Blog/November 2012/Nov 16th
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| Nov 16th (See this week's devar torah) | Comments or questions? Click here! |
Hi, again!
Peace, dude! Can't we all just learn to get along? Unless you've been incommunicado in Antarctica for the past week, you're aware that Israel is now engaged in war (or if you prefer, "kinetic actions", in the Community Organizer's jargon) against the terrorist state of Gaza. Herein I'll give a little background, a little update of current-events as well as an explanation of why it is we can't just all get along, and what the Torah says we should do about it.
Of course, you may not know all this. The mainstream media have been, shall we say, less than forthcoming in their reporting. FOX for example, is still reporting (as of my writing this) that "War looms over Gaza", as if we're not quite at war. For the record, we're in the third day of "kinetic actions"; or in common parlance, "war".
But I promised you a bit of background, so here goes. Beginning last shabbat, the TOG (terrorists of Gaza) started sharing their "kinetic devices" (a.k.a. "rockets" and "mortars" and "RPGs") with the Israeli civilians in neighboring towns and cities. As the week wore on without any notable response from our government (and without any public condemnation by The One), the TOG became emboldened and increased the tempo of their gift-giving.
Three days ago, our government decided to reciprocate. After all, it is impolite to always receive gifts without returning the favor! Taking a cue from Obama and using the "audacity of hope", the IDF spectacularly eliminated the head of the TOG's military. This was only the entrée, of course; the full course commenced forthwith, with the rapid elimination of most of the TOG's secret missile installations. Well, they thought they were secret, anyway.
Of course, being who they are, the TOG could not lift their hands and surrender, so they increased the rate of gift-exchange. As of this writing, some 500 rockets have been fired at Israeli civilian targets in the 40 km or so vicinity of Gaza. One rocket hit an apartment building in Qiryat Malakhi. In a terrible irony, that missile killed a Chabad emissary and his wife, emissaries to India -- who were visiting Israel to attend a memorial service for another Chabad emissary to India and his wife (who were brutally murdered on that very date, in Mumbai).
As to why we can't just get along, one only need note the behavior of the Arab populace. I won't bore you with dozens of other such incidents because they're all of a pattern. The Arabs, in general, simply are not interested in peace. Certainly some are, perhaps even many. But a majority (not less than 60% according to polls) favor (and have favored for a long time) the "continuation of the struggle". That means violence against Jews, as stated explicitly in both the Hamas charter and that of the Palestinian Authority (the other enemy entity, which used to be called the "PLO". No, their charter has not been amended despite their commitment to do so).
And what, you ask, should we do about it? Some of my friends and acquaintances tell me that "violence doesn't solve anything", and we need to "break the cycle of violence". While I agree with the latter, I disagree with the former. The correct statement of fact is "insufficient violence doesn't solve anything". We have not yet engaged in sufficient violence, but I hope and pray we will mend our ways and do what is necessary to break the "cycle of violence", by utterly destroying the violent enemy. The sheep and the lion cannot reach a compromise. Those sheep who hope the lion will convert to vegetarianism end up as shawarma.
The Torah tells us that when we wage war, we need to wage it totally, and not be afraid of our enemies. If we engage them fully, and trust in God, He will help us conquer our enemies. Of course, the majority of our leaders don't really believe that, which is the reason we still have the problems we have. However, we must put our trust in God and in His emissaries the IDF, that they will ultimately take care of business.
In other (much better) news: Sarah's extremely ill friend whom we mentioned last week is recovering, B"H! However, she's still in the hospital and needs your prayers: Bracha Leah bat Sarah.
In culinary news: we ate our homemade sauerkraut this week. While none of my German friends would have been impressed with it, it was edible and we didn't get sick from it. If there's a next time, we'll have to remember to let it ferment another week or so in order to develop a more sour flavor. We also finally sorted the olives we picked last week; unfortunately, only a quarter were usable due to an insect infestation (olive fly). Oh, well.
We've got a full house this shabbat, B"H! Jeremy's sister and a friend of hers, as well as one of Sarah's best friends will be staying with us. Since they're all Norte-Americanas and since next Thursday is Thanksgiving, we'll do a "Thanksgiving-style" shabbat. But since it's also shabbat toldot, we will have our traditional soup in honor of the parasha: red-lentil soup, homemade ḥallah, ḥumus, sweet-and-sour salmon salad, deconstructed roast turkey, red-and-white rice pilaf, green-beans, candied yams, mashed potatoes, cholent, date-pecan cake and sorbet.
Until next week,
shabbat shalom!
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