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Menachim Begin: His Legacy, A Century After His Birth: Daniel Gordis, Jerusalem Post, August 15, 2013— Menachem Begin, Israel’s sixth prime minister, was born 100 years ago today. A century after his birth, and more than two decades after his death, it behooves us all, regardless of our political stripes, to take a moment and reflect on the profundity of his contribution to the Jewish people. “Jewish Home” Knesset Chair to Kerry: You Are a Hypocrite, Ayelet Shaked, Jewish Press, Aug 15, 2013— Mr. Secretary of State – by forcing Israel to capitulate to terrorism by releasing murdering terrorists with so much blood on their hands that the United States would never dream of releasing them if it was their own citizens whom they murdered – you are not only being extremely hypocritical, but are actually dabbling in experimentation and gambling, by putting me and my children's lives at risk. Rabbi Cahana Talks About Life After Devastating Stroke: Janice Arnold, Canadian Jewish News, Aug 13, 2013— Rabbi Ronnie Cahana tells a visitor to “watch this.” He says a quick prayer, tenses his lanky frame and shoots his feet out. A triumphant smile crosses his face. With good reason: two years ago, he was “locked in,” felled by a devastating stroke at age 57 that left him unable to move any part of his body, except his eyelids. He remained in that state for a month and a half. Doctors did not hold out much hope.
Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox Soldiers Under Fire: Joshua Mitnick, Wall Street Journal, Aug 9, 2013
‘Most Wanted Nazi’ War Criminal Dies While Awaiting Trial: Ofer Aderet, Haaretz, June 16, 2013
A Too Humble America: John O’Sullivan, Globe and Mail, Aug 19, 2013
MENACHEM BEGIN: HIS LEGACY, A CENTURY AFTER HIS BIRTH
Daniel Gordis
Jerusalem Post, Aug 15, 2013
Menachem Begin, Israel’s sixth prime minister, was born 100 years ago today. A century after his birth, and more than two decades after his death, it behooves us all, regardless of our political stripes, to take a moment and reflect on the profundity of his contribution to the Jewish people.
That claim will undoubtedly strike many as strange, since more than half a century after he helped rid Palestine of the British, Begin is still disparaged by many of the very same Jews who see in the American revolution a cause for genuine pride. Begin himself seemed to sense the irony, so he spoke time and again about the American revolution. In an article commemorating the 35th anniversary of Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s death, he combined two passages from Thomas Jefferson’s letters to fellow statesmen – one to James Madison and another to William Stephens Smith. “I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical,” Begin quoted Jefferson, adding the American revolutionary’s sobering observation that “the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
It was natural that Begin thought about the Zionist revolution in light of what American revolutionary patriots had wrought 175 years earlier. After all, the American and Zionist revolutions shared much in common. Both were fueled by a people’s desire for freedom after long periods of oppression, in which religion had played a central role in their persecution. Both were designed to force the British to leave the territory in question so that they (the American colonialists and the Zionists) could establish their own, sovereign countries – in Israel’s case on the very ground where a sovereign Jewish nation had stood centuries before. Both produced admirable democracies. And both were violent revolutions.
Given those similarities, it is worth asking why many Jewish Americans bow their heads in respect to Nathan Hale, but wince in shame at the mention of the Hebrew freedom fighters who sought precisely what it was that Hale died for. Why is George Washington, who conducted a violent, fierce and bloody campaign against the British, a hero, while for many, Begin remains a villain or, at the very least, a Jewish leader with a compromised background? Some of the difference has to do with time. We have photographs of the two British sergeants Begin ordered hanged in response to the British hanging of his men, and of the shattered King David Hotel, which he ordered bombed. We know the names of the sergeants and of the victims in the hotel attack, but not of the British young men who died at the hands of America’s revolutionaries.
The passage of time and the absence of details have allowed the heroic story of America’s freedom fighters to endure, while the pain and suffering of those whom they fought has gradually faded into oblivion. The leaders and fighters of the Zionist revolution have been afforded no such luxury. The fighters of the Zionist revolution have also had the misfortune of another inequality. Native Americans are not the object of the world’s sympathies. Early Americans killed or moved entire tribes, yet the American revolution is now seldom assailed for its treatment of Native Americans as vehemently as is the Israeli revolution for its conflict with Arabs. The Palestinians have been infinitely more successful in their quest for international support, and the reputation of Israel’s revolutionaries – despite their similarity to those in America two centuries earlier – has borne the brunt of the international community’s displeasure.
And Begin’s reputation was also scarred by David Ben-Gurion’s refusal to acknowledge his own participation in some of the events for which Begin is vilified. Ben-Gurion consistently denied having had anything to do with operations that did not go as planned, while Begin stood ready to take responsibility. The Hagana’s David Shaltiel had approved the now infamous Deir Yassin operation, but when it went tragically and horribly awry and many innocent people died, Ben-Gurion painted Begin as a violent thug, pretending that his organization had had nothing to do with it. The Hagana was also intimately involved in the approval and planning of the King David bombing (for Ben-Gurion had come to see that Begin was right, that the British needed to be dislodged), but when civilians were killed because the British refused to heed the Irgun’s warnings to leave the building, Ben-Gurion assailed Begin, pretending that he and his men had known nothing of the plan.
Ben-Gurion was one of the greatest Jewish leaders ever to have lived, and the Jewish state might well not have come to be were it not for him. But his greatness notwithstanding, he was unfair to Begin – consistently and mercilessly.
Yet Ben-Gurion was not alone. Begin is, in many ways, still the victim of campaigns waged against him by Diaspora Jews. On the eve of Begin’s planned 1948 trip to the United States, when Albert Einstein and political theorist Hannah Arendt joined some two dozen other prominent American Jews in writing to The New York Times to protest his visit, they could probably not have imagined the long-term damage they would do not only to Begin’s reputation, but to the causes for which he stood. “Within the Jewish community,” Einstein and Arendt wrote, the Irgun has “preached an admixture of ultra-nationalism, religious mysticism, and racial superiority.” American Jews believed them. But that characterization of Begin was utterly false.
Unless believing in God makes one a religious mystic, Begin was far from any such thing. The Begin whom they accused of “racial superiority” was the same Begin who argued for the end of military rule over Israel’s Arabs, whose first act as prime minister was to welcome the Vietnamese boat people as Israeli citizens, who initiated the project of bringing Ethiopian Jews to Israel, and who gave up Sinai to make peace with Egypt.
That Einstein and Arendt, both immigrants to America who had found in the US freedom that they would never have been afforded in their native Germany, could not – or would not – see the similarities between the American and Zionist revolutions is astounding. They saw the American colonists as harbingers of freedom who created the world’s greatest democracy, a land of unlimited opportunity for those who came to its shores, but Begin and the Irgun as “terrorists” worthy only of shame and denigration.
Why? Part of the problem was that Begin’s Jewish worldview was, in many ways, infinitely more sophisticated than that of his detractors. He understood that life is a messy enterprise, and that great things cannot be accomplished in the pristine conditions of the laboratory.
Were he alive today, he would be perplexed by those American Jews who are despondent about the conditions of Arabs living under Israeli rule, but who rarely so much as mention the horrific conditions of Native Americans – whom those very same heroic American colonists cheated, deported and murdered.
He would in no way have condoned the treatment of Native Americans, of course; he was far too great a humanist for that. Indeed, he might well have identified with them, considering himself indigenous to Israel. What would have saddened him beyond measure was the Jewish people’s ability to be so intolerant of the messiness of life in its own unfolding history, yet so understanding of that messiness in the actions of others.
Begin was nuanced in other ways that make his worldview difficult for many to appreciate. His was a Judaism in which one could harbor both deeply humanist convictions and a passionate allegiance to one’s own people. A particularism that comes at the expense of broader humanism is inevitably narrow, and will likely become ugly, he would have said. But a commitment to humanity at large that does not put one’s own people first and center, Begin believed and made clear time and again, is a human life devoid of identity. He understood that to love all of humanity equally is to love no one intensively. Such unabashed yet nuanced particularism, even tribalism, was and remains difficult for many contemporary Jews, who see in Western universalist culture an ethos utterly at odds with the peoplehood that has always fueled passionate Jewish life….
Ed.: For complete article, please see link at the beginning of article.
JEWISH HOME KNESSET CHAIR TO KERRY: YOU ARE A HYPOCRITE
Ayelet Shaked
Jewish Press, August 15, 2013
To: United States Secretary of State John Kerry
Dear Sir,
In light of the current situation that you have brought about, I feel that I simply cannot be bound by the restraints of "politically correct" wording, and I therefore will allow myself to convey my following message to you in the most straightforward fashion:
Mr. Secretary of State – by forcing Israel to capitulate to terrorism by releasing murdering terrorists with so much blood on their hands that the United States would never dream of releasing them if it was their own citizens whom they murdered – you are not only being extremely hypocritical, but are actually dabbling in experimentation and gambling, by putting me and my children's lives at risk.
Your forcing us to release these terrorists with actual blood on their hands is made all the more absurd, cynical and vicious by the fact that your country refuses until this day to release Jonathan Pollard from jail, despite the unprecedented term he has served thus far.
Mr. Secretary: the price of releasing over a hundred convicted murders will be borne by my family & my people, not by you.
How will you carry the burden of the terrible price towards which you are leading us?
You have forced us into peace talks during a period of time that the entire Middle-East is in chaos, without realizing that by doing so, you have foolishly put us in an impossible situation, in which we cannot and will not make any concessions. By your own hand you have raised expectations to a dangerous level – one that might cause the whole region to spin out of control once those expectations are proven unrealistic, like so many times before.
The past four years in Israel have been as quiet and peaceful as ever. Therefore, I suggest to you that you perform your job in a much more effective and relevant fashion by focusing your attention on Syria and Egypt, where people are actually getting slaughtered.
Sincerely,
Ayelet Shaked, Member of Knesset
Chair, HaBayit HaYehudi Knesset Faction
RABBI CAHANA TALKS ABOUT LIFE AFTER DEVASTATING STROKE
Janice Arnold
Canadian Jewish News, Aug 13, 2013
MONTREAL — Rabbi Ronnie Cahana tells a visitor to “watch this.” He says a quick prayer, tenses his lanky frame and shoots his feet out. A triumphant smile crosses his face. With good reason: two years ago, he was “locked in,” felled by a devastating stroke at age 57 that left him unable to move any part of his body, except his eyelids. He remained in that state for a month and a half. Doctors did not hold out much hope.
That was July 2011. Rabbi Cahana had been spiritual leader of Congregation Beth-El for 10 years. He and wife, Karen, had five children, aged 13 to 23. “My doctor said to me, ‘You have lived a good life, you have a lovely reputation, you can say thank you for the beautiful life you have lived,’” Rabbi Cahana recalled in an interview at Maimonides Geriatric Centre, where he has lived since November. “She said, ‘You might get movement in some parts of your body, but we don’t think so. We think your body is completely severed from your mind.’ “Or, you might have a miracle and be restored.”
Rabbi Cahana believes that miracle has occurred – or at least, is underway, and he attributes the painfully slow but remarkable progress he has made to God. “What has happened to me has only strengthened my faith,” he said. “Every fraction of an inch of growth is a gift from God.”
Rabbi Cahana was initially treated at St. Mary’s Hospital, then at the Montreal Neurological Institute, before spending months in a rehabilitation centre. He made his first visit back to Beth-El on Chanukah in December 2011, when he was still a quadriplegic and had almost no audible voice. He was able to visit his home for the first time during Sukkot last fall.
Today, Rabbi Cahana speaks well, if low and with effort. Daughter Briah helps interpret when a visitor has difficulty catching a word. He has full movement of his face and neck, and operates an electric chair by himself by pressing a pedal with his head. He can control the speed and direction, as well as the angle of the seat. He can shrug his shoulders as he proudly demonstrates, flex his fingers and move his right arm slowly – to the extent that, he said, he can feed himself. Recently, he started trying to move his chair with his a hand on a joystick.
The computer has been a godsend. Rabbi Cahana has one in his room that he uses with a mouth-held device he touches to an on-screen keyboard. His physiotherapy continues and he is confident that what he can recover is “limitless.”
He remains a rabbi at Beth-El, a Conservative synagogue in Town of Mount Royal. The Jewish Community Foundation of Montreal conducted a community-wide campaign to help make that possible. Rabbi Cahana attends every Shabbat service travelling by adapted transportation. When given an aliyah, he is now able to stand. He spoke at last year’s Kol Nidre service and has taught at an Oneg Shabbat.
In June, he recited the Birkat Hamazon at the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research’s gala dinner. Last month, he officiated at the wedding of non-members at Parc Jean Drapeau. Rabbi Allan Nadler, a native Montrealer, has been the congregation’s full-time spiritual leader since January, after filling in as interim rabbi from early 2012.
The cerebral tsunami that Rabbi Cahana survived has not changed his sweet, lyrical disposition. His spiritual, almost metaphysical, approach to life remains intact, if not enhanced. He speaks of thankfulness to the Almighty for “the gifts I have received because of the stroke. “He has given me the extraordinary gift of learning how to live in a new dimension. He has taught me to live in slow time. There’s no more frenetic pace, no more [urgency] to be somewhere else,” said Rabbi Cahana, who was known for his boundless energy.
He has found serenity, even joy, that astonishes him. Rabbi Cahana was never in a coma, nor did he lose consciousness when he was stricken. “There was, of course, extreme confusion. Everything was haywire, it was chaos. The body was terribly traumatized… it just wanted to cower inward.” The first calming presence he remembers, the one that cleared his mind, is of his eldest daughter, Kitra, reciting “the beautiful” Psalm 150, which concludes, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” His immediate worry was for his family, including his mother, the artist Alice Lok Cahana, living in the United States.
Rather than terror, Rabbi Cahana said his reaction was incredulity at being paralyzed. “I just couldn’t believe it,” he said. In his mind, his physical self felt normal. Even today, he has the sensation that his limbs contain their former energy, perhaps in the way an amputee experience pain in a leg that is gone. “I’m dancing, twirling, tumbling inside,” he explained. “I could be in the Cirque du Soleil.
When doctors first gave him the grim prognosis, Rabbi Cahana said that he “felt like I was in a fog with my feet dangling… bubbles were rising around me.” Then he felt a tugging at his trouser leg, and he is certain it was his father, Rabbi Moshe Cahana, who had died seven years earlier. “I’m convinced it was real. He said to me, ‘I promise you 100 per cent [recovery]…“I screamed out, ‘Choose life,’ again and again,” he recalled. “I was afraid [the doctor] would think I was saying, ‘Lose life.’” Of course, no one heard him.
With Kitra, he learned to communicate by blinking. She would go through the alphabet and when she came to the desired letter in the word he wanted, he blinked. In this laborious way, he wrote a letter to his mother, to allay her fears. It took 14 hours. Nevertheless, he soon began composing sermons for Beth-El in the same manner. The first movement he regained was in his lips, and gradually he could mouth words.
Rabbi Cahana is determined to continue to regain his abilities. “I have so much more to do in life,” he said. He wants to keep getting better out of gratitude for the love that has been shown to him by so many and for the excellent care he has received.
On Topic
Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox Soldiers Under Fire: Joshua Mitnick, Wall Street Journal, Aug 9, 2013— An off-duty Israeli soldier was walking to visit relatives in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim in Jerusalem last month, when suddenly he came under attack. Dozens of local men, incensed over the sight of a strictly religious Jew in uniform, started cursing at the soldier and shoving and beating him. The police had to send special units and anti-riot officers to the scene to rescue the soldier amid a hail of stones and rubbish. The soldier was unharmed, but six men were arrested.
‘Most Wanted Nazi’ War Criminal Dies While Awaiting Trial: Ofer Aderet, Haaretz, Aug 12, 2013— Laszlo Csatary, the world’s most wanted Nazi war criminal, died Sunday night in a hospital in Hungary, where he was awaiting trial for war crimes, Hungarian news sources reported Monday.
A Too Humble America: John O’Sullivan, Globe and Mail, Aug 19, 2013— In retrospect, we can see that the post-Cold War world ended in 2008, as a result of two events: Russia’s unpunished invasion of Georgia and the financial crisis triggered by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, Wall Street’s fourth-largest investment bank.
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