I’ve Got You Babe: Obama, Israel and the Next Holocaust by Aliza Davidovit

Ask 100 people what the most non-kosher animal is and 100 people will tell you a pig. But the truth is that tigers, dogs, horses, camels and so many other four-legged friends are all equally on the “Do Not Eat Diet” for Jews.

So how did the poor pink pig earn such infamy? For the simple reason that it is a hypocrite. There are two essential traits that make an animal kosher: It has to have split hooves and, in terms of its digestion process, it must chew its own cud. Swine posses only one of these two characteristics, which thus renders them not sandwich worthy for Jews. On the outside they showoff their split hooves as if to boast, “Look I’m kosher,” but what’s really going on is another story. A pig never shows its true colors and so you don’t really know who or what you are dealing with and can be charmed into taking a figurative bite. I can’t help but think of the movie Babe, which was about a lovable little pig who wants to be a sheepdog. He is very successful at coaxing the sheep into submission and when asked how he did it, he replied, “I asked them and they did it. I just asked them nicely.”

Babe the pig might have something there. As Marxist philosopher George Sorel advocated, the masses can be united into a social force through nice sounding slogans and myths. Indeed, history has shown us how people have been bamboozled by slogans when they were “asked nicely” to join a cause. As Hitler himself said, “The broad masses of a population are more amenable to the appeal of rhetoric than to any other force.” As such, over the centuries, the world’s greatest dictators and villains offered the unemployed and hungry “sheep” a dream to chew on, and they gobbled it up as if it was bread.

Today, as we contemplate Holocaust Remembrance Day, I can’t help but ask myself as I do every year, how did it actually get to the point where it was okay to send a human being into a gas chamber and turn a person into a lampshade? Such emotional and moral callousness could not have happened overnight. Certainly, it was built up.

I’ve heard it echoed through the years, “We shall never forget,” but I’m not so sure we are remembering the most important part. The number 6 million and the word Holocaust will likely never be forgotten. But what is even more important to remember is how we got there. The Nuremberg Laws of 1935, which defined exactly who a Jew was, were awful, but the tragedy didn’t begin there. It was incremental. First Jews weren’t allowed in parks, then restaurants, then universities, then into certain professions. Then Jewish businesses were boycotted, Jews could no longer be citizens and Germans were prohibited from interbreeding or marrying a Jew, etc. Every time the Jews thought it couldn’t get worse, it did…as it always does. A rolling ball doesn’t stop midway down the hill unless it is stopped. Yes, today we mourn the victims, but we must also mourn the intermediary steps which went unchallenged and allowed the final carnage to ensue.

Today, another set of incremental steps are taking place that are harbingers of what may be another destructive episode in Jewish history. Readers, I do not like what I’m seeing from Washington vis-a-vis Israel: I do not like it that Israel is being told where Jews can and cannot live in their own homeland; I do not like the path Obama’s nuclear agenda is taking compromising both America’s and Israel’s security; I do not like that Obama has never visited the Jewish State since he’s been President while making time to visit Muslim countries; I do not like it that Obama is considering imposing his own take-it-or-leave-it peace plan; I don’t like that Obama reportedly denied entry into the United States of an Israeli nuclear scientist who works on the Dimona reactor; I do not like it that Obama has refused to approve any of Israel's military requests since he entered office in January 2009. The ball is picking up speed.

My friends, when Obama was running for office he showed us his kosher-style hooves. When he visited Sderot in ’08 he said, “If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughter sleep at night, I’m going to do everything in my power to stop that. And I would expect Israelis to do the same.” When he spoke pre-presidency at AIPAC, he supported an undivided Jerusalem.” But now, my friends, it is apparent that he may have kosher hooves, but he doesn’t chew his own cud and those who supported him are being left to eat crow.

Every single day that we remain silent the chasm grows and the shadow gets darker not only over the Jewish State but over all that this great country stands for. If we do not, with the full force of our abilities, resist this “gathering storm,” then I advise we change the slogan from “we will never forget” to “we will never learn.” Maybe in the end we are all just sheep pulling the wool over our own eyes while the little piggies go “ha, ha, ha” all the way home.
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The Naked Truth by Aliza Davidovit

These days people have become so shallow that they are more impressed by labels and icons than they are by substance. For instance, it was just found out that a French wine company sold 18 million bottles of a cheap Merlot to Americans passing it off as a pricier Pinot Noir from 2006-2008. No one ever knew. I can just see it now as some pretentious dude is twirling and sniffing the wine and giving the waiter the AOK that the wine is “just fabulous.” We have become so duped by labels and the superficial that it is no wonder our society is crumbling; there is no substantive foundation holding us up. Today, we are more defined by “who” you wear or what you buy than who you are. Chanel, Gucci, Pucci, Armani, Boss, Ralph Lauren, Prada, ect., are the identifiers by which we size other people up and evaluate our own worth. And if you can’t afford the real thing there is always the market for knockoffs as is so prevalent here in New York. People don’t care about the truth or the substance, they care about the show.

Who cares that once you get home you realize that the knockoff pocketbook doesn’t even say “Chanel,” it says, “Channel.” They gave you an extra “n,” and for a discount too. What’s the big deal if the knock-of Isaac Miyake cologne smells like parakeet pee, I think the real one smells worse. And so what if the “Tag Heuer” watch you bought for 15 bucks is just like the people in this town, it won’t give you the time of day. What’s most important is that everyone thinks you own an expensive item and that your worth and esteem in the world have been augmented by whatever fraudulent means. It shouldn’t really matter when the band starts corroding and your wrist becomes affected with gangrene. It’s also hardly relevant that the cheap plastic from your new “Prada” sunglasses is releasing lead into your brain. We only use 10 percent of our brain anyway, and if you’re in Congress, apparently your brain is dispensable altogether. But, I guess it’s like everything else in our country these days, even our bullshit is manufactured in China.

It was sad to read an article by Sharon Osbourne today in which she states that our youth is being destroyed by celebrity. The ambitions of our youth today is to be famous—another label. They just want the title and don’t really care if they have the talent or even care what they are famous for. YouTube moments and reality TV shows feed the beast. We are nurturing a world of empty vessels.

Even when I hear President Obama say at the health care summit that he can speak the length of his choice because he is the President, I get the same ill feeling that a label is being bandied about at the expense of true value. If you are the President, then start acting like it and stop advertising it. This “me”-gocentric labeling does not a president make. Even the secure handles on a real Gucci handbag couldn’t carry the weight of the debt he’s amassing. The hateful divide in this country is a better reflection of whether you are President or presidential.

Thus, when we read this week’s Bible portion, Moses’ greatness stands in contrast to the world and leadership we know today. As God declares He is about to destroy the Jewish Nation because of the sin of the golden calf, Moses says if You destroy the Jews, then blot my name out of Your Book. He wasn’t seeking name recognition. He didn’t say, “Okay, make me famous and to heck with them Jews.” He didn’t need a label, fame, or pretentious baloney to prove he was a somebody. As a consequence, in this week’s reading, it is the first time since Moses’ birth that his name does not appear in the entire section. Yet who he was and what he stood for was more powerful than ever, right there in his humility. He was a leader from the inside out. As such he didn’t need spotlights shining on him; it turns out the light shone out from him.

I’m not launching a war against designers here or Obama. I’m just saying let’s try hard not to forget what it really is that makes a man. Let's stop polishing the apples and start nurturing the fruit inside.
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Image is Everything?!!! by Aliza Davidovit

Many of us have an image we feel we have to upkeep in order to face the world. So maybe we wear a little too much makeup, buy a car we can’t afford, or show a brave face when we are crying inside. Images are only skin deep. For instance, the Titanic may have had an image of great elegance and imperviousness but the iceberg wasn’t too impressed and as a result 1500 people died. The Wizard of Oz, had the image of an all-powerful magician, but when the curtains were pulled, he was nothing more than a little man with a megaphone. Image is the bait that ensnares us, hypnotizes us, and lures us down the Yellow Brick Road-- often to find disappointment at its end. It is unfortunate that we try and put our best face forward at the expense of what is really going on behind it.
Even the TV we love to watch is all about improving life aesthetically and superficially. It is the trend these days in reality TV to renovate the externals of our existence, thus the barrage of makeover programs, such as What Not to Wear, Nip & Tuck, The Biggest Loser, Queer Eye For The Straight Guy, Supernanny, Nanny 911, Restaurant Makeover, From G's to Gents and Extreme Makeover, just to name a few. I question why there are no shows that force people to be nicer. Why don’t they take some mean yutz and put him through the process of attending church, doing acts of kindness and in the end showing how his life has been changed for the better because of it.

We apathetic viewers allow media image makers to shape the mindset by which we evaluate people and events. A perfect example is President Obama, who came upon the national scene with a nice smile and a gift of gab. As a result, most of America was hypnotized by a manufactured image that promised to “fundamentally change” the country. We failed to insist that the media dig deeper and to uncover the depth and breadth of a man who would be president.

But how can we demand more of others when in a large measure we evaluate ourselves superficially as well? At the end of most days we bash ourselves if we are overweight, if we didn’t make enough money, if we aren’t as successful as the other guy or gal. But how many of us take ourselves to task at the end of the day for not doing enough charitable deeds that day or being a kinder person? Few of us engage in a makeover that starts on the inside.

In this week’s Bible portion the Israelites gather at the foot of Mount Sinai to witness Moses descend with the Ten Utterances (Commandments). God does not pick a fancy building or the highest mountain to bring his laws into the world nor does he ask His people to adorn themselves with jewels and expensive garb, but rather he addresses them in the wilderness, where they have nothing and are nothing more than a wandering people. The Jews had humility after leaving Egypt—after all, what pride can a former slave have? As such they were prime candidates to receive the word of God. Pharaoh had pride and haughtiness and thus could not absorb God’s laws. He was impressed with his own image and all the makeovers that Egyptian idol makers and beauticians could conjure. But gilded armor does not a mensch make.

A rabbi once asked his young student where can God be found? The student proud to know the answer said, “God can be found everywhere.”
“Wrong,” his rabbi replied, “God can only be found in a humble heart, not one that is filled with ego, for two things cannot occupy the same space at the same time.”

Biblical scholars teach that it is relevant that the Ten Commandment were engraved in stone and not inked on parchment or gilded with gold letters. Something engraved shows humility because it is able to surrender a part of itself and allow something meaningful to be etched in its stead.

So my dear friends, when we look at our lives and contemplate “makeovers” and image boosters, close your eyes! Look inside yourself beyond the mirrors, choose substance over surface. When we reach the end of our days it is only our good deeds that will gain us entry into God’s kingdom, and at that heavenly gate, there is no bribing the doorman.

Holy Bagels! by Aliza Davidovit

Dear readers, we are close enough for you to know that I suffer from opsomania, which is, the abnormal love for one kind of food. In my case it’s bagels. Therefore, I cannot deny that as Passover approaches, I lament the loss of this round shaped carbohydrate and my spirit sadly flattens like a whole wheat matzo.

But Passover is not just about cutting bread from the menu or getting rid of the last possible crumbs from your fridge, your car, your sock drawer, or anywhere else you are harboring baked stowaways. On a deeper level, Passover, just as Easter, is a time for us to take an introspective look at ourselves, to clean up our spiritual crumbs, and to commit ourselves to do things differently today than we did yesterday.

The yeast that makes bread rise is compared to a man’s pride and to the puffery we entertain ourselves with in our ego-driven lives. Yet matzos are hardly attention getters, either by sight or smell. Everything about them bespeaks humility. Quite frankly, they are a needed reminder to a people who, bloated with their own success, forget that at any moment history can take the air right out of them. The destiny of a Jew can pivot in a second.

This past week, as we watched politics play out with President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, we were reminded of that fact. And ominously, in the shadow of Passover, history seemed to repeat itself.

Once there was a leader named Moses who came before Pharaoh and said, “Let my people go!” But Pharaoh’s heart was pumped up on self-importance, ego and pride. Though he had chance after chance to do the right thing, he spurned Moses and God. He was, figuratively speaking, a yeast filled bagel. But egos make for poor scaffolds and thus the Egyptian empire crumbled. Netanyahu, too, arrived in the columned halls of DC with a similar message regarding housing for Jews in Jerusalem, basically saying, “Let my people grow.” The prime minister was met with the same defiance and arrogance of a true enemy of the Jewish people, a dislike that breached all former protocol, decency and semblance of friendship. Pharaoh told the Jews to make bricks with no straw, Obama tells Jews to build houses with no bricks.

My friends, the moment is as brittle as a matzo. This night is certainly different than all other nights as the US-Israel relationship hits an historic low and Iran casts an ominous gloom on the tiny Jewish state. Let’s pray for the sake of sparing lives and friendships that Obama will learn something from the humble matzo and soften his stance toward America’s stalwart ally in the Middle East. As for Netanyahu, like Moses, I implore him to stay the course, despite the pressures, so that God will continue to stand behind him and bless the Promised Land. If the president would have spent less time listening to his reverend’s hateful speeches and more time listening to scriptures he would have learned that the bread you cast upon the waters flows back your way. But, until it all plays out, let us just be glad that Obama bows and bends to foreign leaders as if he was a Geisha girl-- like this he won’t feel too disjointed if the God who watches over Israel has to bring him to his knees.

Happy Passover and Easter!!!
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