Last week was a typical week by Israeli standards, filled with amazing euphoric highs and depressing, gut wrenching lows. On Wed, we honored the memory of over 22,000 soldiers (and civilians killed in terrorist attacks) killed defending Israel. During Yom HaZikaron, I attended a high school ceremony where students gave speeches and laid wreathes to commemorate the fallen soldiers from the various wars. At 10 AM, every single Israeli, not matter what they're doing, stops at the sound of a loud, eerie siren throughout the country (similar to the same siren heard on Yom HaShoah) signifying 3 minutes of silence. It's just as important as the United States Memorial Day or Veterans Day, but the holiday's sense has more meaning here. Don’t get me wrong, the sacrifices that my grandfather's generation made for the United States in WWII and the Korean War are immense. The entire world is forever in America’s debt for liberating and securing the safety of the World.
In Jerusalem, I can easily walk down the street and bump into Israeli veterans of every single battle from the war for independence in 1948 to the last conflict in Lebanon in the summer of 2006. Having always been a deep lover of history who appreciated numbers, dates, wars, and politics, Israel is a walking, breathing history book. I don’t need to read about Israel’s past, I can see and meet it up close in personal everyday. We’re not talking about George Washington crossing the Delaware River over 230 years ago. We’re talking about events that occurred no more than 60 years ago which continue to shape our lives as Jews, Muslims, Israelis and Palestinians.
On Thursday, we celebrated Israeli’s 60th anniversary known as Yom HaAtzmaut.
We danced, sang, ate at BBQ’s, watched a fire works show, and saw an amazing interactive slide show of Israel’s historical moments. I really felt proud and enjoyed the evening’s festive touch.
I also would like to take a moment and wish all the mothers, especially mine, out there Happy Mother’s Day! We owe so much to you. Thank you for your love and support!
Monday, May 12, 2008
Monday, May 5, 2008
Remembering
Every time I hear that great song by the Byrds, Turn, Turn, Turn, I am reminded of Spring time's purpose in our annual rebirth. In Israel, every spring shortly after Passover, we honor the memory of the 6 million Jews who were killed during the Second World War on Yom HaShoah. At first glimpse this is a "holiday", and I use that word very loosely because there is nothing happy about Yom HaShoah, better fit for the cold, dark, and dreary months of Nov or Dec. Well, it's not that cold in Israel during the late fall months, and upon a further review, Yom HaShoah is perfectly suited for the beautiful rejuvenation of spring.
A few weeks ago, I visited Yad Vashem, the World's foremost museum on the Holocaust dedicated specifically to the Jewish struggle against Hitler and his march to power across Europe. Although I am lucky enough due to many personal and accidental circumstances to not be directly affected by the Holocaust, I used to view the commemoration day as a time to grief. It is after all incredibly horrible what humanity allowed itself to do during those blood-soaked days in-between 1938 and 1945. I am well aware that mass genocide didn’t start of end with the Jewish Holocaust. You need not look any further to the Armenians, Rwandans, Serbs, Albanians, and the current struggle in Darfur. What makes the Holocaust so special and unique is that is the culmination of well over 2,000 years of painful, brutal, and punishing wandering for the Jewish people. It just wasn’t the Holocaust, but the Pogroms through Eastern Europe, the Inquisitions, Crusades, Blood Libels, and Roman expulsion that have shaped the Jewish image of survivors. In fact, the World's Jewish community was forced to deal with many smaller tragedies leading up the Holocaust, but nothing ever began to equate with the Nazi's systematic destruction of an entire people. While I believe the Turks are responsible for genocide against the Armenians, many scholars doubt that genocide ever occurred. There are no SERIOUS academic Holocaust deniers in my opinion. People like David Irving, are peripheral writers who are appropriately labeled as jokers with a subjective anti-Semitic agenda to malign the World's Jewish community and to praise Hitler's 3rd Reich.
So, I shed a few tears for the innocent lives struck down during the Shoah, and I usually watch Schindler's List, one of my all time favorite movies. However, then I get angry, pissed actually. How did we (the Jews) allow this to happen to us, and more importantly why did we ( the human race) allow more atrocities to occur in Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Cambodia, Chile, and on and on and on. I can site genocidal examples all day. The point is why hasn’t the useless United Nations or anyone else for that matter done anything to stop them from re-occurring. I am left feeling a sense of hopelessness for the human race. I think we, and I am included, are indifferent about the struggles of others; we only care about ourselves. As long I have a pay check and food on the table every week, who could ask for anything more? We, humanity, are unable to look beyond the end of our noses to understand, appreciate, and more importantly fight for those who cant fight for themselves, the voiceless weak in the World.
The Shoah as tragic and horrible as it was, gave the Jewish people a voice. I won’t sit and say that without the Holocaust Israel wouldn’t exist. No, that’s baloney. The Balfour Declaration had already allowed Palestine to be carved up among Jews and Arabs long before the Second World War. However, I have to wonder how many Jews needed to die before the World took our cause seriously enough? On Yom HaShoah, I feel alive and I can breathe good clean Israel spring air. This is something too many Jews were never able to do. On Yom HaShoah, I mourn the killing of 6 million but feel proud that we will never allow the world to turn its back on the Jewish people. I will do my part to not only say “Never Again,” but actually do something about it. It’s spring time; the birds are alive, the trees are in bloom and so are the Jewish people.
A few weeks ago, I visited Yad Vashem, the World's foremost museum on the Holocaust dedicated specifically to the Jewish struggle against Hitler and his march to power across Europe. Although I am lucky enough due to many personal and accidental circumstances to not be directly affected by the Holocaust, I used to view the commemoration day as a time to grief. It is after all incredibly horrible what humanity allowed itself to do during those blood-soaked days in-between 1938 and 1945. I am well aware that mass genocide didn’t start of end with the Jewish Holocaust. You need not look any further to the Armenians, Rwandans, Serbs, Albanians, and the current struggle in Darfur. What makes the Holocaust so special and unique is that is the culmination of well over 2,000 years of painful, brutal, and punishing wandering for the Jewish people. It just wasn’t the Holocaust, but the Pogroms through Eastern Europe, the Inquisitions, Crusades, Blood Libels, and Roman expulsion that have shaped the Jewish image of survivors. In fact, the World's Jewish community was forced to deal with many smaller tragedies leading up the Holocaust, but nothing ever began to equate with the Nazi's systematic destruction of an entire people. While I believe the Turks are responsible for genocide against the Armenians, many scholars doubt that genocide ever occurred. There are no SERIOUS academic Holocaust deniers in my opinion. People like David Irving, are peripheral writers who are appropriately labeled as jokers with a subjective anti-Semitic agenda to malign the World's Jewish community and to praise Hitler's 3rd Reich.
So, I shed a few tears for the innocent lives struck down during the Shoah, and I usually watch Schindler's List, one of my all time favorite movies. However, then I get angry, pissed actually. How did we (the Jews) allow this to happen to us, and more importantly why did we ( the human race) allow more atrocities to occur in Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Cambodia, Chile, and on and on and on. I can site genocidal examples all day. The point is why hasn’t the useless United Nations or anyone else for that matter done anything to stop them from re-occurring. I am left feeling a sense of hopelessness for the human race. I think we, and I am included, are indifferent about the struggles of others; we only care about ourselves. As long I have a pay check and food on the table every week, who could ask for anything more? We, humanity, are unable to look beyond the end of our noses to understand, appreciate, and more importantly fight for those who cant fight for themselves, the voiceless weak in the World.
The Shoah as tragic and horrible as it was, gave the Jewish people a voice. I won’t sit and say that without the Holocaust Israel wouldn’t exist. No, that’s baloney. The Balfour Declaration had already allowed Palestine to be carved up among Jews and Arabs long before the Second World War. However, I have to wonder how many Jews needed to die before the World took our cause seriously enough? On Yom HaShoah, I feel alive and I can breathe good clean Israel spring air. This is something too many Jews were never able to do. On Yom HaShoah, I mourn the killing of 6 million but feel proud that we will never allow the world to turn its back on the Jewish people. I will do my part to not only say “Never Again,” but actually do something about it. It’s spring time; the birds are alive, the trees are in bloom and so are the Jewish people.
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