Advocating For Israel?

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 October 2023 mraked a turning point for me and how I relate to Israel and the middle east.  In fact I think it goes for many Jews and non Jews alike. Many of us felt that the Israeli -Palestinian conflict was one of mutual blame to both sides . I condemned the settlers as well as Hamas.  A conflict requires two sides. Israel might do a land grab o make it really tough for Palestinians to move around Gaza or Israel. This of course would raise frustration, hence the rise of terror. I felt that in some instances the Palestinians were right to resist . The suicide bombing and other attacks against civilians were not act of resistance but pure terror aimed at murdering as many Jews as possible. My view has shifted after the brutal attacks of 10/7 and how the hostages were treated to viewing the Palestinians as the main cause of the conflict.

This authoress would staunchly disagree with me, which is not a bad thing. In fact it might be a good thing. I you ever want to find the solution to a problem you need multiple points of view.  She is more entitled o her opinion than I am of mine as she has livd though it all first person. She was raised in Brooklyn, New York in the chassidic neighborhood.  Brought up a nice religious girl she attended Chinuch where in her teacher named Tomer ran a class on Israel and Zionism. According to her he parroted the company line saying that the state of Israel was all good and the arabs were bad and how it was justified for the Jews or Zionists were entitled to the whole land. they needed it as a safe haven for Jews.  

My upbringing was different. Raised in the permissive climes of So Cal. I was raised eating cheeseburgers, bacon and shrimp dinners. My only Jewish education was Hebrew School thre times a wek which did not leave me with a good impression. I did not fully become Jewish until 10 years after my Bar mitzvah. It was there that I was introduced to Israeli education or should  say propoganda. Tagar programs and other programs funded by Israel in the Jewish agency often had the feeling that they were trying to make you g impressionable Jews into mouth pieces for Israel. For some it worked and others it did not.

Israel's possession of the land is justified on some major arguments. The first argument states that jews are inherently good and can do no wrong. Whenever Jews hear about a crime o the news sometimes the reaction is . No way could a Jew do something lke that. Of course we are astonished when a jew does commit a crime. Sometimes we are guilty of helping cover it up or lookin the other way. The other argument is that Palestinians are ba people who are out to destroy the jewish people. Of course there is good an bad in everyone. After witnessing October 7 and the joyous reaction of every Gazan I begin to wonder. Anytime Israel is criticized it is chalked up to antisemitism. Let us be frank. Sometimes criticism is justified and other times not. Jews have been one of the most persecuted if not the most in all of history. Cetain levels of mistrust and paranoia can be expected from a group that has gone though so much.

the premise of Zionism is the Jews must live in the historical land of Israel and must have the majority. This is based on our fear of persecution and while it may not be balanced tht is what persecution does to you. This could lead to racism and trying to dehumanze the other.  The argument goes that it was a land without a people and the Jews were a people without a land. Perfect marriage, save fo the fact tha people were livin there. When Jews first started settling the land it belonged to the Ottoman empire.  Neither Zionist nor Palestinian owned it . The province of Palestine was Ottoman territory.

Like many Jews Elana has had a journey unpacking her religious upbringing and realizing the pain her people have caused others by settling the land and dispossessing Palestinians. In fat her view like many on the Israeli left view it not as a conflict but rather Palestinians resisting a brutl occupation. She has children in the IDF. She is proud of there service and dedication to the people of Israel as the army instills many positive values. At the same time she decries the way the IDF is forced to treat Palestinians in an inhumane fashion. She also decries the way the government wantonly uses teh soldiers for political ends without safeguarding there welfare.

While I do not share this author's view at the moment. I still feel it is an important work. It is a book that talks back to the culture that the author was raised in. Yes it is important to question your culture an analyze where it is right or wrong. Israel has a lot of work to do, as do other countries. Women need more empowerment, there is racism in Israel and it is not against just Arabs but also against other Jews.  The right wong and the left wing are at each others throats.  The country s divided and Netanyahu miht be the biggest dividing factor.

Elana's unpacking has caused her to reach out to other organizations where in Palestinians and Israelis try to help eah other and share there pain. It teaches how to dialogue and hold space for the other one ho is on a different side. Such wok is important. After all this conflict is said and done we will be returning to the negotiating table and we will be talking and empathizing with the other. Then this work will be of much more importance.

The Art of Synchromysticism

 

What is sycchromysticism? A new term is somewhat related to synchronicity.  Basically, it is drawing of connections in modern culture and finding connections between the collective unconscious and the occult. Basically, synchronicity is a acausal coincidence in which an inner thought becomes a reality.  An example might be if you are thinking of a friend and then they call. That could be synchronicity, or it could be precognition. A more solid example of a synch mystic sync is a friend calling you and informing you that your aunt died and left you the estate. In the basement was an occult library.  The object of this book is to find synchronicities. That is not always easy. Sometimes what you hear is noise and sometimes you are merely trying to fool yourself. It often comes in waves and is connected to astrology. Sometimes you can pick it out using systems of divination. In the end you realize that everything is interconnected. What we call the mind is not located in the brain but in fact is non-local and outside the mind.

Carl Jung made synchronicity a well-known term. He worked extensively with the I-Ching.  While working with this divination he noticed that more coincidences were occurring. This was beyond random chance and from this he deduced that another force was at work making things happen. Many of Jungs patients experienced lots of synchronicity and precognition. What astrologer experienced is not based on planets having powers but rather it was based on synchronicity. Jungs theory caught the interest of Wolfgang Pauli, he defined it like Einstein’s “Spooky Action at a distance” this was a quantum entanglement where subatomic particles behaved differently when observed and formed nonlocal connection that defied old models of Newtonian physics. The two would end up collaborating with each other and learning from one another.  This would inspire Aurthur Koestler to write the book “Roots of Coincidence” this would later inspire British Rock Singer, Sting.  The concept of Synchronicity does play a role in the Law of Attraction among other New Age movements.

Rituals can influence reality. Some believe like Richard Hoagland who believe that space programs were nothing but Freemason rituals.  The thinking is reflected in a book called “Cydonia, The Secret Chronicle of Mars” This would later inspire Gora Adachi to coin the term Sychromysticism.  Lately though blogs and other philosophers who were doing Synchromysticism have been quiet.

Humans being communicate via symbols. Words are symbols, signs are symbols. Symbols are how we communicate with each other and the universe. Language tends to deal with specific areas. When we communicate with others we tend to use words and body language. Body language is a misunderstood form of communication.

Syn has three kingdoms. They are personals, the Factuals and the Temporals.   The personal sync is when an internal thought or dream is somehow reflected in the real or external world. Factual syncs are when external, even separated by time have eerie similarities. Termporal syncs are when two events are the same in a significant matter.   It’s a very exciting concept to explore. Lots of info for a little book.

A Fae Murder Mystery: Modern Fairy Tales

 Valiant

By Holly Black

Dead fairies are popping up everywhere. There are exiles from both the Seelie Court and the Unseelie court and at times there are dual alliances and sometimes they just shift. The Fae are everywhere. Most people do not have the sight to see them and if the fairies find out heaven help as they may kill you or just take your eye. They are very whimsical and moody. Things are even worse as the fairies are dealing and using something called Nevemore. If a human uses it then they too might have fae abilities and they will catch a mighty buzz.. Fairies are not above using human couriers. They think humans are like rats. Using humans makes teh investigation of who is doing these murders even more complicated. Like let us blame the chemist.

The story starts off in the human realm. A girl named Val seems to be trying to adjust. After being harassed on the school LaCrosse team Vlal fights back and get's kicked off the team. As she is about to go to a hcokey game with her boyfriend Tom. He is a bit late and Val get's worried. Checking in the wrong area she finds out here boyfriend is fooling around with her mother. Val runs away after the game and ends up meeting Lolli and Dave. Lolli tells Val about the fairies but Val remain unconvinced.  After hanging out in the sewers with Dave's older brother Luis, her and Lolli go exploring. They end up violating the turf of a Troll. As a punishment Val now has to deliver Nevermore to fairy clients. AS the relationship grows she learns sword fighting from th Troll and ends up trying Nevermore herself.

This plunges her into the world of the fae. Learnin to glamour and control her appearances she manipulates her humans quite easily.  Along the way she battle a wicked fairy and exposes the truth in a murder investigation. Fast and entertaining read. Be great if they made it into a movie.

Revenge of the Maji

Children of Virtue and Vengeance

By Tomi Adeyemi 

 The children are virtue and vengeance. This is book 2 in the legacy of Arsha series. Arisha is much like a mythical version of Nigeria the people there practice in ancient religion and they have magic that’s an important backdrop. The people who had magic were called the Magine, and during a brutal war magic was suppressing the match I lost all their powers from that point on the magi were persecuted hunted, and killed Persecuted for once having magic. The adventure continues with Zane, Amari Enon and Zelly. It is important to note that Zelly is a Magine. Her brother Ian has a little bit of magic. Amari is a princess and her brother Eno is a prince set to be King and queen they side with Zelly and Eno in the last book we learned that Zelly did a ritual that liberated magic and gave the magic magic back so now that the match I have their magic back, thus begins a civil war in Arisha now the manager are not the only ones with magical powers as it turns out there’s another group of magic wheelers called the Titans with some of the royalty descent from and when the magi Attack the castle and try to take back the kingdom for more just rule the queen who survived the dead being killed has unbelievable power and defeats an army of Magine and what continues as a civil war between the magi and the Titans with both sides devastating each other along this way or conflicts Zane and Zelly have an on and off relationship they love each other. They hate each other. Ian wants to make it more just kingdom, but Zelly doubt him is also a thing to recollect all the old scrolls of Mexican learn the incantations to battle. These magical Titans are too powerful to be beaten, and the royalty has a new weapon called Majesty, which is a stone that can kill the imagine or hurt them like kryptonite to Superman so overall this is an excellent book. I really enjoyed reading and finished off in a couple of days. Tell me is an excellent author and look forward to reading more of her books.