The confusion between SES and race

Posted on September 15, 2010 by jewamongyou

One of the most common tricks leftists use, in order to blind the public to the realities of race, is to imply that by controlling for SES (socioeconomic status), they can reveal that race is of little importance.  Examples of this tactic are far too numerous to list exhaustively.  We find it used to explain away racial disparities in health, crime, education and social pathologies.
In some cases, looking at SES rather than race might be justified.  It would depend on the circumstances and goals of the study.  What irks me is when the focus should be on race but SES is used to confuse the issue.
If controlling for SES does succeed in eliminating many racial disparities, then we might ask: why not simply use SES (or I.Q. if you prefer) to categorize people as we must and ignore race altogether?  Here are three  answers to this question:
1) Ubiquitous institutional racism against whites (“affirmative action”) favors blacks, especially in government jobs.  Therefore many blacks are artificially elevated to higher socioeconomic statuses.  Their incomes are high, they live in nice neighborhoods and they drive new cars – but their inner nature has not changed.  Their lower class habits linger on.  They, and their children, are just as dangerous to be around as their brethren in the ghettos.
2) Nature created biological races over the course of tens of thousands of years.  Though we have known the basics about racial differences for several decades, much remains to be learned.  Progress, in studying racial differences, has been stunted because (with the exception of medicine) it is all but illegal to perform such studies.  Therefore, much about race remains unknown to us.  Faced with a reality of nature and burdened by our own ignorance, the best course of action would be to respect what nature has put in place.  The imposition of mass miscegenation upon the younger generation is akin to burning large areas of virgin rain forest without even knowing which species inhabit it or even studying them.
3) Because so much value is placed on “African-American culture” in America today, most blacks who have rightfully achieved  higher socioeconomic stations will continue to behave like other blacks in some ways.  Even if they choose to “act white”, the odds are that their children will revert to black behavior.  This is what is encouraged in schools, the media and by the government.  Unfortunately, along with the less destructive aspects of black culture, the criminal aspects will often tag along.  Caution is necessary.
The simple truth, which escapes leftist “scholars”, is that SES is a natural outgrowth of race.  To “control” for SES (when trying to determine the importance of race) makes no sense.  Let us turn things around.  Suppose a university wished to show that race has nothing to do with SES – and, in order to accomplish this, their study controlled for I.Q.  Hence, only the brightest blacks would be considered in the study.  Not surprisingly, we would find most of those blacks in the same SES as their white/Asian counterparts.  Such a study would prove nothing.
The underlying fallacy is that low SES, among blacks and Hispanics, is a result of racial discrimination and not lower average I.Q. and higher levels of impulsiveness.  I want to see the studies that support this presumption.  It is amazing to see the level of scholarship that goes into countless papers – and they are all castles built on sand.  No matter how many fancy mathematical formulae, acronyms and specialist jargon their authors pack into them, in the end they have no value because they are built on a false premise.
It is sad to think how much time, talent and brain power has been wasted on “studies” such as these.  For hundreds of years, some of the brightest minds of Europe were wasted on alchemy.  Is this much different?  In the past, they thought they could convert lead to gold.  Now they think they can convert one race to another with jargon and flawed studies.

Posted in nurture vs. nature and I.Q., racial differences and how they manifest themselves/race science | 6 Comments

John Stossel's "Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity"

Posted on September 14, 2010 by jewamongyou

I just finished reading John Stossel’s Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity.  He deals with many issues in this book; more than can be covered in a review such as this.  It is definitely worth-while reading and very entertaining.  The fact that each chapter (most of them short) stands on its own, without any vital connection to the chapters before it, make it ideal reading for waiting rooms or breaks at work.
There are two chapters I want to mention here, since they are relevant to this blog.  Both topics have been covered, at length, by race realists and serious scholars but it is refreshing to see a respected media personality like John Stossel write words of truth that are usually stifled.
The first topic, “Myth: Some people are just born happy.  Truth: Apparently so” (pg. 271-273) has to do with the heritability of personality traits.  Stossel writes:

Barbara Herbert and Daphne Goodship are absurdly happy…
Barbara and Daphne are identical twins.  You might explain their happiness as the result of a good childhood or their influence on each other – except that as kids, they never knew each other.  They were born twelve minutes apart and were immediately given up for adoption…
Dr. Thomas Bouchard, a psychologist at the University of Minnesota, thought Barbara and Daphne would be good candidates for his ground-breaking study of twins raised apart.  “When they got here, they really shook us up in terms of a remarkable similarity…”
For Barbara, there was no doubt as to whether the cause of their good mood was nature or nurture.  “It’s definitely nature,” she said.  “I don’t think the environment or anything else has affected us, it’s just what we are like.”  Science bears her out:  The outlooks of twins-sunny or not- tend to be remarkably similar, the Minnesota study found, whether they are raised together or apart.  “If only environment shaped our personality, identical twins reared apart would have no similarity,” said Dr. Bouchard, “and yet they’re every bit as similar as identical twins reared together.”

If we accept that there is a genetic component to personality, then it follows that there might also be a racial component to personality – since the only thing that distinguishes one (true) race from another is genes/alleles.  In other words, when we speak of “race”, what we mean is varying sets of (average) genes between populations.
The second topic, “John Stossel is a conservative.  Truth: I’m a libertarian” (pg. 281-284) deals, partly, with the contrast between the conservative establishment (or what passes for “conservative” these days) and the liberal one.  Stossel writes:

Yet conservatives are at least willing to talk about them.  I am continually amazed at how generous conservatives are in debate.  Even those who disagree with my ideas welcome me warmly at their conferences.  The supposedly “narrow-minded” social conservatives politely hear me out.  The liberals, by contrast, don’t want to talk at all.
When I wrote my last book, Give Me a Break, I assumed the high poobahs of the leftist media would be eager to debate my ideas, if only to demonstrate how foolish my arguments were, or to discredit the reporting of their misguided colleague who had gone “over to the dark side”, as one TV writer put it.
I was wrong.
The conservatives were eager to have me… But the liberal media – CNN, NPR, and the New York Times – basically held their noses and ignored me.  Where was the “open debate” the liberals always praise?  Mostly on the conservative broadcasts.

This attitude is painfully familiar to those of us who recognize the biological reality of race.  The main difference, between us and Stossel, is that there is no conservative media when it comes to race.  In racial matters, they are all “liberal”.  I have no idea if John Stossel is a race realist.  I seriously doubt it – and what good is the recognition of truth if it cannot be uttered?
What is the leftist policy regarding race?  Hide it, Bury it, Deny it =  It is the dark side of H.B.D.

Posted in book/movie/video reviews and links | 8 Comments

On burning the Quran

Posted on September 12, 2010 by jewamongyou

A Florida pastor has called off his plans to burn some 200 Qurans and the world breaths a sigh of relief.  According to CNN, the burning would…

…have sparked international controversy and protests in the Muslim world. U.S. military leaders said the event would imperil the lives of troops abroad.

Earlier, when it seemed that Rev. Jones was going to follow through with his plans, his hosting company had pulled his church’s web site.  The reason?

Dan Goodgame, a spokesman for the San Antonio, Texas-based web hosting firm Rackspace, told AFP the evangelical Dove World Outreach Center church had, “violated the Offensive Content section of its Acceptable Use policy.”
The policy forbids content or links to material that is “excessively violent, incites violence, threatens violence, or contains harassing content or hate speech; and creates a risk to a person’s safety or health, creates a risk to public safety or health, compromises national security, or interferes with a investigation by law enforcement.”

In actuality,  both the U.S. government, and the hosting company, are admitting that Islam is a religion of violence.  After all, it was only the expectation of violent reactions that motivated both to use whatever power they had to dissuade the reverend from burning those books.  If Islam were truly a “religion of peace”, as has been famously claimed, then there would have been no cause for concern.
One is reminded of the Danish cartoon fiasco, when a series of cartoons caused an international uproar and attempts on the cartoonist’s life.  At that time,  it became clear that the Muslim hordes were a force to be contended with and that they can shape the policies of Western nations through rioting and threats.  Although Christianity will sometimes produce individual lunatics or small congregations of oddballs, our generation has not seen violent Christian activism on a scale large enough to affect government/societal policies to any meaningful degree.
When Roland Emmerich produced his blockbuster movie, 2012, he specifically refrained from depicted the Ka’aba being destroyed even though he showed no mercy toward Christian landmarks.  His rational?

“Well, I wanted to do that, I have to admit … but my co-writer Harald said I will not have a fatwa on my head because of a movie. And he was right. … We have to all … in the Western world … think about this. You can actually … let … Christian symbols fall apart, but if you would do this with [an] Arab symbol, you would have … a fatwa, and that sounds a little bit like what the state of this world is. So it’s just something which I kind of didn’t [think] was [an] important element anyway in the film, so I kind of left it out.”

What we have here is a very disturbing pattern.  We are allowing ourselves to lose our freedom of expression because we are intimidated by Islam.  It is understandable that Muslims would be offended by the burning of a book they consider holy.  I would be offended by the burning of the Torah and, most likely, a Hindu would be offended by the burning of the Vedas.  The difference is that Islam, or at least many who practice it, is not mature enough to collectively shake its head and then move on with life.  As a result of this immaturity, the rest of the world is held in thrall by it.
Where will it end?  It is a fact that Muslims are not only offended by direct affronts to their religion but they are also offended by perceived immodesty.  Many Muslims view such “immodesty” as a license to rape non-Muslim women.  The ongoing Muslim rape epidemic in Europe will surely get worse over time – since those in power have no interest in curbing it.  In the not-so-distant future, women in Europe will experience intimidation to cover their hair or risk being assaulted.
I do not know if there is a word for “rule by the most violent group”.  If there is no such word, then there surely should be one because this trend is likely to become more pronounced over time.  The behavior we are witnessing rewards Islam for its violence.  The Florida pastor, Roland Emmerich and so many others are (unwittingly) increasing violence in the world.
Islam needs to either grow up or remain only in designated areas.  If every one of us would burn a Quran, then Muslims might be forced to grow up.  It is highly unlikely that they could decapitate all of us.  As long as only one or two people at a time dare to insult Islam, then Muslims can continue to intimidate those people into silence.  Perhaps it is true that Reverend Jones is immature and hateful.  Nevertheless, I think he was on to something.  Through the internet, which now contains hundreds of Mohammad cartoons, we were able to silence the Muslim hordes; they finally gave up on that battle.  By refraining from insulting Islam, we would reinforce the worldview of Muslims that such disrespect is unacceptable.  As a matter of fact, it is unacceptable to demand that the rest of the world refrain from insulting any particular religion.  Therefore, it can be argued that it is our duty to disrespect Islam.  This is a right that is in danger of disappearing and the only way to preserve it is to exercise it.  If, some day, Muslims learn to shrug off such insults and carry on with their daily lives, at that point there will no longer be any reason to insult Islam.

Posted in freedom of speech issues, pan-nationalism and multi-culturalism, Uncategorized | 16 Comments

non-whites and environmentalism

Posted on September 7, 2010 by jewamongyou

I’ve been reading a leftist race blog (which, for various reasons, I shall not link to).  One particular post deals with the environmentalist movement and claims that non-white environmentalists are not taken seriously by the movement at large.
The post lists several non-white “green activists”:
Van Jones, Majora Carter, Sanjayan, Waagari Matthai, Bryant Terry, Vandana Shiva and Oscar Olivera.
In terms that a leftist might find acceptable, I’ll present my theory on why non-white environmentalists might not be accepted as mainstream.
With the possible exception of Sanjayan, most of the environmentalists listed seem to focus mainly on their own people, their own culture and their own lands.  In contrast, white environmentalists transcend their own race; their own heritage means little or nothing to them and they have given themselves to the world at large.

While it is important for people to focus on their own heritage and to take care of their own kinsmen first, if the face of the environmentalist movement is to cease being so white, then non-white environmentalists need to stop seeing themselves primarily as “African”, “African-American”, “Native American” etc. and act and behave as citizens of the world.  Their books and articles need to appeal to the Human Race and not just to their own race.
The reality of the matter is, of course, that Caucasians have a propensity for altruistic behavior and attitudes.  Therefore it is Caucasians who travel half way around the world to defend total strangers from injustice and environmental degradation.  White as they are, they get “brownie points” for this.  A Guatemalan Indian, protesting the deforestation of his local mountains so that his people will not die in mudslides, may be considered an “environmentalist” on some level but his main interest is in protecting his tribe.  While we should surely applaud, and support, his efforts, we would not be justified in considering him a leader in the global environmentalist movement.
Posted in racial differences and how they manifest themselves/race science, shenanigans of the Left and of non-white activists | 10 Comments

Selling racial equalitarianism

Posted on September 6, 2010 by jewamongyou

I was in sales for much of my adult life.  I used to sell computers and, in the eyes of our bosses, it was as important to sell our extended warranties as it was to sell the actual hardware.  Generally, we offered two versions of our hardware warranty: the two year option and the four year option.  One of the techniques we were trained to use was the “either/or” technique.  We would give our presentation and then ask our customer, “so, would you like the two year protection plan or the four year protection plan?”  We were not to give him the option of “no protection plan”.  As long as all the listed options were profitable for our company, we could succeed in making money.
The mass media works in much the same way when selling its diversity agenda.  The New York Daily News recently ran an article about the lack of ethnic and gender diversity in the FDNY (Fire Department City of New York).  In essence, they were upset that too few minorities and women are in the Fire Department.  To the side of the main article is a survey:
As you can see, “minorities have, on average, lower I.Q.’s than whites” is not an option.  In the comments section, I politely pointed this out and also mentioned that women do not have, on average, as much upper body strength as men.  It is highly likely that my comment will be flagged and removed by the end of the day.

Posted in examples of propaganda | 4 Comments

violent black racism

Posted on September 5, 2010 by jewamongyou

Back in March of this year, we read about “flash mobs” materializing in Philadelphia.  During these events, hundreds (if not thousands) of blacks descended upon innocent whites.  Practically all of the perpetrators were black and the victims were white.  Some people were seriously injured.  This happened more than once and, as usual, the media downplayed the racial aspect of it.  The New York Times didn’t even mention “race” until paragraph 15 – and then only after blaming the problem on a lack of programs and jobs for kids.
In May of this year, we read how black criminals systematically victimize Asians in San Francisco.  The San Francisco Chronicle, to its credit, openly stated the racial aspect of these crimes – but this news received virtually no national coverage from mainstream newspapers.  The only way to find out about it, for most people, was to specifically search for it online or to frequent white nationalist (or Asian) websites.
In August of this year, we read how black thugs were targeting Mexican migrants in Staten Island.  These crimes were reported by the Los Angeles Times which clearly stated the racial reality of the situation.  Unfortunately, the article made it seem as if these victims, only ten in number, were not representative of a larger trend.  Thus, the reader is left with the impression that this is an aberration.  It is also clear that the victims merit “hate-crime victim” status only because they are Hispanic.  Had they been white, not a word would have been said about it.
Also in August of this year, we read how dozens of wild blacks roamed the Iowa State Fairgrounds and beat up random whites.  The perpetrators were heard shouting about “beat whitey night”.  The Des Moines Register was clearly more concerned about an Aryan group that raised objections about the double standard applied to whites when it comes to “hate crimes”.  They quoted FBI director Louis Freeh that the Aryan Nations “represent a continuing terrorist threat.”  I would like to know when there has been a recent incident of white mobs targeting non-whites for violence in this country. This is a clear case of blaming the victim.  In the meantime, a police spokeswoman dared speak the truth and she was heavily penalized for it.
Over a hundred years ago, my family left Czarist Russia because of anti-Jewish pogroms.  They were among hundreds of thousands of other Jews who saw America as a peaceful refuge from such ethnic violence.  How ironic that the media, largely controlled by Jews, encourages pogroms against the white descendants of those who so graciously allowed us to come here.  The media, through its silence and obfuscation, gives the green light to black thugs to continue their ongoing onslaught against other groups.
Of course the problem lies not only with the media.  The power-structure that encourages persecution against whites encompasses all government agencies, all large companies and corporations, all major educational institutions and all so called N.G.O.’s.  But those other racist organizations would collapse, like a house of cards, if only the media would do its job and inform the public of the actual truth.
Yes, the media is to blame for much of the bloodshed – but this does not absolve decent whites from defending themselves.  The immediate solution to black mob violence is not more basketball courts.  It is not more jobs and it is not better schools.  No.  The solution is to meet those mobs with machine guns, rocket launchers, flame throwers and armies of vicious dogs.  This is how, given the opportunity, my ancestors should have met the mobs of the pogroms.  This is how the Jews of Hebron in 1929 should have met the Arabs.  This is how the Cambodians should have dealt with the Khmer Rouge.  Only when the tattered, bleeding remnants of black mobs tell their friends and family “don’t mess with the white man (or the Asians or the Mexicans)!” will the pogroms cease.

Posted in examples of propaganda, government/corporate discrimination against whites, racial differences and how they manifest themselves/race science | 15 Comments

Watch out for evil clouds!

Posted on September 3, 2010 by jewamongyou

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlk0cq1R5wg&feature=channel

Posted in book/movie/video reviews and links | Leave a comment

"Race" by John Baker

Posted on September 2, 2010 by jewamongyou

I just finished reading “Race” by John R. Baker and wanted to give a brief review of it while it is still fresh in my mind.
It is a monumental work and of great value.  The depth, range of insights and objectivity, demonstrated by Baker, are awe-inspiring.  As a matter of fact, it would be no exaggeration to say that most aspects of race science that have been elaborated upon over the last couple of decades are dealt with here.  Not only that, but Baker’s words are often even prophetic.  I’ve already written about the flawed logic of “Guns, Germs and Steel”.  This is what Baker, over twenty years prior to Diamond’s folly, had to say about it (pg. 527, 528):

Explanations are frequently suggested for the failure of certain peoples to make this advance.  Thus Professor A. Sommerfelt excuses the fact that the Arunta had no numerals (in the proper sense of the word) on the ground that “The Arunta who lives far from all influence of whites has no need of a system of numerals comparable to ours.  He possesses nothing that he must necessarily count, no domestic animals, no merchandise, no money.”  One is left to assume that if they had had something to count, the Arunta would have invented numerals.  But why had they nothing to count?  Why were they content with this situation?  One is forcibly reminded of John Stuart Mill’s remark that it is “better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.”  Members of all ethnic taxa of man must have experienced stages in their histories at which they possessed no domestic animals, no merchandise, and no money, but in many of these taxa there were people who were not satisfied.
The failure of Negroes and members of certain other taxa, living in civilized countries, to reach the same average scores in cognition and attainment tests as Mongolids and Europids has often been attributed to environmental causes.  In just the same way, it has repeatedly been suggested that those ethnic taxa that have never attained to civilization by their own endeavours in their native lands have been held back by the unfavourable nature of their habitats.  Some authors are dogmatic on this subject.  Sommerfelt, for instance, says that the differences between “peoples and tribes” are due to “natural surroundings and history, not to innate characteristics of these peoples.”  This, however, is not by any means always the experience of those who have actually travelled among primitive peoples in their natural environments.  Livingstone, for instance, was struck by the mental differences between members of different races living in the Kalahari Desert.  The Bakalahari, a Kafrid tribe, had been forced into this environment in the remote past.
“Living ever since on the same plains with the Bushmen, subjected to the same influences of climate, enduring the same thirst, and subsisting on the same food for centuries, they seem to supply a standing proof that locality is not always sufficient of itself to account for differences in races.”
And how, on the environmental hypothesis, can one explain the fact that the Negrids inhabiting the tropical rain-forest of central Africa made not even a start in mathematics, while the Maya of the Guatemalan tropical rain-forest, equally cut off from all contacts with civilized people, made astounding progress in this subject, and at one time were actually ahead of the whole of the rest of the world in one important branch of it?
It would be wrong to suppose that civilization developed wherever the environment was genial, and failed to do so where it was not.  Indeed, it might be nearer the mark to claim the opposite…

Baker’s exhaustive study of pre-contact African culture is an impressive work in its own right.  Chapters 18-21 (pages 325- 417) comprise some of the most entertaining (if sometimes graphic) reading in the entire book.  He had obviously carefully read every account of African travels available to him.  From these, he selected seven as his primary sources.  Accepting nothing uncritically, he compared each account to the others and was keen to point out errors, exaggerations and biases wherever he found them.  Far from being biased himself, Baker was quick to give credit where credit was due – even when writing of the most savage cannibalistic tribes.
From a layman’s point of view, the book has two flaws: a) it often delves into tedious detail while using technical words that few would understand and b) its excessive use of German and French.  Apparently, Baker assumed that anybody educated enough to read his book must also be familiar with these two other languages and would not benefit from translation.  As for me, I relied on context to figure out what he was saying.  I probably missed some of the finer points because of this.
Although Baker made some effort to come across as a neutral observer of humanity, his “Europid” roots lead him to spill much more ink on the differences between European sub-races than on any other sub-races.  Many pages are spent describing the differences between Alpinids and Nordids and I believe this is Baker’s old-school anthropology background (19th century, if you will) showing itself.  36 years have elapsed since the publication of his book and I believe that those intervening decades have made it clear that whites will either stand or fall together; the fate of Nordids is the same as the fate of Alpinids and Mediterranids.
The first few chapters of “Race” do not deal directly with humans at all.  Instead, they deal with various other species.  I think this is important because, when it comes to the animal kingdom, we find little or no bias.  Baker took advantage of this fact to explain the rules of morphology, evolution and genetics in ways that few could object to.  He explained, at length, what is meant by “typical”, “species”, “race”, “taxa” etc.  Nothing is taken for granted and Baker’s thoroughness insures that anybody who reads the book, from beginning to end, will arrive at the same conclusions he does – as long as the reader understands what he is reading.
The fact that this book, which was published so long ago, already explains almost everything we need to know about race (with the notable exceptions of crime rates and miscegenation)  leaves me with an unsettling question: this being the case, what have we been doing for the last thirty years?

Posted in book/movie/video reviews and links | 6 Comments

Southern African "clicking"

Posted on September 1, 2010 by jewamongyou

The “clicking” languages of Southern Africa are famous among scholars.  Linguists have even entertained the idea that these languages are vestiges of the oldest human speech.  Most such languages are members of the Khoisan language family, the most popular being Khosa, spoken by several million people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_l7ty_MH_Y&feature=player_embedded
Semitic languages have a similar sound: the Hebrew “Qof”, known in Arabic as “Qa”.  You can here it in this poem:

To hear it in Hebrew, you would have to listen to me since very few Hebrew speakers still know how to do this.  Some Iraqi Jews were good at it – and other Israelis would wonder how they would say “Coca-Cola” (Qoqa Qola – as spelled in Hebrew).
Incidentally, the word “Qof” means “monkey”.  It is possible that a monkey species, found in that part of the world so long ago, was accustomed to making such sounds.  The Arabic word for monkey, “Qurd”, also starts with the Qa sound.
Is it possible that there is an ancient link between Semitic languages and the clicking languages of Southern Africa?  The original clicking people of Southern Africa were not Negro; they were a distinct, lighter colored race known as Khoisan or Capoid (since they are found in “the Cape”).  Considering that their original range was much wider than it is today, perhaps this is not so far-fetched.

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

the Hebron pogrom of 1929

Posted on August 30, 2010 by jewamongyou

Jewish settlers in the West Bank are often criticized and considered to be oppressive occupiers.  My own experiences, while visiting Jewish settlements in those territories, does lend some support to these accusations.  There is much hatred and disdain, among those Jewish settlers, toward the Arabs.  Sometimes they are abusive toward their Arab neighbors.  The buildings they live in clash, esthetically, with the countryside while the Arab houses seem to compliment it.  On the other hand, these settlements do provide a source of employment for many Arabs who live in extreme poverty.
One settlement, in particular, has been a source of great controversy: the settlement within the city of Hebron.  Hebron is considered sacred by Jew and Muslim alike.  The patriarchs are reputed to be buried there and the Arabs call it “al-Khalil” (“the friend”).  Though the Jewish presence in Hebron dates to remote antiquity, due to various persecutions and restrictions, there was no known Jewish community there (in modern times) until the middle of the 16th century.  By the 20th century there were established Sephardic and Ashkenazic communities in Hebron.
In 1929 many of the local Arabs rose up and massacred 67 Jews.  Men, women and children.  Their brutality knew no bounds and they even murdered the Jewish doctor who had freely given his time and skill on behalf of those same Arabs.  They slaughtered his family, beheaded him and threw his head into the toilet.  So I was told.  Much to their credit, some Arab families risked their own lives and hid some 435 Jews in their homes.  On one of my visits to Hebron, I visited the local Jewish cemetery (where the victims are buried).  As I stood there, a very old Arab man was walking by and noticed me.  He stood there and stared.  I would have liked to know what role, if any, he played in that tragedy.
Somehow, I acquired a book that deals with this incident.  It was printed very soon afterward and includes photos of some of the victims along with their biographies.  For some odd reason, the first page or two are missing and somebody had torn out the photo of one of the victims.  In any event, this massacre occurred on the 23rd and 24th of August so we just passed the 81st anniversary of this event.  Let this post be a memorial to the victims listed in this book:
1)  Rabbi Yisrael Shlomo Zalman Vilinski 26 years old.
2)  Shlomo Yitzhak Broyda 28 years old.
3)  Shmuel Aizik Bernstein 26 years old.
4)  Meshulam Shraga Mitevski 26 years old.
5)  Dov Lipin 26 years old.
6)  Chayim Shalom Alter Cher 25 years old.
7)  Yisrael Mordechai haCohen Kaplan 25 years old.
8)  Moshe Aharon Rifas (?) 24 years old.
9)  Shlomo Yagel 25 years old
10)  Yisrael Hillel haCohen Kaplinski  23 years old.
11)  Shmuel haLevi Rosenholtz 23 years old.
12)  Ze’ev haLevi Berman  23 years old.
13)  Aharon David Sheinberg 24 years old.
14)  Tzvi haLevi Froyman 21 years old.
15)  Moshe haLevi Reizman 17 years old.
16)  Avraham Dov Shapira 18 years old.
17)  Binyamin haLevi Horowitz 20 years old.
18)  Yissachar Eliyahu Sendrov 17 years old.
19)  Aharon David Epstein 17 years old.
20)  Yisrael Lazarovski 17 years old.
21)  Ze’ev Greenberg 17 years old.
22)  Eliyahu Dov Haichal 17 years old.
23)  Ya’akov Vexler 17 years old.
24)  Chayim Zelig Krasner 16 years old.
25)  Tzvi Heller 15 years old.
Some of these young men were Americans, sons of wealthy families from places like Chicago and Cincinnati.  They relinquished the easy life for a life of hardship and sacrifice in the Holy Land.  Though they had no intention of making the ultimate sacrifice, when the time came, they did so with courage and dignity.  The stories of their short lives are told in this book, along with the details of how they met their demise.  I stood at their graves but I could never stand in their place.

Posted in Jewish stuff and Israel | 8 Comments