It's getting close to sundown and I have a lot to do before I'm ready for shul and Sukkot adventures with Little Miss over the next two days. This is kinda a family tradition that started when I was a kid. On yontiff we went to shul in the morning and then had an interesting afternoon, usually at home or with friends who were also out of school. With my kids, we had shul in the morning, followed by lunch in the sukkah and adventures with moms and friends. My favorite was always when I arranged for a trail ride at the gone but not forgotten Diamond T Ranch where I worked mucking stables, handling horses, and leading trail. Ah, those were the days! (No money ever changed hands!)
Little Miss and I have specific things we like to do after lunch in the sukkah. We go to Como Park. It's free. This year, we're hoping it's warm enough to walk the Japanese Garden and the Zoo. Then dinner in the sukkah at Sean and Katherine's. Tuesday will bring another lunch in the sukkah followed by a visit to Uncle Misha's friend Ben at the Science Museum. I'm a member; it's free. We will go "backstage" to see wondrous things regular folks don't get to see.
And as much as I will love doing all these things with her, I will not be unaware.
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| Memorial commemorating the murder of the Jews in Golovanevsk, Ukraine |
On the eve of Yom Kippur, the Holocaust Memorial in Westchester County, dedicated to the murder of 900 Jews in the Ukraine, was defaced. On Yom Kippur day, a gunman tried, but failed, to enter a synagogue in Halle, Germany. Feckless Leader turned his back on one of our long standing alliances and is forcing millions of Kurds to flee their homes...again...leaving them to be slaughtered by the Turks.
Now for the part I don't get: Turks are Muslims. Kurds are Muslims, most are Sunni..like the Palestinian Muslims. There are about 2,000,000 Kurds in Syria. Currently they are being slaughtered by the Turks. We see videos. We hear eyewitness reports. And in America we hear silence.
Where is Ilhan Omar? Where is Rashida Tlaib? Don't those Sunni Muslims matter at all? Where are the demonstrations and the protests? Where is the outcry?
From The Jerusalem Post:
Dozens of IDF reservists have called on Israel to provide military and humanitarian support to the Kurds in Syria following Turkey’s attack in the north of the war-torn country.
“We, as Israelis and Jews, must not stand by when we see another nation abandoned by its allies and left defenseless,” read an online petition started by Maj. (res.) Yair Fink. “We remember very well the blood of our people, what happens when the nations of the world abandon the fate of a people.”
The petition, signed by dozens of reservists with the ranks ranging from captain to lieutenant colonel, was addressed to Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi.
The letter was sent shortly before the prime minister himself announced intentions to offer support to the Kurds.
The petition called on Israel to provide food, clothing, medicine, intelligence and military assistance to the Kurds in northern Syria.
“Israel is a country that has the means to help the Kurdish people, and now is the time to do so,” it read, adding that while “we know that there are broad strategic implications here, and of course we are not fully aware of the overall picture, we, who have been educated on the values of personal examples and the sanctity of life, cannot help but feel it at this time and would be happy to assist in any action.”
These are important voices in Israel and they are being heard. Israel is reportedly sending emergency aid to the Kurds. That's because Israelis are a racist, apartheid nation that cares for no one but itself. Really? What is the US doing besides removing all the troops from Syria?
From the Times of Israel:
Dozens of Israelis joined thousands of others across Europe Saturday protesting against the Turkish assault on Kurds in northern Syria.
Holding signs reading “never again,” and warning against a genocide of the Kurdish people, some 100 people gathered at Jerusalem’s Paris Square outside the Prime Minister’s Residence to demonstrate against the Turkish offensive and show solidarity with the Kurds.
“As a Jew, I cannot watch what is happening and remain silent,” organizer Roni Lesser said, according to the Ynet news website. “My daughter just returned from a trip to Poland and we are speaking about ‘never again’.”
It's a beginning. This will take root. Israelis know all too well that what happens to the Kurds can happen to them when the world turns its back.
Where are the demonstrations here? Why are Omar, Tlaib, and Ocasio-Cortez silent? Maybe they like Kurds as much as they like Jews. There are Kurds living in this country. Ask them how they feel right now.
I don't know if a happy chag is possible this year, knowing people are being erased from the earth because our President unilaterally decided to abandoned them.
You tell me.
The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week
Hug your kids and your grandkids.
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