Category Archives: Mort Laitner News

Being Jewish in 2024

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An Outline of My Ted-like Talk—Connecting Thirty-Six Jewish Dots From the Past, to the Present to the Future:

  1. Who is Mort Laitner to give such a presentation?—A short 75-year history.
  2. Anti-Semitism Now and Then—Everything is Relative—We seem to be able to forget the horrors of past—Neo-Nazis on our streets—Why Are They So Quiet?—The Internet;
  3. Netanyahu’s Obama’s History, Biden (Self-fulfilling prophecies) and Trump;
  4. The Pro-Palestinian Student Protesters—A long history, Goals—BDS, cutting off arms shipment, From the River to the Sea;
  5. Miracles: Israel, Pre-statehood, Statehood the Present Day—The Glass is More than Half Full—Zionism, Herzl, Turkish Expulsion, Balfour, 1920 Riots,1929 Riots, Nazis, the Palestine Economy, 1939 White, British Lies, The German Army in Egypt, 1948 UN partition, Four Wars 1949,1967,1973, 2023;
  6. A Glance at America’s Right and Left Wing—A Golda Meir—A Socialist Story;
  7. The Shoah Clock—Never Again—1933 to 2024;
  8. Israel and the Bomb—Three stories, Ben Gurion 1950, The Sinai War 1956 and Yom Kipper War 1973;
  9. Five Countries—Iran, Russia, Syria, Turkey and Lebanon—Seeing the Big and Little Picture;
  10. The Israel/Gaza War—A Bunch of Fatal Mistakes—Lessons Learned—The Battle For Stalingrad—Economic—Tourism, Inflation, Psychological, How long will it go on? Definition of Victory— Security, The Settlers—The Media— The Propaganda Wars;
  11. The Jewish Renaissance in America, Northern Exposure;
  12. Existential versus Non-Existential Threats—Define as relates to–American Jews—Israel;
  13. All things can be used for good or evil (Emmanuel Kant)—All events can lead to good or evil (Nazi pre-war expulsion of Jews from Germany economic policy—-Holocaust—Israel)
  14. Readings: A Seder Speech for 2024, The Last Jew in Vinnitsa On A Tee Shirt; The End of the Jewish Renaissance in America, When Fascism Comes to America—A Poem; Hamas What the Fuck were you Thinking.
  15. Q&A Session

Jewish American Heritage Month Lecture: – Being Jewish in 2024–As Seen Through the Eyes of a Blogger

Thursday, May 30: 2:00pm – 4:00pm

 Davie/Cooper City Branch – Multipurpose Room

AGE GROUP:   ADULTS

EVENT TYPE:  SPEAKER, DISCUSSION/LECTURE, ARTS & CULTURAL

Mort Laitner, local author and speaker, will talk about being Jewish in today’s world. Refreshments and snacks will be provided, and registration is required.

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May 8, 2024

Let’s Talk About It

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Save the Date: For these are interesting times for American Jews

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Jewish American Heritage Month Lecture:

Being Jewish in 2024–As Seen Through the Eyes of a Times of Israel Blogger

Thursday, May 30
2:00pm – 4:00pm

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Davie/Cooper City Branch 4600 SW 82nd Avenue Davie, Fl

Multipurpose Room

Mort Laitner, local author and speaker, will talk about being Jewish in today’s world. Refreshments and snacks will be provided, and registration is required.

AGE GROUP: | Adults |

EVENT TYPE: | Speaker | Discussion/Lecture | Arts & Cultural |

TAGS: | Jewish American Heritage Month |

Davie/Cooper City Branch

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Mort laitner is Florida’s Jewish short-story writer. He blogs for the Times of Israel. He is a passionate speaker, a film producer and a retired attorney. He has authored, “A Hebraic Obsession”, “The Hanukkah Bunny” and “The Greatest Gift.” He produced an award-winning short film entitled, “The Stairs”. Movie can be viewed online. ChatGPT says, Mort is known for his works that often explore themes of love, loss, and the human connection. Laitner has published several books , including “A Hebraic Obsession.” His writing style is characterized by its emotional depth and introspection. Laitner’s works have garnered praise for their heartfelt expression and keen insight into the human experience. Mort is the president of the South Florida Writers Association. He was a correspondent for the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel Jewish Journal

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May 6, 2024

Chutzpah

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I always love it when someone is outed for committing an act of “chutzpah.”

When I see it, I yell, “What a case of  chutzpah. He’s got a really big set of balls on him or as my Spanish-speaking friends might say, cojones grandes to be so galling.”

You see, chutzpah is a Yiddish word meaning to commit an audaious, imprudent or a galling act.

And with every good definition comes an example.

And this week’s example of chutzpah occurs at Columbia University. Yup, the Ivy located in NYC, where a 33-year old, keffiyeh wearing, pro-Palestinian protestor, Johannah King-Slutzky—seeking a PhD in English and Comparative Literature—asked an audience of reporters for food and drinks for the trespassers occupying Hamilton Hall.

Of course, the media mocks her for her audaciousness.

But I want you to hear Johannah’s exact words,

“Do you want students to die of dehydration and starvation or get severely ill even if they disagree with you? If the answer is no, then you should allow basic… I mean, it’s crazy to say because we’re on an Ivy League campus, but this is like basic humanitarian aid we’re asking for…’’

Johannah, you’re right it is a crazy request as is the cause you’re fighting for.

But we live in a crazy world and these are crazy times which leads me ask four questions:

  1. Isn’t it chutzpah for Columbia to educate left-wing wackos, when our country desperately needs the Ivys to produce a much higher class of students;

2. Isn’t it chutzpah for Columbia to offer a degree in English and Comparative Lit? When no one has landed a job with that degree since 1971. Columbia owns a truckload of chutzpah for offering this degree to its naïve students;

3. Isn’t it chutzpah for Columbia to accept students that are delusional? Have they no standards when it comes to an applicant’s mental health?;

4. Is Johannah King-Slutzky Jewish? If so, that’s chutzpah. A member of the tribe helping out terrorists that just murdered 1,200 Israeli men, women and babies and still holds over 100 hostages.

Okay, in Johannah’s defense both of her parents are psychologists and we know that that could “F” anybody up.

And with a name like Slutzky, she must have had one-hell-of-a-tough time in middle school.

But when I learn that King-Slutzky’s university research is focused on “theories of the imagination and poetry as interpreted through a Marxian lens in order to update and propose an alternative to historicist ideological critiques of the Romantic imagination,” I thought, if my research focused on that topic, I wouldn’t be a pro-Palestinian protestor, I’d just blow my brains out or I’d want someone to wring my neck with my black and white keffiyeh until I turned purple and died.

Now that would be an ultimate act of chutzpah.

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May 2, 2024