During my eleven years in Soviet prisons for attempting to hijack an airplane to escape to freedom in the Land of Israel, one of the things which kept my faith strong was a postcard which I received from my sister who had managed to immigrate to Eretz Yisrael. The postcard pictured a sun-filled landscape of the Promised Land. For me it was proof that my dream was real and possible to achieve if I did not surrender to the obstacles in my path.
Today I am a grandfather in Jerusalem. My sons and sons-in-law are soldiers in Tzahal. The struggle for the Land of Israel continues.
I call upon all of you, Jewish brothers and sisters throughout to world, to come join us in protecting our Land and our Nation and in further actualizing a dream of 2000 years.
There are people who have a sweeping vision of history. They are able to predict historical developments which will bring about great change in the world. One such world-changing event was the exile of the Jewish People from its ancestral Homeland.
For nearly 2000 years our nation suffered a long and difficult wandering from one foreign land to the next without any national sovereignty of our own. We suffered through the Crusades; the Inquisition and expulsion from Spain; the revolutions in Russia with endless pogroms against Jews; and the horrors of the Nazi regime.
Today, one does not have to be a prophet to understand that the world is undergoing another historical revolution which will have far-reaching implications.
For example, Europe is experiencing Muslim infiltration via a vast Muslim immigration, the goal of which is to conquer the modern Western world. As a reaction to the massive Muslim intervention, Europeans have begun fighting against the Islamic revolution they face in order to save common Judiac-Christian values from becoming lost and forgotten.
In a similar fashion the Woke movement in the United States is trying to eradicate traditional American values.
These extreme and fanatic movements for change invariably adopt an anti-Semitic slant. Jew hatred becomes the fashion of the day. As we have learned many times the hard way, this anti-Semitism can lead to violence and worse.
It is a natural tendency for people to avoid the need to face unpleasant realities. People choose to placate themselves with the thought that everything will pass by without painful repercussions. However our Sages teach that the wise person sees the “nolad” - the future situation that the present will lead to. An intelligent person with a knowledge of history and the ability to perceive matters clearly realizes that the present state of mankind is no passing fad. The present situation threatens every Jew in the world and his family.
The only place that a Jew can feel safe is in the State of Israel, even though we are at war, because here a Jew can hold a gun with an army of Jewish soldiers by his side and fight to defend his life and the life of the Jewish Nation.
There is a ballad that was sung in Poland before the Holocaust. “Our city is in flames. Why do you stand with your hands in your pockets? No one will save you. You must save yourselves. Open your eyes and see – the enemy already has conquered half of the city. Don’t stand by and do nothing on the side.”
To my sorrow, people didn’t listen to this truthful warning. They hoped that perhaps the danger would pass. Alas, raging conflagrations don’t die away by themselves.
Dear bothers, face reality. Don’t fool yourselves. The city is going up in flames. Come home to Israel where we will be together and where we can triumph over the terrible evil confronting us with our weapons and with our faith.
Am Yisrael Chai!
Yosef Mendelevitch is a refusenik from the former Soviet Union, also known as a "Prisoner of Zion" and now a rabbi living in Jerusalem who gained fame for his adherence to Judaism and public attempts to emigrate to Israel at a time when it was against the law in the USSR.