Swedish Jews join IDF to escape anti-Semitism

Found this on Dhimmi Watch Blog from 3 years ago..

August 13, 2004
Swedish Jews join IDF to escape anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism from Muslims in Sweden is directly related to the ideology of jihad and dhimmitude. The Jews, instead of acquiescing to dhimmi status, have stepped out of line by establishing and maintaining a state. That is their offense, whatever enormities of the Israeli army are invoked by Palestinian propagandists; the ultimate offense is that Jews in Israel are not submitting to Islamic rule. This creates a jihadist imperative against them everywhere.
From the Stockholm Spectator blog, with thanks to Ali Dashti:
Mayer calls Sweden “a microcosmic example of what is happening in the rest of Europe.” He notes that “although anti-Semitism is illegal in Sweden, and while most native Swedes might not actually engage in anything of an anti-Semitic nature, they are indifferent to anti-Semitic acts taking place before their eyes and make no effort to intervene.”
“They shy away from conflict,” said Mayer.
“Nadav, the youngest of Mayer’s children is a defiant 14-year old who insists on wearing a Star of David around his neck. As a result, he has been attacked on buses, trains and in the street by gangs of Muslim youth. Only once did a Swede come to his aid and hold off the assailants,” writes the Post.
Then comes the article’s most shocking revelation: “[Nadav’s] elder siblings came to Israel and joined the army, declaring that it was safer for them to serve in the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) than to be exposed to what is happening in Sweden.” (My italics) Am I to understand that the daily threat of death and mutilation at the hand of terrorists and suicide bombers, not to mention the irritation caused by those pesky ISM thugs, is preferable to walking the streets of Sweden? Ouch.

Posted by Robert at August 13, 2004 10:07 AMPrint this entry Email this entry Digg this del.icio.us
Comments(Note: Comments on articles are unmoderated, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Dhimmi Watch or Robert Spencer. Comments that are off-topic, offensive, slanderous, or otherwise annoying may be summarily deleted. However, the fact that particular comments remain on the site IN NO WAY constitutes an endorsement by Robert Spencer of the views expressed therein.)
This is a shocking example of what can happen to a 14yr old Jewish boy in 'liberal' Sweden!I don't know which is worse; to be attacked by Muslim youths for the 'crime' of wearing the star of David around your neck or the indifference of Swedes who witnessed these attacks?? This is how the Nazis started and we know SIX MILLION JEWS DIED HORRIBLY as the result of an Ideology.Posted by: Morgane at August 13, 2004 12:46 PM
To nobody's surprise, the Muslim population in Sweden has been growing fast while attacks on Jews become more common. Two out of three new "Swedes" are immigrants, most of these Muslims:
http://www.spectator.se/stambord/index.php?p=97#comments
In some major places like Malmø, Sweden's third largest city, gang-rapes on native Swedish girls or "too Westernized" Muslim girls is commonplace. A few days ago, an Albanian was stabbed to death by one of the Arab immigrants. The ambulance waited at the scene at least seven minutes before they started helping the stabbed person, who was lying on the ground bleeding to death in front of their eyes. The reason: They waited for the police escort to arrive. As ambulances and ambulance personell are frequently attacked with stones, bottles etc, in this area, they refuse to do anything without police support. Posted by: Ali Dashti at August 13, 2004 1:14 PM
Ouch, indeed.You have to admire the courage and determination of the Jews - it should serve as a lesson and an inspiration to all people facing violent Muslim fanaticism.Posted by: Mike at August 13, 2004 4:39 PM
i don't think it will be long before usa jews startreturning home to israel in larger numbers following those of europe.
hopefully they will see the handwriting on the wall in the DOOM OF THE WEST thank you aramco.
suicidal madness.Posted by: forrestshalom at August 14, 2004 1:37 PM
Re: Mr. Spencer's introductory comments to this piece.
For years I have been trying promote the perspective that the creation of the state of Israel was the beginning of the Dhimmi Revolution, the start of the casting off of the yoke of Dhimmitude. The Lebanon tried to follow and to create the Christian State of Lebanon, but without lacking the post holocaust imperative for survival that the European Jews brought with them to the Levant they were soon overcome and returned to submission by the Syrians.
Personally, it is my opinion that for Israel to survive it must be understood that, despite propoganda to the contrary, Israel is revolutionary and the PLO/Arab/Muslim world reactionary and counter-revolutionary.Posted by: Tziona at August 14, 2004 8:36 PM
posted by Mike
"You have to admire the courage and determination of the Jews - it should serve as a lesson and an inspiration to all people facing violent Muslim fanaticism."
Ah, yes Mike, but what choice do they have? It is live or die - and that simply because they are Jews, for no other reason. Jews want to live just like everyone else. Be assured, however, they are the canary in the mine. What you see happening to the Jewish people will soon be happening to the rest of the world. It is both a warning and a promise of a grim future that awaits. :-(Posted by: paula at August 15, 2004 5:17 AM
More about Sweden:
http://www.cphpost.dk/get/81008.html
Sweden embraces new wave of family reunifications
The family's positive experience was echoed by fellow visitors to the office, Somalis, Palestinians, Iraqis - none of whom had any trouble securing family reunification permits in Sweden. Hiwa himself came to Sweden as a refugee from Iraq in 1998. He later married Sawan, also an Iraqi, and wanted to bring her to Sweden. The only stipulation was a so-called ‘seriousness requirement:’ the couple had to convince the Swedish Immigration Service that their planned marriage was not pro forma.
Meanwhile, as Danish opposition parties quarrel bitterly over whether to roll back the 24-year age requirement, there is virtually no debate in Sweden. This despite the fact that Sweden granted 24,553 residence permits under family reunification last year, compared to Denmark's 4791.
Danish politicians have justified the strict laws as a bid to prevent arranged marriages, or matches coerced by immigrant parents to placate families in the home country. Denmark has also passed a resolution stating that family reunification applications by young people should be rejected if the couple's parents entered an arranged marriage themselves. Sweden's politicians view arranged marriages as a positive tradition: a cultural pattern that immigrants should be allowed to preserve even in Sweden. The Swedish government feels that interfering in arranged marriages is an encroachment upon private life. In addition, immigrant couples can apply for family reunification in Sweden even if they've never seen each other before - as long as the marriage is entered in a culture with a tradition of parents arranging marriages on behalf of their children.
The nation's liberal reunification laws has led to almost double the number of immigrants in Sweden as in Denmark. Out of Denmark's population of 5.3 million, seven percent are immigrants and their descendants. By comparison, immigrants represent 12-13 percent of Sweden's 9 million inhabitants. Posted by: Ali Dashti at August 20, 2004 7:56 AM

Jews under 35 in the US turn their backs on Israel

From the blog Israel America

Monday, October 22, 2007

Jews under 35 would not view the destruction of Israel as a tradgedy
In a disturbing report more than 50% of Jews under 35 would not view the destruction of Israel as a tradgedy, according to a recent study cited in an article in Jewish World Review .according to Sociologists Stephen Cohen and Ari Kelman young Jews often feel alienation towards Israel.Orthodox Jews hold a different view, those for whom their Judaism is important will remain connected to the fate of their fellow Jews in Israel.Sociologists Stephen Cohen and Ari Kelman have now confirmed what everyone already knew: Young American Jews do not care very much about Israel. They are not just apathetic about Israel, that indifference is "giving way to downright alienation," write Cohen and Kelman.More than half of Jews under 35 said that they would not view the destruction of Israel as a personal tragedy. The death and expulsion of millions is something they could live with. By those standards, they probably would not see the Holocaust as a "personal" tragedy either."These results are very upsetting," said Jewish Agency chairman Zev Bielski. He then proceeded to give an inane explanation for those numbers: the comfortable life of most American Jews.Cohen and Kelman know better. And their answer is summed up in the demographic they did not interview for their study: Orthodox Jews. A survey of young Orthodox Jews would have yielded a diametrically opposed and highly embarrassing result.Among younger Jews, those for whom their Judaism is important — primarily the Orthodox — will remain connected to the fate of their fellow Jews in Israel. Most Orthodox American youth will study in Israel after high school, some for many years. And almost all will visit Israel many times. Eretz Yisrael is not a mere abstraction for them, but the center of the spiritual life of the Jewish people.Even an anti-Zionist Satmar chassid living in the secluded village of Monroe will intensify his prayers when Israel is at war and follow the action closely. Why? Because for him the name Jew means something.The majority of young American Jews and the majority of young Israelis share in common a lack of interest in their Judaism. But that shared negativity provides little basis for a relationship. Shared gene pools won't do it either — that smacks of racism. And ethnic identity, it turns out, cannot be passed down, or survive the breakup of ethnically homogeneous neighborhoods.What young Jews under 35 feel towards Israel goes beyond apathy to outright resentment. Israel complicates their social lives and muddies their political identity. Only 54% profess to be comfortable with the idea of a Jewish state at all. In Europe and on elite American campuses, internationalism and a world-without-borders are the rage. The Jews of Israel, with their stubborn insistence on protecting their nation-state, are, as always, out-of-sync.Young American Jews do not wish to be tarred with their atavisms. On campus and where enlightened folk meet, Israel is scorned as a colonial oppressor. Who wants to be identified as a sympathizer with apartheid? Once Reform Judaism disavowed Zionism for fear of being thought disloyal to their host countries, and young American Jews today share similar fears of being out of step with their enlightened peers.Molly Umberger, whose mother is program director of the leftist New Israel Fund (NIF), told the Jerusalem Post that she views both Israel and Palestinians as having made lots of mistakes and the situation as complicated, but generally "tries not to think about [ Israel]." (No wonder when Bruce Temkin, the director of the NIF, describes Israel as a "turn-off.") Daniel Alperin, 33, describes his interest in Israel as waning when he began to hear "the bad stuff" — probably about the time he entered college.Already the trends lines were pointing in this direction forty years ago. In a 1965 Commentary symposium of younger Jewish intellectuals — the least religiously identified segment of American Jewry — only one expressed complete comfort with Israel's creation and pride in its accomplishments, and he eventually made aliyah. The rest expressed various degrees of discomfort with Israel's militarism (and this was before 1967 and the "occupation"). The only Jewish identity they acknowledged at all was that of the "Jew" as the perpetually alienated critic of those in power — not exactly one upon which to base a connection to other Jews. Now the rest of American Jewry is catching up to those once young intellectuals.The implications of Cohen and Kelman's findings for American Jewry are great. The historic bargain linking American Jewry and Israel since the founding of the State is coming to an end. The terms of the deal were unspoken, but clear: Israel would provide American Jews with a sense of pride and identity as Jews, and they, in turn, would shower upon Israel their financial and political support. But Israel is no longer a source of pride for non-Orthodox Jews, and the identity it provides is not one which they wish to share.But the survey signals something else as well: a declining understanding on the part of American Jews of Judaism in terms of a national identity that imposes obligations to one's co-nationals.. That is being replaced by a return to the self-definition of classic German Reform: German (or in this case American) nationals of the Mosaic persuasion.Cohen and Kelman are wrong to argue that ethnic identity is being replaced by religious identity. For when young American Jews say that they view their Judaism as a religious not national identity, the religion they refer to is a pretty tepid affair. Precisely because it is so tepid does it fail to provide them a sense of connection to their fellow Jews, whether in America or abroad. It is a religion largely lacking connection to the Land of Israel, and even more importantly to the defining event in Jewish history the giving of Torah at Sinai. Absent the latter, there is no common mission to link the descendants of those who stood at Sinai.The impact of the declining sense of responsibility to one's fellow Jews is being felt within American Jewry itself, not just in attitudes towards Israel. Already only 6% of giving by mega-Jewish foundations goes to remotely Jewish causes. It is hardly surprising, for instance, that non-Jewish spouses are not eager to contribute to Jewish causes. In time, funding the institutions of American Jewry will become ever more difficult. And the Orthodox will be left to donate to Israel.The political implications for Israel are large as well. Fortunately, Professors Walt and Mearsheimer are wrong about an Israel Lobby comprised mostly of those with Jewish-sounding names. It is devout Christians, and not some nefarious Israel Lobby, which is the primary bulwark of American support for Israel today. That we have to rely on Christian support, rather than our fellow Jews, however, is a very mixed blessing indeed.E

Jewkilis Youkilis Leads Sox to World Series!

Making a name for himself
Kevin Youkilis has become a folk hero in Boston
Posted: Friday October 19, 2007 1:59PM; Updated: Friday October 19, 2007 3:50PM

Kevin Youkilis has sparked the Red Sox's lineup for much of the regular season and during the playoffs.
By Mark Bechtel, SI.com
Everywhere Kevin Youkilis goes, he hears it.
Yooouuuk! Yooouuuk!
At Fenway Park. At road games.
Yooouuuk! Yooouuuk!
In restaurants. In the New York subway.
Yooouuuk! Yooouuuk!
It can be a little overwhelming being serenaded whenever you show your face in public, but Youkilis ­doesn't mind. "That's how you know you're doing well," says the 28-year-old Boston Red Sox first baseman. The fans chant at him because he's an integral cog in the Red Sox lineup, in which he bats everywhere from leadoff to sixth. (Following a regular-season in which he had a .390 on-base percentage, 12th in the American League, Youkilis has been a force in the postseason, with a .421 batting average in the ALCS and three homers in 31 at-bats overall.) But they also chant at him because he's their kind of guy, cut from the same blue-collar cloth as their beloved Idiots of '04.
"He's very popular because of the way he goes about his business," says Red Sox broadcaster Jerry Remy. "He plays hard all the time. Every at-bat to him is like the last at-bat of his career. That rubs off on the fans -- they appreciate that." Yes, Youkilis is very down-to-earth; when Sox fans stand three deep on the corner of Yawkey Way and Van Ness after games chanting in the direction of his car as it leaves the players' lot (as they do after most home games), they're cheering not at a Bentley or an Escalade but at a sensible Volkswagen Touareg.
Probably the biggest reason they chant at Youkilis, however -- and why he's become a genuine folk hero as opposed to merely a popular player -- is because his name is so damn chantable. "There's something fun about 'Yooouuuk,'" says Sox fan Rachel Friede, a 28-year-old marketing associate who was bellowing it, in full throat, during a July game in Cleveland. "It sounds totally guttural, and it's kind of a fun thing to do."
The Youk cheer ­wouldn't be quite as much fun were it not for a resourceful Jewish ancestor of Youkilis's who nearly a century and a half ago escaped Cossack persecution in Romania. He ensured that Boston fans wanting to salute their first baseman ­wouldn't have to stand and chant ­"Weiner!," which, except for a few hot dog vendors, no one wants to do at a baseball game.
**********
Youkilis' family history reads like a Michael Chabon novel: In 19th-century Romania males were ­conscripted into the military when they reached their 16th birthday. The Cossacks in the ­region ­weren't known for their tolerance of minorities, so many Jews tried to avoid enlisting in the army. Youkilis's great-great-great-grandfather -- nobody is sure what his first name was, but the family name was Weiner (pronounced Winer, actually) -- escaped to Greece, where the family had friends. After a year or two, according to family lore, he became homesick and returned to ­Romania, but in order to avoid the army, or jail, he passed himself off as a Greek by assuming the name Youkilis.
Later, during the 1920s, Youk's great-uncle Paul emigrated to America. Looking to make enough money to bring his 10 siblings over, he entered into the very lucrative business of running rum into the U.S. from Canada during Prohibition, working with Al Capone in the States and the Bronfman family in Canada. (Family legend has it that the Bronfmans wanted to make Paul a partner, but he refused. "My uncle said, 'I take on no partners,'" says Youk's dad, Mike.) Eventually the whole Youkilis clan made its way over, settling in Cincinnati.

Sands Crash as the Last Rat Packer Passes

I have been watching Mr. Bishop for several years know that his time was coming soon. And just before his 90th bday Jewish Rat Pack member and the last member is gone.

Joey Bishop
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Birth name
Joseph Abraham Gottlieb
Born
February 3, 1918(1918-02-03)Bronx, New York
Died
October 17, 2007 (aged 89)Newport Beach, California
Spouse(s) Sylvia Ruzga (1941 – 1999; 1 son) Joey Bishop (February 3, 1918 – October 17, 2007) was an American entertainer who was perhaps best known for being a member of the "Rat Pack" with Frank Sinatra, Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis Jr., and Dean Martin.
In 1941, Bishop married Sylvia Ruzga, who died in 1999 from lung cancer; they had one son, Larry Bishop.
Bishop appeared on television as early as 1948 and was a frequent guest on television talk shows, game shows, and comedy shows. He is listed as #96 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest standups of all time.

Biography
Born as Joseph Abraham Gottlieb in the Bronx, New York to Jewish parents Anna and Jacob Gottlieb,[1] and the youngest of five children, he began his career as part of a standup comedy act with his elder brother, Maury.
Bishop guest-hosted on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson more times than anyone else, and frequently appeared on Steve Allen and Jack Paar's previous versions of the show. He had his own television talk show, The Joey Bishop Show (1967-1969), a 90-minute late-night talk show on ABC. His co-host for this show was then-newcomer Regis Philbin. The Joey Bishop Show ran from 1961 until 1965 on both NBC and CBS; Bishop played a talk show host and Abby Dalton portrayed his wife. Bishop was portrayed in the 1998 TV movie The Rat Pack by comedian Bobby Slayton.
Bishop was the last living member of The Rat Pack and was also the longest-lived member. Publicist and longtime friend, Warren Cowan, announced Bishop died from multiple causes at home in Newport Beach, California on October 17, 2007, aged 89. Coincidentally, the "Sands" hotel and casino in Atlantic City, which had been scheduled for demolition months prior, came down less than 24 hours after Bishop's death.

Russian Jewish Soldiers Then and Now

Chabad to Reach All Jewish Soldiers in Russian Army RUSSIA -- (September 10, 2007)
In a unique partnership, Simon Zokhorovich, a Jewish colonel in the Russian army and Rabbi Aron Gurevitch, a Lubavitch emissary for the Russian army, have joined forces in bringing Judaism to the armed forces.
"I never had a rabbi, and I hardly knew at that time what a rabbi was, but I decided that I will do anything in my power to bring a rabbi to the army," Zokhorovich relates. The colonel is Gurevitch’s greatest advocate and aids him in his various activities.
Rabbi Gurevitch has traveled to every army base across Russia’s vast territory, bringing kosher food and inspirational literature to the estimated 15,000 Jewish soldiers serving in the Russian army.
A remarkable achievement, but it is still just a beginning, says Gurevitch. "We still have a lot of work ahead of us. We will reach every Jew on every base.

Russian Jewish Veterans of World War II Swell with Pride, if Not Money
Sue Fishkoff
ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia, April 27 (JTA) -- May 9 marks the 60th anniversary of V-Day, the date in 1945 when Nazi Germany capitulated.
Nowhere has it been as resolutely commemorated each year as in the former Soviet Union, which lost a staggering 25 million citizens during what is still called the Great Patriotic War.
Of approximately 11,000 World War II veterans still alive in the southern Russian capital of Rostov-on-Don today, 211 are Jewish.
Three of those Jewish soldiers marched in the great Victory Day parade in Moscow's Red Square on June 24, 1945.
One was 90-year-old Leonid Abelich Klevitsky, a tall, white-haired man of erect bearing who heads the city's Jewish war veterans association.
"It was the day before my 20th birthday," he told JTA in an interview conducted during last year's Victory Day celebration. "I'd been celebrating all night, and almost fell flat on my face in Red Square."
When Germany attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941, Klevitsky was a student in a prestigious military academy. He graduated in time to fight on the Ukrainian front and took part in the bombing of Berlin.
"I never understood my Judaism," he says of his upbringing. "I had a Marxist-Leninist education in the military academy. And only because I was Jewish, I got a 'D' instead of an 'A' because I corrected the teacher when he quoted Stalin wrong."
After a 25-year career in the army, in 1967 Klevitsky retired, and he and his wife moved back to Rostov. He became head of the city's Jewish war veterans association when it was founded six years ago.
Rostov-on-Don lies just over the border from Ukraine, right in the path of the 1941 Nazi onslaught. Few of the city's 20,000 Jews fled the advancing German forces. Rostov's Jews were urbanized, and many had studied in German universities.
Their diplomas didn't help them. On Aug. 11, 1942, the city's Jewish men were marched to a ravine outside the city and shot; the women, children and elderly were gassed in trucks, and their bodies buried in the same ravine, called Zmiyovskaya Balka, or the ravine of the snakes. Communists and Red Army soldiers also were killed and buried there, along with their families.
Altogether, some 27,000 bodies lie in the grass-covered ravine, which has become the site of annual memorial ceremonies.
Some of Rostov's Jews, both men and women, escaped the massacre because they were serving in the Soviet Army.
The biggest day of the year for these veterans is the festive luncheon the city's Jewish community hosts for them every May. Last year's event, held May 7 in Rostov's historic synagogue, drew more than 100 aging veterans, all wearing their medals with pride.
"Everyone who can walk is here today," Klevitsky said.
One of those who could not attend was his own wife, bedridden for three years.
"I love her so," he said.
The couple was married 53 years earlier in a civil ceremony. Now that Rostov has a Chabad rabbi, Klevitsky and his wife want to have a Jewish ceremony. But the rabbi told them they'd have to go to the mikvah, or ritual bath, Klevitsky said, adding defiantly, "I won't go."
He was in a buoyant mood all afternoon, displaying his veteran's ID card to anyone who showed the least interest. The feast was a typical Russian affair, with lengthy speeches by the heads of every relevant organization, as well as the requisite appearance by the city's deputy mayor. The vodka and champagne flowed, toasts were made, and there was cheek-to-cheek dancing to 1940s-era tunes.
But the lavish spread stood in ironic contrast to these honored war veterans' stark financial situation. Like elsewhere in the former Soviet Union, these men and women who labored all their lives for the Soviet state, expecting to be taken care of in their old age, are now penniless, scraping by on meager pensions, unable to pay for medical care, clothing or food.
According to figures from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, which helps elderly Jews in the former Soviet Union through its Hesed welfare agencies, more than half of southern Russia's 66,000 Jews are older than 50. Twenty-five percent live below the poverty line. At the end of last year's Victory Day feast, some of those elderly poor were wrapping up cookies and bread rolls to take home to their empty cupboards.
The feast was basically paid for by the dozen local businessmen who make up the board of the city's Hesed and Chabad organizations.
Ilya Gorensteyn, a local bigwig who made his money in construction, was one of them. "I donated the bottled water, a guy who owns a fish plant gave the fish, the owner of a vodka plant gave the vodka," he said, pointing down the line of business leaders seated at the head table.
Gorensteyn said he knows of many other newly wealthy Jewish men in Rostov, but "unfortunately, not many of them are willing to give."

Joseph Trumpeldor was born in Pyatigorsk, Russia. His father, Wulf Trumpeldor, served as a cantonist in the Caucasus War, lost an arm, and as a "useful Jew", was allowed to settle outside the Pale of Settlement. Originally in training as a dentist, Joseph Trumpeldor volunteered for the Russian army in 1902. During the Russo-Japanese War, he participated in the siege of Port Arthur, where he lost his left arm and was captured. He subsequently received four decorations for bravery including the Cross of St. George, which made him the most decorated Jewish soldier in Russia. In 1906 he became the first Jew in the army to receive an officer's commission.

Jewish soldiers of the Russian army attending a Passover seder in 1905. Even during the war with Japan, Jewish soldiers had to spend their leave inside the Pale of Settlement. An estimated 425,000 Jews served in the Russian army between 1880 and 1909.

Jew Guitar Nation

Just got finished watching the documentary "Air Guitar Nation" on DVD. It focuses on two Air Guitar champions heading to Finland to represent for the first time The US in the World Championships of Air Guitar. On of the stars is Jewish (I called it within minutes of seeing him on screen..looks just like Scott Baio) and the other is a Korean American who is engated to a gal named Shapiro, guess what that means..we may have another entry into my Jewish Korean blog posting. It is also directed by Alexandra Lipsitz another Jew.
http://www.airguitarworldchampionships.com/home.html

2007-03-30
Film: Björn Türoque rocks 'Air Guitar Nation'

By Naomi Pfefferman, Arts & Entertainment Editor


Björn Türoque, one of the stars with extreme "airness"
Dan Crane struts onto the stage, hurls off his sunglasses, rips his T-shirt to shreds, and rocks his way through a knee-sliding, tongue-flicking performance so awesome that groupies' squeals drown out the amps.

They're cheering so loudly you'd think Crane represents the second coming of Jimi Hendrix -- except that his guitar "performance" is sans guitar.

This self-proclaimed "nice Jewish boy from Denver" stars in Alexandra Lipsitz's documentary, "Air Guitar Nation," about aficionados who mime strumming to songs by actual bands such as Motorhead. The tongue-in-cheek, exhilarating film follows Crane and others who hope to make the 2003 air world championships in Finland. "Nation" particularly spotlights the rivalry between Crane and C-Diddy (a.k.a. David Jung), whose convulsing fingers and kung-fu moves make him a perpetual winner.

Crane -- whose stage persona is Björn Türoque (pronounced B-yorn to-RAWK) -- is the perpetual runner-up. He is regarded "as a sort of Dan Marino-Jay-Z figure: Fantastic ability, highly beloved, but never quite able to win the big one," the Village Voice wrote last year.

"I'm the perennial bridesmaid of air guitar," the wry, erudite Crane says over tea -- not beer! -- in Los Angeles recently (OK, he has a cold). But Crane -- and Türoque -- know how to please a crowd. "Bjorn's the kind of sexy, glam-punk performer my 8-year-old self imagined a rock star should be; a hard-drinking, hard-partying, groupie-laying god," Crane says.

"You have to embody that fantasy for yourself and for the audience," he adds. "That's what we call, 'airness,' the moment you transcend the genre, and people feel they're in the presence of a star."

Apparently, the jury is out on the importance of airness. One CNN anchor proclaimed the genre "the stupidest thing I've ever seen." London's Sunday Times called it an art that "has exploded into a huge spectator sport."

Crane doesn't think air guitar is stupid. It helped him quit his boring computer job a few years ago. And his cocky stage persona is an empowering alter ego for a guy who says he can be mellow and easily embarrassed.

"As a kid, I was mortified when my older brother would walk in on me air guitaring," Crane says. The penalty for catching Dan in the act: "My brother would beat me up."

"In the eighth grade," he continues, "I got spit on by a punk guy at a Black Flag concert, who said I looked too preppie to like the music. He was bigger than me and had a mohawk, so I just let it go."

The fictional Türoque would not have tolerated such impertinence. "Bjorn is like my protective shield from the torments of the world," Crane says, feigning melodrama but implying a partial truth.

"He probably has some Jewish blood, because he's always the underdog," Crane adds. "It's perfect that he's the chronic second-place guy, and that he keeps on persevering, just as the Jews did throughout history."

Crane's mother, Nancy Conrad, says her son has been air guitaring since age 2, when he began entertaining the family at Jewish holiday gatherings (and jumping on his bed so fiercely that the wooden slats fell out of the frame). "Instead of asking 'Why is this night different from other nights' on Passover, I would have liked to perform Elton John's "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)," Crane quips.

Conrad says Crane dutifully attended religious school, "chanted his bar mitzvah haftarah beautifully," earned early admission to Wesleyan's film program and good money in the computer field -- while performing real guitar in various bands.

But by the time Crane was in his early 30s, he loathed his day job so much that he descended into a premature midlife crisis. Then, he says, a friend told him about the air guitar circuit in 2003 -- "and the late-night partying in hotel rooms and the air groupies, which fed into my childhood rock star dreams."

The software producer immediately began practicing for the New York regional competition: "I'd turn my song up loud -- during the day, because I respected my neighbors -- and I'd sometimes videotape myself in my underwear so I could see all the muscles rippling." He perfected the Jimmy Page high-kick, the Pete Townshend windmill and the Keith Richards cigarette toke -- as well as expressions such as the "Oh my god, I rock!" face (this involves a sudden, eye-bulging look of surprise at one's musical prowess).

In what sounds like deliberately ironic stoner philosophizing, Crane says his style borrows from Nietzsche and the minimalist sculptor Richard Serra.

"Air guitar is the most abstract, the most minimal of all art forms, because how much more abstract can you get than an invisible guitar?" he says. "And Nietzsche suggested that the more abstract the art form, the more thoroughly you must seduce the senses to accept it. So air guitar is the most abstract of all art forms, and therefore the most seductive. You must seduce the audience to accept that you're playing the guitar."

Crane has parlayed his assorted seductions into a book, To Air is Human: One Man's Quest to Become the World's Greatest Air Guitarist (Riverhead, 2006); into a budding career as a film composer (he wrote the original music for "Air Guitar Nation"), and as a journalist for publications such as The New York Times. He's now retired from competitive air guitar, although he remains a staunch supporter of the genre.

"To err is human," he says, briefly morphing into the swaggering Türoque. "To air guitar, divine."

"Air Guitar Nation" opens March 30 in Los Angeles.

Hot Jewish Actresses (More or Less)

My bro just sent me a link to this video site called http://www.jewtube.com/ which is just what the world has been waiting for. Anyway here is one of those vignettes of famous beautiful jewish female actresses. It has some nice pictures and points out a few unknown as Jewish to me but I feel like it should have more and should only have 100% Jews if they want to call them Jewish. And most of you know Kate Hudson is only 25% Jewish even though she considers her self Jewish. But the idea of posting people like this is to say I didn't know she was Jewish or she doesn't even look Jewish but if you are 50% or less Jewish then of course that makes sense so in the future so disclaimer please. Also Phoebe Cates has been upgraded from half Jewish to at least 75% Jewish in my book. The sweet flavor that you see is her sprinkling of Filipino. Bonne Petite

The Unperfected Jew

Sorry it took me a few days to getting round to this but first I need to thank Ann Coulter for giving me a great new handle. The Unperfected Jew would also be a good blog site title. Anyway I can't believe (really I can) that Jewish talk show host Micheal Medvid defended her easily inflammatory and anti-Semitic commentary. I am not a knee jerk liberal and I can usually find where the oversight has been made by actually watching the full clip or reading the commentary but not so in this case. Looks like I stand with the outraged liberals on this one. More later I have some Sunday films to watch. One being "Black Book" which I will take someone Else's review from after I see it. As you can see from this picture I found on the net Coulture has gotten some strong publicity for her latest book which should sell with any literate skin heads but it probably going to lose a handfull of conservative Jews.
I don't know if any of the following is true but it was a fun read none the less and since blogs dont have watch dogs I am going to let it rip. Funny it was written in 2004 by a person called "StormBrewing" from South Dakota on the oregonherald.com/eforums/messageview
I wish to exercise my right to make a statement about a former close friend of mine, Ann Coulter. This is about one of the slimiest women on the face of the planet. Everything she stands for, I hate. She emanates hate, she promotes hate and anger. How do I know? I am related to her. She's alienated her family, her original friends and lies every time she opens her skinny mouth.

You see, Ann Coulter was originally a democrat but when she saw an opportunity, she changed to a Republican, just for the notice, just for the press, just to make a few bucks. The net result is that Christians should hate her for her lies, her slime, her ugly methods, and the lies to her family. In high school Ann was a tramp, a real slut. She would have sex with most any guy who could get beyond the smell of her unwashed body. To this day, she quite often refuses to take a shower more than a couple times a week unless it's incredibly hot. The guests on her radio program have made comments. She seems to think it's her natural body smell. It is. But it's not pleasant. I know some people will doubt this report but it's all true. Not too many people have been closer to Ann Coulter than I, for most of her life. Ann Coulter is the kind of person who wouldn't be missed by many if she died today. Not really. No one really likes her, except those who attempt to become famous getting next to her. I've been told that Laura Bush hates Ann Coulter, and her husband doesn't think much of her either. Chris Matthews can't stand her, even though Ann Coulter has contracted to be on Hardball. Chris once said of Ann Coulter, far off camera, that, "she reminds me of a foul-mouthed bitch in heat, always in heat!". In renewing his contract is asked that Ann Coulter not be allowed on his program again. But during the election he was forced to put up with her. Bill Maher was Ann Coulter's friend when she was a hard nosed Democrat and still insists they are friends and she's appeared on his new show. But off camera, he can't stand her. Maher has been copping out lately. It called ratings. During one taping session, Bill Maher discovered that Ann Coulter had been dating a 17 year old boy whom she called her younger brother, was in fact her date for that night. I was told that they spent a night in a hotel room together. I don't know if they had sex, but then again, Ann has sex with lots of people, including women. It is truly hypocritical that Ann Coulter can get away with this, even with the Fundamentalist Christians. They just don't seem to care or believe. How can they possibly trust this foul mouthed, nasty, slimy woman? Nothing comes out of her mouth but hate. Of course, it makes for dramma and for ratings. Ann Coulter also practices different lines written for her, at least she did in the last six months. There are two men, David Emmerson and Arnie Kamenski (sp), paid by the RNC to teach Ann Coulter what to say and how to say it. The last time I saw her she was spending half the day practicing her lines, over and over again in front of a large mirror. She was laughing at it all, in fact said how much horse shit it was, but it was a game, only a game to play, a role. I told her this was too important to lie but Ann thinks all this is just a game, that's it's the way it's played. Ann Coulter doesn't care about anyone but herself. And she's not even religeous. Not really. What she has done, and what she has said, is maybe some of the worse hate I've ever heard. Ann Coulter has turned into a hate machine, all too often, now believing what she says, and has even said that if John Kerry won the presidency, the best way to deal with those kinds of Liberals was to eliminate them, any way possible, legal or not. That's when we parted company. And that's the end of our life long relationship. She's called me a liar but all her close "buddies" know the truth. Ann Coulter is a Nazi, a cold hearted, Nazi. Sue me. It wouldn't be difficult to find out who I am. Do something Anne. But you won't of course because you know it's true, and much more. We know the truth. And you thought I'd never say it. To show you who I really am, for sure, here it is Anne, something only you and I know for sure, so you know it is I: Remember Ellen and what we did to her on New Year's Eve? Now you know for sure. And I'll never let you have a "bounty". You know what I mean!

Alright I just got back from a mini lazy Sunday afternoon and I ended up watching "Air Guitar Nation" And it turns out as I guessed it that one of the 2 documentary leads are Jewish. And you know what that means..

Back to Ann:
National Jewish Democratic Council this week launched on an online petition to have the conservative Coulter dropped as a network commentator.A number of conservative groups are increasingly concerned about attacks on freedom of speech in this country, given the recent uproar over Rush Limbaugh's misinterpreted "phony soldiers" comment, which prompted a number of U.S. lawmakers to denounce him. Now I don't agree with anytime a censure as I see it as a left wing communist type move.

My belief is that there will always be 10% of America that believes any stereotype and no matter what the libs do they wont be able to change that. So instead let the idiots talk as much as they want to and they will show themselves for what they really are. Anyhow enough of this as I want to post my Air Guitar Nation findings.

Ahmadinejew? Top Rated Iranian Soap Opera Would Like to See It That Way

A popular television show reveals a big divide in Iranian society. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has questioned the historical basis of the Holocaust. But the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei approves all programming for Iranian state television, including a well-funded show about an Iranian-Palestinian Muslim man who loves a Jewish woman: The hero rescues his love from Nazis who would send her to a death camp and whisks her to safety in Iran. The show makes it plain that Iran regards the state of Israel as an enemy, with some characters suggesting that the establishment of the modern state is a western idea and not in the best interest of Jews. Still, the immensely popular show could signal to the international community that the religious leaders and citizens of Iran do not necessarily agree with Ahmadinejad’s stance on the Holocaust. Or, the Iranians could just appreciate the suspense, historical context and drama of war-time love. – YaleGlobal

Yasijoon a half-blooded Persian Blogger who loves everything persian, from sports to soap-operas agrees "My family and I are addicts. We sit down every Friday at 9:30 and watch it. And then we wait the whole week until the next episode."

Iran’s Unlikely TV Hit
Show sympathetic to plight of Jews during the Holocaust draws millions each week
Farnaz Fassihi
The Wall Street Journal, 25 September 2007

Every Monday night at 10 o'clock, Iranians by the millions tune into Channel One to watch the most expensive show ever aired on the Islamic republic's state-owned television. Its elaborate 1940s costumes and European locations are a far cry from the typical Iranian TV fare of scarf-clad women and gray-suited men.
But the most surprising thing about the wildly popular show is that it is a heart-wrenching tale of European Jews during World War II.
The hour-long drama, "Zero Degree Turn," centers on a love story between an Iranian-Palestinian Muslim man and a French Jewish woman. Over the course of the 22 episodes, the hero saves his love from Nazi detention camps, and Iranian diplomats in France forge passports for the woman and her family to sneak on to airplanes carrying Iranian Jews to their homeland.
On the surface, the message of the lavish, state-funded production appears sharply at odds with that sent out by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has repeatedly called the Holocaust a myth.
In fact, the government's spending on the show underscores the subtle and often sophisticated way in which the Iranian state uses its TV empire to send out political messages. The aim of the show, according to many inside and outside the country, is to draw a clear distinction between the government's views about Judaism -- which is accepted across Iranian society -- and its stance on Israel -- which the leadership denounces every chance it gets.
"Iranians have always differentiated between ordinary Jews and a minority of Zionists," says Hassan Fatthi, the show's writer and director. "The murder of innocent Jews during World War II is just as despicable, sad and shocking as the killing of innocent Palestinian women and children by racist Zionist soldiers," he says.
Mr. Fatthi, 48 years old, is a well-known director of historical fiction for television. In the past, his work has focused on Iranian history. But he also dabbles in comedy, winning international critical acclaim two years ago for a hit feature, "Marriage, Iranian Style."
He says he came up with the idea for "Zero Degree Turn" four years ago as he was reading books about World War II and stumbled across literature about charge d'affaires at the Iranian embassy in Paris. Abdol Hussein Sardari saved over a thousand European Jews by forging Iranian passports and claiming they belonged to an Iranian tribe.
Mr. Fatthi says he chose the title because the world at the time was in dire circumstances, offering few options for avoiding the terrors to come. Shot on location in Paris and Budapest, the show stars Iranian heartthrob Shahab Husseini and is so popular that its theme song -- an ode to getting lost in love -- is a hit, too.
"It's captivating. No matter where I am or what I'm doing, on Monday nights I find a television set and watch the show. So does every Jewish person I know here," says Morris Motamed, the lone Jew in parliament.
Mr. Fatthi enlisted the help of Iran's Jewish Association, an independent body that safeguards the community's culture and heritage. The association has criticized Mr. Ahmadinejad's comments about the Holocaust but has praised Mr. Fatthi's show.
Iran is home to some 25,000 Jews, the largest population in the Middle East outside of Israel. Iran's Jews -- along with Christians and Zorastrians -- are guaranteed equal rights in the country's constitution. Iran's Jews are guaranteed one member of parliament and are free to study Hebrew in school, pray in synagogues and shop at kosher supermarkets. Despite Mr. Ahmadinejad's statements, it isn't government policy to question the Holocaust, and the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, hasn't endorsed those views.
While Iran makes it no secret that it considers Israel an enemy, it has been extremely touchy about criticism of its treatment of Jewish citizens. The show is seen as an effort by the government to erase the image that it may be anti-Semitic -- both at home among Jews and non-Jews, and abroad.
"In this show, you notice that a new method of political dialogue is being promoted that is more in line with the modern world," says Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a reformist cleric and former Iranian vice president.
The message appears to be grabbing the public. Sara Khatibi, a 35-year-old mother and chemist in Tehran, says she and her husband never miss an episode. "All we ever hear about Jews is rants from the government about Israel," she says. "This is the first time we are seeing another side of the story and learning about their plight."
The show also pushes Iran's political line regarding the legitimacy of Israel: The Jewish state was conceived in modern times by Western powers rather than as part of a centuries-old desire of Jews for a return to their ancestral homeland. In one scene, a rabbi declares it a bad idea for Jews to resettle in Arab lands. In another, the French Jewish protagonist refuses a marriage offer by a cousin, who is advocating the creation of Israel.
Iran has long used TV to shape public opinion, where newspapers and the Internet are seen as media for the elite. The state's control over radio and television is enshrined in the constitution. Ayatollah Khamenei, the supreme leader, is not only head of the armed forces and the judiciary, but also the national broadcast authority.
"The regime appreciates the fact that to appeal to the masses, both in Iran and the Muslim world, television is the most important outlet," says Karim Sadjadpour, an expert on Iran at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.
On any given day, the country's seven state-run channels broadcast a mostly drab offering of news, sports, cooking shows, soap operas and religious sermons. Political propaganda is constantly fed into the mix. Dissidents such as students or reformers are routinely paraded before cameras to read confessions after stints of solitary imprisonment.
A slick documentary-style program recently aired long interviews with two Iranian-Americans who were detained on allegations of working to overthrow the regime. The interviews -- in which the pair blandly admitted to meeting with Iranian scholars and dissidents, but not to attempting to topple the government -- were intercut with provocative scenes of demonstrations in Ukraine, where the U.S. encouraged groups that eventually staged the successful Orange Revolution in late 2004.
In July, Iran launched a 24-hour English-language satellite news channel called Press TV, joining the ranks of the BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera. Its Arabic news channel, Al Alam, has been broadcasting news with an Iranian slant in the Arab world for several years.
Episodes of "Zero Degree Turn," broadcast in Farsi, can be seen outside of Iran on the Internet, either streaming live or downloaded at tv1.irib.ir/barnameha/sharhefilm.asp?code=00111090361062. It is also broadcast with English subtitles on the state-controlled Jameh Jam satellite channel, which is available on Europe's Hot Bird satellite network. Mr. Fatthi also says Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting has been contacted about selling the show to networks in other countries, but he doesn't know which ones.

And Now For Something Completely Different

Achtung: bad Jewish humor ahead

The Jewish Parrot
Meyer, a lonely widower, was walking home along Delancy Street one day wishing something wonderful would happen in his life, when he passed a pet store and heard a squawking voice shouting out in Yiddish, "Quawwwwk...vusmachts du?" (How're ya doin') "Yeah, du." (Yeah, you.) Meyer rubbed his eyes and ears. Couldn't believe it. Perfect Yiddish. The proprietor urged him, "Come in here, fella, and check out this parrot..." Meyer did. An African Grey cocked his little head and said: "Vus? Kenstsprechen Yiddish?" (What? Can you speak Yiddish?) In a matter of moments, Meyer had placed five hundred dollars on the counterand carried the parrot in his cage away with him. All night he talked with the parrot. In Yiddish. He told the parrot about his father's adventures coming to America. About how beautiful his late wife, Sarah, was when she was a young bride. About his family. About his years of working in the garment district. About Florida. The parrot listened and commented. They shared some walnuts. The parrot told him of living in the pet store, how lonely he would get on the weekends. They both went to sleep. Next morning, Meyer began to put on his Tfillin, all the while saying his prayers. The parrot demanded to know what he was doing and when Meyer explained, the parrot wanted to do the same. Meyer went out and had a miniature set of tfillin hand made for the parrot. The parrot wanted to learn to daven (pray), and learned every prayer. He even wanted to learn to read Hebrew. So Meyer spent weeks and months, sitting and teaching the parrot, teaching him Torah. In time, Meyer came to love and count on the parrot as a friend and fellow Jew. One morning, on Rosh Hashanah, Meyer rose and got dressed and was about tol eave whe n the parrot demanded to go with him. Meyer explained that Shul was not a place for a bird, but the parrot made a terrific argument, so Meyer relented and carried the bird to Shul (Synagogue) on his shoulder. Needless to say, they made quite a spectacle, and Meyer was questioned by everyone, including the Rabbi and the Cantor. They refused to allow a bird into the building on the High Holy Days, but Meyer persuaded them to let himin this one time, swearing that the parrot could daven (Pray). Wagers were made with Meyer. Thousands of dollars were bet that the parrot could NOT daven, could not speak Yiddish or Hebrew, etc. All eyes were on the African Grey during services. The parrot perched on Meyer's shoulder as one prayer and song passed - Meyer heard not a peep from the bird. He began to become annoyed, slapping at his shoulder and mumbling under his breath, "Daven!" Nothing. "Daven...parrot, you can daven, so daven...come on, everyone is looking atyou!" Nothing. After Rosh Hashanah services were concluded, Meyer found that he owed his Shul buddies and the Rabbi over four thousand dollars.. He marched home, so upset he said nothing to the parrot. Finally several blocks from the Temple the Parrot began to sing an old Yiddish song, as happy as a lark. Meyer stopped and looked at him. "Why? After I had tfillin made for you and taught you the morning prayers,and taught you to read Hebrew and the Torah. And after you begged me to bring you to Shul on Rosh Hashana, why? WHY?!? Why did you do this to me?" "Meyer, don't be a schmuck," the parrot replied. "Think of the odds we'll get on Yom Kippur!" Thank my buddy Ian for sending this to me

What Would Sadat Do?

You mean Egypt and Israel aren't friends yet? They signed a peace deal in 1979 but I guess that didn't include entrance to Egyptian film festivals, damn they were short sighted, mutual film exchange would have been #1 on my peace list. I hope the Israeli's figure that out next time when they sign their deal with the PA.

Egypt festival launches barrage against Israeli film
by Alain Navarro Mon Oct 8, 12:02 PM ET (From Yahoo News)

CAIRO (AFP) - An Egyptian film festival has rejected an Israeli production and threatened to boycott any Arab moviefest that breaks a taboo on admitting films from the Jewish state.
Organisers of the Cairo International Film Festival, which opens next month, have loudly opposed an application by Eran Kolirin's "The Band's Visit," a fictional tale of an Egyptian police band that gets stranded in Israel.
The director has said his movie, which won praise at the Munich and Cannes film festivals, sends a strong pro-peace message.
But Soheir Abdel Kader, the festival's vice president, told AFP: "It is out of the question that an Israeli film plays here."
The Israelis applied for a place at this year's 31st edition of the Egyptian festival -- whose motto ironically is "to advance understanding through the language of art between all the peoples of the world" -- through the event's representatives in Germany.
"They will no longer be on our contact list, we didn't even answer their email," said Abdel Kader. "They should have known we are against the showing of an Israeli film."
A solid "anti-normalisation" front exists in Egypt's cultural circles which reject collaboration or contact with Israeli artists or intellectuals, despite a peace deal signed between Egypt and Israel in 1979.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues to fuel anger in Egyptians who believe the US-sponsored peace deal changed Egypt's role from regional heavyweight to mediator whose decision-making power is largely defined by Washington.
Three members of the festival committee did watch a preview of the "The Band's Visit" but did so in their personal capacity, not as officials of the filmfest which runs from November 27 to December 7.
The film delves into unlikely cross-cultural relations when an Alexandrian police band invited to perform in Israel gets lost in the Negev desert after their hosts fail to pick them up.
The musicians end up staying at a local cafe, and the initial, begrudging interaction between the Egyptians and the Israelis eventually develops into a warm exchange.
The film was also well received in its native Israel and is being considered for two prizes by the European Film Academy.
"We regret to hear that the film has not been accepted (in Egypt) for political reasons without consideration for its artistic merit," Israeli embassy spokesman Benny Sharoni told AFP.
The Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot said the movie had been expected to be shown at the Abu Dhabi film festival this month. But the paper said this infuriated the Egyptians and the showing was quickly cancelled after the Egyptian Actors Union threatened to boycott the Emirati festival if "The Band's Visit" was aired.
"It is clear that we will not participate in any Arab film festival if an Israeli film is shown," Ashraf Zaki, union secretary general, told AFP.
The weekly Rose al-Youssef magazine, meanwhile, ran an article under the headline "The Israeli squad was ready to attack the Arab festivals," charging that the bid to show the Israeli film at the Egyptian festival was part of what it called a well-orchestrated conspiracy to ignite a crisis within the local cultural scene.
The magazine said some in Egyptian artistic circles believed Culture Minister Faruq Hosni was ready to intervene in favour of Kolirin's film, as a way to polish his image as candidate for the post of chief of the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO), though the ministry denied this.
The refusal to screen "The Band's Visit" is the latest episode in long-standing objections to normalising cultural ties with Israel.
In August, Zaki launched a virulent attack against rising star Amr Waked for agreeing to perform alongside an Israeli actor and threatened to block him from working in Egypt.
Waked is to star as the late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein' son-in-law in "Between Two Rivers", a television film currently in development, on the life of the late dictator played by Israeli actor Yigal Naor.

For all my Arab Hommies:

عمرو واكد :: أحمد العيسوي
أحمد شاب رومانسي يعشق الشعر وتأليفه حصل على شهادة متوسطة وفجأة يأتي إليه جواب القوى العاملة بتعيينه ككشاف للكهرباء ، لا تعجبه الوظيفة ولكنه لا يملك رفضها بدلا من البطالة .. يعشق جارته نور الصباح ويحاول مساعدتها لكنها تتخلى عنه ، وعمرو واكد تخرج في الجامعة الأمريكية سنة 1995 ، و اشترك في ورشة إعداد ممثل وأول فيلم سينمائي اشترك فيه هو فيلم " "جنة الشياطين " و نال عن دوره في هذا الفيلم جائزة أحسن ممثل مساعد من مهرجان الإسكندرية سنة 1997 ، ثم شارك بعد ذلك في بطولة فيلم ديل السمكة ، وقام ببطولة الفيلم القصير " لي لي " والذي حصل على عدة جوائز داخل وخارج مصر من أهمها جائزة الجمهور في مهرجان كليرمون فيران بفرنسا وبعد ذلك شارك في بطولة فيلم " أصحاب ولا بيزنس " وفي المسلسل التليفزيوني " حديث الصباح والمساء " ثم في مسرحية " شباب روش طحن " مع المخرج جلال الشرقاوي .

BuJew - There are more Jewish Buddhist in the West than any other Religion

I was given a special invite this last weekend to see Thich Nhat Hanh and Jack Kornfield speak at the UCLA Conference on Mindfulness and Psychotherapy. I have had a fascination since college on the East and especially in Zen Buddhism with one of my first mentors (via audio and video tape) being Ram Dass. Imagine my surprise when years later after delving into my Jewish background finding out that Ram Dass was none other than Dr. Richard Alpert an ex Harvard Professor and...a Jew! This was the tip of the ice burg and after doing a little more research realized that Bu-Jews (Buddhist Jews) were all over the place and many books including "The Jew and the Lotus" had been written on the subject. As usual I am not going to try and rewrite the history on this subject but instead offer you some name of Bujews they you may or may not have known about. Jack Kornfield for one who made the comment when asked about his Judaism that he was only Jewish on his parents side. I follow Buddhism spiritually but would not hesitate to take up arms if America came under attack or to protect Jews and that is one of my disagreements with the Buddhist belief system and that everything can be solved thru non-violence acts and discussion. I still think it is important to enjoy your life while you are here in human form before moving into another form and if Islamo Fascists are going to stand in my way I wont do a sit-in or set myself on fire expecting a change to happen. Mini rant has ended.

Buddhist Jews a growing U.S. force
UPI, May 2, 2006
San Francisco, CA (USA) -- A new breed of Buddhism is growing in the United States that is being fueled by believers in Judaism, who are known as JuBus, a report said Tuesday.
The United States has an estimated 6 million Jews and 3 million Buddhists. While most U.S. Buddhists are Asian, up to 30 percent of converts are Jewish.The growing JuBu movement is "a fruitful and beautifully creative meeting of two religious streams that came together in the United States," Rabbi Alan Lew told The Los Angeles Times.The rabbi of Congregation Beth Shalom in San Francisco operates a meditation program next to his synagogue."We get up from here and walk next door to the synagogue, where instead of reading sutras, we study (the) Torah," Lew said. "Meditation is really catching on in the Jewish community.""Suffering is at the heart of the matter," said "Letters to a Buddhist Jew" author David Gottlieb. "Judaism, at its best, embraces suffering and, at its worst, enshrines it. Buddhism explicitly seeks to end suffering, and doesn't look to the past."

Here is some info I pulled off the net when looking for Bu Jews including the title of this posting.

I found this posted by "Sifudug" on History.Com's message board:
"I just became a certified Shin Buddhist minister, which made me reflect on the Bu Jews of the world. Most Western Buddhist teachers I know are Bu Jews. As a Buddhist of Jewish ancestry, I find this an interesting phenomenon. I think in some ways I'm a typical an example. Buddhism is my main personal daily practice, however because of family connections I still attend Shabbace Dinners and Pesach and other holidays."

Oliver Stone - film director (lapsed Catholic mother; non-observant Jewish father; raised Episcopalian; converted to Buddhism as adult)
Ayya Khema (August 25, 1923 - November 2, 1997), a Buddhist teacher, was born as Ilse Kussel in Berlin, Germany, to Jewish parents.
Khema dodged the Nazis during World War II, but was interned by the Japanese. She eventually moved to the United States. After travelling in Asia she decided to become a Buddhist nun in Sri Lanka in 1979. She was very active in providing opportunities for women to practice Buddhism, founding several centers around the world. In 1987 she co-ordinated the first ever International Conference of Buddhist Nuns.

Wikipedia no-nothings

Borrowed from the Blog: Israel America. I have the blog posted on my site but had to grab this right off and slam it down in front of my viewer's faces.

Wikipedia no-nothings
Recently I posted an opinion, bolstered by facts, about Islam.Some left wing kooks on "wikipedia" were discussing it in their usual limp-wristed, all creeds and behaviours are equal, way that they do.I had to laugh, but it's numbskulls like those on wikipedia that truly threaten our way of life.They probably are blissfully unaware about the nature of Islam. They don't know that Over half of all convicted rapists in Denmark are Muslims even though Muslim immigrants constitute hardly five percent of the Danish population. The situation is similar in other Scandinavian countries, too. France ,Britain,the Netherlands, and practically all European countries with large Muslim populations suffer at the hands of a small minority .A significant portion of the immigrants has not only failed ,but consciously refused to assimilate to the western culture. Some of them are even plotting its destruction, calling for jihad against the alleged transgressors against Islam.Many more are aching to impose Sharia on their new home countries.Considering these facts, the rapid growth of the European Muslim population might alarm those natives who value their freedoms and stable societies. The number of Muslims residing in Europe doubled from eight to sixteen million over the last decade, and, according to a UN estimate, it is increasing at the rate of one million per year . Simple demographical calculations show that societies like France, Sweden and the Netherlands could undergo a profound Islamization in just two generations because of immigration and Muslims' exceptionally high birth-rates . Currently, Malmö, which is the third largest city in Sweden, is 20% Muslim. In Rotterdam, the Muslim percentage is estimated to be as high as 45%.Why do you rarely learn about these concerns in the mainstream media? Why is it that most voices we hear urge us only to embrace multiculturalism without reservations? Why can't people be critical of other cultures without being labeled as right-wing bigots and racists?Lacking answers to these questions, it might be hard to understand why a prestigious Canadian law school almost expelled a student who had written a somewhat impatient rebuttal to an appraisal of Sharia in a student magazine . Equally elusive would be the explanation for the statement given by a Norwegian professor regarding the rape statistics: instead of urging local Muslims to realize that females are not to blame for rapes - sometimes an odd notion to a Muslim man according to the professor - he advised women to take "their share of responsibility for these rapes." "Norwegian women must realize that we live in a multicultural society and adapt themselves to it," he lectured. The ladies ought to compromise on their freedom to dress attractively in the professor's view. Finnish politician Ben Zyskowicz may also have been bewildered about how easily one earns the label of a xenophobe in Finland. Expressing concern about Finland's refugee situation in June, 2002, Zyskowicz proposed that genuine refugees should be more carefully separated from the opportunists who only seek to exploit Finnish social security. Minister Eva Biaudet quickly condemned her colleague's statement: if not downright racist, it was "hostile" and "dangerously close" to the European far-right population.Those fopish morons at wikipedia need to start reading something other than the leftist manifestos they are so besotted with.

Lenin: Jewish roots of a revolutionary

Look for my upcoming post of the top 10 naughtiest Jews..Lenin may likely be on it but until then read this little morsel and you might want to check out the site below, Adherents.com. It is a growing collection of over 43,870 adherent statistics and religious geography citations: references to published membership/adherent statistics and congregation statistics for over 4,200 religions, churches, denominations, religious bodies, faith groups, tribes, cultures, movements, ultimate concerns, etc. The religions of the world are enumerated here.

From: http://www.adherents.com/

The Religious Affiliation of Communist Leader of Russia Vladimir Lenin

Lenin: Lenin's maternal grandfather was a Jew. Lenin's Jewish ancestry is discussed in detail in Oxford University historian Robert Service's biography Lenin (Harvard University Press, 2000). See also: "Lenin: Jewish roots of a revolutionary," by Zev Ben-Shlomo, Jewish Chronicle, London, April 21, 1995 (http://www.fpp.co.uk/online/98/11/JConLenin210495.html):
[Lenin] was the great-grandson of Moishe Itskovich Blank and the grandson of Srul Moishevich Blank. At his baptism, Blank changed his name and patro-nymic to Aleksandr Dmitrievich...
Lenin's Jewish origin on his maternal grandfather's side became, after his death, a matter of controversy between Lenin's sisters and Stalin. In a letter to Stalin, Anna, Lenin's elder sister, wrote: "It is probably no secret for you that the research on our grandfather shows that he came from a poor Jewish family, that he was, as his baptismal certificate says, the son of a 'Zhitomir burgher, Moishe Blank' and this fact could serve in combating anti-Semitism."
Furthermore, she claimed, that Lenin's Jewish origins were "further confirmation of the exceptional abilities of the Semitic tribe... Lenin always valued the Jews highly." Stalin replied: "Not one word about it."

Jews Who Rode Rough With Teddy

One of my biggest pet peeves is the idea that many Americans and the world has as Jews (Not including Israel) as not taking part in the military or being in the front lines. There is a long history beginning with the Revolutionary War as Jews being over represented per capita in the US military. Look for more posts on this later because right now I want to focus on the Jews who fought with Teddy Roosevelt as "Rough Riders". By the way he was the President Roosevelt that did more for the Jews and other minorities than his more famous Democratic nephew President FDR. If anything FDR was not a friend to the Jews and probably would not have let any Jewish immigrants in during the years leading up to the Holocaust had it not been for his wife Eleanor. So if you hear any liberals waxing poetic about the days of President FDR you might want want to make sure you have your Jewfacts in order. I guess that will also be a future post, on with the show..
From: Jews As American Soldiers By Julilan Batlan
Col. Theodore Roosevelt's Spanish-American War memoirs give special praise for the actions of a Jewish colonel in the Regular Army who served on the left flank of the Rough Riders. The first of the Rough Riders to be killed in action was Trooper Jacob Wilbusky, a Jewish cowboy from Texas. The first to fall in the attack on Manila was Jewish Sergeant Maurice Joost of California.





Taken from The American Jewish Historical Society website
http://www.ajhs.org/

Teddy Roosevelt, Jewish Avenger

In the 1890s, as Eastern European Jews poured into the tenements of New York’s Lower East Side, Chicago’s Maxwell Street area and similar neighborhoods of America’s cities, they faced great pressure from native-born Americans—most of whom were associated with the Republican Party—to abandon their ethnic loyalties and become "real Americans." Yet, when it was expedient, the Republicans—like the Democrats--were willing to appeal to Jewish voters on ethnic grounds. Today, we recognize that there is no conflict between being a proud Jew and a patriotic American. In the 1890’s, this fact was still contested ground.
In late October, 1899, the Lower East Side was flooded with handbills, printed in Yiddish, signed by "Jewish Members of the Republican State Committee." The flyers urged Jewish voters to cast their ballots for gubernatorial candidate Theodore Roosevelt, who the year before had led his Rough Riders in a courageous charge up San Juan Hill in Santiago, Cuba, during the Spanish-American War. The Rough Riders’ victory, combined with other American triumphs at sea and on land, led Spain to surrender her empire in Cuba and the Philippines.
The Yiddish flyers bore the title, "WHO TAKES REVENGE FOR US?" It’s opening sentence made the answer clear: "Every respectable citizen, every good American and every true Jew, must and will vote for the Republican gubernatorial candidate—Theodore Roosevelt." In the symbolic calculus of American ethno-religious politics, America’s victory over Spain was revenge for Spanish mistreatment of its Jews four centuries earlier, and candidate Roosevelt was the Jews’ leading avenger.
Roosevelt was an unlikely hero for Yiddish-speaking tenement dwellers. Descended from patrician Dutch colonial stock, Roosevelt was a wealthy, Harvard-educated outdoorsman. But American politics has a way of making interesting bedfellows. When Roosevelt campaigned for governor, the Republican party invoked the ghost of the fifteenth-century Spanish Inquisition to mobilize Jewish support for his candidacy.
The "Jewish Republicans" reminded (or educated) the Lower East side "greenhorns" that, during the Inquisition, Jews had been the victims of unjust persecution. "Our ancestors," the flyer noted, "were good and useful citizens."
They made rich Spain’s treasury; outfitted the ships which discovered America and gave Spain the power that made her a great nation. How did Spain reward them? Spain took away everything her Jews had, and she sent her Jews to the dungeons of the Inquisition and the fires of the auto da fe.
If this were not enough, the flyer reminded its Yiddish-speaking readers, Spain’s inquisitors pursued their Jewish victims to the New World--to Brazil, Mexico and especially Cuba—where, until the Spanish defeat in 1898, "there still rang in our ears the cries and screams of Spain’s brutality." When William McKinley, the Republican president, "gave the word that Spain should move out of the New World," Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt "worked day and night until he worked out all the plans for our navy" and then, "at his own, expense organized a Regiment of Rough Riders and went to the battle field to meet the foe. . . Under Roosevelt’s command there were many Jewish Rough riders. Roosevelt was like a brother to them. He recommended them to the president [McKinley] for promotions, and sang their praises to the world."
The flyer warned that, in this election, Roosevelt—and the war itself—now stood in judgment before the people of New York. Jewish voters, they made clear, had but one choice:
Every vote for the COLONEL OF THE ROUGH RIDERS is approval of McKinley and the War. Every vote for Roosevelt’s opponent . . . is a vote for Spain. . . .Can any Jew afford to vote against Theodore Roosevelt and thereby express his disapproval of the war against Spain? Vote for Theodore Roosevelt. Vote to express your approval of Spain’s defeat.
Roosevelt failed to carry the Lower East Side and lost New York City as a whole by 60,000 votes, but won election by sweeping the rest of the state by 80,000 votes. A year later, he accepted the Republican nomination for vice president and succeeded to the presidency after McKinley’s assassination in 1901. In 1904, when Roosevelt ran successfully for re-election, the Republicans once again appealed to New York’s Yiddish-speaking voters to support the hero of San Juan Hill [see the accompanying illustration taken from the American Jewish Historical Society archives].
It is the genius of America’s two-party system that, to win elections, the Democrats and Republicans must both provide "big tents" to accommodate diverse constituencies of voters. As the Jewish Republican campaign for Roosevelt illustrated, despite the pressures they put on immigrants to assimilate into the "melting pot," the need to build successful coalitions has eliminated the apparent conflict between retaining one’s ethno-religious identity and being a patriot.