Month: October 2021

Relishing Our Victory at the Battle of Kindergarten

rafifarber The Jewish Libertarian Blog ,

Despite the title here, I don’t want to make it look like I’m a בעל גאווה, a guy who just loves “winning battles” and stepping on the Covidians. I do not enjoy these fights. They make me sick, to tell you the truth.

But I do get a glimmer of relish, knowing fully that I am on the right path and that as long as we – my wife and I – keep moving in the right direction, that God will help us in going there. Just like Abraham, who had no idea where he was going, he just went, and ended up in the right place.

Anyway, after the initial Battle of the Kindergarten, we were walking away, feeling nauseous. I do not particularly enjoy fighting verbally with kindergarten teachers in front of children. It’s really, I mean REALLY not my thing. But these are crazy times, and we have no choice.

We were very emotionally flustered, on the verge of tears. And then the small comforts came from Heaven. The first person we see is a guy on a skateboard, a friend of mine, who’s on our side. I was glad to see him. We told him briefly what happened. He smiles. As we keep walking the next person to see us is in a car, rolls down her window, it’s a friend of ours who hosted our first “maskless minyan” so we could pray without masks on High Holidays 2020. We told her briefly what happened, and she cheered.

My wife had an errand to run that same day, and she picked up a hitchhiker on her way. He was wearing a mask. She bravely told him to take it off, no masks in our car. He thought she was joking. She was not joking. She told him to take it off or get out. He would not take it off. She stopped the car and for the first time ever, kicked a hitchhiker out of the car.

As soon as he was out, it started pouring. For about 2 minutes. Then it stopped. He got what he deserved.

Anyway, we had enough signs we were doing the right thing.

So, we go to the kindergarten this morning. The teachers greet us respectfully. We respond respectfully. We sit down, with our 4 year old daughter, to do a puzzle. We do the puzzle, nobody says a word. The adult that was lecturing us about “endangering hte children”, seems she’s staff, said not a damn thing.

We finished the puzzle. We get up to leave. I walk over to the head teacher and I say, “Thank you very much for the respect you have shown us today.” Very formally, very coldly. She responds, “Thank you as well.”

There are no illusions. She knows we are at war. She knows she has lost. She has capitulated. There is nothing in just war more satisfying than showing cold respect for your opponents. These people are slaves. And we have shown them that we are not. We are masters. Of ourselves.

When a slave sees a master, they obey. That’s what they do. Use their nature to win.

How We WON The Maskless Battle at Kindergarten

rafifarber The Jewish Libertarian Blog , ,

Another day, another battle. We won at the pool. We won the battle of the Covid tests. We won the Battle of Supersol and Battle of the Maskless Shabbat.

Today, we won the Battle of Preschool.

We have a four year old daughter. When the End of the World as we Know It happened, my son was 5, in kindergarten. He is now in 2nd grade. I used to play a game with him at kindergarten before leaving him for the day, in the mornings. From March 2020 until today, I didn’t play with my son, nor have I with my daughter in the mornings at preschool.

Today, my wife and I decided to open up another front. We went in to the preschool, without masks, we sat down, and we played with her. For the first time in nearly 2 years, we played with our child in kindergarten.

We were immediately harassed about masks. Told to put one on. We said no, and kept playing. They move all the other kids away from us, as if we’re endangering them. Then another adult comes in and says we’re endangering the children.

“I don’t want to fight with you,” she says, “but you’re endangering us all.”

“Then stop fighting with me and be quiet,” I say.

There was a back and forth for a while, something about obedience versus rationality, we finished a puzzle with my daughter while being attacked. It was very unpleasant.

“There are rules,” says the adult. Not sure if she was staff or not. Uh huh.

We walk out, my wife not feeling well emotionally about this. Neither am I. I don’t want to attack anyone.

We get home, and there is city security at our gate. He used to be my neighbor. He asks if we had problems at the kindergarten this morning. I say no. He says something about masks, I say we are exempt. He asks if we have an exemption in writing, I say you’re not allowed to even ask that.

He says he wants to talk to me for my own good, as a friend. I say I don’t see you as a friend. I see you as an enemy. Then he gets mad and says, “OK, now I’m changing my tone with you!”

“Oh no, what do I do now? You’re changing your tone!”

“Look,” he says, “You come into the kindergarten again without a mask, and you’re going to get a really big fine!”

“Good,” I say. “Go ahead. Fine me. I’ll fight it in court.”

He turns his back, and starts to walk away. As he’s walking out, he says, “You’ve always been a couple of idiots!”

Heh, he couldn’t resist a childish swipe after a smushed his ego.

Hours later, I go to pick up my daughter. As I get close to the kindergarten, there are three cops waiting for me. I know these cops. One of them is the Chief. They booked me back in December for bareface and never gave me a ticket for it though. He knows me. The basic points of the conversation, skipping the dumber portions of the back and forth. It took about 3-4 minutes I think.

“What’s your name?” he says.

“Did I do something?”

“You’re talking to a cop. Tell me your name.”

“Do I have to answer that? Tell me what I did. Can I pick up my daughter?”

“I know you. We’ve met before. You can’t come into a Kindergarten and yell at people. It’s bad for the children.”

“I came in to play with my daughter and they told me I was endangering children.”

“Look, next time you just say you have an exemption from masks and that’s it. You can’t just go in to a kindergarten, disrespect the teacher in front of kids, because later the kids grow up and think they can stab policemen.” (Yes, he actually said this.)

“I’m against violence. But I’ve said I am exempt many times before and they still bother me.”

“I will tell the teacher that you have an exemption and not to bother you then.”

“So I can come in tomorrow, to the kindergarten, without a mask?”

“Yes, just be respectful.”

“Of course. Thank you for your help. I really appreciate this conversation and I respect you.” I say. I’m serious. This cop is sort of reasonable. Still trying to intimidate me, but sort of reasonable.

I pick up my daughter and go home.

There are no Covid rules. It’s all a sham. Just keep acting as if they do not exist. Because they don’t. I wonder what I’m going to fight next.

Kindergarten conquered. כיבוש ארץ ישראל.

How We WON The Battle of The Covid Tests

rafifarber The Jewish Libertarian Blog

I danced and won at the Street Battle of the Maskless Shabbat. My wife won the Battle of Supersol. Our whole family fought and won the Green Pass Battle at the Pool. September 30, 2021, we fought, and won the three-front battle of the Covid Testing at the Schools and Kindergartens.

This battle was a crazy one, and it was the scariest one. It was the only one we announced our attack in advance. We were told that in order to send our kids to school and kindergarten, we would have to show them a negative Covid test, or our kids would not be allowed in. So we called both the principal and the kindergarten teacher, and we announced in advance that we were going to fight them. That we were not going to back down. We were going to send our children to the school and kindergarten they are registered for, without a Covid test, against the tyrannical mandates of the Israel Ministry of Health, and the next move is up to them.

If you do not understand why it is such a crime against humanity to require disease testing on healthy children in order to get into school, then stop reading this article. It is not aimed at you. I am only speaking to those who understand the importance and sanctity of human liberty and of the principle of innocence until proven guilty, and of the holiness of one’s ownership over his own God-given body. If you don’t get that, then you are not worth talking to, so leave.

For those who understand, let me put it simply. Last year it was forced “declarations of health” on a piece of paper. This year it’s Covid testing and nasal rape. Next year it’ll be forced injections for babies toddlers and children. We made a big mistake last year not fighting the health declarations. We just filled them out. That made this last battle that much harder. We still won, but it was not easy. Had we refused the health declarations, the path would have been much easier to winning this battle. But for those who do not fight nasal rape of children now, you are going to have a very hard time fighting forced “vaccinations”. But for us, I hope it will be easier, because now they know where we stand, and they know we know they are cowards and backed down.

Just like my kids are no longer bothered about masks because they refuse to wear them, all you have to do is win once and it gets easier.

First let’s go into the completely asinine nature of the “mandatory Covid testing”. It is only once a week, and those that don’t go to school on the day it is required, do not have to submit one on any other day. So it is very easy to avoid, and it won’t prevent the spread of anything. We could have easily just not sent our kids on September 30 as so many parents refused, and rightly. But this was about taking a stand, and letting them know we will not submit nor will we run away anymore. Come get us, you empty cowards. You are all empty, none of you believe in what you are doing. As Worf said of the Borg, “The Borg have no honor nor courage. And that is our greatest advantage.” Hollow automaton obedient shells.

So last night I called my son’s teacher, a man I do have respect for. He is a very good teacher. I can tell he does not like this coercion, but he does not have the fortitude to endanger his job to fight it head on. I feel bad for him. But I can tell he understands. I call him and tell him very clearly, I am sending my son to school tomorrow, without a test, and I expect him to be accepted and taught as normal. I told him that if my son is not allowed into school, what happens to him will be his responsibility and the school’s,  and that he, the teacher, will be guilty of denying my son a Torah education and Bittul Torah, cancelling Torah, one of the worst sins that can be committed by a Jewish educator specifically. I said to him on the phone that he will be judged in Heaven for this, and I know that the Holy One Blessed Be He is watching him, and watching me, and God sides with me. I am sure of it, period. What about you?

No answer to that.

But he said he understood but my son cannot come to school without a test.

“He is coming, whether you like it or not.”

That was the end of the conversation.

Then the principal calls my wife’s phone about 5 minutes later. I do not like this man. Perhaps I would respect him under different circumstances, but he was in full bureaucrat empty soulless mode. He asks me in a dumb tone, “I hear that there is something you do not understand about the testing mandate tomorrow? What is it that you don’t understand?”

I found this question to be insulting and idiotic, so I began to lose my temper completely, instantaneously. I told him I understand perfectly, and then I got real nasty. I was taken over by something and I went on autopilot.

I told the principal the same thing I told my son’s teacher. That he’s coming to school without a test, and anything that happens to him will be the school’s responsibility. The principal responded that there are laws and he has to follow the law.

“You are hiding behind the law. My son is coming to school tomorrow and there is nothing you can do to stop it. If you try I will hold you responsible.”

“Your son is not coming to school. You cannot send him here without a test.”

“Yes I can, and that’s what I’m doing.”

This yes-no-yes-no-yes-no sending him not sending him went on for about 2 minutes straight. I wouldn’t let him get a word out. Then he ups the ante. He says to me if my son shows up at school without a test and I refuse to pick him up, he will call the police.

Ah! Now we’re getting somewhere! A bureaucrat punches, I counter. “Go ahead. You do that. Call the police on a boy who wants to learn Torah! I dare you, you empty nothing!”

“Your son cannot come to our school. You can send him somewhere else, but not here.” he reiterates.

“You’ll be seeing him tomorrow. Make sure you remember the number for the police.”

“Is this conversation over?” he asks.

“You haven’t hung up yet, so I will say again. I am sending my son to school tomorrow without a test. I suggest you call the police on him.”

He hangs up the phone. I scream into the air.

At this point I get weak, adrenalin rush over. Fear overtakes me and I have doubts. But my wife is adamant that we now must follow through. If we don’t, we’ll look like idiots and we will never win another battle, and there are many more that need to be fought. This is one and done. We lose one, we lose them all.

In the case of my two older girls, my wife asked the oldest’s teacher if she agreed with this policy. She replied that she does, because “we’re all in this together” we are “all Klal Yisrael” (common Israel) and other Marxists platitudes, and in any case it doesn’t matter what she thinks because these are the Health Ministry guidelines and my daughter is welcome in school if she has a negative test. My wife wrote back that this is communism, not Judaism, and basically cut the crap.

Anyway, we wake up the next morning and we tell the kids we are sending them to school ourselves. We drop the four year old at her kindergarten early. She walks in, no challenges. We drive the two other girls and my son to their schools, about a 20 minute drive. We drop the girls off first, and tell them that our car will be in the parking lot down the street if they can’t get in.

We park the car, and my wife gives my son a pep talk, to just walk in past the guard and be brave. He starts walking, and comes back crying that the guard won’t let him in because he didn’t take a test. I’m not sure what actually happened here since we didn’t want the school to know we were there as well, so we weren’t with him when he crossed the gate. I suspect he just got scared and turned back. At this point my fear takes over and I’m thinking we should give up, but my wife gets possessed and insists he try again.

Meanwhile, the phone rings. It’s our local government education bureaucrat woman, who insists that we must come back to the kindergarten to pick up our four year old girl, because she does not have a test. My wife screams at her that there is no way she is picking her up early. She is healthy, and she will pick her up at 2pm when the day is over as normal. Screaming back and forth. I’m holding the baby. The only line I remember from her side was, “I’m her mother! I decide what goes into her body! Not you!”

Eventually the woman hangs up on my wife after giving up fighting with her.

Meanwhile, my wife, who now looks a bit crazed, takes our son back near the school gate and tells him to try again, just walk past the guard. This time he makes it through. 2 minutes later, the phone rings again. It’s the principal I had a screaming match with the night before. (I’m shortening this dialogue to the main points.) I tell my wife I cannot talk to him. I’m out of energy. She answers the phone.

“Your son is here. You have to come and pick him up.”

“No,” says my wife. “You have to let him in. He has come to learn Torah and be with friends. He belongs to the State now, which says we must send him to school by law, so you are responsible for him now by law. You cannot turn him away.”

“You can do homeschooling, you can’t send him here.”

“No, I can’t, because I’m just a stupid immigrant with a Masters in education but I don’t have the resources. He is healthy. If he was sick I would not send him to school.”

Meanwhile, back and forth yelling for about 5 minutes, repetitive, attrition. Then my wife says, “He already had Covid and now he’s fine.” For some reason this changes the direction of the conversation, and we do not know why.

“Really? When did he have Covid?”

“On Rosh HaShanah.”

“Well, OK then, that’s fine with me. He can stay.”

We were trying to figure out why he buckled at that. We believe it is because a letter came through at that moment from the Teacher’s Union saying that it was unlawful to turn away a child from school if the child did not get tested. But I’m really not sure why he buckled.

So we have just the girls to worry about now. We drive back to their school a block away, into the parking lot, and we see them outside, alone, behind the gate on the school property but not in the building.

I asked my oldest what had happened later when she got home. Apparently, what had happened was that as she was walking into class her teacher who my wife had been texting with the night before, actually slammed the door in her face as she (the teacher) was totally flustered to see her there.

Apparently they took my two daughters out of class and kept them outside alone, gave them a bucket of paint and told them to “do an art project”. They refused. That’s when we showed up and saw them from the other side of the fence. This was about an hour into the day already. We whistled them over and asked them if they want to just come home. I was ready to give up. But just then, as I was sure we had lost, we hear an adult voice call them over and say they can come inside now. And so they do. And so we drove off, 4 year old in kindergarten, two older girls in their classrooms, and my son in his school.

We won this one, but only with God’s help at the last second. Every time I was about to give up, my wife stood up and refused to back down.

Every battle gets harder. But the victories become more significant.

We spread the word to our groups that we had won. And then reinforcements came. Other parents who were keeping their kids home that day arrive, and send their kids to school, knowing we cleared the path already.

Hopefully next time we will not be alone. The next battle will probably be the battle of the vaccines, and we are going to need more troops.

Be brave and know that our enemies are essentially empty. They do not believe in what they are doing. They have neither honor nor courage. They have no conviction, only fear of retribution. They are merely obeying. But we believe in right and wrong, and we believe in the God of Israel, not as some fake religious concept to make ourselves feel better, but as a real force that is watching our every move. Because He is. And that is our greatest advantage.