A BOCA XMAS
'Twas the night before Xmas
And down here in Boca,
I was sitting at Starbucks,
Drinking my mocha.
I know we're all Jewish,
But was wondering still,
If Santa would come here
And give us a thrill.
On my way home,
No Xmas lights did I see,
On the houses, the windows,
Not even the trees.
What a strange feeling.
Not a decoration in sight.
Was it really December
Or a warm summer's night?
I drove past the delis,
There were lines out the door.
People were waiting
For Kishka and more.
The restaurants were busy,
Christmas dinners not planned.
Never, not here
We're in Boca Land.
At home all was quiet.
I left out Kosher wine,
In case Santa came to Boca
For the very first time.
Snoozing came easy
To me Xmas Eve.
I wasn't waiting for presents
To be left under a tree.
I could hope all I want.
I could fuss and then see,
If Santa would make time
For little old me.
Then all of a sudden
He pulled up in his Jag,
With a sack full of presents
Each sporting a tag.
Oh Bloomies, oh Saks
A computer and more.
He knows where to shop,
He frequents my stores!
He looked for the lox,
The bagels and jelly.
He came to Boca first
To fill up his belly!
"I have a long night ahead,
I want you to know.
>From Boca I leave
For New York and the snow."
He stayed for a while,
He chatted and ate.
Then he left in a flash
Before it got late.
What a great night
I thought with a sigh.
That jolly old Santa
Is a really nice guy.
As I cleared off the table
I heard with delight
"Shalom to you all,
And OY, what a night!!
Friday, December 21, 2007
Sabbah's Christmas Message to the Jews: No Jewish State
Catholic Friends of Israel
We are faithful Catholics who support the only democracy in the Middle East, Israel. We wish to draw more attention to the plight of long-suffering Catholics and other Christians in the Muslim world. We believe there are millions of Catholics who represent an untapped resource for support of the Jewish State and its right to defend itself from terrorism. We want to be a source of information for Catholics on the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Sabbah's Christmas Message to the Jews: No Jewish State
I've wasted too many words on the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, the odious Michel Sabbah, the highest-ranking Roman Catholic in the Holy Land. He's a pro-Palestinian leftist who uses his position to blame Israel for every bomb, every death, every riot that occurs in Israel. He parades around as a peace activist and a man of God while Jews and Christians are murdered by Islamic thugs; often the same thugs who used to work for his old friend Yassar Arafat.
Has he gone to far this time?
In his pre-Christmas message Sabbah rejected the idea of a Jewish state, effectively alligning himself with anti-Semites everywhere.
"If there's a state of one religion, other religions are naturally discriminated against," Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah told reporters at the annual press conference he holds in Jerusalem before the Christian holiday.
What an idiot. Muslim countries are specifically Muslim, discriminating (often violently) against non-Muslims. Is Sabbah going to denounce these countries for being a "state of one religion?" Don't count on it.
And what about Sabbah's Palestinian friends? The forth-coming Palestinian state, built with rocket launchers and torture chambers on the homes of forcibly-evacuated Jewish families, will be, by all acounts, exclusively Muslim.
In Israel, on the other hand, Arab women get PhD's from Hebrew University. In Israel, Muslims are elected to the Knesset, Israel's parlament. As I write this, Sabbah's peaceful friends in Hamas are broadcasting from the Temple Mount, which is still off-limits to Jews who wish to mourn the destruction of the First Temple.
Suppose those Jews who were forced off their land in Israel tried to immigrate to Vatican City. How fast do you suppose their papers would be processed? Isn't Vatican City a country which has only one religion?
Catholic history is filled with countries that were officially Catholic. And few of them had a human rights record as good as Israel has.
Sabbah followed up this vile performance with his Christmas message: "If Israel decides for peace, we will have peace."
Really? Hamas will lay down its arms? The PLO will give up its stated desire to liberate "occupied Tel Aviv?" All the violence that began before the 1967 war of Arab aggression (and the disputed territories) will magically morph into peace?
I wonder: in Sabbah's sick and twisted world, do child murderers, anti-Semites, and Jihadist lunatics ever have any responsibility for the carnage they leave in their wake? I guess not.
And what a fine Christmas message for the head Roman Catholic in the Holy Land to give to the Jews: you and your holocaust-surviving relatives cannot have your own state. Furthermore, all the bloodshed that has come about as a result of others trying to drive you into the sea is really your fault.
The Latin Patriach forgot to add "and a curse be upon them and their people."
I wondered if anyone would have the moral courage to denounce this grotesque and bigoted display of Jew hatred. I don't mean Catholic leaders; they won't open their pious mouths. At least not until the faithful start dropping notes in the collection plate that read "My tithe went to the Friends of the IDF." Then you'll see them scurry like rats to distance themselves from Sabbah, just enough to get the money flowing again.
But perhaps someone else, somewhere might speak out. Someone did. The Simon Wiesenthal Center called upon the Vatican to reject Sabbah's "insidious campaign to de-Judaize Israel."
“Israel does not need lessons from Patriarch Sabbah on how to treat citizens of other faiths and religions,” said [Rabbi Marvin ]Hier. “He would better serve the Christians in the Holy Land by going to Gaza and defending the beleaguered Christian minority there from Hamas extremists.”
This is singular moment in the history of the post-Vatican II Catholic Church. We now get to find out if Vatican II's document on relations with the Jewish people was real, or simply window-dressing. Pope Benedict XVI cannot let Sabbah's hateful words go unchallenged. Sabbah must be repudiated. He should be defrocked.
God bless the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
And may Latin-rite Catholic Patriarch Michel Sabbah of Jerusalem rot in hell.
That's my Christmas message.
Posted by D.B. Kenner at 7:34 AM
We are faithful Catholics who support the only democracy in the Middle East, Israel. We wish to draw more attention to the plight of long-suffering Catholics and other Christians in the Muslim world. We believe there are millions of Catholics who represent an untapped resource for support of the Jewish State and its right to defend itself from terrorism. We want to be a source of information for Catholics on the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Sabbah's Christmas Message to the Jews: No Jewish State
I've wasted too many words on the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, the odious Michel Sabbah, the highest-ranking Roman Catholic in the Holy Land. He's a pro-Palestinian leftist who uses his position to blame Israel for every bomb, every death, every riot that occurs in Israel. He parades around as a peace activist and a man of God while Jews and Christians are murdered by Islamic thugs; often the same thugs who used to work for his old friend Yassar Arafat.
Has he gone to far this time?
In his pre-Christmas message Sabbah rejected the idea of a Jewish state, effectively alligning himself with anti-Semites everywhere.
"If there's a state of one religion, other religions are naturally discriminated against," Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah told reporters at the annual press conference he holds in Jerusalem before the Christian holiday.
What an idiot. Muslim countries are specifically Muslim, discriminating (often violently) against non-Muslims. Is Sabbah going to denounce these countries for being a "state of one religion?" Don't count on it.
And what about Sabbah's Palestinian friends? The forth-coming Palestinian state, built with rocket launchers and torture chambers on the homes of forcibly-evacuated Jewish families, will be, by all acounts, exclusively Muslim.
In Israel, on the other hand, Arab women get PhD's from Hebrew University. In Israel, Muslims are elected to the Knesset, Israel's parlament. As I write this, Sabbah's peaceful friends in Hamas are broadcasting from the Temple Mount, which is still off-limits to Jews who wish to mourn the destruction of the First Temple.
Suppose those Jews who were forced off their land in Israel tried to immigrate to Vatican City. How fast do you suppose their papers would be processed? Isn't Vatican City a country which has only one religion?
Catholic history is filled with countries that were officially Catholic. And few of them had a human rights record as good as Israel has.
Sabbah followed up this vile performance with his Christmas message: "If Israel decides for peace, we will have peace."
Really? Hamas will lay down its arms? The PLO will give up its stated desire to liberate "occupied Tel Aviv?" All the violence that began before the 1967 war of Arab aggression (and the disputed territories) will magically morph into peace?
I wonder: in Sabbah's sick and twisted world, do child murderers, anti-Semites, and Jihadist lunatics ever have any responsibility for the carnage they leave in their wake? I guess not.
And what a fine Christmas message for the head Roman Catholic in the Holy Land to give to the Jews: you and your holocaust-surviving relatives cannot have your own state. Furthermore, all the bloodshed that has come about as a result of others trying to drive you into the sea is really your fault.
The Latin Patriach forgot to add "and a curse be upon them and their people."
I wondered if anyone would have the moral courage to denounce this grotesque and bigoted display of Jew hatred. I don't mean Catholic leaders; they won't open their pious mouths. At least not until the faithful start dropping notes in the collection plate that read "My tithe went to the Friends of the IDF." Then you'll see them scurry like rats to distance themselves from Sabbah, just enough to get the money flowing again.
But perhaps someone else, somewhere might speak out. Someone did. The Simon Wiesenthal Center called upon the Vatican to reject Sabbah's "insidious campaign to de-Judaize Israel."
“Israel does not need lessons from Patriarch Sabbah on how to treat citizens of other faiths and religions,” said [Rabbi Marvin ]Hier. “He would better serve the Christians in the Holy Land by going to Gaza and defending the beleaguered Christian minority there from Hamas extremists.”
This is singular moment in the history of the post-Vatican II Catholic Church. We now get to find out if Vatican II's document on relations with the Jewish people was real, or simply window-dressing. Pope Benedict XVI cannot let Sabbah's hateful words go unchallenged. Sabbah must be repudiated. He should be defrocked.
God bless the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
And may Latin-rite Catholic Patriarch Michel Sabbah of Jerusalem rot in hell.
That's my Christmas message.
Posted by D.B. Kenner at 7:34 AM
The spotlight on Cuban Jews
Local photographer puts the spotlight on Cuban Jews
By Lois Goldrich | Published Today | Community |
Lois Goldrich
View all articles by Lois Goldrich
Nancy Katz always knew she wanted to go to Cuba — but she didn’t know why.
"And when I learned of the existence of a Jewish community there, I was determined to go," said Katz, whose photographic exhibit "Faces of Cuba" is on display at the Englewood Public Library until Dec. 31.
"It may have had something to do with a Sephardic connection" on her father’s side, Katz told The Jewish Standard, noting that one branch of her grandfather’s family had moved to Buenos Aires and that she had recently reconnected with a cousin from Argentina. Whatever the reason, Katz, who lives in Teaneck and owns a photography studio there, has now gone twice to Cuba, and the 36 images on display in Englewood provide a close, personal look at the Jews she met there, together with their homes and synagogues.
At right, a Jewish artist and active member of the Hatikvah synagogue in Santiago de Cuba teaches another member how to put on tefillin.
While in Cuba, "I went to three bar mitzvahs, celebrated Chanukah, and basically fell in love with the people and their commitment to a Jewish way of life," Katz wrote about her 2004 trip with the Cuban American Jewish Mission. Photos from that trip, and from a subsequent visit in 2006, are displayed in the library and appear on its Website, www.englewoodlibrary.org.
Also included in the exhibit are objects that help to explain what is depicted in the photos. For example, Katz has included tefillin in the display case featuring photos of Ruben Dorado Sotolongo, whose bar mitzvah she attended in Santiago de Cuba.
Katz noted that on a typical Shabbat in Santiago, a community of some 90 Jews, there might be 30 to 35 people at synagogue. "I saw one man arrive on donkey after three days of traveling over the mountains to get there," she said.
While she has written several accounts of her trips — she returned to Cuba in 2006 to visit with children and adults with disabilities — Katz said that there’s "something special about capturing things in photographs." Both ways of recording allow you to show passion for people, she said, "but in photographs, the passion of the people themselves comes across — you’re not setting it up. They’re allowing you to see who they are."
The first time, she said, she did not go "as a photographer." Indeed, before her 16-day trip she conducted a small fund-raising campaign "among my friends, family, and my local community," collecting much-needed items (prescription eyeglasses, children’s clothes, over-the-counter medicines, and toothbrushes) for her Cuban hosts.
The second time, "while I thought of myself more as a photographer, my visit was mostly as a humanitarian," she said.
Noting that the communities she visited "greatly appreciate support from Jews in the United States," Katz said she was impressed by "their ability to relish life and be joyful when they lack so much in terms of material goods and the freedoms we take for granted in our country."
She also pointed out that most visitors to Cuba go to Havana, home of more than 1,000 Jews, "not to outlying areas where there are home synagogues." Noting that Jewish communities in these areas need books, tallesim, and other Jewish ritual objects, she said that while they don’t have full-time rabbis, the communities are visited occasionally by clergy from other countries.
Katz said she was most "impressed, touched, and inspired" by the Santiago Jewish community’s "commitment to a Jewish way of life…. When one man learns to lay tefillin, he teaches the next one. Santiago is creating its own traditions as it carries on the ancient ones," she said.
She pointed out that between 1959 and the early 1990s, Fidel Castro did not permit Jews — or any religious group — to publicly practice their religion.
"It was difficult," she said. "They couln’t pass on their traditions through Hebrew schools, or synagogues. There were no bar mitzvahs."
Now, however, after only a decade, said Katz, the Jewish people she visited — in Havana, Santiago, Santa Clara, and Caibarien — are trying to grow their communities, with new births and conversions helping to counteract the loss of members who move to the United States, Israel, or other countries.
The photographer, who said she read voraciously about Cuba before her two visits, said that most Jews living there today have Sephardic backgrounds. The Eastern European and German Jews who came to what she called "Hotel Cuba" in the 1930s to escape persecution — with some staying for more than 40 years — have left, as have those "other American Jews who just happened to be living there, mostly for business reasons," she said.
"It’s a hard life for everyone there," she said, "but trying to maintain Jewish life is particularly hard."
By Lois Goldrich | Published Today | Community |
Lois Goldrich
View all articles by Lois Goldrich
Nancy Katz always knew she wanted to go to Cuba — but she didn’t know why.
"And when I learned of the existence of a Jewish community there, I was determined to go," said Katz, whose photographic exhibit "Faces of Cuba" is on display at the Englewood Public Library until Dec. 31.
"It may have had something to do with a Sephardic connection" on her father’s side, Katz told The Jewish Standard, noting that one branch of her grandfather’s family had moved to Buenos Aires and that she had recently reconnected with a cousin from Argentina. Whatever the reason, Katz, who lives in Teaneck and owns a photography studio there, has now gone twice to Cuba, and the 36 images on display in Englewood provide a close, personal look at the Jews she met there, together with their homes and synagogues.
At right, a Jewish artist and active member of the Hatikvah synagogue in Santiago de Cuba teaches another member how to put on tefillin.
While in Cuba, "I went to three bar mitzvahs, celebrated Chanukah, and basically fell in love with the people and their commitment to a Jewish way of life," Katz wrote about her 2004 trip with the Cuban American Jewish Mission. Photos from that trip, and from a subsequent visit in 2006, are displayed in the library and appear on its Website, www.englewoodlibrary.org.
Also included in the exhibit are objects that help to explain what is depicted in the photos. For example, Katz has included tefillin in the display case featuring photos of Ruben Dorado Sotolongo, whose bar mitzvah she attended in Santiago de Cuba.
Katz noted that on a typical Shabbat in Santiago, a community of some 90 Jews, there might be 30 to 35 people at synagogue. "I saw one man arrive on donkey after three days of traveling over the mountains to get there," she said.
While she has written several accounts of her trips — she returned to Cuba in 2006 to visit with children and adults with disabilities — Katz said that there’s "something special about capturing things in photographs." Both ways of recording allow you to show passion for people, she said, "but in photographs, the passion of the people themselves comes across — you’re not setting it up. They’re allowing you to see who they are."
The first time, she said, she did not go "as a photographer." Indeed, before her 16-day trip she conducted a small fund-raising campaign "among my friends, family, and my local community," collecting much-needed items (prescription eyeglasses, children’s clothes, over-the-counter medicines, and toothbrushes) for her Cuban hosts.
The second time, "while I thought of myself more as a photographer, my visit was mostly as a humanitarian," she said.
Noting that the communities she visited "greatly appreciate support from Jews in the United States," Katz said she was impressed by "their ability to relish life and be joyful when they lack so much in terms of material goods and the freedoms we take for granted in our country."
She also pointed out that most visitors to Cuba go to Havana, home of more than 1,000 Jews, "not to outlying areas where there are home synagogues." Noting that Jewish communities in these areas need books, tallesim, and other Jewish ritual objects, she said that while they don’t have full-time rabbis, the communities are visited occasionally by clergy from other countries.
Katz said she was most "impressed, touched, and inspired" by the Santiago Jewish community’s "commitment to a Jewish way of life…. When one man learns to lay tefillin, he teaches the next one. Santiago is creating its own traditions as it carries on the ancient ones," she said.
She pointed out that between 1959 and the early 1990s, Fidel Castro did not permit Jews — or any religious group — to publicly practice their religion.
"It was difficult," she said. "They couln’t pass on their traditions through Hebrew schools, or synagogues. There were no bar mitzvahs."
Now, however, after only a decade, said Katz, the Jewish people she visited — in Havana, Santiago, Santa Clara, and Caibarien — are trying to grow their communities, with new births and conversions helping to counteract the loss of members who move to the United States, Israel, or other countries.
The photographer, who said she read voraciously about Cuba before her two visits, said that most Jews living there today have Sephardic backgrounds. The Eastern European and German Jews who came to what she called "Hotel Cuba" in the 1930s to escape persecution — with some staying for more than 40 years — have left, as have those "other American Jews who just happened to be living there, mostly for business reasons," she said.
"It’s a hard life for everyone there," she said, "but trying to maintain Jewish life is particularly hard."
It's hard to be a Jew on Christmas
It's hard to be a Jew on Christmas by Rob Hood©12-21-07
It's hard to be a Jew on Christmas.
It's a holiday on which we pass.
Their rituals are not for me
and the stress gives me gas!
We don't sing the songs
nor decorate the tree
But it's just one day
we don't belong
That's just the way
it has to be.
They believe that Jesus
is the Messiah.
but on that I don't agree
I'm sure glad I live in America
The land of the free
Santa will never arrive at my house
On that i agree
Although I wasn't naughty
or even a louse
Oh poor poor pitiful me!
It's hard to be a Jew on Christmas.
It's a holiday on which we pass.
Their rituals are not for me
and the stress gives me gas!
We don't sing the songs
nor decorate the tree
But it's just one day
we don't belong
That's just the way
it has to be.
They believe that Jesus
is the Messiah.
but on that I don't agree
I'm sure glad I live in America
The land of the free
Santa will never arrive at my house
On that i agree
Although I wasn't naughty
or even a louse
Oh poor poor pitiful me!
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Jews and America have been good for each other
Jews and America have been good for each other
The Heritage Institute did a study showing that of all the distinct ethnic groups in the United States, including those of English heritage, the Jewish community had the highest “community” score of any other group.
Jews ranked…
* Number 1 in providing medical advancements that saved American’s lives in the last 100 years.
* Number 1 in authorship of both biographical and fictional materials.
* Number 1 in per capita income.
* Number 1 in the creative arts
* Number 1 as educators, (grade school through college level)
* Number 1 in the legal profession
* Number 1 in the banking/investment banking business.
* Number 1 in providing the most charity/philanthropy per capita.
* Number 1 in journalist/media participation.
* Number 9 in military service. (they made the top ten, out o f 20 ranked ethnic groups)
* Number 10 in athletics. The Jews squeaked into the last top spot with their participation in ice skating, tennis, track and baseball. (Rod Carew was allowed)
* Number 1 in the lowest incidents of anti-social behavior.
Jews commit the least amount of violent crime of any ethnic group. (The best neighbor to have is a Jew)
America has always honored Jews and that is why Jewish representation in Congress is at an all-time high and vastly exceeds their numbers in the population.
The Heritage Institute did a study showing that of all the distinct ethnic groups in the United States, including those of English heritage, the Jewish community had the highest “community” score of any other group.
Jews ranked…
* Number 1 in providing medical advancements that saved American’s lives in the last 100 years.
* Number 1 in authorship of both biographical and fictional materials.
* Number 1 in per capita income.
* Number 1 in the creative arts
* Number 1 as educators, (grade school through college level)
* Number 1 in the legal profession
* Number 1 in the banking/investment banking business.
* Number 1 in providing the most charity/philanthropy per capita.
* Number 1 in journalist/media participation.
* Number 9 in military service. (they made the top ten, out o f 20 ranked ethnic groups)
* Number 10 in athletics. The Jews squeaked into the last top spot with their participation in ice skating, tennis, track and baseball. (Rod Carew was allowed)
* Number 1 in the lowest incidents of anti-social behavior.
Jews commit the least amount of violent crime of any ethnic group. (The best neighbor to have is a Jew)
America has always honored Jews and that is why Jewish representation in Congress is at an all-time high and vastly exceeds their numbers in the population.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)