Tzedek-Tzedek

Ivanka and Jared Kushner are probably the world's most powerful Jewish couple. Whereas Benjamin Netanyahu is a vastly more mature statesman and head of state, and so the most powerful Jewish man, the Kushner/Trump couple, now with senior (if unsalried) jobs and titles in daddy's White House are poised for global influence. Jews have long memories and so various historical prcedents come to mind. Most immediately, with Purim just passed, Mordechai and Esther could be en equivalent couple. Queen Esther used her family position of power (one of many wives to the King) to obtain influence, and following that, her uncle Mordechai's position as Prime Minister, to save the Jewish people from genocide. Not much is known about their wider influence in the Persian Empire, but a mention is made in the Book of Esther of levying taxes (boo, hiss). Less sympathetic is the model of the "Court Jew". During the Middle Ages, due to the ban on usuary (money lending) in...

Donald Trump's wild accusation that Barack Obama was wiretapping his phones in Trump Tower have astounded commentators the world over. Trumps accusation is grave, and it appears to be baseless. This follows Trump's unprecedented and fierce attacks on the Press, calling them liars, deliverers of 'fake news', and the 'enemy of the American people', and Trump's bitter campaign to stop leaks from the FBI and secret services. Attacking the Press for telling lies, while accusing the FBI of leaking true information to the press, appears contradictory. Either the stories in the press are false, or the unnamed sources of secret information are telling the truth - it can't be both. The link between Trump's senior campaign staff and Russian Government officials is now undeniable. Attorney General Jeff Sessions met Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak twice last year, and lied under oath about it to the Senate confirmation hearing. Michael Flynn, the sh...

https://youtu.be/hPpSwvvWdGg

There's a Chief Rabbi, a Prime Minister and a President in a cell together.... What sounds like the beginning of a joke, is painfully close to Israel's reality. Ex-Chief Rabbi Rabbi Yona Metzger will be imprisoned for three and a half years for corruption, having pocketed millions of shekels in illicit funds during his tenure as Chief Rabbi. He may have the distinction of 'sitting' with ex-Prime Minister Olmert, and he narrowly missing hob-nobbing with ex-President Moshe Katzav (who has been recently released after serving time for rape). With at least four investigations against Prime Minister Netanyau, perhaps something will stick and Bibi might join these celebs. Before the current batch of Very Important Prisoners, Shas Minister Aryeh Deri did his time, and Ariel Sharon's son Omri also; Prime Minister Sharon Minister may well have been imprisoned with Omri also, had it not been for Gush Katif and then his vegetative state following a stroke.   I...

The Bibi-Noni scandal appears to have shone a spotlight upon a murky world of politics plus journalism. A series of tapes, now in the hands of the police, reveal that Prime Minister Netanyahu held secret meetings with Arnon "Noni" Mozes, owner of Yediot Acharonot - a devotedly anti-Bibi newspaper. Various deals were being discussed between Bibi and Noni, with a view to reducing the criticism of Netanyahu by Yediot, in return for Netanyahu taking measures to reduce Israel Hayom's circulation. Israel Hayom is a free, Bibi aligned newspaper, founded and funded by Sheldon Adelson, which had undercut the tabloid market where Yediot had previously dominated. The quid pro quo appears to have been that Yediot would lower the volume on anti-Bibi journalism, in return for Bibi cutting Israel Hayom's circulation. Indeed, a bill was presented to the Knesset in 2014, nicknamed the "Israel Hayom Law", which effectively illegalized free mass-circulation newspa...

Poor old Donald. Had to move from here into subsidized housing which was vacated by a black family  

Along with millions of my countrymen, I have been appalled at Obama and Kerry's 11th hour abandonment of Israel, the US's loyal and stalwart democratic ally in the Middle East. Seeking spiritual meaning in these macro-events, I recall the experience of living in Israel during the first Gulf War (1990-91). Thirty-nine Scud Missiles were fired from Iraq into Israel during that war. With each rocket, the warning sirens blared and we Israelis ran for our 'sealed-rooms', put on our gas masks, and prayed. According to reports, either 39 or 38 Scud Missiles hit Israel, with a total casualty toll of two deaths (one reportedly a heart attack), one severely wounded, ten seriously wounded and around 230 people lightly wounded. According to reports, there was an additional Scud Alarm sounded in Israel at the end of the Gulf War, but that missile never hit Israel. Instead, that single Scud missile was fired at Saudi Arabia and hit a US barraks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, k...

If you, like me, are from the era of Kodak Instamatic, Polaroid, and (for the more sophisticated), Single Lens Reflex, then you probably share my awe for the power of 'simple' phone cameras, and the wizardry now offered by photo processing aps. Over the past year I have been discovering the amazing power of my (then new) Samsung Galaxy S5 phone camera. The quality of simple 'snaps', can be astounding, and the behind the camera operations, functions and options are also (with a little practice) impressive. But the ultimate photographic experience is combining the sophisticated little camera on the phone, with a range of (usually free) photo processing aps. Perhaps the most popular photo ap is Instagram , used by over 500 million people, which offers photo editing, a range of beautifying filters and a social media combo - allowing you to publicise your great photos to people/friends who may be appreciative of you and your work. You are warmly invited to "...

If you ask 10,000 people who they are going to vote for, and 6000 say Blue, and 4000 say Red, then within a very small margin of error, you can predict that out of a million voters, around 600,000 will vote Blue, and 400,000 will vote Red. Donald Trump's unexpected victory is the fourth time we have recently seen the pollsters and political commentators get it absolutely wrong. The Brexit shock, the British National Elections Tory trouncing of Labour, and  Netanyahu's victory in the last Israeli election, were similarly against every poll prediction and the pontifications of every credible political commentator. What is apparently at stake is not just the credibility of polls, or of political commentators, but the very basis of statistics. If political polls are worthless, then perhaps their mathematical basis is also bunk? Or, as Churchill would have it - "there's lies, damned lies, and statistics". However, these same statistical theories used by th...

UNESCO's outrageous revisionist proclamations, denying the historical link between Jews and Temple Mount, cries out for an appropriate response. Israeli Governments since 1967 have claimed Israel's rights to sovereignty on the Mount, but have then consistently refused to implement these same rights. Indeed, the current regulations forbidding Jewish prayer or ceremony on the Temple Mount, and the hostile & suspicious reception dealt out to Jewish visitors by the Israeli security forces, play directly into the hands of UNESCO and other re-writers of history. If we the Jews do not exhibit and implement our deepest bonds to Temple Mount, why should the gentiles care any more for this connection than we do? Instead of actively discouraging Jews from going up to Temple Mount, the Israeli Government should be encouraging, educating, promoting, and protecting a massive Jewish presence there. Today, only a few thousand highly committed Jews venture onto the Mount each ye...

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 ...