Another Island of Sanctuary For Jews: Rhodes

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                     

Island of Rhodes in Aegean Sea

Another island that Jews have settled in was the Greek island in the Aegean sea, Rhodes.  Jews have lived there as far back as in the classical days, and in the 12th century, numbering  about 500.  It maintained itself under the rule of the Knights of St. John from 1309 to 1522, though in the end, suffered for suspected sympathy with the Turks.
                                                                                

"The city of Rhodes had 50,636 inhabitants in 2011. It is located northeast of Crete, southeast of Athens and just off the Anatolian coast of Turkey.  Rhodes' nickname is The island of the Knights, named after the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, who once conquered the land

Historically, Rhodes was famous worldwide for the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World." Rhodes is 28 hours away from Jerusalem, or 2,082.7km via M5.  If you draw a straight line from Rhodes to Jerusalem, it is only  824.39 km. This distance is equal to 512.25 miles, and 444.84 nautical miles.   Today, it is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe.                                                                       

Under Turkish rule, many Sephardi settlers arrived, which changed the population of the community, which was formerly Greek.  By 1840, the Jews here were accused of a Ritual Murder but was averted through the intervention of Sir Moses Montiefiore.  After the Italian occupation from 1912, an attempt was made to establish Rhodes as a center for the diffusion of an Italianized Jewish culture among the Jews of the Middle East, and in the Fascist period, a rabbinical seminary was surprisingly established.

Then 1938 came along.  The Italian anti-Semitic legislation led to a big exodus from the island, largely to Rhodesia and the Belgian Congo, South Africa.  The majority of those who stayed were deported to their death by the Germans in WWII and few out of a former population of about 4,000 remain today.  

This is ironic because during the Holocaust years from 1938 to 1945, Turkey did more to save Jewish lives than the USA or Great Britain!  It was due to the intervention of a diplomat serving in Rhodes.  Before the war, Italy held this island.  Then the German army occupied it in 1943 when about 2,000 Jews were living there.  Many had come there from Turkey, Greece and Italy.
                                                                           

By 1944, the Gestapo ordered all the Jews of Rhodes to report to "temporary relocation," knowing they meant Auschwitz.  The diplomat, Selahattin Ulkumen, immediately went to the German commanding officer and told him that Turkey was officially neutral, and so that meant that the Jewish there were Turkish citizens and had to be released, but the Nazi officer refused.  He said that under Nazi law, all Jews were Jews without rights and had to be sent to the concentration camps.  Selahattin argued further by saying that under Turkish law, all citizens were equal and Jews were not treated differently than Christians or Muslims.  He then  threatened the German officer and told him that if he didn't release the Jewish Turks and their extended families, Turkey would cause an international incident.  After much tension,  he managed to get 50 Jewish Turks  released out of the approximate 2,000.

All 50 survived the war because of Selahattin.  He, however, paid a high price for his bravery.  Because of his non-cooperation, the Germans bombed the Turkish consulate on Rhodes.  Selahattin's pregnant wife, Mihrinissa, was killed in the blast, along with 2 other consular employees.  We see that it was not only Ashkenazi Jews who suffered from the Holocaust, but also Sephardim Jews as well.  Remember the movie, Casablanca with Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart?  They were in Morocco, and there were the Nazis.  Jews must have been rounded up there, too, only the movie never went into that.
                                                       

Turkey postage stamp with Ulkumen

               

Yad Yashem's honor for Ulkumen

Israel's honor on a stamp for Ulkumen

After the war, Selahattin returned to Turkey and in 1989 was honored as "RIGHTEOUS AMONG THE NATIONS" by  the Israeli Holocaust Museum, Yad Vashem, and in 1990, Israel issued a postage stamp in his honor.  Selahattin died in Istanbul in 2003 at age 89.  Sephardi Jews from Turkey honor Selahattin Ulkumen as this week's Thursday Hero.

Resource: The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Anna Kearnan on Sephardic Group, facebook
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodes

Was Aramaic or Hebrew Part of the Palestinian Arabs of Today?

Syriac-Aramaic Alphabet

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                       

Early Aramaic-alphabet

Evidently, Jesus, the Christian founder,  spoke Aramaic in his day.  This is why Christians have taken an interest in the ancient language.  The Pope came and visited with Netanyahu and mentioned Aramaic, not giving into the fact that people continued using Hebrew as well.  Hebrew was revived and used again after 1880 with the waves of Jews coming into "Palestine" in what was called aliyahs  from Russian territories who had suffered from  pogroms.  Now it's the language of Israel once again.
                                                                         

Yeshua (Jesus) in Aramaic
The letters, read from right to left, look like Hebrew to me and
would be: Yud, Shin, Vuv, Ayin.   I would call this old Hebrew.
Even I can read it as Hebrew.  

                                                                             

Hebrew Alphabet

The language of Israel was  and still is Hebrew.  It had only been used in the synagogues for centuries in prayers and the readings in the Torah and Tanakh.
                                                                         

The Hebrew letter A (Aleph) through the ages

However, Aramaic emerged as an international language, especially used for commerce from the period of the late Assyrian and Persian kingdoms of the 6th century BCE.  This is found as evidence by the many inscriptions found in Asia Minor, Egypt, India and in other places where it was never the native language.  The Babylonians, led by Nebuchadnezzar,  had attacked Israel in 597 and 586 BCE and had taken many captives.  They destroyed the 1st Temple of Solomon.
                                                                           

Hebrew, Arabic and English sign
Hebrew pronunciation:  Ya-roosh-al-eye-eem

Aramaic  was for many centuries, the  vernacular spoken in Judea.  The Romans had been occupiers much before 70 CE when they destroyed the Temple by burning it down and captured the inhabitants to be sold as slaves or used for their own as slaves. King Herod, appointed by the Romans, died in 4 BCE.  10 years later, Judea was under direct Roman administration.  The Romans suppressed Jewish life and this resulted into sporadic violence which escalated into a full-scale revolt in 66 CE.  Titus led his superior Roman soldiers to battle against the Jews and wound up razing Jerusalem to the ground in 70 CE.  Then they defeated the last Jewish outpost at Masada in 73 CE.  Finally, Aluf Bar Kochba took Jerusalem back in 132 CE but was finally killed in battle in 135 CE.  It was then that the Romans renamed the Jewish land to Palaestina, after the Phoenicians who were Israel's enemies.  They renamed Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina.

Life regained itself, however, from the Romans who caused the death of hundreds of thousands of Jews in the siege of Jerusalem and elsewhere in the country, along with the many thousands more who were sold into slavery.   Jews and Judaism survived Rome by making adjustments.  Instead of the Temple that they burned to the ground, Jews created synagogues in places they had been taken.  The Sanhedrin wass reconvened in Yavneh in 70 CE and later in Tiberias.  There was a small remaining Jewish community that gradually recovered and grew with returning exiles.  Rabbis and the synagogue became the focus of Jewish settlement.  Many remnants of synagogues have been found at Capernaum, Korazin, Bar'am, Gamla and other places.  It was our Halakhah, the Jewish religious law, that served as the common bond among the Jews and was passed on from generation to generation with our Hebrew writings and our oral laws.  .

Biblical readings had to be translated from the Hebrew to Aramaic in the synagogues for the benefit of congregants who didn't understand Hebrew anymore.  It persisted as a literary tongue for a long time and was the language of the Zohar and of later kabbalistic poetry.

This Aramaic is looked upon as intermediate Western Aramaic which was the language of the Palestinian Talmud.  We have 2 Talmuds; the Palestinian written there, and the Babylonian Talmud, written when Jews had to live in Babylonia.  The Aggadic Midrashim, Targum Jonathan and the Samaritan translation of the Pentateuch and the eastern Aramaic was included in this grouping.

Dead Sea Scrolls, found in caves at Khurbet Kumran, 7.5 miles from Jericho in 1947.
The writers, from a Jewish sect,   lived there until 68 CE.  They were from writings of the Bible and were
written in Hebrew.  There was an Aramaic version of the Book of enoch.  You can see them today in Israel where they are housed at the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem.   Their discovery has advanced the study of the Hebrew text of the bible, as the previous known oldest versions date from the Middle Ages.  

                                                                                          

The Torah, the 5 Books of Moses,
All in Hebrew

Jews who have settled in Israel since 1948 that came from the Kurdish districts of Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Persia (Iran) and Russia still spoke new Aramaic as the Nestorian Christians there did also.

Formal literary dialects of Aramaic based on Hasmonean and Babylonian  were followed by other dialects.  and Western varieties were spoken in Judea in the time of Jesus.  Old Judean Aramaic was the prominent dialect of Jerusalem and Judaea.  The Ein Gedi region was the where you found the Southeat Judaean dialect.  Samaria had its distinctive Samaritan Aramaic, where the consonants "he", "heth" and "ayin" all became pronounced as "aleph".  The Galilean Aramaic where Jesus came from in the Gospel story is only known from a few place names, , and in Galilean Targumic, some rabbinic literature and a few private letters.  It had a number of distinctive features;  diphthongs that were never simplified into monophthongs.  In the East of the Jordan, the various dialects of East Jordanian were spoken.  Around Damascus, Syria and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, Damascene Aramaic was spoken.  As far north as Aleppo, Syria, the western dialect of Orontes Aramaic was spoken. Note this was in Syria, which was then part of Israel.
                                                                     

English read from left to right
Hebrew read from right to left
it means "GOOD LUCK!"
ma--ZEL   TOV

The languages of Hebrew and Aramaic influenced each other.  Hebrew words entered Jewish Aramaic.  Aramaic words entered Hebrew.  The Christian New Testament was written in Greek.  It often preserved non-Greek semiticisms, including transliterations of Semitic words, and mistakes were often made.

No, Palestinians of today came from surrounding lands and were Muslims. In fact, the people hadn't followed Islam until Mohammad came along, born in 570 CE and died in 632 CE.  It was the 3rd religion of the Middle East.  It was those Russian Jews who came in the 1st to 5 aliyahs who attracted them since they figured they could get jobs in their building of towns in the late 1800s.  .   Their language was Arabic unless they were Christian Arabs and might have spoken an Aramaic dialect.

At the junior high in Safed where I taught English, the Arab students took Hebrew and the Jewish students took Arabic.  The students would get together later and help each other with their homework.  I don't think it was as hard for them since Arabic is also similar to Hebrew, and they all read from right to left.  

Resource: The New Standard Jewish encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramaic_language
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Romans.html
Update 7/31/16 book:  Hidden Gospel, by Neil Douglas-Klotz, on Aramaic, history, background, definitions, a Sufi with one parent Jewish, another not.  Mostly covering the Aramaic in the 1st century BCE and CE. ; includes CDs on subject with chanting

Selected Vice President Kaine and his Resume is Flawed

Nadene Goldfoot                                                      

And I thought Hillary said that Tim Kaine, her selection for Vice President, was without blemish.  For her interests, that's probably true, but not for my interest that is dear to my heart:  Israel's existence.

Act for America has just disclosed that Virginia's Senator, Tim Kaine, has a HISTORY of embracing Islamists.  He's not much different than Hillary.  No wonder she picked him.

What has he done to prove this?  
1. He appointed a Hamas supporter to a state immigration commission.  
2. He spoke at a dinner honoring a Muslim Brotherhood terror suspect. 
3.  He has received donations from well-known questionable Islamist groups, and people don't put money into Senators without expecting something in return.

Here are the facts:
                                                                                   

Dr. Esam Orneish, a surgeon, born in Libya on December 19, 1967 , immigrated at 15.
His hometown is in Falls Church, Virginia. 

1. In 2007, Kaine was the Governor of Virginia.  He chose the Muslim American Society (MAS) President, Esam Orneish, to the state's Immigration Commission.  A Muslim organization against Islamism criticized the appointment and reckless lack of vetting. 

It depends on who does the vetting and what they are considering that concludes the process.  If I were vetting, I would have spotted these facts that Act for America did.  The good doctor had to hand in his resignation from the Virginia Commission on Immigration due to a jihad controversy.  Orneish  was the former President of the Muslim American Society and the 2009 State Assemblyman's primary election candidate in the 35th District of the Virginia House of Delegates.  When he was president of MAS in 2005, he was at a news conference and announced an anti-terrorism campaign that was being launched by a coalition of US-based Muslim groups.  That sounded good.

He's a former Vice President and current board member of the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church and has consistently worked against extremist elements within Muslim community.  He has said that the mainstream Islamic community needs to protect itself from extremist ideology and violent action. 

However....in 2000 Esam was among those who recommended the hiring of Anwar al-Awlaki as the mosque's imam.  This American-born cleric was espousing moderate Muslim view and seemed to be able to bridge  the American and Muslim cultures.
                                                                         

Anwar al Awalaki, PhD b: 1971 Las Cruces, New Mexico, d: 2011 in Yemen,
Salafist Imam. 

Anwar al Awalaki has since turned out to be a dangerous man.   He was an American and Yemeni imam and an  Islamic lecturer.   U.S. government officials allege that he was a senior recruiter and motivator who was involved in planning terrorist operations for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda, and he became the first United States citizen to be targeted and killed in a United States drone strike.  Did our good doctor do a good job of vetting?  At the least, he was very naive about some Muslims and their goals in life..  I contend that Hillary has been, also.  

Dr. Esam Orneish wrote that the reason his group, MAS, drew inspiration from the Muslim Brotherhood was "in order to espouse the values of human dialogue, tolerance, and moderation. "  I know that this is a bunch of poppycock.  I've read their goals in life and it is to destroy Israel and kill Jews.  The Muslim Brotherhood is bad news.  Even Egypt's General Sisi saw that and led the ousting of the newly "elected" Morsi, head of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.  Orneish was kidding himself and others.
                                                                                      

Sderot, Israel, town closest to Gaza which has received constant hits of rockets
by Hamas Gazans.  

On August 12, 2006, Dr. Omeish was filmed at a rally in Washington near the White House and he was denouncing Israel's invasion of Lebanon that year and the "Israeli war machine."    Never mind that Israel been attacked by the Gazan Arabs constantly and wouldn't stop, causing this.  He accused Israel of genocide and massacres against Palestinians, and said the "Israeli agenda" controlled Congress."  I notice the Arabs who attack Israel use events that have happened to Jews, such as "genocide. " Israel put their own soldiers in harm's way in trying to prevent deaths of Palestinians with all sorts of warnings.  Orneish saw no problem in killing Jews, only complained when his people got it back. He should have learned the Golden Rule of not doing to others what you don't want done to you.  

This didn't phase Kaine, however. He most likely agreed with Orneish because,  of what he did next.   In 2007, Dr. Orneish received the "Outstanding Physician of the Year" award.  That year Tim Kaine appointed him to the commission on immigration that had to evaluate issues related to illegal immigration.  

Now Dr. Orneish started criticizing Israel again  in several videos and show the USA government encouraging Jihad. In one video, Orneish said to Washington-area Muslims;  "You have learned the way, that you have known that the jihad way is the way to liberate your land."   In another, he praised Palestinians for giving up their lives for Allah.  In a 3rd video, he addressed a crowd, and said, "We must prosecute those who are responsible for this war.  Impeach Bush today!  Let us cleanse our State Department, our Congress, our Pentagon of those who have driven America into this colossal mistake." 

 Kaine therefore asked for Omeish's resignation from the commission on September 27, 2007, and he did.  when Kaine did this, he also said, "Omeish is a respected physician and community leader, yet I have been made aware of certain statements he has made which concern me."  Then Kaine concluded, saying that background checks of commission nominees would be more thorough in the future.  
                                                                     
That wasn't the end of Omeish, though.  He had the chutspah to run for State Assemblyman in the Democratic Party primary election in 2009 in Virginia and raised $143,7334 for his campaigning which included $52,000 of his own money.  His 3rd highest contributor was the International Institute of Islamic Thought. " A source told the FBI that IIIT leaders speak of a six-stage plan to 'institute the Islamic Revolution in the United States.' The leaders 'indicated that in this phase their organization needs to peacefully get inside the United States government and also American universities.'" Take a good look.  American Universities have turned on the whole completely against Israel these days.   He came in 3rd.  Whew! 
                                                                               

Obama was all for Morsi, head of Muslim Brotherhood

In Arafat's early days, Hillary was very fond of him.  It was an admiration that lasted.  

Being available now still in June 2009, Hillary Clinton invited him to join about 150 others to a conference billed as a forum where they would discuss how to bridge the divide between the USA and the Muslim community.  Of course Orneish supported Obama and was encouraging other Muslims to get more involved in politics.  He wanted LIbya to be more like Malaysia or Indonesia .  He told his listeners that to achieve a unified Libya that was still divided by  regional identities of Cyrenacians, Misuratans and Tripolitanians,  they had to rein in the armed groups before violence destroyed the nation of Libya.  

Hillary  Clinton AND Tim Kaine have a lot in common, and that is their view of the world.  Their ties to Arab Muslims are people who do not share the same viewpoints, or do they.  That's something to ponder about.   

Finally in 2008, federal prosecutors filed in court accusing MAS was founded as the overt arm of  the Muslim Brotherhood in America!  Confirming this was an investigation by the Chicago Tribune done in 2004.  They agreed that MAS use of deceptive semantics appeared to be moderate.  Abdurrahman Alamoudi, a Muslim Brotherhood member who has been found to be a  convicted terrorist, testified in 2012, and he said, "Everyone knows that MAS is the Muslim Brotherhood."  Evidently everyone except Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine!  
                                                                             

Hamas Terrorist 

Dr. Omeish had a website being he was president of the National Muslim Students Association.  He served for 2 years on the national board of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) which the Justice Department called a US Muslim Brotherhood entity.  They were the unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas-financing trial.   His website said that he was the vice President of Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center.  This is found to be a radical mosque and is known for its history of terror ties including having future Al-Qaeda operative, Anwar al-Awlaki as its imam. 
                                                                          

Nidal Hasan b: September 8, 1970 in Arlington County, Virginia 

This website  was frequented by 2 of the 9/11 hijackers and Nidal Hasan, the man who perpetrated the Fort Hood shooting.  "Nidal Malik Hasan, a Muslim,  is an American Psychiatrist convicted of fatally shooting 13 people and injuring more than 30 others in the Fort Hood mass shooting on November 5, 2009.   Hasan was a doctor who needed psychiatric help himself; the type that can undo brainwashing, perhaps.  We're beginning to see this more and more.  Dr. Omeish  remains a board member of this group.  He was also a member of the board of Islamic American University.  This school had a Hamas financier and Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader and a man I have written about many times, Yousef al-Qaradawi, who was chairman of its board until at least 2006.  

Yousef al-Qaradawi

This certainly makes me nervous.  Qaradawi, from Egypt, was kicked out and found sanctuary in Qatar with its leader where he held weekly TV programs against Israel and Jews.  He said he would like to kill Jews with his bare hands, and probably would if he could catch one of us.  He's old now and in a wheelchair, but that hasn't softened his attitude one bit.  He's an evil man.  

Ornish somewhere along the way was convinced of following the severe form of Islam.  Fooling people is not uncommon.  Russian spies in the USA used the same methods, seeing to be ordinary Americans.  Our President and Vice President have to be people aware of things like this.  Hillary also has this type of history, being fond of Arafat, the people of Qatar and such.  Her right hand woman when Secretary of State, Huma Abedin,  is said to have parents also connected to the Muslim Brotherhood.  Her cover was in marrying the nuttiest Jewish guy that Hillary had introduced her to.   Both HIllary and Obama will not use certain words describing Muslim extreme terrorism.  
                                                                           

Haj Amin al-Husseini visiting Hitler and conspiring to do away with Jews

Being Jewish and having seen our history of being treated badly, even in the USA, I'm also sensitive to doing the same thing to Muslims, or the Japanese of the 2nd WW.  However, it isn't
Christians who have been attacking Israel constantly 5 minutes after declaring themselves a state.  It is a religous war as much as any war.   It's that Israelis  are Jews and  these violent Muslims have been brainwashed by Nazi elements to hate Jews.  One favorite book in the Arab world is Mein Kampf.  
                                                                         

So are we going to have 4 more years of the same old, same old with Hillary and  Tim?  Obama has set the tone.  They will follow suit and do more to embrace it.  

Reference: ACT for America alerts@actforamericaalerts.info Clinton VP Pick Tim Kaine's Islamist Ties, Ryan Mauro, Clarion Project
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esam_Omeish
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki
http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/international-institute-islamic-thought
http://www.wnd.com/2016/07/hillary-vp-picks-dark-ties-to-islamists/
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2016/03/is-hillary-true-friend-of-israel.html

Challenging Pollyanna Decision Makers Who Vote in November

Nadene Goldfoot                                                              

I just saw the new Vice President pick by Clinton, Tim Kaine,  welcome "all Americans" in Spanish who were his audience but were not all USA citizens.  My adult Mexican  students reminded me that "America" included North and Central and South America, and I know that North America is also divided into Canada and the USA. They didn't like me referring to this country as "America."  It was ignoring Mexico!   Even Canada has their own problems between French and English speaking people.  So some Central Americans prefer to distinguish this fact as I heard about it first hand.  South America and Central America have their own political problems.  

My students  at the community college where I taught English as a 2nd language were all illegals, but were able to tell me how horrid it was for them in Mexico, and asked me what I would do if I were in their shoes.   They were good people, and I thought many a time that it would be nice to deport some of our criminal elements and keep these nice family people who had a great work ethic.  Up here in Oregon, we were getting Mexican illegals who were willing to work in the onion and potato fields of eastern Oregon, where we evidently needed labor.
                                                               

And how about this email issue again with the Democrats this morning with it now being told that the Clintons are talking about  downing Sanders in these emails.  What?  They do not love him?  Or that they were thinking of calling him on being an aetheist and not a Jew.  Good grief!  That's as disgusting as some of the faux pas of Trump!   The bigger issue is of obviously trying to take the heat off this issue by blaming the Russians for exposing these e-mails in order to help Trump!  As I listened, I thought of how clever the Democrats were to cover up the issue by taking the heat off Hillary by blaming Trump in this way!  Oh my!  It's as obvious as  putting the headlights onto it for all to see.
                                                                               

Trump's oldest daughter, Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, and 2 of her 3 children

Now, I've been listening to Fareed Zakaria who does his best to show how bad Trump is, and who brought on facts showing what great shape the USA is in.  I can tell him that I certainly agree with Trump's son who also spoke this morning and told why those facts are not making many Americans feel safer. To Democrats, all is wonderful; we have less crime and we'll be getting more and more benefits with their new agenda.  Sure, and they took off Israel from the last agenda, didn't they.
                                                                                 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a Democrat
1933 to 1945
My father figure

 The facts are, this is 2016, a different era, and what we see on TV and hear and read are different realistic facts of what's going on in our world.  And please note, I'm a Republican-converted from a lifetime of being a Democrat, and I watch both sides of the issue's contenders.  For me, the Democrat Party today is not the one of yesterday.  Not so with the Democrats I've talked to.  G-d forbid if they would watch the Republican convention, and those that do, like on Fareed's program this morning, see something I don't see, completely.  One smart lady will vote for a 3rd party!  She's giving her vote away and it will amount to nothing.  Like that's going to help matters, and as I see it, only her ego.  Hillary is blameless and her behaviors aren't even considered.

With the world situation of Middle Eastern refugees coming into Europe and the attacks going on there from rape in Sweden to shootings in Paris is frightening us.  It's not 1940 days today where what happens outside our borders stays there, but it can now penetrate our country and often feels like it is.  Maybe in those days the Pew results mattered and  were more realistic but not today.  Who can believe crime is down when we see it on our TVs?  Is crime down in Chicago?  That could be our city next. We're living in a vortex, not a protected bubble.   We KNOW what can happen.  Everything is drawn towards us.
                                                                       

Iran testing Shahab missiles to reach farther

Iran has the ability now at least in a few short years of having atomic weapons, and they call the USA the big devil and Israel the little devil, and they hate us.  Thanks to Obama, this has happened and it doesn't make anyone feel sure of our future.  We'd better live for today for who knows what will happen tomorrow, huh.  I worry about the health of Israelis all the time because of this and of other dangers they face.
                                                                         

One way we know things are not kosher in the world is that we are not earning any profit by having savings in a savings account in the bank other than a few pennies.  It's not like it used to be.  Job placement is the big concern for our young people who have educated themselves for great jobs and can't find them.  How about people who have lost jobs because of them moving to places where the business can make better profits?  We also owe a huge amount to China!  Trump's thinking of ways to pay this money back, and as a successful businessman, he knows of more ways than most of us do.

My father was smart to become a butcher back in the 30's.  People always needed food.  Life from the time he was 17 was rough for him regardless of who was president, but he had a needed skill,  and was daring.  He didn't need a college education, but gave his children this opportunity.
                                                                           

Billy Meshke, aka Morris Goldfoot

 Even before that, he went into boxing to earn money in about 1925, as many a poor boy has done.   Young people can't even face such good fortune today.  The country is divided between 2 opposing forces and the youth are smashed between them like a sandwich, gaining very little to speak of.  He had no financial help other than what he alone was capable of.
                                                                               

 They haven't learned the satisfaction of earning their own fate like we did in the past, but have been given, given, given so much today without their putting out an effort, that they expect that's the good life; socialism.  I am appalled at the population that prefers socialism and Bernie Sanders instead of  the democracy that made this country so great.  Did it start by giving our children toys and gifts to make up for our being away and working so much?  We're not Europe.  We're not Scandinavia.  Our ancestors  left those places for better opportunities to use our talents.  We're the USA and we've been the leaders in this world.  We've become followers.  It's a comedown.
                                                                           

Hillary with Sura Arafat

So now it's come down to this.  We have Clinton, a woman, who has been a good obedient servant of Obama, planning on doing his work for the next 4 years.  Neither one are risk takers.  You'll have the same old, same old.  Or, you'll have a man, a risk taker as I see it, though one that can hold back his inclinations, as he did by not being for the Middle East War, but daring in his businesses.  For to become so famous a hotel builder and owner, he had to be different to achieve such heights.  This is what a lot of people see in him; a success story.  Yes, he's been crude and rude, a reflection of his social life on the job, perhaps.  Who knows.  Lots of near geniuses have had trouble socializing and using the proper speech with people.  I've known of 3, myself.  He's a man who sees possibilities and works towards them.  He's made mistakes, for sure, but is correcting himself, as we already can see.  I have cringed occasionally along with everyone else.
                                                                               

Trump with new grandson

 To win over 16 other contenders for this position has taken some doing, not all great.  Which highway are we going to take?  We have but 2 choices.  To the Pollyannas; voting for a 3rd is pretty silly.  You're the ones taking a chance with that vote.
                                                                               

One or the other must get our vote in order to make sure the other does not.  We've suffered through 8 years of Obama, a man who never had a job of creating his own business and employing people, and now have the opportunity to try another flavor with a man who has built an empire.  Trump is used to being successful.  I don't think he'd make an unsuccessful president.  One thing that's great is that he listens to his children, and they're pretty super, don't you think?  Donald Trump won't go down as a flash in the pan.  He wants the best for our future, too.

Resource: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/23/hillary-clinton-tim-kaine-vp-vice-president
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivanka_Trump

Surge of Anti Semitism World-Wide Since France Terrorist Attack, Charlie Hebdo

Nadene Goldfoot                                              

Four Jews who were murdered at a kosher market in Paris last January  started off 84% more anti-Semitism in France and elsewhere. "After a jihadist in a truck killed 84 people in Nice on Bastille Day, the French are trying to comprehend their new normal: terror attacks. As prime minister Manuel Valls said: "France must live with terrorism."  So now all of France are under attack.
" The presence in France of eight to ten million Muslims strongly affects decision-making in both the political and intelligence domains. Unlike Germany, where most Muslims are Turks, or Britain, where most are from India and Pakistan, in France the overwhelming majority are of North African extraction. (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)"
  They have gone from not protecting Jews to being targets themselves.  Jews have already started moving to Israel.                                                                          

Dan Uzan, 37 and murdered while a volunteer guard in Denmark

   Another attack occurred in Copenhagen, Denmark.  Dan Uzan, 37 year old economist, acting as a volunteer security guard at a Jewish Community Center near the Great synagogue, was shot and killed by an Islamic jihadist during a bat mitzvah celebration that he was to protect.  This was murder in cold blood!   French police killed the gunman who killed the 4 shoppers.  Were you thinking of traveling to Europe and you're Jewish?  You'd better read these facts first:

Recently we experienced more in France.  A 13 year old Jewish boy who was outside his school was ruthlessly beaten by 6 thugs who shouted, Take that, dirty Jew!"

In Spain, a Jewish teen-ager was attacked by a gang of neo-Nazis who carved swastikas into his arm.

In Manchester, England, 4 young Jewish boys were attacked while waiting for their train.  The youngest, 17 years old,  is in the hospital  with a brain hemorrhage.  These were all reported by Service de Protection de la Communaute Juive (SPCJ).  The Guardian Newspaper's headline was "Anti-Semitic Attacks in UK at Highest Level Ever Recorded."
                                                                       

A member of the Parliament in Brussels, Belgium received a letter which accused Jews of being "thieves, murderers, liars and degenerates."  I suppose this disgruntled writer wanted the Parliament to do something to get rid of Jews.  Or he/she thought this member was Jewish.

In Zurich, Switzerland is a neo-Nazi rock group who's member spat in the face of a man leaving a synagogue.  He shouted at the Jewish man, "HEIL HITLER!"
                                                                                 

Amsterdam, Netherlands, home of Anne Frank, has Jews living there today.  Diana and her husband, Shmuel Blog are both Holocaust survivors, and they were just viciously beaten by 2 thugs who called them "dirty Jews", and said, "You don't need your jewelry anymore.  You've been wearing it for too long.  Now it's all ours.!"  Shmuel lost his sight and both people are now confined to wheelchairs.  Diana has scars on her body from the guard dogs at Auschwitz, more than 70 years ago, but now carries fresh scars of hatred to add from this attack; mental scarring.
                                                                         

Warsaw, Poland marked the anniversary of Poland's Constitutional Tribunal that declared Poland's ban on kosher slaughter to be illegal.  This decision would have driven out all the Orthodox Jews or caused them all to be vegetarians.   Little do they realize that a kosher killed cow does not suffer like other cows in slaughterhouses.  It was developed to be the most humane way of killing an animal for its meat.  Even Muslims have copied this method to a great degree.  But of course, on this day of remembrance, vandals desecrated the fence outside of a Jewish cemetery.
                                                                               

St. Polten, Austria where Jews live.  Outside of a mall, a Jewish man wearing a Star of David was violently assaulted by thugs screamed profanity at him for many minutes including "F''''ing Jew!
                                                                         

 
Grassina, Italy is a Tuscan town with anti-Semites.  They spray painted "Jews to the gas" and swastikas on the Jewish Community Center.

In Hungary, their anti-Semitic Jobbik Party is spreading across Eastern Europe, reported by Business Insider.

                                                                       

Later  after anti-Semitism was being distributed, "The Capitol Steps

Tuesday, November 8, 2016 | 7:30 pm was due to be presented in November, but could have been a reminder for its presence in Portland, Oregon.  

It’s election day! Regardless of how your favorite candidates are faring, it’s time for political parody at its hilarious best. Cast your ballots, then sit back and enjoy the nation’s leading political satirists as they put the “mock” back in democracy . . . and then catch all the news and results when you get home."  presentation without symphony.  

 I missed knowing about this so didn't see it.  I don't think it was being anti-Semitic, but then, you never know.  

 Did these attacks  make your newspapers?  Anti-Semitic acts rarely do.  No-one gets moved by them except us Jews. However, where anti-Semitism had come down to writings on walls, now we're being physically attacked.
Oregon State U reporting anti-Semitic fliers on campus.March 27, 2016.  "The Corvallis Gazette-Times reports  that officials notified students Friday that university offices had received several copies of a flier promoting anti-Semitic messages. OSU officials say the fliers did not appear to target the university specifically and about 20 other universities across the country received similar fliers on Friday. " They were using school printers and fax machines.  

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2016/03/oregon_state_investigating_ant.html
                                               

Jews remember their day of rest being Shabbat  starting with a very nice dinner including a special bread called Challah (has an egg in it)  and a glass of wine, and light 2 candles to set the peaceful tone of the next 24 hours. 

2 out of 3 Jews in Europe report that anti-Semitism is a problem they are facing.

More than 75% of Jews say that anti-Semitism has worsened since 2008.

1/2 of Europe's Jews fear of being a victim of anti-Semitic rhetoric.
1/3 of Europe's Jews fear being the victim of a physical assault.
1/4 of Europe's Jews occasionally avoid Jewish sits out of fear of attack.
60% heard or saw someone claim the Holocaust was a myth or exaggerated.
2/3 of Jews violently assaulted were too afraid to report the crime to local authorities.  

A teacher at a university in England left because of anti-Semitism at work coming from colleagues and students.  The teacher is traumatized by this.  Shades of 1938-Germany! 

In France there is real danger from anti-Semitism  There are discussion forums on internet and comments on YouTube that are full of anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist messages.

3rd generation Swedish Jews whose grandparents came from Holocaust do not feel safe.  

The bottom line is that these Jews of today feel far less safe than Jews 30 years ago.  This anti-Semitism, something that should have disappeared from social acceptability, has instead become stronger.  These attacks have been so frequent and brutal that Jews in a number of European countries are thinking of leaving since the political climate has moved so far to the extreme right.  They feel no longer protected by their own governments and elected officials.  

At the same time, the 6 million Jews of Israel live out their daily lives with the continued threat of terrorist attacks from nearby or as far away as Iran who will be able to have atomic warheads in their missiles soon enough.  

RIGHT NOW is the most dangerous time to be a Jew since WWII.  That will not make us change, however.  We have been facing this since 70 CE and even before that, over 2,000 years, but you'd think the world would grow up by now.  It hasn't as a whole, but sections have.  Whether you live in the USA or Israel, we're all facing some type of anti-Semitism these days, for anti-Zionism is really anti-Semitism.  It takes everyone to help prevent this cancer to grow and spread.  


Resource: World Jewish Congress, Ambassador Ronald S. Lauder, New York, NY.
 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/denmark/11421109/Copenhagen-shootings-Denmark-buries-Jewis