Embassy Crashers

One of the lead headlines on CNN's homepage reads, "Israeli Police Storm UK Embassy." That sounds pretty bad. After all, as any fan of "24" knows, embassies are sovereign territory. Sending forces into an embassy has the same legal effect as sending forces across a border into another nation. The article then explains that the commandos entered the embassy to capture an armed Palestinian who scaled a fence to enter the grounds so that he could forcibly demand asylum. The same story on Fox News also paints the same picture, although the headline on the homepage does indicate that the man the commandos nabbed was armed.

A crime occurring inside an embassy does not provide a legal basis for the police to enter the premises. The CNN article, and certainly the headline, give the impression that Israel committed a major violation of international law. What CNN and Fox omitted from the story is one very significant fact that the Jerusalem Post fortunately reports-the British government provided Israel with the consent to enter the premises and to handle the situation, which it did, by the way, with no injuries or fatalities, thank God. In other words, Israel did nothing wrong. Unfortunately, some people will assume the contrary because that's the narrative they receive.

Short People Got No Reason To Live

According to this recent news story, a study shows that taller people are smarter than average. It makes perfect sense to me. Of course, I'm 6'3", so most things make sense to me.

A Day Like No Other

Today is the fourth day of the Jewish month of Elul. For me, the day comes with a doubly poignant feeling to it. On this date in 1972, my grandfather, Rabbi David Zwick a"h, left this world. Because I was only 21 months old when he passed, I never had the luxury of really knowing my grandfather. From what I know from others, I missed a lot. The picture of my grandfather that hung in my parents' homes throughout my life showed a man with a pleasant and gentle smile. Other than that and knowing that my grandfather was a rabbi who taught Hebrew at various Jewish schools in the metro Detroit area, I never knew much about him.

Since moving back to Michigan eleven years ago, I have come feel great pride at being the grandson of a man I don't even remember. It seems like every Jew in the Detroit area between ages fifty and seventy had my grandfather as a teacher. As I meet people in both my communal and professional lives and they hear my last name, they ask if I was related to Rabbi Zwick.

The most memorable example was when, soon after law school and returning to Michigan, I was working for a law firm that represented creditors and trustees in bankruptcies. I was dealing with a file in which I sent a demand letter to innocent beneficiary of fraud demanding that he return the money, around $1,000. A few days letter, the recipient called me and started yelling that he did nothing wrong and wasn't going to return the money. After I argued with him and saw that we weren't going to get the money without a legal battle, I told him off the record that it wasn't worth our while to pursue the matter. Upon hearing that, the man immediately became friendly and asked if I was Rabbi Zwick's grandson. I said that I was. As I would hear many more times over the years, the man recounted what a nice man and good teacher my grandfather was. Needless to say, hearing that over and over again has given me great pride.

Exactly 21 years after my grandfather's passing, the fourth day of Elul was no longer just about my lineage. It became the day of my own greatest achievement, when Lesley and I married. A few months earlier, while driving on the Florida Turnpike between Orlando, where I attended a conference for work, and Boca Raton, where I would be spending Shabbat with some friends, I had time to think and realized after months of dating that I needed Lesley in my life and that I wanted to spend our futures together. While I pretty much knew where our relationship was heading, marriage wasn't something we had really discussed.

The next week, while on vacation in Las Vegas, Lesley and I were browsing in a book store. We were perusing one book that was meant to spark conversations by posing life questions. It sure worked. The first page to which we opened asked where the reader sees himself in five years. I said that I saw myself married to Lesley. She agreed. That was that. As soon as we returned from the trip, I went to the jeweler to order the ring and proposed the following week. After all, as Billy Crystal said in "When Harry Met Sally...", "when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."

The rest of my life so far has been the best part of my life. There have been many laughs and a few tears, but every second has been the best because they have been with the woman I love, my best friend, the woman with whom I will, God willing, have and raise children and share this wonderful thing we call life. I don't know where it will take us. I just know who I want with me along the way.

Worst Liar Ever

According to this story, Madin Azad Amin was traveling from Chicago to Turkey with his mother when airport security asked him about a suspicious object in his baggage. Not wanting his mother to know that the object was a penis pump, Amin told the security staff that it was merely...a grenade. Yes, a grenade. Security arrested Amin, who, after telling the truth, is facing a felony count of disorderly conduct.

Let's take stock of this situation. All over the news are stories of men with Muslim names and/or appearances facing arrest or at least harassment and delay due to suspicion that they are attempting to explode airplanes. So what does this guy do when facing the embarrassment of his mother knowing that he needs some, er, help? He instead tells the authorities, with his mother listening, that he is carrying an explosive device.

This tells us two things about Mr. Amin. First, he apparently comes from a culture where it's more shameful within one's own family to need assistance in the bedroom then to be carrying live ordnance on an airplane. Second, he is really stupid to have not thought of a better lie. Of course, if his mother is as dumb as he is, she probably cannot read the news story that reported her son's problem to the entire world.

UPDATE: Mrs. Zwicker raised a good question-Why was it so necessary for Amin to carry the pump on the plane as opposed to checking it with his luggage?

Snakes In A Theatre

The movie "Snakes On A Plane" doesn't really interest me too greatly, but I have to acknowledge some great marketing. For example, by visiting the movie's website, you can have Samuel L. Jackson make a customized telephone call to your friends and family (hat tip to Noah Daddy). However, I think some people are getting a little too excited about the movie. During a recent screening of the movie in a Phoenix, Arizona, area theatre, someone released venomous diamondback rattlesnakes. If the culprits were into the whole audience participation thing, ala "Rocky Horror Picture Show," I'm just glad I didn't go to see "King Kong" with them.

Let's Say Thanks

Whatever you think of the war in Iraq, the men and women representing this nation over there (and anywhere else for that matter) deserve our utmost thanks and gratitude. I therefore recommend visiting Let's Say Thanks. You can select from one of a number of postcards that American children designed. The Xerox corporation will then print the postcard you select, with your name, city and message (don't worry, if you're not feeling particularly poignant, the site has a number of "personalized" messages from which you can select) and send it to a soldier for you.

Hat tip to Brent the Gentile.

World Trade Center

When I first heard a number of months ago that Oliver Stone, of all directors, would be making one of the first major motion pictures about 9/11, I thought that I would probably never see it. It's not that the subject matter is too touchy for my sensitivities. It was more a matter of assuming that Stone's filmography left me assuming that he would use arguably the saddest day in this nation's history as a platform for his politics.

After reading very positive reviews about it, Lesley and I made plans to see Stone's "World Trade Center" last night. It was quite ironic that we saw it last night, hours after news that England's MI-5 captured terrorists planning to hijack and explode airliners heading for America.

The reviews were right. The movie is amazing as a story and art as well as necessary to see. Let me preface that I will not write any spoilers in this post and ask any commenters, if any, to not spoil it for others, although I will add that tissues are a must.

The movie is about both the heroes of the Port Authority Police Department who entered the WTC to save others as well as the cruel uncertainties that their families endured awaiting word of their trapped men. The movie starts by showing the protagonists starting that fateful day in their normal manner, as we all did that morning. The film never shows the planes actually hitting the buildings. It just shows the shadow and loud noise of the first plane as it approached the WTC.

Watching the first part of the movie, when various players heard of the first and then second strikes and the uncertainty they faced while trying to determine what happened and what to do, brought back to me vivid memories of that day. I was sitting in my office in suburban Detroit, getting ready for a 9:30 deposition, when I heard on the radio that an airplane hit one of the towers. Like many others, I assumed it was just an errant small plane that couldn't have caused too much damage in such a massive building. When the second plane hit, we all knew it was much worse and sinister than that.

The deposition witness fortunately did not appear that morning, for reasons totally unrelated to what was unfolding in New York. I was for once not annoyed at someone wasting my time. There was no way I could concentrate on business that day. In addition to knowing that our nation was under attack on our own soil, it was happening in a city in which I lived for seven years and still visited often. It was specifically happening in buildings into which I had entered countless times. I thought immediately of two of my best friends who worked in the immediate vicinity of the WTC. I of course could not reach them by telephone. A very good friend died the prior year. That was the saddest time of my life. Contemplating not only the loss of two more good friends but also having no way of knowing their fates made me a nervous wreck. Thank God, I learned that night that both had escaped any harm. Millions of others went through the same panic that day. Some were not so fortunate.

The rest of the movie dealt with the trapped officers, their families and the rescue efforts. Stone managed to direct and produce the movie in a manner that was tasteful and neither exploitive or political. He merely portrayed some of the things that make this nation so great-the strength of love and family, sacrifice and courage. Nearly 3,000 people died that day. Were it not for our heroes, the total would have been much greater. The movie serves as a stark reminder that those who serve and protect this nation deserve our utmost gratitude. Members of the military and police as well as firefighters make sure that we can enjoy not only our safety but our freedoms. After the movie, I saw an older gentleman in the hall wearing a baseball hat that read, "Once A Marine, Always A Marine-Semper Fi". As I have done for the past few years whenever I have the opportunity, I approached him and thanked him for his service. He thanked me back and offered his hand for a not surprisingly very firm handshake. I looked him in the eye and said, "No, really, thank you." I meant it.

Penniless Lane

Yesterday I stopped at the Farmer Jack at Ten Mile and Coolidge . I don't normally like to shop at that store due to its repeated failure to have enough registers open relative to the number of shoppers, no matter the time of day. I only go there because of its location.

In yesterday's shopping trip, I was only purchasing two or three items, so I used the self-checkout lane. Since the total cost was $5.49, below my usual $10 threshold for credit card use, I paid cash. I inserted into the machine a $20 bill and received $14.50 back. For those of you who may be mathematically challenged, the machine shorted me a penny. Apparently, the machine automatically imposes half of the "give a penny, take a penny" protocol.

A penny is obviously not going to make or break me, but it irks me for two reasons. First, my change at the end of each day goes into one tzedakah fund or another. So please don't think that stinginess is prompting my outrage. Second, while "give a penny, take a penny" is a good idea, it should be the consumer's choice.

A few years ago, Air was rightly upset about Farmer Jack's refusal to stop shoppers with more than the maximum number of items from using the express lane, a violation of which also occurred yesterday in the lane I used. He protested by refusing to put his carts into the corrals in the parking lot. I'm struggling with devising a way of letting Farmer Jack know how upset I am in a manner as effective as Air's.

Michael Levine A"H

With the Nine Days' mourning period officially done and Shabbat Nachamu just hours away, we would all like to proceed to happier times. At the same time, we cannot forget the destructive force that we Jews, especially those in Israel, are facing.

Yesterday, while driving to shul, I heard on ABC radio a brief clip about Michael Levine, a young American who was killed in southern Lebanon the other day and whose funeral was, fittingly enough, yesterday on Tisha B'Av. Listening to wails of his mourners would have been sad enough on any day but reverberated in my mind even more so because of all that we commemorated yesterday. The news became even sadder when I received the following e-mail from our friend Ruthie Rott:

Dear friends,
I've been blessed to hear from so many of you lately with concerns about how I'm doing in Israel. Up until now, I've been able to say that I'm doing fine considering the situation. Unfortunately, the war hit a bit closer to home this week when a dear friend of mine, Michael Levine, was killed in battle in South Lebanon.
Michael, or "Mikey" as we called him was one of the most special people you'd have ever met. He was warm, caring, loving, kind, and always (I mean
ALWAYS) had a huge smile on his face. Over the last two years, he'd become like a 'little brother' to me... he used to call me his "soul sister".
Every now and again, he would drop by for tea and cookies... just to talk about 'stuff'. Those are very special memories that I will forever cherish.
For those of you that have read about Mikey in the Jerusalem Post, you'll know that he was born in Philadelphia and came over to Israel at the age of
17 when he joined the IDF as a lone soldier. He became an Israeli citizen and joined the elite paratrooper division. Despite his slight physical stature (118 lbs, and 5'5" tall) he was a strong and true soldier... through and through... but it never made him hard... he always remained one of the warmest people I'd ever met... with a smile that could light up a room.
When the war broke out, Mikey was on vacation in America. He was not called back to Israel, but he voluntarily chose to return to his unit. Initially, they were going to place him in a homeland division, but he insisted on going ahead with his unit into Lebanon. He even told a mutual friend that he felt like his life wouldn't be worth much anyway, if he didn't come home and fight side by side with his unit - which were his brothers and his family - and to fight for the country he loved. This strength, courage, and clarity coming from a 21 year old is beyond my ability to understand, but will forever inspire me...
He loved Israel. He loved people. And everyone that knew him, loved him as well. The world is a much dimmer place, without him here.
Over the last few days, as I've been processing this loss, I debated whether or not to send out this email. Especially because Mikey wouldn't want people to make too much of a fuss over him anyway - he was a tremendously humble human being. But I thought it was important to put a face (see pic
attached) on the reality of the losses we're feeling here in Israel as well
- it seems to be the story least told in this situation.
For those that are interested, I also wrote something about Mikey and the Jewish holiday of Tisha B'Av (a national day of Jewish mourning) on my blog
at: amomentofinspiration.blogspot.com Mikey was buried on Tisha B'Av... he was a true Tzaddik.
Now, as I close this email, I am going to make a bold request. While expressions of condolence and support are appreciated - and I know how much all of you care - I would prefer something else right now. It would mean much much more to me if instead of emailing me back, you would PLEASE DO SOMETHING in his memory instead. Let his death not be in vain. In his memory, in the name of Michael Levine - give charity, take on a mitzvah, speak kinder to people, don't gossip, say a prayer, judge others favorably, defend Israel (here, or in the media, or in the world), do anything, do SOMETHING, just any small little thing to fill this world with more light.
Because there's a much bigger void than there was just a few days ago...
Please help honor his sacrifice - because if we all do something small - even if it's really really really small - all of us combined will equal something really really big. Please help his memory live through our good deeds...
Love and Blessings Always,
Rachel Tova (Ruthie)

I'll Call Your Gibson And Raise You A Dingell

It's been a week now since Mel Gibson's drunken, viciously anti-semitic tirade. With the Nine Days' ban on listening to music over in a few hours, I have listened to, and read, many opinions on the topic from both ends of various spectra, religious, political and social. The most reasonable summation of the whole sordid affair, in my humble opinion, comes from Dennis Prager.

In essence, Prager argues that Gibson clearly harbored anti-Semitic thoughts, the voicing of which require condemnation. At the same time, Prager continued, Gibson has never, as far as we know, acted on his feelings. To those who say that "The Passion Of The Christ" proves to the contrary, Prager responds that while Jews understandably found the movie disturbing since it displays their religion's ancestors as the wrongdoers, you have to look at the movie from the perspective of Gibson and the movie's gentile audience. They saw the movie not as the Jews committing wrong but as Jesus suffering and dying for their sins. The identity of Jesus' killers was secondary. The proof, according to Prager, is in the pudding-there has been no anti-Semitic act of hatred, violent or otherwise, that resulted from the movie.

I myself have not seen the movie, but those whom I know who have seen the movie did not walk away from it with fear of persecution or even disgust that would come with experiencing an anti-Semitic work. At the end of the day, as disgusting as I find Gibson's statements to be, they don't scare me. They were wrong and Gibson has unequivocally apologized for them. Given his track record, which has been devoid of any anti-Semitic actions, I accept his apologies, albeit with an eye on the future to see whether he has put his hateful views behind. Most importantly, Gibson is an entertainer who doesn't seem to have any power to put his views into action.

On the flip side, sadly lost in the Gibson kerfuffle have been Congressman John Dingell's statements and actions regarding the Israel-Hizbollah conflict. On July 18, the United States Congress passed a resolution condeming Hizbollah for initiating the conflict. Only eight members of Congress opposed the measure. Dingell, along with fellow Michigan representatives John Conyers and Carolyn Kilpatrick (Kwame's mother) ,was among the eight dissenters. This past week, a local reporter asked Dingell if he was taking sides between Israel and Hizbollah. Dingell responded that he was not.

While Dingell does not appear to be an anti-Semite, his statements and actions, which you could label as either moral cowardice or mere pandering to his Muslim constituents in Dearborn, are startling. After all, Dingell is a senior member of this nation's legislative branch. Hizbollah is an organization that the government, under administration of both parties, has officially named a terrorist entity. It is an organization that killed 241 members of our military, a terrorist action for which it has never made amends. According to this morning's Detroit Free Press, "Hizbollah has two fundamental goals: the destruction of the Jewish nation of Israel and the creation of an Islamic nation in Lebanon modeled on Iran." Besides supporting the only democracy and true ally his country has in the Middle East, Hizbollah's stated desire to be another Iran should be alarming enough for Dingell.

Call Gibson a hater, but that's where it ends for him. His opinions may be despicable, but he is at the end of the day just a guy who makes movies. Dingell is someone who can make laws and set policy. You tell me which one is worse.

Bad Statement, Worse Timing

Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, has declared that the war in Lebanon is creating momentum for further withdrawals from Judea and Samaria. If Olmert should have learned one thing, it's that giving land for peace only results in giving land while leaving terrorists with the impression that violence doesn't result in defeat but in gaining land. Omert's statement would be terrible at any time but is particularly unfortunate in its timing. The one message that he should be sending now, while his country is fighting Islamofacsists on two fronts, is that Israel will not give an inch to terrorism.