Israel was founded on many of the same ideals as America was. Liberty and equality for all, freedom of religion, and democracy. Neighbors knew each other, kids grew up together respecting Shabbat, whether their family celebrated it or not. Tradition was a part of everyday life. Some from North Africa, some from Europe and many other places around the world. The important thing was they were Israeli. However you wanted to live your jewish life was up to you, but here no one could make you feel unwelcome just because you were Jewish. Israel gave us a sense of pride. We could defend ourselves, farm, raise children, start our own businesses and not have to answer to any cruel government that didn't like the way we did things.
This was our country. Our land given to us by God and after the fires of the Holocaust we at least had one place left to call home.
No one was trying to push their beliefs on to each other. The religious did their part, the secular played their role and people on the right and left of the political spectrum debated fairly giving respect to the other side. Our army has always had rabbis in it's ranks. We came together to create an ideal for our children and fight off our many enemies. Together we stood and through our differences we found common ground.
Although we had a common goal of a Jewish state, life was far from perfect. One thing huge mistake that the infant government did was to place new settlers together according to where they came from. So as an example, one moshav or neighborhood would have all Yemini settlers or all Ethiopian settlers. In this way people weren't mixed, didn't learn from different cultures and begin to mix families. Entire kibbutzim were settled by European Jews (Ashkenazim) . This lead to divisions and stigmas among different groups which has mostly lasted until today.
However , there were mixed marriages and many families are blended now . Many of the stigmas still exist, but the many of the traditions have melded to become more Israeli than either Spharadi or Ashkenazi.
You would think the tolerance would have also grown, but because so many groups have become marginalized and other groups began pushing for a less Jewish state, communities have formed protective neighborhoods so that the influences of other communities wouldn't creep in. The longer time goes by, the more closed off these differing communities have become. They have become almost different cultures refusing to mix or share schools, synagogues, or even apartment buildings. This has lead to even further division so that now each has become it's own political party interested in protecting it's own, rather than looking out for the state as a whole.
Now each sector envisions an Israel in it's own narrow way , rather than an all inclusive Jewish state where everyone is welcome and everyone has a place.
So what has happened is the wholeness of Israel has broken apart and its preditors have taken advantage of this. They know this is how to undo the country state. We have been pitted against each other and now they're driving out the Jewishness of our one of a kind country.
When the pandemic hit, instead of each group using their strengths to get us through, we were driven to fear , made to be obedient to an outside ruler, forgot our God and began to see each other as enemies rather than allies. This is the true virus: relgious vs secular, masked vs unmasked, right vs left, black vs white, Ashkenazim vs Spharedim , etc etc...
We have been made to feel ashamed of our proud heritage and how far we've come building this great nation into an international powerhouse , a beacon of peaceful tolerance, and a massive contributor to many industries all in just over half a century. This was all to be reversed in a matter of weeks as "corona" became an excuse to ruin everything we had built up. It was a perfect opportunity to target this country who was so divided already. To bring them down to their knees was easy enough because we had lost our cohesion, our pride and our strength as a nation.
Now we find ourselves completely disconnected from our faith in God. How he will always protect Israel and the world. Men will falter, God will never. We've had signs and history to show us the way. To believe in God, not in men, but we always fall through fear rather than faith and we find ourselves victims and slaves once more. When will this end?
When will we finally trust completely in God? When will this patriotism return to us? When will we be proud to be "the chosen people"? Have we fallen so far as to forget Israel and what she symbolizes: Freedom, God, and a light unto the nations. The left has brought us to shame for who we were meant to be, they are bent on turning Israel into another generic country. They have succeeded through their corona mask-erade. Our holidays have been stripped away of joy and meaning. All that's left is the ceremony, and soon that will be gone as well.
People are wearing a kippa on their head, saying prayers and sticking to their communities. Yet their mask is securely on theirs and their children's faces. Meaning they don't trust God's world, his air nor this amazing body that he gave us. Our men , soldiers and police officers are wearing masks. Where are those who are meant to protect us? Where are our strong masculine men when we need them? They are living in fear of something they can't even see. How can we rely on them when something physical comes for us? Our soldiers are being "retrained: to deal with our own citizens rather than enemies. Where is our soul? Where is our true faith that God will take care of us? Why do we trust Bill Gates and politicians to be our gods? Is this starting to sound like Nazi Germany to anyone?
Masks block our breath which in Hebrew is neshama (soul). This is deliberate and hardly anyone seems to be picking up on the significance. We need to ditch the mask-erade and become Israeli again. Looking after each other and putting our country's welfare first, before politics and before fear. We have nothing to fear when we align with faith.
When Israel (by that I mean the world as well) becomes who she was meant to be, when we rip off the mask and breathe a deep deep breath, that's when we can find truth and stop the mask-erade. The truth of who we as human beings are and the truth of what humanity is and is capable of. They have us believing lies and that we are not the most amazing creatures with incredible minds and potential for greatness beyond our wildest dreams.
Instead, they have us shackled, muzzled, scared, dependant and faithless in our God and his world. Israel was given an opportunity to rise above the ashes, be a light from which to follow. Our leaders have abandoned us and the mask-eraded sheep have followed suit. But we've still got our soul who is trying desperately to surface and be released to it's truest highest self both as individuals and as a nation.
Once we recognize our significance we can return to our path of freedom and enlightenment, but it will take courage to step out and embrace who we really are . We are Israel, the children of the Bible, the start-up nation, a people full of love and compassion, talent and drive, and a "light unto the nations".
