Wishing a blessed Yom Kippur to all my Jewish friends and followers. Though I’m not Jewish, I’ve walked alongside the community for the past two years. Here’s what I’ve observed, and how it ties into atonement—meaning to make right—in the spirit of Yom Kippur.
It’s with a heavy heart over this morning’s news that I share this, but in truth, it sadly reinforces what I’ve come to learn. Over the past years, I’ve been forced to pry my eyes open to something I spent much of my life not seeing. Antisemitism. It is not hidden in some corner of the human heart, it is acted upon daily. If you ever enter Jewish spaces, the evidence of unsafety strikes you like a lightning bolt. The schools are wrapped in barbed wire, synagogues are iron clad, and Jewish events are fortified like compounds. There is no corner of the earth in which Jews get to experience the simple privilege that most in the west unconditionally enjoy: safety. Not in Europe, not in America, not even in Israel.
But it’s not for nothing that I didn’t see it. What makes this hatred so deadly is its cloak of invisibility. Two thousand years has given it time to perfect its disguise, each year becoming more professional, more concealed. Yet, in truth, its cloak is still as poorly made as it’s ever been. Today, just like two thousand years ago, they continue to kill Jews and once again lay the blame at their own feet. It isn’t because of Jews, and it never was. It is because they are the scapegoat upon which the world projects its own hatred.
Sometimes when I’m sitting alone on my balcony, I think of the hostages that remain underground. I feel so much pain and sorrow thinking of what it must be like to be without light, water, or touch, and starved of life itself, while the world keeps turning above them. While we laugh, go to work, debate, rest, play, and love, they suffer alone. They aren’t just forgotten, their experience is shrugged off as deserved, simply because of their identity.
Yet, this hatred is not meaningless. What I’ve come to see is that the Jewish people exist as a mirror. They reflect back to societies the sickness they cannot face within themselves. A healthy society treats everyone as equals, a sick one casts Jews as scapegoats for their projected ills. Every age reveals itself in how it treats them. It is only when a society learns that their concealed hatred is a reflection of the sickness that lives in their shadow that that society can begin to “make right.”
To atone is to admit what is broken. And Jews, by their very existence, force the world to see its brokenness. They are history’s mirror, held up to every empire, every nation, every generation. Until the world stops projecting its hatred and confronts its own reflection, nothing can be made right.
So on this day, I’d like to offer this to my Jewish friends and followers. You are not the hatred that the world projects onto you. You are the catalyst that awakens the world by reflecting back to it what it refuses to see it. In other words, you are healers. For every person that understands themselves or the world better because of what was done to you, another heart becomes healed. That isn’t a light role, but it is the role of the light.
הפעולה האמריקאית הלילה נגד מתקני הגרעין האיראניים היא מרשימה, חשובה ומוצדקת. אי אפשר להשלים עם איראן גרעינית, וטוב שארצות הברית הבהירה את זה היטב - לעולם כולו.
וכפי שכתב הנשיא טראמפ: עכשיו הזמן לשלום. להסכם כולל, לשחרור החטופים, לסיום המלחמה, לנורמליזציה אזורית, לביטחון אמיתי לאזרחי ישראל.
אני מודה לארצות הברית ולנשיא טראמפ על העמידה האיתנה והפעולה האמיצה.
חזית מדינית רחבה היא אינטרס ישראלי ראשון במעלה.
ולאזרחי ישראל - ימים מורכבים לפנינו. המשיכו לפעול על פי הנחיות ההתגוננות של פיקוד העורף, הן מצילות חיי��.
"International human rights lawyer, Hillel Neuer, silences the entire Arab world at the UN Human Rights Council after they dared to criticize the human rights record of Israel, i.e. the Jewish state.
He did it with one simple question: "Where are your Jews?"
After the re-establishment of the State of Israel, the Arabs not only tried to destroy the Jewish state but also tried to get rid of the Jewish minority in their own states.
Jews suffered brutal oppression, persecution and ethnic cleansing from many Arab-Muslim countries including: Algeria, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria."
~ Liza Rosen @LizaRosen0000
I'm 38.
When I was young I worshipped politics, went woke (broke) & believed in the myth of equality.
Then I discovered Thomas Sowell, and he changed my life forever.
12 lessons from America's most controversial & unknown philosopher:
“The call to invest in Israel now is more than an economic proposition; it’s a partnership with a nation renowned for turning challenges into triumphs. Israel’s robust R&D infrastructure, the presence of high-tech unicorns, and a skilled pool of entrepreneurs and engineers are all part of a proven ecosystem that has consistently punched above its weight on the global stage.”
Read more below on where value can be created and why the recent downturn in early-stage investments is a BIG opportunity for investors.
https://t.co/DxhjBWn0zw
Author Salman Rushdie:
“If there was a Palestinian state, it would be run by Hamas and that would make it a Taliban like state…and it would be a client state of Iran. Is that what the progressive movement of the western left wants to create?”
@EllaTravelsLove היא באמת גיבורה והיא לא עובדת למען המשטר. היא עובדת למענינו, הישראלים והיהודים אז ברור שהמשטר נהנה מזה כנגזרת. בזמן שהממשלה הזניחה את נושא ההסברה, אלה התגייסה למשימה לצד איומים על חייה ולעיתים קרובות גם חוסר פרגון מבית. היא עושה עבודת קודש וצריך כל יום להגיד לה תודה.
Every year in Israel, Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day, follows Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terror, symbolizing the debt of gratitude Israelis owe to those who sacrificed their lives for our nation's existence.
But yesterday the transition from grievance to celebration was impossible as we added in less than a year 1,538 people who made the ultimate sacrifice and still have 132 people held hostage having lost their independence entirely, making this Memorial Day both a memory and a harsh reality. My family lighted 23 candles this year, each representing a life lost of someone we know. So many of our friends have lost a child, a sibling, a friend. The anguish and trauma we're experiencing as a nation and individuals is unfathomable, made even lonelier by the world's reaction.
At the same time it’s deeply inspiring to witness the courage and sacrifice displayed by individuals across Israel and around the world, working in unity to build and sustain Israel, which at times we took for granted but realize today how precious and miraculous this place is and that we can’t rest on our laurels. It is our destiny to keep fighting for our values, nation and future.
I’m honored to be recognized with Mor Assia and our amazing team at @iAngelsCapital alongside other incredible people working to do positive things in Israel21c’s 2024 edition of 'The 48’. To be honest, being surrounded by so many friends who have left everything to save Israel quite literally on all fronts, I don’t even feel deserving of it but am grateful nonetheless.
Let us strive together for restored peace and prosperity in the region and continue to advocate for the safe return of our hostages and soldiers.
https://t.co/HvKZwsWduO
On Sunday (12 May), and today, Israel observes Yom Hazikaron, the nation's official Memorial Day for its fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism.
Thinking of all Israelis who were murdered by Islamic colonialist terrorists for being Jewish and having reestablished a State on their indigenous homeland where their ancestors lived for thousands of years.
שרשור מלא – כל שמות נרצחי 7-9 באוקטובר
1165 אזרחים, חיילים, שוטרים ושאר כוחות הביטחון נהרגו ב7 באוקטובר וביומיים שאחריו בלחימה מול המחבלים בעוטף, וכמה שעות לפני יום הזיכרון אני בוחר לפתוח עם רשימה מלאה של כל שמותם. ולפני שאתחיל כמה הערות להבהרת השרשור >>
Lebanese singer doing Hurricane in Arabic! 🇱🇧🇮🇱
Listen to Carine Bassili, a Lebanese singer, sending her support to Eden Golan, with an Arabic version of the song Hurricane, Israel’s song to the Eurovision.
Voting #06 for Israel! ❤️❤️🇮🇱🇮🇱
20 years-old Israeli singer, Eden Golan, was dancing with Finish singer Käärijä today, the video got thousands of hateful comments to the point that the Finish singer had to apologize for being seen with this Israeli girl.
Can you think of any other country which an artist will have to apologize for being seen with another artist from that nation?
“Dancing with this British singer isn’t an endorsement of Rishi Sunak”
“Dancing with this Chinese singer isn’t a political statement”
“Dancing with this Russian singer isn’t a political statement”
“Dancing with this Palestinian singer isn’t a support for Hamas or the PA”
“Dancing with this American singer isn’t a political endorsement of Trump”
No, you can’t, because no other country and no other people have been dehumanized this way.
This isn’t about peace, it’s not even about love for Palestinians. It’s just about your hate to the only Jewish state.
Anti-Semitism at the United Nations:
The UN gives 239 times more attention to a civilian death if it can be blamed on Israel
The black bar shows the number of human rights documents produced by the UN from 1990-2007 for Israel vs. 5 countries on 4 different continents
The gray bar shows the civilian death toll (an objective measure of how bad the situation really is)
For the 5 non-Jewish countries, the UN produced 1 document for every 2,258 civilian deaths
For Israel, it produced 1 document for every 9.4 deaths
Source: https://t.co/BSzKOntWys