Shabbat Shalom to one and all.
2021 is now listed as the most anti-Semitic year in history since WWII. 27th January 2022, was International Holocaust Remembrance Day. “Never Again” is so banal, in fact, it really means nothing … because it is happening again. Ignorant louts worldwide to beat up Jews, or should I say ‘obvious Jews’. What an odious expression, yet the Jews who are at the forefront of the battle wear battle gear so the suits of statesmen. It has nothing to do with their mode of dress; once again is socially acceptable to taunt, deride and harm Jews.
“We are strong because now we have Israel”. Meaningless words if you know nothing about this amazing country, a country that is now the target of those who choose to turn a blind eye to the real perpetrators of oppression and hatred. I could go on and on but you will stop reading. This month Amazon is now offering 30 Nazi films to choose from. WHY? We are not the only persecuted people but Jews have been consistently persecuted since the time of Abraham!
The Wannsee Conference decided the diabolical Final Solution was chosen where Nazi bureaucrats met to meticulously plan the extermination of European Jewry using an industrial model of slaughter.
Winston Churchill stood up when others did not and led Britain and her Commonwealth into a punishing war because it was the right thing to do. Canada was right there from the beginning and with her five men from Jay’s and my family. US President FDR, argued three long years before the US joined. Marcel Marrceu; one of the many heroes, as a Jewish youth, lived in hiding and worked with the French Resistance in WWII. He saved hundreds and indirectly thousands of Jewish children by teaching them smart survival skills and smuggling them out of a Europe with no future. He called mime the “art of silence” and performed professionally worldwide for over 60 years, giving his first major performance to 3,000 troops after the liberation of Paris in August 1944. (Wikipedia)
But, I wanted you to hear the most gruelling report on the Shoah that I have ever heard, from Richard Dimbleby, on the liberation of Bergen-Belsen.
When was the last time you stood up and said ENOUGH?
Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Yair Lapid gave this testimony at the site of the Mauthausen Concentration Camp in Austria on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, as a grandchild of Bela Lampel, murdered here in April 1945.
“I came here today to remind the world that Bela Lampel was not a number. He was my grandfather. He loved his beautiful wife. He went to football matches with his son, my father. He loved to have an omelette at the coffee shop next to his home. He never wronged or hated anyone. He wasn’t an important man in the world’s eyes. He was simply … Jewish. His family nickname was Bela the Wise.
He was taken by an SS soldier from his home in the middle of the night, in front of his wife, and my father Tommy, then 12 years old. He was shuffled from camp to camp until he arrived here. The Nazis already knew they had lost the war. Their mighty war machine; the German Army had collapsed. They needed every soldier, every slice of bread, every rifle – and yet, they continued to kill Jews right up until the very last moment. Grandpa Bela sent me here today to say on his behalf; Jews have not surrendered. They’ve established a strong, free, and proud Jewish State. I am a grandson of those who were cut off. The Nazis thought they were the future, and Jews would be something you only find in a museum. Instead, the Jewish state IS the future, and Mauthausen is a museum. ‘Rest in peace, grandfather, you won.’”
Today, all over the world, survivors have built families who carry their stories forward so that they will not be forgotten. There are some who have built families of 100’s of descendants and unlike their own parents and grandparents, they can laugh and play with them. The ultimate vengeance is to survive and thrive. Israel was not brought about by the Shoah – the Holocaust. BUT it is living proof that just as the Jewish Partisans of the Ghettos fought, we know how to stand, to turn the poisonous arrows. lies and missiles of our enemies back on themselves – this wondrous country proves, “we cannot be held down.” We Rawlings must add: the Living God, the LORD GOD of Israel LIVES and so do we!
Children in London were to hold a ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Shoah but Covid prevented it. Unperturbed the children recorded at home. Our generation has not prepared our children and grandchildren to understand their past to be able to defend themselves in the future … already upon us or appears to be just around the corner. It is cause for weeping and repentance.
Please I beg of you to tell your children and grandchildren the stories, not to scare them but to inform them of our past and how we rose again out of the ashes. Yair Lapid stood proudly at the site of his grandfather’s demise and announced – Bela the Wise, you won. 6 of our 9 grandchildren have great grandparents who died in the Holocaust and 2 of those grandparents live today.
Koolulam gathered a group of survivors and their families to sing “Chai Chai Chai” Live Live Live which they all did against all odds.
Our Glimmer of HOPE A Glimmer of Hope
By Jonathan Tobin, JNS.org
Jan. 20th 2022 was a great day for Israeli diplomacy. For the first time, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution sponsored by the Jewish state. On the 80th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference, (see above) Israel called for the world to adopt the clear definition of antisemitism put forward by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). The measure led by Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan; was co-sponsored by Germany and eventually by a total of 112 other countries. Only one of the 193 members of the General Assembly—Iran—objected to its passage.
Jonathan Tobin
Israel’s Prophets listened to the heart of the Almighty: Ezekiel saw Jerusalem in her blood and declared: in Chapter 16: 5,6
“And as for your birth, on the day you were born… No eye looked with pity on you to do any of these things fo you, to have compassion on you, but you were thrown out in the open field, for you were loathed on the day that you were born. When I passed by you and saw you squirming,I said to a you while you were there in your blood, ‘Live!’ …”
The Prophet Ezekiel sees the ‘valley of dry bones’ and prophesies “LIVE!”
”Behold, I am going to take the children of Israel from among the nation’s, where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land … And then the nations will know without any doubt that I am the LORD who sets apart and sanctifies Israel when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.”
Chapter 37:21, 28.
Hatikva – The Hope, is Israel’s National Anthem. Hope, believes that the future will always be better; Hope, Tikva, helps those who survived the horrors of the Shoah to lead wonderful lives here in the land of hope. The young men and women of the IDF are the future of Israel and of the Jewish people as they go forward into the world with a confidence that past generations never attained.
When we say “Never Again” remember that we have to mean it, we’ve had 77 years to learn how. A very special thank you for the excerpts from Sheila Raviv.
Our family sends you a Shabbat Shalom with love from Jerusalem.
Thank you for supporting any Israelis that you know living in Israel with your faithful prayers and gifts.
Dr. Meridel Rawlings Ph.D. Box 84156, Mevasseret Zion, 9079097 Israel.
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The sun of righteousness is arising with healing in His wings