Call Terrorists by Their Real Name

“Welcome to the Factory, I’m Bill O’Moskowitz your host. We’re in the no BS zone and here we tell you the truth, as it is not in the lame stream media. Tonight we take on the PC police who refuse to call a band of criminals by their real name.

There is a group of religious extremists led by a fanatic clergy who use a very narrow and literal interpretation of their scripture. They have a seeming hold over government authorities in a number of countries who allow them a great deal of leeway in dictating modest dress, separation of sexes in public and in transportation, limited education for women, punishment and excommunication for leaving the fold and a seeming relaxation of the criminal code for their adherents, particularly sex offenders.

The PC police refuse to call them by their real name claiming that their religion is a religion of love and respect but as you’ll only hear it here on the Factory we all know they are talking about Ortho-Thieves. Calling them just thieves empowers them and allows them to insinuate themselves amongst us – degrading regular crooks who are after all are more like us.

What’s worse, every time one of these financial terrorists gets caught all we hear from the Obama administration is that we need more regulation. Money doesn’t steal from people, people steal from people. Regulating finance won’t stop dishonest people from committing these crimes so we best not push that anti freedom regulation crap again. Every time one of these Ortho – Thieves gets caught the administration raises the regulation flag instead of fighting a war on extortion and bribery. We need to carpet bomb Boro Park, Williamsburg, Mea Shearim and Bnei Brak  then we won’t need any financial oversight. When the bad guys are wearing beanies or long black coats in the middle of summer, we need to specify exactly what they are, Ortho – Thieves. If we don’t call them out we will never be able to fight the havoc they are causing worldwide.

Just this week, the federal prosecutor in the southern district of New York busted a ring of Ortho – Thieves who were bribing police commanders. It is alleged that the influence peddling might go as high as the mayor of New York himself. One of the Ortho – Thieves caught up in that investigation was known to federal authorities as far back as the 1980’s but has always managed to evade prosecution. There ought to be a congressional committee investigation to find out the link between Israel, Ortho – Thieves and the US government.

While most news outlets refer to them only as the accused, only here on the Factory and in the New York Times do we identify them as what they are, Orthodox Jews. As we’ve said many times on the show before, not all Orthodox Jews are financial criminals, but most financial criminals are Orthodox Jews.

We need to also demand that Orthodox leaders denounce publicly and vehemently these Ortho – Thieves. For too long rabbis use their pulpits to incite these crimes by demanding high synagogue membership dues, tithes and private school education and promising them a place in the inner circle of heaven and a seat near the eastern wall of the shul. They bestow honors and platitudes on them calling them martyrs and zealots. Many of these Ortho – Thieves are heroes in their community and even have plaques and building cornerstones with their names on them.

When some are actually caught and brought to justice the community holds prayer vigils and loudly denounces the long sentences given out. When they finish serving their sentences they are given honors and parties in their synagogues. Most go back to their old positions of prominence in their communities. One even went back to being the Interior Minister in his home country.

The time has come to stop the PC police from identifying Ortho – Thieves for what they are, financial terrorists and Elders of the Protocols of Zion who are trying to take over the world and enforce their outdated, fanatic form of Judaism on all of us. That’s the no BS zone for tonight.”

The World is Going to Pot and Israel is Leading the Way

Israel is the “Start-Up Nation” but did you know that it is also the cannabis nation? While legalized marijuana, whether for medical or recreational use is spreading in the United States, the drug is now legal in 23 states, it is hindered by the classification of cannabis as a class I narcotic by federal law. As a result, research into the medical benefits by US companies runs into resistance from the Drug Enforcement Agency and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Israel has no such restrictions and is now a world leader in innovation on the use of cannabis for treatment of PTSD, MS, Colitis, Tourette’s syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease and pediatric epilepsy among others.  

While marijuana conjures up images of Jeff Spicoli from “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and Cheech and Chong, the cannabis industry is spearheaded by chemists, doctors, agronomists and geneticists. As far back as 1960’s Dr. Raphael Meshoulam a medical chemist at the Hebrew University, isolated then separated Tetrahydrocannabinal (THC) and Cannabidiol (CBD) the active ingredients of the cannabis plant. He then proceeded to study its medicinal uses. He is at 85 years of age the godfather of medical marijuana.

America’s experiment with prohibition of alcohol was an admitted failure and grandfathered in the rise of organized crime. Legal now, there are few scientists or medical professionals that can point to many if any benefits of alcohol use. The Center for Disease Control estimates that there are 88,000 deaths in the US every year related to alcohol but virtually none from pot. With new delivery systems, vapor, edibles, pills, oils and creams the danger from smoking cannabis is greatly reduced. The prohibition of cannabis is a failure as well and it’s not just the successful ballot initiatives in 23 states that prove it.

The discrimination against cannabis, despite its proven medical benefit dates back to the early 1900’s when the Mexican Revolution brought immigrants to the US with their untraditional use of cannabis as a smoking filler. Cannabis, a legal over the counter substance at the time was widely used in pills, powders and oils but was never smoked. The new Mexican arrivals used the Spanish name marijuana for cannabis and Americans, fearful of too much Spanish influence, used the new name to demonize the drug.

While tobacco and alcohol remain legal, have little to no medical benefit and are proven to cause illness and death, cannabis remains a class I narcotic. With America so central to international commerce, the class I rating of cannabis make it difficult for trading partners to liberalize their cannabis laws. American tobacco companies can be responsible for millions of deaths around the world but cannabis researchers from other countries cannot benefit from top-notch laboratories and research centers here. The class I narcotic rating denies researchers of the benefits of federal grants and other assistance that would give thousands, perhaps millions of sufferers the advantages of cannabis treatment.

In Israel, the government has shown a stubborn resilience to funding research on the medical benefits of cannabis and has been writing the rulebook on implementing its legal use for medical purposes. Combined with a vocal minority seeking complete legalization the protocols written in Israel for legal use of cannabis is copied throughout the world. So the world is going to pot and once again, Israel leads the way.  

This Tisha B'Av Special Meaning

Jewish tradition teaches that the destruction of the Temple which took place on the ninth day of Av, Tisha B'Av, was caused by baseless hatred between Jews. This fast day has long been used to symbolize the many calamities that have befallen the Jewish people in its long history. The Ultra Orthodox, who shun anything secular prefer Tisha B'Av to Yom Ha Shoah to remember the worst genocide in human history. Not only is the book of Lamentations read on this day but so are many other dirges written years after the destruction of the temple memorializing other great Jewish tragedies.

Since the founding of the modern State of Israel and after the liberation of Jerusalem in 1967, many question the usefulness of the day. Why lament past tragedies when we finally have returned home, have a strong defense force and are free to pray at our holy sites? Some years those questions resonate with me, after all the Temple was destroyed over two thousand years ago and if you know the history, we Jews did not exactly set a perfect example of how to run a non corrupt religious center. How much meaning can the day possibly have?

Yet, every few years and unfortunately more often in the recent past, the usefulness of Tisha B'Av as day of reflection becomes very obvious. Anti Semitism rears its ugly head every so often but lately it has taken on new levels of extremity. While the world is seemingly falling apart; Russia/Ukraine, Syria, Libya, ISIS, Iraq, Afghanistan, drug wars, gun violence and a host of other problems, a small regional conflict seems to occupy the time and minds of just about everyone. That conflict of course is the Israel/Palestine one. In comparison to those listed above it should be considered a minor one, but of course it's different because Jews are involved.

Like many supporters of Israel, I have been glued to my computer and television following the latest involving the current conflagration in Gaza. As an American I take solace in knowing that most of my fellow countrymen support the Middle East's only democracy against a radical Islamist terrorist group bent not only on the destruction of Israel but on the destruction of America and all of Western civilization. Yet, I fear that this bit of good news is overshadowed by an intermingling of anti Israel sentiments with flagrant anti Semitism. Israel is now the aggressor in this narrative and Israel to the haters includes all Jews.

In Belgium, a doctor refuses to treat a Jewish woman and tells her to go to Gaza to see how it feels. In the Netherlands a coffee shop places a sign that reads "Dogs ok, Jews not welcome." Anti Israel protests in Great Britain feature swastikas and signs reading "Hitler was right" and "Back to the gas chambers." In France it is dangerous to walk outside looking Jewish and synagogues are attacked as if they were an extension of the Israeli foreign ministry. On social media not only are lies being disseminated about the war in Gaza but ugly invective is used against those like myself who defend Israel's right to defend herself.

In the digital era truth has many faces to different people. It allows those who hate to find further excuses to not only hate but to be public about it. It allows for propaganda to be discoursed as if it was truth. It takes lies and half truths and indicts a whole people with it legitimizing calls for the destruction of one people, the Jews.

So this Tisha B'Av I fast and I mourn and I cry because it seems like the end is once again near. While I pray that hatred against my people ends I also pray for peace and the cessation of hostilities that take the lives of innocent civilians. I pray that people focus not just on one small corner of the world but that we focus on the whole ugly picture and find solutions to wanton killing of Muslims, Christians and Jews in the name of God. This Tisha B'Av will has special meaning to me and I pray that it does for you as well. 

An Appreciation - Sue Moskowitz 36 Years After Her Passing

Thirty six years ago today my mother, Sue Moskowitz, passed away after succumbing to breast cancer. She was forty six. I, the youngest of four children was fourteen. Mom had her left breast surgically removed shortly after my bar mitzvah. That was followed by close to a year of chemotherapy; the chemo of the 70's that caused hair loss, bloating, nausea and vomitting. When her treatment ended we made a party at our house to thank God for what we believed was the end to a scary nightmare. The party was on January 15th 1978, Superbowl Sunday. The Dallas Cowboys were playing the Denver Broncos in Superbowl XII and more than one guest told mom that there were few people in the world they would miss the game for and she was one of them. In appreciation of mom's finishing her chemo, my father pledged what was a considerable sum for him, a schoolteacher, to the Ramaz building fund, the school where he taught.

The celebration was joyous and full of hope. Between score checks, the guests, all close friends toasted mom and gave wishes for her continued health and long life. Unfortunately, the optimism of that day was short lived. A few short months later during the seder in our home, one which mom insisted on preparing for and inviting to it her brothers and their families, she took ill and retired early to her bedroom. She had relapsed and the cancer had spread. My brother's wedding due to take place in June in Denver was moved to New York so mom could attend. My sister, engaged but without a wedding date, rushed to get married. Both weddings took place within two weeks of each other that June. She was gone by July.

As mom's situation deteriorated to the point of no return, I was summoned back from Camp Massad Bet to say goodbye and be with her at her last moments. I thought I had myself under control and I thought I understood what was happening. In retrospect of course, I had no clue just how painful and shocking this really was and what a profound impact it would have on the rest of my life.

We were all given a few minutes to be alone behind the curtain to say some final words to mom who was slipping in and out of consciousness. I remember telling her that I was sorry for all the trouble I caused her and that I just wanted her to get better. Through her morphine induced haze she told me, "enough zeeskeit, enough." I could not sit in the room any longer for this vigil of death. Mom, did not look like herself. Gone was the beauty, the warm smile, the sparkling eyes and the soft words of a loving mother. Lying there was a jaundiced, bald and bloated woman who told us how scary it was not to be able to breathe. I ran to the waiting room and stared into space. Friends tried to console me, keep me company and hold me. I wanted none of it. I wanted to be left alone, to stare out at the beautiful sunny day watching people on the streets of New York going about their business, just another day for them, oblivious to the pain and trauma a fourteen year old was going through at that very moment just a few windows above them.

I was interrupted by a family friend who told me I must come "now." I went up to mom's bed where I watched her take her last breath, her yellowed eyes seemingly staring at nothing and no one. My sister cried, "she's there but she's not there." The doctor, a family friend, closed her eyes, removed some tubes and covered her with a sheet. I would learn from him during the shiva that he went into a private room afterwards and cried like a baby. "Your mom," he told me at the shiva, "was a special woman." I may have known that, but hearing it gave me strength.

I knew my mom only through the prism of a child. I was deprived of the mature relationship an adult  son has with his mother. I missed out on what would have been sage advice at critical times in my life. From then on I didn't come home to the wafting smell of homemade cookies or fresh, clean laundry pressed and waiting in my drawers. I learned to shop for food, prepare meals, do laundry, clean house and prepare for Shabbat. I gained weight because I had no idea how to balance a meal or that frying everything was not a good idea. Already a weak student, I barely got by. I thought I was coping but the reality was much different, I was falling into a deep depression. If not for the kindness of my father, close friends, classmates, my siblings and some select few teachers, I easily could have become a statistic. Somehow, I plowed through and survived.

I learned to deal precisely by not dealing. I buried my pain and let it manifest itself in other emotions, particularly anger. I was angry and became rebellious. I got uncomfortable when people brought my mom up to me. I could not associate all the warmth and good she gave me for the fourteen years I had her, mention of her became synonymous with death and pain, something I learned to bury deep in the recesses of my sub conscious.

Mom wasn't known for great scholarship, though she was well read. She wasn't a gourmet but everything she made for us was delicious and comforting. She wasn't afraid to try things and fail, then try again and get it right, pecan pie being but one example. She wasn't afraid to go back to work when a second income was needed and relearned to drive when that became necessary. Mom is remembered by just about everyone that knew her as warm and welcoming. Our house was rarely empty. Not a Friday night dinner, Shabbat lunch or Seudah Shlisheet was without guests, this in addition to those guests who were spending the whole Shabbat with us already. Mom's house was the first place people from Israel came to, asking to stay a few nights. Many stayed for years. When my brothers went to Yeshiva University, their out of town friends were ubiquitous in our home Shabbat after Shabbat. Every Friday before Shabbat came in mom had a list of people she called to wish a good Shabbat. Most of them were my father's aunts, uncles and relatives, all of whom had lost most of their family in the Holocaust. If they didn't have there own nieces and nephews or children to call them, she would.

Over a thousand people attended her funeral on a hot July day when many people are away. I saw old men and young women, people I barely knew crying at the loss. She had touched so many with her smile, her warmth and her ability to make everyone feel special.

I am not shy to express myself in so many ways about so many issues, but for thirty six years I could not bring myself to write much or speak about my mom. Yet not a day goes by that I don't think of her, miss her and wonder what my life would be like had she been around. Having my father with me for fifty years has taught me that I missed out on so much that I needed in life from my mom. While I am blessed to have had her for those fourteen years, her absence from my growing into adulthood, marriage, children, a grandchild and other milestones has been an irreplaceable void in my life. I believe though that from her I learned to unconditionally love of my children and I pray that they are the people they are today in no small part due to her.

I may not have fully recovered from the pain of losing her, but I am hopeful this is a start. Instinctively I know that she understands me, what I went through and how I handled myself. Somewhere, in that spiritual afterlife my mother's soul is being lifted a bit higher. For that I can finally say I take some comfort.

The Government Shutdown and The Pew Research Poll on Jews

This week we faced a government shutdown and the publication of a poll about Jews and I found glaring similarities between them - both indicate that ideology is winning out over practicality and in both instances there is a failure of leadership. It really doesn't make a difference which side you are on regarding the government shutdown, the bottom line is that a minority of hard liners are holding the process of negotiating a settlement hostage to orthodox doctrine that while arguably admirable is just simply not practical and outright harmful to a majority of Americans. The Pew research poll on Jews indicates a depressing decline in the number of Jews who identify themselves as such but a growing number of hard line ideologues gaining strength through a stubborn refusal to find unity.

Take for instance a letter published this week by Agudath Israel of America basically calling out Yeshivat Chovevei Torah as a non-orthodox institution. YCT, an Orthodox Yeshiva, founded by Rabbi Avi Weiss an Orthodox rabbi and now led by Rabbi Asher Lopatin have committed the sin of giving women a larger say in religious life and for reaching across the aisle to dialogue with rabbis and leaders from other denominations. It certainly does not help that the supposed centrist Rabbinical Council of America will not allow YCT graduates to become members nor will they recognize their ordination.

Oh, these ideologues will use as proof the solid growth of Orthodoxy to justify closing more doors to liberal thinking. If we just go by numbers then they are in fact correct. Look as well to the Reform movement, still the largest denomination of Judaism but many, myself included, feel that the numbers are somewhat skewed because the threshold to entry is frankly not that high. The Reform spend a lot of time and resources doing outreach to the non-Jewish spouse in intermarried couples and little to strengthen the identity of those Jews already in their camp.

The Tea Party will look to the electoral gains they made in recent elections as proof that sticking to doctrine is a recipe for success and will shun any compromise regarding the budget. At least in the case of the government shutdown there is no lunatic fringe on the left refusing to compromise. The poster boy for the ire of the Tea Party is a President who has proven time and again a willingness to compromise and governs from the center. It is not a stretch to believe that the President's race is a major factor in the blind hatred he engenders from the Right Wing nuts. But that is a whole other subject.

Leadership in both instances have failed us. Our political leaders both left and right have turned the other way as the influence of money has ambushed and kidnapped the process of governing. Our leaders have proven time and again that it is easier to save big business than it is to bail out the little guys hurt by the reckless behavior of those very same businesses. Individuals who commit lesser crimes than the fat cats on Wall Street are prosecuted regularly while those fat cats pay fines that amount to slaps on the wrist and are almost never criminally prosecuted. Compromise or middle ground on those issues seems to have gone the way of the rotary phone.

So too our religious leaders. Rather than finding a way to be inclusive they slowly draw a larger divide against those that don't think like them. Orthodoxy might be strengthening and even growing in numbers but no one will say that Orthodoxy is becoming more tolerant. The face of Modern Orthodoxy    has so drastically changed that it is unrecognizable to those of my generation who grew up in the 1960's and 70's. Soon, the Modern Orthodoxy I grew up in will replace the Conservative movement as centrist Judaism and likely be called something else. The new Modern Orthodoxy will be people with college and/or professional degrees who wear black hats or long skirts. The paradigm is shifting and in the process we will lose Jews who cannot find a home in any denomination the same way we are losing the Silent Majority of Americans who feel alienated by the political process.

What we need is nothing short of a reverse revolution, one that validates the ideologies of all but finds a middle ground where we can all live together. Saner heads must prevail or ten years from now Judaism and America will look nothing like they do now.

Thoughts on 5773 Hopes for 5774

A new year brings with it sentiments for what has passed and resolutions for what is yet to come. The Jewish New Year in its true religious form is an opportunity for reflection and repentance. The liturgy for the Jewish New Year states that God waits for our repentance and even if it is given on our last day here on earth He will grant it to us. Of course we don't know when our last day of life is, thus repentance according to tradition is a perpetual state of mind. The High Holidays are a gift from Him so that we are awakened to repentance since our natural instinct is not necessarily to be focused on that all the time.

As I get older I get less anxious about this season. When I was growing up and being educated in the tradition of my people, fear and guilt permeated my psyche this time of year. In one of the most poignant prayers said on the High Holidays we lament over who shall live and who shall die. Who will go in his time and who will go before his time. Who by fire and who by flood and so on. This reading seemingly puts the verdict in the hands of God, our chief justice, jury and executioner. Reality seems different to me now. Who really is responsible hurricanes, tsunamis, tornados, tidal waves and other severe weather? Who really is responsible for severe draught that brings on miles of fires that destroys everything in its path? Who really is responsible for wars, street violence, rape, school shootings and the use of chemical weapons. Who really is responsible for heart disease, cancer, birth defects, AIDS, malaria and polio?

I can believe in God and also believe that He is not so much the micro manager, tradition and liturgy will have us believe. We are very much in control of who shall live and who shall die, yet we conveniently place blame in God's hands so we can shirk our responsibilities to ourselves, to others, to our planet, to our environment and to all we are blessed with. It is more convenient to believe that climate change is a hoax than to help clean up the ozone layer. It is more convenient to think that war and violence happens elsewhere while our cities are plagued with gang wars and shootings. It is more convenient to lament the rising costs in health care when a few more ounces of prevention can save millions. It is more convenient to blame the worldwide financial crisis on the rich and the banks or for them to blame it on the welfare dependency culture. It is convenient to blame political gridlock on the other side.

We should start with ourselves. 5773 was a frightening year on a macro level. Wars continue unabated in various regions of the world. Hurricanes and fires caused death and destruction on to large a scale. Financial uncertainty continues for most everyone while partisan bickering prevents a reasonable solution. Yet throughout all this on a micro level we all live with our own ups and downs. For me the highlights of 5773 was finding out that I will be a first time grandfather in 5774, that my son graduated from college and my daughter from high school, that my 84 year old father continues to maintain good health, that he and his wife enjoy life and their children, grandchildren and great grand children, that my friends and family celebrate milestones together. On the darker side I prepare to lose a close friend to an inoperable, untreatable brain tumor. I live with the anxiety of building a new business. I fear for my youngest child spending a year in Israel having to always carry a gas mask and be prepared to run into bomb shelters. I worry for a son who has to enter an impossibly insurmountable job market. I am petrified for a son in law who as a member of the United States armed forces is about to return to Afghanistan where even our friends don't really care for us.

As I contemplate all these things the most I feel I can ask from God is that he give us the wisdom to begin to heal the world and to fix its problems. I also urge Him to give us the appreciation and foresight to be thankful for all that we have and the ability to hold on to it without screwing up too badly, to live in the moment with our focus on the future, to improve our own lives and the lives of those around us. I cannot bring myself to pray to God and ask him for personal specifics but I will meditate and pray that we the people, both collectively and individually, will find the wisdom to better ourselves and the world we live in.

International Toilet Day

There is a lot going on in the world and unfortunately not much of it is good. The Middle East is in flames, climate change has battered every part of the world, a worldwide global economic slowdown is transforming Europe into a backwater, Asia, ascendent for a while is also in recession and worldwide terrorism has not abated enough yet to declare victory. Hidden in all these tragic stories is the fact that 800 million people worldwide live without clean drinking water and 2.5 billion people live without proper sanitation. Today, November 19th is International Toilet Day and a day to consider that particular problem.

While some will argue that this ongoing problem can take a back seat to the more immediate problems of genocide in Syria or the rockets falling on Tel Aviv, I argue that all of these issues are linked. Failure to act on the water problem will exacerbate worldwide turmoil and lengthen worldwide instability. International conflict has transformed from territorial conflicts to competion for resources. Powerful countries need not occupy land anymore, they just need to have access to vital resources. Some will argue that intervention in Syria is impossible because Syria has no oil, while Libya which does, got plenty of help in its revolution.

Having had the opportunity to work and do business in a developing country for the past year I have learned a great deal about how the other half lives and I don't mean the wealthy other half. My family, friends and neighbors had to struggle through a 2 week power outage due to Hurricane Sandy. Protracted power outages in Africa are common. Residents of New Jersey rightfully were fuming at FEMA for not sending enough drinking water to their ravaged state. In much of rural Africa, large swaths of Asia and South America there in never any clean drinking water. Roads, bridges and tunnels destroyed by the hurricane will be rebuilt in due time. The lack of access roads in the above mentioned areas is a humanitarian crisis that has been going on for decades.

While armed conflict can only be resolved by either surrender or peaceful negotiations, the bottom line is that it takes two to tango. Conflict can either be resolved or it can abate and while it may need some outside parties to push for a resolution one way or the other, it CAN be stopped with political will. Humanitarian crisis' can ONLY be resolved through international effort. Solving the water crisis is not only the right thing to do, it's good for business. With clean water and toilets we can eradicate diseases such as cholera, malaria and TB. Poor rural farmers will have more money in their pockets to grow more crops. A greater, healthy labor pool will be created to build more roads, factories, hospitals and schools. Countries that are being drained of citizens, creating a refugee crisis worldwide would be better able to keep their population in place. Resources will be labored by local workers rather than foreigners. It will free up resources to help in conflict areas and it will definitely help the worldwide economy.

The AIDS crisis was slowed down tremendously, particularly in Africa due to a concerted international effort. Providing working toilets and drinking water to those who lack it can be achieved via the same efforts. While we are right to protest the brutality in the Middle East, the corrupt mishandling of the worldwide economy and the total lack of interest in climate issues, we must also be resolute in ending the sanitary/water crisis. It may not be as glamorous a cause as "Save the Whales" but it's at least as important. So today on International Toilet Day, when you flush, think about how that simple act that you take for granted, that isn't spoken about much in polite society - is something over 2 billion people worldwide can't ever do.

http://www.worldtoiletday.org/