Two 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 21^st 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?”