Howie Silbiger

Changes to the Howie Silbiger Show

2010-11-25T09:56:00.001-08:00

It is with a bit of sadness that I write about the changes to the Howie Silbiger Show. As many of you know, The Howie Silbiger Show has been a staple on 1650 AM Radio Shalom Montreal for years, and over time, it's taken on many different formats. I'm the kind of guy who embraces change and look forward to new challenges.

As of the week of December 5, 2010, The Howie Silbiger Show will be reduced to two hours a week, from 6-8 pm on Sunday nights. The replay of the Howie Silbiger Show is scheduled to air on Radio Shalom at 6 am on Mondays.

As we move from 6 hours a week to 2 hours a week, we were forced to make some difficult decisions regarding segments. All segments on the show are produced by dedicated volunteers, which made it very difficult to announce the following:

Effective December 5, 2010, the following regular and occassional Howie Silbiger Show segments have been cancelled:

On The Mark with Mark David

Chuck's Corner

The Health Segment

After 7:30 call in about anything you want

The following segments will be reworked to fit within the framework of the broadcast:

Nutrition with Ronit Ferdman

Chatting with Itai

Diversions with Mark Pezz

New segments to be added:

The Truetalk Radio News Minute with Mark David

Chuck's Cascade of Craziness

The archives and the podcast will still be active and we will be building online content, some audio that will be carried on Truetalkradio.com and podcasted to our subscribers.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me, my email address is howie@truetalkradio.com

Thank you,

Howie Silbiger

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The Cost of Being Jewish

2010-11-01T04:54:00.001-07:00

This article appeared in the latest issue of La Voie Sepharad and JMag:

The Cost of Being Jewish
By Howie Silbiger

At the beginning of July, Newsweek Magazine, a weekly American news publication, ran a column entitled ‘The Cost of Being Jewish’. In the article, Lisa Miller, the magazine’s religion editor complained that the cost of being Jewish, essentially synagogue membership, tuition and kosher food was driving mainstream Jews away. She complained that the Jewish establishment wasn’t doing enough to curb the costs and middle to low class Jews were feeling the brunt, with some families having “to choose between Hebrew school and math tutoring.”

A 2009 American study reported that the average cost of synagogue membership in the US is $1,100.00, it’s not much less in Canada. Between synagogue membership, seats for the high holidays, donations and life cycle events the extra costs could run into the thousands of dollars, quite a chunk of after tax dollars (although some, but not all of it is tax deductible) for an average middle class family.
But money isn’t everything and if you make the decision to follow a lifestyle, you have to accept the intricate costs involved with it. No one said commitment to a higher being would be cheap, but is the cost worth the payback?

Most Montreal modern orthodox synagogues seem to care less about the religious aspect of the synagogue and are focussing more on the fundraising and programming aspect of their institutions. You see it on Shabbat morning when, in a lot of big synagogues, the chazzan is instructed to be finished ‘no later than 11:30 am’. In order to achieve that goal, these synagogues have cut out interaction with the audience, meaning no circulating the Torah for the audience to kiss, no handshaking with the Rabbi or Chazzan, a shortened Rabbis speech, no page numbers being called and a race to finish mussaf.

What these policies tend to do, however, is suck the life out of what is already a boring prayer service. If an unaffiliated Jew walked into one of these synagogues, the lightning speed and lack of intellectual stimulation would drive the Jew back to the shopping mall, ski hills and/or golf courses.

This unfortunate trend was started in Montreal by a group of Jewish school educated 40 somethings who felt the prayer service dragged on too long. They wanted to be out early on Shabbat. So with little consultation, they made the decisions, changed the policies and forced everyone attending their synagogues to follow their rules. This has led to unhappiness and confusion amongst synagogue goers and dissent amongst the ranks. Believe it or not, when people pay thousands of dollars a year to be members and only show up for Shabbat and some Yom Tovim, they want their money`s worth, or at minimum, a chance to shake the Rabbi`s hand. Its always baffling to then hear these same policy makers wonder why their synagogues are leaking membership.
But the monetary aspect is not the only cost of being Jewish. There is a social cost. We live in a secular world, most Jews are assimilated to a certain extent and do want what is perceived as the acceptance of their neighbours.

There`s an old joke often told around Christian holiday time: A Jewish man is walking home from work and sees a neighbour decorating a Christmas tree. He waves at the neighbour who stops his work and invites the man into his house for a cup of tea. Upon entering the house, the Jewish man immediately smells the turkey baking in the oven, cookies on the counter, a huge tree set up in the living room with dozens of presents under it, stocking hanging on the mantle, festive colourful decorations all over the house and holiday themed music. The Jewish man is taken aback, he`s shocked at how welcoming and fun the Christian holiday is. His neighbour notices his shock and asks, `why are you surprised?’ The Jew responded, ‘well in Judaism all of our holidays are about us being killed, we’re always mourning, it’s basically, we were killed, let’s eat, oh we were killed, repent, let’s eat.”

Not an overly funny joke, but one that truly highlights the problem with marketing Judaism. We get so caught up in the nitty gritty details that we forget the big picture. It isn’t a surprise that the North American Jews are assimilating and intermarrying in epic numbers, orthodox Judaism has given them nothing to hold onto, nothing to grasp. In fact, over the past few centuries, with a few exceptions, Orthodox Judaism has become an exclusionary club where only the privileged few are allowed to join.

On a recent radio program on Radio Shalom Montreal, the question of Jewish unity was raised. About 30 calls were received, most of them from disgruntled Jews upset at Orthodox Jews. The reasons for their dismay was clear, at one point or another they had the opportunity to interact with the orthodox community and were shunned, ignored or not welcomed.

The story is always the same, non-orthodox Jews entering orthodox Jewish neighbourhoods and being stared at by the kids. Overhearing the kids asking their parents if they are Jewish and hearing the parents answer “they are Jewish non-Jews.” This kind of self righteous, egotistical, exclusionary and repulsive behaviour is another cost of being Jewish. The message sent: not only are Jews hated by non-Jews in general, they are also hated by other segments of Jews. It always strikes me as odd that these segments of Judaism that reject other segments of Judaism still have the audacity to moan and wail on Tish Ba’av about the destruction of the Beit Hamigdash (Jewish Holy Temple) but at the same time don’t realize that the Temple was destroyed due to the unjustified hatred between Jews. Essentially, if that’s the case, then these Jews are part of the problem, they are standing in the way of the coming of Messiah and the building of the third Temple in Jerusalem.
But inter-Jewish relationships or lack thereof are not the only cost of living in a secular world and being Jewish. There’s also a societal cost.

Since the beginning of time, Jews have not been well accepted in lands that they did not control. When Hashem gave the Jews the Torah on Mount Sinai and effectively created the chosen people, other nations were upset. They couldn’t accept the fact that this small nation was Hashem’s favourite. It was the exact reaction expected when a father tells the rest of his children that his favourite child is a certain son. Resentment sets in and other children vie for the affection of their Father.
Christians got around the problem by creating the New Testament, a book of the teachings of a Jewish man, whom the Christians claimed was the Jewish Messiah. Jesus, according to Christian liturgy, ushered in a new testament and agreement with Hashem. Basically, after Jesus and his teachings, Hashem had named a new chosen people. But what to do with the problem of the old chosen people? The ones who rejected the New Testament, the ones who didn’t accept Jesus as messiah?
Thus started a series of inquisitions, persecutions and conquests all targeting Jews. Many Jews, in order to survive, converted to Christianity. Many others fled, fought back or died in the name of the Torah. But Judaism survived.

Then came the Moslems, who through a prophet named Mohammed, received another new testament from Hashem. The Koran was a new set of laws which essentially named Islam as the new chosen ones. The question arose, what to do about the Jews, the original chosen people and the Christians, the new chosen people?

The answer was simple, through a series of Jihads over centuries, Islam tried to convert Jews and Christians to their way of life. While moderately successful, Islam is the largest religion in the world, Jews and Christians still remain and the Jihad continues to this very day.

So economically, religiously and socially, Judaism appears to be nonsensical, on the surface it looks as though the costs outweigh the benefits greatly. If it were a business, any smart businessman would shut it down immediately. Yet, Judaism has survived thousands of years, countless persecutions and attempted genocides and explosions of intermarriage and assimilation.

Nineteenth Century American humorist and author Mark Twain, commenting on the recently held first World Zionist Congress in Basel, noted that Theodor Herzl had enunciated a plan to ‘gather the Jews of the world in Palestine, with a government of their own – under the suzerainty of the Sultan, I suppose.’
Twain responded: “I am not the Sultan, and I am not objecting; but if that concentration of the cunningest brains in the world are going to be made into a free country (bar Scotland), I think it would be politic to stop it. It will not be well to let that race find out its strength. If the horses knew theirs, we should not ride anymore.” He then concluded with the oft quoted “The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then . . . passed away. The Greek and the Roman followed. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts. … All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?”

Twain failed to realize the same thing many North American and even most world Jews still fail to realize. Being a Jew isn’t about how much it monetarily costs or the hardships of following the rules or how much land Jews control and who conquered what when. Judaism is not about any of those things, it is simply about a stubbornness to follow the word of Hashem.

Jewish stubbornness is the secret of Jewish survival.

When Jews of Spain were faced with conversion or death, they converted but, facing the penalty of death, still held secret Friday night candle lighting and dinners in the basements of their homes to commemorate Shabbat.

In Russia, when the Cossacks banned religion, and practicing Jews were being persecuted, facing the punishment of firing squads or worse, they still built secret cheders (learning centers) so that they could teach their children the basics of Judaism. So the religion that Hashem passed down to his chosen people could survive.
When, in the 1930s and 40s, Jews were being corralled into ghettos and concentration camps, facing certain death, many snuck in scraps of paper with prayers on them and prayed everyday. In the Ghettos, Jewish mothers gathered their children and the children of their neighbours and gave lessons on Torah and Judaism, because even in the face of death, there was an off chance that one of these children would survive and continue to spread the word of Hashem.

In the 1970s and 80s, in Russia, facing death or life of hard labour in Siberia, men like Anatoly Sharansky held onto their Judaism, were viciously punished, tortured and imprisoned, but remained steadfast and stubborn holding onto their ancestral traditions.

Today we live in a free society, we fret day in and day out, complain about the high cost of living as a Jew.

Everytime anyone brings it up to me, I immediately think about the Jews cowering in their basements, hoping and praying that the Spanish royal guards don’t see the flickering of the candles, of the Jews teaching aleph bet to children in Russia with one ear to the door, listening for the stomping of soldiers boots, and to the Jews, who facing the Nazi firing squads and gaz chambers, still had the courage and stubbornness to scream out Shema Yisroel.
I think about Anatoly Sharanksy, who never dreamed while sitting and being tortured in a KGB prison, that he would ever be a cabinet minister in Israel free to watch the fall of Communism.

When I think about these Jews, their struggle and their stubbornness, I realize that we don’t have it all that bad.

Howie Silbiger is a freelance writer based in Montreal. He is the host of the Howie Silbiger Show on the Truetalk Radio Network, heard in Montreal, Sunday through Tuesday at 6 p.m. on 1650 Am CJRS Radio Shalom Montreal. He can be reached by email at howie@truetalkradio.com

Freedom of Speech

2010-08-11T07:04:00.000-07:00

I have been hosting radio for approximately 11 years, before that for 7 or 8 years I worked as a print journalist and commentary writer. I've worked for commercial stations and am currently at 1650 AM Radio Shalom, the Montreal Jewish community radio station. In my entire career, I have never experienced a phenomenon that seems to permiate the listeners of this radio station. It's not a bad thing, most radio stations would love to have their listeners infected with this infliction, at least it proves a listenership that listens and cares, for me and my show, I appreciate it, it makes us feel good that people want to be part of the show.

The affliction I'm talking about is very familiar with people who work within the framework of the Jewish community (and dare I say any minority community). Synaogue presidents, rabbis and even cantors are on the receiving end of people who suffer from this and there is no cure.

The affliction I'm referring to is the constant and sometimes annoying habit of some Montreal Jewish Community members who think they know how to do your job better than you. Always critical, never helpful, the people afflicted with this virus feel that they HAVE to call or approach you with severe and heavy criticism over how you do your job.

It never fails. Moments after I turn on the microphone at Radio Shalom and start my three times a week 2 hour news/commentary show, we get a phone call or an email chastizing us for covering a controversial topic. If the topic is very controversial, the phone calls can add up to dozens or multiple dozens, as they did last week when I tackled, what seemed to me to be a no-brainer issue, the Crown Heights Chabad Community standing in solidarity with a thief.

So many calls poured into the station that the executive committee called an emergency meeting to discuss how to handle the situation. What amazes me, however, is that the open line show everyone was complaining about only received three or four calls in the entire 2 hour broadcast. I have to point out that not all the calls came from Chabadniks.

This leads me to believe the following:

1. The Montreal Orthodox Jewish Community does not believe in freedom of speech. Many of the callers to the management of the station demanded that I be censored, removed from the air or forced to apologize to the Chabad community.

2. The Montreal Orthodox Jewish Community is comprised of cowards. How else do you explain that members of said community decided to call everyone and their uncle associated with the radio station, but refrained from calling me, either on the show, or at my private extension at the station.

3. The Montreal Orthodox Jewish Community doesn't understand the concept of radio. Radio is a NOW media. It's hard hitting and instant.

Last night I covered the unbelievable and unfortunate story of Shirel Attar, a 14 year old Montreal girl who was brutally murdered. Her 18 year old brother Maor Attar was charged with 1st degree murder in the case. I could have come onto the air and detailed the bloody and horrific events of the murder. I could have gotten friends of both the alleged perpetrator and victim on the air with me to diafy the victim and demonize the alleged perpetrator. I could have made the story into a sensational media event, released information we have that is not publicly known, shamelessly promote the show and experienced a great ratings influx. I chose not to.

I felt that as a Jewish radio station, we had the responsibility to cover the murder, but at the same time dignify the sadness of the event and respect the shock and grief of the family and community. So I approached the show differently, with only mentioning the victims name once in the entire two hours, I posed the following three questions:

1. What lessons can we learn as a community from a horrific act of violence such as this one?

2. As a parent, will this event make you think twice about leaving your young teens at home alone?

3. As a parent, will this event make you take a good long hard look at your kids and perhaps make you recognize a problem that you didn't see before?

It was inevidable, three calls came in almost instantly berating me for touching the topic. Caller Jacob pointed out that the girl wasn't even buried yet and here I am talking about the case on air. Another caller chastised me for allowing a listener to express that perhaps the young man who is accused of committing the murder had psychological problems (which by the way is being questioned by police authorities as pointed out by a front page story in today's Montreal Gazette). The third caller accused me of being insensitive to the family of the victim.

All three callers suggested that perhaps I chose to do the show too soon and I should have waited at least two weeks for the family to get up from shiva before I even looked at the topic.

Two weeks is an eternity when it comes to topical news shows. What these callers failed to understand and what the Montreal Jewish Community continues to fail to understand is that we live in an instant world.

Within minutes of the first reports of the murder, I had the name of the victim, certain personal information about the victim and the alleged perpetrator and speculation from people who knew them that the brother perhaps killed the sister. If I had received the information an hour earlier, I would have reported the event on Monday night's radio show.

On The Howie Silbiger Show we talk about things going on right now. When the Neturai Karta was protesting in Cote St Luc, we were on the air urging people to go out and counter protest, when anything big happens in the Jewish community we are there.

The community will have to get used to instant inforation, that is the nature of radio, that is the nature of my show and it is not going to change.

The Anatomy of Assimilation – The Montreal Y will open on Shabbat

2009-10-06T04:06:00.002-07:00

As appeared in the September 2009 issue of JMAG Magazine:

by Howard Silbiger

In the 1920s German Jews had ascended to the top of society. They were the aristocratic symbol of wealth, culture and physique. These German Jews were loyal to Germany, they identified as German before Jewish. Judaism to them was an inherited bother, they were more concerned with being accepted and part of the mass society, fully assimilated with very little, save some Yiddish theatre, trace of their Jewish heritage.

When Hitler came to power in the early ‘30s, these Jews didn’t worry. In their mind, they were too important to the German people to be persecuted, heck they were Germans who happened to be Jewish. Unfortunately, as assimilated as they were, they were still Jews and they were still shipped off to the various death camps to be slaughtered.

Fast forward nearly 70 years and it is amazing how the world is different but Jewish attitudes are the same.

For over a century, Jewish institutions had a tradition of remaining closed on Shabbat. With a few minor exceptions in the 1950s, the tradition has held steady. In fact in 2004, after a lengthy debate on whether to open on Shabbat or not, the board of directors of the Montreal YMYWHA decided to remain closed, their reason expressed in an official press release that stated that the Board of Directors of the Y “acknowledge the traditions and the norms of the Montreal Jewish community including the strong belief that Jewish institutions such as the Y should remain closed on Shabbat.”

This strong commitment to Judaism acted as a pillar for the Jewish Community. Montreal was one of the only Jewish communities on the continent who were able to point to our strong heritage and protection of the fabric of Jewish values within our society.

The fabric was shredded in early August 2009, when the current Board of Directors of the Jewish Y voted, nearly unanimously, to open their gym on Shabbat. The move didn’t come as a huge surprise; it had been brewing at the Y for years. In fact, in a little under 10 years, the Y had voted on the issue numerous times. What did come as a surprise, however, was the secrecy in which the decision was made and the refusal of Y officials to comment or discuss the issue with the community.

When Avi Kimchi and I broke the story on Avi Kimchi’s afternoon radio program on 1650 AM Radio Shalom, on the day of the meeting, we invited members of the Y’s Board of Directors to join us on air, none with the exception of Board of Director and Hampstead Town Councillor Leon Elfassy even bothered to respond. When we approached the professional staff, we were told that the official comment of the Y is that there is no comment.

Elfassy and Rabbi Reuven Poupko from the Beth Israel Beth Aaron synagogue joined us on air and both expressed their opposition. But the opposition wasn’t enough and that night, the Montreal Jewish Y voted to open their doors on Shabbat.

Kimchi and I went on the air the next day and once again invited the leadership of the Y to join us, but secrecy prevailed. Around half way through the show, the Y finally released a press release. In it, they wrote:

“In taking this decision, the Y leadership recognizes the diversity of opinion in our community on this issue. The Y leadership had several meetings with Montreal’s Jewish community leadership, as well as the community at large to discuss opening on Shabbat…

“…The decision we have taken will contribute to sustaining our central role in providing cultural, recreational and intellectual programming, and contributing to the health and well being of our community.”

One begs to ask how promoting assimilation contributes to the health of the Jewish community. One begs to ask how sending a message, much like those German Jews of the ‘20s, that we have completed our transformation, we have given up our status, our traditions, our culture and now we are exactly like you contributes to the well being of the Jewish community.

The original move to open Jewish Community Centers in North America came from an unlikely source, Rabbi Eliezer Silver, head of the Agudath HaRabbonim, the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada. Rabbi Silver served as its head from the onset of World War II until his death in 1968. He is most famous for leading the Rabbis March on Washington, which ultimately led to the US Government’s creation of the Refugee Board and the saving of almost 200,000 Jews from the Nazis.

Rabbi Silver argued that most Jews were not Orthodox, in fact most had no denominational affiliation at all. He noted that even with no affiliation, these Jews belonged to the Jewish Community Centers. It was their little connection to their past. Rabbi Silver noted that if the Jewish Community Centers closed on Shabbat, these unaffiliated Jews would have nowhere else to go. Instead of joining Jews in recreation or sports, they would go to the mall and pursue other forms of entertainment.

He concluded that if unaffiliated Jews did pursue other forms of entertainment, they would do so in mixed company, this, he argued, would increase intermarriage. To stop this, he ruled that the JCCs should open on Shabbat with some restrictions.

Even after his ruling, most North American JCCs remained closed on Shabbat and holidays and most Jews were happy with the arrangement. It showed society that Hitler didn’t kill Judaism, that even if most Jews were not religious, they still identified with their traditional heritage and they proudly stood as different amongst a society that meshed into a melting pot.

As the old saying goes, when you get farther from a tragedy, the impact of it diminishes. Unfortunately, the survivors of the Holocaust are slowly fading away and the next generation did not experience the searing of their Jewish identity in the form of a prisoner tattoo on their arm. Tradition is lost on them, so opening the Y on Shabbat means nothing.

For those in the community that care, all is not lost. Protest the Y’s decision by not renewing your membership. It is not enough to just not renew, you must send the administration of the Y a message telling them that you are not renewing based on this decision and if it is reversed, you will gladly rejoin.

The Y has stated that they feel that opening on Shabbat is in the best interest of the community, show them they are wrong.

Howie Silbiger is the host of The Howie Silbiger Show which airs Sunday-Tuesday at 6pm on 1650 Am Radio Shalom Montreal

The Anatomy of Hating Israel

2009-06-16T09:42:00.000-07:00

Former US President Jimmy Carter, a noted anti-Israel advocate has called on the Obama Administration to take Hamas off the terror watch list. He made this call on the heels of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's peace appeal to the Palestinians.

Let's take a minute to examine the two distinct, yet connected events.

On Sunday, June 14th, 2009, newly elected Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu conducted a foreign policy speech which called for the creation of an independent Palestinian state with certain conditions. It has to be demilitarized, it has to recognize Israel as the Jewish State. Two conditions, which in effect, will ensure Israel has a secured and safe border with an enemy that has consistantly tried to destroy her for the last 60 years.

The Palestinian leadership quickly dismissed the proposal:

"Netanyahu's speech closed the door to permanent status negotiations," senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said. "We ask the world not to be fooled by his use of the term Palestinian state because he qualified it. He declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel, said refugees would not be negotiated and that settlements would remain."

This, of course, is not the first time the Palestinian leadership has refused an offer by Israel for a Palestinian State. Back in 2000 at Camp David, then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered Yassir Arafat 98% of the "west bank" and half of Jerusalem for a Palestinian State. The only hold up was the condition that the newly formed Palestinian State would have to recognize Israel as a Jewish State. Arafat refused the entire deal based on that one condition.

It seems in the nine years since Camp David, many things have changed, including the death of Arafat, but the sticking issue is the Palestinian recognition of Israel as a legitimate Jewish State.

So the next time you see pro-Palestinian activists screaming about Israeli aparthaid or how Israel has stolen land from the Palestinians, keep in mind that now, twice, Israel has offered to recognize an independant Palestinian State, and twice it's the Palestinians that have refused.

Mr. Obama goes to Ottawa

2009-02-20T05:09:00.000-08:00

Ah, how I long for the days of objectivity. How I crave for the days where I could turn on the television and see normal news, objective, non-racist, perhaps even informative. But those days are gone in Canada, they fully evaporated with the touchdown of Airforce 1 in Ottawa yesterday.

I had the misfortune of turning on my television and catching the all day Obama marathon that both Canadian national networks were running. I had the misfortune of witnessing seasoned journalists, both on the CBC and CTV transformed into giddy school children while trying to create a historic moment that nobody was feeling. I had the misfortune of seeing and hearing the following exchange:

CBC Journalist (To white woman with 1 year old child in stroller and Black woman with 1 year old child in stroller): Why are you here?

White Woman: I want my son to be able to tell his grandkids that he was here. Imagine, he was witness to the first black president.

Black Woman: Excuse me, but that's African American...

CBC Journalist: In the spirit of Obama being in Canada, can't we just agree...

Black Woman: Yes! I'm here because I want my child to witness the visit of the first black President.

White Woman: (Looking confused) I thought you said...

CBC Journalist: Back to you Peter.

At this point I decided to flip over to CTV and see what's going on there... It wasn't much better. 'Journalist' Rosemary Thompson was standing on the side of a highway waiting for the motorcade to pass. She waves over a man for an interview and just as he steps up to her camera, the motorcade starts passing. The cameras scroll over and follow the motorcade as it passes. When the motorcade is gone, Rosemary, who in good times is an excellent journalist, looks absolutely giddy. She turns to the man standing next to her and the following exchange is broadcast:

Rosemary: (giggling) President Obama has just passed in the motorcade and it was interesting, there were two limos, one a decoy the other with the President (giggle), did you see the decoy vehicle?

Man: Yes.

Rosemary: (giggling even more) In the decoy it looked like the guy inside was sleeping, he was leaned all the way back (she leans her body back) and it was obvious it was a dummy in there.

Man: Ya, it was a dummy, leaning back like that, it was amazing to see that.

Lloyd Robertson (The in studio anchor): Did you manage to see Obama?

Rosemary: (giggly and bubbly) Yes and he waved at us! HE WAVED AT US!

I was half expecting her to grab the guy next to her and start singing Kumbaya..It was a pathetic display, but not as pathetic as what happened next.

I flipped back to the CBC and Peter Mansbridge, normally a respectable man, now reduced to sitting in studio in front of a blue screen (probably in Toronto) which was displaying a loop of a video image of the Parlimant buildings, (notice the man in the red coat who keeps chasing his kid, over and over and over again). He throws to his bumbling reporter standing in the mob of Obama watching Canadians at Parliament Hill.

The reporter naturally pulls over the first black guy she could find wearing an Obama t-shirt.

Reporter: Why are you here?

Man: Well me an my wife we decided to come here to witness the first black president visiting Canada.

Reporter: Nice shirt.

Man: Thanks we sell these shirts at my store (shameful store plug).

Reporter: Really, so you closed your store to be here?

Man: No we have staff at (Shameful store plug).

Reporter: Oh that's good, but don't you think your staff should have been here to witness this too?

Man: Well at (shameful store plug) we have a television, they are watching it on television at (shameful store plug).

Reporter: Well this is turning into a shameful store plug segment and so I'm going to have to end it here.

Man: Ya don't forget you could buy your Obama shirts at (shameful store plug).

Peter: Thank you.

Flip back to CTV.

Obama is now getting out of his limo in front the Parliament building. He walks inside and is greeted by Prime Minister Harper. They shake hands, exchange a few words and then duck outside to wave at the crowd assembled. The crowd goes nuts.

Lloyd: Well look at that they bypassed security to wave at the crowd. Even those who didn't see him, even those in the back of the crowd can now tell their grandchildren that they were there!

The Prime Minister and President proceed to the rotanda where Obama signs the welcome book.

Back to the CBC.

The CBC, a few seconds behind CTV show Obama signing the welcome book and then cut to a 10 minute segment on left handed people and how they sign their names.

Back to CTV.

CTV's stellar coverage continues with a hand held camera following the President and Prime Minister up the stairs towards the Prime Minister's office. We watch as the two men walk down the hall and head towards the office. Suddenly we hear:

Voice: WELCOME TO CANADA MR. PRESIDENT, WELCOME TO CANADA!!

Lloyd: (chuckling) Well that's the voice of former CTV Ottawa Chief Craig Oliver welcoming Obama to Canada. He did the same thing on the last Bush visit to Canada.

Click, I turned the television off.

I've lost faith in Canadian television news..It was extremely pathetic to see journalists gushing like rock fans over Obama. I have a feeling that whatever news we do get from these people will be tainted to make Obama look good. The fifth estate has fallen.

By the way, the US news networks gave the Obama visit 5 minutes.

Why The Shul Doors Were Locked on Shabbos..

2009-01-17T16:37:00.000-08:00

Today, on Shabbos, the front door to the shul was locked. It was an unusual occurrence at this particular shul (another shul for some mysterious reason, never unlocks the front door) and I was bewildered by it. After much investigation, I found that the doors were locked in precaution for reprisals from the incursion of Israel into Gaza, it was done, I was told, for my own protection.

For my protection? Do I live in Gaza? Am I in middle of a war zone? Can there be any less Jewish message than a shul locking their doors on a Shabbos?

Last week, on this blog, I asked the question as to why pro-Israel Montreal Jews don't demonstrate on the street. I went into a huge diatribe as to the message Montreal Jews are sending to Israel and the world by huddling in their ghetto and meeting in their synagogue to support Israel. This week I will not do that.

Jew hating, pro-Palestinian thugs took to the streets a week ago calling for Jihad, Murder and the elimination of Jews (http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=6UWPeK-uydk) why did they feel they could march through the streets of peaceful Montreal and scream these hateful, inciteful and offensive slogans, because they knew that the Jews in great numbers would shy away from counter-protest, would shy away from criticizing them and would basically stay away.

This was proven over and over again by the Jewish community. When Hillel brought in Bibi Netanyahu, former Prime Minister of the State of Israel to speak at Concordia, a small riot by the same Arab protesters seen in that youtube video stopped the speech. Even though hundreds of Israel supporters were sitting in the hall waiting for Netanyahu to start speaking, even though Netanyahu himself was ready to show up and deliver his message, the organized Jewish community (who later blamed Concordia) decided it was a security risk. So the peaceful participants at a university were deprived of their program by a few hundred thugs.

Jews are scared. They are scared because the community preaches fear. Jews are scared because in the last decade, the community has invested millions of dollars to build forts and fortresses around our schools, our synagogues and our community centers. The community is scared because the organized Jewish community has consistently refused to speak tough when it comes to Jew hatred. The community is scared because our leadership is scared.

The definition of a leader is one who stand in the forefront and leads. Not one who cowers in their highly protected ghetto and squeaks from behind a podium.

Yassir Arafat, although I hate everything the man stood for, was a leader. He didn't shy away from the Israelis, he didn't shy away from his message that the Palestinians must be a free people living in their own state. As terroristic and repulsive the mass murdering man was, he exemplified everything a leader should be and his people are stronger for it.

In all evil there is a lesson. Yassir Arafat taught us that if you believe you are fighting for is right, then put your body and soul in front of it and fight til the death.

Too many times in Jewish history, Jews hid away in their ghettos. Too many times in Jewish history did Jews cower and hide. Today, we have a strong homeland. Today we are a proud people who should be holding our heads up high and declaring our Jewishness, declaring very publicly our support of Israel, but most importantly declaring that we are not afraid.

I find myself quoting Rabbi Meir Kahane a lot these days. Although some consider him a radical, he did have quite a few things to say about Jewish activism that applies greatly today. At a speech at Brandeis University shortly before his assassination in 1990, Kahane was accosted by Jewish protests calling him a racist and Israel a genocidal state. His response could teach us all a lesson:

"...If G-d forbid we listened to these crazy Jews here, there would be no Jewish state. They suffer from an advanced specific form of Jewish ail, it's called guilt. There are certain kind of Jews who hone guilt to a fine art. They feel guilty about everything, whether we did it, we didn't do it, we are guilty. Remember in Lebanon, in Beirut, Christian Arabs massacred Muslim Arabs, who was guilty? The Jews. Don't feel guilty, they had their opportunities over and over and over again for a state called Palestine and they refused because they believe they could have everything.

So they speak today of moderate Arabs, a more sophisticated version of moderate terrorists, who presumably murder Jews moderately...There is not one Arab speaker who if he came to Brandeis would ever be picketed by an Arab. And know that. They are not riddled with guilt as these people are..."(http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=rrFhiuV-NI0)

19 years later Jews are still racked with this guilt. This is why Federation did not hold their solidarity rally on the streets of Montreal. This is why a small rag-tag group of people who have been standing in solidarity with Israel on a weekly basis for years have beeh marginalized and ignored. This is why Jew haters feel free to march in downtown Montreal unabatted and unapposed screaming Itbach al Yehud (slaughter the Jew). They all know what the Jewish community has yet to figure out..When the rhetoric gets tough, the Jews hide in their synagogues and lock the doors.

When asked on Radio Shalom Montreal why the solidarity rally was being held indoors, deep in the Jewish ghetto, Federation CJA President Marc Gold replied "..It's easier to control the message." Unfortunately, the message that was sent by that rally and the inaction of the Jewish community, is that the Jewish community is weak, scared and in hiding. We are once again lambs waiting for slaughter.

'Itbach al Yehud' (slaughter the Jews) yelled the protesters last Sunday. The Jewish community's collective response...a loud click as they locked their synagogue doors on Shabbos.

Rallies and Gatherings

2009-01-09T06:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, thirty Palestinian supporters stormed the Israeli Consulate in downtown Montreal demanding the end to the Israeli war against Hamas. They were loud, rambunctious and defiant. The police were forced to physically remove them from the building, where they remained outside causing a media spectacle that was broadcast across the country.

Just a few days before, thousands of Palestinian supporters showed up to a noisy rally downtown. What was supposed to be a one hour gathering, turned into a loud, angry three hour march through downtown streets.

I have to say I'm quite impressed with the fervent vigor of the pro-Palestinian group and their energetic methods to get their message across. I may hate what they say, but I admire their moxie.

In contrast, the Montreal Jewish Community's reaction has been what one can only describe as bizarringly limp. The enemic weekly pro-Israel demonstrations in downtown Montreal has not grown an iota since the current war began. Jews in Montreal, which contrasts with the rest of Canada and the world, have not bothered to take to the streets to support Israel and counter the fervent almost daily anti-Israel debacles. The only scheduled unofficial outdoor response is ironically on Shabbos.

Last night the organized Jewish Community of Montreal held their official response. They organized a strange, drone like indoor rally in a synagogue deep in the heart of the Jewish Community. The event was so bizarre, even the counter demonstrators decided it wasn't worth the effort to show up in any great numbers.

Sponsored by many different organizations, all connected to the local Federation, hundreds of Montreal Jews gathered under heavy security, in the sanctuary of the Beth Israel Beth Aaron synagogue to hear mostly unemotional, well rehearsed speeches from Federation leaders and to take part in what could only be described as a strange "live" webcast from Israel.

When one attends these events, one thinks they are attending an event that will spark some emotion, that will open eyes and that will ignite the passion to support Israel at all costs. The event last night, complete with a table accepting donations in the lobby, was merely a masked fundrasing drive for a new fund Federation set up to help Jews in southern Israel. The speeches, especially the monologues from the "live" webcam address were written by people who apparently took fundraising 101 courses (but missed the lecture on how emotional from the heart addresses tend to raise more money than scripted ones).

The shining moment of the night was a from the heart speech by Rabbi Reuven Poupko who mysteriously addressed the mostly non-existent counter protestors with some advice, basically, if you are going to ignore human rights violations of the world, you have no right to pick on Israel's human rights violations. Somewhat contrived, but quite uplifting within the mundane program of the evening.

In an interview on Radio Shalom Montreal the night before, Federation President Mark Gold said that by holding the event indoors, the Jewish community was not hiding from the counter-demonstrators and the world, he said it "just helps us control the message".

Apparently the message Federation and the Jewish Community were conveying was that when times get rough and Jews are attacked, we'll make speeches of a podium in a synagogue. The message they coveyed last night was that Jews have given up taking to the street, Jews have given up self-defense and self preservation, Jews have given up organizing smart loud demonstrations. Jews are once again lambs who will run to their stables whenever trouble emerges.

Quite sad if you ask me. I remember when Montreal was the hotbed of Jewish activism. I remember attending, along with thousands of other Jews, rallies in support of the release of Jewish Russian dissidents, in support of Israel and for the release of Jonathan Pollard. Apparently the days of Jewish activism in Montreal have come to a sad and wimpering end...

That is the true tragedy.

On The Final Show

2008-12-31T05:21:00.000-08:00

A while back, I met a young man. He was affable, friendly and quite rambunctious. You would never know by casually meeting him that he was fighting a potentially fatal brain tumor.

We got friendly and spoke daily. One day, he told me that he was going for an operation, the doctors were going to try to remove the tumor from his brain. He explained that his chance of survival was minimal. He was naturally scared, he cried, he prayed, but the one thing he didn't do was self pity. He explained that self pity was for the weak and he was strong. He explained that in order to survive the operation, he had to remain strong, he had to fight.

The night before he entered the hospital, we spoke. At the end of a very emotional conversation, the young man said to me 'never say goodbye, always say cya later. Goodbye is so final and life is so fluid and we never know what G-d's plan is.'

He survived the operation and is doing fine now, but those words resonated in my head. Never say goodbye.

Last night I hosted what I expect will be my last radio show for quite a while on 1650 AM Radio Shalom Montreal. There was some sadness, but the truth of the matter is it came down to economics.

Radio Shalom Montreal is a noble project that is struggling. It is struggling not due to the global economic situation, nor was it victim to scammers like Bernard Madoff. It is struggling due to the apathy of the Montreal Jewish Community, a community wealthy enough to donate multiple millions to the local Federation, but apparently not wealthy enough to support a local Jewish radio station. It's a sad commentary.

There's an old song who'se refrain states 'Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone' ..Montreal has lost The Howie Silbiger Show and is at risk of losing Radio Shalom...

So to my radio fans, thank you for your support, thank you for being there, calling in and taking part in Jewish talk radio in Montreal. To quote my young friend, Cya later..

Would we know a Maccabi?

2008-12-23T11:20:00.000-08:00

Chanukah, the festival of lights. The celebration of the Jewish victory over the Hellenists and the ultimate survival of the Jewish people.

Today we marvel at the thought of a Jewish ruffian, standing up to the ruler of the land and saying No. We call Judah Maccabi a hero, we hail him, remember him and celebrate his victory. But what about modern day Maccabis, what about the men and women who fought and continue to fight for Jewish values and Judaism?

Historically, modern day Maccabis have been shunned. Take, for example, Vladamir Jabotinksy. The following is from the Wikipedia entry for Jabotinksy:

"During the 1930s, Jabotinsky was deeply concerned with the situation of the Jewish community in Poland. In 1936, Jabotinsky prepared the so-called 'evacuation plan', which called for the evacuation of the entire Jewish population of Poland to Palestine. In 1936, Jabotinsky toured Eastern Europe, meeting with the Polish Foreign Minister Colonel Józef Beck; the Regent of Hungary, Admiral Miklós Horthy, and Prime Minister Gheorghe Tătărescu of Romania to discuss the evacuation plan. The plan gained the approval of all three governments, but caused considerable controversy within Polish Jewry, on the grounds that it played into the hands of Polish anti-Semites. In particular, the fact that the 'evacuation plan' had the approval of the Polish government was taken by many Polish Jews as indicating Jabotinsky had gained the endorsement of what they considered to be the wrong people. The evacuation of Jewish communities in Poland, Hungary and Romania was to take place over a ten-year period. However, the controversy was rendered moot when the British government vetoed it, and the World Zionist Organization's chairman, Chaim Weizmann, dismissed it. Two years later, in 1938, Jabotinsky stated in a speech that Polish Jews 'were living on the edge of the volcano' and warned that a wave of bloody super-pogroms would be happening in Poland sometime in the near future. Jabotinsky went to warn Jews in Europe that they should leave for Palestine as soon as possible."

Of course the Jews of Poland looked at Jabotinksy as a nutball, they ignored his warnings and were ultimately marched to the Gaz chambers of various concentration camps.

Jabotinksy was a failed Maccabi, he put himself forward but was unable to guide the troops and furthermore, when the Irgun lost the power struggle against the Hagganah, Jabotinsky, who died in 1940, was soon forgotten.

Simon Weisenthal was another Maccabi. After surviving the death factories of Germany, Weisenthal went on to form an institute dedicated to the hunting of Nazi murders. Weisenthal was instrumental in the hunting and capture of Nazis Adolf Eichman and Karl Silberbaur.

While honoured extensively, Weisenthal failed to ignite the spirit of the Jewish people of North America to pressure their governments (notably Canada and the US) who had and still have a dismal record of persuing Nazi war criminals.

Rabbi Meir Kahane was a controversial character. The Founder of the Jewish Defense League, an organization dedicated to protecting Jews in New York City and bringing the plight of Russian Jews to the forefront.

While noble for the feat of transforming pacifist 1960 era New York Hippies into a militant fighting machine, Kahane failed to gain mass North American appeal. His Maccabian revolutionary stance was overshadowed by what mainstream Jews perceived, rather than the reality.

Kahane's transition from the streets of New York to the Israeli Knesset and the publication of dozens of books, didn't quell the lies about his philosophy, some which continue to be repeated today. These lies, some contrived by other Israeli political parties, contributed to him being banned from the Knesset in 1988.

Kahane failed as a true Maccabi, simply because North American and by extension, Israeli Jews refused to accept a strong, charismatic Jew who was able to physically defend himself. The week before his murder in 1990 by Al Queda, Kahane stated in an interview that if he was going to be assassinated, it would be by Jew. He was killed by an Arab, El Sayid Nossair, after giving a speech in New York City. Nossair, acquitted of the Kahane murder, was later arrested in the Al Queda plot to blow up the World Trade Center in New York in 1993.

These three failed Maccabis are just a few of many that have come and gone, but have been unable to ignite the Jewish spark in mainstream Jews.

Would we accept a Maccabi today? Probably not. Julius Cesar said it the best, 'if you leave the Jews alone, they will turn on each other and self destruct'.

Intermarriage is at over 50%, and climbing, Jewish family values have disintegrated and Kosher eating has declined. The Jewish world is at a sorry state, I could only hope that a Maccabi will arise and return us to our former glory. If not, I'm afraid we may be doomed.

May the lights of the menorah be a shining beacon upon the nations.

Howie

Obama, Leftists, Affirmative Action and Race

2008-11-19T06:15:00.000-08:00

It amazes me that so-called anti-racist liberals are celebrating the election of Barak Obama to the US Presidency. In the few conversations I've had with such people, they laud the maturation of the American people in finally accepting a Black as president. They wax nostalgic about how Martin Luther King, Corretta Scott King and Rosa Parks would be smiling brightly at the sight of a Black Man taking the White House. They smile a dreamlike smile and call the election 'historic' and 'monumental' and point out that just 50 years ago, Blacks were being lynched in Virginia, a state that overwhelmingly voted for Black Barak.

How racist.

Politics is a dirty game and nobody plays it dirtier than the United States. It is true that Barak Obama is the first Black President of the US, but should skin color be the criteria for voting in a world leader?

The talk about Obama from Obama supporters reminds me of the supporters of Affirmative Action, a policy of reverse discrimination which somehow 'fixes' the discrimination faced by Black Americans for centuries. Those employers taking part in Affirmative Action are supposed to choose the Black candidate for the position over the White candidate if their qualifications are somewhat equal. The action does not take into account the personality, the likability or even the potential of the person doing a stellar job. All it takes into account is, if, on paper, the person is as qualified as the other and if the person is Black. It's a racist policy which does no service to either candidate and which can potentially put an employee in a job that doesn't fit.

I worked for a radio station a while back which had an equal opportunity policy. Basically that meant, if you were a white male, you had no chance, whatsoever, of ever attaining a job at this station. Their criteria forced them to first hire female voices (Some of which were terrible), next minorities, Amer-Indians, Blacks and finally if all else fails white males. The rational, simply white males have dominated radio for decades, it's time to give other people a chance.

So basically, in both these scenarios, if you were a white male, you were screwed. Simple as that.

So how does all this tie into the election of Barak Obama? Simply put, it's amazing how politics creates strange bedfellows and how people's true racist feelings come flooding forth on or just after election day.

Obama supporters are lauding the election of the first Black President. They are not lauding the election of a qualified president, a statesman, a Democratic president to take them out of the Bush years, but merely a Black president. Color takes precedence, Color makes the President. As one Obama supporter told me on my election coverage special on Radio-Shalom Montreal (1650 Am - www.radio-shalom.ca), 'I wanted to be part of history, I wanted a Black President, I voted Obama!'

Conversely, the Republicans are making the best out of a bad situation. They never, once, during their campaign mentioned Obama's skin color. They held their dignity and discussed the issues, Obama's political affiliations, Obama's track record (which is non-existent) and Obama's qualifications to hold the highest office in the land.

Those who focus on color rather than qualifications when it comes to Obama should take a close look at themselves and wonder how they became blatant racists.

Wikipedia, Notability and Fame

2008-08-20T08:01:00.000-07:00

This week was very interesting.

A friend of mine noticed a Wikipedia page with my name attached to it and a somewhat detailed biography of me written there. Since I didn't write the biography and it was relatively accurate, I was a bit flattered that someone bothered to spend there time to research me and write the thing, it was long and quite detailed. Today, Wikipedia removed my biography saying that I was not notable enough to warrant one on their site.

While most people would be insulted, I agree. Some people let fame and notability get to their heads. Some thrive on the fact that everyone knows every intimate detail of their lives and they build their lives around this false and disturbing concept of self importance.

I do not consider myself a notable person, I'm a regular guy who works hard to try to make the world a better place. I host a radio show, I'm "known" by lots of people, but at the same time, I'm humbled by the fact that anyone listens. I'm known to ask people who tell me that they listen to my show "why?".

I was embarrassed by the Wikipedia article and I'm glad Wikipedia had the good sense to remove it, but I thank the person who posted it for caring.

The Clerk and the Customer (A Horror Story)

2008-08-06T07:38:00.000-07:00

I'm not perfect, I never pretend to be perfect and on my radio show (http://www.truetalkradio.com) my flaws come out pretty clearly. Being not perfect, I could understand and empathize with the imperfections of other people and possibly forgive them for some of their indiscretions.

The other day I was in a kosher restaurant standing in line waiting to order. I was third in line, two guys, both religious, with kippas and tsitsis hanging out, were together were standing in front of me and the order clerk was nowhere to be found. The two guys started talking about how they were in a rush and the clerk wasn't there. One guy turned to his friend and said, 'ah the hell with it' and proceeded to walk around the counter and start punching things into the clerks cash register.

Now if you never worked for a retail store, you probably wouldn't know that the clerk is responsible for all cash in his drawer. If any money is missing at the end of the day, and his cash doesn't balance, the clerk is personally responsible to replace that money out of his pocket. So most cashiers are pretty touchy when it comes to other people touching their cashes.

Coincidentally, the clerk came out as the guy was playing with his cash. He calmly and politely asked the guy to please not touch his cash and to go back to the other side of the counter and he would be more than happy to serve him. The customer then did the unthinkable. He unleashed a long string of profanities (very bad words) followed by, and I'm going to use a direct quote, "we should all learn our place in the world, you are a $12 an hour food jockey, I'm the customer. You serve me, it's like I'm the master and you are the slave."

The clerk, surprisingly, kept his cool and told the customer that he would not serve him. The customer then proceeded to flip out. First he tried to stare down the clerk in an aggressive fashion, the clerk just stood there and met him eye to eye. Then he said 'get me my food, you damn 40 year old bachelor'. where the clerk politely asked him to leave the restaurant.

The customer refused to leave and was getting more agitated as the minutes passed. The clerk called the next in line and the customer went ballistic.

"I'm going to teach you a lesson" he bellowed at the clerk, "I'm going to prove to you that I'm the master and you're my bitch!"

With that the customer proceeded to call a number on his cellular phone. The clerk stepped back, leaned against the wall behind him and watched. The customer said "You're just a lowly clerk, you can't decide who gets served and who doesn't. Know your place in life, know who the boss is."

The customer then left the restaurant. Two minutes later the restaurant phone rang, the clerk answered. By the sounds of the one side of the conversation I heard, it was the owner of the restaurant ordering the clerk to serve the customer. The clerk adamantly refused, never explaining himself, but invited the owner to come down to the restaurant to serve these guys or inviting the clerk to come out. He said that he would never serve these two again and hung up.

He proceeded to serve the other customers in line in a professional and calm way. When we started talking to him about the incident, he didn't answer, asking us to drop it and just order. It was amazing how calm he remained.

Five minutes later the owner of the restaurant walked in laughing with the two customers. They walked up to the counter, the clerk looked at the two guys, the owner stood behind him.

"Serve them" said the owner. "No." responded the clerk. The stare down started again. "I'm telling you one more time, serve them" said the owner. The clerk turned and walked out of the room. The owner followed him to the back. Minutes later another employee came out and took the customer's order. The customers got their food at the end and after a few short profanities about the clerk, turned and left.

This story has been running around in my head since it happened. I didn't believe it then and even now, after a few days and talking about it on the show and writing about it I still find it horrifying.

There are three incredibly disturbing factors in this story.

The first I want to talk about is the sense of entitlement the customer felt over the clerk and the attitude used to degrade and demean a service person.

I don't give a rats petunia how much money you make, what kind of car you drive or what social status you think you have in life. People are people, human beings deserve dignity and respect. In this case, the clerk had done nothing wrong. He asked a customer not to touch his cash register, he is responsible for the money, this is his living, his livelihood, nobody has the right to touch it. For the customer to go off on him, the way he did, and this guy seemed like a fairly normal person, is repulsive, regrettable and quite disgusting.

Customers in the store were disgusted, many screaming at this guy to shut up. The clerk must be commended for keeping his cool, but imagine yourself facing this kind of tyrannical ranting. Imagine being on the receiving end of such a personal attack. How would you react? I probably would jump across the counter and throttle the customer, I would find it very hard to keep my cool. As a customer I'm ashamed to say, that besides exchanging some verbiage with the customer, I did nothing to interfere with the chain of events. It's shameful that I didn't step forward and help calm the situation, but all of us in the restaurant were in a state of shock. The scenario was quite unbelievable.

The second issue that repulses me is the reaction of the restaurant's owner. He didn't even ask the clerk for an explanation. He just came in, laughing with the customer, and demanded the clerk serve him. This kind of disrespect of staff is typical of most Kosher establishments, but in this case, quite gross and fairly disturbing. The clerk was an older person, probably in his mid to late 30s, I don't know his financial situation nor do I know why he chose to be a clerk in a kosher restaurant, but one has to assume he needs the job to survive.

As an employer I hire people and trust that they make decisions that will benefit the company and are based on solid background. Since this clerk didn't seem to have any mental deficiencies (unlike the customer) and since he had been working at this establishment for quite a while, I find it infinitely impossible to believe that the owner of the establishment would embarrass and degrade him like that. To me that's shameful.

Incidentally all of us in line walked out when the owner tried to force the clerk to serve the customers.

The third issue that really saddens me is that these two guys were "religious", wearing kippas and tsitsis.

This event took place during the three weeks, a time of careful contemplation, a time of mourning and a time of repentance. It is during these three weeks that we work to make the world a better place, to break down the boundaries between us and to attempt to usher in the age of moshiach.

It is said that the second Jewish Temple was destroyed because of unwarranted hatred between Jews. The story of Karmtza and bar karmtza (http://www.ou.org/yerushalayim/tishabav/kamtza.htm) is the oft quoted story when it comes to Tisha Baav and the three weeks. Their dispute was the catalyst for the destruction of the temple.

That said, religious people do not act in the manner that this guy acted in, so one can only assume he was an impostor. Impostors give religious people bad names. Imagine the other customers, none who were religious, experiencing this kind of show and basing their opinions of religious people on this customer.

This is the type of event that is stopping moshiach from coming. This is the type of event that divides us as Jews, as humans and as civilized individuals. Until we have the ability to get over ourselves, we could never make the world a better place.

The Assassination of a Head of State

2008-05-23T06:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, a listener called the show and advocated the assassination of the Prime Minister of Israel. My first reaction was shock and outrage, it was my gut reaction to a preposterous suggestion on live open air radio. Even more infuriating at the time was the fact that I felt Rabbi Shlomo Mahn, my long suffering co-host, did not say enough to distance himself from the suggestion.

After listening to a tape of the show this morning, I may have been too harsh on Rabbi Mahn. While I feel he may have been clearer in his initial reaction to the caller, I also feel that this prevailing sense of hopelessness felt by a majority of diaspora Jews (especially those not deluded by the hatred expressed by groups such as the Netury Karta and Peace Now, who are hellbent on destroying the State of Israel) that Prime Minister Olmert is selling out the country. If I was too harsh on my good friend, the Rabbi, I apologize.

We have a responsibility as talk show hosts to choose our words and reactions to words carefully. We have specific responsibilities to the government who grants us our license and we have a fundamental responsibility to the listeners who invest hours of their lives listening to our show. While sometimes, sitting in a small room with a couple of microphones makes you kick back and relax, the truth of the matter is that radio and words could be dangerous if we are not careful what's said.

When the caller first suggested that someone in Israel get caught in friendly crossfire, I initially laughed, I honestly thought he was joking. But when he emphasized that he thought that Olmert should get shot, that's where I took issue.

I was working as a newspaper columnist when then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. I remember clearly the vilification of the religious and right wing, repercussions still felt today. I remember The Montreal Gazette's front page story quoting a fringe rabbi saying that Orthodox Jews have blood on their hands. I remember the furor that erupted when my column was published condemning The Gazette for such blatant hateful and not overly accurate ramblings.

To attempt to build up the same furor that preceded, but not necessarily resulted in the unfortunate murder of Yitzhak Rabin is unacceptable discourse both on my radio show and in society as a whole. The caller should be ashamed of himself.

Have a great Shabbos
Howie

Ehud Omert - War Criminal?

2008-05-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking that perhaps Ehud Omert, the Israeli Prime Minister is a war criminal. First he uprooted thousands of Jews and abandoned them into trailer parks. Then he went and allowed enemies of his State to occupy the previous Jewish towns and launch missles into his population centers. No reaction.

His own President, noted dove Shimon Peres, recently said that the only way the Israelis could stop is by re-occupying Gaza, but they won't do it.

So the Israeli government is once again sacrificing Jews for the farce of peace...How sad.

Charge Ehud Omert with war crimes today.

Howie

Ah the blog...

2008-05-15T11:21:00.000-07:00

So we have been promising show blogs from the people running the show and here we are, my first one.

I first off want to thank you all for tuning in, it is truly an honor to be welcomed into your lives every day and I thank you for this wonderful opportunity.

Ok enough of the mush, let's get down to reality. The State of Israel is in pain, I hear it crying out to the Jews of the Diaspora, screaming for us to protect its holy sites, it's polished stone and its existence within the State of Israel.

The city remembers when it was under Jordanian rule and all Jewish holy sites were desecrated or destroyed. It remembers the Romans and the Greeks, the Assyrians and Egyptians. The city has a long memory and knows now that the fullest peace it has ever experienced was that under Israeli rule.

For a while, Palestinian genocidal terrorists did not dare attack Jerusalem, the city was seen as holy and untouchable. But as the zealots continued to rile the masses and the hatred of thousands of years boiled to the top of the pot, Jerusalem became like everywhere else in Israel, a target.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Omert is planning on re-dividing Jerusalem for a promise of peace. As a Jew I'm appalled, as a historian I'm disgusted and as a rational observer of politics I'm scared.

George Santayana once said, 'those who don't remember the past are doomed to repeat it'. These are in fact one of the first words you see on a plaque mounted in the entrance of the Majdanek death camp museum in Poland.

The Polish Government seems to understand Santayana, it's disturbing that the Israeli one doesn't.

Keep your eyes on this blog for more thoughts and comments from me and please feel free to respond.

Howie