Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Iranian Missiles and the Shield of God

There are those who claim Israel in invincible, the chosen people of God. I won't do that because it sounds too fanciful, too extremist, too foreign to modern thinking people who like to measure the world in scientific terms. Chaim Weizmann...or was it David Ben Gurion...I always get them confused, but really, it comes to the same thing so forgive me for not taking the time to Google it...one of these great founders of Israel once said that to be a realist in Israel, you had to believe in miracles.

Israelis sat down to their last meal before the Yom Kippur meal knowing that Iran was launching a series of war games all meant to intimidate and yet, we had greater things to think about. Israel did as it always does on Yom Kippur - we withdrew into ourselves for our annual dose of introspection. Iran barked and growled and Israel ignored it.

It seems the US has finally come around to what Israel has been saying for a long time - that the Iranians have the goal of creating nuclear weapons. Only, says the US, it is now too late to stop them.

Again, these are words for a country that was too busy for words and so ultimately, if the shield of man (perhaps the US or the United Nations in some naive minds) will not stand between Israel and the Iranians, the Shield of David and God will. For me, for now, that is enough to bring me comfort.

This is, after all, Israel - a land and people that has stretched through history. Gone are the Ancient Romans, Greeks and Egyptians. Gone are the Nazis, the crusaders, the cossacks. The clouds roll in over Jerusalem this morning, the sun shines, Jerusalem glistens. It is enough. G'mar hatima tova - may the people of Israel be inscribed in the Book of Life for the coming year and may our enemies know no rest, no success.

1 comment:

real estate agent from Vancouver said...

Hi,
very nice article. I admire how strong people of Israel are, if they know Iran barked and growled and they just ignored it and lived their normal lives. it must be very hard to live normal life when you imagine the enemies around. i think we can not really imagine it as we never experienced that. jay