Tag Archives: war

I Am Living In A Split World! I Need Peace!

5 Apr

Here in Kansas, in the past six weeks I ave been to a wedding, a funeral, shows at the Dinner Theater, the Jewish Community Center,  the symphony at Kauffman Center, and a show that I left at the Midwest Center at Johnson County Community College. I have been to lectures, have lunch appointments with friends, taken bridge classes, yoga classes, played mah jong, went to two seders, saw “Project Hail Mary.”

If anyone would see what my husband and I were doing, you would think that we are having a great time.  But it is a facade  Because always in my mind is my daughter, her husband and baby sleeping in a bomb shelter in Holon, just outside Tel Aviv.  My mind is with my hundreds of relatives and friends in Rishon LeZion, Tel Aviv, Shiloh, Netanya, Safat, Modi’im, and other areas in Israel.

I am living in a split world.  It is not a good place!

My sleep is disturbed.  When I wake up in the middle of the night, I check to see if I have a message from my daughter or look to see if there were ballistic missile attacks while I was sleeping peacefully in Overland Park.  If I text my daughter in the morning and she does not respond within a few minutes, I text again, “Just say you are yes ok, or no not ok.”  Luckily up to now it has been good.

For Pesach, they went to stay with my son-in-law’s parents in Zichron Yaacov.  A much quieter spot with very few ballistic missile sirens.  They are staying for the week of Pesach.  Perhaps longer?  It is nice to be away from the constant sounds of war.

But I know people who have not been so good.  I know a family whose daughter/cousin/niece, Maya, was murdered at the Nova Festival.  A relative’s sister-in-law was murdered on October 7 as well.   I know a family whose apartment was destroyed by a ballistic missile, and both of their children are in counseling.  Everyone in Israel has some form of PTSD, stress and anxiety.  How could they not. This has been going on for almost three years. I have a friend here who has not heard from her family in Iran for weeks.  Scary times for all.

I wonder if my grandparents lived in this double world during World War II, wondering what was happening to their families in Poland, Germany and Austria, while still living a relatively normal life in New Jersey.  For my grandparents, the results were not good.  Almost everyone was murdered in the Shoah.  In fact, most of those almost 200 relatives of mine in Israel are descendants of five relatives who survived.

I have fears.  My doctor told me I have situational anxiety.  But it is not only about what is happening in Israel.  It is also the hate I see expanding in the world. But not just the horrible anti-Semitism, but also the political attacks on transgender children and adults, the attacks on immigrants and people who are from minorities.  I cannot find a topic to focus on when I am trying to get back to sleep.

My patience is running thin.  I find it more difficult to focus. And I have cancelled some volunteer activities I thought would help me keep my mind off of what was happening in Israel and the USA.  But it did not work out that way.  I just could not focus and knew I did not have the energy to complete them.

I have some anger. I went to a concert at Johnson County Community College.  It was supposed to be Moroccan, Spanish and Flamenco music.  During the first act, the singer said they wrote the following song after helping with Syrian refugees who were fleeing the Civil War years ago.  And they feel for all refugees.  Then she announced, ‘Free Palestine’ in the Polsky Theater. 

Did she realize that it was Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah that has made it possible for Syrian refugees to return to Syria? Did she know that in saying “Free Palestine” she was announcing that to people like me it was as if she was saying it was okay to kill Israelis and Jews, because to Islamic extremist all of Israel is Palestine and all Jews need to be gone and dead is better than alive.

At intermission I went to the manager of the theater.  I told her I came to hear music and see dancing so I could relax.   I did not come to have a political statement that could mean the destruction of Israel and the death to my family.  I told her with all the antisemitism in the world right now, we did not need these statements that had nothing to do with the program. And when I filled out my survey for this show, I would make it clear how I felt.

I told her that this was not the place to have a group make such a political statement, especially since the Polsky Theater was endowed by a Jewish family.  To allow them to call for the annihilation of Israel at a theater paid for by a Jewish family seemed really callous.  And for those in the Polsky family, especially those I know, I apologize if I went too far.  But I was really upset. My calm relaxing evening was destroyed.

I cannot stand much of what is on Facebook and other social media platforms.  Many of the comments made on articles not about Israel, but about Jewish life in general, are often hateful and false.  I spend much on my online time reporting them.  But of course, usually they are accepted by the Facebook community standards.  Which makes me think the community standards do not really exist. Facebook needs to have a reboot and go back to being a place for friends to connect.  Not cesspool of false information, hate and political crap.  I know he is making billions on advertising, but really who wants to really be on it anymore.

Recently the astronauts on the Artemis 2 spaceship posted a photo of the world. And one talked about how from above the Earth is united.  I agree with him. That photo once again showed how much we are connected. What happens on any continent impacts all of us. Pollution, war, violence, senseless hatred, all cause pain. 

I, along with millions of others, need a break from this double world.  So many in misery: Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iran. War is just bad for humanity. I am praying daily for this war to end in a way that everyone can be safe and live in peace.  Let us find a way this year, during the time of Pesach and Easter and the recent Eid al-Fitr, as a call for all of us to work together to stop those who seem to want hate and war, and give the Earth Peace.

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Peace Please For Israel , The Middle East, The World

10 Jul

Recently  my synagogue’s Men’s Club sponsored a showing of the movie, “To Cast A Giant Shadow,” all about the 1948 formation of the modern State of Israel, the siege of Jerusalem,  and the attacks by five Arab countries to destroy Israel before it was even a day old.

The movie starred Kirk Douglas as Colonel David “Mickey” Marcus, a true hero of the Second World War, who became the first general of Israel and died in a tragic incident concerning friendly fire.

Other stars included Frank Sinatra, John Wayne, Yul Brenner, Angie Dickerson, Topol, and Senta Berger, who played the characters of real people involved in the creation and salvation of Israel against the multitude of Arab nations who vowed to destroy them.    It is a fictionalized version.  But it gives a view of Israel from the 1960s when the movie was made and the terror that people were living through then.

Sounds familiar?  It does to me, as once again terrorist forces from the East, the South and the North try to destroy Israel, and anti-Semitism and Jew hatred takes over social media, and the traditional media also seems to favor the terrorists of Hamas over Israel as it defends itself. In fact, the word Zionism has replaced the word Jewish on social media to create Jew hatred around the world.

We were basically defenseless then.  No one would give us weapons. The British were turning everything over to the Arab nations.  The Jews had just suffered through a massive attempt to annihilate them—the largest genocide in human history. Many of the ‘soldiers’ had recently arrived from the concentration camps.  Who would have thought Israel would survive?  It was really a miracle, perhaps the divine intervention included the help of Mickey Marcus.

Now we are not defenseless.  But once again there are fractions in the world that would like to see the destruction of the State of Israel.  The UN made it obvious who they wanted to believe when they would not even admit for months that the Hamas terrorists raped and brutalized Israel victims, both women and men and the horrible murders of children.  The UNWRA seems complicit in the work of Hamas.

On college campuses and in cities around the world people are supporting Hamas, a terrorist group that ended a cease fire and has caused the deaths of thousands of people. It seems to be a world gone insane. But not only in Israel.  Yesterday Russia once again bombed the Ukraine. This time destroying a children’s hospital in Kiev. 

How bad can it get before the world realizes that Israel is a sovereign country?  Ukraine is a sovereign country.  When Iran says it will obliterate Israel, what does that really mean? Nuclear War?  When Russia threatens to use nuclear weapons, what does it mean?  Nuclear War?

In the Middle East the wars between Israel and its neighbors did not stop then with this war for survival.  For the entirety of Israel’s existence, the Arab nations surrounding it have worked for its destruction.  For the past decade, Russia has been trying to chip away at Ukraine’s borders.

Isn’t it time for these continuous battles to end? Isn’t time for children everywhere to be able to sleep a peaceful night without the need for bomb shelters? 

Isn’t it time for Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah to start working to make life better for the people they are entrusted with and use the money they have to rebuild and create a strong economy and society instead of using more and more money to precure arms and build the tunnels and machinery for destruction?

Isn’t it time for Russia to pull back?  So the children and people of Ukraine can have peace again? Before this blows up and more people die on both sides. 

Does anyone think nuclear war will end the battles?  It might –  with the destruction of the world as we know it.  Releasing atomic bombs will not solve the problems.  Ukraine and Russia border each other. Any nuclear bomb will harm both. Israel borders many Arab nations, if Iran obliterate Israel other nations will also be destroyed. It makes me think of another of my favorite movies, “War Games,” in which we find out that thermonuclear war is a non-winner for everyone.

Please Peace.  No more battles, deaths, sleepless nights, and destruction.  It is time for Iran and its terrorist proxies to look at their own plates and solve the problems of their people and stop trying to kill all the Jews in the world.  The same in Ukraine.  I know that the ‘normal’ people of the world who are suffering do not want any more battles.

Please Peace. For Israel. For Ukraine. For the world.

Movie Night in the Catskills Was A Wonderful, Magical Night

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cast_a_Giant_Shadow

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WarGames

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How A Mother Suffers

1 May

“How a mother suffers!” My mother would moan every so often when one of us got sick, or misbehaved, or had an accident.  Sometimes she would say it in jest when we were all teasing her.

How a mother suffers.  These are words that take on so many more nuances when your child lives in a war zone.  Or when your child is called up to serve in the military. Or when your child is hurting.  My mother-in-law would say, “You are only as happy as your most unhappy child.”  That is also true.

In the past two years I have gone from the highs of motherhood to the lows.  And as a mother I am suffering a bit.  I say a bit because I know there are parents who are suffering way more than I am.  There are mothers whose children are forced to fight for their country against terrorists.  There are mothers of children who are taken hostage and have not seen them for six months.  There are mothers of children in Gaza who have perished as Israel fights for its existence and Hamas refuses all negotiations, using the people of Gaza and the hostages as shields.  Forcing many more mothers to suffer.

My suffering is minor compared to theirs.  But it still resonates in my heart.  When I get off an airplane and turn my phone on to a multitude of messages, including one from my daughter saying, “We are fine. We are in our safe room (bomb shelter).”  When I see the news that Iran is bombarding Israel with 340 missiles, drones and bombs.  When I feel that rise of panic and bile in my throat because I honestly do not know if she is safe.

Too many times in the last 12 years I have woken up to the same message. “We are fine, we are in our safe room.”

Hamas has been targeting Israel with bombs all these years.  Every year, every month, 100s and 1000s of rockets. Because their aim is the total destruction of the state of Israel and the death of all Jews.  All Jews.   And when Hamas is not bombing from the south and west, then Hezbollah bombs from the north. And their rockets are move sophisticated.

Now I see college campuses with ignorant students calling out “We are Hamas. Free Palestine. All Zionists should die.”  Without ever mentioning the fact that Hamas started this war. That Hamas raped, murdered and brutalized 1000s of people. That Hamas took hostages. That Hamas send over 20,000 bombs into Israel. That Hamas does not really care about their own people feeling that they should be martyrs to the cause. Hamas leaders have actually said this! Definitely not mothers.

This mother, who has a master’s degree in journalism, suffers when she sees that the media does not report equally on what Israel has suffered giving more coverage to Gaza.  That the media uses information provided by Hamas to report on what is happening.  That they believe the lies of Hamas, which we have seen over and over again. And when found in a lie, then puts the truth buried on back pages and not the front pages where they put the lies. When they report what Hamas says and not what Israel says.  I find this type of media coverage despicable. And I wonder what happened in the world that the news is so biased. What happened to reporting equally on both sides and not putting personal opinion or bias in the reports.  There are members of the news media who turn my stomach, I can’t imagine why they are allowed on the air.  The BBC is one of these media outlets who actually fired some of their so-called reporters because of their biases.

I think of October 7 and the mothers that I know who really suffered.  I think of my daughter’s friend whose cousin was murdered at the Nova festival.  Three girls went together and only one survived.  The one who survived only did so because she hid under the bodies of the DEAD.  The last time Jewish people had to do that was in the Shoah.

How a mother suffers!  She suffers through the suffering of her children.  She suffers through the suffering of the mothers she knows.  She suffers from the callousness of others who say thoughtless words.

This mother is angry that any mother has to suffer.  But is also angry at the mothers who did not teach their college-age children about right and wrong.  Did not teach them that terrorist groups are not the heroes, they are the villains.  A sovereign country has a right to exist. And through all the suffering initiated by Hamas, we will survive. 

A mother suffers.   A mother is only as happy as her most unhappy child.  Many times a mother suffers in silence, not wanting their children to know how much they hurt and worry about them.  But this mother is strong, supportive and will survive and can speak out for what is right. 

 I say Israel has a right to exist.  Hamas is a terrorist group whose goal is destruction. No mother should have to suffer because Hamas/Hezbullah/Iran started a war. Anti Semitism is alive on college campuses and in the news media.  We all have to speak out. Enough is enough.

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Something Evil this way comes…and it is not Israel

22 Jul

Like many mothers in the United States, I have a child who made aliyah (immigrated) to Israel. My daughter studied for her two master’s degrees at Ben Gurion University in the Negev, where she earned degrees in Middle East Studies and the Politics of Conflict. She currently works for a consultant company that helps NGOs (Non-Government Agencies/non-profits) who work toward community building, understanding, helping women and children throughout Israel.

I taught my daughter from an early age to respect everyone’s right to exist in a peaceful world with no fear. That we need to work for interfaith understanding and community.  She listened to me and has tried to help create such a world.

But she saw her place in Israel. And as a mother of an adult child, I could only accept her choices.

When she studied in Israel she lived through missile attacks from Hamas before the Iron Dome defense system went into effect. She learned to take cover and run to a bomb shelter. When she came home one spring, she was concerned about the tornado sirens in Kansas. Would they sound like bomb sirens, and be just too unsettling? But no our sirens do not sound like the ones she was used to in Israel.  The same sirens she is hearing now as she rides her bicycle to work and must run for cover.

Now she, like millions of other Israelis, have been under attack from Hamas for days, months, years. And the world said nothing. NOTHING. They say nothing about the hundreds of thousands killed in Syria, nothing about those being killed in Libya, Nothing.

But when Israel starts to fight back and Hamas uses innocents as shields, Then the world talks. Israel is doing everything it can not to kill women and children.  And I am not saying they are always successful.  But they try.  Remember when the US was in Afghanistan and Iraq, we, yes we, the USA, killed many more civilians.  War is horrible and civilians die.  But when Israel fights back and bombs rocket launching sites that have purposely been placed near schools, hospitals and  residential areas, Israel is blamed.  The UN even found bombs in one if its schools.

Why, because Anti-Semitism still exists and it is like a snake that comes out of hole in the ground and strikes.

Anti-Semitic riots have occurred in France and other countries. Why is not the world rioting about Syria? Why not about Hamas and what it has been doing? Why doesn’t Egypt want to help the Gaza? Because the government of Egypt is afraid of the evil of Hamas!

Do not ask me if I feel stressed. I Do!

Do not ask me if my child is in the military. It does not matter. She is under attack whether or not she serves in the military.

Do not ask me if I want her to come home. For her she is home. As for me, really what do you think if it was your child?

You want to do something. Then tell those who hate for no reason, that Israel is not the enemy here. That evil comes from within Gaza where financial aid has not been used to help better the life of its citizens, but instead has been used to buy weapons from Syria and Iran. Has been used to build tunnels to attack Israel. Has destroyed what Israelis left behind when they left Gaza.

That’s right. They left Gaza. Gaza is not occupied by anyone but Hamas.

Something evil this way comes, and it is not Israel. It is terrorists. And terrorists/fanatics do not stop. They must be stopped.

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