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 | 9,017 Comments »

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50 Comments / 9017 Comments

  1. READER-

    I don’t know how to “save”, perhaps you will explain. Thanks.

    I think that shadow banning , of which I heard only recently, is allowing the writer to read his text but preventing or side-lining the recipient from doing so.

  2. @Sebastien Zorn

    Have you ever tried learning a language by listening to simple songs?

    You can slow down th speed in the settings on YouTube.

    Try googling FSI (Foreign Service Institute) – the stuff is free online with the audio – some people say it is too old but who cares.

  3. TANNA-

    I am devastated. At the time I posted the name of Ehrman’s book I was beginning, I was already reading it. From that moment, minimum 16 hrs a day, non stop reading until 2.32 last night my time.

    Even the footnoted gathered at the back kept revealing new names details of in-book references etc.
    Totally fascinating beyond measure. He wrote that Daniel and Eccliastes were written several centuries after their real time by unknown writers.
    Me mentioned Isaiah 1,2,3 the first in the time of Ahaz, 8th cent (I think) the second 2 cent later, and third about 2nd cent BCE.Also the spurious last 12 verses of “Mark” by an unknown….All experts agree on this.

    How to say this, it was vaster than a vaster VAST. The erudition and sheer scholarship is beyond measure. Just now Peloni told me that my post was lost, I believe it was far too long and should have been broken into 3 segments. Stuck in the computer bowels . A solid 30 mins writing.

    Yes there WAS “twisting” as you said, but NOT by Ehrman, but by the people, ancient and more modern who lied, plagiarised, copied, mistranslated, stole, wrote under better known names and frankly FORGED. Which makes me wonder if you mis-understood what you were reading.
    The first 4 cent were rife with it, as was every cent up to today especially the 19th and 20the cent.
    He went from the 9th cent BCE to Pythagoras, to Plato to Socrates, to Galen, to Rome, and so on. ALso Photius letter bewailing no mmention of Jesus by Justus of Tiberias, nor by any contemporary famous historian of which there were several famous. He believes a Jesus existed, but not the Gospels one.
    Forgeries galore in all centuries. Although more or less zooming in on Christian spurious documents and books, of which there were hundreds maybe thousands, he dealt with the Faiths of several other prominent nations, detailing names, works specific texts, quoting from all, and demonstrating why they were spurious, either for profit, fame, or to get read under a famous name and not the unknown writer.

    Into modern times he showed the proliferation of forgeries in the 19rh cent, the 20th including “Hitler’s Diaries”, and into 2205.

    He left NO stone unturned…in MY opinion, but I am ignorant by comparison since he began the books by saying it was a non scholarly text for easy reading by the layman,

    I’d hate to have to read one of his books meant for scholars.

    I wonder which of his books you say you read…a whole book, an excerpt, a WiKi blurb or just a few references. Please tell me………!!

    I’m balking at going straight into another Maelstrom-ic torrent of details, fascinating though they be. I need a break.

  4. @Edgar G.

    Save your posts before uploading.

    Personally, I feel like I’ve been mostly talking to myself for the last several days.

    Have you ever heard of being “shadow banned”?

  5. TED/PELONI-

    I’ve just now posted a response to TANNA. It got stuck somewhere in the vitals of your computer system.
    It may have been to long. But when I tried to retrieve it to make 2 posts,your system refused and asked to “reload” .Windows couldn’t find the problem.

    I can hardly do it over again , it took me 30 minutes of solid writing. So please do your utmost to find it and if needed divide it into 2 -3 posts.

    Thank you.

  6. SEB-

    In that case it’s better and less waste of precious time to just look up the word, phrase etc as needed. You are a brave man to tackle a foreign, complicated language after ceasing , I assume about 50+ years ago.
    I did the same, gave it up after age 13, even though my famous teacher Menachem Mansoor told me that I had a talent for Biblical Hebrew, which, as you may know is rather different from Ben Yehuda’s effort, as spoken in Israel today.

    It’s interesting to know that the siddurim are written mainly in Biblical, with a little Aramaic thrown in.

    But at least one thing is sure, You won’t get a rotator cuff tear from the effort.

    Have you ever followed the development of the alphabet from the old Sumerian cuneiform to today? Fascinating seeing the gradual changes from the completely unlike…., I do from time to time.
    Right up to the “Alef Bet”.

    .

  7. @Edgar Duolingo. It’s an app I’m using to learn Hebrew starting with the alphabet which I last gave up when I was 13, no mean feat for me as I’ve always been terrible at learning languages.

    I see Google Translate agrees with you. That’s not very encouraging.I don’t want to take a language course because I’d never be able to keep up.

  8. I love this quote only I now apply it to us Zionist Jews, not Communists:

    “We are marching in a compact group along a precipitous and difficult path, firmly holding each other by the hand. We are surrounded on all sides by enemies, and we have to advance almost constantly under their fire. We have combined, by a freely adopted decision, for the purpose of fighting the enemy, and not of retreating into the neighbouring marsh, the inhabitants of which, from the very outset, have reproached us with having separated ourselves into an exclusive group and with having chosen the path of struggle instead of the path of conciliation. And now some among us begin to cry out: Let us go into the marsh! And when we begin to shame them, they retort: What backward people you are! Are you not ashamed to deny us the liberty to invite you to take a better road! Oh, yes, gentlemen! You are free not only to invite us, but to go yourselves wherever you will, even into the marsh. In fact, we think that the marsh is your proper place, and we are prepared to render you every assistance to get there. Only let go of our hands, don’t clutch at us and don’t besmirch the grand word freedom, for we too are “free” to go where we please, free to fight not only against the marsh, but also against those who are turning towards the marsh!”

    – Lenin, “What is Be Done?”

  9. @Edgar G.

    A possible explanation for

    Trump’s “Donner und Blitzen ” remarks

    :

    Trump’s strategy: Win over Israel’s Right, then push a peace deal – opinion
    If an Israeli leader is seen as too compromising or left-leaning, the public won’t tolerate a more conciliatory approach from Israel to other Arab countries.
    By ATAR PORAT
    FEBRUARY 7, 2025 14:03
    Updated: FEBRUARY 7, 2025 14:08

    https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-841126?dicbo=v2-O2hEHqM

  10. SEB-

    I thought this too coincidental to be real and just checked. It seems that there is no Hebrew word for
    ‘politician except “politika”, -a transliteration.

    Sa-ar, literally means “Storm” or “Strong”….as far as i could ascertan.

    Where did you see your trans??-

  11. Rabbi Goldstein does not identify any web site where he podcasts except his own in South Africa. My computer won’t allow me to post it. But its web address begins “rabbigoldstein” and gives a South African web address. He also has pages Facebook, Instagram, and “Twitter” (he doesn’t seem to have learned that has renamed its “X.” All of these accounts use some variant on his name “Rabbigoldstein.” although not this exact word. All begin with “rabbi” and have something like “rabbig” in their title. His podcasts are nearly all posted on these accounts.

    I also believe that Rabbi Goldstein’s podcasts can be located on Arutz Sheva’s Christian web site, although Rabbi Goldstein does not say this.

  12. I’m really NOT very happy about Trump’s “Donner und Blitzen ” remarks about “all hell will break loose after 12 noon TODAY”, although
    i was when it was uttered.

    I bought an umbrella in anticipation. It looks as if I wasted my money,

    It has turned out that he was just bloviating, and soon toned down to’
    “It’s up to Israel, I don’t know what they’ll do”….etc.etc.

    We KNOW what Israel will do, It’ll stick strictly to the agreements, and carry on with the dreary, deal with Hamas which is eking out the minimum of hostages being freed, for the obscene numbers of convicted terrorists and murderers.

    Naturally, they are encouraged by Israel’s pusillanimity, and, following their normal pattern. Hamas will survive in a muted form, only to recruit again even if not in Israel, and whichever host country it may be, Arab of course, infect the population which will need little urging, and we’ll have a far greater number of Hamasniks once again on the warpath.

    If G-D Forbid another Peres type is PM at that time …………..???

  13. Rabbi Goldstein, the chief Rabbi of South Africa, has a wonderful podcast from South Africa in which he explains the importance of Trump’s recent policy decisions about South Africa for reviving the South African economy, making foreign private investment in South Africa possible again, enabling South Africa to rejoin the Western family of nations, reviving its broken but desperately needed relationship with Israel, and ending its extremely self- destructive relationships with Russia, China and Iran. Rabbi Goldstein points out that these countries have invested almost no private capital in South Africa, but are funding jihadist organizations whose openly declared purpose is to overthrow the South African constituion and system of government.

    I have already forgotten what station where we can watch this marvelous podcast by one of Judaism leading rabbinical scholars and Jewish rights activist. I will get to you shortly with what station you can watch Rabbi Goldstein’s presentation.

  14. @fquigley

    Pay the Two Dollars is a vaudeville sketch in which a man is subject to increasingly draconian and unnecessary legal jeopardy because of his lawyer’s unwillingness to pay a two-dollar fine. The catchphrase of the sketch has entered the popular lexicon to refer to a penalty that, even if the penalized party regards it as unjust, is too trivial to be worth contesting.

    Original sketch
    Pay the Two Dollars was created by Willie and Eugene Howard for George White’s Scandals of 1931 on Broadway.[1] In the sketch, Willie Howard plays a humble city-dweller riding the subway with a lawyer friend, played by Eugene; when he is told by a conductor that he will be assessed a two-dollar fine for spitting on the floor of the train car, he seeks to pay it immediately and end the matter, but the lawyer insists on contesting it. Willie’s character is then arrested, whereupon the lawyer mounts a series of preposterous legal challenges, each of which only increases the amount of trouble the protagonist is in until at last he is sentenced to death; at that point, the lawyer finally succeeds and gains clemency from the governor.[1] The sketch was later included in the 1945 film Ziegfeld Follies, a tribute to vaudeville, featuring Victor Moore as the defendant and Edward Arnold as the lawyer. For the New York Times, Bosley Crowther called Arnold and Moore’s version “passingly funny.”[2]

    Legacy
    The original sketch has been seen to capture the capacity of the law to punish ordinary people arbitrarily while giving them the illusory impression that they can reason with it, and thus has repeatedly been compared to the work of Franz Kafka on that theme.[1][3]

    The catchphrase has entered the legal lexicon as a way to sum up the frustrating position of a defendant who is better off accepting an unwarranted penalty than contesting it. In this sense it was used by United States Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg in his dissent to Marder v. Massachusetts, calling it “generally sound advice” but not necessarily “constitutionally permissible.”[4][5] The phrase was used as the title of a 1957 book of practical advice on navigating the legal system by Alexander Rose.[6] With its original vaudeville context in mind, Judge Benjamin Mehlman once used the phrase in ordering the comedian Mel Brooks to pay the village of Ocean Beach, New York a fine for improperly leaving his garbage can at the curb.[7]

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

    Ephraim Kishon also wrote a story on this premise and it is also the premise for the Hitchcock movie, “North by Northwest.”

    Though, yes, tru ’nuff, Jordan rightfuly belongs to the Jews, too.

  15. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsIUC4f5_1

    This is an excellent podcast on the crime problem in South Africa. With particular emphasis on the city of Cape Town. According to this extremely well documented report, with numerous interviews with witnesses, victims, police, private security guards, and even some security camera footage of bandits “at work” Carjackings and house breakins have been suffered by nearly all middle class people. Many middle class people, including professionals such as doctors, have been murdered. The very rich can retreat to their private castles. But the middle class is under attack every day. Most young men are gangsters and belong to one or another gang. Robbery is their sole means of support. Their job. The only thing you can do to protect yourself is to go oarmed all the time, know how to use a firearm and a knife, ohire. a private security service to help ypu. The private security firms are doing a thriving business.However, about thirty security guards are killed in the line of duty every year. And about the same number of police officers.

    All those virtue-signalling ___holes who spent so much time denouncing “apartheid” are silent about this post-apartheid catastrophe. One black intellectual , interviewed on a South African television station, told the interviewer that black people were betteroff under apartheid. Most people had jobs, although they were low-paying. Nearly all kids got at least a few years of school, in which they were taught the basics by competent black teachers. It was possible for black people to afford an apartment or even a house. Now, he says, under a black government, all that is impossible for black people unless they are rich and have government connections.

    The abolition of white rule has apparently not benefited the majority of black South Africans. They are victimized by corrupt black politicians, who treat them worse than the former white rulers.

  16. I’m really getting tired of waiting for Mudar to take over Jordan and institute his reforms and new policies.

    They are still by a very large amount the best solution for this beggar, concocted nation, and a chance to make it a real nation. Maybe te only chance.

    I’ve been holding my breath (figuratively) for years now and running out of oxygen ……..metaphorically speaking……!!

  17. Read about the Israeli Land Authority. There is a complex history to this and its sister organization, which has been responsible for buying Land for Jews in what Palestine prior to Israel for Jewish settlement.

    About Israel Land Authority
    Publish Date:
    12.10.2023
    Updated date:
    09.01.2025

    As part of the Israel Land Reform, the Israel Land Administration became the Israel Land Authority (ILA) – a new government authority, after Regulation 7 to the Israel Land Authority Law of 1960 was passed in 2009. The Israel Land Authority commenced operations on March 1, 2013, after the labor agreement with the employees was completed. ILA is headed by the Israel Land Council, which sets the country’s land policies. Currently, the Minister of Construction and Housing is the director of the Council, and its members include directors general of government ministries, and representatives of Keren Kayemet L’Israel (KKL). ILA implements policy set down by the Israel Land Council.

    The Israel Land Authority manages the land owned by the state, the Development Authority and the Keren Kayemet L’Israel. The Authority’s goals and roles are defined in the Israel Land Authority Law of 1960.
    The Israeli government appoints the Israel Land Council, which sets land policy, according to which the Authority operates. The Minister of Construction and Housing heads the Council, serving as chairman, and includes seven government representatives and six representatives of Keren Kayemet L’Israel.
    Israel Land Authority Management

    The Authority is directed by the Prime Minister, Ministers of Ministries of Construction and Housing and Finance. The authority’s employees are government employees. The Authority’s management operates alongside the Authority’s director general, advising the director regarding the various fields of activity, in setting guidelines for implementing policy, planning activities, creating procedures and emergency orders, instructing and supervising the ILA division managers during the implementation of decisions, procedures and orders.
    The Israel Land Authority’s Goals

    The Israel Land Authority’s roles include:

    Management of Israeli land as a resource, in order to develop the State of Israel for the benefit of the public, environment and the coming generations. This includes safeguarding sufficient land reserves for the country’s future needs and development, while maintaining the appropriate balance between the preservation needs and the development needs, and between the sale of land and preservation of land reserves for public needs.
    Encouraging competition in the land market and preventing centralization in real estate holdings.

  18. Thanks, Rafi and Edgar. Israeli Land Authority it is, then, and 49- and 99-year leases. This accords well with Torah:

    According to the Torah, the concept of “leasing” the Land of Israel is the most accurate way to describe Jewish ownership, as the land ultimately belongs to God and is considered “His” and not fully owned by the Jewish people; meaning they are essentially “residents” with the responsibility to care for it, but cannot sell it permanently; this is highlighted in verses like Leviticus 25:23 stating “the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.”
    — Google

    Is the Israeli Land Authority under the oversight of the knesset? or the High Court? (just curious here).

  19. Rafi

    I am drawn to write because of great betrayals. being carried out daily on israpundit site

    You are contributing.

    Any school boy with a serious teacher will know that the Treaty in Paris after WW1 was over will know that the geographical area of Palestine was being set aside for the Jewish homeland.

    The Arab leaders in Arabia were in agreement.

    The whole area of geographical Palestine was set aside to be the Jewish state

    That’s the beginning and end of it as far as aTrotskyist Communist is concerned and for me only that counts. Only that is relevant.

    People on israpundit who disagree with that need to be asked very basic questions as to what they are doing on israpundit.

    Actually I don’t have to deal with the subsequent evil in the intervention of Churchill because as a Trotskyist Communist it is already part of the initial statement. It certainly nullifies much of what is being spouted by so many on this israpundit site today.

  20. My understanding, when I lived there is that all leases were for 99 years to give some permanence to descendants of original families, but because or the very slow release of building land it was reduced to 49 years with the “possibility” ( nothing was definite in Israel (those days) of renewing for another 49.
    I lived there between 1975-1988. Married, and had my children there.

  21. @ Michael- Nothing Bibilical but Israeli land practices.

    In Israel, land leases are a way to use land owned by the state or Jewish National Fund for a long period of time. The Israel Land Authority (ILA) manages most of the land in Israel.
    How do land leases work in Israel?

    Lease terms: Leases are usually for 49 or 99 years, but can be extended.

  22. Hi, Rafi

    If Trump wants to build a Trump Tower or Resort on the Sea Front great. He should lease the land for 99 years.

    I’m not a legal expert, so I don’t know much about 99 year leases — except that Britain had such on Hong Kong and relinquished it around 1997. I do know about the 49/50-yr. lease mentioned in Torah, as the proper form of land transaction in Israel.

  23. Israel had many claims to Gaza or parts of Gaza. Jews bought land in the 1930s on which they built three (3) Kibbutzim in northern Gaza.

    Egypt won it and controlled it from 1948 until 1967 when Israel won it in the 1967 war. They never declared sovereignty over the Strip. They did not ask for it in the peace treaty. It was defacto Israeli land by history but large numbers of Arabs lived on it.

    Israel controlled it until 2005 when it naively left it defacto to the PA. The PA lost it to Hamas in 2007.

    Israel might have claims to it but if one does not assert sovereignty something whether one has rights or claims to something it does not actually own something.

    I think Israel should rid itself of Hamas, allow and facilitate the voluntary emigration of the Gazans. Israel should then claim Gaza and apply Israeli law. If Trump wants to build a Trump Tower or Resort on the Sea Front great. He should lease the land for 99 years.

  24. Peloni, that sounds vague. Who is “Israel”? Who controls the levers, sells land, etc.? Whose tuchas has to be kissed before an Israeli can build a home somewhere?

    I might make it easier here: Who is it, that had the authority to kick 10,000 Jews out of Gush Katif? I’m talking about Jews pushing Jews around. Who’s in charge??

    More specifically, who will sign the transfer deed to President Trump?

  25. Bibi’s enemies have not let up on him for a minute even as he tries to lead the country in time of war. THeir latest shtick is to indict three men who were officials of the Likud political campaign in 2019 for alleged harassment of a witness against Bibi in his never-ending political trials. This is the same witness, another form Likud campaign aide, who says he was physically tortured by the Israeli police in an effort to “: persuade “: him to testify against Netanyahu in his endless criminal trial, Of course none of the police officers who tortured this prospective witness have ever been charged with anything. But just over the past few days the state prosecutor and the judge at Bibi’s never-ending eight-year-long trial, have indicted three of his colleagues in the Likud campaign organization of harassing him in an effort to persuade him not to go through with his torture-extracted testimony. He did in fact go through with his testimony. No one from Likud harmed him afterwards. But now, after forcing Bibi to testify once again in his trial, even though he has just been released from prostate surgery, is suffering from a heart condition, and being harassed in the Knesset chamber, they are continuing their efforts to prevent his supporters from testifying on his behalf in hist rial. That is the obvious motive behind the prosectors’ most recent indictments of the three Likud former campaign officials.

  26. Disengagement Discussed in Depth

    https://jcpa.org/article/the-disengagement-the-unanswered-question/
    Click on link above to read entire long article. Below is a short snippet.

    <

    a href=”https://jcpa.org/article/the-disengagement-the-unanswered-question/”>

    The disengagement and its disappointments have been part of public discourse in Israel for the past decade. Among the topics are: “Hamastan”; the nine thousand uprooted settlers; the 11,600 rockets fired at Israel and the eight military operations which followed. Nevertheless, an essential question remains unanswered: did Prime Minister Ariel Sharon implement this plan because he genuinely believed in it or were his motives based upon self-interest? Was his real aim to extricate himself from the criminal investigations against him? There are several schools of thought which have attempted to explain what ultimately led the prime minister to make this crucial decision. On the one hand, some, such as Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, believe that Sharon was motivated by “external considerations and personal distress,” and former Member of Knesset Zvi Hendel still contends that it was the investigations that led to the evacuation of the Gaza Strip. On the other hand, Dov Weisglass [occasionally spelled “Weissglass”], director of Sharon’s office, and Eyal Arad, Sharon’s strategic adviser, argue that such allegations are baseless and false. The purpose of this article is to present and review the opposing perspectives regarding the motivation for Sharon’s decision. Based on the available evidence, the author concludes that it is not possible to offer a definitive and unequivocal answer.

  27. @Raphael, Sharon’s sons and him were in the middle of a scandal about land overseas. The paper’s were hounding him and he legal problems. His lawyer was confidant and was always taking trips to the White House on his behalf.

    His lawyer told him he could change the subject and get the glare off of him coming up with this plan, they he would get George Bush to endorse.

    The whole thing is discussed here in great detail and opposing theories also.

    https://jcpa.org/article/the-disengagement-the-unanswered-question/

    Sharon had gotten old and mentally weak.

    I posted a link in the comment above to a long article on the subject.

  28. I was just having some random thoughts about Gaza this morning. I remember 2005 when Sharon decided to completely pull out of the strip. It was a great upheaval to many Israeli lives, and in those 20 years since, we have had thousands of deaths. Up until that time, I respected Sharon, but all that evaporated with his decision. It’s still hard for me to believe that Sharon could make such a stupid decision. Does anyone have insights on that? Was he pressured by someone?

  29. I just saw on A7 that HAMAS, still strong id collecting taxes onn all food and other items entering Gaza.
    Hamas, supposedly being mostly destroyed, is being Hamas.

    Another shocker is that TRUMP, is actually meaning that when he says he’ll own Gaza, he means physically owns the land through purchase.

    How can he buy a part of Israel, which belongs to the whole Jewish People. The Sovereignty Movement should be heard from anytime now.

    I hope this plan falls on it’s tochas, never again to be mentioned.

    Gaza SHOULD be developed , yes, as I’ve envisaged for a long time, but for the benefit of the Jewish People alone, and whoever they bring in as profit sharing partners.

    But the LAND itself should never be alienated

  30. ‘The Golden Girls’ joked about ‘giving the Palestinians Greenland,’ 40 years before Trump’s gambit…The scene is not the only piece of popular comedy to have anticipated Trump’s proposals. As the Forward noted earlier this week, the very first episode of “Saturday Night Live,” which turns 50 this year, included a sketch in which Israel and the state of Georgia announce that they will swap places.

    https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-841174

  31. I had no idea that Trump had Riviera visions for Gaza.

    I just now read his mention of it.

    I floated the concept several times in the past couple of years, along with preserving tunnels as huge tourist attractions.

  32. Michael-

    { feel that the Gaza Strip will eventually become another Riviera, maybe the not so grand Caesarea, but radically different from what it was.

    The remaining tunnels and perhaps some re-habilitated ones will be a huge Tourist Attraction……

    If they do thia it will be a HUGE Money spinner.

  33. @peloni

    The original URL:

    https://www.israpundit.org/how-many-shekels-will-it-take-to-sell-out-israel-the-perennial-?suffering-servant-of-g_d-throughout-the-ages-now-in-gaza/

    The changed URL (after I copy and paste it and press enter):

    https://www.israpundit.org/how-many-shekels-will-it-take-to-sell-out-israel-the-perennial-%E2%80%8Esuffering-servant-of-g_d-throughout-the-ages-now-in-gaza/

    I press enter –
    Page not found (404)

    If I remove the string right in the tab and press enter again, it works.

  34. @Reader

    Could you. please. take care of this, it is extremely annoying.

    When you copy something from a word file to post here, and you see question marks appearing which didn’t appear previously, it is because some form of script is being copied from the Word file which our system does not recognize.

    I raised this point previously regarding the disappearing posts which were riddled with question marks. I also addressed this in the email which I sent to you, which you explained you didn’t care to pursue due to privacy issues.

    In any event, no, I can’t change this as it involves factors well beyond Israpundit.