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May 21, 2012
Mark Clayton: Cybersecurity: How US utilities passed up chance to protect their networks
Howard LaFranchi: NATO summit: Who will foot the bill for long-term Afghanistan security?
Chris Farrell : Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Stephen Whiteside, Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: Social anxiety disorder --- or just shy?
Guy Jackson : Victim's father regrets death of Lockerbie bomber
The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: Famed chef's veal shoulder farsumagru: A festive meat course for late spring
May 18, 2012
Rabbi Berel Wein: Striving: The People of the Book's Book for (All of) the People
Steven Goldberg: 5 Great Stock Picks and the Exchange-Traded Fund that Owns Them
Mary Pickett, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Don't be forced into gluten-free lifestyle based merely on a doctor's false-positive test
The Kosher Gourmet by Carolyn Malcoun: DIY healthy lunchbox treats: HOMEMADE FRUIT BARS for kids and brown-bagging adults alike
May 17, 2012
Warren Richey: Teacher fired for being unwed and pregnant can sue religious school, court rules
Josh Mitnick: Netanyahu's 'centrist' coalition is already proving it's anything but
Steven Goldberg: Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Amina Khan: Research links coffee to lower death rates
The Kosher Gourmet by Faith Duran : Cheesy Potato Breakfast Casserole with Cheddar and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
May 16, 2012
Carmen Terzic, M.D., Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: A variety of exercises can help improve balance
Melissa Healy: National strategy on Alzheimer's disease aims to halt it by 2025
The Kosher Gourmet by Joyce White : GOODNESS GRACIOUS: GREENS! 4 winning recipes that are no longer just for down-home folks (Includes expert tips & techniques)
May 15, 2012
Kristen Chick: Obama administration resumes arms sales to Bahrain despite serious unresolved human rights issues. Activists feel abandoned
Pat Mertz Esswein: Homes are now affordable again and mortgage rates are low. What you need to know before you buy
Kathy Kristof: Our Practical Investor Fights Inflation with These 6 Investments
Sue Hubbard, M.D.: The Kid's Doctor: Lactose intolerant young child? Check again
The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Hunt: Spread a Little Excitement with EXOTIC CONDIMENTS (4 RECIPES)
May 14, 2012
Lisa Gerstner: How to Protect Your Identity, Finances If You Lose Your Phone
Harvard Health Letters: Heart disease and dementia
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: MANGO COCONUT OAT MORNING MUFFINS are a bright but hearty delight
May 11, 2012
Jessica L. Anderson: Get the Best Deal on a Used Car
Jett Stone: Forget face-lifts and fake knees. Scientists have seen the fountain of youth --- and it's broccoli
The Kosher Gourmet by Chef Mario Batali: The famed chef's vegetable dish that tastes true to the season: FAVAS AND SUGAR SNAP PEAS WITH POTATOES AND TARRAGON
May 10, 2012
Sergei L. Loiko: Putin sends warning to U.S., NATO in Victory Day speech at Red Square
Mary Rourke: How being a 'mentch' got Vidal Sasoon his start and fighting in Israel's War of Independence provided him with confidence and a strong sense of his own identity
Jeff Bertolucci: Get Home Phone Service for Less Than $10 a Month
The Kosher Gourmet by Betty Rosbottom: Gleaming with its golden, crimson, and snowy white hues, this silken smooth and creamy STRAWBERRY ORANGE TRIFLE looks impressive, but is easy to prepare
May 9, 2012
Sharon Palmer, R.D. How you can reduce your risk -- or delay -- chronic diseases associated with aging
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Jewish World Review
March 1, 2003
/ 8 Adar, 5764
Building fences in Israel and America
By
Diana West
http://www.jewishworldreview.com |
What could the proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution defining marriage as the legal union of a man and a woman possibly have in common with the security fence Israel is building to block West Bank terrorists from entering the country and killing civilians?
The two stories share the front pages lately, but that's about it. A philosophical debate over a political process, no matter how contentious, has nothing to do with the nuts and bolts (literally) of building a wall high enough, strong enough and smart enough to fend off terrorist killers.
Except for possibly one thing.
Both stories, in their way, show societies engaged in fundamental struggles over their futures and resorting, respectively, to dire measures to preserve themselves culturally and physically. With a marriage amendment, the United States could go to the mat — the Constitution — to draw a new line in the sand against continuing cultural revolution. With the security fence, Israel is drawing a line — and building it, too — to safeguard the lives of its citizens.
The possibility of homosexuals "marrying" in San Francisco, New Mexico and Massachusetts, even by the thousands, hardly constitutes the mortal danger posed by any one suicide bomber. Even so, there remains something else that links the two issues: namely, what they tell us about 21st-century civilization. The fact is, the proposed American amendment and the Israeli fence are defensive reactions to unprecedented assaults on principles so fundamental that they have never before required much in the way of articulation, let alone defense.
For millennia, Judeo-Christian marriage has been the union of a man and a woman, and unremarkably so. Similarly unremarkable has been a nation's right to protect itself against unceasing, barbarous attack. Today, these basic precepts have come under fire — and unremarkably so — indicating the extent to which the very foundations of modern civilization have shifted.
That shift is visible between the lines of President Bush's explanation of why, after "more than two centuries of American jurisprudence and millennia of human experience," he believes a constitutional amendment is necessary to bring "clarity" to the definition of marriage. That is, when a president believes he has to bring "clarity" to the definition of marriage, the lens on the world has gone fuzzy. Not that everyone doesn't know that the bride is the girl and the groom is the boy. What's out of focus is the basic notion, as Bush put it, that "marriage cannot be severed from its cultural, religious and natural roots without weakening the good influence of society."
Once upon a time, such a statement expressed consensus; today, it's a bolt of controversy. "How would gay marriage weaken society?" reporters repeatedly asked White House spokesman Scott McLellan. What specifically would happen? How did the president arrive at this? And could the Bible have been involved? As one reporter wondered, rather memorably: "We understand there's the issue of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Bible, but did he use that? We want to know."
Poor babies.
Severed from their own cultural tradition, they grope for a rationale for heterosexual marriage and find only a fundamentalist reading of Sodom and Gomorrah. This, even more than the actions of activist judges and officials, indicates how far we, as anything resembling a unified society, have fallen.
A similar estrangement from basic principles underlies the bizarre "trial" of Israel's security fence at the Hague. Suffering the most savage attacks on civilians in modern history, Israel is erecting a fence to stop Palestinian terrorists from entering Israel from the West Bank to kill and maim its people. (Saudi Arabia and India, by the way, are building similar fences on their contested borders with Yemen and Pakistan.) This act of Israeli self-defense, condemned by the United Nations — natch — was referred to the International Court of Justice for an opinion. The Israeli delegation at the Hague aptly framed the case's Dada-esque aspects: "At the same time Israel is burying eight victims of a suicide bombing yesterday by a member of Yasser Arafat's Al Aqsa brigade, the Palestinians are using the United Nations Court to attack Israel for building a fence that could have saved their lives."
Building a fence against Palestinian Authority suicide bombers who blow up Israeli buses and restaurants and markets is an act of self-defense — not a matter of opinion. The institution of marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Nothing could be clearer. In this fractious 21st century, of course, consensus has vanished.
Once, civilization drew these lines; its continued existence depends on somehow holding them.
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JWR contributor Diana West is a columnist and editorial writer for the Washington Times. Comment by clicking here.
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