Israel: The Canary in the Coalmine

Norma Zager

“I will insist the Hebrews have [contributed] more to civilize men than any other nation. If I was an atheist and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations…” John AdamsWhy in the world should anyone care about Israel? Even many Jewish people are “over it.”



I mean what’s the point? Sure they invent great stuff there, but there are Jews everywhere so who needs Israel? It just causes more trouble for us all. Aren’t most people convinced without Israel the world would be one big party?



I can visualize the celebration. Ding-dong the Jews are dead.



Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong Il dancing in the streets. Every disease would suddenly be eradicated. Everyone would be rich and no more children would be murdered in Darfur. No women would be stoned in Afghanistan.



Those darn Jews. All these problems, and if they would only go way, we could all be so darn happy.



Talking to someone the other day the subject of Israel was broached.

My support for Israel is well known, but my reasons perhaps not, so I will explain.



Aside from the fact I feel compelled as a Jew to honor the hope that Israel represented to the survivors of the Holocaust, the real purpose Ari and I fight so vehemently to ensure its survival is not religious.



Surprised?



The existence of Israel is proof that even after the greatest evil man has known, for one brief fleeting moment, the world’s better nature glowed with compassion and gave the Jewish people back their homeland. This is the symbolic flame of goodness that burns inside man.



Israel is, and will remain, the last hope that evil can be stopped. If the people and country most reviled in the world can survive surrounded by such enemies, it will serve as proof of mankind’s better nature.



Israel is a light among nations and that light is goodness. It is concrete evidence that no matter how evil seeks to destroy its opposite, good will always overcome.



True and unfortunate that too many often suffer before evil is stopped, but the better nature of man always remains victorious and standing in the end.



It is interesting that most of the world’s religions identify the Jewish people as the lawgivers. The Torah is a basis for law among civilized cultures. The Ten Commandments are the core principals of humanity and human treatment toward one another. Yes, we were designated to deliver the laws. However, we were also designated to be the canary in the coalmine of civilization.



Why are the Jewish people so hated? It is because the Lord, or whatever divine spirit controls our world, selected them. Jews are the living proof of God’s protection and mercy on earth.



After all the serious attempts to wipe them off the earth, the fact they are still here despite all odds speaks volumes. Their existence has little to do with tenacity on the their part, but a purpose and design far greater.



If Israel is destroyed it will signal the victory of evil and the end of goodness.



From that moment on humankind will begin a slow but unstoppable deterioration into the depths of self-destruction.



Israel is not about religious shrines, not about the tiny piece of land on which it sits, or even the craziness and political everyday foibles that occur among its politicians.



It is a light, a beam and indisputable proof we are destined for good. That man’s better nature is dominant and must be so. That as we evolve, we evolve to a higher state that separates us further from the animals.



You don’t have to be religious to care if Israel survives. Christian, Muslim, Atheist, it matters not. Purpose transcends all spirituality.


The relationship between the US and Israel is symbiotic.



The United States has always been a force for good. We are the protectors. We fight the playground bullies. We protect the hated, the outcast, the Israel.



We don’t always care as much about the law as the law’s effect on man.



We place kindness and human dignity above all else.



This is why America has thrived and became the greatest nation.



Why it grew so quickly to overcome all others.



And sadly, why it now is falling from Grace.



America needs to stand by Israel, because Americans want their country to do so. It is in the DNA and at their core.



Their feelings transcend religious differences and are based on the principals of our founding fathers. Their hopes for what this nation should, could and would become.



Israel can never be totally protected in the world. It is destined to play its role as the hated, the stepchild, the despised, as a reminder of our responsibility toward safeguarding goodness and human dignity.



Whether one is deeply religious, spiritual or believes in nothing at all, no one can ever deny evil’s existence.



To some it has a name, many names, but whatever its title, it is a power to be reckoned with forever.



As long as humankind exists, good and evil will battle for the souls of man and within him.



Israel is living proof our side is still winning.



I will give Rabbi Menachem Mendle the last word.



“Intolerance lies at the core of evil. Not the intolerance that results from any threat or danger. But intolerance of another being who dares to exist. Intolerance without cause. It is so deep within us, because every human being secretly desires the entire universe to himself. Our only way out is to learn compassion without cause. To care for each other simply because that 'other' exists.


© “Postcards from Israel—Postcards from America,” August, 2010

Contact: aribussel@gmail.com