Support the Syrian Rebels

So how exactly do I contribute and support the rebels in Syria. Out of all the rebellions that are taking place in the Middle East the one I have the greatest stake in at this time is the uprising in Syria (excluding Iran which seems to have been suppressed). Americans and especially American Jews need to show their support for the rebels as they risk their lives to rid themselves of their suppressive dictatorial regime.

Syria is ruled by a double talking manipulative regime that is a proxy for Iran sitting on the border of Israel. It is a constant threat and has shown its desire to procure nuclear weapons. It has never desired peace with Israel and has only talked a good game while its actions demonstrate its true intentions. Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and BO are all fooled by his double talk as they stupidly call him a reformer while behind their back he has only evil intentions. As long as he talks the talk the American fools believe him.

The Syrian regime is also destroying its neighbor Lebanon by its support of Hezbollah and Islamicizing that country. What was once a moderate regime is heading the the way of an Islamic Sharia state a la Iran. Elections are useless once the Islamists get in because they fudge the results. Once they get in its over. The Syrians are certainly supplying Hezbollah with weapons prohibited by the 2006 cease fire which will eventually be used against Israel.

Iran is building a military port on the Mediterranean coast of Syria giving the Islamic state of Iran a strategic military position. When I fly to Israel and watch the flight map on the plane I can see when we get within range of the Mediterranean coast. It will be unnerving knowing that I will be flying nearby this Iran/Syria military port and an Iranian missile can take the plane down.

This is the opportunity to change the regime in Syria. Of course, there is now way to know who will take over but they cannot be any worse and will hopefully be better. It is the chance to counter the expanding Iranian influence in the region. BO helped take down Mubarak and is helping take down Khadaffi, both were suppressing radical Islam. Our national interest is against radical Islam and those states that seek worldwide Sharia. Syria is where we need to be focusing our attention. We must confront the spread of Iranian influence especially where we have proxies willing to fight to promote our interests .

So if anybody knows how I can support the Syrian rebels please let me know. Perhaps we can bypass our government of fools and create a huge wave of support behind the rebels. The rebels make the sacrifice and all we have to do is support them financially and with our voices.

I take solace in the fact that although the US government cannot detect this opportunity, it wouldn't surprise me if the Israelis are secretly supporting the rebels.

Genesis 16:12

I think the overwhelming majority of humanity would find it very difficult to murder another human being. In fact, it is likely difficult for many to murder an animal and even more difficult to murder a newborn animal. What kind of human being would slash the throat of a three month old child? What must go through the mind of a person as he looks at an innocent baby and murders her? What is more peaceful and innocent than a sleeping newborn sucking on their pacifier. Contrarily, what is more heinous an act than to slit the throat and murder an innocent three month old.

There is no rational way to understand how a human being can commit this terrible act but it demonstrates the mindset that is pervasive amongst Arabs. Similar to the Nazis who also carried out such atrocities they are infused with hatred and the dehumanization of the Jews. The degree to which their education and media are filled with anti-Jewish and anti-Israel false rhetoric leads to this type of behavior and thus the Arab leadership is complicit.

I refer you to Genesis chapter 16 verse 12 where Ishmael (and his descendants) is destined by an angel to be the father of a nation and is described as a wild ass of a man. Further it states his hands will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him. As descendants of Ishmael, the Arabs are certainly living up to their biblical inheritance. So is it the divine plan for Israel and the world to be plagued by these wild ass people forever? Is it even possible for Arabs to live peacefully amongst the nations, with the Jews, or even with each other for that matter?

The Arabs desperately need a new leader to step up. Where is this Arab person who can lead this nation and tell the people the truth? The truth that while the world is beginning the 21st century, the Arab nations are being left way behind at the fault of their leaders. The truth that their grievances, poverty and failure to succeed in the world economy is the fault ONLY of themselves and their leaders. This is despite being given a huge head start by their abundant natural resources. The truth that the Jews are a peaceful people who share a forefather, Abraham, and only desire is to live peacefully on a small sliver of land with mutual respect. The truth that the US is only concerned with freedom of all peoples of the world, not imperialists or crusaders as falsely accused.

Where is this leader who can state these truths and transform the Arab world? There must be someone who could fill this tremendous void. You will say they would be killed on the spot but I disagree. They would be protected by the thousands of Arabs whose only desire is to join the world community. They want to be freed to demonstrate their unique talents and compete with the rest of the world. One voice can transform the Arab world or is our destiny to live with these wild asses whose pathetic contribution to the world includes the celebartion of the murder a three month old child.

Multiculturalism

It always amazes me when I occasionally look around my work environment, the variety of people that I work with. The operating room is staffed with people from all backgrounds which represent all areas of the world. Just a couple of generations ago my ancestors were being marched into ovens while others were slaves or living in repressive regimes. Yet, we all assemble here through some fluke of history and migration and arrive at the same work place.

Once in a while I will get an elderly Polish or German patient who has recently immigrated and was certainly in Europe during WWII. I consider what this person was doing when my ancestors were being rounded up into ghettos and later sent off to concentration camps. Here they are coming to me for help with their medical problems while they may have been complicit in murdering my relatives. I remain professional and imagine perhaps they were one of the righteous gentiles that saved Jews and I should not imagine the worst. Through a fluke of history, because of their persecution, my parents arrived in the US well before these immigrants have arrived. This has given me the advantage of having grown up in the US and benefited from an excellent education and opportunities while they are just now reaching the US seeking their opportunities. It's a cruel irony that 65 years ago these same people who may have been contributing to my relative's murder are now coming to me for medical help to save their lives.

On a lighter note, I work with a large group of Korean-Americans and as a Jewish-American I think we work very well together. But there are definitely some distinct cultural differences between us. For one, in our lunch room there has to be two refrigerators. One for the Korean food and the other for typical American fare. The reason for this is the odor from Korean food permeates every other food item in the fridge so that everything ends up smelling like kimchi. Kimchi is a fermented cabbage that is the staple of Korean food and has a very distinct smell that many non-Koreans find offensive. It is supposedly very healthy and was likely used because kimchi can be preserved without refrigeration. This is similar to Jewish pickling of vegetables, fish, and meats for preservation.

Kimchi can be found in many products like kimchi soda, kimchi candy, and kimchi ice cream. But I was talking to one of the staff who is Korean and worked in the past in a Kosher deli. She was talking to me about Jewish food and I was making fun of kimchi and we thought about a combination of the two. So we thought of a few ideas like kimchi latkes or kimchi kugel but in honor of the upcoming Purim holiday I think kimchi hamantaschen was the best idea. Hamantaschen are cookies folded into a triangular shape and filled with jam that represent the ears of Haman, the villain of the Purim story.

We decided we would create the first kimchi hamantaschen and test market the cookie. It would be a huge success and we would each be able to retire and reap the rewards of our intercultural creation. The only problem is I find the idea of a kimchi cookie to be extremely distasteful. But what better way to remember Haman then to fill his cookie with gross fermented cabbage.

The Perfect Sunrise

I wrote this last week while I was sitting on the porch of my hotel at 6am listening to to the church bells mingling with the sounds of the birds as I watched the sun rise over the the old city walls of Jerusalem. It was the final morning of my trip to Israel and as I sat there alone in tranquility I thought to myself how lucky I was to be able to be sitting at this spot overlooking the old city walls. I thought of how many Jews have died for the sake of the Jewish people and the Jewish state so that I am able to be sitting here. How many of my forefathers have prayed for a return to Jerusalem over the last two thousand years yet I am the one that fulfills their prayers.

The morning started out chilly yet as the sun peaked out above the walls it gradually warmed me. The sun rise lit up the Jerusalem stone on the Eastern face of the hotel bringing about an abundance of beautiful colors within the stone. It was a beautifully clear day with only a few clouds and I could clearly see the building and minarets in the old city rising above the city walls.

The birds were busy picking up scraps from a nearby table that went uncleaned from the night before. A large hawk like bird would fly down to the table pick up the morsel of food and quickly fly away to the date palm tree where the nest is located. They would fly to the top of the hotel and gawk proclaiming their territory. A smaller finch bird would fly in and quickly grab a scrap while the hawk was not nearby. All the time the songs of the birds were beautifully filling the auditory void.

Every five minutes the church bells would ring for about fifteen seconds until seven o'clock when they rang for about two minutes getting progressively louder then fading away. I suspect this was an alarm clock for the Monks to come for prayer. About every thirty minutes I could see a helicopter travelling from North to South. It was travelling East of the old city likely patrolling the West Bank region.

I was very sad sitting there on that last day as I enjoyed the beauty of that morning. I wondered when would be the next time I will be able to return. Will there be a next time? I became jealous of the Arab waiter who was cleaning the tables and gets to experience this sunrise every morning. I was jealous of the doorman who although doesn't have the view from the porch can listen to the beautiful songs of the birds and talks to them with his bird calls.

Gradually, human activity began competing with the tranquility of the morning. The sounds of traffic and construction, voices from the hotel, cigarette smoke from a person who came outside to smoke start interfering with my perfect sunrise. Only a few precious minutes are left to listen to the birds and watch the sunrise and I try to concentrate to slow down time.

At about eight O'clock my daughter finds me sitting on the porch and asks if I want to go exercise with her. I am torn between the beauty of the morning and the request of my daughter. The last hours in Jerusalem with my daughter will transpire quickly and I thoroughly enjoyed my trip with her yet this morning's sunrise over the old city walls is a highlight which is burned into my memory. I go inside to change and leave the porch saddened to leave the perfect morning but excited to spend the last few hours of my trip with my daughter.

I eagerly await the next time I will be able to spend a morning watching the sun rise over the old city walls of Jerusalem. I feel very fortunate to be able to have this experience while generations before were unable and appreciate the sacrifice of the many that have died so that I can be here.

Fallacy #2

Now that I have attempted to dispel the fallacy of the miserable educational system in this country in last week's post I want to go on to counter another myth that seems to have infiltrated our psyche. The notion that the US doesn't produce anything anymore and that we are losing out to the Chinese is ridiculous. I hinted at this this in last week's blog but wanted to expand a little.

I suggest you watch Jim Cramer on Mad Money on CNBC to get a flavor of the number of companies that innovate and manufacture in this country. And, of course, employ a huge number of Americans. These companies are the gems of our nation and are often vilified by the liberals and the left. They compete all over the world with their products and services effectively and grow their profits and shareholder values. We should be so proud of our industry giants and not criticize their practices.

Just think of the industries that originate in the USA. We discover and sell a tremendous number of pharmaceuticals to the world which benefit humanity. We lead the world in biotechnology advances from artificial joints to catheters that open clogged arteries and robots that perform surgery. In technology, we produce chips, software, internet businesses that are used in the entire world. We manufacture beverages (coke and pepsi), diapers (P&G), cars (Ford), tractors (Caterpillar), airplanes (Boeing), weapons, energy exploration, etc. In entertainment our movies, sports and music are enjoyed the world over.

Facebook and google are well known examples of great companies that have started recently and have huge market caps. Apple is the greatest company in the world and continues to improve and innovate. And there are dozens of other less well known companies that are also innovating and growing in that sector and many others. The fallacy that we don't manufacture anything anymore is absolutely ridiculous. Our country is a wonderful incubator for innovation, discovery and creation of businesses that increase the wealth of our country and our citizens. The USA leads the world by far and will continue to outperform the world in advancing the standard of living of Americans and people all over the world.

Educational Excellence, USA Style

I just got back from a trip with my son visiting a college in St. Louis. There are some fallacies that are embedded in our psyche that should be dispelled. The notion that the educational system in this country is bad and that somehow it is inferior to those of other countries are ridiculous. We produce students through our system that can outcompete any other country. One can argue that on the average in the US kids perform poorly when compared to other nations. However if you look at the top tier of students, I believe, we prepare kids through our system with the skills and preparedness that exceeds any other on the planet. The combination of educational rigor with the desire for extracurricular pursuits and the stress of giving back to the community produce very well rounded individuals. They are prepared for a life of balance between work and play as well as between the attainment of wealth and charity.

The competition of getting into a top college is daunting. So many kids have excellent grades, SAT scores and varied extracurriculars. There are tens of thousands of kids who excel each year and are the future of our country. There is no doubt in my mind that this country will continue to be a world leader as long as we produce these young adults with the passion to excel in all pursuits. I would put up our top 5-10% of students any day against any other country's. It is not just the test scores though, that exemplify our top children but a intangible element that kids get by growing up in this country. The sense that anybody from any background can go as far as their talents will take them instills our students with passion and hope.

The other factor that drives our kids is competition. The competitive spirit that our kids feel in order to succeed is at the same time stressful but also drives them to overachieve. They feel pressure to score better on SAT, to take the most rigorous curricula and to expand their extracurricular activities to enhance their resumes. Competition breeds excellence and the undergraduate and graduate systems of admissions foster and promote this competition. The best rise to the top and the bar at the top continues to rise.

The future of the US is promising as our brightest children will certainly be world class business leaders, scientists, etc. Worldwide innovation will continue to be a primarily American phenomenon as it has been over our history. We are the engine of discovery for the world and the great advances that are certain to occur will be created in the US. We have nothing to worry about regarding China. They will take existing technology and produce it cheaper but the US is the epicenter of innovation in all fields. It is the way we educate and raise our kids versus their system of education and government. It is the way we reward that innovation that propels discovery and creation.

As I toured the campus listening to various students and as I watch my son competing against such outstanding candidates I kept returning to the same thought. I am so happy I don't have to go through the process now. It is so much more difficult now then when I was in school. I question whether I would be able to reach the same level now as before.

The beauty of our system is that at every level you can rise to the top regardless of your previous performance. There is always a chance to reinvent yourself to maximize your skill set. The only one who puts limits on your achievement is you. As is the case in so many other countries you are not pigeon holed into a specific life path depending on your genealogy, wealth, or score on a single test. I know my son will develop his skill set regardless of the school he goes to. I hope he has the fortitude to compete and excel, to accept failures as opportunities to learn and try again, and to live a life of balance.

Am I Racist?

The other day I was in the operating room and was opining about the unrest in Egypt. I was criticizing BO because when the world's arch enemy Achmadinejad experienced an uprising by his people, the US government was nowhere to be found. Yet, when our ally, Mubarak, was presented with the identical dilemma BO was the first to demand his stepping down. Another example of treating the enemy favorably while treating friends harshly. I commented that BO either had an agenda that would explain these reactions or he was completely incompetent.

The problem was there was a black scrub nurse present at the time and afterward I felt uneasy having criticized the president while he was in the room. Was I being racially insensitive by criticizing our president with a black man in the room? Should I have considered his feelings before going off on BO? Why should I feel discomfort discussing my president in a room with a black man? I should say, he never said anything, smirked, or gave any indication that he disapproved. He performed his job professionally, as usual, without any indication of disagreement. Yes, this was all in my head but why did I feel this discomfort?

I tried to do a little role reversal and imagined what if the president was a Jewish man. If everybody in the room was black and I was the only Jewish guy would I feel bias if the doctor started going after this Jewish president's policies? I think the answer is that I would and thus I feel badly for having put this man through that situation. But it is an emotional response, since logic would dictate that anyone should have the freedom to comment on presidential policy regardless of their race or the race of others in the room.

In any case I think black people support BO for the same reason that Jewish people would support a Jewish president. Both situations are intellectually shortsighted but emotionally understandable. I would like to think that I would not support a Jewish candidate who had opposing views to my own but I have not been presented with that option. But the fact some people support candidates solely for their religion or color is racist and discriminatory even though it is a positive action. It is a candidates opinions and stance on policy that should guide voters.

So I criticized a black president in front of a black individual while i suspect he supports BO solely for the color of his skin. Who is the real racist?