Source: Norwegian Lawmaker: Give BDS the Nobel Peace Prize – Tablet Magazine

Bjornar Moxnes may not be an anti-Semite, but there should be an equally blistering pejorative for those who provide cover and legitimacy to the anti-Semites.

BDS, whatever the positive intentions of the duped innocents that make up its peripheral membership, is aught more than a front for forces who wish to see the Jewish state, and the Jews who make it up, pushed “into the sea.”

(And let us make no mistake: “into the sea” is not meant to suggest pushing us onto boats, ships, or paddle-boards. It is a euphemism for drowning us in the waters of the Mediterranean and dancing on our washed-up bodies.)

It does not surprise me that the frozen wastes of Northern Europe continue to spawn anti-Semites seventy years after the collapse of Nazi Germany, nor does it surprise me that a few of these ice-encrusted neanderthals find their way into government.

What does surprise me is that the otherwise intelligent people of Norway would fail to see through the blatant agitprop that BDS continues to spew, and would fail to inform themselves of the true intentions of Israel’s opponents.

The critical question that concerns us all: is Halacha fixed, evolving, or irrelevant?

Some will answer “Halacha is fixed.”

Others will answer “Halacha is evolving.”

Some will even answer “Halacha is irrelevant.”

And there are many Jews still who will answer “What is ‘Halacha?’ ”

Your answer will determine where you sit come Rosh Hashanah, methinks.

“The artist’s job is not to succumb to despair but to find an antidote for the emptiness of existence.”

— Woody Allen

Allow me to offer a modified counterpoint to Mr. Konigsberg’s pithy quote.

The Jew’s job is not to succumb to Woody Allen’s despairing vision of an empty existence, but to create meaning in our lives and by example light the way for others.

Good Shabbos!

“He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every thing that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.” Deuteronomy 8:3

And coffee.

Have a restful post-Pesach Shabbos!

Gap between parties’ support of Israel at highest since 1978, survey shows; more conservatives view Netanyahu favorably than Dems

Source: 74% Republicans, 33% Democrats back Israel over Palestinians — poll | The Times of Israel

The problem here is not whether the world supports Benjamin Netanyahu. The problem for Israel, and by extension, for every Jew on the planet, is that the longer Bibi stays in office, the less people can tell the difference between Israel and Bibi.

Are we as a people ready to place the continued existence of our homeland on the same fragile little boat as a single man’s political career? Or is it time for the people of Israel to find a leader who can defend Israel with one hand and reach across to the rest of the world with the other?

Anyone who loves Israel must understand that without the world’s support, the days of our beloved land as a Jewish political entity are numbered, and that the day when the continued existence of Jews and Judaism on earth is once again at the mercy of others is nigh.

“Scientism: the ideologically-charged fallacious belief that science is the only legitimate path of intellectual inquiry.”
My riff on Rod Dreher’s definition from his column.

Source: Palestinian rockets killed more Gazans in 2014 war: Amnesty | Daily Mail Online

Hamas rockets killed more Gazans in 2014 than Israeli munitions. And let’s not even get into the whole issue of terrorists cynically and cruelly using their own people as human shields.

Israel is not perfect, but I’ll take imperfection over malevolent evil any day of the week.