Chaim Amalek says: From the vantage point of the quarter century or so since he wrote it: That the era of the Jewish intellectual who concerns himself with the goyim and what they think about Heidegger has long since passed into history. The world has moved on.
I see so many black women looking for white men on Craigslist. What is going on in our culture?
But with so few white men looking for (or at ) black women, might this not just engender more bitterness in the black world?
When Ann Romney recently was asked about her husband coming off as stiff, she said, “I guess we better unzip him and let the real Mitt Romney out, because he is not.”
Rabbi Joshua Strulowitz responds to my email inquiry: “I struggle with this list, some of it I can’t relate to. I don’t really have a feel for how much power and influence Krinsky has. Every Chabad seems to be an independent entity. There is clearly a central office, but there are also clearly many “unauthorized” Chabad Houses. I may be biased, but I think that YCT is given much more standing than YU/OU. YCT graduates eight Rabbis a year, YU usually has between 40-50. If Dov Linzer is there than why not Yonah Riess, the head of YU’s Semicha program? Plus, YU has an entire undergraduate program and numerous graduate programs. Where is Kenny Brander and JJ Schachter from YU? Or Steve Berg and Steve Weil from the OU? Plus, Efram Goldberg was the Rabbi who spoke at the most prominent AIPAC slot, where is he? As far as Rav Herschel Schacter, he clearly is the most prominent voice as a YU Posek, but it is pretty murky as there are many YU Poskim, such as Rav Willig. I also think they were unfair to Rav Kamenetsky. I’ve spoken to him and asked him Shaylos, and he is a very worldly and understanding person-they make him sound like a neanderthal. As a whole I think the Yeshivish world is underrepresented. No one from Lakewood or Neir Yisrael? I think the people who make this list don’t really have a sophisticated understanding of the Yeshivish world.”
Historian Marc B. Shapiro responded to my inquiry: “I am not sure what they mean by “important”. Is important the same as influential? They have many of the big ones, but are also missing some. How about the Satmar Rebbes, who have a very large following. I think R. Herschel Schachter has to be at the top of the list if we want to know who is the most influential Orthodox in the Orthodox world. However, he doesn’t have influence in the Jewish community at large, while Krinsky, Hier et al do.”
Dennis Prager writes: In light of the tragic killing of black teenager Trayvon Martin — and the manufactured hysteria surrounding it — one thing needs to be stated as clearly and as often as possible: The United States is the least racist and least xenophobic country in the world. Foreigners of every race, ethnicity, and religion know this. Most Americans suspect this. Most black Americans and the entire left deny this.
Black Africans know this. That is why so many seek to live in the United States. Decades ago, the number of black Africans who had immigrated to the United States had already surpassed the number of black Africans who were forcibly shipped to America as slaves.
And members of other races and nationalities know this. Even Muslim and Arab writers have noted that nowhere in the Arab or larger Muslim world does an Arab or any other Muslim have the individual rights, liberty, and dignity that a Muslim living in America has. As for Latinos and Asians, vast numbers of them from El Salvador to Korea regard America as the land of opportunity.
And when any of these people come here – from anywhere, speaking any language, looking like a member of any race — they are accepted as Americans the moment they identify as such. He or she will be regarded as fully American. This is not true elsewhere. A third-generation Turkish-German, whose German is indistinguishable from the German spoken by an indigenous German, will still be regarded by most Germans as a Turk. The same holds true elsewhere in Europe.
On the other hand, a first-generation Turkish American, who speaks English with a heavy Turkish accent, but who identifies as American, will be regarded every bit as American as anyone else.
As is often the case, a foreigner pointed this out most clearly. On a visit to America in February, The president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, said:
“The other day, I was in a small company — and there were Asians, Koreans, Middle Easterners, some other people. And they had been in America for, like, two, three, four years. And they talk American. They look American. Body language is American. I’m sure they already think American. Go to Korea and become Korean in one or two years’ time. Good luck with that. That’s what’s so special about this country.”
I like pets. I’m more of a dog person than a cat person, but I’m thinking about getting a kitten. On the downside, about 10% of the population has pet allergies and this includes potential Alexander clients, friends and girlfriends. I fear that getting a cat would narrow my world and would reduce the number of people I could have over. Jews traditionally have not had pets.
Over the weekend, National Review ended its association with John Derbyshire. Why? Because of this racist essay he published.
I say John Derbyshire is harmless. Nowhere does he advocate mistreatment of anyone based on race so his “racism” is purely a matter of self-segregation. Plenty of blacks want nothing to do with whites and many members of other groups want to stick to their own kind. That’s not so bad. In fact, this world would be a utopia if people simply refrained from harming the innocent.
I know racists like John. They don’t want to associate with blacks, but they would ever knowingly lift a finger to harm anybody based on race or religion or sexual orientation, not blacks, not gays, not anyone. They would never advocate the harming of people based on skin color. They simply wish to stick with their own people. That’s not evil. They do not deserve our hatred. Only people who deliberately harm the innocent deserve our hatred.
John Derbyshire is nowhere near as bad as those people such as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and President Obama who are trying to whip up war based on race and economic class.
On his radio show Apr. 9, 2012, Dennis Prager said in
reaction to the murders of blacks in Tulsa by two white men: “My great grandfather, my mother’s mother’s father was murdered by a black man. I never recall anybody in my family thinking that it was then appropriate to kill a black. It’s preposterous.”
“A man’s father is killed by blacks so he goes and kills blacks. It’s despicable.”
No matter what you do, do you ever forfeit your right to live?
“This is a symptom of a society that has substituted feelings for morality.”
“This guy felt angry, therefore I can murder.”
“Uprisings are a euphemism for ‘I think I can murder innocent people because I’m angry.’ The left is big into rage. After all, why wouldn’t you have rage if there’s a war against women, a war against blacks, a war against hispanics, a war against the poor. Man, if somebody is making war on me, I’m enraged.”
Dennis Prager described Mark Levin’s new book Ameritopia as “important” and “terrific, brief clear synopsis of political philosophy.”
Conor Friedersdorf writes for The Atlantic: “Mark Levin has good taste in political philosophers. Locke? Montesquieu? The Framers? Tocqueville? All awesome. Summarizing them for chapters on end, often using cumbersome block quotes, it’s inevitable that he managed to squeeze in some great insights that they had. If Levin adds anything beyond that to justify buying his book, rather than a Locke CliffsNotes, its his brief discussion of spontaneous orders, but they’re much more adeptly described by Hayek. Is there any original insight in Ameritopia that would justify its purchase price? There is not. He manages to list a lot of problematic things about the United States, including the budget deficit, excessive regulations, and the gradual erosion of enumerated powers as a lodestar. But he is unpersuasive in pinning these problems on utopianism, which he cannot even adequately define.”
On his radio show today, Dennis Prager said: “If all of your religiosity or spirituality is faith, then there is no room for the atheist or the agnostic in what you have. It’s all faith. But in the church and the synagogue, whatever your denomination, there is room for everybody. I want people to believe for their sake, for their religion’s sake, for society’s sake, but no one is walking around with beliefometers. Religion is a place for doubters. Faith has no place for doubters.”
On his radio show today, Dennis Prager got a call asking why don’t hockey players get into trouble as much as other athletes.
Luke says: Well, why don’t tennis players and cricket players and rugby players get into trouble as often as other athletes? It’s the type of people who take up the sport. Solid citizens play cricket and hockey and rugby.
There’s a famous saying that rugby is a ruffian’s game played by gentlemen and soccer is a gentlemen’s game played by ruffians.
