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From: de@moscom.UUCP (Dave Esan)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: Christmas {report} card ( Israel )
Message-ID: <272@moscom.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 23-Dec-84 22:43:06 EST
Article-I.D.: moscom.272
Posted: Sun Dec 23 22:43:06 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 27-Dec-84 02:48:15 EST
References: <250@mhuxi.UUCP> <42700012@csd2.UUCP>
Organization: MOSCOM Corp, E Rochester, NY, USA
Lines: 40


Quote at the end of the article.


There was a spiritual victory after the 1948 war, a victory that can be seen
daily on this net.

Talk to your parents/grandparents about what it was like to live in the 
pre-Israel world.  How the Jew had no pride in being Jewish and how it
was a subject we tried to hide.  I will not go into the ruses that were used
to hide one's identity, but taking off the holidays or early for Shabbat
just wasn't done.  Wearing a magen david or a mezuzah just wasn't done.
Putting up menorahs in public places just wasn't done.  Excersing
political clout for the good of the community wasn't done.  Objecting
to Christmas carols being sung in public school or the creche in the
public park wasn't done.  We didn't want to anger the goyim.

Today, whether we observe all the mitzvot or not we have a pride in
being Jewish that was missing before Israel.  There is a spirituall reawakening
of what was a downtrodden people.  We are searching for the right paths
out of the quagmire that was pre-1948, using many different paths.  Most
don't coincide with yours, but they are paths, and that is the spiritual
victory.
					David Esan



> The big difference between 1948 and CHANUKA is seen from theactions
> taken after the victory. In the miracle of CHANUKA the jews went to 
> the Bais Hamikdash and purified it to serve HASHEM. They had a physical
> miracle (the winning of the war) and a spiritial miracle (the menora
> lit for 8 days). However unfortunately in 1948 after the miracles 
> instead of seeking to serve HASHEM the 'state' was created as a 
> 'democracy' with chilul shabbat,abortions,autopsies etc....
> 
> Although we thank HASHEM for giving us back our land we can not
> compare this to the days of CHANUKA
>                                      Asher Schechter

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