Our Resilient Jewish Spirit

This Shabbat is another special day on the Hebrew Calendar. It is שבת נחמו Shabbat Nachamu. 

Shabbat Nachamu ("Shabbath of comfort/ing) takes its name from the Haftarah from the Book of Isaiah 40:1-26. It is called by this name because of the Haftarah’s opening words,נחמו נחמו עמי " “ : Be comforted, be comforted my People.”  It speaks of comforting the Jewish people for their suffering. It the first of seven Haftarot of consolation leading up to the holiday of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

For me, this National milestone also bears a personal significance. It was on Shabbat Nachamu that my parents were liberated from the Nazi camps, seventy two years ago.

Growing up in the shadow of the Shoah, that is the date my parents always mentioned when asked about their liberation. Some found it strange. Why? You may ask.

Most people would remember and mark the Gregorian Calendar date as their anniversary of such an important event in their lives. Strangely enough, I never knew it by any other date other than “Shabbat Nachamu.” I doubt my parents ever remembered or at least did know the Gregorian date at some stage. Now, more than ever, I find it odd that they never remembered their Hebrew birth date, yet remembered the Hebrew date of their rescue from the inferno. That oddity is woven with bright coloured threads that send shivers through my spine each time that I stop to think about it.

It is only this year that I finally realized the significance or the symbolism of this date.

Firstly, for Jews to remember, observe and commemorate Jewish holidays and events, while being inmates of death camps in a hostile environment that tried to erase every connection to their essence as Jews, is commendable. As the years go by, I learn and read more and more stories of how some Jews risked their lives during those years to hang on to every possible shred of Jewish tradition. That is truly inspiring.

Clinging to their wonderful tradition, the customs, the celebrations at least through remembering them, infused in them the hope for better days and the firm belief that the “Eternal of Yisrael shall Never Lie.” What a fountain of optimism and courage it must have unfrozen in them. Their resilience was second to none.

Moreover, in Yiddish, the lingua franca of most European Jews upon whom the Shoah was brought, this disastrous event in Jewish history has come to be known as “Der Churben” דער חורבן  (The Destruction). This is the same name that was given by Jews to the destruction of both Temples, which according to tradition were both destroyed on Tisha B’Av, the ninth of the Hebrew month of Av,  חורבן בית המקדש (the Destruction of the Temple).

How appropriate, then, that the Liberation of these Jews, who did all they could to cling to their Judaism, took place on the very day we console Am Yisrael on all of its sufferings.

And the parallel between their survival and that of Am Yisrael goes further than that. Like Am Yisrael, my parents and many other Jews were liberated to see the resurrection and the fulfillment of Jewish prophecy. They came out of the Abyss, collected the broken pieces of their shattered lives and built a bigger and stronger tabernacle out of it in Eretz Yisrael.

May Am Yisrael continue to thrive on our Promised Land and make our Jewish Homeland go from strength to strength for ever and ever.

Amen!

Did you say "occupation?" Which occupation?

The Yisraeli “occupation” of Judea and Samaria has, unfortunately, become a household mantra which is used to excuse and explain many problems that befall our world.

Each time terror strikes, we wait with bated breath for the same chant to be heard. And, in many cases, it is indeed what happens, especially more and more among prominent figures, Yisraelis and others, who are, in many instances, public opinion shapers. We have recently heard it from the current mayor of  Tel Aviv, following the last terror attack that killed four and wounded others in his city. Even the US Democratic party, so we learned today, considers explicit condemnation of Yisraeli “occupation” as part of its 2016 elections platform.

The definition of the term “occupation” is very simple and straightforward. Here is a basic one from www.thefreedictionary.com

“a. Invasion, conquest, and control of a nation or territory by foreign armed forces.

So, if we follow the logic that this definition unfolds to us, in order for there to be an “occupation,” there has to be an invasion first.

Our question pertains to what the definition does not address, though. We ask, what about territory that was gained as a result of a war forced upon a nation when that nation never sought to invade, occupy and control?

Isn’t that what happened in 1967 when Arab nations bordering with Yisrael, in their unrelenting efforts to rid the middle east of Jews, lodged a war against the sovereign Jewish state? Was the Jewish nation which had already incurred huge losses through history when it was subject to the mercy of others, supposed to just sit there and let others do as they wish, especially when their explicit wish was to complete what Hitler never finished? Can you call a desire to defend oneself against attackers “an invasion?” 

Moreover, can one accuse Yisrael of being “an occupier” when the so called “occupation” was imposed on her through wars and ended with the liberation of lands which according to historical facts and legal documents were rightfully hers to begin with? The Arabs can only blame themselves for the creation of such a reality.

Having said that, we are always surprised that the real occupation which has transpired in plain view is ignored time and again. Yes, we are referring to the Arab occupation of Jewish lands. We are not talking about lands given to us by G-d, as much as we believe in it, because we feel that religious arguments should be kept out of the equation when it comes to the middle east conflict.

The Lands of Judea and Samaria are the true Eretz Tzion V’yirushalayim that our National Anthem, “Hatikvah” speaks about. They are the heartland of Eretz Yisrael, the land where Jews have been dwelling for over three millennia, the land that, as The Declaration of Independence of Yisrael states, “was the birthplace of the Jewish people…” where “their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped…” where “they attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave the world the eternal Book of Books.”

Those that call themselves “Palestinians” are relatively newcomers into this same region where Jews and other members of Am Yisrael have established a deep connection with the Land.  In an effort to build their case and try and establish some credibility to their false claim to the Land, to build their case and false claims to the lands, they have adopted the derogatory name “Palestinians” given to the Jews by the Romans. “Palestine”פלשתינה  is the name the Romans gave to Eretz Yisrael in order to add an insult to injury and sever any relationship between the Jews and their Home.. The only problem with the name “Palestine” is that its origin lies in the term “Pleshet” פלשת.  This is a name appearing frequently in the Bible which in English started to be known as “Philistine” The world root of “Plesheth” lies in the word “palash”,פלש a term which means “to invade” and refers to the Philistine’s conquest of the coast of the Mediterranean. Now you, dear reader, tell us who the invader is, and who once they invade according to the above definition eventually become the occupier? Isn’t invasion part of the definition of “occupation?”

Furthermore, has anyone even mentioned Muslim six hundred years old occupation of parts of Yerushalayim and Jewish religious sites such as Temple Mount?

It is not, however, only Jewish lands and holy places that the “Palestinians” occupy. What concerns us even more is the widespread “Conceptual 'occupation.'” 

The Arab/Muslim world has invaded and planted itself very effectively in the creases of the intangible corners of the minds of the world. It has occupied it and has been feeding it a version of history, perverse terminology and concepts and a twisted narrative which even some of the most imaginative Hollywood script writers could never produce. Unfortunately, it is not only the minds of the gullible world that they have occupied, they have been able to successfully invade and take possession over the minds of many Jews and Yisraelis, especially those with the Ghetto mentality, a mentality that continues to function as fertile ground for such an occupation.

We hate  to sound like prophets of wrath but we both feel a need to warn a slumbering humanity that it is this form of “occupation” it should address and fight lest their children will end up growing in a world deprived of any hope or a promising future.This article was written jointly with Moshe Dagan.

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