What bothers me most of all is the shameful silence and lack of action by community leaders - Jew and Christian. Where are they?
A Dangerous Silence
Ed Koch
April 12, 2010
jewishworldreview.com http://goo.gl/JZEK

I weep as I witness outrageous verbal attacks on Israel. What makes these verbal assaults and distortions all the more painful is that they are being orchestrated by President Obama.

For me, the situation today recalls what occurred in 70 AD when the Roman emperor Vespasian launched a military campaign against the Jewish nation and its ancient capital of Jerusalem. Ultimately, Masada, a rock plateau in the Judean desert became the last refuge of the Jewish people against the Roman onslaught. I have been to Jerusalem and Masada. From the top of Masada, you can still see the remains of the Roman fortifications and garrisons, and the stones and earth of the Roman siege ramp that was used to reach Masada. The Jews of Masada committed suicide rather than let themselves be taken captive by the Romans..
In Rome itself, I have seen the Arch of Titus with the sculpture showing enslaved Jews and the treasures of the Jewish Temple of Solomon with the Menorah, the symbol of the Jewish state, being carted away as booty during the sacking of Jerusalem.

Oh, you may say, that is a far fetched analogy. Please hear me out.
The most recent sacking of the old city of Jerusalem - its Jewish quarter - took place under the Jordanians in 1948 in the first war between the Jews and the Arabs, with at least five Muslim states - Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq - seeking to destroy the Jewish state. At that time, Jordan conquered East Jerusalem and the West Bank and expelled every Jew living in the Jewish quarter of the old city, destroying every building, including the synagogues in the old quarter and expelling from every part of Judea and Samaria every Jew living there so that for the first time in thousands of years, the old walled city of Jerusalem and the adjacent West Bank were "Judenrein" -- a term used by the Nazis to indicate the forced removal or murder of all Jews.. 

Jews had lived for centuries in Hebron, the city where Abraham, the first Jew, pitched his tent and where he now lies buried, it is believed, in a tomb with his wife, Sarah, as well as other ancient Jewish patriarchs and matriarchs. I have visited that tomb and at the time asked an Israeli soldier guarding it - so that it was open to all pilgrims, Christians, Muslims and Jews -- "where is the seventh step leading to the tomb of Abraham and Sarah," which was the furthest entry for Jews when the Muslims were the authority controlling the holy place? He replied, "When we retook and reunited the whole city of Jerusalem and conquered the West Bank in 1967, we removed the steps, so now everyone can enter," whereas when Muslims were in charge of the tomb, no Jew could enter it. And I did.

I am not a religious person. I am comfortable in a synagogue, but generally attend only twice a year, on the high holidays. When I entered the tomb of Abraham and Sarah, as I recall, I felt connected with my past and the traditions of my people. One is a Jew first by birth and then by religion. Those who leave their religion, remain Jews forever by virtue of their birth. If they don't think so, let them ask their neighbors, who will remind them. I recall the words of the columnist Robert Novak, who was for most of his life hostile to the Jewish state of Israel in an interview with a reporter stating that while he had converted to Catholicism, he was still a cultural Jew. I remain with pride a Jew both by religion and culture.

My support for the Jewish state has been long and steadfast. Never have I thought that I would leave the U.S. to go and live in Israel. My loyalty and love is first to the U.S. which has given me, the son of Polish Jewish immigrants, so much. But, I have also long been cognizant of the fact that every night when I went to sleep in peace and safety, there were Jewish communities around the world in danger. And there was one country, Israel, that would give them sanctuary and would send its soldiers to fight for them and deliver them from evil, as Israel did at Entebbe in 1976.

I weep today because my president, Barack Obama, in a few weeks has changed the relationship between the U.S. and Israel from that of closest of allies to one in which there is an absence of trust on both sides. The contrast between how the president and his administration deals with Israel and how it has decided to deal with the Karzai administration in Afghanistan is striking.

The Karzai administration, which operates a corrupt and opium-producing state, refuses to change its corrupt ways - the president's own brother is believed by many to run the drug traffic taking place in Afghanistan - and shows the utmost contempt for the U.S. is being hailed by the Obama administration as an ally and publicly treated with dignity. Karzai recently even threatened to join the Taliban if we don't stop making demands on him. Nevertheless, Karzai is receiving a gracious thank-you letter from President Obama. The New York Times of April 10th reported, "...that Mr. Obama had sent Mr. Karzai a thank-you note expressing gratitude to the Afghan leader for dinner in Kabul. t was a respectful letter,' General Jones said."

On the other hand, our closest ally - the one with the special relationship with the U.S., has been demeaned and slandered, held responsible by the administration for our problems in Afghanistan and Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East. The plan I suspect is to so weaken the resolve of the Jewish state and its leaders that it will be much easier to impose on Israel an American plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, leaving Israel's needs for security and defensible borders in the lurch.

I believe President Obama's policy is to create a whole new relationship with the Arab states of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, and Iraq as a counter to Iran - The Tyrannosaurus Rex of the Muslim world which we are now prepared to see in possession of a nuclear weapon. If throwing Israel under the bus is needed to accomplish this alliance, so be it.

I am shocked by the lack of outrage on the part of Israel's most ardent supporters. The members of AIPAC, the chief pro-Israel lobbying organization in Washington, gave Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a standing ovation after she had carried out the instructions of President Obama and, in a 43-minute telephone call, angrily hectored Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Members of Congress in both the House and Senate have made pitifully weak statements against Obama's mistreatment of Israel, if they made any at all. The Democratic members, in particular, are weak. They are simply afraid to criticize President Obama.

What bothers me most of all is the shameful silence and lack of action by community leaders - Jew and Christian. Where are they? If this were a civil rights matter, the Jews would be in the mall in Washington protesting with and on behalf of our fellow American citizens. I asked one prominent Jewish leader why no one is preparing a march on Washington similar to the one in 1963 at which I was present and Martin Luther King's memorable speech was given? His reply was "Fifty people might come." Remember the 1930s? Few stood up. They were silent. Remember the most insightful statement of one of our greatest teachers, Rabbi Hillel: "If I am not for myself, who is for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?"

We have indeed stood up for everyone else. When will we stand up for our brothers and sisters living in the Jewish state of Israel? 
If Obama is seeking to build a siege ramp around Israel, the Jews of modern Israel will not commit suicide. They are willing to negotiate a settlement with the Palestinians, but they will not allow themselves to be bullied into following self-destructive policies.

To those who call me an alarmist, I reply that I'll be happy to apologize if I am proven wrong. But those who stand silently by and watch the Obama administration abandon Israel, to whom will they apologize?

Jewish Hebron is not expendable!
Pesach in Hebron, 5770 - 2010
Over 30,000 people visit Hebron on Wednesday and Thursday of Chol HaMoed Pesach

The massive turnout of people to Hebron in the past few days is more than encouraging. It is a specific sign pointing to the healthy state of of the Jewish people in Eretz Yisrael, in the State of Israel. There would be those who would seek our expulsion from our homes in the first Jewish city in Israel. However, this is a small minority. An overwhelming majority of Jews in Israel understand the importance and significance of Hebron and Ma'arat HaMachpela to Jewish culture and tradition. Ma'arat HaMachpela did not need 'approval'  as a site of national heritage, being that this place is the very roots of all Jewish heritage in Israel. But it is heartwarming to again witness the tremendous love of Am Yisrael to Hebron and Hebron's Jewish community. These events spoke loudly and clearly to all Israel and the entire world:Hebron, Meaz u'leTamid - Hebron, past, present and forever.

We call on people from Israel and around the world to to continue visiting Hebron this summer, ensuring  that it will never be forgotten: Jewish Hebron is not expendable!

More photos on the Hebron Web site: www.hebron.com

Bid on a Hebron Post-Pesach Pizza Today!

http://goo.gl/0e5t

Yonatan and Aharon Razel at Ma'arat HaMachpela - MiSheAmdah

Please accept best holiday wishes from the entire Jewish Community of Hebron, including our Executive Director, Menachem Livni, Hebron Fund Director Yossi Baumol, Simcha Hochbaum, Noam Arnon, Avraham Ben Yosef, myself, and all the community.

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Tonight we will begin celebration of one of the most important events in the history of the Jewish people, and in the history of the world.

This is why, on the actual eve of that earth-shattering event, year after year, we remind ourselves of our true identity, of our true purpose, of the true reason cause of our liberation. Not to live like Egyptians, rather to live as the opposite, as a People of G-d. This is the definition of Jewish education.

Perhaps the quintessential element of Pesach is the traditional 'Seder,' reading the Passover 'Hagada,' repeating the ago-old story of the Israelite's exodus from slavery in Egypt.

Many Jews, be they secular or religious, know this story almost by heart. Kids learn about it in all Jewish religious school regardless of denomination. Observant Jews recite remembrances of the exodus in prayers, three times a day. So why must we again repeat the identical story, year after year?

The answer to this question can be expressed in almost simple words: education and identity.

The Jewish people still do not understand, as a collective, who we are, what we are, and why we were 'created' as a nation well over 3,000 years ago. We still do not comprehend the major components of Judaism: Am Yisrael – the Jewish people, Torah, and Eretz Yisrael. These can be represented as the heart, mind and soul of our existence, without which, we have no existence.

Again, why do we lack this seemingly straightforward realization? And again, in one word: Galut – Exile – Diaspora. The past two thousand years have chipped away at our national identity, as water dripping on a stone, slowly causing disintegration, the water forcing a hole into the hard rock. So it is with our people. We have forgotten who we are. The exposure to foreign culture and more significantly, the enormous distance from our own culture has eaten away at our internal identity, boring a hole into our spiritual psyche, creating a vacuum, which in turn has been refilled with an alien ethnicity, as contradictory to our being as water is to oil.

The present presents an additional issue. We are as teenagers, slowing coming of age, pulled by two opposite axis' – we are beginning to return to our roots, yet simultaneously still being pulled by foreign influence, stimulus affecting our lives, individually and nationally for hundreds and thousands of years. This situation creates massive confusion, which can be easily defined as psychological insanity.

How can we regain our clarity, our peace of mind, our true national identity and with it, our true way of life?  Commencement of such a project is, again, relatively simple. The direct opposite of the cause of this cancer: Aliyah – return to Eretz Yisrael, breathing the air of Eretz Yisrael, walking the land of Eretz Yisrael. Only when one escapes the physical and spiritual impurity of Galut, can a person begin to rid himself of the poisons invading ourselves for centuries.

And those, who for whatever cannot be here, they must immerse themselves so deeply in thought and action concerning Israel, that for all intents and purposes they are here – if not in body, in spirit. Until they can actually come home.

Only this will allow us, as a people, to return to ourselves, and to reorganize our thoughts and activities, rearranging our priorities, recognizing the wondrous reality of our national existence, and then, finally, acting as Jews, in our land, without any questions or hesitations.

What does this have to do with Passover?

According to Rav Kook, the exodus from Egypt played two important roles: First, it was a goal unto itself; liberation from slavery, both a physical and spiritual emancipation from a life and ideals which are the antithesis of Judaism. However, Rav Kook continues by explaining that the Exodus was also a means to an end; that aim being reception of Torah, and finally, fulfillment of that Torah in Eretz Yisrael, in Jerusalem, at Har HaBayit, Temple Mount, at Beit HaMikdash, the Temple. That is the genuine goal aspiration of the exodus from Egypt. Because only here, in Israel, can we really be ourselves.

This is why, on the actual eve of that earth-shattering event, year after year, we remind ourselves of our true identity, of our true purpose, of the true reason cause of our liberation. Not to live like Egyptians, rather to live as the opposite, as a People of G-d.  This is the definition of Jewish education.

At the end of the Seder we recite, Next Year in Jerusalem, Next Year in the Rebuilt Jerusalem. But remember, there's no Mitzvah, no commandment,  to wait until next Pesach Eve to come to Israel.

It can also be "Next Week in Eretz Yisrael."

Chag Sameach.

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Remember: Wednesday and Thursday this week all Ma'arat HaMachpela is open to Jewish visitors. Thursday afternoon the Hebron Pesach Music Festival will take place in the Ma'ara Courtyard. Details here.

And don't forget:

PATRIARCHS POST-PASSOVER PLANET-WIDE PIZZA AUCTION !!! 

Details at www.hebronfund.com

Look every 'world leader' in the eye, the righteous and the evil, and repeat, again and again: I will never forsake my people, I will never forsake my land, I will never forsake my G-d.
It's well known that Jewish Torah study can be divided into several different categories, known in Hebrew by the first letter of each word, 'Pardes.' This relates to the 'simple'  most literal meaning of Torah, through the most esoteric understanding, known as Kabbalah, or popularly, Jewish mysticism. Despite the growing popularity of the latter, even amongst non-Jews, in truth, very very few people can be called authentic Kabbalists, as genuine Kabbalah demands not only knowledge, but also an extremely high spiritual level, which few people ever reach.

For this reason, many Kabbalistic writings are extremely difficult to understand, and a massive amount of teachings are not even put down in writing; rather they are passed on from teacher to student orally, and are submitted only to those who are really deserving of this unique knowledge.

In addition there are a select few manuscripts which have been excruciatingly guarded over the centuries, viewed by the eyes of almost no human beings.

Being in Hebron has its advantages. I recently received one of the rarest manuscripts in existence, read it in one sitting, totally spellbound. I do not have permission to copy it for you, word for word, but I can repeat what I remember by memory.

The document is called 'The Moses Files' and was written some 3,300 years ago. The content is as follows.

Following Moses' first meeting with Pharaoh in Egypt, the enslaved Jewish Israelites began grumbling. Here the promised leader had arrived and guaranteed free passage from the hell they'd been suffering for over 200 years. They watched and waited impatiently, knowing that a major summit was in process, with the two leaders haggling between them.

Then, when the meeting had concluded, not only weren't they freed, but to the contrary, their conditions worsened. The Jewish Slaves Gazette, published by the Jewish Slaves Association, headlined: FAILURE! And the sub caption: Did Moses Blow It? Did Aharon Get the Words Right or Wrong?

An editorial demanded that Moses and Aharon be replaced with others, suggesting perhaps Datan and Aviram.

Moses, in an exclusive interview, suggested some patience, claiming that: "G-d will come through, just wait a bit. The best it yet to come."

The next few pages of the Files are illegible, but the next readable chapter starts with the word PLAGUES in huge letters.

As the plagues began, an hysterical debate began between various Jewish slave factions. Some people screamed to Moses, "What are you doing?  - this is only going to make things worse! Do you have any idea what the repercussions of this terror will be?! We'll never get out of here! Not only with they throw the first-born into the river; they're going to kill all of us! Leave us alone and let us just continue to live!"

And so it continued, plague after plague, with Moses and Aharon occasionally having to take cover from those demanding, time and time again, that they be immediately replaced with new leadership. As the plagues became harsher and harsher, so too was the opposition to the leaders. The Jewish Slaves Gazette headlined: HOW MANY PLAGUES WILL IT TAKE TIL THEY UNDERSTAND? Of course, this question was pointed not at Pharaoh, rather at Moses and Aharon.

Moses, despondent, with little strength left, told Aharon that he was leaving for a few days to take a walk in desert and perhaps confer with the Almighty, in an attempt to decide what to do. He told Aharon to set up a meeting with the opposition that could take place upon his return. Then he took off, as fast as his feet would take him.

Moses walked and walked, losing himself deep in the desert. The entire time he never stopped talking, praying, pleading, with G-d to help him, to show him the way. "Should I resign, should I form a coalition with them and bring a few with me to the next meeting with Pharaoh, what should I do?"

Night fell, stars glittered and rays of moonlight shined down, illuminating the rocky, sandy terrain. And that's when it happened.

"Moses, Moses," the Voice called, "Moses, Moses."  Moses looked up, and very nearly stopped breathing. The black sky above had opened up, and pictures started flashing before his amazed eyes.  Not being able to speak, not being able to ask, yet the questions flew through his head: what am I seeing, who are these people?

The images were blurry yet clear at the same time. People, men, women, children, tens, hundreds, thousands of people, Moses felt like he could almost touch them, yet they flew past him so fast. And they all had one thing in common: they all stared at Moses, with a deep piercing look emanating from their eyes.

The words exploded from his mouth: "My Dear G-d, who are they, why are they looking at me like that?"

"Moses, Moses, look closely at these people, for they are your offspring, these are the Jewish people to be born on this earth through the generations, until the end of days. These are your children, the children of Moses, the children of Israel, My children, the children of G-d, who will fill the earth, bringing my message to all mankind."

"Moses, Moses, they are looking at you so intently, because they know that without you, they have no future, they will never exist.

"Moses, Moses, not only you, the physical Moses, but the spiritual Moses, who has complete trust and faith in G-d, to follow the letter and spirit of the law, to lead the Israelites out from the slavery of the wicked Pharaoh, to receive My Torah, to lead them to the promised land, to Eretz Yisrael." Because, Moses, Moses, if you don't have faith, how will they have faith, how will they survive?" You are their anchor, their roots, from you they will absorb nourishment for eternity. All future Jewish leaders will look to you, as the preeminent example of what Jewish leadership should be.

And Moses continued peering into the hole in the sky, seeing fire and destruction, exile, return and exile, wanderings through foreign lands, inquisitions, Holocaust. And the Jews just continued staring at him. And he saw Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, David and Shlomo, the Caves at Machpela, Rachel in Bethlehem, Joseph in Shechem and the Temple in Jerusalem. He saw the foreigners and the Jews, and the conflicts and the questions, the weddings and the funerals, the laughter and the tears, and the Jews kept soaring past him, eyes glaring into his eyes.

"My Dear G-d in heaven, what must I do, what must I do?"

"Moses, Moses, just do what is right, you know what is right, just do what is right, have faith, keep the faith, just do what is right…."

And the voice faded away. And Moses suddenly saw all the millions and millions of souls lining up, as a huge group, one after the other, all staring at him. And Moses took a deep breath, stared back and said, "Yes My G-d, I promise, I will do what is right, I will never let my People down, I will never forsake My G-d – I believe, I believe, I believe."

And that being said, all the millions of souls stopped staring and began smiling and cheering and reciting: We believe, we believe, we believe: we will never forsake our People, we will never forsake our G-d. Shema Yisrael, HaShem Elokaynu, HaShem Echad."

And the great window closed, and the sky blacked again, for a moment, and then it was morning, the light of day brightened the sky, Moses returned, and, well, the rest is history.

The only apologies should come from those attempting to bar Jews from building homes and living in any neighborhoods in Jerusalem
PUBLIC STATEMENT REGARDING
ATTACK ON ISRAEL'S APPROVAL OF
BUILDING HOUSES FOR JEWS IN JERUSALEM***

THE TIME IS NOW