Op' ion

Oreenber 's View

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Color It Proud

B

lue is the color that matters most amid the
emotional and physical struggle pitting Jew
against Jew as Israeli disengagement from
the Palestinian-controlled territories continues into a
second week.
Blue links the Israeli flag with the color of a
thread of the tzitzit (fringes) on one of Judaism's
most sacred garments, the tallit or prayer shawl.
Over the centuries, when the exact process for mak-
ing the thread's blue dye was thought to be lost, it
became customary instead to adorn one's white tallit
with bright blue stripes.
In modern-day Israeli politics, it's not surprising
that orange is the color of choice for those settlers
fighting eviction during Israel's retrenchment from a
38-year military and housing occupation of the
Gaza Strip and parts of Samaria. It's a brilliant color
and, much like the sun, exudes a sense of defiance
against all comers. Blue, which bespeaks mystery in
Jewish history, has been adopted by the disengage-
ment supporters; the blue-threaded tallit of old
helped unlock the mysteries of our faith for our
forebears.
The sacred blue and white colors of the Israeli
flag, however, must prevail over the blue versus
orange of the evacuation battle. hraeli unity is at
stake. The people of our ancestral homeland have
enough to fear from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other
Palestinian terrorist groups. Jewish infighting would

E-mail your opinion in a letter to the editor of no
more than 150 words to: letters@thejewishnews. corn.

War And Mouthwash

I

have watched in numb fascination some recent
TV commercials dramatizing the excruciating
pain that comes from using after-
shave lotions or certain brands of mouth-
wash.
People are dunking their faces in cereal
bowls and hanging from ceiling fixtures to
alleviate the distress of such terrifying
experiences.
All this summer, I have also heard local media
complaining about how terribly hot and muggy the
season has been. As if 90 degrees was an unbearable
level of discomfort.
So I have a question. When did we turn into a
bunch of wusses?
I know the commercials are using exaggeration for
comic effect. But for such an ad to connect it must
contain a kernel of truth. Are there really people out
there who avoid using mouthwash because it hurts
too much? Please let me know who they are so I can
give them a wide berth towards the end of the day.
As for the 90-degree outcry — come on. It's sum-
mer. A bit warmer than average, but nowhere close
to the scorchers of the past, where the temperature

only exacerbate their risk.
Hamas already has staked
its claim to the impetus
behind Israel's pullout.
Just last week, it affirmed
its will to destroy the
Jewish state. Three weeks
before that, even the so-
called democratic
Palestinian Authority
broadcast on . P.A. TV an
American-made movie
that presents the United
States as an imperialist tyrant and furthers the anti-
West agenda of the Arab world.
Clearly, Israel and the United States have no
Mideast peace partner.
We respect the devotion of the Jewish settlers to
the biblical land that Ariel Sharon himself encour-
aged settlement of following the Six-Day War in
1967. Now the Israeli prime minister, Sharon won
government approval for disengagement — the
result of Israel's free and democratic socie-
ty. Resistance in support of a cause can be
noble, but Israelis must refocus on rebuild-
ing unity among themselves, Israeli Jew
and Israeli Arab alike, if they intend to
fend off the threatened resumption of terrorist
attacks this fall.
The colors of the future Israeli flag were chosen at
Theodor Herzl's First Zionist Congress at Basel,
Switzerland, in 1897. The tallit's blue and white col-
ors inspired the choice. Later, the revered American
Rabbi Joseph Dov Soloveichik in effect validated the
selection. He said white depicts clarity, understand-
ing and reason while blue connotes mystery, unpre-

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dictability and tragedy — so together they symbol-
ized the centuries-long yearning and discovery on
the road for the Jews' return to Yerushalayim and
Eretz Yisrael. Together, these hues reflect the ups
and downs of life itself, from the mystery of the
blue-tinged oceans and skies to the white-like trans-
parency of routine living.
Through repeated attempts by Arab warriors to
decimate their Jewish neighbors and through two
recent Palestinian intifadas, the blue and
white has flown proudly over Israel since
1948, repelling all aggressors. You can bet
it is this flag that rankles the terrorists the
most. As long as it flies freely, their hated
enemy, the Jews, live on the land they so want.
Much like the tallit enwraps individual Jews in
the peacefulness of prayer and learning, the flag
envelops all Jews in the pursuit of Mideast and
world peace. The flag is a prayer shawl for the
Jewish people. Right now, it's working overtime to
persevere — to show the Israeli strength and resolve
at holding back terrorists, living amid Arab neigh-
bors and keeping peace within. ❑

EDIT ORIAL

got into the high 90s or even over 100
and the West Bank, but in Iraq, too.
degrees, and stayed there for days. And that
In World War I, a conflict in which
was at a time before air conditioning was
America had far less of a stake, we lost
almost a standard feature in homes and
53,000 men in combat in less than seven
offices.
months. That compares to fewer than 1,500
It's the reverse of winter hysteria, where a
battlefield deaths in Iraq in more than two
five-inch snowfall is greeted by
years. Context is cold comfort to the raw
these same people as a harbinger of
wound of a dead son. Still, events without
doomsday.
context are meaningless.
GEORGE
Are we really that soft? Risk averse,
The New York Times'Thomas Friedman,
CANTOR
pain averse, life averse. Where we
the most astute observer in American jour-
Columinst
must be insulated from any possible negative
nalism, says that the war is critical to
outcome. Assured that every course of action
Muslim extremists. If they are defeated in
will lead to a good result.
their own heartland, they can be stopped anywhere,
I think of Israel and what it is going through right and their prestige in the Arab world will plummet.
now, the start of a process that may bring it into
If they have overplayed their hand, if massacring
gut-wrenching internal conflict and danger. No one
fellow Muslims finally turns the Islamic world
can be sure.
against them, if they cannot stop the formation of a
"There are no strangers on the evening news," an
new Iraqi government, this war will have been
Israeli once told me in describing the sense of
worth fighting. Both in terms of our own security
shared fate felt by the entire nation. Israel does not
and that of our endangered allies, from Israel to
have the luxury of an all-volunteer military, where
India to Western Europe.
young men and women weigh the risks of being a
So they will throw everything they can at us in
soldier before signing on for duty in places such as
the next months. If we can stand up to that,
Iraq.
America may yet stumble into success.
Everyone puts it on the line there. If the worst does
But a country that thinks strong mouthwash is
occur, mothers don't camp out in front of the presi-
unbearable may no longer have the fortitude to pay
dent's house and accuse him of murdering her boy.
that price. If not, we will pay a far higher price at
They grasp what is at stake for Israel; not only in Gaza
another time.

REALITY
CHECK

George Cantor's e-mail address is gcantor614@aolcom.

❑

8/25

2005

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