Jews Are Still Not Getting The Message

8 of the Tenth Month 5771

IsraelNN.com: The Secret Circumcision in Turkey

Tzvi Ben Gedalyah, 7 Teveth 5771 / December 14, 2010u

Antalya Turkey was home to about 50 Jews – until last week when a father overcame his fears of Antisemitism and allowed a secret circumcision on Chanukah of his 30-day-old baby boy, the city's newest Jew.

Antalya is a Mediterranean coastal city of approximately one million people, mostly Muslims, and located near Syria. The father, whose identity cannot be revealed, is a “secret” Jew but was afraid his neighbors would discover his religion if he allowed his new-born baby boy to be circumcised, one of the most ancient and sacred Jewish rites. (Read more...)

This story is bittersweet.

First off, Mazal Tov to the family of this baby, Jewish boy.

Second, Kol HaKavod to the father for risking his and his family's safety to perform this very important misswah (commandment).

We learn that B'rith Milah (entrance into the Covenant with circumcision) is such an important misswah, that besides the bringing of the Qorban Pesah (Passover lamb or goat kid), it is the only positive commandment which requires kareth (being cut off from Am Yisra'el) as a punishment for not fulfilling it.

Unfortunately, this man, along with his Jewish neighbors, do not have much of a Jewish life; they do not have much of a life.

Thirteen years ago, many of the young Turkish Jews I met in Israel ended up back in Istanbul. Life in Istanbul, with all of its creature comforts and business opportunities were much too attractive to them. American Jews often fall into the same trap, and thus, can relate.

However, the situation in Antalya is much different, much more frightening, that Istanbul of 13 years ago. Nonetheless, these Jews are not imprisoned by a Soviet government, nor are they that far away from Israel.

So, why don't they just pack up and come? Do they not have the financial resources to do so?

What is the local Chabba"d rabbi doing about this? Is he encouraging them to make aliyah?

Where is the Jewish Agency in all this?

Too many details seem to be missing here.

Let us pray that these Jews, as well as Jews all over the world, will be able to find their ways here, no matter what the obstacles, be they internal or external.

In the meantime, I would to issue a challenge to the Jewish Agency, to Nefesh b'Nefesh, and other similar, Jewish organizations to investigate the situation of these Jews in Antalya, and to see what can be done about expediting their aliyah process.

Banned From Britain!

17 of the Second Month 5769

My neighbor Jewish rights activist Yekutiel, recently made the news, having been "banned" from entering the United Kingdom. Some of Yekutiel's responses are interspersed below in blue.*

Jewish Telegraph: Zionist Chief Backs Ban On "Violent" Guzofsky

The leader of Britain's major Zionist organisations has supported the Home Office decision to ban a Jewish activist from entering Britain.

Yekutiel Guzofsky, who lives on Kfar Tapuach on the West Bank, has been placed on a government no-entry list - which also includes a Palestinian child killer, an American neo-Nazi and a former Ku Klux Klan leader.

Zionist Federation co-president Professor Eric Moonman told the Jewish Telegraph: "The man is a villain and a person we don't need in this country. It would be an enormous embarrassment to British Jewry if he was allowed into the country. Even if he now regretted what he said, that is irrelevant. People are judged on their past records."

A Home Office spokesman said Guzovsky was the leader of a violent group and actively involved with military training camps. She added: "He is considered to be engaging in unacceptable behaviour by seeking to foment, justify or glorify terrorist violence in furtherance of particular beliefs and to provoke others to terrorist acts. Guzofsky supported the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, of the Israeli prime minister: "One day, with God's help, he and his representatives will be tried for treason."

I support the assassination because I said Rabin should be put on trial??

He also backed Israeli Baruch Goldstein, who murdered 29 Muslims at a mosque in Hebron in 1994.

Gusofsky said: "Baruch Goldstein did what he did out of a love for the Jewish people. We don't condemn anybody who is targeting the enemies of the Jewish people."

I support Dr Goldstein because I would not condemn him, and these views merit equal footing with murderers and Nazis in their eyes...??

...Guzofsky was the leader of Kach in America - a group which is now outlawed in the US and in Israel. A far-right political party, Kach was founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane in the early 1970s and won seats in the Knesset in 1984.

...it is a poor state of affairs when I am labeled as the "number one Jewish terrorist"...G-d help us.

The real news here, though, is the disgusting support for the ban by Prof. Eric Moonman, co-president the "Zionist" Federation of Great Britain and Ireland. Moonman's response is reminiscent of the Judenrat collaborators of World War II. The reward you receive from the goyim, Mr. Moonman, will not be as great as the punishment you receive in HaOlam HaBa for your vile lashon hara against a Jew, who incurs continual hardship and harassment fighting to defend the rights of Jews in YOUR true homeland, Eretz Yisra'el.

Yekutiel puts his life on the line, fighting for freedom of speech, fair treatment within the Israeli Justice system, improved prison conditions, and for the right of the Jewish People to reside peacefully in the Jewish Homeland, free of Arab terrorism, all issues which, unless I am mistaken, you would support as well.

Six days a week, Yekutiel fights for the rights Jews, whether they live in the Shomron or Sderoth or Tel-Aviv. Then, every Shabbath, even though strapped for money, he finds a way to host an average of 20 Jews, religious and secular, Zionist and Hassidish, most all of whom are perfect strangers. He feeds them, gives them a matress, and teaches them about our historical connection to the Land surrounding us.

Save for the "Three Weeks" and "Omer" periods, Yekutiel also hosts a combined Jewish music concert/Melaveh Malkah every Saturday night, a popular meeting place for youth and adults alike, attracting many youth away from the various trappings of downtown Tel-Aviv and the like.

You, on the other hand, still live outside of the Land, you profess to support, yet you clearly have the means to live a comfortable life in Israel, setting the ultimate example for your fellow British Jews. You collaborate with the goyim against one of your own. And you call yourself a Zionist??!!

I am willing to assume that you have done helpful things for your community in the past. Unfortunately, you just managed to erase much of that with your current actions. You certainly no nothing of halachah (Jewish Law). That's for certain.

You are truly lost. May HaShem help you find your way back.

*********

*From the Kahane Forum.

See also "British anti-Semitism alive and well"