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Iyar 2, 5768, 5/7/2008

We Remember


In some ways it seems like Memorial Day is superfluous. Even those of us lucky enough not to be "in the club" have trouble going a day without remembering at least one of those killed in army action or murdered by Arab terrorists. I thought I was the only one constantly reminded, but my neighbor, Rabbi Dov Berkovits, said something similar at the cemetery this morning.

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.




Iyar 1, 5768, 5/6/2008

A Club I Don’t Want to Join


Tonight is Israel's Memorial Day, when we pay our respects to those who sacrificed everything so that we can live. In Shiloh we had an extremely moving ceremony. I'll blog about it at another time. My emotions are too raw right now. Here is something that suits my mood. I wrote the following a few years ago:

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




Nissan 29, 5768, 5/4/2008

You Need A Sense of Humour


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



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The Eye of the Storm

by Batya Medad
A Unique Perspective by Batya Medad of Shiloh
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Batya Medad made aliya from New York to Israel in 1970 and has been living in Shiloh since 1981. Recently she began organizing women's visits to Tel Shiloh for Psalms and prayers. (For more information, please email her.)  Batya is a veteran jblogger and recently stopped EFL teaching.  She's also a wife, mother, grandmother, photographer and HolyLand hitchhiker, always seeing things from her own very unique perspective. For more of Batya's writings and photos, check out:

Shiloh Musings

And:

me-ander