It would be nice to have a day in which our minds were erased of pain and tragedy. Actually, that's what the Left would want. That's what Peres probably means when he says that we shouldn't be burdened or restricted by history.

Pain is a warning. It says:

Watch out!

Don't!

This could damage something.

When we use pain killers, local anesthetics, it's like stuffing our ears from warnings. We can do serious damage to our bodies.

We have a Memorial Day to remind us that we have enemies who want us destroyed, and they don't care how many of our neighbors, children, siblings, spouses etc they kill. They want us all dead.

We must remember never to give into our fears and never forget that we must survive and strive for a great strong secure country.

We must remember that we don't need anybody's approval.

All we need is G-d, and G-d wants us here. And G-d wants us to fight for our Land and country. That's why we have Memorial Day.

And as the sun sets on Memorial Day we thank G-d, say Hallel and celebrate Yom Ha'Atzmaut, Israel's Independence Day.

Musings #13

May 22, 2003

A Club I Don’t Want to Join

The other night I was at a beautiful, joyous wedding. The bride was one of the younger daughters of people I have known since my teens. When she smiled I went back almost forty years, when I first knew her mother.

I knew quite a few people there, but not from our mutual past. These friends have something in common with the parents of the bride. They are all bereaved parents; one of their children was killed by Arab terrorists.

They are all members of a club I don’t want to join. The parents of the bride are veteran members. She befriends other parents whose children are killed to help them rejoin and regain “normal life.” Everyone could see the joy she, her husband and parents get from her surviving children and grandchildren.

The Arab terrorists murder and maim Jews. They cause great pain to the surviving family and friends, BUT THEY CANNOT DESTROY US. We are surviving, and we will always survive! We survived slavery in Egypt. We survived Haman in Persia. We survived the Greeks. We survived the Crusaders. We survived the Inquisition. We survived the Nazi Holocaust, and we will survived these murderers and all of their supporters.

I have no doubts. Every generation has its challenges and its heroes.

Batya Medad,  Shiloh

You really do, or you'll go nuts, or worse.
I invite you to send me more incongruous examples

Just now, I turned on the computer, went to the Arutz 7 English homepage and saw these two headlines.

Lt.-Gen. Ashkenazi in Auschwitz: 'We Have Learned Our Lesson'
Lt.-Gen. Ashkenazi, the son of a Holocaust survivor, is the first Chief of Staff to lead a delegation of IDF officers on the March of the Living. (complete article)

Defense Minister Barak gives orders to remove three critical checkpoints in Judea and Samaria, allowing terrorists to travel unhindered. (complete article)

• Do these politicians, and I have no doubt that the IDF Chief of Staff is no less a politician than any MK or Cabinet member, ever really coordinate things? 
• Do they read their speeches or just recite pretty words? 
• Do they look any further in the future than the immediate applause of our enemies? But applause is applause, right?

I invite you to send me more incongruous examples like the two I just posted, inconsistency, hypocrisy etc.

Thanks and Keep Smiling, Just Don't Grind Your Teeth Too Much

Oxymoron of Sorts
I Didn't Always Know About The Holocaust

It may just be my mind's connecting Hebrew to English and all the connotations they bring to mind, but I find a peculiar irony, contradiction, even absurdity in the Hebrew phrase לחגוג "lachgog et Yom HaShoah," "to celebrate Holocaust Memorial Day."

It's not a חג holiday. It's a sad, reflective memorial day.

Yes, today the official Israeli media concentrates on remembering, educating Israelis of all ages about what the Nazis did to the Jews 65-70 years ago.

Unfortunately, but not unsurprisingly, they don't connect any of today's events to give the public a warning of today's dangers.

I Didn't Always Know About The Holocaust

Unlike many of my friends, I wasn't raised aware that there had been a Holocaust, that six million innocent Jews had been murdered by the Nazis etc.

When we were talking in the Teachers Room today, one of the teachers was very shocked. She was also surprised that I didn't go to Jewish schools as a kid.

I grew up in Bell Park Gardens, a lovely then brand new neighborhood in Bayside, NYC. It was a Veterans Authority development, like many built after WWII. None of the parents I knew had foreign accents. Like mine, they were all raised in the USA, and our fathers had all fought in WWII. We were almost all Jewish, probably over 90% of BPG, at that time, the 1950's early 1960's. I can't tell you what happened there afterwards.

I first heard about the Nazis and Holocaust when the Diary of Anne Frank was published, and then more details of what happened in Nazi Germany were publicized when Eichmann was captured.

...they don't connect any of today's events to give the public a warning of today's dangers.
Israeli kids grow up with knowledge of the Holocaust. I grew up innocent. But today's kids are more pessimistic.

This story from a Simple Jew may help.

We, too, pray for a leader, who like Shmuel will act only for the good of the Jewish People.
We're continuing with our custom of celebrating Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of the Jewish Month, at Tel Shiloh. Rosh Chodesh is known as the "women's holiday," and Tel Shiloh is the perfect place to celebrate the spiritual strength of women.

It was at Shiloh where Chana prayed for a son who would work for G-d and transform the troubled, tribal nation into a united kingdom. Her son, Shmuel (Samuel) anointed the first two Jewish Kings, Saul and David. We, too, pray for a leader, who like Shmuel will act only for the good of the Jewish People.

G-d willing, we will meet on the first day of Rosh Chodesh Iyyar, Monday, May 5, at 9:45am at the Gallery Cafe` and then we'll walk around the Tel until we stop for our prayers, said privately.

  Tel Shiloh is popular with tourists from all over the world.

Rosh Chodesh Iyyar, Monday, May 5, at 9:45am at the Gallery Cafe`
The Mishkan, Tabernacle, served as the spiritual center for the Jewish Tribal Nation for 369 years. We can still sense the Shechina and Ketoret, G-d's presence.