Guest Column

Jewish Extremists Make Me
Embarrassed To Be Jewish

L

ast week, together with my
annual observance of Tisha b'Av, a
wife and children, I volun-
solemn day of fasting and mourning
teered at my synagogue's
in commemoration of the destruction
annual Housing the Homeless pro-
of the two temples which once stood
in Jerusalem. Traditionally, on this day
gram — a weeklong homeless shelter
that takes over the congregation's large Jewish people lament the destruction
building in suburban Detroit. As we
of the temples, but we also use the day
served dinner to our guests and then I
as a clarion call against baseless hate
watched as my kids headed outside to
— both internal and external. How
the playground with their new friends, men who consider themselves reli-
I thought to myself that this is what
gious Jews can so grossly violate the
Judaism is about. This is God's inten-
core principles of the Jewish religion is
tion. We are to follow the path of the
beyond me.
righteous.
It is both shocking and
Only a few days ear-
embarrassing that these
lier, I was lamenting how
extremists cite my Torah as
embarrassed I am to be
the blueprint for their bru-
Jewish. While I have lived
tality. If we Jewish people
my entire life as a proud
are to call on Muslims to rail
against Islamic extremism,
Jew, and I certainly wear
my Judaism on my sleeve,
then we in the Jewish com-
I found myself shaking
munity must heed our own
my head in disbelief at the
call. We must stand in oppo-
horrific acts of violence
sition against those who
Rabbi Jason
and hatred committed a
tarnish Judaism through
Mil ler
few weeks ago by Jewish
their hate and bloodshed.
extremists in Israel.
We must distance ourselves
Yishai Schlissel (may his
from these warriors and
name be forgotten), a haredi Orthodox show the world that Judaism is about
man from the West Bank, stabbed
love — the love of our own people as
six marchers in the annual gay pride
well as the love of the other.
parade in Jerusalem after serving 10
In an op-ed titled "We Are At
War:' Yair Lapid, a member of Israel's
years for a similar attack at the same
gay pride parade a decade earlier.
Knesset and the chairman of the Yesh
Shira Banki, of blessed memory, a
Atid party, wrote a poetic reproach
16-year-old girl who was stabbed
of these Jewish extremists: "He who
during the parade, has died from her
burns a Palestinian baby declares
wounds. An LGBT advocate, Shira par- war on the State of Israel. He who
ticipated in the parade to support her
stabs young people at a Pride March
gay friends. In a statement, her family
declares war on the State of Israel. He
said, "For no good reason and because
who burns down a church declares
of evil, stupidity and negligence, the
war on the State of Israel. He who
life of our beautiful flower was cut
threatens to attack the Supreme Court
shore'
with a D-9 bulldozer declares war
Just as the week was ending and
on the State of Israel. He who throws
word of the shocking attack at the
rocks at the security services declares
gay pride parade was making its
war on the State of Israel."
way around the world, our stomachs
Indeed, these hateful terrorists are
not my own. They are my enemies.
were unsettled once again by more
tragic news spurred by hatred. Israeli
Just as I encourage peace-loving
extremists set fire to a home in a West
Muslims to rebuke the extremists that
Bank village and an 18-month-old
claim to be of their same religion, I
Palestinian child was burned to death.
stand in sharp opposition of these
The attack in the village of Duma was
contemptible terrorists. As we learn
carried out by a group of masked peo-
in Psalms, the Lord regards the way
ple from a nearby settlement. Lehava,
of the righteous, but the way of the
or the Price Tag organization, an anti-
wicked shall perish. ❑
Arab Jewish extremist group which
Follow Rabbi Jason Miller on Facebook
operates in West Bank Israeli settle-
(https://www.facebook.com/
ments, was believed to be responsible
rabbijasonmiller) and on his blog at
for the violence.
http://blog.rabbijason.com . Follow him
These violent acts of senseless
on Twitter at @rabbijason.
hatred occurred only days after the

Commentary

Israelis Feel Surrounded
Yet Alone After Iran Deal

L

ast summer, to get away from the
war in Gaza with its air-raid sirens
and cascade of terrible news,
my wife and I decided to head north
and rent a small cabin in the middle of
nowhere for a few days.
The tzimmer (from the
German "Zimmer," for
"room") is a ubiquitous
Israeli institution. There are
thousands of little cabins
all over the country, some
more upscale and some
less. We picked the one that
claimed to be the highest
altitude tzimmer in Israel.
The higher up, it somehow
seemed, the better.
Daniel G
If we'd hoped for quiet,
we were about to be disap-
pointed. At night, there was shelling
from Lebanon; during the day, artillery
landed not too far away as Syrian and
Islamic State forces battled it out.
This week, because it's been a quiet
summer on the military front, we decid-
ed to give the place another try. We
drove three hours north, climbing the
winding roads up the border's moun-
tains, to return to the same cabins. Just
as we walked in the door, though, our
phones started pinging. It was the Code
Red app, which rings whenever there's
an air-raid siren. One quick look at the
screen tells you where the siren has
gone off – it was not far from where we
were.
My wife looked at me half laughing
and half horrified. "You've got to be kid-
ding," she groaned. The siren was due
to a malfunction, which happens fairly
frequently, but gone was the calm. We
each grabbed a book and sat outside.
Then the artillery started. Boom after
boom – we looked at each other again
and just laughed. When the owner came
by, we asked what the artillery was.
"Probably just IDF practicing," he said
seeking to reassure us. Neither of us
believed him, but we went along with
the ruse.
Half an hour later, a WhatsApp mes-
sage arrived from one of our sons. It
was a video he'd just taken of his fel-
low Israeli soldiers marching through
a Polish forest not far from a village
where Jews had been evicted from
their homes, marched into the woods
and shot en masse. The Israel Defense
Forces regularly takes soldiers back
to those places. For many Israelis, the
image of our children, who bear the
responsibility for defending us in the
place where helpless Jews were killed

by the thousands is a source of no
small amount of pain, but a strange sort
of comfort, as well.
Our ability to defend ourselves, our
knowledge that we are thus different
from the Jews who died in those forests
– while the world looked on
and the U.S. sealed its shores
– has been a source of pride
to this small country. "Never
again" is a ubiquitous phrase.
It is in that context that one
needs to understand Israelis'
widespread sadness at the
nuclear weapons agreement
with Iran. The news reached
us on the mountaintop, again
on our iPhones. It was no
ordis
surprise, of course, but the
finality was still sobering. The
overwhelming sense was one of alone-
ness. Few Israelis believe President
Barack Obama's protestations that he
has Israel's back. He wanted a deal and
a legacy, Israelis sense, and Israel was
the price.
"Iran is now on the map while Israel
no longer is," read one headline. "Israel
has to decide whether to become part
of the West with its preference for cre-
ative diplomacy," the Channel 2 article
continued, "or to make do in our diffi-
cult neighborhood and to announce that
we will defend ourselves, even if we
remain alone."
The artillery we could hear as I read
the article was a reminder that this is,
indeed, a rough neighborhood.
"Even if we remain alone" was the
prevailing sentiment. Avi Issacharoff,
a moderate Israeli columnist, said that
with the agreement, "Obama awarded

is

Dr. Gordis on page 58

Dry Bones

HAMAS WANTS
ANOTHER "PRISONER
RELEASE"

I

WHAT'S IN

"CONVICTS"?
"PRISONERS"? WHAT'S
THE DIFFERENCE ?

"CONVICTS"!NOT
PRISONERS!

IF YOU
DON'T BELIEVE
IN A SYSTEM
OF CRIMINAL
JUSTICE.

www.drybones.com

JN

August 13 • 2015

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