Grandma's army

Yoel Zilberman grew up on a cattle ranch in Moshav Tzippori in the Galilee, the third generation of a family rooted deeply in the soil of northern Israel. From an early age, he witnessed the quiet devastation by Bedouin (nomadic Arabs) terrorists of agricultural crime up close. It was obvious that these weren't random acts, but crimes strategically designed to drive Jews off their land. Yoel (like Nir Amitai) saw his future in the military, in long-term command. He and his brother were in the army, and their father was left alone to face repeated land invasions. The terrorists cut fences, poisoned animals, threatened him, and eventually attacked him with severe violence and stole his car. Every complaint was closed for ‘lack of public interest.’ Hundreds of complaints, sometimes two in a single day. Farmers across the region were suffering. When things escalated, a police commander advised his father to give up part of the land. He told him frankly: ‘We’re dealing with murder...

                                                                                                             A short while ago, Arab terrorists set fire to the Havat Gilad farm in northern Samaria, forcing 100 families to evacuate. Nir Amitai , from kibbutz Lahav in the Negev, cancelled his entire schedule, loaded his car with produce from his farm – honey, olive oil and fresh vegetables – and rushed to help. Nir met a mother with 10 children who had no idea where they would sleep that night. Saw the home of Yael Shevach who had lost her husband in a terror attack, and now also all her memories that went up in flames. But he also saw a spark of hope. A man who l...

  Written in 2013, the world needs reminding, from time to time, what Israel is up against. The entire world has changed dramatically since the 1970’s – a decade which is, for Israel, one of the most traumatic. The Yom Kippur War in 1973 left the country devastated by the loss of 2,600 soldiers. In spite of the astonishing victory against all odds, the country lost faith in its leadership and, with it, a sense of security. [That is perhaps one of the reasons that, in 1977, a right-winged government defeated the impregnable Labour Party for the first time]. Although terrorism has been an ongoing factor since before Israel existed, the 70’s was a nightmare. Palestinian terrorists were sowing terror against Israelis, both on Israeli soil and around the world. The most glaring example was the terrorist attack on the Israeli team at the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972, in which eleven members of the team were murdered. In the same year, Ben Gurion Airport became a slaughterhouse, when t...

In 1290 King Edward I expelled all Jews from the Kingdom of England. After the expulsion, there was no overt Jewish community until the rule of Oliver Cromwell. Although Cromwell never officially readmitted Jews to England, a small colony of Sephardic Jews living in London was identified in 1656, and allowed to remain. England, in the 19 th century was no exception to the rest of Europe when it came to bigotry and anti-Semitism. Jewish born Benjamin Disraeli had been converted to Christianity, allowing him to pursue a political career, at a time when Jews were barred from Parliament.   Even though he was elected twice as Prime Minister, he was constantly subjected to antisemitic slurs. He was regularly characterized   in cartoons with a hook nose and a stooped posture. [In answer to a personal insult by a member of Parliament, Disraeli wrote in a letter to the  Times : "Yes, I am a Jew, and when the ancestors of the right honourable ge...

  To quote Einstein: "I believe that the abominable deterioration of ethical standards stems primarily from the mechanization and depersonalization of our lives—a disastrous byproduct of science and technology. Nostra culpa! (We are to blame!)". Nobody questions the remarkable achievements and progress that science and technology have made to our quality of life. However, it’s become appallingly clear that our technology has surpassed our humanity. Our great-grandchildren know how to use smart phones and computers, from an early age. But their general knowledge is woefully lacking. What do they know of the great cultural visionaries of the past,   who introduced us to art, music, philosophy, etc.   To a world of beauty, grace and the thirst for knowledge. For the most part, they haven't a clue. People increasingly rely on smartphones, tablets, and computers for daily tasks such as navigation, reminders, work, and entertainment. This dependence reduces problem-solvin...

  There is an increasingly widespread view that philosophy — that ancient pursuit of meaning, truth and understanding that has been with us for several thousand years at least — is dead in the modern world. Science, so goes the argument, has answered all the questions that philosophers once pondered: From a scientific perspective, there is no grand design, no cosmic plan that bestows meaning upon our lives. As scientists delve deeper into the mysteries of the cosmos, their discoveries reveal a universe that is vast, ancient, and seemingly indifferent to our presence. It’s easy to understand the appeal of this position. Science has been extravagantly successful in explaining the natural world, and its discoveries have led directly to stunning technological achievements, from heart transplants to the moon landing. Philosophy, on the other hand, hasn’t achieved anything that could be considered a clear breakthrough in human understanding.  Not so very long ago, sc...