A Special Day...Happy Birthday

It's just after midnight here in Israel. I should be finishing a project; I should be sleeping. Instead, my mind is drawn to the fact that it is Aliza's 12th birthday on the Hebrew calendar. She's asleep in her bed; excited by the plans we have to celebrate this week. Tomorrow, she and I will steal a day away. We'll go out for breakfast and then go to the Western Wall. It is, in many ways, a symbol of all that we are as a people and so we'll go there, as we have taken her brothers and sister so many times.

Later, we'll do some shopping and come home. She is my baby and I have to keep reminding myself that she is growing so fast, reaching beyond, upwards. There is such wisdom inside of her, such gentleness. She is named after my mother-in-law and my grandmother. Two women who were hounded by hatred from their homes - one in Hungary in World War II; one from Russia after World War I. One was put in a gas chamber, but miraculously pulled out to live and raise a family. One caught in a horrible pogrom in her town. She was in the synagogue when the local Ukrainians came and set it afire. She too managed to survive and live to raise a family. Of all that they would have wanted for Aliza had they known her, I cannot help but believe they would have wanted her most of all to live the very life she lives here.

And like the women from whom she came, little Aliza has fought off demons as well. Their demons and Aliza's have much in common - the Ukrainians, the Nazi, and the Arab cousins that butchered a family and terrorized a nation. I forgot the depths of the fear she has conquered until I stumbled on a blog post I had made only a few short months ago. I guess the blog serves as a reminder to me as well as to others. In honor of her birthday, I'm reposting the story of how a little girl has lived up to the women whose name she carries. With thanks to them and love for her....

Beating Demons - October 17, 2011

For those who don't know, my youngest daughter is 11 years old, 11 and a half really. A few months ago, on a Friday night, two Palestinians sneaked into the Fogel home in Itamar and there they murdered...butchered...two parents and three children. Their bodies were discovered by their 12-year-old daughter, Tamar, when she returned home Friday night from youth group activities.

While much of Israel was caught up with the agony of this young girl and her two remaining brothers, suddenly and violently orphaned, I had my own bit of drama and trauma here in my home. My daughter identified with Tamar and became terrified that the same would happen to her. Nothing comforted her at first. She was afraid, for the first time in her life, to be alone at home even for a few moments; she was afraid of the dark; afraid of open windows that would allow terrorists to enter our home.

When I tried to tell her we would protect her, she answered too wisely for her age, "Tamar's parents couldn't protect them; how can you?" Indeed, Udi and Ruti apparently did manage to protect two small boys sleeping in another room, and so, at least Tamar has those brothers, though the Awad cousins did manage to murder her other two brothers and her baby sister. Aliza seemed to be getting worse for a while. It wasn't enough just to assure her that the front door was locked; she wanted her bedroom door to be locked too. It wasn't enough that we have bars on the windows; she wanted her window closed and her shades drawn closed against the dark.

She had nightmares that I thought signaled things were getting even worse, but according to the school counselor, this was actually a good sign in that it meant she was starting to find ways to cope. That her subconscious was sort of taking the trauma out and examining it and learning to deal with it. Whatever the reason, there were nights she came to my bed, shaking and crying and spent the next few hours with me.

I consulted people, psychologists, etc. and went with my instincts. I allowed her to fear and answered each fear. She slept with a fan rather than an open window. We put a window alarm on the window as well. She slept with a light on; she locked her door and checked the house locks too. Slowly, so painfully slowly, all that she has added on, she has removed. She can now sleep in her room with the door unlocked - except Friday nights. The lights are off again; the windows open again.

And then came a special challenge. We are now celebrating the holiday of Sukkot in Israel. Our front porch has been enclosed with bamboo mats and a fragile roof has been added. Decorations line the walls and the "ceiling." But a simple rain would easily pass through, strong winds...even gentle ones...set things aflutter in the sukkah.

The point of the sukkah is to remind us that life can be precarious at times and it is our faith that strengthens and protects us. There is a custom to not only eat in the Sukkah, but to sleep there as well. To sit there as often as possible during the days and nights, to almost live there. Aliza wanted to sleep there. There are no windows, no doors, no locks. She won't sleep there on her own but for the last several nights, either a friend has slept over or her younger brother pulled in a mattress on the other side and last night, I joined her.

I was awakened by the dog barking and I listened to see who approached. She slept peacefully and sleeps still as I sit a few meters away writing this. Aliza doesn't know about the agreement to release over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners; doesn't know that dozens will be released back to their homes in Jerusalem and nearby. She doesn't know that a vicious killer named Ahlam Tamimi will be released to Jordan, to the hills I can see from my window.

But she has beaten the demons that have frightened her these past months. She has put them back and away and perhaps the next time she has to face them, she will see them for what they are - cowards that sneak in the night, slither in the dirt while she lives in the light.

Thinking of Others

There are times when I do something that I automatically think of other people. The best example I can give is one that breaks my heart a little, at the same time that it makes me smile. My mother-in-law was a very special person in so many ways. She was also a Holocaust survivor in the most horrible sense. Beyond what so many suffered - losing both her parents and all her grandparents, a sister, two brothers, more uncles and aunts and cousins than I can count, she was also an inmate at Auschwitz, known by many as the most notorious of the death camps. She, like many, lost her home, so much of her family...and yet, as if that wasn't enough, something happened to her that while not unique, is certainly very rare. Like tens of thousands, she was taken to Auschwitz towards the end of the war, as part of the huge plan to exterminate the Jews of Hungary.

By that time, Hitler was not interested in Jewish labor. For the most part, he just wanted to kill as many as he could. My mother-in-law and the rest of the women of her family were sent directly to the gas chambers. My mother-in-law was probably in her late teens at the time. They entered the gas chamber and the door was closed. I stood in one of the gas chambers with my older daughter and thought of the chilling moment when my mother-in-law stood in the same one...or perhaps another of those barbaric remnants of man's inhumanity. But even if she had still lived, I would never have had the courage to ask her if this was the one she was in - the first one we were in...or the second one in which the Germans had learned that to lower the ceiling improved efficiency because the gas would rise and then only slowly lower down and kill the people.

When we were there, the door remained opened and the room, even in summer, was chilled. When my mother-in-law stood there, the door closed and had it stayed closed, my husband never would have been born, nor any of my children. By a great miracle - for what other explanation can I find - the Nazis decided they were missing a few women for a work detail and opened the door and pulled my mother-in-law and her sister back out from death.

When she was liberated, she returned to her home village, there to meet the remnants of her family - including a cousin - who fell in love with her. They eventually married and brought four children into this world, and lived long enough to see, hold, and hug three of my children. Somehow as my in-laws looked forward, they never wanted to look back and so they raised their children without telling them much about many of the horrors of the concentration camps and life in Europe.

When her second son brought home a wife - me - the doors of my mother-in-law's memory seemed to open, I think, and she began talking to me, telling me of Europe and the life there and of the camps and the death there. I remember so much, and never enough. But one story remains with me and each week, without fail, I remember it...and her.

She used to peel potatoes with a knife and she told me once that she remembers the hunger of the war and that there were people who used potato peelers and people who used knives. From what others threw out, she would, at the worst of times, find scraps of food to eat - and the ones who used knives left more "meat" of the potato in the scraps, while the peelers only took off the skin of the potato. So, if possible, it was better to go to the garbage of those who used knives than those who used peelers. She would remember, and make a point to go there, to the homes of those who used knives.

I remember that story each time I peel potatoes - with a peeler...and I'm so grateful there is no one trying to feed themselves off the scraps I throw away.

I cut peppers - a lot of them - and I cut them by slicing the four sides, pulling the sides away from the center where all the seeds are. I showed a friend one time and since then, she cuts her peppers the same way and says she thinks of me when she does. It's an interesting feeling, a nice one. And yesterday, I got a comment from Rivka Yael. She wrote:

Made your tuna fritters again for shabbat this week and thought of you. Mazal tov on your daughter's bat mitzvah and the upcoming wedding! 

I am so touched that others have me in their thoughts at a moment in their lives and it reminds me of how I have my mother-in-law in my thoughts as well. I think that's what life is about - touching others, being touched. I love the idea that in sharing our family recipes, there are others there who take these and make them their own.

A Sabbath Routine

I've written a lot lately about my Fridays - about the preparation we do for the Sabbath here. I've tried to write about our Shabbat and what it means here as well. This Friday, I had more of an opportunity. My parents came to visit, bringing one of my mother's visiting students along.

This guest to our country is not Jewish and as I put out food, he looked around with curiosity and interest. He took a picture of two paintings I have in my home - one is an image of the exodus from Egypt - painted with the use of miniature letters. Using the Hebrew words from the entire book of Exodus (Shemot), the amazing artist created the scene of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt and through the Red Sea. The Pillar of Fire in the background was created with the very words in the Bible describing this scene. The second painting is a view of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives - to create it, the artist (same man) used all of the words of the Book of Psalms (Lamentations).

Our guest also took a picture of the Sabbath candles waiting to be lit. I use oil and this week, 8 candles were ready to be lit near the window. It looked so pretty, so ready for Shabbat. I had prepared the challah dough late, late Thursday night so that it would be ready when they came. My mother said the blessing over separating the challah from the dough (you can learn about that custom here) and then I braided three loaves.

After we had a quick breakfast, I took my mother and guest and a short tour of Maale Adumim - explaining both Jewish customs and Maale Adumim. It is an interesting experience explaining your life to someone who asks simply because he wants to know and comes without preconceived thoughts. Israel remains an interesting combination of ancient and modern. In one short conversation, we spoke of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his sons, and the history of Israel from 1948 beyond 1967. We spoke of a mall and a bowling alley, the nearby Bedouins who live across the highway, and so much more.

They left a few hours before Shabbat, leaving me time to finish baking the rest of the challah and finish preparing. My husband brought beautiful flowers to our house, everyone showered, and we went off to synagogue services and dinner at my daughter's house.

We are gearing up for my daughter's bat mitzvah celebration this week...and I'm overwhelmed with things to do so I may fall silent a bit in the next few weeks. The week after the bat mitzvah (in which we will be serving/I will be making - 150 small pizzas, 6 quiches, 2 lasagnas, 3 cheese cakes, 1 huge birthday cake, several salads and more), I have a national conference (for which I have to make around 800 chocolate chip cookies) that we host and then it is full steam ahead for the wedding. Immediately after the wedding, just a bit over a week later, comes the holiday of Passover, a nightmare for most wives and mothers...I know that's a terrible way to describe a holiday. Maybe when it gets closer I'll remember the nice things...

In short, each Shabbat holds the only chance I'll get for the next few weeks to slow down, stop, and breathe.

Blind and Toothless

I've always been amazed at how many translations and variations there are to the Bible. For me, as my Hebrew has improved, I return more and more often to the Hebrew as the source and smile at the many incorrect translations I see. Perhaps the most notorious is the misconception that we are charged with, "Thou shalt not kill." That's wrong. There are times and situations in which we are not only allowed to kill, but commanded to kill.

If a gunman is holding your child and you know that you have a clear shot and in doing so, you will save the life of your child - you are commanded to take that shot. It is a kill - allowed by all that is right, by God. The proper translation of the commandment is "Thou shalt not murder." To murder is very different than to kill. I will live with the reality that my son killed. It is so hard to write that, almost unbearable. And at the same time, I say with complete certainty, he did not murder. Gaza held a gun to the heads of our children, and Elie and his unit - the entire Israeli army, took the shot...and it was clean and not murder, despite the many lies the Palestinians continue to tell to this day.

The mosques that we bombed - had explosives in them. The videos are clear - secondary explosions where our bombs set off the explosives stored within what should have been a holy building. That is war - and in war, you kill...you do not murder, ever. To shoot a rocket into a city is to attempt to murder. Of course, if your elected officials condone putting military installations and shooting rockets from within your cities, there is a huge problem - but there are no military bases IN Beersheva, IN Shderot, IN Ashkelon. The target remains, the crime, when accomplished, is murder.

That is one kind of war; but quietly, Israel is involved in another war and this week, this secondary war made the headlines. When I saw a news article yesterday, it made me think of Fiddler on the Roof and Tevye, in his infinite wisdom, responding to a villager who called for revenge using the Biblical phrase, "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth."

Tevye responded with brilliant disdain, "Very good. That way the whole world will be blind and toothless."

There's been a cyber-war going on in the Middle East - thankfully not nearly as deadly and dangerous as the real one that we have been living for 64 years, but at times humorous, at times depressing. This week, Arab hackers attacked at least two Israeli hospital websites, a civilian bus company, and a theater. This electronic war will likely increase in the days, months, and years to come.

I think cyber-wars are great when the target is the Iranian nuclear program. They say "all's fair in love and war" - well, I don't know if cyber war is fair but in this case, anything that Israel or the US or any hacker can do to slow the Iranian nuclear program will offer the benefit of hopefully avoiding bloodshed on all sides so I'd say, "go for it."

In recent months, Israeli newspapers came under attack, and even several banks. No harm done, as far as I am concerned - certainly nothing compared to real-life injuries. It's annoying, it's childish - whatever. I don't really care because while it may cause financial loss, it is what it is and the sun continues to shine, we have food in the stores, schools give out report cards, the trains continue to run. In short, real life continues.

Two days ago, Arab hackers attacked two Israeli hospitals - bringing down their websites. That bothered me. What possible gain is there in these targets, probably soft targets after all, and not much of a challenge to a determined hacker? More, it is likely that close to half the people treated in these Israeli hospitals are Arabs - okay, maybe that was my impression, but I can tell you it was well above the percentage of the population the Arab community represents. I can tell you that each time I have had to go to a hospital here in Israel - several of the nurses are Arabs, a few of the doctors are Arabs, and many of the patients as well.

Arabs come from all over - Gaza, Jordan, and beyond to our hospitals (even Iran and Iraq) to get the best care available in the Middle East - by dedicated professionals who do not differentiate between Arab and Jew when it comes to care. Several years ago, Israel was shaken by the image of a young Palestinian woman shrieking out in anger and pain because the soldiers at the checkpoint became suspicious and checked her carefully. As they demanded she stand isolated and remove her coat, they saw the explosives wrapped around her waist and the cameras caught her agonizing scream when she realized she had failed to reach her target.

Years before that day, she had been injured and maimed by a fire (no connection to Israel) - she was taken to the hospital in Beersheva because the burns were so severe. The doctors treated for her wounds and she was discharged. Her goal that day when she was caught by the soldiers was to go to the very same emergency room where her life had been saved - she was going to thank the doctors and caregivers, by blowing up the hospital.

Now, that is real damage, a real attack - but for the most part, a cyber-attack on a newspaper or even a hospital site carries no long term repercussions. The goal of attacking the Iranian nuclear program using cyber weapons will save lives; the goal of attacking an Israeli hospital website just shows again a lack of humanity (again). The only people hurt by this are the ones at the hospitals and patients who need information - including Arab patients.

I was disgusted by the attack, which, like the rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, is just wrong. They hit a bus company and a theater in Israel as well. Why? What do they gain by this? Other than well deserved disgust, that is.

And then yesterday, I saw that Israeli hackers (calling themselves the IDF Team) had hacked into the Iranian English language television and the Iranian Health Ministry. Okay, as targets go, I'd rather the cyber war attack governmental targets rather than civilian hospitals, but still, I remembered Tevye's remark.

I wanted to go back to the source for the Biblical quote - and so I checked various Internet sites. The phrase is known to many of us - or at least in part, "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." But it continues, "a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound," etc. It is part of an involved description of legal retribution described in the book of Shemot (Exodus), chapter 21. And the rabbis who have interpreted the Bible for generations and beyond, are quick to point out that it does not refer to gauging out the eye of someone who has hurt you or cutting off the hand of a thief. Rather, it refers to the value of the injury - likely one of the first documented instances of social justice. If you cause harm, the Bible is teaching us, you must take responsibility - not revenge, but social compensation.

The sentence that precedes this one refers to a life for a life - and here there is the Hebrew word אָסֹון which is mistakenly translated by some as "mischief" or "harm." In Israel, we use this word for tragedy and in the more faithful translations, it is more correctly rendered as a fatality, as a death. There are indeed cases when it is a life for a life, and other cases where it remains a monetary obligation.

Whatever the source or the translation, it is about a life for a life, social justice in a balanced way. It is not our way to attack civilians, hospitals, the innocent - even on the web. I'm not sure what the Israeli hackers accomplished. When I first saw the news item, I was concerned that they had attacked Arab hospital websites in retaliation for what was done to Israeli hospitals. I would have condemned that because, as Tevye said, there's really no logic in the whole world being blind and toothless.

I'm relieved that it was a government site and hope, if they continue their cyber battles, that the so-called IDF team will continue to differentiate between hurting civilians and targeting their attacks where they belong.
Bring down the Iranian government, its army, its nuclear program and yes, even the health ministry and television. For that, I will say "kol hakavod" - all honor for what you do.

But please, don't lose who we are in your quest to return to them what they fire on us. Don't take down their hospital websites - it isn't our way. Don't attack their bus companies or theaters - nothing is gained by this and no honor received.

An Israeli Speaks

As a writer, I prefer to give my own words, rather than rely on others. It is rare that I agree with a politician, even more rare that I will ask to borrow his words, to make them as if they are mine. Such is the case with the words of the Minister of Information and Diaspora, Yuli Edelstein:

 The purpose of the anti-Semites is the same – to deny the common humanity of the Jew, to single him out, to scapegoat him. 70 years ago, this worked perfectly...Today, as the snow sets for the 70th time on the killing fields of Europe, where each garden, each meadow, each plowed furrow are fertilized by the ashes of my people, I come here in the name of my government, of the independent Jewish nation, to assure our friends, to make a promise to our enemies and to warn the indifferent:

When we say ‘Never again’, we mean it. We will not wait for another conference with baited breath and forlorn hope. We will not beg for compassion and sympathy. We will not be made to live with constant threat of another Holocaust.

We hope that this hour never comes. We hope that the civilized world has learned the bloody lessons of appeasement. We hope that the moral majority of humanity will rise above the selfish calculations of profit and loss, the petty politics and the cowardice masked as caution. We hope that any threat to civilization will be defeated by force of universal moral fury and sustained pressure, not by bombs and bloodshed. Today, as we come together to remember the millions of victims of Nazi barbarity and of the world's indifference, I ask you to help us to keep this hope alive and to make it true.

Let us all – Jews and Gentiles – take a stand together against tyranny and barbarism, let us destroy them before they'll swell with power, fed by the wealth of their lands and the blood of their victims. Let us deny them, in the words of Winston Churchill, those ‘lights of perverted science’ with which they plan to unleash a new Dark Age – first on their own captive peoples, and then on the rest of the world. Let us say to them, from here – we remember. We are vigilant. We are determined. We are united. We say to them together– never again.

 We are vigilant. We are determined. We are united. We say to them together– never again. Yes, above all else, yes...

Congratulations to the Hackers, Rocket Launchers, Suicide Bombers

Wait...I shouldn't congratulate them? Today, the hackers did something amazing. They took down the websites of two Israeli hospitals. That's right - hospitals. What brave and brilliant minds our enemies have. Who would have thought to do this? I'm so impressed...not.

It's this concept of claiming responsibility that I have never understood. After most terrorist bombings in Israel - some Palestinian organization (often many) stand up and "take responsibility." What does that mean? I want to yell out - when I was growing up - taking responsibility was a good thing; it was a sign of maturity.

In the world in which I grew up - murderers tried to get away with it, to hide what they had done. The last thing most of them wanted was for the police to figure out who they were and connect it with what they had done. You'll take responsibility for something that you are proud of, something you love. Do you take responsibility for maiming others, causing such horrible pain and agony?

A woman gave birth today in Israel. Her name is Pua Palmer and the birth of her healthy daughter should have  been a day of amazing joy shared with her husband and her little son, Yonatan. Except that Asher and Yonatan were murdered by Arabs who deliberately slammed a huge rock into the front of Asher's car. He was injured; the car went out of control and both Asher and his baby son were killed.

Ignoring the obvious evidence on site, police announced it was a terrible car accident and not an attack. Only a few days later did they admit the truth. Today, Asher's daughter entered this world...to a world without a father to guide her, with a brother she will never know. No one took responsibility for the Palmer murders, though the terrorist was tracked down and brought to justice - little consolation to Pua, who will now raise her daughter alone.

But other acts of terror have been claimed by Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad and other terrorist organizations; rocket attacks are frequently claimed. They are proud when they manage to launch a rocket at Israel; they are even more ecstatic when they hit something. The greater the carnage, the greater the celebrations - that is the reality of Gaza.

Today, hackers managed to break in to two hospital sites in Israel. There is no honor in murdering an infant and his father. There is no honor in hacking into the website of a hospital, and there is no honor in firing rockets into cities with the hope of causing terror, injury and damage.

This is yet another instance in which I can say that I believe peace is, at best, far in the distance. When your enemy has no honor, it is not possible to reach an honorable, peaceful solution.

Thoughts of a War

This is the last post I am going to make looking back at a war and a time that I never want to live through again. The last post that I'll reprint here (and thank those of you who allowed me to take this journey again), was called Thoughts of a War. Elie was home; the bar mitzvah of my youngest son just over. I was concerned, almost consumed, with the thought that deep inside Elie there would be remnants of the war - there still are today; and perhaps psychological scars  - there really are none.

There are memories but there was and there is an acceptance. This is what he had to do, as he did it. Those that died there were the inevitable result of Hamas' firing rockets and a war that had to be fought. There is peace in his heart as he prepares to take a wife and begin building his family. Above all things beyond health and safety one could wish for one's son - there is peace.

Thoughts of a War - January 26, 2009

After long talks with Elie, here are my thoughts (and his) on what came out of this war:
What came out of this war: A sense of unity, of a well trained army working together.
The army worked as a unit - each part doing their share and protecting its flank. Artillery was there, every step of the way, and their role was critical. For fear of writing too much, I will write too little. But I will tell you that the war was run as correctly as possible, each part doing what it was supposed to do. The credit for this brilliant campaign may be taken by the politicians, but they are not the ones who coordinated - they are only the ones who will take credit. 

What was accomplished was done so by the planning of generals who finally focused on their goal, one that had to be done. Politically, it is not easy to bomb a mosque. Militarily, they had every right to do so - it was not a mosque, but an arsenal with a minaret. In this war, the generals won and thus Israel won. We bombed the mosques with rockets, the schools with missiles and for once we held Hamas accountable. If you do not care about your own people, Israel told Hamas, it is left to us to do our best to protect them. So we dropped leaflets warning the civilians to move away from the terrorists, to leave certain areas. I know this to be true - I have such a leaflet with me now because so many thousands were dropped over Gaza that with the wind, many blew the short distance into Israel and Elie caught one. 

"Save it, Ima," Elie told me. Perhaps he too feels the need to remember that we fought a just war, a fair war. We did not target civilians. I'll save it because my son felt the need to hold on to it in the middle of a war; to bring it home. He knows. He knows that civilians died in Gaza, possibly by his own hands - certainly by his orders to fire. But every shot that he and his unit fired had a specific target. Not once did they simply release such devastating weaponry without thought as to where it would go. 

Sometimes, they did it to destroy their weapons, their strongholds, their "army." And sometimes, they did it to protect our own. To help our boys get in or out under the cover of our artillery. In all cases, their targets were true, their aim proper. Civilians were warned - I have the proof and I will save it for my son. 

What came out of this war: A sense of spiritual faith, strengthened and grateful.
Elie told me that during the war, hundreds of pairs of tzitzit - a four-cornered garment with strings that men are commanded to wear - were distributed. The army simply could not keep up with demand. Elie told me that five pairs of tefillin (phylacteries - a religious article that is tied to the arm and to the head during the prayers - typically in the morning, that contains parchment with words from the Torah), were donated to his unit and it was in constant use throughout the day. One boy who is not religious at all - put on tefillin every day of the war. These are the shields of Israel, a vital part of who we are and as our sons faced this war, they understood this.
From the most religious to the most secular - even perhaps those who say they don't believe - still prayed for the safety of our soldiers and our southern residents. 

What came out of this war: A sense of pride in being a nation that cares about others...even if this is not recognized. 

Throughout this war, we shipped in humanitarian aide to our enemies - name me a single other country in history that has done this. When other nations besiege, intentionally attempt to weaken the enemy by surrounding and cutting off their food and water supplies, Israel - even under fire, shipped in thousands of tons of humanitarian aide - food, water, medicines. We took our enemies into our hospitals and gave them better care than they would ever get in Gaza...because we invest tremendous resources in our medical equipment, personnel, technologies. Israel is at the forefront of research and development - because we care enough about ourselves and others. 

What came out of this war: Men who were boys; men who had learned war. 

I can't write about this because Elie doesn't really talk about it. It is too deep to explain to one's mother; too serious to talk about with someone who can't understand. I've never shot a bullet, let alone a cannon. I've heard the explosion - but only in training or over the phone. Elie heard these explosions thousands of times. More, Elie helped create these explosions. He knows exactly how many times his unit shot. He's brushed off, nicely but firmly, my attempts to get him to talk too much about this aspect. He'll tell me what he did - because there is no shame, none whatsoever. He knows what he shot at, and the results of this shooting. But he won't talk about himself or what he feels. 

"Does the army have you talk to people?" I asked him, hoping he would open more about it.
"If someone wants to," he answered. 

And again, my son was not in the war in the sense that he was not on the ground in Gaza. He can see the results of what they did - he knows of the destroyed buildings, the devastated neighborhoods and the need to rebuild. But he is at peace with all that he did, all that he was called upon to do because he knows that from these buildings his unit destroyed - his nation was attacked. From these devastated neighborhoods, Hamas choose to fire at Israel. When a vicious enemy hides among his people...how much of an obligation do you have to do all you can to avoid hitting the people? The answer is all that Israel did. 

Some people left comments that my son was a murderer. Not even close. My son has never murdered anyone, though in this new reality that Hamas thrust upon us, there is a good possibility that my son killed. He knows this. He lives with it. Not with joy, but with determination. He came back from this war whole in body and in spirit. 

There is a world of difference between killing and murdering. The commandment in the Bible says we are forbidden to murder. My son and the army of Israel did not violate this commandment. The Bible commands times that you must kill - the army of Israel killed. We killed those who would have killed us, murdered our innocents. And yes, it is likely that in hiding behind their wives and children and mothers, the Palestinians caused their deaths. If Israel killed Palestinian civilians, it is Hamas that murdered them. 

And so, what came out of this war: with incredible gratitude to God, was my son and the boys from our neighborhood - and most of the sons of Israel. We lost sons there and many were injured and are still fighting for their lives. My youngest son explained to his little sister that this was a "milchemet mitzvah" - an obligatory war and that even a groom is commanded to leave his wedding ceremony to fight such a war. 

This is what happened in this war. Aharon Karov is a soldier of Israel, a beloved son. On the Thursday night before Israel's ground forces entered Gaza, Aharon got married. A boy in Elie's unit asked to leave the unit to attend the wedding of his friend, but was denied. They needed him there, in Elie's unit, ready to fire, and so he missed his friend's wedding. Elie's soldier knew, Aharon knew, his new wife and his family knew that Aharon was likely to be called to fight in this war. 

And that's what happened. Within hours after the ceremony, Aharon, a commander in the paratroopers, was called for a briefing. He was allowed to return to his new wife for the Sabbath and the celebrations for his wedding. But, in the early morning on Saturday, Aharon was called away from his new wife and went to war. 

He entered Gaza with his men, as he had been trained and as he had trained them. As is the case in the Israeli army, he said, "Follow me," and the men followed. He fought with his men, led them on mission after mission. And then, three days after entering Gaza, Aharon led his men into a booby-trapped house in Gaza. Aharon (his full name for those who wish to pray for him is: Aharon Yehoshua ben [son of] Chaya Shoshana) was critically wounded. 

He was evacuated by helicopter to Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tivkah, where he underwent six operations during the course of 12 hours: on his head, his eyes, ear-nose-throat, mouth and jaw, chest, and an orthopedic operation. 

It is a story that has touched many in the world. Some with great pride - that such a young man would give of himself and join his men in war. Some in anger - how could you take a man from his new bride and send him to war? But Aharon's father answered that very question before his son was hurt - under the wedding canopy, surrounded by friends and family, knowing that soon his son would go to off to war. 

Aharon's father, Rabbi Zev Karov said, “In the main wedding blessing, we say, ‘G-d sanctifies His nation Israel via the wedding canopy and betrothal.’ Why don’t we say that He sanctifies the bride and groom? We see that the personal building is a part of the national edifice. This is the main point, this is what we are brought up on, and now is the test when we show that it is not just talk, but it is how we really act.” 

This, perhaps is the main lesson of the entire war for all of Israel and for the world. The Arabs have tested us time and again - they tested us again now. And each time we answer. It is how we act - the bravery to go to war, to fight a war, and to fight it as humanely as possible against an enemy that will hide behind its own children. 

What came out of this war is an Israel that is much stronger than the one that went into Gaza a month ago. We are not stronger because our enemies are much weaker (though they are). We are stronger because we conducted ourselves according to "what we are brought up on."
With bravery, with courage, with fortitude, with compassion, with grace, with strength - Israel went to war. Hamas has claimed that they killed 1,583 of our soldiers. Hamas has claimed victory. Then again, Hamas claims we are the ones who are inhumane, the ones who aim at civilians. Hamas claims...and the world laughs at its lies. 

The victory - if there can be victory in war, goes to Israel because, even in war, we continue to fight for peace. When the Arabs can claim the same - there will be peace here in the Middle East.

do brasil said...

do brasil said...

How does it feel to live in a country hated by millions of people all over the world?
NOT because its a jewish country (as you would like to believe), but because of your country´s hatred, racism, war crimes and evil acts.
America, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia...
How does it feel?

How does it feel to live in a country hated by millions of people all over the world? Well, not great but if you've been hated for hundreds...no, thousands...of years for all sorts of stupid reasons, you kind of accept that it isn't going to change and you also understand the base root of the hatred.

So, if the reason millions hate us is because our country is responsible for all you claim - you wanna explain why more than 6 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis - before the State of Israel was re-established in 1948? You wanna take a stab at explaining the Crusades, the Pogroms, the Spanish Inquisition?

How does it feel? It feels great to live in my own country and  know, for the first time in 2,000 years, we are in control of our destiny. We know that we can protect our own. We know that if you hijack a plane and separate the Jews out, this time, the Israeli air force will fly in to save them, as they did in Entebbe.

We know that if you threaten your Jewish population, we will fly in and bring them home to Israel, as we did in Yemen and Ethiopia; we'll challenge dictators and tyrants, as we did with the Soviet Union, to release our people and give them refuge. We know if a Jew is lost in a horrible tsunami, Israel will send a team and while the team is there, they'll search for his body. We know if there is an earthquake in Turkey, Israel will be among the first to send in rescue teams and the Israeli team will send off a small group to dig in a building to find the Israelis.

We know that no matter where our people are - anywhere in the world, we will stand against the anti-Semitism that has lead to millions hating us, and we won't be fooled by rhetoric into thinking the cause is anything but what it has always been.

So how does it feel to accept who you are, where you live, and what your country must do to survive? How does it feel to finally be in control of your own destiny, to be free in your own land? To raise your children in the place where they belong? How does it feel to have sons and daughters who are proud of their country and choose to defend it...and more, have the option to choose life - for the first time in 2,000 years, and the power to make that option reality? Pretty darn good. Thanks for asking.

Lolo Said

Lolo said...

You are such a coward! Why don´t you publish all comments?
Why are you so scared?
Hahaaha its so obvious that you don´t have any answers!
Your country, Israel, is EVIL.
And Israel is so small and tiny, that when the rest of the world decides to, you will be forced to behave human.

Hi Lolo. Thanks for leaving your name. It's a lot more fun to answer someone by name than have to score another Anonymous. I've answered why I don't publish all comments in my previous post. See The Thing About Comments.

I agree with basically one thing in what you wrote - Israel is so small and so tiny. I wonder, then, why you spend so much time and energy hating it so much. We are evil? Really...that's fascinating. Not Sudan, not Iran. Not Iraq or the Taliban. But Israel. We are evil? And what great evil did we do? Ah yes, details, details.

You will force us to "behave human"? Would that mean doing something like - oh, I don't know - sending help to Haiti's earthquake victims, saving Palestinian children who are ill and need operations? Would that mean sending doctors around the world to do heart surgery, eye surgery, and more?

How about these amazing inventions - all from Israel...the country you think is evil?

• Revolutionary Israeli system takes the guesswork out of diagnosing and treating ADHD, depression, Alzheimer's and other brain-related diseases. 
• An Israeli-developed biodegradable 'balloon' separates tumors from healthy tissues, greatly reducing side effects of radiation therapy in prostrate cancer.
• MD-Logic mimics the workings of the pancreas, monitoring blood sugar levels and delivering insulin automatically, even at night.
• Israel's Greenlet system helps households and power companies monitor electricity usage and even power down certain appliances to avoid brownouts.
• Nitrates in drinking water pose serious health problems, but a new low-tech solution from Israel is coming to the rescue.

This is a 5 minute search on amazing things Israel has contributed to the world - can you match it with any other country in the world? Your country? Certainly not any of the Arab countries I know of...and WE are the ones not contributing? Tiny little Israel?

It's obvious I don't have answers? Gee, I guess I missed the question because I believe I have spent the last four years answering so much about Israel and what we do here, how we live, and why, despite the terror attacks and the endless rocket attacks - we still try to search for peace.

But no matter - there are those who are so blinded by hatred they will never see the tremendous things Israel does. Feel free to comment again, Lolo - but this time, please do your research and offer some concrete examples of how you came to the absurd and erroneous concept that it is Israel that is the evil one.

As I said, tiny and small we may be - but we have given to the world well out of all proportion to our size.

The Thing About Comments is...

See, this is my blog and I don't have to pass through your nasty comments. I really don't.

So, if your comment includes lies - I'm not going to put it through.

If your comment includes a link to propaganda - filled with lies and exaggerations - same deal. I don't owe you a platform - get your own blog.

If your comment includes an invitation to dialog, a question, etc. - I'll pass it through and either comment afterwards, or make a whole post out of it.

If you are dumb enough to start your comment by thinking you have the right to say this is my land or not, you're wrong. You can choose where to make your home - you can't choose where I make mine, or what right I have to live here.

If you are ignorant enough to begin by saying that we are targeting civilians and that is equivalent to the regular rocket fire against Israel, don't expect me to treat you seriously. Today, three more mortars were fired at Israel - at civilians, at our cities. You cannot consider yourself an intelligent, moral human being if you equate those attacks against the targeted elimination of a terrorist cell about to launch a rocket in the direction of one million people.

If you think that terror only happens when something explodes in front of you, you are wrong. Terror is the launching; terror is the threat. People who have to consider where they will run if in this second an alarm goes off - they live with terror and are terrorized. Palestinians do not live this way - unless they choose to live next to a Hamas Training Camp - and if they do, they deserve their fear. They endanger their lives and their children's lives. More than once, Israel has warned civilians to evacuate an area - and the civilians have gotten up...and surrounded the terrorist's house!

Finally, though it appears that I have ignored you thus far, if your comment supports my blog - yeah, I'm vain enough to smile and pass it through. I thank you for your support, for following, for commenting, for sharing. You have become an important part of my life and I love touching and being touched by your support. I am so grateful for all of you.

Those are the rules.  If you like them - great, please keep reading and please do keep commenting because I really, really want to hear what you have to say - when you can say it nicely and with honesty. Shavua tov - may it be a good week for all of us.

In the meantime, here's a response for Lolo and da brasil.