A TIME TO SPEAK
Vol. IV:8 (No. 44)
August 2004 - Av-Elul 5764
TENDING THE TREE
OF LIFE
"I have set before you life and death
. . . .
Therefore, choose life, that both you
and your seed may live."
-- Deuteronomy
30:8
"L'Haim [To Life]" -- the Hebrew toast for all occasions
The value of life has been a sustained and
sustaining theme of the Hebrew-Israelite-Jewish character since Abraham tried
to save lives even in Sodom and Gomorrah. The ineradicable determination
both to live and to preserve life has been one of the forces that enables
his offspring to survive and bounce back from every calamity and every kind
of torment.
In 1945, the Jewish people had lost one-third
of their men, women, and children, victims of a Holocaust perpetrated with
almost worldwide complaisance and some complicity. Only three years later,
the State of Israel was restored in its ancient homeland and triumphed over
all attempts to annihilate it, perpetrated with almost worldwide complaisance
and some complicity.
The determination to Choose Life led to the
ingathering of hundreds of thousands of weary and destitute survivors of
the hell-fires of Europe, and more hundreds of thousands of Jews escaping
from centuries-long dhimmitude in Arab-ruled lands or spiritual suffocation
behind the Iron Curtain of Communist Eastern Europe. They were absorbed and
integrated into a vibrant society, flourishing on a tiny strip of besieged
land with few natural resources.
While Israel copes with multitudinous domestic
and economic problems, chronic military and diplomatic assaults, terrorism,
boycotts, and calumnies, it also takes up the traditional Jewish duty of
Tikkun Olam [Repair of the World]. In fulfillment of this
responsibility, it engages in humanitarian endeavors around the world. One
of the smallest nations on earth, with one-thousandth (1/1000 or 0.0001%)
of the world's population, it strives to do its fair share.
* * * * * * *
RESCUE AND RELIEF
"He who saves one life, it is as though
he saved the world." -- Talmud
Israel has been forced by its own experience
to develop the most expert techniques for rescue missions and treatment of
mass casualties. When disaster strikes elsewhere, it brings this experience
to the succor of the victims. To that end, the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]
has a special Emergency Aid Unit.
Among the examples of Israeli rescue and relief
teams in action:
1] Earthquake in Soviet Armenia, 1988:
IDF Search and Rescue Team, and an IDF/Magen David Adom Medical Team. (The
Soviet government demanded that the Israel cover its Shield of David emblems
on supplies and the airplanes that delivered them. This attempt to keep the
residents from knowing the source of the help was not effective. When local
Jews later emigrated to Israel, their neighbors sent the message "Tell them
we say thank you.")
2] Civil war in Rwanda, 1994: Complete
120-bed field hospital with staff of 80. and 65 tons of medical supplies
for Rwandan refugees in the Congo. (On average, it takes about two weeks
for a donor government to assemble, transport and set up a field hospital.
Israel did it in two days.)
3]
Terrorist bombing in Nairobi, Kenya,
1998: IDF Search and Rescue
Team. (The target was the U.S. Embassy, but it was buildings adjacent to
it that were destroyed or badly damaged, and Kenyans who were killed or trapped
in them.)
4] Balkan war, 1999:
Complete field hospital with staff for Kosovo refugees in Macedonia.
5] Earthquake in Turkey,
1999: IDF 250-strong Search and Rescue Team, a 120-bed field hospital,
a village that sheltered 3,000 people, and 100 tons of relief supplies.
6] Earthquake in India,
2001: Search and Rescue Team and field hospital.
Other projects include
-- medical teams to Africa
perform opthamological surgery where it is not otherwise available
-- a medical team to famine-stricken
Ethiopia. (It included an Israeli nurse who was born in Ethiopia and had
made the long hard trek of Ethiopian Jews to Israel.)
-- regular tours of China by Israeli surgeons
of the "Save A Child's Heart" project, performing pediatric cardiac surgery
and conducting training courses for Chinese medical personnel.
There have also been deliveries
of tons of medical equipment and emergency supplies to countries in Africa,
Asia, Europe, and Latin America.
Comment: Many of the nations who have received Israeli
search and rescue work, medical care, and donations have now signed the Declaration
of Unaligned Nations that restricts entry of Israelis according to the part
of the Land of Israel in which they dwell. It seems that in future the signatory
nations will reject rescue or medical crews that include personnel or dogs
from the wrong towns.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, however, will
not have to bother with this discrimination. After its very destructive earthquake
of 2003, it made an official announcement that it "accepts all kinds of humanitarian
aid from all countries with the exception of the Zionist regime".
In 1997, 66 Vietnamese -- 30 men, 16 women,
20 children -- resolved to escape from the Communist regime by setting out
to sea in an old, small fishing boat. The motor of the boat broke down, and
for four days they were adrift in the South China Sea without shelter, food
or water.
During those days, ships of Norway, Germany,
Japan and Panama passed close enough to see their plight but would not help
them -- not even to give them water. The refugees then considered whether
it would be better to scuttle the boat rather than die slowly of thirst and
exhaustion. But then the Israeli cargo freighter "Yuvali" came by, and took
all of them on board.
For two weeks, the owners of the ship tried
to find a haven for these passengers, but each country that was approached
-- including the United States -- refused to take them.
So, Prime Minister Menahem Begin extended and
they accepted an invitation to come and settle in Israel, where they were
later joined by several hundred more Vietnamese who found new homes and new
lives.
* * * * * * *
In the 12th century, Rabbi Moses ben-Maimon [Maimonides] taught that the highest form of assistance to others it to help them become independent and not need assistance. This principle is reflected in the programs of MASHAV [Hebrew acronym for Center for International Cooperation], founded in 1958 in the wake of Golda Meir's bonding with the developing nations of Africa.
MASHAV has centers around Israel
for international conferences, seminars and training courses in such fields
as
-- community development
-- economic development and
employment
-- irrigation and agriculture
-- education
-- medicine and health care
-- integration of immigrants
and refugees
-- organizing
systems for treating mass trauma
Through such programs, Israel
shares the experience gained in its own rapid development and absorption
of immigrants. It also shares the skills it had to learn to cope with disasters
that cause mass casualties and mass trauma.
Each year, some 4,000 men
and women come from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America to attend these
meetings, and go home with ideas and techniques to benefit their own countries.
* * * * * * *
Some of Israel's achievements by their very
nature contribute to well being and a rising standard of living:
AGRICULTURE
Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill
the face of the world with fruit. --
Isaiah 27:6
The first Zionist pioneers to return to the
Land of Milk and Honey found it a virtual wasteland, its soil shriveled by
centuries of neglect and abandonment. They began to restore its ancient fertility
by carrying away stones, draining swamps, and contriving primitive irrigation.
These early efforts have grown into large-scale research and innovations,
and now there are scores of research centers in all parts of the country
to study climate, soil, environment, and all forms of agriculture and animal
husbandry.
The fruits of these labors are abundant, and
sometimes literally delectable -- citrus, melons and other fruits, tomatoes,
vegetables, grains, dairy products, honey, juices, wines, and flowers.
Much of the land is arid or semi-arid, and
this problem has inspired development of special techniques for producing
crops in regions short of rain and sources of water. The achievements are
spread to other countries through visits by Israeli experts and through conferences
and seminars held in Israel.
MEDICINE
At least since the Middle Ages, Jews have been
prominent in the science of medicine. So much so, that rulers of both Christian
and Muslim countries, that otherwise enforced anti-Jewish laws, sought the
skills of Jewish physicians.
Among recent advances in Israeli medical research:
-- a minute device for early detection of cancerous
and pre-cancerous cells
-- treatment of cancer through the patient's
own immune system cells
-- a device for patients with heart problems
to monitor their condition at home
--- a vaccine to prevent Alzheimer's Disease
-- music as therapy
for high blood pressure
-- immunity to food allergies
-- treatment of infertility
-- treatment of Parkinson's
Disease
-- biomolecular computers
that monitor the patient's condition and automatically
administer medication
SCIENCE
AND TECHNOLOGY
For enterprises in scientific research and
advanced technology, the primary resource is creative intellect. This makes
them especially appropriate fields for a nation that has the world's highest
proportion of population with advanced education.
It is also a nation that, in proportion to
population, ranks first in the world in production and publication of scientific
research papers. It is currently a la mode in Europe for editors of professional journals
to refuse to read much less publish anything written in Israel. This ploy
is meant to injure Israel, but Israel already has the knowledge set forth
in those papers, and it is likely that they will be published elsewhere.
The deprivation and the damage is to Europe's own scientists, physicians,
and technicians who depend on such journals to keep abreast of new research
and developments in their fields.
The EU [European Union branch of Eurabia] may
have some inkling that it did not do itself a favor when it broke off scientific
cooperation with Israel in 2000, to demonstrate its sympathy for the PLO.
It has now resumed some cooperation, particularly in the field of agriculture
in the Middle East. It even deigns to let Israel pay some of the expenses.
Techniques and inventions created in Israel
are now in use almost worldwide. Among them
-- advances in
solar energy and water desalination
-- nanotechnology
-- high-speed
computer technology -- including a computer that produces its own source
- of energy
-- communications
technology
Comment: Do the British and European intellectuals
who boycott everything Israeli use cell-phones? Do they know that the cell-phone
was invented in Israel? Do they use the Instant Message e-mail program? Do
they know that it was invented in Israel?
The need to counter murderous terrorism gives
impetus to inventions that will help to protect and save lives. To that end,
Israel has developed devices to detect and deflect threats to aircraft, and
devices that can give views around corners and through walls. The latter
also has value in rescue operations, to find victims of earthquakes and other
disasters.
* * * * * * *
As the fear of terrorism spreads to nations
that heretofore felt secure, there is increasing demand for Israeli techniques
and experts who know how to use them. For the Olympic Games of 2004 in Athens,
the Olympic officials and the Greek government, who usually go out of their
way to snub Israel, requested its participation in security. The government
of Japan has requested consultation with Israel on protection of the Imperial
Family.
* * * * * * *
If your enemy is hungry, give him bread
to eat.
If he is thirsty, give him water to
drink.
-- Proverbs 25:21
In the last days of the Yom Kippur War of 1973,
the Egyptian force that set out to conquer Israel ended up trapped in the
Sinai Desert, surrounded by the IDF, cut off from either retreat or supplies.
When the Israeli soldiers realized that the
Egyptian soldiers were out of water, they ran up to the thin line between
them and the foe, and tossed their own water canteens to the parched Egyptians.
END