anti-Semitism

Dance in the Face of Hate

Get ready for dancing! We need it, don’t we? What other people besides the Jews have the audacious spirit to sing and dance in the face of hate and terrorism? This instinct to unite in song and dance contrasts starkly with Israel’s enemies’ crude compulsions. In case you haven’t heard about them, here’s a handy-dandy Hate Fest Round-Up:

GERMANY: The anti-Semitic genie left the bottle as Islamists and neo-Nazis (because birds of feather, etc, etc) united in Berlin and Frankfurt to protest, hurl stones at police officers, and denounce Jews as sub-human animals. [Monday, June 14]

UNITED STATES: Anti-Israel protesters in Seattle screamed anti-Israel slogans and blood libels, claiming Jews kill and eat gentile babies and drink their blood. (More ironic because Kashrut laws forbid Jews to eat any animal blood.) Their unbridled, anti-Semitic spectacle climaxed with a call to destroy the Jewish state, and demonstrated again that anti-Zionism is indeed just anti-Semitism repackaged. So to be clear, they accused Israel of genocide, but in the same breath called for the extermination of the Jewish state. Clearly their continuity person was out to lunch. [Monday, June 14]

No, this isn't in the Middle East. This is Paris, France.
No, this isn’t in the Middle East. This is Paris, France.

FRANCE: A peaceful protest in Paris turned violent when anti-Israel mobs chanting anti-Semitic slogans cornered 200 Jews in a synagogue and hurled stones at them. At least 3 Jews wound up in the hospital as a result.  [Sunday, June 13] This is one of a series of anti-Semitic attacks in France recently that include firebombings and stabbings.

UNITED STATES: Pro-Israel demonstrators in Boston were swarmed by anti-Israel protestors, told to “drop dead,”  and called “Jesus killers.” Some were physically assaulted. [Sunday, June 13]

UNITED STATES: A beautiful pro-Israel rally in Los Angeles turned ugly when four violent Muslims with sticks beat any Jews in their path before police intervened. [Sunday, June 13]

No, this isn't the Middle East, it's London, England.
No, this isn’t the Middle East, it’s London, England.

ENGLAND: Hundreds of anti-Israel demonstrators brought London traffic to a halt by swarming the streets, scaling a double-decker bus, and chanting slanderous accusations against Israel. [Saturday, June 12]

MOROCCO: A popular rabbi in Casablanca, Rabbi Moshe Ohayon was beaten on Shabbat on his way to Friday-night services. The Arab attacker said it was “revenge for Gaza” and committed the assault in broad daylight. Passersby did not heed the rabbi’s calls for help. The Rabbi’s nose and ribs were broken. [Friday, June 11]

AUSTRALIA: A former IDF soldier in Melbourne was attacked from behind, beaten and cut by a knife by several Arabs who called him a “Jewish dog.” [Thursday, June 10]

UNITED STATES: Hundreds of anti-Israel demonstrators in New York City turned their protest into an all-out hate fest by chanting genocidal threats against the Jews. [Thursday, June 10]

UNITED STATES: 300 anti-Israel protesters surrounded 30 peaceful, pro-Israel demonstrators in San Francisco, calling for another intifada and the destruction of the Jewish state.  [Monday, June 7]

AND MORE: Thousands in Japan, Malaysia, India, Egypt, Pakistan, Norway and Indonesia marched in solidarity with Hamas, burning Israeli flags along the way. A popular hashtag trending in anti-Israel circles is #HitlerWasRight.

Think there’s a growing harassment of Jews? Have we entered a time when freedom lovers exercising their freedom of speech and religion risk assault? Will this improve as Islamic-supremacists continue to topple regimes, seize power and weapons, silence dissidents, and populate the West? You decide.

In the face of hatred, the Jewish people sing of Hashem, unity and miracles and let their song drown out the vicious chants of their depraved enemies.

This hatred is what Israel faces. And yet, her people choose to dance. They dance on the front line. They dance at the rallies. They sing of Hashem, unity and miracles and let their song drown out the vicious chants of their depraved enemies.

There’s a lot of darkness out there. But we are the dancers, the singers, the light. So, let’s get to it, ’cause that’s what we do!

My New Favorite Video – IDF soldiers & Breslov Chassids Dance, Face Their Mission in High Spirits with Emunah (Faith)! ♥

Our Brave IDF Soldiers Sing Their Way to the Kotel

Even During War, IDF Soldiers Sing of Faith & Miracles

L.A. Pro-Israel Rally – No Incitement or Hate Speech Here, Only Love

A Beautiful People – We Sing and Dance to Silence Hate

Share This Post
Follow Me

3 Holidays Tell A Love Story

TheUltimateSacrifice_Meetal
“The Ultimate Sacrifice” by Meetal, my favorite artist.

First Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Next Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day.
Then Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day.

The order and proximity of these events to one another isn’t just stam, per chance or random. One informs the next, showing us the dark so that we can see light.

Yom HaShoah, celebrated today, memorializes the Holocaust, one of the most horrific expressions of human cruelty in the history of mankind where 6 million Jews were systematically murdered, eradicating 2/3 of European Jewry.

Anti-Semitism, the irrational hatred of Jews, persists as a bloody stain on the consciousness of humanity. While the Holocaust is the most dramatic example of this hostility in modern history—pogroms, crusades, inquisitions, massacres, and expulsions targeting Jews existed for centuries before World War II. Even now, Iran denies the Holocaust while simultaneously plotting a second one. Anti-Semitism runs rampant, unhidden and unashamed, throughout the Arab world. And European anti-Semitism plays possum, pretending to be dead only to jump up quite alive and bite, as we’ve seen in Hungary, France and the Ukraine in recent months.

Jews’ historical, moral and religious claim to the land of Israel cannot be disputed (unless one wants to contest archeological science and rewrite history, and some try). But, the atrocities of the Holocaust helped the rest of the world to “get up to speed,” and concede that the time had come for international, legal recognition of Israel as the Jewish homeland. Millenia of displacement were quite enough. Jews needed to a safe place to call home and defend themselves, because the rest of the world could not be depended upon to behave morally and save them. After all, the perpetrators of the worst attacks on Jews in history were committed by the most “enlightened” and powerful societies of their day—the Hellenists, the Romans, the Germans, etc.

Yom HaShoah, we remember the horrors of the Holocaust, the danger of the diaspora, our homeless past.

But we are a different generation. Next Year in Jerusalem is us. We have a home. But it came with—and continues to come with—a price.

Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day comes a week after Yom HaShoah. To Americans who live far away from the realities of war, Memorial Day means BBQs and pool parties. But Israel’s compulsory military service means every Israeli knows a fallen soldier or victim of terror. The kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit rocked the country because he could have been anyone’s brother or son.

Freedom is not free, and Israelis understand this paradox intimately. Then, before we step on the glass and celebrate the marriage of the Jews to their beshert, Israel, we honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice to create that precious reality.

moment of silenceOn both Yom HaShoah and Yom HaZikaron sirens blare across Israel. Everyone stops their car, stands at attention, and gives a moment of silence to honor and remember.

But then we celebrate. The day after Yom HaZikaron is Yom HaAtzmaut – Israel’s Independence Day. Solemnity shifts to joy, as the entire country takes to the streets to sing and dance.

Jewish couples marry under a wedding canopy or chuppah. A tallit, or prayer shawl, supported by poles creates this holy space. The traditional blue-and-white tallit inspired the design of the Israeli flag. How fitting then that across Israel, this flag flies, supported by poles over the heads of Jews and their beloved land.

Today we see how far we’ve come.

Yom HaShoah: We remember the 6 million victims and rebuke complacency, eyes open, lessons learned.
Yom HaZikaron: We remember those who paid the ultimate price to establish and protect our home, and ensure we are victims never again.
Yom HaAtzmaut: We celebrate the reunion of the Jewish people with their true love, Israel—the ultimate love story of a people who never gave up on their home, and the home that blossomed at its beloved’s return.

The reuniting of soulmates can take years, decades, lifetimes, or hundreds of lifetimes. We are the generation living the dream, and we are the generation charged with protecting it.

Share This Post
Follow Me