Gaza, Gaza, on the wall
I have just finished reading Janine Zacharia’s report on Gaza in the Washington Post from which I learned little I didn’t know. It’s notable, however, that Zacharia was unable to parrot the usual absurd line that Gazans were starving (though she does complain about the lack of coriander) or even significantly deprived. They evidently have pharmacies more copiously supplied than RiteAid.
Deep in the article, Zacharia even briefly refers to the three-star Gazan Roots Club Restaurant that appears in the video I ran on this site the other day.
If you look at that video, the bounty is rather astonishing. The Gazans seem to be doing quite well without their coriander. Perhaps they have one of those iPhone apps you can get that suggest recipe replacements if you can’t get a particular ingredient at your local supermarket. What’s also interesting in the video is that you see Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh and the Palestinian Authority’s Mahmoud Abbas looking very chummy while dining together among a crowd of attractive local women. (I thought they were supposed to be shooting each other.)
But no matter. This is far from the only record of the Bounty of Gaza. The pictures at this link show us more.
The problem for the Gazans, however, according to Zacharia, is that they have no jobs. Those nasty Israelis are not delivering enough concrete, because they fear, for some obscure reason, that the Gazans might want to build bunkers from which to lob missiles at nursery schools.
But that’s not the worst of it. Again according to Zacharia, “Once an exporter of fruits and other goods, Gaza has been turned into a mini-welfare state with a broken economy…”
What Zacharia neglects to tell us — perhaps because it does not fit with her weltanschauung — who knows? — is one of the main reasons agricultural items are no longer being exported. Thirty seconds on Google verified what I remembered from 2005 when the dreaded Jewish settlers were pulling out of Gaza. From MSNBC:
NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip – Palestinians looted dozens of greenhouses on Tuesday, walking off with irrigation hoses, water pumps and plastic sheeting in a blow to fledgling efforts to reconstruct the Gaza Strip.
American Jewish donors had bought more than 3,000 greenhouses from Israeli settlers in Gaza for $14 million last month and transferred them to the Palestinian Authority. Former World Bank President James Wolfensohn, who brokered the deal, put up $500,000 of his own cash.
Palestinian police stood by helplessly Tuesday as looters carted off materials from greenhouses in several settlements, and commanders complained they did not have enough manpower to protect the prized assets. In some instances, there was no security and in others, police even joined the looters, witnesses said.
Oh, well. It must be the Israelis’ fault. Everything else is. Just ask the British.
NOTE: For those interested, apparently the total of goods for Gaza brought by the flotilla equaled only one-fourth the amount normally delivered by Israel to Gaza every day.
Yea, Gaza is an oasis of plenty. Why are those friends of Israel, Turkey, so pissed off at their buddies over Gaza where everyone is living large? And why are the Israelis stopping sage, cardamon, jam, vinegar, chocolate, fruit preserves and dried fruit, seeds and nuts, biscuits and sweets, fresh meat, fabric for clothing, fishing rods, musical instruments, writing implements, notebooks, newspapers, toys… Oh because they are duel use items and might be converted into weapons.
When you make an indictment, proof is required.
Maybe he means this….
http://www.bivouac-id.com/2009/06/16/attention-photos-insoutenables-gaza-un-camp-de-concentration-a-ciel-ouvert/
oops… guess not.
How about this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J08GqXMr3YE&feature=related
Roger, Helen keep up the good and true work.
Thanks!
Helen you are right. After that boy is used for a human shield we should then deny basic human necessitates as well. This is not about Hamas versus Israel. It is about the people of Gaza who are kept impoverished by the Israel blockade. I think Roger should go over there and see what it is like for the people instead of relying on vidoe’s from other people. In any place you go wealth will be unevenly distributed. So even though Gaza has only 25% of what it requires some people will still have plenty. I would imagine that in this situation the wealth is very disproportionate.
Oh my god hamas has created a paradise. I guess when the Gulf is too ugly to stand we can all move to that sandals resort on the Med called gaza. The blockade of gaza is to keep all the tourists out, well if it worked against Cuba it should work here too, it only takes decades.
Eden, just slowly say “it’s all Bush’s fault” 3 times. See. you already feel better.
You have it backwards. Hamas is creating a mess out of what used to be a functioning community.
” I seek no victory, for the honor of my soul and character consists in deviating from the paths of fools, but not in conquering them. ”
Maimonides
“… because they are duel use items and might be converted into weapons.”
If they are duel-use items then they are weapons already.
Civilized countries have banned dueling for good reason.
Nice try, but you stink at sarcasm.
As everyone is well aware, all the Israelis asked to do, was inspect the items to make sure that there were no military items in the cargo. The Israelis have already delivered everything that was not military to the Gazans as they promised to do before the incident.
Your claim that the Israelis are blocking these items is nothing but a pathetic lie.
That is not all that Israel was planing on doing.
Why do you feel the need to lie?
The Gazans will be better off now that Egypt has lifted its blockade.
Huh? You mean Egypt has reverted back using pals as pawns again? Or is this just more liberal disinformation?
I don’t know about using the Palestinians as pawns, but now that Egypt has opened its border with Gaza it will be hard for them to close it again.
Coriander?
She should have asked for KUSBARA seeds (as opposed to Kusbara leaves, which is a different taste).
Her multiculturalism is seriously in question for not knowing this.
There have been many articles written on both conservative and liberal sites about this incident. But I get the feeling that something is different now. Fatigue. Not just the Israelis. I get the feeling that the rest of the world is getting tired of hearing about this. Oh sure, there are protests, etc. But does anyone else share this general feeling? That people are hearing this and just not caring so much anymore – other than a small initial response based on which side they generally support?
“…perhaps because it does not fit with her weltanschauung…”
Living on the Upper West Side in NYC, I often wonder if my opinions are skewed too far right. So many of my neighbors hew faithfully the NY Times editorial line. Then something like the current outpouring of ostensibly righteous anger at Israel reminds me that evil predominates and that true righteousness is precious rare.
As for odd, cannibalistic blood libels against the Jews, some comment is in order: The blood libels are rooted in that most sacred of Christian ceremonies–the trans-substantive and human sacrificial eating of Christ’s flesh and the drinking of his blood. Saul of Tarsus, who invented Christianity, patterned the new Christian ceremony on the Passover Kiddush of the Last Supper. The original wafer and wine were the Passover matzoh and the four Passover cups of wine.
You don’t have to be a psychologist to figure out how the “New Israel” of the “New Covenant” who center their faith on a cannibalistic rite might come to project their ghoulish religious practice onto the original and genuine Israel they are replacing.
The followers of the twice-derivative Muslim faith merely picked up the prejudice of the Christians because it aligned well with their own replacement theology and bloodthirsty tendencies. There are videos available of frenzied “Palestinian” rioters literally drinking the blood of their Jewish victims.
The British are perhaps the most pathetic of Jewish imitators. The English foundation myth begins with a Jew named Joseph of Arimathea bringing Christ’s Passover goblet, styled the “Holy Grail”, to England for King Arthur and his knights to chase after. So convinced were the English that they were the “new wine poured into old skins” that until recently a Jewish Mohel was called in to circumsize English male royals. Time was, perfidious Albion styled itself the “New Jerusalem.” Contemporary replacement mentality, the irredeemably evil echo of Christianity cast aside and forgotten, demands that the true City of David be divided and forgotten.
Antisemitism is rooted in jealousy of Jews. Not in superior Jewish attitudes but in the manifest superiority of Jews in every endeavor throughout history.
invented Christianity?
At that point you lost all credibility.
You’re too easily insulted Mark. Yes, St. Paul (Saul) who never met Jesus (Joshua) largely invented Christianity. Read Joseph Klausners seminal biographies of Jesus and Paul. Read When Jesus Became God: The Epic Fight over Christ’s Divinity in the Last Days of Rome by Richard E. Rubenstein.
Your own name, Mark, is a Church invention. The gospels are anonymous documents. The church assigned authorship to the gospels invented from from whole cloth. Old testament and new, the former in Hebrew and the latter in Greek were authored anonymously by Jews.
As for getting our asses whupped, I think you will admit that we were always wildly outnumbered. Jewish courage and prowess in arms was attested to by no less an authority than Julius Caesar.
Fact is, Mark, if Judaism was not an exclusive faith, and Jews proselytized by friendly persuasion alone (leaving out persuasion by sword and scimitar upon which most Christian and Muslim conversions depended) Judaism would be the largest and most dominant religion on the planet. But Jews never needed their faith confirmed by vast numbers of like believers.
As matters stand, billions follow the essential tenets of Judaism in various perverse forms. Without effort, by example alone, Jews have converted vastly more people than either Christianity, Islam or Communism.
There are none so ignorant, as those who think they know everything.
There are none so bigoted as those who think they are the masters of the world.
If Israel is to survive, bigots like David have to be disavowed and exposed.
If Paul invented Christianity, then Bach invented music.
Oh, good grief.
You’re going to dredge up some 20th century Jewish “scholars” (and I use that word loosely) with a chip on their shoulder and an agenda I assume, to now refute for us the basic tenets of Christianity, including the hundreds of 1st and 2nd century church fathers who say something far different? That’s got to be parody. Nobody can be that deluded.
Should I get some of Ayatollah Khomeni’s seminal biographies about the Torah too?
I have read “When Jesus Became God”. It does not contain David Levavi’s strident, antagonistic tone.
It does not address most of the points he raised, though it is relevant to some. The work seemed to me
to be well-written, without an obvious axe to grind. It has not been fairly represented here.
Regarding textual criticism of the Christian Gospels, certainly there are many inconsistencies. Not as
many as there are in the Jewish bible. Equally, the Israelite foundation myth (God brought us out of Egypt,
dictated the Torah letter-by-letter in the desert, brought us to the promised land) has even less historical
support than the existance of Jesus, and is also contradicted by internal evidence in the bible (reference
in Genesis to Kings of Israel before any had been anointed, reference to the town ‘Dan’ while it was still named
‘Luz’, before the tribe of Dan had conquered it, reference to the east bank of the Jordan river as ‘trans’-Jordan
before any Israelites had ever stepped on the western bank, etc)
In short, an analysis of the origins of a religion can make for a fruitful scholarly discussion. As a basis
for disparaging its modern-day believers, it strikes me as unsuitable.
Not in superior Jewish attitudes but in the manifest superiority of Jews in every endeavor throughout history.
—
Please demonstrate this alleged superiority.
Bigots are bigots, whether they are bigots who hate jews, or bigots who think everyone else is inferior to jews.
Bigots are always discredit to those they claim to champion, and David is no exception.
For a people who are so superior, they sure get their asses whooped a lot.
At least 180 Jews and persons of half- or three-quarters-Jewish ancestry have been awarded the Nobel Prize,1 accounting for 22% of all individual recipients worldwide between 1901 and 2009, and constituting 36% of all US recipients2 during the same period. In the research fields of Chemistry, Economics, Physics, and Physiology/Medicine, the corresponding world and US percentages are 27% and 39%, respectively. Among women laureates in the four research fields, the Jewish percentages (world and US) are 38% and 50%, respectively.3 (Jews currently make up approximately 0.25% of the world’s population and 2% of the US population.)
Chemistry (31 prize winners, 20% of world total, 28% of US total)
Economics (27 prize winners, 42% of world total, 56% of US total)
Literature (13 prize winners, 12% of world total, 27% of US total)
Peace (9 prize winners, 9% of world total, 10% of US total)4
Physics (47 prize winners, 25% of world total, 36% of US total)
Physiology or Medicine (53 prize winners, 27% of world total, 40% of US total)
See also data on “other Nobels”:
Jewish Recipients of the Kyoto Prize (25% of recipients)
Jewish Recipients of the Wolf Foundation Prize (34% of recipients)
Jewish Recipients of the US National Medal of Science (38% of recipients)
” For a people who are so superior, they sure get their asses whooped a lot. ”
Not lately.
You are of course correct. I let my picque at David’s insults get the better of me.
(For the record I’m not Jewish)
David Levavi: “Antisemitism is rooted in jealousy of Jews. Not in superior Jewish attitudes but in the manifest superiority of Jews in every endeavor throughout history”
Correct. As I see it, the problem is that Jews tend to embrace a pacifist view of life. Jews should stop the incessant whining about antisemitism and instead start to kick ass and protect themselves with aggressiveness and violence of action. It makes absolutely no sense to amass great power because of competence and then act like a wussy.
—————————————————
Menachem Ben Yakov: “Not lately”
Better late than never i guess. Still the problem outside Israel remains. Jews not living in Israel are more pacifist and left wing than ever before. Think Congress (Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein etc.), think MSM (John Stewart, Keith Olbermann etc.), 85% of jews in the US voted Obama, 31 out of 34 Jews in congress are extreme pacifist left wing liberals.
“Keith Olbermann…”
NO!!! Please don’t let this be true…
If that were the case, why aren’t most of us “evil” Christians following your manifest superiority into oblivion by following your predilection of pulling the straight ‘D’ lever each and every time? Or is that manifest antisemitism too?
How is that I’m a vocal supporter of Israel, believe their cause just, yet disdain the self-loathing Jews of West Side NYC, and in fact find them some of them perhaps the stupidest people on earth?
Saying Saul of Tarsus “invented” Christianity is like saying Joshua “invented” Judaism.
Clueless…
The world’s tolerance for and cozening of the Palestinian’s (and the Islamic world’s, overall) sense of victimhood and entitlement has had its predictable outcome: they’ve become infantilized barbarians, and they act like it.
Must see video—-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA074SqmXpE&feature=related
Egypt is in fact the historic owner of Gaza.
Now that Egypt as lifted the blockade, Israel should cut off all supplies at once.
Egypt should take over the strip and resume total control over all security matters.
If Egypt allows rockets to be fired from it’s lands? Then Egypt must pay the price.
Egypt started all of this when they set up Arafat (the Egyptian) to fight an guerilla war against Israel.
If the Gazans start something, the Israelis should reconquer the territory, and expell anyone with Hamas ties over the Egyptian border.
MarkTheGreat, I want to let you know I appreciate your perspective and the idea that Jews are ” superior ” is not a part of Judaism. We were ” chosen ” to bear a greater burden of commitment to holiness. This does not take away from the greatness of Jewish achievements. I posted the list of Nobel winners just for the record. Not to argue with you because I know you are one of the good guys.
That’s ok, I’m feisty by nature. I’ve been known to slap down those who try to claim that Christians are somehow superior by nature.
Ignorance and bigotry just rub me the wrong way.
” Ignorance and bigotry just rub me the wrong way. ”
Come to Jerusalem and the beer and cigars are on me.
Saul (Paul), didn’t invent Christianity, but he certainly shaped it. His letters form the bulk of the New Testament and theologies, although some are attributed to dedicated followers written after his death.
It was the events that took place the next hundreds to thousands of years afterward that formulated Christianity into its present day system, and continue to evolve…in a few hundred years it will continue changing as it has the last few hundred years.
You can trace beliefs from the earliest organized Religions; Semiramis and Nimrod, Babylon mystery religions, right through greco-roman, Judean, Christian, Muslim, etc, to todays rituals, practices and beliefs.
Knowing the origins of Christianity do not negate anyones faith, it is an empowering action. Before all else, Christ was a Scholar of the written word.
Perfidious Albion, eh? Well, I know that lots of Yanks still have a huge chip on their shoulder about us Brits. Note how many Hollywood films have Brits as villains or slimy operators; or they imply that all Brits are homosexuals. Well, that’s racist garbage.
For perfidy, just check how France has treated Israel (search for Cherbourg boats or Mirage fighters); and Britain (Common Market entry, after Britain saved France’s sorry ass); and the USA (Iraq).
Not to worry, with Obama at the White House, the USA is well on the way to betraying Israel big time.
So, check those beams before you sound off about motes.
Keep your eyes on the goal – defeating our common enemy!
Time, later, to claim who’s the more moral amongst the children of Abraham.
Keep your powder dry and your eyes and ears open.
{I’m full of cliche’s today}.
Tex taylor #6:
I don’t recall characterizing Christians as evil although replacement theology certainly is. By “evil” I mean “very bad.” Belief in supernatural evil, the Devil, and hell is not Jewish.. “Satan” is a Hebrew word but it doesn’t translate to “the Devil.”
Contrary to your assertion, Tex, Christians do vote Democratic most of the time. That Jews overwhelmingly vote Democrat–far more so percentage-wise than Christians—is a dismal and undeniable fact. But “self loathing,” a term too loosely used, is not the cause. Jews live mainly in cities where the Democratic Party is always in vogue. Fear of standing out and being unfashionable—better explains the idiotic Jewish affinity for Democrats. Add to that moral cowardice and Finlandization and you have the whole miserable business in a nutshell. Shallow, I’ll grant you, but most people are. Happily, the majority of daily practicing Jews—Orthodox Jews, so called—are, in the main, political conservatives.
As for Joshua bin Nun, he was mainly a warrior and an exceedingly cold hearted and brutal one at that. He certainly had little to do with the invention or development of Judaism
Someday when you’re less excited and knee-jerk defensive, Tex, you might ask yourself how comes it you know so much more about St. Paul who never met Jesus than you do about Jesus’ disciples who ate, slept and traveled with him. Read the Gospels and see if you can count twelve apostles. You can’t because they aren’t there. Twelve is the number of Jewish tribes that “twelve” apostles is patterned on.
While you’re searching text, see if you can find the instance when Jesus was anointed. Trust me, you won’t. The Hebrew word for anointed is messiah. If Jesus wasn’t anointed, he wasn’t the Messiah.
Read the exacting genealogy of Jesus that opens the book of “Matthew” which purports to demonstrate his legitimate succession to the anointed kingship of the Jews. If Jesus’ father is God, what does the royal ancestry of the divinely cuckolded Joseph, true or fictional, prove? Exactly nothing.
Jesus preached to Jews and only to Jews. The Christianity of Jesus began with the Jerusalem Church all of whose members were practicing Jews entirely welcome in the Jewish temple. It ended when the Jerusalem church was destroyed along with much else Jewish by the Romans.
Saul’s great innovation was the welcoming of Gentiles into the Jewish faith. He made an exclusive religion inclusive. Had Joshua of Galilee ever met Saul of Tarsus who presumed to speak for him, he would have kicked his ass around the block.
I don’t believe that Christians are evil or assume that I am personally morally superior to you, Tex. I am a Hebrew born in Jerusalem and my loyalty to Israel is entirely natural. Your support of Israel speaks of a higher order of moral conscience. The lord of us all loves the righteous, Gentile and Jew alike. I may be many things, Tex, but I am not “clueless.”
John # 10:
My use of “perfidious Albion” wasn’t based on Hollywood stereotypes. I have just finished reading Caroline Elkin’s Imperial Reckoning: The untold Story of Britain’s Gulag in Kenia. More perfidious is hard to imagine.
That said, of course Britain is morally superior to the rest and we Americans especially owe it much, not least our magnificent Founding Fathers all of whom were English.
There are none so ignorant as those who have convinced themselves that they know everything.
That you believe Paul never met the Christ is just evidence of how little you know, compared to how much you think you know.
this article is great!!! there food and medicine in Gaza.. so let the Israelis keep the blockade… great idea!!!
The Israelis have never blockaded food or medicine. Only weapons.
You would know that if you for once tried to get some real information.
Which Hamas web site do you get your propaganda from again?
It is not just weapons. Unless you consider concrete a weapon.
Concrete can be used to build bunkers.
But then you knew that.
Mark The Great:
“…That you believe Paul never met the Christ is just evidence of how little you know…”
Around the bend and over the top, Mark. Faith trumps history and truth. You win. Jesus and paul were best of buddies. Attended church regularly together.
Rather pathetic, but not unexpected from someone who pretends to be an expert, yet obviously knows nothing at all.
When you feel like quoting real experts and no longer building strawmen, give me a call.
Tell you what David – a fact you need to recognize as a Jew. Though there is nothing you can say or do here that would affect my support for Israel, your dialogue does Jews no favor. While you puff up like a well read toad, my suggestion straight from your forefathers own words would be to learn to walk and talk more humbly. Perceived arrogance is not on God’s list of admirable qualities – that is, unless you know something Solomon didn’t?
Though you are well written, your knowledge of Christianity is laughable. And yes, your comments are an insult. And yes, you act is if we Christians know nothing of Jewish history. I believe you’re in for a rude awakening should we are to carry this conversation any further.
Perhaps the first book you should read before you read opinion, would be the New Testament if you’re going to speak as “expert.” I think you need to carry your reading a little further than the Gospel of John.
Uh huh. Well, then perhaps you can show me the contradictions between the message of Peter and Paul in the New Testament? Or John? Or Matthew? And no, I know a whole lot more about Jesus than Paul.
Yes, there are 12 apostles, and I will happily place a bet on this board with you to prove you wrong straight out of New Testament scripture. There’s a whole lot more to the New Testament David than four books.
Tex Taylor #15:
Sorry you’re so put out, Tex. I speak for myself and not for Jews at large. I am not a propagandist and don’t look to do “good” for Jews at large by stating my opinions. Truth has its own worth.
Jewish makers and shakers regularly compromise their own beliefs to bring them into line with those of their Christian allies for the larger “good” of the Jewish community. Writers for Commentary magazine, for instance, might support dominant Christian sentiments on the subject of abortion even if it makes them personally uncomfortable.
Abortion is a major issue for Conservative Catholics and the, so called, “Christian right” who are our best friends. It is a minor issue for Jews who don’t often face the dilemma and, should the occasion arise, are generally able to afford an abortion outside the US should Roe vs, Wade ever be overturned.
I vehemently disagree with such moral compromise. Abortion is an abhorrent choice but I would insist that it is finally the right of the perspective mother who has to live with the consequences to make the ultimate choice. And I freely state my opinion however off-putting Gentile allies may find it. To “do righteously and walk humbly with the Lord” does not mean to compromise moral belief for the politics of the moment.
As for Solomon, he was a whoremaster and a tyrant, the son of a whore and a murdering father and it doesn’t make me a bad Jew to say so. Judaism, unlike Christianity and Islam, is not a cultic faith. Jesus and Mohamed are “perfect” creatures; Abraham and Moses are not. Portraiture of heroes in the Hebrew Bible includes all the warts.
I never implied that I was an expert on Christian faith, most of which holds little interest for me. The Christian canon, however consists of the four gospels and the epistles of Paul all of which I have read, thank you.
Your insistence otherwise to the contrary, contradictions in the Gospels abound. Happy relations between Peter and Paul are a Christian fantasy. Twelve apostles appear only in Acts, produced specifically to sum up and iron out troubling details in text.
I’m genuinely sorry you feel so insulted, Tex. When you can tell me as much about what your ancestors were up to two thousand years ago as you can tell me about mine maybe we could have a more reasonable discussion.
Roger Simon: Sorry to have taken this post so far afield.
David,
So now even the greats of Jewish lore can’t stand up to your piety? I never realized I hung with such company! The builder of the Jewish Temple, the King of Jerusalem’s greatest period in history, the wisest man who ever lived (until now) scolded and hung out to dry by a sinless commenter from Pajamas Media.
I noted you didn’t take my bet. For someone not concerned in the least about Christianity, you sure do like to take shots at it, sure do seem to like to read about it. Apparently, it does take a degree of your time. I would be glad to debate with you some other place, including your Jewish history and how you’ve got some major holes in your understanding, but I have found with your type and faith insecure when challenged, the first shot at your knowledge base will come with the accusation of “proselytizing.”
But I’m a little confused as you seem to vacillate between critic and scholar. If you’re going to condemn Christianity, shouldn’t you first start with that “cultic” figure Jesus? And then shouldn’t you then condemn both Peter and Paul? In fact, shouldn’t you be condemning all first century Christians, virtually all who were Jewish? Can you imagine the apostasy? Tsk tsk…
While I can’t speak for Islam which I’ve found a cheap copy of a Torah without mercy, and a few blurbs from New Testament theology, I’m afraid there was a great deal of effort to spread the word of Christianity by Jews. Many, many of your forefathers went to their deaths in the most insidious of ways on floor of the Colosseum to do so.
Actually i find the discourse on this board fascinating, informative and leading to further research.
Is it possible for the owners of this board to facilitate a thread for religious conversations…we keep avoiding it, but the core of the troubles discussed on these boards are differing opinions of our beliefs. If people could discuss them in an open and non confrontational manner, it might lead to better things.
Tex Taylor:
Last comment, Tex, because this is getting tiresome. I am far from pious and no less a sinner than the next fellow. Nor am I a scholar. I don’t gamble or take bets and I didn’t know I was engaged in a debate.
Solomon’s parentage and character is plain in text. His great-grandmother Ruth who is held up as a model of modesty and humility is mistaken for a common prostitute by Solomon’s great-grandfather, the richest man in Judea, then well into middle age and presumably a worldly and sophisticated fellow. It is entirely appropriate to inquire just how chaste and humble Ruth really was. Hooking the richest Jew in Judea doesn’t make her a hooker but one can’t help but wonder .
Solomon’s mother Bathsheeba, married to a common soldier, trades up for a king by bathing naked under His Majesty’s window. In order to marry her, King David deliberately sends her husband to the front to be killed. Thus Solomon’s mother is an ambitious, scheming whore and his father a cold-blooded murderer. And Solomon is a chip off the old block. Immediately on his ascent to the throne, Solomon kills his fraternal rivals and exiles opposition priests on pain of death if they return.
Solomon’s great wisdom is mainly illustrated in the narrative of the two women claiming maternity of the same child. Solomon orders the child cut in half and divided between the two, causing the real mother to relinquish her claim, thus proving her case.
But this quaint tale, commonly treated as a story for children, is no child’s bedtime story. An Oriental potentate newly anointed and enthroned is publicly laying down the law to his subjects. If its mother hadn’t spoken up, the baby would have been carved.
For wisdom Solomon doesn’t hold a candle to the Prophet Samuel who warned Israel against the inevitable tyranny of royals and acceded to the people’s demand for a king only with deepest reluctance. The demand for rule by a king rather than a Prophet and Judge was based on the fact that only a king could enforce a military draft required if the war against the Philistines was to be prosecuted successfully. Samuel warns that nothing less than people’s freedom is at stake. A king who can enforce a military draft in time of war can also enforce a labor draft in time of peace. Solomon’s peaceful albeit brutal reign proves Samuel’s prophecy.
Like all great tyrants, Solomon had a taste for large building projects. The splendid temple and palace complex he built in Jerusalem required a huge work force. For the first time since slavery in Egypt, large numbers of Jews found themselves reduced to forced labor under “whips and scorpions.”
In any event, it is no sin to point out that the royal house of the Holy Messiah, Christian and Jewish alike, was founded on lechery, whoring and cold-blooded murder. Nor is it sinful to acknowledge that the Founding Fathers, Deists, Freemasons and Christians, came up with a better idea and we’re all better off without royals, holy or otherwise. Popular election of leaders with term limits beats the coming, first or second, of the King Messiah any day of the week.
Good night and God bless, Tex.
Free quibbling! Come get your free quibbling!
The Text of II Samuel has no hint of complicity on Bathsheva’s part. She is bathing on the roof of her house. Her supposed complicity is a later attempt by Jewish scholars to transfer the blame from David onto her shoulders, despite the prophet
Nathan’s clear condemnation of David.
http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt08b11.htm
The “whips and scorpions” is quoted out of context. The original quotation is from Rechavam son of Solomon, responding to the entreaties of the Israelites to lessen their burdens: (I Kings 12 verses 13-14)
13 And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him;
14 and spoke to them after the counsel of the young men, saying: ‘My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.’
http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt09a12.htm
David,
Replying to your posts (in particular #19), as a Modern Orthodox Jew, I apologize for being terse, but it’s Friday and I’m hurrying to greet the Shabbat.
First, lashon ha’ra (i.e., speaking badly about another) is definitely a sin forbidden by the Torah. Leviticus 19:16: “Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people; neither shalt thou stand idly by the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD.”
The sin is worse to malign the blood of those who can’t speak up in their own defense, including those who have passed on.
Second, as Tex Taylor said in #15, “Perceived arrogance is not on God’s list of admirable qualities – that is, unless you know something Solomon didn’t?” Tex was gentle in not assuming that you are arrogant, but I’m letting you know that another person had that perception.
I think the reason is that it’s instinctive in people that humility is the companion of truth, and arrogance is a companion to falsehood whether misguided or intentional (i.e., garbage out, garbage in).
Having an engaged and imaginative mind is valuable, after all a scientist isn’t likely to make new discoveries by being politically correct. HOWEVER, the process of science involves 99% error, and even the 1% truth is surrounded by a cloud of probabilities, and there’s always a larger picture than one sees.
Furthermore, history is not an exact science, but more like decyphering small pictures from a giant puzzle with most of the pieces missing, therefore even more humility is required in discussing historical “fact”.
If King Solomon made an oath not to harm you if you swore to tell the truth in his court (as opposed to your own private theories), would you really testify: “Solomon’s mother is an ambitious, scheming whore and his father a cold-blooded murderer. And Solomon is a chip off the old block.”?
It’s one thing to testify that Person A committed a certain ACT, which can be verified, disproved, or else remain inconclusive in the context of other evidence.
But it constitutes bearing false witness (prohibited by Commandment #9 of the Tablets of Testimony) to presume to testify having a true personal knowledge of evil intent or evil character hidden in the heart of another. In this instance, such conclusions are extremely cynical, and are contradicted by the vast majority of existing scriptural evidence, as well as common sense.
Likewise, I can’t say that you’re arrogant. It’s theoretically possible that you didn’t intend to defame others, and were unfortunately carried away by championing the advantages of inquiry over dogma. But as respectfully as possible I suggest you add Musar (Jewish Ethics) to the top of your reading list. It was also a new discovery for me to recognize the error of assuming to know more than it’s possible to know.
A scientist who can’t admit making an error is in no better position than a scientist who can’t challenge the dogma of others.
Shabbat Shalom
Gabe:
“…It’s one thing to testify that Person A committed a certain ACT, which can be verified, disproved, or else remain inconclusive in the context of other evidence…”
While you are in shul, Gabe, open a Tanach and read the Solomon narrative in the Book of Kings. David and Bathsheba lose their child—possibly bastard—and David does penance for murdering his new wife’s previous husband. This is not exegesis; it is plain text.
As for Bathsheba’s intentions, admittedly exegesis, are you suggesting that she didn’t know she was under the king’s window in her birthday suit? Is David’s ordering her Hittite husband to the front anything but cold-blooded murder with malice aforethought? If not, why his need for penance?
That musar (preaching, essentially) plays so large a role in contemporary Judaism is largely an Hasidic influence. Short on intellect and scholarship, Hasidic Rabbis are chock full of inspiring parables and homilies. I was raised in the dry as dust Mithnagdic tradition born of the Vilnius renaissance where intellect, rationalism and scholarship rule.
My father, a brilliant Talmudist, was often criticized for scanting musar. He taught twelfth grade Talmud and he had a laissez-faire policy toward students in his class—indeed the majority–who were not interested in learning Talmud. Seniors in high-school, they were burdened with State Regents exams, finals and college applications and had no plans to continue their formal Jewish education beyond high-school. My father allowed them to study or read or fill out applications as long as they did it quietly and didn’t disturb those few who were planning to continue on to the Rabbinate and were following his lecture. Why, some among his colleagues demanded, didn’t my father try to inspire more of his students to Talmudic study? My father ignored them.
Humility is another high minded notion, much abused. Living in the Jewish community as I do, I’m often exposed to ostentatious shows of modesty. So prevalent is the pose, that the gay Orthodox Jewish young men (yes, there are such) my daughters often invite to Friday night or Saturday afternoon meals make a point of mimicking it. And they do it superbly—head lowered, eyes downcast, hands clasped unthreateningly before them. They are all baal t’shuvah and don’t know shit from shinola about Judaism but they have the humble, scholarly pose down cold. Funny stuff. Never my way.
Science, since you bring it up, indicates nothing more than probability. An experiment repeated a million times under identical conditions may yield the same result but it doesn’t prove that experiment number one million plus one won’t yield a different result. True proof exists only in mathematics. That’s why mathematics is equated by rabbis to Torah and time spent in the study of mathematics is time free from the obligation to study Torah.
Have a peaceful Sabbath and a productive week.
Gabe: Thanks for your reply to David. As Christians and Jews face a common, inhuman enemy in islam, we should be supportive of one another, including the nation of Israel and those who support her here in America and around the world. For David to slam my beliefs as “cannibalistic” is akin to those who slam Israel for “organ harvesting.” And for one who claims to know so much about Christianity, he certainly has the ability to leave inconvenient parts out of the story, such as ignoring the fact that our Scriptures teach that Saul met Jesus in a vision on his way to kill Christians when, as David might like to take note, God Almighty threw the murderer from his high horse and blinded him for three days until the newborn Paul understood his mission to the Gentiles from the Lord. Now obviously, you do not have to believe these things, David, but please don’t bash those of us who do, especially a sacred miracle to us such as Transubstantiation. May the God of Israel bless us all and protect the Jewish people and restore His Kingdom on Earth, as it is the only answer to the current world crises we face everywhere.
OK, let’s see if I’m getting this straight – on a thread about Gaza, David L. jumps in and slams Christianity. Smart move there, David! You and other Jews do not believe Jesus was the Messiah. Do you think we Christians consider this breaking news?
Jews and Christians, by definition, think each other’s opinions on Jesus, the New Testament, Paul, etc. are mistaken. Has that fact led to much bloodshed and grief in the past? Yes. Can Christians and Jews be friends and allies now, in 2010, despite their theological differences? Yes. It seems, counterproductive, to say the least, to insult your friends for no good reason.
The greatest enemies of Israel are as follows: 1. Muslim fanatics, 2. European and American terrorist fans, who are mainly leftist and secular, and 3. self-hating Jews who think the goyim will like them better if they bash their own people. Believing Christians, OTOH, are among Israel’s strongest supporters. Heck, they’re among Israel’s only supporters. So when I (and I am not a evangelical Protestant, BTW) read or hear Christian-bashing comments like David L.’s, it makes me toss my hands in the air and think “Oy, vey.”
Sometimes I get the feeling sophisticated Jews, especially those of a liberal bent, are embarrassed by the pro-Israel Christians, like the child who is shunned at school by the cool kids and so is forced to hang around with the fat, homely boy. He doesn’t want to be friends with the fat child, he yearns for the acceptance of the hip crowd. A lot of those Christians wouldn’t fit in real well at Manhattan cocktail parties. They speak with drawls and know more about deer hunting than they do about the new MOMA exhibition. They’re really much dumber than those fancy yuppies on the Upper West Side – you know, the geniuses who turned out to vote for Obama in droves and who think Krugman and Tom Friedman are brilliant.
Like I said, oy vey.
The first two paragraphs of your reply perfectly reflect my own thoughts.
you know they are off their rocker when someone criticized my defense of Israel by lamenting that the Israelis are blocking the importation of….hair tonic.
(presumably because it can be used to make bombs).
Yes, it’s Israel’s fault that the poor Palestinians are having a bad hair day…
tioedong: the Israel-haters are also lamenting the cruel Israeli ban on coriander (cilantro), although those friends of mine who detest cilantro would not hesitate to ban it from every menu in America if they had their way.
I have no idea why the Israelis have banned coriander and nutmeg. I know it’s a terrible thing to try to get through a day without nutmeg, but I will note, however, that if the Palis hadn’t smashed and destroyed all of those greenhouses in Gaza back in 2005, they’d be able to grow their own damn spices.
Coriander is a horrible spice. A single leaf is capable of making a salad inedible. How some people can confuse it with parsley, I cannot tell.