Over a hundred years ago in eastern Russia, there
was a Jewish shochet (one who butchers animals as
prescribed by Jewish religious laws) who was also the
cantor in his synagogue. His name was Moses Baline and
his wife was Leah. There were eight children born to this
Orthodox Jewish couple. To escape the Pogroms (violent
religious persecutions against Jews), he moved his family
to New York in 1893 and worked there as a Kosher butcher.
Just 3 years after arriving, Moses Baline died. His
family struggled to make ends meet. One of the sons,
Yisrael, at the age of eight, took to peddling on the
streets of the Lower East Side of New York City to help
support his mother andfamily.
In the early 1900s he worked as a singing waiter in many
restaurants and started writing songs. As he entered
''show business'', Yisrael Baline adopted the
name, Irving Berlin. In 1939, as the storm clouds of war
gathered in Europe, Irving Berlin wrote the lyrics and
music for a song to rally the country. Kate Smith sang
the song on Radio. It's name? ''GOD BLESS
AMERICA''
Intro (spoken): While the storm clouds gather far across
the sea, Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free,
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair, As we raise
our voices in a solemn prayer . . .
God bless America, Land that I love ! Stand beside her
and guide her Through the night with the light from above
From the mountains, To the prairies, To the ocean white
with foam God bless America, My home sweet home. God
bless America, My home sweet home.
On this Yom Kippur, be reminded that once again it was a
Jew who prayed that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
would bless, guide and protect these United States of
America.
YOM KIPPUR MESSAGE - A PLEA FOR FORGIVENESS
By Reuven
Koret September 26, 2001
This evening Jews the world over observe the holiest and
most solemn holiday of the year, Yom Kippur, the Day of
Atonement. It is a day of fasting, prayer, and
introspection, in which the faithful believe that they
have a last chance to plead their case before the
heavenly court and so merit to be inscribed in the Book
of Life for the coming year. In Israel, the nation closes
it borders, locks its offices, parks its cars. The
synagogues are packed beyond capacity, especially at the
start of the holiday, to hear the melancholy medieval kol
nidre prayer, and at the end of the fast, when the final
long blast of the shofar (ram's horn) signifies the
closing of the Book and the shutting of heaven's gates.
In between, in the cool of the evening and the late
afternoon following, parents walk in the middle of the
streets with their children. Young people walk and talk.
In secular neighborhoods, kids and teens ride bikes and
roller blades, reveling in the absence of cars. In
religious neighborhoods, the air is filled with the
sounds of psalms and hymns. There is nothing like it in
the world, or in the rest of the Israeli year.
And there has never been a year like this year. A year of
unceasing Palestinian violence, punctuated by grotesque
suicide bombing attacks, capped by the most spectacularly
violent single atrocity since the atomic bomb, also, it
seems, carried out by fanatical Moslems. But it is to the
Moslem people in particular that I turn today in a public
plea for forgiveness. Jewish people cannot make peace
with their God until they try to make peace with their
fellow man, and to personally beg pardon for their
specific offenses.
As the publisher of Israel's fastest growing online
newsmagazine, which launched just some seven months ago,
there is a sense of excitement and empowerment at the
sudden ability to reach thousands of souls each day, to
share thoughts and feelings, to inform and perhaps even
influence others. I feel that what we are doing is
important, helping to provide an up-to-date and in-depth
view of a small and often misunderstood nation that often
finds itself as the object of the world's attention, at
the center of history's storm.
Yet with that power comes heavy-duty responsibilities.
One responsibility is to seek journalistic truth in a sea
of disinformation, propaganda and outright lies: to call
things as we see them, and not to pull punches. Another
is fairness, to try to give competing voices a place to
be heard, to find the balance that gives expression and
context to diverse facets of a story. In both of these
respects, I believe we have made a good start: for this,
the lion's share of the credit belongs to a very capable
and hard-working staff and a growing circle of talented
independent contributors and columnists.
But one area where I know that my efforts have not always
succeeded is in avoiding harm. Strong words are sharp,
and they can pierce the mind. Even without intent to
hurt, they can provoke and offend religious and spiritual
sensibilities. In several cases, at least, I know I have
given offense to Moslem readers: a view about the
motivations of suicide bombers, a commentary suggesting
deterrent responses to prevent recurrence of atrocities
such as the attacks on America's sacred symbols, an
analysis of how Moslem agreements with infidels are to be
suspected, a satirical person-of-the-year award to Yasser
Arafat.
Some of these pieces were written in fury, outraged as I
have been by the evil committed in the name of Islam.
Now, perhaps as never before in our generation, the whole
world can distinguish darkness from light, vicious
evildoers from imperfect but well-meaning souls. But I
never have intended, or sought to express, hatred or ill
intent to Palestinians, or Arabs, or Moslems as a whole.
It has never been clearer that individuals or
organizations can be considered, by their deeds and
words, truly evil. But whole races, religions, and
cultures cannot, and branding them as such has never been
my intent.
Some of those hurt by my remarks wrote to me, some with
crude attacks, personal insults, and anti-Jewish slurs.
But others wrote with reason, compassion and a genuine
effort to reach out. I am grateful for the latter, and
from them I beg pardon.
I do so not out of regret my words, which I continue to
stand by (though in some cases I have revised my views in
response to constructive criticism or my own second
thoughts). I ask forgiveness because israelinsider is
meant to be a healing vehicle of communication, where
people with passionately-held views about every aspect of
Israel and its national life can confront one another as
equals and speak to each other the truth as each sees it.
If I offend the sensibilities of my readers, and drive
them away from this engagement, then I fail to facilitate
the dialogue that this publication is all about.
So I reach out to those whom I may have offended, even if
unintentionally, and I ask that you give me, and us,
additional chances in the New Year to improve ourselves
and improve our products and services. I invite those who
may have been hurt by our work, and those who are helped
as well, to write to me personally, or to our editorial
team, with your thoughts and feelings on any subject or
any suggestion under the soon. If you would like, we will
consider your letters and commentary for possible
publication.
For the year 5762 we have ambitious plans to grow
israelinsider into a truly phenomenal online publication,
with greater depth and diversity, more multimedia and
streaming content, more channels, more community, and
exciting new content partners. No doubt we will make our
fair share of mistakes, but we won't stop trying to be
better. Our articles and views will continue to provoke
and stimulate strong thoughts and feelings.
Finally, I would like to thank israelinsider's remarkable
staff for their untiring work, and to beg their
forgiveness, too. No doubt I am occasionally a cruel
taskmaster, with strong opinions and short patience. They
make me proud, and I am grateful for their devotion.
May each of us be inscribed in the Book of Life for a
safe and peaceful year, may we each strive to make Israel
and the world a safer, more peaceful place. May the new
year be much better than the last. Shana tova.
