A Tale of Two Hadars

Every three to four years an entire month is added to the Jewish calendar. The Jewish Leap Year, such as the one we find ourselves in this year, has both an Adar One and an Adar Two as well.

And so with a touch of irony I came to know two different people this past Winter with the exact same names; Hadar One and Hadar Two.

There is a lot that connects one Hadar with the other, two Jewish women close in age to each other, but there is also a lot that separates them.

For one thing, one Hadar is alive, and the other was murdered.

Hadar Cohen, at the young age of 19, was serving as an Israeli Border Police officer in Jerusalem. Three Palestinians intent on perpetrating a terrorist attack were asked by Hadar to show their ID cards. The terrorists, armed with rifles, knives and pipe bombs, opened fire, shooting Hadar in the head. Hadar managed to return fire before losing consciousness, preventing a potentially worse attack.

Hadar One sacrificed her life so that I and millions of others can continue to live ours safely in the Land of Israel.

Hadar Two is living today in the relative comfort and safety of the United States. She too is a supporter of Israel, albeit in quite a different way.

Hadar Two is an active supporter of If Not Now, a movement dedicated (in its own words) “to end the American Jewish community’s support for the occupation and gain freedom and dignity for all Israelis and Palestinians.”

Hadar One showed her love for the Jewish people with the ultimate sacrifice. Hadar Two expressed hers recently by participating in a so-called Liberation Seder protest, demanding that the Jewish organizations that claim to speak for the American Jewish community end their support of the occupation.

I am incapable of being objective in this matter. First of all, to be objective, I would have to pick up and leave my home, something that I am not about to do. And second of all, I would need to erase my memories of history, both current and past, and possibly even rewrite it.

The actions of Hadar One, along with her memory, will live on forever in the annals of Jewish history, joining a long line of heroes since time immemorial. The actions of Hadar Two will be relegated into the dust bin of history along with all those other movements that have caused more harm than good and are no more.

I know that the intentions of Hadar Two are pure, as well as I know that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

It’s not too late for Hadar. She too can decide to join her Jewish sisters and brethren here in the one and only place where the future of the Jewish Nation will be determined.

Not in Brooklyn. Not in Teaneck. Not even in Berkley.

Only in the Land of Israel.

Rabbi Mordechai Weiss

Mitzpeh Yericho