Praying for better days ahead – beyond hope . . .
Rosh Chodesh Sh’vat for Hebrew Year 5785 begins this evening at sundown – Wednesday, January 29th, and ends at nightfall on Thursday, January 30th.
It is a tradition at the beginning of a new month, a time of renewal, to consciously (with Kavanah) remember what we carry forward with us . . .
Memory . . .
________
Lest we forget . . .
https://time.com/7209598/keeping-holocaust-memories-alive-essay/
Committing to Memory: In Time, law professor and general counsel emeritus of the World Jewish Congress Menachem Rosensaft, the son of Holocaust survivors, stresses the importance of keeping alive the memories of those who were killed in the Shoah. “One other central, if not overriding, purpose of Holocaust remembrance, however, must be to think of the millions who were annihilated not as impersonal statistics but as individuals with names, faces, identities, dreams, and emotions. The survivors told us about their parents and grandparents, their spouses, their siblings, their children, their friends, their neighbors who died of starvation in ghetto streets or of typhus in a concentration camp barrack, or whose corpses rose toward heaven from a crematorium.
We cannot allow these dead to fade into the ether of oblivion. Each of us, in turn, must now commit to transmit into the future at least one name and one face.
For me, that name and face belong to Benjamin, my mother’s five-and-a-half-year-old son. Since my mother’s death in 1997, Benjamin has existed inside of me. I see his face in my mind, try to imagine his voice, his fear as the gas chamber doors slammed shut, his final tears. If I were to forget him, he would disappear. And I must make sure that he will not disappear with me.”
______________
“Trojans” – turning foreign aid on its head . . .
(And this may be only the tip of the iceberg . . . )
Ending American Prophylactic Assistance for the Gaza Strip (for the record and well documented: Gazan Arabs used Condoms for kerosene firebombings of Israeli towns and farms — costing American taxpayers: $50 Million dollars this year alone.
_____________
Here, something for us to note, to keep in mind, and to remember in the days ahead: (From the NYT today)
Taking a look at American Jewish Leaders and their Legislative behaviors – perhaps due to personal-identity-issues: of special interest: “Schumer the Shomer”
___________
Are the Prophets truly able to narrate the future: (i.e. Jeremiah chapter 46:24 of this week’s Haftara)
הֹבִ֖ישָׁה בַּת־מִצְרָ֑יִם נִתְּנָ֖ה בְּיַ֥ד עַם־צָפֽוֹן׃
Fair Egypt (Gaza) shall be shamed,
Handed over to the people of the north.
אָמַר֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה צְבָא֜וֹת אֱלֹהֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל הִנְנִ֤י פוֹקֵד֙ אֶל־אָמ֣וֹן מִנֹּ֔א וְעַל־פַּרְעֹה֙ וְעַל־מִצְרַ֔יִם וְעַל־אֱלֹהֶ֖יהָ וְעַל־מְלָכֶ֑יהָ וְעַ֨ל־פַּרְעֹ֔ה וְעַ֥ל הַבֹּטְחִ֖ים בּֽוֹ׃
GOD of Hosts, the God of Israel, has said: I will inflict punishment —on Egypt, her gods, and her kings—on Pharaoh and all who rely on him.
Have no fear, My servant Jacob,
Be not dismayed, O Israel!
I will deliver you from far away,
Your folk from their land of captivity;
And Jacob again shall have calm
And quiet, with none to trouble him.
אַ֠תָּ֠ה אַל־תִּירָ֞א עַבְדִּ֤י יַֽעֲקֹב֙ נְאֻם־יְהֹוָ֔ה כִּ֥י אִתְּךָ֖ אָ֑נִי כִּי֩ אֶעֱשֶׂ֨ה כָלָ֜ה בְּכׇֽל־הַגּוֹיִ֣ם ׀ אֲשֶׁ֧ר הִדַּחְתִּ֣יךָ שָּׁ֗מָּה וְאֹֽתְךָ֙ לֹא־אֶעֱשֶׂ֣ה כָלָ֔ה וְיִסַּרְתִּ֙יךָ֙ לַמִּשְׁפָּ֔ט וְנַקֵּ֖ה לֹ֥א אֲנַקֶּֽךָּ׃ {פ}
But you, have no fear,
My servant Jacob
—declares GOD—
For I am with you.
I will make an end of all the nations
Among which I have banished you,
______
Is Schumer still the ‘Shomer’ – was he ever?
Democrats Block Bill to Impose Sanctions on International Criminal Court Officials
Unlocked https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/us/politics/democrats-icc-sanctions.html?unlocked_article_code=1.s04.f2eJ.nJAFzkxT4ux1&smid=url-share
The failed Senate vote was a setback for the bill, which aims to punish the court for its decision to prosecute top Israeli officials for war crimes based on the military offensive in Gaza.
Note: Pennsylvanians, please read to the end of this Excerpt:
A bill to impose sanctions on officials affiliated with the International Criminal Court stalled in the Senate on Tuesday after Democrats refused to back it, a setback for legislation that aims to rebuke the court for its top prosecutor’s decision to bring war crimes charges against top Israeli leaders for their military offensive against Hamas in Gaza.
On Thursday, the 54-to-45 vote in the Senate left the measure short of the 60 votes needed to advance. All but a single Democrat, Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, opposed doing so.
There is significant bipartisan consternation in Washington with the tribunal’s decision in May to prosecute Israeli officials while simultaneously going after the leaders of Hamas, whose deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, started a bloody backlash in the Gaza Strip.
“As much as I oppose the I.C.C.’s deep bias against Israel and as much as I want to see that institution drastically reformed and reshaped, the bill before us is poorly drafted and deeply problematic,” Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, said on the floor moments before the vote, urging his colleagues to unite in opposition. “It will have many unintended consequences that undermine its primary goal.”
Members of both parties have argued that Karim Khan, the I.C.C.’s top prosecutor, overstepped the court’s jurisdiction when he brought the charges against Israel and inappropriately likened the actions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a close U.S. ally, with those of Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the Hamas terrorist group, accusing both of crimes against humanity.
“The court’s clear suggestion of moral equivalence between the government of Israel and the Hamas terrorists who attacked Israel and oppress their own people is beyond the pale,” Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota and the majority leader, said on the floor before the vote. “Israel waged war against terrorists; Hamas wages war against innocents. And the only reason Israel has been waging war against Hamas is because Hamas chose to launch a massive attack on innocent civilians that resulted in 1,200 deaths and the taking of approximately 250 hostages, more than 80 of whom are still in captivity today.”
Following the vote Mr. Fetterman said that he was “deeply disappointed” that the bill failed to advance. In a social media post, he criticized the I.C.C., saying that it equated the “democratically elected leader of our special ally to the terrorists and rapists of Hamas.”
