Greek Tragedy, Bankster's Paradise: A Detailed Analysis of the Greek Economic Crisis (Part 2)

Greek Tragedy, Bankster's Paradise: A Detailed Analysis of the Greek Economic Crisis (Part 2)

by Sean Jobst

May 26, 2015

Through Credit Default Swaps (CDS), Goldman Sachs helped the Greek government - I believe it essential here to highlight the corrupt government, not the Greek nation or people who were never party to the agreement - keep billions of dollars worth of debt off their balance sheet. This "helped create a debt bubble that would later explode and bring about the current economic crisis that's drowning the entire continent," writes economic observer Mark Weisbrot. "Goldman Sachs, however, using its insider knowledge of its Greek client, protected itself from this debt bubble by betting against Greek bonds, expecting that they would eventually fail."

In February 2010, six banks and investment firms - including Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank - granted the Greek government a loan in the amount of €8 billion. Corrupt Greek politicians were treasonous when they sold CDSs from the Greek Postal Bank, to the current speculators. These CDSs were then flipped a few months later for $27 billion, most of which was quickly pocketed by these currency vultures and a handful of corrupt politicians. The Greek people were never party to this secret contract, yet they were the ones who were being held responsible for the inevitable crisis. The loans to Greece were bailouts of creditors and not to the people!

The credit debts were insured through the scheme of credit deficit swaps. The banksters lend out cost-free government guarantees they create out of thin air, insuring them for billions and trillions, for which they receive billions more in "premiums". The banksters pocketed the insurance for these amounts created from thin air - amplified a hundredfold. They then get credit for state guarantees backed by taxpayer money.

"Wall Street institutions made a profit of 500 percent within three months through CDS papers in the beginning of the Greek crisis." (Spiegel.de, 5 May 2010) In October 2011, the bankers demanded two trillion Euros. They successfully hoodwinked Greece into giving up its own currency - the drachma - which had existed for 2,700 years, which was like destroying their identity.

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein boasted before the U.S. Congress that his company sold non-existing wealth to governments and public institutions alike, completely out of thin air. He boasted how Goldman Sachs kept 90% of all monies from bailouts and investments. Blankfein knew the risks for the Greek nation, but him and his ilk did not care, because they wanted to turn a huge profit. The Greek people suffered, while Blankfein and his cabal of robber-baron bankers are living it up!

In the case of Greece, over 90% of the sales revenue of these "investments" went to the firm's salary and bonuses, with most of the remaining 10% going for "administrative costs." Obviously, the bankers profited immensely from the bailout which did not benefit Greece - and certainly not the Greek people themselves, who suffered from this swindle.

Dictatorship by Credit Agencies

The rating agencies helped perpetuate the fraud, pretending that their price was valued correctly, masking the reality that these ratings were all artificially-designed to give profits to these private rating agencies. In 2006, the agencies rated Greece as "extremely good." In 2010, the Greek economy fell by 4.5% and then another 4% in 2011. As soon as a country falls below a certain "rating limit" artificially set by these agencies, the CDSs increase - and both are set up in such a way that the "debt" is never ending, with interest upon interest perpetually!

The so-called "ratings" of these private investment firms has led to a "dictatorship by rating grade allocation. The rating agencies have unprecedented power. Half of Europe trembles at their verdict. The politicians have made them powerful." (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 18 June 2011) This was evident on June 17, 2011, when German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy met in Berlin to announce the terms for a new Greek "bailout", but dutifully invited the rating agency Finch, which proved its political clout by negotiating with the politicians the terms which they would accept for not giving a negative rating for Greece - blackmail, pure and simple!

In May 2010, Greece was "saved" with €110 billion, including no less than 85 billion for CDS "bets." In June 2011, the agencies rated Greece in the "red" to the tune of €330 billion, which increased to "around 350 billion Euros" only two weeks later. (Die Welt, 17 June 2011, p. 4) To drive up the settlement price - and thus their profits - Greece was downgraded by the rating agencies.

While issuing credit to EU countries at up to 30% interest, the European Central Bank made the money available to the private bankers at only 1% interest! The ECB then repurchased their own money at exorbitant interest rates. "The ECB has capital of only 82 billion Euros, yet it has 1,900 billion Euros in paper on its books. These are mainly Greek junk bonds." (Die Welt, 25 June 2011, p. 17)

The Austerity Swindle

The Greek economy was further ruined by newly-invented "austerity" measures, which forced the nation to hand over its national assets to the private international bankers/"investors", in a process code-named "privatization." At the moment these "austerity" measures are accepted, yet another lowering of the nation's "creditworthiness" is announced. The agencies then increase their loans without any limit being imposed.

Spain was another test example: "The financial world demanded that Spain initiate a policy of austerity and cost-cutting; but as soon as Spain began to seriously comply with their demand, they lowered Spain's credit rating. The Finch agency changed its evaluation of Spain's creditworthiness, saying that the austerity program would choke off its growth." (Stern.de, 29 May 2010)

One of those instrumental in wrecking the economies of the southern European countries was the New York-based banker Bill Lipschutz was the foreign exchange market trader who directed the Portfolio Department at Hathersage Capital Management, which specialized in G-10 currencies, including the Euro:

"Every morning Lipschutz gets up at two or three o'clock to see what the markets in Europe are doing....Nobody knows whether the Greeks will be able to solve their problems. Nobody knows whether the other countries will come to their assistance. Nobody knows whether the crisis can be contained in Greece or will spread like wildfire among 'the PIIGS' (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain) and the European currency will finally disintegrate. These represent shining opportunities for currency speculators, they can place bets on the fall of the Euro." (Der Spiegel, No. 8, 2010, p. 64)

A measure of austerity is achieving an keeping a primary surplus, which is what a government earns in taxes every year, minus what it spends on everything else except interest payments on its own debt. This becomes part of the Gross Domestic Product. Under its four-year-old bailout program, Greece dragged itself from a 10% deficit to a 3% surplus, at great cost in employment rates. The terms of the recent bailout demand Greece reach a surplus of 4.5% and hold it for the length of the program, but few countries have even been able to maintain a 3% surplus, much less 4.5%. (Brendan Greeley, "Why Greece Won't Ever Be Able to Pay Off Its Debts With Austerity," Bloomberg Business Week, February 19, 2015)

The insolvency of the banks

The anti-austerity protests happened because the people got tired with being held responsible for the secret deals between private bankers and investors with corrupt governments and politicians. As the Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis - one of the few Marxists I respect and admire completely - has said repeatedly, the Greek economic crisis is essentially an insolvency problem, not a liquidity issue that requires bailing out failed banks or giving out more loans.

Varoufakis connected this to the issue of the banks, observing how they want to sell off their own bank debt by selling off Greece's assets. Thus we see the root of the problem is to focus on insolvency, but the international bankers and their media and political whores insist on obfuscating the real root of the crisis, advocating phony "solutions" which can only lead to more profits for the bankers and more heartache for the Greek people. On the February 2nd episode of Russia Today's "Keiser Report", banking analyst Frances Coppola was quoted as saying:

"Everyone knows Greece is insolvent, of course, but no-one has ever stated it officially. The Troika's [EU, ECB, IMF] position is that Greece's problem is a temporary liquidity shortfall: lending it more money so it can meet current debt service obligations is justified because structural reforms will lead to renewed growth and increased income, enabling it to meet its obligations (including those for the new loans) in the future. But Varoufakis disagrees with this interpretation. His view is that while things remain as they are, Greece will never recover. The bailout program locks it into a debt deflationary spiral which simultaneously reduces its income and increases its debt burden. Continuing to accept more loans in order to meet debt service obligations only makes matters worse."

 

 

Syriza and the Road Ahead

 

In an interview with British Channel 4 News, Varoufakis said he has three main objectives: First, deal with the humanitarian crisis in Greece. Second, reform the country in such a way that it addresses the root cause - what he called the "triangle of sin." He defined this triangle as the procurement aspects of the State, the bankrupt bankers, and the mass media. He described the "unholy alliance" between bankrupt bankers, developers and media owners who become the voice of those who want to sponge off the people's productive efforts. Finally, to renegotiate the loan agreements which he correctly said have been destructive to Europe as a whole, not only to Greece.

 

The Syriza government has announced if there is no deal, they might return to the Drachma. "They want us to impose capital controls and cause a credit crunch, until the government becomes so unpopular that it falls," one Greek official stated. "They want to make an example of us, and demonstrate that no government in the eurozone has a right to have a mind of its own. They don't believe that we will walk away, or that the Greek people will back us, and they are wrong on both counts." There is already discontent within Greece that the government will cave into EU pressure to extend its bailout and the austerity that comes with it, fears that have led to many protests.

 

 

 



Greek Tragedy, Bankster's Paradise: A Detailed Analysis of the Greek Economic Crisis (Part 1)

Greek Tragedy, Bankster's Paradise: A Detailed Analysis of the Greek Economic Crisis (Part 1)

by Sean Jobst

May 24, 2015

In our emerging global reality, governments are revealing themselves more and more to be the service industries of big banks. Greece was the testing ground for the new austerity cuts, and from looking at the background of the Greek tragedy we can see how it occurred through the collusion between local corrupt politicians and the global currency speculators/usurers, and extrapolating from this, we can then see the collusion between these same speculators and political elites within EU countries whose policies further exacerbated the Greek tragedy.

As with other articles and researches, this story too was prompted by the field journalist in me. Last summer, I had the pleasure of visiting Thessaloniki and traveling through the beautiful northern part of Greece. Very soon, early June in fact, I will be visiting the capital and heartland: Athens. This span of barely a year has nevertheless seen remarkable changes and transitions within Greece, as a new government was elected on January 26, 2015 that expressed the Greek people's anger and frustration with what international bankers had forced upon the country and wrecked its economy.

Banking Foreign to Greek Traditions

Our story starts with ancient Greece and the Greek language, which can give us better insights into the modern era. Aristotle considered the nature of money as "barren," meaning it cannot yield more of itself. Any assumption that it could is merely a fiction perpetuated by force of law, not existing naturally. He referred to usury as the cruelest fiction of all, a perspective one can better appreciate from the Greek word τόκος (tokos) which means "breed" or "offspring," but was also used by usurers to describe "interest":

"The most hated sort (of wealth getting) and with the greatest reason, is usury, which makes a gain out of money itself and not from the natural object of it. For money was intended to be used in exchange but not to increase at interest. And this term interest [τόκος], which means the birth of money from money is applied to the breeding of money because the offspring resembles the parent. Wherefore of all modes of getting wealth, this is the most unnatural." (Aristotle, Politics, Book 1, section 1258b)

After modern Greece became an independent nation in 1832, it adopted the ancient term Δραχμή (Drachma) for the new currency. Despite the richness of the Greek language, there was no term for the modern concept of a bank. Ian Dallas cites an anecdote that when banking was introduced in post-Ottoman Greece, to describe this new concept of banking, a comparison was made for how a husband would return home and place all his money on the table, and the wife would then divide and distribute the money. Hence, the word τράπεζα (trapeza) meaning "table," was applied to the bank. (Ian Dallas, The Time of the Bedouin, on the politics of power, Cape Town: Budgate Press, 2006, pp. 59-60)

Greece was barely an independent nation when outside powers, chiefly Britain and Russia, were meddling in its internal affairs. After Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou expressed his wish to keep Greece neutral during the Cold War and questioned remaining in NATO, the CIA supported a coup that overthrew him in April 1967. The reason given at the time, as with CIA support of other coups that toppled democratically-elected leaders, was the specter of Communism.

Yet, like Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala or Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran, Papandreou was an anti-Communist but neutralist in the Cold War, who put the national interests of their nation over the dictates of corporate greed and profits. This sets the stage for the involvement in foreign players within Greece, financial interests that drive politics not just at the national level but also globally.

Simitis and Papademos sell out Greece

In 2002, the Greek government of Prime Minister Konstantinos Simitis and Lucas Papademos, Governor of the Bank of Greece, made a deal with the infamous New York-based investment firm Goldman Sachs. A crucial link is the personality of Papademos, who played a major role in the 2012 austerity measures as Prime Minister. More on him later, since he used the ten years between that time to deepen his Globalist links. Looking at the personality of Simitis sheds some light on how easy it was for him to sell-out his country to a cabal of private international bankers and "investment" firms.

A leader of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), Simitis served as Prime Minister from 1996 to 2004. There were rumors that Simitis had a Jewish grandfather named Aaron Avouris, and that Simitis himself frequented the Athens synagogue. News leaked out that his daughter married a Jew in a synagogue wedding. These are rumors and I haven't found concrete evidence to back it up, but certainly if true they would make sense of his close connections with the mostly-Jewish bankers of Goldman Sachs and another incident under his government that was puzzling.

I am referring to when Simitis sought to take off the religion category from the Tavtotites (ID cards), removing the "Orthodox Christian" designation and thus allowing Jews to better "hide" within Greek society. I mention this because the issue of the ID cards was used to claim that Jews were being "discriminated" against within Greek society. But this is most hypocritical, when we look at how Israel not only itself abides strictly by categories in its ID cards over who is a Jew or not a Jew, but also that it went further than Greece ever did, by instituting DNA tests to prove the "Jewishness" of its residents:

"The Israeli Interior Ministry was subjecting some immigrants from the former USSR to DNA testing in order to check their Jewish ancestry. The well respected Israeli daily Ha'aretz said dozens of new immigrants had already been asked to take the test, and that those who had declined risked deportation." (Jewish Chronicle, London, July 10, 1998, p. 3)

Real nature of the 2002 deal

The deal involved a currency swap in which €10 billion in debt issued in dollars and yen to Greece, was then swapped for Euro-debt to be paid in euros, based around a fictional exchange rate. This rate was determined by the very low level of the euro at the time, which then stood at around 85 U.S. cents. This led the Greeks into believing they made a great deal. Meanwhile, other European nations were cheated because this extended additional credit was never reported to Brussels.

However, the reality was very different - leading to immense profits for Goldman Sachs' investors and plunging Greece into the disaster from which it has yet to fully recover. As managers of the loan, Goldman Sachs charged Greece $300 million, later selling the swap to a Greek bank in 2005. The artificially-high exchange rate did not accurately denote the market value of the euro.

The result was that Greece was advanced a €2.8 billion loan, yet on the books €10 billion remained the principal upon which the Greek government agreed to repay with interest. The dollar soon dropped to far lower than the euro, which left Greece in even worse shape while Goldman Sachs investors enjoyed a further $24 million return on the transaction. The deal lost Greece EU voting rights, while Goldman Sachs soon experienced massive taxpayer subsidies, political influence and inflated CEO bonuses in the U.S.

Enter the Globalist Papademos phase

Under Simitis, Lucas Papademos served as Governor of the Bank of Greece. Then, from 2002 to 2010 he served as Vice President of the European Central Bank. He first cut his teeth in the banking world as former senior economist of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. This is a very significant fact for both Americans and Greeks, and shows the globalist nature of the big banks, which are not tied to one single national entity and thus accountable to only themselves, even while looting the wealth of a nation and being protected by its government.

Papademos was the chief economic advisor to Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou between 2009 and 2011. Papademos is a member of the globalist Trilateral Commission, whose meetings are clouded in secrecy even while the leading political and economic figures of different countries are attendees. Papademos then served as Greek Prime Minister from 11 November 2011 to 16 May 2012, during which the initial financial crisis was further exacerbated.

Netanyahu's Disturbing Chabad Connections (Part 3)

Netanyahu's Disturbing Chabad Connections (Part 3)

by Sean Jobst

May 11, 2015

After Netanyahu was first elected in 1996, Hasidic members celebrated in the occupied city of Hebron by seizing an ancient Turkish bath near their settlement for use of a celebratory concert. Hebron was the site of the February 1994 massacre of 29 Palestinian Arab worshippers in a mosque at the hands of Jewish extremist Baruch Goldstein, who had close links with both the Kahane movement and the Chabad movement in the settlements around Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburg.

Schneerson was closely connected to Israeli political elites, as we have seen earlier in the series (<http://sjobst.blogspot.com/2015/04/netanyahus-disturbing-chabad.html> and <http://sjobst.blogspot.com/2015/04/netanyahus-disturbing-chabad_16.html>). His New York Times obituary called him "a major political force in Israel, both in the Knesset and among the electorate." Schneerson had "presided over a religious empire that reached from the back streets of Brooklyn to the main streets of Israel and by 1990 was taking in an estimated $100 million a year in contributions." (Ari L. Goldman, "Rabbi Schneerson Led A Small Hasidic Sect To World Prominence," New York Times, June 13, 1994)

"Fight the Jewish way, not Western morality"

The Chabad rabbi Manis Friedman, dean of the Bais Chana Institute of Jewish Studies in St. Paul, Minnesota, translates Schneerson's talks and personally introduced Bob Dylan's "conversion" to Chabad. Friedman was asked "How Should Jews Treat Their Arab Neighbors?," and here is his response:

"I don't believe in western morality, i.e. don't kill civilians or children, don't destroy holy sites, don't fight during holiday seasons, don't bomb cemeteries, don't shoot until they shoot first because it is immoral. The only way to fight a moral war is the Jewish way: Destroy their holy sites. Kill men, women and children (and cattle)." ("Ask The Rabbis//How Should Jews Treat Their Arab Neighbors?," Moment Magazine, May-June 2009)

Why does this hate speaker appear on these media outlets?

Meet Yitzhak Ginsburg

The American-born Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburg studied directly under Chabad Lubavitcher leader Schneerson in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York. He immigrated to Israel, becoming the head of the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva on the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar. Ginsburg's religious opinions were much respected by the settlers on the West Bank, and he remained closely connected with the Chabad Hassidic movement.

"In his writings, Ginzburg gives prominence to Halachic and kabbalistic approaches that emphasize the distinction between Jew and non-Jew (Gentile), imposing a clear separation and hierarchy in this respect. He claims that while the Jews are the Chosen People and were created in God's image, the Gentiles do not have this status....Ginzburg stated that, on the theoretical level, if a Jew requires a liver transplant to survive, it would be permissible to seize a Gentile and take their liver forcefully. From this point only a small further step is required to actively encourage and support the killing of non-Jews, as Ginzburg did in the case of Goldstein." (Motti Inbari, Jewish Fundamentalism and the Temple Mount: Who Will Build the Third Temple?, State University of New York Press, 2009, p. 134)

In 1989, Ginsburg justified the killing of Palestinians by some of his students. "The seminary's spiritual leader, Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburg, justified the slaying and said the blood of Jews and non-Jews cannot be equated. 'We have to recognize that Jewish blood and the blood of a goy are not the same thing.'" (The Globe and Mail, Toronto, June 3, 1989, p. A2)

Israeli stealing of organs from a Palestinian child

Stealing Gentile organs to save Jewish lives

Rabbi Ginsburg gave the ruling that it was permissible according to the Halacha (Jewish law) to steal Gentile organs in order to save Jewish lives: "If every single cell in a Jewish body entails divinity, and is thus part of God, then every strand of DNA is a part of God. Therefore, something is special about Jewish DNA.

"If a Jew needs a liver, can he take the liver of an innocent non-Jew to save him? The Torah would probably permit to take the liver of an innocent non-Jew passing by, to save the Jew. There is something infinitely more holy and unique about Jewish life than non-Jewish life." (Quoted in Israel Shahak and Norton Mezvinsky, Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel, London: Pluto Press, 1999, pp. 43, 62)

Israeli Levy Izhak Rosenbaum was arrested for trying to arrange a sale of a kidney. Investigators then uncovered his involvement in  international organ smuggling for seven years. Rosenbaum had links with and was arrested as part of the Operation Big Rig corruption investigation in New York and New Jersey. As Chief Pathologist for the Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine, Yehuda Hiss was also involved in removing and selling organs.

One region especially ripe for organ trafficking is Eastern Europe, including in Ukraine where Chabad still has networks. Those involved include Sasha Harel and the Belarussian-born Israeli Yuri Katzman, both of whom worked with Rosenbaum. Ukrainian philosophy professor Vyacheslav Gudin, and presidential candidate Serhiy Ratushnyak exposed how Israeli medical centers brought thousands of Ukrainian children to Israel to harvest their organs for "spare parts" between 2007 and 2009 (Ha'aretz, December 3, 2009). In December 2010, EU authorities uncovered an elaborate organ trafficking network in Kosovo that involved an Israeli who enticed donors from Moldova, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkey with false promises of $20,000. Certainly, we must raise serious questions about current Israeli "relief" activities in Nepal, where organ harvesting is a major problem. Two Spanish-language tv networks actually mentioned how Israel has trafficked 25 Nepalese babies and brought them back to Israel with them.

"Well, it’s kind of remarkable but over the last 15 years just time after time when there have been prosecutions of organ traffickers, Israel always seems to have some role," says New York Times reporter Kevin Sack in an interview with PBS Newshour. "Israelis are either the buyers or the sellers. Often they’re the brokers. And it has a lot to do with a view among orthodox rabbis that brain death, which obviously is the optimal circumstance for organ donation, is not actually death, and as a result organ donation rates in Israel are very low and people have few places to go other than the black market."

The evil of Lurianic Cabbala

Lurianic Cabbala is a school of Cabbala which directly influenced Chabad and the West Bank settler movement. When we look at the Cabbala fad peddled in many of the Gentile Hollywood elite, we see it masking a deep reality that could only be made possible by an industry that elevates Jewishness into almost an obsessive level. So that even if not "biologically" Jews - and this is an obsession not of mine but of the Talmud and the strict laws of Israel - they can at least "feel" spiritually Jews. This can also be seen in how the Chabad has been at the forefront of advocating the so-called "Noahide" laws in the United States, a disturbing story of their influence which is a story for a different time.

"One of the basic tents of the Lurianic Cabbala is the absolute superiority of the Jewish soul and body over the non-Jewish soul and body. According to the Lurianic Cabbala, the world was created solely for the sake of Jews; the existence of non-Jews was subsidiary," seen as "'the earthly embodiment' of Satan, and according to the Halacha (Jewish law), the term 'human beings' refers solely to Jews."  (Israel Shahak and Norton Mezvinsky, Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel).

Another advocate of Lurianic Cabbala was Rabbi Abraham Kook, the first chief rabbi of Israel, whose son Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook, later founded the settler Gush Emumin movement. Like Ginsburg in recent decades, Rabbi Abraham Kook said: "The difference between a Jewish soul and souls of non-Jews - all of them in all different levels - is greater and deeper than the different between a human soul and the souls of cattle." (Quoted in Allan Brownfeld, "Book Review: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel," Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, March 2000, pp. 105-106)

Netanyahu's Disturbing Chabad Connections (Part 2)

Netanyahu's Disturbing Chabad Connections (Part 2)

by Sean Jobst

April 16, 2015

Schneerson was seventh in a line of Chabad leaders called Rebbe. The first Rebbe was Shneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812), one of the foremost Hashidic authorities, who authored commentaries and updated versions of Halacha (Jewish law). In the first two chapters of Tanya, he claimed Jewish souls were derived from the Divine, whereas the souls of "the nations" (goyim/gentiles) are derived from evil. So "all the good that the nations do, is done from selfish motives....all the charity and kindness done by the nations of the world is only for their own self-glorification."

Rabbi Shneur Zalman

Zalman also said: "All Jews are good by nature, all non-Jews are evil by nature. The Jews are creation's crowning glory, the non-Jews are the scum of the earth." (Quoted in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 11 March 1994, p. 14) That this is a "master race" ideology, is seen by the fact that he also said in chapters 18 and 19 of Tanya that even the lowest Jew has a "spark" of the Divine. "The inwardness of a Jew....remains intact in every Jew, regardless of his outward status and whatever the outward circumstances may be." (Schneerson, Letters by the Lubavitscher Rebbe 1956-1980, Brooklyn, New York: Kehot Publication Society, 1981, p. 13)

This book is openly sold by Jewish bookstores, while the hate-filled Tanya holds such reverence among the Chabad movement that it contains the entire work on its official website. Chabad subscribes to this ideology which sees the Jews inherently as "divine," while castigating all Gentiles as inherently "inferior" solely by fact of birth and lineage: "The basic religious and social mission of Habad is thus intended to elevate the conscious choice of the individual to the level of his inner Jewish choseness, that is, to actualize his inner given holiness." (Aviezer Ravitzky, Messianism, Zionism, and Jewish Religious Radicalism, University of Chicago Press, 1996, p. 191)

Schneerson taught that Jews were uniquely "chosen" and granted innate holiness, which further entrenches an ontological barrier between Jews and non-Jews, leading to the exclusivism that really defines Chabad. Schneerson taught that each morning, Jews should give thanks to God for having restored their "Jewish souls", as "'life' is Jewish life only", so that "his entire vitality and life consist - in his being a Jew." (Schneerson, On the Essence of Chassidus, Brooklyn, NY: Kehot Publication Society, 1986, pp. 49, 73) This book is likewise taught on the Chabad website and can be openly purchased from Jewish bookstores.

"Souls of Gentiles unclean"

The following excerpts are from the text Tanya, which is a major part of Chabad's "outreach" efforts. It was written by the first Chabad Rebbe and is much studied by Chabad as "the one-size fits all life manual." Here is their true teachings against all non-Jews, laid bare for any honest observer:

"The souls of the nations of the world (i.e. all Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, etc.), however, emanate from the other, unclean 'kelipot' (evil forces) which contain no good whatever." (Tanya, New York/London: Kehot Publication Society, 1973, p. 5)

"However, the 'kelipot' (evil forces) are subdivided into two grades, one lower than the other. The lower grade consists of the three 'kelipot' which are altogether unclean and evil, containing no good whatever. From them flow and derive the souls of all the nations of the world (i.e. all Christians, Muslims, etc.), and the existence of their bodies, and also the souls of all living creatures that are unclean and unfit for consumption." (ibid., Chapter 6, p. 25)

"To elucidate still further, it is necessary to clarify the meaning of the verse 'The candle of God is the soul of (neshamah) of man.' What it means is that the souls of Jews, who are called 'man', are, by way of illustration, like the flame of the candle, whose nature it is always to scintillate upwards....Now this is a general principle in the whole realm of holiness....This stands in direct contrast to the so-called 'Kelipah' (evil forces) and 'sitra achara' (the other, evil side), where from are derived the souls of the Gentiles....Therefore they (the Gentiles) are called 'dead.'" (ibid., Chapter 19, pp. 77, 79)

Thus, Chabad lumps all Gentiles with pigs, snakes, worms, and all other "creatures that are unclean and unfit for consumption." There are also comparisons to dogs: "Thus an Orthodox Jew learns from his earliest youth, as part of his sacred studies, that Gentiles are compared to dogs." (Israel Shahak, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, London: Pluto Press, 1994, p. 94) This serves as a theological basis behind the actions of Israeli political and military leaders and the Zionist movement, to dehumanize the Palestinian "goyim" and legitimize their genocide. "[Israeli Prime Minister Menachem] Begin called the Palestinians in Lebanon 'two-legged animals' and [Israeli military chief of staff Rafael] Eytan referred to them as 'cockroaches in a bottle.'"(New York Times, August 5, 1985, p. 1) "One million Arabs are not worth a Jewish fingernail."(Rabbi Yaacov Perrin at a eulogy for mass-murderer Baruch Goldstein. Quoted in the New York Times, Feb. 28, 1994, p. 1). "A thousand non-Jewish lives are not worth a Jew's fingernail."(Rabbi Dov Lior, chairman of the Israeli army's Jewish Rabbinic Council, quoted in Stephen Lendman, "Religious Fundamentalism in Israel").

Hateful anti-Gentile ad on back of Israeli bus

"The Gentile waits to be told what the Jew wants"

The above picture is an advertisement on the back of a Jerusalem bus belonging to the bus company Egged. A contract for its subsidiary company was lost in the Netherlands due to Egged's support for oppression of the Palestinians. The ad in the picture above says: "Statement of the kingdom. From the teachings=instructions of the rabbi [Schneerson]. The Gentile does not want anything. He waits to be told what the Jew wants!"

Schneerson on Jews and Gentiles as "two separate species"

"A non-Jew should be punished by death if he kills an embryo, even if the embryo is non-Jewish, while the Jew should not be, even if the embryo is Jewish. The difference between a Jewish and a non-Jewish person stems from the common expression: 'Let us differentiate.' Thus, we do not have a case of profound change in which a person is merely on a superior level. Rather we have a case of 'let us diffentiate' between totally different species. This is what needs to be said about the body: the body of a Jewish person is of a totally different quality from the body of [members] of all nations [goyim] of the world.

"The Jewish body 'looks as if it were in substance similar to bodies of non-Jews,' but the meaning is that the bodies only seem to be similar in material substance, outward look and superficial quality. The difference of the inner quality, however, is so great that the bodies should be considered as completely different species.

"This is the reason why the Talmud states that there is an halachic difference in attitude about the bodies of non-Jews: 'and their bodies are in vain'....An even greater difference exists in regard to the soul. Two contrary types of soul exist, a non-Jewish soul comes from three satanic spheres, while the Jewish soul stems from holiness.

"The body of a Jewish embryo is on a higher level than is the body of a non-Jew....We therefore ask: Why should a non-Jew be punished if he kills even a non-Jewish embryo while a Jew should not be punished even if he kills a Jewish embryo? The answer can be understood by the general difference between Jews and non-Jews: A Jew was not created as a means for some [other] purpose; he himself is the purpose, since the substance of all [divine] emanations was created only to serve the Jews: 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth' means that [the heavens and the earth] were created for the sake of the Jews, who are called the 'beginning.'

"This means everything, all developments, all discoveries, the creation, including the 'heavens and the earth' - are vanity compared to the Jews. The important things are the Jews, because they do not exist for any [other] aim; they themselves are [the divine] aim." (Schneerson, Gatherings of Conversations, 1965; quoted in Israel Shahak and Norton Mezvinsky, Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel, London: Pluto Press, 1999, pp. 59-60)

Bush serving Chabad

All Gentile politicians expected to serve

Ovadia Yosef's Anti-Gentilism, Racism in Israel, and the Failing Zionist Experiment

Ovadia Yosef's Anti-Gentilism, Racism in Israel, and the Failing Zionist Experiment

by Sean Jobst

April 15, 2015

[The following is a parallel study, along with the previous article "Netanyahu's Disturbing Chabad Connections", on Netanyahu's connections to Jewish fundamentalists who hate Gentiles and who wield influence over Israel's policies]:

Ovadia Yosef on Netanyahu: "I respect him."

While the Chabad movement is rooted in Ashkenazim, the Sephardic branch of Jewry is not without its own fundamentalist equivalents. This was symbolized by Shas, the political party founded by Iraqi-born Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel. He was generally well-regarded within general Haredi circles, which included the Chabad movement. When he died in 2013, Netanyahu remembered him as one of the "great halachic authorities of our generation." To invoke his "halachic authority" clearly means that Netanyahu agreed with his rulings on Jewish law.

"Moderate" Shimon Peres getting Yosef's blessing

Rabbi Yosef's influence within Israeli political circles was demonstrated by the fact that those eulogizing him also included President Shimon Peres (an alleged "moderate"), Finance Minister Yair Lapid, Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett, and Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky. Such praises abounded among Israeli leaders, with only former Meretz leader Yossi Sarid not joining the chorus; on March 3, 2000, Yosef said in a sermon: "God will uproot him just as he uproots Amalek; that is how he will uproot him. Haman is cursed? Yossi Sarid is cursed." (Ma'ariv, March 19, 2000). So much for the much-vaunted Israeli "democracy"!

"Gentiles were born only to serve the people of Israel"

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef said in his sermon on October 18, 2010: "The sole purpose of non-Jews is to serve Jews. Why are gentiles needed? They will work, they will plow, they will reap; and we will sit like an effendi [overseer] and eat. That is why gentiles were created. In Israel, death has no dominion over them....With gentiles, it will be like any person - they need to die, but [God] will give them longevity. Why? Imagine that one's donkey would die, they'd lose their money. This is his servant.... That's why he gets a long life, to work well for this Jew. Gentiles were born only to serve us. Without that, they have no place in the world - only to serve the People of Israel." (Quoted in Jonah Mandel, "Yosef: Gentiles exist only to serve Jews," The Jerusalem Post, October 18, 2010)

"It is forbidden to be merciful to the Arabs. You must annihilate them with missiles"

In 2001, Ovadia Yosef said in a sermon about the Arabs: "It is forbidden to be merciful to them. You must send missiles to them and annihilate them. They are evil and damnable. The Lord shall return the Arabs' deeds on their own heads, waste their seed and exterminate them, devastate them and vanish them from this world." (Quoted in "Rabbi calls for annihilation of Arabs," BBC News, 10 April 2001; and Greg Myre, "On the Air, Palestinians Soften Tone on Israelis," The New York Times, December 15, 2004).

One wonders what the reaction would be if a nationalist leader in a European country, an extreme Christian fundamentalist in the United States, or an Islamic leader in a Muslim country uttered such genocidal statements against the "others". Yet, when it relates to Jewish fundamentalism the ties of such leaders as Peres and Netanyahu to such purveyors of hate gets a free pass. One has to wonder what could go through the minds of those who describe such hate-mongers as "moderate," such as what The Jewish Chronicle said in its obituary which memorialized Yosef as "The most significant halachic authority of the last 100 years, whose positions helped fashion a balanced and moderate Judaism."  (Joe Wolfson, "The enduring legacy of Rav Ovadia Yosef," The Jewish Chronicle, London, 11 October 2013, p. 33)

Hurricane Katrina "divine punishment of the blacks of New Orleans"

In 2005, Yosef said about Hurricane Katrina: "There was a tsunami and there are terrible natural disasters, because there isn't enough Torah study....Black people reside there [New Orleans]. Blacks will study the Torah? [God said,] 'Let's bring a tsunami and drown them'....Hundreds of thousands remained homeless. Tens of thousands have been killed. All of these because they have no God." (Quoted in Zvi Alush, "Rabbi: Hurricane punishment for pullout," YNet News, 7 September 2005; and "Shas rabbi: Hurricane is Bush's punishment for pullout support," Associated Press, 7 September 2005)

American evangelical "Christian" Zionist leader Pat Robertson publicly blamed Hurricane Katrina's devastation of New Orleans on "voodoo," much like he had previously did the same for the Haitian earthquake - both instances exhibiting his latent racism toward blacks. He was justifiably condemned for his remarks by the same U.S. media which seemed silent about Rabbi Yosef's comments (as with other Zionist hate-speech). When some Islamic leaders often idiotically ascribe blame to natural disasters as some kind of punishment, such pro-Zionist outfits as MEMRI are quick to seize upon such ridiculous, reactionary statements for their own political benefit - meanwhile, not a peep from these same "activists" when it comes to statements from the likes of Rabbi Yosef!

Racism in Israeli Society

In his last re-election campaign, Netanyahu's outreach to Sephardic fundamentalism paid off as they represented a major bloc behind his success, according to an Associated Press report. The irony is there have been questions of Netanyahu's own feelings about the Sephardic Jews, such that the former Moroccan Jewish caretaker of Netanyahu's household, Meni Naftali, sued his former employer in March 2014 over abusive and racist treatment, including Netanyahu's wife, Sara's statement: "We are Europeans. We are refined, we don't eat as much as you Moroccans. You are fattening us and then when we are photographed abroad, we look fat." (That Zionism started and grew as a rejection of Europe belies the claim of being "European", but this is another topic).

There is discrimination within Israel based on skin color and complexion even among Jews, a fact ironically highlighted recently by Jewish-American Donald Sterling, the racist ex-owner of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team: "You go to Israel, the black Jews are treated like dogs. Black Jews are less than white Jews. I give them cars, houses, food." This extends to the Ethiopian Falasha Jews, whose sect predates the Talmud (although many have since been adopting Rabbinical Judaism); the Black Hebrews living in Dimona; Bene Israel Jews originally from India; and even generally toward many Sephardic Jews.

The Failing Zionist Experiment

In my opinion, Netanyahu represents a vision of Zionism which has nostalgia for the Ashkenazic culture that specifically arose out of the shetls and ghettoes of Eastern European Jewry. Due to his desire to maintain this character of Israel, Netanyahu has been capitalizing on the alleged rise of  "anti-Semitic" incidents across Europe to stampede European Jews to flee to Israel, in a desperate effort both to stem the tide of (mostly Ashkenazi) Jews fleeing from Israel and provide more settlers to pursue the Zionist expansionist agenda. Demographically, Netanyahu and his ilk are desperate to attract more Jews to Israel in order to grab yet more land from the Palestinians.

Such reasons for the emigration from Israel are high prices and taxes, compulsory military service, and, as pointed out by Ha'aretz columnist Ravit Hecht, the rise of ultra-nationalist fundamentalism. Yet, even a "moderate" such as the late Yitzhak Rabin called those who left Israel a "cascade of wimps" and "fallout of cowards." The reality of Israel is that it has a poverty rate higher than Mexico and Turkey, and is a welfare state propped up by aid from other countries, most notably the United States, and "reparations" from Germany.

Little wonder that increasing numbers of Israeli youth have given up on the Zionist experiment. For example, in 2005 alone the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics announced 650,000 Israelis away for over a year hadn't returned. Some estimates show 40% of Israelis want to leave the country! As British journalist Yvonne Ridley states in a recent article, "This intellectual exodus of Jewish talent is troubling Netanyahu and the rest of the Knesset because it means that the Zionist dream is faltering. Perhaps the Israeli leadership is also worried that, in stark contrast, global calls for the Palestinians to be availed of their right of return to their homeland are growing with each new generation."

Netanyahu's Disturbing Chabad Connections (Part 1)

Netanyahu's Disturbing Chabad Connections (Part 1)

by Sean Jobst

April 15, 2015

When criticizing the fundamentalist element of a religion, criticism is always most effective coming from adherents of that religion. Being a Gentile (non-Jew) in both religion and lineage, my criticisms of Jewish fundamentalism stem from its danger to the world and the fact that, unlike certain Christian or Islamic extremist movements, it does not receive nearly as much scrutiny (I would argue due to the disproportionate control Jews have over the world's media). Just as speaking out against extremist trends of other religions doesn't necessarily mean hating all the adherents of the entire religion, so too must my criticisms of this dangerous Judaic Talmudic ideology in control of a state (Israel) be seen in the same vein.

Zionist media outlets spread alarmist fears about the alleged messianism of former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, implying that his own personal belief as a Shi'ite in the twelfth imam had a direct impact on Iran's policies (even if it was true, the President has little control over determining Iran's foreign policy). Many American progressive outlets (rightly) pointed out the weird apocalyptic beliefs exhibited among the Neocons during the Bush Administration, such as how Paul Wolfowitz and intelligence leaders at the Pentagon invited Michael Drosnin, expert on the cabbalistic-derived (but contrary to Christianity) "Bible Code" to brief them in February 2003 - just a month before the bombing and invasion of Iraq on the day of Purim, March 20, 2003.




Purim at a Chabad gathering in New York, March 17, 2003. Notice both the uniforms and the timing - very significant

Netanyahu quotes self-proclaimed "messiah" Lubavitcher Rebbe in U.N. speech

Evidence of Netanyahu's own messianism and its effects on Israeli policies has also been uncovered, highlighting his disturbing links with the Lubavitch Chabad movement, as symbolized by his speech before the United Nations in September 2011. Netanyahu quoted reverently from his meetings with the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, in the 1980s and 1990s. He affectionately called Schneerson "the great rabbi." Both held the same vision of an expansionist Israel that would yield no land while ethnically cleansing the Palestinian Gentiles from land which was now viewed as solely the property of Jews. Even many Israeli observers are alarmed at such a worldview:

"Relying on the Lubavitcher Rebbe and his teachings in a speech that was ostensibly in favor of a Palestinian state is like relying on a racist who fervently supports slavery in a speech that is ostensibly in favor of abolition, while also making abolition contingent upon conditions that will never be met. And thus, in a speech that warned about the danger of radical Islam, Netanyahu relied upon the most radically messianic Jewish theologian of our generation." (Sefi Rachlevsky, "Netanyahu's messianism could launch attack on Iran," Ha'aretz, September 27, 2011) 

While he served as Israeli Ambassador to the U.N., Netanyahu was a frequent visitor to the Chabad headquarters in Brooklyn. Netanyahu later told reporters what Schneerson had told him during one such meeting in 1984: "Remember, you are going to the UN. There is an assembly hall there that has eternal falsehood, utter darkness. Remember that in a hall of perfect darkness, totally dark, if you light one small candle, its light will be seen from afar. Its precious light will be seen by everyone. Your mission is to light a candle for truth and the Jewish people." (Cited in Matthew Wagner, "Netanyahu: UN speech was inspired by the Rebbe," The Jerusalem Post).

Netanyahu promises Schneerson to "hasten the messiah's coming"

One of the defining features of the Chabad Lubavitcher movement - unlike other sects of orthodox Judaism or even Hasidism - was that it actively sought to "hasten" the coming of the awaited "messiah" (moshiach), contrary to the other sects who were merely waiting for him rather than actively seeking to hasten his coming. In this sense, the Chabad movement is very much a modern-day version of the Sabbatai Zevi movement. Even more than other messianic movements is the amount of political influence Chabad has achieved.

A video available on the official Chabad website, and elsewhere, we see a meeting between Netanyahu and Schneerson on November 18, 1990 in New York City. For all the world to see and which no Zionist apologist can deny, Netanyahu clearly promises Schneerson that he will actively work for this messianic vision:

- Schneerson: "Much success. I haven't seen you in a long time. Blessing and success. A double portion of benediction."
- Netanyahu: "I came to ask your blessing and help."
- Schneerson: "In everything?"
- Netanyahu: "In all areas - both personal and political."
- Schneerson: "Since we last met many things have progressed."
- Netanyahu: "Many things have progressed."
- Schneerson: "What hasn't changed, however, is that Moshiach still hasn't come; so do something to hasten his coming."
- Netanyahu: "We're doing, we're doing."
- Schneerson: "Apparently it's not enough, since many hours have already passed today and he's still not here. But there are still a few hours left in the day, so try still for today."
- Netanyahu: "Yes."
- Schneerson: "Good tidings - with joy and happiness. You know that Chassidim are careful to do everything with joy."
- Netanyahu: "Yes."
- Schneerson: "Good tidings. Much success."

In Memorium: Bernd Jobst (23 August 1947 - 1 April 2014)

In Memorium: Bernd Jobst (23 August 1947 - 1 April 2014)

by Sean Jobst

It was one year today that I lost my father. His physical presence in this world ended that day, but his spirit remains ever-present and will do so well into the future. His is a spirit which instilled valuable lessons into my life, and my resilience allows me to move ahead with life in the best way - to enjoy life, to not take a second for granted, and to live it with a purpose.

He impacted my life in several crucial ways. He laid the foundations for my early curiosity of the world, nurturing the love of learning in me. The environment he laid out for his young son was one of learning and reading. From an early age, I was instilled with the importance of being open minded and to question things and investigate for myself.

This also extended to a general attitude toward life. He had a very good sense of humor and was generally relaxed about life. You could tell he enjoyed life and treasured the small things which many others often take for granted. Life to him was a joyous event to be lived according to the effort we put into life. And depending on our own efforts, those results came to us in varied ways for us to derive the right life lessons out of them.



There are two wolves in your heart: Which one will you feed in life?

He passed down several things to me. From him was passed down my own German (Swabian) and Spanish lineage, which has shaped my identity. He was a Vietnam veteran, and so a deep respect and admiration toward veterans was also given to me. I remember fondly going with him to veteran's meetings when I was young, seeing and hearing at an early age valuable insights which I hold dear to my heart even to this day. His is a story of immigration and war, of human sorrow but also the rising of the human spirit.

My father was born on August 23, 1947, in Bad Canstatt, Germany. I remember him telling me so many memories from his earliest period in Deutschland. "The sum of all my experiences made me what I am," he told me when I profiled him in 2009 for a class assignment. "Living in a war-torn country, seeing bombed-out ruins and not realizing what it was all about as a kid, but growing up those experiences help shaped who I am."

He cited several of his earliest memories: "The school, going to the park seeing ancient Roman sites, the historical statue of Kaiser Wilhelm riding a horse, walking down to the indoor swimming pool, playing in bombed-out ruins, going out to the country seeing a castle on the hill in the old family village. Also riding on the back of an apple wagon taking the apples somewhere to be pressed into cider, and crossing the bridge to go to our Catholic church."

Schloss Baldern, the castle in our old village

In 1957, he immigrated at the young age of 9 to the United States. Like many other Germans of his generation - and earlier generations - his knowledge of America was shaped by the works of Karl May, works he would often mention in conversation with me. "In Germany as a young kid I read the Westerns of Karl May, which described Indians and life in the Old West. It was an unknown place but I didn't fear it because I was with my parents."

Moving to a different environment brings many challenges, as it did with him: "I had to learn the language, total immersion into the language. I learned how to speak English within six months time. I also remember being called offensive names like 'Nazi' because of where I came from."

Recounting his life to me on numerous occasions throughout my growing up, I was continuously impressed with the living history that can be seen through his own life. "I did alot of things in those days which kids couldn't do now, and I felt very safe and secure. We moved to Alaska during the time it was being granted statehood."

The family ultimately settled in Worth County, Missouri, a humble rural farming area which formed some of my own summer memories growing up. He was immersed into this environment which further nurtured many life lessons - the value of hard work, earning an honest living, enjoying life and what you do. "Every summer I wanted to stay with my grandparents on the farm. And I learned alot farm work, how to appreciate more about agriculture. I did this every summer until I joined the army." 

In 1964, he joined the U.S. Army. "I wanted to see Europe again and joining the army was the best way to guarantee this," he later explained to me. He became an infantryman with the 9th Infantry Division, ultimately rising to the rank of SPC4. His military career took him to Germany, Norway, Greece, Turkey, and Taiwan. I remember many little memories he had here and there, as he talked frequently about them to me.

His unit was later shipped out to Vietnam and he served there. Like other veterans, he was wary of talking directly about his own experiences there and I know there was alot of traumatic memories that I was careful not to trigger either. What he did left me was some of the retrospective reflections he had about Vietnam itself. "Don't get involved with other countries' civil wars, and don't support the old colonial powers. Learn the culture of a country before you think you can run it. Know what you are actually up against."

He was wounded and soon earned two Purple Hearts. I remember he told me about his time in an army hospital in Japan in 1970, and his subsequent return back Stateside. He took some classes at Parkville Community College in Parkville, Missouri, and worked for the Social Security Administration Center in Kansas City, MO. It was there that he met his wife, my mother. Neither I nor any of his other children and grandchildren would be here today without this experience at the Social Security Administration.

Kansas City, Missouri

"The opportunity then came for me to work at the Federal Bureau of Prisons," my father recounted to me. "There was more money and advancement, and a better retirement system because it was under law enforcement."

"I worked in the administrative section, doing sentence computations by interpreting court documents and ensuring that proper sentencing guidelines had been followed by the court," he added. "We dealt with the release and admission of inmates. We were the first ones they dealt with when they came and the last ones when they left."

His work brought him to several transfers, in Kansas and California. He moved to Alabama when he received a job transfer to the Talladega facility in 1984. I was born late the next year, on December 24, 1985, in nearby Fort McClellan, Alabama. One of my earliest memories was an event at the prison which made national headlines. For an entire week, from August 21-30, 1991, twenty-three detainees took control over the prison and several hostages.

Federal Prison in Talladega, Alabama

"When the riot occurred, everyone was recalled to get everything under control again. There were still fires smoldering and you could smell the smoke from the tear gas and smoke grenades the riot control used," he recounted to me. "After the initial riot and when we took the prison back, there was alot of overtime to try to get things back to normal."

My father retired from the prison in 1997, and after that time remained active in his work with fellow veterans - helping them to navigate the paperwork of federal bureaucracy and get the benefits they earned from the VA. His main "work" - if you can call it that, because it was something he simply loved to do and he didn't see his calling as "work" - was as a service officer, serving other veterans.

He made it very clear that life should be appreciated and enjoyed. Do what you love to do and follow your passion, and you won't have to work a day in your life. He was a very wise man who imparted numerous bits of wisdom to me, which impacted my own memories. "We as a society need to read and do our own thinking," he used to tell me. "To me reading the old classics encouraged you to dream. We had to read more and didn't have much television to divert our minds."

It is in retrospect of the memories, with a heavy heart but also a passionate mind to the future, that I recount my memories of him. Let this be a celebration of his life, which is what he would've wanted. This is also a reminder to me that as I move forward, there are promises I made to him in life and after his death, that I need to keep as I forge ahead in my own life. My resilience and the passion for life that was nurtured in me from an early age, is what keeps me going with a renewed spirit.

Missed but never forgotten

We as a society often ignore death, shutting it away and preferring not to think about it. But this is a very wrong approach. For if we remember death, we can also appreciate life more - never for one second questioning what we are given. Life is like a cycle - with each death there is a life reborn, with every memory there is a life lesson to be derived. He often reflected about philosophies of death with me, which is why I now reflect on a celebration of life - a life that continues to touch other lives as it soars to even higher spirits.