mentalblog.com: August 2006

Mafia, Corruption, Israel

Haaretz: 'Police chief's appointment was part of deal with crime family'
Haaretz: Friends in high places

Chmelnitzky ala surrealism

Can you make this up; a shliach tells a mayor of Chmelnitzky, a goy to pray on Besht's kever.

The Rabbi and shliach to Chmielnitsky, Rabbi Yehoshua Raskin, who went to greet and blessed the newly elected mayor, Mr. Sergey Melnik for his new post, took this opportunity to explain to the mayor the significance of the month of Elul, granting him a shofar with a blessing inscribed on it. The mayor, who attributes his success in attaining this post to the fact that he prayed at the Tziyon of the Baal Shemtov in Mezibuz (re the advice of Rabbi Raskin)expressed his intention to return to the Tziyon to thank the Baal Shemtov.

Meanwhile in Israel, My Obiter Dicta: Bogdan (Yok!)

The Telethoner, the curator of the Berke Gourary Memorial Library "Halavan", Tzadik from Leningrad and distinguished representatives stare at a woman who has been crudely photoshopped out of the picture. R. Aharonov is pointing to the mysterious woman to stand next to the goy. Free books now, so they can censor history, reality and all the pages they don't like. (COL)

The same lady with a cigarette and a ring one every finger talking to Tzadik from Leningrad.

Hashgacha Bobabillis

Frummer?????: Hashgacha Bobabillis:

Among us frummers there is sometimes a tendency to embrace such stories and present them as proof of G-ds existence, especially to our children. In my eyes that is a very dangerous thing, for in our wondrous retelling of the astonishing Hasgocho which presented itself in the amazing rescue or unbelievable outcome there is that faint suggestion that that very same Hasgocho is missing when the ending is not a positive one. That concept is not only na�ve and simplistic but it verges on the heretical.

Right brain in the balance of time

On the subject of mentalblog.com: The breakout dancer Sir Ken Robinson.
Wired: Revenge of the Right Brain:

"Logical and precise, left-brain thinking gave us the Information Age. Now comes the Conceptual Age - ruled by artistry, empathy, and emotion."

Presentation Zen: From design to meaning: a whole new way of presenting?

Av Ba'al HaTanya in Selush

Binyomin emails:

The kever on the right (as you are looking at the photo)[click to enlarge] belongs to the Alter Rebbe's father, Boruch. His name appears as Boruch ben Avrohom on the stone because he would not identify himself to the townspeople of Selush even until the very end so the chevra kadisha had no choice but to use "ben Avrohom". The Hebrew date appears to correspond with the English date of: 1851. I believe his son, the Alter Rebbe, passed away in 1867.

[TA: Alter Rebbe passed away in 1812, he was 67, in 1851 his father could have been at least 120? (1851-1812=39, 39+67+14?=120!? What year is tishrei tof,kuf,nun,beis again? I think the corresponding date of R. Boruch's passing is actually 1791. (I checked here) It makes more sense then.]

The stone on the left belongs to one Moshe Berliner, a relative from my wife's side of the family. As I understand, he was a very pious and respected resident of Selush and when he passed away (apparently in 1933 according to the date on the stone) he was buried in the plot next to the one occupied by "Boruch ben Avrohom" which had been kept vacant and reserved for only a most deserving individual. According to what my mother-in-law tells me, every Lag B'Omer the Jewish children of Selush would visit Boruch ben Avrohom's kever. They werne't entirely sure at the time why they did this but they understood it was because he was a very holy man.

Binyomin commenting to the mentalblog.com: Rabbi Moshe the son of RASHAZ Caught in the Thicket:

Selush AKA Vinogradov

The town of Selush (it means "grapes" in the Czech language) bordered the Tokay region of Hungary (also known for its grapes). This is where the Alter Rebbe's father Boruch is buried. Once while visiting a relative of my wife's in Teaneck I noticed a book published by Selush survivors after the war commemorating the Jewish community which was no longer, and in the book was reproduced a photo of the kever of the Alter Rebbe's father, Boruch. What caught my eye initially was the caption which read in part ..."av Ba'al HaTanya". My mother-in-law, a Selush survivor, told me that on Lag B'Omer it was customary for the town's children to visit the kever. BTW, before the war Selush was in Czechoslovakia, now its part of the Ukraine.

Protest in the Rose Garden

Ari Shavit, Haaretz, Protest in the Rose Garden. (via Out of Step Jew)

Exile mythology in the time of Tsar Alexander I

Franz Kruger. Equestrian portrait of Alexander I of Russia in the War Gallery of the Winter Palace (1812).

On the subject of mentalblog.com: Rabbi Moshe the son of RASHAZ Caught in the Thicket. There is bit of additional symmetry or synchronicity if you wish. Tzar Alexander I of Russia who allegedly told Graf Galitzin how to handle R. Moshe had this as final chapter of his life:

The unexpected death of the Emperor of Russia (1825. This was the Tsar that beat Napoleon) far from the capital caused persistent rumors that his death and funeral were staged, while the emperor allegedly renounced the crown and retired to spend the rest of his life in solitude. It was rumored that a "soldier" was buried as Alexander, or that the grave was empty, or that a British ambassador at the Russian court said he had seen Alexander boarding a ship. Some claimed that the former emperor had become a monk in either Pochaev Lavra or Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra or elsewhere. Many people, including some historians, supposed that a mysterious hermit Feodor Kuzmich (or Kozmich) who emerged in Siberia in 1836 and died in the vicinity of Tomsk in 1864, was in fact Alexander I under an assumed identity. While there are testimonies that "Feodor Kozmich" in his earlier life might have belonged to a higher society, his identity as Alexander I was never established beyond the reasonable doubt.

Rabbi Moshe the son of RASHAZ Caught in the Thicket

Chapter one of the book, 88 pages. After a general introduction David Assaf narrates the Story Rabbi Moshe the son of RASHAZ based on the available archival materials, a breathtakingly interesting detective work. Naturally not all questions remain answered but what emerges is picture of R. Moshe who was not all together since he was a teen. There is a reference that he was taken to doctors by the Alter Rebbe himself. It is also important to note that the actual �conversion� was in 1820 while Alter Rebbe passed away in 1812.

What emerges from the narrative is R. Moshe who vacillated between functionality and confusion (anyone who was around people with mental illness can attest to this pattern). At time R. Moshe was functional as Rov in Ula and father of his children at times his confusion led him to the strange acts, like the conversion by the catholic priest Josapaht Siodlowski in the Belarusian town Beshenkovitch.

Assaf tells about pivotal moments that he discovered in the archives. R. Moshe attempted (without his family) to join the caravan of his brothers and Alter Rebbe in winter of 1812 when they were fleeing Napoleon�s army. He was arrested by the French in Shklov, the French interrogated him and after concluding that he was a spy, they sentenced him to death. The French then understood that he "was not all there" and let him go. Assaf speculates that the event could have unhinged R. Moshe to the worst. But there were still 8 years till the actual apostasy.

Catholic church of Holy Trinity in Ula, Belarus. Photo by Alex Zelenko. Taken May 28, 2006.

Assaf speculates about a Russian officer named Alexander Puzhanov who was hosted and might have had a grudge against R. Moshes in-law family in Ula. Podpolkovnick Puzhanov knew that R. Moshe was unbalanced and he decided to get even with the family by talking R. Moshe into the actual conversion (the details in the book).

After the war the Schneersons moved to Lubavitch. R. Moshe was with his brothers there even after the incident and his family made valiant attempts to protect him from Christians who now claimed his soul. This didn't prevent R. Moshe from writing from Lubavitch that he would rather be a Russian Orthodox than Catholic.

Assaf describes serious question that were raised about his conversion. R. Moshe assumed a name of Leon Yulevitch upon the conversion; a different name Peyotr Alexanrovitch was actually recorder in the conversion records. There we inconsistencies with witness and most importantly the fact that R. Moshe was not of "clear mind" would have nullified the conversion.

To resolve this R. Moshe was summoned to St. Petersburg by Graf Alexander Golitzin in order to be examined by doctors. As is evidenced by Galitzin's correspondence he was in consultations with Tsar Alexander I (too many Alexander's around this story ;-). During deliberation R. Moshe was prevented from contacts with Jews, he was hosted in a private house and was allowed to converse with Johannes Gossner a German catholic mystic who recently move d to St. Petersburg. It is during this period that R. Moshe suffered a breakdown and was placed in Obuhovskaya clinic. Assaf speculates that he died shortly thereafter but his traces disappear at this point (contrary to what was written in the Forward review that he for sure died in the Hospital). This is in a "nutshell" is Assaf's narrative.

Assaf then proceeds to analyze every article related to this story. Based on the archival documents now discovered and presented, Assaf essentially takes down all the Maskilim versions. Including
A letter from Ytzchok Ber Levinzon to Yoseph Perl
History of Hasidim by Moshe Berlin
Comments by Peretz Smolenskin
Comments by Pesach Ruderman
Avrohom Ber Gotlober
Efraim Deiner
Yhosua George Lazarus (A Jew from Riga who converted to Anglican faith in England)
Professor Bonavetura Mayer from Vienna (once again a Jewish convert).

Assaf concludes by looking at all Chabad related sources. Shimon Dubnov wrote a history of Chasidim. He corresponded about R. Moshe with R. Shmaray Schneerson of Warsaw. R. Shmaray Schneerson essentially asks Dubnov to avoid the subject but he tells him about his yechidus and conversation about R. Moshe with R. Maharash.

A Russian Jewish historian Shaul Ginzburg wrote an article about this subject in 1931 in the NY Yiddish newspaper Zkukumft. In the article he quotes letters from Chabadnick Zvi Heikin (1876) as a first documented version of the Lubavitcher agaddta about mysterious wondered who was seen in Ukraine, in Ostropol and Fastov who revealed his identity before he died as R. Moshe ben Schneur Zalman of Liadi. This is the earliest source later repeated by R. Maharch and yet later "spun" into the current official version by Rayatz. Assaf traces this version to what was published by above mentioned Avrohom Ber Gotlober (Prof. Assaf there is a date typo in the book here on page 83!)). Gotlober's story (a Chabad BT at some point in his life) is the first documented mention of R. Moshe's golus.

Assaf concludes the chapter by unceremoniously taking apart what was said or written about this parsha by Rayatz. Alas Assaf admits that because there is no archival evidence about R. Moshe's death in the hospital technically there is a room for the Golus version or even for the version presented by some of the Maskilim that R. Moshe was a clerk in a government office in St. Petersburg. But unfortunately Rayatz not only used extreme creative hyperbola when speaking about this, he also changed the key facts in his own versions of the event.

In 1922 Rayatz wrote a letter to one of the descendants of Zvi Heikin. In the letter there is R. Moshe's dispute with Christian Theologians (a first mention of this by anybody). R. Moshe is then imprisoned, his cellmate suddenly dies and in the confusion R. Moshe escapes to go in the above mentioned Golus in Volyn area.

In 1942 Rayatz wrote a letter to a Schneerson family member who lived in Montreal. Here R. Moshe is lead by decree to a disputation to occur in Vladimir. The guards that accompany him fall asleep and R. Moshe escapes, and of course the date of the escape is 19 of Kislev! R. Moshe arrives to Orel. In Orel R. Moshe stayed with R. Moshe Leib Yakobson (I, T.A. wonder if this is a tribute to R. Jacobson who saved Rayatz from Warshaw, the date of the letter is 1942! Do people know if there is a relation?). R. Moshe then goes to the Golus in Volyn. Assaf points out the Geography and the correlation with the Alter Rebbe himself (besides Yat kislev). The two towns mention by Rayatz Vladimir and Orel where on Alter Rebbe�s itinerary when he run from Napoleon.

I will stop here. There is infinitely more in the book. I have other things I want to say particularly about Assaf's tone when he writes about Rayatz and the fascinating facts about Professor Fishel Schneerson's version of the event, about the Vilner Gaon's Herem and about Alter Rebbe's father R. Boruch.

UPDATE No. 1: A writer by the name A. Litvin brought up additional details about R. Moshe, he also told the following story in the name of Professor Fishel Schneerson ( see mentalblog.com: Dr. Fishel Schneerson).

Dr. Schneerson said that in the family they refrained from talking about this subject. But he remembers that there was a big fight between Alter Rebbe and Rabbi Boruch from Mezhibozh the grandson of Baal Shem Tov. It all started from the complaint by Rabbi Boruch that Rashaz was collecting money in R. Boruch's territory. Rabbi Boruch demanded some respect as was proper towards a person who put on Baal Shem's Tefilin that he inherited from his grandfather. Alter Rebbe answered that he should check the tefillin might be posul. Indeed after the bedika they discovered that the Yud was erased on Shel Rosh. R. Boruch was so enraged that he cursed Razash saying ihr hot zugenumen a yud fun meiner tefillin, ich vell derfar zunemen a yud fun ayere kinder. As one of you children will lose his mind. Dr. Fishel Schneerson says that the Rebbes of Galizia and Volyn refrained to from marring Schneersons because of this psul in the family.

Now this story has morphed dramatically through the pen of Rayatz (divrei ha yomim page zadik hes): After Herem that was brought upon Chassidim in Vilna (Assaf writes that there is no evidence of the Herem) 10 students of Magid came to discuss course of action. They decided to bring a Herem on the Vilner Gaon and two of them came to Alter Rebbe asking him to join them in the Herem. Alter Rebbe had R. Moshe who was 3 years olds at the time next to him and he refused to join in the Herem. Alter Rebbes refusal to join brought about the curse from the Magids talmidim and R. Moshe suffered as result. As the Herem causes a person to lose his mind.

One can see as the original story that was about funds morphed into the fight with misnagdim and the high principals, yet the curse of the Peilisher and R. Moshe�s fate remained in this story.

Update No. 2: Assaf doesn't mention this but there is certain symmetry between Reb Levik and the Alter Rebbe. Both had three sons. One became a Rebbe and one lost his mind and died in a mental hospital (in case of Reb Levik one also converted to Trotskyism).

But Assaf does write about the other symmetry. R. Yekusiel Yehuda Greenvald wrote a book about Toldos Chasidus in Hungary published in 1921. This story evidently is confirmed (embellished) in Chabad sources by R. Hayim Meir Heimlin who wrote about this in Beis Rabbi. Greenvald wrote that R. Boruch, the father of Rashaz opposed the new way of his son and left as far as possible to the place where Chasidus were still unknown, to Hungary. He left to be Melamed in Munkatch and then to Selush where he died. Only before he passed away he revealed his identity. Assaf writes about the mythological symmetry with father and son. R. Moshe also only revealed his identity before his death and was a wondering Jew just like R. Boruch.

UPDATE No. 3: Finally Professor David Assaf would have scored more points if he wrote more respectfully about Rayatz. His style of taking apart Rayatz as if he was a student writing a term paper should have been moderated in a more respectful tone.

Yes Rayatz used creative hyperbola that has logical holes in it. I.e. why did R. Moshe had to go into Golus if he done nothing wrong, could have escaped to Eretz Isroyel with his family for example? Rayatz certainly did not know all the details of the original story as his dates of the events are wrong. But Rayatz task was to craft history that was fitting for people who knew nothing or knew something and he succeed in this task. Rayatz was in the midst of the war, assimilation, etc. He felt he needed to spin, perhaps he should not have to. This does not reflect well on his voluminous historical recollections. But it is also very much in the Jewish tradition as the Talmud is full of the embellished agaddta.

Previous posts:
mentalblog.com: Caught in the Thicket of Haaretz
mentalblog.com: Caught in the Thicket of Forward
mentalblog.com: Caught in the Thicket by David Assaf

Follow-up posts:
mentalblog.com: Exile mythology in the time of Tsar Alexander I
mentalblog.com: Av Ba'al HaTanya in Selush

Caught in the Thicket of Haaretz

Rabbi Yitzhok Nahum Twersky of Shpikov

Once again on the subject of mentalblog.com: Caught in the Thicket by David Assaf. Admiel Kosman's review in today's Ha'aretz.(Ivrit)

Elul greetings

May you all be inscribed into the G-d's blog for the next year. May we hear good posts only.

Ross Lovegrove on TED Talks

TED Talks: Ross Lovegrove.

Tom Friedman today on Imus

WFAN Audio. Listen to the 15 minutes into the interview, the Warren Buffett comment. Let me know what you think.

Where are the Vessels?

Seforim: Where are the Temple Vessels?
Seforim: Controversial Book on the Development of the Siddur.
Menachem Mendel: Jews and Tyre, Lebanon V.

Caught in the Thicket of Forward

On the subject of mentalblog.com: Caught in the Thicket by David Assaf. A friend of mine brought me a copy from the Shazar Center in Jerusalem. And now there is this review in Forward: New Book Reveals Darker Chapters In Hasidic History.

According to reliable sources, who insist on anonymity, several tri-state area dealers of Orthodox books, as well as a few in major Canadian and European cities, are stocking limited copies of Assaf�s explosive book �under the counter� � selling them only to their trusted elite clientele, contingent on a strict promise that the transaction remains a secret.

and

As is so often the case with controversial literature, those who claim to be most offended are usually the ones buying, reading and simultaneously trying to repress the books in question. Indeed, raucous exchanges about Assaf�s work have sprouted on a variety of Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Internet sites and blogs, in both Hebrew and English. The interlocutors on these blogs include some distinguished Hasidic scholars and librarians [I guess this is Levin, Schneur, perhaps Mondshine?], as well as average readers [this is the rest of us mortals]. The complaints range from the rude (�Assaf�s book is like a fart in a cowshed: barely noticed and soon forgotten�[Baruch�s unfortunate comment]) to the ridiculous (�Look how low Merkaz Zalman Shazar [Assaf�s publisher], named for the President of Israel who was himself a Hasid of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, has fallen�)[I think Tzig said this on his blog.]. But the most common critique is an ad hominem attack on Assaf�s personal integrity and level of religious commitment. �For those people like David Assaf, the things we call Yiddishkayt he has no understanding of because he is not a frummer yid,�[Kopust wrote this] one commenter wrote on Mentalblog.com.[sorry it is mentalblog.com not Mentalblog.com] Or, as another more succinct writer, who happens to be a respected Hasidic librarian, put it, �[Assaf] is a vile creature blinded by hate.�[not Schneur, he doesn�t write like that. He is more rational. berl, crown heights is now a "respected Hasidic librarian!" LOL] So, what�s all the fuss about?

P. S. A note to professor Allan Nadler, sorry, this is not a "Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) blog".

UPDATE: mentalblog.com: Rabbi Moshe the son of RASHAZ Caught in the Thicket.

When a single death becomes a collective symbol

Lisa, On the Face: A friend who is married to a well-known Israeli literary figure phoned me mid-morning on August 13...

Boston - reservation for morons?

I do not know if there is a place of the face of the earth so densely populated by dim morons, thick liars without imagination.

Blogging for Dollars

Business 2.0: Blogging for Dollars.

To Breslavers who ask me to go to Uman

This is to online and offline invitations go to Uman. At this juncture in my life I value real human interaction. I do not care for s�ances with mythological figures. I do not care for socializing with Taliban Sephardim or mantra chanters. I do not want chat with people on this or other blogs. More importantly even among "refined" Breslavers I have found that preaching mode is a substitute to honest talk. I find that Breslavers I know are terrible communicators. They speak in short bursts and exclamation points and are unable to sustain discourse or even a basic conversation. Attention spans of a mosquito. In Uman times thousands. Teenagers who grew up on Sex Pistols looking constipated pretending to enjoy Debussy cantata.

Hezbollah's Thermobaric Arsenal

Defense Tech: Hezbollah`s Thermobaric Arsenal.

Grisha Perelman thinks ahead

Grisha Perelman proves that education is Russia is all wrong. He solves one of history's toughest math problems and refuses a million dollar prize.

Telegraph: World's top maths genius jobless and living with mother.
MathWorld News: Poincar Conjecture Proved--This Time for Real.
Guardian.co.uk: Maverick genius turns down maths 'Nobel'

On the Face North

Lisa, On the Face: Welcome to the shooting gallery.

Emanuel Morano's legacy

Caroline Glick, Jerusalem Post: Our World: Emanuel Morano's legacy.

Lessons from Carthage

Ynetnews, Elyakim Haetzni: Lessons from Carthage:

Carthage was an empire that ruled from Libya in North Africa to Sicilia to Sardinia to parts of Spain. It was the center of world finance.

TURNER, Joseph Mallord William, The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire, 1817, Oil on canvas, 170 x 239 cm, Tate Gallery, London.

soldier my soldier

AP - Sebastian Scheiner

The title Soldier My Soldier by Yosef Y. Jacobson might be because the Algemeiner Admur is still obsessed with the Walt Whitman poem (mentalblog.com: O Captain! My Captain!) As is Simon evidently: Israel Oh Israel. But Chabad and meshichisten that went to Gaza last year to fight the disengagement have the heart and the truth on their side. Lubavitcher middle managers that tried to silence the anti disengagement Meshichisten are the new Misnagdim. The old Misnagdim like Gil are simply evil geeks.

AP - David Guttenfelde

Lebanese Ali Hassan Issa reacts after he came to inspect his relatives' house and found Hebrew writing on the walls, in the town of Maroun al-Ras, southern Lebanon, Sunday, Aug. 20, 2006. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

August 22 in Israel is Tuesday, not Doomsday

Michael J. Totten: Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Dish: August 22: Tuesday, Not Doomsday.

It Begins

My Obiter Dicta: It Begins:

"I don't know if a revolution is underway in Israel. If so, it's a pretty unique one. If the corrupt, self-indulgent elites fall it will not be because their values are rejected. It will be because their post-modern, supercilious, fun-loving world has no values (except self-indulgence, moral relativism and the rights of the Arabs to destroy the Jewish State). It will because in their narcissism, they have abandoned 99% of the country (literally and figuratively)"

TEXT: Protest petition by Fighters and officers of the Spearhead Brigade

Haaretz: TEXT: Protest petition by IDF reservists back from the war.

The culture of misnagdim

AFP - Yoav Lemmer

Despise the fact that Gil Student is singing about us being brothers, it is patently clear how little in common I and millions other Jews have with his brand of geek Judaism. The man can write some creationist abstractions post after post but here and now the lives of Jews leave him cold. Scarp that religion. Scar that worldview. This is Lakewood, this is Baltimore this is the culture of all of the misnagdim. At least NK has an emotional position on the matter. To say that G-d had this casuistic vision devoid of beauty as the formula for the religion is to void ourselves of humanity and the life itself. They don�s care for the dead because they are already dead inside.

P.S. During the war I took Yudel Shine off my blogroll. A Satmar? resident of Lakewood. Not a word about the war, yet the man can speak for hours about Rubashkin cows! This simply could not be what G-d had in mind. Even if that was exactly what G-d had in mind I do not want any part of it.

The vicodin song

Ms. Naomi is lit up!

Totalitarian structures and podia

OK, first subtitles to the picture. This just happens to be a Lubavitcher gathering but I can assure you all Hareidi gatherings look like carbon copies. So let's ponder this photo as an example. Obviously there is us front and above versus them the people. This distinction is very important to the Hareidi gatherings. You will find other cultures that accommodate this arrangement but you will never find a theater where symbolic distinction of us and them is so pronounced. Second rather comical attribute is a big banner on the back to announce the event. Right, as if everyone present didn't know why they came there. Obviously most Hareidim are secret media whores, they need the banner for the photos that are more important than the event itself. I suspect that the recent roots of this "art form" are in the totalitarian structures of Europe.

Now let's backtrack few thousand years. This is how Greeks understood theater. Makes sense actually provided that there are more people in the audience compared to the stage, an entirely not given fact for the Hareidi gatherings. You can see why democracy came out of Greece. The drama of mortal gods is but the service of people. This was also the problem Korach had with the elevation of Moshe and for what it's worth Alter Rebbe sided decidedly with Korach, but we digress. The world of Hareidim has no future till they allow bores and lackeys to occupy the artificially elevated ground. From the depths we cry out to you!

The lessons of Lebanon - II

Jerusalem Post: The lessons of Lebanon - II by Lenny Ben-David. Via My Obiter Dicta: Inspiring Mesirut Nefesh in Lebanon.
Ynetnews: Officer: IDF conceptually failed in the last six years.

Joshua Prince Ramus at TED redux

The promised comment on Joshua Prince Ramus at TED. What I found intriguing about this presentation is that unspoken subtext is as significant as the presentation itself.

The elephant in the room is that none of the three projects presented by Joshua Prince Ramus are �his� projects. They are all signature projects of Rem Koolhaas and his Rotterdam based Office of Metropolitan Architecture. True Joshua Prince Ramus is from Seattle and it his mother told Joshua to come back to Seattle from Rotterdam where he was working for his mentor to sign up for the competition. But it was Rem Koolhaas who took the library board on a tour of his buildings in London and Rotterdam that convinced the board to award the commission to OMA. Joshua Prince Ramus eventually headed OMA office in USA and perhaps he and his team did the bulk of the design work but all three projects have the signature of Rem Koolhaas� shop. You see Rotterdam unlike Amsterdam was completely bombed by Germans in WWII. And it is out of this devastation grew Rem�s non contextual style of objects. What you see in this presentation is Joshua Prince Ramus breaking away from Rem. Hence his opening volley about �no signature, no authorship, no master architect�. Joshua Prince Ramus has been heavily promoted by Ted who is himself a former architect and the subtext of course is that Joshua Prince Ramus is the �new master architect�. But going through the entire presentation and not once mentioning Rem Koolhaas is getting away with murder.

The �hyper rational� philosophy is undigested. He says that modernist spaces serve multiple purposed and the paradigm shift library for example only attempts to create flexible subspaces. I do not understand this, how for example the parking garage for books with its slope can serve any other function? It also contradicts with the Dallas Performing Arts center that is all about flexibility. Incidentally I am very skeptical about the flexibility of the theater and it looks �power pointy�.

Joshua Prince shows the slide of a balcony in the library where he proposed to his wife and took her name Ramus as his second name. In some way this obfuscates the fact that significant part of the library interiors were designed by Rem Koolhaas� open mistress who works in OMA in Rotterdam while Rem�s wife and kids live in London.

Joshua leads you to believe that the developers in Louisville decided to create a performance art center as a way of attracting people to the area while it is patently obvious that the performance art center is but the base to the residential and office towers that are the project. Once again no mention of Rem Koolhaas who has lived and designed in flood areas of Holland all his life.

Design of new China Central TV headquarters by Rem Koolhaas. Rings a bell Joshua?

Drama and Change

One aspect of the past month that is truly amazing is the speed of the dramatic change. One might argue that we are where we started. Perhaps but the tsunami that swept the Israeli politics is as dramatic as the events themselves.

First Sharon and his legacy, the hero who at the end of his life morphed into a fat Russian Jewish grandmother, yearned for approval, recognition and surrounded himself with the weakest members of his party. His legacy is purged ranks of the army command and political wobblers that led Israel to its worst military defeat.

Equally amazing is the dramatic speed of the political change. The unbeatable party Kadima that was destined to unparalleled support of the electorate and politicians around the globe is collapsing under the weight of its lies, AKA Sharon legacy. The leaders that just months ago were going to map the course of the civilization of Jews are now reduced to fleeting shadows.

Ynetnews: Netanyahu, Barak biding their time.

Antitank missile systems of the Lebanon war

Meet Arkady Shipunov:

Designer General and Head of the KBP Instrument Design Bureau, in Tula Russia. Man of the year 2005 in Russia. Arkady Shipunov is to precision guided Russian missiles what Bill Gates is to Windows. KBP is allegedly state owned. The most advanced cutting edge weapons systems are designed in KBP in Tula (shipunov.com) including antitank laser guided METIS-M and KORNET-E that devastated Israeli advances in South Lebanon. The missiles proved to be effective against tanks and precision hits on buildings. (The Jamestown Foundation: Hezbollah's Creative Tactical Use of Anti-Tank Weaponry. and Haaretz: Israel to Moscow: Hezbollah used Russian-made missiles against IDF.)

METIS-M. After first warhead penetrates the armor, the second thermobaric warhead creates a devastating fireball.

KORNET-E. The sale of KOPRNET to Syria and Iran was the cause of the American sanctions in 2003. It is believed that Iraq smuggled KORNETS from Syria. The KORNET missiles destroyed several Abrams tanks and Bradley Vehicles in the first days of war with Iraq. KPB continues to deny all accusations.

Recently KBP signed a half a billion dollar deal to supply Air Defense Missile System with Optical Armament Control System Pantsir-S1-O to UAE.

HNN: Weapons confiscated from Hizbollah. We live in a flat world. The wars will be won on technological advantage. There is nothing that can prevent the oil dollars from purchasing the advantage.

AJHistory is history

AJHistory by Menachem Butler: Farewell: My Final AJHistory Post.

Haaretz does journalism

OK, Haaretz supposed to be a leftie rag, yes we know they sold out to some Germans, etc. But the fact of the matter is that in the days of the war they provided a forum for top line, no punches pulled outstanding journalism. They continue to maintain this level after the war. Nothing is even close. The Jerusalem Post has lost its beat. Ari Shavit, Amos Harel and many others at Haaretz have given us stuff to think about, just how it supposed to be.

Haaretz: Death to Yuppiestan, or, Nasrallah was right.
Haaretz: Israel to Moscow: Hezbollah used Russian-made missiles against IDF.
Haaretz: Class war in the IDF.
Haaretz: Three terrible days.
Haaretz: Get set for elections.
Haaretz: Reservists: Officers stopped us attending protest against war.
Haaretz: IDF brass angered by phone logs check.

Media turns on Olmert

Haaretz: Ari Shavit: Dead man walking.
Haaretz: Ari Shavit and Jonathan Lis: Comptroller to question Olmert and wife on alleged benefits in apartment deal.

They should be questioning the seller of the house if someone paid on Olmert's behalf. This story does not make sense or incomplete. If the house was sold below the market than this is the business between the seller and the buyer and does not mean Olmert got any cash.

From suburb to kibbutz

The Boston Globe: From suburb to kibbutz.

On the kibbutz, Abramowitz plans to continue writing for his organization and updating his blog, www.peoplehood.org.

Yawn, yet another cookie cutter American 'social justice' worshiper is coming your way Israel. Not once did I hear about his organization in Boston. Some CJP supported gig?

Resentment Matters

Out of Step Jew: There has been much talk over the amount of combat deaths coming from the religious Zionist community and the kibbutzim. There have also been a very large amount of deaths from the Russian/Ukrainian communities.

"There has always (rightly) been resentment 'against' the ultra-Orthodox and their lack of a contribution to the defense of their country, but lately that resentment has also been quietly growing towards the "tzfonim" (literally �'northerners' � but the word refers to the left-wing, wealthy, secular, white-Ashkenazi residents of north Tel-Aviv and its northern suburbs)."

Ynetnews: IDF official criticizes Tel Avivians.
Jerusalem Post: Stern: IDF enlistment goes by sector.

War Over - Lies Exposed

Give credit to Sharvul. His prophetic post in the beginning of the war has been more accurate than most were prepared to believe. Nafka Mina: War Over - Lies Exposed.