THE BRAVE NEW LAND

The G-20 Anarchy that recently broke out in Toronto is, I believe, only one more tiny, little step in the declining ability for western ideals and traditions to appease the masses. We are inundated with the mixed message of peace activism = protest, protest = opposition, opposition = violent upheaval, or in other words, if A = B and B = C, then A = C… Peace Activism = Violent Upheaval!!! And this is perceived by many as deserved, while most of the rest view it as maybe only a distraction from apathy… This is exactly why a flotilla of armed mercenaries can pass for peace activists. If we muddy the translation enough, i.e. put legitimate peace activists together with violent protesters, our inclination is to either accept the violence as deserved, think about how this is just wrong and continue to feel helpless, or turn the channel and ignore it out of a desire to have fun and the fluffy surface of a lightness of being… Last Shabbat, we discussed many things in the Holy City of Jerus

Like a lion = 236, and your staff = 236, Like the native born = 236, to communicate = 236, and if they overdrive them = 236, and giving recognition = 236, and they shall take down = 236, and finally... Balak greatly persisted = 236. So, what is the point? I read this today when researching the Parsha, Balak (Numbers 22:2 - 25:9). Essentially, it all comes down to how to say NO! Each one of these phrases said in Hebrew (with their gematria of course) has a unique way of driving home an idea about how we operate in the world and how we are duped by everyone from the street beggar that has a penthouse suite and a Mercedes to drive him to his street corner for work, to the leading politician in the world that can cause oceans to move (in this case by mixing oil and water) and continents to shift... in ideology at least. When we really sit down and look at the world, everything is totally upside down! I mean, who in their right mind would elect someone to rule over them that wanted the job?

Blurring of reality? Who is to say that reality is real anyways? Look at the current unfortunate Middle East crisis that is affecting the entire world today. Reality tells us that this crisis, in the scheme of international politics, is really not that important. I guess I need to explain: When you compare the Chinese takeover of Tibet in 1951, the Turks massacre of Kurds and subsequent take-over of their ancestral lands, The violent blood baths that have raged throughout Somalia and other parts of Africa, and all the way back to the first Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide committed by the Turks during and after World War 1 when a reported 3,000,000 people were killed, the little Flotilla raid to keep weapons out of Gaza was really not very important. Just look at the North Koreans and how they killed 46 people after firing a torpedo at the South Korean vessel Cheonan in their own waters (and this is not some dredged up history; it just happened!). Did the world do anything about it? Th