The photo and caption above was sent to me by a close personal friend. The medic is his work colleague. This is not Shalom Avitan’s job, he is a volunteer.Our enemies target our little ones – shooting them in the head, burning them alive and even decapitating them. We rescue the orphans they missed.
My wife Sarah Eliana and I were walking in Jerusalem yesterday. It was an opportunity to get some exercise, do some shopping and take a break from the 24/7 news stream.
We passed by an elementary school just as it was being let out and watched the parents holding the hands of their precious children walking toward their cars.
The sight brought my wife to tears and she said, “I am so happy to be Jewish, and so happy to be here in Israel. There is no place I would rather be right now.
Think about that….
We have just suffered the worst horrors since the Holocaust… we are in the middle of an existential war with Iran threatening Israel with a nuclear Holocaust.
Hezbollah is waiting with 150,000 missiles to rain down on us and Hamas STILL holding our hostages, sending terrorists into our territory and firing missles… and we still are so happy to be Jews living in Israel. We wouldn’t change places with anyone.
We value life. We are the only western country who has a birthrate high enough to grow our population.
Our Holy Torah teaches us about the infinite value of every moment of life, because we can use it to bring Godliness into the world… through acts of lovingkindness and charity.
A few days ago, President Herzog of Israel mentioned in an interview that we, through our Holy Torah taught he world… “Do not murder! Do not kidnap! (that is the true meaning of do not steal)… our enemies revel in murder and kidnapping of innocent civilians including babies.
They teach their children from infancy to become terrorists, to murder and kidnap Jews.
My mother’s family fled from post WWI pogroms in Poland where innocent Jews were slaughtered by savages.
My father’s family hid from the Nazis in Holland… over 500 innocent members of my extended family were shot or gassed to death by the enemy.
My wife’s ancestors were tortured and burned to death by the Spanish Inquisition.
Yet, we are still here, and I would never want to be anything but a Jew. We are the people who represent God’s values in the world (even if we don’t always live up to them)
People who want to live by their own values, rather than God’s values will always seek out to destroy the Jews.
Hitler said, “the Jews inflicted two wounds on humanity, circumcision on the body and conscience on the soul.”
The Passover Hagadah reminds us,
For in every generation, they rise up against us to destroy us, and the Holy One Blessed Be He rescues us from them.
May we pray to our Father in Heaven to help us remove evil from the world and witness His miraculous salvation.
Am Yisrael Chai – the Nation of Israel Lives!
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Shmuel Veffer