Yet there they are, a major waste of time for what has happened cannot be undone, and yet there they are, often unvoiced, just thought in hearts and minds. They seem to have taken up permanent residence within us, but there is no point especially if not addressed responsibly, carefully, with process and care, with truth.
When something major takes place, be it in an individual's life or the life of a nation, there they are. Wasting time with thoughts that help not a whit. Shakespeare reminds us, "what's past is prologue" but not the voice of the future -unless we make it so. If we do that, we will never progress. Looking backwards, trying to reproduce the past in some kind of foolish never was effort to return, we throw out the hard-won values of experience. What if? What if?
What if I had not been born a Jew, born into a world where my people seem to be the eternally ever-present convenient dumping ground for the violence and hatred humanity holds close and dear to its collective heart. What if my people were not that scapegoat, blamed for all the ills of the world. What if I had not run faster, hidden. as my Bubby and Zaydie had done, all those years ago. Does nothing ever change? Must we always play this wracked game of What If? What if nothing ever changes except for the worse, with a new form of antisemitism, vicious, cruel and threatening, frightening, in its increasing numbers and vitriol accompanying realized threats.
Personally, I am not surprised. As a student of history, as one taught by one of the best in high school, delving deep into Jewish history, no, unfortunately there is no surprise awaiting me. What does concern me is not me, most of my life already lived, but what if the threat, existential, grows in numbers, penetrating society at all levels, the vitriolic words striking deeper, inciting more, of it, and what if my descendants live in such a poisonous atmosphere their entire lives. What if ugly ancient pseudo legal hateful, causative of the worst of mankind to emerge, and sanctioning of violence grows like weeds in society.
What if?
What if nothing ever changes, What if indeed. With so much vitriol spewed into ears and minds open and so willing to accommodate the spewers how could it ever change. What if the prologue of our past smacks head on to the present and fulfills the prophecy by carrying it straight into the future. A future wrapped in the dregs of the past, all that is implicit within the words of Shakespeare. The plaint of Shylock dismissed with a shrug of shoulders and the demonization of the Jew, a la Fagin and the conspirators of Henry Ford. Restriction, separation, and death. Is that the future for our descendants. What if, what if.
Think I am jumping the shark, been swallowed by a whale, gone AWOL from sanity and reality? Wrong you are.
"War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are," - (uh, who was attacked again?
"Zionists are genocidal, demonic, greedy, pedophilic r****ds. Change my mind." He further added, "The only thing Zionists are Superior at are lies, deceit, and genocide."
“The last thing I thought in my life is that I would be the one actress speaking up for Jews. But I’m proud to be here and I hope to inspire other people to speak up.”
protests against Israel for daring to do what any nation would do-defend itself.
Question: Why are literally dozens of Arab statesa allowed to escape responsibility to aid "their" beloved Palestinians and instead thrust it upon the Israeli army even as it attempts to find the hostages, free them, and destroy Hamas. But first they must provide a lovely food menu to the enemy as they hide among the supposed innocents.
Why and when and wherefore has antisemitism and hatred for Israel become the hot topic, the "new black' - including the self-hating Jews who think desertion of their people will make them immune to a shared end. Wrong.
Police up patrols as Jewish community suffers 1,300% increase in hate crime.
Ivy League schools lose donors amid anti-Israel student activism.
“We plead with world leaders and actors on the ground to prioritize the preservation of human life above all else,” they wrote. “Anything less will forever be a stain on our collective conscience.” Sure, it is okay now, we got a whole bunch of the Jews already.
Detroit synagogue president slain, knifed to death at the entrance to the synagogue.
And a plea from all of us. We have just lost, over1,440 of our relatives. Can we mourn them in peace till we are open to hear how it is our fault for this loss and consequences?
If this is today, what will be tomorrow? How much deader could the reaction actually be? What if there is a shrug of the shoulders and a who cares? Placated and saved from their just desserts, what if the 1,400 slain of today will be multiplied, ten, a hundred fold? If this is today, after 1,400 true innocents are butchered in unspeakable manner, then what will be next? And the next and the next as Israel is pushed to ignore its own needs, neglect national rights, and simply cave in enough times so as to perish once again off the face of this earth.
Then what? What if these murderers, these animalistic terrorists, and no- BBC, MSNBC, et al, they are not militants. To attempt to fulfill their charter directive demanding the end of Jews forever? Is Israel required time and again to not take consequential action, to defend itself and yes, there will be collateral damage just as there is on the Israeli side, but the world conveniently disremembers that.
No. The truth is that there will be war, again and again, unless and until the Arab nations understand their responsibilities towards their brethren, to help them govern, to rebuild an economy they wrecked, to install a proper educational system. When the world realizes that Israel has a right to live in peace, to flourish, to serve as the protector and refuge for all world Jewry - wherever the ugly hate pops its ugly head above the surface, a refuge even for those deluded young and their elders who are destroying themselves via their ugly verbal spewing of hate and denial of self.
Whatifwhatifwhatifwhatifwhatifwhatifwhatifwhatif
A question thought of often over the millennia, in every country, in every family, by every individual. What if is only positive when asked with intent to improve the present, lay out a better future, and remediate the what if situations of the past.
Do we indeed have the will, the way, the strength, the goodness of soul that it will take to eliminate the negative what if and replace it with the positive, building aspect rather than the destructive aspect. Do we, can we gin up what is necessary? Can we work together? I cannot answer that question with any sort of certainty. Can any of us?
In the meanwhile -
Most important -if you are human.
Come back to your people. They welcome you. Bring your friends if they are indeed friends.
Unite, together, for what is right.
HEAL OURSELVES.
HEAL THE WORLD.
HEAL YITZY!
Yitzchak Elimelech ben Chana Sarah
May he be granted refuah shelaymah bimheyrah beyameinu.
AMEN. AMEN
AM YISROEL CHAI.
"May the Omnipresent One have mercy on our brothers the whole House of Israel who are in distress or captivity, whether on sea or land. May He lead them from distress to relief, from darkness to light, and from oppression to redemption, now, swiftly and soon - and let us say: AMEN.
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