Dry Bones Editorials are posted and archived on JNonline.us . Editorial Much To Be Proud Of I n 1922, Henrietta Szold, the founder of Hadassah, described her Zionist vision as arukat bat-ammi and also arukat ha-goyim — the healing of my people and the healing of the nations. As we celebrate the 58th year of the modern State of Israel, this humane and peaceful vision has not been realized. There is no doubt that Israel is healing for Jews. Ask the Israeli Jews from Russia, Ethiopia, Syria and Iraq or the more than 100 other nations. Ask the Holocaust survivors and their families. Ask the millions of Jews world- wide who find meaning in both Israel's antiquity and modernity, personally committed to both its past and its future. We are healing. Looking back to where we were 60 years ago makes one shudder. Looking at where we are now makes one proud: This doesn't mean we don't have all the dysfunctions of an extended family that threaten to tear us apart. We have estab- lished a Western-style democracy in a desert of despotism. We are a nation and people new to the use of power — facing a large, moti- vated, capable and seemingly implacable enemy. We seek to maintain our ancient religion in modern times and are passion- ate with each other about how this should, or must, be done. Plus, we've got the class divisions, poverty, pettiness, rivalries, self- doubt, hubris and honest and deep differences of opinion that everyone else has. But our ingenuity, persever- ance and faith that have seen us through millennia have brought us to the Promised Land. Israel is militarily strong, well educated, technologically advanced and well connected. Its people are strong; still pioneers seeking to establish themselves and their nation in peace and security in the face of formidable forces arrayed against them. American Jews and Jews throughout the world are strong in their support of Israel while building their own communities and nations. The dream expressed in the old Zionist song that "we've built the land and have been built by it" is unquestionably and proudly, true. But while we heal and in many ways flourish, many of the nations — particularly those OSAMA BIN LADEA7 JUST SAID ON AL- JAZEERA TELEVISION THAT ISLAM IS AT WAR WITH THE US AND EUROPE. YOU'VE GOT TO FEEL SORRY FOR THE GUY . . . around us — are still terribly ill. As we celebrate the 58th year of the modern State of Israel, we know that others curse it. Many suffer from the sickness of anti- Semitism, extremism, terrorism and ignorance. And many remain embittered and deprived, more interested in destroying than building, due to their inability to reconcile themselves to the exis- tence and permanence of Israel. Since Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat dropped the pretense of recognizing Israel by choosing to fight rather than switch — to blow up rather than sit down — things have only gotten worse. Arafat has become Hamas. Bin Laden lives and Al Zarqawi attacks Americans in Iraq. Khomeini's Islamic revolu- tion again threatens the world as Iran's president pursues nukes and funds terrorism in order to achieve his Muslim messianic goal of seeing victory over the infidels during his lifetime. Demonizing Israel has become a growth industry. Polite anti- Semites attack Israel as a sur- rogate for their attacks on Jews while less-polite ones try to cow us into submission. Some try to appeal to people's morals while, ironically, not being able to dis- tinguish between good and evil. But we will not be made to feel guilty for being organized, edu- cated, smart and effective advo- cates. On the contrary, we take pride in what Israel and its sup- porters have done to build and sustain American governmental and public support at peak levels. We shouldn't lose sight of how much we have achieved. Almost exactly 10 years ago, Marlene Post, one of Henrietta Szold's ideological heirs as then national president of Hadassah, said: "I thank God for the privi- lege of living at a time when I can travel to Jerusalem, be nour- ished by her being and drink from the cup of her dreams. Ours is a blessed generation!' Amen. L'chaim! fl But I went online and found dozens of allusions to an increased incidence of rape in Sweden and Norway, as well as Australia. Most were committed by immigrants from Muslim lands. Their apologists say that they have a right to be offended by the immodest dress of women in these countries, and that it is up to Europeans and Aussies to moderate their behavior so as not to offend these new multi- cultural standards. To which one can only respond, "Are you out of your unprintable mind?" Muslims are very big on free speech, a commodity that is in short supply in their homelands. Except, of course, when it is free speech they don't like. Some of their allies even introduced a resolution in the Michigan Legislature to condemn Detroit News columnist Nolan Finley for writ- ing that Palestinians failed democracy by electing a govern- ment led by Hamas, an organi- zation sworn to terrorism. He added that Palestinians place a higher value on killing Israelis than on their own well-being. Did I miss something? Is there anything wrong with that? Nolan is a big boy and can fight his own battles. But I find it utterly preposterous that a group of pandering politicians (excuse the redundancy) could waste everyone's time by sponsoring a resolution that strikes directly at basic American freedoms. Free speech for me, but you shut your trap. When a Swedish newspaper covered one of these gang rapes, it referred to the assailants as "one from Finland, two from Sweden and one from Somalia" It did not see fit to mention that all four were immigrants from Somalia. That might have been construed as "hate speech!' Sweden, by the way, just with- drew from European military exercises scheduled this month because Israel plans to partici- pate. Gee, what a surprise. NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES HE SAYS THAT ISLAM IS AT WAR WITH THE bryBonesBlog.corn Send letters of no more than 150 words to: letters@thejewishnews.com. Reality Check The Viking Way ne thing puzzled me about the controversial e-mail that a Michigan State University professor recently sent to a protesting Muslim student group. Indrek Wichman said he was not offended by the Danish car- toons that touched off rioting in Muslim countries. Instead, he wrote that he was offended by more "mundane" concerns — such as terrorist bombings and decapitation of hostages. "I counsel you dissatisfied, aggressive, brutal and uncivi- lized slave-trading Moslems to be very aware of this as you proceed with your infantile protests:' he wrote. "If you do not like the values of the West -- see the First Amendment — you are free to leave. I hope for God's sake that most of you choose that option. Please return 26 May 4 2006 to your ancestral homelands and build them up yourselves instead of troubling Americans." Well, just how insensitive can you get? Various Islamic organizations demanded both a reprimand for Wichman and multicultural sensitivity training for the MSU faculty. They did not address the issue of whether or not he was speaking the truth. Only that it was very mean of him to say such things, and offensive speech is repellent. Yeah. I kind of feel that way, too, about Iranian officials. No one suggests any sensitivity training for them, however. One of Wichman's state- ments that puzzled me, however, referred to a wave of rapes corn- mitted by Muslim immigrants in Scandinavian countries. I hadn't heard about that before. George Cantor's e-mail address is gcantor614@aol.com.