I pen my Blog with an anguished heart, a confused mind, and a great sense of pain and empathy for our sisters and brothers in our glorious Sate of Israel. I have been speaking with dear friends in Israel and they tell me of the funerals of young soldiers they attend and of those young beautiful boys severely injured, fighting for their lives. הי״ד
Rabbi Yehudah Halevy wrote “לבי במזרח ואנכי בסוף. מערב
“Though my body is far removed from the Holy Land, though oceans and continents divide us, לבי my heart and soul is in the east, in Israel”
There are times when a person finds he is “distant” (physically) from someplace as we are with the State of Israel at this crucial time. However, we still maintain a closeness and proximity to the place we love and admire Artzeinu Hakidosha.
The beauty of a Jew is his relationship to other Jews and his involvement with Medinat Yisrael. We are convinced, more and more, as we see what is taking place throughout our world vis a vis their attitude to Israel and the Jewish People, in general, and that without our Jewish State we would be null and void. True, our Torah holds us together, but it is only our Jewish State that gives us a place of security and well being that we cannot find anyplace else.
To paraphrase the words of Moshe לא אוכל לבדי שאת
I hear the State of Israel saying to all of us לא אוכל לבדי , ‘Don’t leave us alone, empathize with us, and give us your assurance and encouragement to help us survive. Speak up for us to your Governments and to all people of influence that Israel needs to survive for the sake of all humanity.’
When the FAA prohibited flights to Ben Gurion airport, how proud I was when I saw Mayor Bloomberg stand up and show the world that he is flying to Israel, not on his private jet, but on EL AL Airlines. No one has the right to close an airport of a sovereign and Free State – Kol Hakovod Mayor Bloomberg. You are truly a righteous Jew and we pay homage to your dedication and commitment to The State of Israel.
Here me well world, Jews are here to stay , we will not be discarded to the heap of oblivion and as we survive we will do so in our own land and no one will take it from us and you better get used to this for we are eternal as our G-D is eternal.
I recall the story of Samuel Johnson who would spend a lot of time in the company of Oliver Goldsmith, the famous author. One day as Johnson was striding along the streets of London, with little Goldsmith alongside, trying hard to keep up with him, Johnson asked his friend “Goldie do you see that man across the street? I hate him.”
“But Johnson”, protested Goldsmith, “you don’t even know the man.”