Grandma's army

A LIFE-THREATENING DISEASE Like the beginning of every new year - and especially after the one just passed - we hope that the new year will bring to the world a change for the better. Tragically, one thing never changes…. It should come as no surprise that Jews are in the forefront of scientists and others dealing with the COVID-19 virus. To name a few: Mikael Dolsten is the Chief Scientific Officer at Pfizer; Albert Boria is the   Pfizer CEO; An Israeli, Tal Zaks is the Chief Medical Officer for Moderna ; Drew Weissman is one of the two scientists responsible for pioneering a breakthrough with the development of the mRNA vaccine used by both Moderna and Pfizer; Jeff Zients will be Joe Biden’s overseer for the entire CORONA response; Dr. Rochelle Walensky   is Biden’s new Head of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.   It also comes as no surprise that Jews   are being blamed for the latest pandemic, just as they were blamed for the Black Death in th...

The story of Chanukah, a Jewish festival being celebrated this week, begins during the second century BCE. Israel was then ruled by Antiochus IV who decided to force the pace of Hellenisation on the Jews of the land of Israel. His aim was to completely undermine the moral foundations of the Jewish nation. Rome forced the Jewish people to accept its own moral code: novel, human, fresh and tempting. At the time, the Greeks were the world’s greatest in many fields. They were unparalleled in their advances in art, architecture, literature, drama, philosophy.   In many ways, their achievements have never been surpassed. The battle between the two sides   was based on the question which way of life is more authentic. The ancient Jewish way, or the modernistic Greek way. That which places spiritual values at the centre, or that which considers materialism as the basis of nation building. That which worships the body or that which   crowns the soul. This was the unique di...

  Life and death battles don’t figure only in wars. People all over the world are battling the COVID virus. Conversely, people battling a chronic disease are facing a life or death situation, against much greater odds. Since dialysis is a temporary solution, people suffering from kidney failure are faced with no other alternative but a kidney implant.   The kidney’s main task is to filter toxins and remove excess water from the bloodstream. Healthy people have four to five times the kidney capacity needed for this. Even with one remaining kidney, there is still plenty of spare function and one can live a perfectly normal life. An organisation called “Matnat Chaim” “The Gift of Life” was established in 2009 by Rabbi Yeshayahou Haver who himself was the recipient of a kidney donated by a friend. He was prompted from witnessing tragic situations - such as the death from kidney failure of a young 15 year old boy, whose older soldier brother was killed by terrorists. They w...

    The United Nations quickly passed a resolution calling for a cease-fire, and in a rare instance of Cold War alignment, both the United States and the Soviet Union pressured Great Britain, France and Israel to withdraw.  The  Soviet Union, which had supplied arms and money to Egypt, made ambiguous—and ominous—threats about using nuclear weapons to aid its ally, while the United States wielded its economic power. The  Defense Minister, Golda Meir made an impassioned speech: “They want us to tremble at the Russian threat, obey the UN, and withdraw from Sinai forthwith. Not a chance. We Zionists have built up and fought for and won this land, and that’s why Israel exists! When a great power befriends us, it’s to serve its own interest in the region, nothing more. For the British we were a buffer against the French, until the Arabs made it too hot for them to stay here. As for the Americans, they have been embargoing arms to us while Russia armed Egypt. If...

  A DIFFERENT WAR – I   The Israeli paratrooper battalion was duly dropped at the Mitla Pass , in the Sinai Peninsular of Egypt, as the detonator for an international bombshell - the French and British landings in Suez. That was its sole mission. As for the Israeli objective, Moshe Dayan , the IDF Chief of Staff, knew that the only way to get the Tiran Straits reopened and free passage guaranteed by the Americans was, if we are holding Sharm el Sheikh .   So, the children of Israel went marching once more into the Sinai desert as in Bible times - only this time going the other way! The route to reach Sharm was “man-killing” territory, murder on machines, and seventy miles of it uphill. They knew they had only three days in order to stall the UN from forcing them to withdraw.   When the brigade had at last struggled over the top of the seventy-mile rise, it was strung far out of sight along the slope, and desperately needed a respite.   The politica...

  A DIFFERENT WAR The idea for “Grandma’s Army” began when I had seven grandchildren in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) at the same time.   However, my family’s participation in the IDF started off   much earlier - when Israel barely had an army and I was decidedly not a grandma!   The war, in which my husband   took part, is   usually known as the Suez Crisis. It took place only eight years after the Israeli Declaration of Independence, and had far-reaching consequences - at both global and regional levels.  On regional levels, the war gave an impetus to the spread of pan-Arabic ideology, leading to the unification of Syria and Egypt and creating the UAR (United Arab Republic). On global levels it marked, not only the end of the British and French influence in the Middle East, but also the decline of the two European powers. It’s outcome was arguably one of the most significant episodes in post-1945 British history, highlighting Br...

  This past Monday, Jews celebrated the most solemn holy day in their calendar, Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). On the Sabbath day of October 6 th , 1973, as all of Israel came to a standstill to observe the High Holiday of Yom Kippur , Egyptian and Syrian forces launched a surprise attack against Israel, knowing she would be caught off-guard. In the first few critical days, the Egyptians had crossed the Suez Canal and were pushing Israeli forces back into the desert. In the Golan Heights, the Syrians had broken through the undermanned Israeli line and were advancing toward the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). Since the bulk of the Israel army is made up of 80% reservists, it took two days for them to mobilize and deploy. It was only the vastly outnumbered soldiers in the front and Israeli pilots that held the line and stalled the attackers. It was their heroism and sacrifice that “compensated” for the serious lack of sufficient equipment and supplies, and saved the country from ...