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Happy Birthday, World?

A

didn’t discriminate based on
pproaching the New Year 5778
socioeconomic class or political
with a sense of hope, a dose
party affiliation. Yet, we also were
of trepidation and a desire to
informed that this was the third
re-set and reinvigorate our relation-
once-in-five-hundred-year-
ships with God and our fellow
flood to have hit in the past
beings, we are also reminded
three years. And now Florida
that, according to Jewish tra-
is dealing with the effects of
dition, Rosh Hashanah (the
Hurricane Irma.
first day of Tishri) is the birth-
And while some have
day of the world.
claimed the real cause of the
Concurrently, recent events
Houston flooding was poor
in Charlottesville, Va., remind
planning and inadequate
us that even as we seek a safe
safeguards by the Army Corps
space during these Days of
Arthur Horwitz
of Engineers, non-partisan
Awe — physically and mental-
teams of scholars, research-
ly — to cleanse our souls and
ers and engineers have con-
prepare for Divine judgment,
cluded that it is extremely
there are those whose hatred
likely human influence has been the
of Jews knows no bounds.
dominant cause of the documented
The birthday of the world and
increase in our planet’s rising temper-
Charlottesville also have me think-
atures since the mid-20th century and
ing about Albert Einstein, the Jewish
the cause of extreme weather events.
“genius among geniuses” whose fer-
This was not fake news. There were
tile mind produced E=mc2 and the
no alternative facts. The evidence was
General Theory of Relativity that are
skyward — and on the ground — for
the intellectual underpinnings asso-
millions to witness with their own
ciated with the history and fate of
eyes. Happy birthday, world.
the universe and the creation of the
Framing these power-of-nature
atomic bomb. In 1999, TIME Magazine
events is a third that has us looking
selected Einstein as its most influen-
skyward with dread as North Korea
tial person of the (20th) century.
test-fired ballistic missiles — includ-
ing one that whizzed over Japan —
LOOKING SKYWARD
capable of delivering utterly destruc-
As we looked skyward in awe on Aug.
tive, weaponized versions of the
21, Americans witnessed the first
atomic building blocks upon which
total solar eclipse since 1979, and the
our natural world stands. As sabers
first in 100 years to stretch across the
are rattled and rhetoric is ramped
U.S. All that was needed was a pair of
up, counter steps are being taken to
low-technology solar-filtered eclipse
modernize and expand America’s
glasses to understand that while we
nuclear capabilities, and potentially
are immersed with the mundane
fast-track nuclear weapons programs
aspects of our daily lives, typically
for Japan, Taiwan and South Korea as
arguing about the superiority of one
well. Collectively, humanity continues
country, people, political party, bil-
to add to its ability to utterly destroy
lionaire or religion over the other, we
our planet.
are beholden to forces we can barely
This is not fake news. There are
understand and that don’t distinguish
no alternative facts. Happy birthday,
among us.
This was not fake news. There were world.
no alternative facts. The evidence was
skyward for millions to witness with
JEW HATRED
their own eyes. Happy birthday, world. “Jews will not replace us.”
Days later, we looked skyward in
With that chant on their lips,
despair as Hurricane Harvey intro-
cheap tiki torches in their hands and
duced us to a deluge unprecedented
the morally perplexed leader of the
in scale — a one-in-a-thousand-
free world stoking their confidence,
year storm that dumped staggering
parading neo-Nazis in Charlottesville
amounts of rain over vast areas of
jolted even the most secure-feeling
Texas and Louisiana. Noah would
American Jews into recognizing that
have been impressed. The University
anti-Semitism is a cancer that seem-
of Wisconsin’s Space, Science and
ingly defies cure and the post-Holo-
Engineering Center noted that 40
caust vow of “Never Again!” is starting
inches of rain fell on an area of
to feel like “Maybe Again?”
3,643 square miles. The floodwaters
According to an article last month

in The Atlantic titled “Charlottesville
Marchers Were Obsessed With Jews,”
white supremicists “see Jews hovering
malevolently in the background, pull-
ing strings, controlling events, acting
as an all-powerful force backing and
enabling the other targets of their
hate.”
This mindless hatred of Jews jux-
taposed against the brilliance of
Einstein reminded me of my late
friend and mentor Detroiter Walter
Field.
A successful businessman, ardent
Zionist, poet and an initial backer
of Phillip Slomovitz
when he launched
the Jewish News in
1942, Walter devoted
much of his adult
life to educating
those around him
about the extraordi-
nary — and highly
disproportionate —
Walter Field
contributions Jews
have made to the
advancement of Western civilization.
Right up to his death in 1999 at age
98, Walter articulated — and radiated
— pride in his Jewishness and the
accomplishments of our people — for
the benefit of all. Though number-
ing perhaps 15 million in a world of
7.5 billion inhabitants, Walter would
underscore that Jews — including
Einstein — comprised more than 20
percent of all Nobel Prize winners,
with even higher representation
among those receiving the honor in
physics, physiology and medicine.
One of Walter’s unfulfilled dreams
was for all Detroit-area bar and bat
mitzvah children to receive — as part
of their rite of passage into adulthood
and the Jewish community — a book-
let he compiled about contributions
Jews have made for the betterment of
humanity.
In his 1963 book A People’s Epic,
Walter’s love and embrace of our
Jewish roots was communicated
powerfully in a poem titled “Israel’s
Chosen Destiny.” He wrote:

Jews were destined a trail to blaze
Ten Commandments on stone to
phrase.
Lead man out of idol maze.

Don't Make this
Mistake!

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THAV GROSS has been solving
its clients’ business, tax and fi nancial
problems since 1982. Be sure to tune
in to the Law and Reality – Sunday
mornings at 11 AM on TV20.

thavgross.com  lawandreality.com

30150 Telegraph, Suite 444
Bingham Farms, MI 48025

continued on page 6

jn

September 14 • 2017

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