A short while ago, I was privileged to write and publish a children’s book called What Does Israel Mean to Us? Explaining to Your Tweens Israel’s Significance and Moral Standing. The book, which has many vibrant colorful illustrations, was a step-by-step way to teach our children Israel’s history, its special significance to the Jewish people, and its moral clarity both in the current conflict, and in past decisions as well. It was well received and was beginning to slowly spread to a wider Jewish audience. However, my dream was for the book to reach a much wider audience, including non-Jews and Jews who may not know the truths contained in the book. To reach this goal, I knew I would have to advertise the book on Amazon itself.
And so, I applied for an ad on Amazon. They assured me I would receive an answer within a few days. Over a month went by, and I still had not heard from them, despite writing and calling them several times. Finally, I received an email back from them. They stated I was banned from advertising for this book “due to current events.” Essentially Amazon was trying to bury my book on a back shelf somewhere, in a huge library, hoping my book would never get noticed by anyone. I posted about the incident on Facebook and WhatsApp, expressing the frustration I had with Amazon trying to suppress the truth from getting out.
And then something extraordinary happened. People from all over the world began sharing the post, as well as ordering the book, and writing reviews, so it would be ranked higher in search engines. The more it was shared, the higher it was ranked, and the sales began to climb quickly – over 100 in less than a week. I decided to give a significant percentage of the sales to pro-Israel causes. And most importantly, people began to express how important it was for this book to be out there, and indeed to share it with their children. Our children are of course, our future. And some adults expressed that this book was important for themselves as it helped reinforce their own beliefs in Israel’s moral standing.
We come from an extraordinary people. The Jewish people are called in the Torah an “Am Kishei Oref,” a “stiff-necked people.” Too often we associate this as only a negative character trait. But all too often, it can be a positive trait as well. We have learned to fight back. We have learned that we need to stand up for ourselves, for unfortunately, as we are seeing today, no one else will. In Shir HaShirim, King Solomon writes that we are a “Rose among thorns.” How are the Jewish people similar to a rose? The Zohar explains beautifully. Just as a rose, when it is rubbed, it exudes its fragrance even more, so too, when the Jewish people are “rubbed,” when we are pushed to the limit even more, we exude our fragrance even more. This is the uniqueness of the Jewish people. We are small in number, but mighty in strength and spirit.
When G-d first promised Abraham that one day he would be the Father of a Great Nation, G-d said to him “Your children will be like the stars in the sky and like the sand by the sea.” I always wondered why the Jewish people were compared specifically to the stars and the sand? I believe perhaps there is something that is unique about both sand and stars.
Sand, by itself, is just many disparate tiny grains. But when extreme heat is applied to it, it turns into glass, becomes something much more beautiful, strong, and unified than before. So too, the Jewish people, when extreme “heat” is applied, when we are forced to undergo suffering, we become much greater than we once were. After October 7, the Jewish people have turned into something much more beautiful and more unified than before.
And why are we compared to the stars? Perhaps it can be that when the nights are at their darkest, that is when the stars in the sky shine the most. So too, on October 7, the darkest day the Jewish people experienced since the Holocaust, has caused us to shine like never before.
Maybe one day, the book really will reach the audience it was intended for. Maybe it will reach a non-Jewish audience, and Jews who may not be aware of all the facts presented in this book. Only then will people be able to see that this is truly a battle of good versus evil. And then, maybe more people will come to see Israel for what it truly is, a beacon of light and moral clarity for the rest of the world.
For more info on Yisroel’s book “What Does Israel Mean to Us? Explaining to your Tweens Israel’s Significance and Moral Standing,” visit https://a.co/d/4CvRnfM.
