Tuesday, May 12, 2026

America did not invent democracy

 馃嚞馃嚙 Most British schoolchildren are taught about Magna Carta.

They are taught it was sealed in twelve fifteen at Runnymede. They are taught it is the foundation of English liberty. They are taught it is one of the most important documents in human history. They are not taught what came next. They are not taught about the eighty years between twelve fifteen and twelve ninety-five when ordinary Englishmen forced three successive kings to write down, for the first time in any kingdom in medieval Europe, what English law was, what English liberty was, and how an English king must govern. They are not taught about the Charter of the Forest, which restored the right to graze, gather firewood, and live on common land, and which remained in force for seven hundred and fifty-four years. They are not taught about the Provisions of Oxford in twelve fifty-eight, often called England's first written constitution, which placed the king under a council of fifteen and required Parliament to meet three times a year. They are not taught about the Provisions of Westminster in twelve fifty-nine, which subjected the barons themselves to the same law they had forced upon the king. They are not taught about Simon de Montfort, an earl born in France who died for England, who summoned the first Parliament in English history to include ordinary commoners alongside the great lords. They are not taught about the Statute of Marlborough in twelve sixty-seven, which is the oldest piece of statute law in the United Kingdom still in force today. ⚖️ Seven hundred and fifty-nine years old. If you've ever taken a debt to court in England, you've used it. 馃彔 If you've ever rented a home, you've been protected by it. 馃憫 If a creditor can't lawfully drag your possessions into the street to settle what you owe, that's because of a law signed seven hundred and fifty-nine years ago. They are not taught about the Model Parliament of twelve ninety-five, summoned by Edward the First, which became the shape of every English Parliament since. Eighty years. Three successive kings. The first written constitution in any kingdom in medieval Europe. It was not given to them. It was not handed down from God or king or Pope. ✍️ It was written. By Englishmen. For England. 馃嚞馃嚙 The British write their own history. They always have. This one needed more than a thread. The full story is in our video, watch it below 馃憞  

Help us remember who we are. Help us remember every British achievement. 馃憞馃檹 

Sunday, May 10, 2026

draw your own conclusions

 On May 7, 1960, the law establishing a 7-hour workday for all workers in the Soviet Union was approved, and 6 hours for the most grueling jobs, reducing the workweek to 30 hours before 1964.

The reduction in working hours did not mean a reduction in wages; it simply aimed to ease the lives of workers and give them more hours of rest to spend time with their families.

I worked 60 hours a week on Wall St. That's 10 hours a day. 



Saturday, May 9, 2026

saw recently

 The idea that study will automatically lead to mitzvos only applies if, in the words of Rashi who cites Toras Cohanim, "You shall toil in the study of Torah in order to observe and fulfill [the commandments (Torath Kohanim 26:2)." A recent publication left that part out and went on to laud study. Thus it turned a verse which tells us that mitzvahs are so important that not keeping them will lead to severe punishment into the usual talk about study alone and that kind of talk actually minimizes observance of mitzvahs. 

Friday, May 8, 2026

Thursday, May 7, 2026

remind you of anyone?

 Q:

We say 谞讜转谉 诇讞诐 诇讻诇 讘砖专, that Hashem supplies food to everyone, so how do we understand that in many countries thousands of people are dying because they don’t have what to eat?

A:

Question:  How is it that people are dying of starvation if Hakodosh Boruch Hu gives 诇讞诐 诇讻诇 讘砖专?

If a man refuses to go to work, then we have no sympathy with him.  It’s his own fault.

Now those places where people don’t have parnassah, they’re starving, you have to know in most cases there’s a very simple reason.  

Let’s say the tribes in the Congo in Africa, you know what their occupation was? Not making a living.  Their main occupation was fighting each other.  It’s remarkable.  All their poems, all their songs and traditions were fighting their neighbors, killing, killing each other.  It’s remarkable, an ambition of killing.  Instead of building up a civilization that would support them by the yegi’ah kapei’hem, they spend their lives on doing the most wicked things, on shfichas domim, so Hakodosh Boruch Hu said, “For them I’m going to send starvation.  I’m going to send epidemics.  They deserve everything because they’re criminals.”

In the olden days, people didn’t live for the purpose of murdering their neighbors.  But the Indians in America, all the tribes lived for one purpose, to fight against each other.  They used to capture victims from other tribes and tie them up to stakes and skin them alive.  All kinds of achzoriyus and wickedness.  

I saw a photograph of a group of young men in the South Sea Islands were making a war dance in preparation of attacking a neighborhood village and in their dance they were symbolizing what they would do when they would conquer the village, they’d kill the men and they’d rape the women and they’re doing it with such a hislahavus, chas v’shalom lehavdil like frum Jews dancing around the sefer Torah.  That’s their whole simchah.

So Hashem said, “Such sheratzim? That's human beings?  So a kilayah on them.  They deserve everything.”  These are the people who are the ones who are starving.  

But in decent civilizations, people don’t starve.  There’s sometimes a hungry person, yes there are exceptions, but in general the populations of civilized nations live on 讬讙讬注 讻驻讬讛诐 讻讬 转讗讻诇 and 讗砖专讬讱 讜讟讜讘 诇讱.  

In most cases, it’s their own fault.

(September 1996)