Posts Tagged Culture
Sanctifying G-d’s Name
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Culture, Philosophy on January 12, 2009
Block Yeshiva High School students make a kiddush HaShem on the basketball court. Any time others recognize quality of character in Torah Jews the purpose of Creation comes a little closer to its fulfillment.
The Invention of Ideology
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Culture, Philosophy on January 12, 2009
Nonsequitur gets it right again.
The Tenth of Teiveis: Why we fast today
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Culture, History on January 6, 2009
Primarily, today commemorates the beginning of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, with culminated in the destruction of the First Temple. But there is another event we remember today, a more subtle reminder of the dangers of Greek ideology at the root of Chanukah and the root of contemporary culture. Read about it here.
A Few Words From the Wise
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Culture, Philosophy on January 4, 2009
I can’t vouch for the accuracy of these, but they have a ring of truth, and they certainly are entertaining.
What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.
-Edward Langley, Artist (1928 – 1995)
There is no distinctly Native American criminal class…save Congress.
-Mark Twain
A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.
-Thomas Jefferson
If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do
read the newspaper you are misinformed.
–Mark Twain
I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
-Winston Churchill
Suppose you were an idiot.
And suppose you were a member of Congress….
But then I repeat myself.
-Mark Twain
A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.
-G. Gordon Liddy
A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
– George Bernard Shaw
Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.
-Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at GeorgetownUniversity
Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
-James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)
Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
-P.J. O’Rourke, Civil Libertarian
Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.
-Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)
Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it.
If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
-Ronald Reagan (1986)
I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.
-Will Rogers
If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free!
-P.J. O’Rourke
In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.
-Voltaire (1764)
Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you!
-Pericles (430 B.C.)
No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.
-Mark Twain (1866)
Talk is cheap…except when Congress does it.
-Unknown
The government is like a baby’s alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.
-Ronald Reagan
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.
-Winston Churchill
The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.
-Mark Twain
The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
-Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)
Fallout from the Bailout
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Culture on December 31, 2008
If this email hasn’t gotten around to you yet, it’s worth a look. The exchange between the CEO of GM and a private contractor has been confirmed by Snopes.
Tough Love on Trial
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Culture, Education and Parenting on December 26, 2008
Take a look at how a Texas judge is stopping teenage truants from sliding into a cycle of undisciplined failure. Needless to say, the ACLU opposes him. How is it possible that so many can so consistently be wrong about almost everything?
The Candles and the Tree
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Culture, Holidays, Philosophy on December 22, 2008
Reflections on having grown up under the modern shadow of the ancient Greeks. And, as was pointed out to me a year or two ago, the term I used for the Hellenistic agenda of blending Jewish culture with Greek culture should have be new syncretism.
May this year be a year of light and wisdom for all of us.
New car, caviar, four star daydream
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Culture on December 18, 2008
Money, its a gas.
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.
New car, caviar, four star daydream,
Think I’ll buy me a football team.
Yes, I know that most Torah posts don’t begin with lyrics from Pink Floyd. But what’s the advantage of coming from a secular background if you can’t resurrect some of the nonsense of your past life and use it to give your point a little more punch?
I heard a story only yesterday — one of the many sad stories of people whose feet were swept out from under them by the current financial collapse — about a fellow who had made millions buying up 800 numbers based on the names of big businesses and then selling the numbers to those same corporations. Then came the age of the website and his business evaporated. Now he’s deep in debt with huge obligations and no prospects.
Although my heart goes out to this person and his family, it’s difficult not to see in this story yet another symptom of the mentality that created the current economic crisis.
Torah law prohibits any Jew from either charging or paying any other Jew interest. Why? Although there is no prohibition against profiting through other business dealings, the charging of interest is in a class by itself, for it is neither investment, nor commerce, nor production. It is making money from someone else’s money by taking advantage of someone else’s need which, according to Jewish philosophy, is not profiting but profiteering.
The Torah wants us to acquire a sensitivity to the difference between business and opportunism. (It’s worth noting that once upon a time even the Christian world retained this sensitivity, and that Jews were forced to support themselves through moneylending because Christian society prohibited them from engaging in “respectable” professions.)
As I’ve written in connection with this week’s Torah portion, we have created an economy in which nothing is produced and nothing is created, in which business is increasingly defined by an insatiable appetite for quick profits through the manipulation of other people’s money. Such a system, as we discovered so unpleasantly, cannot sustain itself.
The most recent example is Bernard Madoff, who convinced some of the most respected and distinguished investors in the western world that he held the keys to the kingdom of inexhaustable riches, bilking them to the tune of 50 billion dollars. No one asked questions, no one noticed the telltale signs of inviability because no one wanted to look that hard.
About a dozen years ago, when I was living in Atlanta, a man won a $4 million lottery — an extraordinary amount for the time. He had been working a double-shift as a garbage collector. When asked what he intended to do with his new-found fortune, he replied:
“I’m going to quit one of my shifts.”
The astonished reporter then asked: “Only one of your shifts?”
The new millionaire answered back: “A man has to work.”
Wise words from a wise man, garbage collection aside. Today the conventional vision of success is wealth without effort. Or, paradoxically, pathological exertion devoted toward the goal of leisure and recreation. More on this in a later post.
For now, it’s worth recalling the deceptively simple words of the misha: Who is rich? The one who is happy with his portion. Those caught up in the relentless pursuit of ever greater wealth are anything but happy and anything but rich, no matter how much money they may have.
Sanctifying God’s Name
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Culture on December 8, 2008
I’m quite certain my colleague and editor Benyamin Jolkovsky won’t mind my posting this letter. It should be a source of true hope for all of us.
Dear Mr. Jolkovsky:
You have my permission to print and edit this letter (I’m sure there are a lot of mistakes in it.), but under no circumstances may you reveal my identity. You will soon see why.
You may not remember me. I am a Pakistani college student who first started reading Jewish World Review while doing research for a paper that I was writing on how the Internet is enabling Jews/Zionists to help their cause. In various Islamic sites I have bookmarked, I would see references to Jewish World Review. It was often described as “hateful”. You were named as an “enemy of Islam”. For my paper, you were the perfect subject.
I wrote to you with the hope of engaging you in a debate. You responded politely saying that you didn’t have the time but disagreed with how you were being labeled. You challenged me to read Jewish World Review for 6 months and predicted that if I did that I would find myself changed.
The six months ended a number of months ago. My paper was written and I’m still reading your site. Not because I am required to because of research, but because it tells the truth and it inspires me.
That’s not an easy thing to admit. But it is the truth.
Your site has, as you predicted, changed my view of the West and, particularly, of Jews. I only wish that more Muslims could see and feel what I now do.
I was taught that America is the “Great Satan” and the Jews and Israel are the “little Satan”. We see America as exporting filth and atheism to the world; ruining the world. After reading Jewish World Review, I have begun to understand that my understanding of America is very limited. On your site, I see your writers denouncing immorality and immodesty. I also read the articles by rabbis encouraging people to treat each other better no matter what their faith. Your articles often teach concepts about Judaism that are the same as in Islam. But my teachers never were able to make the teachings meaningful. They seemed so stale. On Jewish World Review there is no hatred. I also read hurtful but truthful articles about Islam.
The problem of the jihadists is a growing danger. As long as it is, nobody is safe. Not the West and not us who are just trying to live our lives but are scared into silence. The jihadists are winning. Your articles are showing how they are doing so. What you report sickens me because it is all true. Not enough people understand the danger. You do. And your readers do. It is important that you continue to tell the truth but also publish articles that encourage warmth and friendship, not just hurtful but true words as some other sites do. Those were the other sites I used as examples in my paper.
I know of other Muslims like me who are reading Jewish World Review. By keeping your site free and open to all without registration, you are helping people like me.
I’m writing you this letter because, for obvious reasons, I cannot send in a donation.. Before you wrote that you wanted to make a difference. I can tell you that you are. Your readers in the West who are free, have the ability and should be supporting you. It is sad that somebody who works as hard as you do doesn’t get the help that he needs.
Mr. Jolkovsky, you are changing lives. You certainly have changed mine and I know of others as well. There are most likely many, many more that you are not aware of.
There’s not much that I can add. All I can say is: Thank you so much! — BLJ
You can make a tax deductible charitable contribution of ANY amount — and given the financial situation, we do mean ANY amount — through our secure online form or by making out a check and mailing it to the sponsoring organization at:
Keren Yehoshua V’Yisroel/JWR
125 Carey St .
Lakewood , New Jersey 08701
Tax ID: 22-3209160
Please note on the “memo line” of your check it is for the Internet educational project.
In SINCERE gratitude and friendship,
Binyamin L. Jolkovsky,
Editor in Chief
A message for us all
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Culture, Philosophy on December 2, 2008
Kudos to Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein for posting the complete text of the remarks made by British Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks before the European Parliament. It’s an eloquent expression of Kiddush HaShem, whether we speak it or say it … or both.
Torah Ideals 
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