Pogroms – When Will They End?

Why We (Jews) Need To Go To Israel

I wanted my first entry in this forum to be light and humorous, to reflect my real self — the one who is having a love affair with life — the one who is constantly amazed by this world, and who so readily detects in it things to laugh about.

But today I read of a tragedy that occurred three days ago. The pain of that tragedy overshadows any light or humorous event. At least until I get it off my chest.

There are many tragedies occurring in the world. I am moved by the plight of the poor Filipinos, and I want to organize a relief effort. I am saddened daily by violence and grief perpetrated by wars and criminals in so many parts of the world, but all I can do is write about it.

For me these occurrences indeed give the world a gloomy coloring. But they are not as piercingly painful as what happened in Akko this past weekend — not for me.

Vandals – most likely a gang of Arabs – ransacked a synagogue and Torah-learning center. They damaged furniture, threw books — books for learning — and spray painted swastikas on the walls.

Why does this play out above all else? In a broad sense, maybe it doesn’t. The problems in other parts of the world may be far greater. But, THIS happened to me!

My books, sacred books that have guided my people for millennia, strewn like trash. Swastikas and Islamic slogans aimed at humiliating me. And they are my people whose lives are threatened.

Am I even in Israel now?
No, I live in Thailand.

Have I even ever been to the synagogue in Akko?
Probably not. But I’ve been to many synagogues like it. Never have I known of anybody in Israel who feared that a synagogue would be so vandalized.

So now it comes to this.

We can read about the rise of antisemitic acts throughout the world — particularly in Europe. We hear of violent acts perpetrated against Jewish children and adults – because they are Jewish – in many “civilized” areas in the world. Today!; not 60 years ago, Today!

But who would have ever thought that it would happen in Israel?

The story may be too small for most of the press to follow it. But it contains major implications. Is there no place for us anymore? Israel was supposed to be it — our homeland, our place to be ourselves.

Unfortunately, it is the policies of the government of Israel, along with those of the western countries, that encourage Arab gangs to do this sort of thing. During a ceasefire, Palestinian militants step up their rocket attacks against Southern Israel. And nobody says anything.

And maybe that is what hurts. We are alone in this world- We’ve known that. Now we have to feel it.

What’s worse – Israeli government leaders have succeeded in giving Arabs the impression that Israel is weak. The leaders themselves are weak — but I’ll save that for another postl

The bottom line is: It’s time for us Jews to go back to Israel. If there is anything that we can do to show solidarity , and defeat the actions of those who want to destroy us, it is to live in Israel — become a solid majority — and send extremists out of the country.

I guess I had better stop here. Thanks for your attention.

Jerry