Older and Weiser

On August 26th, I posted a piece entitled, “No Return.” In it, I commented on the political blunder I believed President Obama made in the Middle East by criticizing Israeli’s policy on West Bank settlements:

“In his passion to establish rapport with the Muslim world, it would seem that The President committed a cardinal political error: he lost his base.  In emphasizing the West Bank settlements and by ignoring the issues important to Israelis, he has lost the support of voters in a democracy with the power to direct their leaders to follow him in a peace process.”

In the face of this failed strategy, the Administration has changed its tack.  According to a story in Sunday’s Washington Post, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has now taken to praising Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and offering tacit criticism of the Palestinian Authority.

Here is a link to the Washington Post piece

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I can’t say for certain that the sound of a champagne flute being smashed underfoot at the end of a wedding ceremony was heard for the first time ever in Franklin County, Missouri last Saturday evening. But it’s possible.

According to Sperling’s survey of the best places to live in the US, the Jewish population of this ex-urban county of 100,000, about 50 miles to the west of St. Louis, is 0. Whether or not that demographic is precisely accurate, it’s fair to say that the good people of Franklin County who attended my son’s wedding were not practiced at saying Mazel tov to wish a bride and groom “good luck.”

But say it they did, in a clarion voice. It was an unmistakable utterance of warmth and welcome that filled the courtyard where the ceremony took place and every heart therein.

The spontaneity and togetherness of it caught us by surprise, those 50 or so of us there who are accustomed to these Jewish practices. I, for one, never thought those words sounded as sweet as they did on Saturday.

When we moved from the ceremony to a reception, grace and Hebrew prayers over bread and wine were said. It was the grace, though, that causes a lump in my throat to form.

My new daughter-in-law’s Uncle Don offered a beautiful message of thanks. The family is Catholic and we were expecting him to end it with the words “We say this in the name of Christ, our Lord.” That would not have included everyone in the room, however, and including everyone was what mattered to Don.  So, instead, he ended with: “We say this in the name of the Lord, our God.” The significance was lost on no one.

Amazing, really, that such a subtle word change could be so powerful a message of welcome. As I tell this story, I am humbled by Don’s generosity and his eloquence.

And, deeply appreciative of his grace.

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The author and critic James Bowman recently delivered a talk to the Philadelphia Society in Indianapolis. His address was part of a panel convened to consider “The Pursuit of Wisdom in the Age of the Internet.” Bowman says that although research does not conclude the Internet is making us dumber—quite the opposite, in fact—in his personal experience, it is a barrier to focused, linear, thinking. He says that constant Internet use has made him an unfocused reader. He also surmises that the medium itself dilutes our ability to appreciate great works and figures from the past.

Bowman points to a quote by the economist Tyler Cowen which helps clarify, what he thinks, is most disturbing about the bounty of choices and simultaneity offered by the Internet. I think it is worth excerpting in its entirety.

“Instead of experiencing the emotional range of Don Giovanni in one long, expensive sitting, on the Web we pick the moods we want from disparate sources and assemble them ourselves. We take a joke from YouTube, a terrifying scene from a Japanese slasher movie, a melody from i-Tunes, and some images — perhaps our own digital photos — capturing the sublime beauty of the Grand Canyon. Even if no single bit looks very impressive to an outsider, to the creator of this assemblage it is a rich and varied inner experience. The new wonders we create are simply harder for outsiders to see than, say, the fantastic cathedrals of Old Europe.”  -Tyler Cowen

This kind of self-worship—or “intertextuality” if you’re a grad student—annoys Bowman. He says that throwing together all of these sources in a single, mixed-up, experience is not just shallow but can’t endure in our memory. In other words, the Internet may not be actively lowering our IQs, but it isn’t giving us much knowledge either.

Read the entire talk. It is very good.

Blog Editor
Older and Weiser

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There has been a troubling coalescing of Marxist economics and anti-Semitism on college campuses in recent years. The anti-globalization crusaders, who rioted in Seattle during the World Trade Organization meetings in the 1990s, more  recently have found a vanguard issue – Israel –  seeing it as the tip of the spear for colonial capitalism and racism. The results of this union have been documented by guerilla filmmakers and others with access to YouTube.

On October 15th, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert gave the King Abdullah II Leadership Lecture at the University of Chicago. Members of the student body noisily disrupted his speech shouting “War criminal!” and “Fascist!” Such epithets were sporadically met with “Shut up!” or “Get her out of here!”  You can see some of these outbursts in a video that was actually produced by the Electronic Intifada, a self-described source of news on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Watch the video here.

Below, a reader of Older and Weiser offers his opinion of this disturbing trend, originally written in response to a recent post, entitled: “Revolutionary Anti-Semitism.”

We’d also like to know what you think.

Blog Editor

* * *

I fear this is going on throughout the university system. When students are taught falsehoods about the Middle East and Israel’s role in defending herself can there be any other reaction than this? When the media and public institutions are complicit in anti-Semitic propaganda, what hope is there for our children in the future? What hope is there for good, law-abiding people when the mob gains control?

When dialogue breaks down, they resort to hurling insults and accusations. When we cannot or will not reason with each other, they resort to bullying. And when they have amassed enough people, enough political or physical strength then what will happen? When they don’t want to listen to reason, when our ideas or values are no longer of consequence and when they have gained the will and strength of the mob then what will be?

I believe that once again we are witnessing the beginnings of very difficult times for us.

I think it is incumbent upon us to speak up at every opportunity that we have. To be active in political organizations and PACs. If we are complacent then I fear that the holocaust museums today may be just the prequel to another worldwide effort to eradicate the Jews. One day all that may be left of us might be those images in the museums of tolerance, because Tolerance is not being taught today.

At least not that I can see,

Adrian Goldstein

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My son, Brian, will be married this Saturday, a happy occasion on all counts. In the year since he and Emily announced their engagement, I have been learning about my role in their wedding as “father of the groom.”

My daughter was married about 18 months ago and being the “father of the bride” was a big job. There were the financial obligations attendant to making her wedding and my role as host. It was a lot of work but it gave me things to do while she and her mother planned the big event.

The father of the groom, as I am learning, has a lot less to do. Yes, my wife and I are hosting a rehearsal dinner and seeing to the well-being of our friends and relatives attending the wedding but I have, well, a lot of down time. It’s like being the third-string quarterback, who is dressed in a uniform but unlikely to play, or a “server” in a restaurant, who neither takes the dinner order nor clears the table.

Or, in these days of Democratic Party dominance, it also seems like being a Republican member of Congress.

As father of the groom, I appreciate the feelings that go with having lost control of something for which you were once responsible. My memories of coaching Brian’s hockey team or visiting colleges with him, vivid as they are, no longer are the experiences at the center of his life. How quickly it all has gone.

It’s also hard to believe that little more than four years ago it was Republicans who controlled the House and the Senate, not to mention the Presidency. Their loss of control is as complete as it was rapid. Just 40 senators call themselves Republicans and only 179 of 435 members of the House caucus as Republicans, a 77-vote Democratic majority. Like a father of the groom, they are in attendance but nowhere near in control.

My friends in Congress who are Republicans admit to feelings of loss; loss of power, loss of privilege, loss of influence. A few cry out in frustration at inopportune or inappropriate times.

Others, however, handle their minority status with a graceful understanding of the role that remains for them to play, both as members of Congress and the loyal opposition. Their humble appreciation for the will of the majority who voted their party out of power is affirming of our democracy. They focus on issues where their voices can be heard and on crafting solutions to our country’s problems that reflect their values. Their opportunity, even in the minority, it to earn voices on these issues that rise above the size of their caucus

If Republicans are to remain a viable force in Congress, much less return to the majority, it will depend on the leadership of these members. Like most Americans, I pray for politicians with the wisdom to know they are but actors in a 233-year-old play.

This weekend, I will have a modest role in another play whose plot is only starting to be written. My opportunity to influence the lives of my son and new daughter-in-law is large but depends on adapting to my role in their new play. I also pray for the wisdom to play my new role.

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