We like to think that Chanukah was the great victory of Judah the son of Mattityahu the Priest ( who iniated the resistance ) against the mighty Syrian or Seleucid Greeks over two thousand years ago. The Seleucid campaign against Judea began when Antiochus the 4th invaded in 167 BCE). He believed his culture was far superior to that of the Jews…
General Topics
Wind and Sun
A few weeks ago, The Economist ran an article referring to Sir Isaiah Berlin. He was an outstanding Jewish Oxford intellectual who my father knew and admired. The article was about whether or not Britain should allow for what is called assisted dying. It’s a subject that had been before parliament for generations. Subsequently parliament decided to approve the act. In the…
Idiocy
It came as no surprise to me at all, that the so called International Criminal Court ( AKA Idiotic Corrupt Crazies ) would issue genocide-based arrest warrants against Galant and Netanyahu. It was a foregone conclusion given that it was set up by the Disunited Nations with its built-in left-wing, anti-American, Muslim bias against Israel. Nor that the equally unbalanced CIJ ( AKA…
The Savonarola Moment
People are asking why now are we experiencing such a tsunami of hatred? A kind of MaNishtanahmoment. There are very different factors that have come together now to create a perfect storm of conflicting world and ethical values. Old certainties have died, and new ones are flourishing. Not always for the best. One can look at this from different perspectives, the…
David Alroy
Alroy is the title of novel about a Jewish false messiah ( of which there have been many), written by a young Benjamin Disraeli who was Prime Minister of Britain during Queen Victoria’s reign. It illustrates that despite Disraeli’s having been forced by his father into Christianity in a fit of pique, he still had very powerful Jewish roots that only…
Trump
וללב מלכים אין חקר “There is no way to plumb the depths of the hearts of kings.” Proverbs 25:3 The Biblical books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes have plenty of negative statements about rulers. That they are fickle, cannot be trusted, misuse their power and can’t be relied on to be just or honest. Yet rulers of any kind have existed for…