Moses said to the people in his final charge "I put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life...Be strong and resolute..for the Lord will not forsake you" Deut. 30 and 31. Former US National Debate Champion and Ordained Rabbi tackles issues of Public Policy, Israel, Islamic Terrorism, Antisemitism, Jewish Wisdom and the Chicago Bears
Monday, October 19, 2026
The ridiculous award of Nobel Peace prize
Here's how sick the Nobel prize for peace award is. The lady who won it presided over the international criminal court decision that Israel committed genocide in Gaza. No mention that there would not have been a single casualty in Gaza. Had combassinat invaded Israel and killed 1200 Israelis taken hostages and wounded thousands. No mention of the fact that every single household entered by the IDF in Gaza had some connection to terror, no mention of the fact that every terrorist in Gaza fighting violated international law by not wearing uniforms. No mention of the fact that Hamas tried very hard to have their own civilians killed. No mention of the fact that the population of Gaza has massively increased, hardly a genocide. No mention of the fact that before the atrocities of October 7th come on, which hamasque Bradley and happily recorded, they sent 20,000 missiles from Gaza into Israel to try and kill civilians. No motion of the fact that the hummus charter calls for the death of every Jew in the world. No mention of the fact that when you compare civilian deaths to terrorist deaths and Gaza impartial observers admit that it's got the lowest recorded rate of civilian death to combatant deaths of any major conflict. And no mention of the fact that just recently a huge number of American leading military officials said there was no genocide in Gaza..
refuting the book Polarized: Why American Jews are Divided and What to Do About it by Roberta Rosenthal Kwall
Response to the Book on Polarization
I appreciate your effort to tackle an important subject in American Jewish life. However, I think you are wrong on every single issue you discuss, and I offer the following points of rebuttal.
Number One: Like many in American Jewry, you think that you can gain credence with the haters of the Jews by trying to appease them with your leftist talking points. This is only going to undermine your security and the security of the State of Israel, and it will add fuel to their fire.
Our enemies are aggressively trying to undermine Israel and delegitimize the Jewish people, drawing on a classic antisemitic playbook that has been used for centuries. Rather than recognizing this as a propaganda strategy, you are playing defense with tired old lines that do not change anything. We should learn from Israel's example: be strong, stand firmly, and act with the confidence that comes from knowing we are in the right and have a mission to accomplish. We should not apologize for defending ourselves, our people, or our state, nor should we bend to the forces trying to weaken us and destroy us.
Number Two: Your entire premise is flawed. Jews have always been polarized. It is built into the Jewish system. I could give you every example you could possibly want from the Bible, the Second Temple period (Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, and others), the medieval and premodern periods (Hasidim, Mitnagdim, the Enlightenment), and modern times (Zionists versus anti-Zionists, denominations, Democrats versus Republicans, etc.). Just as the name Israel means the struggle with God, it also suggests struggling among ourselves. It is inherent and not fixable.
Number Three: You assume that polarization is bad. The Talmud suggests that disagreements can be very good, as long as their purpose is to disagree for the sake of Heaven and not for your own personal aggrandizement.
Number Four: All of your proposed policy points, which you think we can rally around to end polarization, are terrible and dangerous and undermine our security and well-being.
A. The Two-State Solution
You suggest the two-state solution. There is virtually no support for it among the vast majority of Israelis, who now have to live with the consequences of that decision after decades of terrorism and, especially, October 7. The two-state solution would leave Israel only nine miles wide in the center of the country's population, which would make it indefensible.
It is also clear that there is virtually no support among the Palestinians for a two-state solution. They want one state without any Jewish control. For the small faction that pays lip service to the idea of a two-state solution, the real agenda is to use it as a launching pad to destroy Israel.
Take note of the fact that the main chant arising among the left now is “Free Palestine,” which means no Jews, “from the river to the sea,” which means no Jews.
And where do you get the idea that you could get a consensus of American Jews on this issue? Just as one example, I write this as someone who participates with Chabad. Are you unaware that the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who set the agenda for the movement, said that not one inch should be given over to the so-called Palestinians? How in the world are you ever going to convince the adherents of Chabad, and so many Israel-loving Jews, to adopt this ridiculous idea of two states?
B. The Right to Criticize Israel
You say that we can all agree that we have a right to criticize Israel. That is the ultimate arrogance and hubris on your part. You live in Highland Park, Illinois, in the United States of America, and do not have to live with the consequences of decisions made by the millions of Jews who actually vote in Israel and who live in Israel and live and die with the consequences of their votes.
Who are you to tell the citizens of Israel that their decisions are wrong and that the government they elect is wrong? There are plenty of Jews in Israel who can do that just fine. They don't need you adding fuel to the fire of the antisemites and Israel-haters here, who will take what you say and respond, “Oh, even Jews say this.”
Even if you claim that you say it out of love, and even if you are criticizing only 5% of Israeli policy, the Israel-haters and Jew-haters will use it to demonize and delegitimize Israel.
C. Condemning Settler Violence
You say we can all agree on condemning settler violence.
“Settler violence” is widely exaggerated, misleadingly defined, and used to delegitimize Israel and Jews living in Judea and Samaria. We do not deny that some incidents involving Jewish violence occur; rather, we dispute how frequently they occur, how incidents are classified, and how they compare with Palestinian violence against Jews. The term itself is misleading.
Reports inflate the scale of the problem by counting incidents that do not constitute violence by Jewish settlers. Examples include:
Palestinian attackers being injured or killed during attacks on Israelis.
Clashes involving Israeli security forces.
Jewish visits to the Temple Mount.
Visits to archaeological sites, traffic accidents, and alleged trespassing without harm to people or property.
Incidents in which the reporting does not establish who initiated a confrontation.
The overwhelming majority of violence in Judea and Samaria consists of attacks by Palestinian terrorists who try to kill Jews. When you talk about agreeing that settler violence is a bad thing, you are shielding the real perpetrators of the violence.
D. The Palestinian People
You are giving legitimacy to an illegitimate people. Historically, there is no such thing as a Palestinian Arab people, and I could give you many examples of Arab leaders over the course of time who have said that.
As you probably know, Palestine was the name given to the area by the Romans in 135 CE in an attempt to de-Judaize it. Since that time, the name Jewish Palestine was used in various contexts. The Palestine Post is now The Jerusalem Post. The Palestine Symphony Orchestra is now The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Palestinian currency all had Jewish symbols on it. There was a chief rabbi of Palestine, etc.
Yasser Arafat and the Russians made up the Palestinian people in the 1960s to try to delegitimize Israel, and they convinced people like you to use their terminology.
E. Israel's Right to Exist as a Jewish State
You say we can get a consensus around the idea that Israel should exist as a Jewish state. Where do you come up with that idea?
Democrats might give lip service to the idea that Israel should exist as a Jewish state, but they obviously don't mean it when 40 out of 47 senators, including Jews in the Senate, vote for an arms embargo against Israel, or when 100 Democratic congressmen, including Jews, vote for an immediate cutoff of aid to Israel.
What are they saying when the highest-ranking Jew in the country, Chuck Schumer, endorses a candidate from Maine who wears a Waffen-SS tattoo and endorses what I consider the biggest antisemite ever to run for public office? That candidate is also endorsed by most Democrats, including the Jewish senator from Michigan.
Or consider the Jewish attorney general of Michigan, who said that perhaps Judaism has to sacrifice itself for world peace.
There is a synagogue in Chicago that explicitly identifies itself as an anti-Zionist synagogue, and there is a new Jewish day school opening that advertises itself as anti-Zionist.
There is no consensus among American Jews that Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state. If you do not listen to all the American Jews who now say, “I vote here, not there,” or “Why do I need to support Israel just because I'm a Jew?” you are ignoring what I hear people saying explicitly.
So, no, you are wrong on this issue, too.
F. The Desire for Peace
You suggest that we can all agree that we want peace. Jews want peace. We pray for it constantly, but the Palestinians do not want peace.
Every home the IDF entered in Gaza was, in your view, part of a society participating in the effort to kill Jews. They aided and abetted thousands of missiles coming into Israel, and they cheered wildly when Jews were killed on October 7. Hamas specifically calls for the killing of every Jew in the world.
Abbas, who still refuses to call elections after more than 20 years, continues to pay terrorists who killed Jews through the “pay-to-slay” system.
There is no real effort for peace in the Palestinian world, and to believe otherwise is delusional. So what good does it do for us to pray for peace and pretend that the other side also wants peace?
G. Fighting Antisemitism on the Left and the Right
You say we can get a consensus around the idea that we should fight the antisemitism of both the left and the right. The problem with that is that it is completely one-sided: 95% of the antisemitism comes from the left.
Every single undeclared candidate for president in 2028 on the Democratic side has made strong anti-Israel statements, and I could give them to you if you'd like.
Their last candidate for president said that she empathized with the students on 300 college campuses who were calling for “from the river to the sea” and “globalizing the intifada.”
The candidates being elected to office and winning their primaries now, who are openly antisemitic and openly anti-Israel, are all on the left. The one Republican who was openly antisemitic lost his primary, and Tucker Carlson is himself a Republican.
So to pretend that the situation is balanced is just nonsense.
You are a professor of law, and the law is supposed to be about justice and truth.
In sum, your book is completely flawed. The polarization that you want to fix is unfixable until the Messiah comes, and the ideas that you believe we could rally around to achieve consensus are ridiculous. There will never be a consensus on those issues.
Giving in to these leftist ideas to try to appease our haters never works. Just look at what has happened since October 7. The State of Israel is immeasurably stronger today because of its own fortitude, its willingness to fight hatred and evil, and President Trump's support. Hamas is weaker. Hezbollah is weaker. Syria has a new government. Iran is weaker. Israel is by far the dominant power in the Middle East. By contrast, American Jewry is on its heels. We now spend a billion dollars trying to defend our synagogues and schools, and we have no answer for combating the virulent antisemitism that has arisen on the left. Your appeasement of those forces has never worked; it will only further endanger us and the State of Israel.
We need to rally around the ideas of intensifying Jewish life and education, as well as educating people about the fundamental role that Israel plays in the world and its strategic value to the United States. We are never going to convince the antisemites, but we can try to win over the vast majority of Americans who are not crazy. Your book does not help.
You're playing defense with tired old ideas that won't move the needle at all and will Aid and a bett our enemies. Israel did not become the dominant power in the Middle East by playing defense and shrinking back.
you have to play offense aggressively. call out the lie that they're saying about us and assert proactively that the brilliance of our tradition in our Jewish
Institute for National Security Studies blaming Israel for diaspora problems is classic shtetl mentality
the article https://www.jta.org/2026/10/18/ideas/report-israeli-policies-erode-diaspora-jews-security-and-influence?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_20450508&utm_source=JTA_Iterable&utm_campaign=JTA_Sunday_Ideas&utm_medium=email
I read with great interest and then disgust,,the report by the Institute for National Security Studies about supposed Jewish leaders across five countries and the price the diaspora is paying for Israeli policies. It's a typical example of shtetl mentality: a report by Jews who think that appeasing antisemites will make things easier for us. Has that ever worked? It has only made things worse.
Their assertion is that Israeli policies regarding Gaza and the settlers exacerbate tensions in the diaspora and endanger diaspora Jews.
This is ridiculous and dangerous on two different levels.
First, have they forgotten that there are millions of Jews in Israel who have lived under threats to their very existence since the country's inception? Israel tried to play Mr. Nice Guy in Gaza. After completely withdrawing in 2005, it adopted a policy of “mowing the lawn,” conducting limited military operations to kill terrorists over the years while facing tens of thousands of missiles launched from Gaza.
Israel tried the peace approach by inviting its Gaza neighbors to work in the kibbutzim near Gaza. How did that work out? Those jihadis simply used their work there as a way to scout out how best to kill the citizens. Have they forgotten October 7? Israel was invaded by thousands of bloodthirsty terrorists who beheaded babies, raped women, mutilated victims, and committed other atrocities. They took hundreds of hostages, killed 1,200 people, and wounded thousands. And these people think Israeli policies are the cause of the problems we're facing?
The very next day, charges of genocide against Israel began. Encampments on more than 300 college campuses across the United States sprang up almost instantly, well financed, as evidenced by the $500 designer tents in which students were living. They were chanting “From the river to the sea,” which means no Israel. They were chanting “Globalize the intifada.” They were calling for genocide. This began on October 8. Do these people really think Israeli policies caused that?
Who's the victim here?
The charge of genocide is a complete lie. The population of Gaza is larger than it was before the war. If Israel were trying to commit genocide, it would be doing a pretty awful job. Hamas doesn't wear uniforms. Its terrorists hide among the civilian population and enjoy support from many civilians. The IDF has reported that there was evidence of Hamas activity in virtually every home or building its forces entered. The wild cheering in the streets of Gaza on October 7 demonstrates that support.
How did the United States and its allies respond to the Japanese and the Nazis? We dropped atomic bombs on two Japanese cities and firebombed Tokyo and Dresden. Israel was much more careful about protecting civilians in Gaza. Many reports have argued that the ratio of civilian deaths to terrorist deaths was lower than in almost any other conflict in history. And yet this report by Jews blames Israel.
Then there are the settlers. First of all, they're not settlers. They are Israeli citizens living on historic Jewish land that was illegally occupied by Jordan between 1948 and 1967. And the vast, vast, vast majority of violent incidents in Judea and Samaria involve Arabs trying to kill Jews, not Jews trying to kill Arabs. This is another classic left-wing attack on Jews, and this report supports that attack.
The enemies of the Jewish people aren't worried about niceties. They don't believe Israel has a right to exist. Just look at the candidates running for office in the United States today. There is a report that the mayor of Boulder cannot say whether Israel should exist. The Democratic candidate for Senate in Michigan cannot say whether Iran or Israel poses the greater threat.
You're not going to appease these antisemites. There is no appeasing them.
Have the authors of this report no understanding of Jewish history? The focus of the Jewish community should be on the fact that the genocide charges are a lie and that the famine charge was a lie. These terrorists threaten Western civilization, not just Jews. After they're done with the Saturday people, they're going to go after the Sunday people.
Israel has every right to defend itself, and it has done so in a much more careful way than the Allies did regarding civilians during World War II.
This is a shameful report. Classic shtetl mentality
Jews in the diaspora are not going to be better off. if the Jewish leaders start turning on Israel. we'd be much better off if you defend Israel vigorously. just take Israel as the example. they're in a much more dangerous neighborhood than we are and they are much stronger after October 7th because they took a strong position. You're not going to get the anti-semites to like us. you have to have them fear us. The irony of October 7th is that Israel is much stronger. today. Hamas is weaker. Hezbollah is weaker Iran is weaker. Syria's got a new government Israel's by far the dominant military and economic power in the Middle East and yet diaspora Jews are reeling in a defensive mode and we're taking a weak position. based on this report. It's nonsense.
Surely there are many people in the West who understand the dangers of Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism and need to be persuaded that the danger is not Israel. The danger is Islamic terrorism and Israel and President Trump are right now the best basis for fighting it and and the world needs to get behind Israel's efforts to fight it.
The Palestinians are a made-up phony people that never existed before the 1960s. There was virtually no serious peace movement. They have tried to kill Jews from the inception. They want to steal Jewish land and create another terrorist Muslim State. Why in the world would diaspora Jewish leaders not use all their energy to fight that which threatens Jews and the West?
Can't these people understand They're trying to divide us to split the diaspora at community from Israel weaken the Jews. That's what Obama tried to do by setting up j Street. It's never worked. It's dangerous. Stupid counterproductive. We need a unified Jewish community. It's bad enough. We have so many traitors among Us, like all those Jews in Congress voting for arms embargo against Israel Aid cut off against Israel. You have the Michigan Jewish attorney general saying maybe Judaism has to go away to for the benefit of humanity. Get on board!
Sunday, August 30, 2026
Democrat senators lie about settler violence
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Thursday, January 1, 2026
Bnai Chai -Reform style chavurah (small synagogue) in Chicago's North suburbs
Bnai Chai -Reform style chavurah (small synagogue) in Chicago's North suburbs
Reform Synagogue Deerfield/Northbrook /dues under $200!!!
We are a chavurah of empty nesters who want the camaraderie and identification of belonging to a Jewish religious organization, (Reform style and pro Israel) but who do not want the burden of buildings and board politics. It’s easy to be a member; you can be as involved or not, as you please. We are a sociable group, and as you might expect, friendships form based on chemistry and shared interests. We make time for schmoozing at services and have both Jewish and secular events. Even though we are a small budget entity, we are blessed by our Rabbi’s erudition and desire to teach. We have a wide range of religious practices and political views among us and all are welcome, but keep politics out of it.
High Holiday Services
Very low dues
Monthly shabbat services with tasty kiddush and shmoozing following in Deerfield
Monthly social dinners out and activities
Holiday events for Sukkot, Chanukah, Purim, Pesah, Shavuot
Monthly zoom class
Pot luck shabbat and holiday dinners at the Rabbi’s
We come from Deerfield, Highland Park, Lake Bluff, Vernon Hills, Evanston, Glencoe, Glenview, Lincolnwood, Northbrook, Prospect Heights, Skokie, Wheeling, Wilmette, Winnetka, Lake Forest, Morton Grove, Des Plaines and others
Tuesday, August 9, 2022
20 examples of how Democrats are wrecking USA in every way so all they can do is hate on Trump and deny anything bad is happening.
20 examples of how Democrats are wrecking USA in every way so all they can do is hate on Trump and deny anything bad is happening.
Why is Biden polling worse than every other president at this stage? Because sensible Americans recognize
The ONLY thing Joe has Built Back better is the Taliban terrorists of Afghanistan
The Democrats control the White House and Congress and everything about the US has gotten much, much worse. It happens every time a Democrat is a president. Obama had the worst growth ever over 8 years and the world was on fire during his terms. Now it is even worse.
1. Biden economy in shambles.
Ignore the Fake News Media Spin; The Economy Is Dreadful ⋆ https://tiny.iavian.net/1p8my
A.Record inflation because of Dem policies. The AVG. US family have $6800 in extra expenses because of Democrat's inflation.
B.Recession.
C. Shortages of many goods.
D.The stock market is cratering
E. The "new" jobs they claim merely replace the jobs lost When Democrats needlessly shut down their economies. Many 2nd jobs. Part time.
Less employed now than when Biden took over https://www.nationalreview.com/.../july-jobs-report.../
July Jobs Report: Closer Look Shows Workers Under Strain | National Review https://tiny.iavian.net/1p6qv
F. Biden lies about cutting deficit. Biden's claim he 'reduced' deficit debunked in federal report https://tiny.iavian.net/1ozzz
G. And now “The Biden Democrats have put together a new
fiscal deal which will raise taxes by $739 billion
designed to make the recession worse - and $433 billion in additional spending designed to make the inflation higher. So naturally, this dreadful bill is being called the ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ of 2022.”
- Larry Kudlow
H. 61% live paycheck to paycheck under Demoeconomics
I. 20 year record jump in credit charges https://www.marketwatch.com/.../americans-credit-card...
J. Our econony worst of all major economies
K. Democrats new plan will increase inflation, so says 230 economists https://www.foxbusiness.com/.../230-economists-warn...
2. Record crime because of Dem policies of defunding police, no bail, no prosecutions, telling police to stand down. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/.../democrats-push-to
Shortage of police now because of Dem war on police 'We're triaging': Cops combat violent crime as ranks dwindle https://tiny.iavian.net/1p8sv
AOC's district 57% increase violent crime while she advocated defunding police
3. 2x as many covid deaths as under Trump
4. no control over our southern border leads to a surge in drugs, traffickers, sex traffickers, terrorists, gangs
Biden Is Accelerating The Illegal Border Invasion https://tiny.iavian.net/1p8sm
5. Hillary concocting and financing the phony “Russian collusion” hoax www.wsj.com/.../hillary-clinton-did-it-robby-mook
6. thousands rampaging in the streets, looting, burning, shooting with police told to stand down billions in damage during the George Floyd riots, as Dem politicians cheered them on. https://thehill.com/.../508687-democrats-are-now-the.../
7. Disastorous education policies: Dems pushing for 2nd-grade grandchild being told about the greatness of transgender in public school. Dem school unions push the major history textbook in public school teaches that America is a terrible nation, and parents who want input in their kid's public education are labeled "domestic terrorists" by Biden's Attorney general.
Want to impose racist and dangerous Critical Race Theory on our children
8. Biden seeing to it our military getting weaker www.washingtontimes.com/.../a-weak-biden-weakens.../
9. Dems against people proving who they are, to vote. In order to continue cheating. We need ID for everything but voting?
10. Dems think people should be given priority because of the color of their skin and not based on merit.
11. Dems do not believe in free speech and prefer a society where people are canceled for expressing their opinion
12. Dem leaders call for ignoring or abolishing the Supreme Court when you don't get your way www.thehill.com/.../3536731-maxine-waters-on-scotus...
13. Dems just shifted their historic direct racism (segregation, KKK, slavery,) to more camouflaged racism. The racist Democratic Party has shifted its racist tactics to facilitating murder and family dissolution of blacks. www.washingtontimes.com/.../dems-plan-race-based. Democrats control most large cities with significant black populations, where the black-on-black murder rate is enormous. https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../2d9e4ef6-93e0-11ec...C
. Until the Democrats enacted the “Great Society” programs under LBJ in the 60s, blacks were quickly catching up to whites. Since then, the number of babies born to unwed teenage moms has skyrocketed, and high school dropouts, gangs, and crime have risen dramatically. https://www.wsj.com/.../entitlements-welfare-public
14. Worst foreign policy: terrorist Taliban taking over Afghanistan because of Biden's inept pullout,
Isis rebuilding after Trump crushed them, Iran having enough nuclear capacity to make bombs,
Russia at war.
Provoking China into war
15. Democrats' war on fossil fuel: Biden made us energy dependent instead of independent under Trump. Bidens war on gas. www.heritage.org/.../commentary/bidens-energy-screw
16. They believe a cat that identifies as a dog is actually a dog.
17. The top 10 cities people are fleeing are all run by Democrats. https://lm.facebook.com/l.php...%
18. Unbelievable Dem corruption. Biden and Hunter. “I’ve Delivered”: New Disclosures Demolish President Biden’s Denials on Hunter Dealings https://tiny.iavian.net/1p0vx
Smoking Gun: Newly Discovered Emails Confirm Joe Biden Obstructed Justice for His Son’s Foreign Business Deal https://tiny.iavian.net/1p5l4
Pelosi and insider trading.
Hillary and phony Russian collusion
19. More Americans going hungry in Biden's America More Americans Are Going Hungry, and It Costs More to Feed Them https://tiny.iavian.net/1p5ib
20. Endanger national security by selling off our emergency oil reserve https://www.ipaa.org/why-draining-americas-strategic.../
21. Weaponize the IRS and add 87000 new inquisitors to harass the middle class and small businesses in the midst of record inflation and a recession.
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