210th anniversary of Lincoln’s birthday

“While the Civil War raged in late 1862, Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant wanted to stop the trade of Southern cotton. A number of Jews were involved in the cotton trade, including some in black market activity, and on Dec. 17, Grant issued a shocking order calling for the expulsion of all Jews from a wide swath of the South.

Fortunately the order had little impact because of faulty army communications – and to President Lincoln. When Lincoln heard that Grant was attempting to banish Jews, he quickly reversed the order.

“To condemn a class is, to say the least, to wrong the good with the bad,” Lincoln said. “I do not like to hear a class or nationality condemned on account of a few sinners.””

https://www.jta.org/2019/02/12/opinion/when-president-lincoln-fought-for-the-jews?

Ten Yiddish words that went mainstream

I think I’ve used nine of these ten.  It’s such an interesting language. Nosh, putz, klutz, etc. European Jews have had an amazing influence on our culture, art, entertainment and language.

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/10-yiddish-words-that-went-mainstream/?

10 years ago I blogged about Aaron Lansky and his goal to save Yiddish books.  It’s still interesting given my librarian background, and I’ll have to go back and check on what has happened to that effort. https://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2009/05/saving-culture-through-its-books-99-of.html

Anti-Semitism and the Liberals

Donald Trump was called an anti-Semite for calling out George Soros who supports all manner of leftist organizations and infiltrates Christian groups, but Marc Lamont Hill, a CNN employee, is allowed to advocate for the destruction of the country Israel and jihadism. He claims it wasn't MLK Jr. using peaceful protests to push the Democrats to give up Jim Crow in the South, but the slave revolts of the 19th century that set the stage. I wonder if he knows that today, November 29, 2018, black Africans are still being sold into slavery to the highest bidder by Muslims. https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-11-15/libyas-slave-auctions-and-african-genocide-what-hillary-knew

If Roseanne and Megan can be fired for far, far less, this man deserves to go. If Info Wars is a threat to the nation through social media, then this guy is a ticking time bomb. He used to (or maybe still does) preach his filth and hate on Fox News but I haven't seen him for awhile.  He’s chummy with Farrakhan.

https://www.thewrap.com/cnn-contributor-says-he-supports-violent-palestinian-resistance-to-israel/

https://www.newsweek.com/who-marc-lamont-hill-cnn-commentator-defends-comments-palestinian-state-after-1235759

He is a Professor of Media Studies and Urban Education at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

I can’t understand why American Jews support the Democrats and their hatred for Israel.  And this is not about Trump.  I remember this from 30 years ago, and mainstream Christians getting all weepy over poor little Palestine.  Have they even looked at a map of the Middle East in recent years?

Native Americans and belief in lost tribes of Israel by American Jews

I’m not sure when I first heard of the Lost Tribes of Israel, it was years ago and never part of my faith tradition,  but I think it was in connection with the Mormons.  https://claudemariottini.com/2006/02/17/the-mormon-church-and-the-lost-tribes-of-israel/

This article at Jewish Learning traces the belief that Native Americans were descended from the Jews dispersed in the 8th century BC by the Assyrians to a 17th century Dutch Rabbi, Manasseh ben Israel who wrote The Hope of Israel (1650). https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/native-americans-jews-the-lost-tribes-episode/  The article doesn’t mention Mormons, but speculates what this belief did for both Christians and Jews.

“The Lost Tribe theory had significant symbolic stakes — for Jews, Christians and Native Americans. Linking America and its earliest inhabitants with the Bible and its theology, meant staking a claim on America–and championing God’s plan for the New World.”
Here’s a copy of the 1650 text in English. http://olivercowdery.com/texts/1650hope.htm