Post by Paddy by Grace on Oct 26, 2010 14:57:19 GMT -7
Media and government antagonism to Rabbi Kahane blurred his fight for Soviet Jewry and defense of elderly, helpless US Jews. Twenty years after his murder, his warnings about Arab enemies and the United States seem prophetic. A friend remembers.
Each year at this time, which marks the yarzeit (Memorial Day) of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, of blessed memory, brutally murdered by an Arab assassin twenty years ago, I humbly attempt to put into words what his loss means to me personally, as well as to the Jewish people.
Having been granted the privilege by Hashem Yitbarach (the Lord, Blessed be He) to work closely with this dedicated and selfless Jewish leader for many years, both in the United States, and later in Israel, I was privy to witness the true meaning of Ahavat Yisrael, love of the Jewish people, which he exemplified.
Rabbi Kahane loved the G-D of Israel, the land of Israel and the his Jewish brothers and sisters.
His first and foremost concern was to do whatever had to be done to alleviate the suffering of fellow Jews, whether they were refused the right to emigrate from the former Soviet Union, or they were the poverty stricken, elderly Jews in America abandoned in changing neighborhoods and left helpless against the hoodlums who preyed upon them as easy victims .
As Founder of the Jewish Defense League, his courageous activities and rallying cry "Never Again" shocked the world but succeeded in changing the image in many gentile minds of the passive Jew who "went quietly to the gas chambers"during the Holocaust. Regardless of the countless beatings and imprisonments he suffered for his belief in his Torah true ideology, Rabbi Kahane never faltered in his commitment to Jewish survival.
I vividly recall one particular incident which occurred in the l980'S during the struggle to free millions of Jews behind the Iron Curtain.
Knowing that the leader of the Kremlin would be coming to America to try to encourage detente between Russia and the United States, the Rabbi sent a letter to a J.D.L activist, urging that Jews not be silent at this crucial time.
The letter was intercepted by the Israeli government and turned over to the U.S.Attorney general which meant that , due to his previous arrests, Rabbi Kahane faced a possible 5 year imprisonment.
On the day of sentencing, the courtroom was filled to capacity,
The presiding Jewish judge stated that if Rabbi Kahane would declare an end to his aggressive campaign against the Soviets, perhaps the court would consider leniency in handing down its verdict.
“Your Honor" came his reply "I stand before you today, who are a flesh and blood judge;, One day, I will have to stand before a HEAVENLY JUDGE, G-D BLESSED BE HE, who will ask me, "Meir Kahane, what did you do to help free millions of your Jewish brothers and sisters who are virtual prisoners in Russia for wanting to emigrate to Israel?
Therefore, Your Honor...you must do what you must do...and, with G-D'S help, I will continue to do what I must do."
After making Aliyah with his family in the seventies, Rabbi Kahane exhibited the same steadfast commitment to Eretz Yisrael, the Jewish homeland, enduring imprisonments and hunger strikes for warning in his classic books and lectures to transfer those Arab enemies living in Israel, whose growing radicalization and nationalism both in and out of the Knesset.endangered Israel's survival.
His last words at the fatal speaking date in New York were to a prophetic call upon Jews to leave America and come home to Israel before the rising tide of virulent anti-Semitism might once again make them the scapegoats of the economic and racial problems facing the world, this time in American society.
Today, 20 years later, events have shown that his prophetic words have become a grim reality. Yet successive Israeli governments continue with the charade of the Oslo 'peace process', in which thousands of Israelis have been murdered and wounded while Israel keeps offerring suicidal concessions to its implacable Arab enemies.
An anonymous philospher once said, "Wisdom is like rain; it hits the highest mountain peaks and then descends to the valleys.
How tragic that Rabbi Meir Kahane, a true and wise Jewish leader of our generation was taken from us, as Israel's present leaders ,stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that "Kahane was right", remain in the "valleys" untouched by the rain.
Each year at this time, which marks the yarzeit (Memorial Day) of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, of blessed memory, brutally murdered by an Arab assassin twenty years ago, I humbly attempt to put into words what his loss means to me personally, as well as to the Jewish people.
Having been granted the privilege by Hashem Yitbarach (the Lord, Blessed be He) to work closely with this dedicated and selfless Jewish leader for many years, both in the United States, and later in Israel, I was privy to witness the true meaning of Ahavat Yisrael, love of the Jewish people, which he exemplified.
Rabbi Kahane loved the G-D of Israel, the land of Israel and the his Jewish brothers and sisters.
His first and foremost concern was to do whatever had to be done to alleviate the suffering of fellow Jews, whether they were refused the right to emigrate from the former Soviet Union, or they were the poverty stricken, elderly Jews in America abandoned in changing neighborhoods and left helpless against the hoodlums who preyed upon them as easy victims .
As Founder of the Jewish Defense League, his courageous activities and rallying cry "Never Again" shocked the world but succeeded in changing the image in many gentile minds of the passive Jew who "went quietly to the gas chambers"during the Holocaust. Regardless of the countless beatings and imprisonments he suffered for his belief in his Torah true ideology, Rabbi Kahane never faltered in his commitment to Jewish survival.
I vividly recall one particular incident which occurred in the l980'S during the struggle to free millions of Jews behind the Iron Curtain.
Knowing that the leader of the Kremlin would be coming to America to try to encourage detente between Russia and the United States, the Rabbi sent a letter to a J.D.L activist, urging that Jews not be silent at this crucial time.
The letter was intercepted by the Israeli government and turned over to the U.S.Attorney general which meant that , due to his previous arrests, Rabbi Kahane faced a possible 5 year imprisonment.
On the day of sentencing, the courtroom was filled to capacity,
The presiding Jewish judge stated that if Rabbi Kahane would declare an end to his aggressive campaign against the Soviets, perhaps the court would consider leniency in handing down its verdict.
“Your Honor" came his reply "I stand before you today, who are a flesh and blood judge;, One day, I will have to stand before a HEAVENLY JUDGE, G-D BLESSED BE HE, who will ask me, "Meir Kahane, what did you do to help free millions of your Jewish brothers and sisters who are virtual prisoners in Russia for wanting to emigrate to Israel?
Therefore, Your Honor...you must do what you must do...and, with G-D'S help, I will continue to do what I must do."
After making Aliyah with his family in the seventies, Rabbi Kahane exhibited the same steadfast commitment to Eretz Yisrael, the Jewish homeland, enduring imprisonments and hunger strikes for warning in his classic books and lectures to transfer those Arab enemies living in Israel, whose growing radicalization and nationalism both in and out of the Knesset.endangered Israel's survival.
His last words at the fatal speaking date in New York were to a prophetic call upon Jews to leave America and come home to Israel before the rising tide of virulent anti-Semitism might once again make them the scapegoats of the economic and racial problems facing the world, this time in American society.
Today, 20 years later, events have shown that his prophetic words have become a grim reality. Yet successive Israeli governments continue with the charade of the Oslo 'peace process', in which thousands of Israelis have been murdered and wounded while Israel keeps offerring suicidal concessions to its implacable Arab enemies.
An anonymous philospher once said, "Wisdom is like rain; it hits the highest mountain peaks and then descends to the valleys.
How tragic that Rabbi Meir Kahane, a true and wise Jewish leader of our generation was taken from us, as Israel's present leaders ,stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that "Kahane was right", remain in the "valleys" untouched by the rain.