October 7th - some more...

The massacre of October 7th was not the end of it. It was just the beginning. There is a war now, and soldiers give their lives for the war effort. It is tragic that such fine, young lives are lost. More and more families join the circle of bereavement. But that's not the end of it. We get missiles from the south and from the north. People are evacuated from these areas and are currently lodged in hotels in Jerusalem and other areas on the government's expense. It is 'funny' (however inadequate this word is) to see 5 star luxurious hotels with many dogs in the lobby (yes, the people who were evacuated brought their pets with them, obviously). These people are lodged in very expensive hotels, for free - they are being fed hotel food three times a day. The hotels bring them lecturers, singers and other performers to entertain them. And still, they are uncomfortable. All they want is to go back home. One can understand. It's been 5 weeks already that they've been in hotels. It may be nice for a couple of days, but when it lingers on and on with no specific date in which it is to end, it becomes difficult. 

There are many volunteering intiatives all over Israeli society. People volunteer for everything. Because of the situation, the Thai and Chinese workers, who worked in the fields in Israel, ran away from Israel, and the farmers were left without working hands. Many Israelis from all ages and backgrounds now volunteer to work in the fields. It's been 5 weeks, and there are so many volunteers still. Others volunteer to work with the children of the evacuees from the south, who lodge in hotels. They volunteer to play with them, to teach them, to entertain them. Still others volunteer to organize sweets and snacks and fancy foods and bring it to the soldiers. In the supermarkets there are carts with a sign saying "everything you put here will go to our soldiers in the south" and people leave dry foods there before they exit the supermarket. There were even volunteers to bring the pets who were left behind in the south to their owners in hotels in Jerusalem and other parts of the country. One sweet initiative was to get guitars from civilians and send them to army bases in the south. Over 20 years ago, friends of a friend of mine, a couple with a baby, gave me their guitar before leaving Israel for their country. I had the guitar with me ever since. But I felt that a better use for it would be to donate it to the soldiers in the south, and so I did. It feels great to know that it now brings joy and increases the morale of our soldiers down south. 

I feel like I want to do more, to be more meaningful. I can't go south and fight. But I read the Psalms a lot. Many Psalms seem to speak of our situation, especially 83, 79, but not only. Sometimes I feel like this is the beginning of something much larger. I hope it isn't. The prophets speak about the Gog and Magog war, and the more I learn about it, the more I realize Magog may be Russia. They say that Putin was involved in planning and orchestrating the deadly attack on Israel in the south, but I don't know it for a fact. Time will tell, perhaps. It is interesting, perhaps just a coincidece (?) that Putin's birthday is on October 7th. Anyway, it is obvious that Iran is involved in the planning, so in this sense, the beginning of this war may be considered to be in the north... 

There is so much antisemitism world-wide. Strange. If such a massacre had happened in London or Paris from a nearby town, they would have done what needs to be done and the world would have said nothing. When Israel is involved, the standards of judgement shift radically. Hypocrisy at its best. But it is exactly such situations that serve as "tests", to see for every person where their heart is, if it is in the right place, or the wrong place. In a way people who judge us unfavorably in our times of trouble, bring judgement upon themselves. This is a time of a big test for all of humanity.

antisemitism - beirur

Gog? Putin?