Acharai! Let's Make A Deal

Acharai!  That means: After me!

Let's make a deal.  I won't ask you to do anything I haven't done or haven't had my husband or children do.  In exchange, you don't tell me to do anything you haven't done, or you haven't had your spouse children do, if you have such family members.

My list is very simple; I'm probably leaving important things out:

• I became religious.
• I made aliyah.
• We even rushed our citizenship, so we could vote in the 1973 elections, which were postponed a few months, because of the Yom Kippur War.
• My husband served in the IDF, and decades later, so did our sons.
• Our daughters did the full two years of National Service.
• We went on Shlichut, did youth work for the Jewish Agency for two years in London.
• We moved to the Biblical City of Shiloh, which was liberated in the Six Days War.
• I've worked at many, many different jobs; none of them could make anyone rich in money.  Some were even very physically demanding.
• I hitchhike on the roads here, since we don't have a car, and there isn't always public transportation.
• And don't forget, I write and blog in my name, displaying an "untouched" picture, bluntly pointing out what and who must be changed in Israel and the Jewish World! 

Obviously, I can't demand that someone make aliyah if they've been here their entire life.  Nor can I say become religious to someone who knows no other life.  If someone is not in any condition to be accepted into the army, as long as you support the importance of the army for everyone.  No Christian "4D." 

It's absurd to give long lists of exceptions; so I won't, because most are just so obvious.

It has always been important to me to follow my ideals and dreams.  I find it easier than trying to defend myself with excuses.

Tamar, War Isn't So Simple

It's not enough to send our soldiers to war. Tamar Yona discusses it on her radio show and blogged about it, too.

We did defeat the Arabs in 1967, and the Moshiach was here, but then the politicians gave the key to Har Habayit to the Moslems and sent the Moshiach away.

For a war to be totally successful, we need the right political leadership and the left is fighting us with everything they have and we have to fight back and not be like Menachem Begin, who kept turning the other cheek, Altalena etc.

Sending our soldiers with Olmert, Barak, Mofaz etc in charge is to kill them for nothing. You can't just let soldiers fight without a leader with vision, who knows what we're all fighting for. Anarchy isn't a solution.  Our soldiers are too precious to be used to prop up corrupt regimes. 

And to those who aren't full and active citizens of the State of Israel, like the Chareidim and Jews who live in Galut, you just weaken us. Why should our sons be your cannon fodder?

The Moshiach won't reveal himself until we all unite and fight together.

The Reed Sea didn't open up until Nachshon entered, and it took until the water was up to his nose. And if Avraham had refused to take Yitzchak to be sacrificed, he would have been punished for disobeying G-d's command. Remember that Yitzchak lived, he wasn't killed or sacrificed, but he had to see the glint of the knife without flinching, or he wouldn't have been saved.

So all of you standing on the sidelines of Jewish History, hiding out in the Beit Medrish or your favorite kosher pizza place in Toronto or Glatt Kosher restaurant in Golders Green, the Moshiach is waiting for you here in the Holy Land. There's an army uniform sewn and ready and a Teudat Zehut (Identity Card) waiting for your name.

Don't you dare give us orders form afar. How can new leadership be voted in without your votes?

We have a beautiful Land with room for all of you. Hurry, please.

So Much Unfulfilled Dreams...

I must thank Boker Tov, Boulder for the most extraordinary post about Shiloh and the human price we have paid to the dangerously misguided politics and philosophy controlling our existence.

ENOUGH! We, the Mothers of Israel, Should Take our Cue -- if we don't want our children and grandchildren "in the same row"

I must admit that I couldn't have done it, researching and quoting about all the young Shiloh people resting in graves rather than studying or building families. It's all too close; I know all of the families. I'll just share what a younger sibling of one of those holy children said at an Azkara, memorial ceremony:

"You are/were my older brother, but now, I'm older than you were when you were killed. It's very hard to get used to."

That is the reality. All of us blessed with life grow older, the children become adults and we adults get wrinkled and grey. Our children marry and become parents making us grandparents, and grandparents become great-grandparents, but those murdered miss it all.

The Shiloh Cemetery was opened after Rachella Druk, HaYa"D, was murdered. She left a husband and seven young children. The oldest was about the same age as Yonatan Eldar, HaYa"D, was when murdered a few short days ago, and the youngest was just a toddler. Rachella never had the opportunity to dance at her children's wedding, nor hold her grandchildren. As painful as her murder was for her family and friends, at least her life is continuing through her children and grandchildren.

The young people in that upper row of the cemetery have left a gaping hole in humanity, so much unfulfilled dreams and potential.

HaMakom Y'Nachem