I cannot stand pretentious politicians –especially when they think they can manipulate the gullible  American Jewish community, who routinely respond to Obama’s overtures like a Pavlovian dog. Wake up my people!

Obama is no Messiah. However, I would say that he is more like a Pied Piper, or better yet–a flimflam man.

Obama would sooner vilify Israel than deal with the “axis of evil” or confront their super-power enablers. Today’s Jerusalem Post’s edition of Caroline Glick’s brilliant article says it quite well. I dare say, “I told you so!”

Obama knows that if he wins the next election, he will continue his insane rhetoric of blaming his failed policies on Israel. I pray that my fellow rabbinic leaders will show some testicular strength in condemning Obama and his court Jews who have sold Israel and the Jewish people down the river.

The Jew is nothing more than a political means to a presidential end.

Note that Rahm Emanual recently celebrated his son’s Bar Mitzvah at the Western Wall! What a phony! Isn’t the Jewish part of Jerusalem, “occupied territory,” according to Obama, Biden, and Hillary? Let’s not give Obama a Kosher hechser–he is as kosher as Rubashkin.

Can we do better? YES WE CAN!

Let’s make Obama pay in November! A separation of powers  in our government will protect not only Israel, but also the entire free world.

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Photo by: AP

Column One: Netanyahu, Obama’s newest prop

By CAROLINE GLICK
05/28/2010 15:25

Netanyahu must not permit Obama’s public relations campaign to divert him from this mission.

Talkbacks (65)

The Democratic Party is feeling the heat for US President Barack Obama’s hostility towards Israel. In an interview with Channel 10 earlier this month, Democratic Party mega-donor Haim Saban characterized the Obama administration as ideologically aligned with the radical Left and harshly criticized its treatment of Israel.

Both Ma’ariv and Yediot Aharonot reported this week that Democratic congressmen and senators are deeply concerned that the administration’s harsh treatment of Israel has convinced many American Jews not to contribute to their campaigns or to the Democratic Party ahead of November 2’s mid-term elections. They also fear that American Jews will vote for Republican challengers in large numbers. Continue Reading

What is piety? Orthodox folks of various persuasions tend to think of it in terms of “looking Frum,” and displaying “Holier-than-thou” kind of behavior. It’s a lot easier to be fussy about lettuce and bugs than it is to be truly reflective and introspective with one’s soul, isn’t it? Whenever people riot in the name of religion, I think we are witnessing atheistic behavior in its purest form, for God demands that we treat life with reverence and with respect. The failure to do so can only mean that one does not truly recognize the Image of God in others.

One of the great Italian mystics of the 18th century was Rabbi Moshe Chayim Luzzato, who is widely regarded as one of Judaism’s greatest moralists and mystics. In his famous moral tract, “Path of the Just,” Rabbi Moshe delineates the purpose of his book. The modern reader cannot help but notice the humility and purity of spirit this man exuded.

The writer says: I have written this work not to teach people what they do not know, but to remind them of what they already know and is very evident to them, for you will find in most of my words only things which most people know, and concerning which they entertain no doubts. However, to the extent that they are well known and their truths revealed to all, so is forgetfulness in relation to them extremely prevalent. It follows, then, that the benefit to be obtained from this work is not derived from a single reading; for it is possible that the reader will find that he has learned little after having read it that he did not know before. Its benefit is to be derived, rather, through review and persistent study, by which one is reminded of those things which, by nature, he is prone to forget and through which he is caused to take to heart the duty that he tends to overlook. A consideration of the general state of affairs will reveal that the majority of men of quick intelligence and keen mentality devote most of their thought and speculation to the subtleties of wisdom and the profundities of analysis, each according to the inclination of his intelligence and his natural bent.

There are some who expend a great deal of effort in studying the creation and nature. Others devote all of their thought to astronomy and mathematics, and others to the arts. By the same token there are those who go more deeply into sacred studies, into the study of the holy Torah, some occupying themselves with Halachic discussions, others with Midrash and others with legal decisions. There are few, however, who devote thought and study to perfection of Divine o love, fear, communion and all of the other aspects of saintliness. It iservice – ts not that they consider this knowledge unessential; if questioned each one will maintain that it is of paramount importance and that one who is not clearly versed in it cannot be deemed truly wise.

Their failure to devote more attention to it stems rather from its being so manifest and so obvious to them that they see no need for spending much time upon it. Consequently, this study and the reading of works of this kind have been left to those of a not too sensitive, almost dull intelligence. These you will see immersed in the study of saintliness, not stirring from it. It has reached the stage that when one sees another engaging in saintly conduct, he cannot help but suspect him of dull-wittedness. This state of affairs results in evil consequences both for those who possess wisdom and for those who do not, causing both classes to lack true saintliness, and rendering it extremely rare.

The wise lack it because of their limited consideration of it and the unwise because of their limited grasp. The result is that saintliness is construed by most to consist in the recitation of many Psalms, very long confessions, difficult fasts, and ablutions in ice and snow – all of which are incompatible with intellect and which reason refuses to accept.”

Postscript:

R. Moshe Hayim reminds us that personal piety should not be a pursuit limited to the “pious,” but every person needs to work on the improvement of one’s character and behavior. Unfortunately, many folks still think that saintliness is for the exceptional person. In Biblical Hebrew, the term צַדִּיק means more than “righteous,” it derives from the root word צֶדֶק “just,” or, “honest,” i.e., someone who acts with complete equity. The BDB Lexicon adds:

Continue Reading

Norman Lamm, the Chancellor of Yeshiva University, expresses an interesting but mystical thought that resonates with Heschel’s insight regarding the nature of Divine love, which Christians commonly refer to as “agape.”

Lamm explains this concept in light of the Shema prayer:

“The LORD is one” implies that God is, as it were, a lonely God. This loneliness and sadness are reflected in the divine image, humans, of whom He said, “It is not good that man should be alone” (Gen. 2:18). Both God and human beings deserve rachmones, pity—we, for our failure and pain and suffering, and God, for being abandoned by this creature created in God’s very own image and endowed with the gift of free will that we misuse and abuse. And so each waits and longs for the other. The way to bridge the brooding cosmic loneliness, to find our way to each other, is through love.

It is this sense of mutual sympathy that gives rise to love. God reaches out for us with love—as affirmed in the blessing immediately preceding the Shema: “Blessed are You, O LORD, who chooses His people Israel in love”—and we, recognizing that “the LORD is One,” [Deut. 6:4] that the Creator is lonely, yearning for our companionship, respond with love immediately after proclaiming God’s utter oneness: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart . . .” [Deut. 6:5]. Those thinkers whose interpretations of the Love of God we discussed in chapters 10 to 14 all worked on the premise that God is transcendent and perfect: we need God, but God does not need anyone or anything. He is utterly self-sufficient. But here we are speaking of God in a different way. Conceived of in poetic and psychologically human terms, the divine-human relationship takes on a different dimension, best understood through distinction between two types of love usually referred to in theological writings by their Greek names, eros and agape. Agape is the love that a protective parent feels for his or her child. It is a selfless love: the parent asks nothing in return, not even to be loved by the child. Eros, in contrast, is romantic love, such as that felt by husband and wife for each other. Such love is expected to be not only reciprocal, but also mutually pleasurable. The love we feel for and from God is agape, not eros.[1] Continue Reading

Rabbi Zusya of Annapol was one of the most remarkable figures of Hassidic history. R. Zusya was one of the most God-intoxicated mystics of the 19th century.

He lived in a world where God is everywhere; every incident or happening contains a spiritual lesson that can infuse the soul with a message that is eternally relevant.

According to him, “You can learn three things from a child and seven from a thief. ‘From a child you can learn (1) always to be happy; (2) never to sit idle; and (3) to cry for everything one wants.

He argued that even a thief can serve as a spiritual guide–despite himself.  Zusya explains:

From a thief you should learn:

(1) to work at night;

(2) if he cannot gain what he wants in one night, he will try again the next night;

(3) to love one’s coworkers just as thieves love each other;

(4) to be willing to risk one’s life even for a little thing;

(5) not to attach too much value to things even though one has risked one’s life for them — just as a thief will resell a stolen article for a fraction of its real value

(6) to withstand all kinds of beatings and tortures but to remain what you are; and

(7) to believe that your work is worthwhile and not be willing to change it.

If we wish to embrace a God-filled life, learning to see the world as a spiritual metaphor may help lead us to discovering higher truths that often escape notice because we tend to live in a mindlessly driven world. Continue Reading

Q. I am doing my PhD. in the field of Jewish Studies. In this connection I am interested in the history of Jews in Masonic lodges. According to my knowledge, there is at least in the higher degrees of the Scottish Rite quite a lot of Christian symbolism, I wonder, if there is any halachic ruling concerning the membership of Jews in Masonic lodges. Could you help me here?

A. Good question. Until now, I never really researched the significance of Freemasonry, but I must confess that my father was a Mason and so were many of his Jewish friends. Even more remarkable is the existence of an Orthodox Synagogue in Winchester named Rosh Pina, whose membership consists of Jewish masons. Masonic lodges tended to help support the local businesses, and this was probably one of the main reasons these fraternities were so popular.  The name Rosh Pina is based on the biblical verse, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” (Psalms 118:22).

Despite the popularity of this international fraternity, there is no official or formal definition regarding what is a Freemason. Much of its history is shrouded in legend and ambiguity. Many of its members trace back its symbolism to the original builders of the Egyptian pyramids or for that matter, Solomon’s Temple. According to Masonic legend, King Hiram I of the Phoenician city of Tyre (980-947 B.C.E.) the master-builder of Solomon’s Temple, was murdered because he would not reveal the secrets of his Masonic group. Needless to say, there is no historicity supporting this folk story, but it does reveal something about the medieval groups that kept their own traditions secretive. According to historians, the Freemasonry lodge did not begin in ancient Judea, or in Egypt, but in England sometime in the 14^th century! [1]

At any rate, Masonic traditions are pretty benign. The working tools of the Masons became a system of symbols for personal morality and initiation.

Most folks know the Masons are a charitable organization which has secret rites and symbols. In religious terms, their behavior and traditions strikes one as an American civil religion. The fraternity believes in rendering homage to the Creator, which they regard as the duty of each of its members. Although Freemasonry only began as an institution in the seventeenth century, it has generated a mythology, or legendary history, according to which its followers claims dates back to  the biblical reign of Solomon and the building of the Temple.

Many of this country’s founding fathers were Masons. In this country and in Europe,  Freemasonry was linked to various programs of political and religious reform, programs that emphasized freedom of thought, worship, association, and the press and contributed considerably to the French and American revolutions.

Some Masonic lodges found it hard to give up their old prejudices with respect to the Jews. In Germany and Austria, Masonic lodges barred Jews from belonging. There is also another dark history to masonry. In the 19^th century, American Freemasons, along with others of like mind, created the Know‑Nothing party in the 1850s, the Ku Klux Klan after the Civil War and again from 1915 onward, and the American Protective Association in the latter 1880s and early 1890s. All were even more anti‑Catholic than they were antiblack or xenophobic, in addition to being anti-Semitic. In defense of the Masonic movement, these splinter groups did not reflect the values of the Masonic philosophy.

At any rate, Jews found the Masonic lodges to be open in a time when discrimination was rampant in Western society. The Masonic constitution held that any good or honest person, regardless of his denomination or persuasion, was admitted. The constitution obliged the member only to hold “to that religion in which all men agree, leaving their particular opinions to themselves,” a declaration of religious tolerance based on the current Deist trend, which postulated a Supreme Being who could be conceived of by any rational being. It remains a mystery whether Jews may have influenced the wording of the Masonic constitution, but its liberal doctrines made it easy for Jews to belong.  A Jewish lodge, the Lodge of Israel, was established in London in 1793, and the Knights of Aphesis to this day, is a Jewish lodge in the Masonic movement. Indeed, I am told that there are many Jewish Masonic lodges all around the world. One gets the impression that the religious ideation of the lodge will vary from community to community.

Concerning Masonic lodges in the land of Israel had as many as 64 lodges with over 3500 active members consisting of  Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Druze. The activities of the Grand Lodge and its several lodges include: a mutual insurance fund; the Masonic old age home at Nahariyyah; Masonic temples all over the country; and a museum and library (Encyclopedia Judaica) . Israeli Masonic Lodges show the kind of healing power Freemasonry can produce in a society that is religiously divided.

With respect to the rest of your questions, I would like to briefly examine some of the Masonic  teachings and rituals.

Curiously, many of its rituals and symbolism draw its roots from the Kabbalah.  In the Kabbalah, the interest in a knowledge of sounds, written letters, and words was intensified. Each sign was given a magical value that had a religious meaning and a numerical relationship. For example, the Hebrew letter alef became the symbol of mankind and the abstract principle of material objects.

Most importantly, Freemasonry taught that  they are building a spiritual temple in heaven. Each member regardless of his religion must fashion himself into a perfect living stone to fit into the spiritual temple of God. Indeed, this idea bears considerable similarity to the Tikkun Olam “Repairing the world” which the Kabbalists stress, is every human being’s duty. This concept is referred to as the “Common Gavel.” The common gavel serves as a metaphor for the breaking off the rough and superfluous parts of the stone, so as to be fit for the Supreme Architect’s use.  Accepted Masons, are taught to make use of it for the more noble and glorious purpose of divesting their hearts and consciences of all the vices and superfluities of life: thereby fitting the Mason’s  minds as living stones for that spiritual building. The Mason thus, makes himself fit for heaven by bettering himself through eliminating unwanted qualities. This spiritual lesson holds true for any Mason, regardless of his god or religious persuasion. The Kabbalists also refer to this same process as “etcafiyah” – bending the material impulses to the service of the Divine.

Another one of the building instruments Masons use involves a trowel, which they use to spread cement. Here too, the symbolism represents spreading  the cement of brotherly love and affection; that cement which unites people into one sacred band or society of friends and brothers, among whom no contention should exist, so that all people may work and exist in perfect harmony. Continue Reading

Hello everyone!

Here is a wonderful article I would encourage all of you to read and make your comments known to your representatives and congressmen. This year, it behooves every synagogue to make a grand celebration of Jerusalem. I would only add that after Israel liberated the holy city, King Hussein of Jordan sent the keys to Hadassah Hospital to its rightful owners–the Jews. In addition, Hadassah Hospital has always had a long tradition of serving both Israelis and Palestinians since the time of its inception.

What I find most disturbing is the fact that the Jewish members of the Obama cabinet have so little to say about our celebration of Jerusalem Day.

In case many of you have not noticed, the Obama Administration is making a clandestine effort to win the Jews over again since Obama has revealed his animus toward Israel. Prominent Jews like Elie Wiesel have been invited for dinner–but NOT Netanyahu! Now, another Jew is on the Supreme Court–Elana Kagan. In my opinion, this is yet another feeble attempt to win over more Jews to the next Obama run at the presidency. I pray we are not so foolish as to let ourselves get bribed by these calculated gestures of political expediency. Frankly, if I were an Asian American, I would be outraged that no Asian American has been chosen to serve on the Supreme Court.

CONTENTIONS

Barack Obama vs. Jerusalem Day
Jonathan Tobin – 05.12.2010

This was no ordinary Jerusalem Day celebrated in Israel today. This date on the Jewish calendar notes the anniversary of the unification of the city in 1967, when Israeli troops routed the Jordanian occupiers of the eastern, northern, and southern parts of the town, and of the Old City. In June 1967, the barriers that had divided Jerusalem since the 1949 armistice were torn down, and the Jewish people were reunited with their holiest places, from which they had been barred during that period. But while today’s ceremonies, displays, and parties were the usual mix of historic remembrance and recognition of contemporary achievements, there can be no denying the fact that a shadow hung over the festivities there as well as over the observances of the date elsewhere.

The problem is the knowledge that this is the first Jerusalem Day since President Barack Obama made it clear that a repartition of the city has become one of America’s priorities in the Middle East. Though no American government ever recognized Israel’s unification of Jerusalem or, indeed, even the fact that the city has been the country’s capital since 1949, Obama’s is the first administration to state explicitly that the Jewish presence in the parts of the city that the Jordanian occupiers vacated in 1967 is illegal and to actively oppose the building of Jewish housing even in existing Jewish neighborhoods in the city.

Though more than 200,000 Jews live in the eastern, northern, and southern sections of the city, which the media routinely incorrectly labels “East Jerusalem,” those Jewish neighborhoods there are, according to this administration, a violation of international law and an “insult” to America. U.S. diplomats have made it clear to the Israelis that any building that goes on in these neighborhoods of the capital is a “provocation” that is not only anathema to the United States but also a legitimate excuse for the Palestinian Authority to boycott the so-called proximity talks now going on (so named because Palestinian representatives will only allow themselves to communicate indirectly with Israeli negotiators rather than sit and speak directly with them). And though the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has  asserted that Israel will not be deterred from continuing to build the Jewish presence in the city, it is not exactly a secret that all such projects have been put on hold, in order to avoid escalating the tensions that are already apparent in the relationship with the White House. Continue Reading

I came across an interesting article in the news about a topic that deserves discussion. Evidently, the famous (or perhaps “infamous”) artist Lars Vilks, whose artwork depicts the Prophet Mohammad on the body of a dog, was attacked while giving a talk about the importance of artistic freedom. He’s not the only artist who has come to literal blows over the issue of artistic freedom. Vilks was attacked immediately after he showed a film by an Iranian artist named, Sooreh Hera, who depicts the Prophet as entering a gay bar. Most of us probably recall the riots that left scores of people dead when the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten posted the dozen pictures that lampooned Mohammad.

The issue of artistic freedom runs into a wall of religious opposition over the issue of blasphemy. In fact, the word “blasphemy” has a remarkable history. The English word derives originally from the Greek βλάσφημος, “abusive,” “reproachful speech” blasphemous, slanderous, insulting. Indeed, in the Torah itself, blasphemy carries a death penalty for anyone who blasphemes God’s Holy Name  (cf. Lev. 24:10-16).

Rabbinic tradition specifies this only pertains to someone who pronounces God’s sacred Name itself [1], which may explain why God’s Name has not been pronounced by rabbinite communities since the 2nd century or so. Karaite Jews, on the other hand, still pronounce the Name YHWH just like their ancestors did in ancient biblical times. Numerous biblical references also attest to individuals who have reviled God’s Name [2].

While Jews have traditionally been champions and advocates of free speech, the issue of blasphemy reveals the difficulties and asymmetrical accommodation that exists between the secular and religious cultures. In Israel today, many conflicts between the Haredim and the secular occur because of the former’s “disrespect,” and “contempt” toward traditional religious values.

Christians are also aware of this problem. Back in 1987 a photographer named Andres Serrano took a picture of a plastic crucifix that was submerged in the artist’s urine, which he referred to as “Piss Christ.”

Truth can be pretty strange at times.  Apparently, Serranos is a professed and practicing Catholic! From his point of view, his artistic work characterizes an Augustinian point of Catholic resistance against Protestant Gnosticism. Still and all, I remember the firestorm of debate heard around the country.

Perhaps adding more fuel to the fire, Serranos won a special award by the  Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art’s “Awards in the Visual Arts” competition. This event was underwritten by the National Endowment for the Arts, a United States Government agency. Should government be involved in acts that arguably treat religious icons or figures with contempt? Many congressman made a campaign to punish the NEA, calling it as an abuse of taxpayer dollars.

As a Jew, I wonder what would the Jewish reaction have been if the artist decided to use a Torah Scroll instead of crucifix? What would the government have said had the artist depicted a “Piss Mohammed” image instead?

Now, get a load of this: In the United States, many states still have blasphemy laws on the books, but the Supreme Court’s expansive interpretation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution makes it likely that any blasphemy prosecution would now be regarded as an impermissible establishment of religion.

While such acts of revulsion offend a faith community’s spiritual values, there may be a far greater danger to religion if government decides to squelch all questionable anti-religious expressions, or decides to arbitrate  what kinds of “blasphemous” expressions against the great religions of the world are tolerable and which ones are not. As you can see, this is a slippery slope that free governments ought to avoid. Government has no right to micromanage politically or religiously incorrect expressions in my opinion.

In 2005, shortly after the incident of the Koran getting flushed down the toilet, Michigan Senator John Conyers (D) proposed a law that:

(1) condemns bigotry, acts of violence, and intolerance against any religious group, including our friends, neighbors, and citizens of the Islamic faith;

(2) declares that the civil rights and civil liberties of all individuals, including those of the Islamic faith, should be protected;

(3) recognizes that the Quran, the holy book of Islam, as any other holy book of any religion, should be treated with dignity and respect; and: Continue Reading

Today’s topic is one of the great questions philosophers have asked for millennia: Is religion essential for morality? One could certainly argue like the rationalistic philosophers that humankind does not require supernatural reasons in order to make people act kindly toward one’s neighbor. Certainly, the current existing realities of social and political evils arise because people tend to be given over to feelings of hatred, envy, and fear.

Apologists for religion often contend that a belief in God is necessary in order for people to act morally, but an examination of rabbinic texts suggest that the early rabbinic teachers acknowledged that had the Torah never been given to Israel–or by extension, to human kind–primitive man would have had to learn morality from the animal world.

The Sages appear to have understood this truth as well, for they candidly said, “If the Torah had not been given we could have learnt modesty from the cat, honesty from the ant, chastity from the dove, and good manners from the cock who first coaxes and then mates”(BT Eruvin 100b).

While the Talmud delineates the positive traits humankind could have learned from nature, it goes without saying that our ancestors could just as easily have learned many negative character traits from nature, e.g., from the ant we would have derived the principles of totalitarianism; from the cat we would have developed certain predatory traits showing no mercy toward the weak and defenseless such as a male lion’s tendency to destroy his offspring; from the chicken, our ancestors might have learned how to be scavengers who prefer to live in filthy habitats, and so on.

Biologist Lyall Watson sees a mutual affinity between human and animal behavior. Watson once observed a group of young penguins standing on the edge of an ice floe, learning how to swim. Fearful that there might be a leopard seal lurking in the murky waters, the penguins stood their ground and refused to go into the water. As thousands of penguins crowded on the floe, some pushing occurred from the back of the ranks until one of the penguins slipped into the water. After the lone penguin entered the water, a leopard-seal suddenly appeared and ate the small creature.

Reticent, the other penguins backed off until eventually, the group pushed another one of its members into the water. Sure enough, the leopard-seal reappeared and swallowed the second penguin as well. The same process occurred again, and by the fourth time, apparently, the leopard-seal had eaten enough and the fourth penguin was left safe and sound. Afterwards, the entire penguin group jumped in and enjoyed the swimming as if they hadn’t a care in the world. From this incident, Watson deduced that selfishness and cowardice are not just human traits; there are many other species of animals that share these qualities as well.

Yes, nature seems to have a sense of morality that is not much different from our own, but unlike the other denizens of nature, human beings have the ability to reprogram their mental and spiritual orientation toward the existence of other beings. Religion can facilitate this process of ethical transformation, but it is not necessarily a given. Living the religious lifestyle does not guarantee moral development. Continue Reading

Here is a disturbing article rabbis everywhere ought to be addressing to their communities. The Obama Middle East policy has been a failure, and things do not look good.

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Iran, Hezbollah, and the Bomb

BY William Harris

May 7, 2010 12:00 AM

When Iran gets the bomb, the nuclear club will have a crucial new feature. Without an Iranian bomb and barring regime change in Pakistan, we know that no nuclear power will transfer a device to a private army of the religious elect like Hezbollah in Lebanon. With an Iranian bomb, such assurance instantly ends. This is a looming, tangible state of affairs–in contrast to the hype about loose nuclear materials at the April 2010 Washington nuclear security summit.

Proponents of containing a nuclear Iran in and around the Obama administration conceive of deterring Iran in standard realist style. The Islamic Republic of Iran, however, has become a hybrid of the government of God and ruthless militarized mafias. It is well practiced in long-range subversion, intimidation, and weapons smuggling. It may be confidently expected to shred so-called containment, especially when equipped with a nuclear aura and facing the quivering potentates of Arabia.

In any case, Iran has a strategic extension across the Middle East to the Mediterranean that puts it beyond containment. On February 25, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah met in Damascus to celebrate their alignment and its achievements. The Syrian-Iranian partnership has enabled the Syrian ruling clique to go from strength to strength in dealing with the West and the Arabs. Syria only looks forward to more gains from the partnership as Iran moves toward the bomb. At the tripartite summit, Assad mocked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s call for Syria to steer away from Iran.

What of Hezbollah? Thanks to Western promoted demoralization of the West’s own friends in Lebanon, Hezbollah has advanced from commanding a large part of Lebanon to effectively commanding the Lebanese state. This is the fruit of the West’s courting of Bashar al-Assad, and pressing “consensus” with absolutists on the Lebanese. As a result, Lebanon is more than ever the business end of Iran’s Middle Eastern operations.

Hezbollah is integral to the ruling clerical and military establishment in Iran. It has pledged itself to supreme guide Ali Khamenei, and from the perspective of Iran’s leaders it is a wing of their apparatus. The party’s formidable armory, fortified territory, and intelligence capability give it credibility as a base for Iranian strategic weaponry bordering Israel, in the heart of the Arab world, and half way to Europe. Continue Reading

From the Pastor’s Desk by Fr. Mike Schaab

“5/9/2010”

Posted on May 5th, ’10

Just a reminder, this coming Thursday is not a Holy Day of Obligation.  The celebration of the Feast of the Ascension in our Diocese has been transferred to next Sunday, May 16.  Speaking of the Diocese of Peoria, if you haven’t made your Annual Diocesan Appeal pledge, please do so this week.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the interfaith dialog last Thursday between Protestants, Catholics, Muslims and Jews.   Rabbi Michael Samuel, Imam Saad Baig, Rev. Ron Quay and I have been meeting for a little over a year and now are friends as well as colleagues in ministry.  It was a pleasure to be able to share a part of our dialog with others last Thursday.  Rabbi Samuel will be leaving the Quad Cities this summer for a new position in San Diego.  It’s a wonderful opportunity for him but a real loss for our dialog group.

But one doesn’t have to go to San Diego to find great weather.  The weather here has been beautiful recently.  It’s been one of the finest springs I can recall.  Most of my farmer friends have also been enjoying a great planting season.  I recall a short Latin phrase, “Spes messis in semine,” which means “The hope of the harvest is in the seed.”  The great beauty of springtime and the planting season is that it is a time of hope.  Just as very small seeds hold great hopes for the future, so also some of the smallest things we say and do may bring great hope to others.

I’m amazed at what I read in the paper, hear on the radio and see on TV that is supposed to be “political commentary.”  The viciousness, personal attacks and character assassination that passes itself off as dialog is like a cancer in our mass media.  I cannot help but come away from these experiences depressed and feeling hopeless.   Then I recall, “spes messis in semine,” and I become more convinced than ever that hope has to begin with quiet little things, not shouting matches or vitriolic denunciations.

For me a real dialog involves people searching for those little things that might unite them, or at least move them along to be closer to one another.  That’s why this past year of interfaith dialog has been so important for me.  The Rabbi, the Imam and the Protestant minister have renewed my faith in the power of dialog.  Some might say our yearlong conversation has accomplished very little compared to the huge problems are world is facing.  However, I would point out that our small dialog has produced hope, which is something that wars, political intrigue, assassinations, regime changes and international boycotts often fail to achieve.

I believe in “Spes messis in semine.” Little words and acts, said and done in a spirit of dialog, are seeds of hope that in time will bring about a great harvest.  Last Thursday evening Farrell Hall was full of hope.  May we continue to dialog as we wait in hope for a future of reconciliation, peace and justice.

Mike Schaab, Pastor

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Rabbinic Reflections

Well, tonight we had our last symposium together at St. Pius. The theme of tonight’s program was Our Father Abraham: Transforming Hostility to Hospitality. Both the participants and the crowd really did a wonderful job in trying to affirm what is holy and good about our faith traditions. The question and answer period was especially excellent. The program was a huge success; we had over 350 people attending; they had to bring in extra chairs because it exceeded the room capacity size. I want to thank  Father Michael Schaab, Imam Saad Baig, Rev. Ron Quay and Barbara Rodell for making this program such a huge success. I pray that God will continue to bless their efforts as each faith community works toward the common good of our society. I will treasure the gifts for years to come. Continue Reading