ChinuchAtHome

The world is running amok -- Institutions that only yesterday appeared as solid as the Rock of Gibraltar are crumbling before our very eyes. It cannot be. What is happening? 

Democrats blame the Republicans; Republicans blame the Democrats; still others make President Bush the scapegoat, and everyone agrees that Freddie and Fannie are at the root of the problem; bad loans, corruption, and greed, etc., which once again leads to more finger pointing.

by Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis

          It doesn’t much matter how you see it – the cruel reality is upon us. Our cherished, venerable pillars are collapsing before our very eyes like a house of cards, and the meltdown has become global. Everyone is hurting. Everyone is affected, but many of the nations of the world take perverse pleasure in seeing us, the giant tumble. For years, America supported and sustained them, and while they were happy to take advantage of American largesse, deep down, they were jealous and resentful of our leadership and our success. Yes, America invested in every nation – for years, American tax dollars buttressed and aided them, but, as is often the case in such situations, instead of thanks, we were repaid with scorn and resentment. And now that the U.S. is on the brink of cardiac arrest, they gleefully chide us and root for our leadership and power to vanish.

          I really couldn’t care less about the reactions of the nations of the world to our financial crisis. Ingratitude and jealousy are as old as history itself. We, the Jewish people, Baruch Hashem, have been admonished and alerted to protect ourselves from such corrosive sentiments. Already thousands of years ago, we were taught “not to cast stones into the well from which we drank”.  Gratitude is one of the pillars of Judaism – so much so that we are even commanded not to abhor the Egyptians who enslaved us, for at one time, they offered us hospitality, and for that we must remain forever grateful. 

          So why do I pause to comment on the reaction of the nations? Because we have to know how to connect the dots. No event occurs randomly - nothing just “happens”.  Our financial crisis and the hatred and ambition of rogue nations are a deadly combination that should raise a red flag for every thinking person. We witnessed this during the years of the Great Depression, when America turned inward and became isolationist and Hitler had a field day. There was no one to stop the monster, no one to monitor him, no one to call a halt to his mad obsession to dominate the world.

           Events are unfolding today that are, G-d forbid, reminiscent of the thirties.  Once again, we are in financial crisis. Please G-d, it is not as severe as it was in 1929, but we are a pampered,  spoiled, entitlement oriented generation, used to excesses and credit card spending – so this melt -down is hitting us hard. We are involved in an election process – perhaps one of the most crucial ones in our nation’s history, and the number one issue absorbing our country is our pocketbook! It does not to occur to us that our very lives and the lives of our children are at risk. Even as yesterday, there is a new Hitler in the playground and he is capitalizing on American self- absorption  Ahmadinejad, comes to New York, and as unbelievable as it may seem, for the second time, he is given a platform at the U.N. to address the nations of the world; New York,  the very city where 9/11 took place! New York, where one would imagine that that moment of infamy would have sufficed to keep Ahmadinejad and his ilk forever out of the city.  But incredibly, not only is he welcomed, he is tendered an enthusiastic reception.  Emboldened by events, secure in the knowledge that no one is minding the store, this time he doesn’t even bother to disguise his satanic plans. Openly, he proclaims, “The dignity, integrity, and rights of the European and American people are being played with by a small, but deceitful number of people called Zionists.  Although they are a minuscule minority, they have been dominating an important portion of the financial and monetary centers as well as the political decision-making centers of some European countries and the U.S. in a deceitful, complex, and furtive manner.”

          And just for good measure, he added that Israel is a “stinking cesspool that must be eliminated”! 

          And incredibly, there is no outcry, there is no outrage. On the contrary, the venerable representatives of the nations applaud him! To me, a survivor of the concentration camps, Ahmadinejad’s demagoguery has an ominous all-too familiar ring.

          Was it only yesterday that I heard the same hate-mongering from Hitler? Was it only yesterday that the nations of the world embraced and cheered this satanic monster while America, absorbed in its own financial crisis, remained silent? How tragic that history keeps repeating itself and we never learn.  There was no one to stop Hitler when he embarked upon his savage, bloody course, and today, there is no one to stop Ahmadinejad and company. Ahmadinejad is making hay from America’s financial crisis and other totalitarian nations are joining him. The Russian Bear is menacing the world again – wheeling and dealing with Venezuela’s madman, Chavez.... North Korea reneges on her agreement to halt nuclear proliferation, and is moving full speed ahead with her deadly program.... Rogue nations are taking over and there in no one to police them. The world is on fire as America turns inward and Moslem influence and penetration continue to infiltrate and escalate in every country ... every hemisphere.

          The unbelievable is unfolding before our eyes and we are caught sleeping.  The entire world is affected, but for us Jews, everything is always more so.  We must look at that which befalls the world and our people through different lenses. We have to listen for the hidden messages. We have to see the Divine Hand that is guiding us.  We cannot simply attribute our present crisis to bad judgment, corruption, or an unfortunate confluence of circumstances.

          So how are we to understand that which is unfolding before our very eyes? What must our Jewish lenses telegraph us?

(To be continued)

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