International Toilet Day

There is a lot going on in the world and unfortunately not much of it is good. The Middle East is in flames, climate change has battered every part of the world, a worldwide global economic slowdown is transforming Europe into a backwater, Asia, ascendent for a while is also in recession and worldwide terrorism has not abated enough yet to declare victory. Hidden in all these tragic stories is the fact that 800 million people worldwide live without clean drinking water and 2.5 billion people live without proper sanitation. Today, November 19th is International Toilet Day and a day to consider that particular problem.

While some will argue that this ongoing problem can take a back seat to the more immediate problems of genocide in Syria or the rockets falling on Tel Aviv, I argue that all of these issues are linked. Failure to act on the water problem will exacerbate worldwide turmoil and lengthen worldwide instability. International conflict has transformed from territorial conflicts to competion for resources. Powerful countries need not occupy land anymore, they just need to have access to vital resources. Some will argue that intervention in Syria is impossible because Syria has no oil, while Libya which does, got plenty of help in its revolution.

Having had the opportunity to work and do business in a developing country for the past year I have learned a great deal about how the other half lives and I don't mean the wealthy other half. My family, friends and neighbors had to struggle through a 2 week power outage due to Hurricane Sandy. Protracted power outages in Africa are common. Residents of New Jersey rightfully were fuming at FEMA for not sending enough drinking water to their ravaged state. In much of rural Africa, large swaths of Asia and South America there in never any clean drinking water. Roads, bridges and tunnels destroyed by the hurricane will be rebuilt in due time. The lack of access roads in the above mentioned areas is a humanitarian crisis that has been going on for decades.

While armed conflict can only be resolved by either surrender or peaceful negotiations, the bottom line is that it takes two to tango. Conflict can either be resolved or it can abate and while it may need some outside parties to push for a resolution one way or the other, it CAN be stopped with political will. Humanitarian crisis' can ONLY be resolved through international effort. Solving the water crisis is not only the right thing to do, it's good for business. With clean water and toilets we can eradicate diseases such as cholera, malaria and TB. Poor rural farmers will have more money in their pockets to grow more crops. A greater, healthy labor pool will be created to build more roads, factories, hospitals and schools. Countries that are being drained of citizens, creating a refugee crisis worldwide would be better able to keep their population in place. Resources will be labored by local workers rather than foreigners. It will free up resources to help in conflict areas and it will definitely help the worldwide economy.

The AIDS crisis was slowed down tremendously, particularly in Africa due to a concerted international effort. Providing working toilets and drinking water to those who lack it can be achieved via the same efforts. While we are right to protest the brutality in the Middle East, the corrupt mishandling of the worldwide economy and the total lack of interest in climate issues, we must also be resolute in ending the sanitary/water crisis. It may not be as glamorous a cause as "Save the Whales" but it's at least as important. So today on International Toilet Day, when you flush, think about how that simple act that you take for granted, that isn't spoken about much in polite society - is something over 2 billion people worldwide can't ever do.

http://www.worldtoiletday.org/ 

Reflections on the Election

Like many fellow Americans I was disappointed in this presidential election on many fronts. For starters, this election was more a story about money and ground operations and less so about issues. Partisanship was at the worst this country has seen since the Civil War and the analogy is apt because only the naïve and clueless can say that hatred of Obama stems from anything other than racism. It is likely that Hillary Clinton would be president now if Barack Obama’s name were Barry White, thus the Obama haters mask racism in critiques like he is incompetent and/or an empty suit. They are quick to blame the democratic primary voters who pushed Obama to the front of the line in 08’. Ten minutes after he was sworn in the right repeated the mantra that Obama now owned the financial crisis, as if George W Bush’s presidency was some fairy tale and the economy collapsed only after he took office.

Obama disappointed his supporters not because he is an incapable politician or ineffective leader; he disappointed because they voted for hope and change and instead got Timothy Geitner and no prosecution of Wall Street fraudsters. While his supporters were looking for transformation, they got attempts at reconciliation with an opposition that loathed him and publicly announced their goal as seeking his failure and early retirement. 

Obama overreached with a costly healthcare initiative when arguably he had other priorities and it cost him dearly in the mid term elections. Republicans emboldened by the lunatic fringe and financed by a strange breed of polluting and corrupt corporate Mafioso’s felt so emboldened that resorting to outright lies became the norm. Despite the kid gloves Obama used on the Wall Street criminals and the relatively benign rules laid out in Dodd Frank, corporate America still saw Obama as public enemy number one. They even went to great lengths to try and warn employees that voting for Obama would lead to mass layoffs. And when that didn’t work they tried to restrict people in swing states from voting.

Despite all the money thrown against him, despite a sputtering recovery and yes those ever-present huge deficits, the opposition still managed to bungle what should have been a relatively easy election. Mitt Romney might be a very talented politician and he even might have made a decent president, but we will never know. Leaving off the fact that there is not one issue Romney can point to that he hasn’t changed his mind on thus getting the deserved reputation as a flip flopper, what party in its right mind nominates a guy from the class of people that thoroughly sank and destroyed our economy? They should have at least pretended to care for the 99%.

There is a good argument to make that we should not engage in class warfare, ok I agree. Nonetheless, Romney belongs to a minority of people that is not effected by the rising cost of milk, bread, eggs, gasoline and public transportation to name a few. Can you see Romney empathizing with anyone? Romney and his Republican sponsors were then forced to use the argument that only his executive experience can clean up this economic mess. To build on that platform, Romney needed to build a coalition which ended up including rural white males, religious fundamentalists, business elites and of course all those Obama haters. He was also forced to embrace the now infamous Tea baggers. In the end, the math did not add up.

Obama showed sparks of what could be during his first term. He gave hope and freedom to gays who want to serve in the armed services and want to marry. He gave hope that women will not be relegated to back alley abortions. He kept New Deal democracy alive by passing healthcare. He cobbled together a coalition of those left behind by the greed and corruption of a corporate system that raided the treasury and gave hope that maybe just maybe we can build a better tomorrow. Importantly, he sympathized but did not embrace the radicalism of Occupy Wall Street, thus proving to everyone but the loony fringes that he is anything but a radical.

In the end, Romney did not lose because he was a poor choice or an incapable leader. Obama did not win because his first term will go down in history as a model for effective modern governance. Romney lost because the positions he took in order to get nominated alienated him from a majority of the electorate, Obama won because he proved that he is not as scary as his enemies depict him. Not the best way to select a president but in this case I will take it. 

Finally, I know that I sleep better knowing that it will be Obama, not a politically hand tied Romney that selects the next couple of Supreme Court Justices. Except for a brief, brave moment by Chief Justice Roberts this past year, this court has shown a conservative bent that is scary. It’s nice to think that we will have a kinder, gentler judiciary over the next twenty years or

It's the Environment, Stupid

Aping the predictability of my pet Puggle Bailey, who jumps when she hears me go to the refrigerator, Republicans and their surrogates are quick to remind us that a devastating hurricane is not about global warming and shootings in movie theatres are not about gun laws. Do not be surprised if Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey is exiled by his party for doing the unthinkable, thanking President Obama for the federal government’s quick response to his flood devastated state.

The other side is not immune to its political biases and trumped up malarkey either. Maureen Dowd in her NY Times column on Wednesday actually hypothesized that Governor Christie, a Romney supporter, praised Obama so that he can run for president in 2016, rather than wait for a President Romney to retire in 2020, his appreciation being calculated rather than genuine. It is impossible to Dowd that Christie might have something more important than his career on his mind, like governing his state during an emergency.

If pundits and politicians politicizing everything turn you off, you are not alone. Christie, ever the straight talker, is quoted as saying about the upcoming election that it is the farthest thing from his mind; he’s got bigger fish to fry. Kudos to you Chris.

Whether you are one who believes that it’s the hand of God or simply nature that brought on this weeks Super-storm Sandy, well, like chest pains before a heart attack, you have been warned. Granted, I can foresee the lunatic fringe saying that it indeed is a warning from God, but for us to end abortions and gay marriage. Meanwhile, the godless, infidel, scientists will tell you it has something more to do with greenhouse gasses, melting of the polar ice cap, a thinning ozone layer and pollution, in other words; science. 

The only thing I am advocating for right now is sanity. From my earliest recollections until say my fortieth birthday I remember seeing the occasional hurricane, tropical storm and extreme weather on the news. Perhaps they were more common than I recall from back then, but one thing is for sure; it is only in the last fifteen to twenty years that we have had to deal with el-Niño, tsunamis, tidal waves and hurricanes that go further inland and causing this much destruction. Maybe climate change is not as devastating as Al Gore tells us it is, but I think we owe it to ourselves to at least try and find out. I just want to tell all the loonies that think climate change is a hoax, to stay away from doctors and hospitals too, what they practice there is science as well. Yeah, I flush my toilet too much, I don’t unplug my appliances when they are not in use and I drive a big car, in other words I am guilty along with everyone else. While we all have to do our little bit we need leadership. It is said that George W. Bush missed an opportunity after the events of September 11^th, 2001 to radically change the way we treat the environment and our reliance on foreign oil. It remains to be seen if President Obama can use this devastating Super Storm to move us forward on climate change. Here’s to hoping he does. 

Is God an American

Despite the puritan reputation of the American electorate and the brouhaha over the omission of God in the Democratic National Convention Platform, religion in the United States seems to be going through a shift. A Pew research study released this week shows that Protestants whom as recently as 40 years ago made up two thirds of the population, now account for under half. Much of the loss is attributed to the growth of those who identify as atheist or “not religious.” Catholics have maintained their numbers at 22% of the population but this is attributed to immigration and not to the Church maintaining its numbers amongst those already living here. Islam has grown in the U.S. but also due to immigration and robust prison recruitment. Orthodox Judaism has grown, Conservative Judaism is in decline and the Reform maintain their numbers via liberal intermarriage rules and their policy on patrilineal descent which some argue dilutes rather than increases Jewish populace.

This paradigm shift in religious attitudes and the pace at which it is happening offers an interesting view of America. Assimilation and integration of ethnic minorities offers proof of a successful American – democratic project. Freedom of religion and separation of Church and State proves that a multi-cultural society can function peacefully and with tolerance. At the same time, liberal denominations are losing numbers, while the strict orthodoxies are gaining in strength. While more people than ever identify as not religious those who identify as religious tend to be more observant or so it seems. 

History is full with tales of those killed in the name of one religion or another. Even now in an enlightened and modern world we have to contend with extremists who believe they speak for God as they murder, plunder and destroy in His name.

Western culture welcomes all religions while maintaining secular governance. Yet the West in now faced with losing religious moderates as they are being closed out by more doctrinaire theology and I don’t even need to expand on the state of religion in religious based countries. What we are experiencing is the growth of a wider chasm in religious belief and tolerance. There may be an increase of tolerance towards other religions but there is much more intolerance for the non-religious. Previously, many would be proud to identify with a religion on any level; many now feel alienated by the same religions as the more stringent adherents shun upon their moderate or lesser style of observance.

At the same time, religion has become fungible to those on the left. Recently, some gentile bold-faced names have married Jews in famous bi-religious ceremonies. Chelsea Clinton, Anne Hathaway and Drew Barrymore to name a few, have made marrying a Jew become in the words of Tablet Magazine “aspirational” rather than a religious transformation. To some, this might indicate the ultimate success of the Western model; to the religionists it is a call for further isolation.

One thing is for sure; no one belief system holds a monopoly on God any longer. Technology, accessible information and quite frankly, God’s relative silence make any one religion as credible as the next, at least on a purely intellectual level. It leads me to believe that if God had to be a citizen of any country He would choose to be an American, this way everyone can claim Him and He wouldn’t have to reveal any favoritism. 

The God Particle : The South Shore Standard

The God Particle : The South Shore Standard

Scientists have recently confirmed the existence of something called the “God Particle.” The scientific name for this particle is the “Higgs Boson,” named after the physicist who originally theorized its existence. The theory is that electroweak or elementary particles acquire mass by colliding with mass. Of course this would entail a great deal of force and speed. The idea behind the research is to confirm the existence of the “Big Bang Theory” and in essence how the world was created. For 50 years a laboratory in the suburbs of Geneva called CERN, has been using colliders to test the theory and recently after billions of dollars spent has identified the particle.

While physicists prefer to call it by its scientific name, “Higgs Boson,” almost everyone else calls it the God Particle. I think it’s obvious that we prefer God Particle because for up until about 700 years ago the only way humans could describe creation and the physical world was in religious terms. Since then science has added a different dimension to explaining creation. Or as I like to describe it, the world was chugging along at 30 MPH until about the 15th Century, then we put the pedal to the metal and have not taken our foot off since.

In order to reconcile the existence of God with Big Bang, religious people rely on two things that science can never explain; what came before Big Bang and the human conscience otherwise known as the soul. The scientific blueprint may prove exactly how the world was created and how we evolved but it fails to explain who or what pushed that first button. Science simply explains the existence of things in terms of time, space, motion and mass; religion explains things as beyond the scope of those logical things.

Young people today look at the world as less complicated than before. My kids still cannot believe I ever had to dial a phone number or had to go to the library to do research for a term paper. They barely know what a pay phone is and cannot fathom that anyone used a typewriter. But we older folks remember a simpler time when we were not connected to everything and everyone all day long. We spoke to our friends and family when we were near a phone and had something to say. We saw the news once a day and we read newspapers. More importantly, we took time out to recognize that there was a power greater than science and technology that explained things to us that logic could not. And we basked in the world’s relative simplicity.

I like the term God Particle because it denotes the limits of scientific explanation. There are just some things that cannot be explained and frankly shouldn’t be even in a world where information can be obtained in seconds on a smart phone. Mysticism tries to explain the unexplainable on a spiritual level but even the mastering of that discipline is limited to a select few. What excites me most about scientific revelations is not the absence of God but His apparent retraction. We used to need God to explain every element of the universe and our existence, now we really only need God to explain why we should choose good over evil, why we should tap into our soul.

Science enables us to limit religion to our homes and communities and to unify as the human race in wider areas. We no longer have to fight over who holds the ultimate truth because no matter which deity we worship science has proven He used one blueprint to get us all to this point. The rest is up to us. We are the only species that has the ability to retract from animal instincts. We are not predators and overall we seek to help one another. Science may explain which chemicals in our brain coax us to be altruistic but deep down we all know that only God has the power make us this way. In the immortal words of the great Bob Dylan:

“Well it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you gotta serve somebody.”

God, It’s Judgment Day For You Too

As Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year approaches I am reminded of a skit from the 70’s in which Gilda Radner playing Roseanne Rosanandana on Saturday Night Live goes to Times Square to report on the revelry bringing in the new year. Dumbfounded, she reports that no one is there to celebrate and no matter how many times her colleagues back in the studio try to tell her that it’s the Jewish new year not December 31^st, she doesn’t get it and continues to talk over them reporting back on the lack of celebrators.

Jews do celebrate the arrival of a new year differently than the rest of the world. Ours is a more solemn occasion. Our culture influenced by the religious traditions of thousands of years force us to use the days as a time of reflection and repentance. We sit in judgment before the Master of the Universe who on these days decides if we shall live or die, become rich or poor or find happiness or sorrow. Our synagogues fill up more than on the rest of the year either from all the guests and family who have joined to celebrate with relatives, or just those who come only for such important holidays.

While growing up I learned to fear this time of year, after all I might receive a death sentence. I’ve grown older now and I see the High Holidays from a different perspective. It is not just a day for God to judge us but also a day for us to critique God. While I can almost hear the cries of blasphemy emanating from the minds of some readers, understand that in order to criticize God, you have to believe in Him. While I find comfort in the channel of communication given to me by my Orthodox upbringing, I don’t for a second believe that it is the only legitimate form of communication with God.

I will stand in synagogue and cry with the rest of my congregation as we appeal to God to show us mercy. I will also stand there and demand of Him to end the hideous violence that saturates His earth, to end illness and premature death and to lift those impoverished because of a wrecked world economy and natural disasters. I will beseech Him to shut down the ranting of zealots who stand in judgment of others, who play God’s policemen and attempt to enforce their own perverted vision of His commandments. I will beg God to show us a sign that He never intended for hatred and persecution to be carried out in His name. Mostly, I want God to let us know that to Him the content of our character means more than the size of our head covering.

Some years back a prominent Orthodox rabbi said in an interview on CNN that he would rather that people do not attend synagogue than to go to a Conservative or Reform Shul. Similarly, an Orthodox rabbi in this neighborhood at a meeting I attended told the board of directors of a charitable organization that assisted people affected by the financial crisis, that if they include a certain Conservative rabbi on a proposed rabbinic advisory board he would not participate. Ironically, this same rabbi made himself out to be a champion of civil rights when in his previous posting in a mid-west city, Reform and Conservative Jews objected to the expansion of his congregation in the middle of their residential neighborhood.

Now is the time for us to reflect, repent and ask God for His mercy. It is also the time for us to stand up and cry out that God live up to His side of the bargain. The world may have a huge population, the biggest ever and getting bigger. But it is smaller and more interconnected than ever before. He may be watching us, but now we see everything He does – in real time. Much of it is not pretty and outright destructive. We have more to question and more to call Him out on. This New Year I don’t just pray for forgiveness, I pray for answers.

Singing for Forgiveness

I was blessed with a pleasant singing voice and having learned by my father’s side, am well versed in liturgical formula. Armed with this knowledge and God-given talent I occasionally am asked to lead services at my Orthodox synagogue and for some years, just like my father, I supplemented my income by taking a cantorial job for the High Holidays. I have been told my singing inspires some and that I have a decent command of the Hebrew language, a dying attribute I might add.

I always had mixed feelings about leading services. The cantor chants at the beginning of the Mussaf Service on Rosh Hashanna and Yom Kippur that he is “poor in good attributes” and he beseeches God not to judge the congregation for his faults. Growing up, watching my father cry as he chanted those words I knew that despite his humanity, this Holocaust survivor served as the best representative for his congregation or any for that matter. I on the other hand consider myself all too human, perhaps lacking some of the spiritual integrity expected of one leading such important services.

This is not false modesty, it is a struggle I have within myself. It is not that I think of myself as deficient, though I may be, it is that the Judaism I grew up in – Modern Orthodoxy that has lurched so rightward, outwardly stresses ritual observance, has embraced the modest dress code of the devout and eschews many of the modern world’s innovations. I am guilty apparently of not having caught up with the times. I am uncomfortable standing up there knowing that I do not adhere to this stricter level of observance. I outright question whether God intended for us to be so insulated and shut out from the world around us. Most telling, I embrace technology and the social changes that give equality to women and the freedom for two consenting adults to marry whomever they want regardless of sex or orientation.

I confess that this year I asked my congregation not to include me on the rotation of cantors for the High Holidays (request rejected). While I consider myself observant and I self define as a “good Jew” I am under no illusions that many if not most of Orthodoxy consider the way I practice my Judaism sacrilegious. As a people, Jews have grown since the Holocaust and the founding of Israel and this growth has given rise to a rebirth of Torah observant adherents. The recent Siyum Hashas (completion of the daily Talmudic learning cycle) was celebrated worldwide by hundreds of thousands. It is a testament to this growth. Yet I remain a holdout from a different time. I feel that Judaism needs to stress inclusion, protecting the environment, reaching out to those left behind, welcoming the stranger, feeding the hungry and reaching out to those who are not like us. I find the emphasis on head coverings, outdoing each other on strict kashrut (kosher) observance, the details of the paint on tefillin(phylactery) straps to be plain off-putting. I want to return to a time when all Jews, observant and not, unified for a cause – that is something I can stand up and pray for.

Change is Not Dangerous : The South Shore Standard

Change is Not Dangerous : The South Shore Standard

A pious man is forced onto the roof of his home as floodwaters keep rising. A man in a canoe passes by and offers him a ride. “God will help me,” says the man on the roof. As the waters rise further a speedboat stops by and offers the man a ride. Once again he says, “No thanks, God will help me.” The waters rise further and a helicopter hovers around the roof and lowers a ladder – once again “God will help me.” Eventually, the pious man drowns. When he arrives in heaven and meets his Maker he challenges Him, “I always had so much faith in you, why didn’t you save me?” God replies, “I sent you a canoe, a speedboat and helicopter and you refused them all.”

-       Old Joke

This weekend, the Jewish Holiday of Shavuot is celebrated. The holiday commemorates God giving the Torah to the Israelites after redeeming them from slavery in Egypt. While God remains an active participant in the biblical narrative, his role becomes less obvious, first speaking through judges, then prophets and priests. Ultimately, the miracles God performs become less and less obvious to people as he retreats and leaves the ever-growing human race to figure it out for themselves.

In my mind, the Torah is the canoe. It is a blueprint for building a society, given to former slaves and the children of slaves, people unaware and unaccustomed to “civilized” society. Like a canoe, it is a crude but competent vehicle so long as there are no strong winds or heavy rains. The speedboat certainly is the grand hild of the canoe, adding power, muscle and ease in navigating the waters. Finally, the helicopter the great grandchild of the speedboat, enables one to transcend the waters altogether.

Use of any those vehicles was not a guarantee of the pious man making it to safety. Weather, obstacles and the navigators’ competence are important factors. History shows that man is constantly improving the canoe out of sheer necessity with innovation and creativity. While some would argue that the speedboat is an improvement on the canoe, there are those that argue that the speedboat is dangerous. It can take people to further destinations thus exposing them to outside influences. The sheer power of the machine can do harm and hurt people if not used properly. Ultimately, we have found a way to have our speedboat and somehow placate those fears, or so it seems.

In a world where innovative, technological breakthroughs happen rapidly, fear and distrust of this metamorphous becomes a rallying cry for many. This past Sunday’s rally in CitiField to alert people to the dangers of the Internet is an example of this distrust. Rather than entrusting us to self-filter our usage we are exhorted to not use it at all or to obtain rabbinic permission.

While I enjoy canoeing I also like a speedboat and I fly because it’s practical. There are dangers and risks in all of them and hopefully I take precautions in using any of those modes of transportation. That is the message I take from Shavuot. We were given a set of guidelines, a living document, which changes and improves with modifications to our daily life. We need to live within those guidelines together with the changes not to their exclusion.

Looking Good : The South Shore Standard

Looking Good : The South Shore Standard

I left town recently for a long business trip and decided after a ten-year stretch to shave my beard. I’ve pretty much sported a beard most of my life. I’ve tried different lengths and widths over the years. I determined after one or two tries of letting it get Hasidic Rebbe long, that the texture of my beard was too thick and thus uncomfortable so my dream of looking like Theodore Hertzl never panned out. I kept mine closely cropped “a number 4” on the trimmer.

One reason I kept that beard all these years is because I am self conscious of the shape of my head and felt the beard helped square a round face. I experimented by trying to copy styles; Al Pacino in Serpico, Michael Douglas in China Syndrome, Robert De Niro in Deer Hunter. I tried a goatee it was a disaster. The moustache alone made me look like a Halloween pumpkin with dirt under its nose.

When I was a kid and was able to grow a full beard before my older brothers I wore it as a badge of masculinity. When the hair on my head was thicker and I wore that longer, the close-cropped beard made me feel downtown, urban. I definitely felt the beard made me “look” Jewish and I sensed that people picked up on it even if the name Moskowitz did not give it away at first. To people I met from places other than New York my beard identified me as a New Yorker though sometimes some guessed wrongly that I hailed from Los Angeles.

There was a time when facial hair was pretty common, but considering that it’s been about 100 years since we’ve elected a president with any, it’s safe to say that bearded-Americans are in the minority. After all, the shaving industry accounts for billions in revenue and I’m referring just to the men’s products. It is widely known that Gillette spent $1 billion on research for their Fusion razor. With that kind of cultural and commercial pressure it is safe to say that those that do keep facial hair have some guts or are trying to make a statement.

I spent some time trying to figure out my statement or if I had one. Besides my vanity and self-consciousness, men in my family have had beards for generations and so it was a natural step for me to take. However, there was no religious pressure on me to grow one and oddly, I admit that when I was younger I felt rebellious having one.

Now I simply feel like I wore my beard as a mask, mysteriously hiding something. Now I have liberated my face to face those demons. I have not gone completely facial hairless, I left a moustache and soul patch. I like the look and am getting used to it. I can see sticking with this a while. There’s and old saying that if you change places you change your luck. Maybe to change your luck you have to change your look.

Packed With Pride

There are not many titles I would want more than one I’ve had now for close to 24 years and that is the title of “dad.” Most of us get into the whole parenting thing without much training and like everything else in life we have our good moments and less than stellar ones. We usually don’t take time to reflect on the role we play in our children’s lives but every so often a milestone in their lives is on the horizon and we ponder not just the moment but the whole package.

This Sunday, my wife and I will be escorting our daughter, our oldest child, down the wedding aisle. As the date gets closer I am a collage of emotions but the one that stands out most to me at this point is pride. It is a pride borne out, yes from my own parenting but more so from my daughter’s own journey of personal growth. While my wife and I surely have something to do with it, I never cease to be amazed at the choices she’s made, including this one and the determination used to make them.

I admit, I am not sad to see her leave the house or feeling an imminent sense of loss like one sees in the faces fathers in romantic comedy movies. I am not the type of father who thinks no one is good enough for my little girl. I actually encouraged independence and always (jokingly, but not really) told my kids that at 18 “they are out of here.” I accept that as my children get older so do I. I also realize that as they become more independent I don’t worry about them any less.

When I walk my daughter down that aisle I will not wonder where all the time went. I will be thankful that my baby girl has spent every day of her life amazing her parents and peers and constantly topping all previous accomplishments. I will reflect on a child who would not accept any limitations set on her by others, who set goals and achieved them, who exceeded expectations, overcame obstacles and never backed away from a challenge. I will wish for her eternal love and lifelong happiness. I will pray that she gets as much joy from her children as I have from her and her siblings. Most importantly, I will wish her a partnership as deep and understanding as her parents have.

I often joke that I did not really begin to appreciate my father until I was about 30, I expect no less from my kids. It is hard to understand what goes through someone’s mind until you experience the same thing. As I approach this experience I can only thank my kids for giving me the best years of my life. I hope that despite my very human capabilities I have imparted knowledge and love that will sustain them in the future.

Jews bless brides and grooms to build a faithful home amongst Israel. Today I bless my daughter the bride and her groom to build a strong, faithful home that will shine upon the whole open world.

Thoughts for Yom Ha Shoah

One week from tomorrow night Jews around the world will begin commemorating Yom Ha Shoah - Holocaust Remembrance Day. I will have the honor of hearing my father address the Five Towns Community event as he retells his story and the valuable lessons we can learn from that dark period of human history. While we commemorate the tragic events of 70 years ago it would do us much good to reflect on current events and realize that very little has changed. Today mass murder is happening before our eyes in Syria and the UN, the Arab League, the whole damn world actually, sits by impotent and unable to do anything to stop it. Geo-politics still trumps human rights.

Christians throughout the Arab world are being persecuted and the Arab Spring has not improved but has worsened their condition in those countries, as democratic hope is vanquished by extremist reality. All the while the primary focus of the enlightened intellectual class still seems to be an obsession with Israeli settlements and the condition of the occupied Palestinians. According to these folks we have to step aside and let the Arabs build there own type of free society - which they have proven via the Arab Spring is nothing more than extremism, killing and profoundly undemocratic institutions. Israel on the other hand must believe that Palestinians are eager to institute Jeffersonian Democracy and are prepared for peace, the behavior of their Arab brethren not withstanding.

There is an interesting and quite public debate going on about Jewish victimhood versus Jewish power. Peter Beinart's new book, the Crisis of Zionism has sparked fierce criticism for its call of a Jewish boycott of Jewish products made in the West Bank, in his eyes a way of using Jewish power to tame Israeli power. I like Beinart, an observant Jew and brilliant thinker, I even empathize with his sentiments. But Beinart is naive to believe that if we Jews just left the West Bank and ended the occupation that we would have peace. True, Jewish victimhood is not as relevant as it once was and Jewish power hasn't been this strong since the Hashmonaim era, but we are certainly not stupid. Our History of victimhood has taught us one thing, to be sure that we and only we insure our own security.

Is there a rational person out there who thinks Israel will ever enter into a deal with the Palestinians without first seeing proof through confidence building measures that they are ready and sincere about peaceful coexistence? Even a peacenik like me doesn't think its possible. Yet here we have to contend with Nobel Laureate Gunter Grass, the German writer who conveniently forgot to mention in his bio that he was a member of the Waffen SS, who wrote this in a poem last week about Israel:

"Why do I say only now,
Aged and with my last ink,
That the nuclear power of Israel endangers
The already fragile world peace?"

I can't think of anything more articulate to say to Grass than - shut the fuck up. Where were you Gunter, when Serbs were slaughtering Muslim men and raping their women just a few hours from your home? Where is your poem about the Rwandans who were ignored by you and the enlightened world while they were systematically executed by their own countrymen? What about Darfur? What about the Christians in Arab countries? What about a million other examples of brutality that make the Israeli occupation of the West Bank look like a kids party? Israel endangers world peace? Where in the world is there peace? 

I am a fierce self critic. There is so much that I would like to change about my own people and I've written about it plenty. But one thing I cannot abide and will not remain silent about, that is an attempt at moral equivalency between the Jews and her enemies. We are far from perfect but we show more humanity at our worst than the combined Arab world does at its best. Palestine does not exist as a state due to Jewish opposition, but because Palestine's Arab inhabitants show no sign of accepting the existence of Israel or of ever living in lasting peace. 

Beinart is correct, Jewish power seems more realistic today than Jewish victimhood. Yet we would have no power if we ignored or forgot that victimhood. We will no longer sustain any power if we forget that our power is derived from rising up after our victimhood and that frankly it comes only with divine intervention. Some people believe that God died in the ashes of the Shoah but He sure seemed to be alive in 1948 and even more so in 1967. This Yom Ha Shoah I will listen again to my father's story and his wisdom. I will vow never to forget what happened to him and those that did not survive. I will also remember that so long as the world holds the Jewish nation to standards it does not itself live by, Jews no matter how much perceived power they have will still be victims.