Curioser and Curioser: Hamas and Evil Disguised as Righteousness, Redoux

 

Curioser and Curioser: Hamas and Evil Disguised as Righteousness, Redoux

View video discussion ( starts at 1:57) 

https://www.youtube.com/live/HCyJ_n8hReg?si=2i0UDIo9YJVbuDQL&t=6997

 

Let’s start with the good news:

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures opens its permanent Exhibit on the role of Jews in founding Hollywood and fighting antisemitism at the same time. I was one of the first to reach out to the curator, Dara Jaffe, and share our information about HTBE and the founders of the industry:

 

Introduction to the exhibit:

https://www.facebook.com/htbel/posts/pfbid02BwefULsNYqHfb13QbgChwtEd6Tfc24wtHHMLwiU2vjv4QWEUotFvnqXbxKJWgYdil

Entrance to exhibit:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/995230445447525

A time line 3D display on Hollywood and the growth of the industry:

https://fb.watch/s7l9gHRmHG/

The exhibit opens officially opens May 19 at the Museum at Wilshire and Fairfax.

Then, Edan Golan returned home in triumph from Eurovision:

https://youtu.be/lJYn09tuPw4?t=143

Eden Golan took 5^th place at the Eurovision Festival, even though some judges refused to vote for her. She was number 2 in the popular vote.

 

Then,the bad news,  there is the sad thought, that this was the saddest Yom Hazikaron, Memorial Day, and the least celebrated Yom HaAztamaut, Israel Independence Day, since the rise of the State of Israel/

[Note: LA Times and other media focused entirely on the Palestinian Nakba, ignoring the Jews expelled completely from Gaza and the West Bank, including the ancient Jewish community of the old city of Jerusalem, while many Arabs were able to stay inside the new Jewish State, and ignoring completely, the creation of a Jew-clean ( Judenrein) Arab middle east, an indigenous population going back 2,500 years ago]

 Just when you thought things couldn’t get messier:

We have gone through college students throwing temper tantrums at graduations,

 Eurovision judges tearing their figurative hair out and actively boycotting her in their votes because Israel’s Eden Golan was among the finalists and placed fifth because the European public voted her in,

 The UN and even the Hamas Ministry of Health admit that their count of those killed in Gaza is off by 1/3^rd  but the numbers are pooh-poohed by the media because:  a)     they have 10,000 unidentified bodies or b)     they have 10,000 that disappeared under the rubble- but they don’t know how they know that,

 Egypt closes food shipments to Gaza because it is miffed that Israel cut off Hamas’ access from Sinai into Gaza,( and Egypt stands to lose billions in illicit arms dealing across the tunnels network),

Hamas rockets the Israeli crossing, causing a blockage at that end,

 and world organizations then blame Israel for the blockage, preaching that mass starvation is immanent- as they preached in 2010 and again in December, and January, and February, and March, and April, and so forth.,”

 “Curiouser and curiouser!” Cried Alice

 So, what else is new?!

 

                        In this mood, I wish to bring to mind a popular song, some years, that went: to everything, turn, turn, for every season, turn turn, For everything, a time and place, under heaven.

            It then went on with a litany: A time to be born , a time to die, a time to laugh a time to cry.

            As we listened to the song, we recognized, of course, that the singers had taken the verses of Ecclesiastes, the third chapter and set it to music.

            La kol, zman va et , lachol hefetz tachat hashamayim.

            A season is set for everything, a time for every experience under heaven.

            A time for being born, and a time for dying and so forth

            The end of the litany is

            “A time for war and a time for peace."

            The wise man. Koheleth told us, knows not to make sweeping generalizations. Vague platitudes, broad sweet sounding phrases or blanket condemnations can not be applied to all situations.         There is a time for weeping and there is a time for laughing.

            How many times have we seen a time for laughing, only to have it overturned in the blink of an eye.

If we want contemporary analogies-maybe we are living in the movie, Groundhog Day, or in some philosopher’s Eternal Return, doomed to repeat the same events, over and over again .

 

I can’t forget the lyrics of an Israeli song, from the 1973 Yom Kippur War:

Ani mavtiach lach, yaldah sheli ketanah, she zot tihyeh hamilchamah ha acharonah-

I guarantee, my dear little child, that this will be the LAST war.

 The euphoria of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty was swept away by the First Lebanon War;

The euphoria of the PLO_-Israel  accords in 1993 gave way to a series of bloody massive murder of Israelis by bombs on buses and cafes;

 The last chance for an agreement between Arafat and Barak was soon upended by the brutal 2^nd Intifada;

The voluntary withdrawal  from the Gaza strip by Israel in 2005, with money invested from abroad, the chance for open borders, open harbors and an infrastructure for agriculture given by Israel—upended again and again by Hamas.

And up till last October, there was a sense that Hamas had moderated, and Gazans were being allowed into Israel to work, and more monies from Israel were being pumped into Gaza,  and, in one fell swoop, on one day in October, this balloon too was burst.

.           There is a time for loving and a time for hating, a time for peace and a time for war.

            The stance of the moralist calling for Israel to cease-fire unconditionally is inherently immoral for it allows free reign to the human capacity to evil without check. It is one thing to avoid war, it is one thing to pursue peace with an enemy in the hopes of turning an enemy to a friend. But it is another thing to face an enemy that hides it weapons underground and puts it civilians on roof-tops in the line of fire , an enemy that has been seen to hide its headquarters in a  hospital and its rockets in a school building.

                        It is true that the Palestinian Authority, in the West Bank, what we historically call Judea and Samaria, have made their accommodation with Israel, a begrudging accommodation. So ,too, for sure, have the Egyptians and Jordanians and even the Saudis, who fear the Islamicist or Salafist jihadi movements, such as the Moslem Brotherhood, but even more so the Islamist Regime of Iran, which has sponsored bloodshed in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

            Israel, for these entities, is for now, the enemy of my enemy.

            At the core of October 7 is not the anger of Palestinians of Gaza towards Israelis because they are occupying them. Israel stopped occupying Gaza almost 2  decades ago.

Gaza is very much so in the hands of such Salafists, known by the abbreviations in Arabic, Hamas, "Islamic Resistance Movement"). (Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamah al-ʾIslāmiyyah) and Hamas has tremendous influence, not just in Gaza, but also in the West Bank.

            We need to know what they think about Israel and about Jews, even though they officially pronounce that they are tolerant of Jews. That is what they say to the Western public. Diplomats like to speak glibly of “ even –handedness” , also provide a cover up. Hamas has even produced a modern polished version of its founding charter in 2018.

However, in their official pronouncements inside Gaza, they take the words of their founding platform of 1988 platform very seriously and never officially repealed it. Here are just some of the comments about Jews:

“. . . the Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to the realization of Allah's promise, no matter how long that should take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said:

"The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.  . . .”

 

. . .Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement. There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.

"I swear by the holder of Mohammed's soul that I would like to invade and be killed for the sake of Allah, then invade and be killed, and then invade again and be killed." (As related by al-Bukhari and Moslem). . . .

“With their money, they [that is, Jews] stirred revolutions in various parts of the world with the purpose of achieving their interests and reaping the fruit therein. They were behind the French Revolution, the Communist revolution and most of the revolutions we heard and hear about, here and there. With their money they formed secret societies, such as Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, the Lions and others in different parts of the world for the purpose of sabotaging societies and achieving Zionist interests. With their money they were able to control imperialistic countries and instigate them to colonize many countries in order to enable them to exploit their resources and spread corruption there.”

“There is no war going on anywhere, without having their finger in it.”

“. . . They aim at undermining societies, destroying values, corrupting consciences, deteriorating character and annihilating Islam. It is behind the drug trade and alcoholism in all its kinds so as to facilitate its control and expansion. Israel, Judaism and Jews challenge Islam and the Moslem people. "May the cowards never sleep." (http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp )

If any of you have ever read the text of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion or Hitler’s Mein Kampf, you see that Hamas is all of these ideas supercharged on steroids.

Do our wise college students not understand what years and years of teaching hatred against Jews has led to?

      We know that diplomats believe these words can be dismissed as mere puffery. They take at face value the statements made by Hamas leaders of their respect for Jews at face value. However, founding documents mean what they state. When Nazi Germany began World War II, Hitler put aside his avowed hatred of the Soviet Union and authorized the notorious Ribbentrop- Molotov Treaty. That same profession of  peace was swiftly put aside in the blitzkrieg that swept across to Stalingrad the moment Hitler saw his chance.

Fanatics mean what they say.

It is with this gang that our enlightened students are storming the barricades, asking for the dismantling of the Jewish state, surrounded by 22 Arab States, 23 Islamic states, surrendering the Jewish people carte blanche to the same fate that has befallen the people of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Algeria, Sudan? Deaths in the hundreds of thousands!!!

            So what can be the recourse of the people of Israel?

           The same book of Ecclesiastes says:

            Al tehe Tzadik harbe ve alterasha. Do not be overly righteous and do not be evil.

            The first part is al Tehey Zadik Harbeh-- Do not be overly righteous, or you will be dumbfounded. Do not let the wicked get a way. Do not allow the perpetrators of evil to be rewarded for their deeds. You will pay a horrible price for it in the long run.

            The second half is also significant. It also says V’ Al terashah .Do not be wicked, lamah tamut belo itcha Why should you die before your time. Do not let the need for justice become an excuse for wickedness, for it , too can only be your undoing.

            The recourse of the people of Israel is that which was clear to our sages--It is not to roll over and give the perpetrators of evil what they want, for appeasement can only breed further evil.

            It is also not to descend to the level of the perpetrators, for that, too, is the path of destruction. And yes, there are useful idiots on the Israeli side , as well, who destroy food trucks on the way to Gaza, and provide free propaganda for those who hate us. I must say the same about the people who attacked the UCLA pro-Pali encampment a few weeks ago—LA Times and CNN made much of the melee, blaming Jewish extremists, and ignoring the much greater violence that has taken place by the pro-Palestinians on many campuses.

The extremists do not speak for Israel.

 Many, many Israeli soldiers have been killed, like our grand-nephew Nadav, because the Israel Defense Forces did not mow down entire towns, as did and still do the Russians in Ukraine, without any protest, and no Court at the Hague saying a word. Instead, they tried to focus on getting at the Hamas fighters who use their underground Metro system for defense, while leaving their people defenseless.

            The people of Israel now face the difficult challenge of “The Day After” and finding a solution to the unsolvable morass of Gaza.

            I don’t see any alternative for Israel, for its survival, as the only one homeland for the Jewish people , other than to grind down an enemy who is willing to fight to the last drop of someone else’s blood,  and defang this gang of Nazis of its rockets and its tunnels. Perhaps then, the people who care more for their children than for their hatred will be ready to lead to a new world and a new future.

            We know that the people of Israel have no other recourse. Colonizers, like the French in Algeria, could always go home when defeated. The Jews, rightful historic heirs to the Land of Israel, not colonizers, have no home to go to other than Israel.

            Therefore, to Hamas we must quote the verse from the Quran that recognizes the promise of the Land of Israel to the Jews:

            And thereafter We [Allah] said to the Children of Israel: 'Dwell securely in the Promised Land. And when the last warning will come to pass, we will gather you together in a mingled crowd.'" [Qur'an 17:104] (http://www.templemount.org/quranland.html by Shaykh Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi, head of the Italian Muslim Assembly).

            For the people of Israel we have are the words that we say at the end of a book of the Torah:

Chazak, Chazak, V nitchazek.Be strong, be strong, and may we be strengthened!

 

                                   

 

Then and Now--Campus Unrest

 

Then and Now--Campus Unrest 

For the video-go to

https://www.youtube.com/live/GOyCqaS4DWg?si=4CxMe-BeEjFJYILG&t=6505

We hear of Pink-washing as an attempt to deflect arguments made in support of Israel, when it is pointed out that LGBTQ+ are in danger in Muslim countries ( .i.e in Gaza and in  some countries, gays are killed outright), whereas Israel is tolerant and even had a trans-woman, Dana International, as a representative to the prestigious Eurovision contest. These are pooh-poohed as cover-ups to justify oppression of Palestinians.

So, now, we are being treated to “ Jew-washing”. The Iranians have mastered it when they trot out a token Satmar Hasid to denounce Israel. Now, the campus protesters, organized by Students for Justice in Palestine, trot out their token Jews to oppose Israel at campus takeovers and our own LA Times brings them out as proof that the protesters are not Jew -haters.

I too was once a campus radical. Yes, at New York University’s uptown campus, there had been a student takeover of the administration offices, I think in 1968 or 69. The police were brought in to clear the takeover, and I, like my fellow students, were in sympathy with our classmates, even if we ourselves were not protesting.

I  found myself, as the leader of the Jewish student organization on campus, sitting on the ground, first row, as a large contingent of NYPD’s finest were arrayed to march in over us.

Fortunately, at some point, the confrontation came to an end, the police backed off, and yours truly stands here today without a cracked skull!

So what is different then and now—

Then, we were standing up to the police to defend our fellow students, even though we did not agree with them.

Today, our young students, in campuses across the country, are standing in protest against the police—for the right to harass and abuse their fellow students, especially if they have any , any association with the State of Israel or Israelis or even just belong to organizations like Hillel and Chabad. It was bad, long before the October 7 horrors, and our granddaughter had to speak before the California Regents two years ago, about the harassment she received at UC San Diego.

So, I present us with a then and now:

 

 

 

Many years ago long before I want to remember, I ran Jewish students activities at New York University , at the downtown campus at Washington square. It was 1971 or 72 and we were organizing a rally  to celebrate Israel Independence Day at Washington square park, that's the beautiful park that is featured in every romantic movie that takes place in New York.

:

There is yours truly on the right side of the screen in the white shirt talking with NYPD, who were there to guarantee our security and save us from troubles by some of the pro Palestinians that were on the campus. Now tempus mutandis  I see what happens just now at my old alma mater New York University

 [ I was at a rally on behalf of Israel at UCLA. There were a large number of anti-Israel protesters. The majority covered their faces with their keifyahs or face masks-so as nit to be identified . At least, when I was a student sitting in front of the police, I had the courage to keep my face visible. Today's protester hide their faces to avoid being recognized, so they will not face penalities later!]

This is then:

Flashback around this time, to Columbia University. It is a few blocks from my rabbinical school, the Jewish Theological Seminary, which was affiliated with Columbia University on some academic programs and at which I also took coursework in psychology:

This was not at Columbia, but I recall a huge rally there, for the Jewish right to leave the Soviet Union

And this is now

At the same spot of the rally for Soviet Jewry, where Jewish students are told to stay home and a professor is barred from his own campus!

This is then

 I was present when the Rev Dr Martin Luther King gave his speech in support of Israel to a convention of Rabbis:

    “I think it is necessary to say that what is basic and what is needed in the Middle  East is peace. Peace for Israel is one thing. Peace for the Arab side of that world is   another thing. Peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all of our  might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity. I see Israel, and never mind  saying it, as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous ex­ample of what can be done, how desert land almost can be transformed into an    oasis of brotherhood and democracy. Peace for Israel means security and that  security must be a reality.

PS He did not mention one word about Palestinians! He only spoke about Arabs in general, about investing in economic development and progress in the Arab world.

This is  now

Students and alumni at the historic Morehouse College want to rescind the offer to President Biden to the commencement because of his support of Israel—and they quote the same Rev King, a Morehouse alumnus:

“It’s absolutely unacceptable …,” a student said. “We always want to talk about Dr Martin Luther King Jr, and we always want to talk about the history of activism and leadership that this school has. And yet this decision does not reflect that history of social justice.” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/25/morehouse-students-biden-commencement-speaker

Talk about a Nietzschean inversion of values!! Or an Orwellian New Speak taking over, which affects our very own.

Here are links to what is really happening on US Campuses. Remember, this has been going on for several years now, against Jewish students, before the War to Free the Hostages.

From Ted Deutsch, head of American Jewish Committee- He is a former Democratic congressman, a liberal:

Link to video conference about Columbia:

“Pro-Hamas and antisemitic protesters are targeting Jewish students with physical intimidation, taunts like “go back to Poland,” praise for terrorists who carried out the October 7 massacre, and in some cases, physical violence.”

https://www.ajc.org/StudentPressStream?utm_campaign=Campus&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9y0GkMu6BOLGMz0OZkO16VSes-HOrmaAxUs2IVxlqMmrj3mobl3JFfx5GGBkuqGp8b84JCUjUGGWXTbNHKv8UTJ-pRAw&_hsmi=304556227&utm_content=304556227&utm_source=hs_email

Here is a statement, directed to College administrators, from Stand With Us, a student outreach organization:

“StandWithUs staff, students and lay leaders around the world are appalled by the level of vicious anti-Jewish racism being promoted by anti-Israel tent “encampments” on a growing number of college campuses.”

https://www.standwithus.com/post/standwithus-statement-regarding-anti-jewish-racism-promoted-on-campuses

I am posting these on our Facebook page.

 

Today, as we recite our prayers in memory of those whom we loved, we need to be sure that no one will be allowed to put us in fear, as we had been put in fear in the pogroms, mass killings, and expulsions of the past century. We need to convey, in what ever way we can, to our next generation, that they must stand strong and unbowed, never run from the mob, never hides our identity to pass , to make ourselves acceptable.

 

Who is Amalek?Shabbat Zachor and Hamas—In memory of my father, Rabbi Dr. Willaim Weinberg, z”l.

 

Shabbat Zachor and Hamas—In memory of my father, Rabbi Dr. Willaim Weinberg, z”l.

Link to video

https://youtu.be/rMRWp15fqgo?si=3xE9cuJlAEDWFcVV

 

 

 

Who is Amalek?

 

“There are 3 kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”^, that’s what is attributed to Mark Twain. Apparently, he was not a good numbers cruncher- but I now see that besides Marcelo [PhD in mathematics] and Geoff [ math teacher], nobody else is.

Here’s my example. In the current War against Hamas, there is an understandable outcry against the wholesale destruction of all of  Gaza. That’s what it sounds like. So, as we should do our fact checking, I searched on Google to ask how much of Gaza has been blown up.

I see this statistic:

Wow- 70 % of the housing, 50% of all the buildings: Well, Al Jazeera is the Cheering Squad for Hamas, but the Wall Street Journal reports the same, so it must be right.

Except: 

So, this is about the same time period: 50% to 61%. BBC- it must be right!

Except:

 

Reuters is a reliable agency-only 18%, not 50%, not 75%, in the time period!

By February, we would have assumed that nothing is left standing BUT, according to the UN:

Satellite images show 30% of Gaza destroyed, UN centre ...

Reuters

https://www.reuters.com › world › middle-east › satellit...

Feb 2, 2024 — Satellite imagery analysed by the United Nations Satellite Centre shows that 30% of Gaza Strip's buildings have been destroyed or damaged in ...

Satellite Images Show 30% of Gaza Destroyed, UN Centre ...

U.S. News & World Report

https://www.usnews.com › News › World News

Feb 2, 2024 — GENEVA (Reuters) - Satellite imagery analysed by the United Nations Satellite Centre shows that 30% of Gaza Strip's buildings have been ...

At least 30% of Gaza is destroyed, UN Satellite Centre says

Global News https://globalnews.ca › gaza-israel-destruction-photos

Feb 2, 2024 — Satellite imagery analyzed by the United Nations Satellite Centre shows that 30 per cent of Gaza Strip's buildings have been destroyed or ...

Not 70%, not 50%, but as low as 18% and as high as 30%-- a month or more after the reports of 70%!

Now, since this can be tracked by simple satellite imagery, available to all news agencies, how can we get to the number of actual casualties on the Gazan side:

If 70% of the buildings were destroyed, and let’s say, half the people were killed in indiscriminate bombing, then , my numbers crunchers, one half of 70% is 35%, 35% of 2 million is 700,000. Now, the accusation is that Israel has killed 30,000, not 700,000.

If that were an attempt at genocide, then the Israelis are enormously incompetent. Afterall, the German Einsatzgruppen wiped out 1.5 million Jews in the space of a few months with simple machine guns, and much less destruction. In Rwanda, 20 to 30 times as many people were brutally slaughtered in less time.

Or is it that when blacks are killed in Africa, no one did anything, just as the world turned a blind eye to what was happening to us Jews until it was too late?

I raise this to show how our perceptions are distorted.

In this current conflict, many Israeli leaders have used the Biblical account of Amalek as a call to take out Hamas. If course, this reference to Amalek has been used as an excuse to denounce Israel’s actions, as if it were a call to genocide of the Palestinians.

Is that really the analogy?

Who is Amalek?

This is our reading for this Shabbat, a reference to the first battle of survival by the children of Israel as they left Egypt :

Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt—

how, undeterred by fear of God, he surprised you on the march, when you were famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in your rear.

Therefore, when your God grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that your God is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget! ( Deut 25:17ff)

 

We then have the event, centuries later, as Saul is called upon to finish the job:

I Samuel 15.

 

“Thus said the LORD of Hosts: I am exacting the penalty for what Amalek did to Israel, for the assault he made upon them on the road, on their way up from Egypt.

Now go, attack Amalek, and proscribe all that belongs to him. Spare no one, but kill alike men and women, infants and sucklings, oxen and sheep, camels and asses!”

 

Certainly sounds like genocide, but we know, in fact, that the genocide was botched, and the Amalekites continued attacking Israel  for years later.

 

So, how is it resolved? That answer is hinted at in the Story of Esther, which we must read as a highly stylized rendition of an ancient war.

 

“Mordecai, son of Jair son of Shimei son of Kish, a Benjaminite.” Esther 2:5. Kish of Benjamin is the father of King Saul!

Against whom?

Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite- Agagi- a descendent of Agag, the king who was spared by Saul, and we see here-unfinished business.

 

But who here is plotting the genocide? NOT the Jews, but by Haman, who convinces the Persian Shah to eliminate an enemy in their midst:

 

“Accordingly, written instructions were dispatched by couriers to all the king’s provinces to destroy, massacre, and exterminate all the Jews, young and old, children and women, on a single day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month—that is, the month of Adar—and to plunder their possessions.”3:13

 

We know that Mordecai and the Jews take up self-defense, as the King is unable to withdraw his call for genocide but:

 

Here is the King’s decree for the right of self-defense:

 

“The king has permitted the Jews of every city to assemble and fight for their lives; if any people or province attacks them, they may destroy, massacre, and exterminate its armed force together with women and children, and plunder their possessions.”8:11.

 

 A quid pro quo.

 

Do the Jews carry it out?

NO!

 

“ So the Jews struck at their enemies with the sword, slaying and destroying; they wreaked their will upon their enemies. In the fortress Shushan the Jews killed a total of five hundred men. 9:5

And the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the foe of the Jews. But they did not lay hands on the spoil.9:10

Not much of a massacre, not much of a genocide.

 

And again, the next day , in Shushan, 9:15

“and the Jews in Shushan mustered again on the fourteenth day of Adar and slew three hundred men in Shushan. But they did not lay hands on the spoil.

 

Finally, across the entire Persian empire,

9:16

The rest of the Jews of the kingdom gathered together, stood up for their lives ,and found respite from their enemies and killed their haters-75,000, But they did not lay hands on the spoil

 

Considering the size and range the Empire- from India to Ethiopia, not much of a massacre--- note- it  is in self defense, and they did not attack the women and children which had been devised by Haman and authorized by the King against them!

 

 

But, once again—numbers can be twisted: So this week, in LA Times, an op-ed by Jane Eisner, a former editor of Forward, a leading Jewish media piece, and someone who should know better, writes:

March 21, 2024:

  But as we relate to the victimhood, we need to also acknowledge and relate to the revenge taken by the Jews. The ninth chapter of the Book of Esther, often read quickly as if an afterthought, details a violent episode of state-sanctioned retaliation, when Jews murdered 75,000 Persian “enemies” including women and children, and rejoiced afterward.

 

 She should know better!  

It evokes Shylock, demanding our pound of flesh, and she, like Portia, evoking , The quality of mercy”. It is much more a channeling of classic anti-Judaic stances by Christian preachers, such as Martin Luther, who wanted to eject the Book of Esther from the Bible.

However, any simple reading of the text would show that it tells just the opposite. When push comes to shove, the Jews do no exact their” poind of flesh.”!

 

  The text states very much the opposite of her point. There is no word of revenge here, rather, as a straight translation of a very clear Hebrew shows: “stood up for their lives”,” found respite from their enemies” repeated emphatically, “ did not lay hands on the spoil.”

What about “women and children”. Although that was the enemies plan, and although the king authorized it, the text specifically OMITS it!.

 

Haman is Hamas, killing women and children wantonly and taking the spoils, and the Jews are like the Israelis today—defending for their lives, not intentionally killing women and children, and taking no spoils of war!

 

Why this repeated emphasis? To show the spirit of this new generation of Jews- although, under Saul, the people took spoils of war, and although the King authorized it, this new generation did not make war for plunder and gain!

 

Ms Eisner has intentionally read into the text what is not there and has thereby committed a crime of false accusation against her fellow Jews!

 

There is an unusual discussion in Midrashic lore, surrounding the account of King Saul and the Amalekites, reflecting the moral quandry about the extent of bloodshed.

( for a full analysis, go to my published research paper on Saul in the Midrash https://www.academia.edu/23395001/KING_SAULS_FORTUNE_AT_THE_HAND_OF_THE_HOM_ILISTS )

 

Based on a discussion in Talmud Yoma 22b and other sources:

“

 Rav Shimon ben Lakish said, “Whoever is merciful instead of cruel will in the end be cruel when it is time to be merciful” as he reflected on Saul’s sparing the King of the Amalekites and in  the end, as he degenerates morally, exterminates the men, women , and children of the priestly town of Nob.

In other words, there is a point in which innocent people do die for the sins of others, whether we like it or not, as in Dresden ( 25,000 killed) or Tokyo ( 100,000).

The alternative to that ugly fact would have been the final killing of every last Jew in Europe, or the continued mass killing of other Asians ( in the millions!).

The alternate in war is worse.

Finally, though, for those who claim the reference to Amalek is a call to genocide, I post this picture:

 

 

 

This is the rededication of the synagogue in Salzburg, Austria—the Salzburg of Mozart and beautiful music—now, a center of DP camps.

Standing at the Bimah is my father, Rabbi Dr Wilhelm/ William Weinberg, then head of adult education and jobs training for the survivors under the Joint.

This week is his yahrzeit ( Shushan Purim), so it is an appropriate reminder.

The slogan on the wall is our Torah reading: Zachor et Asher Asah Lecha Amalek:

Remember what Amalek did to you!

Followed by the German paraphrase:

Jude vergiss nicht das Ka Zet!

Jew, Do Not Forget the Concentration Camps!

 

There is no call for revenge upon the German people, no call for genocide, though the sentiment might have been there. My father  shortly after wards, decided he had enough of bloody Germany and bloody Europe and left. 

I leave this land with bitterness, but one may never slam closed the shutters upon any people. The future is with God and not with humans. But may it not be long, that Jews in German become once again the bearers of a world civilization and with the German language of a Lessing, Kant and Goethe.”

  

The call against Amalek is not against innocent women and children. It is a warning for all  humanity, that the ability to unleash hatred upon any group of people is a sin against God.

 That is what has happened against us in our day and time again.