Rabbi's Blog

Dear OZ family,

Tomorrow is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The day was chosen based on the day that the Auschwitz death camp was liberated 79 years ago. It is beyond surreal that Israel finds itself on the defensive of charges of genocide in the International Court of Justice. Israel loses the American population equivalence of thousands of soldiers to avoid civilian deaths and the court of public opinion continues to stand against her. Arab countries would have long ago flattened their own populations if faced with what Israel experienced on Oct. 7^th, by forces that claim that they will do it again and again and again when given the opportunity. We don’t have to imagine Arab countries doing this, we can look at the record of what Jordan, Syria, Libya, Iraq, and Iran, have done in the past to greater numbers than the losses of life suffered in Gaza. This loss of life is due to the fact that Chamas places their own people in harm’s way as they hide behind civilians, and shoot bullets, rockets and missiles from behind them, and from among them.

All of this has never engendered the campus protests, UN proclamations or the interest of the International Courts. The hypocrisy is breathtaking. Add to that the extreme hypocrisy of the Red Cross that now insists that Israel give over information of captured Chamas terrorists, so they can check on their well-being. This is after they refused to give over any information of hostages taken by Chamas. The New York Times and Washington Post love to write large spreads on Israeli apartheid, while they ignore outrageous examples of Jew-hatred in the Arab world. Can you imagine the outrage and the cover story on the Times if Israel opened up a popular restaurant called “Clear out Gaza” or the like? Yet a restauarant called “October 7” just opened in Jordan (a ation with whom we’re supposed to be at peace) and is all the rage there. Patrons get to celebrate the carnage that took place on that day while they enjoy Schwarma. Where are cover stories of the likes of former Jordanian PM Dama Tahboub who widely touted the opening of this vile restaurant? She’s the one who openly praised the Jordanian soldier who killed seven Israeli school-girls. Where are the stories of Jew Hatred in these papers of record?

Oct 7^th is what our enemies used to be able to do to us at will. The International Court rules that Israel does not have the right to self-defense in the manner that any other country on Earth would convey. The Holocaust is what happened because we were defenseless and no one came to our aid. We are no longer defenseless, and we will continue to do what the end of this week’s Torah reading mentions, the full eradication of the evil that is represented by Amalek. There is no context that smirking academics can give that can allow Chamas to continue to function at our border, and plan once again to implement their genocidal intent for our people. The good news is that in the wake of our fighting back against Amalek there is a Yitro waiting to proclaim that the Jews are to be justified in eradicating evil. There are righteous people who see the righteousness of our cause. They may not be as loud right now as the protesters, but we know that our cause is more enduring. We are a timeless people and we will endure. Am Yisrael Chai!

Shabbat Shalom.

Stay well and healthy.

Rabbi Allen Schwartz  

Rabbi Allen Schwartz

Congregation Ohab Zedek

118 West 95^th Street

New York, NY  10025-6604

Phone 212.749-5150, ext 200

E-mail ras@ozny.org

Website:  www.ozny.org