Being A "Real Israeli"

One of my pet peeves, those things people say which press the "wrong button" is when I hear "olim," immigrants, and "Israelis" referred to as two different categories of people here in Israel.  I first heard it about thirty years ago from an Abie Nathan groupie when some friends and I were demonstrating against his hunger strike.

The groupie began calling out to passersby:

"Don't listen to them; they're not real Israelis."

I was outraged and marched into Nathan's tent to ask him if he thinks Israelis with accents (obvious immigrants like myself) aren't real Israelis.  He seemed genuinely upset by what the young groupie had done.  Making aliyah, choosing to live one's life in Israel should be considered on a higher level than those who were just born here, like an accident of fate.

Here I am decades later still with accented Hebrew.  We'll soon be celebrating forty years in Israel, though I may not sound very Israeli. 

Many people say that there's an "express lane" to being an Israeli.  It's not a pleasant road.  This week we'll be celebrating Israeli Independence Day which is preceded by Soldiers and Terror Victims Memorial Day.  Losing a family member or close friend in war, army action or terror attack introduces us to a different level of the Israel experience.

Avigdor Lieberman on TIME'S: The 100 Most Influential People in the World

Yes, Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is on TIME Magazine's The Most Influential People in the World list, not two-time Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu nor Tsippi Livni nor the Ehuds, Olmert and Barak.

No surprise. Bibi's stuck in that empty bagel hole trying to find the elusive "please everyone" shelter. Leaders don't hide in shelters.

A leader exudes confidence not bagel-twisted compromise.

Please, don't get me wrong. I honestly don't trust Lieberman, and I'm not one of his fans. I admire his charisma and choice of words which suit what your typical Israeli is looking for.

He's a different sort of politician than Ruby Rivlin who touched all bases in his Yom Zikaron, Soldiers and Terror Victims Memorial Day torch-lighting speech. (If there's any problem with the video, just click the previous highlighted text.)

Sorry, but it's in Hebrew. Click here for the English translation on the IMRA site. Every time I hear it, all I can think of is how he would have made a better Israeli President than Shimon Peres.

Back to Lieberman: There's an irony in the words used in TIME:

The new Israeli and American administrations may be on a collision course. And the co-navigator of the Israeli ship of state is Avigdor Lieberman, the Foreign Minister, who heads the right-wing Yisrael Beitenu (Israel Is Our Home) party, the main partner of Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud in the new coalition government.

"Co-Navigator" The term means joint leader. But Bibi Netanyahu isn't on the list of the One Hundred Most Influential People in The World.

Sorry, Bibi, from the "center" one follows. You're not a leader until you take a real stand.

The Empty Chair, Israel's Soldiers And Terror Victims Memorial Day

I left a bit late to get to the ceremony at the cemetery this morning. The siren began, and I stood still. I looked around. Everyone stopped whatever they had been doing. People stepped out of their cars. Tractor drivers got down from their tractors, as you can see in the picture.

The cemetery was full of people sitting and standing during the memorial ceremony. The graves in this picture are mostly of old people who died from "natural causes."

I never like photographing my neighbors during such events. I try to be discreet.

We've adopted the custom of reading T'hillim, Psalms, of the letters of the soldiers and terror victims' names at each grave. I stood with the parents of someone buried in a different cemetery. We found ourselves standing around an empty chair.

It spooked me. An empty chair, such a simple and direct symbol of their dead son.

Hashem Yinkom Damom

In Just An Instant...

In just an instant life can change, from joyous laughter to tragedy and death.

Here in Israel, we take it in the opposite direction. We begin our Independence celebrations remembering those people who lost their lives fighting for our freedom and security and for those murdered by terrorists.

I just returned from our Shiloh Memorial Event.

Besides a few traditional prayers and T'hillim, Psalms, we heard the stories behind the establishment of a few communities named after people who had been killed. Then there was a movie about neighbors, all young, who had been murdered. Their families spoke about them.

It was held in the "Payis Building," our sports center, where many large events take place. It was good that we were kept in the dark, more private, at such an emotional program.

Tomorrow there will be a ceremony at the Shiloh Cemetery, and then we end the day of mourning together.

And then, the celebrations will begin.

In just an instant, we will go from mourning to celebration!

Sixty One Years

Since Israel Declared Its

Independence!

Peace, That's The Problem

This post has been "festering" in my mind for awhile, but it only came to a head at the recent Yom Zikaron-- Soldiers and Terror Victims Memorial Day. One of the songs used as "background" mentioned "peace."

Forever, it seems, Israel has been striving for peace, willing to do everything for peace. That's the problem.

We should be doing everything plus, not for peace, for VICTORY, victory against our enemies. Only when we defeat our enemies will we know peace, true peace.

All of those praising peace as an ideal, whether Peace Now or the late Menachem Begin have been dangerously wrong and misguided. We are suffering from peace-caused terror.

By not concentrating our energies in defeating those who want to destroy us, we are facilitating their strengthening. Just look at what has been going on, even before the State of Israel was established. All that talk about living with our Arab neighbors in peace, as if we're sharing some fancy apartment house.

The Arabs understand the situation very well, unlike the Jews. For us to have real peace we must understand our enemies and we have to be victorious. Life is no yin/yang coexistence. In real life all people aren't equal; that's anarchy.

Consensus is mediocrity at best. Some people are meant to lead. It's not that they're aggressive; they are more efficient. Think of all the jokes about committees.

Everyone is different; that's how G-d makes us. We all have different talents and roles. Our opportunities should suit that pragmatic reality.

To think that some sort of peaceful compromise can be made with terrorists is totally and dangerously and suicidally unrealistic!

I remember being asked by immigrants of the former USSR why Israel doesn't celebrate Victory Day, what they called the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. They got it right in that sense.

We have to stop being embarrassed about our victories.

• If only we had proudly celebrated our 1967 victory over Egypt, Jordan and Syria...
• If only we had immediately settled our liberated HolyLand with total enthusiasm...
• If only we had built the Third Temple on Har HaBayit (the Temple Mount) immediately after our victory, instead of giving our very holiest spot to our enemy...

I have no doubt, no doubt at all, that the Moshiach (Messiah) was here with us, ready to take us to true peace. But we sinned. I must say "we," because we're all responsible. Jewish prayers are in the plural, "our G-d," never "my G-d."

To get back to such a lofty level will be difficult. We must be proud of our military might, not embarrassed by it.

In 1967 we defeated our enemies in six days, six days like the six days of creation. The True Shabbat was about to begin. Shabbat is considered by chazal, our sages, as a taste of Redemption. But the key was given to our enemies and we will have to fight again until we understand that victory is our goal. G-d willing.

Shabbat Shalom U'Mevorach

May you have a Peaceful and Blessed Sabbath.

Remembering in New Jersey

As a long-time Israeli, and also someone who didn't go to Jewish schools, I have no idea how Israel is perceived in other places. Yes, I read the papers, blog and do have some contact with others, but it's nice the same.

I was glad to be sent Yom HaZikaron in Edison, NJ, a post on one of my favorite blogs about the school ceremony in memory of Israel's dead soldiers and victims of Arab terrorism. Yes, I stand corrected. Our dead soldiers are also victims of Arab terror.

I'd like to see other posts about how Jewish schools all over the world commemorate those Israelis, and others, murdered by terrorists. Please send the links in the comments. Thanks

We Remember

In some ways it seems like Memorial Day is superfluous. Even those of us lucky enough not to be "in the club" have trouble going a day without remembering at least one of those killed in army action or murdered by Arab terrorists. I thought I was the only one constantly reminded, but my neighbor, Rabbi Dov Berkovits, said something similar at the cemetery this morning.

It would be nice to have a day in which our minds were erased of pain and tragedy. Actually, that's what the Left would want. That's what Peres probably means when he says that we shouldn't be burdened or restricted by history.

Pain is a warning. It says:

Watch out!

Don't!

This could damage something.

When we use pain killers, local anesthetics, it's like stuffing our ears from warnings. We can do serious damage to our bodies.

We have a Memorial Day to remind us that we have enemies who want us destroyed, and they don't care how many of our neighbors, children, siblings, spouses etc they kill. They want us all dead.

We must remember never to give into our fears and never forget that we must survive and strive for a great strong secure country.

We must remember that we don't need anybody's approval.

All we need is G-d, and G-d wants us here. And G-d wants us to fight for our Land and country. That's why we have Memorial Day.

And as the sun sets on Memorial Day we thank G-d, say Hallel and celebrate Yom Ha'Atzmaut, Israel's Independence Day.

Who's Brave?

This is the day of the year when we commemorate those killed and murdered by our enemies, but who is really the brave?


Are they the ones who fought the enemy and died?

Or are the bravest of all those who lost their loved ones and go on living?

Fleeing the TV

Am I just too weak, or hypersensitive? I just can't take the programs on TV tonight, the eve of Soldiers and Terror Victims Memorial Day.

I tried to listen, and I managed to stay and here a woman talk about her two brothers. Her twin brother was killed, first death on the southern front, if I heard right, during the Six Days War. Then her older brother was killed during the Yom Kippur War. He had been missing for a few months, and when our soldiers were finally released, they discovered that he had been killed.

The army informed her first. After she told her father and they told her mother, her mother tried to kill herself.

Then when they started another story about a woman whose husband and children were murdered in a terror attack, I couldn't stay another second, especially when they referred to it as her "private holocaust."

Today I went to work in the Yeshiva High School in Beit El, as usual, but the yeshiva courtyard was being prepared for the big ceremony, which will be tomorrow morning, with the sirens.

Besides the flags, blue, white and orange, there are large posters commemorating the dead, especially our students who've been killed.

I remember when terror attacks were frequent. It was especially hard to get the kids to concentrate on English and any other subject. One lesson was only attended by one student, who actually worked relatively well for part of the lesson. I complimented him for the good work he had done and tried to get him to stay longer.

המורהת, HaMorah, Mrs. Teacher, I can't. I just buried three friends this week.

I excused him, what a hero he was, how strong. I don't think I could have done anything like that in his situation.

Yihi Zichrom Baruch

May their Memories

Be Blessed