Yom Kippor

*’My oh my how did things get so crazy?
Did I get tired?
Or did I get lazy?’
Are more than lyrics.
Let’s see why………………….

I was born in the shadows of the walls of Auschwitz.
My Grandfather emigrated to the only country in Europe that managed to save its Jews, Britain.
As I grew up my Mother searched for the remains of his almost completely annihilated family.
From his despair my Zionism was engendered.

I know that this can happen again.
Only by Jews standing together can it be avoided.
The holocaust was not a crime against humanity.
It was crime committed by humanity against me and my people.
Wherever and whenever a nation, people or religion has had the opportunity and the means and opportunity to persecute Jews,it has done so. It will do so.

Israel was reshaped by the survivors. They built their dream by day.
They screamed their nightmares by night.
The lessons of the holocaust were to meld and form part of our national psyche.

A generation came and replaced these heroes who are all but gone from us. A generation that fought wars , lost its sons and fathers.
A generation that was once worthy to inherit the survivors.
A generation that blossomed.
But the blossom has faded.
The scent is of decay and decadence.
Ideals, that were meant to be, have all become mocking caricatures.
The survival of the reverent, revered and respected religious was won and lost
Where and why did they turn their back on their fellow non observant Jews?
The erudite, ethical and emancipated pursuers of Law and Justice won and lost.
Where, how and with who’s blessing did the judiciary hi-jack and impose their opinion?
The representatives of the citizens are neither represent nor are they civilised.
The Police are corrupt.
The Defense Force ejects Jews from their homes. Jews who are who are in their ranks.
Yet dare not touch the home of those who will kill us. Why?
Jewish parents now regularly murder their children.
How did this happen?
What has happened to us?

Protecting our fate from an imminent nuclear attack are an establishment that gave us:-
A serial rapist for a President.
A Minister of Treasury who stole from Holocaust survivors.
A Prime Minister who is a serial embezzler.
A Minister who marked his decision to send soldiers to war by sexually violating one of them.
A Commander In Chief who on the outbreak of war was deeply troubled by the future of his stock portfolio.
A Chief Of Police replaced because of criminality.
A future Prime Minister appointed by votes obtained in one Arab town and burnt in another.
A war that was fought with no plan.

Yet no one pays a price.
No one has to.
Incompetence is rewarded.
Deceit is the accepted norm.
Have we become Chelm?
Are we Alice living through the looking glass?
No we are not………………………

We are living in Israel.

In Israel to day there is no shame and no guilt.
There are certainly no mirrors.
No one sees themselves.
We see what is not their. Our vanity and inflated sense of self worth.

We do not see what is there.
We do not see ourselves.
We do not see our unmitigated blame.
We refuse to see where we are being led.

This is all our faults.
We are all guilty.
We are all sinners.

This Yom Kippur we cannnot say “I have sinned”
— we are continuing to sin=

We were all given our people and land to protect, preserve and pass on.
We are custodians. Nothing more. Nothing less.
We are failing.
There will be nothing left of either the land or the people.
Yet we are all letting this happen.

My prayer is not to ask forgiveness for what was.
Neither I nor you deserve forgiving.
We need to atone.
We must mend that that is broken.
We must start by becoming part of the blame.
We must start by being ready to be part of the solution.
The way is not complex.
The resolve is key.
If we accept our responsibility we can and will change all.
The time has come to do that.

As a non religious Jew my one prayer for Yom Kippor is that you accept this truth:-
You are at fault.
You are the answer.
Just ask, ” How?”