Rabbi's Blog

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Dear OZ family,

Just because we can explain something, doesn’t make it acceptable. The failure of Ivy League presidents to forcefully and unequivocally condemn the unspeakable crimes against humanity perpetrated by Chamas defies logic. The failure to condemn indiscriminate rape of innocent women, of murder of innocent babies, of kidnapping of scores of civilians; the moral equivocation of University presidents who had no problem coming squarely in one direction when it came to condemning the murder of Georg Floyd, yet equivocate regarding the outrages of Chamas defies logic. These are people who are in charge of educating the finest students of our country, yet can’t speak in clear terms of what the world saw less than 2 weeks ago. They won’t bar pro-terror organizations from terrorizing Jewish students on campus.

Would these schools allow protesters wearing white robes and pointed white hats to give voice to their resistance and grievances? Would they allow such protesters to call for lynching innocent people? Of course not! But that is exactly what is being allowed on college campuses and in our own city. These protests, as well as what took place yesterday in the protest in Congress, calls for mass murder of Israelis, in their support for Chamas’s resistance. It’s easy to dismiss these protests as the misguided behavior of some students, but the deafening silence of their school presidents in allowing these protests to continue is even more disturbing. It may not be logical, but it does have an explanation.

Harvard has recently received over $200,000,000 from Arab states. Cornel just received a gift of $99,999,999 from Qatar and has recently received over $1.5 Billion from other Arab states. NYU has recently received over $160,000,000 from Arab states. The list goes on and on. Jimmy Carter never revealed in his  written screeds against Israel that tens of millions of dollars of donations to his presidential library came from Saudi Arabia. He freely wrote about Israeli apartheid, saying nothing about the Judenrein nature of the nation of his patrons. These bribes have blinded otherwise intelligent people from seeing the truth. These funds, which are blood money, help to perpetuate blood libels against our people. We must forcefully come out against this, and there is a rally downtown where we can do so this evening.

 

At 6pm tonight we will gather in Times Square for a pro-Israel rally, and we can enter at Broadway  and 46-47 St. That is precisely when many shuls have Mincha this afternoon. There is a 7:45 pm late Ma’ariv tonight for those who will need to Daven after the rally. We will meet their hatred with love, kindness, Torah and Tefilla. But we will also meet it with vigorous support and strong advocacy. The explanation of the blinding bribes above, tells only half the story. In the end it is plain old Jew-hatred.

The Arabs speak of the “Nakba” (tragedy) of the creation of the State of Israel. The real tragedy is of three quarters of a century wasted on venomous hatred that has kept hundreds of thousands of Arabs living in the dark ages, as pawns, by the Arab world, rather than come to grips with a lone, single Jewish state surrounded by 22 Arab ones. Chamas is just acting in kind with the people of Gaza now. Just as a few Arab states have realized that they have much to gain from normal relations with Israel, Chamas, led by the puppet strings from Iran, had to act to put a stop to it. As Golda Meir said, “We will have peace when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us”. Is it possible to hope that the Arab street will turn on their leaders who use them as cannon fodder to satisfy their hatred for Israel? Would anyone have guessed in 1943, that within 10 years, a Democratic Germany and Japan would be political friends of an independent State of Israel? Hashem is in charge and we have to be optimistic.

If you can’t make it for the Times Square rally, I recommend you email your local representative to express appreciation for their support. Similarly, the police have been out there for us and we should express our thankfulness every time we see an officer or walk past a patrol car. We should also appreciate the very positive statements made by the White House, which I have included below.

Stay safe 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

MESSAGE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE

Friends,

President Biden traveled to Israel this week with a single message: "You are not alone.  You are not alone. As long as the United States stands — and we will stand forever — we will not let you ever be alone."

He met with Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israel’s “war cabinet,” and heard what they need to defend themselves from terrorism. He also discussed the need to urgently address the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza by allowing aid to flow without benefiting Hamas, and to minimize civilian casualties. 

Regarding the tragic hospital explosion in Gaza, Spokesperson for the National Security Council Adrienne Watson said, "While we continue to collect information, our current assessment, based on analysis of overhead imagery, intercepts and open source information, is that Israel is not responsible for the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday."

President Biden also had a chance to meet with Israel’s first responders — including representatives from United Hatzalah and Sheba Medical Center, families of those affected in Hamas’ appalling terrorist attacks, and family members whose loved ones are being held hostage by Hamas.

President Biden ended his remarks with the English version of Am Yisrael Chai: “The People of Israel Live... Israel will be a safe, secure, Jewish, and democratic state today, tomorrow, and forever.” 

עם ישראל חי

Shelley Greenspan
Liaison to the American Jewish Community