ON TISHA B'AV: JEWISH PEOPLE TRUST G-D

“I never worry about action, but only inaction.” Sir Winston Churchill

It is seldom that one sees in History a tragedy repeated the same day... centuries later.

And yet, this is what happened with the Ninth of Av in Jewish History. The month of Av is the fifth of the twelve months of the Jewish calendar and it usually happens in the month of August. Tisha B’Av is considered to be the saddest day in the Jewish calendar and is commemorated in Israel and abroad.

On that day, the First Temple which was built by King Solomon and had been the most important place in ancient Judaism until then, was destroyed by the Babylonians who sacked Jerusalem in 586 BCE. The Second Temple, which was built on the site of the First Temple and had been completed in 516 BCE, unfortunately during the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE, was also destroyed. Thus, in an interval of 656 years, both Temples were destroyed on the same day, the Ninth of Av.

Sadly, those two tragedies were so meaningful that ancient rabbis chose that date, the Ninth of Av, to be a day of mourning for the Jewish people. That’s the origin of Tisha B’Av (the Hebrew word ‘tisha’ means ‘nine’.)

The Ninth of Av has also been the day when the Jews were expelled from England in 1290. And on that same day, in 1942, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella expelled the Jews from Spain.

In contemporary History, the Ninth of Av in 1940 (5700 in the Jewish calendar) Himmler presented his plan for the “Final Solution” to the Jewish ‘problem’ to the Nazi Party in Germany. Two years later, 1942/5702, the Nazis began deporting Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto.

It is noteworthy that, while Tisha B’Av begins in the Hebrew month of Av, the spirit of remembrance actually begins three weeks earlier, on the 17th of the month of Tammuz, because on that date in 70 CE, the Romans breached the walls of Jerusalem and spent the next three weeks pillaging the city until the Second Temple was burned on the Ninth of Av. For that reason, on the 17th of Tammuz, Jews fast.

During the three weeks prior to Tisha B’Av the Jewish people observe a period of mourning. The last nine days of that period are especially restrictive, as Jews are supposed to feel mournful. For instance, no weddings are permitted and Jews are not supposed to perform a series of prohibited activities such as cut their hair or shave, just as Jewish mourners used to do back in the ancient times and even nowadays also do when a person sits “shiva” during the seven-day period that follows the passing of a direct relative -and many other restrictions whose goal is to help people feel they are truly mourning. Thus, those “nine days” many Jews refrain from drinking wine, eating meat or participating in entertaining activities, such as going to movies, dancing or going to fancy dinners, etc.

This year, for Tisha B’Av, two important New York Jewish institutions are uniting forces to deliver a moving program to commemorate the ‘saddest day of the Jewish people:’ the Simon Wiesenthal Center arm in New York, the Museum of Tolerance, and the distinguished Young Leadership of Fifth Avenue Synagogue.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center was founded in November 1977 in Los Angeles, by Rabbi Marvin Hier, in honor of Simon Wiesenthal, as an international center for Holocaust remembrance, the defense of human rights -including fight against bigotry and antisemitism- and for the Jewish people. In 2002 the Simon Wiesenthal Center opened its New York educational arm, the Museum of Tolerance New York, whose mission is to provide interactive workshops, exhibits, and videos, so that individuals can explore issues of prejudice, diversity, tolerance, and cooperation in the workplace and in the community, “in the heart of Manhattan, [it] is a professional development multi-media training facility targeting educators, law enforcement officials, and state/local government practitioners.”

Under Rabbi Marvin Hier, “the Simon Wiesenthal Center has served as consultant to Steven Spielberg’s epic Schindler’s List and ABC Television’s miniseries adaptation of Herman Wouk’s novel, War and Remembrance, among others. Rabbi Hier is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.”

Thus, Rabbi Marvin Hier has become the quintessential element in safeguarding for eternity the work and mission of relentless Nazi-hunter and human rights advocate, Simon Wiesenthal whose memory is perpetrated as a symbol of endurance and resilience. While he became most famous for his greatest and meaningful 1959 capture of Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wiesenthal was also aware that the work yet to be done was enormous, as Germany’s “war criminal files contained more than 90,000 names, most of them of people who have never been tried...”

Once, Wiesenthal was asked why did he choose to be a Nazi-hunter. He answered: “You believe in G-d and life after death. I also believe. When we come to the other world and meet the millions of Jews who died in the camps and they ask us, “What have you done?,” there will be many answers. You will say, ‘I became a jeweler.’ Another will say, ‘I have smuggled coffee and American cigarettes,’ Another will say, ‘I built houses.’ But I will say, ‘I did not forget you’.”

Partner in this endeavor is New York’s foremost synagogue, Fifth Avenue Synagogue, whose spiritual leader, Rabbi Yacov Kermaier proudly acknowledges that “Fifth Avenue Synagogue has a long and distinguished history as one of the premier institutions of Torah and Tefilla (prayer) in America.” Rabbi Kermaier together with the synagogue’s Young Leadership Chair, Jacob Gold, have been instrumental in organizing this Film-event which will take place at the Barbara K. and Ira A. Lipmam Screening Room of the Museum of Tolerance, on the occasion of this year’s Tisha B’Av next Tuesday night.

There will be two film sessions with a rich and varied program that will include some historical gems, such as: Academy Award TM-winning documentary, that the Wiesenthal Center produced in 1981, “Genocide”, narrated by Elizabeth Taylor and the late Orson Welles, and which was introduced by Simon Wiesenthal. “Against the Tide,” narrated by Dustin Hoffman, “I have never forgotten you,” narrated by Nicole Kidman, among others.

So, yes, Tisha B’Av may be the saddest day every year in the life of the Jewish people, but that day also brings a message for the quest of justice, of hope and of light, and above everything an innermost will to stand up to evil and defend those who are weak and who need a compassionate and strong human being to stand by them and say ‘no’ to injustice.

©ElianaBenador

Goodwill Ambassador Eliana Benador is a national and international global strategist and the former CEO and founder of Benador
Associates. You can find her at the Goodwill Ambassador or at her website, on Twitter, at her political page on Facebook and her business page on Facebook.

A PROPHETIC WARNING - Ze'ev Jabotinsky - Warsaw, Tisha B'Av 1938

"...it is already three years that I am calling upon you, Polish Jewry, who are the crown of world Jewry.

I continue to warn you incessantly that a catastrophe is coming closer.

I became grey and old in these years.

My heart bleeds, that you, dear brothers and sisters, do not see the volcano which will soon begin to spit its all-consuming lava.

I see that you are not seeing this because you are immersed and sunk in your daily worries.

Today, however, I demand from you trust. You were convinced already that my prognoses have already proven to be right. If you think differently, then drive me out of your midst! However, if you do believe me, then listen to me in this 12th hour:

In the name of God! Let anyone of you save himself as long as there is still time. And time there is very little...and what else I would like to say to you in this day of Tisha B'Av:

whoever of you will escape from the catastrophe, he or she will live to see the exalted moment of a great Jewish wedding: the rebirth and the rise of a Jewish state. I don't know if I will be privileged to see it; my son will! I believe in this as I am sure that tomorrow morning the sun will rise."

AHMADINEJAD CONSULTS A PSYCHIC...

Unknown author.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, not feeling well and concerned about his mortality, goes to consult a Psychic about the date of his death.

Closing her eyes and silently reaching into the realm of the future she finds the answer:

"You will die on a Jewish holiday."

"Which one?'" Ahmadinejad asks nervously.

"It doesn't matter," replied the psychic.

"Whenever you die, it will be a Jewish holiday!!

LETTER TO NETANYAHU: YOU ARE ENDANGERING YOUNG JEWISH SOLDIERS WHO RUSHED TO DEFEND ISRAEL

Dear Mr. Prime Minister:

As the whole world is aware of, thousands of young Jewish idealistic men and women from all over the world rush to help defend, protect Israel.

As a young soldier said to his Mother: "I must be there with them, Mom."

And, now we learn that Israel with you at the helm, has freed a top terrorist.

This is outrageous. Are you out of your mind????

Mr. Prime Minister, you do not deserve to be a prime minister of Israel.

It's easy to forget the fates of some Israeli prime ministers who, with ill will, wanted to deviate the course signaled by G-d Himself.

So, let me remind you of two of them:

The facilitator of the Oslo accords, your predecessor Yitzak Rabbin, who was assassinated.

And the one who everyone should be ashamed of: Ariel Sharon, who is in a coma for over 5 years.

Mr. Prime Minister, you should go you-know-where and find our leading Kabbalists and ask them to explain to you what does it mean to be in a coma...? I am sure they will find better words to tell you that there is no worse punishment than being in a coma, where your soul -in my words- rots not even in hell and most certainly NOT in heaven... Ask them!

Beware, Mr. Prime Minister, those young Jewish men and women are doing a Divine job, you endanger them at your own risk.

You may not believe in G-d, but let me remind you that the Land of Israel belongs to G-d Himself and no human has any ownership over it to decide what happens on, in or with Israel.

But, right, you are a secular Jew. An arrogant human who does not want to accept the Divine presence in everything we do. Again, do that at your own risk!

But, because you, like many leaders worldwide, are arrogant, let me speak in terms you will comprehend: You were actually elected by the people. You are nothing without the people. You are their employee. By the -bad- choice they did, they elected you. So, in a nutshell: Remember you did not choose to be a prime minister. THEY put you there. That's all.

Remember the Land of Israel before the Jews finally were home, where they belong?

Israel was purely a devastated and devastating desert.

When the Jews arrived it became a beautiful garden.

And that was G-d's Will.

The fear of G-d may fall upon you if you endanger our young soldiers. That's all I can say.

May G-d bless and protect the young Jewish soldiers who have rushed from all over the world to defend Israel, the land of their dreams and ideals.

May G-d give them the right political leaders who will defend the Land of Israel and them -as much as their pure souls are ready to defend her with their young lives.

Sincerely,

B'ahavat Yisrael,

Eliana Benador
Goodwill Ambassador
IDF Military Mother
Global Strategist
Freedom Activist
"America-Israel Forever"

ISRAEL FREES TOP TERRORIST - BECAUSE PRISONS ARE TOO CROWDED

Just like in 'enlightened Western countries,' says a Knesset MK, Israel needs to alleviate prison overcrowding by releasing inmates.

by David Lev

Israel's prisons are too crowded – so, in order to ensure compliance with newly-instituted rules on the amount of space prisoners are entitled to, the Prisons Service on Thursday released some 800 prisoners, who had been convicted of various crimes, from misdemeanors to felonies.

Among the 800 who were released were 200 security prisoners, mostly Arabs who had been arrested, tried, and found guilty of terrorist activity – and among that group released Thursday was Sheik Hassan Yousef, a Hamas founder and one of its top operatives in Judea and Samaria, who helped plan many of the terrorist group's attacks in the region. Yousef is the father of Mosab Hassan Yousef, who was revealed in 2010 to be a Shin Bet operative working undercover in Gaza. He is credited with helping to prevent dozens of terror attacks, thanks to the information he supplied Israelis security with.

The elder Yousef was serving a six year sentence for conspiracy in several bombing attacks. He had been set to be released in about two months.

According to a new regulation enacted several days ago by the Prisons Service after much pressure from the Knesset Interior and Environment Committee, the maximum number of prisoners in Israeli penal institutions cannot exceed 17,700. According to the regulation, each prisoner must be given at least 3 square meters of living area, and dividing that area with the amount of space in all of the country's prisons yields a figure of 17,700. After Thursday's release, the prisoner population is now “in balance;” however, when new prisoners are added, veteran prisoners will have to be released to make room for them. Prisons Service officials, by contrast, said there was enough room for all prisoners.

It should be noted that the space limitation applies only to prisoners serving proper sentences in regular prisons; it does not apply to people being held in detention centers after they were first arrested (usually for 24 or 48 hours) or to prisoners whose remand has been extended and are awaiting trial. It also does not extend to illegal aliens, who are held in separate facilities. A prisoner census update will be taken once every few weeks, and when the prisoner population exceeds 17,700, a group of prisoners – hopefully close to the end of their sentences – will be released.

However, Israel's prisons may have to “shed” many more inmates soon; MK Amnon Cohen (Shas), who heads the Interior and Environment Committee, is preparing to propose a law that will more than double the amount of space that must be provided to prisoners – from 3.1 square meters to 6.5 square meters. “Lack of a code on prison overcrowding, and failure to improve the conditions under which prisoners are held, is unacceptable in a country that purports to defend the rights and dignity of the individual.” Under his new law, Cohen said, the Prisons Service “will have to free prisoners if it cannot provide them with the minimal conditions of support, as is the practice in enlightened Western countries.”

Original piece

STRATEGIST OF EVIL THOMAS FRIEDMAN DEADLY ANTI-SEMITISM

WASHINGTON, June 3, 2011 - Thomas Friedman has gone from "nice Jewish boy" supporter of Israel to apologist for anti-Semites. He's gone from supporting Israel to supporting its destruction. How did this happen?

A Jewish Boy

In his book, From Beirut to Jerusalem, Friedman describes his high school years as “one big celebration of Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War.” Yes, the 1967 war.

It is striking to learn that the author was a bar mitzvah-ed Jewish boy who, after visiting Israel in December 1968, fell in love with the country and spent three summers living in a Kibbutz near Haifa.

As recently as 2006, in an interview he gave to Debate Link, Friedman delivered a strong defense of Israel regarding collateral civilian casualties, and also comments on anti-Semitism:

“You’re dealing with an enemy [Hezbollah] that has embedded itself in the civilian population (on the Lebanese side) … but at the same time, it was the only way from the Israeli point of view to exact a price on Hezbollah’s constituency that ultimately Israeli hoped – and I don’t think this was a crazy thing – would deter Hezbollah the next time, with people saying “wait a minute, I don’t want to go through this again. So, I don’t think Israel “snapped,” I don’t think it behaved in a particularly irrational manner. It was brutal, but it was an ugly war, and one that Israel didn’t invite.”

"And so the point is, you can’t argue from emotion. You have to argue from facts. And one can simply point out those kinds of contradictions because there is only one way to explain those contradictions, sometimes. Not all the time, but sometimes, and that’s anti-Semitism….”

What Is anti-Semitism?

Anti-Semitism refers exclusively to anti-Jewish feelings, feelings of prejudice specifically against Jews. It also has more complex meaning, referring to an aversion which includes the feeling that the Jews actually represent a threat to the world.

Hence, Jews are feared proportionally to their wish to succeed politically and economically. Conspiracy theorists see their economic and political ambitions as the goal "to conquer the world.”

Anti-Semitism in the Muslim World

In the 1930s and 40s, the Nazis made sure to approach the Muslim world and shared with it their anti-Semitic methods and approach. At this time they established close bonds with leading political figures of Egypt, Iran and Iraq, among others.

After viewing Jews in their midst as dhimmis, or protected minorities, it was probably a huge blow to their pride that those same dhimmis, in 1948, managed to get their own land: Israel.

Thus, conspiracy theories among Muslims against Jews were exacerbated, supported by the economic success of oil producing countries like Libya and Saudi Arabia, which promoted anti-Semitism and justified it with such documents as "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” which helped them make their case against the Jews and Israel.

Strategist of Evil

Move forward to this year. Friedman accepted an honor from Howard University. He chose not to notice that earlier in the month, on April 2, Howard hosted the notorious and virulent anti-Semite, Louis Farrakhan. Farrakhan, always true to himself, did not miss that opportunity to target Jews and the Israeli Zionist movement with vicious attacks.


Thomas Friedman and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad at the Aspen Institute, 2009. (Photo: The Aspen Institute (Flickr))



Now Friedman puts his name to an article containing his recipe to facilitate the Palestinians’ victory over his own people and Israel. In his "Lessons from Tahrir Square," he sees Muslim democracy where most experts see Egypt's deconstruction to a sharia-based state.

The whole Middle East is in uproar, and by all accounts things do not seem to be going towards democracy American style after all. It's in this context we must view Friedman's talk of Palestinian "pacifism" and democracy.

In his article, Friedman in veiled fashion walks a virulently anti-Semitic path trod mostly by Muslims who hide nothing of their hatred and violence toward Israel and the Jews.

Friedman Attacks Israel

Friedman’s veiled anti-Semitism comes bottled for public consumption under the label, "goodwill." Goodwill, all right, but for Israel's attackers. He abandons himself to the most monumental and dangerous single attack against Israel currently found in the media.

What is Friedman thinking when he defends people who are either the perpetrators of crimes of terrorism worldwide, or who stand silently by while terrorists kill innocent civilians?

What is he thinking when he advises the enemies of Israel on the best ways to succeed at destroying Israel and killing Jews?

What is he thinking when he advises the enemies of Israel to stage peaceful demonstrations, when a few months ago those enemies cowardly entered an undefended home and slaughtered a family of five in their sleep?

What does he think he will achieve with the monsters that massacred the Fogels, that slit their throats, including the throat of three-month-old Hadassah?

What does he think he can achieve with Palestinians who rejoiced over those bestial murders, even distributing candies and dancing in celebration?

What is he thinking when he suggests that Palestinians should stage a “peace day?”

Friedman knows all too well that they sleep, dream, and live-for the destruction of Israel; they make no secret of that.

He is out of his mind when he writes, “If Palestinians peacefully march to Jerusalem by the thousands every Friday with a clear peace message …”

We know what Muslim Palestinians want. No peaceful march is in their minds.

Hasn’t three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Friedman ever looked at a map of how Palestinians envision their country after they’ve had their way with Israel?

It is a simple yellow area. And there is no Israel there.

Why not? Because their one goal is to destroy Israel.

Conclusion

Under international law, it is illegal to attack another country. One could argue that all attacks on and incitement against the security of any country are wrong. They should never be tolerated.

I cannot give a pass to Friedman when he uses his rhetoric to incite Muslim terrorists against Israel. His piece is ammunition to Israel's enemies, the enemies of Israeli children, men and women, old and young. Every Jew in Israel is threatened by Friedman’s writings.

His words are worse than a bomb exploding in a crowd. A bomb is bad enough, but its effects are limited to the immediate victims and the suffering of their families.

In the age of cyber-space, when the internet lets news go viral, the negative effects of an attack like Friedman’s will be amplified, endlessly used to fuel terror attacks, endlessly jeopardizing the safety of civilians.

Our Western democratic tradition ensures freedom of speech, and Friedman has the right to avail himself of it. But his is an irresponsible use of that freedom. It endangers innocent lives, and it should be punishable.

This is not about freedom of speech. This is about accepting the consequences of its abuse.

Thomas Friedman is dangerous. He is spreading anti-Semitic rhetoric in an irresponsible way, and no one in the civilized world should condone it. If attacks like his were aimed at France, Australia, China or Kuwait, they would be intolerable.

They are aimed at Israel and are intolerable.

What’s wrong is wrong. And anti-Semitism is wrong.

http://tinyurl.com/3fgtbs8

Goodwill Ambassador Eliana Benador is US Representative of the Shomron Liaison Office, Samaria, Israel; former President of Benador Associates, and a national and international political analyst and global strategist.