Today, November 11th was Veteran’s Day. The day brave men and women who have served our country in the military are honored. I’m personally not sure enough can ever be done to honor them. I have only the highest respect for those that chose to put their personal lives on hold to protect us, and our country. They chose to go to other countries to fight evil, and to fight for those that could not fight for themselves.
November 9th and 10th is the anniversary of Kristallnacht, or the night of broken glass. We have some articles on the event if you might care to read them. There are more than just these two.
And it was brave men and women, sometimes really boys and girls that went and fought the Germans, Austrians, Poles, and any others that decided this was an opportune time to rid their fair cities of the Jewish presence.
I think the fact that the two days fall so close together, for me at least, doubles the sense of wonder and gratitude.
I was thinking about the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier the other day. Probably something I had read, maybe the weather, I don’t know. But I was thinking about the guard’s dedication to duty. The requirements to be a guard are quite stringent.
For a person to apply for guard duty at the tomb, he must be between 5′ 10″ and 6′ 2″ tall and his waist size cannot exceed 30″.
Other requirements of the Guard:
They must commit 2 years of life to guard the tomb, live in a barracks under the tomb, and cannot drink any alcohol on or off duty FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES. They cannot swear in public FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES and cannot disgrace the uniform {fighting} or the tomb in any way.
After TWO YEARS, the guard is given a wreath pin that is worn on their lapel signifying they served as guard of the tomb. There are only 400 presently worn. The guard must obey these rules for the rest of their lives or give up the wreath pin.
The shoes are specially made with very thick soles to keep the heat and cold from their feet. There are metal heel plates that extend to the top of the shoe in order to make the loud click as they come to a halt. There are no wrinkles, folds or lint on the uniform. Guards dress for duty in front of a full-length mirror.
The first SIX MONTHS of duty a guard cannot talk to anyone, nor watch TV. All off duty time is spent studying the 175 notable people laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. A guard must memorize who they are and where they are interred. Among the notables are: President Taft, Joe E. Lewis {the boxer} and Medal of Honor winner Audie Murphy, {the most decorated soldier of WWII} of Hollywood fame. Every guard spends FIVE HOURS A DAY getting his uniforms ready for guard duty.
Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year the guards suit up, show up and do their duty. They have studied for this, trained for this and committed to this. And that’s how they were chosen for this post. Most that apply do not make the selection. These soldiers were willing to make the commitment, and do the work, even in a hurricane.
Part of the conditions that allowed Anti-Semitism to rise to such a level as to produce a holocaust was the complaint that the Jews were “chosen”. Chosen for what? Chosen to receive the Torah, to spread the knowledge of G-d in this world. Of his love, of his instructions of how to live a life pleasing to the creator of this world. To share knowledge of the mitzvot, commandments. Holy little bread crumbs if you will, a way of helping people find their way back to G-d, or to find G-d.
But according to the Midrash, Israel was not the 1st nation that G-d offered the Torah. They were however, the one that accepted it. Now, if you would like a rather humorous story about how this went down, I can help you out. And it is worth reading, it’s funny. I’ll give you the first paragraph of The Bargain and the Jew
The story you are about to read is true. Some names have been changed to protect the guilty. Some names have been omitted to protect us from the grumpy. The story first started thousands of years ago, when the world was young…
These days it seems the Holocaust is so far behind us, and that such an event could never happen again. But that could be wrong. I listened to a talk show today, and the host Howie Silbiger pointed out that the late Rabbi Meir Kahane predicted almost 30 years ago that there would be another holocaust. In North America. Rabbi Kahane was assassinated 5 November 1990, in the first Al-Qaeda attack on American soil. The bucket of chum assassin got off killing Rabbi Kahane on a technicality. The FBI harvested buckets of information from his apartment. Which apparently they ignored and that allowed the bucket of chum to roam freely about and participate in the first bombing of the World Trade Center. The second Al-Qaeda attack on American soil. Many things I agree with Rabbi Kahane, he is the one who founded the Jewish Defense League, and wanted to change the image of the Jews from weak to strong fearless fighters.
The JDL also focused on the plight of Soviet Jewry, and coined the phrases “Never again,” and “every Jew a .22” to emphasize that Jews would no longer passively ignore the plight of their foreign brethren.
Howie pointed out in this episode that crimes against Jews in NY have risen dramatically. Violent crimes, Jews are punched, pinned against cars and physically assaulted. For which the perpetrators are charged with, “harassment”. Seriously. The culture has changed enough as well. When Netflix has a show called “The Roast of Ann Frank” in which hitler roasts the teenage Jewish girl that was one of the victims of the holocaust is disgusting and despicable. I think that Howie, and Rabbi Kahane could be right. Far too many Jews push for disarmament, too many cities are easy pickings with their progressive policies of only allowing criminals to have guns. And people keep voting for these politicians. Sigh.
But as the constant attacks on Israel continue, against Jews living in Judea and Shomron, and Jews living in New York rise, I fear that the next brave soldiers to fight in the North American holocaust may be you and I. The excuses given for such attacks vary of course, but one of the things that was a complaint and excuse in Germany was this status of being “chosen”. I would maintain that their “chosen status” is much like that of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknowns. It was a mission offered and accepted, even though aspects were unknown. Its sad that rather than admire and respect those that strive to follow the path, those that disagree with it will chose to tear it down, belittle and obliterate it. There are other choices of course, but they choose to ignore that.
I do not relish the thought of a Kristallnacht in North America, but with the #FakeNews, and the state of academia where BSD-BS with it’s anti-Jew and anti-Israel bias thrive, the mass importation of people raised to hate Jews, I could see how it could be. If it comes to pass, we will be more grateful than ever for those that have experience, and can mentor. Our Veterans.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.~~ Edmund Burke
Our Veterans were not those people.