Jews gone wild?

Two seemingly unrelated incidents occurred over the last two weeks. The unfortunate violent incident in New Square and the Anthony Weiner scandal seem to have little or nothing to do with each other, besides having Jews involved at the heart of each matter. Or do they?

Those who attended my Shavuos night shiur learned that nothing happens on this Earth without God's will - not even (possibly) what seem to be random evolutionary processes. As the Zohar says, there is not even a blade of grass that does not have the voice of God behind it, saying "Grow!" When incidents occur such as the two mentioned above, we need to try to find a message buried inside and heed that messages well. Jews, especially Orthodox Jewry, are taking it on the chin. The media coverage of these two incidents is incessant and so negative that we must take a lesson from what's been perpetrated and work from that silver lining towards some kind of tikkun.

There is a famous story told over in the Talmud, in Avoda Zara 17a, about a serial sinner, Elazar ben Dordia. Elazar had visited every harlot he could think of or reach. He found out about one that he hadn't visited yet and decided to make the journey. Once reached, she rebuked him sharply and told him that he had no share in the World to Come, whereupon Elazar laid down, cried and repented until his soul left him and died. A voice from heaven then announced "Rabbi Elazar has merited life in the World to Come". Rebbi, the great redactor of the Mishna, wept when he heard this and proclaimed "some labor an entire life to merit a share in the World to Come, while some do it in a single instant!"

The message, I think, is clear: these two incidents are examples of the Rabbi Elazar ben Dordia story in reverse. Anthony Weiner had accomplished much as a politician, had his whole political life ahead of him; all gone, in a puff of smoke, because of a few minutes of indiscretion. New Square is renowned for its pious works - its charity, chessed, and spirituality have few rivals, yet with one extremely brief incident all that is nearly forgotten, at least to the "outside world", at least for now. Or, to put it another way, "yeish mi she oveid es olamo besha'ah achas" - there are those who can lose their share in the World to Come in one instant".

We need to weigh everything we do, everything we say, against the measure of desecrating God's name. We Jews can labor our entire life doing good works and establishing a good name; the memory of those deeds and that good name can easily vanish with astonishing swiftness with one brief word or action.

???????????????

We've all heard about the terrible events that occurred over the last week both in Japan and the earthquake there, and in Itamar regarding the horrible murder of nearly an entire family.
As most of us folks know, pur'anios (negative events) can occur in the world "because" of us, the Jewish people. That's not to say, like those medieval Europeans did during the Black Plague, that we actively cause bad things to happen, rather what it does mean is that we need to look inwards with intense introspection to see how we can improve on something, do something, refrain from doing something. These are messages to us that we need to critically look inward.

Which brings me to this opinion piece on matzav.com about the Japanese earthquake. I generally agree with the sentiments of the author - that we need to examine ourselves thoroughly in the wake of such tragedy and set our priorities appropriately. But then he sticks this paragraph in the middle. I posted the article link, but I'm posting it here in part to save for posterity because Matzav will probably "edit" this article in time. This is copy/paste, not a paraphrase:
"Hashem’s revenge on the Japanese people, whether because they were allies with the Nazis in WW2 or because they incarcerated and cruelly treated three innocent Yiddishe neshamos whose innocence is clear to all except for their kangaroo court, was all enveloping utilizing all the elements to demonstrate His decisive omnipotence. No man made advanced technology could stop or even slow the earthquake, tsunami, nuclear meltdown and volcano. Everyone stood helpless, stunned and paralyzed as Hashem with one swift blow used His elements to demonstrate as He did to Pharaoh in Mitzrayim that in merely seconds what seems to be one’s reality is no longer. "


This is a terrible, dreadful and grossly hubristic thing to say, let alone hypocritical. Who are we to understand WHY Hashem chooses to do what He does with the natural world? Traditionally, we can only know the reason Hashem has done something to someone or some people through prophecy, which we no longer have. Do the Jewish people have no issues, no public desecrations of God's Name, to account for?? And if you deign to think that you know exactly why Hashem does what he does, why no explanation for the Fogel family, A"H, or the residents of Itamar? What did they do "wrong" to deserve such punishment as "hashgacha pratis"?! This paragraph has taken what could have been a wonderful piece and twisted it into something abhorrent, ugly, and despicable. Who are we to purport to be judge, jury, and executioner for the Japanese people as a whole, when we as a people have been quite successful lately at dragging God's name through the mud? 


It goes without saying that we all should have the remaining Fogel family in in mind during our tefillos. It should go without saying as well that we should have the people of Japan, also creations of God, in our mind as well. It should go without saying that these tragedies should force us to shine a flashlight on ourselves, not outside.

OMG

Haven't blogged in a while... sorry, all 3 of my loyal followers!

I just saw this and I HAD to put it up, I almost snarfed my coffee...

What what that famous quote again attributed to P.T. Barnum...?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280586670476&ru=http://shop.ebay.com:80/%3F_from%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dp5197.m570.l1313%26_nkw%3D280586670476%26_sacat%3DSee-All-Categories%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1#ht_574wt_934

Bravo, NJ!!!

Governor Chris Christie succeeded in getting a 2% property tax cap in NJ. Bravo!! Job well done, guv'na! It's not the most earth-shattering thing to happen in NJ vis a vis tax relief, but it's a start.

Read what NYS Governor David Paterson had to say about it here. Looks like NYS (at least some people in NYS) is looking south of the border and is starting to learn from their more progressive neighbors. Too bad that the impetus for reform has to come from outside stimuli...

Look carefully at Paterson's last sentence: “Now it is time for a similar agreement in New York, where families have waited long enough for property tax relief. And if Albany fails to deliver once again, those New Yorkers may be forced to look to two of our neighbors now – New Jersey and Massachusetts – to find the property tax relief they deserve here.”  He's not implying that New Yorkers may actually leave the state and take their potential tax revenues with them, should the tax burden become to great to bear, is he? IS HE??? Nah. Why would anyone do that...??

Wow

I normally don't come up with back to back posts - I'm not THAT brilliant. But an article on Matzav popped into my Google Reader this morning that looked interesting. After reading it, I'm pretty shocked - I mean he's essentially saying the same thing I am - even better because his readership is like 1,000x bigger than mine! Everyone should read this article; I really like the way this guy thinks.

I'm shocked that this actually made it through the censors though... Wow...

Of beverages, hedge funds, and... bullies?

There's been a lot of buzz about New York State's proposed beverage tax lately. The proposed tax, backed by both NYC Mayor Bloomberg and NYS Governor Paterson, would be levied at a penny/ounce rate on sugary beverages and the like - though I'm not sure how they'll define what would be taxed and what wouldn't. The tax would be expected to theoretically bring in around $465m, ostensibly to combat obesity and help offset the state's rising healthcare costs due to obesity.

I can agree in theory (GASP!) with the reasons behind the tax - legislators wants to reduce obesity and help stem the (allegedly) spiraling healthcare costs that rampant obesity can cause. Sounds noble. However, I totally disagree with the methods and don't believe for a minute that the many a**holes who run the state have any noble intentions whatsoever.

Let's analyze for a minute. Remember when I said that all NYS knows how to do is tax, tax, tax? This certainly bears this out. There is certainly a problem with obesity in the state - so what does NYS do about it? They instinctively reach for the tax button to wipe it out. Did they think of alternatives to taxing the hell out of NYS citizens? Of course not (well, maybe some Republicans did). Instead of adding to the burgeoning state tax burden on individuals, elected officials might have considered other methods to go about their business, like using tax as a reward instead of a weapon. They might have weighed the option of creating a state-wide "weigh-in" with tax incentives tied to positive, long-term results (don't laugh - this was tried with some success on a city-wide level in a city in Oklahoma, I believe). They might have allowed deductions or tax breaks on gym membership fees or gym equipment purchases to encourage people to sign up for gyms or purchase fitness equipment (of course the problem of whether the purchasers would actually use the membership or equipment would still exist and have to be addressed). They might have given tax breaks to businesses who purvey healthier foods or businesses that can prove they reduced sales of sugary foods and increased sales of healthier options. These are just a few ideas that floated to the top of my head. I'm sure that they have their flaws, but they reflect a general idea - using the tax code as a reward, not a punishment.

The truth is that I really don't believe one word the hot air comes out of any of these NYS officials' mouths. They say this tax is noble in nature and would be levied to help make everyone healthier and alleviate health care costs. Eventually, we will all live in happiness, harmony and in peace with our new, physically fit selves and we'll get on our knees and thank the great State of New York everyday for helping us cope with a problem we couldn't deal with on our own - thanks, NY!!

More likely, instead, are the reasons why this tax is truly nasty. It's not really about health - that's just a by-product. It's really just an obscure and obtuse way to help plug budget holes, plain and simple. All the state is really doing is balancing their horrendously bloated budget on the backs of people who can ill afford it. This is a regressive tax in the worst way. It's the lower strata on the economic scale who tend to buy more of these drinks and foods, because they're cheaper than the healthier alternatives. With the tax, they'll still be cheaper, but significantly less so, so these families will continue to purchase these foods and drinks despite the tax. They'll just have to squeeze more out of an already strapped budget. Richer families, on the other hand, will easily absorb the extra couple of bucks and their household budgets will barely crack a sweat with this tax.

The state is being a cold, calculating, son of a b**ch with this tax. They know their demographics quite well; in fact I'd go so far as to say that, despite what these two-faced lying bastards say they want, they actually want these families to continue buying these drinks because the revenue that will accrue to the state from the tax will accrue NOW, whereas the health problems and increased costs (if this is even true) will accrue to the state MUCH LATER. The state will not "save this revenue for a rainy day". They will take the money as it comes in and throw it down the sh***er that is the state's bloated, current budget. This is their dirty little (well, not so little) secret. "Who cares about the next generation's problems" - that's one of the state's creeds with which the incomepetents in the legislature and executive branches live by. They are balancing their ruinous budget on the backs of households that can ill afford it because a) they can get away with it - those households don't have the powerful lobby or under-the-table representation that the higher socio-economic demographic does (fact o' life, people) and b) those households are far more in number and buy far more of this stuff - this tax works for the state's benefit in volume of items purchased, it's not like income tax. The truth is that the state purports to be primarily interested in the public health. That's utter bulls**t. No one ever became healthier from higher taxes. In fact, a serious argument can be made that higher taxes for those that can ill afford them carries it's own health hazard - rising stress levels, which can lead to the same place obesity can - cardiac problems. So all the state may be doing is leading people down the garden path to hell, just via a different route. Bravo, NY!! 

Let's talk about hedge funds. The state has been mulling over taxing hedge fund managers who reside out of state that commute into NYS for work. While this has been dropped (for now), this is a further example of how the state operates and thinks - just reach for that tax handle, guys!! The fact that the governor didn't even seem to think about some of the repercussions when proposing this tax - these funds would simply relocate, DUH - shows how myopic these 'leaders' can be. Notice how Connecticut Gov Jodi Rell responded by trying to poach hedge fund firms who would try to escape the tax by relocating. Did ANY of this occur to Gov Paterson...???!!!

This is the direction that NYS has been inexorably moving in for years. Use the state's taxing power as a weapon and blunt instrument to fix problems that are only in front of your nose with total disregard to repercussions, both now and in the future. Bludgeon the vast majority of your residents with idiotic regressive taxation policy while refusing to cut the most wasteful spending. Nothing seems to change; it just gets worse with the passing years.

So much for beverages and hedge funds. Let's talk about bullies. Lets go down, south of the border.

Ah, New Jersey, a state that has historically shared NYS's distinction of being synonymous with corruption and incompetency. A state where cars still have "Dump Florio" bumper stickers, a state that will never forget the sordid McGreevey episode, etc. But, unlike "same ol'" New York, there's a whiff of change.

New Jerseyans woke up one fine day late last year and decided they've had enough. Enough of the same problems that plague New Yorkers to this very day. They threw out the ineffective Democrat  Jon Corzine and elected a Republican, conservative governor in Doug Christie, and seemed ready for the beginning of a sea change in policy. They may be getting that.

See this article and video interview by CBS News. I like Christie's tone and demeanor; it speaks volumes as to where he wants to pull the state. This guy has balls. He is tough. I like how he says "I'm not a bully... just direct" - in truth, I'd love a bully in my (the taxpayer's) corner, bullying those pesky interest groups and unions that tend to hold NYS and NJ budgets hostage. I like how he is determined to reform the state's biggest issue - property tax, and wants to get it done NOW. We've heard this tired proclamation many times from NJ governors through the years, but this time, the governor seems to truly mean it and has the balls and fortitude to actually follow through. Something's changing in Jersey - that landfill stink is slowly ebbing away. Best of all, he really seems to mean it when he says he's not interested in any higher office than where he is right now. If he really does mean it, that just bolsters the impression that what he wants to do in his turn at playing guv'na is truly reform NJ to make it a streamlined, efficient, tax-friendly state.

So, to echo Dickens, it's a tale of two governors and two states. Both have creaking, antiquated fiscal policy structures. One state refuses to acknowledge its failings and continues to contribute to its demise. The other seems hell-bent on reform and improvement. One governor seems fiercely determined to right the ship and do what's best for the state's residents. The other probably wants to do something, anything, but is too spineless and weak to take on the entrenched, Tammany Hall-like "boss" system that seems to run New York these days.

If NYS keeps on its current route to hell, it'll find businesses and households turning their taxpaying, revenue-generating backs on the joke they call NYS, raising both middle fingers in a time-honored "F*** YOU!" salute and never looking back. New York can very easily be an economically poisonous environment in which to live and do business. It sucks money from your pocket and promises the world to you but gives appallingly little back in return.

I'm sure many people will accuse me of just being whiny. Do those people think I'm the only one who thinks and writes this way? Yeah, me and 10 million other taxpaying citizens. Let's not forget - Gov Christie was probably a whiny bastard, harping on the same things over and over. And look where he is now and what he's doing... Just sayin'...

Communists

It used to be a ritual for many New Yorkers who wanted to buy clothing - hop in the car, travel to your nearest NJ or CT mall, and buy clothing there, at a lower (read: zero) tax rate. New York State lawmakers (read: a**holes) realized that their exorbitant tax rates were doing much to drive commercial activity away from the state, and were enabling business and economic growth in the surrounding, out of state areas. So NYS legislators passed a law exempting tax on clothing articles under $110 each to bring that business back.

This law is may be about to change - see this article on VIN. Legislators are seriously considering bringing back sales tax on all clothing and doing away with so-called "tax holidays" - periods of time during the year when certain items are exempt from sales tax - in order to plug a multi-billion dollar hole in an overdue budget.

As usual, NYS legislators are showing their true colors: RED. These communist bastards think that the solution to nearly every problem lies in the state's power to levy all manner of taxes, fees and excises. In reality, these blowhards aren't really solving problems by throwing money at them as much as creating new problems by refusing to cut the state's freakishly bloated, corrupt entitlements system. All these idiots know how to do is tax and spend, not cut and save. Want to get fat people slim, and earn some revenue in the process? Tax sugary foods and drinks. Want to help otherwise undeserving people obtain mortgages so that they, too, can live "the American nightmare" (oops - I meant "dream")? Tax mortgages and home financing. Want to throw more money into a failing school system? Tax local properties. And on and on and on.

I have a great idea for Paterson, Silver, Espada, and their rag-tag cast of spineless communist idiots. How about cutting entitlement programs instead of throwing money at them? How about tightening fraud detection to crack down on abuse of the system so people who really need state aid can get it?
How about growing a pair of balls when it comes to dealing with the teacher's union? How about passing a school voucher system to inject a little competition into the education market? How about learning from states like Texas, New Hampshire, and Florida as to how to effectively run a state with minimal individual tax burden (granted the demographics are different but there must be something that can be learned and adapted).

The sad fact is that the lazy, whiny babies in the NYS legislature and the idiots who represent this state in Congress seem to view themselves in unassailable positions and therefore have little incentive to change. All these people know how to do is tax and tax and tax, I truly believe this. They don't even think of drastically altering the state's time-honored tradition of raising and creating taxes by actually cutting programs. This is why I look into my crystal ball and see NYS becoming a failed, bankrupt state in the future - its tax structure is such that it creates little to no incentive for firms to do business in the state and ultimately drives established firms from the state. The individual tax burden that exists to fund all these wasteful entitlement programs will drive residents from the state, leaving fewer households to fund ever growing deficits. That spells doom.

Adam Smith was right. The 'invisible hand' has it's flaws, but it works. It's not by accident that the US has become the economic and political powerhouse that it is in such a short span of time. Capitalism has its flaws, but it WORKS. Reagan had it right - people should be given as much freedom as possible to decide what to do with their money, not governments. Income redistribuition just does not work. Governments have proven time and time and time again to be extremely poor decisors on how to spend other peoples' money and they have little moral right to tell individuals how to spend theirs. Free markets do a far, far better job in apportioning resources than do "central command", essentially government-run economies, such as exists in New York right now.

New York state, as it exists today, is not a state that's worth residing or doing business in from an economic point of view. The return on your the average NYS household's tax investment is staggeringly miniscule. Taxpayer dollars - whether business, sales, or personal - are funding programs that will bring the state to economic ruin, a la California. This article on VIN is just another example of how myopic these legislators can be. They either don't realize or don't care that all they're doing is, to use a tired cliche, rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.


POSTSCRIPT - while I obviously have nothing but vile contempt for the elected nincompoop babyish a**holes that make up the great state of New York's legislative and executive structure, I would somewhat exempt Governor David Paterson from my ire. He's not too bad a fellow and doesn't seem much like all the others: greedy, power hungry, and grasping. He kind of seems to want to do something right by NYS citizens and taxpayers (this is because, in part, he's not elected); he's just terribly weak and incompetent as governor and completely the wrong person for the job.
As for all the other elected officials: if the aliens from Close Encounters of the Third Kind would come to take them away tomorrow for aeons of experimentation, I'd be very happy. Good riddance.


FNY!!

Testing on microblogging from the EVO

Lessons from the Rubashkin trial

The Rubashkin trial is now officially over. Yes, there will be appeals of the 27 year sentence, but that could take years and may not be successful, unfortunately.

It would be easy to feel dejected and to say that all the prayers, gatherings, tehillim recitals, and letter and phone campaigns were all, in retrospect, for naught. That the Jewish community expended all that energy, time, and money and came away with nothing to show for their trouble. That, I think, would be a grave mistake.

It's a fundamental Jewish belief that things don't just happen arbitrarily. Judaism believes that God runs the world and that He will make things happen or not happen for our ultimate good, hard as it is for us to see. Therefore, there must be something, some good that can come out of the Rubashkin sentencing, some message that we're meant to take. So what could it possibly be?

There are probably many messages and hints that we can glean from this episode. One of the big ones I can think of is, despite whatever your opinion of the matter itself, the sheer achdus that we are capable of when we want to be mis'ached. I think that the one theme that overarches many others, though, is that of honesty and integrity.

Let's call a spade a spade. Nobody (or nearly no one) is saying that the guilty party is or was completely innocent in this case, now that the case itself has been laid to rest. The trial, conviction, and sentencing occurred and is occurring over a time period marked concurrently with relentless chilulei Hashem of legal and financial flavors splashed across all manner of media outlets. Is it beyond the pale of reason to suggest that maybe, just maybe, for whatever reason, God is telling His people to keep their noses clean, that He's had enough of seeing His name desecrated in the NY Times, the LA Times, the London Times, the NY Post, etc? Maybe God is, for whatever unknown reason, using this particular case as a warning message to His people to look within themselves, to better themselves regarding this aspect of life - to strive to act with utter honesty and integrity when dealing within the legal and regulatory system with each other and non-Jews alike, and to take the grave sin of desecrating His name a lot more seriously.

This is not meant to be an argument for or against Mr. Rubashkin's innocence or whether his sentencing was fair or not. That's been argued ad infinitum and the trial is over and done with. The question is, what will we take from this episode? Is this a test, a nisayon, from God? If it is, will we pass it or pass it up?

Food for thought...

Thoughts at a Bar Mitzva

I was attending a family bar mitzva recently and was struck by a thought after the music started up and people started dancing.

What other group of people or religion can you find a bunch of virulently homophobic Orthodox men get up and dance with each other, sweaty hand clasped in sweaty hand??

MI KE'AMCHA YISRAEL!!!

;-)