Posted on 05/17/2004 2:10:56 PM PDT by SJackson
This morning, I paid a shiva call to Sara and Michael Newman's house, the parents who lost their wonderful son Eitan when his tank went over a bomb in the Gaza Strip last week. They buried him last Thursday, after his comrades, under constant fire from terrorists, combed the dangerous streets to bring his holy remains and those of his comrades home.
As I neared the Newman home, I saw army men standing in small circles, talking quietly. Some wore beards and knitted skullcaps. Friends, religious and non-religious, came and went in and out of the Newman home, fulfilling one of Judaism's most honored rituals of comforting mourners for seven days after the funeral.
Sara and her husband sat on low chairs, as is the custom, surrounded by friends. I introduced myself.
"I want to talk to you..." Sara said softly.
I pulled up a chair.
"I understand that you write to many people around the world. And this is what I would like you to please tell them for me. Many people have asked what they can do, how can they help. Please tell them to go out and buy something that was made in Israel. That's all. Just help us, we are going through such hard times. Everybody can do that."
I felt quick tears come to my eyes, wondering at this woman who sat clear-eyed and full of courage and faith, her mind focused on what else she could do to help the country she loved, a woman who had just given her country and her people her handsome, bright, intelligent, wonderful young son.
Who had given her son.
I nodded, wordlessly.
I told her about a conversation I had just had with my own son, who is being drafted in November.
"Maybe you could go into anti-aircraft," I urged him. "Your brother did that, and your father."
There was a slight pause at the other end of the line. "Look Mom," he said patiently, "I might as well tell you the truth. I'm not going into the army to strike a pose. I'm going because I want to do something, protect people from getting killed by terrorists. And the only way to do that is to be a foot soldier." He wanted to go into Givati, he said. The same unit as Eitan Newman.
"This is how we brought them up," I told Sara Newman. "I'm very proud of him. And I'm terrified."
She put her hand over mine. "When my son died, he was surrounded by people he loved and respected and trusted. He was on his way back from a mission he'd successfully completed. He died instantly, with no pain. I would rather he went that way then stabbed in the back by some skinhead far away from home."
Would I please, she urged me, send out her message?
When I left the Newman home, I walked up the winding stone staircase that one finds in Jerusalem's hilly neighborhoods. A cool wind was blowing, and the sky seemed strangely cloudy for spring. As I reached the top, I saw a friend coming down the road. She too was on her way to the Newmans. I hugged her, and both of us wept.
And now I am home at my computer, doing what Sara Newman asked me to do. I'm asking you to please go out a buy something from Israel. If you can't find it in your stores, you can find it on-line, I'm sure.
And if you'd like to send Sara and Michael some words of comfort, please send it to msnewman@netvision.net.il.
Thank you.
Or click on the Jerusalem Post or Arutz Sheva website, they’ll shower you with pop up ads.
Call around and find a chain store or large grocery store with a Kosher butcher. They're common in Chicago, I assume you have them out there in the sticks :>). They'll generally be in areas with a population of observant Jews, and I'm sure you'll find several aisles of Kosher products (not Coors beer or Campbell soup) much of which will be from Israel.
What a sad and powerful story. I shall pray for these young men and their families.
Now, I hope someone can answer a disturbing question for me. Why is it, after this country has shed blood for Israel (because that is what we are really doing in Iraq and Afphanistan) and have supported Israel in every way throughout its entire history, why is it that so many Jews are against George W. Bush? He has gone to the mat for Israel, yet US Jews will not suport his re-election.
Just last week my husband got into a terrible fight with a Jewish friend who assailed my husband in the street and followed him into a restaurant, chiding, "Yah, yah yah! Your President is toast...etc., etc." The man just would not quit, and my husband finally exploded and called him ungrateful and said some of the same things that I just wrote.
We left, feeling so sad, because it is probably the end of a formerly cordial friendship. And I really don't understand it. President Bush could have turned his back on Israel because he certainly does not enjoy any sizable Jewish vote. Backing Israel has meant that Bush has lost most of his Arab backing. Yet, he has not gained any Jewish backing, as far as I can see.
Thanks for the post.
First, start with that statement, which is absurd. Iraq was certainly a threat, the equal of Egypt (who we arm), Saudi Arabia (who we arm), and Syria (who we don't like), far less of a threat that Iran, which I fear Israel may soon be confronting, unless the US can pressure Israel not to. Afghanistan, you're kidding. Pakistan, with the Islamic bomb, they're perhaps a threat equal to Iran, Afghanistan is nothing.
Why would you assume American Jews vote only based on your perception of what's best for Israel. They don't, and in fact the implication, as you phrased it, will drive them to the other side. If he's looking for votes, and he wants Arab backing, he should go for it. You seem to be enunciating the "*uck the Jews, they don't vote for us" policy of the Carter and Bush I administration. It's pure un-American bigotry in my opinion.
As to your husbands friend, assaulting him in the street like that, clearly he's a jerk, you're better out without his friendship.
Now I have a moral obligation to eat your share. L'chaim!
[P.S. Genuine Gefilte fish, as opposed to Whitefish and Pike, is much tastier (although the latter isn't bad at all). Check the label. Horseradish helps too.]
Perhaps you've heard of the events of 9/11/01. They were in the papers.
But the differences are religious. Why would anyone Jewish want to give up their mourning practices to be more like, say, a Baptist's?
He does it because it is the right thing to do. No more and no less.
And your problem with Baptists would be?
The poster was bemoaning that we all don't do things the same. So what?
Nothing what-so-ever. But why bring up the Baptists?
behest?
Well, bequest, since we are there to bury al Qaeda.
If you are suffering from paranoia, try deep breathing. Not everyone is out to get you.
And welcome to FR. Unless you are a re-tread.
Just askin'. Funny thing is Christianity wasn't even brought up in the post you referenced.
Btw: No need to engage in personal attacks.
And for the record I do not engage in paranoia. Suggest you read up on projection.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.