I just watched this entertaining video about how to begin to understand Where The Jews Come From.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I also hope you find it informative.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV5ddewYMok
A simple approach to the wonder of life, with its challenges and rewards.
A thoughtful perspective driven by a desire to understand.
"Shavings of Sanity" in honor of a book I wrote that told more truth than it should have. Now I struggle to only speak the safer truths.
"Those who know much speak little. Their actions are their orations. Watch the quiet ones and learn."
[John Cubine - June 19, 2009]
I just watched this entertaining video about how to begin to understand Where The Jews Come From.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I also hope you find it informative.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV5ddewYMok
An interesting questionnaire for Palestinian Advocates By Yashiko Sagamori
You are lamenting the "low sinking" of a "once proud" nation. Please tell me, when exactly was that "nation" proud and what was it so proud of?
And here is the least sarcastic question of all: If the people you mistakenly call "Palestinians" are anything but generic Arabs collected from all over -- or thrown out of -- the Arab world, if they really have a genuine ethnic identity that gives them right for self-determination, why did they never try to become independent until Arabs suffered their devastating defeat in the Six Day War?
I hope you avoid the temptation to trace the modern day "Palestinians" to the Biblical Philistines: substituting etymology for history won't work here.
The truth should be obvious to everyone who wants to know it. Arab countries have never abandoned the dream of destroying Israel ; they still cherish it today. Having time and again failed to achieve their evil goal with military means, they decided to fight Israel by proxy. For that purpose, they created a terrorist organization, cynically called it "the Palestinian people" and installed it in Gaza , Judea, and Samaria . How else can you explain the refusal by Jordan and Egypt to unconditionally accept back the "West Bank" and Gaza , respectively?
The fact is, Arabs populating Gaza, Judea, and Samaria have much less claim to nationhood than that Indian tribe that successfully emerged in Connecticut with the purpose of starting a tax-exempt casino: at least that tribe had a constructive goal that motivated them. The so-called "Palestinians" have only one motivation: the destruction of Israel , and in my book that is not sufficient to consider them a nation" -- or anything else except what they really are: a terrorist organization that will one day be dismantled.
In fact, there is only one way to achieve peace in the Middle East . Arab countries must acknowledge and accept their defeat in their war against Israel and, as the losing side should, pay Israel reparations for the more than 50 years of devastation they have visited on it. The most appropriate form of such reparations would be the removal of their terrorist organization from the land of Israel and accepting Israel 's ancient sovereignty over Gaza , Judea, and Samaria.
That will mark the end of the Palestinian people. What are you saying again was its beginning?
This article is written in first person voice, but I am not the writer. This article has been forwarded through the internet, and I happened upon in a WhatsApp chat group. It is a very moving story.
A friend of mine found these images. I include them to illustrate the story. It is expected that the story is actually associated with these images.
Nogah Safer is going around Israel writing a Torah. Each person gets a letter. This is at a gathering of survivors from the Nova Music Festival. |
I
once again had the great merit to accompany my friend Nogah Safer as
he "tours" around Israel with the Torah scroll he is very
close to completing, giving soldiers and communities that were
evacuated after October 7th the opportunity to write a letter in
it.
Last week we went to an army base. Super super
powerful.
But last night was on a whole other level.
We
went to a wedding hall that had been transformed into a place of
gathering and healing for survivors of the Nova party, from which 364
beautiful souls were murdered by Hamas terrorists, so many people
were injured and dozens were kidnapped and taken into captivity in
Gaza.
Last night there were hundreds of young Israelis
there. There was food, music, stations for different healing
treatments, and a stage on which musicians performed and people
spoke.
On the far wall of the hall, it said, in English, in
huge blue lights "We Will Dance Again".
Wow.
And
then we, the only religious-looking people there, set up a table in
the corner, Nogah laid out the Torah scroll, we started playing
music, and slowly people started to come over to ask what we
were doing.
Nogah explained to them how he wanted to give
survivors from Nova the powerful merit of writing a letter in a Torah
scroll.
People were blown away. They never were presented
with such an opportunity. Many of them never saw a Torah scroll so
close up.
The first person stepped up and stood next to
Nogah as he wrote a letter for him, followed by a big hug.
And
then the next person.
And then the next.
Nogah
didn't stop writing for over three hours.
By the night's end, almost everyone at that gathering had come over. People
simply wanted to take part, they wanted to connect, they wanted to
experience this rare and unique opportunity of participating in the
writing of a letter in the Torah.
And many of them
dedicated their letters...
To friends who were murdered at
the party.
To friends who were taken as hostages by Hamas
and are still in captivity.
One of the last women to take
part was in a wheelchair. She lost a leg in the attack on October
7th.
It was all heartbreaking. Absolutely
heartbreaking.
And at the same time the entire experience,
the entire night, was so powerful and inspiring. Even
uplifting.
Seeing people coming together. Taking care of
each other. Loving each other. Lifting each other up. Helping each
other to heal and to learn how to continue on.
At the end
of this extraordinary night, I realized something.
It's not
only our common enemy in this war that unifies us.
It's
not only our common desire to defeat and destroy Hamas that unifies
us.
It's not only our common desire to live peacefully in
our land that unifies us.
On the deepest level, it's the
Torah that unifies us.
Religious, not religious, it
doesn't matter.
Last night, I saw the Torah as a giant
magnet drawing every kind of Jew towards it. Everyone was included
and everyone felt included. Guys with tattoos and body piercings
asked, "Can I?" Women came up to us and asked, "Can
women also participate?"
"Of course," we
said. "Everyone's invited!"
Because the Torah
belongs to all of us.
And we belong to it.
Because
we find our deepest and truest selves in it.
As Jewish
tradition teaches: every Jew is like a letter in the Torah.
And
last night I felt like everyone who came up to the Torah was
searching for their letter in the Torah.
Which means,
essentially, they were searching for themselves.
Because
after the disaster and catastrophe of October 7th, everyone – everyone – is looking for themselves and their way in this world on a
whole new level.
The Gaza Strip and the "West Bank" need to be Israel.
This isn't a prevalent, trendy, or popular idea. Most people seem to believe a "two-state solution" needs to be the only acceptable solution. They are wrong! Dead wrong.
Here is the crux of the problem: The only people in the Middle East who want Israel to exist are Israeli citizens.
I can hear the outcry. No! That is not true! We want a country for the Palestinian people!
"From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free!" No matter what you think, this is a call for genocide against the Jewish people living in Israel. It is a call for the removal of Israel as a country. It means that there is no place on the planet where Jews may live in peace with their neighbors.
The real problem is solved when all "Palestinians" become "Israeli Palestinians" and live by the laws of the nation Israel. There are no discriminatory laws in Israel. All citizens have the same rights. All citizens who can read, write, and converse in the dominant language have all the rights of any other citizen. Those citizens only "literate" (speak, read, and write) in the language of the land from which they emigrated have all the rights of other citizens. There is no apartheid—that concept as applied to Israel is a complete fabrication.
Any citizen who cannot speak, read, or write Hebrew has several options. There is Ulpan: a series of lessons provided by either the government (free for the first 10 years after immigration); there are also many private organizations providing language instruction (for some fee). Also, many signs in Israel provide several languages, and restaurant menus may be available in two or more languages. Many Israeli citizens speak more than one language. No one is ostracized in Israel.
Israel has approximately 2 million Arab citizens. This is approximately 21% of the citizens of Israel. Israel has 10 Arab ministers in the Knesset (the governing body of Israel).
There are areas in the disputed territories that Jews are not allowed to enter. These areas have large red signs letting the Jews know that to enter this area is to endanger their life. The Israeli government puts up these signs to protect its Jewish citizens from death. It is not certain that a Jew would be killed, but there is no guarantee. There is not any sign that warns an Arab that their life would be in danger if they venture beyond. No Arab is ever in danger in the disputed areas or in the land of Israel.
The only way to assure the protection of all inhabitants of Israel is to utilize the police and soldiers of Israel to certify that the laws of Israel will protect all the inhabitants of the area "from the river to the sea".
That will be accomplished when Israel is all the land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea and from the Golan Heights to the edge of the Sinai Peninsula.
All people are under one reasonable set of laws. All who will become citizens of Israel can vote for their representatives. All people are protected from danger to their lives.
Gaza will be rebuilt and infused with high-technology companies and manufacturing. There will be jobs for citizens. A harbor and port will be constructed to facilitate trade.
The world can be shown that Israel is not an occupier, but a partner in facilitating economic growth.
This is the way.