‘I am a good friend’ and other poems
By: Judith Ferster
I am a good friend
If you do not want me to intrude on your worry for your son
fighting for Israel,
I won’t.
If you tell me on October 7 not to say the words
“settler colonialism,” to you I won’t.
If you want me to add traumatized Israelis to my list
of people who need healing from this war,
I will. Who is not suffering?
But some Gazans are eating the edible weeds
along the roads
because they know which ones nourish,
though lack of water hurts
as intended.
I do not repeat
Ben Gurion’s claim there could not be
a Jewish majority state with so many Palestinians in it
or recount his militias pushing
them out of Haifa and Jaffa
even before the Arab armies invaded and expulsion began in earnest.
I am a good friend.
Custodians of the best liberation story of all time,
we hate people being denied rights
in Birmingham or Vietnam. We walked with Rabbi Heshel,
John Lewis, and Martin Luther King,
made common cause with them,
but now we worship a state that puts supremacy into
its Nation State Law. Where there are two peoples
in one land, one must prevail.
Is perpetual resistance rather than rights for all
the way to keep Jews safe?
I have been a bad friend.
For all this time,
I have been a very bad friend
The Right to Defend
Israel has the right to defend itself.
We hear it over and over, a mantra every commentator
must say. There is no speaking until you pray it. pr
Every nation has it , even those born in colonial blood.
Would you take it away from the DRC because King Leopold wanted rubber,
ivory, cacao, and cobalt wrested out of heart of darkness by guns?
No.
Or would you take it away from Iraq
and Syria because lines were drawn on
a secret map by Sykes and Picot, to carve Arabia
out of the victory of World War I?
No.
Or you take it away from Israel, a gift of Lord Balfour, antisemitic
dispensationalist who wanted all Jews
out of England and into the holy land
to bring Christ’s return?
No.
But would you take it away from an
an occupier pouring more than
needed weapons on the occupied?
Yes.
Palestine should be free from the river,
as the Likud charter says, to the sea.
###
Judith Ferster published Songs of the Ovenbird in 2022 with Hermit Feathers Press and poems thereafter with Literary Yard. She is a retired English Professor who is an activist on the environment and Palestinian Rights.
Why Jews view the Xtian church as the worst Av Tuma Nazi like avoda zarah?
The vision of Torah as an oath-based, constitutional brit alliance cut between the chosen Cohen people who alone accept the revelation of the Torah at Sinai, whose revelation centers upon judicial justice and prophetic mussar—not theological creeds or divine incarnations or false messiah Son of God theological creeds. Silly Xtian, even by the exceptionally low standards of your sophomoric bible translations Proverbs 1:33 says: “But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.” (KJV); this lone verse, its contained within the larger sugya of 1:20-2:22.
Shlomo rebukes his son for refusal to pursue Oral Torah wisdom. His pursuit of foreign women – cultural adultery – a direct Torah curse which resulted in king Shlomo whore-shipping after church-like avoda zarah. Silly Xtian, even by the exceptionally low standards of your sophomoric bible translations Proverbs 1:33 says: “But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.” (KJV). You silly reactionary Goyim have no wisdom. Goyim, they remind me how water behaves on a hot skillet! Ya ball up, bounce around, and make noise.
Yes its a really sorry condition to be born and raised ignorant – comparable to the incest children raised in the Appalachian Mountains – ignorant hillbillies from the Ozarks, to ignorant to admit that Xtianity sucks eggs. T’NaCH common law learns through precedents. Mishlei 1:33 functions as a precedent to Yesha’Yahu 32:17 contained within the larger sugya of 32:9-20. Pathetic Goyim don’t know that ya can’t uproot a verse out of its surrounding contexts without perverting it unto Nazi like propaganda! T’NaCH — a common law legal system. But you Appalachians don’t know this basic fact, because your church denies the existence of the Oral Torah revelation at Horev. Truly sucks being as ignorant as sticks.
Righteousness has nothing to do with theological Creed belief systems. The new-testament promotes JeZeus as the messiah Son of God – bull shit. Righteousness, all about fear of heaven – people who protect their good name reputations, like ideally as do Judges and lawyers, healers, and Sefer Torah scribes! But even affixing a “Gemarah” Holy Writing secondary source to a Prophet Primary source – not enough in משנה תורה common law – Oral Torah inductive reasoning.
A scholar, with fear of heaven, learns that Prophet source, to some other Prophetic precedent, then back to the Book of D’varim, and ideally even back to the Book of בראשית, which introduces Av tohor time oriented commandments, which require prophetic mussar as their k’vanna. Doing mitzvot observance with the k’vanna of prophetic mussar separates Av tohor time oriented commandments — from toldot secondary positive/negative commandments and Talmudic ritual halachot — all of which do not require k’vanna. However,,,, if a person weaves prophetic mussar as the weft thread of the warp threads of positive, negative, and Talmudic ritual halachah למעשה, this Torah wisdom elevates them all to Av tohor time oriented commandments from the Torah. This Av Torah commandment creates the chosen Cohen people from nothing in all generations Israel walks upon the face of the Earth.
Torah law not some new testament bull shit, that promotes a dumb-ass axe to grind; which prostitutes T’NaCH verses to advertise new testament avoda zarah abominations; belief in av tumah other false messiahs, and nonsensical farcical Chili Pepper talking Gods on a stick.
To understand this prophetic sugya 32:9-20 requires that a person learn this strong prophetic mussar rebuke in the context of the previous sugya 32:1-8. Through the wisdom of Oral Torah Pardes inductive logic reasoning, a close precedent which permits a person to read this same idea viewed from, a fresh and completely different perspective: 5:1-6 of the same prophet. Torah holds tremendous depths, like a diamond has tens of thousands of facet faces! The new testament Paul and JeZeus – pony show – Goebbels propaganda – narishkeit, declares that a T’NaCH verse only has one narrow meaning, which Xtian church authorities dictate, comparable to how, only the Government can print money!
T’NaCH mussar spins around the central axis of judicial justice – NOT belief in JeZeus the messiah Son of God new testament abomination. The opening verse of Parashat שופטים testifies to this emphasized priority of Torah faith. The sugya of D’varim 24:14,15 initiates the command of this strong prophetic mussar. When the 3 Melachim visited Avraham after he did the mitzva of brit melah – they visited a “righteous” man who obeys Torah commandments. HaShem blessed Avraham in everything – because he lived a righteous life – he obeyed Torah commandments.
Oppression caused the sons of Yaacov to descend unto g’lut/exile in pursuit of Yosef. The wicked do not call upon HaShem. The Avot by stark contrast, called upon El Shaddai as their God. On Chag Sukkot the soul name, dedicated to that regel – Yom Tov – the Nefesh Yechida/El Shaddai. Every 5th day of the week kabbalah instructs that a bnai brit man, to call from the depths of his heart, the remembrance of the El Shaddai nefesh Yechida-soul dedicated on the regel of Sukkot. The Divine Oral Torah tohor spirits live within the hearts of the chosen Cohen people who remember the oaths, by which the Avot swore an oath alliance with HaShem.
HaShem made Moshe a “lord like messiah” to Par’o. Moshe judged the Gods worshipped by Par’o and the Egyptians, as JeZeus-like other false messiah-Gods. Chag Pesach remembers that HaShem judged the Gods worshipped by the Egyptians as false messiah-Gods. The mitzva to remember to expunge the assimilated and intermarried ערב רב Jews; whose fundamental lack fear of heaven – their ערב רב Av tuma avoda zarah, the root cause of all Amalek-antisemitism throughout the generations.
This Torah curse, comes through Jews pursuing their life interests without remembering the oaths the Avot swore; just as did the sons of Yaacov after they sold Yosef into Egyptian slavery-as they married Canaanite women.
The tohor time oriented commandments, which create the chosen Cohen people throughout the generations, as a living תמיד מעשה בראשית, when ever Israel does Av tohor time oriented commandments — with prophetic mussar as their k’vanna — the sons of Yaacov totally forgot and abandoned, to honor the oaths sworn by Avraham Yitzak and Yaacov. Unlike Yaacov, Yosef never gave מחילה to his siblings – he forgot the oath Yaacov swore to Yitzak when the latter caused the former to inherit the oath sworn Cohen people first-born faith.
The ultimate בנין אב-precedent, the Parshah of תרומה! Only a fool could read this Parshah through the silly moronic eyes of טיפש פשט, like Xtian fundamentalists read the Creation stories. This Parshah employs the vessels of the Mishkan merely as a משל. Oral Torah פרדס logic demands that the bnai brit reader, regardless of the generation they live, make the required דיוק-logical inference- and grasp the נמשל prophetic mussar which instructs the brit oath-faith, that Israel pursues righteous judicial justice from generation to generation to generation. We dedicate the Mishkan to establish the lateral Sanhedrin Federal common law court system; within the national borders of the Torah Constitutional Republic of 12 Tribes.
Confronted with British and French imperialism Jerusalem threatens to annex area C of Samaria! And also to terminate the EU Israel special relationship wherein Israel pulls out of the EU UN voting block.
‘Britain cannot be on the side of Hamas’: As the UK turns on Israel, one leader stand
The fall of Assad in Syria, the collapse of Hezbollah in Lebanon, the obliteration of Hamas in Gaza have triggered a massive domino effect which has radically changed the balance of power in the Middle East. Britain and France, their ‘Great Power’ status collapsed with the establishment of Vichy France and the defeat of Britain to seize the Suez Canal in 1956.
The Abraham Accords irreversibly tarnished EU imperialism known as UNSC Resolutions 242 and 338 as utterly archaic, yesterdays’ dead news.
President Trump’s efforts to force a forced population transfer of all Gazans unto Arab countries resembles the mass population transfer post WWII Allies forced upon the defeated Germans. The Allies compelled 14 million German refugees to depart and move away from Prussia – the newly established Polish territories acquired consequent to War – comparable to Israel’s capture of Jordan’s West Bank. The territory of Prussia, territory which both Poland and Russia acquired through war … mocks the Pie in the Sky language of UN 242 by which the defrocked great powers of England and France declared “Inadmissibility of Acquisition of Territory by War“
Day 6 of the Iran war: Iran down on missiles and launchers. Russia has no plans to assist Iran, leaves Iran high and dry. Chinese weapons the IDF has proven them to be a paper tiger just like Iran.
Could Israeli commandos invade and destroy the Iranian Fordow Fuel Enrichment Facility nuclear site. Located near Qom and known for being deeply buried, has not been directly targeted in the initial strikes. However, there have been reports of military actions in the vicinity. The IAEA has confirmed that Fordow remains under safeguards and has not reported any damage from the recent attacks. The Fordow facility, while currently unscathed, remains a focal point of concern for both Israeli and international observers.
Fordow is located approximately 90 meters underground, making it one of the most fortified nuclear sites in the world. Its depth and construction are designed to withstand conventional military strikes, including airstrikes. The facility is heavily guarded, with advanced security systems and military presence, complicating any potential ground assault. Israel possesses advanced military technology, including precision-guided munitions and cyber capabilities, which could be utilized in an operation against nuclear facilities.
Successful execution would depend on accurate intelligence regarding the facility’s defenses, operational status, and the presence of personnel. A well-coordinated operation would be essential, possibly requiring simultaneous actions to distract Iranian forces elsewhere. The deeply buried nature of the site, combined with its security measures and the potential for severe geopolitical consequences.
The destruction of the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Facility by Israel would likely provoke a multifaceted response from the United Nations (UN) and the international community. The UN Security Council would likely convene to discuss the incident. Many member states, particularly those aligned with Iran, would condemn the attack as a violation of international law and Iran’s sovereignty. The incident could lead to strengthened alliances among countries opposed to Israel, potentially increasing tensions in the Middle East. The destruction of the Fordow facility by Israel would likely lead to a complex and multifaceted response from the UN and the international community, characterized by condemnation, diplomatic efforts, and potential escalations in regional tensions.
Disgraced Obama played a significant role in shaping U.S. policy towards Iran, particularly through the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which aimed to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. But did nothing toward Iranian ballistic missile production; he and Hillary Clinton illegally spied upon the Trump 2016 Presidential campaign and launched the Russia-gate slander in their attempt to destroy President Trump. Additionally, UN Security Council Resolution 2334, exceptionally prejudiced against Israel. The Trump Administration has utterly repudiated the direction of the Obama Administration, on par with the rejection of Obama Care national-socialism medical insurance dictate imposed upon the American people by the insider trading criminal Nancy Pelosi.
A return to a pro-Western, secular regime in Iran could lead to a strengthening of Iran’s position in the region, potentially countering the influence of Turkey, especially if the new regime seeks to re-establish Iran as a dominant regional power. The geopolitical landscape could shift, with countries reassessing their alliances. Nations that have historically been wary of Iran might find common ground with a new Iranian leadership, altering the regional balance.
If Iran were to regain a strong position under a new regime, Turkey might find its influence diminished, particularly in areas where both countries have competing interests, such as Iraq, Syria, and the Gulf states. Turkey has sought to position itself as a leader in the Muslim world, particularly through its support for various groups and its assertive foreign policy. A revitalized Iran could challenge Turkey’s aspirations for regional leadership.
If the West, particularly the U.S., were to support a new Iranian regime, it could further shift the balance of power. Turkey’s relationship with the West might be affected, especially if it is seen as opposing Western interests in the region. The potential return of a regime similar to that of the Shah in Iran could significantly alter the balance of power in the Middle East, potentially diminishing Turkey’s influence in the region. This scenario would likely lead to a complex interplay of alliances, competition for leadership, and shifts in regional dynamics, with implications for both domestic and foreign policies in Turkey and beyond.