Rabbi's Blog

Dear OZ family,

The chess match continues. Chamas released the most heinous images of its profound barbarism in order to assure an unambiguous Israeli response. Israel  had a brief time of clear support from the West, but swift and immediate condemnation followed from the Ivy League, media outlets as well as some severely morally challenged politicians. Chamas knew that with time, Western support for Israel would erode. Chamas knows that they have endless cannon fodder of the trophies of the people they hide behind to bear the brunt of Israel’s responses. That in itself is a war crime. Hundreds of missiles continue to rain on Israeli cities with intent to continue terrorizing civilians. For close to a month, millions of Israelis can’t venture too far from their safe rooms. Can any country live like this? Chamas swears that they will continue to strike as they had, again and again. Iran swears that they will not rest until they wipe Israel off the map. Can a country accept such neighbors in their midst?

America settled for nothing less than unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, two nations across the ocean. How can Israel settle for anything less than the unconditional surrender of people who say they would again do what we saw they did on Simchat Torah? The world’s tears at the tragic results of Chamas hiding behind children and civilians are misplaced. The suffering in Gaza, as tragic as it is, is on their own heads. Civilians are killed by the hundreds every week in Ukraine by indiscriminate Russian bombings, Many thousands of Uyghers are persecuted and killed by China at this moment. The Syrians have killed over 100,000 of their own people, and Iran continues to stomp its foot on the necks of any protester, but the Ivy League can only muster its virulent protestations against Israel. The answer is in the first case of “Jew hatred” in the Torah, when Avimelech, the king of Philistia told Yitzchak to leave his land because Yitzchak was so successful.

Jew hatred can’t stand Israel’s success. Many of these protesters can’t stand America’s success either, and they are doing their best to make America more like all these countries people are leaving, in order to get here. The way this works is through lies and rewriting history. They rewrite the events leading up to the creation of the State of Israel and the last 75 years. They speak of occupation when no occupation exists. Do you hear how over a million Jews were banished from Arab lands, and found a home in a tiny country, while 21 Arab states couldn’t find a place for the refugees created by the War of Independence, when Arabs fled their homes waiting for 6 armies to drive this fledgling nation into the Sea? Have you seen a map of the Middle East, with Israel surrounded by Arab lands over 100 times its own land mass?

Avraham wanted so badly to live in peace with his neighbors. They had already terrorized him over water rights, and he forged a pact with Philistia at Be’er Sheva. This didn’t stop them from terrorizing Yitzchak over water as well. The current battles are being fought in the same area of the land of Israel. Tomorrow, I intend to talk more about these events in Sefer Bereshit. For now, let us take heart that Israel is united. There are signs all over Israel, “Together we will prevail”.  Yoni C. is getting the weekend off and is with his family in Yerushalayim, just up the block from where the Sperling’s moved. Zakkai T. just finished his shift and is getting some well-deserved rest for Shabbat. Akiva A. is getting some time off as well. These are our heroes and there are many more.

There are 2 events coming up that we should know about. The first is a rally in support of Israel this coming Monday, at Central Park West, between 83^rd and 85^th St. We will gather at 5:30pm and it should be over by 7pm. Also, Tuesday, Nov. 14^th, a rally in Washington DC is scheduled, to draw national attention to Israel. Stay tuned for information on this next week. You may recall that I recently sent a Rosh Hashana greeting of Flight 5784, to be ready for take-off of the new year. I am attaching a similar message that is very heartwarming - click HERE.

Shabbat Shalom

Stay safe and healthy.

Rabbi Allen Schwartz