Said by a mother to her children on her way out the door, answering the call she received to reservist duties. On Oct 7. Unknown to her family she had signed up for duties during times of mass disaster in Israel. Oct 7 definitely was such a time. Glaringly, brutally obvious was the horror of a massacre of Israelis, anyone, caught in the vicious homicidal net of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and any random civilians wishing to join in on the fun. It was indeed a tempting romp that could not be withstood. Free to indulge in the worst of the demons that plague men's souls. To rape, to murder, to butcher, to mutilate, to kidnap, to plunder!!! No boundaries, all were fair game, from babes to the elderly. No matter at all.
Residents and guests, family and friends, were slaughtered or stolen away to die, to undergo the worst of one's imaginings and most horrific nightmares - only these were the daily new facts of life and death for thousands who were butchered or held as blackmail to coerce Israel into giving whatever was asked.
Israel is a nation which has many families within an overall encompassing one family of the entire nation. "We are all each other's families," said one of the crowd. The wounded, and dead, the kidnapped and the missing, belonged to all, to each and every Jew, and most of world Jewry stood up tall and did what they must, from funds to personal action and participation, to feed the soldiers, equip them with gloves and candy, to hug them, to enfold them within the warm and loving embrace of families. Sons, daughters, fathers, husbands, wives and mothers, brothers and cousins, uncles and aunts, all family. A nation changed forever, as even those who drove children from Gaza to medical treatment in Israel were targeted, by those who had been extended arms of friendship to them.
Perhaps, however, most cutting, though not ultimately surprising, was in the rather swift abandonment of the false sympathy, the crocodile tears shed by weeping member nations of the world. Replaced by swift, almost instantaneous condemnation as Israel did as any legitimate nation would have done - rescue, put an end to this, to the endless attacks inflicted on Israeli citizens, even as they fought in enemy territory, even as they fought to keep the civilians, such as they were, out of the danger imposed upon them by their bloodthirsty rulers - Hamas, the rulers they had voted in and allowed to remain as such.
These citizens were used as weapons, tunnels dug beneath homes, through homes, schools, hospitals, aid centers, rife with Hamas operatives, paid for by funds of UNWRA, much of that supplied via USA funding. And as our captives were dying, brutalized, unfed, dehydrated, cold, alone, wounds untended. Children and elderly treated as soldiers, Red Cross, international laws - nowhere to be found for the captives, written off, discounted, of no value, until the blackmail demands, outrageous, untenable, and yet, paid they must be for how else to rescue our family members. Even as we knew that payment would inevitably lead, as it had in the past, to more murder, more blood spilled, more horror, more blackmail and anguish, but yet - what else to do?
"We will talk about it later" is fine, maybe not so fine, for the family of the mother called away from her kids but it certainly does not work for the existential security of Israel. Not one whit. When one Torah rescued from a fierce battle has 66 pieces of shrapnel caught in its sacred parchment, when synagogues are destroyed, ransacked, desecrated, when bodies are treated disrespectfully, as toys, with viciousness -we cannot talk about it later. When the related cutting, acidic toxin of antisemitism raises its rejuvenated, never dying always present antisemitism, there is no later, only NOW.
We cannot withstand ever growing threats against us, the continued, ever stronger, ever more demanding, ever more existentially perilous demands laid upon us via false flag sympathizers, actually enabling our enemies to further their quest to eliminate Israel, Jews, from this earth.
But how to pierce this awful veil of hate, the vicious blinding fog that captures us within its shroud like mists or escape the muck which clings to our shoes and our souls, unable to move forward, only sideways or back or simply static. Unable to think, to reason, there is no way out. \Unless, we actually have a miracle and find two people able to converse, to reason, to compromise, to find a peace which is tenable and permanent.
Where are they? Have they been born yet, or have they been here and gone home already? A search for them is imperative, for "talk about it later" is way past its shelf date, too close to the not to be used anymore date. There is no time to talk later. Somewhere on this planet there must be at least two capable of this feat. To save us from ourselves. Somewhere, a desperate plea. Stating “La gha-leb il-la lah.” or "G-d wins" is not the answer. G-d does not win via blood and horror. Nor is maintaining that some are black, and some are white, but we are gray. No go. There are times when there is no alternative to either 'fer or agin'. The right side or the wrong. No equivocating, no pathetic "but". Black/White.
We cannot all end as did Rita Moreno in the remake of West Side Story, an old woman, mournfully, softly, longingly, singing of a time when hate will be no more, where there will be an actual sometime, somewhere place for all. No room for hate.
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My Yitzy, we all hope you are in such a place, your goodness and innocence rewarded. In fact, we know so, buoyed in that belief by the signs, by the one you sent your mom at your graveside as she sat reading Tehillim, praying you are out of pain, free, happy, indulging in your love of nature, talking with G-d, learning and teaching, - and of course having as much chocolate as you want.
We so love you, Yitzy.
Always and forever. Always and forever.
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