A friend once told me that all Jewish holidays are based on the same premise, "they tried to kill us — we won — lets eat!" It is partially true, some very joyous holidays fit into that category such as Purim and Chanukah…. Then there are the others based on a totally different idea: They tried to kill us THEY won, and few of us survived by the grace of G-d. You know, observances such as Tisha B'Av and the secular Yom HaShoah.

Call me an alarmist but I am scared! Every time I open a newspaper or turn on the TV is becoming increasingly clear to me that we may be facing the early stages of one of those "They tried to kill us" periods. 

Just look at what happened in Turkey this past Saturday. Two car bombs outside of two Synagogues, 23 dead over 300 wounded. The carnage was timed for the middle of Sabbath services to kill and maim as many Jews as possible. The terrorist that took credit for the bombing said it was to prevent the oppression of the Muslim people.

Those words should remind you of the comments by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir at Organization of the Islamic Conference. You should also remember that his comments were greeted with cheers by the Minister's attending the conference or the fact that most of the attending nations came out with statements of support for his comments:

Former Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdul-Illah Khatib, whose country has a peace treaty with Israel , wrote in Jordan 's Ad-Dustour daily that Mahathir didn't condemn Jews harshly enough. "This is too little for what should have been said," he said. (Newsday 11/2/03 )

"Nowadays, any criticism against the Jews and the Jewish policy is considered anti-Semitic. This proves how far Israel and its allies have succeeded in sanctifying Israel , preventing any side from criticizing it. Such a common view proves Muhammad's comment on the extent to which the Jewish global influence has reached." Fahmi Huwaidi, an Egyptian political analyst, on Al Jazeera Arabic language satellite network.

Sometimes when I am enjoying the laughter of my children I wonder if they will be able to experience the same joy when they are my age, or will they face mass murder from the children are being taught to hate, even in supposedly moderate counties.

Egypt's ministry of culture launched a literacy project, for this effort they published a series of books under the title "A Festival of Reading for All - the Child, the Youngster and the Family," This series was publicly endorsed by Suzanne Mubarak the Presidents wife (and a mother). Her picture is even on the back cover of the book. Here is just one of many examples of the Anti-Semitic themes taught to the young Egyptian children.

"…a number of institutions and committees were established [by the Jews of America ] for the sake of rescuing the Jews [in Europe , during World War II] and raising the funds needed for this purpose. One of these was the "Emergency Committee"… However, these committees were criticized and rejected by the Zionist movement…, since the philosophy of the Zionist movement was that Hitler should be allowed to murder the Jews in order to convince the entire world that the only solution for rescuing the Jews was establishing a homeland for them in Palestine." (Source: "Hate Industry in Egypt Under Official Patronage" by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center of the Center for Special Studies, Herzlyia, Israel, edited by Reuven Ehrlich, January 2003)

The children are learning well; last year Saudi TV interviewed a 3 year old girl who was asked her feeling about Jews. She said that she didn't like them because the Koran taught her that Allah calls them apes and pigs. (Daniel Pipes, JewishWorldReview.com, 10/26/03) Don't forget what Muslim clerics are saying here is one example:

"Muhammad said in his Hadith: The hour (resurrection will not come until you fight the Jews. And the rock and the tree will say; Oh Muslim, Oh Servant of Allah there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him." Dr Hassan Khader, founder Al Quds Encyclopedia, PA TV July 13, 2003 Translated by Palestinian Media Watch Not all of Islam is preaching Jew hatred but it is the accepted view. After all when was the last time you read about a group of Muslim Clerics rising up saying that it is wrong to teach hatred? Have you seen broadcasts of Muslim leaders crying out that a once peaceful religion has been corrupted?

Folks, its time to throw away the political correctness and realize the Muslim world doesn't just want Israel out of the west bank ad Gaza — they want us Dead. Let that roll around in your mind for a second, if you have young children at home go hug them because the Muslim world is trying to have our children's generation face what our parent's generation faced.

And don't think for a minute that it is just the Muslim world. They just opened the door! Following the lead of their Oil suppliers, much of Europe has returned to the tradition of Jew hated. A study last year conducted by the ADL found that 21% of all Europeans harbor strong anti-Semitic feelings. Here is just a tiny sampling of what is going in Europe :

Last year the Dutch Government banned shechitah, the kosher way to slaughter animals as defined by the Talmud, there are movements in may other countries in Europe, to ban Kosher shechitah, most notably in England where there was a rally against Kosher slaughtering on Yom Kippur of course. It is a fact that most anti-Jewish governments start their persecution by banning practices such as keeping kosher (Ancient Rome and Nazi Germany for Example)

In Italy Anti-Semitic graffiti appeared on the office of the RAI, the Italian state-owned radio and television network, after a journalist of Jewish origin was named director. The graffiti read "RAI for Italians, no to Jews" (ADL, March 2003) an Italian newspaper ran a page one cartoon that had a tank with a Jewish Star pointing its gun at the baby Jesus with the caption, "Surely They don't want to kill me again" Maybe it should say surely we still want to kill the Jews.

In its story "The Kosher Conspiracy", the British Magazine, The New Statesman had a cover illustration of a Jewish Star piercing the union Jack. The article went on to discuss the Jewish communities influence in swaying the British press. A British paper the Independent, ran a cartoon that featured Prime Minister Sharon eating babies, kind of a new spin on the old blood libel. And for those of you who think that you are safe living in the Unitized States; the youth of America is becoming extremely anti -Jewish: …..nearly one in four young adults - 23 percent - agreed with the statement that Jews were a "threat" to the country's "moral character," a view shared by 15 percent of Americans between ages 45 and 54. And 20 percent of young adults agreed that Jews "care only about themselves," compared with 12 percent of middle-aged Americans (Washington Post, January 27, 2003 )

Anti-Jewish acts and statements across the world are increasing exponentially. And we haven't seen the worst of it. One day those children who are having daily hatred lessons, will be adults and they will be going after my kids and yours.
 

One thousand years from now, if there is a Jewish Holiday commemorating the early twenty first century what kind will it be; the kind that ends with "lets eat" or the kind that ends with lets cry.

It is up to us as individuals and as a people to do something about it. We cannot remain complacent. Every offense must be challenged. Every statement must be answered. And when someone tries to tip toe around the problem with a little political correctness like Condoleezza Rice did two weeks ago when she said that Anti-Semitism was not prevalent in the Muslim world, challenge that too.

The most important we need to do is ask for help from out creator. Throughout our history, when every time we have called out to G-d as a people he has responded, think about those holiday's Passover, Chanukah, Purim, the solution always starts with a return to G-d and prayer. Prayer is never the whole answer we must act for our selves but let me suggest that if we the Jewish people were to ask our Maker for guidance, a solution to all this hatred would be found. Maybe if we tried to follow one more commandment or recite one more prayer than we did the day before — just maybe, G-d will deliver us as he has done so many times before. Nothing can happen unless we ask. The solution begins with faith and prayer….No mitzvah is too small , no prayer too short, just make it come from the heart. Before you decide what to do, go look in on your kids , watch them sleep, hear them giggle and give then a big hug, because their future depends on it.

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Submitted November 17, 2003