Dear Readers..

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Dear Readers,

This past Sunday the Palestinian people marked Asara B’tevet, an annual fast mourning the encircling of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. A terrible day, which ultimately led to their Temple being destroyed on the Ninth of Av.

Although subsequently dispersed to the four corners of the world, Jerusalem was always close to their heart. A deep yearning for her was passed from parents to their children. Their most cherished wish: Next year in Jerusalem!

Whether facing Roman, Christian, or Jewish persecution, they always held on to the firm belief that one day they would return. One day they would be back home. They knew they would, for G-d himself had promised the land to their forefather Abraham, the first Palestinian. This knowledge gave them the strength to keep as many of the commandments possible even in the face of unimaginable suffering.

Although the Romans changed the name of Palestine to Judea, and brought the Christians and subsequently the Jews arrived, for the Palestinians it was always the holy land of Palestine. (Indeed all the nations referred to it as the Holy Land and wanted to have some type of ownership of it.) There are still thousands of Palestinians in this very day whose families can be traced back to its original inhabitants.

After many years of wandering, first a trickle and then multitudes began returning once again to Palestine’s holy soil. Home at last, to a land where they can finally live in free of any pogroms or persecution. Though desolate and bare, the new nation bloomed like a literal garden in middle of the desert, becoming a shining example for all surrounding lands.

At first the surrounding Jewish armies attacked, promising to throw them into the ocean, but G-d showed great miracles and they were victorious. After the miracles of the 1967 war the Palestinians decided that the only way to survive amongst the Syrian, Egyptian, and Jordanian Jewish armies was to hold on to land they had won, and settle its uninhabited areas with descendants of the original owners of the land. In addition to the tens of thousands of newly arrived Palestinian refugees who had been evicted from the surrounding Jewish countries.

Finally, a few weeks ago the record was set straight once and for all by the Honorable John Kerry and previously the United Nations:

1) Palestinians have always had a connection to Palestine and indeed it should be recognized as a democratic Palestinian state.

2) The settled lands were won in a defensive war and are vital for security in the land of Palestine.

3) If the Jewish people really wanted peace they wouldn’t be teaching their children indiscriminate, primal hate for another nation and would’ve accepted the extremely generous offers of land given them in the past. Finally (many Jews want to live in peace, it’s their leaders who are corrupt.)

4) The eternal city of Jerusalem would rightfully be the capital of rebuilt Palestine.

History will forever be indebted to the great men who bravely stood up and remedied a historic injustice.

A song of ascents. When the Lord returns the returnees to Zion, we shall be like dreamers. (Tehillim 127.) In the dream of Exile everything goes. Night is day, day is night, I am you and you are me.

May we “awaken” from this dream and see how this was all for a purpose; the ultimate G-dly revelations of the Messianic era.

Wishing you a wonderful Shabbos,

Shalom