Every Sabbath of the year a new portion of the Hebrew Bible is read, this one entitled a command, to listen, to hear. This Bible is the history and the ethos of the Israelites, of Jews throughout the millennia, no matter where they lived, no matter how cut off they were from the world. No matter how strictly the rules regarding outside denial of the right to do so, none of it mattered, for within those words are contained the very gist, the center, the makeup of Judaism and the act of being a Jew in every which way - of terminology, of observance, of adherence - to the ancient people from whom modern day Jews have descended in a straight line, in an unbroken chain, no matter how hard the pressure was to shatter this chain, to break each and every link upon it, or of its composition. Every such effort failed. We were here. We are here. And here we will remain. No different than any other time of history. No matter how hard, bizarre and cruel the attempts to gainsay that survival.
Why was this so? Why did none of the many attempts to destroy us and in fact, some were extremely successful, never ever come to fulfill their original evil goal. Pogroms, accusations of blood libel, lynchings, burning at the stake, forced conversions, denial of rights, kidnappings of children and impressing of the sons into 25-year terms of service in the military, suppression of Jewish education and observances, expulsions, refusal of entry into havens of safety and survival. Even, in fact, times of great prosperity resulting in other forms of pressure to discard Judaic Heritage and become one of the many others, to follow their calendar and customs, to hide their identity from all, for many, many reasons. And to return in time for many other reasons, including a longing for a true belonging, a remembrance of times and traditions of childhood, forced return to their People as the haters of the world dug to "out" them, oppress them, and in fact, attempt to follow through on the evil ambitions of those who came before - and all to no avail.
And why is that? We are 2% of the population of the world, a true minority and yet we get none of the breaks accorded to minorities but do, in fact, have all the denials and the prejudice sent our way. With great vim and vigor and enthusiasm. Why is it that, despite our introduction to the world of the greatest book, our Bible, the presentation of the idea and the devotion, the belief, in one G-d, no matter the name given, the first codified code of justice, the rules of society demanding that those in need, those who are in worse condition, those who are strangers, and those who cannot necessarily understand all that society is and demands of them, those who are blind and of lesser understanding, who are deaf to words of instruction, the weakest among us and the demands upon the wealthy to give of their time and wealth to others, who introduced the fact that no god, no true G-d, would demand sacrifice of humans, of children, and in fact demanded that we treat each other better, be more caring and fair in our attitudes, and even addressed the question of war - when and why and how. In fact, it was always upon us to be of benefit to the world, to leave the world a better place for every one of us having been in the world, to devote themselves to charity and good deeds, to be successful in their efforts but always in proper manner, to be philanthropists and to make no distinction in this philanthropy as its benefits fell upon Jew and non-Jew alike.
Yet all this was ignored, and our attempts to strive to be successful in our endeavors, to contribute to the world, to research better ways, better medicines, to improve society, to entertain and educate, to be loyal citizens, even governmental advisers and diplomats of the nations in which we resided - and for all that, we received snide remarks generated by jealousy, by those envious of our success even as they refused to put in the hard work necessary, by those needing to use us as scapegoats and deflections from their own inadequacies, with accusations of being anything and everything which they opposed or resented: from communists to socialists to capitalists; to bankers and control of all industries: control of the press and all media: of subversion and disloyalty to the nations we served in their armies, in their civilian needs and their governmental needs and demands. We were portrayed as feeders upon society, as perverts and in both underground in covert manner and overt education, this was taught to the children of the world and reinforced among the adults as well.
Most irritating to the Jew haters and to the self-hating and self-denying Jews was that along with contributing to the world in general, of faithful service to the countries where we resided, there remained an internal integral part of Judaism, never denied or discarded. A longing to return to Zion, to our indigenous, G-d given and promised homeland. The land of our forefathers, to be ours, forever given to the children and descendants of Abraham, the forefather and all the forefathers and foremothers who followed, down to the least among us.
There was no separation, no distinction, for this return to Zion, known in modern times as Zionism, is not new. Always has been front and center, prominent in our prayers and traditions. For 3000 years, be it within our homeland or in exile, we prayed to remain or to be able to return. To be able to fill all the commandments of our Bible as dictated to us by God via the great among us, including Moses and Aaron, Joshua and David, Solomon and Hannah, the Maccabees, all the prophets who kept us on the straight and narrow, or warned us to return, lest misbehavior bring downfall upon us. Even within the poorest of Shtetls, of villages, in cities, in nations, one and all, in all eras and times of history, in all times of persecution and slaughter, even within the ghettos and the concentration camps and the harsh treatment rendered unto any remaining Jews among Arab and Muslim nations after the Declaration of the State of Israel in 1948 - Always these prayers remained the same, albeit in varying tunes. But the words, the yearning, the direction of prayer, the same.
From Ethiopia to America, from India to England. From the Anusim, the hidden of Spain and New Mexico and Central and South America, always the remembrance, the longing to return. And they have, from Venezuela to Myanmar, from Iran and Iraq to France, from South Africa and Australia to the entire American nation. More so now than in a long time for the evil currents and winds of hate, of toxic and viral anti Semitism, of vicious JewHatred, have grown exponentially, have quickly morphed from words of hate towards words encouraging and urging of violence, to acts of violence, to murder, to overt avowal to destroy any and all Jews of the world, particularly the entity known as the State of Israel, the eternal Homeland of the original indigenous, the Israelites.
We have long known that the only eternal place of safety and defense for Jews no matter where they lived was a Homeland of their own. What better to serve that purpose than the already growing movement of return, to Jews already and for always residing there, never having ever left the land bereft of Jews over the 2,000 plus years of Exile of the majority, to those so in desperate need of haven - the modern nation, the State of Israel, Medinat Yisrael.
For we all know, and have vowed, that never again will that land of ours be defeated again, ever. We will never be exiled again from the land of Avraham Avinu, Abraham, Our Forefather. To the last stone, to the last bit of falsehood and treachery of the nations of the world, we will listen and hear, hear and listen, and heed the words of our Bible, we will hear and listen to our history and we will defend the land, defend the people, and be true to our heritage and to the gift from G-d to us - the Land of Israel. From the oldest to the youngest, from the important to the least of us, from those who preceded us to those who will follow, from any ethnicity, color or origin after Exile - we know our eternal home, even as we continue to serve our current nation -as long as they remain true to us.
Yesterday, today and tomorrow, it matters not, as for always, for eternity, we will be here, strong in our beliefs and strong in our contributing to a better world.
Would that the nations of the world finally realize and accept that, its reality, and then, perhaps peace will reign among us.
I so wish for that.
I so hope for that.
Especially for the little ones we all cherish.
As do we all.
As should we all.
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