LET THEM EAT LOBSTER

  Close to 250 years ago there is an apocryphal story that Marie Antoinette, when told the people were starving, could not afford bread, she responded, "Let them eat cake." True or not, the point was made and is being made again in a different time, a different context, albeit the same. This is what happens when governmental figures plot to remake reality, to forgo the ideals of a country, of a righteous government, and turn on their heels, showing their backs to the nation.

I write this blog today in an open letter to Netanyahu and compatriots. What the hell are you doing? I weep at the thought, the knowledge, of the inevitable if you, Bibi, and your comrades in evil, continue to pursue your plans. Your collective gluttony for power, and more power, grows exponentially. 

I am a Zionist and I say that with pride, believing strongly in the rightness, the historical imperative and necessity, of a State of Israel, a light unto the nations as set forth in the Bible. Yes, I am Dati, observant, and wish to remain so, able to observe as I see fit, not as a group of misogynistic, power-hungry men wish me to be. Command me to be.

Israel is not, should never be a land of darkness. There are already too many of those in existence, tragically, growing in number and intensity. This gruesome growth throughout the globe has even set off warning bells within the United States of America, my home. As a Jew, I have another home option - the State of Israel, denied for thousands of years. 

How tragic it would be go stray, that country, the land, the refuge of those who fled from or survived the Holocaust. Jews who were -who are - oppressed in their present homes. Jews of all colors, ethnicities, nationalities, and levels of observance and knowledge. Jews of India, Burma, Afghanistan, Iran, Egypt, all the Arabic and/or Moslem lands. The Soviet Union, Ethiopia, even Jews growing ever more uncomfortable, unsafe in lands of growing antisemitism, violent, loud and frightening. America. France. Britain. Sweden. Name a country, and there it is. 

Israel was, is, a state commanded to be, to serve, humanity, to be a light unto the nations of the world. To fulfill the commandment to create an ingathering of the dispersed, those in Galut, Exile, and indeed, it has done both, in an astounding record, even sending rescue teams and medical aid to countries which proclaim their enmity of Israel.

Thus, why now? Why have we forgotten our history? Why have we thrown out the lessons of the past? Why have we turned hostile to our own, derided those who think or behave or observe or worship - or not? Why have we tried to turn back the clock, endorsing campaigns against those with alternative outlooks and lifestyles? 

Why is the Likud and allies in evil turning back the clock on the rights of women, condemning them, trying to return them to a state of nonexistence and invisibility. To be obedient chattel, of no education, no value, no rights, other than to cook, clean and bear children? The Nazis espoused that philosophy. Are we to emulate those who were the Amalek of our times? Will we never learn? 

Reform is a good concept, an ideal always in the making, in the striving to actualize that ideal. Reform is not regression. Reform comes through compromise, thought, and out of a care for the population and the land. It is supposed to have both connotation and denotation of progress. Unfortunately, too many these days have turned the concept on its head. 

Such is the 'reform' almost completely in place in Israel. Reform - yes. How - via compromise. Via an understanding of the land and the people. Knowing the reality of 12 weeks ongoing protest. With the horrifying sight of Israeli against Israeli. Force. Batons.  Water cannons. Horses. Detentions. With a comprehension that should this fake, most existentially dangerous reform go through unchecked, Israel will be a pariah among the nations of the world. 

In fact, it will be a brief term of existence. People will vote with their feet and leave - already happening. A nation without an army is defenseless against enemies within and without, not stopping until their oft stated goal of "from the river to the sea, from the Golan to Eilat" is achieved, and the Yahud population is dead. 

As for the fate of refugees - history will repeat. No room at the in for these Jews. No country will accept them, open the gates- not the first time and not the last - or maybe... Jews without a championing entity, without a place of refuge, well, I refer you to history, to pogroms, to mass murders, to repression, to Belzec and Auschwitz. To horror and blood soaked lands. Not for the first time, nor for the last time.

Will we never learn? So, Bibi., go eat your lobster on Shabbat, but remember the cake of Marie Antoinette. People hungry for freedom and justice will not settle for Marie's cake nor your lobster nor your hypocrisy. You had moments of greatness and service to your nation and world Jewry. What happened? 

And in the meanwhile, all the while, I think of  Yitzy, in pain, with wracking nausea, with moments of relief, the power of prayer tackling that damned tumor, shrinking it, itsy bit by itsy bit. We continue to hope, continue to need your prayers. But think -what world are we going to leave Yitzy and his generation?

In the interim and for always, let us - 

HEAL THE WORLD.

HEAL YITZY!

Yitzchak Elimelech ben Chana Sarah

May he be granted refuah shelaymah bimheyrah beyameinu. 

May he be granted a timely and complete healing.

May Hashem hear all our voices raised in prayer. 

Amen. Amen.