Eternal Jewish Attachment to The Land of Israel

We Jews are now in the Three Weeks before the Fast of the 9th of Av which commemorate the invasion, conquest and destruction of Jerusalem and both Holy Temples.

It's a very intense time in the Jewish Calendar and always occurs during the hottest time of the year. Considering how difficult it is to fast in the heat of the summer, it's easy to imagine the difficulties of the Jewish soldiers in Jerusalem and other battlegrounds, which don't have much of a water supply. It, also, doesn't rain in the summer.

And after the enemy conquest over two thousand 2,000 years ago and resulting exile, the Land became a barren disease infested wasteland. So, you'd think that the Zionists would have rushed at the opportunity to temporarily substitute the beautiful and fertile part of Africa, known today as Uganda, which had been offered. That proposal was never accepted by the Zionist Congress, regardless of their secularism.

I began thinking of it last night during the Shiloh Conference. I don't remember what the trigger was. My mind kept comparing it to the Hashemite Tribe taking up Great Britain's (illegal*) offer for inventing a country/Hashemite Kingdom sic in Transjordan. The Hashemite tribe had no problem at all accepting the offer from Great Britain and inventing a new country in a high percentage of the land which was supposed to be a Jewish State.

Considering that there's no historic connection of the Hashemites to the eastern bank of the Jordan River, and that the land had been allocated to be a Jewish State by the League of Nations, we should be shocked that no country, to my knowledge, protested. As you can see, diplomatic antisemitism in't new at all.

This also is a good example showing how the Muslim Arabs don't need a historic connection to a land in order to take over and claim it's theirs.

May our Holy Temple be rebuilt speedily in our days...

*Transjordan was part of the Mandate which was intended for a Jewish State. GB kept doing everything it could to frustrate and handicap the establishment of a Jewish State.

American Jewish Organizations as Zionists-- New to Me!

I made aliyah soon after my 1970 wedding. I had been a very active member of NCSY of the OU and was/is considered one of their "great success stories," up to a point. In the 1960's NCSY promoted Torah observance, Shabbat, kashrut etc but not aliyah, moving to Israel. The term wasn't used at all. Neither was zionism mentioned. The aim of NCSY at that point was to strengthen American Jewry with more Torah observant Jews, not encourage American Jews to move to Israel.

I first heard the term aliyah to Israel when my parents and aunt, in an attempt to reduce my "extremism" as they saw my attempts to become an Orthodox Jew made me go to a USY Shabbat in my aunt's Conservative synagogue, the East Midwood Jewish Center in Brooklyn, NY. There, unlike in NCSY, life in Israel and aliyah were mentioned, talked about and the topic of study sessions.

The person who got me to think of zionism, aliyah for myself was Avi (Dennis) Lipkin, who was a year ahead of me in Great Neck North. He got me to join Betar, which is a very Zionist international youth movement. And during the few years I was an active New York Zionist, it was as a Betariya, not as an NCSYer. I remained active in both groups before my aliyah along with Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry.

So I never thought of the OU or NCSY as Zionist, because they weren't when I knew them well. Now almost a half a century later, things have obviously changed, because the OU is a member of the World Zionist Organization, so when I was invited to a press luncheon to meet the American delegates to the World Zionist Congress of the World Zionist Organization, I couldn't miss the opportunity to learn about American Jewish Life today. Luckily for me, it was on my day off and fit my plans.

photo by Batya Medad

photo by Batya Medad

photo by Batya Medad

photo by Batya Medad

photo by Batya Medad

We were there to meet the delegates and ask them questions. By total chance aka siyate d'Shmaya-the Hand of Gd, I ended up sitting next to Morton Klein, National President of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), the oldest pro-Israel group in the U.S. Considering that Klein is known for his Right and pro-Israel and Jewish life in Judea and Samaria views and that Hadassa Levy, of Eli was also at the table, it was probably the most "Right" table in the room.

Morton Klein and I, Batya Medad, photo by RJS-RealJStreets

In all honesty I was pretty impressed by the interest in Israel I heard from the delegates as they spoke. Many are frequent visitors to Israel, and some were making aliyah or even had. American Jewry has been changing. Today there are more visits, delegations, study programs in Israel than ever before. Since the press was invited to ask questions, I decided to ask one.

I, Batya Medad, photo by RJS-RealJStreets

I began by saying how happy I am that today the Jewish organizations I had once known as non-Zionist have joined the World Zionist Organization and consider themselves zionists, but then I thought of all of the other, the many non-affiliated Jews, like many of my family members, scattered all over the United States, and so I asked the delegates what they are doing to try to involve them with some sort of Jewish life and affiliation. Many hands went up to answer. But time was too short, and only one person gave his answer about how he tries to attract more Jews to his Jewish community activities.

If there's anyone who'd like to answer here, you're invited to use the comments.

Eighth Day of Chanukah, Different Perspective

I love the reflections created by our "double windows." The lights go on forever. Looking at things from different angles give you different pictures and perspectives.

There's something very symbolic in it for sure. We think that our actions only affect us, but quite often they have an influence so far away.

I'm not from a religious family, though we were always involved in Jewish life, and my parents were always members of a synagogue. The basic daily mitzvot of Kashrut, keeping and observing Shabbat and the Jewish Holidays weren't parts of our lives. Yes, of course we had a Passover Seder, even changed the regular dishes to what could be called "Pesachdik treif" ones. And yes, the Chanukah menorah was lit, OK, at least once or twice during the eight days of the holiday.

I learned about Torah Judaism in NCSY, and a friend introduced me to Zionism and Betar. So here I am in Israel, in Shiloh, with my Chanukiyah which can be seen from "both sides of the Jordan."
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Here in Israel we're facing Knesset Elections again, and in America the Jews also have elections, for the World Zionist Congress. A friend sent me some information about it, and I'm glad to see that a number of the religious organizations are running together. I hope that our Right politicians will do the same here.

The Religious Zionist Slate is comprised of delegates from America's foundational religious Zionist organizations, including World Mizrachi, AMIT, Bnei Akiva, the Orthodox Union, the Rabbinical Council of America, the National Council of Young Israel, Torah Mitzion, Touro College, and Yeshiva University.

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It's important to unite. And the  platform is pretty good, too.

The Religious Zionist Slate is focused on:

• Building bridges and increasing unity within Am Israel;

• Preserving and enriching Torah values and Jewish life in Israel and around the world;

• Providing a religious Zionist voice for world Jewry;

• Securing a significant amount of the billion dollar programming budget for informal education and outreach programs worldwide that exemplify true Torah values;

• Ensuring the future of religious Zionist ideals.

OUR CORE VALUESThe Religious Zionist Slate seeks to strengthen Israel's "Jewish soul" by:

• Championing the continued growth and support of Torah and Zionist education worldwide;

• Promoting Aliyah to Israel;

• Developing religious Zionist outreach programming worldwide;

• Ensuring the security of a united Jerusalem.

Of course, I'd rather they have aliyah higher on their list, but at least not only is it on the list, but they also support programs in Israel.

They've produced a cute little campaign movie. Watch it and vote for them if you can.