What kind of suicide game does Israel play?

 

The world turns the  proverbial screws on Israel. The evidence of this can be seen all around  us:

-First, the NGO (Non-government Organization) Human Right Watch (HRW) has issued an outrageously anti-Israel Report that accuses Israel of "systematic oppression" and 'inhumane acts" against Palestinans (here). It stated that Israel has commited "crimes against humanity" (here). It describes Israel as "apartheid" (ibid). According to at least one opinion, this report, in sum, questions Israel's right to exist as a Jewish democracy (here). This HRW report then recommends that the International Criminal Court should indeed pursue its current case against Israel (ibid).

Apparently, so far as HRW is concerned, the only nation in the Middle East horrible enough to  be called, "apartheid", is Israel. The only nation in the Middle East to be condemned for "systematic oppression" is Israel. Really?

The world isn't concerned about such a one-sided, biased anti-Israel Report by HRW. The world does not object to such  characterizations of Israel. It does not object to the fact that Israel--the only legitimate democracy in the Middle East--is nonetheless the only nation in the Middle East to  be smeared with such accusations.

-In the US, Progressives attack Israel without fear of pushback. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders both want to see Israel 'punished' for, essentially, being the Jewish state. Warren herself recently became the first US politician with clout to call openly for the overthrow of a sister democracy--Israel (here). She believes Israel must be "prohibited from defending itself" (ibid). 

In the US Congress, there are today more rabidly anti-Israel advocates than in recent memory. There may even be more anti-Israel members in the Biden administration than we've seen in modern US history.

Then, there's Iran. Throughout the last year and into this year, Iran seems eager to set some kind of world record for saying despicable things about Israel. As Iran does this, no one anywhere objects. 

For example:

-Iran has said Israel was a "cancerous tumor" (here)that must be destroyed. No one objected.

-Iran said it would support any group or nation that would "fight Israel" (here). No one objected.

-Iran's Parliament proposed legislation that would obligate Iran to pursue the "destruction of Israel" (here). No one anywhere objected.

-Iran has 'warned' Israel not to make "provocative" or "warmongering" statements (here). No one anywhere objected to such hostile language.

In Israel, meanwhile, Arabs increasingly attack Jews. As they attack, many take videos of their own assaults against Jews--and upload those videos to TikTok (here). TikTok does not object. Neither does anyone else.

The world watches these videos of attacks against individual Jews. No one anywhere objects.

Since April 13, 2021--which was the beginning of the Muslim Holy season called Ramadan--Arabs in Jerusalem have rioted virtually every night (here). Apparently, the Arab Ramadan in Jerusalem seems more an excuse to attack Jews than it appears to be a religious observance.

Arabs in Jerusalem have been  beating individual Jews in the streeets, much as indiviual Jews were beaten in Europe in the late 1930's. The world watches. No one objects. Indeed, why should anyone object? Islam is the religion of peace, is it not? Israel is a disgusting apartheid state, is it not?

For perhaps two weeks now, Hamas in Gaza has supported the riots in Jerusalem by firing a combination of more than 80 rockets and mortars from Gaza into Israeli civilian populations. Each such rocket or mortar fired against Israeli civilians is a crime against humanity because each rocket/mortar is aimed at civilians, a "protected" group. Does such "protection" of Israel's civilians matter? Not to the world.  As rockets have poured down on Israel's civilians, no one anywhere objected.

 Arabs at the Gaza border with Israel now begin to gather again--to riot and hurl firebombs and stones into Israel, as they did throughout 2019.  Did anyone anywhere object to this aggressiveness against a Member state of the UN (Israel)? No.

The Arab press in Lebanon has reported that Gaza prepares to renew its "balloon terror' campaign of 2019 against Israeli farms and civilians (here). No one anywhere objected.

In Jerusalem, an Arab MK (Member of Israel's Parliament, the Knesset), has expressed his "full support" for Arabs rioting in Jerusalem-and has declared that he hopes to see a new Arab Intifada that will "liberate" Jerusalem (here). The world saw this illegal action against Israel (in Israel it is illegal, I believe, for an MK to call for the destruction of Israel--or for a hostile take-over of an Israeli city). But no one on earth objected (by the way, if ever there was proof that Israel is not an apartheid state, it is this Israel-hating Arab MK who feels perfectly free to spread such hatred of sovereign Israel--clearly without fear of arrest).

How does Israel react to all of these assaults, attacks and treasonous statements about Israel? While Israel certainly does respond to these attacks, its response seems overshadowed by media reports of insane behavior of Israeli politicians screaming at each other in Cabinet meetings (here), or making selfish demands of Netanyahu that will not help Israel stave off yet another election (here) but will probably provoke another election. 

It almost seems as if Israeli politicians in the Knesset don't care at all about these attacks, assaults and demonizations against Israel.They're simply too busy trying to scratch out each others' eyes as they fight over who should be--or not be--Prime Minisrter.  

Looking beyond the Knesset, there is yet another Leftist group demanding that Israel's Attorney General declare Netanyahu "unfit' to be Prime Minister" because, you see, Netanyahu is (yet again) "bulldozing our democracy" (here). This demand comes at the same time other anti-Netanyahuers in Israel continue to work overtime to bulldoze Israel's democractic elections by seeking to unseat Netanyahu 'by any means necessary'.  

Israel is being attacked daily from outside the land, from the edge of our borders, and from within our borders. Just when Israelis need to stand united against those who would demonize, delegitimize and destroy Israel, what does Israel do? It acts as if it is coming apart at the seams. 

Israel does not "pull together". It tears asunder. 

There's an old expression in America. It's an expression we might remember: "We must hang together or surely we will hang separately". To unite is to survive. To separate into political chaos is not a recipe for success. It is the recipe for national suicide.

Israeli politician Naftali Bennett might be correct when he recently declared, Israel approaches the 'abyss of anarchy' (here). Is this where Israel is right now?

Israel's outrageous political madness in the face of of world-wide rejection and condemnation reminds one of a saying from the (cartoon) philospher, Pogo: "We have met the enemy and he is us". 

One last point on this subject: when we look at what our Tanach says about the Final Jewish Redemption, we see that HaShem says at one point that He might Redeem the Jewish people not because of the merits of the Jewish people, but to keep His Name from being desecrated. Committing national suicide would certainly qualify as desecrating G-d's name. 

Is this what Israel has come to? Stay tuned. 

Alice is no longer in Wonderland. She's in Israel. Here's the proof (Update included)

 

In the magical 19th century story, Alice in Wonderland (by Lewis Carroll), the main character is a child named Alice. In this story, she leaves the real world. She enters a make-believe world where she finds herself caught up somewhere between being upside down and downside up. She sees so many strange, unnatural things, she can't be sure what's what. 

This curious make-believe world was called, Wonderland. It certainly was a Wonder of a place. It was populated by weird and then weirder characters. As Alice herself describes it, it is a place that is indeed curiouser and curiouser. 

Today, I believe Alice has ended up in Israel. Yes, she might have started out in a 19th century fictional world.  But no longer. Now, she seems to fit right in among 21st century Israelis.

Look at the proof. For example, when poor Alice tried to recite a poem about bees being the model of industriousness, it all came out wrong. Instead of industrious bees, her poem was about a crocodile who lures fish to their death with a scheming smile. 

She had wanted to recite an uplifting poem. But it came out all wrong. 

Today's 21st century Israel is exactly the same. That is, since 2019, whenever Israelis have voted, they couldn't get it right--even though they were right. In each of four elections since 2019, Israelis thought they had elected a new Prime Minister. They had. But it all came out wrong because they hadn't voted for a new Prime Minister. Every time.

For example, in the  first-of-the-four last elections, back in April 2019, Benjamin Netanyahu won. But it all came out wrong because neither he nor his runner-up opponent Benny Gantz could form a government. The voters' choice had been clear. But their choice had meant nothing. 

As a result, the election had come out all wrong--just as Alice's poem had come out all wrong.

Israel had to vote again. The second-of-these-last-four  elections was held in September, 2019. This time, Gantz beat Netanyahu. But he didn't become Prime Minister, either. He  could not form a government. Neither could Netanyahu.

This second election also came out "wrong". Just as had happened to Alice, the voters wanted something. They thought they had made their choice clear. They hadn't. 

The voters' choice for Prime Minister meant nothing. Israel had to vote a third time.

The third-of-these-last-four elections was in March 2020. In that election, Netanyahu won again. But it all came out wrong again because the best either Netanyahu or Gantz could do was to form a strange, wierd creature called a 'unity' government.

But even that came out all wrong. The 'unity' government turned into a Wonderland of confusion, back-biting, back-stabbing and anger. Just as for Alice in her own Wonderland, Israel got it all wrong this time again. Israelis had to vote again.

Now, the last of these four consecutive elections took place in March 2021, just last month. Netanyahu won again--the third such win of four consecutive elections. This time, he'd won  with the largest winning margin of all four elections. 

But as happened to Alice more than 100 years ago, even this election came out wrong. At least, it has so far. So far, nobody has won.

Isn't this curious? Actually, it's curiouser than that.

In Israel, Netanyahu wins. He almost always wins. He's been Prime Minister longer thatn anyone in modern Israel's history.

Voters keep voting for him. Clearly, he remains that popular with voters.  

But in Israel's new and topsy-turvy "Wonderland" atmosphere, Netanyahu never wins. Who are the political crocodiles who lure Israelis to the ballot box only to gobble up their votes? 

Political crocodiles in Israel exist. They are real. They are called, "the election losers".  

These  crocodiles call Netanyahu "corrupt". They call him "selfish". They even do this with an Alice-in-Wonderland-style scheming smile.  

You see, at the very instant each loser calls Netanyahu selfish and corrupt, they are acting themselves as selfish babies. They cannot accept they have lost.  

They blame Netanyahu. They blame his selfishness, not their own selfishness for sparking the need for another election.

Israel's politicians are outraged that this Prime Minister keeps beating them at the ballot box. They hate that. They want to be Prime Minister. Therefore, they will do whatever it takes to get there, the voters' choice be damned.

For voters, such behavior appears curious indeed for a democracy. What is a voter to think? Perhaps Israel has become an upside down-downside-up democracy. Is that our problem--Israel has become a no-democracy democracy?

In Wonderland, Alice met a talking caterpiller who smoked a hookah. How curious is that? I mean, how many times have you met a talking caterpillar who smoked a hookah?

Then, consider what this caterpillar did. He studied Alice in silence for a very long time, smoking his hookah. Then he spoke, asking Alice, "who are youuuu?"

How curiously familar to us this caterpillar is. Israeli politicians act just like it--in reverse. That is, instead of asking voters, 'who are you?', they ask the most curious question--and give an even curiouser answer.

They ask, "who am IIIIIII?" Their answer is always the same: "I am the next Prime Minister", says one. "No," says another, "I am", and so on.

Then they all lose the next election. How curious is that?

None of these politicians look anything like a caterpillar smoking a hookah. But surely, they must be inhaling something to behave this way.

They lose an election. But they still go around saying, "I am to be the next PM". Very curious, indeed.

What part of "you lost" don't they understand? Apparently, all parts of it.

These politicians have just (in the March 2021 election) gotten less than a quarter (or, perhaps, just one-half) the votes of the election winner (Netanyahu). Why should they be Prime Minister when they've lost so badly?

Perhaps they are crocodiles who lure voters to their jaws with scheming smiles.  Is that what's happening in Israel?

Well, the curious part of this story is that election losers in Israel feel they can be Prime Minister--even after they've lost. How much like Alice in Wonderland that is! 

Losers in Israel can feel this way because of an Alice-like world of Israel-specific political magic. They push us into this Israeli-political version of Alice in Wonderland by using the shibboleth words, "Netanyahu is corrupt". 

Immediately upon saying these magical words, the world of Israel's media comes to a grinding halt. Most everyone in the media turns and says,  "ohhhhh, nooooo!" --as if they are stunned to hear that one Israeli politician is crooked.

The magic words do work. Before you can say, "jabberwocky!" (or some other Alice in Wonderful delightfully nonsensical word), Israel ends up with another election.

The curious thing about all this is that Netanyahu isn't the only Israeli politician who is corrupt (if he is). In fact, Israel is notorious for its corrupt, scheming politicians. In Israel, such politicians are everywhere you turn. They are, to coin a phrase, "a dime-a-dozen". 

Isn't their calling Netanyahu "corrupt" just another example of the pot calling the kettle black? After all, are not these politicians, who so ignore Israel's democratic voting choice, attempting--through a form of legalized corruption--to take the election away from the vote winner? Is that how a democracy works. Or, is it how a corrupted democracy works after losers start getting their hands dirty?

An Israeli voter must surely feel today as confused as Alice felt  back in her 19th century story. After each election, the Israeli voter, like Alice before him, doesn't really know who he is any more. He doesn't know if he was a voter or not because the election he just voted in never seems to have a winner--even though the results say there was a winner. 

How curious. But even curiouser than that, the last election in Israel was March 23, 2021. It is now April 22, 2021. Who won? Netanyahu. So why hasn't he formed a government yet? Because he didn't win.

How curious is that. 

Perhaps the voter will soon meet someone "new"--that is, another ego-driven, selfish politician. Perhaps this new politician will be a mad hatter, or a Cheshire cat--or even a mad Queen. Oh, what fun that would be! 

Israel may be the only place in the world where you can enter a mad 21st century political version of Alice in Wonderland. In Israel, it is all very simple: try to understand Israel's election and political insanity. You can't. But if you try to understand them, you will surely tumble down a dizzying, confusing political rabbit hole called, "Israel's election season". 

Welcome to Israel--where Alice in Wonderland really, really comes to life..

Update: if you don't remember Alice in Wonderland, you can find the text online by googling, "read Alice in Wonderland".

Israel Independence Day, 2021

 (Last update: April 16, 2021)

The first week of the Hebrew month, Iyar, is busy. This first week is dedicated to two special days. Israel's Memorial Day comes first. Then, the very next day, we celebrate Israel's Independence Day.

Israel's Memorial Day was yesterday, April 14, 2021. It is solemn. It asks us to pause. It asks us to remember those who have been killed by enemies who seek to destroy us.  

This solemn day then gives way in the evening to Independence Day. On this day, Israel rejoices. We remember the miracles of our rebirth in 1947. We pause to recall how far we have come, from the very real threat of complete extermination (during our war of Independence) to today.

We have indeed come a long, long way. We have become one of the strongest nations in the world. We have become one of the most successful nations in the world, as measured by the OECD (the Organization of  Economic Cooperation and Development), a grouping of (in my opinion) the top 37 nations in the world (here).

To celebrate Israel's Independence Day, I bring to your attention what is commonly referred to as Israel's "Declaration of Independence". I do this this to help you understand something about Israel's essential nature--its character as the Jewish state.

There seems to be a serious question these days in Israel about Israel's essential nature. Some politicians want Israel to be a Liberal, Progressive Democracy, with "Jewish" nowhere in sight. If these politicians want "Jewish" at all in Israel, it would have to be 'behind closed doors'. In one form or another, they claim to want to return Israel to its founding roots--to be Democratic and Jewish--or, more simply, to be a Democratic "nation-of-its-citizens".

Back in 2016, then-US Secretary of State John Kerry declared that Israel can either be Jewish or a Democracy; but it cannot be both (here). Many in Israel agree. They want Israel to be a Liberal-Progressive state, not a Jewish state.

Nevertheless, others in Israel disagree. They see Israel as the Jewish state. They don't mind Israel having democratic tendencies. They just want Israel to return to its "Jewish roots".

Who is correct? Should Israel promote itself as the Jewish state? Or, should it promote itself only as a Democratic state?  

To help you attempt to answer these questions, I present to you Israel's "Declaration of Independence". It describes how Israel is to be framed. It defines what Israel is to be.  

Read what this document says. I suggest that you will be able to see what Israel was meant to be.

To assist you, I have highlighted every reference to what is 'Jewish" in this document --and what is "Democratic-Liberal-Progressive" in this document. My copy of this document comes from an Israeli government source here:

Official Gazette: Number 1; Tel Aviv, 5 Iyar 5708, 14.5.1948 Page 1

The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel

The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books.

After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom.

Impelled by this historic and traditional attachment, Jews strove in every successive generation to re-establish themselves in their ancient homeland. In recent decades they returned in their masses. Pioneers, defiant returnees, and defenders, they made deserts bloom, revived the Hebrew language, built villages and towns, and created a thriving community controlling its own economy and culture, loving peace but knowing how to defend itself, bringing the blessings of progress to all the country's inhabitants, and aspiring towards independent nationhood.

In the year 5657 (1897), at the summons of the spiritual father of the Jewish State, Theodore Herzl, the First Zionist Congress convened and proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to national rebirth in its own country.

This right was recognized in the Balfour Declaration of the 2nd November, 1917, and re-affirmed in the Mandate of the League of Nations which, in particular, gave international sanction to the historic connection between the Jewish people and Eretz-Israel and to the right of the Jewish people to rebuild its National Home.

The catastrophe which recently befell the Jewish people - the massacre of millions of Jews in Europe - was another clear demonstration of the urgency of solving the problem of its homelessness by re-establishing in Eretz-Israel the Jewish State, which would open the gates of the homeland wide to every Jew and confer upon the Jewish people the status of a fully privileged member of the community of nations.

Survivors of the Nazi holocaust in Europe, as well as Jews from other parts of the world, continued to migrate to Eretz-Israel, undaunted by difficulties, restrictions and dangers, and never ceased to assert their right to a life of dignity, freedom and honest toil in their national homeland.

In the Second World War, the Jewish community of this country contributed its full share to the struggle of the freedom- and peace-loving nations against the forces of Nazi wickedness and, by the blood of its soldiers and its war effort, gained the right to be reckoned among the peoples who founded the United Nations.

On the 29th November, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish State in Eretz-Israel; the General Assembly required the inhabitants of Eretz-Israel to take such steps as were necessary on their part for the implementation of that resolution. This recognition by the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to establish their State is irrevocable.

This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State.

Accordingly we, members of the People's Council, representatives of the Jewish Community of Eretz-Israel and of the Zionist Movement, are here assembled on the day of the termination of the British Mandate over Eretz-Israel and, by virtue of our natural and historic right and on the strength of the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel.

We declare that, with effect from the moment of the termination of the Mandate being tonight, the eve of Sabbath, the 6th Iyar, 5708 (15th May, 1948), until the establishment of the elected, regular authorities of the State in accordance with the Constitution which shall be adopted by the Elected Constituent Assembly not later than the 1st October 1948, the People's Council shall act as a Provisional Council of State, and its executive organ, the People's Administration, shall be the Provisional Government of the Jewish State, to be called "Israel."
The State of Israel will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

The State of Israel is prepared to cooperate with the agencies and representatives of the United Nations in implementing the resolution of the General Assembly of the 29th November, 1947, and will take steps to bring about the economic union of the whole of Eretz-Israel.

We appeal to the United Nations to assist the Jewish people in the building-up of its State and to receive the State of Israel into the community of nations.

We appeal - in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months - to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.

We extend our hand to all neighbouring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighbourliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is prepared to do its share in a common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East.

We appeal to the Jewish people throughout the Diaspora to rally round the Jews of Eretz-Israel in the tasks of immigration and upbuilding and to stand by them in the great struggle for the realization of the age-old dream - the redemption of Israel.

Placing our trust in the Almighty, we affix our signatures to this proclamation at this session of the provisional Council of State, on the soil of the Homeland, in the city of Tel-Aviv, on this Sabbath eve, the 5th day of Iyar, 5708 (14th May, 1948).

David Ben-Gurion

Daniel Auster Mordekhai Bentov Yitzchak Ben Zvi Eliyahu Berligne Fritz Bernstein Rabbi Wolf Gold Meir Grabovsky Yitzchak Gruenbaum Dr. Abraham Granovsky Eliyahu Dobkin Meir Wilner-Kovner Zerach Wahrhaftig Herzl Vardi Rachel Cohen Rabbi Kalman Kahana Saadia Kobashi Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Levin Meir David Loewenstein Zvi Luria Golda Myerson Nachum Nir Zvi Segal Rabbi Yehuda Leib Hacohen Fishman David Zvi Pinkas Aharon Zisling Moshe Kolodny Eliezer Kaplan Abraham Katznelson Felix Rosenblueth David Remez Berl Repetur Mordekhai Shattner Ben Zion Sternberg Bekhor Shitreet Moshe Shapira Moshe Shertok

--

Several comments:

First , the word, "Democracy" or any versions thereof, does not appear even once in this document.

Second, the words, "Progressive"  or "Liberal" do not appear even once in this document. Apparently, this document is really not at all about Democracy or Liberal or Progressive. It's about "Jewish".

This is an important observation. Apparently, some Israeli politicians do not know that Israel was founded as the Jewish state--as is clear from the document above. Instead, these politicians act as if Israel was founded to be a Liberal-Progressive Democracy.

Clearly, it was not. Indeed, Israel's founding document (above) is very clear: the modern State of Israel was not to be created as a Democratic-Liberal-Progressive state. Its founders intended to establish "the Jewish State". 

Third, several references above which I have highlighted as "Jewish" in nature may not appear so to some. But they all have a Jewish reference, either to Jewish liturgy, the Tanach, or to a commonly understood Jewish context. 

Fourth, this declaration has "Jewish" stamped all over it. It says explicitly that Israel is to be "the Jewish State" three times--and added a fourth such reference to Israel as "a Jewsh state". It does not at all have anything in it about "Liberal" or "Progressive" or even "Democracy".

This document is for Jews. It is about the Jewish people. It is about Jewish. It contains a number of references referencing the Jewish religion. 

This document is not a declaration for establishing a Democratic-Liberal-Progressive state. Today's politicians should understand this. Some do not. 

They have no idea what our founders intended. How can a nation's politicians not know what their nation's founders intended?

Fifth, this document does indeed refer to "freedom, justice and peace"--ideas professed by those who promote Democracy, Liberal and progressive ideas. However, while that may be true, we do have to note that this document nonetheless qualifies these ideas, not in terms of any Democratic-Liberal-Progressive tradition, but as ideas "envisaged by the prophets of Israel"--a distinctly religious, Jewish reference--thereby suggesting a Jewish-religious context, not a political context. 

Finally, while there are references to equality, social and political rights and freedom of religion, these concepts are not exclusive to any Liberal-Progressive-Democratic tradition. That is, a state does not have to be Liberal-Progressive-Democratic to offer these benefits.  

So, was Israel established to be a Liberal-Democratic-Progressive state, or a Jewish state? Read the above Declaration. The answer, I suggest, is clear. 

Happy 73rd birthday, Israel. Your pedigree is clear, is it not? You are the Jewish State.

It would certainly be nice if we began to act like we were Jewish. Perhaps some day we will start doing that.

Israel's Yom HaZikaron--and Cpl. David Menachem Gordon, z"l

 

Wednesday, April 14, 2021 is Israel's national Memorial Day. It is similar to America's Memorial Day in that it is the moment when an entire nation remembers its fallen. 

In Israel, this day is called, Yom HaZikaron. A loose translation of these two words is, the day of/for remembrance.

In Israel, we remember soldiers killed in actions against Israel's enemies, both in a war and between wars. It is also the day we remember those killed in terror attacks. 

Israel is a small country. In a way, the entire country is like one extended family. A new immigrant (new Oleh) learns about this sense of family from one's shul (synagogue) because there is hardly a single shul in the entire country where at least one  member has not either experienced such death in his/her own family, or seen such death among his/her extended family--or among social acquaintances, co-workers, former co-workers, neighbors or former schoolmates. 

Even among a segregated new immigrant community, a new Oleh (immigrant) can learn how close death touches. In our own family circle, for example, we have learned of other new immigrants (whom we knew/know/heard of) who have themselves personally experienced a terror attack. We have heard of others we know/have heard about who have lost friends in combat. Indeed, one of our own friends died while in uniform during the 2014 war with Gaza.

His name is Cpl. David Menachem Gordon. I understand he was serving in the 424th IDF Shaked Infantry Battalion, Givati Brigade. This Brigade (Givati) appears to have been the most highly decorated IDF Brigade during the 2014 war in Gaza. Cpl Gordon, as I understand it, saw combat in 2014.

Givati has been called, a "prestigious" combat unit. It is not easy to get into. It is not for the faint of heart. 

As the 2014 war was winding down, David was on an "open base" (where anyone can enter and wander around). He disappeared one day after finishing with a dental appointment. A couple of days later he was found on the base in a field, in uniform, dead. 

No one knows what happened to him. Many say it was suicide. Some say, he was murdered in a "Nationalist" attack. A 'Nationalist" attack is a euphemism for 'killed by a Palestinian Arab as part of the Palestinian "Nationalist" effort to destroy the Jewish State". 

I do not know what happened to David that day. But I know that some who promoted the 'suicide' narrative also indicated that anyone who thinks otherwise about that day would be wise to shut up. 

Such a message was, for me, a red flag--or, perhaps, a veiled threat. I don't know. But today, almost seven years later, one thing seems certain to me. All such talk is now irrelevant. 

David is gone. He is dead. A different narrative will not bring him back. 

He will never marry. He will never have children. We will never see him again. 

I spoke to him just a few days before he died. I had asked him at that time what his combat experiences had taught him. Maybe such a question was inadvisable. But I was prompted to ask because of his behavior. He was, you see, upbeat. 

His answer to my question went something like this: when you go into combat, you do not know what will happen. You do not know how you will respond. Combat taught me something. It taught me I am (not 'was') a warrior. 

He was buried on Israel's Har Herzl, Israel's National Cemetery. Har Herzl is similar to the US's  Arlington National Cemetery. 

Cpl David Menachem Gordon was buried with full military honors, including an honorary set of rifle-shots fired into the air by an honor guard brought to his gravesite ceremony specifically for this final salute to him.

During that gravesite ceremony, if I remember correctly, both his Commander and his Commander's Commander eulogized him. They honored him for his military service. 

For me, Cpl. David Menachem Gordon will forever be a warrior. On the occasion of his first 'yahrzeit' (a 'yahrzeit' is the anniversay of a decedent's passing), I spoke before his grave. I ended with these words: "David, for me, you were a warrior. You are a warrior. You will always be a warrior".

 He will forever be for me a young man who felt good about his military service, his combat experience, and his future. That was what we had spoken about just days before he was found dead. The young man I saw that day did not seem to me to be a candidate for suicide.

In fact, I could be right about that. Then again, I could also be wrong. Suicide victims are not all "alike". 

His status at death just doesn't matter to me any more. What matters to me is he is gone. 

He was a good soldier. He was a good man. May his memory be blessed. 

A 50th wedding anniversary

 

Given the status of marriage these days, it seems out of the ordinary for a couple to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. In fact, a quick google search confirms this: only about one in every 16 marriages reaches 50 years. 

In case you're counting, this means that just 6% of married couples get to celebrate their 50th year of marriage. The other 94% of married couples don't get to do that.

What an extraordinary accomplishment. Truly, it must be noteworthy indeed for a couple to survive 50 years together. 

Good grief. Is marriage that challenging? Or, is there something else at work here? That is, do too many people simply not know how to marry--or, alternatively, not understand how to stay married?

I don't know. Perhaps you know.

For me, this is not a theoretical issue. For me, it's real, because on April 12, 2021, which is also this year the first day of Rosh Chodesh (the beginning of a new lunar month) for the Jewish month called, Iyar, my "bride" and I celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. Fifty years ago this day, the first day of Rosh Chodeh Iyar (in 1971), my bride, Shaina Mashe, married me. 

I am  a very lucky man. Have 50 years gone by? Doesn't seem that long to me.  

I well remember our wedding day. It didn't start off too well. On that day, we witnessed a very loud traffic accident. It looked bad. Then, close to midnight that same day, on our way to where we were to stay after the wedding for a few days, a police officer pulled us over. He wanted to know why we were on that street, in that neighborhood in that car (one that really did qualify as a "junker")?  What were we doing there?

He had stopped us perhaps 100 feet from our destination. 

I pointed this out to the man. He did not seem too impressed with my answer. I also told him we had just gotten married that afternoon. He didn't seem much impressed by that, either.

He just returned to me my driver's license. I don't remember if he said anything else.

Such a beginning to one's married life did not seem particularly auspicious--first witnessing a car accident and then experiencing a police stop that night. Were these incidents a harbinger of bad things to come? We didn't know.

Now, we have completed 50 years of a journey not yet finished. So far as I'm concerned, I'm glad it's not over. I feel ready for 50 more years.

My wife and I were lucky. Well, in truth, we were more blessed than lucky. We both came from stable homes. Both of our parents rarely, if ever, argued. To us, they had always seemed to get along.

If people relive in their own adult lives what they saw and experienced at home in their childhood, then my wife and I are definitely examples of that observation. We came from happy homes. It seemed--to me, at least--easy to figure out how to create our own happy home life.

I learned long ago that, for a happy marriage, rule number one is, when you feel like yelling about something, keep your mouth shut. Rule number two is, when in doubt, re-read rule number one.

By the way, for these two rules to work to benefit the marriage, an 80% compliance is required. Are you up to the challenge? 

I remember an incident perhaps 15 or 20 years ago. My wife and I were in our kitchen. We were discussing current politics--a favorite subject of ours. Somehow, one of us spoke as if he (or she) was one of the politicians we were in the habit of mocking. The other one picked up the cue and replied in kind--with something another such politician (worthy of mockery) might say. 

We were having fun. We were laughing--and shouting as if we were those politicians. We thought we were hilarious.

But our bubble quickly burst. One of our children, a teen (I don't remember which child it was), came into the kitchen and asked, "are you guys okay? Why are you arguing?"

I remember asking, "What? Who's arguing?" My child responded, "It sounds like you are fighting!"

My wife and I looked at each other and laughed. One of us explained that we were just mocking politicians, just playing. 

My child's next statement taught me something about our marriage. She said, "Well, you guys never fight. Don't play like this! It's not funny". That incident became a Kodak moment for me. It was something I would remember.

That child was right. My wife and I never argued--or so it seemed. Therefore, something that had sounded like an argument to a child was indeed cause for concern. It was so out of character for her Abba and Imma to do (I think now that that child was one of our daughters; I just do not remember which one).

My wife and I had developed that 'Abba and Imma character' during our courtship. That courtship had lasted 16-months. At the end of that time, we got engaged (I asked, she said yes). We got  married three months later.

During those 16 months of courtship, we both learned all we needed to know about each other. We had learned enough for us to last at least 50 years.

First, our relationship was not one of opposites attracting. Our relationship, from its very beginning, was not about opposites. It was about similarities. 

We were two people who could have been twins. We had much more in common than not. We were alike. We always ironed out differences because we had so few differences. We believed in the same things. 

More important, before we fell in love, we were friends. We really liked each other--as friends. We felt comfortable with each other. 

We were best friends before we became husband-and-wife. We were "team-mates" before we became a "married couple".

Now, some 50 years later, we are still friends. We are still a team. Thank G-d, we are very much still on the same page. 

I like my wife. I prefer her company. It's one reason I married her so long ago. It's why I love her now more than ever. If I asked her to marry me again, I'm pretty sure she'd simply smile and say, 'yes'. 

Truly, HaShem has blessed me with a "woman of valor". May my bride of "yore" remain my 'bride' to '120 years--as a 20-year old' (this sounds so much better in Hebrew than in English).

Stay tuned. This relationship continues. The love is strong. It endures.

Thank you, HaShem, for the wonderful life-partner you have chosen for me.

Yom HaShoah in Israel, 2021

 (Last update: April 9, 2021)

In Israel, today is called, Yom HaShoah, which, loosely translated, means 'The Day to remember the Holocaust". For Israel, this is time to recall that Israel, the world's only Jewish State, exists for two reasons. First, because the G-d of Israel wants it to exist; and second, to be the safe haven for the world's Jews.

Back in the 1930's, when the roots of the Holocaust were just taking hold in Germany and in what we now call Eastern Europe, there was no State of Israel. The was no "Jewish State". There was no "safe Haven" for Jews. 

To illustrate how unsafe the world really was at that time, recall the story of a ship called, the "Saint Louis". I will tell you this story as I heard it. Perhaps you have heard a different version.

In 1939, at a time when news of Germany's ill-treatment of Jews was reaching foreign lands, Hitler engaged in what some might call a "stunt". He would show up as hypocrites all who would criticize his treatment of Jews. He would call their bluff. 

He loaded some 900+ Jews on a cruising liner, the "Saint Louis". The "Saint Louis" then set sail to find countries that would accept these "Jew refugees". 

The ship stopped mostly in the North America area. Authorites in Cuba, the US and Canada all refused to allow Jews to disembark from the ship. 

One perhaps untrue part of this story is an  alleged quote from the then-Prime Minister of Canada's reaction to allowing Jewish refugees into Canada. He is supposed to have said, 'one Jew is one Jew too many'. 

Whether true or not, it was a sentiment that was felt by many across the globe at that time. At any rate, Canada did not accept anyone from that ship.

Ultimately, the ship returned to Europe. There, some were able to get off. Some were able to go to the UK. A few others were able to get into France, Belgium--and into one or two other European countries. The remainder were returned to Germany.

Not all of those who disembarked into Europe at that time remained safe. By the end of the war, perhaps as many as 270 (estimates vary) of those 900+ souls who had been returned to Europe perished in the Holocaust that later engulfed them.

If this story as I have told it is true, Hitler got satisfaction. He had showed the nations what hypocrites they were. 

Hitler was not the only one who rejected Jews. The world was clearly full of such hate. 

Some called that voyage, the "Voyage of the Damned'. It was.

That story happened because there was no sovereign State of Israel in 1939. There was no safe haven for Jews. There was no one who would accept "Jew refugees".

Some of us remember this ship's story today, on a Holocaust Day more than 80 years on. We remember it because there are still those in the world who would be happy once again to kill Jews. 

You see, once again, Jew-hate proliferates around the world. Like a poisonous weed, Jew-hate spreads without much resistance. 

As we in Israel remember Holocaust Day, we know Israel is alone. We know we are hated by many. 

But we also know Israel is strong. We know Israel is not a country easy to invade. Any such attempt  by others will reap the whirlwind.

Israel is the only safe haven for Jews. In this world, Israel is the only safe place for the Jewish people.

Israel will never forget the Holocaust. Israel will never forget what happened between 1939-45. Israel will never forget the Jew-hate. 

We will never let it happen again. 

Israel just elected Netanyahu to lead. Politicians aim to change that. Does Israel have a problem with democracy?

 

Ahhh, democracy. It used to be that a democracy existed because of several principles (or, characteristics). Arguably, principle (characteristic) number one was, the ballot box is king.

Why? Because in a democracy all citizens are supposed to have a voice in the government--and the ballot box represents the single most powerful voice of a nation's citizens. With a secret ballot, a democracy recognizes it is the people--and only the people--who make a nation's most important decision: choosing the nation's leader. 

When you have a democracy, only citizens choose their leader. That choice is not done by a cabal, or by some political hierarchy or by unelected elites. 

In a democracy, the process of choosing a new leader is the  national-communal political ritual. It is a hallowed moment when a nation's citizenry gather and, individually, vote in secret to select who will lead them.

Israel calls itself a democracy. That is why, on March 23, 2021, Israel's citizens went to the polls and, through ballot boxes all across the country, voted to choose a national leader. Overwhelmingly, Israelis chose current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be their next leader. No other politician came close to the number of votes received by Netanyahu.

There is much controversy in Israel over Benjamin Netanyahu. He is currently on trial for crimes against the State (trial suspended due to the pandemic; it will resume, in theory, next week).  Most politicians campaigned against him. Most of these called for him "to be removed".

Apparently, not enough Israelis agreed. But they made known their feeling about a leader through the ballot box: they chose Netanyahu to lead them despite his trial, despite the accusations against him, and despite what other politicians said about him.

Politicians were outraged by this result. They were outraged by Netanyahu.They want Netanyahu out of office. They intend to act.

In a democracy, the ballot box is not the only characteristic that marks a nation as a democracy. It's only one part of a larger 'formula' of characteristics (including, for example, the Freedoms of speech, the press, religion and assembly, and the universal rights to fair treatment under the law--and the right to a fair trial, among other things). 

Therefore, the very existence of ballots nation-wide elections do not by definition give that nation the right to call itself a democracy. Other factors must exist, too. 

Some of those other factors include, for example, what happens to votes after an election. Those votes must be counted. The count must be transparent. The final tally must be agreed upon by all political Parties which participated in the election for which those votes were cast in the first place. The votes must point to a winner. That winner must be sworn in to his office.

A democracy does not exist just because a nation has such principles as regularly-scheduled nation-wide elections, freedom of religion or freedom of speech, etc. A nation becomes a democracy because of how it handles the details of those principles.

For example: (1) what happens when someone other than an election winner is installed into an elected office? (2) what happens when freedom of speech means freedom for only one kind of speech or for only one kind of news outlet? (3)  what happens when the freedom of religion means freedom for only one religion--but not others? (4) what happens if the right to equal treatment by police is only for some, but not others? (5) what happens when a fair trial is available only sometimes--for some, but not all?

Would you call a nation a democracy if it redefines these principles of democracy? Democracy is supposed to be about establishing--and then protecting--a full range of rights, priviledges and freedoms for its citizens. These include the right (or priviledge) to choose a leader. How can a nation that does not protect the outcome of a ballot box--or protect citizens' rights--call itself a democracy?  

The answer is, it can't. Instead, A nation that redefines "democracy" as noted just above is not about the rights/freedoms of its citizens. Such a nation is about the rights and freedoms of an elite group. That is not democracy.

Israel may call itself a democracy. But its ballot box is clearly not the first, last and only word about who is chosen to lead. In Israel, the voters' choice to lead is certainly not the final word of an election. That right seems to belong to Israel's President--an unelected official--with the help of Members of Israel's Parliament, the Knesset (a political elite) (see the essay below). 

Israel may have voted. Israel may have chosen its leader through a secret ballot. But in Israel, that vote is irrelevant. Completely irrelevant. In Israel, it is possible that the voter's choice is ignored.

This is why, some six days after an election in Israel, you will typically not see a headline that says something like, "New leader continues to complete his Cabinet appointments". Instead, what you actually saw in Israel--six days after this latest election--was a headline that said: "Gantz [a failed election opponent of Netanyahu] calls on Lapid, Sa'ar [two other failed election opponents of Netanyahu] to join forces to replace Netanyahu" (here).

These politicians--Gantz, Lapid and Sa'ar--all challenged Netanyahu for Prime Minister in the March 23rd election. Some 34 other politicians also challenged Netanyahu. In that election, Netanyahu trounced all of them. Yet, here we were, six days after the election, reading that some of those trounced politicians were now actively plotting to "replace" Netanyahu!

The ballot box meant nothing! Even if this behavior is legal (which, in Israel, it is), this not how a democracy is supposed to work.

It did not matter that Netanyahu got nearly double the votes of his nearest competitor (Lapid). It meant nothing that Netanyahu got more than four times the votes of Gantz, or close to 5 times the votes of Sa'ar. What mattered was, it is legal in Israel to overturn the ballot box in this fashion.

These politicians appear eager to do exactly that. They practically salivate over that prospect. 

By tolerating such post-election nonsense, how can Israel call itself a democracy? Israel allows those who lost an election to ignore the voice of the people. Israel's law allows them instead to rise up in order to overturn the ballot box--just because they don't like what the ballot box said? 

That's not democracy. That's tyranny of the elite. But it is how Israel works.

This trashing of the ballot box provokes one to ask, what has been happening in Israel to other principles of democracy--to the freedoms of speech, religion and press, and to the right to a fair trial and equal treatment by police?  Are these principles truly protected? Or, are they "protected' in much the same way Israel's ballot box is "protected", which is to say, not at all?

In Israel, some on the political Right, and some in Israel's religious sector, do not think their rights are protected. Some say their rights are regularly ignored. Others feel their rights are indeed trashed, mostly in small ways--but trashed nonetheless.

Is Israel's election system the only problem Israel has with "democracy"? Or, is Israel's decidedly undemocratic election system just the tip of a nasty anti-democratic iceberg?

Maybe Israel isn't the democracy it claims to be. Maybe it's time for a change. Maybe Israel needs a new kind of government, one whose values are less secular, less selfish and less ego-driven.

Stay tuned, This Jewish "democracy" drama is far from settled.