Part I the Kahane Phenomenon
It has been apparent for a long time: there is no authentic Right in Israel. The Likud, erroneously identified as the Right, is nothing more than the right-wing of the Labor Party. If proof is wanted, recall that Likud leader Ariel Sharon, despite his party’s landslide victory over Labor in the February 2003 election, adopted Labor’s policy of disengagement from Gaza.
Sharon’s retreat from Gaza was only the first stage of a surreptitious plan to establish a Palestinian State. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was simply following Sharon’s agenda when he officially endorsed a Palestinian state on June 14, 2009 in a speech at Bar-Ilan University. But this agenda was initiated by the Rabin-Peres junta, when it signed the Oslo or Israel-PLO Agreement of September 1993. Lurking in the Oslo Agreement was nothing less than the (perfidious) intention to turn Judea and Samaria over to the Arabs. Why? To prevent this heartland of Israel from becoming the most populated area of the nation. Religious Zionists would have gravitated to Judea, the venue of Jerusalem.
A burgeoning population of religious Zionists in Judea and Samaria would decisively reduce the percentage of secular MKs in the Knesset. Surely Netanyahu had this in mind in 2009 when he endorsed the creation of a Palestinian state in this land on which the Prophets tread and taught. And surely the abandonment of this land was on Sharon’s agenda when he adopted Labor’s policy of unilateral disengagement from Gaza on the heels of the Likud’s February 2003 landslide victory. Gaza was only a ruse to condition Jews for the eventual disengagement from Judea and Samaria. This was the precondition of establishing a Palestinian state, which Netanyahu made official in his 2009 speech at Bar-Ilan University, and without a protest from the religious establishment.
This silence from the keepers of the flame signifies a spiritual malaise. The government’s territorial withdrawal syndrome follows like night follows day. Even though Israel’s existence is at stake, no authentic right-wing party has arisen to galvanize the public against this betrayal of the Jewish people. Why not?
Israel’s right-wing was buried with Rabbi Meir Kahane (z”l). Here let us pause and consider the Kahane phenomenon and why he was vilified as a “racist.”
Long before Kahane advocated the transfer and/or expulsion of Arabs from Israel, the idea was proposed by no less than Theodor Herzl, David Ben-Gurion, and other notables. Herzl wrote: “We shall try to spirit the penniless (Arab) population across the border by procuring employment for it in the transit countries while denying any employment in our own country.”
So why was only Rabbi Kahane vilified as a racist? The foremost reason is this: Kahane was the first and only theo-political leader to attract public attention since Israel’s rebirth in 1948. Although the racist calumny was used primarily by liberal and left-wing secularists, Reform, Conservative, and “politically correct” Orthodox rabbis joined the chorus of abuse.
By calling Kahane a “racist,” his calumniators, especially among the “Right,” intimidated many thoughtful, but more cautious, critics of the government and deterred them from openly supporting Kahane or taking a firm position of their own. Rabbi Kahane thus served as a convenient target for silencing right-minded public opinion, especially about Israel’s “fifth column” – Arabs committed to Israel’s demise.
Most Jews in Israel know they can’t live in peace and equality with disciples of the Qur’an and Muhammad. What else can anyone with a stitch of intellectual integrity conclude given the appalling indoctrination of Jew-hatred in Arab school books, the collaboration of Israeli Arabs with Hezbollah, and the seditious behavior of Arab MKs? Here we must ask how has Israel’s government addressed this problem?
In the mid-1980s the Knesset passed a law barring from parliamentary elections any political party that advocated any form of “racism.” The intended target was not Muslims whose Qur’an calls Jews “pigs” and “dogs.” No, the target was Rabbi Kahane. Let’s consider this carefully.
Kahane, who was elected to the Knesset in 1984, voted in favor of that anti-racist law. He did so because its final version excluded from the definition of racism any party that advocated laws consistent with the Halacha. This, he erroneously thought, would save him. Yet the final version of the law did not deter Likud and other Knesset members from petitioning the Supreme Court to bar Kahane’s Kach Party from competing in the November 1988 Knesset elections. Indeed, the judges voted unanimously in favor of the plaintiffs. This means they condemned Rabbi Kahane as a racist! Why did they perpetrate this injustice?
One reason is this: they feared the truth so often articulated by Kahane, the truth about the genocidal objectives of Arabs on the one hand, and about the failure of Israel’s government to take proper measures to protect Jewish citizens on the other. But there is something more to this story, for the elucidation of which allow me to quote from an article I wrote in September 1988, before the Supreme Court was petitioned to bar the Kach Party from the 1988 elections:
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Will Kahane be allowed to run for the 12th Knesset? Obviously the Knesset will do everything in its power to disqualify this unSocratic gadfly. But what about Israel’s Supreme Court …? Did it not rescue Kach and Kahane from the machinations of the Knesset in the 1984election…?
The trouble is this. When Rabbi Kahane ran for the Knesset in 1984, many people thought he would fare no better than in his previous attempts to enter that political menagerie. Certainly no one regarded him as a force to be reckoned with when it came to forming a coalition government. And so the Supreme Court could feel no qualms in applying, as it often does, principles of American constitutional law in the area of civil liberties. But today the question is not whether Kahane will get a seat in the Knesset (if he is allowed to run), but how many seats? People who did not vote for him in 1984 out of pessimistic expectations regarding his chances for election will certainly vote for him in November [1988], given the opportunity. And if only because of the intifada, Kach could become the third largest party in the Knesset. This is why I do not think the Supreme Court will come to Kahane’s rescue in 1988 as it did in 1984.
Unfortunately, my prediction was correct. What is more, the same Court that barred Kach permitted the Progressive List for Peace, a pro-PLO party, to participate in the 1988 Knesset elections. The Court thereby armed the wicked and disarmed the innocent. This has been the general policy of the government of Israel vis-à-vis its domestic enemies, a policy that may be termed “government-licensed insurrection.” Indeed, Israeli governments have not only armed Arab terrorists, but they are also paying these Arabs even while the Arabs are killing Jews! But this means that Israeli governments, especially their prime ministers, are accomplices to murder!
Part II. The Silence About Evil: From Peres to Netanyahu
That politicians like Shimon Peres see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil about Israel’s implacable enemies may be attributed less to their escapist mentality, than to their intellectual dishonesty and cowardice: they simply can’t accept responsibility for the disaster they have inflicted on the people of Israel since Oslo. Moreover, they can’t transcend the indiscriminate egalitarianism of contemporary western democracy. This normless form of democracy accords disloyal Arabs the same rights as loyal Jews.
That Arabs attack and murder Jews because they’re Jews is conclusive evidence that these Muslims are racists on theological grounds. But to expose this racism and act appropriately toward these Arabs would require more philosophic wisdom, as well as more political probity and courage, than these politicians can muster. Moreover, for politicians like Peres or Netanyahu to acknowledge Islam’s implacable hatred of Jews would be to admit they themselves had long engaged in deception regarding the possibility of Jewish-Muslim coexistence, which they mouth for consumption abroad. This saves them from being accused of racism!
Hence they saw in Rabbi Kahane a convenient scapegoat by which to conceal their cowardice and dishonesty. Whereas one academic wimp compared Kahane to Hitler proclaiming the Jews as the Master Race; other milk-and-toast academics called him the “Khomeini” of Israel.
In the name of democracy, the acanemics barred Rabbi Kahane from speaking at Israeli universities. Some of these illuminati had nonetheless opposed, on grounds of “academic freedom,” the temporary closing down of PLO-infested Arab universities in Judea and Samaria! Still, apart from political motives, what was there about Rabbi Kahane that aroused so much vituperation?
More effectively than other rabbis, Kahane held up a mirror to self-effacing Jews: Jews embarrassed by hundreds of biblical verses like this: “You are a holy people to the Lord your God: the Lord has chosen you to be His special people, out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth” (Deut. 7:6). No wonder reluctant members of the Chosen People were so embarrassed and enraged by Kahane. To the ignorant, such biblical verses smack of racism! The last thing these timorous and assimilated Jews want to see in Israel is the intellectual and moral cultivation of a people true to these words of the Torah: “Lo, it is a people that stands alone and does not reckon itself among the nations” (Num. 23:9).
Rabbi Kahane was proud of his Jewishness. But he lived in a country whose ruling elites evince not a scintilla of Jewish pride. This is why they hated him. This is why they reviled him as a racist. This is why they drummed him out of the Knesset. And this is why they bear no small burden of responsibility for his murder.
Whatever shortcomings one may attribute to Rabbi Kahane – even the great men of the Bible were not faultless – this intrepid rabbi was a great Jew. That’s why he was banned from the Knesset.
That sinkhole of corruption is a haven for men without erudition, without spiritedness, without chests. But in addition to their personal faults, these politicians are undermined by the Myth of Democracy which places them on the same level as their Arab enemies.
To overcome these obstacles to Israel’s spiritual redemption and thus foster the development of a goal worthy of the name “Israel,” Rabbi Kahane sometimes resorted to strident rhetoric. But let’s remember that the Prophets were not milquetoast toast orators ala Benjamin Netanyahu. Had they been so, would we remember them?
If I am not mistaken, however, it must be admitted that despite his sharp mind, Kahane overlooked what might have been his best weapon. I have in view the Achilles heel of Israel’s ruling elites: namely, that Israel is not and never has been a democracy!Since Kahane was accused of being a fascist, it would have been quite simple to turn the accusation against his detractors by showing that modern Israel is in fact a democratically elected despotism; and he could have cited the illustrious Alexis de Tocqueville to prove it!
Assimilated rabbis are fond of saying, ala former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak, that Judaism is democratic. Is it not clear to anyone with a stitch of intellectual integrity, however, that democracy’s basic principle of one-adult-one vote would consign Israel to oblivion if the Arabs were a majority? What a commentary on the intellectual caliber of Israel’s High Court of Justice! But that rabbis should genuflect to such sugary nonsense is disgraceful.
Unsurprisingly, rabbis were among Kahane’s greatest enemies. Some feared that his reputation as a racist, however slanderous and absurd, would undermine their own prestige.
One last word: While the people loved Rabbi Kahane, the Establishment abhorred him. He had the pulse of the people. They knew quite well about Israel’s Arab enemies, of whom Israel’s ruling elites – politicians and judges, intellectuals and journalists – were fearfully silent. And the silence continues to deafen us. The unSocratic Kahane spoke the truth, and it was this, not hemlock, that killed him. But that’s why there is no authentic Right in Israel.
If you are not on my personal list to receive weekly Rabbi Kahane articles contact me at: Barbaraandchaim@gmail.com
To view articles written by Rabbi Kahane go to: www.barbaraginsberg-barbara.
@ yamit82:
“Promotion” of eternal torment? — no, not promotion of it.
Rather, acknowledgment that there IS an ultimate Judgment; that it’s real; that it will entail the removal & disposal of evil elements — along with anyone who has allowed himself to become ATTACHED to same.
What it “reveals” about The Christ’s character is his utter subjection to God’s will. The Judgment in store is not his own, but haShem‘s.
Covered this already — and not that long ago (perhaps you should get a cognition test for early-onset alzheimers?)
I told you, he isn’t speaking here about removing an actual body part, but removing oneself from the circumstances which encourage the particular temptation symbolized by the hand, eye, etc.
GOD‘s wrath, GOD‘s vengeance
— there isn’t a scrap of evidence to suggest it was his own. Again, he said, “Of myself, I can do NOTHING; the Father within me, HEdoeth the works.”
@ honeybee:
I don’t “protest.”
I say what I think.
And NOT too “loudly” — but apparently too well, for your comfort. Can’t help that though.
The loudmouth here is somebody else.
@ yamit82:
Sincere thanks for the compliment. But only Christ gets to make that designation. And you aren’t he.
Why do you ask? — are you suggesting this was an act of ‘vengeance’???
Neither verse concerns vengeance (man’s OR God’s).
The discussion you took that verse from was clearly about the value of making constructive use of what skills, talents & gifts one has, and the consequences of failing to do so. If you DON’T “favor” that, well that’s your problem.
Any good thing can be used for evil purposes. If an axe is used for murder, shall we ban the use of axes henceforth?
There is a kind of ‘anger’ which is not judgmental, but is characterized by sheer righteous indignation; it has no taint of the ego about it. That’s what this was about.
His ‘critics’ were heartless a—holes looking for a pretext to nail him, and they didn’t give a damn for the man with the deformed hand. Here’s the entire passage [Mk 3:1-5]:
@ Shy Guy:
Trying to have your cake and eat it too.
If you think the text is false, fine; but then you don’t get to ALSO use it as a subject of dispute (which is what Yamit was doing, post #27 this pg, when you entered the thread).
Choose one or the other. You can’t have it both ways.
@ AbbaGuutuu:
I do agree with you on this. The majority of Jews that I know detest war and are definitely not greedy or racist. This is one of our challenges. To be strong enough to stand up to the enemy and defend ourselves but to remain the G-dly people we are. Why do I spell G-dly instead of Godly? Because many things are said and done in the name of God…I don’t want to mistake the wrong G-d so that is why we change it…..or use Adonai or Hahem or Creator so that there is no misunderstanding as to who we are referring to.
@ AbbaGuutuu:
I stand with Yamit82.
yamit82 Said:
Being a warmonger, greedy and racist are not something any person/country should be proud of. As a matter of principle, these qualities should be avoided in order for all nations to live in peace. Avoidance of the aforementioned qualities should be universal values.
Bear Klein Said:
Labels such as “right”, “left” etc. are sometimes a way of either shutting down a discussion or ignoring facts under considerations. It is rather better to deal with an issue in terms of its pros and cons and objectively try to know an issue based on its cause and effect relationships. Labels sometimes hinders any one from knowing a truth by creating prejudices based on a person’s preconceived idea about them.
honeybee Said:
A belief in in none aggression is vital for all nations to live in peace. All wars Israel fought to the best of my recollections were a defensive ones. She has been wrongly accused in the court of public opinion because of repeated lies which has been considered as ‘truth” by her enemies and even some of its friends. That was I suggested an effective PR as a counter offensive.
@ dweller:
” You doth protest to loudly”, Rosebud.
The over focus on labels right, not so right, left, far left, center, various religious labels, etc. is not constructive. Trying to put people in little neat boxes solves nothing. Just another way of trying to find differences between people in lieu of finding what they have in common.
What can we foster that is good for the future of Israel should be the question.
If lessons can be learned from the past errors great but to dwell on past errors without constructive ideas for the future is not helpful.
dweller Said:
Of course it wouldn’t, because there would go any pagan’s belief in the fable of an immaculate conception by someone who was screwing around, while Joe was nailing away in the carpentry shop.
The NT is one fairy tale after another.
@ yamit82:
Not at first they didn’t — so what? — It’s often the case that those who are closest to somebody have the hardest time being objective about him. Your understanding of human nature is apparently non-existent.
He wasn’t their ‘younger’ brother. He was the first-born.
She was no ‘whore.’ If she were, the text would say so.
(And if you aren’t willing to take the text as is, then why are you using the text as a subject for dispute in the first place? — what’s the point?)
You haven’t shown that. All you’ve done is cite a verse; that’s no argument.
— He was simply seizing upon a teaching opportunity, but you’ve twisted it into something it isn’t.
He is nothing of the sort. We’ve been all over this ground before as well. But you just don’t pick things up very quickly — except when you want to. . . .
That’s not what the text says. You read into the narrative what it SUITS you to read into it. But it does NOT say they “believed” him a nut case.
It SAYS “they said he is out of his mind.” It’s apparent that they thought he might be in danger, and they said whatever they thought it would take to assure his safety. BFD.
Any objective observer could readily see you’ve got an axe to grind, Yamit. It’s impossible to miss.
dweller Said:
Spoken like a real christian.
Who was the nut case who caused a riot in the temple and attacked merchants with a whip (John 2:15)?
Who said:
“Think not that I am come to send peace: I came not to send peace but a sword.” (Matthew 10:34)
“He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.” (Luke 22:36)
“But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.” (Luke 19:27. In a parable, but spoken of favorably.)
The burning of unbelievers during the Inquisition was based on the words of yeshu: “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” (John 15:6)
Jesus looked at his critics “with anger” (Mark 3:5),
The most revealing aspect of his character was his promotion of eternal torment. “The Son of man [yeshu himself] shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13:41-42)
“And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched.” (Mark 9:43)
It seems any who disagree with this nut case had to endure his violent wrath and vengeance.
___________________________________________________________________________________
The torah prohibits taking vengeance against brother Jews, prohibition was non applicable to non Jews and enemies. Jews were even commanded to take vengeance against enemies and idol worshipers.
dweller Said:
Is this better? 😛
John 7:5(NIV) 5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.
What happened the whore mary never told her children about their younger brother yeshu?
Mark 3:20-35 – What did the family of yeshu and other Jews think of Him?
Again violation of the 5th commandment and he is clearly insane and even his own family who knew him best and intimately believed him a nut case. Apparently his mother forgot what the angel Gabriel told her!! 😛
What crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@ yamit82:
Vengeance indeed
— GOD‘s vengeance.
His wrath, His retribution, His judgment, His destruction, His fury.
Not man’s.
@ yamit82:
You certainly do appear to speak for one ‘Jew.’
— The claims, it seems, were NOT lies where PresentCompany is concerned.
Granting that, however, all bets are OFF beyond that point.
@ yamit82:
The usual scurrilous drivel from the Association of “Rational” [ROFLMFAO] Jesus Seekers Press
— this, lifted verbatim from Joe Holman’s article on atheist John W. Loftus’ “Debunking Xty” website. [Not the same John J. Loftus, of the Secret War Against the Jews].
As with everything else on the site, it’s all polemic (and of a sort that relies heavily on invective & cheap innuendo); no argument, no research, no exploration
— “rational” indeed.
Who would think that YAMIT would gravitate toward it? (quelle surprise!)
@ honeybee:
I’m not in the hamburger business, HB; you are.
That’s why I said your wishful thinking about “selling hamburgers” (viz., your purportedly ‘turning me on’) wouldn’t get the job done.
dweller Said:
Doubt if your capable of such a complicated task.
@ honeybee:
Wishful thinking never sold any hamburgers (but don’t let ME keep you from dreaming).
@ yamit82:
Physically “eliminated”? — dunno ’bout that.
He did sign on to having KACH eliminated as a legitimate political party.
I attended his 16th yahrtzeit in SF some years ago, and the service was followed by a screening of an interview of him discussing the Nov ’88 Knesset elections. What I’ve written, above, was his take on it. Seemed credible to me, and I’ll continue to believe it till I encounter compelling evidence to the contrary.
yamit82 Said:
You’re in a mood Love, hung-over.
yamit82 Said:
I tried the above with TX,didnt work, still have to make supper.
dweller Said:
Breaths were held Monday night at the Kaczynski Memorial Auditorium in Chicago, Illinois as the council of over 200 came together to render a verdict on the highly disputed sanity of Jesus.
Believers of all faiths could be seen biting their nails, anxiously awaiting this team of some of the ripest biblical scholars on the planet to reach their weighty conclusion. The verdict would forever stain the already tarnished reputation of Jesus the Christ—this verdict being surpassed in negativity only by the Talmudic accusation that Jesus was the product of Mary opening her legs to a weary Roman soldier one fateful night.
Finally, the waiting was over and the verdict was in: Jesus Christ, known to Christians as “the Messiah,” is legally insane!
honeybee Said:
Only the bastard son of a prostitute hairdresser named Mary turns him on. 😛
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMP-5jD_oaQ
AbbaGuutuu Said:
That’s the image gentiles love to view Jews. Image largely fostered by rabbis who turned Judaism on it’s head from the most warmongering people to passive punching bags for christian and Muslims to beat them with.
Not lies, Jews were warmongers, are greedy and very racist. We are the “Chosen People” We believe we hold the only theological truth and the keys to the next world. We believe our G-d is the only G-d and is not the same deity as christians and Muslims worship.
That’s not admiral behavior it’s stupid even criminal behavior and certainly un-Jewish.
Behaving as christians are supposed to behave and never did has not brought us respect and esteem by anyone only derision and loss of any respect and fear by any and all nations; because it’s stupid behavior that none of our friends, allies and certainly no enemy would emulate if placed in a similar situation.
I say we should bring our Nukes up from the cellar and let everyone know what our targeting is and how they will be launched automatically if we are attacked by any source. Ever heard of Nuclear winter????? Better to be feared than loved or alive and feared rather than dead and loved.
dweller Said:
So Shamir had him eliminated???
honeybee Said:
He’s not worth the effort anyway I gave up Bullshiting AH’s for lent!!
beniyyar Said:
Pot calling Kettle???
Self description???
@ beniyyar:
Yamit82 is gonna eat your lunch!!!! Everyday!!!! Runnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
It is so sad to watch as Professor Eidleburg sinks slowly but surely into Alzheimer’s and it’s brain killing dementia. This whole article is just plain silly and totally irrelevant to modern Israeli politics, Kahane is dead, and so is his movement, not that Kahane had that much real political or diplomatic influence anyway, indeed, Kahane would have been almost unknown if it was not for the Israeli Left which propped him up as some sort of monster that threatened Israel. I am sorry that Professor Eidleberg has slipped off his rails so completely, he seems to be living in the deep and lost past, and by such comical writing is making himself into a farce, how sad, how tragic.
dweller Said:
Oh Darlin, to I ever turn you on!!!!!!!!!!!.
Polling had made clear that Kach would take anywhere from eight to eleven seats
— and that most of them would come from Shamir’s Likud.
@ honeybee:
Or vice versa.
But then, rebellion and conformity are opposite sides of the SAME COIN.
Doesn’t matter which side lands facing up when you flip it:
— The whole coin is counterfeit.
AbbaGuutuu Said:
Non aggression that’s what I was taught. But then authority has always had a problem with me.
honeybee Said:
Dear honeybee, nobody including you believe that “Jews are supposed to be passive and meek”. The majority of the world has a wrong understanding of the Jews because of repeated lies that presented the Jews as “war mongers, ‘greedy’ and even ‘racist'”. I do not know any people/country since recorded human history who warns its enemies citizens in advance to separate themselves from terrorists who deliberately hide among themselves during a war and then take care of the wounded civilians and even enemy combatants. More PR is needed to let all know the goodness of Israel/Jews.
the phoenix Said:
Jews are suppose to be passive and meek.
@ yamit82:
I am half way listening to the interview of rabbi kahane hy”d, with the blonde shiksah…
Her contempt for the late rabbi is unmistakeable and still palpable after all these years…
How he managed to maintain his composure throughout this blatantly biased ‘interview ‘ is incredible…
To calmly point out to that dolled up bitch that she is talking to a Jew, that defies her antisemitic compass….
What an incredible brave and noble soul…
What a loss to our nation…
“Pour forth Your wrath…”
In the Passover Haggadah there is the famous (or rather infamous) section which asks of G-d to exact revenge on those nations who lack divine awareness, and who have maltreated the Jewish people. It reads as follows:
“Pour out Your fury on the nations that do not know you, and upon the kingdoms that do not invoke Your name, for they have devoured Jacob [the Jews] and destroyed his home. Pour out Your wrath on them; may Your blazing anger overtake them. Pursue them in wrath and destroy them from under the heavens of the Lord.”
The passage itself is a combination of three verses from the Bible (Psalm 79:6-7, Psalm 69:25 and Lamentations 3:66). It was compiled and added to the Haggadah during the Middle Ages as a response to the massacres of the Crusades (beginning in 1096), and to the persecution of the Jews during the time of Easter (which usually coincides with Passover). Throughout the ages, the Jews, who had no recourse to violence, vented their indignation by sublimating and spiritualizing their desire for vengeance.
In modern times, in an era in which coexistence is valued by Jew and non-Jew alike, it is no surprise that these words have rubbed people the wrong way: after all, the verses cited in the Haggadah are perpetuating a worldview of religious warfare and animosity. Moreover, the message of “Pour out Your wrath” seemingly contradicts the ethos of Passover with its universal emphasis on freedom and compassion (both human and divine).
What is the real Meaning of Passover for the Jews?
Passover: Holiday Of Vengeance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6IIQubS9ZQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LueR5XtX7f0