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May 25, 2012
Mark Clayton: Is Hillary's State Dept. hacking Al Qaeda? Not quite
Erika Bolstad: Temple cancels Wasserman Schultz speech
The Kosher Gourmet by Ethel G. Hofman: The former president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, whose members included the likes of Julia Child, is back with contemporary Shavous cuisine: Ruby Fruit Soup, Sweet Noodle Kugel with Cheese, Key Lime Curd, Calsone Casserole Frittata with Wild Mushrooms, Sun-dried tomatoes and Olives, Baked Tilapia with Pepper Cheese Cream and Brown Sugar Shortbread
May 24, 2012
Jeff Jacoby: The peace process battered Israel's reputation
Michael Muskal: 'Pro-choice' position hits record low, according to poll
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The Kosher Gourmet by Penelope Wall: PHILLY CHEESE STEAKS --- hold the steak!
May 23, 2012
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Mary Beth Franklin: How to Choose the Right Annuity for You
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The Kosher Gourmet by Emma Christensen:A simple way to do fish right
May 22, 2012
Warren Richey: Can US group challenge overseas surveillance act? Supreme Court to decide
Thomas M. Anderson: Walking Away From a Mortgage
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: Enjoy a celebration of the most rich and layered flavors: Black bean, sweet potato and quinoa chili
May 21, 2012
Mark Clayton: Cybersecurity: How US utilities passed up chance to protect their networks
Howard LaFranchi: NATO summit: Who will foot the bill for long-term Afghanistan security?
Chris Farrell : Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Stephen Whiteside, Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: Social anxiety disorder --- or just shy?
Guy Jackson : Victim's father regrets death of Lockerbie bomber
The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: Famed chef's veal shoulder farsumagru: A festive meat course for late spring
May 18, 2012
Rabbi Berel Wein: Striving: The People of the Book's Book for (All of) the People
Steven Goldberg: 5 Great Stock Picks and the Exchange-Traded Fund that Owns Them
Mary Pickett, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Don't be forced into gluten-free lifestyle based merely on a doctor's false-positive test
The Kosher Gourmet by Carolyn Malcoun: DIY healthy lunchbox treats: HOMEMADE FRUIT BARS for kids and brown-bagging adults alike
May 17, 2012
Warren Richey: Teacher fired for being unwed and pregnant can sue religious school, court rules
Josh Mitnick: Netanyahu's 'centrist' coalition is already proving it's anything but
Steven Goldberg: Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Amina Khan: Research links coffee to lower death rates
The Kosher Gourmet by Faith Duran : Cheesy Potato Breakfast Casserole with Cheddar and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
May 16, 2012
Carmen Terzic, M.D., Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: A variety of exercises can help improve balance
Melissa Healy: National strategy on Alzheimer's disease aims to halt it by 2025
The Kosher Gourmet by Joyce White : GOODNESS GRACIOUS: GREENS! 4 winning recipes that are no longer just for down-home folks (Includes expert tips & techniques)
May 15, 2012
Kristen Chick: Obama administration resumes arms sales to Bahrain despite serious unresolved human rights issues. Activists feel abandoned
Pat Mertz Esswein: Homes are now affordable again and mortgage rates are low. What you need to know before you buy
Kathy Kristof: Our Practical Investor Fights Inflation with These 6 Investments
Sue Hubbard, M.D.: The Kid's Doctor: Lactose intolerant young child? Check again
The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Hunt: Spread a Little Excitement with EXOTIC CONDIMENTS (4 RECIPES)
May 14, 2012
Lisa Gerstner: How to Protect Your Identity, Finances If You Lose Your Phone
Harvard Health Letters: Heart disease and dementia
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: MANGO COCONUT OAT MORNING MUFFINS are a bright but hearty delight
May 11, 2012
Jessica L. Anderson: Get the Best Deal on a Used Car
Jett Stone: Forget face-lifts and fake knees. Scientists have seen the fountain of youth --- and it's broccoli
The Kosher Gourmet by Chef Mario Batali: The famed chef's vegetable dish that tastes true to the season: FAVAS AND SUGAR SNAP PEAS WITH POTATOES AND TARRAGON
May 10, 2012
Sergei L. Loiko: Putin sends warning to U.S., NATO in Victory Day speech at Red Square
Mary Rourke: How being a 'mentch' got Vidal Sasoon his start and fighting in Israel's War of Independence provided him with confidence and a strong sense of his own identity
Jeff Bertolucci: Get Home Phone Service for Less Than $10 a Month
The Kosher Gourmet by Betty Rosbottom: Gleaming with its golden, crimson, and snowy white hues, this silken smooth and creamy STRAWBERRY ORANGE TRIFLE looks impressive, but is easy to prepare
May 9, 2012
Sharon Palmer, R.D. How you can reduce your risk -- or delay -- chronic diseases associated with aging
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Jewish World Review
Dec. 23, 2011
27 Kislev, 5772
Grave Thoughts on Grim Reaper
By
Suzanne Fields
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
This has been a busy week for the Grim Reaper, slashing out at friend and foe, winning each battle fought against clay-footed humans who earned obituaries on the front page inspired by love or hate or both. Words often have a life of their own, particularly in matters of life and death. Cosmic coincidences in man's fate bring to our attention very different men merely because they died within days of each other.
There's good reason why obituaries make good reading. They reveal insights into the human condition, forcing wonder at differences. So it is with the deaths this week of Kim Jong-Il, Vaclav Havel and Christopher Hitchens — North Korean despot, Czech patriot, eloquent contrarian.
When Kim Jong-Il died, he was loved, if at all, only by his North Korean countrymen who were brainwashed — or terrified — into seeing him as their "Dear Leader." He was a devastating force and constant fear, for them and for the West. We can only speculate how much of his evil will live after him. Philip Keninicott, the Washington Post's hyperbolic art critic, compares the grief of the North Koreans to the grief the English felt for Princess Diana, "self-feeding tears prompted by tears, emotion amplified and reinforced by the media." But grief of the brainwashed when compared to grief for a beautiful princess is both demeaning and dumb.
"The loathsome Democratic People's Republic of Korea is not a constitutional monarchy like Britain," John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, reminds with understatement in The Wall Street Journal. What the West now experiences is a foreboding that the dictator's son Kim Jong-un, "the Great Successor," in his inexperience will try to show the world that he can wear his "dynastic" inheritance in ways that would make his evil father proud. That may be how his subjects are wearing their grief, too.
Though it's difficult to compare psychological rituals of East and West, it's not difficult to draw contrasts in concepts of good and evil when they conspicuously collide. Vaclav Havel, the heroic Czech dissident, understood life under a different kind of rigid communist dictatorship. He bravely wrote of the notion that "the powerless have power."
What was a far-fetched idea when he presented it in an essay published underground in 1978 was one of the sparks that ignited a flame in the hearts of men and women behind the Iron Curtain that would lead to the collapse of the Soviet empire and the destruction of the Berlin Wall.
While we hear of no such underground leaders in North Korea during decades of tyrannical rule, Bolton suggests that the people are not totally ignorant of the world outside their hermetic state: "Already desperately impoverished and hungry, they may well decide at the first signs of regime collapse, or even before, that their moment is at hand."
Such ideas remain far-fetched until they no longer are, and though this is no time for naive optimism, it's useful to recall that the hunger for human rights is a potent force. Gone is the "evil empire" that Ronald Reagan was mocked for noticing. In 2002, George Bush was mocked for observing an "Axis of Evil" (Iraq, Iran and North Korea). Now Saddam Hussein is gone. Kim Jong-Il is gone, and his son is untested. Words matter.
We'll miss the sonorous voice of Christopher Hitchens, who would relish the opportunity to throw his long rope of words around the good and the evil of the two men whose deaths quickly followed his. How he would have loved playing and stretching the historical references to contrast their lives, to ferociously spit out the ideas that made him the polemicist many of us read because as a Romeo of the political left and right he had a remarkable way with words.
Hitch loved to pick fights with friends as well as foes, and it wasn't surprising that he picked one of his biggest fights with God, who, he famously said, "is not great." So powerfully did he spew out his vitriol that there were times you expected him to be wrestling with the Almighty himself. Even among those who disagreed with him fervently on many matters (as I did), there was always respect for the way he crafted a sentence and his arguments on behalf of human rights.
Now he's in the company of Vaclav Havel, perhaps in an afterlife, no matter what he may have thought about such things. The good words men write live after them. He expressed appreciation for those who prayed for him in spite of what he believed, or more accurately, what he didn't believe. Maybe now he's showing them respect, too. It's nice to think so.
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Suzanne Fields Archives
© 2006, Creators Syndicate, Suzanne Fields
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