49 Years. Isi Leibler In Print. Pork Orgy? There Will Be A Reckoning Day.

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A dear friend and fellow memo reader commented about my post: "what should I be called now that I have shed my scales?"

"Sad to have to say it, but excellent letter. The truth hurts. I'm glad I'm in my 8-9th inning even though I hope to go into over-time. I'm also happy to say that I had nothing to do with the transformation and lived in the time when the country was great. R--"

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March 5th,  Lynn and I will have been married 49 years.  When I proposed to her I felt an obligation to remind her of our 15 year age disparity in order to give her a chance to rethink because I never thought I would make it this far,  being the pessimist in the family. Each year we re-enlist and I am signing up for another.  Hope I make it. 

It has been a most wonderful ride considering we are totally opposite except for our values. Our family now number 28. We still have an unmarried grandson, two married granddaughters, no kids as yet,  so the numbers could grow.

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Were I to run for public office, God forbid, I seriously doubt were I to base my campaign on a speech stating I would put America second or numerically lower I would have much chance of winning regardless of my sterling personality.

Sen. Kennedy dubbed Pelosi and Biden's 2 trillion dollar "Covid Bill" as a 'pork orgy.'

I cannot believe a 'pork orgy' is akin to putting America first. Sounds more like a bail out of second place loser Democrats who have run down pensions in their cities and states because they overspent and mismanaged.

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There will be a reckoning day:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/03/03/democrats-stimulus-spending-inflation/

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My friend's book has been published and he is back on his feet: 

Candidly Speaking - Isi Leibler

It has been a long time since you have received a mailing from me. This was due to some health issues which have now stabilized.

Some of you may have seen the recent coverage and reviews in the press of my biography written by historian, Professor Suzanne D. Rutland. She researched the book over the period of 20 years combing through my extensive archives and various other independent sources, including government records and documentation recently released under Freedom of Information Act.

Some of the material she uncovered has astonished me and I am very grateful to her for the tremendous effort made in bringing it all together. I feel very privileged that such a comprehensive book provides a record of my multiple and varied public and personal activities over many years.

Below is the flyer prepared by the publisher, highlighting a few select quotes that were incorporated into the cover of the book. I also add links below to two of the recent reviews  and the Foreword to the biography written by Justice Elyakim Rubinstein.

Lone Voice; The Wars of Isi Leibler NEW! by Suzanne D Rutland "Isi exemplified all that was admirable about the Jewish community in Australia: proud to be Australian, tireless in the leadership of his community at home and abroad, and ever willing to confront prejudice and discrimination" " John Howard, OM, AC, former Prime Minister of Australia "Leibler’s vast contribution to Soviet Jewry will always be remembered and cherished by me and my friends. Lone Voice makes Isi’s inspiring life story available to the young generation as well." Yuli Edelstein Minister of Health, former Prisoner of Zion; former Speaker of the Knesset "The fact that the Jewish community of Australia, the most remote among the Jewish communities of the world, was the first to mobilize to [Soviet Jewry’s] aid and mobilize its government in turn is due to the visionary activism of Isi Leibler, who went on to serve the Jewish world with the same combination of vision and energy for the past fifty years." Natan Sharansky former Prisoner of Zion; former member of Knesset; former Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel "Isi Leibler is one of the most important leaders of world Jewry in our generation… in the very epicenter of Jewish life." Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Chief Rabbi of Efrat; founder of the Ohr Torah Stone educational network "A compelling tour de force of a remarkable Australian Jewish leader whose words and deeds have had a transformative impact on world events – and we are all the beneficiaries." Irwin Cotler former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada “ Isi Leibler is a renowned figure in the Jewish world. Fearless, relentless, accomplished, elo­quent, outspoken. Wherever leadership has been needed, he’s been there.” David Harris, CEO American Jewish Committee About the Author Suzanne D. Rutland (OAM, PhD), Professor Emerita, Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies, University of Sydney, is a renowned Australian Jewish historian. She has published widely on Australian Jewish history, edits the Sydney edition of the Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal, and writes prolifically about the Shoah, Israel, Soviet Jewry, Jewish education, and antisemitism. Her book The Jews in Australia was published by Cambridge University Press in 2005. Her 2015 book Let My People Go: The Untold Story of Australia and Soviet Jews, 1959-1989, co-written with journalist Sam Lipski was a joint winner of the 2016 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Australian history. In 2008, she received the Medal of the Order of Australia from the government for services to Jewish higher education and interfaith dialogue. A member of the Australian Expert Delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, she serves on the Education Working Group and Committee on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial. Order from Gefen or Amazon