Tag: judaism

Massie Teases Senate Run – Jewish GOP Group Threatens ‘Unlimited’ Spending To Stop Him

Kentucky GOP Rep. Thomas Massie is teasing a potential run for Mitch McConnell’s Senate seat in 2026, and a Jewish Republican group is already threatening to unleash “unlimited” spending to thwart any such bid, given his frequent opposition to legislation pushed by the pro-Israel lobby. 

On Thursday, Massie posted a poll on X, asking if he should stay in the House, run for Senate in 2026, or run for governor in 2027. A Senate campaign was the choice of 67% of the respondents.

The libertarian-minded Massie opposes all foreign aid. At his own political peril, he dares to make no exception for the State of Israel, which is among the world’s richest countries. He has also voted against legislation that would infringe on free speech by, for example, punishing colleges that allow students and professors to say the wrong things about Israel.

Add it all up — and stir in the fact that he’s a member of a party whose legislators almost universally toe the pro-Israel line — and Massie is likely the House representative the pro-Israel lobby would most like to eliminate. The idea of him ascending to the Senate has pro-Israel forces racing to DEFCON1. 

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House Lawmakers Form First-Ever Official Congressional Jewish Caucus

Jewish lawmakers in the House of Representatives have formed the first-ever Congressional Jewish Caucus. 

According to a report by The Hill, Jewish politicians in the United States House of Representatives have founded the Congressional Jewish Caucus, which will serve as an official platform to address rising antisemitism and concerns facing the American Jewish community.

“In response to unprecedented rising antisemitism in the United States and the challenges the American Jewish community has faced in the wake of the horrific terrorist attacks of Oct. 7, the need for this Caucus is understandable,” said Representative Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), a founding co-chair.

“I am confident this caucus will bring Jewish members together to strive to achieve unity, not unanimity, and will be a productive forum to discuss issues of import to the American Jewish community,” he added.

Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), who initiated the program, emphasized the significance of education and cross-community linkages in resolving Jewish American concerns.

“With antisemitism reaching record levels in the United States, it is more important than ever before that Jewish members of Congress have a formal Caucus to represent the unique perspective of the Jewish American community,” she said.

Nadler will be co-chairing the caucus along with Representative Brad Schneider (D-Ill.). 

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According to Israel Shahak, Judaism itself is supremacist

Israel Shahak (1933 – 2001) was a Polish Jew who survived both the Holocaust and the Warsaw ghetto, and lived his adult life in Israel. His surname, Hebrew in the middle of Poland, can be explained by a relevant fact: his parents were Zionists, and they changed their Yiddish last name Himmelstaub to the Hebrew Shahak. This is common among Zionists: the Netayahu family was Mileikowsky; Ben-Gurion was born Grün; Golda Meir was Golda Mabovitch.

And Israel Shahak, in turn, was anti-Zionist in a much more radical way than the current Left. In his book Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years, Shahak argues that Judaism, as it exists today and since the adoption of the Talmud, is a problem in itself, as it is totalitarian and supremacist.

The book is originally a series of newspaper articles from the 1990s prompted by the following event: in Israel, in the 1960s, a gentile collapsed during the Sabbath and an Orthodox Jew did not authorize the use of the telephone to call an ambulance. The Jews did not call because it is not lawful to violate the Sabbath to save the life of a gentile – to save the life of a Jew, it is lawful. Shahak witnessed the event and caused a series of controversies in Haaretz.

This event is very important in order to understand the way Israel thinks about its politics. Shahak convinces us that both so-called secular Zionism and religious Zionism are guided by the Talmud. Shahak’s booklet includes a brief history of Judaism. It is worth highlighting that since the Babylonian Talmud, the words of the Old Testament (or Torah) have lost its relevance because what matters is the interpretation established by the rabbis in the Talmud. This interpretation causes the ethics of the Old Testament to change completely. The “neighbor”, for example, should be interpreted as “the Jew”; it is considered that the gentile is never a Jew’s neighbor. Thus, all the universalist ethical imperatives of the Old Testament are first converted into a norm of intra-Jewish conduct; and, as a logical consequence, there is a vague field of ethics (the ethics of relations between gentiles and Jews), to be filled by the interpretation of the rabbis.

The commandment “thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s wife”, for example, comes to mean that a Jew must not covet the wife of another Jew. Nothing is said about a Jew coveting the wife of a gentile. Thus, the rabbis were able to prohibit the sexual relationship (any sexual relationship) between a Jew and a gentile in other ways: by comparing it to bestiality and punishing it as a deviation. This means not only that a Jew should not covet a gentile’s wife, but also that a Jew cannot marry a gentile, just as a man cannot marry a goat. But while it is hard to find a legal body willing to punish a goat, the same is not true of women: “If a Jew has coitus with a Gentile woman, whether she be a child of three or an adult, whether married or unmarried, and even if he is a minor aged only nine years and one day – because he had wilful coitus with her, she must be killed, as is the case with a beast, because through her a Jew got into trouble.” This is Maimonides.

Such interpretation of the word “neighbor” also applies to “man,” which is also considered synonymous with Jew. The Gentile, in fact, is something analogous to an animal. Every time a Zionist propagates a phrase that sounds humanist, it is good to remember this peculiar glossary of rabbinical origin. Picking up a Talmud to read is pointless unless one knows Hebrew, because, according to Shahak, translations of the Talmud contain distortions designed to avoid upsetting the Gentiles. These distortions are especially important in hiding what the rabbis think of Jesus Christ and Christians, who are considered inferior to Muslims.

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U.S. to Spend Record $454M Securing ‘Mostly Jewish Institutions’

The US will spend a record $454 million this year to secure religious organizations, with the majority of the funds going to Jewish institutions and a minority being given to other religious groups, the Times of Israel reports.

From The Times of Israel, “US to spend record $454 million securing religious institutions as antisemitism spikes”:

The US federal government will spend nearly $150 million more this year than it did in 2023 to secure religious organizations, a jump aimed at addressing a rise in antisemitism since October 7.

The Department of Homeland Security announced last week that it had allocated $454.5 million this fiscal year toward the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which funds security enhancements at houses of worship and religious organizations. It is the largest sum ever allocated toward the program, and a significant increase from last year’s figure of $305 million.

“The funds announced today will provide communities across the country with vital resources necessary to strengthen their security and guard against terrorism and other threats,” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, who is Jewish, said in a statement. “The impact of these grants will be measured in lives saved and tragedies averted.”

Jewish organizations have historically championed the program, which began in 2005 with an allocation of $25 million and has since grown exponentially. Most of the funding has historically gone to Jewish institutions such as synagogues, day schools, and other religious organizations — a trend that continued this year, according to the Orthodox Union.

The funds are available to all denominations facing credible threats, and in recent years Muslim and Black Christian institutions have applied for funds, often with the guidance of Jewish groups more experienced in the application process.

In related news, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has already spent over $100 million this election cycle.

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A brief history of the Messianic movement that inspired the tunnel under 770 Eastern Parkway

A plaque commemorating the late Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson hung outside the Chabad headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway for nearly a decade after his 1994 death. 

The plaque was notable less for what it said than what it had said, before vandals chiseled out the phrase: “Of blessed memory.”

It’s a ubiquitous honorific across the Jewish world. But in Chabad ranks, when it came to Schneerson, the seventh Lubavitcher rebbe, it was a political statement, as the movement split over whether he was the Messiah, and therefore about to return to Earth — if not still alive. Those who maintain that belief are known as Meshichist — Yiddish for Messianist  — and have long been ostracized by Chabad-Lubavitch leadership. 

The rift is most apparent at 770 Eastern Parkway, which houses both the Chabad administration that disavows Meshichist ideology and a synagogue adorned with a huge banner emblazoned with what’s known as the Yechi, the eight-word Meshichist credo.

That division burst into public view this week with a tumultuous confrontation over a secret tunnel under the headquarters by Meshichist students that led to the arrests of nine men and the temporary shutdown of the iconic 770 building.

Much remains unclear about who built the tunnel and why. Two yeshiva students who said they were involved with the project but spoke on the condition they not be named for fear of arrest said they were taking initiative on a long-deferred synagogue expansion. But some see it as part of a Messianic quest to build a Third Temple — not in Jerusalem but in Brooklyn.

“The Messianic significance of 770 is underscored by the fact that it actually needs to be expanded,” said Ezra Glinter, who is writing a biography of Schneerson. “And not only does it need to be expanded, but in a manner of totally breaking through a barrier.”

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Extremist Jewish teens secretly ‘hired migrants’ to dig covert Brooklyn synagogue tunnel ‘Shawshank’-style

Extremist students from an ultra-Orthodox Hasidic group secretly hired migrant laborers to help them build a controversial tunnel at the sect’s world headquarters in Crown Heights — all to fulfill what they felt was a religious obligation to expand the holy site, The Post has learned.

Six renegade members of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement secretly began digging the 3-foot-high, 20-foot-wide, 50-foot-long tunnel themselves, using crude instruments and their hands. They stuffed the dirt into their pockets so that their work wouldn’t be detected by the sect’s leaders and wider community, a source in the orthodox community told The Post.

“You’ve seen the movie ‘The Shawshank Redemption’? That’s what these young men did at first: They dug and put the dirt in their pockets,” said Eitan Kalmowitz, a member of the Lubavitcher community in Crown Heights.

Later, the men, most of them in their teens and early twenties, took up a collection and hired a group of migrant laborers to finish the job, Kalmowitz said, describing the workers as “Mexicans.”

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Inside secret tunnel built by ‘extremist Jewish students’ linking historic ‘cleansing bath’ to Brooklyn synagogue that was only discovered when homeowner heard ‘suspicious noises at night’

A new video shows the secret underground tunnel dug by a group of young Orthodox Jewish men that is at the core of a bizarre dispute with religious leaders. 

The tunnel was discovered by rabbis in December, who were horrified that the young men had burrowed it from the Chabad Lubavitch synagogue in Crown Heights. 

Initially, local site Crown Heights Info reported that it led all the way to a women’s mikvah at the end of the street – several houses away. 

However the operators of that women’s mikvah say it does not, and instead connects the synagogue with an out-of-use historic men’s mikvah at 770 Eastern Parkway – the synagogue site. 

The NYPD is yet to confirm exactly where the tunnel leads, what is being used for or what the young men have been charged with.  

After learning about what the young men had done, the Chabad’s rabbis ordered it to be filled, but when construction workers showed up last night to complete the work the young men blocked their way, jumping into the tunnel and sparking a riot that was filmed and broadcast on social media. 

In the end, 12 young men were arrested by the NYPD, who had to be called in. The site has been at the center of a dispute between the rabbis and ‘extremists’ who both stake claim to the property. 

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Unhinged teacher threatens to behead girl who asked about his Israeli flag: witnesses

A Georgia teacher allegedly threatened to behead a middle-school student for commenting on his Israeli flag.

Benjamin Reese, a seventh-grade social studies teacher at Warner Robins Middle School, allegedly became angry Dec. 7 when the girl asked about the flag as students were leaving after class and said she found it offensive.

He followed her into the hallway and told the student he was Jewish and had family members who live in Israel, reported WMAZ-TV.

“You don’t make an antisemitic comment like that to a Jew,” Reese said, according to another faculty member.

The girl responded negatively but did not raise her voice, the faculty member said, and Reese allegedly threatened to drag the student outside and brutally murder her.

“You mother—–ng piece of s–t, I’ll kick your a–,” Reese said, according to multiple witnesses. “I should cut your mother—–ng head off.”

Witnesses said Reese returned to his classroom cursing and yelling that she should not speak that way to a Jew, and he allegedly continued making violent threats.

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Prominent Settler Activist Says Spitting on Christians ‘Ancient Jewish Custom’

Israeli settler Elisha Yered, who is suspected of involvement in the killing of Palestinian teen Qosai Mi’tan, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday that spitting at Christians is “an ancient Jewish custom.”

The comment comes amid several incidents of Jews spitting on or near Christian worshippers in Jerusalem’s Old City , which were filmed on Sunday and Monday. This gives more evidence to the fact that these attacks have become widespread.

Tens of thousands of Jews joined in events and prayers for the Sukkot holiday in recent days, during which many of the spitting incidents were recorded. Most of the individuals filmed in the act were Jewish youths who spat on church buildings or at Christian worshipers they encountered.

Yered’s post says that “It’s a good time to mention that spitting near priests or churches is an ancient Jewish custom, and there’s even a special blessing in Jewish law that should be recited when you see a church,” which praises God for turning a blind eye to transgressors

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Orthodox Jews Say They’re Being Targeted by New NYC Lockdowns

A group of Orthodox Jewish men gathered Tuesday evening in Brooklyn, burning masks to protest the newest iteration of New York’s pandemic lockdown. Their anger is reasonable, because the newest lockdown—which disproportionately affects the city’s Jewish community and explicitly targets religious gatherings—is not. It is deeply stupid and unfair, exactly the sort of easily avoidable government overreach that makes even well-intended people doing their best to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 understandably skeptical of public health directives.

At issue is New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s “Cluster Action Initiative,” implemented at the request of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and announced several hours before the fire. The program identifies infection clusters—areas with positive test rates above 3 percent for seven consecutive days—and imposes a graduated system of restrictions until the rate drops.

In the strictest rule set, the “red zone,” schools along with businesses deemed nonessential are closed. In-person dining is banned. Houses of worship are limited to gatherings of 25 percent capacity or 10 people, whichever is smaller, with $15,000 fines for violations. In fact, as Cuomo said Tuesday in a line sure to appear in forthcoming First Amendment litigation, religious gatherings are the main target: “The new rules are most impactful on houses of worship,” he declared. “This virus is not coming from nonessential business.” (Then why, one wonders, are those businesses required to close?)

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