Chit Chat

By Ted Belman

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Everyone will be happier.

April 16, 2020 | 8,875 Comments »

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  6. Michael, I cant find your response to my wanting clarification. Im sure you did. Ted’s search feature does not seem to work and when I go to archives for the month of April, that does not seem to work either. I’m I doing something wrong or does this site just not have search capabilities?

  7. I saw this today. New York is 6 hours behind Israel so, yesterday, Israel time. Last day of previews, so it was only $38. Tix are $66-$86. I sat next to fellow 2nd Gen Shoah survivors. Mostly elderly audience. It was good. Satirical. Lot of gypsy jazz by Reinhardt in the ’30s – Django Reinhardt was a gypsy who was imprisoned in a concentration camp in Belgium or France but released by the Commandant, who was a fan, and spent the rest of the war in hiding* – who I was a groupie of – with his partner, violinist, Stephane Grappelli – when I was in high school in the ’70s. I had no interest in the popular music of my own time before I became a leftist. Only 6 players playing all parts as well as playing instruments. Theater was full.

    STAGE
    The Brief Life & Mysterious Death of Boris III, King of Bulgaria

    WHEN
    Until June 2
    Add To Your Calendar »
    WHERE
    59E59 Theaters
    59 East 59th Street, New York, NY 10022, United States
    Get Directions »
    ETC
    Visit »
    The year is 1943. Bulgaria has saved most of its Jewish population (50,000 people) from deportation to concentration camps. A reluctant monarch, the self-effacing King Boris III stands up to Hitler, even though Bulgaria’s government has buckled under Germany. As Mark Fisher wrote in The Guardian, Sasha Wilson and Joseph Cullen’s 2020 play confronts “those awkward questions about appeasement and compromise, and the slippery line between honourable neutrality and collaboration.” Celebrated at Edinburgh Fringe and then transferred to the Arcola Theatre, in London, the show has received numerous awards. Now premiering in New York City, the small-budget production from Out Of The Forest Theatre has survived partly due to help from King Boris’s grandson, Prince Kyril, who saw the play and loved it. “My grandfather King Boris was a key part of this story,” the prince has said, “and although he didn’t live to see the end of the war, his objective to prevent the deportation was ultimately achieved.” Hannah Hauer-King directs. —Jeanne Malle

    https://airmail.news/arts-intel/events/the-brief-life-mysterious-death-of-boris-iii-king-of-bulgaria

    https://www.59e59.org/shows/show-detail/the-brief-life-mysterious-death-of-boris-iii-king-of-bulgaria/

    *Django wrote, performed, and recorded this piece on violin and guitar – he plays both parts and he only had the use of his thumb and first two fingers on his left hand from an injury in his youth – which was an odd coincidence as the music started up as I got to my seat, as though it were my theme song and I have an arthritic thumb injury – since a couple of weeks ago – making it hard to play violin, viola, guitar and piano – talk about Indra’s Net* – with piano accompaniment during the Holocaust while in hiding. A faux-cheerful blues variation on the funeral march. Blue en Mineur (1942). I have always found it very moving. Always brings me to tears.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMQGngbm6d8&

    * “People also ask
    What is Indra’s net theory?
    Indra’s Net symbolizes the universe as a web of connections and interdependences…. The net is said to be infinite, and to spread in all directions with no beginning or end. At each node of the net is a jewel, so arranged that every jewel reflects all the other jewels…. a microcosm of the whole net….”
    Wikipedia/Indra’s Net

  8. I am distraught that every mention of the “war”…ISRAEL must meetbdemands….NO ONE is demanding anything of Hamas…like—release hostages!
    Also in the attached article – superb as itis…leaves mr curious….A sentence reads:
    …”In other words, the government chose to avoid the contest between our rights that their claims and instead presented it as one of completing claims. But why even mention the Arab claims at all?” COMPLETING or COMPETING????

  10. @peloni

    Time to move into Rafah

    It sure is, BUT:

    Report: Hamas agreed to Egyptian ceasefire proposal
    Asharq Al-Awsat claims Israel removed opposition to releasing certain terrorists, US guaranteed full withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war.
    Dalit Halevi May 4, 2024, 10:37 PM

    https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/389396

    I sure hope this is wrong but there is a very good chance that Israel did cave in to the US demands again.

  16. @ Michael

    Tora! Tora! Tora! (Japanese: ?????????) is a 1970 epic war film that dramatizes the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The film was produced by Elmo Williams and directed by Richard Fleischer, Toshio Masuda and Kinji Fukasaku, and stars an ensemble cast including Martin Balsam, Joseph Cotten, So Yamamura, E.G. Marshall, James Whitmore, Tatsuya Mihashi, Takahiro Tamura, Wesley Addy, and Jason Robards. It was Masuda and Fukasaku’s first English-language film, and first international co-production. The tora of the title, although literally meaning “tiger”, is actually an abbreviation of a two-syllable codeword (i.e., totsugeki raigeki ????, “lightning attack”), used to indicate that complete surprise had been achieved.[4]

    Wikipedia

  18. Agree

    I disagree that they are dumb, but rather that they have an altogether decided agenda to which they remain faithful, which makes them distort rationality as they try to support that agenda, no matter how out of touch with reality it might require them to appear. And while they are not dumb, they are very dangerous.

  21. @Laura

    they are beyond stupid and out of touch with reality to say the least.

    I disagree that they are dumb, but rather that they have an altogether decided agenda to which they remain faithful, which makes them distort rationality as they try to support that agenda, no matter how out of touch with reality it might require them to appear. And while they are not dumb, they are very dangerous.

  23. @Edgar
    TIME reported last month that over $70 million had been raised for individual Gazans thru Go Send Me. They reported that this sum was related to about 12K accounts which does come to be a bit more than the $5,000 amount per account you mentioned to move some 12K Gazans across the border.

  25. HAS anyone seen the Blinken demands in Arutz 7 yet,

    The terms …3 hostages every 3 days total 33 hostages in 40 days of ceasefire, and then other terms for the rest, plus a PERMANENT Ceasefire.

    Utterly disgusting. If the PM agrees to this his govt will fall and he’ll be out of politics permanently.

    He must have caveats and other plans which allow his to continue the war by other means. Vital…..!!

  26. @edgar

    “pilpulim and pinpricks”

    Marvelous! Be a great title for a satirist’s or movie/theater/literary critic’s column or blog. Gratifying to see I’m beginning to rub off on you, my earnest pupil. 😀

  28. SEB
    I was referring to conquered peoples, not a handful of Jews who had a temporary successful rebellion, and would not be free and independent for 40 years, and then only because of internal Greek problems. And it lasted only a handful of years before the Romans were invited in.
    They were only autonomous to a limited degree .

    Surely you must have read something about this in Zeitlin, I don’t recall if he particularised but he must have written something.

    so keep up the pilpulim and pin pricks-you get NO satisfaction as I don’t give a hoot what you think. Truly.

    ***Why were the Romans invited in????**** Interesting…….!

    The two sons of Shulamit succeeded, The eldest Hyrcanus to the Rule and the Aristobulus to the High Priesthood. Originally Hyrcanus inherited both.

    Antipater, Herod’s father was involved at the time with Hyrcanus, and got him support from Nabataea.

    Hyrcanus was TOTALLY unsuited to be the Ruler, Aristobulus was totally unsuited to be High Priest. Therefore there were clashes with supporters and constant unrest If they’d reversed their positions it would have been perfect. But it became a Civil War which ended when Pompey just happened to stroll by. They both went to him to arbitrate,

    And the biggest bribe won.

    From then on, it was Roman Province.

  29. @Edgar

    Where are the poverty stricken Gazans getting the money from.

    In part at least, they have Go Fund Me pages setup to help pay for their escape.

  30. Where are the poverty stricken Gazans getting the money from. If they have so much money they can buy what they need from Hamas.

    Their future might be that they’ll be rounded up by Egyptian troops and returned to Gaza.

  33. Egyptian smuggling out Gazans out of Gaza for money. I think an Israeli NGO should help get more out by paying for people wanting to leave of which is probably most of them.

    Bedouin Arms Merchant Makes Millions off Gazans Desperate to Escape
    The Egyptian government is eager to avoid a large-scale influx of Gazans onto its soil, concerned that it could lead to a lasting situation. Meanwhile, according to The Sunday Times, a privately owned Egyptian company, reportedly with historical ties to the state, has capitalized on the situation by facilitating the daily passage of several hundred Gazans across the border (The company taking refugees out of Gaza — and ‘making millions’).

    Hala Consulting and Tourism, holding a dominant position in commercial transit through the Rafah crossing, is known to charge adults over $5,000 per escape, and $2,500 for individuals under 16

    Full article: https://www.jewishpress.com/news/eye-on-palestine/gaza/bedouin-arms-merchant-makes-millions-off-gazans-desperate-to-escape/2024/04/30/

    1

  34. Israel Withdraws From Gaza After Learning Of Protest By 19-Year-Old Fine Arts Major Roxy Barnett

    Apr 27, 2024 · BabylonBee.com

    GAZA — Israel announced its complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip after learning this morning of a protest from a 19-year-old Fine Arts major at Northwestern University named Roxy Barnett.

    "Oh my goodness — we've upset Roxy," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he was briefed on the protest. "I feel so foolish! The war is over, boys. Let Hamas stay in power, forget the hostages, everybody out of Gaza, immediately!!"

    According to Israeli intel, Barnett had made a small sign out of cardboard and skipped class to walk around campus chanting. "When I learned of this 19-year-old in America skipping pottery class to chant how bad Israel is, I was shaken to the core," said one Israeli military commander, hastily canceling an upcoming missile strike on a known terror cell. "We thought we needed to destroy terrorists hellbent on raping and murdering Jews. But one look at Roxy's sign, and I knew it was time to pack up and rethink our entire foreign policy strategy."

    As news of Israel's withdrawal spread, Barnett's followers praised her as a modern-day hero, with many calling for her to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. "Roxy single-handedly solved the Middle East conflict with a single sign," remarked one admirer. "Gosh, isn't it amazing to see how you can solve millennia-old violent conflicts by screaming at the sky on a college campus in Chicago?

    At publishing time, in response to Roxy's latest protest, Donald Trump said he would no longer be running for president and that he had no idea how his campaign made her feel.

    https://babylonbee.com/cleanArticle/israel-withdraws-from-gaza-after-learning-of-protest-by-19-year-old-fine-arts-major-roxy-barnett

  35. Gantz, far-right ministers issue dueling ultimatums to PM over hostage deal, Rafah op

    So Bibi is to be faced with less than a unity govt or less than a governing coalition. I think that such a choice is actually no choice at all. Unless Bibi loses support from within his own party or from the Haredi parties of more than 4 MKs, his coalition will hold.

  38. SEB-

    Always the “silly -billy”. I really shouldn’t answr as your comment is too far off the concept to bother about, but….

    The Greeks were the masters The Maccabis were the oppressed.
    and in fact were not fully free (due to internal Greek problems) until about 40 or more years later. just before the “Golden Age” lamentably a mere 9 years, the reign of Queen Shulamit
    You KNOW this, or should.
    For Jews the Torah was the be all and end all of human social order, and those apostates who absorbed foreign customs were shunned, until Rome the ALL supreme rulers of the world arrived in force, brought in, in fact by appeals to Pompey to settle a sibling rivalry, and stayed to eventually take over.

    Rome was expanding, but it is well known that after the Jewish Wars it ceased to do so and instead consolidated or diminished.

    You skip over 4+ centuries without the blink of an eye. Stoned I suppose.

    Now….STOP with the pilpulim and nonsense, zany comments, unverifiable quotes from some book, which were only the writer’s opinion etc.

    .

  41. SEB-
    Are we playing “my father can beat up your father”… or maybe a game of “mumbly-peg”. You likely know how to play it, I don’t.

    Musso was O.K (for Italy) until he got the “Empire bug”. Hitler was O.K. whilst he was an aspiring artist. Stalin was O;k util he grew out of short panys, Mao was O.K, until he could eat his first bowl of rice by himself.9=(with chopsticks of course, an art in itself)

    ****the best way to eat with chopsticks is to hold the bowl level with your mouth and sweep the contents into your opened gob, swallow and repeat until all gone.

    Just like sweeping dust into a scoop pan.

  42. @Edgar So, the Hellenists who fought the Maccabees “had too much trouble in surviving to calmly sit and absorb philosophical thoughts from the conqueror”?”

  44. @Edgar

    Around 535 BCE, the Persian king Cyrus the Great initiated a protracted campaign to absorb parts of India into his nascent Achaemenid Empire.[1] In this initial incursion, the Persian army annexed a large region to the west of the Indus River, consolidating the early eastern borders of their new realm. With a brief pause after Cyrus’ death around 530 BCE, the campaign continued under Darius the Great, who began to re-conquer former provinces and further expand the Achaemenid Empire’s political boundaries. Around 518 BCE, the Persian army pushed further into India to initiate a second period of conquest by annexing regions up to the Jhelum River in what is today known as Punjab.[6] At peak, the Persians managed to take control of most of modern-day Pakistan and incorporate it into their territory.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achaemenid_conquest_of_the_Indus_Valley

    The historical Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama of the Sakya clan, who Mahayan Buddhists refer to as Shakyamuni) was born approximately 563 BCE, and began preaching at age 40 until his death at age 80.

    —
    Only tried peyote once at a Yippie! conference at the famous 9 Bleeker Street in 1979. My girlfriend and I kept everybody up all night declaiming like Henry the Vth. 😀 Been there done that, rejected that – a LONG long time ago.

    What’s Felix’s excuse, Doc? 😀

  45. Seb-
    You are just allowing your amanita inspired thoughts to leap far ahead of reality, even though , as you “say”, this is YOUR area of “expertise”.

    Any travel, not proven for this period, would have been for trade only as would that of any Babylonian-India contact. No effect of philosophical contexts have been shown to exist then. As you say, there was no Buddha around then. And 60 years later, Buddha would have been completely unknown at that time and just beginning his own attempts to “think”. He slowly grew into it. Surely such an honest individual would have given credit to his influences..??

    Torah shows NO influences, either. It mentions only Thanks to the Great King and transfers his kindness into practical action.

    Talking about straws, your clutch is pretty strong here, including the imaginative issue that Buddha wanted to be a king.

    If you had 100 mil dollars and were speculating on horseracing a you speculate here, you’d be stonly broke in a year.

  46. Extended cabinet approves foreign observers’ visits to Nukhba terrorists in prison

    https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-798656

    My comment: Well, if it were up to me, they’d be put on a prime time game show where the freed hostages and families of the slain and hostages still being held could hunt them down and get points and prizes for most imaginative ways of torturing and humiliating them each week. Something like “Running man” (1987) with Hogan’s Hero’s Richard Dawson, but they never get out.

  47. @Edgar Of course, the Buddha didn’t want to be king as your straw argument suggested I was saying. Now who is teaching his grandmother to suck eggs. This is my area of expertise. However, as a younger contemporary of Cyrus, it may be reasonable to speculate that he got the idea that it would be possible for him to ameliorate the behavior of kings through instruction which is something he most definitely did do. There was travel between India and Eretz Israel at this time. Not only that, but if you had read the article thoroughly, you would have noticed that some of the stupas are inscribed in Aramaic.

  48. @Edgar

    “Attaturk (Mustapha Kemal) WAS a great leader-for the Turks.”

    Mussolini made the trains run on time, HItler built the Autobahn. Should we be impressed?