Thursday, May 24, 2007

How the Israeli State spits on American Jews

Take a look at this article about the Karaites in Israel:

(Karaism is an ancient Jewish heresy, similar to Reform Judaism in some ways. They don't believe in Oral Torah, and, from the article, seem to accept the Reform concept that each individual should determine thier path in Torah. They differ from Reform in that they believe that, however one observes it, all of the Torah is obligatory.)

Today in Israel, Karaites enjoy a relatively undisturbed presence among their rabbinic neighbors.

"In some ways, we have more rights than the Conservative or Reform movements," notes Gordon. "Karaite marriages are recognized by the State of Israel, whereas Conservative or Reform marriages are not. The marriages aren't recognized by the rabbinate, but we don't really care. They are recognized by the state."

Well, how do you like that? The government of Israel recognizes marriages and divorces promulgated by one of the oldest Jewish heresies in history, but stiffs the religious practices followed by the majority of the largest (or second largest, or co-largest) Jewish communities in the world. The Israeli government accepts Karaite k'fira, but spit on the American Jews who provide the reason why Israel has any diplomatic support at all among the great Powers. I don't think that we American Jews care whether the Israeli Rabbanut accepts our Judaism, and we don't really care, as the Rabbanut is corrupt, but for the civil government of the state to reject us, even as they try to sucker into believing that "We are one"

Another example of how the State of Israel is not the representative of worldwide k'lal Yisra'el, it is nothing more than a parochial, provincial set of corrupt politicians, who can obnly deal with their own local interests.



Sunday, May 20, 2007

Oy! The Latino Pizza Menace!!

As Jews, we should be thankful that Mr. Mark Krikorian didn't live 100 years ago when our ancestors came to America:

Pizza for pesos deal causes ruckus in Dallas



Apparently a Pizza Patron (founded by an Italian Lebanese guy) , a chain located in Texas and other parts of the Southwest has caused quite a ruckus by accepting payment in Pesos. Not I'm not sure why this is a problem, as I have visited border states in Mexico, and have found that many business quite happily accept payment in US dollars.

Now here's what Mr. Krikorian had to day:

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, a group that seeks to limit immigration, said he was concerned that Hispanics could create a parallel mainstream in the United States.

"It's a trivial example, but Hispanics now have their own pizza chain," Krikorian said. "It's a consequence of having too many people arrive from a single foreign culture, and may well reflect a kind of cultural secession."


Hmm, just substitute "Jewish" and "kosher restaurants" in the above sentence for "Hispanics" and what you have is Boro Park. How long will it take to start hearing antisemitism from the wingnuts?


The other thing is that this is a Mexican thing, not a "Hispanic" thing, after All Pizza Patron does not accept payment in bolivianos, or Uruguayan pesos, or Brazilian reals, or guarani. It only accepts Mexian pesos, which seems reasonable to me, as Texas is right next door to Mexico.