Leon’s: The World is Upside Down
By Leon Kushner
Photo of the religious Jewish man after being beaten for no reason by Jewish demonstrators
I must apologize up front for this lengthy blog post but I do have a lot to say.
Did you hear about the vicious attack by Jews on a religious couple in Tel Aviv? The Jews were part of the demonstrations.
Probably not. It’s certainly not on the mainstream media not in Israel and not elsewhere. Here’s the article if you care to read it (pretty vile stuff).
According to our sages, Jew on Jew violence is one of many terrible things that could happen during End of Days.
It’s bigger than that. Man on Man violence including children vs parents, etc. Not to plagiarize my blog name but the world will be upside down. One time good nations will become evil and evil may do good. We see that happening today (the US stands out as such an example).
Letting the worst US president of all time bring the country down to its knees while trying to put one of the best US president’s in jail.
Replacing the most sought after currency (US dollar) with one of the least valued currencies from China! (Oh boy!)
Men become women and women men.
An Israeli hero was duly elected to be the leader of the Jewish Nation. A nation which you all well know is constantly facing existential threats from all of its many enemies. Yet he continues to be constantly hounded by his political foes and other nefarious organizations for years about every possible issue. Some are made up charges, some are real issues. But together they form a dangerous distraction for him (Bibi) and his coalition and their military leaders who are in charge of keeping Israel safe.
In short, it has become increasingly hard for good people to discern the truth.
I see this as the biggest problem facing us. Well intentioned people will be (are) sucked in to believing all sorts of lies and nonsense. Supporting the Ukrainians at all costs (WW3) is such an example. The demonstrations, etc. happening in Israel supposedly over judicial reform is another example.
Some of you are probably wondering why I mention the End of Days. Has Leon suddenly lost his mind? He used to stick to political, geopolitical or cultural events that often had to do with antisemitism. May I remind you again that I consider myself to be a Jewish activist (among other things). Of all things Jewish, the concept of End of Days is quite an important and serious one. But one that is barely talked about by the typical Jew on the street. Orthodox Jews understand this concept quite well (far better than I). Some religious Christians do as well.
If we can celebrate Passover and understand its importance and meaning (and most of us do), then we can certainly contemplate this concept. As I mentioned before the End of Days is a period of time that will precede the coming of the Messiah. I keep hearing that the Moshiach is at the door. Based on how I see the world right now, it all makes perfect sense. We could well be in End of Days!
I believe that things will get incrementally ugly (like the frog in the slow boiling pot of water) until finally all of us get the message.
Let me make a case of exactly this…
Last night I attended an event at a local synagogue whereby they brought a bright Israeli, to talk about what’s going on in Israel (judicial reform/demonstrations) in a supposed non-partisan way. I went as an observer, not to learn anything new as I am already well informed on the issue. I see how so many get easily distracted by unrelated issues and suffer from information overload. It’s so easy to throw shiny objects at us so we lose our focus on what I would say are often straight forward and not complicated issues.
He was very well spoken, funny and at ease. He did a reasonable job keeping us engaged but the irony was that he never once explained the obvious facts on judicial reform.
1. For decades the supreme court and AG held the elected officials hostage and ruled over them
2. The supreme court were self appointed
3. The proposals from the newly elected government aim to rectify these 2 dangerous policies
Since his talk was to focus on judicial reform, I would have expected him to explain in detail how the current supreme court gets appointed and what they do vs the new proposals from Bibi’s administration (how he aims to change the self appointed method to a fairer model) and what they should be doing.
He never once mentioned the dangerous interference to Israel’s democracy from the outside. By nefarious people like George Soros, or organizations like the WEF, EU or other countries like the US. When a question was asked why the US thinks it can interfere in Israeli elections he answered because Israel relies on the US. Maybe that is their thinking but they couldn’t be more morally wrong. The US also relies on Israel.
He talked about everything else though and the crowd was very satisfied. He made sure to tell us how he and his children demonstrated often and that (according to him) Bibi made a mistake in firing his minister of defence Gallant. No reason given for his sentiment.
The facts by the way are once again simple. While Bibi was away on important government business, Gallant decided to stab his boss in the back and publicly call for a halt in the judicial reform process. Plain and clear dangerous insubordination that calls for his ouster. Did that raise the ire of the demonstrators? Probably. But there was no choice. Any other action would help tear down Bibi’s administration. If every cabinet member decided to defy their boss’s orders you’d have total chaos and no government.
Although overall he made some very rational and reasonable points, he subliminally made sure that the crowd understood who the bad guys were. He called ministers Smotrich and Gvir, extremists. I might as well be listening to CNN.
Worse still in my opinion was this point:
That the religious sector have more children than the secular sector. And since the religious sector is primarily conservative and on the Right and the secular sector is usually liberal and on the Left, it’s not looking good for the secular sector and that’s in fact what the demonstrations are about.
Personally I found that whole idea offensive. That idea is being promulgated throughout our Jewish population and it certainly doesn’t sit well with me.
Israel is composed of a very diverse group of people. Jews both secular and religious, some Ashkenazi (European origin) some Mizrachi, some rich, some poor, some highly educated, some not, etc. Arabs also secular and religious, some are Muslim, some Christian, Druze and many others make up this population. Until now, they worked together most of the time, to make the country run. His discussion made the audience worry that if the Supreme Court eventually became run by the Orthodox community then the rest of Israeli society would suffer. Ladies would all have to wear head scarfs, men would don long beards and wear black hats.
Essentially Israel would become an equivalent to a shariah state like Iran. He didn’t state this but that was the implication.
He failed to mention that unlike the current system, the new proposals would define the job of the supreme court to judge cases, not to make laws! That’s what all supreme courts do (or should be doing).
I think I can make this case objectively as a secular Jew but one who values Judaism. I myself stated in one of my blogs, that I would love to see a true Torah scholar sitting on Israel’s supreme court. The wisdom from such a real Jewish person is much needed there. After all if a sitting justice can be an Arab and it seems that most secular Jews are ok with that, then why not an orthodox Jew on the supreme court?
The discussion defies logic. One can say that the Arab population is exceeding at a faster rate than the secular Jewish population. If that is the case and since we currently allow anti-Israeli Arabs to sit in the Israeli parliament (Knesset) then what’s to stop them from acquiring more and more seats until one day they run the country (never mind the Supreme Court)?
In any case, the demographic predictions in Israel have been wrong, often. Historically some Jews had predicted that the Arab population would outgrow the Jewish population 10 years ago. Clearly this has not happened and hopefully never will. The experts then based their calculations on the Western world’s declining population. In North America and Europe it was and remains true that we are not procreating near enough to replenish our population. But the secular Jewish population in Israel defied this trend substantially. Add to this the huge influx of secular Jewish immigrants from places like Russia, Ukraine and other African nations as well as non-Jews who continue to make Israel their home, balance out the increase in orthodox Jews. His premise is if not an outright lie, it’s at least faulty. It’s designed to inject a sense of paranoia and fear into us. Oy vey, the religious Jews are going to ruin our ‘Jewish’ homeland! Can you see the irony here?
There are so many complicated factors in trying to wage predictions in Israelis future population growth that we simply can’t rely on any one’s ‘expert’ opinion. Making this as part of a case to any argument (pro or against the idea that the supreme court turning more Jewish is good thing) is a mistake.
I point out this event because it stands as a great example of where we are today, how we think and where we’re heading. I knew many people at the event and liked them all. They are all good people with good souls and good intentions. So was the speaker. But they are all playing with fire.
Yes my friends, hold on to your hats. The blurring of right and wrong, evil and good, rational and illogical are facing us right now. Enjoy the ride if you can.
FRANK-
I query a few of your “facts”. For instance
Those who wear them, don’t say that the big fur hats , leggings are not Polish gentry styles. It’s their idiosyncrasy that became their “uniform”.. They know what they are.
Wigs were a sort of defence against pogrom rapes. My bobba wore one; I saw her without it and only then realised it wasn’t her own hair. It had not occurred to me that even being an old woman, she still had luxurious chestnut hair.
Her hair was only about a 1/4 inch long. and I asked her why. So she told me that many girls would have their heads bald because the rapers would grab their hair.. and then be shocked at their ugly baldness.
She didn’t say “rape'” she said “attackers”. I was about 14 ..
Only much later i realised what she meant.
I have just looked at verse 20.21 in Berashit which mentions “Pakad”, which Chazal and the Zohar interpret as the end of the world. It certainly makes no mention of End of Days or Moshiach or any of that crap. But Chazal interprets it as so meaning.
Genesis 20 has only 16 verses. It and chapter 21(20 verses) are all about Sara being barren and then having a son, and Hagar also, etc.
Rashba and Abrabanel mull over it and have different “interpretations”.
Rab Abaye “interprets; it to mean that the world will last 6,000 years; and then 2.000 years of desolation, and then it all will be rebuilt anew and the Moshiach will arrive. TRA.LAH……..HEY..!!!
The ZOHAR is also involved with this drek and when the ZOHAR is into anything you know it’s completely mashugga.
I may say that I looked it up; the meaning is “to visit, to meet:..etc.
In the meanwhile ……….The Judicial Reform is frozen, I hope not solidly.
Oh I forgot, …The Christian writings make a huge thing about End of Days to the extent that it’s really a Christian Concept, ea dogma of Faith.. I suppose that’s why some sects periodically give away all their possessions and go and sit on mountain tops waiting….???? ….
For what…..??? I dunno, never asked them. All I know is that they should bring cushions.
First the facts: (1) The Arab fertility rate has fallen these 15 -20 years with urbanisation to under 3 children per woman in the PA as much as Israel and the Arab population of Israel has flat lined for a lot longer as the 50’s to 70’s bulge dies off. (2) The secular Israeli fertility rate has been up to 3 children per woman for two decades.
(3) Israel has been leaned on before as the US etc insisted Israel leave Sinai twice – in Jan 1949 and Mar 1957. Also right wing Kohelet and others probably raises as much foreign moneys as NIF and co.
It is part of being a small power that you have to tiptoe between the tulips of the great powers – and that even great powers have to be careful. The British in 1867 gave Canada internal independence so as to pull the rug under US hypocritical ambitions to annex it, and after the Boer War (1899 – 1902) UK made a hold- the- ring naval alliance with Japan and gave Australia, New Zealand and S. Africa internal independence, to clear the table for the incoming tussle with Germany. Incidentally US pressure not to renew the Japanese alliance (1920 Washington Conf) also convinced the Japanese they were on their own and had no need to co-operate internationally with disastrous results all round. It is time for some ex-US to stop thinking US and like Ben Gurion and Eshkol to think Israeli ie small and cornered so work up on ju jitsu and krav maga.
(4) The Supreme Court is less self – appointed than the rabbinate historically and the whole present turmoil has tabled brutally the position of Judaism and the types and styles of being Jewsih in Israel. For starters fur hats, women’s wigs and black coats are NOT authentic Jewish but 18th century Polish gentry fashions. Black was originally Counter Reformation Catholic Spanish which Poland took to when making Catholicism a marker of Polishness by 1620’s. At the time there was no black dye so black was an expensive brag as the cloth had to be double dyed. Josephus tells us – and he is reliable on everything else he mentions – tha tJews wore egalitarian white for Sabbath and festivals.
(5) It is appalling that some grob and clumsy has “clocked” a man in Ultra uniform but instead of going mystical about the breach of Jewish solidarity consider for a moment how the Israeli Ultras have done just that. In a country dependent on its army more than most they have refused to serve, and they have dodged education pertinent to a modern urban, industrial, high tech society while screwing the politcal system for disproportionate welfare handouts, and in the latest years suppporting a pair of dishonourable men in maintaning their politcal office.
Dear Leon, Israel and the Diaspora has long (forty years at least) recovered the religious knowledge and expertise lost in the Shoah BUT apart from the Steinsalz pointed Talmud and the Mossad HaRav Herzog Talmudic Encylopaedia, what have the Israeli Yeshiva Community contributed to being Jewish or encouraging Israelis and Diaspora to be and remain Jewish?
Good article. Violence and intimidation has always been a static of the Left