An open letter to dearest Ehud

we have no way of preventing these rocket attacks from recurring
Our dearest Ehud,

We would like to express our deepest gratitude to you following your visit to Ashkelon earlier today. We found your statement there, to the Jewish people of the city quite informative and encouraging. You told the people to be prepared for more rockets - that you, the prime minister of Israel have no good new for them - that they will have to get used to it, that Israel has no way to stop the rocket attacks. That really is music to our ears.

Ehud, you have now experienced two tastes of our missiles - coming from the north, into Haifa, Safed, Kiryat Shemona, Meron; and now also from the south, into Sderot and Ashkelon, as well as many smaller Jewish communities.

Know, dear Ehud, that this is only the beginning. Soon we are going to up the dosage, and more rockets will rain down upon you, flooding your people from the air. We are going to shoot from the north and south, and also from the north east, hitting major populated Jewish cities, and soon after that, when the new state is established, it should come as no surprise to you when Kfar Saba and Petach Tikva are assailed. And I would suggest that your diplomatic flights in and out of our occupied land not utilize the Ben Gurion airport. We are training very hard and expect to have expert marksmen to shoot down your airplanes. We are sure you wouldn't want to be on one of those.

And then, our friend, we will really let loose - aha - you really believe that you'll be able to take out the BIG missiles - we have news for you - our colleague Mahmoud is no Idi Amin, and not even a Sadam Hussein - and besides which, you really think Bush and his cronies in Europe will allow you to endanger world peace - Ah - wait and see.

And you, our beloved one, will continue to tell your fellow countrymen that you have no solution to the rockets. After all, only hours ago you declared,  "Don't conduct yourselves as though the Grad rocket attacks were not a one-time thing; - we have no way of preventing these things (rocket attacks) from recurring."

Ah, how right you are.

So, our dearest of friends, we would like to offer you a deal - a kind of solution for you and perhaps, others. Actually you have three choices: You can either: stay where you are and try to catch the falling rockets - and die;

or, we will offer a temporary cease-fire, allowing all of you enough time, let's say a week or so, to get on ships and planes and get out of our land while you are still alive (we will refrain from aiming at the ships and planes for that period of time);

or finally, if you really wish to stay in our promised land, then very simply, accept that our way is right and your way is wrong. Become one of us.

Those are your three choices, Mr. Prime Minister, who has no solution to our rocket attacks. Those are your solutions. Make your decision and make it fast, because we have no more patience, and will not wait much longer - Prime Minister EHUD  NO SOLUTION.

Kindest regards to your lovely wife, son and daughter,
Hassan, Ismael and Bashar

Condolences to Nachum Segal

I didn't personally know Rabbi Zev Segal zt"l. But as they say, seeing the branches, you know a lot about the roots.

I remember many years ago, Nachum Segal, the Rabbi's son, came to Hebron to do a live broadcast on his early morning radio show, JM in the AM. But this wasn't your normal sit-down show. We went running all over Hebron, broadcasting over cell phones, the quality of which wasn't quite what it is today. I distinctly remember standing in the Tarpat-1929 section of the ancient Jewish cemetery in Hebron, not far from Tel Rumeida, with Nachum standing next to the grave of the "Matmid" - Shmuel HaLevi Rosenhaltz, who was the first Jew killed in the Hebron Massacre. "HaMatmid" - in English, the persistent one - in other words, always studying Torah. Nachum spoke about how his father knew the Matmid, and learned with him.

That's a very special yihus - or pedigree, having learned in the Hebron Yeshiva as far back as 1929.

Like I said, I never knew Rabbi Segal. But knowing Nachum, I can imagine what he was like. Because Nachum Segal, as tall as he is, has a heart to match. And that heart is filled with love for Am Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael and Torat Yisrael. And a whole lot of love for Hebron and Jerusalem.

Not too long ago Nachum was here for a day, broadcasting from the Gutnick Center outside Ma'arat HaMachpela. Despite a serious medical problem which almost kept him from making the trip to Israel, he radiated. Broadcasting live, from Hebron, well that just about overcame any other kind of issue that could exist.

Reading about Rabbi Zev Segal, and having spent time with Nachum over the years, in Hebron, at his New Jersey radio studio, and at various functions that he has hosted for Hebron, it's clear that the Rabbi educated his family with the finest education a Jewish child can receive. And he taught not only his family, rather hundreds and thousands of others, as a Rabbinic educator for decades.

I heard yesterday about Nachum's father's passing. It's difficult to say that at 91 years old, a person's death is 'untimely,' but in this case, it certainly seemed to have been just so. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it to the funeral in Jerusalem last night, but felt a real need to express sincere condolences, personally, and on behalf of the entire Jewish Community of Hebron and of our US office, the Hebron Fund, to Nachum and all his family.

HaMakom Yenachem otchem betoch shaar avlei Tzion v'Yerushalayim - May the L-rd comfort you amongst the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem, and my you know no more sorrow. I have no doubt that your continued work on behalf of Am Yisrael will be an iluyi for your father's neshama, and that his memory will be blessed by your deep love of Klal Yisrael.

Damage control - wall-style

I'd thought to write this morning about how Shabbat was quiet and relaxing. A Jerusalem men's choir visited Hebron and Kiryat Arba. They sang us through Sabbath morning prayers at Ma'arat HaMachpela, and it was just what the doctor ordered. Something of a cleansing of the soul.

But...

What can you do? Shabbat leaves us for another week and realities of life hit you back, like a punch in the nose.

This morning Israeli radio news featured the Thursday night massacre at Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav in Jerusalem. Bibi was interviewed, as was one of the deans of the Yeshiva, Rabbi Yehoshua Magnes.

But then.... Danny Yatom, member of the Labor party. What did he suggest? His cowardly solution is to build a wall, divided East Jerusalem from West Jerusalem, thereby 'protecting' the rest of the country from the animals on the other side.

However, as we all know, walls usually define boundaries, and in the case, such a wall would act as a G-d forbid, future border between Israel and a new terror state, abandoning parts of Jerusalem to the enemy.

This is, of course, Labor policy, dividing Jerusalem. Ghettoizing Israel. Living behind walls.

When asked about such things in Hebron, like, 'why don't you build walls to protect yourselves?" I answer like this:

"We left Eastern Europe to get OUT OF THE GHETTO. We didn't come to Israel to live in a ghetto. We say, in the national anthem HaTikva 'to be a free people in our land.' You cannot be a free people in your land living behind walls. If there's a problem, wall in the animals, (or better yet, get rid of them), but don't punish us for their crimes!"

But I do have a new idea, concerning walls. I think the time has come to construct new walls...AROUND THE KNESSET.

We can let them out once in a while for a breath of fresh air, but only within the boundaries of the walls. Telephone calls, monitored, once a day, for five minutes. They can even have visitors, twice a week, for a half hour at a time. But that's it.Let them experience what they are offering everyone else. This is called damage control - wall-style.

What do you think?