Do you know how many days until Hannukah? Find our curated Channukah books and gift suggestions on BestJewishBooks.com (or uncurated @ Amazon).
Once in a blue moon a reply comes in from a reader of this Friday email... sometimes with an answer to the big question at the bottom, sometimes with a request for more information, sometimes to (respectfully) disagree....
(Whatever the reason, it's uplifting to know that somebody is reading this blog once in awhile!)
Such a message arrived in reply to last week's Thanksgiving message - from an old friend I hadn't heard from in many years... apparently he reads this email every week!
I guess our friendship has become rather one-directional. But it was good to hear from him.
At other times, I wonder, is anyone listening?
That's how we Jews should be feeling right now regarding yesterday's shocking news from Down Under.
Sunrise in Melbourne, Australia is presently about 5:51 am. That means that the earliest morning service begins around 5:20.At around 4:30 am yesterday morning (Thursday, December 5, 2024), two men had arrived to Melbourne's largest synagogue, Adass Israel, to study Torah before the morning service. They heard and investigated some noises and found two men breaking a window and tossing in Molotov cocktails. The fire completely destroyed the shul.
The two men escaped with minor injuries. Had it occurred an hour later, there would have been hundreds of people inside.
Thankfully, miraculously, some (possibly all) of the Torah Scrolls were spared.
Wondering why you didn't hear about it? Maybe because no one was killed?
Last I checked - last night - literally none of the MSM outside of Australia and Israel carried the story on their front page - not the BBC nor the the NYT(still giving top billing to the the 2-day-old story about the Brian Thompson murder; the latter did however make space for the new Amnesty International Blood Libel), not the WP, not the LA Times (who decided a false tsunami warning was newsworthy, but not the firebombing of a synagogue), not the Miami Herald. Even the Sidney Morning Herald had the story way down their Home page, after more urgent items such as the death of "Australia’s first supermodel Maggie Tabberer."This shul was built by Holocaust survivors. Think about that.Question for your table: Had it been a Melbourne church or mosque, do you suppose the MSM would have ignored or buried the story?My daughter has a writing assignment this week about how October 7 has affected Jewish people's sense of Jewish identity and commitment around the world.How would you answer that?My personal perception is that October 7 was like rolling a heavy stone off of a well, allowing the worldwide waters of antisemitism to flow.... and the best response would be to roll the heavy stone off of the well of Jewish wisdom and make sure that those Jews who are waking up thirsty for Jewishness have something to quench their Jewish thirst.Your thoughts?
Shabbat Shalom
To learn more about how we're quenching Jewish thirst, see the links below.
To become a partner in the thirst-quenching business during this week of "Giving Tuesday" or anytime - click here.Appreciated this Table Talk? Like it, tweet it, forward it.... This message can also be read on Times of Israel.
_____________________
Jewish Spiritual Literacy, Inc.
Projects and Programs:
Torah Health and Fitness
Jewish Teachers Institute
The World's Most Amazing Jewish iPhone App
Barmitzvahalbum.com
A 501(c)3 organization.
No comments:
Post a Comment