James M. Redwine

Bible

Another Trail of Tears

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Israel’s actions in Palestine’s designated future capital, East Jerusalem, and in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, are a conundrum to many Americans. How can a country that arose from the ashes of the Jewish holocaust of World War II inflict similar atrocities on its neighbors? A related mystery is why the United States enables and abets Israel’s actions? In a country born out of occupation and oppression from our closely aligned cultural “First Cousins”, we yearned to breathe free. This is much as the Jews and their first cousins, the Arabs, are embroiled today.

Jews, Arabs and Muslims are intertwined by history, genetics, geography and religion. Hebrews look to the Torah, much of which is reflected in the Arab and Muslim culture and beliefs via the Quran. Religion is visceral to many Jews and Muslims who call themselves People of the Book. We Americans were similarly bound together with Great Britain. Christian religious beliefs were and are integral to each people’s psyche and Volksgeist. America’s Colonists and Revolutionaries as well as the people of Great Britain found inspiration and justification for their actions from The Book. The Book still provides much of the reason many Israelis want to expand their territory. And The Book provides much of the reason given by many Americans for supporting Israel’s actions.

Manifest Destiny divined from the Bible and Zionism with reference to the Torah have numerous similarities with one another and with the tenants of the Quran. There are countless distinctions in the Torah, the New Testament and the Quran. However, the adherents of all three see themselves as believing in the same god but with different rituals for each faith and with dizzying variations of beliefs within each faith.

Christians, Jews and Muslims all profess a belief in justice, equality and a version of the Golden Rule. It has been demonstrated countless times that members of each group turn to their faith to support their actions that are sometimes diametrically opposed to their professed faith. This phenomenon has occurred repeatedly over many years. In America, many people of European descent drew upon their god for divining guidance each time they saw Native Americans as obstacles to territorial expansion. Manifest Destiny was often a deeply ingrained belief that justified the desires of the powerful; the Trail of Tears was one of many such divine tragedies.

In her book When the Wolf Came, Mary Jane Warde cites the account from a survivor of the forced removal from the Native Americans’ homes and traditional lands in the eastern states to Indian Territory. Sallie Forney, who was a member of the Muskogee-Creek tribe, described her experience:

“The command for a removal came unexpectedly upon most of us. There was the time that we noticed that several overloaded wagons were passing our home, yet we did not grasp the meaning. However, it was not long until we found out the reason. Wagons stopped at our homes and the men in charge commanded us to gather what few belongings could be crowded into the wagon. We were to be taken away and leave our homes never to return This was just the beginning of much weeping and heartaches.

…

Many fell by the wayside, too faint with hunger or too weak to keep up with the rest. The aged, feeble, and sick were left to perish by the wayside.”

One of the four carvings of U.S. presidents on Mount Rushmore is of Theodore Roosevelt who is quoted by writer Alysa Landry as having said in a January 1886 speech in New York City:

“I don’t go so far as to think that the only good Indians are the dead Indians, but I believe nine out of every ten are. And I shouldn’t like to inquire too closely into the case of the tenth.”

Such a cavalier attitude by an American President towards Native Americans sounds remarkedly similar to the Zionists’ view and actions toward Palestinians today. One might wonder if much of America’s support for Israel’s actions arises from a subconscious conflation of Native Americans and Palestinians with America’s faith in Manifest Destiny being morphed out of a Chosen People cultural myth.

It is difficult for us to do the right thing in Palestine when we built our empire using the same tactics the Zionists are using. However, we owe it to “ourselves and our posterity” to not aid and abet another Trail of Tears in Palestine. We certainly sinned ourselves, but we can partially atone by helping to alleviate the great Nakba being wrought by Israel’s Zionists today.

All In The Family

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The Book of Ruth has four pages. One paragraph of one page is perhaps the Bible’s most often recited passage by brides and grooms: 

“Entreat me not to leave you or to return from following you;
For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge;
Your people shall be my people, and your God my God;
Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried.”

Ruth 1:16-17

These beautiful promises were made by Ruth to her mother-in-law Naomi. The family and cultural inter-connections are closely intertwined. Ironically, Naomi, her husband, Elimelech, and their two sons, Mahlou and Chilion, were originally Ephrathites who lived in Bethlehem in Judah, what is now not only the birthplace of Jesus but also Palestine. A further historical irony is that just as today there is famine in Gaza, part of Palestine, in Naomi family’s time “the judges” (the government?) “ruled there was a famine in the land”. So, Naomi and her family left Bethlehem and “sojourned” to the country of Moab that was in what is now the country of Jordan.

Naomi’s sons both married Moabite women but then both sons and Elimelech died. Thereafter, times were hard for Naomi and her daughters-in-law when Naomi heard that, “the Lord had visited his people (in Bethlehem) and given them food”. So, Naomi, Ruth and Orpah decided to seek new lives in Bethlehem. While Orpah turned back to Moab, Naomi and Ruth ventured on to Bethlehem where Naomi’s husband still had a wealthy Israeli kinsman named Boaz. Ruth and Boaz eventually married and had a son named Obed. Obed fathered Jesse who fathered Israel’s most famous king, David. The genetics of the Israeli-Palestinian Naomi, the Moabite (Jordanian) Ruth, the Israeli-Palestinian Boaz and the Israeli King David are closely related. They are all of Semitic culture and history and are all deeply embedded in the general genealogy and geography of the area. In essence, they are all related, leading to possible fratricide or genocide if indiscriminate slaughter should occur.

Yet, according to many authorities that is exactly what the Zionists of Israel are doing today as a matter of government policy. As former Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, recently stated in an interview on BBC, what Israel is doing in Gaza is, “very close to a war crime”. And more evidence of Israel’s intent comes from Israeli Cabinet Members, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who have publicly called for the “conquest and depopulation of Gaza”.

More graphically, as recently reported in The Washington Post’s World View Newsletter by reporter Ishaan Tharoor, former Israeli Defense Force general and current head of the Democrats Party in Israel, Yair Golan, stated:

“Israel is on the way to becoming a pariah state among nations if it doesn’t return to behaving like a sane country. A sane country doesn’t engage in fighting against civilians, doesn’t kill babies as a hobby and doesn’t set the expulsion of a population as a goal.” 

As for America, with the cooperation of Egypt and other allies, we should immediately force massive amounts of humanitarian aid into Gaza through Egypt. America should also guarantee the accessibility and safety of impartial international journalists into Gaza so the world can witness the facts on the ground. And, the immediate cessation of America’s enablement of the killing and destruction by Israel in Gaza should be a priority.

Not only are the descendants of Ruth and Naomi responsible for and entitled to humane treatment, the United States, as part of the human family, must help assure such outcomes.

You Shall Know the Truth & the Truth Will Set You Free (John 8:32)

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Jesus was born in Palestine and did much of his teaching there about 2,000 years ago. The words Jesus spoke were so offensive to the chief Jewish scribes and priests they called upon the Romans to crucify him even though he had committed no crime except, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place” (Luke 23:5). Actually he was just calling for peace and justice.

The Chief Pharisee, Joseph Caiaphas, and his ruling Judaic council charged Jesus with heresy and asked the Romans to try him. The Roman rulers, Pontius Pilate and King Herod, could find no fault in his behavior and planned to release him. Pilate then called together the chief priests and the religious rulers and the populace, to tell them Jesus would be released. “But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified” (Luke 22:6-25). So, Jesus was crucified for expressing views those in power in the Sanhedrin found offensive. Those eye witness accounts as reported in the Bible come from the famous authors of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, all of whom were Jewish. Ergo, the knee jerk response of contemporary society and Trump’s White House that they were being anti-semitic would lie fallow.

The Romans, much like those today in American academia who caved to the financial threats from the Trump Administration, just washed their hands of the matter (Matthew 27:11-26). However, the shame of shirking the most sacred duty of a college, that is, preserving the free flow of ideas, cannot be so easily cleansed.

Another Palestinian activist, Mahmoud Khalil, who advocates in America today for peace and justice in Palestine and Israel has not been charged with any crime, but is currently imprisoned in America for exercising his First Amendment right to free speech, principally during his tenure at Columbia University. He was arrested by the power of President Donald Trump’s Executive Branch that disagrees with Khalil’s calls for peace in Gaza and an end to the slaughter by the Zionists of over 50,000 Palestinians, mainly civilians. Khalil’s peaceful support for the resistance of the Palestinian people from 1948 until now to the military actions and occupations by Israel in Palestine, Egypt, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank and Yemen is at odds with the positions of the Trump and Zionist Israeli administrations.

The myopic view of Israel’s Zionistic actions over the past seventy-seven years is reminiscent of lessons from Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 fairy tale, The Emperor’s New Clothes. Just as a narcissistic ruler is conned into parading naked before an adoring crowd until an innocent child exposes his vanity, Presidents Biden and Trump find no fault with the Zionists in Israel. That is the very purpose of the First Amendment, to expose the truth.

When our government will brook no dissent nor even consider opposing views, great harm and even greater injustice may occur. Protests and free speech in a non-violent academic atmosphere are vital to preserving our democracy. Just as our Founders feared, a silenced majority leads to tyranny from a minority.

Many Jewish people at Columbia University, and in much of the rest of the world, agree with Khalil or, at a minimum, believe he has the right to peaceably, publicly express his views. In America, Free Speech is not anti-semitic or pro-Palestinian; it is an essential element to preserving our democracy. As the Jewish and Roman rulers of 2,000 years ago discovered, power abused can lead to rights denied and even a country being destroyed. 1948 might have been a new beginning for Israel, but it may not survive the Zionist dream of total conquest of its neighbors in the Middle East while being abetted by our government, much of the media and academia.

The First Amendment to our Constitution is first because our Founders knew it is vital to democracy. When our institutions sell their principles for money or succumb to fear of speaking the truth because they may be branded anti-semitic, we may eventually reap the whirlwind, perhaps even a nuclear one.

Cultural Myopia

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It is no one’s fault. It is a universal curse. We often can recognize virtues in our friends, but may misinterpret the motives of strangers. What someone from another culture means to be irony, sarcasm, humor, even friendly banter or simply an off-the-cuff comment we may take with umbrage.

If a university student calls out “From the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea”, that student may mean two countries that include Palestine and Israel. Whereas, another student may conclude it is a call to eliminate either Palestine or Israel. The cultural history of both students can lead to ascribing ill will when none is intended. The odds of misinterpretation are greatly increased when people from neither student’s culture see fit to project their ignorance of both students’ backgrounds upon the controversy.

Another near-sighted source of misunderstanding is the overlaying of at least three religious traditions upon all involved. Fundamentalist Christians may conflate their interpretation of the Old Testament’s Book of Isaiah with the New Testament’s Books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John when the topic of a Messiah arises. Confusing matters further is the Quran’s teaching in Surah 3; Jesus is revered by Muslims, but as God’s messenger, not His biological child.

The most puzzling aspect of all the armed and unarmed conflicts among the three Abrahamic religions is each emphasizes making peace and performing good works such as healing the sick, giving charity and forgiving others. Yet, for at least fifteen hundred years each faith has often been used as a sword against those of differing religious and other cultural practices. One wonders if those who profess to venerate their Torah, Bible or Quran have truly studied them or are simply regurgitating coffeeshop/barstool catchphrases.

We currently appear to be carrying on our ancient traditions of denigrating those whom we see as apostates. In the past this may have been simply illogical, immoral and ignorant but of only transitory and limited concern. However, today we may not have progressed in our mutual understanding but we certainly have matriculated from slingshots and lances to weapons that truly are god-like or, perhaps, Satanic. Unfortunately, unlike the gods, we cannot reverse the effects. Perhaps we should actually implement the sage actions each religion’s sacred tome champions and beat our swords into ploughshares before we have no arable lands left to plow or peoples to plow them.

Get Out Now!

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If one credits the Jewish Torah, the Christian Bible and the Islamic Quran, the Hebrews and Arabs are descended from Abraham who was born in Ur, modern day Iraq. Abraham’s sons, Ishmael and Isaac, were also born in Ur. They are the progenitors of today’s Arabs and Jews, according to the folklore of both groups. Therefore, Arabs and Jews are one people.

 When Abraham led his family and flock out of Ur, they went to Canaan which was already inhabited by several peoples who were probably the ancestors of modern-day Iranians (ancient Babylonians/Persians). If there was an actual Abraham, scholars estimate he arrived in Canaan sometime between 2,000 and 1,700 B.C. And that would have been about the time the internecine bloodbath among numerous peoples of the Middle East had its genesis. Naturally, humans being human, each group has its own version of the truth usually attributed to revelations from their own, self-created, deities.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem that was then and is now Palestine. Jesus’ mother was a Hebrew girl, Mary, and his father was the god of both Hebrews and Arabs (Book of Matthew, Chapter 2). Therefore, Jesus was a Palestinian Jew, although neither Jews nor Islamists consider him to be the son of a god as Christians do. Of course, Jesus is the original Christian according to the New Testament that is revered by modern day Christians.

Regardless of the religious beliefs of Christians, Islamists and Jews, the oral and written traditions of all three groups establish their cultural and historical connections. Assuming there is some factual basis for these indigenous myths, a modern D.N.A. analysis should prove close genetic ties among Hebrews/Jews and Arabs. As an aside, the same could be true to a lesser extent among Arabs, Jews and Iranians.

And to introduce more obfuscation and mendacity into the cauldron, Christians from Europe decided their god had ordained that they should install their faith into what was a family feud. We Americans did not seek salvation in what became called the Holy Land until about the time of the First World War. However, beginning in 1948, we bullied our way into the heart and soul of the “strange mournful mutter” of the dead and dying civilians who are but pawns in the schemes of Middle Eastern and European tyrants.

It is only American might that allows and facilitates the slaughter of innocents and the conquest by those who see themselves as chosen by their gods to impose their evil upon their relatives and neighbors. And it is only American decency, if such there be, that can encourage morality to what started 4,000 years ago and remains today, an immoral war, and help bring about a just and lasting peace.

What Is The Score?

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80th birthday! Photo by Peg Redwine.

Psalms, Book IV, Chapter 90, verse 10 should be avoided by anyone who is nearing or has reached 80 years of age:

“The years of our life are threescore and ten,

Or even by reason of strength fourscore;

Yet their span is but toil and trouble;

They are soon gone, and we fly away.”

I make no comment on 80-year-old President Biden or 77-year-old Former President Trump. If both men are on the November 2024 ballot the voters can exercise their own judgment. And, should some other person lead either or both slates, the news media will make sure that their callow youth or doddering age are thoroughly exposed. And it will not matter anyway if the Bible is any guide because as the Book of Ecclesiastes, Chapter I, verse 9 advises:

“What has been is what will be,

And what has been done is

What will be done;

And there is nothing new under the sun.”

Now, Gentle Reader, you may be of such an age that 80 seems but a pleasant temperature, not a grave specter or condition of daily life. However, as one who has recently joined the Four Score assemblage, I respectfully refer you back to Ecclesiastes, Chapter 4 verse 13:

“Better is a poor and wise youth

Than an old and foolish king

Who will no longer take advice.”

In other words, the mere arriving at or near 80 is not much of an accomplishment. Whether our leaders are 18 or 80 is not the relevant consideration; it is wisdom that matters and wisdom is not guaranteed by age nor is exuberant recklessness always the province of youth.

But what I have unfortunately come to experience is that diet and exercise mean little to most people who reach the “three score and ten” plateau. “Magic bullets” as trumpeted on countless television commercials do not really contain any magic. Sure, it is a good idea to not be sedentary or overeat at any age. However, no matter what good habits old people engage in, the battle still goes to the strong and the race to the swift. And those two truisms are proved by the rosters of any professional sport team and the ages of university faculties. Yes, some emeritus scholars still fill chairs so colleges can raise their images, and contributions, but doddering is not a productive exercise nor hardly inspiring.

Those near or in the octogenarian grouping are old enough to remember the Viet Nam War, the Gulf War and the Iraq War; of course, an awareness of the Ukrainian tragedy is inescapable. Yet we appear to be digging in deeper in numerous military briar patches while we have great humanitarian needs at home and abroad. Those of us who lived through Viet Nam are puzzled by others who did also yet vigorously have us engaged in numerous similar new quagmires.

Perhaps the real lesson some 80-year-olds, and many less than 80, anticipate is that there really is nothing new under the sun except the aches and pains we never truly expected should it be our lot to live long enough to experience them. On the other hand, as that eternal optimist, and opportunist, Scarlett O’Hara, said in Gone With The Wind, “Tomorrow is another day”. At least we all hope so regardless of the Sturm und Drang. As Robert Frost pointed out, all we have is the struggle so we better make up our minds to enjoy it regardless. Therefore, I’ll just pull myself up and say Happy Birthday to all my fellow Leo’s, especially the Four Score ones.