Disgraced Jamaal Bowman Schemes In Comeback Bid

Posted on March 3, 2025 by First.One.Through

Former Congressman Jamaal Bowman was an embarrassment to his constituents again and again.

As a member of the House of Representatives, he received a bipartisan censor for intentionally pulling a fire alarm to delay a vote, putting thousands of lives at risk. His constituents later filed a petition to have Planned Parenthood rescind their endorsement, after Bowman ranted to a crowd on the streets of Westchester, that Jewish women couldn’t be believed when they claimed rape during the October 7 massacre in Israel.

Now Bowman is starting his comeback effort after he was defeated by a fellow Democrat in last year’s primary, in a similar disgraceful manner.

First Bowman announced on February 20 that he is joining Zeteo, a media platform started by Mehdi Hasan, a former MSNBC commentator who has been charged with Jew hatred and justifying violence against Jews by various watchdog groups and individuals.

Now he announced the formation of a PAC (Political Action Committee) called Built to Win PAC. According to its website, its mission is to get non-Whites (“Black, Arab, Asian, and Latino communities”) to vote. It’s basically a sister clone of Justice Democrats, a PAC to get non-Whites into office with the backing of those communities.

So why start another PAC that does the same thing? It’s not as though Bowman’s PAC is going after conservative non-White voters; it’s using the same alt-left agenda as Justice Democrats, including supporting Gazans who initiated and supported a jihadi genocidal massacre against Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023.

Bowman knows he has a terrible record. His brand is so tainted that he needed to go around the country including California and Virginia with other members of Congress to try to raise money during his failed primary run.

A new congressional run – perhaps this time for Rep. Ritchie Torres’s seat in NY-15 if Torres decides to run for governor against the unpopular Kathy Hochul – would require money that may not be so forthcoming to a censored former politician. As such, creating a new PAC BEFORE he announces his intention to enter a race, could give him several advantages:

He may be able to market the cause more successfully if it isn’t about him personally
He gets practice stumping and meeting donors without being forced to disclose his numerous failings
Bowman can use the Zeteo platform with Mehdi to go even more viciously anti-Israel than Justice Democrats may be willing to go, perhaps unlocking deep jihadi pockets
Disclosure rules are more lax for PACs. Pro-terrorist groups have easier times giving money to blind pools than individual candidates. Bowman can court antisemitic donors with greater ease

Should Bowman enter the race, he may attempt to repurpose this PAC to himself. This is a tactic that was used by Rick Scott who took over the New Republican PAC in 2016. Scott’s moves in this regard brought multiple investigations. As the non-partisan group OpenSecrets stated about the issue, “Federal law would prohibit an announced federal candidate or campaign from coordinating with either state-level committees or federal super PACs, which can take unlimited corporate money that federal candidates are not permitted to receive.” Campaign Legal Center wrote at that time “Campaign finance laws are in place to prevent schemes like this one that hide information from voters about which wealthy special interests are spending big money to secretly influence our votes and our government.” Imagine these aren’t “wealthy special interests” seeking profit but groups out to destroy America and its allies.

Built to Win PAC may become the alt-left anti-Israel piggybank for Bowman and his co-host on Zeteo, Cori Bush, who made their losses all about the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC rather than their own failings.

Bowman’s reemergence on two platforms: Zeteo to engage the public in race-baiting, and with a PAC to draw in unlimited monies, is potentially a cause for serious alarm for the country, especially Jews in the midst of a horrifying spike in antisemitism.

*Rep. Jamaal Bowman throwing tantrum in profanity-laced rant on stage about AIPAC*

As Ritchie Torres Runs For Governor, Who Will Protect NY-15 From Jamaal Bowman? (November 2024)

Jamaal Bowman Is The Complete Package No One Wants (April 2024)

AIPAC’s Open Tent Versus Justice Democrats Niche Extremism (April 2024)

Beyond Death, Religion

Posted on August 30, 2024 by First.One.Through

Is there a word
For the day that no one remembers someone? Quotes their poems, enjoys the production of a life lived?
Is that the day the person really dies
And if so, what is the word to mark such moment?

‘Extinction’ is for a species
Where only memory and fossils
remain. But what when records are no more? Is that beyond Extinction?

And a star’s end is its collapse
A singularity in which space and time lose ordinary meaning
and light loses memory of itself at the cusp of the ‘Event Horizon.’

The Old Cemetery in Jerusalem rides the Event Horizon
breaking from centuries of unchanted kaddishes
echoing against a wall and sealed door.
Will it bury itself forever or loosen the bounds of tenses,
a ‘Memory Horizon’ with and without past, present and future?

I Understand Why the Caged Jew Sighs

The Touch of the Sound of the Shofar

Jews At The Center But Not The Focus

Posted on July 10, 2024 by First.One.Through

Praying At The Jerusalem Great Synagogue

The Jerusalem Great Synagogue is one of the grandest synagogues in the world. On holidays and sabbaths, it typically has a magnificent choir which enhances prayer services. In July 2024, when Rosh Hodesh, the new month of Tamuz fell on Shabbat, the synagogue decided to have a special choir with prayers full of songs by a 50-person choir consisting of many young boys.

*The Jerusalem Great Synagogue, July 2024*

Shabbat Rosh Hodesh involves reading from two torah scrolls, rather than a single torah on a regular Sabbath. On this special sabbath, two men raised the torahs at the conclusion of the particular readings and sat holding the holy scrolls as Moshe Lion, the mayor of Jerusalem read the haftorah before a packed synagogue.

Before the torahs were returned to their places in the ark, the large choir came down from their podium and encircled the bima, the center of prayers in the heart of the synagogue. The two men holding the torahs rose, and the entire congregation with them, as the cantor and choir sang two special blessings, one for the government of Israel and one for the Israeli Defense Forces.

With the backdrop of the ongoing war, the choir used a variety of melodies in singing the two blessings, including Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem, and Lu Yehi, a contemporary song of longing to arrive at the end of all wars.

For twenty minutes the choir sang the songs with the congregation’s participation. Many cried as both old and young thought about many family members who were serving in the armed forces to combat enemies in Gaza and Lebanon. Hundreds of people gathered in the centers of Israel, of Jerusalem, and of the Great Synagogue but hearts and minds were elsewhere.

A Wedding In The Jerusalem Forest

The next day a wedding was held in the Jerusalem forest. The sun was setting as the bride and groom took their places under the chuppah, the wedding canopy. Family and close friends gathered before them, watching the young couple sanctify their union.

The Jewish ritual of presenting a ring, reading the ketubah and reciting seven blessings were complete, but the happy couple was not ready to celebrate. First a friend took the microphone to recite a chapter of Psalms for the soldiers and families impacted in the current war. Everyone recited the lines responsively, and then all sang Im Eshkachech Yerushalyim, If I forget thee, Jerusalem.

The groom then crushed a glass beneath his feet, symbolizing the still unbuilt holy city of Jerusalem, before turning to hug his bride.

*Groom ready to crush glass symbolizing the ongoing incompleteness of Jerusalem*

Two men in a synagogue and a bride and groom under a canopy, stood at the center of attention, yet their focus was elsewhere. Thinking of young soldiers at the battlefront, hostages held in captivity and the unbuilt Temple, Jews turn their consciousness outward to the larger community beyond those present.

The focus of the Jewish gaze ultimately extends beyond line of sight.

Singing of Joy and Jerusalem on Foreign Land (December 2021)

Humble Faith (October 2021)

It’s Jewish: Kosher, Bris, Menorah, Mikvah, Land of Israel

Posted on April 25, 2024 by First.One.Through

Kosher food is eaten by Jews and non-Jews. Some Jews don’t eat kosher food and prefer non-kosher items. But “kosher” is definitely Jewish, as defined in the Bible outlining which foods are permissible and not permissible for Jews.

Many Jewish men get circumcised at eight days old in a “bris.” A small percentage of Jewish boys are not circumcised because the parents do not like the custom. But a “bris” is definitely Jewish, a commandment laid out in the Bible.

Many Jewish homes have a menorah as do many synagogues. They are lit on the holiday of Chanukah per rabbinic tradition. Some Jews do not own or light a menorah, but it is definitely a Jewish religious article.

Religious married Jewish women go to a ritual bath, a “mikvah,” once a month. Most Jewish women are not Orthodox or do not have regular menstrual cycles and do not visit the mikvah. But a mikvah is definitely a Jewish bath and has been for thousands of years.

Roughly 45% of world Jewry lives in the land of Israel, while the majority do not live there. But the land of Israel is central to Judaism, the “promised land” to the Jewish forefathers of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants. It is central to the Jewish Bible and for Jews for 3,700 years.

*Jews visiting the Jewish Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem*

Whether a person keeps kosher, had a bris, visits a mikvah, lights a menorah, or lives in the land of Israel, has nothing to do with those items being integral parts of Judaism. Similarly, a person may never read the Talmud, but such action is irrelevant to the tractates inherently being a fabric of Jewish tradition.

So when a Jewish person says Jews shouldn’t live in Israel, it doesn’t negate that the land of Israel is central to Judaism; it just means that that particular person doesn’t believe it.

The next time you see members of Neturei Karta yelling that Zionism is terrible and the Jewish State should be destroyed, whisper in their ears that you are working to ban kosher meat and circumcision in America, as a gentle reminder that just because they may not appreciate how some people express their Judaism, they shouldn’t fight to ban it for others.

*Members of ultra-Orthodox Neturei Karta protesting a march combating antisemitism, January 2020 (photo: First One Through)*

The land of Israel, the city of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount are deeply Jewish locations and have been for thousands of years. It makes absolutely no difference what any Jew or non-Jew says, and whether they are one side or the other of the Israeli-Hamas war. Parading “AsAJews” who fight against Zionism before cameras does nothing to negate the reality that Israel is an essential component of Judaism, much like keeping kosher and a bris.

The magnification of fringe anti-Jewish views held by Jews is a noxious tool used by Jew-haters to splinter the beleaguered minority-minority to become easier fodder for extinction. Shame on the media for making a deliberate point of doing so in these days of toxic antisemitism.

The Zone Of Jew Hatred Interest (March 2024)

Judaism Is Uniquely Tied To The Land Of Israel (December 2023)

We Normalized Jew-Hatred For Years (December 2023)

Re-education: Israel is The Jewish Homeland, Not Just A Safe Haven (February 2023)

NY Times Ignores Centrality of the Jewish Temple Mount (August 2020)

Jews, Judaism and Israel (December 2019)

The Subtle Discoloration of History: Shuafat (July 2014)

Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh.

Posted on February 18, 2024 by First.One.Through

For the last few hundred years, Jews inserted three lines after their penultimate prayer in their daily services. Right after Aleinu and before the final mourner’s Kaddish, a sentence from Proverbs and two from Isaiah are found:

Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us. And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.
Al-Tirah

Roots Of Al Tira Prayer

Leaving synagogue was often a traumatic affair when Jews were scattered around the world. Inside of the synagogue, Jews were both together and felt connected to God; outside was a starkly different reality. Sometimes the local non-Jews would attack the Jews with pogroms and edicts, and at other times, Jews would be fortunate to find salvation.

Today, very few congregations actually recite the prayer despite its inclusion in prayer books.

I suggest that perhaps it is now time for all congregations to begin saying it.

October 7 Massacre And Beyond

The Palestinian pogrom on October 7, on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah 5784, was a terrifying shock to Jews everywhere. The vicious slaughter of innocent Jews, ripped from their homes to be tortured, raped and mutilated was terrifying. In the following days, to see people around the world celebrate the slaughter compounded the terror. Seeing the United Nations refuse to condemn Hamas and demand that the perpetrators face maximum justice has further frozen Jews in their awful state.

Israel has responded to the Palestinian barbarity. It has killed and injured roughly one-third of the political-terrorist group Hamas in Gaza and has leveled much of the terrorist enclave. Hamas has claimed that nearly 30,000 Gazans have been killed at this point, with children accounting for over one-third.

On top of the frozen state of terror of Jews from the ongoing antisemitic attacks since October 7 is the sadness of watching the destruction of Gaza. Why did Hamas do this and why does the evil group insist that Israeli forces continue to pound Gaza rather than release the hostages and surrender the terrorists?

Hamas has an evil and twisted ideology rooted in a radical interpretation of Islam that demands the destruction of the Jewish state, believing its presence is an embarrassment for Muslims. As it states in its foundational charter “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it…. Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious… There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time… In face of the Jews’ usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised…. the Palestinian problem is a religious problem, and should be dealt with on this basis.”

For its part, Judaism has a different set of beliefs that stretches back thousands of years before the Islamic prophet Mohammed was born. It urges calm in the face of fear.

Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. (Proverbs 3:25)

Jews are carrying both the shock of October 7 in Israel and the sickening reaction of Hamas’s fans around the world. They are simultaneously witnessing the destruction of that enemy. It’s a lot to process – the “sudden fear” and the “desolation of the wicked” – and has led many Jews and Zionists to huddle together in synagogue, and hide symbols of being Jewish when they go outside.

Jewish Calendar And Numbers

The Jewish year 5784 is a Jewish leap year which adds another month, and the year 2024 in the secular calendar is also a leap year which adds a single day. Both the Jewish calendar and the secular calendars add the time in the winter to “correct” the calendar for the upcoming spring.

We are now in the first of two months of Adar. Jewish tradition holds that Adar is a month of happiness and when Jews defeated their mortal enemies who attacked the weakest Jews. The double month of Adar is meant as a moment of double celebration.

This year of 5784 is the eighth year of the 19-year Metonic cycle which marks leap years on the third, sixth, eighth, eleventh, fourteenth, seventeenth and nineteenth year. Just as 2024 is the eighth year in the cycle, so was 1967, when Israel reunified Jerusalem, as was 1948, the year that the Jewish State was reborn. From 1948 to 1967 was one Metonic cycle and from 1967 to 2024 were three full cycles.

Numbers have significance in Judaism. One is connected to the singularity of God in the Jewish monotheistic faith. Three symbolizes Judaism’s founding fathers, the sections of the Shema prayer, three holidays of pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the three groups of Jews.

Eight is also meaningful. Beyond the day that Jewish males are circumcised to join the Jewish nation, tradition is that eight connects man in the natural to the supernatural world. While God made the world in seven days and had seven branches on the menorah in the holy Temple, eight is the step beyond. The seven branch menorah was for the Temple, while Jews light an eight branch menorah in their homes and synagogues today to connect to the miracle.

Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us. (Isaiah 8:10)

These months of Adar seem like important months to recite the oft-skipped prayer. A time to mark the third complete leap year cycle of Jewish control Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. It is a time to remember that God is with us and he is the sole source of fear.

Amalek And Arms Aloft Together

When the Jewish people left slavery in Egypt they were attacked by the nation of Amalek. During the battle, Jews looked up to Moses who held his arms pointing to the sky with the assistance of Aaron and Hur who held the elderly prophet’s arms. The Jews were empowered when they saw Moses praying to God to vanquish the enemy, and prevailed as God enabled their success.

And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you. (Isaiah 46:4)

Today, there is no Jewish leader like Moses to pray on behalf of the jews, and every Jew takes their own prayer book to talk to God. They gather in minyanim around the world to pray for Jewish soldiers fighting with weapons, and Jewish lay leaders who fight against Hamas’s supporters in governments, college campuses and everywhere.

Let us all recite Al Tirah together, holding the hands of the people to our right and left, and pray for God to deliver success in defeating all of our foes.