THE NEVER-ENDING DWELLERS
A Story of the Broken Matzah
With Passover just around the corner we are once again dealing with two forces. Opposing forces of slavery and freedom, abundance and poverty, independence and dual-statehood, life and death have never been so harshly defined as they have been now in 2012. Every day we hear about anti-semitic acts in our back yard - regardless of where we live.
Although it seems that the world is progressing technologically - iPad3, Facebook, 60 inch HDTVs - we seem to be stuck in exactly the same place as our ancestors. We are struggling to survive as individuals, as a nation and as a world that risks being wiped off the face of our galaxy by nuclear weapons.
France, however, like many countries in the world is rapidly changing and it's not for the better.
BROKEN LIVES
Seeing the images of the murdered victims in Toulouse France has been shocking and painful to everyone that has a human vein in their body regardless of their level of religion or even their ethnicity. The lives of 4 people, namely of Rabbi Jonathan Sandler, his two sons, Aryeh (5 years old) and Gabriel (4 years old), and of Miriam Monsonego (7 years old), the daughter of the school's principal, Rabbi Yaacov Monsonego were taken by a monster.
Looking at the picture it is clear that each of the 4 victims had a very special purpose in this life. Light just shines from their pure smiles and warm hearted, kind faces. Yet, we are at war - we are at war with people who no longer see human beings as living things - they point and shoot at anyone that has any association with being Jewish. No logic. No reason. No heart.
Look at the picture again!
Many European media outlets tried to justify what happened. Some blame the influx of immigrants to France. Guess what? Most countries are made up of immigrants - that does not mean that the immigrants are animals. There is something different about a society of "immigrants" that breeds hate, murder, torture. We tell ourselves that this will never happen in our country, yet look at the statistics just for the last few days:
Ukraine
A Holocaust Monument and Hundreds of Jewish Grave Defaced with swastikas and graffiti with "Congratulations on the Holocaust" spray painted on the tombs and the monument.
Swastikas were scratched into two cars, and the tires slashed on two other cars, belonging to members of the Zeta Beta Tau a Jewish fraternity at Washington University in St. Louis. The attack reportedly occurred on March 15 or 16. The damage was discovered when the students returned from spring break.
We can no longer afford to ignore these acts because the PHARAOH during this Passover keeps changing his form. The Jewish people are dwellers. We are dwellers who are constantly kicked out of their homes.
-Golda Meir
EVICTION is a common challenge that Jews have faced throughout our lives for centuries.
Sometimes it's because the PHARAOH takes the face of an unfair cruel landlord that exhibits harassing, bullying and lying behavior, scaring children into having nightmares - yet still accepted within our own community. In fact, this Pharaoh can pretend to blend in and sneak his way into the most intimate of friendships to feel the power to decide who stays and who goes - even at the risk of taking someones life.
But ultimately Hashem (G-d) is the only one who can determine who lives and who dies, who stays and who goes, who will face the penalty of the 10 plagues and who will not.
FRIEND OR FOE? - The NEW Passover questions
We often wonder why those that we welcome into our lives as friends, whether it's a country like France who welcomed it's "immigrants" or a smiling person pretending to be your "savior" turn out to be the very people that take our children's innocence and peace away from them. Yet we must be firm and do the best we can to PROTECT our children, our true friends and our world from the very people who so heartlessly destroy us for their own benefit.
We teach our kids to believe in miracles and ask questions about injustice. If Moses can make the impossible happen on Passover, we can make it happen everyday. We may not have a place to live or forced to live in "broken" homes, yet we must constantly strive to be an example of what is good and remove the Pharaohs from our lives for good.
It won't be easy, but as a society we should never try to go against each other - there are enough monsters that hate us simply because we are not like them. In the words of a very smart little boy who was born on Passover - "Listen, listen, there is a siren outside" - we need to listen to the sirens of the universe and act accordingly to save our children.
With a tough economy where dog eats dog, as Jews we are taught to resist the temptation of revenge (leave that for Hashem (G-d)). Yet our heart aches to see our own children hurt emotionally, psychologically and physically by people who have created a conspiracy theory in their head of something that is not true.
During Passover we break the Matzah and share it with everyone at the table - the underlying assumption is that every person sitting at the Passover Seder is someone you can trust. Yet, we must always protect the borders within our home from someone that only PRETENDS to be a friend. Even if we have only crumbs to eat, we have faith that the Hashem (G-d) will provide our food for the Seder and ensure each person has something that will enlighten them in spirit and give them an opportunity to ask QUESTIONS about the nature of human beings, slavery and WHY! Even if their homes will no longer be filled with the shining light of their children in the physical realm, we can always hear and see their presence in our souls.
We can co-exist as independent people and societies, but never give up fighting for justice and truth. These culpits will see their day in court - a court that will ultimately shed light on their evil nature, in this world or the next. The Pharaoh's case will be dismissed by Hashem, permanently, just like it was during Passover - enabling all of us to stop being slaves to our lives and be strong at the face of evil! Amen.
"Live well. It is the greatest revenge."
~ The Talmud
Dedication:
This is dedicated to the families of the victims in Toulouse. May you find peace in prayer and friendship and remember that our world is circular and we will all meet those that have passed away someday again. And for those that pretend to be our friends so they can evict us from our life, I say - we are not the same Jews form the 1940s - we will fight to protect our children, our elders and our society to the very end of our lives...and so will their children, and their children's children. We will never breed hate, only kindness and charity.
Copyright@Ahuva Gershtein 2012. All Rights Reserved. Duplication and publication forbidden without written consent. Electronic distribution with link to blog permitted.
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