Rabbi's Blog

Dear OZ family,

Our sages say that “Kol HaPosel, B’mumo Posel”, which means that those who invalidate others, pick on their own failures and project it upon others. Claims of Israeli oppression, apartheid policies and genocide is precisely what Chamas and much of the Arab world has applied to the Jews and Israel the last 75 years. The Jews were the ones oppressed in Arab lands after 1948, where most were forced out with barely the shirts on their backs. Muslims who wish to live in peace side by side in Israel have full rights and partake fully in every part of Israeli society. It is Arab lands that the few remaining Jews cower in second class status, and when was the last time you saw a Jew in any Arab city in Israel? There are signs in front of the city that say in Hebrew, English and Russian that if a Jew enters the city they will be killed. Israel put up those signs. And listen to the rhetoric of Chamas leaders who cowardly speak from the safety of their villas in Qatar, about how they will visit Oct. 7^th upon us again and again and again.

We know what Chamas is capable of, but what is most astonishing is the brazen and mindless support in academia, the media and in some political circles in support of such murderous behavior. The sheer size of the rallies against Israel is horrifying. Kristallnacht, which we will commemorate this week, didn’t happen in a vacuum in Germany and Austria. Those populations were trained for 5 years to come to such violence. It’s happening here much more quickly. In reality, the academy has been preparing its students for this for over 20 years. Young impressionable minds have been taught to hate their country, to despise their history, to denounce the colonialism, capitalism and Western values of America, and by extension, Israel for a long time now, and we are seeing the fruits of such teachings.

Where are the voices of moderation? Where are the human calls for denouncing the horrific images the world has seen? There is no context for what happened on Oct. 7. We know what Amalek is and we can see who is supporting it. It is naïve now to speak of a Two State Solution. They never wanted a Two State Solution. They have never stopped supporting Germany’s Final Solution, and they don’t hide their intentions. Their insignia is the entire State of Israel, and their chant, “From the River to the Sea…” that we hear at their rallies, is evidence of this. They rejected their state in 1947, and so many times since. Israel agreed to a partition that was less than 15% of the original mandate for a State for the Jews, which was rejected by six advancing Arab armies. The real tragedy of the Middle East is the failed societies who have spent so much of their energies trying to wipe out one tiny little country in their midst. Some are beginning to get the right picture that perhaps supporting that country can help themselves.

But Chamas prefers the ways of the Philistines, who, after terrorizing Yitzchak over water rights, banished him because he became so successful. Let us hope that sane minds prevail. Even Bernie Sanders admitted yesterday that Chamas must be totally destroyed. Let Emunah prevail.  Tonight is the Emunah dinner downtown, and Alisa is joining me in December to help out at an Emunah facility, Beit Elazraki, in Netanya, which has absorbed many children from the South. Emunah will prevail, and so will Simcha.

Nava Silton & Ariel Brandwein named their twins, Yael Ma’ayan and Yasmin Chana. Double Mazel Tov to them. And double Mazel Tov to Paul & Pia Rubin on the bris yesterday of Gavriel Reuven, to their children, Elie and Aliza, and the birth of Rachel, to their children, Tzipora and Danny.   

I have attached some ways to help Israel each and every day.

• One Minute A Day: https://oneminaday.com/
• CUNY Call for Civility: https://www.cunyallianceforinclusion.org/  
• Contact the Red Cross: https://www.icrc.org/en/contact

Stay safe and stay well

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