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Thank you everyone for coming to my home and for attending another great Brooklyn Afsi Meeting! It was an honor to host you. May we go from Chayil to Chayil. The personal connections made are so important for our work.... There were some new faces from the last meeting and those who were unable to attend are waiting with abated breath to hear what transpired! Thank you Rubin Margolis President of ZOA Brooklyn Chapter for a wonderful and lively discussion re: Israeli politics and the upcoming Israeli elections and a report on ZOAs involvement on Capitol Hill in spreading positive messages re: Israel and their advocacy to protect College Campus from BDS and anti Israel condemnation and bias.
Given the ideological leanings of those attending, there was a lively discussion as per whether the Torah and our entitlement based on the Torah and our rights to Har Habayit should be more of an emphasis in pro Israel Advocacy. This was going on during Rubins informal presentation. There was a consensus in those that attended this meeting that our entitlement based on Torah is indeed truth. The debate was whether it is counterproductive to emphasize these religious points. The reality is that it often triggers very angry condemnation from the listener as Brian Magden attested from his personal experience and can be counterproductive.
On the other side of the coin, The Bible is a strong bond with our non Jewish Bible Believers on Capitol Hill.
Shmuel Koenig was persistent in insisting that speaking Truth is paramount even when we deal with those in cognitive denial regarding Truth.
It was pointed out that Religion has been hijacked so that talk of G-d and Israel's rights to the Land of Israel based on the Bible is then perceived and interpreted as radical, Messianic and hateful rhetoric against the Palestinians and Israel is then accused of being Jihadic and/or Nazis like and those who dare suggest Divine entitlement are then marginalized.
In face of this hysterical condemnation and to avoid confrontation and conflict we have been conditioned not to bring up religion but rather shelve that focus and rather emphasize our legal, historical, security, democratic pro western Judeo Christian values in our advocacy.
There is downside in this approach since it leaves a void which is then filled by the Palestinians who will then assert their entitlement to Temple Mount, Judea and Samaria and call us "Occupiers". This false narrative is then repeated and promoted as a given by the President of the USA, the media and anyone who does not want Israel on the Map.
Rubin pointed out that the Government of Israel is walking a tightrope where it fears sanctions against Israel in the Security Council if it is too vocal about our Religious claims to the Land of Israel.
Rubin Margolis, Rabbi Avi Schwartz and (Raanan Isseroff who did not actually attend but did send important links), all mentioned that the gov't of Israel themselves are responsible for promoting the 2 State Solution etc and that makes it very hard for others to then come along and present a position that calls for a strong United Israel which encompasses all of Judea and Samaria and Temple Mount. Just read the Lubavitcher Rebbe's Letters on the Land of Israel https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B86sGl9yfinjTU9HSEwwZWN0S0Y4cm8tUmQxUVRZQmJLN2hV/view?usp=sharing
Who Began The Land Give Away Process?
"...all of the pressure, concessions and so on, are founded in, and
encouraged by certain well-known, (Jewish) influential groups within Israel
itself, whose influence on international relations is, at times, absolute.
Moreover, they actually invite pressure, either directly or indirectly. An
undeniable proof to this -- one that I have already pointed out many times and
that has even been publicized in the papers -- is the fact that immediately
after the Six-Day War they sent an official, though inconspicuous delegation, made-up of
government representatives (-- ministers) to Washington with an offer to give back all of the
territories that the Jews recaptured, in exchange for so-called "peace".
(From a letter of the Rebbe, Likkutei Sichos p. 561)
Going back to current events.
Do we act on Faith alone and brace ourselves against a almost certain onslaught of condemnation or shall we remain silent and then face a powerful enemy who ideologically wins. Members of the group at this meeting were divided on the right approach.
If we acknowledge to ourselves that only G-d can save Israel from a nuclear Iran and her proxies and only G-d can save us from the encroachment of ISIS and Radical Muslim Brotherhood and we can not rely on promises from the West, especially the Obama Administration, shouldn't we (this includes all major Jewish organizations especially religious ones) testify and acknowledge publicly that G-d has decreed that the Land of Israel go to the People of Israel and not the Palestinians? You can tell where I stand on the divide.....I feel that while initially the backlash is severe, it will dissipate in the light of truth...and G-d will reveal His Miracles as he did in Egypt after our leader Moshe Rabbeinu and his brother Aharon told Pharaoh Let My People Go! and then Pharaoh just made their lives more miserable....Moshe then complains to G-d "Why did you make it harder on the people ". G-d replies to sit back and watch how things unfold and the world was about to see wonders and miracles as they had never seen before. ...
This discussion also sidetracked to another discussion where it was suggested that we use the term Noahides and the 7 Noahide Laws in referring to non Jews rather than referring to Christians, Hindus etc....This suggestion was met with much resistance in this meeting since the term Noahide is a novel and revolutionary term not generally used to Label NonJews. Wheover heard of Noahides of Today? Who are They? some of the attendees asked in disbelief that this suggestion even arose????? Evelyn Haies suggested we emphasize Noahide Law which in essence is Universal Law.
Here is my thoughts on this: The Noahide 7 Laws are the Universal Morality for the World ever since time immemorial.
The Torah Position - Believers of the Bible! Noahides, Jews and non Jews, acknowledge and proclaim there is a G-d in the world who is KING. We are all descendants of Noah and are obligated to keep the 7 Noahide Laws. A basic belief of morality and ethics. http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/media_cdo/aid/466119/jewish/The-Seven-Noahide-Laws.htm (Listen to Jewish audio
BY NISSAN DOVID DUBOV Chabad of South London, UK) and click on link to "Universal Morality Seven Noahide Laws".
Code of Non Jewish Law a fascinating subject and it is time we bring it in the dialogue so that people will start feeling comfortable with the terminology calling themselves a Noahide or calling others a Noahide. The term Noahide is all inclusive of those who believe in One G-d and accept the 7 Noahide Universal Laws...
Rabbi Avi Schwarts then spoke to us about Shomrei Haam, an offshoot of the Palmach. The Palmach fought the British in 1948. Rabbi Schwartz was a perfect example of how to win over his audience by engaging and connecting with them initially and steering away from conflict and slowly building a relationship so that he slowly incorporates important pro Israel advocacy into the dialogue. We hope that he will succeed to attract a large following among Jewish teens of today who are connected to social media and their phones but not so much to their Jewish heritage. It is their generation which is now facing the evils of Iran and Isis and it is imperative that they understand what they and the world is up against and to be proud Jews. Rabbi Schwartz and Shomrei Haam does that in addition to teaching them how to fight. Rabbi Schwartz remarked that basically Jewish teens, ages 20 and under built up the State of Israel in its infancy....
Thank you to everyone who helped contribute to the refreshments etc....Looking forward to our next meeting. For all of you that couldn't make it, there is always the next time :). We missed you. Please send me ideas and suggestions. We don't have to wait for a meeting to be an activist. Let us be activists each and every day and use the meetings to share what we have accomplished and to network. If you want to post something on the AFSI Brooklyn Blog please let me know and we can discuss how we can best use the blog to interact and publicize what we have been doing collectively.