Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor | | | | Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money, and spiritual engagement. As a child of a Holocaust Survivor, I am especially wary of anti-semitisim. While many Jews have always voted for the Demacratic Party in America, currently a new representative, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. has since her election consistantly have had vehemently anti-Semitic remarks. And the Demacratic party tolerates it, even giving her high ranking assisgments in Congress. Any thinking Jew has to look at the state of the Demacratic Party in America today and have fear. I am not looking for divisions among Jews, I want everyone to open their eyes. Love Yehuda Lave | | You can Learn to be Happy Happiness is a skill that can be learned. The essential factor whether or not you will live a happy life is based less on external factors such as wealth, success and fame, and more on your attitude toward life, toward yourself, toward other people, and toward events and situations. Regardless of your attitudes in the past, you have the ability to change and become a master of happiness.
Today is the best day to improve your skills. Either things will go EXACTLY the way you want -- and then you can focus on the feeling of joy. Or things will NOT go the way you want and you'll have the opportunity to attain greater mastery over your attitude.
Throughout the day, keep asking yourself: "What attitude will enable me to experience joy and empowerment RIGHT NOW? Especially that we are now in the Month of Adar, when the Torah instructs us to increase our happiness.
Love Yehuda Lave | | The new Anti-semitism in the House of Representatives in the US Democrats have become an anti-Israel party. They've become an anti-Jewish party. I think the vote was a disgrace," the president told reporters at the White House lawn. Trump added that most lawmakers would agree that the resolution, which did not mention Omar name, was a disgrace "if you get an honest answer." The final vote on the resolution was 407 to 23—with 23 Republicans voting no, and all Democrats, including Omar, voting yes. The resolution originally condemned anti-Semitism but was rewritten and its final draft was expanded Thursday afternoon to condemn all forms of bigotry, including white supremacy. Republicans characterized the watering down of the resolution as a ploy to distract from Omar's remarks which had prompted the resolution in the first place. Omar's suggestion that Jewish or staunchly pro-Israel members of Congress have a dual loyalty to the United States and to Israel came on the heels of remarks she tweeted earlier this year regarding the influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a highly influential, pro-Israel lobby. Invoking a trope about Jews and money, Omar suggested that AIPAC members used generous contributions to influence lawmakers' policy decisions on Israel. She subsequently issued a half-hearted apology before ultimately deleting the controversial tweets. During her campaign last year to become one of only two Muslim-American women elected to Congress, Omar also apologized for the anti-Semitic implications of some of her Tweets and remarks. A resolution specifically condemning anti-Semitic speech in response to Omar's Tweet regarding AIPAC and the influence of money in advancing pro-Israel policies in Congress passed the House last month. This week she caused another uproar when, at a public event, she appeared to refer to domestic support for Israel as "allegiance to a foreign country". Omar had previously tweeted in 2012 that "Israel hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel." Omar subsequently apologized for her comments and deleted the tweet. Omar's comments exposed deep divisions within the Democratic caucus in terms of religion, race and age that have frustrated House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's efforts to move ahead with the Democrats' political agenda. Her remarks have also highlighted a generational clash between more establishment Democratic leaders and new members such as Omar and Representatives Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. Those newcomers have not hesitated to start spirited debates over everything from climate change to impeaching Donald Trump. Traditionally, freshman members of Congress are expected to keep a low profile their first months in office. (INN) | | Is Rep. Omar Wrong? By Brian Tauber Yes, she is. She is - and has been wrong in the past - for her comments regarding the influence of the Israel lobby and accusations of dual loyalty. Although journalists have accurately indicated that she is directing these allegations against Jew and non-Jew alike, it is a work of intellectual fiction to ignore that Jews are the perceived targets of such attacks. Charges of allegiance to other countries (i.e. Israel); the power of the Israel lobby; "the Benjamins" serving as lawmakers' motivation for supporting Israel; Israel hypnotizing the world: All of these pronouncements from Representative Omar are anti-Semitic, plain and simple. As Congress wrestles with a resolution condemning anti-Semitism in the wake of Omar's recent comments, a debate, including within the Jewish community, rages. The premise of these deliberations is wrong, distorting the very essence of what Omar has stated. As human beings, let alone Jews, we must speak out against discrimination of any kind, including against those attacking Representative Omar for being Muslim. That fact, though, should not distract from the immorality of the very public comments from a member of our government. The most prevalent defense of Rep. Omar is that any criticism of Israel is now irrationally considered anti-Semitic. I do not disagree that many a conversation deteriorates from a legitimate argument over Israeli government policy into an emotional tete-a-tete about anti-Semitism or, within the Jewish community, an allegation that criticism equates to a condemnation of Israel as a country (e.g. "bad Jew"). I leave that discussion for another day. My point is that the tropes listed above have NOTHING TO DO WITH ISRAELI POLICY. They are blatant attacks on Jews and on those that support Israel, not excerpts of civil discourse. Alleging allegiance to Israel (presumably above the U.S.) or dual-loyalty has been a tool of anti-Semites for generations, levied against no other nationality in this country except for the shameful internment of Japanese-American citizens during World War II. For those who consider its meaning a relic of days gone by, I implore you to speak to the Jewish communities today in France. In Britain. On college campuses. Anti-Semitic acts are increasing at a terrifying rate, with violent attacks against Jews on the rise. And much of this activity is occurring on the very continent where such questioning of one's loyalty led directly to the marginalization and demonization of Jews, undeserving of protection and targeted for murder in the 1930's. Couldn't happen today? Look behind the BDS curtain. Listen to their chants. Observe their treatment of Jews, just because they are Jews. Talk to European Jews. We cannot sit idly by, lest it become normalized once again. Similarly, the contentions of unjustified power of the Israel lobby or the undue influence of Jewish money can only be characterized as anti-Semitic, intended to completely delegitimize support for Israel as anything but corrupt. Agree with them or not, AIPAC is an effective lobby, often targeted by anti-Israel antagonists. Israel enjoys incredible support in Congress. These results are not due to some nefarious scheme. They are the result of conclusions based on shared values, morals and ethics, yet these accusations completely dismiss that political supporters could possibly have such independent, sincere thought. The argument is both ridiculous and as anti-Semitic today as it was when my parents were children. Jews and Israel enjoy tremendous, but far from unanimous, support in the U.S. Not because of AIPAC. Not because of Jewish money. But because we, as Jews, deserve it like any other group in this country and because Israel, far from perfect, merits the U.S.'s alliance in a world filled with countries that want, and some that actively pursue, its complete destruction - the only country so targeted. As I have stated in the past, criticism of Israel is a critical aspect of its strength as a democracy. No one should be condemned for challenging it's policies. It is not anti-Semitic per se to do so. The issue transforms into one of hateful discrimination when, as is all too prevalent, the chants become "from the river to the sea", an attack on the country's legitimacy and on Jews alike. I do not agree with all American policy. I believe this country does some pretty awful things. Still, I love this country and am a proud American. I am not happy with all that occurs in Israel. Not by a long shot. Still, I am unapologetically an unwavering supporter of Israel as a country. For those defending Rep. Omar's comments and those unsure, consider the distinctions between hateful stereotypes and genuine political discourse. Her comments were not about Israeli policy. They were not a policy debate in Washington. They were anti-Semitic tropes repeated for centuries. Representative Omar is wrong. | | Eliot Engel Fails to Follow Through on Removing Ilhan Omar from Foreign Affairs Committee for Anti-Semitic Remarks House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., said Tuesday that he is not prepared to publicly repudiate Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., for her latest set of vehemently anti-Semitic remarks, according to a Fox News report. Omar has faced a backlash for her obviously anti-Jewish tweets that date back to 2012, when she claimed that Israel had "hypnotized the world." Edited by: JV Staff In February, she tweeted that supporters of Israel have been bought, and that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) contributes to pro-Israel politicians despite the fact that the group does not make campaign contributions. The freshman congresswoman then accused Israel supporters of swearing "allegiance" to the Jewish state, according to the Fox News report. Amid bipartisan condemnation, there have been growing calls for Omar to be summarily removed from her position on the House Foreign Affairs committee. Omar's detractors have pointed to the recent case of Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa who lost his committee roles by the House GOP leadership over remarks that were interpreted as racist. As of now, Engel is stopping short of insisting that any punitive measures be taken against Omar. Sources who had formerly worked in the Democratic machine have speculated that undue pressure was put on Engel not to follow through with his promise to have Omar removed from the House committee as the core leadership of the party knows that a very large percentage of young Democrats will be voting in 2020 and it is they who wholeheartedly support Ohan, Tlaib and Ocasio-Cortez. "The entire face of the Democratic party has changed and it has changed quite radically. Omar and AOC and others of that ilk are now the "FACE" of the party and the last thing that folks like Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer want are those potential voters feeling alienated. If they feel that way, there is a very good chance that they will vote for a 3rd party candidate, should there be one," said the source.
Sounding like he had swallowed the left-liberal message that the Democratic party leadership is attempting to convey, when asked on Tuesday night if he thought that Omar was an anti-Semite, Engel responded that he doesn't "throw names around." "I think the remarks she's made have been very troubling. I have spoken out very publicly and forcefully about it in saying she should apologize," Engel told CNN's Erin Burnett, according to a Fox News report. "Look, you hope that people who get elected to office and they grow. I would hope the same thing would happen to her, but I'm not going to sit silent as long as there are people who are yelling out anti-Semitic tropes or anti-anything tropes, by the way. I'm opposed to Islamophobia. I'm opposed to hatred of any group." "I'm hoping that she'll grow and she'll change. I'm hoping. Some people change their beliefs, I'm hoping she'll change hers," Engel continued, downplaying accusations of anti-Semitism. "I think what she said was wrong and hurtful. I think she should understand that."
"At what point do you say to her, Congresswoman Omar, 'Look, you're not on this committee anymore.' You strip her of her seat." Burnett asked if Engel was close to that. "No, I'm not close to it," Engel firmly answered. "First of all, it's not up to me, this is done by the leadership. I don't know that that would do anything except exacerbate the situation even more. I'm looking to get rid of anti-Semitism, not looking to punish anybody | | Belgian Mayor: Anti-Semitic Carnival Display 'Should be Allowed' The mayor of Aalst defended a parade float featuring grotesque caricatures of Jews, bags of money and rats displayed before thousands of revelers in the Belgian city. By: WIN Staff "In [our city], it should be allowed," declared Christoph D'Haese, the mayor of Aalst, a Belgian city thrust into the spotlight after a recent parade included bulbous-nosed Jewish puppets standing on money bags, marchers dressed in Klu Klux Klan costumes, and young Europeans donning blackface makeup. The mayor's comments were specifically connected to a float called "Shabbat Year," festooned with two giant puppets with massive noses, traditional Hasidic fur hats and long side-locks, surrounded by coins and several rats. The float also featured dancers in costumes mirroring the puppets whose routine began with a shout of "shalom" and included a move in which a pocket was opened, exposing something that was not clearly visible in a video of the event. After widespread condemnation by Jewish groups such as B'nai B'rith International and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, in addition to other organizations and governmental bodies, including the European Commission, D'Haese responded, "[I]t's not up to [me] to forbid" such displays," arguing that the "the carnival participants had no sinister intentions," reported Het Laatste Nieuws. A spokesperson from the European Commission did not concur, commenting to reporters on Tuesday, "It is unthinkable that such imagery is being paraded on European streets, 70 years after the Holocaust," JTA reported. The annual carnival at which the anti-Semitic float was displayed this year was honored back in 2010 by being added to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which did not respond to questions or issue a statement about the Aalst parade as of Tuesday. The mayor of Aalst defended a parade float featuring grotesque caricatures of Jews, bags of money and rats displayed before thousands of revelers in the Belgian city. By: WIN Staff "In [our city], it should be allowed," declared Christoph D'Haese, the mayor of Aalst, a Belgian city thrust into the spotlight after a recent parade included bulbous-nosed Jewish puppets standing on money bags, marchers dressed in Klu Klux Klan costumes, and young Europeans donning blackface makeup. The mayor's comments were specifically connected to a float called "Shabbat Year," festooned with two giant puppets with massive noses, traditional Hasidic fur hats and long side-locks, surrounded by coins and several rats. The float also featured dancers in costumes mirroring the puppets whose routine began with a shout of "shalom" and included a move in which a pocket was opened, exposing something that was not clearly visible in a video of the event. After widespread condemnation by Jewish groups such as B'nai B'rith International and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, in addition to other organizations and governmental bodies, including the European Commission, D'Haese responded, "[I]t's not up to [me] to forbid" such displays," arguing that the "the carnival participants had no sinister intentions," reported Het Laatste Nieuws. A spokesperson from the European Commission did not concur, commenting to reporters on Tuesday, "It is unthinkable that such imagery is being paraded on European streets, 70 years after the Holocaust," JTA reported. The annual carnival at which the anti-Semitic float was displayed this year was honored back in 2010 by being added to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which did not respond to questions or issue a statement about the Aalst parade as of Tuesday. UNESCO has passed a number of resolutions denying the Jewish people's connection to Jerusalem and attempting to refute historical evidence proving this nation's connection to the land in which the modern Jewish state exists. 'Everything has become so expensive' JTA reported that a carnival spokesperson claimed the float represented commentary on how "everything has become so expensive." Past entrants in the parade have included a float modeled after a Nazi train car used to deliver Jews to death camps, which was surrounded by members of the float's sponsor dressed as both Nazi SS officers and ultra-Orthodox Jews, according to JTA. Other imagery on the float included canisters labeled "Zyklon B," the gas Nazis used to murder Jews during the Holocaust. (World Israel News) | | Melanie Phillips How anti-Semitism became unleashed in the West (March 7, 2019 / JNS )Why is anti-Semitism now out of control in the West? Jew-hatred, alas, is always with us. The most we can expect is that it is kept down by unequivocal social disapproval. What causes it to explode into an uncontrolled epidemic is the weakening of that powerful social stigma. Subscribe to The JNS Daily Syndicate by email and never miss our top stories After the Holocaust, the enormity of that crime was such that anti-Semitism went underground. Any such expressions that did occur were regarded as the province of cranks on the fringes of society who were accordingly shunned. What tells you the Jews are in trouble is when such expressions are regarded by a critical mass of the population with indifference or even approval. That's what is happening now in Britain, America and parts of mainland Europe. Last weekend, participants in a street celebration for Lent in the Belgian city of Aalst paraded giant puppets of grotesquely caricatured Jews standing on gold coins with moneybags at their feet. One, with a rat in his shoulder, was smoking a cigar and extending a hand as if to collect money. The Dutch Chief Rabbi, Binyomin Jacobs, condemned this display as "shocking, typical, anti-Semitic caricatures from 1939." The really shocking thing, however, was that the people who produced this float weren't refused permission or driven from the carnival as social pariahs. On the contrary: They constructed this obscenity assuming that it would gain the approval and enthusiasm of the citizens of Aalst. In America, freshman Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar tweeted soon after her election that AIPAC bought congressional support with "the Benjamins." After a reminder that in 2012 she had accused Israel of "hypnotizing the world" and prayed that "Allah awaken the people and help them see [Israel's] evil doings," she issued a feeble apology before doubling down on her claim of a Jewish conspiracy. Yet the Democrat House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, actually appointed Omar to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which gives her a platform from which to bash Israel. Worse still, the Democrats have also failed to act against other Jew and Israel-bashers, such as Omar's fellow freshman representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, while prominent Democrats have also appeared on platforms with the virulent anti-Semite Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Omar further exacerbated her offence by claiming last week that she and Tlaib were being accused of anti-Semitism only because they were Muslims, and then suggesting that supporters of Israel in Congress were pushing for "allegiance to a foreign country." The proper response to such brazen and repeated anti-Semitism would be to remove Omar from Congress. Yet Pelosi posed with Omar and Ocasio-Cortez, along with a black female novice congresswoman, on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, which Pelosi's official website was promoting last weekend with the legend: "A picture is worth a thousand words," and that this one was worth "millions of dreams to women and girls across America." Worse still, amid gathering uproar over Omar's comments, the Democrats couldn't even bring themselves to vote on a feeble motion condemning anti-Semitism in general, but which didn't name Omar. They are now reportedly working on a motion to condemn all prejudice. Flinching from condemning the anti-Semites in their own ranks, they have failed to take any action against them at all. Meanwhile, those supposed standard-bearers of liberal decency, The New York Times and The Washington Post suggested respectively that Omar's attack on AIPAC raised important questions about the influence wielded by Zionists and Jews, and that if Pelosi unequivocally condemned anti-Semitism, she would provoke questions over America's policy towards Israel. All this suggests the Democrats are going the same way as Britain's Labour Party, which is in an ever-deepening crisis over the virulent anti-Semitism that has erupted among, at minimum, hundreds of its members. One tweeted "Jews murder people and children" and questioned whether Jewish parliamentarians had "human blood" with "their hearts and brains totally devoid of humanity." Another ranted about "their double dealing, back stabbing, cheating chilling coldness." Yet another reportedly wrote that Joan Ryan, the non-Jewish former chair of Labour Friends of Israel, should be "thrown in the ovens." The evidence is so appalling that almost 1,000 supporters of the party's hard-left leader Jeremy Corbyn have even signed an open letter apologizing to the Jewish community, saying Labour has been "too slow" to recognize the anti-Semitism in its ranks. Most perpetrators have not been called to account and are still in the party. So why is there such tolerance for this intolerable bigotry? Anti-Semitism currently comes from four groups: the left, the Islamic world, neo-Nazis and, in the United States, radicalized African-Americans. Of these, the left are the most important, as they control the levers of our culture. And the left are currently both incubators and facilitators of anti-Semitism. This is why. First, many of them now subscribe to the Marxist view that life is a constant battle between the powerful and the powerless. Under this dogma, those with power can never be good; those without power can never be bad. Those who make money have power over those who don't make money. Those who make money are bad; those without money are good. Jews make money. Therefore, Jews are powerful and bad. The second reason is the left's signature motif of grievance culture and "intersectionality," in which overlapping identity groups play the victim card. This gives such groups a moral free pass on the basis that victims can't be held responsible for their own misdeeds. So every group that does not conform to the left-wing definition of power—deemed to be pale, male, heterosexual and Western—claims victim status and that get-out-of-jail-free card. But Jews can't be victims, under this rubric, because they are widely perceived to run the financial world, the media, the law, the arts, American foreign policy. So they are seen as all-powerful. Worse, there is a burning resentment against the Jews' perceived status as the world's supreme victims. Under the surface bubbles the belief that the Holocaust has enabled the Jews to get a free pass. From what, exactly? Why, from all the stuff that anti-Semites think about the Jews: that they are rapacious and disloyal, and are out to control the world. In other words, such people think these anti-Semitic libels are actually true, but the Jews' status as ultimate victims prevents people from voicing them. And now follows the shocking link to today's victim culture: that if the Jews have got a free pass for their misdeeds, then so, too, can any group that claims to be victims. The difference, of course, is that while victim groups thus claim impunity for acts of irresponsibility, abuses of power or other bad behavior, the Jews are wholly innocent of the crimes that anti-Semites so falsely lay at their door. So victim culture is innately anti-Jew. But victim culture lies at the very heart of progressive thinking. In addition to this, the left supports the Palestine cause, which is based on anti-Semitism; and they pounce on any criticism of either Muslims or the black community as Islamophobia or racism. In these ways, the profound anti-Semitism in their own ranks is being legitimized by, and is in turn legitimizing and emboldening, both the anti-Semitism spewing from both the Islamic world and from neo-Nazis and their ilk, whose utterances are often indistinguishable from Muslim or left-wing anti-Semites. That is the shocking and truly appalling reason that anti-Semitism in the West is now out of control. Melanie Phillips, a British journalist, broadcaster and author, writes a column for JNS every two weeks. Currently a columnist for "The Times of London," her personal and political memoir, "Guardian Angel," has been published by Bombardier, which has also published her first novel, "The Legacy," released in April 2018. Her work can be found at her website, www.melaniephillips.com. | | AS HEARD FROM RABBI AVIGDOR MILLER Z'TL QUESTION: When Adar comes in we are told to increase our joy. Why is that? ANSWER: Because it's a season that requires a certain frame of mind. Purim requires joy, Pesach requires joy. In order, however, to be prepared, you must start at the beginning of Adar. You can't be glum and sad, and suddenly when Purim comes, you jump up and down and you celebrate. No! You're doing it with a heavy heart. When Adar comes in you begin looking for ways and means of generating happiness, and you look at the world. The world is full of happiness. The sunshine causes happiness. The fact that you're able to see. One of the greatest pleasures in the world is the ability to see. It's fun to see. You have two movie cameras taking pictures constantly wherever you look, color pictures. Isn't it fun to see? Oh, close your eyes, a dark sad world. Open your eyes. Oh!! Moving pictures! And they function in synchronization, together. And the pictures are recorded in your mind. You know the pictures that you are taking right now will never be forgotten? I could prove to you that the pictures are recorded forever in your mind. Forty years later somebody will say, "You remember sitting in Rabbi Miller's shul years ago? He was talking about the wonders of creation." "Oh yes I remember now," and the pictures suddenly flashes out from the filing cabinets of your mind and you see everything once more. Where was the picture for forty years? It was there, because the pictures you are taking are never erased from your mind. You might forget, because it goes back in the depths of the cabinets, but the pictures are there. Someday you might take them out and see them again, and reminisce about your youth. You remember even the voices; that's because you have a sound recording in your head. So you start in the beginning of Adar, piling up Simcha. It's fun to see, (Rabbi Miller takes a big breath) it's fun to breathe. Rabosai, let's all practice the Simcha of filling our lungs with this wonderful air in this little place here. (And everyone takes a deep breath) AHH, that's joy. It's fun to be alive! Baruch Hashem, it's fun to live. It's fun as the heart causes the blood to course through your vessels; it's fun. Everything in life is fun. How silly people are! You know when they realize life is fun? When they are on the verge of dying. Oh, oh, oh, it's all over. Now is the time, enjoy life right now. It's fun everywhere. When you sit down tomorrow morning at breakfast, it's fun to use those teeth to chew food, teeth are fun. False teeth are also fun. Life is fun, life is happiness, and we thank Hakdosh Baruch Hu for it. | | See you tomorrow Love Yehuda Lave | | | |
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