To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Russian Jews face new wave of race hatred
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Sun, 03 Dec 2000 18:24:40 -0000

Sunday 3 December 2000

Russian Jews face new wave of race hatred
By Guy Chazan in Moscow

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

JEWS in the western Russian city of Kursk are living in a state of
fear after the newly-elected governor said it was time to rid Russia
of Jewish "filth", and an official of the outgoing administration was
beaten up by thugs shouting anti-Semitic slogans.

The remarks by the communist governor, Alexander Mikhailov, have
provoked a political storm in Russia and aroused fears among Jewish
leaders of a re-emergence of Soviet-style official anti-Semitism.
There has also been dismay at the Kremlin's silence on the issue.
Vladimir Putin has made no attempt to distance himself from Mr
Mikhailov, who claimed the President actively supported his campaign
and was an ally in his crusade against the "world Jewish conspiracy".

The scandal first broke when the new governor said in a newspaper
interview that the election marked a victory for ethnic Russians over
Jews, and showed Russia was beginning to "liberate itself from all
the filth that has piled up over the last 10 years". He said he had
defeated not only the outgoing governor Alexander Rutskoi, who has a
Jewish mother, but also Mr Rutskoi's backer, Boris Berezovsky, the
businessman who is of Jewish descent, and the Russian Jewish Congress.

The remarks have shocked Russia's Jews who are inured to low-level
bigotry but unused to open displays of anti-Semitism by people in
government. Jews here have enjoyed a decade of religious freedom and
civil rights long denied them by the Soviet communist regime. But
many feel the new tolerance is only skin deep. Recently a Jewish
school was raided by neo-Nazi vandals in the town of Ryazan, east of
Moscow. Jewish cemeteries have been desecrated from Kursk to Nizhny
Novgorod.

Mr Mikhailov's interview created outrage, with Mr Rutskoi threatening
to sue for libel. A group of MPs in the Duma called on President
Putin to sack the errant governor and even ban the Communist Party
for inciting racial hatred. The communist leader, Gennady Zyuganov,
called the governor's remarks "ill-considered" and told him he would
be better off trying to solve the region's many economic problems. Mr
Mikhailov was forced to issue a grovelling apology, saying he
respected people "regardless of their nationality".

The new governor's tirade has already succeeded in sowing panic among
Kursk's Jews. Shortly after the election, a gang of youths claiming
to be supporters of Mr Mikhailov attacked the local Jewish community
centre, banging on the windows, shouting anti-Semitic slogans and
jamming a log against the door.

"Jews here are worried, especially the older ones, the Holocaust
survivors," said Igor Bukhman, a local Jewish leader. "It's one thing
to hear anti-Semitic comments in a shop or a bus queue, but when the
governor starts talking like that then of course you get scared."
Jewish confidence in Kursk was shaken by another incident last week
with anti-Semitic overtones when Mr Rutskoi's deputy, Sergei
Maksachov, was beaten up in the Kursk regional government building as
he was handing in his resignation.

Mr Maksachov, who says his father is Jewish, claims he was kicked,
beaten and peppered with anti-Semitic insults in a three-hour ordeal
by a group of assailants led by a man claiming to be Kursk's new
deputy governor. He was later taken to hospital with concussion and
spinal injuries. The alleged attackers have been arrested, but Mr
Mikhailov has denied that any of them occupied any post in his
administration.

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Daily World Affairs Report items (12/3/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2000 18:16:40 -0500

VATICAN REJECTS E.U.'S "UNGODLY" BILL OF RIGHTS

The Vatican stepped yesterday into the controversy over the Charter of
Fundamental Rights to be adopted at the European Union summit in Nice
next week, saying that it was a "godless" document. It emphasised that
among other concerns the charter would cause "moral and social harm" by
sanctioning homosexual unions and making it easier for homosexual couples
to adopt children.

Andrew Duff, Liberal Democrat MEP for the Eastern region and the
European Parliament's rapporteur on the Nice charter, said that he "gre atly
regretted" the Vatican's intervention, which appeared to refer to the
charter's ban on discrimination on grounds of gender or "sexual
orientation". He said it was "particularly unfortunate" at a time whe n the
far Right in Italy was using similar language to "create fear and tension "
during the current Italian election campaign.

The charter is to be "proclaimed" at Nice, leaving the question of whet her it
would be "legally binding" at a later date. It received bipartisan supp ort in
the Italian Parliament this week. But Italy faces an election by next sprin g,
and the Northern League, led by Umberto Bossi, which forms part of the
centre-right opposition, has opposed proposals to allow adoption by gay
couples which it says would "undermine the family and the fabric of
society". Signor Bossi also argues, again with Vatican support, that the
West shows excessive tolerance toward Muslim immigrants who fail to
assimilate into society, and has attacked the proposed EU bill of rights as
part of a "communist plot" to create a European superstate.

Yesterday Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Pope's right-hand man as head
of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith =97 the modern successor
to the Holy Inquisition =97 said the charter upheld family values in theory ,
but in promoting the rights of homosexuals it had "departed from the beat en
track followed by the moral history of humanity". "We find ourselves fa ced
with the destruction of the image which man has always had of himself."
He added it was regrettable that "God and our responsibility before God "
had not been "anchored in the European constitution".

Il Giornale said the message echoed the Pope's call to legislators to
remember their "duty to God" during celebrations last month marking the
proclamation of Sir Thomas More as the patron saint of politicians. In
October the Conference of European Catholic Bishops said that the charter
was "positive" insofar as it promoted "peace, justice and social harm ony".
But it was "frankly unacceptable" when it failed to distinguish between  the
right to marry and the right to form a family, a formula clearly intended t o
"legitimise unions other than matrimony between man and woman".

Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Vicar of Rome who is a close aide to the Pope,
said the charter failed to take adequate account of the "historical and
cultural roots of Europe, in particular Christianity, which represent Europ e's
soul and which still today can inspire Europe's mission and identity". But
Mr Duff said the Vatican had "apparently not understood that the EU is a
secular authority". It was not "godless", but the purpose of the char ter was
to reflect "modern European society". "I am sorry the Vatican is seek ing to
blunt the force of this charter of citizens rights." (The London Times)

"BULLY" SADDAM THREATENS TO CUT OFF OIL SUPPLY

Saddam Hussein turned off Iraq's supply of oil to Turkey yesterday,
exposing the isolation of the United States and Britain in demanding that
international sanctions on Baghdad remain in place. In turning off the taps
of the oil pipeline to Turkey, Saddam has threatened to play what is
potentially his most dangerous card in his battle to make international oil
companies make part of the payment for oil directly to Iraq rather than to
the UN.

To underline just how isolated the US and Britain have become in their
attitute to Iraq, a stance not backed by other leading powers such as Franc e
and Russia, yesterday also saw the first "commercial" flight to Baghdad.
Nineteen passengers took the Royal Jordanian Airlines flight, paying about
&pound;200 each for the 5-hour round trip. However, with America
paralysed by the legal wrangling between Al Gore and George W Bush, it
was only to be expected that Saddam would try to wield his oil weapon: oil
prices are at record highs and any disruption to supplies could send prices
soaring and cause renewed protests of the kind that crippled Europe in
September and October.

Saddam does not need to move his troops to threaten western interests. All
he has to do is to stop the oil flowing. Only a few years ago the world
desperately tried to limit Iraq's oil exports. Today the greatest fear of t he
industrialised world is that Iraq, with the second highest oil reserves and
producing about 3% of global output, will stop exporting crude. The US
moved quickly to try to defuse the threat. It said Saudi Arabia and other
countries would make up any shortfall in Iraqi oil, while the US would
release crude held in its strategic oil reserve. The assurance helped to ke ep
crude prices stable yesterday.

The day's events were a potent sign of the threat posed by the Iraqi leader .
He was defeated in Kuwait, endured 10 years of economic sanctions, lost
control of the skies in the north and south of the country, and is repeated ly
being bombed by American and British aircraft for defying international
weapons inspectors. And yet still he is laughing at the West. Iraq is
demanding that clients pay 50 cents per barrel directly to Baghdad, instead
of to the UN account used to administer the international oil-for-food
programme. This would give Baghdad an invaluable source of cash outside
UN supervision.

The UN sanctions committee told oil companies that they could load Iraqi
crude on to tankers but should not make any payment until a "pricing
mechanism" had been agreed. Confused, many oil companies decided of
their own accord not to load Iraqi oil. Those who tried were apparently tol d
by Baghdad that no crude was available. John Kilduff, an oil analyst, said:
"The market thinks Saddam is bluffing. But if this becomes a persistent
problem then prices will react. This is a market that needs every last barr el
of oil and we think it would be difficult for Saudi Arabia to fill the gap. "

Buoyed by the flow of petrodollars, both from the UN oil-for-food
programme and from oil smuggled out through neighbouring countries,
Saddam is back to his old bullying self. He has rattled his sabre at Kuwait ,
hurled insults at Saudi Arabia and ostentatiously "mobilised" volunteers to
fight Israel. The UN Security Council is divided and Arab countries are
upgrading their diplomatic ties with the former pariah state while French
and Russian businessmen are lining up for contracts. The dam of
international sanctions is leaking badly with almost daily challenges to th e
air embargo. Saddam may be a despot but he is acutely aware of the
American democratic calendar.

During the transition period after the 1992 American elections, Saddam
raised military tensions by "illuminating" Allied aircraft with his air def ence
radars, provoking repeated bombing attacks. Once Mr Clinton was sworn
in, Baghdad made peace overtures to the new administration saying: "Iraq is
not an enemy of America and does not want to be." Now Saddam is again
testing Washington's resolve, trying to exploit America's distraction to br eak
the international fetters.

The Foreign Office has been fighting a rearguard action. It has leaked
details of Iraq's efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction and storie s
of human rights atrocities. It has also told of the diversion of funds to
government officials, releasing a satellite picture of a vast resort for th e
regime's cronies known as "Saddam City". But this propaganda offensive
only serves to highlight the difficulty the West faces in trying to exert r eal
pressure on Saddam - the regime enjoys the good life while the people go
hungry and die of disease.

However much the Foreign Office accuses Iraq of "playing politics" with
the suffering of ordinary Iraqis, the UN sanctions are being increasingly
called into question. Washington and London say that Iraq could have
sanctions lifted within months if it would only allow a new weapons
inspection team to return to Baghdad. Asked this week whether Baghdad
would re-admit the monitors, Tariq Aziz, the Deputy Prime Minister, replied
bluntly: "No".

Economic sanctions, far from punishing Saddam, are becoming an Iraqi tool
to isolate the US and Britain, especially in the Arab world. Tellingly, the
West never imposed the same kind of blanket sanctions which hit ordinary
people against Slobodan Milosevic. The trouble with the Iraqi situation is
that America and Britain have become prisoners of the sanctions
policy.After a decade of embargo it will be impossible to lift it without
giving Saddam an overwhelming political victory. (The London Telegraph)

MICHAEL TURNER =0F
(mykelturner@airmail.net)

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Evil is darkness
From: "Moza"
Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2000 18:16:40 -0500

THE CURSE TO WORK

One of the consequences of Adam's sin was the curse that was coupled with
the edict of death:

By the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread until you return to the
ground from which you were taken, for you are dust and to dust shall you
return. (Genesis 3:19)

Jewish tradition teaches that all Divine "punishments" are therapeutic in
nature and are designed exactly, measure-for-measure, to fit the fault. How
can we understand the edict of eating one's bread by the sweat of one's
brow? How does it make sense to force human beings, who were created to
engage in a life focused on spirituality, to spend a good portion of their lives
focused on filling their stomachs? How is this therapeutic and how does it fit
the concept of measure for measure?

Rabbi Dessler explains: Adam ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and
Evil. What is evil? Evil is darkness. When a person always understands what
is happening to him and exactly why it is happening and that he deserves it ,
he never takes it as evil. He might be upset or unhappy that he is beset by
painful experiences, but as long as there is light and comprehension, there  is
no sense of evil. But in a world of darkness everything seems to happen
randomly. No one appears to be in charge, and people seem to be subjected
to pain and suffering without any just cause. This is evil.

By internalizing the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, man
elected to place himself in a world of darkness where it is unclear that th ings
happen only for the good, where everything seems to take place without
reference to what people deserve. Living in such a world necessarily involv es
eating your bread by the sweat of your brow. The providential hand of God
that feeds the world has to be concealed by the darkness of hishtadlut,
"human effort."

RESTORING THE LIGHT

To dispel the darkness of such a world and restore the light so that the
guiding hand of God becomes visible once again, man has to overcome the
evidence provided by his own senses with the power of his belief.

Even as he goes about his ordinary business, planning the best way to apply
his human effort to produce the best results, he must believe that his effo rt
bears no relationship to the success achieved. All that is attained comes
directly from the bountiful hand of God and bears no relationship to the ef fort
at all.

In other words, even as he conducts his life in the way one must in a world
where nothing good happens just because one deserves it, and often pain
and sorrow are the lot of the most deserving, he must believe that,
nevertheless, things are not as they seem. In fact, God is guiding everythi ng,
and all that happens is for the good, and the world behaves exactly as
required according to the strictest application of the rules of justice.

This is indeed the truth. Evil is merely darkness. If we could see the ligh t, the
actuality would match the belief. Therefore such belief has the power to
dispel the darkness and is the way to correct the consequences of Adam's
sin.

Excerpt:
Parshat Vayetzei
"The Splendor of the Night"
By Rabbi Noson Weisz
Mayanot Parsha List - Mayanot@aish.com
Sun, 3 Dec 2000

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