In the myriad of volumes, documentaries and various other forms of archived information focusing on the greatest Jewish tragedy of our time, the unspeakable Holocaust, one incontrovertible fact emerges: there were warning signs of the impending doom that awaited European Jewry. There were lone voices, like that of the great visionary Zev Vladimir Jabotinsky, who cried out "Jews! A fire is burning! Liquidate the exile before the exile liquidates you!" There were desperate acts by selfless, courageous Jews, such as Rabbi Dov Weismandl, who, while hiding in a cave from the bestial Nazis, sent desperate messages pleading with world Jewry to rescue our brothers and sisters who were being shipped en masse to the gas chambers.



Tragically, for the most part, the plaintive pleas of these heroic Jews were either ignored or disbelieved. Had their warning cries been heeded, millions of Jews who were murdered in Hitler's (may his cursed name be forever obliterated) diabolical Final Solution might have been saved.



We cannot change the horrors of the Jewish past, but, with G-d's help, we are duty-bound to change the Jewish future.



Today, deja vu events are unfolding before our very eyes, as once again the world closes its collective eyes to the wanton slaughter of Jewish men, women and children in bus bombings, shootings, stabbings and other nefarious acts of Arab terrorism in Israel. Bitterly ironic, however, is the apathy and callous indifference to these thousands of innocent victims on the part of other Jews, who, incredibly, often voice support for Israel's enemies. Yet, the coup de grace, which causes all other anti-Israel acts to pale into insignificance, is being committed daily by "leaders" of the Jewish State. This is epitomized by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's continuous capitulation to the demands of Yasser Arafat's replacement and alter ego, Abu Mazen, the so-called moderate head of the Palestinian Authority.



No longer does Sharon consider Abu Mazen and his gang of reformed Arab terrorists (sic) to be Israel's enemy. Rather, it is now those Jews whom he formerly encouraged to build and settle in lands that, with G-d's help, were liberated in yet another Arab war who are considered "the enemy". Today, when mass media communications transmit news events in a matter of minutes, no Jew can say, "I didn't know," only "I didn't care."



World Jewry sees and hears daily graphic reports of the brutal beatings and arrests meted out by Jewish police to Jewish men, women and children who oppose Prime Minister Sharon's plan to uproot them from their homes in Gaza, Judea and Samaria. World Jewry sees and hears that detention camps are being built (yes, detention camps in Israel) for the residents of the Gaza and Samaria communities and their supporters who will refuse to be expelled.



World Jewry sees and hears that Jews loyal to G-d's commandment to settle every part of Eretz Yisrael, who rightfully protest the outrage of rewarding Arab murderous terrorists with our sacred land, are vilified and demonized by their own government; thus inciting leftists of every ilk and stripe to potential acts of violence against the so-called "extremist settlers". Yet, despite knowing about these traumatic occurrences, the majority of the Jewish people prefer to sit comfortably (or so they believe) in the Diaspora, watching from the sidelines, as it were, while their beleaguered brethren in Gush Katif, Judea and Samaria battle for the very survival of Medinat Yisrael.



Judaism teaches that "the righteous shall live by his faith." True faith in one's belief calls for commitment to actions and deeds in difficult times.



At this crucial juncture in Jewish history, Jews throughout the world who choose to close their eyes and ears to the plight of our brothers in Gush Katif - deluding themselves that they need not become involved in the struggle against the "piece by peace" dismantling of the Jewish State because it does not directly affect them - have not learned the bitter lesson of the Holocaust. In the final analysis, such Jews, regardless of their ostensible piety, are not practitioners of Torah-true Judaism, which admonishes us not to "stand idly by" our brother's blood. Rather, those deluded pious Jews have a "fair-weather faith", which ultimately proves to be unfaithful to G-d, as well as to the Jewish people.



[Join with the thousands who will show solidarity with the courageous residents of Gush Katif in a day of fasting and prayer, to take place, please G-d, this Thursday, March 17, 2005. For further details, please contact (in Israel) 02-582-2224.]