Being raised in a traditional Jewish home, I recall as a child attending Hebrew school, I was so moved and proud of our “dime saver”. This was a small folder that included slots for dimes. Ten dimes, one dollar, eventuated in planting a well-needed tree in the nascent and newly declared State of Israel. I felt a part of a new hope for post-holocaust Jews and the rebirth of the land as the State of Israel. I was doing my part.
Rabbi Jerry Feldman
One additional story. My grandfather immigrated from Lithuania in 1908, escaping horrifying anti-Semitism under Tzarist Russia. Much could be said, but I recall a specific experience. I was just four years old when I watched my grandfather (Max Feldman), the leader of a multi-family Jewish organization (600 families) work tirelessly in the raising of funds to help the fledgling new State of Israel. His emphasis was on providing for those orphaned by the War of Independence in 1948 and the needs of those blinded.
He raised one and a half million dollars in 1953 (with interest and monetary equivalency, $17,291,516.85 in today’s currency value)! He was never home. Grandma and their three sons attended our small family storefront in Brooklyn, NY. Given his commitment to the survival of this newly born State of refuge for Jews, I barely remember seeing him but three treasured times in my young life. One of those was to watch him put on tefillin (phylacteries) and do his Hebrew morning prayers in the very small kitchenette in the back of the store. In the end, he died without a penny in the bank.
Having loved the State of Israel, with this personal heritage, has been a deeply held and compelling part of my life to this day. Many of you know I have been to Israel 26 times! When guiding Christians, I have designed my tours to inculcate a shared recognition and importance of the Scriptures, the Land, and the People. It is our home!
Given the current events, I cannot find words, but rather will share my feelings. I am grieving. I am immobilized. I am in turmoil and fear. I am in a valley of sorrow. My wife is experiencing this likewise and is praying incessantly given that the bulk of her life has been lived “For Zion’s Sake”!
What else can anyone with a conscience do likewise but grieve given the events of that Saturday, the massacre of 1300 Jews, sleeping in their beds, preparing for Sabbath morning prayers and the Eighth day of the Biblical observance of Sukkot (Tabernacles, the “Festival of Joy”), babies slaughtered and hundreds of young adults at a “peace” concert on the northern edge of the Negev desert, now a killing field. Motorcycling Hamas terrorists with machine guns indiscriminately slaughtering these kids without mercy. Nothing less than Monstrous!
I am more than equipped and informed about the geopolitical and fanatic Islamic dynamics that have brought us to this day. I can explain and teach prolifically on the history that led up to this. For 12 years I broadcast a radio program on a Christian radio station in Kansas City called “For Zion’s Sake”, a call-in program speaking of these topics. A primary topic was to explain the significant uprising of Fanatic Islam and their goals.
I recall nine days before September 11, 2001, addressing my “silent” audience (no one was calling). “Hello? While you are manicuring your front lawns on this sunny Sunday afternoon and building your newfound opportunity to build bigger and better worship centers, there is going to be a fanatic Islamic attack on America seeking to destroy our economy and society as we know it.” I indicated that there were already many intentional terrorists crossing our southern border and setting up terror cells in the US. I suggested the unthinkable! The next major terror event after 9/11 would come in the form of 30 or more simultaneous individual terrorist events of Americans being mowed down in malls, sports events, entertainment venues and alike. We saw this very modus operandi on display just this past week in Israel where 22 separate incursions of military jihadists hit the many communities simultaneously in the land of Israel that were overrun by untold and horrific slaughtering of everyday people, including children and babies.
I say this not as a fear monger, soothsayer or do I dare say, prophet. But when tens of thousands of Palestinians controlled by a virulent Hamas government in Gaza teach their children EVERY day in their schools that the world is not complete until every Jews is butchered, what do you expect.
So now what? We need to speak with clarity, and “for Zion’s sake not be silent” (Is. 62:1).
I suggest some talking points. Firstly, what Israel is doing is not revenge. It is about survival and putting an end to those who seek their end. Secondly, Israel is not acting against Palestinians (a propaganda nightmare), but in need of dismantling and putting an end to Hamas. Israel can no longer live with periodic indiscriminate missile attacks, just three miles from dozens of Israeli communities, let alone live with the fear and the burden that this ever happens again. Thirdly, Israel is solving a problem for two million Palestinians; namely eliminating an oppressive, terrorist leadership that imprisons, murders, tortures and hang their own Palestinian people every day of the week. It is better to proclaim that what Israel is doing by entering Gaza is not an invasion (to its peril) but is liberating it!
This is not about rage or hatred acts against the Palestinian people. No, this is no different than the ultimate need for Normandy Beach and the pursuit of the end of the Third Reich. Hamas is a Hitleristic self-declared rogue nation of Jihadists whose primary reason for existence is the extinction of Jews. Oh, by the way, after that it will be the Christians. It is in their charter and in the Hadith (a secondary authoritative text in Islam) that essentially says, first the Saturday people and then the Sunday people.
This is no time for hate. This is no time for revenge. This is a time to grieve, yes. This is a time for peace! Let us “pray for the peace of Jerusalem”. I also see that text as a prayer for the peace of the whole world.
The State of Israel did not, nor ever wanted to be in this position. Justice is foundational to peace. They have alone now been put in the position to mediate justice for the sake of peace. I grieve for all victims, Palestinians and Israelis alike. I do not grieve for Hamas, except for their being victimized by lies and blind hatred. May the G-d of Israel somehow intervene in individuals who seek evil and deliver them. May it be so. Otherwise, putting an end to evil to secure peace, is it not Biblical?
I know this characterization can raise ire and offence. Know that I consider myself in this together with all of you. So let us trust and love one another and I am open to discussing this further with those of other perspectives and voices. We trust G-d to help in bring truth, peace and justice as the true equalizer for mutual life together in a world of hate, injustice, and terror.
–Messianic Rabbi Jerry Feldman
You may give through our Israel Emergency Fund directed to the personal needs of families affected by this terrorism at www.adatyeshuakc.com.