Just noticed this post by the woman who drafted the letter to Mrs. Margaret Park that I posted on this blog a few days ago.
It's nice to read. Nice to see that our signatures made a bit of an impact.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Please read
I was alerted to a post on Matzav.com by a Mrs. Miriam Pearlmutter, who lives in Mrs. Margaret Park's neighborhood. Mrs. Park is the mother of deceased Florida Fish & Wildlife Officer Peggy Park, whom Mr. Martin Grossman was just executed for killing. Don't read the comments section if you just ate lunch.
Miriam Pearlmutter, I guess, was shocked at the amount of abuse and invective leveled at Mrs. Park from elements of the frum community. She composed this letter of deep regret and apology to Mrs. Park on behalf of the Jewish community to attempt to reverse this terrible chillul Hashem.
I urge EVERYONE who reads this to sign this letter. I don't think it makes a difference whether you believed in clemency or not for Mr. Grossman, or if you signed the petition itself to save his life. It certainly makes no difference at all that the harassment was probably (dear God, I hope) perpetrated by a miniscule segment of the Jewish community; that's not a fact that Mrs. Park, who has been grieving over her slain daughter for 25 years, is likely to realize. What she sees is that Jews are behaving abhorrently - and we need to correct that misrepresentation by showing her the humanity and sensitivity that Judaism demands, whatever the positions we had on the clemency appeal itself. I admit, the letter is a bit slanted towards the "no clemency" camp. I don't think that matters though - that's not the point of the letter. I think we all know what the point is and what we can accomplish.
Please sign the letter. Mrs. Pearlmutter has given us an opportunity as a community to right our wrongs.
http://matzav.com/a-letter-to-mrs-park
Miriam Pearlmutter, I guess, was shocked at the amount of abuse and invective leveled at Mrs. Park from elements of the frum community. She composed this letter of deep regret and apology to Mrs. Park on behalf of the Jewish community to attempt to reverse this terrible chillul Hashem.
I urge EVERYONE who reads this to sign this letter. I don't think it makes a difference whether you believed in clemency or not for Mr. Grossman, or if you signed the petition itself to save his life. It certainly makes no difference at all that the harassment was probably (dear God, I hope) perpetrated by a miniscule segment of the Jewish community; that's not a fact that Mrs. Park, who has been grieving over her slain daughter for 25 years, is likely to realize. What she sees is that Jews are behaving abhorrently - and we need to correct that misrepresentation by showing her the humanity and sensitivity that Judaism demands, whatever the positions we had on the clemency appeal itself. I admit, the letter is a bit slanted towards the "no clemency" camp. I don't think that matters though - that's not the point of the letter. I think we all know what the point is and what we can accomplish.
Please sign the letter. Mrs. Pearlmutter has given us an opportunity as a community to right our wrongs.
http://matzav.com/a-letter-to-mrs-park
Monday, February 22, 2010
One word comes to mind...
See this Youtube post.
I'm not going to say anything philosophical or theological about it - all have different opinions about what this signifies, is it right, etc. We can all debate about that separately.
I just bring it to everyone's attention to one historical word that comes to mind - I just found it humorous, that's all, and to show that history does repeat itself and IS important to study and understand...
Luddite.
I'm not going to say anything philosophical or theological about it - all have different opinions about what this signifies, is it right, etc. We can all debate about that separately.
I just bring it to everyone's attention to one historical word that comes to mind - I just found it humorous, that's all, and to show that history does repeat itself and IS important to study and understand...
Luddite.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Barrabbas redux????
I assume that most people have been following the Martin Grossman story. If you weren't, Mr. Grossman was convicted and sentenced to death by lethal injection around 25 years ago for his 1984 murder at age 19 of Florida Fish and Wildlife officer Margaret ("Peggy") Parks. The facts of the case as sealed by the verdict are as follows, in summary. Officer Parks found Mr. Grossman and a friend in possession of a stolen firearm, which violated the terms of a prior probation. When she tried to radio in the violation from her car (some allege that Mr. Grossman pleaded with Officer Parks to not report the incident), Mr. Grossman attacked her with her flashlight, beating her numerous times on the head and shoulders. Officer Parks tried to fight back (some allege she fired a warning shot); Mr. Grossman took her gun away from her and shot her in the back of the head, killing her. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. He sat on death row for 25 years, (ed. - presumably held up with appeals), until he was executed by the State of Florida on February 16, 2010. Jewish organizations (as well as the Pope) such as Agudah, etc, led a grass-roots campaign to petition FL Governor Charlie Crist for a 60 day stay so as to submit an appeal for clemency, sparing Mr. Grossman's life and allowing him to serve his debt to society with life imprisonment instead. The appeals claimed the support of gedolim and called on a public communications blitz (email, phone, etc). Governor Crist sent out a response to the 50,000 some-odd callers and emailers - you can read it here, on YWN.
The death penalty, which FL revived in 1976, can be an extremely emotional and sensitive topic and this post is NOT meant to argue it's merits and demerits, nor am I intending to offend anyone's sensitivities. With that said, I don't have a problem with appeals for clemency per se, but I believe the nature and tone of this whole clemency campaign to be a misguided, poorly conceived project that was doomed to accomplish absolutely nothing and cause some unintended consequences in the process. There are problems with the campaign that I see on many levels that I'll attempt to tackle point by point.
Point 1 - The methods of the clemency seekers seem somewhat deceptive. Please read the campaign's official petition very carefully and compare to the facts of the case, as stated by Gov Crist (link posted above - these facts are documented elswhere - they aren't exclusive to Gov Crist). Do you see a difference? The petitioners obviously have an agenda (not necessarily wrong) and lightly twisted the facts of the case in such a way that softens the heinousness of what Mr. Grossman actually did and insinuates that Mr. Grossman can't be held that responsible for his actions. They say that Mr Grossman was said to have an IQ of 77, possibly lightly insinuate that the act of murder may have resulted from a (minor) epileptic seizure, and suggest that Mr. Grossman acted out of (self-perceived?) self-defense ("...which resulted in the officer reaching for her own gun. Then Martin panicked, snatched her gun and shot her."). All of these aren't necessarily problematic in and of themselves; they can be re-interpretations of a "he-said, she-said" situation where nobody really knows what exactly happened or what was going through Mr. Grossman's mind. But the petitioners deliberately leave out other salient points of the case, like the fact that he brutally beat the officer with her flashlight, some 20-30 times on the head and shoulders, which she almost died from (deep lacerations and fractured skull points attest to this in the autopsy).
Hat tip to Orthonomics for pointing this out.
Point 2 - The argument that clemency seekers make doesn't stand firmly on it's own logic. The main thrust of the argument (the official and unofficial arguments) to me was that Mr. Grossman didn't really have full control over his faculties and didn't realize the enormity of his actions, has served enough time and paid his debt, and is remorseful and repentant. He was young (19), possibly high on drugs, maybe had a seizure prior to the act, his acts were triggered by deep-seated psychosis stemming from bad upbringing, the murder wasn't premeditated (intent to kill), he has served enough time, etc etc etc etc. OK. He was young, only 19. So what? He's over the age of a minor and can be tried as an adult. He was mentally deficient for various reasons (low IQ, 'bad upbringing', high, etc) and therefore should be imprisoned for life instead of being executed. Why exactly should he rot in prison for life? This basis for clemency would logically call for an appeal for retrial (never going to happen) or transfer to a psychiatric facility instead of cold, hard life behind iron bars! His actions weren't premeditated, they were a spontaneous, psychotic act. So he gets scared he's going to get thrown in the clink again (she's going to report probation violation). So he beats her with flashlight to "silence" her ("OK, that didn't kill her..."). Then he grabs her gun and shoots her in the head ("OK, that worked"), then he covers up the murder ("Oops, I did a baddie. Gotta make sure I don't get caught"). That doesn't add up to premeditation at all??? Not a possibility for a jury to mull over? Premeditation doesn't have to necessarily refer to a case where a murderer carefully plans out his (or her) act over months or years. And, isn't any act of murder, I mean the act itself, a psychotic act?? "Mr. Grossman has been on death row for over 25 years!" He has served enough time already, he's paid his debt to society. Wait a minute - if he's served enough time, why are we asking for life imprisonment as an alternative? And, he hasn't paid his debt to society! His debt requires him, as far as the State of Florida is concerned, to be executed, which he would've been right away had there not been numerous appeals keeping him on death row for 25 years. All in all, arguing vs the merits of the death penalty itself (while it wouldn't have accomplished anything anyway) would've been a better route than making an argument with holes so big you could drive a truck through them. He was repentant, he has expressed regret and remorse for what he's done. So, does that make his debt to society any less? Many murderers feel remorse down the line - should we allow them to truncate the severity of their sentence (whether death or life imprisonment) because of it? We certainly don't believe that in Yahadus. The only kappara for taking a life is to part neshama from body, isn't it??
Point 3 - Involving the "plebeian" masses in this campaign and making it such a public spectacle was a very, very, very, very, very, very big mistake. This a most important point. OK, it's possible this point is a "20/20 in hindsight" sort of thing. But, an issue IMHO nonetheless. Appealing for clemency for a person who, let's face it, spontaneously OR premeditated, brutally beat and murdered a young woman is always rife with the toxic danger of PR fallout, no matter what. This is a "gimme" that those smart people who have leadership brains should have seen beforehand, period; even a person who doesn't have "daas Torah" could have spotted this. But somehow this was overlooked. Instead of recognizing the grave PR danger of making a public appeal on this very sensitive case and doing it quietly and firmly, those seeking clemency threw caution to the winds and created a ripe atmosphere in which this case could be blown up into a PR nightmare by snowballing a hysterically urgent, very public message that sites like YWN picked up on; messages there like Call NOW!!! There's not a MOMENT TO LOSE!!! on those sites seemed to have rapidly snowballed into messages such as PIDYON SHEVUYIM!! and THE GEDOLIM HAVE SAID THAT HE WHO SAVES THE LIFE OF A FELLOW JEW SAVES THE WHOLE WORLD!!! and WE MUST DAVEN FOR REB MICHOEL YECHIEL BEN AVRAHAM'S (apparently Mr. Grossman's name) HOLY, REPENTANT NESHOMA!!!! and HIS DEFENSE WAS INADEQUATE; THOSE MAMZERS ARE KILLING HIM BECAUSE HE'S A JEW!! and other such nonsense. If you don't believe me, just search for articles relating to the appeal on YWN, Matzav, VIN, and general Google searches. Read the comments extensively; heck, read the comments on Gov Crist's response to callers - some of them paint the Gov as some anti-semitic hack who is just a total, evil bastard. What? Read this article for more of the same. Are you kidding me? Then, the piece de resistance, read this article, where Gov Crist attempts to explain his rejection of the appeal, and the comments that ensue. They are a bit nauseating and stomach-turning. Some comments bash Gov Crist by totally sidestepping the issues ("he's an incompetent governor on the way out"). Some just dismiss any legitimacy Gov Crist has because of... his name ("sounds like Christ, that MAMZER!!"). Some comments actually contain a voice of sanity. In reading many of these comments though, I don't know whether to laugh or cry (or both). The comments are so riddled with words of insanity and idiocy that I can't possibly list them all here.
Then we have reports of people calling up Officer Parks' (the victim) family, harassing them, possibly calling them 'Nazi' for supporting and invoking the death penalty, and other such terms.
There are comments, websites, newspapers, etc publishing sentiments that are elevating Mr. Grossman to quasi-saint status (!!!), calling him a 'true baal-teshuva', a person who died a 'kadosh', and other blathering. These are too numerous to post - just search around the web and you'll see what I'm talking about. We have footage from the funeral - held in Monsey, NY - that can seem to paint Mr. Grossman (if this footage is true and relates to the story at hand) as some sort of "lamed vav-nik" or something given the size, scope, and raw emotion in the eulogy. IT'S ON YOUTUBE, FOR G-D'S SAKE! How more public can one get?
Then we get the Pope involved. I see. So we're not allowed to have anything to do with the Pope vis a vis dialogue on interfaith relations (not interfaith doctrine), but we'll gladly take his support when it suits us.
The bottom line really lies in an article written by R' Yair Hoffman for VIN and a well written response written here. ED. COMMENT - I just came across this interview of R' Hoffman on the Dov Hikind show where he respectfully defends his strong opinion - it's not long as is worthwhile listening to. There are others - just search. Not all that possess "daas Torah" are on the same side of the fence; others far greater than I (such as R' Hoffman above) have expressed publicly and in open forums much shock and dismay at the lack of preparation for the campaign as well as disgust for what it's become. The bottom line is that the man brutally murdered and snuffed out the life of a young woman. The bottom line is that many people are erroneously, too vocally and publicly, elevating the status of the murderer to some sort of sainthood. The bottom line is that there is another (non-Jewish) family suffering terribly because of Mr. Grossman's actions, and we as a people need to be sensitive to that. The bottom line is that the Jewish community, as a unit, acted in a horridly insensitive, non-sensical, hysterical and inappropriate way, whether you believe the appeal for clemency itself is appropriate or not.
The bottom line is that this campaign sowed the seeds of potential chillul Hashem and too many of our brethren may very well reap that foul harvest.
I am not arguing the merits or demerits of the death penalty. I'm not even discussing whether or not Mr. Grossman deserves clemency, philosophically or otherwise. What I am is critical of the way this campaign was waged and utterly disgusted of what it's become. I never thought I'd say this or feel this, but I am truly ashamed of many of my fellow Jews who so ridiculously and hysterically hijacked this "cause" and transformed it into what could very well be a public circus and chillul Hashem, as if we needed more of that. This could have been done in a dignified manner, but it degenerated into a circus. I am appalled and astounded at the horrid lack of foresight shown by those we deign to call and who deign to assume the mantle of "leaders". Haven't we learned from the various chillulei Hashem scandals in the past? Haven't we learned from the kidney scandals, the pedophilia "cover-ups", the conversion firestorms, the financial frauds, etc etc etc about the importance of political fallout? When will we wake up and realize that we need to be cognizant of every action, reaction, word and turn of phrase that we engage in and utter??? The notion that "'the goyim' are just going hate us anyway and what do they know and they'll never treat us fairly" needs to be discarded or modified, because it's not that simple, has gotten us in more trouble than it's worth, and may very well have done nothing but besmirch the standards of Judaism in the public eye.
Like one of the blog posts I linked to above, I didn't want to discuss this. I'm trying to wind down my "rantiness" here because that does nothing any good and isn't always appropriate. This is also a sensitive and emotional issue itself and I don't want to tread on anyone's toes. But the Jewish people as a unit have gone too far, from what I can see. People will see the youtube videos. These comments and sentiments elevating Mr. Grossman to sainthood will make their way around the internet and print media, like it or not. It's not Jews I'm worried about reading these things - it's non-Jews Googling the story and stumbling upon some pretty weird and vile comments in cyberspace. The way many people acted just makes me so sick and disgusted I feel like I have to write about this.
In the end, I hold Yahadus dear. Besides everything else, I love and am grateful to HKB"H for blessing me with a wonderful wife and child. I will not stand idly by while His name could be dragged through the mud, again.
The death penalty, which FL revived in 1976, can be an extremely emotional and sensitive topic and this post is NOT meant to argue it's merits and demerits, nor am I intending to offend anyone's sensitivities. With that said, I don't have a problem with appeals for clemency per se, but I believe the nature and tone of this whole clemency campaign to be a misguided, poorly conceived project that was doomed to accomplish absolutely nothing and cause some unintended consequences in the process. There are problems with the campaign that I see on many levels that I'll attempt to tackle point by point.
Point 1 - The methods of the clemency seekers seem somewhat deceptive. Please read the campaign's official petition very carefully and compare to the facts of the case, as stated by Gov Crist (link posted above - these facts are documented elswhere - they aren't exclusive to Gov Crist). Do you see a difference? The petitioners obviously have an agenda (not necessarily wrong) and lightly twisted the facts of the case in such a way that softens the heinousness of what Mr. Grossman actually did and insinuates that Mr. Grossman can't be held that responsible for his actions. They say that Mr Grossman was said to have an IQ of 77, possibly lightly insinuate that the act of murder may have resulted from a (minor) epileptic seizure, and suggest that Mr. Grossman acted out of (self-perceived?) self-defense ("...which resulted in the officer reaching for her own gun. Then Martin panicked, snatched her gun and shot her."). All of these aren't necessarily problematic in and of themselves; they can be re-interpretations of a "he-said, she-said" situation where nobody really knows what exactly happened or what was going through Mr. Grossman's mind. But the petitioners deliberately leave out other salient points of the case, like the fact that he brutally beat the officer with her flashlight, some 20-30 times on the head and shoulders, which she almost died from (deep lacerations and fractured skull points attest to this in the autopsy).
Hat tip to Orthonomics for pointing this out.
Point 2 - The argument that clemency seekers make doesn't stand firmly on it's own logic. The main thrust of the argument (the official and unofficial arguments) to me was that Mr. Grossman didn't really have full control over his faculties and didn't realize the enormity of his actions, has served enough time and paid his debt, and is remorseful and repentant. He was young (19), possibly high on drugs, maybe had a seizure prior to the act, his acts were triggered by deep-seated psychosis stemming from bad upbringing, the murder wasn't premeditated (intent to kill), he has served enough time, etc etc etc etc. OK. He was young, only 19. So what? He's over the age of a minor and can be tried as an adult. He was mentally deficient for various reasons (low IQ, 'bad upbringing', high, etc) and therefore should be imprisoned for life instead of being executed. Why exactly should he rot in prison for life? This basis for clemency would logically call for an appeal for retrial (never going to happen) or transfer to a psychiatric facility instead of cold, hard life behind iron bars! His actions weren't premeditated, they were a spontaneous, psychotic act. So he gets scared he's going to get thrown in the clink again (she's going to report probation violation). So he beats her with flashlight to "silence" her ("OK, that didn't kill her..."). Then he grabs her gun and shoots her in the head ("OK, that worked"), then he covers up the murder ("Oops, I did a baddie. Gotta make sure I don't get caught"). That doesn't add up to premeditation at all??? Not a possibility for a jury to mull over? Premeditation doesn't have to necessarily refer to a case where a murderer carefully plans out his (or her) act over months or years. And, isn't any act of murder, I mean the act itself, a psychotic act?? "Mr. Grossman has been on death row for over 25 years!" He has served enough time already, he's paid his debt to society. Wait a minute - if he's served enough time, why are we asking for life imprisonment as an alternative? And, he hasn't paid his debt to society! His debt requires him, as far as the State of Florida is concerned, to be executed, which he would've been right away had there not been numerous appeals keeping him on death row for 25 years. All in all, arguing vs the merits of the death penalty itself (while it wouldn't have accomplished anything anyway) would've been a better route than making an argument with holes so big you could drive a truck through them. He was repentant, he has expressed regret and remorse for what he's done. So, does that make his debt to society any less? Many murderers feel remorse down the line - should we allow them to truncate the severity of their sentence (whether death or life imprisonment) because of it? We certainly don't believe that in Yahadus. The only kappara for taking a life is to part neshama from body, isn't it??
Point 3 - Involving the "plebeian" masses in this campaign and making it such a public spectacle was a very, very, very, very, very, very big mistake. This a most important point. OK, it's possible this point is a "20/20 in hindsight" sort of thing. But, an issue IMHO nonetheless. Appealing for clemency for a person who, let's face it, spontaneously OR premeditated, brutally beat and murdered a young woman is always rife with the toxic danger of PR fallout, no matter what. This is a "gimme" that those smart people who have leadership brains should have seen beforehand, period; even a person who doesn't have "daas Torah" could have spotted this. But somehow this was overlooked. Instead of recognizing the grave PR danger of making a public appeal on this very sensitive case and doing it quietly and firmly, those seeking clemency threw caution to the winds and created a ripe atmosphere in which this case could be blown up into a PR nightmare by snowballing a hysterically urgent, very public message that sites like YWN picked up on; messages there like Call NOW!!! There's not a MOMENT TO LOSE!!! on those sites seemed to have rapidly snowballed into messages such as PIDYON SHEVUYIM!! and THE GEDOLIM HAVE SAID THAT HE WHO SAVES THE LIFE OF A FELLOW JEW SAVES THE WHOLE WORLD!!! and WE MUST DAVEN FOR REB MICHOEL YECHIEL BEN AVRAHAM'S (apparently Mr. Grossman's name) HOLY, REPENTANT NESHOMA!!!! and HIS DEFENSE WAS INADEQUATE; THOSE MAMZERS ARE KILLING HIM BECAUSE HE'S A JEW!! and other such nonsense. If you don't believe me, just search for articles relating to the appeal on YWN, Matzav, VIN, and general Google searches. Read the comments extensively; heck, read the comments on Gov Crist's response to callers - some of them paint the Gov as some anti-semitic hack who is just a total, evil bastard. What? Read this article for more of the same. Are you kidding me? Then, the piece de resistance, read this article, where Gov Crist attempts to explain his rejection of the appeal, and the comments that ensue. They are a bit nauseating and stomach-turning. Some comments bash Gov Crist by totally sidestepping the issues ("he's an incompetent governor on the way out"). Some just dismiss any legitimacy Gov Crist has because of... his name ("sounds like Christ, that MAMZER!!"). Some comments actually contain a voice of sanity. In reading many of these comments though, I don't know whether to laugh or cry (or both). The comments are so riddled with words of insanity and idiocy that I can't possibly list them all here.
Then we have reports of people calling up Officer Parks' (the victim) family, harassing them, possibly calling them 'Nazi' for supporting and invoking the death penalty, and other such terms.
There are comments, websites, newspapers, etc publishing sentiments that are elevating Mr. Grossman to quasi-saint status (!!!), calling him a 'true baal-teshuva', a person who died a 'kadosh', and other blathering. These are too numerous to post - just search around the web and you'll see what I'm talking about. We have footage from the funeral - held in Monsey, NY - that can seem to paint Mr. Grossman (if this footage is true and relates to the story at hand) as some sort of "lamed vav-nik" or something given the size, scope, and raw emotion in the eulogy. IT'S ON YOUTUBE, FOR G-D'S SAKE! How more public can one get?
Then we get the Pope involved. I see. So we're not allowed to have anything to do with the Pope vis a vis dialogue on interfaith relations (not interfaith doctrine), but we'll gladly take his support when it suits us.
The bottom line really lies in an article written by R' Yair Hoffman for VIN and a well written response written here. ED. COMMENT - I just came across this interview of R' Hoffman on the Dov Hikind show where he respectfully defends his strong opinion - it's not long as is worthwhile listening to. There are others - just search. Not all that possess "daas Torah" are on the same side of the fence; others far greater than I (such as R' Hoffman above) have expressed publicly and in open forums much shock and dismay at the lack of preparation for the campaign as well as disgust for what it's become. The bottom line is that the man brutally murdered and snuffed out the life of a young woman. The bottom line is that many people are erroneously, too vocally and publicly, elevating the status of the murderer to some sort of sainthood. The bottom line is that there is another (non-Jewish) family suffering terribly because of Mr. Grossman's actions, and we as a people need to be sensitive to that. The bottom line is that the Jewish community, as a unit, acted in a horridly insensitive, non-sensical, hysterical and inappropriate way, whether you believe the appeal for clemency itself is appropriate or not.
The bottom line is that this campaign sowed the seeds of potential chillul Hashem and too many of our brethren may very well reap that foul harvest.
I am not arguing the merits or demerits of the death penalty. I'm not even discussing whether or not Mr. Grossman deserves clemency, philosophically or otherwise. What I am is critical of the way this campaign was waged and utterly disgusted of what it's become. I never thought I'd say this or feel this, but I am truly ashamed of many of my fellow Jews who so ridiculously and hysterically hijacked this "cause" and transformed it into what could very well be a public circus and chillul Hashem, as if we needed more of that. This could have been done in a dignified manner, but it degenerated into a circus. I am appalled and astounded at the horrid lack of foresight shown by those we deign to call and who deign to assume the mantle of "leaders". Haven't we learned from the various chillulei Hashem scandals in the past? Haven't we learned from the kidney scandals, the pedophilia "cover-ups", the conversion firestorms, the financial frauds, etc etc etc about the importance of political fallout? When will we wake up and realize that we need to be cognizant of every action, reaction, word and turn of phrase that we engage in and utter??? The notion that "'the goyim' are just going hate us anyway and what do they know and they'll never treat us fairly" needs to be discarded or modified, because it's not that simple, has gotten us in more trouble than it's worth, and may very well have done nothing but besmirch the standards of Judaism in the public eye.
Like one of the blog posts I linked to above, I didn't want to discuss this. I'm trying to wind down my "rantiness" here because that does nothing any good and isn't always appropriate. This is also a sensitive and emotional issue itself and I don't want to tread on anyone's toes. But the Jewish people as a unit have gone too far, from what I can see. People will see the youtube videos. These comments and sentiments elevating Mr. Grossman to sainthood will make their way around the internet and print media, like it or not. It's not Jews I'm worried about reading these things - it's non-Jews Googling the story and stumbling upon some pretty weird and vile comments in cyberspace. The way many people acted just makes me so sick and disgusted I feel like I have to write about this.
In the end, I hold Yahadus dear. Besides everything else, I love and am grateful to HKB"H for blessing me with a wonderful wife and child. I will not stand idly by while His name could be dragged through the mud, again.
Friday, February 12, 2010
This will rattle the Jewish world!
Interesting article posted on VIN today...
OK, the headline is sensationalist. But this is an interesting statement nonetheless. Is it accurate? Revisionist? A Torah troof?
You decide...
OK, the headline is sensationalist. But this is an interesting statement nonetheless. Is it accurate? Revisionist? A Torah troof?
You decide...
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
I found THE solution to the tuition, economic, and tznius "crises"!
I stumbled across this while browsing the very funny frumsatire.net. Brilliant! This will solve all economic and tznius "crises" in one fell swoop!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
ExCUSE me????
Neither baby nor house nor rain nor snow nor shine nor... whatever, will keep this blog from it's appointed route!!
I saw this article this morning on my Google Reader (which you can now use to follow my blog quite easily). A man asks a great Rav whether he should sell his kidney (!) to fund his child's wedding.
I felt like both laughing at the ridiculousness of the question, but crying at the bitter desperation that the person in this dire situation must feel. I think I can sum up the comments on VIN with... ??????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't know whether this speaks to the problems we as a community have in being able to decide certain things independently or to the unsustainable economic model that many of us delude ourselves into thinking still works...
I mean, why do you need to even ASK this question?? Are you KIDDING (or, shall I say, KIDNEYING...) me??
I could go into a whole long, booming discussion about an ingrained culture of dependency, entitlement, dina d'malchusa, appearances, unrealistic, anachronistic expectations etc, etc, etc that could possibly lead to such a shaileh, but I'm too tired. All I know is, DON'T sell your kidney, heart, liver, gall bladder, toes, eyes, fingers, brain, or intestines to fund your daughter's wedding, I couldn't care how angry your mechutanim will be (unless your liver or intestines are really tasty, then you can make some nice gehakte liver or some good kishka for the wedding for cheap). Make a wedding (or bar mitzva or bas mitzva or bris or kiddush or whatever) you can truly afford, even if it's just chicken, soup, cake and a few close friends.
That's what my wife and I plan on doing... right, dear? Oh. Wait. No need to stoop so 'low'. We can sell off a coupla shaitels and make one in the Marina del Rey off the proceeds... ;-)
I saw this article this morning on my Google Reader (which you can now use to follow my blog quite easily). A man asks a great Rav whether he should sell his kidney (!) to fund his child's wedding.
I felt like both laughing at the ridiculousness of the question, but crying at the bitter desperation that the person in this dire situation must feel. I think I can sum up the comments on VIN with... ??????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't know whether this speaks to the problems we as a community have in being able to decide certain things independently or to the unsustainable economic model that many of us delude ourselves into thinking still works...
I mean, why do you need to even ASK this question?? Are you KIDDING (or, shall I say, KIDNEYING...) me??
I could go into a whole long, booming discussion about an ingrained culture of dependency, entitlement, dina d'malchusa, appearances, unrealistic, anachronistic expectations etc, etc, etc that could possibly lead to such a shaileh, but I'm too tired. All I know is, DON'T sell your kidney, heart, liver, gall bladder, toes, eyes, fingers, brain, or intestines to fund your daughter's wedding, I couldn't care how angry your mechutanim will be (unless your liver or intestines are really tasty, then you can make some nice gehakte liver or some good kishka for the wedding for cheap). Make a wedding (or bar mitzva or bas mitzva or bris or kiddush or whatever) you can truly afford, even if it's just chicken, soup, cake and a few close friends.
That's what my wife and I plan on doing... right, dear? Oh. Wait. No need to stoop so 'low'. We can sell off a coupla shaitels and make one in the Marina del Rey off the proceeds... ;-)
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Great article
EDIT
I want to clarify something right off the bat: the article's words are not mine. I do not agree with every nuance, jot and tiddle (is that a word??) and my posting a link to it should not be construed as such. HOWEVER I think the author makes some valid, important points, if nuanced rather than said outright, that need to be taken into account in the rapidly changing, fluid world around us. Please see the comments for some good discussion on that and please add to the discussion by commenting yourself. Thanks.
I read a really insightful article that's been making its way around the J-Blogosphere, plus the Jewish news sites as well (well, not YWN, naturally, as you'll see if you read the article). I urge everyone to read it. Link to it here.
I'll leave it up to the comments section to spur discussion and thought about the points raised.
I want to clarify something right off the bat: the article's words are not mine. I do not agree with every nuance, jot and tiddle (is that a word??) and my posting a link to it should not be construed as such. HOWEVER I think the author makes some valid, important points, if nuanced rather than said outright, that need to be taken into account in the rapidly changing, fluid world around us. Please see the comments for some good discussion on that and please add to the discussion by commenting yourself. Thanks.
I read a really insightful article that's been making its way around the J-Blogosphere, plus the Jewish news sites as well (well, not YWN, naturally, as you'll see if you read the article). I urge everyone to read it. Link to it here.
I'll leave it up to the comments section to spur discussion and thought about the points raised.
Happiness and...Taxes
I haven't posted in a while. Let's get back to business, shall we? People will call me cranky, but somebody's got to recognize these issues and shove them into the limelight, no?
There's an interesting article on the Tax Foundation's website. I like it because it has this to say about taxes and lifestyle. Much of this culled from a Wall Street Journal editorial:
"The study finds that New Yorkers are the unhappiest people in America and their neighbors in Connecticut come in a close second, followed by Michigan, Indiana, New Jersey, California, and Illinois."
Then this:
"...According to the Tax Foundation 2008 analysis, three of the top five unhappiest states—New York, Connecticut and New Jersey—have the highest state-local tax burdens. On the other hand, four of the top five happiest states—Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee and Arizona—are among the states with the lowest state-local tax burdens. True, correlation doesn't prove causation, and high taxes alone don't always make people miserable, but there's something going on here."
So in New York State, we work really hard to make a living. We then see an enormous percentage of that money out the door by spending a disproportionately higher portion of our dollars on state, local, and property taxes, and receive a much, much lower return per tax dollar collected than other states, because of huge budget allocations that behave like Robin Hood. So say you spend like $15-$20K a year on NYS, you get in return... garbage collection, plus sleepless nights wondering about family finances thrown in for free! Maybe a bit of street repair thrown in, too. Maybe. And a bit of schooling. If you're not an Orthodox Jew. Mr. and Mrs Illegal Immigrant spend nearly $0 per year on NYS and receive, say, $20-$25K worth of assistance per year (if you game the system right), if not more. Yay. That makes me... happy??
Rinse, repeat for NJ. At least NJ residents had the good sense to recognize the problems and throw out garbage leadership, while New Yorkers continue year after year after year after year to vote in complete and utter self-aggrandizing grandstanding self-centered avaricious petty idiot nincompoop babies (I can say more but this is a FAMILY FRIENDLY blog!) who treat public office as a profitable enterprise and spy on each other (with state money) and hire nice fancy limousines and drivers (with state money) and grind state activity to a halt and hire prostitutes and get in bed with money launderers and have fun in session engaging in really productive name-calling (all while getting paid with... state money) and spend huge amounts of time and effort in lofty thought on legislation that truly means almost nothing practical or material to nearly everybody (did someone say same-sex marriage?) instead of working together, rolling up their sleeves, and hammering out reforms that materially affect massive amounts of people that most agree on like, uh, for example, TAX RELIEF and SPENDING REFORM.
Something's going on, indeed.
There's an interesting article on the Tax Foundation's website. I like it because it has this to say about taxes and lifestyle. Much of this culled from a Wall Street Journal editorial:
"The study finds that New Yorkers are the unhappiest people in America and their neighbors in Connecticut come in a close second, followed by Michigan, Indiana, New Jersey, California, and Illinois."
Then this:
"...According to the Tax Foundation 2008 analysis, three of the top five unhappiest states—New York, Connecticut and New Jersey—have the highest state-local tax burdens. On the other hand, four of the top five happiest states—Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee and Arizona—are among the states with the lowest state-local tax burdens. True, correlation doesn't prove causation, and high taxes alone don't always make people miserable, but there's something going on here."
So in New York State, we work really hard to make a living. We then see an enormous percentage of that money out the door by spending a disproportionately higher portion of our dollars on state, local, and property taxes, and receive a much, much lower return per tax dollar collected than other states, because of huge budget allocations that behave like Robin Hood. So say you spend like $15-$20K a year on NYS, you get in return... garbage collection, plus sleepless nights wondering about family finances thrown in for free! Maybe a bit of street repair thrown in, too. Maybe. And a bit of schooling. If you're not an Orthodox Jew. Mr. and Mrs Illegal Immigrant spend nearly $0 per year on NYS and receive, say, $20-$25K worth of assistance per year (if you game the system right), if not more. Yay. That makes me... happy??
Rinse, repeat for NJ. At least NJ residents had the good sense to recognize the problems and throw out garbage leadership, while New Yorkers continue year after year after year after year to vote in complete and utter self-aggrandizing grandstanding self-centered avaricious petty idiot nincompoop babies (I can say more but this is a FAMILY FRIENDLY blog!) who treat public office as a profitable enterprise and spy on each other (with state money) and hire nice fancy limousines and drivers (with state money) and grind state activity to a halt and hire prostitutes and get in bed with money launderers and have fun in session engaging in really productive name-calling (all while getting paid with... state money) and spend huge amounts of time and effort in lofty thought on legislation that truly means almost nothing practical or material to nearly everybody (did someone say same-sex marriage?) instead of working together, rolling up their sleeves, and hammering out reforms that materially affect massive amounts of people that most agree on like, uh, for example, TAX RELIEF and SPENDING REFORM.
Something's going on, indeed.
Hodu l'Hashem Ki Tov!
HODU L'HASHEM KI TOV!
We said this at the bris of our son at 8 days old, Daniel Tzvi, born 10 days ago. We actually said it twice, if I'm not mistaken.
And we MEANT it!!
Thanks to everybody for everything!
We said this at the bris of our son at 8 days old, Daniel Tzvi, born 10 days ago. We actually said it twice, if I'm not mistaken.
And we MEANT it!!
Thanks to everybody for everything!
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