ANARCHO COMMUNISM LOGICAL CONCLUSION OF JEWISH LAW

Seeing the problems of Judaism with all my four eyes fixed and focused, I am not disheartened. Neither will I throw away the proverbial baby with the cliché bath water.

I know there is a God. My faith is in Humanity. That faith remains unshakeable.

The religion requires revision (in the sense of seeing it with new eyes), rehabilitation, restoration return to the Source, rekindling and rededication. That does not mean it should be trashed.

I wish I could discuss more examples with a general readership, but they pre-require intimate knowledge of the intricacies of Jewish Law.

This example is clear to all:

TRACTATE AVOT (PIRKEI AVOT, ETHICS OF THE FATHERS), Chapter V, Quotation 10 can be translated thus:

"There are four character types among people: S/He who says: "What is mine is yours and what is yours is mine", is an ignoramus; [s/he who says] "What is mine is mine and what is yours is yours" – this is the median characteristic; and some say that this is the characteristic of the people of Sodom; [s/he who says] "What is mine is yours and what is yours is yours" is a pious and benevolent person; [s/he who says] "What is yours is mine and what is mine is mine" is a wicked person."

Let's consider two points in the above paragraph. First, is it true that one who says" "What is mine is yours and what is yours is mine" is an ignoramus? Usually when one fluffs someone off as "an ignoramus", one knows that the person who holds the position has something important to say and doesn't want you to hear it. We may always suspect the motives of someone who calls another and "ignoramus" and presents another's position in their stead.

Second, let's consider how the quote defines a pious and benevolent person. S/He is someone who says "what is mine is yours and what is yours is yours". If the process of give and take stops with one person, then the possibility of private property might continue to exist. All proprietary entitlement transfers to the receiver, the pious and benevolent person having abnegated his or hers.

However, if the pious and benevolent person gives to someone who is likewise pious and benevolent, that person will say: "No! What is mine is yours and what is yours is yours!" In such a situation BOTH (or in the case of more than two people, all) have abnegated their rights to their property mutually, and in so doing have negated the concept of private property entirely.

The laws of commercial interaction called for in Judaism then, if we wish to be what our ideals hope for, leave us no recourse but the abolition of private property.

Anarcho-Communism, then, is the conclusion of Jewish Law taken to its logical last step.

I am NOT speaking of Marxist Communism, which is nothing other than State-owned property, as those of you who know my position are aware.

I am speaking, rather, in terms of Kropotkinian Anarcho-Communism – the utter abolition of property and currency. This is the only system of Anarchism that will allow for us to keep the Laws of Torah as they are written and as they are intended.

The intermediate forms of Anarchy, generally known as "Mutualism" and "Collectivism" will not fulfill the needs of the Jewish people, for they still retain either some degree private ownership of property or collective ownership of capital.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com

PRIVATE PROPERTY - TRACTATE AVOT (PIRKEI AVOT, ETHICS OF THE FATHERS) Chapter V, Mishna 10

An interlocutor wrote me in response to my contention that to take part in banking, such as it exists today, is to partake in a Avayra (a transgression of Torah):

"Doreen:

I agree that the Israeli bank system is more than corrupt, and the choice of an American banker to be at top of it did not help at all...

But I have to inform you that our sages already 2000 years ago were aware that without interest no economy works and installed the Heter Iska (a Rabbinical injunction that purports to allow a transaction that the Torah forbids), which circumvents the biblical law.

So if you believe an alternative form of a bank may be of help - I don't
argue about that.

But saying making an Aveyrah?

That's as selling the Chametz (leaven) on Pessach (Passover) or the agricultural produce in a Shmitta year (years when the fields must be left fallow), problem solved since long, reverting to the biblical written
word reinterpreted by Chazal (the Sages), that - yes - that is an Aveyrah!"

I responded:

The very phrase "circumvents the biblical law" rankles.

I have been thinking about what is written here and have seen that it should be considered carefully, because what is written has profound implications for a banking system we Jews can call our own.

"There are four character types among men: He who says: "What is mine is yours and what is yours is mine", is an ignoramus; [he who says] "What is mine is mine and what is yours is yours" – this is the median characteristic; and some say that this is the characteristic of the people of Sodom; [he who says] "What is mine is yours and what is yours is yours" is a pious and benevolent person; [he who says] "What is yours is mine and what is mine is mine" is a wicked person." - TRACTATE AVOT (PIRKEI AVOT) Chapter V, Mishna 10

Let's consider two points in the above paragraph. First, is it true that one who says" "What is mine is yours and what is yours is mine" is an ignoramus? Usually when one fluffs someone off as an "ignoramus", one knows that the person who holds the position has something important to say and doesn't want you to hear it. We may always suspect the motives of someone who calls another and "ignoramus" and presents another's position in their stead.

Second, let's consider how the Mishna defines a pious and benevolent person. He is someone who says "what is mine is yours and what is yours is yours". If the process of give and take stops with one person, then the possibility of private property might continue to exist.

However, if the pious and benevolent person gives to someone who is likewise pious and benevolent, that person will say: "No! What is mine is yours and what is yours is yours!" In such a situation BOTH (or in the case of more than two people) have negated the concept of private property entirely. They both (or all) abnegate the rights to their property mutually.

The laws of commercial interaction called for in Judaism then, if we wish to be what our ideals hope for, leave us no recourse but the abolition of private property.

Upon consideration we see that the only way in which to carry out the mitzvoth of Pesach without worry of huge amounts of food and value of food be lost and of the laws of Yovel (Jubilee) is not by heter mekhirim (Rabbinical injunctions "allowing" sales that the Torah forbids) and not by prozbul (Laws that circumvented the Torah in regard to the Jubilee), which are nothing but heroic intellectual exercises on the part of the Rabbis to protect their wealthy who were often their patrons, but by *the abolition of private property*.

Anarcho-Communism, then, is the logical conclusion of Jewish Law.

I am NOT speaking of Marxist Communism, which is nothing other than State-owned property.

I am speaking, rather, in terms of Kropotkinian Anarcho-Communism – the utter abolition of property and currency. This is the only system of Anarchism that will allow for us to keep the Laws of Torah as they are written and as they are intended.

The forms of Anarchy generally known as collectivism and mutualism will not fulfill the needs of the Jewish people, for they still retain either some degree private ownership of property or collective ownership of capital.

During Pesach when we are not allowed to own chametz it will not help us if the chametz is collectively owned. We would still be faced with the problem of what to do with it during Pesach.

Only when the grains in our silos belong to no one – when everyone takes what she or he needs and everyone gives what she or he can we fulfill Jewish Law.

The problems of the Yovel are solved entirely if there is no money lending, slavery or land ownership to begin with.

If we have harvested commonly the year before the shmitta, the land belonging to no one, we need not be concerned with problems of shmitta. We will have all that we need and no problems of ownership.

Our particularly Jewish system of banking, then, must be one of the mere distribution of commodities and services to all who need.

Our work itself will produce increasing wealth. There is no need for interest whatsoever.

This too can be readily understood by a general audience. I've translated the terms that are transliterated and added a bit of information in parentheses.

I'm posting it here to give an idea of how religion should be redeemed, not rejected.

Another interlocutor wrote:

"Actually, Doreen, (the Sage) Hillel (the Elder, 1st C. BCE to 1st C. CE) set up corporations because people stopped lending money to each other.

Hillel wanted to make sure the rich would lend (INTEREST FREE, as you know) to the poor. And Hillel, a Babylonian immigrant to Eretz Ysrael (the Land of Israel), was so POOR that when he couldn't PAY the ENTRY fee (later cancelled by R. El'azar B. 'Azariyah) for entering the yeshiva/beith midhrash (house of study), he climbed up onto the roof & listened through the skylight & nearly FROZE from the snow.

I know not a few amount of people who give 20% of the
profits to tzedaqa (charity) because of the RABBIS & that money fills a LOT of cracks for weak people. PLEASE, if you are going to say something negative, better not to, but if you are going to do it anyway, make sure you cap it off w/something nice. It's so easy to destroy, but it's so much better to build."

I responded:

Read what you wrote and see the implications of it.

Hillel had the power to create a precedent that would institute a millennia-long "circumvention" of Torah.

Yet, he did not use that same power to compel the rich to continue lending to the poor.

Hillel had the power to take the Jewish people off course and go against the Word of God for over two thousand years. Yet you would have us believe that he could not have compelled the rich, who have always been a small minority, to continue to lend?

If we are to create a more just economic system, a more Jewish economic system, a more Torah-true economic system, and of course that will include an entirely new banking system; we must be entirely honest with ourselves and that will involve divesting ourselves of our mythology about the Rabbinical establishment, from its inception.

We will not throw out the proverbial baby with the cliche bathwater. Where they were right, they were right and what fits our reality, we must retain. But that which does not stand the test of time and the possibility we now face of eradicating poverty, we must dispose of.

There are all kinds of ways of giving. Tzeddakah (charity coming from the radical tzeddek -righteousness), as I have written, need not be monetary, and should not be. Tzeddakah can be educational, it can be emotional, it can be social. When we teach someone something s/he did not know, we have performed an act of Tzeddakah. When we give succor to someone in emotional straits, we give Tzeddakah. When we tell our wife who is pregnant with our third child that she is beautiful, we give Tzeddakah. When we tell our unemployed husband that we love, honor and admire him, we give Tzeddakah. There will always be ways of giving Tzeddakah. It need not involve the humiliation of the poor eating out of the hand of the rich.

While giving 20% of one's income if one can if honorable by today's standards, we can build a world in which we are all so whole as to be able to give much closer to 100% of ourselves.

There is no reason to "circumvent" Torah. It is not an obstacle. There is, however, a need to see it with new eyes.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com

MUTUAL BANKING AND MUTUAL CREDIT

The descriptions of the Mutual Bank or Credit Union below are general.

They need to be tweaked to suit Jewish needs and this is a matter for Jews to sit down and discuss to decide how best this can be done.

As you can see, the idea is built upon the principle of free credit - and that is in line with Torah.

The system of banking that we have today in Israel is wholly corrupt. Every time we make use of a commercial bank in Israel we commit an avayrah. We are FORBIDDEN to earn interest on a loan to another Jews. PERIOD. No if. No ands. No buts. No "heterim". Gornisht.

To partake in and support institutions Jewish usury is not less an avayrah than any other. Any Rabbi who tells you otherwise is getting his salary to do so from the establishment. More about that establishment at the end of this post.

Today, most Jews in Israel outside of Me'ah She'arim have to do business with commercial banks. We can, we must, change that. ASAP.

It is incumbent upon us as Jews to establish Mutual Banks based on Mutual Credit. The residents of Me'ah She'arim have such a banking system. I am sure that they would be delighted to instruct us how to implement and run a bank like that.

The bank should be commonly run, should have wholly open books and there should be a Board of Governers who sit for a short period of time, who are elected by the community and are subject to immediate recall if they do not carry out their duties in accordance with Hilkhot Mamonot and common decency.

This system will eventually supplant gemachim. Although people who run gemachim can be very helpful in the establishment of such a Mutual Bank.

No one should have to borrow money from another person. We should all have what we need.

Let's get to the short overview then:

"Mutualists argue that free banking should be taken back by the people to establish systems of free credit. They contend that banks have a monopoly on credit, just as capitalists have a monopoly on land. Banks are essentially creating money by lending out deposits that do not actually belong to them, then charging interest on the difference. Mutualists argue that by establishing a democratically run mutual bank or credit union, it would be possible to issue free credit so that money could be created for the benefit of the participants rather than for the benefit of the bankers.

A credit union is a cooperative financial institution that is owned and controlled by its members. Credit unions differ from banks and other financial institutions in that the members who have accounts in the credit union are the owners of the credit union.Credit union policies governing interest rates and other matters are set by a volunteer Board of Directors elected by and from the membership itself. Only a member of a credit union may deposit money with the credit union, or borrow money from it. As such, credit unions have historically marketed themselves as providing superior member service and being committed to helping members improve their financial health.Credit unions may be viewed as non-profit organizations, or alternatively as for-profit enterprises charged with making a profit for their members (who receive any profits earned by the cooperative in the form of dividends paid on savings, which are taxed as ordinary income, or reduced interest rates on loans). This debate reflects credit unions' unusual organizational structure, which attempts to solve the principal-agent problem by ensuring the owners and the users of the institution are the same people. In any case, credit unions generally cannot accept donations and must be able to prosper in a competitive market economy. "

My dear Brothers and Sisters: There is nothing more revolutionary than to be a true Jew. The heart and Soul of Judaism is revolt against corruption and the mechanisms that are generated from it.

From the day we were commanded to slaughter the sacred cows of Egypt, we were commanded to live a life of perpetual revolt against power of man over man and the idol worship that supports it.

When the State of Israel was declared the rich and politically powerful understood that if Judaism was given true expression that we would create a world-wide revolution. They were right on correct about that.

So, all the forces of Hell were unleashed against us: they support the Arabs to keep us in a constant state of war; they fluoridate our water so that we will be debilitated; they bankroll an army of "Rabbis" to teach us that which is not Torah and keep us very busy with made-up things to do so that we will not remember the voice we heard in Egypt and at Har Sinai. They keep us in economic straits and worries, they keep us in thrall in a million different ways.

Why have they gone to all that trouble and expense. Because NO ONE is more dangerous to a corrupt system than a real Jew. Nothing works against a real Jew to get him or her to cooperate with corruption - not the carrot and not the stick.

And so, my dear Brothers and Sisters, despite all that has been set against us - real Jews we must be. A real Jewish society we must build. Real solidarity we must return to - the solidarity that we knew when we were a young people.

We have to return to a time when authority was invested in people only on the basis of the love and the wisdom they proved. We have to return to the time of the Judges - the time before a State and a government was set over us. The Judges were known by their communities intimately. Their every character trait was seen by all. If they were not immaculately honest and straight they would not have been respected. Their honor was their only source of power - and that is the only correct source of power.

Read the Book of Sh'mu'el. We were not meant to be ruled by flesh and blood!

Because our society is so sick our Judaism too is sick, paltry and in our hearts we know, sadly, largely contrived. We will only be able to find our way back to the true Torah as we institute mechanisms of righteousness.

Today we turn to HaShem in our poverty, in our fear, in our insecurity, with our broken hearts and broken spirits and broken bodies, after having been traumatized - and we fall victim to the "Rabbis" who are working for the rich and politically powerful to lead us astray.

Would that we would turn to HaShem in our strength and in our love and in our security! Would that we would turn to HaShem in celebration of the bounty we live in!

I saw on Kibbutz that when every material and social need is provided for still there is a feeling that something is lacking. I saw on totally secular Kibbutzim synagogues being built and b'tei midrash being put together and study groups forming.

When we have provided for one another's human needs, when we all live in abundance and in solidarity, when our consciences and our hands are clean and we all earn our livings in dignity and with honor THEN and only then will we be in a position to return to the true Torah. It is so easy to begin. We form food co-ops and mutual aid projects. We form a mutual bank that provides mutual credit. Soon others will emulate us.

Let's begin NOW. For I tell you truly, it is we who must usher in the Messianic age.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com

CO-OPS AND MUTUAL AID PROJECTS

Below you will find a link to a number of mutual aid projects that were undertaken in Ithaca, New York.

I am posting them here to give an idea of the kind of projects that a number of families in a community can undertake in order to make life more fun, more social, more economical, more efficient, to increase the number of services available in their communities and, most of all, to become more INDEPENDENT of elected officials by working together.

I cannot stress how detrimental the mentality of putting trust in politicians and government bodies to do for us that which we can do for ourselves is.

Politicians are parasites. They act at the behest of the rich, as is commonly known but also commonly accepted as a "fact of life". It need not be. They, like all parasites, weaken the host whose body they invade -in this case, the body of the citizenry. But the truth of the matter is, people abnegate their power and independence more than politicians arrogate them.

Where there are politicians there is no true democracy. There is only plutocracy. "Representative democracy" is not democracy at all. Only direct democracy, where people meet face-to-face and hammer out the issues that face all of us, eat out of a communal pot and whose destinies are tied one to the other is democracy that deserves the name. We are now living a farce – a very dangerous farce, a very dangerous self-delusion.

Of course, that abnegation is encouraged by politicians and people are made to feel weak and helpless. How many times and in how many ways, either directly or by implication, have you been called "weak" and "little" by politicians and by the press? Does the phrase "Joe Citizen" ring a bell and arouse a feeling of being put down? Those are psychological ploys designed to make you feel dependent and helpless. The message is ubiquitous and repetitive. But as Eleanor Roosevelt said: "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." She also said: "If someone betrays you once, it's their fault; if they betray you twice, it's your fault." How many times have we been betrayed by politicians? Whose fault is it by this time?

There is power, and safety, in numbers. That is where co-ops and mutual aid programs come in.

People simply get together and, as a group on a rotating basis, supply one another with their everyday needs.

Vegetarian and health food co-ops are very popular, as I'm sure you know. People buy in bulk together, prepare the food together and dine together - all in a communal atmosphere of fun and conviviality.

But co-ops and mutual aid projects can do so much more than that.

A few ideas are to be found on the link below. They were undertaken in Itaca, New York; but with a little bit of tweaking they can be adapted to the needs of your community.

Most of all, co-ops and mutual aid programs will accustom people to working in solidarity one for all and all for one.

Those programmes confer a feeling of strength and mutual reliance without dependency.

They will wean the community from the unhealthy dependence upon politicians who, of every stripe and every party, have proven without exception that they cannot and will not improve matters.

We are responsible for one another. Only then can we flourish. Only then can we feel secure. Only then can we become fully adult and actualize our capacities. We become whole and independent individuals when we act with others in solidarity. We must be whole and strong in order to give and the giving makes us strong.

Please take a look at the programmes outlined on the link below.

One of them is not relevant to those who live in societies that have instituted socialized medicine. Most of the members on this list do not enjoy socialized medicine and the idea of a group working together to obtain insurance for all is a terrific one.

These programs should gradually supplant charities. In this way everyone is giving and everyone receiving. Living this way we all give and receive in dignity and in bounty.

Gradually, these programs will lead us in the direction of comprehensive mutual sufficiency that will phase out all need for politicians.

http://tinyurl.com/2xtwfj

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com

SPECIAL POST

GROSS IRREGULARITIES ON THE PART OF THE TZFAT (SAFED), ISRAEL MUNICIPALITY DURING THE WAR WITH LEBANON

It's high time that this was made widely known outside Israel. I am ashamed of myself for having hesitated to broadcast this information earlier. My son was in the army and I was constrained to keep my silence.

Now that he has been released from the army, I searched for, and found, the message below, addressed to a cousin, in which I described the rip off on the part of the Municipal workers of Tzfat (Safed) during the Lebanon war last summer.

I'm making up for that mistake now and will make this known outside Israel because NO ONE HAS BEEN PROSECUTED OR EVEN CENSURED even though it is known exactly who the perpetrators are and a report, including the personal reports of those who suffered during the war as a result of what you will read below, was served to the State Ombudsman.

The workers at the Tzfat Municipality continue to work (usually until about 13:00 - that's supposed to be full-time) with the same sense of security, entitlement and lavishing "extras" on themselves that they did before the war in Lebanon - even as the City of Tzfat is on the verge of economic collapse and a programme of financial "recovery" so draconian is being discussed that we may not have lights in the streets at night or regular garbage removal.

Getting back to what happened during the war with Lebanon last summer:

1) 1000 of the 5000 meals that were donated by a charity went unaccounted for every day. The worker at the Municipality who was in charge of distribution told local reporters that he was told to put the 1000 meals aside daily and to leave no written record as to having received them.

2) A truck load full of air conditioners that were donated for the poorly-ventilated, sweltering bomb shelters vanished into, well, thin air.

3) Ditto for the TVs that were donated. In contradistinction, the workers of the Municipality (that is, the 17 out of 350 who didn't desert the city entirely) arranged deluxe, "VIP" shelters for themselves, replete with color TV, A/C and Internet.

4) The free days in hotels, including free meals, that were donated by the hotels themselves and were specifically designated for the infirm and elderly first and foremost were, instead, used by workers in the Municipality. As the result of not getting one of those rooms, one woman whose 8-year-old handicapped, wheelchair-bound daughter, who must be kept in sterile conditions, contracted an infection and had to be hospitalized. Some relative of some worker of the City got the room that little girl should have had. No matter, eventually she got a nice room - in the hospital.

5) A huge number of disposable diapers that was donated likewise disappeared. What the hell can someone do with tons of nappies???

As a result of most of the Municipality workers running for the own lives and leaving us here to die, the army sent in a regiment of reserve soldiers to run the city. They did an exemplary job of handling the exigencies, but the danger of the precedent of being deserted by the democratically-elected government of the city and being governed almost entirely by high-ranking officers in the army need not be elaborated upon.

I am LIVID. I am also mobilized and galvanized to speak up about this.


RECENT DEVELOPMENTS SINCE I FIRST DISSEMINATED THIS:

I received the e-mail message below from a member of the Tzfat Municipality. As the English is so poor, I thought it was spam and almost deleted it. Just as I was about to, I realized the name was vaguely familiar.

I opened it and found the following message, which, I have checked with a lawyer to make sure that I can repost it. I am fully within my legal rights to do so.

This is the content of the message:

Subject: "EVEN DO U R PROBABLY RIGHT

HI DOREEN I HAVE BEEN READING U R ARTICLE ABOUT THE THEFT DURING THE WAR AND EVEN DO U R PROBABLY RIGHT THAT THIS MAYOR AND WORKERS R CORRUPT U R EFFECTING OUR FUTURE REHABILITATION OF THE CITY I ASK U TO CONSIDER TAKING DOWN THE ARTICLE"

I fail to see entirely how keeping this information quiet will positively affect the "rehabilitation of the city".

I am of the opinion that the only thing that will rehabilitate the city is the prosecution of all those who were involved, and a complete revamping of the Municipality and how the city is run.

At this juncture, I will keep the name of the member of the Municipality to myself. However, during the course of the upcoming campaign; I may decide to publish the letter, with the name, including a translation.

If this person decides to run for Mayor of Tzfat, or openly supports a candidate; I will publish this letter with his name asking why this person is defending people who left residents of Tzfat for dead during the war.

Someone on the Tzfat Yahoo! list described me as "incorruptible". Evidently, the person who wrote that e-mail to me does not know the meaning of the word 'incorruptible' in English, or is so deep into politics that he has no concept what the meaning is at all.

But I am incorruptible and I'm going to keep on keeping on with this campaign to bring the events of last summer in Tzfat to international light.

Instead of taking his suggestion, I sent the text of "Dirty, Stinking, Tzfat Laundry" to every related charity organization, major Jewish newspaper in the US, Europe and elsewhere as well as to major news services internationally - mentioning the fact that I had been contacted by a member of the Tzfat Municipality who thinks that I should be quiet about having been left to die in order to rehabilitate the city.

If you can read Hebrew, read the synopsis of the recent State Comptroller's recent report here: http://tinyurl.com/2gzjll

If you cannot read it, it says that about a BILLION shekels in donations were received by the Northern part of Israel during the war with Lebanon last summer.

A large part of that did not go toward the intended purposes.

Let that sink in, a billion shekels is largely unaccounted for, while people were left TO DIE, abandoned by the Tzfat Municipality, except for 17 members (out of 350). My husband and I are two of those people.

Meanwhile, the city of Tzfat is in such economic straits that the education budget has been cut to the bone, our street lights will be turned off after 1:00; garbage collection will be reduced; social services have been drastically reduced; the cultural centers, which house the libraries, are closed...

I am making an international issue of this for the sake of justice and justice alone. Those who know me know I have no political or personal ambitions.

My only interest is that the perpetrators are brought to justice and that the money supply that keeps this corruption going is dried up.

I ask you to contribute to the betterment of Tzfat. I ask you to notify all of your loved ones and friends about what transpired here. Tell them to make the issue known in their local newspapers, other media, synagogues and communities.

As you can see from the response of this politician, politicians react to exposure. They don't like it. It is our most effective tool in the fight against corruption. Put the spotlight on them. Do not be afraid of them. Make them afraid of you. Politicians are very afraid of the truth coming to light. Let this ugly, ugly truth come to light.

There may be another war coming and it is expected, if it does occur, to be far worse than the last. If you do nothing to insure your safety, you can expect, without a shadow of a doubt, to be abandoned and stolen from again in the event of war.

If they get away with it once, they will be even more brazen next time.

We must make an international issue of this. By now, the report of the State Comptroller has most certainly been handed over to the Office of the Prime Minister. The State Comptroller can not do anything personally. All he or she can do is report the facts and known and recommend action. Nothing has been done inside Israel – and nothing will.

We must, MUST, take this story to the world - it is a story so shocking that it will make international waves if it is known.

Don't let the politicians fool you. This is the only way to rehabilitate the city.

Don't let there be a next time. Your life and the lives of your loved ones depend on the actions you take now. Believe it. The Municipality of Tzfat and the complicity of the national government have already proven that. We can only depend upon ourselves. No one else cares.

I have contacted many Jewish organizations, charities, synagogues and newspapers. I would appreciate the names of any that you think may have donated to Israel during the war or that may need to know this story.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com

If you can read Hebrew, read this:

דו"ח המבקר: לאן הלכו התרומות לצפון

כמיליארד שקל הועברו כתרומות ליישובי הצפון במהלך מלחמת לבנון השנייה - אך מדו"ח המבקר עולה כי לעתים התרומות לא שימשו כלל למטרות הקשורות למערכה. למה כן

Source http://tinyurl.com/yvceqd

About a billion, a BILLION, shekels in donations went to the North during the war, much of it was not used for what it was intended for WHILE THEY LEFT US TO DIE.

Where is it???

Why is the city in such desperate economic straits???


Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com

DIRTY, FILTHY, STINKING TZFAT, ISRAEL LAUNDRY

It's high time that this was made widely known outside Israel. I am ashamed of myself for having hesitated to broadcast this information earlier. My son was in the army and I was constrained to keep my silence.

Now that he has been released from the army, I searched for, and found, the message below, addressed to a cousin, in which I described the rip off on the part of the Municipal workers of Tzfat (Safed) during the Lebanon war last summer.

I'm making up for that mistake now and will make this known outside Israel because NO ONE HAS BEEN PROSECUTED OR EVEN CENSURED even though it is known exactly who the perpetrators are and a report, including the personal reports of those who suffered during the war as a result of what you will read below, was served to the State Ombudsman.

The workers at the Tzfat Municipality continue to work (usually until about 13:00 - that's supposed to be full-time) with the same sense of security, entitlement and lavishing "extras" on themselves that they did before the war in Lebanon - even as the City of Tzfat is on the verge of economic collapse and a programme of financial "recovery" so draconian is being discussed that we may not have lights in the streets at night or regular garbage removal.

Getting back to what happened during the war with Lebanon last summer:

1) 1000 of the 5000 meals that were donated by a charity went unaccounted for every day. The worker at the Municipality who was in charge of distribution told local reporters that he was told to put the 1000 meals aside daily and to leave no written record as to having received them.

2) A truck load full of air conditioners that were donated for the poorly-ventilated, sweltering bomb shelters vanished into, well, thin air.

3) Ditto for the TVs that were donated. In contradistinction, the workers of the Municipality (that is, the 17 out of 350 who didn't desert the city entirely) arranged deluxe, "VIP" shelters for themselves, replete with color TV, A/C and Internet.

4) The free days in hotels, including free meals, that were donated by the hotels themselves and were specifically designated for the infirm and elderly first and foremost were, instead, used by workers in the Municipality. As the result of not getting one of those rooms, one woman whose 8-year-old handicapped, wheelchair-bound daughter, who must be kept in sterile conditions, contracted an infection and had to be hospitalized. Some relative of some worker of the City got the room that little girl should have had. No matter, eventually she got a nice room - in the hospital.

5) A huge number of disposable diapers that was donated likewise disappeared. What the hell can someone do with tons of nappies???

As a result of most of the Municipality workers running for the own lives and leaving us here to die, the army sent in a regiment of reserve soldiers to run the city. They did an exemplary job of handling the exigencies, but the danger of the precedent of being deserted by the democratically-elected government of the city and being governed almost entirely by high-ranking officers in the army need not be elaborated upon.

I am LIVID. I am also mobilized and galvanized to speak up about this.


RECENT DEVELOPMENTS SINCE I FIRST DISSEMINATED THIS:

I received the e-mail message below from a member of the Tzfat Municipality. As the English is so poor, I thought it was spam and almost deleted it. Just as I was about to, I realized the name was vaguely familiar.

I opened it and found the following message, which, I have checked with a lawyer to make sure that I can repost it. I am fully within my legal rights to do so.

This is the content of the message:

Subject: "EVEN DO U R PROBABLY RIGHT

HI DOREEN I HAVE BEEN READING U R ARTICLE ABOUT THE THEFT DURING THE WAR AND EVEN DO U R PROBABLY RIGHT THAT THIS MAYOR AND WORKERS R CORRUPT U R EFFECTING OUR FUTURE REHABILITATION OF THE CITY I ASK U TO CONSIDER TAKING DOWN THE ARTICLE"

I fail to see entirely how keeping this information quiet will positively affect the "rehabilitation of the city".

I am of the opinion that the only thing that will rehabilitate the city is the prosecution of all those who were involved, and a complete revamping of the Municipality and how the city is run.

At this juncture, I will keep the name of the member of the Municipality to myself. However, during the course of the upcoming campaign; I may decide to publish the letter, with the name, including a translation.

If this person decides to run for Mayor of Tzfat, or openly supports a candidate; I will publish this letter with his name asking why this person is defending people who left residents of Tzfat for dead during the war.

Someone on this list described me as "incorruptible". Evidently, the person who wrote that e-mail to me does not know the meaning of the word 'incorruptible' in English, or is so deep into politics that he has no concept what the meaning is at all.

But I am incorruptible and I'm going to keep on keeping on with this campaign to bring the events of last summer in Tzfat to international light.

Instead of taking his suggestion, I sent the text of "Dirty, Stinking, Tzfat Laundry" to every related charity organization, major Jewish newspaper in the US, Europe and elsewhere as well as to major news services internationally - mentioning the fact that I had been contacted by a member of the Tzfat Municipality who thinks that I should be quiet about having been left to die in order to rehabilitate the city.

You all know that I care nothing for politics and am not doing this in order to gain political capital for myself.

I am making an international issue of this for the sake of justice and justice alone.

I ask you to contribute to the betterment of Tzfat. I ask you to notify all of your loved ones and friends about what transpired here. Tell them to make the issue known in their local newspapers, other media, synagogues and communities.

As you can see from the response of this politician, politicians react to exposure. They don't like it. It is our most effective tool in the fight against corruption. Put the spotlight on them. Do not be afraid of them. Make them afraid of you. Politicians are very afraid of the truth coming to light. Let this ugly, ugly truth come to light.

There may be another war coming and it is expected, if it does occur, to be far worse than the last. If you do nothing to insure your safety, you can expect, without a shadow of a doubt, to be abandoned and stolen from again in the event of war.

If they get away with it once, they will be even more brazen next time.

We must make an international issue of this. By now, the report of the State Comptroller has most certainly been handed over to the Office of the Prime Minister. The State Comptroller can not do anything personally. All he or she can do is report the facts and known and recommend action. Nothing has been done inside Israel – and nothing will.

We must, MUST, take this story to the world - it is a story so shocking that it will make international waves if it is known.

Don't let the politicians fool you. This is the only way to rehabilitate the city.

Don't let there be a next time. Your life and the lives of your loved ones depend on the actions you take now. Believe it. The Municipality of Tzfat and the complicity of the national government have already proven that. We can only depend upon ourselves. No one else cares.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com

The following is written by a Jew, about Judaism. I can only write about that with which I am intimately familiar and can only bear witness for my personal experiences.

It was written primarily for those Jews who have lost the ability to discern between the wheat and the chaff, a phenomenon so very common today. But as it relates to some of the things that have been written on this list, I thought I'd post it here too.

What is written here may or may not hold true for the laws and customs of other religions. It is not my place to say. That is for the practitioners of those religions to decide.

The God of Israel as Engineer and Architect of Morality

My studies of Anarchy have recently brought me to consider mechanical and civil engineering and architecture insofar as they impact on societal structure. Those are subjects I never thought I'd really concern myself with (what I won't do for The Cause :0). It transpires that I have learned a very valuable lesson from those forays into formerly wholly foreign territory.

Over the years, an on-line epistolary pal has chided my tendency to see meta-messages everywhere and make the simplest, most straightforward matters into metaphors, moral metaphors at that. "Sometimes a fish is just a fish, Doreen", he has told me any number of times. Well, yeah, but sometimes a fish introduces us to an ocean of understanding.

For many years I have been concerned with how it is that Jews are able to learn very profound and subtle moral messages from commandments and narratives from Torah which, on the surface, are anything but moral or subtle. There is no logical bridge between what is said and what many of us are able to understand from the lessons. Often, they seem diametrically opposed.

Outsiders have an even harder time understanding this phenomenon and assume that we live according to what appears to them to be barbarous rules. We don't. We see something beyond the words, intuit something, something that it not immediately apparent. To be more precise, some of us do. Many, too many, of us never get beyond the surface.

In considering engineering and architecture as social phenomena and shapers of social structures, I saw plans on drawing boards in my mind.

I realized that Jewish Law can be likened to a grand plan on a drawing board. It is the outline. It is NOT the structure itself.

Just as the plans of the engineer or the architect must be made actual, must be fleshed out with actual material and are not fulfilled until they serve human needs, so Halakhah (Jewish Law) must be made actual in the form of livable and humanistic societies, livable dwellings, humanistic workplaces, safe day care centers, methods of supplying food to all, education to all, healthcare to all…justice for all.

Jewish Law is only the plan, it is NOT the actualization. The mere performance of the ceremony is not the fulfillment of the plan.

Those who live according to Halakhah and do not flesh it out with real social structures are people who confuse the plan with the structure. Can we live in the drawing of a building? NO! We must build the building itself.

It was no less a figure than Rabban Gamliel, the son of Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi (the initiator of the redaction of the Talmud), who said: "It is good [to combine] the study of Torah with an occupation, for the effort required by them both keeps sin out of mind, while all Torah study not combined with work will in the end cease and leads to sin. All who occupy themselves with the affairs of the community shall be engaged with them for the sake of Heaven, for the merit of their fathers assists them and their righteousness endures forever. And upon you [says God] I will bestow great reward as though you had accomplished it all by yourselves." (my italics) PIRKEI AVOT (ETHICS OF THE FATHERS), Chapter II, 2.

Those who do not build society based on their Torah learning feel that something is somehow missing. They fill the void they feel inside themselves with excrescent minhagim (assumed customs) and chumrot (assumed stringencies), which, because they serve no purpose and actually impede social change, are nothing but emunot t'faylot (superstitions).

What then is the Halakhah if not the actual behaviors we are intended to perform? Is it mere symbol? NO!

Halakhah is that which arouses, activates, educates and hones the moral sense within us.

Morality is something beyond logic, beyond reason. As David Hume aptly observed, reason cannot tell us why we should prefer the destruction of the entire world to our own finger being scratched. Morality exists on a level that is not rational. That is not to say that it is irrational. It is to say that it is non-rational. It is super-rational. That is the reason that the narratives and mitzvoth are often so very strange to the mind. They are communicating messages to us that go past the level of the conscious mind. They speak another language.

The Torah with its strange-sounding commandments and narratives speaks to us on a level that is beyond reason. It activates the ability to be able to perceive that which is moral, to yearn for that which is moral to recognize that which is moral. It inoculates us against the confusion of moral relativism and prevents us from becoming entangled in that endless morass.

Learning Torah correctly, we become imbued with morality. It becomes an indelible and inherent part of our psyche, our very bodies. We are thoroughly infused with morality until we react to it reflexively. We cannot but react to it. We desire it above all other desire. When we are moved to tears of love and joy at the sight of loving-kindness and moved to tears of outrage and repulsion at the sight of cruelty, when the desire for the Good is above our every other desire, we can be sure that we have been fully inculcated with the Halakhah, and not before that. No matter how "observant" we may be, if we can conscience injustice if we can rest when another suffers, we are not imbued with Torah.

Once we have reached this level we need not be concerned with the minutiae of the religion on an everyday basis. We are living embodiments of Torah. "Those who are busy with a mitzvah (commandment, good deed) need not be disturbed to do a mitzvah."

But neither can we jettison the religion entirely. This is true for two reasons:

1) We do not evolve morally on all of our levels uniformly. Some aspects of our characters are extremely developed, while others lag behind.

2) We must be aware of the Law and not forget it so that we may teach it to the next generation, who will need to learn it before they will be fit to set off on a life devoted to human welfare and justice.

Just as it is true that we cannot live the plan alone, we must flesh it out, make it actual in the form of social systems and structures, so it is true that without the plan we do not know what to build.

If we attempt to build a bridge or a highway without a plan and without knowing the materials we set out to build with, disaster will occur. So it is if we set about attempting to be moral without having our moral sense aroused and developed by Halakhah.

We must learn and do Halakhah for the sake of what is called in German and in Yiddish das Menschenleben, never are we to sacrifice human living, human welfare, justice for actual human beings for the sake of customs, practices or Laws. The latter serve the former, prepare us to undertake the former, bolster our strength and resolve and give us courage to endeavor to better the world. They are means to that purpose, not ends in and of themselves.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com

WORK HOURS

"The so-called "division of labour" has grown under a system which condemned the masses to toil all the day long, and all the life long, at the same wearisome kind of labour. But if we take into account how few are the real producers of wealth in our present society, and how squandered is their labour we must recognise that Franklin* was right in saying that to work five hours a day would generally do for supplying each member of a civilised nation with the comfort now accessible for the few only.
But we have made some progress since Franklin's time, and some of that progress in the hitherto most backward branch of production--agriculture --has been indicated in the preceding pages. Even in that branch the productivity of labour can be immensely increased, and work itself rendered easy and pleasant. If everyone took his share of production, and if production were socialised--as political economy, if it aimed at the satisfaction of the ever-growing needs of all, would advise us to do--then more than one half of the working day would remain to everyone for the pursuit of art, science, or any hobby he or she might prefer; and his work in those fields would be the more profitable if he spent the other half of the day in productive work--if art and science were followed from mere inclination, not for mercantile purposes. Moreover, a community organised on the principles of all being workers would be rich enough to conclude that every man and woman, after having; reached a certain age--say of forty or more--ought to be relieved from the moral obligation of taking a direct part in the performance of the necessary manual work, so as to be able entirely to devote himself or herself to whatever he or she chooses in the domain of art, or science, or any kind of work. Free pursuit in new branches of art and knowledge, free creation, and free development thus might be fully guaranteed.. And such a community would not know misery amidst wealth. It would not know the duality of conscience which permeates out life and stifles every noble effort. It would freely take its flight towards the highest regions of progress compatible with human nature." – Chapter VIII, F F & W, Kropotkin

"In the domain of agriculture it may be taken as proved that if a small part only of the time that is now- given in each nation or region to field culture was given to well thought out and socially carried out permanent improvements of the soil, the duration of work which would be required afterwards to grow the yearly bread-food for an average family of five would be less than a fortnight every year; and that the work required for that purpose would not be the hard toil of the ancient slave, but work which would be agreeable to the physical forces of every healthy man and woman in the country.
It has been proved that by following the methods of intensive market- gardening-partly under glass-vegetables and fruit can be grown in such quantities that men could be provided with a, rich vegetable food and a profusion of fruit, if they simply devoted to the task of growing them the hours which everyone willingly devotes to work in the open air, after having spent most of his day in the factory, the mine, or the study. Provided, of course, that the production of food-stuffs should not be the work of the isolated individual, but the planned-out and combined action of human groups.
It has also been proved-and those who care to verify it by themselves may easily do so by calculating the real expenditure for labour which was lately made in the building of workmen's houses by both private persons and municipalities 1 -that under a proper combination of labour, twenty to twenty-four months of one man's work would be sufficient to secure for ever, for a family of five, an apartment or a house provided with all the comforts which modern hygiene and taste could require.
And now, in the presence of all these conquests -what is the reality of things?
In industrially developed countries, a couple of months' work, or even much less than that, would be sufficient to produce for a family a rich and varied vegetable and animal food.
One month of work every year would be quite sufficient to provide the worker with a healthy dwelling." – Chapter IX, F F & W

"For centuries science and so-called practical wisdom have said to man: "It is good to be rich, to be able to satisfy, at least, your material needs; but the only means to be rich is to so train your mind and capacities as to be able to compel other men-slaves, serfs or wage-earners -to make these riches for you. You have no choice. Either you must stand in the ranks of the peasants and the artisans who, whatsoever economists and moralists may promise them in the future, are now periodically doomed to starve after each bad crop or during their strikes and to be shot down by their own sons the moment they lose patience. Or you must: train your faculties so as to be a military commander of the masses, or to be accepted as one of the wheels of the governing machinery of the State or to become a manager of men in commerce or industry." For many centuries there was no other choice, and men followed that advice, without finding in it happiness, either for themselves and their own children, or for those whom they pretended to preserve from worse misfortunes.
But modern knowledge has another issue to offer to thinking men. It tells them that in order to be rich they need not take the bread from the mouths of others; but that the more rational outcome would be a society in which men, with the work of their own hands and intelligence, and by the aid of the machinery already invented and to be invented, should themselves create all imaginable riches. Technics and science will not be lagging behind if production takes such a direction. Guided by observation, analysis and experiment, they will answer all possible demands. They will reduce the time which is necessary for producing wealth to any desired amount, so as to leave to everyone as much leisure as he or she may ask for. They surely cannot guarantee happiness, because happiness depends as much, or even more, upon the individual himself as upon his surroundings. But they guarantee, at least, the happiness that can be found in the full and varied exercise of the different capacities of the human being, in work that need not be overwork, and in the consciousness that one is not endeavouring to base his own happiness upon the misery of others.
These are the horizons which the above inquiry opens to the unprejudiced mind." End of Chapter IX, F F & W

"Overwork is repulsive to human nature--not work. Overwork for supplying the few with luxury--not work for the well-being of all. Work is a physiological necessity, a necessity of spending accumulated bodily energy, a necessity which is health and life itself. If so many branches of useful work are so reluctantly done now, it is merely because they mean overwork, or they are improperly organised. But we know--old Franklin knew it--that four hours of useful work every day would be more than sufficient for supplying everybody with the comfort of a moderately well-to-do middle-class house, if we all gave ourselves to productive work, and if we did not waste our productive powers as we do waste them now." - Peter Kropotkin, ANARCHIST COMMUNISM: Its Basis and Principles, 1887

*Benjamin Franklin (January 17 [O.S. January 6] 1706 – April 17, 1790). That's right, sometime in the 18th C. Franklin uttered these words concerning the really necessary work hours per day (4-5), decades before the Anarchist economic researchers and Marx arrived at the same conclusion.

Kropotkin treats the matter of how many hours of work are required of whom and under what conditions in depth in Chapter VIII of THE CONQUEST OF BREAD (See: http://tinyurl.com/fdtvn)

CAPITAL by Karl Marx, Volume One, Part III, The Production of Absolute Surplus-Value, CHAPTER SEVEN, SECTION 2, THE PRODUCTION OF SURPLUS-VALUE, (See: http://tinyurl.com/hwkvr)

Albert Parsons: "With regard to the feasibility of this (eight-hour) law, Congress has the power, under the Constitution, to pass it. We ask it; we demand it, and we intend to have it. If the present Congress will not give it to us we will send men to Congress who will give it to us.... The eight-hour league, and the trades unions, and the other organizations of the country that are making this demand do not propose thereby to paralyze industry. They do not propose to bring an industrial collision or a state of anarchy, or to precipitate revolution or a state of anarchy, or to precipitate revolution in this country. We are peaceable citizens, husbands, fathers. We are citizens of the State and law-abiding men.... The working classes simply seek to improve their condition. This is a natural feeling, and I cannot say that there is anything unnecessarily seditious or criminal in such a desire. We simply want less work and more pay, knowing that only through short hours and high wages can our condition be improved. We know this, and hence we struggle for it. We wish to get at it by degrees.. . . The first thing that we demand is a measure that will diminish the immediate power of wealth, and will remove the worst forms of poverty. The immediate power of wealth consists in this power to enforce men to submit to the terms dictated by wealth, out of which men will perform a day's labor. That is the immediate power of wealth. This is an evil which should be removed, and we want to remove the worst disability of poverty by reducing the hours of labor; by the distributing of work that is to be done more equally among the workingmen... By making labor scarce we will increase its value. Under our system of labor there is no such thing as freedom of contract." http://tinyurl.com/2olrd7

Parsons wrote that if the eight-hour day were won then the employing class will have to pay us as much for eight hours' work as they do now for ten. Employers will put labor-saving machinery to work instead of the high-priced laborers. The laborers will then for the same reason that they reduced the hours to eight, have to reduce them to six hours per day. A voluntary reduction of the work hours is a peaceful solution to the labor problem.... Wages in this way will increase until they represent the earnings, instead of, as now, the necessities, of the wage-laborer. This would result in a system of universal cooperation and distribution. http://tinyurl.com/3cwosr

See: Johann Most's speech: " THE BEAST OF PROPERTY", c. 1884, which can be found on the following URL: http://tinyurl.com/kxr8w

"Under socialism…With the idle rich and the idle poor working and the work day four hours long their bodies will grow strong again and their minds sane." – "Brutal Treatment of the Unemployed in Sacramento Star" – Helen Keller, March 16, 1914

"It can be statistically proven that three hours' work a day, at most, is sufficient to feed, shelter, and clothe the world and supply it not only with necessities but also with all modern comforts of life." – Alexander Berkman, Now and After: THE ABC OF COMMUNIST ANARCHISM, Chapter 22, New York: Vanguard Press, 1929.

"THE ABOLITION OF WORK" by Bob Black: http://tinyurl.com/f8wq6

"The living man can, in truth, not only work to live but he wants to feel his life in work, and during work to rejoice I his work. He needs not only recreation, rest and joy in the evening, he needs, above all, pleasure in his activity itself, strong presence of his soul in the functions of his body. Our age has made sort, the unproductive, playful activity of muscles and nerves into a sort of work or profession. In real culture work itself again becomes a playful unwinding of all our energies." - FOR SOCIALISM, Gustav Landauer, pg. 95

"No one wants to spend their whole life in the factory or workshop, but everyone needs nails, transportation, or rope at some time, It would only be fair that all people spend a few hours every week helping to provide these useful products in co-operation with their fellows. Machines do help us make these things more easily; people only become slaves to their machines because they are slaves to their bosses and to a wasteful, growth-oriented economy. If there were no useless bosses who collect the profits but do no work at the machines they own or oversee, and if production did not always have to be increased to fuel an ever-expanding, growth-oriented consumerism, then it is doubtful that any of us would have to work more than a few hours per week. Those who are by temperament "workaholics" could spend their time improving upon, and experimenting with, products or projects of their choice." - "ANARCHO-SYNDICALSIM, TECHNOLOGY and ECOLOGY" by Graham Purchase http://tinyurl.com/el9fs, writing in 1995.

The Catholic Worker Movement: Societal structures need to be built so that it will be "easy to be good." Advocates the four-hour work day in order that workers become scholars and Scholars workers. (See: http://tinyurl.com/oou45 ).

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com

HILLARY FOR PREZ!

Isn't she just loverly?

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel

DoreenDotan@gmail.com

MENDACIOUS RELIGIOUS "TEACHINGS" AND PSEUDO-WISDOM

There are those who would "comfort" us with "teachings" such as these:

"The greatest happiness you can have is knowing that you do not necessarily require happiness." - William Saroyan

and worse still:

"And this is the noble truth of the arising of sorrow. It arises from craving...
And this is the noble truth of the stopping of sorrow. It is the complete stopping of that craving...being emancipated from it." - The Pali Canon

While there is certainly much wisdom in being emancipated from the craving for incidentals and luxuries, one can hardly be expected to be "emancipated" for the craving for bread or love.

The resignation with which we have been taught to regard our being damned to living lives and then going silently to our graves without ever knowing the love we need is beyond perversion, beyond cruelty, on the part of those in whose diseased minds and twisted hearts the concept of resignation arose and those who perpetuate the lie.

Never can the need for love be surrendered and there can be no emancipation from it any more than we can be emancipated from out need for physical sustenance.

And it is you men who must be the first to demand and reclaim those most basic rights. Women of their nature never can become very alienated from the need for love. We transvalue it into depression, we sublimate it into saint-like dutifulness, but the feeling is never very far from conscious awareness and we can, and do, access it.

It is primarily the men who have been emasculated of their love. The fight, then, must be primarily yours.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com

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Who Said This: LABOR VIS-À-VIS CAPITAL?

"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration." Abraham Lincoln's First Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1861.

My, my how things have changed in the US. Can you so much as imagine a President saying any such thing today? In an *address to Congress*?

Here are some more quotes from Lincoln. Bush would not know how to spell, or probably the definition, of many of those noble words:
http://tinyurl.com/39bt9h

Now add this quote, from earlier the same year, to the quote below about Labor vis-à-vis Capital:

"I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence." Abraham LincolnSource: February 22, 1861 - Address in Independence Hall

and while you're at it, consider this one:

"That I am not a member of any Christian Church, is true; but I have never denied the truth of the Scriptures; and I have never spoken with intentional disrespect of religion in general, or any denomination of Christians in particular." Abraham LincolnSource: July 31, 1846 - Handbill Replying to Charges of Infidelity

Source: http://tinyurl.com/yuebj3

The thinking of the greatest Presidents and statesmen of the United States, those people whose humanistic and enlightened vision it was that served as the wellspring and foundation of the desire for freedom from Britain, the Declaration of Independence and creation of the Nation and those who followed in their Spirit, before she was derailed, was far more in line with that of the Left Socialists than with the Capitalist and Rightists.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com

Mom, do you think any of our relatives could have been Nazis?"

The other day my son turned to me and said: "Mom, do you think any of our relatives could have been Nazis?"

I looked at him amazed and said: You know that your Great-Grandfather fought alongside his Jewish wife, your Great-Grandmother, and with two of their sons in the underground against the Nazis. You know that they were all captured and died terrible deaths. How can you ask a question like that?!

He calmly answered: "Ema (Mother), I also know that we don't know very little about the Aba's (Daddy's) family. We know he was an author of some renown who wrote under a pseudonym, but we don't know the pseudonym. We don't know about the rest of his family or what they might have been or done."

Stunned, I was amazed that so simple a thought had never crossed my mind and realized that it did not because in my mind there was a permanent separation between us and them. I simply could not think that thought.

I recalled a man I've argued with any number of times on line whose parents were government clerks in Germany during the war and whose uncles were in the SS and still have business dealings with the Mengele family. I recalled how that always made my skin crawl. He, in my mind, was one of them, but I am smugly comfortable being one of us.

I admit that I always wondered if the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Nazis have some sort of taint, some dark shadow in them that they keep at bay. I wondered if that might be aroused and brought to the fore and, if so, if some terrible gene specific to them would induce them to repeat the unthinkable deeds of their recent forebears.

And there was my son who when serving in the army said to me: "Mom, I really don't think I could kill anyone" asking me if one of his relatives, and closer still one of my gentle husband's relatives, might have been a Nazi.

I thought about my daughter and about my grandson that perfect baby whose absolute pristine purity and innocence brought me to tears the first time I saw him.

When Dan came home I related the conversation to him. He didn't bat an eyelash. I said to him: "Don't you understand? You might have the blood of Nazis in you. What do you think of that?"

"So what?", he answered levelly. That is not who I am. There is no such thing as Nazi blood. There is no Nazi gene. I am who I am, not whatever my forebears were."

Somehow, his words did not convince me. Yet, he is the gentlest and most Human being I have ever known and would remain so if it transpired that he does share blood and genes with some unimaginable monster. He would still remain the father of my children and my best friend and revered Teacher of Torah and Hebrew.

What a rearrangement of thought one must undergo when them might be us.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com

Who Said This: LABOR VIS-À-VIS CAPITAL?

"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration." Abraham Lincoln's First Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1861.

My, my how things have changed in the US. Can you so much as imagine a President saying any such thing today? In an *address to Congress*?

Here are some more quotes from Lincoln. Bush would not know how to spell, or probably the definition, of many of those noble words: http://tinyurl.com/39bt9h

Now add this quote, from earlier the same year, to the quote below about Labor vis-a-vis Capital:

"I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence." Abraham LincolnSource: February 22, 1861 - Address in Independence Hall

and while you're at it, consider this one:

"That I am not a member of any Christian Church, is true; but I have never denied the truth of the Scriptures; and I have never spoken with intentional disrespect of religion in general, or any denomination of Christians in particular." Abraham LincolnSource: July 31, 1846 - Handbill Replying to Charges of Infidelity

Source: http://tinyurl.com/yuebj3

The thinking of the greatest Presidents and statesmen of the United States, those people whose humanistic and enlightened vision it was that served as the wellspring and foundation of the desire for freedom from Britain, the Declaration of Independence and creation of the Nation and those who followed in their Spirit, before she was derailed, was far more in line with that of the Left Socialists than with the Capitalist and Rightists.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com

Photos of Kibbutzim (and of Towns) – Israeli Ministry of Tourism Site

I found a new site administered (amateurishly as per usual for an Israeli gov't ministry) by the Ministry of Tourism.

There are some pretty good pictures of kibbutzim on the site that show various aspects of life there. The kibbutzim shown are found from the north to the south (starting with the south) of the country and represent kibbutzim of various sizes, ages and types of agriculture, horticulture and industry.

Just go to Kibbutz on the first drop down menu (Location) and do not specify anything for the groupings. Thus, you will get all of the photos of kibbutz. Unfortunately, some of them should have been rotated.

The pictures of the celebration of "Pentecost" (Shavu'ot) are particularly interesting. Shavu'ot is the holiday of the bringing of the first fruits of harvest to the Temple. On kibbutz the members celebrate the holiday in their own special way. Except on the very few religious kibbutzim it is celebrated as a secular holiday, emphasizing the agricultural aspects. The kibbutz members throw in their own experience. Tractors, as pictured, have nothing whatsoever to do with the holiday. They are brought into the celebrations on secular kibbutzim because they are so much part and parcel of kibbutz everyday life.

The housing shown in the photo picturing the guest houses on kibbutz were once very typical. Today, much richer, the kibbutz tends to build detached villa-like houses. The types of houses seen in the photos are reserved for guest houses; young, single members; soldiers who call the kibbutz home base during their service for one reason or another; people learning Hebrew in the kibbutz ulpan program and volunteers.

The typical kibbutz is verdant, as you will see and very well kept. Kibbutz members are most meticulous about keeping the kibbutz aesthetically pleasing and very well gardened.

Of course, there are photos from the towns and cities and many walks of life on the site as well that are interesting viewing, but my heart will always remain with what I consider to be the crowning Israeli social achievement - Kibbutz and so I take this opportunity to share a very brief glimpse of a way of life so little understood or appreciated.

http://tinyurl.com/254prf

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com

TWO PEOPLES BLINDED BY HATRED AND HUBRIS

Israeli Gov't Officials: Islamic Jihad to Bear Brunt of IDF Response to Kassams

"Islamic Jihad will likely bear the brunt of Israel's military response to the Kassam rockets that hit the western Negev on the second day of the school year, including one that slammed into a day care center's courtyard, government officials said Monday night. Islamic Jihad was responsible for all nine of the Kassam attacks, the officials said. The rockets were timed to hit when parents were taking their children to school, defense officials said...."

Source: http://tinyurl.com/2s762y

Is there any doubt in anyone's mind that both the Jews and the Palestinians are being set up to for "culling" a few at a time here, a few at a time there, and are not being allowed to engage in any serious kind of deliberations or implement real plans for the benefit of all that will stop this madness, so that someone can make A LOT of money in the arms business?

Unfortunately, both sides are so filled with hate, hubris and absolute certainty in their own absolute righteousness and superiority that they can't see. They can't see that both Peoples are being set up and that this is the "legacy" that the British left before they folded up the Mandate.

Instead of being stupid and letting those who are setting our teeth against one another to play us for fools at the expense of our lives, we should be joining forces to get the Western dirty business interests out of this area.

Ego always makes for easy victimization.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com

RATIONAL RELIGION

It is common nowadays to speak of religion and rationality as though they are mutually exclusive, as though never the twain will, or can, meet.

This premise should not be accepted as a foregone conclusion. It needs to be carefully examined. Upon doing so, we will see that it is in gross error.

The basic premises of religionists and atheists, the latter of whom claim that they are rationalists and hold sole claim to rationality, are equally non-rational. To say that we can reasonably posit the existence of a Being that is Ineffable, wholly non-corporeal, without qualities of any kind and so vastly beyond our comprehension that we cannot begin to fathom It, is a wholly irrational position. Such a position may be taken on an experiential claim, on the basis of hope that such a Being exists or on blind faith, but it is not a rational statement.

The position of the atheists is equally irrational. To say that we can, with any degree of certainty whatsoever, posit that there does not exist a Being that is Ineffable, wholly-incorporeal, without any qualities of any kind and so vastly beyond our comprehension that we cannot begin to fathom It, is a wholly irrational position as well. The only difference between this position and the former is that this position is one that smacks of hubris.

Having demonstrated that the starting points of both the religionists and the atheists are equally without rational basis, we can proceed to examining whether or not rationality can play any part in a religious take on the world.

The afflatus of this treatment of the subject is a new restaurant, the owner and founder of which, Ya'akov Avni (brother of the actor Aki Avni) insists that it not be called a soup kitchen, which opened in the most disadvantaged area of the city of Tzfat, the notorious South (where the author of this essay chooses to make her home).

The restaurant provides full-course meals to come whoever may, no questions asked, for the price of two NIS (about 47 cents American). Great pains have been, and are, taken to provide not only nutritious meals, but to having created a pleasant ambiance in the restaurant, having the meals served by a staff of dedicated volunteers with respect and a smile and giving those who patronize the restaurant the feeling that they are coming to dine (thus the nominal charge) and not having favors dished out to them by a charity.

One can find equally rational and pseudo-scientific reasons for feeding the poor, making them feel wanted and cared for and not. So, it is not therein that the rationality resides.

Having made the leap of faith and deciding to feed the poor and give them a feeling of honor and dignity, the rationality comes in in the planning and implementation of the programme.

It takes a great deal of rational, systematic and methodical thinking to plan such a project, implement it and keep it going.

One has, first and foremost, to rationally and correctly assess the socio-economic situation in which people are found. One must then determine correctly and rationally the needs of real people in real situations. Next, one has to rationally and correctly assess one's own abilities to help them. One has to be able to formulate a plan or programme of assistance in one's mind. Having done so, one has then to arrange for subsidization of the food costs and costs of operation. One has to systematically go about finding an umbrella organization that will assist the program if need be and find donors. One has to go about finding suppliers of the food, buying the necessary equipment, furnishings, arranging the permits from the city, paying the bills, finding the fitting staff for the operation and do on.

Rationality comes into religion in the application of its principles.

Rationality can not be said to be the basis either for a religious position or lack of it, as we demonstrated at the outset of the essay. It must reside in how we carry out the articles of our faith and what we believe to be right.

To date, because many Human societies are so very cruel and do not provide for Human needs rationally or with compassion, people have turned to religion for all the wrong reasons. People turn to God in desperation: for the love they do not get from others, for the security that society does not provide them with, for the fulfillment of their hopes and dreams that society does not allow or has dashed and so on. They come in desperation and, as an inevitable result, their religious practice is pathological.

A society that will foster healthy religion must be created. We cannot dismiss the possibilities of what religion can be and can offer in healthy societies based on the reasons that people turn to religion in sick societies.

I have witnessed in the secular Kibbutz Movement, on wealthy kibbutzim the residents of which have all of their socio-economic needs provided for, that a feeling of superficiality and meaningless begins to creep into the hearts and minds of a good percentage of the members. They begin to feel that, though they have everything they need and want materially, something profound is yet missing. Some of those who feel that way, and they are a goodly number, turn to religion.

They turn to religion not in desperation, not in fear, not in loneliness and not in insecurity or need. They turn to religion for a final fulfillment.

The religion that they consider is based on their traditional religion, but they are not afraid to experiment with new forms of ceremony or discard those which do not seem meaningful to them. They feel free to innovate, to question and to improvise. This to my mind is all very healthy and I believe that were we all living in a communalistic society, as are the members of the Kibbutz Movement, this seminal spiritual/moral enterprising would arise spontaneously and would prove to be fecund, producing new expressions of ancient religions and new religions that would provide the deepest fulfillment of the Human experience.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com

TRUE GENIUS

Someone wrote a disparaging description of the character of a well-known scientist.

In response to that I wrote:

I've read a very little bit about (the named scientist) and his intelligence, but that is all I know of him. I cannot, therefore, comment about his character in particular.

I will speak in generalities.

In my experience there is no such thing as a person of degraded character, no matter how bright, who can see more than the superficies of that which they study.

They may have vast vocabularies; they may have waded through massive amounts of data; they may be able to rattle off, parrot like always parrot-like, the work of others; they may have eidetic memories. But they understand the profundities of *nothing*. They have no appreciation for the depth or the significance of *anything* for they respect nothing. They collect factoids for the own vainglory and display them as though they were baubles. Profundities, then, are degraded to mere trifles in their hands.

They are essentially worthless to the intellectual endeavor, especially nowadays. Whereas once their eidetic memories were useful, the computer has obviated their usefulness entirely. They have been supplanted by machines that do what they do better. How worthwhile could they really ever have been as anything other than tools? They are, as the pithy modern, if overused, expression has it, a waste of protoplasm.

They are what the inspired and true polymath Avraham ibn Ezra called: "Nothing but a basket of books." See: http://tinyurl.com/27rehb for a brief overview of who Avraham ibn Ezra was and what his accomplishments were and to gain an appreciation of what a genius worthy of the name is.

Deep-abiding philanthropy is the wellspring of all great intellectual endeavor. No one who loved himself or herself, or was in love with their own mind, ever produced work that advanced and benefitted Humankind.

When scientists will begin to understand, really understand, that knowledge cannot be abstracted from moral application, that there are no morally neutral data, that learning is not a process separable from the purification of motives and impulses; it will begin to make the progress it should.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com