So You Want to Be Chosen Huh?

The last week of my life has been quite illuminating. It was not on purpose. It sort of happened organically, but once I started to engage it took on a life of its own and in the process shined a light on a brain rot I always knew existed, but what I have learned the last few days is that it’s not until you swim in the swamp that you get a full taste of the creatures who reside there.

A couple of weeks ago I posted a simple meme which was a defiant statement about Israel. Basically do whatever you want, we are still here. It seems someone with a massive following had reposted it and that led to others doing the same. It has been viewed now by a thousand plus people maybe more I really don’t know nor do I care much about that sort of thing. It’s not that I didn’t believe it or that I didn’t want people to see it, but I have never been a crowd chaser and I don’t validate my existence by likes or views. What this week has reiterated for me however, is when you lay with dogs you get the fleas too. I know people like Ido Singer, Uri Kurlianchik, Jonathan Sacerdoti, Laura Meizler and Yonah E deal with this sort of nonsense every day, but for me it was almost like a deep social experiment and sadly, a commentary on the cesspool that is social media.

When I was coming up, like most Jews I knew, I wondered how it could be an entire country, maybe even more than half a continent did nothing to curb the rise of Nazi Germany. I am not talking about World War 2. I am talking about 1933 to1938, before the war while all the propaganda was being generated to set the stage. Where was everyone? How could they not see, not hear? For years it baffled me. I am not confused anymore and this week I got to truly see the world through the peep hole of history. I get it now. I know why nothing was done to curb the hatred. All it took was a few well placed bots and the Pharaoh of Egypt, Nebuchadnezzar, Constantine, and Mohammed were reborn, their hatred dressed as moral outrage, their righteousness clothed in any means necessary slogans and actions.

Truth is, most of these people who sent their vile vomit my way are miserable leeches who feed off the virtual blood of their prey. “f*** you, k*ke” or “Can’t wait til the Chinese or someone else run your country over so you will know how it feels” or something stupid like that. I suppose it was lost on that troglodyte that we already know how it feels to be expelled from our businesses, our universities, our homes, and our land. Been there done that. For some of our people, it has begun again. There are others who add their two cents of Jew-hate, “stop with your cry-baby victimhood” or “Jews are always playing the victim.” Of course there is the requisite “it’s not Jews I hate it’s zionists, or the zionist government…” as if my lived experience doesn’t know what that camouflage actually means. My response to all of them is quite simple. The last thing you can accuse the Jews of is wallowing in their victimhood. The land and the people of Israel have answered that question profoundly. USB flash Drive, cherry tomatoes, Epilator, mobile eye, Pillcam, Waze, Iron Dome, David’s sling, Drip irrigation, text messaging…these are not the actions of victimhood. These are the inventions of a people who have indeed been oppressed and a target of disdain, but have dusted themselves off and carried on despite the hardships that may have accompanied our people throughout the centuries.

“For you are a holy people to the L-RD your G-d, and the L-RD has chosen you to be His own treasure out of all peoples that are upon the face of the earth.” (Deuteronomy 7:6)

For years our enemies have derided the fact that the Torah called us chosen. They have worked hard to discount that chosen-ness and claim it for their own, acting as if it was we, the Jewish people, who gave us this moniker. That we believe we are seemingly special for it and it has led us to be pompous and arrogant. That we somehow feel we are better than others because of this distinction given to us by The Creator of All Things. But what does it actually mean to be chosen? At its very essence it means we have been chosen to fulfill the laws of the Torah and live lives filled with joy and kindness. It means bringing peace and justice to the world; a beacon of light and hope in a sea of darkness. That is what chosen is actually supposed to be. But we have learned throughout our existence, that being chosen comes with other privileges too. We were chosen to be enslaved by Pharaoh. Being chosen means isolated by the babylonians for slaughter, by the Greeks and Romans to join their enlightened societies or suffer the consequences. Being chosen was to be converted under the threat of death by Constantine. In 627ce, being chosen meant to be killed by Mohammed and his armies because we didn’t acknowledge him. We were chosen by Ferdinand and Isabella for expulsion and/or death. Chosen by Hitler for extermination. Chosen by certain muslims to be mutilated, tortured, and murdered.

Our enemies are adamant it is no longer the Jews that are chosen, but them. They have built out entire dogmas and religious dictums based on that premise. So I ask our enemies who have decided G-d was mistaken, do you want the kind of chosen where your pregnant women are opened up and their baby-struck with a sword as it leaves the womb-then replaced with a live animal before she is sewn back together? ( Midrash Eicha Rabbah) Where parents eat their children? (Ibid.) Where babies are pulled from their parents and their small heads explode after being smashed against metal cars? (Groanig Testimony at the groanig trial-“bookeeper of auschwitz” in 2015) Are the nations of the world sure they want to be chosen? Iron combs tearing off your skin then being implanted into your bones (death of rabbi Akiva)? Being wrapped in a Torah scroll then set on fire? (Rabbi Chanina Ben Tadron) Are they sure want that kind of chosen? I don’t think they realize what comes with being chosen and I believe that is why they were not. Being chosen comes with a steep price and you have to have a certain constitution and assuredness of faith to hang in there. Our presence in this world testifies to both of those.

But being chosen also means that after enduring millennia of persecution and subject to the whims of our host countries, being returned to our land after 2000 years of chosen-ness living with the rest of the world.

Chosen carries a responsibility to delve deep into the wisdom of our sages and drinking from the unending fountain of Torah knowledge every single day, no exceptions. Chosen means being the first people on the ground in Haiti to set up medical field hospitals following a devastating earthquake that killed thousands and assisting in search and rescue operations. Chosen means flying through a typhoon warning to save our people in Entebbe. It means sending delegations of doctors and nurses and soldiers to the Philippines in 2013 following a devastating typhoon. Being chosen means becoming a leader in technology to help make the lives of people around the world better through innovation and creativity. Being chosen means to do what it takes to defend our people from the barbaric enemies that surround us.

I had a great coach tell me once, “Some people are put on this earth, as if to show you what not to do.” The low-lives who seemingly have nothing better on their to do list than spending their days trolling the internet and social media have become amazing teachers for me. I have learned they are the same people who lived in Europe in the early thirties. They are the same people who not only watched what the nazis did, but joined them. As I have written about previously, Rabbi Asher Wade recounts that as the representatives of their church at a university, “the very next day after Kristallnacht they were dismayed when they discovered that the first to join Hitler’s ranks was the Medical faculty, followed by the Law faculty. Five out of eight students, they found out, had openly joined the Nazi party.” This week I got to meet the virtual progeny of those germans. As Goebbels and Hitler did, they dress themselves in moral superiority, spew their fraudulent outrage which conveniently applies to no one else but the Jews, and paint their Jewish targets as full fledged members of the fictional synagogue of satan. They are convinced we are the worst people on the planet and because of that, we need to be destroyed. While it is true there are some truly pure-hearted people who simply want to lecture me/us on the need to take our blinders off and follow their god, they mean well even if they fail to realize that by converting all the Jews they will also turn G-d into a liar. “For the L-RD hath chosen Jacob for Himself, and Israel for His own treasure.” (Pslams 135:4)

Now that we have established what chosen is and what actions exemplify it, here is what being chosen is not. Being chosen is not attacking a Jew’s home because you disagree with him on his judicial ruling. Being chosen is not protesting on train tracks and highways late in the afternoon to delay people who have worked all day from returning home to be with their families. Being chosen is not admonishing your fellow Jews publicly for not ascribing to the same philosophy as you. To be chosen does not mean to spit on little girls as they walk to school or throw glass bottles at soldiers who are there to protect the Jewish people. Being chosen is not lighting fires around a police station in order to keep you from being drafted. To be chosen is not to wrap yourself in righteousness while displaying anti-Torah behavior and attitudes. To be chosen does not mean holding public prayer service/protests for a young man in prison for refusing to enlist while never having done so for more than two years on behalf of your fellow Jews who were being tortured, abused and murdered in the dungeons of Gaza. Desecration of G-d’s name is not the actions of the chosen people.

What should be certainly obvious to all the Jews in the world who are paying attention, is we are not lacking for enemies. I got to learn all about them this week. To be fair, the majority of the non-miserable people were in support of what I had posted, but it is the truly pathetic who believe all of their problems and the problems of the world stem from the Jews and Israel. It couldn’t possibly be their putrid life choices and their broken moral compass. “Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight.” (Isaiah 5:21) Are they so historically ignorant that they believe we have not seen the likes of them before? Do they not know how this ends? Where they end up? Who will be left standing when all is said and done?

In closing, I would be remiss if I did not mention something that I heard from Donald Trump yesterday. I have already written here that I believe Donald Trump is the best friend Israel has ever had in the White House. That being said, last week I voiced my displeasure on his activities vis a vis Iran the last almost two months and this week his empty threats have only reiterated my assertions. Now Congress has locked up his ability to act as he sees fit which as I’ve said before leaves Israel withering on the vine and almost assuredly means we will (cv) have to deal with all the enemies again. Brace yourselves because next time our online and public detractors will be much worse. But there were two things he said that stuck out to me. Speaking on Miranda Divine’s podcast the president said, “I was a little bit perturbed at his constantly fighting with Lebanon, you know. At some point I said, ‘Bibi, we’ve got to stop this. We gotta stop it.'” Well Mister President, guess who else is perturbed at the fighting in Lebanon? We’d love to finally put an end to it. Now, stop running your mouth and let us do exactly that so our children and grandchildren will not have to. But it was his second comment that got my attention and made me chuckle. “If there wasn’t me, there would be no Israel.” With all due respect, Mr. President, I beg to differ. We need to be extremely grateful for all the support the president has given us and continues to give us. Admittedly, I am wary it will remain and have said so on these pages before. But if that day should come where he or the United States government rejects us (cv), we will be just fine.

“It is better to take refuge in the L-RD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the L-RD than to trust in princes.” (Psalms 118:8-9)

Thank you, President Trump for everything you have done for us, but should you ever choose to let us go at it on our own (cv), we will make do and still be standing. Granted there will be days where we won’t know what we will do or how we will survive, but as we have always done, we will come out of whatever circumstance and continue on. We may in fact be battered and bloodied, but we will not be victims and will continue to persevere much to our enemies chagrin.

“Behold, He that keeps Israel does not sleep or slumber.” (Psalms 121:4)

We here in this holy land have gotten to witness His protection first hand over the past thirty-one months. The open miracles and wonders have proven His Divine presence here is real and alive. To all you parasites, good luck. You are the same old cockroaches you have always been only with better technology. But to my people who do their best to live lives G-d can be proud of, do not waiver and trust in Hashem. “And it is this that has stood for our ancestors and for us, since it is not one [person or nation] that has stood [against] us to destroy us, but rather in each generation, they stand [against] us to destroy us, but the Holy One, blessed be He, rescues us from their hand.” (Passover Haggadah)

Am Yisrael Chai