, am not. In fact, my body responds twice as fast to sulfa medications as these new antibiotics. If you have no allergy to them, I can source them for you.

          8. Proud Conservative Mom

            I am allergic to sulfa medications.
            One dose, sends me into 12 hours of extremely debilitating nausea Hell.
            My doctors don’t prescribe it for me.
            It’s not compatible with my body.

            I’m on Cephlaxin 500 mgs. TID.

            I’m also using a very strong antibiotic cream.
            I really hope it helps.

            I have terrible veins.🤦🥺
            I don’t relish an IV infusion, but will do so, if I must.

          9. AuntiE*TFL

            I am ssssoooo lucky I can take sulfa medications. The problem is finding a physician who will prescribe them. Of course, that is no longer an issue as I have a source.

            FYI..90% of all aquarium fish antibiotics are identical to human prescription antibiotics.

          9. bill smith

            Ah, I remember that song…. it seems like it was just yesterday.
            Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ into the future.

          1. bill smith

            In Israel, Jan 1st is Sylvester Day since the Hebrew words for the ‘new years day’ are already taken.

          2. Proud Conservative Mom

            Seriously?!
            😳😳😳🤣🤣🤣

            I didn’t even know that Sylvester is a word in Ivrit.

            They should have just left it at Rosh Hashanah entirely in every single manner.
            That will absolutely be the case when Moshiach comes.

            (Ribbono Shel Olam (Master of the World), I have been waiting for a very long time to greet Moshiach. I’m ready to leave at any time. Always.)

        1. Weary Traveler

          Good point. I just added a warning label.

          For obvious reasons, I have been making one of those for each NYE since the SCAMdemic started.

          To think… In the last century, we had the Roaring 20s, and in this century, we have the Fraudulent 20s.

          2. Weary Traveler

            They have been in the making for decades. This is why I just want to see the whole system get burned down.

      4. bill smith

        Hey….
        Ever use Tidal for music streaming?
        Just downloaded it and very happy with bitrate of 1411Kbps

        1. Weary Traveler

          Just seeing this now….

          This is my first time hearing of it. Is this an app, or a website?

  262. bill smith

    Indeed, we are not an Occupying Power in our own Land. Now is the Time to Prove it and Apply Sovereignty

    The Sovereignty Movement congratulates Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his clear and resolute response to the UN decision regarding Israeli so-called “occupation” of Judea and Samaria.

    It is indeed a “despicable decision”, in Mr. Netanyahu’s words, and he did well by making it clear that the Israeli government has no intention of carrying out any decision of this sort.

    “A People cannot be an occupying power in its own land and in its eternal capital, Jerusalem, and no decision by the UN can distort this historical truth”, says Netanyahu.

    If the UN and its institutions were fair and honest, people would also come to the unequivocal conclusion that the decision of the law of nations states that the entire Land of Israel was designated for the establishment of a national home for the Jewish People.

    There has never been “occupation” in Judea and Samaria because this area has never been designated by law to any other nation.

    In order to block the international preoccupation with this false matter, the government of Israel must immediately begin the process of applying Israeli sovereignty, with the Jordan Valley as the first required step.

    Sovereignty over the Jordan Valley determines Israel’s eastern border – it is an area where the Arab presence is quite minimal and there has been a broad national consensus regarding it since the establishment of the communities in the Jordan Valley by the Labor Party over the years.

    Applying Israeli sovereignty over the the Jordan Valley will also finally put an end to discourse of the possibility of establishing a Palestinian terror state in the heart of our Land.

    Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar
    The Sovereignty Movement

  263. bill smith

    99 comments to go before midnight, 99 comments to go,,,, write a post, click on “comment”, 98 comments to go before midnight.

    1. Sapper 9

      Oddly, I have done a little research and can find the details of the crime and arrest; however, not the name of the perpetrator . hmmmmm

      The vandalism of a Menorah in Beverly Hill has also been arrested, his name has been released; however, no photograph.

      No name means that the name points to the demographic, no photo means that the name isn’t a big clue, but the photo is.

      If he could be called a “white supremacist”, or they could attempt to connect him to the “right”, his photo and name would be on the news every 10 minutes.

    2. Proud Conservative Mom

      Shavuah Tov to you and everyone else! 💞💞💞

      I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw this. It’s as if it was tailor made for you!
      😅😅😅

      I don’t know if you celebrate the secular New Year.
      Truthfully, many don’t know that it’s from Christianity and not secular at all.
      (No judgments.)

      When someone wishes me a happy New Year, I thank them and reciprocate.
      I then go on to explain that it’s not my New Year.
      Because I am Jewish, mine is on Rosh Hashanah.
      That’s the one that I celebrate.

      (What a difference in how we celebrate it.)

      In any event, here it is:

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a0ebf320f9bf8bfb0a14a322f2fa1f9baae7c4883a6f1336d29d161fe1dc9e2b.png

      1. Sapper 9

        I did not know about the connections to Christianity, I will need to educate myself a little better.

        1. Tony

          Me too. Never thought of it. If someone wishes me a HNY, I doubt if they are aware of that, either.

        2. Proud Conservative Mom

          I’ll explain it on the next page, Be’Ezras Hashem (regarding New Years and Christianity).

          I’m traveling back home from a very long day…
          💔💔💔😪😪😪

          @anthonyquest:disqus, I’ll tag you to it as well.

    2. bill smith

      Many vitamins are very different if they are from plant sources… and far less bio-available.
      Example—D2 from plants vs D3, or “vitamin A” as in beta-carotene from plants vs retinol.

      1. "Divergent" sgthwjack ✯

        Most welcome. Disseminating truth is my chosen mission and figured this site would be an appropriate place to share it. 👍

    2. Proud Conservative Mom

      Sarge, this article is awesome!
      It clearly makes the case in great detail how Israel is entitled to and owns its own land.

      Concessions of giving land for peace, doesn’t negate our sovereignty and never has.

      The International Court has always been very anti-Jews.

      Thank you most kindly for sharing this!
      🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆

      I even just Tweeted the article (I am on Twitter in a very limited capacity).

        2. Weary Traveler

          Because surprised really isn’t the right word when it comes to leftist antics. Disgust is more appropriate, and they seem to always find way to stoop to new levels of it.

Comments are closed.