5/01/08 - 26 Nissan, 5768 - Chabad-Lubavitch of Greater Boynton

At 10:00 this morning, a mournful cry rose up from the Land of Israel, as every siren in the country sounded for two minutes - two minutes that symbolized the anguished cries of the Jewish nation over the six million of our people who were murdered in the Holocaust. 

While communities around the country marked the day with ceremonies in schools and town squares, the people of Sderot huddled together for a solemn service in the city's fortified cultural center.  It was the safest building in which to meet, though even with its thick concrete roof, city officials were still worried to have so many people gathered together in one place in case a barrage of rockets struck.  But residents insisted. It is with that defiant spirit that the people of Sderot gathered together, despite the danger, to remember the victims of the Holocaust and pledge, along with the rest of the Jewish world, Never Again.

Tonight, we must daven - Pray urgently for Naftali ben Gila, one of the Yeshiva students wounded in the Mercaz HaRav shootings a few weeks ago, his condition is drastically worsening. He has had a stroke at the age of 15.

Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen!

Let us go back in time to the 70's when Menachem Begin began talking peace with Anwar Sadat, "Camp David" it was called. Begin gave up the Sinai for Egypt's peace. Sadat showed up to the signing ceremonies with a tie whose emblem was emblazoned with Swatstikas. There are published pictures to show this little known fact.

Egypt today, is surely not at war with us - they are smarter then that. They are just the convenient conduit, through the "hidden" tunnels dug underground, yet known to all, to smuggle more and more ammunition to kill Jews.

The same Egypt who proclaims their unifying with their brethren in their plight in the oppressed Gaza Strip…The same Egypt you will remember just a few weeks ago, allowed their Palestinian brothers to come in and truckload in as much ammunition and supplies as possible to continue their bombardment on Israel, and then re-erected the wall and threatened to shoot the next palestinain (brother??) that comes over the newly erected barricade!!

Could you imagine if Israel would shoot any Palestinian that came in from the Gaza Strip?

No, "open the checkpoints," the world screams. Let all the terrorists who want to kill Yeshiva students while they study peacefully, freely roam our streets, without even checking them. The world sneezes and The Israeli Government, a rather spineless Israeli Government, shudders.

Israel sends in fact, convoys of trucks to the very same people who are shooting thousands of missiles at them. These convoys of supplies; milk, medicine, fuel and other humane necessities….Do you know how they are treated as they arrive to deliver these goods?.... by being shot at and killed.
Yet Israel keeps on sending them in.

Our Nobel Peace Prize winning Yasser Arafat, who went to his beloved death refusing to recognize the State of Israel's existence, was perhaps the greatest architect of Palestinian terror, known as the intifada, where thousands of our innocent men, women, and children have lost their lives. He received the Nobel Peace Prize with hands drenched in Jewish blood, forever denigrating the once vaulted gift.

His successor, the professor who wrote his thesis denying the very Holocaust which we gather tonight to remember…this is the world's new peace partner for us, whom we need to appease and "prop up."

Just like his little brother in Iran, both of them, deny the holocaust. There is not a fiber in my body that believes that Abbas wants anything less than his puny little Iranian brother who exclaims on world stages the ultimate obliteration of Israel from the face of this earth.

And our dear friends at the UN, and its distinguished members of its security council - Libya and Syria, hold moments of silence for the poor Palestinian martyrs who have died…have you heard them lately pass one resolution for the bombing of 4000 rockets onto the schools, homes, hospitals in Ashkelon, Sderot, and the bordering Kibbutzim from the new  Hamas Terrorist State called Gaza Strip?….once known as tranquil and lush Gush Katif…. relinquished by our own government with the literal deportation of tens of thousands of Jews from their homes, the destruction of synagogues much more beautiful than this one, the obliteration of $100's of millions of Israeli ingenious agricultural industry… and handing it over to our "peace loving" Palestinians…who inculcate until today their children from the age of 5 that suicide bombing, Jihad, and the killing of any and every Israeli is their biggest, and brightest objective they can reach in life.

The same "peace partners" who dance in the streets throw candies to their children, all of them, no exceptions, their men, women, and children each time dance and celebrate when another Jew is killed. The more, the merrier.

My friends this is much more than surreal, this is downright catastrophic. The lessons which we promise ourselves that we will remember and never forget…the lessons of Germany and World War II….are being revisited upon us, but this time in our own homeland of Jerusalem!!

Tonight as we mark the slaughter of six million kedoshim, men, women, and children because of the fact they were Jews, in then Germany, Poland and all the concentration camps listed outside on the gorgeous handcrafted memorial board by our own Mr. Mort Ben in honor of our dear Mr. Irving Drexler, a survivor.... it is almost unimaginable, that we recount the recent months and years, which may sound like Nazi Germany, but unfortunately is happening in our very homeland, that marks its 60th Birthday, Eretz Yisroel.

The land was given to us by Divine miracles, each and every war it fought to establish its existence and thereafter…against combined armies outnumbering them in unfathomable numbers and strength….was witnessing the open and undeniable hand of G‑d.

Yet, for some totally inexplicable reason, what is our government's response to this slaughter of thousands of Jews in the streets of Jerusalem and Israel; Give them more and more, give in more and more - seems to be the mantra.

It makes no difference what parts; the military strategic Golan Heights or our holy eternal capital Jerusalem…there is no value given to our land's
G‑dliness anymore, to the thousands of years of our ownership and holy rights as documented in our holy Torah.... and the most terrible secret of all, which no one dares to proclaim because it hurts so much…is that once again Jewish blood is cheap…Jewish blood is up for sale…for negotiations…The sanctity of Jewish life, and human life in general is being seemingly lost. But this time, unbelievably so, in Israel, not Germany!!

Tonight, 60 some years from Real Holocaust on our people, and tonight recognizing 60 years of G‑d's gift and miraculous development of our glorious holy land, we must gather to rally, and reach into our hearts and souls to search for our true Tzion - Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is being forgotten before our eyes…and as we all well know… The Psalmist says... if Jerusalem is forgotten, our right hand will be forgotten as well..

There must be an end to our silence. An end to our slumber..

Our answer, as always in times of strife and persecution, inexplicable persecution, is that we gather to fortify our pride, strength, and eternal bind to what made us who we are, what continues to allow us to be who we are, and is the only answer to our continuity. G‑d A-lmighty Himself.

"We are One undivided People, under One G‑d, with one holy and miraculously glorious Holy Land, with One eternal and indivisible Capital, Jerusalem. Directed, forever, by our one, unchanged holy complete and untouched Holy Torah."

Stripped of any one of these ingredients our lives as Jew will be, and is being damaged. We become weak, vulnerable and yes, find ourselves so feeble as to bring us to the realities of today.. the current predicament and woeful state of our glorious homeland..

Tonight, we have gathered to remember those who were mercilessly murdered, our past - But we stand firm and proclaim that we will learn from their innocent and savage deaths and not let that lesson linger aimlessly into just one night's event.

Tonight, we gather to celebrate and magnify G‑d's gift; being able to develop in 60 short years, from the bitter ashes of the crematoriums of Auschwitz…our glorious Holy Land, handed to us by the open Hand of
G‑d and protected literally every minute by His miraculous hand.

We are here tonight to re-assert our bind to The Divine Existence which permeates each inch of our Holy Land, through our Holy Torah.

Stripped of it's G‑dliness, Israel is up for sale, it's citizens are open to attack, pieces of it could be apportioned to each of the 70 hungry wolves who surround it and dream of its obliteration. Stripped of The Torah and it's
G‑dliness, we might as well just move to Wyoming and settle there, it is much safer. There is plenty of room for a mere 5 million Jews...And the State Department will generously endow it and get one major headache of their plates.

It is ours because it is G‑d's. It is ours because our Torah says so and proves so, it is ours because we are one people determined to search our roots and proudly proclaim in unison that it is our one, indivisible holy land, and THEREFORE, AND ONLY BECAUSE OF SO,  THERE ARE NO NEGOTIATIONS AVAILIBLE TO GIVE IT AWAY.

IN FACT, IT IS NOT ANY GOVERNMENT'S RIGHT TO GIVE IT AWAY. IT BELONGS TO EACH AND EVERY JEW.  IT BELONGS TO G-D AND HE, THE A-LMIGHTY, HAS CHOSEN TO GIVE IT TO US.

The complex issues swirling around in our lives here on earth;

A) Israel our priority, but the Middle East in general; Syria, Lebanon, Hezbollah, Hamas...

B) The economic Tsunami which is having ripple effects in each and every one of our lives here and in all global economies

C) The war in Iraq and afghanistan and the start of world war three -The fight to the end to obliterate Islamic extremist terrorism from this world

D) The terror being perpetrated from Iran and its ongoing growing nuclear capabilities and threats. It's continuing assistance to anyone wishing to kill Americans and Jews….

All this and much more…this is just the tip of a huge, unmatched  maze of global issues; calamities, huge tribal wars, deaths of innocents by the millions, The Korean peninsula, The growing communistic behavior of The the old Soviet Union…and the list goes on and on.

It would not be far from reality to state that in every country in our civilized world, there is serious trouble going on…

Yet, the reality is that there is absolutely not one voice of clarity, logic, control or leadership. Absolutely no one who can make heads or tails out of this unprecedented mix and very perilous mix of global concerns.

In truth, if one thinks about it nothing but a sense of profound sadness sets in. Helplessness at times…but as Jews this cannot be the case.

I will offer to you tonight that amidst all of this total anarchy-like feeling, it has created an intangible feeling inside of me, and shared by many others, that there is something is in the air, something is behind all of this madness… "There is something special in the air."

I quote to you tonight from the ancient holy texts of "The Yalkut Shemoni" our Holy Torah, which describes in prophetic vision, and in detail, all which is transpiring before our eyes and lives, and says, "You humble ones (made humble by the mere persecutions, from our great Holocaust to our blood drenched history of thousands of years) that "this all for your good. Since the Time of your redemption has arrived!"

In times such as this we turn to our Father. Our One and absolute Eternal Father, Oveinu Malkeinu, our Father and our King, who never, ever lets his sheep, go aimless…. There is a direction, there is a plan, there is an endgame to this all, and if we believe in the bible we must believe in the title bestowed upon us "The Chosen People, and we are assured all will be to the benefit of This chosen people.

We do not say so haughtingly. We say so, because we have been the conduits through which G‑d has chosen that peace, tranquility, prosperity should come to our entire world, to all freedom loving people, to all who cherish Hashem, The one Eternal G‑d. G‑d who demands freedom and liberty to all. Who demands an end to murder, hatred, jealousy, war, and sickness. This is our  motivation and passionate demand for our redemption...which seems to have its writings in ancient texts, as these unmatched global events unravel to the preciseness of the Prophet's words.

On this auspicious evening, gathered to contemplate the past, present, and future we turn our hearts, and minds to Hashem to the heavens which rule what seems to be an out of control earth, and I repeat, the heavens which rule with accuracy, determination and precision what seems to be to us through our earthy, finite vision, a totally "out of control world," we turn to those heavens to beseech Him with the innermost depths of our souls to put an end to ours and our world's suffering..

First and foremost, we will pray for our Israeli Defense Forces, our heroes, the men and women who give their lives to protect their brethren with G‑d A-lmighty's watchful eye. We will pray for their protection, but do so with a synthesis of humility and pride.

G‑d has made this tiny piece of land, His land, a bastion of so much innovation and goodness. It  has literally sprung waters from its desert and added to the quality of life of not only its inhabitants, but has affected in great measure the lives of all the inhabitants of this world. In a short 6 decades, He has made this strip of His land, one of the world's foremost superpowers…let us open our eyes and see His undeniable hand, and connect it with every inch of His land, tonight and forever. Let us stand very proud in this 60th birthday of this miraculous gift of G‑d, our homeland forever, Eretz Yisroel.

We will recite our Rebbe's Psalm, 107, which by Divine providence encapsulates all who need to thank G‑d for their survival.

As we stand in the presence of the heroes and heroines, living legends, the survivors of the meanest, ugliest and hideous face mankind has ever shown. We are humbled to be in their presence and to look into their eyes, those same set of eyes  which saw unimaginable horrors which are to difficult to enumerate. We recite this psalm in their honor, and in honor of all of those who have survived 4000 missiles, and countless foiled terrorist attacks…

We tremble thinking of the death rate we would be sobbing about tonight, if even ½ of those rockets were hits to their destined targets; children filled day cares, schools, hospitals…each of the hundreds of foiled suicide bombing attacks, we are shaken by the mere picture of the landscape of Israel, had any of these hundreds reached their targets, heavily populated centers of Jews…we must acknowledge with humility and proclaim Hodu L'hashem, Thank you G‑d….

It is important to note that our army is the only one in the world called The Israeli Defense forces. We are always on the defense. And the true defense comes from G‑d. Our true salvation is from G‑d.

In fact, I have come to the conclusion, as The psalm says, it will not be with "chariots and horses of protection" not with anyone's empty promises which are so plentiful…we are alone in this world. Always were and I am afraid always will be. NO ONE, NO ONE, NO ONE to rely on except Hashem, our father in Heaven. Thus we will conclude the prayers with psalm 20.

G‑d Bless each of you and your loved ones. G‑d bless each of our survivors the true honorees of this evening with continued long, healthy years to come. G‑d bless Am Yisroel, for one thing is for sure - Am Yisroel Chai! Now and forever.