Today is D-Day, and I suppose in a lead up to D-Day Shimshon and I have been watching some (what I consider) relevant movies and documentaries. We started watching Band of Brothers last week and a couple of nights ago finished it. One of the episodes is called “Why We Fight”. If you haven’t seen Band of Brothers I’ll give you the relevant point. The war is pretty much over, a few of the men from Easy Company are out in the woods on patrol, just kind of clearing the area when they run across the first concentration camp they’ve seen. They don’t know what it is. They send one of the men back to headquarters to try to find an officer. He finds Dick Winters (who was a very good officer, and I suspect and even better human) and the next scene is of a few officers; Ronald Speirs, Lewis Nixon and some of the rest of Easy Company including Joesph Liebgott. This mattered because Liebgott spoke German. In the first part of the episode many of the men had been questioning why had they given up the years of their lives to live in trenches and fight bad men. After they saw the concentration camps, and Liebgott was able to ask them questions and relay the answers to the officers they all more fully understood the situation. Dick Winters later tells Lewis Nixon the Russians found camps that were even worse. I suspect that may have been the first time some of the boys had seen that level of depravity and evil that can be inflicted on fellow human beings. The next lesson the men learned was “cultured, civilized” people are perfectly capable of standing by and allowing the atrocities, murder and starvation of innocent people. When the men of Easy talked to the town people they all denied knowing anything about it. Apparently one of the Generals had a brilliant idea. The townspeople were hauled out to the concentration camp to bury the bodies. The trait is easily visible today and when someone is being attacked there will be 4,352 TikTok, YouTube and FakeBook videos of the whole thing. Of someone like Daniel Penny stepping in to help others? Not so many.
The next atrocity to be fought was in Israel. You see the Not So Great Britain was there. Last night Shimshon and I watched the 2014 Documentary The Forsaken Promise. This is the whole documentary. Not sure how long it will be there.
The League of Nations trusted Britain to establish a national home for the Jews in their historic homeland, Israel.
The “Mandate for Palestine,” an historical League of Nations document, laid down the Jewish legal right to settle anywhere in western Palestine, a 10,000-square-miles3 area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
The legally binding document was conferred on April 24, 1920 at the San Remo Conference, and its terms outlined in the Treaty of Sèvres on August 10, 1920. The Mandate’s terms were finalized and unanimously approved on July 24, 1922, by the Council of the League of Nations, which was comprised at that time of 51 countries,4 and became operational on September 29, 1923.5
The “Mandate for Palestine” was not a naive vision briefly embraced by the international community in blissful unawareness of Arab opposition to the very notion of Jewish historical rights in Palestine. The Mandate weathered the test of time: On April 18, 1946, when the League of Nations was dissolved and its assets and duties transferred to the United Nations, the international community, in essence, reaffirmed the validity of this international accord and reconfirmed that the terms for a Jewish National Home were the will of the international community, a “sacred trust” – despite the fact that by then it was patently clear that the Arabs opposed a Jewish National Home, no matter what the form.
But despite being trusted by the entire league of nations to re-establish Israel (the nation, the tribes) in Israel (the land) Britain did not do that. In fact, Britain not only limited the number of Jews fleeing hitler and the nazis, they sent refugee ships back. But, so did America under the Demoncratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The British disarmed the Jews living in Israel as best as they could, while arming the arabs. In the riots of the 1920s and onward the Brits would stand back and allowed the Jews they had disarmed to be slaughtered. One horrific example at 1:45:00 into the documentary details the attack of 13 April 1948 when a medical convoy was trying to get to the Hadassah hospital in the besieged Jerusalem. The convoy was carrying patients, medical personnel and supplies, it was stopped and attacked by arabs. The Brits checked every convoy trying to get into Jerusalem to make sure that none of the Jews had any weapons, so they were defenseless against the arabs. The people were butchered. No, I didn’t mean killed. There was a British outpost nearby and the soldiers wanted to intervene and were told to stand down. It is reported some of the soldiers cried as they watched the slaughter and mutilation that followed. But they didn’t do anything. There are photographs of the aftermath in the video.
When the refugee ships came in to Israel, the Brits would put the Jews in one of several prison camps. One woman was in prison for five years, she and her husband had escaped, but she lost her whole family to the nazis in the concentration camps. She told of how the British soldiers would beat the prisoners, really they were quite despicable. But if you look at the pattern of the Brits…..America vs. Britain, Ireland vs Britain, Israel vs. Britain….Britain has not been on the side of good in any of those, and in the beginning of WWII Chamberlain made appeasement with hitler, so.
There was really nothing Israel could do about it at this point. They didn’t have control of their own country. The British did, the Jewish Israelis just had to suffer at the whims of the anti-Semitic British government. Oh, yes I did mean to say that. Watch the documentary. See, when your local politicians are not in control, when they have to bow to the will of others who may not have the very best welfare of your nation at heart when making decisions, it will not turn out well. This is something to keep in mind as the traitorous criminal Joe Biden tries to turn U.S. over to the benevolent dictatorship of the W.H.O. with the pandemic treaty. WHO Pandemic Treaty Is a Threat to Liberty. They are already talking about digital tracking. Seems the injection mandates and green passports were just such a dandy paradigm that a lot of the framework is already in place. We already have the FIB so we have the SS who are willing to throw political opposition in the Gulag to prevent them from speaking out. According to whistle blower Steven Friend, it’s not the rank and file of the FIB, instead is the leadership at the top.
Which brings me to leadership. Both examples are from WWII, both of these men came from humble backgrounds. I don’t know that either of them ever aspired to fame, but G-d put something in them that was needed on that day at that time, leadership.
The first man I mentioned earlier, Ronald Speirs, clip is 1:26 seconds long.
The next man I think I may have written about before, General Norman Dutch Cota, he puts paid to the notion you have to be in your prime and in great shape to make great things happen. 7:05 seconds long.
These men fought, because they knew what lay behind them were things they loved and cared about, family, friends and a way of life, their country and freedom to live their lives as they chose. They may have known some of what they were fighting against in front of them, but I don’t think in the beginning they even fully grasped the depth of evil they were up against. Man’s inhumanity to man.
I believe G-d puts the ability to fight back against evil into every creature. I believe we have the ability to fight on despite odds being against us. Every creature.
That cat absolutely is inspiring, and yes, it’s a cat not a small dog. Dogs don’t slap or bat like that. It’s a partisan guerilla cat! It gets in, gets the job done and gets out. A Chuck Norris cat.
Yes, we have a lot stacked against U.S. right now, and many of our fellow citizens have fallen victim to the Fifth Generation Warfare being conducted against U.S. by our own corrupt government. So we may not have as many allies as we should, and have more enemies than we deserve. But we don’t get to choose that bit. We do get to choose if we will pick up the torch that was handed U.S. by the men and women of WWII. It’s all about our mindsets. Maybe we will talk to people, maybe we will contact politicians, maybe we will go to political rallies and meetings, maybe we will donate money to people like Sen. Josh Hawley that actually do fight back. Goodness knows Soros donates to the likes of Kim Fox, Kim Gardner and their ilk. Maybe we just talk to our kids and grandkids and make sure they understand truth and reality and try to offset some of the damage being done in public schools. Maybe we become more informed about issues. Maybe we join our local grassroots Second Amendment group. But there will be some way for each of us to fight, because 79 years after D-Day, we have a far better idea of why we fight than they did that day they landed on the beaches of Normandy.
This is Jim Quinn’s D-Day tribute, he’s been doing it for years. It starts after 42 seconds.
There are those that fight but there are also those that are so-called good Germans, after witnessing what has happened here in America during the plandemic, I’m afraid America has it share of good Germans too.
I’m VERY afraid of that! Because those people can easily be turned into “bad germans” because they lack the moral fiber and compass that others have. But that sounds really judgmental. But it’s true.
Sheila,
Thanks for this post. I was thinking today about men who went ashore in D-Day, with most at that age having heads full of a million thoughts. I know at 19-20 I was invincible. And I would have thought that someone else was going to be killed, but not me.
Then in the real part of my brain, I would have been resolved to dying, as simply cannon fodder for such a Herculean task that we faced. I think many of the men who were felt a lot of the same things, yet they all did their jobs, no matter what the cost to themselves.
I don’t think that G-d just puts the ability in us to fight back against evil, I think that we have a moral responsibility. It is linked to our having the right to self defense, that I believe that it is the responsibility of those who are able, to defend the weak and infirm.
The Declaration of independence says that we are endowed by our creator with rights. The only place where it falls short pips by not. addressing our responsibilities that I think are demanded from us, by that very same creator. Things like charity, walking uprightly with our dealings, always trying to live peacefully with all other people, etc.
The greatest thing that I saw gone from churches, actually 2 things,was a lack of love towards each other, and how many, if not most, of the churches that are thriving, are hard to tell the difference between them and one of the bars/nightclubs I used to go to when I played saxophones and guitar in a rock band. Perhaps one difference between the two was.that in a bar, they don’t shoot their wounded.
I say that sort of tongue in cheek, but not really. I was shunned by a church where I had been a deacon, an adult teacher and a few others. My ex wife asked for a divorce, she had a circle of helpful friends, I had to scramble to work 12 hours per day, for weeks at a time. What I needed was a few of my friends to help me out though it.
Instead, after 6 months or so, I found a band looking for a musician, I play a lot of them, and so I found people who accepted me. The people in bars, nightclubs, on a yacht, even at county fairs in front of 5-10 thousand people all treated me kindly, not like garbage. My love of G-d never wavered, because I know circumstances are to help us grow. But it is disappointing to day high to a former friend, and have them turn around and face the other way in a store.
Torah does address it though:
“Do not falsify measurements… You must have an honest balance, honest weights, an honest dry measure, and an honest liquid measure”—Leviticus 19:35-36.
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/881169/jewish/An-Honest-Measure-Kedoshim.htm
This page goes into more detail, rather than just the surface message.
Holding on to false measurements means, both literally and figuratively, holding on to a skewed set of values. Even if in actual practice, one only uses honest measures – that is, a proper set of values – the mere fact that he keeps with him another set of dishonest measurements already constitutes a certain duplicity of character.
You’re 100% correct, we do have a duty to protect the weak and more vulnerable. In the 7 Noahide laws, that G-d gave to the children of Noah, prior to the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai, there is one that seems a bit different. Do not eat the limb of a living animal.
This page has a more depth on what this is about https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1522956/jewish/How-Do-You-Treat-Animals.htm but the pared down version is;
There is a clear hierarchy here. We are not equal with G‑d, and animals are not equal to humans. The myth of equality is necessary only to protect the weak in a world devoid of morality. But moral beings with a clear code of ethics can recognize the innate inequality of nature without exploiting it. Being higher means being more responsible. Nature is here to serve us, but we are here to serve G‑d, and that means treating all His creatures, equal or not, with respect.
So I think he does give us guidence on how we are to handle ourselves, and our interactions with others. But like the Constitution, which was crafted for a moral people, far too many people now are very much trying to deny G-d’s presence and authority. I think Torah gives more guidance than the Constitution because G-d knew the nature of man better. I don’t think G-d is ever caught off guard, but I do wonder, irreverently perhaps, if he has the urge to facepalm a few times a day.
Perhaps one difference between the two was.that in a bar, they don’t shoot their wounded.
This one is tougher. Because I’ve seen it up close and personal happen to friends of mine. When I went through my divorce a few years ago, I had a brief email exchange with my Rabbi, just an FYI, kind of. I was caught off guard, but certainly not devastated. More like relieved, and grateful. But the pertinent part is his reply that G-d understands marriage on earth is between two humans, not two angels. Judaism does have a different view of divorce, a certainly serious view, like the amputation of a limb, but typically how the divorced member is treated is probably different. https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/387647/jewish/Jewish-View-of-Divorce.htm
I hate it that you had to go through that, you’re a good, kind, caring decent human who really did deserve better. Almost nothing hurts as much as being betrayed by people we trusted, except being betrayed by people we trusted AND they were part of our support network that would have helped us cope with people that betrayed us.