Pass-along --- commented upon --- yes, but...

I am proud (Origin Unknown)

WHY I'M PROUD TO BE A JEW

With war raging in the Middle East, with global terror reaching new heights, with global anti-Semitism on the rise, I thought it might be a good time to reflect on why I'm proud, more than ever, to be a Jew.

I'm proud to be a Jew because Jews don't kidnap.

I'm proud to be a Jew because Jewish education does not consist of teaching martyrdom and hatred.

I'm proud to be a Jew because my religious leaders and religious services don't whip me into a frenzy to kill others.

I'm proud to be a Jew because in the middle of a war, Jews still demonstrate and protest to protect the rights of the Arab-Israeli minority to voice their opposition to the war.

I'm proud to be a Jew because even when Israel is wrongly and falsely accused of killing innocent civilians, Jewish leaders apologize immediately for any loss of life instead of celebrating these deaths by passing out candy and shooting celebratory gunshots into the air.

When the world accuses Israel of massacre in Jenin; when the world accuses Israel of bombing civilians on a Gaza beach; when the world accuses Israel of shooting a child cowering against a wall; when the world accuses Israel of bombing a
Lebanese apartment building killing 56 civilians; when all of these accusations turn out to be totally false, to be vicious anti-Semitic lies and when all along I. knew in my heart that these stories just could not be true, and I'm later proven to be right, then I'm proud to be a Jew.

I'm proud to be a Jew because the Israeli Army is so good, that when it takes more than four weeks to wipe out a sophisticated enemy who has prepared six years for this war, the world criticizes the IDF for not getting the job done quickly.

I'm proud to be a Jew when my army, the Israeli army, drops leaflets and makes calls to Lebanese citizens on their cell phones to warn them to evacuate before bombing begins.

I'm proud to be a Jew when the democracies of the world talk about fighting the war on terror, but only Israel is left alone to bear the burden of eradicating Hezbollah, the proxy army of Iran and Syria.

I'm proud to be a Jew when entire Israeli towns in the north; Nahariya, Kiryat Shimona, Safed, are reduced to ghost towns due to the constant shelling, and yet not one looter has appeared to empty out the property of others.

When Israel must defend its very right to exist, when it must fight a well armed enemy representing the Islamic fascists, as President Bush has called them, when Israel must conduct this war on terror with its hands tied behind its back so
as not to take an innocent life lest the media have something true to report, that it must fight this war of survival under the cloud of "disproportionality", as if thousands of Katusha rockets falling on its citizenry is somehow "proportionate"; when Israel simultaneously pushes back these threats both in the North and in the South under the added pressure of a biased media, then I'm proud to be a Jew.

(...) I'm proud to be a Jew because Mel Gibson is not a Jew.

I'm proud to be a Jew when the UN's Human Rights Commission consists of (terrorist)countries like Syria, Libya and Iran and Israel is not asked to join.

(...) I'm proud to be a Jew when a Russian/Israeli businessman single-handedly creates not one but two tent cities on the beach to house Israelis fleeing the North and provides shelter, bedding, food and drink, showers and bathrooms all done without red tape in a matter of 24 hours to house over 6,000 Israelis, one of whom described it as a "poor man's Club Med."

I am proud to be a Jew when Israelis on the left and on the right support the government's decision to fight when 97% of the country is united in its own defense when Israelis from Jerusalem give shelter to families from Haifa when food from the Negev is donated to feed soldiers at the front when the IDF deploys soldiers on special assignments to deliver diapers to shelters and to entertain and calm the frightened children.

I'm proud to be a Jew when the three weeks preceding Tisha B'Av reminds us of the terrible things we have endured as a people and as a nation and yet immediately thereafter, Hashem offers us consolation, redemption and hope plus the
promise that we shall defeat our enemies, that we shall endure, that Am Yisrael Chai.(i.e. "The nation of Israel will survive.")

And I am proud to be a Jew because when we proclaim that God is on our side, we have the book to prove it.

***

Ben's response:

I am proud to be a Jew, too.

Mel Gibson was roaring drunk and his father had been a vicious ant-Semite. I think, of his case, we should off --- get. Get over it, as ex-DC Mayor Marion Barry (D./DC) once said.

But the Jews, like most every people/religion/folk/ethnicty have blood on their hands. Less than most, but there.

My then-wife and I were called to Bimah seven days after the birth of my youngest child, a daughter.

The drill includes reading parts from the Torah --- one portion each week for 52 weeks.

Ours concerned the Hebrews sweeping down, like wolves on the fold, upon the Amelikites, whomever. The narrative tells us that that the Hebrews slew the men and babies, razed the fields, and took the women into "bondage."

It drove King Saul envy-green nutso when the people chanted "King Saul killed enemies by the thousands, David, by the tens of thousands."

(BTW: If you think David, later to be King David of Israel --- Dovid, Melech Yisroel --- was a poor simple shepherd boy, there is a bridge in NYNY I would like to sell you...)

Psalm 23, "Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the shadow of death..." is one of the greatest pieces of lyric poetry, ever. At least in the King James version.

Also: The Israeli bureauocracy is well-known as a super-bureaucracy full of "schvitzers."

The proper sentiment is not for God to be on your side but for you to be on God's side.

The Israeli army has committed some atrocities. The sight of your buddies, or budettes, mowed down by crazed jihadists can drive a man/woman crazy.

Ben