It Has to Be a Scam!

The list of people who are disqualified from testifying in a Jewish court includes dice players and pigeon racers, the two paradigms of today’s gambling industry (San. 24:b). One of the reasons given is that since bettors do not enter the deal in order to pay, but in order to win, taking their money in the end is theft. The other reason given is that gamblers are not engaged in "settling the world," they’re not engaged in productive behavior. This last reason is therefore nullified if the gambler also holds a job.

But what if the gambler dedicates his winnings to the needy? Would he then be considered someone who is, in fact, engaged in settling the world and, therefore, a member in good standing of society? This puzzling thought occurred to me when my wife sent me a link to a Fox News story which was lifted by Huffington Post and titled 'Robin Hood' Gambler Wins Money In Vegas, Gives It All To Those In Need.

A self-made blackjack player who calls himself RobinHood702 (the 702 comes from Las Vegas' area code), finds those in need and wins hundreds of thousands of dollars at casinos, just for them. At RobinHood702.com, people can upload a video of themselves explaining why they need money. Robin Hood 702, who wishes to remain anonymous, chooses those he deems worthy, flies them out to Vegas, then goes to work.

COME AND GET IT!
Here’s the invitation on Robin’s website: Are you buried in bills? About to lose your home? On the brink of financial ruin? If so, this could be your big break. "Robin Hood 702," a self-made man and expert Blackjack player, wants to use his skills to help you. He will select one deserving family based on their video submission and fly them to Las Vegas, Nevada. Robin Hood 702 will provide an all-expense paid weekend at the Palazzo Resort-Hotel Casino, which includes a true high-roller suite. Show tickets to the hottest shows in town, spa appointments and meals in the city's finest restaurants. You will live like the high roller Robin Hood 702 does, then watch him win the money you need to become debt-free. A Fox News crew will be on hand to document the event.

"Robin Hood 702" guarantees if you're selected, at least half of your bills will get paid, no matter what happens at the Blackjack table.

The anonymous gambler is receiving thousands of requests for help from people with major financial problems. He recently chose a couple from Detroit with a young daughter whose brain cancer put them $35,000 in the red. He flew Kurt, Megan and Madison Kegler to Las Vegas first class, put them up in a luxurious suite, took them to shows, treated them to expensive meals and spa treatments, and in the end was true to his word, handing 35 grand to the couple who went home with newfound hope for the future. ('Robin Hood' Gambler Planning Next Score in Las Vegas, by Rick Leventhal, Fox News)

WHAT’S HIS SCHEME?
As a news guy, the first thing that occurred to me was the absence of negative notes on this year-long story. I mean, I could come up with one point just going over the basic reports, which were repeated ad-nauseum: Isn’t it a known thing that a blackjack player who cleans up too often is asked, politely but firmly, to leave the casino’s premises and never show his face again? It’s one of the fundamental scenes in any Las Vegas movie, the scene where our hapless player is spotted on the monitors "counting cards" and is approached by the burly suits. How can this guy keep going, at the same casino, an entire year?

The one critical note about the story came from blogger Neal Boortz, who reacted to the Ronin Hood Gambler story saying that the poor in this country are right where they are because they put themselves there. It wasn't a matter of luck. These people didn't somehow miss the graces of "good fortune." When you ignore your educational opportunities, drink and do drugs, fail to develop a work ethic and constantly blame others for your situation and end up in poverty ... well, you've earned it. Nothing to do with luck.

As to the actual story, other than hating poor people, all Boortz had to say was: Robin Hood did NOT take from the rich and give to the poor. Robin Hood took from the GOVERNMENT and gave to the poor. His whole shtick was taking money from government which had stolen from the people and returning that money to those who earned it. Sorry to bust your bubble here, but Robin Hood had nothing to do with rich and poor. It was about trying to hold government in check.

ROBIN THE THIEF
I’m not so sure that the original Robin Hood medieval ballads were quite that consistent with today’s Tea Party agenda. An introduction to the Robin Hood Project at Rochester University acknowledges: It seems as though every schoolchild knows who Robin Hood is: a noble outlaw in Sherwood Forest who fights the oppressive evil of Prince (or King) John by robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. The earliest appearances of Robin are at odds with this romantic notion, as Robin is a violent yeoman who steals from the dishonest and helps those whom he pleases. (Robin Hood: Development of a Popular Hero)

But wait a minute, even the jaded Neal Boortz accepts Robin Hood as a positive figure, he just prefers that he not dwell too much on the plight of the poor, who have only themselves to blame. But is Robin Hood a good guy? I mean Robin the paradigm, a man who steals from the haves to give to the have-nots, is he at all acceptable to us, much less praiseworthy?

Rabbinic law frowns on any kind of theft, even theft of tax money. Maimonides proclaims that a person who avoids paying (much less steals) a tax fixed by the king, of a third or a quarter of the value of his goods, or any fixed sum, is a transgressor because he is stealing the king’s portion. (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Theft 5:11)

Speaking of kings and portions, I never felt very good about Robin Hood’s loyalty to King Richard the Lionhearted, a crusader who bilked London’s Jews to finance his violent adventures in the Holy Land (killing many Jews in the process). I much prefer Richard’s younger brother, the vilified King John Lackland, enemy of Robin Hood and facilitator of the small and handy document Magna Carta, which changed forever the course of modern government (for the better!).

I GIVE UP
Back to our Vegas Robin Hood, I’m still amazed the complete absence of any notion of doubt or skepticism regarding this chap. Everything about the story is screaming underhanded ploys, yet nowhere can I find anything but happy repeats of the original Fox story, with few variants. Googling "Vegas Robin Hood scam" yields nothing. I’m like those old inspector types who know the hero is dirty, they just can’t pin anything on him. All I have are my original suspicions that casinos don’t encourage blackjack winners to hang around for long, and that generating a huge interest in Vegas gambling must be good for the industry. But how would you get scammed if you applied for a rescue by this RH702 (his online nickname) and he flies you first class, puts you in a hotel, gets you stuff and finally covers your bills? No idea.

So this is my nugget of goodness this morning, the challenge of accepting the decency and goodwill of a gambler in a story that should reek of lies and grifting and just doesn’t. Can you accept it? Can you see how tough it is to do?

Yori Yanover

Deconstructing the NY Times

The readers of this column are divided evenly along right- and left-wing lines, so when I attempt to discover goodness in a New York Times article about a dispute over homes in East Jerusalem, I’m painfully aware that no matter how tempting it would be to wink knowingly at either of the sides in this dispute, the inevitable result would surely be rejection by the other. I thank my friend AB for emailing me the 3/9/10 article An Eviction Stirs Old Ghosts in a Contested City, by Isabel Kershner. Read the first two paragraphs and you’ll know immediately what to expect next:

JERUSALEM — Having been removed in favor of Israeli nationalist Jews, members of the Palestinian Ghawi family have been sheltering this winter in a tent on the sidewalk opposite their home of more than five decades in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.

For those who want to see a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the eviction of the Ghawis has touched on two sensitive nerves: the fate of East Jerusalem, where Israel and the Palestinians vie for control, and the abiding grievances of Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war.

WHO IS ISABEL KERSHNER?
A quick Google search reveals that Manchester-born Isabel Kershner is despised equally by both Jewish and Arab commentators. Take a look at Isabel Kershner Takes On Israel's Radical Right, on Jewish right-wing site Arutz Sheva; and Isabel Kershner and her Israeli propaganda, on The Angry Arab News Service. Her book, Barrier: The Seam of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, is selling well on Amazon, although it has only generated three customer reviews. The Washington Post Book World citation successfully pinpoints the book politically: "Kershner carefully and humanely shows how the wall built by Ariel Sharon's government has not only exposed divisions but also created them--physically, politically and psychologically."

My own overall impression, after a short web search is of a left-leaning, gifted reporter, who may not think like me but is principled and honest enough to be relied on for information. I’ve been reading the Times for 35 years now, so I’m capable of getting the story through the conventional biases – or so I thought.

My friend AB, a proud small-C conservative and frequent Republican voter, added this comment to his email: "I wonder why the writer did not investigate why all the Jews left East Jerusalem in 48, leaving their property behind, why did at least not some of them stay, like the thousands of Arabs that stayed in Israel after 48."

REMEMBER 1948
Before I proceed, you need to know the context of AB’s comment, born by decades of bitterness over an uneven coverage of the Palestinian refugee story. From November, 1947, until May, 1948, the Jewish Quarter of East Jerusalem and Jewish West Jerusalem were under siege. Following six months of heavy fighting, on May 28, two elderly rabbis surrendered the Jewish Quarter and the survivors of a civilian population of some 1700, to the Jordanian Legion. Those were, possibly, the first Jewish refugees of the 1948-49 war, followed by roughly a million Jews who were driven out of their homes and lands in Iraq and Syria, and later North Africa. There were, in fact, more Jewish than Arab refugees who lost their land and possessions, yet the world knows little about the Jewish part of this tragic equation. My friend AB will tell you that this is because Israel made a heroic effort to rehabilitate its refugees, while Arab governments sought to cultivate the festering refugee problem, to be used as a political weapon.

Obviously, historic reality is not quite this smooth. Israel has been accused of fomenting at least two of those mass-exiles, in Iraq and Egypt. It has also been accused of working faster and better to improve the lot of European Jewish refugees, over their brethren from the Near East. Questions have also been raised regarding the mass escape of Palestinians from their lands, specifically over just how spontaneous and self-inflicted it was. In the end, despite all the dirt one can expose in the way Israeli governments have handled issues of land and resettlement from 1948 to 1967, it is still undeniable that Jewish refugees were able to establish a new life as equal citizens of a democratic state, while Arab refugees continue to this day to languish as a poor underclass in several tyrannical states, including their homeland, and you can’t in good conscience pin the responsibility for all that on Israel.

ONE MAN'S REFUGEES ARE ANOTHER'S SETTLERS
The two long paragraphs I spent explaining the context of AB’s complaint were also necessary in order to better understand what I find unacceptable in the Isabel Kershner article in the Times. She makes a cogent point regarding the success story I mentioned, of resettling Jewish refugees:

In 1950, to protect the new Jewish state from the claims of the Palestinian refugees, Israel enacted the Absentees’ Property Law. It essentially strips Palestinians of any rights to property left behind in what is now Israel if they were in enemy territory, including East Jerusalem, between November 1947 and May 1948.

I go there first, because the essence of the Jewish claim over the now disputed two-story house in East Jerusalem is based on papers of ownership presented to an Israeli court in the 1970s and ruled viable, and the essence of the objection to the evacuation of Arab families from the house has to do with the troubling notion of a law which favors Jewish antiquated claims on real estate while blocking similar claims from Arabs.

That’s the entire argument as presented by Kershner. Read her quotes from Israelis who uniformly oppose the evictions, summed up nicely by Yossi Klein Halevi, whom Kershner presents as speaking for "mainstream Israelis" (he’s a senior fellow at the Shalem Center, and my right-wing friends probably ID him as lefty). Halevi told Kershner that he opposed a Jewish "right of return" to properties lost in the 1948 war. Except "he noted that more and more Arabs were buying apartments in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood where he lives." In conclusion, he commented:

"It cannot go one way in Jerusalem… I am deeply torn."

But in order to use this opportunity for more than just pitting right- against left-wing arguments, or Jewish versus Arab arguments, I want instead to benefit all of us with a more deconstructive examination of Kershner’s piece.

WHO GETS TO SPEAK
Here is a list of all the voices and characters presented by Kershner, in order of their appearance:

David Grossman, a prominent Israeli author and peace advocate – protesting the eviction
Moshe Halbertal, a professor of Jewish law and philosophy – protesting the eviction.
Orly Noy, a spokeswoman for Ir Amim – protesting the eviction.
Maysoun Ghawi – evicted tenant
Yossi Sarid, a former Meretz leader
And, for balance, Yossi Klein Halevi.

The other side in the debate has no voice here, none at all. We’re only told that they’re "Israeli nationalist Jews," and "fervent Israeli nationalists." They don’t have names or faces, their views are implied as being the opposite of whatever the actual voices in the story are saying. The facts regarding the actual claims of the two sides in the dispute are buried under scrubbed language.

Here’s the Arabs’ claim on the property: In the 1950s, Jordan and the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees gave 28 refugee families homes there. The families say that Jordan promised them full ownership, but the houses were never formally registered in their names.

And this is the Jews' claim: A small Jewish community lived in the compound… from the late 19th century; the last remnants left during the hostilities leading up to the establishment of Israel in 1948, after which the area fell under Jordanian control.

CLEANSING ETHNICS
Any real estate attorney worth his salt would conclude immediately that this is a tale of long-term ownership which was interrupted by agencies that did not own the right to the land. But Kershner does away with this inconvenience by talking about "remnant" Jews who "left" in 1948, and then the Jordanians somehow obtained "control."

This fast and furious play with the history of siege and starvation of a Jewish civilian population by a British-led Jordanian Legion could be forgiven, had the reporter taken care to represent the other side of that reality through additional voices. I have to say that my immediate reaction to the story was one of feeling assaulted by a propaganda monger with little more than support for one of the sides in mind. This is such an autistically one-sided article, it is equally offensive to both right- and left-wingers.

Which has to be my nugget of goodness for the day. Today I discovered that reporters with a mission who abandon their elementary obligation to their readers, namely to provide as full an offering of the facts as possible, contribute to the demise of the very people they wish to support. In a reality in which their side doesn’t stand a chance of ever being fairly represented, "fervent nationalist" Jews are more likely to rely on the law, giving up on values like empathy and neighborly sentiments. Fairness and honesty are not a luxury in a time of great disputes, they are the most essential, indispensable qualities.

Yori Yanover

Is Rage Good for You?

My wife mentioned the other night that I’ve been responding with rage recently to the challenges of domestic life. I accused her of conspiring to misplace my favorite can opener, for example. I threw a fit when I thought she finished my home-roasted peanuts (she didn’t, I merely misplaced them). There’s no point in denying it, I’ve been angrier than usual these past few weeks.

The country seems to be on the angry side, as a whole. The right finds an expression for their rage in the notorious Tea Party gatherings. The left takes revenge by naming them Tea Baggers. If you did not spend your formative college years in a fraternity, you may want to consult the Urban Dictionary for the off color meaning of the term (it’s the second definition). I used to be offended by right-wingers’ use of "Democrat Party," emphasis on Rat. I believe the teabagging imagery more than sways the scales in the opposite direction. Regardless of all that tit-for-tat, we’re obviously in a rage, as a nation and as individuals.

But is rage necessarily a bad thing? Since this is my daily quest for goodness in the world, I decided this morning to check out the possibilities for goodness within rage. Are there occasions when being angry is not only appropriate, but actually good for you? I know I’m giving away my conclusion here, but, remember, it’s not getting there, it’s the journey!

TOO PALE TO STOP
The headline with the most promising comic possibilities in recent days was, in my opinion: Was road rage suspect just trying to get a tan?

Benjamin Bell reports in the Boston Herald about a Dorchester, Mass woman who was driving down Popes Hill Street in a red Nissan Sentra when she turned into the closed entrance of a Stop & Shop that had been coned off for pedestrian safety during school crossing period. Ignoring the barrier, the suspect drove through the cones and only stopped after the victim - surrounded by kids - yelled for her to stop.

The suspect got out of her car and began screaming and spitting at the victim before fleeing. Cops said the suspect was found at a nearby tanning salon.

How desperate for a tan must you be to plow through a crowd of school children if the unfortunate little ones are standing between you and your UV lamps?

You’ll be surprised. As you may know, one of the fringe benefits of sunlight is vitamin D, and low blood levels of the vitamin have been associated with increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment in older adults, severe asthma in children, cancer, and serious digestive problems. Read all about Vitamin D Deficiency here, but in the context of our topic this morning, the benefits of rage, perhaps the enraged driver felt particularly deficient, practically fighting for her life.

OK, it's a stretch. Still, a good attorney could get her off using this argument, given time and money for expert witnesses. Maybe. Would road rage be a good thing if your life was really on the line, though? Probably yes. I'm sure ambulance drivers get soaked with adrenaline as they push their way through traffic. It has to be at least borderline rage!

RAGE WORKS
A woman named Cailo ("A transient idealist with no patience for SUVs") runs the blog Rage Is Good, where she states: "I'm suspicious of people who aren't angry about something." Attempting to survive life in Alabama, she and her friend Sarah decided to do something with all that rage. "So we cause some trouble and encourage our friends to do the same. So far, we've even managed to avoid getting arrested."

In a piece called Awe, Cailo writes: "I believe each of us is a survivor of something. Something traumatic, on some large or small scale. There comes a time for many of us when we realize we have begun to think of that trauma not only in terms of its impact on our lives, but also as a tool, something we can use to help others. Reaching that point is a powerful moment. When we realize, ‘I am more than the very bad thing that happened to me.’"

But then, on an entry dated 3/8/08 and titled Resolutions for the next week, she writes:

1. sleep
2. refrain from drinking excessive amounts of wine
3. go to bed before 2 a.m.
4. avoid fried things and cheese and any sauce for which a main ingredient is ranch dressing

She concludes that one: "After this weekend my standards are pretty low." It’s a bit strange to wander like that into people’s private blogs, click through their thoughts and impressions over several years. An overall impression starts to accumulate, influenced, no doubt, in this case, by Cailo’s choice of template – an imposing, black background, with small, white text. Those design values obviously reflected her mood when she got started, back in 2005. But is she still feeling this way today, or is she trapped with a five-year-old paint job she can’t change? Is her rage, then, in small measure, a self-fulfilling property?  

RAGING GRANNY

In seeking out the useful side of rage, as part of seeking out goodness in unexpected places, I ran into this ancient story, which appeared originally in the Ottawa Citizen, but exists online only as a lifted excerpt on the environmentalist webzine Grist: Ottawa, 26 Jan 2001 -- Betty Krawczyk, a 73-year-old great-grandmother, romance writer, and hero to many Canadian environmentalists, was released from jail yesterday, after a judge ruled that she had served enough of her year-long sentence for protesting old-growth logging in the Elaho Valley in British Columbia. Krawczyk began serving her jail term four months ago just as five loggers were given only suspended sentences for assaulting a protest camp in the valley. Krawczyk, who is a member of the group Raging Grannies, said yesterday that when she blockaded logging roads to protect trees, "it affirmed human values over the profit motive and that's considered far more dangerous by corporations and governments." (Rage Against the Machine, Grist Magazine)
 
FAUX RAGE
Last december, Jonathan Hiskes reported in Grist Magazine about the activist troupe The Yes Men, who presented themselves at the Copenhagen conference as disgruntled Coca Cola PR employees from Atlanta, urging people to take a pledge of abstinence from Coke products (Employees* rage against the Coke machine in Copenhagen).


At least 20 people took the pledge, reciting, "I, [name], with respect for crimes against people and the planet, from this day forward, for the rest of my living days will never, ever, drink Coca-Cola again until the Coca-Cola company ceases and entirely stops stealing the water from communities in India and stops union-busting in Colombia and ceases and desists entirely from relentless and absurd greenwashing like a ‘bottle of hope.’"

The Yes Men said Coca-Cola’s greenwashing is dishonest and its environmental impacts and labor practices unjust. Admitting this on Coca-Cola’s behalf was "identity correction." So, is rage against the Coke machine good for you? I’m going with a hesitant Yes (for Yes Men?). I also must admit that political street theater scares me, even when I agree with the message. Because there’s always an implied, underlying message in these events, which favors theatrics over a lucid discussion of the fact. If I’m frightened by Tea Party vignettes in which grandma is executed by Obama health judges, I should also loath similar shenanigans from the left. In either case, the end result is likely to be folks with torches and pitchforks kicking down my door.

HEALING RAGE

Last month, Palm Beach philanthropists Michelle and Howard Kessler hosted a question and answer session at their home involving 8 psychiatrists from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University, regarding the rage in that affluent community over its "cancer cluster."

Harvard professor and psychiatrist, Gregory Fricchione, MD. was asked about anger at the county for the pace of the investigation of the phenomenon, and at the media for the tone and shallowness of its reporting. "Parents go through levels of bereavement and grief when they get a diagnosis of cancer their sense of invulnerability is pierced...you become vulnerable," said Dr. Fricchione. "I tell patients we live life with confidence then instant vulnerability. It flip flops. Suddenly we're way down here. It's uncomfortable. The natural response is anger."

He explained that venting and rage, are in fact healthy to a point. "The stress that anger causes may be useful but there is a law of diminishing returns. If it gets too high your ability to help your child goes down," said Dr. Fricchione. (Tim Malloy, Psychiatrist weighs in on 'cancer cluster', WPTV.com)    

ANGER IS GOOD
In other words, you can be angry, but don’t let it get out of hand. I have no idea how an angry person may be expected to act reasonably about his feelings. After all, when you let your anger out, it’s more like opening the flood gates than turning a faucet. Which reminded me of a statement from Maimonides (Hil. Deot, 2:3), Anyone who becomes angry is like an idol worshipper.

The great hasidic teacher Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk refers to this statement when he questions Moses’ breaking of the tablets. Remember, Moses has just spent 40 days and forty nights on the mountaintop without food or drink. His was a purely spiritual existence. At the same time, his nation below was having a huge orgy around the gold calf. In his pure state, Moses was of no use to them, argues Rabbi Elimelech, and so he chose to become angry, so he would be like an idol worshipper, like a sinner, and in that reduced state he could be available to his flock.

I suppose it means that there is goodness in anger (and anger in goodness). Go ahead, do something wrathy…