A few days ago one of my sons posted an item to
facebook. The source of the item was a left-wing Israeli newspaper, and
it seemed to indicate him being against Israel's actions up to that point in
Gaza.
Immediately several of his
Israeli friends posted some very nasty comments, including "death to the
leftists", and cursing him and his "neturi karta" family.
[The "neturi karta" group is a very small anti-Israeli Jewish
Orthodox group. It is not
representative of the general attitude of the Orthodox community, even of those
who do not "hold" by the Israeli government (like Satmer).]
I know my son well enough to
doubt that he meant his post the way it was being taken, and in the end, I was
correct in this. I wrote a comment, mentioning three things:
1) I was pretty sure that the post was not
meant as it was being taken
2) statements like "death to the
leftists" are loathsome. Groups like Hamas like to kill people who
disagree with them; we need not fall to this level.
3) My son's family are NOT "neturi
karta", and even my son who does not "hold" by the Israeli
government, is NOT pro Arab, and is worrried and concerned for all the Jewish
residents of aretz (Israel). He said Tehillim (Psalms) daily
for Gilad Shalit, and was heartbroken over the death of the three teens. [I
have no doubt that he will be saying Tehillim tomarrow for the
safety of the soldiers who are entering Gaza.]
The reaction was swift in
coming. ... further explosive statements, name calling. [This is typical
of online discussions. People VERY RARELY listen to each other online. It tends
to generally be a simple shouting match.]
At this point my son noticed
the hornet's nest that his post had caused. He posted an explanation, and
shortly afterwards deleted his post. (This was probably because he wanted both
not to be misunderstood, as well as to keep his crazy mom from mixing in.....).
* * *
* * *
I feel very strongly that
right now as Israeli troops are entering such a dangerous action, we need G-d's
favor. Sinking to the level of prejudice, hate, and name calling is
not going to endear us to the Almighty. Now is not the time to be divisive, but
to unite.
2 comments:
That must have been very frightening being attacked like that.
RickismomJuly 20, 2014 at 7:47 AMIt was on-line, so the frightening aspect was "My G-d, WHAT have we become.....? And is this going to be the new norm... !?? " Because if this type of hate-and-vilify (especially from the religious camp...although these people were not religious, I have sern it in our camp as well) becomes the new norm I don't know how my emmunah will take itReplyDelete
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