"Die süße Peitsche"

Hobbuch fought four years in WWI as a soldier and then, in the postwar misery of Germany, moved to Berlin in 1922. Encouraged by Orlik and Grosz, he turned to the portrayal of city life; his work was ferociously critical of the social-political order. In 1925 Hubbuch took over a teaching position at the State Art School in Karlsruhe and was appointed professor in 1928. His work was represented in numerous exhibitions in the 1920s and early 1930s, including the 1925 exhibition in Mannheim at the Neue Sachlichkeit ”exhibition. With the rise of Nazism and he was dismissed and had to make do with odd jobs. 

This is from the revolutionary German art movement so hated by failed artist Hitler. The print is called "Sweet Whip". It criticizes the German leadership that started and lost WWI.  

Tikun Olam Cannabis Company

 From yesterday I am taking a new painkiller which contains codein and an opium-derived molecule. This and my painful, tremendous losses on TEVA stock (punished for aggressive marketing of legal painkillers) focused my attention on this field. The analysts predict fantastic growth of Cannabis products in the coming years. I was unaware how much back pains are common and how many people depends on these drugs to maintain a normal, working life. The only foreign Cannabis company in the USA-Canada market is Tikun Olam, an Israeli firm on TASE. I bought a handful of shares. 

Pfizer's Lucky Strike with Israel

 Israel has pioneered the mass vaccination with Pfizer's product and now there are starting to appear scientific papers based on the Israeli experience. It appears that Pfizer not only creates immunity but altogether reduces virus load in the population. All the countries are trying to get their hands on Pfizer vaccine, and rejecting the Indian, the Chinese etc. unverified products. It is comparable to Israel's battle proved weapons, armies prefer something already proved in actual emergencies. The big question is if two shots are enough for life, or they need to be reinforced annually. In the second case, Pfizer's profit stream will last at least 15 years. I am pondering to put some savings in the share. Pic. Mikael Dolsten, the Swedish Jew, head of Pfizer vaccine project. 

Stunned

 

Yesterday went to Physiotherapy. I suffer from sciatica. They localized the origin of the pain, they gave me a tennis ball and I had to sit on that point. It was so painful that I am still stunned. Feeling fatigue and  weak. If I don't exercise, the body will be enervated and it will be increasingly hard to move. In most cases, sciatica will go away on its own. Half of people will recover within 6 weeks. The other half, not.

The mystery of antisemitism

Considering it from the point of view of number of Jews murdered, Nazi Germany must be the most anti-Jewish country of all times. Yet a few year before Hitler, Germany elected a Jewish Foreign Minister, Walter Rathenau, and Jews were prominent in the media, in the universities, in the legal profession and in everything. Jews were popular as individuals and as a culture, powerful in the economy and politics. Germany was definitely open and friendly to Jews. If things can change so drastically in less than ten years, what is antisemitism and how we measure it? Today, Jews are well represented in the American government and all other areas, could that change drastically in a ten years? It is a mystery. 

The Tenth Plague

 The Bible mentions ten plagues in Pharaonic Egypt. Nine are common occurrences in the Middle East, like locusts and gnats. But the tenth one was a selective pandemic that killed Egyptian children and passed over the Jewish population. How could that happen?

Easily. The Jews had suffered repeated epidemics, while the Egyptians were virgin and specially the children had no experience with the disease. What disease was that? Smallpox, for example. According to historical accounts, age-specific smallpox mortality was gleaned from the age distribution of smallpox burials in York (England) between 1770 and 1812. Smallpox preferentially infects young, pre-reproductive members of the population since they are the only individuals who are not immunized or dead from past infection. Because smallpox preferentially kills pre-reproductive members of a population, it generates stronger selective pressure than plague. Unlike plague, smallpox does not have an animal reservoir and is only transmitted from human to human. Smallpox could have exerted a selective force sufficient to reach 10%. Source: Wiki.

Pic.: A child mummy with smallpox. 

The weekly portion: The Hebrew Slave

כִּ֤י תִקְנֶה֙ עֶ֣בֶד עִבְרִ֔י שֵׁ֥שׁ שָׁנִ֖ים יַעֲבֹ֑ד וּבַ֨שְּׁבִעִ֔ת יֵצֵ֥א לַֽחָפְשִׁ֖י חִנָּֽם׃

אִם־בְּגַפּ֥וֹ יָבֹ֖א בְּגַפּ֣וֹ יֵצֵ֑א אִם־בַּ֤עַל אִשָּׁה֙ ה֔וּא וְיָצְאָ֥ה אִשְׁתּ֖וֹ עִמּֽוֹ׃

We read this week about Jewish laws. If you buy a Jewish slave, he will work for you six years and in the seventh he goes free. If he arrived alone and in the seventh year he was married, he will go free with his wife. If his wife was given to him by his owner and had children, he will go free but his wife and the children will remain with the owner. The Hebrew slave can refuse to accept freedom and he can say "I loved my owner, my wife and my children" then he can stay and be marked so everyone will know that he chose slavery.