Thursday, July 28th 2022

It’s a quarter to 7:00 and I’ve got to get moving. If Lena is going to show up today, it’s going to be sometime in the very near future. It’s nice to get the floors cleaned but if I don’t make sure that everything is in order before she gets here, I have more problems than I need.

I’m not saying anything bad about the lady. She’s a nice old girl and I definitely appreciate her help and friendship. As far as discount town is concerned, she’s probably about the best friend I have. This doesn’t necessarily say anything bad about my social skills. I’m just saying that running for mayor around here wouldn’t get me very far. I couldn’t even run for Rabbi here.

But I do need to get up and get everything off the floor and maybe even start the sweeping. There’s not really that much to do. I did the wash yesterday. There wasn’t very much washing. Just some shirts and socks. 

I’ll be honest that I don’t really care about the overall aesthetic of things. I don’t have a fascist woman’s eye for glamor or fashion. But I do appreciate when things are clean. I feel better generally and I guess I feel like I make less of a compromise.

Or basically said, I’m nobody’s dream bachelor. I don’t deny that and truthfully I don’t care. I’m just saying that I’ve got to get going because Lena is coming and she’s going to want to clean the floors to get a few bucks and this is okay for me.

It looks like it’s going to be a little more sunny today. Absolutely no rain is going to fall so today is a watering day. Other than that, I don’t really have a lot to say. I’ll get back when everything’s finished up around here and see if there’s anything in the news or any philosophical ideas come up. But as for now, let’s go.

***

It’s 12:00 noon and frankly, I’m having a wonderful day.

I am having some of the tastiest berries I’ve had in a long time. They are kind of like raspberries but a little longer and have a little bit more substance to them. They also have an extremely rich taste reminiscent of grapes in a way. Deeply sweet. These are black with just a touch of red in them.

They came from my neighbor Tanya who I guess I’ve mentioned a few times before. She called me on the phone and asked if I wanted some. I don’t know how I can never say no to fresh berries.

We ended up having a nice conversation out in front of my house. She has a daughter and she asked me if I might be available to help her with her English. Nice? Absolutely. She is the first person from this village to approach me for academic help. I am so happy.

One part of the conversation though was not so successful. We got to talking about food and I mentioned that I like eating horseradish leaves. She like everyone else here just throws these things away. They also throw away the leaves from beetroot. People here just don’t respect greens.

She asked me how I prepare them and I told her the truth. If you’re not used to it, they are really not very good salad leaves. You can eat them raw and they have their own taste but they are a little bit dry.

Excuse me a second, she just called me again and offered me a few more berries. They really are very good.

Where was i? Really, the berries are excellent.

So I talked about the joys of field greens and then she mentioned that she has a heart problem. She is a very small and skinny person for the most part but despite her hyperactivity /hypertension, she’s got a problem with her ticker. So of course I tried to give her my best speech about veganism and why I consider meet inappropriate food for the human animal. I also talked a little bit about how it is an addiction for us and how meet does not mesh well with the human organism. She of course reacted as if I was taking her drugs away, which I was. But we agreed to disagree. She is one of my kindest neighbors and really, the berries really are tasty.

She asked me if I could help out her daughter and asked me how much it would cost. She, I suppose trying to sound very much like I do, told me it was very important to know the price of things. I told her that berries and forest mushrooms and such make amazing barter material. Everybody was happy and like I said, I got even a few more berries.

Lena also was wonderful this morning. My floors are absolutely shining and she got to every room in the house to do her magic. She also brought along some food, several kilograms of her own pickles. Hers were of a larger size. She lets them grow just for the practicality of the amount of food material. I would definitely say that my pickles are sweeter and tastier but you can’t argue with several kilograms of pickles.

I took those pickles and threw them into a clean 3 l jar and with Lena’s suggestion and recipe, I added three tablespoons of salt, two Dill plants some black peppercorns and a few onion balls and covered it up and put it away from the light. Locally, this recipe is called малосолёный, which is something like lightly salted. We’ll know in a couple of days. Actually, everyday that I wait, they will taste better and better.

The day itself is very light and easy. It’s warm but not brutally warm. Getting an infusion of good food is always nice. Even the cherry plum tree is starting to have a few ripe fruits.

What can I tell you? When you have two women who don’t mind helping out, bring food along and talk to you about even helping out their children with their English lessons, how can this not make your mood all the better?

***

This week’s torah portion is called Matot-Massei. It is a double portion, a combination of matot (מַּטּוֹת), which means tribes and the word massei (מַסְעֵי) which means journeys. These are two separate Torah portions that are placed together to make the number of weekly portions workout in non leap years. Basically is the numbers 30 through 32 and Massey is numbers 33 through 36.

The reading starts out with some rather complicated rules about husbands, wives and the fathers of brides and whether or not they are honest when they take their vows. I think basically it’s mostly property rights concerning women. Women are not exactly people here in the desert near the land of milk and honey. They are property and would remain so until, well, either 100 years ago when women got to vote or now, unless you don’t count the new revisions on Roe versus Wade. Maybe women have never been free but this is another story.

In numbers 31, the Lord tells Moses to take revenge against the Midianites. This is a backlash for plotting against Israel. They set up a draft and got a thousand people from each tribe to make up the army, they were effective and managed to kill every single male who opposed them. I guess with all the mail soldiers gone, spoils of word dictate lots of new property available to the soldiers.

This also has never changed in the history of War regardless of what some consider war crimes. I personally don’t understand how War itself is not a crime but this is just semantics.

Anyway, they killed everyone and burned everything and took everything they could find for themselves and brought all these spoils back with them to the plains of Moab.

Unfortunately, Moses became angry when he found out that they let the females live. He decided they were also involved in the betrayal. So in a fit of misogyny, he ordered all of the women put to death, all of the male children and only let the virgin girls live and their people have the right to do with them what they want. Make of that what you want.

Then they said about doing the accounting of all of the money they made from this war, levied taxes to raise that amount even more and then met for some amazing barbecue.

Apparently not having had their fill of killing it, I blame the barbecue, they then went about looking for their own people who didn’t kill with enough veracity. The people who didn’t show up for the fight got fined and had to drop down to the poorer classes.

After this they got together and started planning their invasion of the holy Land. Not only did they make plans of War but began by parsing out the territories they would have after their victory. They were on a major win streak, they did not think that they would be beaten so they just went ahead and started setting up breakaway republics. I believe we’ve seen this somewhere in the news recently. I think they are calling it The Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR or DNR; Russian: Донецкая Народная Республика, tr. Donetskaya Narodnaya Respublika. 

Here the fourth portion lays out the journeys of the people of Israel. Rewriting history is also a spoil of war. In the next portion, the battle plans (straight from god himself) were given, then the draft notices were sent out and then finally in the last portion, in a move the Republican party and specifically Donald Trump probably got their ideas from, they set up some rules allowing murderers and other war criminals to have places to hide and shielding against future prosecution. 

Sort of like Trump figuring out a way to go lenient on the guys who stormed the capital on January 6th of 2020. Really, there are good people on both sides. 

What do I think about this reading? To me it seems to be the birth of pure fascism. Perhaps there was a time of great uncertainty when the plucky former slaves managed to get away from the brutal slave drivers in Egypt. There, they had no rights except that apparently they ate well. There is no particular notice about the actual working conditions of slaves. There is only the blanket idea that slavery is a horrible thing. It’s funny how we’ve never managed to understand that slavery is inherently bad but yet we’ve never managed not to have it.

Now they have become a warrior Nation unfortunately. They rule now with an iron fist and leadership seems to follow this line of thought. All breaks and discipline are punishable by death. There is not any semblance of democracy. You can’t even have second thoughts or believe that an action is folly. The leadership is following the will of God and that’s all anybody needs to understand. Both the leadership and God get cranky rather easily and when that happens, great suffering begins.

It is hard for me to read this week’s Torah portion without seeing the similarities between the children of Israel getting ready to take over the promised Land and the government’s of both Russia and the United States. What we are seeing is the blueprint for how a stronger Nation deals with a weaker Nation. There is no thought to trade or Fair bargains that mutually benefit. There is only who is stronger and absolutely nothing else matters.

When I was talking with Tanya today, I really quite understood why I like her. She’s just not a fascist. She doesn’t demand to have power. She doesn’t lead with brutality and force. She is one of the meek, complaining about her situation and understanding that nobody gives a damn or will ever do anything to raise her social position no matter how hard she works. And Tanya is absolutely a worker.

It was very easy sitting out in front of my house to point out the fascist households. Everybody knows who I’m talking about. Everybody knows what I’m talking about as well.

Around 1998 I rode a bicycle across the United States. I have many stories from this journey but what I remember about going through the deep South was the endless prejudice. At One stop in particular in Morgan City Louisiana got me set up with a job that I was happy to have. Literally, I spent my last five dollars on breakfast, rode about 50 mi to this town knowing that there were many boat works and therefore good opportunities for day labor, the third person I met gave me a shovel and told me to start moving gravel from one place to another. 2 hours later they gave me some food and offered me a job if I wanted it.

What I quickly came to understand about this organization was that they were doing the dirtiest jobs and they were segregating the actual labor of who did these dirty Jobs depending on race. The main purpose of the organization was to clean bilges of both oil and River Sledge, you had to go down into the hole with one of those plastic suits to keep the toxic material off your body and suck the stuff out with specific vacuums. Only black people went down into the hold. I was seen as white and therefore got other jobs. 

I was also supposed to understand my place and the absolute righteousness of this economic situation. When I mentioned that it seemed a bit unfair that only the black guys were given the life-threatening jobs, I was literally told to make a choice. If I wanted to have sympathy for the black people, I was not allowed to be considered white.

One of my favorite Star Trek episodes of all time talks about racism amazingly well. The third season entry is called “Let that be your last battlefield”. The story concerns a 50,000 year battle between two men, Bele and Lokai. The Enterprise is sent to the planet Ariannus to see if they can do something about the horribly polluted atmosphere of the planet when they run into these two characters. What is interesting is that both characters are half black and half white, literally one half of their face is completely black and the other side is completely White. As to why they are fighting, I can let the dialogue speak for itself:

BELE: Even if they don’t recognise themselves as being such. Yes, he will evade, delay, and escape again and in the process put thousands of innocent beings at each other’s throats, getting them to kill and maim for a cause which they have no stake in, but which he will force them to violently espouse by twisting their minds with his lies, his loathsome accusations and his foul threats.
KIRK: I can assure you, Commissioner, that our minds will not be twisted, not by Lokai, nor by you.
BELE: It is obvious to the most simpleminded that Lokai is of an inferior breed.
SPOCK: The obvious visual evidence, Commissioner, is that he is of the same breed as yourself.
BELE: Are you blind, Commander Spock? Well, look at me. Look at me!
KIRK: You’re black on one side and white on the other.
BELE: I am black on the right side.
KIRK: I fail to see the significant difference.
BELE: Lokai is white on the right side. All of his people are white on the right side.
SPOCK: Commissioner, perhaps the experience of my own planet Vulcan may set an example of some value to you. Vulcan was in danger of being destroyed by the same conditions and characteristics which threaten to destroy Cheron. We were once a people like yourselves, wildly emotional, often committed to irrationally opposing points of view, leading, of course, to death and destruction. Only the discipline of logic saved my planet from extinction.

This turns out to be exactly the truth because when they finally arrive at the planet, they find everyone who had been there was now dead, killed by a war that would never end.

SPOCK: Captain, we are within scanning range of Cheron.
KIRK: Is it within visual range?
SPOCK: Coming within visual range now, Captain.
KIRK: Chekov, put it on the screen. Extreme magnification. What are you picking up?
SPOCK: Several large cities, uninhabited. Extensive traffic systems, barren of traffic. Lower animal sand vegetation encroaching on the cities. No sapient life-forms registering at all, Captain. There is no evidence of natural disaster, yet there are vast numbers of unburied corpses in all cities.
KIRK: You mean, all the people are dead?
SPOCK: All dead, Captain. They have annihilated each other totally.
BELE: My people, all dead?
KIRK: Yes, Commissioner, all of them.
LOKAI: No one alive?
SPOCK: None at all, sir.
BELE: Your band of murderers did this.
LOKAI: Your genocidal maniacs did this! (They attack each other again.)
KIRK: Stop it! What’s the matter with you two? Didn’t you hear Spock? Your planet is dead! There’s nobody alive on Cheron because of hate. The cause you fought about no longer exists. Give yourselves time to breathe. Give up your hate. You’re welcome to live with us. Listen to me. You both must end up dead if you don’t stop hating.
LOKAI: You’re an idealistic dreamer. (Lokai leaves)
KIRK: Bele. The chase is finished.
BELE: He must not escape me.
SPOCK: Where can he go? (Bele leaves)

And indeed, neither of them has the wherewithal to stop. The hate runs too deep. The need for power runs too deep. The foolishness runs too deep. They will just keep hating forever and ever and ever.

Personally, I blame the barbecue. I personally think that the genuine hypocrisy from the Torah is that they cannot seem to rectify the commandment that says thou shalt not kill. It seems, and this is exactly the problem with conservative leadership, the Russians and the American Republican parties, instead of just saying this is a good law don’t do it, everyone seems intent on manipulating the words to their own advantage. 

It’s not morality, there is no justice it’s just murderers justifying their murders and crimes by claiming themselves above the law. Above other people, above the law, everywhere but on planet Earth.

***

It’s about a quarter to 9:00 and I guess that’s it for me today. Today has been generally a pretty good day. Lots of good things have happened. I got my house cleaned and the entire session was very friendly and kind. I overpaid Lena just a little bit and she was extremely happy to have a few extra rubles. And then later, Tanya came by to see if I wanted some fresh berries. I ended up overpaying her a little bit and this also made her very happy. It’s just a little bit more buying power that they have.

There’s not really much else I can do to bring happiness here. There isn’t really much else that people think about. Perhaps one of the reasons I dislike my authoritative/working neighbors is that they also think that they should be made Happy with the addition of some American money. There is a difference between being able to make people happy who are counting calories per kopech and those who are just trying to add to their own fortunes. There is a specific maliciousness that exists in the money people but does not for those at the bottom end.

Reminding myself of the racism in the Southern United States put me in a particular mood for living here. I do not hate people. I don’t hate people because of their social strata and I don’t hate people because of any other reason that people seem to think it’s okay to hate. The cop that takes care of this place is abusive to the alcoholics. I’m using this word because it fits but still, he beats down on the lower classes. I guess he’s come to understand that I don’t quite fit his natural profiling. Oh, he really, really wanted to have a reason to piss on me. My neighbors couldn’t wait to have a reason to hate me. I’m talking about the chicken people and all of the other alcoholics with jobs and wives and husbands.

You really shouldn’t think that there was any romance for me today. You’d think so having two women agree to look out for me a little bit and care about me. You could read in my style that it did wonders for my mood. There’s nothing like having women like you to make you feel generally better. Of course, there’s nothing like the perpetual hate of women who use this power corruptively in order to enrich themselves. But corruption is also a Norm here, isn’t it?

I don’t really require any power. I suppose I would like some help if I can get it. If I’m going to grow vegetables here, a little fertilizer would be nice. I’d also prefer not to have this perpetual hatred be a part of my days. But then again, all of the people who I am speaking about are all car drivers. They are all money people through and through. They are no different from the people without cars except that they have enough insulation to Stew in their own hate. The folks without cars have to live with everyone on the planet Earth. They don’t have the insulation to protect them and keep them stuck in their own thoughts. They have to live with the results of their actions. Being held responsible for what you do tends to breed kindness in people. People who are both under the thumb or not above the law tend to be more honest.

I really am in the exact same position. I have the money people, maybe I can say this better by calling them the “haves”, who want me to prove that I belong with them. In order to do so, I have to provide them with entertainment and money, I have to be agreeable to their rather rancid personalities and I have to agree to hate the “have nots”. In order to join the haves, it is imperative to prove your hatred and revulsion for the have nots.

The have not don’t really have much of a club. They don’t band together because it wouldn’t matter if they did. They don’t have any power. That’s the most important thing to understand about the have nots, they have no power so they tend not to group up.

You know, my family used to scream at me for being sympathetic to the have-nots. They literally would scream at me for having sympathy for my “beloved poor people”. I don’t know that I’ve ever been in love with poverty. In fact, that’s ridiculous, I hate poverty. I hate the existence of poverty. And perhaps truly, the only people I hate are the people who make sure that poverty never ends and the hatred that comes with it and the justifications for that hate and the games they play with Justice that allows them to stay in power and keep the hate going. Really, the only people that I hate are those who perpetuate hate. They are the ones we could live without.