Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
Reports from the Gazan Hell - Beatings, hunger, threats, and psychological abuse by Alan Joseph Bauer
Saturday, March 15, 2025
Front Page : Some of the released hostages have given insights into their time as prisoners in Gaza.One always needs to keep in
mind that not all things Israeli are Jewish, and not all things Jewish
are Israeli.
Israel has around 10 million citizens. It’s about 80%
Jewish; from its founding days, David Ben-Gurion and his comrades
strongly encouraged Arabs who were being told to leave the fledgling
Jewish state to stay put and make Israel their home. Most Israelis are
not outwardly religious, though many people will keep some aspects of
the faith, such as kosher food and/or some level of Sabbath observance.
The religious groups are growing quickly, and one sees more frequently
orthodox or ultraorthodox bus drivers, doctors, bank tellers,
programmers, and the like. There can be tension between the religious
and non-religious, and today, the subject of mandatory army service for
ultra-orthodox young men is front and center for the government. It has
been said that if all of the Arab countries made peace with Israel, then
the locals would go at each other, religious versus non-religious.
A very interesting
phenomenon, which is not really a big surprise, concerns Israelis who go
to live in the United States. Lots have moved there and love their
lives in their adopted homeland. Many of those who moved were not
religious when they were in Israel, but being in a much bigger country
with a vastly smaller Jewish population, they felt a need to connect
with their religion.
Two of our boys spent three months each, one in LA
and the other in Las Vegas, working with local rabbis whose
congregations are composed of such Americanized Israelis. It is not
unusual to see a guy with tattoos (which are forbidden by Jewish law)
now praying daily and having a completely kosher home. I have enjoyed
our visits to these communities because one feels a little bit of Israel
while enjoying the beauty and wonders of the United States.
Some of the recently
returned Israeli hostages have made public comments about their time in
Hamas captivity. Certain themes have been consistent in their
descriptions: beatings, hunger, threats, being moved around between
Palestinian families, and psychological abuse. One thread that has been
common in several stories has been an attachment to Judaism.
Already
during the actual Hamas attack, several people who survived the
onslaught said that they regurgitated whatever Jewish things they knew: a
chapter of Psalms they remembered by heart, the “Shema prayer” that
traditional Jews say twice a day or promises to keep the Sabbath. Some
said that they repeated these words over and over until they were safely
out of Hamas’ hands.
Similarly, several hostages said they began
praying, saying blessings, or doing their best to eat only kosher food.
One said she insisted on keeping the Sabbath in captivity, though she
had not done so previously. Last week, one returned woman said that she
sang a traditional Sabbath song in Arabic so that her captors would not
know that she was engaged in a religious act.
Another feature expressed
by several of the returned captives revolves around the Koran. The
returning Israelis said that their captors, on several occasions, tried
to interest them in learning from the Koran, and in all cases, the
Israelis refused. One could argue that the brutalized victims could tie
everything that they and their loved ones experienced from October 7th as
being a product of the Koran and Islamic teachings: why would they want
to join that?
But one could also say that with their existence pushed
to the outer limits, they grabbed onto their long-dormant Jewish
identity and used it to keep sane. Bill Shatner once told a story on
the Tonight Show about Vietnam POWs he met. They said to him that they acted out various episodes of Star Trek to
get them through their brutal stay as prisoners. The daughter of one
released captive told that her father started to make blessings over
food, something that he had never done before his capture. Others made
similar observations of their returned loved ones keeping the Sabbath or
saying daily prayers.