Venahapoch hu

In an unbelievable turn of events, while R' Aron Teitelbaum der Monroe Rebbe declares the terrorist act in Merkaz HaR' Kuk as a "tragedy for the Klal" and doesn't mention at all what would be expected from a representative of Satmar, yet R' Don Segal Levi from OK, to an extent a Lubavitcher Chosid, states that the acts were a result of "Violation of the Three Oaths". He's not too verse in the Shita, and he proceeds to mix up horrifyingly naive Zionist memres along with digested Kannaism of Williamsburg bottling, or what some commentators refer to as "ער מישט דרעק מיט לעבער".

The mix is typical, and it's worse then each of the ingredients taken separately. As always.

Degenerates' descent

Country that professes itself as the cradle of (formerly known as white) civilzation, United Kingdom, teaches the world yet another lesson in unmitigated hypocrisy and general drift towards populist fascism that's taking place, slowly but surely, in UK and elsewhere.

Don't forget, this is the same United Kingdom that provided safe haven to Nazi war criminals after the war on condition of them helping undermine the Soviet Union and the GDR; same United Kingdom that initiated several bloody wars over monopoly of opium market in Eastern Asia; same United Kingdom responsible for colonization of two thirds of non-European world and all the evils that stemmed from such.

So now, of all people, UK Home Secretary Jacqui Smith denied entry to Moshe Feiglin, a right wing Israeli politician. Mind you, I'm the last person to sympathize with right wing Zionist politicians. But I don't think one can think of a more hypocritical statement then when United Kingdom, a country actively engaged in material support and providing shelter to the most outspoken supporters of Muslim terror - be they Chechen, Arab, Pakistani or Sudanese; United Kingdom that closes its eyes to the bloody wars and executions perpetrated by the Muslims on daily basis - in exchange for pounds and schillings the better of them leave shopping on Bond Street - they have the guts and twisted atrophy of any moralism to ban an Israeli politician from entry because he's "seeking to provoke others to serious criminal acts" ?

There is very little excuse United Kingdom can muster to justify its existance. Country that gave the world white trash and little else, it's rotten to the core. Let your people go, and long live the Democratic Republic of England, Scotland, Wales and the Shetlands !

Who did Spitzer ? Part II

Back in his Attorney General days, Mr. Spitzer's gave some advice for people who have to break the law. He said "Never talk when you can nod, and never nod when you can wink, and never write an email because it's death. You're giving prosecutors all the evidence we need"

Given all this, one can not see the Mayflower Affair as anything other then deliberate act of political suicide, committed by a knowledgeable professional. And the damage was multiplied by the long and torturous silence, when Governor neither denied nor addressed the allegations.

A few scenarios seem plausible. Most likely, he was made an offer he couldn't refuse. Something of much greater significance was lurking by the surface, and perhaps the Governor was told to either go this way, or the high way. And after all the dust settles, losing governor's seat out of basically a one time fling without a juicy story of a perversion of some sort or an allegation of corruption isn't the worst proposition for Mr. Spitzer.

There is no way one can discount Hillary vs Obama campaign and the bottomless bag of dirty PR to which both sides will resort without an eyebat. Clinton and Spitzer go hand in hand, but that doesn't necessarily translate into Obama points from this scandal. McCain and rest of GOP aren't chopped liver either. Nor is George Fox, of Titan Advisors, probably the only friend Mr. Spitzer has south of Fulton Street. Without turning this into Pelican Brief Redux, here are some people at whom a researcher may want to take a look :

George Fox - President and FounderGeorge Fox leads Titan Advisors as its President, actively engaging in the firm's portfolio management process as a member of the Investment Committee and leading Titan's business development and marketing efforts. He entered the New York financial markets in 1984 as a floor trader at the Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange and the Commodity Exchange Inc., where he traded for his own account for seven years. In 1992, Mr. Fox created G. Fox & Co., a hedge fund advisory firm. He graduated with a B.A. degree from Tulane University in 1981 and earned a law degree from the University of Richmond (VA) in 1984.

Tom Holliday - Chief Investment Officer and FounderTom Holliday is a member of the Investment Committee and is chiefly responsible for Titan Advisors' portfolio construction and manager research. Before joining Titan Advisors in April 2001, he was responsible for identifying and recommending investment managers for Soros Fund Management as it changed from a global macro fund to a multi-strategy, multi-manager fund. At Soros, Mr. Holliday also established due diligence guidelines and created manager analysis reports. Previously, he was a senior marketing consultant for Strategic Financial Solutions and helped build its PerTrac product into the hedge fund industry's leading analytical tool. Mr. Holliday, who attended the University of Tennessee, also has experience trading in the futures markets and selecting Commodity Trading Advisors.

Doug Herman - Chief Financial Officer and FounderDoug Herman is the chief financial officer of Titan Advisors. A certified public accountant, Mr. Herman previously was co-founder of general practice CPA firm Gittleson & Herman, where he worked with high net worth individuals, businesses and hedge funds. He also spent three years in private practice and 11 years with Executive Monetary Management (EMM), where as executive vice president and treasurer he ran the day-to-day operations of the firm. Prior to EMM, Mr. Herman was employed by medium-sized public accounting firms. He earned a B.S. from the University of Maryland, an M.B.A. in accounting from St. John's University (NY) and is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in N.Y.

Kieran Cavanna - Principal and Research AnalystKieran Cavanna, who joined Titan Advisors in 2002, primarily identifies and performs due diligence on hedge fund managers in the long/short- equity and event driven strategies. Mr. Cavanna is also active in the firm's portfolio construction process as a member of the Investment Committee. Previously, he was a senior consultant in KPMG's business consulting group, and before that worked in program planning at the National Broadcasting Co., where he helped launch MSNBC. Mr. Cavanna earned an M.B.A. from Vanderbilt University in 2001 and graduated with a B.A. from the University of Richmond in 1994.

Darren Ross - Chief Operating Officer, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer Darren Ross is the Chief Operating Officer of Titan Advisors and is also responsible for legal and compliance matters. Prior to joining Titan Advisors in May 2006, Mr. Ross worked for six years as part of the management team of the Wolfson Group, a large family office that actively invests in hedge funds, private equity funds and other alternative investments. Mr. Ross worked previously as an attorney at Dorsey and Whitney, LLC and as a certified public accountant at Finkle, Ross & Rost, LLC. Mr. Ross graduated with a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1993 and earned a J.D. from Fordham University in 1997.
N. Claude Colabella -Director of Investor Relations Claude Colabella is responsible for investor relations and business development. Before joining Titan Advisors in 2001, he operated Alpha Beta Alternative Investments, which was a hedge fund advisory and fund of funds firm. From 1990 to 1998, Mr. Colabella was involved in energy industry equity research, first as a senior vice president at John S. Herold Inc. and later as president and co-founder of Petroleum Research Group. Previously, he was affiliated with Westfair Financial Analysis, Zimbalist Smith Ltd. and Securities Industry Management Corp. Mr. Colabella graduated magna cum laude from Manhattan College in 1983 and earned his M.B.A. from Duke University in 1985.

Karl Chalupa - Head of Multi-Strategy and Global MacroKarl Chalupa joined Titan Advisors in August 2007 and performs due diligence primarily on multi-strategy quantitative, fixed income, and global macro hedge fund managers. Additionally, he is a member of the investment committee. Prior to joining Titan he was president of Gamma Capital LLC, a quantitative global macro hedge fund. Previously he managed the currency and alternative investment groups at State Street Global Advisors. Prior to that he spent 13 years at ABN Amro Bank where he traded interest rate and currency derivatives and managed the North American proprietary trading and economic research desks. He also worked as an economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. He earned an M.A. in economics from Brown University in 1982 and a B.A. from Northern Illinois University in 1979.

Richard Leifels - Vice President of Operational ResearchRick Leifels joined Titan Advisors in 2005 as a vice president in charge of operational due diligence. His responsibilities include examining fund managers' operational, back office and financial/accounting procedures. He brought 20 years of insurance industry experience, most recently as MetLife's director of product development for the high net worth market. From 1995 to 2000, Mr. Leifels was controller of Security Equity Life Insurance Co., where he was instrumental in developing private placement insurance products that can invest in hedge funds. Earlier, he was an assistant controller for a life reinsurance unit of The Hartford and before that was with General Reinsurance. Mr. Leifels received his B.B.A. in accounting from St. Bonaventure University in 1984.

I could produce a relatively precise outcome scenario of what will happen to the parties involved with probabilities of each outcome, but there is no real upside to that. Yet.

Spitzergate : cui bono cui bono ?

To those uninformed - Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer allegedly patronized a very expensive Escort service while staying in the Mayflower Hotel in Washington in February 2008 (just a month ago). He was nabbed in a federal wiretap of his private cell phone as federal agencies were investigation this prostitution ring. Rumor has it that a resignation is imminent. An ardent Clinton supporter, this could've not been more embarassing. Or could it ?

Few people genuinly like Mr. Spitzer. Unfortunately, the high moral ground he used in such macchiavellian manner time after time didn't do much to veil the inner being - an opportunist with gargantuan ambitions, often a bully and a narcissist. That said, his successful career as a prosecutor - if high profile convictions and constant dealing from the bottom of the deck is a success - had most people assume that he does get the job done; he's as sharp as lawyers get and it's better to have him as a Governor than in the prosecutorial chair. Many scandals of various calibers have came and past, yet Spitzer was holding the Albany fort and was largely considered Hillary's man. Much hated on Wall Street for non sensical, biased and unfair handling of many high profile cases, he still manages to maintain Robin-Hoodesque aura of simple man's man etc etc.

But this, of course, isn't about Mr. Spitzer. This scandal reeks from such blatant conspirantism that the first thought is that "they" would never do something so brazen and in so much public eyesight.

Still, let's rehash. Born to a family of basically non-religious Austrian Jews, Eliot scored 1590 on his SAT and attented Princeton undergraduate college. After getting a perfect LSAT - not an easy feat, I hear - young Elion went on to Harvard Law, where he picked up his JD and his wife of 21 years by now. After a brief stint with a private law firm, Spitzer worked for Morgenthau's office (Manhattan District Attorney) for about two years. He made a name in a few very high profile Mafia cases, went back to work for the most important law firm in the US whose name I'm afraid to mention, and ultimately in 1998 became New York State Attorney General.

The list of matters handled by him as an AG is too long to bring up here. In 2006, he was elected as a Governor of the NYS with 69% of the vote. And it seems now that his career is over because of an expensive phone hooker.

Sum it up. The Man : We have a gentleman here who was some of the sharpest minds in Harvard Law and elsewhere. A man who spent most of his career working with wiretaps, wiretapped subjects, surveillance evidence, warrants, data mining and prosecuting prostitution and other organized crime feats, as well as high profile Wall Street "crooks" with questionable lifestyles. A man who has more rich, mighty enemies then probably even Giuliani. A man with a weakness - publicly known high moral standards, often used as a prop for whatever agenda needs to be pushed.

Time - about the most heated segment of US Primaries in the most uncertain election year EVER, with Democract candidates locked in dead heat and hurling feces at each other so that baboons want to take classes. "Republicans in the office" status quo assures us that getting anything tossed out on a simple phone call is just unviable.

Place - the Mayflower Hotel. Some of the most notoriously upscale, VIP-diplomat-lobbyist kind of stomping ground, which is probably under a constant uninterrupted surveillance of every conceivable government, state and local agency with means; where I have no doubt that every room has at least a capability of filming from six hidden camera angles. Hotel where you have to peel surveillance bugs off if you want to install your own.

And the Deed. Allegedly, Mr. Spitzer disguised as "George Fox" and "Client 9", on Valentine's Day called (!) on his cell phone(!!) a wiretapped "Emperor's Club"; he further conducted detailed "business" over SMS (!!!, knowing how much easier it is to store, retain and retrieve all text messages) . Federal affidavit alleges that he spent at least $4,300 (he basically "kept all the receipts" by SMS-ing every little detail). He was to pay for everything - train tickets, cab fares, miin bars, travel time - you name it. Apparently, on the February 12th he didn't have "enough credit" with this institution (a mere $500 left), so they refused his business until some more dough was coughed up.

With all the tips squeezed out of him, The Governor left behing $4,300 in US Currency, and a few dozen SMS messages that are so obvious that a conviction would only entail establishing that Client-9 is indeed his ugly mug.

This goes beyong "how stupid can he be". This goes deeply into the area of "why was it done this way?". I am almost certain of one thing - unless he's in some very deep psychiatric abyss, this story has more to it then you would like to know.

The real Klausenburger

Via dorrevii.org, this is the wedding picture of Shaendl Glasner, daughter of R' Moshe Shmuel Glasner of Cluj Napoca to Avraham Finkelstein.

Dem rebbems a moifes

חיה מיט הערנער איז מחדש א חידוש - אז די אללע דערהארגעטע אין מרכז הרב קוק איז בלױז דערהרגעט װײל מען האט נישט געפאלגט זײַן רבי'ן און גערעדט פון שלום מיט אראבער. אז עהר האָט מיט רוח קודש און א װײטן בליק אללעס געזעען און העטט מען נאר געפאלגט עהם , װאָלט אַללעס געװען זיס און װויל אין עזה און שומרון.


איך װײז קײַן סך נישט פֿון ציוניסטישע פאליטיק. אָבער אײַן זאַך קען איך זאָגן - נישט נאָר אַז זײַן רבי װאָלט עהם מחרים געװען פאר אזא בילליגע ברעכערײ, אױכעט אױף די בילדער פֿון די לויה און פון נאך'נ אסון זעט מען נישט קײן סך פון זײנע חברים. מען זעט קײן אײנס אױכעט נישט, בלױז א פאר "פעילישערס" פון הצלה און חברא קדישא

גרעפצען פון ניו העמפסטעד קאסט נישט קײן סך

Philosophy of Benedict Spinoza

I'm leaning towards concluding that Benedict Spinoza, while a very bright young soul, was only made popular by the Herem against him. Of those who proclaim to carry his banner, few actually bother to go through his works; his detractors - even less so.

Just ten years before "hisgalus" of S' Z' ym'sh, Herem against Spinoza was pronounced in sharpest of terms; his unspecified pantheistic views were condemned as utter heresy. The nusach, in translation of Abraham Wolf went :

The members of the council do you to wit that they have long known of the evil opinions and doings of Baruch de Espinoza, and have tried by divers methods and promises to make him turn from his evil ways. As they have not succeeded in effecting his improvement, but, on the contrary, have received every day more information about the horrible heresies which he practised and taught, and other enormities which he has committed, and as they had many trustworthy witnesses of this, who have deposed and testified in the presence of the said Spinoza, and have convicted him; and as all this has been investigated in the presence of the Rabbis, it has been resolved with their consent that the said Espinoza should be anathematised and cut off from the people of Israel, and now he is anathematised with the following anathema:

"With the judgment of the angels and with that of the saints, with the consent of God, Blessed be He, and of all this holy congregation, before these sacred Scrolls of the Law, and the six hundred and thirteen precepts which are proscribed therein, we anathematise, cut off, execrate, and curse Baruch de Espinoza with the anathema wherewith Joshua anathematised Jericho, with the curse wherewith Elishah cursed the youths, and with all the curses which are written in the Law: cursed be he by day, and cursed be he by night; cursed be he when he lieth down, and cursed be he when he riseth up; cursed be he when he goeth out, and cursed be he when he cometh in; the Lord will not pardon him; the wrath and fury of the Lord will be kindled against this man, and bring down upon him all the curses which are written in the Book of the Law; and the Lord will destroy his name from under the heavens; and, to his undoing, the Lord will cut him off from all the tribes of Israel, with all the curses of the firmament which are written in the Book of the Law; but ye that cleave unto the Lord your God live all of you this day!"

We ordain that no one may communicate with him verbally or in writing, nor show him any favour, nor stay under the same roof with him, nor be within four cubits of him, nor read anything composed or written by him.

For a twenty four year old operating in the times of fervent activities of Kabbalists and other radical and new worldviews, he received a disproportionate amount of attention from relatively liberal and enlightened Rabbinical Court of Amsterdam. I am not, G-d forbid, doubting their decision. I am sure they saw something that deserved such treatment. But there are no historical records that tell us what exactly was the cause of all this noise.

At least one source cites that the Court of Amsterdam was very prolific with their excommunications and issued over two hundred and eighty instances in the first hundred years, sometimes for very trivial reasons. If that was the case, it's easy to say that he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the pivotal decision to throw him out would've played out differently if it happened in Poland a hundred years later. Was the martyrdom unearned ?

In any case, casual attempt to sketch Spinozism from his own late works does not put forth anything revolutionary or particularly interesting. It is not very consistent even in Cantor's terms, nor very rigorous; but the religious ideas espoused can be encountered in many other sources, many of which are on the "A-list", and even those that aren't are far from being an ultimate revelation of rationalist self-sustenance.

It may be worth spending some effort on figuring out what was it in early Spinoza's head that he probably tossed out right there and then when he and the Rabbinical Court of Amsterdam parted ways.

Of all the uncountable of books on the matter the most interesting and usable one was written by Spinoza's luminous contemporary, some of the brightest minds ever, Gottfried Leibnitz. It is also a source I'm inclined to trust since as long its authorship is unchallenged, it does get as close to the very object of our interest as possible - Leibnitz was born only ten years before Spinoza's excommunication, and that makes him 14 years younger.

Remainders of Spinozist "pantheism" addressed by Leibnitz seem innocent and benign. "Everything is in G-d, that is, G-d comprises the being and the idea of everything" can be explained as normative doctrine - given enough ink and benefit of the doubt - in either Lithuanian, Chassidic or Chabad schools of thought, or in the explicit Kabbalist system of values to which Spinoza and other contemporaries often allude, as it gave them the means and the ways to express hitherto unexpressable.

So Leibnitz, the supergoy and and a thinker of unmatched caliber, wrote "Refutation of Spinoza" to refute a commonly shared belief that he (Leibnitz) was a Spinozist. In it he begins with a claim that while Spinoza has outwardly proclaimed the "divinity of Cr-st", he really kind of does not and really Spinoza is just repackaging "Kabbalistic doctrine". Then, Dr. Leibnitz goes into remarkable depth, although off-beat and naive, into the Kabbalist doctrine, how it's very close to Spinozist views and how he as a Christian does not really subscribe to these views and would like to distantiate himself from such (of course it's deeper and more nuanced, and quite unlike the treatment of genetics and Ac. Vavilov in the Soviet Academy of Sciences by Ac. Lysenko). It's surprising to see an erudite rationalist German to spend so much time arguing about intricacies of interpretations of various Kabbalistic doctrines (especially after it was condemned by the Yemenite and German self-professed rationalists alike). Messianic thought, too, is treated by Herr Leibnitz on more then one page in this very thin and scarcely available work.

Thus by all accounts it appears that Spinoza started off with a conceived relatively thorough system of thought that was deeply intertwined with contemporary religious "mysticism", with some of Descartes' innovate thinking and with approach and reconciliation with classic Judaism. In that, he was somewhat of a predecessor to, lehavdil, the school of R' Bunim, R' Yeshaya Muskat and his saintly father in law, OB"M. We can only speculate the magnitude of good that could have came out of taking the sprouts of this budding "theory of everything" and developing and retaining it further completely within the framework of Yiddishkeit. Instead of being a phony martyr to two-bit apostates who haven't read him, and instead of ending up writing outright heresy, blasphemy and idolatrous beliefs - looks like he did it to make a living and out of desperation - Spinoza could have been the focal point of development of centrist wholesome Jewish thought. And while philosophical contributions aren't particularly valuable because they lack rigor and weren't written with formal model theory in mind, everything could've been so different ...

Part Two :

There was something in the air in the mid-1600's.