Reflections from an Anti-Israel Protest

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Dear Henry,
       Today I had the opportunity to observe an anti-Israel protest on campus. Here are some observations: Taking the sage advice I wrote to you last week, (http://rabbidannywolfe.blogspot.com/2015/04/killing-jews-is-protected-in-first.html) when I heard a raucous and saw a Palestinian flag, rather then rush to judgement, I decided to go over and take a little looksie for myself. Henry, I got to tell you, what I saw, kind of surprised me. The Palestinian activists were holding one sign, and one sign only. It said, "Black Lives Matter." I thought to myself, "Wow Dan-o, that's a good point. Maybe I should go join them. I do after all, agree one hundred percent that Black lives do in fact matter." Just as I was approaching the group, ready to join them with the Black lives matter theme, I stopped in my tracks as they started shouting like Seattle Seahawks fans after the legendary interception. I heard, "Hey, Hey! Ho Ho! The Zionists must go!" While I gave them some props in my head for the catchy rhythm, I asked myself the following question: Where exactly, pray tell, should they go? Perhaps north to Syria or Lebanon? Maybe Jordan or Egypt? Perhaps further north to Iraq or Iran? Or maybe West to the Mediterranean Sea?
      The second chant was a heck of a lot more agreeable: "Black Lives Matter! Black Lives Matter." "Touche," thought I, and I joined in the chanting.
      The third chant, to be honest with you-- and I will be honest with you-- didn't make any sense to me. They said, "from Furgeson to Palestine, the occupation is a crime!" Firstly, the "occupation" is not a crime. Secondly, as I so wisely tweeted, comparing Furgeson to Palestine is like saying saying the earthquake in Nepal has something to do with the NFL draft.  I fail to see any correlation whatsoever. In fact, I am offended in behalf of Black people. You see, dear Henry, one of the serious frustrations of the Palestinians as that they are subject to checkpoints, and have massive walls around their cities. This understandably might make them flustered, heck; it might make them downright upset, and might make them feel like the victims. However, the reason there are checkpoints, and the reason there are walls, is because when there were not walls, Palestinian terrorists would walk into cafes, and buses, and blow themselves up, murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in the process. When the walls went up, this stopped. Its unfortunate there has to be walls and checkpoints, but history speaks for itself. Where, oh Henry, is there any correlation whatsoever with being Black? Are we implying that Blacks are oppressed because they are like the Palestinians? Is that not insulting to Blacks everywhere? What am I missing here?
     Finally, before I had to leave, a guy got up, and gave what I thought was a fine speech. He concluded with the powerful message that it would be a good idea to put healthier food chains in the the inner city, and that people would therefore eat healthier. Seemed like a fine idea. I clapped. As I walked away from it all, utterly confused at what I just saw, I did realize that there is a heck of a lot we can agree on (in this case that Black lives matter and that eating healthy is awesome), and it would be great if we could focus on that.

Forever yours,
Danny Wolfe

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Killing Jews is Protected in the First Amendment?!?!

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Dear Henry,

      A few days ago, as I was doing my bi-minutely perusal of the social media, I noticed a headline to an article that caught my attention: "'Killing Jews is Worship' posters will soon appear on NYC subways and buses.'" Now growing up in  the mountains, I have seen my fair share of bigotry. In a high school basketball game, a guy made the mistake of attempting to shoot over me. I proceeded to stuff him like a Thanksgiving turkey, and then he called me a dirty Jew. One time after a guy got called for a foul on our home court, he said, "man these refs are so Jewish! (They were not) I looked up at him and boldly said, "that's not very nice!" But Henry, I have never, ever, experienced someone explicitly calling for the killing of the Jews.  Not in this country at least. It's one thing when a nutty fanatical regime in Iran that for some reason the United States wants to imbue with nuclear power calls for our elimination and destruction; but for that message to appear on a city bus and subway cart in the most populated city in our country?!? I mean, the First Amendment is great and all, but it should protect a call to kill and eradicate an entire religion? So I did what any good Jew would do, and I immediately picked up the phone to call the ACLU. But as I realized I didn't even know their phone number, I told myself, "slowdown cowboy, before making that call, I am going to go ahead and ask you to first read the article to understand the context. "Great idea Dan-o," I responded to mysef. Let's give this article a good old fashion looksie."

       Henry, I will be 100% honest with you because I owe it to you, and my thousands of readers to keep it real: I was shocked at what I read. I was fully expecting to see some fundamentalist Islamic group behind the ad, and I was ready to be furious and to then call my senators to ask how this is allowed to fly. But as I scrolled down the article, I saw that the headline totally misrepresented the ad. The ad really says, "'Killing Jews is worship that draws us close to Allah.' ---Hamas (aka hateful Terrorist organization) TV (emphasis mine.) That's His jihad. What's yours?"

      Henry, I have no desire whatsoever to get involved in the first amendment debate. Heck, the point of this post is not even to comment on the appropriateness or lack thereof of the ad, (for the record I am not so comfortable with it). For those who missed the meaning of the ad, the ad is quoting (disparagingly) a terrorist organization bent on killing Jews. Yet, the headline I read from the Washington Post made no mention of that whatsoever. So one who merely reads that headline, might very well come to similar conclusions that I did; that rather than mocking Hamas, the ad is calling for the murder of thousands of my Jewish brethren.
       The point of the blogg post, oh Henry, is to point out, as the Torah does in many places, that we have to be very careful before passing judgement.  The Talmudic tractate known as "Ethics of our Fathers" teaches the following pieces of brilliance: 1) "Be slow in judgment." 2) Judge everyone favorably. 3) Do not judge your fellow until you are in his shoes." The overwhelming theme here, oh Henry, is that before passing a definitive judgment on anything in life, we need to do the necessary research. How many times do we negatively judge a person, only to flip-flop our opinions of them once we find out what agonizing circumstances that person is grappling with in his or her life? How do we feel then? Something I have learned in life is that EVERYONE has got STUFF that they deal with in their lives. How would we do under such circumstances? Can we really assume we would act any different? What right do we have to judge them? Do we want people to judge us? How can we expect others, or for that matter, G-d himself, to give us the benefit of the doubt, when we are so quick to form negative opinions of everyone else?
      We live in a world dominated by twitter and two-second sound bytes. Our attention span is only good for about 140 characters, or about 4.5 seconds. But we owe it to ourselves to improve in this area; before forming opinions about anything we read or see on social media, we need to make sure to do our due research, just as we must be very hesitant to pass quick judgment on our peers. Instead of living life at the super high speed most of us live in this smartphone, instant gratification society, we need to slow down, become more thoughtful and try to keep everything in perspective, both in how we engage the media, and in how we relate to each other.

Forever yours,
Danny Wolfe

      

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Don't do Drugs- it's that Simple

Dear Henry,

      Today is April 20th. To me, as soon as I hear 4/20, I think back to 1999 when I was in 7th grade, watching from a Denver dentist office the aftermath of the Columbine massacre which prematurely claimed the lives of 12 high-school students and a teacher. I vividly remember the images of dozens of kids running out of their school with their hands up over their heads. I remember mourning with them from my living room as I watched their candle light vigils from my television. I remember crying every time I listened to the beautiful song "Columbine friend of mine" by Jonathan and Steven Cohen. I remember the references to how April 20th also coincided with Hitler's birthday.

      It is therefore always very painful for me when I hear of how excited everyone is each year on April 20th, because 4/20 is also the unofficial Marijuana holiday where everyone celebrates marijuana and lights up, or consumes some brownies, as the case may be. I am pained not only from the tragic memories of 1999, but also because of the fact that taking a drug called marijuana has become an unofficial national holiday. I honestly don't know if marijuana was a thing when I grew up in Denver Colorado in the 90s and early 2000s, because I spent my time hanging out at Walmart and going cow tipping in Crowley County, but one thing I do know for sure is that I never had the slightest desire to partake of it.

       You see, dear Henry, as a rabbi it is very easy to tell the good folks out there what they want to hear. It is a lot more difficult to bring things up that they might not want to hear. I reckon that out of my thousands upon thousands of devoted readers across the span of the universe, a whole bunch of them smoke weed-- to all of you out there, I love you dearly and G-d forbid you should think I am passing any judgment on you whatsoever. But, like a parent would want to point out a problematic behavior to his/her child out of nothing but love, so too I am blowing the whistle on weed smoking/ consumption out of love. In short, oh Henry, it's coming from a good place.

       About five years ago, I had the good fortune to live in the lovely Washington Heights Manhattan. Most days were grey and dreary, there was often dog poo littered on the ground and the smell of fresh urine emanated from the streets. Despite all of that, I will never forget observing my son Avrumie's reaction to the scenic views: from his stroller he bobbed his head from side to side, excitedly taking in all of the sights and smells. I realized that for this child, he was literally seeing the world for the first time-- and the world-- even the Heights--is a pretty spectacular place. This morning, as I recited the morning prayers on this grey and rainy Up-State day, I couldn't help but notice the greenness of the grass, in contrast to the grey, colorless sky. I couldn't help but be moved. Later that same morning, I observed my 3 month old princess basking at the sights of her play mat- (pictured below) kicking and squealing in utter delight. The complex patterns and colors literally brought her to a state of ecstasy. This past Shabbos, as I shifted my attention from child to child, relishing in how precious and special each one of them is, I felt higher than a kite. 

      Humanity is created, the Torah tells us, in G-d's image. Each and everyone of us is G-d-like. In Judaism, we are commanded to be Holy, and to be a "kingdom of priests, and a holy nation." We believe that we are imbued with all the tools we need to live a lofty, high, elevated life. There is no need for outside substances, which bring this to us in a fake way, which I am told promotes laziness and apathy, and a depressing downward spiral when the high wears off. There is no need for this substance, which for many brings with it, paranoia, or anxiety. Judaism teaches we can reach this euphoria not by lighting up, but by simply learning to open our eyes and perceive the abundance of light.

Forever yours,

Danny Wolfe