tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.comments2023-06-08T18:12:39.596-04:00Water Over RocksAndy Bachmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12793260246107995501noreply@blogger.comBlogger872125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-1978886252706360282018-03-02T08:54:38.968-05:002018-03-02T08:54:38.968-05:00America at its greatest is when we not only admit ...America at its greatest is when we not only admit we are a work in progress... we rise to that challenge: to work... to progress... togetherDave Statmannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-55026791032593857772018-01-05T20:37:02.892-05:002018-01-05T20:37:02.892-05:00Thank you so much (and Mike) for such an amazing s...Thank you so much (and Mike) for such an amazing service today! I was on the phone to my mom afterwards expressing how much I had wished it had been filmed as I wanted to hear again the wonderful stories you both told of your Uncle (and Father). It was such a comfort to me to be able to partake in today's service. Thank you again, and thank you again for posting it to your site for us to share.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04578170367367676889noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-4525738056240276612017-12-04T22:38:39.993-05:002017-12-04T22:38:39.993-05:00I can feel the energy of this brilliant "cost...I can feel the energy of this brilliant "cost efficient" concept. I will follow you on your journey.<br />Andy - Naches describes my pride (and envy) of how you live your life and the impact you have on others. <br />I'm forwarding your letter to my Brooklyn family. Sending love from MKE.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359106943848383112noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-40642925681418781162017-12-04T18:26:03.714-05:002017-12-04T18:26:03.714-05:00sounds great-sign me up... I want to be a part of ...sounds great-sign me up... I want to be a part of this journey!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-60486336312563466082017-12-04T17:43:59.846-05:002017-12-04T17:43:59.846-05:00Wow, sounds like a wonderful initiative - CONGRATS...Wow, sounds like a wonderful initiative - CONGRATS!Ken Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09754678885388177110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-66636126988874065572017-12-04T16:39:47.351-05:002017-12-04T16:39:47.351-05:00Woohoo!Woohoo!kanarickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16018375528546468155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-78000809408824984772017-12-04T16:13:11.929-05:002017-12-04T16:13:11.929-05:00that's my dad!!!!!!that's my dad!!!!!!Audrey Bachmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02086466460421544860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-12186674364761897122017-12-04T15:02:49.726-05:002017-12-04T15:02:49.726-05:00Bravo, Andy. I cannot wait to see your vision come...Bravo, Andy. I cannot wait to see your vision come to life. This is going to be great for you and Brooklyn alike.Adam Aronsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13730122219739057099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-78967997827209841092017-12-04T12:37:37.873-05:002017-12-04T12:37:37.873-05:00Congrats! Feels good.Congrats! Feels good.Old Firsthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02450204955608047437noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-19469212937620119862017-05-12T20:14:03.713-04:002017-05-12T20:14:03.713-04:00What a wonderful way of life. Let's bring it t...What a wonderful way of life. Let's bring it to fruition.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03403197739971064012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-57241162892215114692017-05-12T15:16:24.854-04:002017-05-12T15:16:24.854-04:00I love it. Si se puede, forward.I love it. Si se puede, forward.Old Firsthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02450204955608047437noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-59646787985921341002016-12-01T19:01:10.655-05:002016-12-01T19:01:10.655-05:00
Andy - your new social venture is truly inspiring...<br />Andy - your new social venture is truly inspiring. My best to you for every success. Stan SheppardAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11573726104556528749noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-30377178369049228942016-11-11T15:21:50.924-05:002016-11-11T15:21:50.924-05:00Thank you for this. I realize that campaigns/elect...Thank you for this. I realize that campaigns/elections can elicit very strong emotions and heated commentary from all sides. Therefore it is especially important for thoughtful voices to be heard pointing a way forward. There is a "country of poverty" within the United States that encompasses all races and ages. Perhaps this is a moment to begin considering how we should live and govern to lift them up.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00519525025335538609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-2376751540071059782016-11-10T22:56:41.685-05:002016-11-10T22:56:41.685-05:00I think this is so true. My friends/family in the ...I think this is so true. My friends/family in the middle of country, mostly did not do the hate posting, ranting. The favorite meme posted was, I paraphrase, "Why are we sending help abroad (___) when there is so much to do at home" - unemployment, mental health issues, horrible VA hospitals, loss of homes, low Social Security, no hope of college education. Repayment of college debt was not in the mix, nor many of the other issues we talked about here.Janehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04148494312942088328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-43825942283396897102016-09-06T19:36:59.886-04:002016-09-06T19:36:59.886-04:00Malcolm was an occasional guest in my house. Not ...Malcolm was an occasional guest in my house. Not personally, but on the radio. From time to time in the early to mid 60s, he would show up as the guest on WOR's News Extra ("the different angle on the news, direct reports from people in the news"). That show ran Monday to Friday from 6:15 to 6:30pm. Malcolm had five minute interviews on that show several times over the years. From what I heard, my take is that Malcolm had reasons behind what he believed and that I could understand how he arrived at where he was. No interview that I can recall mentioned Jews or Israel.Eliotnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-78772175852890396622016-08-07T10:26:51.320-04:002016-08-07T10:26:51.320-04:00Bryan Stephenson is talking about this too! It is ...Bryan Stephenson is talking about this too! It is so important. Lynching in America: A community Remembrance Project, for example, is an attempt at just this. I really do feel that we are in the midst of second civil rights movement and I pray that we get the job done. We have got to own what we did, acknowledge how we created this country not ignore the price that Black and Brown and Native American's paid and continue paying to be citizens of the land of free and the home of the brave.Catherine Lloyd Burnshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17961056688663765323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-56918115152159470562016-08-07T10:14:14.991-04:002016-08-07T10:14:14.991-04:00Oh, Man. What a piece. Thank you.
Oh, Man. What a piece. Thank you.<br />Catherine Lloyd Burnshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17961056688663765323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-59323841393514706342016-08-05T12:39:13.585-04:002016-08-05T12:39:13.585-04:00Excellent connections made herein.Excellent connections made herein.Old Firsthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02450204955608047437noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-7361739097829846052016-08-05T07:20:41.181-04:002016-08-05T07:20:41.181-04:00Thanks for writing this, beloved, thanks for the w...Thanks for writing this, beloved, thanks for the window into your experience that day standing among the chirping birds and in your grandmother's bosom. The story is never over. We don't tell it so much as it tells us.Old Firsthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02450204955608047437noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-84294238558300297322015-03-29T07:25:23.735-04:002015-03-29T07:25:23.735-04:00Shalom and Shavua Tov, Andy-
While no one likes th...Shalom and Shavua Tov, Andy-<br />While no one likes the the idea of having the economy run by oligarchs, it is undeniable that EVERYONE's standard of living today in Israel is much higher than it was in the late, unlamented socialist period. We came to Israel in 1986, mail was often delivered only once a week, the waiting period for getting a telephone from the socialist, government-owned phone company had been recently reduced from FIVE YEARS to "only" six months. It was the "right-wing" anti-socialist Likud government under Netanyahu that made the shekel convertible on the international market which the socialist Labor Party vehemently opposed and which made life much more livable, ending all the ridiculous restrictions on importing consumer goods which are now available in plentitude. When we came, a new VCR machine cost THREE THOUSAND SHEKELS. When I last bought one some years ago, it cost something like 200 shekels. Automobiles are much cheaper (although still not really cheap enough!) than they were then, and financing them with loans is much easier to do today.<br />That is why few Israelis miss the old socialist system. And I repeat that it lead to massive corruption and the need for "proteksia".<br />I will give you another example. In the past, when there was a mass aliyah of a less-educated group, such as the Ethiopian Jews, they were forced to live in outlying development towns., being sent there by the government to "absorption centers". To provide employment for these new olim, the gov't would give subsidies to some shady "enterpeneur" who took the money, set up a factory in that town, producing some sort of low-tech widget for which there was no real market but which hired these new olim. After 3 years or so, the subsidy, which the "entrepeneur" (who had political connections with the MAPAI leadership) would close the factory and the workers would be thrown into the unemployment line for an indefinite period.<br />Today, the absorption centers have been closed, the olim are given rent money, and later subsidized mortagages and they can choose to live wherever they want, while special services for olim are given in an office in the town where they live. Today, we see many young Ethiopians working in the greatly expanded retail sector where they often work as check-out clerks, instead in some grimy small-time factory, in central cities and they are learning computer skills which will hopefully give them a head start for advanced education which is available near where they live. This is due to the fact that they are working in more stable, profitiable businesses <br />One more bad memory Israelis have of the old socialist system was the fact that the Histradrut and Hevrat Ovdim controlled much of the industry in Israel. In their framework, "the workers" supposedly owned the plant, but that meant that your boss was also your union rep, so if you didn't like your boss, you had no way to protest it, meaning that workers had less redress for grievances than did a worker in a capitalist-owned factory.<br />I know American Jews have this rather strange (in my view) attachment to socialism for historical reasons which is bizarre since they have all benefited from the American capitalist system, and they thought we Israelis should live with socialism (and suffer from it) while they had it good in America so they could "feel good about themselves" as wannabe socialists. Fortunately, Israelis have woken up and are creating a world-leading economy.<br />Y. Ben-Davidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-23644961234808996862015-03-27T09:46:32.435-04:002015-03-27T09:46:32.435-04:00Fair enough, YB-D, though I'd qualify your cri...Fair enough, YB-D, though I'd qualify your critique of early Labor Zionism by saying (and I think you'd agree) that "stifling, stagnant" system was every bit as limiting at say, an economy run by oligarchs with an overabundance of shekels and dollars in Swiss bank accounts! On one level you're making a kind of argument that Asher Ginzberg made (and I'm taking liberties here)--namely, that the strengthening of Jewish identity and culture in the center, in Eretz Yisrael, has the power to emanate and uplift the Diaspora. American Jews need Israel more than many realize or care to admit. That's my burden, I suppose, to change people's mind's here. Or give up and come there--but that has its own complications.Andy Bachmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12793260246107995501noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-80078530447755908652015-03-27T09:33:59.368-04:002015-03-27T09:33:59.368-04:00Andy-
Thank you for posting my comment and your re...Andy-<br />Thank you for posting my comment and your response. I just want to point out that I think most Israelis who voted for the parties that compose the "Right-wing" bloc that won the election would agree with the important values you stated such as equality before the law and the strong social safety net.<br />The problem is that the values of the early Zionists, which were embodied by the ideology of Labor/Socialist ZIonism and which were represented by the MAPAI (Labor) and MAPAM parties (today part of MERETZ) have been rejected by the modern incarnation of these political movements. Few people in the Labor party want to return to Israel's stifling, stagnant, proteksia-ridden socialist system and many of their representatives in the Knesset have stated clearly their discomfort with the basic values of Zionism and having a "Jewish" state, as opposed to a non-national state in which Jews merely comprise the majority This ideological vacuum has enervated those political movements, which finally lead to them basing their recent election strategy on avoiding discussing issues and just saying "our platform is that we are against Netanyahu", thus leading to the political Left's biggest defeat in history.Until they can come up with some real content for the political movements which are in accord with the strongly "Jewish" conciousness of the majority of the Jewish population in Israel, they will be continue to be condemned to continued political irrelevancy.<br /><br />In any event I find it refreshing to see an American Jew like yourself who passionately cares about Israel and is willing to be "in your face" about presenting the challenge of aliyah and Zionism to American Jewry which desperately needs to be shaken out of its lethargy.Y. Ben-Davidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-4308974430075972562015-03-27T08:11:32.624-04:002015-03-27T08:11:32.624-04:00Y. Ben-David. Thanks for writing. I fear I'v...Y. Ben-David. Thanks for writing. I fear I've been misunderstood. I'm not advocating that 10,000 American Jews make aliyah annually in order to vote in an Obama progressive agenda. (Though it would be nice to see a progressive billionaire buy an alternative to Sheldon Adelson's free newspaper!) My larger point is that "progressive" Jews who feel alienated from an Israel that doesn't look or feel like them, the solution could be not turning away but embracing and changing society, just as has always been done wherever Jews have lived.<br /><br />I have to strongly object to your characterization of progressivism being "exported." The early Zionists (as well as clear plurality of Israeli voters in the last election) were quite progressive--supporting ideas like equality before the law, a strong social safety net, and a deep an abiding compassion for the other, as commanded by the Torah. In this age, we are more authentic in our Jewish pursuits by rejecting "either/or" constructs and understanding that when we look beneath the surface, things are far more complicated than they seem.Andy Bachmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12793260246107995501noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-90396998710130742452015-03-27T08:00:18.836-04:002015-03-27T08:00:18.836-04:00The question, Andy,is WHY should those 10,000 &quo...The question, Andy,is WHY should those 10,000 "liberal" Jews make aliyah? Just in order to vote for an Israeli Prime Minister whom President Obama approves of? As an American who made aliya almost 29 years ago, I see that the American Jewish "religion" is political liberalism and "progressive" social values. Why should they move to Israel when they have such a supportive environment for their "progressivism" in the US. Obama, who received the large majority of the Jewish vote both times he ran, is, at the same time, strongly disliked, if not despised by a clear majority of Israeli Jews. Thus, we see that American Jewry and American Jewry are talking past one another,. Add to that that non--Orthodox American Jewry is rapidly assimilating and demographically evaporating, while Israeli Jewry is undergoing a major spiritual JEWISH revival and is demographically growing more healthy. <br />A Jew who feels his Judaism is the most important thing in his life knows that Israel is the ultimate destination if he or she is not there yet. American Jewry is whithering away, the future of the Jewish people lies in Israel. That is what will speak to American Jewry, not attempting to export its "progressive" ideology to a place where it is completely irrelevant.Y. Ben-Davidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-84799881452983807292015-03-26T15:12:57.612-04:002015-03-26T15:12:57.612-04:00The liberal US Jewish community is weak and dwindl...The liberal US Jewish community is weak and dwindling because of assimilation and intermarriage. The number of actual liberal Jews who are actual Jews and who are deeply engaged is so paltry that it's hard to imagine more than a handful of them making aliyah. Only the Orthodox have that kind of passion anymore. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com