I’ve known former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for over four decades, and what he said on December 1 when he hosted family members of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, was one of his finest moments.
He reinforced his support by saying he is a “big friend” of the State of Israel and the Jewish people and always wants “to be there for them.”
There is a Talmudic teaching “ma’aseh avot siman l’banim,” meaning that which occurred to our ancestors will reoccur to our children (until the time of redemption).
That is exactly what happened in our world recently.
The Bible comes to life
In the Book of Genesis, God says to Noah, “keitz kol basar ba lefanai,” the end of all flesh is coming, “ki maleh ha’aretz hamas” because your planet is filled with hamas (hatred and animosity).” And here we are again, thousands of years later, the same events reoccur.
Hamas (in all senses of the word) has engulfed us, killing and kidnapping children, men, women, and older people with the simple objective of destroying our world. We must do something about it.
Not since the Holocaust have we witnessed such inhumanity, with children kidnapped from their homes and hidden beneath a hospital to be tortured, not cured.
We live in a world where the United Nations, an organization created to help enhance the world, now sits and watches from the bleachers, while mothers, fathers, and children are tortured and murdered before its very eyes.
Where are the Noahs of the Bible to step in and save them? Where is the spirit of the UN, whose creation was to make sure that our planet is free from the Hitlers and Hamases? Where are the world’s religious and political leaders who have been virtually silent?
Thank you, governor Schwarzenegger, for hosting the family members of the victims, for fighting for them, and for once again standing up and confronting the haters and the bigots – and for being such a loyal friend to the State of Israel and the Jewish people.
As we light the Hanukkah candles, let us remember how many lives are saved and enlightened by the actions of a single human being.
As Winston Churchill reminded all of us: “Strength is granted to us all when we are needed to serve great causes.” This is such a time. We must not fail. Let’s bring our families home.
The writer, a rabbi, is the co-chair of the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem and the founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.