Blog/January 2011/Jan 28th
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Jan 28th (See this week's devar torah)
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Hi again!
King David said: אַל-תִּבְטְחוּ בִנְדִיבִים -- בְּבֶן-אָדָם, שֶׁאֵין לוֹ תְשׁוּעָה (Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help) (Psa 146:3). As the tide of unrest sweeps the Arab world, those words seem more relevant every day. What started as a rebellion in Tunisia now involves Lebanon, Egypt and Yemen. Al-Jazeera published the Palestine Papers, almost certain to topple the "princes of peace" in Ramallah. And the "king" of Jordan is considering his shaky throne and plotting his exit strategy. The question from here is, "is it good for the Jews"?
"Good" or "bad" is not a relevant question. The proper thing to ask is, "what do we need to do"? At the beginning of the "unrest" in Egypt, the idiot US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said that the Egyptian government was stable and urged restraint on both sides. Remember King David's advice? If the leaders of the US are so myopic as to be unable to see what is clear to everyone else, it is certainly unwise (to say the least) to rely on them. And trusting the Egyptian leadership to keep the Islamists in check is extraordinarily unwise, since it looks like the Muslim Brotherhood will soon be ousting Mubarak et. fam.
So indeed, what to do? Egypt will soon be Islamist. Gaza is already. Lebanon under Hizballah is already. Syria is implacably anti-Israel though secular -- but probably ripe for an Islamist revolution as well. Jordan is very shaky. And the PA will be overthrown and probably turned into a Hamasistan II within the next year.
First thing to "do" is to not make any conciliatory "gestures" towards anyone. The leaders of today will be gone tomorrow, most likely replaced by people who will not honor any former agreements. Have faith in the words of our prophets and in God's mercy, and do His will. Strengthen our resolve and tell the UN/EU/USA to go piss up a rope. We are indeed on the sharp end of the stick; but our enemies hate the West far more than they do us -- and I am quite certain we will see that manifest itself very soon, in very direct and destructive ways. Western conciliation only encourages Islamist recalcitrance, and the end result will not be a felicitous one. And remember that those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it.
Enough politics for this week!
Sarah had a difficult time this week; one of her ladies passed-away, so she attended the funeral -- her first one ever. Then as the week wore on she got a cold, so she came home early -- and is now trying to get better before her friends join us for shabbat.
Esther and I spent our time working, as usual. I got some feedback on the translation of the Preface of M"T, which I have yet to incorporate. I'm also working on converting one of my customers' projects to Reva Forth, and am getting close to finishing that. It looks like this coming week will be wet and blustery, B"H!
We're having one of Sarah's friends, and one of her friends over for shabbat. We're also having some friends of ours over for lunch. This week the grub includes: schnitzel, stuffed artichokes, red cabbage salad, mayonnaise (Russian salad), Moroccan carrot salad, matsa-ball soup, ratatouille, green beans, rice, roast beef, roasted root vegetables, chicken drumsticks, marble cake, and fresh fruit.
Until next week,
shabbat shalom!
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