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CHAYEY SARAH 5784
Kristallnacht/Shloshim for the 1400
This past week was the Shloshim, 30 long days, since the Hamas massacre on Oct. 7th. Throughout the Jewish world, the mood was one of somber remembrance, acknowledging the end of the 30-day period of Jewish mourning. This past week was also the 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht. My dear friend and colleague Rabbi Bernhard Rosenberg, a child of Holocaust survivors, once asked regarding what happened on Kristallnacht, November 9, 1938: [Can you] imagine one morning you and your family are awakened by shouts and screams. Then suddenly, the police break into your house? They start breaking the china, destroying the furniture, and shattering windows while showing great satisfaction in their destruction. Then you and your family are told to get dressed and are taken to the police station for no apparent reason. On the way, you see your synagogue in flames, and your neighbors throwing rocks at it.
Kristallnacht was a carefully organized pogrom of terror that marked the beginning of the Holocaust. Kristallnacht, “The Night of Broken Glass,” was the Nazi term used to cover up that it was much more than broken glass that was destroyed. Jews were beaten and murdered; over 1,000 synagogues were destroyed; 7,500 Jewish shops and businesses were destroyed. Immediately afterwards 26,000 Jews were sent to concentration camps. And can you believe this? The Nazis then ordered the Jews to repair the damage made by the Nazi rioters.
Yes, Rabbi Rosenberg, tragically we now can imagine being awakened by terrorists’ shouts and screams. Yes, we can imagine terrorists breaking into our homes, shooting our elderly parents, raping our teenage daughters, and setting our homes on fire with family still in it—all with shouts of joy! On Kristallnacht hundreds died, but on October 7th, more than 1400 Israelis were slaughtered!
How did Kristallnacht happen in Germany, the heart of European culture and science? And how did October 7th happen in Israel with the most sophisticated and hi-tech intelligence services in the world?
In Germany, the Nazis used as a pretext the murder of a German embassy official, Ernst Von Rath, by Herschel Grynzpan—a 17-year-old German-Jewish refugee who wanted to avenge his parent’s expulsion from Germany, along with 15,000 other Polish Jews. The pogrom wasn’t spontaneous—as they tried to make it seem—but carefully planned. The world just stood by and let it happen. The fascist regimes in Italy, Rumania, Hungary and Poland celebrated the pogrom. The 3 great Western powers—England, France and the United States—said the appropriate things but did nothing.
And so today, as Hamas carefully planned—with the help of Iran—this modern-day pogrom—most of the world, at 1st, said the appropriate things but did nothing. 85 years after Kristallnacht, has the world learned anything? Just a week later the pro-Hamas demonstrations began and continue all over the world—including Atlanta—with enthusiastic condemnation of Israel—accusing her of genocide—why? for trying to defend herself! Why genocide? Because it was Jews who were its chief victim in our time!
But what genocide? Genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza? 1st of all, Israel gave back Gaza to the Palestinians in 2005. And secondly, can there be a moral equivalence of Israel’s actions to defend herself with the brutality of tearing apart Jewish bodies, raping and killing Jewish women, and putting Jewish babies in ovens?
Why did Hamas do this? What is this really about? We see it in the pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Gone are the days when campus choruses demanded that East Jerusalem be declared the capital of the future state of Palestine. Gone are the robust debates on how and where the final borders between the 2 states would be drawn. Hamas and these demonstrators don’t want a 2-state solution.
How do I know? Just listen when they chant: “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free.” While it seems on its face to be a rallying cry for justice, it really calls for an end to the Jewish State and its inhabitants. From the Jordan River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, Palestine will be free. Free of what? Free of Israel—free of Jews. It will be all Palestine and no Israel! And this is not my interpretation of this phrase. Just ask the demonstrators and they’ll tell you that Israel doesn’t have a right to exist. Ask Hamas and they will proudly tell you that this in the Hamas Charter.
If you’re still not convinced, let me ask you, how many Arabs live in Israel? About 2 million. How many Jews live in Gaza or in the Palestinian territories or in any Arab country? None! There will be no Jews in an Arab Palestinian state “from the river to the sea!”
In essence, this is all about the land. It’s not at all about how much land should be Palestinian and how much should be Jewish or how it is to be governed. It’s to be Palestine “from the river to the sea.” It’s all about the land.
The Midrash (Gen. Rabbah 79) tells us that the nations of the world can never argue about the Jewish rights to at least 3 places in Israel because their ownership is written in the Bible. Today’s Torah portion clearly records that Abraham bought land in Hebron to bury his wife Sarah. Later in the Torah (Gen. 33:19) it’s recorded that Jacob bought Shechem and in II Samuel (24:24) we find recorded that King David purchased land for Jerusalem. 3 places, all of which were given to us by Gd, but nevertheless, we paid them! All of which have the deeds of purchase recorded in the Bible. That is why the Midrash said no one could ever claim it to be theirs except Jews. And yet today all 3 of these cities—Hebron, Nablus and Jerusalem—much of the world tells Israel to give up because they’re “occupied territory.” But we paid for them!
Let me go back to the Cave of Machpeyla that Abraham purchased. When I take a group to see Israel, on our last night I ask, “What was your favorite site in Israel?” You might think most would way the Western wall. But invariably, most ewill say Hebron and the Cave of Machpeyla where our Matriarchs and Patriarchs are buried. It’s visiting mommy and daddy on steroids—very inspiring.
You see, besides Jerusalem, there’s no city in the world more sacred for Jews than Hebron. For thousands of years Jews worshiped at the cave of our patriarchs and matriarchs. In the 7th Century the Arabs conquered Hebron … and from the 13th century until we took it back in the 6-Day-War in 1967, Jews were forbidden by the Arabs to enter the structure of the Cave of the Patriarchs or to go beyond step 7 of the 30 steps that lead up to it. In 1929 those Jews who still lived in Hebron were slaughtered by the Arab masses and the survivors were forced to flee.
But that doesn’t stop the world from calling us colonizers—falsely claiming that we came to Israel after the Holocaust and displaced the Arabs living there. In fact, there were always Jewish communities in Israel. Visitors have recorded this over the centuries. Let me give you one example. In 1869, Mark Twain published his The Innocents Abroad about his trip to Palestine. He pointed out again and again that Palestine was a wasteland with very few people—some Jewish communities, some Turks and almost no Arabs. When did the Arabs come? After the early Zionists came in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Jewish settlers hired some Arabs to help them build their homes and settlements. These Arabs sent word back home to Egypt, Syria, Iraq, etc. that there was work in Palestine (the name used then for the Holy Land of Israel) and many came. In fact, Yasser Arafat, founder of the PLO was born in Egypt!
My friends, Abraham bought the Cave of Machpeyla and its fields. We’ve been there from the very start! It’s the Arabs who kicked us out and were the colonizers! The Arabs took it by force. Not us … we just came home. In fact, we paid for it—as the Torah records. And we’re NOT giving it back! Israel is our homeland. And today, when you go to Hebron you can walk past the 7th step all the way up the 30 steps outside and the 60 steps inside to the burial places of our Patriarchs and Matriarchs. And if that seems like a difficult trek, you no longer have to climb the stairs. A colleague who recently visited Israel told me that this year they put in an elevator! What a people we are!
And regardless of all the false claims against us, Am Yisrael Chai, the people of Israel live, and the land of Israel is ours—now and forevermore. Amen!
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