It’s busy season in baseball, and the American people are obsessed. It’s no exaggeration to say that young and old, rich and poor, ignorant and highly educated all wait impatiently to see the sports pages in their morning papers, where they can find the scores of yesterday’s games. We immigrants can’t quite figure this out. It seems totally crazy — at best, childish. It’s hard to understand how serious people can be interested in something where they catch and throw balls and run around. A child that runs around is, to us, a bad kid. We can read all about the importance of physical exercise, how a child should run, jump and play ball, but we still call that child a bad boy, a sheygets.
This years’ meeting of the Jesuit Philosophical Association included a number of interesting speeches from its leadership, among them a number that were blatantly antisemitic. The Rev. John Francis Murphy, head of Boston College’s history department, said, for example, that Jews are responsible for corrupting the world and trying to destroy Christianity. Murphy further complained that Jews have the possibility to grow spiritually, but refuse to do so. As an example, he said that “the Jew,” Sigmund Freud, did much to destroy Christian morals. Some Jews, he said, have reached great heights in music and art, but “their interest in jazz and in vulgar musical comedy ruins their other good work.” Murphy suggested that “Jews must become non-Jews.”
It goes without saying that Hebrew has become the dominant language of the State of Israel. But English also plays a huge role. One can go anywhere in the country and speak English. The communists complain that the role English plays in the country is an indication that Israel is nothing more than an American colony. But the reality is that the strong position of English in Israel is a result of the British Mandate period. Of the dozens of languages spoken there, Yiddish comes in third place. You can go into any store, government office, post office, train station or anywhere else and conduct your business in mameloshn.
August 31, 2009
How does one submit a rebutal to Leonard Fein's essay [Augustb 28, 09] "Which War to Tackle"'48 or '67?"
Will send short letter to the Editor, but issues involved in 48 war merits a rebutal. Critical historic fact ignored by Fein was role of Joe Stalin and his unfortunately Jewish Henchmen, Rudolf Slansky [ Czechosolvakia]*, Anna Pauker [Romania} and Jakub Berman [Poland]in the making of the Israeli-Arab tragedy.
Without the "Forgotten Friendship," [ Arnold Krammer's 1974 book ] between David Ben-Gurion and Joe Stalin, 1947-1953, there would not have been the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, and there would have been a quick resolution to the Arab-Israel problem.
Stalin, the %#@$*& monster, made certain that ISrael's Ben Gurion had all the weapons he needed to destroy British influence in vital Middle East, and ethnically cleanse Palestine. Israel's first 25 fighters were Messerschmitts BP109, provided by Rudolf Slansky and Joe Stalin - followed by over 50 spitfires and even B-17s. Also all the army weapons Ben Gurion needed. There was an Israeli base at Zatec, Czecholslovakia [started in 1947], with stop-over at the base in Titograd [Pogorica] until Tito's break with Stalin in August 48.
The true history of '48 does indeed matter!
Interested?
David Eugene Blank 2119 Baringer Ave. Louisville KY 40204 (502) 452 - 1081 davideblank@yahoo.com