Gaza’s sky is black but Qatar is always sunny.
Light in the Darkness - Mass lighting of Chanukah Candles
A friend sent me the link to watch the above program. Several journalists spoke from the Jerusalem Post, the Forward.com, and two British publications. It ended with a satirical piece on the leadership of Hamas from an Israeli satirist.
Dollar Bills, Dollar Bills
Eretz Nehederet" ("A Wonderful Country) is a satirical television show by the Israeli Broadcaster Keshet.
ISRAEL HAMAS WAR: THOUGHTS
I recently watched a Documentary called Hate Among Us. I watched it twice on the Jewish Broadcasting Service, jbstv.org. It is also on YouTube. It contains black and white film footage showing anti semitism and hatred of Jews going as far back as the 1920’s, including the formation of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928. It contains footage of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem sitting beside Hitler who hoped the Arabs would kill all the Jews so he didn’t have to. From that perspective, it seems that Iran has picked up where Hitler left off. They are funding proxy wars including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthi’s in Yemen to annihilate Israel. “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free” does not mean Hamas wants to end the occupation of Gaza, it means the entire State of Israel !
If Roby was here, I know he would have a lot to say and write. While I am not as eloquent as him, I must write about this.
A poll was recently conducted in the West Bank, showing the majority population support Hamas ! See Times of Israel, timesofisrael.com. It posts news from Israel in real time.
Ceasefire ? Israel should negotiate with a Terror Organization which calls for the annihilation of Israel and all Jews written in their Charter ? I don’t think so. Please read it.
I will find links to the above references and post them. I also called my U.S. Rep., Jake Auchincloss, asking him to do everything possible to bring the hostages home !
I found and agree with some remarks from former Brooklyn rabbi, Andy Bachman from a talk at Hunter College, part of CUNY:
“Had he not been shouted down, Bachman wrote, “I might have had a chance to condemn the government of Benjamin Netanyahu and his criminal settler enterprise, which I have persistently done; I might have had a chance to articulate my position of ceasefire twinned with a full return of hostages, the removal of Hamas and the removal of Netanyahu’s government; I might have had a chance to state my belief that most Israelis and most Palestinians still prefer peace and coexistence to war, bloodshed and mass death.”
Nothing is the same after October 7th.
Now I know how my Bubbie and Zaidy felt when they fled Ukraine/Russia in 1910. I grew up in the Golden Age of Judaism in America, the Promised Land. Nothing happened when I went to UMass or UC Berkeley. Not one anti-Semitic incident. Now we live in a different America.
This is tough stuff. I understand the use of satire as an outlet for the emotionally charged, somber new reality in Israel.
PS. I am writing this on an iPad which has a terrible interface with Blogger. I don’t know why a grey background shows up with the text. Working on it. If anyone has any tips, let me know.
I felt a sense of urgency to light my Chanukah menorah in light of the massacres of Israelis by Hamas and because so far in America, no one is banging me over the head, preventing me from doing it. In light of the astronomical level of anti- Semitism we are experiencing, here is carol’s Chanukah Fraught With Meaning Still Life, 2023.
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DAVID CROSBY
CROSBY, STILLS, AND NASH
Soundtrack of my generation....music of the '70's, timeless.....
"This Menora in Drobytskyi Yar near Kharkiv never threatened anyone. It commemorates the memory of over 15.000 Jews murdered by Nazis. Damaged by Russian shelling today. Why Russia keeps attacking Holocaust Memorials in Ukraine? I expect Israel to strongly condemn this barbarism. pic.twitter.com/m7AiT4zlBg"
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) March 26, 2022
The media should report that Russia damaged a memorial to Jews murdered by the Nazis in Ukraine. Putin's reason for invading Ukraine is "to remove the Nazis from Ukraine". There aren't any Nazis in Ukraine. Only barbaric Russian soldiers obeying their barbaric, autocratic dictator, Putin.
Why is the Russian Ambassador allowed to speak at the U.N. Security Council Meeting today when everything he said was a lie. Talk about mis-information. Why is Russia allowed to be in the U.N. ? Kick them out. Putin is a 'barbarian.' Russia is telling their citizens that this is a 'special military operation' in Ukraine to attack neo-nazis and russian-speaking people in Ukraine." WHAT A LIE !
Barbarians. Putin is conducting a 20th century war in the 21st century! He thinks he can stop all information to his citizens through traditional, fascist 'crack down on the Press' methods'. I don't. In the 21st century and social media, it is impossible to 'hide information.' It will flow into Russia despite Putin. Russian people seem to know that as they are protesting by the thousands. By last count, almost 8,000 people have been thrown in jail in Russia for protesting ! Everyone has a smart phone except for Putin. Zelensky's phone is glued to his hand. Not Putin. Zelensky puts out videos everyday on Instagram with several updates per day. Not Putin. Yesterday I saw Putin in a meeting with Flight Attendants surrounded by green plants. What ?!?! Bizarre. Does he really think people are going to believe all his lies ????
Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba characterized the russian soldiers as 'beasts' and 'animals', i.e. barbarians. We agree.
When I was a little girl going to the Robert Treat Paine School in Dorchester, we had 'nuclear war drills'. We were told to get under our desks. A week ago I saw russian soldiers shooting at a Nuclear Power Plant ! Not only are they barbarians, but they are psycho, irrational nutcakes ! At age 9 I had to worry about nuclear war - in high school we were still worried but not for the last 50 years until NOW.
VERIFICATION
I just came across this article about Bob Dylan's reaction to the War in Ukraine. Of course he says everything better than me. But we had the SAME experience ! Hiding under the desks...
Bob, like so many of us, was a victim of Cold War propaganda. In Chronicles, he wrote about how children in small-town America were taught to see Russians as a threat.
He wrote: “One of the things we were trained to do was to hide and take cover under our desks when the air-raid sirens blew, because the Russians could attack us with bombs,” he wrote. “We were told that the Russians could be parachuting from planes over our town at any time. These were the same Russians that my uncles had fought alongside only a few years earlier. Now they had become monsters who were coming to slit our throats and incinerate us.”
And in so many ways this is the scenario coming out of the Ukraine now as so many old men – and women too – take to the streets armed often only with anger, pride, fear and ancient guns.
https://leighgbankspreservationsociety.blog/2022/03/07/press-ing-on-bob-takes-on-the-new-masters-of-war-as-putin-kills-the-land-of-his-fathers/
ADDENDUM 3.21.22
I am not the only one who thinks Russia should be kicked out of the U.N. Security Council.
I read this article today in the Washington Post.
A reader left the following Comment:
"It's my view that Russia should also be suspended from its permanent seat on the UN Security Council, or at the very least be stripped of its veto power there. A few years ago Putinist Oligarchy lost Russia its place in G-8, returning it to the previous G-7; similarly there must be consequences for Putin's imposition of neo-Stalinism and a resurgent UOKR (Union of Oligarchic Kleptocratic Republics). Expulsion from the Council of Europe is a rational, necessary step."
In 1910, my grandparents, Minnie Raigarovsky and Morris Sandler got on a ship, left Russia, the Pale of Settlement area, and came to America. Why ? My Zaidy, Morris Sandler told me, while sitting at the Shabbat table on Friday night, that he fled the country "so I wouldn't have to fight for the Czar. The Czar's army was snatching up little boys in local villages to fight for the Czar. Most of them were never seen again.
Today I read this in the Washington Post: "The Union of the Committees of Soldiers’ Mothers of Russia, a human rights group, has said young conscripts were forced into signing contracts and taken to fight in the assault on Ukraine." 112 years later, history repeats itself.
Roby did the geneological research showing where Bubby and Zaidy came from. He sent me this map showing the Former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. He circled Moscow, Kiev, Liepovitz and Shepetovka in red. The red circle to the far left is Warsaw.
AUTOCRACY IS ON THE MARCH
PUTIN WANTS HIS EMPIRE BACK: SEE MAP DETAIL BELOW
Time Square in New York #StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/i7E5ZJviUl
— KyivPost (@KyivPost) March 6, 2022
I posted this 'throwback' photo ten years ago. I came across an article in the forward.com that expands on this Sign. Here is an excerpt:
Chinese people didn’t look down on Jews as being less American in terms of Westernness because Jews were a lot closer to being perceived that way than they were,” Lee said. “It was also very exotic and cosmopolitan and a way to impress girls when you go on dates. And it tastes good!”
A Forverts advertisement from Dec. 2, 1922 speaks to this social phenomenon.
Image by The Forward Archives/Chan...
An ad that ran in a December 1922 issue of the Forverts.
“YOU MUST eat and dance with us, where you’ll feel at home,” reads an ad from Tangerine Gardens on Flatbush Avenue and Fulton Street. Another 1922 ad from the restaurant boasts of nightly entertainment from 5-9 PM, a huge dance floor and seating that banquet accommodations for up to 600 guests.
While many of today’s Chinese bistros are less extravagant, they still serve a festive function. Around Christmas, American Jews can feel alienated, and so the communal aspect of eating out proves essential to surviving the season.
Here he is looking very fine at their apartment in Killington, VT.
OTHER NEWS
Deb sent me a pair of 'Sassy' socks. Laurie gave me a pair of Chanukah socks and a Chanukah mug ! I heard some bad news from my friends in Willits. Pam has breast cancer, very preliminary stage. Sending healing energy to Pam ! She emailed me. She sounds good, still working and said she feels good. I heard from Alan Z. yesterday and Ken J. Ken sent Neil Young, Til the Morning Comes.
⚾ Thinking of Roby and Shirley and aunt Ruth, all ardent Red Sox fans. The Sox have been an unexpected gift this season. Last year we ended in the cellar. Now it's October 17th and we are in the Post Season ! How unexpected. It is 'wicked awesome' as they say here in Boston. Red Sox record breaking history: two grannies, aka Grand Slams, one by J.D. Martinez, another by Rafael (Rafi) Devers in the first inning ! We led the Astros 8-0 in the first two innings. We beat them in their own ballpark, Minute Maid Park.....serious WS vibes - like the 2013 Marathon Bombing season when the Sox were not expected to go anywhere in the Post season but, defying expectations, they went on to win it ALL !
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| see below * |
10. 19.21 Tuesday
Deb and I watched the game together while on the phone. My commentary was better than Joe Buck's. He did everything but come right out and root for the Astros all night. So much for Fox Sports. Other Red Sox fans commented on that too.
So wonderful to hear from Alan Z. today, after the fabulous blowout of the Astros by the Sox last night, 12-3 Sox ! It was a repeat from the night before, 8-0 Sox in the 2nd inning !
"Those low expectations make this ride even more fun and exciting. And Renfroe and Bogaerts haven't even started hitting yet! " ⚾
I just called Bernice and talked to her terrific companion Rickee. Bernice had dental surgery yesterday - I will call her back and ask if that Pennant is still taped to Roby's bookcase in his office ! see below :-)
*Photo above shows Roby's Red Sox cap and baseball and a piece of Fenway, the left field wall courtesy of Ken.
My Happy Birthday playlist includes the entire Eagles Hotel California album, 1977, LIVE at the Capitol Center. I can still jump up and down and dance like Joe Walsh, no small thing at age 39. 😎
2021 has been a tough year with Covid restrictions, etc. but there was a silver lining. My college roommate, freshman year contacted me, Deb M. despite it being "...52 years since we were freshmen" ! Now we are in touch all the time - it's great ! We will talk later and I will open the gift she sent me while we are on the phone ! LOL......and also it has been wonderful re-connecting with Alan of the Zorfas branch of the Sandler family. More below.
I talked to my aunt Bernice for the first time in a long time. I called her about the letter she sent me including an article from the Sisterhood of Temple Beth Am regarding Mental Health and the Power of Music. It discusses how the parents of a young man with a mental illness became involved with NAMI and helped their son. Extraordinarily inspiring ! It means a lot to re-connect with Bernice.
Thinking of all the Sandlers who are gone now. I said Kaddish for all of them yesterday, Yom Kippor; Ruthie, Roby and Shirley and Bubbe and Zaidy. I almost connected with the Sandler/Zorfas family last Sunday. Alan Zorfas came out of the woodwork after 40 years when he found this blog almost a year ago. He invited me to an Open House at his cousin's home in Newton. The Zorfas's planned a gathering for Irene's unveiling in Sharon. Unfortunately the Open House was cancelled due to Covid concerns. Alas and alack, I found out the Open House was cancelled on Rosh Hashana just before services ! Disappointing but Alan says he will return to see his son who lives in Cambridge I think.
Wonderful to hear from my friends in California singing Happy Birthday to me in perfect harmony ! Thank you Ron + Pam...:-)
⚾ So naturally Ron + I had to talk some baseball even though he is a Yankees fan, being from Nuevo York and all.....the Sox were # 1 in the Eastern division almost the entire first half of the season. After the All Star break, they imploded ! They spiralled down, they played terrible, and then half the team got Covid. Now we are duking it out for a Wild Card spot with the Yankees and the Blue Jays who have crawled their way back to third place after being out of it by ten games. Very aggressive team. Anything can happen.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BERNICE ! 🌷🌻🌸
Aunt Bernice's birthday is July 11th !
Aunt Ruth's yahrtzeit is July 11th, 5 Tammuz, 5781. Throwback pic of me with aunt Ruth at aunt Ethel's apartment in Florida. Roby invited me to visit in the 1990's. I was living in Berkeley at the time. Naturally we went to visit aunt Ethel who I had not since since Steven's Bar Mitzvah when I was a child. There are so many life events in July for the Sandler family. Aunt Ruth was born on July 14th. Shirley was born on July 5th. I have more photos and will post them soon.
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| Ethel Rutstein, Bernice + Roby, aunt Ruth + Hy Weissman |
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The Sandler Family Archives blog has been on hiatus, dealing with isolation and covid 19. Now we are in rocky waters with Mothers Day and Michael's yahrtzeit, May 10th, (and ex brother Barry's birthday on May 12th.) Yikes !
Shout out to all the mothers out there - HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY - including me who was a second mother to Barry. And to my friend Joan who was so nurturing and a 'mother' to so many people as our mutual friend Deidre said yesterday. 🌷🌸🌹🌺🌻🍀
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| Shirley + Julius on a New York trip in the '70's. |
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| May 2, 2021, Spring Green |
LOVE, good health, good heart, good harmony as my friend Ron likes to say. 💙😎🌷🌻
May 1, 2021 Sunset Time, 6:03 PM
On January 31st I responded to Alan's email in pink and he responded back in dark Blue ! It is a bit confusing to follow the thread of the conversation but somehow it's taken on manuscript-like qualities with a lot of autobiographical information about the Zorfas's and the Silverman family from 'ye olden days.'
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Sun, Jan 31, 3:15 PM |
Imagine my surprise upon checking my email in my yahoo account which I do not check all the time, to find an email from a long, lost, distant cousin Alan Zorfas ! I am posting it in it's entirety. Needless to say, I was thrilled to hear from him ! His mother, Irene Zorfas was good friends with Shirley. We saw each other frequently when we lived in Malden and Irene + Shimmy/Sumner Zorfas lived in Peabody. I will add photos when I scan them ! He included photos I never saw before ! Here are photos of Shirley and Julius in NY in the '70's, his mother, Irene, and Shirley MacLaine !
