From: marcie
paller [mplcsw@yahoo.com]
Sent:
To: Ben Raber; Elan Raber; Eli Raber; Sherry Raber; MYRNA C
SHERMAN;
Dalia Taft; Shana
Davidson; Fran Dordick; Mom and Dad Fishman; Victor
Fishman; Brenda Ganot; elisheva gordis; Erma Oppenheim
Subject: This says
it all
By Naomi Ragen
I was walking down the street in
day when it suddenly occurred to
me in the way those
obvious thoughts just pop into
ones head out of
nowhere, that never, in all my life,
have I felt more
proud to be an Israeli and to be
a Jew.
This might sound ironic coming at such a time; a time
when the world is frothing at
the mouth, flinging
every vile name at the Jewish
people and the land of
years ago, and terminology that
theythose wise,
cultured Europeans -- invented
because no terms
existed in the history of
mankind for the barbarity
they inflicted on the Jewish
people. Holocaust.
Concentration Camps. Mass Murder. Nazis. And now, they
think they can somehow wipe off
their guilt by
throwing those terms at the
survivors of their
brutality and their children.
I was walking down the street, and I thought about the
Church of the Nativity, and the old priest who was
holding the sheet painted in red
with the words :"Help
Us" on it. And the way our
soldiers took him out and
put their arms around him. And
the way this old priest
faced the cameras and said, with
tears in his eyes:
"Thank you. Theyve
stolen everything. Our crosses.
Everything. Thank you for
helping me."
We saw it on Israeli television. I thought about the
fifty children that are being
held hostage in the
Church of the Nativity and about the silence of the
Pope, busy dealing with pedophiles, too busy to worry
about condemning Muslim
terrorists who invade
Christianitys holiest shrine and hold priests and
children hostage. And about the
Israeli soldier that
was critically wounded just
yesterday by a terrorist
hiding in the church, hiding behind
those children,
that have no food, and little
water. A soldier who
didnt
want to tear gas the place, or shoot back.
I thought about other soldiers in the Israeli army
which insisted on going from
booby-trapped house to
booby trapped house in the
terrorist stronghold Jenin
they jokingly call a
"refugee camp." Home to suicide
bombers and bomb belt factories.
They wouldnt bomb
those houses, and we lost 23
precious sons. Because we
didnt
want to kill innocent people if there
were
any in such a place. Hard to imagine.
I thought about the Muslims in
Christian little girls (New York Times, April 23,
2002)and enslave them, beating
and raping and selling
them as wives to old men. And I
thought about Muslims
in
the billions for suicide bombers
who will go on an indiscriminate murder spree all over the world. And I thought
about the IDF army spokeswoman who described the armys efforts to get food
and medicine to the refugee camps, and how they can get the food inside, but
that the Palestinian Authority isn't making any effort at all to distribute it
because they are still engaged in planning terror attacks from Arafat's
compound, to which Europeans in well-cut suits arrive by the busload daily to
pay the mass murderer and war criminal their respects. I suppose, given
Jews dont burn mosques, or Churches. We dont
target
children, or old women. We,
despite all that was done
to us, and all the hatred we
receive, continue to be compassionate, to value justice, and human life. We
continue to teach our children to value life, and love other people, and strive
towards peace. Our children don't throw stones at Arabs. We don't burn the
flags of other countries. We don't refuse to do business with the anti Semites
in France, and the Nazi sympathizers in
The other peoples of the world have always seemed
better off, stronger, more
numerous. They live in
lands that stretch out
endlessly, and have treasures
of oil, iron, gold in their
hills, and lush forests
and abundant rainfalls and
beautiful rivers. But I
have never been prouder to say
those words in
the prayerbook:
"Thank you God, for not making us like
all the other nations of the
world, all the other
families on the earth." For
they dont have a clue how
to cherish what theyve been given. How to share it
with their own people and with
others. And we, in our
little, tiny, desert land, care
deeply about those
among us who are hungry and
poor. We dont waste
water, and we eat our fruits
with a blessing. We glory
in the beauty of our tiny
along our Mediterranean shore on
a summers afternoon
with joyful hearts as we watch
the sun set, our minds
empty of hatred and plans for
killing. Our minds on
our familys well-being and
the future, a better
future for all mankind when they
recognize that all
the Earth belongs to God, and no
one has a God-given
right to kill others because
they want something they
don't have. And that to kill
someone who is trying to
kill you is a good deed, not an
immoral act.
Yes, Mr. Kofi
Anan. The whole world can be wrong and
the Jews right.. Whether they
are ignorant tribesmen
spewing hate in tents, or
sophisticated newsmen,
spewing their hatred and
prejudice through
sophisticated cable networks and
outer space
satellites.
All those who join with us and bless us now, at this
time, will be blessed. And all
those who join our
enemies, now, at this time, will
be cursed.
Ill bet my life on it.
Thank you God, for making me a Jew, and teaching me
your Laws, at this time, and in
this place, when so
many all over the world have
lost their moral bearings
and have sunk so low. Thank you
for keeping Your
promise to Abraham, for bringing
me, his descendant,
back here thousands of years
later. I will try to be
worthy of being a Jew, to be
worthy of all the good
you've showered on me and the
Jewish people by giving
us back our homeland, and helping
us to defeat our
enemies, the enemies of all good
people everywhere.
Herb & Deli Weisberg
__________________________________________________
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