Happy 60th birthday, Israel! Honoring Jewish thinkers who've influenced his worldview

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | May 17, 2008 | Ellis Washington

[JohnHuang2]

I am four things – I am an American, I am a black man, I am an academic without a home, and I am a lover of the Jewish people and of the nation of Israel.

~ Ellis Washington (2007)

Madam C.J. Walker Library, Detroit, Mich., circa 1967

I was almost 6 years old, my brother 3 and my little sister 1. We were waiting for my mother to check out some books. Her co-workers at my local elementary school called "white lady" because she believed in educating yourself and strove for a better life through personal discipline.

I remember walking up and down the aisles, looking in amazement at row after row of wonderful books from floor to ceiling in this very old library built in the Georgian, Neo-classical style. Reminiscing with my mother last weekend she affirmed my recollection of some of the book titles she either checked out or were titles I read in later years –Maimonides, Moses Mendelssohn, Spinoza, Emma Lazarus, Einstein, Gustav Mahler (one of my favorite composers), Wiesel, Golda Mier, Allan Bloom and others.

Who were these Jewish people?

Following my mother's lead, I later began going to the library on my own, reading marvelous books on history, theology, philosophy, epistemology, sociology, music, art, politics and of course a young teenagers favorite – Ripley's "Believe it or Not." Many of these books I would later learn were in some manner written by or about the Jews, their literature (the Torah) and their culture (Judaism).

Who were these Jewish people?

John Marshall Law School, Atlanta, Ga., circa 1992

The classes were called "Jurisprudence" and "Constitutional Law II," taught by Dr. David Meltz, the dean of John Marshall Law School. He was a libertarian and a Jew. Dean Meltz was a very affable, learned and magnificent man whose teachings about the U.S.

[nyyankeefan]

how come no one is honoring the great pali muzzie thinkers that have contributed so much to civilization & the world...

oh...that’s right.....other than death, destruction and suicide bombers....they have brought nothing else to the table!!!!

[kindred]

[...other than death, destruction and suicide bombers....they have brought nothing else to the table!!!!]

They have bought their marxist liberal friends who help them destroy Western Civilization and who will be the first the Islamic murdering terrorists will murder once the terrorists destroy America.
Gump said, Stupid is as stupid does.

[kindred]

Psalms 129

1. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say:
2. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me.
3. The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.
4. The Lord is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.
5. Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.
6. Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up:
7. Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom.
8. Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we bless you in the name of the Lord.

[kindred]

Jeremiah 33:9-26

9. And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it.
10. Thus saith the Lord; Again there shall be heard in this place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast,
11. The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the Lord of hosts: for the Lord is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the Lord.
12. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Again in this place, which is desolate without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof, shall be an habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.
13. In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the vale, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that telleth them, saith the Lord.
14. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.
15. In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.
16. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our righteousness.
17. For thus saith the Lord; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel;
18. Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.
19. And the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, saying,
20. Thus saith the Lord; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season;
21. Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers.
22. As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.
23. Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,
24. Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the Lord hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.
25. Thus saith the Lord; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth;
26. Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.