Tzedek-Tzedek

There is a saying that a man holding a hammer is looking for a nail. I was saddened to hear that Barry Chamish died this week, at 64. I had a brief encounter with Barry probably around 1999, shortly after the publication of  Who Murdered Yitzhak Rabin? (1998). I admired Barry's courage in publicising his detailed theories about the Rabin murder, at a time when the left wing purge and harassment of the right wing was in its hey-day. I invited Barry to my home in the still-young Ramat Beit Shemesh, and held a parlour meeting for the public to hear his presentation. We (literally) had a packed house with (I guess) nearly 100 people crammed into my salon. Barry arrived extremely late. This was in the days before cellphone were ubiquitous, and so we only heard the reason for his mysterious delay after Barry arrived, flustered and upset, at our house. Barry had arrived by taxi, which he ordered after dumping his car at a gas station somewhere on the Route 38. The ...

Chabad regularly astound me with their remarkable mission to provide Jewish services absolutely wherever Jews may be present on the globe. I had the privilege and pleasure of visiting Chabad in China recently, during a business trip. The rabbi there explained how they operate - in a grey area, under the radar. On the one hand, China's constitution upholds freedom of religion. On the other hand, there are just five religious organizations which are officially recognised; these are (see Wikipedia)  the Buddhist Association of China , Chinese Taoist Association , Islamic Association of China , Three-Self Patriotic Movement  (ie Protestantism) and Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association . Judaism, with a tiny minority following in this vast country, understandably, is off the list of five. Therefore, by the letter of the law, any Jewish organized religious activity is officially banned. This is why the Chabad locations are outwardly discrete - no signage, banners, ...

Me in Shanghai, with a backdrop of some of the world's tallest buildings I spent the past week in China, traveling for business in Shanghai and Chongqing. It is my second visit, the previous being about a year ago. Both times I was struck by the counter-intuitional lack of bargains available in the shops in China. The first visit, I came with a wish-list of gadgets requested by members of my family. I returned with some not-cheap phones, tablets, bluetooth speakers etc. The bill was not dissimilar to what one might pay after some bargain-hunting in Israel and on the internet.  Furthermore, there were problems using this equipment in Hebrew and in Israel. This time, I didn't take a shopping list. Indeed a Chabad Rabbi in Shanghai told me that he doesn't buy anything anymore in China - but rather stocks-up on everything he needs on his occasional visits to the USA. He told me that, even if the goods are made in China, their quality and price will be better ...