“I am the Lord your God” is the first commandment given at Sinai. This requires that we have perfect belief in our Creator and implies complete trust in His will.
By JERUSALEM POST READERSWhereabouts of God Sir, – Shmuley Boteach, in “Was God at Ground Zero?” (No Holds Barred, September 11), has the audacity to speak about the Creator of heaven and earth in such a fashion as to intimate that a mere mortal such as himself could possibly understand how God runs this universe.“I am the Lord your God” is the first commandment given at Sinai. This requires that we have perfect belief in our Creator and implies complete trust in His will.The famous sage Rashi, in his commentary on the Book of Genesis, stresses the importance of understanding that there is nothing that is not in the Creator’s control. The renowned Tosafist Rabbi Isaac of Courbil further reiterates that our belief in the Creator entails the understanding that He supervises all that transpires in the universe.
Through the ages, millions of innocent people have lost their lives in horrible wars, pogroms, kidnappings, inquisitions – and, of course, the Holocaust. The bombing of the Twin Towers was certainly not the first such tragic occurrence where thousands of innocent people lost their lives.It is shocking that someone who studied for years at a yeshiva, was ordained a rabbi and is regarded by many as a spiritual advisor could possibly utter such invective.RUTH AND ISAAC SIEGMANBeit ShemeshSir, – Was God there when the only son of a couple in our community, already in their 40s, drowned in a freak accident when he was just 18? Did anyone really believe He heard the mother’s outpouring of grief at the funeral when, with supreme eloquence, she cried out to Him in desperation as she eulogized the only child she had managed to bring into the world, and only then with great difficulty? “You, God,” she thundered.“You can do anything if You want. Bring me back my son!” Nobody could hold back the tears and nobody forgot her message. But God did hear her prayer and a few years later, against all odds, the couple was blessed with twin sons, now four-years old.What do we really know?LINDA STERNSafedSir, – Of course God was at Ground Zero.From the instant of creation, 9/11 was pre-ordained and the date was marked on His calendar.He was at Ground Zero to make sure his master plan for our world’s continual existence went implemented as planned.Woe to us of little faith!DANIEL ABELMANJerusalemSuspicion with honorSir, – Regarding Barry Rubin’s “What Jews should know about Christians” (The Region, September 12), Jews cannot be expected to ignore millennia of persecution in the name of Christianity or the Christians’ devious attempts to convert them, and accept their recent extension of friendly arms without trepidation.True, there have been some attempts by Christian groups to sincerely embrace Jews for what they are and not to try to change them, but the wariness of the Jews is more than understandable.As Jews we should follow the dictum “Honor him but suspect him.”HAIM M. LERNERGanei TikvaWhere’s the Knesset?Sir, – The latest crisis (“Netanyahu pledges allegiance to treaty with Egypt despite siege and ransacking of embassy,” September 11) is an example of a Knesset, which remains in recess, that has no input and no relevance in dealing with long- or short-term problems in foreign affairs.We can thank the blessed Lord that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu acted with intelligence and restraint in coping with the mob scenes around the Israeli embassy. We can also thank US President Barack Obama for his concern in warning the Egyptian government that a mob cannot take over the embassy, and that such actions pose a threat to all embassies.The government of Egypt has not really become stabilized since Hosni Mubarak’s downfall. The Knesset could play a vital role in reaching out to that’s country’s members of parliament and new leadership.The Knesset has no reason to absent itself with such long vacations.Netanyahu is a full-time prime minister. Members of the cabinet are full-time cabinet members. In a country like Israel, which has a crisis each minute, we need a full-time Knesset.TOBY WILLIGJerusalemOutside interferenceSir, – According to State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, “Violence will not advance, but will impede, the hope for peace between Israelis and Palestinians based on acceptance and respect” (“US condemn ‘price tag’ attacks on W. Bank mosques,” September 11).First of all, we can do without more interference from the US, which would do better condemning the ongoing attacks on Israelis by Palestinians who show their acceptance and respect by targeting innocent men, women and children. And has anyone taken the time to actually verify that it was indeed the vilified settlers, or could it have been Palestinians, perhaps helped by leftwing organizations determined to bring Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel to a halt?EDITH OGNALLNetanyaNot much of a fanSir, – Regarding “ADL raps Mel Gibson on Maccabee movie” (September 11), I understand Gibson will be playing either the anti-Semitic King Antiochus or the self-hating Jew who bowed down to the idol and was killed by Matityahu. Good choices.The theme of the movie has its own unique twist: It purports to show how the Maccabees killed the Seleucid gods just as they had Jesus. Fortunately, Gibson has Joe Eszterhas writing the screenplay and hopefully the result will only help add to the writer’s burgeoning collection of Golden Raspberry awards.YAACOV PETERSEILJerusalemEye-openerSir, – The closing of the Abu Tor kindergarten by Israeli police on suspicion of being a Hamas center is very disturbing (“Police close kindergarten in east Jerusalem for harboring Hamas activities,” September 9). If the allegations are true, one must ask who is responsible for such an outrageous lack of Israeli security and educational common sense? The article quotes denials from Najat school officials but, regrettably, no specifics of the charges.One would hope that this incident gets further investigation so that the truth emerges.The well-known Hamas program to poison the minds of its children with hatred and lies about Jews has been a hallmark of its barbaric anti-Israel policy.To discover that the Islamists have succeeded in infiltrating the Jerusalem school system is an eye-opener.Has our Ministry of Education been asleep, or has it been deluded by the wishful thinkers of our politically correct academia?YITZCHAK BEN-SHMUELModi’inNo mystery thereSir, – The identities and addresses of many of the individuals who are harassing the Beit Orot schoolgirls in Beit Shemesh are known (“Arrest in Beit Shemesh school protest,” News in Brief, September 9), so I suggest that each and every girl in the school, and her parents, go to the local police station and file criminal complaints of sexual harassment, stalking and assault.What else do you call it when a male over the age of 18 stands outside a girls’ school waiting for the girls to exit and then physically and verbally assaults them? In parallel, the families should file civil suits against these individuals and seek immediate injunctions ordering them to stay at least 500 meters away from the school and the girls themselves.DANIEL FEIGELSON Rehovot
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