michal's musings

First, I am not a big supporter of Mr. Trump; however, I like his honesty and not being politically correct. I think he is an important person to our political discussion and without him our politics and presidential campaign 2016 would be very different.  However, as much as I like Trump to be part of the campaign I am not planning to vote for him.  Second, few days ago the Pope in conversation about Mr. Trump made a comment that people who want to build walls are not Christians.  Well, Mr. Trump wants to build a physical wall between Mexico and the U.S.; however, the Pope is building invisible walls between people by making statements like that. The invisible walls are harder to break. Sometimes I think, there might be no difference between Pope and Trump. If we are honest with ourselves, there might not be a big difference between Trump, Pope and us either.  Is this something to be sad about? I don’t know. I only know, it might be a reality of many of our lives. Many o

When I was in Israel the first time in 2006, I attended a lecture at the Great Synagogue.   The topic of it was Iran.    During the break I spoke with an older gentleman about the 6 Day War. He said it was a miracle that Israel was able to win that war and I agreed with him.      Israel was attacked my all the surrounding countries.    This attack changed the mentality of Israel for ever.   During this war Israel learned that it needed to defend itself and that all the neighbors were not friendly to Israel and they desired the destruction of it. The 6 Day War was the biggest mistake of the Israeli neighbors and a support for the Palestinian people.   In my humble opinion, on one hand, there is no way how one can justify 6 Day War and on the other hand not to call it a political and militaristic miracle.  It looks like for the Palestinians that war never ended.  They became the victims of that war which was not started by Israel.  

Each time I see and hear about stabbing In Jerusalem my heart is broken. I do not worry about going to Jerusalem or Israel. I am an American. I look like an American Western Boy.  Nobody can think that I am an Orthodox Jew or a member of Israeli Army.  I am a tourist.   However, I feel bad for the Orthodox Jews and Israeli Army. When they are near Old City they have to be very careful. They can be wounded or killed by some angry and frustrated young Palestinian. One can say or write that it is Israel’s responsibility that the Palestinians are angry. Here, I am not going to discuss this situation. Why? Because life is important no matter whose life it is.  The Talmud says that saving one person is like saving the whole nation. I truly believe in that saying. The stabbings in Jerusalem and other places could never be justified.  Innocent people are being hurt.  It is the fault of politicians and generals that Israel and Palestine are in conflict. Both sides could do better

At the beginning I want to make it clear that I love Israel and I love and I am proud of my Jewish roots. Last Christians I spent some time in Tucson, Arizona.  I have some Christian and Jewish friends there and I go to the Reform Synagogue there for the Study and Services. Last time when I was there we discussed the topic of how could we be critical of Israel and not be called by some name.  Most of us agreed that it would be very difficult. We said that if one was Jewish and anti or critical of Israel one was being called: “self hate Jew.” When one was non-Jewish and was critical of Israel, one was being called “anti-Semite.”  The conclusion of our discussion was that it was almost impossible to be critical of Israel and not be called something that one is not.    I was in Israel twice. I spend almost six months there. No, I do not consider myself an expert on the Jewish State or situation but I do not think that Israel should be treated differently than any other co