The Red Cow Promise – A poem for Parsha Chukat-Balak

Miniature, polite gestures of memorialization serve neither as insurance against future catastrophes nor as tributes to the victims. So should we stop to acknowledge them?

Do not give up on institutions — but do not disengage from the responsibility to hold them accountable.

At a moment when California faces soaring costs, housing shortages, energy challenges, water insecurity and mounting technological competition from China, Ro Khanna chose to travel halfway around the world in pursuit of yet another public confrontation with America’s closest and best ally in the Middle East.

“Citizen Vigilante” serves as a warning to governments that if they don’t secure their borders, enforce laws, and protect their most vulnerable, ordinary people will resort to self-help.

The only hope for a better future is to turn the Palestinians away from Hamas and back on the path of building their economy and a democratic society that conceivably could regain the trust of Israelis.

No one else is willing to pay the price except Israel which understands its survival depends on it.