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Category — India

Two Lives

The other day, I was arguing with my kids (ok, not my kids, but you get the point…) doing my best to convince them that they need to go to school and get an education if they ever hope to lead meaningful lives…

For everything I said, they had an answer, until….

They read this.

Alias Abu Omar was 28 years old. Gavriel Holzberg was 29 years old. Both of them were kids of the eighties, who ‘did’ their teen years during the nineties and then started their adult lives and dreams in the 21st century.

One turned out to be a sadistic killer, while one turned out to be a selfless missionary of goodness. One wanted to die and kill in the name of Allah, whereas the other wanted to live and give life to others in the name of G-d.

Now for argument sake let’s go back 27 years, when Omar and Gabi were still cute little babies. Gabi I’m sure was a doll, and (forgive me for saying this,) my guess is that Omar was cute baby, and had I been alive then and seen him, I might have even pinched his cheek (had his parents not been around).

[Of course there was something extra special about Gabi thanks to his Yiddishe soul, but we're focusing on the human aspect.] These two babies were both cute little innocent kids, and had they met then they might have even hit it off and become crib buddies.

Now, somewhere in the span of 25 years, these two cutie-pies suddenly found themselves at the two extremes of good and evil. One gave away the luxuries of life to spread a message of goodness, the other committed homicide to spread the message of evil. 

How did this happen? Why? Where did things go wrong? How did such an innocent (yes, innocent) baby become a baby killer?

Ok, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to answer the question.

Education. It’s all about the education.

Hitler educated three million to kill; the Torah educated six million to cry out Shema Yisroel as they were butchered and burned in the gas chambers, and continues to dictate the peaceful and harmonious lives of millions. Healthy societies raise healthy children, while those who grew up in an unhealthy society have a great struggle to overcome the impulse to continue the destructive cycle. Many don’t and our prisons are evidence to that.

Traditional Judaism has a single digit percent of intermarriages, whereas secular Judaism is at 50 percent.  Facts cannot be argued with, and the statistics show for themselves: EDUCATION, EDUCATION AND EDUCATION. You educate with morals you get moral people. Educate with hate and you have ten year olds shooting and killing.

It’s all about what you teach. Hitler knew it and Bin Laden knows it. Isn’t it about time that we got the message? Give your kids (and yourselves) a Jewish, a.k.a. moral, ethical and G-dly education.

Let the disastrous meeting between Gabi and Omar ring in our ears for as long as we live. Unfortunately it is too late for millions in the Arab world who have already been brainwashed and have to be removed, but for the sake of humanity we must do all we can to educate the rest with the message of goodness. We can’t afford to have a sixth of the world on a Jihad mission.

Terror is the biggest threat to the world. Education is our only solution.

*

1940. Berlin. A gang of Nazis surround an elderly Jew. “All right Jewboy, who caused the war?”

He might be scared, but he isn’t stupid. “The Jews”, and after a brief pause, “and the motorcyclists.”

They don’t get it. “Why the motorcyclists?”

“Why the Jews?”

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December 23, 2009   No Comments

Oops, I forgot that I’m supposed to hate you!

I once asked a wise man for a blessing, he replied, you should be blessed with many problems throughout your life.
Yes, you read it correctly; he blessed/cursed me to have “many problems”.
You could imagine the shock on my face upon hearing these ‘kind words’. He saw the look on my face and explained:
“Levi, when a great tragedy befalls someone, be it death, sickness or a failed relationship, the affected persons’ mind is centered on that one painful issue, he/she can think of nothing else but the deep pain and hurt of this one humongous problem.
“When one however has the ‘freedom’ of thinking about many problems, it is obvious that these issues are trivial and small, which gives him/her the ‘liberty’ to think about his many ‘problems’ like ‘where did I
leave my tooth brush’. Had there been a big issue; all the small ones would disappear.”
Since the India incident took center stage, a phenomenon has been taken place. All of a sudden fights lasting decades have been rendered mute, former rivals were seen crying over each other’s shoulder, and big organizations who were unable to acknowledge each other’s existence, let alone work together, are bonding together to find comfort and do good things for the world.
Hello!
One second! Am I not your enemy? Isn’t the cold war between us bullet proof? Weren’t we on opposite sides of the Berlin wall just one week ago? Didn’t I always disown you and everything you do? Where has the hate and ‘I can’t stand him’ gone?
A few Jews were tortured and killed in India and walls of hate are crumbling all around us. The sharp pain in that one horrific incident has put all our ‘problems’ into perspective. Ah, that’s the word: Perspective.
The perspective that if someone chooses to follow a different lifestyle, or interpret things in a way unlike yours and leads his life and teaches others in a way that you think is downright off track, it is ok, or
better yet, it’s beautiful!
The perspective that even though ’she said this’ and ‘he did that’ and ‘he started up the fight!’ there is a bigger picture out there.
The perspective on what true pain really means – not just a hurt from a wink taken the wrong way.
The perspective that there are people just like us dedicating their lives for something so much greater than themselves, not looking for billboards and dinner diplomas.
Boom!
The light bulb turned on, our vision has cleared and we see that we all truly love each other. A few tears cleared up our eyes and we remember that we are all one family and that our destinies are intertwined in
every way.
I can just hope that as time will go by and the light bulb will fade out, that the lessons we learned when the light of truth shined so brightly be not forgotten.
And by the way, I’m sorry for crying over your shoulder, I just missed your warmth and friendship. The stains of my tears will come out in the wash, but at least our friendship in back, intact and stronger than
ever.

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January 2, 2009   No Comments

Who Has the Final laugh?

A thought on the current crisis in India and on anti-Semitism in general.

Big bad Og was having a good time teasing the crowd.
Isaac, the miraculous baby born to his parents in their old age after years of infertility, was growing up, and his father decided to throw a party.
From far and wide, people came to witness the miracle and pay their respects to a most prestigious leader.
Amongst the guests sat Og, a mighty giant and powerful king – and a vicious anti-Semite who was jealous of all the honor bestowed upon Abraham.
“Ha!” he turned to the crowd and roared, “What are all of you gushing about? If I wish, I can smother this kid with my finger; he’s a nothing!”
At that moment, On High, G-d laughed and declared: “We’ll see who smothers whom! In a few years, you will fall in the hands of the descendants of this frail child.”
And so it was. Hundreds of years later, as the Jews crossed the desert towards the Holy Land, the mighty giant fell into the hands of Moses, grandchild of Isaac.
This tale of old is the story of our history.
“Ha!” cried Pharaoh.
“Ha!” screamed Nebuchadnezzar as he tore down the walls of Jerusalem.
“Ha!” declared Titus, as he put an idol in the Holy Temple.
“Ha!” announced Torquemada, as yet another Morrano was burned at the auto-de-fe.
“Ha!” bellowed Stalin, as another Shul was closed, another Rabbi sent to the firing squad.
“Ha!” yelled Hitler.
“Ha!” jeers Ahmadinejd and the terrorists all over the world.
“Ha!” called the enemies of Israel for thousands of years.
“Ha!” cries secularism, “you devotees don’t stand a chance in a sophisticated materialistic society!”
All along, we have heard the laughs, as the gas was poured into the gas chambers, and as another bus blew up.
But in the Heavens a greater laugh is heard, its echo reverberating throughout the darkness – for only G-d can know and see the truth and future. Ha! Whose name is remembered only through the textbooks, and who has managed to survive all the ‘Ha’s, and live on forever? WHO? WHO? WHO?
And here on earth laughs the Jew, as he devotedly keeps the tradition alive, never swayed by the jeers and teases. Ha! Just look how society crumbles without religion and morals.
In india, Israel, USA, Europe and all over the world, the Jew cries with a great sense of pride the historically proven phenomenon:
Am Yisroel Chai!

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January 2, 2009   No Comments