Israel – Page 5 – Dave's Gone By

Dave’s Gone By Skit: RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #103 (7/6/2014): Brothers’ Keepers

click above to listen (audio file)

RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #103 (7/6/2014): Brothers’ Keepers

aired July 5, 2014 on Dave’s Gone By. Youtube clip: http://youtu.be/fS3rlY_ICn0

Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of July 6th, 2014.

This is for all the Israel bashers, Palestinian apologists, Muslim excuse makers, and other misinformed idiots of the world: Israel is mad as hell, and they’re not gonna take it anymore. Nor should they. You wanna talk peace? You wanna talk statehood? You wanna talk dismantling settlements? Go ahead. Press your lips to your asshole, and talk all you want.

Meanwhile, Israel is going to open a can of whoop-ass on Hamas, and it’s lonnnnnnng overdue. What’s the latest abomination? Three teenagers, 19, 16 and 16, were hitchhiking in Israel. They were kidnapped, they were brought to the West Bank – which, I remind everyone – is also a part of Israel. At some point over the last two weeks, they were murdered there, in cold blood, and the bodies were found on Monday in a shallow grave. These young people were not spies, they were not terrorists, they were not rabble rousers, and judging by their outcome, they were not great judges of character, either.

Hamas was founded in 1987 as an offshoot of the so-called Islamic Brotherhood. Their goal was to push Israel into the sea. Not just take over the West Bank and Gaza, but the whole country, that Palestinians could then turn back into a pre-historic sandpile. For awhile, Hamas made believe it was interested in negotiating. Maybe there could be a two-state solution. Maybe Israel could push back to its pre-1967 borders, and tolerate the occasional scud missile and exploding restaurant, just for old times’ sake. But just this year, Abu Marzouk, the deputy chairman of Hamas told an Arab newspaper, quote, “Hamas will not recognize Israel. This is a red line that cannot be crossed,” unquote. That’s okay, Abu baby, Israel recognizes you, and your cohorts. And when they see you, they’ll put a bullet in your head.

How many times, how many years have I spent saying that radical Islam is a scourge, that these Arab countries cannot be trusted, and that Israel has a right to defend itself by any and all means possible – including tickle torture and episodes of “Teen Mom.” If the Palestinians want to live somewhere, let them knock on the doors of Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait – we’ll see how welcoming their Arab neighbors are to these tired, huddled masses, yearning to move out of democracy and into Sharia law.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas will pay for its killing. These boys, he said, “were kidnapped and murdered in cold blood by animals” – that’s his word, not mine. Well… and mine – animals! And may the punishment not only fit the crime but outscale the crime by 3000 to 1; a thousand times the pain for each of the three innocents murdered by people who use Mohammed as a weapon and Allah as an excuse. Meanwhile, Israel needs to build more settlements in the territories – not take them down, build more. Because we won that land, rightfully and righteously, in wars brought upon us by the children of Hagar. And I don’t mean Hagar the Horrible; he’s a Viking and really not that horrible. His wife’s a little unpleasant, but even she and he together are not comparable to the lawless, soulless, terrorist slime that squats on 98 percent of the Middle East.

But I will say this for the other two percent. It’s been reported that some Palestinians, and even the Palestinian Authority, helped out during the two weeks of searching for these missing boys. There was actual cooperation during the rather beautifully named “Operation Brother’s Keeper.” Certainly, gratitude and good wishes go to everyone, whatever their background, who tried to lend a hand. But, of course, Arabs being Arabs, after a few days of house-to-house searches and bad traffic and inconvenience, the rank and file turned to rebellion and violence and wishing the Israelis dead.

Well, back atcha, towelheads. Let the rockets fly, let the round-ups begin, let the falafel balls fall where they may. In the Book of Deuteronomy, God says, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” Get ready, Hamas, `cause payback’s a bitch.

This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches in Great Neck, New York.

–> https://davesgoneby.net/?p=27586

Dave’s Gone By #472 (7/5/2014): TO DAVE IS THE HIGHWAY

click above to listen to the episode (audio only)

Here is the 472nd episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, July 5, 2014. Info: davesgoneby.com.

Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with singer songwriter Eric Andersen and with Gene Kelly archivist Patricia Ward Kelly. Plus: Rabbi Sol’s Rabbinical Reflection on the murdered Israeli teenagers, a birthday salute to Beck and Bob Dylan: Sooner & Later (Like a Rolling Stone).

Guests: musician Eric Andersen, biographer Patricia Ward Kelly, Dave’s wife Joyce

00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce
00:36:00 SATURDAY SEGUE: Beck
00:59:00 Sponsors
01:04:30 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Eric Andersen
01:55:00 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #103 (Brothers’ Keepers)
02:01:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (Like a Rolling Stone)
02:27:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Patricia Ward Kelly
03:35:00 DAVE GOES OUT

July 5, 2014 Playlist: “Girl” (00:36:00), “Heart is a Drum” (00:39:30), “Movie Theme” (00:44:00), “The New Pollution” (00:48:00) & “The Golden Age” (00:51:30; Beck). “Violets of Dawn” (01:04:30), “Beat Avenue” ({excerpt} 01:21:30), “Sheila” (01:38:00), “Dance of Love and Death” (01:47:00), “Hello Sun” (01:52:30) & “Rollin’ Home” (03:42:00; Eric Andersen). “You Can’t Relive the Past” (01:13:30; Eric Andersen & Lou Reed). “Thirsty Boots” (01:32:00), “Like a Rolling Stone” (02:02:30), “Like a Rolling Stone” ({early version}; 02:09:00) & “Like a Rolling Stone” ({live Manchester version}; 02:13:00; Bob Dylan). “Like a Rolling Stone” (02:10:30; Sebastian Cabot). “Good Morning” (02:24:00) & “Singin’ in the Rain” (02:51:30); “Singin’ in the Rain” 1952 soundtrack w/ Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor & Gene Kelly). “The Worry Song” (03:05:30) & “You Wonderful You” (03:32:00; Gene Kelly).

*Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar & Naftali Frenkel*

Dave’s Gone By Skit: RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #91 (2/9/2014): SodaStream and ScarJo

click above to listen (audio file)

RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #91 (2/9/2014): SodaStream and ScarJo

aired Feb. 8, 2014 on Dave’s Gone By. Youtube clip: http://youtu.be/rxtEvftNrTU

Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of February 8th, 2014.

So many times in my Rabbinical Reflections, I am forced to take celebrities over my metaphorical knee and spank them for their misdeeds and maladjustments. Justin Bieber, Charlie Sheen, Ryan Dunn, Lance Armstrong – the list is an embarrassment of Richie Riches. I am delighted, therefore, to offer something different this week: a Hollywood star with a good head on her shoulders. She also has good shoulders and a great rack. But I come to praise Scarlett Johansson – not for the bubbles on her chest, but for the bubbles in her glass. She is the spokesperson for SodaStream, a company that helps you carbonate your own water, so you can make your own soft drinks.

Half-Jewish on her mother’s side – which makes her all-Jewish to me – Scarlett Johannson is one of the most glamorous actresses in Hollywood. She’s so hot, Woody Allen actually looked away from a 10-year-old to make her his muse. And she’s so in-demand, she can pick and choose what she wishes to advertise or promote. Her latest choice? Seltzer. What could be more Jewish than that? Only, it isn’t called “seltzer” anymore. It’s called “sparkling water” or, if you’re a lower tax bracket, “soda.” Back in the day, we used to call it “two cents plain,” but now nothing’s plain when you’re trying to sell it, and the only thing you can buy for two cents these days is one penny.

Anyhoo, in 1991, Peter Wiseburgh, a nice Jewish boy from Israel, bought SodaStream from Cadbury-Schweppes and made it the biggest purveyor of shpritz in the world. You don’t want to pay two dollars for a liter of Coca Cola? You don’t want all the caffeine and sugar of Pepsi? Can’t bring yourself to try that Mexican pineapple soda because, well, it’s Mexican pineapple soda? You buy a machine that looks like a mixer, then you get these canisters of carbon dioxide. In goes the glass of water, in goes the syrup, mix it up and voila – in three minutes you have a glass of soda … that would have taken you ten seconds to pour from a Coke can, but nevertheless. With Sodastream, you can control the level of carbonation and the amount of goo. Plus, you’re not opening a giant cola bottle that in three days goes flatter than Debra Messing in a sports bra.

So there is much to recommend in the home-made soda idea and the Sodastream company, which has factories all over the world, including three in Israel. And ay, there’s the rub. Two of the factories are in parts of Israel that the Arabs don’t think belong to Israel. Granted, the Arabs don’t think any of Israel belongs to Israel, but in this case, they’re specifically talking about the so-called “occupied territories” – land that Israel won, fair and square, in wars fought decades ago. I know I sound like a broken record – and for you kids out there, a record is a round vinyl thing with a hole in it that your grandparents used to play music on. Look it up. Anyhoo, I’ve said time and again that the Palestinians have millions of other miles they can live on, so if they feel oppressed in a Jewish state, they can get themselves a two-hump U-haul and move.

Still, they bitch and moan about Israel occupying land – it’s not “occupied,” shitheads, it’s annexed. And if you want Israel to bulldoze homes and let go of it, you damn well better give us peace in return. And maybe a few of those 70 virgins you’re always talking about, just to sweeten the deal.

One organization taking up the misguided cause against Israel is something called Oxfam. No, that’s not Gabourey Sidibe’s parents, it’s a non-profit initially formed to fight the war against poverty all over the world. Somehow, alas, the honorable mandate to feed the hungry morphed into a more vague “human-rightsy” sort of a thing, which slid into a political agenda and has now warped into anti-Israel propaganda. Oxfam wants people to boycott Sodastream because the factories are making beverages on land where the Palestinians should rightfully be making bombs. Defenders of Sodastream say the hundreds of Arabs who work at the company are well-treated, make a decent wage and have a life they could never aspire to beforehand.

So where does Scarlet Johansson belong in all this? Well, in my bedroom, if life were fair – but no, the actress was caught up in the controversy because she was an ambassador for Oxfam. I say “was” because last week she handed in her resignation. Why? Because ScarJo is also the spokeswoman for Sodastream. She even did a sexy commercial for them that debuted during the Super Bowl! She’s wearing a bathrobe and sucking on a straw. You don’t have to be Freud to know what’s really going on…she’s thirsty! For soda!

When the Oxfammished begged her to drop the company, Scarlet Johansson dropped them, citing, quote, “a fundamental difference of opinion,” unquote. That’s legalspeak for: “I’m Jewish, you’re idiots, the West Bank is part of Israel, Israel is a Jewish homeland, Sodastream are the good guys, and in the interest of international peace, I really should tweet more homemade nude photos on the internet.” Okay, I added that last part, but you know what I’m saying.

Ironically, the Scarlett Johansson Sodastream ad was nearly censored from the Super Bowl. Not by Oxfam or for any political reason, but because she mentioned Coke and Pepsi, and CBS crapped itself worrying that those monster advertisers would pull out if they heard their product being disparaged by the actress who played Natasha in “The Avengers.” The ad stayed, but the line was cut. I guess we know who has the real political power in this country…

But Scarlett Johansson, for being a mensch and standing your ground – that ground being the holy sand of Eretz Yisroel — I toast you holding a glass brimming with Sodastream. Mmmmmm good. Actually, it’s Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray, don’t tell anybody.

Thank you ScarJo. This has been RebSolSol coming to you from TempSoBi, Great Neck, NeeYo.

–> https://davesgoneby.net/?p=27843

Dave’s Gone By Skit: RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #88 (1/19/2014): Ariel Sharon

click above to listen (audio file)

RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #88 (1/19/2014): Ariel Sharon

aired Jan. 19, 2014 on Dave’s Gone By. Youtube clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USb-IKF3eU8

Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of January 19th, 2014.

It is with a sad heart that we bid farewell to Ariel Sharon, the former Prime Minister of Israel who died last Saturday at age 85. The end was a blessing because he’d been in a coma for the past eight years. Imagine, eight years without any kind of physical activity. Sort of like a Jewish marriage.

But seriously, Ariel Sharon was a war hero and a statesman and the kind of leader Israel needed again and again in its battles with the Arab world. In the 1948 war for independence, he was wounded but survived and came back strong. He was aggressive and rude and cocky – honestly, you’d never know he was Jewish. But he sure was, and in the 1950’s, he fought constantly against terrorism – sometimes killing civilians, which isn’t nice, and sometimes killing murderers, which is very nice. In 1967, as a general, Sharon took on Egypt and beat them in a war that lasted all of six days. I can’t get a passport in six days, this guy wins a whole freakin’ war.

And then in 1973, when the Jews were attacked on Yom Kippur – our holiest day of the year (if you don’t count Barbra Streisand concerts) – with Egypt’s Third Army massing against us, Ariel Sharon led 5,000 tanks over the Suez Canal and turned the tide of the war. Ariel Sharon was our Patton, our Sherman, our sword of vengeance and great protector.

Yes, he was a hawk, but kicking Egypt’s ass on Yom Kipper helped bring on the Sadat peace talks. And Sharon was willing to compromise for peace a lot more than other hawks around him. For years, he encouraged Jewish settlements in the so-called “occupied territories” – and why not? Gaza, the West Bank – those are places that Israel won, fair and square, in wars. What’s the point of conquering enemy territory if you’re not gonna build a Starbucks on it?

However, when Israel began negotiating with the Palestinians – or at least tried to – and settlements were standing in the way of progress, Ariel Sharon went in there and started pulling Jewish families out of their homes. Their land was then given over to Palestinian rule, and the Arabs were so grateful, they started sending rockets over with little red bows and thank-you notes. Oh well. The whole land-for-peace thing is a crock, but you can’t say Sharon didn’t try.

Now, no question, this man had blood on his hands. One time, he blew up an Arab village that he swore he thought was abandoned. It wasn’t. Well, it was when he got through with it. Another time, Sharon had the army surround a refugee camp and then allowed the Lebanese Christian militia to go in and look for terrorists. They may have found some, but it’s hard to tell, since the Phalangists wound up slaughtering all the refugees. So much for Christian charity.

But if I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a trillion times: Israel is a safety net for the Jewish people. New York is over-crowded, and Miami has too many flying bugs, so Jews need the teeny-tiny country of Israel as their homeland. Arabs have all the rest of the Middle East and North Africa to call their own. All you need is a turban and a Koran, and you have eight-and-a-half million miles at your disposal. By comparison, Israel is the size of a King Soopers – and not even one of those big King Soopers that has furniture and garden supplies.

Ariel Sharon was our security guard. He was so feared and hated by our enemy that his mere visit to the Temple Mount set off a wave of Arab riots. I haven’t seen that kind of negative reaction to a personal appearance since John Tesh played Bonnaroo.

A big man with big appetites, Sharon paid for his high living with a stroke that put him on life support for nearly a decade. No one knows if he saw, heard or understood anything that was going on around him. Kind of like Chris Christie. But if those tragic eight years – plus the deaths of two wives and his only son – were payback for the bad things Ariel Sharon did, let the next thousand millennia in heaven reward him for his courage, his tenacity, and his devotion to Eretz Yisroel. Thank you, bulldozer.

Yisgadal veyisgadash shmei rabba. Beʻalma di vra khir’useh, veyamlikh malkhuseh, beḥayekhon uvyomekhon, uv’cḥaye d’chol bet yisrael, b’agalah uvizman kariv, v’yimeru amen.

This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches in Great Neck, New York.

Dave’s Gone By #454 (1/18/2014): THE PROFESSOR AND . . .

click above to listen to the episode (audio only)

Here is the 454th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Jan. 18, 2014. Info: davesgoneby.com.

Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with actress Dawn Wells (“Gilligan’s Island”). Plus: Inside Broadway, Saturday Segues (dawn & zevon), Dylan – Sooner & Later (dawn), Rabbi Sol’s Rabbinical Reflection on the passing of Ariel Sharon.

host: Dave Lefkowitz

guests: actress Dawn Wells, Dave’s wife, Joyce

00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce (Gilligan’s Island, Dave’s birthday)
00:13:30 News Items w/ Joyce (google glasses, laser beams, 420 signs, Haribo gummies, technology curve, cheese pervert, MLK)
01:22:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Dawn
01:54:00 Sponsors
01:58:30 INSIDE BROADWAY
02:24:30 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Dawn Wells
03:17:00 Weather & Friends
03:25:30 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (dawn)
03:54:00 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #88 – Ariel Sharon
04:01:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Warren Zevon
04:27:00 DAVE GOES OUT

Jan. 18, 2014 Playlist: “The Cheese Alarm” (01:05:30) & “Visions of Johanna” (03:33:30; Robyn Hitchcock). “Trayvon” (01:22:00; Dave Lefkowitz). “Minstrel of the Dawn” (01:27:00) & “Long Thin Dawn” (01:48:00; Gordon Lightfoot). “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn” (01:30:00; Van Morrison). “Violets of Dawn” (01:34:00; Eric Andersen). “Dawn is a Feeling” (01:38:00; Moody Blues). “Golden Dawn” (01:40:00; Nikki Sudden). “New Dawn Coming” (01:44:00; Cowboy Junkies). “Beautiful” (02:20:300; Carole King). “The Ballad of Gilligan’s Isle” (02:23:30; The Eligibles). “Dawn Wells Potato Peeling” ({youtube video}; 02:43:00; Dawn Wells). “You Need Us” (03:11:30; The Honeybees from “Gilligan’s Island”). “Meet Me in the Morning” (03:26:00), “You Wanna Ramble” (03:30:00), “Where are You Tonight” (03:41:00). “The Envoy” (04:02:30), “Play it All Night Long” ({live}; 04:05:30), “For My Next Trick I’ll Need a Volunteer” (04:09:00), “The Sin” ({live}; 04:12:00), “Tenderness on the Block” (04:15:30) & “My Ride’s Here” (04:19:30; Warren Zevon). “Happy Birthday to Me” (04:32:30; Cracker).

Dave’s Gone By #439 (9/28/2013): EARLY MORNING COMIC

click above to listen to the episode (audio only)

Here is the 439th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Sept. 28, 2013. Info: davesgoneby.com.

Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with songwriter Brian Gari (Late Nite Comic). Plus: Inside Broadway, Saturday Segue (October), Rabbi Sol on Syria, Dylan – Sooner & Later (mood swings).

Guests: songwriter Brian Gari, Joyce

00:00:01 Pre-Show
00:03:30 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce
00:34:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – October
00:59:00 Sponsors
01:01:30 INSIDE BROADWAY
01:29:30 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Brian Gari
02:51:30 Friends
02:55:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (mood swings)
03:08:30 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #077 – Syria
03:14:00 DAVE GOES OUT

Sept. 28, 2013 Playlist: “October Winds” (00:35:00; The Clancy Brothers). “August October” (00:37:30; Robin Gibb). “Song of Brown October Ale” (00:40:00; Michael Van Engen, Earl Rivers & Cincinnati’s University Singers). “When October Goes” (00:42:30; Nancy Wilson). “October” (00:46:30; U2). “October Song” (00:49:00; The Incredible String Band). “October Song” (00:53:00; Amy Winehouse). “Gooch’s Song” (01:24:00; Mame 1966 Bway cast w/ Jane Connell). “He’s an Old Cat” (01:27:30), “My Dad” (01:34:30), “The California Dream” (01:45:00) & “While They’re Still Here” (02:42:00; Brian Gari). “Stand Up” (02:11:30) & “Late Nite Comic” (02:45:30; Late Nite Comic 2007 20th Anniversary recording w/ Chip Zien & Rupert Holmes). “Baby, I’m in the Mood for You” (02:56:30), “When I Got Troubles” (02:59:30) & “Cold Irons Bound” (03:01:00; Bob Dylan). “Can We Go Home Now?” (03:15:00; The Roches).

Dave’s Gone By #436 (8/31/2013): THE SOUND OF SILENTS

click above to listen to the episode (audio only)

Here is the 436th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Aug. 31, 2013. Info: davesgoneby.com.

Featuring: Dave’s chat with silent-film accompanist Ben Model. Also: Inside Broadway, Saturday Segues (Loudon Wainwright III & Van Morrison), Rabbi Sol Solomon on Egypt, Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (another self portrait) & more!

Host: Dave Lefkowitz

Guests: silent-film enthusiast & accompanist Ben Model, Dave’s wife Joyce.

00:00:01 Pre-Show w/ Joyce
00:02:30 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce
00:26:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – Loudon Wainwright III
00:48:30 INSIDE BROADWAY
01:08:30 GUEST: Ben Model
02:02:00 Sponsors & Weather
02:05:30 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (another self portrait)
02:25:30 Friends
02:31:30 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #75 – Egypt Again
02:37:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Van Morrison
02:45:30 DAVE GOES OUT

Aug. 31, 2013 Playlist: “The Swimming Song” (00:27:00), “B-Side” (00:29:30), “Whatever Happened to Us” (00:32:00), “Westchester County” (00:34:00), “Carmine Street” (00:37:00), “No Knees” (00:40:00) & “You Can’t Fail Me Now” (00:42:00; Loudon Wainwright III). “Alone with Me” (01:04:00; Hands on a Hardbody 2013 Bway cast w/ Mary Gordon Murray & Keith Carradine). “Untitled” (00:01:07 & 01:33:00; Ben Model). “Allegro Agitato” (01:50:00) & “Gaiety” (01:58:30; Arthur Kleiner). “Went to See the Gypsy (Demo)” (02:08:30), “Annie’s Going to Sing her Song” (02:11:30), “This Evening So Soon” (02:14:00), “Pretty Saro” (02:18:30) & “Time Passes Slowly #1” (02:21:00; Bob Dylan). “Youth of 1000 Summers” (02:37:00) & “Redwood Tree” (02:41:00).

Dave’s Gone By Skit: RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #47 (11/25/2012): Gaza Gaza Hey

click above to listen (audio file)

RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #47 (11/25/2012): Gaza Gaza Hey

Aired November 24, 2012 on Dave’s Gone By. Youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSL0TEmRah4&feature=youtu.be

Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of November 25th, 2012.

And so we find ourselves once again on the brink of war with our Arab brothers. We warn them: stop firing rockets in Gaza; they fire rockets in Gaza, and Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv. We tell them, recognize the state of Israel so we can have a starting point for peace talks; they want to obliterate Israel, instead. We say, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have to be on the same page so we know whom to negotiate with; Mahmoud Abbas is a figurehead and Hamas fires weapons. It’s the same drek that’s been going on for sixty five years, and the tragedy is that it will go on long after our great-great-grandchildren are sipping prune juice in what’s left of Miami.

And, of course, Israel gets blamed. We’re the aggressors, we’re the ones occupying the territories, we’re the ones who own the pro-Jewish media, we’re the ones who keep making sitcom knock-offs of “Two and a Half Men.” A million and twelve times I’ve given my speech about how Israel belongs to Israel, how the Palestinians should go live anywhere else in the Arab world, and how no matter what Israel does – even if Israel were, God forbid, wiped off the map – that would not stop the Arabs from killing and terror and dragging the world back to the fifth century. If anything, it would only embolden them: “Ooh, we destroyed a democracy filled with people who have different social values. Gee, what other country can we do that to?”

Left-wing pundits are saying that Israel should not refuse to negotiate with terrorists. You have to negotiate with Arab terrorists or else there’s no one to talk to. Fine, let Israel negotiate with Hamas, just like we did with Yasser Arafat – because that was so productive, right? If Hamas, or Al-Qaida, or the Taliban, or the PLO, or the AFLCIO want to lay down their weapons and negotiate a true ceasefire – great, get a room at the U.N., we’ll bring the chips and dip. But sixty-five years of overtures to the Arab world have given us only one peace deal, with Egypt, and God knows where that’s headed after the revolution over there.

I’ll say it one more time: if Arabs want to live in Israel, fine. Let them live IN Israel, peacefully, as Israelis, in a Jewish state carved out of a tiny nugget of the middle east as recompense for the Holocaust. If the Arabs don’t want to live IN Israel, they can move to Jordan, or Syria, or Lebanon, or Iran, or Iraq, or Mexico, or Sudan – actually, I just threw Mexico in there to see if you were paying attention. And if the Arabs want to live near Israel, they have to stop sending us exploding Christmas gifts with “Made in Iran” on them.

Yes, Israel gets gazillions of dollars of weapons from the United States – so Israel can keep the Middle East stable instead of having to send American teenagers to do it. And yes, living conditions are grueling in the occupied territories – so don’t live there! Israel won those territories in two wars, they own it – get over it, get off it.

Israel is not going away. It’s our teentsy-weentsy little homeland, and the Arab world – which really couldn’t give a rat’s ass about the Palestinians or else the Palestinians would all be living there – the Arab world hates the West, hates the Jews, and has no interest in any kind of peace that does not involve total and complete annihilation of its enemies. Well, maybe not complete annihilation. They’d probably want to leave a few hundred behind just to torture.

At this time of Thanksgiving, let us pray for a cease fire, for cool heads and hopeful headlines, for lasting peace, and for a 48-inch HD TV with surround sound. Hey, at least I have a shot at that last one.

This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches in Great Neck, New York.

–> https://davesgoneby.net/?p=29318

Dave’s Gone By #401 (11/24/2012): CONTACT LENZ

click above to listen to the episode (audio only)

Here is the 401st episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, Nov. 24, 2012. Info: davesgoneby.com.

Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with actor Rick Lenz (“Cactus Flower,” “Green Acres”), News Gone By, Inside Broadway, Saturday Segues (turkey, Down Came the Sun), Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection (Gaza Gaza Hey!), Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (Israel).

Host: Dave Lefkowitz

Guest: actor Rick Lenz, Dave’s wife Joyce

00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN
00:09:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – Turkey
00:27:30 SATURDAY SEGUE – Movies
00:35:30 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Rick Lenz
01:30:00 Sponsors
01:35:30 INSIDE BROADWAY
01:44:00 SATURDAY SEGUE: Down Came the Sun
02:04:00 NEWS GONE BY
02:17:30 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #47: Gaza Gaza Hey!
02:24:00 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (Israel)
02:50:00 Weather & Friends – w/ Joyce
03:10:30 DAVE GOES OUT

Nov. 24, 2012 Playlist: “Cold Turkey” (00:09:30; Robyn Hitchcock & the Soft Boys). “Lonesome Electric Turkey” (00:13:30; Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention). “Turkey Lurkey Time” (00:16:00; Promises, Promises; 1968 Broadway cast). “The Thanksgiving Song” (00:19:00; Adam Sandler). “Ho! Ho! Ho! (Who’d Be a Turkey at Christmas?)” (00:22:30; Elton John). “Act Naturally” (00:27:30; Buck Owens). “Cracked Actor” ({live}; 00:29:30; David Bowie). “Western Movies” (00:33:00; The Olympics). “Hollywood Boulevard” (01:25:30), “Waterloo Sunset” (01:59:00) & “Death of a Clown” (02:10:30; The Kinks). “Sundown” 01:44:30; Gordon Lightfoot). “Hurry Sundown” (01:48:00; Peter, Paul & Mary). “Kahuna Sunset” (01:51:00; Buffalo Springfield). “Canadian Sunset” (01:53:30; Andy Williams). “California Sunset” (01:56:00; Neil Young). “Unbelievable” (02:25:00), “Angelina” (02:33:30) & “Blind Willie McTell” (02:40:30; Bob Dylan). “Neighborhood Bully” (02:29:00; Dan Israel & Blood on the Tracks). “Super Duperman” (03:02:30; Dickie Goodman). “Santa Quits” (03:05:30; Dave Lefkowitz).

Dave’s Gone By Interview (10/13/2012): RABBI SAMUEL INTRATOR & Rabbi Sol Solomon

click above to listen (audio only)

Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with Samuel Intrator, former Rabbi of NYC’s Carlebach Synagogue and member of Real Peace Middle East.

Topics include: Israel, Shlomo Carlebach, politics, Real Peace Middle East.

Segment originally aired Oct. 13, 2012 on the “Dave’s Gone By” radio program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.

Note: Interview segments extracted from “Dave’s Gone By” may have music and other elements removed for timing and media re-posting considerations. For the full interview with all elements, please visit the audio of the complete original broadcast.

More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
More information on Rabbi Sol Solomon: http://www.shalomdammit.com