Good day, one and all, and welcome to this week's edition of Laura's Links.
About a week ago, I watched an episode of NAS Daily. He's doing a series on the great religions of the world and I watched the one about him studying Judaism for a month. I liked it, especially the part where he said that by studying Judaism, he learned how to argue. That's a true bill! Jews love studying our books and we love arguing about them (and about everything).
Also, our traditional system is in pairs, or "chavruta" in Hebrew. We also talk about "learning" when we pore over the holy texts and books, as opposed to "studying". Every time we open a book, we learn something new either from the texts, or from the person we are learning with. Learning is open ended and nobody is above or beyond learning something new. Studying is more closed and final.
Anyway, as I have mentioned previously, my learning partner and I are working through the Psalms and sometimes the words just jump off the page and into my heart and soul. In Psalm
The Lord is near to the broken-hearted, and He saves those of crushed spirit. |
קָר֣וֹב יְ֖הֹוָה לְנִשְׁבְּרֵי־לֵ֑ב וְאֶת־דַּכְּאֵי־ר֥וּחַ יוֹשִֽׁיעַ: |
|
Many evils befall the righteous, but the Lord saves him from them all. |
רַבּוֹת רָע֣וֹת צַדִּ֑יק וּ֜מִכֻּלָּ֗ם יַצִּילֶ֥נּוּ יְהֹוָֽה |
I read it over and over, and tried to process the idea. It seems to me that truly feeling, and knowing, that G-d is with you when you are of "crushed spirit" is a supreme expression of faith and trust. It is certainly a challenge to us humans, but is giving me great comfort.
Who among us has not experienced heartache, or an actual broken heart? How did you tend to your broken heart? Did you lean on other humans, or lean into G-d, or both? The Psalms are helping mend my heart and soul.
~
And now for some choice nuggets that really stood out this week. As I've said on a number of occasions, I'm not particularly optimistic about the future of the West. I'm very pessimistic about Canada and America, but I don't think Australia is that far behind. Europe is completely screwed. Anyway, here's another reminder that when people like this tell you what they are going to do, you should bloody well believe them.
Among the reasons why they will eventually succeed is because they are tenacious, aggressive and patient. Plus, our society is so weak and decadent that we have welcomed our destroyers, our undoing, with open arms. The West is sick.
The West cannot survive with young people such as these. It's too decadent and indulgent and our enemies are laughing at us so hard that I can practically hear them laughing all the way from China, Russia, Turkey, Iran, and Gaza, etc. Look who is onside with the Hamassholes at Western universities.
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Meanwhile, in addition to producing the softest, and most ridiculous generation ever and exporting the most obscene woke fecal culture to the rest of the world, America continues to disgrace itself.
Do we know who got the contract for this? What a joke. Was it Big Guy Inc.? Utterly pathetic but such an apt metaphor for the entire Biden administration. And the fact of the matter is that since the end of WW2, America is only expert in losing wars and being utterly and completely humiliated by far more primitive and barbaric enemies.
This is one major reason why Israel should not take any war strategy advice from America or its incompetent military "leaders". You want to talk more about heartache? America is not a serious country anymore and the world will never recover from America's disintegration. I love being right, but I pray I am wrong about that.
In the meantime, trust in G-d, not men or princes. Hug your loved ones, pick up the phone and call your friends, your parents, your kids. Tell them how much you love them. Time is fleeting and every moment and kind word counts and is soul food.
See you in the comments.
~
North America:
Not 5,000 individual visas which would be bad enough, but 5,000 family reunification visas. So, possibly tens of thousands of Gazans. I'm sure it will be fine.
Is there no low bar for these scumbags?
Yes and yes, but I do have to wonder who Judge Judy voted for.
BDS at Columbia.
I think there is a lot of this happening.
Only 70%? Seems low to me.
OH OK NOTHING TO SEE HERE
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Israel and Jews:
Hamas barbarism in living colour.
Pretty much this and TOTALLY NSFW
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Jewish Wisdom:
"We should never lose sight of the fact that G‑d has given us whatever we possess only as His partners, in order to refine it, elevate it, and transform it into His true home."
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The Christian World:
So nice.
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The Formerly Great Britain:
Everything seems fine in Britain.
As per Mark's analysis earlier this week this really is a doozy in case you missed it.
The revolt of the Jews of London.
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Europe:
Meanwhile in Europe, things seem to be going well.
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Kooks:
How many people will have to die before D-I-E gets chucked into the dustbin of history?
GUESS WHO THE MAN WITH THE PENIS IS!?!?
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Big Social Media:
This is pretty freaky.
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Human and Canine Grace:
"As humans, we've become conditioned by society to blame everyone else but ourselves for our problems.
"You'll get paid and learn, too!"
It's open thread time! Log into SteynOnline and let Laura know what you think of these stories or other happenings from week that was. Commenting privileges are among the many perks of membership in The Mark Steyn Club. While going off topic is permitted on Laura's Links, do stick to the other rules as you engage: no URLs, no profanity, and no ad hominem attacks.