OTHER VIEWS

Israel Needs Us Now

mr

e of the Sara Tugman
sion of so many American Jews to
Bais Chabad Torah
cancel their plans to go to Israel flies
Center recently spent 12
in the face of both common sense and
days in Israel. Aside from
the Torah approach to life.
the awesome experiences of praying
and studying at the holy sites, and
Overcoming Fear
witnessing the incredible beauty of
this land, we saw a people going about
President Franklin Roosevelt said, "We
their activities without the
have nothing to fear but fear
paralyzing fear that
itself." Fear distorts rational
Americans believe exists
thought. Most of the same
there.
people who are afraid to go or
Although Israelis are cer-
send their children to Israel
tainly concerned about secu-
have no problem with giving
rity, this, in no way, prevents
their teenagers cars on their
them from living normal,
16th birthdays. The chances
wholesome lives, nor has it
of their child sustaining seri-
translated into undue anxiety.
ous injury or worse in a car
We must not believe all that
accident is much greater than
RABBI
we see and hear in the (some-
that of their being the victims
ELIMELECH
times very biased) media.
of a terrorist incident in Israel.
SILBERBERG
What really concerns and
We are constantly taking
Community
saddens Israelis is the acute
calculated risks in order to
Views
scarcity of American and
increase the quality of our
European tourists. In a country that
lives. Going to Israel involves not
virtually lives off tourism, the dearth
much more risk than we all take every
of visitors deals a near death blow to
day. Certainly, there are areas in Israel
the Israeli economy. It was sad to hear,
that are more dangerous than others.
over and over, hoW grateful they were
But to argue that, therefore, one
that we had come.
should not go to Israel is as logical as
I have fond memories of our last
arguing that one should not visit West
shul trip to Israel seven years ago. At
Bloomfield if there is violence in
the Kotel, Masada or the various muse-
Detroit. It is perfectly possible to have
urns and historical attractions that dot
a wonderful vacation, and to tour the
the landscape, we saw dozens of tour
length and breadth of Israel in peace
buses teeming with people from all
and tranquility — as we did — while
over the world. On our latest visit, we
avoiding problematic areas.
rarely saw more than one or two at any
In terms of the Torah approach, we
major site. Many important museums
returned from Israel during the week
are cutting hours and staff, while oth-
when the Torah portion of Mattos-
ers are simply shutting down.
Masei is read in the synagogue. There,
What is so painful is that the deci-
Moses rebukes the tribes of Reuven

Douglas Stein of Bloomfield Hills, Rabbi Silberberg and his wife Chaya Sora and
other Sara Tugman Bais Chabad members visit the Machanah Yehudah Shuk in
Jerusalem for Friday afternoon shopping.

and Gad for their request to remain on
the east bank of the Jordan, and not
join the other tribes in their conquest
of the. mainland. He stated that it is
inconceivable that they (Reuven and
Gad) should remain behind while their
brethren fight the enemy in Israel.
The Bartenura, one of the primary
commentators on the Mishnah, com-
ments on the statement "Do not sepa-
rate from the community," (Pirkei
Avot, Ethics of Our Fathers: 2;4) that we
must make special efforts to join with
our people when they are in distress.
Many similar examples from Torah can
be brought to support this idea.
The apathy of American Jews to the
fate of their brethren during World
War II is a black mark in our history.

It is a mistake that we must never
repeat. Moreover, shall we allow our-
selves to be intimidated by Palestini
Authority leader Yasser Arafat and hi
hordes of terrorists and thugs? It see
to me that by avoiding Israel, we are
playing right into their hands!
Israel needs our moral and financia
support, and they need us now If we
remove irrational fears from our
minds, we will be there for our
brethren in their time of need. We
also will be the beneficiaries of the
wonderful experience of visiting the
Holy Land.

❑

Elimelech Silberberg is rabbi of the
Sara Tug-man Bais Chabad Torah
Center in West Bloomfield

History Abuse

New York City
is being mounted not only against
isha b'Av, the Jewish fast
Jews and the Jewish state, but also
that commemorates the
against Jewish history itself.
destruction of the Holy
Consider the official Palestinian
Temples in
Ministry of Information's
Jerusalem as well as other
statement that "there is no
tragedies of Jewish history,
tangible evidence of any
will take on a special
Jewish traces/remains in
poignancy this year. For nc t
the old -city of Jerusalem
only has the Temple not
and its immediate vicini-
ty
been rebuilt and does the
Messiah still tarry, but the
Or the declaration of
Jewish people in the Jewish
Palestinian Authority Mufti
land are under siege by ene-
Ikrima Sabri, in an inter-
mies consumed with hatred
view with the German
RABBI AVI
and seemingly unfettered by
periodical Die Welt, that
SHAFRAN
any sense of the holiness of
"there is not [even] the
Special
human life.
smallest indication of the
Commentary
What is more, the assault
existence of a Jewish tern-

T

ATM

7/27

2001

28

ple on [the Temple Mount] in the
past." (The Muslim cleric went on to
speak of how "it is the art of the Jews
to deceive the world" and that Israeli
Jews "from Germany should return
to Germany," laughing to his
German interviewer before adding,
"After all, you like them so much,
don't you?") — quotes courtesy of
the Middle East Media Research
Institute.
And the world is all too happy to
buy the cynical rewriting of history.
Whether out of cowardice or some-
thing darker, a number of journalists
have chosen to refer to the Temple
Mount by the name Muslims have
given it — though it was the site of
King Solomon's Temple more than a

thousand years before Islam's
founder's grandparents were even
glints in their own parents' eyes.

Obscuring History

Wittingly or otherwise, such mind-
lessness masquerading as fair play
assists the Arab determination to
deny, as in the case of the Holocaus
and other inconvenient realities, th
ancient and essential Jewish bond t
the Jewish land. The denial is execu
ed quite tangibly, too. Credible
sources report that the Waqf, the
Islamic religious overseers of the
mosques that function undisturbed
on the Mount, has been excavating
and systematically destroying arti-