Tortured but Tenacious

I've actually come to ...well, not hate...Pesach cleaning. I get to see all the things I forgot I bought (unless the more likely scenario in my mind - that strangers come at night and stick things in my pantry). And it gives me time to think...

Today, a word came to mind - tortured. In relation to October 7 but in a more general sense.

We are a tortured people, a tortured nation.

We are tortured by those who accuse us of doing that which was done to us...genocide, baseless hatred.

The numbers are all there, the facts, the videos. Look at the ******* source, for God's sake.

Hamas, which has repeatedly, consistently, unashamedly lied again and again is the source of information blaming Israel for all manner of things. And while they lie, they torture our people. They raped our girls...and put our sons in cages. Some made one young man bark like a dog for 24 hours. They operated on several - without anesthesia. Deliberately maimed others. They starved them, giving Keith Seigel and likely others, around 700 calories for an entire day, and some days nothing. These are the "humans" you believe.

The pictures they use - are often from another conflict, or from another time, or from scenes of deaths they caused, rockets they fired, people they shot. They have admitted to faking over 3,500 names...even the UN suddenly downgraded the number of casualties by tens of thousands of suddenly not killed people.

And worst of all - Hamas hides among civilians. Kill a cell of terrorists about to launch a rocket at Israeli civilians and suddenly the death toll is Gaza rises by 5 (or more likely 50).

72% of those who have died in Gaza since the "collapse" of the ceasefire (because Hamas refused to reach any agreement to continue releasing our hostages) are males in the age range of combatants.

Israel warned an entire city of Gaza to evacuate - told them where to go...not ideal, but if the terrorists fight inside civilian communities, the only options we have are to kill everyone or move the innocent civilians out. And Hamas blocks their exit.

We are tortured by the lies of the world. We are tortured by the suffering of our people all over the world. We are tortured that our sons and daughters are again fighting. My oldest son is about to turn 38...he has been called to five wars. My youngest isn't even 30...he's been called in three times already in this war, with more looming in the future.

Tortured. Hated. Despised. Why? What did we do?

Is it because you think we killed Jesus? Yeah, I've had people tell me that...actually, according to my sister, I was about 5 the first time she and I were accused of killing Jesus and apparently I started to cry and tried to assure the person that I had not in fact, in all of my 5 years on this planet, killed anyone.

For the record, I still haven't...I don't even kill bugs, except for mosquitos and moths, and when I kill those, invariably I apologize.

Once a man asked me, "what did you Jews do to make so many people hate you?" It was a shocking question, asked on the top of Masada as I was recounting the history of what happened there.

I think I answered something like "live" or "breathe".

I read BBC and am shocked. I listen to Leslie Stahl of 60 minutes - her first words are a lie. Israel did not break the ceasefire. You can't break something that is already broken.

Tortured. Tormented. Lied about. Isolated. Welcome to the world of the Jew, of Israel. So with all of that happening, what's it like to live in Israel right now?

Glorious. The fruit trees are blossoming, a gentle wind is blowing, the sun is shining. We are cleaning out our homes as we do in normal times, preparing, inviting people, thinking about all the details of the upcoming Passover holiday. I have so much to do.

My son is out of Gaza...for that alone, I am once again able to breathe. I will not think about when he and his unit will be called back in. I will not allow the world to take away what little peace I have.

I can live with your hate, the poison in your soul at the mere thought of the Jews...yes, Jews, not Israelis. You want to say you hate Israelis, but we all know what you mean. So we're clear. Your poison, your soul, your problem.

Despite what happens outside our borders, in our homes, in our communities we are the richest people on earth...no, not in money, you silly people, in love, in faith, in unity.

Yes, yes, the protesters shouting and burning...but let me tell you a secret. I, who stand against all that they do, who believe nothing of what they say...I can knock on their door, as they can knock on mine. I can say I'm hungry, and they will give me food. I can say I'm cold, and they'll give me warmth and shelter.

I can say, I'm so sad and broken, and they'll give me a hug as I will give them. Despite what you see, we know we are one people. We know we cry for the same thing, are tortured over all that has happened, and wave the same flag.

This morning, I played the sound track of Fiddler on the Roof...and knew I was listening to a tragedy about to happen, a pogrom, an exile. Forced from the home they loved, the community of their dreams. Forced to become strangers in yet another foreign land...until now.

Now, the descendants of the mythical village of Anatevka can have a real home, a place where no one will ever exile them from again. A non-mythical place. A place really on the map, if you look. A place that was ours 3,500 years ago, 2,500 years ago, 2000 years ago...and every year since, until this very day.

So in the end, as the Jewish holiday of Passover approaches, as war rages, we are tormented...but triumphant. Tortured but tenacious.