Memorial Day Thoughts for USA and Israel

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Memorial Day 2014 Washington DC

                                                                       

                      Benny Gantz Paying Tribute to Fallen in Israel's Yom Kippur War of 1973

"Imagine taking a walk from New York City to Chicago. That’s about an 800-mile trek, and it would take about two weeks of non-stop walking to complete it – a lot longer if you stopped to rest.

Now, imagine that all throughout your walk there were a continuous line of people standing shoulder to shoulder, one after another through the streets of New York City, into the back roads of New Jersey, over each rolling hill in Pennsylvania – people as far as the eye can see. It continues through Ohio and Indiana into Illinois. Finally, you arrive in Chicago after having walked past 1,321,612 people.

That’s a LOT of people. It also happens to be the same number of people who have died in combat while serving this country.

It’s sobering to think of all those faces. Each face has a story – a soldier whose life was cut down in its prime and likely left behind a spouse or a child or both. Most (625,000) died during the bloody, gruesome close quarter combat of the Civil War. Another 405,399 died in World War II, and 116,516 died in World War I. There have been many different wars, and they’ve stretched across many different eras, but one thing has remained constant: The amazing courage and willingness of the American soldier to lay down his or her own life for the cause of liberty. "(1)

This means that from 1776 when the USA was created till now, we have lost over a million sons in battle to protect the rights of citizens of our country; rights that other countries still have not attained. We had to sacrifice the lives of  our 1,321,612 to die in battle protecting us over the past 238 years.    Today we are a country of 317 million people in a world of 7.1 billion.

Though Israel was re-created on May 14, 1948, it has an established history of more than 35 centuries long  with origins  in the Biblical period of the 17th to the 6th century BCE.   We know they started again with a population of 650,000  66 years ago in 1948.  By the 1972 census they had 3,164,000 and today have nearly 8.2 million.  Israel's population is made up of 6.135 million Jews and 1.694 million Arabs which is  75% Jews and 20.7% Arabs to be exact.  It was established as the Jewish Homeland but is a pluralist society.  This means that different cultures and social traditions coexist.  For example, in 1972 Jews numbered 2,636,660 and were 85.2%; Moslems were 343,900 and made up 11.1%; Christians numbered 77,300 and were 2.4%; and Druzes & others were 37,300 and made up 1.3% of the population.  Like the USA, it has a population from all corners of the globe.

The 10 Lost Tribes are already being found and are returning to Israel.  Others are returning from countries that have a high amount of anti-Semitism that has also taken lives, so they are moving to Israel after suffering from much persecution for being Jews such as what has been happening in France.

Out of its 66 years of present day existence, Israel has had 7 major wars.  9,745 soldiers have been killed in engagements and terrorist attacks up to 1997.

Before Israel was declared a state the Jews lost lives defending the Jewish Homeland declared in the League of Nations in July 24, 1922.  The Balfour Declaration was signed on November 2, 1917.

Resource:  http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/robert-schlesinger/2013/12/31/us-population-2014-317-million-and-71-billion-in-the-world
http://www.jpost.com/National-News/On-its-66th-birthday-Israels-population-nears-82-million-351045
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_casualties_of_war
Facts About Israel 1973; Division of Information Ministry for foreign affairs, Jerusalem
http://www.danielpipes.org/4990/arab-israeli-fatalities-rank-49th
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/73_War.html
http://www.mythsandfacts.org/conflict/mandate_for_palestine/mandate_for_palestine.htm
http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/peace/guide/pages/declaration%20of%20establishment%20of%20state%20of%20israel.aspx
Resource:  (1) Glenn Beck from his program

Shavuot, the Dairy Holiday This Year in Portland

Nadene Goldfoot
What a special week-end this is to be!  Sunday is the first day of Shavuot which is a special Jewish holiday commemorating the giving of the Ten Commandments, G-d's revelation to Israel which turned out to be a list  of 613, and Israel's acceptance of the Torah (5 books of Moses).   One thing about our religion, you can't hardly turn around without preparing for the next holiday.  These holidays are all centered around teachable historic events that we are not to forget, and this is emphatically etched into our minds with food.  For Shavuot there are the favorite  dairy products, like cheese blintzes.

The whole theme of this holiday is centered around the fact that the release from physical bondage-which went on in Egypt for 400 years-and the political freedom that is represented by our holiday of Pesach "Passover", does not constitute complete freedom unless it culminates in the spiritual restraints, disciplines and duties represented by Shavuot.  I take it then that we just shouldn't go off the deep end with our basic carnal values but keep the restraints at least of 10 commandments, which is hard enough in our lives. Even those who only expect to keep 7 of them are doing well.  

We are to eat at least one dairy meal during these 2 days.  This may come from remembering that Israel is "a land flowing with milk and honey."  I like the commandment of  "You must not boil a kid in its mother's milk", which is the prohibition of eating meat and milk together in the laws of kashrut (kosher).  Of course a kid was a goat, not your child, heaven forbid!  Here, the meaning is very deep.  It has to do with the unity of the verse and the authenticity of our Oral law as well.  It is also something that gives us pause to reflect the very feelings of a cow for her calf, and that this cow has given us milk for our dairy products and we are not to hurt her feelings by eating her child in that very milk she herself had produced.  It is to give us feeling for all of humanity, not just for animals, but people, too.  As a result, Jews are not big on hunting.  We'll buy  meat preferably from a kosher butcher where animals allowed to us were killed as humanely as possible.  We don't dine on all animals, however.

In the states we also have Memorial Day to celebrate on the very next day, Monday the 28th which of course is the 2nd day of Shavuot.  Already many people here in Portland are driving to the coast to spend a 3 day weekend, prodded by the sun that actually shone this morning without rain clogging up the streets.  . It's a celebration of barbecuing and potlucks.  This commemorates what we used to call "Declaration Day", which was remembrance after the Civil War of the Union soldiers.  It's extended now to all fallen military men and women  in service to our country.  What with the thought of a vacation,  I wonder if people remember or honor the original meaning of this time off from work. There always are organized groups whose duty it is to do such things, however.   .  

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day
Book:  To Be a Jew by Donin