The other night I watched a little movie on Netflix entitled simply “Itzhak”, which unsurprisingly was a little mini-biography about virtuoso violinist Itzhak Perlman.
Some background is necessary before I go any further. I attended a classical concert in Chicago many years ago, and the “house band” was the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, then and now one of the finest orchestras in the world, conducted by Georg Solti, one of the finest conductors ever to wield a baton. The opening piece (if I remember correctly) was something by Beethoven, and the CSO played it wonderfully.
Then Itzhak Perlman came to the stage, painfully hobbling along on his crutches, his polio-ravaged legs waving helplessly as he made his way to the First Violinist’s chair. He sat down, rearranged his legs with his hands, then waited while the CSO began playing Brahms’s Violin Concerto in D major, which is characterized by a lengthy introduction before the lead violinist plays a note. Then it came time for Perlman to play… and the CSO took off like a fighter jet. In other words, one man’s playing grabbed the already-magnificent orchestra and literally propelled them into a performance of unbelievable virtuosity. The standing ovation from the audience lasted nearly as long as the performance itself, and several of the orchestra’s violinists dabbed at their eyes with tissues, so moved were they by the experience.
Itzak Perlman was and is a force of nature.
So when I saw this movie on Netflix, I hit Play with gleeful anticipation, and was not disappointed.
Itzhak Perlman is no ordinary man. Quite apart from his virtuosity with the violin, he is a man of infinite compassion — his charitable works and teaching violin alone would set him apart from most people — he’s been married to his priceless wife Toby forever, is a devoted father to his large family, and loves his pet dogs almost as much, I think, as his children. He is also wonderfully funny — his description of looking up something Jewish on the Internet as “Jewgle” made me guffaw for several minutes. I have always loved Perlman’s playing — who could not? — but this was something different: the longer the movie went on, the more I fell in love with this incredible, singular man.
But, of course, he’s Jewish.
And this would make him a target for all the assholes in the world: the Muslims, the alt-Right, the academe and intellectuals (especially in Europe) and people like the loathsome Labour politician Jeremy Corbin who are infected with their foul brands of anti-Semitism.
Make no mistake: to these people — think of Hitler and his Nazis as just the extreme embodiment — this man Perlman, this extraordinary, wonderful man who has been one of the greatest gifts to civilization ever, would be just another Jew to harass in the street, another Jewboy to kick and spit on, and just another Untermensch to load onto a train to be sent to Auschwitz.
Almost two years ago to the day, I wrote these words:
Pound for pound, the Jews have contributed as much or more to Western civilization than any other group — it’s even called the “Judeo-Christian tradition”, FFS — and to discount this contribution deliberately, to me, shows a shallow intellect at best. (At worst, Hitler, but I’m not going to go there.) Of course, I know that many Jews are socialists, communists, progressives, one-worlders, and all those things that are not only themselves distasteful, but are contradictory to Western thought. Ending slavery in the Western hemisphere (an action performed solely by Western nations, lest we forget) is not the same as allowing Western culture to be perverted or submerged by inferior cultures — and let’s be perfectly honest, when compared to Western culture, all other cultures are in general absolutely inferior to ours. To say otherwise is to be ignorant of history, or to be able to consciously deny the fact of the matter despite all evidence to the contrary. Judaic culture, by the way, is not inferior to, say, Western culture and civilization because in no small part, theirs is almost indistinguishable from that of Western Europe because of their commonality. That Israeli liberals seem perfectly prepared to help bring about the destruction of Eretz Israel was always a mystery to me until it was explained to me (by one of my good friends, an Orthodox Jew) that these liberals hate the state of Israel because it is culturally closer to Western European democracy than it is to Eastern European socialism. And the liberal Israelis have camp-followers all over the world: in Europe, Britain, the United States and anywhere that Jews can be found in any numbers. Does that mean “conspiracy”? Sure, if you’re a moron, because there are many, many Jews who are conservative, too — but somehow, the Conspiracy seems to have passed them by? Not credible.
So: am I pro-Israel? You betcha. I’m even more supportive of Israel when I look at the nations of assholes who want Israel destroyed.
Do I think that a lot of Jews are liberal assholes? You betcha, again. (Don’t even ask me about Jews and their support for gun control, unless we also mention JPFO, who also seem to have missed the memo.)
Am I prepared to become an anti-Semite because of The Great Jewish Conspiracy? Think again, Adolf.
Would I stand aside if some anti-Semitic pricks started playing their little neo-Nazi reindeer games with Jews in the streets? Not only would I not stand aside, but I’d be standing between the two groups, telling the anti-Semites that they’d have to get past me first.
Ich habe Dachau gesehen.
And as long as I have breath in my body, “Never again!” will not be just an empty phrase, even if that seems to be the case with some Jews(!), who think that their tribe’s survival of the Holocaust was somehow irrelevant in today’s world.
Today, coincidentally, is Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, and this post is dedicated to all my Tribe Readers especially, but also to all my Jewish friends and acquaintances all over the world.
After watching the movie about Itzhak Perlman, a rage descended on me that has not dissipated in the days since, and I’m not sure it ever will.
So here’s what I’m going to do. Winging its way to me on the wings of the USPS is a yarmulke (kippah) — something not purchased, but given to me by a Jewish friend because, as I explained to him, it would mean more to me coming from a friend than if I’d just purchased it somewhere.
It’s going into my jacket pocket, to be carried everywhere I go. And from now on, every time I walk around in an area which might be regarded as anti-Semitic — majority Muslim, majority Black, majority alt-Right, whatever — I’m going to wear the yarmulke, not because I’m Jewish, but because I’m sick to death of this bullshit.
And to anyone who may take issue with me over this: fuck with me at your peril.
I used to think exactly like you Kim. Fact is I broke with the alt right over the Jewish Question and some other irreconcilable differences… and fell in with a faction of the so-called “Dissident Right” led by The Z Man. Like him, I take the JQ seriously and will not be intimidated by posturing fops and virtue signalling toads trying to squelch discussion of it.
I’ll see your Jewish virtuoso and raise you: Epstein. Feinstein. Weinstein. The entire executive of the NYT, CNN and most of the mass media… and I’m sorry, but I am seeing a pattern that I have reservations about. I’m not saying Hitler was right and we need to turn Jews into soap… but we really, really need to start asking some serious questions about their self proclaimed identity/victim group, and get some clarity about their agenda, their loyalties and intentions.
I haven’t made up my mind on them yet… but dear gawd, they have some very serious problems in their community that they really, really need to jump on and deal with.
But where can I stand? I’m Jewish and feel precisely the same way you do, as do quite a few of us who don’t mind being treated as lepers.
I feel that the only way the JQ will come to an abrupt stop is when my leftist co-religionists come to the realization that the people they currently venerate will happily, without reservation, cram them into the cattle cars.
For the most part they no longer worship G-d; they worship the “State.” But I see this in the Church as well, so it’s not just a JQ.
I’d like to suggest that you try to get invited to two Seders: one traditional, one modern SJW. I think this may go a long way helping you understand the JQ.
Do you have a link, Boron? I’ve never heard of them. It’s a pickle, isn’t it? Be safe, above all else. I don’t wish anyone any harm.
There used to be a rallying cry fore the Leftist hippies at the anti-war protests: “Chicks Up Front”. Because the Leftists knew that their opposition had been raised “not to hit girls” and they would hesitate or give way rather than do it.
The Left today is operating the same way: “Jews up front”, in the hopes that you’ll either refuse to attack because they can call you an anti-Semite….. or you’ll start generalizing from their Jewish members and become anti-Semitic.
It’s simply Leftists, and I say “Pfui! *spit*”.
Ferg,
So are you suggesting — to use your own examples — that the traits of pedophilia, statism and sexual harassment are inherently Jewish?
No. Other communities have problems with this too, and that is not right either. But, other communities are doing something about it too. The Vatican itself got raked over the coals for the conduct of its homosexual priests attacking children and their role in covering for them. They are still getting flogged for it and they deserve it.
When this happens with the Jews, they circle the wagons. For years, Weinstein and Epstein did what they did and corrupt media and Hollywood Jews covered for them. Epstein got assassinated in cold blood, in broad daylight in a max security prison – and it’s a joke. Mel Gibson gets loaded and points out Hollywood is run by corrupt Jews – and he gets run out of town for it by corrupt Jews.
I have no agenda here. All I am asking is this… are these rich, powerful Jews really our friends? And why is it wrong to question them? You would feel perfectly fine asking tough questions of anyone else… why does doing it to Jews make you suspect anti Semitism? Historically, Jews have been run out of every country they ever settled in. Why is that?
Hey – I don’t like this either. But at some point, these guys have to start policing themselves and reigning in their nutters and degenerates… and they have to seen doing it so people can trust them.
Right now, for me, they’re just questions.
As I recall, it is legal to hunt over bait in TX.
Kim,
Thank you for this post. We Jews believe in a concept called Tikkun Olam … improving the world. It is our solemn obligation to leave this little blue planet a better place compared to how we found it. Make it better, not just in a physical sense, but in terms of relieving suffering, increasing knowledge, spiritual improvements, and the like. Like many other ancient traditions of many faiths, Tikkun Olam is one which is easy to bastardize. In recent decades, it has taken on new meaning with the Social Justice Warriors, the political left, etc. See your reference to Jewish statist/socialists, “intellectuals”, etc., but I digress.
In the true spirit of Tikkun Olam, I give you a comparison of Jewish Nobel laureates vs Arab/Islamic winners. The disparity between Jewish contribution and Islamic/Arab contribution is astounding …
http://www.jewishmag.com/99mag/nobel/nobel.htm
Last summer I spent an eve at Ravinia … Perlman conducted the CSO for their all-Tchaikovsky performance, culminating with the 1812, with of course, live cannon. The performance was memorable, to say the least. Perlman’s virtuosity extends far beyond that of his fiddle. And of course, for the performance, it didn’t hurt that I stationed my group “on the lawn” about 40 yards from the guns.
This year will be Perlman’s 75th birthday, a milestone which deserves celebration in its own right. He’s scheduled to play Ravinia again, but with this unchecked virus, I’m expecting the whole of the 2020 Ravinia season to be canceled. We’re a lesser society for the cancellation.
https://www.ravinia.org/ShowDetails/1825/diamonds-and-perlman
Lastly, thank you for standing in Solidarity with My People. Wear that kippah well. I pity anyone who gets on your bad side over this issue, or any other.
– Brad
Hi, Brad
Another MOT here, with—surprise, surprise—a quibble that I think actually reinforces your point: Tikkun doesn’t exactly mean “improve;” it’s more like “repair” or, maybe better, “regulate.” As in “recalibrate” or “return to its function as originally designed.” Very much as in “well-regulated.”
In Israel, the day is formally called “Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust and the Heroism.”
The song that ends like this is often sung at observations of the day around the world:
“This song was written with our blood and not with lead,
It’s not a little tune that birds sing overhead,
This song a people sang amid collapsing walls,
With Nagants[1] in hand they heeded to the call.
“So never say that there is only death for you,
Though leaden skies may be concealing days of blue.
Because the hour we have hungered for is near,
Beneath our tread the earth shall tremble: we are here!”
[1] M1895
I join you in thanking Kim for taking his stand.
I grew up with Jews in a very Jewish area of London, I speak Yiddish (no Hebrew I’m afraid though I listened to plenty of friends struggling with their homework), 50% of my secondary school was Jewish.
I’m still in contact with quite a few guys from school though they’re scattered across the globe now.
Jews are the same as everybody else, good, bad and indifferent, take your pick.
These anti-Semitic creeps don’t want to fight, they want to bully.
I’m prepared to stand up and be counted, let’s see what they think of face-to-face instead of from behind which is where the little sneaks want to scurry from.
Personally, I take people one at a time, and base my opinion of them, as individuals, by their actions as individuals. People don’t choose their ethnic/racial/ancestral group. Lumping everyone together because they belong to a particular group is lazy and stupid. If you’re going to dislike someone because they belong to a group, make it a group they had a choice about joining, like Communists, Nazis, etc.
I once had a black woman ask me if I liked black women. I told her I like WOMEN, and that frankly of the traits that make a woman attractive, or sexy, or interesting the continent that her ancestors came from ranks really far down the list. (Of course I couldn’t go so far as to say I like PEOPLE, to include men, at least for her usage of the word “like”).
So yeah, I’ve met wonderful Christians, Muslims, Jews, whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, men, women, straight, gay and members of just about any other group you’d care to name. I’ve also met people from the same groups I wouldn’t piss on if they were on fire.
I’ve commented here that I grew up in Passaic NJ. At the time – late 1950s and early to mid 1960s – it had a significant Jewish population. I was brought up by very Baptist parents but I believe that my school friends and the culture of the city in general gave me some understanding of how people from a different heritage saw God. I remember seeing people with numbers tattooed on their arms and it wasn’t until many years later that I understood for every tattoo I saw, there were hundreds or thousands of folks who were pushed into mass graves or cremated.
As a medic with the First Infantry Division my dad said that he toured. Europe at Uncle Sam’s expense. He was a kind and gentle man and like most WW2 vets he never talked much about his experiences. We lost him 25 years ago. I only saw him get physically violent once and that occurred at a large family party. A distant cousin who had the reputation of being a loud mouthed jerk made the statement that the Holocaust never really happened and even if it did “those Jews deserved it”. Before I could even digest the absurdity of that statement my kind and gentle dad had jerk – who had six inches of height and at least 50 pounds on dad – by the collar and was banging his head against the wall. Dad shouted “I was there. Don’t tell me it never happened. I smelled that place. I can still smell i!” One quiet ex GI never forgot. I pray that none of us forget.
Consider your anecdote stolen.
One of your best. And I’m looking for that film tonight. Thank you!
For what it is worth (about what you paid for it), I’ve always just assumed that the non-believing jews were in a bit of a different group than those that do believe. They certainly act differently. My best guess is that they are the chosen of G*d, and have been told so, but they misidentify who G*d is. The non-believers go around looking for G*d around them in the world, and raise The State, or Gaia or whatever to that status.
As a Christian, and a believer that G*d did choose the Jewish People, I could also say that makes them a bit more of a target for The Enemy… but I know Kim is not so inclined.
As a practicing (no damn good at it) Catholic, I, too, stand with my Jewish brothers and sisters. My reasons are not entirely altruistic: Jews are often the societal “Canaries in the Coal Mine”. When it goes badly for them, it’s just about to go badly for everyone else. So, I’ll stand by my friends in our hour of need.
Unfortunately, as been noted above, Jews often do not actively oppose the evils being inflicted upon them. Many Jews are often the afflicters and enablers, or at best passive. I asked a Jewish friend why, with all their thousands of years of history, Jews weren’t the most heavily armed population in the world. He just sadly shrugged and said; “I am.”
For a minute, I thought “hey, I thought Perlman was dead!” Then (with the help of the occasionally-reliable Wikipedia) I realized was confusing him with Isaac Stern. So much for the “Mandela Effect”.
I did not find it on Netflix but Amazon Prime has it. Seems worth a look.
What you have to remember about Jews and Judaism is the constant self-questioning. The greatest body of Biblical commentary in all of history is the Talmud, and no issue goes unchallenged or unquestioned. I think the reason so many of us end up in law is because we’re raised to question and argue. Most of us can argue every side of an argument; The old line, “Ask 10 Jews a question and you’ll get 12 different answers” is very real. And so we better understand our enemies as well as our friends
And that applies to Tikkun Olam as well. There’s no agreement on one way to make the world a better place. I came from a benevolent liberal background, a lot of which I’ve rejected, but not all. Being libertarian means accepting differences; suppressing ideas and practices I find repugnant makes me as bad as the communists and Jew haters. The only moral way to reach them and change them is through love and enlightenment–although both the collectivists and haters are so caught up in their own self-righteous anger and misery that it’s damn near impossible to reach them, especially the Jew haters. G-d knows we keep trying.
But keep this in mind: the Shoah was not a lesson lost. More of us are armed and prepared than you would imagine. We learned from the Holocaust that your hatred knows no boundaries, and we’ve learned from Israel’s wars that we can bloody our enemies. We are not so full of hate that we will be coming for you, or trashing your businesses, or threatening your children. But we are no longer sheep huddling in a corner of the barn. When you come for us, we’ll be waiting, and ready.
May G-d have mercy on you, because we will not.
I know the Holocaust was real – I had two friends here, now passed on, who had those numbers tattooed on their forearms. Bud survived five camps, the last one Auschwitz.
Whenever Dad came north from Florida to visit me, I’d take him to Baltimore to see his long-time friends. We’d go to his former golf club for lunch and often met a number of old friends there, some he had known since he was a teenager. On one of those lunch days, his good friend and golf buddy George came by with his wife and sat with us. After a bunch of small talk, out of nowhere, Dad said “George was in the infantry in WWII and got a battlefield commission, then was called up again for the Korean War.”
George commented about how he felt screwed by the Korean War call up, because he had already done his part in WWII.
I asked him what outfit he served in during WWII, and he paused for a long moment. Then he told us “the 89th Division” He went on to tell us that they liberated Ohrdruff in April, 1945, the first concentration camp entered by the Americans. He told us they were hardened combat veterans by this time, used to hardship and death, but after walking into the camp and seeing the stacks of rotting bodies, partially incinerated bodies, piles of bones, walking skeletons begging for food, and the overpowering stench, they were at first stunned, then they flew into a rage, gathering up the remaining guards and shooting them, until an officer stopped it. It was so stunning, Generals Eisenhower, Patton and Bradley visited a few days later. George said that the place was so horrifying, even the tough Patton ducked behind one of the sheds stacked full of starved bodies and vomited.
As he related this story, George became visibly choked up, struggling to get the words out, tears streaming down his face.
His wife leaned over, cradled his head and said softly “Oh, Georgie, we’ve been married over fifty years, and you never told me this before.” By this time, my eyes were full of tears, as they are now just remembering George spilling that awful memory for the first time, after keeping it in all those years.
NEVER AGAIN
I understand that Eisenhower insisted that the camps be documented on film because “in a hundred years people will say that this didn’t happen.” He also marched the local Germans through the camps so they wouldn’t be able to say that they didn’t know.
BTW, Kim, thanks for the movie tip. I’ll look for it tonight. Perlman is a national treasure and a real mensch. He radiates joy, whether just talking or making music for the gods.
Having now seen the Pelosi Fridge Clip, if you feel free to detest Corbyn, am I free to detest Pelosi?
Fielding this question for Kim (if I may be so impertinent), the nice thing about America is that we’re free to detest any politician without permission. Now speaking for myself, if I were standing next to Corbyn OR Pelosi and either or (better yet) both had their teeth on fire, I would walk five miles to relive myself because I refuse to waste perfectly good piss.
I’m not as fussy as Dave.
But I would wait awhile before unleashing the stream, so to speak.
I knew two persons of the jewish religion:
1)
Bernie Schwartz was my neighbor in an apartment complex near Sacramento California.
Bernie acquired a condo, so about six of us neighbors helped him move.
In gratitude, Bernie took us for supper at Stewart Anderson’s Black Angus steak house on a busy Saturday afternoon.
After ordering, 5’3″ Bernie stood on his chair, and yelled to the crowded dining room:
“I’M A JEW!”
I think this is inappropriate.
2)
Dave von Felix moved from New York city to the Sacramento area.
I was invited to a New Year’s get-together, so my new neighbor Dave tagged along.
The host warmly greeted us at the door, and as Dave walked into the crowded living room, he yelled “I’M A JEW!”
I think this is inappropriate.
*****
During the 1970s, I worked in Iraq, Yemen, Palestine, Libya, Egypt, Iran, and Arabia.
Every semite was open, warm, and accepting of my bumbling attempts to learn about their cultures.
The humor and gentle nature of these semite people touched me deeply.
Of the semite people I knew, I felt loved and cherished.
Decades later, I am humbled to remember my time among these semite people.
So, you might say ‘I am pro-semite’.
The askanazi?
Not so much.
My heritage is Irish, all four grandparents.
At gatherings near Frisco California 1980-2010, I experienced repeated hostile exclusions by persons claiming they were members of the jewish religion.
I don’t take their hostility nor their prejudice personal.
I merely state this as my experiences with the difference between jews and semite folks and persons of the jewish religion.
*****
On a cruise ship, we shared a dining-table with our cabin neighbors.
One individual kept loudly referring to his “…time in the camps…”, showing everybody his numbers tattoo on his arm.
“Jew this, jew that, jew jew jew” was his only conversation topic.
“If all the jews on this boat went to the back of the boat, the front of the boat would come out of the water!”
After our first meal together, an old woman (I identified as semite) confided “That’s a fake tattoo. He’s a coward; he spent the war hiding in New Jersey. He’s a putz. Don’t believe a word from that liar.”
*****
I embrace the philosophy of philosopher George Carlin:
“I don’t believe anything I don’t experience myself.
Nothing.
Zip.
Nada.”
This works for me.