Thoughts on being Jewish

I wrote the following for my Humor blog, but will make a few changes to reflect my thoughts about You Know Who.... Yesterday afternoon, I thought I'd been banished to Siberia. The woman at the Westin Boston Harborfront reception desk took a look at her computer, bit her lip and handed me my room key. "All the King Rooms are full, but we do have this Harborview Double", she said, which sparked my interest, because when I book through an internet discounter, I generally get "courtyard views" which... Sign in to see full entry.

I was thinking about Bruno Bettelheim's seminal work; Uses of Enchantment (about children's intrinsic need for fantasy) while watching a movie called Pan's Labyrinth last night. Set in 1944 Fascist Spain, the movie was centered on a 10 year old girl, Ofelia, whose father had been killed in the war and whose mother had remarried a vicious SS Captain and was pregnant with his child. The Captain, an SS Officer to the core, was one of the most sadistic subhumans ever to curse a movie screen - and it... Sign in to see full entry.

My God, my God I pray that these things never end; The sand and the sea, the rush of the waters, the crash of the heavens, the prayer of the heart. The sand and the sea, the rush of the waters, the crash of the heavens, the prayer of the heart. Translated from Hebrew; written by Hannah Senesh, Israel I hear this every year during the High Holidays, usually around the time we recall those lost in the Holocaust, and it gets to me every time. It is one of the most exquisite songs that illustrate... Sign in to see full entry.

I just received this email from an Israeli friend of mine. He is so eloquent, I'll let his words speak for me; The past two days will always count as some of the most difficult days of my life. I don’t remember ever sitting so many hours in front of the TV screen as I have yesterday and today. The thoughts, emotions and feelings are intense, complex and even contradictory. Almost exactly two years after the start of the Second Lebanon War, watching the circle close brought back memories of those... Sign in to see full entry.

If someone offers the following statement - history will treat the formation of the state of Israel over objections by the Arab League, the Arab Higher Committee and the regional Arabic communities and nations as the greatest blunder in recent world history - as a dispassionate "fact," my Debate Team hackels are aroused. (I actually wasn't on my University of Mass. debate team, however, I wanted to be, just so I could wear the UMassDebaters t-shirt). At any rate, a statement about something that... Sign in to see full entry.