Coffee Tawk - No Big Woof

 I met with my rabbi yesterday afternoon for coffee. My plan was to discuss some halachic concerns I have encountered since returning to attending shul every week. Like most of our conversations, I distracted myself by going off on tangents and sideways into rabbit holes. This is not bad with my rabbi, as I always learn something new from him; however, I didn't get to cover the questions I had prepared beforehand. 

The solution, at least the one I am trying now, is to type up a letter to the rabbi (using my trusty Royal Custom from 1964) and mail it to him via snail mail. Hopefully, this will allow me to stay on topic and broach some of the questions I might feel are embarrassing or difficult to discuss in person. 

The first letter is written and ready to drop in the post. It was almost atrocious to see how bad my typing skills have become over the years and how dependent upon spell-checking and autocorrecting I have become. 

It's Exhausting

 I am so exhausted. I'm exhausted by the world's response to the October 7th massacre of innocent Jews by Hamas terrorists. I'm exhausted by having to defend Israel's right to exist almost every day online. I'm exhausted from listening to Liberal friends supporting a terror organization while knowing the terrorists would kill them almost immediately. 

After another "Queers for Palestine" protest happened here in the United States, I heard someone say that Queers for Palestine reminded them of Chickens for KFC. It was tiring to see so many intelligent people on the Right fall for Trump's lies in 2016 and again in 2020. Now, it is exhausting to see so many otherwise intelligent people on the Left fall into believing the lies from Hamas and Hezbollah. The same lies that have been told for decades. 

Zionism isn't a bad word. Bad people have corrupted it and tried to change its meaning. Zionism is simply the movement for the self-determination and statehood for the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland, the land of Israel.(1) That's it. 

With the end of the ceasefire in November 2023 and the resumption of hostilities in Gaza, Israel believes that over 132 hostages remain, including two children, although the IDF has confirmed the deaths of 18 hostages due to new intelligence and findings from soldiers in Gaza.(2)

Of the remaining hostages, 21 are believed to be dead. Israel counts the dead in its total hostage figures. Most of the remaining hostages are men, but the prime minister's office said 19 women and two children were still believed to be held.

This is what the protestors are supporting. Innocent people whose only crime was being Jewish. 

I'm exhausted, and I don't have anyone to talk to about it. Not intelligently. Not someone who would understand my point of view. 

The rocket alerts go off all through the day and night. "צבע אדום, צבע אדום" "tzeva adom, tzeva adom" code red, code red. I'm exhausted from hearing that alert go off on my phone all day, and I can't imagine living where I would have to seek shelter with every alert. 

I pray for the return of the hostages. I pray for there to be a lasting peace. I pray for Israel to have peace. 

But I am exhausted.