Netzer Hazani and The Marmara Flotilla

Believe it or not Netzer Hazani and Mavi Marmara are integrally connected!

Thanks again dear friends for having the patience to listen to my real life grandma stories for so many years now,


Rambam, in 'The Guide to the Perplexed', clearly brings a rule of thumb based on a sentence in parshat Shmot.

He says compassion towards the wicked is cruelty to all beings.

Other guidelines from the Torah teach us to be compassionate to the widows and downtrodden . We also are taught throughout the Tanach via mesora about the nature of Esau and Yishmael and their descendents --and how to relate to them

There is moral clarity for all who focus on Torah values.

Our courage to act according to the Torah moral guidelines is dependent directly on our faith in G-d.

If we are not focused on this we begin to fear, what will the media say? what wiil the other countries say? what will they do to us next if...?

evtach velo efchad ki ozi vezimrat yah, and we , all of the people of Israel who accept this as the light that will lead our ship to safe port, will proceed united under this one flag of true morality.

Accepting the basic morality of Torah values must be the foundations for our constructive actions ---otherwise they can only be destructive and not constructive as we have seen this week and too often in the last ten years.

Please read the below -- true grandma story of our real life saga.


Netzer Hazani and the Mavi Marmara
When the news of the IDF seal marine incident on the flotilla hit the news everyone in our town was in touch with the mothers in our community whose sons were most likely to be part of this operation --we realized that at least one Mom here had spent several hair graying hours from the time she knew her son was part of this team till she knew he was in one piece.

This young man had been very active in the moral and ethical struggle of our youth to save their homes, their parents parnassa and their little piece of land of Israel . I saw him attacked by yassamnikim as he just stood in the wrong place --and he was almost immediately released because the police at the Kissufum checkpoint police station all knew his mom who was always first on the scene of terrorist injuries to try and save lives. She was the head nurse of our local medical emergecy team .

The expulsion and destruction left this young man very disappointed but with his value system and faith in people and land of Israel intact, he decided to vent his desire to do something constuctive to better the country by joining one of the best and most challenging units of the army - the navy seals, or as we call them in Israel the Shayetet. He succeeded and even received a special award as officer for excellence .

Our brave navy seal officer, who wanted to make our country and the world a better more moral place, was sent to have compassion on the cruel !!!

According to Maimonides this is equivalent to being sent to act cruely to all beings --the most immoral stance one can take!

Our government basically said to these brave IDF boys -----
"Don't take over a load of cruel terrorists and supporters of terror and encouragers of cruel terror with the force and capabilities you have in order not to endanger yourselves and others ---because the many people who hate us are looking at us, so best we show compassion to these cruel people!. 'What will Yishmael and Esau say if we do what we know how to do and act with strength to those who respect strength and step all over us when we are weak? If we are compassionate to these cruel people --perhaps they will then act compassionately to us."

It is time now more than ever that we stop looking at what is wrong with what the enemy is doing ---they are being themselves !!


I have more Grandma stories on this issue, but I will leave them for another time. I just want to point out that it is time for Am Yisrael to decide that the time has come to be ourselves and for us to live by our values and morality.

I admit it is easy to get depressed from all this --but if we keep focusing on our Jewish values, our faith and our history we know that

the end will be for the good
each and every one of us now has the obligation to work harder ,to do more to add more light ,more chessed , more morality to our country and to our people .
We must continue to focus --- The sadness ,the frustration the lack of morality will otherwise easily make all seem black --let's leave room for Hashem and his mercy and compassion on us. Meanwhile let us, as well, act with mercy and compassion.

I pray that Am Israel will unite in these so difficult days under the flag of Jewish morality .

I pray that we will have compassion according to our Jewish guidelines and will not ever again have compassion on the cruel.

Our wonderful children who are willing to act with such mesirut nefesh, with faith , without fear knowing as David did, that our courage and backbone can only come when focusing on our moral guidelines, on G-d's way of acting towards us.


Take Part in Our Struggle for Justice and Morality
I welcome you to be part of my struggle for justice and morality that we are trying to be successful with every day for the last five years.

15,000 shekels ($4,000 dollars ) is needed to send 12 -18 yr old girls in our community for trauma counseling. Five years after the trauma of expulsion they continue to face new crises that need attention . The boys group was funded by minhelet tnufa (Tnufa Commision ) and was evaluated by the social workers and therapists who believe it has been extremely successful for them. Now we want to have the funds to set up the same program for the girls.

We need funds to subsidize community needs that the taxes and government funding do not cover. We have no funding yet whatsoever for any playgrounds, though three have been planned down to the last detail, but no funding to make them happen.

Remember that your small limited act to ensure morality and justice when combined with others in Am Israel can do amazing things= $18 x 1000 = $18,000 dollars,18 shekel X 1000 is 18,000 shekel etc.

$1800 x 100= $180,000 would help us complete funds needed for the ezrat nashim (women's section in the synagogue) that in GK was furnished in memory of Etti Pachima who was mother of four, murdered by cruel Arab terrorists. This women's section of our synaogue must be built anew no less beautiful than it was in Netzer Hazani in Gush Katif . Etti Pachima was a beautiful person . Her husband who was disabled as well by an Arab cruel terrorist and family are part of our community tody as well.

How much justice would be done, how much compassion would be seen if every person who received this email does one small act --and through this connects to many other good Jews to be kind and compassionate and make a difference.

This is not about our house ,our new town or our community ---this is about your struggle and my struggle for justice and for compassion --- it is about you and me being Jews that don't look what everyone thinks and says --but about acting like Jews -according to our Jewish moral values.

As we saw this week, if we don't insist on this morality without fear, we find our brave sons being sent to be kind to the cruel!! Just saying those words cause me such pain -- can you imagine how the IDF soldiers felt ?

It would be encouraging if you mail in something tiny or gigantic according to what you can and want ,but something -- just so we know you are still there and care. Anyone can also donate in dollars online by clicking here. If you would like to mail in a shekel or dollar check see the mailing details on the bottom of this page.

Last time email to thousands brought two direct acts of caring ;( . where are you Am Yisrael?


Dearest friends and family, as always, I invite you to click here to see this three minute clip and share with us our dreams for the future as we set our new challenges.

Thanks for caring, caring gives strength,anita


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