We are called to fight for good

October the 7th is calling us to act with our Jewishness and conscience. We must fight for our mission and change the narrative for a good one.

In Parsha Vayikra, God is calling us, calling you, calling me.

It’s interesting that on October 7th, God called us, all of us, to react, to act with our Jewishness, to our conscience, physically, and spiritually in ways that we could not have imagined, and we see that no person can remain on the sidelines.

We’ve all been given a mission to fight for. It’s saddening to me that some Jewish people have chosen a different path, maybe from their conscience, their liberalism, and the pain that they see of the suffering of, and the pain is real, but the narrative is what it appears.

So, how do we go forward, and how do we change the narrative, a narrative that is a good one?

In this blog, I will share three stories and messages.

Peace Builders

As shared by Oded Raha

“We can all agree on one thing: humanity is one thing; we’re all connected. What happens on one side of the world affects the other side of the world. My name is Oded Rahav. I’m an entrepreneur and a veteran environmental activist, and for many years, I’ve brought hearts together from all over the world. I proudly belong to a few tribes: the Jewish and Israeli tribe, the peacebuilders tribe, and the environmental justice tribe.

I want to share with you a story about one of our members of the environmental tribe. Her name is Dr. Shoshan Haran; she’s from Kibbutz Be’eri. Dr. Shoshan is the founder of an organisation called Fair Planet, which aims to eradicate hunger all over the world, regardless of religion or race. Dr. Shoshan has helped millions in Africa who are stuck in poverty, most of them Muslims. On the 7th of December, Dr. Shoshan was kidnapped from us, along with six other family members, including her daughter, her son-in-law, and her grandchildren, aged 3 and 8. Her husband, Avshalom, sister Lilach, and brother-in-law, Eviatar, were brutally murdered in the massacre. Lilach was a social worker who treated children with post-trauma. Lilach and Eviatar were peace activists who believed in co-existence and had many Palestinian friends. In a split second, an entire family was destroyed, and the environmental and peace tribe lost valuable members. Hamas doesn’t care what tribe you belong to. It doesn’t care what positive impact its members had on humanity or co-existence.

That evil that is a few minutes from my home is not only my problem but my country’s problem. It is a poison that spreads throughout the entire organism that we all share. Humanity is now at a crossroads between basic human morals and pure evil. We need tribe leaders to be voices for good and to speak up for the collective.”

Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6z87_e9jPM

Contrast this with Hamas

“They have been taught to hate Jews with a religious fervour since birth. Their hatred was aided by Hamas-run camps for children, an education system funded by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and a closed society that lived and breathed a hatred for Israel. Biden should know this is the crux of the matter. Israel has been left with very little choice but to destroy an enemy that is cruel, religiously motivated and willing to put its own civilian population in harm’s way.”

Source: https://nationalpost-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/nationalpost.com/opinion/avi-benlolo-israel-cant-afford-to-let-hamas-win-no-matter-what-joe-biden-says/wcm/2cd7d10a-08ac-4137-bd15-2e9ef381c556/amp/

Standing up for what is right

I am sharing this video from Nas Daily and summarising a part of it.

“I felt that in my own skin immediately after our message. I lost a million-dollar deal, I lost ten friends, and I created 10 million haters. That was the price I paid, and I was willing to pay it. And I’m not the only one. I’m not the only one paying the price. To the person watching this on the internet, through these cameras, the peacemakers, the ones who feel lonely today, you can relate because you pay the price, too.

 Every time you speak up, someone tells you to shut up.

Whenever you think we shouldn’t fight, someone tells you we should. That’s why there are so few of us. But something inside of you tells you to keep going. Something inside of me tells me to do that, too. What is that thing? Why do we keep going when this stuff is so hard? Why don’t we just chill at a beach in Mexico, do makeup videos, and drink cocktails? Well, I think I found the answer.

I think I know why. I’ve been studying the top six religions over the last few months, and this is a true story. And I think I found the answer in a religion I recently studied. It’s in India, in Hinduism. Hear me out. In Hinduism, they believe in the concept of dharma. They believe each one of us is born with a responsibility, a duty, and an obligation to this world. If you are alive on this planet, you have a responsibility to do what you must, no matter what. My dharma is to bring people together. The doctor’s dharma is to heal people. Your dharma, the peacemaker, your dharma is to bring peace and work towards peace. This obligation is crucial because you cannot avoid it, no matter how hard it gets.

Here is an example. A Hindu priest was sitting by the river. He saw a scorpion drown. A scorpion drowned. He picked it up to save it, but then it stung him. So, he dropped it back in the water. The scorpion started drowning again, so he picked it up again, and it stung him again and again. And he kept doing this again and again and again. Someone watching this from the sidelines said, Priest, what the hell are you doing? Why do you keep saving the scorpion when it will only sting you? The priest smiled and said, The scorpion’s dharma is to sting. That’s what it’s born to do. But my dharma as a human is to save. This is what I will continue to do.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdosecp869g

Dharma – each one of us is born with a responsibility, a duty, an obligation to this world. If you are alive on this planet, you have a responsibility to do what you have to do, no matter what.

Dharma should be a tool for doing good and bringing people together and peace.

Karma – Hinduism identifies karma as the relationship between a person’s mental or physical action and the consequences following that action. It also signifies the consequences of all a person’s actions in their current and previous lives and the chain of cause and effect in morality.

So, you can choose to be on the side of good, remain silent, or worse, support this Evil.

Know that your choice will come back to haunt you,

Time to Stand up for the Truth

More than 450 Jewish creatives, executives and Hollywood professionals on Monday signed an open letter denouncing British Jewish director Jonathan Glazer’s anti-Israel remarks at his victory speech at the Oscars, Variety reported.

This says it all:

“We refute our Jewishness being hijacked for the purpose of drawing a moral equivalence between a Nazi regime that sought to exterminate a race of people and an Israeli nation that seeks to avert its own extermination,” the letter read.

 We are called to fight for good – Daniel Perez z”l

I want to share a story about Daniel Perez, who was killed in action on 7th October. It was not known if he was alive or dead until this week. And it’s a story of courage, choosing the right thing, choosing our purpose in life. This is what Naftali Bennet shared.

“In their house, I heard the description of the battle for Nahal Oz, in which Daniel was killed while commanding his platoon on October 7th.”

“For two hours straight, Daniel commanded his tank crew, including the fallen Itay Hen and other crew members. The tank crew pushed back swarms and swarms of terrorists that had breached the border fence on their way to a killing spree. Like the boy with his finger in the dike, Daniel’s tank rushed from place to place to stop the flood of terrorists.”

“It would be easiest to stand off and perhaps fire from behind cover from time to time, but Daniel and his crew moved to engage because they knew that every terrorist they didn’t kill would carry on the killing spree.”

“The tracks of ‘Perez’s Tank’ look like spaghetti, long and twisted, and testify to his actions, initiative, and intense combat. They, along with other heroes, managed to stop a massacre in Nahal Oz and prevented hordes of terrorists from reaching the town of Sa’ad, Kfar Aza, and main highways.”

“Daniel was wounded and kept trying to engage the enemy, all while losing blood. He fought until the last drop of blood had left his body. As ‘Perez’s Tank’ left tracks in Nahal Oz, Daniel has left tracks in the next generation’s hearts.”

“What a family! His brother Yehonatan, a company commander in the Paratrooper Brigade, also fought heroically in Nahal Oz until he was wounded. He and his soldiers managed to save dozens of other soldiers. He has since become married to Gila, and I immediately wished for them to bring much new life into the world and make Rabbi Doron and Shelly into grandfathers and Adina and Shira into aunts. Daniel Perez will go down as one of the greatest heroes of Israel. All of Israel bows its head and mourns for its hero – Daniel Perez,” Bennett concluded.

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/386971

I am sharing the image and words from Rav Rimon that was shared on Facebook, which sums it up.