Why I'm Proud To Be A Jew {Insp}

"Why I'm Proud To Be A Jew"

With war raging in the Middle East, with global terror reaching
new heights, with global anti-Semitism on the rise, I thought
it might be a good time to reflect on why I'm proud, more than
ever, to be a Jew.

I'm proud to be a Jew because Jews don't kidnap.

I'm proud to be a Jew because Jewish education does not
consist of teaching martyrdom and hatred.

I'm proud to be a Jew because my religious leaders and
religious services don't whip me into a frenzy to kill others.

I'm proud to be a Jew because in the middle of a war, Jews
still demonstrate and protest to protect the rights of the
Arab-Israeli minority to voice their opposition to the war.

I'm proud to be a Jew because even when Israel is wrongly
and falsely accused of killing innocent civilians, Jewish
leaders apologize immediately for any loss of life-instead
of celebrating these deaths by passing out candy and
shooting celebratory gunshots into the air.

When the world accuses Israel of massacre in Jenin-when
the world accuses Israel of bombing civilians on a Gaza
beach-when the world accuses Israel of shooting a child
cowering against a wall-when the world accuses Israel of
bombing a Lebanese apartment building killing 56 civilians-
when all of these accusations turn out to be totally false to
be vicious anti-Semitic lies-and when all along I knew in my
heart that these stories just could not be true-and I'm later
proven to be right-then I'm proud to be a Jew.

I'm proud to be a Jew because the Israeli Army is so, so
good, that when it takes more than four weeks to wipe out
a sophisticated enemy who has prepared six years for this
war, the world criticizes the IDF for not getting the job done
quickly.

I'm proud to be a Jew when my army, the Israeli army, drops
leaflets and makes calls to Lebanese citizens on their cell
phones to warn them to evacuate before bombing begins.

I'm proud to be a Jew when the democracies of the world
talk about fighting the war on terror, but only Israel is left
alone to bear the burden of eradicating Hezbollah, the
proxy army of Iran and Syria.

I'm proud to be a Jew when entire Israeli towns in the North-
Nahariya, Kiryat Shimona, Safed, are reduced to ghost towns
due to the constant shelling, and yet not one looter has
appeared to empty out the property of others.

When Israel must defend its very right to exist, when it must
fight a well armed enemy representing the Islamic fascists,
as President Bush has called them, when Israel must
conduct this war on terror with its hands tied behind its
back so as not to take an innocent life lest the media have
something true to report, that it must fight this war of survival
under the cloud of "disproportionally", as if thousands of
Katusha rockets falling on its citizenry is somehow
"proportionate"- when Israel simultaneously pushes back
these threats both in the North and in the South under the
added pressure of a biased media, then I'm proud to be
a Jew.

I'm proud to be a Jew when the Edinburgh Scottish film
festival tells an Israeli director to stay home although his
film is being screened and the director says, "No, I'm
coming."

I'm proud to be a Jew because Mel Gibson is not a Jew.

I'm proud to be a Jew when the UN's Human Rights
Commission consists of countries like Syria, Libya and
Iran and Israel is not asked to join.

I'm proud to be a Jew when magician David Blaine announces
his trip to Israel next week to entertain the children living in
bomb shelters and tells the press he's doing it to encourage
other performers to stand up for Israel and its right to defend
itself.

I'm proud to be a Jew when a Russian/Israeli businessman
single-handed creates not one but two tent cities on the beach
to house Israelis fleeing the North and provides shelter,
bedding, food and drink, showers and bathrooms-all done
without red tape in a matter of 24 hours-to house over 6,000
Israelis, one of whom described it as a "poor man's Club Med."

I am proud to be a Jew when Israelis on the left and on the right
support the government's decision to fight-when 97% of the
country is united in its own defense-when Israeli's from Jerusalem
give shelter to families from Haifa-when food from the Negev is
donated to feed soldiers at the front-when the IDF deploys
soldiers on special assignments to deliver diapers to shelters
and to entertain and calm the frightened children.

I'm proud to be a Jew when the three weeks preceding Tisha
B'Av (*) reminds us of the terrible things we have endured as a
people and as a nation-and yet immediately thereafter, Hashem
offers us consolation, redemption and hope-plus the promise
that we shall defeat our enemies, that we shall endure. We
shall persevere.

Shalom!

(*) Tisha B'Av is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar
because of the incredible series of tragedies which
occurred on that date throughout Jewish History. Jews
worldwide observe an annual three week period of
mourning over the destruction of Jerusalem. It usually
occurs during August.
Received on Tue Feb 27 08:27:16 2007