It has been a bizarre week in Kansas. First has been the trial of the man who killed two people at the Jewish Community Campus and one at Village Shalom in April 2014. I know his name, but it is not worth saying. He wants the publicity. He is a sick demented man who was able to get guns and act out on his baseless hatred.
Throughout the year each of us searches for meaning. This search becomes more intensified as we anticipate the start of Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and contemplate the other important holidays that follow in rapid succession. Our sages instituted the sounding of the shofar during the month of Elul to stir our souls in order to awaken us to the importance of the coming weeks — not just days — of awe.
“Firing sequence complete! Salute given! Fire!”
With that, I pushed the red “FIRE” button and launched a $45,000,000 F-18 Hornet Fighter jet from the deck of the U.S.S. Harry S. Truman in the middle of the Atlantic.
How do I describe that experience? AWESOME.
In recent months, I have read the terms and details of the proposed nuclear deal with Iran and listened to the testimony of numerous senior administration officials responsible for crafting and negotiating it. Informed by this information as well as classified intelligence analysis, I believe this proposal falls short of its goal to prevent Iran’s nuclear weapons capability. Back in Kansas during August, conversations with many people from across the state have only reinforced my conviction that the world can and must do better than this potentially dangerous deal.
It was not surprising that Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) embraced some of the most convoluted logic about the Iran deal to rationalize her support for it. After all, McCaskill, back in 2008, was one of candidate Barack Obama’s strongest, earliest and most vocal supporters.
Classes began this week at the University of Kansas, the University of Missouri and have or will be starting soon at college campuses across the country. The rise in anti-Semitism on American campuses is alarming, and likely due to the toxic combination of destructive groups and ineffective academic leaders.
When you see or if you know anyone associated with the Flo Harris Foundation, please express appreciation to them for allowing me to do outreach in the Jewish Community regarding the importance of healthy relationships, and specifically defining and addressing unhealthy ones. Additionally, I hope the wonderful anonymous donor who enabled me to attend the Association of Jewish Family & Children’s Agencies (AJFCA) Domestic Violence Professionals Fly-In that took place in Chicago sees this article! This quick but powerful conference attracted professionals from across the nation addressing education, prevention, safety, and the importance of learning how abuse (of any nature) affects a person and family during their life span.
Rabbi’s recommendations are ‘delusional’
Rabbi Mark Levin approves the Iran deal, saying of his inability to understand the arguments against it, perhaps “everyone else knows something I don’t know.” Well, rabbi, everyone else does. They know Obama is the only person who ever held a royal flush and let himself be bluffed out of the pot. With the backing of five major nations, all he had to do was to tighten the sanctions and Iran, with its economy already buckling, would be paralyzed. Now their oil taps will be open, and hundreds of billions of dollars released to fund terror throughout the world.
I hope Congress passes the Iran treaty for one simple reason: I have seen absolutely no reasonable response to what happens after the agreement is rejected.
We must speak out
Most rabbis will not speak about the Iran situation during the High Holidays. They are afraid of insulting part of their audience, which pays their salaries.
