Grandma's army

When opening my cell phone today I was appalled to see that I had over 500 messages on my what’s app! It appears that my 10 year old great grandson had mistakenly attached me to his group of friends. After getting over the shock, I realized that I was three generations removed from our youngster and must accept today’s methods of communication. Not that I approve. Not so long ago, if you wanted to talk with family or friends, you had to use your land line phone. If not at home, there were those iconic phone booths. The phone cord forced us to stay focused, without the flexibility to multitask. The conversation, the person we were speaking to, was what mattered. Not so long ago, we also used to write letters. Real ones, with a pen and paper. You needed envelopes and stamps and postal workers to deliver them. We used to check our mail boxes every day. I distantly remember the pleasure to be had when receiving a handwritten letter. To sit down, open and read it. Focus, smile and rea...

  “The only reason Israel goes to war is to defend itself. And it has to defend itself because it is surrounded by countries, and armed groups, that want to destroy it”. The above was stated by Colonel Richard Kemp, a retired British army officer, who has more experience in war and terrorism than almost anybody. He was Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan, and has fought in combat zones around the world, including Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Macedonia and Iraq. He was also present throughout the conflict in Gaza in 2014. Among other awards, he was made the Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2006 He stated that, nowhere was the essential morality and decency of the IDF more evident than in the Gaza War. In the first six months of 2014, Hamas (designated as a terror organization by the US State Department) launched hundreds of rockets at Israeli civilians. If ever there was a purely defensive war, that was it. After repeated warnings from Israel to stop, the Is...

Although my grandchildren served in different sectors of the army, there was one significant feature of their training which was common to them all. It has been designated with the title “tohar haneshek” Literally translated, it means “Purity of Arms” and is a unique Israeli term. The term was coined by Berl Katznelson, who was one of the intellectual founders of Labor Zionism. It was unanimously   adopted by all leaders of the yishuv (Mandatory Palestine),   irrespective of their political and social orientation. They proclaimed: “we have to learn about weapons, and to carry them, but we do not want those weapons to be stained   with innocent blood.” This has become a guiding motto ever since. The application of “Purity of Arms " appeared for the first time in 1939 upon the growing Arab terror attacks on the Jewish “yishuv” (mandated Palestine).   The main Zionist paramilitary organization at the time was simply called   the “Haganah” (the Defence)...

ARMY NEWS Five of my grandchildren are still serving in the Israeli Defense Forces. Memi, who is a commander in a prestigious commando unit of the IDF, has decided to extend his army service. He  is at present participating in a three month’s course. This includes soldiers from all sections of the army. They will be serving as future commanders  of platoons in their particular field. Some time during the course they will be flown to Poland for a week’s tour,  where they will be learning about the Holocaust. This is part of a project called “Witnesses in Uniform”. One of his trainees is his cousin Ohad, who was the first of my triplet grandsons to join the IDF. He was recruited over two years ago, and has already carried out various undisclosed missions His brother Amitai, serving in an armoured battalion, is now a platoon commander. He has recently been promoted to the rank of lieutenant. Aviad is the last one of the triplets to join the IDF and is serving in th...

Since its inception, Israel has not been allowed to take its existence for granted, like every other nation on earth. Although Israel is just a “dot” on the map, there are more international journalists in Israel per capita than in any other place in the world. The eyes of the world quite literally watch and judge whatever takes place there. Even after decades of independence, the existence of the State of Israel is still not recognized by some states and international bodies, while others are even pledged to bring about its destruction. In addition, criteria of judgement which differ from those applied to any other nation, are applied to Israel. Having achieved independence, Israel still found itself in an ongoing battle  for recognition and for its right to life. Under constant threat of violence or war, Israel’s achievements have, nonetheless, been remarkable: It has taken a neglected, desolate landscape and turned it into a place of farms, forests, nature reserves, an...

The Jewish connection with Israel did not begin with Zionism, a word coined in the 1890’s. It goes back four thousand years. Judaism – twice as old as Chrisianity, three times as old as Islam – was the call to Abraham’s descendants to create a society of freedom, justice and compassion. A society involves a land, a home, somewhere where the “children of Israel” form the majority and can create a culture, an economy, and a political system in accordance with their values. That land was, and is, Israel. Jews never left Israel voluntarily. They never relinquished their rights. They returned whenever they could: in the days of Moses, then again after the Babylonian exile, then again in generation after generation. There was a large community there in the sixteenth century. There are places, especially in the Galilee, where they never left at all. The Balfour Declaration in 1917, ratified in 1922 by the League of Nations, endorsed the Jews right to their land -  hopefully ending the...

WHY ISRAEL MATTERS – II Almost a century before Israel existed and was controlled by the Sultan of Turkey, Mark Twain commented on the possibilities of a Jewish state being formed in its ancient homeland: “I am not the Sultan, and I am not objecting. But if that concentration of the cunningest brains in the world is going to be made into a free country, I think it would be politic to stop it. It will not be well to let that race find out its strength. If the horses knew theirs, we should not ride anymore.” The Jews, who finally returned to their only homeland were, indeed, far better equipped to transform their spiritual vision into a practical reality - capable of benefiting the entire world. In the world of technology and innovation, Israel’s contribution to the world is dramatic. The country has more hi-tech start-ups per capita than anywhere else in the world and is second only to the US in venture capital funds. This is an impressive feat for any state, but more so for one t...