Chit Chat

By Ted Belman

From now on comments on every post must relate to the content of the post.

Comments that don’t relate to the post must go here.

Any person who contravenes this demand will be put on moderation. Also their offending comment will be trashed.

The reason for this demand is so that people who want to read comments which pertain to the post, don’t have to wade through the chatter.

Everyone will be happier.

April 16, 2020 | 8,878 Comments »

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50 Comments / 8878 Comments

  1. The Peculiar Afterlife of Abram Leon by Kathleen Hayes (Sept. 2023)

    https://fathomjournal.org/the-peculiar-afterlife-of-abram-leon/

    This book by a Jewish Trotskyist who was murdered in Auschwitz had an enormous influence on me and others in my misguided youth. This was the main book that turned me into an anti-Zionist Jew in 1978 or 9 – I was already an Anarchist slowly morphing into a Marxist or about to. Terrific essay. I just stumbled upon it.

  2. The Glass House (Hungarian: Üvegház) was a building used by the Swiss diplomat Carl Lutz to help Jews in Budapest during the Holocaust.

    During the Holocaust
    At one time, about 3,000 Jews found refuge at the Glass House and in a neighboring building from large numbers of Hungarian fascist, antisemitic murderers and the German Nazis.[1] The Glass House also had a broader impact because it was used as a headquarters by the Jewish youth underground* which saved many lives.

    *which included my father who escaped from a Jewish forced labor camp and infiltrated the Arrow Cross, saving many Jewish families, before he was caught and escaped again – after being tortured without breaking – and his first cousin-in-law who worked for Wallenberg out of the Swedish embassy also rescuing Jews and fellow resistance members.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_House_(Budapest)

  3. “Resistance: They Fought Back” (2024) tells the largely unknown and incredibly courageous story of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust.

    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18239234/

    “Defiance” is a 2008 American war film directed by Edward Zwick, and starring Daniel Craig as Tuvia Bielski, Liev Schreiber as Zus Bielski, Jamie Bell as Asael Bielski, and George MacKay as Aron Bielski. Set during the occupation of Belarus by Nazi Germany, the film’s screenplay by Clayton Frohman and Zwick was based on Nechama Tec’s 1993 book Defiance: The Bielski Partisans, an account of the eponymous group led by Polish [Actually Lithuanian] Jewish brothers who saved and recruited Jews in Belarus [which had been part of Lithuainia a few year before ] during World War II.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defiance_(2008_film)

    Kushner’s grandmother was a Bielsky Brigade partisan. They rescued more Jews than Schindler and formed a Jewish army in the forest.

  4. The Forty Days of Musa Dagh is a 1933 novel by the Austrian-Jewish author Franz Werfel. Based on the events at Musa Dagh in 1915 during the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire, the book played a role in organizing the Jewish resistance under Nazi rule. It was passed from hand to hand in Jewish ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe, and it became an example and a symbol for the Jewish underground throughout Europe.[1] The Holocaust scholars Samuel Totten, Paul Bartrop and Steven L. Jacobs underline the importance of the book for many of the ghettos’ Jews: “The book was read by many Jews during World War II and was viewed as an allegory of their own situation in the Nazi-established ghettos, and what they might do about it.”[2]

    The book was also read by many young Jews in Eretz Yisrael, and they discussed it while preparing to defend Haifa against a possible Nazi invasion. Prof. Peter Medding of Hebrew University of Jerusalem writes: “Between the wars, Franz Werfel’s popular novel, The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, had a profound effect on young Jews in Palestine and in the European ghettos”[3] Yair Auron, an Israeli historian, says that “Werfel’s book shocked millions throughout the world and influenced many young people who grew up in Eretz Yisrael in the 1930s. For many Jewish youth in Europe, “Musa Dagh” became a symbol, a model, and an example, especially during the dark days of the Second World War.”[1] Jews who read the book believed that the novel, though speaking about the Armenians, contained many allusions to Judaism and Israel in relation to Werfel’s own beliefs, and it had a profound impact upon many of them.

    “Jewish response to The Forty Days of Musa Dagh” – Wikipedia

    It was the most popular book in the Warsaw Ghetto prior to the uprising.

    – “From Musa Dagh to Masada
    How Franz Werfel’s novel about the Armenian Genocide inspired the Warsaw Ghetto fighters and the Zionist resistance
    BY
    STEFAN IHRIG
    APRIL 18, 2016”
    https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/from-musa-dagh-to-masada

    1

  5. Comment by Sebastien Zorn a little ago

    …It was one year after the 1935 Nuremberg racial laws were enacted in Germany that Szyk, in ?ód?, Poland, painted Trumpeldor’s Defense of Tel Hai. This illumination encouraged Jews in 1936 Palestine to defend themselves against Arab marauders in the same spirit and with the same courage and heroism as did the Jews of the Galilean Tel Hai settlement in 1920, led by the legendary Captain Joseph Trumpeldor. The timing of this painting was simultaneously directed toward the Jews of Germany and Poland, calling upon them to respond heroically toward the antisemitic mobs and chants in their respective countries. The artwork was to be renamed The Modern Maccabees a few years later…

    https://www.algemeiner.com/2023/12/12/arthur-szyk-and-the-modern-maccabees/

    Shows me that Zorn has not learned the simplest things about the history of the Holocaust.

    And if Jews in the present day do not understand THAT then there’s little or no hope in the present.

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  8. Many thanks to all of you for your messages of sympathy and support for my struggle to survive my various illnesses. God bless you all. My deepest sympathy for my fellow sufferer Sebastien, and my prayers and hopes for your revoery from all of your illnesses. God bless you.

    2

  10. Tanna, I’ve thoroughly searched my ancestry: ALL of my ancestors have died! I think it’s in my DNA. The odds are stacked against me, nearly 100%, no matter what I eat! This is distressing. I need a snack…

  12. For now, I’m still in good health. I’m going to remember, you guys’ n my prayers call your names before our father. We all know how one day we can seem fine, and the next day be flat on our backs. A family member is dealing with this now and waiting for pathology reports to come back, praying for the best.

    During our time at the height of covid in one of the large University research hospitals in the US, our son’s blood sugar was over 450 and his diet was controlled by the Dr’s and he was given all the things(foods) that drive blood sugar up. When his mother pointed it out, The hospital and Dr’s response was, that’s why we give him the shots daily to bring it down. Even after a conversation with hospital dietician, she admitted we were correct, but the administration set policy and there was nothing she could do, The Dr’s placed him on the diabetic diet. However, if we ordered each of his meals ahead of time,(daily x 3) we could order what we wanted. Otherwise, the hospital recommended diet was our choice and it worked to drive his numbers up.
    So, my advice, cut out ALL sugars and as many carbs as possibles. Any, we’ll pray!

  13. SEBASTIEN_

    All levity aside, this is a serious matter. You are far too young to have such brutal ailments and I am truly sorry. Yet you have a good genetic background from your late mother.

    And much if not all can be controlled with meds, diet and careful exercise. I myself do a few minutes daily on a treadmill, ////even at my age. I should do much more but don’t due to laziness.

    I hope that you are as assiduous in seeking and getting proper Medical help as you are in finding Israel oriented links.

    From now on sniping at one another is OUT, at least on my part.

    1

  15. …It was one year after the 1935 Nuremberg racial laws were enacted in Germany that Szyk, in ?ód?, Poland, painted Trumpeldor’s Defense of Tel Hai. This illumination encouraged Jews in 1936 Palestine to defend themselves against Arab marauders in the same spirit and with the same courage and heroism as did the Jews of the Galilean Tel Hai settlement in 1920, led by the legendary Captain Joseph Trumpeldor. The timing of this painting was simultaneously directed toward the Jews of Germany and Poland, calling upon them to respond heroically toward the antisemitic mobs and chants in their respective countries. The artwork was to be renamed The Modern Maccabees a few years later…

    https://www.algemeiner.com/2023/12/12/arthur-szyk-and-the-modern-maccabees/

    2

  16. Sebastien,

    I think I just come here, because you folks make me feel so young 🙂

    Wife and I managed to get to the coast last weekend — whales, eagles, pelicans, a stellars sea lion, gorgeous Oregon weather (aka rain), and some seafood I won’t mention here because it’s not kosher. I was hobbly and wobbly, but I did it! Praise God!

    I want to get some strength back, so I can help out a blind friend, and another one confined to a rest home — and of course, help out Mrs. S. Life is good. The lady was bringing things in from the car, and three deer approached her and watched her. We’re entertainment for them. I also hear birds chirping all the time; but I think most of it is just tinnitis.

    We didn’t regret missing the news at all, while we were gone. There’s plenty to pray for: family, friends (near and far), neighbors, our country and leaders, and Israel — especially the Bibas family.

    1

  18. @Edgar I do have a lot of illnesses including diabetes, hypertension, obesity, coronary artery disease, trachial stenosis, arthritis, osteopenia, sleep apnea, atrial fabrillation, gastro-intestinal reflux disease, ulcers of the duodenum and esophagus, mixed lipodemia/cholesterolemia, psoriasis, and among others and more popping up all the time, not that it’s any of your business, but I don’t burden others with my problems, and I can’t help it if I have a lot to say. It’s annoying that you and others aren’t more prolific, frankly.

    3

  19. Of 50 posts below, 29 are from Sebastien Zorn, including 18 in succession

    This poster is extraordinarily prolific…………….

    Perhaps he has time to spare due to another rotator cuff injury.
    If so, I wish him a speedy recovery.
    If not then he’s just another “eager beaver” looking for plaudits……Sad.

    2
    1

  20. @Adam

    I am really sorry to hear that you are ill and I wish you a full and speedy recovery.

    I apologize for probably unwanted advice but my approach to problems is to find a book on whatever problem I need to take care of.

    Several years ago I found a great book on how to control blood sugar with diet (I don’t have diabetes, I hope (yet, but anything can happen with age)) – high blood sugar is the major/main? cause of diabetes complications (the idea that one can eat anything as long as s/he takes medication is incorrect, (however, it doesn’t mean that just because you now eat properly you can stop taking insulin, for example, or stop carrying something sweet with you in case your blood sugar dips too low), the diet helps the blood sugar level stay more or less even – in the proper interval).

    The author is 89 years old and he has had type 1 diabetes since the age of 12 (way before they had blood glucose monitors), he became a doctor at about 50, and his story is amazing (the books are listed there):

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_K._Bernstein

    Here is his website:

    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuJ11OJynsvHMsN48LG18Ag

    Also, these days checking your blood sugar is, apparently, much easier with a continuous glucose monitor (I have never seen one, just read about them), so you don’t have to keep poking your fingers with a needle.

    1

  22. TED_

    I’ve just written another post to ADAM which has not been printed,,.I bet this one will be. I KNEW it.

    WHAT’S GOING ON…..????

    O.K. ADAM and TED I just found it, it is at the end of the previous 50 posts
    Mystery solved.

    Add;.. And I just found the first missing one in the previous 50.
    I don’t know how I manage this. Perhaps I should buy a Lottery Ticket……???

  23. Adam-

    Obviously TED hasn’t found my post so I’ll try again. It won’t be the same but similar.

    We have Nurse Practitioners here too but with the cursed Socialised medicine here it could take months to get an appt and maybe a year for specialist. It’s a shambles.

    I’m seriously glad that you got a second opinion and now you’re getting the treatment that you need. Thank G-D .

    I’ve looked it up on several sites and I find the GLUMETZA is regarded as a very efficient Med with few if any side effects. It aids diabetes and cirrhosis.

    Also several antibiotic meds are helpful

    I truly feel deeply about your situation and that you are alone with your thoughts. But you are very brave and pragmatic which is all to the good.

    May you survive and improve, and know many more years of active life and Israpundit postings.

    All our members are surely with you in your fight as I certainly am……!!!

    1

  24. @Adam
    Thank you for including us in your confidence. Speaking for myself, I wanted to thank you for the update on your health and to wish you a full and speedy recovery. The Gram positive infections, such as Strep, are difficult to detect, so it is good that they caught it. The blood sugar is all that the bacteria consume, which is why it plays havoc in destabilizing the diabetes. There are also many other consequences of such infections, so I am glad that you sought out the specialist you chose. I have noted many times that medicine is so much more of an art than a science, even as it is an art based in part on scientific evidence. In any event, it is good to hear of such important findings, and I look forward to hearing of you report your marked improvement over time. Be well my friend.

    2

  28. TED
    My response to Adam has vanished, I’m sure you’ll come across it and post it. I mention it because it may be an internal flaw which you can get fixed.

    I find it odd that posts to members can vanish yet a post addressed to you , always finds you. You have a pet computerised system that loves you alone, and only tolerates us, I think.

  29. ADAM-

    I am totally dismayed to read your news, and you surely know that I and my fellow members hope with all my heart that you will improve. I’ve been reading up on it and from what limited info I can get it seems that a med called GLUMETZA seems to be the most beneficial with few side effects, as well as several anti-biotics which I hope you are already taking.

    I know about nurse practitioners, we have them here too, although with socialised medicine it can take over a year to get a specialist appt.
    And some of them are pretty poor and more than a bit careless.
    Like your’s was.

    May your health improve to a degree that obviates any though of early demise.

  30. Ted and Peloni–Please rescue my reply to Edgar, which I just posted, from electronic oblivion. It was an unusually personal reply to Edgar;s highly personal query about my health. I think he , and maybe a few other Israpundit people, will want to read it. Thanks

  31. @Edgar–I deeply appreciate your concern for me and my health, And I am also moved by your remembrance of my offer to help your move. Even though I didn’t in the end provide any help.

    I did see another doctor, “sort of.” I say sort of because she is technically a”nurse practionaer, ” not an MD. However, this is a very common situation in America now, Many MDs have retired, and those who are still practicing medicine usually only practice in their specialty . As a result, very few primary care clinics are headed by MDs, .

    However, my nurse practitioner is head of the local primary care clinic inmy home town, and quite good. She order some more sophisticated lab tests than the physician I saw previously, who is a dibetes specialist. The more sophisitcated tests ordered by my local clinic head revealed a serious streptococcus infection which was seriously complicating my diabetes. She presecribed an antibiotic for me that has eased my pain significantly. But I am still very sick, suffering from frequent and uncontrollled urination.

    I also have highly elevated liver counts. Well above the cirhosses level. This will be enough to kill me even if didn’t have diabetes.

    So I just live day by day, getting through it as best I can. I spend a lot of time on the internet. Mainly checking the news every few minutes, But also watching old “classics” movies. Many of them are far better and more artistic than the crap Hollywood and the TV studios turn out now,

    So I just live day by day. Perhaps I will mireculously recover from these and several other serious ailments. Or Godd may take my life soon. I accerpt that it is in God’s hands, and try my best to enjoy every day as best as I can.

    Again, thank you for your concern, Edgar. I have always been a “loner” and I don’t have many friends , As a result, I treasure the few friends I do have, such as my friends at Israpundit.

  32. ADAM-

    Did you go to another doctor and did he prescribe anti-diabetes meds. And are you feeling better and have a more cheerful concept of outcome.
    I am not prying into your private affairs but genuinely concerned at an issue you brought up.
    I have never forgotten your generous, spontaneous offer to move my belongings without knowing even where I was living.

  34. First they came for the lawyers and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a lawyer.

    Then they came for the professors and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a professor.

    Then they came for the journalists and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a journalist.

    Then they came for the entertainers and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t an entertainer.

    Then they just stopped coming for people because we didn’t have any problems anymore.

    – popped up on my Facebook feed.
    😀

  39. A Proclamation on Jewish American Heritage Month, 2024 APRIL 30, 2024

    https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2024/04/30/a-proclamation-on-jewish-american-heritage-month-2024/

    Amazing. I think this is the only time he didn’t condemn “Islamofauxbia” in the same breath though he included the obligatory Dem blather about the TSS. Even Dem Israel supporters like Fetterman do that. I think he’s gettiing uneasy about the Jewish vote, as well, for a change.

  45. Meet Thomas “Toby” Blatt.
    Toby was one of the planners in the uprising and escape from the Sobibor extermination camp in 1943, an incident in which some 300 prisoners escaped. Most of them were captured and executed; he was one of the only survivors.

    After escaping Sobibor and surviving a harrowing time in the forests among the partisans, Toby returned to his childhood home in the Polish town of Izbitz. When he approached his house and saw that it was still standing, he was very excited. He was sure that all his local acquaintances and friends would be happy to see that he had survived the terrible destruction. He knocked on the door, and it was opened by the nanny who had raised him with devotion in his youth. He was sure she would welcome him enthusiastically, but to his shock, the door immediately slammed shut. After knocking repeatedly, her husband opened the door and yelled at him to leave, and never to return. At that specific moment, he said, it felt as if the entire world collapsed.

    In a heightened emotional state, he concocted a plot of sweet revenge.

    In his youth, his father taught about the Midrash that before the conquest of the Land of Israel by Joshua ben Nun, the Amorites buried their treasures in the walls of their homes, so G-d brought leprosy on those houses—which were then destroyed—and the treasures were discovered. This gave him an idea.

    The next morning, he returned to the scene, and again, after knocking on the door, he was chased away with shouts and threats, with the caregiver claiming that they did not know him and that the house had never belonged to him. He refused to budge. He told them that he was asking for only one thing: the diamonds that his father had hidden in the walls of the house before being deported—a story that was, obviously, false. The residents seemed to believe what he said, and this threw them into a bigger rage, emerging and beating him until he left the area.

    After about a year, Toby returned to the town, and discovered that the house had become a heap of ruins. It had been completely dismantled; the family had decided to look for the treasure—but in vain.

    Toby smiled, “This was my sweet revenge”.

    (Toby passed away in 2015 in California at the age of 88.)

    Naveed Anjum

    Facebook

  49. US Election Expert: Jewish Vote is Turning Against Biden | The Caroline Glick Show

    ”
    4,088 views Premiered 3 hours ago
    As Jews are being attacked on campus and the Biden administration continues to distance itself from Israel, will the ironclad Democratic Jewish vote be affected? Will liberal Jews break with the Democratic Party because they feel unsafe in Biden’s America?

    Journalist and author Caroline Glick talks with US election expert and political analyst Richard Baehr to break down the numbers and trends and to understand if this coming US election will be unlike any other.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kM5au1jEDZY

  50. “I am speaking to you from east of Rafah, from within the evacuation zones. The Israeli ‘vehicles’ are starting to enter from the eastern border. The situation is very bad”

    Faytuks News