Haveil Havalim #201 - The I-Love-Nauru Edition

Welcome to the 201st edition of Haveil Havalim, the I Love Nauru Edition!

Why do I love Nauru? Check this out, from Friday's news:
The U.N. General Assembly called in a nonbinding resolution on Friday for an immediate, durable cease-fire in Gaza, rejecting a more radical text proposed by a group of Muslim and Latin American states…
The assembly's electronic scoreboard showed 142 countries in favour, four opposed and eight abstaining. But the exact figures were not immediately clear as several countries said their votes had not registered due to electrical faults.
Voting against were Israel, the United States and the Pacific island of Nauru, which believed the resolution was biased against Israel. Venezuela, which thought it was too soft on the Jewish state, was also shown by the board as voting against although the country's delegate said he abstained.

So you may be wondering, as I was when I read this, “What’s a Nauru?” Here’s some information from Wikipedia:
Nauru /nɑːˈuːruː/, officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island nation in the Micronesian South Pacific. The nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in the Republic of Kiribati, 300 km due east. Nauru is the world's smallest island nation, covering just 21 km² (8.1 sq. mi), the smallest independent republic, and the only republican state in the world without an official capital. It is the least populous member of the United Nations.

It’s motto? “God’s Will First.” I like that in a motto (unless the deity's name is Allah, anyway...).

I don’t know how the Israel-Nauru relationship began (relations were formalized in 1994), but this 2006 article is interesting:
Doctors to Nauru Islands for 1st Israeli mission
Nauru Islands , Oct. 30, 2006
Two doctors left Sunday night for the Republic of Nauru in the Micronesian Pacific Ocean on a first-ever Israeli mission to examine and treat the local population.
The government of Nauru asked Israel's Foreign Ministry to find doctors willing to take part in such a project, and Dr. Danny Yardeni and Dr. Hadar Yardeni agreed to go.
The couple, he a pediatric surgeon at Ha'emek Hospital in Afula and she a pediatrician and deputy medical director in the northern district of Maccabi Health Services, will be on the islands for two months, the Israel Medical Association reported.
Dr. Hadar Yardeni will give advice on health promotion and disease prevention and pediatric care, while Danny Yardeni will perform surgery on the islands, which have 7,000 children out of 13,000 residents.

But enough prologue; here’s this week’s HH roundup of posts from around the Jewish blogosphere. I included almost all of the submitted posts. (But guys - and you know who you are - please stop submitting four or five posts from your blogs. Especially if your posts consist of one line and a photograph. Thanks.) I also took a tour of some blogs I love; it was a good chance to catch up, since I haven't taken much time to read other blogs recently.

We have 9 parts about different aspects of the war in Gaza, and then a catch-all section for the relatively few non-Gaza posts of the week:


Gaza, Part I: Amazing Livebloggers
People ask me where I go for news, but then they give me weird looks when I tell them I read The Muqata and Israellycool. What don’t they understand?

And a big round of applause for Jack for his Gaza Updates (newest one here - the Ceasefire edition)!


Gaza, Part II: Living the war
A 17-year old talks about why we must fight this war, Nad-ned talks about what it’s like to live the war, and Ki Yachol Nuchal talks about the help she finds visiting her son, who is in the war.

For at least one politician, war trumps politics. For others, though, it’s politics (and religious politics in particular) as usual. And let’s have a look at the polls.

Israel Chronicles talks about trusting Gd in a time of war… while, war or no war, Sketchcrawl in Tel Aviv goes on!

Two big stories: Pray for the amazing parents of Yoni Netanel, and for Aharon Karov.

Want to know what it’s like in Ashdod today? If not, you might want to try these great things to do in Israel.

Here's Rav Aviner’s take on the status of civilians during wartime, and a song for the soldiers.

And here's a blast from the past: The Renegade Rebbetzin (no relation) writing during the Second Lebanon War.

And here’s a provocative piece from Gila on dealing with Arab Israelis during the war.


Gaza, Part III: A Unilateral Cease Fire
Yes, you read that right, a unilateral ceasefire. Because those have worked really well in the past, right?

Some early reaction to the news here and here.


Gaza, Part IV: The lighter side of the War
You must have seen this already, but in case you haven’t, enjoy this protestor. I hope he moonlights as an Iranian nuclear scientist.

How about this multiple-choice question regarding that mysterious siren in Yerushalayim? (More on that here.)

This video has been making the rounds, regarding the dangers of boycotting Israel. I’m pretty sure some of the stuff in there is exaggeration, but it’s cute anyway.


Gaza, Part V: The UN
I hope that when all of this is over, that commission on naming wars decides to call this “The UN War.” Because, really - you guys started it. If you had complained once or twice during the past eight years when Israel was being rocketed, you could have saved all of those mortar-firing schools that have been damaged in this war.

Here are several posts addressed to the UN’s lovable diplomats. Too bad they don't/can’t read.
One
Two
Three
Four


Gaza, Part VI: What special techniques is Israel using in her defense?
Upgraded PR efforts, for one. And a webcam to show the humanitarian aid entering Gaza. And here’s a piece from Israelity on Israel Press, a collection of Israeli photographers, war-related and otherwise.

But better than the PR… it’s the Tatzpitaniyot!

Whatever it is - it’s working.


Gaza, Part VII: Debating the war
The Occidental Israeli says Thomas Friedman is naïve; ya think?
Tzipporah says Nah, they just don’t like us.
For Zion’s Sake says Gaza is Jewish!
And My Right Word says you have to look at who the media quotes, not just what they say. That’s certainly true if you read any of this gibberish, collected by Judeopundit.

Sometimes, even Jon Stewart just needs hard information - so here’s a chronology of Gaza Border Crossing openings and closings, demonstrating Israel’s bend-over-backward efforts to keep humanitarian aid flowing over the years.

The Occidental Israeli notes opposition to the war in the Jewish world… and, of course, what list of Jewish anti-Jews would be complete without Sir Gerald Kaufman, duly lampooned here and here?

The war is filled with tough questions for debate; see What do you do with Shifa Hospital? and Carpet-bombing Gaza, as appealing as it sounds, isn’t really an option.
But there's no moral ambiguity at Shiloh Musings; he says, Finish them!

And, one of the big questions to ask this week: What will President Obama bring to the Middle East?


Gaza, Part VIII: Solidarity, Support and Partnership
First, let's get to the point: Ways to help!

Leora has rallies and more here, and there are young solidarity artists here.

Combating ignorance with Nad-Ned is fun. Actually, though, Volokh reports that American public opinion seems to be positive so far.

The West Bank stands with Aza, as does Gush Etzion, as does the Israel Postal Authority, and Joe the Plumber, and Colorado! So would the Jews of Indonesia, I bet, if they could.

But there’s no substitute for actually coming to Israel. A rabbinic mission visited Israel this week. (I was thisclose to going, but couldn’t do it. Very frustrating.) Rabbi Zevi Reichman reports here, and additional reports are here and here. Bottom line: Don’t be a Supporter, be a Partner!


Gaza, Part IX: Hope from the Torah, in a time of War
We will survive, say the Lubavitchers, and For Zion’s Sake agrees.


And finally... Jewish life, and the lives of Jews
Sorry to bury these all the way at the bottom of a long HH; there’s some really good stuff here. Read on!

First, an important cause: International Wash Your Yarmulka Day, complete with instructions. Now, could we have one for Tzitzis?

Some plane landed in the Hudson River this week, courtesy of a flock of birds; those birds better watch out for Jack! Thank Gd we have intelligence, says ProfK - but don't overrate it.

I was driven to ask two unrelated questions this week: Are there ways for a rabbi to accept gifts? And after reading My Jesus Year I asked, How do we pray?

Here’s an interesting take on Conservative observance of Kashrut (and make sure to read the comments).

We have two posts on the dating world - one on Chesed Dating, and one on Chareidi Dating. And, we have some cute wedding wisdom, when all of that dating works out.

Before the wedding, get some solid advice on beginning your economic life together. And, please, don’t confuse hoarding with saving.

Of course, if you’ve already passed the whole wedding stage and are raising kids, you might want Mom in Israel’s advice on choosing a school. Or ProfK's advice for high school selection. Or you might want to let your kids figure it out for themselves, as Ima on the Bima did.

And if the marriage ever stops working, well, here's some advice from In the Pink on how to be a good ex-spouse.

Dating, weddings, kids, divorce... Rabbi Neil Fleischmann says we should embrace whoever we are.

Here are two unrelated posts I enjoyed: A beautiful post here, on a Meeting with the Sudlikover Rebbe. And a good read on Parents, at the Curious Jew here.

Dixie Yid talks about the nuances of cell phone driving laws, as they might or might not apply to him. (I’m reminded of Pinocchio’s big scene in Shrek 3, actually.)

The Fackenheim case hasn’t received much general coverage due to the war, but this one’s a real mess. Childhood conversions in general are a train wreck, frankly.

The Rabbinical College of America is preparing for terror attacks, in their own way.

Lots of people are keeping busy. Muse is starting a diet and a dieting blog carnival, Israel Chronicles is missing her friends’ lives in chutz la’aretz and My Right Word has a roundup of his own recent posts here.

Some serious items:
This bit of Jew-Jew racism has to be the dumbest thing I’ve seen in a long, long time… which is really saying something, given this gem from the Yemeni government.

Here’s a video of Eastern European Chassidic communities during the Shoah.

Here’s an interesting post about a 2007 lawsuit by families of IDF soldiers killed by terrorists.

Here's an important post by Therapydoc on treatment after sex crimes, and the progress we have made.

This week’s RIPs include painter Andrew Wyeth (here and here) and Ricardo Montalban. See you on Fantasy Island, my friend… hopefully in a car with rich, Corinthian leather.

And to end the week's roundup on a positive note, let's give a round of Mazal Tovs to Trilcat on the birth of her baby boy!

In Conclusion:
There you have it. Like I said last time I hosted: Unqualified to host, unsavvy in the ways of the world, but we made it through.

To celebrate, herewith some boilerplate:

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
haveil havalim using our carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags:

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An Approach to the Challenge of "My Jesus Year"

The New Birth Megachurch in Lithonia, Georgia. The Christian Book Association’s annual conference. Ultimate Christian Wrestling. A Christian rock concert.

A young man named Benyamin Cohen - my wife’s classmate growing up, actually - realized in his early 20’s that he wasn’t finding meaning in Judaism, and that many of his Bible Belt Christian neighbors seemed a lot more passionate about their religion. So he visited those venues I just mentioned, and others, on a tour of Christian life, to see what it was that so inspired them. He recorded his experiences in a book, My Jesus Year.

Cohen’s search for religious passion reflects a problem I think many of us face. Based on my own experience and my conversations with Jews here and elsewhere, I know that Benyamin Cohen is not the exception; he is the rule. Many, if not most, are frustrated; Judaism, and particularly prayer, doesn’t “do anything” for them.


There are two main types of prayer, and I believe prayer doesn’t move us because we are dissatisfied with the first type, and unable to achieve the second.


The first type of prayer, which is found early on in the Torah, is Needy Prayer, the request of a supplicant seeking assistance.
• Kayin does it, pleading with Gd after he is punished.
• Avraham uses prayer to beseech Gd for aid, seeking forgiveness for Sdom, and an heir for his legacy.
• Yitzchak and Rivkah are childless, and daven for help.
• Yaakov is afraid of his enemies, of Esav and Lavan and then Esav again, and he davens for protection.
• And we read in this morning’s parshah that the Jews in Mitzrayim, suffering in slavery, cry out to HaShem for relief from their pain.


This type of prayer makes a lot of sense; I need something, Gd can provide it, so let me ask. I don’t even need to believe anything in order to do it; what do I have to lose by trying?

But if this is the defining display of our connection to Gd, if my every prayer is a request for something or even a Thank You for something, then this prayer, and the relationship it represents, are fundamentally doomed.

A connection based solely on petitionary prayer cheapens our role as human beings, as speaking spirits, as the singular nexus of the sacred and the mundane. Truly: Would we sink so low as to exclusively dedicate our audiences with the Creator to a shopping list?

Indeed, when the Talmudic sage Rava witnessed another sage praying for an extended period of time, he mocked him, saying, “He is abandoning the eternal life [of Torah study] in order to pursue temporary life!”

More than that:
• Prayer which focusses on filling our needs is bound to be uninspiring for us. Who finds fulfillment in filling out a grant application, a scholarship form? Further, who won’t wonder, “Doesn’t Gd already know what I need? Why must I jump through these hoops?”
• And what happens at times when we don’t feel a need, or we don’t feel a need that we think Gd will fill? Then, without a purpose, why pray?
• And, of course, we notice those prayers which do not come back with a “Yes” stamp, and we wonder, “Is there a Gd listening to my prayers at all?”

And so this supplicatory prayer, though accompanied by snappy tunes, or recited slower or faster, with new phrases or old, with or without improved translations and commentary, ultimately loses any personal connection and becomes a rote artifact of obligation, neither spiritual nor satisfying.


Which brings us to the second model of prayer: Relationship Prayer.

This second type of prayer is found more rarely in the early going in the Torah, but it is present.
In the Torah’s most obvious example: When Avraham was convalescing from his bris milah, HaShem appeared to him. “וירא אליו ה', HaShem appeared to Avraham.” Why? For what purpose? What message did Gd convey to Avraham?

The Torah doesn’t say; instead, the Torah moves on to a visit by three messengers, and then the destruction of Sdom. But what happened during HaShem’s visit to Avraham?

The answer is… Nothing. Avraham’s association with the Divine is not restricted to a petitioner’s plea or even to the communication of prophecy; Avraham can also simply BE with Gd, can sit at the entrance of his tent and contemplate the Gd who created Avraham and Sarah and all around them.

This is prayer as relationship - and, as Avraham’s descendants evolve, it becomes their ideal form of prayer.


Certainly, it takes a while. In upcoming parshiyyos we will see the Jews, led by Moshe, call out to Gd in need - at the Sea, and when they need water and food. Moshe himself will pray to Gd multiple times for the very survival of the Jewish people, and he will seek forgiveness for their sins.

But we will also witness the emergence of this new paradigm, at Divine decree. Gd will declare, “ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם, Make a sanctuary for Me, and I will dwell among them,” and with this He will revive that Divine visit to Avraham, and a type of prayer that is not Supplication, but Relationship.

The korbanot, the offerings the Jews would bring to Gd in that sanctuary, were not associated with requests and needs; there were no personal offerings in that Mishkan. Rather, the Jews brought the קרבן תמיד, a twice-daily offering which marked a national, on-going relationship with Gd.

This relationship, centered on a building known after all as the אוהל מועד, the Tent of Meeting, is described liturgically as “שמה שכינה שכינה לך, There the Shechinah, HaShem’s presence, resides, waiting for you.” Not waiting for you to come ask for things, but waiting for you to visit, to say Hello, to renew that conversation which began when HaShem visited Avraham after his bris milah so many years ago.


In truth, Relationship Prayer is as difficult as needy Petitionary Prayer, but for a different reason. Petitionary prayer may be difficult because it is inherently uninspiring, but Relationship prayer is challenging because it demands something of us, a currency we concede most stingily: It demands Trust.
• The Avraham who can commune with Gd after his circumcision is the one who trusted Gd and followed Him from Mesopotamia to Elonei Mamrei.
• The Jew who can communicate with Gd at the Mishkan is the one who trusted Gd and followed Him out of Egypt, into the desert.
• And the Jew who will find Gd today is the one who trusts Gd, who permits himself to believe.

Trust is the reason we can have this relationship, the ingredient that allows our prayer to evolve.


The Christians I have met in Cohen’s chapters - the wrestlers, the musicians, the baseball players, the megachurches - share this common thread: Trust. The people Cohen describes, the people who are invested, the people who attend and sing and cheer and fund these Bible Belt institutions, are people who trust this deity of theirs. Before they love, they believe, and everything follows from there.

A Jew who spends a great deal of time second-guessing himself, who finds relativism in every sphere of life, is going to have a hard time suspending his questions and doubts long enough to believe. Even as he bows in Shmoneh Esreih, this Jew observes himself from the outside and asks, “To whom am I bowing?” Even as he begins a meal by washing his hands, he wonders, “What if there is no Creator, and all of this is just an obsessive charade?”

All of our relationships, including religious relationships, are founded on trust - and so the Jew who wishes to experience passion in prayer, who wishes to experience some religious epiphany in shul, must look past the question of tunes and translations and ask himself the first, most basic question: Do I trust? Do I allow myself to trust?


Every time Israel becomes involved in a war, certain stock photographs of soldiers circulate by email. There’s the picture of young men trudging in a line to the front. There’s the picture of children heading into bomb shelters. And there’s the picture of a soldier perched on a tank, praying as the sun rises. Or a unit gathered to hear krias hatorah. Or a rabbi helping a solder put on tefillin.

To be sure, some soldiers turn to Gd at that point as supplicants, because there are no atheists in a foxhole; for them, perhaps, prayer is a hopeful means of asking Gd, who may or may not exist, for help. But for the rest, prayer is a function of their basic, lifelong trust in Gd and the Torah, a trust that gives them a relationship that remains with them even in the toughest times.

This relationship is what Benyamin Cohen was seeking in My Jesus Year, and this is what Avraham Avinu had - and, if we can permit ourselves to trust, then it is a relationship we will enjoy as well.

-
Notes:

1. I can't recommend the book My Jesus Year itself, because I am very uncomfortable with the author's derogatory description of his father throughout the book. It is lashon hara and character assassination.
The book is also written in Bloggish rather than formal English, complete with misplaced apostrophes and unique grammar. That's the author's choice, of course, but it rubs me wrong in a book produced with a major publisher.

2. There is a third, hybrid type of prayer, but I felt it was more a classroom topic than a derashah topic: Rav Chaim of Volozhin, the main student of the Vilna Gaon, in his Nefesh haChaim that even when we pray for our needs, we don’t pray because we want something for ourselves; rather, we turn to a Gd who cares about us, with Whom we have a relationship, and we say, “If You care about me, then my suffering must also cause You pain - and I wish for You to fill my needs so that Your pain will end.”
What a remarkable prayer - Gd, give me what I want so that You will be happy! This prayer bespeaks so much more than a petitioner before a king; it is the conversation of two lifelong friends, whose shared heart wishes only the best for each of them.

3. Rava's sarcasm is on Shabbat 10a.

Gaza, Wounded Children and the Tyranny of Liberal/Conservative Labels

[Jack's Gaza Update 18.5 is here.]

Am I a liberal or a conservative? Probably depends on the issue you are discussing.

Gun control? Liberal.
Religious freedom? Conservative.
Gay rights? Conservatively liberal.
And so on.

This is because I, like most sane people, don’t make up my mind based on the label people will attach to me, or the platforms established by parties. I go based on what I perceive, what I know, the options the Torah teaches me, and what I feel.

Nowhere is this more true than regarding Israel and Gaza.

Ordinarily, I am big on standing up for the underdog. I want society to help the indigent, and to create alternatives for people to divert them from crime (there are plenty of sources within Torah for this, but that’s a topic for another time). I have spoken out locally and on the Net regarding both China and Darfur, and believe that Torah stands firmly against the use of force for the sake of personal gain.

But that doesn’t mean I am going to adopt the narrative of the pronounced underdog in Gaza. I may be liberal, but I’m not stupid - I can tell when the underdog is an attack dog, I can identify victim and assailant. Just because you’re weaker doesn’t entitle you to hit the other guy.

This comes up in mind because just this morning, a commenter said that it seems I prefer a legless child to a frightened child.

This has the ring of a liberal’s pithy protest applause line, but it doesn’t portray the reality of the Middle East.

First, I don’t want either obscene scenario, and neither does the Israeli government. For years, as I’ve described here and here, Israel has warned that they would not tolerate rocket attacks, has tried to keep border crossings open, has worked through diplomatic channels and offered self-defeating, one-sided truces. Invasion was a last resort, after those frightened children suffered many thousands of rocket attacks.

Second, the difference is that the frightened child has done nothing wrong, while the legless child is on the side of the underdog aggressor.

The frightened child – who cannot read a book, take a bath, or eat a meal without wondering when the next rocket will hit his home – has done nothing wrong. His country gave Gazans land and greenhouses and opportunity.

The legless child, on the other hand, attended a terrorist training camp and was filmed in a Hamas video holding an AK-47 and shouting “Death to Israel.” He believes that as long as Jews control a single square centimeter of land in the Middle East, that is a criminal occupation. And now, he’s being held as a human shield by a man who launches rockets at the frightened child.

If you will force me to choose between the benign frightened child, and the legless child who wishes to grow up to bomb me into oblivion, then I will make the logical choice.

To tell me that Israel cannot respond with force is to say that an abused wife also may not stand up to her husband, that an abused child cannot stand up to his molester. And blaming the victim is also abuse.

Finally, I must wonder: Does the liberal who asked this question to me, ask it of Hamas and their supporters as well?

Are there ways for a rabbi to accept gifts?

[Jack’s Gaza Update 16 is here.]

15 of my last 16 posts, going back to Saturday night December 27th, have been on the Gaza war. The war remains as significant as ever, but I have nothing new to say about it today (although this short piece on Israel and the media is starting something in my head). So, here goes with something else:

One of the truly vexing problems that comes with the rabbinate is this: How do you handle presents?

Yes, I know what you’re thinking: Some big problems you have, rabbi. No wonder you have so much stress. How about you send that problem my way?

But I’m actually serious: Gift-giving is a real problem for rabbis.

People are kind, and they like to display gratitude for the things the rabbi does. Maybe it’s because of a lifecycle event with which he helped, or some counseling he did, or a crisis he helped them weather, or one of any number of things... there are people who like to give the rabbi a gift, whether cash or an item or a service.

And I, for one, have a hard time accepting gifts, for several reasons:

First, I don’t want to have visions of reimbursal in my head when I help someone.
Can you imagine a kid making nice to his great-aunt as part of a plan to gain an inheritance? Yuck.
And lest I say I could accept the gift and remain neutral, I am reminded of the gemara in Sanhedrin (re: judges) warning that one cannot accept a gift and remain neutral.

Second, I don’t want anyone to think that I give special treatment to people who pay more.
I worry that if I were to accept such a gift, even without letting it affect me, people (whether the giver or anyone who heard about it) would assume that I had been affected by the gift.

Third, I don’t want anyone to have to feel like they need to pay me in order to get my assistance.
I am here to help, that’s it. Yes, the community pays me, so there is money involved - but no individual should ever feel like they have a lesser or greater claim on my attention, based on how much they have contributed toward that salary.

Fourth, I don’t want anyone to see me as a charity case.
I work hard, and make a good salary. Granted that some 40% of that salary then goes for tuition, but it’s no different from anyone else’s day-to-day struggle. So why am I getting unsolicited help?

On the other hand, people mean well when they offer these gifts. They aren’t trying to bribe me, or to gain some special advantage; it’s just an expression of gratitude or respect. Therefore, refusal can sometimes be viewed as an insult.
Worse, declining might sometimes be viewed as rejection of the person, instead of the gift.

Which leaves me trying to figure out what to do, every time this comes up. I usually demur, but there have been occasions when I have accepted, rather than insult a person.

So the other day I declined a generous offer someone had extended, and he said to me, “You know, rabbi, there are ways to give gifts, and ways to accept gifts.”

That has the ring of sage advice. But how? What are the ways?

I turn to you:
1) What are good ways to accept gifts?
2) And - please comment anonymously on this - what is your rabbi’s approach to accepting gifts?

An answer for Mick Verran - A Peace Compromise

[Jack's Gaza Update 15 is here!]

In an unpublished comment, “Mick Verran” makes two requests:
1) Not to lie about him (regarding my allegation that he has posted under various names)
2) To offer a legitimate vision for Middle East peace, which could be accepted by both sides and not lead to nuclear war

Regarding the first: I am fairly certain that Mick was also the commenter known as Milosevic, and he has admitted posting under Anonymous. But if Mick insists that he is not Milosevic, then I accept it and retract; it is possible for ISP trackers to be misleading.

Middle East peace, though, is somewhat harder.

Mick’s version of peace, from his comments here and elsewhere (you can Google “Mick Verran” and see for yourself), seems to involve Israel simply giving the surrounding Arab nations everything they want:
A) Egypt wants safety from Islamism;

B) Jordan wants safety from anti-Hashemite Palestinians;

C) The descendants of Palestinian Arabs who left Israel in 1948 want to move back into their grandparents’ towns, en masse;

D) And the Muslim population of the Middle East would like to proclaim Dar Al-Islam in this land that they consider historically Muslim land, and ban Jews from living there.


Since, until that happens, the Arab Muslim population of the Middle East will be unhappy with Israel’s existence, Mick seems to suggest we might as well get it over with and save as many Arab lives as possible with the following Peace Plan:
1) Institute the fabled Right of Return;

2) Do as we did in Gaza and parts of the West Bank – Ban Jews from living there;

3) Do as we did in Gaza and parts of the West Bank – Turn over all sites holy to Jews to Arab control, for them to deface and, ultimately, raze.


I am uncomfortable with this approach, though. I am not looking to get everything that I want, but survival is sort of a bottom-line requirement for me.

Here are the things I would want, in a perfect world:
A) A Jewish Israel that goes from the Mediterranean to the eastern borders of Jordan, this land which was historically Jewish. (Jordan was supposed to be the Palestinian State created alongside Israel, a Jewish concession to the Arab world back in the days of the Mandate.)

B) Arabs would have the right to live as full and equal citizens in Israel if they would renounce killing and acknowledge the right of a Jewish state to exist.

C) Let the Arab nations repatriate all remaining inhabitants of refugee camps, just as Jews found ways to repatriate the 800,000 Jews who were kicked out of Arab lands in the 1940s and 1950s.


But I know I can’t have everything I want. And, both religiously and personally, I can’t stomach this ongoing bloodshed. So here is a Peace Plan compromise I would consider responsible for both parties:
1) Accept that Jordan will be an Arab state east of the Jordan River;

2) Accept that there will be a Palestinian state in most of the West Bank, and trade good, arable land for the large areas of Jewish residence in that area. Make this contingent on complete abolition of anti-Israel groups, the complete cessation of anti-Israel propaganda, and full diplomatic recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. If this agreement is not possible, then we live in a state of war; there really is no tenable in-between;

3) Accept that there will be a separate Palestinian state in Gaza. Make this contingent on complete abolition of anti-Israel groups, the complete cessation of anti-Israel propaganda, and full diplomatic recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. If this agreement is not possible, then we live in a state of war; there really is no tenable in-between;

4) Compensate first-generation descendants of Arabs who chose to leave Israel in 1948, by offering them their choice of money for resettlement or the opportunity to earn citizenship if they will formally recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

5) Keep Jerusalem as it currently is organized: An Israeli city, with Al Aqsa under the control of Muslim authorities. Muslim authorities (the Waqf) must agree to stop destroying Temple remains on the mountain, though, and anti-Israel sermons must be banned from the mosques under Waqf control.


I have serious doubts that we will ever see an Arab state on the western side of the Jordan, or in Gaza, accept Israel's right to exist; the rest of the Arab world won't let them do it.

And I know quite well that many Jews will find this plan to be too much of a concession to accept.

And I know very well that Items 2, 3 and 5 will be too much for many Arabs to accept.

But that’s why it’s called a compromise.

And I think it’s far more honest a compromise than yours, Mick.

Wake up, Jon Stewart, here's a Border Crossing Chronology

[This week's Haveil Havalim is here at Jack's! And here's Jack's Gaza Update #14.]

Jon Stewart made the uninformed assertion the other day that Israel shares blame for the current situation because they force the Gazans to stay in Gaza; he likened it to forcing a crazy person to live in the hallway outside your apartment, and then complaining when he wants to kill you.

Problem is, Israel keeps trying to open the crossings; it’s Hamas that forces them closed.

The Gaza crossings were open following Disengagement, monitored by EU agents to prevent weapons smuggling, starting in November 2005. Since then, Hamas has used them for attacks repeatedly, and forced both the EU and Israel to close them.

Here’s a timetable, followed by the relevant CNN articles as proof:

December 2005 - EU monitors left the crossings because they felt they were endangered by Hamas… and Israel re-opened the crossings anyway.

June 2006 - Hamas commences launches rockets into Israel for the first time since Disengagement. Israel keeps crossings open anyway.

July 2006 - Israel closes the crossings in response to the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit… then re-opens them anyway.

December 2006 - Israel closes the crossings in response to smuggling, and EU monitors close them because they feel they are in danger… and then Israel re-opens them anyway.

June 2007 - Israel closes the crossings in response to the Hamas takeover of Gaza, because the official Hamas charter calls for the destruction of Israel… then Israel re-opens them.

January 2008 - Israel closes border crossings in response to Hamas rocket attacks… then Israel re-opens them.

April 2008 - Israel keeps border crossings open despite Hamas terror attacks at the crossings

November 13, 2008 - Israel finally says, “Enough is enough”... until next time, I'm sure...


Here are the CNN links:

November 14, 2005
RAMALLAH, West Bank (CNN) -- Israeli and Palestinian leaders neared an agreement on Gaza border crossings Monday, officials said, prompting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to extend her visit to the region.

November 25, 2005
(CNN) -- A main crossing from southern Gaza into Egypt, closed in September as Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza, is to open Saturday following a U.S.-brokered deal between Israelis and Palestinians....
While control of the crossing is being transferred to the Palestinians, dozens of monitors from the European Union will remain for at least 12 months and will have the final word in any dispute about who and what is allowed in and out of the territory.
The border will be open only four hours a day at first, but officials say it eventually will operate 24 hours a day.

December 20, 2005
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- A Palestinian police protest Friday prompted the departure of European Union monitors for safety reasons and the temporary closing of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, authorities said.
Meanwhile, gunmen attacked a Gaza police station where their relatives were being held and killed a 14-year-old Palestinian, said Palestinian security officials.
The Rafah crossing disturbance involved 100 policemen, who staged a sit-in within the terminal to protest the shooting death of a policeman Thursday.
According to Palestinian police sources, the officer was killed by the family of a drug dealer caught at the crossing terminal.

December 30, 2005
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt was closed for several hours Friday after a Palestinian police protest forced European Union monitors to leave in fear for their safety, authorities said.
In other signs of the chaos in Gaza, a 14-year-old Palestinian was killed Friday when gunmen attacked a police station where their relatives were being held, Palestinian security officials said.
And, no progress was reported in winning the release of three British hostages, kidnapped by Palestinian gunmen in Rafah earlier in the week. (Posted 11:55 a.m.)

January 3, 2006
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Random kidnappings. Daily exchanges of gunfire between police and armed militants. Different neighborhoods patrolled and controlled by competing militias.
It appears as if Gaza has degenerated into anarchy.
In just the past 10 days in the 146-square-mile territory (about twice the size of Washington, D.C.):
• Three Palestinian government offices were occupied by gunmen.
• Armed militants detonated explosives in a United Nations club.
• Three British nationals were kidnapped at gunpoint.
• An Italian man was abducted.
• Two rival families unloaded weapons at each other in a personal dispute.
• A Palestinian police officer was killed in a shootout between police and militants.
• The Palestinian-controlled border crossing was shut down by police angry at the death of their colleague, prompting European Union monitors to leave.
• Palestinian police took over government offices in their continuing protest.
• Israel launched air strikes on suspected militant targets.
Gaza was not supposed to turn out this way.
Last summer, Israel ended its 38-year military occupation of the area. For the first time in history, Gaza came under Palestinian rule.
No Ottoman Turks, no British mandate, no Egyptian control, no Israeli occupation. And in November, the Palestinian Authority took control over an international border crossing for the first time in history.
But since then, it's the absence of law and order in the territory that's been its most notable feature.

June 12 2006
Five Qassam rockets landed on the Israeli side of the Gaza border Monday morning, causing no injuries or significant damage, the Israel Defense Forces said.
The Monday launches followed a series of at least 70 rockets fired into Israel from Gaza since Friday, wounding four Israeli civilians, the Israeli forces said.
Two rockets landed near the security fence separating Gaza from Israel and three others landed near an Israeli community, the IDF said.
On Saturday, Hamas' military wing, Izzedine al Qassam, said it had resumed rocket strikes against Israel after a hiatus of more than a year.

July 15, 2006
The crossing has been closed since June 25, when three groups of Palestinian militants, including Hamas' military wing, captured an Israeli soldier.
Israel sent forces into Gaza and clamped down on residents' movements after the capture of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, 19, and the killing of two of his colleagues.


December 14, 2006
RAFAH CROSSING (CNN) -- Gunfire broke out and a border crossing was closed after Israel blocked Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya from crossing into Gaza from Egypt on Thursday.
Israeli intelligence believed Haniya was carrying "dozens of millions of dollars" of suspected Iranian money to finance militant activity, a senior Israeli security source told CNN.
Sources in Haniya's Hamas party said after Haniya was initially blocked, he planned to try to cross without bringing in money. But the European Union, which has monitors at the crossing, closed it after Hamas militants fired on terminal guards loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Militants also used explosives to put a hole in the wall at the border crossing.
Later Thursday night, however, Haniya was allowed to cross after an hours-long wait. His supporters fired gunshots in the air.

January 26 2008
Palestinians in Gaza have faced difficulty obtaining supplies since Israel sealed its border with Gaza one week ago in an effort to quell rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel.

June 18, 2007
Karni Crossing, the main Israel-Gaza border crossing, has been closed for six days. According to B'Tselem, Erez crossing was closed on Saturday and Nahal Oz was closed on Sunday.
In addition, the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza has been closed since last weekend.

April 20, 2008
Palestinian militants detonated two car bombs at an Israel-Gaza border crossing in what the Israeli military said was an attack timed to coincide with Passover. The week-long Jewish holiday began at sundown Saturday.
Under dense fog, the attackers approached the Kerem Shalom border crossing early Saturday in two explosives-laden vehicles disguised as Israeli military vehicles, according to the Israeli military. The two car bombs killed the four attackers and seriously wounded an Israeli soldier. Twelve other soldiers suffered moderate or minor injuries, the military said.
According to the Israeli military, an "alert" Israeli force detonated a fourth booby-trapped vehicle before it could detonate Sunday near the security fence surrounding Kibbutz Nirim.
"The terrorists planned to execute a wider attack, possibly kidnapping [Israeli] soldiers," according to the Israel Defense Forces. "This is the fifth attack in 10 days upon a central life-line crossing such as Kerem Shalom and Nahal Oz fuel terminal."
Israel sends nearly 200 humanitarian aid trucks into Gaza every week through the Kerem Shalom border crossing, which separates southern Gaza and Israel. Last week, Israeli troops stopped an infiltration attempt by a group of Palestinian militants at Kerem Shalom, killing one and wounding another, according to Palestinian security sources.
On April 9, Palestinian militants infiltrated Israel through the Nahal Oz border crossing and fired on the fuel terminal there, killing two Israeli civilian workers. In response, Israel halted already reduced fuel shipments to Gaza.

November 13, 2008
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which provides assistance to some 80 percent of Gaza's 1.5 million people, said it was forced to suspend deliveries of fuel and humanitarian relief on Thursday because Israel closed its border crossings with Gaza.
The move comes amid escalating hostilities on the Gaza-Israel border, which is threatening a five-month truce between Israel and Palestinian militant factions in Gaza.

Get it right, Jon. Being funny isn't worth the lie.

Paired with a soldier (Derashah Vayyichi 5769)

[Jack's Gaza Update 13 is here. Important reading.]

Adam ben Gila.

That’s the name of someone I’ve never met, someone about whom I know nothing further.

Well, that’s not quite true:
• I know that he’s an Israeli soldier.
• I know that he’s probably relatively young, although he may be my age if he’s a reservist.
• I know that, as _____________ said in her email last week, he’s probably tired, cold and scared.

And I know that on some level he must believe in the power of תפילה, of prayer, because he signed up to be paired with someone who would daven on his behalf.

That “someone,” his prayer partner, is me.


First, a bit of background.

At the end of the Jews’ period in the desert, before their entry into Israel, they were attacked by the Midianites. In response, at Divine command, the Jews mustered their troops for battle:
• The Torah records that Moshe told the Jews, “Prepare your soldiers - 1000 per tribe, 1000 per tribe, for all of the tribes of Israel.”
• The Torah then says, “From the thousands of Israel, 1000 per tribe were given to Moshe, a total of twelve thousand warriors.”
• And then the Torah adds, “And Moshe sent them, 1000 per tribe, to the army.”
What’s with all of the thousands?

A midrash explains, “שנים עשר אלף חלוצי צבא ושנים עשר אלף שהיו משמרין כליהם ושנים עשר אלף לתפלה - 12,000 warriors, 12,000 to guard their equipment, and 12,000 for prayer.” One davener for each soldier - that’s the ratio.

The Bostoner Rebbe, and Rav Simcha Kook, Chief Rabbi of Rechovot, have adapted this idea for the current war in Gaza, so that, as we advertised this past week, each of us can email or call and be paired with a soldier, to pray on his behalf.

And that’s how I “met,” so to speak, Adam ben Gila. I am responsible to pray and do mitzvos on behalf of this “tired, cold and scared” young man I have never met.


On one level, this idea of performing a mitzvah on someone else’s behalf is the simple concept described in a gemara which says, “One who gives tzedakah for the sake of his son’s health is fully righteous.” It’s about my mitzvah providing merit for someone else. He receives credit as the motivation for my mitzvah. Even if Adam ben Gila is entirely secular and would never have prayed on his own, he is my inspiration. So when I say tehillim, it’s as though he was saying tehillim. When I perform a mitzvah, it’s as though he was performing the mitzvah.

But more powerfully than that, when Adam ben Gila and I agree to this partnership I join with him, so that we are truly a single unit in the eyes of Hashem. Nations, in the eyes of the Torah, share merit and responsibility, so that Gd may reward or punish a nation, collectively. Cities share merit and responsibility, too, and so do families. Now, Adam ben Gila and I have become a sort of mini-tzibbur. If he is hurt, I am hurt. And if I perform a mitzvah, he has performed the mitzvah as well.


I have only known Adam ben Gila for a day or so, as of this writing, but he has already taught me a lot about ערבות, responsibility.

I thought I knew what it meant to say כל ישראל ערבין זה בזה, that all Jews are responsible for each other. After all, I spend most of my time looking after people and trying to help them in various ways. But this has given me a whole new understanding; it feels, oddly, almost like parenting.

I’ll be riding in the car, and suddenly wonder, “I wonder where he is now? I wonder what he’s doing? Maybe I could say a perek of tehillim for him while I wait at the stop light.”

I receive an email with a list of wounded soldiers and read it with trepidation, wondering if his name will be on there. Will I have let him down?

I worry a lot, actually, about letting him down. Since I took his name, the next person to email in will receive someone else’s name. Maybe the next person would have been a better match, would have said more tehillim, would have performed more meaningful mitzvos in his name.

It really is almost like the experience of having a child, and wondering how he is, what she’s doing, and whether I’m being a good parent - but this is for someone I’ve only just met.


Which leads me to wonder what it would be like to feel this way about everyone, about all of us, since all of us are part of a pact of national ערבות.

To a certain extent it would be impossible; to have this intensity of feeling for everyone would be unhealthy. As the gemara says, there are three types of people who cannot enjoy life: רחמנים, רתחנים ואניני הדעת, people who are overly merciful, people who are overly irritable, and people who are hypersensitive to their environment. To constantly think about everyone in this way would be self-destructive.

But imagine if we could have even half of that sensitivity, not just a sensitivity that tries to avoid harming others, but a sensitivity that stops every once in a while and says, “I hope he’s all right,” “I hope I’m doing enough for her.” This would be a wonderful advance in our Judaism and our humanity.


I hope that others here will be inspired to enter a relationship like this, to sign up for a soldier, even if it just means saying one chapter of tehillim or giving one dollar to tzedakah or doing just one mitzvah on his behalf. There is a sheet in the lobby, with the email address and phone number.

It would be a big deal for the soldier, and I hope it would turn out to be a big deal for you as well.


At the close of his life, as we read this morning,Yaakov gathered his children and offered them messages which spoke to the unique character of each one. One was a leader, another needed to work on his temper. One was destined to produce merchant sailors, another would produce scholars, and so on.

This strikes me as a bit odd - why did Yaakov gather all of them together for this moment? Why did Yaakov say, “הקבצו ושמעו, Come together as a group,” to hear such personal messages en masse? Would it not have been more sensitive to convey his thoughts one-on-one?

Perhaps Yaakov did have separate meetings as well; we know that he did it with Yosef. But the group message was important too, to reinforce this message that I have learned from Adam ben Gila: We are all unique. We all have our own character, and our own destiny. But הקבצו ושמעו, Gather together and hear it together, because, in the end, we are all one.

-
Notes:
1. Feel free to pray and perform mitzvot for Adam ben Gila, too. This is not an exclusive relationship.

2. The email address for this project is maortlmo@gmail.com. The phone number is 212-929-1525 ext 100. Tizku l'mitzvot!

3. The war with Midian is in Bamidbar 31. The midrash is Midrash Tanchuma to Matot, #4. The gemara on giving tzedakah for another's health is Rosh HaShanah 4a, and the gemara on overly merciful people not enjoying life is Pesachim 113b, as explained by Rashbam there.

4. There is much more to say on ערבות, of course, and I have said some of it in other speeches, but I wanted this one to be simple and to the point. Besides, it's after 1 PM on a short Friday.

A Gaza Chronology that covers more than the past two weeks

I am so tired of seeing journalists embarrass themselves pretending they know anything about Gaza's history. The problem, I think, is that their Google searches only return recent articles. Digging past the first page of results seems to be hard work.

Here to help them, then: A collection of articles dating back to the 2005 Disengagement, to review what has happened since then.

AUGUST 12 2005 - A Foundation purchases Gaza greenhouses for the Palestinians
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- A private foundation has raised $14 million to buy most of the greenhouses in Jewish settlements in Gaza, a representative of former Israeli Knesset member Yossi Beilin said Friday.
The Economic Cooperation Foundation will transfer the money to the settlers and the greenhouses will be handed over to the Palestinian Authority.
The money was raised by International Quartet special envoy James Wolfensohn, a former World Bank president who also contributed $500,000 of his money.
Beilin is one of the heads of the foundation and was involved in the talks.
The announcement of the deal comes three days before the Israeli government will officially inform 9,000 Israeli Jews in 21 settlements in Gaza and four small settlements in the West Bank that they must leave as part of the government's disengagement plan.


September 13 2005 - Gazans demolish and loot what Israel left them
GAZA CITY (CNN)-
Palestinians rushed into former Jewish settlements in Gaza on Monday after the last Israeli troops withdrew. Most of the housing in Gaza had been flattened by the Israelis, but Palestinians set fire to abandoned synagogues and other public buildings.
Palestinian Authority security forces did not move to stop the crowds even though Abbas said the plan was to turn the former synagogues and other public buildings into community facilities for the Palestinians.


February 12, 2006 - Palestinian representative in the US insists that Hamas will act responsibly
BLITZER: Well, is it realistic to assume that Putin and other Russians might be able to influence Hamas to accept those conditions that the Israelis, the U.S. and others have put forward, that they accept Israel and that they renounce terrorism.

SAFIEH: I believe that Hamas is going to behave with great responsibility, surprising many.


May 1, 2006 - Gaza envoy Wolfensohn resigns, says issues 'above my pay grade'
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- James Wolfensohn, the U.S. special envoy for Gaza disengagement, is stepping down from that position, he and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced Monday.
Wolfensohn, the former head of the World Bank, said that the issues at work in the Mideast have now gone "above my pay grade."
"With the government of Hamas having taken over with the Palestinians, it's a very difficult movement to be able to try and negotiate any independent type of arrangements that would affect the future of Gaza and the West Bank, because of the emphasis that Hamas puts on the destruction of the state of Israel and the less-than-communicative relationship with that state," he said in a joint appearance with Rice.
Rice agreed that the work needed now in the region is beyond that of a special envoy, and she said she was not seeking a replacement for Wolfensohn. (Posted 7:43 p.m.)


May 18 2007 Israel warns of harsh response to Hamas rockets
GAZA CITY (CNN) -- Israel's response to rockets launched from Gaza into its cities has been "measured" so far but could grow harsher if the attacks continue, Israel's ambassador to the United States said Friday.
"The basic contract between a government and its citizens is to provide them with safety," Sallai Meridor told reporters.
Israel launched more airstrikes against Hamas targets in Gaza on Friday, the second day it targeted the militant group in retaliation for dozens of rockets it says have been fired from Gaza into Israel during the last several days...
Israel said Qassam rockets launched from Gaza hit a school and a synagogue in Sderot, near Israel's border with Gaza. Two other rockets hit a home and nearly hit a gas station, the military said. Officials said more than 90 rockets from Gaza have landed in Israel since Tuesday.


March 3 2008 - Israel Withdraws Troops from Gaza after entering to destroy rocket launchers
Israeli infantry started withdrawing from the town of Jebalya after midnight following several days of fighting, the military said, but the government vowed it would continue its offensive against rocket squads…
Despite the lopsided death toll, Hamas sent a message to reporters calling the pullout a retreat by the "cowardly'' Israeli military. But Israel said the withdrawal didn't signal it was scaling back its Gaza operations.
"Our efforts against the rocket launchers and those who operate them will continue unabated until Israeli children will no longer be attacked while sitting in their own classrooms, and until their families can sit in their own homes without fear of a rocket crashing through their roof,'' government spokesman David Baker said.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said a full-scale invasion was still possible, and Israel might try to bring down the regime of the militant Islamic Hamas. "We will use force to change the situation,'' Barak said at a meeting late Sunday of security commanders, according to a statement from his office.


May 10, 2008 - Rocket launches from Gaza into Israel increase
There has been a steady increase in rocket and mortar launchings from Gaza since Hamas took over in June 2007. There have been approximately 2,000 launches from Gaza since the start of 2008, about the same number as were launched in all of 2007.


It's okay, world media, don't bother thanking me. Just read, please.

Letter to the world: What did you think was going to happen?

[Jack's Update 11 is here.]

Dear world,

I understand that you are concerned about the state of things in Gaza. The rising number of dead terrorists, as well as the death of their human shields, and the photographs coming out of Gaza, are making things uncomfortable for you. It’s hard to ignore all of that devastation, so you are calling for an immediate, this-instant, don’t-make-me-come-up-there-young-man! ceasefire.

But I don’t understand; what did you think was going to happen?

What did you think was going to happen when you pressed Israel to pull every last Jew out of Gaza, and then you watched the population destroy the municipal infrastructure left to them, setting up rocket launchers instead of tending the greenhouses?

What did you think was going to happen when the population of Gaza elected a government which pledged to destroy Israel?

What did you think was going to happen when Hamas and Islamic Jihad sent rocket after rocket into Israeli towns for the past three years?

What did you think was going to happen when Hamas dug tunnels into Egypt, to import Chinese and Iranian missiles?

What did you think was going to happen when you permitted Hamas to hold Israeli Gilad Shalit for years, without so much as a peep about even letting the Red Cross in to see him?

What did you think was going to happen when Israel warned Hamas, repeatedly, that they would invade if need be?

What did you think was going to happen when Hamas terrorists blew themselves up in Israel?

What did you think was going to happen when Hamas violated their ceasefire?

What did you think was going to happen when Hamas used UN equipment to kill Israelis?

What did you think was going to happen as Israeli troops amassed at the border, watching rockets fly into their towns and land in fields and homes and kindergartens?

I ask you these questions because all along, you did nothing.
You failed to condemn the rocketers.
You failed to insist that Hamas live up to its agreements.
You failed to insist that Hamas release, or even treat humanely, Gilad Schalit.
You failed to insist that Hamas acknowledge Israel’s right to exist.
You failed to exert any pressure or express any outrage when Hamas poisoned its children with anti-Israel propaganda.
You failed to protest when Hamas launched mortars from UN schools.

Now, you wake up and protest. Now, you insist that all violence must stop.

Why? Because the dead people are named Mahmoud instead of Moshe? Jewish blood wasn’t enough to make you stir from your living room chairs?

Perhaps, to you, Jewish blood is cheap. Perhaps, to you, a few rockets a day, Jewish children growing up in bomb shelters, just isn’t enough to make you risk your relationships with Arab oil and its associated petro-dollars.

But you should have thought it through.
You should have planned ahead.
You should have realized that the other shoe was going to drop, and you should have put a stop to things back then.
We could have avoided all of this, if you would have protested three years ago, or two years ago, or last month.

I don’t know what you were thinking then, but I sure hope you’re going to start thinking now.

Sincerely yours,
A Jew

Letter to Gazans: How do you stomach killing children every day?

Dear Citizens of Gaza,

Damn. And a lot stronger words, too.

The headlines are out - Israeli shell crashes into UN school. The school was being used as a shelter, according to you. You claim 30 are dead in the attack.

There are all sorts of mitigating possiblities, of course:

1) The story may turn out to be as false as the rest of the Hamas propaganda, like that video of a supposed Israeli attack on a Gaza market - that turned out to be a video of Hamas rockets exploding at a parade of their own.

2) I am always mindful, too, of the way Hamas makes up these stories, sometimes embellishing and sometimes creating them outright. You know, photos with the same victim dressed up different ways, and counting the people they have killed on their own (as “collaborators”) as though they were casualties of Israel’s self-defense.

3) And then it’s possible this was just a misfire, like the Israeli tank that misfired and killed three IDF soldiers yesterday.

4) And, of course, I know very well that Hamas loves to use UN equipment to murder Israelis, and that Hamas uses hospitals, mosques and schools for their weapons. We even have this video from 2007 of them firing rockets from a UN school. Certainly, initial Israeli reports that rockets had been fired at Israel from that school have strong credibility, with that history.

Update: AP now confirms that Hamas was firing from the school. "The Israeli army said its soldiers came under fire from militants hiding in the school and responded. It accused Gaza's Hamas rulers of "cynically" using civilians as human shields. Residents confirmed the account, saying militants were seen staging attacks from the area." Still terrible - but now much more understandable. (h/t Jameel)

But until I know the whole story, I’m going to be unable to rest or focus or concentrate, or even breathe. The idea of killing people - and, potentially, children - is a horror. It’s one thing to fight back against a terrorist, but killing children is just horrible.

Which makes me wonder: Hamas does this every day, firing rockets into civilian populations, blowing themselves up in cafes, on street corners, you name it. You, Gazans, support this kind of activity.

How do you guys do it? How do you go to sleep at night, knowing that you have massacred children during the day? How do you look at your own children, kiss your sons and daughters Good Night, while your minds still harbor images of a day’s work murdering Israeli kids?

We’re on the ground in Gaza because we don’t have a choice, because we gave and then pleaded and then warned, all to no avail. But you - you guys have a choice. You could accept us as neighbors, and leave us alone.

And you choose to murder children?!

Letter to Gaza: Did I misunderstand you?

[Jack's latest (#9.5) is here.]
[New: Jack now has Update #10 available here.]

Dear Citizens of Gaza,

This is harsher than my usual fare, and I apologize, but after so many days of reading such absurd anti-Israel hypocrisy, I'm about fed up.

1) First you tried to kill us by sending suicide bombers. You recruited teenagers and mothers, even developmentally disabled people, and sent them to kill themselves in an attempt to blow up my family.

I thought I understood what you were saying - that your lives are cheap, and you would gladly give them up in order to fight Israel.


2) Then we decided that rather than fight with you, we would leave Gaza altogether. You could have it. Acres and dunams of land, buildings, greenhouses, roads, infrastructure, whatever you like. We evicted thousands of Jews from their homes, and turned those homes over to you. But rather than capitalize on your new wealth, you destroyed it. Something about making a point, I think, but it was hard to hear what you were saying over the sounds of your celebratory gunfire.

I thought I understood what you were saying - that your lives are cheap, your chance at wealth and a free life to be given away in war with us.


3) Then you elected a Hamas government that declared outright that it would never accept a State of Israel on a single square centimeter of land in "Palestine." You would rather fight to the death.

I thought I understood you: You wanted to fight to the death, and that's why you elected these guys.


4) Then you kidnapped Gilad Shalit, and told us that if we wanted him back, we would have to turn over 500 terrorists. Or maybe it was 400. Or maybe it was 1000. I forget; the numbers kept changing.

I thought I understood the basic offer, though: 500 Gazan lives for 1 Israeli life.


5) Then you invited Israel to come invade. You said you would gladly give your lives in battle.

I thought that was pretty clear, too. You said you were willing to die. There may have been something in there about virgins, or raisins, or something; my Arabic isn't as good as it used to be.


So let's review:
1) You send suicide bombers to kill yourselves fighting us.
2) You destroy the wealth we give you, in order to make a statement about us.
3) You elect a government that pledges eternal war against us.
4) You say that one Israeli life is worth five hundred Gazan lives.
5) You invite us to invade.

That made me think you would be thrilled to see us come over there. So why all the crying and tears?

What did you think was going to happen when you said and did all of those things?

I think perhaps we should accept your bargain. 500 terrorists for every Israeli life. So we should count up every Israeli killed at the hands of Hamas so far, and then take 500 of yours for each one. You drive a hard bargain, but you've got yourself a deal.

Sincerely yours.

Pontificating on Gaza, Michael Lerner still married to Oslo

[Jack's Update #9 is here.]

As the war in Gaza continues, England's TimesOnline has a column here by Rabbi Michael Lerner, insisting on the Lerner peace plan - everyone recognize everyone else, open all borders, release all terrorists, and promise not to shoot at each other. The UN will monitor the deal. Then everyone will be fine.

This is sheer foolishness, of course; Hamas didn't start this in order to permit Israel to live in peace. They have already established that they will attack every time they get the chance, with or without pretext. The prisoners are not in jail for jaywalking, folks. And the UN is not an honest broker.

But this is old news. Like the entire Peace Now movement, Michael Lerner is too committed to Oslo - his major lifetime achievement - to move on. Here is relevant material from a column I ran in the Allentown Morning Call on another occasion when Lerner made his peace proposal, back in 2002:

Rabbi Michael Lerner finds himself in an awkward position. Once a feted advisor to Hillary Clinton, who paid tribute to his “Politics of Meaning” movement in a 1993 speech on healthcare, he now finds himself a man without a movement. The result is a man who embraces Oslo instead of turning toward the future.

A staunch proponent of the 1993 Oslo Accords – indeed, an honored attendee of the White House signing – he is now alone in embracing those poisonous documents. The Palestinians rejected the Oslo Accords just days later, when Chairman Arafat entered Rafah Terminal in Gaza smuggling in Mamduh Nofal, head of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Kalashnikov rifles. The Israelis took eight years to reject the Accords, re-entering the territories in response to months of terrorism. The Americans left the table in June of 2002, when President Bush denounced Chairman Arafat before the world. That leaves a lonely Michael Lerner holding the Oslo pen.

Lerner was also a key advisor to President Clinton, whose team offered Chairman Arafat the world in 2000, only to be rebuffed. When Clinton offered 97% of the land, the Palestinians protested that there was no attached map to guarantee contiguousness, even as they demanded an East-West corridor which would split Israel in half to connect Gaza and the West Bank. Chairman Arafat walked away, President Clinton walked away, negotiator Dennis Ross walked away – and, again, Michael Lerner was left holding the pen. Michael Lerner refuses to admit the errors of Oslo; instead, he is using that pen to resuscitate Oslo.

On July 11, 2002, The Allentown Morning Call published Rabbi Lerner’s naive prescription of “Tough Love” for the Israelis. He excoriated the Israelis for defending themselves against terrorism, and he recommended three Oslo-like steps toward peace:
(1) A United Nations force to protect the Israelis and Palestinians from each other,
(2) A pact of mutual defense to guarantee US defense of Israelis and Palestinians, and
(3) An international conference to impose a solution.
Like the Oslo Accords, which collapsed due to lack of trust and irresponsible international support for the Palestinian Authority, so Rabbi Lerner’s approach will fail. Let’s look at each element of his plan:

1) Establishment of a UN force – This could never be tolerated by any Israeli government. How could they forget that Egypt’s Gamel Abdel Nasser evicted the “protective” UN troops in 1967, as a preface to his closing of the Straits of Tiran and, ultimately, the 1967 war?
In 2000, UN “peacekeepers” along the Lebanon border videotaped Hezbollah terrorists as they kidnapped Israelis and made their getaway; the UN even refused to turn over the videotape to the Israeli government. The UN cannot be trusted to protect Israel’s interests.

2) A mutual defense pact with the US – A lack of trust undermines this. Palestinians regularly use mortars to attack Israeli cities and farms, Hizbollah fires Katyusha rockets from Lebanon, and the Syrians and Iraqis arm missiles with chemical warheads. What will a mutual defense pact accomplish once Israel has been decimated in an initial assault from all sides? Further, will the United States send warplanes halfway around the world every time a terrorist shoots into a school, blows up a bus, or performs one of the innumerable other acts which have now become commonplace?

3) International conference – Michael Lerner’s approach smacks of racist Rudyard Kipling paternalism. Does he think the Palestinians and Israelis are desert children, ignorant natives who need to be led by his esteemed leadership? There are real issues involved between the parties, real grievances and real claims, and the suggestion that everyone simply follow an imposed view is arrogant beyond belief.

There is an ancient Talmudic adage: “Do not bow to your own words.” Rabbi Lerner should finally understand that it is all right for him to let go of the Oslo pen. The history of the past fifteen years has shown that those agreements were misguided. Israel ended its presence in the West Bank and Gaza years ago, came back in order to defend themselves, and then expressed a sincere desire to work with Palestinian leadership; let the violence end, and then let diplomacy begin anew.

Here are some relevant links:
Michael Lerner and Hillary Clinton in 1993

Michael Lerner at Oslo

Yasser Arafat smuggling in a terrorist and weapons after Oslo

The Palestinian charge of contiguity at Camp David

UN peacekeepers' withdrawal from the Sinai in 1967

United Nations peacekeepers videotape kidnapping of Israeli soldiers

Four lies about Israel and Gaza

[Click here for Jack's latest Gaza update (#8). Click here for this week's Haveil Havalim, which includes many posts on Gaza.]

I've noticed four lies repeated persistently by anti-Israelis on-line; here are the lies and their refutations.


1. The lie: "Israel is using white phosphorus against civilians in Gaza."
According to the Geneva Convention, white phosphorus may not be used against civilians. SOTT, among other anti-Israel sites, shows a photo which it claims is an example of White Phosporus use against civilians in Gaza; see it here. They provide no evidence, only the allegation, coupled with statements about Israel shelling Gaza in general.

In truth, though, the photo comes from this Guardian article (I won't waste time wondering whether they paid a fee to the Guardian or AP for the picture)... and the article makes no mention of white phosphorus, or civilians for that matter, in relation to that picture.

Update: I have now seen the AP's original picture, and compared it to other photos of white phosphorus shells. It is possible that this is white phosphorus - however, the photo shows clearly that this is not a civilian area. Per the photo, and per the AP blurb as well, it's an open area near the Israel/Gaza border.

Here is the AP blurb: "A shell fired by the Israeli military explodes in the northern Gaza Strip as seen from the Israeli side of the border with Gaza, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2009. Israeli warplanes, gunboats and artillery units blasted more than 40 dozen Hamas targets Saturday, including weapons storage facilities, training centers and leaders' homes as Israel's offensive against Gaza's Islamic militant rulers entered a second week. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)"


2. The lie: "Israel is bombing Gaza indiscriminately."
This lie appears here, among other places:
Michael Hudson, professor of international relations at Georgetown University said that by backing Israel's position the US was opening itself up to attack. "If you're identified with an Israel that is bombing indiscriminately and disproportionately, this is really good for Osama Bin laden, it's good for extremists all across the region and I fear that Americans as well as Israelis will now suffer," he told Al Jazeera.

The truth, though, is fairly clear: Considering the fact that Israel has flown hundreds of sorties over a population of 1.5 million people, I think it's fairly clear that "bombing indiscriminately" would have resulted in thousands of casualties, and not the few hundred Hamasniks who have been killed.


3. The lie: "Israel is using depleted uranium shells in Gaza."
This is an old Arab canard; they've used it against Israel in every war they've ever had. This time it's put forth by Dr. Mads Gilbert, a visiting physician and, apparently, now a weapons expert.

Check out this site, though, to see what the UN concluded when they investigated the same claim in Lebanon. No use whatsoever.


4. The lie: "Israel is blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza."
We've seen this one claimed all over the Net, including this clever use of Yahoo Answers for propaganda purposes.

Too bad for them that sites like this show Israel bringing in the aid, huh?

Unless, of course, you think Israel was blocking aid by refusing to allow Cynthia McKinney's ship to land in Gaza. But if you actually believe they were bringing aid rather than political theater, then I must acknowledge that there will be no convincing you of anything related to reality.

Update: And here's a possible fifth lie. CNN reports here that the Palestinian death toll is up to 485 - but does it include the 35 "collaborators" killed by Hamas the other day on suspicion that they would aid Israeli forces?

Another casualty of Bernard Madoff: The definition of “Jew”

[Jack's Gaza Update 7.5 is here.]

This is a dated topic, but the column I submitted to the Allentown Morning Call on the topic just ran today. Below is the text:

As a child, I didn’t know that the word “jew” could be used as a verb, that millions of people the world over believed that my family and I were, by dint of our ancestry, avaricious, unethical scoundrels. Instead, I was always taught that Judaism was a religion of ethics and honesty.

In school and synagogue and home, rabbis and parents inculcated in my peers and in me the biblical lesson (Deuteronomy 16:20), “Justice, justice shall you pursue.” The Talmud (Shabbat 31a) warned us that the first question a Jew will be asked in the afterworld is, “Did you engage in commerce honestly.” Jewish law (Tosefta, Chullin 2:24) demanded of us, “Distance yourself from ugly behavior, and from anything that might resemble ugly behavior.” Ethical behavior was inseparable from the laws of kosher, Shabbat and family purity.

As I entered adolescence, though, I saw people throw pennies at Jews to insult their supposed greed. I studied the Merchant of Venice and heard the Christian tale of the betrayal of Jesus, read the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and saw copies of vicious Nazi and Muslim propaganda cartoons. I was accosted by a group of teens in a Long Island Rail Road car; they informed me that “Jews buy Sprite because it’s cheap.” Even some Jews displayed this malignant view of their own ethnicity and religion; seven years ago, then-Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Ed Rendell, a Jew, quoted his father’s observation that “the guys who spend the longest time in synagogues on Saturdays are the biggest crooks Monday through Friday.” And so I learned that, indeed, much of the world didn’t translate “Jew” as I did.

Many Jews fight this malicious rendering of “Jew” by promoting the Torah’s ethical instructions. From The Business Ethics Center of Jerusalem to the Center for Ethics at Yeshiva University in New York to Bais haVaad l’Inyonei Mishpat in Lakewood, New Jersey, to many similar efforts, Jews devote significant time, effort and, yes, money, to sustaining righteous behavior among Jews. Particular Jewish individuals stand out for their achievements in this area as well; from philanthropists to political leaders to jurists to unheralded businessmen, there are many positive ethical role models within in the Jewish community.

But despite these efforts, every new Jew-related scandal reinforces the negative stereotype and negates the positive work of all of those institutions and individuals. Whether a Michael Milken or an Ivan Boesky, a Sholom Rubashkin or a Bernard Madoff, it seems that, every year, one or two Jews gain notoriety for their criminality and thereby reinforce in the mind of many the old message that the Jew is unethical, the Jew is self-serving, the Jew is greedy. Never mind that the behavior of one man or even a handful of people cannot possibly be brought as proof of the character of millions. Never mind that Madoff has single-handedly destroyed many, many charities which served Jewish causes. The image that remains in the eyes of the world is that this Jew bilked people out of billions of dollars.

This wound is, to me, Bernard Madoff’s deepest crime and most lasting legacy. I fear that years after the people who lost their money are gone, generations after the charitable foundations and the people they served are gone, this scandalous rendering of “Jew” will remain in the popular lexicon - and Bernard Madoff will be cited as proof.

By nature and training, I try to look for some positive result even in the midst of devastation. It’s hard to find any upbeat note in this cacophany of destruction.. but, perhaps, there will be one, small, positive result: I and others will feel all the more compelled to preach to our communities, and to teach to our children, that most basic of Jewish lessons (Leviticus 20:7): “You shall sanctify yourselves, and you shall be sanctified, for I am the Lord your God.”

You can see the column itself here; the anti-Jewish comments on it are remarkable, and underscore the damage done by Madoff.

Israel is acquired through suffering (Derashah Vayyigash 5769)

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai predicted it, during the Roman era of two thousand years ago. He said, “שלש מתנות טובות נתן הקב"ה לישראל, וכולן לא נתנן אלא על ידי יסורין. אלו הן: תורה וארץ ישראל ועולם הבא.” “HaShem gave the Jewish people three gifts - Torah, Israel and Olam HaBa - but none of them may be acquired without יסורין, without suffering.”

And what a long parade of suffering it has been. Three generations of slavery in Egypt. Forty years of desert wandering. Even two thousand years of exile were not sufficient, apparently. 1929. 1948. 1967. 1973. 1981. 1990. 2000. 2006. And now 2008. This week, once again, we have seen that suffering that comes hand-in-hand with living in our land. Rockets strike kindergartens and high schools, young men and women stand ready to march into the deathtrap that is Aza…

And these are only the highlights, the points when the powderkeg ignited, as opposed to the years in between of hijackings and suicide bombings.

Yes, these יסורין continue.


But what is the value of these יסורין, why does the Torah guarantee that the Jew, through the ages, will be forced to experience trauma before he may receive his territorial heritage? Our sages have offered three classic explanations:


The Maharal of Prague, writing almost five centuries ago, offered what many consider the obvious explanation: The Jew must endure pain in order to purify himself from his sins, such that he will deserve to tread upon this sacred earth.

A midrash seems to say as much, comparing the יסורין inflicted upon the Jew who would live in Israel with the יסורין a parent inflicts upon a child in order to refine his behavior.


Rabbeinu Yosef Chaim of Baghdad, in the 19th century, suggested a second understanding: Self-sacrifice is a test of our loyalty and commitment to the land of Israel.

Just as one who wishes to convert to Judaism must demonstrate sincere, enduring commitment to Gd, to Torah and to the Jewish people, so the Jew who wishes to acquire his share in Israel must demonstrate that his four cubits in this land mean more to him than four cubits in any other land on earth. Avraham was once summoned to sacrifice that which was most dear to him, and his descendants have been held to that same standard.


And there is a third layer: Rav Shmuel Eidels, also known as Maharsha, explained back in the 17th century that our historic privation is a lesson in the very purpose of Israel.

Lest we think that we have been given Israel for its beautiful beaches, for its wine country, for the hills of Yehudah or the mountains of the Galil or the shores of the Kinneret, these יסורין teach us that Israel is not to be the Cancun of the Middle East, some spa for physical pleasure. Rather, it is a center for spiritual growth.


I must admit that this feels cold, this philosophy of assigning national meaning to the individual pain of a bombing victim, an ambushed soldier, a parent whose child is missing in action. We are not normally a religion that reads the mind of Gd, identifying motives for the suffering of individuals.

But the Maharal, Rabbeinu Yosef Chaim, the Maharsha and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, giants of Judaism, did develop this philosophy. They believed that this is the way we are to understand the suffering we have endured in the name of this land: That it purifies us, that it pushes us to demonstrate our sincere commitment to the land, that it ensures we will properly appreciate Israel as a place of spiritual growth.

Therefore: A Jew who wishes to embrace the land of Israel must be prepared to confront pain, and overcome it. And without it, he cannot claim ownership of the land.


Witness the covenant extracted from the tribes of Gad and Reuven, when they wished to monopolize the portion of Israel on the eastern side of the Jordan River. Gd required that they cross the Jordan and aid their brethren in settling Israel itself, before they could return to the land to the east.

Why did Gd require this of Gad and Reuven? The conquest of Israel was engineered miraculously, so what difference would it make whether the tribes of Reuven and Gad fought, or sat it out?

It wasn’t for the sake of military success - it was for the sake of Gad and Reuven themselves. It was about their Yisurin, the suffering that would earn them a portion in this land. If the tribes of Reuven and Gad would endure the difficulties, then they could have a stake in Israel - whether the land east of the Jordan or the land to the west. But if they would not endure the difficulty of acquiring Israel, then they would own no true stake in that land.


Which leaves us, outside of Israel, in trouble.
• We lack the purification that comes with suffering.
• We have not passed the test of sincerity that comes with enduring great difficulties.
• We have yet to learn the lesson of Israel’s spiritual nature that comes with material privation.

In short - like Reuven and Gad if they remain on the eastern side of the Jordan - we have not undergone the yisurin. So how do we gain a share in Israel?

In truth, the answer is that we don’t gain a share. There is no substitute for those Yisurin; we are not earning what the Jews in Israel are earning, no matter how close we feel to our family there, no matter how loudly we yell at the television commentators, no matter how compulsively we refresh the Jerusalem Post homepage on our computer.

Nonetheless, there are things we can do, actions with which we can contribute positively to the war effort, ways we can help אחינו בני ישראל deal with their יסורין, and so, in some small way, claim to have dealt with these יסורין ourselves.

First, we can daven on behalf of the IDF, and the situation in general.

Second, we can engage in hasbara, explaining the Israeli position.
o This is not a minor endeavor; American public opinion matters to our politicians, and therefore it influences American government policy toward Israel. How much pressure or how little pressure the US administration exerts upon Israel depends largely on their perception of the thinking of the average American citizen.
o For those who are Internet-savvy, there are many venues for this sort of debate. Whether on blogs or Twitter or Reddit or Digg or CNN’s comment pages or a million other places, the battle is on for public opinion, and the results matter.
o This can happen in person, in discussions at work or the grocery store or anywhere we hear Israel being discussed. And anyone can do it - even people who are not 100% behind Israeli policies, people who think the avenues of diplomacy with Hamas were not exhausted, can recognize and defend Israel’s basic right to defend itself.
o When we hear people say, “Israel’s response is disproportionate,” we can respond, “What do you consider a proportionate response to people who rocket kindergartens?”
o When we hear people say, “There is a humanitarian disaster in Gaza,” we can respond, “These people elected Hamas on a platform of rocketing Israel, and they publicly supported firing those rockets right up until Israeli air raids began last week.”
o If you aren’t familiar with the issues, we have copies of Mitchell Bard’s classic “Myths and Facts” book in the library, and sheets in the lobby listing websites where you can get more information.

And third, we are able to support the soldiers and the ambulance corps.
o There are websites, Pizzaidf.org and Burgeridf.org, which bring care packages of food to soldiers at the front lines, including at the Gaza border.
o National Council of Young Israel has an on-going “Support the IDF Troops Campaign,” and they take donations on-line. https://www.youngisrael.org/securecontent/donate.cfm
o United Hatzalah of Israel is taking contributions for emergency medical equipment on-line, as well. http://www.unitedhatzalah.org/


One additional point: There is another reason for us to become involved in hasbara and for us to donate to support the IDF, besides sharing in their yisurin.

In his classic essay, Kol Dodi Dofek, Rav Soloveitchik wrote regarding Israel’s War of Independence, “For the first time in the history of our exile, divine providence has surprised our enemies with the sensational discovery that Jewish blood is not free for the taking, is not hefker [ownerless]!”

Rav Soloveitchik’s words ring powerfully in our own day, not only as a rebuke to our enemies but also as a rebuke to ourselves. Do we truly believe that Jewish blood is not free for the taking? Do we truly believe that Jewish blood is not hefker? If so, then we bear the responsibility of standing together with our brethren and shouldering whatever portion of their burden extends to our position in exile.

Whether by davening or by arguing for Israel or by sending contributions, we will illuminate our world with this news: כל ישראל ערבין זה בזה, All Jews are responsible for each other, all Jews stand together. Like Yehudah standing up for Binyamin in this morning’s parshah, we will ensure that the blood of our family will not be free for the taking. And when we demonstrate this for ourselves, when we make the sensational discovery that Jewish blood is not hefker, for ourselves, then the rest of the world will be forced to realize it as well.

-
Notes:
1. R' Shimon bar Yochai is Berachos 5a. The Midrash I cite (linking yisurin to parental discipline) is in Shmos Rabbah 1:1. The Maharal is in Netivot Olam (II) - Netiv haYisurin Chapter 2. Rabbeinu Yosef Chaim, aka Ben Ish Chai, is in the Ben Yehoyada to Berachot 5a. The Maharsha is in Chiddushei Aggadot to Berachot 5a.

2. I know Bnei Gad/Reuven receive a share in Israel even if they don't fight, but the idea is that then this share would not truly be their own. For a similar idea, see R' Ben Zion Firer in Midei Shabbat b'Shabbato. As far as my comment about monopolizing the eastern side of the Yarden, see Kiddushin 61a-b.

3. As I note in the derashah itself, I really am very uncomfortable with this direct identification of personal suffering with national fate. But, as I said there, it is an undeniable component of our tradition.

4. Yes, this is another derashah expressing my not-so-latent guilt about living outside of Israel.