S.O.S. - Save Our Simcha February 26, 2008

I hope Moshiach is reading this.

I hope Moshiach sees precisely what condition klal Yisra’el are in danger of being in and how so many Jewish souls are trapped in bodies which are being sucked into a joyless vortex of stringencies and bans.

A concert, billed the “Big Event”, was planned to happen in the coming weeks at Madison Square Garden, bringing together Jewish music heavyweights Lipa Schmeltzer, Shlomie Gertner, and composer Sheya Mendlowitz — the 20,000+ tickets were sold to a crowd set to assemble for a night of music and entertainment which was to be the buzz of New York.

Soon after it was announced, it was banned. Prominent rabbis came out against the concert, saying that, in part:

It refers to the performers as “mezamrim m’ktze hamachane” (singers from the edge of the camp) and says [in Hebrew] “they’re going to sing and joke in front of men and women with an outcome of frivolity and light-headedness.” Oh, dear.

The ban goes on to assert that all concerts are prohibited. It also proclaims an “issur” for newspapers to publish ads for the event. And, it urges all to boycott these musicians and not hire them for your personal simchos or for tzedakah events.

BloginDm also notes that:

THE KOL KOREH WAS AN OLD, RECYCLED ONE FROM LAST YEAR, WHEN THEY WENT AFTER FRIED AND MBD IN ISRAEL!!!

Perhaps the worst news comes from a comment on Vos Iz Neias, the charedi newswire I’ve been into for quite sometime. Apparently, Sheya Mendlowitz let a little something slip during his Saturday night radio appearance with Zev Brenner:

I guess after you’ve been physically threathened, you would also change your tune (no pun intended) pretty quickly. Shye Mendlowitz alluded to that at his call-in on the Zev Brenner show this past mozei shabbos. He mentioned that this thing had gone into dangerous territory and he did not want to go into details as to what transpired behind the scenes. My sense is that violence was threatened and everybody is backing off because of this.

So now, in New York, just like Israel, concerts are banned. How this can be construed as a good thing is beyond me. Indeed, as the Noy G Show shows, these quotes from Lipa make one question where the Orthodox world is heading:

I have recently started learning Bichavrusa with a leading Rosh Yeshiva, and I promised him that I will never sing any songs which were composed by non-Jews. Being true to my word, I have sang at more then a dozen Chasuna’s since I made that decision - and I have not sang “Yidden”, “Abi-Mileibt”, or “Numa” (Rabbi Nachman M’uman) or any other song that is questionable as to its origin.

Has it really come to this? Now songs which involve musical compositions of non-Jews are forbidden to perform? Baruch Hashem I make hiphop! And — let’s say that I were to be singing lyrics about sex and murder — would the fact that my beats were all made by Jewish producers make my lyrics somehow kosher? As Noy G said, the zeitgeist spreading among far too many authorities is “ban it all and let G-d sort it out” and I, for one, am scared.

Scared that one day the Hasidic people I see on the street might not be saying “shalom” to me, but might be ready to take me out because I dared put on a show that brought kids closer to Judaism.

Scared that one day I may look into the dreamy eyes of a depressed child a few years from now and hear, “you mean you can do your music in front of other people?”

Scared that I will see year after year of increasing disaffiliation statistics, year after year of kids going “off the path”, while some pontificating group of sticks-in-the-mud can continue to manipulate Torah giants into banning everything short of oxygen.

We are talking about events with separate seating, set up by people who learn b’chavrusa (privately) with heads of yeshivas. There is nothing abominable, forbidden, or even questionable that I would ever suspect Lipa Shmeltzer of organizing or having a hand in. I can’t believe that the good names of frum, G-d fearing Jews are being dragged through the mud and that honest people — who, let’s face it, at the end of the day, are just trying to make a living using the talents and skills G-d gave them (what, Shwekey should do wireless networking?) — are being shamed and embarrassed in public (and for what?).

The Torah is beautiful, and Judaism should not have to be enforced this way.

King Moshiach, if you are reading this, may G-d allow you to reveal yourself.

Save our simcha. Save our joy.

Please. Save us now.

How About That Economy? February 19, 2008

The report released by BIGResearch and MediaPost today reports what many have known for a while: consumer confidence in the economy is slipping, slipping, slipping, and it’s manifesting itself everywhere.

BIGResearch’s Consumer Intentions & Actions Survey involved 8,000 adults whose responses, the company said, “provided unique insights & identified opportunities in a fragmented and transitory marketplace:”

Every pundit is throwing around that word recession, and it appears that consumers unfortunately agree…only one in four (26.2%) are confident/very confident in chances for a strong economy in February, a five year low. What difference a year – and a sinking housing market, credit collapse, and record prices at the pump - makes…back in February 2007, twice as many consumers (53.2%) held high hopes for the future of our economy…

Consumers envision a rocky road ahead for the employment outlook…the majority (50.4%) contend there will be “more” layoffs in the next six months, up from 41.5% in January and the highest reading since March ’03 (50.4%)…

With pump prices rising from $2.227/gal one year ago to today’s average $2.972/gal (source: AAA)…driver’s budgets are increasingly strained by additional fuel expenditures. While two in five (40.5%) are attempting to cope by simply driving less, more than a third say pump pressures have led them to reduce dining out (35.3%) and decrease vacation/travel (33.6%). Additionally, 29.8% are spending less on clothing while 22.4% are delaying a major purchase, such as a car or furniture…

[D]rivers are easing up on their pricing predictions come St. Patrick’s Day…while half (49.9%) contend that pump prices will rise through March 17 (compared to the 69.8% who predicted “more” at Valentine’s Day), 44.2% assert they’ll remain the same, while 5.8% call for a decline. Consumers are predicting an average pump price of $3.11/gal at St. Patty’s, $0.16 lower than the $3.27 forecasted for Valentine’s Day.

At the end of January, the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index, based on a representative sample of 5,000, declined to 87.9 (1985=100), with the Board’s Research Center head, Lynne Franco, saying:

“Looking ahead, consumers are quite downbeat about the short-term future and a greater proportion expect business conditions and employment to deteriorate further in the months ahead. In addition, the percentage of consumers anticipating an improvement in their earnings has declined and could potentially impact spending decisions.”

On Friday Reuters/University of Michigan’s revealed that their Consumer Confidence index declined from 78.4 to 69.6 in a month, hitting a 15-year low. “Industry activity in New York state had dropped for the fourth consecutive month [in January] to its lowest level since 2003,” the Financial Times notes of the Empire State Manufacturing Index’s results.

It’s not a done deal, though — the US can still avoid recession, says the UK’s Investors’ Chronicle: industrial production overall rose 0.1% and retail revenues rose 0.3% in January (but, as they note, “some of this rise reflects higher prices rather than real growth”), but the truth of the matter is, at the end of the day, this is subjectively irrelevant for many Americans. Knowing that the economy “isn’t in a recession” doesn’t make one feel the resounding “yes” to the internal question, “Food is on the table now, will it be on the table next month?”

Bush’s economic stimulus, for many people, is too little too late. The rebate checks in the mail will simply be deposited into bank accounts, comprising one more credit card payment, a mortgage payment, maybe a down payment on something to create more debt. The knowledge of this doesn’t make confidence in one’s medium-to-long term financial future come back. People simply aren’t as confident in the economy anymore, even on the most micro- of levels, with the number of people afraid to be laid off rising.

Someone has to give America its hope and security back — the type of security that can’t be procured with any amount of guns or defense spending.

Meet Michael Weinstein February 14, 2008

Meet Michael L. Weinstein, Esq.

Former military attorney in the Air Force, legal counsel in the White House under the Reagan Administration and General Counsel to Texas billionaire and two-time Presidential candidate H. Ross Perot, “Mikey” Weinstein has become a centerpiece figure in the fight for religious freedom in America’s military. As IsraelENews.com informs us, “the 1977 honors graduate of the Air Force Academy is suing the United States Air Force for allowing, even promoting, evangelical Christian proselytizing at his alma mater”:

“People say this is a Christian country founded on Christian principles,” he says. “The real essential aspect of this country, woven into the tapestry of the embroidery of how beautiful this country is, is one concept above all others, which is tolerance of diversity.

“The biggest crime I accuse the religious right of — and it’s a blood libel, a crime against humanity — is torturing that concept, by bludgeoning it and assaulting it, so that what it comes out as “tolerance for diversity’ equals “intolerance for us in the majority.’ My response is: Fuck you. Fuck you. How dare you?“

What is it that drives Mr. Weinstein to his goals, of making every religious stream represented equally in the military? Why is he so headstrong against what he perceives as an evangelical hegemony?

“Every single time radicalized Christianity has engaged the machinery of the state and the armed forces, we have ended up not with puddles and little streams, but with oceans and oceans of blood,” he says. “I’m not just talking about the Holocaust or the Inquisition or the four Crusades, I’m not just talking about the Black Plague; it’s the transition from Plan A to Plan B.

“In Plan A, evangelical Christians with a smile on their face will ask you to please, please, please accept their biblical worldview of Jesus. The problem with that is, inevitably, Plan A morphs into Plan B. They stop asking so nicely, and then you have the Holocaust…”

Provocative, but definitely worth reading. Weinstein’s Military Religious Freedom Foundation was founded in 2006 to combat anti-non-Christian discrimination in the religious arena in the armed forces, and Weinstein was recently nominated for JFK’s Profile in Courage Award.

His interview with IsraelENews.com is here, is an introduction to Mr. Weinstein, as well as the efforts of his organization. The MRFF combats cases of discrimination — ranging from a soldiers’ being expelled from mess halls for refusal to pray to Jesus for being an atheist to encouraging Christiantiy via having blatantly pro-Evangelical speakers speak to soldiers to boost morale.

Weinstein has been called the “field general of the godless armies of Satan”, and laughs at his title — he wished it could get him free food:

WEINSTEIN: …On Sundays, they’ve been throwing my photo up on the jumbotrons in their sanctuaries mostly in the southeast, mostly in “red states.” Underneath my picture they put down “field general of the godless armies of Satan.” There are enough nuts out there that actually believe this.

I’ve tried to make this worthwhile. I go to McDonalds, and I order a couple of hamburgers, a Diet Coke, and some fries. They charge me $5.61, and I tell them I’m the “field general of the godless armies of Satan,” but they still make me pay. It doesn’t even seem to work.

As IsraelENews.com also notes, “the Christian right has been successful in spreading its fundamentalist agenda at US military installations around the world for decades.” It is only when a voice of dissent arises from an “outsider” group that the mandate for diversity in all spheres of American government (and military) becomes as germane and relevant as it is in our cities and streets.

One love to Reb Mike Weinstein. May he be successful in all his efforts, and my there never be another case of a soldier being subjected to:

A 2004 survey indicated that half the cadets at the academy reported hearing religious slurs on campus.

One documented “joke” went like this:
“Why do Jews make the best magicians?

“Because they can go into a building and vanish in a puff of smoke.”
Jewish cadets complained about being called “Christ-killers” and being told that the Holocaust was revenge for the death of Jesus.

Ken y’hi ratzon.

“Just Send Your Children to Die” February 13, 2008

This video of Mahmoud al-Mutawak just defies comment. It’s an excerpt of his pre-suicide bombing video, a video he did with his mother.

Her instructions to mothers throughout the Palestinian Authority? If you want honor, just send your children to die. Teach them “to love martyrdom”.

And this is what All-h wants?

Nazi Style: Fascist Fashions in Berlin

Welcome to the new world of highbrow fascist fashion, the pret-a-porter for the Third Reich.

Tønsberg, a fashion boutique on the tony strip of Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße in Berlin, recently became home to Thor Steinar, a brand of clothing identified with neo-Nazis and far-right fascists in Germany.

Describing its store’s inventory as “urban street wear”, Tønsberg has now become embroiled in a huge controversy which has already seen its landlord searching for ways to evict his unwanted tenant, says Gridskipper.com:

Tönsberg, which defines its inventory as “urban street wear,” moved into Rosa-Luxemburg-Strasse 18, an emblematic number for Adolf Hitler’s initials (1=A, 8=H). The store also carries clothing by the brand Thor Steinar, a well-known label worn by followers of the rechtsextremismus (extreme right)….

Nearby stores have publicized their opposition to Tönsberg’s uninvited presence by hanging information about Tor Steinar in English or painting “Kauft nichts bei Nazis” (buy nothing from Nazis) on their windows, in an effort to educate the tourists that frequent this part of town and keep unsuspecting consumers away from the store’s cash registers.

On the day of Tönsberg’s opening, according to The Economist, 60 people gathered to protest this apparent invasion of neo-Nazism in Berlin’s Mitte, in what was actually a timid display compared to the reaction in Leipzig, where riots broke out back in October when the same store opened a branch there…

In Berlin, Tönsberg has already seen one of its windows broken, but the widespread publicity surrounding the store has been doing a different type of damage. It is technically illegal in Germany to accuse someone of being a Nazi without actual evidence, and Tor Steinar occupies a veritable gray area…


The scene in Leipzig. (Courtesy: German TV)

The landlord of Rosa-Luxemburg-Strasse 18, who refused to have his name printed in the Berliner Zeitung for fear of right-extremist reaction, has decided to evict Tönsberg.

If only it was that simple.

The three-year lease signed by the store, which promoted itself to the landlord as an “urban street wear” chain with 160 employees nationwide, has no clauses that allow for premature termination — the same issue faced by the landlord of the Leipzig branch.

Although the landlord claims he will pursue legal intervention in order to force Tönsberg out of his house, it’s unclear if such attempts will be successful.

Thor Steinar’s thoroughly unimpressive catalog is viewable here.

This, I feel, is something the area business owners need to rally together and seriously address. Perhaps local business owners would serve themselves well by linking up and sharing resources with local anti-Nazi activists. Because the bottom line is, they’re losing money — who wants to shop while on vacation next to Nazis? — and a fascist presence in an area brings down everything in its vicinity.

No business district should provide a forum and meeting place for these racists. Perhaps German law needs to change to incorporate Thor Steinar’s new logo into the category of forbidden designs — together with swastikas and SS insignia. Until there is an outcry, the clothes will still be on the shelves, and the skinheads boneheads will keep coming out to shop there, disturbing everyone in their wake.

Obama’s Christian Support — Triple McCain’s?

The very Christian G-dTube.com just released the results of its 2008 Election Poll. The results?

Obama received 26% of the votes cast on the site, with McCain receiving a mere 9%. Huckabee, the preferred candidate in the Evangelical camp, won an expected — with 46%. Hillary trails at nearly 19% — still double McCain’s rating.

The site is considered a good bellwether, garnering over 3 million views a month.

Now, The Faith in Public Life forum did release data Monday that put, in Tennessee and Missouri, Clinton higher than Obama among white evangelical voters. Obama’s being preferred by 37% of said voters roundly surpassed McCain’s 25% in Missouri, however — it was only in Tennessee that Obama was defeated by McCain, 30% to 12%.

Part of me would really like to believe that white Tennessee voters have a harder time rallying behind a Black man than white Missouri voters (37%-20%), but the reality is that this vote was not broken out demographically.  Obama has led Clinton by “double-digit” margins with whites under 30 in ten states so far. This probably explains the discrepancies in G-dTube.com’s data versus the exit polling by the Faith in Public Life forum: the internet demographic just skews younger in general — even Christianity Today said their “informal online polling” showed Obama “way ahead” of Hillary in Tennessee and Missouri with white Christian voters.

BeliefNet’s poll of Evangelical voters (devout voters at that, 48% go to church every week, 87% view Billy Graham favorably) showed Obama leading Clinton 31% to 12% among Democrats. John McCain was preferred by 21%. And over 60% of voters said they viewed Hillary “unfavorably”.

The Beliefnet poll actually was heavy on middle-aged voters: 37.8% of respondents were aged 18-45, 38.8% were aged 45-59. Clinton, however, has led Obama, according to the Washington Post, by “double-digit” margins with over-65 voters in 17 states.  One in four voters in the Beliefnet poll was over 60.

In general, Democratic evangelical support is growing with 40% of born again voters in one poll saying that, were the election held today, they would vote for the “Democratic candidate”. (Clinton led Obama by a mere two points in this poll, but see here for the difference in methodology between that poll and the above FPL survey.)

Obama is gaining support across the board — especially with young people, and the evangelical community is no exception. May it be the Will of our Father in Heaven that nothing stop the Obama-mentum.

Video: Dimona Suicide Bombers February 12, 2008

In the usual terrorist MO, the “martyrdom” video from the Dimona terror operation, was released on YouTube — apparently either by Hamas or under Hamas auspices — over the weekend. The suicide bombing claimed the life of one 73-year old woman, theoretical physicist Lyubov Razdolskaya, as well as injuring as many as 38 others.

Muhammad Hirbawi and Shadi Z’ghayar entered into the busy Dimona shopping center on that fateful Monday morning, had a coffee at Revital’s World Class Pizza (obviously patronizing Israeli businesses, a clear violation of the Israel boycott, but whatever), and detonated themselves using “improvised” explosives, an “explanation for the small number of casualties”, according to Ha’aretz.

So below is the “martyrdom” video. How is killing a 73-year old scientist heroic? How is it an undying show of solidarity with Palestinians, when his last action before detonating was to give money to an Israeli business?

These people are not involved in anything holy.

Jewish Women of the Hijab and Burqa February 7, 2008

Jewish women across Israel are joining what more and more Orthodox Jews are seeing as an alarming social trend. “Dozens of” charedi Orthodox women, under the tutelage of one Rebbetzin Bruria Keren in Ramat Beit Shemesh are eschewing their traditional covered wigs in favor of burqas, hijabs, and abayas/jilbab.

I first wrote about this on Jewlicious, when I first read the Muqata translation of the Ha’aretz piece which introduced me to this sect of ultra-modest women, one of whom “show[s her] children” to prove “[she’s] not…Arab” at security checkpoints, because she doesn’t want “men seeing [her] ID.” The story was run in the British Independent and Jewish Chronicle, and blogged about throughout the blogosphere. I echoed the same sentiments as MomInIsrael, that this was alarming and shocking — and I prayed that it never catch on.

And then I saw this. Perhaps my blog-prayer was in vain, after all.
(more…)

Hip-Hop Legend Q-Tip Endorses Obama February 5, 2008

Joining the growing ranks of supporters in the hiphop community, Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest fame, released a statement this week declaring his support for Sen. Barack Obama for president:

Hip Hop continues to be a mighty voice for the disenfranchised, the disillusioned and poor. Senator Obama offers the best opportunities for all of us who fit these descriptions…

I know about having true substance, new ideas and a desire for fundamental change like Senator Obama. This is not an emotional decision, although I am moved by Obama’s American story. I am endorsing Barack Obama because I feel that we can benefit greatly from a leader that offers sound judgment and experience rooted in the lives of real people.

We are on the brink of moving past our stigmas and preconceived thoughts to make a substantive decision for change… The change is Barack Obama.”

Check the rhyme, check the reason. The change is Barack Obama.

Racist Graffiti: The N-Word In “Every Hallway” February 4, 2008

The Anti-Racist Blog, a wonderful blog dedicated to exposing hatred, ran this extremely disturbing report of brazen racist and anti-Semitic graffiti being scrawled at Massachusetts’ Anna Maria college, as Black History Month was just opening:

An investigation is under way to find out who penned anti-Semitic and racist graffiti inside a coed residence, Madonna Hall, at Anna Maria College, according to AMC President Jack P. Calareso.

The graffiti was discovered by AMC security staff during routine rounds Thursday night, according to Paula L. Green, spokeswoman for the college. Calling the graffiti a “heinous act,” Mr. Calareso pledged to pursue the investigation and cooperate with local police until the person or people responsible are held accountable…She said the graffiti, which she believed was done with a marker, was photographed for the investigation and then immediately removed.

Several students, however, said the graffiti included the words white power and swastikas, and a racial epithet was scrawled on the dorm-room doors of two black male students. The students, who did not want to be identified by name, said that despite the increased security, they do not feel safe.

“Today is the first day of Black History Month, so it’s kind of ironic that in every single hallway at Anna Maria is (scrawled) the word n*gger,” one of the students said. She complained that a student was allowed to walk around campus during the early part of last semester wearing a jacket emblazoned with a swastika.

The story was also covered in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

I think the security here, if this students’ words are true, is too little too late. A student walked around in public with a swastika on his jacket? I am almost positive that this kid had friends (either on- or off-line). This means the area — if not the school itself — has a neo-Nazi presence and that, in my opinion, is enough cause to enlist some sort of extra protection for minority students. It is truly lamentable that it often takes something like this to cause change.

It is my hope that the new security “cleans house” of these racists, enabling their minority students to feel safe once again.

Endorsement: Philly Loves Obama!

Or so says the Philadelphia Weekly. Their witty endorsement of Obama I’m sure echoes the feelings of more than one of its readers:

We could’ve gone with Ron Paul.

If nothing else, it would’ve kept our inbox filled for months.

Happily, though, we got a grip.

We’re supporting Barack Obama for a lot of reasons.

Here’s the one reason that may be most important: He shares nothing in common with the most morally and spiritually destructive president of our lifetime. George W. Bush.

It’s kind of like Robert DeNiro said at the Obama Rally at the Meadowlands:

“Barack Obama doesn’t have the experience to run for president of the United States, and I can prove it” De Niro told the crowd. “He did not have the foresight to vote for the Iraq War. You know: that’s the kind of inexperience I can get used to.”

“That’s the kind of inexperience our country deserves. If this contest were to be decided strictly on the basis of experience, Dick Cheney would be our next president. I would prefer Barack Obama’s type of experience.”

And so would I.

Niche Marketing Obama

If we can imagine American society in the 2008 primary race as an inanimate object, Obama’s latest campaigning is making me think he visualizes America similar to a pegboard, targeting population after population with targeted vertical (niche) marketing campaigns, as opposed to broad appeals to Democrats.

Let’s face it — from Obamacans to McCain’s attracting Democrats, partisan lines already have proven quite fluid in this campaign in general. Add to this the fact that Hillary has been called “polarizing” (by the British Telegraph among others) and Edwards jumped ship, and now, perhaps more than ever, there is no single rallying cry that could be said “should attract all the Dems”. Horizontal marketing — broad, sweeping appeals to mass amounts of the population — seems to be showing itself to be less and less effective with each passing day.

Obama seems to be acultely aware of this. In Queens this past weekend, the Bhangra for Barack event drew about 100 supporters, mostly from New York’s South Asian community, with the event’s organizer, Rushabh Doshi, deflecting many of the same issues Obama is having in the Jewish community among others:

Rushabh agrees. “The Hillary supporters are small business owners, dentists and physicians. They’re happy with the status quo. It’s not Indians who are suffering in America right now. But where’s the change? Where’s the true progress? Where are the inclusive political, economic and social systems?…Obama and the Indian-community are on similar ideological wavelengths, if only they’d realise it!”

But Ashwani Nagpal, one of the owners of the Leela Lounge, says that the generation gulf is not as wide as has been reported. Nagpal, from New Delhi, has been in America for 20 years.

“I like Hillary, but I feel the country is thirsty for change. It’s true that a lot of South Asians who were here during in the 1990’s are comfortable with the Clintons,” he says. “But there are also people who have been here, like me, who feel that America needs to reinvent itself.”

(Young Chinese Americans are also beginning to skew towards Obama, whereas Hillary is still a hit with the older generation, who cite her favorable views of China while she was first lady.) Obama’s ethnic background has also been cited as a potential detractor for him in the South Asian community, but one Obama supporter was quick to dismiss this:

Much has been made of the Indian community’s supposed unwillingness to vote for a black man.

“I don’t agree at all,” [Theresa Thanjan] replied. “The media is wrong on this point. People shouldn’t just view him as a black man; they need to see him as the son of an immigrant, as someone who has lived overseas, as someone who understands minority concerns…I feel that if Indians learn more about him, his support in our community will continue to surge upwards,” she says.

Obama made campaign stops in North Dakota and Idaho. Obama released an Action Plan targeting Native Americans, with “First Americans for Obama” noting that Obama is “committed to tribal nation building and enforcing the federal government’s obligations to Indian people”.

By personally addressing the needs of increasingly shrinking affinity communities — targeting South Carolina’s black voters by going to barbershops and beauty salons, for example — Obama shows he is adapting to the new paradigm of social networking and voting decisions. Everyone’s circle of friends (or “friends list”) is going to be the atom-level target for this campaign, and perhaps it is this HyperTargeting that Obama needs to pull through “Super Tuesday”.