Israel Remembrance and Independence Day

 

Today is Memorial Day (Yom Hazikaron), and tomorrow is Israeli Independence Day (Yom Haatzmaut). On the Gregorian calendar it will be on Sunday, May 15, but on our Hebrew calendar it is tomorrow. There will be fireworks and celebratory activities all across this small but vital nation and the vitality will definitely be on display for all to see. But that independence came at a price which must be respected and have its day which is why we have Remembrance Day, or Memorial Day, one day before, today. Today we mourn all those lost to anti-Semitic terrorism, anti-Zionist terrorism and anti-Israel terrorism which have a shared root directly related to Independence Day and a more historic foundation, for some possibly remembrance also goes back in their hearts ever further than the official definitions. Officially we are remembering all those lost to terrorist strikes, all our soldiers lost in the battles and wars we have been forced to fight to continue to even have a nation, the six million souls lost in the Holocaust and for me the souls lost to the wars fought as recorded in the Bible and to all the pogroms, cleansings and other atrocities all but impossible to imagine from both sides of the great history of the Jewish People. Most people are familiar with only the modern anti-Semitic history of Europe and Russia and are unfamiliar with the similar history for those Jews who resided amongst the Arab world as well as Spain where when the Muslims were pushed back across Gibraltar and back into Northern Africa that the Jews too were cleansed from Spanish lands despite that the Jews were often victims alongside the Christians when there was persecution in Muslim lands against the non-Muslims. And then there was the particularly troublesome part in the Holy Lands.

 

The conquest of the Holy Lands by Islam, then the Crusaders, then Islam, then more Crusaders and finally Islam, took its toll on the Jews still residing in our homeland but powerless to free it of either curse. Both were a curse as when the Muslims attacked, the Jews were slaughtered right along with the Christians; and when the Crusaders attacked, the Jews were slaughtered right along with the Muslims. The one constant was whoever was trying to conquer the Holy Land and Jerusalem in particular, the Jews were always on the wrong side as far as the attackers were concerned and often we were also seen as part of the enemy to whoever was defending against the attack; so the killing of Jews wholesale was always the outcome. These Jews I also remember because their only sin was to be living in our natural and ancient homeland. We had been thriving in this homeland when these forces of religious intolerance were still sacrificing their own to idols, before the Roman Empire, before Alexander the Great, before Darius and Cyrus and the Persians and before the Babylonians and Phoenicians and were only preceded by the Egyptians of that era, a different group than today’s Egyptians, the Minoans and the Hittites, Moabites and other peoples who existence has disappeared into the dust and only records stand in edifices still baffling modern engineers and archeologists. All the fallen throughout Jewish history should be remembered even if they also have their own holiday as they also were defenders of these lands.

 

 

Sculpture Dedicated to Soldiers Depicting Fallen Soldiers

 

 

One might ask why dampen our spirits one day before our celebrating the wondrous miracle of the reestablishment of our ancient land into the modern world? The answer is so that we never forget and Never Again has additional meanings. And not to fret, the greatest transition in a national mood can be witnessed tonight as Jews across Israel go from somber remembrance to unbridled joy in a matter of seconds. We have had a history which has prepared us well for such shifts in our national mood. Remember Haman from the Megillah of Esther where we went from condemned to all be murdered across the Persian Empire in a single day and were instead decreed we would be permitted to defend ourselves without punishment from the King and we triumphed and survived by the thinnest wisp of smoke once again. We had faced similar threats before and would again and again as we are again today as most of the Islamic world has sworn to destroy us starting with our “partners for peace” the Arab Palestinians and Hamas, Hezballah, Islamic State and Iran and those are just for starters. Do not get us going down this road because it is not a road for great worry, we have faced these odds before and we are still here, and I do mean here as in right here in our ancient homelands where we belong no matter what the United Nations or the community of nations and a special shout down to the European Union and all the rest in Europe who support whoever is fighting against Israel despite our posing them no threat. We have survived threats just as severe before and we will very likely face others just as dire in the future. When your peoples have survived for over three-thousand-years you have some history and you have faced threats to end your existence and survived and thus are confidant, rightfully so, that you will continue to do so.

 

There are stories of rulers from France to Russia to the tips of Africa where they asked their wise men and advisors to define or explain such concepts as eternity, the Creator and a whole list of other things which defy definition as they imply that which is limitless and will last throughout the ages even well beyond their empire or other human measure of time and the answer given was always the Jews. Mark Twain once wrote, “The Eternal Jew” which reads:

If statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of stardust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly, the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk.

His contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse learning are also away out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in this world, in all the ages; and had done it with his hands tied behind him.

He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it. The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed; and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished.

The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, and no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind.
All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?”

 

His commentary is a good place to leave these thoughts. Today in Synagogue we will all say prayers of remembrance and tomorrow we will quote prayers which are triumphant, one of the rare moments we do so. Then again, after three-thousand-years we have good reason to celebrate the fact we are still here to attend services but first to the memory of all who made our continued existence their worthy sacrifice and to Hashem who has walked with them whether they knew so or not. And perhaps that is the thread that binds the Jew to their heritage and gives them their spark, Hashem and His Torah which has been the glue that binds every Jew to his brothers and sisters no matter their path through the ages. Our thanks to our soldiers, our defenders and a remembrance to those from amongst our midst, the great sacrifices that were made and to our future; and may it serve Hashem well, with pride and humility, another opposing set of ideals we Jews have learned to hold simultaneously, or are at least still mastering.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Signs in the Streets and on the News

 

Where the obvious signs that make the news come from within Europe, the signs in the streets are visible throughout the world. Probably the most obvious of signs is right there in many Jews’ mailboxes inside a blank and nondescript envelope. Perhaps that since January 15, 2015 the French Army’s “Opération Sentinelle” has protected seven-hundred-twenty-two (722) Jewish schools and synagogues in France might give one pause. The army has reported three-hundred-seventy-two (371) incidents perpetrated against the soldiers standing guard in front of the protected sites. What would have happened to the Jews without the soldiers standing in front of their temples and schools? In addition, in Sweden a radio asked the Israeli Ambassador if Jews are not the cause of anti-Semitism. The magazine used to come in the mail unconcealed with Jewish features displayed vibrantly and proudly on its covers as if to say we are proud Jews who are vital members in our communities. Now it sneaks through the system and into our homes surreptitiously hiding that bright, loud, and proud cover declaring here lives a Jew stuffed within a blank envelope declaring, nothing to see here, move along. Next thing you know Jews will be moving their mezuzahs from the outsides of the front door to inside the front door. We will tell ourselves it is just to be closer to this sign that declared our Jewishness but we will know it is done to avoid it being vandalized or to conceal any identifier that says here lives a Jew. It will be in the little things and a few big things such as wearing a smaller Yarmulke or getting one of those new Yarmulkes which are designed to look like hair made to match your hair color and be almost completely invisible. You tell yourself that it does the same thing as your old Yarmulke because you know it is there dismissing the fact that it used to declare here goes a Jew proud of his heritage who walks unafraid within our communities, but we are no longer unafraid, are we. Then there are the signs that only the initial Jews see and are shocked. The vandalized cemetery, the graffiti on the Synagogue’s walls and main entrance, the anti-Semitic graffiti on the park benches and the bus stop walls which are hurriedly covered over so as not to alarm others, especially those Jewish others as there are more than enough worries these days though to talk of it is forbidden. When we do address these distressing truth we use hushed tones because we fear spreading our trepidations throughout our communities, but it really is still all-pervasive. It is so serious and severe a threat that even the Rabbi speaks about these threats playing them down while stressing how we belong and the government is addressing our safety so there is nothing to fear.

 

The government will see to our safety, spoken like a true progressive liberal leftist. That alone is a sign of the root problem, our total reliance on the government to fix all problems. We need just inform them and they will dispatch the necessary increased security around our synagogues, schools, yeshivas, libraries and kosher stores and our Jewish magazine is coming wrapped in a shroud and we start to sneak when outside the friendly confines of our well-knitted society and virtually or actually gated houses, a sort of voluntary ghetto with gilded gold caged secured entrances and high fence exteriors guarded by mobile patrols; we are most definitely safe, sane and secure. Do we not realize what is there plainly for us to see? We have already placed ourselves in a ghetto even if the cells cost half a million Euros, Dollars, Pounds or other coinage, the government will not even need to round us up. How long before those guard patrols will no longer be guarding us from the outside world but instead it will become them guarding the outside world from us. I know, it could be worse, but is not this the worse we warned about last year and haven’t the signs started coming at us faster and faster? How will we know that it has gone too far and it is too late, how much hatred is too much and changed into a threat from all the society? We need remember that it does not take a majority, just a society threatened and refusing to protect us as the costs have become too great. Is the sign when we are told we need pay an extra tax to cover our protection as the government can no longer afford to guard us unless we pay an extra tax to defray the costs. That is called the Jiyza in Islam and immediately separates us from the mainstream society and a sign that we accept our Dhimmitude and will curtail our behavior and from now on show our deference for our bettors of the society. Will this be the sign that the government has gone over to the other side? Is this a sign of too little to make us leave or that we should have fled months if not years ago.

 

This is our home; our family has lived here for three generations; my work or business is here; I am too old to start my life over; there are a million excuses and only one single argument on the other side, an argument which should beckon us and inspire in us in the same way as the Shofar calls on the high holidays, that is Eretz Yisroel, that is Yerushalayim, it is the call that says that it is time to return home no matter what holds us in place. In Israel we are the government, we are the military, our sign is emblazoned on the national flag and our symbols are everywhere. Is Israel perfect, no, but we are working to make it so. There will be those in Europe tempted to head to the United States which will gain them a few decades before the United States has reached the same level as in Europe, just far more subtle and disguised. The United States has just recently reached the point where crimes against Jews are almost always not considered hate crimes or crimes committed against us because we are Jews, we are simply victims and our Jewishness has nothing to do with it. Europe has passed that point and reached the point where there are those who are claiming that we Jews are the cause of the violence against us. Has there been any progress on the assassination of a Rabbi walking to Synagogue one Saturday Shabbat morning visiting Florida from New Jersey who was gunned down in broad daylight. Have they reclassified that assassination from a robbery gone wrong to the hateful murder it actually was? Of course they haven’t and the investigation, if you were to inquire, has come up against some difficulties but it is still an open investigation and that it will remain until all have stopped inquiring, then it becomes a dead file and gets filed with all the rest of the unsolvable cases. Perhaps that is one of the signs that the time has come?

 

If we still have any doubts, may it be pointed out that the anti-Israel and anti-Zionist rioting and rampaging on our college campuses have becoming anti-Semitic and target the Jewish students regardless their political alignment. Is that an imminent sign that the time has come to return home where you will be accepted for your Jewishness. It is time to return home and you will find something else in Israel awaiting your arrival, the societal ever-so-slow movement towards embracing our faith. I cannot begin to relay how warming returning home has been for me and for my wife as well. Are there any problems or difficulties, of course there are but they are largely due to language difficulties which we expected, but the willingness of the people, our fellow Jews to understand and make us feel welcomed and as if we have support while we make the transition. At our age, which for many people is anything over twenty, learning a completely new language, which we knew the words when singing in synagogue, is a monumental task which often, in our case constantly, seemingly impossible but with the mostly joyous assistance and patience of our new-found friends and neighbors we will get there eventually. To all our people in the Diaspora, time is a-wasting, so what will it take to bring you home? We in Israel fear you may wait until travel is restricted and it is too late to leave. You are making all the same excuses which were prevalent and chanted by the Jewish communities of the Weimar Republic, and that end result was really great for those comfortable, assimilated Jews. They did not request for you to prove what you were; they simply checked your grandparents were and assigned your religion from that. Then they came for the Jews in the middle of the night and later even the light of the sun could not prevent their taking the Jews, the society accepted this. There were French towns which readied their Jews in advance of the horrific depravity to reach their town resplendent in their dress uniforms, the French beat their advance and prepared their Jews without being forced to, they volunteered us. When the curtain opens and the real fearful society is given a choice on which community they must place on stage to be slaughtered, you know who will be offered in sacrifice, it will be as it has always been, us offered as a sacrifice to their new overlords. Then it is way too late. Do not remain because of your comfort for that is a very fragile item which can be extinguished with the slightest breeze of a waving hand over a paper making it so, and that moment approaches and will sweep across the globe. I realize how that will become a threat to Israel. I also know that standing together with the L0rd our G0d that we will prevail over any enemy, no matter how strong they may be, especially if we have faith and love for each other. So, what are you waiting for, an engraved gold-leaf invitation?

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Examination of Turkish Prime Minister’s Response to Paris Events

 

Turkey Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu made some interesting comments in reference to the Paris Rally to memorialize the freedoms of thought and expressions and the liberties and freedoms which form much of the basis for Western establishments and for which Islamic radical terrorists assaulted and murdered the staff of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in which a dozen people paid for such freedoms and liberties with their lives. So, let us first give some of the relative quotes from Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu made on the rally and its themes where he stated, “It is a message to the whole world that everyone must confront the threat of terror.” So far, so good. He continued, “We would expect the same sensitivities to be shown to attacks on mosque or Islamophobia.” We can agree completely on the expectations that should a similar assault be perpetrated on a Mosque that this would be an act of terrorism and equally contemptible and demand the same reaction as against the attackers of the magazine Charlie Hebdo’s offices. As far as the “Islamophobia” we would require a definition but probably would depend on the form of such “Islamophobia” took, if it were nonviolent then things start to come under the reasons the Charlie Hebdo’s offices were attacked. Moving on he was quoted, “Turkey’s stance is principled and we will keep up this attitude. Turkey has the same values around the world as far as terror is concerned. There can be no double standards.” Yes, this might be agreeable depending on your definition of terror which is coming next I would expect. The Prime Minister obliged when he pointed to “state terrorism” against the Palestinians and in Syria. One can only assume that Prime Minister Davutoglu was referring to the recent comments made by Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s comments which slammed Europeans criticizing of Turkish assaults on media outlets which signaled deteriorating press freedoms which in a Reuters report having indicated his saying they should instead try to find a solution for the increasing Islamophobia in Europe. President Erdogan has been quoted stating, “We are not Europe’s scapegoat. We are definitely not a country that Europe can point its finger at and scold. Instead of criticizing us, Europe should find a solution to increasing racism and Islamophobia.” As an example of such horrific crimes which were obvious Islamophobic in their origin he cited the German city of Dormagen, where ultra-nationalists drew Nazi signs on the walls of a mosque which was under construction.

 

The common theme here is the reference to “Islamophobia” and its being of racist origins which perhaps should be further investigated and include in that the reference to “state terrorism” against the Palestinians and in Syria. The easiest target is that Islamophobia is racist. What race is Islamophobia targeting? It cannot be Arabs as there are Arab Druze, Arab Jews, Arab Christians, Arab Hindus, Arab Buddhists, Arab Zaidi, Arab Zoroastrianians and undoubtedly other religions, so Islamophobia is not against Arabs due to Arabs practicing only Islam. If we look at Islam itself there are many differing peoples who practice Islam including people of Turkish backgrounds which are separate from Arabs thus Islamophobia cannot be considered racism accurately, but for argument’s sake we will equate it with racism. Granted, the example given by President Erdogan of painted Nazi symbols on the sides of a Mosque under construction is contemptible and those who perpetrated such a crime, and that would be a crime in the West, should be found and arrested for trial. The crime would be defacing private property and the case would revolve around personal ownership and the defacing their property and not as Islamophobic. So we agree such an act is a crime just not a crime because it was a Mosque but because it was private property. We would treat such crimes equally had they painted the symbols on a church, synagogue or a bookstore or tailors’ shop. So we agree on the act being of criminal intent but we differ on the crime itself, we see it as defacing property and they see it as a crime against Islam and that being the ultimate offense.

 

Finally, the reference to “state terrorism” against the “Palestinians and in Syria” is the manner of condemning Israel when utilized by Turkish officials as well as their allies in Iran and Hezballah. Turkey is the nation which claims that the attempt by IHH to use a flotilla around the Mavi Marmara to break the legally recognized Gaza blockade and the subsequent confrontation with Israeli troops as an Israeli aggression on the world and particularly an offense against Turkey gives a reference to the lack of objectivity on all items concerning Israel. Where does Israel fit in the reference to “state terrorism” against the “Palestinians and in Syria” come in? Turkey has claimed numerous times that Israel is backing Syrian Dictator Bashir al-Assad with intelligence information and other tactical intelligence as well as interventions by Israeli fighter aircraft. That is where Turkey pretends that Israel is involved while Turkey has always claimed that Israel is oppressing the Palestinians Arabs and is an Apartheid State despite every piece of evidence countering such accusations. I do not blame Turkey alone for many of these accusations as they are made by numerous peoples from all points on the planet, which does not necessarily make the accusations valid. These references are simply Turkish politicians and spokespeople’s way of bringing Israel into the discussion as to them doing so simply makes their claims valid and beyond reproach. Unfortunately for the all it does is reinforce the fact that their claims may lie in their foremost delusions which taint virtually every action they take both diplomatically around the world and domestically within their borders. My bet is if one were to give the Turkish government proof that Charlie Hebdo magazine had also been satirical about other religions and gave them examples of Charlie Hebdo cartoons spoofing and criticizing Christianity and Judaism that they would use the cartoons on Judaism and Israel in their own publications, that is the length of their hypocrisy and depravity when it comes to everything Israel. What makes this even more ludicrous is when considering that Turkey is a member of NATO (why is beyond our wildest imaginations) and are technically supporting the West against ISIS (pronounced is-is as in the Bill Clinton famous quote, it all depends on what the meaning of is is) while simultaneously allowing weapons, terrorists, troops and other support to cross into Syria in support of ISIS, duplicity is thy name Turkey.

 

From both men’s statements I can only gather that they believe that Islam deserves, or demands, a special treatment against any and all negative references or comments and this preference should be applied solely to Islam and not to other religions. This brings us to the main point of contention, namely that Islam is a special religion which must be protected as more sacred than any other religion and that Islam must be protected from all negative references while those practicing Islam must receive special considerations, especially if their actions were against infidels or protecting the name of Islam against the unbelievers. Well, if one believes in freedom of religion or even to have no religion, then not exactly my Turkish friends, I may call you friends or does my being an infidel make such impossible. When President Erdogan references that Turkey would apply the same rules the world over he is not professing equality as what he is applying is Islamic supremacy the world over and Islamic law the world over and not equality of any manner. President Erdogan would be applying the same applications the world over much in the same way that the Communists desired to apply the same rules and were consistent the world over or the way the Mongols attempted to apply the same rules the world over or the Romans or Greeks before them. Conquering the world for Allah is not spreading freedom in any way shape or form. Unfortunately we cannot honestly agree that Islamophobia is a crime provided that one simply objects to Islam in a nonviolent and nondestructive manner and their objections to Islam are carried out without breaking the law or another person’s right to practice Islam in a peaceable manner. Islam should be accorded the exact same protection as is any other religion or philosophy. Plainly put, Islam is not above any or all other religions, it must be equal in how it is treated to the treatment of all other religions, period.

 

Then there was one additional comment which quoted French President Francois Hollande’s statement that “these fanatics (Said Kouachi, Cherif Kouachi, Hamyd Mourad, and Amedy Coulibaly) have nothing to do with Muslim religion” and according to Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu that is of “utmost importance”. I must report to the honorable Prime Minister of Turkey as well as to all those other Imams, rulers of Islamic countries and other misguided Western leaders including those making such statements from my own country that the fact that these miscreants acted violently in the name of Islam is of the “utmost importance” and no amount of denials can alter that fact. Their claims of having “avenged the Prophet” referencing their Prophet Mohammad; and their cries of “Allahu Akbar” were references to Allah as the greatest of gods were most definitely directly related to how these individuals interpreted and understood Islam and is exactly how they were taught Islam is supposed to act to such offenses as were committed by the writers and cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo. To claim that these criminals were not committing their crimes in the name of Islam and that Islam never condones acts of violence would be to claim that the professing and statements of Imam Yusuf al-Qaradawi are not of Islam when he calls for the killing or eradication of Jews and the bringing of the whole world under Islam by persuasion or by the sword are not professing the tenets of Islam. J’accuse, I accuse you, Prime Minister Davutoglu and President Erdogan, of practicing Taqiyya, practicing dissimulation, lying, deceiving, vexing and confounding with the intention of deflecting attention, foiling, pre-emptively blocking or fending off and neutralizing any criticism of Islam or Muslims.

 

Beyond the Cusp