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Here are two must read articles which, when taken together, speak to our national spirit.
The phenomenon of assimilation in Chutz L’Aretz is to be like everyone else; to conform, to “melt” and thus, more often than not, it leads toward mixed-marriage.
In Israel, the tendency toward assimilation on a national level — “a nation like all other nations,” lends itself to political correctness and negation of the uniqueness of Jewish nationhood. This political correctness squashes Jewish nationalism and our ages-long unseverable link with Eretz Yisrael. It is this political assimilation which leads to perverted pre-occupation of thousands of Israel’s police and soldiers with persecuting and expelling Jews as Israeli road-carnage continues, crime continues unanswered and Arab terror attacks are rampant on the roads, in Jerusalem’s Old City, via Kassams from Gaza, etc. infinitum. Not to mention the war plans and preparations of Hamas (read PA), Hezbollah and Syria.
The result, as Steven Shamrak puts it in his article below;
Jewish people are losing their purposefulness in life to disillusionment and apathy.
Finally, the ultimate result of these ills is someone like a Yosef Lapid who rightly states in his column “The Road to Nowhere”, belatedly so, that the is no “peace partner” even as Olmert is negotiating land-swaps with Mahmoud Abbas (despite Abbas’ denials). Lapid is camouflage; smoke and mirrors as he cynically and disdainfully portrays the religious right as “gloating.”
He then accuses the Right, the religious, those who have taken to possess their Eretz Yisrael as their own, in projection onto the right of the very actions which he and his buddies; Olmert, Barak, Peres, Livni, Ramon, etc. are in fact guilty of;
…The deterioration of the rule of law…. the reality in which we live – a destructive, insane one; but reality nonetheless.
MB
Assimilation is a Destroyer of the Miracles, by Steven Shamrak (Israel National News)
Excerpts;
Contrary to common belief, the idea that being a Jew means just religious observance is only two hundred years old. It emerged when the loyalty of the Jews was questioned during the time of Napoleon. Religious leaders at the time, quite justifiably fearing persecution from the megalomaniac French emperor, gave ambiguous answers about what the Jews are – nation or religion.
However, Judaism is quite specific about the national character of the Jewish people. It is written in the Torah that a nation was born at Mount Sinai. Several times, it is made clear that it is obligatory for a Jew to marry a Jew. Nothing has changed – and it must not be changed – just because, on the surface, modern society looks more tolerant and accepting toward Jews.
Quite often we in the Diaspora hear: “My parents were Jewish,” or “I am not religious, so I am not Jewish.” The first question parents ask their kids when they hear the heart-breaking news “Mum, Dad, my special one is not Jewish,” is: “Will he (or she) convert?” Conversion – in spite of the fact that, in accordance with Jewish law, marriage must not be the reason for it – has become another convenient supermarket item. Parents use it now to hide their deep inner pain, bitterness, disappointment and fear of losing their kids. Instinctively, they know that their Jewish family flame has been extinguished.
With the assimilation rate over 50%, a non-Jewish notion that being a Jew is only a religious obligation does not work in a predominately secular society. We are losing people to mixed-marriage, secularisation and ignorance. Most rabbis, Jewish leaders and Israel’s officials are under pressure from bogus political correctness. They do not pay attention and promote Jewish nationalism, patriotism and Eretz-Israel, the land of Israel. Jewish people are losing their purposefulness in life to disillusionment and apathy.
There were four million Jews, almost 9% of the population, in the Roman Empire two thousand years ago. After World War II, there were 12 million Jews worldwide. Sixty years later, the Jewish population has increased by only less than two million. Most nations during this period have doubled or even quadrupled their numbers. Assimilation is not violent like the Inquisition, pogroms or the Holocaust, but it is deadlier and the damage it brings is irreversible.
One of the miracles of the world is that one nation with less than 0.2% of the global population has made a contribution to humanity disproportional to its numbers. In spite of our achievements, we are still fearful to say loudly and openly, “I am proud to be a Jew.” Why are Italians, Greeks, Chinese, Russians and other nations unapologetically proud of their national heritage and sense of belonging, but not Jews?
The Jewish concept of the “Chosen People” is about responsible leadership; it is not about being better than others or putting others down, like many other peoples do. Jews also have an obligation to self and must have a sense of healthy self-appreciation and respect, especially when it is well deserved and long overdue.
The biggest miracle is that, after 3,300 years, the Jewish people still exists while many great nations have come and gone. But if, in this ‘friendly’ and politically correct environment, we do not teach our children and grandchildren Jewishness, not solely religion; if we remain silent while they are marrying out; if we allow people like Shimon Peres, Ehud Olmert, Ehud Barak and other self-hating Jews to squash our national spirit from the inside – then there will be no more miracles.
The Human Spirit: We’re Off Track, by Barbara Sofer (Jerusalem Post)
Excerpts;
On Friday, we received a notice from the US Embassy warning American citizens not to enter the Old City following the terrorist attack. Until footage proved otherwise, the security guards were accused of manufacturing the story and murdering an innocent passerby. Then a terrorist group from within our own Galilee took credit.
On Saturday, a truck driver with 190 traffic violations ran over an entire car in which a family was out for a visit to their grandma. The driver claimed he hadn’t done anything wrong and when brought to court, cursed his guards. Experts warned that there were thousands of lethal drivers like him on the road. Afterward, the police repeated their hollow promise of greater vigilance on our highways.
IN A WEEK of dodging missiles inside an Israeli town, renewed terror in Jerusalem and vagrant driving on our roads, 3,000 of the men and women whose job it is to protect and defend the people of Israel were dispatched to evict two families from a renovated stall in a vacant Hebron market.
The families had left the building once, without the need for physical intervention, after allegedly receiving promises from Maj.-Gen. Yair Golan and the Defense Ministry that if they left quietly a legal solution would be found.
I’ve read, listened, discussed and contemplated, but I can’t understand how and why the removal of these families by force became a national priority that justified expending this massive, divisive use of police and soldiers. We certainly have no urgent need to prove to the world that Israel has the will to carry out excruciating evacuations. Two years after the disengagement from Gush Katif, what we need is proof that we’re capable of creating workable models for those who have been forced to leave their homes.
The turmoil still suffered by the evacuees is a national shame, as is the acceptance that daily life in Sderot can include rocket attacks. What insanity has entered our national psyche that accepts as a matter of fact the shelling of our cities? Was the evacuation a warning to hard-liners in Hebron that they can’t take action on their own without government approval? I can’t imagine that they were very impressed since it took 3,000 police and soldiers to remove two families, including 14 children.
By moving citizens from a building in Hebron, were we trying to prove to the Western world that we are a democratic society that abides by law and order? Last week, The New York Times wrote, almost as a side note, that all of Israel beyond what the world considers the 1967 borders is deemed “illegal.” Were our Arab neighbors moved that so-called “settlers” were held in check? Read the articles and blogs on the Web that describe this week’s action as “one thief removing another.”
RIGHT, LEFT OR center, you can’t easily set aside the Jewish connection to Hebron. Whether you admire or disdain the Israelis who live in Hebron, whether you are among those who believe that living in downtown Hebron is a holy mission or those who believe it’s idiocy to sustain a small Jewish community within a huge Arab majority, you had to wince at the photograph that appeared in The Jerusalem Post and on front pages around the world of helmeted police dragging a Jew with sidelocks. Nor, with the numbers of young Israelis who are dropping out of military service rising alarmingly, could potential recruits – no matter their political views – have been motivated by scenes from Hebron.
With Kassam attacks on our homeland, terrorists threatening from without and within and lethal drivers on the roads, our police and military have essential work to do. Not to mention the threat of nuclear attack from Iran.
One year ago, we went into a war that raised serious questions about our preparedness for new military challenges. No defensive barrier will ever replace an IDF that is made up of devoted soldiers and officers.
We’re off track. What we need urgently is a draft of the best minds in the country – men and women, secular and religious, Right and Left, veteran Israelis and immigrants, Tel Avivians and Hebronites, hi-tech innovators and yeshiva whizzes – mobilized in a high priority think tank to focus on our national security. As this week’s reading from Isaiah urges, “Wake up, wake up, don your strength O Zion…”
We will find our strength in the creativity and unity of our people.