Tag Archives: Memorial Day

Memorial Day thoughts 2023

I was listening to one of my favorite radio shows today, The Tamar Yonah show, the episode is The US & Israel: Who is Dependent On Who?

As this is Memorial Day, I thought there were a few really interesting points. For Israelis the big ticket was probably the talk of Jerusalem day, but there were some points that really caught my attention.

Ok, at 6:13 in, while this isn’t one of the points for Memorial day, it amused me. Tamar mentioned that companies liked to hire Israelis. Sometimes over their local populations even. They speculated on why. Maybe because they had served in the IDF and had some real world experience, they’re more mature? Naw, I think that may be part of it, but it’s even simpler. They know what bathroom to use. I heard part of Matt Walsh today I believe it was. Now, I don’t know who did the man on the street questions. Maybe Charlie Kirk? Maybe Mark Dice, I dunno. But here’s how it went. These questions were to students at UCLA. I wrote down as much as I could remember. I was driving when I heard this.

Who was the first president?

Abraham Lincoln?

What ocean is on the east coast of the U. S.?

Didn’t know.

What country does the Queen of England rule over?

No idea I don’t get into politics.

What is the Capitol of the United States?

A) there isn’t one

B) California

Name the 3 Kardashian sisters:

Chloie Kourtney and Kim.

Bonus point if you can name the brother:

Robert.

And they will graduate, goodness only knows how many thousands, or hundreds of thousands, of dollars in debt which Demoncrats want U.S. to pay off. I want my money back.

At 22:52 in they are discussing the water and food crisis coming in Europe. Shocking considering the Dutch government has pretty much killed of many of the Dutch farmers. Who’d have thought taking farms away and limiting farming so you can create cities for invaders would cause a food shortage, but there ya go. Weird since they’ve got crop yield warnings.

Dr. Mordechai points out in the past when there were food and water shortage, countries went to war. But Europe really doesn’t have armies any more. Not really, and they don’t have young people to man them anyway. Then he gets into what does also affect U.S. Even if they did have young people and armies, they don’t have ammunition. They’ve sent it all to Ukraine. Ukraine uses more ammunition in a month than than America and Europeans manufacture together….in a year.

At 37 minutes in, Dr. Mordechai points out the U.S. has a crumbling military, with over priced and under preforming equipment. That the Russians are moping the floor in Ukraine, that they exploded 10s of ammunition depots and the Ukrainians were already short of ammo. He said Russia has excellent intelligence networks in Ukraine. That’s why the U.S. sent 300,000 rounds of 155 mm artillery ammunition that was marked for Israel and gave it to Ukraine, and most of that has been blown up, not used. Russian intelligence…they know where it is. At 39:04 in, he gives a quote to demonstrate the poor leadership of the military. “There is absolutely, when we get right down to deck plates, there is a moral challenge. Because there’s a lot of folks that have quite frankly joined the organization with a vision of what their days work would look like, and that’s rapidly morphing and changing.” Then they asked if someone could translate that. I’ll take a shot at it, pick me, pick me! I think it means men and women who love this country thought they were joining an organization devoted to defending America and her citizens, and now they are learning CRT or DIE and having transgender drag shows on military bases for their kids. Yeah, that would present a moral challenge for me as well.

Then they tried to figure out why and identical rocket, or mortar shell or artillery shell manufactured in Israel costs less than half of what it costs if it’s manufactured in the United States. Pick me! Pick me! I’ll take is Lloyd Austin still on the board of Raytheon for $100 Alex! I may have my game shows mixed up here. A missile for the Iron Dome defense system costs $50,000 if manufactured in Israel, if it’s manufactured by U.S. it costs $125,000.

So what’s the answer? Shimshon and I have been watching Band of Brothers, again. How do we make the sacrifice paid by so many valid? Well, from Today’s Tanya (The one size fits all manual) reading:

From the foregoing, the answer to the heretics [may be deduced],

and there is exposed the root of the error of those who are deemed heretics not because they deny that G-d created the world, but because they deny individual Divine Providence and the signs and miracles recorded in the Torah.

Why do they deny this when they readily admit that G-d created the world? It is because:

They err in their false analogy,

in comparing the work of G-d, the Creator of heaven and earth, to the work of man and his schemes.

When a silversmith has completed a vessel, that vessel is no longer dependent upon the hands of the smith,

and even when his hands are removed from it and he goes his way, the vessel remains in exactly the same image and form as when it left the hands of the smith.

In the same way do these fools conceive the creation of heaven and earth.

They imagine that heaven and earth, once created, no longer need their Creator. They therefore deny individual Divine Providence and the signs and miracles recorded in the Torah, inasmuch as these indicate that G-d continues to be involved with creation and from time to time chooses to change the course of nature through miraculous means.

However, their eyes are covered so that they do not see the great difference between the work of man and his machinations, which consists of [making] one existent thing out of [another, already] existent thing,

merely changing the form and appearance, e.g., from an ingot of silver to a vessel,

G-d did not simply create the world and walk away leaving it’s growth to teachers or activists who are trying to convince tiny children they aren’t they way G-d made them. That G-d made a mistake, and they, the counselors and activists and social media can help them remedy. And if they will only do as they are told all their teenage angst will be gone and SHAZAM! They will be happy forever and ever.

This last weekend was Shavuot, the giving on the Torah on Mount Sinai. We were created, we were nurtured and when we had devolved while in slavery in Egypt we were taken out of slavery with his mighty hand. Then we were given Torah (The Bible) which told us how we are to live, rules and guidelines for living a decent life. Including laws for self defense I might add.

We remember this, we know that G-d thinks our lives are valuable, he creates us, we face challenges that grow us stronger and he is there with us. Somehow he created people with an extra dose or desire to protect others, and today we honor those that have paid that price. I honor them with a grateful heart, and I thank their family who I’m sure will always miss them.

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The Power of One, Yom Yerushaylim and Memorial Day

One person, what can just one person do?

If you’re border patrol agent Jacob Albarado, you can borrow a shotgun from the barber who is giving you a haircut and go save your wife and daughter who are being held hostage at Uvalde’s Robb elementary school. And you’ll be saving a whole lot of other people in the process as well.

If you’re Sheriff Grady Judd of Polk County, you spend time keeping your county safe and crime free and then training others to protect school children. It’s interesting that after the FL legislators passed a bill putting additional safety measures in place that Broward County, home of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, was the last school to put them in place. But Sheriff Judd speaks straightforward, and hopefully his flame will light many candles.

If you’re one woman with a pistol at a party in Charleston W.Va. you can save many lives.

And these are all amazing things, G-d can use any person anywhere to accomplish a miracle. But sometimes the miracles are so earth shattering, so ground breaking that normal sane humans can’t help but see the hand of G-d.

The 28th of Iyar (this year 29th May) we celebrate Yom Yerushaylim, Jerusalem day celebrating the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967. This was a miracle straight from the hand of G-d. While it cost much in the way of lives, the cost was far less than anticipated.

This is a really good backstory video with lots of excellent footage and maps showing the areas involved. It’s under 10 minutes. It opens with the famous words from Mordechai (Motta) Gur “”הר הבית בידינו The Temple mount is in our hands! Every time I hear that tears well up and sometimes they run down. Only G-d. If you’re one person and you’re Motta Gur? Well then. And it has horses in it.

One person? If you’re only one person and you’re Rabbi Shlomo Goren, you can capture Hevron with your driver. But he must have had angels riding with him after having blown his shofar on the Temple Mount, eh? If you’re only one person and you’re Rabbi Goren, amazing!

So after all that time, all that fighting all the loss of life, to regain the site of the Holy Temples, the place where G-d chose for his temples and you’re Moshe Dayan? Well, then you give it away.

Dayan’s first act on the Temple Mount, only a few hours after IDF Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren blew the shofar and gave the Shehecheyanu blessing beside the Western Wall, was to immediately remove the Israeli flag that the paratroopers had raised on the mount.

Dayan’s second act was to clear out the paratroop company that was supposed to remain permanently stationed in the northern part of the mount. Dayan rejected the insistent pleas of the head of Central Command, Uzi Narkiss, who tried to prevent him from taking this measure. Narkiss reminded Dayan that Jordan, too, had stationed a military contingent on the mount to maintain order, and that long ago the Romans had done the same, deploying a garrison force in the Antonia Fortress that Herod had built near the mount. But Dayan was not persuaded. He told Narkiss that it seemed to him the place would have to be left in the hands of the Muslim guards.

Better to be Uzi Narkiss. Uzi may not have gotten it done, but he tried. But even for him, it wasn’t about G-d or religion, more culture or tradition I guess.

But Dayan wasn’t done.

Dayan, just a few hours after his first public announcement to the Israeli people about the holy places and particularly the Temple Mount, succinctly stated: “We have returned to the holiest of our places, never to be parted from them again….We did not come to conquer the sacred sites of others or to restrict their religious rights, but rather to ensure the integrity of the city and to live in it with others in fraternity.”

Typical leftist thinking. If we play nice, others will play nice with us.

Dayan’s most significant act on the Temple Mount, which sparked controversy over the years and was widely criticized, was to forbid Jewish prayer and worship there, unlike the arrangements that emerged at the Machpelah Cave in Hebron where there is also a functioning mosque.7 Dayan decided to leave the mount and its management in the hands of the Muslim Wakf, while at the same time insisting that Jews would be able to visit it (but not pray at it!) without restriction. Dayan thought, and years later even committed the thought to writing, that since for Muslims the mount is a “Muslim prayer mosque” while for Jews it is no more than “a historical site of commemoration of the past…one should not hinder the Arabs from behaving there as they now do.”

Because for him it was no more than a historical site, Dayan was a Kibbutznik, born and raised on a communist Kibbutz. His parents were not religious, he wasn’t and his children weren’t. For him that’s all it was. And when people lack G-d, and a relationship with the creator it keeps them from seeing the true beauty and value in the things G-d inspired or created himself. And that’s how Dayan came off the tracks.

It’s why we have people now that don’t see the beauty in the differences in men and women, how the two can compliment each other. It’s why people can’t comprehend that while there are viruses, he also put things out there that can cure them other than worshipping at the alter of the Golden Fauxi with his golden needle. At least I believe that.

In freedom people are allowed to have different opinions and freely debate idea.

But like Moshe Dayan, children today aren’t taught to recognize things of value, like freedom. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom to defend yourself and your family, freedom from medical tyranny. Those freedoms come from G-d. And if you don’t believe or accept there is a creator of the universe? Well, then.

G-d miraculously reunited Jerusalem, in his way, at his time. Which at the time looked like the tiny baby state of Israel was bound for destruction.

I pray he will unite our country, but not at the expense of freedom. Not because the bat rabid left have won the battle. I pray that he send Moshiach now, yesterday.

You see, I believe Moshe Dayan’s decision has consequences that affect our world even today. I can not help but wonder, had he not committed his act of idiocy, in my humble opinion, how different would our world be today?

Yeshayahu – Isaiah – Chapter 56

….

5 “I will give them in My house and in My walls a place and a name, better than sons and daughters; an everlasting name I will give him, which will not be discontinued.

6 And the foreigners who join with the Lord to serve Him and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, everyone who observes the Sabbath from profaning it and who holds fast to My covenant.

7 I will bring them to My holy mount, and I will cause them to rejoice in My house of prayer, their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be acceptable upon My altar, for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.

8 So says the Lord God, Who gathers in the dispersed of Israel, I will yet gather others to him, together with his gathered ones.

 

We are all just one person, but sometimes one person is enough. Sometimes many of the “just one persons” unite together, and I can not help but believe when we unite together to be a force of good, G-d will bless our efforts. But whether working alone or with others, be a force for good. May many people the world over wake up to the knowledge of G-d.

Israel and America, countless battles and whether it was the Battle of Bunker Hill or the Battle of Ammunition Hill, we can not let the sacrifices have been for nothing. Teach your children what they won’t learn in school,teach them to appreciate living in a moral G-dly country. And may both return to that soon.

This is well worth a few minutes of your time. A tip of my Stetson to fellow writer, Y.B.

https://www.prageru.com/video/the-fallen-soldier

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Yom HaZikaron 2018

יום הזכרון Israeli Memorial Day, so far 23,645 soldiers have given their lives for the state of Israel since 1860.

From the Jewish Virtual library,

Established unofficially with the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, and enacted into law in 1963, the day preceding Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day) is observed as a Memorial Day for soldiers who lost their lives in battle or while otherwise defending Israel.

Celebrated on the fourth of Iyar every year, Yom HaZikaron is one of four new holidays that were added to the Jewish national calendar since the creation of Israel. The other three are: Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Heroes and Martyrs’ Day),Yom Ha’atzmaut (Independence Day), and Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day).

Since the second intifada, also included are those such as security guards who have given their life defending malls, restaurants and public buildings from terrorists. And there are plenty of those.

Yom HaZikaron is observed very differently than American Memorial day. I think Israel has it right. In America it’s sales, shopping, BBQ and getting together with friends and family. Some still visit graves and decorate them, it used to be called Decoration Day. In Israel, at 20:00 local time a one-minute siren sounds. Another siren will sound the following morning at 11:00. Then everyone observes a moment of silence to remember the fallen and terror victims. By law, all places of entertainment are closed on the eve of Yom Hazikaron, and broadcasting and educational bodies note the solemnity of the day. Regular television programs cease for the day, and the names and ranks of every soldier who died for Israel are displayed in a 24-hour television broadcast.

Honor and remembrance. The only ones who don’t observe are the Arabs, with the exception of the Druze and Bedouins, they do observe. Haredi Jews do not observe either.

Years ago I interviewed a man who had been a navigation unit commander for a tank battalion in Israel during the Yom Kippur war. He just didn’t tell me that last bit at the time. But he was talking about how war is different in America for the most part than it is in Israel. In Israel when the enemy gets in he will quite likely be walking down the street of someone you know. It’s your backyard that has the fighting in it. The closest I can imagine is the American un-Civil war. The wars of Israel are up close and personal. It’s also worth remembering the honored include those that fought for pre-state Israel in the Haganah, Lehi and the Irgun.

I think it was on a radio program, Temple Talk, that I heard the hosts discussing why Yom HaZikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut are right next to each other. A host’s daughter had told her Dad that it didn’t seem fair to those grieving that the next day everyone would be out in the streets partying. He explained to her that without the sacrifice of the lives observed during Yom HaZikaron that there wouldn’t even be a state of Israel. That the sacrifice is what enabled the joy, and that joy is why those men and women did not die in vain.

I was so very fortunate as to be able to attend a Yom HaZikaron service tonight, it was very, very meaningful. If you were not so blessed, I will share a link with you to a service that was broadcast from Ammunition Hill. There is a museum there now.

Yom HaZikaron service by the Lone Soldiers Center on Ammunition Hill.

“A State is not handed to a people on a silver platter.”

Chaim Weizmann, first president of Israel

The Silver Platter, written by Nathan Alterman

And the land grows still, the red eye of the sky slowly dimming over smoking frontiers

As the nation arises, Torn at heart but breathing, To receive its miracle, the only miracle

As the ceremony draws near, it will rise, standing erect in the moonlight in terror and joy

When across from it will step out a youth and a lass and slowly march toward the nation

Dressed in battle gear, dirty, Shoes heavy with grime, they ascend the path quietly

To change garb, to wipe their brow

They have not yet found time. Still bone weary from days and from nights in the field

Full of endless fatigue and unrested,

Yet the dew of their youth. Is still seen on their head

Thus they stand at attention, giving no sign of life or death

Then a nation in tears and amazement

will ask: “Who are you?”

And they will answer quietly, “We Are the silver platter on which the Jewish state was given.”

Thus they will say and fall back in shadows

And the rest will be told In the chronicles of Israel

May their memory be for a blessing.

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Memories

Memorial Day has passed. I didn’t exactly get to spend it the way I planned, but it’s ok. I think it’s still timely to talk about Memorial Day considering D-Day is coming up.

I’ve had a lot of thoughts about Memorial Day this year. I always do. I saw a tweet by Kay Wilson who queried “How can any American ever say Happy Memorial Day?” If you are unfamiliar with Kay, she is amazing. She is the victim of a horrific machete attack. Kay is British born, and living in Israel.

From doing a little reading, it seems the average age of soldiers from the Revolutionary War, up till now is early 20s. This is including older experienced officers which raises the age average. Although drummer boys could be as young as 12. I believe I read the average life expectancy of a solider in WWI in the trenches was six weeks. Six. Weeks.

How many died? I got an interesting email from Shmuel Sackett of Zehut, an Israeli political party I belong to. Yeah, pretty cool beans. To be honest though, I am not the only one who got the email, it was one Shmuel sent out to the group. It’s also right in line with Kay’s sentiments and is titled “What Did You Buy On Memorial Day?”

Let me ask you a question. Isn’t Memorial Day supposed to be somber? A day of remembrance, mourning and reflection? A day to pay tribute to the hundreds of thousands of brave men and women who lost their lives fighting for the USA? Do you have any idea how many heroes we are talking about? I did some research and found that from the American Revolutionary War until today – are you ready for this? – a total of 666,441 American soldiers have lost their lives in battle. If it’s hard for you to think about war from 1776, let me break down that number in more modern times. In WWII – 291,557 soldiers were killed and in Vietnam the number was 47,424. After 9/11, American forces went to war in Afghanistan and lost 1,954 soldiers while a whopping 3,836 have been killed in Iraq.

He is expressing his shock and sorrow outrage, let’s be honest, that in America, Memorial Day has become a day of picnics, shopping and holiday.

I’m not saying that there aren’t Americans that don’t feel the same. There are. Originally Memorial Day was called Decoration Day and it’s origins predate the Civil War. I can still remember when it changed from being observed on May 30th. That was back in 1971. My family observed it as a Memorial Day to family members that were gone and we would go decorate graves. Not that I didn’t have family that served in the military, I did. My Dad was in the Navy, one Uncle was in the Navy and wanted to be a fighter pilot. At 6’4” he was deemed too tall and instead was in communications. It was interesting when I talked to him about it a few years ago, he still couldn’t tell me much of what he did. I do know he was aboard the USS Missouri the day Japan surrendered. I have another Uncle that was in the Battle of Midway and survived. He had been gone for many years before I ever found that out. I was in first grade when he died at 33 of a heart attack and I was devastated. I have another Uncle that also served in the Navy, and at one time I considered enlisting in the Navy. My nephew is trying his very best to be accepted into a different branch of the military. Sigh, there’s always one. But, I couldn’t be prouder of “The Brat” and I love him dearly.

This is one paragraph, about one family, and I’m so blessed, all mine survived. Look at the stats quoted by Shmuel above. All those listed had families, they had lives and loves. They had hopes, dreams and aspirations.

In Israel, Yom Hazikaron יוֹם הַזִּכָּרוֹן is observed very differently.

By law, all places of entertainment are closed on the eve of Yom Hazikaron, and broadcasting and educational bodies note the solemnity of the day.

Memorial candles are lit in homes, army camps, schools, synagogues, and public places, and the flags are lowered to half staff. Throughout the day serving and retired military personnel serve as honor guards at war memorials throughout the country, and the families of the fallen participate in memorial ceremonies at military cemeteries.

National memorial services are held in the presence of Israel’s top leadership and military personnel. The day opens with a siren the preceding evening at 20:00 (8:00 pm), given that in the Hebrew calendar system, a day begins at sunset. The siren is heard all over the country and lasts for one minute, during which Israelis stop everything, including driving on highways, and stand in silence, commemorating the fallen and showing respect.

When I saw the post from Kay, I answered her and told her it is because so many in America do not even realize what Memorial Day is. Some of it is due to the massive liberal influences in the government, and some of it is due to the school system. I heard a very interesting lecture recently and facts and figures were given showing the decimation of the US military in the last 8 years, by our own government. In addition to the military being used as a “social experiment”. And don’t think that hasn’t taken a toll.

Organizational Transitions

I was still young when the soldiers came back from Viet Nam, and I remember stories of them being spit on and berated. Thank you Walter Cronkite, Jane Fonda and John Kerry, and scores of liberal school teachers, and countless others. Bill Clintoon set a shining example by fleeing to Canada. I can remember being at an amusement park one time in Texas, not on Memorial Day. The two men in line ahead of me were talking about having come back. In line it was hard not to over-hear. I looked at them and said “Thank you, thank you for serving”. They were young, and looked shocked. Then they looked grateful. They didn’t determine the policies of going to war, they didn’t get a vote on being sent. They got drafted, and they suited up and showed up and tried to do the right thing.

I was recently in a conversation with a man and his wife. The man had retired out of the Marine Corp after 38 years. They were watching a John Wayne movie on TV, he was in a submarine. She had gone with him on every posting he had ever been sent. She commented “All wars are stupid”. I was quite for a moment, it happens rarely, then replied “Yes, perhaps, but some of them need to be fought, and some of them are worth fighting”. I’m working on Hebrew as a second language, not German, I get to make a choice. Some wars need to be fought.

I’m pretty old now, I’ve got to realize some of my hopes and dreams, there are some still in the bag to be worked towards. But I’m alive, and I have that chance. These men and women that showed up and answered the call? Their hopes and dreams died with them on fields, beaches, in trenches and hedgerows. I would also include law enforcement officers who answer a calling to try to protect as those that fall in service to our country now. It’s not the same, they get to go home (usually) at the end of their shift, but that “sheepdog” mentality resides in them as well. They are serving in a different arena.

I admit it, I would like to see America observe Memorial Day in a way more similar to Israel’s observance. I would like to have a nationwide siren sounded at the same time all across the US and people stop what they are doing in honor of those that gave all. I would like to see stores close and the day treated as a day to respectfully honor fallen heroes. While I can’t make that happen, I can make sure I do my best to honor the men and women who suited up and showed up.

This video is from Black Rifle Coffee company. They are veteran owned and operated. They also star in their own videos. Some of which are pretty darn funny, some outrageous, some kinda gross. But all quite original. I just got my first order, and it’s darn good coffee! No, they are not paying me to write this, they don’t even know who I am, but this video is what made me “pull the trigger” on buying the coffee. I highly recommend “Coffee or Die”.

Just some things to keep in mind with the approach of D-Day.

 

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