How US 'wokeness' became a right-wing cudgel around the world

 https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220301-how-us-wokeness-became-a-right-wing-cudgel-around-the-world

Once a rallying cry for Americans to be alert to racism, "wokeness" has become the political term of the hour, co-opted by culture warriors to denigrate "political correctness" and leftist orthodoxy."The radical left is trying to replace American democracy with woke tyranny," former US president Donald Trump told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida during his keynote speech Saturday.

Speaker after speaker at CPAC invoked rightwing betes noires from "cancel culture" to the policing of pronouns. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a potential 2024 presidential hopeful, joined in the barrage of accusations, telling the crowd that "the woke is the new religion of the left."

The concept has metastasized from its US origins to penetrate the global body politic, from the English-speaking world to newsrooms, university boards and parliaments in Europe, Asia and South America.

Liz Cheney Blasts 'Putin Wing of the GOP' After Ret. Col. Macgregor's Zelensky Remarks

 https://www.newsweek.com/liz-cheney-blasts-putin-wing-gop-macgregor-zelensky-remarks-1685269

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) slammed Douglas Macgregor, describing him as part of the "Putin wing of the GOP" after he said Russian forces had initially been "too gentle" in Ukraine and he described Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a "puppet."

In an interview on Fox Business on Friday, Macgregor—a retired U.S. Army colonel who served under former President Donald Trump as senior adviser to then-Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller—also said he didn't "see anything heroic" about Zelensky.

The Netherlands: A country which refuses to admit its guilt toward the Jews

 https://www.jpost.com/opinion/op-ed-contributors/the-netherlands-a-country-which-refuses-to-admit-its-guilt-toward-the-jews-351234

However much the Dutch try to avoid it, this behavior is not forgotten. In February this year, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, wrote a letter to Dutch Deputy Prime Minister Lodewijk Asscher. The text focused on his request that the Dutch government investigate what caused almost 39 percent of the current Dutch adult population to accept the huge lie that Israel is conducting a war of extermination against the Palestinians.

Rabbi Cooper also wrote that it had been brought to his attention “that the Netherlands has neither admitted the negligence of its World War II government and the collaboration of the bureaucracy with German occupiers, nor offered any apologies. I believe the Netherlands is the only occupied country during the war where this is the case.” In his reply to the rabbi, Minister Asscher ignored this issue entirely.

Justice Delayed: How Britain Became A Refuge For Nazi War Criminals

 https://www.rcwlitagency.com/books/justice-delayed-how-britain-became-a-refuge-for-nazi-war-criminals/

Cesarani describes how the immigration policy of Clement Attlee's post-war government actually favoured Eastern Europeans over non-whites and Jewish Holocaust survivors. Despite protests from MPs Dick Crossman and Tom Driberg, former members of the Waffen-SS and Nazi police units made new lives in Britain. British intelligence recruited agents among them and sent many into the Eastern Bloc, where they were betrayed by Kim Philby. Only in 1986 did the Simon Wiesenthal Centre provide evidence that could not be ignored. The House of Lords defied the Commons in a last ditch effort to stop legislation which would permit war crime trials in Britain but on May 10, 1991, the war crimes bill was signed by The Queen. This authoritative book written by a former researcher for the All-Party Parliamentary War Crimes Group, brings together the whole extraordinary story, exposing the use made of Nazi collaborators by British intelligence, the post-war 'cover up' and provides in-depth background to the first war crimes trials in Britain for fifty years.

How British High Society Fell in Love With the Nazis

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-british-high-society-fell-in-love-with-the-nazis

“The British 'Establishment', including key figures in the aristocracy, the press were keen supporters of Hitler up until the invasion of Czechoslovakia. Few were supporters of Nazism, but they admired Hitler and felt he offered the best means of preventing the spread of communism. They tended to turn a blind eye to anti-Semitism and the attacks Hitler made on communists, socialists, and other internal opponents.”

It's time to confront the dark postscript to America's role in defeating the Nazis

 https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/24/opinions/dark-postscript-america-nazis-golinkin/index.html

America's been a haven for thousands of Nazis and Nazi collaborators who served in concentration camps and death squads and SS units. Several were even leaders of Nazi-allied governments. And we didn't merely take them in -- in some cases, we welcomed and protected them; we kept them safe from justice. It's far past time we acknowledged it.

Besides the obvious ethical reasons for historical honesty, there are also social ones. We're in the middle of a heated national conversation fueled by a hunger for racial justice. But how can we hope to acknowledge the impact of centuries-old institutions like slavery and Jim Crow when we can't be honest about coddling perpetrators of the Holocaust, which still has living eyewitnesses, victims and veterans? We can't get to 1619 if we can't get past 1945.

COLLABORATION

 https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/collaboration

German authorities required the assistance of the Axis nations and of local collaborators in the regions they occupied to implement the "Final Solution." Collaborators committed some of the worst atrocities of the Holocaust era.

Franco, Nazi Collaborator

 https://albavolunteer.org/2013/06/franco-nazi-collaborator/

After World War II, the Franco regime succeeded in whitewashing its close ties to Nazi Germany—which had helped Franco win the Civil War, and which continued to be Spain’s closest ally in the years immediately following. After 1945, Franco presented himself not merely as the anti-Communist “Sentinel of the West,” but also as a cunning statesman who had managed to keep Spain out of the war (when in fact he had aspired to join the Axis) and, most notably, as a savior of thousands of European Jews from extermination.

WHY ARE SO MANY EASTERN EUROPEANS SUDDENLY CELEBRATING NAZI COLLABORATORS?

https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2019/05/29/why-are-so-many-eastern-europeans-suddenly-celebrating-nazi-collaborators/ideas/essay/

Cukurs is only one example of a troubling and puzzling phenomenon: The revival in Central and Eastern Europe of historical figures who had been previously discredited by their ties to Holocaust crimes. In the quarter century since the end of communism in this region, states and societies have endeavored to “normalize” the past, reviving events and actors erased from communist-era histories. On the one hand, this process has brought to light important cultural, social, and political figures who were marginalized because they did not fit into the ideology of Soviet communism. On the other hand, it has animated a cast of “heroes” whose moral and legal transgressions have been sanitized.

How Israel’s Justice System Dealt With Alleged Jewish Collaborators in Concentration Camps—And Why That Still Matters Today

 https://time.com/5710303/nazi-collaborator-trials/

Over those two decades, the kapo trials went through four main phases, moving from an initial perception of Jewish ghetto and camp functionaries as perpetrators equivalent to the Nazis to a final perception of them as victims.

Sofrus

Mishnas Sofrim. WWW. hebrew books. org

Arab world divided on Russia-Ukraine

 https://www.axios.com/arab-world-divided-russia-ukraine-wheat-imports-46b026b7-6e2f-44fc-b001-882d193008d1.html

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has also divided support for Ukraine.

Hamarneh said Arab social media feeds are full of people sharing posts made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in support of Israel during the Gaza war. “This will mobilize the anti-Zelensky coalition," he said.

Dima Khatib, a Palestinian activist living in Doha, claimed it was hypocritical for the West to support Ukrainian resistance while often calling Palestinian resistance to the Israeli occupation terrorism. It's an argument echoed by other Palestinians and some of their supporters online.

Meanwhile, opinion in Lebanon is mixed along long-standing divisions in the country.

The pro-Hezbollah camp has sided completely with Russia, while those who do not back Hezbollah are voicing their support for Ukraine, according to Ayman Mhanna, director of the Beirut-based Samir Kassir Foundation.

Diaspora Min. asks PM to cancel deposits for Ukrainian refugees

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/323364

Ambassador Yevhen Korniichuk told reporters at a press briefing Tuesday that he was disappointed by Israel’s decision, comparing Ukrainian war refugees to Jews seeking shelter from the Holocaust during World War II.

“Dozens of Ukrainian citizens were sent back from Ben Gurion International Airport to the countries from which came over the past few days,” said Korniichuk. “Thousands of Righteous Gentiles in Ukraine saved Jews during the Holocaust.”

“This is a humanitarian issue, and I ask that it be reconsidered. Demanding cash guarantees of 10,000 or 20,000 shekels is very difficult. We are asking for your help. They aren’t coming here to work. They are fleeing war.”

Yuval Noah Harari: No matter what he does, Putin has already lost this war

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/yuval-noah-harari-no-matter-what-he-does-putin-has-already-lost-this-war/

“This war is not about conquering this city or that city. Putin can conquer all of Ukraine, that’s completely true,” Harari told Channel 12 news on Friday. “But this war is over the very existence of a Ukrainian people.”

Putin, he said, began the war “because he has a fantasy he’s built up in his head that there isn’t a Ukrainian people, that Ukrainians are actually Russians, that they want to be a part of Russia, and that only some small Judeo-Nazi gang in power is preventing it.”

Putin believed that he’d go in, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would flee, the military would surrender and the population “would greet the Russian tanks with flowers.”

But “he was wrong all along the way.”/

Ukrainian negotiator says Russia realizing ‘real cost of war’

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/ukrainian-negotiator-says-russia-realizing-real-cost-of-war/

“They are starting to realize the real price of war only now. And now we are starting to have constructive negotiations,” added the official, who participated in the first two rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine, held on the border of Belarus.

The antisemitism animating Putin’s claim to ‘denazify’ Ukraine

 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/25/vladimir-putin-ukraine-attack-antisemitism-denazify

By claiming that the aim of the invasion is to “denazify” Ukraine, Putin appeals to the myths of contemporary eastern European antisemitism – that a global cabal of Jews were (and are) the real agents of violence against Russian Christians and the real victims of the Nazis were not the Jews, but rather this group. Russian Christians are targets of a conspiracy by a global elite, who, using the vocabulary of liberal democracy and human rights, attack the Christian faith and the Russian nation. Putin’s propaganda is not aimed at an obviously skeptical west, but rather appeals domestically to this strain of Christian nationalism.

TRUMP GOES FULL ANTI-SEMITE, UNLOADS ON AMERICAN JEWS IN WILDLY BIGOTED RANT

 https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/12/donald-trump-anti-semitism-jews-israel

In February 2017, asked what the government planned to do about the uptick in threats to Jewish centers and the rise in anti-Semitism since his election, Donald Trump responded, “I am the least anti-Semitic person that you’ve ever seen in your entire life.” That claim, like the one he would make a few months later about being “the least racist person there is anywhere in the world,” obviously was and remains not true at all. How do we know? Let’s examine the evidence!

Henry Ford and Anti-Semitism: A Complex Story

 https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-resources/popular-topics/henry-ford-and-anti-semitism-a-complex-story

As with most famous people, Henry Ford was complex and had traits and took actions that were laudatory as well as troublesome. The most controversial and least admirable aspect of Ford’s career was his descent into anti-Semitism. Convinced that “bankers” and “the Jews” were responsible for a whole range of things he didn’t like, from the world war to short skirts to jazz music, Ford used his newspaper, the Dearborn Independent, to carry on an active anti-Semitic campaign. Between 1920 and 1922 a series of articles denounced all things Jewish. While officially apologizing for the articles in 1927, Ford’s anti-Jewish sentiments ran deep. Seen within the context of the times, they demonstrate the sharp realities and tensions that emerge in societies undergoing profound cultural, economic and political change.

Nazi Collaborator or National Hero? A Test for Lithuania

 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/world/europe/nazi-general-storm-lithuania.html

“They have built up a whole national narrative around fighting Communism that they cannot dismantle,” said Grant Gochin, a South African of Lithuanian descent who has calculated that he lost 100 family members to the Holocaust in Lithuania, dozens of them in territory under Mr. Noreika’s control during the Nazi occupation.

Is halachic status independent of reality?

Sanhedrin (33b)  To explain the terms “innocent” and “righteous” in the verse: “And the innocent and the righteous you shall not slay” (Exodus 23:7), the Sages taught: From where is it derived that with regard to one who is leaving the court having been found liable, and someone said: I have the ability to teach a reason to acquit him, from where is it derived that the court brings the accused back to be judged again? The verse states: The innocent you shall not slay, and the accused may in fact be innocent.

An open letter to Chabad/Lubavitch HQ

 I am sorry to report that we seem to have uncovered a deep fault in the Chabad/Lubavitch worldwide organization. Many of us grew up hearing amazing stories about the great work that Chabad centres do around the world. How they help Jewish travellers in India, provide communities for Jews who would otherwise have none, rescue and de-program misguided Jewish teenagers from cults, set up orphanages in Eastern Europe, etc… The stories are endless and, until now, have created a glowing picture of Chabad as truly being “Hashem’s Army.”

In our campaign to help the twin boys, Benji and Sammy Schlesinger be reunited with their mother, Beth Alexander, after a decade of obstruction by Rabbi Jacob Biderman of the Lauder Chabad Campus in Vienna, Austria, we learned a lot about how the Chabad shlichim (emissaries) work. When we see the massive conferences in New York where the shlichim come together from every corner of the planet, we are encouraged to think of Chabad as one large family under the authority of 770 NYC. Apparently, this is absolutely not the case.

We assumed that informing Chabad/Lubavitch HQ, and other Chabad Rabbis in different places, about how Biderman used his position to help erase their mother from the lives of two little boys who were obviously confused, depressed and suffering, would result in at least some interest from Biderman’s fellow Rabbis as to how he could do such an outright chillul Hashem. We are shocked by what ensued.

We are a group of more than 6000 supporters of Beth. Ordinary people from all walks of life, mostly Jewish but not all, and from all over the world. We only want two innocent Jewish boys to experience the love of their mother before it’s too late and they grow up thinking she doesn’t care about them. We don’t want revenge or money. We just want justice for two children who have no voice in the corrupt and hostile environment of the Lauder Chabad Campus.

We received a number of replies from Chabad Rabbis and/or their wives. We were informed that every Chabad centre is autonomous. Every Chabad Rabbi is responsible for raising his own funds among the community he “serves” and works however he sees fit. Who knew? Many of us learned something we didn’t know before. However, no Rabbi or Rebbetzen wanted to get involved. Not to make a phone call, ask some discrete questions, or interest themselves in any way in the plight of defenceless children.

And yet this was not the most shocking part. Not one reply was honest enough to admit that they don’t want to rock the boat and cross a powerful Rabbi in a rich Chabad community. After all, how many of them are as successful as Biderman in Vienna who has his own K-12 school campus? Instead, we got lectures in how we perhaps don’t know the whole story, there are two sides to every coin, etc...

Believe me, we know the whole story. And even if there was something we don’t know, what could possibly be so heinous as to bar a mother from attending her children’s birthday parties in school? Refusing her any information about their wellbeing or progress? What could Beth Alexander have done that allowed Rabbi Biderman to lie to the courts on behalf of her ex-husband? What sort of a monster would the mother have to be for a Rabbi to break one of the 10 Commandments? One look at the videos on the You Tube Chanel “Help Beth” would reassure anyone that the extreme measures Biderman took to separate the boys from their mother, was unfounded and downright cruel.

Now we know that Rabbi Jacob Biderman decided to follow the money because caring for the welfare of two children in his care above his own personal success, would not get him his school, would not pay his personal expenses, would not provide a house for his family to live in, and – most shockingly – would not necessarily gain him the respect and standing among the other shlichim who can only dream of the resources Biderman has at his disposal. But at what cost? According to Jacob Biderman, destroying the lives of one Jewish family is not a high price for the Jewish world to pay.

This is the problem with Chabad/Lubavitch. They hide behind the good name of the organization that is based on the righteous work of some of its members, whilst in reality, it’s every man for himself. And if one Rabbi threatens the good name that brings in the money worldwide, all they want is to hush it up.

But perhaps I am being too harsh. Many of us suspect that the reason they harp on about two sides to every story, etc… is that it absolves them from dealing with the uncomfortable thought that some Rabbis among them are corrupt. For some Rabbis, like Jacob Biderman, the money might be their top priority. That their beloved Chabad might be supporting “Rabbis” who are not worthy of the name, may be too hard to contemplate. Better to make excuses and not open that potential Pandora’s box.

Now we understand that Chabad is not Hashem’s Army at all. It is a loose collection of communities run by individuals with no accountability to the organization whose erstwhile good name they can exploit should they so wish. From now on it must be known that Chabad just means Jewish, and like, the whole of Am Yisrael, there are good and bad souls among them.

As such Chabad no longer means anything. Your Rebbe must be turning in his grave.

 

Rachel Selby

Jerusalem

Open Letter To Jacob Biderman : WE SIMPLY WILL NOT STOP NOR WILL WE GO AWAY

info@lauderchabad.at
biderman@lauderchabad.at

 

Rabbi Biderman,

https://helpbeth.org/lauder-chabad-statement-on-facebook-1st-march-2022/

Lauder Chabad Campus: “The Perfect harmony between Austrian formal education and Jewish teaching of the heart and spirit” (as written on their Facebook page) I’d like to know, is that the same “heart and spirit” of the twin boys you’ve stripped of seeing their mother for 10 years?

Is this the same “heart and spirit” that you’ve blatantly stopped a mother from attending every parents’ evening, every concert and birthday party since they were in the Kindergarten? Is this the same “heart and spirit” that despite a mother recording that one of her children was deliberately ramming himself against a wall in an act of self-harm, Rabbi Biderman testified in Court that both twins were ‘thriving with their father’. Is this the same “heart and spirit” that you wrongfully reported Beth Alexander to be mentally ill – despite knowing full well that this was a lie?

You may succeed to continue to pull the wool over the eyes of innocent families who may think by sending their beloved children to your school will be a good choice but we hope they’ll think again once they’ve read and learned what lies beneath your fake veneer ‘to grow up with joy and confidence’. Together with the Austrian courts, you have been culpable in damaging these poor children.

One doesn’t need to be a psychologist to know the mental damage these children will have suffered as a direct result of their treatment of which you are in part hugely responsible, having withheld them from being with their mother. The boys have been and continue to be used as pawns throughout this ghastly 10-year episode and I wonder, did anyone stop to think and ask them what they wanted? Granted if you ask them now – I believe they’ve been so heavily brainwashed in favour of their father – but you tell me: which child do you know who would ever elect to be without their mother?

A final note to the entire Lauder Chabad establishment: You may think it unnecessary for your names and school to be brandished across social media – but you’ve not seen anything yet! There are several thousands of us from all over the world in support of Beth and we are not going anywhere. In fact, we are just growing in numbers and support. We are fully supported by Chabad in our local communities with whom we’ve all raised your behaviour and coercion. Our local Chabad Rabbis are quite frankly sickened and ashamed by your involvement.

I/ we will continue to knock on your door; we shall continue to make so much noise; we simply will NOT stop, nor will we go away until there’s an independent investigation and only once Beth has been reunited with her boys. You may think that it’s a little ‘unnecessary’ for the several thousand of us from all over the world, to have taken to social media – but you just wait. This is only the very beginning. Karma will prevail.

 

Sarah Callis

#ReunitingBethWithHerBoys #helpbeth

Ukraine Forces Reportedly Kill Russia General Andrei Sukhovetsky in Blow to Invading Army

 https://www.newsweek.com/russia-ukraine-sukhovetsky-conflict-1684441

A top Russian military figure has been killed in the war in Ukraine according to local news outlets citing a social media post by his colleague.

Ukrainian news outlets were reporting that Andrei Sukhovetsky, deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army of the Central Military District, had been killed on Wednesday.

Media outlets cited a post on VKontakte announcing the death, written by Sergei Chipilev, a deputy of the Russian veterans group, Combat Brotherhood.

Russia’s Next Target for Intimidation Could Be Israel

 https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/russia-next-target-for-intimidation-could-be-israel

There is little doubt that fateful events in Ukraine have turned over the chess board in the Middle East, as elsewhere. While risks for Israel are bound to increase, it will need—now more than ever—firm American support and a confident U.S. policy in the Middle East. A new American deal with Iran, which remains America’s regional priority even during the war in Ukraine, seems unlikely to provide those assurances.

Tucker Carlson On Russian TV Again for Guest Comments Against Ukraine

 https://www.newsweek.com/carlson-makes-russian-state-tv-again-guest-comments-against-ukraine-1684345

Fox News host Tucker Carlson was featured on Russian state TV once again after Kremlin speakers told Ukraine to listen to Fox's pro-Russia talking points and surrender to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kremlin-funded media outlets ran translated clips from Fox News' conversation between Carlson and retired Colonel Douglas Macgregor, who has consistently urged Ukraine to retreat and give in to Putin. Russian TV ran the clips pushing Kremlin propaganda.

Macgregor, who previously supported Russia's annexation of Crimea, also said that Putin is being "demonized" by the U.S. and firmly opposes America's involvement in the conflict.

Why Three Republicans Voted Against House Resolution Standing With Ukraine

 https://www.newsweek.com/why-three-republicans-voted-against-house-resolution-standing-ukraine-1684351

The final tally on Wednesday was a near-unanimous vote of 426-3, with the House passing the resolution despite three "no" votes from Representatives Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). The trio have not released official statements on their votes, however, heavy criticism was quickly aimed at all three, with some politicians chastising them for voting against a resolution that received nearly complete bipartisan support.

Putin withstood sanctions before. The West came back with a better plan.

 https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/02/united-states-russia-sanctions-00012849

The last time Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine, U.S. sanctions tipped the Russian economy into recession. This time, the Americans and their European allies have leveled penalties that could lead to a full-on economic collapse.

Meanwhile, though the measures have sent shockwaves through Russia’s economy, it’s not yet clear what short-term relief they might bring to Ukraine.

“At this point, it’s not saving lives in Ukraine, but it is a huge show of unity across the world with the exception of a few important countries, especially China,” said Crebo-Rediker, now an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “It shows that behavior like this is not acceptable, and there are consequences.

Why Didn’t Putin Invade Under Trump? It Wasn’t Personal.

 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/03/02/putin-invade-ukraine-trump-00012897

Far from deterring Putin, Trump did the opposite. Thanks to Trump, Putin was able to take advantage of a period of apparent detente during which Trump actually pursued Putin’s own policies of weakening NATO and democracy and destabilizing the West — leaving Putin free to prepare his war against the free people of Ukraine and their democratically elected government.

United Nations General Assembly condemns Russian invasion of Ukraine 141-5

 https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-699136

The United Nations voted to condemn Russia's "aggression" against Ukraine 141-5, with 35 abstentions. Israel voted in favor.

Praying to Angels?

Sanhedrin (44b) Rabbi Yoḥanan says: The verse should be understood in a slightly different manner: A person should always pray for mercy that all heavenly beings should strengthen his power of prayer, and that he should have no enemies causing him trouble in Heaven above. 

Rashi (Sanhedrin 44b) לעולם יבקש אדם רחמים שיהו הכל מאמצים את כחו - שיסייעוהו מלאכי השרת לבקש רחמים ושלא יהו לו מסטינים מלמעלה והכי משמע היערוך שועך אם באתה לערוך שועך כזאת תערכהו לא בצר שלא יהו לך צרים ושהכל יהו במאמצי כחך:

Rashshash (Sanhedrin 44b) גמרא לעולם יבקש אדם רחמים שיהו הכל מאמצין א"כ כו'. ועי' פירש"י. ומזה יש ללמד זכות על פזמון דמלאכי רחמים וכו' חלו נא פני אל וכו' ונוסח מכניסי רחמים הכניסו כו' וכיוצא באלו אשר רבים גמגמו עליהם. אך י"ל דהכא דוקא ביחיד וכמו דמחלק הש"ס בסוטה (לג) ועי' באחרונים באו"ח ס"ס ק"א:

Yerushalmi (Brachos chapter 9:1) Rebbi Judan said in his own name. Flesh and blood has a protector. If someone is in trouble, he does not enter the protector’s place suddenly but rather stands at his door and calls his slave or familiar and that one will say: the man X is standing at the door of your courtyard. Maybe he will make him enter, maybe he will let him stand. But the Holy One, praise to Him, is not like this: If a human is in trouble, he should cry neither to Michael nor to Gabriel, rather he should cry to Me and I shall answer him immediately; that is what is written (Joel 3:5): “Every one who calls on. The sentence is slightly ambiguous; one could also translate “who invokes the Name”; that is the meaning given to the verse in the next paragraph. the name of the Eternal will escape.”

Russian Newspapers Condemn Ukraine War: 'This Madness Must be Stopped'

 https://www.newsweek.com/russia-ukraine-war-putin-madness-newspapers-urals-1683987

A newspaper group in Russia has risked the wrath of government authorities by publishing editions that carry a stern anti-war message.

The publishing group VK-media, which is not connected to social media giant Vkontakte, published editions of their papers in the Urals region with a cover dedicated to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Barr recalls yelling at Trump over Hunter Biden in last conversation before 2020 election

 https://www.foxnews.com/politics/barr-yelled-trump-hunter-biden-2020-election

Former Attorney General Bill Barr revealed that his last conversation with former President Trump before the 2020 election was a heated exchange that resulted in the two men not talking for weeks.

In his upcoming book, "One Damn Thing After Another," Barr recalled that in October 2020, Trump called soon after a Newsmax segment on Hunter Biden's laptop. Reports about the computer revolved around emails that appeared to connect Joe Biden to his son's business dealings when the elder Biden was vice president.

Erdan excluded from UN session on Ukraine

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/323143

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid decided on Tuesday that Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, would not speak at the emergency meeting of the UN General Assembly on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Erdan’s deputy, Noa Furman, spoke in his place.

According to a report on Galei Tzahal (IDF Radio), due to the sensitive relations with the Russians, Lapid decided to downgrade the level of the Israeli speaker in the discussion so that the Israeli support for a condemnation of Russia would not be interpreted in Moscow as a far-reaching step that the Russians would have to respond to.

A political official claimed that alongside the diplomatic reasoning, Lapid - who has had several run ins with Erdan - wanted the speaker on behalf of Israel to stick to wording written by officials in the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem and Furman, who is a diplomat on behalf of the ministry, would do so.

According to the source, there was concern that Ambassador Erdan would add to the speech things that were not agreed upon with the professional echelon and would damage relations with Russia.

''If I'm killed, may those who remained silent be cursed'

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/323168

The Chief Rabbi of Ukraine called on Russian Jews and non-Jews to protest the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, and cursed Russians who remain silent and ‘complicit’ in the war.

“I’m recording this appeal for the rabbis of Russia, for the Jews of Russia, and simply, to Russian people with one message: stop the war. Don’t believe what they tell you on television, they’re lying. There are war crimes being committed here,” said Rabbi Moshe Reuven Azman, the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine and a member of the Chabad movement.

In a video statement released Wednesday, Rabbi Azman lamented the plight of Ukrainian civilians, saying that many were suffering from shortages of food and medicine, along with the artillery and air attacks by the Russian military.

“The Russian army which beat the Nazis in 1941 is today bombing Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odessa – civilian populations!”

“Yesterday, Jews and non-Jews from all over Kyiv called me asking for humanitarian help. Every day I’m working to help innocent civilians and residents; old people, women and children – grandmothers are calling me saying they are going to die if they don’t get their medication, mothers call me telling me that their children are suffering because of the bombings and lack of food.”

“Our volunteers face life-threatening danger. But I haven’t left, I’m still here, because I care and I will not abandon my community. I am the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine.”

“I have been silent for a long time, but I cannot stay silent any longer. Dear Russians, dear Jews – all people who are not indifferent:

“Remember, that he who does not care and he who agrees silently, is an accomplice in this crime. A war crime! A crime against humanity! I’m not saying it based on the television, I’m telling you what I see here.”

Open Letter To Jacob Biderman : LAUDER CHABAD IS GUILTY

 info@lauderchabad.at

biderman@lauderchabad.at

Rabbi Biderman,

CHABAD DENY CULPABILITY

I am writing to you, Rabbi Jacob Biderman, because I believe you have a right to know that the linked document is being sent all over the Jewish world and beyond. We are posting it on all relevant social media platforms and websites. To be clear, this is not a hate campaign against you. Rather it is a justice campaign for Sammy and Benji Schlesinger – two young pupils in your school who have suffered a decade of unimaginable heartbreak as their mother has been erased from their lives.

How could you do this to innocent children? You call yourself a Rabbi yet your heart is rock hard. You lied to the courts about their mother. You have no understanding of a mother’s role in the lives of her children. Jewish Law excuses mothers from all the mitzvot that are time constrained. Our great Rabbis and Hashem Himself knows a mother needs to be constantly available to her children. That their mother’s love and guidance is crucial for their wellbeing.

Did you miss this lecture in Yeshiva, Rabbi Biderman? Did you also miss the lesson on the 10 Commandments where it says you shall not tell lies against your neighbour? Ten Yom HaKippurim have gone by since you decided to help Michael Schlesinger destroy his wife and inflict as yet unknowable damage on their children. What were you doing on these holiest of days when you should have been atoning for your sins? Did you give one thought to the evil you were perpetuating year after year?

Yes, we are telling everyone not to enroll in your school because until you even understand what you have done, it is too risky to allow children to be in your care. You had the audacity to reply that this was a private family matter and that the school did not involve itself. Really?!! Now you are SUDDENLY impartial?!! After you took it upon yourself to block Beth Alexander from all contact with her sons? After you give her no information about their welfare or their education?!! After you barred her from attending their birthday parties in school?!! After you ignored the confusion and depression of two little boys in your care and told the courts they were thriving?!! Or maybe you didn’t notice, which is even more alarming from someone in charge of a school.

Call yourself a “Rabbi” if it makes you feel important. You are no Rabbi to us. For now, all we can hope for is that you aim to be a mere mensch. Until you understand what you have done and try to repair some of the damage you have caused, we will continue to fight for justice for Sammy and Benji. Someone has to advocate for them. Sometimes teachers can intervene to help vulnerable children. In this case it was their teacher, Jacob Biderman, who ensured they remain vulnerable.

We are more than 6,000 people dedicated to Beth and her children. We are not duplicitous as you were when you forwarded Beth’s pleading and heartfelt emails to her ex-husband’s lawyers. We only deal with the truth, unlike you when you told UK Chief Rabbis Ephraim Mirvis and Jonathan Sacks, of blessed memory, that Beth was mentally ill. We will not go away. Until this is resolved satisfactorily, this truth will follow you for the rest of your life, from job to job, and from community to community.

Ask yourself how the name of Rabbi Jacob Biderman will be remembered. What will your legacy be in this world? I can tell you that it will either be the story of how you destroyed the lives of a Jewish family to further your career, or it will be how you repented and ended up on the side of goodness. Your choice. Either way, the Jewish world will know. We all eagerly await your decision for the final chapter of this tragedy that you helped to create. Remember that according to Jewish law, real atonement begins with asking forgiveness from those you have wronged. Although how you can apologise to children for keeping their mother from them for ten years, I cannot imagine.

For full disclosure, I am copying this email to Ronald Lauder, Chabad HQ, and Chabad Rabbis around the world. It is also their right to know what is happening in a school that bears their names. Please don’t waste everyone’s time by crying that this is all lies. Everything is officially documented and recorded. Your only honourable course of action is to look inwards, examine your past behaviour, choose a new path of honesty and righteousness, and pray that God will forgive you for what you have done to his children.

Rachel Selby

Jerusalem

Why Trump's bizarre airport claim may have been his gaffe correction strategy backfiring at the most embarrassing moment

 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-airports-revolutionary-war-4th-of-july-speech-gaffe-a8990021.html

Donald Trump's surprising claim that George Washington's revolutionary troops "took over the airports" during the War of Independence could be explained by his method of correcting himself when he misreads his autocue - doubling down and trying to incorporate the mistake into his speech.

His bizarre ad lib, suggesting there were airports to seize more than 100 years before the first successful flight, came moments after he seemed to stumble over a phrase in his speech.

Describing how Washington's patriots defeated the British between 1775 and 1783, the president told crowds gathered to hear his Fourth of July address: "Our army manned the air." At that point he paused briefly, apparently realising he had misspoken, before continuing: "It rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do …"

Seemingly thrown by the mistakes, he then alluded to Fort McHenry, a Maryland stronghold best known for its role in a completely different conflict - the 1812 war with Britain.

It's not clear exactly how the speech was meant to read.

20 Funniest Presidential Gaffes of All Time

 https://mastersinpublicadministration.com/20-funniest-presidential-gaffes-of-all-time

We’re all human and capable of making mistakes, but those who live their lives in the public eye are for more susceptible to feeling the pain long after the mistake has been made. Presidential gaffes are a dime a dozen, but here’s a collection of the funniest mistakes and moments of embarrassment ever encountered by a president or vice president while on the job.

Lindsey Graham criticizes Israel for refusing to sell weapons to Ukraine

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/lindsey-graham-criticizes-israel-for-refusing-to-sell-weapons-to-ukraine/

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham criticizes Israel for declining to sell Ukraine weapons to fend off the ongoing Russian invasion.

“They asked Israel — no bigger fan of Israel than Lindsey Graham — for stinger [missiles], and apparently Israel said no. So I’ll get on the phone to Israel. You know, we stand up for Israel with the Iron Dome,” Graham tells Fox News, suggesting that the US expects better from its longstanding ally.

“Putin is a thug. He’s a war criminal. He’s destroying a sovereign nation called Ukraine. And if we don’t get Ukraine and Russia right, the Chinese are going to move on Taiwan and the Iranians gonna break out toward a bomb. So it’s in everybody’s interest” for Ukraine to be able to defend itself, Graham argues.

Time running out for Israel on Ukraine

 https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-time-running-out-for-israel-on-ukraine-1001403629

Why the backtracking? Israel assigns decisive importance to Russia's control of Syria and the freedom of action that the Russians give it there. The Russian army maintains advanced air defense systems in Syria that could seriously disturb Israeli planes attacking Iranian targets and Hezbollah bases and arms dumps in the country.

There is also the economic question. Israel's trade with Russia is extensive and growing. About half of Israel's imported wheat comes from Russia (another 30% comes from Ukraine). Russia is a very big export destination for Israeli agricultural produce, while Israeli technology companies are cooperating more and more with Russian companies and investors. All this will be put in danger when Israel has to join Western sanctions against Russia, and it will not be able to avoid that.

Ties with Russia Compromise Israel’s Stance on Ukraine

 https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/ties-with-russia-compromise-israels-stance-on-ukraine

What Lapid may have been alluding to, but did not say, is that without understandings with Putin the Israeli Air Force would not be able to bomb Iranian convoys crossing Syria to deliver arms to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Correspondingly, Putin has refused to allow the Syrian military to use highly accurate S-300 anti-aircraft missiles against Israel. Iran, like Russia, has forces in Syria that are helping to prop up the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Russia has been allowing Israel to contain the expansion of the Iranian force, which could become a potential rival in influencing Assad, and this arrangement is Russia’s ticket to accessing a Mediterranean port in Tartus.

In addition, Ukraine is home to about two hundred thousand people who qualify for Israeli citizenship and could emigrate under the law of return. Zelensky himself is a Jew, but Israeli leaders seem to think that a great many other Ukrainian Jews would choose to emigrate to Israel rather than resist a continued Russian assault or occupation. “We’ll be happy to receive any Jew that wants to immigrate from Ukraine,” an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson told Newsweek. Yet, presumably, a mass evacuation wouldn’t be possible if Israel incited Putin’s anger, or poked at residual Russian anti-Semitism. There are some hundred and seventy-five thousand Jews left in Russia, too—among them billionaire oligarchs who’ve been close to Putin, and who maintain homes and investments in Israel. (The most prominent of these, perhaps, is oil-magnate Roman Abramovich, who recently made a ten-million-dollar contribution to the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum, in Jerusalem; the museum’s chairman is lobbying the Biden Administration to exempt Abramovich from sanctions.)

Shaked: Ukrainians seeking shelter allowed entry to Israel

 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hjhu7z3gq

Nonetheless, population and immigration authority data show that since the beginning of the war up until Tuesday morning, 253 passengers with Ukrainian passports arrived in Israel and 50 were turned away. 

The ambassador's word were echoed in a protests in Haifa on Tuesday evening. "In such a critical point we have to unite and help as many Ukrainian refugees as possible", said city council man, Kirill Karetnik.

Shaked Refutes Ukrainian Claim Israel Denying Refugees Entry

 https://hamodia.com/2022/03/02/shaked-refutes-ukrainian-claim-israel-denying-refugees-entry/

Ambassador Korniychuk’s comments were not well received by Ayelet Shaked.

“You should stick to the facts,” she wrote in an online post. “As of this morning, 97 passengers from different countries around the world have arrived in Israel with a Ukrainian passport, of which only 2 have been refused.”

Shaked explained that the few cases in which someone had a problem being admitted to Israel included one passenger who came from Georgia with what she described as a “borrowed identity” and apparently not his own passport. She said that the second case was of a person who came to Israel from Poland wanting to immigrate. So neither of the people who were refused entry into the country came directly from Ukraine and were not forced to return there. Both were sent to the countries that they had come from in accordance with international aviation laws.

Children Punished for Sins of Parents

 https://aish.com/children-punished-for-sins-of-parents/

The Talmud (Sanhedrin 27b; see also Targum to Exodus 20:5) answers by noting a contradiction in the verses of the Torah itself. On the one hand, Exodus 34:7 states: “He visits the sins of the fathers on the sons…” On the other, Deuteronomy 24:16 states, “A man shall be put to death for his own sin.” The Talmud answers that when is a person punished for his forebears’ sins – when he follows in their footsteps. If the child learns better but willingly and consciously decides to continue in his parents’ wicked path, then he becomes obligated to rectify not only his own sins but the past family sins he took responsibility for by adopting as his own.

Punishing a child for the sins of his father

 https://www.yeshiva.co/ask/55664

Therefore, they also asked how the above verse can be reconciled with another verse in the Torah which says " keeps in mind the iniquity of the fathers upon the children" (Shemot 34:7) ? The answer given is that the verse which finds the children accountable for the sins of the fathers is referring to a situation where the children adopt the actions of their ancestors as their own. If they do not behave like their ancestors, they are not punished for their ancestors’ sins.

COVENANT & CONVERSATION

 https://www.rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation/ki-teitse/to-the-third-and-fourth-generations/

In general the Sages rejected the idea that children could be punished, even at the hands of heaven, for the sins of their parents. As a result, they systematically re-interpreted every passage that gave the opposite impression, that children were indeed being punished for their parents’ sins. Their general position was this:

Are not children then to be put to death for the sins committed by their parents? Is it not written, “Visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children?” – There the reference is to children who follow in their parents footsteps (literally “seize their parents’ deeds in their hands,” i.e. commit the same sins themselves).[2]

Can Ukraine have a ‘Nazi problem’ with a Jewish president?

 https://jewishunpacked.com/can-ukraine-have-a-nazi-problem-with-a-jewish-president/

Last week, Ukraine’s parliament passed a law criminalizing antisemitism as defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).

IHRA defines antisemitism, in part, as “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews,” and “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination” by “claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.”

This definition has been adopted by 35 countries, at least a dozen American states, the European Union Parliament and more than 1,000 organizations and universities worldwide. It was formally endorsed by the government of Israel in 2017.

In Ukraine, the offense of antisemitism is now punishable by a fine or a prison sentence of up to five years.

Despite this, antisemitism is not a thing of the past in Ukraine.

The country has been historically reluctant to reckon with its role in the Holocaust, during which more than one million Jews were killed by the Nazis and local Ukrainian collaborators. 

Smear and Loathing: A Close Look at Accusations of Ukrainian Anti‐​Semitism

 https://www.cato.org/commentary/smear-loathing-close-look-accusations-ukrainian-anti-semitism

Given this cast of characters, it’s unsurprising that—as Shekhovtsov reported on the Open Democracy website in May 2014—the Kremlin propaganda narrative depicting post‐​Euromaidan Ukraine as a nest of neo‐​Nazis would coexist with frequent, virulent anti‐​Semitic rhetoric in the separatist movement in Eastern Ukraine. Shekhovtsov mentions street posters, leaflets, internet posts, and even speeches at rallies attacking the new government in Kyiv as a Jewish clique out to use Ukrainians to defend the interests of rich Jews, or depicting the Euromaidan revolution as a “Zionist coup.”

The Kremlin itself has sometimes resorted to subtler forms of Jew‐​baiting in its psychological warfare against Ukraine. Last October, Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former Putin‐​puppet president and currently deputy chairman of the security council, published a repulsive ad hominem tirade arguing that negotiations with the current Ukrainian government were pointless because its members, in addition to being weak, greedy, and corrupt, were damaged people without stable national and ethnic roots. The longest and nastiest portion of the article attacked Zelensky as a man with “particular ethnic roots” who had “essentially rejected his identity” for political and pragmatic reasons and compared him to a Jew in Nazi Germany seeking a post in the SS.

Sins of Fathers and Sons

 https://ohr.edu/explore_judaism/ask_the_rabbi/ask_the_rabbi/5321

From: Jonathan

Dear Rabbi,

I read that G-d remembers good deeds for thousands of generations. However, the bad deeds of the current generation are carried onward for three or four generations. This infliction on those who are yet unborn or on those who are not directly responsible for the bad deeds does not seem right to me. Perhaps you could provide some positive thoughts. Thank you and best regards.

Dear Jonathan,

I agree with you that punishing innocents for crimes that others have committed doesn't seem fair. The Talmud in Tractate Brachot (7a) discusses this issue and resolves it in the following way:

Behold one verse says: 'He delivers the sins of the fathers upon the children' (Ex. 34:7) and yet another says: 'And the children shall not die on account of their fathers' (Deut. 24:16). These verses apparently contradict one another, but they can be reconciled by saying that there is no difficulty: one verse is talking about when the children are continuing the evil ways of their parents and the other is referring to when they are not maintaining the evil ways of their parents.

So, according to the Talmud, the verse that is troubling you is referring specifically to a scenario where the children or grandchildren are continuing in their parents' evil ways. In the Book of Samuel II (21:1-11) there is an example of this, which, at first glance, seems very troubling.

Ukraine envoy ‘disappointed’ by Israel detaining refuge-seekers, wants defensive aid

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/ukraine-envoy-disappointed-by-israel-detaining-refuge-seekers-wants-defensive-aid/

Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk said Tuesday he was “disappointed” that some Ukranian refuge-seekers were being detained upon arrival in Israel, and expressed dismay that Israel continues to refuse to provide much-needed helmets and military vests for military and civil protection.

He also brought up Ukrainians who assisted Jews during the Holocaust, saying Israel should now be helping his countrymen too.

“We were disappointed yesterday with a decision of the interior minister [Ayelet Shaked] that explained that [Israel] will not allow Ukrainian refugees to come to Israel,” Korniychuk said at a press conference in Tel Aviv.

Explaining why he believes Israel has a moral imperative to admit Ukrainian refuge-seekers, Korniychuk recalled Ukrainians who helped save Jewish lives during the Holocaust.

“You will remember the times of the Second World War when the Ukrainians were saving massively the Jewish lives during the Holocaust,” said Korniychuk.

He mentioned the fact that Ukraine has the fourth-most Righteous Among the Nations — non-Jews who saved Jewish lives during the war.

“We saved the Jewish lives at that time, we are [asking] you to help the Ukrainians to overcome this strategy [of monetary deposits] now. This is why the issue of the bail of NIS 10,000 or NIS 20,000 is not acceptable. This is a humanitarian catastrophe and I want you to consider that seriously.”

 https://helpbeth.org/lauder-chabad-statement-on-facebook-1st-march-2022/

CHABAD DENY CULPABILITY

Posted on March 1, 2022 by Beth

Chabad Rabbi Biderman of the Lauder Chabad school

On the 1st March 2022 the following statement was published by the Lauder Chabad school on their facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/LauderChabadCampus/posts/257909923127020

Lauder Chabad Campus
Unfortunately, and unjustly, Jewish institutions in Vienna are being attacked on social media due to a personal divorce dispute.
Lauder Chabad Campus and its staff are proud to provide quality education to all interested families of the Jewish community of Vienna.
We are entirely impartial and wholly uninvolved in these personal family affairs. These issues are dealt solely by the legal authorities over whom we have no influence.
Due to data protection issues and ethical reasons, we cannot discuss individual cases via social media.

Biderman and the Lauder Chabad school claim to be impartial, yet they have done the following:

• Submitted a statement to the court. Read here
• Covered up the abuse of Sammy and Benjy Schlesinger. Read here
• Forwarded private emails to judge Konstanze Thau who is not legally allowed to be involved in the case. Read here.
• Lauder Chabad school did not allow Beth to attend the twins’ birthday party at the kindergarten. Read here.
• Lauder Chabad have blocked Beth from attending every parents’ evening, concerts, birthday parties or a single event at the school. They have not provided Beth with any school reports so she has no idea what progress, if any, the twins are making or even what they may be learning.
• Blatantly told Chief Rabbi Mirvis, and the late Lord Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks that Beth was mentally ill despite knowing this was a lie.

• Impartial: Dictionary definition: not partial or biased; fair; just