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DENVER, Colo. … April 4, 2016 … The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), a program of JEWISHcolorado, is pleased to announce five honorees to be recognized at this year’s annual luncheon on Wednesday, April 20th at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Denver. This year’s luncheon will also feature Governor John Hickenlooper and Mayor Michael B. Hancock. The Community Leadership Award will go to Rob Kaufmann, and the Legislative Appreciation Award Recipients will be Senator Leroy Garcia, Assistant House Majority Leader Dominick Moreno, and Representative Dan Nordberg. A newly created Corporate Partner Award will be given this year to Noble Energy. The Community Leadership Award honors an individual who demonstrates significant leadership and commitment to both the Jewish and general community. The recipient is someone who has the ability to bring constituents together for advocacy on issues of importance to the Jewish community as well as someone who is committed to the values and principles of the JCRC. This year’s recipient, Rob Kaufmann, is a former JCRC Chair who serves in several leadership capacities as an attorney at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLC. Rob is an active member of the community. He currently chairs the Colorado chapter of AIPAC and CORHIO, a non-profit organization dedicated to serving all of Colorado’s healthcare stakeholders. He also serves on the Board of JEWISHcolorado and the Denver Zoo. Kaufman is a former Chair of HealthONE and has previously served on the boards of The Colorado Health Foundation and Temple Emanuel. The Legislative Appreciation award honors current or former members of the Colorado State General Assembly or the U.S. Congress who also demonstrate leadership on issues of importance to the Jewish community and a commitment to the values and principles of the JCRC. This year’s recipients: Senator Leroy Garcia, Assistant House Majority Leader Dominick Moreno, and Representative Dan Nordberg were co-founders of the first-ever Colorado General Assembly Israel Caucus. The caucus was established to educate fellow legislators about Israel as well as to reinforce the importance of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship. This year’s Corporate Partner Award recognizes a local corporation who has consistently supported the work of the JCRC and who demonstrates leadership within the broader community. This year’s recipient is Noble Energy, an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company. Noble Energy has been an ongoing sponsor of the JCRC Public Officials Mission to Israel and is also making unbelievable technological and scientific advancements in both Colorado and Israel. “The JCRC is extremely fortunate to have the involvement and support of this year’s esteemed honorees,” said Ben Lusher, JCRC Chair. “Each of them has been integral to the work of the JCRC and to advancing our Jewish community locally and globally.” This year’s luncheon will also celebrate the recent passage of legislation combatting the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement against the State of Israel, which has become a mainstay of the global anti-Israel movement. For more information, or to register for the JCRC Luncheon, please visit https://colorado.secure-fedweb.jewishfederations.org/page/contribute/jcrc-luncheon-2016 or contact Events at email@example.com. The JCRC advocates for domestic and international policy issues that affect the Colorado Jewish community, represents these views to the Jewish community and to the general community of Colorado, and organizes the Jewish community in times of crisis. JCRC consists of 37 member organizations, 15 at-large members, and is affiliated with the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA). Founded in 1946, JEWISHcolorado is inspired by the collective responsibility to build and sustain Jewish life in Colorado, Israel, and around the world. Our mission is to secure, steward, and share philanthropic and human resources in support of vibrant Jewish life as well as mobilize the community in times of need. JEWISHcolorado is a proud member of Jewish Federations of North America, which is collectively ranked among the top ten charities on the continent.. Last year, JEWISHcolorado’s Annual Campaign raised $11.2 million and the Endowment and Planned Giving arm house more than $60 million in long term assets.

Beijing is expanding efforts to enhance its soft power. Events at home illustrate why such moves are headed for troubleIn a little noticed event on New Year’s Day, China inaugurated its first non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of soft power—China Public Diplomacy Association (CPDA). Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi attended and spoke at the unveiling ceremony for the group, which elected as its president Li Zhaoxing, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of China's National People's Congress. Addressing the group after the vote, Li told its members that the CPDA would mobilize and coordinate “social resources and civilian efforts” towards the goal of "promoting China's soft power." In some ways, China’s desire to strengthen its soft power capabilities seems entirely logical. After all, ancient Chinese leaders masterfully wielded soft power. And as China’s economic power has risen in recent years, the Chinese government has adopted various measures to enhance China’s soft power, such as establishing global news services (most recently, China Daily’s Africa Weekly) and Confucius Institutes across the world. Outside of China some have spoken of a Beijing Consensus that is supposedly supplementing the Washington Consensus in terms of the most favored political-economic model. Yet even as China inaugurated its first organization dedicated to enhancing Beijing’s soft power, a number of disparate events in China were illustrating why the CCP’s charm offensive is doomed to fail. For example, in recent weeks the Chinese government has redoubled its efforts to censor the internet. After social media users in China exposed a series of scandals involving low-level government officials, the CCP adopted new regulations that require internet service providers to quickly delete “illegal” posts and turn over the evidence to government officials. Additionally, after trying to require citizens to use their real names on social media sites like Weibo, the new regulations require citizens to use their real identities when signing up with an internet provider. More secretly, according to many inside China, authorities have been strengthening the great firewall to prevent users from employing various methods in order to gain access to a growing number of sites that are banned. China is hardly the only government concerned about the political instability unfettered internet access can generate. In fact, last month China joined 89 countries in supporting a United Nations telecommunications treaty that over 20 nations opposed over fears that it would open the door to greater government control over cyberspace. But while China’s suppression of information may resonate with political elites in authoritarian states, the world is living in the information age and attempts to restrict the flow of information for political reasons will not endear China to the global masses that soft power seeks to attract. China’s internet policies also conflict with the stated goals of its soft power offensive in more concrete ways as well. For example, one of the primary goals of the CPDA is to increase the number of people-to-people exchanges with other countries. However, if the CCP is successful in preventing users from accessing popular sites like Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, and the New York Times, it is likely to discourage foreigners from living or studying abroad in China. Similarly, blocking access to these sites inhibits communication between Chinese and foreigners over cyberspace. Along with tighter restrictions on the Internet, Chinese authorities have also increased their scrutiny on media outlets, both domestic and foreign. Domestically, the CCP ushered in the New Year by closing down the fiercely liberal magazine, Yanhuang Chunqiu, ostensibly because its registration had been invalid since August 2010. Then, on Friday, 51 prominent journalists issued an open letter demanding the resignation of Tuo Zhen, the Communist Party’s propaganda chief in Guangdong Province, who they accused of “raping” the Southern Weekly’s editorial page when he allegedly altered its annual New Year’s Greeting right as it went to press, and without the knowledge or consent of the editor. The journalists were later joined by over two dozen prominent academics from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan who published their own open letter calling for Tuo's resignation. Southern Weekly (also referred to as Southern Weekend) is a highly regarded reform-minded Guangdong newspaper, and its annual New Year’s Greeting has traditionally pushed the bounds of acceptable political discussion in China. This year’s editorial originally parodied Xi Jinping’s "Chinese Dream" by calling for the realization of the “dream of constitutionalism in China” where civil rights and the rule-of-law are respected and upheld. After Tuo’s changes, the editorial expressed gratitude to the Communist Party for helping the country achieve the Chinese Dream. According to David Bandurski, editor of China Media Project,"This kind of direct hands-on interference is really something new” and extreme even by China's strict regulation of domestic media. Indeed, after the government tried to silence the growing outrage over Tuo's actions, including by shutting down Southern Weekly staff members' personal Weibo accounts, the entire editorial staff at the newspaper decided to stage a strike, marking the first time in over two decades that the editorial staff of a major Chinese newspaper has gone on strike over government censorship, according to the South China Morning Post. China also continued its campaign against foreign journalists and news organizations last week when Chris Buckley, an Australian-national and China correspondent for the New York Times, was forced to leave the country because Beijing wouldn’t renew his visa. Following Buckley’s departure the New York Times said its China bureau chief, Philip P. Pan—author of Out of Mao’s Shadow—has been waiting since March to receive his own credentials. Beijing later claimed Buckley hadn’t submitted the proper paperwork, but his case follows on the heels of Al Jazeera’s Melissa Chan’s expulsion from the country and the Washington Post’s Andrew Higgins finally ending his three-year quest to gain reentry into China, which failed even after the newspaper enlisted the help of Henry Kissinger. Thus, the more plausible explanation for Buckley’s inability to renew his visa is that Beijing is retaliating against foreign journalists because of the extraordinary reporting organizations like the New York Times have been doing on politically taboo subjects in China, such as stories on the enormous amount of wealth the families of senior leaders have accumulated. This reporting is also why the websites of the New York Times and Bloomberg News are no longer accessible in China, and why reporters from these organizations weren’t able to attend the unveiling of the Politburo Standing Committee at the 18th Party Congress in November. Finally, the CCP’s soft power offensive is doomed to fail because of its ability to tolerate (much less cultivate) “cultural ambassadors.” In the realm of soft power, a county’s entertainers, artists, and intellectuals are some of its strongest assets. One needs only to look to South Korean rapper Psy, and the “flash mobs” he’s inspired in places as varied as Jakarta, Bangkok, Sydney, Dhaka, Mumbai, Dubai, American college campuses and shopping malls, Taipei, Hong Kong, and, yes, the Chinese mainland. A country as large and dynamic as China undoubtedly has many potential worldwide celebrities. And yet, as a China Daily op-ed points out, China “is still far from making a product like Gangnam Style. China does export a large amount of cultural products every year, but few of them become popular abroad.” The major reason China fails to export its cultural products, as Peng Kan, the author of the op-ed rightly notes, is that “Government organizations and enterprises are the main force behind the exports….But these organizations and enterprises… cannot promote satires like Gangnam Style through official communication channel. But cultural products without entertainment value rarely become popular in overseas markets.” Indeed, it’s telling that China’s most popular non-governmental figures abroad are all opponents of the CCP. One such individual is democracy advocate Liu Xiaobo, who celebrated his 57th birthday on December 28th and the 3rd anniversary of being sentenced to an 11-year prison term on December 25th. This sentence only increased Liu’s international stature where he has been celebrated widely and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 (which the CCP responded to by placing his wife under house arrest). Indeed Liu’s international renowned was on display last month when 134 Nobel laureates sent Xi Jinping a letter urging him to release Liu. Eclipsing Liu in popularity at least in the West, however, is Ai Weiwei, the famous Chinese artist and dissident. Ai Weiwei’s remarkable artistic talent made him famous in some circles, initially including the CCP and across the globe before his turn to social activism. It is undeniable, however, that much of his popularity has come from his courageous and witty challenge to Communist Party rule in China. It is this charismatic political dissent that explains why documentaries of him win at Sundance, Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times interviews him while visiting China, and his “Gangam Style” parody becomes an instant You Tube sensation, despite the fact that its underlying political message is lost on almost all its viewers. China is hardly alone in making dissidents it persecutes famous internationally. In fact, this problem is practically inherent in authoritarian states (just ask Vladimir Putin). There’s a nearly universal tendency for people to sympathize with an “underdog” who is courageously battling a powerful force like a government, which is why a Tunisian street vendor setting himself on fire can spark uprisings throughout the Arab world, and David and Goliath is one of the most recognizable stories from Jewish and Christian religious texts. But this fact does not make Liu and Ai Weiwei any less damaging to the CCP’s ability to project soft power. Symbolic figures like Liu and Ai Weiwei ingrain into people’s minds the perception that the CCP is synonymous with injustice. And hardly any emotion is as universally held as the righteousness of justice, however one defines it. On a more primeval basis, people are attracted to confidence, and attempts to suppress information and dissidents creates the perception that, despite all its power and remarkable achievements, the CCP remains at its core fearful and paranoid. Few people are attracted to, much less want to emulate, those they consider fearful or paranoid. Which is why, despite China’s ancient history of soft power, and the soft power individuals like Ai Weiwei command, modern China’s soft power will remain limited under the current political leadership. Zachary Keck is assistant editor of The Diplomat.

On September 17, the past presidents were honored at the Queens Jewish Community Council’s Testimonial Dinner. This year was the 50th anniversary of the incorporation of the organization. People tend to recognize the first president and the current president. Those in the middle tend to get lost. This is a mistake. Every president has a share in the organization’s success and its continuing viability. If one president had not done his or her job the organization could have folded. There are organizations that had dynamic leadership when they were created and then fell apart once the dynamic leader was no longer in charge. Others who are almost never mentioned are the board members and other volunteers. They may not have the title of president, but their efforts were an important part in having the organization last for 50 years. The names of the past presidents are listed on the stationery and were mentioned at the dinner. The names of the board members and other volunteers are not listed. Their names and the knowledge of their accomplishments has been forgotten due to the passage of time. This also applies to individual Jews. The fact that each one of us is here today is a miracle. Throughout Jewish history there have been tragic events that have caused loss of countless lives. Some examples include the battles with Rome that led to the destruction of the Second Temple, the Inquisition, the pogroms, and the Holocaust. There has also been loss to the Jewish community through spiritual attacks such as forced conversions or assimilation and intermarriage. Also, if one of my ancestors was unable to have children or if their children died young, the line would have been lost. My knowledge of my family’s history is very limited. I have no idea if my ancestors were subject to any of the trials and tribulations listed above, and if so, how they survived. I will never know their names and where they were from. There are now tests that can show where your ancestors came from. They have limited use but do supply a small window of our past. The tests do point out that our ancestors are still a part of us even today. Their DNA is part of our DNA. Their legacy continues through us. There is another group whose genetic makeup is not in our body but whose importance cannot be understated. Throughout the generations there must have been nonrelatives who, through their conduct either directly and or indirectly, helped my ancestors survive physically or spiritually as Jews. I will never know these people, but they are just as important as my descendants. Our being here beats the odds. Thus, on this Rosh Hashanah we have to think why we had the merit of being born with a direct family line back to the beginning, when so many other families were wiped out. It is a gift that we should not take lightly. Each one of us has a special mission, which isn’t always easy to figure out. Sometimes we might be doing our mission and not know it. Since we do not know why we are here we must use our time here wisely and try to accomplish as much as possible. If we use our time productively, such as learning Torah and helping others, we have a better chance ending up doing what we were placed in this world to do. May we all be inscribed in the book of life for a sweet year full of joy, happiness, and good health, and hopefully this will be the year when we accomplish what we were put here for.

“Does this hurt?” “How about here?” At certain times all of us have heard those words from a Doctor who is checking out what physical problem we may have. I recall running across the lawn of a neighbours’s yard and not seeing the little wire fence in the dark of night, tripping over it and breaking an arm! It wasn’t difficult for the emergency room nurse to tell I had a problem as my arm twisted in the wrong direction! Less obvious are the spiritual wounds we carry around that come as a result of our own sin, and that of others. Emotional wounds that were inflicted by a parent, a spouse, or another person we trusted, carry their own set of damages that leave scars. We human beings have an uncanny knack of hurting one another, sometimes we don’t even realize that we do so. But when we put our needs and wants before serving God and others, we cause damage. And, the result is that we ourselves become twisted emotionally and spiritually. The twelve men who followed Jesus Christ were not exempt from this malady. You will recall that one of their most heated discussions had to do with which one of them would be the greatest, the most important, when the kingdom of God reigns on the earth! Really? How could it be that after the Lord announced to them that he was going to be delivered to the Jewish authorities to be killed, that these men thought it correct to discuss the place of their importance! However, without them even knowing it, these men, in a spiritual sense, began to inflict themselves with a world of hurt. Whenever we begin to think about “me first”, like the disciples did in Jesus’day, we unknowingly begin to hurt ourselves. We convince ourselves in thinking that this is something we deserve! But unless God is the one who gives it to us, our striving for position or priority actually hurts ourself, and those closest to us. We unknowingly trip over the neighbour’s invisible wire. Our attitude needs to be that which places God first, others second and me last. Here is the sad thing we need to acknowledge, repent of and confess: the church has been the cause of this type of pain. To be specific, I’m not talking about the church as in the building, rather the church as in people who have knowingly hurt people. We have run over people in our effort to establish our agenda (we use “spiritual” language to do so!). We turn member against member. Sooner or later God will call us to account as to what we have done! A Holy Spirit led, driven movement of God is not that. It is one where God’s people confess their sins one to another, and they don’t allow hurts to trip up God’s agenda. It is a movement in which the fruit of the Spirit is evidenced and God’s agenda takes first place. Nobody needs to ask who gets the credit but rather everyone knows it is God who gets the glory all day, everyday. Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift! May we treasure him, and may that be reflected in our desire to encourage others to do so as well!

Stuart Shave/Modern Art announces a solo exhibition of new work by Richard Tuttle, Light & Colour. This is the American artists second solo show with Modern Art Richard Tuttles practice is marked by a discursive approach to materiality and gesture, prevailed with an intuitive artistic and intellectual rigour. Known for his works of subtlety, intimacy and humility, Tuttles is a genuinely seminal practice that has influenced generations of art making throughout the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The evolution of Tuttles work embraces a radical and progressive spirit in the pursuit of problems and solutions within the languages of art. Using everyday and non-traditional art-making materials, Tuttles works are often not quite categorisable as drawing, painting or sculpture, but touch lightly on the fundamental basis of each. In the form and expression of his work, Tuttle devotes his attention to the fragile condition of art and the everyday, attending to the concrete and emotive potential of line, space, colour and shape. This exhibition at Modern Art demonstrates an understanding of sculpture as a fundamentally spatial conception. The front room of the gallery is devoted to a single wall-based sculpture comprised of a series of eight small painted mahogany shapes, hung in sequence along a drawn pencil line. Titled Light and Color (2011), this new work touches on the essential character of Tuttles practice: an open and nuanced vocabulary of form and colour that suggests an approach to ambiguous conditions of language. The second room of the gallery places a new large sculpture at its centre: System 7, Hickory Dickory Dock (2011). This compelling new work is open, expansive and propositional, providing a freestanding structure self-inhabited with fragments of assembled and sculpted form. While Tuttle is known perhaps most widely for the nature of the small scale works such as Light and Color, his new large works emphatically restate the instinctive, eloquent deployment of humble materials, and acute sensitivity to touch and space that is characteristic of Tuttles work throughout five decades of practice. Richard Tuttle was born in Rahway, New Jersey, USA, in 1941. He lives and works in New York City, and Abiquiu, New Mexico, USA. Tuttle completed his BA at Trinity College, Hartford, USA, in 1963. Richard Tuttles work has been the subject of more than two hundred solo exhibitions. He held his first solo show at Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, USA in 1965, and in 1975 was granted a ten-year survey exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA. Richard Tuttles work has been included on three occasions in the Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (1976, 1997, and 2001), Documenta, Kassel, Germany (1972, 1977 and 1987), and the Whitney Biennial of American Art, New York, USA (1977, 1987, and 2000). Recent solo museum exhibitions include Richard Tuttle: Triumphs, Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane, Dublin, Ireland (2010 2011); Richard Tuttle: The Use of Time, Kunsthaus Zug, Zug, Switzerland (2008); The Art of Richard Tuttle, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA, touring the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA, Des Moines Art Center, Iowa, USA, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, USA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA, and Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, USA (2005 2007); Richard Tuttle: Wire Pieces, CAPC Musée dArt Contemporain, Bordeaux, France (2005); Richard Tuttle: Its a Room for 3 People, Drawing Center, New York, USA, touring to Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, USA (2004 2006); Richard Tuttle: Perceived Obstacles, Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseum, Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig, Germany, touring to Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Münster, Germany, and Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany (2000 2001). Since his last exhibition at Modern Art in 2009, Tuttles work has been included in the museum exhibitions On-Line: Drawing through the Twentieth Century, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA (2010 2011); Fifty Works for Fifty States: The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, USA (2010); Thrice Upon A Time, Magasin 3, Stockholm Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden (2010); The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia, 18601989, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA (2009); Target Practice: Painting Under Attack 194978, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, USA (2009); and Action/Abstraction: Pollock, De Kooning, and American Art, 19401976, The Jewish Museum, New York, USA (2008).

Camp Pet-O-Se-Ga: A 300-acre forested park on the shores of Pickerel Lake Campground and Park Office 11000 Camp Pet-O-Se-Ga Alanson, MI 49706 Phone: (231) 347-6536 Welcome to Camp Pet-O-Se-Ga! Camp Pet-O-Se-Ga has 90 campsites with electricity and water, modern restrooms and showers, seven rental cabins (open year round), playground equipment, and open field game areas. The park also has a recreation hall/multi-use building which can accommodate family reunions, weddings, receptions, and meetings and an open-air pavilion where movies are played on Saturday nights through the summer season. Camp Pet-O-Se-Ga: From boys' camp, to Jewish kids' camp, to family campground over nearly 80 years Emmet County's Camp Pet-O-Se-Ga is now open for the camping season, as of May 1, 2013. The campground has 90 sites plus a number of cabins available for rent. The Rec Hall and open-air pavilion are also available for rentals for weddings and special events. Camp Pet-O-Se-Ga is located on Pickerel Lake, at the start of the Inland Waterway. For reservations, call (231) 347-6536. Now that the campground is officially open, we thought it would be great timing to put together some of the history of the camp for one of Emmet County's regular monthly Blasts from the Past videos. This installment includes some of the camp's lesser-known background as a Jewish kids' camp, after it was a camp for boys beginning in 1934. Click here to view the Blast from the Past. To view video interviews with the camp's founder, Jim Templin, and to read more about its history, click here. Policy on cancellations Please note that cabin and recreation hall deposits are non-refundable if the reservation is canceled at any time. Thank you for choosing Camp Pet-O-Se-Ga! Download the brochure Click on the image below to view the Pet-O-Se-Ga brochure and campground map.

Yehuda Amichai is recognized as one of Israel’s finest poets. His poems—written in Hebrew—have been translated into forty languages, and entire volumes of his work have been published in English, French, German, Swedish, Spanish, and Catalan. Translator Robert Alter has said: “Yehuda Amichai, it has been remarked with some justice, is the most widely translated Hebrew poet since King David.” Amichai’s translations into English have been particularly popular, and his imaginative and accessible style has opened up Hebrew poetry to American and English readers in a whole new way. The poet C. K. Williams described Amichai as "the shrewdest and most solid of poetic intelligences." Amichai’s numerous books of poetry include his first in Hebrew, Now and In Other Days (1955), which announced his distinctively colloquial voice, and two breakthrough volumes that introduced him to American readers: Poems (1969) and Selected Poems of Yehuda Amichai (1971), both co-translated by Ted Hughes, who became a good friend and advocate of Amichai’s work. Later works translated into English include Time: Travels of a Latter-Day Benjamin of Tudela (1976), Yehuda Amichai: A Life in Poetry 1948-1994 (1994), The Selected Poetry of Yehuda Amichai (1996), Exile at Home (1998), and Open Closed Open (2000). Amichai also published two novels, including his first work to be translated into English, Not of This Time, Not of This Place (1968), and a book of short stories. Born in Germany in 1924, Amichai left that country at age twelve with his family and journeyed to Palestine. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli war he fought with the Israeli defense forces. The rigors and horrors of his service in this conflict, and in World War II, inform his poetry, although he is never ideological. In an interview with the Paris Review, Amichai noted that all poetry was political: “This is because real poems deal with a human response to reality, and politics is part of reality, history in the making,” he said. “Even if a poet writes about sitting in a glass house drinking tea, it reflects politics.” It was during the war that Amichai began to be interested in poetry, reading modern English and American poetry, by authors such as Dylan Thomas, W.H. Auden, and T.S. Eliot. According to Alter, Amichai’s early work bears a resemblance to the poetry of Thomas and Auden. "[Rainer Maria] Rilke," wrote Alter, "is another informing presence for him, occasionally in matters of style—he has written vaguely Rilkesque elegies—but perhaps more as a model for using a language of here and now as an instrument to catch the glimmerings of a metaphysical beyond." Although Amichai’s native language was German, he read Hebrew fluently by the time he immigrated to Palestine. After the war, Amichai attended Hebrew University. He taught in secondary schools, teachers’ seminars, Hebrew University, and later at American institutions such as New York University, University of California-Berkeley, and Yale. In a New York Times Magazine profile of Amichai, Alter noted that by the mid-1960s Amichai was "already regarded in many circles in Israel as the country’s leading poet." Amichai’s reputation outside of Israel soon soared. Alter explained that Amichai was "accorded international recognition unprecedented for a modern Hebrew poet." In Israel, his books were frequently bestsellers, and in 1982, Amichai received the prestigious Israel Prize for Poetry for effecting “a revolutionary change in poetry’s language.” Among his many other honors and awards, he was nominated for the Noble Prize. While he became known as an “accessible” poet whose work translated seamlessly into many languages, Alter has taken pains to describe Amichai’s style as something much more complex in its native Hebrew. Amichai frequently exploits Hebrew’s levels of diction, Alter noted in an article for Modern Hebrew Literature, which are generally based on historical usage of words, rather than class. Alter continues: “Amichai’s exploitation of indigenous stylistic resources is often connected with his sensitivity to the expressive sounds of the Hebrew words he uses and with his inventive puns, which are sometimes playful, sometimes dead serious, and often both at once. But what is most untranslatable are the extraordinary allusive twists he gives to densely specific Hebrew terms and texts.” Despite the echoes of other poets and traditions in his work, Alter stressed it was important to remember “that Amichai is not simply an Auden or a William Carlos Williams writing from right to left, that he uses his own language and literary tradition as a delicately tuned instrument that communicates to Hebrew readers certain tonalities that others will not hear.” Yet Amichai’s entire body of work speaks persuasively to his powers as an everyman, both of his people and the world. Reviewing The Selected Poetry of Yehuda Amichai, American poet Ed Hirsch stated that Amichai “is a representative man with unusual gifts who in telling his own story also relates the larger story of his people.” Amichai’s papers and archive is housed at the Beinecke Library at Yale University. Yehuda Amichai died in Jerusalem on September 22, 2000. - Selected Poems, translation from the Hebrew by Assia Gutmann, Cape Goliard Press, 1968, published as Poems, introduction by Michael Hamburger, Harper (New York, NY), 1969. - Selected Poems of Yehuda Amichai, translation from the original Hebrew by Gutmann, Harold Schimmel, and Ted Hughes, Penguin (London, England), 1971, published as The Early Books of Yehuda Amichai, Sheep Meadow Press (Riverdale, NY), 1988. - Songs of Jerusalem and Myself, translation from the Hebrew by Schimmel, Harper, 1973. - Travels of a Latter-Day Benjamin of Tudela, translation from the Hebrew by Ruth Nevo, House of Exile (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1976. - Amen, translation from the Hebrew by the author and Hughes, Harper, 1977. - On New Year’s Day, Next to a House Being Built, Sceptre Press (Knotting, England), 1979. - Time: Poems, Harper, 1979. - Love Poems (also see below), translation from the Hebrew by Glenda Abramson and Tudor Parfitt, Harper, 1981. - The Great Tranquility: Questions and Answers, translation from the Hebrew by Abramson and Parfitt, Harper (New York, NY), 1983, reprinted, Sheep Meadow Press (Riverdale, NY), 1997. - Travels (bilingual edition), English translations by Nevo, Sheep Meadow Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1986. - The Selected Poetry of Yehudah Amichai, translation from the Hebrew by Mitchell and Chana Bloch, Harper (New York, NY), 1986, revised and expanded edition, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 1996. - Poems of Jerusalem: A Bilingual Edition (also see below), Harper, 1988. - Even a Fist Was Once an Open Palm with Fingers: Recent Poems, selected and translated by Barbara and Benjamin Harshav, HarperCollins, 1991. - Poems of Jerusalem; and, Love Poems: Bilingual Edition, Sheep Meadow Press (Riverdale, NY), 1992. - I Am Sitting Here Now, Land Marks Press (Huntington Woods, MI), 1994. - Poems: English and Hebrew, Shoken (Jerusalem), 1994. - Yehuda Amichai: A Life of Poetry, 1948-1994, translated by Barbara and Benjamin Harshav, HarperCollins, 1994. - Exile at Home, photographs by Frederic Brenner, Harry N. Abrams (New York, NY), 1998. - Open Closed Open: Poems, translated from the Hebrew by Chana Bloch and Chana Kronfeld, Harcourt (New York, NY), 2000. - Lo me-’akhshav, Lo mi-kan (novel), [Tel Aviv, Israel], 1963, translation by Shlomo Katz published as Not of This Time, Not of This Place, Harper (New York, NY), 1968. - The World Is a Room, and Other Stories, Jewish Publication Society (Philadelphia, PA), 1984. - (Editor, with Allen Mandelbaum) Avoth Yeshurun, The Syrian-African Rift, and Other Poems, translation by Schimmel, Jewish Publication Society (Philadelphia, PA), 1980. - (Editor, with Mandelbaum) Dan Pagis, Points of Departure, translation from the Hebrew by Stephen Mitchell, Jewish Publication Society (Philadelphia, PA), 1982. - Akhshav uva-yamim ha-aherim (poetry; title means "Now and in Other Days"), [Tel Aviv, Israel], 1955. - 1958-59 Ba-ginah ha-tsiburit (poetry; title means "In the Park"), [Jerusalem]. - Be-merhak shete tikvot (poetry), [Tel Aviv, Israel], 1958. - Be-ruah ha-nora’ah ha-zot (stories), Merhavya, 1961. - Masa’ le-Ninveh (play; title means "Journey to Nineveh"), 1962. - 1962-63 Shirim, 1948-1962 (title means "Poetry"), [Jerusalem]. - ‘Akshav ba-ra’ash, 1968. - Mah she-karah le-Roni bi-Nyu York, 1968. - Pa ‘amonim ve-rakavot, 1968. - Ve-lo ‘al menat li-zekor (poetry), 1971. - Mi yitneni malon (title means "Hotel in the Wilderness"), 1972, reprinted, Bitan (Tel Aviv, Israel), 2003. - Me-ahore kol zeh mistater osher gadol (poetry), 1974. Translator of German works into Hebrew. Amichai’s works have been translated into thirty-seven languages, including French, Swedish, Chinese, and Spanish. - Abramson, Glenda, editor, The Experienced Soul: Studies in Amichai, Westview Press (Boulder, CO), 1997. - Abramson, Glenda, The Writing of Yehuda Amichai: A Thematic Approach, State University of New York Press (Albany, NY), 1989. - Alter, Robert, After the Tradition: Essays on Modern Jewish Writing, Dutton (New York, NY), 1969. - Amichai, Yehuda, Not of This Time, Not of This Place, Harper (New York, NY), 1968. - Cohen, Joseph, Voices of Israel: Essays on and Interviews with Yehuda Amichai, A. B. Yehoshua, T. Carmi, Aharon Appelfeld, and Amos Oz, State University of New York Press (Albany, NY), 1990. - Contemporary Literary Criticism, Gale (Detroit, MI), Volume 9, 1978, Volume 22, 1982, Volume 57, 1990. - Lapon-Kandelshein, Essi, To Commemorate the Seventieth Birthday of Yehuda Amichai: A Bibliography of His Work in Translation, Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature (Ramat Gan, Israel), 1994. - American Poetry Review, November-December, 1987. - Booklist, October 1, 1994, p. 230; March 15, 2000, Donna Seaman, review of Open Closed Open: Poems, p. 1313. - Commentary, May, 1974. - Hudson Review, autumn, 1991. - Kenyon Review, winter, 1988. - Library Journal, July, 1969; July, 1977. - Nation, May 29, 1982. - New Republic, March 3, 1982; July 3, 2000, C. K. Williams, "We Cannot Be Fooled, We Can Be Fooled," p. 29. - New Yorker, May 3, 1969. - New York Times Book Review, August 4, 1965; July 3, 1977; November 13, 1983; August 3, 1986, Edward Hirsch, "In Language Torn from Sleep," p. 14. - New York Times Magazine, June 8, 1986, Robert Alter, "Israel's Master Poet," p. 40. - Publishers Weekly, August 29, 1994, p. 66; March 27, 2000, review of Open Closed Open, p. 71. - Tikkun, May-June, 1994, p. 96. - Times Literary Supplement, October 17, 1986. - Village Voice, July 2, 1985; April 14, 1987. - Virginia Quarterly Review, autumn, 1987. - Washington Post Book World, February 15, 1970. - World Literature Today, spring, 1995, pp. 426-427. - East Bay Express Online, http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ (September 24, 2000), Stephen Kessler, "Theology for Atheists." - New Republic, October 9, 2000, p. 28. - Poetry, December, 2000, p. 232. - Times (London, England), October 13, 2000, p. 25. Poems By YEHUDA AMICHAI Audio & PodcastsThe Poetry Magazine Podcast An excerpt from the satirical radio play by Yehuda Amichai.

'Fiddler on the Roof' This event has already taken place. Click here for the latest events.Add to Calendar 03-01-2013 03-02-2013 15 'Fiddler on the Roof' Composer Jerry Bock and lyricist Sheldon Harnick teamed up with librettist Joseph Stein to create this timeless classic musical, magically woven with universal themes, music, dance, poignancy, and laughter. "Fiddler on the Roof" is based on "Tevye and His Daughters" and other tales by Sholem Aleichem that he wrote in Yiddish and published in 1894. Set in 1905, the musical takes place in Anatevka, a small Jewish village in Russia. The story revolves around the dairyman, Tevye, and his attempts to preserve his family's traditions in the face of a changing world. In this production, Tevye the dairyman is brought to life by Bill Nolte. His wife Golde will be played by Emily Zacharias. The daughters are Rachel Prather (Tzeitel), Sarah Rolleston (Hodel), Dana Glaus (Chava), and local children Gianna Florio and Julia Gold, who will alternate as Bielke, and Samantha Robins and Shannon Stout who will alternate as Shprintze. Terry Palasz is the meddling Matchmaker, Yente. The girls' suitors are Andrew Boza as Motel the tailor, Eric Johnson as the butcher, Lazar Wolfe, Joe Longthorne as the student revolutionary, Perchik, and Chris Giordano as Fyedka, the Russian Cossack. The cast also features Michael J. Farina as Mordcha the Innkeeper, Drew Martin as the Rabbi, Benjamin Dean as Mendel, Stephen Tewksbury as the constable, Lucas Thompson as Nachum, and Stephen Valenti as Avram. The production is directed and choreographed by Richard Stafford. Jesse Factor is the associate choreographer. The musical director is Leo P. Carusone, set design is by John Farrell, technical director is Steve Loftus, lighting design by Andrew Gmoser, sound design by Jonathan Hatton, costume design by Michael Bottari and Ronald Case, production stage manager is Victor Lukas and the assistant stage Mmnager is Ron Rogell. Properties are by Grumpy's Props. As with all our productions, Lisa Tiso is the associate producer. http://www.nymetroparents.com/2014neweventinfo.cfm?id=119832 Westchester Broadway Theatre true DD/MM/YYYY If you go: Please tell them you saw this event on Upcoming Events at Westchester Broadway Theatre:

Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole. Although musical theatre overlaps with other theatrical forms like opera and dance, it may be distinguished by the equal importance given to the music as compared with the dialogue, movement and other elements. Since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals. Although music has been a part of dramatic presentations since ancient times, modern Western musical theatre emerged during the 19th century, with many structural elements established by the works of Gilbert and Sullivan in Britain and those of Harrigan and Hart in America. These were followed by the numerous Edwardian musical comedies and the musical theatre works of American creators like George M. Cohan. The Princess Theatre musicals and other smart shows like Of Thee I Sing (1931) were artistic steps forward beyond revues and other frothy entertainments of the early 20th century and led to such groundbreaking works as Show Boat (1927) and Oklahoma! (1943). Some of the most famous and iconic musicals through the decades that followed include West Side Story (1957), The Fantasticks (1960), Hair (1967), A Chorus Line (1975), Les Misérables (1985), The Phantom of the Opera (1986), Rent (1996), The Producers (2001) and Wicked (2003). Musicals are performed around the world. They may be presented in large venues, such as big-budget Broadway or West End productions in New York City or London. Alternatively, musicals may be staged in smaller fringe theatre, Off-Broadway or regional theatre productions, or on tour. Musicals are often presented by amateur and school groups in churches, schools and other performance spaces. In addition to the United States and Britain, there are vibrant musical theatre scenes in continental Europe, Asia, Australasia, Canada and Latin America. - 1 Definitions and scope - 2 History - 2.1 Antecedents of musical theatre - 2.2 Development of musical comedy - 2.3 Operetta and World War I - 2.4 The Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression - 2.5 The Golden Age (1940s to 1960s) - 2.6 1970s to present - 2.7 International musicals - 2.8 Relevance - 3 See also - 4 Notes and references - 5 Further reading - 6 External links Definitions and scope Since the 20th century, the "book musical" has been defined as a musical play where songs and dances are fully integrated into a well-made story with serious dramatic goals that is able to evoke genuine emotions other than laughter. The three main components of a book musical are its music, lyrics and book. The book or script of a musical refers to the story, character development, and dramatic structure, including the spoken dialogue and stage directions, but it can also refer to the dialogue and lyrics together, which are sometimes referred to as the libretto (Italian for “little book”). The music and lyrics together form the score of a musical but the interpretation of a musical by its creative team heavily influences the way in which a musical is presented. That team includes a director, a musical director, usually a choreographer and sometimes an orchestrator. A musical's production is also creatively characterized by technical aspects, such as set design, costumes, stage properties (props), lighting and sound, which generally change from the original production to succeeding productions. Some famous production elements, however, may be retained from the original production; for example, Bob Fosse's choreography in Chicago. There is no fixed length for a musical. While it can range from a short one-act entertainment to several acts and several hours in length (or even a multi-evening presentation), most musicals range from one and a half to three hours. Musicals are usually presented in two acts, with one short intermission and the first act frequently longer than the second. The first act generally introduces nearly all of the characters and most of the music, and often ends with the introduction of a dramatic conflict or plot complication while the second act may introduce a few new songs but usually contains reprises of important musical themes and resolves the conflict or complication. A book musical is usually built around four to six main theme tunes that are reprised later in the show, although it sometimes consists of a series of songs not directly musically related. Spoken dialogue is generally interspersed between musical numbers, although "sung dialogue" or recitative may be used, especially in so-called "sung-through" musicals such as Jesus Christ Superstar, Les Misérables, and Evita. Several shorter musicals on Broadway and in the West End have been presented in one act in recent decades. Moments of greatest dramatic intensity in a book musical are often performed in song. Proverbially, "when the emotion becomes too strong for speech you sing; when it becomes too strong for song, you dance." In a book musical, a song is ideally crafted to suit the character (or characters) and their situation within the story; although there have been times in the history of the musical (e.g. from the 1890s to the 1920s) when this integration between music and story has been tenuous. As New York Times critic Ben Brantley described the ideal of song in theatre when reviewing the 2008 revival of Gypsy: "There is no separation at all between song and character, which is what happens in those uncommon moments when musicals reach upward to achieve their ideal reasons to be." Typically, many fewer words are sung in a five-minute song than are spoken in a five-minute block of dialogue. Therefore, there is less time to develop drama in a musical than in a straight play of equivalent length, since a musical usually devotes more time to music than to dialogue. Within the compressed nature of a musical, the writers must develop the characters and the plot. The material presented in a musical may be original, or it may be adopted or born from novels (Wicked and Man of La Mancha), plays (Hello, Dolly!), classic legends (Camelot), historical events (Evita) or films (The Producers and Billy Elliot). On the other hand, many successful musical theatre works have been adapted for musical films, such as West Side Story, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Oliver! and Chicago. Comparisons with opera Musical theatre is closely related to the theatrical form of opera, but the two are usually distinguished by weighing a number of factors. Musicals generally have a greater focus on spoken dialogue (though some musicals are entirely accompanied and sung through; and on the other hand, some operas, such as Die Zauberflöte, and most operettas, have some unaccompanied dialogue); on dancing (particularly by the principal performers as well as the chorus); on the use of various genres of popular music (or at least popular singing styles); and on the avoidance of certain operatic conventions. In particular, a musical is almost always performed in the language of its audience. Musicals produced in London or New York, for instance, are invariably sung in English, even if they were originally written in another language (e.g. Les Misérables was originally written in French). While an opera singer is primarily a singer and only secondarily an actor (and rarely needs to dance), a musical theatre performer is often an actor first and then a singer and dancer. Someone who is equally accomplished at all three is referred to as a "triple threat". Composers of music for musicals often consider the vocal demands of roles with musical theatre performers in mind. Today, large theatres staging musicals generally use amplification of the actors' singing voices in a way that would generally be disapproved of in an operatic context. Some works (e.g. by George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim) have received both "musical theatre" and "operatic" productions. Similarly, some older operettas or light operas (such as The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan) have had modern productions or adaptations that treat them as musicals. For some works, production styles are almost as important as the work's musical or dramatic content in defining into which art form the piece falls. Sondheim said, "I really think that when something plays Broadway it's a musical, and when it plays in an opera house it's opera. That's it. It's the terrain, the countryside, the expectations of the audience that make it one thing or another." Although this article primarily concerns musical theatre works that are "non-operatic", the overlap remains between lighter operatic forms and more musically complex or ambitious musicals. In practice, it is often difficult to distinguish among the various kinds of musical theatre, including "musical play", "musical comedy", "operetta" and "light opera". There are various Eastern traditions of theatre that include music, such as Chinese Opera, Taiwanese opera, Noh and Musical theatre in India, including Sanskrit drama, Classical Indian dance and Yakshagana. India has, since the 20th century, produced numerous musical films, referred to as "Bollywood" musicals, and in Japan a series of musicals based on popular Anime and Manga comics has developed in recent decades. Shorter or simplified "junior" versions of many musicals are available for schools and youth groups, and very short works created or adapted for performance by children are sometimes called minimusicals. Antecedents of musical theatre Antiquity to Middle Ages The antecedents of musical theatre in Europe can be traced back to the theatre of ancient Greece, where music and dance were included in stage comedies and tragedies during the 5th century BCE. The dramatists Aeschylus and Sophocles composed their own music to accompany their plays and choreographed the dances of the chorus. The 3rd-century BCE Roman comedies of Plautus included song and dance routines performed with orchestrations. The Romans also introduced technical innovations. For example, to make dance steps more audible in large open-air theatres, Roman actors attached metal chips called sabilla to their stage footwear, creating the first tap shoes. By the Middle Ages, theatre in Europe consisted mostly of travelling minstrels and small performing troupes of performers singing and offering slapstick comedy. In the 12th and 13th centuries, religious dramas, such as The Play of Herod and The Play of Daniel taught the liturgy, set to church chants. Later "mystery plays" were created that told a biblical story in a sequence of entertaining parts. Several pageant wagons (stages on wheels) would move about the city, and a group of actors would tell their part of the story. Once finished, the group would move on with their wagon, and the next group would arrive to tell its part of the story. These plays developed into an autonomous form of musical theatre, with poetic forms sometimes alternating with the prose dialogues and liturgical chants. The poetry was provided with modified or completely new melodies. Renaissance to the 1800s The European Renaissance saw older forms evolve into commedia dell'arte, an Italian tradition where raucous clowns improvised their way through familiar stories, and later, opera buffa. In England, Elizabethan and Jacobean plays frequently included music, with performances on organs, lutes, viols and pipes for up to an hour before and during the performance. Plays, perhaps particularly the heavier histories and tragedies, were frequently broken up with a short musical play, perhaps derived from the Italian intermezzo, with music, jokes and dancing, or were followed by an afterpiece known as a jigg, often consisting of scandalous or libellous dialogue set to popular tunes (anticipating the Ballad Opera). Court masques also developed during the Tudor period that involved music, dancing, singing and acting, often with expensive costumes and a complex stage design, sometimes by a renowned architect such as Inigo Jones, presented a deferential allegory flattering to a noble or royal patron. Ben Jonson wrote many masques, often collaborating with Jones. William Shakespeare often included masque-like sections in his plays. The musical sections of masques developed into sung plays that are recognizable as English operas, the first usually being thought of as William Davenant's The Siege of Rhodes (1656), originally given in a private performance. In France, meanwhile, Molière turned several of his farcical comedies into musical entertainments with songs (music provided by Jean Baptiste Lully) and dance in the late 17th century. His Psyche was the model for an English opera by Thomas Shadwell, The Miser produced in 1672. Davenant produced The Tempest in 1667, which was the first Shakespeare plot set to music, and was then adapted by Shadwell into an opera in 1674 (composed by Matthew Locke and others). About 1683, John Blow composed Venus and Adonis, often considered the first true English-language opera. Blow was followed by Henry Purcell and a brief period of English opera. After the death of Charles II in 1685, English opera began to fall out of fashion. By the 18th century, two forms of musical theatre were popular in Britain: ballad operas, like John Gay's The Beggar's Opera (1728), that included lyrics written to the tunes of popular songs of the day (often spoofing opera), and comic operas, with original scores and mostly romantic plot lines, like Michael Balfe's The Bohemian Girl (1845). Meanwhile, on the continent, singspiel, comédie en vaudeville, opéra comique and other forms of light musical entertainment were emerging. Other musical theatre forms developed by the 19th century, such as music hall, melodrama, burlesque and vaudeville. Melodramas and burlettas, in particular, were popularized partly because most London theatres were licensed only as music halls and not allowed to present plays without music. In any event, what a piece was called did not necessarily define what it was. The Broadway extravaganza The Magic Deer (1852) advertised itself as "A Serio Comico Tragico Operatical Historical Extravaganzical Burletical Tale of Enchantment." The first recorded long-running play of any kind was The Beggar's Opera, which ran for 62 successive performances in 1728. It would take almost a century before the first play broke 100 performances, with Tom and Jerry, based on the book Life in London (1821), and the record soon reached 150 in the late 1820s. Colonial America did not have a significant theatre presence until 1752, when London entrepreneur William Hallam sent a company of twelve actors to the colonies with his brother Lewis as their manager. They established a theatre in Williamsburg, Virginia and opened with The Merchant of Venice and The Anatomist. The company moved to New York in the summer of 1753, performing ballad-operas such as The Beggar’s Opera and ballad-farces like Damon and Phillida. By the 1840s, P.T. Barnum was operating an entertainment complex in lower Manhattan. Theatre in New York moved from downtown gradually to midtown from around 1850, seeking less expensive real estate prices, and did not arrive in the Times Square area until the 1920s and 1930s. Broadway's first "long-run" musical was a 50 performance hit called The Elves in 1857. New York runs continued to lag far behind those in London, but Laura Keene's "musical burletta" Seven Sisters (1860) shattered previous New York records with a run of 253 performances. Development of musical comedy 1850s to 1880s Around 1850, the French composer Hervé was experimenting with a form of comic musical theatre that came to be called opérette. The best known composers of operetta were Jacques Offenbach from the 1850s to the 1870s and Johann Strauss II in the 1870s and 1880s. Offenbach's fertile melodies, combined with his librettists' witty satire, formed a model for the musical theatre that followed. In 1957, Mark Lubbock traced the development of musical theatre from Offenbach to Gilbert and Sullivan and eventually to Irving Berlin and Rodgers and Hammerstein, writing: "Offenbach is undoubtedly the most significant figure in the history of the 'musical'. In the mid-19th century in England, musical theatre consisted of mostly of music hall, adaptations of the French operettas (played in bad, risqué translations) and musical burlesques (the culmination of which were seen at the Gaiety Theatre beginning in 1868). In reaction to these, a few family-friendly entertainments were created, such as the German Reed Entertainments. In America, the first original theatre piece in English that conforms to the modern conception of a musical, adding dance and original music that helped to tell the story, is generally considered The Black Crook, which premiered in New York on September 12, 1866. The production was a staggering five-and-a-half hours long, but despite its length, it ran for a record-breaking 474 performances. The same year, The Black Domino/Between You, Me and the Post was the first show to call itself a "musical comedy." Comedians Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart produced and starred in musicals on Broadway between 1878 (The Mulligan Guard Picnic) and 1885, with book and lyrics by Harrigan and music by his father-in-law David Braham. These musical comedies featured characters and situations taken from the everyday life of New York's lower classes and represented a significant step from burletta, minstrel shows, music hall and burlesque, towards a more legitimate theatrical form. They starred high quality singers (Lillian Russell, Vivienne Segal, and Fay Templeton) instead of the ladies of questionable repute who had starred in earlier musical forms. The length of runs in the theatre changed rapidly around the same time that the modern musical emerged. As transportation improved, poverty in London and New York diminished, and street lighting made for safer travel at night, the number of potential patrons for the growing number of theatres increased enormously. Plays could run longer and still draw in the audiences, leading to better profits and improved production values. The first play to achieve 500 consecutive performances was the London (non-musical) comedy Our Boys, opening in 1875, which set an astonishing new record of 1,362 performances. This run was not equaled on the musical stage until World War I, but musical theatre soon broke the 500 performance mark in London, most notably by the series of more than a dozen long-running Gilbert and Sullivan family-friendly comic opera hits, including H.M.S. Pinafore in 1878 and The Mikado in 1885. These were sensations on both sides of the Atlantic and, along with the other changes in the theatre, raised the standard for what was considered a successful run. Only a few 19th century musical pieces exceeded the run of the Mikado: The Chimes of Normandy (Les Cloches de Corneville) ran for 705 performances in 1878 in London, and Alfred Cellier and B. C. Stephenson's 1886 hit, Dorothy (a show midway between comic opera and musical comedy), set a new record with 931 performances. Gilbert and Sullivan's influence on later musical theatre was profound, creating examples of how to "integrate" musicals so that the lyrics and dialogue were designed to advance a coherent story. Their works were admired and copied by early authors and composers of musicals such as Ivan Caryll, Lionel Monckton, P. G. Wodehouse, and Victor Herbert, and later Jerome Kern, Ira Gershwin, Lorenz Hart, Alan Jay Lerner, Yip Harburg, Irving Berlin, Ivor Novello, Oscar Hammerstein II and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Other British composers of the 1870s and 1880s included Edward Solomon and F. Osmond Carr. The most popular British shows, beginning with the Savoy operas, also enjoyed profitable New York productions and tours of Britain, America, Europe, Australasia and South Africa. These shows were fare for "respectable" audiences, a marked contrast from the risqué burlesques, melodramas, minstrel shows, bawdy music hall shows and French operettas that dominated the stage prior to Gilbert and Sullivan and drew a sometimes seedy crowd looking for less wholesome entertainment. 1890s to the new century Charles Hoyt's A Trip to Chinatown (1891) was Broadway's long-run champion (until Irene in 1919), running for 657 performances. Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operas were both pirated and imitated in New York by productions such as Reginald de Koven's Robin Hood (1891) and John Philip Sousa's El Capitan (1896). A Trip to Coontown (1898) was the first musical comedy entirely produced and performed by African Americans in a Broadway theatre (largely inspired by the routines of the minstrel shows), followed by the ragtime-tinged Clorindy, or the Origin of the Cakewalk (1898), and the highly successful In Dahomey (1902). Hundreds of musical comedies were staged on Broadway in the 1890s and early 20th century composed of songs written in New York's Tin Pan Alley by composers such as Gus Edwards, John Walter Bratton and George M. Cohan (Little Johnny Jones (1904)). Still, New York runs continued to be relatively short, with a few exceptions, compared with London runs, until the 1920s. Tours, however, were often extensive, beginning with the original Broadway cast. Meanwhile, musicals had spread to the London stage by the Gay Nineties. George Edwardes had left the management of Richard D'Oyly Carte's Savoy Theatre. He took over the Gaiety Theatre and, at first, he improved the quality of the old burlesques. He perceived that audiences wanted a new alternative to the Savoy-style comic operas and their intellectual, political, absurdist satire. He experimented with a modern-dress, family-friendly musical theatre style, with breezy, popular songs, snappy, romantic banter, and stylish spectacle at the Gaiety, Daly's Theatre and other venues. These drew on the traditions of comic opera and also used elements of burlesque and of the Harrigan and Hart pieces. He replaced the bawdy women of burlesque with his "respectable" corps of dancing, singing Gaiety Girls to complete the musical and visual fun. The success of the first of these, In Town in 1892 and A Gaiety Girl in 1893, confirmed Edwardes on the path he was taking. These "musical comedies", as he called them, revolutionized the London stage and set the tone for the next three decades. Edwardes' early Gaiety hits included a series of light, romantic "poor maiden loves aristocrat and wins him against all odds" shows, usually with the word "Girl" in the title, including The Shop Girl (1894) and A Runaway Girl (1898), with music by Ivan Caryll and Lionel Monckton. These shows were immediately widely copied at other London theatres (and soon in America), and the Edwardian musical comedy swept away the earlier musical forms of comic opera and operetta. At Daly's Theatre, Edwardes presented slightly more complex comedy hits. The Geisha (1896) by Sidney Jones with lyrics by Harry Greenbank and Adrian Ross and then Jones' San Toy (1899) each ran for more than two years and also found great international success, for example in Australian productions by J. C. Williamson. The British musical comedy Florodora (1899) by Leslie Stuart and Paul Rubens made a splash on both sides of the Atlantic, as did A Chinese Honeymoon (1901), by British lyricist George Dance and American-born composer Howard Talbot, which ran for a record setting 1,074 performances in London and 376 in New York. The story concerns couples who honeymoon in China and inadvertently break the kissing laws (shades of The Mikado). The Belle of New York (1898) ran for 697 performances in London after a brief New York run, becoming the first American musical to run for over a year in London. After the turn of the 20th century, Seymour Hicks (who joined forces with American producer Charles Frohman) wrote popular shows with composer Charles Taylor and others, and Edwardes and Ross continued to churn out hits like The Toreador (1901), A Country Girl (1902), The Orchid (1903), The Girls of Gottenberg (1907) and Our Miss Gibbs (1909). Other Edwardian musical comedy hits included The Arcadians (1909) and The Quaker Girl (1910). Operetta and World War I Virtually eliminated from the English-speaking stage by competition from the ubiquitous Edwardian musical comedies in the 1890s, operettas returned to London and Broadway in 1907 with The Merry Widow, and operettas and musicals became direct competitors for a time. In the early years of the 20th century, English-language adaptations of 19th century continental operettas, as well as operettas by a new generation of European composers, such as Franz Lehár and Oscar Straus, among others, spread throughout the English-speaking world. In America, Victor Herbert produced a string of famous operettas (The Fortune Teller (1898), Babes in Toyland (1903), Mlle. Modiste (1905), The Red Mill (1906) and Naughty Marietta (1910)), often with librettist Harry B. Smith, as well as some intimate musical plays with modern settings. In English-speaking countries, during World War I, German-language operetta lost its popularity. Among other British and American composers and librettists of the 1910s, the team of P. G. Wodehouse, Guy Bolton and Jerome Kern stood out. Following in the footsteps of Gilbert and Sullivan, their "Princess Theatre shows" paved the way for Kern's later work by showing that a musical could combine light, popular entertainment with continuity between its story and songs: "These shows built and polished the mold from which almost all later major musical comedies evolved. ... The characters and situations were, within the limitations of musical comedy license, believable and the humor came from the situations or the nature of the characters. Kern's exquisitely flowing melodies were employed to further the action or develop characterization. The integration of song and story is periodically announced as a breakthrough in ... musical theater. Great opera has always done this, and it is easy to demonstrate such integration in Gilbert and Sullivan or the French opera bouffe. However, early musical comedy was often guilty of inserting songs in a hit-or-miss fashion. The Princess Theatre musicals brought about a change in approach. P. G. Wodehouse, the most observant, literate, and witty lyricist of his day, and the team of Bolton, Wodehouse, and Kern had an influence felt to this day. The theatre-going public needed escapist entertainment during the dark times of World War I, and they flocked to the theatre. Harry Tierney and Joseph McCarthy's 1919 hit musical Irene ran for 670 performances, a Broadway record that held until 1938's Hellzapoppin. The British public supported far longer runs like that of Maid of the Mountains (1,352 performances) and especially Chu Chin Chow. Its run of 2,238 performances was more than twice as many as any previous musical, setting a record that stood for nearly forty years until Salad Days. Revues like The Bing Boys Are Here in Britain, and those of Florenz Ziegfeld and his imitators in America, were also extraordinarily popular. A new generation of composers of operettas emerged in the 1920s, such as Rudolf Friml and Sigmund Romberg. The primacy of British musical theatre from the 19th century through 1920 was gradually replaced by American innovation in the 20th century. Edwardes' competitor and counterpart in the U.S. was Charles Frohman and his Theatrical Syndicate. George M. Cohan's and Herbert's musical entertainments after the turn of the century gave way to the Princess Theatre shows and a profusion of other musicals as Kern and other Tin Pan Alley composers began to bring new musical styles such as ragtime and jazz to the theatres. The Shubert Brothers took control of the Broadway theatres after the war as new writers like the Gershwin brothers (George and Ira), Irving Berlin and Rodgers and Hart began to produce shows. Musical theatre writer Andrew Lamb notes, "The triumph of American works over European in the first decades of the twentieth century came about against a changing social background. The operatic and theatrical styles of nineteenth-century social structures were replaced by a musical style more aptly suited to twentieth-century society and its vernacular idiom. It was from America that the more direct style emerged, and in America that it was able to flourish in a developing society less hidebound by nineteenth-century tradition." The Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression The musicals of the Roaring Twenties, borrowing from vaudeville, music hall and other light entertainments, tended to emphasize star actors and actresses, big dance routines, and popular songs, at the expense of plot. Typical of the decade were lighthearted productions like Sally; Lady Be Good; Sunny; No, No, Nanette; Oh, Kay! and Funny Face. While the books of these shows may have been forgettable, they featured stars such as Marilyn Miller and Fred Astaire and produced dozens of enduring popular songs ("standards") by, most notably, Jerome Kern, the Gershwin brothers, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Vincent Youmans, and the team of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, popular music was dominated by musical theatre composers and lyricists. These musicals and the standards they produced, including "Fascinating Rhythm", "Tea for Two" and "Someone to Watch Over Me", became popular on both sides of the Atlantic ocean. Many shows were revues, series of sketches and songs with little or no connection between them. The best-known of these were the annual Ziegfeld Follies, spectacular song-and-dance revues on Broadway featuring extravagant sets, elaborate costumes, and beautiful chorus girls. These spectacles also raised production values, and mounting a musical generally became more expensive. Shuffle Along, an all-African American show was a hit on Broadway. In London, stars such as Ivor Novello and Noël Coward became popular. Meanwhile, operettas, which had been nearly absent from the English-speaking stage since World War I, had a last burst of popularity; works by continental European composers were successful, as were those by Sigmund Romberg and Rudolf Friml in America, which included Rose-Marie and The Student Prince respectively. The last hit operetta of the era on Broadway was Romberg's The New Moon in 1928. Progressing far beyond the comparatively frivolous musicals and sentimental operettas of the decade, Show Boat, which premiered on December 27, 1927 at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York, represented an even more complete integration of book and score than the Princess Theatre musicals, with dramatic themes told through the music, dialogue, setting and movement. This was accomplished by combining the lyricism of Kern's music with the skillful craft of Oscar Hammerstein II, who adapted Edna Ferber's novel and wrote lyrics for the show. One historian wrote, "Here we come to a completely new genre – the musical play as distinguished from musical comedy. Now ... the play was the thing, and everything else was subservient to that play. Now ... came complete integration of song, humor and production numbers into a single and inextricable artistic entity." However, Bordman argues, "Show Boat is certainly an operetta with its many arioso passages, its musical depth and seriousness, and its romantic story set, in typical operetta fashion, in the long ago and far away." Nevertheless, as the Great Depression set in during the post-Broadway national tour of Show Boat, the public turned back to light, brassy, escapist entertainment, and no follow-up was produced so seriously treating serious social themes until Oklahoma! in 1943. The motion picture mounted a challenge to the stage. At first, films were silent and presented only limited competition to theatre. But by the end of the 1920s, films like The Jazz Singer could be presented with synchronized sound. "Talkie" films at low prices effectively killed off vaudeville by the early 1930s. Historian John Kenrick commented: "Top vaudeville stars filmed their acts for one-time pay-offs, inadvertently helping to speed the death of vaudeville. After all, when 'small time' theatres could offer 'big time' performers on screen at a nickel a seat, who could ask audiences to pay higher amounts for less impressive live talent?" The Great Depression affected theatre audiences on both sides of the Atlantic, as people had little money to spend on entertainment. Only a few stage shows exceeded a run on Broadway or in London of 500 performances during the decade. Many shows continued the lighthearted song-and-dance style of their 1920s predecessors. The revue The Band Wagon (1931) starred dancing partners Fred Astaire and his sister Adele, while Cole Porter's Anything Goes (1934) confirmed Ethel Merman's position as the First Lady of musical theatre, a title she maintained for many years. British writers such as Noël Coward and Ivor Novello continued to deliver old fashioned, sentimental musicals, such as The Dancing Years. Similarly, Rodgers & Hart returned from Hollywood to churn out a series of Broadway hits, including On Your Toes (1936, with Ray Bolger, the first Broadway musical to make dramatic use of classical dance), Babes In Arms (1937), and The Boys From Syracuse (1938), and Cole Porter wrote a similar string of hits, including Anything Goes (1934) and DuBarry Was a Lady (1939). The longest-running piece of musical theatre of the 1930s was Hellzapoppin (1938), a revue with audience participation, which played for 1,404 performances, setting a new Broadway record that was finally beaten by Oklahoma! five years later. However, a few creative teams began to build on Show Boat's innovations, experimenting with musical satire, topical books and operatic scope. Of Thee I Sing (1931), a political satire with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Morrie Ryskind, was the first musical awarded the Pulitzer Prize. As Thousands Cheer (1933), a revue by Irving Berlin and Moss Hart in which each song or sketch was based on a newspaper headline, marked the first Broadway show in which an African-American, Ethel Waters, starred alongside white actors. Waters' numbers included "Supper Time", a woman's lament for her husband who has been lynched. Porgy and Bess (1935), by the Gershwin brothers and DuBose Heyward, featured an all African-American cast and blended operatic, folk, and jazz idioms. It has entered the permanent opera repertory and, in some respects, it foreshadowed such "operatic" musicals as West Side Story and Sweeney Todd. The Cradle Will Rock (1937), with a book and score by Marc Blitzstein and direction by Orson Welles, was a highly political pro-union piece that, despite the controversy surrounding it, managed to run for 108 performances. Richard Rodgers and Larry Hart's I'd Rather Be Right (1937) was a political satire with George M. Cohan as President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Kurt Weill's Knickerbocker Holiday, based on source writings by Washington Irving, depicted New York City's early history while good-naturedly satirizing the good intentions of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Despite the economic woes of the decade and the competition from film, the musical survived. In fact, the move towards political satire in Of Thee I Sing, I'd Rather Be Right and Knickerbocker Holiday, together with the musical sophistication of the Gershwin, Kern, Rodgers and Weill musicals and the fast-paced staging and naturalistic dialogue style created by director George Abbott, showed that musical theatre was beginning to evolve beyond the gags and showgirls musicals of the Gay Nineties and Roaring Twenties and the sentimental romance of operetta. The Golden Age (1940s to 1960s) The 1940s would begin with more hits from Porter, Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hart, Weill and Gershwin, some with runs over 500 performances as the economy rebounded, but artistic change was in the air. Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! completed the revolution begun by Show Boat, by tightly integrating all the aspects of musical theatre, with a cohesive plot, songs that furthered the action of the story, and featured dream ballets and other dances that advanced the plot and developed the characters, rather than using dance as an excuse to parade scantily clad women across the stage. Rodgers and Hammerstein hired ballet choreographer Agnes de Mille, who used everyday motions to help the characters express their ideas. It defied musical conventions by raising its first act curtain not on a bevy of chorus girls, but rather on a woman churning butter, with an off-stage voice singing the opening lines of Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin' unaccompanied. It drew rave reviews, set off a box-office frenzy and received a Pulitzer Prize. Brooks Atkinson wrote in The New York Times that the show's opening number changed the history of musical theater: “After a verse like that, sung to a buoyant melody, the banalities of the old musical stage became intolerable." It was the first "blockbuster" Broadway show, running a total of 2,212 performances, and was made into a hit film. It remains one of the most frequently produced of the team's projects. William A. Everett and Paul R. Laird wrote that this was a "show, that, like Show Boat, became a milestone, so that later historians writing about important moments in twentieth-century theatre would begin to identify eras according to their relationship to Oklahoma!" "After Oklahoma!, Rodgers and Hammerstein were the most important contributors to the musical-play form... The examples they set in creating vital plays, often rich with social thought, provided the necessary encouragement for other gifted writers to create musical plays of their own". The two collaborators created an extraordinary collection of some of musical theatre's best loved and most enduring classics, including Carousel (1945), South Pacific (1949), The King and I (1951), and The Sound of Music (1959). Some of these musicals treat more serious subject matter than most earlier shows: the villain in Oklahoma! is a suspected murderer and psychopath with a fondness for lewd post cards; Carousel deals with spousal abuse, thievery, suicide and the afterlife; South Pacific explores miscegenation even more thoroughly than Show Boat; and the hero of The King and I dies onstage. The show's creativity stimulated Rodgers and Hammerstein's contemporaries and ushered in the "Golden Age" of American musical theatre. Americana was displayed on Broadway during the "Golden Age", as the wartime cycle of shows began to arrive. An example of this is On the Town (1944), written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, composed by Leonard Bernstein and choreographed by Jerome Robbins. The story is set during wartime and concerns three sailors who are on a 24-hour shore leave in New York City, during which each falls in love. The show also gives the impression of a country with an uncertain future, as the sailors and their women also have. Irving Berlin used sharpshooter Annie Oakley's career as a basis for his Annie Get Your Gun (1946, 1,147 performances); Burton Lane, E. Y. Harburg, and Fred Saidy combined political satire with Irish whimsy for their fantasy Finian's Rainbow (1947, 725 performances); and Cole Porter found inspiration in William Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew for Kiss Me, Kate (1948, 1,077 performances). The American musicals overwhelmed the old-fashioned British Coward/Novello-style shows, one of the last big successes of which was Novello's Perchance to Dream (1945, 1,021 performances). The formula for the Golden Age musicals reflected one or more of four widely held perceptions of the "American dream": That stability and worth derives from a love relationship sanctioned and restricted by Protestant ideals of marriage; that a married couple should make a moral home with children away from the city in a suburb or small town; that the woman's function was as homemaker and mother; and that Americans incorporate an independent and pioneering spirit or that their success is self-made. Damon Runyon's eclectic characters were at the core of Frank Loesser's and Abe Burrows' Guys and Dolls, (1950, 1,200 performances); and the Gold Rush was the setting for Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's Paint Your Wagon (1951). The relatively brief seven-month run of that show didn't discourage Lerner and Loewe from collaborating again, this time on My Fair Lady (1956), an adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion starring Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews, which at 2,717 performances held the long-run record for many years. Popular Hollywood films were made of all of these musicals. The Boy Friend (1954) ran for 2,078 performances in London, briefly becoming the third longest-running musical in West End or Broadway history (after Chu Chin Chow and Oklahoma!), until it was demoted by Salad Days. It marked Julie Andrews' American debut. Another record was set by The Threepenny Opera, which ran for 2,707 performances, becoming the longest-running off-Broadway musical until The Fantasticks. The production also broke ground by showing that musicals could be profitable off-Broadway in a small-scale, small orchestra format. This was confirmed in 1959 when a revival of Jerome Kern and P. G. Wodehouse's Leave It to Jane ran for more than two years. The 1959–1960 Off-Broadway season included a dozen musicals and revues including Little Mary Sunshine, The Fantasticks and Ernest in Love, a musical adaptation of Oscar Wilde's 1895 hit The Importance of Being Earnest. West Side Story (1957) transported Romeo and Juliet to modern day New York City and converted the feuding Montague and Capulet families into opposing ethnic gangs, the Jets and the Sharks. The book was adapted by Arthur Laurents, with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by newcomer Stephen Sondheim. It was embraced by the critics, but failed to be a popular choice for the "blue-haired matinee ladies," who preferred the small town River City, Iowa of Meredith Willson's The Music Man to the alleys of Manhattan's Upper West Side. Apparently Tony Award voters were of a similar mind, since they favored the former over the latter. West Side Story had a respectable run of 732 performances (1,040 in the West End), while The Music Man ran nearly twice as long, with 1,375 performances. However, the film of West Side Story was extremely successful. Laurents and Sondheim teamed up again for Gypsy (1959, 702 performances), with Jule Styne providing the music for a backstage story about the most driven stage mother of all-time, stripper Gypsy Rose Lee's mother Rose. The original production ran for 702 performances, and was given four subsequent revivals, with Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters and Patti LuPone later tackling the role made famous by Ethel Merman. Although directors and choreographers have had a major influence on musical theatre style since at least the 19th century, George Abbott and his collaborators and successors took a central role in integrating movement and dance fully into musical theatre productions in the Golden Age. Abbott introduced ballet as a story-telling device in On Your Toes in 1936, which was followed by Agnes DeMille's ballet and choreography in Oklahoma!. After Abbott collaborated with Jerome Robbins in On the Town and other shows, Robbins combined the roles of director and choreographer, emphasizing the story-telling power of dance in West Side Story, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962) and Fiddler on the Roof (1964). Bob Fosse choreographed for Abbott in The Pajama Game (1956) and Damn Yankees (1957), injecting playful sexuality into those hits. He was later the director-choreographer for Sweet Charity (1968), Pippin (1972) and Chicago (1975). Other notable director-choreographers have included Gower Champion, Tommy Tune, Michael Bennett, Gillian Lynne and Susan Stroman. Prominent directors have included Hal Prince, who also got his start with Abbott, and Trevor Nunn. During the Golden Age, automotive companies and other large corporations began to hire Broadway talent to write corporate musicals, private shows only seen by their employees or customers. The 1950s ended with Rodgers and Hammerstein's last hit, The Sound of Music, which also became another hit for Mary Martin. It ran for 1,443 performances and shared the Tony Award for Best Musical. Together with its extremely successful 1965 film version, it has become one of the most popular musicals in history. In 1960, The Fantasticks was first produced off-Broadway. This intimate allegorical show would quietly run for over 40 years at the Sullivan Street Theatre in Greenwich Village, becoming by far the longest-running musical in history. Its authors produced other innovative works in the 1960s, such as Celebration and I Do! I Do!, the first two-character Broadway musical. The 1960s would see a number of blockbusters, like Fiddler on the Roof (1964; 3,242 performances), Hello, Dolly! (1964; 2,844 performances), Funny Girl (1964; 1,348 performances), and Man of La Mancha (1965; 2,328 performances), and some more risqué pieces like Cabaret, before ending with the emergence of the rock musical. Two men had considerable impact on musical theatre history beginning in this decade: Stephen Sondheim and Jerry Herman. The first project for which Sondheim wrote both music and lyrics was A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962, 964 performances), with a book based on the works of Plautus by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart, and starring Zero Mostel. Sondheim moved the musical beyond its concentration on the romantic plots typical of earlier eras; his work tended to be darker, exploring the grittier sides of life both present and past. Other early Sondheim works include Anyone Can Whistle (1964, which ran only nine performances, despite having stars Lee Remick and Angela Lansbury), and the successful Company (1970), Follies (1971) and A Little Night Music (1973). Later, Sondheim found inspiration in unlikely sources: the opening of Japan to Western trade for Pacific Overtures (1976), a legendary murderous barber seeking revenge in the Industrial Age of London for Sweeney Todd (1979), the paintings of Georges Seurat for Sunday in the Park with George (1984), fairy tales for Into the Woods (1987), and a collection of presidential assassins in Assassins (1990). While some critics have argued that some of Sondheim’s musicals lack commercial appeal, others have praised their lyrical sophistication and musical complexity, as well as the interplay of lyrics and music in his shows. Some of Sondheim's notable innovations include a show presented in reverse (Merrily We Roll Along) and the above-mentioned Anyone Can Whistle, in which the first act ends with the cast informing the audience that they are mad. Jerry Herman played a significant role in American musical theatre, beginning with his first Broadway production, Milk and Honey (1961, 563 performances), about the founding of the state of Israel, and continuing with the blockbuster hits Hello, Dolly! (1964, 2,844 performances), Mame (1966, 1,508 performances), and La Cage aux Folles (1983, 1,761 performances). Even his less successful shows like Dear World (1969) and Mack & Mabel (1974) have had memorable scores (Mack & Mabel was later reworked into a London hit). Writing both words and music, many of Herman's show tunes have become popular standards, including "Hello, Dolly!", "We Need a Little Christmas", "I Am What I Am", "Mame", "The Best of Times", "Before the Parade Passes By", "Put On Your Sunday Clothes", "It Only Takes a Moment", "Bosom Buddies", and "I Won't Send Roses", recorded by such artists as Louis Armstrong, Eydie Gorme, Barbra Streisand, Petula Clark and Bernadette Peters. Herman's songbook has been the subject of two popular musical revues, Jerry's Girls (Broadway, 1985), and Showtune (off-Broadway, 2003). A chorus from the Original Broadway Cast |Problems playing this file? See media help.| The musical started to diverge from the relatively narrow confines of the 1950s. Rock music would be used in several Broadway musicals, beginning with Hair, which featured not only rock music but also nudity and controversial opinions about the Vietnam War, race relations and other social issues. After Show Boat and Porgy and Bess, and as the struggle in America and elsewhere for minorities' civil rights progressed, Hammerstein, Harold Arlen, Yip Harburg and others were emboldened to write more musicals and operas that aimed to normalize societal toleration of minorities and urged racial harmony. Early Golden Age works that focused on racial tolerance included Finian's Rainbow, South Pacific, and The King and I. Towards the end of the Golden Age, several shows tackled Jewish subjects and issues, such as Fiddler on the Roof, Milk and Honey, Blitz! and later Rags. The original concept that became West Side Story was set in the Lower East Side during Easter-Passover celebrations; the rival gangs were to be Jewish and Italian Catholic. The creative team later decided that the Polish (white) vs. Puerto Rican conflict was fresher. Tolerance as an important theme in musicals has continued in recent decades. The final expression of West Side Story left a message of racial tolerance. By the end of the 1960s, musicals became racially integrated, with black and white cast members even covering each other's roles, as they did in Hair. Homosexuality has been explored in musicals, beginning with Hair, and even more overtly in La Cage aux Folles, Falsettos and others. The 1998 musical Parade is a sensitive exploration of both anti-Semitism and historical American racism. 1970s to present After the success of Hair, rock musicals flourished in the 1970s, with as Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, The Rocky Horror Show, Evita, and Two Gentlemen of Verona. Some of these rock musicals began with "concept albums" and then moved to film or stage, such as Tommy. Others had no dialogue or were otherwise reminiscent of opera, with dramatic, emotional themes; these sometimes started as concept albums and were referred to as rock operas. The musical also went in other directions. Shows like Raisin, Dreamgirls, Purlie, and The Wiz brought a significant African-American influence to Broadway. More varied musical genres and styles were incorporated into musicals both on and especially off-Broadway. At the same time, Stephen Sondheim found success with a series of musicals mentioned above. 1975 brought to the stage a dance musical called "tremendous" by the New York Times reviewer, Clive Barnes. A Chorus Line emerged from recorded group therapy-style sessions Michael Bennett conducted with "gypsies" – those who sing and dance in support of the leading players – from the Broadway community. From hundreds of hours of tapes, James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nick Dante fashioned a book about an audition for a musical, incorporating many real-life stories from the sessions; some who attended the sessions eventually played variations of themselves or each other in the show. With music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Edward Kleban, A Chorus Line first opened at Joseph Papp's Public Theater in lower Manhattan. What initially had been planned as a limited engagement eventually moved to the Shubert Theatre on Broadway for a run of 6,137 performances, becoming the longest-running production in Broadway history up to that time. The show swept the Tony Awards and won the Pulitzer Prize, and its hit song, What I Did for Love, became an instant standard. Broadway audiences welcomed musicals that varied from the usual style and substance. John Kander and Fred Ebb explored the rise of Nazism in Germany in Cabaret and Prohibition-era Chicago, which relied on old vaudeville techniques to tell its tale of murder and the media. Pippin, by Stephen Schwartz, was set in the days of Charlemagne. Federico Fellini's autobiographical film 8½ became Maury Yeston's Nine. At the end of the decade, Evita and Sweeney Todd were precursors to the darker, big budget musicals of the 1980s that depended on dramatic stories, sweeping scores and spectacular effects. But during this same period, old-fashioned values were still embraced in such hits as Annie, 42nd Street, My One and Only, and popular revivals of No, No, Nanette and Irene. Although many film versions of musicals were made in the 1970s, few were critical or box office successes, with the notable exceptions of Fiddler on the Roof (film), Cabaret (1972 film) and Grease (film). The 1980s saw the influence of European "mega-musicals", or "pop operas", on Broadway, in the West End and elsewhere. These typically featured a pop-influenced score, had large casts and sets and were identified by their notable effects – a falling chandelier (in The Phantom of the Opera), a helicopter landing on stage (in Miss Saigon) – and big budgets. Many were based on novels or other works of literature. The most important writers of mega-musicals include the French team of Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, responsible for Les Misérables, which became the longest-running international musical hit in history. The team, in collaboration with Richard Maltby, Jr., continued to produce hits, including Miss Saigon, inspired by the Puccini opera Madame Butterfly. The British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber saw similar success with Evita, based on the life of Argentina's Eva Perón; Cats, derived from the poems of T. S. Eliot (both of which musicals originally starred Elaine Paige); Starlight Express, performed on roller skates; The Phantom of the Opera, derived from the Gaston Leroux novel, "Le Fantôme de l'Opéra"; and Sunset Boulevard (from the classic film of the same name). These works ran (or are still running) for decades in both New York and London and had extraordinary international and touring success. The mega-musicals' huge budgets redefined expectations for financial success on Broadway and in the West End. In earlier years, it was possible for a show to be considered a hit after a run of several hundred performances, but with multimillion-dollar production costs, a show must run for years simply to turn a profit. In the 1990s, a new generation of theatrical composers emerged, including Jason Robert Brown and Michael John LaChiusa, and who began with productions Off-Broadway. The most conspicuous success of these artists was Jonathan Larson's show Rent (1996), a rock musical (based on the opera La bohème) about a struggling community of artists in Manhattan. While the cost of tickets to Broadway and West End musicals was escalating beyond the budget of many theatregoers, Rent was marketed to increase the popularity of musicals among a younger audience. It featured a young cast and a heavily rock-influenced score; the musical became a hit. Its young fans, many of them students, calling themselves RENTheads, camped out at the Nederlander Theatre in hopes of winning the lottery for $20 front row tickets, and some saw the show dozens of times. Other shows on Broadway followed Rent's lead by offering heavily discounted day-of-performance or standing-room tickets, although often the discounts are offered only to students. The 1990s also saw the influence of large corporations on the production of musicals. The most important has been The Walt Disney Company, which began adapting some of its animated film musicals for the stage, starting with Beauty and the Beast (1994), The Lion King (1997) and Aida (2000), the latter two with music by Elton John. The Lion King is the highest-grossing musical in Broadway history. The Who's Tommy (1993), a theatrical adaptation of the rock opera Tommy, achieved a healthy run of 899 performances but was criticized for sanitizing the story and "musical theatre-izing" the rock music. Despite the growing number of large-scale musicals in the 1980s and 1990s, a number of lower-budget, smaller-scale musicals managed to find critical and financial success, such as Falsettoland and Little Shop of Horrors, Bat Boy: The Musical and Blood Brothers. The topics of these pieces vary widely, and the music ranges from rock to pop, but they often are produced off-Broadway, or for smaller London theatres, and some of these stagings have been regarded as imaginative and innovative. In the new century, familiarity has been embraced by producers and investors anxious to guarantee that they recoup their considerable investments, if not show a healthy profit. Some took (usually modest-budget) chances on the new and unusual, such as Urinetown (2001), Avenue Q (2003), Caroline or Change (2004), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (2005), The Light in the Piazza (2005), Spring Awakening (2006), In the Heights (2007), Next to Normal (2009) and American Idiot (2010). But most took a safe route with revivals of familiar fare, such as Fiddler on the Roof, A Chorus Line, South Pacific, Gypsy, Hair, West Side Story and Grease, or with other proven material, such as films (The Producers, Spamalot, Hairspray, Legally Blonde, The Color Purple, Xanadu, Billy Elliot and Shrek) or well-known literature (The Scarlet Pimpernel and Wicked) hoping that the shows would have a built-in audience as a result. Some critics consider the reuse of film plots, especially those from Disney (such as Mary Poppins, and The Little Mermaid) a redefinition of the Broadway and West End musical as a tourist attraction, rather than a creative outlet. Today it is less likely that a sole producer, such as David Merrick or Cameron Mackintosh, backs a production. Corporate sponsors dominate Broadway, and often alliances are formed to stage musicals, which require an investment of $10 million or more. In 2002, the credits for Thoroughly Modern Millie listed ten producers, and among those names were entities composed of several individuals. Typically, off-Broadway and regional theatres tend to produce smaller and therefore less expensive musicals, and development of new musicals has increasingly taken place outside of New York and London or in smaller venues. For example, Spring Awakening and Grey Gardens were developed Off-Broadway before being launched on Broadway. Several musicals returned to the spectacle format that was so successful in the 1980s, recalling extravaganzas that have been presented at times, throughout theatre history, since the ancient Romans staged mock sea battles. Examples include the musical adaptations of The Lord of the Rings (2007), Gone With the Wind (2008) and Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark (2011). These musicals involved songwriters with little theatrical experience, and the expensive productions generally lost money. Conversely, Avenue Q, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Xanadu, among others, have been presented in smaller-scale productions, mostly uninterrupted by an intermission, with short running times, and enjoyed financial success. In 2013, Time magazine reported a trend Off-Broadway has been "immersive" theatre, citing shows such as Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (2012) and Here Lies Love (2013) in which the staging takes place around and within the audience. The shows set a joint record, each receiving 11 nominations for Lucille Lortel Awards. and feature contemporary scores. - Jukebox musicals Another trend has been to create a minimal plot to fit a collection of songs that have already been hits. Following the earlier success of Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story, these have included Movin' Out (2002, based on the tunes of Billy Joel), Jersey Boys (2006, The Four Seasons), Rock of Ages (2009, featuring classic rock of the 1980s) and many others. This style is often referred to as the "jukebox musical". Similar but more plot-driven musicals have been built around the canon of a particular pop group including Mamma Mia! (1999, based on the songs of ABBA), Our House (2002, based on the songs of Madness), and We Will Rock You (2002, based on the songs of Queen). - Film and TV musicals Live-action film musicals were nearly dead in the 1980s and early 1990s, with exceptions of Victor/Victoria, Little Shop of Horrors and the 1996 film of Evita. In the new century, Baz Luhrmann began a revival of the film musical with Moulin Rouge! (2001). This was followed by Chicago in 2002; Phantom of the Opera in 2004; Dreamgirls in 2006; Hairspray, Across the Universe, Enchanted and Sweeney Todd all in 2007; Mamma Mia! in 2008; Nine in 2009; Burlesque in 2010; Les Misérables and Pitch Perfect in 2012, and Into The Woods in 2014. Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2000) and The Cat in the Hat (2003), turned children's books into live-action film musicals. After the immense success of Disney and other houses with animated film musicals beginning with The Little Mermaid in 1989 and running throughout the 1990s (including some more adult-themed films, like South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)), fewer animated film musicals were released in the first decade of the 21st century. The genre made a comeback beginning in 2010 with Tangled (2010), Rio (2011) and Frozen (2013). In Asia, India continues to produce numerous "Bollywood" film musicals, and Japan produces "Anime" and "Manga" film musicals. Made for TV musical films were popular in the 1990s, such as Gypsy (1993), Cinderella (1997) and Annie (1999). Several made for TV musicals in the first decade of the 21st century were adaptations of the stage version, such as South Pacific (2001), The Music Man (2003) and Once Upon A Mattress (2005), and a televised version of the stage musical Legally Blonde in 2007. Additionally, several musicals were filmed on stage and broadcast on Public Television, for example Contact in 2002 and Kiss Me, Kate and Oklahoma! in 2003. The made-for-TV musical High School Musical, and its several sequels, enjoyed particular success and were adapted for stage musicals and other media. Some television shows have set episodes as a musical. Examples include episodes of Ally McBeal, Xena, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode Once More, with Feeling, That's So Raven, Daria, Oz, Scrubs (one episode was written by the creators of Avenue Q), Batman: The Brave and the Bold, episode "Mayhem of the Music Meister", and the 100th episode of That '70s Show, called That '70s Musical. Others have included scenes where characters suddenly begin singing and dancing in a musical-theatre style during an episode, such as in several episodes of The Simpsons, 30 Rock, Hannah Montana, South Park and Family Guy. The television series Cop Rock extensively used the musical format, as do the series Flight of the Conchords, Glee and Smash. There have also been musicals made for the internet, including Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, about a low-rent super-villain played by Neil Patrick Harris. It was written during the WGA writer's strike. Since 2006, reality TV shows have been used to help market musical revivals by holding a talent competition to cast (usually female) leads. Examples of these are How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, Grease: You're the One that I Want!, Any Dream Will Do, Legally Blonde - The Musical: The Search for Elle Woods, I'd Do Anything and Over the Rainbow. In 2013, NBC made the first live television broadcast of a musical in over 50 years, The Sound of Music Live!. Although the production received mixed reviews, it was a ratings success, prompting suggestion by television executives that live musicals may be produced as an annual holiday event. The U.S. and Britain were the most active sources of book musicals from the 19th century through much of the 20th century (although Europe produced various forms of popular light opera and operetta, for example Spanish Zarzuela, during that period and even earlier). However, the light musical stage in other countries has become more active in recent decades. Musicals from other English-speaking countries (notably Australia and Canada) often do well locally, and occasionally even reach Broadway or the West End (e.g., The Boy from Oz and The Drowsy Chaperone). South Africa has an active musical theatre scene, with revues like African Footprint and Umoja and book musicals, such as Kat and the Kings and Sarafina! touring internationally. Locally, musicals like Vere, Love and Green Onions, Over the Rainbow: the all-new all-gay... extravaganza and Bangbroek Mountain and In Briefs – a queer little Musical have been produced successfully. Successful musicals from continental Europe include shows from (among other countries) Germany (Elixier and Ludwig II), Austria (Tanz der Vampire, Elisabeth, Mozart! and Rebecca), Czech Republic (Dracula), France (Notre Dame de Paris, Les Misérables, Angélique, Marquise des Anges and Roméo et Juliette) and Spain (Hoy No Me Puedo Levantar and The Musical Sancho Panza). Japan has recently seen the growth of an indigenous form of musical theatre, both animated and live action, mostly based on Anime and Manga, such as Kiki's Delivery Service and Tenimyu. The popular Sailor Moon metaseries has had twenty-nine Sailor Moon musicals, spanning thirteen years. Beginning in 1914, a series of popular revues have been performed by the all-female Takarazuka Revue, which currently fields five performing troupes. Elsewhere in Asia, the Indian Bollywood musical, mostly in the form of motion pictures, is tremendously successful. Hong Kong's first modern musical, produced in both Mandarin and Cantonese, is Snow.Wolf.Lake (1997). Beginning with a 2002 tour of Les Misérables, numerous Western musicals have been imported to mainland China and staged in English. Attempts at localizing Western productions in China began in 2008 when Fame was produced in Mandarin with a full Chinese cast at the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing. Since then, other western productions have been staged in China in Mandarin with a Chinese cast. The first Chinese production in the style of Western musical theatre was The Gold Sand in 2005. In addition, Li Dun, a well-known Chinese producer, produced Butterflies, based on a classic Chinese love tragedy, in 2007 as well as Love U Teresa in 2011. Other countries with an especially active musicals scene include the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Russia, and Turkey. The Broadway League announced that in the 2007–08 season, 12.27 million tickets were purchased for Broadway shows for a gross sale amount of almost a billion dollars. The League further reported that during the 2006–07 season, approximately 65% of Broadway tickets were purchased by tourists, and that foreign tourists were 16% of attendees. (These figures do not include off-Broadway and smaller venues.) The Society of London Theatre reported that 2007 set a record for attendance in London. Total attendees in the major commercial and grant-aided theatres in Central London were 13.6 million, and total ticket revenues were £469.7 million. Also the international musicals scene has been particularly active in recent years. However, as Stephen Sondheim has noted: You have two kinds of shows on Broadway – revivals and the same kind of musicals over and over again, all spectacles. You get your tickets for The Lion King a year in advance, and essentially a family... pass on to their children the idea that that's what the theater is – a spectacular musical you see once a year, a stage version of a movie. It has nothing to do with theater at all. It has to do with seeing what is familiar.... I don't think the theatre will die per se, but it's never going to be what it was.... It's a tourist attraction." The success of original material like Urinetown, Avenue Q, Spelling Bee and In the Heights, as well as creative re-imaginings of film properties, including Thoroughly Modern Millie, Hairspray, Billy Elliot and The Color Purple, and plays-turned-musicals, such as Spring Awakening, prompts theatre historian John Kenrick to write: "Is the Musical dead? ...Absolutely not! Changing? Always! The musical has been changing ever since Offenbach did his first rewrite in the 1850s. And change is the clearest sign that the musical is still a living, growing genre. Will we ever return to the so-called 'golden age,' with musicals at the center of popular culture? Probably not. Public taste has undergone fundamental changes, and the commercial arts can only flow where the paying public allows." - AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals - List of musicals - List of musicals by composer - Tony and Olivier Award winning musicals - Long-running musical theatre productions - Theatre music - Show tunes - Related forms Notes and references - Morley 1987, p.15. - Everett 2002, p. 137 - Rubin, p. 438 - Brantley, Ben (March 28, 2008). "Curtain Up! It’s Patti’s Turn at ‘Gypsy’". The New York Times. Retrieved May 26, 2009. - "Porgy and Bess: That old black magic", The Independent, October 27, 2006, accessed November 1, 2009 - Lister, David. "The Royal Opera opens a window on Sondheim", The Independent, April 5, 2003, accessed November 1, 2009 - Teachout, Terry. "Sweeney Todd", National Endowment for the Arts website, accessed November 1, 2009 - White, Michael (December 15, 2003). "Something for the weekend, sir?". London: The Independent. Retrieved May 26, 2009. - Gokulsing, 2004, p. 98. - "Mini Musicals", labyrinth.net.au, Cenarth Fox, 2001, accessed 22 January 2010 - "Theatre Latte Da takes foray into mini-musical form". Star Tribune. March 30, 2002. Retrieved 15 January 2010. (registration required) - Thornton, Shay (2007). "A Wonderful Life" (PDF). Houston, TX: Theatre Under the Stars. p. 2. Archived from the original on November 27, 2007. Retrieved May 26, 2009. - Flinn 1997, p. 22. - Kenrick, John (2003). "History of Stage Musicals". Retrieved May 26, 2009. - Hoppin 1978, pp. 180–181. - Lord 2003, p. 41 - Lord 2003, p. 42 - Buelow 2004, p. 26 - Shakespeare 1998, p. 44. - Buelow 2004, p. 328 - Carter and Butt 2005, p. 280 - Parker 2001, p. 42. - Gillan, Don (2007). "Longest Running Plays in London and New York". Stage Beauty. Retrieved May 26, 2009. - Wilmeth and Miller, p. 182. - Wilmeth and Miller, p. 56. - Allen 1991, p. 106. - Lubbock, Mark. "The Music of 'Musicals'". The Musical Times, Vol. 98, No. 1375 (September, 1957), pp. 483–85, Musical Times Publications Ltd., accessed 17 August 2010 - Lubbock, Mark. "The Music of 'Musicals'", The Musical Times, Vol. 98, No. 1375 (September 1957), pp. 483–485 (subscription required) - Bond, Jessie. Introduction to The Life and Reminiscences of Jessie Bond, reprinted at The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, accessed March 4, 2011 - Kenrick, John. "G&S in the USA" at the musicals101 website The Cyber Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre, TV and Film (2008). Retrieved on 4 May 2012. - Jones, 2003, pp. 10–11 - Bargainnier, Earl F. "W. S. Gilbert and American Musical Theatre", pp. 120–33, American Popular Music: Readings from the Popular Press by Timothy E. Scheurer, Popular Press, 1989 ISBN 0-87972-466-8 - PG Wodehouse (1881–1975), guardian.co.uk, Retrieved on 21 May 2007 - "List of allusions to G&S in Wodehouse". Home.lagrange.edu. Retrieved 27 May 2009. - Meyerson, Harold and Ernest Harburg Who Put the Rainbow in the Wizard of Oz?: Yip Harburg, Lyricist, pp 15-17 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1993, 1st paperback edition 1995) - Bradley (2005), p. 9 - Mark Evan Swartz's Oz Before the Rainbow describes the enormous train trips required of the cast of the 1903 smash hit, The Wizard of Oz, which tour ran for nine years, including on the road. See Swartz, Mark Evan. "Oz Before the Rainbow: L. Frank Baum's 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' on Stage and Screen to 1939". The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000 ISBN 0-8018-6477-1 - See, generally, Index to The Gaiety, a British musical theatre publication with articles about Victorian and Edwardian musical theatre. Accessed February 25, 2011 - Kenrick, John. Basil Hood, Who's Who in Musicals: Additional Bios XII, Musicals101.com, 2004, accessed May 7, 2012 - Bordman, Gerald. "Jerome David Kern: Innovator/Traditionalist", The Musical Quarterly, 1985, Vol. 71, No. 4, pp. 468–73 - Lamb, Andrew (Spring 1986). "From Pinafore to Porter: United States-United Kingdom Interactions in Musical Theater, 1879–1929". American Music (Chicago: University of Illinois Press) 4 (British-American Musical Interactions): 47. ISSN 0734-4392. JSTOR 3052183. - Krasner, David. A Beautiful Pageant: African American Theatre, Drama and Performance in the Harlem Renaissance, 1910–1927, Palgrave MacMillan, 2002, pp. 263–67 - Midgette, Anne. "Operetta Review: Much Silliness In a Gilt Frame", The New York Times, March 29, 2003, accessed December 1, 2012 - Lubbock 2002. - Kenrick, John. "History of Musical Film, 1927–30: Part II". Musicals101.com, 2004, accessed May 17, 2010 - 1944 awards, Pulitzer.org, accessed July 7, 2012 - Connema, Richard (2000). "San Francisco: As Thousands Cheer and Dear World". TalkinBroadway.Org, Inc. Retrieved May 26, 2009. - Gordon, John Steele. Oklahoma'!'. Retrieved June 13, 2010 - Everett 2002, p. 124. - World Encyclopedia, pp. 439–40 - Suskin, Steven (August 10, 2003). "On the Record: Ernest In Love, Marco Polo, Puppets and Maury Yeston". Playbill, Inc. Retrieved May 26, 2009. - Rich, Frank (March 12, 2000). "Conversations with Sondheim". New York Times Magazine. Retrieved May 26, 2009. - W.S. Gilbert and his choreographer John D'Auban helped transformed Victorian musical theatre production styles. See Vorder Bruegge, Andrew (Associate Professor, Department Chair, Department of Theatre and Dance, Winthrop University). "W. S. Gilbert: Antiquarian Authenticity and Artistic Autocracy" . Victorian Interdisciplinary Studies Association of the Western United States annual conference, October 2002. Retrieved 26 March 2008; and "Mr. D'Auban's 'Startrap' Jumps". The Times, 17 April 1922, p. 17 - Kenrick, John. "Dance in Stage Musicals – Part III", Musicals101.com, 2003, accessed August 14, 2012 - Block, Geoffrey (ed.) The Richard Rodgers Reader. New York: Oxford University Press US, 2006. ISBN 978-0-19-531343-7, pp. 194–95 - Dickson, Andrew. "A life in theatre: Trevor Nunn", The Guardian, 18 November 2011, accessed August 15, 2012 - NewMusicBox: "Passing Through Curtains" (May 1, 2010). John Kander in conversation with Frank J. Oteri on April 7, 2010. - Ward, Jonathan. "Recruit, Train and Motivate: The History of the Industrial Musical," March 2002, Perfect Sound Forever - Wollman, p. 12. - Laurents, Arthur (August 4, 1957). "The Growth of an Idea". New York Herald Tribune (Primate, LLC). Archived from the original on December 12, 2007. Retrieved May 26, 2009. - Horn 1991, p. 134. - Barnes, Clive. "Theater Review": A Chorus Line". The New York Times, May 22, 1975 - Kenrick, John. "The 1970s: Big Names, Mixed Results", History of Musical Film, musicals101.com, accessed July 11, 2014 - Blank, Matthew (March 1, 2011). "Broadway Rush, Lottery and Standing Room Only Policies". PlayBill. Retrieved March 1, 2011. - "Cumulative Broadway Grosses by Show". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved February 9, 2014. - Pareles, John (April 27, 1993). "Critic's Notebook; Damping 60's Fire of 'Tommy' for 90's Broadway". The New York Times. Retrieved June 28, 2012. - Shaw, Pete (2006). "A glorious musical romp – with bite!". Broadway Baby. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved May 26, 2009. - Thoroughly Modern Millie at the IBDB database - Zoglin, Richard. "Natasha, Imelda and the Great Immersion of 2013", Time magazine, May 20, 2013, accessed April 6, 2014 - Cox, Gordon. "Here Lies Love, Great Comet Shatter Records in Lortel Nominations, Variety, April 1, 2014, accessed April 7, 2014 - Clarke, David. "Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (Original Cast Recording) is Astonishingly Complex", Broadway World, December 22, 2013, accessed April 7, 2014 - Brantley, Ben. "A Rise to Power, Disco Round Included", The New York Times, April 23, 2013, accessed April 7, 2014 - Kaye, Kimberly. "Broadway.com at 10: The 10 Biggest Broadway Trends of the Decade", Broadway.com, May 10, 2010, accessed August 14, 2012 - Kenrick, John. "The 1980s", History of Musical Film, musicals101.com, accessed July 11, 2014; and Kenrick, John. "The 1990s: Disney & Beyond", History of Musical Film, musicals101.com, accessed July 11, 2014 - Roush, Matt (June 30, 2008). "Exclusive: First Look at Joss Whedon's "Dr. Horrible"". TVGuide.com. Retrieved May 26, 2009. - Robert Bianco (December 6, 2013). "'Sound of Music' was a little off". USA TODAY. - Bill Carter (December 9, 2013). "NBC Says It Will Put On a Show, Again". New York Times. - Jha, p. 1970 - Zhou, Xiaoyan. Taking the Stage, Beijing Review, 2011, p. 42 - Milestones: 2005–2009, Town Square Productions, accessed September 30, 2013 - "The Broadway League Announces 2007–2008 Broadway Theatre Season Results" (Press release). 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Cambridge University Press. p. 591. ISBN 978-0-521-79273-8. - Everett, William A.; Laird, Paul R., eds. (2002). The Cambridge companion to the musical. Cambridge companions to music. Cambridge University Press. p. 310. ISBN 978-0-521-79189-2. - Flinn, Denny M. (c. 1997). Musical! : a grand tour : the rise, glory and fall of an American institution. New York: Schirmer Books. p. 556. ISBN 978-0-02-864610-7. - Gokulsing, K. Moti; Dissanayake, Wimal (2004) . Indian popular cinema : a narrative of cultural change (Revised and updated ed.). Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham. p. 161. ISBN 978-1-85856-329-9. - Hoppin, Richard H., ed. (1978). Anthology of medieval music. Norton introduction to music history. New York, NY: Norton. p. 177. ISBN 978-0-393-09080-2. - Horn, Barbara Lee (1991). The age of Hair: evolution and impact of Broadway’s first rock musical. New York, NY: Greenwood Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-313-27564-7. - Jha, Subhash K. (2005). The Essential Guide to Bollywood. Roli Books. ISBN 81-7436-378-5. - Jones, John B. (2003). Our Musicals, Ourselves. Hanover: University Press of New England. ISBN 978-1-58465-311-0. - Lord, Suzanne (2003). Brinkman, David, ed. Music from the age of Shakespeare : a cultural history. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. p. 236. ISBN 978-0-313-31713-2. - Lubbock, Mark (2002) . "American musical theatre: an introduction". The Complete Book of Light Opera . (1st ed.). London: Putnam. pp. 753–56. - Morley, Sheridan (c. 1987). Spread a little happiness: the first hundred years of the British musical. London: Thames and Hudson. p. 224. ISBN 978-0-500-01398-4. - Parker, Roger, ed. (2001). The Oxford illustrated history of opera. Oxford illustrated histories (illustrated ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 541. ISBN 978-0-19-285445-2. - Rubin, Don; Solórzano, Carlos, eds. (2000). The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre: The Americas. New York City: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-05929-1. - Shakespeare, William (1998) [First published 1623]. Orgel, Stephen, ed. The tempest. The Oxford Shakespeare. Oxford University Press. p. 248. ISBN 978-0-19-283414-0. - Wilmeth, Don B.; Miller, Tice L., eds. (1996). Cambridge guide to American theatre (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-56444-1. - Wollman, E. L. (2006). The Theater Will Rock: a History of the Rock Musical: From Hair to Hedwig. Michigan: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-11576-6. - Bauch, Marc. The American Musical. Marburg, Germany: Tectum Verlag, 2003. ISBN 3-8288-8458-X - Bauch, Marc. Themes and Topics of the American Musical after World War II. Marburg, Germany: Tectum Verlag, 2001. ISBN 3-8288-1141-8 - Bloom, Ken; Frank Vlastnik (2004-10-01). Broadway Musicals : The 101 Greatest Shows of All Time. New York, New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers. ISBN 1-57912-390-2. - Bordman, Gerald (1978). American Musical Theatre: a Chronicle. New York: Oxford University Press. viii, 749 p.ISBN 0-19-502356-0 - Botto, Louis (2002-09-01). Robert Viagas, ed. At This Theatre. Applause Books. ISBN 1-55783-566-7. - Citron, Stephen (1991). The Musical, from the Inside Out. Chicago, Ill.: I.R. Dee. 336 p. ISBN 0-929587-79-0 - Ewen, David (1961). The Story of American Musical Theater. First ed. Philadelphia: Chilton. v, 208 p. - Ganzl, Kurt. The Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre (3 Volumes). New York: Schirmer Books, 2001. - Kantor, Michael; Laurence Maslon (2004). Broadway: the American musical. New York, New York: Bulfinch Press. ISBN 0-8212-2905-2. - Mordden, Ethan (1999). Beautiful Mornin': The Broadway Musical in the 1940s. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-512851-6. - Stempel, Larry. Showtime: A History of the Broadway Musical Theater (W.W. Norton, 2010) 826 pages; comprehensive history since the mid-19th century. - Traubner, Richard. Operetta: A Theatrical History. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1983 |Wikimedia Commons has media related to Musical theatre.| - Internet Broadway Database – Cast and production lists, song lists and award lists - Guidetomusicaltheatre.com – synopses, cast lists, song lists, etc. - The Broadway Musical Home - History of musicals (V&A museum website) - Stacy's Musical Village - musical theatre site with information about musicals, cast albums and people - Castalbumdb – Musical Cast Album Database - Early musical theatre site with links to midi files and other information - Synopses and character descriptions of most major musicals (StageAgent.com)

There is an expression that says “you can’t see the forest for the trees”. You may have never heard of this expression but odds are that you have and have even used it yourself. I have found a pretty accurate definition for this expression and it reads as such; Obsessive attention to certain details to the extent that one misses larger points and fails to understand the bigger picture. Mountain top view If we were to somewhat analyze this phrase and the definition shown we could maybe think of some of our own obsessive traits in areas of life that prevent us from seeing the bigger picture. Maybe we’re some of those who’ve been a believer in the Son of Yahuah (God) and have read the Bible for years and, to reference the expression above, have focused only on the trees (just a few certain truths) that we believe or have been told are the only ones that matter and therefore the view of the forest (the bigger picture) is no longer important. What if you discovered that the only way to truly understand the Scriptures and the context of the writers was to allow the Father to take you to a helicopter view of the whole Bible? We as believers today have been plugged into ‘the story’ somewhat six thousand years removed from the start of creation and two thousand years or so removed from the Apostles writings and the struggles they faced in explaining this incredible fulfillment by the Redeemer from their Scriptures. There is a character prerequisite though to our heavenly Father bringing us to this amazing view of the Scriptures; a humble heart… PSALM 24:3-4 Who may ascend the mountain of YHUH (the LORD)? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god. Notice: Only clean hands and a pure heart will allow you to ascend His Mountain and stand in His holy place. Let’s say you’re someone who has read the Bible so many times you’ve lost count and you’ve come to the conclusion that you must have a pretty firm grip on the main concepts you need to know from the Scriptures. You might be saying to yourself, “If there were any more foundational things in the Bible for me to grasp assuredly He would have shown me by now”. My question to a statement like this is; “Is it up to us and in our timing as to when He reveals new and deeper concepts in His word or is it in His timing?” I think an honest heart knows the answer to this question. There is an amazing prophecy in Isaiah about this very thing… ISAIAH 48:6-7 You have heard these things; look at them all. Will you not admit them? “From now on I will tell you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you. They are created now, and not long ago; you have not heard of them before today. So you cannot say, ‘Yes, I knew of them.‘ My brother in Messiah (who has co-labored with me in writing this book) and I have often talked about how we felt like we were at a stop sign in our walk with our Savior, especially with the Scriptures. Our service to others and discipline in our spiritual walk seemed to be strong but we knew there was something missing and we couldn’t quite figure out what it was. I believe this was a major time of testing for us to see if we would continue clinging to abstract theories on why there isn’t unity in the body (church) of Messiah or would we wait for the Father to reveal the answers that we sought. HEBREWS 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Yahuah (God), because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who diligently seek him. As we both had been given a tremendous gift of faith we knew we needed to keep our hearts pure and humble in our pursuit of Him, and as stated in the scripture above, He then would reward our diligent seeking. I’d like to use a couple of scriptures that I had read many times as an example to show how when the Father decided to reveal a depth to His word that I couldn’t have imagined, these particular scriptures would be seen in a completely different light. JOHN 4:23-24 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. Yahuah (God) is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” Notice: the worship instructions; Spirit + Truth My belief for many years of my walk was that it was all about the Spirit. Of course I still believed at that time that the Bible was an essential part of my growth and depth with my walk in the Spirit and had understood and memorized many verses that applied to spiritual concepts. These many verses of understanding came from absolutely scowering the New Testament which was incredible in my growth. The question is though, was I worshipping Him in complete truth? I must say there were many scary verses that I would continually come across in the New Testament that I just couldn’t quite get a handle on. For example in 1 John 1:8 how it says that… 1 JOHN 1:8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Yet, just a couple of chapters later it states… 1 JOHN 3:6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. What on earth! This was extremely confusing. The teachers that I had continually listened to would always declare to the congregation that “we’re all just sinners” which would seem to be true at a cursory read of 1 John 1:8, but what about 1 John 3:6 which absolutely states that the one who continues to sin has neither seen Him or known Him. So, in light of 1 John 3:6 how could we continue to say and believe that “we’re all just sinners”? Maybe it’s that many of those who say that are actually habitually sinning and think it’s OK to keep some hidden habits of sin tucked away for no one to see, but… 1 CORINTHIANS 4:5 He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from Yahuah (God). The revelation that would finally come brought clarity to this issue. See, before the revelation came I knew I had some sinful habits, but I had been told for so long that the blood of Jesus washes away those habitual sins and wanted to believe it myself because it technically let me off the hook, or so I thought. For some reason I had also tried to cling to this idea that we were so fortunate to be born in a time when the blood of Jesus washes away even my future sins. The fact is we could have just as easily been born in Moses’ day, what then? Though, what about after Yahusha (Jesus) heals a man He shares this… JOHN 5:14 Afterward Yahusha (Jesus) found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” Also, we always forget to mention Yahusha’s (Jesus) final declaration to the woman who was going to be stoned for committing adultery. We only key on what He told the Scribes and Pharisees which is “Whoever is without sin let him cast the first stone”. Here is Yahusha’s (Jesus) last declaration to the woman… JOHN 8:11 And Yahusha (Jesus) said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” How about Peter stating… 1 PETER 4:1-2 Therefore, since Messiah (Christ) suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of Yahuah (God). What about Paul asking the question about continuing in sin… ROMANS 6:1-2 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? So, Yahusha (Jesus), John, Peter, and Paul all agree that we can not go on sinning, yet we have been continually told by many teachers that “we’re all just sinners”. It should be stated that a lie never turns into the truth no matter how long it is told. I had also reached a point where I needed more concrete answers as to why or how we truly arrived at the Messiah having to die for everyone. I began to realize that there were more significant reasons for Yahusha’s (Jesus) death than just for the fall of Adam and Eve. Yahuah (God) started revealing true meanings to words that I hadn’t even necessarily thought were that important. Words like covenant, righteousness, and inheritance to name a few. One of the other big Scriptures that took on a whole new meaning was… 2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to Yahuah (God), a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. It was huge to realize that the only way these answers would come was to scower the Old Testament in the same way we had the New. Believing the whole Bible to be true this term of rightly dividing the word of truth told us we needed to thoroughly study the major pivot points in the Bible that got humanity to this point. What were all the ramifications for disobedience from His children, and what were Yahuah’s (God’s) provisions moving forward. Allowing Yahuah (God) to show me the bigger picture gave me an ability to see huge important details that I couldn’t have seen prior to having this view. Without a doubt, the most important word that we grasped that sprung this new revelation in the Scriptures was the word; covenant. We came to see that this word has always defined mankind’s relationship with Yahuah (God). There is no other relationship with Him that is available to us other than covenant relationship. Even Adam was in a covenant relationship with our Creator shown here as Hosea speaks about the children of Israel breaking the covenant just like Adam… HOSEA 6:7 As at Adam, they have broken the covenant; they were unfaithful to me there. We began meticulously moving forward from the time of creation and examined each time Yahuah (God) made a covenant with man, why that covenant came about, and what the parameters of that covenant were. Here is a covenant timeline that we developed as a teaching tool called the 7000 year plan of the Father which began with Adam in the garden and will eventually be brought back to that garden like state that Adam was originally in. We designed it in the form of a running shoe with a track going around showing that we are to run the race of eternal life (HEB 12:1). Also to eventually show you that this path displayed that we are to run out is way more pronounced than we have been originally taught. Also, by identifying these covenants that came before us, what would we find that we hadn’t known about the demands of our Covenant in the Messiah? PSALM 25:8-10 Good and upright is YHUH (the LORD); therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. All the ways of YHUH (the LORD) are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant. Understanding the demands of our Covenant would end up bringing clarity to Paul making this statement… 1 CORINTHIANS 9:27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. I used to think, disqualified from what? What was this prize that Paul said he could be disqualified from? There was another warning in the book of Hebrews along the same lines that I would soon find out was completely connected to what Paul was talking about… HEBREWS 12:16-17 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done. Why was this warning about rejecting the inheritance in the New Testament? We eventually were able to see that we did have demands to our Covenant and that they directly related to who would inherit the Kingdom and who wouldn’t. It was huge to take a thorough look at this concept of inheriting because we had always been taught to only think in terms of who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. 1 CORINTHIANS 6:9-10 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of Yahuah (God)? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of Yahuah (God). Somehow it had eluded us that Paul was writing this letter to believers. Believers that practice these behaviors will not inherit the Kingdom, WOW! This sent us on a search to find out as much as we could about this inheritance. (Through that search we were able to reconcile the difference of “inheriting the Kingdom” vs. the concept of “heaven or hell”. The clarity of this issue will be explained in the final three chapters entitled Obedience/Disobedience, The Golden Calf Worship System, and The Promised Land!) REVELATION 22:14-15 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie. Notice: Doing His Commandments is connected to having the right to the tree of life and entering the gates of the city. Out of all these categories of sinful believers that wouldn’t inherit His Kingdom, I was shocked to find out that one of the categories was practicing a lie. Remember: prior notice of worship instructions; Spirit +TRUTH It became abundantly clear to me in these findings that I could no longer make any excuses about my walk with Messiah. I had to understand what these categories of sinful behavior meant from Yahuah’s (God’s) perspective and not my own. I needed to worship (serve) Him by His truth. 1 John 3:6 started to make a lot more sense. 1 JOHN 3:6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. As I understood that I couldn’t make any more excuses for sin I found this verse… HEBREWS 12:4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. So the writer of Hebrews is talking about Yahusha (Jesus) and how He shed His blood, and says the same thing to us in saying that there might come a time where you will need to shed blood for the cause of Messiah, and he amazingly calls it resisting sin. In your mind, place yourself in a future situation where you’re given a choice on standing for the truth even if it meant being beaten or even killed. Truly, have you ever looked at that decision as RESISTING SIN? It takes courage to walk out truth and resist sin. Overcoming sin must be how Revelation 22 declares that the ones who have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city are the ones who do (or obey) the commandments. I needed to know which commandments I needed to obey. I also began to think, “Could the right to the Tree of Life and going through the Gates into the City be our inheritance”? There was one more aspect of understanding that needed to take place before I could start down this journey and it also involved humility, as it usually does. As there were more questions that needed answering there would be other concepts in the Bible that needed closer examination. Would I be willing to let those concepts go if they were not entirely true, was I teachable? MARK 2:22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.” Thankfully, I had heard the perfect interpretation to this verse and it helped me to really check my heart. This particular teacher had shared that an old wineskin referred to someone being unteachable. I had realized that I had allowed myself to become an old wineskin. Therefore, there was no ability to pour new wine or new teaching into my old wineskin. A new wineskin represents a person who can be stretched with new teaching or teaching that corrects false views. An old wineskin refuses to examine and test what he believes. As Yahuah (God) is the author of truth it is up to us to stay open hearted to His truth at all times. Our perspective can and very likely will change as He reveals more truth. This is exactly why Yahusha (Jesus) chose men to be His disciples who were not schooled in the teachings of the Scriptures because He could mold them like children. They were totally new wineskins that He could pour His new wine (teaching) into and if He stretched them they wouldn’t burst (reject it). MARK 11:25 At that time Yahusha (Jesus) said, “I praise you, Father, Lord (Ruler) of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. This spiritual concept is the same for us today no matter how long we’ve been a believer. The second we classify ourselves as the wise and learned it becomes almost impossible to change our views. ROMANS 3:4 Let Yahuah (God) be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” We must continually ask ourselves are we teachable? Concrete vs. Abstract Thought What if you found out that world history and culture, years before the Messiah even walked the earth, has played a major part in shaping your modern Christian views today? Wouldn’t it be important to know if our mindset of how we have understand our Bibles and how we have set up our church services had been majorly influenced by a past culture vastly different from the culture of those who wrote the Scriptures? Using an analogy to help display my point, let’s say that you met someone you were really interested in. Things were going great in the beginning stages. You were so excited. Then, all of a sudden this person completely changes. They begin blowing up over things that aren’t that big of a deal. Also, as you now want to start moving towards marriage they become completely dispondant, almost numb. “But, things were going so well.” Would it be easy to just chalk it up to “well I guess it wasn‘t meant to be”? No, you’d want answers right? Would your view of the situation change a little if you then found out that this person had been mentally and physically abused their whole childhood? It should, right? Your whole paradigm in how you’d approach the situation would change. At least your view of the situation would totally change. You’d say to yourself, well that completely makes sense now. Well, for us and our relationship with Messiah it is also crucial to truly understand the why’s of how we have this wonderful hope by looking intently at the past. Our Messiah redeemed us for deep reasons that Satan has tried to keep hidden from all of us. In that same vain of marriage, we have entered into a marriage betrothal period with our Messiah… 2 CORINTHIANS 11:2 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Messiah (Christ). What if the roles were reversed and you were the one who all of a sudden wasn’t interested in the other person in your marriage betrothal period. You couldn’t blame the other person for backing out right? In light of this situation and how it relates to us and our Messiah (husband), could this be why many New Testament Scriptures tell us… MATTHEW 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Master, Master (Lord, Lord),’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Master, Master (Lord, Lord), have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ This concept of practicing lawlessness could be the most important topic for any believer walking this planet. If the scripture says that by practicing lawlessness and not doing the will of My Father you will not enter the kingdom it becomes essential for us to fully understand what these concepts mean from the Fathers perscpective. As we move forward I want you to strongly consider in your hearts that the enemy has done everything he can to keep us hidden to the truth of why our Messiah has told us more than once that there will be many He tells He never knew. Even those prophesying and casting out demons. As we need to, as the scripture states, let Yahuah (God) be true and every man a liar in all humility I ask you to take this journey with us to answer these all important questions. Please keep an open mind and heart as we move forward. Ask yourself, can I afford to not have concrete answers on issues like my inheritance? Before we delve into our inheritance, I believe it is crucial to make some very key points on how we arrived at our culture as we know it today, and how that culture has majorly influenced the way we view our Scriptures. By around 326 B.C. Alexander the Great had conquered most of the entire world. Here is a look at Alexander on the timeline. Now think about that for a second, he conquered most of the entire world! Not to mention he did all of this by the age of thirty. Our New Testament, for this very reason, mentions Gentiles as Greeks. ACTS 20:21 I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to Yahuah (God) in repentance and have faith in our Master Yahusha (Lord Jesus). ROMANS 1:14 I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. Alexander’s military feats were unparalleled but to take over a society he knew he had to change their views, the way that they thought. Now, Greek philosophical thinking didn’t just burst onto the scene with Alexander. In the 12th century B.C. a man named Homer wrote epic stories about a war between Greece and the City of Troy called The Iliad and The Odyssey. These stories were very influential on Greek art, science, philosophy, and religion. The poems written by Homer influenced the creative writing of the Greek myths of ancient gods and goddesses. From this spawned the idea of the ultimate minds of all the gods (Zeus), or the logos. The logos gave way to the idea of developing proper thinking, not proper action. This was a huge point of reference in Paul’s struggles with Greek minded people. 1 CORINTHIANS 1:22-23 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for (worldly) wisdom, but we preach Messiah (Christ) crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles (Greeks), COLOSSIANS 2:8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Messiah (Christ). Homer’s literature also majorly influenced the idea of hero worship. So, at the core of the Greek society were mythology, the logos, and also hero worship. A few centuries later began the construction of gymnasiums. These were Greek arenas that housed athletic games where nude athletes would appease the gods, particularly Zeus, with their amazing feats. The word gymnos is the Greek word for naked. This led to smaller arenas called theaters being built for Greek tragedies and comedies. Soon after these theaters were built they were used for great philosophers to have famous debates. These debates were a way for the great intellects to out intellectualize each other. These debates produced the likes of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are deemed by most historians to be the most influential people in shaping Western culture. The first of these to arrive on the scene was Socrates who according to most current encyclopedias was the most influential thinker to the Western world. Today the Socratic Method, which is inductive reasoning, is a wide spread way of thinking which is reasoning from particular facts to a general idea. The problem though, is it’s based from an abstract view of what fact is. Life was based upon ideas and thoughts to be debated without any real conclusions. If I can out debate you with my vast intellect, then by default, I must be right. Socrates also taught that there were no instructions from the gods, just one’s own moral intellect to guide them to a happy life. Socrates challenged conventional Greek thinking and opened up very new ideas. Socrates also taught that no one is inherently evil. Socrates most influential student was Plato. Plato would take Greek philosophy to another level. Believe it or not Greek thinking was rather tame up until this point. Plato was a member of the social elite and brought very powerful contributions to religious thought. Plato taught the dualism of man, that man consisted of two separate parts soul and flesh. The soul was inherently good and the flesh was inherently bad. It was only the soul that could do good. The flesh was incapable of doing good and just a passing phase of our existence. What this led to was the idea that what the body did was irrelevant. So, now combine ultimate knowledge the logos and what you do in the flesh doesn’t matter and you’ve got a deadly combination in influencing scriptural thought. This way of thinking is what led to Gnosticism, which is alive and well today, though called by different names. Life would consist of metaphysical abstract concepts separated from any commands or instructions. These concepts could be debated for centuries without truly being able to prove or disprove the ideas. These thoughts and debates led to an ultimate idea of what is called the demiurge. The demiurge was this dualistic god that created the world. As the thought went, the world was a cruel place and the demiurge was the god of bloody wars and sacrifices. To escape these realities one needed to develop the logos who was the good god (the son) of this dualistic god. This was called getting in touch with the mind of the gods. One must escape into a spiritual world by abstract thought since there was nothing consistent or concrete to the world around us. By this point in time Greek thought was all about what you created and could conceive of yourself that was the standard. Plato’s philosophies have tremendously shaped the world we live in today. Aristotle was the next great philosophical thinker and was one of Plato’s most brilliant followers. Aristotle taught that truth was discovered by systematic arguments called premise to conclusion. The problem was your premise was always from human logic and human experience. The conclusion of truth was always up to the individual to figure out as the gods never supplied these truths. It should be noted that somehow these gods were still to be worshipped and revered. Maybe this is where we get the phrase “God helps those who help themselves”. Alexander the great came at the time of Aristotle and considered Aristotle the leading mind in intellectual philosophical inquiry. Alexander combined the conquests of the known world through the inspiration from Homer’s the Iliad and the brilliant psychological and philosophical tactics passed down from Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Alexander knew that you must infuse other cultures with the Greek language and especially Greek thought. As Alexander would be called the son of Zeus he taught that the gods would make their wishes known through brilliant speeches in theaters and arenas by the greatest intellectual speakers. When Alexander died the entire known world was broken up between his top four generals who were thoroughly trained in Greek language and thought which was mandatory per Alexander’s request. These next 300 years, just prior to Messiah coming to earth, would come to be known as the Hellenistic Age. This Hellenistic Age (Hellenistic stemming from “Helen of Troy” the goddess type in Homer’s writings) with the influence of Homer, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle would solidify our Western world as we know it today. There has never been a world king like Alexander the Great that dominated our known world in the way of such brilliant psychological tactics combined with powerful military tactics. At the time when Paul began preaching and teaching how Yahusha (Jesus) was indeed the Messiah he right away began with the Greeks (Gentiles). The fact that Greek thought had infiltated the entire known world, thanks to Alexander, was exactly why Paul in his writings would sometimes refer to the Gentiles as Greeks. I want to show you a verse in the New King James version explaining the Greeks (Gentiles) having this overpowering way of thinking called Hellenism. ACTS 9:29 And he spoke boldly in the name of the Master Yahusha (Lord Jesus) and disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill him. This Hellenistic thinking dominated every out landing area from the region of Judea even influencing many Judeans. As we move along to a time just after the disciples and the letters they wrote, many believers of Yahusha (Jesus) kept this Greek way of thinking and began to teach many Greek concepts and views towards, especially, Paul’s letters. One of the biggest influential teachers of this time was a man named Marcion. Being influenced by Gnostic thought himself he interpreted and taught Paul’s writings of this battle between flesh and Spirit in the dualistic way of thinking. The actual flesh (the body) is incapable of doing any good therefore one must always either repress any natural instincts of the body for the Spirit or when you slip into the flesh it doesn’t matter anyways because it’s the Spirit, void of any rules, that will always carry you towards the Kingdom. As there were many followers of Messiah that rejected these teachings there were also those who strongly carried it along as it continues to thrive in the minds of believers today. ROMANS 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. It is very easy to see how someone could interpret this verse in a dualistic way. The fact is, it is the sinful deeds of the body that leads to death, whether you‘ve received the Spirit or not. Of course, one could never overcome these sinful deeds without receiving His Spirit. But, our Eloah (God) cares very much about our bodies and that we glorify Him with them. 1 CORINTHIANS 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from Yahuah (God), and you are not your own. For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify Yahuah (God) in your body and in your spirit, which are Yahuah’s (God). This next verse I want to show has everything to do with cleansing ourselves BECAUSE we have great promises. 2 CORINTHIANS 7:1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of Yahuah (God). Notice: the scripture states for us to cleanse both flesh and spirit. As we move forward in history there was another leader that played a major role in westernized Modern Christianity today and his name was Constantine. As the Roman Empire began to dominate the world, Constantine adopted Christianity as the state’s Religion. The Catholic Church as we know it today is a complete result of what Constantine did and then solidified laying down major creeds at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, one being the celebration of Easter over Passover. Prior to these events though in his youth, Constantine studied Latin, Greek, and Greek Philosophy. If studied Greek and Greek Philosophy there is no question he was influenced by Alexander. The twist on all of this though was Constantine’s idea to make Christianity a state run Religion, helping to sever anything Hebrew or Jewish about the Scriptures, ironically our Messiah being both. It is very likely that Constantine himself wouldn’t have even considered himself a Christian, at least not until the very end of his life. It is said that Constantine had a vision of the cross in the sun and therefore used this symbol for all of his military conquests. Although the monuments from these victories show he always left symbols of the sun. Constantine, having the power as an emperor, combined Christianity with Paganism. This is a historical fact that can’t be underestimated as it relates to a believer in the Messiah today. Constantine is considerd by many to have been the very first Pope. All of the things Constantine did set the stage for 1200 years of military conquest known as ‘the Dark Ages’ where the Catholic Church carried the “Christian flag”, so to speak. During this time it became more and more solidified that the Pope was the only one that could interpret the Scriptures. Mind you, it had also shifted to the Latin language. In 1517, a man named Martin Luther came onto the scene and challenged this edict of the Pope being the only one to interpret the Scriptures and the Protestant Reformation was the result. To many this was the most important step towards Christianity as we know it today. But was it really? As Luther had the right idea to inform everyone that each indivitual had the right to read and interpret the Bible for themselves, unfortunately his focus was primarily on the New Testament. In 1522, Luther only worked at translating the New Testament into German. The Old Testament wouldn’t get translated into German until 12 years later. As Martin Luther did take a great step in helping people seperate from a very religious and controlling situation, the damage had already been done with the strong belief that we were in a completely new dispensation where Christianity was separate from our real fathers of the faith who were Hebrews. This is why Constantine and Martin Luther are considered “fathers of Christianity”. They solidified this idea that we were in a COMPLETELY new dispensation. It should be noted that Luther also despised anything Hebrew or Jewish. Thus, the Old Testament was devalued of major Scriptural importance and in essence became just lessons on what not to do. With this type of thinking the teaching of these lessons from the Old Testament becomes up to the disgression of the individual teacher and how he decides to weave them into his teachings. The major belief was and is still strong today that all one needed, ultimately, was the New Testament. But, how could you truly understand the revelation of the New Testament without understanding the context of the Old. That’s like watching the final third of a movie and saying that you know everything about the characters and how they arrived to the place that summed up the conclusion of the story. Impossible! The most important factor in presenting you with these historical accounts is not so much to display the different languages the Bible went through, but for us to understand the mindsets in how we view our Bibles. Although we do have many Bible translations today that say they have gone back to the original Greek and Hebrew languages to give us our English Bibles which is great, much would still get lost in translation. There is a way of communicating ideas that only by understanding the culture could you understand what’s actually being said. Our western culture and society is way different from those who penned the Scriptures. Using another analogy to try and display my point, let’s say you were told to “go get a chicken, prepare it, cook it, and eat it”. Even in America this could constitute totally different actions in carrying this out. If all you knew was growing up on a farm you would know to go get your chicken from the coupe, then kill it by cutting its head off making sure all of the blood is drained, then pluck all of the feathers and thouroughly clean the animal before any marinating. To a farm guy that’s what going to get a chicken and preparing it is. To a guy that only knows city life it’s as easy as going down to the store and buying one, come back home, take it out of the bag, rinse it off, and then begin marinating. If a statement like this here in America carries totally different actions, do we really think we can understand our Bibles and the things being said sherely based on a 21st century westernized English mindset? So, I’d like to sum up much of our Greko-Roman history that has shaped our minds in viewing the Scriptures. My hope is that you can take an honest look at these things and realize that we were born into a culture that was shaped by the historical events just displayed. Also, we were ‘born again’ into veiwing the Scriptures in a very similar way which I hope you’ve been able to start seeing. I understand that this information could bring a range of emotions from either complete disbelief on its relevance, to frustration of “if this is true what now”, or perhaps somewhere in between. The question is if there are terms and sayings in your Bibles that you’ve misinterpreted or been told they mean something that they don’t, wouldn’t you want to know? Remember, our enemy (Satan) has been trying everything he can for literally centuries to keep us from truth and will continue to do so until his time is up. Knowing this, I ask you to not make a knee jerk reaction to the information we will present. It sure has blown us away in the most profound way. Truly, it was what we had been waiting for our whole walk with Messiah. 2 Corinthians 13:8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. In summarizing these ideals that range from abstract philosophy, to man’s religion controlling the people, our hope is that you can humbly look at this list and identify if you yourself have believed conclusions that were shaped from some of these views. As Satan is the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2) it is he who has spread these falsities against concrete and functional Biblical truth. 1) Hero worship – As the body of believers, have we not fallen victim to this mindset by elevating the Pastor or Teacher as a hero type to the point where the people identify their identity with which hero (Pastor) is leading them. Yet Scripture states: I CORINTHIANS 1:12-13 What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Messiah (Christ).” Is Messiah (Christ) divided? Was Paul (or your Pastor) crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul (of your Pastor)? MATTHEW 23:6-10 “They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues (churches as well), “greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi (Pastor, Pastor as well).'”But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’ (or even Pastor); for One is your Teacher, the Messiah (Christ), and you are all brethren. “Do not call anyone on earth your father (the Catholic Priest); for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.”And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Messiah (Christ). 2) The Logos – proper thinking, not proper action – I have personally seen Bible believing churches label their Scriptural understanding as having the Logos. Yikes! Whether it is this in your face or not, many have taken this mindset. Many think of faith in this same way. JAMES 2:17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 24. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. 3) Theater environments – Early in my walk I had the fortune of being part of a very gifted servant minded church. We met in a grade school gym and everyone helped out in setting up and taking down the chairs for service. This was a very powerfully annointed church. Even the one who taught stood on the same ground level with everyone attending. As numbers grew the leaders decided to build their own building. It was a beautiful facility with a wonderful stage and comfortable theater seating. Within a year the unity that we had was gone, the worship became more of a concert, and the Father’s presence left. It takes very strong humble people to not be affected in their focus towards Messiah by these theater environments. The reality is they terribly affect us all. 4) Dualism – two separate parts; soul and flesh – what’s done in the flesh is of no importance because only the soul is eternal – Hasn’t this mindset affected our stance against sin in our lives? This minset is exactly why believers have interpreted certain scriptures to say that once you’ve received the Messiah’s blood atonement there is nothing you can do to keep you from the security of your stance with Him. Yet scripture states TO BELIEVERS: ROMANS 6:13-15 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to Yahuah (God) as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! ROMANS 3:5-8 But if our unrighteousness brings out Yahuah’s (God’s) righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That Yahuah (God) is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) Certainly not! If that were so, how could Yahuah (God) judge the world? Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances Yahuah’s (God’s) truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?“ Why not say—as some slanderously claim that we say—”Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is just! 5) Gnostic thought – abstract concepts seperated from any commands or instructions – This mindest has played a major role in interpreting Yahusha’s (Jesus) words “If you love me, obey my commandments” as, He is just referring to loving God and loving my neighbor. Although this is true, the problem lyes with an abstact concept of loving God and their neighbor. We can not look at this from a human perspective. Love can be an abstact word to where someone might say they “love hamburgers” and they “love God”. Do they really love them the same way? In a concrete way, we love Yahuah (God) by doing what He says to do. When Yahusha (Jesus) said “If you love me keep my commandments” there was no confusion at the time of what He was talking about. The first four commandments of the ten explain how we love Yahuah (God). The final six explain how we love our neighbor. When He says to not worship other gods or idols we must fully understand what He considers to be a false god or an idol. Not what they are from our perspective living in the 21st century. 6) Demiurge – the idea of a dualistic god both contrary in nature – one is the god of bloody wars and conquest and the other god is the Logos where one can escape by mental ascent with abstract thought, reaching the minds of the gods. – When I first became a believer in Jesus (Yahusha) there was this strong idea that was rampid which affected the way I viewed my Bible. The idea was the God of the Old Testament was the God of blood and vengance and we were so fortunate to be part of the Jesus dispensation because there is no more wrath for those who accept the Son. This way of thinking stems from the dualistic centered mindset on the Father and the Son. The fact is they have both played a major part throughout history. As we get into later chapters you will see that Jesus (Yahusha) was the angel of the LORD (YHUH) who actually carried out a tremendous amount of the Father’s judgment to those who stood in the way of Yahuah’s (God’s) Covenant people. The Father and the Son each played their roles throughout history not in different dispensations which has been predominantly taught. On the idea of there being no more wrath for the believer, scripture states otherwise: ROMANS 2:5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of Yahuah’s (God) wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. EPHESIANS 5:5-6 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Messiah (Christ) and of Yahuah (God). Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things Yahuah’s (God’s) wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7) Premise to Conclusion – (based soley from human logic and experience) Could this mindset be why most preachers speak more about stories from their lives than they teach about the true application from His Word? 2 PETER 2:2-3 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. That scripture might sound like those are extreme cases, but even those teachers fell victim to the wrong mindset. What I’m trying to convey is seeing how a mindset that Satan spawned has majorly affected us all in some way or another. If your teaching is based from the idea that “Jesus did it all so you don’t have to” your mindset becomes to just do your best and you will be able to help people through stories of how you did your best with Jesus and not from scripture plainly warning us time and time again for believers to not live in sin any longer or how we learn obedience by what we suffer, just like our Messiah. 8) The gods making their wishes known through brilliant speeches in theaters or arenas – This mindset has infiltrated the way we view our leaders. Not that someone brilliantly conveying a message is a bad thing persay, it’s just that a believer’s gage should never be about always needing their head Pastor to deliver this amazingly brilliant message for you to stay close and obey your Messiah. It should be more about making sure we speak the truth of His word at all cost. Also, your Pastor will not be standing before the judgment seat of Messiah on your behalf. In this vain Paul explains: 1 CORINTHIANS 2:4-5 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on Yahuah’s (God’s) power. 9) State Politics with Christianity – (Blending paganism with Christianity) How many “so called” Christian leaders play right into what Satan worked through Constantine? The ‘ways of the nations’ descibed in the Bible is exactly what these leaders have fallen prey to when they link up with governmental officials. If these officials truly were doing what the Bible teaches they would get removed so quickly by the other officials using any means necessary. The topic of blending paganism with Christianity is one of the most important topics for any believer walking this planet. When you realize that our Eloah (God) has very significant Holy Days that are His Holy Days not “Jewish Holy Days”, and that Satan worked through Constantine to solidify changing them in “Christianity” to pagan days such as Christmas and Easter you will find yourself at a crucial crossroads in your walk with Messiah. There is a tremendous amount on this topic explained thouroughly in a later chapter entitled ‘The Golden Calf Worship System’. 10) One person having authority on Scriptural interpretation – This mindset has plagued us whether we want to admit it or not. Many people look to their Pastors as the end all be all on where they find truth. The teacher is just a servant who hopefully is teaching the right message. I CORINTHIANS 4:3-7 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings? What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Master (Lord) has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but Yahuah (God) has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only Yahuah (God), who makes things grow. 1 JOHN 2:27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him. We must ask ourselves are we being taught by His Spirit or by just a man. 11) COMPLETELY new dispensation with Messiah – This mindset has been a major influence into the idea that all one truly needs is the New Testament for an efective walk with their Savior. Combine all the mindsets in the former ten in your view of the New Testament and you’ve now got some major problems. Yet Paul tells us: 2 TIMOTHY 3:15-16 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Messiah Yahusha (Christ Jesus). All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, Paul, in saying the Holy Scriptures, is without a doubt referring to the Old Testament. Remember, AT THAT TIME, 2nd Timothy was just a letter written by Paul clarifying what was written in the Old Testament (The original Scriptures). The Old Testament can make you wise for salvation through faith in Messiah Yahusha (Christ Jesus)! Once again, when he wrote this letter the readers looked at it to bring clarity to what was already written in the Old Testament. Another problem with this mindset was we began to look at our Messiah through a westernized Greek lens rather than through the Hebrew lens which is His heritage from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. If it’s His heritage then it’s our heritage as well no matter what man has tried to change.

51°42' / 18°38' Translation of "Warta" chapter from Pinkas Hakehillot Polin Translation of "Warta" chapter from Published by Yad Vashem Published in Jerusalem Published in Jerusalem Our sincere appreciation to Yad Vashem for permission to put this material on the JewishGen web site. This is a translation from: Pinkas Hakehillot: Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities, Poland, Volume I, pages 89-92, published by Yad Vashem, Jerusalem JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material JewishGen is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in the original work and cannot rewrite or edit the text to correct inaccuracies and/or omissions. Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited. (pages 89-92 ) Table of Contents I The Jewish Community until 1918 II. Between the Two World Wars III. The Holocaust |Sept 1, 1939||1500-2000||?| In the years 1507, 1757, 1799, and 1882, many fires erupted in Warta. This kept the town from developing. The Swedes destroyed Warta almost to its foundation during their invasion in 1656. In the 19th and 20th centuries, one of the reasons that Warta did not develop was because it was not connected to the train system. Jewish settlement started in the first half of the 16th century and it was one of the first in that region. The origins of those first residents were from Moravia and from other towns in Poland. By 1564, the Jews owned six houses and by 1616, they owned 17 houses. During the Swedish War in 1656, most of the houses of the Jews were burned. Some of the Jews died by an epidemic and the rest left the town. Renewal of the Jewish settlement started in the 1660's. The Jews faced many difficulties. The Christians did not give them freedom of trade. They were not allowed to buy fur, they were not allowed to slaughter meat or to trade in meat. Taxes to the Bernadine monastery and to the treasury of the kingdom were also increased. The Jews pleaded their case to the king and in 1671, they were given some privileges. This was in conformity with the previous privileges given to the Jews of Warta and included a few more new privileges. Among those were the cancellation of the limitations on the Jewish butchers and traders of meat. Also, Jewish furriers were allowed to make and sell fur hats. Some privileges were given for Jews to improve their homes. Delays in mortgage payments on plots were allowed. The delaying of the payments of debts was very important for the community, as they owed 35,000 zlotys from debts made between 1681-1790, and they had lots of difficulty paying these debts. In the 18th century, the treasury and the town imposed new taxes on the Jews. In the second half of the 18th century, the people of the town, with the support of the central government tried to stop the Jews from leasing the production and marketing of beer and wine. It is no surprise that the Jewish community, so rescued by the privileges they received, tried to get those privileges granted by the rest of the kings of Poland up until the last king. The kings' privileges did not always help the Jews. Often, the people in the town managed to limit the income of the Jews and to impose new payments and mortgages on them. Despite these difficulties, the Jewish community continued to grow. In 1791 there were 35 houses owned by Jews, which was 21% of all the houses in Warta. The Jewish population grew to 339. Prussian rule, which began in 1793, was heavy-handed on the Jews in terms of taxes, etc. At that time, several vendors and Jews with workshops left the city. During the period of Congress Poland, city residents acted to limit the right of the Jews to live in the city and to establish a Jewish quarter. But, they only managed to get an order limiting the right of Jews to buy real estate on the main streets, especially around the market square. This order was valid until 1862. At that time, the residential limitations were cancelled in all of Poland. The main source of income in the second half of the 18th century was commerce and crafts. In 1793, among the 49 households that were surveyed, 22 were merchants and grocers, and 22 were craftsmen (mainly furriers). Also, there were 2 innkeepers and 2 barbers. During the main period of Congress Poland, the Jews made a few attempts at manufacturing. Joachim Wolsztajn, a Jew, founded a weaving factory, and a Polish resident founded a soap factory. Both factories lasted just a short time. In the 1890's, Jews owned small factories. There were two oil factories, two tanneries, two soap factories, and one sugar factory. There were also ten windmills owned by Christians. In the end of the 19th century or the beginning of the 20th century, Ber Munter founded a plant for dying fabrics and two leather plants. He served the farmers in the area, as they could weave in their homes. The main source of income for Jews was from mercantile activity (in low volume) and crafts. In the center of the town, there were a few orchards and vegetable gardens, and about 15 of their owners became wealthy. At the beginning of World War I, Kozaks raped and killed some Jews, and after a new attack, the Germans reconquered the town. Afterwards, the Jews went through a difficult economic period. Merchandise was confiscated; all business activity was frozen; food shortages existed. Documents from the first half of the sixteenth century show that there was an independent Kehillah in Warta. In 1534, the first synagogue was built and another larger one was built in 1641. The names of the rabbis at the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century are unknown. Documents from that time show that the community had a rabbi, and the budget showed that money was assigned for rabbinical purposes. In the second half of the 18th century, one of the rabbis was Szymon, son of Wolf. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Hassidic influence in the community increased, and the rabbi who came to his rabbinical seat in 1824 or 1826 was Moshe Nechemia HaCohen. He was born in 1790 in Warta to Rabbi Beniamin Beinusz, the student of Rabbi Akiva Ejger. Also, he was one of the best students of both the Chozeh from Lublin and Rabbi Simche Bunem of Przysucha. Moshe Nechemia HaCohen conducted a court in Warta during the entire period of his position. In his conduct, he followed the Hassidic philosophy of Przysucha, and added to it his own idea that the main thing in the service of the creator is joy and the joy of a worshiping the creator. This was the basis of his popular name, the Rabbi of Joy. As the Admor of the common people, he encountered in Warta a lot of resistance from other courts and from Mitnagdim. They fought him regardless of the means and struggled to undermine his right to function in the rabbinate. In order to annoy him, they asked him very dangerous and petty questions that he refused to answer or didn't know how to answer. Things progressed to such a state that a Beit Din [a court] of three rabbis was established. The court decided that the rabbi had to re-apply for his rabbinical ordination. After 13 years as a rabbi, Moshe Nechemia resigned from his position. Rabbi Yehudah Leibush Rothbein (he died in 1862) was the next rabbi in Warta; previously, he was the rabbi in both Grójec and Góra Kalwaria. From 1851-1891, Josef Gerszon was the rabbi. He was the son of Rabbi Moshe of Działoszyn (author of "Tikunai Shabbat"). Rabbi Josef Gerszon, student of Rabbi Mendel from Kock, led the court and was known as the Admor from Dvart [the Yiddish name for Warta]. After Rabbi Josef Gerszon, in 1892, the rabbi who rose to the post was one of the greatest rabbis of Poland at that time. He was Rabbi Meir Dan Plotzki, born in 1866 or 1867, and the son of Rabbi Chaim Yitzhak Ber Plotzker from Kutno. Rabbis from every part of Poland as well as outside of Poland asked him halachic decisions. He left a lot of articles including the following: "Chemdat Yisrael" (commentaries on the Book of Mitzvot of Rambam), "Klei Chemda" (about the five books of Moses), and "Questions on Peace in Jerusalem" (a critique of the Seder Kedushim that was published in Hungary, which was defined as if it was a Seder of the Jerusalem Talmud). His additional works included "Chemdat Shlomo" (on "Orach Hayim"), "Tochachat Musar" (a collection of his sermons), questions and answers on the four books of the Shulkhan Arukh, and "Chidushai Torah." In 1918, Rabbi Meir Dan left and became the Rabbi in Ostrow Mazowiecka. In his last days (he died in 1928), he was the head of Yeshiva Mitivta in Warsaw. He was active in Agudat Israel and was the head of Agudat Rabanim in Poland. In the second half of the 19th century, Rabbi Shaul Moshe Zilberman, the rabbi of Wieruszów, founded a Yeshiva. Rabbi Zilberman was supported by his father-in-law. After him, the head of the Yeshivah was Rabbi Jakob Jehudah Kocial. Pioneers of modern political life of the Jewish community of Warta were Zionist groups that organized in the years 1905-6. In these years the activities of revolutionaries were also noticeable. Two of them, Ajzyk Dobrzynski and Wolf Grabiner, were exiled to Siberia in 1908. During the German occupation of the first World War, the activities of the Zionist groups increased. It was from these groups that the General Zionists and Poalei Zion were established, as well as a library. During this period there was a sports club called "Tornferein," where physical exercises were held. The gentleman who testified to the increase in social activities was the person who established the popular common kitchen. He was dealing with the distribution of food donated by "Joint" immediately after the war. The food was primarily for children and those who suffered from the typhus epidemic. In 1918 a Jewish kindergarten was established in Warta. The Zionists were most important in their numbers and influence. On the eve of the elections for the Zionist Congress, almost 300 shekels were sold. In the election for Congress in 1937, they voted the following way: 108 for the General Zionists, 70 for Mizrachi, and 128 for the League for the Workers of Israel (Labor). Among the prominent youth groups were Gordonia (established in 1931), Hechalutz (established in the 1920's), Kibbutz Hachshara (started in 1932), and Mizrachi Youth, (established in 1932). The Zionists had a drama club. Income from their frequent shows was used for public purposes. Agudat Israel also developed activities, usually held on the eve of elections for the leadership of the community and of the town. In the first years after World War I, Agudat Israel established a girls club called B'not Yaakov, and a school called Beit Yaakov. The Bund had only a few members. They were mainly involved in culture, the library, and the music band. In the elections for the community leadership in 1931, 1) The General Zionists won a majority of two mandates. 2) Mizrachi got one mandate 3) No party under the influence of the Zionists got 1 mandate 4) Agudat Israel got 3 mandates. The head of the community was Lejb Lajzer Lenczycki. He was a Sochaczew Chassid supported by the Zionists. Between the two World Wars, starting in 1920, the rabbi was Eliahu Laskowski (born in 1886). He was previously the Rabbi of Głowno. He learned in the court of the Admor of Sochaczew, joined the dynasty and pursued his friendship with the last of the Admors of Sochaczew, Rabbi David Bornsztajn. He spoke fluent Polish and therefore was for many years a member of the education committee of the town of Warta. Aside from the traditional self-help institutions such as visiting the sick and performing charity, etc., there were also two banks that were active between the two World Wars. They lent money to merchants and artisans at low interest rates. Surprisingly, it was the Chevra Kadisha of Warta who took care of the mental hospital. During the first days of the occupation, the Germans gathered the Jews in the market place. They beat them and cut their hair. In the following weeks, Jews were kidnapped in the streets and their beards were pulled out. This was the fate of the Rabbi Eliahu Laskowski. The kidnapped Jews were also sent to forced labor. The Judenrat appointed by the Germans was forced to supply working crews daily and to pay high penalty taxes. In November or December of 1939, the Jews were ordered to evacuate the town. The town had been annexed to the Reich and the Jews were forbidden to reside in the town. The Jews were allowed to take 100 kilograms of luggage per person. An announcement was made that the Jews would be relocated to the Lublin area where they would be given apartments and decent conditions. The same announcement was made to the Poles. Despite the intention of the authorities to start the deportation the day after this announcement, it took the Judenrat a few days to organize the first transport. The Germans directed the people to the train station. They kept them there all night and then ordered them to return to town. It is not known why the deportation was not carried out at that time, Maybe, the deportation didn't occur because of the lack of trains. When the Jews returned, they discovered that their houses had been robbed again. In February of 1940, the ghetto was established in a neighborhood populated almost entirely by Jews in an area near the Beit Hamidrash. There were no fences around the ghetto. Within the ghetto a few Polish families were allowed to continue to live. The Jews were formally forbidden to leave the ghetto. However, the ghetto was guarded only by Jewish policemen; so it was easy to get out of the ghetto and it was even easier for the Poles to get into the ghetto. The Germans allowed the Jewish craftsman to pursue their craft on condition that they first serve the needs of the German authorities. The Judenrat requested that the many Jewish craftsmen in the ghetto were kept busy, especially the tailors. The shoemakers, furriers, advised the mayor to establish workshops. Part of the income would be used to rehabilitate the destroyed town. The mayor agreed and by his order, a group of 250 Jewish tailors and furriers executed orders from the German army. It is not known whether the workshops were active inside the ghetto or the Jews left the ghetto to work outside. The mayor employed a large number of Jewish youth in agriculture on farms that had previously belonged to Jews. He treated these workers well. However the main source of income from the Jews in the ghetto came from private orders from the population in the surrounding area. The Poles would arrive in the ghetto. They bought the products of the craftsmen and the Jews bought food stuff. The Jewish situation progressively worsened as the Jews were deported to the labor camps in the Poznan area: Lenzingen-Junikowo, Leszno and elsewhere. By the end of 1940, the authorities started to draft Jewish youth to the labor camps. In the beginning there were many volunteers because the Germans promised comfortable living conditions, lots of food and permission to send home their pay. In January of 1941, the first transport left with 80 to 100 youth. A short time later, letters arrived in Warta from the volunteers describing the terrible conditions of the town and their begging for food and clothing. The boys stopped volunteering and the Germans instituted forced drafting of the Jews. They drafted young men first, then young women, followed by older men. Craftsmen and workers employed by the Germans were exempt. After the forced deportation to the camps, the Jewish population in Warta fell to approximately 1,300 in 1941 and about 1,000 in the summer of 1942. The Judenrat and the families of those deported to labor camps requested permission to send food packages and clothing to their family members, but the authorities set severe restrictions: half a kilogram of bread per person every 2-3 weeks. Because they were allowed to send clothing more often, the Jews would hide slices of bread in those packages. When the Germans discovered the deceit, they arrested a number of Jews. The Judenrat had to obtain their release by paying 35,000 marks, which they collected from the population. On Lag Ba'omer 1942, the Germans conducted a public hanging of 10 or 12 Jews. Among the condemned were the chairman of the Judenrat, London; Rabbi Eliahu Laskowski and his son; Szmuel Jerozolimski (leader of the General Zionists); Motel Rotsztein (chairman of Agudat Israel). Also condemned were Feiwusz Meirowicz (former farm owner near Warta), Ezra Rozenwald, Moshe Shimon Klinowski, Landsberg and presumably 2 or 3 more Jews. Some of the deceased Jews were members of the Judenrat. According to one version, Rabbi Laskowski and his son were hanged because he appealed to the head of the county and asked forgiveness upon hearing that ten Jews were condemned to be hanged. The Jews were forced to build the scaffold on the plot where the synagogue stood. On the day of the execution, the Germans ordered the Jewish policemen to bring the entire Jewish population to the premises and to forbid them by threat of death, any cries of desperation or despair. The Poles also came in large numbers to witness the horrible site. The Jewish policemen were ordered to bring the condemned and perform the sentence. The brother of one of the policemen was among the condemned and it was only by chance that he didn't have to hang his own brother. Before the execution, the Germans announced to the public (those present) that a death sentence was given in retribution for the illegal sending of bread to the labor camps and among the condemned was Ezra Rozenwald who organized the sending of the bread. Witnesses mentioned the heroic behavior of Rabbi Laskowski who, before the hanging, encouraged all of the condemned, and urged them to accept the sentence with pride as befitting the sons of the eternal people. He spoke about the salvation of Israel. He said confession at the top of his voice and told the Jews to revenge the vengeance of the killings in the kingdom. Then he asked to be buried in his clothing as the law requires. The rest of the condemned withstood bravely this last ordeal. After the hanging the Jews were dispersed. They were allowed to take the bodies down, only the day after, and were forbidden to bury them according to Jewish law. The ghetto was destroyed two or three months later, on August 24-25, 1942. Most of the Jews in Warta amounting to about 1000 were deported to the Chelmno extermination camp. A number of strong young Jewish men who were chosen by selection were sent to the Łódź ghetto. Among them were some of the agricultural workers of the surrounding area, mentioned earlier. A group of sick people, mostly those in hospitals, were shot on the spot by German policemen. At the outbreak of the War, there were about 50-200 people in Warta. The majority of these Jews were imprisoned in Nazi camps. Of those Jews who were able to escape the Warta ghetto and to hide while it was evacuated, only one lived until the day of liberation. After the war, a group of 25 Jews from the DP [Displaced Persons] camps spent a short time in Warta. But, they quickly left the town out of fear after the killing of Jews after the War increased. Yizkor Book Project JewishGen Home Page Copyright © 1999-2016 by JewishGen, Inc. Updated 5 Sep 2005 by MGH

Graphic Design, Illustration NJ Breast Center Trifold Jewish Educational Toys - Card Games Maximum Wine Company Logo Design, Business Card Design About the Artist Think of Simeone Ink as your art department—without the overhead. My studio offers design and art production for projects such as brochures, logos, mailers, ads, catalogs, packaging, and more. Other services include illustration in traditional and digital media, instructional graphics, diagrams and maps, plus digital photo retouching and restoration (for old and damaged photos). I have worked for a wide variety of small business, advertising, corporate, publishing and non-profit clients, both locally and nationally. Assignments have included those from varied organizations such as Johnson & Johnson, Campbell Soup, Sunshine Biscuits, Stoudt Brewing Company, Newsweek, NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife, and many others. Among my more notable and visible projects are two license plate designs for the New Jersey Division of Motor Vehicles: the Promote Agriculture plate, commissioned by the New Jersey Farm Bureau, and the Fallen Law Enforcement Officers plate, commissioned by the Committee for a Safe Monmouth County, a non-profit law enforcement support organization. I have been a member of the Graphic Artists Guild since 1980.

This past week was Parshat Chayei Sarah and I had the good fortune of being in Chevron for Shabbat. I was in Israel for only three days (approximately 80 hours) and was asked many times, “You’ve come to Israel for such a short stay?” Let me explain. I have been to Chevron many times, but it’s always special to be there for this unique Shabbat. Thirty thousand people from all over Israel and many from abroad take the time to make the trip to show that Chevron is and will always be an integral part of Jewish life. My host for Shabbat was the Yeshivat Shavei Chevron, which is situated in the Bet Romano section. You know you are in Chevron, the home of Abraham, when you see all the boys and rabbeim of the yeshiva exhibiting such great hachnasas orchim. These are special people who choose to live their lives with such commitment to Eretz Yisrael with very few of the amenities that we all take for granted. Their commitment to Eretz Yisrael and Am Yisrael is second to none. The yeshiva’s students spend three years in the army and then years committed to only learning Torah in the city of our fathers. As you make your way to the Me’arat Hamachpelah Friday night, you see the hundreds of soldiers who come to Chevron for this weekend. As many people pass them, they say ‘thank you’ and ‘Shabbat Shalom.’ You see on their faces that they know they are doing something special for the Jewish people. Davening at the Me’ara on Friday night is packed (even though Ohel Yitzchak is open for one of only 10 days the whole year) with many people not even being able to make it into the building. Seudat Shabbat at the yeshiva is incredibly inspiring with the yeshiva boys singing and dancing with all the guests and rabbanim. Dayan Yonatan Abraham, from London, spoke on Friday night telling everyone how this Shabbat means so much to him and how he gets chizuk from the yeshiva boys. Also in attendance this year was Rabbi Dovid Weinberger of Shaarei Tefilah of Lawrence and Rabbi Hershel Billet of Woodmere, who also gave divrei Torahthroughout Shabbat. After the seudah the guests walk through the different neighborhoods of Chevron with the highlight being the Tel Romeda neighborhood, where we were greeted at the home of Baruch Meisel, a long time resident of Chevron. Here you get the true spirit of what it is to live in Chevron, along with hot cholent and an oneg Shabbat. Many visit the tombs of Ruth and Yishai in the hills of Chevron, high above the field of the Me’arat Hamachpelah. In the morning it’s back to the Me’ara to hear the parsha about how Avraham bought the Me’arat Hamachpelah for a burial site for Sarah to be a legacy for the Jewish people forever. After the afternoon seudah a large group walks through the Kasbah, the original Jewish quarter of Chevron and now the Arab shuk of Chevron, under heavy army guard. The group sang Am Yisrael Chai and the locals didn’t look too happy. But in the end there were no incidents, and we once again found ourselves at the Me’ara and the tomb of Avner ben Ner, the general of Dovid Hamelech. Minchah was followed by seudah shlishit back at the yeshiva. At this meal there is always a special treat as the colonel who heads the Chevron Brigade, Guy Hazut, is in attendance and addresses the crowd. This year, as he rose to speak, the boys of the yeshiva sang a special heart warming and inspiring song about those who stand to protect us. Then Shabbat came to a close all too quickly, and I can only hope to return to Chevron to be inspired and uplifted again next year. This year the yeshiva is celebrating it’s 32nd year in Chevron and on Sunday night there was a gala dinner in Jerusalem attended by Knesset members, past and present cabinet ministers, high ranking army officers and hundreds of alumni, all committed to the realization of the great work the yeshiva does to continue the Jewish presence in Chevron forever. Special thanks to Dovi Weiss of Yeshivat Shavei Chevron for his amazing hospitality, as always.

President Donald Trump toured the National Museum of African American History and Culture Tuesday and offered an olive branch to black America. But will African-Americans accept it? Trump, who only received about 8 percent of the Black vote during the presidential election, pledged Tuesday to confront racism and create a bridge of unity for what he called a “divided country.” “Today and every day of my presidency I pledge to do everything I can to continue that promise of freedom for African-Americans and for every American,” Trump said. Trump called his tour “a meaningful reminder of why we have to fight bigotry and hatred and intolerance.” “We’re going to bring this country together. We have a divided country that’s been divided for many, many years, but we’re going to bring it together,” Trump said. So what did Trump learn? And will Black Americans take his visit to the museum seriously? Well, many Twitter users were unimpressed. Trump has plenty of work to do. During the campaign, the president pledged to reduce crime in inner cities but he offended many African-Americans by characterizing Black neighborhoods as crime-infested ghettos where people are afraid to leave their homes for fear of being shot. While this narrative is certainly true in some predominantly Black neighborhoods in Chicago, Milwaukee and Baltimore, it is a broad-brush description and shows Trump’s lack of understanding about America’s Black communities. But on Tuesday, Trump appeared more willing to acknowledge the outright racism that Black Americans and Jews are still experiencing today. “This tour was a meaningful reminder of why we have to fight bigotry, intolerance and hatred in all of its very ugly forms,” Trump said. “The anti-Semitic threats targeting our Jewish community and community centers are horrible and are painful and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil.” The problem with Trump is that he makes a declarative statement on an issue one day and refutes his own comments the next day. He’s a walking contradiction so, in the case of his pledge to fight racism and bigotry, we’ll see if his legislative policies back up his rhetoric. If Trump seriously wants to end racism, will he, for example, strike down Stop and Frisk, where police pull over, detain, and in some cases arrest innocent black and Hispanic drivers? Will the president end his Muslim ban? Will he help change a police culture where unarmed Black men and women are being shot to death? Or disavow and fire known white nationalist sympathizers like advisors Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller? Will The Justice Department under new Attorney General designee Jeff Sessions enforce the serious police reforms recommended by the Obama administration? I heard Trump’s call. Now I’m waiting for action. What do you think?

Yoga- and meditation-based lifestyle intervention increases neuroplasticity and reduces severity of major depressive disorder: A randomized controlled trial To combat the effects of stress and trauma on our biochemistry, our brain uses neuroplasticity. This is how the brain and the nerves create new neural connections throughout the course of your life. There have been numerous… In this randomized study the effects of 12 weeks of yoga, 12 weeks running on a treadmill, versus 12 weeks of no intervention (the control group) were studied in women with Type 2 diabetes. The overall score of sleep quality in the yoga group improved at six weeks and at 12 weeks. Those in the… This research study was a review of observational studies on the adverse events occurring during yoga practice and compared to adverse events of non-yoga practitioners. The conclusions of this study were that a considerable amount of yoga practitioners experience an adverse event in yoga but most were mild and transient. The researchers conclude that this… This study, just published in Psychological Medicine, indicates that when people have persistent depressive symptoms, despite anti-depressant treatment, the benefits of yoga may make a difference in their lives, but that the positive outcome will take longer. In the largest randomized controlled trial to date of difficult-to-treat participants with persistent depressive symptoms, Lisa Uebelacker of Brown University… Summer season is officially over, vacations have ended, and school is back in session. Like all transitions, this time can be exciting AND challenging. It means we must “adapt, adjust and accommodate,” as we move from a familiar pattern to a new reality. Yoga teaches us that even in the midst of great upheaval, where… In this issue we focus on a new book about adaptive yoga, so important now that people come to yoga for therapeutic reasons—not just for enlightenment! We also talk pleasure in telling you about an important study, recently published in the Journal for Anxiety and Depression, that compares yoga therapy (individual sessions rather than group classes) with treatment as usual for anxiety and depression. As researchers continue to study the benefits of yoga for mood disorders and serious mental illness, including schizophrenia, who is the this emerging evidence inviting to Yoga? Yes, people who suffer from these conditions. Therefore, it’s vital that yoga professionals be trained to welcome what may arise in an ordinary yoga class or private session…. LifeForce Yoga (LFY) is making a difference in the lives of veterans suffering from PTSD. In the new program, run by trauma therapist and LifeForce Yoga Trainer Randy Todd, LCSW, MSW LFYP-2, veterans diagnosed with PTSD have been provided the option of participating in a weekly, coed, 90-minute LifeForce Yoga group. Todd introduced the LFY protocol to the… In this newsletter, we report on important research about the benefits of yoga for schizophrenia. There are also two studies that look at the benefits of yoga for inmates in prison, a review of a new book by Anodea Judith, PhD, and a new yoga curriculum for Jewish children. There is also news about the next residential LifeForce Yoga Practitioner Training. Read about new research on the anti-inflammatory effects of yoga practice and a study about how the brain responds to meditation. We gather the latest studies on yoga and mental health as well as reviews of new books—one beautiful enough to grace your coffee table by master yoga therapist and Ayurvedic clinician Indu Aurora, and another to keep on your bookshelf, especially if you want to work with expressive arts and yoga therapy. A complete yoga protocol, designed by a yoga therapist, was compared to supportive therapy, and although both eased symptoms of depression, this study shows that yoga actually did a better job. This study is unusal for two reasons. First, the yoga protocol was delivered and practiced during treatment, while most studies look at yoga delivered… “It is not just Amy’s yoga classes that have added richness to my life as both a yoga student and a yoga therapist, it is more importantly how she integrates and exudes yoga into her daily life that is inspirational for me. While I have been the beneficiary of her thoughtful, well constructed and emotionally well tuned yoga classes, I have also received her wit and wisdom through informal, "off-the-mat" interaction as well. In both cases, I have been able to tune into myself at a deeper level and feel more successful in my practice as a result of her care-full teaching and living.” — JJ (Jesse) Lee, owner, Body & Soul Fitness Training, Reno, Nevada “Amy Weintraub's talent as a yoga instructor is surpassed only by her ability to inspire compassion and depth in each of her student's practice.” — LuAnn Haley, attorney, Tucson, AZ “Amy’s 7 AM yoga class was a journey from darkness to light. On each morning of practice the route is different. She embodies the compassion that she writes about so well.” — JS, 48, biologist and writer, Tucson, AZ “This workshop has changed so much — my self-image and my life. My own heart’s desire is 100% clear. I gained tools to help myself and others to live life fully.” — Marcia Siegel, Yoga teacher, therapist, Carlsbad, CA. “This workshop helped me rededicate my energies and begin to work through some of the blocks I’ve felt creatively.” — Steve Mark, college professor, New Haven, CT “A client who returned said, "When I came before, you helped me understand and get where I wanted to go. Now you show me yoga practices I use to help myself understand and get where I want to go.” — Sherry Rubin, LCSW, BCD, LFYP, Downingtown, PA “With a specific emphasis on managing mood, Amy’s book delivers dynamic insights and yoga-based practices that she has refined over decades of first-hand experience working with clients, students, and therapists, that relax, focus, and reduce the symptoms and causes of anxiety, depression, and stress, as well as prepare the mind and body for the integrative work of psychotherapy.” — Richard Miller, Ph.D., author, Yoga Nidra: The Meditative Heart of Yoga, President, Integrative Restoration Institute. “I have found the LFYP training to be incredibly useful in giving people specific tools to use in maintaining physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual balance, and further opening their intuitive abilities.” — Nancy Windheart, RYT-200, LFYP, Reiki Master, Animal communication teacher, Prescott, AZ “I’ve worked with Amy’s Yogic sets for the last two years and they have literally transformed my emotional state. Amy takes me, step-by-step, through postures and breathing exercises that straighten out my emotional tangles. Practicing Yoga has positively affected my whole world.” — S.S., retired computer engineer, Cambridge, MA “I utilize the LFY techniques in both a class room setting and one-on-one environment. The skills have infused my teachings with compassion, mindfulness, and awareness.” — Kat Larsen, CYT, LFYP “I had been on antidepressant medication for three years and had just been diagnosed with fibro myalgia when I began to work with Amy. She designed a sequence of postures and breathing exercises for me that I could practice at home. After four months, I was feeling much better, and after six months, I was able to stop antidepressants entirely. I still have low moods from time to time, but I know they will pass. Yoga has changed my life.” — C.L., 37, massage therapist, Sarasota, FL. “I have realized how to go deeper into myself and find what is blocking me. I now can focus and clear my mind. Keep Amy! She is fantastic. She enabled me to release and find where I need to go.” — Kathy Myers, homemaker, State College, PA. “A psychotherapist might spend many years studying yoga and still not achieve anything near this elegant, practical, powerful integration. The instruction — while emerging from a 4000-year-oldtradition some consider esoteric — is immediately useful for treating abroad range of mental health disorders, even for therapists with no other background in yoga. As a bonus, the book seamlessly weaves in indispensable related tools, such as imagery, self-suggestion, and mindfulness meditation. It is a fabulous resource.” — Donna Eden & David Feinstein, Ph.D., Co-authors, Energy Medicine and The Promise of Energy Psychology “In this well-written and well-researched book Amy Weintraub provides therapists with simple, easy-to-apply but powerful, breathing, meditation, and hand gesture techniques that do not require a mat or body postures. Therapists can easily incorporate these techniques into their practices without otherwise having to change what they do, and clients can use them on their own. Thank you Amy for giving us access to this ancient healing wisdom.” — Richard C. Schwartz, Ph.D., developer, Internal Family Systems Therapy, author, Introduction to the Internal Family Systems Model “Amy Weintraub shows how to use yoga as a resource for psychological healing and personal growth. Her methods are grounded in ancient wisdom, informed by modern science, and eminently practical for reducing anxiety, lifting mood, and improving self-regulation. She is a master teacher, and her skills and heart are woven throughout this new classic for therapists, clients, and anyone interested in inner strength and peace.” — Rick Hanson, Ph.D. author of Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom “I began a fantasy during the meditation exercise... almost as if I’d been there. It’s now an on-going work of fiction.” — Serian Strauss, Tanzania “I typically live in a state of future hope and past fear, both totally about stress. When I practice yoga, my life begins again. I look out of new eyes that are a lot more about life and self-esteem. Amy is the best yoga teacher I have had.” — Jaqui Gee, massage therapist, Tucson, AZ “I have been reminded that I am not on this path alone, that others are sharing the journey that sometimes seems so difficult. I have also been reminded of the importance of daily practice and I will do that. The whole program has been an incredible experience for me. Thank you!” — Lorraine Plauth, retired teacher, Voorheesville, NY “I have tried a number of antidepressants and therapy to treat my chronic depression. When I began working privately with Amy, something shifted, and I saw that I could live from a place bigger and brighter than my depression. At first, I just felt better for a few hours after our work together. But after several months, I am feeling that those positive feelings — more energy, more optimistic, more flexible — are taking me through the days in between our sessions.” — KW, technical writer, Tucson, AZ “My experience in Amy’s classes for the past four years has been uplifting and powerful. I have found that the techniques she shares are powerfully effective for dispelling the dark clouds of negativity and hopelessness. But more than that, Amy brings us the ability to easily access the inner world where healing and self-understanding reside.” — Cynthia Athina Kemp Scherer, author, The Alchemy of the Desert and The Art and Technique of Using Flower Essences, Tucson, AZ “This is a book about integrating the mind and the body, about using movement to mend oneself; in a world obsessed with psychopharmacology, reading it was a refreshing reminder that, in some cases, the tools we have to cure depression reside not in a pill, but in our own bodies, if we are willing to try.” — Lauren Slater, author of Prozac Diary and Lying: A Metaphorical Memoir “I have gained an incredible opening and clearing of old obstructions. I hope to return to my life and fill this opening with things I love to do and that give me joy!” — Lisa Shine, administrative assistant, Ballston Lake, NY “Yoga Skills for Therapists is the ideal resource for those who want to bring yoga practices into psychotherapy or healthcare. Weintraub, a leader in the field of yoga therapy, offers evidence-based, easy-to-introduce strategies for managing anxiety, improving mood, and relieving suffering. Helpful clinical insights and case examples emphasize safety, trust, and skillful adaptation to the individual, making it easy to apply the wisdom of yoga effectively in the therapeutic context.” — Kelly McGonigal, PhD, author, Yoga for Pain Relief, Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Yoga Therapy “I came hoping to learn to move past some of the obstacles blocking my creativity. Over the course of this weekend, I feel I’ve gained a certain measure of faith in myself and in my ability to change. I also had some realizations that I believe will be very helpful to me. I feel encouraged. Both the content and presentation of this program were so well-thought out that I can’t think of any way to improve it.” — Andrea Gollin, writer & editor, Miami, FL “My patients can now have the same effects as many medications without having to actually take medication!” — Deborah Lubetkin, PSY.D, LFYP, West Caldwell, NJ “I am indebted to Amy's Yoga instruction for teaching the part of me that had trouble letting go. My wife died almost two years ago, and I am now free of grief and other destructive thought-patterns. Since practicing Yoga with Amy, my meditation practice has gone to new dimensions.” — John deCoville, systems analyst, Tucson, AZ “Words do not do justice to all that I learned. This workshop changed my life!” — Jen Nolan, Teacher, Cortland, NY “The pieces I wrote in Amy’s workshop are the best I’ve done. She brought out my confidence in myself and the best in my writing.” — Amy Wray, Iowa City, Iowa “Suffering from depression and chronic fatigue syndrome, I've tried medications, supplements, and many forms of traditional and nontraditional therapies without beneficial effects. While taking yoga classes with Amy at Kripalu, I noticed a definite shift in my consciousness, a reduction in stress, and an improvement in my well-being. Amy's classes have helped me to love and appreciate myself. Amy is an outstanding yoga teacher and in dealing with the fatigue and depression I experience, participation in her classes has been a real gift to my yoga practice and me.” — E. M., teacher, Lenox, MA “Amy helped me find powerful personal images that fit perfectly into my short stories, and she helped me find a process to release my inner voice.” — Mark Heasley, Troy, Michigan “Amy Weintraub’s work is some of the most important in our world today for helping humanity understand more deeply the significance of the mind-body connection. Her insights are inspirational for yoga teachers and all readers. Her in-depth understanding of her subject is an important basis for personal, as well as societal transformation.” — Rama Jyoti Vernon, Founder, American Yoga College, co-founder Yoga Journal “In the compassionate voice of someone who definitely knows the territory of depression, Amy Weintraub presents Yoga science and personal stories, research results and poetry, and practice instructions that are genuinely interesting in this very readable book that is both comprehensive and totally inspiring.” — Sylvia Boorstein, author of That’s Funny You Don’t Look Like a Buddhist and It’s Easier Than You Think: The Buddhist Way to Happiness “Amy is extensively trained in many schools of Yoga. This allows her to provide a wide variety of information from which the student can choose. Amy knows that what benefits a student is a unique ‘recipe.’ She is a loving and kind teacher. As a colleague, I love to attend her classes!” — K.H., Yoga Teacher, Tucson, AZ “Amy’s teaching is enthusiastic and loving. She guides me gently, harmoniously and confidently to a mindful state and encourages me to find my own strengths and edges. With well-chosen language and carefully executed examples, she reminds me of my own inner healing knowledge.” — Penelope Simmons, artist, founder of Odyssey Storytelling, Tucson, AZ “Amy is a wonderful instructor. She is a vital and vibrant person and she kept the program flowing. Her voice was very soothing and nurturing and she created an open, safe and sacred space.” — Mary Lou Tillinger, massage therapist/rural carrier, Plainfield, CT “Giving my clients a strategy and permission to quiet their minds and rebalance the sympathetic nervous system has been very beneficial to them and in our work together.” — Sue Dilsworth, PhD, RYT 200, LFYP, Allendale, MI “I had the pleasure of experiencing several private yoga sessions with Amy Weintraub, which were for me the most profoundly healing yoga experiences I’ve had. Amy has the gift of not only being very skillful in helping me feel supported and "held" in yoga postures physically, but, also, the ability to use words to bring me more deeply into my own inner experience. I found myself releasing emotions that had been held in my body for a long time. After the sessions, I had the experience of being much more at home within myself and much more present to my own inner experience. This was particularly important for me since I am a body-centered therapist who specializes in helping people get in touch with emotions held in the unconscious. Amy’s work is very important in a world where so little attention is given to one’s own inner experience. I’m grateful for having had the opportunity to experience the power of yoga with Amy.” — L.F. 44, Rosen Method Bodyworker Practitioner, Florence, MA “Amy is a beautiful gift in my life! Her yoga offers a powerful blend of the practical and mystical. She has developed yogic solutions to many chronic health problems, and to many of the ways we habitually get stuck in our bodies and minds. Amy's yoga keeps me grounded and healthy, like the earth under my feet.” — Mary Driscoll, freelance writer and Ph.D., Southwest Institute for Research on Women, University of Arizona “This program changed my life in a significant way. It helped me connect with the spirit which is something you can’t get from psychotherapy and medication.” – G. W., artist, Pittsburgh, PA “In this book, Amy Weintraub directly addresses the core of depression: the problem of Being itself, in the finest tradition of Yoga. Yoga for Depression is an astonishingly comprehensive guide to the art and science of Yoga. Herein lies a Yogic blueprint for how to be a human being, written by a compassionate and generous teacher.” — Stephen Cope, author of Yoga and the Quest for the True Self and The Wisdom of Yoga: A Seeker’s Guide to Extraordinary Living. Director of the Kripalu Institute for Extraordinary Living “As a teacher of yoga, Amy Weintraub has continually reinforced my longtime belief in the strong connection of mind-body-spirit. For the past three years, I have benefited, both personally and professionally (I am a clinical social worker), from Amy's supportive and competent guidance in yoga. Because of Amy's influence, I often recommend the practice of yoga to friends and clients.” — Dory Martin, CISW, Tucson, AZ “I feel profoundly transformed, both physically and emotionally. The connection between mind, body and spirit was clearly evident to me, but revealed to me through this workshop as an integrally vital link to overall health.” — Nadine Richardson, program manager at rehab agency, Monroe, CT “I gained tools for working with my own depression and with my clients’ depressions.” — Robert Sgona, LCSW, RYT, psychotherapist, Yoga teacher, Camden, ME. “Amy was just what I needed. Her values & thoughts & way of speaking stirred deep “hidden pockets” that need to be cleaned out. I’m glad I came. I know it will change my life.” — Sue Carlson, seamstress, Ayer, MA “As a ‘regular’ in Amy’s 7 AM Mon/Wed/Fri. yoga class, I felt a strong attachment to Amy and her Yoga practice. I have been with her for 2 1/2 years and I am 82 years old. A few months back I had the flu and missed two classes; she came to my house to check on me. I could not believe she did this with her busy schedule. This is a testimonial to her caring for the individual. Amy is very special to me and keeps me going.” — D.W., retired nurse, Tucson, AZ “As a musician living with multiple spinal deformities, I have participated in many yoga classes lead by Amy Weintraub. I see Amy’s classes as very fluid, well-structured arrangements of poses, breathing exercises and vocalizations. Amy manages to pace her sessions and her voice at just the right tempo as to add focus and confidence to the students’ efforts. The systematic progression of movements in Amy’s classes naturally engages the student to go further and further within, tapping into the wellspring of their potential.” — Léo Gosseli, musician, Prescott, AZ “Amy has a wonderful, powerful presence. Her energy radiated to the entire group. I feel better able to be who I am and to be compassionate toward myself in a new, loving, way.” — Suzanne Phelps-Weir, editor, Boston, MA “Research now validates what yoga adepts have claimed for thousands of years: Yoga practices profoundly affect our state of heart and mind! Drawing on her wisdom and notable expertise, Amy Weintraub guides us in bringing this ancient science of healing into clinical settings. Yoga Skills for Therapists is both practical and inspiring; it will allow you to offer the precious gifts of yoga to your clients and deepen the roots of your own practice as well.” — Tara Brach, Ph.D., author of Radical Acceptance (Bantam, 2003.) “Amy is a treasure. Through her gentle and affirming teaching style, she helped me establish a yoga practice that has become a most satisfying and grounding aspect of my life. I was surprised by the depth of the experience and the enduring nature of the changes I enjoy through this practice.” — CA, journalist, videographer, Tucson, AZ “I have gained a softer heart, more receptive mind, and tools to enrich both personal and professional aspects of my life.” – Regina Trailweaver, LICSW, clinical social worker, Hancock, VT. “As a Yoga teacher, Amy Weintraub’s most outstanding quality is her kindness. I have seen her work often with very challenging students and always maintain her attitude of patience and compassion. She provides a safe and enriching class.” — Tom Beall, RYT 500, Yoga teacher, Tucson, AZ “Yoga Skills for Therapists brilliantly opens a door to the physical and spiritual layers of a client - one that therapists and counselors have been waiting to walk through. Its chapters unfold a unique and inspiring blend of ancient traditions and contemporary concerns. From a place of genuine respect, integrity and intention, Amy offers easily applied foundational yogic practices to enrich the therapeutic experience for both client and practitioner.” – Elissa Cobb, MA. Director of Programs, Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy “I learned lots of ways to reduce the anxiety and depression of my patients and myself.” – Aviva Sinvany-Nubel, PhD, APN, CNSC, RN, psychotherapist, Bridgewater, N.J. “I integrate strategies like mantra tones and pranayama, but above all I invite myself and those I teach to cultivate svadhyaya, to practice self-observation without judgment.” — Barbara Sherman, RYT 200, LFYP, Tucson, AZ “My personal practice will change, as well as my yoga classes. I have a better understanding of yoga!” — Andrea Gattuso, RYT, Yoga Teacher, Hackettstown, N.J. “My life is already changed! I will use the tools I learned in my own practice and in my work. I feel safe and seen.” — Susan Andrea Weiner, MA, teacher/expressive arts facilitator, El Cerrito, CA. “Weintraub has written…a sensitive, intelligent, painstaking exploration of the deeper psychospiritual issues that make up the complex experience of depression.” — Phil Catalfo, Yoga Journal “Amy’s gentle and caring presence blends beautifully with her skillful Yoga teaching talents. I have enjoyed attending Amy’s unique class offerings for the past 4 years now. As a practitioner and teacher of Yoga, I find that her style of teaching creates a safe place for me to deepen my own Yoga practice, free from the competitive "striving" attitudes found all too often in Yoga classes. I have appreciated Amy’s strong focus on acceptance and presence and always leave her classes feeling happier, lighter and more centered in my true self.” — Janine Walter, Oriental Bodywork Therapist and Teacher, Tucson, AZ “I gained perspective of who I am in the world and this will change my life significantly.” — Mary Ford, artist, Southport, CT “Heal yourself with Yoga For Depression. I absolutely love this book and highly recommend it.” — Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D. Author of Meditation as Medicine “In my private sessions with Amy, I learn, expand and heal, and I leave more vivid in every way. I rely on some of the exercises she teaches, throughout the day, to reenergize and rebalance.” — L.D., writer, Tucson, AZ “Amy offers many guidelines and solutions through yoga, to both those who suffer from depression and to yoga teachers working with them.” — Angela Farmer, internationally known master Yoga teacher “I have found the pranayama (breathing practices) especially easy to introduce in a clinical setting. Some people have benefited quickly in unexpected and transformative ways.” — Liz Brenner, LICSW, LFYP, Watertown, MA

Why did a notable historian change his mind about Christianity? And what can we learn from it? Historian Tom Holland created waves with an article he penned in 2016 in the New Statesman which suggested that we owe the underlying ethos of our Western Culture to Christianity and not ancient Rome or Greece. He concluded his article by stating, “In my morals and ethics, I have learned to accept that I am not Greek or Roman at all, but thoroughly and proudly Christian.” He has since chronicled this academic journey in his fascinating book, Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World. Holland has unsurprisingly received push back over his assertion that Christianity shaped the modern world and such critique can be found on a thrilling episode of The Big Conversation from Unbelievable? where Tom goes toe-to-toe with atheist philosopher A.C. Grayling. A year before that combative encounter, Holland sat down with New Testament scholar N.T. Wright on an episode of Unbelievable? for an altogether friendlier dialogue. They met to discuss his thesis especially as it related to the Apostle Paul. But their conversation included an enlightening account of Holland’s own intellectual and (dare I say?) spiritual journey. Tom Holland was raised in the church but says that any Christian belief he had gradually fizzled out as the ‘dimmer switch’ of faith was turned down. He found that the underlying precepts of Christianity paled in comparison to the glamorous and exciting displays of power and domination he found in ancient Rome and Greece. “I was the kind of child who loved dinosaurs. I liked them because they were big and they were fierce and they were glamorous, and they were extinct… It was a seamless movement from Tyrannosaurus Rex to Caesar. The glamour and the beauty and the power and the cruelty of the Greeks and the Romans I found very appealing…I went to Sunday school and was very interested in biblical history as well, but I found them all a bit po-faced, I didn’t like their beards, I preferred the clean-shaven look of Apollo. In a way I was kind of seduced by the glamour of Greece and Rome, so the first books I wrote about history were about Greece and Rome.” His fascination with these ancient cultures prompted him to become a historian. Gradually, however, his awe was replaced by horror as he dug deeper and discovered the callous ways in which that power was actualized. Holland spent his youth marvelling at the marble statues of his Greek and Roman heroes but his academic studies soon revealed that they had feet of clay. “The more you live in the minds of the Romans, and I think even more the Greeks, the more alien they come to seem, the more frightening they come to seem. And what becomes most frightening really is a kind of quality of callousness that I think is terrifying because it is completely taken for granted. There’s a kind of innocent quality about it, nobody really questions it…Caesar is by some accounts slaughtering a million Gaul’s and enslaving another million in the cause of boosting his political career and far from feeling in anyway embarrassed about this, he’s promoting it, and when he holds his triumph, people are going through the streets of Rome carrying billboards boasting about how many people he’s killed. This is a really terrifying alien world and the more you look at it, the more you realize that it is built on systematic exploitation… In almost every way, this is a world that is unspeakably cruel to our way of thinking and this worried me more and more.” A Cultural Big Bang Since Holland found the world he lived in to be so radically different from that of ancient Rome and Greece, he asked himself where those values came from? The West’s commitment to values of human dignity and equal rights didn’t spring from a vacuum. After extensive study, he concluded that they grew out of Christianity and that ‘most people are oblivious to the way in which the West’s Christian heritage has shaped modern education, healthcare, music, art, literature and the scientific revolution, to name but a few’. Holland wasn’t suddenly bowled over by a blinding light of divine revelation but was gradually shaken out of his historical complacency by the skull–rattling after-shocks of a Golgothan earthquake. He was stunned to find that a small Jewish sect that worshiped a condemned criminal and who held to a relatively small corpus of sacred writings had radically changed the world. “Compacted into this very, very small amount of writing was almost everything that explains the modern world and the way the West has then moved on to shape concepts like international law, concepts of human rights, all these kind of things. Ultimately, they don’t go back to Greek philosophers, they don’t go back to Roman imperialism. They go back to Paul. His letters, I think, along with the four gospels, are the most influential, the most impactful, the most revolutionary writings that have emerged from the ancient world.” Holland sensed a background cultural radiation that he could only attribute to a Christian ‘Big Bang’, and as he looked back in time he found that it all began at a point where God and man were intensely concentrated in a Jesus singularity. He also discovered that not only was it responsible for a Big Bang but also a Cambrian-like explosion that radically transformed traditional institutions and gave them a distinct Christian morphology. “Well, if we’re talking of Paul, I think of him as a kind of depth charge, deep beneath the foundations of the classical world. It’s not anything that you particularly notice if you’re in Corinth or Alexandria and then you start feeling this kind of rippling outwards and by the time you get to the 11th century, in Latin Christendom, everything has changed. Paul’s significance is that he sets up ripple effects of revolution throughout Western history.” Whether it was a road-to-Damascus moment, or simply the dawning of a deep appreciation of the story that has shaped him and the Western mind, Holland says, “I began to realise that actually, in almost every way I am Christian.” My Kingdom is not of this World There is an episode in the Gospels that exemplifies Tom Holland’s discovery of the way Christianity challenged the cultural status quo. The pivotal moment in world history was when Jesus went toe-to-toe with Pilate. It was the ultimate showdown between the power of man and the power of God and the world would never be the same. So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” Pilate asked Jesus if He was a king who should be feared. Jesus then drew the distinction between His Kingdom and Pilate’s by explaining that if His Kingdom played by the rules of the world, He would have kicked Pilate’s butt long ago. Pilate is incredulous because he sees standing before him a flogged criminal claiming to be a king. The heavy boot of Roman power is about to crush Him and yet Jesus tells Pilate that his authority is an illusion. So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.”(John 19:10-11) Ironically, Pilate then releases the full force of Rome on Jesus only to unleash the full power of God’s Kingdom. Jesus’ greatest power play turns out to be a passion play. It is on the cross where the world’s power meets God’s weakness, the world’s wisdom meets God’s foolishness, and despite the apparent Roman victory the stumbling block becomes the foundation. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.” (1 Corinthians 1:26-27) A Different Kind of Kingdom The reason that Christianity has so dramatically affected the world is because Jesus’ death and resurrection inaugurated a Kingdom that Pilate found unbelievable. A Kingdom powered by a sacrificial love that gets more powerful every time it surrenders. Pilate thought he had put an end to this movement because the Roman playbook suggested that the best strategy was to kill the opposition’s King, but what Rome discovered was that every time they cut the Body of Christ the blood just spread more Gospel seeds. But how do Gospel seeds take root in the hard-Roman soil? Jesus made it clear that His Kingdom was irrigated with a completely different water. It wasn’t like the water from the harsh reign of Caesar but was a Living Water that bubbled up from the tomb of a crucified messiah. A Kingdom not influenced by special interest but rather by those of little interest. A Kingdom not funded by the rich but by the poor in spirit. A Kingdom not administered by the movers and shakers but rather the shook. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5: 3-10) Jesus turns the ruling structure of the world on its head, not by divine fiat, but by divine precedent. But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20: 25-28) It is a Kingdom that just won’t go away despite the many predictions of its ultimate demise by atheists throughout history. They continue to be irked that a band of weak misfits has survived thousands of years of religious natural selection and are oblivious to the historical reality that they are actually the evolutionary dead ends. Power Made Perfect in Weakness The power found in weakness manifest in Jesus’ death and resurrection was the focus of Paul’s ministry. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12: 9-10) N.T. Wright, Holland’s conversation partner, recognized the cosmic significance of the Jesus event and wrote an outstanding book, the title of which encapsulates the radical nature of God’s Kingdom: The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the meaning of Jesus’s Crucifixion. Wright not only highlights what made the Jesus movement so revolutionary but also places Paul at the forefront of its spread. Paul sees himself standing at the cutting edge of the revolution. The death of Jesus has opened up a whole new world, and he is part of the team leading the way into unexplored territory. He is not only to announce, but also to embody the faithfulness of the creator God to his covenant and his world. Christianity initially grew because of the suffering service of its adherents. It had no political power for several centuries yet it continued to gain followers. However, once it hitched its wagon to the Constantine cart it went off the rails because power found in weakness doesn’t gel well with a government that wants to flex its muscle. We need to be very careful when we try to use worldly power to promote a Gospel that is inherently about power in weakness. When we take Christianity into the halls of power we are in essence asking Jesus to leave His embarrassing life of suffering service behind and become the poster boy for a political cause. God has always worked through that which the world considered foolishness, yet we seem intent on making Him worldly wise. We need to take Paul’s exhortation in the second chapter of Philippians seriously because it constitutes the rule of law for the Kingdom of God. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2: 5-8) More Yielding and Less Wielding Tom Holland’s witness is powerful because as a historian he understands how cultures rise and fall and is acutely aware of the terrible consequences of power inappropriately applied. Sadly, we often promote Christianity as a way to do culture better rather than as a way to be countercultural. The Gospel isn’t about mastering the power of this world but about bringing Godly power to bear on earth as it is in heaven. Since we live in that difficult time between the already and the not yet of God’s Kingdom we cannot just remove ourselves from the world. We must still render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and be subject to the authorities, but we cannot forget that we are also citizens of another Kingdom where we render unto God what is God’s and obey God rather than men. We have been saved by a God who did not wield a hammer but yielded to the nails. Maybe we can let more of God’s Kingdom peek through if we practice a bit more yielding and a bit less wielding.

All children deserve to experience the thrill and escapism of meaningful physical play. What’s more, it just takes a bit of thought and planning, and everyone can enjoy the exhilaration and magic that arguably only playgrounds can produce. Of course, more than anything it’s about social interaction – and in this respect no child should be left on the sidelines. Play parks without proper wheelchair access and equipment suitable for all visitors – including those with special needs – are relics from the past. Here we look at 30 of the best accessible playgrounds around the world. 30. A Dream Come True – Harrisonburg, Virginia PlayCore’s Play & Park Structures and Southern Playground teamed up to create the A Dream Come True playground. Located in Harrisonburg, Virginia, the project was the brainchild of a group of Girl Scouts whose dream it was for there to be a space where all kids could play alongside one another. The Girl Scouts embarked on a mission to acquire the necessary funding, approaching local religious groups and companies for donations while also applying for grants and selling cakes and cookies. It took almost a decade, but eventually, enough money was raised for the $1.4 million facility to be built. The equipment is for all age groups and there are Made-for-Me swings designed for kids who need extra body support. 29. Westchester Recreation Center – Los Angeles, California Los Angeles’ Westchester Recreation Center features a colorful inclusive playground that gives kids the opportunity to play alongside lifelike marine creatures and seabirds while enjoying ample shade to keep cool on hot days. The city teamed with custom playground company GameTime to design the facility. The equipment includes access ramps and a pair of adaptive swings. As GameTime stated on their website, “Our playgrounds are built for fun, inclusiveness, and to help build great communities.” 28. Brooklyn’s Playground – Pocatello, Idaho Brooklyn’s Playground in Pocatello, Idaho, was named after Brooklyn Fisher, a girl with spina bifida. When Brooklyn was a toddler, her dad sat her in a swing at a play park, and as it had no back support, she fell out and hurt her head. It was then that her parents conceived of the idea for a playground that kids of all abilities could enjoy. Funds from grants and donations flowed in, and within less than a year the park was built for $560,000. The park features ramps, smooth surfaces and therapeutic swings. Visitor Amanda Bakker took her child to the park and placed her in a swing, then noticed a girl in a wheelchair playing on the pirate ship with her friends. “This is what it means to be included,” she said. 27. Hadley’s Park – Potomac, Maryland Shelley Kramm established the nonprofit organization Hadley’s Park 1996 so her daughter Hadley, who has cerebral palsy, could play with other kids. Kramm raised $750,000, and in 1999, the original Hadley’s Park opened in Potomac, Maryland, which was the first accessible playground in the state. The facility features high-specification accessible play equipment such as swings, seesaws and slides, plus wheelchair-friendly surfaces and a wildflower meadow. After the park opened, Kramm found herself in demand from communities throughout the U.S. that wanted similarly inclusive play parks near them. And while the nonprofit was shuttered in 2003, the playground – part of Falls Road Park – is still open, and Kramm continues to help people build accessible facilities. 26. Fairmount Carousel Playground – Riverside, California Nestled within the 250-acre Fairmount Park in Riverside, California, the Fairmount Carousel Playground evokes a merry-go-round theme. It features a slide, musical equipment, a splash pad, a carousel and sensory experiences. The Riverside Renaissance project was endorsed by the City Council, while Landscape Structures and Coast Recreation got together to build the park – which was conceived by nonprofit organization Shane’s Inspiration. 25. Millstone Creek Park – Westerville, Ohio Spearheaded by the City of Westerville, Ohio, Millstone Creek Park is a $1.6 million facility featuring adaptive equipment, designed by Playworld Systems, with a nature-inspired concept featuring bushes-cum-tunnels and wetlands overlooked by a boardwalk with ramps. The play equipment includes accessible swings, musical instruments and a slide that’s rated for children who have cochlear hearing implants. Still, the star of the show is arguably the NEOS 360, which is essentially like a huge video game with lights and noises. According to Mara Kaplan of Let Kids Play, playgrounds shouldn’t be limited to just having ramps; she says it’s better to add adapted swings and sensory apparatus, which make for a more valuable experience. Additionally, children were involved in the design of Millstone Creek, as they were asked to pitch in on plans before it was built. 24. Friendship Park – Ra’anana, Israel Nestled in Ra’anana, Israel’s City Park, Friendship Park was designed to accommodate visitors with various special needs. Sensory therapy expert Michele Shapiro oversaw the design of the acclaimed nine-acre playground, which was funded by the local municipality, the Jewish National Fund and the Jewish National Fund U.K. Shapiro said that the social and physical aspects of the outdoor recreational space operate in tandem. Opened in 2005, Friendship Park made history as the first inclusive playground in Israel. 23. Everybody’s Tree House – Germantown, Tennessee Situated in Riverdale Park in Germantown, Tennessee, the Everybody’s Tree House inclusive playground was opened in July 2010, and over 150 volunteers turned up on its community build day. The first phase of the project cost $380,000 – with significant funding coming from the Baptist Memorial Hospital Foundation and the City of Germantown. Meanwhile, play and recreation company PlayCore set up the equipment and provided free design and technical help. In 2011 Everybody’s Tree House garnered an “outstanding achievement award” from the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The tree house is positioned amongst native trees and plants and is designed to be accessible to all kids. Moreover, in progress are further plans for the park, including raised sandboxes and interactive gardens. 22. Signal Centers Therapeutic Playground for the Arts – Chattanooga, Tennessee The Signal Centers Therapeutic Playground for the Arts is situated in Chattanooga, Tennessee. This recreational area is intended for kids of all ability levels and was opened in August 2010. At least $215,000 went into the project, an amount generated by Friends of Special Children. Childcare specialists, teachers, staff, and professionals in the fields of licensing, safety and accessibility teamed up on the design, which included plenty of natural elements – not least over 50 species of shrubs, plants and trees – for a truly multi-sensory experience. As a result of all this, the playground achieved certification from NatureGrounds. “Children need interaction with nature during outdoor play,” said Signal Centers CEO Donna McConnico. “It stimulates the mind, strengthens the body and helps to develop a sense of wonder and imagination.” 21. Rocket Park – Grand Junction, Colorado The out-of-this-world Rocket Park in Grand Junction, Colorado has an interesting history. In the 1960s, a rocket-shaped jungle gym was built on the site – formerly known as Melrose Park – and despite it being popular with the locals, in 2009 it was deemed unsafe and put out of service. However, rather than the rocket being consigned to the scrap heap, it was spruced up before being installed as a piece of art at a new inclusive playground. The new park has a cool space theme and was designed by Play & Park Structures. Its budget: around $200,000. The facility has plenty of ramps so that all kids can play on the equipment, while the smooth surface is decorated with retro-looking rockets and stars. Other attractions include interactive games, “rocket control” panels, multi-sensory toys and accessible swings. 20. Jacob’s Park – Boynton Beach, Florida Jacob’s Park in Boynton Beach, Florida is a tribute to Jacob Rappoport, who in 2002 passed away as a result of spinal muscular atrophy, when he was less than a year old. To raise awareness about his condition, his parents established the Jacob Isaac Rappoport Foundation. They also used this organizational framework to set up a play area where children of different abilities could have valuable interaction with one another – because if Jacob had lived, he would have faced a lot of physical challenges. Jacob’s parents teamed up with GameTime, who designed the inclusive playground. It features ramps, slides, sensory equipment and smooth surfacing. The project cost $193,000 to develop, and a group of volunteers helped to put the apparatus together. 19. Stewart Vincent Wolfe Creative Playground – Yuma, Arizona Budding princes and princesses will be itching to explore the castle-themed Stewart Vincent Wolfe Creative Playground, which opened in 2007 in Yuma, Arizona. Stretching over more than three acres, the mega play zone was partly funded by Ron Martin and was named after a friend of his. Designers Leathers & Associates worked with the local community to bring the park to life. More than 8,000 volunteers assisted in building the facility, while 5,000 school kids shared ideas for its design. The playground boasts Pebble Flex surfacing suitable for wheelchairs, lots of slides, a special swing for youngsters with disabilities and even a “fighter jet.” 18. Reese’s Retreat – Pasadena, California This fabulous pirate ship play park was opened in April 2011 and is to be found in Pasadena’s Brookside Park. Reese’s Retreat stretches over almost half an acre and is the city’s first accessible playground of its type, featuring ramps, wheelchair-friendly flooring, and fun multi-sensory apparatus with sand and water for play. The play park cost $1.2 million to build and was largely funded by a grant from the state. A number of companies and groups contributed to the project’s design, including nonprofit organization Shane’s Inspiration, which works to help disabled kids. The park is named after the late Reese Elliott, who had special needs and used to adore playing pirates. Some 2,600 of Pasadena’s children have special needs, and now they can enjoy having fun with their friends in what has been dubbed “the best playground in Southern California.” 17. Zachary’s Playground – Lake St. Louis, Missouri Zachary’s Playground is located at Hawk Ridge Park in Lake St. Louis, Missouri. It’s named after Zachary Blackmore, whose mother, Natalie, helped set up nonprofit organization Unlimited Play to procure funds for the park. Unlimited Play teamed up with St. Charles Developmental Disabilities Resource Board to make the $750,000 facility happen, while Landscape Structures designed the equipment, which runs along a castle and maritime theme. The park includes accessible swings, a water play feature for warm days, a music space, slides and a net for climbing – complete with special seating. The playground also features surfacing for wheelchair users, as well as an accessible picnic area. 16. Taylor’s Dream – Fort Wayne, Indiana Taylor’s Dream is situated in Krieger Park in Fort Wayne, Indiana. PlayWorld Midstates conceived the play park’s design, which stretches over 16,530 square feet. Taylor Reuille, at time time an 11-year-old girl, came up with the idea for the inclusive playground, and after many years of funds being raised and grants and donations procured, the facility was opened in 2011. As park visitor Sherry Woodman pointed out, it’s not just children who can benefit from accessible equipment, either. “I’m a disabled parent and I couldn’t come [to parks] when they were little,” she said. “Parents with disabilities are going to be able to come here and feel like normal parents and be able to just enjoy their kids.” The park features ramps, a sensory play area, an AeroGlider, a water play section and more. 15. Clemyjontri Park – Fairfax County, Virginia The playground at Clemyjontri Park in Virginia’s Fairfax County is tough to miss. It stretches across 2 acres and has a rainbow color scheme. The playground opened in 2006 and is split into four areas, with each section featuring different apparatus, helping kids to exercise their imaginations. There are also plenty of opportunities to get active on accessible equipment, which includes ramps, various special swings and more. The play park’s centerpiece is a carousel, which children can even use while still seated in wheelchairs. This unique park was the dream of Adele Lebowitz, who donated land to the local authorities on the condition that it be used to create a playground for children with disabilities. Landscape architect Grace Fielder, who helped develop the park, said, “Its imaginative design really gets all kids into the outdoors expending energy. There is even a wheelchair drag strip.” 14. Tony Stewart Playground – Columbus, Indiana Budding racecar drivers will love the Tony Stewart Playground in Columbus, Indiana, as it has a racing theme. Decked out in a slick red and black color scheme, the park, by GameTime, was opened in 2013. Children of all abilities can play on slides, swings and a Rock-N-Raft, before zipping down ramps and under a set of checkered finish-line flags on a wheelchair-friendly surface. The Columbus Park Foundation teamed up with city local and NASCAR champ Tony Stewart to set up the Race2Play initiative, which drew from over half a million dollars in funding to improve four playgrounds in the area and ensure that “kids of all physical abilities have a good, safe place to play.” 13. JT’s Grommet Island Beach Park and Playground for Every“BODY” – Virginia Beach, Virginia JT’s Grommet Island Beach Park and Playground for Every“BODY” was the brainchild of Josh Thompson and his family. Thompson loved the beach and surfing from childhood, but in 2006, while still young, he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease – which causes weakness and wasting away of the muscle. After Thompson hung back from a family trip to the beach because of the challenge of negotiating the sand in a wheelchair, his father approached the City of Virginia Beach with the idea of an accessible beach park. City authorities agreed that it was a great idea, and the nation’s first such beachfront park was built for about $1 million. The park is decked out with a beach theme; it also features elevated tables for making sandcastles, a “sway board,” and a sensory panel that provides entertainment for visually challenged children. 12. Harambee Park – Boston, Massachusetts The inclusive $740,000 playground at Boston’s Harambee Park was unveiled in May 2009. Its funding was furnished by the CVS Caremark Charitable Trust and through a program set out by Thomas Menino, the city’s mayor at the time. The facility was developed by Boundless Playgrounds and is the first of this type in Boston. “It allows all kids to take part in the fun and will offer many of them new perspectives and activities that may not have been attainable until today,” said Menino. As well as the ramps and wheelchair-friendly surfacing, the playground features high-backed swings, plus play panels and a vibrant purple and yellow color scheme. 11. Can-Do Playground – Wilmington, Delaware Can-Do Playground in Wilmington, Delaware, was the brainchild of Rotary Club members in the area who thought it would be a great way to commemorate the organization’s 100-year anniversary. The 26,000-square-foot facility is positioned in the city’s Alapocas Run State Park and features gardens, mazes and games, as well as plenty of special play equipment – such as adapted swings and raised sandboxes. It is classed as a NatureGrounds park thanks to its abundance of plants and trees, which give added value to children’s play. As one visitor said, “One of the coolest playgrounds we’ve ever been to, and I think that can be said for kids of any skills and abilities!” 10. Livvi’s Place – Five Dock, New South Wales, Australia Livvi’s Place in Five Dock, New South Wales has the enviable accolade of being the first all-inclusive playground in Australia. It is situated in the Sydney suburb’s Timbrell Park. The idea for Livvi’s Place started with John and Justine Perkins, whose daughter Olivia died when she was less than a year old as a result of a rare condition. The Perkinses established the Touched by Olivia Foundation, which – among other things – works within local contexts to develop inclusive play parks. The facility in Five Dock features swings, musical equipment, a wheelchair-accessible carousel and more. In 2010, the playground received a tribute from Parks and Leisure Australia for being the country’s top play space. Then the following year the Touched by Olivia Foundation picked up the Innovation Prize from World Leisure International. 9. Lake Macquarie Variety Playground – Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia This massive inclusive playground at Australia’s Lake Macquarie is alleged to be the biggest play park in the southern hemisphere. Lake Macquarie Variety Playground was commissioned by the local city council and covers almost five acres of land. It features an array of swings – including a wheelchair-accessible Liberty Swing – plus touch-friendly totem poles for kids with visual impairment, an enormous slide, musical apparatus, a play boat that can be enjoyed by wheelchair users, a maze, a secluded area for quiet time, and much more. “I have a child with a disability. This park is both fun and great for developing the motor skills she requires,” said one visitor. The $5 million facility was unveiled in 2011, and during the same year it received the Best Play Space in Australia accolade from Parks and Leisure Australia. 8. Hope Park – Frisco, Texas Hope Park in Frisco, Texas, was the vision of Jenni Jensen, who had to deal with a lack of amenities in the area that were suitable for her daughter with Down’s syndrome. Jensen connected with Rene Sinclair and Shannon Swarbrick, and together they pressed ahead with the idea for Hope Park, which is believed to have cost almost $600,000 to build. Designed by Leathers & Associates, the recreational space includes ramps along with a smooth, squashy surface for people in wheelchairs. It also comes set with special swings, a roller slide, sensory equipment and musical instruments. Interestingly, local author Kristan Olfers produced a children’s book called One Park for All whose profits went towards the playground’s development. 7. Matthew’s Boundless Playground – Kissimmee, Florida Matthew’s Boundless Playground is situated at Give Kids the World in Kissimmee, Florida. Give Kids the World is a fun resort that can be visited by children with critical illnesses and their families for a free, weeklong vacation. Based on the board game Candy Land, Matthew’s Boundless Playground invites visitors to the park to wind along a path that takes them via Gumdrop Pass and Lollipop Forest to the magical Candy Castle. The playground was donated to Give Kids the World by Hasbro and was named after Matthew McGowan, who suffered from cancer and passed away in 2007 at the age of 8. As well as boasting special swings and slides, the play park is home to elevated walkways for wheelchairs – and all in delicious candy-colored hues. Excitingly, on Sunday evenings children get to be the “pieces” in the “world’s largest Candy Land game.” 6. The Play Park – Exeter, U.K. The Play Park is nestled in King George V playing fields in Exeter, England, and contains everything needed for a great day out. The park came into being through the initiative of Miriam Guard from British learning disability charity Mencap. She felt strongly that a playground should be built for kids of all abilities after hearing about the difficulties of a mother who had an autistic child. The Play Park has received funding from foundations, trusts, private contributors and business donors together with the U.K.’s Big Lottery Fund. This facility features a roundabout, a trampoline, a seesaw and a swing unit, all of which are suitable for children in wheelchairs or with restricted mobility. There’s even a gadget that plays happier sounds the higher a child swings. 5. Helen Diller Playground – San Francisco, California The Helen Diller Playground was named for a local philanthropist and is situated in San Francisco’s Mission Dolores Park, this impressive play area came into being thanks to contributions from the Mercer Fund and a couple of key city funding sources, to the collective tune of $3.5 million. The pastel-colored park – designed by Koch Landscape Architecture – includes an enormous 45-foot-long slide, plenty of swings, bongo drums, a giant xylophone, an array of climbing facilities, a raised sand table and more. There’s even a pair of wheelchair-friendly play boats, so that kids of all abilities can play pirates and other make-believe games. “Everything here is fun,” exclaimed a 7-year-old visitor to the playground. “Everything!” 4. Playground Without Limits – Houston, Texas The Playground Without Limits is handily located at the Metropolitan Multi-Service Center in Houston, Texas. The play park features various ramps, so wheelchair users can enjoy 90 percent of the equipment, and there is also an accessible “Sway Fun” glider, sound play devices, and a rehabilitation trail for improving skills. Local philanthropist Dr. Carolyn Farb spearheaded inclusive play parks in Houston through her Playgrounds Without Limits campaign, and the park was funded by way of a grant from the Vale-Asche Foundation. “Play is a vital part of how children grow,” explained Farb. “Playgrounds are where children learn to explore, build friendships, and develop social skills they will use throughout their lives.” 3. Jake’s Place – Cherry Hill, New Jersey Jake’s Place in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, was named for Jake Nasto, who passed away in 2008 at the age of 2. His parents decided to form Build Jake’s Place with the purpose of raising the money needed to develop an all-inclusive playground for children. CVS Pharmacies provided a notable portion of the playground’s funding, while the rest came through contributions from local people and companies. The park cost roughly half a million dollars to build. Boundless Playgrounds chipped in with the design, which includes sensory sections, a ramp, wheelchair lifts, slides and more. Plus, there are special areas in which autistic kids can spend time by themselves or spin around. 2. Tatum’s Garden – Salinas, California Tatum’s Garden in Salinas, California, was inspired by 3-year-old Tatum Bakker, who has spina bifida, the project took 14 months to come to fruition. “I’m so proud of everybody. We took a dream and we made it reality,” explained Tatum’s mother, Amanda. The surface of the 20,000-square-foot playground is covered in cushioning rubber and the park is filled with wheelchair-friendly ramps and structures, as well as adaptive swings. Taking Brooklyn’s Playground in Idaho as their leading example, the Bakkers turned to accessible play park experts Leathers & Associates – the company behind Brooklyn’s. They also had the backing of the Salinas Circle for Children together with the support of their local community. 1. Shiver Me Timbers Millennium Park – Lake Charles, Louisiana Lake Charles, Louisiana’s Shiver Me Timbers Millennium Park was originally unveiled in September 2000. The charming accessible playground was paid for by donors and was constructed by more than 6,000 willing volunteers. The 20,000-square-foot playground is double the size of its predecessor and includes a 40-foot pirate ship, an adaptive swing and the standout Crying Eagles Nest Treehouse – which, like the other big structures, is wheelchair accessible.

First, you’re right about one thing: Bush is no Hitler. Hitler was a socialist and believed in something beside money. He did not dodge real military service and he believed at least in Germany which was a real nation and not a corporation like the US. Moreover, Hitler did not use depleted uranium and phosphorous to burn people alive. He did not condone the torture of prisoners “for fun” or “to relieve stress”. ["I knew Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler was a friend of mine. And believe me, Mr. Bush, you are no Hitler."] Second, regarding 9/11, you obviously are ill informed. Let me refer you to a few videos and web sites that might open your Jewish eyes (no offense, I am Jewish myself and was once blind too). http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5137581991288263801 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2023320890224991194 http://www.911truestory.com/ or http://www.911truth.org/ Aren’t you curious about why Bush was against a 9/11 Commission? Why no real police investigation was conducted? Why no black box, parts of planes like engines or bodies were recovered? Why whatever was recovered was quickly shipped out of the country? Why, in a way that is totally unprecedented and not repeated since, buildings burned and collapsed like paper houses even the building that wasn‘t hit by planes and where there were just two minor fires? Did you know that some of the alleged hijackers who supposedly died on the planes have since been seen? Don’t you ask why the volume of put options on Boeing and American Airlines were two or three times higher than usual just before the facts? Do you know that a huge amount of gold that was stored in one of the towers is still not accounted for? These are but a few of the many questions that remain unanswered. I wish that before you publish a book about the Menace in Europe, you think about the real damage that this country has inflicted on mankind since it came into existence 200 plus years ago. 12 of 15 Action Forum participants voted to AGREE

This Friday: Yardmeter Editions Presents a Reading & One-Night Art Show Featuring Brenda Iijima & Daniel Lin, Craig Foltz & Kristin D'Agostino. The third yardmeter editions event will feature poets Brenda Iijima & Daniel Lin, multimedia artist Craig Foltz & jeweler/sculptor Kristin D'Agostino. Yardmeter Editions is an events series that brings together artists, writers, playwrights & other creative types in an informal setting in the Gowanaus neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. location: 267 douglass st, brooklyn, ny Friday June 19th: 7:30pm from Union St (R / M trains): walk north three blocks on 4th Ave & turn left on Douglass from Atlantic / Pacific: walk south on 4th Ave for seven blocks & turn right on Douglass Kristin D'Agostino is the side-project-queen of participatory/dialogic/littoral/interventionist jewelery in New Zealand. As she sees it jewelery is about relationships, so why stop at the object? Why not make a relationship for her objects to live within? She is actively recruiting North American participants for her first bi-hemisphere, co-owned, brooch project called Rare Fungal Behaviour & would very much like to see brooches popping up, like ghosts, around the five Burroughs. You can find more information here www.rarefungalbehaviour.blogspot.com. Brenda Iijima's forthcoming works include revv. you'll--ution (Displaced Press) & If Not Metamorphic (Ahsahta Press). She writes about animal-ability. Present work deals with animals used as surrogates by humans (other animals). She runs Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs & lives in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. Craig Foltz is a writer and multi-media artist who lives on the slopes of a dormant volcano in Auckland, New Zealand. This one is not a test. If I understand the meaning of the word correctly. He is the author of The States, from Ugly Duckling Presse, & you can see his work at www.craigfoltz.com. Daniel Lin has a chapbook, TINDER, from Nightboat Books, & has recently published poems in Unsplendid, Notre Dame Review & The Jewish Quarterly. He was a N.Y. Times Fellow at NYU & a Tennessee Williams Scholar at Sewanee Writers’ Conference. He co-edits Love among the Ruins, which will publish limited-edition chapbooks & an online journal.

|Page 1 of 82:|| | |Index||811 reviews in total| This movie relates more than just a story of "Vengeance". Besides proving that killing begets killing - it consists of numerous fine details that reveal the hard work done at getting to the depth of For instance, only characters that get shot in the head slump to the ground. The rest take time to die - they walk a few steps, spurt blood and express a look of helplessness and inevitability before going out. Yes its horrifying to look at, which is the point, but it is also real. Every character is different, and though common in their desire for vengeance, their temperaments are clearly distinguishable in the way the hit men approach their task. Even the terrorists are not stereotyped into hysterical, screaming lunatics. They range from the visibly nervous to the cool Abu Salameh with the movie star style. They are poets, intellectuals and guerrillas each with his story of the conflict. They speak passionately about home - a recurring theme, along with "family". Moreover, Spielberg does not attempt to mitigate the grotesque manner of their deaths, for the blood of the targeted men flows as freely as that of their victims - and when they are blown up, their body parts dangle from ceiling fans. You are not here to feel satisfaction over anyone's death, Spielberg says to the audience. Or as Caine would say in Kung Fu: "The taking of a life does no one honour." There are no easy "shoot-em-dead" eliminations. There are neighbors, bystanders and obstacles that must be avoided and protected - with variable success. Innocent people may be harmed - and one has to live with that. There are no mathematical certainties about the potential damage a bomb will cause. Perspectives and convictions can change, sometimes regrettably. "Don't think about it - just do it" says Avner at one stage when a member of the team expresses doubts about a target's guilt. But at the end he wants evidence that the men he despatched were justifiably killed. Implausible? No; it is only when he has been reunited with his family and experiences the affection of wife and child that he allows himself to reflect from a different perspective - their targets had families too - what if he had killed the wrong men? The paranoia that permeates the world of spies and assassins is built up gradually - to the point where every survivor mistrusts everybody else. One is doomed all one's life to walk with ears strained for following footsteps. The length of the movie creates the right atmosphere for this idea. The end dissatisfies many because they would like a reassurance, a note of optimistic finality - but Spielberg rightly offers none. It would be dishonest of him to offer a false but comforting illusion. It is interesting to contrast this movie with "Paradise Now" that has no violence, a modest budget, and views the conflict from the Palestinian camp. Both narrate completely different stories - yet, in their respective ways, both humanize their subjects, defuse myths about glory, and arrive at the same conclusion: "There's no peace at the end of this." Steven Spielberg has absolutely everything at his disposal, he can make an epic in no time at all. But, even he must know that films, most films have a soul and that can't be rushed. Why the need to rush this film into screens? For Oscar consideration? If there was a film that needed nurturing and thought was this one. The length is a flaw in itself. It makes it appear self indulgent and, quite frankly,annoying. If one could, and one should, put that aside, "Munich" is a remarkable experience. Tony Kushner and Eric Roth deal with people in all its complexity - a welcome new detail in a Spielberg film - and that gives "Munich" its most powerful aspect. Eric Bana is extraordinary and the humanity of his gaze is confusing and recognizable at the same time. His crying at hearing his child's voice over the phone is as real as his hardness when he massacres his targets. The controversy raising after the first public screenings seems pre-fabricated by a marketing machine. The questioning of Bana's character and the appalling nature of revenge can't be controversial it's at the base of human nature. To call Spielberg "no friend of Israel" is as absurd as it is suspicious. No, this movie is a thriller, based on actual events, directed by the greatest craftsman of the last 30 years in a record amount of time. Go see it. *** This review may contain spoilers *** Reading over the comments and message board postings for Munich on this site, I get the impression that at least 75% of the people here are less interested in discussing the film and its message than the Arab-Israeli conflict in general. I've read a lot of baseless criticisms, and I honestly think that the whole point went over most of these people's heads. The ones who have actually seen the movie, that This film was a masterpiece, and it's refreshing to see such a heavy, thought-provoking film released by a major studio. Anyone who claims that the film is pro-Israel or biased in either direction really has brought their own baggage to the theatre with them, or they haven't actually seen the film firsthand. To anyone seriously interested in seeing this film, PLEASE do not listen to the pseudo-intellectuals who are posting their ignorant, uninformed opinions of the film at IMDb. Don't go to the theatre expecting to have your own personal bias (whichever it may be) reinforced. The only bias you will find in this film is your own. 'Munich' is, on the whole, a straight forward hit-man movie. The assignments are handed out; the team is assembled, each with their own specialty; and they travel about Europe plotting and carrying out their hits. We have the inevitable paranoia, the double agents and suspicious loyalties. So far, so familiar. Only 'Munich' is wrapped in the thin veneer of 'history' and 'fact', and mob bosses and corporate espionage is replaced with Middle Eastern politics and Israeli-Arab relations. I mention this because the politics of 'Munich' are really nothing more than a topical plot devise, used the same way as cold-war relations and soviet villainy was used thirty years ago. What prevents 'Munich' becoming just a generic updated-cold-war thriller, is the sheer quality of the production. From the flawless recreation of European capitals in the early seventies to the impeccable costume design to the beautiful cinematography 'Munich' is a visually fascinating movie. The performances are universally outstanding, with Bana in particular bringing a sense of tough nobility that seems to be his forte. The script is intelligent and thought-provoking, and it is Kushner's focus on the emotional and psychological landscape of his characters rather than the details of political contract killing, that ultimately lifts the movie above the generic. The kind of self-consciously poetic prose for which he is known, so often seeming unrealistically erudite, is kept to a minimum, and when it does appear, is so beautifully written and performed that all reservations are forgotten. Ultimately, the greatest praise must be reserved for Spielberg, who has, with 'Munich', created perhaps the first truly adult movie of his career. We see no signs of his trademark sentimentality, his descents into fantasy, his childish simplification of motivation. With 'Munich', he embraces ambiguity and complexity, and as a result, has invited criticism from those who prefer their drama simplistically black and white. Above all, one can't help but wonder what the Spielberg oeuvre would look had he not dedicated his career to kid's movies, fantasies and feel-good sci-fi. 'Munich' is an intelligent and gripping thriller that is a major contender for award recognition, and deservedly so. An outstanding achievement. *** This review may contain spoilers *** In an interview given shortly before the release of "Munich," director Steven Spielberg discussed his film in the context of world terror today, as follows: "Somewhere inside all this intransigence, there has to be a prayer for peace." I personally recall the tragic events of the 1972 Olympic games in Munich, as I had just graduated from college and was following closely the moving and graphic images on television, as described so vividly by newscasters Jim McKay and Peter Jennings. The opening scene of "Munich" recreates the attack on the dormitory and the subsequent killing of the athletes at the airport. Those were ten minutes of taut and riveting drama. But the main dramatic impetus of "Munich" is the retaliation on the Palestinian planners of the "Black September" massacre. The strike force is led by the character Avner, a zealous and patriotic member of Israel's Mossad. Along with Eric Bana in the role of Avner, the entire cast of "Munich" is superb. Geoffrey Rush is a standout as the Mossad handler of Avner, and in an all-too-brief scene, Lynn Cohen turns in a charismatic performance as Golda Meir. But "Munich" is not a film to discuss in terms of star performances, and much credit should go to Tony Kushner and Eric Roth for the thoughtful ensemble screenplay. The most memorable moments in the film are those involving the hit team led by Avner. In the planning and carrying out of the assassinations by a small group of men, it becomes clear that the participants are no more than ordinary people who become obsessed with killing. Thus Avner, who would prefer the domestic world of living with his wife and newborn daughter, descends into a virtual state of madness as a result of the killing frenzy. The Greek poet Aeschylus wrote one of the most expressive works of literature on the theme of "an eye for an eye" in the revenge trilogy "Oresteia." That epic work dramatizes the culmination of the long cycle of murder within the ill-fated House of Atreus in Greek mythology. The killings finally end when the goddess Athena establishes the law court in Athens to provide human justice, as opposed to blood vengeance. Orestes succumbs to the pursuit of the furies and spirals into madness. That was the precise tragic journey of Avner, as depicted in "Munich." Mr. Spielberg's concept of "intransigence" gets to the heart of the matter in our own modern tragic experience. In the Oxford English Dictionary, the word intransigence is defined as "uncompromising hostility; irreconcilability." Like the "Oresteia," the film "Munich" provides a balanced and powerful commentary on the human impulse of "an eye for an eye" revenge. The ancient Greek concept of justice meant something like "scale" or "balance" used to resolve a seemingly irreconcilable conflict. The thoughtful and powerful film "Munich" offers us the opportunity to meditate on this concept, not for the 5th century B.C. world of Aeschylus, but for our own. Gandhi said, "An eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind." What distinguishes justice from vengeance? This echoes throughout Steven Spielberg's "Munich". "Munich" is powerful and perhaps Spielberg's most compelling and thought provoking work. He weaves a tapestry of political and social threads focusing on terrorism and the cost of violence. "Munich" is truly amazing in balancing linear storytelling and horrific acts of violence, demonstrating the impact of the aftermath. Spielberg's "Munich" seen through the eyes of Eric Bana's Avner is a powerful allegory that even in the most just and noble fights against terror we eventually become that which we despise. "Munich" really serves as a reminder. Mossad team leader Avner played by Eric Bana is absolutely riveting as the man who begins this righteous cause only to find that the cost is his soul. Anver asks, "When does it ever end?" At the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Palestinian terrorists brutally murdered the Israeli wrestling team. This political statement was seen around the world and depicted in gory detail by Director Spielberg. Based on the book "Vengeance" by George Jones, the screenplay by Tony Kushner and Eric Roth tells the story of the aftermath of this tragedy. A great Lynn Cohen who plays Prime Minister Golda Meir says, "Every civilization finds it necessary to negotiate compromises with its own values." Poetic words for what follows are a search and destroy mission. The Mossad assembles a team lead by Avner (Bana) to track down and kill with extreme prejudice all those involved in the terrorist action in Munich. 11 names are identified for execution. These executions are also intended to serve as statements. Anver though an inexperienced operative and not an assassin is selected for the covert mission by Ephriam (the great Geoffrey Rush) for being a strong and effective leader of men. The assassin team is composed of Steve (Daniel Craigthe next James Bond), Carl (Ciaran Hinds), Robert (Mathieu Kassovitz), and Hans (Hanns Zischler). They are dissociated from the Mossad, i.e. they technically don't exist. In accepting the lead, Avner must leave his beautiful and pregnant wife Daphna (a very strong Ayelet Zorer) for what could be a number of years. Carl has his doubts about Avner, telling him that he was chosen because he is a "good soldier". Soon Carl respects Avner for his quiet force and conscience. Attack of conscience and paranoia soon engulf the team as they become entrenched in the world of underground intelligence for hire. Avner pays large sums of money for information on the whereabouts of his targets from Louis (wonderfully shady Mathiew Amalric) and his wealthy Papa (weary and noble Michael Lonsdale). Avner soon finds that whomever he kills is eventually replaced, and that he and potentially his family is now a target for the terrorists he was assigned to hunt down and kill. The realization is that it truly never ends. Bana is amazing as a trapped animal in the scene in his thrashed apartmentsearching for weapons of his demise. Paranoia sets in, and the path of justice and vengeance become blurred. In a poignant scene Robert pleads to Avner, "When I lose my righteousness, I lose everything " Nothing about "Munich" is easy, though it is simple. I believe that is Steven Spielberg's intention. "Munich" could be tighter in spots, though this does not diminish the movie's power and impact. Eric Bana emerges as the noble hero battling to salvage his own humanity and his very soul. "When does it ever end?" Perhaps even in the current context there is no real answermaybe what Spielberg is getting at. It is a reminder of our humanity, that even the most righteous cause may cost our souls. "Munich" is truly a powerful movie worth seeing. I am not a big Spielberg fan, and find he often goes for cheap emotional manipulation in his films, especially his endings. I was there fore amazed at the unflinching control he exercised in Munich, his utter unwillingness to flinch at complexities, his ability to dissect the ideological and moral sureties of all sides within the natural rhythms of the thriller genre. There is so much to praise in this film, because it is utterly seamless film-making with a keen eye for every little detail that never reveals the intense precision behind While some have found the film "disengaged," I found that it pulled at the viewer's conscience through the central characters, not only Bana's Israeli agent Avner and his cohorts, most of who slowly find themselves gnawed by doubts of their mission's morality and effectiveness, but also smaller characters as well, drawn with indelible deftnessthe weary ex-French Resistance fighter now a trader in deadly information to stateless agents because of his cynicism about recurrent corrupt regimes replacing each other, or the PLO operative who debates Palestinian strategy and justification with Avner, who he wrongly believes to be a German left-wing terrorist who is "soft" on Jews because of the Holocaust. The economy of Spielberg's film-making is breathtaking in hindsight, so that what at first seems a relatively flat and emotionless exercise in historical recreation slowly seeps into one's subconscious and then moves upward, in quick bursts of sudden bursts of emotional and intellectual recognition by the viewer. These are real human beings, these are fighters in a war they believe in desperately and whose people have suffered terribly yet can find no real peace. For this Kushner and Roth's screenplay must get much credit, the crisp narrative development intertwined with intellectually rigorous set pieces and flat-out armrest-clutching actions sequences. John Williams, who has managed to be understated in the past, is equally adept at building (or feinting) tension and subtly commenting on character development. Check out the slightly dissonant piano in the last scene to see what I mean. Longtime Spielberg collaborator Janusz Kaminski creates some amazing framing devices, especially as the action sequences are about to unfold and during moments of intimate conversations imbued with tension. Michael Kahn's editing is crisp and occasionally startling, as in the way the conclusion of the horrifically bungled Munich "rescue" is related. The retelling of the entire event from break-in to conclusion is doled out in bits and pieces in what seems at first an attempt to soften its impact but in the end, entwined as it is with all of the complicated issues, is finally revealed as a masterful means of achieving the fully deserved emotional impact within a complexly rendered ideological, moral and strategic matrix. There is not a false note in any of the acting, and the casting is uniformly spot-on. About the politics. The radicals on either side will reject the film out of hand because it dares to render both sides as human and worthy of understanding. But attempting to understand choices of violence and vengeance as strategies does not in any way mean condoning them. Certainly, anyone who feels that the film somehow allows a viewer to walk away thinking that Black September was justified in its attack is probably projecting his or her fears about how some imagined uninformed viewer might react. Instead, the film demonstrates that whether one feels either or both sides justified it doesn't mannerneither side can win through violence at this point. This was Yitzhak Rabin's great insightyou don't make peace with your friends, you make peace with your enemies. His Israeli Jewish murderers wanted violence to continue, believing that only a continued state of war would keep Israel from giving back land they saw as bound up with their faith but which international law, historical study and the basic "facts on the ground" reveal to be bound to be returned to the Palestinians. Ariel Sharon, of all people, came to understand this, though without the larger vision and magnanimity of spirit that his fellow warrior Rabin discovered. Spielberg's message is clearthe extremists will choose war over peace, but must so many of us side with the extremists because of our fear of appearing weak or "giving in"? A last note on politicsthere is clear relevance to the United States' current predicament post-9/11. One can almost here Cheney or Bush making the speech made by Israeli premier Golda Meir in the film (an extraordinary piece of recreation that transcends mere imitation), only probably with more moral surety and less sense of resignation. Anyone paying attention to world reaction to Guantanimo, Abu Gharib, the bombing of Afghan and Iraqi villages and the spiriting away of suspected terrorists through "rendition" for torture in "friendly" nations must be aware that whether one leans hard or soft on such matters, there is going to be a price to be paid. The hardliners believe we will just keep punching and slugging and eventually the bad guys will go down; that they will not reproduce themselves like the many-headed Hydra or germinate and reproduce by the thousands in the fetid waters of our perceived hypocrisywhether you think it justified or not it doesn't matter. As Spielberg makes clear in this film, all that matters in the end is peace or violence, and whoever ultimately desires the former had better be damn sure that their use of the latter is measured by the awareness that it use will create debts that will need to be repaid in the end, and the debtors will most likely be the generations to come on all sides. Another dip in the Spielberg pool and I come away drenched in emotion. I was a freshman in high school in Texas during the Munich games. I was stunned by the events and understood little. Today, I am still stunned by Munich and every terrorist act that followed, but I understand so much more and grieve. Spielberg gives us a powerful glimpse into the meaning of home, family, honor, history, ethics, and faith. The movie is not about the Jews and Arabs. It's about human beings. It's about us. The narrative is driven by our connection to Avner. We watch as Eric Bana opens himself up in a way that the likes of a George Clooney in Syriana only dreams of. This is a must see. I don't think the "perfect" movie has been made yet. I don't know that a masterpiece is necessarily perfect, so, viewers will undoubtedly find faults in this movie, some of which have already been expressed in the comment section. But masterpiece or not, I really liked this movie. It told a particular side of the story and told it well. And if you witnessed any of the tragedy of Munich in the summer of 1972, you feel a connection to the events portrayed in this movie. We, the audience, become a member of the hit squad able to empathize with the angst in becoming assassins with consciences, as collateral damage does matter. But the trouble with trying to maintain a conscience is that each notch on the belt is another slash of your humanity ripped from your soul. You squirm from living in the uncertainty of trusting people you are suspicious of in order to fulfill your mission. You nervously plan the pathway to the next target. You seethe with the frenzy of the kill. You perpetually twitch in the paranoia of becoming the hunted, "sleeping" with one eye open and a finger on the trigger. In the beginning you are swept away by your sense of duty to God and country above all else. In the end you are cynical, angry and afraid about what you have done and what you have become. There are many other sides of this story. It is left to other movies or media to tell those versions. I won't take this one as a definitive history lesson on the subject. Instead I'll take it as a captivating tale of a struggle of life and death played on a complex stage of geopolitics. If you ask me who was the most talented director working in film today, I'd hesitate for a while. Then I'd look at you and say, "Probably Steven Spielberg'. A lot of film directors in Hollywoodwho are well-known are overrated (Oliver Stone, Sofia Coppola, Anthony Minghella, etc), but one that is not overrated at all is Spielberg. The man is obviously a cinematic genius who thrilled and enthralled us with his grim but unimaginably powerful WWII epic 'Saving Private Ryan', his still-frightening 'Jaws', his severely underrated 'Amistad' and of course, his heart-breaking masterpiece that still remains one of the twenty best films of all time 'Schindler's List'. I can't even begin to describe to you how jazzed I was about the controversial vengeance drama 'Munich', which was Spielberg's first Oscar-contending movie in seven years. After viewing it I have to say I was a bit let down, but I still got what I predicted I'd get going into the theater -- the best film of 2005. Spielberg challenges our beliefs on justice with his intense but painfully realistic bone-chilling masterpiece. You have to see this movie. Almost around the age of 45-50 remembers the 1972 Olympics incident that happened in Munich. On a gloom September day, eleven innocent Israeli athletes were abducted and taken prisoner by a mob of Palestinian terrorists. The terrorists held them hostage at the Munich airport, then based on a mistake by the Munich police department many terrorists were killed and took all of the unfortunate hostages with them. The film starts after these events when Prime Minister Golda Meir (Lynn Cohen), secretly decides to start a small mission to find the Palestinian's responsible and murder them. She hands the case down to case officer Ephraim (Academy Award Winner Geoffrey Rush - Shine) who hands it over to Meir's ex-bodyguard Avner (Eric Bana - Troy). Avner must leave his family to undergo this mission and form a team to help him complete it. The team is; Steve (Daniel Craig - Layer Cake), the trigger-man, Carl (Ciarin Hinds - HBO's Rome) the clean-up man, Robert (Mathieu Kassovitz - Birthday Girl), an ex-toy maker turned explosives expert, and the elderly Hans (Hanns Zischler - Undercover) who is a forging expert. They five go on a mission of vengeance, but are soon faced with unexpected problems in the process and feelings of guilt which lead some to believe maybe what they are doing isn't righteous. When creating 'Munich' Steven Spielberg could have sided one way or the other on issue 'revenge killing', but he doesn't, and I strongly admire that. Instead, Spielberg does what any intellectual would do, he presents situations and historical truths and makes you decide for yourself. That's something you can't expect nasty politically-slanted morons like Michael Moore to do. Spielberg provides us with the best film directing in two years with his quiet stroke of genius that is Munich. Spielberg's directing is both electrifying during the action sequences and beautiful during the poignant and thought- provoking scenes like when Kassovitz's Robert questions Bana's Avner about the good of what they are doing in a subway station on the way to assassinate another target. Munich's film editing and cinematography both should win Oscars, while the acting (which isn't getting much acclaim from award mediums) is frightfully close to perfect. Eric Bana gives the performance of his career as Avner that will no doubt impress you, while Kassovitz, Zischler and Craig exceptional also. Rome's Ciarin Hinds turns in an outstanding performance as the ultra-cool clean-up guy Carl that should also win an Oscar nomination, while Geoffrey Rush does wonders with a small role as Avner's case officer (so does Lynn Cohen as Golda Meir). If Spielberg's 'Munich' doesn't tug at your chest at the end, I would question your humanity. Spielberg doesn't butter this up so it goes down easier, he aims straight for the gut with his razor sharp realism and rubs salt in the wound. 'Munich' isn't a fun film, but there is no question it is a riveting and nearly flawless one. You will have a lot to talk about after the film has ended. With 'Munich', Steven Spielberg gives us one hell of a history lesson. Grade: A (screened at AMC Deer Valley 30, Phoenix, Arizona, 1/7/05) |Page 1 of 82:|| | |Plot summary||Plot synopsis||Ratings| |Awards||Newsgroup reviews||External reviews| |Parents Guide||Official site||Plot keywords| |Main details||Your user reviews||Your vote history|

Austrian deputy; born at Warsaw Feb. 20, 1842; died at Lemberg March 23, 1901. His father, Isaac Goldman, was the owner of a Hebrew printing establishment. Bernard attended the rabbinical school in Warsaw under the direction of the censor Tugendhold. At the out-break of the Polish revolution in 1863 he was arrested in a synagogue and sentenced to banishment in Siberia. He managed to escape, however, and, after a brief stay in Paris, settled in Lemberg (1870). In 1876 Goldman was elected to the Galician Landtag as deputy for Lemberg, and thereafter took an active interest in the welfare of the Galician Jews. In the council of the Jewish community, of which he was a member, he especially promoted the education of his coreligionists. In the year 1894 he was decorated by the emperor with the ribbon of the Order of Francis Joseph.

Israeli Democracy vs. Arab Apartheid It is a falsehood to say that Israel is an apartheid state. This indictment, made by Mahmoud Abbas repeatedly in his speeches, is an Orwellian distortion of the truth, but it has been extremely effective in the public relations war of words that plays out in the United Nations, on the international stage, in the media, and on college campuses every day. This is a grave and toxic travesty that needs to be made right. In light of the "Arab Spring" spreading seeds of sharia law throughout the Middle East, Western civilization needs to see the truth. Americans are being hijacked by propaganda against Israel...and not defending Israel's right to be a Jewish state will lead to our own eventual downfall. The analogy of Israel to South African apartheid commands a response. Because of its catchy, slick word combination and its connotations that evoke vivid images of human unfairness and suffering, it has became a fashionable narrative for the media and international community's discourse. But it is not factual, and it is very deceptive. Labeling Israel "apartheid" is meant to provoke worldwide criticism and elicit human rights-based anger that sanctions demonstrations, boycotts, and the denigration of Jewish morals. This finger-pointing is an intentional attack on Israel. It condones terror in the guise of "freedom-fighters," encourages prosecution of Israeli officials in foreign courts, promotes laws against Israeli goods, and supports boycotts of stores selling Israeli products. It sees the advantage of kidnapping soldiers, allows the destruction of Jewish artifacts and religious sites, and tries to exclude Jews from their legitimate claim to their historic homeland. Factually speaking, apartheid was the policy of the South African government as a way of dealing with the white and non-white social, political and economic issues up until 1992. It was the official policy that established and maintained racial segregation and racial discrimination. The South African non-whites could not vote, and they had to carry a "Pass Book," or they risked being jailed or deported. By contrast, all citizens of Israel have equal voting rights. Arabs have eleven representatives in Israel's Knesset, including an Arab on the Israeli Supreme Court. Every citizen must carry an identity card, along with all legal residents. In addition, non-white South Africans were kept from a wide range of jobs. They had no free elementary through high school education; mixed sexual relationships were restricted and segregated; hospital and ambulance services were segregated; they could not use most public amenities; sports were segregated; and public facilities were labeled for correct racial usage. Non-whites could not enter a building through the main entrance, be a member of a union, or participate in a strike. That is apartheid, and Israel is not an apartheid state. Although many pro-Palestinian organizations are aware that the Israel-apartheid analogy is inaccurate, this rhetoric is continually used to condemn and isolate Israel. Just visit Israel to see the truth...Israeli Arabs shopping at Jerusalem's Mamila Mall, enjoying Tel Aviv beaches, enrolled in the universities, getting hospital care, going on school trips to the zoos, and having free access to public places. One of the more outspoken defenders of Israel is Benjamin Pogrund, a Jew born in Cape Town, now living in Israel. Pogrund lived under apartheid, and as an anti-apartheid activist, he took grave risks by reporting the injustices against blacks. He often comments that the comparison of Israel to South African apartheid "greatly minimizes the oppression and misery caused by apartheid and is debasing to its victims." In his rebuttal, Pogrund argues that "Israel is not unique in declaring itself a state for a specific people." Everyone knows that Egypt is for Egyptians, Ireland is for Irishmen, France for Frenchmen, Italy is for Italians, Serbia for Serbs, China for the Chinese, Iran for the Persians...and the list goes on. "Apartheid"-supporters substantiate their stance by claiming that Israel discriminates against Israeli Arabs by barring them from buying land. The facts regarding land ownership are clarified by Mitchell Bard, the executive director of the non-profit American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE) and a foreign policy analyst who frequently lectures on U.S.-ME policy: In the early part of the century, the Jewish National Fund was established by the World Zionist Congress to purchase land in Palestine for Jewish settlement. This land, and that acquired after Israel's War of Independence, was taken over by the government. Of the total area of Israel, 92% belongs to the State and is managed by the Land Management Authority. It is not for sale to anyone, Jew or Arab. The remaining 8% of the territory is privately owned. The Arab Waqf (the Muslim charitable endowment), for example, owns land that is for the express use and benefit of Muslim Arabs. Government land can be leased by anyone, regardless of race, religion or sex. All Arab citizens of Israel are eligible to lease government land. The reality is that both Arabs and Jews build homes illegally throughout Israel. And the fact is that the number of illegal Arab homes scheduled for demolition is miniscule compared to Jewish homes that must adhere scrupulously to the rules for fear of condemnation. (Please check Bard's point-by-point rebuttal.) The problems in Israel's Arab communities are much like conditions others face in various places in the world, but Arabs don't point a finger at those places. Only Israel is labeled and attacked as "apartheid." Arabs need only to look at their neighboring countries in the Middle East to find real apartheid. Does anyone honestly believe that Muslim women do not suffer from apartheid in countries with sharia law? Or that Christians and Jews in some Arab nations are being attacked and killed purely because of their religion? More pointedly, both Jordan and Saudi Arabia do not allow Jews to live there, and Saudi Arabia doesn't even let Jews visit. There are many "no-class" citizens in the world that Arabs don't care to talk about. One must believe that Abbas just doesn't recognize "apartheid" as he declares that the State of Palestine will be "Judenrein" -- a Jewish-free state. Instead, the label of "apartheid" is stuck on Israel, keeping eyes focused away from the intolerance and bigotry that the PLO and Hamas preach. Recently, I took issue with "Students for Justice in Palestine" (SJP), an on-campus pro-Palestinian organization that orchestrated the first National Anti-Israel Conference at Columbia University to "educate" students for participation in "Israel Apartheid Week 2012" on university campuses. The SJP supports the Apartheid Movement, the Gaza Freedom Movement that tried to break the Israeli-Egyptian blockade, the BDS movement against Israeli goods, and a One-State Solution with the "Right of Return." There can be no doubt that SJP, hiding behind the veil of human rights activism, supports the end of a Jewish state while "freedom-fighting" terrorists try to accomplish the same goal through violence. One question needs to be asked of all those who accuse Israel of being an apartheid state: if Israel gave up all the land rights, forfeited all of the natural resources, and agreed to a One-State Solution with the "Right of Return," would the Jews be able to live in peaceful coexistence with their Arab neighbors? The answer to this question determines the fate of the Jewish people and whether peace is ever attainable.

|Part of a series on| |Jews and Judaism| Yeshiva (//; Hebrew: ישיבה, lit. "sitting"; pl. ישיבות, yeshivot) is a Jewish institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim (lectures or classes) and in study pairs called chavrutas (Aramaic for "friendship" or "companionship"). Chavruta-style learning is one of the unique features of the yeshiva. In the United States and Israel, the different levels of yeshiva education have different names. In the United States, elementary-school students are enrolled in a yeshiva, post-bar mitzvah-age students learn in a metivta, and undergraduate-level students learn in a beit midrash or yeshiva gedola (Hebrew: ישיבה גדולה, lit. "large yeshiva" or "great yeshiva"). In Israel, elementary-school students are enrolled in a Talmud Torah or cheder, post-bar mitzvah-age students learn in a yeshiva ketana (Hebrew: ישיבה קטנה, lit. "small yeshiva" or "minor yeshiva"), and high-school-age students learn in a yeshiva gedola. A kollel is a yeshiva for married men. It is common for a kollel to pay a token stipend to its students. Students of Lithuanian and Hasidic yeshiva gedolas usually learn in yeshiva until they get married. Historically, yeshivas were attended by males only. Today, all non-Orthodox and a few Modern Orthodox yeshivas are open even to females. Although there is no lack of schools for Orthodox women and girls, yeshivas for women do not follow the same structure or curriculum as the traditional yeshiva for boys and men. - 1 Etymology - 2 History - 3 Types of yeshivot - 4 Curriculum - 5 Academic year - 6 Typical schedule - 7 College credit - 8 Languages - 9 See also - 10 References Alternate spellings and names include yeshivah (//; Hebrew: ישיבה, "sitting" (noun); metivta and mesivta (Aramaic: מתיבתא methivta); Beth midrash, Talmudical Academy, Rabbinical Academy; and Rabbinical School. The word yeshiva, lit. "sitting", is applied to the activity of learning in class, and hence to a learning "session." The transference in meaning of the term from the learning session to the institution itself appears to have occurred by the time of the great Talmudic Academies in Babylonia, Sura and Pumbedita, which were known as shte ha-yeshivot, "the two colleges." The Mishnah tractate Megillah mentions the law that a town can only be called a "city" if it supports ten men (batlanim) to make up the required quorum for communal prayers. Likewise, every beth din ("house of judgement") was attended by a number of pupils up to three times the size of the court (Mishnah, tractate Sanhedrin). These might be indications of the historicity of the classical yeshiva. As indicated by the Talmud, adults generally took off two months a year, Elul and Adar, the months preceding the pilgrimage festivals of Sukkot and Pesach, called Yarchei Kalla (Aramaic for "Months of Kallah") to study. The rest of the year they worked. The Geonic period takes its name from Gaon, the title bestowed on the heads of the three yeshivas in existence from the third to the thirteenth century. The Geonim acted as the principals of their individual yeshivot, and as spiritual leaders and high judges for the wider communities tied to them. The yeshiva conducted all official business in the name of its Gaon, and all correspondence to or from the yeshiva was addressed directly to the Gaon. Throughout the Geonic Period there were three yeshivot. These were named for the cities in which they were located: Jerusalem, Sura, and Pumbedita; the yeshiva of Jerusalem would later relocate to Cairo, and the yeshivot of Sura and Pumbedita to Baghdad, but retain their original names. Each Jewish community would associate itself with one of the three yeshivot; Jews living around the Mediterranean typically followed the yeshiva in Jerusalem, while those living in the Arabian Peninsula and modern-day Iraq and Iran typically followed one of the two yeshivot in Baghdad. There was however, no requirement for this, and each community could choose to associate with any of the yeshivot. The yeshiva served as the highest educational institution for the Rabbis of this period. In addition to this, the yeshiva wielded immense power as the principal body for interpreting Jewish law. In this regard, the community saw the Gaon of a yeshiva as the highest judge on all matters of Jewish law. Each yeshiva ruled differently on matters of ritual and law; the other yeshivot accepted these divisions, and all three ranked as equally orthodox. The yeshiva also served as an administrative authority, in conjunction with local communities, by appointing members to serve as the head of local congregations. Those appointed as the head of a congregation would serve as a go-between for the local congregation and the larger yeshiva it was attached to. These local leaders would also submit questions to the yeshiva to obtain final rulings on issues of dogma, ritual, or law. Each congregation was expected to follow only one yeshiva to prevent conflict with different rulings issued by different yeshivot. The yeshivot were financially supported through a number of means. There were fixed, but voluntary, yearly contributions made to the yeshivas; these annual contributions were collected and handled by the local leaders appointed by the yeshiva. Private gifts and donations from individuals were also common, especially during holidays, and could consist of money or goods. The yeshiva of Jerusalem was finally forced into exile in Cairo in 1127, and eventually dispersed entirely. Likewise, the yeshivot of Sura and Pumbedita were dispersed following the Mongol invasions of the 13th century. After the scattering of the yeshiva, education in Jewish religious studies became the responsibility of individual synagogues. No organization ever came to replace the three great yeshivot of Jerusalem, Sura and Pumbedita. Post-Geonic Period to the 19th century After the Geonic Period Jews went on to establishing more Yeshiva academies in Europe and in Northern Africa. One of these include the Kairuan yeshiva in Spain (Hebrew: ישיבת קאירואן) that was established by Chushiel Ben Elchanan (Hebrew: חושיאל בן אלחנן) in 974. Traditionally, every town rabbi had the right to maintain a number of full-time or part-time pupils in the town's beth midrash (study hall, usually adjacent to the synagogue). Their cost of living was covered by community taxation. After a number of years, these young people would either take up a vacant rabbinical position elsewhere (after obtaining semicha, rabbinical ordination) or join the workforce. Organised Torah study was revolutionised by Rabbi Chaim Volozhin, a disciple of the Vilna Gaon (an influential 18th-century leader of Judaism). In his view, the traditional arrangement did not cater for those who were looking for more intensive study. With the support of his teacher, Rabbi Volozhin gathered a large number of interested students and started a yeshiva in the (now Belarusian) town of Volozhin. Although the Volozhin yeshiva was closed some 60 years later due to the Russian government's demands for the introduction of certain secular studies, a number of yeshivot opened in other towns and cities, most notably Slabodka, Panevėžys, Mir, Brisk, and Telz. Many prominent contemporary yeshivot in the United States and Israel are continuations of these institutions and often bear the same name. In the 19th century, Rabbi Israel Salanter initiated the Mussar movement in non-Hasidic Lithuanian Jewry, which sought to encourage yeshiva students and the wider community to spend regular times devoted to the study of Jewish ethical works. Concerned by the new social and religious changes of the Haskalah (secularising movement), and emerging political ideologies such as Zionism, that often opposed traditional Judaism, the masters of Mussar saw a need to augment Talmudic study with more personal works. These comprised earlier classic Jewish ethical texts (mussar literature), as well as a new literature for the movement. By focusing the student on self-understanding and introspection, often with profound psychological insight, the spiritual aims of Judaism could be internalized. After early opposition, the Lithuanian yeshivah world saw the need for this new component in their curriculum, and set aside times for individual mussar study and mussar talks ("mussar shmues"). A spiritual mentor (mashgiach ruchani) encouraged the personal development of each student. To some degree also, this Lithuanian movement arose in response, and as an alternative, to the separate mystical study of the Hasidic Judaism world. Hasidism began previously, in the 18th Century, within traditional Jewish life in the Ukraine, and spread to Hungary, Poland and Russia. As the 19th Century brought upheavals and threats to traditional Judaism, the Mussar teachers saw the benefit of the new spiritual focus in Hasidism, and developed their alternative ethical approach to spirituality. Some variety developed within Lithuanian yeshivas to methods of studying Talmud and mussar, for example the contrast between breadth (beki'ut) and depth (iyyun), or the place given to pilpul (the type of casuistic argumentation popular from the 16th to 18th centuries). The new analytical approach of the Brisker method, developed by Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik of Brisk, has become widely popular, though there are other approaches such as those of Mir, Chofetz Chaim, and Telz. In mussar different schools developed, such as Slabodka and Novhardok, though today a decline in devoted spiritual self-development from its earlier intensity has to some extent levelled out the differences. With the success of the yeshiva institution in Lithuanian Jewry, the Hasidic world developed their own yeshivas, in their areas of Eastern Europe. These comprised the traditional Jewish focus on Talmudic literature that is central to Rabbinic Judaism, augmented by study of Hasidic philosophy (Hasidism). Examples of these Hasidic yeshivas are the Chabad Lubavitch yeshiva system of Tomchei Temimim, founded by Sholom Dovber Schneersohn in Russia in 1897, and the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva established in Poland in 1930 by Meir Shapiro, who is renowned in both Hasidic and Lithuanian Jewish circles for initiating the Daf Yomi daily cycle of Talmud study. In many Hasidic yeshivas, study of Hasidic texts is a secondary activity, similar to the additional mussar curriculum in Lithuanian yeshivas. These paths see Hasidism as a means to the end of inspiring emotional devekut (spiritual attachment to God) and mystical enthusiasm. In this context, the personal pilgrimage of a Hasid to his Rebbe is a central feature of spiritual life, in order to awaken spiritual fervour. Often, such paths will reserve the Shabbat in the yeshiva for the sweeter teachings of the classic texts of Hasidism. In contrast, Chabad and Breslov, in their different ways, place daily study of their dynasties' Hasidic texts in central focus. Illustrative of this is Sholom Dovber Schneersohn's wish in establishing the Chabad yeshiva system, that the students should spend a part of the daily curriculum learning Chabad Hasidic texts "with pilpul". Pilpul is the in-depth analytical investigation of a topic, traditionally reserved for the profound nuances of Talmudic study. The idea to learn Hasidic mystical texts with similar logical profundity, derives from the unique approach in the works of the Rebbes of Chabad, initiated by its founder Schneur Zalman of Liadi, to systematically investigate and articulate the "Torah of the Baal Shem Tov" in intellectual forms. Further illustrative of this is the differentiation in Chabad thought (such as the "Tract on Ecstasy" by Dovber Schneuri) between general Hasidism's emphasis on emotional enthusiasm and the Chabad ideal of intellectually reserved ecstasy. In the Breslov movement, in contrast, the daily study of works from the imaginative, creative radicalism of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov awakens the necessary soulfulness with which to approach other Jewish study and observance. Although the yeshiva as an institution is in some ways a continuation of the Talmudic Academies in Babylonia, large scale educational institutions of this kind were not characteristic of the North African and Middle Eastern Sephardi Jewish world in pre-modern times: education typically took place in a more informal setting in the synagogue or in the entourage of a famous rabbi. In medieval Spain and immediately following the expulsion in 1492 there were some schools which combined Jewish studies with sciences such as logic and astronomy, similar to the contemporary Islamic madrasas. In 19th-century Jerusalem a college was typically an endowment for supporting ten adult scholars rather than an educational institution in the modern sense; towards the end of the century a school for orphans was founded providing for some rabbinic studies. Early educational institutions on the European model were Beth Zilkha founded in 1870s Iraq and Porat Yosef Yeshiva founded in Jerusalem in 1914. Also notable is the Bet El yeshiva founded in 1737 in Jerusalem for advanced Kabbalistic studies. Later Sephardic yeshivot are usually on the model either of Porat Yosef or of the Ashkenazi institutions. The Sephardic world has traditionally placed the study of esoteric Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah) in a more mainstream position that in the European Ashkenazi world. This difference of emphasis arose in reaction to the historical events of the Sabbatean heresy in the 17th Century, that suppressed widespread study of Kabbalah in Europe in favour of the strength of Rabbinic Talmudic study. In Eastern European Lithuanian life, Kabbalah was reserved for an intellectual elite, while the mystical revival of Hasidism articulated Kabbalistic theology through Hasidic thought. These factors did not affect the Sephardi Jewish world, which retained a wider connection to Kabbalah in its traditionally observant communities. With the establishment of Sephardi yeshivas in Israel, after the immigration of the Arabic Jewish communities there, some Sephardi yeshivas incorporated study of more accessible Kabbalistic texts into their curriculum. Nonetheless, the European prescriptions to reserve advanced Kabbalistic study to mature and elite students also influence the choice of texts in such yeshivas. Conservative movement yeshivas In 1854, the Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau was founded. It was headed by Zecharias Frankel, and was eventually viewed as the first yeshiva associated with Conservative Judaism. In subsequent years, Conservative Judaism established a number of other institutions of higher learning (such as the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York City) that emulate the style of traditional yeshivas in significant ways. However, many do not officially refer to themselves as "yeshivas" (one exception is the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem), and all are open to both women and men, who study in the same classrooms and follow the same curriculum. Students may study part-time, as in a kollel, or full-time, and they may study lishmah (for the sake of studying itself) or towards earning rabbinic ordination. Nondenominational or mixed yeshivas Non-denominational yeshivas and kollels with connections to Conservative Judaism include Yeshivat Hadar in New York, the leaders of whom include Rabbinical Assembly members Elie Kaunfer and Shai Held. The rabbinical school of the Academy for Jewish Religion in California (AJR-CA) is led by Conservative rabbi Mel Gottlieb. The faculty of the Academy for Jewish Religion in New York and of the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College in Newton Centre, Massachusetts also includes a large number of Conservative rabbis. Reform and Reconstructionist seminaries Hebrew Union College (HUC), affiliated with Reform Judaism, was founded in 1875 under the leadership of Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise in Cincinnati, Ohio. HUC later opened additional locations in New York, Los Angeles, and Jerusalem. It is a rabbinical seminary or college mostly geared for the training of rabbis and clergy specifically. Similarly, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College of Reconstructionist Judaism, founded in Pennsylvania in 1968, functions to train its future clergy. Some Reform and Reconstructionist teachers also teach at non-denominational seminaries like the Academy for Jewish Religion in New York, the Academy for Jewish Religion in California, and the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. None of these institutions describes itself as a "yeshiva". Contemporary Orthodox yeshivas Types of yeshivot - Yeshiva ketana ("junior yeshiva") - Many yeshivot ketanot in Israel and some in the Diaspora do not have a secular course of studies and all students learn Judaic Torah studies full-time. - Yeshiva High School - Also called Mesivta or Mechina or Yeshiva Ketana, combines the intensive Jewish religious education with a secular high school education. The dual curriculum was pioneered by the Manhattan Talmudical Academy of Yeshiva University (now known as Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy) in 1916. - Mechina - For Israeli high-school graduates who wish to study for one year before entering the army. - Beth Medrash - For high school graduates, and is attended from one year to many years, dependent on the career plans and affiliation of the student. - Yeshivat Hesder - Yeshiva that has an arrangement with the Israel Defense Forces by which the students enlist together in the same unit and, as much as is possible serve in the same unit in the army. Over a period of about 5 years there will be a period of service starting in the second year of about 16 months. There are different variations. The rest of the time will be spent in compulsory study in the yeshiva. - Kollel - Yeshiva for married men. The kollel idea, though having its intellectual roots traced to the Torah, is a relatively modern innovation of 19th-century Europe. Often, a kollel will be in the same location as the yeshiva. - Baal teshuva yeshivot catering to the needs of the newly Orthodox. Traditionally, religious girls' schools are not called "yeshiva." The Beis Yaakov system was started in 1918 under the guidance of Sarah Schenirer. This system provided girls with a Torah education, using a curriculum that skewed more toward practical halakha and the study of Tanakh, rather than Talmud. Beis Yaakovs are strictly Haredi schools. Non-Haredi girls' schools' curricula often includes the study of Mishna and sometimes Talmud. They are also sometimes called "yeshiva" (e.g., Prospect Park Yeshiva). Post-high schools for women are generally called "seminary" or "midrasha". Learning at an Orthodox yeshiva includes Torah study; the study of Rabbinic literature, especially the Talmud (Rabbinic Judaism's central work); and the study of Responsa for Jewish observance, and alternatively ethical (Musar) or mystical (Hasidic philosophy) texts. In some institutions, classical Jewish philosophy texts or Kabbalah are studied, or the works of individual thinkers (such as Abraham Isaac Kook). Non-Orthodox institutions offer a synthesis of traditional and critical methods, allowing Jewish texts and tradition to encounter social change and modern scholarship. The curriculum focuses on classical Jewish subjects, including Talmud, Tanakh, Midrash, Halacha, and Philosophy, with an openness to modern scholarship. Yeshiva students prepare for and review the shiur with their chavruta during a study session known as a seder. In contrast to conventional classroom learning, in which a teacher lectures to the student and the student repeats the information back in tests, chavruta-style learning challenges the student to analyze and explain the material, point out the errors in his partner's reasoning, and question and sharpen each other's ideas, often arriving at entirely new insights of the meaning of the text. A chavruta helps a student keep his mind focused on the learning, sharpen his reasoning powers, develop his thoughts into words, organize his thoughts into logical arguments, and understand another person's viewpoint. Chavruta-style learning tends to be loud and animated, as the study partners read the Talmudic text and the commentaries aloud to each other and then analyze, question, debate, and even argue their points of view to arrive at an understanding of the text. In the heat of discussion, they may even wave their hands, pound the table, or shout at each other. Depending on the size of the yeshiva, dozens or even hundreds of pairs of chavrutas can be heard discussing and debating each other's viewpoints. One of the skills of chavruta-style learning is the ability to block out all other discussions in the study hall and focus on one's chavruta alone. In most yeshivot, the year is divided into three periods (terms) called zmanim. Elul zman starts from the beginning of the Hebrew month of Elul and extends until the end of Yom Kippur. This is the shortest (approx. six weeks), but most intense semester as it comes before the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Winter zman starts after Sukkot and lasts until about two weeks before Passover, a duration of five months (six in a Jewish leap year). Summer semester starts after Passover and lasts until Rosh Chodesh Av or Tisha B'Av, a duration of about three months. In the typical Orthodox yeshiva, the main emphasis is on Talmud study and analysis. Generally, two parallel Talmud streams are covered during a zman (trimester). The first is study in-depth (iyyun), often confined to selected legally focused tractates, with an emphasis on analytical skills and close reference to the classical commentators; the second seeks to cover ground more speedily, to build general knowledge (beki'ut) of the Talmud. In the yeshiva system of talmudic study the first area to be mastered are eight mesechtohs (volumes that deal with a given subject which are divided into chapters that deal with sub-topics relating to the general subject) that deal with civil jurisprudence. These are the mesechtohs that are studied in undergraduate yeshivot. These eight volumes are mastered first because it is with these subjects that a student can best master the technique of proper analysis of the talmud. Only after this technique is mastered is a student ready to go on to other areas of the talmud and develop a scholarship in all areas of the Talmud. Works generally studied to clarify the Talmudic text are the commentary by Rashi and the analyses of the Tosafists and other rishonim (commentators from the 11th to 14th centuries). There are two schools of rishonim, one from France and the other from Spain who will sometimes hold different interpretations and understandings of the Talmud. Various other mefarshim (commentators), from later generations are also used. Generally, a period is devoted to the study of practical halacha (Jewish law). The text most commonly studied in Ashkenazic Yeshivot is the Mishnah Berurah written by Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, the Chofetz Chaim. The Mishnah Berurah is a compilation of halachic opinions rendered after the time of the writing of the Shulchan Aruch. In Sephardic Yeshivot, the Shulhan Arukh itself is more commonly studied. The Bet Yosef is also more widely studied in Sepharadic Yeshivot. Ethics, mysticism and philosophy - Orchot Tzaddikim ("Paths [of the] Righteous") Its authorship and time of writing is uncertain, but as it quotes Maimonides, it was written some time after his works were disseminated. - Chovot ha-Levavot, by Bahya ibn Paquda. - Ma'alot ha-Middot ("Benefit [of good character] traits") - Mishnat R' Aharon Mussar Lectures on many topics by Rabbi Aharon Kotler. - Mikhtav me-Eliyahu, the works of Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler. Hasidic yeshivot study the mystical, spiritual works of Hasidic philosophy (Chassidus). This draws on the earlier esoteric theology of Kabbalah, but articulates it in terms of inner psychological awareness and personal analogies. This makes Jewish mysticism accessible and tangible, so that it inspires emotional dveikus (cleaving to God) and spiritual contribution to daily Jewish life. This serves some similar purposes to mussar, but through different means and with different contributions to intellectual and emotional life. Chabad yeshivot, for example, study the Tanya, the Likutei Torah, and the voluminous works of the Rebbes of Chabad for an hour and a half each morning, before prayers, and an hour and a half in the evening. Many Yeshivot in Israel belonging to the Religious Zionism study the writings of Rav Kook, who articulated a unique personal blend of mysticism, creative exegesis and philosophy. Torah and Bible study Intensive study of the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy with the commentary of Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaqi 1040 - 1105) is stressed and taught in all elementary grades, often with Yiddish translations and more notes in Haredi yeshivas. The teaching of Tanakh, Hebrew Bible, is usually only done on the high school level, and students read the Weekly Torah portion by themselves (known as the obligation of Shnayim mikra ve-echad targum, "Hebrew Bible twice and Aramaic Targum once"). Exceptions are the five Megilloth and Tehillim. Since their inception, Modern Orthodox yeshivot in Israel, offer courses in many, if not most, of the books of Nevi'im and Ketuvim. Some Yeshivas permit students to attend college on a limited basis, and this is facilitated by arrangements for the above study to receive credit towards a degree. In most Lithuanian and Hasidic yeshivot throughout the world, classes are taught in Yiddish; Modern Orthodox, Zionist or baal teshuvah yeshivot may use Israeli Hebrew or the local language. Students learn with each other in whatever language they are most proficient in, with Hasidic students usually learning in Yiddish, Israeli Lithuanian students in Hebrew, and American Lithuanian students in English. - Reservoirs of Faith: The Yeshiva through the Ages, Zev T. Paretzky, Feldheim Publishers, 1996. - Center for Jewish History - Jewish day school - Yeshiva Gedolah - List of yeshivas - Mashgiach ruchani - Rosh yeshiva - Yeshiva University - Yeshiva University Museum - List of Yeshivas and Midrashas in Israel - Yeshiva University Medical Ethics Society - Liebersohn, Aharon (2006). World Wide Agora. p. 155. ISBN 978-965-90756-1-4. - Forta, Arye (1989). Judaism. Heineman Educational. p. 89. ISBN 0-435-30321-X. - Berezovsky, Rabbi Sholom Noach (2001). Nesivos Sholom. p. 211. ISBN 1-58330-495-9. - Kramer, Doniel Zvi (1984). The Day Schools and Torah Umesorah: The seeding of traditional Judaism in America. Yeshiva University Press. p. xiv. - "Session", in fact, similarly derives from the Latin sedere, "to sit." - (Where in the Talmud, and in which Talmud (Bavli or Yerushalmi?) - S. D. Goitein, Ed. Jacob Lassner, A Mediterranean Society: An Abridgement in One Volume, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999). - מרדכי וורמברנד ובצלאל ס. רות, עם ישראל - תולדות 4000 שנה - מימי האבות ועד חוזה השלו - Elazar, Daniel J. "Can Sephardic Judaism Be Reconstructed?". Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. Retrieved 13 July 2011. - "Bringing the People Together". Reb Jeff. 24 February 2011. Retrieved 23 June 2011. - Zobin, Zvi (1996). Breakthrough to Learning Gemora: A concise, analytical guide. Kest-Lebovits. pp. 104–106. - Neusner, Jacob; Avery-Peck, Alan J. (2001). The Blackwell Reader in Judaism. Blackwell Publishers. p. 422. ISBN 0-631-20738-4. - Finkel, Avraham Yaakov (1999). Ein Yaakov: The ethical and inspirational teachings of the Talmud. Jason Aronson. p. xxix. ISBN 0-7657-6082-7. - "Guide To Degree Completion Programs for Yeshiva Students". YeshivaDegree.com. 2011. Retrieved 13 September 2011. - Philogos (4 March 2011). "How to Understand Yeshivish". The Jewish Daily Forward. Retrieved 13 July 2011.

Saturday, December 9, 2006 By MIKE WHITNEY "The tension between the Bush administration and the members of the Iraq Study Group, illustrates the widening chasm between old-guard U.S. imperialists and "Israel-first" neoconservatives. The divisions are setting the stage for a major battle between the two camps. The winner will probably decide US policy in the Middle East for the next decade. The failed occupation of Iraq has put the entire region on the fast-track to disaster. That's why James Baker was summoned from retirement to see if he could change the present trajectory and mitigate the long-term damage to US interests. Baker was opposed to the invasion from the onset but his 4 day trip to Baghdad convinced him that something had to be done quickly. The ISG report reflects the unanimous view of its authors that Iraq is disintegrating into chaos and that action must be taken to reduce the level of bloodshed. Baker is not merely an objective observer in this process. He clearly "has a dog in this fight". As Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan he put together the basic scaffolding for America's imperial presence in the region and he continues to be connected to many of the corporations which benefit from US relations in the Middle East. But he has also always taken a "pragmatic" approach to regional policy and cannot be considered a war-monger. Some critics of Baker say that his business interests suggest that he indirectly supports the Bush policy. But this is an oversimplification. In fact, Baker sees war as a blunt instrument that is essentially incompatible with commercial interests. There are simply more efficient ways for clever men to achieve their objectives...... This is the real James Baker. He's not ideological and he's certainly not on a religious crusade. His approach may seem cynical, but it shows that he prefers commerce (even with a brutal dictator) over war. This proves that his role with the ISG is not simply to provide cover for Bush. Baker's task is to salvage the imperial system which he helped to create. Besides, it's clear that Bush is unhappy with the report and has already rejected its two critical recommendations; negotiations with Syria and Iran, and a commitment to troop reduction. Furthermore, Bush is doing everything in his power to minimize the effects of the report. In fact, he even flew Tony Blair to Washington so that he wouldn't look as isolated in his position........ Whatever one thinks about James Baker, he is a seasoned diplomat and a serious man. His record shows that he has broad support among the leaders in the American oligarchy, so he can't simply be ignored. He represents a powerful constituency of corporate chieftains and oil magnates who are conspicuously worried about the deteriorating situation in Iraq and want to see a change of course. Baker's their man. He's the logical emissary for the growing number of jittery plutocrats who see that the Bush policy-train has jumped the tracks. But if Big Oil wants a change of direction than where is Bush getting his support for "staying the course"? An AP poll conducted this week shows that only 9% of Americans believe that "victory" in Iraq is possible. Even the hard-core Bush loyalists have abandoned the sinking ship. The only group left touting Bush's failed policy is the "Israel first" camp which continues to wave the bloody shirt of incitement from their perch at the Weekly Standard and the American Enterprise Institute. These same diehards are leading the charge for a preemptive attack on Iran; a criminal act which will have catastrophic effects on America's long-term energy needs. An article which appeared in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz shows how confident Prime Minister Olmert is in the ability of the Jewish Lobby to torpedo the Baker-Hamilton report and steer the US away from changes in Iraq: "On his way home from Los Angeles, the Prime Minister calmed' the reporters and perhaps even himself"by saying there is no danger of the US President George Bush accepting the expected recommendations of the Baker-Hamilton panel, and attempting to move Syria out of the axis of evil and into a coalition to extricate America from Iraq. The Prime Minister hopes the Jewish Lobby can rally a Democratic majority in the new Congress to counter any diversion from the status quo on the Palestinians. (Akiva Eldar, "The Gewalt Agenda") Olmert has good reason to be "calm". While the new Congress is being apprised of its duties to Israel, the Brookings Institute is convening a forum at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy entitled: "America and Israel: Confronting a Middle east in Turmoil". The meeting will be attended by Israeli right-wing extremist, Avigdor Lieberman, as well as political big-wigs, Bill and Hillary Clinton. The context of the meeting suggests that right-leaning Israelis will be informing their friends in the Democratic Party about the anticipated attack on Iran, as well as discussing strategies for sabotaging Baker's report. If we see the Democrats lambasting the ISGs recommendations next week; we'll know why. So, the battle lines have been drawn. On one side we have James Baker and his corporate classmates who want to restore order while preserving America's imperial role in the region. And, on the other side, we have the neo-Trotskyites and Israeli-Jacobins who seek a fragmented and chaotic Middle East where Israel is the dominant power. (see "A Clean Break") The one group that has no voice in this "Battle of the Titans" is the American people. They lost whatever was left of their shrinking political-clout sometime around the 2000 Coronation of George Bush. In any event, Baker and his ilk are not going to sit back and watch the empire (and the military) they put together with their own two hands be systematically pulverized by a cabal of zealots pursuing an agenda that only serves Israeli hardliners. That ain't gonna happen. Expect Baker to wheel out the heavy artillery and fight tooth-and-nail to reassert the primacy of the American ruling class. "The Lobby" may be powerful, but it's going to be tough-going to take the country away from the people who believe they own it. The struggle between the political heavyweights is about to break-out into open warfare." Photos courtesy of Iraqirabita "Al Jazeera has obtained exclusive footage that confirms children were among the victims of a US air raid northwest of Baghdad. Local officials said that the bodies of 17 civilians, including six children and eight women, had been pulled from the debris of two houses in al-Ishaqi. The US military had issued a statement on Friday saying that two women were among 20 suspected "al Qaeda terrorists" killed in the operation. Al Jazeera's footage showed the bodies of men, women and children wrapped in blankets after they had been pulled from the rubble. The Agence France Presse news agency said it passed its own photographs of the dead children to Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver, a US military spokesman, who said: "We've checked with the troops who conducted this operation - there were no children found among the terrorists killed. "I see nothing in the photos that indicates those children were in the houses that our forces received fire from and subsequently destroyed with the air strike." In Aljazeera's pictures angry villagers had gathered around the bodies, several of which were so badly charred that their faces were unrecognisable. Local residents said that one entire family had been killed. "The Americans have done this before but they always deny it," Amer Alwan, the mayor of al-Ishaqi, told Reuters news agency. "I want the world to know what's happening here." He also told the AFP news agency: "This is the third crime done by Americans in this area of Ishaqi. All the casualties were innocent women and children and everything they said about them being part of al-Qaeda is a lie." He told Al Jazeera that he was calling for an international investigation into the attack. Abdullah Hussain Jabbara, deputy governor of Salah al-Din governorate, told Al Jazeera: "Residents of the two houses [which were bombed] have nothing to do with al-Qaeda network. All the people killed are members of the same family." Jabbara said an investigation into the incident would be carried out. "But what is the use of opening an investigation?" he asked. "The occupation still exists and Iraqi citizens are the victims." Local officials and Iraqi police had said on Friday that they believed 32 civilians had been killed in the attack." By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS ".......I couldn't believe my ears when I heard talking heads worrying about Bush's "comfort level" with the Iraqi Study Group's unanimous report. Bush's comfort level? What about the comfort level of the Iraqis and Americans who are losing family members while idiot talking heads worry about Bush's comfort level with the facts! Try to imagine the impression the US gives to the rest of the world: The US cannot stop a war that is a catastrophe becoming a calamity because it would interfere with Bush's comfort level. This disastrous war is a testament to the irresponsibility of the American people and their elected representatives. There were, of course, many dissenters. But the majority were too lazy and irresponsible to take the trouble to be informed. Most Americans allowed themselves to be deceived and emotionally manipulated. The consequence of this failure of the American people has been brutal for countless people and their families in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon and for the thousands of American families who have suffered because Bush sent US troops on a fool's mission. The American people are stained with the blood of innocents. Are they still not sufficiently angry with the president who used them for his crimes to demand his impeachment? As long as Bush remains in office, the neoconservatives will demand more wars. In the current issue of "Foreign Policy," neocon Joshua Muravchik stridently insists that Bush bomb Iran before he leaves office. Muracvchik urges his fellow neocon warmongers to "pave the way" for the bombing of Iran and to "be prepared to defend the action when it comes." As Middle East expert Anthony Sullivan writes, the neoconservatives are "fifth columnists" whose "real concern is not the United States but Israel." Sullivan writes that "it is past time that neoconservatives and their movement be left to drown in the deepest reaches of the ocean." Amen! And send Bush and Cheney and Rice with them." "I can not believe I married this guy. All my friends warned me, but did I listen? Nooooo. 'You have nothing in common,' they said. 'You're too good for him,' they said. 'Oh sure, but if you were really my friend you would support me and want me to be happy,' I would say. Shite. Oh lord, is he going on about 'victory' and 'resolve' again? I used to think that was so cute... Bugger this. Should have insisted on that prenup." The president's Shiite allies in Iraq really don't like some of James Baker's Sunni-friendly suggestions. By Juan Cole Dec. 8, 2006 | At a press conference on Thursday, George Bush was asked whether he was "in denial" about Iraq. "It's bad in Iraq," he shot back, to laughter. "That help?" He also noted that the report of the James Baker-led Iraq Study Group, which was released Wednesday, was important enough that he had read it. But the immediate speculation in Washington was that even if the president has really accepted that things are "bad," it doesn't mean he's ready to follow the ISG's advice on how to make things better. Some wondered which prescriptions he would ignore, while others suggested he might be trying to sabotage the ISG's suggested remedies altogether. The reality is that the president, via briefings, has probably long been aware of what the ISG report would say. In fact, when Bush met Iraq's two leading Shiite politicians in the week just prior to the report's release, he was almost certainly acquainting Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq party chief Abdul Aziz al-Hakim with the ISG's key proposals.It is also true, however, that there are parts of the report that run counter to Bush's own strategy in Iraq, and not just in terms of how long to stay. In a real sense, Bush has developed Iraqi constituencies and political allies. Bush has already picked his horses in Iraq, and they are Shiite. And that puts him at odds with the panelists of the ISG, most notably James Baker, the very Bush family loyalist whose efforts on his behalf in Florida six years ago helped land him in the White House. When Bush met with al-Maliki in Amman, Jordan, one week ago, the timely leak of a scathing memo on the eve of the summit suggested that the administration was trying to undermine the Iraqi prime minister. In the memo, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley wrote, "The reality on the streets of Baghdad suggests al-Maliki is either ignorant of what is going on, misrepresenting his intentions, or that his capabilities are not yet sufficient to turn his good intentions into action." The memo apparently so angered the prime minister that he declined to show up at a banquet where he was scheduled to dine with Bush and with Jordan's King Abdullah II. In reality, though some Washington insiders were pushing for a change behind the scenes, Bush claims he's not switching horses. At the conclusion of the summit, he publicly endorsed Maliki. "He's the right guy for Iraq and we're going to help him and it's in our interest to help him." The Shiite fundamentalist United Iraqi Alliance has come out on top in both of Iraq's parliamentary elections, and al-Maliki heads a key component of the UIA, the Islamic Call Party (al-Da'wa). He is in coalition with the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, which has also done well in the polls. Bush decided that since al-Da'wa and SCIRI were winners in Iraqi politics, he would have to develop good relations with them. Sources in Washington confirm to me that Bush thinks of the two Shiite leaders as "our guys," and he has entertained Da'wa and SCIRI officials at private White House functions. In turn, Bush and Maliki are in accord on several of the ISG's key proposals. The ISG report envisages that the Iraqi army "would take over primary responsibility for combat operations." Maliki has the same vision, and Bush likely met with him precisely in order to explore the issue of the prime minister's control over his own army. That the president was open to the further transfer of authority over the Iraqi army to al-Maliki suggests that this recommendation by the ISG will form part of administration policy. On Monday, U.S. commanders transferred control of the Third Iraqi Army Division, stationed in the northern province of Ninevah, to the prime minister. It was the third division to be put under Baghdad's control; seven others still take orders from the Pentagon. The prime minister's own timeline for taking control of the remaining divisions is even more ambitious than that of the ISG. "At the beginning of next year we will increase the training of our forces," said al-Maliki. "When they reach an acceptable level, we can talk about transferring power from multinational forces to Iraqi forces." He has long maintained that the Iraqi military is capable of taking over more security tasks faster than Washington imagines. He told ABC news after the meeting with Bush in Amman, "I can tell you that by next June our forces will be ready." Bush and al-Maliki were also in full accord with another ISG tenet -- that there must be no partition of Iraq. At the Amman summit, Bush telegraphed his opposition to any decentralization of Iraq or its partition. "The prime minister made clear that splitting his country into parts, as some have suggested, is not what the Iraqi people want, and that any partition of Iraq would only lead to an increase in sectarian violence." The two were slamming proposals like that of Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware that would create three ethnically based super-provinces in Iraq, over which a weak federal government would preside. Biden's plan does not actually call for partition, but many fear that such a reorganization would provoke a complete breakup of the country anyway. As the ISG report put it, "The costs associated with devolving Iraq into three semiautonomous regions with loose central control would be too high." It points out that Iraq's population is mixed, so that such a devolution "could result in mass population movements, collapse of the Iraqi security forces, strengthening of militias, ethnic cleansing, destabilization of neighboring states, or attempts by neighboring states to dominate Iraqi regions." President Bush is presumably in sympathy with one of the ISG's main concerns about partition, which is that there should be a central Iraqi government in control of the country's petroleum reserves and revenues. Both James Baker and the president have ties to U.S. petroleum companies, which would rather negotiate with a single central government than be forced to strike deals with each province or regional federation. To forestall partition, and to promote national unity and reconciliation, the ISG recommends that the United States and the Iraqi government "support the holding of a conference or meeting in Baghdad of the Organization of the Islamic Conference or the Arab League." The Arab League is mostly made up of Sunni Arab states, and it has had a rocky relationship with the new Iraqi government, dominated by Shiites and Kurds. The Sunnis are supported by a majority of Iraq's neighbors, especially Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Baker also has long ties to the Saudis and other Sunni Arab powers. Only Iran supports Iraq's Shiites. Whether Bush will adopt the idea of a conference involving Iraq's neighbors is not clear. But it is clear that his Shiite allies will resist it, and that here is where he may be forced to choose between his new Iranian-influenced Iraqi friends and his old Saudi friends and James Baker. On Monday, Bush met with Shiite cleric Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, who heads up SCIRI as well as being the nominal leader of the United Iraqi Alliance, which has 128 seats in Iraq's 275-member parliament. Despite al-Hakim's close ties to Iran, he has been a consistent ally of the U.S. in Iraq. Bush works Iraqi politicians the same way he worked the Texas Legislature or Congress, and it may be difficult for him to buck his Shiite and Kurdish allies on this issue. By Monday, the ISG proposal for a regional conference to stop Iraq's sectarian violence had already leaked, and al-Hakim gave Bush an earful about it. After the meeting, al-Hakim came out strongly against the ISG proposal. "We believe that the Iraqi issues should be solved by the Iraqis, with the help of friends everywhere. But we reject any attempts to have a regional or international role in solving the Iraqi issue." On at least one subject, however, Bush will not have to choose between the Shiites and the ISG. Both groups already disagree with him. In Amman, Bush said he wanted to start withdrawing American troops from Iraq "as soon as possible." He cautioned, however, that it might take time. He reassured al-Maliki that he was committed to keeping American troops in Iraq "until the job is complete." Al-Maliki seemed not to want the reassurance. Maliki wants American troops out, and so does the ISG. The ISG wants most active combat troops out of Iraq by early 2008. Maliki wants them out faster. Both timetables would be unrealistic even if the president weren't clinging to the idea of victory. But Bush is unable to let go of the neoconservative folly that a democratic Iraq will transform the Middle East and form a new pillar of U.S. policy in the region. As he said in Amman, "It's in our interests to help liberty prevail in the Middle East, starting with Iraq. And that's why this business about 'graceful exit' simply has no realism to it at all." On this issue, Bush has fewer friends of any description every day. ISRAELI Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has called for more dramatic measures to be taken against Iran and declined to rule out a military attack against Tehran in an interview with Germany's Spiegel magazine. From correspondents in Berlin December 09, 2006 11:11pm "Mr Olmert criticised the international community's hesitation in dealing with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The West fears Iran's nuclear program is aimed at developing nuclear weapons but Tehran denies this. "I am anything but happy," Mr Olmert was quoted as saying in an interview released ahead of publication tomorrow. "I expect significantly more dramatic steps to be taken. Here is a leader who says openly that it is his aim to wipe Israel off the map. Israel is a member of the United Nations." "That someone says such a thing these days is absolutely criminal." When asked if he would not rule out a military strike against Tehran, Mr Olmert replied: "I rule nothing out." Mr Olmert repeated he was prepared to withdraw from the majority of settlements in the occupied West Bank. "A prime minister should not make promises that he cannot keep but my message is clear: I am prepared to give up regions. "That means that I am ready to evacuate territories. You know how hard this is," he said. "And we are ready to do this in such a way that would allow the Palestinians in the West Bank to have a contiguous state. I am not making any conditions which would not be made by the international community." Mr Olmert is due to visit Germany on Tuesday and will hold a joint press conference with Chancellor Angela Merkel." "....The media, once more, indulged in analysing the recent developments, with the full confidence that Olmert's verbal commitment to ending the conflict was indeed genuine. The ball, once again, was placed in the Palestinian court. All eyes are now on Hamas: will it heed to the voice of reason and moderation, as embodied in the character of Abbas? Or will it continue to nurture its sinful alliance with Iran and Syria? As western governments - led or intimidated by the United States - rushed to punish the Palestinians for their democratic choice, the media largely followed suit: exaggerating Hamas' military strength and its ability to 'destroy' Israel, its adherence to violence as the only means of struggle, its religious fanaticism, and all the rest. Such a portrayal helped contextualize the three unfair conditions imposed on the Palestinian government, to unconditionally recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept previous agreements signed between the former Palestinian Authority governments and Israel, starting with the infamous Oslo Accords, reached in total secrecy in 1993. I took just 10 months to consolidate such a discourse: where the Palestinians, as always were forced on the defence, desperately trying to show that all the allegations made against their government are untrue. Meanwhile, Israel was left with the gift of time, a desperately needed factor in its colonial war against the Palestinians: robbing more land, expanding its apartheid wall, killing with impunity and so on. Though such means of repression are commonplace tools in the ongoing conflict, exasperated in the last six years of Palestinian Uprising or Intifada, the election of a Hamas-dominated parliament introduced a newer element: starvation, plain and simple. The Palestinian government, armed with the popular support of its people, which is yet to fade despite all attempts, refused to succumb to such pressure. It continued to argue that recognizing Israel while the latter claims both historic Palestine and the 1967 Occupied Territories as theirs is out of the question. Who would so naïve as to accept the existence of its occupier, oppressor, while the latter does its outmost to deny the occupied its right to live or to exist? ........ .....However, it must be stressed that this position should neither serve as, nor be understood as a personal indictment; Palestinian violence is hardly comparable to that of Israel, the fifth strongest army in the world; death tolls on both sides effortlessly express the disparity of power. While proposing a hunda is maybe an expression of the current Palestinian government's commitment to peace, or perhaps a way out of a terrible bind; regardless, it should neither override nor cancel out the Palestinian people's uncompromising adherence to their just demands for freedom and rights, determined by a Palestinian national consensus and cemented in international law. " "We are in no way abiding by this report," he said. Barzani, is a key ally of the US in Iraq. Other Iraqi leaders, most of whom appear to have been familiar with the contents of the report prior to its official release, were cautiously optimistic about the proposals, especially those calling for national reconciliation. Barzani has otherwise been an ally of the US The report suggested delaying the implementation of constitutional article 140 calling for a controversial referendum to decide the future of the northern oil city of Kirkuk, a tense mix of ethnic groups. Barzani’s reaction was echoed by Ali al-Jarush, the Arab League’s official responsible for Iraq, who was quoted by the Mena news agency as being "astounded that the Baker-Hamilton report carries on regardless of the rights of Iraqis and limits itself to making it a priority to preserve the aura, interests and face-saving of the American administration". "The people of America want to apologize to the Iraqis for the mistakes of our elected officials" Al Hajji Yusef, Mobile, US "The people of America want to apologize to the Iraqis for the mistakes of our elected officials" Al Hajji Yusef, Mobile, US That report said progress towards Arab-Israeli peace was key to saving the situation Iraq. It also called for direct talks between the US and Iran and Syria. The renewed focus on Mideast peacemaking and growing domestic pressure on US leaders to end the crisis in Iraq have Israelis worrying about a possible policy shift by George Bush, the US president, who for six years has largely steerd personally clear of the intricacies of the peacemaking process in the Middle East. Israel's leading newspaper, the Yediot Aharonot daily, said Bush was "trying to change his policy" and slammed the Iraq report, accusing its chief authors James Baker and Lee Hamilton of ignoring Israel during its preparation. "If the truth be told, they barely paid any attention to us," the newspaper said. "For 14 years, Israel enjoyed warm and pampering attention under Clinton and Bush. Now, in light of the catastrophe in Iraq, Baker and Hamilton wish to restore us to our proper proportions." Edward Djerejian, a senior adviser to the Iraq Study Group, told the paper that were Washington to shift its tack, Israel would follow suit. Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, has, however, expressed disatisfaction with the report's recommendations. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, he said US problems in Iraq "are entirely independent of the controversy between us and the Palestinians". Elsewhere, responding to the ISG report John Howard, the Australian prime minister and staunch supporter of Bush, admitted on Friday that the war in Iraq was progressing "very badly", but ruled out any hasty withdrawal of Australian troops. Palestinian security force officers, most loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, gather on the steps of the Legislative Council during a protest to demand their salaries from the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority in Gaza City, Saturday Dec. 9, 2006.(AP Photo) Palestinian security force officers, most of them loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, chant slogans as they march during a protest to demand their salaries from the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority in Gaza City, Saturday Dec. 9, 2006.(AP Photo) Palestinian security force officers climb the Legislative Council building during a protest to demand their salaries from the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority in Gaza City, Saturday Dec. 9, 2006. (AP Photo) Palestinian police officers ride on a police vehicle as they and others march during a protest demanding their salaries in the West Bank town of Jenin, Saturday, Dec. 9, 2006. Some 4,000 members of the security forces staged the march to press for their salaries which have not been paid in full by the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority in months. (AP Photo) Palestinian security personnel fire into the air, during a rally by uniformed police and other security officers demonstrating over the non-payment of their salaries, inside the parliament headquarters in Gaza December 9, 2006. A Palestinian parliamentary guard was wounded as demonstrators and parliamentary security guards exchanged fire at the Palestinian parliament building in Gaza City on Saturday, a Reuters witness said. (REUTERS) THESE COWARDS WHOSE JOB IS THE SECURITY OF ISRAEL, NOT OF THE PALESTINIANS, WERE NOWHERE TO BE SEEN WHEN ISRAEL WAS SLAUGHTERING WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN BEIT HANOUN. BUT LOOK AT THEM NOW! ON COMMAND BY USRAEL THEY ARE TRYING TO USE THEIR GUNS TO MOUNT A COUP FOR ABBAS THE PUPPET! SPIT ON THEM!!! Friday, December 8, 2006 Israel-Firsters in US House of Representatives, Led by Lantos, Weiner, and Lehinen, Pass Yet Another Anti-Palestinian Legislation By Hassan El-Najjar "C-Span, December 7, 2006 aired speeches of three members of the US House of Representatives pushing for the adoption of their legislation to further starve the Palestinian people. The legislation punishes Palestinians for not surrendering to their Israeli occupiers who forced them out of their homeland and they want them now to legitimize the theft by recognizing the Israeli occupation government. Israeli-Firsters and Zionist dinosaurs in the US House of Representatives, Led by Lantos, Weiner, and Lehinen, pressured other members of Congress to vote for yet another anti-Palestinian legislation. The Zionist zealots Tom Lantos of California, Weiner of New York, and Lehinen of Florida spoke in a very hateful way against the Palestinian people. Lantos in Particular expressed gloating in starving the Palestinian people yet more for daring to vote for Hamas. According to the new legislation (HR-2370, Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act), which was passed by the AIPAC-controlled rubber-stamp US Congress, the US government should deny funding to the Palestinian Authority as long as the elected Hamas leaders run it. The most important consequence of such legislation, however, is not denying US funding to the Palestinian Authority. Rather, to obligate the Bush administration to use its influence on other nations not to provide assistance to the Palestinian people. Qatar's foreign minister was summoned to the US State Department yesterday to rebuke him for his country's announcement of paying salaries of Palestinian teachers. Condoleezza Rice does not want to see Palestinian government employees getting paid even by their Arab brethren. This Lantos-Weiner-Lehinen legislation is an example for students of American politics of how Zionists control the US government in service of the Israeli occupation government policies. Any legislation bill presented by any number of Zionists in Congress about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is going to pass automatically by the AIPAC-controlled US rubber-stamp Congress. (See Carter's new book, Walt and Meirsheimer's Israel Lobby paper, and Findley's famous book, Who dares to speak? for explanation). This legislation comes also only one day after the Zionist Israeli occupation ideologue, Shimon Peres, announced a worldwide Israeli plan to throw out the Hamas government. The Zionist Israeli plan focuses on starving the Palestinian people, as a punishment to them for electing Hamas, and a pressure on Hamas to give up the government to its Fateh rival, which is accepted by Israelis and their followers in the US and Europe. The Zionists are mad that Hamas has refused so far to recognize Israel as an occupying power. They want the Palestinians to surrender and accept all Israeli conditions before negotiations. Well, Fateh did that and gained nothing in ten years. These Zionist dinosaurs in US Congress have not realized yet that their days may be numbered after pushing the US to the disastrous invasion of Iraq in service of Israeli interests. The Baker-Hamilton Commission recommended that the US address the Palestinian grievances and help establish the Palestinian state, in order for Arab and Muslim governments to be able to give a hand to America to get out of the Iraqi quagmire. It doesn't seem that Lantos, Weiner, Lehinen, and their likes read the report. They may never read it. " U.S. occupation forces in Iraq have suffered their deadliest week in almost 3 years. In the first week of December, 37 U.S. soldiers were killed, making it the worst week since April 2004, when fighting in Fallujah was raging. So far a total of 2,927 U.S. service members have been killed in Iraq. by Jimmy Carter "I signed a contract with Simon & Schuster two years ago to write a book about the Middle East, based on my personal observations as the Carter Center monitored three elections in Palestine and on my consultations with Israeli political leaders and peace activists. We covered every Palestinian community in 1996, 2005 and 2006, when Yasser Arafat and later Mahmoud Abbas were elected president and members of parliament were chosen. The elections were almost flawless, and turnout was very high — except in East Jerusalem, where, under severe Israeli restraints, only about 2% of registered voters managed to cast ballots. The many controversial issues concerning Palestine and the path to peace for Israel are intensely debated among Israelis and throughout other nations — but not in the United States. For the last 30 years, I have witnessed and experienced the severe restraints on any free and balanced discussion of the facts. This reluctance to criticize any policies of the Israeli government is because of the extraordinary lobbying efforts of the American-Israel Political Action Committee and the absence of any significant contrary voices. It would be almost politically suicidal for members of Congress to espouse a balanced position between Israel and Palestine, to suggest that Israel comply with international law or to speak in defense of justice or human rights for Palestinians. Very few would ever deign to visit the Palestinian cities of Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron, Gaza City or even Bethlehem and talk to the beleaguered residents. What is even more difficult to comprehend is why the editorial pages of the major newspapers and magazines in the United States exercise similar self-restraint, quite contrary to private assessments expressed quite forcefully by their correspondents in the Holy Land....... Book reviews in the mainstream media have been written mostly by representatives of Jewish organizations who would be unlikely to visit the occupied territories, and their primary criticism is that the book is anti-Israel. Two members of Congress have been publicly critical. Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for instance, issued a statement (before the book was published) saying that "he does not speak for the Democratic Party on Israel." Some reviews posted on Amazon.com call me "anti-Semitic," and others accuse the book of "lies" and "distortions." A former Carter Center fellow has taken issue with it, and Alan Dershowitz called the book's title "indecent." Out in the real world, however, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. I've signed books in five stores, with more than 1,000 buyers at each site. I've had one negative remark — that I should be tried for treason — and one caller on C-SPAN said that I was an anti-Semite. My most troubling experience has been the rejection of my offers to speak, for free, about the book on university campuses with high Jewish enrollment and to answer questions from students and professors. I have been most encouraged by prominent Jewish citizens and members of Congress who have thanked me privately for presenting the facts and some new ideas. The book describes the abominable oppression and persecution in the occupied Palestinian territories, with a rigid system of required passes and strict segregation between Palestine's citizens and Jewish settlers in the West Bank. An enormous imprisonment wall is now under construction, snaking through what is left of Palestine to encompass more and more land for Israeli settlers. In many ways, this is more oppressive than what blacks lived under in South Africa during apartheid. I have made it clear that the motivation is not racism but the desire of a minority of Israelis to confiscate and colonize choice sites in Palestine, and then to forcefully suppress any objections from the displaced citizens. Obviously, I condemn any acts of terrorism or violence against innocent civilians, and I present information about the terrible casualties on both sides. The ultimate purpose of my book is to present facts about the Middle East that are largely unknown in America, to precipitate discussion and to help restart peace talks (now absent for six years) that can lead to permanent peace for Israel and its neighbors. Another hope is that Jews and other Americans who share this same goal might be motivated to express their views, even publicly, and perhaps in concert. I would be glad to help with that effort. " By Tom Hayden "Recommendations 62 and 63 confirm that control of Iraqi oil is a fundamental premise of Administration policy. This was denied in the first years of the war, but this week the President confirmed his belief that Islamic extremists will “gain access to vast oil reserves and use Iraq as a base to overthrow moderate governments all across the broader Middle East.” [LAT, 12-6-06]. Then James Baker revealed the interest of his longtime oil industry allies, as well as key financial and corporate interests, in an Iraq resolution favorable to their narrow interests. Recommendation 62 says the US government should help draft an oil law that “creates a fiscal and legal framework for investment.” It further recommends that the US, in conjunction with the International Monetary Fund [IMF], should “pres Iraq to continue reducing subsidies in the energy sector...until Iraqis pay market prices for oil products...” That is, in a country besieged by civil war, bombings of infrastructure, unemployment at 50 percent levels, and the lack of necessities, the Baker Report proposes to make everyday life harder for average Iraqis so that the oil industry profits. Recommendation 63 says the US should “assist” Iraqi leaders in privatizing the national oil industry into a “commercial enterprise” to encourage investment by the multi-national oil companies. Who said it was not about blood for oil? There’s more to uncover. But at this point we know that the Baker commission is sprinkled with heavyweights from oil, construction, and financial entities with interests in Iraq. Baker is a Texas oilman whose law firm has interests in debt repayment to Kuwait and other Gulf States. Lawrence Eagleberger has ties to Halliburton and Philips Petroleum, and is a former head of Kissinger Associates, a corporate consulting firm whose clients remain secret [Paul Bremer was managing partner of the Associates]. Vernon Jordan is a power lawyer at Akin Gump who is closely associated with the secretive Bilderberg Group [as well as the Clinton circle and civil rights firms]. Leon Panetta served on the board of the New York Stock Exchange. The expert working groups for the ISG include leaders of Bechtel, PFC Energy, and two representatives of Citygroup, Inc., the firm of Robert Rubin, leading neo-liberal advocate and member of Clinton’s cabinet. Not a single person from the peace movement, women’s, environmental, civil rights or labor organizations were among the “expert” consultants listed in the ISG Report, although the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute were there. The Report acknowledges that “senior members of Iraq’s oil industry” argue for a nationalized oil company to centralize and allocate revenues fairly by region and group. But the Baker team dismisses any such idea on grounds that simply favor private multinationals. They approve of “aggressive” Kurdish investment deals with oil companies in northern Iraq, and note that Shi’a leaders are reported to be negotiating for foreign oil companies as well. The Sunni armed nationalist groups have consistently stood for the Iraqi right to control Iraqi oil, while also offering a generous role for American contractors and corporations in their vision of the future. All this suggests that the ideological goal of the US invasion was not simply to displace Saddam Hussein but to dismantle the Arab nationalist state as a whole, opening the oil fields to private penetration. It is even possible that the grand alliance behind the Baker report includes support for US military disengagement in exchange for permanent guarantees that privatize the second largest oil fields on the planet..... Did you notice something about the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group Report? It recommends all sorts of changes, all of them far short of actually ending the war, but it recommends them all to the same person responsible for the disastrous situation we're in now. It doesn't suggest what Congress should do to rein in an out-of-control president. Rather, it recommends that the President do dozens of things. Here's one of them: Recommendation 22: The President should state that the United States does not seek permanent military bases in Iraq. If the Iraqi government were to request a temporary base or bases, then the U.S. government could consider that request as it would in the case of any other government. Bush came close to stating this on April 13, 2004, when he said "As a proud and independent people, Iraqis do not support an indefinite occupation and neither does America." But the Iraq Study Group does, and so -- judging by other remarks and actions, does Bush. When you refuse to set a definite time for getting out, you are supporting an indefinite occupation. Robert Gates, the new Rumsfeld, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that he thought the "war on terror," which he dishonestly connected to the War on Iraq, would last "a generation." That's pretty indefinite. But what if Bush were to state that the United States does not seek permanent bases? How would that differ from Bush stating that he had no warning of Katrina, or that he knew Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, or that the United States does not torture, or that he planned to keep Rumsfeld on another two years? Speaking of Rumsfeld, on February 17, 2005, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, testifying before the same Senate Armed Services Committee, said: ''We have no intention, at the present time, of putting permanent bases in Iraq.'' Now, in Rumsfeldspeak this probably meant that he would build temporary bases and then decide later to make them permanent, or that they would just be "enduring," which would mean permanent but not, you know, permanent -- in the same way that an "enemy combatant" is a prisoner of war without the rights of, you know, a prisoner of war. In any case, what is gained by having Bush or Rumsfeld say the words? Wouldn't it make more sense to recommend to Congress that it do something that used to be the role of Congress: namely, pass a law? But there's the catch. Congress already has. Since the moment we entered Fiscal Year 2007 in October, every dime spent on permanent military bases in Iraq has been illegal. But no one even knows how to find out how many dimes that is. And that illustrates a broader problem. Bush not only began this war in secret with money that Congress had approved for something else, but he also immediately turned it into a permanent occupation and began constructing permanent bases. It took Congress three years to get around to cutting off the funding for more such construction, but Congress had never approved the whole idea. Neither, of course, had the Iraqis. This past weekend there was a huge protest in Italy where a permanent U.S. military base plans to expand with the construction of a new base nearby. In South Korea it's a similar story, with the added kicker that our military is evicting townspeople, eliminating their village, and building a new base with a golf course attached. There's a global meeting planned in March in Ecuador on eliminating foreign military bases. It was U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia that enraged Osama Bin Laden. Americans pay a fortune to maintain bases all over the world, and the primary product of them is anger. Last March, when Congress passed the "emergency" supplemental funding for the war for 2006, both houses of Congress included language banning the use of funds to build permanent bases. A Republican-run conference committee "reconciled" this agreement by deleting it. But leaders on this issue like Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) didn't give up. Similar language was included in the "Defense" Appropriations bill for 2007. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) introduced an amendment on the floor of the House to again delete the language on no-permanent-bases. But most of the Republicans and almost all of the Democrats went against him. Appropriations Committee Chairman C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.) urged King to withdraw his amendment: "If we strike this prohibition from this bill that was well thought out, what we are saying to the Iraqi people and what I am satisfied the propaganda machine of al Qaeda in Iraq are going to do is use this and say: see there, we told you so. The Americans plan to occupy us for the rest of our lives." The House voted 376-50 for no-permanent-bases. It's been the law since October. The 2007 "Defense" Authorization bill passed including the same language. Why did King want to allow the construction of permanent bases? He argued on the floor: "I believe that we should not foreclose our options in Iraq ... Historically, basing rights agreements have been a necessary part of diplomatic relations with foreign governments." Well, yes, but that's exactly what the Iraq Study Group recommends: working the basing arrangements out with the puppet government. Indications are that the Iraqis are not fooled. When a number of us wrote to Congressional leaders to thank them for cutting off funds for permanent bases, we noted that: "This important step comes as evidence increasingly points to its need. A University of Maryland poll recently showed that 77 percent of Iraqis believe that the United States intends to maintain permanent bases in that country, while a State Department study found that a majority of Iraqis are calling for U.S-led military forces to withdraw immediately. The recently issued National Intelligence Estimate confirmed what many of us had feared for so long: the U.S. presence in Iraq is increasing terrorist threats and not making America’s homeland more secure." So, over three-quarters of Iraqis are hip to what we're doing. Americans don't lag so far behind. In a new study released by the same university this week, we learn that 66 percent of Americans (including a near majority of Republicans) believe that a majority of Iraqis oppose the establishment of permanent U.S. bases in their country, and 68 percent of Americans (including a majority of Republicans) believe that, in any case, we should not have such bases. Tom Engelhardt points out that: "This is an especially remarkable set of figures, given that the permanent bases have received next to no attention in the American mainstream media." Enough has been reported, however, for us to know that we are spending billions of dollars to construct bases in Iraq for the U.S. military. The new Democratic majority in Congress knows this, knows the damage these bases are doing, and knows the good that could be done by making better use of all that money, not to mention the lives lost in the process. If we speak up, perhaps the new majority will also know how quickly it can become a minority again if it does not seize this issue, expose it, and set it right. As Congressman Dennis Kucinich said on the floor of the House on Wednesday: "The American public did not vote for the Iraq Study Group. They voted for a new congress and a new direction in Iraq -- OUT." AMY GOODMAN: We continue in London with Milan Rai, co-founder of the group Justice Not Vengeance and also Voices in the Wilderness. His latest book is called 7/7: The London Bombings, Islam and the Iraq War, joining us from London. Milan Rai, The news conference that Bush and Blair held at the White House yesterday, can you respond? MILAN RAI: Well, I think that what happened was that, as several commentators said in the British press, Tony Blair used to enjoy the privilege of coming and conferring with the President, the leader of the free world, so to speak, but now it looks more like a penance, and it’s more of an act of demeaning the Prime Minister than elevating him, in the eyes of many commentators over here. I think that there are serious differences between Bush and Blair, but Blair still has some things that he wants to get from President Bush, as he enters the last phase of his premiership, because, of course, Tony Blair has said that he’s going to leave power next year, and that might only be a few months away. And one of the things that he wants, as we know from the conversation that was recorded without their knowledge at the G8 Summit, is this trip to the Middle East that’s about to take place, where he wants to once again play the role of a great statesman, as part of his farewell to holding power here in Britain, and to try to advance what they call the peace process in relation to Israel and Palestine. Now, one of the differences between Bush and Blair is to do with what’s happening in Iraq, and another difference is to do with Iran. On Iran, Tony Blair has been trying to halt a US assault on Iran since before the Iraq war started. And in fact, if you go back to September 2002, in the speech in which Tony Blair unveiled the famous 45 minutes to attack dossier to the world and to the House of Commons, he said in that that one of the reasons why there should be an attack on Saddam Hussein was that there was no moderate wing of Saddam Hussein's government that could be appealed to. And that half a sentence, that phrase was inserted, as far as I can make out, to start building the case against an assault on Iran, which has a much more open and pluralistic political system than then obtained in Iraq. Of course, there are differences also on what should happen in Iraq. But what is outlined in the Iraq Study Group and what Tony Blair has been pushing for for some time and, in fact, the British government is following in relation to its control of Southern Iraq is a process of what has been called a repeat of the Vietnamization strategy of the 1970s in Vietnam, where what you do is you reduce the Western combat troops from the frontline and you instead substitute local fighters who will fight on your behalf. So what the Iraq Study Group report is about and what the handover of provinces in Southern Iraq by the British forces is about is not about real withdrawal or real exit strategy. It’s about a modification of the occupation. And what’s going to happen in the southern zone of Iraq for Britain is that provinces will be handed over to local forces, but the British forces will continue to remain in Iraq, and they will have a number of roles, including protecting the US supply chain coming out from Kuwait, which means that as long as there is a US military presence in Iraq, there will continue to be a British military presence, because that's their role now or that's their intended role at a reduced level. And what Tony Blair wants to do is to shift attention to Afghanistan, where the political cost internationally and domestically is much lower, and, in fact, a similar strategy is outlined in the Iraq Study Group report, thich says that even after all of their plans have been completed, if they’re successful, there will still be a significant US military presence in Iraq. AMY GOODMAN: And what do the British people want? What is the sense of the British public right now? And was the Iraq Study Group report played large in Britain? MILAN RAI: Well, there was a significant amount of reaction in the media to the Iraq Study Group report. And generally it was called uncontroversial, unexpected, not surprising, and so on. It’s not seen as something that is likely to have a dramatic effect. People are calling it, in the media, an opportunity for reality and sanity in mainstream terms. Now, what’s happening, I think, is that a lot of people in Britain, including perhaps in sectors of the antiwar movement -- and, in fact, I was ringing around people in the antiwar movement around the UK this morning -- I think that in a large part of the population here, the sense is that with these handovers in the South, with the talk in the Iraq Study Group, the US and UK are moving towards real withdrawal, which is not the case at all. And I think that that’s a real problem that the media coverage of the Iraq Study Group report, of the British withdrawals from or of handovers of provinces, is creating. It’s creating a misimpression that what we're seeing is a real intention to withdraw control. What’s on the table is control at a reduced political and military cost, and that’s what Tony Blair is talking about, and that’s what the Iraq Study Group are talking about. AMY GOODMAN: In 20 seconds, what do you feel needs to happen right now, Milan Rai, long antiwar activist in Britain and political analyst? MILAN RAI: Well, I think there needs to be a resurgence of the antiwar movement, and there are different strands of opinion within the antiwar movement, but I think that we can all unite to try to expose the propaganda that’s going on and to say that what's on the table is continued occupation and control of Iraq, and that’s rejected by the Iraqi people, by the British people and by the United States public, as well. AMY GOODMAN: On that note, Milan Rai, I want to thank you for being with us, co-founder of the groups Justice Not Vengeance and Voices in the Wilderness. Just 27 percent of those questioned in a new A-P-Ipsos poll approve of the way he's handling the war. At the same time, dissatisfaction has climbed to an all-time high of 71 percent. Ohio State University's John Mueller, who's an authority on presidents and public opinion, says Bush's support is continuing to erode and there no reason to think it can be turned around. The poll also indicates nearly two-thirds of the American people do not think Iraq is going to end up with a stable, democratic government. Only nine percent think the Iraq war will end with a clear-cut victory." Words Even an Ex-President Can't Say in America By NORMAN FINKELSTEIN "It seems Israel's "supporters" have conscripted me in their lynching of Jimmy Carter. Count me out. True, the historical part of Carter's book, Palestine Peace Not Apartheid, contains errors in that it repeats standard Israeli propaganda. However, Carter's analysis of the impasse in the "peace process" as well as his description of Israeli policy in the West Bank is accurate - and, frankly, that's all that matters. A wag once said that there is no Pravda (Truth) in Izvestia (News) and no Izvestia in Pravda. The same can be said of our Pravda (The New York Times) and Izvestia (The Washington Post). Today both party organs ran feature stories trashing Carter using Kenneth Stein's resignation from the Carter Center as the hook. (I was sitting in the airport when this earth-shattering story came on CNN.) But like John Galt, many people must have wondered, Who (the hell) is Kenneth Stein? Stein wrote exactly one scholarly book on the Israel-Palestine conflict more than two decades ago (The Land Question in Palestine, 1984). Even in his heyday, Stein was a nonentity. When Joan Peters's hoax From Time Immemorial was published, I asked his opinion of it. He replied that it had "good points and bad points." Just like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Later Stein wrote a sick essay the main thesis of which was, "the Palestinian Arab community had been significantly prone to dispossession and dislocation before the mass exodus from Palestine began" - so the Zionist ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948 was really no big deal ("One Hundred Years of Social Change: The Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Probem," in Laurence Silberstein (ed.), New Perspectives on Israeli History, 1991). The Pravda ( NYT) story was written by two reporters who seem to have made a beeline for the newsroom from their bat mitzvahs. They quote Stein to the effect that Carter's book is "replete with factual errors, copied materials not cited, superficialities, glaring omissions and simply invented segments". I doubt there's much to this. Most of the background material is Carter's reminiscences. Maybe he copied from Rosalyn's diary (she was his note taker). Then Pravda reports that "a growing chorus of academics...have taken issue with the book". Who do they name? Alan Dershowitz and David Makovsky. Makovsky is resident hack at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the Israel Lobby's "think"-tank. Pravda saw no irony in citing Dershowitz's expertise for a story on fabrication, falsification and plagiarism regarding a book on the Israel-Palestine conflict. As always, one can only be awed by the party discipline at our Pravda. It makes one positively wistful for the days when commissars quoted Stalin on linguistics." Brookings Hosts an Ethnic Cleanser By WILL YOUMANS "When far-right leader Avigdor Lieberman and his Yisrael Beiteinu party joined the Israeli government, pro-peace Israelis expressed outrage. The Brookings Institution extended an invitation. Brookings' Saban Center for Middle East Policy is holding the third annual Saban Forum in Washington, D.C. from December 8 through the 10th. This year's forum is entitled "America and Israel: Confronting a Middle East in Turmoil" "turmoil," meaning pissed off Arabs, of course. In his new book Palestine Peace Not Apartheid, Jimmy Carter charges that we lack a national discussion about our nation's support for Israel. This invitation proves his point, as does the entire forum which doesn't think any Arabs, not even the empire butt-kissers, need be present. For some reason, they invited Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer, but not a single Arab. An Arab-less discussion of the Middle East fits comfortably with one prominent guest's vision of the holy land. Lieberman is one of Israel's leading advocates of forcibly removing masses of Palestinians in order to alter the country's demographic outlay permanently. This has a more common name: ethnic cleansing. Ms. Reyahi is one of nearly two million Iraqis who have fled the vicious chaos of their country since the American invasion nearly four years ago, flooding neighboring states, especially Jordan and Syria, but also Lebanon and Egypt. As they leave Iraq at a rate of nearly 3,000 a day, the refugees are threatening the social and economic fabric of both Jordan and Syria. In Jordan, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are trying to blend into a country of only 6 million inhabitants, including about 1.5 million registered Palestinian refugees. The governments classify most of the Iraqis as visitors, not refugees. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimated in a report released last month that more than 1.6 million Iraqis have left since March 2003, nearly 7 percent of the population. Jordanian security officials say more than 750,000 are in and around Amman, a city of 2.5 million. Syrian officials estimate that up to one million have gone to the suburbs of Damascus, a city of three million. An additional 150,000 have landed in Cairo. Every month, 100,000 more join them in Syria and Jordan, the report said. In a report released this week, Refugees International, a Washington-based advocacy group, put the total at close to two million and called their flight “the fastest-growing humanitarian crisis in the world.” Its president, Kenneth Bacon, said, “The United States and its allies sparked the current chaos in Iraq, but they are doing little to ease the humanitarian crisis caused by the current exodus.” Every night, hulking orange and white GMC Suburbans and sedans pull into the taxi garage in downtown Amman stuffed with Iraqis and their belongings, adding to the growing social problems they pose while fueling growing fears that Iraq’s sectarian tensions will spill over here. As Iraq seems to disintegrate into warring factions of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds, the risk that their dispute will be transferred here and increase local social problems is frightening the authorities. As a result, restrictions on Iraqis have been tightened in Egypt, Syria and Jordan, which has been increasing patrols seeking to evict those who have overstayed their visas. Most of the émigrés bring tales of horror and sadness. Ali Ghani, a onetime champion Iraqi body builder, said that his father had been grabbed from their house in Iraq, apparently because he was a Shiite; his body was later found in the street. Several other friends have met a similar fate, he said. Partly as a result of such strife, refugees here claim, there is a growing sectarian dimension to the official crackdown. They say the authorities of this officially Sunni country have paid more attention to deporting Iraqi Shiites, fearing that their militias are trying to organize here. “There is only disrespect for us now,” said Qais Attiyeh, 36, a Shiite sculptor who says he has been granted refugee status in Amman. “And now I increasingly find Jordanians who ask me, ‘Are you a Shiite or a Muslim?’ ” he said, referring to extremist Sunnis’ rejection of Shiism as a branch of Islam. “I read their facial expressions and tell them what they like to hear,” he said. ".....Return to Gaza: The mythology of murder Israel has denied using DIME weapons. Nonetheless, Israel’s military has used the occupied Palestinian territories as a weapons development zone for decades, testing bright ideas like depleted uranium and poison gases. It would not surprise us to find that it is now testing a weapon for the US Air Force on Palestinians in Gaza. (23) Unfortunately, the DIME hypothesis is the most plausible explanation for the grotesque effects of Israel’s new weapon. We can only pray that we have not witnessed the first experiment in the effects of embedded HMTA in human subjects. Still, DIME may not explain all of the evidence. For example, one of the metals found in victims’ wounds was copper. DIME bombs are not known to contain significant copper, but another US marvel, the Sensor Fuzed Weapon (SFW), sprays slugs of molten copper at its targets. Is Israel also testing the SFW? (24)(25) If DIME weapons are designed to reduce civilian casualties, why has Israel’s ‘mystery weapon’ increased the civilian death toll? Perhaps this question should be addressed to the advocates of Focused Lethality Munitions, and to the remote-control operators of Israel’s drone aircraft and their commanders and politicians. Although much remains unclear about Israel’s new weapon, a few devastating facts are indisputable: The weapon causes enormous and indiscriminate pain and suffering. It operates as both a chemical weapon and an anti-personnel explosive. At the very least, it is likely to induce heavy metal poisoning in its surviving victims. The weapon has significantly increased civilian mortality rates, in part because it inflicts virtually untreatable wounds. Despite this public parade of horrors, Israeli forces have continued to use this weapon against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip for nearly five months........ .....We will likely be told that DIME weapons provide a more “humane” way to fight “terrorism” by “reducing collateral damage” and “helping US troops win hearts and minds”. At the same time, we’ll be assured that the new weapon “packs quite a punch” and will “give our troops more options” to “take the battle to the enemy”, even if he is “hiding among civilians”. Whether Israel’s new weapon is the Air Force’s DIME bomb or another similarly dreadful invention, the horrors unfolding in Gaza make it clear that “Focused Lethality” is a blood-drenched lie. It promises only a deadlier form of indiscriminate warfare. US plans to explode payloads of cancer-causing genotoxic heavy metal powder “wherever and whenever necessary” may portend an escalation of a campaign currently limited to the vicinity of “hard targets” we attack with DU and NDU. Whatever we make of the intent behind these weapons, the habitual result is chemical-genetic warfare. It cannot be allowed to continue." Sayyed Nasrallah vows no retreat and no surrender; some ruling bloc figures asked US to give Israel green light to crush Hezbollah "Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah made a fiery speech Thursday and addressed the Lebanese and the Arab World in a live television speech broadcast by Al-Manar channel and several other satellite channels. Sayyed Nasrallah vowed that the Lebanese opposition will not "surrender" in its mass protests to bring down the Western-backed government. "At the mass protest on Sunday we will show that those who are betting on our surrender are having an illusion. We will not go out of the streets before we achieve our objective to save Lebanon," he said. "We insist on our demands, for the formation of a real government of national unity... because it is the only means to prevent any foreign tutelage on Lebanon, so that we have Lebanese decision-making." "We reject any tutelage, from any party, whether it is the enemy, brother or friend," he said, signaling Syria, Iran and other states. But Nasrallah said "the opportunity is still there and the doors of negotiation are still open, let us change the current government into a government of national unity headed by Saniora." "But if you (ruling majority) remain stubborn... we will reach a stage in which we will not accept any of you to head the next government... we will form an interim government that will hold early elections," he said. The Secretary General paid respect to the family of National Opposition martyr Ahmed Mahmoud who was shot in the back by supporters of the ruling bloc and insisted Hezbollah "will not be dragged into any strife even if you kill a thousand of us." "We will not raise our arms in the face of anyone in Lebanon. "When they killed Ahmed Mahmoud, they wanted to push us to clashes. I tell them that we refuse civil war and discord. Our weapons have only been raised against our Israeli enemy," he said. Sayyed Nasrallah also blasted Arab and Western governments that have sided with Saniora's ruling bloc and called them to come to Lebanon and seek facts and remain neutral. He also reminded Saniora's bloc that the United States administration has been cornered by the Baker Hamilton report on Iraq and that Lebanon is no longer a top priority on Washington's agenda. "You have been counting on American backing. It will not bring you any benefit. How can you count on Bush and its army when they are sinking in the mud of the region, in Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon?" Sayyed Nasrallah accused "some members" of the ruling majority of having asked Washington to let Israel launch a war against Hezbollah in the summer to crush Hezbollah. His eminence said that those who made this request know themselves very well and "we know them by name," and called for an Arab probing panel to be formed to look into this issue. "I hope that I would not be obliged to name them in the future," his eminence said. "Can anyone accept that in a time of war, the prime minister ordered the Lebanese Army to seize weapons being delivered to us as we were trying to defend our country from Israeli attacks?" Nasrallah asked, also calling for an independent committee to investigate events during the war. His eminence added: "We in Lebanon pay taxes to the government and the government pays the salaries of employees and security services personnel who are supposed to protect the Lebanese and their properties. During the war, some pro-ruling majority bloc security services were supposed to track down spies and Israeli networks that are giving information to the Israelis for bombing missions. But unfortunately, and I'm with calling for an independent committee to investigate events during the war, one of the security services loyal to the ruling bloc was operating during the war to identify and locate Hezbollah leaders and a unit of this security service had sought to locate the place where used to stay during the war." Sayyed Nasrallah called upon his supporters to "refrain from insulting and disrespecting ruling politicians." He also said that the Maronite Bishops' initiative deserves consideration and it has many positive points. Sayyed Nasrallah concluded that "the door is open for negotiations, but we will not leave the street before achieving the goal of saving Lebanon." "We will win with our voices, and not with our arms!" vowed Nasrallah, calling for a greater turnout for yet another mass demonstration on Sunday aimed at forcing the government to step down. As a gesture of reunification among Muslim Shiites and Sunnis, he invited adherents of both sects to show up Friday "and pray at the same time" in the heart of the capital, with prominent Sunni religious figure, Sheikh Fathi Yakan leading the prayers. " Former Secretary of State James Baker (left) of the Iraq Study Group speaks while his co-chair Lee Hamilton looks on in September 2006. (AFP/File/Mandel Ngan) The White House has been examining a proposal by James Baker to launch a Middle East peace effort without Israel. The peace effort would begin with a U.S.-organized conference, dubbed Madrid-2, and contain such U.S. adversaries as Iran and Syria. Officials said Madrid-2 would be promoted as a forum to discuss Iraq's future, but actually focus on Arab demands for Israel to withdraw from territories captured in the 1967 war. They said Israel would not be invited to the conference. �As Baker sees this, the conference would provide a unique opportunity for the United States to strike a deal without Jewish pressure,� an official said. �This has become the most hottest proposal examined by the foreign policy people over the last month.� Officials said Mr. Baker's proposal, reflected in the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, has been supported by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns and National Intelligence Director John Negroponte. The most controversial element in the proposal, they said, was Mr. Baker's recommendation for the United States to woo Iran and Syria. �Here is Syria, which is clearly putting pressure on the Lebanese democracy, is a supporter of terror, is both provisioning and supporting Hezbollah and facilitating Iran in its efforts to support Hezbollah, is supporting the activities of Hamas," National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley told a briefing last week. "This is not a Syria that is on an agenda to bring peace and stability to the region." Officials said the Baker proposal to exclude Israel from a Middle East peace conference garnered support in the wake of Vice President Dick Cheney's visit to Saudi Arabia on Nov. 25. They said Mr. Cheney spent most of his meetings listening to Saudi warnings that Israel, rather than Iran, is the leading cause of instability in the Middle East. �He [Cheney] didn't even get the opportunity to seriously discuss the purpose of his visit�that the Saudis help the Iraqi government and persuade the Sunnis to stop their attacks,� another official familiar with Mr. Cheney�s visit said. �Instead, the Saudis kept saying that they wanted a U.S. initiative to stop the Israelis� attack in Gaza and Cheney just agreed.� Under the Baker proposal, the Bush administration would arrange a Middle East conference that would discuss the future of Iraq and other Middle East issues. Officials said the conference would seek to win Arab support on Iraq in exchange for a U.S. pledge to renew efforts to press Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and Golan Heights. �Baker sees his plan as containing something for everybody, except perhaps the Israelis,� the official said. �The Syrians would get back the Golan, the Iranians would get U.S. recognition and the Saudis would regain their influence, particularly with the Palestinians.� Officials said Mr. Baker's influence within the administration and the Republican Party�s leadership stems from support by the president's father as well as former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Throughout the current Bush administration, such senior officials as Mr. Hadley and Ms. Rice were said to have been consulting with Brent Scowcroft, the former president's national security advisor, regarded as close to Mr. Baker. �Everybody has fallen in line,� the official said. �Bush is not in the daily loop. He is shocked by the elections and he's hoping for a miracle on Iraq.� For his part, Mr. Bush has expressed unease in negotiating with Iran. At a Nov. 30 news conference in Amman, Jordan, the president cited Iran's interference in the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki. �We respect their heritage, we respect their history, we respect their traditions,� Mr. Bush said. �I just have a problem with a government that is isolating its people, denying its people benefits that could be had from engagement with the world.� Mr. Baker's recommendation to woo Iran and Syria has also received support from some in the conservative wing of the GOP. Over the last week, former and current Republican leaders in Congress�convinced of the need for a U.S. withdrawal before the 2008 presidential elections�have called for Iranian and Syrian participation in an effort to stabilize Iraq. �I would look at an entirely new strategy,� former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said. �We have clearly failed in the last three years to achieve the kind of outcome we want.� In contrast, Defense Department officials have warned against granting a role to Iran and Syria at Israel's expense. They said such a strategy would also end up undermining Arab allies of the United States such as Egypt, Jordan and Morocco. �The regional strategy is a euphemism for throwing Free Iraq to the wolves in its neighborhood: Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia,� said the Center for Security Policy, regarded as being close to the Pentagon. �If the Baker regional strategy is adopted, we will prove to all the world that it is better to be America's enemy than its friend. Jim Baker's hostility towards the Jews is a matter of record and has endeared him to Israel's foes in the region.� But Defense Secretary-designate Robert Gates, a former colleague of Mr. Baker on the Iraq Study Group, has expressed support for U.S. negotiations with Iran and Syria. In response to questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee, which begins confirmation hearings this week, Mr. Gates compared the two U.S. adversaries to the Soviet Union. �Even in the worst days of the Cold War, the U.S. maintained a dialogue with the Soviet Union and China, and I believe those channels of communication helped us manage many potentially difficult situations,� Mr. Gates said. �Our engagement with Syria need not be unilateral. It could, for instance, take the form of Syrian participation in a regional conference.�

Brandon Adam (he/him) is an actor, playwright, and librettist from Montreal, Canada. Brandon has performed at the Kansas City Fringe Festival, the Sibiu International Theatre Festival, and the Varna Summer Theatre Festival, as well as in shows at 3-Legged Dog and The Hive. Brandon’s plays include “Nice Jewish X” (Theaterlab, Manhattan), “In Rotation” (St. Paul’s Church, Brooklyn), and “Crowds Out Front” for Doghouse Ensemble Theatre. Brandon wrote the short film “Deer Students” as well as the upcoming audio drama “For Internal Use Only.” Songs from his musical “Not Quite Extinct” (music and lyrics by Rebecca Murillo) have been performed at Feinstein’s/54 Below. Education: BA in Acting from Pace University. Twitter/Instagram: @BrandonAdam.

Deuteronomy opens with a detailed description of the location where Moses delivered his final speeches: “These are the words that Moses spoke to all of Israel on the east bank of the Jordan River... near Paran, Tofel, Lavan, Chazeroth, and Di Zahav.” (Deut. 1:1) Why do we need to know the precise location of Moses’ orations? The Sages explained that each of these names held a special meaning — and a veiled rebuke — for those listening. ‘Di Zahav,’ for example, was a reminder of the Sin of the Golden Calf (zahav meaning ‘gold'). According to one opinion, however, the name Di Zahav also indicated a justification for the behavior of the Jewish people: “What is Di Zahav? This is what Moses told God: ‘Master of the World! It is because of all the silver and gold that You showered upon the Israelites — until they said, Dai! [Enough!] — that is what caused them to make the Golden Calf.'1 (Berachot 32a) Do you know anyone who had enough money and refused to accept more? The basis of serving God is our natural drive to continually advance and achieve. The goal of life is to be close to God, Whose perfection is boundless. Thus we must continually perfect ourselves in order to draw near to God. Of course, this aspiration can never be fully attained. We are never able to say, “Enough! I have achieved everything.” Each accomplishment makes us aware of even greater challenges and goals. In order to lead us on this path of constant growth, God planted within the human soul the incessant drive to always seek more. As Solomon noted: “The soul will never be sated” (Ecc. 6:7). This drive also compels us regarding material acquisitions: “One who loves silver never has his fill of silver” (Ecc. 5:9). Our drive for more is an indication that we can only attain our true goals through continual spiritual growth. When the Israelites sojourned in the wilderness, all of their physical needs were taken care of. They drew water from the well of Miriam, manna rained down from the sky, and their clothes never wore out. In this situation, they had little to gain by seeking additional possessions and wealth. It would just be more to carry. The soul’s natural drive was artificially suppressed, so that when the Israelites were showered with more silver and gold than they could ever need, their response was, ‘Enough!’ This was Moses’ defense for the Jewish people. Their unique existence in the wilderness, where all their needs were miraculously provided, stifled their soul’s natural desire for more. Dependent upon gifts from Heaven, lacking challenges and goals, they became satisfied and indolent. And this impacted their spiritual aspirations. Since their natural drive to advance was weakened, the Israelites turned to more easily attainable spiritual goals. And this is what led them to the Sin of the Golden Calf. What is the root of idolatry? It is the psychological desire to cleave to something closer to us, something tangible and finite. It is the choice not to seek out the infinite and boundless, but to take the easier route, to be content worshipping a force which is easy to identify and relate to. This aberrant form of spirituality suited a people with limited aspirations. This is what Moses told God: “Di Zahav — it is because of all the silver and gold that You showered upon the Israelites, until they said, ‘Enough!’ - that is what caused them to lower their sights and worship the Golden Calf.” (Sapphire from the Land of Israel. Adapted from Ein Eyah vol. I, pp. 140-141) 1The Midrash interprets the name Di Zahav as “dai zahav” — “enough gold.”

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Providence Cancer Center because a sister followed in her brother's footsteps. Allie Rosenfeld, 13, a seventh-grader at Catlin Gabel School, celebrated her bat mitzvah, or Jewish rite of passage, on Sept. 10 with Congregation Beth Israel in Northwest Portland. She had rehearsed her recitation on a Torah portion from Deuteronomy for months. During the service, she explained that Moses, who knew he would die without entering the Promised Land, reminded the people of the rules they should live by. One of them, she said, required that they not stand idly by as someone else suffered. Both of her maternal grandparents had died of cancer, she said. Her grandmother of breast cancer before Allie was born; her grandfather of pancreatic cancer when Allie was 7. "My family is not unique," she said. "We all know many people who have become stricken with cancer each year. And many people help to find a cure, do research, contribute generously, raise awareness. But ... I won't assume someone else will come to help. In truth, no one can take my place. I have to act." So, as her brother Will had done in 2009, Allie asked for donations to the cancer center. To date, $37,584 has been donated in Allie's name; her brother raised $27,735. Allie, the daughter of Sheryl and Warren Rosenfeld of Southwest Portland, likes math and history and dreams of a professional career -- if not playing tennis, then designing clothes -- and says she felt good about her decision when she made it and in the weeks since. "I didn't want or need anything," she says. But she still misses her grandfather. "He'd always be the one in the ocean," when her family visited him in Nantucket, Mass. "You always felt his presence," she says, "but he was kind of quiet." -- Nancy Haught

Posted on Thu, Aug. 20, 2009 last updated: August 19, 2009 12:29:55 PM I hope this column makes you sick. See, we'll be talking about Nazis, something many of us are doing lately. Indeed, just this week a fellow named Joseph e-mailed me about a caller he heard on a radio show. The man, vexed over health care reform, likened President Obama to Adolf Hitler. Asked why, he said, "Hitler took over the car companies, then health care and then he killed the Jews." Said Joseph: "I almost swerved my vehicle off the road when I heard that." But the caller is hardly unique. Google "Obama + Nazis" and you get almost seven million hits. Nor is the phenomenon new. Substitute President Bush's name and you get nearly 2.8 million. Even granting that many of those hits are benign, it seems obvious the Nazis have invaded American political rhetoric in a big way. As in Rush Limbaugh declaring health care reform "a Hitler-like policy," swastikas popping up at protest rallies, a poster depicting Obama with Hitler's moustache and a pamphlet that says: "Act Now To Stop Obama's Nazi Health Plan!" It's important to remember that the Nazis are passing out of living memory; U.S. soldiers of that era are said to be dying at the rate of 1,200 a day. Which makes it too easy, I think, for a nation of notorious historical illiteracy to remake the Nazis as some kind of all-purpose boogeymen for slandering political enemies and scoring cheap rhetorical points. So I thought it would be good to make you sick, i.e., to spend a few minutes reminding some and teaching others what you invoke when you invoke the Nazi regime. For the record, then: It was Nazis who shoved sand down a boy's throat until he died, who tossed candies to Jewish children as they sank to their deaths in a sand pit, who threw babies from a hospital window and competed to see how many of those "little Jews" could be caught on a bayonet, who injected a cement-like fluid into women's uteruses to see what would happen, who stomped a pregnant woman to death, who once snatched a woman's baby from her arms and, in the words of an eyewitness, "tore him as one would tear a rag." That's who the Nazis were, ladies and gentlemen — those obscenities plus six million more. They were the triumph of ideology over reason and even over humanity, the demonization of racial, religious and political difference, the objectification of the vulnerable other. And the authors of a mass murder that staggers imagination, still. You would think, then, that where they are invoked to draw a parallel or make a point, it would be done with a respect for the incalculable evil the Nazis represent. You would think people would tread carefully, not because of the potential insult to a given politician (they are big boys and girls) but because to do otherwise profanes the profound and renders trivial that which ought to be held sacred by anyone who regards himself as a truly human being. But in modern America, unfortunately, rhetoric often starts over the top and goes up from there. So fine, George W. Bush is "a smirking chimp." Fine, Barack Obama is "a Chicago thug." We have a Constitution, after all, and it says we can say whatever we want. It doesn't say it has to be intelligent. And yes, you are even protected if you liken Obama or Bush to Hitler. Yet every time I hear that, it makes me cringe for what it says about our collective propensity for historical amnesia and our retarded capacity for reverence. Once upon a lifetime ago, six million people with DNA, names and faces just like you and I, were butchered with gleeful sadism and mechanistic dispatch. Six million people. You and I may no longer respect one another, but is it asking too much that we still respect them? ABOUT THE WRITER Leonard Pitts Jr., winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, is a columnist for the Miami Herald, 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, Fla. 33132. Readers may write to him via e-mail at email@example.com. He chats with readers every Wednesday from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. EDT at Ask Leonard.

|State of Texas| |Nickname(s): The Lone Star State| |State anthem: Texas, Our Texas| |Official language(s)|| No official language| (see Languages spoken in Texas) |Spoken language(s)|| Predominantly English;| Spanish spoken by sizable minority Tejano(Usually only used for Hispanics) |Largest metro area||Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington| |Area||Ranked 2nd in the U.S.| |- Total|| 268,581 sq mi | |- Width||773 miles (1,244 km)| |- Length||790 miles (1,270 km)| |- % water||2.5| |- Latitude||25° 50′ N to 36° 30′ N| |- Longitude||93° 31′ W to 106° 39′ W| |Population||Ranked 2nd in the U.S.| |- Total||27,469,114 (2015 est)| |- Density|| 103.1/sq mi (40.8/km2)| Ranked 26th in the U.S. |- Highest point|| Guadalupe Peak| 8,751 ft (2667.4 m) |- Mean||1,700 ft (520 m)| |- Lowest point|| Gulf of Mexico| |Admission to Union||December 29, 1845 (28th)| |Governor||Greg Abbott (Republican)| |Lieutenant Governor||Dan Patrick (Republican)| |- Upper house||Senate| |- Lower house||House of Representatives| |U.S. Senators|| John Cornyn (Republican)| Ted Cruz (Republican) |U.S. House delegation|| 25 Republicans,| 11 Democrats (list) |- most of state||Central: UTC −6/−5| |- tip of West Texas||Mountain: UTC −7/−6| |Abbreviations||TX Tex. US-TX| Texas (Spanish: Texas or Tejas [ˈtexas]) is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Geographically located in the south central part of the country, Texas shares borders with the other US states of Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the west, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the southwest, while the Gulf of Mexico is to the southeast. Houston is the most populous city in Texas and the fourth largest in the US, while San Antonio is the second most populous in the state and seventh largest in the US. Dallas–Fort Worth and Greater Houston are the fourth and fifth largest metropolitan statistical areas in the country, respectively. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the US, and El Paso. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the state's struggle for independence from Mexico. The "Lone Star" can be found on the Texan state flag and on the Texan state seal. The origin of the state name, Texas, is from the word, "Tejas", which means 'friends' in the Caddo language. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, Texas contains diverse landscapes that resemble both the US southern and southwestern regions. Although Texas is popularly associated with the US southwestern deserts, less than 10 percent of Texas' land area is desert. Most of the population centers are located in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests, and the coastline. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, and finally the desert and mountains of the Big Bend. The term "six flags over Texas"[note 1] refers to several nations that have ruled over the territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas. France held a short-lived colony. Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state. The state's annexation set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican–American War in 1846. A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the US in early 1861, and officially joined the Confederate States of America on March 2 of the same year. After the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. One Texan industry that thrived after the Civil War was cattle. Due to its long history as a center of the industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy. The state's economic fortunes changed in the early 20th century, when oil discoveries initiated an economic boom in the state. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy and high tech industry in the mid-20th century. As of 2010 it shares the top of the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with California at 57. With a growing base of industry, the state leads in many industries, including agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, computers and electronics, aerospace, and biomedical sciences. Texas has led the nation in export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product. During Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas: La Provincia de Texas. Texas is the second largest U.S. state, behind Alaska, with an area of 268,820 square miles (696,200 km2). Though 10 percent larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile and Zambia. Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers. The Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south. The Red River forms a natural border with Oklahoma and Arkansas to the north. The Sabine River forms a natural border with Louisiana to the east. The Texas Panhandle has an eastern border with Oklahoma at 100° W, a northern border with Oklahoma at 36°30' N and a western border with New Mexico at 103° W. El Paso lies on the state's western tip at 32° N and the Rio Grande. With 10 climatic regions, 14 soil regions and 11 distinct ecological regions, regional classification becomes problematic with differences in soils, topography, geology, rainfall, and plant and animal communities. One classification system divides Texas, in order from southeast to west, into the following: Gulf Coastal Plains, Interior Lowlands, Great Plains, and Basin and Range Province. The Gulf Coastal Plains region wraps around the Gulf of Mexico on the southeast section of the state. Vegetation in this region consists of thick piney woods. The Interior Lowlands region consists of gently rolling to hilly forested land and is part of a larger pine-hardwood forest. The Great Plains region in central Texas is located in spans through the state's panhandle and Llano Estacado to the state's hill country near Austin. This region is dominated by prairie and steppe. "Far West Texas" or the "Trans-Pecos" region is the state's Basin and Range Province. The most varied of the regions, this area includes Sand Hills, the Stockton Plateau, desert valleys, wooded mountain slopes and desert grasslands. Texas has 3,700 named streams and 15 major rivers, with the Rio Grande as the largest. Other major rivers include the Pecos, the Brazos, Colorado, and Red River. While Texas has few natural lakes, Texans have built over 100 artificial reservoirs. The size and unique history of Texas make its regional affiliation debatable; it can be fairly considered a Southern or a Southwestern state, or both. The vast geographic, economic, and cultural diversity within the state itself prohibits easy categorization of the whole state into a recognized region of the United States. Notable extremes range from East Texas which is often considered an extension of the Deep South, to Far West Texas which is generally acknowledged to be part of the interior Southwest. Texas is the southernmost part of the Great Plains, which ends in the south against the folded Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico. The continental crust forms a stable Mesoproterozoic craton which changes across a broad continental margin and transitional crust into true oceanic crust of the Gulf of Mexico. The oldest rocks in Texas date from the Mesoproterozoic and are about 1,600 million years old. These Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rocks underlie most of the state, and are exposed in three places: Llano uplift, Van Horn, and the Franklin Mountains, near El Paso. Sedimentary rocks overlay most of these ancient rocks. The oldest sediments were deposited on the flanks of a rifted continental margin, or passive margin that developed during Cambrian time. This margin existed until Laurasia and Gondwana collided in the Pennsylvanian subperiod to form Pangea. This is the buried crest of the Appalachian Mountains–Ouachita Mountains zone of Pennsylvanian continental collision. This orogenic crest is today buried beneath the Dallas–Waco—Austin–San Antonio trend. The late Paleozoic mountains collapsed as rifting in the Jurassic period began to open the Gulf of Mexico. Pangea began to break up in the Triassic, but seafloor spreading to form the Gulf of Mexico occurred only in the mid and late Jurassic. The shoreline shifted again to the eastern margin of the state and the Gulf of Mexico passive margin began to form. Today 9 to 12 miles (14 to 19 km) of sediments are buried beneath the Texas continental shelf and a large proportion of remaining US oil reserves are located here. At the start of its formation, the incipient Gulf of Mexico basin was restricted and seawater often evaporated completely to form thick evaporite deposits of Jurassic age. These salt deposits formed salt dome diapirs, and are found in East Texas along the Gulf coast. East Texas outcrops consist of Cretaceous and Paleogene sediments which contain important deposits of Eocene lignite. The Mississippian and Pennsylvanian sediments in the north; Permian sediments in the west; and Cretaceous sediments in the east, along the Gulf coast and out on the Texas continental shelf contain oil. Oligocene volcanic rocks are found in far west Texas in the Big Bend area. A blanket of Miocene sediments known as the Ogallala formation in the western high plains region is an important aquifer. Located far from an active plate tectonic boundary, Texas has no volcanoes and few earthquakes. A wide range of animals and insects live in Texas. It is the home to 65 species of mammals, 213 species of reptiles and amphibians, and the greatest diversity of bird life in the United States—590 native species in all. At least 12 species have been introduced and now reproduce freely in Texas. Texas plays host to several species of wasps. Texas is one of the regions that has the highest abundance of Polistes exclamans. Additionally, Texas has provided an important ground for the study of Polistes annularis. During the spring Texas wildflowers such as the state flower, the bluebonnet, line highways throughout Texas. During the Johnson Administration the first lady, Lady Bird Johnson, worked to draw attention to Texas wildflowers. The large size of Texas and its location at the intersection of multiple climate zones gives the state highly variable weather. The Panhandle of the state has colder winters than North Texas, while the Gulf Coast has mild winters. Texas has wide variations in precipitation patterns. El Paso, on the western end of the state, averages 8.7 inches (220 mm) of annual rainfall, while parts of southeast Texas average as much as 64 inches (1,600 mm) per year. Dallas in the North Central region averages a more moderate 37 inches (940 mm) per year. Snow falls multiple times each winter in the Panhandle and mountainous areas of West Texas, once or twice a year in North Texas, and once every few years in Central and East Texas. Snow falls south of San Antonio or on the coast in rare circumstances only. Of note is the 2004 Christmas Eve snowstorm, when 6 inches (150 mm) of snow fell as far south as Kingsville, where the average high temperature in December is 65 °F. Maximum temperatures in the summer months average from the 80s °F (26 °C) in the mountains of West Texas and on Galveston Island to around 100 °F (38 °C) in the Rio Grande Valley, but most areas of Texas see consistent summer high temperatures in the 90 °F (32 °C) range. The table below consists of averages for August (generally the warmest month) and January (generally the coldest) in selected cities in various regions of the state. El Paso and Amarillo are exceptions with July and December respectively being the warmest and coldest months respectively, but with August and January only being narrowly different. |Location||August (°F)||August (°C)||January (°F)||January (°C)| Thunderstorms strike Texas often, especially the eastern and northern portions of the state. Tornado Alley covers the northern section of Texas. The state experiences the most tornadoes in the United States, an average of 139 a year. These strike most frequently in North Texas and the Panhandle. Tornadoes in Texas generally occur in the months of April, May, and June. Some of the most destructive hurricanes in U.S. history have impacted Texas. A hurricane in 1875 killed about 400 people in Indianola, followed by another hurricane in 1886 that destroyed the town. These events allowed Galveston to take over as the chief port city. The 1900 Galveston hurricane subsequently devastated that city, killing about 8,000 people or possibly as many as 12,000. This makes it the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history. Other devastating Texas hurricanes include the 1915 Galveston hurricane, Hurricane Audrey in 1957 which killed over 600 people, Hurricane Carla in 1961, Hurricane Beulah in 1967, Hurricane Alicia in 1983, Hurricane Rita in 2005, and Hurricane Ike in 2008. Tropical storms have also caused their share of damage: Allison in 1989 and again during 2001, and Claudette in 1979 among them. Greenhouse gases Edit Texas emits the most greenhouse gases in the U.S. The state emits nearly 1.5 trillion pounds (680 billion kg) of carbon dioxide annually. As an independent nation, Texas would rank as the world's seventh-largest producer of greenhouse gases. Causes of the state's vast greenhouse gas emissions include the state's large number of coal power plants and the state's refining and manufacturing industries. In 2010, there were 2,553 "emission events" which poured 44.6 million pounds of contaminants into the Texas sky. |Part of a series on the| |History of Texas| Pre-European era Edit Texas lies between two major cultural spheres of Pre-Columbian North America: the Southwestern and the Plains areas. Archaeologists have found that three major indigenous cultures lived in this territory, and reached their developmental peak before the first European contact. These were: - the Pueblo from the upper Rio Grande region, centered west of Texas; - the Mississippian culture, also known as Mound Builders, which extended along the Mississippi River Valley east of Texas; and - the civilizations of Mesoamerica, centered south of Texas. Influence of Teotihuacan in northern Mexico peaked around AD 500 and declined over the 8th to 10th centuries. No culture was dominant in the present-day Texas region, and many peoples inhabited the area. Native American tribes that lived inside the boundaries of present-day Texas include the Alabama, Apache, Atakapan, Bidai, Caddo, Coahuiltecan, Comanche, Choctaw, Coushatta, Hasinai, Jumano, Karankawa, Kickapoo, Kiowa, Tonkawa, and Wichita. The name Texas derives from táyshaʔ, a word in the Caddoan language of the Hasinai, which means "friends" or "allies". Whether a Native American tribe was friendly or warlike was critical to the fates of European explorers and settlers in that land. Friendly tribes taught newcomers how to grow indigenous crops, prepare foods, and hunt wild game. Warlike tribes made life difficult and dangerous for Europeans through their attacks and resistance to the newcomers. The first historical document related to Texas was a map of the Gulf Coast, created in 1519 by Spanish explorer Alonso Álvarez de Pineda. Nine years later, shipwrecked Spanish explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his cohort became the first Europeans in what is now Texas. Cabeza de Vaca reported that in 1528, when the Spanish landed in the area, "half the natives died from a disease of the bowels and blamed us." Cabeza de Vaca also made observations about the way of life of the Ignaces Natives of Texas: "They went about with a firebrand, setting fire to the plains and timber so as to drive off the mosquitos, and also to get lizards and similar things which they eat, to come out of the soil. In the same manner they kill deer, encircling them with fires, and they do it also to deprive the animals of pasture, compelling them to go for food where the Indians want." Francisco Vázquez de Coronado describes his 1541 encounter with "Two kinds of people travel around these plains with the cows; one is called Querechos and the others Teyas; they are very well built, and painted, and are enemies of each other. They have no other settlement or location than comes from traveling around with the cows. They kill all of these they wish, and tan the hides, with which they clothe themselves and make their tents, and they eat the flesh, sometimes even raw, and they also even drink the blood when thirsty. The tents they make are like field tents, and they set them up over some poles they have made for this purpose, which come together and are tied at the top, and when they go from one place to another they carry them on some dogs they have, of which they have many, and they load them with the tents and poles and other things, for the country is so level, as I said, that they can make use of these, because they carry the poles dragging along on the ground. The sun is what they worship most." European powers ignored the area until accidentally settling there in 1685. Miscalculations by René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle resulted in his establishing the colony of Fort Saint Louis at Matagorda Bay rather than along the Mississippi River. The colony lasted only four years before succumbing to harsh conditions and hostile natives. In 1690 Spanish authorities, concerned that France posed competitive threat, constructed several missions in East Texas. After Native American resistance, the Spanish missionaries returned to Mexico. When France began settling Louisiana, mostly in the southern part of the state, in 1716 Spanish authorities responded by founding a new series of missions in East Texas. Two years later, they created San Antonio as the first Spanish civilian settlement in the area. Hostile native tribes and distance from nearby Spanish colonies discouraged settlers from moving to the area. It was one of New Spain's least populated provinces. In 1749, the Spanish peace treaty with the Lipan Apache angered many tribes, including the Comanche, Tonkawa, and Hasinai. The Comanche signed a treaty with Spain in 1785 and later helped to defeat the Lipan Apache and Karankawa tribes. With more numerous missions being established, priests led a peaceful conversion of most tribes. By the end of the 18th century only a few nomadic tribes had not converted to Christianity. When the United States purchased Louisiana from France in 1803, American authorities insisted that the agreement also included Texas. The boundary between New Spain and the United States was finally set at the Sabine River in 1819, at what is now the border between Texas and Louisiana. Eager for new land, many United States settlers refused to recognize the agreement. Several filibusters raised armies to invade the area west of the Sabine River. In 1821, the Mexican War of Independence included the Texas territory, which became part of Mexico. Due to its low population, Mexico made the area part of the state of Coahuila y Tejas. Hoping that more settlers would reduce the near-constant Comanche raids, Mexican Texas liberalized its immigration policies to permit immigrants from outside Mexico and Spain. Under the Mexican immigration system, large swathes of land were allotted to empresarios, who recruited settlers from the United States, Europe, and the Mexican interior. The first grant, to Moses Austin, was passed to his son Stephen F. Austin after his death. Austin's settlers, the Old Three Hundred, made places along the Brazos River in 1822. Twenty-three other empresarios brought settlers to the state, the majority of whom were from the United States. The population of Texas grew rapidly. In 1825, Texas had about 3,500 people, with most of Mexican descent. By 1834, the population had grown to about 37,800 people, with only 7,800 of Mexican descent. Many immigrants openly flouted Mexican law, especially the prohibition against slavery. Combined with United States' attempts to purchase Texas, Mexican authorities decided in 1830 to prohibit continued immigration from the United States. New laws also called for the enforcement of customs duties angering both native Mexican citizens (Tejanos) and recent immigrants. The Anahuac Disturbances in 1832 were the first open revolt against Mexican rule and they coincided with a revolt in Mexico against the nation's president. Texians sided with the federalists against the current government and drove all Mexican soldiers out of East Texas. They took advantage of the lack of oversight to agitate for more political freedom. Texians met at the Convention of 1832 to discuss requesting independent statehood, among other issues. The following year, Texians reiterated their demands at the Convention of 1833. Within Mexico, tensions continued between federalists and centralists. In early 1835, wary Texians formed Committees of Correspondence and Safety. The unrest erupted into armed conflict in late 1835 at the Battle of Gonzales. This launched the Texas Revolution, and over the next two months, the Texians defeated all Mexican troops in the region. Texians elected delegates to the Consultation, which created a provisional government. The provisional government soon collapsed from infighting, and Texas was without clear governance for the first two months of 1836. During this time of political turmoil, Mexican President Antonio López de Santa Anna personally led an army to end the revolt. The Mexican expedition was initially successful. General José de Urrea defeated all the Texian resistance along the coast culminating in the Goliad massacre. Santa Anna's forces, after a thirteen-day siege, overwhelmed Texian defenders at the Battle of the Alamo. News of the defeats sparked panic amongst Texas settlers. The newly elected Texian delegates to the Convention of 1836 quickly signed a Declaration of Independence on March 2, forming the Republic of Texas. After electing interim officers, the Convention disbanded. The new government joined the other settlers in Texas in the Runaway Scrape, fleeing from the approaching Mexican army. After several weeks of retreat, the Texian Army commanded by Sam Houston attacked and defeated Santa Anna's forces at the Battle of San Jacinto. Santa Anna was captured and forced to sign the Treaties of Velasco, ending the war. While Texas had won its independence, political battles raged between two factions of the new Republic. The nationalist faction, led by Mirabeau B. Lamar, advocated the continued independence of Texas, the expulsion of the Native Americans, and the expansion of the Republic to the Pacific Ocean. Their opponents, led by Sam Houston, advocated the annexation of Texas to the United States and peaceful co-existence with Native Americans. The conflict between the factions was typified by an incident known as the Texas Archive War. Mexico launched two small expeditions into Texas in 1842. The town of San Antonio was captured twice and Texans were defeated in battle in the Dawson massacre. Despite these successes, Mexico did not keep an occupying force in Texas, and the republic survived. The republic's inability to defend itself added momentum to Texas's eventual annexation into the United States. As early as 1837, the Republic made several attempts to negotiate annexation with the United States. Opposition within the republic from the nationalist faction, along with strong abolitionist opposition within the United States, slowed Texas's admission into the Union. Texas was finally annexed when the expansionist James K. Polk won the election of 1844. On December 29, 1845, Congress admitted Texas to the U.S. as a constituent state of the Union. After Texas's annexation, Mexico broke diplomatic relations with the United States. While the United States claimed that Texas's border stretched to the Rio Grande, Mexico claimed it was the Nueces River. While the former Republic of Texas could not enforce its border claims, the United States had the military strength and the political will to do so. President Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor south to the Rio Grande on January 13, 1846. A few months later Mexican troops routed an American cavalry patrol in the disputed area in the Thornton Affair starting the Mexican–American War. The first battles of the war were fought in Texas: the Siege of Fort Texas, Battle of Palo Alto and Battle of Resaca de la Palma. After these decisive victories, the United States invaded Mexican territory ending the fighting in Texas. After a series of United States victories, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the two-year war. In return, for US$18,250,000, Mexico gave the U.S. undisputed control of Texas, ceded the Mexican Cession in 1848, most of which today is called the American Southwest, and Texas's borders were established at the Rio Grande. The Compromise of 1850 set Texas's boundaries at their present form. U.S. Senator James Pearce of Maryland drafted the final proposal where Texas ceded its claims to land which later became half of present-day New Mexico, a third of Colorado, and small portions of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Wyoming to the federal government, in return for the assumption of $10 million of the old republic's debt. Post-war Texas grew rapidly as migrants poured into the cotton lands of the state. They also brought or purchased enslaved African Americans, whose numbers tripled in the state from 1850 to 1860, from 58,000 to 182,566. Civil War and Reconstruction (1860–1900) Edit Texas was at war again after the election of 1860. At this time, blacks comprised 30 percent of the state's population, and they were overwhelmingly enslaved. When Abraham Lincoln was elected, South Carolina seceded from the Union. Five other Lower South states quickly followed. A State Convention considering secession opened in Austin on January 28, 1861. On February 1, by a vote of 166–8, the Convention adopted an Ordinance of Secession from the United States. Texas voters approved this Ordinance on February 23, 1861. Texas joined the newly created Confederate States of America on March 4, 1861 ratifying the permanent C.S. Constitution on March 23. Not all Texans favored secession initially, although many of the same would later support the Southern cause. Texas's most notable Unionist was the state Governor, Sam Houston. Not wanting to aggravate the situation, Houston refused two offers from President Lincoln for Union troops to keep him in office. After refusing to swear an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy, Houston was deposed as governor. While far from the major battlefields of the American Civil War, Texas contributed large numbers of men and equipment to the rest of the Confederacy. Union troops briefly occupied the state's primary port, Galveston. Texas's border with Mexico was known as the "backdoor of the Confederacy" because trade occurred at the border, bypassing the Union blockade. The Confederacy repulsed all Union attempts to shut down this route, but Texas's role as a supply state was marginalized in mid-1863 after the Union capture of the Mississippi River. The final battle of the Civil War was fought near Brownsville, Texas at Palmito Ranch with a Confederate victory. Texas descended into anarchy for two months between the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia and the assumption of authority by Union General Gordon Granger. Violence marked the early months of Reconstruction. Juneteenth commemorates the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston by General Gordon Granger, almost two and a half years after the original announcement. President Johnson, in 1866, declared the civilian government restored in Texas. Despite not meeting reconstruction requirements, Congress resumed allowing elected Texas representatives into the federal government in 1870. Social volatility continued as the state struggled with agricultural depression and labor issues. 20th century to present Edit In 1900, Texas suffered the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history during the Galveston hurricane. On January 10, 1901, the first major oil well in Texas, Spindletop, was found south of Beaumont. Other fields were later discovered nearby in East Texas, West Texas, and under the Gulf of Mexico. The resulting "oil boom" transformed Texas. Oil production eventually averaged three million barrels per day at its peak in 1972. In 1901, the Democratic-dominated state legislature passed a bill requiring payment of a poll tax for voting, which effectively disenfranchised most blacks, and many poor whites and Latinos. In addition, the legislature established white primaries, ensuring that minorities were excluded from the formal political process. The number of voters dropped dramatically, and the Democrats crushed competition from the Republican and Populist parties. The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl dealt a double blow to the state's economy, which had significantly improved since the Civil War. Migrants abandoned the worst hit sections of Texas during the Dust Bowl years. Especially from this period on, blacks left Texas in the Great Migration to get work in the Northern United States or California and to escape the oppression of segregation. In 1940, Texas was 74 percent Anglo, 14.4 percent black, and 11.5 percent Hispanic. World War II had a dramatic impact on Texas, as federal money poured in to build military bases, munitions factories, POW detention camps and Army hospitals; 750,000 young men left for service; the cities exploded with new industry; the colleges took on new roles; and hundreds of thousands of poor farmers left the fields for much better paying war jobs, never to return to agriculture. Texas manufactured 3.1 percent of total United States military armaments produced during World War II, ranking eleventh among the 48 states. Texas modernized and expanded its system of higher education through the 1960s. The state created a comprehensive plan for higher education, funded in large part by oil revenues, and a central state apparatus designed to manage state institutions more efficiently. These changes helped Texas universities receive federal research funds. Government and politics Edit The current Texas Constitution was adopted in 1876. Like many states, it explicitly provides for a separation of powers. The state's Bill of Rights is much larger than its federal counterpart, and has provisions unique to Texas. State government Edit Texas has a plural executive branch system limiting the power of the governor, which is a weak executive compared to some other states. Except for the Secretary of State, voters elect executive officers independently; thus candidates are directly answerable to the public, not the governor. This election system has led to some executive branches split between parties and reduced the ability of the governor to carry out a program. When Republican President George W. Bush served as Texas's governor, the state had a Democratic lieutenant governor, Bob Bullock. The executive branch positions consist of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Comptroller of Public Accounts, Land Commissioner, Attorney General, Agriculture Commissioner, the three-member Texas Railroad Commission, the State Board of Education, and the Secretary of State. The bicameral Texas Legislature consists of the House of Representatives, with 150 members, and a Senate, with 31 members. The Speaker of the House leads the House, and the lieutenant governor, the Senate. The Legislature meets in regular session biennially for just over 100 days, but the governor can call for special sessions as often as desired (notably, the Legislature cannot call itself into session). The state's fiscal year spans from the previous calendar year's September 1 to the current year's August 31. Thus, the FY 2015 dates from September 1, 2014 through August 31, 2015. The judiciary of Texas is one of the most complex in the United States, with many layers and overlapping jurisdictions. Texas has two courts of last resort: the Texas Supreme Court, for civil cases, and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Except for some municipal benches, partisan elections select judges at all levels of the judiciary; the governor fills vacancies by appointment. Texas is notable for its use of capital punishment, having led the country in executions since capital punishment was reinstated in the Gregg v. Georgia case (see Capital punishment in Texas). The Texas Ranger Division of the Texas Department of Public Safety is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction. Over the years, the Texas Rangers have investigated crimes ranging from murder to political corruption. They have acted as riot police and as detectives, protected the Texas governor, tracked down fugitives, and functioned as a paramilitary force both for the republic and the state. The Texas Rangers were unofficially created by Stephen F. Austin in 1823 and formally constituted in 1835. The Rangers were integral to several important events of Texas history and some of the best-known criminal cases in the history of the Old West. The Texas constitution defines the responsibilities of county governments, which serve as agents of the state. What are called commissioners court and court judges are elected to serve as the administrative arm. Most cities in the state, those over 5,000 in population, have home-rule governments. The vast majority of these have charters for council-manager forms of government, by which voters elect council members, who hire a professional city manager as operating officer. |2012||57.15% 4,569,843||41.37% 3,308,124| |2008||55.39% 4,479,328||43.63% 3,528,633| |2004||61.09% 4,526,917||38.30% 2,832,704| |2000||59.30% 3,799,639||38.11% 2,433,746| |1996||48.80% 2,736,166||43.81% 2,459,683| |1992||40.61% 2,496,071||37.11% 2,281,815| |1988||56.01% 3,036,829||43.41% 2,352,748| |1984||63.58% 3,433,428||36.18% 1,949,276| |1980||55.30% 2,510,705||41.51% 1,881,148| In the 1870s, white Democrats wrested power back in the state legislature from the biracial coalition at the end of Reconstruction. In the early 20th century, the legislature passed bills to impose poll taxes, followed by white primaries; these measures effectively disfranchised most blacks, poor whites and Mexican Americans. In the 1890s, 100,000 blacks voted in the state; by 1906, only 5,000 could vote. As a result, the Democratic Party dominated Texas politics from the turn of the century, imposing racial segregation and white supremacy. It held power until after passage in the mid-1960s of national civil rights legislation enforcing constitutional rights of all citizens. The state's conservative white voters began to support Republican presidential candidates by the mid-20th century. After this period, they supported Republicans for local and state offices as well, and most whites have become Republican Party members. The party has attracted some minorities, but many have continued to vote for Democratic candidates. Texas voters lean toward fiscal conservatism conservatism, while enjoying the benefits of huge federal investment in the state in military and other facilities achieved by the power of the Solid South in the 20th century. They also support social conservatism. Since 1980, most Texas voters have supported Republican presidential candidates. In 2000 and 2004, Republican George W. Bush won Texas with 60.1 percent of the vote, partly due to his "favorite son" status as a former governor of the state. John McCain won the state in 2008, but with a smaller margin of victory compared to Bush at 55 percent of the vote. Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio consistently lean Democratic in both local and statewide elections. Residents of counties along the Rio Grande closer to the Mexico-United States border, where there are many Latino residents, generally vote for Democratic Party candidates, while most other rural and suburban areas of Texas have shifted to voting for Republican Party candidates. The 2003 Texas redistricting of Congressional districts led by Republican Tom DeLay, was called by the New York Times "an extreme case of partisan gerrymandering". A group of Democratic legislators, the "Texas Eleven", fled the state in a quorum-busting effort to prevent the legislature from acting, but was unsuccessful. The state had already redistricted following the 2000 census. Despite these efforts, the legislature passed a map heavily in favor of Republicans, based on 2000 data and ignoring the estimated nearly one million new residents in the state since that date. Career attorneys and analysts at the Department of Justice objected to the plan as diluting the votes of African American and Hispanic voters, but political appointees overrode them and approved it. Legal challenges to the redistricting reached the national Supreme Court in the case League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry (2006), but the court ruled in favor of the state (and Republicans). As of the general elections of 2014, a large majority of the members of Texas's U.S. House delegation are Republican, along with both U.S. Senators. In the 114th United States Congress, of the 36 Congressional districts in Texas, 25 are held by Republicans and 11 by Democrats. Texas's Senators are John Cornyn and Ted Cruz. Since 1994, Texans have not elected a Democrat to a statewide office. The state's Democratic voters are made up primarily by liberal and minority groups in Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, Beaumont, and El Paso, as well as minority voters in East Texas and South Texas. |United States presidential election, 2012: Texas| Administrative divisions Edit Texas has 254 counties— the most nationwide. Each county runs on Commissioners' Court system consisting of four elected commissioners (one from each of four precincts in the county, roughly divided according to population) and a county judge elected at large from the entire county. County government runs similar to a "weak" mayor-council system; the county judge has no veto authority, but votes along with the other commissioners. Although Texas permits cities and counties to enter "interlocal agreements" to share services, the state does not allow consolidated city-county governments, nor does it have metropolitan governments. Counties are not granted home rule status; their powers are strictly defined by state law. The state does not have townships— areas within a county are either incorporated or unincorporated. Incorporated areas are part of a municipality. The county provides limited services to unincorporated areas and to some smaller incorporated areas. Municipalities are classified either "general law" cities or "home rule". A municipality may elect home rule status once it exceeds 5,000 population with voter approval. Texas also permits the creation of "special districts", which provide limited services. The most common is the school district, but can also include hospital districts, community college districts, and utility districts (one utility district located near Austin was the plaintiff in a landmark Supreme Court case involving the Voting Rights Act). Criminal law Edit Texas has a reputation of very harsh criminal punishment for criminal offenses. It is one of the 32 states that practice capital punishment, and since the US Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976, 40% of all US executions have taken place in Texas. As of 2008, Texas had the 4th highest incarceration rate in the US. Texas also has strong self defense laws, allowing citizens to use lethal force to defend themselves, their families, or their property. As of 2014, Texas had a gross state product (GSP) of $1.648 trillion, the second highest in the U.S. Its GSP is greater than the GDPs of Australia and South Korea, which are the world's 12th- and 13th-largest economies, respectively. Texas' economy is the fourth-largest of any country subdivision globally, behind England (as part of the UK), California, and Tokyo Prefecture. Its Per Capita personal income in 2009 was $36,484, ranking 29th in the nation. Texas's large population, abundance of natural resources, thriving cities and leading centers of higher education have contributed to a large and diverse economy. Since oil was discovered, the state's economy has reflected the state of the petroleum industry. In recent times, urban centers of the state have increased in size, containing two-thirds of the population in 2005. The state's economic growth has led to urban sprawl and its associated symptoms. As of April 2013, the state's unemployment rate is 6.4 percent. In 2010, Site Selection Magazine ranked Texas as the most business-friendly state in the nation, in part because of the state's three-billion-dollar Texas Enterprise Fund. Texas has the joint-highest number of Fortune 500 company headquarters in the United States, along with California. Texas has a "low taxes, low services" reputation. According to the Tax Foundation, Texans' state and local tax burdens rank among the lowest in the nation, 7th lowest nationally; state and local taxes cost $3,580 per capita, or 8.4 percent of resident incomes. Texas is one of seven states that lack a state income tax. Instead, the state collects revenue from property taxes (though these are collected at the county, city, and school district level; Texas has a state constitutional prohibition against a state property tax) and sales taxes. The state sales tax rate is 6.25 percent, but local taxing jurisdictions (cities, counties, special purpose districts, and transit authorities) may also impose sales and use tax up to 2 percent for a total maximum combined rate of 8.25 percent. Texas is a "tax donor state"; in 2005, for every dollar Texans paid to the federal government in federal income taxes, the state got back about $0.94 in benefits. To attract business, Texas has incentive programs worth $19 billion per year (2012); more than any other US state. Agriculture and mining Edit Texas has the most farms and the highest acreage in the United States. Texas leads the nation in livestock production. Cattle is the state's most valuable agricultural product, and the state leads nationally in production of sheep and goat products. Texas leads the nation in production of cotton which is the number one crop grown in the state in terms of value. The state grows significant amounts of cereal crops and produce. Texas has a large commercial fishing industry. With mineral resources, Texas leads in creating cement, crushed stone, lime, salt, sand and gravel. Ever since the discovery of oil at Spindletop, energy has been a dominant force politically and economically within the state. If Texas were its own country it would be the sixth largest oil producer in the world. The Railroad Commission of Texas, contrary to its name, regulates the state's oil and gas industry, gas utilities, pipeline safety, safety in the liquefied petroleum gas industry, and surface coal and uranium mining. Until the 1970s, the commission controlled the price of petroleum because of its ability to regulate Texas's oil reserves. The founders of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) used the Texas agency as one of their models for petroleum price control. Texas has known petroleum deposits of about 5 billion barrels (790,000,000 m3), which makes up about one-fourth of the known U.S. reserves. The state's refineries can process 4.6 million barrels (730,000 m3) of oil a day. The Baytown Refinery in the Houston area is the largest refinery in America. Texas also leads in natural gas production, producing one-fourth of the nation's supply. Several petroleum companies are based in Texas such as: Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, Conoco-Phillips, Exxon-Mobil, Halliburton, Marathon Oil, Tesoro, and Valero, Western Refining. According to the Energy Information Administration, Texans consume, on average, the fifth most energy (of all types) in the nation per capita and as a whole, following behind Wyoming, Alaska, Louisiana, North Dakota, and Iowa. Unlike the rest of the nation, most of Texas is on its own alternating current power grid, the Texas Interconnection. Texas has a deregulated electric service. Texas leads the nation in total net electricity production, generating 437,236 MWh in 2014, 89% more MWh than Florida, which ranked second. As an independent nation, Texas would rank as the world's eleventh-largest producer of electricity, after South Korea, and ahead of the United Kingdom. The state is a leader in renewable energy commercialization; it produces the most wind power in the nation. In 2014, 10.6% of the electricity consumed in Texas came from wind turbines. The Roscoe Wind Farm in Roscoe, Texas, is one of the world's largest wind farms with a 781.5 megawatt (MW) capacity. The Energy Information Administration states that the state's large agriculture and forestry industries could give Texas an enormous amount biomass for use in biofuels. The state also has the highest solar power potential for development in the nation. With large universities systems coupled with initiatives like the Texas Enterprise Fund and the Texas Emerging Technology Fund, a wide array of different high tech industries have developed in Texas. The Austin area is nicknamed the "Silicon Hills" and the north Dallas area the "Silicon Prairie". Texas has the headquarters of many high technology companies, such as Dell, Inc., Texas Instruments, Perot Systems, Rackspace and AT&T. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (NASA JSC) located in Southeast Houston, sits as the crown jewel of Texas's aeronautics industry. Fort Worth hosts both Lockheed Martin's Aeronautics division and Bell Helicopter Textron. Lockheed builds the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the largest Western fighter program, and its successor, the F-35 Lightning II in Fort Worth. Texas's affluence stimulates a strong commercial sector consisting of retail, wholesale, banking and insurance, and construction industries. Examples of Fortune 500 companies not based on Texas traditional industries are AT&T, Kimberly-Clark, Blockbuster, J. C. Penney, Whole Foods Market, and Tenet Healthcare. Nationally, the Dallas–Fort Worth area, home to the second shopping mall in the United States, has the most shopping malls per capita of any American metropolitan area. Mexico, the state's largest trading partner, imports a third of the state's exports because of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). NAFTA has encouraged the formation of controversial maquiladoras on the Texas/Mexico border. |1910 – 2010 census| As of 2004, the state had 3.5 million foreign-born residents (15.6 percent of the state population), of which an estimated 1.2 million are illegal. Texas from 2000–2006 had the fastest growing illegal immigration rate in the nation. In 2010, illegal immigrants constituted an estimated 6.0 percent of the population. This was the fifth highest percentage of any state in the country. In 2015, the population of illegal immigrants living in Texas was around 0.8 million. Texas' Rio Grande Valley is ground zero for illegal immigration across the Southwest border. According to a June 2014 Los Angeles Times article, illegal immigrants are arriving at a rate of more than 35,000 a month. It is expected that the number of minors traveling alone from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador is growing and will reach up to 90,000 by the end of 2014. Hondurans, Salvadorans, and Guatemalans make up roughly 75% of illegal immigrants in South Texas. Texas's population density is 34.8 persons/km2 which is slightly higher than the average population density of the U.S. as a whole, at 31 persons/km2. In contrast, while Texas and France are similarly sized geographically, the European country has a population density of 116 persons/km2. Two-thirds of all Texans live in a major metropolitan area such as Houston. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Area is the largest in Texas. While Houston is the largest city in Texas and the fourth largest city in the United States, the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area is larger than that of Houston. Race and ethnicity Edit - White American 70.4 percent (Non-Hispanic whites 45.3 percent) - Black or African American: 11.8 percent - American Indian: 0.7 percent - Asian: 3.8 percent (1.0 percent Indian, 0.8 percent Vietnamese, 0.6 percent Chinese, 0.4 percent Filipino, 0.3 percent Korean, 0.1 percent Japanese, 0.6 percent Other Asian) - Pacific Islander: 0.1 percent - Some other race: 10.5 percent - Two or more races: 2.7 percent In addition, 37.6 percent of the population are Hispanic or Latino (of any race) (31.6 percent Mexican, 0.9 percent Salvadoran, 0.5 percent Puerto Rican, 0.4 percent Honduran, 0.3 percent Guatemalan 0.3 percent Spaniard, 0.2 percent Colombian, 0.2 percent Cuban) As of 2011, 69.8% of the population of Texas younger than age 1 were minorities (meaning that they had at least one parent who was not non-Hispanic white). | Native Hawaiian and| other Pacific Islander |Two or more races||–||–||2.5%||2.7%| German, Irish, and English Americans are the three largest European ancestry groups in Texas. German Americans make up 11.3 percent of the population, and number over 2.7 million members. Irish Americans make up 8.2 percent of the population, and number over 1.9 million members. There are roughly 600,000 French Americans and 472,000 Italian Americans residing in Texas; these two ethnic groups make up 2.5 percent and 2.0 percent of the population respectively. In the 1980 United States Census the largest ancestry group reported in Texas was English with 3,083,323 Texans citing that they were of English or mostly English ancestry making them 27 percent of the state at the time. Their ancestry primarily goes back to the original thirteen colonies and thus many of them today identify as "American" in ancestry, though they are of predominately British stock. There are nearly 200,000 Czech-Americans living in Texas, the largest number of any state. African Americans are the largest racial minority in Texas. Their proportion of population has declined since the early 20th century, after many left the state in the Great Migration. Blacks of both Hispanic and non-Hispanic origin make up 11.5 percent of the population; blacks of non-Hispanic origin form 11.3 percent of the populace. African Americans of both Hispanic and non-Hispanic origin number at roughly 2.7 million individuals. Native Americans are a smaller minority in the state. Native Americans make up 0.5 percent of Texas' population, and number over 118,000 individuals. Native Americans of non-Hispanic origin make up 0.3 percent of the population, and number over 75,000 individuals. Cherokee made up 0.1 percent of the population, and numbered over 19,400 members. In contrast, only 583 identified as Chippewa. Asian Americans are a sizable minority group in Texas. Americans of Asian descent form 3.8 percent of the population, with those of non-Hispanic descent making up 3.7 percent of the populace. They total more than 808,000 individuals. Non-Hispanic Asians number over 795,000. Just over 200,000 Indians make Texas their home. Texas is also home to over 187,000 Vietnamese and 136,000 Chinese. In addition to 92,000 Filipinos and 62,000 Koreans, there are 18,000 Japanese Americans living in the state. Lastly, over 111,000 people are of other Asian ancestry groups, such as Cambodian, Thai, and Hmong. Sugar Land, a city within the Houston metropolitan area, and Plano, located within the Dallas metropolitan area, both have high concentrations of ethnic Chinese and Korean residents. The Houston and Dallas areas, and to a lesser extent, the Austin metropolitan area, all contain substantial Vietnamese communities. Americans with origins from the Pacific are the smallest minority in Texas. According to the survey, only 18,000 Texans are Pacific Islanders; 16,400 are of non-Hispanic descent. There are roughly 5,400 Native Hawaiians, 5,300 Guamanians, and 6,400 people from other groups. Samoan Americans were scant; only 2,920 people were from this group. The city of Euless, a suburb of Fort Worth, contains a sizable population of Tongan Americans, at nearly 900 people, over one percent of the city's population. Killeen has a sufficient population of Samoans and Guamanian, and people of Pacific Islander descent surpass one percent of the city's population. Multiracial individuals are also a visible minority in Texas. People identifying as multiracial form 1.9 percent of the population, and number over 448,000 people. Almost 80,000 Texans claim African and European heritage, and make up 0.3 percent of the population. People of European and Native American heritage number over 108,800 (close to the number of Native Americans), and make up 0.5 percent of the population. People of European and Asian heritage number over 57,600, and form just 0.2 percent of the population. People of African and Native American heritage were even smaller in number (15,300), and make up just 0.1 percent of the total population. Hispanics and Latinos are the second largest group in Texas after non-Hispanic European Americans. Over 8.5 million people claim Hispanic or Latino ethnicity. This group forms over 37 percent of Texas' population. People of Mexican descent alone number over 7.9 million, and make up 31.6 percent of the population. The vast majority of the Hispanic/Latino population in the state is of Mexican descent, the next two largest groups are Salvadorans and Puerto Ricans. There are over 222,000 Salvadorans and over 130,000 Puerto Ricans in Texas. Other groups with large numbers in Texas include Hondurans, Guatemalans, Nicaraguans and Cubans, among others. The Hispanics in Texas are more likely than in some other states (such as California) to identify as white; according to the 2010 U.S. Census, Texas is home to 6,304,207 White Hispanics and 2,594,206 Hispanics of "some other race" (usually mestizo). German descendants inhabit much of central and southeast-central Texas. Over one-third of Texas residents are of Hispanic origin; while many have recently arrived, some Tejanos have ancestors with multi-generational ties to 18th century Texas. In addition to the descendants of the state's former slave population, many African American college graduates have come to the state for work recently in the New Great Migration. Recently, the Asian population in Texas has grown—primarily in Houston and Dallas. Other communities with a significantly growing Asian American population is in Austin, Corpus Christi, and the Sharyland area next McAllen, Texas. Three federally recognized Native American tribes reside in Texas: the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe, the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe, and the Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo. In 2010, 49 percent of all births were Hispanics; 35 percent were non-Hispanic whites; 11.5 percent were non-Hispanic blacks, and 4.3 percent were Asians/Pacific Islanders. Based on Census Bureau data released on February 2011, for the first time in recent history, Texas' white population is below 50 percent (45 percent) and Hispanics grew to 38 percent. Between 2000 and 2010, the total population growth by 20.6 percent, but Hispanics growth by 65 percent, whereas non-Hispanic whites only grew by 4.2 percent. Texas has the fifth highest rate of teenage births in the nation and a plurality of these are to Hispanics. Cities and towns Edit |Largest city in Texas by year| The state has three cities with populations exceeding one million: Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas. These three rank among the 10 most populous cities of the United States. As of 2010, six Texas cities had populations greater than 600,000 people. Austin, Fort Worth, and El Paso are among the 20 largest U.S. cities. Texas has four metropolitan areas with populations greater than a million: Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington, Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown, San Antonio–New Braunfels, and Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos. The Dallas–Fort Worth and Houston metropolitan areas number about 6.3 million and 5.7 million residents, respectively. Three interstate highways—I-35 to the west (Dallas–Fort Worth to San Antonio, with Austin in between), I-45 to the east (Dallas to Houston), and I-10 to the south (San Antonio to Houston) define the Texas Urban Triangle region. The region of 60,000 square miles (160,000 km2) contains most of the state's largest cities and metropolitan areas as well as 17 million people, nearly 75 percent of Texas's total population. Houston and Dallas have been recognized as beta world cities. These cities are spread out amongst the state. Texas has 254 counties, which is more than any state by 95 (Georgia). In contrast to the cities, unincorporated rural settlements known as colonias often lack basic infrastructure and are marked by poverty. The office of the Texas Attorney General in 2011 that Texas had about 2,294 colonias and estimates that about 500,000 lived in the colonias. Hidalgo County, as of 2011, has the largest number of colonias. Texas has the largest number of people of all states, living in colonias. The most common accent and/or dialect spoken by natives throughout Texas is sometimes referred to as Texan English, which itself is a sub-variety of a broader category of American English known as Southern American English. Creole language is spoken in East Texas. In some areas of the state—particularly in the large cities – Western American English and General American English, have been on the increase. Chicano English—due to a growing Hispanic population—is widespread in South Texas, while African American Vernacular English, is especially notable in historically minority areas of urban Texas. |Language|| Percentage of population| (as of 2010) |Chinese (including Mandarin and Cantonese)||0.56%| |Korean and Urdu (tied)||0.24%| |Niger-Congo languages of West Africa (Ibo, Kru, and Yoruba)||0.15%| As of 2010, 65.8% (14,740,304) of Texas residents age 5 and older spoke only English at home, while 29.2% (6,543,702) spoke Spanish, 0.75 percent (168,886) Vietnamese, and Chinese (which includes Cantonese and Mandarin) was spoken by 0.56% (122,921) of the population over the age of five. Other languages spoken include German (including Texas German) by 0.33% (73,137,) Tagalog with 0.29% (73,137) speakers, and French (including Cajun French) was spoken by 0.25% (55,773) of Texans. Reportedly, Cherokee is the most widely spoken Native American language in Texas. In total, 34.2% (7,660,406) of Texas's population aged five and older spoke a language at home other than English. The 2014 Pew Religious Landscape Survey showed the religious makeup of the state was as follows: |Affiliation||% of Texas population| |Nothing in particular||Template:Bartable| |Other Non-Christian faiths||Template:Bartable| |Don't know/refused answer||Template:Bartable| The largest denominations by number of adherents in 2010 were the Roman Catholic Church (4,673,500); the Southern Baptist Convention (3,721,318); the United Methodist Church with (1,035,168); and Islam (421,972). Known as the buckle of the Bible Belt, East Texas is socially conservative. The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex is home to three major evangelical seminaries and a host of Bible schools. Lakewood Church in Houston, boasts the largest attendance in the nation averaging more than 43,000 weekly. Adherents of many other religions reside predominantly in the urban centers of Texas. In 1990, the Islamic population was about 140,000 with more recent figures putting the current number of Muslims between 350,000 and 400,000. The Jewish population is around 128,000. Around 146,000 adherents of religions such as Hinduism and Sikhism live in Texas. It is the fifth-largest Muslim-populated state in the country. Historically, Texas culture comes from a blend of Southern (Dixie), Western (frontier), and Southwestern (Mexican/Anglo fusion) influences, varying in degrees of such from one intrastate region to another. A popular food item, the breakfast burrito, draws from all three, having a soft flour tortilla wrapped around bacon and scrambled eggs or other hot, cooked fillings. Adding to Texas's traditional culture, established in the 18th and 19th centuries, immigration has made Texas a melting pot of cultures from around the world. East Texas and the Gulf Coastal Plains regions near the Louisiana border have a Cajun/Creole influence. Texas has made a strong mark on national and international pop culture. The state is strongly associated with the image of the cowboy shown in westerns and in country western music. The state's numerous oil tycoons are also a popular pop culture topic as seen in the hit TV series Dallas. The internationally known slogan "Don't Mess with Texas" began as an anti-littering advertisement. Since the campaign's inception in 1986, the phrase has become "an identity statement, a declaration of Texas swagger". Texas self perception Edit Texas-sized is an expression that can be used in two ways: to describe something that is about the size of the U.S. state of Texas, or to describe something (usually but not always originating from Texas) that is large compared to other objects of its type. Texas was the largest U.S. state, until Alaska became a state in 1959. The phrase, "everything is bigger in Texas," has been in regular use since at least 1950; and was used as early as 1913. Houston is one of only five American cities with permanent professional resident companies in all of the major performing arts disciplines: the Houston Grand Opera, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Ballet, and The Alley Theatre. Known for the vibrancy of its visual and performing arts, the Houston Theater District—a 17-block area in the heart of Downtown Houston— ranks second in the country in the number of theater seats in a concentrated downtown area, with 12,948 seats for live performances and 1,480 movie seats. Founded in 1892, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, also called "The Modern", is Texas's oldest art museum. Fort Worth also has the Kimbell Art Museum, the Amon Carter Museum, the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, the Will Rogers Memorial Center, and the Bass Performance Hall downtown. The Arts District of Downtown Dallas has arts venues such as the Dallas Museum of Art, the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House, the Trammell & Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art, and the Nasher Sculpture Center. The Deep Ellum district within Dallas became popular during the 1920s and 1930s as the prime jazz and blues hotspot in the Southern United States. The name Deep Ellum comes from local people pronouncing "Deep Elm" as "Deep Ellum". Artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter, and Bessie Smith played in early Deep Ellum clubs. Austin, The Live Music Capital of the World, boasts "more live music venues per capita than such music hotbeds as Nashville, Memphis, Los Angeles, Las Vegas or New York City." The city's music revolves around the nightclubs on 6th Street; events like the film, music, and multimedia festival South by Southwest; the longest-running concert music program on American television, Austin City Limits; and the Austin City Limits Music Festival held in Zilker Park. Since 1980, San Antonio has evolved into "The Tejano Music Capital Of The World." The Tejano Music Awards have provided a forum to create greater awareness and appreciation for Tejano music and culture. The second president of the Republic of Texas, Mirabeau B. Lamar, is the Father of Texas Education. During his term, the state set aside three leagues of land in each county for equipping public schools. An additional 50 leagues of land set aside for the support of two universities would later become the basis of the state's Permanent University Fund. Lamar's actions set the foundation for a Texas-wide public school system. Between 2006 and 2007, Texas spent $7,275 per pupil ranking it below the national average of $9,389. The pupil/teacher ratio was 14.9, below the national average of 15.3. Texas paid instructors $41,744, below the national average of $46,593. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) administers the state's public school systems. Texas has over 1,000 school districts- all districts except the Stafford Municipal School District are independent from municipal government and many cross city boundaries. School districts have the power to tax their residents and to assert eminent domain over privately owned property. Due to court-mandated equitable school financing for school districts, the state has a controversial tax redistribution system called the"Robin Hood plan". This plan transfers property tax revenue from wealthy school districts to poor ones. The TEA has no authority over private or home school activities. Students in Texas take the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) in primary and secondary school. STAAR assess students' attainment of reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies skills required under Texas education standards and the No Child Left Behind Act. The test replaced the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test in the 2011–2012 school year. Higher education Edit The state's two most widely-recognized flagship universities are The University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University, ranked as the 52nd and 69th best universities in the nation according to the 2014 edition of U.S. News & World Report's "Best Colleges", respectively. Some observers also include the University of Houston and Texas Tech University as tier one flagships alongside UT Austin and A&M. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) ranks the state's public universities into three distinct tiers: - National Research Universities (Tier 1) - Emerging Research Universities (Tier 2) - Comprehensive Universities (Tier 3) - All other public universities (25 in total) Texas's controversial alternative affirmative action plan, Texas House Bill 588, guarantees Texas students who graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school class automatic admission to state-funded universities. The bill encourages demographic diversity while avoiding problems stemming from the Hopwood v. Texas (1996) case. Thirty-six (36) separate and distinct public universities exist in Texas, of which 32 belong to one of the six state university systems. Discovery of minerals on Permanent University Fund land, particularly oil, has helped fund the rapid growth of the state's two largest university systems: The University of Texas System and the Texas A&M System. The four other university systems: the University of Houston System, the University of North Texas System, the Texas State System, and the Texas Tech System are not funded by the Permanent University Fund. The Carnegie Foundation classifies three of Texas's universities as Tier One research institutions: The University of Texas at Austin, the Texas A&M University, and the University of Houston. The University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University are flagship universities of the state of Texas. Both were established by the Texas Constitution and hold stakes in the Permanent University Fund. The state has been putting effort to expand the number of flagship universities by elevating some of its seven institutions designated as "emerging research universities." The two that are expected to emerge first are the University of Houston and Texas Tech University, likely in that order according to discussions on the House floor of the 82nd Texas Legislature. The state is home to various private institutions of higher learning—ranging from liberal arts colleges to a nationally recognized top-tier research university. Rice University in Houston is one of the leading teaching and research universities of the United States and is ranked the nation's 17th-best overall university by U.S. News & World Report. Trinity University, a private, primarily undergraduate liberal arts university in San Antonio, has ranked first among universities granting primarily bachelor's and select master's degrees in the Western United States for 20 consecutive years by U.S. News. Private universities include Austin College, Baylor University, University of Mary Hardin–Baylor, and Southwestern University. Universities in Texas host three presidential libraries: George Bush Presidential Library at Texas A&M University, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum at The University of Texas at Austin, and the George W. Bush Presidential Library at Southern Methodist University. The Commonwealth Fund ranks the Texas healthcare system the third worst in the nation. Texas ranks close to last in access to healthcare, quality of care, avoidable hospital spending, and equity among various groups. Causes of the state's poor rankings include politics, a high poverty rate, and the highest rate of illegal immigration in the nation. In May 2006, Texas initiated the program "code red" in response to the report that the state had 25.1 percent of the population without health insurance, the largest proportion in the nation. Texas also has controversial non-economic damages caps for medical malpractice lawsuits, set at $250,000, in an attempt to "curb rising malpractice premiums, and control escalating healthcare costs". The Trust for America's Health ranked Texas 15th highest in adult obesity, with 27.2 percent of the state's population measured as obese. The 2008 Men's Health obesity survey ranked four Texas cities among the top 25 fattest cities in America; Houston ranked 6th, Dallas 7th, El Paso 8th, and Arlington 14th. Texas had only one city, Austin, ranked 21st, in the top 25 among the "fittest cities" in America. The same survey has evaluated the state's obesity initiatives favorably with a "B+". The state is ranked forty-second in the percentage of residents who engage in regular exercise. Medical research Edit Many elite research medical centers are located in Texas. The state has nine medical schools, three dental schools, and two optometry schools. Texas has two Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) laboratories: one at The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, and the other at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in San Antonio—the first privately owned BSL-4 lab in the United States. The Texas Medical Center in Houston, holds the world's largest concentration of research and healthcare institutions, with 47 member institutions. Texas Medical Center performs the most heart transplants in the world. The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston is a highly regarded academic institution that centers around cancer patient care, research, education and prevention. San Antonio's South Texas Medical Center facilities rank sixth in clinical medicine research impact in the United States. The University of Texas Health Science Center is another highly ranked research and educational institution in San Antonio. Both the American Heart Association and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center call Dallas home. The Southwestern Medical Center ranks "among the top academic medical centers in the world". The institution's medical school employs the most medical school Nobel laureates in the world. Texans have historically had difficulties traversing Texas due to the state's large size and rough terrain. Texas has compensated by building both America's largest highway and railway systems in length. The regulatory authority, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) maintains the state's immense highway system, regulates aviation, and public transportation systems. Located centrally in North America, the state is an important transportation hub. From the Dallas/Fort Worth area, trucks can reach 93 percent of the nation's population within 48 hours, and 37 percent within 24 hours. Texas has 33 foreign trade zones (FTZ), the most in the nation. In 2004, a combined total of $298 billion of goods passed though Texas FTZs. The first Texas freeway was the Gulf Freeway opened in 1948 in Houston. As of 2005, 79,535 miles (127,999 km) of public highway crisscrossed Texas (up from 71,000 miles (114,263 km) in 1984). To fund recent growth in the state highways, Texas has 17 toll roads (see list) with several additional tollways proposed. In central Texas, the southern section of the State Highway 130 toll road has a speed limit of 85 miles per hour (137 km/h), the highest in the nation. All federal and state highways in Texas are paved. Texas has 730 airports, second most of any state in the nation. Largest in Texas by size and passengers served, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) is the second largest by area in the United States, and fourth in the world with 18,076 acres (73.151 km2). In traffic, DFW is the busiest in the state, the fourth busiest in the United States, and sixth worldwide. American Airlines Group's American / American Eagle, the world's largest airline in total passengers-miles transported and passenger fleet size, uses DFW as its largest and main hub. Southwest Airlines, headquartered in Dallas, has its operations at Dallas Love Field. It ranks as the largest airline in the United States by number of passengers carried domestically per year and the largest airline in the world by number of passengers carried. Texas's second-largest air facility is Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). It served as the largest hub for the former Continental Airlines, which was based in Houston; it serves as the largest hub for United Airlines, the world's third-largest airline, by passenger-miles flown. IAH offers service to the most Mexican destinations of any U.S. airport. The next five largest airports in the state all serve over 3 million passengers annually; they include Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, William P. Hobby Airport, San Antonio International Airport, Dallas Love Field and El Paso International Airport. The smallest airport in the state to be designated an international airport is Del Rio International Airport. Around 1,150 seaports dot Texas's coast with over 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of channels. Ports employ nearly one-million people and handle an average of 317 million metric tons. Texas ports connect with the rest of the U.S. Atlantic seaboard with the Gulf section of the Intracoastal Waterway. The Port of Houston today is the busiest port in the United States in foreign tonnage, second in overall tonnage, and tenth worldwide in tonnage. The Houston Ship Channel spans 530 feet (160 m) wide by 45 feet (14 m) deep by 50 miles (80 km) long. Part of the state's tradition of cowboys is derived from the massive cattle drives which its ranchers organized in the nineteenth century to drive livestock to railroads and markets in Kansas, for shipment to the East. Towns along the way, such as Baxter Springs, the first cow town in Kansas, developed to handle the seasonal workers and tens of thousands of head of cattle being driven. The first railroad to operate in Texas was the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railway, opening in August 1853. The first railroad to enter Texas from the north, completed in 1872, was the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad. With increasing railroad access, the ranchers did not have to take their livestock up to the Midwest, and shipped beef out from Texas. This caused a decline in the economies of the cow towns. Since 1911, Texas has led the nation in length of railroad miles within the state. Texas railway length peaked in 1932 at 17,078 miles (27,484 km), but declined to 14,006 miles (22,540 km) by 2000. While the Railroad Commission of Texas originally regulated state railroads, in 2005 the state reassigned these duties to TxDOT. Both Dallas and Houston feature light rail systems. Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) built the first light rail system in the Southwest United States, completed in 1996. The Trinity Railway Express (TRE) commuter rail service, which connects Fort Worth and Dallas, is provided by the Fort Worth Transportation Authority (the T) and DART. In the Austin area, Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority operates a commuter rail service known as Capital MetroRail to the northwestern suburbs. The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas (METRO) operates light rail lines in the Houston area. Amtrak provides Texas with limited intercity passenger rail service. Three scheduled routes serve the state: the daily Texas Eagle (Chicago–San Antonio); the tri-weekly Sunset Limited (New Orleans–Los Angeles), with stops in Texas; and the daily Heartland Flyer (Fort Worth–Oklahoma City). Texans can cheer for a plethora of professional sports teams. Within the "Big Four" professional leagues, Texas has two NFL teams (the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans), two Major League Baseball teams (the Texas Rangers and the Houston Astros), three NBA teams (the Houston Rockets, the San Antonio Spurs, and the Dallas Mavericks), and one National Hockey League team (the Dallas Stars). The Dallas – Fort Worth Metroplex is one of only twelve American metropolitan areas that hosts sports teams from all the "Big Four" professional leagues. Outside of the "Big Four" leagues, Texas also has one WNBA team (the San Antonio Stars) and two Major League Soccer teams (the Houston Dynamo and FC Dallas). Collegiate athletics have deep significance in Texas culture, especially football. The state has ten Division I-FBS schools, the most in the nation. Four of the state's universities, the Baylor Bears, Texas Longhorns, TCU Horned Frogs, and Texas Tech Red Raiders, compete in the Big 12 Conference. The Texas A&M Aggies left the Big 12 and joined the Southeastern Conference in 2012, which led the Big 12 to invite TCU to join; TCU was previously in the Mountain West Conference. The Houston Cougars and the SMU Mustangs compete in the American Athletic Conference. The Texas State Bobcats and the UT Arlington Mavericks compete in the Sun Belt Conference. Four of the state's schools claim at least one national championship in football: the Texas Longhorns, the Texas A&M Aggies, the TCU Horned Frogs, and the SMU Mustangs. According to a survey of Division I-A coaches the rivalry between the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas at Austin, the Red River Shootout, ranks the third best in the nation. The TCU Horned Frogs and SMU Mustangs also share a rivalry and compete annually in the Battle for the Iron Skillet. A fierce rivalry, the Lone Star Showdown, also exists between the state's two largest universities, Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin. The athletics portion of the Lone Star Showdown rivalry has been put on hold after the Texas A&M Aggies joined the Southeastern Conference. The University Interscholastic League (UIL) organizes most primary and secondary school competitions. Events organized by UIL include contests in athletics (the most popular being high school football) as well as artistic and academic subjects. Texans also enjoy the rodeo. The world's first rodeo was hosted in Pecos, Texas. The annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the largest rodeo in the world. It begins with trail rides that originate from several points throughout the state that convene at Reliant Park. The Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show in Fort Worth is the oldest continuously running rodeo incorporating many of the state's most historic traditions into its annual events. Dallas hosts the State Fair of Texas each year at Fair Park. Texas Motor Speedway hosts annual NASCAR Cup Series and IndyCar Series auto races since 1997. Since 2012, Austin's Circuit of the Americas plays host to a round of the Formula 1 World Championship —the first at a permanent road circuit in the United States since the 1980 Grand Prix at Watkins Glen International—, as well as Grand Prix motorcycle racing, FIA World Endurance Championship and United SportsCar Championship races. See also Edit - Index of Texas-related articles - Outline of Texas – organized list of topics about Texas - LGBT rights in Texas - ^ Texas — Languages. MLA. http://www.mla.org/map_data_results&state_id=48&mode=state_tops&ll=all. Retrieved April 15, 2010. - ^ a b c Facts (2008–2009 ed.). Texas Almanac. 2008. http://www.texasalmanac.com/facts/. Retrieved April 29, 2008. - ^ Environment (2008–2009 ed.). Texas Almanac. 2008. Archived from the original on March 17, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080317214833/http://www.texasalmanac.com/environment/. Retrieved April 29, 2008. - ^ a b c "Table 1. Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2015" (CSV). U.S. Census Bureau. December 23, 2015. http://www.census.gov/popest/data/state/totals/2015/tables/NST-EST2015-01.csv. Retrieved December 23, 2015. - ^ "El Capitan". NGS data sheet. U.S. National Geodetic Survey. http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_mark.prl?PidBox=CD0994. Retrieved October 20, 2011. - ^ a b "Elevations and Distances in the United States". United States Geological Survey. 2001. http://egsc.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/booklets/elvadist/elvadist.html. Retrieved October 24, 2011. - ^ Elevation adjusted to North American Vertical Datum of 1988. - ^ "Introduction to Texas". Netstate.com. http://www.netstate.com/states/intro/tx_intro.htm. Retrieved April 11, 2010. - ^ Texas from Sea to Shining Sea https://books.google.com/books/about/Texas.html?id=PUemv3wa0O8C&redir_esc=y - ^ Sansom, Andrew: Water in Texas: An Introduction, University of Texas Press, 2008, pg. 25 - ^ Dingus, Anne: The dictionary of Texas misinformation, Gulf Publishing Company, 1987 - ^ CNN.com, Retrieved November 2010. - ^ a b Fry, Phillip L.. "Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "Texas, origin of name"". http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/pft04. Retrieved July 24, 2007. - ^ Teja, Jesús de la. "New Philippines". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/usn01. - ^ a b c Compromise of 1850 from the Handbook of Texas Online - ^ "Tx Environmental Profiles". Archived from the original on June 3, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080603175718/http://www.texasep.org/html/lnd/lnd_1reg.html. Retrieved July 14, 2006. - ^ "Rivers in Texas". Tpwd.state.tx.us. 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ISBN 1-880510-80-4. |Find more about Texas on Wikipedia's sister projects:| | Definitions from Wiktionary| | Textbooks from Wikibooks| | Quotations from Wikiquote| | Source texts from Wikisource| | Images and media from Commons| | News stories from Wikinews| | Learning resources from Wikiversity| - Texas at the Open Directory Project - The Texas State History Museum - The Handbook of Texas Online—Published by the Texas State Historical Association - Texas Register, hosted by the University of North Texas Libraries - South and West Texas: A National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary - Texas Heritage Society - Geographic data related to Texas at OpenStreetMap - View historical photographs at the University of Houston Digital Library. - Oklahoma Digital Maps: Digital Collections of Oklahoma and Indian Territory - State government - The State of Texas - Texas State Databases—Annotated list of searchable databases produced by Texas state agencies and compiled by the Government Documents Roundtable of the American Library Association. - Texas Politics. An online textbook from the College of Liberal Arts, The University of Texas. - U.S. Government - Energy Profile for Texas- Economic, environmental, and energy data - USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Texas - Texas State Facts from USDA - South and West Texas, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary |List of U.S. states by date of statehood| Admitted on December 29, 1845 (28th) | Succeeded by| Texas: Outline • Index |Chihuahua|| Coahuila • Nuevo León • Tamaulipas| |Gulf of Mexico| |This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Texas. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.|

NEW YORK — Studios and filmmakers are rediscovering a classic text as source material for upcoming mainstream films: the Bible. Nearly 10 years after the blockbuster success of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ,” which earned $611.9 million worldwide, studios are looking to the Good Book for good material. Future films include: * LD Entertainment is financially backing “Resurrection,” a drama set immediately after Jesus’ death and directed by “Hatfields & McCoys” director Kevin Reynolds. * Paramount will release “Noah,” a $125 million adaptation starring Russell Crowe in 2014. * 20th Century Fox is developing “Exodus,” a Moses film starring Christian Bale. * Warner Bros. has another Moses-themed film titled “Gods And Kings,” which Steven Spielberg flirted with directing. * Warner Bros. also is working on a film on Pontius Pilate, rumored to possibly include Brad Pitt. * Sony is producing Will Smith’s “The Redemption of Cain,” on the sibling rivalry of Cain and Abel. * Lionsgate has been developing “Mary Mother of Christ,” described as “a prequel to ‘The Passion of the Christ’” and rumored to include Ben Kingsley. Alongside the string of upcoming Bible-related films, producers from the History channel’s “The Bible” miniseries just announced that the series’ film adaptation “Son of God” will be released in theaters nationwide in February with 20th Century Fox. The couple behind the show, Mark Burnett and “Touched by an Angel” star Roma Downey, said mixing Hollywood and the Bible can be tricky. “It’s not just some story,” said Burnett, who produces “The Voice” and “Survivor.” ‘’There’s a price to pay for failing to stay on track and failing to get the right advisers.” When showing it to a group of children, the couple said they were told one thing: “Please don’t make it lame.” “It’s not enough to have good intentions,” said Downey, who plays Jesus’ mother Mary in the series. “It has to be told in a way that’s relevant to a contemporary audience.” The couple have been able to reach across traditional religious divides in getting promotions; Downey is Catholic and Burnett considers himself a nondenominational Christian. Their efforts have received endorsements from religious leaders ranging from megachurch pastor Rick Warren to Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl. Previous generations of filmmakers largely stayed within their own traditions without much interest in what other Christians were making, said Dallas megachurch pastor T.D. Jakes, who hosted a film festival earlier this year. “We have learned that there is more to unite us than to divide us,” he said. “That is exhibited primarily by how we see the arts and film.” Ultimately, though, Jakes hopes to see faith-based films go more mainstream rather than being a separate niche category. “Faith is not limited or incarcerated by labels that restrict it from being able to be woven into the fabric of the human experience,” he said. “I think that faith is best worn when it is part of the totality of the human experience rather than relegated over to a tribal expression of a particular group of people.” Taking a cue from Gibson’s success with “The Passion,” film marketing campaigns now go after pastors’ endorsements through special advance screenings to secure endorsements from big-name religious leaders. As more people are sitting in front of the TV on a Sunday morning rather than in church, “filmmakers are the new high priests of our culture,” said A. Larry Ross, who has handled publicity for several religious leaders and organizations, including Billy Graham and Rick Warren. “No pastor went to seminary to put people in (theater) seats or build revenue for a film producer,” Ross said. “Many pastors are realizing that in this video-driven culture, stories are the vessels of meaning.” “For many faith and family films, the impact on the screen is less the answers given than it is the questions asked that you could discuss over coffee with someone who would never go to church with you but go to a movie with you,” he said. In some ways, Hollywood’s fascination with the Bible isn’t new: Hollywood drew on biblical storytelling after World War II, especially with Charlton Heston, who played Moses in “The Ten Commandments,” and “Ben-Hur,” a movie about a Jewish prince sent into slavery and rescued by Jesus. But some films flopped when they took too much license. “The Last Temptation of Christ,” Martin Scorsese’s 1988 film about the life of Jesus and the temptations he faced that included sex scenes, took in only $8.4 million domestically amid a widespread boycott led by Roman Catholics. Independent films have dealt with the Bible in the past, but it’s significant that major Hollywood studios are taking this up, said Tom Allen, a partner in Allied Faith & Family, a Hollywood marketing firm. “We’re beyond the cheap ministry movies that appeal only to a certain constituency,” he said. As Hollywood looks to epic tales of floods, burning bushes and parting seas, films with biblical themes will also continue to pop up. Nicolas Cage is slated to star in “Left Behind,” a movie based on the book series on the Second Coming of Christ. Sony’s adaption of the popular book “Heaven is for Real” is also scheduled for next year. But sticking strictly to the Bible starts with a financial upside — no one collects copyright or licensing fees. Copyright: For copyright information, please check with the distributor of this item, Religion News Service LLC.

A rescue crew of Israeli and Mexican Jews pulled eight Haitian students from the rubble of their collapsed university building this weekend as Jewish efforts on behalf of this earthquake ravaged country continue. In what its team leader called the “Shabbat from Hell,” a six-man crew from ZAKA International (four Israelis and two Mexicans), dispatched to a collapsed eight-story university building upon its arrival in Haiti, heard cries from the trapped students, according to a statement from the relief organization. After hours of work with rescue equipment provided by the Mexican military, the ZAKA volunteers pulled the eight students alive from the rubble, 38 hours after the building collapsed in last week’s earthquake. In an email to ZAKA headquarters in Jerusalem, Mati Goldstein, head of the ZAKA unit on the ground in Haiti wrote of the “Shabbat from hell.” ZAKA, a Hebrew acronym for “Disaster Victim Identification,” is an Israel-based volunteer emergency response team. It was founded in 1989 to recover human remains from terrorist attacks. “Everywhere, the acrid smell of bodies hangs in the air.” Goldstein continued. “It’s just like the stories we are told of the Holocaust — thousands of bodies everywhere. You have to understand that the situation is true madness, and the more time passes, there are more and more bodies, in numbers that cannot be grasped. It is beyond comprehension.” The Jewish world continues to mobilize to support the people of Haiti following the earthquake Tuesday, Jan. 12, that virtually destroyed the capital, Port au Prince, and much of the country. The Israeli Consulate in Philadelphia reported that a 220-person delegation, headed by Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials, left Thursday evening, Jan. 14, for Port-au-Prince. The relief package includes a Home Front Command field hospital and rescue unit, as well as teams from Magen David Adom and Israel Police. A delegation of the Israel-based ZAKA International Rescue Unit, which was in Mexico assisting in the recovery efforts following the helicopter crash on Sunday, flew to the Haiti in a Mexican air force Hercules together with the Mexican official aid delegation. The American Jewish World Service is collecting donations in response to earthquake in Haiti, which registered a 7.3 on the Richter scale. Donations to AJWS’s “Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund,” can be made at www.ajws.org/haitiearthquake. And the United Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh is opening an emergency mailbox to accept donations that will provide immediate aid and relief to the victims of the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti on Tuesday. All donations sent to the UJF will be forwarded to the Federation’s overseas service provider, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), who will be directly involved in relief efforts on Haiti. In addition, the UJF’s national organization, the Jewish Federations of North America, is coordinating with The Jewish Coalition for Disaster Relief, which brings together the experience, expertise, and additional resources of North American Jewish organizations to assist victims of natural or man-made disasters on a non-sectarian basis. The coalition, managed by JDC, consists of organizations such as the Union for Reform Judaism, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, World ORT, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, American Jewish World Service and American Jewish Committee, to name a few. The coalition’s work maximizes the resources, coordinates the activities of its member agencies, informs the public about the disaster situation and the Jewish response, and demonstrates the long tradition of Jewish humanitarianism during times of crisis. Contributions can be made online at UJFpittsburgh.org or by sending a check, made payable to UJF/Haitian Relief Fund, 234 McKee Place, Pittsburgh, PA 15213.

After a year of lockdowns, sun-deprived Britons are looking forward to travelling again, and Spain sunny destinations are on-demand more than ever. Spain is one of the favourite holiday spots for British tourists. Sun-filled weather, proximity, affordable tickets, and accommodation, along with countless cultural, amusement and relaxation options, are the reasons behind this choice. What are the best Spanish cities for summer vacation? What are the “must-do” at each location? This review provides answers to those questions highlighting the most recommended Spanish cities for those who haven’t visited the country yet or want to try a new location within it. Big cities that shouldn’t be missed Travellers looking for diverse, cosmopolitan experiences shouldn’t miss Madrid and Barcelona, the largest urban areas in Spain. Although they are separated only by 313 miles, they offer very different experiences. Madrid is a cosmopolitan city and is packed with things to do for all ages and preferences. Museums, parks, shopping areas, bars, tapas, restaurants, and nightclubs are some of the features that the Spanish capital offers. It has a great transportation network, making it easy to go all over without missing any spot. Madrid has the most important state buildings for those interested in history and architecture, and it’s also the official residence of the Spanish monarchs. Around Main Square, it’s one of the most important European historical centres, known by the name of “Madrid de Los Austrias”. The Royal Place, the Opera House, and Almudena Cathedral are other must-see buildings. Madrid is also popular for its museums. “The Art Walk” includes three of the best museums in the world: Prado Museum, Reina Sofía Museum and Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. For those looking for indulging in the palate, Madrid is the right place. According to the official tourism site, “it has more than 10.000 restaurants, 40.000 bars and 3000 cafes” where any demand can be satisfied with the highest cuisine quality. The Tapas and “cocido madrileño” are the most famous dishes. Many awarded restaurants are available in the city with famous chefs in charge. More traditional spots can be found too, like Casa Labra, Lhardy, La Bola or Botín, which is also the oldest restaurant in the world. Countless shopping areas are also available in Madrid. It’s, in fact, one of the most important shopping destinations in the world. Elite pockets, avant-garde fashion seekers and budget shoppers will find what they are looking for in the city shopping venues since everything anyone may want is available for sale. As for Barcelona, it had become an international tourist destination since the 1992 Olympic Games, when 2 miles of beachfront were created by demolishing industrial buildings. Since then, the city added nine beaches to it already diverse menu of cultural and entertainment offer. Barceloneta’s beaches (San Sebastià, Sant Miquel and Somorrostro) are characterized for their proximity to the city centre. They are packed with restaurants and things to do, making them the young’s choice and are a great option for a mixed city-hiking and sunbathing plan. Calmer options can be found in Llevant, Nova Icaria and La Nova Mar Bella beaches, although they are far from the city centre. These two are good for children because of the handy free playgrounds. While Mar Bella Beach is known for being a gay beach and it also has a nudist area. Also, it’s a great option for practising outdoor sports. Volleyball and basketball courts, a skating rink and outdoor gyms are available. Anyway, Barcelona is much more than beaches. It has a whole metropolitan destination, filled with art, architectonic jewels, restaurants, parks and markets. Some of the must-visit places in Barcelona are the Ramblas, the Gòtic Barri and Antoni Gaudi masterpieces, such as Casa Batlló, la Sagrada Familia, Casa Milà and Park Güell. Learning Spanish during vacations Many people are taking advantage of the immersive experience of international travelling by taking language courses to improve their skills. This is a great choice for those travelling alone since it provides the opportunity to connect with locals and other travellers taking the same course. Both Barcelona and Madrid offer Spanish courses that combine language learning with touring, having great fun making friends and getting a deeper insight into the Spanish culture. Expanish, one of Barcelona’s most popular Spanish schools, has a very fancy facility in the Eixample neighbourhood, where Spanish courses or even a single Spanish class Barcelona can be taken with engaging after-school activities available for free. If you love learning languages and appreciate making new friends abroad, this is a great way of doing it. For small or mid-size cities seekers, Spain also has various attractive options. Medieval lovers may be delighted by Besalú and Girona, both in Catalonia. Besalú is a fortified medieval town with intact architecture, narrow stone streets and a beautiful and fairytale medieval bridge. As for Girona, it’s a bigger place than Besalú that likewise offers medieval architecture. It also has one of the best-preserved Jewish Quarters in Europe. If a beach vacation is a must, don’t miss Almeria. Located in the southeast of Spain, in Andalucía, it’s undoubtedly one of Spain’s most beautiful coastal cities, known for its beautiful white houses and immaculate streets. Also, Althea is a great option. Located in Alicante, this city, labelled as “the Santorini of Spain”, has a 22.000 population, providing a very peaceful environment to rest, sunbathe and walking through its gorgeous streets. San Sebastián, also known as Donostia, is a beautiful destination located in the Basque country for Atlantic coast lovers. It’s a sophisticated coastal option, with beaches, hills and a wide span of historical and cultural attractions, including amazing architecture, antique streets and parks. To conclude, even though we are still fighting against the pandemic, holidays in a sunny destination are much needed after a long year of restrictions and a long cold winter. British holidaymakers can enter Spain and take advantage of the many places to regain energy and prepare for a new year. Taking the appropriate precautions for personal protection and following official protocols will surely make summer vacation a great experience and ensure a safe return to our homes.

Among the wounded reporters were Nael Shiyoukhi, Mazen Dana, and Bilal al Joneidi of Reuters; Majdi al-Tamimi and Amer al-Jabari of ABC News; Hazem Bader and Imad al-Said of the Associated Press; and Ayman al-Kurd of Amal TV. Several of the journalists described the incident to CPJ, saying they came under fire while leaving the scene of a violent encounter that erupted when a large group of Jewish settlers entered the Palestinian-controlled area of Hebron, throwing stones. Palestinians responded in kind, and the IDF entered the fray, opening fire on the Palestinians. The journalists said they were at a considerable distance from the conflict. "The soldiers hurried to the scene, and it seemed as if they were going to chase the stone-throwers," said Mazen Dana, describing subsequent clashes that took place between Palestinians and the IDF to B'tselem, an Israeli human rights group. "Suddenly they drew their weapons at us and started to shoot at us. We shouted to them in Hebrew and English that we were all journalists. There is no doubt that they heard our shouts, but they continued to shoot." Video footage shows in graphic detail the wounding of the Nael Shiyoukhi, a sound technician for Reuters TV. Initially shot in the head by a rubber bullet, he is shown illuminated by camera light, being hit twice more as he lay on the bleeding on the ground, bleeding profusely. Shiyoukhi described the incident, which lasted about four minutes, to the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG): "I warned my partners that the soldiers have returned. We assumed that they were heading in the opposite direction. They were ready to start shooting...They assumed their position with one knee on the ground and started shooting at us heavily, although we were 25 meters away from them...My partners hid behind a dumpster. The soldiers kept shooting at us even though they knew we were journalists. I screamed to them in Hebrew to stop shooting, and that we were journalists, but to no avail. The first rubber bullet got me in the head. I fell on the ground...Everyone tried to approach and help me, but they were under fire as well...I tried to get up the first time, and I failed. When I tried a second time, I was shot again in my waist. As soon as I got shot in my right knee, my partners were unable to get to me."One of the journalists who attempted to come to Shiyoukhi's aid was Dana, who was hit in the shoulder. Amer al-Jabari told PHRMG that all the journalists tried to help Shiyoukhi to safety, and as a result were also fired upon. "When I tried to help him," said al-Jabari, "I was wounded by a rubber bullet in my right arm and another in my right leg." According to Dana, soldiers continued to fire at the reporters as they attempted to carry Shiyoukhi into a car. In a letter sent to Reuters shortly after the incident, the IDF said that a "preliminary inquiry" found that "from the soldiers' vantage point, the journalists were in the same direction as the rioters, and due to the darkness and the confusion at the site it was impossible to distinguish the journalists from the rioters." The letter went on to add that the rubber bullets that hit Shiyoukhi as he lay on the ground were "none other than ricochet that struck his coat." "I think that the shooting was aimed at the journalists deliberately," Mazen Dana told B'tselem, "with the intention to frighten us, to deter us from doing our assignment and from covering the many events occurring in Hebron and the impossible situation prevailing in this city." In a separate incident exactly nine months earlier, four reporters--Imad al-Said of the Associated Press, Mazen Dana of Reuters, Amer al-Jabari of ABC, and Diya Juabi of Abu Dhabi TV--were wounded by IDF gunfire while covering a group of Palestinian demonstrators burning an Israeli flag in Hebron. Eyewitnesses to that incident, which occurred on July 13, said that the attack appeared to be intentional--three of the four journalists were at a considerable distance from the demonstrators and were easly identifiable as members of the press by the camera equipment they carried. To date, neither CPJ nor the Tel Aviv-based Foreign Press Association is aware of any disciplinary action against the soldiers involved in this incident.

In Case You Missed It Boulderganic Fall 2009 Student Guide 2009 Boulder Weekly Sweet 16 Anniversary Summer Scene 2009 Best of Boulder 2009 Annual Manual 2009 Newspaper of the Future Kids Camp Guide 2009 Wedding Marketplace 09 Student Guide 2008 Best of Boulder 2008 Annual Manual 2008 Join Our Mailing List |April 17-23, 2008 • Kosher cooking, from hip to homestyle Cookbooks that celebrate the Jewish kitchen by Bill Daley • Food Bites A mid-day retreat Jill’s Tuscan Table provides for all palates by Clay Fong W hile my retirement lurks decades away, one compelling scenario for post-employment life involves retreating to a Tuscan villa. I envision myself easing into the role of country sensualist, amiably sauntering among the sun-drenched hills. A bite of local cheese, olive oil produced from my own trees and paper-thin slices of locally cured prosciutto would be just some of the elements of a late-morning repast taken before a well-deserved nap. Given these future aspirations, I was enthusiastic about visiting the lunch buffet at Jill’s Restaurant in downtown Boulder. Housed in the St. Julien Hotel and dubbed a “Tuscan Table,” this mid-day offering may not be considered a pure Italian experience. However, it represents excellent value at $10.95 per person and provides something for nearly everyone’s taste. As my colleague Alice and I entered the expansive dining room befitting a modern luxury hotel, we ran into our friend Dorothy. The amiable former state legislator that she is, Dorothy explained, “This is the best vegetarian spread in town.” She generously gave us the grand tour, pointing out her favorites among the myriad of soups, salads and desserts. Making our way through the restaurant, I was impressed by how the food was attractively presented in a tidy manner without an overabundance of off-putting steam trays and heat lamps. After deciding to bypass a tempting Caesar salad, I began my meal with a plate of simple mixed greens that was both fresh and crisp and accompanied by a well-balanced vinaigrette. Moving on to heartier fare, I explored the make-it-yourself sandwich bar that featured a formidable selection of breads including eye-catching swirled ryes and savory olive loaves. The chef behind the counter sliced up a ciabatta roll, upon which I piled slices of rare roast beef and salami. I’m the first to admit that I’m a far better consumer of sandwiches than maker of them. While the quality of the ingredients offered no room for complaint, I’ve just never been able to nail down the correct ratio of meat to cheese to condiment, and I found my creation on the dry side. I fared better with a full-bodied roasted tomato soup, which provided welcome comfort on a snowy, cold day. The same could also be said for the thin-crusted slices of pizza, and vegetarian Alice took particular delight in her pepper-laden stromboli turnover. This dish’s proscuitto-filled counterpart provided a nice contrast between velvety melted cheese and subtly salty ham. More meaty delights were found in the daily roast, paper-thin slices of hot roast beef that were melt-in-the-mouth tender. Remembering Dorothy’s accolade, I also helped myself to a healthful helping of grilled mushrooms and firm tofu that would also be at home on a vegetarian sandwich. Unfortunately, the chocolate desserts didn’t live up to the standard set by the rest of the meal. Alice and I were challenged to distinguish between the cake and brownie, although what we believed to be the cake evoked the specter of the supermarket bakery. On the other hand, the lemon bars saved the day with bright and tangy, but not too sweet flavor. It was a fitting end to an altogether pleasant lunch. Although retirement may have to wait for several decades, the St. Julien’s Tuscan Table nevertheless provides a small retreat from the working week for only a small investment of money and time. Clay’s obscurity corner My love affair with prosciutto and other dry-cured and salted hams began as a young boy. I always looked forward to my dad’s return from his international business trips, as he would often bring back briefcases full of Swiss chocolate bars and other exotic treats. Upon his return from Lisbon, he brought a desiccated-looking piece of meat resembling a small leg of lamb. This was presunto, the Portuguese cousin of proscuitto that closely resembles Spain’s Serrano ham. Though highly illegal (bringing in uncooked meats to the U.S. was strictly forbidden at the time), this was also highly tasty. 900 Walnut St., back to top

Ming Dynasty portrait of Cao Cao Tuesday Night New Music is a student-run, faculty-supervised concert series that offers the opportunity to hear music by the next generation of composers: current NEC composition students. The series is directed by Katherine Balch '14 Tufts/NEC, under the supervision of composition chair Michael Gandolfi. The notes on these works were written by the respective composers. Chuchu Wen Trio in the Rain Benjamin Marks Woo, piano Sara Kantor, harp Harrison Honor, glasses Delong Wang Four-Character Poetry Yinzi Zhou, flute Taeguk Mun, cello Nicholas Myers, double bass During the summer of 2013, I read a vast amount of Chinese traditional poetries with great interest. Among the ancient literature works, the Four-Character Poetry is the most fascinating poetic form that attracts me. The essence of Four-Character Poetry centers on the idea of using the most concise structure to present the most profound significance. In my opinion, “Four” is the symbol for “the Four-Character Poetry.” Numerically, “Four Characters” has more meanings than “Two Characters” but less vapidity than “Six Characters;” it contains a unique beauty of symmetry. Therefore, I decided to compose a work based around this unique number. Another inspiration of this work comes from the two verses that were composed by the famous Chinese historical figure Cao Cao, who fantasizes his mood for love and his experiences on the battlefield. In the first section of “Impressions,” I tried to use numerous perfect fourths, the pivotal interval in this piece, to express the rosy feelings of love. In the second section, the unusual instrumental techniques and shifting dynamic rhythm patterns represent the tense atmosphere of the battlefield. In the third, I developed the main materials from the first section to signify the desolated emotions after warfare. It is worthy to mention that in order to maximize the combination of perfect fourth intervals and the characteristics of Four-Character Poetry, I did not restrain the work to traditional Chinese sounds. On the contrary, I experimented in the piece beyond the restricted modes of the Chinese pentatonic scale to express my beliefs about the Four-Character Poetry’s purpose: romantic fantasy can break down the boundaries of restrictions. Robert Burdick Two Movements from a Yet Untitled Work David Horton, piano This is a composition still in progress with two final movements being finalized and as yet without title. Stephanie Ann Boyd Fantasia Olora Alan Toda-Ambaras, cello Benjamin Marks Woo, piano Fantasia Olora is a piece that I wrote at age 17 for a friend in early 2008. I wrote it in the dark contemplation of winter, and I hope it speaks to the ideas that drove its creation: longing, frustration, joy. Jeremiah Klarman The Best Answer is a Good Question Katherine Arndt, Linnaea Brophy, violin Linda Numagami, viola Jonah Ellsworth, cello Edward Kass, double bass There’s a Jewish joke about a little boy who wanders into the kitchen and asks his grandmother, “Grandma, why do Jewish people always answer a question with another question?” and she replies, “Why? Who wants to know?” While I can see how this joke relates to Judaism in particular, I think it also speaks for humanity at a broader level. There are many times when the answers to even the most seemingly simple questions bring up more and more questions until the questions becomes very complex and profound. It was in that spirit that I wrote this piece. I based the music around a Hebrew text called V’eizehu Chacham from a section of the Talmud called Pirkei Avot, which deals with morals and ethics. The text translates to: “Who is wise? Those who learn from everyone. Who is strong? Those who control their negative impulses. Who is rich? Those who are happy with what they have.” I love this text because of its simple and profound meaning and how it can speak to many people, regardless of religion or faith. I originally wanted to address these questions individually in my piece, but later decided just to explore the idea of question-answer-question in a more general way. To do this, I opened the piece with a “question motif;” a series of repeating five-note scales and dotted rhythms over slightly eccentric harmonies. As the piece progresses, the answers generally evolve from the questions; one answer is a series of downward scales, another is a syncopated rhythm in the lower strings which sounds like it could be a bass line for a perfect authentic cadence, except it doesn’t have the proper harmony. I wanted to show how answers can create more questions. In the middle of the piece, a slow, almost mournful section, centered around f minor, emerges from these motifs. This section serves as a dedication to the Boston Marathon Bombings, which occurred a month after I began writing this piece. The bombings are one of many historical examples of inexplicable atrocities; something that we could never find adequate words to explain. This mournful section helps deepen the idea of unanswerable questions, before the piece returns to the joyful, inquisitive nature reminiscent of the opening. Writing this piece was a learning process for me, in which I started out trying to answer my questions and ended up questioning my answers. I shaped the piece in a similar way in order to suggest that perhaps the best answer really is a good question. I’ve learned that there are times when it may be wiser to inquire into our answers, rather than accept them as facts; and I’ve also learned that sometimes the best thing you can do, when you have absolutely no answers, no conclusions, and no resolutions, is to ask. Ethan D’Ver The Lonely Cactus Allison Poh, flute Hunter Bennett, clarinet Eileen Coyne, horn Maria van der Sloot, violin Chris McCarthy, piano "The Lonely Cactus” was a story my dad wrote for me when I was little. This relic from my childhood is very close to my heart. Using my emotional connection to this story as inspiration, I composed this sextet for modified Pierrot instrumentation. The piece has two main sections: a serenade and a fugue. The serenade is a flowing, lyrical set of variations with a solo French horn part, which I composed to be like a voice part. There are generally two textures in this section: “vocal” passages in which the horn is accompanied by the rest of the ensemble in the manner of a song or aria; and “instrumental” interludes while the horn is resting. There is a cadenza for the horn, after which the fugue starts. The fugue is very energetic and angular, and the horn does not play, thus providing a contrast to the previous section. The piece incorporates a variety of harmonic styles in the attempt to achieve a singular expressive sound world. The basic harmonic structure is firmly tonal, but over this framework I utilize techniques such as polytonality, free chromaticism, and serialism to create the harmonic tension that characterizes this piece. Julian Korzeniowsky That Time I Fell Off the Swing Once Luke Park, clarinet Nash Tomey, double bass Sean Van Winkle, percussion The things a child dreams about when he does not have a readily accessible swing set at his local, urban, park while growing up. Are you an NEC faculty member or student who is giving a school concert? Submit your artist and repertoire information now! NEC's FREE concerts do not require a ticket, unless stated in concert listing. Unreserved seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors open 30 minutes prior to the concert's start time.

Three gigantic requests for forgiveness have come back-to-back-to-back after Pepsi, United Airlines and White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer all had massive public relations gaffes in the last two weeks. Crisis manager Karen Kessler told Inside Edition there are four things to make a good corporate apology. "You have to apologize. You have to know who you are apologizing to. You have to know what you are apologizing for. You have to do it again after you apologize," she said. Given the current climate of backlash and subsequent apologies, the advice may never be as significant as it is today. Last Tuesday, Pepsi set social media ablaze after an ad featuring Kendall Jenner ditching a modeling gig to stand on the front lines of a protest to hand a cop a can of soda as a peace offering. Coincidentally, the commercial came on the anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination and was widely regarded as tone-deaf. Pepsi was immediately slammed, and within 24 hours the company pulled the commercial saying, "Clearly we missed the mark and we apologize." "They took a little more time than they should have, but they handled it the right way," Kessler told Inside Edition. This week brought on two controversies that led to major figures asking for clemency. Spicer, the White House Press Secretary, admitted he "screwed up" after controversial remarks about Adolf Hitler during Tuesday's press briefing, adding that he let the president down. After reporters and social media erupted in response to Spicer’s comments, he immediately issued a statement to clarify his comments. “In no way was I trying to lessen the horrendous nature of the Holocaust," Spicer said. "I was trying to draw a distinction of the tactic of using airplanes to drop chemical weapons on population centers. Early Wednesday morning, he spoke at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., and said: “It is painful to myself to know I did something like that.” He also expressed his regret on CNN Wednesday, saying, "I apologize, it is a mistake to do that." The timing of Spicer's comments could not have been worse, as they were made during the Jewish feast of Passover. "His was fast, his was thorough, his was sincere, I believe," Kessler said. “I think when the topic is Hitler, there is no such thing as apologizing too much. The week also saw the now-infamous video of Dr. David Dao being knocked unconscious and dragged off a United Airlines plane after refusing to give up his seat. After first describing Dr. Dao as "disruptive and belligerent,” United CEO Oscar Munoz changed his tune two days later in an interview with Good Morning America and formally apologized. "United is in the hall of shame and has a very big hole to dig itself out of," Kessler said.

- 1 Do Jews have to go to synagogue every week? - 2 How often do Jews visit synagogue? - 3 What day of the week do people go to synagogue? - 4 How often do Jews go to worship? - 5 Does Israel believe God? - 6 What does Shabbat Shalom mean? - 7 What is the most sacred place on earth? - 8 Can you use your phone on Shabbat? - 9 Do Jews go to synagogue on Saturday or Sunday? - 10 What is a B not mitzvah? Do Jews have to go to synagogue every week? Very Orthodox Jewish men go to synagogue every morning and evening. Religious Jews often go every Friday night and Saturday morning. On Friday evenings through Saturday is the Sabbath for the Jewish people. Whereas Sundays are Christians’ day to worship on Their Sabbath. How often do Jews visit synagogue? Most Jews will visit the synagogue at least once a week for communal prayer and some observant Jews may go every evening. What day of the week do people go to synagogue? Every week religious Jews observe the Sabbath, the Jewish holy day, and keep its laws and customs. The Sabbath begins at nightfall on Friday and lasts until nightfall on Saturday. How often do Jews go to worship? Devout Jews pray three times a day: morning, afternoon and evening. Men cover their head with a skullcap (called a kippah, or yarmulke) when doing so. Two prayers are central: the Shema and the Amidah, originally a series of 18 blessings. Does Israel believe God? As of 1999, 65% of Israeli Jews believed in God, and 85% participate in a Passover seder. However, other sources indicate that between 15% and 37% of Israelis identify themselves as either atheists or agnostics. What does Shabbat Shalom mean? When Jews say “Shabbat shalom – Sabbath peace ” to family and friends after a draining work week, we mean far more than “have a peaceful and restful day.” What we are really saying is: May you be restored to wholeness on the blessed Sabbath! What is the most sacred place on earth? The 7 Most Sacred Places in the World - Jerusalem. Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities on the planet. - Kashi Vishwanath Temple, India. - Lourdes, France. - Mahabodhi Temple, India. - Mecca, Saudi Arabia. - Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Australia. - Mount Sinai, Egypt. Can you use your phone on Shabbat? Many Jews who strictly observe Shabbat (the Sabbath) refrain from using electrical devices on Shabbat, with the exception of passive enjoyment of devices which were set up before Shabbat. Do Jews go to synagogue on Saturday or Sunday? Many Jews attend synagogue services on Shabbat even if they do not do so during the week. Services are held on Shabbat eve (Friday night), Shabbat morning (Saturday morning), and late Shabbat afternoon (Saturday afternoon). What is a B not mitzvah? (B’not mitzvah is the plural of bat mitzvah and means that a group of girls or women is going through the rite. When more than one boy or a boy and a girl go through the ritual, it’s called b’nai mitzvah.)

Call To Book: 212-852-4821 Fifth Avenue (5th Ave) is a major street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Between 49th Street and 60th Street is where the shopping takes place. There are many prominent shops located along 5th Avenue making it one the most expensive shopping streets in the world. APA, the American Planning Association is an organization committed to supporting flourishing communities. In 2012, the APA compiled a list of the greatest places in America which included Fifth Avenue. Fifth Avenue is also home to historic NYC landmarks, museums, parks and luxury apartments. In 1896 the first department store was B. Altman and Company erected by Benjamin Altman. This was the beginning of a new era for 5th Avenue. The street soon became the preexistence of what is today. High-end shops began to bloom and this in turn attracted the fashionable and upscale. The famously known street will be sure to satisfy everyone’s shopping taste because there is a widespread of retailers. Fifth Avenue is the perfect destination in New York for women who absolutely love to shop. Some women favorites are Versace, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci and Ferragamo to name just a few. There are also some men favorites such as the NBA Store, Bergdorf Men and the famous Apple Store which not only attract men, but all technology savvy individuals. You will also find several jewelry shops on Fifth Avenue. Located on 5th Ave. is the boutique jewelry store Tiffany and Company, Cartier, Bulgari, Fortunoff, Van Cleef, Arpels and Harry Winston known as jeweler to the stars. For the kids, no other place compares to one the largest toy stores in the world, FAO Schwartz. Further down Fifth Avenue towards Central Park the street becomes a residential area with several remarkable New York City museums. All of the museums on 5th Ave. are a part of Museum Mile. Museums that make up Museum Mile, New York City are: The Metropolitan Museum of Art (82nd St.) Goethe-Institut New York/German Cultural Center (83rd St.) Neue Galerie New York (86th St.) Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (88th St.) National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts (89th St.) Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum (91st St.) The Jewish Museum (92nd Street) Museum of the City of New York (103rd St.) El Museo del Barrio (105th St.) Museum for African Art (110th St.) In additions to shops, museums and prestigious residential communities are other NYC landmarks and historic structures. Along Fifth Avenue is also St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The cathedral has a new aged gothic structure and is home to the Archbishop of New York. Across from St. Patrick’s Cathedral is the Rockefeller Center, a complex of 19 commercial buildings. The Plaza Hotel, one of New York’s most popular hotels is too located along 5th Ave. It has been the resting spot for many public figures such as The Beatles and United States presidents. Other New York attractions located on Fifth Ave. are the Trump Tower, the Empire State Building, the Flatiron Building and the main New York City Public Library. As being one of the most expensive streets, 5th Ave is a touring destination New York City tourist should definitely visit. If you are lucky, you could just happen to visit New York at the right time during one of the many traditional parades that takes place on Fifth Avenue. Most parades are on Sundays and require New York City authorities to close the street to public vehicular traffic. The longest running parade on 5th Ave is the St. Patrick’s Day Parade which is in March. Some other parades include the “Canyon of Heroes” ticker-tape parade, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the LGBT Pride March and the Puerto Rican Day Parade. *Prices are Per Person or Per Adult Respectively. Prices for Children May Vary.Read More

The Jewish relationship with books goes back to Moses. We are known as the People of the Book. So it’s a fair bet that Jews will play a significant part in the massive upheaval that the Kindle and other digital book readers are bringing about in the publishing world. In 2008 revenues from e-books at the multinational publisher Hachette accounted for about one per cent of their total income. Last year they were 20 per cent. Amazon launched the latest version of its Kindle in mid-November. By the end of 2011 they had sold five million. E-readers and e-books are big news, and they are changing the way we read. We are not all happy about this, many of us do not want to give up the tactile experience of handling a book and turning the pages. But others are thrilled to be able to carry their entire libraries in their pocket or handbag, flipping between books, newspapers and magazines at the press of a button. Whatever our preferences, there is little doubt that, like computers and mobile phones, we will in time all possess a digital reader. So, are digital readers good for the Jews? Well, not necessarily, if you are an observant Jew. Or at least, they can only be a good thing for observant Jews six days a week. Because they cannot be used on Shabbat. It is well known that observant Jews have lots of books. The frummer we are, the bigger the library needs to be. All those Gemaras, Shulchan Aruchs and commentaries take up a lot of space. Most e-readers can hold over a thousand books. How wonderful then to be able to put one’s entire library on to a digital device, have them at hand wherever we go and dispense with all those bookshelves that clutter up the place. But we cannot, not if we are frum and want to use our library on Shabbat. Machinery generally does not present too much of a problem to observant Jews on Shabbat. We have workarounds. Time switches are wonderful things. As for those technologies that we cannot overcome, like driving a car, well they show just how profound Judaism is; one day a week we cannot go out into the traffic, and we’re glad. But e-readers will challenge us. They allow us to read, which is one of our favourite activities. They do not pollute or aggravate. It is hard to think of a reason why we would be glad not to be able to use one on Shabbat. But still we cannot. The halachic problem with e-readers is not the reading of them; there is no prohibition against looking at a screen. The problem is in turning the pages. To do that we need to press a button, which in turn activates an electrical circuit. The obvious solution is an e-reader that switches itself on a preset time and slowly scrolls from one page to another automatically. Unfortunately it would be hugely inconvenient, we would always have to read at the same speed and we could never take our eyes from the screen in case we missed a page turn. We would not be able to go back a page if we had missed something. We might like reading, but we do not want to do it non-stop. It is quite likely that technology already exists to allow essential use of an e-reader on Shabbat. The Tzomet Institute in Israel has developed technologies that allow, for example, a doctor or security officer to use a telephone or a computer keyboard in an emergency. The principle behind this is known as gramma, or indirect action. An example of this is extinguishing a fire indirectly by placing a fire-break around it, so that it burns out, instead of pouring water directly on to it. The electronic technologies that Tzomet use send out a short pulse every few seconds to check whether a switch or setting on a Shabbat-compliant machine has been changed. Pressing a switch has no effect until it is checked by the electronic pulse. When the pulse finds that the switch has been thrown, it allows the desired action to occur. Since the switch was flipped before the pulse checked it, the action is indirect and regarded as gramma. Sadly, halachah only seems to permit gramma when essential, typically when there is a medical or security need. It is hard to argue that our leisure reading is an emergency. Apart, of course from the JC, which many regard as time-hallowed, essential Shabbat reading. So perhaps a digital edition of the JC on our Shabbat Kindle would be ok. Still, we Jews are resourceful people. Technology is there for us to master, we do not let it master us. Sooner or later someone is bound to invent a Shabbat-compliant e-reader. It might even come pre-loaded with all the seforim (sacred books) we could possible want. I just wish they’d hurry up.

Perhaps “launch” is not the best term, because they may stay in ministry for many years. But they never seem to do well. They never seem to have a peace. They seem like they are always trying to prove something. I recently went through my old seminary pictorial directory. I was able to locate 47 people I knew in seminary who I know where they are today. Of that 47, only eight remained in ministry. If you are doing the math, that is an 83 percent dropout rate. Vocational ministry is a calling. It is not just another vocation. If you enter ministry for the wrong reasons, you will not likely do well. Indeed, you will not likely make it. What are some of the terrible reasons to enter vocational ministry? Here are five of the most common failures: Escape from a secular job I know a man who has a huge desire to work fulltime in ministry for a church. But the only reason he ever articulates is his hatred of his middle management secular job. He sees ministry vocation only as an escape from the problems of corporate work. I hope his heart changes before he makes the leap. Fulfilling family expectations About one-third of my peers who dropped out of ministry came from families in vocational ministry. Don’t hear me wrongly. It is admirable to see multiple generations in ministry for the right reasons. But too many in ministry feel compelled to enter that world because of family pressure. One peer of mine told me, “Dad called me into ministry, not God.” When your spouse is not supportive Vocational ministry is demanding and can be exhausting. If ministers do not have the support of their spouses, their lives will be miserable from the point of entering vocational ministry. For those of you who have supportive spouses in ministry like me, count your blessings. Not theologically prepared I recently heard a man preach a sermon that had, sadly, several biblical and theological errors. Those errors did not go unnoticed by many members in the congregation. The role of teaching and preaching in ministry is not to be held lightly. Do not enter ministry theologically unprepared. Skewed views of the demands of ministry I was in a conversation with a 30-something pastor who came into ministry from the secular world. His conversation went something like this: “I had this idea that I would have all this free time and short work weeks. Ministry seemed like a piece of cake compared to the world I was coming from. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It is unbelievably demanding. I am on call 24-hours a day whether I admit it or not.” For those who enter vocational ministry for the right reasons, the work can be incredibly rewarding and fulfilling. For those who don’t, the frustration will seem unbearable, and the failure rate is high. This article was originally published on Rainer’s blog. The post Five terrible reasons for surrendering to vocational ministry appeared first on Southern Equip. David Limbaugh is well known for his political commentary. Yet recently he has utilized his legal training to defend historic Christianity with his New York Times best-selling books The Emmaus Code and Jesus on Trial. His most recent book is The True Jesus: Uncovering the Divinity of Christ in the Gospels. David gave me the opportunity to endorse the book and I was pleasantly surprised at how readable it is, but also his depth of research. You can see David discuss the book on Hannity. David was kind enough to briefly answer a few of my questions about his newest book. Enjoy! ... Hi Dr. Craig, For about the last decade I've studied the question of the existence of God. I was raised in a Christian family and became interested philosophically in the existence of God in my mid-teens. I have read several of you books and many articles, as well as watching numerous lectures and debates. I have considerable respect for you work, mainly because it is meticulous - in contrast to most discussion of the subject that is readily available on the internet. I regard your defence of the kalam argument to be one of the best defences of God's existence I have read. I would describe myself as a 'philosophical theist' ... S. Lewis famously said, “It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones.” Similarly, J. I. Packer urged Christians to read two old books for every new one. This summer, we hope you are resting and reading some good books.Matthew Hall Dean of Boyce College New: The Blood of Emmett Till (Simon & Schuster) by Tim Tyson. Tyson is one of those historians who is always worth reading and who is a master of prose. His newest book is beautifully written and meticulously researched, but often painful to read. Our country has buried too many black and brown boys. Reading this book is a needed reminder of the complex and far-reaching reality of sin, depravity, and evil in a racialized society. Old: The Negro: His Rights and Wrongs, the Forces for Him and Against Him (Cornell University) by Francis Grimke, 1898. A friend recently gave me a copy of this and I was delighted to know of its availability in print. Originally delivered as a series of sermons in 1898, Grimke’s biblical call for justice and hope still rings out with hope. Old: David Walker’s Appeal (Hill and Wang) ed. Sean Wilentz. Written in 1829, Walker’s abolitionist manifesto remains a remarkable testimony to the power of biblical truth to demolish the “principalities and powers” of injustice. Walker’s devastating critique of slavery and his call for repentance was one framed and filled with Scripture. Any Christian who wants to be better equipped to engage with the ongoing challenge of racial injustice and inequality in our nation, and in our churches, would do well to pick it up.Michael Haykin Professor of Church History and Biblical Spirituality New: William Grimshaw of Haworth (Banner of Truth) by Faith Cook. A gem of what revival Christianity looks like—despite his eccentricities (which this reader found utterly endearing), Grimshaw epitomizes the heart of 18th century Evangelicalism. A cure for wimpishness! Old: The Memoirs of Samuel Pearce (Kessinger) by Andrew Fuller. In this work, Fuller sketches the life of his close friend Samuel Pearce (1766-1799), the mutual friend of both Fuller and William Carey. Pearce stands for Fuller as a model of “holy love” and missionary piety, and was regarded as such by many in the 19th century, the age of missionary globalization. Old: A Breviate of the Life of Margaret Charlton by Richard Baxter. In this brief work, the famous Puritan leader Richard Baxter outlines the life of his wife Margaret Charlton and the major contours of their marriage, a quintessential Puritan union of intimate allies.Rob Plummer Professor of New Testament Interpretation New: A Change of Heart: A Personal and Theological Memoir (IVP Academic) by Thomas C. Oden. This autobiography gives you an inside look at a mainline Protestant’s fascinating journey from a liberal, social gospel to Christian orthodoxy. I read this book at the beach this summer and found it both enjoyable and spiritually nourishing. Old: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Dover) by Robert Louis Stevenson. We’ve all heard of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” but have you ever actually read the captivating book? I listened to the audio book after hearing Tim Keller reflect on Robert Louis Stevenson’s Presbyterian background and what the book teaches about depravity. There’s a good free audio version available via the LibriVox app. (I recommend the version read by David Barnes.) Old: The Wealth of Nations (Bantam) by Adam Smith. Published just prior to the American Independence in 1776, this book is foundational for understanding economics, free trade, division of labor, etc. Parts of the book are boring and dense; others are lively and fascinating, with immediate application to current political debates. I’ve been listening to the free audio version of the book read by Stephen Escalera, available via the LibriVox app.Tom Schreiner Professor of New Testament Interpretation and Biblical Theology New: Destroyer of the gods: Early Christian Distinctiveness in the Roman World (Baylor University) by Larry Hurtado. In this excellent book, Hurtado shows how Christianity stood out in its cultural environment in the first centuries. It was considered odd and strongly opposed in the Roman world. Hurtado’s book is helpful for us today as we are relearning what it means to be a Christian in an alien culture. Old: A Bruised Reed (Banner of Truth) by Richard Sibbes. This book is a gospel balm for to heal our wounded and hurting souls. Old: Pensées (Penguin) by Blaise Pascal. Pascal never finished the book he intended to write, but the notes he collected continue to be read four centuries later. Pascal speaks to modern people searching for meaning and for life.Donald Whitney Professor of Biblical Spirituality New: Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God (Penguin) by Tim Keller. If there’s a more comprehensive volume on prayer, I’m not aware of it. Deeply rooted to Scripture, with healthy, helpful doses of theology and Christian history, Keller’s well-written book is also intensely practical. Old: The Pilgrim’s Progress (Desiring God) by John Bunyan. An allegory of the Christian life, Bunyan penned this masterpiece in the Bedford, England, jail where he was imprisoned for his rejection of the law that preachers must be licensed by the state. Published in 1678 and never out of print, it is often regarded as the all-time bestselling book in English other than the Bible. Spurgeon claimed to have read it 100 times. Enough said. Make sure to get an edition with parts 1 and 2, and avoid modern-language versions, which invariably modify the theology. The inexpensive Oxford University Press paperback is a good choice. Old: George Müller of Bristol (Waymark) by A. T. Pierson. Written in 1899 following Müller’s death the previous year, it recounts the life of the man considered by many the most remarkable person of prayer and faith since the New Testament. With more than 50,000 specific recorded answers to prayer in his journals—30,000 of which he said were answered the same day or hour he prayed them—Müller’s life reads almost like a continuation of the Book of Acts. I devoured this biography when I was in seminary, and it changed my life.Shawn Wright Professor of Church History New: God’s Word Alone—The Authority of Scripture: What the Reformers Taught . . . and Why It Still Matters (Zondervan) by Matthew Barrett. Every generation of evangelicals must take a firm stand on the authority and sufficiency of holy Scripture against not only the overt onslaughts of secularism and liberalism but also our own sinful facade of self-sufficiency. Now Matthew Barrett has done the church a service by building on both of these great thinkers and by showing us that the Bible is able to withstand all attacks from anti-God forces. God’s word has authority and sufficiency for God’s people because it is the very word of the triune, covenant-keeping God to his people. Old: It Says, Scripture Says, God Says, by B. B. Warfield. Warfield’s classic essay demonstrates the inerrancy of the Bible based on an in-depth inductive study of the Bible’s treatment of its own words. Old: Fundamentalism and the Word of God (Eerdmans) by J. I. Packer. Packer’s book from the mid-20th century follows Warfield but also also employs Calvin’s notion that the Bible is self-authenticating since it the production of the Holy Spirit himself.Hershael York Professor of Christian Preaching New: Learning from a Legend: What Gardiner C. Taylor Can Teach Us About Preaching (Cascade) by Jared E. Alcántara. Not only is this a book about preaching, but also an examination of a preaching life. Gardiner C. Taylor was one of the greatest masters of the pulpit of the last 100 years and this book strikes gold at the intersection of biography, history, homiletics, and rhetoric. Old: How to Preach without Notes (Baker) by Charles W. Koller. This reprint actually combines two of Koller’s books, Expository Preaching without Notes and Sermons Preached without Notes. While the title is actually a bit of a misnomer, because what Koller actually teaches and advocates is preaching with very brief notes more than none at all, but his masterful instruction will liberate a preacher from the albatross of dependence on a manuscript and enables him to preach from the overflow of the study of the Word and the power of the Holy Spirit. Old: Cadences of Home: Preaching among Exiles (WJK) by Walter Brueggemann. Though a word of caution is in order—Brueggemann does not hold my theological convictions—he correctly argues that to preach today is to proclaim the Word of God to people who are not at home in this world. Written in the 1990’s, his word to preachers is even more relevant today in a culture increasingly at odds with historic Christianity. In addition, Brueggemann is a master of verbal imagery and his evocative manipulation of language stands as both inspirational and instructive to anyone who wants to use the language well in order to proclaim the excellencies of Christ. Never is it wrong to state a firm case for racial justice in America. If racism continues to be problematic the world over; at least not in America, and certainly not in the SBC, should we ever tolerate the raising of the ugly head of injustice or the unkindness that accompanies any racial intolerance. God is the Creator of all men, and He said that all that He created was “very good.” We, as Baptists, are entitled to no other view. The denunciation of the racism of the “alt-right” is most certainly in order. As Southern Baptists were voting their approval of the resolution against the alt-right, Congressman Steve Scalise was in the gun sight of a rabid member of what might be fairly styled “the alt-left.” And make no mistake, that angry man did not mean to wound but rather was determined to kill – all the Republicans that he could. That is why the resolution against the “alt-right” was superbly right and tragically wrong at the same time. The free speech guaranteed by our Constitution has been abrogated on numerous college and university campuses. The president of the United States has been threatened with assassination as public entertainers have resorted to the coarsest of language to badger those, like the president, with whom they disagree. All the while, innocent infants in the “safety” of their mothers’ wombs continue to be slaughtered under the moniker of “women’s health.” And an astonishing percent of these precious little ones are from the African American community! The point is that while the “alt-right” is guilty of much violence, they are hardly alone. In fact, many reasonable assessments of the circumstances in America suggest that what has played itself out in the last several months is an argument that the “alt-left” is as guilty as anyone. Baptists, as those who refrained from violence, have always differed with their “cousins in the faith” from most other communions. Baptists have insisted on freedom of speech, open discussion, kindness and graciousness as something owed to all in the light of God’s extension of grace to us. Our Anabaptist forefathers suffered gallantly for Christ and made no effort to confront the violence of both Catholics and Protestants. Instead they followed the instructions of Peter, who said, For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow in His steps: “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth”; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:21-24). Southern Baptists must walk a precarious tightrope, which will make the feats of the famous Wallendas seem insignificant in comparison. Every form of human violence must be opposed on the right, on the left, or in the center. Even when a “just war” must be waged, as Augustine outlined, Baptists must rue the violent death of every person, do what they can to limit and relieve any suffering, and constantly seek the Spirit of God to purge their own hearts of all but forgiveness and mercy. In fact, emphasizing this principle is how we advance the Kingdom of Christ. Following the teachings of our Lord, appropriate attitudes and behaviors must ensue. And when we speak against something, as we sometimes must, we do have to be fair. God give us the grace to walk carefully this tightrope. Paige Patterson, President Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Fort Worth, Texas I have had the privilege of being part of many writing and curriculum projects. But there are a few that stand out in terms of how fun and impactful those projects have been. The Apologetics Study Bible for Students is at the top of my list. There are a few reasons why ... In Part 1, I observed that Christian forgiveness includes several conditions leading to reconciliation of a relationship that was violated by one person sinning against another. Jesus’ commands that the person wronged must “show him his fault” (Matt 18:15) as the first condition, to be followed by his repentance, and then we may respond by forgiving him. Common Christian talk about forgiveness tends not to include the necessity of repentance; consequently, many Christians attempt forgiveness and yet fail to live in it. Along with this claim that repentance is necessary to forgiveness, I am aware of the need for at least four caveats ... In terms of dealing with fear and evangelism, I think the starting point is to realize that not all fear is bad. Fear reminds us of the significance of the task of sharing the gospel. It’s not something we should take lightly, and it also forces us to depend on the Lord, and in that case, fear can be a very helpful thing. But most of the time when people talk about fear and evangelism, they’re talking about a fear that keeps them from sharing. Three common fears that I’ve observed. The first is not knowing enough. They’re afraid they’re going to be asked a question that they can’t answer, and I tell people, you don’t need to be afraid of that. That will happen. I have two Master’s degrees and a PhD in theology and my own kids ask me questions that I couldn’t answer. I would just stand up tall and clear my throat and say, “Go ask your mother.” It’s okay to say, “I don’t know the answer,” to a question or, “Let me research that and get back to you.” A second common source of fear, people are afraid of the fear of failure. They’re afraid that they might do more harm than good, but whenever I hear someone share that they’re afraid they’ll do more harm than good, I always think, “That’s not your problem.” They’re a sensitive person. They’re not going to come across like a bull in a china shop. It’s the person that never gives sensitivity a second thought that may come across as aggressive, but when someone says, “I’m afraid I’ll do more harm than good, that’s not their problem. They don’t need sensitivity, they may need boldness. I love Dr. Bill Bright’s definition of evangelism. He said, “Successful witnessing is sharing the good news of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results up to God. We can’t change anyone’s heart. Successful witnessing is when we share the good news. I guess the greatest source of fear, if people were really honest, is fear of rejection. They’re afraid, “What will this person think about me if I identify with Christ? I think of the rulers that John talked about in John 12. Many of the rulers believed in Jesus, but because of the Pharisees were not confessing him lest they be cast out of the temple. And then in John 12:43, he gives this epitaph, For they love the approval of men more than the approval of God. We have to confront that our fear of rejection is really loving the approval of men more than the approval of God. We need to love those who don’t know Christ more than we love ourselves. In Acts 4, we see that the disciples were afraid. They’d been threatened, and they were afraid, and so what did they do? They prayed for boldness. I believe that’s a prayer that God delights to answer. When we’re afraid, we simply acknowledge that and say, God I’m afraid, I’m scared right now. Would you fill me with boldness? That’s a prayer that God loves to answer. Someone described it in this way. Fear knocked at the door, faith answered, and there was no one there. In preparation for this year’s Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, SBC President Steve Gaines penned a letter to Southern Baptists encouraging them to pray and fast for the forthcoming meeting. Gaines reminded Southern Baptists, “God does things when we pray and fast that He does not do if we don’t pray and fast.” The theme of prayer carried over into the meeting itself, which had the theme, “Pray! For such a time as this.” Gaines, in his presidential address derived from Acts 13, encouraged those present to minister to the Lord through prayer and worship in order to see the power of God. The theme of prayer and petitioning God was ever present in this year’s convention. From the podium and throughout the auditorium, prayers were lifted for our Lord to do a mighty work in our land. It was a beautiful time of worship and a reminder of what unites us as Southern Baptists. Now I ask: Since we have gathered to pray and been encouraged to pray, what must we do to see the power of God move—like we prayed for? To that question, I would provide two answers: 1. Keep Praying History is rife with examples of the influence of persistent prayer on spiritual awakenings. There is perhaps no greater example of the power of prayer to spiritual awakening than the Laymen’s Prayer Revival of 1858. Jeremiah Lanphier, a Dutch Reformed city missionary to New York City, began his ministry with a simple prayer: “Lord, what will thou have me to do?” Lanphier, convinced of the power of prayer and seeing the spiritual and moral decline in the city around him, felt compelled by God to establish a prayer meeting in the city. To attract attention to his prayer meeting, Lanphier dispersed a handbill embossed with the words, “How Often Shall I Pray?” The handbill answers, As often as the language of prayer is on my heart, as often as I see my need of help, as often as I feel the power of temptation, as often as I am made sensible of my spiritual declension or feel the aggression of a worldly spirit. In prayer we leave the business of time for that of eternity and intercourse with men for intercourse with God. Lanphier’s prayer meeting was initially met with little interaction. On the first day, Lanphier began the meeting alone and attracted only six attendees by the end. In the second week, 20 showed up to pray, and by the third week, 40. On October 14, after having decided to meet daily, there were more than 100 in attendance. As the meeting continued to grow, scores of individuals became convinced of their need for Christ and turned to Him. As the prayer meeting grew, similar meetings sprung up across the city, the state and, ultimately, the nation. As the meetings spread, so did the conversions. The growth of the prayer meetings prompted evangelistic services and meetings throughout the nation. Over a two-month period, more than 3,000 individuals were converted in Newark, New Jersey. In New York City, more than 10,000 turned to Christ. The revival ultimately spread throughout the nation and into towns, cities and universities where many were engaged in intense prayer and thousands were converted to Christ. God’s work through fervent prayer is evident in the Laymen’s Prayer Revival, and I must say God can surely do it again! Gaines’ call to prayer at the SBC meeting is but a starting place for us as individuals and as a convention. If we harken back to Lanphier’s original handbill and ask ourselves, “How often shall I pray?” certainly the answer is, “More than we already do.” If we were also to ask, “What should we pray?” I think the answer would be Lanphier’s original prayer: “Lord, [if we are to see awakening in our churches and nation,] what would you have me to do?” As the Lord answers this prayer, I would encourage you to start preparing yourself and your churches for whatever the answer is. 2. Start Preparing Every season of spiritual awakening has begun with a season of spiritual preparation. Surveying the history of spiritual awakenings, awakening leaders always prepare their hearts for service and their minds for action. John Wesley, Charles Wesley and George Whitfield—all stalwarts of the first Great Awakening—studied together at Oxford University. As they studied, these men sought to encourage one another in their studies as well as in their spiritual lives. United together in what was called the “Holy Club,” they prepared their hearts for faithful service to the Lord. Whitfield remarked about the Holy Club: Never did persons strive more earnestly to enter in at the strait gate. They kept their bodies under, even to an extreme. They were dead to the world, and willing to be accounted as the dung and offscouring of all things, so that they might win Christ. Their hearts glowed with the love of God and they never prospered so much in the inner man as when they had all manner of evil spoken against them. … I now began, like them, to live by rule, and to pick up the very fragments of my time, that not a moment of it might be lost. Whether I ate or drank, or whatsoever I did, I endeavored to do all to the glory of God. … I left no means unused which I thought would lead me nearer to Jesus Christ. The preparation and example of the Holy Club illustrates for us what must happen if we hope to see Spiritual Awakening in our churches and nation. We must prepare our hearts and live in such way that we reflect the glory of God instead of our own worldliness. As Lewis Drummond notes, “A spiritual awakening is no more than God’s people seeing God in His holiness, turning from their wicked ways, and being transformed into His likeness.” Our only hope for seeing spiritual awakening is preparing our hearts by patterning our lives after the example of Christ. The example of Whitfield, the Wesleys and the Holy Club shows not only the preparation of their hearts, but also the preparation of their minds. The Holy Club, with its founding at Oxford University, comprised a group of men committed to studying and preparing their minds for great service to the Lord. In addition to the Holy Club, William Tennent’s Log College exhibits the preparation that has often been a part of great spiritual awakenings. In the early 1700s, William Tennent came to America and built a Log Cabin to serve as a theological training center for his sons. Burdened by the state of the church, Tennent found it necessary to educate his sons and eventually other young men in language, logic and theology. In addition, Tennent instilled in each of these young men a passion for preaching the Word and reaching others with the Gospel. George Whitfield, having visited the school, remarked, “From this despised place seven or eight worthy ministers of Jesus have lately been sent forth; more are almost ready to be sent; and the foundation is now laying for the instruction of many others.” Whitfield would later call Tennent’s eldest, Gilbert, and other graduates of the Log College the brightest lights for the Gospel in the whole Colony of Pennsylvania. These men set out from the Log College having prepared for Gospel ministry and were used mightily in the time of revival known as the first Great Awakening. The preparation by those involved with the Holy Club as well as those who attended the Log College allowed them to have a fruitful ministry during the awakening. I would say to those of us who are praying for awakening that we must also prepare for awakening by devoting time to preparing our minds for Gospel action. For some, like Tennent, the Wesleys and Whitfield, this preparation requires engagement in formal theological education. In our context, formal theological education most often takes place in a theological seminary. Devoting oneself to the study of theology helps prepare both the mind and the spirit for service to the Lord. Armed with a formal theological education, a young minister seeing the fruits of revival is able to rightly apply the truth of God’s Word to the world around him, and he is able to protect the church from any sort of doctrinal drift that may arise and seek to disrupt a vast movement of God. As a map lays out a proper route for a trip, so a formal theological education guides the life and work of a minister. Though a map may not indicate every roadblock that is in the way, it will always indicate a way forward. Though a theological education may not provide every answer a minister needs, it will provide the right resources to indicate the proper answer and prepare them for whatever ministerial roadblocks they may face. Vital to an awakening will be individuals who have prepared for service via formal theological education. For some, this should serve as a call to begin preparation for ministry at a seminary. For others who have already completed their time in seminary, this should serve as motivation to “call out the called” and encourage them to begin the pursuit of theological education, not for their own sake, but for the sake of the Gospel and for the purpose of seeing awakening in our world. Should God choose to send an awakening, will He find individuals formally prepared for service to Him? This will depend on commitment to participate in or call others to participate in formal theological education. For others, who may have already completed their formal theological education, preparation for awakening requires a commitment to training others for Kingdom service. Just as William Tennent used the training he had received to train others, so should those who have been blessed with the opportunity to receive a theological education use what they have received to train others. Certainly, every sermon and lesson is training, but what if, as a pastor or leader, you endeavored to work closely with a small group of individuals who seem passionate about serving the Lord? What if, with the training you have received previously, you instructed a small group in evangelism, apologetics and theology? What if you were able to send out from your church into the work force and world a group of individuals who were fully prepared to share, defend and disciple others in the faith? A ministry like this will look different from church to church and from pastor to pastor, but if we really want to see awakening in our churches and communities, we will not be able to do it alone! Training others to assist in the work of the ministry will be vital if we hope to see an awakening in our time. John Wesley was himself convinced of the importance of small groups training for lay ministry. Wesley, quoting from The Country Parson’s Advice to His Parishioners, remarks: If good men of the church will unite together in the several parts of the kingdom, disposing themselves into friendly societies, and engaging each other, in their respective combinations, to be helpful to each other in all good Christian ways, it will be the most effectual means for restoring our decaying Christianity to its primitive life and vigor, and the supporting of our tottering and sinking Church. Inspired by this quote, Wesley founded his own group of select brethren in which he trained them in doctrine and commissioned them as ambassadors for Christ. These individuals served as the leaders of the Methodist movement and helped spread the awakening message of Wesley throughout England. If we truly wish to see revival and awakening in our midst, banding together in prayer and in preparation is our best hope. If we really believe that God hears and will answer our prayers, we must begin even now preparing our communities and ourselves for God to do a mighty work. If we really believe Ephesians 3:20, that God is able to do far more abundantly than all we can ask or imagine, we must commit ourselves to faithful prayer and preparation until we see God start an awakening in our land. Much of the historical information and figures throughout the article have been taken from: McDow, Malcolm, and Alvin L. Reid. Firefall: how God has shaped history through revivals. Enumclaw, WA: Pleasant Word, 2002. Dallimore, Arnold A. (2010-03-04). George Whitefield: God’s Anointed Servant in the Great Revival of the Eighteenth Century (Kindle Locations 178-183). Crossway. Kindle Edition. Drummond, Lewis A. Eight Keys to Biblical Revival. Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 1994. pg. 107 Henderson, D. Michael (2016-02-10). John Wesley’s Class Meeting: A Model for Making Disciples (p. 101). Rafiki Books. Kindle Edition. The discipline of memorizing Bible verses pays great dividends in the life of a Christian. Having Scripture stored up in our hearts helps us to remember God’s promises in tough times, flee from sin in moments of temptation, possess greater confidence in sharing the gospel, and give fresh words of encouragement to struggling Christians. The problem for us is that while memorizing a verse presents a challenge, remembering it in three months is a great difficulty. We often find ourselves wanting to quote something we spent two days memorizing but cannot remember the exact wording of the verse or the precise reference to save our lives. How can we remember the Bible verses that we memorized a week, a month, or a year ago?For the long haul We often fail to learn Bible verses well the first time we memorize them. We can’t remember them a month later because we never really got them into our minds and hearts. When you memorize a Bible verse, make sure that you are learning the precise wording of the verse and the exact reference. Do not be content with forgetting whether the verse says “so that” or “in order to.” The scholars who worked on the translation that you use made the choices they did for good reasons, so learn it as it is printed on the page. In addition, think of memorizing Bible verses as a multi-day task. Too often, when we memorize a Bible verse, we work on it for one day, say it somewhat correctly, and then move on to the next verse. If you struggle to remember a verse a month after you memorized it, work on memorizing it for three days instead of just one day. The first day, read it repeatedly until you have the flow of the verse. On the second day, read the verse out loud several times again, then cover up the verse and say it at least five times, only looking at it to make sure that you said it correctly. Use the last day to read the verse out loud again. Then say the verse multiple times without looking at it. If you memorized it correctly, move on to the next verse you want to learn. If not, work on it one more day to make sure that you have it down.Memorize in context Often our Scripture memory consists of individual verses we learned from many different books of the Bible. We struggle to remember what they say because we plucked them out of their context and we have no frame of reference for remembering what the verse said. One tactic that will help you down the road is memorizing the entire paragraph where the verse you want to memorize is found. For example, let’s say you want to memorize Romans 3:23. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That seems easy enough to remember, but our minds are clouded with lots of information. So, in order to better recall the verse in the future, memorize Romans 3:21-26 instead of just Romans 3:23. This approach has practical and theological advantages. Practically, you get into the flow of how Paul wrote the letter and this always helps recall move more smoothly. You start with the first few words of a paragraph and the rest has a way of coming back to you as you pick up momentum. Theologically, this method helps you to keep Bible verses in their proper theological context. You won’t quote Philippians 4:13 to get your team psyched up for the baseball game when you remember that Paul was initially speaking of his learning to be content in whatever position he found himself.Use a schedule In order to remember the Bible verses that you memorize, you must get on a review schedule. Ideally, you would spend a few days memorizing a verse and then the next couple of days reviewing it. Then, let it sit for a couple of days and review it again. After that, review it next week, the in two weeks, and then in a month. Determine the maximum amount of time that you can allow between reviews to keep the verse fresh in your mind. (For me, it’s three months. And honestly, this may be too long. I worked back through some verses I had not reviewed in three months and struggled with them mightily.) Here is one area where our smartphones can be an aid to our devotional lives, as there are several helpful Scripture memory apps on the market. Both Fighter Verses and Verses have great interfaces and use multiple types of interactive quizzes to memorize Scripture. (Fighter Verses also has music and other resources to aid in memory.) My personal favorite, though, is ScriptureTyper. For me, ScritptureTyper allows me to keep verses in collections the way I prefer to have them and puts verses on a review schedule. You can manually set the maximum time allowed between reviews.Put it in a “microwave” Using a review schedule to keep our Scripture memory fresh will reveal verses that have slipped from your grasp. You may stumble through portions of the verse or have forgotten it completely. When this happens, you need to pull this verse out and treat it like you are memorizing it for the first time. Think of it as sticking leftovers in the microwave. (I borrowed this terminology from my father-in-law, Mark McCullough, who is the pastor at First Baptist Church in Frisco City, Alabama.) The first day you put the verse in the microwave, read it out loud multiple times and then cover it up to try to say it from memory. On the second day, read it out loud a few times and say it from memory again. The final day should consist of ensuring you have it fully memorized. After you have done this, review it once a week for the next month to ensure you have it down before putting it on a less consistent review schedule. I know this sounds like a lot of effort. It is, and it is worth every second to have God’s word stored up in our hearts. Some time ago I was speaking on the evidence for intelligent design at a family camp in Michigan. Immediately after my talk—in which I discussed the evidence for design from DNA, fine-tuning, and more—a woman approached me and asked, “The evidence is really powerful. Do you think we will ever get to a point when people will have to concede there’s a God?” ... Dear Dr. Craig, I'm originally from China and have lived in the U.S. for 17 years. Through a Christian friend, I've been introduced to your books and debates online. I've been going to church for two years now, getting very close to becoming a Christian. Your work has been instrumental in helping my "engineeringly" wired brain making sense of god, slowly but steadily building up my faith. For that, I'm very grateful and want to give my immense gratitude and appreciation. I find myself uncontrollably talking about god with my Chinese friends, urging them to spend more time in pursuing their spirituality in Christ. Some were interested and some weren't. Pretty consistently, most of them challenge me with the same type of question, "China has thousands years of history, rise and fall of many great dynasties. Where was god? Why didn't Chinese people document the same god? How did Chinese culture enjoy so much brilliant inventions, literatures, and prosperity, without even knowing anything about god? Why didn't god even bothered to love or making himself known to Chinese people for thousands of years?" I tried to research and come up with answers myself, unfortunately, none of which were very convincing to my Chinese friends. I would use your five arguments (origin, fine-tuning, objective moral values, death and resurrection of Jesus, and personal experience) to challenge them, but find it very hard to get past that initial resistance and make the personal connection ... Joe thought he’d be a better preacher. Did you? I don’t mean he had pretensions to glory, necessarily. Just that of the range of things he knew he’d have to do once he started ministry, he figured preaching would come easiest. It’s what drew him to ministry in the first place, after all. He loves study, organization, communication. He listens to Keller and Piper when he jogs. He’s got bios of Spurgeon and Whitefield on his night stand. Coming out of seminary, he knew counseling would be a challenge, that administration would take on-the-job training, that he knew little about effective marketing, that managing staff or volunteers wouldn’t be natural at first. But he figured if there’s one thing he can do well, it’s understanding and explaining the Bible in an engaging way. And good thing too, he thought, because biblical preaching is the lifeblood of the church. He believes that if everything else has to fail so preaching can go well it’s a worthy cost. It’s a cost Joe’s paying. Balls are dropping all around him so he can spend his 20 hours prepping. All of this amounts to a huge existential burden that each sermon has to carry. Joe feels like he’s got to hit a home run to justify mediocrity in every other area of his job. But his sermons rarely feel like home runs. And there’s more. Joe knows from his pastoral care that his context is far removed from the class full of seminarians where he delivered his first sermons. He’s not working with theory anymore. He’s speaking into the lives of real people—people he knows and loves and desperately wants to help. He knows they need more perspective on the hard things in their lives. More confidence in their faith that Jesus is true. More urgency while facing the problems in their marriage. He knows what they need is so great and so specific to the circumstances of each one of their lives he can’t imagine how a single sermon could get the job done. But Joe’s trying his hardest. He carries that weight in his study all week; it’s on his shoulders every time he steps into the pulpit. To whatever extent this description reflects your experience, your experience reflects mine. In more ways than I’d like to admit, I’ve been Joe. Weekly preaching is a tremendous emotional, intellectual, and psychological burden we carry with us all the time. Some of that is in the nature of the beast. Some of it stems from the idol factories we nurture inside. It’s a complicated burden and it can deal a deadly blow to ministry longevity. Where can we find the perspective we need to keep pressing on? How do we learn to live with the fact that no sermon will ever measure up to the depths of our text, to the needs of our people, or to our ideal images of ourselves? What does success look like when you know your preaching will never be good enough? John the Baptist A while ago I was pressing through a season of discouragement in my preaching at the same time I was preparing for a new series on John’s Gospel. The way the Evangelist describes the ministry of John the Baptist was incredibly helpful for me then—and it’s a perspective I’ve been seeking to grow into ever since. There are three places the ministry of the Baptist shows up, and in each case there’s a message we need if we want to preach with confidence, freedom, and joy. - “I am not the Christ” (John 1:19-28). We first hear John speak when the priests and Levites come down from Jerusalem for an up-close look at his ministry. The Evangelist doesn’t fill in many details of John’s style or his popularity, but given the way other writers describe him it’s not difficult to imagine what these Jewish leaders expected to find. They come asking, in essence, who do you think you are? They’d surely heard about his bohemian dress, his eccentric diet, his outlandish statements. They probably expected a guy who was full of himself. But John’s answers only speak to who he’s not: “I am not the Christ” (1:20). John isn’t trying to protect himself and deflect attention. This isn’t an Obi Wan, these-aren’t-the-droids-you’re-looking-for evasive move. He’ll give up his life soon enough. Here, though, he doesn’t want to talk about himself because he knows and loves the fact that he’s not the point. He’s not the solution. He’s not the hero. He can’t save anybody. He’s not the one you’re looking for. And he not only accepts this reality—he embraces it. There’s great freedom for us when we as preachers embrace that, too. There’s no denying our sermons will never be able give our people what they really need. Thank God I am not the Christ. Of course, it’s essential that we bear the burdens of our people alongside them. It’s unavoidable that we carry those burdens into our pulpits, but it is not left to us and our sermons to deliver our people from those burdens. Only the Christ can do that, and it’s precisely what he came to do. Consider this prayer as you rise to address your people this week: Thank you God that you have given them—given me—a far greater Savior than I could be. Thank you for Jesus, whose work is finished, and for your Spirit, who knows how to apply it. - “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:22-30). The next time we hear from John the setting is somewhere out in the Judean countryside, a place where there was plenty of water. Jesus and his disciples are in the area performing baptisms, and John was nearby doing the same thing. The dialogue opens with John’s followers who come to him with an all-too-human concern. They’re worried that John’s ministry has been eclipsed by Jesus’. Jesus was a nobody before John talked him up, they imply, but now look what’s happened. Their exaggeration makes their frustration clear: “Everyone’s going to him” (3:26). John’s response offers remarkable clarification for our goal in preaching. It follows directly from the fact that we’re nobody’s Christ. Our job is to set people up with the one who saves and then to get out of the way. The metaphor John uses with his friends still speaks powerfully today. He refers to the bridegroom—that’s Jesus; the bride—that’s his people; and the friend of the bridegroom—that’s John. “The one who has the bride is the bridegroom,” John says. But the friend of the bridegroom isn’t jealous. He was looking to make the introduction, not looking for a bride of his own. He was looking to set his buddy up, and he “rejoices greatly” that the job is done (3:29). From one perspective, John’s ministry—his life’s work—is fizzling out. In a matter of months he’ll have his head served up on a platter. Surely he can read the signs. But, far from despairing, he claims “this joy of mine is now complete” (3:29). He faces obscurity and death with joy because the aim of his life and ministry was focused and fulfilled: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (3:30). That’s a liberating manifesto for preaching ministry, isn’t it? For a while I kept the phrase on a sticky-note attached to my office computer where I write my sermons. Where I struggle with disappointment over sermons that aren’t what I wish they were. Where I’m tempted to write in content that will make me look good. It’s good to be creative, insightful, vivid, and winsome. But in the end, there’s one main question we must ask of our sermons, one metric for judging their effectiveness: is the beauty of Jesus accessible? Lord, help me believe that the most important thing about me is the Jesus I proclaim. My only glory is his, shared with me as a gift because I’m one with him. - “Everything that John said about this man was true” (John 10:40-42). The final reference to the Baptist in John’s Gospel comes in chapter 10. He’s been executed by this point, and Jesus has come to an area where John had done much of his ministry. Many of those who had heard John’s preaching now encountered Jesus for themselves. Here’s their conclusion: “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true” (10:41). How’s that for an epitaph? Would that work for you? Let’s imagine this is said of Joe, our melancholy preacher: “You know, I heard plenty preachers more engaging. Others were funnier, more thought provoking and memorable. Joe did no sign. But everything he said about Jesus was true. We’ve seen it for ourselves.” There’s the epitaph we want, brothers. And by God’s grace, so long as we’re faithful to his Word, it’s in reach for all of us. So let’s cast off our fears, our insecurities, our disappointments—and go for it. Father, as I preach, guide me in truth. Protect me from error. Show them he’s true. Let them taste of his beauty. This article was originally published at 9Marks. The problem I notice is that many times Christians have ongoing difficulty in forgiving those who have wronged them. The strain may go on for many years even as they keep trying to forgive. They frequently assume that there is something wrong with them as being hardhearted and otherwise unloving. They fault themselves for not being able to forgive others. Perhaps these unforgiving Christians are trying to do something that God has not called them to do. Perhaps one-sided forgiveness is actually impossible in the absence of a necessary condition for forgiveness ... In a post on his blog, "Jesus Creed," eminent New Testament scholar Scot McKnight seems to agree with some of the findings of Claude Mariottini's book Rereading the Biblical Text: Searching for Meaning and Understanding which argues that Gen. 3:15 is not in fact messianic. McKnight further points out that such a conclusion agrees with Old Testament luminaries Gordon Wenham and Gerhard von Rad as well as some translations. These, says McKnight, conclude that the “seed” mentioned in Gen. 3:15 refers to not an individual, but rather the sum total of the descendants of both the woman and the serpent ... I was on the patio of a Starbucks when I decided I was going to seminary. My wife and I were there with a local pastor to pick his brain on the pros and cons of theological education and before the conversation was over, I knew we were going. By this time, I had been considering seminary for a while. I was serving as a youth minister and felt called to spend my life pastoring, but I also felt ill-prepared for the task. Now, six years later, I’m sitting at a Starbucks again. I’ve just graduated from SBTS and am preparing to begin serving as a pastor in a church in North Carolina. Perhaps you are considering seminary. You want to be used by God and you want to serve the church, but you are sensing that you, too, might need more training. You might also be wondering if it’s really worth it. After all, seminary requires lots of time and money. Should you go? Which degree program should you choose? Wouldn’t it be easier just to stay put and read a little more? Allow me to offer you a few pieces of advice. Just as God used that pastor to clarify my calling, I pray this would help do the same for you.The call to ministry is a call to prepare So, should you go to seminary? That depends on if you want to be prepared for ministry or not. Over and over in the Bible, when God calls a man to ministry he first sends him into a season of preparation. Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, Paul, even Jesus—they all spent time being equipped for the task they were called to. You are not an exception. If God has called you to pastor, then he has by extension called you to prepare. Could you imagine running the Boston Marathon with no training at all? Of course not. A marathon is a grueling test of physical and mental fitness that takes quite a while to work up to. A lifetime of ministry is similarly grueling. You could jump right in and start running, but your chances of finishing improve considerably if you take the time to train before you begin.What if I’m not academically inclined? One of my big reservations was that I’m not really a “school” guy. I don’t love studying, reading, writing, etc. Seminary seemed daunting to me. Many of the guys I knew that pursued theological education study as a hobby. Me, I just wanted to work with people. Is that you? Then you definitely should go. Because study doesn’t come naturally to me, the structure of a degree program forced me to learn what I would have otherwise avoided. I might have read a preaching book on my own, but without seminary I just wouldn’t have studied church history or systematic theology. It turns out, however, that pastoral ministry requires a working knowledge of both. If you’re not the kind who will study theology on your own, then by all means please go to seminary!OK, but which degree? Imagine you’re sitting on the operating table. The doctor hovering above you with a scalpel is about to perform open heart surgery. He seems nice, caring, and zealous for the task at hand. Reassuring, right? Now imagine that doctor only has a high school diploma. All of a sudden, you’re a lot less concerned with how genuine he is. Why? Because the job he’s doing is serious and he needs more than good intentions to do it well. Pastors also have a very serious job to do. Just as patients need a skillful doctor, so too do our church members need skillful pastors. We hold doctors to the highest educational standards. How much more important is the work of a pastor? I know how tempting it is to rush seminary. At one point, I considered bailing on the M.Div.(designed to be a minimum of training for pastors) and getting an M.A. instead. But God had call me to pastor, and I was never comfortable cutting my training short. Put in the work and leave seminary trained for the task at hand. Don’t shortchange yourself or your ministry.More than academics I am convinced seminary is one of the primary ways God builds character into his ministers. While everyone’s path through seminary is different, none of them are easy. For me, seminary meant working full-time and fitting classes into the margin. It meant working hard to prioritize my family. It meant working harder than I thought I was capable of. In other words, seminary didn’t just build my mind, it helped build my character. Now, I know no one chooses seminary because they want to suffer. But you should know that the challenges involved are not something you should avoid. They are tools in the hand God used to shape you into the pastor he’s calling you to be. Do you desire to be a man of character? Of discipline? Of perseverance? Seminary will help.What are you waiting for? So should you go to seminary? If God is calling you to pastor, then yes. You should enroll in a master of divinity program right away. You should know that it will challenge you and it will stretch you. It will teach you to think and argue and study so that you are prepared for the ministry ahead of you. It will be hard and it will be long. But it will be worth it. Until the late eighteenth-century A.D., the overwhelming majority of Jewish and Christian interpreters believed that Isaiah, the son of Amoz, who ministered in Jerusalem during the eighth century B.C., authored the entire book that bears his name. However, German historical-critical scholars Julius Döderlein (1789), Johann Eichhorn (1783), and Wilhelm Gesenius (1819) began to conjecture that Isaiah 1-39 and 40-66 were two separate works written by two different authors about 150 years apart. These scholars did not believe in the supernatural claims of the Bible because they had been influenced by the Enlightenment. Due to their anti-supernatural presuppositions, they rejected the biblical teaching that Scripture was inspired by God (cf. 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21). As a result, many proponents of this view claimed that Isaiah 1-39 and 40-66 had to be from two separate authors because 1) the internal evidence appeared to show that chapters 40-66 was written in the Babylonian exile, 2) the style between both sections appear to be different (i.e., the writing in chapters 1-39 is terse and solemn while chapters 40-66 are more developed and its ethos warm and passionate), and 3) the theological viewpoints appear to be different in both sections. Each of the reasons for propagating that an alleged “Deutero-Isaiah” anonymously wrote chapters 40-66 during the exile, however, is unconvincing. The internal evidence actually supports the view that Isaiah received the entire contents of the book as a direct revelation from God and had prophesied of the coming Babylonian exile in Isaiah 1-39 such as in 1:7-9; 5:13; 14:1-4; and 35:1-4, just as it is in chapters 40-55. Moreover, the argument alleging different writing styles falsely assumes that a writer may not change his writing style when he addresses a different subject or that a writer’s style may not change over time, especially since Isaiah prophesied for over 40 years. And finally, the theological argument is completely subjective because the purpose of chapters 1-39 deal mostly with God’s judgment against Judah and the nations, whereas chapters 40-66 emphasized God’s consolation. Therefore, the differences between the two sections with respect to their theological themes are plainly related to the book’s overall argument and not to a hypothetical second author. One of the main reasons that critical scholars denied that Isaiah wrote chapters 40-66 is because Cyrus is mentioned about 150 years before he came on the scene. Again, they made this claim because they disallowed supernatural miracles and divine intervention, as well as alleging that prophecy did not function that way because prophets always addressed their contemporaries. Instead, they drew upon the principle of vaticinium ex eventu (Latin: “prophecy from the event”) because it explains how Cyrus’ name could be recorded in Isaiah 44:28 and 45:1 without resorting to divine inspiration. The principle conveniently circumvents any talk of divine intervention and, ultimately, makes biblical prophecy fraudulent since it was written after the prophesied event had already taken place which would make it a deceitful, blatant lie. This wrong-headed assertion, however, does not satisfy all of the prophetic data contained in the book. It does not account for the fact that the Suffering Servant is none other than Jesus Christ, who fulfilled Isaiah 52:13-53:12 to the letter—not to mention many other messianic prophecies that He fulfilled from the book of Isaiah, such as in 7:14; 9:6; 11:1-2; 49:6; and 61:1-3. Furthermore, Isaiah prophesied of the millennial reign of Christ as well as the New Jerusalem in the New Heavens and New Earth in passages such as 2:1-5; 4:2-6; 9:7; 60:10-22; and 65:17-25. These passages have their counterparts in other prophetic texts such as the book of Revelation. For example, compare Isaiah 60:10-22 with Revelation 21:22-27. The Prophet Isaiah and the Apostle John saw the same vision regarding the New Jerusalem. Therefore, the fact that Cyrus is mentioned by name is not the only prophecy in Isaiah that the critics have to deal with. They must also explain why the prophecies related to Christ as the Suffering Servant (as confirmed in Acts 8:26-36) and the New Jerusalem are also in the book. What is patently clear is that their explanations are reductionistic and woefully insufficient because they do not fully account for the entire prophetic data nor their future fulfillment. A better way to understand the data is to see the argument contained in chapters 40-66. Passages such as Isaiah 40:18-28; 41:21-25; 42:8-9; 43:10; 44:6-45:7; and 46:18-22, all address the LORD, as the sovereign God over the nations and their idols. In these key texts, God challenges the false gods/idols to a contest. For example, in Isaiah 41:21-29, the LORD demands that the idols tell the future. They cannot because they are less than nothing, but He alone can tell the future and of the coming of Cyrus: “Present your case,” says the LORD. “Set forth your arguments,” says Jacob’s King. “Tell us, you idols, what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final outcome. Or declare to us the things to come, tell us what the future holds so that we may know that you are gods. Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear. But you are less than nothing and your works are worthless; whoever chooses you is detestable. So I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes [i.e., Cyrus of Persia]—one from the rising sun who calls on my name. He treads on rulers as if they were mortar, as if he were a potter treading the clay. Who told of this from the beginning so we could know, or beforehand, so we could say, ‘He was right’? No one told of this, no one foretold it, no one heard any words from you. I was the first to tell Zion, ‘Look, here they are!’ I gave to Jerusalem a messenger of good news [i.e., Isaiah]. I look but there is no one—no one among the gods to give counsel, no one to answer when I ask them. See, they are all false! Their deeds amount to nothing; their images are but wind and confusion.” After Isaiah prophesied of the Persian king, Cyrus, by name in 44:28 and 45:1, 13 regarding what His “anointed” will do in rebuilding Jerusalem (44:26, 28; 45:13), the temple (44:28), and restoring His people to Judah (45:13), the LORD once again challenged the false gods/idols: “Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save. Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me.” Thus, it is evident that within the argument of the book that chapters 40-66 address the future exiles in Babylon in order to declare to them hope and comfort because the LORD had forecasted for them a coming “anointed one,” named Cyrus, who will release them from their captivity and assist them in the rebuilding of Jerusalem and its temple. God also declares that only He can prophesy of future events and people—naming them by name (!)—because there are no other gods, but Him alone. The sovereign LORD, however, does not stop there. He goes on to foretell of the coming “Suffering Servant” in Isaiah 52:13-53:12 who will be a substitutionary atonement for us as well as describing the forthcoming New Jerusalem and the New Heavens and New Earth in Isaiah 60:10-22 and 65:17-25. The context of the book, thus, matches the superscription of Isaiah 1:1 and the single call narrative in the entire book which appears in Isaiah 6. There was only one prophet that God called in the book of Isaiah, and he alone saw the vision recorded in the book that the LORD had given him during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Eugene H. Merrill, Mark F. Rooker, Michael A. Grisanti, The World and the Word (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2011), 367. Ibid., 368. Ibid., 369-70. The arguments for this section are from Mark Rooker in the pages noted. The Latin phrase is translated “prophecy from the event,” meaning that the prophecy was written after the event had already occurred. Note that the man of God in 1 Kings 13 also prophesied of King Josiah by name and gave specific details regarding what he would do centuries before he came on the scene (cf. 2 Kings 23:16-18). One difficult lesson I have learned in apologetics and evangelism is to identify the question beneath the question. To be honest, I have spent considerable time answering questions I thought people were asking, but because I was operating under false assumptions, I missed the heart of their query. Have you ever made this same mistake? Here are three examples from my own life and ministry, and the brief lesson I learned from each of them ... Dear Dr. Craig, Thank you for your work in theology. I am grateful for your broad contributions to discussions about theology and religion in public life. Your philosophical and theological ventures are welcoming, thoughtful and substantive. My question concerns a remark you made in a recent podcast. You mentioned that God commands us to believe in Him. God commanding us believe in Him seems problematic. It is notably articulated by Hasdai Crescas ... In my family church where I grew up, we often sang the hymn, Wherever He Leads, I’ll Go. In my mind, I think I actually meant the words when I sang them. I can clearly remember the mood of the congregation as we sang and the sound of the music from the organ as my mother played. Interestingly, I have no memory of ever thinking that He’d lead me anywhere other than where I was at the time. Although I had gone through the motions of walking the aisle and getting baptized, I was in my mid-twenties before the Lord drew me to Himself and saved me. My life changed completely—radically, 180 degrees, inside out, pick one and it fits. After coming to Christ and being born again, I began to sing that song and meant it with all my heart. It was only then that I realized I had never really meant it before. With the change that salvation brought, I remember my morning prayers being something like, “What is it that is not being done, that ought to be done, and if it were done, it would result in greater glory to God and extension of His kingdom?”A calling I began to think God was leading me to missions. With my life firmly established, making good money, and a young family to provide for, I still felt that God was calling us to leave it all and go. I just didn’t know where. Mary and I began to explore His call on our lives, first through reading missionary biographies, then going on short-term mission trips with our church. God began to make it plain that missions was his plan for our lives. On a mission trip to Ecuador, he confirmed the call and showed us the place.Abandon it all Like anyone making such a massive life change, we were nervous and continued seeking confirmation that we had heard him clearly about the when, where, and what he had for our lives. In our nightly family worship time, we prayed through a book that listed and described the work in all the countries where our denomination’s missionaries were serving. If God wanted to point us somewhere else, we wanted to know and not rush into a decision without Him. I even went on a vision mission trip to another country to discern whether we felt strongly about Ecuador just because we had been there before. It was disconcerting to sell our home and get rid of most of our belongings to go to seminary for preparation while still praying for confirmation of where we would go next. Yet downward mobility and walking by faith was a rich and faith-growing time of entrusting every moment to God.We all have a role “Ready to go, but willing to stay,” has been my heartbeat ever since the Lord led us back to the USA, but I confess that I do not always say that with a joyful heart. My prayer is that this is just a season of preparing and sending others, but that it will be followed by another season of being one of the sent ones. I cannot get my head and heart wrapped around the thinking of some who say, “No, not me. I would never go to the mission field.” God has called us all to go or give, to send or be spent, and He will have His way – ask Jonah when you get Home.Who is Lord? You can say, “No,” and you can say, “Lord.” But you cannot say, “No, Lord.” The moment you do, he’s not; you are. What’s the attitude of your heart? What will you be thinking the next time you hear, “Let’s stand and sing, Wherever He Leads, I’ll Go?” “Take up thy cross and follow Me,” I heard my Master say; “I gave My life to ransom thee, Surrender your all today.” Wherever He leads I’ll go, Wherever He leads I’ll go, I’ll follow my Christ who loves me so, Wherever He leads I’ll go. He drew me closer to His side, I sought His will to know, And in that will I now abide, Wherever He leads I’ll go. Wherever He leads I’ll go, Wherever He leads I’ll go, I’ll follow my Christ who loves me so, Wherever He leads I’ll go. My heart, my life, my all I bring to Christ who loves me so; He is my Master, Lord, and King, Wherever He leads I’ll go, Wherever He leads I’ll go, I’ll follow my Christ who loves me so, Wherever He leads I’ll go. Wherever he leads I’ll go. Will you?

Interview with Shimon Peres: “There’s no alternative to a two-state solution” “There’s just one thing I have to remember: don’t forget the future. Nothing else matters,” says Shimon Peres, who makes it clear he has no time for looking back over his 90 years, not even the 65 years he has spent serving the State of Israel, twice as prime minister and – since 2007 – as president. At home, he is credited with turning Israel into a nuclear power as well as stabilizing and strengthening the economy during the 1980s. Globally, he is recognized as the figure behind the Oslo agreements and the backbone of the peace process with the Palestinians. But the past appears of little interest to Peres. “I don’t waste time looking back and remembering,” he says. “I hope my proudest moment is still to come, when there is peace in my country.” In the last few months, Peres has become Israel’s conscience. Most Israeli politicians, particularly those in Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, appear to have turned their backs on the situation in the West Bank and the shame of its apartheid wall, not to mention the blockade of the Gaza Strip and general prospects for peace. But the president is an exception. When asked what he wishes for on his 90th birthday, he replies: “Only peace,” adding with a frown: “It’s more of a psychological problem than a political one. It’s about overcoming the skepticism.” Peace is something Peres is genuinely passionate about, and that is why he has decided to put all his weight behind US Secretary of State John Kerry’s attempt to engineer an unconditional return to the negotiating table by both parties. — Do you share Kerry’s sense of urgency? I don’t think Bashar al-Assad can stay in power – a leader who has killed so many of his own people can’t continue to serve them — We should always have a sense of urgency when it comes to peace; we should never waste time putting an end to conflict or war. I believe that we have a chance to reestablish the negotiations and it shouldn’t be missed. There’s no alternative to a two-state solution. His birthday is on August 2, but Peres will be celebrating this week with a conference in Jerusalem entitled “Facing Tomorrow,” with Bill Clinton and Tony Blair speaking alongside a number of peace brokers. Peres is now six years through a seven-year presidential mandate that has spanned both Ehud Olmert’s spell in office as prime minister, and then Netanyahu’s. In the first few years of Netanyahu’s term, Peres acted as a counterbalance – a sort of peacemaker between the prime minister and the international community and, above all, a buffer between Israel and the White House when relations with Barack Obama soured. Last year, he used his 89th birthday celebrations to introduce a note of calm when Netanyahu was raising the war cry against Iran and its nuclear threat. “There was no way we could achieve this alone,” says Peres, who provoked Netanyahu’s wrath by triggering dissent. According to his supporters, Peres’ relationship with Netanyahu is today greatly improved. — What other options does the international community have when it comes to Iran? — Iran is a serious threat, not just to Israel, but to the entire world. Its ambition is to control the Middle East and terrorize the world. The first to be victimized by the Iranian regime are the Iranians themselves who are seeing their human rights depleted from one day to the next. In its eagerness for a nuclear weapon, it ignores its duty to its people whose needs are for food and employment not enriched uranium. President Obama is heading up a global coalition dedicated to peace and stability in the region. None of us wants to use force; we would prefer to see how the economic sanctions and diplomatic pressure [on Iran] play out, but all the options are on the table. — Have relations between Netanyahu and Obama improved since his last visit to Israel three months ago? — You need to ask them; but what I can say is that relations between Israel and the US are excellent. Obama’s visit was a breath of fresh air and highlighted the depth of the friendship and the strength of America’s commitment to Israel. With the Syrian conflict now taking precedence, Peres warns against the danger of Israel’s involvement. So far this year, the Israeli air force has made three attacks on military targets near Damascus. US Intelligence thinks that they were targeting Iranian missiles being sent to Lebanon. “Our involvement in the Syrian conflict can only have negative repercussions,” says Peres. “I don’t see how we can save Syria or promote peace in this way. I don’t think Bashar al-Assad can stay in power – a leader who has killed so many of his own people can’t continue to serve them. I propose that the Arab League creates an Arab force in blue helmets with the support of the UN and puts an end to the bloodletting to allow an interim government to be set up.” Despite his age, Peres continues to be the soul of eloquence. He has always been a great orator, a talent that helped him to become a force to be reckoned with in Israeli politics but also the reason he has proved more popular on the international stage as foreign minister than at home. As Israel’s founding father Ben Gurion’s protégé, he became Director General of Defense in 1953, a post that enabled him to strengthen the country’s relations with France, which subsequently helped Israel build a nuclear reactor in the Negev desert. Peres went on to become a labor party politician and joined the ranks of Israel’s parliament in 1959. Twenty-five years later, he was voted in as prime minister for the first time, heading up a coalition of Labor and the right-wing party, Likud. Following Isaac Rabin’s assassination in 1995, he became prime minister for a second term. Of all the dreams and aspirations he has harbored for Israel since he first set foot in the British Mandate of Palestine in 1934, Peres never envisaged that the state would end up becoming home to six million Jews – the same number that perished in the Holocaust that killed so many of his family. This number was topped last March when Israel overtook the Jewish population in the US. “It’s bigger than my dream,” says Peres. “I regret not having dreamed big enough.” English version by Heather Galloway.

The hopes of a certain local basketball team may be dashed, but dreams of a musical nature are very much alive and well this week at Severance Hall. Disjointed on the surface but coherent beneath it, the Cleveland Orchestra's program -- featuring Berlioz's "Symphonie fantastique" and a concerto for klezmer clarinet -- ends up coalescing rather tightly around a theme of apparitions, of musical protagonists having visions. Certainly it's a dream-come-true of sorts for assistant conductor Tito Munoz, who capitalizes brilliantly on the chance to lead a subscription program and demonstrate once again he's ready to take on the orchestral world. But the occasion may be even more significant for Franklin Cohen. Channeling a 13th-century Jewish mystic as the soloist in Osvaldo Golijov's "The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind," the orchestra's principal clarinetist establishes himself as a lead interpreter of a potent score destined for a long life. To label Cohen a "clarinetist" doesn't do him justice. In fact, he switches nimbly between four clarinets, including bass, and with them achieves a mind-boggling array of effects -- rumbles, squeals, whispers, and screams -- evoking not only the uproarious language of klezmer but even the mellow sound of a tenor saxophone. Long spans of driving minimalism alternate with serene, dirge-like interludes, reflecting the auras of both religious gestures and freestyle oration. Though it all, Cohen (who recently recorded "Isaac" in a version with string quartet) serves as a vibrant medium, communicating with utmost fervor and yielding repeatedly to the passion of the moment. Best are those passages, typically slow, in which the clarinet is woven deeply into the orchestral fabric. Munoz deserves considerable credit as well. Simply keeping time in a piece like "Isaac" is no mean feat, and yet he does so crisply while also prodding the chamber-sized string orchestra to vivid rhythmic heights. After the spiritual visions of Golijov comes "Symphonie fantastique," with its obsession on an earthly beloved. Wading into the risky realm of a large, well-known score, Munoz again emerges triumphant, turning in a reading of bold distinction. Rigidity has no place in his performance. Instead, the "Reveries" are more like palpitations, breathless flurries, while the spacious "In the Country" movement, with its gentle rolls of timpani thunder and lovely antiphonal effects by oboist Frank Rosenwein and English hornist Robert Walters, sustains momentum without sacrificing delicacy or falling victim to dramatic excess. If there's excess, it's only where it's called for, in the concluding "Dream of a Witches' Sabbath." Between the chilling echoes of bells and clarinetist Daniel McKelway's singular distortion of the idee fixe, it's a wild, viscerally-stirring scene. Strauss's bubbly overture to "Die Fledermaus" opens the program on a purely lighthearted note. In the graceful rendering by Munoz and the orchestra, the most serious vision is of partygoers in costumes.

Okresní úřad Velké Meziříčí Administrative records of Velké Meziříčí, a town in the Vysočina region, including anti-Jewish measures and decrees and the aryanization and expropriation of Jewish properties and assets. Records pertaining to the emigration of Jews. Post-war records pertaining to the restitution and confiscation of expropriated Jewish properties. - Collection Subtitle - District Authority Velké Meziříčí 1,713 digital images : JPEG ; 18,2 GB . Record last modified: 2019-07-25 17:51:40 This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn634772

User:Bob Burton/Archived messages - 1 Finding old & low quality articles - 2 To answer your questions ... - 3 archive file - 4 Mowat - 5 another subpar entry - 6 cache - 7 Test - 8 Richard Poe - 9 where to add - 10 ripe for deletion? - 11 policyQ - 12 received - 13 exxon funding thinktanks - 14 Blunt Data Dump - 15 graphviz - 16 reply - 17 non-zero page rank :>) - 18 Sgrena Report links - 19 The Memory Hole's Tobacco Docs - 20 update on update - 21 removing redirect to wikipedia - 22 n00b - 23 IFF DC vs IFF Maryland - 24 thanks and a link - 25 Congressional Research Service - 26 List of ... pages - 27 Thanks - 28 Australian Egg Corporation's Egg Nutrition Advisory Group? - 29 new contributing concept? - 30 Categories - 31 PINR affiliation with ISN - 32 I've created a category called Lists, and I'm adding lists to it. - 33 The Conundrum of Abiogenic Oil - 34 barbour disgusted me - 35 Economics, Science and Communications Institute - 36 Critique - 37 Storms shutting down oil production is lie - 38 Gas Industry Maneuvering - 39 stuff - 40 CSR & AIG - 41 odd data someone might want - 42 Hill and Knowlton affiliate - 43 Pajamas Media - 44 thanks - 45 RSS Reader - 46 Major Toledo Blade Series - 47 Notwithstanding... - 48 hi - 49 How the media covered the war in Iraq - 50 Pfeiffer - 51 possible document for archives - 52 Ignacio Balderas--Memo 17 - 53 Concerns about Ibrahim El-Hibri - 54 email - 55 Wikipedia and Congress - 56 DoD Contractors--Lists & Rankings - 57 arbitration? - 58 Thanks for the welcome - 59 "HonestReporting" - 60 Any chance of arbitrating at the Johann Hari entry? - 61 Reference templates - 62 SacBee article regarding WalMart and Ca. politics - 63 Site navbar - 64 How does one add? - 65 Iowa congressional delegation - 66 Searching - 67 Categories - 68 weldon nepotism - 69 Naming of Members of Parliament page - 70 APF articles, May 2006 - 71 Husain Haqqani - 72 upload request - 73 ATT/NSA Data available - 74 new contributor - 75 verisign PAC pages on vetsforfreedom website - upload verification request - 76 Family Security Matters - 77 upload verification request - 78 erratic google results - 79 page upload request - 80 N964BW uploads - thanks - 81 Guantanamo Bay / Camp Peary flight logs uploads - 82 Re: Welcome - 83 Evergreen - 84 Sourcing - 85 Peter Paul Bio Article Updates - 86 Links - 87 Policy - 88 Update Vets for Freedom - 89 Comment on my changes - 90 edit may have been innappropriate - 91 from here - 92 SW: In Re: Farfield query - 93 SW: Thanks - 94 homeland security - 95 UN Watch entry - 96 Thanks and upload request - 97 notice constant changes - 98 locked article - 99 johann hari article. - 100 Fos and Fraser Institute - 101 SW: Glad to be of help - 102 when are you going to deal with this? - 103 NSW Minerals council website stuff - 104 Reason for edit - 105 Bob: I don't understand. - 106 Shield Group Security - 107 unblocking article - 108 raytheon - 109 Needed gun control articles - 110 unblocking article - 111 The Council as PR firm - 112 Council etc - 113 SW: Double redirects - 114 Visits to Evergreen article - 115 Robert McChesney - 116 SW: Date formatting - 117 why blocked - 118 self serving stuff - 119 SW: Speed? - 120 SW: Minimum stub article content - 121 Posse Comitatus Revert - 122 US & State Govt's Cash-In on Tobacco - 123 Jason T. Christy revsions - 124 SW: Talon Swords weaponized battle robot now deployed - meessageCopy - 125 SW: Just picked-up a new Burson-Marsteller ref - 126 Upload request - 127 More Info on (dis)honestreporting.com - 128 Cleanup - 129 WP tags - 130 No Problem - 131 SW: Article on GreenFacts - 132 SW: In re: Jihad Watch - 133 SW: Rollback vs. Revert - 134 The International Centre For The Study Of Radicalisation - 135 SW: Federal Reserve Board Abolition Act of 2007 - 136 Re: John Rednour - 137 SW: Heads Up Bob - 138 re: Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy - 139 SW: thanks Bob - 140 SW: too many irons in the fire - 141 Re: Refs - 142 Front groups - 143 PA03 - 144 Thanks much! - 145 Added members - 146 Join Campfire chat? Finding old & low quality articles Hello Bob, I saw you wrote - "With the bulk of the new contributions at a good standard I have been trying to hit 'Random pages' a few times a day to spot some of the earlier pages that either need deleting or rewriting. " Maybe it would be better to check the following links With these lists it is easier to spot pages that should be deleted or at least updated/revised. Bonzai 02:53, 5 Dec 2004 (EST) - Thanks Bonzai, good suggestion. Cheers --Bob Burton 03:28, 5 Dec 2004 (EST) To answer your questions ... - The ruling to remove the feeding tube March 18, 2005, was made February 25, 2005. This was the second such ruling, with the first being in 2003. I have added that documentation into the article, as well as a number of other "lead in" dates and rulings (briefly), with appropriate document links. - There has to have been quite a bit back in 2003 when this issue first arose, as is revealed in Jeb Bush's EO and "Terri's Law", both of which were subsequently ruled unconstitutional. - There was, obviously, a lot more "local" coverage, that is in Florida, than national, I would say. But, honestly, I haven't really dug into the old stuff. the archives in the Miami Herald, Orlando Sentinel, and the St. Petersburg Times, should tell that story. Perhaps another chapter? The article page is maxed out right now and I will have to go back in tomorrow and tighten and tidy some more. - There is going to be another whole long, drawn out chapter after she passes, as well .. lot's of fallout on the horizon, I'm sure. Artificial Intelligence 17:42, 25 Mar 2005 (EST) here - 53k zip expands to 154k html - W3C validator ok'ed it, and compiles fine on my IE6.whatever and moz1.7.5 cheers --Hugh Manatee 15:33, 27 Mar 2005 (EST) see the external resources section for most of the entries i made today... http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/031905Mowat-1/031905mowat-1.html another subpar entry Hi Bob Article(rev. jesse paterson) is also very questionable + format and coherence are lacking... I didnt delete it, but it is very tempting. Kind rgds PaulR Hi Bob A link was entered to a US Special Forces Solicitation for comic books... i know these folks clearout their files/edit. I suspect we should cache this somewhere... Here is the link http://www1.eps.gov/spg/ODA/USSOCOM/FortBraggNC/H92239-05-T-0026/Combine%20Synopsis%5FSolicitation.html PaulR Hi the entry for Richard Poe has some dubious elements, e.g., the very last sentence seems bunk to me. I am interested in researching this person, but the current entry is less than useful. Do you want me to edit this, or do you want to take a swing first? Kind rgds Antidotto where to add I want to add references by a generally spread newstory about the Sunni mullahs issuing a fatwa for folks to join the police/army... it turns out this is false, but it was generally reported in the US/UK media without correction once exposed as a sham. Juan Cole posted an item today that makes nonsense of that – so i suspect this is part of the propaganda campaign. Now, i would like to enter this item, but am not sure where to put it. Before I enter a new page or so, do you have suggestions where this should go? ripe for deletion? Can we delete this article ("To be")? Seems rather silly to me – esp. since someone has entered it as a link in a few places, e.g., top of "smear". >>PaulR - Tks for spotting that one. Need to spend some more time cleaning up some of those early pages. As a sysop you can delete those pages via the delete tab. Pages deleted can be retrieved if one of use goes to far or makes a mistake. cheers --Bob Burton 04:32, 6 Apr 2005 (EDT) Retrieved from "http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=User_talk:PaulR"<< Hi Bob; Yes, i know that they can be deleted, but i wondered if it was considered legit... Next thing you know is someone blames me for this or that deletion... Also, i would like to know where you think discussion of the disinfo on Iraq may be added -- best location. I want to avoid proliferation of related materials into different articles... Did you receive the article?? Kind rgds -PaulR exxon funding thinktanks http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2005/05/some_like_it_hot.html I thought you would be interested Blunt Data Dump MSNBC - Meet the Press - 2005.04.17 had Representative Roy Blunt, (R-Mo-Delay Apologist) on it. Blunt Phillip Morris links - House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, is married to the chief legislative strategist for Altria Group, Inc., Philip Morris' megaparent.( 2nd marriage, unsure if this was a trade-in by a Fundie-Christian hypocrite, or if he was a widower though) - divorce, 2nd marriage a little more that a year later. He's an adulterer according to fundie(inc fundie Baptists) tenet. although I wouldn't consider this relevant to SourceWatch's published stubs, it's just an observation. - Mathew 5 - 31 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: - 32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery. - Andy Blunt, son of Roy is a Lobbyist in Missouri, and Philip Morris is a client of his - Matt Blunt, Missouri Gov, is another son of Roy who was aided in his election with a verry large influx of out of state campaign money: Bob, sorry about the size, but i thought it might help to emphasise a question that has been on my mind; why isn't Blunt embroiled in ethics problems of his own? His excuses for himself and Delay is that everyone is doing it. This may be true, but not to the same extent in both frequency and quantity, besides it's just a variant on the tired and worn republican rationalisation, but billy did it first!. Are they all twelve years old? - Pamela Brogan, "Blunt denies conflict over lobbyist wife: Others say his votes, family connection don't mix, and Blunt should back off tobacco issues.", The Springfield News-Leader (MO)-Gannett News Service, March 30, 2004 - House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, who wed a tobacco lobbyist in October, has not stepped aside from voting on tobacco legislation and continues to accept campaign donations from the industry. - House ethics rules are murky when it comes to lawmakers and their family ties to lobbyists. But critics say Blunt's marriage to the top lobbyist for Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris, and his decision not to recuse himself from tobacco matters creates at least the appearance of a conflict. - "I can't imagine how they could seriously think she can lobby (the House)," said Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, noting that the congressman is the House's third-ranking Republican leader. - Dawn Schneider, an Altria spokeswoman, said Abigail Blunt, the company's director of federal government affairs, is not lobbying "the Republican elected leadership in the House." That arrangement has been in place since the lobbyist and congressman were dating. - Under a company policy, Abigail Blunt can still lobby senators and other House members. - The decision by Rep. Blunt not to refrain from helping to shape tobacco bills or vote on them comes as Congress prepares to consider major legislation for the first time in years that could establish a new national tobacco policy. As a member of the House leadership, Blunt is part of the GOP's policy-making team. - Burson Taylor, a spokeswoman for Blunt, said the congressman has not removed himself from tobacco issues because he "has no financial interest" in tobacco legislation. "Mrs. Blunt does not stand to benefit from this bill," Taylor said. "It's important to know that congressman Blunt is not involved in any negotiations in the tobacco buyout bill." - [. . .] - Josh Flory, "Ascending the Hill: Roy Blunt watches from the wings as his son runs for governor of Missouri, but in Washington, he's on center stage, where the spotlight can shine hot.", The Columbia Daily Tribune (MO), May 9, 2004 - [. . .] - After becoming DeLay’s deputy in 1999, he established a political action committee called the Rely On Your Beliefs Fund. The ROY B. Fund not only helps ensure a continued Republican majority in the House but also guarantees the gratitude of members - the same members who elect the House leadership. - According to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group that tracks money in politics, the ROY B. Fund contributed $39,667 to Republican Senate candidates in 2002 and another $591,762 to House candidates. - [. . .] - ...not all the subplots in Blunt’s rise to power have been of the "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" variety. In June 2002, the congressman announced that he and his wife, Roseann, were separating after 35 years of marriage. Sixteen months later, Blunt married Abigail Perlman, a lobbyist for the parent company of Philip Morris. - Blunt declined to talk about what led to his divorce, saying it was a personal matter and was "unfortunate." - Besides causing personal pain, the turmoil has taken a political toll. Last summer, The Washington Post reported that only hours after Blunt assumed the whip’s job, he quietly tried to insert a provision benefiting Philip Morris into a bill creating a new Department of Homeland Security. - According to the Post, Blunt instructed aides to add the provision - it made it harder to sell tobacco products over the Internet and would have cracked down on the sale of contraband cigarettes - "even though no one else in leadership supported it or knew he was trying to squeeze it in." - Blunt said that the story was "largely misreported" and that DeLay "had agreed to do this before I ever got involved in it." He defended the cigarette measure as good policy, pointing out that the Senate passed a similar measure last year. - But the measure prompted a frenzy of negative publicity, and Missouri Democrats have hammered Blunt. They particularly targeted his relationship with Perlman and the fact that Blunt’s younger son, Andy, is a state government lobbyist who counts Philip Morris as a client. - State Democrats also have hastened to link Matt Blunt with the tobacco controversy. In January, after Matt Blunt officially announced his campaign for governor, the state Democratic Party issued a news release detailing the top 10 questions Blunt should answer and made a reference to Andy Blunt’s lobbying. Question No. 2 asked, "Now that your father, Congressman Roy Blunt, has married his girlfriend - also a tobacco lobbyist - does that make [sic] Phillip Morris your step-grandfather?" - Mike Kelley, a spokesman for the state Democratic Party, criticized both Blunts for their actions involving the tobacco industry. He said that as secretary of state, Matt Blunt initially rejected a Democratic initiative for a cigarette tax hike because sponsors didn’t gather enough signatures. A Cole County judge later reversed that ruling, and the cigarette tax was placed on the ballot. - [. . .] - Roy Blunt said he doesn’t vote on legislation that only affects the parent company of Philip Morris - a giant corporation that also owns Kraft Foods - and said questions that focus on his wife’s relationship with the company are "actually pretty sexist." - "What you’re really arguing is that no member of Congress’ wife should have a job doing anything that affects anything that Congress might have any action on," he said. Roy Blunt's PAC, Rely on Your Beliefs, Contributions to Republican Federal Candidates, 2004 Cycle - Total to Republican House Candidates: $682,039 - Total to Republican Senate Candidates: $18,000 - Sam Dealey, Rep. Blunt’s son aided by donors from out-of-state. The Hill, July 9, 2003 - Campaign finance records show that Matt Blunt, the son of House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), received significant contributions from out-of-state sources during his successful 2000 race for Missouri secretary of state. - Many of the contributors seemingly lacked a direct interest in the down-ballot state race but had significant interests pending before Matt Blunt’s father. - At the time that the contributions to his son’s campaign occurred, Roy Blunt was a rising GOP star and an aggressive fundraiser. After the elevation of J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) to Speaker in 1999, Blunt was named chief deputy whip. - He also won a seat on the powerful House Commerce Committee, with assignments on subcommittees with jurisdiction over finance and hazardous materials, oversight and investigations, and telecommunications, trade and consumer protection. - [. . .] - Matt Blunt won the race by a six-point margin, garnering 51 percent of the vote. He was the only Missouri Republican to win a statewide race in 2000. - Top executives at Freddie Mac, for example, contributed $4,000 to his campaign. On Nov. 6, 2000, Senior Vice President Gary Lanzara and Vice President Lelan Brendsel gave $1,000 each. Two weeks later, Freddie Mac lobbyist David Glenn and his wife, Cherie, also contributed $1,000 apiece. Cherie is listed as a homemaker; the couple reside in Great Falls, Va. - Contributions from telecommunications-related entities accounted for over $10,000. - Railway transportation companies also contributed more than $6,000 to Matt Blunt’s campaign. John Scruggs, a top lobbyist for Altria, formerly Phillip Morris, contributed $1,000. Other contributions came from companies and executives in - or representatives for - such heavily regulated industries as healthcare, insurance, chemicals and defense technology. - By far the biggest outside contributors to Matt Blunt’s campaign, however, were colleagues of Roy Blunt. Campaign finance documents show 84 House lawmakers made 95 contributions to the secretary of state campaign, totaling more than $65,000. --Hugh Manatee 01:48, 23 Apr 2005 (EDT) Can I draw your attention to my request to Sheldon to install the graphviz extension? I believe technical matters such as this are his department, but from an editorial point of view do you have any views or concerns? Regards, --Neoconned 11:52, 24 Apr 2005 (EDT) Hi Bob, glad you like the idea. As regards (a), obviously I'm happy to contribute to such help pages. As regards (b), I'll be interested to see what you come up with! --Neoconned 21:02, 25 Apr 2005 (EDT) non-zero page rank :>) Dear Bob, Sheldon, I always enjoy being the bearer of happy news. So here it is: SourceWatch's page rank finally is non-zero again. It appears to be about 6 or 7 (depending on which estimate you believe). This must have happened in the last few days, since I last checked it about a week ago. The new PR doesn't seem to be helping the search results yet. I guess this is because it will take a while to filter through to all the data centres? Cheers, --Neoconned 09:53, 27 Apr 2005 (EDT) Sgrena Report available via The Memory Hole - Memory Hole Blog Reference - PDF version of the report with removeable redaction - The Memory Hole - Unredacted Word Document I also informed AI and Maynard. --Hugh Manatee 16:40, 2 May 2005 (EDT) The Memory Hole's Tobacco Docs The Memory Hole's - Sealed Testimony From Justice Dept's Case Against the Tobacco Industry --Hugh Manatee 01:46, 6 May 2005 (EDT) update on update Bob, have you seen this: - Christina Lamb and Mohammad Shehzad, Captured Al-Qaeda kingpin is case of ‘mistaken identity’, The Sunday Times (UK), May 08, 2005 - The capture of a supposed Al-Qaeda kingpin by Pakistani agents last week was hailed by President George W Bush as “a critical victory in the war on terror”. According to European intelligence experts, however, Abu Faraj al-Libbi was not the terrorists’ third in command, as claimed, but a middle-ranker derided by one source as “among the flotsam and jetsam” of the organisation. left the site in question disappointed and with a fairly lengthy ranting. i don't believe i tracked mud back here. this not directly related to sourcewatch anyway, other than any open-sourced knowledge-base is a potential vector for the spread of distorted data used as an authoritarian source citation. if i ever start to work out the arguments conscisely, i'll let you see the notes, an editor from TheReg, who sometimes converses with me has already asked to see them too. the roots of this concept predate my membership here. it also relates to how some blogs ran roughshod over the google page-ranking algorithms via premeditated cross-linkage for a while, the practise generally termed as google-bombing, which i feel is better described as google-jacking, and obtusely, a few other things. if you're interested, this link was created as a ref to my last post. maybe i am wrong about al-libbi, but i don't think so, i still feel that my posts, only on the talk page were bulk-deleted with a dishonest reasoning stated on the logs. so i am biased and long winded, i didn't engage in article editing or any deleting because i know i am biased, openly admit bias, and am willing to argue the merits of my bias on an open forum. i cannot be any fairer than that, and remain honest. i did lay a hard tirade at the deleter who claimed i was saying Bush=Hitler. not me, i do not choose to belittle history in this fashion. oddly a short but very sarcastic post of mine still remained the other night. something like - "to believe anything a republican administration, past or present, says about Pakistan is to be guilty of bad Feith" with urls anchored to the words past and present. cheers -- --Hugh Manatee 06:12, 12 May 2005 (EDT) you might want to delete that tiny url above after reading this though, muddy boots and all of that. sorry not to respond sooner -- meant to do it today but got sidetracked on various SW edits and then out of time to wade through the email backlog. V interesting re: al-libbi. Hope to have a look tomorrow. --Bob Burton 06:48, 12 May 2005 (EDT) as i've mentioned before, i tend to throw a tremendous amount of words into the stream, do not feel compelled to respond. i brought this up originally, because i was stunned when the meesePiece appeared here, and i didn't want to feel i'd ambushed anyone here. since you expressed interest though: Media Matters for America, Media largely ignored doubts about importance of captured terrorist al-Libbi, May 12, 2005 It looks as if i was probably wrong on one account, Abu Faraj and Abu Faraj Farj may well be one and the same. There has appeared many references to both Abu Faraj al-Libbi and Abu Farj al-Libbi in the last few newscycles. This still does not change my claim of intentional distortion on the part of the censor of my posts, he still should have used the whole reference as it appeared in the telegraph article. Also the fact that Pakistan is holding on to al-Libbi and not handing him over to the US is a bit of difference from their past habits (last four paragraphs), and the US is not complaining about getting their hands of #3. It looks as if they know he is worthless for intelligence. Pakistan has also backed way off of their intitial claims, and now say just that he is the mastermind behind many failed assassination attempts. this orwellian claim is what got me going in the first place. it's hard to believe that the planner of multiple failed operations would be termed a mastermind. --Hugh Manatee 11:50, 13 May 2005 (EDT) removing redirect to wikipedia I took it off of my page, but - Bob, you need to go to and then you can simply edit the Sourcewatch page to remove the redirect. For what :it's worth, as I've previously stated, I'm against these redirects to Wikipedia because I think they have a 'chilling effect' on people contributing to Sourcewatch. --Neoconned I probably would have tried but that would have been a guess. here's an oddball and relative to my previous posting ref: slashdot-who decides the truth. Slashdot's geekish elitism often irritates me, so...it gets interesting again here --Hugh Manatee 03:21, 22 May 2005 (EDT) some weak key links hopefully with goo scraped off my shoes -(i feel so dirty-didn't leave anything behind tho...) my guess: not intentionally a vandal, but hyperactive, to say the least IFF DC vs IFF Maryland - Thanks - just about to knock off so I'll have a look at it tomorrow. Thanks for doing that. best wishes --Bob Burton 08:07, 18 Jun 2005 (EDT) Bob, thanks for checking New Economics Foundation. I am unfamiliar with the original author, and wanted to let some S/W members know in case a conflict arose. I know little of the org, only what i skimmed when editing the page, but it seemed there were a couple of biased statements unsourced. The bias isn't so bad, as long as it can be backed with proper citations. anyway, i've noticed that you frequently work on Hill & Knowlton; and i came across this today: On the move: Hill & Knowlton hires Dorinson as senior VP, Sacramento bee I would have just placed it on the page, but i don't know if it is worthwhile. The name Dorison ought to be added into a base somewhere though. cheers --Hugh Manatee 12:46, 29 Jun 2005 (EDT) Congressional Research Service Bob, yesterday, i noticed that you placed some inactive references to CRS reports somewhere on a FAQ or resource howto page. The CRS no longer allows a straight cgi link to their reports from a Congrssional website, so the Shays and Green links are invalid. It reminded me that i had quite a few links to online CRS reports that i hadn't put on S/W, so I've updated the page, including many currently valid links to collections. Congressional Research Service cheers - --Hugh Manatee 07:06, 14 Jul 2005 (EDT) List of ... pages - OK, that makes sense :-) So how about a Category:Lists? That'll automatically give us a list of lists; the existing list of lists page can then become a redirect. All "List of ..." pages can then be normalised to just "..." if you see what I mean. Mememe 16:58, 15 Jul 2005 (EDT) Thanks for your message. I came here about a year ago to write some articles related to the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution. Later I also worked on some other topics like some other think tanks, but the main reason was AdTI. I hope to come back here sometimes to keep those articles up-to-date (esp. the external links need some attention). Bonzai 06:26, 2 Aug 2005 (EDT) Australian Egg Corporation's Egg Nutrition Advisory Group? I just ran across this odd bit of data browsing some press releases. The Australian Egg Corporation today announced the appointment of five distinguished nutrition and medical healthcare experts to the newly formed Egg Nutrition Advisory Group (ENAG). [. . .] Members of the Egg Nutrition Advisory Group are: - Dr Manny Noakes Senior Research Dietitian, CSIRO Health Sciences and Nutrition, Sydney - Ms Sharon Natoli Accredited Practising Dietitian and founding Director, Food and Nutrition Australia, Sydney - A/Prof Karam Kostner Cardiologist, University of Queensland, Brisbane - Dr David Lim General Practitioner, Church Street Medical Practice, Sydney - Dr Tania Markovic Endocrinologist, Royal Prince Alfred Medical Centre, Sydney For information on ENAG, or the latest information on egg nutrition, visit: enag.org.au --Hugh Manatee 03:24, 5 Aug 2005 (EDT) new contributing concept? I can't say I am a fan of this: It seems to me to be a potential vector for quickly casting a shadow over an article without spending time actually citing the reason(s) it is questionable. It is extremely easy to drop preformatted template code of one statement into a page: In response to your message on my page: OK, that makes sense :-) So how about a Category:Lists? That'll automatically give us a list of lists; the existing list of lists page can then become a redirect. All "List of ..." pages can then be normalised to just "..." if you see what I mean. Mememe 16:57, 15 Jul 2005 (EDT) Categories doesn't have a talk page :) I think that the category feature needs some firmness of structure and guideline. For instance, top levels of 'public relations', 'media', 'democracy' and subdivisions thereof, in keeping with the purpose of this particular wiki. Just like "other SourceWatch resources" links, and endless blogster opinions, too many of something (categories) devalues the benefit and value of that feature (categories), by making it too diffuse or diluted, and ultimately more disorganized. There should also be a guideline that users not make large scale wholesale changes in the mode of a runaway train. Creating an article and linking many other articles to it is more wiki-passive than creating a category and modifying dozens of pages in a manner which is laborious to reverse. --Maynard 11:42, 20 Aug 2005 (EDT) PINR affiliation with ISN Thanks for the format fix of Power and Interest News Report. I did a little googling of their analysts, and the results came back pretty deep, although some look like self-promotion links. It is a start of a long project of putting stubs in for affiliates of The International Relations and Security Network. I started with the PINR because it led me to the ISN. --Hugh Manatee 03:48, 10 Aug 2005 (EDT) A nitpicking thing, but wanted to mention that putting news agency names like Associated Press in italics is not correct form. Associated Press is a news entity or agency, not a publication, as is USA Today or New York Times. It also takes up byte space, which can really add up, I'm sure, on page byte space when there are numerous citations. IMHO :-) Artificial Intelligence 04:53, 14 Aug 2005 (EDT) I've created a category called Lists, and I'm adding lists to it. I've created a category called Lists, and I'm adding lists to it. It'll automatically give us a list of lists; the existing list of lists page can then become a redirect when it's finished and we're all reasonably happy. All "List of ..." pages can then be normalised to just "..." if you see what I mean. Mememe 16:57, 15 Jul 2005 (EDT) FYI: Perhaps you already use one but I found a site that checks webpages for dead or outdated links. Its http://validator.w3.org/checklink. Warning: can cause lots of sighing. The Emacs wiki has a list of banned urls and won't let a page get saved if it contains one of them. might reduce the whack-a-spammer. Zardoz 00:08, 31 Aug 2005 (EDT) The Conundrum of Abiogenic Oil Hi Bob, Please check out the following and tell me what you think: barbour disgusted me Bob, when Katrina was still raking Mississippi, Barbour came on CNN, and his main concern seemed to be looters. With human bodies floating in the floodwaters of the State of Mississippi, the state's governor, Barbour, chose to use his time on a national news outlet emphasising his intent to get medieval on looters. That is one hell of a pro business bent, as well as a fine application of compassionate conservatism. CNN almost always has transcripts, and I'll try to run them down soon, but I am up to something else at the moment, and was just quickly scanning the RSS of S/W changes through my newsreader, and noticed your tag on a Barbour edit. --Hugh Manatee 04:51, 2 Sep 2005 (EDT) Bob ... code talking here .. did the "high" then "low" thingy and it seems to have had a temporary effect ... thanks. Just can't have a battle of the wits with the wit-less. Artificial Intelligence 16:16, 2 Sep 2005 (EDT) Economics, Science and Communications Institute Greetings, indeed the ECI is more of a policy research institute than a think tank. We're more of the legitimate kind as there is no actual external influence, not even funding. However since there is no such category, it felt appropriate to list it under think tank. I thought I had made a mistake last night and recreated it, you might want to go ahead and remove it. I added information about the origins of the institute (on the site, not the wiki), which might clear some questions. Hi, Thanks very much for the critique. It has been very helpful since I have no previous background as a writer. I think I may split the issues out of the article and add to the appropriate places where already existing in peak oil and then add sections which I feel are needed, the history of past oil price spirals, regulatory actions, similar industry actions which impact prices, etc. I've already added one section concerning antitrust which I hope will highlight other reasons for the current price spiral rather than the 'cover' story of peak oil. Thanks again, James Horn Well, it's a start. Hope you like it. Started discussion on antitrust issues. Storms shutting down oil production is lie You can bet that most of what this guy says is true: [http://www.rense.com/general67/PRICE.HTM Lies To Hike The Price Of Oil]. Unfortunately, there's no evidence, unless one wants to do a field trip to the GOM (Gulf of Mexico). 220.127.116.11 < This guy is definitely off his medication. Gas Industry Maneuvering [Consumers Alliance for Affordable Natural Gas] Just about everything here is a misdirection away from the real issues. After passage of EPA legislation to curtail industry (read power company) pollution, the industry dragged their heals on technology development for years and the technology that was finally developed has been having some serious problems in implementation having impact on the bottom line. This is probably the real basis behind the industry complaint of EPA regs. causing to much financial impact. While they were dragging their feet, the power industry turned to gas powered turbine peaking plants as a response to increased capacity demand and to decrease pollution per generated kilowatt/hour. The result was a huge increase in natural gas demand by this industry which naturally drove up prices for everyone. The problem with this strategy is that it uses limited natural gas resources rather than plentiful coal resources. Also, the btu delivered by natural gas vs. a similar quantity of coal is much less. Only about 30% of the energy from either gas or coal is converted to electricity which is then delivered to households that use electrical heating with additional transmission losses. It would be much better to have the power industry use coal with pollution control technology to generate electricity and have natural gas delivered directly to homes for heating, thereby using the in excess of 90% conversion efficiencies of the gas to heat. A grade schooler can easily do the math on this. Bob, in regards to the graphics file from a year ago, i think i came to it through a rss link to WH war protest graphic query, and then a jump from there to wherever i found it. It was probably my fault, not paying attention, I wrote up a bit of research into Posse Comitatus Act several years ago (4or5, i think), the trick would be figuring out which CD archive I burned it on. If i run into anytime soon, i post the data over to you. also, i've been doing my share of arguing other places, mostly in regards to my opposition to Roberts on what I believe to be constitutional construction, as well as a lot of Weldon critique. I'll see if I can't put some of the latter together for a S/W stub, something like Curt Weldon: Fable Arranger?. Weldon is a nightmare waitng to happen, even NRO has put on the moonsuit to separate themselves from him, and Ledeen writes for them. Look at what Podhoretz blogged. It's too bad the National Review no longer has morals. This stupidity would be over if they were willing to keep the high ground. A few days ago i messaged a journalist of The Scotsman, hard and low, asking if if it was spin or was he spun. He had cited a FPRI major Radu, and it offended me. To his credit, he responded. Might turn out to be a decent contact. recently, i did a bit of research into a WorldNetDaily ad for a book that masqueraded as an article, and after tracking the references came up with term, circlejerking citations. They even cite a Commentary Jornal piece. It would be tough to be more NeoConniving than supporting a NeoCon book by citing one of the obscure journals that was CIA funded, and helped feed the NeoCons during the 50' and 60's The book marketed in this evil fashion is ironically titled "The Marketing of Evil". Nasty bit of work it is indeed, and i didn't make any new friends on the conservative board where i was playing either. --Hugh Manatee 05:37, 27 Sep 2005 (EDT) See main newslinks. CSR & AIG Saw your article on CSR and it reminded me of some news I'd seen concerning AIG. Seems they're having a bit of difficulty in the CSR area. Then lo and behold they have a class action against them concerning Katrina. I think you'll get a laugh out of the first story. Fortune: http://www.fortune.com/fortune/articles/0,15114,368676,00.html Financial Times: http://news.ft.com/cms/s/fca1b31c-369d-11da-bedc-00000e2511c8,_i_rssPage=9d5b9ebe-c8bc-11d7-81c6-0820abe49a01.html Also - http://www.nysscpa.org/home/2005/1005/1week/article94.htm Delaware Online: http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051007/BUSINESS/510070351/1003/NEWS Business Insurance: http://www.businessinsurance.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=6482 PR Newswire: http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/10-07-2005/0004163844&EDATE= Grand Island Independent: http://ap.theindependent.com/pstories/state/ne/20051007/3344770.shtml SFGov: http://www.sfgov.org/site/cityattorney_page.asp?id=31882 San Diego Source: http://www.transcript.com/Commentary/article.cfm?Commentary_ID=10&SourceCode=20051007tbc Hurricane Katrina Suit: http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=54736 Most of the above thnx to AIG search on Topix.net: http://www.topix.net/search/?q=AIG&submit.x=0&submit.y=0 odd data someone might want I just ran into this, but I don't know who might be interested in it. I thought maybe you would know if it was within anyone's research field of vision: Hoping to limit winery-consumer shipments, distributors go on contribution spree, WWMT-TV, Kalamazoo, MI, October 25, 2005 LANSING (AP) - A powerful group representing Michigan beer and wine distributors spent nearly $50,000 on campaign contributions to prevent wineries from shipping directly to Michigan customers. New campaign finance reports filed with the Secretary of State's office show the Michigan Beer and Wine Wholesalers Association's political action committee contributed to Governor Granholm and lawmakers from both parties between July and October. Lawmakers are considering bills that would change the state's wine shipment law. The Supreme Court ruled in May that Michigan's law discriminates against out-of-state wineries by banning them from shipping directly to consumers. The wholesalers group represents the middlemen who buy from wine makers and sell to licensed retailers. Some highlights of the campaign finance report: - Governor Granholm, a Democrat, received $5,000 - Campaign committees for the House Democrats and Republicans took in $3,000 - Senate Democrats received $2,500 - Representative Chris Ward - a Brighton Republican who introduced a bill banning all wine shipments from wineries - received $2,000 --Hugh Manatee 19:50, 25 Oct 2005 (EDT) Sorry Bob, I missed out a word in the Sherwood piece, I’ve corrected that. Also I was a little untidy with the Colombe Foundation. Apologies. I feel I have improved my understanding of how to use all the functions but am still on a learning curve! I'm also trying to look and add at a variety of different issues. --Ben Malcom Hill and Knowlton affiliate I don't know if you have a use for this, but I caught it browsing some Press Releases: Contact name: Aman Gupta Address: 5/30, Jangpura B New Delhi, New Delhi 110014 India Phone: 91 11 4317045 Fax: 91 11 4321031 E-Mail: amangu AT hotmail.com Resource is India's first PR firm specialising into life sciences and life products sector or in more broader terms healthcare. Formed in year 2000, the year of Genome, it has evolved as India's premier communications advisory. With team of proffessionals from background in healthcare, pharmceuticals, journolism, business management, etc. and a network that spans India ( 11 offices), it offers the complete pan-Indian appraoch to each client. Resource communications, with its affliation with Hill & Knowlton also offers, global PR to companies in India and also work with global companies in India. --Hugh Manatee 18:53, 28 Oct 2005 (EDT) Bob, I swiped Hugh's data dump on Pajamas Media (guess great minds sorta think alike) off your talk page and started the article .. didn't want to duplicate. Hope you don't mind ... Artificial Intelligence 10:54, 30 Oct 2005 (EST) thanks Bob, i did refrain from any references to the Chemical light stick of GOP enlightenment... also, I noticce AI did a stub for Pajamas Media. I am dumping the following on her talk page also. the concept of grouping blog together into a money making co-opt is fairly new, but there are prior instances: some blog co-opts - TPM Cafe - just started monitoring them. They have some noteworthy posters. - Gawker Media - Wonkette's parent - da bosses blog - liberal blog advertising network - The Liberal Prose The TPM Cafe has impressed me with their ability to hit fast on news items. I load them up in my RSS reader often. I just ran into them about two weeks ago. Also, if you don't have an RSS reader you are satisfied with, I am using RSS Owl presently, an am pretty happy with it. It's a sourceforge hosted open-source project, free for the taking, but you need current java runtimes for smooth sailing with it. I can dump a few opml files (properly coded links to be read by RSS readers) to you if you are looking for some RSS links too. --Hugh Manatee 00:13, 31 Oct 2005 (EST) Bob, if you have up to date java executables, download RSS Owl, let me know, and I'll upload some link files for for newsites and the few blogs that I've collected so far. It even uses IE as an internal browser. self-contained, but if you have a good deal of ram, you can load links outside of program in browser of choice. It's an easy prog to operate, but I haven't even used it to aggregate yet. Once the site data is loaded, it's almost self-explanatory for general usage. RSS isn't well utilized yet by all major papers, but it's coming into more common usage day by day. Major Toledo Blade Series "BushFundRaisersReapMillions.html Bush fund-raisers reap millions in contracts, corporate subsidies", The Toledo Blade, October 30, 2005 Sorry if you've heard of it. The Blade is known for some powerful stories now and then. This is the first day of a four day series. The above link is an intro to four stories published on the 30th. AP Wire tossed out a teaser on it too: The Associated Press, "Report: Bush fundraisers got $1.2 billion in public funds", Clevland Plain Dealer, October 30, 2005 --Hugh Manatee 07:23, 31 Oct 2005 (EST) in re the TolBlade story, your welcome Bob, and if interested, I am probably going to archive all of them into one self-contained dynamic page, sort of like BCCI financial time series i did, if you ever downloaded it. Thanks Bob - Appreciate the material you sent over. They are group that require more research, particularly with their close connections to members of the Labour Party. I would like to do more on DNA Bioscience. -- Ben Malcom The Iraqi's were quick to claim war crimes during the earlier periods of the war which was nothing more than propaganda intended to turn world opinion to their favor, regardless what our excuse was to enter the war. Hi Bob, I've dropped you a line. Cheers, Neoconned 22:20, 24 Nov 2005 (EST) - Hi AI, was just trying to find if there was a SW article on how the media has covered the war in Iraq to copy some Spin of the Day material across -- can't see anything that fits. (there pages on govt propaganda/disinformation etc not not specifically on how the media have covered the war). Is there a page on the topic that I'm missing? cheers --Bob Burton 15:35, 25 Nov 2005 (EST) Funny that you should ask, as it has come to mind several times that we don't have an article for that. - Rather than dupe original post across to your page thought I might as well respond here and delete when done. Yes, there was I thinking it must be in there somewhere just I couldn't find it. How about: media coverage of the war in Iraq? :-) How about a slight tweak How the media covered the war in Iraq - to avoid it becoming just a listing of media coverage -- what I was looking to post across from Spin of the Day was one comparing media coverage in Vietnam with Iraq and how governments have shaped the coverage. - Judd, "Fox News Host Chris Wallace Claims Bush “Never” Linked Saddam and al-Qaeda," Think Progress, November 27, 2005. - Note: You'll need a whole separate category just for Fox. Artificial Intelligence 10:23, 28 Nov 2005 (EST) BTW .. did you notice the flip-flop on Pajamas Media? - Just had a look -- all the twists and turns of a new and apparantly unstable venture. Be interesting to see how it plays out. --Bob Burton 17:49, 25 Nov 2005 (EST) Artificial Intelligence 16:37, 25 Nov 2005 (EST) Christian Bailey ref: many details, unchecked --Hugh Manatee 06:04, 1 Dec 2005 (EST) It seems we may have had a visit from Mr. Pfeiffer. Also appears from his blog that he has had a falling out with Mr. Mike Ruppert of FTW and has edited the above to reflect this fact. Should the article now say "He was a contributing editor for Michael C. Ruppert's From The Wilderness? In any event, the link to Ruppert is now gone. You may wish to revert the whole edit.. I'd like to hear your thoughts for future reference. possible document for archives Coalition Provisional Authority "Industry Day" Event Crystal City, Virginia, November 19, 2003 MS Excel spreadsheet - 222kb Corporation Names - representatives - addresses maybe a good resource for researching --Hugh Manatee 19:44, 1 Dec 2005 (EST) Bob, How about dumping the Bob Woodward story on SW page and bringing in the fake news/Lincoln Corp stuff? :-) Artificial Intelligence 04:59, 7 Dec 2005 (EST) --- Agree - will go do now - meant to do it this morning. cheers bob Ignacio Balderas--Memo 17 Hi Bob... I don't know what happened to those pages. They were links to IPOA so they must have dropped that address, and along with it the pdfs of those letters. I deleted it for now because the links are bad and nothing is showing up in google. However, I have a copy of the pdf. Is there any way to upload it? Cheers -Spacegrit 12/08/05 16:09 (PDT) Thanks. I didn't know you could do that. -Spacegrit 12/9/05 13:46 (PDT) Concerns about Ibrahim El-Hibri I'd like to flag up the article on Ibrahim El-Hibri for review and possible deletion. It's fascinating reading, but there are absolutely no references and very few external links. --Neoconned 07:46, 13 Dec 2005 (EST) Should be on the way. -Spacegrit Wikipedia and Congress Not sure where I should put this, but you seem like one of the busier editors... Now that Wikipedia is cracking down on dubious edits from Congress - see here - it would be a good idea to start adding info from Source Watch to Wikipedia. - Bing 20:34, 1 Feb 2006 (EST) DoD Contractors--Lists & Rankings 100 Companies Receiving The Largest Dollar Volume Of Prime Contract Awards - Fiscal Year 2005 - "This report presents summary data on the 100 companies, and their subsidiaries, receiving the largest dollar volume of Department of Defense (DoD) prime contract awards during fiscal year (FY) 2005. Table 1 lists the 100 companies in alphabetical order and gives their associated rank. Table 2 identifies the parent companies in rank order, with their subsidiaries, and gives the total net value of awards for both the parent company and its subsidiaries. In many cases, the parent company receives no awards itself, but appears on the list because of its subsidiaries. Table 2 also shows what percentage of the total awards each company's awards represent. Table 3 lists the top 100 companies DoD-wide in rank order and breaks the totals into three categories of procurement: Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E); Other Services and Construction; and Supplies and Equipment. Table 4 lists the top 50 companies for each of the Reporting Components in rank order, and by category of procurement." Data consists of eight PDFs downloadable from link above, or alternatively all eight can be presently downloaded in one zipped file here, courtesy...me. Also of note in the file is the listing of some subsidiaries of big gov contracting corporations. cheers - --Hugh Manatee 01:57, 6 Feb 2006 (EST) cc AI, Bob B., Spacegrit Bob, I pulled this data from a source that lists available online documents that I happened upon recently. It's part of a web project called Resource Shelf. Loads of links. Some are in need of updating though. --Hugh Manatee 05:24, 6 Feb 2006 (EST) disambiguation query: Emily's List in the UK is a different campaign from EMILY's List in the US. Can you separate? I'd be really grateful if you get a sec to have a look - DavidR I seem to have irritated a new poster at the Mansoor Ijaz stub. Please check history versioning both the article and talk page. I would appreciate other opinions. cc AI, BobB, DianeF, Maynard --Hugh Manatee 09:27, 23 Feb 2006 (EST) Thanks for the welcome http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Honest_Reporting would you go at it! Any chance of arbitrating at the Johann Hari entry? Glad to be here. I just updated the article on Working Families for Wal-Mart. Could you check it out for style, tone and length. I'll do short article on the red-linked Herald Group. Should I also do ones on Wal-Mart Watch and Wake-up Wal-Mart? I wasn't sure about the "contacts at the bottom of the page part"--couldn't find them, so I'm writing you here. - Yes I'll have a look at it in a little while. One other thing I have to do first. So, when your bio says you're a "part-time editor" here, is that like at Wikipedia or does Sourcewatch have a professional editor? - I'm employed 3/4 time by the Center for Media and Democracy to (as far as possible) to review contributions, help newcomers get started if they aren't familiar with wikis, handle requests & fill obvious gaps, handle complaints etc ... and in my spare time .... Are there templates for references or do you just cite external links? - I'll get Neoconned to fill you in on that one. He has recently started doing the Wikipedia style referencing here but the last few weeks I just haven't had time to catch up on it and put it into our help pages. Cheers --Bob Burton 18:15, 1 Mar 2006 (EST) Best,--Beth Wellington 17:12, 1 Mar 2006 (EST) Bob, I like the changes you made to the article. For O'Dwyers, see *"Bush PR Pros Set Up Herald Group", Jack O'Dwyer's Newsletter, October 12, 2005, which you cited in the original Working Families for Wal-Mart. I don't have a sub, so I read the Google cache and it's just rehashing of the corporate webpage, but we could add it to this article, too. - sure worth adding with a (sub req'd) note at the end of the citation. If you every need a full article in O'Dwyers let me know. What do you make of the fact that Wikipedia and SourceWatch have scooped the professional profilers. - Not so surprising, they miss a lot. Commonly the trade press will feed off a) what is sent to them (companies wanting to strut their stuff to potential clients) b) picking up from articles in the mainstream media c) tips from industry insiders about possible stories - though this is not always just attempts at soft promo pieces - there is often some really good material that pops up in their articles. But even the bigger trade publications struggle to cope with the growth of the industry. - There were a few other places I didn't have time to look last night for additional material. You could try the Center for Public Integrity which has good databases and there's the US lobbying registration details accessible via http://sopr.senate.gov/cgi-win/m_opr_viewer.exe?DoFn=0 If i get a chance in the next day or two I'll have a look in one or two other databases, must go --Bob Burton 23:34, 2 Mar 2006 (EST) Haven't heard from Neoconned yet. I'll write him.--Beth Wellington 23:14, 2 Mar 2006 (EST) The format Neoconned gave me is not compatible and doesn't appear to automatically list references. Here's what I wrote him. The reference template I use at Wikipedia lets you type in references where you place the footnotes, using a format like "" and then automatically compiles them at the bottom when you set up a section, "==References== - Title. Title of Complete Work. Retrieved on YYYY-MM-DD. " It did not work here. See for the list I've been using. There may be others. (To actually read the script for the template, hit "edit" for this section to read the html.) SacBee article regarding WalMart and Ca. politics - Sacramento Bee - Delgadillo regrets role in Wal-Mart - (By Laura Mecoy -- Bee Los Angeles Bureau - March 2, 2006 Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, who's battling Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown for the Democratic nomination for attorney general, expressed regrets Thursday about his role in recruiting Wal-Mart to Los Angeles. Delgadillo, in a breakfast meeting with The Bee's Capitol Bureau, said he was unaware of Wal-Mart's critics in 1997, when he was a Los Angeles deputy mayor who helped bring the giant retailer to Panorama City. Delgadillo has called Wal-Mart a "predator" on the middle class and his campaign has chastised Brown for bringing a store to Oakland and accepting $10,600 in campaign contributions from Wal-Mart heir John Walton and his wife, Christy. Brown, in response, resurrected Delgadillo's role in attracting the Panorama City store. [. . .] - SacBee Audio: - Rocky Delgadillo chides Wal-Mart for "stealing from the middle class" (:44) - Delgadillo criticizes Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown's record on crime (:34) - Delgadillo: "We're going to have to use carrot and stick" on illegal immigration (2:09) - Delgadillo calls for special courts in death penalty cases (1:09) cc: DianeF - BobB (plus BWellington, I guess...) --Hugh Manatee 11:08, 3 Mar 2006 (EST) How does one add? Just that. How do you add an article. With wikipedia, a failed search generally (if not always) gives the opportunity to add an article.--Allamakee Democrat 17:41, 19 Mar 2006 (EST) This article was a work in progress until the software refused to let me save a further edit (it should be Tom Latham, and not "Lathan"). I was going to add the congressional district numbers, party information and links to official congressional bios as well as extant wikipedia articles. As to your suggestion for a rename to reflect the current congress, something like Iowa congressional delegation, 109th Congress would be in order, and would serve as a model for further articles I don't SW as a proper venue for extensive biographies, but certainly a list such as this could be piped as Charles E. Grassley. SW is a peculiar venue, and biographical articles on all members of Congress are not really in order. For states with small congressional delegations, a summary list makes sense. Big states such as California would be more difficult. Big bad members of Congress such as DeLay of course deserve their own articles. In my few hours of rummaging around, I see there are fewer than 10,000 articles, many of them very opaquely named. I also see that categories are inconsistent (the ones that comes to mind deal with the political parties). --Allamakee Democrat 21:52, 20 Mar 2006 (EST) Hi Bob, thanks for the welcome. I wonder if you know who can deal with a problem in the search function? When I search for the text "awb limited" (in lowercase), the article comes up as number 12 on the results but I would expect it to go straight to the article as it does when I search for "AWB Limited". According to SourceWatch:Searching the search is supposed to be case-insensitive. -- Wasted 11:52, 23 Mar 2006 (EST) Unless you or someone else objects, I plan on cleaning up some of the categories here. If you click down the category "Corruption" in Insider trading you'll get down to a mess with badly catted "Jack Abramoff" articles. I plan on creating an actual category named "Jack Abramoff", piping them all.--Allamakee Democrat 23:30, 28 Mar 2006 (EST) - Looks like a good idea to me. as most of the posting on Jack has been by Artificial Intelligence it would be worth posting a not on AI's talk page too. --Bob Burton 23:37, 28 Mar 2006 (EST) - FYI .. the first I saw of this was today. The Kucinich thing caught me totally by surprise and I could not figure out what the point of it was. I agree that a separate category for individuals is a bit much. Anyone searching for Jack Abramoff, either directly in "Search" or by using our new SW task bar, will find all that they need. - As for the "mess" of corruption links .. well, this administration HAS CREATED a "mess" of corruption, has it not? Less corruption = less "mess". My 2cents worth. Artificial Intelligence 10:10, 29 Mar 2006 (EST) - Deleted category:Jack Abramoff scandal as no articles linked to it. Another FYI .. in category:corruption there were 11 articles linked to Jack Abramoff and 11 linked to Thomas D. DeLay. Why single out Abramoff? Kucinich? Artificial Intelligence 10:20, 29 Mar 2006 (EST) It doesn't seem to me that individual names should be Categories. I might have let the Abramoff thing go if I hadn't seen the Kucinich categories (multiple categories for one name) first. But if you're going to go thru the database and create George Bush and Karl Rove and Valerie Plame and Saddam Hussein and Don Rumsfeld and Mickey Mouse category links, I suggest that you can find a more useful way to spend your time and energies. Note that the "What links here" link is very effective for finding out which articles reference an individual. --Maynard 09:57, 29 Mar 2006 (EST) - Actually, Allamakee Democrat didn't create any categories for Kucinich. If you put a vertical bar after a category tag, the phrase after the vertical bar specifies where the page should be listed alphabetically within that category. Thus, "category:politics|Kucinich, Dennis" merely specifies that the Dennis Kucinich article should be alphabetized under "K" rather than "D". - --Maynard 10:52, 29 Mar 2006 (EST) slaps own face, causing nosebleed - I don't have an opinion about whether "category:Jack Abramoff scandal" should exist. I see AI's point about turning individual names into categories. On the other hand, the Jack Abramoff scandal is a pretty big scandal. - With regard to the alphabetizing that Allamakee has been doing, though, I think someone should revert the reversions. --Sheldon Rampton 10:32, 29 Mar 2006 (EST) - Thanks for that tip about the bar following the category tag. It will come in handy in getting Abramoff's and DeLay's articles properly alphabetized. I knew there had to be a way to do it! :-) Artificial Intelligence 10:40, 29 Mar 2006 (EST) Weldon data added to [] new formatting threw me off, and wasn's sure if i should be messing with it. Might hold off a day or so incorporating it though, i have some Able Danger/Weldon cites that don't seem to be included, i ought to drop. --hugh_manateee 02:16, 26 Apr 2006 (EDT) Naming of Members of Parliament page Hi Bob - Both are very good ideas. I think it at the moment it would be best to look primarily at the House of Commons. The House of Lords is way too big but I think it's something we can plan long-term. So certainly we can rename it to List of Members of House of Commons Elected 2005 (United Kingdom) I started the original page through inspiration based on the new Congresspedia. I was not that happy with the title but I just used the same format for the 2001 elections. My only problem is that I don't know how to rename a page!! I still have a very basic knowledge. Could you possibly do it? Many thanks -- Ben Malcom Ok, I actually managed to do it! I also added each M.P.'s political affiliation. I'll try and do one on the Canadian Parliament at some point as well. -- Ben Malcom Hi Bob - I like the idea of creating a page on how to research members of the House of Commons so other contributors can help. What should it be called and is there a related example at SourceWatch so we can use a similar template? I'll certainly be working through the pages on M.P.'s and will update and reference the interests details. I appreciate all your help in this. -- Ben Malcom Thanks Bob for setting the page up. It should hopefully encourage people to contribute. -- Ben Malcom APF articles, May 2006 Hi Bob - I take your points. Without getting into a long screed, I do want to point out that my first message to Neoconned was very polite. His response was aggressive and full of undertones as you may have seen. I think blame can be divided. I also just want to point out that my changes were not criticized by the 32 syops on SourceWatch. Some did not involve any deletion but rephrasing for it to read better. Nevertheless as I stated earlier I will not alter the pages until this has been resolved with Conor’s arbitration who I’ll be in touch with in due course. Tks -- Ben Malcom - Ben - In your first message to me, you: - falsely claimed that "many others have already suggested" I have a personal problem with the APF (in fact only 2 fly-by-night contributors, with non-existent contributions records, have done so) - claimed that I had "added reactionary comments" to the articles. - suggested that I might have fabricated the screengrabs of the APF pages (it's difficult to imagine a more serious charge on here). - So I will leave it to SW readers to decide whether that message was "very polite", as you have just claimed. --Neoconned 08:07, 9 May 2006 (EDT) - One of the issues which I’m deeply hurt by is the way that my words are being misconstrued. Neoconned implies that I questioned, at best, the authenticity or at worst alleged forgery as regards the screen grabs. This is not true. I would not say that to a fellow syop. My point, an obvious one surely that impartial observers may judge screen grabs supplied from the personal computers of anonymous SW contributors, without independent corroboration as being of doubtful provenance. My comments were not aimed at him but the principle of screengrabs but if he is offended then I am more than happy to unreservedly apologise. I even said “You have done a good job on SW and added some important innovations and you are a valued member.” I regret to say that there has been no reciprocal expression of regret for the undertones in his comments about me and others (“fly-by night contributors”). I think you may notice that they have been making entries if you look at the recent history. -- Ben Malcom - First, I am very happy to accept your apology - thank you. - However, Ben, you did imply I might have fabricated the screengrabs. Here is what you said: "...many will say it has come from your computer, an image can easily be taken after the text is manipulated. Because of your strong intrest in these pages we certainly can’t be sure." (my italics on we). You clearly included yourself in the group of people who couldn't be sure if I'd forged the screengrabs. - Now let's consider the contribution records of those 2 (or "many" as you term them) contributors. - This is so transparent that I have to laugh. SARS first appeared on SW immediately after the APF articles were first created. Despite promises about all the contributions he'd make, he in fact showed no interest in anything other than the APF articles. After an absence of approximately 6 months, as if by magic he reappeared exactly when this latest controversy about the APF articles blew up, and then starts to try building up a contributions record. So I have no hesitation about labelling him as someone who has a personal agenda with regard to the APF articles. - Ironically, he is the one who accused me of having a personal agenda with the APF. Whilst he has been away from SW, I have contributed an extensive series of articles on the push for nuclear rebuild in the UK, profiles of various British politicians, and developed a new navigation system for the site. Before I ever wrote about the APF, I already had an extensive contributions record on SW stretching back over a year. Whereas SARS only ever shows up here when the APF is under discussion. So which of us is the one with a personal agenda? --Neoconned 08:52, 9 May 2006 (EDT) - Conor, Bob – As discussed, I was going to formalise a detailed reply stating my points as regards certain pages created by Neoconned, which I regarded had selective reasoning, and which appeared like personal blogs with either inaccuracies or tilts, and as a syop I felt obliged in making edits which would ensure fairness and accuracy. - However, after Neoconned’s recent responses I have come to the realisation that anything I or anyone else states will be objected to by him through long arduous debates, conspiratorial undertones, so eventually nothing will ever be resolved. He resists any change to the pages created by him. In any case, I’ve already made my points clear, and I really do not want to inflict another long screed on my fellow syops, or waste your or my time. - I appreciate the efforts of both yourselves, A.I. and others in trying to diffuse the situation. Right now I feel that the best way to resolve this is as Conor said, to stand back and take a deep breath and I urge Neoconned to do the same. However, I will be monitoring the situation closely. -Ben Malcom - Sorry Ben, you don't get out of it that easily. Having attacked the accuracy of the articles, the least I think you should do is provide a detailed explanation of what you think is wrong with them. You say: "In any case, I’ve already made my points clear". Wrong. As Bob has pointed out to you, you haven't done this yet. Don't you think the least we deserve is a detailed defence of your position? - I'm going to continue to post suggested changes to the relevant sections in the articles' talk pages, and I'd encourage you to do the same. I'd also encourage you to comment on those changes that I post. - Since you claimed that many of the sources I used for the articles were "not well known and missing credibility", I'm also going to post a list of those sources, so that you can comment on exactly why you think there is a problem with each one. --Neoconned 22:49, 9 May 2006 (EDT) Hi Bob – I’m relatively new to this, but regarding the page Husain Haqqani, an individual called Honest Desi has altered information that was already referenced and has added some links to support his argument. A senior SourceWatch member should decide if his changes are appropriate or not. By his own admittance he knows Husain Haqqani. - Stan-Ley Hi Bob, In view of the apparent contentiousness of the articles related to Tepper Aviation, Inc., would you mind capturing and uploading the 3 documents on the Florida Dept of State's website, referenced at Tepper Aviation, Inc.#Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations records? Two are HTML pages, one is a TIF image. Many thanks, --Neoconned 14:10, 20 May 2006 (EDT) - Thanks, Bob. --Neoconned 10:11, 21 May 2006 (EDT) ATT/NSA Data available ATT/NSA Docs published by Wired News Evan Hansen, Why We Published the AT&T Docs", Wired News, May 22, 2006 --hugh_manateee 23:40, 22 May 2006 (EDT) - No problem Bob, will do. --Neoconned 06:06, 26 May 2006 (EDT) verisign PAC pages on vetsforfreedom website - upload verification request Hi John/Bob/Conor/Sheldon (whoever can action this first), Please could you verify that the following screengrabs are true and accurate? They appear to suggest a link between Vets for Freedom and the Verisign PAC. VFF has made the usual blunder of not realizing that unlinked pages can still be indexed by Google. It's a fair bet they'll be pulled off the web sharpish now, so it would be nice to get them verified by one of you ASAP. Regards, --Neoconned 14:20, 31 May 2006 (EDT) - Checked both pages and they were as per the screengrabs. --Bob Burton 16:05, 31 May 2006 (EDT) - Cheers Bob. --Neoconned 23:19, 31 May 2006 (EDT) Family Security Matters I think I may have made a mistake in an article I created. I called it The Family Security Foundation whereas in fact I think it also calls itself Family Security Matters which was created before. There is stuff that is new on the page I created but I'm not sure how to merge them. - Stan-Ley Tks Bob for rearranging both pages. I'll try and delve further in to this. - Stan-Ley Hello Bob, I will continue on the Canadian think tanks this week - crucial I think to make it known how Canada's PM is so closely linked to Fraser Institute, via Tom Flanagan (and several acting Conservative ministers), each of whom deserves, along with Barry Cooper, at least a full page and links. Thanks for your help. upload verification request Hi Diane/Conor/Bob/Sheldon, Please could one of you verify these rather important screengrabs? The first two contain important new information, namely that N2189M has been flying into the CIA's Camp Peary facility, and N8183J has flown to the Phillipines. The last screengrab doesn't really tell us anything new. The flightaware.com site requires (free) registration to view the full historical records. I'd suggest that the best way to verify a screengrab is to put a signed statement on the actual Image page itself (which can be edited like any other article). Cheers, --Neoconned 13:35, 5 Jun 2006 (EDT) - Thanks, Bob. --Neoconned 08:51, 6 Jun 2006 (EDT) Hi Bob, I would like to start a new entry/article on the Civitas Society in Canada. Not sure how to do that. Thanks, Joan erratic google results page upload request Hi Bob, could you please do this google search: "desert rock" site:isiconsulting.us grab the single page it returns out of the Google cache as a PDF, and upload it to SourceWatch? It contains information previously published by Keith Stein's ISI Consulting (but now pulled from the web) about visits by Tepper Aviation, Inc. planes to Desert Rock Airport. With many thanks, --Neoconned 02:12, 8 Jun 2006 (EDT) - Thanks Bob. --Neoconned 02:54, 8 Jun 2006 (EDT) - Thanks Bob, I'll get round to ref'ing it from all the appropriate articles over the next few days. There are quite a few well-known aircraft that seem to have had business out there in the middle of nowhere! --Neoconned 05:27, 8 Jun 2006 (EDT) Hi Bob, I just added to the Friends of Science entry, and realised as I was doing it that I don't know how to prepare entries for the individuals involved in this tangled web - Fraser Institute, Canadian govt, ExxonMobil etc. So I just threw all the information I had prepared into the FoS page, hoping that someone better versed in WIki can fix it all up. I hope this helps rather than hinders! Grateful as always for any tips. N964BW uploads - thanks Thanks, Bob. --Neoconned 05:28, 9 Jun 2006 (EDT) - Oops, you need to register and login to get the full history... that shows a previous visit to The Farm, as well as various other movements. Would you mind uploading the full history? (and replace the current version of Image:FlightAware Live Flight Tracker History N964BW.pdf)? Cheers --Neoconned 05:33, 9 Jun 2006 (EDT) Guantanamo Bay / Camp Peary flight logs uploads Thanks for uploading those Bob, I'll get round to writing them up over the next few days. Rgds, --Neoconned 06:41, 13 Jun 2006 (EDT) Thanks Bob. I lived in Canberra for a while some years back. Happy editing, --Cyberjunkie 06:27, 21 Jun 2006 (EDT) Mr. Burton - I don’t believe that I asked for your assistance or opinion. From what I can see you seem to be Neoconned’s best friend, you even promote his diatribe on aviation companies and do us a lot of damage. It now appears you have become his mouthpiece. I can’t expect you to offer any assistance. My comments were to Sheldon Rampton, a man with some respect. FYI, there are not many people that are calling themselves Neoconned, or with an English accent and interested in companies connected to aviation. He does not appear for a long time on this site and then suddenly writes a page on Evergreen, he obviously has spent time investigating it and harassing innocent people like me. Lets deal with the A – E you spent time writing: A) The reason why there is no mention of me on SourceWatch is because I have no connection to Evergreen. Neoconned seems to think I do but as he has no proof has not written anything…yet. B) My concerns have already been noted, his level of harassment of me and my family. From what I can see others have accused him of paedophilia which shows the reputation he must have. C) I am not disputing that he may have sourced his information, so please don’t suggest I did. Although from what I can see none of his links on Evergreen seem to work. D) Why are you so confident Neoconned wouldn't be wasting his time phoning people? You obviously know him personally which means you have a personal connection perhaps relationship which means you start any conversation about him with in-built bias. E) I’m afraid to say that I don’t except any help from someone as biased as you. Perhaps you could kindly ask Mr. Rampton to address my concerns. - Devon Smith The elimination of EIR articles has been an issue in the past. Is there any particular reason to wholesale delete them without an explanation? We have been through this with the Voltaire Network, etc. Sorry, but must object to censorship without proper explanation(s), Bob. Artificial Intelligence 08:18, 17 Aug 2006 (EDT) Peter Paul Bio Article Updates bob- this article needs editing and updating, how can you lift the ban on editing since May? User:Officious 12:04 23 Aug 2006 (EDT) All the links opened just fine for me, Bob. No problem on my end. Artificial Intelligence 06:58, 27 Sep 2006 (EDT) I read sourcewatche's policy and it states, "SourceWatch policy is taken, by and large, from the policies of Wikipedia, which have been formulated by habit and consensus." If this is true, then you would understand why I removed non-notable critics and their potentially libelous sites from the Sathya Sai Baba article. This was decided through an ArbCom Ruling on Wikipedia which enforced Wikipedia policy. This decision can be found on Wikipedia's Sathya Sai Baba Talk Page in the blue boxes located near the top of the page. Thanks. SSS108 20:58, 11 Oct 2006 (EDT) Hi bob not sure how to use the talk thing yet but I think it is a think tank Update Vets for Freedom Bob, although the "news" came out on the 10th, and I had not checked VFF-AF's FEC data until today, there is plenty of new info about the group that warrants a bit of front-page coverage: check the article for updates on legal reps and media team, all Bush-Cheney '04 Inc. operatives. Artificial Intelligence 09:33, 23 October 2006 (EDT) Comment on my changes By the time he transitioned out to become Congressman Peter Deutsch's Director of Internet Strategy, the Kerry on-line team had raised $50 million on-line, and went on to raise $81 million in the primaries. As Director of Internet Strategy for Congressman Deutsch's US Senate campaign, he turned around the online presence and was able to increase online fundraising fifteen-fold and develop a strong Internet volunteer community. + Sanford Dickert was the Chief Technology Officer for the Kerry Campaign with responsibilities including development of an enterprise-quality Internet infrastructure, online fundraising and online community development during the primary season. He has since gone onto working with other Democratic campaigns up and down the Democratic ticket in Florida Bob - contextually, and factually - these are correct. Why would you not want them there? If you look at Luis Miranda, he has similar content... edit may have been innappropriate Bob, apologies for my editing the Independent Institute stub, while it was locked. I was unaware of its status, but had noticed that it needed work, and i visit their website once or twice a month, so was fairly familiar with it. my reasons for going there are because i enjoy the former Cato wonk, Ivan Eland's work. Currently, he is questioning the propriety of Robert Gates as Defense Secretary, because of his dissembling in Iran/Contra testimony. A wonk who speaks my language... Feel free to edit it as you see fit, but i felt it was important to mention that some of their fellows are concerned about the environment, but have very libertarian mindsets, which compel them to propose private property and free market solutions to the problems, which greatly irritates some environmentalists. I linked to some of this work, which doesn't mean I absolutely agree with it, but think that this viewpoint needs to be worked into environmental issues if any true remediation is going to occur in America. cheers, now that the election is over, i am more comfortable around here... --hugh_manateee 13:58, 15 November 2006 (EST) HRW was set up by the United States government to monitor human rights in Eastern Europe following the signature of the Helsinki Accords. Initially, the group was called Helsinki Watch (NB: there is a British group with the same name – specializes in monitoring elections…). The United States used Helsinki Watch for propaganda purposes, and to amplify the "human rights" contradictions in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. In this it was singularly successful, and it led to the broadening of HRW to cover additional regions. HRW-Americas, etc. and it also spun off the Index on Censorship, the latter to monitor abuses of "freedom of the press". HRW may claim that it is independent and nongovernmental, but its origins inidicate that these properties were absent. (Source: Kirsten Sellars, The Rise and rise of Human Rights, pp. 139 - 141). Retrieved from "http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Talk:Human_Rights_Watch" This is a decent summary of the contents of those three pages. if you want I can scan and send them to thee. SW: In Re: Farfield query - "...it is not clear what the origin of the foundation list is. Does one of those ref links relate to the foundations?" My recollections are that the list was created as an aggregation from several links, hopefully all were cited by me, and I should have noted the sources after the listing. I will go back over my notes, as i believe they are intact, and easily available, and attempt to reparse the list, noting the sources. --hugh_manateee 18:18, 14 December 2006 (EST) For taking care of the mistaken identity issue. :-) --Beth C 06:37, 22 December 2006 (EST) According to the Wikipedia: "The term became prominent in the United States following the September 11, 2001 attacks; it had been used only in limited policy circles prior to 9/11. Before this time, such action had been classified as civil defense." I attempted, and feel that I did an adequate job, of addressing this issue in Clinton administration: Homeland Defense Before 2001, which I have added to the new article. Artificial Intelligence 03:48, 3 January 2007 (EST) AI, thanks that looks great. Which makes me think we should merge that side page I created into Clinton administration: Homeland Defense Before 2001. Unless you disagree, I'll make a note to do it in a few days time. cheers --Bob Burton 04:27, 3 January 2007 (EST) - Bob, Why not just make the new article into a redirect and I'll merge in your new info later this morning. Artificial Intelligence 04:43, 3 January 2007 (EST) UN Watch entry UN Watch entry Thanks for your note. I agree with your comments. There are some major errors and flaws with this entry, which was authored by Idrees (Muhammad Idrees Ahmad). A. “The main activities of UN Watch” A review of UN Watch’s activities from their website and on Google shows that it undoubtedly devotes significant attention to what it describes as combating anti-Israel bias and anti-Semitism. However, a quick review of the press releases and reports on their website demonstrates they are also engaged in significant activities regarding (1) monitoring and reforming the UN human rights apparatus; and (2) speaking out for human rights victims in Darfur and elsewhere. Failure to list the latter two as main activities seems to have been a deliberate distortion from the submission by Idrees. 'B. False Conspiracy Accusations' The current Idrees-authored entry is fundamentally flawed by its accusations of a sinister conspiracy that is simply not there. Far from hiding its activities or interest in Israel-related matters, the Israel issue is all over their website. The organization devotes several major sections to Israel issues on its website, says openly in the beginning of its “About Us” section that it is affiliated with a Jewish organization and that it devotes special attention to what it describes as UN inequality against Israel, and even has an image of an Israeli flag on its homepage. The Idrees entry itself makes no sense because on the one hand it quotes substantial segments from UN Watch publications that proudly mention its role as “leading the struggle against anti-Israel bias at the UN” – while as the same time he says UN Watch does not mention this aspect at all. Can’t have it both ways. Therefore the following accusation in this Idrees entry seem to be malicious: “…they try their best to appear neutral.” In fact they make their strong positions on these issues very clearly. C. In the section entitled “Promoting the Israeli regime,” the Idrees entry cites as evidence the following example: UN Watch's campaign to “Fight discrimination against Israel in the UN's regional group system.” However, a quick Google search reveals that this campaign – to end Israel’s exclusion from any of the UN’s 5 regional groups – has been embraced by none other than UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan himself, as a requirement of the UN Charter. See UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, “Remarks at Dinner Hosted by H.E. Mr. Moshe Katsav, President of the State of Israel,” March 15, 2005 <http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=1350>. (“We need to correct a long-standing anomaly that kept Israel from participating fully and equally in the work of the [United Nations] Organization.”) Unless Idrees is also accusing Kofi Annan of seeking to “promote the Israeli regime,” this seems to be a distortion of a legitimate appeal based on the UN Charter. D. Idrees accusation: “UN Watch and its members continously portray their organization as if it were part of the United Nations itself.” In fact, there is nothing on the UN Watch website that does this at all. Since much of what this Swiss group seems to do is critique the UN for what it claims are actions falling short of the UN Charter, it’s hard to see how anyone would ever think it is part of the very organization it is criticizing. The Idrees accusation is simply incoherent and, it seems, malicious. His only claimed support is a quote from a few years ago where the organization says it is “mandated” to monitor the UN. Why Mr. Idrees or anyone else would take this to mean mandated by the UN itself – instead of by its own constitution or members -- is a mystery. Unless he deliberately seeks to misinform. The list by Idrees of current staff has no basis other than a 2005 report’s acknowledgment for research assistance. Therefore he could well be including people who worked possibly for 5 minutes, 5 days, or 5 months – all of this in the year 2005 – as current staff. Further research on their website – from speeches given, etc. – suggests that only the first person on the list is current staff. Thanks and upload request Cheers, --Neoconned 23:58, 24 January 2007 (EST) - Thanks for uploading those so speedily, Bob. --Neoconned 06:20, 28 January 2007 (EST) notice constant changes Hi Bob; SVP notice the constant changes entered by DavidR which simply sabotage the Johann Hari article. My reasons for objecting to his changes are made clear in the discussion page. - -- he cuts out links - -- adds self-serving Hari comments - -- effectively damages some sections - -- replaces links with old ones (e.g., Private Eye articles now reside on the cosmos server) - -- messes up the external sources page including removing of the Private Eye articles. If this type of change stands, then what is the point of SW*... Kind rgds Antidotto Hi the Johann Hari has been locked with the silly edits introduced by DavidR (I suspect that it is Johann Hari himself). I think this is unfortunate. Please note that DavidR's ONLY crontribution has been to undermine the Johann Hari related materials... the edits are poor, he deletes much material, adds silly comments, and tries to eliminate most of the critical comments. The section which includes (1) Private Eye materials and (2) Media Lens materials has been effectively sabotaged... I urge reversal of changes... otherwise ANYONE can effectively sabotage any article. Kind rgds Antidotto johann hari article. The Johann Hari article was reverted and blocked on a version that basically destroyed the critical nature of the article. Furthermore, much self-serving material was added. It is highly likely that the edits were entered by Johann Hari himself... in the past it was proven that the IP address originated at The Independent. It is a bit of a shame that this type of destructive editing is not blocked... it seems that if someone persists long enough then the edits will eventually be added. Fos and Fraser Institute Hi Bob, I wouldn't mind feedback on my recent edits in Friends of Science and Fraser Institute sections. Also I would like advice on three issues: - User AI culled back my excessive internal links, which is fine, but I am wondering if it isn't appropriate to have a repeating internal link the first time it appears within each section (e.g. Barry Cooper appears several times in different sections). - I would like to do more detail on Fraser Institute's ISPM. Could/should that be a separate article? Also, I suppose we cannot quote or cite AR4 Second Draft? (This kinda means fighting with one hand tied behind one's back, at least until the release of the AR4). Perhaps we can at least paraphrase the sections cited already in Fraser ISPM? - Tim Patterson has edited his own page. I was thinking of keeping some of his claims, but attributed as third party quotes, as well as restoring some removed material. Is there a SW policy about this? As an editor can you reprimand him for editing his own page? You can answer me on my page, or e-mail me at daveclarke at steelrail.ca. Thanks in advance! --Daveclarke 17:07, 15 February 2007 (EST) Thanks for the feedback. The issue with the AR4 Draft is that one is not supposed to cite or quote draft versions; they are produced to get reviewer feedback. The Draft versions are no longer even available from IPCC now, but have been archived at junkscience.com and maybe elsewhere. That didn't stop the Fraser Institute though. (I do have my own copy of the AR4 draft). Meanwhile, the final AR4 will not be released until late April; it is undergoing proofreading, layout and updating with 2006 data now. Despite FI claims to the contrary, the ISPM contradicts the main findings of the AR4 via the magic of selective, misleading quotes and citations. Some folks at realclimate.org are pushing the envelope with minimal quotes from the AR4. My suggestion is to paraphrase FI cited sections of the AR4, without actually citing them myself (the citation would be in the quote from the ISPM). I guess I would have to work up an example for you, if this is still not clear. --Daveclarke 11:52, 16 February 2007 (EST) I've cut back Tim Patterson's page and am watching it - so far, no reaction. I've also made a lot of updates on FoS. The section on Funding (as well as the U of C section) contains some material from e-mails and conversations with the following individuals: Dan Thorburn of the Calgary Foundation, Roman Cooney of U of C, and video director Mike Visser. In all cases I identified myself to them as a contrbutor to sourcewatch.org. Strictly speaking, though, I can't reference these statements, at least not until the media or blogosphere catches up to this story. I hope that's OK. And in my opinion, the story is a blockbuster: Tax deductible charitable contributions, largely from the oil and gas industry, were funneled through the Calgary Foundation and University of Calgary, and used to finance an anti-Kyoto radio ad campaign, targeted at key Ontario ridings in the 2006 Canadian election campaign. Moreover, this was done, to all appearances, in flagrant violation of Canada's law on third-party election advertising; the Friends of Science Society did not even register as a third-party advertiser and appears to have broken the rules in other ways as well. These particlar dots have not been connected together before, as far as I know. --Daveclarke 12:29, 24 February 2007 (EST) SW: Glad to be of help Thanks for the welcome. Glad to be of help. I've been out of the country for a while so in my rapid efforts to catch up I've been seeing what SourceWatch has. Must say you've done a great job. I'll try and help where I can. Cheers --AdrianKitch 17 February 2007 (EST) when are you going to deal with this? johann hari article (1) absurdly adulterated and (2) blocked. If you are not going to do anyhting about it, it is best to delet the whole thing. NSW Minerals council website stuff Reason for edit Well, it seems she's really not affiliated with the Ariel Center for Policy Research. She's not listed among its consulting "experts;" I searched the Ariel website for "Alyssa A. Lappen", in the search field on the same page of experts and there's not a single mention of Lappen; and the "Authors and Associates" label looks like it refers to a list of authors for Ariel's journal -- not to Lappen specifically. Also, a fair number of authors listed among the "Authors and Associates" look unaffiliated. Retired colonel Norwell De Atkine ; editor Tony Blankley, Prof. Francisco Gil-White, writer William E. Grim, , freelancer P. David Hornick and so on. But others like Ze'v Wolfson look like they're connected to Ariel. It looks like SourceWatch should not allow the use of list headlines as confirmation of flimsy assumptions. Also, by the way, a search of the web reveals very quickly that Lappen has never reviewed any books by Anis Shorrosh or Walid Phares. Bob: I don't understand. Why do you continue to let http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jason_T._Christy claim that there is a published magazine? There is no magazine. There is no dating service. There is no Impact America. CR Newswire is a shell. Jason Christy is a fraud. Yet this page supports the scam that was "The Church Report." I don't understand. Gary McCullough, Director Christian Communication Network 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington DC 20006 Shield Group Security Shield Group Security, identified in this ugly story: - David Phinney, IPS News, "My Name Used to Be #200343", AlterNet, April 7, 2007 - "An American former Navy soldier and private contractor imprisoned and tortured in Iraq by the U.S. military and falsely accused of "aiding terrorists" warns that our worst fears about Iraq have come true." cc Artificial Intelligence, Bob Burton, Spacegrit when is the johann hari article going to be unblocked... nb: the current frozen article was edited by Hari himself, and he managed to remove most of the critical elements. what is the point of freezing it? ack. It's not loading - I think it may be subscription only... - Spacegrit 15:35 PDT April 18 2007 Needed gun control articles --Beth Wellington 10:38, 2 May 2007 (EDT) Hi When is the Johann Hari article going to be unblocked? NB it remained in the edited state entered by Hari himself -- which cut out important materials. Antidotto The Council as PR firm Bob., firstly let me tell you that the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, under A-Bishop Renato Boccvardo, is the PR firm within the internet for the papacy. Secondly that I - on account of wishing to correct what I have here delivered as the prime examples of faith-led censorship online (mirrored extensively) am not only banned from Wikipeia for 18 months- up this autumn, but FOR LIFE from editing 'catholic articles'. Therefore I am unable to do that which you suggest. Lastly, I again offer to expand this and any article relevant to the particular PR firm I watch, as assistance to right-thinking honest people. I would like to think that you are one. However I also repeat that my experience of faith-led editing, is that it is effectively impossible, due to a group dynamics which has elicited its very own DWEEC website criticism ( nothing to do with me). I also repeat that it would be entirely cruel were I to be made to source all statements in this particular PR firm article whilst you watch your clock and then kill it. So- treat it with the relevance it deserves ( this is a widely refernced contemporary issue as you surely must well know) and treat me with the good faith that is applicable, and all will be for the best. Or not, but let me know. EffK 06:55, 31 May 2007 (EDT) Hi Bob, you are welcome to delete anything of personal discussions, as you did. I write only if I see a necessity to communicate. I am sorry though when I find a mixture of outright vandals and genuine users jumping on me in such immediacy, whilst I am even building an article. I see your point about about other articles in here, however having read the guidelines I still think this is more appropriate an organ than Wikipedia. Whether any organ is robust enough to properly report that which I happen to report, is another question, and doubtless out of our hands. I would prefer you retract your threat, and also that you extend your reasoning capacity to see that what I am painting towards is precisely the type of propagandasing that this organ exists to monitor. The particular article should in effect be but one of many inter-related articles concerning the propaganda, which you can now easily check from the G.Seldes links I reffed back there. I do actually understand that this all is heavy , and dangerous , and have always warned anyone using a real identity , to exit the territory entirely. I suggest therefore- in your own best interest, that you ask for all all interaction between us to be 'disappeared' as was earlier done regarding the rabid vandal , who calls himself after me. I advise you thereafter to use a pseudonymn to address me, but that whilst you do you adhere to this organs policies, and especiallly AGF. Now get them to clear all our interaction out entirely, and mind yourself. I expect no reply, and I expect you not to delete the article. I you do, you do, and be it on your own head. Now Bob, go read G Seldes, or not. When you have finished there I suggest you trace the words 'synarchy' and 'australia' into Google, and expand further your evidently appropriate reasoning. byebye EffK 17:19, 31 May 2007 (EDT) Bob, since you want to be pro-active, I'll come straight back to you and say that presumably you, Sir, will not see objection to another page dedicated to the Pontifical Council For Social Communications, another to the actual papal (JPII) instructions concerning Internet information change/war, another to Cardinal Cassidy, another to A-Bishop Renato Boccardo, and lastly another analysing the changes being constantly made to Wikipedia in line with the Council and papal instructions. I think that you may be repeating within SW an actual slander, by linking to their publishing characterisation of myself , and thus advise you to remove it forthwith. As the legalities of WP decision can be so analysed, I might start with an article containing the legal intricacies supporting that analysis. Thankyou for the encouragement, and please note that your action is actually contrary to the SW guidelines. As to your immediate earlier deletion of my posts to you, I fail to see how that accords with these last. Have a good day, EffK 03:55, 1 June 2007 (EDT) PS you didn't get the point, Sir, that I have been posted a LIFELONG ban from touching, and thus presumably creating, any 'Catholic' articles. The beatification article is the reason. I would have to say that in your actions, you are assuming a great deal, and taking it upon yourself to unilaterally distort the functions of SW. I wonder if other users are so sure that my experiene and knowledge is not rather more important to SW and its purpose than your censorship of the surrounding facts and links. You were of course wrong not to have contacted me as I was sourceing the article, as you were asked, and that point speaks ill of you. EffK 04:02, 1 June 2007 (EDT) Whilst looking for the final defamation, which was the WP 'Signpost's report of the close of the WP EffK case, I discover that Jimbo must have heeded my advice and removed the defamation, as you can rapidly ascertain that whilst the case is on the table for Febuary 2006, it never closes- see for yourself, and take good note , []. Yep, the Wikipedia Foundation lawyers realised they were publishing a defamation, and really I should thank you Bob, as you see, the link you have placed includes these words, which are more ineradicable! -"has posted..not supported by sources.. conspiracy theories about the Catholic Church". If I had copied that signpost defamation, or if a court were to demand the uncovering of it, there could be an inference of guilt, I imagine. EffK 06:54, 1 June 2007 (EDT) Bob, yep I saved it. but whether you can save your reputaion is another matter. This is clear censorship. Since you assume bad faith and never answer reasonable queries, nor hold to SW guidelines, I must assume that you are a Sourcewatch employee. If you would be so kind as to not delete the 'history' of the article, I could direct a certain intellect whose name is so great that I will not mention it, to that history. Doubtless though, you now will do precisely that. I have to wonder if there are any reasonable editors here who object to you administration. As to your pseudonymity elsewhere, I believe I recognise some connection to paleontology. I have to presume that you have done what you have done for purely Dweec reasons as you so blatantly contradict the entire objective of Sourcewatch. I again advise you that you are in the wrong, and that I am honest, as I produce sources. Good is as good does. EffK 08:35, 2 June 2007 (EDT) Bobby, yr full of it: you saw full well that the EffK refs were to Nizkor|. So, kiddo, what is one to (th)ink ? Full of EffK 19:25, 12 June 2007 (EDT) SW: Double redirects There's a hint to fix double redirects on one of the Source Watch community pages. So I did. A number redirects of the kind like: How a bill becomes a Law/III. Sources of Legislation have no pages that link to them, and can be safely deleted. It is completely non-obvious how to request that a page be deleted, which is what brought me here. Cheers, Redtexture. Visits to Evergreen article Hi Bob... I think that the recent interest in the article on Evergreen International Aviation, Inc. is due to this story, rather than any alleged involvement in extraordinary rendition. Do a few quick searches in Google News and I think you'll agree. So I hope it's ok if I go ahead and tweak the front page to reflect this? Cheers, --Neoconned 09:57, 14 June 2007 (EDT) I forgot to say that in the history of that redirect there lived an article. You may want to revive the article (if you can). Just back up the history one notch. Sorry. -- Redtexture 00:26, 15 June 2007 (EDT) - OK, I'll have a look a little later on or over the weekend - got to finish a couple of other things right now. And thanks for sorting through those ... cheers --Bob Burton 00:41, 15 June 2007 (EDT) SW: Date formatting I don't know where best to bring this up. I am increasingly interested in bringing information from Wikipedia, with citation, and I see that the handling of dates will cause <ref> info to need careful re-editing, which I think is needless, and in the long run prevents taking advantag of the same copyright licensing to improve and expand SW appropriately. Where to lobby that SW conform more closely to WP on dates, and user preferences on dates. See here: for example: w:Wikipedia:Dates#Dates_containing_a_month_and_a_day. (I suspect there are other issues like this that are less obvious, on the "closer compatibility" front.) My short term interest, in the article area is a system of articles that have outlined information not at SW. See this navigation box for a listing: w:Template:Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy. - -- Redtexture 12:52, 22 June 2007 (EDT) why is the bio fro johann hari blocked? self serving stuff Hi Bob Good to see that you are taking a stab at the JH article. I hope that you eliminate some of the self-serving stuff that was entered by Johann Hari himself... NB: IP address was from The Independent. Also, it would be a shame if the email exchange were lost or if the details of the previous version exposition of the Media Lens analysis were also cut. It seems that whoever edited this article earlier was keen to remove that -- these were the most critical aspects of the article. Some of the links moved on: Now are: http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/articles/article0003736.html Kind rgds Antidotto I have a slow connection. Can you give me some tips on how you, AI and the others are able to get so much done at once? Thanks in advance, James Horn SW: Minimum stub article content Thanks for the heads-up on internal links. Also, what is the minimum content for a stub article? Please include a stub article as an example. Thanks again, James Horn Posse Comitatus Revert Can I get a revert on the Posse Comitatus Act article to it's previous SW status? Please see below: After review I don't think that the Posse Comitatus Act article should be commandeered as a Congresspedia article for these reasons: 1. It was written originally as a SW article. 2. It was written as a documentation of public political commentary occurring at the time, not for upcoming legislative bills concerning the act. 3. It documents Congressional action in the face of that commentary. 4. It would be a good SW resource article for any Congresspedia article concerning Posse Comitatus. Therefore I'll request that this article be reverted to it's previous SW status. I'm afraid I can't see the point in removing the Congresspedia tag but can see only downside. CP is a part of the SW project. As a general rule, I donlt see a problem having the CP tag added to appropriate SW articles. The benefit of having the CP tag is identifying it to a pool of contributors who work on US political/legislative issues. It may be that there are issues over the appropriate content of the page (such as historical vs current debates) but that seems to me to be more an issue of how material is organised. I'm of the view that it is better to have the page with the CP tag on it and so have re-instated it. --Bob Burton 21:14, 25 July 2007 (EDT) Fine, they can chase down all the ref's and do the work writing it up. I won't be contributing any more. I hope they have a clue what they're writing about. PCA is over a hundred years old. I don't see it other than background for the John Warner Defense Appropriation Act for Fiscal Year 2007. They certainly can't do any articles on PCA just being passed. A category include would have been more appropriate. Have a good one... JH The stuff you wrote in response to my Tobacco heads-up below? That's just what the controversy about Big Brother is all about. Read the article. US & State Govt's Cash-In on Tobacco Another twist to the Tobacco Saga is the huge amount US and state govts are getting by taxing without end the least represented group involved, tobacco users. Texas just initiated a $10/carton tax this year representing a 33% increase on the previous cost (cost + taxes). But then, that's your government, stick it to the most defenseless. They're just another part of the "tobacco business". Jason T. Christy revsions I do not understand the problem with yesterday's edits to http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jason_T._Christy Is this article irrelevant or am I doing something technically wrong? Associated Baptist Press News: http://www.abpnews.com/2685.article Also at The Baptist Standard: http://www.baptiststandard.com/postnuke/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=6646 and Christianity Today: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/augustweb-only/131-35.0.html Gary McCullough, Director Christian Communication Network 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington DC 20006 SW: Talon Swords weaponized battle robot now deployed - meessageCopy --begin message repost-- Talon Swords - weaponized battle robots deployed I don't know if this is relevant to you, but the US has now deployed the first weaponized robots onto the battlefield in Iraq - Foster-Miller Talon home page - DoD Defense Link: Armed Robots to March into Battle - National Defense magazine - Wired Blog: First Armed Robots on Patrol in Iraq - and where I was clued in: Iraq Slogger If you are unfamiliar with Iraq Slogger, here are two of their categories you ma yfind informative: --end message repost-- cheers, --hugh_manateee 16:42, 4 August 2007 (EDT) cc NC, BB, AI SW: Just picked-up a new Burson-Marsteller ref Bob, I know you were once editing this topic, but I am unsure if you were just cleaning it up or if you had an active interest in it. If the former, you probably know who would be best to deal with this ref: - "Last week I published an article in Foreign Policy.com titled "Why We'd Miss Musharraf" that has generated pushback from Benazir Bhutto's political party and the PR firm she hired, none other than Mark Penn's Burson-Marsteller." Steve Clemons, "Bhutto Fires Back", Washington Note, September 18, 2007 cheers --hugh_manateee 03:18, 23 September 2007 (EDT) Bob- I have never started a page before, only edited, so I am having difficulty figureing out how to cite my sources. My goal is to do a longer article (from a research paper I did in college) regarding ballot inititiaves, so I figured I would start with one of the characters first. Do I just create a seperate part to cite my sources? Thanks- Hi Bob. Yea, I've been involved with the 2008 state portal thing but I might have some free time this weekend or next week to add some more really info and formatting to the Bent Rayburn page. As soon as I find out enough real info about him. Feel free to big me about it if I forget because I have other things to do as well. Cheers, Rich Abott, Sunlight Foundation/Congresspedia Intern, Fall 2007 More Info on (dis)honestreporting.com http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Talk:Honest_Reporting The article is much to clean! Hi Bob, That makes sense, and looks good. Thanks! Chadlupkes 09:49, 12 October 2007 (EDT) No problem! -Spacegrit October 12th 2007 15:51 Thanks Bob, I'm a little rusty these days :) - Spacegrit October 16th 2007 9:34 PDT SW: Article on GreenFacts I have changed the structure of the GreenFacts Foundation article, made a major update to the section "Summarising Scientific Reports", and made a few more changes. Could I possibly get your feedback on these changes? By the way, did you receive the two emails I sent you? Thanks you very much, Jacques (de Selliers, founder and former General Manager of GreenFacts). --Deselliers 17:50, 20 October 2007 (EDT) SW: In re: Jihad Watch Sorry to hit-n-run Bob, but I just caught this on a quick scan of changes via the RSS feed: - From the Jihad Watch page: - In September 2006 Jihad Watch became affiliated with the David Horowitz Freedom Center. David Spencer's articles on Jihad appear regularly in Horowitz's Front Page Magazine. My recollection is that Jihad Watch was founded by Horowitz originally, but I need to check a couple of places for data, for the citations. I'll try to get back with the data and enter it on the page, but no promises... Also, I've been thinking about writing up some instructional info regarding my experiences with squeezing information out of the GPO Access and Library of Congress' Thomas websites/databases to possibly ease the learning curve of others seeking to get data from them. Where in the Source Watch hierarchy do tutorials like this belong? cheers --hugh_manateee 01:16, 19 November 2007 (EST) The S/W Jihad Watch page jives with the wayback machine with the first mention of its affiliation with Horowitz is September 24, 2006, but my recollections are that the affiliation was from the site's inception. The association is there as evidenced from the first wayback machine listing for Spencer; Decrember 28, 2003 - His articles on Islam and other topics have appeared in the Washington Times, FrontPage Magazine.com, Insight in the News, Human Events, National Review Online, and many other journals. While dissing Spenccer, I'll toss in a reference: Carl W. Ernst; Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, "Notes on the Ideological Patrons of an Islamophobe, Robert Spencer", Spring 2004 This challenges Spencer's scholastic background in Islamic History, and points out that his publishers are known hard right-sided: Regnery Publishing Inc, Encounter Books and The Free Congress Foundation. The S/W Robert Spencer stub is much too kind, and could use a bit of sprucing up. I'll keep my eyes open. Let me kmow if you think I should drop any odds and ends on the relevant talk pages, here, or don't bother. I feel lost attempting to edit some of the pages anymore. I need to cram up on the newer editing features and standards. --hugh_manateee 06:37, 20 November 2007 (EST) SW: Rollback vs. Revert Here is one of many examples of the advantages of using the terminology of wikipedia. If various techical terms, and operations, and templates align with wikipedia, then new users fully familiar with one set of terminology don't get confused by the Source watch terms for a familiar action. The momentum is with wikipedia, and my general recomendation is to ride the momentum they create. Several million users, and a couple of hundred thousand dedicated editors. Obviously a topic freighted with some consequence. My point on the topic as a refugee from wikipedia, is that people like me will arrive here at Sourcewatch with a set of terminology and abilities that don't quite apply at Sourcewatch, with experimental mistakes such as mine, as they try to understand what's going on here. Redtexture 22:32, 2 December 2007 (EST) The International Centre For The Study Of Radicalisation Steps have already been taken against SourceWatch. You will notice that SourceWatch's entry of the International Centre For The Study Of Radicalisation does not appear on Google anymore. It's been taken care of that the entry on Google of the ICSR and all its personnel will not appear on Google no matter how much you and all the others write about the organization. In fact do your worst. The reality is that no matter how much you write you won't be able to get the pages back on Google. Please note Mr. Burton I've not vandalized any page nor written any abuse. I look forward to hearing from you or any other editor ;) --PR Newman Re: PR Newman's Comment Wow, PR! It certainly sounds like a 'radical' expression of your intent to engage in an unlawful activity to me. Of course, if anyone were to assess a dollar figure attributable to your role in causing financial loss, well, that would entitle them to seek civil recourse against you. But hey, this is probably all just fun and games for you anyway, right? --Gospelnous 20:29, 5 February 2008 (EST) Similarly I suspect, I noticed someone has plastered a too gaudy table at the above mentioned page. I attempted to edit its removal but it appears hidden. Your help, please? --Gospelnous 20:29, 5 February 2008 (EST) Update: I'm currently communicating and addressing this issue, with one of Congresspedia's assistant managing editors. Thanks for your help. I'll keep you posted regarding any significant developments. --Gospelnous 11:37, 8 February 2008 (EST) Re: John Rednour In regards to your comment, I'm not sure whether it's John Rednour Jr. or Sr. For his support of Clinton, I got the information from Illinois_2008_presidential_primary_and_superdelegates. I'm not sure what the source there is. Flan 06:06, 17 February 2008 (EST) SW: Heads Up Bob I allege bias in the Cato Stub. I haven't tagged Binarybits yet. I felt it best if I gave you a bit of lead time first. Thanks Bob, I saw your note to binarybits and the reply, when I first ran into the Cato Changes about 1 1/2 weeks ago. I know I can go right over the top, and wanted to let you know what I was up to. At the very least, it also provided me the opportunity to post some Time Magazine Archives links to a few relevant stubs on data I've been researching there over the last couple of months. Now that Time has completely opened their archives to all, it is a tremendous reference site that should not be overlooked. --hugh_manateee 19:06, 25 February 2008 (EST) Bob, thanks for cleaning up those pages and adding the new info on there. As you can see, I'm still pretty new to SW - I've been using it as a resource for awhile, but only now decided to get off the sidelines and contribute. thanks again, --kwah 13:46, 27 February 2008 (EST) Bob, yes, that's odd about the Harding Inst. I don't know any more about it than you do - I just stumbled into the website the other day through a Technorati thing on M. Thomas Eisenstadt. I found his blog first, and then the institute. But I'm wondering if there's no links because when they had that crash maybe they had to change their URL? Who knows. Either way, it seems to me to be not much of a think thank - probably one of these small vanity operations based around this Eisenstadt guy. I've seen a few like that around. (ie. Daniel Pipes and his Middle East Forum) SW: thanks Bob For the Cato rewrite. I would have been fairly hard on them in the civil liberties section, and to some degree, this would have been undeserved. Please do no remove or relocate the Independent Institute data on the talk page though, as I intend to relocate at least some of it over to that stub, and it's a hell of a lot easier finding it there, than on my hard drives/DVD archives at some point in the future. cheers --hugh_manateee 08:36, 29 February 2008 (EST) SW: too many irons in the fire Bob, apologies for not getting back to yo sooner. I'll check the Cato article, and pull some sourcing for quotes, I revisit this note later this evening. While waiting for my sluggishness, how about a bit of comedy from the past? - Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution. - GW Bush, "President Bush: Information Sharing, Patriot Act Vital to Homeland Security", Buffalo, New York, April 20, 2004 I need to get a video capture card to I can easily convert RealPlayer streaming video to a static file. I'm thinking about an external, to facilitate its use in my next computer upgrade too. Any suggestions? --hugh_manateee 15:28, 13 March 2008 (EDT) Got your note. Will do. --Sheldon Rampton 17:38, 18 March 2008 (EDT) Just noticed your moving 'red link' front groups from the article to the discussion page... I think it's worthwhile to keep them all listed, as long as we know they're really front groups, whether or not there's a SW article on them. Perhaps a future citizen journo ask / barn raising idea would be to go through the list, confirm each as a front group, and create stubs on each? Diane Farsetta 16:07, 24 March 2008 (EDT) Hi Bob finished. Thanks --PA03 22:55, 25 March 2008 (EDT) Hi Bob Kaethin, Meilin, and I are all working and we opened a chat session on Campfire. I sent you a message about joining in. --Tednace 17:00, 8 May 2008 (EDT) I had no clue what I was doing in that regard... not so good with tables. ;) Thanks! Queerbubbles 17:07, 13 April 2008 (EDT) Hi Bob - I added the full list of ACCCE members. There are certainly more of these that link to SourceWatch articles by slightly different names. I didn't clean it up yet. I'm wondering if you think this is too much "red." (i.e. too many stubs?) Is it better to link to the companies' external websites when we don't have the articles? Join Campfire chat? I'm repeating this message because I stuck it in the wrong place up above... Hi Bob Kaethin, Meilin, and I are all working and we opened a chat session on Campfire. I sent you a message about joining in. --Tednace 17:03, 8 May 2008 (EDT)

This week’s Torah portion is Vayera, Genesis 18 to 22. It is the same Torah portion that we read on the morning of Rosh Hashanah. As I said then, this Torah portion might be seen as a three-act play. The story begins with three angels visiting Abraham and Sarah and proclaiming that, even in their old age, Sarah and Abraham would have a son. Hearing this news, Sarah laughed in disbelief and skepticism. But we don’t usually read that part of the story on Rosh Hashanah. In a Reform synagogue, celebrating one day of Rosh Hashanah, we read the Akedah, the story of the binding of Isaac, from Genesis 22, the third act of the play. It is as if we walked into the theater after intermission. We looked down at our Playbill and noticed that a central character of Act One was absent in Act Three. Most significantly, that character’s voice was missing, silent. But Sarah is not here in the Akedah, and I suggest that her absence adds to the tragic nature of this tale of near sacrifice of a child. The Akedah is a story of action, not emotion. Abraham displays no introspection or doubt. He is not a skeptic. The fact that Sarah is not in this story is, itself, a tragedy. Who was Sarah in that first act? “The Eternal One appeared to Abraham while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent. Abraham looked up, he saw three men standing near him. Abraham ran to meet them, to welcome them into his tent, to feed them with the finest of his grain and the choicest of his calves, with yogurt and milk. They asked, “Where is your wife, Sarah?” God said: “I will return to you when life is due, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years, the way of women had ceased for Sarah. She LAUGHED within herself, saying, “After I have become worn, is there to be pleasure for me? And my husband so old?” Sarah LAUGHED. She was the skeptic. She doubted the word of God. Sarah questioned God’s promise and laughed at the very idea of a miracle. Sarah laughed at the seeming absurdity of the prophecy from God. She showed no intimidation or fear. But Sarah is not around when God tests Abraham by telling him to take his son, Isaac, and offer him up as a sacrifice on Mt. Moriah. Abraham answered, “Hineini”—“I am here.” Abraham is commanded to do the unthinkable, to sacrifice his son, and Abraham responds without a question. There was no doubt, no skepticism. Abraham did not laugh. At the Binding of Isaac, the skeptical voice of Sarah is not heard. If only Sarah were present in this third act of the play. Perhaps if Sarah had been there, she would have questioned this test as well. The rabbis in the Midrash recognize Sarah’s absence. They look at the text and ask: Why does it say: “And Abraham rose up early in the morning.” Why early in the morning? Because Abraham said to himself, “It may be that Sarah will not give permission for us to go. So, I will get up early while Sarah is still asleep. It is best that no one sees us.” The rabbis of ancient times recognized that Sarah was missing from the story, so they wrote her back in and acknowledged that she never would have allowed this frightening story to play out as it did. I am also suggesting that the story is a cautionary tale, telling us that Abraham’s blind obedience is an example of what happens when the voice of the woman is silenced. The story seems to cry out for the mitigating presence of the voice of Sarah. I am certainly not saying that there are no women who are blind believers. Not every woman would doubt the voice of God, or be skeptical or laugh, but Sarah is that paradigm. She is the voice of the skeptic. The story of the Akedah reminds us of the danger inherent in not hearing her voice. A number of recent events have reminded me of the need for the voice of Sarah in our world. We are hearing the voice of women on the college campuses, demanding that they be heard in cases of sexual harassment and violence. Emma Sulkowicz, a senior at Columbia University, has been recognized for her performance piece, “Carry That Weight, ” as she has carried her mattress around the campus as a protest against sexual assault on campus and the failure of university officials to adequately address those assaults and punish the perpetrators. Similar voices are being heard on other campuses, in the military, and in other fields. When the NFL domestic abuse scandals occurred, the New York Times ran a story on the front page of the Sports section, titled: “In coverage of NFL scandals, Female Voices Puncture the Din.” It mentioned ESPN anchor, Hannah Storm, Rachel Nichols of CNN, and Katie Nolan of Fox Sports. The Times pointed out that the domestic abuse story was seen differently through women’s eyes, and their voices helped to define the issue of a culture of violence and misogyny. In my own profession, the American rabbinate has been transformed by the presence of women rabbis. I consider myself fortunate indeed that I became a rabbinic student and then a rabbi at the very beginning of that movement. Sally Priesand had been ordained the first woman rabbi in the Reform movement in 1972. I have spent my entire career working with women rabbis as equal colleagues. I still remember my first CCAR Convention in Pittsburgh in 1980. Reverend William Sloane Coffin spoke and stated that the most important issue in the Women’s Liberation Movement was liberating the female within each male. The American rabbinate has been profoundly changed for the better by the entrance of women rabbis who have been fully integrated into the leadership of the American Jewish world. That is true for the Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist movements, but it is still not the case within Orthodox Judaism. While some progress is being made in the Open Orthodox group within Orthodoxy, it still does not approach equality in the role of women. A recent scandal in Washington demonstrates the danger of exclusive male rabbinic authority. Rabbi Barry Freundel, a highly respected Modern Orthodox rabbi, was arrested and charged with setting up cameras in the showers and changing areas of the mikvah, the ritual bath, attached to his synagogue. This was an incredible violation of privacy, trust, and authority. Rabbi Freundel was a leading figure in conversion within the Orthodox community, and it appears that he particularly targeted women studying for conversion, as well as the many Orthodox women who use the mikvah on a monthly basis. The human impact was enormous. The female victims of his voyeurism were often in their most vulnerable and powerless state. Indeed, the very nature of Orthodox Judaism creates a power imbalance between male rabbis and their female students and congregants. Women studying for traditional conversion are particularly dependent on Orthodox male rabbis who exercise complete control of the process. Within Orthodox Judaism, women still cannot be rabbis, judicial witnesses, or members of the court determining conversion status. The voice of the woman is largely silent within Orthodoxy. The Freundel case is a result of an all male system of religious authority. Male rabbis maintain exclusive control over the laws of Orthodox conversions, and that power can too often be used capriciously and irrationally. While Orthodox rabbinic authority seldom results in sexual abuse, the power imbalance is very real. It might be possible to argue that Rabbi Freundel was a deeply flawed individual whose alleged sexually exploitative acts have no wider implications. But I would disagree. The absence within Orthodoxy of women rabbis of equal stature and authority to the male rabbis creates a culture where abuse of authority is more likely. When women’s voices are silenced, it can lead to terrible consequences. In contrast, the role of women rabbis in liberal Judaism serves as a counterbalance to an anachronistic patriarchal tradition. So I return to this week’s Torah portion of Vayera. How might the story have been different had Sarah’s voice been heard? What would the mother of Isaac have answered if she had been the one to be tested by God? Where was her laugh, her doubt, her skepticism? We regret not hearing Sarah’s voice, but we do know the result of that silence. The very next chapter is Chaye Sarah—Sarah’s life. But the story isn’t about Sarah’s life. Genesis, Chapter 24 begins: “The life of Sarah came to 127 years. And Sarah died in Kiryat Arba—Hebron.” If there were an Act Four to this play, it would be very brief. Sarah died. The curtain descends. The lesson is learned. Sarah’s voice brought life, laughter, skepticism, and doubt. Without that voice, there was silence; there was death. So it is that we must hear the voice of women and men, of children and the aged, of the native born and the stranger.

Tuesday morning Sports Fix - everything you missed overnight - From: News Limited Network - November 27, 2012 QUADE no longer cool, Soccer player dobs himself in, Lazio president visits stabbed Spurs fan, Southee destroys openers & good news for the Wallabies. Get your morning Sports Fix here now! 'CAN WE STAB YOU EVERY WEEK?' Soccer - The Football Association will look into allegations West Ham fans made Nazi chats during a game against Tottenham at White Hart Lane. A section of West Ham's support was reported to have mocked the gassing of Jews in the Holocaust and chanted about Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler during the London derby, which Tottenham won 3-1. Tottenham have a significant fanbase in the Jewish community and an FA spokesman said it was "likely" that the governing body would launch a formal investigation once the match officials' reports had been received. Spurs fans just cannot catch a break, especially after one of their own was stabbed and several others badly beaten before a Europa League game against Lazio in Rome last week. West Ham supporters also sang "Viva Lazio", "Can we stab you every week?". Rugby - Quade Cooper is no longer the bees' knees. Winger Drew Mitchell says the Wallabies have more important things to worry about than their former teammate's future inside the boxing ring. "To be honest no one here's really talking about it. I guess it's been going on for a little while and it's his decision," Mitchell said. Controversial Wallabies playmaker Cooper this week reiterated he would not sign a downgraded incentive-based ARU contract and was putting his rugby career on hold for a charity boxing debut in February. Relations between Cooper and the Australian Rugby Union have completely collapsed and no one is sure when, or if, it will ever get sorted. HONESTY STILL THE BEST POLICY Soccer - Sure there is a fair bit of playing up and over exaggerating every now and then in soccer, but that doesn't mean fair play doesn't exist. Hannover midfielder Lars Stindl has been suspended for one Bundesliga match after pointing out he should be banned for getting five yellow cards this season. The 24-year-old kept better count than German football authorities - who get paid to do so - who failed to register an earlier booking. When Stindl was cautioned over the weekend in a 5-0 loss to leader Bayern Munich, he told his club it should trigger a one-match ban. Stindl says he wasn't tempted to exploit the official error, asking: ``Why should we hide something?'' Hannover published the story on its website with the message: ``Hats off, Lars!'' PRESIDENT VISITS INJURED SOCCER FAN Soccer - Lazio president Claudio Lotito has given up some spare time to visit a Tottenham supporter still in hospital after being viciously stabbed during an attack ahead of last week's Europa League match. Lotito spent about 20 minutes with Ashley Mills, whose femoral artery was gashed on his right thigh. He was given a Lazio shirt with his name on it. If you missed it last week, before Tottenham and Lazio went head-to-head in Rome, a bunch of hooligans attacked Spurs fans in a pub. Glass was smashed, chairs were broken and Mills wasn't the only one to end up in hospital. After leaving the San Camillo Hospital, Lotito said" ``Lazio fans are not racist and this incident had nothing to do with football or sport.'' NZ TAKE CONTROL OVER SRI LANKA Cricket - Tim Southee picked up two wickets off just three balls to put the Kiwis in steady command on the second day of the final Test in Colombo. The fast bowler made real quick work of openers Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara in his second over before Sri Lanka battled to reach 3-43 in their first innings at stumps. They're chasing a tough 412. Southee bowled Dilshan (five) and then had Sangakkara caught by Trent Boult at fine-leg after a mistimed pull. Angelo Mathews was unbeaten on 20 with Tharanga Paranavitana nine not out when play was called off due to bad light, with seven overs remaining in the day. Sri Lanka lead the series 1-0 following their 10-wicket win in the first Test. WALES LOSE JARVIS FOR AUSTRALIA CLASH Rugby - The Wallabies won't have to worry about Aaron Jarvis for their clash against Wales on Saturday, just who might replace the injured Welsh star. Jarvis got hurt during his side's 33-10 defeat against New Zealand on the weekend and may need surgery to get back on the right track. Wales head coach Warren Gatland, who has put back his team announcement until Thursday, hopes to receive better news over the fitness of lock Bradley Davies ahead of this weekend's Test at Millennium Stadium. Britain Wales New Zealand Rugby Union Davies went to hospital after being taken out from behind by Kiwi hooker Andrew Hore, but has trained with teammates already this week. VID OF THE DAY Is this the best putt that's never actually made it into the hole on the green? You be the judge!

BOOKS AND ARTS MARCH 9, 2011 “The concentration camps are a dangerous topic to handle,” the British critic A. Alvarez once wrote. “They stir mud from the bottom, clouding the mind, rousing dormant self-destructiveness.” This has perhaps never been more true for anyone than for Meyer Levin, the author of middlebrow Jewish-American novels such as The Settlers who is now better known, alas, for an obsession with the diary of Anne Frank that seems to have sent him over the edge of sanity. As Rinne Groff tells the story in her new play Compulsion, now playing at the Public Theater in New York, Levin (who appears in the play, barely fictionalized, under the name Sid Silver) was a promising writer and documentary film-maker who was one of the first to interview survivors of the newly liberated concentration camps. (I spoke at an event Monday night that included Groff, Francine Prose, and Nathan Englander.) After he read a French translation of Anne Frank’s diary, Levin was moved to contact Otto Frank, who became his friend and promised him the rights to adapt it for the stage. Levin may also have played some role in convincing Doubleday to publish the diary in English translation after it was rejected by numerous other houses. Levin was initially happy to work with Doubleday in promoting the book, and even managed to place (at their suggestion) a front-page rave in The New York Times Book Review. What happened afterwards is murky, but it seems the publisher soon decided Levin was not the ideal writer for the dramatization. His draft of a script was rejected; the smash-hit Broadway version was written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett. In Levin’s eyes, these writers—non-Jews who were best known for their work on the Frank Capra Christmas film It’s a Wonderful Life—“de-Judaized” Anne Frank by transforming her character from a persecuted Jewish girl into a kind of universal victim. In this, he saw a communist conspiracy masterminded by Lillian Hellman, who was brought into the mix early on as a possible adapter, among others. Now, in Groff’s play, Levin comes across ultimately as a pathetic figure, blinded by his own arrogance, who spends decades torturing himself and his family with his all-encompassing fixation on controlling Frank’s legacy. But Levin was right. Not necessarily about the communist conspiracy, although Ralph Melnick, in his book The Stolen Legacy of Anne Frank: Meyer Levin, Lillian Hellman, and the Staging of the “Diary,” came to support that conclusion. (Groff’s play is only the latest addition to a pile of texts about the turbulent Levin-Frank affair, which also include Levin’s own account, The Obsession, published in 1973, and another historical treatment more even-handed than Melnick’s, Lawrence Graver’s An Obsession with Anne Frank: Meyer Levin and the Diary.) Levin was right about the de-Judaizing of Anne Frank, which is apparent not only in the Broadway play but also in the presentation of her diary from the start. What he seems not to have realized, however, was the extent to which he too was implicated, with his prominent New York Times review stressing Anne’s “infinite human spirit” rather than her Jewishness. The story of the reception of Anne Frank’s diary is a pungent case study of the way works of literature come to be understood as “universal”—which, as Francine Prose adeptly points out in her book about Anne Frank, had come to be used, in the publishing climate of the 1950s, as “the antonym of Jewish.” Levin writes in The Obsession that the problem centered around a passage in the diary in which Anne wrote with pride of her own Jewish identity. “Who has made us Jews different from all other people? Who has allowed us to suffer so terribly up till now?” she wrote. “It is God who has made us as we are, but it will be God, too, who will raise us up again. … We can never become just Netherlanders, or just English, or just … representatives of any other country for that matter, we will always remain Jews, but we want to, too.” In the play, Anne’s emphasis on the particularity of Jewish suffering was erased. “We’re not the only people that have had to suffer,” her character says. “There have always been people that have had to. … Sometimes one race … sometimes another.” Levin was understandably apoplectic at what he called the “censoring” of Anne’s Judaism, an essential characteristic not only because of what happened to her, but also in terms of her own self-definition. Though his fixation would ultimately spin out of control, his outrage was initially justified. But the flattening out of Anne’s Jewishness was not unique to the play. It started with Doubleday’s choice to present the diary with a preface by Eleanor Roosevelt—a shrewd marketing move, but one calculated for its appeal to a general rather than a Jewish audience. As Francine Prose notes, the words “Jew” and “Jewish” never appear in Roosevelt’s preface. Instead, it celebrates the book as “one of the wisest and most moving commentaries on war and its impact on human beings that I have ever read.” This elision cannot be explained as a matter of simple anti-Semitism, especially because the book was championed by a Jewish editor: Barbara Zimmerman, later Barbara Epstein, one of the founders of The New York Review of Books. (In fact, Prose said Monday night that, based on information she received after her own book appeared, she now believes Zimmerman was the true author of the preface.) The “universality” question is bound up with the way we understand literature itself. The greater a work of literature is—so we have been taught to believe, at least—the more completely do the particulars of its plot and characters dissolve into the universal. Anna Karenina is not simply a novel about romantic intrigues among the nineteenth-century Russian aristocracy; it is an exploration of love and family, fundamental aspects of the human condition. Likewise for Jane Eyre, Madame Bovary, and virtually all the great novels of the nineteenth century. Things became more complicated in the twentieth century, as the novel form was used more and more often as a vehicle for communicating a social or political message. Can All Quiet on the Western Front, The Grapes of Wrath, and Beloved—to choose three fairly arbitrary examples—be appreciated separate from the particularities of their settings? Perhaps, but to do so seems to contravene the intentions of their authors. And it also robs these books of part of their special value: to broadcast the news of a catastrophe. Of course, the diary of Anne Frank is not a novel, although Prose argues in her book that it has more in common with that form than is usually appreciated. (Anne Frank revised the diary heavily during her last months in hiding with an eye to its potential future publication, cutting some entries, clarifying and expanding others, and even writing new ones from scratch.) But, as a work of literature that strives to reach a general audience, it is subject to the same pressure as these catastrophe-novels: It must bear witness to an atrocity, yet—if the book is to be widely read—it must depict that atrocity in a way that will generate the greatest sympathy and understanding. Levin understood this tension. His Times review seesaws between his understanding of Frank as a Jewish victim and his desire to present her as a young girl who was in many ways like any other. The word “Jew” appears early on, as Levin sets the diary’s scene: “the life of a group of Jews waiting in fear of being taken by the Nazis.” But he goes on to emphasize that this is “no lugubrious ghetto tale, no compilation of horrors.” Rather, “it is so wondrously alive, so near, that one feels overwhelmingly the universalities of human nature. These people might be living next door; their within-the-family emotions, their tensions and satisfactions are those of human character and growth, anywhere.” Anne Frank’s voice, Levin says, becomes “the voice of six million vanished Jewish souls.” But, in her crush on Peter, her squabbles with her sister, and her ultimate disillusionment with the romance, she is also an ordinary teenager whose feelings are “of the purest universality.” And, in his desire to emphasize the diary’s relevance to Americans, Levin goes even further in his universalism than the Broadway adapters later would: This quality [the depiction of life under threat] brings it home to any family in the world today. Just as the Franks lived in momentary fear of the Gestapo’s knock on their hidden door, so every family today lives in fear of the knock of war. Anne’s diary is a great affirmative answer to the life-question of today, for she shows how ordinary people, within this ordeal, consistently hold to the greater human values. Levin declined to quote the passage he cited in The Obsession in which Anne reflected on her Jewish identity. His review ends with the line: “Surely she will be widely loved, for this wise and wonderful young girl brings back a poignant delight in the infinite human spirit.” Here, perhaps, is the root of Levin’s fury: his awareness of his own role in creating a vision of Anne Frank that would ultimately work against him as her dramatist. This role was hardly unique, either to him or to Doubleday: Both Elie Wiesel and Primo Levi acceded to their publishers’ pressure to emphasize the universal aspects of their memoirs. The fact that such impulses were motivated by considerations more literary than anti-Semitic does not necessarily make them easier to accept. Are human beings so fundamentally lacking in natural empathy that a Jewish catastrophe must be universalized in order to generate feeling? Do we really seek only ourselves in the books we read? If this is true, then Meyer Levin’s obsession with his own grievances might be the most universal tragedy of all. Ruth Franklin is a senior editor at The New Republic.

One of the many questions that critics of President Clinton’s 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act — the “end of welfare as we know it” — used to ask was, “What happens to the poor when there’s no more welfare and the economy goes bust?” That dark scenario became a reality last month as the first wave of Americans lost their benefits during a recession accelerated by a national tragedy. To many, welfare reform seemed like a success story: The number of people on welfare dropped 50 percent; the number of people living in poverty dropped, too. That was during good times, however, and now many states, afforded more freedom by the 1996 law, are wondering whether their deadlines have come too soon. But beyond unemployment and thinned-out welfare rolls, what were the last five years like for welfare recipients? Surprisingly, as LynNell Hancock, author of “Hands to Work: The Stories of Three Families Racing the Welfare Clock,” writes, we haven’t heard much about the people supposedly benefiting from the policy often touted as one of the most important reforms of Clinton’s administration. Hancock, who’s written for the New York Times and Newsweek, spent over three years with three very different Bronx women who were trying to survive in a post-welfare reform world. She observed the tiny details of their stress-ridden lives. There’s Brenda, an African-American single mother of two; Christine, a Puerto Rican mother of four and a heroin addict; and Alina, a young Russian refugee desperate to become a doctor. What Hancock found was a mind-bogglingly bureaucratic system unsympathetic to the complex and varied lives of the people it intended to serve. Salon spoke to Hancock from her home in Montclair, NJ. It’s like two trains colliding. One train is this recession that was already starting before Sept. 11 and then was exacerbated by it. Unemployment is rising — 35,000 people were laid off from Ford just the other week. The other train is all these welfare recipients who are timing off their benefits and are expected to go out into an economy that has fewer and fewer jobs. One of the hallmarks of welfare reform — the 1996 Personal Responsibility Act — was a deadline. Families have a five-year lifetime limit to be on welfare. So if you went on welfare in 1996, and you had a family, your benefits timed out at the end of December. Now, every month, a new wave of people time out of their welfare benefits for a lifetime. The assumption is that a deadline is all people need to become self-sufficient, when in fact the situation can be much more complicated. And it doesn’t take into account something like Sept. 11, which accelerated the recession and unemployment. States are already looking at their deadline policies and giving exemptions to more people than they thought they would. In September, Congress is going to look at all these policies. I hope they decide to eliminate the deadline. It seems arbitrary. How many people have been pushed into self-sufficiency? Do we know? Success rates depend on who you talk to. Welfare rolls have dropped by more than half, so the assumption is that a percentage of those have moved out of poverty. Unfortunately, there are too many others who are working but are still poor. Those are the numbers that are growing and are more alarming. Recently, the U.S. Conference of Mayors put out a survey that showed a 23 percent rise in the number of people who are seeking emergency food help in soup kitchens and a 13 percent rise nationwide in people seeking homeless shelter over last year’s figure. Only 60 percent of the people who are eligible for food stamps actually are getting them. That’s another indication that there is a problem with hunger out there. What made you decide to look at the personal side of welfare reform? In 1995, I was on a bus in the Bronx and I saw a group of junior high school girls giggling and taking over the atmosphere of the bus. Then, all of a sudden, they stopped. One of the girls was looking out the window and she whispered to her friend that that was her mother picking up trash on the side of the street. She said, “My mother told me she was working in an office.” This was a long time ago, before the Personal Responsibility Act was passed, but the city had already instigated a work experience program that put 35,000 welfare recipients on the streets working off their benefits by picking up trash. We’d only heard stories in the paper that were mostly self-congratulatory about how wonderful the system was and how it was really helping to push people off the welfare rolls and into jobs. But in that instant on the bus, I realized there must be a hundred personal stories about how this was affecting real people’s lives. I was surprised how many people so generously agreed to let me into their lives. Why did you choose these three, and what do their examples show about welfare? I finally chose the Bronx as a background to the narrative; if all of the women lived in the same neighborhood, that would at least provide one unifying factor. The Bronx was an important geographic place because there’s an extremely entrenched welfare population there. The unemployment rate is always about twice the city’s average, and the city’s average is usually about twice the national average. The Bronx would be the real testing ground. I chose people who were willing to stick with me. Brenda, for example, is an African-American single mother of two. Her demographic is statistically common among welfare recipients. She had a high school degree, and yet she didn’t have a college degree, which really would have upped her marketable skills. How much did their educational backgrounds affect what jobs they found? It had a tremendous effect. To me, one of the biggest failures of welfare reform is that they have really devalued education as a way to lift people out of poverty. It’s a time-honored way out of poverty. A college degree lifts a person’s wages something like 30 percent. And the welfare system didn’t seem to make it easier for students like Alina. Exactly. In fact, Alina basically had to skate under the radar in order to get her bachelor’s degree. The welfare rules really don’t allow recipients to get four-year degrees, and often they make it impossible for them to get two-year degrees as well because the emphasis is on work. They fill up their days with 30-hour WEP, or Work Experience Program, assignments, which are unpaid. It makes it very difficult to study, to go to class or to care for children. As you wrote in your book, when Clinton passed the Personal Responsibility Act, he said that the money spent on welfare was not the point. Then he indicated that welfare has so much more to do with attitudes. Why haven’t we come to terms with welfare? If you have a large percentage of people in the richest nation of the world who are unable to lift themselves out of poverty, people who are uninformed immediately will say, “It must be something about them; they don’t have the work ethic.” We were always suspicious of having the federal government hand out money to people — until the Depression. But compared to other industrialized nations, we’ve always been notoriously stingy with our social welfare programs. In 1996, we were only spending 1 percent of our national budget on welfare. The result is that we have the second highest rate of child poverty among the 24 Westernized nations. In the 1960s, the welfare rights movement started heating up in New York City. There was no federal program to make sure that they knew they were eligible. Once programs were set up, the rolls tripled with mostly single black women with children getting welfare. This changed the whole racial complexion of welfare and started sending off alarms in Congress: “What are we doing developing a whole segment of our population who will be dependent on welfare?” The old ambivalence kicked in again: “How can we give people something for nothing? It’s going to create indolence and laziness, they’ll lose their work ethic and we’re doing a disservice to society.” Did you see evidence of that? Did you see that the welfare system had bred laziness? It’s very rare. I expected to see more of it than I did, and I was looking for it. Occasionally, I would hear about a friend of another welfare recipient who everyone was down on for being on the rolls for so long. But none of them was living the queen’s life as Reagan liked to portray. There was no one driving around in a Cadillac. These people were really scraping by. Most people have worked their whole lives. The more common situation is that a mother worked at a minimum wage job. She had no health insurance. So when something happened — for example, she got sick or pregnant, her child got sick, her teenager needed some help, a custody situation devoured her time — that mother has to quit her job. The only place she could turn was the government. With these three women, did you get the impression that they all wanted to work and get off welfare? How did they feel about welfare? They felt that this was a system that was designed to degrade them. At the same time, they needed the help to eat and pay rent. So they were grateful that it was there. Medicaid was an extremely important benefit. But in order to get welfare and stay on welfare, there was a daily set of indignities that they had to endure, and they often felt that the rules were very counterproductive. Did you think that the New York system was trying to bounce people off the rolls? Without question. That was part of the design. The administrators and the lawmakers were often quite candid about that: They believed that welfare is bad. They designed the welfare offices to make sure that they would deter people from welfare rather than sign them up. If there was no other choice, then they would immediately send them into WEP work. Another piece of evidence that shows that this was deliberate was that the city never really divulged what happened to all the people who were bumped off welfare during most of the six years of welfare reform. They were constantly being asked, “OK, 500,000 people have left the rolls. What’s happened to them?” They didn’t reveal that data. Have they revealed that now? Not with the sort of data that we would like to see. Just recently, we found out that only 6 percent of the people who were working WEP jobs got real jobs, which is a very embarrassing figure for the city. Of course, this is what everyone was suspecting. You mention, at one point, that they were devoting a lot of energy and money to fraud investigators. What did these women have to deal with? In 1995, when Giuliani started welfare reform in earnest, his top priorities were 1) to put welfare recipients to work for their benefits, and 2) to beef up fraud investigation. The idea was that if we can push people off the rolls who don’t legitimately belong there, then we can really start cutting back on welfare dependency in the city. He set up a fairly expensive fraud investigation bureau in Brooklyn. Now, when a person goes on welfare, they first get all their documents checked by the local welfare office, then they have to go to the fraud investigation office to have the same documents rechecked. They get fingerprinted. Then they have to wait in their apartments for a fraud investigator to visit their home. If you miss one of these many appointments, you get bumped off and have to start all over again. That’s another reason why welfare recipients feel that all these things are designed to just get them off the rolls and not really help them. They feel like criminals. They’re under suspicion from the second they apply for help. What was your impression of the caseworkers? Are they paid well? How do they act toward the welfare recipients? I wish that I could have had more voices of caseworkers in the book, but they were under a gag order by the mayor. The general answer is no, they’re not paid well and they’re fairly miserable. Their ranks were cut back enormously, so their workloads were much higher. You have the whole range of caseworkers — some who were really happy that they could start cracking down on welfare recipients, and others who went into casework because they wanted to help people. Still, they could only tell people, “You have to go work. I don’t care if you don’t have the child care you like. Here’s what you have to do or else we’ll bump you off.” The atmosphere of the welfare office was never one that didn’t need reforming. It was always a fairly humiliating experience, but it wasn’t quite as punitive as it became after 1995. Do you think that Clinton’s welfare reform was inadequate because they were expecting people to make these transitions in a short amount of time? Or do you think that we simply can’t do without welfare in this country? It was fairly unrealistic to expect people to just get off welfare and get a job. It did not take into consideration all the constellations of problems that individual recipients have. It failed to provide the supports that people need to get a job and stay off welfare. The goal of welfare reform was to end welfare and not necessarily to end poverty. We’re seeing the results of that now with the rise of the number of working poor. People were pushed into low-paying jobs. They didn’t have time to build up their skills to get better jobs and they didn’t have time to go to college, so they were forced into the job market at a minimum wage level, which kept their families in poverty. But the poverty rate fell, right? It did fall. Economists are still trying to figure out if that was because of the amazing prosperity boom in the ’90s. The researchers have found that most of the people who were most successful in getting off welfare were those who already had a high level of education and a high level of job experience. It was not successful among those who had an enormous number of barriers — mental illness, sexual abuse, substance abuse, no high school degree and so on. That’s the group of people that are still on the welfare rolls. After witnessing what some of these women have been through, do you think it’s the government’s responsibility to address things like domestic violence and addiction? How can it? This is how complicated the whole problem is — yes, if we really are serious about getting people to work and getting them off public assistance, then we have to recognize that there are all sorts of issues that keep them from being able to keep a steady job and move up in the job ranks. Take Christine. She almost didn’t have a chance from the moment she was born. She was sexually abused her whole life. She had relatives who would blow crack in her face and addict her at a very young age. Her mother died violently when she was 17 years old — she was either pushed or fell out of their fifth-story Bronx apartment building — and this forever affected Christine. This is a very smart woman. She managed to get a high school degree and a real estate license. She can do it, if she gets help with a lifetime of mental illness. This is one thing that you see a lot, especially in the Bronx. Mental health services are very sparse, and the need for them is enormous. Many of these people end up doing drugs in order to self-medicate. She also suffered domestic violence. I was totally overwhelmed by the amount of trauma in her life. I was amazed that she gets up and takes care of her four kids every day. We’ve got the money to deal with these issues if we want to divert it into programs that help people. In your sections on Alina, who is a Russian Jewish refugee, you mentioned that there are certain poor, immigrant communities that fare better than others. I’m wondering what helps them out, and what does that tell us about what struggling communities need? I didn’t do a lot of reporting outside of the Russian Jewish population on this topic, so I’ll be speaking in generalities. But the Korean community tends to do better, too, and that’s mostly because they come over to a community that’s already intact. They all help each other. Uncles and aunts are already here who help establish family members in a greengrocer’s store, for example. For Russian Jews, the federal laws as well as the state laws are much more generous. Russian refugees — as well as Cambodians, Vietnamese, Thais and Laotians — are given four months of federal assistance, and then they’re allowed to go on welfare right away. The regular immigrant population, outside of these small groups, are not allowed to go on welfare until they’ve been here for five years. Those are a very difficult five years; they come over with little money, no English, few job skills. That’s the period of time when they really need some help. You can only surmise that making them wait five years is an effort to push them back home. I also think that they don’t want people to flee here in order to get on welfare. Russian Jews also succeeded in a lot of ways because they had intact families here. There are lots of foundations for Jewish refugees that are directly involved in assisting these families. There’s a federal/international network that helps them; there’s a lot of interest in maintaining religious freedom. And certainly we were against the Soviet Union, so we love to help anyone who wants to flee. The other factor is that in the Soviet Union, and also in Korea, the school system was quite good. So the people coming over had a strong education background. In Alina’s case, from the day she was born she wanted to be a doctor, and this was possible in the Soviet system. She never gave up that dream. How much were these women expected to live on? The welfare benefit in New York City is $577 [a month] for a family of three, and that includes a $286 rent subsidy. If you think about it, what apartment can you find for $286 in New York City? That does not include health insurance. They’re expected to live on $577, and that rate has not changed really since 1970 in real dollars. So it keeps people in deep poverty if they remain on welfare. I don’t think the general public realizes how small the benefit is. I was surprised to find that New York’s rate is actually one of the more generous ones. If you go to the Deep South, it’s practically pennies. How are these women doing now? Christine nearly died of her drug addiction, which was not helped by being constantly kicked off of welfare. But she got herself into Samaritan Village, which is an upstate drug rehabilitation center, and she’s been clean of drugs for the last year and a half. She just got her children returned to her from the foster care system, and she is working as an intern in a medical center in the Bronx. It’s really a miracle given what she’d been through. At the moment she’s getting a very small welfare benefit — $38 every two weeks. She doesn’t complain and she’s determined more than ever, especially for her children. Alina married her Moldovan high school sweetheart, and she’s now in her third year of medical school. She’s doing her rotation work in a Bronx hospital, so she’s not making an income, but she’s on her way. And Brenda, the heart and soul of the book, was really an example of what happens to the working poor. She was on welfare for about a year but just last week, Saks Fifth Avenue hired her permanently after she’d had a seasonal job there. So she’s flying high. She’s making $4 more an hour than she was at her cafeteria job. She’ll be in better shape if she can keep this job; of course, retail jobs are very shaky in this economy. Someone might say maybe welfare reform had something to do with these happy endings. Right, and you know what? I can see why people would say that. But if you followed, say, Brenda’s life day to day, you’d realize that in spite of welfare reform she managed to get this job. Welfare reform did nothing to help her along the way. It did help by keeping her in an apartment and giving her food stamps. But she would have gotten this job anyway, and I think she would have gotten a better job sooner if she’d been allowed to spend longer time on welfare and get an education. Do you think the same for the others? Yes, [their success] is in spite of welfare reform. Alina was breaking the welfare rules in order to stay on welfare just long enough to get her four-year degree. She knew that’s what she needed to get herself out of poverty. And she fought all these rules all along the way. Once again, in spite of the new world of welfare reform, she’s never going to be on welfare again. And welfare helped support Christine along the way while she was in and out of drug rehab. But also, too often, they kept bumping her off. She would go for maybe a month without any assistance at all because she had not filled out a questionnaire, because she had missed an appointment. One time they lost her address because she was homeless, so they stopped her checks, which put her into distress. Welfare was like an asterisk in her very complicated life, and more often than not, it hurt her rather than helped her. She didn’t need welfare to say “Fill out this questionnaire and get a job.” She needed so much more than that. This will be a long year for welfare reform as more and more people lose their benefits. What do you hope will happen this year? We need to make sure that ending poverty is the goal and not just ending welfare. Now it’s very narrowly focused on getting people off welfare and getting them into jobs and not filling in the blanks in between. I’m hoping that if people pay more attention to individual cases, they’ll realize that more investment in child care and health insurance is incredibly important. Welfare needs to ensure that people earn a livable wage and not just a barely adequate one. To do that we need to expand our enhancements of the low-end paychecks and also to make sure that Medicaid still kicks in to cover people who are working but can’t necessarily afford health insurance on the side. Also, I hope that Congress will reverse this “work first, education much later” maxim and restore education to a more prominent place. If we don’t start helping people enhance education, they’re never going to get out of poverty-level jobs.

EVERYTHING ABOUT A MOVIE? |BABY IT'S YOU (director/writer: John Sayles; screenwriter: story by Amy Robinson/Amy Robinson; cinematographer: Michael Ballhaus; editor: Sonya Polonsky; cast: Rosanna Arquette (Jill Rosen), Vincent Spano (Albert 'Sheik' Capadilupo), Joanna Merlin (Mrs. Rosen), Jack Davidson (Dr. Rosen), Nick Ferrari (Mr. Capadilupo), Dolores Messina (Mrs. Capadilupo), Marta Kober (Debra, High School Girl); Runtime: 95; MPAA Rating: R; producer: Griffin Dunne/Amy Robinson; Paramount Pictures; 1983)| uneven teenage romantic comedy by John Sayles." Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz An uneven teenage romantic comedy by John Sayles ("Matewan"/"City of Hope"/"Return of the Secaucus Seven"), based on a story by Amy Robinson. It tells of a mid-1960s high school romance in Trenton, New Jersey between a pair of opposites from "different sides of the track." Jill Rosen (Rosanna Arquette) is a college-bound, middle-class, naive, smart and pretty Jewish girl interested in drama and Sheik Capadilupo (Vincent Spano) is a self-absorbed lower-class confidant Italian who is a great dresser interested in looking good and acting Sinatra-like cool. Sheik tells Jill that only three people matter to him ''Jesus Christ, Frank Sinatra and me.'' The handsome 'car booster' pushes his way into the headstrong girl's crowded school-oriented life by stalking her until she agrees to go out with him, and though their romance seems impossible we follow their relationship through high school and what happens when she goes off to Sarah Lawrence college and gets influenced by the hippie counter-culture, frets over school pressures and no longer finds him compatible. But they still keep contact with each other, as he ends up having to face reality in Miami by getting a gig lip-synching Sinatra hits in a raunchy nightclub. They have a bitter-sweet reunion in Miami and in the conclusion he realizes that his dreams will not come true, and he leaves Miami to see Jill once again in her dorm for a bitter-sweet reconciliation. It was for indie filmmaker Sayles his first film to be made with financial backing by a major studio (Doubleday backed it and Paramount bought it), but he swore it would be his last as he was pissed that he lost final editing cut. For Sayles this is lighter fare than what he usually tackles, but he fights through all the teenage clichés to give his own spin on this romance, the significance of social-class differences, how it is to finally grow up by listening to your heart and to change with the times. The film is aided by the music of Bruce Springsteen, Sinatra and Shirelles. REVIEWED ON 1/10/2007 GRADE: B- Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews" © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ

The State has added a new charge of fraud in the case of twin brothers accused of planning to set off explosives at a U.S. embassy and Jewish institutions. Brandon-Lee and Tony-Lee Thulsie, 23, appeared briefly in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on Tuesday where the State submitted a provisional indictment to the court. A female in the public gallery blew the pair a kiss as they walked down the dock. They both face 11 counts including contravening the Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Act. The State added the 12th count of fraud which was allegedly committed in the Free State in 2015. According to the indictment handed over to the court: On August 9, 2015 at the magisterial district of Ficksburg in the Free State the accused "unlawfully and with intent to defraud, presented Lesotho passport[s] in the names of Christian Adam Leroy and Germain Adams Troy to department of home affairs manning [the] border post between South Africa and Lesotho as being their own valid passports". The State further allege that the accused were aware that the passports were false, as well as their names. Prosecutor Chris MacAdam asked the court to postpone the matter to May 15 in order to deal with the centralisation process of the fraud charge which is outside the jurisdiction of Gauteng. In January, their case was postponed for further investigation. At the time, their lawyer Annelene van den Heever argued that the case should be struck off the roll and that the State needed to get its house in order. "This matter should be struck off the roll and reinstated when the State has more evidence to place the matter back on the roll," she said at the time. The twins were arrested in July 2016 during raids in Newclare and Azaadville on the West Rand. According to their charge sheet, the brothers, who were arrested along with siblings Ebrahim and Fatima Patel, were allegedly linked to the self-proclaimed Islamic State group and were allegedly planning to set off explosives at a US embassy and "Jewish institutions" in SA. The investigating officer found the twins had been active on social media prior to their arrests, allegedly discussing matters that could incriminate them.

By: Frank Salvato Fifteen years on from the attacks of September 11, 2001, and Osama bin Laden is dead. This serves as a symbolic victory in the war against Islamofascism. But the fact of the matter is we are less safe; more vulnerable to an attack by Islamic jihadists than we were eight years ago. The blame for this must be laid at the feet of the politically correct. We have withstood eight years of foreign policy that has seen the Middle East turn from volatile region with pockets of jihadist activity to a centralized location for Islamofascist tyranny. Sharia Law has been invoked, in many places at the tip of the sword. Christians are being slaughtered at will by Islamic State barbarians. And Iran, the most prominent nation state sponsor of terrorism in the world, is now a budding nuclear power – and a Shi’ite counter to the Saudi Sunni balance on the delicate scales of explosive jihad. We suffer these realities because of an American power vacuum courtesy of a squeamish and non-committal – and perhaps Islamofascist sympathetic – Obama Administration, who chose to anchor US influence as a “cog” in the global machine instead of a leading force for freedom and liberty around the world. This administration – which, no doubt, will go down as the most debilitating force against freedom and liberty, globally – employed a foreign policy with priorities based in macro-regional power realignment. This realignment did not have battling Islamofascist terror operations as a priority. Instead it served to ignore reality in denying and refusing to recognize the problem as it facilitated “regime change” throughout the region. Clinging to the naïve and misguided hope that regime change would bring to power new “enlightened” governance; the hope that the new despots would be more accommodating to the United States than the old, the Obama Administration stood by as Islamofascists acquired power throughout the region. Today the Islamic State is militarily active in six locations around the globe, al Qaeda is reconstituted – complete with its own glossy international magazine that indoctrinates single-cell operatives to action, and the Taliban attacks US installations and major institutions in downtown Kabul at it leisure. Today, Islamic State barbarians capture Christian and Yazidi women and young girls and sell them into the sex slavery trade and/or use them for concubines. Those who refuse or fight off their rapists are executed, some locked in cages and set on fire for their insolence. Today, radicalized Americans of Muslim descent take up arms and commit acts of mass murder on American soil. And instead of addressing this spreading cancer with fact-based information and empowering law enforcement to counter the evil, the Obama Administration seeks to make us – the innocent Americans threatened by this Islamofascist threat – “understand” why we deserve these acts of butchery. We are fifteen years on from the slaughter of 2,996 innocents in the towers of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and our military men and women, still serving in harm’s way; still fighting the good fight against Islamofascist evil, are waging their battles with rules of engagement that keep them from taking the fight to the enemy, even as the Democrat candidate for President of the United States says we don’t have any military personnel deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Fifteen years ago many of us who stood strong against those who accused us of being “racist” and “Islamophobic” screamed from the roof tops that this conflict; this war against Islamofascism; this Holy War declared against us by Osama bin Laden himself – twice, we said our country had to be dedicated in our efforts. We preached and wrote and talked and begged anyone who would listen to understand that the battle we were to undertake, the war not of our making but the war we needed to win at all costs, was multi-faceted and generational; one that encompassed military, educational, economic and cultural battlefields. Our efforts had to be equally applied in each theater and for the duration. But with the election of Barack Obama, those efforts ceased almost entirely. Our military effort – not the military, but the effort; the orders being handed down to our capable troops – was hobbled. The policies of the United States facilitated economic wherewithal to the Islamofascists, even paying ransom to the Iranian mullahs who would, in turn, use that money for terror, and military and nuclear development operations. It is, today, punishable to teach the true oppressive tenets of Islam in schools. And the administration itself is expediting the dilution of the American culture by the importation of Syrian and Muslim refugees from the volatile region into the United States; into our neighborhoods. Today, fifteen years on, the United States is in the crosshairs of Islamofascists who seek to end the “Great Satan,” and unless we have a radical and immediate change in foreign policy and the approach with which we fight this generational war we are on track to lose, at the very least, by attrition. I often think about the “Falling Man” of September 11, 2001. I wonder about the horror that must have gone through his mind – and all the minds of those who had the unenviable choice of either burning alive in the Twin Towers or leaping to their deaths to the street below. I wonder what he would think of the policies of the last eight years and the ceding of power in the Middle East to Islamofascists like those who affected his death on that fateful day. I think about the Falling Man…and I weep for our country. Fifteen years on. Frank Salvato is the Executive Director of BasicsProject a grassroots, non-partisan, research and education initiative focusing on Constitutional Literacy, and internal and external threats facing Western Civilization. His writing has been recognized by the US House International Relations Committee and the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention. His opinion and analysis have been published by The American Enterprise Institute, The Washington Times, The Jewish World Review, Accuracy in Media, Human Events, Townhall.com and are syndicated nationally. Mr. Salvato has appeared on The O’Reilly Factor on FOX News Channel, and is the author of six books examining internal and external threats facing our country. Mr. Salvato’s personal writing can be found at FrankJSalvato.com.

“We’ve had a phenomenal response,” says Mary Murray, RN, Clinical Educator for the hospice. Since MUSIC & MEMORY® was introduced at Barnabas last September, the program has not only enriched residents, but also boosted staff morale and volunteer involvement. “It’s a win-win-win situation,” she says, “something happy and uplifting in the hospice world.” Take the experience of one man in his sixties, blind and a double amputee. “We created a list that included the Grateful Dead, Foreigner, a lot of classic rock-n-roll,” says Murray. “It made such an improvement in his quality of life. He wasn’t limited to listening to his TV 24 hours a day. He had his music.” Hospices are among the most recent additions to the Music & Memory family. Settings vary from dedicated hospice facilities to hospice services within nursing homes to hospice care in private homes. Musical Connection Enhances Final Days Whatever the organizational structure, all share a common experience: Favorite music makes a world of difference for residents, their families and the professionals who care for them. “We’ve had a woman dancing in her bed,” says Deirdre Downes, Corporate Director of Social Work Initiatives for Jewish Home Lifecare in Greater New York. “Families have something to do when they come into the room. They can turn the music on and engage with their family member. The music has been really beneficial.” Even for young children, sharing music and helping to identify musical favorites can be a meaningful way to stay connected with a loved one at the end of life. According to hospice professionals at MUSIC & MEMORY® Certified Care Facilities, speaking on a recent conference call about best practices, kids enjoy sharing the gift of music with their grandparents, especially when they can meet in a private room and listen to songs together. Generating a playlist has become an essential part of resident intake for some hospice programs. Families have the opportunity to share more personal background about their loved ones’ favorite music and activities as teens. As one conference call participant noted, “When we get them involved in creating a list for the resident, there is much more joy in the process. It’s so beneficial for end-of-life care.” Caregivers at Home Gain Needed Respite Reports from home-based hospice care are also enthusiastic. Conference call participants noted positive feedback from caregivers and family members, who appreciate how the personalized playlists bring joy back to their loved ones while also giving the caregivers a much needed daily respite. Leadership buy-in to Music & Memory is always a crucial aspect of creating a successful program, whatever the care setting. Deirdre Downes says her facility was able to get significant funding by sharing stories with board members about how personalized music has benefited residents. Saying “Thank You” Spreads the Music “Our board really responded to the Henry video and stories,” she says. Social work student interns shared videos that they had made of residents and stories about how the program was implemented. “Our Development Department has taught us that when you get a gift from the board, go back, say ‘thank you’ and tell them how you’re using it,” says Downes. That approach garnered a five-figure gift from a board member that will enabled the facility to purchase iPods for all residents as well as hire part-time help to set up the program. To have music available for residents, especially when they are in their rooms for many hours toward the end of life, has been a great gift. “There’s no doubt,” says Downes. “People really respond to the music.” Founded in 2010, MUSIC & MEMORY® is a non-profit organization that brings personalized music into the lives of the elderly or infirm through digital music technology, vastly improving quality of life.

Devastating wildfires weren’t the only disaster that struck California during the early weeks of October. Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law a series of bills authored by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, that may turn the state into one of the fastest-growing and most-dangerous cultural cesspools in the nation — though some would argue it has already achieved this dubious honorific. Wiener, an East Coast Jewish homosexual, told SF Gate, “There are times when you introduce legislation that you ruffle some feathers. If you don’t, you aren’t doing your job.” This Wiener has been working overtime to debase the state since his election in 2015. To give you a flavor of what Wiener is about, here was the campaign ad that apparently stole the votes of San Franciscans from his Democratic rival, Chinatown machine politician with ties to a convicted pedophile, Jane Kim. The following five bills would likely be viewed as controversial among more traditional (non-liberal) Democrats — had they known about them. Fortunately for Brown, there was a mass shooting in Las Vegas on Oct. 1 and one of the worst firestorms in the state’s history on Oct. 8 to distract the mainstream media. Rather than be highlighted, local news about the unwinding of laws designed to protect children, families and communities from degenerate predators was downgraded to mere briefs. Only those who benefit from and lobby for such bills chimed in via mainstream press, leaving the impression that there’s nothing to see here, move along. Au contraire. Let’s review. Oct. 4: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Long-Term Care Facility Residents’ ‘Bill of Rights’ SB-219 seems innocuous at first glance. In short, it makes it unlawful for nursing homes to discriminate against people based on their sexual preference, gender identity or HIV status. Read further into the bill, however, and it becomes draconian. It also makes it “unlawful” if staff are “willfully and repeatedly failing to use a resident’s preferred name or pronouns after being clearly informed of the preferred name or pronouns.” That means that not using a resident’s preferred pronoun could lead to civil penalties of up to $1,000, loss of one’s professional license and up to a year in jail, according to CBN News. Oct. 5: Sanctuary State Bill SB-54 (dba “California Values Act”), simply put, bars local law enforcement from assisting federal immigration agents in the identification and capture of illegal immigrants. Police are no longer allowed to stop and question illegal immigrants about their status or share information with immigration officials. Trump vowed to de-fund California if it became a sanctuary state, but he also announced funds would be provided to help Californians affected by the wildfires. We will have to wait and see whether his threat materializes when it comes to non-emergency appropriations. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions sought to cut off sanctuary cities from federal grants, but judges blocked the effort. Oct. 6: HIV Criminalization Reform SB-239 decriminalizes the act of knowingly and deceptively exposing another person to the HIV virus via unprotected sex or the donation of blood, tissue or breast milk. What was once a felony punishable by two to eight years in jail is now a misdemeanor on par with other infectious communicable diseases. It also repeals California laws that required people convicted of prostitution for the first time be tested for AIDS and increased penalties for sex workers who previously tested positive for AIDS. This bill to “modernize discriminatory HIV criminalization laws” is evil beyond the pale — but oh what a boon for the prostitution and porn industries! Oct. 6: Sex Offender Registration Act SB-384 will eventually purge California’s existing sex offender registry of 90 percent of identified sexual convicts. Pervert Justice Warriors (PJW), like this gal at Bloomberg, applauded this bill, citing a few rare instances in which the listed convict was threatened. PJWs argue we must embrace and integrate these demons into our community in order to normalize them. Damned be the children, apparently. Press reporting on this bill is full of lies and misinformation, but there were two important things they all got wrong. First, not all registered California sex offenders can be viewed online by the public. California has two registries: a limited one that the public can see via the Internet and a comprehensive one that only law enforcement sees. The one the public can see has been around for about 20 years and is run by Megan’s Law. It primarily consists of those convicted of crimes against children. The data provided includes basic identifying information, their crime and their residential area. It’s meant to allow families to make sound decisions about where to live — or even who to date, if you’re a cautious singleton. Many states have such databases in place, and most don’t limit listings to crimes related to children. In California, even those who end up on the public/Megan’s Law database can apply to be excluded from Internet disclosure. Until today, it seemed to be a moot point because the public database produced nothing but spinners for well over a week. [Convicted sex offender and San Francisco Democratic machine politician Enrique Pearce still isn’t listed in the Internet registry. Maybe he never will be.] Second, articles claim this new misnamed “Sex Offender Registration Act” (as big of a lie as the name “Affordable Care Act”) allows people to have their name removed from the law enforcement registry rather than be listed for life for some petty offense. As LGBTQ group Equality California put it, “The changes will help gay and lesbian people who were targeted by police for crimes like consensual sex among adults in a park.” Offenders can petition the court to be removed, and such petitions are granted. So the difference between the old law and new law is that registration will be tiered based on crime level. Each of the three tiers represents an arbitrary bureaucratic window of time of two to 20 years rather than based on a more personalized review. The old system approached it from the standpoint of safety for the community. The new system approaches it from the standpoint of fairness to a convicted sex felon. Oct. 15: Gender Recognition Act SB-179 allows a person to change the gender on their birth certificate to female, male or non-binary without going through process of having a doctor certify to a court that a person has undergone a physical transformation — as long as it’s not for nefarious purposes. (Right, like somebody would admit to nefarious intent.) It also instructs the motor vehicle department (DMV) to allow people to just put whatever gender they want on their state I.D. card or driver’s license. There is no fiscal appropriation for this bill; however, the DMV estimates it will cost nearly $1 million in system updates. So there you have it. What will tomorrow bring? More satanic drag queens teaching training more children, it seems. This retweet comes from the aforementioned flamus extremus PJW State Senator Wiener himself. ‘LGBT’, Satanic drag queens are teaching our children. No joke. 😮 pic.twitter.com/fRHGe1b8Gr — GRANT J. KIDNEY 🇺🇸 (@GrantJKidney) October 16, 2017 I ❤️ “satanic” drag queens. In honor of this idiot, two drag queens will be the celebrity judges at my annual children’s pumpkin carving. https://t.co/vDSfsCbuwR — Scott Wiener (@Scott_Wiener) October 18, 2017 This article originally appeared on The New Nationalist and was republished here with permission.

A new genetic analysis focusing on Jews from North Africa has added to an overall genetic map of Jewish diasporas. The findings, by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, were published online August 6, 2012 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. They support the historical record of Middle Eastern Jews, mostly males, settling in North Africa during Classical Antiquity. These men actively proselytizing non-Jews who lived where they settled, and then married into the local populations. By this process, the basic distinct Jewish populations of Jews from Israel mixed with local converts were formed, that then stayed largely intact for more than 1,500 years. Most of those who entered the Jewish community did so during the four centuries before Roman laws outlawed conversion to Judaism In a previous genetic analysis, the researchers showed that modern-day Sephardic (Greek and Turkish), Ashkenazi (Eastern European) and Mizrahi (Iranian, Iraqi and Syrian) Jews, are more related to each other than to their contemporary non-Jewish neighbors, with each group forming its own cluster within the larger Jewish population. Further, each group demonstrated Middle-Eastern ancestry, plus varying percentages of converts to Judaism from the surrounding populations. Two of the major Jewish populations — Middle Eastern Jews and European Jews — were found to have diverged from each other almost 2,500 years ago. The current study extends that analysis to North African Jews. Their genetic relatedness to each other, to other Jewish diaspora groups, and to their non-Jewish North African neighbors had not been well defined in the past. The study also included members of Jewish communities in Ethiopia, Yemen and Georgia. DNA signatures found in Ethiopian Jews indicate that they are genetically different from Middle Eastern Jews and from the other non-Jewish people living in Ethiopia. The genetic evidence is consistent with historical accounts that local people were converted to Judaism in large numbers. The Jewish community then spent more than 2,000 years in cultural and genetic isolation. Yemenite Jewish people also form a separate genetic group from other Jews, consistent with large scale conversion to Judaism in the centuries prior to the advent of Islam.. “I like to think of it as both the flow of ideas as well as genes that contribute to Jewishness,” Dr. Ostrer, the lead researcher, says. In the Caucasus, Georgian Jews are an offshoot of groups that first moved from Palestine to present-day Iran and Iraq, the new analysis shows. In all, the researchers analyzed the genetic make-up of 509 Jews from 15 populations along with genetic data on 114 individuals from seven North African non-Jewish populations. North African Jews exhibited a high degree of marriage within their own religious group in the last 12-13 centuries, in accordance with Jewish custom. Ethiopian and Yemenite Jewish populations also formed distinctive genetically linked clusters, as did Georgian Jews. All Jewish groups provided evidence of large numbers of converts to Judaism from the local populations in the distant past, with much smaller numbers of converts to Judaism in the five to ten centuries prior to the twentieth century. This is the reason why most Jews are unaware that actively seeking converts was a large part of Jewish life for more than five centuries, until we were forced by the Church to stop encouraging non-Jews to become Jewish.

Founded in 2012 by three members of our congregational community who attend CHAT, this youth organization meets five times a year for social action projects that positively impact our Temple, Toronto, and global communities. Earn community service hours, socialize with friends, and have a fun time. The leadership team of two students per grade level lead their peers in these one-off weekday evening social action events. Shammai is open to all students in grades 9-12, regardless of school or congregational affiliation. Next event: Thursday February 21, 2013 at 7:00pm Pack it for Purim! Packing Kinder Kits for V’ahavta and making Mishloach Manot for local Jewish elderly.

The SILVER button is for a PayPal express donation of $10CAD. Buy me an espresso.. No muss, no fuss.. The GOLD button takes you to PayPal's custom donation form, where you can specify the amount and make it monthly if you want to support this Covfefe Operation. Whatever, Enjoy yourself, and enjoy the resource while it's here, but make sure to ask at least a couple people each day why they're wearing a mask. Enter into a non-confrontational discourse, and refer them to MaskSickness or KillingOntario . —Peace, you inglourious basterds! Memento is a 2000 American neo-noir psychological thriller film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, and produced by Suzanne and Jennifer Todd. The film's script was based on a pitch by Jonathan Nolan, who wrote the 2001 story "Memento Mori" from the concept. Guy Pearce stars as a man who, as a result of an injury, has anterograde amnesia (the inability to form new memories) and has short-term memory loss approximately every fifteen minutes. He is searching for the people who attacked him and killed his wife, using an intricate system of Polaroid photographs and tattoos to track information he cannot remember. The Nazis persecuted those they considered to be racially inferior. Nazi racial ideology primarily vilified Jews, but also propagated hatred for Roma (Gypsies) and Black people. The Nazis viewed Jews as racial enemies and subjected them to arbitrary arrest, internment, and murder. Roma were also singled out on racial grounds for persecution. The Nazis viewed Poles and other Slavs as inferior, and slated them for subjugation, forced labor, and sometimes death. Jewish prisoners received the most brutal treatment in Nazi concentration camps.

With over 1,000 security personnel, Israel Policemen, Border Police Guard, IDF Special Units and others searched throughout the night for the gunman that opened fire into Tel Aviv nigh-spots, killing 3 and injuring at least 15 more. The gunman who opened fire at a bar in Israel’s central city Tel Aviv on Thursday night was shot and killed by Israeli security forces early Friday morning after a manhunt throughout the city. Aftermath of Palestinian terror attack at Tel Aviv cafe. – Screenshot: Israel Police documentary film Israel’s internal security agency Shin Bet said officers found the man hiding near a mosque in Jaffa, south of Tel Aviv, and killed the man in an ensuing gunfight. Continue Reading » – US Embassy spokesperson: “The home of an entire family should not be demolished for the actions of one individual.” – Israel PM spokesperson: “The State of Israel acts solely in accordance with security considerations & the need to protect the lives of Israeli citizens.” Prime Minister Naftali Bennett pushed back at the United States over its condemnation of Israel’s policy of demolishing the homes of Palestinians who are charged and or convicted for terror attacks that claim lives. “The Prime Minister appreciates and respects the US,” his office said. “At the same time, the State of Israel acts solely in accordance with security considerations and the need to protect the lives of Israeli citizens,” Bennett’s office stated. Continue Reading » Jordan’s sovereign bank, Arab Bank PLC, is charged with serving as the funding platform for the Palestinian terror attacks including the 1995 Beit Lid Junction suicide bombing, the 1996 Dizengoff Center suicide bombing and the 2002 Passover night Netanya Park Hotel suicide bombing, in which 65 Israelis were killed & hundreds wounded. Some 1,132 Israeli terror victims filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in the Jerusalem District Court for NIS 20 billion against the Arab Bank PLC for allegedly serving as a funding platform for terrorist attacks against Israel. The lawsuit followed a separate lawsuit filed in the US in 2004, which led to a historic judgment in 2014 and an eventual $1 billion in compensation in a settlement with the bank. Continue Reading » Three Arab citizens from the village of Um el-Fahm were indicted on Monday for plotting a terrorist attack on the Temple Mount in the name of Islamic State, the Shin Bet security agency announced. The suspects, identified as 20-year-olds Muhammad Mas’ud Muhammad Jabarin and Imad Lutfi Muhammad Jabarin, as well as a minor, were arrested during January and February in a joint operation by the Shin Bet and the Israel Police The attack was thwarted thanks to accurate intelligence information that enabled the security forces to arrest the members of the terrorist cell before they could obtain weapons and actualize their plans. Continue Reading » The Jordan-based Arab Bank, strategically chosen by Palestinian terrorist groups, converted various currencies into dollars then wire transferred payments to the accounts of known Hamas operatives who murdered Israeli-Americans, violated international norms barring the funding of terrorism, so, will be judged by the U.S. Supreme Court. By Yair Altman The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday was scheduled to hold its first hearing on a lawsuit filed by Israeli victims of terrorism against Arab Bank Plc, claiming it knowingly funded Palestinian terrorist groups, including Hamas. The Jordan-based Arab Bank is one of the largest financial institutions in the Middle East. It has 190 branches worldwide and holds accounts for various governments and global conglomerates. Continue Reading » When Hamas security forces at the Rafah crossing into Egypt tried to stop two Salafists terrorists, one of them set off an explosion, killing the Hamas commander and wounding several others. By Elior Levy, Roi Kais A commander in Hamas’s military wing was killed early Thursday in an ISIS suicide bombing at the Rafah border crossing, which connects the Gaza Strip and Egypt. According to the Gazan Interior Ministry, Hamas forces stopped for a security check two people who were nearing the border crossing from inside the strip when one of them set off an explosion, likely from a suicide belt. Continue Reading » Several ministers in the Security Cabinet called for the terrorist who massacred a family Halamish Friday night to be executed ahead of Sunday’s cabinet meeting. ZAKA members clean up aftermath of terror attack in Halamish home. – Photo: ZAKA Military courts can sentence someone to death, though the option has not been used since 1962, when senior Nazi Adolf Eichmann was hanged after being convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity. Continue Reading » Just released video shows how terrorists entered the Old City, met with accomplice who smuggled in the weapons and subsequently transferred them to the three killers inside the Mosque on the Temple Mount to commit deadly terror attack. Alert IDF soldiers shot dead a Palestinian terrorist who lunged at them armed with a knife in hand, intent on stabbing them, marking Tuesday morning’s stabbing attempt the third foiled terror attack in the Hevron area in less than 24 hours. By Arutz Sheva Staff Yet another attempted stabbing in the Hevron district, as an Arab terrorist targeted soldiers near the village of Bani Naim Tuesday morning, but was shot and neutralized by security forces on the scene. The abortive attack occurred between the Arab village of Bani Naim and industrial zone of the neighboring Jewish town of Kiryat Arba. After a kibbutz security officer shot and apprehended the infiltrator, the IDF opened an investigation on how a Jordanian citizen crossed the border into Israel to throw rocks at a moving car, and then assault its driver. By Yoav Zitun and Ahia Raved A Jordanian man managed to infiltrate Israel on Friday south of the northern site of Hamat Gader. After entering Israel, the man began to throw rocks at passing cars, causing an Israeli driver named Rotem Aharoni to drive off the road. Following the crash, the man ran over to the car and attempted to remove Aharoni and steal the vehicle. Continue Reading » MEDIA BIAS EXPOSED: CNN finally includes Tel Aviv after mass protests highlighted Israel’s exclusion from a featured graphic of the worst terror attacks that occurred throughout Ramadan. By JERUSALEM POST STAFF News network CNN has updated a graphic it featured this week listing some of the deadliest terror attacks that occurred throughout the month of Ramadan to include reference to the July 8 shooting attack in Tel Aviv. An advocacy group for Israel, Stand With Us, pointed out the update on its social media, claiming that “criticism” led to the change. Prime Minister Netanyahu sends MDA plus IDF jets with medical support teams to Istanbul to return Israeli victims after suicide bomber attack. By JPOST.COM STAFF, YUVAL BAGNO/MAARIV Eyewitness accounts by Israeli victims of the Istanbul terror attack Saturday afternoon told their stories through social media or gave interviews about their terrifying experience after a suicide bomber killed five people and injured over 30 more. One victim, Naama Peled, who traveled to the Turkish metropolis in order to participate in a culinary excursion, wrote on social media to assure her family and friends that she was in good health. (Photo by: Reuters) “To all my friends and loved ones, I’m fine,” Peled wrote on her Facebook wall. Returning home from a visit with their daughter, who lost her husband in a terrorist attack 13 years ago, Rachel & Shaul Nir were attacked by terrorist gun-fire. By Efrat Forsher, Yair Altman & Shlomi Diaz As terrorist violence continues to wash over Israel, a couple was wounded while driving in north Samaria on Wednesday when terrorists opened fire on them from a passing vehicle. The attack resulted in a crash in which Shaul Nir was seriously hurt. His wife Rachel sustained minor gunshot wounds to the extremities. The 10 shekel coin that stopped a bullet in a terrorist shooting attack in northern Samaria on Wednesday evening – Photo: Roni Schutzer The couple, residents of the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City, were treated by emergency medical personnel at the scene and then transferred to separate hospitals for further treatment. Continue Reading » This educational website operates without financial incentives. Furthermore, there are no commercial advertisements for profit, nor does it accept donations. IsraelandStuff.com is truly a 'Labor of Love' with the sole purpose of putting Israel's real face in the light for all to see, while exposing the unfair double-standards, demonization & delegitimization against the only Jewish State. What ‘Stuff’ can we find for you? – REMEMBER —-> They are a political group – NOT a ‘people’ Speaking to her ‘brothers’ in Arabic, a proud, courageous Muslim woman reveals the truth about the State of Israel. (Or do you prefer hearing if from a Muslim man?) Follow us, We're Everywhere! View Beautiful Israel Palestinian History of Violence – The Obstacle to Peace ✡ Support Birthright-Israel ✡ The Time In Jerusalem, ISRAEL is: Regardless of what the Palestinians, the Arab League, or the corrupt United Nations dictates, THE WORLD KNOWS THE TRUTH: Jerusalem is, and has always been, the Eternal Capital of the Jewish People AND the Jewish State of Israel! Can we get any ‘Greener’? Yes! We can, but we need your help. —————————————————— קקל – Plant a Tree in Israel – JNF Israel and Stuff shall not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions in any content, or for any actions taken in consequence. 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Israel Launched Attacks on Syria to Foil Damascus Threats Israel had launched military actions against Syria to thwart direct threats against Israel's security, Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon said Sunday, referring to alleged Israeli air strikes on the Israeli-Syrian border and near the capital Damascus over the past months. The unusual confirmation came after rebels posted videos showing armed rebels, among them al-Qaida-inspired forces, gaining control of a number of long-range Scud missile depots in Syria's eastern city of Deir al-Zour and near Aleppo. "Israel does not intervene in the bloody civil war taking place in Syria. We are monitoring developments and currently we don't view them as a threat," Ya'alon told Army Radio on Sunday morning. But "When we identified a threat, we acted -- along the border and also in other places ... we'll maintain this policy in the future," the minister said in an implicit reference to Israeli air strikes in January, which reportedly targeted an arms convoy allegedly carrying SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles to Lebanon's Hezbollah. Commenting on a number of stray mortar rounds that landed in the Israeli-controlled southern Golan Heights on Saturday, Ya'alon said, "Residents of the area can continue their lives [with a sense] of security because the army is prepared to protect them." An Arab media report said the Syrian military has an arsenal of 400 Scuds with ranges that vary from 180 to 700 km. According to it, some of the missiles can be armed with non-conventional payloads, including chemical and biological warheads. Israeli daily Ma'ariv reported Sunday that Israel mostly fears Syria's stocks of M-600 long-range, high-precision missiles that can strike deep inside the Jewish state. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has vowed to retaliate for an alleged Israeli attack in January against a military research center outside Damascus, reportedly used to develop chemical weapons. In a televised interview with The Sunday Times, aired in London late Saturday, Assad said that while Syria has always reacted to Israeli actions, the response to its latest presumed aggression will not necessarily entail overt military actions. "We retaliated in our own way, and only the Israelis know what we mean," Assad said. "Retaliation does not mean missile for missile or bullet for bullet. Our own way does not have to be announced," he said. CRIENGLISH.com claims the copyright of all material and information produced originally by our staff. CRIENGLISH.com holds neither liability nor responsibility for materials attributed to any other source. Such information is provided as reportage and dissemination of information but does not necessarily reflect the opinion of or endorsement by CRI.

Gotham-based shingle nabs 'Rabbi's Cat,' 'Zarafa' PARIS– In time for Gaul’s Annecy Animation Film Festival, which kicks off today, New York-based GKids has acquired a pair of critically acclaimed French toons: Joann Sfar’s “The Rabbi’s Cat,” which won the Annecy Crystal for film in 2011 and this year’s competition player “Zarafa,” directed by Remi Bezancon and Jean-Christophe Lie.Set in a Jewish household in 1920s Algiers, “The Rabbi’s Cat” is a colorful and witty adaptation of Sfar’s comicbook series “Le chat du rabin,” turning on a feline enamoured with his mistress, the Rabbi’s daughter. Repped by TF1 Intl., the toon, the directorial debut of Sfar and animation producer Antoine Delesvaux, was a critical success, winning a Gallic Cesar award. It’s produced by Sfar and Delesvaux’s Autochenille Prods. “Zarafa” is a picturesque fable following the journey of a 10-year-old Egyptian boy and a baby giraffe travelling from Sudan to Paris. The feature is inspired by the true story of Zarafa, a two-year-old orphaned giraffe given to Gaul’s King Charles X by the Ottoman Viceroy of Egypt, Mehmet Ali Pasha, in 1824. “Zarafa” is Gallic helmer Bezancon’s toon debut. His live action credits include “The First Day of the Rest of Your Life” and Louise Bourgoin starrer “A Happy Event.” Co-helmer, Lie is an animation vet, who previously worked on “The Triplets of Belleville” and “Kirikou and the Wild Beasts,” among other toons. Produced by Prima Linea, the Berlin-preeming “Zarafa” earned warm reviews and enjoyed a solid run at the French B.O. Pathe, which released “Zarafa” in Gaul and reps it in international markets, closed key distribution deals, notably for Germany and Russia, at Cannes. U.S. distrib GKids, which hosts the New York Children Festival in March, has been ramping up acquisitions of foreign arthouse toons, including Ignacio Ferreras’ “Wrinkles,” Jean-Francois Laguionie’s “Le Tableau,” Hiroyuki Okiura’s “A Letter to Momo,” and Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey’s “The Secret of Kells” — all of which are playing in various sections at Annecy. GKids also scored Oscar nominations this year with “Chico & Rita” and “A Cat in Paris.” The deal for “Cat” was negotiated by Greg Chambet for TF1 and Eric Beckman for GKids; while the deal for “Zarafa” was negotiated by Saya Huddleston for Pathe Intl. and Eric Beckman for GKids. Annecy fest closes on Saturday.

Sunday, 4 March 2012 The Second Time We Met by Leila Cobo It is 1989 and Rita lives in a remote mountain town in Colombia. Guerrilla forces have recently taken control of the 'safety' of the town and it's citizens, as long as they volunteer to pay the guerrillas. Rita has done the un-forgivable and become involved with one of the guerrillas. Father Pablo is the priest who uttered those words that so affected me. He finds help for Rita and the baby. Asher Sebastian Stone is that baby, and he has grown to a young man living with his Jewish family in California. After a devastating accident, he is left adrift and looking for a new path for his life. That is when he decides that he is going to make one more attempt to find his birth mother. One of the things that struck me again and again in this book, was how the main characters perceived others opinions of them. Rita thought that others would look down on her, knowing what she had done, yet time and again they surprised her and treated her very well. Asher was concerned how his team mates would respond to him after his accident, yet when he attended his first game during his recovery they showed him and the entire stadium that they were 100 percent in support of him. This whole story seemed so plausible to me. Yes, I know it would be hard to track down a birth mother in a foreign country, but not impossible. Would strangers go out of their way to help, I would and I expect that at least of few of the people who read this review will answer that they would help a stranger. This is a story that is going to stay with me a long time. There is something about Asher that had me rooting in his corner. Not that he was injured, but that he was accepting. This accident happened, but not on purpose to destroy him. It just happened. Time to get on with his life and answer this outstanding question. There are no whistles and bells in this story, no magic, just an assortment of true to life people that I would want to find in my life. Author Leila Cobo Thanks to Grand Central Publishing for my review copy and for use of the cover image. Also reviewed at: So Many Precious Books, So Little Time

On Eve of Obama’s Visit to Israel, Gaza Feels Like a Third Wheel On the eve of President Obama’s visit to Israel, the mood here in neighboring Gaza is ... meh. “Nobody is talking about it,” said Ahmed Yousef, a former senior adviser to Hamas leadership and now the head of a local think tank, speaking from his plush office overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. “The people do not expect that much coming out of the visit.” In the center of downtown Gaza, a contrast in natural beauty and urban squalor, there are no posters of Obama, as there are in Tel Aviv and the Palestinian towns in the West Bank. At my hotel, businessmen and a few aid workers discussed some of the new development projects planned for the area. But very few people wanted to talk about Obama’s first foreign trip of his second term. Rajae Adwan, a Palestinian entrepreneur who owns a chain of perfume shops, wanted to stick to business, but said he’d be happy to give Obama any perfume or cologne he wants—except for Adwan’s signature M75 perfume, named for a short-range missile. “For those who love victory,” reads the slogan. Over a Turkish coffee at a nearby café, Mohammed el-Wahidi, who is 30 years old and unemployed, told me he considers Obama's visit to be a public relations maneuver for the benefit of Israel's prime minister. "This visit is meant to protect Netanyahu's new coalition," he said. His friend, Mohamed Khassaf, agreed. "This is politics. Obama will always be with Israel." The president has no plans to come here. He’ll visit the Church of the Nativity, the Israel museum, the grave of Theodore Herzl, Ramallah, and Jerusalem, but he will not come to Gaza. Since taking office in 2009, Obama has declined to reach out to Hamas, the party that controls Gaza. In November he helped convince Egypt’s president, Mohammed Morsi to close down the tunnels into Egypt which Hamas had reportedly used to import the components of short-range rockets. Overall, the economy in Gaza has improved in recent years. Israel has loosened some restrictions on trade, and last year began exporting a number of goods here. Nonetheless, poverty is rife, and while there is a prosperous upper class in Gaza, the latest U.S. statistics say 1.3 million Gazans lack access to adequate food supplies. Yousef is now the secretary general of the House of Wisdom Institution for Conflict Resolution & Governance, a think tank for political Islam, the ideology of Hamas. Yousef’s office on the top floor of a twelve-story office building in Gaza city is a tribute to what he considers resistance to Israel. There are ceramic reliefs with verses from the Quran in ornate calligraphy, and a wall-size painting of the Mavi Marmara, the Turkish ship boarded in 2010 by Israeli special operations forces after activists tried to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza’s shoreline. At the time of the Mavi Marmara confrontation, Yousef headed the government committee that received the international volunteers aboard that ship. He remembers waking up at 5 a.m. and doing dozens of interviews. “It was one of the most memorable days of my life,” he said. The blockade began after Hamas took over the government institutions in Gaza, which prompted Israel to seal its border. In 2007, the siege, as Gazans call it, was at its worst. My translator and fixer, Ahmed Abu-Hamda, remembered it was so bad that he could only serve water at his wedding because no one could get soda or juice. Israel has slowly relaxed much of the restrictions since then. In December the Metro Market, a modern supermarket, opened. On Tuesday the shelves were stocked with everything from teddy bears made in China to cooking oil, juice, and pasta. Yousef said he was hopeful at first that Obama would bring a “paradigm shift” in foreign policy after he heard his 2009 speech in Cairo that was addressed specifically to the Muslim people. But, he said, “Politics got in the way with the Jewish lobby and the pro-Israel Congress. It seemed like Netanyahu was dictating his policy,” he said. Yousef has not given up all hope in Obama. “I do like Chuck Hagel,” he said of Obama’s new secretary of Defense. Some conservative pro-Israel groups and most Republicans opposed Hagel for being too hostile to Israel and too sanguine on Iran. “When I was in the United States, I could tell he is a man of integrity,” Yousef said. “He is a man of conscience.”

Modernity's Other: Studies on Jewish Women February 12-13, 2007 University of Chicago Divinity School 1025 East 58th Street Chicago, Illinois, 60637 Modernity's Other is a public conference intended to facilitate conversation across disciplines; everyone, regardless of academic background and institutional affiliation, is welcome at each lecture and discussion. Faculty, students, and community members are encouraged to attend. A general prospectus for the conference follows: Among the far-reaching changes witnessed by what is generally called modernity is the separation of previously undifferentiated spheres of life—belief vs. practice, public vs. private. This change poses a radical challenge in particular to Judaism, a religion that posited the fundamental interconnectedness of belief and practice. With the separation of these (decidedly gendered) spheres came changing attitudes toward Jews as a people, citizens, capital, and a community. While scholars have studied the effects of these changes on Jewish men, there remains a dearth of inquiry into the unique experiences and perceptions of Jewish women. We envision the conference to consist of two major, related topics: 1) The first topic includes the cluster of historical questions concerning the changes and continuities in the lives of Jewish women with the onset of modernity. Material changes—physical, intellectual, social, and economic—in women's lives have ensued, but sustained scholarly treatment of these issues is still lacking. How do Jewish women's identities, their roles in the family, and their roles in Jewish communities change? How do these changes differ across degrees of religious observance and levels of economic stability? Above all, how do women represent these changes to themselves? 2) The second topic consists of theoretical questions about the status of Jewish women in modernity. Daniel Boyarin, for instance, has argued that the feminized Jewish man has been the occluded "Other" of the modern West. The questions we aim to raise deal with the Other of the Other: the Jewish woman. How does the "othering" of Jewish men along gendered lines render visible or, alternatively, obscure the contributions of women to intellectual history, religious thought, and cultural production? What happens to constructions and valuations of sexual differences and gender roles within the Jewish community when Jewish men must respond to a challenge of their masculinity from the world outside? How has the gendered character of modern anti-Semitism directed at Jewish men affected the religious subjectivity of Jewish women? Lastly, how have these issues shaped the political status (i.e. political agency, representation, earning power, etc.) of Jewish women within the context of the modern political and economic order? We envision this conference to be an opportunity for scholars—together with graduate students at the University and in the community—to investigate new sources and reexamine primary documents through the perspective of alternative visions of gender and agency, indeed alternative modernities. Because of the contact email's difficulty accepting attachments, the call for papers deadline has been extended to November 1. Notification of acceptance will be by November 5. For information, contact Sarah Imhoff and Larisa Reznik at email@example.com.

Christians And Christmas “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it” (1 Cor. 10:26). It is often said that Christians should avoid Christmas and Easter because they have historical connections to pagan rituals. However, because 1 Cor. 8-10 tell us that it is OK to eat the meat that pagans have sacrificed to demons, it naturally follows that whatever the pagans have done in any other ritual should not influence us either. Regarding the meat sacrificed to idols – - 1 Cor. 8:8-9 say that we have freedom to choose whether or not to eat this meat because “food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do”. - Also, 1 Cor. 10:25-26 say, “eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for, the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it”. These verses quite clearly tell us that we are free to eat the meat that the pagans have sacrificed, however, a letter to the Gentiles seems to contradict this, telling them “to abstain from food polluted by idols” (Acts 15:19-21). The reason for this letter was to keep the peace with the Jewish Christians who, all their lives, had been under the law of Moses as v.21 tells us: “For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath”. The Jews had always followed the law of Moses, eating the meat which they had sacrificed on the Temple altar in worship to God. For this reason, they thought that if they ate the meat that the pagans had sacrificed to idols then they would be participating in the worship of pagan gods but Paul said that meat and idols are nothing (1 Cor. 10:18-19). Eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols by other people is no problem. The person who eats this meat is simply having a meal but the pagan who personally offers up this sacrifice is worshipping demons (1 Cor. 10:20-21) just as the Jew who personally sacrificed on the Temple altar was worshipping God. The apparent contradiction is further cleared up by 1 Cor. 8:4-13 and 1 Cor. 10:27-33 which tell us that we should not eat sacrificed meat if it upsets the conscience of a weak brother. 1 Cor. 8 says that stronger Christians, having the knowledge that idols are nothing, knew they had the freedom to eat this meat (vs.4-9). However, if a weak brother without this knowledge saw a stronger brother eating it then he may be led to think that he is taking part in sacrificing to idols and be encouraged towards idolatry; his conscience would become defiled (v.7) and he would be destroyed (v.11). For this reason, this meat should not be eaten in front of weaker believers as it can cause them to fall. Even though the meat is nothing but food to stronger believers, it may a stumbling block to the weak so we should avoid eating it in their presence (vs.9-13). So, the instruction not to eat meat sacrificed to idols, in (Acts 15:19-21, is for the sake of weaker Christians and does not contradict the verses which tell us that we have freedom to eat it (1 Cor. 8:4-9 and 1 Cor. 10:27-30). Rev. 2:14 & 2:20 say that Balaam and Jezebel were leading believers into eating sacrificed meat and committing sexual immorality which was part of the pagan rituals. These believers were clearly sinning by being directly involved in pagan sacrificial rituals. In contrast to being directly involved in these rituals, as stated before, Paul said that it was OK to simply eat the meat that the pagans themselves had sacrificed. There are two situations here: 1) Direct involvement in pagan rituals by eating meat they had personally sacrificed to demons and committing fornication (1 Cor. 10:20; Rev. 2:14, 20). 2) No personal involvement in the pagan rituals but simply eating the meat that other people had sacrificed (1 Cor. 10:25-26). The first is sinful. The second is just having a meal with no care of what the pagans may or may not have done with the meat. So, regarding Christmas and Easter, it can be seen that what the pagans have done in the past, or are doing today, should not influence us and we should not fear these celebrations any more than we fear eating meat that others have sacrificed to idols. Celebrating Jesus’ birth and death by having a Christmas tree or an Easter egg is not participating with demons despite anything the pagans may have done throughout history. Christmas trees, like idols, are dead things; they are nothing. Regarding Isa. 44:12-20 and Jer. 10:3-5, these verses have nothing to do with worshipping under trees; they merely talk about idols made from the wood of trees and men bowing down to blocks of wood. The issue is not about trees but about worshipping idols which happen to be made from trees. From these passages, two things are clear – (1) We have the freedom to choose in these matters and (2) We should not allow our choices to cause a believer to stumble. Rom. 14 tells us that nothing, including a Christmas tree, is unclean in itself but if someone regards something as unclean then it is unclean to him so he should avoid it. Also, this chapter tells us not to judge one another regarding eating, drinking or sacred days and rather than judge in these matters we should seek to be loving and peaceful. So, instead of being divisive over these disputable matters, v.22 says, “whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God”. This article can be downloaded as a PDF or an MP3 from – Video of Christians And Christmas The video of “Christians And Christmas” can be seen on YouTube at- Christian Issues’ blog can be subscribed to at –

Social Media use by security cleared professional creates obvious risks that are mostly well managed by the thousands of professionals who use it day in and day out. And we are thrilled that you do so. Twitter gives national security and international relations geeks unbelievable access to great minds and inside players across the globe. However, there are a number of not-so-obvious dangers lurking just out of sight to most people. They dutifully avoid releasing personally identifiable and classified information but their networks, communication style, and other subtle factors can paint a robust profile when viewed by a careful observer. I recently discussed this with former Mossad officer Michael Ross and it is our hope that this discussion will prompt many of you to look at your networks and communication patterns through a different lens. John Little: There were online communities when you were active but I assume they weren’t pervasive enough to require much thought except in very specific cases. Now virtually everyone in the developed world, and many beyond, has a social presence online. Have you thought much about the impact that social media is having on intelligence? The upside from a mass collection / data mining perspective is pretty obvious but it is also presents intelligence professionals with a unique operating environment in its own right doesn’t it? Michael Ross: Social media and the possibilities for open source intelligence collection have expanded exponentially with the advent of all the various social media platforms available online. It also opens up a whole world of operational cover and networking possibilities that in the past involved a lot of leg-work when I was in harness. Social media has both strong offensive and defensive elements in its makeup. For a “poacher” like myself, I can mine a considerable amount of data on a potential target for recruitment (including vulnerabilities or avenues for exploitation) long before I even come into any contact with the target. For my “gamekeeper” colleagues in the counterintelligence realm, it offers a number of possibilities in determining potential for attack and what the “poachers” are targeting. Social media and the internet are a double-edged sword also because they are open to abuse by outfits that sell jargon, open-source information, and fabrication as a finished intelligence product for corporate and government consumers. The other edge of the sword is that people like myself and others can access social media and set the record straight. The most interesting aspect for me however, is that I can interface with someone in say, Beirut and find out in real time what’s happening in the southern suburbs of that city while I sit at my table Laphroaig at elbow. Now that’s social media. John Little: Let’s talk about the threat this poses in places like the U.S. where social media is ubiquitous. You recently tweeted “Okay, I’m a “former” member of FIS (foreign intelligence service), but I could have a field day collecting without leaving the comfort of my rainswept Vancouver residence.” and this really resonated with me because the same techniques I use to build my network for Blogs of War are also open to exploitation by hostile forces. I love the fact that I can build networks of subject matter experts but I find it troubling that so many of them are obviously attempting to keep a low profile while unknowingly revealing so much about themselves. You can learn a lot about someone through their social networks (who they follow, who follows them, who they retweet, and chat with) even if they assume that their identity is obscured. Twitter is ripe for exploitation isn’t it? Michael Ross: Obviously my statement about the ability to use social media and the internet as a collection tool was in large part due to what Joshua Foust aptly termed, “L’affaire Petraeus”. First of all I was struck by attempts in certain quarters on social media to render the issue “out of bounds” through moralizing pseudo concern for Petraeus’ apparently dissolving marriage. Social media is just that; all the pleasant and unpleasant characteristics of human interaction and to suddenly think it should be immune to gossip or a forum only for the high-minded and moral is both naive and absurd. A really excellent example of using Twitter and Facebook to collect important information, was Avi Mayer of the Jewish Agency for Israel recently outing Greta Berlin, the founder of the Free Gaza Movement, for tweeting that Zionists were responsible for the Nazi Holocaust and then trying to erase her electronic footprints. This is but one example of how social media can be a powerful collection and dissemination tool and why it should never be under-estimated. For a foreign intelligence service seeking specific HUMINT targets to exploit, social media offers a plethora of opportunities for collectors to initially spot and assess targets for recruitment and this is all done in a passive context without even initiating any direct contact with the target. Whether it’s acknowledged or not, collection activity through social media is a form of HUMINT. With little effort, I can obtain photos, addresses, occupations, telephone numbers, workplace addresses, friends, associations etc., etc. all from the comfort of home. I could probably identify in my twitter feed at least a score of people whom I believe to have some form of security clearance and/or access to classified information of high value. How I choose to develop that relationship (which I do not by the way!) for potential recruitment and handling is made easier by having had access to so much readily available information through the simple construct of social interaction. This is also very much a two way street; for counter-intelligence people (CI), this also provides them with information on what I as a collector am interested in targeting. I know on one occasion for certain that I was having my own tires kicked by a representative of a country that is semi-hostile to Israel and U.S. (and I have to say, the approach was far more subtle than I would have thought given the country in question). What is your Twitter feed or Facebook page if not a network? In the old days of spying it used to take years to develop networks that can be cobbled together in a very short time. I returned to Twitter about three weeks to a month ago and I have approximately 700 people from all kinds of backgrounds following me; law-enforcement, special operations, intelligence, military, academia, private sector, journalism that I now have immediate access to on an almost 24/7 basis. I’m on record as stating that the U.S. is too liberal in providing security clearances. 854,000 plus employees now hold top-secret security clearances, an example of the astonishing growth in the intelligence bureaucracy since 2001. In my liaison capacity with the CIA, a case officer from the Tel Aviv station appeared at a meeting with a contractor from Lockheed-Martin in tow. Seeing my look of astonishment, my CIA colleague explained that he had a top secret clearance. I replied to my colleague, “not with us he doesn’t” and cut the meeting short. This is the core of the problem; too many clearances, improper compartmentation, and too much reliance on self-regulation. Security, like an unprotected coastline, is subject to erosion. John Little: So we know this is a mess because we both parse this information on a hourly basis as we’re building our networks of subject matter experts. I am always looking at new accounts with a critical eye because I’m looking to track the most knowledgeable people possible. Are they really a SEAL? Really former Mossad (no offense Michael)? Are they who they say they are or are they someone interesting despite their low profile? There are those who appropriately obscure every piece of personal identification but their lingo, quality of their feed, and network says volumes about their role or access. I track hundreds of low-profile accounts like that and they’re some of my best sources of information. Not using your real name and photo is not enough. I can Google your Twitter ID and potentially track it back to other social networks or forums where you might have revealed even more personal information. And who you choose to follow can reveal much about you. Are the first few people people you followed family members? Fellow employees? Professional contacts? You may have kept your personal information under wraps but have they? Beyond that there’s the simple back and forth conversations, inside jokes, and retweets that may be incredibly revealing to a careful observer. The techniques I describe here require no resources, special tools, or technical knowledge. We’re just scratching the surface but a hostile organization is likely using applications similar to Maltego or much more powerful proprietary tools that can take this network mapping to a completely different level. Is there any hope that countries with enormous security and intelligence infrastructures will be able to get their hands around this problem or is it just a losing battle? Michael Ross: It is a losing battle insomuch as people with security clearances or access to sensitive material are entrusted with self-regulation. Some of this demographic will be vigilant and careful not to make themselves vulnerable to attack and others will forget that the internet is a very unsafe environment for those wishing to keep secrets. Some of the people who follow me on Twitter are particularly careful to obscure their footprint; but then that only makes me curious as to why they are being so careful in the first place. If the object of social media is to engage in some form of interaction with other like-minded persons on the internet, then why go to all the trouble to “hide in plain sight”? You have no photo, profile or location, a locked account, no followers and you’re following several hundred or even thousand accounts of a national security bent. That in itself is interesting and raises antennae. When I was in training and we were required to collect intelligence on a person, place or thing, the first place we always started with was open source material. My instructor likened it to trying to meet a girl you are really interested in. You don’t just walk up to someone you don’t know and start asking them personal questions. You ask around first. Is she single?; what’s she like?; who are her friends?; What do you have in common?; etc., etc. Likewise with a nuclear installation in Iran; you don’t just fly to Iran and start taking pictures outside the location because you’d soon find yourself in the fingernail factory for a few days followed by hanging from a crane shortly thereafter. You see what’s available through open sources first and that’s not just the nuclear site itself but cover points nearby that could facilitate a visit to the area and explain your presence to the environment without raising suspicion. It is also a superb device for building cover. There is so much collection that can be done before even considering getting on a plane. The real intelligence however, is not on the internet. For all it’s possibilities open source intelligence (OSINT) does not even scratch the surface of what is collected via the myriad of platforms available to a top tier intelligence service. What social media and the internet do provide however, are the means to spot, assess, and develop possibilities that will provide an opening or means for these collection platforms to do their work. As a HUMINT case officer, I still have to sit face-to-face with my potential source and convince the poor soul to betray his or her country or ideology (often at great risk to themselves) but getting to that person has potentially been made so much easier thanks to social media and the internet. Subscribe to Blogs of War Get the latest posts delivered right to your inbox

Frida Kahlo' Biography This biography has links that pop up new windows with paintings relating to that time in her life. When Frida Kahlo had her first solo exhibition in her native country of Mexico, a local critic wrote: "It is impossible to separate the life and work of this extraordinary person. Her paintings are her biography." was born in Mexico City in 1910, the third daughter of Guillermo and Matilda Kahlo. Her father was a photographer of Hungarian Jewish descent, and her mother was Spanish and Native American. Her life was to be a long series of physical traumas, and the first of these came early. At the age of six she was stricken with polio, which left her with a limp. Her father recognized Frida interest in art and in 1922 enrolled her in the prestigious National Preparatory School where she met her future husband-to-be Diego Rivera an internationaly celebrated Mexican muralist painter. In 1925, Kahlo suffered the serious accident which was to set the pattern for much of the rest of her life. She was travelling in a bus which collided with a tramcar, and suffered serious injuries to her right leg and pelvis. The accident made it impossible for her to have children, though it was to be many years before she accepted this. It also meant that she faced a life-long battle against pain. While Frida was confined to her bed, her mother brought her a small lap easel, and Frida started to paint. Over her bed, Frida had a mirror so she could see herself, and this was the beginning of her focus on self portrait and marked the beginning of a series in which she charted the events of her life and her emotional reactions to them. (link to drawing in hospital) She met Rivera again in 1928, and the two found that they had much in common, not least from a political point of view, since both were now communist militants. They married in August 1929. Kahlo was later to say: 'I suffered two grave accidents in my life. One in which a streetcar knocked me down... The other accident is Diego. The political climate in Mexico was deteriorating for those with left-wing sympathies, thanks to the reactionary Calles government, and the mural-painting programme initiated by the great Minister of Education Jose Vasconcelos had ground to a halt. But Rivera's artistic reputation was expanding rapidly in the United States. In 1930, the couple left for San Francisco; then, after a brief return to Mexico, they went to New York in 1931 for the Rivera retrospective organized by the Museum of Modern Art. Kahlo, at this stage, was regarded chiefly as a charming appendage to a famous husband, but the situation was soon to change. In 1932 Rivera was commissioned to paint a major series of murals for the Detroit Museum, and here Kahlo suffered a miscarriage. While recovering, she painted one of the first of her truly penetrating self-portraits. The style she evolved was entirely unlike that of her husband, being based on Mexican folk art and in particular on the small votive pictures known as retablos, which the pious dedicated in Mexican churches. Rivera's reaction to his wife's work was, however, both perceptive and generous: "Frida began work on a series of masterpieces which had no precedent in the history of art - paintings which exalted the feminine quality of truth, reality, cruelty and suffering. Never before had a woman put such agonized poetry on canvas as Frida did at this time in Detroit." Kahlo, however, pretended not to consider her work important. As her biographer Hayden Herrera notes, 'she preferred to be seen as a beguiling personality rather than as a painter.' From Detroit they went once again to New York, where Rivera had been commissioned to paint a mural in the Rockefeller Center. The commission erupted into an enormous scandal, when the patron ordered the half-completed work destroyed because of the political imagery Rivera insisted on including. But Rivera lingered in the United States, which he loved and Kahlo now loathed. When they finally returned to Mexico in 1935, Rivera embarked on an affair with Kahlo's younger sister Cristina. Though they finally made up their quarrel, this incident marked a turning point in their relationship. Rivera had never been faithful to any woman; Kahlo now embarked on a series of affairs. One of Kahlo's more serious early love affairs was with the Russian revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky, now being hounded by his triumphant rival Stalin, and who had been offered refuge in Mexico in 1937 on Rivera's initiative. Another visitor to Mexico at this time, one who would gladly have had a love affair with Kahlo but for the fact that she was not attracted to him, was the leading figure of the Surrealist Group, André Breton. Breton arrived in 1938 and was enchanted with Mexico, which he found to be a 'naturally surrealist' country, and with Kahlo's painting. Partly through his initiative, she was offered a show at the fashionable Julian Levy Gallery in New York later in 1938, and Breton himself wrote a rhetorical catalogue preface. The show was a triumph, and about half the paintings were sold. In 1939, Breton suggested a show in Paris, and offered to arrange it. Kahlo, who spoke no French, arrived in France to find that Breton had not even bothered to get her work out of customs. "The enterprise was finally rescued by Marcel Duchamp, and the show opened about six weeks late. It was not a financial success, but the reviews were good, and the Louvre bought a picture for the Jeu de Paume. Kahlo also won praise from Kandinsky and Picasso. She had, however, conceived a violent dislike for what she called 'this bunch of coocoo lunatic sons of bitches of surrealists.' She did not renounce Surrealism immediately. in January 1940, for example, she was a participant (with Rivera) in the International Exhibition of Surrealism held in Mexico City. Later, she was to be vehement in her denials that she had ever been a true Surrealist. 'They thought I was a Surrealist,' she said, 'but I wasn't. I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.' " Early in 1940, for motives which are still somewhat mysterious, Kahlo and Rivera divorced, though they continued to make public appearances together. In May, after the first attempt on Trotsky's life, led by the painter Siqueiros, Rivera thought it prudent to leave for San Francisco. After the second, and successful attempt, Kahlo, who had been a friend of Trotsky's assassin, was questioned by the police. She decided to leave Mexico for a while, and in September she joined her ex-husband. Less than two months later, while they were still in the United States, they remarried. One reason seems to have been Rivera's recognition that Kahlo's health would inexorably deteriorate, and that she needed someone to look after her. "Her health, never at any time robust, grew visibly worse from about 1944 onwards, and Kahlo underwent the first many operations on her spine and her crippled foot. Authorities on her life and work have questioned whether all these operations were really necessary, or whether they were in fact a way of holding Rivera's attention in the face of his numerous affairs with other women. In Kahlo's case, her physical and psychological sufferings were always linked. in early 1950, her physical state reached a crisis, and she had to go into hospital in Mexico City, where she remained for a year. "During the period after her remarriage, her artistic reputation continued to grow, though at first more rapidly in the United States than in Mexico itself. she was included in prestigious group shows in the Museum of Modern Art, the Boston Institute of Contemporary Arts and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In 1946, however, she received a Mexican government fellowship, and in the same year an official prize on the occasion of the Annual National Exhibition. She also took up teaching at the new experimental art school 'La Esmeralda', and, despite her unconventional methods, proved an inspiration to her students. After her return home from hospital, Kahlo became an increasingly fervent and impassioned Communist. Rivera had been expelled from the Party, which was reluctant to receive him back, both because of his links with the Mexican government of the day, and because of his association with Trotsky. Kahlo boasted: 'I was a member of the Party before I met Diego and I think I am a better Communist than he is or ever will be.' While the 1940s had seen her produce some of her finest work, her paintings now became more clumsy and chaotic, thanks to the joint effects of pain, drugs and drink. Despite this, in 1955 she was offered her first solo show in Mexico itself - which was to be the only such show held in her own lifetime. It took place at the fashionable Galeria de Arte Contemporaneo in the Zona Rosa of Mexico City. At first it seemed that Kahlo would be too ill to attend, but she sent her richly decorated fourposter bed ahead of her, arrived by ambulance, and was carried into the gallery on a stretcher. The private view was a triumphal occasion. "In the same year, Kahlo, threatened by gangrene, had her right leg amputated below the knee. It was a tremendous blow to someone who had invested so much in the elaboration of her own self image. She learned to walk again with an artificial limb, and even (briefly and with the help of pain-killing drugs) danced at celebrations with friends. But the end was close. In July 1954, she made her last public appearance, when she participated in a Communist demonstration against the overthrow of the left-wing Guatemalan president Jacobo Arbenz. Soon afterwards, she died in her sleep, apparently as the result of an embolism, though there was a suspicion among those close to her that she had found a way to commit suicide. Her last diary entry read: 'I hope the end is joyful - and I hope never to come back - Frida.'

-Deanne Scherlis Comer I, like so many, am weeping at the words I heard yesterday from the leader of our beloved country. Moreover, I am wondering if any of the president’s supporters who have any shred of moral credibility left are looking at themselves in the mirror and asking, “What have I done?” And when will other members of that coterie of his inner circle show some backbone and call out, loudly and clearly, the heinous words and actions that have tarnished this presidency? This is the time to be an “upstander” and not a “bystander” in our daily interactions as well. Our children, whose footsteps are shaping the path of our nation’s history, are listening. This is the time to remember and honor all those who have stood up and fought against Nazism, Fascism and global genocides at any level.This is the time to remember the diminishing number of Holocaust survivors who are the heroic remnants of the horror inflicted by racial and ethnic hatred. This is the time to feel empathy for the African Americans who still feel the inequalities, for the moderate Muslims who feel threatened, and for the undocumented, law-abiding immigrants who want a fair opportunity and path to citizenship. My father fled the pogroms of Communist Russia and always cautioned me about speaking out on issues I believed in. He felt that as a Jew, I should keep a low profile. “Well,” I told him, “Elie Wiesel believed that even if no one is listening, we need to yell against injustice so others don’t change us!” So, as a human being, as the daughter of an immigrant, as an American Jewish woman, as a mother, as a grandmother and as a Holocaust educator, I will continue to speak my mind. Hillel said, “If not now, when?” Deanne Scherlis Comer is past chair of Abington School District’s Holocaust Curriculum Committee and is an education consultant for the Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center of Delaware Valley.

At 5:30 this morning, I arrived at Ben Gurion Airport for the third time in six months. I have been traveling for two days. I haven’t had more than an hour or two of sleep since I left San Francisco, took a red eye to London, worked in the UK office for the day, and took another overnight flight to Israel. But I felt the energy of this place the moment we landed. I always do. It’s something I’ve heard other people describe, so I know I am not alone. When I went out to get a cab, the sun had just risen in a perfect orange ball over the airport. I am always looking for signs, especially when I am dispiritingly exhausted, and walking out into the sunrise was all I needed to know that I had left home to come home. I love it here. It was 6:20 by the time I got to my hotel. I was more than ready to collapse into bed, but the gentlemen at reception told me that he didn’t have any rooms ready, and I’d need to come back at 9. Two and a half hours to kill, on Shabbat, at sunrise… Tired as I was, I put on my walking shoes and headed for the beach. Even at dawn on a Saturday, the Tel Aviv beach path is buzzing with energy. The hard-core runners are already out in bands, competing with bikes, dogs and walkers for the right of way. This city is seriously physically fit. There are people out here running the way I do when the doors are about to close on Caltrain – but they are doing it for miles and miles. I couldn’t keep up with them if they were all wearing clogs and carrying mini-fridges. Fortunately, I don’t have my running clothes this morning, so I am pretending that I want to be walking instead of running – even though that isn’t true. Runners make me want to run. There is something sexy about morning runners - all those men and women busting their asses, their faces stern with effort- while most of the world is sleeping in. It foments a certain lust, something I want, or want to be, especially when they're people I don't know. Somehow, the anonymity makes them grander. I think the language barrier helps too; I can’t understand them for the most part, so I assume they are having important conversations while they run, perhaps about national security, economic inequality, water conservation. In reality, they are probably complaining about a bad night’s sleep, dissing their co-workers, and fishing for compliments on their parenting or their hair-- just like the rest of us. If I knew what they were saying, it might not have the same heat. About an hour down the beach, I stop at a café for a latte and a croissant. My favorite part about reading the menus in Israel is looking for transliterations of words I know, like “KROSONTZ” or “STAYK”. I usually try to order in Hebrew, and if it’s not too busy, the waiters are usually happy to let me stumble through, making sure that I don’t accidentally get a quail sandwich for breakfast and gently correcting me when I ask for the receipt instead of the check. I love sitting by myself at cafes and eavesdropping on other people’s conversations – particularly parents with young children, because they tend to speak slowly and clearly enough for me to follow along. Then I walk home, repeating phrases to myself – zeh ha-acharon achshav, cheshbon b’vakashah, ani rotzah mashehu matok… The words come back to me when I hear other people saying them. No one even looks at me as if I’m crazy when I talk to myself. They probably assume I’ve got a Bluetooth hidden somewhere, that I’m actually having a conversation with someone other than my inner Hebrew tutor. Truth be told, I wouldn’t behave any differently even if they did think I was nuts. The beauty of being halfway around the world by myself is not much caring what impression I leave. Solitude is a luxury in the life of a mother with young children, and I revel in it, even when my heart aches from separation. So now I am back at the hotel, at 9:25, still waiting for the room. But ultimately, it was a blessing in disguise that I got kicked to the curb when I got here. It’s a beautiful sunny morning, and instead of being up in my room sleeping through it, I was out with the people of Tel Aviv – my home-away-from-home people. Jewish people. The people of Israel. Shalom, brothers and sisters. You are so beautiful.

Restaurants and bars Get in mood for the Grand Prix by hitting up Kiosk (Március 15 tér 4, +36 70 311 1969) for the MARTINI PRE-RACE COCKTAIL party on July 23 at 9pm. Sip on a Martini & Tonic in this industrial chic establishment and get ready to hear the engines roar. Located round the corner from St. Stephen’s Basilica, Tom George, otherwise known as TG Italiano (Oktober 6 utca 8, +36 1 266 3525),is a trendy eatery serving Italian food with a twist. The kitchen infuses Italian dishes with international flavors to bring about an exciting, new character in each plate. At first glance, Vintage Garden (Dob utca 21, +36 30 790 6619) might look like a designer boutique, but the shabby-chic space tucked away in the Jewish Quarter is actually a restaurant serving up a menu inspired by the kitchens of French bistros. Its interior combines the feel of Provence with Budapest’s crumbling ruin-bar aesthetic. Raqpart (Jane Haining rkp., +36 30 464 0646) sits on the Danube Banks, just next to the iconic Chain Bridge, and offers panoramic views across the Danube to Buda Castle. Enjoy a refreshing aperitivo at sunset with great friends and one of the best views in Budapest. Photograph: Alex Rako Dance the night away at Tesla (Kazinczy utca 21, +36 30 519 5922), a unique club located just behind the Museum of Electrical Engineering in the heart of the city’s party district. Tesla’s premium-quality Void Accoustics sound system, great drinks, industrial design and regular party series make it a great place for a wild night—and early morning—out. Doboz (Klauzál utca 10, +36 20 449 4801), meaning “box” in Hungarian, is a club following the “ruin bar” model in an old, derelict apartment complex. Centered around a courtyard, and featuring a huge King Kong sculpture hanging off a tree and various themed spaces, Doboz is a major player on the Budapest nightlife scene. In the middle of downtown gastro court, Gozsdú Udvar, Klikk (Király utca 13, +36 30 444 7316) is a cozy American bistro by day and a popular club by night. Hungry? They serve a strong menu of American-Italian dishes, but it’s their freshly baked pizza that really stands out. On the Danube Banks of the revitalized 9th District, enjoy a cocktail at Esetleg (Fővám tér 11-12, +36 70 413 8761) with a view over to Gellert Hill and Liberty Bridge. This bistro has a distinct French accent, and the kitchen focuses on fresh and seasonal dishes making it popular with local foodies. Shopping and style Hungarian designer Szandra Sándor, who goes by her childhood nickname Nanushka (Deák Ferenc utca 17, +36 1 202 1050), eschews trends in favor of playful cuts, lush fabric and elegant comfort. Her line caters to the “urban nomad” who feels at home anywhere in the world. In a chic showroom on elegant Andrássy, The ArtYard (Andrássy út 66, +36 70 908 5946) print studio and gallery showcases a collection of prints, paintings, photography and illustrations for sale from local and international artists. All fine art prints are limited-edition and have been made on site.Photograph: The ArtYard/Almos Eory Tisza Cipő (Károly körút 1, +36 1 266 3055) is one of Hungary’s most successful brands. Specializing in trendy leather sports shoes and bags, the brand dates back to the 1970, when it offered shoes available on the communist market in Hungary. Since the early 2000s, Tisza Cipő has become popular among Budapest’s young and hip crowd. A creative hub located in a hidden courtyard, Paloma (Kossúth Lajos utca 14, +36 20 961 9160) is the place to discover modern Hungarian-designed clothes, bags, shoes and jewelry. You’ll find over 50 up-and-coming Hungarian designers who share showrooms in the complex—and they’re happy to chat. More than a stationery shop, Bomo Art (Régiposta utca 14, +36 1 318 7280) specializes in handcrafted journals, boxes, photo albums and quirky items like kaleidoscopes and praxinoscopes (a cool, old-school animation device). You’ll find these items in the tiny shop on Régiposta or the pop-up store in the Várkert bazaar. Szputnyik (Dohány utca 20, +36 1 321 3730) is a fashion concept store that sells vintage garments and cutting-edge contemporary designs all in one space. The combination means fashion lovers can pick up one-of-a-kind pieces with character that you won’t find elsewhere. Set in a basement in the Palace District, Tasting Table (Bródy Sándor utca 9, +36 30 551 9932) is a hybrid wine shop, tasting room and event space. You’ll find a broad selection of Hungarian wines, including Budapest’s largest selection of the famous Tokaji Aszú wines. Drop in on Thursdays for their weekly tastings. Founded by a group of freelance designers in a private apartment, Flatlab (Baross utca 3, bell 14, +36 30 949 4286) showcases contemporary Budapest design across clothes, accessories, prints or porcelain. The office space, workshop and shop all rolled into one is open to anyone interested in contemporary Hungarian design.Photograph: Balazs Goldi One of the city’s first environmentally conscious brands, Printa (Rumbach Sebestyén utca 10, +36 30 292 0329) offers a collection of silk-screen prints and eco-friendly fashion with a strong focus on the city of Budapest itself. Printa is more than a shop—it also houses a café and a gallery on site. Transforming Budapest’s Óbuda Island into an “Island of Freedom,” Sziget Festival (Aug 10-17) has become one of Europe’s largest music and cultural festivals since launching in 1993. This year’s week-long celebration of interactive art and music sees acts like Rihanna, Muse, David Guetta and other big names headlining the various stages.Photograph: Sziget.hu/Sándor Csudai Budapest Summer Festival runs until the end of August with a collection of alfresco cultural programs held in the open-air theater in Városmajor Park and Margaret Island, and the Water Tower on Margaret Island. Diverse performances include opera and ballet, as well as jazz and circus shows.Photograph: Majtenyi Mihaly As Hungarian wines earn more prestige, the Budapest Wine Festival—held on the terraces of the Habsburg-era Buda Castle from September 8 to 11—offers the perfect chance to try some of Hungary’s best. You’ll find around 200 wine cellars from Hungary’s various wine regions as well as some international names, along with great food and musical performances. The most prestigious racing event in the world needs no introduction. Since 1986, Hungaroring, located just outside of Budapest, has been home to one of the most exciting events on the Formula 1 calendar. This year the race takes place July 22-24.Photograph: Bernhardt Tamás With over 70 works loaned to the Hungarian National Gallery by the Musée National Picasso-Paris, this summer exhibition offers a comprehensive journey through Picasso’s creative method—most notably his approach to figural depiction. The “Picasso Transfigurations Exhibition” is presented in seven segments showing the chronological progression of the artist’s work. The Hungarian capital gets its place on the global triathlon map with this year’s Ironman 70.3 on July 30. The core route of the race traces the Danube River, past Budapest’s most iconic sites—beautiful, but also one of the toughest races on the planet. Running for more than 10 years, the Budapest Short Film Festival, BuSho for short, was created by a group of young Hungarian filmmakers looking to draw attention to short filmmaking in Hungary. The festival, which runs August 30 to September 3, shows short films selected by a jury across genres including fiction, animation as well as experimental. All films are screened in English or with subtitles.The Chicken by Una Gunjak Held in the Dohány Street Synagogue (the world’s second largest synagogue), the historic Rumbach Street Synagogue and the Goldmark Hall, the Jewish Cultural Festival (Sept 4-11) presents a series of concerts such as klezmer and cantor music, along with film screenings and food events.

A common challenge to religion is the question as to whether it is possible to be an honest ethical human being without being a religious person. The question is very much based on the premise that man is inherently good, and he will use his inborn goodness to make choices that will benefit mankind. Even with a minimum education, he will have a good sense of right and wrong. A more serious problem arises when one looks at so called religious Jews who are supposed to represent the highest standards of morality and decency, and they are found to be lacking in scruples and integrity. Many use this as a justification for not practicing their religion as they see themselves as more upright in how they conduct their affairs than the Jew who observes the Sabbath and keeps Kosher, but cheats in business. While such behavior from the religious Jew is entirely unacceptable and is a desecration of the name of G-d, it demonstrates a perversion of religion. Perhaps such people feel they are entitled to a free pass on certain laws that pertain to their fellow man, because they are so intensely exact on minute details of other laws. Whatever the case may be, this is wrong and is not representative of Judaism and its principles. There are many individuals who feel that one need not believe in G-d in order to be a good person. And the desire to help others and feel the pain of the downtrodden, can come from using one’s intellect and common sense. This, too, may work in certain situations, but the reality is that man is very complex. He is made up of drives and habits that are difficult to overcome. There is also a very strong need for self gratification. Man clearly has the potential for good provided that he overcomes the numerous obstacles in his way. If one were to truly examine how Judaism guides an individual towards trying to achieve human perfection, and gives the tools to be outstanding in interpersonal relationships, he might give our religion a second look. Forget about those who are a disgrace to our religion because of their hypocrisy. Let’s look at those who have allowed the teachings of the Torah to become their second nature. You will be amazed to see the level of sanctity that a human being is capable of achieving. The key motivator at self improvement comes from fear of Heaven. When one attaches himself to G-d, he is constantly reminded that the Creator is with him at all times. He must bring honor to Him in the manner in which he conducts himself. He will not be able to hurt another individual with words or disrespect. He will be careful to be certain that any money that he earns will come through the highest level of integrity. There are individuals who exude this goodness because they are constantly trying to improve themselves. If they even give in to anger or pride, they are disappointed with themselves. They will never go without making amends with someone they may have hurt even unintentionally. There are so many books written describing human nature and man’s fragile make-up. A Jew is taught how to balance his nature so that he learns what his weaknesses are and what he needs to work on. For example, many of these books list pride and arrogance as the worst traits a person can have. Often what comes with this arrogance, is anger and self pity. This is followed by depression and sadness for this person thinks so highly of himself that he doesn’t deserve to be treated as he is. On the other hand, humility is glorified. We are reminded that there is a direct correlation between greatness and humility. The greater the person, the more humble he is. the smaller he is, the more arrogant he is. Moses was the greatest man who ever lived and he was the most humble. It is obvious that the humble man will be the one that looks to the needs of others, while the arrogant man, sees only himself. The Talmud in Tractate Yoma sums it up best when the following is pointed out: “An individual who handles his business affairs with integrity, and speaks kindly to all he meets, and he services the rabbis and scholars, such an individual is praised by G-d who says, ‘Through you, I will be glorified.” Is it possible to be a good person without religion and fear of G-d? It certainly is. But when one delves into our sacred Torah and lives by the teachings of our sages, he will attain levels of greatness and holiness that will be the envy of all he meets. This is how the Jewish people truly become “a light unto the nations.” There is no question that there are some exceptionally good people in this world coming from all kinds of backgrounds. They are special in their desire to give of themselves and bring a smile to the less fortunate. Most likely, those individuals who have religion in their lives will be more ethical than those who do not.

Boca Raton, FL – October 7, 2015 – Unicorn Children’s Foundation, in partnership with Palm Beach County Youth Services Department and Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County, will be hosting a panel conversation on housing and transportation issues relevant to the special needs, disability and/or mental health community on Thursday, October 8, 2015 from 2:30-4:30pm at the Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County, 2300 High Ridge Road, Boynton Beach. The following experts will discuss the landscape of needs and services and will be sharing their company’s role in providing housing and/or transportation options supports, or services to create a more inclusive and engaging community for residents of varying abilities: Tomas Boiton, Founder & CEO, Citizens for Improved Transit Commissioner Paulette Burdick, Palm Beach County Government Genevieve Cousminer, Executive Director, Center for Independent Living Options Gerry Driscoll, Southeast Region Manager, Agency for Persons with Disability Louis Ferri, Operations Manager, Palm Tran/Connections Cathy-Alice Koyanagi, Chair of Palm Tran Service Board Michael Pecar, Real Estate Development Director, Neighborhood Renaissance Elaine Rotenberg, Clinical Director, Alpert Jewish Family Services Maria Rubin, Operation Analyst/Community Affairs, Agency for Persons with Disability Carlos Serrano, Director of Operations & External Affairs, Department of Economic Sustainability Clarinda Shabass, School District Transportation Sheryl Soukup, Executive Director, Florida Residential Options of Florida Claudia Tuck, Director, Palm Beach County Human Services Since January 2015, over 190 participants representing more than 100 private, public and civic organizations, as well as parents and individuals challenged by special needs have come together monthly to discuss their experiences, concerns, ideas, and solutions. These community conversations are part of a larger community needs assessment on special needs and disability that was commissioned by The Unicorn Children’s Foundation with funding support from Palm Beach County Government, Quantum Foundation, Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County, Ruth Rales Jewish Family Service, Autism After 21, Els for Autism, and the Autism Project of Palm Beach County. A presentation to the larger community is planned for Tuesday, December 1, 2015 from 5-8pm at the Palm Beach County South County Civic Center where we will unveil the current landscape of supports and services, the gaps in available services and supports, barriers to accessing services, and a business model to create a more coordinated and comprehensive continuum of care, engagement, and inclusion for individuals with special needs and/or disability. ### Unicorn Children's Foundation is a non-profit organization providing education, awareness and funding opportunities to organizations for special needs children in an effort to help kids excel in the community. For millions of special needs children with developmental, communication and learning challenges, finding a cure is like chasing a rainbow in that a cure remains elusive. The Unicorn Children’s Foundation is expanding the collective special needs community to help acknowledge, celebrate and integrate the special qualities possessed by neurodiverse children with Autism, ADHD, Bipolar, Asperger’s, Dyslexia and other learning disorders.

It may be, as Jeff Goldberg asserts, that Bibi Netanyahu is just frustrated over President Obama’s refusal to approve an Israeli attack on Iran. Or it may be something else: an unprecedented attempt by a putative American ally to influence a U.S. presidential campaign. Either way, Netanyahu’s recent behavior is outrageous. He is trying push us into a war that is not in our national interest, a war that would only further destabilize a region that is already teetering near chaos. He is trying to get us to damage our relations with the rest of the world–especially the Russians and Chinese, whom we spent great diplomatic effort luring into the Iranian economic sanctions–so that he can pursue a strategy that even the Israeli military and intelligence communities find questionable. President Obama will not yield to this pressure, nor should he–and every American should know the implications of what Netanyahu and his American neoconservative allies, including Mitt Romney, are proposing. Iran is not Afghanistan or Libya. It is not a bunch of tents in the desert. It is also not Iraq or Pakistan, clumsy collections of tribes and ethnicities cobbled together by Europeans a century ago. It is an actual place, a real country with real borders. It has the best-educated population in the region, outside of Israel; and that population is extremely proud of the country’s heritage while also being generally pro-American (especially American culture, which is received on the satellite dishes that mushroom every rooftop). It is a complicated culture, ironic and poetic and deeply paranoid, especially about the machinations of former colonial powers. It represents, I believe, the greatest mismatch between a people and a government of any country in the world. The Iranian government is dreadful and brutal, but not crazy. The Supreme Leader is not Saddam Hussein. The Iranians have much to lose if they ever chose to attack Israel or–anyplace, for that matter. They took 1 million casualties in Ayatullah Khomeini’s foolish war with Iraq in the 1980s; 100,000 were chemical victims of Saddam’s poison gas (which most Iranians believe that US provided). Missiles rained on Tehran; it was a terrifying experience for that middle class city. I was present at Tehran University in December 2011 when Ayatullah Rafsanjani made the only direct mention of the need for an Iranian nuclear weapon. He said an “Islamic bomb” was necessary to deter the Israeli nuclear threat. I believe that if the Iranians are foolish enough to “break out” and assemble a weapon, deterrence will be its only purpose. And if Iran gets the bomb, a U.S. policy of containment and deterrence will be as successful as it was against the Soviet Union, whose leaders once went around saying as crazy things about us–”We will bury you!”–as the Iranians occasionally say about Israel. An attack on Iran by Israel, or by the United States, will not stop the Iranian nuclear program for very long–and may well intensify it, since there will be all the more reason for Iranians to fear aggression from the west. An attack will, however, prompt a counterattack by Hizballah or another of the terrorist proxies the regime backs around the world. Iran has capabilities that neither Iraq nor Afghanistan had; it can hit us where we live–and it can certainly strike at the heart of Israel, via Hizballah. For these and other reasons, I have yet to meet a ranking member of the U.S. military who favors an attack on Iran. Indeed, I haven’t met very many Americans who are seeking another war, or greater uncertainty, or more wounded warriors, or murdered diplomats. When I take my annual road trips, I very rarely hear people mention Iran at all–and those who do mention it are Jews concerned for the future of Israel. That is a legitimate concern; I’m worried, too–as much by the aggressive Likud delusion of a Greater Israel, which its neighbors will inevitably see as a threat, as I am by Iran’s offensive behavior. But you should know: most Americans don’t care about this at all. They see China as our greatest foreign policy challenge. They see Al Qaeda as our most dangerous enemy. And they’re right about both. The truth is, Iran is a political issue more than a national security challenge. It has achieved the prominence in the current debate that it was because Bibi Netanyahu and his neoconservative pals have made it an issue, because twisted American zillionaires like Sheldon Adelson have bought politicians to promote it, because Jewish organizations like AIPAC and the ADL and the AJC have conflated Israel’s national security with our own–and their perceptions of Israel’s long-term national security are, I believe, grievously flawed. But think about it: What if David Cameron was pushing us to go to war with Argentina over the Falklands? What if India was interfering with the American presidential campaign in order to promote an attack on Pakistan? When was the last time a foreign leader tried to influence an American political campaign? Oh, I remember–Osama bin Laden, in 2004. He was our mortal enemy, of course, not a beloved ally like Israel. It goes without saying that there’s zero moral equivalence between Israel and the terrorists. But Netanyahu is doing two things that should be intolerable for any patriotic American: he is a foreigner trying to influence our presidential campaign and he is a foreigner trying to shove us into a war of choice in a region where far too many Americans have already died needlessly. The Romney campaign–as well as AIPAC, the AJC and every other American Jewish organization–should make it clear to Netanyahu that his interventions into our political process and policy-making are not welcome here.

The incumbent Speaker, Republican Joe Straus, was elected two years ago with the help of Democrats in the House. (Blogger’s Note–I live in Houston, Texas.) With Republicans gaining many seats in this month’s election, some Republicans are calling for someone they feel would a more conservative Speaker to take the office from Mr. Straus. Speaker Straus is Jewish. Not surprisingly given the people involved in this contest , the fact that the Speaker is Jewish is becoming an issue in the race. “….a new series of attacks is coming from the Religious Right, with Straus’ religion used against him. On his blog, Texas Capitol Reporter Harvey Kronberg reports that robo calls have begun in parts of the state. The voice on the calls tells people to support a “true Christian speaker.” Joe Straus is Jewish. Furthermore, the Republican Liberty Caucus has come out in support of North Texas Republican Ken Paxton (R-McKinney), citing a New Testament Bible verse in its original endorsement. That verse has since been removed from the group’s officially posted endorsement.” The Jewish Herald Voice is concerned. This newspaper has written about Jewish life in Houston and in Texas since 1908. Jews have a long history in Texas. “No aspect of nineteenth-century Texas history is without the involvement of committed Jewish Texans. Adolphus Sterne of Nacogdoches served as alcalde, treasurer, and postmaster in 1826, Albert Moses Levy was surgeon in chief in the revolutionary army in 1835, Jacob and Phineas De Cordova sold land and developed Waco, Simon Mussina founded Brownsville in 1848, Henri Castro founded several towns, Michael Seeligson was elected mayor of Galveston in 1853, Rosanna Osterman funded significant religious and charitable activities through her will, Sid Samuels and Belle Doppelmayer were in the first graduating class at the University of Texas in 1881, Olga B. Kohlberg started the first public kindergarten in Texas in 1893, and Morris Lasker was elected to the state Senate in 1895. Jews also established themselves in Beaumont, Brenham, Corsicana, Gainesville, Hempstead, Marshall, Palestine, Texarkana, Tyler, Port Arthur, Wichita Falls, Baytown, Corpus Christi, Brownsville, New Braunfels, McAllen, Alice, Amarillo, Columbus, Wharton, Giddings, Navasota, Crockett, Lubbock, Longview, Jefferson, San Angelo, and Schulenburg.” An ongoing exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science is calledForgotten Gateway—Coming To America Through Galveston Island.A portion of this interesting exhibit is about how Jews were often denied entry into America through Galveston for no other reason but that they were Jewish. The program runs through February 20, 2011. The photo below is of the Beth Yeshuran Jewish cemetery in Houston. The large grave in the middle of the photo is that of Private Nathan Pizer. Private Pizer was a United States Marine who was killed in action in France during WW I. Jewish folks have long served our nation. It makes no difference what religion anybody is when it comes to who can serve in public office. We must remain vigilant. So-called states rights views, now all the rage in Texas and elsewhere , have long been associated with intolerance and injustice. We can either fight back against this un-American behavior, or we can see the years of our lives wasted by extremists who refuse to acknowledge the outcome of the Civil War. Political independents who often vote for candidates of both parties need to please consider what they will be getting from Republicans over the next two years.

Jewish World Review Oct 10, 2011 / 12 Tishrei, 5772 Outside the Park By Mitch Albom It was almost I walked down a small street called We've all seen men like this. Perhaps you ignore them, or maybe cross the street. I decided long ago that if someone is put in my path there must be a reason, so I did not turn as I approached. Instead, I reached into my pocket. "Hey, I know you!" he said. Hello, I said. "Whoa, I know you! I know you!" He said my name, and he fumbled around as if looking for something, squatting, peeking behind the light pole. His clothes were layered, a couple T-shirts beneath a blue sweatshirt, the hood pulled over his head. He was small but trim, his face ruddy and whiskered white. It was a good, strong face, finely boned, one a director might choose to play a homeless man in a film. "Can you sign something for me?" he asked. He held out his small piece of cardboard with his message for help. "This is all I got," he said. I asked his name and he said "James" and he said "I'm 60" and I asked how long he'd been out here and he said "all night." He said "I was an iron worker," he said. "You know Local 25? I was in that. Made a lot of things." He glanced at the massive "Heck, I worked on this place." You helped build the stadium? "I sure did. Yep. Right here." He sniffed and shuffled his feet. He said he'd hit hard times since then, couldn't find work. He mentioned several places he'd sleep at night, a shelter on "I'm not on drugs, I'm sober, don't do any of that stuff anymore," he said. I hadn't asked. He said it anyhow. As we spoke, he would offer intermittent handshakes, as if we were saying hello throughout the conversation. I felt the power of his palms, strong and meaty, and it didn't surprise me that he once worked with iron. It also didn't surprise me that he was homeless. Men who make things with their hands are a shrinking tribe; men out in the streets are a growing one. We spoke for 10 minutes. At one point, a stadium worker wandered over, perhaps to make sure everything was OK, as if this man might be bothering me; why else would we be talking so long? "We're good," I said. "This is James. He helped build the stadium." "Yeah," he echoed. "Iron worker. Local 25." He smiled. No bitterness. No resentment. He did not look at his situation with the writer's ironic eye, as a man forced to panhandle outside a building he helped create. Instead, when I handed him more money, he blinked, swallowed, and almost began to cry. "Aw, man," he said. He opened his arms and offered a hug, which I quickly accepted. It was the best way to hide my own tears. There are a million stories in baseball, and, like home runs, some are inside the park and some are out. I asked James if he'd be there the next night and he said, "Definitely," and I said, "Good, see you then." Early Wednesday morning, after the game, I grabbed several boxed dinners from the press box and carried them out to Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here. © 2011, THE DETROIT FREE PRESS DISTRIBUTED BY TMS, INC.

By Geneva Sands - 06/20/12 02:45 PM EDT "It is a reminder that al Qaeda is a presence, and it can be a deadly presence, but whether this is al Qaeda or not is really too early to tell," said King on CNN's "Starting Point." Reports from the French media have said the gunman declared ties to al Qaeda, but it has not been confirmed. The same French town was the site of a shooting rampage in March that resulted in the deaths of three children and a rabbi outside a Jewish school, as well as the killing of three soldiers nearby. French prosecutors at the time said the perpetrator in the earlier incident told negotiators that he was linked to al Qaeda, and that he committed the shootings in revenge for the deaths of children in Palestine and over Western intervention in Afghanistan. The bank is in the same neighborhood where the suspected gunman in the March attacks, Mohamed Merah, was shot and killed by police, reported the AP. King raised concerns that if the latest violence is liked to the terrorist group, it "raises it to a new dimension" because al Qaeda has not previously been involved in this type of attack. However, the New York congressman emphasized that it's "too early to tell." "It could be that he's just a bank robber that got caught and he's now trying to use al Qaeda as some kind of a shield to get himself into negotiations, maybe work a deal for himself," King added. King also weighed in on the recently concluded G-20 summit of world leaders in Mexico, telling CNN the talks didn't appear productive. "What I've seen of this summit so far, it did not seem to be overly productive. Now, again, it could be agreements we're not fully aware of, but as of now it did not seem to be very productive," he said. However, President Obama said he was "encouraged by what he heard" from Angela Merkel on Monday at the summit, where he urged the German chancellor and other European leaders to move forward after the “positive prospect” of Greece’s election. King told CNN it is "vital" for Obama to come to an arrangement with European leaders to solve their economic crisis, given the impact it has on the United States.

By Maayan Jaffe/JNS.org At sundown on Saturday, May 23, Jews around the world will start the two-day holiday (which lasts only one day in Israel) of Shavuot. Also known as the Festival of Weeks because it marks the completion of the counting of the Omer period—which is 49 days long, or seven weeks of seven days—Shavuot is one of the Jewish calendar’s shalosh regalim pilgrimage holidays. Unlike the other two pilgrimage festivals—Passover, which is marked through the retelling of the Exodus story at the seder, and Sukkot, which is celebrated by building a hut or sukkah outside one’s home—there is no definitive ritual associated with Shavuot in the text of the Torah. As such, many Jews struggle to connect with the holiday, which has yet another name: “Chag HaKatsir,” meaning the Harvest Festival. But despite its undefined nature, Shavuot “is a gift of a holiday,” says Roberta Miller, a teacher at Chicago Land Jewish Day School in Chicago. “It’s when we got the Ten Commandments, God’s greatest present to the Jewish people,” she says. In that spirit, here are seven ways to infuse some meaning and minhag (tradition) into your Shavuot this year: It is traditional on Shavuot to eat dairy foods. Rabbi Robyn Frisch, director of InterfaithFamily/Philadelphia, says some believe this is because the scripture compares Torah to “honey and milk… under your tongue” (Song of Songs 4:11). Another explanation is that when the Israelites received the Torah for the first time, they learned the kosher dietary laws and didn’t immediately have time to prepare kosher meat, so they ate dairy instead. Baking and consuming dairy foods can differentiate Shavuot from other holidays, says Miller. “We all have very strong memories associated with scent. If I smell a honey cake, I think of my grandmother and Rosh Hashanah. The smell of cheesecake generates a connection to Shavuot for my kids,” she tells JNS.org. Miller also suggests ice cream cake. In her family, Shavuot marks the first ice cream cake of the season, and that knowledge builds anticipation for the holiday. Just as no one in her house is allowed to eat matzah until the seder, she says, no one gets ice cream cake until the first night of Shavuot. For families with young children, games are a great way to educate youth about the messages of Shavuot. Miller suggests counting games. “You can count up to 49 of anything: 49 ways Mommy loves you, 49 things you are grateful for,” she says. For slightly older children, Miller offers a Jewish commandments version of Pictionary®, in which before the holiday children draw their favorite commandment or commandments on a notecard. The cards are mixed up and put into a box or bag. Then, the family gets together, members draw picture cards, and someone acts out each commandment while participants guess which commandment it is and why it is important. On the second day of Shavuot, we read the Book of Ruth, the story of the first Jew by choice. Frisch explains that it is also a story of welcoming the stranger and inclusivity. Shavuot is the perfect holiday for inviting new friends over for a meal, or for opening one’s home to people who are interested in learning more about Jewish traditions, says Frisch. 4. Jewish learning Taking part in a tikkun leil Shavuot—a night of Jewish learning—is another Shavuot custom. Many traditional Jews stay up all night on the first night of the holiday to study Torah. Today, many non-observant Jews aren’t affiliated with a particular synagogue. As such, Frisch suggests hosting a communal night of learning (not affiliated with any particular religious sect or institution) that can draw in a more diverse mix of Jewish learners. “Jewish learning is being reclaimed,” Frisch tells JNS.org, adding that it is necessary for that learning to be accessible. For people who live in smaller communities without a formal Shavuot learning event, Frisch says there are multiple online sources that can be used to organize a grassroots evening of learning at an individual’s home. “Jewish learning doesn’t have to be Biblical texts. … Torah is more than the Five Books of Moses. It could be liberal values or social justice or just a discussion about Jewish identity or Jewish laws,” Frisch says. 5. King David birthday party Tradition has it that King David, Ruth’s (as in the Book of Ruth) great-grandson, was born and died on Shavuot. Miller suggests holding a King David birthday party—featuring decorations, cake, ice cream, and gifts. “Use it as a learning tool,” she says, noting how the party can springboard into a historical discussion. “What would you write on a card to [King David]? What do you want to ask him? What would he want for a present? What would he put in the goody bag that he gives to each of us?” On Shavuot, it is customary to decorate our homes and synagogues with flowers and plants. Ruthie Kaplan, who lives in the Nachlaot neighborhood of Jerusalem and is a former Hebrew school teacher, tells JNS.org that following this tradition of surrounding ourselves with the lushness of the natural world could “add a lot of beauty to the day.” Shavuot comes in the late spring or early summer, when the weather is perfect and the flowers are blossoming. Kaplan says that is “the perfect time” to connect with nature and appreciate the beauty of the world that God created for us. 7. Setting goals/reflections Kaplan says that a deeper reading of the Book of Ruth can transform Shavuot from simply another Jewish holiday into an opportunity to set goals and resolutions. Ruth, she says, believed in something (Judaism) and followed through on her belief. “That story of Ruth excites me and really comes to life on Shavuot,” says Kaplan. “Ruth is open to the truth and therefore she sees it and she is willing to be honest with herself. For anyone searching and struggling, Ruth is a good role model for life.” Download this story in Microsoft Word format here.

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It was cocktail hour at the Met Gala, the most glittery and exclusive event on the New York social calendar, and celebrity guests were thronging around the imposing Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, sipping drinks and munching on canapes. Pretty much everyone in the room was famous, some hugely so, but one guest seemed to be getting a little more attention than most: Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Roman Catholic archbishop of New York. "Cardinal, have you met Huma?" someone asked, leading him over to Huma Abedin, the longtime Hillary Clinton aide. Others waited their turn to speak to him. It seemed fitting, on a night when all the stars were trying to channel the theme of Catholicism, that the real-life cardinal in attendance was a star among stars. Dolan was effusive about the exhibit making its debut that evening, "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination." He was particularly enamored with the stunning pieces — 42 of them — on display from the Sistine Chapel sacristy at the Vatican, many never seen outside Rome or in public at all, including jewel-encrusted tiaras and intricately embroidered papal cloaks, known as copes. "Those pectoral crosses, those copes, are you kidding me?" he said admiringly. A waiter came by with tiny mini-grilled cheese sandwiches. "You got any tomato soup with that?" Dolan joked. Nearby stood actor Gary Oldman stood with his wife, Gisele Schmidt, watching the crowd quietly. The Met Gala is the kind of party where you can be this year's best actor Oscar winner, and nobody takes much notice. (For the record, best actress winner Frances McDormand was there too, with a bright blue bouquet of leaves around her head, as was last year's winner, Emma Stone — no leaves.) The couple spoke admiringly of the way the exhibit drew parallels between centuries-old religious imagery and attire, and modern fashions by designers like Gianni Versace, Alexander McQueen, Christian Lacroix and others. "It's all dressing up, isn't it?" noted Oldman, of the parallels. And then there was a bugle call — a very loud one, by a team of buglers. Guests were being summoned to make their way from the Temple of Dendur, or from the various exhibit galleries, to the American Wing, where a choir was performing before dinner. "Are they going to do that between every course?" quipped Oldman of the rather stunning sound. The evening began with the usual red carpet procession up the famed museum stairs — not red at all, actually — before a gaggle of furiously clicking cameras lining both sides, and shouts of, "Who are you wearing?!" Outside the museum entrance, crowds of onlookers stood behind police barricades, hoping to catch a glimpse of some of the more dramatically attired guests. In that latter category would be Rihanna, who never disappoints at a Met Gala and wasn't about to start now — not when she could wear her own, ornate papal mitre, bejeweled minidress and cloak. Or Katy Perry, dressed as an angel, with huge wings that recalled the angel in the current Broadway production of "Angels in America." Perry isn't in that show, but Andrew Garfield is, and he was at the gala, too — naturally. Once in the museum, guests were free to wander the many galleries housing the ornate exhibit, which stretched from the Anna Wintour Costume Center downstairs, where the Vatican collection was being displayed, to the Byzantine and medieval galleries on the main floor, where designer fashions were interspersed among the religious objects and artworks. One thing they weren't free to do: smoke. The museum was embarrassed last year when photos were posted on some fashion celebrities' Instagram feeds showing them puffing away in the ladies room. The museum said it would make sure that wouldn't happen again; in the ladies room this time, there was a huge no-smoking sign. The gala is famous for attracting luminaries of Hollywood, of fashion, music, sports, TV and the stage. But there was also a former presidential candidate wandering the halls Monday evening and chatting with fellow guests like Harry Connick Jr: Mitt Romney, along with his wife, Ann. "It's wonderful that the Vatican allowed the Metropolitan to show these," said the 2012 Republican candidate as he examined the Vatican objects, which include a tiara studded with 19,000 gems, mostly diamonds. "Even if you went to Rome, you wouldn't get to see these." He noted that religion and art "have always gone together." Broadway star Cynthia Erivo echoed the same idea. "There is definitely fashion in the church, and in religion," she said. "Look at the craftsmanship." The Tony winner was dressed to the nines in a velvet gown of deep purple — one of the colors of Catholicism — a bejeweled brow and nose ring, and most incredibly, fingernails nails adorned with detailed religious imagery. Erivo explained that she grew up in a Roman Catholic family in London, attended a Catholic school, and had deeply etched memories of attending Mass with her mother as a child. "It definitely has an effect on the way you see things," she said. For her gala attire, she said she had wanted to pay homage to the richness of church imagery, not by dressing as a nun or priest, but by channeling some of the ornate religious objects. The exhibit's curator, Andrew Bolton, has said that he initially wanted to make a multi-religion show, including Islam and Judaism, but decided to focus on Catholicism for now because there was such a wealth of material to choose from. One guest, actress Lynda Carter, wore a Star of David brooch in her hair and a golden crown with Hebrew writing that said, "Never forget." Even though she was born Roman Catholic, she noted, she had raised her children in the Jewish faith. In her teal-hued Zac Posen structured gown and her crown, Carter said she felt something like a high priestess — or, she added, maybe just Wonder Woman.

Romney blames Obama campaign Ralph Lauren has found himself in another tight spot this weekend when it was revealed that the yarmulkes he designed for Romney’s visit to Israel were also made in China. A quick apology was issued when news of the non-kosher yarmulkes was leaked to the media . Lauren had already left to take a short Sabbatical after it was revealed that the uniforms he designed for the 2012 Olympics were shipped out to China for manufacture. But, no sooner had the controversy died down over that news when a member of the Chinese gymnastics team—whose cousin actually works for one of the Chinese sweatshops where the Lauren line is manufactured and makes less than $1 a day in wages—made the claim about Team Romney’s yarmulkes. The claims have yet to be substantiated due to the fact that the Chinese government has removed the gymnast from the competition in order to keep the matter from becoming yet another embarrassment for remaining American businessmen who also have their products made at that sweatshop. Meanwhile, Sylvia Goldschmidt from Brooklyn was flabbergasted when she heard the news. “Ralphie Lipschitz was raised a nice Jewish boy and he knows the meaning of kosher,” she said. “But when he changed his name to Ralph Lauren, oy vey, he thinks he’s some kinda hot. Now he makes his money dishonestly with the schlock he’s selling to Americans.” When reached for comment, Romney accepted Lauren’s apology and went straight to blaming the leak on the Obama campaign. “This is exactly what I’ve been talking about,” said Romney as he touched down in Israel for his private meeting with Jewish financial leaders. “My good friend, Mr. Lauren has found a way to increase his margin of profit by shipping jobs overseas and everyone seems to think it is a bad thing. Meanwhile, I’m kind of regretting the fact that I didn’t buy Lauren’s stock when my broker advised me to.” “I mean, anyone who can make yarmulkes for $3 bucks apiece and sell them to us for $60 each has cornered the market on schmaltz,” said Romney, using the opportunity to practice his Yiddish slang before meeting the real deal. Romney said he is happy for this opportunity to finally drive his point home about capitalism and the importance of shipping jobs overseas. “Yeah, my yarmulke is made in China. But guess what? My suit was made in Indonesia and my undershorts were made in Mexico. Now can we talk about my foreign relations expertise?” Please SHARE this content and our site! We want to hear from you — leave a comment! Latest posts by P. Beckert (see all) - Childhood Friend Pens Biography on Trump’s Early Years - June 4, 2019 - Scientists Opine Impeachment Could Cause President to Spontaneously Combust - May 31, 2019 - Patient Treated for Mysterious Medical Condition Known Only as ‘EDXYZ’ - February 27, 2019

What is Appreciative Inquiry? Appreciative Inquiry is a philosophical approach that is grounded in a search for the best in people, their organizations, and the world around them. AI involves the systematic exploration of what gives “life” to an organization, individual or group when it is most alive, effective, and functional. AI involves asking questions that strengthen an organization, individual or group’s capacity to develop their positive potential. In a structured process of inquiry using the “unconditional positive question,” interventions that employ AI work at the speed of imagination and innovation. AI replaces the problem-solving paradigm for a process that entails discovery, dream, and design and assumes that every organization, group or individual has many available inspirational accounts of their past positive experience that comprise the “positive core.” When this core is associated with an agenda for change, dramatic transformations never thought possible can be achieved. Contact Lynn regarding coaching, consultation or training at email@example.com. Appreciative Inquiry in Coaching When used in coaching, this method builds on developing an individual’s strengths and helps a person envision a preferred future that is based on their past positive experience. Individuals that are coached from an appreciative perspective find that they are energized and are able to mobilize untapped creativity and inspiration towards achieving their vision. Dr. Jones has used AI in coaching leaders to achieve new heights as well as individuals who are hoping to make stunning transformations in their lives. Appreciative Inquiry in Organizational Consulting AI is an effective process for organizations that are looking to engage in developing their strategic future. Organizational members quickly establish a vision that is grounded in their past successes and passions; organizational members find themselves galvanized into action by the energy that springs from the process. Dr. Jones uses this process with diverse groups and organizations to do strategic planning, team building, developing performance assessments and 360 degree feedback assessments. Using this highly effective process, organizations are able to develop new ways of working that are effective and inspired and do not rely on the analytical problem solving approaches of the past. Dr. Jones has achieved striking results by using this process in organizations in their team building efforts, in managing conflict, in leadership development and in fund raising. Appreciative Inquiry Training Dr. Jones has trained numerous groups in the use of Appreciative Inquiry, including: - Coaches in training with the College of Executive Coaching - Leaders of Drug and Alcohol facilities in Ventura County - Counselors for the Successful Aging Program of Jewish Family Services, Santa Barbara. - Managers of the VenturaCounty Superior Court Get Your MOJO! Training for Appreciative Leaders TheGet Your MOJO! Teleclass uses an Appreciative Inquiry approach. Participants in the 12 week Teleclass complete the Reflected Best Self. Using this 360 degree feedback tool, they collect feedback from people in their life, including people they work with, friends and family. The feedback that they collect includes stories about when they have been “at their best.” Getting this feedback, “blew me away” said one recent participant. Using this feedback participants then develop their own Reflected Best Self Portrait. This Reflected Best Self Portrait contributes to developing a vision, and action plan and support the development of Appreciative Leadership skills. Contact Lynn regarding coaching, consultation or training using Appreciative Inquiry. firstname.lastname@example.org

This collection contains the names of approximately 1,000 Jewish survivors who sailed from Sete, a small French port 200 km west of Marseille, to Palestine in 1946. These records come from a book called Underground to Palestine, which was written by one of the passengers named I.F. Stone. Some of the information includes the name, age, birthplace, and the place in Israel where the people settled. You can learn more about this database at the JewishGen website.

2018 – Curating “Ocean Europe” by Ismar Cirkinagic in Collegium artisticum – Sarajevo in collaboration with Sanela Nuhanovic. I have worked with Ismar Cirkinagic since 2008. Apart from studying together at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Ismar Cirkinagic and I share the same cultural and linguistic background, since we both arrived in Denmark as refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina in the early 90s. This connection has been one, but not the only motivation for my commitment to the curating of Ismar Cirkinagic’s first solo exhibition in his homeland based on the series Ocean Europe. The other relevant conceptual and formal reasons for my involvement will be described below. In-between-cultures reading of Ocean Europe The series Ocean Europe was originally created in 2016 in connection with Ismar Cirkinagic‘ solo exhibition at Esbjerg Art Museum in 2016, where I was a co-curator. The exhibition has since been nominated for the AICA Art Critic Prize 2017 and chosen for MAC International in Belfast, curated by Katerina Gregos, Marta Dziewańska and Hugh Mulholland. The artwork has recently also been mentioned in Lisbeth Bonde’s publication Danish Art in the 10’s, with 40 artist portraits (Dansk kunst i 10’erne. 40kunstnerportrætter). The series consists of 50 conceptual photographic works, based on colors of European countries’ flags, which through artistic processing have become monochrome color areas. In Photoshop, the artist has calculated the average color of each flag, converting all recognizable color areas and forms of the flags, as well as their socially predetermined symbolism, into the monochrome void monoliths. The artworks are then produced through the traditional chemical developing process on photography paper. We could thus say that this work technically belongs to the tradition of camera-less photography. To “clean” the flags and their by removing national symbols from their appearances is an artistic removal of the structures that underpin a national feeling. This transformation is inspired by a so-called oceanic feeling – a short and intense psychological experience, where an individual feels united with the world and where the boundaries of the ego are erased, as well as a subjective perception of the world. It is a moment of spiritual sublimity emerged as a product of triumphal experiences of eternity, in which all existential doubts are gone. The work thus expands the understanding of belonging by confronting the concept of constructed national feeling (symbolically binding us to a demarcated country) with an open and universal sense of belonging (which in extreme cases occurs as “oceanic feeling” with a glimpse of the absolute). This concept is reflecting the artist’s negative attitudes towards the nationalistic political tendencies within the European society today He says: In time of crisis, when stratification of society is accompanied by decadence manifested through media and consumerism, and where xenophobia and Islamophobia are not marginal phenomena, but political mainstream, the flags are nothing more than primitive objects for accumulation of national patriotic feelings and as such used by the elite for cultivation of narrow-minded and primitive points of view on a far wider and more complex world condition that surrounds us. This process of “spiritual purification” which extends in the existing political constellations, carries in its own way a seed of anarchist thought. By questioning the nation-state concept opens up for new significant topics such as the notion of borders, ethnicity, and religion; all of which have a direct connotation to the Balkan civil war in the 90’s. Therefore, it seems both meaningful and important to present this exhibition in Sarajevo to an audience whose lives have been so influenced by mechanisms governed by exactly these nationalist polarizations. A country, which unfortunately still has not found a functional governmental system: The Dayton Peace Agreement, which was introduced as a solution to stop the war, has now become a permanent state of stagnation where the two entities (Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Republika Srpska) present incompatible visions and mission for the country. The ”ethnocratic model” imposed on Bosnia and Herzegovina by the Dayton Peace Agreement does not only makes the sociopolitical development more difficult, but ironically enough prevents the process of democratic consolidation itself. As Sead Alihodzic from International IDEA (The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance) explains: The priority of “ethnic principles” over “democratic principles” is not sustainable over a long time-period. It inevitably leads to renewed conflicts because it favours ethnic parties, which generate tensions and keep them high in order to remain relevant….The “ethnic principle” that takes the priority in the internal organization and functioning of the state drains the time and energy of democratic institutions while delivering little to people of Bosnia and Herzegovina. “Ethnocracy”, as the Bosnian system is sometimes described to, may be the settlement to end the war, but its positive effects were short living as it soon started to feed conflicts on which ethnic parties rely in their struggle for power. Both historically and today, the complexity of the Balkan identity is based on the intersection of different ethnicities, nationalities, and religions, which in my view in the future might even be an enriching angle that can give the European identity a new dimension. Moreover, Bosnia and Herzegovina‘s current, peripheral positioning in relation to the EU is another interesting factor that will provide a basis for a significantly different reception of Ocean Europe in Sarajevo, comparing to the one Ismar received in Esbjerg Art Museum in Denmark. Comparing the reaction of the audience in the two countries where Ismar Cirkinagic lives, is of a significant relevance since the artist’s practice exactly deals with the cultural and ideological translations created in his being between two cultures. During the first couple of exhibitions, the concept of Ocean Europe started to expand and new references to anarchist thinking were drawn. The pivotal point for comparison with anarchism, was the artist’s elimination of national symbols from the flags, which apart from being an aesthetic gesture also alludes to a poetic critique of the notion of state. Ismar Cirkinagic’s poetic and nihilistic artistic act does not only introduce us to anti-authoritarian waters but makes us question the legitimacy of the sociopolitical structures represented by the flags – the state itself. In its subtle aesthetic way, this artwork opens a space for the discussion of the role of anarchism in modern society. Anarchism can, in short, be described as the social doctrine based on the renouncement of the state mechanism by removing the notion of property and authority. In continuation of this, anarchism is also the philosophy of Humanity focusing on preservation and development of the human being by defending the complete freedom (physical, psychic, religious, political, economic, etc.) These three concepts; of property, authority and freedom, can play a role in the understanding of Ismar Cirkinagic’ conceptual approach to Ocean Europe. I believe that some fragments from The Anarchist Doctrine Accessible to All, written in 1925 by José Oiticica, can highlight the connection: It makes sense to start by looking at José Oiticica’s critic of private property, which is most of the time connected to land and thus to a concrete geographic territory, belonging to a certain country and represented by a certain flag: This right to the monopoly of land obtained through purchase, heritage, donation, war, etc., seems natural and just to us, because we have been used to it for thousands of years, however, we can easily evaluate the monstrosity that this entails with three simple considerations: a) The sun, the air, the rain, and the sea are natural gifts and nobody has the right to appropriate them to exploit another person. Natural gifts are and must be free, and should not be bought or paid for with work…So, what we find so monstrous about the air, the light, the sea, and the rain does not repulse us in the same way when it comes to land. Land is also a natural gift and nobody should appropriate or dismember it in order to exploit the work of another. b) This injustice becomes extremely potent if we observe, for example, the legal institution of inheritance. An individual is born. If the father is the owner of large land extensions, the child becomes heir just because the father is a proprietor. Without any personal effort or work, without participating with any physical or intellectual contingent, the heir becomes the owner of these lands, with the ability to sell, rent, or leave them uncultivated. While the rest of people in need do not have the right to cultivate these lands without the heir’s consent. c) This fundamental injustice is so severe that it has convert¬ed the economic regime in a paradox, namely, the less you work the more you have or the more you work the less you have. In fact, the proprietor of the farm, factory, or commercial establishment, deals with the lightest of services – that is, when they actually occupy themselves with something – and obtains the bigger profits; while slaves, employees, cashiers, workers, all of those who work the hardest and the longest hours receive, in the form of a salary, a small amount of the wealth produced. Such capitalistic sociopolitical system based on property requires, of course, control and regulations, which raises thus the question of the authority. José Oiticica says:.. authority has a double purpose: a – to defend proprietors against non-proprietors, b – to regulate competition amongst proprietors. Nevertheless, in a society without private property there are no proprietors, there are no owners, so there is no need for a department to defend proprietors. The double purpose of authority disappears, so authority and State also vanish. Once property disappears the economic aspect obviously also of State disappears. As a natural counterpoint to the concept of authority is the one of freedom which anarchist doctrine explains in a following way. Freedom allows people a possibility for wakening and developing all their abilities and capacities without fear, restriction or frustration. This open society cultivates freedom as a right to defend freedom itself, just like health and the oxygen we breathe. That is why Anarchy and Order are not enemies. To the contrary, the Anarchists’ intention is to develop and improve these, using responsible freedom and human solidarity as a propelling motor! It is not true that people have to suffer from the authority of the government to perform their duties and to know how to deal with their freedom. According to political sophism, “your freedom ends where the other’s begin”, as if all human’s needs could be measured or weighted.” Anarchism understands freedom as a public heritage, that is as necessary to human development as light, or as the air we breathe. That is why there must be perfect social equality in the anarchic commune. Anarchists claim that all people are unequal. We can also reasonably say that there are no two equal brains; no two equal personalities, wishes, ideas, tendencies, intelligences, or equal abilities. Here it is referred to equality of social conditions for a free development of natural inequalities. Freedom requires mutual agreement, and agreement means limitation of will, a moral commitment to precisely meet all terms of the agreement. Freedom is the possibility to fulfill an agreement amongst all. Once an individual breaks the agreement, this person impedes others from meeting it as well, by suppressing the possibility of fulfillment. This is called oppression. “When joining a commune, all individuals accept an express or tacit agreement; they all commit to meet the agreement, but nobody forces them into it in case they do not want it anymore. Since the agreement is for their own benefit, the more perfect the freedom, that is, the harmony in meeting the agreement, the greater the benefit will be and rarer, maybe even impossible, shall be the ruptures. Seeing Ocean Europe through the lens of anarchist thoughts, through, for me a new light on this conceptual artwork. Suddenly Ismar’s monochromes became amorphous and leaderless flags of humanity, symbolizing openness and freedom. His artistic envision about belonging, which is more based on universal human values than the constructed national one, is now connected to a skepticism towards the nation-state structure, (probably provoked by the artist’s own experience of loss of a home country and deconstruction of Yugoslavia). In the concept, I now see a new interesting connection between humanity and nature, where the human connection with Earth, as the source of general natural good, is put in contrast to the territorial thinking, which provokes wars and fights for property. The artwork grew in my eyes: from being a conceptual sociopolitical artwork also to be an artwork dealing with humane condition, where the artist’s motivation shines trough as a desideratum of openness (borderless-ness) and thus freedom. Collegium artisticum – Sarajevo as a platform The exhibition venue for Ocean Europe in Sarajevo is called Collegium artisticum Sarajevo. Historically the venue has been very important for the Yugoslav art scene and still today, it functions as one of the significant places for contemporary art in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was founded by an avant-garde artist group Collegium artisticum, which was active in Sarajevo from 1939. The group consisted of young intellectuals who had returned to the city from universities in other European countries and its mission was to warn about fascism by promoting the notion of multiculturalism through exhibitions, concerts and theater performances. The members were very dedicated and put their lives at stake for the mission. As Dr. Mirjam Rajner explains: Faced at home with an atmosphere of despair caused by poverty and political stagnation and acutely aware of the dangers that the spread of Fascism and Nazism meant for the liberal-minded Europeans, they, soon joined by the local Jewish and non-Jewish leftist artists, opted for an avant-garde inspired action. Hoping to bring to Sarajevo some of the live, avant-garde and artistic atmosphere characteristic of Prague of the 1930s, filled with leftist émigré artists and writers, they formed a “synthetic theater” named Collegium Artisticum. It was inspired by Dorival 38, a similar Prague avant-garde theater founded and directed by the Czech poet, journalist, musician and actor, Emil František Burian (himself influenced by the post-revolutionary work of the famous Russian theater directors, Vsevolod Meyerkhold and Alexander Tairov). Sarajevo’s group that continued its activities until the early 1941 and the very outbreak of the WWII in Yugoslavia, united music, pantomime, architecture, painting, film, drama and poetry. In addition, the members organized exhibitions and held public lectures, all of which were meant to raise the awareness of the upcoming danger and offer solutions steeped in anti-Fascism, leftism and communism. In conjunction with the curating of Ocean Europe in Sarajevo, I find the history of the exhibition venue highly relevant because it confirms the artistic need to think beyond constructed nationalist structures. It is also interesting that the initiative for such a movement was taken by artists who have been abroad and returned to Sarajevo with new perspectives and a multicultural view of the world, a diasporic position that also characterizes Ismar Cirkinagic. Finally, it should be mentioned that the exhibition fits very well with Collegium artisticum’s architecture with more than 50 m long unbroken wall space. As earlier mentioned, the artworks were originally produced for the Esbjerg Art Museum, but it is only during the display at Collegium artisticum’s open space without any divisions, that all approx. 50 works from the series will be visible at once, – which is of great importance to the exhibition, which, by the nature of monochrome monolith-like works, is based on both visual and physical total experience. Ismar Cirkinagic, 1973 Ismar Cirkinagic (BiH/DK) has lived in Denmark since 1992 and graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen in 2006. He has exhibited in art institutions and museums such as the Metropolitan Arts Centre, Belfast, the HEART Contemporary Art Museum and the Kunsthal, Charlottenborg. He also participated in ARoS Trienneale, Liverpool Biennal “City States”, and Socle Du Monde Biennal. His works are part of collections in the ARoS Museum and in the National Museum of Photography in Denmark. Installation views from previous exhibitions of Ocean Europe, respectively in Esbjerg Art Museum in Denmark and MAC International in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Feel free to subscribe to my newsletter

When the history of our time is written, 2020 will be known as the year of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the way this year has started, it’s conceivable that 2021 will be known as the year of the cancel culture epidemic. The cancel culture epidemic is no mere “distraction.” It goes to the very heart of who we are as a nation, where we have come from as a civilization, and what we wish to become as a society. We face a choice. Do we wish to preserve our history, with all its attendant problems and embarrassments? Or will we make ourselves vulnerable to the even greater risks that come with cutting ourselves off from our history? The Judeo-Christian tradition offers us a time-tested way of negotiating this choice. This week, billions Christians and millions of Jews across the world are observing the holidays of Easter and Passover. These festivals commemorate two of the most glorious events in our peoples’ histories: the redemption of the Jewish people from their slavery in Egypt, and the resurrection of Christ following his crucifixion. One might think that in celebrating these holidays we would exult in our salvific triumphs and make no mention of anything that could detract from our religious revelry. Strangely enough, however, we do just the opposite. Jews begin the Passover Seder by declaring that “in the beginning, our ancestors were idolaters.” Christians, when recounting the story of Jesus’ death and eventual resurrection, tell the story of how St. Peter denied Christ three times following the Last Supper—a story so scandalous, in its presentation of the man who would later go on to found the Christian Church as originally having been a denier of Christ, that one would think the early Church fathers would have edited this story out of the New Testament. More shockingly, they not only chose to leave it in Scripture but to repeat it. It appears not just once but in all four of the canonical Gospels. Similarly, the Talmud states that it is not out of a mere whim that Jews begin the Seder by recounting their shameful past—it is a core component of the Seder itself, which, the Talmud declares, must include a mention of the Jewish people’s embarrassing past. Christianity and Judaism have survived, and now thrive, not because they have erased the problematic aspects of their past, but by openly acknowledging them—by building them into their rituals and incorporating them into the very fabric of their faith. The less than honorable aspects of our history and cultural heritage can be painful to confess to, but it is the key to our survival as a civilization. It is easier to paper over, censor, and suppress the aspects of our art and literature that we’re not proud of. But censorship and blanket suppression are the tools of totalitarian societies. Open dialogue, reasoned debate, and civil discourse are the methods that free societies use to confront challenges. If we believe that Western Civilization is worth saving—if we believe that the meeting of Athens and Jerusalem and the synthesis of classical Greece and Rome with the ethical monotheism of Judaism and Christianity have contributed something of incalculable value to the world—then we must preserve our history, with all of its shameful and painful elements. Easter and Passover can guide us in how we may do so without sacrificing our civilizational self-esteem. Friedrich Nietzsche believed that in the age of “the death of God” we could now create our own values and cast away our histories. Jung, more astutely, believed that the wish to do away with our history was not only delusional but dangerous. Human beings, said Carl Jung, are not creatures who are “able to be born every day and to live without history.” We are like trees with many roots—if you cut off the roots, what shall happen to the tree? Not for nothing, then, did Jung speak of cutting ourselves off from our past as the “mutilation of the human being.” As Jung wrote, We think we are able to be born every day and to live without history, but that’s a disease, that’s absolutely abnormal, because man is not born every day, he’s once born in a specific historical setting with specific historical qualities, and therefore he’s only complete when he has a relation to these things. [It can’t be as if] he’s born without eyes and ears, when you are growing up with no connection to the past—from the standpoint of natural science, you need no connection to the past, but that is a mutilation of the human being. In 2021, we will have to decide if we wish to become like trees without roots. And we will have to decide whether to continue traveling along the long and hard—but ultimately prosperous—path of liberal democracy, or whether we prefer the short and easy—but ultimately disastrous—road to totalitarianism. If we choose to view these questions as mere “distractions,” I fear greatly for the kind of society—and the kinds of people—that we are on the road to becoming.

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||This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2012)| Secular morality is the aspect of philosophy that deals with morality outside of religious traditions. Modern examples include humanism, freethinking, and most versions of consequentialism. Additional philosophies with ancient roots include those such as skepticism and virtue ethics. Greg M. Epstein also states that, "much of ancient Far Eastern thought is deeply concerned with human goodness without placing much if any stock in the importance of gods or spirits.":45 Other philosophers have proposed various ideas about how to determine right and wrong actions. An example is Immanuel Kant's categorical imperative: "The idea that actions can only be considered moral if they could be imitated by anyone else and produce good results.":112 A variety of positions are apparent regarding the relationship between religion and morality. Some believe that religion is necessary as a guide to a moral life. This idea has been with us for nearly 2,000 years.:5 There are various thoughts regarding how this idea has arisen. For example, Greg Epstein suggests that this idea is connected to a concerted effort by theists to question nonreligious ideas: "conservative authorities have, since ancient days, had a clever counterstrategy against religious skepticism—convincing people that atheism is evil, and then accusing their enemies of being atheists.":7 Others eschew the idea that religion is required to provide a guide to right and wrong behavior, such as the Westminster Dictionary of Christian Ethics which states that religion and morality "are to be defined differently and have no definitional connections with each other".:401 Some believe that religions provide poor guides to moral behavior. Various commentators, such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens are among those who have asserted this view. Secular moral frameworks "Consequentialists", as described by Peter Singer, "start not with moral rules, but with goals. They assess actions by the extent to which they further those goals.":3 Singer also notes that utilitarianism is "the best-known, though not the only, consequentialist theory.":3 Consequentialism is the class of normative ethical theories holding that the consequences of one's conduct are the ultimate basis for any judgment about the rightness of that conduct. Thus, from a consequentialist standpoint, a morally right act (or omission) is one that will produce a good outcome, or consequence. In his 2010 book, The Moral Landscape, Sam Harris describes a utilitarian science of morality. Freethought is a philosophical viewpoint that holds that opinions should be formed on the basis of science, logic, and reason, and should not be influenced by authority, tradition, or other dogmas. Freethinkers strive to build their opinions on the basis of facts, scientific inquiry, and logical principles, independent of any logical fallacies or intellectually limiting effects of authority, confirmation bias, cognitive bias, conventional wisdom, popular culture, prejudice, sectarianism, tradition, urban legend, and all other dogmas. Secular humanism Secular humanism focuses on the way human beings can lead happy and functional lives. Though it posits that human beings are capable of being ethical and moral without religion or God, it neither assumes humans to be inherently evil or innately good, nor presents humans as "above nature" or superior to it. Rather, the humanist life stance emphasizes the unique responsibility facing humanity and the ethical consequences of human decisions. Fundamental to the concept of secular humanism is the strongly held viewpoint that ideology—be it religious or political—must be thoroughly examined by each individual and not simply accepted or rejected on faith. Along with this, an essential part of secular humanism is a continually adapting search for truth, primarily through science and philosophy. Positions on religion and morality The subject of secular morality has been discussed by prominent secular scholars as well as popular culture-based atheist and anti-religious writers. These include Paul Chamberlain's Can We Be Good Without God? (1996), Richard Holloway's Godless Morality: Keeping Religion Out of Ethics (1999), Robert Buckman's Can We Be Good Without God? (2002), Michael Shermer's The Science of Good and Evil (2004), Richard Dawkins's The God Delusion (2006), Christopher Hitchens's God Is Not Great (2007), Greg Epstein's Good Without God: What A Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe (2010), and Sam Harris's The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values (2011). Morality requires religious tenets According to Greg Epstein, "the idea that we can't be 'good without God' " has been with us for nearly 2,000 years.:5 This idea is seen in various holy books, for example in Psalms 14 of the Christian Bible: "The fool says in his heart, 'there is no God.' They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good ... not even one." And this idea is still present today. "Many today ... argue that religious beliefs are necessary to provide moral guidance and standards of virtuous conduct in an otherwise corrupt, materialistic, and degenerate world.":115 For example, Christian writer and medievalist C. S. Lewis made the argument in his popular book Mere Christianity that if a supernatural, objective standard of right and wrong does not exist outside of the natural world, then right and wrong becomes mired in the is-ought problem. Thus, he wrote, preferences for one moral standard over another become as inherently indefensible and arbitrary as preferring a certain flavor of food over another or choosing to drive on a certain side of a road.:3–28 In the same vein, Christian theologian Ron Rhodes has remarked that "it is impossible to distinguish evil from good unless one has an infinite reference point which is absolutely good." Peter Singer states that, "Traditionally, the more important link between religion and ethics was that religion was thought to provide a reason for doing what is right, the reason being that those who are virtuous will be rewarded by an eternity of bliss while the rest roast in hell.":4 Proponents of theism argue that without a God or gods it is impossible to justify moral behavior on metaphysical grounds and thus to make a coherent case for abiding by moral standards. C. S. Lewis makes such an argument in Mere Christianity. Peter Robinson, a political author and commentator with Stanford's Hoover Institution, has commented that, if an inner moral conscience is just another adaptive or evolved feeling in the human mind like simple emotional urges, then no inherent reason exists to consider morality as over and above other urges. According to Thomas Dixon, "Religions certainly do provide a framework within which people can learn the difference between right and wrong." Theists often argue that absence of belief in God(s) does not necessarily lead to immoral behavior. Atheists and agnostics, theistic philosophers[who?] say, can act just as morally as themselves with respect to social conduct. The theist, however, claims that the atheist does not have an objective moral foundation for morality. Morality does not rely on religion "A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hopes of reward after death."— Albert Einstein, "Religion and Science," New York Times Magazine, 1930 Various commentators have stated that morality does not require religion as a guide. The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Ethics states that, "it is not hard to imagine a society of people that has no religion but has a morality, as well as a legal system, just because it says that people cannot live together without rules against killing, etc., and that it is not desirable for these all to be legally enforced. There have also certainly been people who have had a morality but no religious beliefs.":400 Bernard Williams, an English philosopher, stated that the secular "utilitarian outlook"—a popular ethical position wherein the morally right action is defined as that action which effects the greatest amount of happiness or pleasure for the greatest number of people—is "non-transcendental, and makes no appeal outside human life, in particular not to religious considerations.":83 Williams also argued that, "Either one's motives for following the moral word of God are moral motives, or they are not. If they are, then one is already equipped with moral motivations, and the introduction of God adds nothing extra. But if they are not moral motives, then they will be motives of such a kind that they cannot appropriately motivate morality at all ... we reach the conclusion that any appeal to God in this connection either adds to nothing at all, or it adds the wrong sort of thing.":64–65 "Some theists say that ethics cannot do without religion because the very meaning of 'good' is nothing other than 'what God approves'. Plato refuted a similar claim more than two thousand years ago by arguing that if the gods approve of some actions it must be because those actions are good, in which case it cannot be the gods' approval that makes them good. The alternative view makes divine approval entirely arbitrary: if the gods had happened to approve of torture and disapprove of helping our neighbors, torture would have been good and helping our neighbors bad. Some modern theists have attempted to extricate themselves from this type of dilemma by maintaining that God is good and so could not possibly approve of torture; but these theists are caught in a trap of their own making, for what can they possibly mean by the assertion that God is good? That God is approved of by God?":3–4 Greg Epstein, a Humanist chaplain at Harvard University, dismisses the question of whether God is needed to be good "because that question does not need to be answered—it needs to be rejected outright," adding, "To suggest that one can't be good without belief in God is not just an opinion ... it is a prejudice. It may even be discrimination.":ix This is in line with the Westminster Dictionary of Christian Ethics which states that religion and morality "are to be defined differently and have no definitional connections with each other. Conceptually and in principle, morality and a religious value system are two distinct kinds of value systems or action guides.":401 Others share this view. Singer states that morality "is not something intelligible only in the context of religion".[a] Atheistic philosopher Julian Baggini stated that "there is nothing to stop atheists believing in morality, a meaning for life, or human goodness. Atheism is only intrinsically negative when it comes to belief about God. It is as capable of a positive view of other aspects of life as any other belief.":3 He also states that "Morality is more than possible without God, it is entirely independent of him. That means atheists are not only more than capable of leading moral lives, they may even be able to lead more moral lives than religious believers who confuse divine law and punishment with right and wrong.:37 "I think our knowledge of right and wrong is innate in us. Religion gets its morality from humans. We know that we can't get along if we permit perjury, theft, murder, rape, all societies at all times, well before the advent of monarchies and certainly, have forbidden it... Socrates called his daemon, it was an inner voice that stopped him when he was trying to take advantage of someone... Why don't we just assume that we do have some internal compass?" Philosopher Daniel Dennett says that secular organizations need to learn more 'marketing' lessons from religion—and from effective secular organizations like the TED conferences. This is partly because Dennett says that the idea that people need God to be morally good is an extremely harmful, yet popular myth. He believes it is a falsehood that persists because churches are currently much better at organizing people to do morally good work. In Dennett's words: "What is particularly pernicious about it [the myth] is that it exploits a wonderful human trait; people want to be good. They want to lead good lives... So then along come religions that say 'Well you can't be good without God' to convince people that they have to do this. That may be the main motivation for people to take religions seriously—to try to take religions seriously, to try and establish an allegiance to the church—because they want to lead good lives." Religion is a poor moral guide Popular atheist author and biologist Richard Dawkins, writing in The God Delusion, has stated that religious people have committed a wide variety of acts and held certain beliefs through history that are considered today to be morally repugnant. He has stated that Adolf Hitler and the Nazis held broadly Christian religious beliefs that inspired the Holocaust on account of antisemitic Christian doctrine, that Christians have traditionally imposed unfair restrictions on the legal and civil rights of women, and that Christians have condoned slavery of some form or description throughout most of Christianity's history. Dawkins insists that, since Jewish and Christian interpretations of the Bible have changed over the span of history so that what was formerly seen as permissible is now seen as impermissible, it is intellectually dishonest for them to believe theism provides an absolute moral foundation apart from secular intuition. In addition, he argued that since Christians and other religious groups do not acknowledge the binding authority of all parts of their holy texts (e.g., The books of Exodus and Leviticus state that those who work on the Sabbath and those caught performing acts of homosexuality, respectively, were to be put to death.), they are already capable of distinguishing "right" from "wrong.":281 The well-known passage from Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, "If God is dead, all is permitted,":63 suggests that non-believers would not hold moral lives without the possibility of punishment by a God. Greg M. Epstein notes a similar theme in reverse. Famous apologies by Christians who have "sinned" (such as Bill Clinton and Jimmy Swaggart) "must embolden some who take enormous risks for the thrill of a little immoral behavior: their Lord will forgive them, if they only ask nicely enough when—or if—they are eventually caught. If you're going to do something naughty, you're going to do it, and all the theology in the world isn't going to stop you.":115–116 Some survey and sociological literature suggests that theists do no better than their secular counterparts in the percentage adhering to widely held moral standards (e.g., lying, theft and sexual infidelity).[e] Evidential findings Cases can also be seen in nature of animals exhibiting behavior we might classify as "moral" without religious directives to guide them. These include "detailed studies of the complex systems of altruism and cooperation that operate among social insects" and "the posting of altruistic sentinels by some species of bird and mammal, who risk their own lives to warn the rest of the group of imminent danger.":117 Greg Epstein states that "sociologists have recently begun to pay more attention to the fact that some of the world's most secular countries, such as those in Scandinavia, are among the least violent, best educated, and most likely to care for the poor". He adds that, "scientists are beginning to document, though religion may have benefits for the brain, so may secularism and Humanism." On April 26, 2012, the results of a study which tested their subjects' pro-social sentiments were published in the Social Psychological and Personality Science journal in which non-religious people had higher scores showing that they were more inclined to show generosity in random acts of kindness, such as lending their possessions and offering a seat on a crowded bus or train. Religious people also had lower scores when it came to seeing how much compassion motivated participants to be charitable in other ways, such as in giving money or food to a homeless person and to non-believers. A number of studies have been conducted on the empirics of morality in various countries, and the overall relationship between faith and crime is unclear.[b] A 2001 review of studies on this topic found "The existing evidence surrounding the effect of religion on crime is varied, contested, and inconclusive, and currently no persuasive answer exists as to the empirical relationship between religion and crime." Phil Zuckerman's 2008 book, Society without God, notes that Denmark and Sweden, "which are probably the least religious countries in the world, and possibly in the history of the world", enjoy "among the lowest violent crime rates in the world [and] the lowest levels of corruption in the world".[c] Dozens of studies have been conducted on this topic since the twentieth century. A 2005 study by Gregory S. Paul published in the Journal of Religion and Society stated that, "In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy, and abortion in the prosperous democracies," and "In all secular developing democracies a centuries long-term trend has seen homicide rates drop to historical lows" with the exceptions being the United States (with a high religiosity level) and "theistic" Portugal.[d] In a response, Gary Jensen builds on and refines Paul's study. His conclusion is that a "complex relationship" exists between religiosity and homicide "with some dimensions of religiosity encouraging homicide and other dimensions discouraging it". Other views |This section does not cite any references or sources. (February 2012)| Some non-religious nihilistic and existentialist thinkers have affirmed the prominent theistic position that the existence of the personal God of theism is linked to the existence of an objective moral standard, asserting that questions of right and wrong inherently have no meaning and, thus, any notions of morality are nothing but an anthropogenic fantasy. Agnostic author and Absurdist philosopher Albert Camus discussed the issue of what he saw as the universe's indifference towards humankind and the meaninglessness of life in his prominent novel The Stranger, in which the protagonist accepts death via execution without sadness or feelings of injustice. In his philosophical work, The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus argues that human beings must choose to live defiantly in spite of their longing for purpose or direction and the apparent lack of evidence for God or moral imperatives. The atheistic existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre proposed that the individual must create his own essence and therefore must freely and independently create his own subjective moral standards by which to live. See also - a.^ Singer uses the word "ethics", but states in the same work that he uses the words ethics and morals "interchangeably" (p. 1). - b.^ Some studies appear to show positive links in the relationship between religiosity and moral behavior—for example, surveys suggesting a positive connection between faith and altruism. Modern research in criminology also suggests an inverse relationship between religion and crime, with some studies establishing this connection. A meta-analysis of 60 studies on religion and crime concluded, "religious behaviors and beliefs exert a moderate deterrent effect on individuals’ criminal behavior". - c.^ Zuckerman identifies that Scandinavians have "relatively high rates of petty crime and burglary", but "their overall rates of violent crime—such as murder, aggravated assault, and rape—are among the lowest on earth" (Zuckerman 2008, pp. 5–6). - d.^ The authors also state that "A few hundred years ago rates of homicide were astronomical in Christian Europe and the American colonies," and "[t]he least theistic secular developing democracies such as Japan, France, and Scandinavia have been most successful in these regards." They argue for a positive correlation between the degree of public religiosity in a society and certain measures of dysfunction, an analysis published later in the same journal argues that a number of methodological problems undermine any findings or conclusions in the research. - e.^ See, for instance, Ronald J. Sider, The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience: Why Are Christians Living Just Like the Rest of the World? (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 2005). Sider quotes extensively from polling research by The Barna Group showing that the moral behavior of evangelical Christians is anything but exemplary. - Epstein, Greg M. (2010). Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-167011-4. - Childress, James F.; Macquarrie, John, eds. (1986). The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Ethics. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press. ISBN 0-664-20940-8. - Singer, Peter (2010). Practical Ethics (Second ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-43971-8. - ESVBible.org. "Psalm 14 - ESVBible.org". Crossway. Retrieved 4 September 2012. - Dixon, Thomas (2008). Science and Religion: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-929551-7. - Lewis, C.S. (2001). Mere Christianity. HarperCollins. - Ron Rhodes. "Strategies for Dialoguing with Atheists". Reasoning from the Scriptures Ministries. Retrieved January 4, 2010. - "Hitchens—The Morals of an Atheist". Uncommon Knowledge. August 23, 2007. Retrieved January 4, 2010. - Williams, Bernard (1972). Morality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-45729-7. - Baggini, Julian (2003). Atheism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-280424-2. - Dennett, Daniel (December 12, 2011). "The Scientific Study of Religion". Point of Inquiry. Discussion of morality starts especially at 39min - Biblos.com (2004-2011). "Exodus 31:15". Biblos.com. Retrieved 6 September 2012. Exodus 35:2 is similarly worded. - Biblos.com (2004-2011). "Leviticus 20:13". Biblos.com. Retrieved 6 September 2012. - Dawkins, Richard (2006). The God Delusion. Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0-618-68000-9. - Zuckerman, Phil (2008). Society Without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us About Contentment. New York: New York University Press. - Highly Religious People Are Less Motivated by Compassion Than Are Non-Believers by Science Daily - Laura R. Saslow, Robb Willer, Matthew Feinberg, Paul K. Piff, Katharine Clark, Dacher Keltner and Sarina R. Saturn My Brother’s Keeper? Compassion Predicts Generosity More Among Less Religious Individuals - Baier, Colin J.; Wright, Bradley R. E. (February 2001). "If You Love Me, Keep My Commandments": A Meta-analysis of the Effect of Religion on Crime. 38. No. 1. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. p. 3. Retrieved 20 November 2011. Original in italics. - Zuckerman, Phil. Society Without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us about Contentment. New York: New York University Press. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-8147-9714-3. Zuckerman's work is based on his studies conducted during a 14-month period in Scandinavia in 2005–2006. - Paul, Gregory S. (2005). "Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies: A First Look". Journal of Religion and Society (Baltimore, Maryland) 7: 4, 5, 8, and 10. - Gary F. Jensen (2006) Department of Sociology, Vanderbilt University Religious Cosmologies and Homicide Rates among Nations: A Closer Look http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2006/2006-7.html http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/pdf/2006-7.pdf Journal of Religion and Society, Volume 8, ISSN 1522-5658 http://purl.org/JRS - KERLEY, KENT R.; MATTHEWS; BLANCHARD, TROY C. (2005). "Religiosity, Religious Participation, and Negative Prison Behaviors". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 44 (4): 443–457. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5906.2005.00296.x. - SAROGLOU, VASSILIS; PICHON; DERNELLE, REBECCA (2005). "Prosocial Behavior and Religion: New Evidence Based on Projective Measures and Peer Ratings". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 44 (3): 323–348. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5906.2005.00289.x. - Regnerus, Mark D.; Burdette, Amy (2006). "RELIGIOUS CHANGE AND ADOLESCENT FAMILY DYNAMICS". The Sociological Quarterly 47 (1): 175–194. doi:10.1111/j.1533-8525.2006.00042.x. - e.g. a survey by Robert Putnam showing that membership of religious groups was positively correlated with membership of voluntary organisations - As is stated in: Chu, Doris C. (2007). "Religiosity and Desistance From Drug Use". Criminal Justice and Behavior 34: 661. doi:10.1177/0093854806293485. - For example: - Albrecht, S. I.; Chadwick, B. A.; Alcorn, D. S. (1977). "Religiosity and deviance: Application of an attitude-behavior contingent consistency model". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 16: 263–274. doi:10.2307/1385697. - Burkett, S.; White, M. (1974). "Hellfire and delinquency:Another look". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 13: 455–462. doi:10.2307/1384608. - Chard-Wierschem, D. (1998). In pursuit of the "true" relationship: A longitudinal study of the effects of religiosity on delinquency and substance abuse. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Dissertation. - Cochran, J. K.; Akers, R. L. (1989). "Beyond Hellfire:An explanation of the variable effects of religiosity on adolescent marijuana and alcohol use". Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 26: 198–225. - Evans, T. D.; Cullen, F. T.; Burton, V. S.; Jr; Dunaway, R. G.; Payne, G. L.; Kethineni, S. R. (1996). "Religion, social bonds, and delinquency". Deviant Behavior 17: 43–70. - Grasmick, H. G.; Bursik, R. J.; Cochran, J. K. (1991). "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's": Religiosity and taxpayer's inclinations to cheat". The Sociological Quarterly 32: 251–266. - Higgins, P. C.; Albrecht, G. L. (1977). "Hellfire and delinquency revisited". Social Forces 55: 952–958. - Johnson, B. R.; Larson, D. B.; DeLi, S.; Jang, S. J. (2000). "Escaping from the crime of inner cities:Church attendance and religious salience among disadvantaged youth". Justice Quarterly 17: 377–391. - Johnson, R. E.; Marcos, A. C.; Bahr, S. J. (1987). "The role of peers in the complex etiology of adolescent drug use". Criminology 25: 323–340. - Powell, K. (1997). "Correlates of violent and nonviolent behavior among vulnerable inner-city youths". Family and Community Health 20: 38–47. - Baier, C. J.; Wright, B. R. (2001). "If you love me, keep my commandments":A meta-analysis of the effect of religion on crime". Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 38: 3–21. doi:10.1177/0022427801038001001. - Paul, Gregory S. (2005). "Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies: A First Look". Journal of Religion and Society (Baltimore, Maryland) 7: 4, 5, 8. - Paul, Gregory S. (2005). "Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies: A First Look". Journal of Religion and Society (Baltimore, Maryland) 7: 11. - Paul, Gregory S. (2005). "Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies: A First Look". Journal of Religion and Society (Baltimore, Maryland) 7. - Gerson Moreno-Riaño; Mark Caleb Smith, Thomas Mach (2006). "Religiosity, Secularism, and Social Health". Journal of Religion and Society (Cedarville University) 8.

Celebrated for his reportage about world-changing events and leaders of his day—the Iranian Revolution, Che Guevara and the Cuban Revolution, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia—the Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski has remained in the headlines since his death in 2007 largely due to questions about his veracity: How accurate was his reporting? How truthfully did he describe his own life? Were his stories so memorable because he made them up? A biography published in Poland in 2010 but only now appearing in English takes up these questions. In fact, in many places Artur Domoslawski’s Ryszard Kapuscinski: A Life reads like a book written by a fact-checker: exhaustive and focused on the details, some of them significant but many picayune. If the reader of a typical biography might expect to come away understanding what made the subject great, the reader of this book finishes wondering if the hero is still standing: he has been subjected to a thousand doubts and quibbles, example after example of an assertion of Kapuscinski’s being contradicted by somebody who outlived him. To those who value accuracy above all else, this result may gratify. And the granular parsing of his many writings and public statements may have been a necessary reckoning for Poland, where Kapuscinski remains a major literary figure. But for those unfamiliar with Kapuscinski’s pioneering reportage about the Third World—a New Journalism that engaged the world beyond the United States—this book might not be the best place to start. The inquisition starts with Kapuscinski’s childhood in Pinsk; Domoslawski opens by comparing Kapuscinski’s writings to the memories of his sister, Barbara. Unsurprisingly, they diverge. This microscopic examination of Kapuscinski’s early life goes on for pages. Eventually, we glimpse the Poland Kapuscinski inhabited as a college student and adult—a Communist state where success as a journalist depended on not only intellect but one’s ability to move adroitly through the halls of power, delicately finessing relationships both with peers and with government officials. We learn when Kapuscinski joined the Communist party, whom he told about it, and whom he did not tell. This is the most substantial and interesting part of the book, a real contribution to our knowledge of Kapuscinski and of Poland. For the great majority of his career, the writer’s travel was financed by his government, especially the Polish Press Agency. Domoslawski explains how that worked: what publications he allied himself with, and with what support from bureaucrats. He shows how Kapuscinski responded to the rise of the Solidarity trade union and the decline of the Communist regime. We see him awkwardly navigate social events attended both by party stalwarts and by progressives, see him walk away from old friends. Domoslawski even lets the Party guys tell how they felt betrayed by the new Kapuscinski as he (literally, at least in one scene) pretended not to know them. The most damaging revelations about Kapuscinski appeared in Polish Newsweek four months after his death. Documents from the archives of the Communist intelligence service showed that the writer had collaborated with them for several years. Domoslawski parses the charges and concludes that the writer ultimately offered the spies very little of use—his main expertise, according to one of Kapuscinski’s intelligence handlers, was “at ducking and diving!” In one area, however, Kapuscinski took a clear hit. This was in a report he sent his handlers after speaking with Maria Sten, an academic who “was sacked from her job on the wave of anti-Semitic purges of 1968 and emigrated to Mexico,” where the writer caught up with her. The dispatch, says Domoslawski, contains clichés typical of the official, anti-Semitic propaganda (Kapuscinski calls Poles of Jewish origin who were forced to leave Poland at that time “Zionists”). By passing this information about Maria Sten to the intelligence service, could he have done her harm? Probably not. Sten was not planning to return to Poland, and Kapuscinski knew that. Despite this fact, does the note have the tone of a denunciation? Unfortunately, yes, it does.

Source: The Sun in San Bernardino TWENTYNINE PALMS - Navy Lt. Robert Grove awoke before the sun rose and prayed. During the next 12 hours, Grove chaplain for the 3rd Battalion, 11th Marines welcomed 40 Marines and sailors to the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center here; he prayed over 103 men leaving for Iraq; and he celebrated with 139 returning home. It was a typical whirlwind. Grove's workload has been heavy since he joined the Navy after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It intensified two years ago when the United States attacked Iraq, where 150,000 American troops remain. There are another 17,000 in Afghanistan. California has sent more troops to the Middle East than any other state; thousands have been from Twentynine Palms, Fort Irwin and the California Army National Guard. Peppered throughout the nation's military are about 4,000 chaplains with a daunting task: Win the emotional wars waging within troops. "I am responsible for the spiritual fitness of this battalion,' Grove told the new Marines and sailors during a breakfast address. On the battlefield That day, newspaper headlines announced the death toll for American troops in Iraq topped 1,500. The number didn't phase Grove, a two-tour veteran of Iraq. Death is sad, he said without a hint of emotion, but it is part of war. It's the reason the military employs chaplains. "There are no atheists in foxholes,' the axiom says. And so military ministers are there to prepare troops to meet their maker whatever they believe it may or may not be. "They are the spiritual backbone of the unit. ...' said Gunnery Sgt. Frank Patterson, Twentynine Palms base spokesman. "Chaplains provide an invaluable service.' Almost all are Christian. Of the 1,400 active-duty Army chaplains, nine are Jewish and six are Muslim, according to the Office of the Chief of Chaplains. Six are Orthodox Christian. The rest are Protestant or Catholic. "In a time of war, all chaplains are trained to minister to soldiers of all faith groups,' said Col. Ron Huggler, the chief chaplain at Fort Irwin near Barstow. "We know how to deal with death and dying issues, whether it is a Jewish soldier or a Christian soldier or a Muslim soldier.' Chaplains themselves become masterful bullet dodgers. They don't carry firearms, even in combat zones where warriors are dressed like civilians and crude bombs, known as improvised explosive devices, erupt around them. "From a sniper's point of view, or, obviously from an IED's point of view, we are a soldier just like anybody else,' Huggler said. No chaplains have been killed in Iraq since Operation Iraqi Freedom began; three were seriously wounded. Terms of service Chaplains have been a part of the U.S. military since before the United States existed. At the urging of Gen. George Washington, the Continental Congress hired the first chaplain in 1775. There are about 2,500 chaplains in the Army, with 1,100 in the Reserves and National Guard. The Air Force has 600 chaplains. The Navy, which provides the chaplains for the Coast Guard and Marines, has 871. Job requisites are strict: a masters of divinity degree, two years of pastoral experience, a church sponsor and good health. During peacetime, chaplains are involved in the daily spiritual struggles of base service members and their families. They take their shepherding on the road during war. Grove found in Iraq that planning was restricted by the volatility of the region and the possibility the battalion would be moved at any moment. So he developed an informal system of combat visits: He traveled throughout southern Baghdad in American convoys, stopping to meet with troops where they were stationed and then moving to the next spot. "It can be emotionally draining at times,' Grove said. "Being only one chaplain for roughly 1,000 sailors and Marines, the workload can be overwhelming.' That would be a lot of people for any person to care for under ideal circumstances. "Here we have about seven assistant pastors to help take care of the flock,' said Raul Ries, senior pastor of a 15,000-member church in Diamond Bar, Calvary Chapel Golden Springs. But chaplains do it thousands of miles from comfort, in an environment saturated with death and loss. Chaplains do more counseling than they do preaching and teaching. Leading worship services and religious devotions are part of the job. But often, chaplains say, they are approached for their impartial ears. Overseas and at home, they are available around the clock. "All the time, Marines walk into this office and say, 'I need to talk. Now,'' Grove said, sitting in the comfort of his sparsely decorated office on the base. Conversations are confidential. Like communication with attorneys, the content is protected by law. "Whatever happens with the chaplain, stays with the chaplain,' Grove said. Easter without the resurrection Grove spent last Easter in Fallujah with the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines. On Resurrection Sunday he listened on a military radio to the ambush of a close friend. Two other Marines died that day. "It was probably the worst day of my life,' Grove said of April 11, when Christians celebrated the resurrection of Jesus in 2004. But Grove didn't mourn for 1st Lt. Oscar Jimenez of San Diego. "There really is no time to grieve when you are in combat,' the chaplain said. "You've got to move on. You grieve later.' The next day the chaplain gave a memorial service under the hot desert sun. It was a brief break for bereaved Marines before they returned to fighting in the then-insurgent dominated city in Al-Anbar Province. "I wish I would not have to do any memorial services,' Grove said. "But that is a fact of war.' In Iraq, chaplains also counsel troops who feel guilty about the death that surrounds them, maybe even follows them. "It is very important for a chaplain to help each soldier be able to draw on his faith so he believes what he is doing is morally and ethically and spiritually right,' said Huggler, the Fort Irwin chaplain. "Especially when they see the horrors of war. Without that, you have a soldier who becomes hesitant ... and all the sort of things that can get him or his fellow soldiers killed.' Evil as war may seem, chaplains say, it has its time and place. They point to the third chapter of Ecclesiastes, a sacred book for Jews and Christians: "There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the sun: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, ... a time for war and a time for peace ...' A fallen soldier lives on Spc. Daniel Unger was the first member of the California Army National Guard killed in combat since the Korean War. Unger was attached to the 1-185 Task Force, headquartered in San Bernardino. He died last May in a rocket attack on an American camp. When his body was returned to Exeter, Calif., his father spoke at the funeral. By his side was the adjutant general of the California Army National Guard, Maj. Gen. Thomas Eres. Eres was so impressed that three months later he had an assistant offer Marc Unger a chaplain job. The 53-year-old pastor of Exeter Baptist Church signed up for 11 years of service. Throughout the week, Unger counsels soldiers via telephone. He drives from his Central Valley home to the Central Coast to the Bay Area. Sundays he preaches in Exeter, a 9,500-person farm town southeast of Fresno. "Our son's ministry to his country lives on as his family continues to minister to our country as a chaplain family,' Unger said. Help on the home front Unger and other chaplains who remain in the states assist families while a mother or father, husband or wife is thousands of miles away. Whether the need is spiritual guidance, money or a babysitter, "we are going to find a way to meet it,' Huggler said. This is most pronounced in the Army Reserves and National Guard, where families do not live on military bases and don't have the geographical support network. When the 1-185 Task Force deployed for Iraq last March, few soldiers had prepared their families for the long separation, unit Chaplain (Maj.) Steve Harrell said. "Midway through the deployment some of the spouses experienced extreme burnout, stresses on their home life that were just beyond them,' Harrell said. "The results were not good.' There are also problems long after combat ends that require the chaplains' attention. About 15percent of Iraqi veterans are returning with post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the National Center for PTSD, a branch of the Department of Veterans Affairs. In these people, the stresses of war cause intense flashbacks and nightmares, impairs sleeping and estranges a person from their surroundings. "When soldiers come home, we realize he is not the same and she is not the same. No matter what,' Huggler said. "Just being apart for the year, there are going to be all kinds of changes.' Chaplains at Fort Irwin spend weeks weaning soldiers back into civilian life. Through Reunion and Reintegration Training, they explain to couples the hurdles that will soon present themselves. They train spouses to look for signs of post-traumatic stress and, if needed, seek help. Praying for protection The skies were bright and brilliant as the Marines and sailors of Mike Battery, 3rd Battalion, 11th Marines prepared to deploy for Iraq. Black clouds that had dumped hail on the San Bernardino Valley and spun a twister in Fontana were moving north over Big Bear Lake. But the air of Twentynine Palms was clear and quiet except for 'hurrahs' and sobs. Before the troops boarded buses to March Air Reserve Base near Riverside, an officer announced the chaplain would pray with those interested. About 60 men surrounded Grove. "It's important we get spiritually right before we go on a deployment,' the chaplain told the men, many of whom looked like boys. They were talkative and anxious while waiting in the parking lot. Around the chaplain they were respectful and reflective. "Lord God, we give thanks to you for this day. We thank you for the blessings of this life. For our health, for our family and friends ...' Grove said. "We ask your blessing to be upon the Marines and sailors of Mike Battery as they deploy for Iraq. They have been given the tremendous responsibility to serve our country, to be peacemakers ... "Keep them strong and resolute. ... Protect them and bless them. ... And by your grace and mercy, bring each one of these Marines and sailors back home safe and sound. And we pray this in your most holy and precious name, our Lord and our God. Amen."

The New York Times today, in the very first sentence of its article titled, "Leader of Hamas Delivers Defiant Speech at Anniversary Celebration," reports, "GAZA CITY — Khaled Meshal, the political leader of Hamas, gave a defiant speech on Saturday, vowing to build an Islamic Palestinian state on all the land of Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip." Despite quoting Meshal at length in the article, there was no direct quote confirming this first sentence. The Jerusalem Post did provide a direct quote: "Palestine was, still is and will always be Arab and Islamic...Palestine belongs to us and to no one else." This is consistent with the Hamas Covenant 1988, which states in Article Thirty-One: "It is the duty of the followers of other religions to stop disputing the sovereignty of Islam in this region, because the day these followers should take over there will be nothing but carnage, displacement and terror." Hamas and Israeli leaders share a fundamental agreement, which is that the conflict in Palestine is a religious one, between those who want Jewish sovereignty versus those who want Islamic sovereignty in all of what, after WWI, was called "Mandate Palestine" ( "from the River to the Sea," 78% of which is today called Israel.) The leaders of both Hamas and Israel need the conflict to be framed this way because it diverts everybody's attention away from what most people, regardless of their religion, want more than anything else, but what the Hamas and Israeli leaders do not want: Most people in Palestine/Israel want peace and security in a society based on equality, concern for one another and mutual aid. In an egalitarian society where people are equal regardless of their religion, in which there are no rich and no poor, in which all have an equal say in determining the laws because they can attend the meetings that make the laws (as discussed in Thinking about Revolution) then no elites would be able to enjoy special privileges and power and wealth the way the billionaires and politicians and generals who rule Israel do and the way Islamic "supreme rulers" and clerics with other similar titles do in Islamic theocracies. Were it not for their success in framing the conflict as a religious one, Israel's ruling elite would be quickly swept away by a working class movement of Israelis, such as the one that sparked the huge demonstrations in Israel, back in August 2011, against the impoverishment of ordinary Israelis. But this movement for economic equality, directed against the billionaires and politicians ruling Israel, fell apart as soon as Prime Minister Netanyahu used a pretext in Gaza to direct Israelis' attention to the great bogeyman--Palestinians. Posing as the protector of all Israeli Jews against their "real enemy"--Arabs--allowed Netanyahu to neutralize the working class movement. This is the strategy of social control that Israeli leaders absolutely depend upon, and without which they would be swept from power. In order for this strategy to work, Jews must be made to fear non-Jews. And in order to make this so, the non-Jews must be perceived by Jews as having a terrible goal, one that would mean misery or worse for Jews. Israeli leaders do two things to create this sufficiently frightening bogeyman. First, they carry out violent ethnic cleansing against Palestinians, driving most of the non-Jewish Palestinians out of what became Israel in 1947-9, driving more out in 1967, and refusing to this day to let these (now millions) of refugees return to their land inside what is called Israel. Thus 70% of the people living today in Gaza are refugees from Israel itself. Israeli leaders either deny that they carry out ethnic cleansing or they justify it as necessary to ensure that there will be a Jewish majority of at least 80% in Israel so that it will be a "Jewish state" without which, Israeli leaders falsely claim, Jews cannot be safe in the world. Using the need to protect this ethnic cleansing project as their excuse, Israeli leaders inflict one brutal atrocity after another on the Palestinians, in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza. The effect is exactly as intended: it makes Palestinians furious, and angry at the Israeli government; and some, seeing that the Israeli government claims to be "of the Jewish people," get angry at Jews, which is exactly what Israel's leaders want to happen. Israeli leaders, starting with the first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, have been telling Jews that the "Arabs" want to "drive the Jews into the sea." Anything that helps make this lie credible helps Israel's leaders control and dominate ordinary Jews and remain in power. Enter Hamas. Hamas never says that it wants all people in Mandate Palestine to live as equals under the law. No. It says it wants Islam to be sovereign. It's true that if one reads further in the Hamas Covenant one will find language saying that Jews and Christians and Muslims will live peaceably together under this sovereignty of Islam. Few Jews, however, read this Covenant. And even if they did they would have good reason to be skeptical because they know full well that Hamas directs violence against ordinary non-combatant Israeli Jews, often lethal violence, which suggests that Hamas considers Jewish people to be the enemy just because they are Jewish and living in Mandate Palestine. Hamas makes sure that Israeli Jews remain terrified of Palestinians. This is why the Israeli government does things to strengthen Hamas's power in Gaza, over and over again. Every time Israel attacks Gaza, Hamas emerges more powerful. All reporters on the scene, regardless of their political orientation, say this is true. Israel's leaders know it is true; that's precisely why they attack Gaza as they do. These attacks on Gaza are, thus, the second thing Israeli leaders do to create a sufficiently frightening bogeyman with which to control Israeli Jews. Hamas and Israel's leaders need each other; each helps the other keep a grip on its own people, providing the other a perfect enemy with which to frighten its "own people" into obedience. While playing this role for Israel's leaders, Hamas needs to tell Palestinians that it is fighting for what Palestinians actually want. Thus Hamas's leader, Khaled Meshal, spoke eloquently in Gaza today in opposing the right of Israel, as a Jewish state, to exist. He's right. A Jewish state based, as Israel is, on ethnic cleansing and making non-Jews second-class citizens under the law, has no right to exist, no more than the American slave-based Confederacy or the German Master-Race Aryan state or the apartheid-based South African state had a right to exist. And Meshal spoke eloquently about the right of Palestinians to use violence against Israel. Again, he is perfectly right, except for one thing. When Hamas uses violence against Israeli soldiers, and when Palestinians in general use violence against the violent civilian Jewish settlers who attack Palestinians, this is both morally justified as self-defense and also politically useful because it helps the world (and especially Israeli Jews) see that Palestinians are only being violent in self-defense, against those who are violently attacking them to enforce ethnic cleansing. But when Hamas kills non-combatant Israeli Jews (with rockets or suicide bombers, it makes no difference) it is not in self-defense, it is not morally justified, it accomplishes nothing positive militarily or otherwise for Palestinians, it actually strengthens Israeli leaders' power and ability to continue the ethnic cleansing, and (this is the explanation for it) it strengthens Hamas's power over Palestinians for the reasons discussed above. The ordinary people who live in Mandate Palestine are in a carefully laid trap. The only way to escape the trap is to first understand that it exists and then to deliberately escape from it, by rejecting the entire "religious war" framework that the trap depends upon.

Financially troubled St. Joseph Medical Centermay soon become part of a hospital system that does not follow its strict Catholic beliefs on abortion and reproductive rights. The Towson hospital's owner, Catholic Health Initiatives, put it up for sale after a surgical scandal threatened its business and besmirched its reputation. Two of its three remaining suitors are not Catholic institutions, which typically follow a religious doctrine that includes morning prayer and the prohibition of many women's services, such as abortion, sterilization, tubal ligations and in-vitro fertilization. St. Joseph's said that all the hospitals it is negotiating with have agreed to honor its "Catholic identity." However, citing confidentiality agreements as talks continue, hospital officials won't clarify what that means. The conflict between religious and secular ownership in merging hospital groups has raised questions and even killed deals. St. Joseph itself was at the center of such discord in the 1990s when it shelved merger talks with Greater Baltimore Medical Center because of an outcry from women's groups that feared the deal would curtail abortions and other reproductive services. More recently, Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear turned down a chance to merge a public hospital in Louisville with Catholic Health Initiatives after public opposition that the deal would have led to fewer women's services such as contraception. More of these partnerships are taking place despite the complexities as the hospital industry continues to consolidate. Smaller systems facing competitive pressures and the uncertainty of health care reform are looking to become part of larger, financially sound institutions. "There is no doubt that religion complicates hospital mergers," said Jon O'Brien, president of Catholics for Choice, which disagrees with a variety of the religious doctrines of Catholicism. Cardinal Edwin F. O'Brien argued in a commentary piece that ran in The Baltimore Sun in January that St. Joseph's should be bought by another Catholic institution. "The foundation that led to St. Joseph's modest beginnings and decades of growth is the same one that must see it through this difficult time in its storied and illustrious history," O'Brien wrote. "It is a foundation rooted in the Franciscan tradition and its Catholic identity." O'Brien, as apostolic administrator of the Arcdiocese of Baltimore, must approve any hospital merger, but a spokesman would not elaborate on whether he would shoot down a merger with a non-Catholic hospital. Such intervention is rare but the Vatican has stepped in to stop a hospital merger, said Lois Uttley, director of the MergerWatch Project, a group that works to save reproductive health services in hospital mergers. In some mergers, secular hospitals have agreed to ban abortions and other services to abide by Catholic doctrine. Other hospitals have used more creative means, such as segregating whole floors where these services could be allowed. In simpler examples, the Catholic and secular hospitals operate as separate entities with separate rules. A Catholic hospital may have more say if it has the upper hand in negotiations, said those who follow religious hospital mergers. In its case, the troubled St. Joseph may be more willing to negotiate to get the best deal for the facility. "If the non-Catholic hospital is in the better position and is committed to keeping its full menu of reproductive health services that outcome can be better for women," Uttley said. The mergers become particularly troublesome to groups like Catholics for Choice when they would leave no other alternative for women to seek care, such as in rural areas with few hospitals. St. Joseph began looking for a partner because of troubles it faced after complaints surfaced in 2009 that cardiologistDr. Mark Mideiperformed hundreds of unnecessary medical procedures. The hospital notified approximately 600 patients that they had stents placed in their arteries that they might not have needed. Hundreds of those former patients have since sued St. Joseph and its parent company. Midei was forced to resign from the hospital and lost his license in Maryland, a decision he is fighting. The hospital not only has lost revenue, but patient admissions, doctors and other staff. It also has agreed to increased federal oversight after an investigation into a kickback scheme that resulted in a $22 million settlement and repayment of funds for questionable procedures. Only one of St. Joseph's suitors, St. Agnes Hospital, is a Catholic hospital. The other two, LifeBridge Health and the University of Maryland Medical System, are non-Catholic entities. LifeBridge Health's Sinai Hospital and its geriatric facility are Jewish institutions. All three would benefit by expanding their systems into the Towson area and gaining new patients as the health care industry becomes more competitive. LifeBridge and University of Maryland would not comment on the negotiations because they said they had signed confidentiality agreements. University of Maryland spokeswoman Mary Lynn Carver said that in general the 12 hospitals in its system operate independently. "UMMS does not dictate all aspects of operation for each of our hospitals and we are sensitive to the local needs of individual communities and the history each hospital had prior to joining UMMS," Carver said. "While UMMS is not a faith-based organization, that does not preclude us from having a faith-based organization in our group of hospitals." Bonnie Phipps, president and CEO of St. Agnes, has remained quiet on a possible acquisition but has said, "St. Agnes Hospital supports a strong, vibrant Catholic healthcare ministry." In a recent statement, St. Joseph said that it has looked at ways other Catholic hospitals have structured agreements with non-Catholic entities. They said that in most instances the Catholic identity of a hospital was respected. "Catholic identity continues to be foremost in our consideration," St. Joseph said in a statement released earlier this month after confirming it had identified the three finalists. The issue of reproductive services has played a role in several recent high-profile Catholic hospital mergers. Swedish Health Services in Seattle agreed to stop offering abortions after merging with the Catholic health system Providence Health & Services. Sierra Vista Regional Health Center in Arizona recently ended a trial affiliation with Carondelet Health Network because the Catholic health system banned reproductive services. The ban would have left women in two counties without access to women's services, according to Merger Watch, which protested the merger. In 1998, St. Joseph looked to merge with its neighbor GBMC but plans were scuttled after women's groups learned GBMC would ban abortions under the deal. St. Joseph eventually amended the deal to allow abortions but the damage to public opinion had been done and St. Joseph eventually stopped the talks. This time around, women's groups, including Maryland NARAL and the Women's Law Center of Maryland, have said they have no comment on the St. Joseph merger talks because they know little about the deal. But reproductive health conflicts don't necessarily derail such mergers. Baltimore has many examples of Catholic hospitals that have merged harmoniously with non-Catholic affiliates. Some adopted the Catholic beliefs, while others didn't. When Liberty Medical Center in West Baltimore merged with Bon Secours Baltimore Health System in the 1990s, it adopted the Catholic beliefs. Memorial Hospital of Cumberland joined with Sacred Heart Hospital in the 1990s but continued performing sterilizations and other reproductive services. Both hospitals were eventually torn down and replaced with one hospital: Western Maryland Regional Medical System, which does not follow Catholic doctrine. Columbia-based MedStar Health has three Catholic institutions in its nine-hospital system. The hospitals act independently so religious-based hospitals follow Catholic doctrines and the other affiliates follow their own rules. "Compromise is possible," said O'Brien of Catholics for Choice. "But sometimes people have to fight to get that compromise."

She was born Corinne Michael West in 1908, an Abstract Expressionist painter whose work had great energy, colour and the same styles that made her contemporaries famous. She was not extremely well-known during her lifetime, in fact she had to use a man’s name to achieve respect in her field. ‘Once upon a time it was rare to find any Asians in prestigious art schools,’ said Bernice Bing one of the nation’s earliest Asian American artists to break into the elite world of modern art. In 1952, the abstract painter was 23 years old when she painted Mountains and the Sea using a technique of her own invention that would pave the way for a new movement in art. She was celebrated as a painter of instinct, which she obviously was, but she was also very calculating in what she did. The stress on the instinctive, while it was there, is also a gendered reading of her work—the idea that women are instinctive and men are intelligent. Helen Frankenthaler was both. She was born Marielle Warin. Her Jewish family escaped occupied France for England where she studied drawing, became a model in the ‘Swinging London’ of the 1960’s and then found a home on the other side of the lens. One of the completely forgotten names—but a name well-known among the literati of the 1920’s--is that of The Baroness. The Mama of Dada was a public event. She painted her shaved head red. The streets of New York were her theatre and the name of her act was Dada. She wore a tomato-can bra, a bustle with a tailight and a bird cage around her neck with live canaries inside.

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Think a minute…You may have heard the saying: “Joy shared is joy doubled.” Giving is not a sacrifice, it is an investment. We actually get back much more than we give. So when you give until it hurts, deep in your heart it actually feels good because you know you have a bigger investment than those who have not learned the secret of giving and living well. The American President, Calvin Coolidge, said: “No person was ever rewarded or honored for what he received. Honor is always the reward to people who give.” What you and I do just for ourselves dies with us, but what we do for others lives on after we die. So it is simply smart to invest in the success of others. “When you help someone else up a mountain, you yourself end up closer to the top.” The principle of giving is simply a law of life that works. Just like money can only get good things for you when you put it out in circulation. But if you do not use your money or give it away, you cannot get any enjoyment or anything of value out of it. It is only when you give to others that you make room inside to receive more. One of the reasons the Dead Sea is dead is because it only receives and never gives. It does not flow out or give to other bodies of water, so it dies. When we do not give to others, we stop the natural flow of life in us. This is why self-centered people are never truly, fully happy. A successful man said, “You will be remembered for two things: the problems you solve and the problems you cause.” Each of us is created to be an answer and help to someone else. A famous man put it this way: “You have not lived a truly successful day until you have done something for someone else who cannot pay you back.” The Jewish people have an important holiday every year which celebrates the giving of gifts. Everyone, including the poor, must find someone poorer than himself and give him a gift. “If God can give gifts THROUGH you, He will give them TO you.” We are blessed to be a blessing to others. In fact, God loves us so much that He gave His own perfect life to pay for all of our sins, pride and rebellion, just so He could share His life with us. So won’t you give your life back to Jesus who gave it to you in the first place? Then you can start learning His way of living and giving every day, for the rest of your life. Just think a minute…

AFSC (Quakers) among human rights orgs barred from Israel posted on AFSC, January 8, 2018 Yesterday the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) was included on a list of 20 organizations whose staff may be denied entry to Israel because of their support for the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement. Motivated by Quaker belief in the worth and dignity of all people, AFSC has supported and joined in nonviolent resistance for over 100 years. We answered the call for divestment from apartheid in South Africa, and we have done the same with the call for BDS from Palestinians who have faced decades of human rights violations. Throughout our history, we have stood with communities facing oppression and violence around the world. In 1947 we received the Nobel Peace Prize in part for our support for Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust. We will continue our legacy of speaking truth to power and standing for peace and justice without exception in Israel, occupied Palestine, and around the world. All people, including Palestinians, have a right to live in safety and peace and have their human rights respected. For 51 years, Israel has denied Palestinians in the occupied territories their fundamental human rights, in defiance of international law. While Israeli Jews enjoy civil and political rights, prosperity, and relative security, Palestinians under Israeli control enjoy few or none of those rights or privileges. The Palestinian BDS call aims at changing this situation, asking the international community to use proven nonviolent social change tactics until equality, freedom from occupation, and recognition of refugees’ right to return are realized. AFSC’s Principles for a Just and Lasting Peace in Palestine and Israel affirm each of these rights. Thus, we have joined others around the world in responding to the Palestinian-led BDS call. As Palestinians seek to realize their rights and end Israeli oppression, what are the alternatives left to them if we deny them such options? Quakers pioneered the use of boycotts when they helped lead the “Free Produce Movement,” a boycott of goods produced using slave labor during the 1800s. AFSC has a long history of supporting economic activism, which we view as an appeal to conscience, aimed at raising awareness among those complicit in harmful practices, and as an effective tactic for removing structural support for oppression. The 18th century Quaker abolitionist John Woolman spoke to the spiritual foundation of this work when he said, “May we look upon our treasures, and the furniture of our houses, and the garments in which we array ourselves, and try whether the seeds of war have nourishment in these our possessions." The ban on entry to Israel for activists who support the Palestinian-led BDS movement is part of a larger effort by the Israeli government to silence and constrain human rights and anti-occupation activists. In recent months, more Palestinian activists have faced arrest, death threats, and imprisonment without charge or trial in response to nonviolent activism for human rights. In addition, organizations inside Israel have been denied funding and access to event venues and have faced threats of trial and imprisonment. At a time when the Israeli government is moving to expand settlements, redefine Jerusalem, and annex portions of the West Bank, support for nonviolent activism that seeks freedom, equality, and justice is critical. Therefore, as long as these and other human rights violations persist, we will continue to support Palestinian-led boycott, divestment, and sanctions efforts as effective nonviolent tools for realizing political and social change. We hope one day to see Israelis and Palestinians live together in peace. This will only happen when the human rights of all are recognized and respected.

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„Anti-Semitism? Anti-Zionism? Criticism of Israel?” Theodor Adorno once said that “Anti- Semitism is rumors regarding Jews.“ Rumors are best confronted via education. The exhibition „Anti- Semitism? Anti- Zionism? Criticism of Israel?” is willing to make a contribution regarding this topic. It exposes current stereotypes and forms of anti- semitism that have manifested themselves within various social groups and which still exist to this day. It also focuses on how they are becoming increasingly more virulent. Although Jews are not discriminated anymore because of their “race” or religion, nevertheless, the current forms of anti- semitism focus more on conspiracy theories. Concepts such as “influencing the financial world, the economy, the media and politics” in order to “control the world” are wide spread. This presentation challenges these assumptions and stereotypes and tries to clarify the various manifestations of anti-semitism. Furthermore, anti-semitism differentiates itself from anti-zionism and criticism regarding Israel. Although anti-zionism is a form of self contained „hostility“ with regards to Israel’s politics, it can nevertheless be disguised as a form of anti-semitism. Criticism of Israel’s politics is a legitimate form of political discussion, however, it too can be used as a means of stigmatizing “the Jews” and expressing anti- Jewish sentiments. This exhibition will attempt to define these various differences. "Fire! Fire! Anti Semitic Terror during November 1938" The exhibition caption “Fire!” is the chorus from a song by Mordechai Gebirtig. The song was written in March 1936, as a reaction to the Pogrom carried out in the Polish city of Przytyk. Following the German occupation of Poland, the song became a symbol of self assertion for the Jews living in the ghettoes. The central themes of the presentation are photographs depicting the violence carried out against the Jewish population in Germany. These acts of violence reached their zenith during the “Reichskristallnacht” which took place from the 9th to the 10th of November 1938. Eight large sized pictures convey the extent of the violence that was carried out against the Jews, their Synagogues and their shops and homes. On the backside of the pictures the historical background is explained and put into context via additional photos. Audio stations present early testimonials of the experiences witnessed by German Jews during the November days of 1938. The exhibition also documents the prehistory of the Pogroms, the reaction of the non Jewish population and how this contributed to the process of social ostracism that reached its murderous completion with “The Final Solution.” 5th of September to 14th of October "The Suspicious Saxophon - Degenerate Music in the NS-State" An exhibition by the musicologist Dr. Albrecht Dümling One year after the exhibition “Degenerate Art” took place in Munich, the Reich’s Propaganda Music Festival “Degenerate Music” was held in Düsseldorf during May 1938. It focused on the themes of “degeneration” and “Racial mixture”, claiming that this corruption has also taken place within the realm of music. It showed a negative stance towards what was considered modern music, with heavy emphasis on the genres of Jazz and compositions made by Jewish musicians and artists. Jazz was considered the embodiment of “Jewish-Negro Infiltration” which is why the exhibition poster depicts a black saxophone player with a David Star. In 1988 the Berlin musicologist Dr Albert Dümling would reconstruct the exhibition, which would be revised 20 years later in cooperation with the Düsseldorf design agency “Drasdo”. Many up to then unknown sources would be integrated in the now revised exhibition. In accordance with the 1938 exhibition, more illustrations regarding “Jewish Theater with Jazz Rhythm” will be shown which explains the exhibition title, “The Suspicious Saxophone”. Audio guides as well as monitors with excerpts from NS news reels give the guests an audio-visual experience. "What used to be the Law… - Soldiers and Civilians on trial in the Court of the Wehrmacht" An exhibition by the Memorial Trust for the Murdered Jews of Europe About 30.000 people in Germany and the occupied territories were sentenced to death via the Wehrmacht Court. The accusations would range from desertion, treason and mutiny. Over 20.000 were executed. The court decisions imposed by the German Military Court were first nullified by the Bundestag between 1998 and 2009. The exhibition “What used to be the Law…” provides for the first time a comprehensive view of the arbitrary verdicts made by the Wehrmacht Court. Terms such as "maintaining discipline”, “social parasites” or “biologically inferior” were used to ‘justify’ death sentences. The presentation sketches the lives of 16 ‘convicts’ and shows five portraits of Judges who imposed these court decisions. The exhibition also reveals how some of these Judges were allowed to continue practicing their professions after the war whereas those wrongly accused would have to wait till the end of the 90’s in order to be rehabilitated again. The exhibition in the documentation center exposes the unjust nature of these legal practices. At the same time, it also shows that a few brave judges made use of loop holes in the law in order to enforce a milder sentence. 2nd of April to 31st of May "Harvested: Who will Feed the World?" An exhibition by the INKOTA Network, regarding hunger, globalization and agriculture. „By 2015, we want to reduce the number of starving people by 50%!” This slogan was used by the International Community during the 1996 World Food summit in Rome. Ten years later, and this promise seems to have been pushed further and further into the distance. Up to 1.3 billion people are still starving worldwide, and everyday up to 30.000 people die as a result of hunger and malnutrition. How can one really fight hunger? And how does one feed the world? On a path of discovery the visitors discover why it is that people suffer from malnutrition and how worldwide hunger can be fought. Are genetic technologies and modern machinery a recipe against hunger? Why does Bio Fuel lead to hunger and how did the “Chicken of Death” make it from Europe to Africa? Are small farmers able to feed the world?

A Review of Five Views on Biblical Inerrancy, Eds. J. Merrick and Stephen Garrett by Dr. Norman L. Geisler The Zondervan general editor of the Counterpoint series, Stanley Gundry, together with his chosen editors, J. Merrick and Stephen Garrett, have produced a provocative book on Five Views on Biblical Inerrancy (2013). The five scholar participants are Albert Mohler, Peter Enns, Kevin Vanhoozer, Michael Bird, and John Franke. This Counterpoints series has produced many stimulating dialogues on various topics, and they no doubt intended to do the same on this controversial topic of inerrancy. However, there is a basic problem in the dialogue format as applied to biblical inerrancy. There is Madness in the Method The “dialogue” method works well for many intramural evangelical discussions like eternal security, the role of women in the ministry, and the like. However, when it is applied to basic issues which help define the nature of evangelicalism, like the nature of Scripture, the method has some serious drawbacks. For if inerrancy is a doctrine that is essential to consistent evangelicalism, as most evangelicals believe that it is, then it seems unfitting to make it subject to the dialogue method for two reasons. First, for many evangelicals the issue of inerrancy is too important to be “up for grabs” on the evangelical dialogue table. Second, just by providing non-inerrantists and anti-inerrantists a “seat at the table” gives a certain undeserved legitimacy to their view. If, as will be shown below, the non-inerrancy view is not biblical, essential, or in accord with the long history of the Christian Church, then the dialogue method fails to do justice to the topic because it offers an undeserved platform to those who do not really believe the doctrine. To illustrate, I doubt if one were setting up a conference on the future of Israel that he would invite countries who don’t believe in the existence of Israel (like Iran) to the table. Stacking the Deck Not only can the staging of the inerrancy discussion in the Five Views book be challenged, but so can the choice of actors on the stage. For the choice of participants in this Five Views “dialogue” did not fit the topic in a balanced way. Since the topic was inerrancy and since each participant was explicitly asked to address the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy (CSBI), the choice of participants was not appropriate. For only one participant (Al Mohler) states his unequivocal belief in the CSBI view of inerrancy produced by the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy (ICBI). Some participants explicitly deny inerrancy (Enns, 83f.). Others prefer to redefine the CSBI statement before agreeing with it. Still others claim to agree with it, but they do so based on a misunderstanding of what the framers meant by inerrancy, as will be shown below. What is more, an even greater problem is that none of the framers of the CSBI, whose statement was being attacked, were represented on the panel. Since three of them (J. I. Packer, R. C. Sproul, and N. L. Geisler) are still alive and active, the makeup of the panel was questionable. It is like convening a panel on the First Amendment to the US Constitution while Washington, Adams, and Madison were still alive but not inviting any of them to participate! Further, only one scholar (Al Mohler) was unequivocally in favor of the CSBI view, and some were known to be unequivocally against it (like Peter Enns). This is loading the dice against positive results. So, with a stacked deck in the format and the dice loaded in the choice of participants, the probabilities of a positive result were not high, and understandably the result confirms this anticipation. To be sure, whether inerrancy is an essential doctrine is crucial to the point at hand. In order to answer this question more fully, we must first define inerrancy and then evaluate its importance. Definition of Inerrancy Unless otherwise noted, when we use the word “inerrancy” in this article, we mean inerrancy as understood by the ETS framers and defined by the founders of the CSBI, namely, what is called total or unlimited inerrancy. The CSBI defines inerrancy as unlimited inerrancy, whereas many of ETS participants believe in limited inerrancy. Unlimited inerrancy affirms that Bible is true on whatever subject is speaks—whether it is redemption, ethics, history, science, or anything else. Limited inerrancy affirms that the Bible’s inerrancy is limited to redemptive matters. The Evangelical Theological Society (ETS), the largest of any society of its kind in the world, with some 3000 members, began in 1948 with only one doctrinal statement: “The Bible alone and the Bible in its entirety is the Word of God written, and therefore inerrant in the autographs.” After a controversy in 2003 (concerning Clark Pinnock’s view) which involved the meaning of inerrancy, the ETS voted in 2004 to accept “the CSBI as its point of reference for defining inerrancy” (Merrick, 311). It states: “For the purpose of advising members regarding the intent and meaning of the reference to biblical inerrancy in the ETS Doctrinal Basis, the Society refers members to the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy (1978)” (see J. Merrick, 311). So, for the largest group of scholars believing in inerrancy the officially accepted definition of the term “inerrancy” is that of the CSBI. The CSBI supports unlimited or total inerrancy, declaring: “The holy Scripture…is of divine authority in all matters upon which it touches” (A Short Statement, 2). Also, “We deny that Biblical infallibility and inerrancy are limited to spiritual, religious, or redemptive themes, exclusive of assertions in the fields of history and science” (Art. 12). It further declares that: “The authority of Scripture is inescapably impaired if this total divine inerrancy is in any way limited or disregarded, or made relative to a view of truth contrary to the Bible’s own” (A Short Statement, 5,emphasis added). As we shall see below, unlimited inerrancy has been the historic position of the Christian Church down through the centuries. Thus, the history supporting the doctrine of inerrancy is supporting unlimited inerrancy. The Importance of Inerrancy The question of the importance of inerrancy can be approached both doctrinally and historically. Doctrinally, inerrancy is an important doctrine because: (1) it is attached to the character of God; (2) It is foundational to other essential doctrines; (3) it is taught in the Scriptures, and (4) it is the historic position of the Christian Church. The Doctrinal Importance of Inerrancy First of all, as the ETS statement declares, inerrancy is based on the character of God who cannot lie (Heb. 6:18; Titus 1:2). For it affirms that the Bible is “inerrant” because (note the word “therefore”) it is the Word of God. This makes a direct logical connection between inerrancy and the truthfulness of God. Second, inerrancy is fundamental to all other essential Christian doctrines. It is granted that some other doctrines (like the atoning death and bodily resurrection of Christ) are more essential to salvation. However, all soteriological (salvation-related) doctrines derive their divine authority from the divinely authoritative Word of God. So, in an epistemological (knowledge-related) sense, the doctrine of the divine authority and inerrancy of Scripture is the fundamental of all the fundamentals. And if the fundamental of fundamentals is not fundamental, then what is fundamental? Fundamentally nothing! Thus, while one can be saved without believing in inerrancy, the doctrine of salvation has no divine authority apart from the infallibility and inerrancy of Scripture. This is why Carl Henry (and Al Mohler following him) affirmed correctly that while inerrancy is not necessary to evangelical authenticity, it is nonetheless, essential to evangelical consistency (Mohler, 29). Third, B. B. Warfield correctly noted that the primary basis for believing in the inerrancy of Scripture is that it was taught by Christ and the apostles in the New Testament. And he specified it as unlimited inerrancy (in his book Limited Inspiration, Presbyterian & Reformed reprint, 1962). Warfield declared: “We believe in the doctrine of plenary inspiration of the Scriptures primarily because it is the doctrine of Christ and his apostles believed, and which they have taught us (cited by Mohler, 42). John Wenham in Christ and the Bible (IVP, 1972) amply articulated what Christ taught about the Bible, including its inerrancy, for Wenham was one of the international signers of the 1978 Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy (see Geisler, Defending Inerrancy, 348). Indeed, to quote Jesus himself, “the Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35) and “until heaven and earth pass away not an iota, not a dot, will pass away from the Law until all is accomplished” (Matt 5:18). A more complete discussion of what Jesus taught about the Bible is found in chapter 16 of our Systematic. Fourth, inerrancy is the historic position of the Christian Church. As Al Mohler pointed out (Mohler, 48-49), even some inerrantists have agreed that inerrancy has been the standard view of the Christian Church down through the centuries. He cites the Hanson brothers, Anthony and Richard, Anglican scholars, who said, “The Christian Fathers and the medieval tradition continued this belief [in inerrancy], and the Reformation did nothing to weaken it. On the contrary, since for many reformed theologians the authority of the Bible took the place which the Pope had held in the medieval scheme of things, the inerrancy of the Bible became more firmly maintained and explicitly defined among some reformed theologians than it had even been before.” They added, “The beliefs here denied [viz., inerrancy] have been held by all Christians from the very beginning until about a hundred and fifty years ago” (cited by Mohler, 41). Inerrancy is a fundamental doctrine since it is fundamental to all other Christian doctrines which derive their authority from the belief that the Bible is the infallible and inerrant Word of God. Indeed, like many other fundamental doctrines (e.g., the Trinity), it is based on a necessary conclusion from biblical truths. The doctrine of inerrancy as defined by CSBI is substantially the same as the doctrine held through the centuries by the Christian Church (see discussion below). So, even though it was never put in explicit confessional form in the early Church, nevertheless, by its nature as derived from the very nature of God and by its universal acceptance in the Christian Church down through the centuries, it has earned a status of tacit catholicity (universality). It thus deserves high regard among evangelicals and has rightly earned the status of being essential (in an epistemological sense) to the Christian Faith. Thus, to reduce inerrancy to the level of non-essential or even “incidental’ to the Christian Faith, reveals ignorance of its theological and historical roots and is an offense to its “watershed” importance to a consistent and healthy Christianity. As the CSBI statement declares: “However, we further deny that inerrancy can be rejected without grave consequences, both to the individual and to the Church” (Art. 19). Unjustified Assumptions about Inerrancy. A careful reading of the Five Views dialogue reveals that not only were the dice loaded against the CSBI inerrancy view by format and by the choice of participants, but there were several anti-inerrancy presuppositions employed by one or more of the participants. One of the most important is the nature of truth. The Nature of Truth. The framers of the CSBI strongly affirmed a correspondence view of truth. This is not so of all of the participants in the Five Views dialogue. In fact there was a major misreading by many non-inerrantists of Article 13 which reads in part: “We deny that it is proper to evaluate Scripture according to standards of truth and error that are alien to its usage or purpose.” Some non-inerrantists were willing to subscribe to the CSBI based on their misinterpretation of this statement. Franke claims that “This opens up a vast arena of interpretive possibilities with respect to the ‘usage or purpose’ of Scripture in relation to standards of ‘truth or error’” (Franke, 264). Another non-inerrantist (in the CSBI sense), Clark Pinnock , put it this way: “I supported the 1978 “Chicago Statement on the International council on Biblical Inerrancy,” noting that it “made room for nearly every well-intentioned Baptist” (Pinnock, Scripture Principle, rev., 266). However, the framers of the CSBI anticipated this objection, and R.C. Sproul was commissioned to write an official ICBI commentary on the Chicago Statement which, straight to the point in Article 13, reads: “‘By biblical standards of truth and error’ is meant the view used both in the Bible and in everyday life, viz., a correspondence view of truth. This part of the article is directed at those who would redefine truth to relate merely to redemptive intent, the purely personal, or the like, rather than to mean that which corresponds to reality.” Thus, “all the claims of the Bible must correspond with reality, whether that reality is historical, factual, or spiritual” (see Geisler and Roach, Defending Inerrancy, 31, emphasis added). So, non-inerrantists, like Pinnock and Enns, misunderstand the Chicago Statement which demands that truth be defined as correspondence with reality. This is important since to define it another way, for example, in terms of redemptive purpose is to open the door wide to a denial of the factual inerrancy of the Bible as espoused by CSBI. Purpose and Meaning. Another serious mistake of some of the non-inerrantists in the Five Views dialogue is to believe that purpose determines meaning. This emerges in several statements in the book and elsewhere. Vanhoozer claims “I propose that we indentify the literal sense with the illocutionary act the author is performing” (Enns, 220). The locutionary act is what the author is saying, and the illocutionary act is why (purpose) he said it. The what may be in error; only the why (purpose) is without error. This is why Vanhoozer comes up with such unusual explanations of Biblical texts. For example, when Joshua commanded the sun to stand still (Josh 10), according to Vanhoozer, this does not correspond to any actual and unusual phenomena involving an extra day of daylight. Rather, it simply means, as he believes that the purpose (illocutionary act) indicates, that Joshua wants “to affirm God’s covenant relation with his people” (Vanhoozer, Linguistic Approach to Christian Theology, 106). Likewise, according to Vanhoozer, Joshua is not affirming the literal truth of the destruction of a large walled city (Joshua 6). He contends that “simply to discover ‘what actually happened’” is to miss the main point of the discourse, which is to communicate a theological interpretation of what happened (that is, God gave Israel the land) and to call for right participation in the covenant” (Vanhoozer, Five Views, 228). That is why Joshua wrote it, and that alone is the inerrant purpose of the text. However, as we have explained in detail elsewhere (Geisler, Systematic, chap. 10), purpose does not determine meaning. This becomes clear when we examine crucial texts. For example, the Bible declares “Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk” (Ex. 23:19). The meaning of this text is very clear, but the purpose is not, at least not to most interpreters. Just scanning a couple commentaries from off the shelf reveals a half dozen different guesses as to the author’s purpose. Despite this lack of unanimity on what the purpose is, nonetheless, virtually everyone understands what the meaning of the text is. An Israelite could obey this command, even if he did not know the purpose for doing so (other than that God had commanded him to do so). So, knowing meaning stands apart from knowing the purpose of a text. For example, a boss could tell his employees, “Come over to my house tonight at 8 p.m.” The meaning (what) is clear, but the purpose (why) is not. Again, understanding the meaning is clear apart from knowing the purpose. This does not mean that knowing the purpose of a statement cannot be interesting and even enlightening. If you knew your boss was asking you to come to his house because he wanted to give you a million dollars, that would be very enlightening, but it would not change the meaning of the statement to come over to his house that night. So, contrary to many non-inerrantists, purpose does not determine meaning. Further, with regard to biblical texts, the meaning rests in what is affirmed, not in why it is affirmed. This is why inerrantists speak of propositional revelation and many non-inerratists tend to downplay or deny it (Vanhoozer, 214). The meaning and truth of a proposition (affirmation or denial about something) is what is inspired, not in the purpose. Inerrancy deals with truth, and truth resides in propositions, not in purposes. At the CSBI conference on the meaning of inerrancy (1982), Carl Henry observed the danger of reducing inerrancy to the purpose of the author, as opposed to the affirmations of the author as they correspond with the facts of reality. He wrote: “Some now even introduce authorial intent or cultural context of language as specious rationalizations for this crime against the Bible, much as some rapist might assure me that he is assaulting my wife for my own or for her good. They misuse Scripture in order to champion as biblically true what in fact does violence to Scripture” (Henry in Earl Radamacher ed., Hermeneutics, Inerrancy, and the Bible , 917). This is precisely what has happened with some of the participants in the Five Views book when they reduced meaning to purpose and then read their own extra-biblical speculations into the author’s supposed intention or purpose. This will be discussed more when the genre presupposition is discussed below. Limited inerrantists and non-inerrantists often take advantage of an ambiguity in the word “intention” of the author in order to insert their own heterodox views on the topic. When traditional unlimited inerrantists use the phrase “intention of the author” they use it in contrast to those who wish to impose their own meaning on the text in contrast to discovering what the biblical author intended by it. So, what traditional unlimited inerrantists mean by “intention” is not purpose (why) but expressed intention in the text, that is, meaning. They were not asking the reader to look for some unexpressed intention behind, beneath, or beyond the text. Expressed intention refers to the meaning of the text. And it would be better to use the word meaning than the world intention. In this way the word intention cannot be understood as purpose (why), rather than meaning or expressed intention (what) which is found in the text. To put it simply, there is a meaner (author) who expresses his meaning in the text so that the reader can know what is meant by the text. If one is looking for this objectively expressed meaning (via historical-grammatical hermeneutics) it limits the meaning to the text and eliminates finding the meaning beyond the text in some other text (i.e., in some alien extra-biblical genre). Mike Licona is a case in point. He redefines “error” to include genre that contains factual errors. He claims that “intentionally altering an account” is not an error but is allowed by the Greco-Roman genre into which he categorizes the Gospels, insisting that an CSBI view cannot account for all the data (MP3 recording of his ETS lecture 2013). Propositional Revelation. It is not uncommon for non-inerrantists to attempt to modify or deny propositional revelation. Vanhoozer cites John Stott as being uncomfortable with inerrancy because the Bible “cannot be reduced to a string of propositions which invites the label truth or error” (Vanhoozer, 200). Similarly, he adds. “Inerrancy pertains directly to assertions only, not to biblical commands, promises, warnings, and so on. We would therefore be unwise to collapse everything we want to say about biblical authority into the nutshell of inerrancy” (Vanhoozer, 203). Carl Henry is criticized by some for going “too far” in claiming that “the minimal unit of meaningful expression is a proposition” and that only propositions can be true or false (Vanhoozer, 214). However, it would appear that it is Vanhoozer’s criticisms that go too far. It is true that there are more than propositions in the Bible. All propositions are sentences, but not all sentences are propositions, at least not directly. However, the CSBI inerrantist is right in stressing propositional revelation. For only propositions express truth, and inerrancy is concerned with the truthfulness of the Bible. Certainly, there are exclamations, promises, prophecies, interrogations, and commands that are not formally and explicitly propositions. But while not all of the Bible is propositional, most of the Bible is propositionalizable. And any text in the Bible which states or implies a proposition can be categorized as propositional revelation. And inerrantists claim that all propositional revelation is true. That is to say, all that the Bible affirms to be true (directly or indirectly) is true. And all that the Bible affirms to be false is false. Any attack on propositional revelation that diminishes or negates propositional truth has denied the inerrancy of the Bible. Hence, inerrantists rightly stress propositional revelation. The fact that the Bible is many more things than inerrant propositions is irrelevant. Certainly, the Bible has other characteristics, such as infallibility (John 10:35), immortality (Ps 119:160), indestructibility (Matt 5:17-18), indefatigability (it can’t be worn out—Jer 23:29), and indefeasibility (it can’t be overcome—Isa 55:11). But these do not diminish the Bible’s inerrancy (lack of error). In fact, if the Bible were not the inerrant Word of God, then it would not be all these other things. They are complementary, not contradictory to inerrancy. Likewise, the Bible has commands, questions, and exclamations, but these do not negate the truth of the text. Instead, they imply, enhance, and compliment it. Accommodationism. Historically, most evangelical theologians have adopted a form of divine condescension to explain how an infinite God could communicate with finite creatures in finite human language. This is often called analogous language (see Geisler, Systematic, chap. 9). However, since the word “accommodation” has come to be associated with the acceptance of error, we wish to distinguish between the legitimate evangelical teaching of God’s adaptation to human finitude and the illegitimate view of non-inerrantists who assert God’s accommodation to human error. It appears that some participants of the inerrancy dialogue fit into the latter category. Peter Enns believes that accommodation to human error is part of an Incarnational Model which he accepts. This involves writers making up speeches based on what is not stated but is only thought to be “called for,” as Greek historian Thucydides admitted doing (Enns, 101-102). This accommodation view also allows for employing Hebrew and Greco-Roman literary genres which include literature with factual errors in them (Enns, 103). The following chart draws a contrast between the two views: GOD ADAPTS TO FINITUDE GOD ACCOMMODATES TO ERROR BIBLE USES ANALAGOUS LANGUAGE IT USES EQUIVOCAL LANGUAGE BIBLE STORIES ARE FACTUAL SOME STORIES ARE NOT FACTUAL Peter Enns believes that “details” like whether Paul’s companions heard the voice or not (Acts 9, 22) were part of this flexibility of accommodation to error. In brief, he claims that “biblical writers shaped history creatively for their own theological purposes” (Enns, 100). Recording “what happened” was not the “primary focus” for the Book of Acts but rather “interpreting Paul for his audience” (Enns, 102). He adds, “shaping significantly the portrayal of the past is hardly an isolated incident here and there in the Bible; it’s the very substance of how biblical writers told the story of their past” (Enns, 104). In brief, God accommodates to human myths, legends, and errors in the writing of Scripture. Indeed, according to some non-inerrantists like Enns, this includes accommodation to alien worldviews. However, ETS/CSBI inerrantists emphatically reject this kind of speculation. The CSBI declares: “We affirm the unity and internal consistency of Scripture” (CSBI, Art. 14). Further, “We deny that Jesus’ teaching about scripture may be dismissed by appeals to accommodation or to any natural limitation of His humanity” (CSBI, Art. 15). “We affirm that inspiration, though not conferring omniscience, guaranteed true and trustworthy utterances on all matters of which the Biblical authors were moved to speak and write. We deny that finitude or fallenness of these writers, by necessity or otherwise, introduced distortion or falsehood into God’s Word” (CSBI, Art. 9). Also, “We deny that human language is so limited by our creatureliness that it is rendered inadequate as a vehicle for divine revelation. We further deny that the corruption of human culture and language through sin has thwarted God’s work in inspiration” (CSBI, Art. 4). Reasons to Reject the Accommodation to Error View There are many good reasons for rejecting the non-inerrantist accommodation to error theory. Let’s begin with the argument from the character of God. First, it is contrary to the nature of God as truth that He would accommodate to error. Michael Bird states the issue well, though he wrongly limits God to speaking on only redemptive matters. Nevertheless, he is on point with regard to the nature of inerrancy in relation to God. He writes: “God identifies with and even invests his own character in his Word…. The accommodation is never a capitulation to error. God does not speak erroneously, nor does he feed us with nuts of truth lodged inside shells of falsehood” (Bird, 159). He cites Bromley aptly, “It is sheer unreason to say that truth is revealed in and through that which is erroneous” (cited by Bird, 159). Second, accommodation to error is contrary to the nature of Scripture as the inerrant Word of God. God cannot err (Heb 6:18), and if the Bible is His Word, then the Bible cannot err. So, to affirm that accommodation to error was involved in the inspiration of Scripture is contrary to the nature of Scripture as the Word of God. Jesus affirmed that the “Scripture” is the unbreakable Word of God (John 10:34-35) which is imperishable to every “iota and dot” (Matt 5:18). The New Testament authors often cite the Old Testament as what “God said” (cf. Matt 19:5; Acts 4:24-25; 13:34.35; Heb 1:5, 6, 7). Indeed, the whole Old Testament is said to be “God-breathed” (2 Tim 3:16). Bird wrongly claimed “God directly inspires persons, not pages” (Enns, 164). In fact, the New Testament only uses the word “inspired” (theopneustos) once (2 Tim 3:16) and it refers to the written Scripture (grapha, writings). The writings, not the writers, are “breathed out” by God. To be sure, the writers were “moved by” God to write (2 Peter 1:20-21), but only what they wrote as a result was inspired. So if the Scriptures are the very writings breathed out by God, then they cannot be errant since God cannot err (Titus 1:2). Third, the accommodation to error theory is contrary to sound reason. Anti-inerrantist Peter Enns saw this logic and tried to avoid it by a Barthian kind of separation of the Bible from the Word of God. He wrote, “The premise that such an inerrant Bible is the only kind of book God would be able to produce…, strikes me as assuming that God shares our modern interest in accuracy and scientific precision, rather than allowing the phenomena of Scripture to shape our theological expectations” (Enns, 84). But Enns forgets that any kind of error is contrary, not to “modern interest” but to the very nature of the God as the God of all truth. So, whatever nuances of truth there are which are borne out by the phenomena of Scripture cannot, nevertheless, cannot negate the naked truth that God cannot err, nor can his Word. The rest is detail. The Lack of Precision The doctrine of inerrancy is sometimes criticized for holding that the Bible always speaks with scientific precision and historical exactness. But since the biblical phenomena do not support this, the doctrine of inerrancy is rejected. However, this is a “straw man” argument. For the CSBI states clearly: “We further deny that inerrancy is negated by biblical phenomena such as a lack of modern technical precision…, including ‘round numbers’ and ‘free citations’” (CSBI. Art. 13). Vanhoozer notes that Warfield and Hodge (in Inspiration, 42) helpfully distinguished “accuracy” (which the Bible has) from “exactness of statement” (which the Bible does not always have) (Vanhoozer, 221). This being the case, this argument does not apply to the doctrine of inerrancy as embraced by the CSBI since it leaves room for statements that lack modern “technical precision.” It does, however, raise another issue, namely, the role of biblical and extra-biblical phenomena in refining the biblical concept of truth. With regard to the reporting of Jesus’ words in the Gospels, there is a strong difference between the inerrantist and non-inerrantist view, although not all non-inerrantists in the Five Views book hold to everything in the “non-inerrantist” column: USE OF JESUS’ WORDS AND DEEDS IN THE GOSPELS EXPANDING ON THEM CHANGE THEIR FORM CHANGE THEIR CONTENT GRAMMATICALLY EDITING THEM THEOLOGICALLY REDACTING THEM Inerrantists believe that there is a significant difference between reporting Jesus words and creating them. The Gospel writings are based on eye-witness testimony, as they claim (cf. John 21:24; Luke 1:1-4) and as recent scholarship has shown (see Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses). Likewise, they did not put words in Jesus’ mouth in a theological attempt to interpret Jesus in a certain way contrary to what He meant by them. Of course, since Jesus probably spoke in Aramaic (cf. Matt 27:46) and the Gospels are in Greek, we do not have the exact words of Jesus (ipsissima verba) in most cases, but rather an accurate rendering of them in another language. But for inerrantists the New Testament is not a re-interpretation of Jesus words; it is an accurate translation of them. Non-inerrantists disagree and do not see the biblical record as an accurate report but as a reinterpreted portrait, a literary creation. This comes out clearly in the statement of Peter Enns that conquest narratives do not merely “report events” (Enns, 108). Rather, “Biblical history shaped creatively in order for the theological purposes” to be seen (Enns, 108). Vanhoozer offers a modified evangelical version of this error when he speaks of not “reading Joshua to discover ‘what happened’[which he believes] is to miss the main point of the discourse, which is to communicate a theological interpretation of what happened (that is, God gave Israel the land) and to call for right participation in the covenant” (Vanhoozer, 228). So, the destruction of Jericho (Josh 6), while not being simply a “myth” or “legend,” Vanhoozer sees as an “artful narrative testimony to an event that happened in Israel’s past” (ibid.). A surface reading of Vanhoozer’s view here may appear to be orthodox, until one remembers that he believes that only the “main point” or purpose of a text is really inerrant, not what it affirms. He declares, “I propose that we identify the literal sense with the illocutionary act an author is performing” (Vanhoozer, 220). That is, only the theological purpose of the author is inerrant, not everything that is affirmed in the text (the locutionary acts). He declared elsewhere, “the Bible is the Word of God (in the sense of its illocutionary acts)…” (Vanhoozer, First Theology, 195). The implications of his view come out more clearly in his handling of another passage, namely, Joshua 10:12: “Sun, stand still….” This locution (affirmation) he claims is an error. But the illocution (purpose of the author) is not in error—namely, what God wanted to say through this statement which was to affirm his redemptive purpose for Israel (Vanhoozer, Lost in Interpretation, 138). This is clearly not what the CSBI and historic inerrancy position affirms. Indeed, it is another example of the fallacious “purpose determines meaning” view discussed above and rejected by CSBI. The Role of Biblical and Extra-Biblical Data The claim that in conflicts between them one should take the Bible over science is much too simplistic. Space does not permit a more extensive treatment of this important question which we have dealt with more extensively elsewhere (see our Systematic, chapters 4 and 12). Al Moher was taken to task by Peter Enns for his seemingly a priori biblical stance that would not allow for any external evidence to change ones view on what the Bible taught about certain scientific and historical events (Mohler, 51, 60). Clearly the discussion hinges on what role the external data have (from general revelation) in determining the meaning of a biblical text (special revelation). For example, almost all contemporary evangelicals scholars allow that virtually certain scientific evidence from outside the Bible shows that the earth is round, and this must take precedence over a literalistic interpretation of the phrase “four corners of the earth” (Rev 20:8). Further, interpretation of the biblical phrase “the sun set” (Josh 1:4) is not be taken literalistically to mean the sun moves around the earth. Rather, most evangelical scholars would allow the evidence for a helio-centric view of modern astronomy (from general revelation) to take precedence over a literalistic pre-Copernican geo-centric interpretation of the phrase the “Sun stood still” (Josh 10:13). On the other hand, most evangelicals reject the theistic evolutionary interpretation of Genesis 1‒2 for the literal (not literalistic) interpretation of the creation of life and of Adam and Eve. So, the one million dollar question is: when does the scientist’s interpretation of general revelation take precedent over the theologian’s interpretation of special revelation? Several observations are in order on this important issue. First, there are two revelations from God, general revelation (in nature) and special revelation (in the Bible), and they are both valid sources of knowledge. Second, their domains sometimes overlap and conflict, as the cases cited above indicate, but no one has proven a real contradiction between them. However, there is a conflict between some interpretations of each revelation. Third, sometimes a faulty interpretation of special revelation must be corrected by a proper interpretation of general revelation. Hence, there are few evangelicals who would claim that the earth is flat, despite the fact that the Bible speaks of “the four corners of the earth” (Rev 20:8) and that the earth does not move: “The world is established; it shall never be moved” (Ps 93:1, emphasis added). However, most evangelical theologians follow a literal (not literalistic) understanding of the creation of the universe, life, and Adam (Gen 1:1, 21, 27) over the Darwinian macro-evolution model. Why? Because they are convinced that the arguments for the creation of a physical universe and a literal Adam outweigh the Darwinian speculations about general revelation. In brief, our understanding of Genesis (special revelation) must be weighed with our understanding of nature (general revelation) in order to determine the truth of the matter (see our Systematic, chapters 4 and 12.). It is much too simplistic to claim one is taking the Bible over science or science over the Bible—our understanding about both are based on revelations from God, and their interpretations of both must be weighed in a careful and complimentary way to arrive at the truth that is being taught on these matters. To abbreviate a more complex process which is described in more detail elsewhere (ibid.): (1) we start with an inductive study of the biblical text; (2) we make whatever necessary deduction that emerges from two or more biblical truths; (3) we do a retroduction of our discovery in view of the biblical phenomena and external evidence from general revelation; and then (4) we draw our final conclusion in the nuanced view of truth resulting from this process. In brief, there is a complimentary role between interpretations of special revelation and those of general revelations. Sometimes, the evidence for the interpretation of one revelation is greater than the evidence for an interpretation in the other, and vice versa. So, it is not a matter of taking the Bible over science, but when there is a conflict, it is a matter of taking the interpretation with the strongest evidence over the one with weaker evidence. The Role of Hermeneutics in Inerrancy The ICBI (International Council on Biblical Inerrancy) framers of the “Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy” (CSBI) were aware that, while inerrancy and hermeneutics are logically distinct, hermeneutics cannot be totally separated from inerrancy. It is for this reason that a statement on historical-grammatical hermeneutics was included in the CSBI presentation (1978). Article 18 reads: “We affirm that the text of Scripture is to be interpreted by the grammatico-historical exegesis, taking account of its literary forms and devices, and that Scripture is to interpret Scripture. We deny the legitimacy of any treatment of the text or quest for sources lying behind it leads to relativizing, dehistoricizing, or discounting its teaching, or rejecting its claim to authorship” (emphasis added). The next ICBI conference after the CSBI in 1978 was an elaboration on this important point in the hermeneutics conference (of 1982). It produced both a statement and an official commentary as well. All four documents are placed in one book, titled Explaining Biblical Inerrancy: Official Commentary on the ICBI Statements (available at www.BastionBooks.com). These four statements contain the corpus and context of the meaning of inerrancy by nearly 300 international scholars on the topic of inerrancy. Hence, questions about the meaning of the CSBI can be answered by the framers in the accompanying official ICBI commentaries. Many of the issues raised in the Five Ways are answered in these documents. Apparently, not all the participants took advantage of these resources. Failure to do so led them to misunderstand what the ICBI framers mean by inerrancy and how historical-grammatical hermeneutics is connected to inerrancy. So-called genre criticism of Robert Gundry and Mike Licona are cases in point. The Role of Extra-Biblical Genre Another aspect of non-inerrantist’s thinking is Genre Criticism. Although he claims to be an inerrantist, Mike Licona clearly does not follow the ETS or ICBI view on the topic. Licona argues that “the Gospels belong to the genre of Greco-Roman biography (bios)” and that “Bioi offered the ancient biographer great flexibility for rearranging material and inventing speeches…, and the often include legend.” But, he adds “because bios was a flexible genre, it is often difficult to determine where history ends and legend begins” (Licona, The Resurrection of Jesus, 34). This led him to deny the historicity of the story of the resurrection of the saints in Matthew 27:51-53 (ibid.,527-528; 548; 552-553), and to call the story of the crowd falling backward when Jesus claimed “I am he” (John 14:5-6) “a possible candidate for embellishment” (ibid., 306) and the presence of angels at the tomb in all four Gospels may be “poetic language or legend” (ibid., 185-186). Later, in a debate with Bart Ehrman (at Southern Evangelical Seminary, Spring, 2009), Licona claimed there was a contradiction in the Gospels as to the day of Jesus’ crucifixion. He said, “I think that John probably altered the day [of Jesus’ crucifixion] in order for a theological—to make a theological point here.” Then in a professional transcription of a YouTube video on November 23, 2012 (see http://youtu.be/TJ8rZukh_Bc), Licona affirmed the following: “So um this didn’t really bother me in terms of if there were contradictions in the Gospels. I mean I believe in biblical inerrancy but I also realized that biblical inerrancy is not one fundamental doctrines of Christianity. The resurrection is. So if Jesus rose from the dead, Christianity is still true even if it turned out that some things in the Bible weren’t. So um it didn’t really bother me a whole lot even if some contradictions existed” (emphasis added). This popular Greco-Roman genre theory adopted by Licona and others is directly contrary to the CSBI view of inerrancy as clearly spelled out in many articles. First, Article 18 speaks to it directly: “We affirm that the text of Scripture is to be interpreted by grammatico-historical exegesis, taking account of its literary forms and devices, and that Scripture is to interpret Scripture” (emphasis added). But Lincona rejects the strict “grammatico-historical exegesis” where “Scripture is to interpret Scripture” for an extra-biblical system where Greco-Roman genre is used to interpret Scripture. Of course, “Taking account” of different genres within Scripture, like poetry, history, parables, and even allegory (Gal 4:24), is legitimate, but this is not what the use of extra-biblical Greco-Roman genre does. Rather, it uses extra-biblical stories to determine what the Bible means, even if using this extra-biblical literature means denying the historicity of the biblical text. Second, the CSBI says emphatically that “We deny the legitimacy of any treatment of the text or quest for sources lying behind it that leads to relativizing, dehistoricizing, or discounting its teaching, or rejecting its claim to authorship” (Art. 18, emphasis added). But this is exactly what many non-inerrantists, like Licona, do with some Gospel events. The official ICBI commentary on this Article adds, “It is never legitimate, however, to run counter to express biblical affirmations” (emphasis added). Further, in the ICBI commentary on its1982 Hermeneutics Statement (Article 13) on inerrancy, it adds, “We deny that generic categories which negate historicity may rightly be imposed on biblical narratives which present themselves as factual. Some, for instance, take Adam to be a myth, whereas in Scripture he is presented as a real person. Others take Jonah to be an allegory when he is presented as a historical person and [is] so referred to by Christ” (emphasis added). Its comments in the next article (Article 14) add, “We deny that any event, discourse or saying reported in Scripture was invented by the biblical writers or by the traditions they incorporated” (emphasis added). Clearly, the CSBI Fathers rejected genre criticism as used by Gundry, Licona, and many other evangelicals. Three living eyewitness framers of the CSBI statements (Packer, Sproul, and Geisler) confirm that authors like Robert Gundry were in view when these articles were composed. Gundry had denied the historicity of sections of the Gospel of Matthew by using a Hebrew “midrashic” model to interpret Matthew (see Mohler on Franke, 294). After a thorough discussion of Gundry’s view over a two year period and numerous articles in the ETS journal, the matter was peacefully, lovingly, and formally brought to a motion by a founder of the ETS, Roger Nicole, in which the membership, by an overwhelming 70% voted and asked Gundry to resign from the ETS. Since Licona’s view is the same in principle with that of Gundry’s, the ETS decision applies equally to his view as well. Mike Licona uses a Greco-Roman genre to interpreting the Gospels, rather than Jewish midrash which Gundry used. The Greco-Roman genre permits the use of a contradiction in the Gospels concerning the day Jesus was crucified. However, the ICBI official texts cited above reveal that the CSBI statement on inerrancy forbids “dehistoricing” the Gospels (CSBI Art. 18). Again, living ICBI framers see this as the same issue that led to Gundry’s departure from ETS. When asked about the orthodoxy of Mike Licona’s view, CSBI framer R.C. Sproul wrote: “As the former and only President of ICBI during its tenure and as the original framer of the Affirmations and Denials of the Chicago Statement on Inerrancy, I can say categorically that Dr. Michael Licona’s views are not even remotely compatible with the unified Statement of ICBI” (Personal Correspondence, 5/22/2012, emphasis added). The role of extra-biblical genre in Gospel interpretation can be charted as follows: THE USE OF EXTRA-BIBLICAL GENRE A MATERIAL CAUSE THE FORMAL CAUSE HELP PROVIDE PARTS DETERMINE THE WHOLE The formal cause of meaning is in the text itself (the author is the efficient cause of meaning). No literature or stories outside the text are hermeneutically determinative of the meaning of the text. The extra-biblical data can provide understanding of a part (e.g., a word), but it cannot decide what the meaning of a whole text is. Every text must be understood only in its immediate or more remote contexts. Scripture is to be used to interpret Scripture. Of course, as shown above, general revelation can help modify our understanding of a biblical text, for the scientific evidence based on general revelation demonstrates that the earth is round and can be used to modify one’s understanding of the biblical phrase “for corners of the earth.” However, no Hebrew or Greco-Roman literature genre should be used to determine what a biblical text means since it is not part of any general revelation from God, and it has no hermeneutical authority. Further, the genre of a text is not understood by looking outside the text. Rather, it is determined by using the historical-grammatical hermeneutic on the text in its immediate context, and the more remote context of the rest of Scripture to decide whether it is history, poetry, parable, an allegory, or whatever. Furthermore, similarity to any extra-biblical types of literature does not demonstrate identity with the biblical text, nor should it be used to determine what the biblical text means. For example, the fact that an extra-biblical piece of literature combines history and legend does not mean that the Bible also does this. Nor does the existence of contradictions in similar extra-biblical literature justify transferring this to biblical texts. Even if there are some significant similarities of the Gospels with Greco-Roman literature, it does not mean that legends should be allowed in the Gospels since the Gospel writers make it clear that they have a strong interest in historical accuracy by an “orderly account” so that we can have “certainty” about what is recorded in them (Luke 1:1‒4). And multiple confirmations of geographical and historical details confirm that this kind of historical accuracy was achieved (see Colin Patterson, The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenic History, 1990). The Issue of Gospel Pluralism Another associated error of some non-inerrantism is pluralism. Kenton Sparks argues that the Bible “does not contain a single coherent theology but rather numerous theologies that sometimes stand in tension or even contradiction with one another” (Cited by Mohler, 55). So, God accommodates Himself and speaks through “the idioms, attitudes, assumptions, and general worldviews of the ancient authors” (Enns, 87). But he assures us that this is not a problem, because we need to see “God as so powerful that he can overrule ancient human error and ignorance, [by contrast] inerrancy portrays as weak view of God” (Enns, 91). However, it must be remembered that contradictions entail errors, and God cannot err. By the same logical comparison, Christ must have sinned. For if the union of the human and divine in Scripture (God’s written Word) necessarily entails error, then by comparison the union of the human and divine in Christ must result in moral flaws in Him. But the Bible is careful to note that, though Christ, while being completely human, nonetheless, was without sin (Heb 4:15; 2 Cor 5:21). Likewise, there is no logical or theological reason why the Bible must err simply because it has a human nature to it. Humans do not always err, and they do not err when guided by the Holy Spirit of Truth who cannot err (John 14:26; 16:13; 2 Peter 1:20‒21). A perfect Book can be produced by a perfect God through imperfect human authors. How? Because God can draw a straight line with a crooked stick! He is the ultimate cause of the inerrant Word of God; the human authors are only the secondary causes. Enns attempts to avoid this true incarnational analogy by arguing the following: (1) This reasoning diminishes the value of Christ’s Incarnation. He tried to prove this by noting that the Incarnation of Christ is a unique “miracle” (Enns, 298). However, so is the union of the human and divine natures of Scripture miraculous (2 Sam 23:2; 2 Peter 1:20-21). In effect, Enns denies the miraculous nature of Scripture in order to exalt the miraculous nature of the Incarnation of Christ. (2) His comparison with the Quran is a straw man because it reveals his lack of understanding of the emphatic orthodox denial of the verbal dictation theory claimed by Muslims for the Quran, but denied vigorously by orthodox Bible scholars about the Bible. (3) His charge of “bibliolatry” is directly opposed to all evangelical teaching that the Bible is not God and should not be worshiped. Of course, Christ and the Bible are not a perfect analogy because there is a significant difference: Christ is God, and the Bible is not. Nonetheless, it is a good analogy because there are many strong similarities: (1) both Christ and the Bible have a divine and human dimension; 2) both have a union of the two dimensions; (3) both have a flawless character that in Christ is without sin and in the Bible is without error; and (4) both are the Word of God, one the written Word of God and other the incarnate Word of God. Thus, a true incarnational analogy calls for the errorlessness of the Bible, just as it calls for the sinlessness of Christ. The Acceptance of Conventionalism Some non-inerrantists hold the self-defeating theory of meaning called conventionalism. Franke, for example, argues that “since language is a social construct…our words and linguistic conventions do not have timeless and fixed meanings…” (Franke, 194). There are serious problem with this view which Franke and other contemporary non-inerrantists have adopted. Without going into philosophical detail, the most telling way to see the flaws of this view is to reflect on its self-defeating nature. That is, it cannot deny the objectivity of meaning without making an objectively meaningful statement. To claim that all language is purely conventional and subjective is to make a statement which is not purely conventional and subjective. In like manner, when Franke claims that truth is perspectival (Franke, 267), he seems to be unaware that he is making a non-perspectival truth claim. This problem is discussed more extensively elsewhere (see Geisler, Systematic, chap. 6). We would only point out here that one cannot consistently be an inerrantist and a conventionalist. For if all meaning is subjective, then so is all truth (since all true statements must be meaningful). But inerrancy claims that the Bible makes objectively true statements. Hence, an inerrantist cannot be a conventionalist, at least not consistently. The Issue of Foundationalism The CBSI statement is taken to task by some non-inerrantists for being based on an unjustified theory of foundationalism. Franke insists that “the Chicago Statement is reflective of a particular form of epistemology known as classic or strong foundationalism” (Franke, 261). They believe that the Bible is “a universal and indubitable basis for human knowledge” (Franke, 261). Franke believes that: “The problem with this approach is that it has been thoroughly discredited in philosophical and theological circles” (ibid.,262). In response, first of all, Franke confuses two kinds of foundationalism: (1) deductive foundationalism, as found in Spinoza or Descartes where all truth can be deduced from certain axiomatic principles. This is rejected by all inerrantist scholars I know and by most philosophers; (2) However, reductive foundationalism which affirms that truths can be reduced to or are based on certain first principles like the Law of Non-contradiction is not rejected by most inerrantists and philosophers. Indeed, first principles of knowledge, like the Law of Non-contradiction, are self evident and undeniable. That is, the predicate of first principles can be reduced to it subject, and any attempt to deny the Law of Non-contradiction uses the Law of Non-contradiction in the denial. Hence, the denial is self defeating. Second, not only does Franke offer no refutation of this foundational view, but any attempted refutation of it self-destructs. Even so-called “post-foundationalists” like Franke cannot avoid using these first principles of knowledge in their rejection of foundationalism. So, Franke’s comment applies to deductive foundationalism but not to reductive foundationalism as held by most inerratists. Indeed, first principles of knowledge, including theological arguments, are presupposed in all rational arguments, including theological arguments. Third, Franke is wrong in affirming that all inerrantists claim that “Scripture is the true and sole basis for knowledge on all matters which it touches.” (Franke, 262, emphasis added). Nowhere does the CSBI statement or its commentaries make any such claim. It claims only that the “Scriptures are the supreme written norm” “in all matters on which it touches” (Article 2 and A Short Statement, emphasis added). Nowhere does it deny that God has revealed Himself outside His written revelation in His general revelation in nature, as the Bible declares (Rom 1:1‒20; Ps 19:1; Acts 14, 17). As for “falliblism” which Franke posits to replace foundationalism, CSBI explicitly denies creedal or infallible basis for its beliefs, saying, “We do not propose this statement be given creedal weight” (CSBI, Preamble). Furthermore, “We deny creeds, councils, or declarations have authority greater than or equal to the authority of the Bible” (CSBI, Art. 2). So, not only do the ICBI framers claim their work is not a creed nor is it infallible, but they claim that even the Creeds are not infallible. Further, it adds. “We invite response to this statement from any who see reason to amend its affirmations about Scripture by the light of Scripture itself, under whose infallible authority we stand as we speak” (CSBI, Preamble). In short, while the doctrine of inerrancy is not negotiable, the ICBI statements about inerrancy are revisable. However, to date, no viable revisions have been proposed by any group of scholars such as those who framed the original CSBI statements. Dealing with Bible Difficulties As important as the task may be, dealing with Bible difficulties can have a blinding effect on those desiring the clear truth about inerrancy because they provide a temptation not unlike that of a divorce counselor who is faced with all the problems of his divorced counselees. Unless, he concentrates on the biblical teaching and good examples of many happy marriages, he can be caught wondering whether a good marriage is possible. Likewise, one should no more give up on the inerrancy (of God’s special revelation) because of the difficulties he finds in explaining its consistency than he should give up on the study of nature (God’s general revelation) because of the difficulties he finds in it. There are several reasons for believing that both of God’s revelations are consistent: First, it is a reasonable assumption that the God who is capable of revealing Himself in both spheres is consistent and does not contradict Himself. Indeed, the Scriptures exhort us to “Avoid… contradictions” (Gk: antheseis—1 Tim 6:20 ESV). Second, persistent study in both spheres of God’s revelations, special and general revelation (Rom 1:19‒20; Ps 19:1), have yielded more and more answers to difficult questions. Finally, contrary to some panelists who believe that inerrancy hinders progress in understanding Scripture (Franke, 278), there is an investigative value in assuming there is no contradiction in either revelation, namely, it prompts further investigation to believe that there was no error in the original. What would we think of scientists who gave up studying God’s general revelation in nature because they have no present explanation for some phenomena? The same applies to Scripture (God’s special revelation). Thus, assuming there is an error in the Bible is no solution. Rather, it is a research stopper. Augustine was right in his dictum (cited by Vanhoozer, 235). There are only four alternatives when we come to a difficulty in the Word of God: (1) God made an error, 2) the manuscript is faulty, 3) the translation is wrong, or 4) we have not properly understood it. Since it is an utterly unbiblical presumption to assume the first alternative, we as evangelicals have three alternatives. After over a half century of studying nearly 1000 such difficulties (see The Big Book of Bible Difficulties, Baker, 2008), I have discovered that the problem of an unexplained conflict is usually the last alternative—I have not properly understood. That being said, even the difficult cases the participants were asked to respond to are not without possible explanations. In fact, some of the participants, who are not even defenders of inerrancy, offered some reasonable explanations. Acts 9 and 22. As for the alleged contradiction in whether Paul’s companions “heard” (Acts 9:4) and did not “hear” (Acts 22:9) what the voice from heaven said, two things need to be noted. First, the exact forms of the word “hear” (akouo) are not used in both case. First, Vanhoozer (229) notes that Acts 9:4 says akouein (in the accusative) which means hear a sound of a voice. In the other text (Acts 22:9) akouontes (in the genitive) can mean understand the voice (as the NIV translates it). So understood, there is no real contradiction. Paul’s companions heard the sound of the voice but did not understand what it said. Second, we have exactly the same experience with the word “hear” today. In fact, at our house, hardly a day or two goes by without either my wife or I saying from another room, “I can’t hear you.” We heard their voice, but we did not understand what they said. One thing is certain, we do not need contorted attempts to explain the phenomenon like Vanhoozer’s suggestion that this conflict serves “Luke’s purpose by progressively reducing the role of the companions, eventually excluding them altogether from the revelatory event” (230). It is totally unnecessary to sacrifice the traditional view of inerrancy with such twisted explanations. Joshua 6. This text records massive destruction of the city with its large walls falling down, which goes way beyond the available archaeological evidence. Peter Enns insists that “the overwhelmingly dominant scholarly position is that the city of Jericho was at most a small settlement and without walls during the time of Joshua” (Enns, 93). He concludes that “these issues cannot be reconciled with how inerrancy functions in evangelicalism as articulated in the CSBI” (92). He further contends that the biblical story must be a legendary and mythological embellishment (96). In response, it should be noted that: (1) This would not be the first time that the “dominant scholarly position” has been overturned by later discoveries. The charge that there was no writing in Moses’ day and that the Hittites mentioned in the Bible (Gen 26:34; 1 Kings 11:1) never existed, are only two examples. All scholars know that both of these errors were subsequently revealed by further research. (2) There is good archaeological evidence that other events mentioned in the Bible did occur as stated. The plagues on Egypt and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah are examples in point. The first fits well with the Uperwer Papyrus and the second with the recent discoveries at the Tall el Hamman site in Jordan (see Joseph Holden, A Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible, Harvest House, 2013, 214‒24). Indeed, Enns admits that the Joshua description of some other cities around Jericho fits the archaeological evidence (Enns, 98). He even admits that “a trained archaeologist and research director” offers a minority view that fits with the Joshua 6 record (Enns, 94), only the alleged time period is different. However, since the dating issue is still unresolved by scholars, a date that fits the biblical record is still possible. The fact that the belief in the full historicity of Joshua 6 is in the minority among scholars poses no insurmountable problem. Minority views have been right before. Remember Galileo? As for the alleged absence of evidence for a massive destruction of a walled city of Jericho, two points are relevant: 1) the absence of evidence is not necessarily the evidence of absence since other evidence may yet be found; 2) the main dispute is not over whether something like the Bible claimed to have happened actually did happen to Jericho, but whether it happened at the alleged time. However, the dating of this period is still disputed among scholars. Hence, nothing like “overwhelmingly” established evidence has disproven the biblical picture of Joshua 6. Certainly there is no real reason to throw out the inerrantist’s view of the historicity of the event. On the contrary, the Bible has a habit of proving the critics wrong. Deuteronomy 20 and Matthew 5. Again, this is a difficult problem, but there are possible explanations without sacrificing the historicity and inerrancy of the passages. The elimination of the Canaanites and the command to love one’s enemies are not irreconcilable. Even Enns, no friend of inerrancy, points out that an “alternate view of the conquest that seems to exonerate the Israelites” (Enns, 108), noting that the past tense of the Leviticus statement that “the land vomited [past tense] out its inhabitants” (Lev. 18:25) implies that “God had already dealt with the Canaanite problem before the Israelites left Mt. Sinai” (ibid.). But even the traditional view that Israel acted as God’s theocratic agent in killing the Canaanites poses no irreconcilable problem for many reasons. First of all, God is sovereign over life and can give and take it as He wills (Deut 32:39; Job 1:21). Second, God can command others to kill on his behalf, as He did in capital punishment (Gen 9:6). Third, the Canaanites were wildly wicked and deserved such punishment (cf. Lev 18). Fourth, this was a special theocractic act of God through Israel on behalf of God’s people and God’s plan to give them the Holy Land and bring forth the Holy One (Christ), the Savior of the world. Hence, there is no pattern or precedent here for how we should wage war today. Fifth, loving our enemy who insults us with a mere “slap on the right cheek” (Matt 5:39) does not contradict our killing him in self defense if he attempts to murder us (Exod 22:2), or engaging him in a just war of protecting the innocent (Gen 14). Sixth, God gave the Canaanites some 400 years (Gen 15:13‒15) to repent before He found them incorrigibly and irretrievably wicked and wiped them out. Just as it is sometimes necessary to cut off a cancerous limb to save one’s life, even so God knows when such an operation is necessary on a nation which has polluted the land. But we are assured by God’s words and actions elsewhere that God does not destroy the righteous with the wicked (Gen 18:25). Saving Lot and his daughters, Rahab, and the Ninevites are examples. As for God’s loving kindness on the wicked non-Israelites, Nineveh (Jonah 3) is proof that God will save even a very wicked nation that repents (cf. 2 Peter 3:9). So, there is nothing in this Deuteronomy text that is contradictory to God’s character as revealed in the New Testament. Indeed, the judgments of the New Testament God are more intensive and extensive in the book of Revelation (cf. Rev 6‒19) than anything in the Old Testament. Responding to Attacks on Inerrancy We turn our attention now to some of the major charges leveled against CSBI inerrancy. We begin with two of the major objections: It is not biblical and it is not the historical view of the Christian Church. But before we address these, we need to recall that the CSBI view on inerrancy means total inerrancy, not limited inerrancy. Total or unlimited inerrancy holds that the Bible is inerrant on both redemptive matters and all other matters on which it touches, and limited inerrancy holds that the Bible is only inerrant on redemptive matters but not in other areas such as history and science. By “inerrancy” we mean total inerrancy as defined by the CSBI. The Charge of Being Unbiblical Many non-inerrantists reject inerrancy because they claim that it is not taught in the Bible as the Trinity or other essential doctrines are. But the truth is that neither one is taught formally and explicitly. Both are taught in the Bible only implicitly and logically. For example, nowhere does the Bible teach the formal doctrine of the Trinity, but it does teach the premises which logically necessitate the doctrine of the Trinity. And as The Westminster Confession of Faith declares, a sound doctrine must be “either set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequences may be deduced from Scripture” (Chap. I, Art. 6). Both the Trinity and inerrancy of Scripture fall into the latter category. Thus, the Bible teaches that there are three Persons who are God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matt 29:18‒20). Furthermore, it teaches that there is only one God (1 Tim 2:5). So, “by good and necessary consequences” the doctrine of the Trinity may be deduced from Scripture. Likewise, while inerrancy is not formally and explicitly taught in Scripture, nonetheless, the premises on which it is based are taught there. For the Bible teaches that God cannot err, and it also affirms that the Bible is the Word of God. So “by good and necessary consequences [the doctrine of inerrancy] may be deduced from Scripture.” Of course, in both cases the conclusion can and should be nuanced as to what the word “person” means (in the case of the Trinity), and what the word “truth” means (see below) in the case of inerrancy. Nevertheless, the basic doctrine in both cases is biblical in the sense of a “good and necessary consequence” of being logically “deduced from Scripture.” The Charge of Being Unhistorical Many non-inerrantists charge that inerrancy has not been the historic doctrine of the Church. Some say it was a modern apologetic reaction to Liberalism. Outspoken opponent of inerrancy, Peter Enns, claims that “…‘inerrancy,’ as it is understood in the evangelical and fundamentalist mainstream, has not been the church’s doctrine of Scripture through its entire history; Augustine was not an ‘inerrantist” (Enns, 181). However, as the evidence will show, Enns is clearly mistaken on both counts. First of all, Augustine (5th century) declared emphatically, “I have learned to yield respect and honour only to the canonical books of Scripture: of these alone do I most firmly believe that the authors were completely free form error” (Augustine, Letters 82, 3). Furthermore, Augustine was not alone in his emphatic support of the inerrancy of Scripture. Other Fathers both before and after him held the same view. Thomas Aquinas (13th century) declared that “it is heretical to say that any falsehood whatever is contained either in the gospels or in and canonical Scripture” (Exposition on Job 13, Lect. 1). For “a true prophet is always inspired by the Spirit of truth in whom there is no trace of falsehood, and he never utters untruths: (Summa Theologica 2a2ae, 172, 6 ad 2). The Reformer Martin Luther (16th century) added, “When one blasphemously gives the lie to God in a single word, or say it is a minor matter, …one blasphemes the entire God…” (Luther’s Works, 37:26). Indeed, whoever is so bold that he ventures to accuse God of fraud and deception in a single word…likewise certainly ventures to accuse God of fraud and deception in all His words. Therefore it is true, absolutely and without exception, that everything is believed or nothing is believed (cited in Reu, Luther and the Scriptures, 33). John Calvin agreed with his predecessors, insisting that “the Bible has come down to us from the mouth of God (Institutes, 1.18.4). Thus “we owe to Scripture the same reverence which we owe to God; because it has proceeded from Him alone….The Law and the Prophets are…dictated by the Holy Spirit (Urquhart, Inspiration and Accuracy, 129‒130). Scripture is “the certain and unerring rule” (Calvin, Commentaries, Ps 5:11). He added that the Bible is “a depository of doctrine as would secure it from either perishing by neglect, vanishing away amid errors, of being corrupted by the presumptions of men (Institutes, 1.6.3). Furthermore, it is nit-picking to claim, as some non-inerrantists suggest (Franke, 261), that the Church Fathers did not hold precisely the same view of Scripture as contemporary evangelicals. Vanhoozer claims they are “not quite the same” (73). Bird asserted, “The biggest problem I have with the AIT [American Inerrancy Tradition] and the CSBI [Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy] are their lack of catholicity. What Christians said about inerrancy in the past might have been similar to the AIT and CSBI, but they were never absolutely the same!” (Bird, 67). However, identical twins are not absolutely the same in all “details,” but, like the doctrine of inerrancy down through the years, both are substantially the same. That is, they believed in total inerrancy of Scripture, that it is without error in whatever it affirms on any topic. The basic truth of inerrancy has been affirmed by the Christian Church from the very beginning. This has been confirmed by John Hannah in Inerrancy and the Church (Moody, 1984). Likewise, John Woodbridge provided a scholarly defense of the historic view on inerrancy (Biblical Authority and Interpretation of the Bible: A Critique of the Rogers/McKim Proposal, Zondervan, 1982) which Rogers never even attempted to refute. Neither Rogers nor anyone else has written a refutation of the standard view on inerrancy, as defended by Woodbridge, expressed in the ETS and explained by the ICBI. Of course, other difficulties with the historic doctrine of inerrancy can be raised, but B. B. Warfield summed up the matter well, claiming: “The question is not whether the doctrine of plenary inspiration has difficulties to face. The question is, whether these difficulties are greater than the difficulty of believing that the whole Church of God from the beginning has been deceived in her estimate of Scripture committed to her charge—are greater than the difficulties of believing that the whole college of the apostles, yes and of Christ himself at their head were themselves deceive as to the nature of those Scripture….” (cited by Mohler, 42). The Charge of the “Slippery Slope Argument” An oft repeated charge against inerrancy is that it is based on a “Slippery Slope” argument that it should be accepted on the basis of what we might lose if we reject it (Enns, 89). The charge affirms that if we give up the inerrancy of the Bible’s authority on historical or scientific areas, then we are in danger of giving up on the inerrancy of redemptive passages as well. In brief, it argues that if you can’t trust the Bible in all areas, then you can’t trust it at all. Enns contends this is “an expression of fear,” not a valid argument but one based on “emotional blackmail” (ibid.). Franke states the argument in these terms: “If there is a single error at any place in the Bible, [then] none of it can be trusted” (Franke, 262). One wonders whether the anti-inerrantist would reject Jesus’ arguments for the same reason when He said, “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things” (John 3:12)? The truth is that there are at least two different forms of the “slippery slope” reasoning: one is valid and the other is not. It is not valid to argue that if we don’t believe everything one says, then we cannot believe anything he says. For example, the fact that an accountant makes an occasional error in math does not mean that he is not reliable in general. However, if one claims to have divine authority, and makes one mistake, then it is reasonable to conclude that nothing he says has divine authority in it. For God cannot make mistakes, therefore, anyone who claims to be a prophet of God who does make mistakes (cf. Deut 18:22) cannot be trusted to be speaking with divine authority on anything (even though he may be right about many things). So, it is valid to say, if the Bible errs in anything, then it cannot be trusted to be the inerrant Word of God in anything (no matter how reliable it may be about many things). The Charge of being Parochial Vanhoozer poses the question: “Why should the rest of the world care about North American evangelicalism’s doctrinal obsession with inerrancy (Vanhoozer, 190). There are no voices from Africa, Asia, or South America that had “any real input into the formation of the CSBI” (Franke, 194). “Indeed, it is difficult to attend a meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society and not be struck by the overwhelming white and male group it is” (Franke, 195). However, “It is a genetic fallacy to claim that the doctrine of inerrancy can’t be right because it was made in the USA” (Vanhoozer, 190). While it is true that “in the abundance of counselors there is wisdom” (Prov 11:14), it is not necessarily true that universality and inter-ethnicity is more conducive to orthodoxy. Would anyone reject Newton’s Laws simply because they came from a seventeenth-century Englishman? Vanhoozer rightly asks, “Is it possible that the framers of the Chicago statement, despite the culturally conditioned and contingent nature of the North American discussion, have discovered a necessary implication of what Christians elsewhere might have to say about Scripture’s truth?” (Vanhoozer, 190). Is it not possible that inerrancy represents a legitimate development of the doctrine of Scripture that arose in response to the needs and challenges of our twentieth-century context? I don’t see why not.” (Vanhoozer, 191). The early Christian Creeds on the deity of Christ and the Trinity were all time-bound, yet they rightly attained the status of a Creed—an enduring and universal statement which is accepted by all major sections of Christendom. Although the CSBI statement does not claim creedal status, nonetheless, being time-bound does not hinder its deserved wide representation and acceptance in historic evangelical churches. Franke claims that one of the problems with claiming inerrancy as a universal truth is that “it will lead to the marginalization of other people who do not share in the outlooks and assumptions of the dominant group. Inerrancy calls on us to surrender the pretensions of a universal and timeless theology” (Franke, 279). However, he seems oblivious to the universal and timeless pretension of his own claim. As a truth claim, the charge of parochialism is self-defeating since it too is conditioned by time, space, and ethnic distinctiveness. Indeed, it is just another form of the view that all truth claims are relative. But so is that claim itself relative. Thus, the proponent of parochialism is hanged on his own gallows. The Charge of being Unethical The alleged unethical behavior of inerrantists seems to have been the hot-button issue among most of the participants in the dialogue, including the editors. They decry, sometimes in strong terms, the misuse of inerrancy by its proponents. In fact, this issue seems to simmer beneath the background of the anti-inerrancy discussion as a whole, breaking forth from time-to-time in explicit condemnation of its opponents. In fact, the editors of the Five Views book appear to trace the contemporary inerrancy movement to this issue (see Merrick, 310). Both the editors and some participants of the Five Views book even employ extreme language and charges against the inerrancy movement, charging it with evangelical “fratricide” (Merrick, 310). The word “fratricide” is repeated a few pages later (317). Three participants of the dialogue (Franke, Bird, and Enns) seem particularly disturbed about the issue, along with the two editors of the book. They fear that inerrancy is used as “a political instrument (e.g., a tool for excluding some from the evangelical family)” (Vanhoozer, 302) in an “immoral” way (Enns, 292). They speak of times “when human actions persist in ways that are ugly and unbecoming of Christ…” (Merrick, 317). Enns, for example, speaks strongly to the issue, chiding “those in positions of power in the church…who prefer coercion to reason and demonize to reflection.” He adds, “Mohler’s position (the only one explicitly defending the CSBI inerrancy view) is in my view intellectually untenable, but wielded as a weapon, it becomes spiritually dangerous” (Enns, 60). He also charges inerrantists with “manipulation, passive-aggressiveness, and…emotional blackmail” (Enns, 89). Further, he claims that “inerrancy regularly functions to short-circuit rather than spark our knowledge of the Bible” (Enns, 91). In spite of the fact that he recognizes that we cannot “evaluate inerrancy on the basis of its abusers,” Enns hastens to claim that “the function of inerrancy in the funamentalist and evangelical subculture has had a disturbing and immoral partnership with power and abuse” (Enns, 292). Franke joins the chorus against inerrantists more softy but nonetheless strongly expresses his disappointment, saying, “I have often been dismayed by many of the ways in which inerrancy has commonly been used in biblical interpretation, theology, and the life of the church…. Of even greater concern is the way in which inerrancy has been wielded as a means of asserting power and control” over others (Franke, 259). A Response to the Ethical Charges Few widely read scholars will deny that some have abused the doctrine of inerrancy. The problem is that while we have a perfect Bible, there are imperfect people using it—on both sides of the debate. Misuse Does Not Bar Use However, the misuse of a doctrine does not prove that it is false. Nor does the improper use of Scripture prove that there is no proper way to use it. Upon examination of the evidence, the abuse charge against inerrantists is overreaching. So far as I can tell, virtually all the scholars I know in the inerrancy movement were engaged in defending inerrancy out of a sincere desire to preserve what they believed was an important part of the Christian Faith. Often those who speak most vociferously about the errors of another are unaware of their own errors. Ethics is a double-edged sword, as any neutral observer will detect in reading the above ethical tirade against inerrantists. Certainly, the charges by non-inerrantists are subject to ethical scrutiny themselves. For example, is it really conducive to unity, community, and tranquility to charge others with a form of evangelical fratricide, a political instrument for excluding some from the evangelical family, ugly and unbecoming of Christ, a means of asserting power and control, a means of coercion, spiritually dangerous, manipulation, a passive-aggressiveness attack, emotional blackmail, and a disturbing and immoral partnership with power and abuse? Frankly, I have never seen anything that approaches this kind of unjustified and unethical outburst coming from inerrancy scholars toward those who do not believe in the doctrine. So, as far as ethics is concerned, the charge of abuse looks like a classic example of the kettle calling the pot black! The Log in One’s Own Eye Non-inerrantists are in no position to try to take the ethical speck out of the eye of inerrantists when they have an ethical log in their own eye. Harold Lindsell pointed out (in The Battle for the Bible) the ethical inconsistency of the Fuller faculty in voting inerrancy out of their doctrinal statement which they had all signed and was still in effect when they were voting it out of existence. But how could they be against it, if they were on record as being for it. We know they were for it before they were against it, but how can they be against it when they were for it? Is there not an ethical commitment to keep a signed document? When one comes to no longer believe in a doctrinal statement he has signed, then the ethical thing to do is to resign one’s position. Instead, at Fuller, in ETS, and in organization after organization, those who no longer believe what the framers meant will stay in the group in an attempt to change the doctrinal statement to mean what they want it to mean. This is a serious ethical breach on the part of non-inerrantists. Let me use an illustration to make the point. If one sincerely believes in a flat earth view and later comes to change his mind, what it the ethical thing to do? It is to resign and join the Round Earth Society. To stay in the Flat Earth Society and argue that (1) it all depends on how you define flat; (2) from my perspective it looks flat; (3) I have a lot of good friends in the Flat Earth Society with whom I wish to continue fellowship, or (4) the Flat Earth Society allows me to define “flat” the way I would like to do so—to do any of these is disingenuous and unethical. Yet it is what happened at Fuller and is currently happening at ETS and in many of our Christian institutions today. An important case in point was in1976 when the ETS Executive Committee confessed that “Some of the members of the Society have expressed the feeling that a measure of intellectual dishonesty prevails among members who do not take the signing of the doctrinal statement seriously.” Later, an ETS Ad Hoc Committee recognized this problem when it posed the proper question in 1983: “Is it acceptable for a member of the society to hold a view of biblical author’s intent which disagrees with the Founding Fathers and even the majority of the society, and still remain a member in good standing?” (emphasis added). The Society never said no, leaving the door open for non-inerrantists to come in. This left a Society in which the members could believe anything they wished to believe about the inerrancy statement, despite what the Framers meant by it. The ETS Committee further reported that other “members of the Society have come to the realization that they are not in agreement with the creedal statement and have voluntarily withdrawn. That is, in good conscience they could not sign the statement” (1976 Minutes, emphasis added). This is exactly what all members who no longer believed what the ETS framers believed by inerrancy should have done. A member who is now allowed to sign the ETS statements but “disagrees with the Founding Fathers” is not acting in “good conscience.” Thus, it is only a matter of time before the majority of the members disagree with the ETS Founders, and the majority of the Society then officially deviates from its founding concept of inerrancy. As someone rightly noted, most religious organizations are like a propeller-driven airplane: they will naturally go left unless you deliberately steer them to the right. No Evidence for Any Specific Charges Ever Given The Five Views dialogue book contains many sweeping claims of alleged unethical activity by inerrantists, but no specific charges are made against any individual, nor is any evidence for any charges given. Several points should be made in response. First, even secular courts demand better than this. They insist on due process. This means that: (1) Evidence should be provided that any persons who have allegedly violated an established law. This is particularly true when the charge is murder of a brother!—“fratricide.” In the absence of such evidence against any particular person or group, the charge should be dropped, and the accusers should apologize for using the word or other words like demonize, blackmail, or bullying. (2) Specifics should be given of the alleged crime. Who did it? What did they do? Does it match the alleged crime? The failure of non-inerrantists to do this is an unethical, divisive, and destructive way to carry on a “dialogue” on the topic, to say nothing of doing justice on the matter. Those who use such terms about other brothers in Christ, rather than sticking to the issue of a valid critique of deviant views, are falling far short of the biblical exhortation to speak the truth in love (Eph 4:15). The Robert Gundy Case The so-called “Gundry—Geisler” issue is a case in point. First, ethical charges by non-inerrantists reveal an offensive bias in narrowing it down to one inerrantist in opposition to Gundry when in fact there were was a massive movement in opposition to Gundry’s position, including founders of ETS. Indeed, the membership vote to ask him to leave the society was an overwhelming 70%. Even though I was an eyewitness of the entire process, I never observed hard feelings expressed between Gundy and those asking for his resignation before, during, or after the issue. Long-time Dean of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Dr. Kenneth Kantzer was the first one to express concern about the issue to me. An ETS founder, Roger Nicole made the motion for Gundry’s resignation with deep regret. Knowing I was a framer of the CSBI statement, Gundry personally encouraged me to enter the discussion, saying, he did not mind the critique of his view because he had “thick skin” and did not take it personally. So, to make charges of ethical abuse against those who opposed Gundry’s “dehistoricizing” (see CSBI, Article 18) of the Gospel record is to turn an important doctrinal discussing into a personal attack and it is factually unfounded and ethically unjustified. Second, the CSBI principles called for an ethical use of the inerrancy doctrine. CSBI framers were careful to point out that “Those who profess faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are called to show the reality of their discipleship humbly and faithfully obeying God’s written Word. To stray from Scripture in faith or conduct is disloyalty to our Master” (Preamble to CSBI). It also acknowledges that “submission to the claims of God’s own Word…marks true Christian faith.” Further, “those who confess this doctrine often deny it in life by failing to bring our thoughts and deeds, our traditions and habits, into true subjection to the Divine Word” (ibid.). The framers of CSBI added, “We offer this statement in a spirit, not of contention, but of humility and love, which we purpose by Gods’ grace to maintain in any future dialogue arising out of what we have said” (ibid.). To my knowledge, the ETS procedure on the Gundry issue was in accord with these principles, and none of the participants of the Five Views book provided any evidence that anyone violated these procedures. Third, in none of the ETS articles, papers, or official presentations was Robert Gundry attacked personally or demeaned. The process to ask him to resign was a lawful one of principle and not a personal issue, and the parties on both sides recognized and respected this distinction. Anyone who had any evidence to the contrary should have come forward a long time ago or forever held his peace. Fourth, as for all the parties on the inerrancy discussion over Gundry’s views, I know of none who did not like Gundry as a person or did not respect him as a scholar, including myself. In fact, I later invited him to participate with a group of New Testament scholars in Dallas (which he accepted), and I have often cited him in print as an authority on the New Testament and commended his excellent book defending, among other things, the physical nature of the resurrection body (Gundry, Soma in Biblical Theology, Cambridge, 1976). Fifth, the decision on Gundry’s views was not an unruly act done in the dark of night with a bare majority. It was done by a vast majority in the light of day in strict accordance with the rules stated in the ETS policies. It was not hurried since it took place over a two year period. It involves numerous articles pro and con published in the ETS journal (JETS) as well as dozens of ETS papers and discussions. In short, it was fully and slowly aired in an appropriate and scholarly manner. Sixth, the final decision was by no means a close call by the membership. It passed with a decisive majority of 70% of the members. So, any charge of misuse of authority in the Gundry case is factually mistaken and ethically misdirected. Since there are no real grounds for the ethical charges against those who opposed Gundry’s views on inerrancy, one has to ask why the non-inerrantists are so stirred up over the issue as to make excessive charges like blackmail, demonize, or fratricide? Could it be that many of them hold similar views to Gundry and are afraid that they may be called on the carpet next? As the saying goes, when a stone is tossed down an alley, the dog that squeals the loudest is the one that got hit! We do know this: there is some circumstantial evidence to support this possibility, for many of the most vociferous opponents are the ones who do not accept the ICBI statement on inerrancy or they called for either modification or destruction of it. For example, Enns argues “inerrancy should be amended accordingly or, in my view, scrapped altogether” (Enns, 84). But it has been reported that he himself left Westminster Theological Seminary under a cloud involving a doctrinal dispute that involved inerrancy. And as fellow participant of the Five Ways book, John Franke, put it: “His title makes it clear that after supporting it [inerrancy] for many years as a faculty member at Westminster Theological Seminary…. In reading his essay, I can’t shake the impression that Enns is still in reaction to his departure from Westminster and the controversy his work has created among evangelicals” (Franke, 137) Putting aside the specifics of the Gundry case, what can be said about ethics of inerrantists as charged by the participants of the Five Views dialogue? Allow me to respond to some specific issues that have been raised against inerrancy by non-inerrantists. Does the Abuse of Inerrancy Invalidate the Doctrine of Inerrancy? Most scholars on both sides of this debate recognize that the answer is “No.” Abusing marriage does not make marriage wrong. The evil use of language does not make language evil. And abusing inerrancy by some does not make it wrong for all to believe it. Even if one would speak truth in an unloving way, it would not make it false. Likewise, one can speak error in a loving way, but it does not make it true. Of course, we should always try to “speak the truth in love” (Eph 4:15). But when the truth is not spoken in love it does not transform the truth into an error. Accordingly, Vanhoozer rightly wondered whether “Enns, too quickly identifies the concept of inerrancy itself with its aberrations and abuses” (Vanhoozer, 302). Is Animated Debate Necessarily Contrary to Christian Love? Even the editors of the Five Ways book, who spent considerable time promoting harmony in doctrinal discussions, admit that the two are not incompatible. They claim: “There is a place for well-reasoned, lucid, and spirited argumentation” (Merrick, 312). They add, “Certainly, debate over concepts and ideas involve[s] description, analysis, and clear reasoning” (Merrick, 316). Indeed, the apostle Paul “reasoned’ with the Jews from the Scriptures (Acts 17:2) and tried to “persuade Jews and Greek” (Acts 18:4). He taught Church leaders “to rebuke” those who contradict sound doctrine (Titus 1:9). Jude urged believes to “contend for the Faith” (v.3). In view of Peter’s defection, Paul “opposed him to his face” (Gal 2:11). Indeed, Paul and Barnabas “had no small dissension and debate” with the legalists from Judea (Acts 15:2). Sometimes, a refutation or even a rebuke is the most loving thing one can do to defend the truth. Our supreme example, Jesus, certainly did not hesitate to use strong words and to take strong actions against his opponent’s views and actions (Matt 23; John 2:15‒17). There are in fact times when a vigorous debate is necessary against error. Love—tough love—demands it. All of these activities can occur within the bound of Christian. John Calvin and Martin Luther were certainly no theological pansies when it came to defending the truth of the Christian Faith. But by the standards of conduct urged by non-inerrantists, there would have been no orthodox creeds and certainly no Reformation. And should any knowledgeable evangelical charge the Reformers with being unethical because they vigorously defended Scripture or salvation by faith alone? Of course not! Should Unity Be Put Above Orthodox? One of the fallacies of the anti-inerrancy movement is the belief that unity should be sought at all cost. Apparently no one told this to the apostle Paul who defended Christianity against legalism or to Athanasius who defended the deity of Christ against Arius, even though it would split those who believed in the deity of Christ from those, like Arius and his followers, who denied it. The truth is, when it comes to essential Christian doctrine, it would be better to be divided by the truth than to be united by error. If every doctrinal dispute, including those on the Trinity, deity of Christ, and inspiration of Scripture, used the unity over orthodoxy principle that one hears so much about in current inerrancy debate, then there would be not much orthodox Christian Faith left. As Rupertus Meldinius (d. 1651) put it, “in essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty, and in all things, charity.” But as we saw above, the inerrancy of Scripture is an essential doctrine of the Christian Faith because all other doctrines are based on it. So, it is epistemologically fundamental to all other biblical teachings. Is it Improper to Place Scholarly Articles on the Internet? Some have objected to carrying on a scholarly discussion on the Internet, as opposed to using scholarly journals. My articles on Mike Licona’s denial of inerrancy (see www.normgeisler.com/articles) were subject to this kind of charge. However, given the electronic age in which we live, this is an archaic charge. Dialogue is facilitated by the Internet, and responses can be made much more quickly and by more people. Further, much of the same basic material posted on the Internet was later published in printed scholarly journals. In a November 18, 2012 paper for The Evangelical Philosophical Society, Mike Licona speaks of his critics saying “bizarre” things like “bullying” people around, of having “a cow” over his view, and of engaging in a “circus” on the Internet. Further, he claims that scholarly critics of his views were “targeting” him and “taking actions against” him. He speaks about those who have made scholarly criticisms of his view as “going on a rampage against a brother or sister in Christ.” And he compares it to the statement of Ammianus Marcellinus who wrote, “no wild beasts are such dangerous enemies to man as Christians are to one another.” Licona complained about critics of his view, saying, “I’ve been very disappointed to see the ungodly behavior of a few of my detractors. The theological bullying, the termination and internal intimidation put on a few professors in SBC…all this revealed the underbelly of fundamentalism.” He charged that I made contacts with seminary leaders in an attempt to get him kicked out of his positions on their staff. The truth is that I made no such contacts for no such purposes. To put it briefly, it is strange that we attack those who defend inerrancy and defend those who attack inerrancy. While it is not unethical to use the Internet for scholarly articles, it wrong to make the kind of unethical response that was given to the scholarly articles such as that in the above citations. Such name-calling has no place in a scholarly dialogue. Calling the defense of inerrancy an act of “bullying” diminishes their critic, not them. Indeed, calling one’s critic a “tar baby” and labeling their actions as “ungodly behavior” is a classic example of how not to defend one’s view against its critics. What is more, while Licona condemned the use of the Internet to present scholarly critiques of his view as a “circus,” he refused to condemn an offensive YouTube cartoon produced by his son-in-law and his friend that offensively caricatured my critique of his view as that of a theological “Scrooge.” Even Southern Evangelical Seminary (where Licona was once a faculty member before this issue arose) condemned this approach in a letter from “the office of the president,” saying, “We believe this video was totally unnecessary and is in extremely poor taste” (Letter, 12/9/2011). One influential alumnus wrote the school, saying, “It was immature, inappropriate and distasteful” and recommended that “whoever made this video needs to pull it down and apologize for doing it” (Letter, 12/21/2011). The former president of the SES student body declared: “I’ll be honest that video was outright slander and worthy of punishment. I was quite angry after watching it” (Letter, 12/17/2011). This kind of unapologetic use of the Internet by those who deny the CSBI view of inerrancy of the Bible is uncalled for and unethical. It does the perpetrators and their cause against inerrancy no good. Is Disciplinary Action Sometimes called for in Organizations like ETS? “Judge not” is a mantra of our culture, and it has penetrated evangelical circles as well. But ironically, even that statement is a judgment. Rational and moral people must make judgments all the time. This is true in theology as well as in society. Further, discipline on doctrinal matters is not unprecedented in ETS. Indeed, the ETS By Laws provide for such action, saying: “A member whose writings or teachings have been challenged at an annual business meeting as incompatible with the Doctrinal Basis of the Society, upon majority vote, shall have his case referred to the executive committee, before whom he and his accusers shall be given full opportunity to discuss his views and the accusations. The executive committee shall then refer his case to the Society for action at the annual business meeting the following year. A two-thirds majority vote of those present and voting shall be necessary for dismissal from membership” (Article 4, Section 4). This procedure was followed carefully in the Robert Gundry case. In point of fact, the ETS has expressed an interest in monitoring and enforcing its doctrinal statement on inerrancy from the beginning. The official ETS minutes record the following: 1. In 1965, ETS Journal policy demanded a disclaimer and rebuttal of Dan Fuller’s article denying factual inerrancy published in the ETS Bulletin. They insisted that, “that an article by Dr. Kantzer be published simultaneously with the article by Dr. Fuller and that Dr. Schultz include in that issue of the Bulletin a brief explanation regarding the appearance of a view point different from that of the Society” (1965). 2. In 1965, speaking of some who held “Barthian” views of Scripture, the Minutes of the ETS Executive Committee read: “President Gordon Clark invited them to leave the society.” 3. The 1970 Minutes of ETS affirm that “Dr. R. H. Bube for three years signed his membership form with a note on his own interpretation of infallibility. The secretary was instructed to point out that it is impossible for the Society to allow each member an idiosyncratic interpretation of inerrancy, and hence Dr. Bube is to be requested to sign his form without any qualifications, his own integrity in the matter being entirely respected” (emphasis added). This reveals efforts by ETS to protect and preserve the integrity of its doctrinal statement. 4. In 1983, by a 70% majority vote of the membership, Robert Gundry was asked to resign from ETS for his views based on Jewish midrash genre by which he held that sections of Matthew’s Gospel were not historical, such as the story of the Magi (Matt 2:1‒12). 5. In the early 2000s, while I was still a member of the ETS Executive Committee, a majority voted not to allow a Roman Catholic to join ETS largely on the testimony of one founder (Roger Nicole) who claimed that the ETS doctrinal statement on inerrancy was meant to exclude Roman Catholics. 6. In 2003, by a vote of 388 to 231 (nearly 63%) the ETS expressed its position that Clark Pinnock’s views were contrary to the ETS doctrinal statement on inerrancy. This failed the needed two-third majority to expel him from the society, but it revealed a strong majority who desired to monitor and enforce the doctrinal statement. Finally, preserving the identity and integrity of any organization calls for doctrinal discipline on essential matters. Those organizations which neglect doing this are doomed to self-destruction. Should an Inerrantist Break Fellowship with a Non-Inerrantist over Inerrancy? The ICBI did not believe that inerrancy should be a test for evangelical fellowship. It declared: “We deny that such a confession is necessary for salvation” (CSBI, Art. 19). And “we do not propose that his statement be given creedal weight” (CSBI, Preamble). In short, it is not a test of evangelical authenticity, but of evangelical consistency. One can be saved without believing in inerrancy. So, holding to inerrancy is not a test of spiritual fellowship; it is a matter of theological consistency. Brothers in Christ can fellowship on the basis of belonging to the same spiritual family, without agreeing on all non-salvific doctrines, even some very important ones like inerrancy. In view of this, criticizing inerrantist of evangelical “fratricide” seriously misses the mark and itself contributes to disunity in the body of evangelical believers. Indeed, in the light of the evidence, the ethical charge against inerrantists seriously backfired. In actuality, the Five Views book is basically a two views book: only one person (Al Mohler) unequivocally supports the standard historic view of total inerrancy expressed in the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy (CSBI), and the other four participants do not. They varied in their rejection from those who presented a more friendly tone, but undercut inerrancy with their alien philosophical premises (Kevin Vanhoozer) to those who are overtly antagonistic to it (Peter Enns). There was little new in the arguments against the CSBI view of total inerrancy, most of which has been responded to by inerrantists down through the centuries into modern times. However, a new emphasis did emerge in the repeated charge about the alleged unethical behavior of inerrantists. But, as already noted, this is irrelevant to the truth of the doctrine of inerrancy. Further, there is some justification for the suspicion that attacks on the person, rather than the issue, are because non-inerrantists are running out of real ammunition to speak to the issue itself in a biblical and rational way. In short, after careful examination of the Five Views book, the biblical arguments of the non-inerrantists were found to be unsound, their theological arguments were unjustified, their historical arguments were unfounded, their philosophical arguments were unsubstantiated, and their ethical arguments were often outrageous. Nevertheless, there were some good insights in the book, primarily in Al Mohler’s sections and from time to time in the other places, as noted above. However, in its representation of the ETS/ICBI view of total inerrancy, the book was seriously imbalanced in format, participants, and discussion. The two professors who edited the book (J. Merrick and Stephen Garrett) were particularly biased in the way the issue was framed by them, as well in many of their comments.

TYNDALE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE Tyndale House, Cambridge, England Discovery published in the Tyndale Bulletin 68.1 (2017) 1-29 Tyndale House, Cambridge, announces a new discovery made by young researcher Dr Kim Phillips published in its latest Tyndale Bulletin 68.1. Tyndale House Research Associate Dr Kim Phillips identifies the writing style of Samuel ben Jacob in newly published digitised photographs of a manuscript from the Firkowich collection in the depths of the National Library of Russia archives of St Petersburg. Locked away from the eyes of interested researchers for a number of years these microfilms have recently been posted online by the National Library of Israel. Due to painstaking work in the unusual practices of this scribe Dr Phillips has been able to identify that this is Samuel ben Jacob’s work despite there not being any identifying colophon, or signed publication note, on the text. The mystery of who wrote these texts has been decoded. Samuel ben Jacob is the scribe who wrote The Leningrad Codex, the earliest complete copy of the Old Testament we have reproduced in Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. This manuscript is behind most modern translations. Identifying this piece of work to be by the same scribe will allow scholars to check the accuracy of tiny details in the manuscript behind most modern Bible translations. This will then contribute to future scholarly Bibles. “For the first time (for scholars outside Israel and Russia) it is possible to contextualise the readings of the Leningrad Codex against the background of equivalent readings in other manuscripts known to have been written by Samuel B. Jacob” Dr Kim Phillips Tyndale Bulletin 68.1 p. 20 The Article is available online at www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/tyndale-bulletin For further information, please contact: Alice Jackson, Communications Officer at Tyndale House, Cambridge. Tyndale House is a registered charity no. 1161396 Limited company registration no. 9437542 Registered Office: Tyndale House, 36 Selwyn Gardens, Cambridge, CB3 9BA UK NOTES TO EDITORS Tyndale Bulletin 67.2 (2016) 287-307 Phillips has previously published work demonstrating single folios found in the Cairo Genizah to be by Samuel ben Jacob, using a set of identifying features, or fingerprints, that collectively point to this particular scribe’s handiwork. For further details of the Cairo Genizah and its significance visit newly opened exhibition Discarded History: The Genizah of Mediaeval Cairo providing “a window on the life of a community a thousand years ago – a Jewish community in the centre of a thriving Islamic empire, international in outlook, multicultural in make up, devout to its core.” Cambridge University Library www.lib.cam.ac.uk Tyndale House is an independent evangelical charity founded in 1944 to advance biblical research. It possesses one of the finest libraries for biblical research in the world, packed with specialist material on the language, culture, history, and meaning of the Bible and enjoys close links with the University of Cambridge. Tyndale Bulletin is a peer review journal of Biblical and Theological research. Published twice a year our next Tyndale Bulletin 68.2 is due out later this year. Research Fellows working at Tyndale House are involved in various personal and collaborative projects. Forthcoming Publications at Tyndale House The Greek New Testament, Produced At Tyndale House, Cambridge. Expected Publication Date November 15th, 2017. Published by Crossway and Cambridge University Press The Greek New Testament, Produced at Tyndale House, Cambridge has been created under the oversight of editors Dr. Dirk Jongkind (St Edmund’s College, University of Cambridge) and Dr. Peter Williams (Tyndale House, Cambridge). While a few trusted Greek texts are in print, significant advances have been made in Greek translation studies of the New Testament since a standard text was adopted by academics in 1975. Together with their team, they have taken a rigorously philological approach to reevaluating the standard text – reexamining spelling and paragraph decisions as well as allowing more recent discoveries related to scribal habits to inform editorial decisions. Ideal for students, scholars and pastors alike, and published to coincide with the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, The Greek New Testament, Produced at Tyndale House, Cambridge is a groundbreaking contribution to biblical scholarship. For further details visit https://www.crossway.org/bibles/the-greek-new-testament-produced-at-tyndal-hconly/ Codex Climaci Rescriptus Codex Climaci Rescriptus is an important and complex palimpsest containing much biblical text and many mysteries. Dr Kim Phillips is working alongside the Tyndale House Student Scholars Program to describe and publish this extraordinarily complex and intriguing manuscript. Research carried out on the codex is supported by the Museum of the Bible. For further details visit www.museumofthebible.org The STEP Bible is a free online resource providing translation overlays, which show the underlying biblical Hebrew and Greek, and explain how particular words were used in the ancient world. Tyndale House is currently working with the United Bible Society to create a Swahili version of STEP and our next project will be to create a Spanish version, as we seek to make this a multi-lingual resource. What is the background to this discovery? Codex Firkowich B19a (more commonly known as The Leningrad Codex, or L for short) was completed in around 1008. It is the earliest complete codex of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). - L is the main manuscript behind the Hebrew Bibles used by scholars called the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Biblia Hebraica Quinta (more recent, but not yet complete). See https://www.academic-bible.com/en/home/current-projects/biblia-hebraica-quinta-bhq/. - The textual traditions found in L and other manuscripts from the same period are referred to as The Masoretic Text (i.e. the text of the Hebrew Bible produced by a group of scholars called the Masoretes, between the 7th and 10th centuries). - Thousands of tiny details in L differ from the other high-quality Hebrew Bible codices written in the same period. Scholars have debated these differences: do they reflect an intentionally different Masoretic tradition, or are they simply errors? - The new manuscript, L17, will allow scholars to check whether those differences in the Leningrad Codex are deliberate. This will alter future scholarly Bibles, and will contribute to our understanding of how The Masoretic Text developed. Both manuscripts were written by a scribe called Samuel ben Jacob (Samuel son of Jacob) Phillips has previously published demonstrating single folios found in the Cairo Genizah to be by Samuel ben Jacob, using a set of identifying features, or fingerprints, that collectively point to this particular scribe’s handiwork. See http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/departments/taylor-schechter-genizah-research-unit for details of the Cairo Genizah and its significance. What is its significance? This discovery is significant because it will allow scholars to check the accuracy of tiny details in the manuscript behind most modern Bible translations. Scholars have not previously been able to agree about the accuracy of the scribe behind the earliest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible. • The Leningrad Codex is the main basis for the Old Testament in most Bible translations in the world o Including most English translations o And most scholarly editions of the Hebrew Bible • Scholars will be able to use this newly identified manuscript to check the accuracy of the most widely used manuscript of the Old Testament. Who discovered it? Research by Dr Kim Phillips, Research Associate at Tyndale House, Cambridge, and Research Associate at the Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit, University of Cambridge, aged 35. About Dr Phillips Qualifications: MA, MPhil, PhD from University of Cambridge; PGDip from University of Wales Research Associate at Tyndale House [www.tyndalehouse.com] carrying out research on the Codex Climaci Rescriptus and on early Masoretic Manuscripts, research supported by the Museum of the Bible [https://www.museumofthebible.org] Tyndale House is an independent evangelical charity founded in 1944 to advance biblical research, which is also producing its own edition of the Greek New Testament to be published by Crossway and Cambridge University Press this November. See www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/thgnt_blog Research Associate at the Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit, University of Cambridge [http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/departments/taylor-schechter-genizah-research-unit/unit-staff/dr-kimphillips] Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit, University of Cambridge, is a collection of around 193,000 manuscript fragments making up the world’s greatest repository of information about Judaism for the mediaeval period and much of the early modern period. How was it discovered? Phillips identifies Bible manuscript in St Petersburg, Russia, as by the scribe who also wrote the famous Leningrad Codex, the earliest complete copy of the entire Old Testament in Hebrew. Identification only became possible in 2017 when the National Library of Israel put digital copies of old microfilms of the collection in St Petersburg online. What was discovered? The newly identified manuscript - is also known to scholars as L17. - contains Joshua–2 Kings (i.e. Joshua, Judges, 1–2 Samuel, 1–2 Kings) - was dated by Israel Yeivin to around AD 975, earlier than the Leningrad Codex - was already known to a few scholars, but they were not aware of its link with the Leningrad Codex - was originally around 240 folios (480 sides) long and is now about 180 folios (360 sides) long - is in the Russian National Library and is labelled in two parts: EVR I Bibl. 80 and EVR I B 13 The identification by Phillips is based on 11 distinctive traits of the scribe called Samuel ben Jacob (Samuel son of Jacob) Where can these images be found online? For further information, please contact:

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Nov 16 at 3 at Station Smerdon, Thomas, Harrow, Coal Merchant. Nov 21 at 2 at offices of Coxwell and Corp Hotel, Bracknell. Wheeler and Serjeant, Wokingham Argyll st. Rashleigh, Three Crown sq, Southwark Fairless, Joseph, junr, Side, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Auctioneer, Nov 14 at 3 at offices of Smith, George Smith, Morpeth, Northumberland, Watchmaker. Noy 10 at 11 at offices Stanford, Collingwood st, Newcastle-upon-Tyne of Gillespie and Co, Westgate rd, Newcastle-on-Tyne llows, Thomas, Birmingham, Beer Retailer. Nov 9 at 3 al offices of Parry, Colmore Smith, Samuel, Sedgley, Stafford, Licensed Victualler. Nov 11 at 3 at offices of Stokes row, Birmingham and Hooper, Priory st, Dudley Gee, Thomas, Aston, nr Birmingham, Builder. Nov 12 at 11 at offices of Jaques, Temple Stairmand, George, Darlington, Durham, Poulterer. Nov 10 at 11 at offices of Robin. row, Birmingham son, Chancery-lane, Darlington Gill, William, Littleport, Cambridge, Farmer. Nov 12 at 1.30 at Lamb Hotel, Ely. Suthsell, William, Gosberton, Lincoln, Farmer. Nov 14 at 1 at Great Northern Inn, Wilkin, King's Lynn Surfleet. Deacon and Wilkins, Peterborough Glynn, James, St. Mary's Cemetery, Harrow rd, Master Stonemason. Nov 17 at 2 at Taylor, William Forster, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, out of business, Nov 8 at 3 at offices offices of Armstrong, Chancery lane of Sewell, Grey st, Newcastle-upon Tyne Green, Mark, Leicester, Tobacconist. Nov 18 at 3 at offices of Wright, Belvoir st, Tonge, Charles, Saltburn-by-the-Sea, York, Livery Stable Keeper. Nov 14 at 11 at Leicester offices of Ward, Albert rd, Middlesborough Grieve, Walter, Newbold-upon-Avon, Warwick, Trainer of Race Horses. Nov 12 at 1 at Truman, John, Nottingham, Upholsterer. Nov 14 at 3 at officos of Lees, Severn Crewe Arms Hotel, Crewe. Fowler, Liverpool chmbrs, Middle Pavement, Nottingham Haffner, Leonard, and Frederick Haffner, Lineholt, Ombersley, Worcester, Farmers. Tyletsley, Robert Henry, Farnworth, Lancaster. Nov 14 at 3 at Market pl, Manchester, Nov 14 at 11 at offices of Tree and Son, High st, Worcester Clarke, Bolton Hannaford, William John, Ramsgate, Smack Owner. Nov 12 at 2 at Royal Harbour Inn, Vickers, Tom, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Butcher. Nov 11 at 2 at Shoulder of Mutton Inn, Addington st, Ramsgate. Hills, Ramsgate Market st, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Wilson Harris, Charles, Wingham, Kent, Builder. Nov 18 at 1 at Fleece Hotel, Canierbury. Walmsley, Edmund Bloxam, Porchester sq, no occupation. Nov 21 at 11 at offices of Parry, Ramsgate Roberts, Coleman st Hilyer, William, Cheltenham, Greengrocer. Nov 9 at 12 at 12, Regent st, Cheltenham. Ward, James, Chester, Fruiterer. Nov 16 at 3 at offices of Tibbits and Sons, ola Post Billings Office pl, the Eastgate, Chester Hollingbery, Charles, East st, Victoria Park, Shoe Manufacturer. Nov 19 at 11 at 40, Wasley, Emmanuel, Brierley Hill, Stafford, Publican. Nov 12 at 10.30 at offices of Clulow, Churton st, Pimlico, Dutton High st, Brierley Hill Hope, John Henry, Ancoats, Manchester, Brush Manufacturer. Nov 17 at 11 at offices White, Frederick, Barnard's Green, nr Great Malvern, Builder. Nov 17 at 11 at Star of Jones, Kennedy st, Manchester Hotel, Upton-upon-Severn, Moores and Romney, Tewkesbury Hurst, William, Didsbury, Lancaster, Bricklayer, Nov 14 at 3 at offices of Farrington, Williams, Mary Ann, Malvern Wells, Lodging house keeper. Nov 14 at 3 at offices of Princess st, Manchester Lambert, the Promenade, Gt Malvern Jones, Richard Ranson, Walbrook, Commission Agent. Nov 16 at 3 at offices of Fitch, Williams, Pbilip, Aberaman, Aberdare, Grocer, Nov 14 at 12 at 39, Broad st, Bristol, Bedford row Linton and Kenshole, Aberdare Jordan, William, Commercial rd East, Window Blind Maker. Nov 11 at 3 at offices of Williams, Richard, Wrexham, Denbigh, Farmer. Nov 15 at 3 at offices of Culsbaw, Shearer, Basinghall st. Scott, Aldermanbury Lord st, Liverpool Lansley, John, Basingstoke, Southampton, Smith. Nov 14 at 3 at offices of Chandler ! Wilson, John, Leeds, Grocer. Nov 11 at 2 at offices of Middleton and Sons, Calverley and Son, Basingstoke chbrs, Victoria sg, Leeds Limpus, James Dainty, High st, Putney, Dairyman. Nov 14 at 3 at 3, Portugal st; Wilson, Joseph, Ryther, nr Tadcaster, York, Farmer. Nov 16 at 12 at offices of Wed. Lincoln's inn fields. Morehouse, Portugal st dall and Parker, Abbey yd, Selby Lowe, George, Leycett, Stafford, Grocer. Noy 16 at 11 at offices of Griffith, Lad lane, Wimbles, Richard, Liverpool, Stationer. Nov 16 at 2 at offices of Lynch and Teba:, Newcastle-under-Lyme Lord st, Liverpool Mannheimer, Wolfgang Gustav, Mark lane, Merchant. Nov 17 at 12 at offices of Crump Wiskar, Walter Christian, St James's rd, Bermondsey, Licensed Victualler. Nov 17 at and Son, Philpot lane 3 at offices of Wright, Walbrook Martin, George, Liverpool, Licensed Victualler. Nov 16 at 2 at offlces of Knowles, | Woolley, Joseph, Maxey, Northampton, Farmer. Nov 14 at 12 at Angel Hotel, Peter. Cook st, Liverpool borough. Gaches, Peterborough Matts, George Henry, Leicester, Hay and Corn Dealer. Nov 15 at 3 at offices of Wright, | Wright, Joseph, sen, Ossory rd, Old Kent rd, Licensed Victualler. Nov 18 at 3 at Belvoir st, Leicester offices of Clapham and Fitch, Bishopagate Without McComb, William, Wolstanton, Stafford, Ale and Porter Merchant. Nov 14 at 11 at offices of Alcock, Newcastle Et, Burslem Mellor, Obadiah, Ladmanlow, near Buxton, Derby, Greengrocor. Nov 14 at 11 at White Bear Inn, King Edward st, Macclesfield. Cooper, Congleton CONTENTS. Memmott, Walter George, Sheffield, Electro Plate Manufacturer, Nov 16 at 4 at offices of Binney and Co, Queen st chmbrs, Sheffield CURRENT TOPICS ................... 1 I OBITUARY............................ Moore, Daniel, Walsall, Stafford, Builder. Nov 10 at 3 at offices of Cotterell and Carter, Bridge st, Walsall THE NEWSPAPER LIBEL ACT ........ THE JUDGES ON ASSIZE REFORM .... THE PRACTICAL EFFECT OF THE Con. LAW STUDENTS' JOURNAL............ Noon, Richard, Frankfort terrace, Paddington, Newsagent. Nov 16 at 3 at offices of NEW ORDERS ........................ Welman, Westbourne grove, Bayswater LEGAL APPOINTMENTS ........... Ovors, William, and Henry Webb, Birmingham, Bookbinders. Nov 14 at 3 at offices of COMPANIES ...................... • Haigh, Waterloo st, Birmingham CASES OF THE WEEK CREDITORS' CLAIMS ............... Porter, Hugh, Haddenham, Cambridge, Farmer. Nov 11 at 12 at Bull Hotel, Trump A Solicitor, In re ..... COURT PAPERS .... ington st, Cambridge. Gaches, Peterborough Dowd v. Hawtin .... ... 8 LONDON GAZETTES, &c., &o........... Poskitt, Mark, Kellington, near Fenybridge, York, Farmer. Nov 14 at 3 at Red Lion Hotel, Pontefract. Kaberry, Pontefract in the SOLICITORS' JOURNAL must be authenticated by the name and address of Pybus, Henry, Central Market, West Smithfield, Provision Salesman. Nov 22 at 3 at the Guildhall Tavern, Gresham st. Solomon, Finsbury pavement the writer. Ranford, Joseph, Worcester, Tinplate Worker.' Nov 16 at 11 at offices of Tree and Son, The Editor does not hold himself responsible for the return of rejected communi. High st, Worcester cations. Robinson, Charles, Park Mews, Kilburn, Cab Proprietor, Nov 10 at 11 at 10, Bell yard, Fleet st. Hope ** The Publisher requests that early application should be made by persons Roe, William, Chatham, Hoopmaker. Nov 14 at 3 at the King's Head Hotel, High st, desirous of obtaining back numbers of the SOLICITORS' JourNAL, as only a small Rochester. Shakespear, Newgate st number of copies remain on hand. It is announced that the share certificates of the Royal Courts of Justice Avenue, General Merchants. Nov 24 at 3 at Cannon st Hotel, Cannon st. Goldberg and Co, West st, Finsbury circus Chambers Company (Limited) are now ready for delivery. EDE AND SON, Law Copying and Engrossing. . PARTRIDGE & COOPER, Anti-Dyspeptic Cocoa or Chocolate Powder. Guaranteed Pure Soluble Cocoa of the Finest Quality, LAW AND GENERAL STATIONERS, with the excess of fat extracted. L 1 & 2, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON, E.C. The Faculty pronounce it “the most nutritious, perfectly digestible beverage for Breakfast, Luncheon, or Supper, and invaluable for Invalids and Children." BY SPECIAL APPOINTMENT, Highly commended by the entire Medical Press. To Her Majesty, the Lord Chancellor, the Whole of the Being without sugar, spice, or other admixture, it snits Judicial Bench, Corporation of London, &c. all palates, keeps better in all climates, and is four times Deeds and Writings engrossed and copied on the Premises, SOLICITORS' AND REGISTRARS' GOWNS the strength of cocoas THICKENED yet WEAKENED with with 'punctuality and dispatch, at the lowest scale of starch, &c., and IN REALITY CHEAPER than such Mixtures. BARRISTERS' AND QUEEN'S COUNSEL'S DITTO, charges. A good Discount allowed on agreed accounts. Made instantaneously with boiling water, a teaspoonful to a Breakfast Cup, costing less than a half penny. CORPORATION ROBES, UNIVERSITY & CLERGY GOWNS, LAW PRINTING. COCOATINA A LA VANILLE is the most delicate, digestible, cheapest Manilla Chocolate, and may be taken when STATEMENTS OF CLAIM AND DEFENCE, AFFI. DAVITS, and other PLEADING, Printed at ls. per folio. richer chocolate is prohibited. In tin packets at Is. 6d., 38., 5s. 6d., &c., by Chemists 94, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. DEEDS, CONVEYANCES, MORTGAGES, &c., Printed and Grocers. in form for Registration. Charities on Special Terms by the Sole Proprietors, Discount allowed for cash on agreed accounts. H. SCHWEITZER & CO, 10, Adam-street, London, W.C I THE BODEGA COMPANY (Limited).LAMPTON & SONS make NO CHARGE 1 Notice is hereby Given, that an INTERIM DIVI. BRIEFS, PETITIONS. DRATTO for inserting particulars in their FREE MONTHLY | DEND of 5 per cent. (equal to 10 per cent. per annum) will | ABSTRACTS, be PAYABLE herein on the 15th November instant. MINUTES OF EVIDENCE, Lithographed REGISTER of ESTATES, TOWN and COUNTRY at reduced prices. HOUSES, Furnished or Unfurnished, or for Sale, to be Notice is hereby also Given, that the Transfer Books of had GRATIS at their Offices, or post-free for two stamps, the Company will be Closed from the 8th to the 14th instant PLANS OF ESTATES, SPECIFICATIONS, BUILD. Published on the 1st of the month, and particulars for inclusive. ING SOCIETIES' DEEDS, LEASES, &c., Lithographed insertion should be sent not later than five days previous with accuracy and dispatch. to end of preceding month. By order of the Board, THOMAS OGDEN, Secretary. Valuations for Probate and Transfer. Surveys. Registered Offices, 88, Bishopsgate-street Within, E.C., PARCHMENT AND LEGAL PAPERS Estate and Auction Offices, 8, Pall Mall East, s.w. Nov. 1, 1981, Samples and Catalogues sent post-free. The Solicitors' Journal. LONDON, NOVEMBER 12, 1881. JAMES HANNEN thereupon remarked that he “had often had CURRENT TOPICS. occasion to observe on the unsatisfactory character of proof by photographs, and never acted on it alone.” In a case recently decided by Vice-Chancellor Bacon, that learned judge THE COURT OF APPEAL at Westminster commenced its sittings made some observations on the extreme caution necessary in receivon Thursday. ing as evidence even photographs of buildings, which, one would sup pose, do not vary greatly in expression. Although, he said, no WE BELIEVE that the orders made in the Chancery Division blame attached to any party, or to the witness who produced a during the last Long Vacation exceeded by about 200 those made photograph of certain buildings to which the case related, yet during any previous vacation. that photograph, if unaccompanied by other evidence, would, in the opinion of the learned judge, have seriously misled the court. There was no fraud in that case, but the reason for the warnTHE MEETING of the members of the Incorporated Law ing becomes more obvious when we remember that there are modes Society, to consider the report of the Legal Procedure Committee, of manipulating the process of printing so as, by means of the is fixed for the 18th inst., at two o'clock. combination of two or more negatives, to produce a totally different effect from that presented by the object taken. Practitioners should be careful not to place too much reliance on this kind of WE PRINT ELSEWHERE a list of seventy-five causes which are evidence. to be transferred from the list of Mr. Justice CHITTY to that of Vice-Chancellor Bacon. Twelve of these causes have already! IN THE COURSE of his summing-up in the LEFROY trial, Lord been transferred to Mr. Justice KAY for the purposes of trial or | COLERIDGE pointedly expressed his disapproval of the practice, hearing only, and when heard they will remain in the cause-book sanctioned by the late Lord Chief Justice, of counsel for the of Vice-Chancellor Bacon for all other purposes. defence repeating in his speech statements made by the prisoner. The history of the practice is a little singular. More than forty years ago, in the trial of a man called BUTCHER (the case is MR. WOLSTEN HOLME having retired from the field, we have reported: . V., Butcher,, 21 reported : R. v. Butcher, 2 Moo. & Rob. 228) the late Lord now the pleasure of welcoming into our columns Mr. F. S. | Chief Justice, then at the bar, in his address to the jury, REILLY, his coadiutor in the drafting of the Conveyancing Act. was stating the prisoner's account of what had taken place, who this week takes up the cudgels in defence of the measure. sure when he was interrupted by Mr. Justice COLERIDGE, who We again leave our readers to judge whether our criticisms refused to allow the prisoner's counsel to state to the have been successfully impugned. Mr. REILLY's reputation is jury facts which he had heard from the prisoner, but sufficiently high to make us suspect that if he had remained ect that if he had remained which he was not in a position to prove. Two years ago, in a silent the public would have thought him capable of making a him capable of making a trial before the late Lord Chief Justice, counsel for the prisoner better defence. We may add that we notice with pleasure the with pleasure the happened to use the time-honoured phrase that his “unfortunate more courteous tone which now marks the communications of the client's mouth was closed," when the learned judge at once framers of the Act. remarked that “he could not acquiesce in that, for counsel represented the accused, and whatever the prisoner would be entitled to say, that his counsel was entitled to say on his behalf.” With great deference to the opinion of Lord COLERIDGE, we venTHERE ARE SYMPTOMS that the report of the Procedure Com- iure to think that the weight of authority is against his view. mittee will not be adopted in its entirety by the Rule Committee There is the decision of Mr. Justice CROWDER (R. v. Haines, 1 Of Juages; ,In a case of Earl, De La Warr v. Miles, of which a F. & F. 86), “ that what a prisoner said before the magistrate report will be found in another column, a question was raised he might repeat through his counsel at the trial”; the observabefore the Court of Appeal on Wednesday, as to the allowance on tion of Mr. Justice Byles in another case, that the prisoner has taxation of the costs of copies of a shorthand writer's notes of the option of either speaking himself or of having his counsel evidence. In the course of the argument reference was made by to speak for him”; and last, but not least, the decision of Mr. tained in the recent report of Justice HAWKINS, with the concurrence of Lord Justice Lush, in the Procedure Committee of the appointment of an official short-la case at the Leeds Spring Assizes (February 3, 1880; 24 hand writer in each court, which he characterized as a “suggested SOLICITORS' JOURNAL, 266), that, “as a general principle, a improvement.” The Master of the Rolls thereupon expressed a prisoner may make his statement, and give his version of the doubt whether this alteration would be any improvement. Our | transaction in respect of which he stands charged. · · · readers may remember that, in commenting upon this suggestion The statement might be made by his counsel, but I think it may also (25 SOLICITORS' JOURNAL, 894), we said that," although it is more be made by the prisoner.” than probable that a very considerable revenue might be derived from the employment of official shorthand writers remunerated in the manner here sketched out, it appears that the result of such employment will be to impose an additional burden on litigants.” SEVERAL YEARS AGO, in discussing the case of Miles v. Furber We are glad to find that our view seems to be, to some extent, |(21 W. R. 262, L. R. 8 Q. B. 77), we drew attention to the two indorsed by the high authority of the Master of the Rolls. conflicting principles which had from time to time prevailed during the long series of decisions on the question of exemption from distress for rent for the benefit of trade : the principle of restriction, represented by Parsons v. Gingell (4 C. B. 545), SOME TIME AGO in the Divorce Court a lodging-house keeper which says that only goods placed in the hands of the tenant was called to prove the identity of a co-respondent, by means of with the intent to have “human labour or skill bestowed upon a photograph, and after carefully examining the picture, she them” are to be privileged from distress by the trader's landdeclared her opinion in the following peculiar language :- lord; and the principle of relaxation, represented by Swire v. “I have no doubt it is him, and it isn't like him." Sir Leach (13 W. R. 385, 18 C. B. N. S. 479), which says that all goods sent to a trader “to be taken care of and dealt with and the separation deed, an application was made by motion, with by him in the way of his trade” are to be privileged from such the consent of the husband, that the capital of a part of the trust distress. It will be remembered that in Miles v. Furber the funds should be applied in payment of certain debts incurred by court, having to decide between these two principles, and admitting the wife. There had been no issue of the marriage, and it was that the previous cases were irreconcileable, deliberately chose to considered to be clear that the wife was past child-bearing. The follow the latter principle. In a case of Gould v. Usher, decided | Vice-Chancellor acceded to this application, upon the ground that by the Queen's Bench Division this week, the question has once the next of kin were mere volunteers, and that, the interests of more been discussed. A county court judge had decided that children of the marriage being out of the question, the wife was certain cows standing in the stables of an innkeeper, waiting to be entitled to have (with the husband's consent) the capital applied sold, were privileged from distress levied for rent due from the for her benefit during the husband's lifetime. The action is now innkeeper's landlord to his superior landlord. The court held that in the court of Mr. Justice FRY, and a petition was recently the cows were not privileged from distress. We have not before presented by the husband and wife for the payment to them of the us the full facts of the case, or the grounds on which the deci whole remaining capital in certain agreed shares. Nobody thought sion of the court rested, but it seems probable that the court may it possible to deny that the principle which had been held by the have relied on the distinction suggested by MELLOR, J., in Vice-Chancellor to be applicable to the previous motion was equally Miles v. Furber between the facts of that case and those of well applicable to the present petition. But Mr. Justice FRY, Parsons v. Gingell. In the latter case the owner of the horse after taking time to consider, declined on Monday last to follow merely used the innkeeper's stable instead of his own, retaining that precedent, and refused to make any order on the petition, to himself the entire control of the animal. If our supposition is except that the trustees (who had appeared and opposed) should correct, there has now been introduced yet another distinction into have their costs. The learned judge expressed a hope that the this complicated branch of law. Court of Appeal would have an opportunity of composing this strife of judicial opinion; but the counsel for the petitioners emphatically disclaimed any intention of appealing. Mr. Justice CONJECTURES ARE CURRENT as to the possibility of the Great Fry's decision may be said to have destroyed whatever authority Seal being placed in commission, and it may be worth while to that of Vice-Chancellor MALINS ever had. consider what the effect of such a proceeding would be. The 98th section of the Judicature Act, 1873, provides that “when the Great Seal is in commission, the Lords Commissioners shall WE RECENTLY CRITICIZED the provisions of the curious Bill which represent the Lord Chancellor for the purposes of this Act, save the Farmers' Alliance intend next session to present for the conthat as to the presidency of the Court of Appeal, and the appoint- sideration of Parliament; we may now add a few words as to the ment or approval of officers, or the sanction to any order for the principle on which it is based. Between the principle of comremoval of officers, or any other act to which the concurrence or pensation by the landlord according to a yaluation, with the impresence of the Lord Chancellor is hereby made necessary, the portant addition that he shall not be able to get rid of his liability powers given to the Lord Chancellor by this Act may be exercised to make it, and the proposal of the Farmers' Alliance that the by the senior Lord Commissioner for the time being." It would outgoing tenant shall have the right to take his improvements into seem that the exceptions of this section do not apply to the 31st the market, and sell them at the best price they will fetch, section, whereby the Lord Chancellor is a member of, and president subject to a right of pre-emption at that price in the landlord, of, the Chancery Division of the High Court; and in this capacity we will not pretend to decide; but we will compare them he would apparently be represented by all the Lords Commissioners. both with the ‘maxim, which we suppose every one will admit, The Great Seal has been twice placed in commission during the pre- that the basis of all reforms in the land laws in this country sent century, first in 1835, when the commissioners were Sir C. is to be found in the principle of free contract, limited PEPYS, M.R., SHADWELL, V.C., and BOSANQUET, J., and secondly in only in those directions in which its exercise results in 1850, when they were Lord LANGDALE, M.R., SHADWELL, V.C., LANGDALE, M.R., SHADWELL, V.C., public injury. Now, in the proposal for allowing the tenant to and ROLFE, B. The commissioners do not preside in the House sell his improvements for what they will fetch, there is an interof Lords; when the Great Seal is in commission it is the practice ference with the right of contract in three distinct directions. to appoint a Deputy-Speaker by a separate commission, or three | The purchaser must be allowed to enter and occupy in order to Deputy-Speakers, each to act in order of a prescribed seniority, benefit by his purchase ; thus the landlord is deprived of the right the Lords having power to elect their own Speaker in the absence of free choice as to the tenant to whom he will let. The new so named. The administrative powers tenant must be secured against having the rent raised upon him of the Lord Chancellor-such as the appointment of justices of | in consequence of the improvements; so comes the necessity for the peace, the presentation to Chancellor's livings, &c.—would the assistance of a court in fixing the rent at which the purseem to be exerciseable by all the commissioners together. In chaser is to hold. The fixing of a rent is impossible independently the event of a person professing the Jewish religion being placed of the conditions of the holding, and the period for which it is to on the commission, his rights as to presentation to an ecclesiastical continue; consequently, it is proposed to be enacted that the benefice would probably, by 21 & 22 Vict. c. 49, s. 4, devolve conditions on which the new tenant is to be admitted shall not be upon the Archbishop of Canterbury; but that statute does not more “onerous” than those on which the farm was held by his in terms provide for the case. predecessor, and that the holding shall be for a term of not less than seven years. Free sale, fair rent, and fixity of tenure are thus all to be introduced, within certain limits, into English OUR READERS may remember the great surprise of the profes- landholding for the purpose of securing to the tenant a payment sion at the decision of Vice-Chancellor MALINS in Paul v. Paul which the landlord is already competent, or may easily be (29 W. R. 281, L. R. 15 Ch. D. 580). The facts of that rendered competent, to make without any such machinery at all. case were these :—By the marriage settlement of Mr. and Mrs. On the other hand, the principle of compulsory compensation by PAUL, executed in 1845, certain property belonging to the lady valuation at the determination of the tenancy is the smallest only was settled upon the husband for life, then upon the wife possible interference with the right of contract. It is for the for life, then to go among the children of the marriage, but good of the public that the soil shall be developed by the applicaif no children the capital to go absolutely to the wife on her tion to it of all the energies and resources of the person cultivating surviving her husband, but if she predeceased him she had a it; therefore it is the simplest sense and reason that no contract general testamentary power of appointment, and in default of shall be permitted which, by depriving the tenant of a right to appointment the capital to go to the wife's next of kin. The compensation for increasing the letting value of the holding, husband and wife were afterwards separated by mutual consent, | prevents him from expending his capital upon it. To say that and the separation deed provided that during the husband's life compensation by valuation necessitates the introduction of prohalf of the income should be paid to the wife for her separate use. fessional valuers whose opinions are mistrusted by both parties is An action having been brought by Mrs. PAUL against her hus- no argument in favour of the alternative scheme. For the latter band and the trustees to administer the trusts of the settlement leaves to the decision of a court questions which would but too good ? frequently involve the evidence of a dozen valuers instead of a and see if the facts relied on by the plaintiffs bring this case within single reference to two. The application of the tenant's capital to what has been so said.” He then proceeds very forcibly to comthe soil would no doubt by either method be encouraged, and the bat the proposition that, when goods which have to be made are interference with ordinary commercial principles to that extent ordered of a man who makes them, the goods are necessarily to be justified. But the development of the land by expenditure on of his own make. It is admitted by the Lord Justice, and indeed the part of the landlord would, by the free-sale scheme, be finally it would be impossible to deny, that if upon the facts it is shown prevented, for the sense of personal dominion and of the interest that the make of a particular person or firm has a special value or attached to such dominion could scarcely survive the extinction of reputation, the implication would be that the articles ordered were his power to choose his own tenant and to fix with him the terms to be of that make, As, for instance, if an order were given to a of the holding. Is such an interference with the right of con- painter for a portrait, or to Erard or Collard for a pianoforte; but the tract justified by political necessity, or is it not rather, by shutting question now under discussion is whether there is any proposition up the principal source from which has flowed the means neces- of law to the same effect when it is not shown that there is any sary for agricultural improvements, directly opposed to the public special repute or distinction about the make, but the articles are articles of which one maker's make is as good as another's. We sympathize strongly with the spirit of Lord Justice Bram well's remarks, but we cannot say the particular question seems so IMPLICATION OF CONTRACT THAT easy to us as it does to his broad and robust vision. Questions of this GOODS SOLD SHALL BE OF THE VEN sort may, by the rigid application of clear, strict general principles which, no doubt, in the main are sound and wholesome principlesDOR'S OWN MANUFACTURE. be rendered easy of solution ; but there is constantly in law a conTHE recent case of Johnson v. Raylton (L. R. 7 Q. B. D. flict between what one may call general expediency and the ex438) raised a point of great practical and also theoretical pediency of the particular class of cases ; and the clear, broad rule, interest with regard to the construction of contracts for the notwithstanding the general advantages of breadth and clearness. sale or supply of manufactured articles. Strangely enough, may in its application to particular classes of cases or relations of there was no distinct English authority on the point. There are life be so manifestly contrary to justice or the more limited two Scotch decisions of the Court of Session, but unfortunately expediency of the particular class of cases, that some special there was in those cases a difference of opinion among the limitation or modification of its operation is absolutely necessary. judges, and so again unfortunately there was a difference of In relation to contracts it is obvious that life is not really long opinion in the Court of Appeal in the case we are consider- enough, and the tide of business is too rapid, to admit of the ing. The point arose as follows. The plaintiffs, who were terms of a contract being always set forth with the accuracy of a manufacturers of, but not otherwise dealers in, iron, by a proposition of Euclid, and courts must constantly be obliged, to written contract, on the margin of which was their trade-mark, some extent, to read between the lines in order to do justice. It contracted to sell to the defendants 2,000 tons of ship-plates of the is, no doubt, a good general rule to be chary of implications, but in quality known as “ Crown,'' to pass Lloyd's survey, to be delivered particular cases it is sometimes necessary to make them. It is a monthly at the defendant's ship-yard. There was no express question of the balance of conflicting expediencies, and in many stipulation that the plates should be of the plaintiffs' manufacture. cases it will be difficult to say where the line is to be drawn. The question simply was whether, under such a contract, the Notwithstanding our general sympathy with Lord Justice Bramplaintiffs could compel the defendants to take plates in accordance well's view, we incline to think that the majority of the court were, with the contract in other respects, but not of their own manufac- in this particular case, right. We think if you asked a number of ture-in other words, whether it was an implied term of the con-business men what they would expect if they ordered articles of a tract that the plates should be of the plaintiffs' own manufacture. I person who carried on business, and held himself out only, as a Lord Justice Bramwell, who held that there was no such implied manufacturer of those particular articles, and not as a dealer in such term, in opposition to the opinion of Brett and Cotton, L.JJ., articles manufactured by others as well as a manufacturer, they delivered a very characteristic judgment. The tendency of his would answer that they should expect that the articles would be mind appears to be against implications by which the law makes of his own manufacture, though it was not so stipulated. We for persons contracts which they have not in terms made for them- think, therefore, that the true proposition is as laid down by selves, or imports into contracts terms which they have not Brett, L.J. The difficulty that really would arise in many cases expressed for themselves, and perhaps never dreamed of until a is that of ascertaining in what capacity the vendor holds himself change of prices or some other matter subsequent suggested such out. There are many cases, especially of businesses of a mixed terms to one or other of them. There is no doubt much danger in wholesale and retail character, in which it would be difficult to say such implications. They introduce an element of uncertainty whether vendors professed to supply goods of their own manufacture which tends to render law doubtful and unscientific, and to make or not. But if goods are ordered of a firm of manufacturers who the law in each particular case matter of fluctuating opinion. The are known in the trade not to be dealers except in goods manuordinary case of mercantile usage, introduced by implication into factured by themselves and surely there must be numberless a contract, is a strong illustration of this tendency. You have instances of such firms—it seems to us that the natural meaning witnesses supposed to be experts deposing contradictorily as to the of a contract for the supply of goods by such firms is clearly that existence or otherwise of a usage of which the certainty and the goods are to be manufactured by them. The fact that it notoriety is in theory the ground for its implication into the con- cannot be shown affirmatively that there is anything peculiar or tract. If you look to what people actually say you are on sound of special value about the make, is not, to our mind, conclusive. ground; but if you go into the question what they must have meant, A man may have an irrational, but at the same time real, conalthough they did not say it, you are on treacherous soil at once. fidence in or preference for the make of a particular manufacturer. It is, no doubt, true in general that people should say expressly It would be a very difficult thing to draw the line in estimating what they mean in contracting, and that the court ought not to how far the repute of a manufacturing firm could be considered act as a sort of mercantile court of equity to reform business con- to give a special value or repute to the goods. There seems to us tracts, and to make them say what the parties entering into them little doubt that the fact that goods were manufactured by a good ought, as business men, to have said, and would, perhaps, have firm would afford some ground of preference for them, and a man said if they had anticipated the contingency that has arisen, but who goes to a manufacturer seems entitled to say that he enterwhich they have not, in fact, said. tained that preference. It seems to us that the admissions, which Lord Justice Bramwell expresses an opinion that there ought to cannot be avoided by the advocates of the other view, with regard be very little difficulty about the point in question in the case we to certain cases, as of orders of paintings from painters or other are discussing. He says, “ If there is an uncertainty in this case, cases where an element of personal skill or repute comes in, if it is an uncertainty of the law. This ought not to be. There followed out, press them much harder than they suppose. Why, ought to be, and I think is, a rule by which to decide this case. if I order a portrait of A., can he not make me take one by B. ? That rule, I think, is, that we must look at what the parties have Assume that B. was the more eminent painter of the two, and his said : add nothing to and take nothing from it without necessity, portraits generally fetched more in the market, and that to oblige

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