I don’t know if it’s love, but it’s certainly loyalty that I feel. It’s Israel right or wrong. Loyalty requires support even if one doesn’t agree entirely on tactics. The final outcome is what matters. Disagree with a policy, sure, but not with the results of the policy if it is in the best interests of the Jewish state. The ends do justify the means, if a civilization is at stake.
Judaism is the people of Israel in the Land of Israel according to the Torah of Israel.
Rabbi Elkana Vizel last letter:
Vizel's letter to his family
The words that he wrote in a letter to his family in case the worst should happen will also continue to give them strength:
"If you are reading these words, something must have happened to me. If I was kidnapped, I demand that no deal be made for the release of any terrorist to release me. Our overwhelming victory is more important than anything, so please continue to work with all your might so that the victory is as overwhelming as possible.
Maybe I fell in battle. When a soldier falls in battle, it is sad, but I ask you to be happy. Don't be sad when you part with me. Touch hearts, hold each other's hands, and strengthen each other. We have so much to be proud and happy about.
We are writing the most significant moments in the history of our nation and the entire world. So please, be happy, be optimistic, keep choosing life all the time. Spread love, light, and optimism. Look at your loved ones in the whites of their eyes and remind them that everything we go through in this life is worth it and we have something to live for.
Don't stop the power of life for a moment. I was already wounded in Operation Tzuk Eitan, but I do not regret that I returned to fight. This is the best decision I ever made."
May I be so lucky to die in battle fighting for the Holy Land or protecting some young family as honor would demand of me!
I can not think of a better way to die than to die defending the people that I love in my nation (USA) or in the holy land! Let the Lord see me fall defending what is right and good!
The State of the Jews ( Herzl’s true definition in “ Der Judenstadt”, not “ Jewish” state), a state available to Jews to be as Jewish as they chose it to be, was created to normalise the life of the self-determined People of Israel, or, the Jewish People. “ Normal” is the operative term. Like ALL other nations. Is normal comfortable? For whom does it need be comfortable? How do all the world’s nations handle “ comfortable”? Normal is as normal does. Look at the world. Our God blessed bug is the insistence, thousands of years before its evolutionary time, that such “ normalcy “ is to be found in decency. Ethics, morals, compassion, love of one’s people. Look around. What nation is abnormal, or comfortable?
We will be as comfortable to ourselves and to others as we want to be. Autonomous, self-explaining, justified. And we will seek to be normal forever
The arguments, the reasoning you present are precisely why it is absolutely okay for me to say I love Israel. At the same time, I'm being asked over the past 40 or 50 years to disparage the United States. We're the font of evil. So that's another subject. This is valuable and I commend you for this.,,one of your best of always thoughtful and articulate posts.
What a great essay! I learned to appreciate why someone such as yourself, loves, lives in and fights for Israel. I think it's difficult for most of us to live with the uncertainty of two or more truths living side by side. How do you explain yourself clearly if the other sees a situation entirely different? I live in a neighborhood with lovely friends but their perception and beliefs about the Gaza invasion is being seen through the lens of cable TV. How do you even begin to try to place your claim of the right of a nation to defend itself in a roomful of those who believe that Israel is the bad guy?! So, I live with this, enjoy their company and never talk politics especially in regards to Israel. The propaganda lives on.
If you feel that cable TV is bias or reporting manipulated information about Gaza, it is not shame to stand for the truth and state to your friends and neighbors that the information they got is wrong. There are plenty of sites on the internet with honest reports.
"For Jews, Zionists, and our friends outside Israel"
Consider the following:
A core position of the Green-Red-AltR Axis is that Zionism and Judaism have nothing to do with each other. According to this willful segregation, you can be anti-Zionist yet not be antisemitic.
Too many Jews across the spectrum have swallowed the Kool-aid and mouth this false dichotomy between Zionism and Judaism.
The fact of the matter is that the entire existence of Judaism rests on the Covenant. According to this agreement, in return for the Jews following God's instructions on social and religious behaviors, the Jews would have a land of their own. The Land and the People are thus inextricably linked through the Covenant: there is not one without the other.
Herzl-ian Zionism is merely the most recent articulation of this fundamental relationship between Land and People. We might call Herzl-ian Zionism political Zionism, but it is a continuation of a connection that goes back over 3,000 years.
Down through the ages, Jews have related to the Covenant with varying degrees of observance. Because of this inextricable interconnectedness between the land and the people, lack of enthusiasm to live in Israel does not make a Jew any less a Jew than tenuous observance of religious norms makes one any less a Jew. To deny Jews any connection to their ancestral land (i.e. anti-Zionism) is by definition to deny Jews the essence of their identity. This is Jew hatred — antisemitism — in its purest form.
To whatever degree Jews relate to their Heritage, they need to acknowledge that Israel is their ancestral homeland.
Because what we are witnessing now is a relentless campaign to demonize Jews leading to increasing incidences of Jews being marginalized, excluded, `ostracized, and physically isolated.
The world may call the Jews’ claim to Israel “Zionism,” but to call a thing for what in reality is, the Jewish connection to Israel was and always has been Patriotism.
Whether or not we live in the country, Jews have the right to call the land of Israel the national homeland of their people We have as much right to live in this ancestral homeland as the indigenous peoples of all other lands, such as the Ukrainians, Chinese, Egyptians, and Mexicans, to name but a few, have to live in theirs.
Thus, if not for the safety and security of our fellow Jews, then for our own personal safety and security, every one of us must proudly, unequivocally, and loudly declare whether we are diasporic Jews or Sabras, fundamental to our collective identity as Jews is Israel: Fundamental to Jewish identity is "Zionism" that is, Israelis was, is, and always will be the national homeland of Jews.
"No one needs to “love” Israel. Appreciation, admiration, and respect are far more reasonable expectations. Love is intimate and demanding; it implies emotional alignment, patience, and forgiveness. Not every nation invites that kind of relationship, and not every observer owes it. A country can be legitimate, necessary, and worthy without being emotionally convenient".
I have to disagree; for I love Israel, the Holy Land is the heart beat of the world for me. Does this mean I am blind to its warts? No, I know that Israel is not perfect but it is full of Life and the Lord's power for the world. How can someone NOT love Israel?
It is a young, fresh nation, full of promise. That very promise that is the foundation for the Abrahamic religions! I love the energy, yes, even the turmoil of a young nation, lots of young people believing in our Lord and Savior's promise!
How can you not love Israel! It is the Lord's home with the Lord's people!
I don’t know if it’s love, but it’s certainly loyalty that I feel. It’s Israel right or wrong. Loyalty requires support even if one doesn’t agree entirely on tactics. The final outcome is what matters. Disagree with a policy, sure, but not with the results of the policy if it is in the best interests of the Jewish state. The ends do justify the means, if a civilization is at stake.
Judaism is the people of Israel in the Land of Israel according to the Torah of Israel.
Rabbi Elkana Vizel last letter:
Vizel's letter to his family
The words that he wrote in a letter to his family in case the worst should happen will also continue to give them strength:
"If you are reading these words, something must have happened to me. If I was kidnapped, I demand that no deal be made for the release of any terrorist to release me. Our overwhelming victory is more important than anything, so please continue to work with all your might so that the victory is as overwhelming as possible.
Maybe I fell in battle. When a soldier falls in battle, it is sad, but I ask you to be happy. Don't be sad when you part with me. Touch hearts, hold each other's hands, and strengthen each other. We have so much to be proud and happy about.
We are writing the most significant moments in the history of our nation and the entire world. So please, be happy, be optimistic, keep choosing life all the time. Spread love, light, and optimism. Look at your loved ones in the whites of their eyes and remind them that everything we go through in this life is worth it and we have something to live for.
Don't stop the power of life for a moment. I was already wounded in Operation Tzuk Eitan, but I do not regret that I returned to fight. This is the best decision I ever made."
https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-783316
Thank you, that is wonderful!
May I be so lucky to die in battle fighting for the Holy Land or protecting some young family as honor would demand of me!
I can not think of a better way to die than to die defending the people that I love in my nation (USA) or in the holy land! Let the Lord see me fall defending what is right and good!
We are Sword of God Militia!
The State of the Jews ( Herzl’s true definition in “ Der Judenstadt”, not “ Jewish” state), a state available to Jews to be as Jewish as they chose it to be, was created to normalise the life of the self-determined People of Israel, or, the Jewish People. “ Normal” is the operative term. Like ALL other nations. Is normal comfortable? For whom does it need be comfortable? How do all the world’s nations handle “ comfortable”? Normal is as normal does. Look at the world. Our God blessed bug is the insistence, thousands of years before its evolutionary time, that such “ normalcy “ is to be found in decency. Ethics, morals, compassion, love of one’s people. Look around. What nation is abnormal, or comfortable?
We will be as comfortable to ourselves and to others as we want to be. Autonomous, self-explaining, justified. And we will seek to be normal forever
The arguments, the reasoning you present are precisely why it is absolutely okay for me to say I love Israel. At the same time, I'm being asked over the past 40 or 50 years to disparage the United States. We're the font of evil. So that's another subject. This is valuable and I commend you for this.,,one of your best of always thoughtful and articulate posts.
It’s what holds any other committed relationship together for better or worse—unconditional, unshakable love.
beautiful article
What a great essay! I learned to appreciate why someone such as yourself, loves, lives in and fights for Israel. I think it's difficult for most of us to live with the uncertainty of two or more truths living side by side. How do you explain yourself clearly if the other sees a situation entirely different? I live in a neighborhood with lovely friends but their perception and beliefs about the Gaza invasion is being seen through the lens of cable TV. How do you even begin to try to place your claim of the right of a nation to defend itself in a roomful of those who believe that Israel is the bad guy?! So, I live with this, enjoy their company and never talk politics especially in regards to Israel. The propaganda lives on.
If you feel that cable TV is bias or reporting manipulated information about Gaza, it is not shame to stand for the truth and state to your friends and neighbors that the information they got is wrong. There are plenty of sites on the internet with honest reports.
"For Jews, Zionists, and our friends outside Israel"
Consider the following:
A core position of the Green-Red-AltR Axis is that Zionism and Judaism have nothing to do with each other. According to this willful segregation, you can be anti-Zionist yet not be antisemitic.
Too many Jews across the spectrum have swallowed the Kool-aid and mouth this false dichotomy between Zionism and Judaism.
The fact of the matter is that the entire existence of Judaism rests on the Covenant. According to this agreement, in return for the Jews following God's instructions on social and religious behaviors, the Jews would have a land of their own. The Land and the People are thus inextricably linked through the Covenant: there is not one without the other.
Herzl-ian Zionism is merely the most recent articulation of this fundamental relationship between Land and People. We might call Herzl-ian Zionism political Zionism, but it is a continuation of a connection that goes back over 3,000 years.
Down through the ages, Jews have related to the Covenant with varying degrees of observance. Because of this inextricable interconnectedness between the land and the people, lack of enthusiasm to live in Israel does not make a Jew any less a Jew than tenuous observance of religious norms makes one any less a Jew. To deny Jews any connection to their ancestral land (i.e. anti-Zionism) is by definition to deny Jews the essence of their identity. This is Jew hatred — antisemitism — in its purest form.
To whatever degree Jews relate to their Heritage, they need to acknowledge that Israel is their ancestral homeland.
Because what we are witnessing now is a relentless campaign to demonize Jews leading to increasing incidences of Jews being marginalized, excluded, `ostracized, and physically isolated.
The world may call the Jews’ claim to Israel “Zionism,” but to call a thing for what in reality is, the Jewish connection to Israel was and always has been Patriotism.
Whether or not we live in the country, Jews have the right to call the land of Israel the national homeland of their people We have as much right to live in this ancestral homeland as the indigenous peoples of all other lands, such as the Ukrainians, Chinese, Egyptians, and Mexicans, to name but a few, have to live in theirs.
Thus, if not for the safety and security of our fellow Jews, then for our own personal safety and security, every one of us must proudly, unequivocally, and loudly declare whether we are diasporic Jews or Sabras, fundamental to our collective identity as Jews is Israel: Fundamental to Jewish identity is "Zionism" that is, Israelis was, is, and always will be the national homeland of Jews.
You wrote:
"No one needs to “love” Israel. Appreciation, admiration, and respect are far more reasonable expectations. Love is intimate and demanding; it implies emotional alignment, patience, and forgiveness. Not every nation invites that kind of relationship, and not every observer owes it. A country can be legitimate, necessary, and worthy without being emotionally convenient".
I have to disagree; for I love Israel, the Holy Land is the heart beat of the world for me. Does this mean I am blind to its warts? No, I know that Israel is not perfect but it is full of Life and the Lord's power for the world. How can someone NOT love Israel?
It is a young, fresh nation, full of promise. That very promise that is the foundation for the Abrahamic religions! I love the energy, yes, even the turmoil of a young nation, lots of young people believing in our Lord and Savior's promise!
How can you not love Israel! It is the Lord's home with the Lord's people!
May the Lord Bless , Keep and Love Israel!
We are The Sword of God Militia!