My Soldier Son

I wish you could meet our soldier son.  He is the most amazing person.  Of course all mothers know their children are amazing.  I have 5 other children and they are all amazing.  Each of them, at different times, have stepped out and made some jaw dropping statement, or accomplished some mind boggling deed that has left me, as their parent, in absolute awe.  So today it is his turn, my soldier son.

I feel the need to somehow share this with the rest of the world, not to say – be proud of me, or be proud of him.  I want the world to see the humility of this soldier and thereby come to understand our conflict in a better light.

While the world is focused on soccer and the World Cup it seems very few are aware of what’s going on in our small nation.  I live in Israel.  This summer has been very dramatic for us.  A few weeks ago three yeshiva students aged 16, 16 and 19 were kidnapped and brutally murdered by Arabs.  After their bodies were discovered a young Arab boy was also kidnapped and murdered, this time by Jews.  Horrible, it’s all wrong.  Children should never be targets like this.  Our entire nation mourns these deaths.  We as a nation condemn all the murderers, no matter their heritage or faith.

    

How do we mourn these deaths?  We go to hear speakers and biblical teachings, we visit the grieving families, we do works of charity – and give to charities in the children’s names, we pray – a lot.  How do the Arabs mourn death?  Well they rioted, threw Molotov cocktails at police, threw stones at passing cars, destroyed shops and the light rail system in their own neighborhoods while chanting “Death to Jews”.  They actually celebrated the murder of the three Yeshiva boys, passing out candy and teaching their children to hold up a three finger salute as some sort of victory sign.  Then they started shooting rockets at Israel.

I think the world at large is not clear what this rocket barrage is like.  The rockets are specifically aimed at civilian population centers, shopping areas, schools and hospitals.  We have an alert system that lets us know when a rocket is incoming to our area.  In the south there is barely 15 seconds warning to get to a bomb shelter.  Certainly not enough time to gather multiple children!  If some building or business is destroyed or, God Forbid, someone is injured or killed the Arabs rejoice.   In the past week over 300 rockets were fired on civilian targets in Israel.  They don’t stop overnight, but continue 24/7.  Who can sleep, who can work, how can our children just be children?

If we respond by shooting rockets back at the exact location of the original rocket fire we are vilified by the world.  Sometimes there are civilians injured when we return fire because the Arabs purposely use civilian centers from which to launch their rockets. They use civilian human shields, knowingly endangering their own wives and children.  We often target specific military installations, weapons storage facilities, tunnels used for sneaking into Israel or hiding weapons manufacturing.  Our military intelligence is excellent and we know who is responsible for ordering the rocket fire against us.  So we target those terrorists and their homes.  When we intend to fire on their home we call them and warn them!  We drop leaflets to let the civilian population know exactly when we will target a specific area.  We do everything in our power to avoid civilian casualties. 

Did you know that we send aid to Gaza weekly?  Did you know that we provide FREE electricity, water, gasoline and food to Gaza?  They claim to be oppressed, and they are.   But it is not Israel that is oppressing them.  It is their own Islamic leadership that oppresses them.  The billions of dollars in aid that is sent to the PA is not given to the average Arab.  But it is paid as salaries to terrorists after they kill a Jew and are arrested and jailed.  The aid is used to support the terrorist infrastructure, even to buy weapons.

Do a little research and you will see that the supposed oppression by Israel is a sham.  Most of the pictures presented on the internet as Israel’s influence in Gaza are actually pictures of the wounded and casualties in Syria and Iraq.  The BBC recently did an expose on this; you can find it easily by searching on the internet.  Israel is an open, free and democratic society.  People are not discriminated against because of their race, color, creed or sex.  There are hundreds of thousands of Arabs living peacefully in Israel, enjoying a higher standing of living than myself!  But Hamas, the PA, Islamic Jihad, and the many other terror organizations here lie because it suits their needs.  Their only defined goal is to free the world of Jews and destroy the only Jewish state in the world.  They say this boldly in their charters and the world chooses not to see.

I tell you all this so that you can understand the world we live in, that my soldier son lives in.  Did I mention he is only 20 years old, and has been in the army for only a year?  We hadn’t been able to speak with him recently because of the security necessary to protect his Army unit.  But last night he received permission to call home.  We talked for almost two hours.  He has become a philosopher in the last year.  He loves his family and friends fiercely; loves his army unit fiercely; he loves Israel fiercely.  He trusts G-d to lead him, teach him, and safeguard him.  He carries a gun and knows how to use it, he is a good shot.  He told me he knows he will do everything in his power to keep the members of his unit safe.  But he asks us all to pray for him, because he doesn’t want to have to use his gun.  He fears what taking another life will do to him.  It doesn’t matter to whom that other life belongs; he knows that is crossing a line.  He says that life is sacred, created by G-d, given as a gift to all humanity.  He wants G-d’s wisdom as he faces those who have pledged their lives to take his.  He does not pray for victory, he prays for wisdom.

My soldier son was friends with one of the murdered yeshiva boys, the 19 year old.  He saw the boy after their bodies were found.  He asked me, why is it so many hate us just because we are Jews?  Who can answer that question?  There is no answer.  Seeing his friend’s body did not fill him with hate for the murderers.  It filled him with sorrow for the future his friend would not have, and the joy and goodness the world lost when these boys were murdered.

So I ask you all to pray for my amazing soldier son.  Pray for all the Israeli soldiers.  When you pray keep in mind please that my son is really not unusual at all.  His philosophy embodies Judaism.  We as a nation struggle with these issues.  We believe all life is sacred.  That is why “Shock and Awe” is not the name of our offensive in Gaza.  The name is Defensive Edge, because we only aim to defend our own lives.  I will leave you with Bibi’s famous quote;

If the Arabs were to lay down their guns tomorrow, there would be no war.  If Israel were to lay down theirs, there would be no Israel

The War, the Elections, and the Rain

I seems I always start a new post with "I haven't written in a long time".  And here I am again.  Life takes over and it seems I either never have the time, or never make the time, to write about life in the land.  So today I'll take a little time and give another glimpse.

We've been home, here in Israel, about 4 and a half years now.  In that time we've moved 5 times and I've held 5 different jobs. Tzachi has finished school and is looking towards the Army.  JDC is working hard and looking for more work, Ari is wishing his lessons were in English even though he speaks Hebrew better than all of us.  I won't deny it's hard to make it here.  We struggle with too much month at the end of our money still, every month.  But we all still love it here.

We just had an escalation entitled "Amud Annan" (the Pillar of Cloud that lead us through the desert after the exodus from Egypt), with Hamas in Gaza that lasted, well really 12 days.  Officially it's 8 days, but those residents of Southern Israel will happily count the number of days at the beginning before we started firing back.  We kept the TVs tuned to a special "Shabbat Radio Station" over the Shabbat of the escalation to hear when the attack sirens went off, so we knew what areas to pray for, and if the sirens would come in our region.  It seems we would stop and listen to the sirens every 45 minutes or so, in the south, in Jerusalem, in Tel Aviv, everywhere but here.

There was a terrorist bombing on a bus in Tel Aviv (in case you didn't note how different that was, the bus bombings during the 2nd Intifada were in Jerusalem) and two of the terrorists responsible were caught right here in our little mall in Modi'in.  Seems at least one of them was "local", though no Arabs live in our city, I guess they can still come in and hold jobs in the mall.

Most Israeli's don't agree with the ceasefire, me included.  Though I was not in favor of a ground incursion into Gaza.  I was in favor of a serious "Shock and Awe" campaign like the US waged in Iraq.    Most Israeli's, me included, believe it's time to take Gaza back and tell the terrorists they can go live in Egypt, or Iran, or someplace else because we are just fed up with their lies and propaganda, their constant rocket attacks on our civilians, their lack of caring for the lives of even their own civilians, their preschools of hatred.  Well, I could go on, but I won't.

Today is the Likud primaries.  It's like the Republican or Democratic primaries.  Except those we elect for Likud will sit in the Knesset (like the house or senate) based on how many seats that party gets in the general election next January 22nd.  The PM candidate whose party gets the most votes will be the Prime Minister.  We don't have a separate vote for each Knesset seat.  Whoever wins the party chair then selects among the others elected which will hold certain portfolios - like the US Cabinet.  It's a little more complicated than US politics, but likely just as underhanded and corrupt.

Of course again, I am voting for Moshe Feiglin and his Jewish Leadership block in Likud.  Last time around he should have held a Knesset seat, but Bibi managed to swindle him out of it by some fancy, and not quite legal, tricks to push him just below the number of available seats that Likud won last election.  This year Moshe is getting even stronger support, and most Likud voters are very disillusioned with Bibi, who says all the right things, but then agrees to a cease-fire with Hamas.  Actually most voters are disillusioned period, for  likely the first time since Oslo was signed is the majority of the population ready to say "Oslo is a failure, there can never be land for peace."

We look around at all our neighbors and the tension keeps escalating.  Any one who says there isn't going to be a war is simply not looking at the region realistically.  Turkey is openly advocating Sharia Law and condemning Israel for the recent escalation with Hamas.  Syria's secular government (albeit dispicable despot) is hanging on by a thread fighting against several insurgent groups, who have recently signed a pact to cooperate to overthrow Assad.  The majority of the fighters are Jihadist Muslims, even the US State Department was helping to recruit them (in case you didn't know what the Ambassador was doing in Benghazi before he was murdered).  Egypt has elected the Muslim Brotherhood to rule their country and a constitution comprised of Sharia Law has been presented.  Morsi just gave himself dictatorial powers, and they're the open conduit for Iranian money and weapons into Hamas in Gaza.  Jordan is on the brink of economic collapse, the oil pipeline from Egypt that was blown up in the "Arab Spring" has never been rebuilt and so new oil is now much more expensive.  Riots in the Street, etc.  So today Iran pledged free oil to Jordan if they will open new trade and "religious tourism" agreements with Iran.  Hmm, wonder who those religious tourists might be???  Hizbullah in Lebanon is ramping up their war technologies, vowing to be ready for the next war with Israel (that we're not interested in having by the way).  Iran, well, we all know what's going on with Iran.

But stop, because this is what the world is doing.  What is HaShem doing?  Well, it's raining in Israel.  Since the ceasefire it's been raining in Israel.  Day after day.  The sun comes out, and then the rain clouds come and it rains.  Perhaps that doesn't mean anything to you, but we here in the land know it is HaShem blessing us, renewing us, reminding us that HE remembers His covenant with us.  So while we think we know what's going on, really it's just time to stop and pray.  Thank you HaShem for bringing me home to this wondrous place.  Thank you HaShem that my daughter and her husband now live here in the land! (Wow, what a miracle that is!!)  Thank you HaShem that You know the minds of humankind, yet Your plans will not falter, and Your promises will abide.  Thank you HaShem that we live in a land that loves life, because You love us.

So though I may offer savage opinions on what's going on here or there.  And moan and groan about, well almost everything. Don't be fooled, because I've just become an Israeli.  But I haven't forgotten who is really in control.  And I haven't forgotten to Whom I owe everything.  And I am certainly grateful for my wonderful husband, and wonderful children, and adorable beautiful amazing wondrous grandchildren (whom I miss more than breathe itself! - may you all be with us soon Amen!)  Tomorrow the sun will come up and I will wake to another beautiful day in this amazing place.

To my friends and family, pray for the peace of Israel, we all appreciate your prayers!  Finally, pray that HaShem may be glorified.

More than remembering....

Today is Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance day. I don't even remember the holiday last year - our first year in the land. Thinking back I guess I must have been working (graveyard shift for Greenpoint) and was barely aware of the day of the week, let alone a non-Toridic Hag. This is a holiday that doesn't get a lot of attention anywhere in the world. But last night and today really impacted me.

I didn't make it to shul, the activities were after Ari's bedtime, and he had school today, so putting him down and staying home took precedence. Instead I got a taste of what, perhaps, less observant Jews here in the land might experience. It was actually very moving. I found that most all the movie and special programming channels on TV fill their time with Holocaust remembrance shows - be it the special services at Yad Vashem last night (I saw all the dignitaries in the crowd - yes, Bibi was there), or an endless variety of Holocaust/WWII related movies, or specials recanting survivors experiences, next generations searching for life before the war, what happened to the Nazis, etc, etc.

It was all very tastefully done, all incredibly poignant, all riveting in the tales told. As I pondered how the world has treated our people, and wondered again the age old question of why they hate us so. I thought about how not much in the world has really changed. Antisemitism is growing world wide, Israel doesn't have an honest ally in sight, and it seems the lies told about Israel are believed by more and more people every day. Despite all that, I found a gem of understanding in the midst of all of it.

More than just the reason for every Jewish holiday "They tried to kill us, we survived, horay, let's eat!" There exists now for many of us a connection to Eretz Israel itself. It's almost like a physical symbiosis, I am Jewish, therefore I belong to the land. Note that the land does not belong to me. Nor does it belong to any other human, the land belongs to God, we belong to the land, ergo we belong to God.

This hit me as I was watching Bibi at Yad Vashem last night, and I wanted to say to him, hey, Mr. Prime Minister, do you get it? Our life is tied up in this land, it nurses us, nourishes us, disciplines us, teaches us, enriches us. This is the ONLY place we belong. If you "give it away" you give away our lifeblood. We are a part of it just as surely as the rocks that crowd every hillside, just as surely as the Rosemary and Horn-poppies growing wild on the roadside, just as surely as the Fig and the Olive and the Pomegranate.

Today I see clearer than any other time in my life how physically living here fullfills not only my heart's desire, but God's provision for every single Jew in the world. If you have not come, perhaps you do not know; this place is different, unique in all the world. There is something indescribable here, something esoteric. I believe it to be the touch of God's presence, still unfaded after centuries - or perhaps faded, but still so powerful even after this long, to imagine living here before His presence departed is beyond all comprehension. No wonder all the world is fighting over it, but only because they do not understand they can never possess the wonder that is contained here.

Even though I was not born here, when I came here I was home for the first time in my life, and I knew it in my kishkes. No other people can claim that, none. So as the world stumbles over the dilemma of how to force peace it the middle east, we who live here know there is only one way. For the rest of the world to simply let go and let us live here as God intended.

Not only should we never forget, we must strive to create a place where it will never happen again. Come, join me in the land. Join in the struggle to regenerate a reason for God to bring his presence back to earth. Find the provision for your life in the place that you belong to. Make Aliyah now, the land is calling!