BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

A Ritual for Domestic Violence Awareness I ask my friends and fellow bloggers to remember abuse victims as Sukkot begins. Victims of mental, emotional & verbal abuse have "no safe place." While Domestic Violence Month officially begins in October - I would ask all of you to get and wear the Purple Ribbon during Sukkot and all of October - in support of people like myself. Victims & Survivors - who deserve peace & justice. Rebecca Schwartz remembers the first Sukkot observance that her organization, Shalom Bayit, initiated in 1994: A small group of women, survivors of domestic violence and volunteer staff, reclaimed the sukkah as a shelter of peace. "The sukkah was like a refuge," recalls Schwartz, associate director of the San Francisco Bay Area organization devoted to combating domestic violence. "For some, this was the first time they had felt safe in the Jewish community." Today, with more awareness and less denial in the Jewish co...

BEYOND THE THREE WEEKS The month of Av brings with it forgiveness similar to the experience of Yom Kippur. By Michael Strassfeld At first glance, this part of the festival cycle seems out of step with the cycle of our personal lives. For most of us, summer is a time of ease and enjoyment of the outdoors. The natural cycle is marked by the continued growth of spring plantings. But our history, with its mythic dimensions, forcefully reminds us that there can be another kind of summer, one whose heat is a consuming furnace rather than beneficent warmth. Anyone who has spent a summer in Israel can more easily understand how the Three Weeks is in fact in consonance with the natural cycle. There the afternoon sun seems to bleach all the color from the landscape. Movement slows or comes to a halt in the afternoon--for even if the sun is no hotter than in the United States, it seems to beat down unrelentingly on the land's inhabitants. One can easily become parched and debilitated j...

by David Harris Throughout his life, one of Yasser Arafat's favorite themes was that there was no historical Jewish connection to Israel. He would assert that there never was a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, that the Western Wall has no Jewish significance, and even that Abraham himself wasn't a Jew. Indeed, he went so far as to reject the Jewish link to Jerusalem in the presence of US President Bill Clinton during the Camp David talks, evoking outrage from the American leader and offering insight into why the negotiations were doomed to fail . Arafat's views, unsurprisingly, were echoed relentlessly by Palestinian media outlets and textbooks, not to mention Muslim clergy. Generations of Palestinians were "educated" to believe that the Jews were interlopers, not a people indigenous to the Middle East. This had nothing to do with history, since there was abundant evidence of the intimate Jewish tie to the land dating back well over 3500 years, not to mention the spiri...

And so, what do you do if you cannot forgive your abuser? What SHOULD you do? Which party is the obstacle to reconciliation here? You or your abuser? What should you do? Just accept it. It's a fact. You cannot really change it: all you can do is delude yourself about it. You can pretend to have "forgiven" your abuser all you want, but there is nonetheless, a state of war between you. It exists whether you admit it or not. This is because your abuser owes you something he or she refuses to pay. The narcissist refuses to even admit what they DID yesterday. He may have punched you for 20 minutes straight, but today he denies that it happened, accusing you of "making things up" or of you being the one who attacked. Since he won't even admit what he did, he is also denying you acknowledgement that it was wrong. That he has wronged you. So, what is there to "forgive," pray tell? He is also denying you a promise and guarantees to stop it. So, how can you ...

Phyllis Chesler ROCKS! Excerpts: What Do These Two Awardees Have in Common? Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. …And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? William Butler Yeats wrote The Second Coming just after the first World War but it is an apt commentary on almost everything, including President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize and Amira Hass’s upcoming Courage in Journalism Award. Unsurprisingly, one of four Courage in Journalism awards to be presented by Christiane Amanpour and Irshad Manjie, among others, will go to the Israeli journalist, Amira Hass, whose critique of Israel constitutes a veritable Blood Libel. Hass describes Israel as an “apartheid” state. Her columns in Ha’aretz, a left-leaning Israeli newspaper, are often stomach-turning. Hass is the daughter of Holocaust survivors and I have met a few such ...

Obambi: Nominated after ONE MONTH in office. Now in the great company of Jimmy Carter and Yasser Arafat. My esophageal ulcer can't take much more vomiting today. But then I read this... enjoy! Wow. What I can I say. Wow. I'm honored. Clearly Big Guy - who can't stop dancing on the bed up in the residence right now, by the way - won this award for his speeches. I mean, after nominating himself for the Nobel Prize for Peace two weeks after entering the office of the Presidency, let's face it, it isn't like he had anything to show for it. He said if he'd known it was this easy to win a Nobel, he would have nominated himself for the Nobel Prize for Literature years ago for his 5th Grade essay on "Raisin the Sun" ( of course, he would have had to share that prize with Billy Ayers) . Or his yeast science project from 7th grade for the Nobel Prize for chemistry. There's so much to do now before the awards ceremony in Oslo. I'm going to have to buy a ...

Jewish settler leaders on Tuesday shrugged off President Barack Obama's call for Israel to halt settlement building in the occupied West Bank, saying Palestinians needed to "halt terror first." Dani Dayan, chairman of the West Bank settlers' umbrella organization Yesha Council, said he felt assured that domestic political support would allow settlers to continue to live in the occupied West Bank. "The Israeli electorate set a clear line for this government ... we have strong support in the new Knesset (parliament) and the things we hear among politicians certainly encourage us that if Netanyahu (halts settlement building) the Knesset will stand at our side," Dayan told Reuters. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Obama for talks at the White House on Monday and the U.S. president afterwards reminded Israel of its commitment under a 2003 U.S.-backed peace "road map" to stop settlement building in the occupied West Bank. "Obama's w...

If this isn't PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE BLAME SHIFTING then I don't know what is. I'm no Gingrich fan but in this case he is SPOT ON! Gag me! Thwarting Iran hinges on Israeli-Palestinian talks Thwarting Iran's nuclear program is conditional on progress in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, according to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Israeli TV reports said Monday that Emanuel made the comments in a closed-door meeting the previous day with 300 major AIPAC donors. Last month, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Israel that it risks losing Arab support for combating threats from Iran if it rejects peace negotiations with the Palestinians. Clinton said Arab nations had conditioned helping Israel counter Iran on Jerusalem's commitment to the peace process. Meanwhile, in an interview with the Jerusalem Post Sunday, former US House speaker Newt Gingrich blasted the Obama administration for setting itself on a collision course with Israel a...

This makes absolute sense. But of course, we won't have to wait long before some appeaser finds fault with this totally logical approach. If anyone who backs the PA would take a LOGICAL, clear look at Bibi's proposal - they'd see that it also shows these animals for the whining, terrorist antagonizers they are. WAY TO CALL IT, BIBI!! Israel's new PM says he will discuss a Palestinian state only if Palestinians recognise Israel as a Jewish state. Benjamin Netanyahu was speaking to US President Barack Obama's envoy to the Middle East about prospects for peace. Mr Netanyahu, of the right-wing Likud party, has not previously endorsed the creation of a Palestinian state. The envoy, George Mitchell, reiterated US support for a Palestinian state alongside Israel, in talks with the Israeli president and foreign minister. But Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the diplomatic process was at a "dead end" and a new approach was needed. A senior official in Mr Net...

by Tawfik Hamid The film "Fitna" by Dutch parliament member Geert Wilders has created an uproar around the world as it linked violence committed by Islamists to Islam. Many commentators and politicians -- including the British government, which denied him entry to the country last month -- reflexively accused Mr. Wilders of inciting hatred. The question, however, is whether the blame is with Mr. Wilders, who simply exposed Islamic radicalism, or with those who promote and engage in this religious extremism. In other words, shall we fault Mr. Wilders for showing photos of the hanging of homosexuals, or shall we fault those who actually promote and practice this crime? There is a certain schizophrenia among many Muslims who seem to believe that it is acceptable to teach hatred and violence in the name of their religion, while at the same time expecting the world to respect Islam as "a religion of peace, love and harmony." Scholars in the most prestigious Islamic insti...

by Phil Mushnick The news media always seems to lose their nerve with the wrong people at the worst times. The news media almost always grows politely silent when it's time to be firm and inquisitive. Thus, thus the follow-up questions that audiences are eager to have answered are never even asked. The recent terrorist bombings that left 200 murdered and 300 injured in Mumbai inspired the usual shock and outrage. And the same, boilerplate responses from Muslim spokesmen here, there and everywhere: "This is not what Islam teaches" and/or "These are not real Muslims; Islam teaches respect for life." For example, an organization known as Muslim Matters, responded with: "As Muslims, we condemn such senseless carnage against innocent civilians, wherever it may occur. This goes against the fundamental spirit of Islam, which promotes a culture of life and humanity, not bloodshed and violence. And another example of why extremist ideology, whatever that ideology m...

On a cold and drizzly December morning the Israeli cabinet meets to approve a renewal of the cease-fire in Gaza, which has proven so successful. There have been no rocket, mortar or shooting attacks into Israel since the tahadiyeh was proclaimed by Hamas six months ago. The Erez, Karni, and Sufa border crossings, along with the Nahal Oz fuel depot, have efficiently funneled a cornucopia of supplies into the Strip from Israel, while the Rafah crossing for goods and people leaving the Strip for Egypt is functioning smoothly under the watchful eyes of Egyptian officials and Palestinian border guards loyal to Mahmoud Abbas's administration. Thanks to intensified Egyptian efforts, the flow of illicit weaponry into the Strip has been reduced to a trickle. EU officials have steadfastly rejected dealing with Hamas. The Islamist government has never been more unpopular because, despite the end of the "siege," it has proven incompetent in delivering basic services to the people. Po...

That crazy Olmert - he's just GIVING IT ALL AWAY. That's right. Jews just finished with Passover, the celebration of the release from the enslavement of the powers-that-be of Egypt. And the start of their journey towards the land of Israel which Hashem himself promised to the Jewish People. And now one political hack with a bad comb-over is going to just give it away for the PEACE which has been promised to Israel by people who NEVER KEEP THEIR PROMISES. What ever happened to "the best predictor of future behavior is past actions?" Stop the Insanity! Olmert tells Assad Israel will cede entire Golan for peace By Yoav Stern Syrian news agency "Sham-Press" reported Wednesday morning that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has relayed a message to Syrian President Bashar Assad affirming that he agrees to a full Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights in return for peace with his nation. According to the report, the message was passed on by Turkish Prime Minister Re...

Jimmy - tell me -- what is it? It's SOOOOO confusing! Is it: Hamas & Syria Are Open to Peace or Hamas Has NO PLANS to Recognize Israel Jimmy - you truly are addled. The nuances of communicating with psychopathic savages seems to have eluded you. And you are seriously delusional. In short, you bought a lie. AGAIN!! And you now want to sell it to the rest of us? The one thing I have said here and on my other blog, and something I tell the abuse victims I work with - WATCH THEIR ACTIONS NOT THEIR WORDS!! Hamas and Fatah continue to fire on Israel, send suicide bombers - yet a couple of their flunkies say they "want peace?" And you believed them? PUHLEEZE!! Jimmy, the home called - time for your medication. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Senior Israeli officials were not the first to try to get out of meeting Jimmy Carter. A number of members of Bill Clinton's administration have already tried, including the former president and his wife the candidate; most members of Bu...

by Anna Valerious I have made reference several times to what I call the Cult of Nice. When referring to the Cult of Nice I have commented on how this 'cult' labels it a 'sin' or 'wrong' to hurt someone's feelings. Both Christians and secular types who've swallowed pop psychology seem to often subscribe to this belief. This anti-logic provides a lovely escape hatch for malignant narcissists because you can be made into a 'sinner' for calling them on their garbage, or for simply stating truth. They wave the flag of their 'hurt' feelings and it is supposed that you will then cease and desist or risk being labeled a hateful, unkind person. You're accused of being mean... which is like a cuss word to the Cultists of Nice-land. The tables get turned so fast that the victim becomes abuser in a blink of an eye in this alternate universe of anti-logic. Those who subscribe to this kind of thinking are not being rational in any way. Which is wh...