So That Others Might Live

Muslims Who Defied The Nazis

(Noor Inayat Khan 1914-1944)

In the face of evil it is easy to turn one's eyes away. For many people this is the response that comes natural. It is a tendency that permits evil to spread. It is through the silence of good men and women that evil propagates. Yet there are those who don't just bear witness to evil but decide to stand toe to toe with evil itself. These few, these heroes, grit their teeth and clinch their fists as they refuse to back down.

For the Jewish people there was a generation of men and women who decided to take this stand. Millions of men and women rolled up their sleeves and picked up their rifles. None of them had to stop the spread of Nazism. None of them had to bleed and perish so that we, the Jewish people, might have a chance to live. It would have been possible to contain the Germans with far less sacrifice. Yet they, the brave, came to our rescue... many to never live to see the defeat of our oppressors.

This is not the story of American GIs or the Russian red army. This isn't the story of how the so called "West" saved the day. No, today we will look at how those society has told us hate us joined the fight to save us. In a world that even then claimed Islam and Judaism were incompatible, these brave souls decided to fight, bleed, and sacrifice so that others might live.

This is the story of Muslims who stood in the gap as Judaism suffered it's darkest hour.

"Madeleine"

Noor Inayat Khan was born in Moscow on the first of January, 1914. The world was at war and any hope for the end of the flow of blood was still not yet in sight. Yet her parents were given a blessing that day that so many expecting parents wish and pray for, that hope that comes with every new life.

By the time Noor Khan was in her twenties the world was once again headed for war. She had studied music and medicine and had even written her own children stories. Yet when war did break out and hostilities with Germany seemed inevitable, Noor Khan didn't look the other way. Instead, Noor Khan trained as a nurse with the Red Cross in her home country of France. While others prepared for others to defend them if Germany attacked, Khan prepared herself to help those in need. 

In May of 1940 Germany's Waffen SS whipped around France's inadequate defenses and invaded France. Noor Khan's family escaped to England as the French government surrendered in a tram trolley. Hitler would tour Paris while Noor Khan joined England's Women's Auxiliary Air Force so that she could help fight for France. She would train as a wireless operator while the Germans pillaged Europe just across the English Channel. 

Noor Khan's ability to speak French fluently gained the attention of England's Special Operations Executive (SOE). The SOE needed people with Khan's knowledge to go across the channel and help spy on the Nazis in France. Noor Khan's willingness to fight against the evils of Nazism made her a perfect candidate for what many would look at as suicide. 

In June of 1943 Noor Khan was flown into France and made her way to Paris where she would join the Prosper Network. Yet shortly after Khan arrived the resistance network came under attack by the German Gestapo. With the capture of resistance members came the fear that the Prosper Network had been compromised. Khan was encouraged to make her way back to England so as to evade capture by the Germans. And yet Noor Khan refused. She argued that she was the last wireless radio operator left in the group. So she would stay and fight despite the inherit risks. 

Noor Khan made attempts to rebuild the resistance network as she continued to keep London informed with wireless transmissions. Her efforts went on for three and a half months as the threat of capture lingered overhead. It wasn't till October that the Gestapo finally got the information they needed to arrest Noor Khan. 

Upon arrest the Gestapo found documents that allowed them to crack the code the spy "Madeleine" had been using. Noor Khan's code was then used to capture three more agents landing in occupied France. Yet under constant torture, Noor Khan refused to give the Nazi's any information that could have further compromised the work of the SOE in London. Dedicated to the war against Nazism, Noor Khan endured humiliating conditions and bravely faced a life in chains. Despite their best efforts the Gestapo could not break Noor Khan. 

In the summer of 1944 the Gestapo transferred Noor Khan and three other agents to Dachau Concentration Camp. The agents were questioned, beaten, and harassed by the Nazi SS. On the twelfth of September, 1944 Noor Khan met with the fate that Nazism had allotted all of Judaism. Put before a Nazi SS death squad, Noor Khan and the other three agents were shot and killed. 

Noor Inayat Khan had been given the chance to run away. She had been given the chance to live as comfortable a life as anyone else could have in England during the war. If anything, she had the chance to live free and stay out of harm's way. Yet Noor Khan took to the battle field against an enemy that was well known for it's brutality. When death came marching in it's wretched black uniform, Noor Khan held her head high and prepared to stand her ground. 

Bloody April in Sarajevo

“...our home is your home; feel at home. Our women will not hide their faces in your presence, because you are like family members to us. Now that your life is in danger, we will not leave you.”
Mustafa and Izet Hardaga speaking to Joseph Kavillo

Yugoslavia had been a target of the Nazis for some time. It was a stepping stone toward Greece and a vital part to Hitler's plan to take control of the Balkans. In April of 1941 the Luftwaffe began bombing Sarajevo as the Nazis made arrangements to occupy the city. Once the bombs began to fall the Waffen SS would begin it's assault upon the city. And it was in this bombardment that the Kavillo family, a Jewish family, found their home completely demolished. This was the Kavillo family's introduction to the horrors of the holocaust.

Joseph Kavillo's family had waited out the bombing in the forest. It was only after the bombs stopped dropping that Joseph Kavillo returned to survey the damage the Nazi's warplanes had wrought upon Sarajevo. He was planning to bring his family to the factory close to their old house so as to seek shelter as the war ravaged on. A family friend, Mustafa Hardaga, spotted Joseph and offered him and his family to take shelter in his house. This was in spite of the fact that Mr Hardaga knew that the Nazis offered no mercy for anyone who would willingly house Jews.

It wasn't long before Joseph Kavillo decided to move his family out of the Hardaga house and try to relocate them to the Italian controlled areas of Yugoslavia. When his family was safe, Joseph decided to stay behind. It was in this process that Joseph Kavillo was arrested by the Nazis in Bosnia. He was taken into captivity and kept in chains outdoors in the cold. Kept like an animal, Joseph Kavillo was not fed or offered shelter from Bosnia's harsh weather.

Zejneba Hardaga, the wife of Mustafa, found Joseph chained in the snow. She risked her life to smuggle Joseph food and water. Over the course of Joseph's time in chains it was Zejneba who kept him alive till she could find a way to help Joseph escape his chains and flee to be with his family. If it had not been for her, Joseph Kavillo would have either froze to death or starved in his chains.

Not long after Joseph Kavillo had rejoined his family in the Italian controlled area of Yugoslavia the Italians handed over control to the Nazis. Once again the family was trapped by the Nazi army. It's grip upon Bosnia had become absolute. So once again the Kavillo family made their way to the home of the Hardagas where they would again be sheltered by their Muslim friends. 

The Hardaga family risked everything to save their fellow Bosnians. The Gestapo had a headquarters just a short distance from their home. And yet this Muslim family took in a Jewish family in their greatest hour of need. The danger of being caught was ever palpable. Both families would have faced concentration camps or even death in the streets as the Nazis fought to smash Bosnian resistance. This was friendship at its finest. It was a heroic act that would not soon be forgotten. 

In the 1990's the city of Sarajevo fell under siege once again. This time the Serbian militias were surrounding the city and laying siege to the Bosnians. The Hardaga family were the targets this time. The Serbs wanted to ethnically cleanse Bosnia of it's Muslim citizens. Genocide was spilling Muslim blood as Bosnia's Jews tried to flee. 

The UN rarely allowed Bosnian Muslims the chance to run away from the bloodbath their arms bans had helped to engineer. Yet the Hardaga family had friends that wanted to help... friends that owed their lives to the heroism of the Hardagas. In 1994 the Hardaga family was brought to Israel as their homeland was bleeding out. Some 50 plus years had passed since the Kavillo family had been saved by the Hardaga family. But it was an act of true friendship that time could not fade the memory of. 

(Kaddour Benghabrit)

Within The House Of G-d

In 1926 the Grand Mosque of Paris was built as a token to the thousands of Muslims who had given their lives in "the war to end all wars". It was, and remains, a grand building dedicated to the Islamic faith and the belief in one G-d. Kaddour Benghabrit was one of key figures in helping to establish the massive structure in Paris. And it was Kaddour Benghabrit who was responsible for the mosque when the French Vichy government took power and aligned itself with the Nazis' final solution.

When the Nazis began collecting Jews for deportations there was a flaw in their original plan. It was one that had roots in France's colonial past. While there were plenty of French Jews in Paris that could easily be picked out and sent off for deportations, the diversity of France's Jewish citizens emerged. Jewish citizens from France's North African colonies had much more in common with Muslims than they did with European Jews. Their names, their culture, and their community were all linked with how Judaism had adapted itself to North African Islam. Many were closer friends with France's Muslim population than they were with the Jewish communities the Germans were familiar with. And it is in this aspect of France's unique diversity that the Nazis' plan ran into a wonderfully unique problem.

France's Muslims were not readily willing to hand over their Jewish neighbors. They had no desire to adopt the sorts of racial ideas and religious extremism that Hitler was preaching. There are many stories of influential Muslims in Paris who risked everything to do what was right. They risked their lives to save a people that Hitler believed they should hate. These Muslims found ways to help their Jewish brothers and sisters evade capture by the genocidal Nazis.

One way was to bring their Jewish neighbors to the Grand Mosque of Paris.

There was no organized effort involved. This was not an underground railroad of any sorts. It was simply a response in the heart of a community to stand beside their brothers in desperate need of help.

The head imam of the Grand Mosque of Paris was mainly responsible for housing Jewish refugees who turned up at the mosque. Kaddour Benghabrit was said to be responsible for giving these refugees Muslim identification papers so that they might make their way to safety. Kaddour also brazenly showed Nazi generals around the mosque even while Jews hid inside so that the Nazis might be fooled into believing he was cooperating.

In 1940 the Vichy government began petitioning the Grand Mosque to stop any actions it might be taking to save Jews from the Nazis. The head imam and Benghabrit remained defiant as they continued to give shelter to Jewish refugees who showed up at the Mosque. Their faith demanded it. Their actions demonstrated that which they believed. 

The Nazis showed their belief that Islam was a natural ally in the Nazi hatred of Judaism. They had expected the Bosnians in Yugoslavia to side with them in killing off Yugoslavia's Jews. In France they had expected the Grand Mosque to be the home of Islamic hatred for European Judaism. Yet the Muslims who operated the mosque showed that Islam was and is not opposed to Judaism. Their actions may have saved only a few dozen or potentially hundreds of Jews from the Nazi death camps. But as time goes on, as long as their story is told, their actions will show that Muslims and Jews are brothers in our unique faiths. Their actions should forever show that Judaism and Islam can and should live side by side in peace. 

Lest We Forget...

Muslims have a faith that teaches tolerance and an understanding of others. While some may abuse the faith, there have always been Muslims who have stepped out of the mold society has shaped for them... there have always been Muslims who have risked their own lives to save those of others. Beyond the news articles and daily broadcasts of stories like those of ISIS and other extremists... beyond the stereotypes... there will forever be Muslims who show the love of their Prophet's teachings.

These are the sorts of Muslims the world should never forget. These are the sorts of brave men and women that the world needs to talk about with a sense of pride and respect. We will all forever remember the names of villains like Osama bin-Laden. Yet we should also remember the names of heroes like Mustafa and Zejneba Hardaga. These brave and honorable souls should be inscribed not just on monuments but also imprinted upon our collective memory.

May G-d bless those who sacrificed so that others might live.

Muhammad, Jesus, Abraham...

Turning Away From Our Principles
(Unholy War series)

Religion is a very sensitive subject. This post will address religion in a way that is offensive to some readers. It is intended to be illustrative of how religion affects the way we reach out to the world around us. It is meant to show that we need not to shrug the strict devotions to faith at times if we are to show the true messages of said faiths. That we should be willing to reach beyond our religious boundaries to help those in need. The message is at times rough and hard to read. And it is not meant to be taken as fact but a mere suggestion. If anything, the purpose of this post is to make you ask questions, not to tell you what to do. 

Ammi

(My People)

When it comes to religions there aren't many in the West that people think of as being oppressed more so than Judaism. 70 plus years ago was the most iconic time our oppression and near extermination. Yet there was also Russia's repressive role over it's Jewish population. And there is the lingering issue of antisemitism across the West. But there is also the issue of Israel itself. And it is this issue that transforms Judaism, if only in part, from victim to oppressor. 

However, before we dive into the portion of Judaism that gets a particular portion of readers foaming at the mouth... lets go back a little ways first. 

Judaism was the first of the Abrahamic faiths that depicted in it's holy book violent imagery that some could argue was in fact genocide. Entire populations were forced out of what would become Judea (later Israel) while others were killed off altogether. These somewhat barbaric "holy wars" were said to be ordained by Elohim (G-d). His holy word was said to have directed our ancestors to slaughter men, women, babies, and even the farm animals as well. Not a living soul was allowed to be spared the wrath of the Lion of Judah. And all the while we were forging what the world would later come to know as "the holy land"... a land drenched in blood from it's birth. 

So one might expect that if you are raised to believe that G-d intended His spirit to reside upon a small patch of sand and not in the heart of man, well then Israel is just the place... right? 

We did a marvelous job at turning the blood over into the soil and bringing forth olives, wheat, and other various crops. We did a great job at building upon the ruins of those who had come before us (of course this was easy since they weren't city builders). We even managed to erect the temple just as G-d had commanded (twice actually). There were kings who had giant mines to dig up the gold and precious metals that Israel's land had to offer. There were religious leaders who made sure that the laws of the land were adhered to strictly. And there were even a handful of the underclass who made sure the fun things in life weren't totally banished by the prior said class of man. All in all, we did a great job for a very long period of time when it came to building up the culture that would define Judaism for centuries to come. 

And those centuries did come and go. The Greeks came and tried to kill us all off, we remained. The Romans came and tried to kill us all off, we remained. The neighbors found religion and came over to share it (somewhat violently), we still remained. Of course some of us did pack up our things and take off from time to time. But for the most part, we remained. 

My ancestors in particular packed up and left when the neighbors over in what is now Syria had a little argument amongst themselves and a small group of them took off for Africa. Hitchhiking with the Moors, they eventually made it to Spain. Then when the party ended and the neighbors to the north got annoyed with the new kids on the block... well they took off again (just this time without their traveling companions). And hello Croatia it was. Well until the locals found a new form of faith and suddenly the neighborhood went to hell. But I digress... 

Over the time in diaspora some of us got a little nostalgic, and by a little I mean a desire for a few hundred years or so ago. This led to a little mingling of fact with fiction and the such. But it eventually ended up with the belief that G-d wanted all "His people" back in the land of Israel. And in this sense we almost got it right when we started to realize what G-d's temple really is (but we'll get to that later). 

Packing up and headed off to a new neighborhood was easy this time. We had been sold a belief that this was a homecoming of sorts. Some were even claiming that if we had just done this a couple decades ago those pesky Germans wouldn't have had a chance to be such bloody... I digress again. 

Arriving "home", the European Jews found that some other people had moved in while they were gone. Or so it would seem if you bought the idea that this was their land in the first place. They didn't however seem to realize that the Jews who didn't take off all those centuries ago (the indigenous population one might say) were relatively comfortable with their counterparts in what was then Palestine. Instead of realizing that integration was perhaps more preferable than a hostile takeover, the newcomers decided to take back what they viewed as being rightfully theirs. 

And this is where we slow down and really get into why Judaism has forsaken it's principles when we allow for the oppression of others in the name of our own faith. 

There isn't anything that was covered in the prior paragraphs that was meant to be a joke. Just as there isn't anything in this post that is humorous. What happened to my people over the centuries has been tragic. We have been made to suffer for our faith. We have been sent to camps, ghettos, and pits in open fields where they killed us. My family was lined up on a ledge and shot. There isn't anything in this post that is easy to write about. And what happened when my people came "home" isn't easy to write about. 

We came back to Israel to find that the people who had most recently invaded and colonized it were now well established. If you are Muslim, this is the time to admit that those we now know as Palestinians weren't the first people to be born and raised on that patch of soil. If you are Jewish, now is the time to admit that those Palestinians were born and raised on that patch of soil for generations before European Jews arrived. We came back to a land that wasn't the way we left it. In some ways it was better. In other ways it was alien and denied us the privilege of practicing our faith in the same holy places we had centuries before. 

There aren't easy answers as to how things should had been. There aren't easy ways of saying that one party was wrong or one party was just a little more wrong than the other. After all, over a long enough timeline each party comes off looking like a bunch of savages out for blood. 

The fact is that when the decisions were made to expel and kill Palestinians so that Judaism could prevail... that is where Judaism is to blame. 

We believe that G-d loves all His creation. We believe that we are to honor that love by revering G-d's creation in the same way G-d did when He breathed life into it. These beliefs are not confined to the way we conduct ourselves with other Jews but extends to all G-d's children and creation. We are to treat our brother as we would want them to treat us, but more importantly... in the ways G-d has blessed us (love, compassion, and understanding... to name a few).

This way of practicing Judaism can't be easily depicted when one looks at Israel today. Though the argument can be made that Israel is a modern state and not a religious institution in and of itself... that argument is flawed. For Israel upholds Judaism above all other faiths through laws, traditions, and policies. It's bias toward Judaism is seen in laws that can be characterized as "race laws". It's propping up of Judaism is so prevalent that it can be seen in laws regarding marriage within Israel.

The continued persecution of those who once lived upon the land where Israel rest leaves a stain upon Judaism as a whole. As long as it is perceived as being permissible within Israel to devalue the lives of a few than no life is truly valuable. This hatred, the tainting of Judaism's teachings, leaves all equally miserable. It makes life easy to extinguish in as much the same way as it was when our historical oppressors stole the lives of our ancestors. 

"... As Yourself"

Christianity is born out of blood. The creation of this faith created a new branch of the Abrahamic traditions. It took the principles of Judaism and highlighted portions while easing away from others. And in this tightrope like walk through the laws of Judaism it created opportunity for new branches of it's own faith to form. What started as being washed in the blood of the Lamb of G-d soon just became a bloodletting. From the wars of Europe to the conquest of the New World, Christianity has spread through the desires of man rather than the will of G-d. From the death of one man, Jesus of Nazareth, came the deaths of martyrs and victims alike. 

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." ~ John 13:34 

Christians did start out being persecuted. It's in fact their desire to branch away from Judaism that first got them put out on the road in the first place. The Jewish leaders of the day didn't care much for the new heretics in town. So the Christians got thrown to the Romans, who decided to kill them to start with, where they found European converts. Eventually the Romans softened up and backed away from the whole circus bit. And in the end the Christians end up with an entire city in Rome that acts as it's own little nation within a nation (however over the years I've been told by Protestants that Catholics aren't real Christians... and the same the other way around). But the just because you have the heart of an empire doesn't mean you stop there...

Christians spread out to the Germanic tribes, over Spain, and the British isles. They got held up in Romania for a bit when the empire died back. But Russia and the Eastern Europeans eventually came under the cloth as Christianity fought to claim as much of Europe as it could before the new kids down in the Middle East could come rushing north. From Greece to the Balkans Christianity was actually doing alright it seemed (given the local religions were subdued or erased all together). All Christianity had to do was make a few adjustments here and there to mask prior beliefs across the continent (examples: Christmas, Easter, Valentines Day, St Patrick's...). This cultural genocide was alright of course since the message out of Rome was that Christianity spread civilization (with a little barbarism to enforce said civilization). 

Once the initial bloodshed was finished then the in house fighting began. This long period of bloodshed is partially to blame for sending some Christians out on the road again. Over a length of time those wandering groups of Christians would eventually end up on new lands far from home. One batch would become the seeds from which the United States would grow (somewhat exaggeratedly so). However, just as any new species can be once introduced to a new environment, these seeds quickly became invasive.

"Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."

~Philippians 2:3-4 

Native languages, cultures, and ways of life were rapidly displaced as Christians took to what some were selling as the promised land. Spanish Christian armies stole gold, silver, and slaves in the name of their god (greed) and country. English Christians came to fine religious freedom while openly denying even basic liberties to the native peoples and the slaves they brought with them. French Christians did a less invasive method of Spanish expansion yet still managed to spread disease (not really their fault, but had they stayed home...) wherever they went. The Dutch Christians and other assorted allotments tried to grab what they could before France and England divided up most of the north while Spain clung to the south. All the while the message of Christianity was that Europeans had a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of anything native peoples had prior to their arrival. 

All this was done as Christians had to swallow their faith's principles and give into the lust of man. Their colonialist of the world would become known as the "white man's burden" for the native peoples they conquered. However it wasn't the white peoples' race that was often held up as the reason for their massive excesses across the globe (however it was one of the reasons given, i.e. racism), it was their religion that was given as justification. The church often rationalized the cost the native populations had to pay by telling itself that Christianity would at least save their souls. So even if they did die from disease, hunger, or outright murder; at least their souls would be with G-d. 

Today this hatred in the West can be depicted as being confined to religiously based hate groups that scatter across Western civilization. And for the most part that is right. However, in countries where religion has not been separated from state, the pushing of Christianity as "the culture" rather than allowing diversity... the hate that fueled colonialism still persist. 

Jesus replied; "Love the Lord your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and the greatest commandment. And the second is like it, 'Love your neighbor as yourself'. All the Law of the Prophets hinge upon these two commandments." 

~Matthew 22:37-40

Christianity teaches it's followers that love is the greatest commandment of all. First they are to love G-d above all other things in this life. Secondly they are to love their fellow man in the same way they would love themselves. These two commandments in Christianity allow little room for hatred of others or other cultures. They show that Christians should be willing to express the same love for their fellow man that G-d has shown for them. If they have been blessed by their creator with freedoms, liberty, and health; then they should fight for those things for others who have not been given such blessings. Not so that those others will turn to Christ but so that in doing these things they are serving the Lord their G-d. For showing love is the basic principle of Jesus's message to his followers. 

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." ~1 Corinthians 13:4-7

"... of Mankind"

The third and final branch of the Abrahamic faiths is Islam. And like it's predecessors, Islam first arose from blood and still mingles with blood to this day. The Prophet Muhammad brought forth a faith that was meant to be the final word of G-d. It preached peace, love, and tolerance (for the Jews and Christians at least). Yet in it's implementation and founding in the deserts of Arabia it spread at first by the word and then eventually by the sword. Through no fault of it's own (of course) Islam had taken the path of the religions that came before it. It sought converts (like Christianity) and the rule of law (like Judaism). And somewhere in that rough start the message seems to have gotten lost. 

"The blessed of mankind is the one who is the most beneficial for mankind." ~Prophet Muhammad (s) in Beyhaki 6/112.

Groups like the Turks (Ottomans) really took things to a level that made the whole "peaceful religion" portion seem to be a fallacy of sorts. Their excesses, however occurring way down the road chronologically speaking, showed to the modern world how Islam had been abused since within the Middle East. Yet if we look back to the Moors in Spain we can see how Islam was abused far before that. It was only when the Moors started to lose their war of conquest that the Moors sought help from Muslims in northern Africa. While the Moors had been very tolerant of Christians and Jews, the incoming reinforcements were barbaric in their treatment of Jews and European Christians. It was in the excesses of these Muslims that the reconquista by the Christians really gathered steam. Blood begot blood in amounts that drenched Andalusia in waves. 

The Turks just expanded upon this belief that Islam was superior to the other "peoples of the book". Their abuses against the Greeks, Assyrians, and Armenians became so pronounced that they surpassed the levels of pogroms and entered the realm of genocide. Entire communities were labeled as enemies of the state... a state based on religion, and thus enemies of Islam. This created deep divides amongst the communities that still persist to this day (100 years later). 

Where the Prophet Muhammad had told his followers that the "blessed of mankind" are those who bless their fellow man; some followers had gone astray. And as with every religion, these stray followers did not just cast a stain upon themselves, their country, or their particular ethnic group. No, these followers became a blight upon all of Islam due to the reality that outsiders (especially those being killed off) do not make such distinctions when all they have been shown it hate. 

This is where Islam's presence in governments like that of Sudan continues to create a blight upon the faith itself. If a man who claims to have been blessed with a religion of superior intellect is seen firebombing villages and killing women and children... well that person's faith becomes a particularly rigid subject of debate. While another Muslim can claim that that one (or that group) isn't Muslim, to the outside world they are the poster child of Islam. And that's sadly how religions are portrayed no matter what faith it is. That whole "one bad apple" saying carries some weight.

 "None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself " ~Hadith #13

Actually Being A Blessing To Our Fellow Man

Regardless of religion, we all should be striving to be a blessing to our fellow man. Those of us who have been born into a life of freedom and prosperity have a duty to fight for those things for all mankind. Especially when there is a history of our given faith being the source of their repression. We may not be able to right all the wrongs in the past. But we can struggle every day to heal the wounds those events did create. This goes for our personal lives and in our struggle for human rights. 

We aren't perfect. Our religions aren't perfect. We will make mistakes when it comes to how we treat others. Other members of our faith will go well beyond just making mistakes. It is in how we conduct ourselves that we change the image of what it means to be religious and a supporter of human rights. By reaching out to all of mankind and not just with whom our faith is concerned, it is in this that we show the love of which all our faiths speak. 

Just as importantly, it is in showing that love and being a blessing to our fellow man that we help the causes that we do hold dear to us. You can no more uphold the rights of one oppressed community when you deny the oppression of another. After all, "love does not dishonor others". It is fair in all things. And it is far from blind. For it is the love our fellow man that convicts us to act in the first place. 

In Their Footsteps

Retracing My Roots
Screamers Post

Gates To Hell

All my life I have had a conflicted relationship with the idea of Germany. When I close my eyes and think of that country all I can see are those images of my ancestors... emaciate, tormented, and waiting for the release of death. When I think of the German people I still have a hard time thinking of them as anything in particular. Yet when I think of their country... hate is the only thing that describes it.

Its odd how the legacy of genocide does that...


When I walked toward that crematorium a part of me couldn't help but feel the weight of where I was headed. My soul ached as the thoughts of my family who had made this walk before me rushed through my mind. Though their footsteps had been on Croatian soil, the fact that I was in Germany didn't make the pain any less. I had planned to visit Buchenwald because I felt it would somehow be easier than seeing the place my own family had been sent to die. Yet it wasn't... nothing prepares the heart for that long walk. Nothing prepares the soul for being there. Nothing.

Backtracking...

My family came to America by crossing through Europe till they finally found their way from the old world to the new. They were even poorer than I am now. Yet they did everything they could to make sure that their children and their children's children wouldn't have to live through that hell again. Spending every penny they had, those who could, they got out.

I wasn't born into freedom by chance. There has always been someone before me who fought to keep hope alive. I knew that the moment I boarded that plane and left for Germany. I knew that I was going back to a place my forefathers had struggled to leave. 

Those hills covered in blooming mustard were the things old painters dreamed of. The little villages tucked up along the hillsides with gentle streams all trickling back toward the Moselle River... that was the Germany my family crossed through. They passed those vineyards, those little countryside farms with sprawling pastures, those wooded valleys... none of which they could stop to enjoy. Yet there I was in this land that caused their pilgrimage out of Dalmatia. 

My journey would take me from London, the place that was too full for them to stay, to Germany, the place that had created hell on earth, to the home of my family. It was a short, yet bumpy, journey backwards through time. It was my way of going back to the places that made me who I am today. 

Almost Heaven

I arrived in Croatia in the dead of night. Zadar was only a short drive north of my family's old homeland. Yet the transition from that somewhat flat patch of land to those sacred mountains was evident to me even in the midst of that pitch black night. I felt like I was home in the shadows of those rocky mountainsides. 

Just south of Split I found where home was. Along the edge of the Adriatic, tucked up alongside olive trees and rocky outcroppings, I found where my family had lived all that time ago. Rosemary bushes and sage jutted upward from every spare patch of dirt those boulders of mountains seemed to offer somewhat reluctantly. This was heaven to me... almost. 

That first morning when I put on my tallit and prayed I couldn't help but think of how I was the first one in my family to be back here doing just this... It was a moment when my prayers stopped for just a moment as the reality of it all sat in. It was a moment where all my heart could find no better words to offer my Creator than a simple thank you. 

Walking out onto the balcony I stood there and looked over the sea and let it all sink in. To one side there were those mountains reaching out into the sea like and outstretched arm. To the other side was the sleepy village clinging tightly to the steep drop from the mountain road above us. For all it's beauty, for all the awe that had filled me... the sight of those mountains still reminded me why I was there. 

My family had been taken up into those very mountains. The Ustase had attempted to cleanse all of Dalmatia of it's Jews. Up in those mountains they had taken my ancestors to what could have been the end of my story. Those who didn't die there were sent north to camps. And those who were lucky enough to escape did everything they could to evade death as they walked the line between Bosnia and Croatia. 

I don't know the every detail of where and when the family members that did perish actually fell. The brutality of Croatia's genocide makes some things impossible to know for sure. But I do know the story of those closest to my own bloodline. And those were the stories that came to mind as I stood there looking up into the rocky faces of those mountains. That blood was still, in my mind at least, tainting this place that looked so much like paradise. 

Most of those who had lived here were killed outright. Those capable of making the journey north were later sent to Auschwitz and/or camps in the Ukraine. They weren't seen again. Between what the Ustase had already done and what Germany would do to them, they seemed to disappear into the industrialized death machine Hitler had created across Europe. Their stories are ones I still am searching for to this day. 

The one woman who's blood I still carry to this day did the unthinkable... she fought back. 

Surviving the pogroms, the rape, the torment, the wilderness, and Tito's war of liberation... her blood carried that desire to fight. Her legacy, her stubbornness, her tenacity; all of these things still linger even though she has long since passed away. 

I know I'm here today because when one person had every reason to surrender, every reason to just lay down and accept what seemed like fate, she decided to stand up. I'm here today because her unwillingness to look away from the suffering of her people in their greatest time of need. I'm here because in her darkest hour she decided to hold her head up high and do what she knew was right. 

She lived through things that I don't understand. She did things that I can only hope I would had been strong enough to do if I was in that same situation. She saw things that I'm not sure I could bare to see first hand. And yet here I am today.

Chasing Ghosts

When I left Croatia I knew that the hardest part of this journey was still ahead. I was going back to the Germany. And this time I was going to a place I hated more than anything else. This time I was following in the footsteps of those who stolen from us. This time I felt like I was chasing the ghosts my family had left behind. 

I had told myself that visiting Buchenwald would be different than actually finding the camps where they were taken. It would somehow be better than actually having to stand in those places where they were gassed, where they were worked to death, where their lives were forever extinguished by the hatred that had engulfed this land. Yet the moment I passed through those gates.... that moment when I ran my hand over the tattoo I had gotten to across my wrist to remind me of them... a part of me broke. 

We had walked along the railroad tracks that had carried prisoners into Buchenwald. Every time I blinked I could almost hear the carts rattling as their damned cargo struggled to breathe inside those cramped quarters. I glanced over to the parade grounds where the soon to be dead had once gathered to hear their death sentence. 

I looked to my right and saw the chimney reaching upward into the cloudy sky above. Rain trickled down across my forehead as my hair clung to my cheeks and the back of my neck. I couldn't help but think it was fitting that G-d had given us a rainy day upon which to visit such a wretched place. I almost thanked Him for setting the mood that had already settled over my heart days before. 

Then came the walk I had been dreading. I turned and headed straight for that crematorium. It was the longest walk I have ever taken in my life. What was barely 50 yards away felt like it was in an entirely different world all of it's own. Every step felt like I was going backward. Every heartbeat felt like it was breaking down what little strength I had left. And yet the realization of how many had made this trek before me made it impossible to pause. 

German Citizens Forced To Face

What Was Done In Their Name.

I entered the same way my ancestors would had done all those years ago. The stairwell down into the gas chamber was right there ahead of me. There was no way to mistake this place for showers. In Buchenwald the Germans hadn't tried to fool anyone that was forced to walk down there. This was simply a stairway down into the slaughter house. 

I entered the doors above and first went into the rooms where German doctors had performed experiments and lethal injections. Their tables were designed to catch the blood of their victims so as to make clean-up easier. There were still markings along the wall to measure their victims. The instruments of their torture chambers were still preserved. The methodical way in which the Germans had documented their callous crimes was evident everywhere you looked. 

For me however, this was just my way of easing into what still awaited me down the hallway. Just beyond those rooms sat the entire reason for this building. Rows of furnaces lined one side of that wretched place. These gates to hell were flung wide open for all to see just how the victims were cast away forever. A cart stood there to show how the task of disposing of a corpse was made only slightly easier... so as to speed the process up. 

When I entered that room I froze right there in front of that first furnace. For moments it didn't matter that there were people walking behind and all around me. For those moments all I could see was the open mouth of that tomb where flames had consumed my people. For those moments the world around me seemed alien. The hatred that had led to the creation of this place surrounded me. The stench of it still felt like it permeated that space regardless of how much time had passed. It was as though every soul that had passed through that gateway still cried out... pleading that we never forget. 

I finally found my place in time and the strength to keep walking. 

Down those stairs I went. 

Standing there in that gas chamber I felt like the family I had never known was suddenly fresh in my memory. I might not have been able to say that this was were uncle so and so had perished. But the thought of how many had found themselves in rooms like this was still there. The realization that this country, Germany, had put them in places like this was right there with me in that moment. Looking up at the hooks where their clothes had been hung before the gas was dropped in... I couldn't help but think about them. 

They may have died in camps to the east. This might not have been the room in which they were killed. And they may have very well been placed in open pits and burned in the open air. But this was the most common ending place. And this was the end for me.

A Never Ending Journey...

Walking the grounds of that camp I prayed that G-d would give me some understanding of why... I prayed that I could find some reason as to why this had all happened. I prayed that I could understand why this continues to happen. I prayed for the strength to keep up the fight my ancestors had left burning in my bones. 

It has taken a month of thinking about those prayers to find anything that resembles reconciliation with why I needed that trip. My ancestors may have perished almost an entire generation ago. They all may very well now be history to this world. But the struggle they had been forced into has not become history. That fight continues. And maybe, if only for my sake and the hope of making some sense of all this, just maybe... those who they left behind are the ones who should be fighting hardest. 

Looking toward Syria, Burma, North Korea, and all those darkened parts of our world; I can't help but think that those of us should be following in their footsteps...

Unlike them, however, we don't walk defiantly into the gates of hell this time. Instead we rush toward those killing fields to make sure that the next generation of survivors has a voice... the voice our own ancestors were almost denied. This time we stand between the persecuted and their tormentors. This time we intercede where others had failed to do so when our ancestors needed it most. 

The most astonishing thing you realize when you stand in places like Buchenwald is just how close these killing fields were to houses of common German citizens. The smoke from that chimney would had drifted over the village just downhill from Buchenwald. The people living in the shadow of that camp could not have escaped the reality of what was being done just one the other side of the treeline. 

Today the world has grown smaller. Killing fields are often just on the other side of our computer and television screens. Bosnia and Rwanda happened as the the world watched. We didn't have to have American GIs force us to walk past piles of dead bodies like in Buchenwald. We get nightly updates, we get tweets, we get news broadcasts... the death toll is always there on display. 

Looking toward those killing fields I can't help but think that this journey I've been on doesn't have an end. The legacy my ancestors left for me... this endless fight... that is something that this trip reminded me of most. 

Alder's Ledge takes it's name from my own family's history. We only exists as an organization because of what was done to my ancestors. We are only here because of the fire that burns within my bones... my soul. It is a fire that many of my staff have been given by their own ancestors as well. It is a legacy that we can't turn away from. And all we ask now is that you join us.

Want to know more?

Contact us on twitter: @alders_ledge & @AL_Staff

Last Bullet In The Chamber

(A Bridge Too Far series)
(PLUCK series)

(Every Word Has The Power To Wound)

No matter how well I articulate my position on Palestine and Israel I will always be seen as a "Zionist". Of this much I'm certain.

Religion is a vile and despicable construct that has served no other purpose but to divide those G-d created so much alike. Poison from the lips of imams and scholars has taken it's toll upon the moderates' minds. Venom that drips like honey, so as to hide it's bitter ends, flows from those who claim to preach peace in the name of a G-d that has apparently turned His gaze away. Their decorated temples and houses of thieves bring in the sheep to the slaughter. Yet a devout mass makes no attempt to question their masters as they raise the axe above their bowed heads.

Yes, I will always be considered a vile and ill-mannered "Zionist". But not because I hold organized religion in such contempt. No, I am "the enemy" because of my lack of apologies for supposed sins I have never once committed.

For it is not Islam that I hate. It is not Judaism which I hold such abhorrent views of. It is the perverse twisting, the manipulating, of faith in the name of politicized religion. This placement of an imagined devotion to a religion rather than the G-d it allegedly is supposed to serve. This is the source of my discontent.

On the battlefield for the survival of Israel or the "reconquista" of Palestine the main line of battle forms along religion. It is across this barrier that the two sides use the propaganda they have been fed as they release volley after volley of hate filled rhetoric. Yet both claim to be after peace? Both sides claim to be hanging their hats beneath the banners of religions that preach love and yet this is where they decide to mount their attacks from?

All my life my faith has been at war with the religion to which it is supposed to belong. Under the mislead guidance of "men of G-d" I have had to bow my head. Years of internal combat finally broke the shell and released my repulsion with every pit of snakes we so elegantly call houses of G-d. No longer could I tolerate the manipulation of holy words to serve the desires of a few. No more could I tolerate the lies that come with crosses, crescents, or stars.

For years now I my faith has been signified by the kippa atop my head. My only temple to which I retreat is that of the shadows beneath the cover of my tallit. For my faith does not need a scholar, a rabbi, an imam, or a preacher. My G-d does not need a church, a temple, or a mosque in which to confine me. My brother, my akhi... my sister, my ahoti... these are not confined by those who pray to G-d by the same name as I. The world is my alter and the persistent service of my fellow man my religion.

This is faith.

Faith cannot be used to strike at another with hollow attempts at advancing ourselves. It leaves us defenseless before the world. It places us in a state of servitude to those who most need it. In faith we step out onto a battle field where everyone carries loaded guns. Yet faith offers us nothing with which to fire back.

When we use religion to attack one another we are void of the faith to which we supposedly cling. Religion provides us a series of ritualistic defenses to hide our vulnerability. It shelters us amongst a multitude so that we become faceless... nameless. We become Muslims... Jews... we however do not become unique.

Unique talents of the individual are only highlighted in organized religion if they serve the desires of those pulling the strings. These talents that would otherwise be valuable contributions to mankind as a whole are hoarded for the selfish advancement of a few. Thus creating in situations like that in Israel an arm race of sorts that utilizes man as ammunition rather than valuing us for who we are.

The most damning part of religion playing a role in Palestine and Israel's conflict is just how effective it really is.

Through the application of "the Jews" as a blanket statement a political statement implicates not just Israel but an entire religion as a whole. The interchangeable use of Zionist with that of Jew or Jewish makes this connection between politics and faith that much more difficult to break. By utilizing these words, this ammunition, the words of a few place an entire people within the cross hairs.

No matter how moderate or rebellious the individual might be these few words can trigger a reaction based on religious devotion rather than one that might arise out of faith alone. For my faith would guide me to look beyond the words alone and toward the pain from which they originate. And yet the sting of being implicated with the masses instead of being taken as an individual brings forward only hostility. And this is from where a person will draw their reaction to such blanket statements.

For every time that I take up the position to defend Palestinians' most basic of human rights there will always be this familiar sting. As long as there are those who would defend their religion in spite of those who might otherwise align with them... I'm nothing more than a supposed "Zionist". It is this familiar sting that drives many back to the trenches their religion has dug for them and off the position their faith has guided them to hold.

This is the miserable reality of religious perversion on both sides of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Entire masses so eager to die for a flag designed for them not by G-d but by the hands of perverse leaders. This is what breaks the heart of a G-d who lives not in Jerusalem but rather in the soul of every man.

Bleed Black

The Soulless, The Coward
(The Lost Souls series)

Alder's Ledge supports the religious rights of all groups and peoples. We believe that it is the right of every individual regardless of where they live or what they believe to exercise their religious beliefs freely and openly. It is for that reason we have decided to highlight the most depraved of individuals that would attempt to undermine this freedom for others while pushing their own religious beliefs in such a distasteful and hostile manner. In coming portion of this series we will highlight discrimination against Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Jews, and even Atheists (whom we believe have the same rights to not be religious as those who decided to practice a faith of their own).

It took an anti-Semitic Muslim twit to introduce me to the most obnoxiously hateful bastard this blog has had the opportunity to research. This certifiable lunatic not only looks like a rabid ideologue wearing a throwback costume to the Knights Templar, but has views not so far off from those espoused in Europe's dark ages. The only difference here is that during those ages the rise of Islam took some of the heat off Judaism as Christendom suddenly found a new competitor to bash their weapons against. Now however, the radical fringe of Islam finds it entertaining to push the radical views of cowards like "Brother Nathanael" and his mildly entertaining "foundation".

In our modern age of so called enlightenment this combination of religious fervency and blind hatred is troubling to say the least. In rambling speeches and YouTube videos the fanatical Nathanael manages to collectively blame Judaism (as a singular entity) for everything from the Sandy Hook school shooting to Boston Marathon bombing. Of course these are just two examples of this sick individual hitching his cart to tragedies so as to profiteer off innocent blood. In other examples of his blind hatred for Jews and Judaism Nathanael goes as far as to accuse every Jew for their part in allegedly "stealing Christmas". Proving that there truly is no depth to which perverse ideologues like this man willing to sink to manipulate the opinions of others.

Stopping Short Of Pogroms 

For the most part Nathanael manages to stop his ranting just short of telling the viewer to go grab a gun and shoot up the local synagogue. In most of his ramblings the main threats come from pushing for legal oppression of Judaism in an attempt to force Americans to accept the United States as a "Christian nation again". *Note that Nathanael attaches the word again so as to emphasize his point that America was at some point a religious state dominated and run by the church.

However where there is legal action taken to oppress any minority, regardless of religion, there often follows the physical persecution of the targeted portion of society. It was for this reason that our founding fathers first decided to separate the church from the state and the state from the church. It was clear that if the religious freedoms of all citizens were to be protected that the country must not endorse or push the religious views of any one group over that of another. This was one of the very reasons the initial citizens of Europe had left their homelands in the first place. Yet it is the very thing that Nathanael and his foundation strive to instate through there religious fervor. 

This is made rather clear in The Brother Nathanael Foundation's website:

From the "Vision" statement- 

(capitalization not added by us, bold highlights however are)

"We will DEMAND equal time and MORE for Christian symbols in the public square and support Christian institutions dedicated to the advancement of a Christian society."

 "We will start an education program to bring WHOLESOME sexual ideology to Public School Students."

"We will expose the Zionist State of Israel as an Anti-Christ state due to its denial that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah."

Lets ignore the fact that Nathanael's organization uses the overtly anti-Semitic slogan of calling Israel collectively "Zionist" and thus indicting all Jews within it's borders of being such. Lets ignore that there is no room in his arguments for making a distinction between radical Jews and the rest of us. Lets ignore the fact that many of Nathanael's writings and speeches carry exerts from Mein Kampf and other well known hate saturated doctrines. Lets just focus on the more sadistic characteristics of Nathanael's "evangelism". 

"DEMAND... MORE for Christian symbols"

When was the last time you got to see an Ramadan service held publicly at the White House? Oh that is right, Obama just recently held on a White House Ramadan Iftar dinner on July 25th, 2013. Yet Judaism is supposed to be in complete control of the White House according to radicals like Nathanael. So obviously this was just a ploy, right? Yet this was President Obama's fifth Iftar meal and celebration at the White House.

But President Obama is a liberal president and thus a Jewish "goy", right? I mean that is what Nathanael's organization would like the world to believe. He has spent countless hours preparing videos in which he compares Democratic politicians as "Zionists' goys" being held captive to a global Jewish plot to take over the "world's leading superpower". So perhaps only liberal Jewish pawns allow Islam to take center stage regardless of Ramadan falling relatively close to the Jewish Three Weeks of fasting? 

But to believe this we would have to overlook President George W. Bush's eight consecutive Ramadan Iftar services during his presidency. And we would have to go back to President Clinton to find the first celebrations of Ramadan and the holding of Iftar meals at the White House. Yet of course if we are to listen to Nathanael these are new ploys by the Jewish conspiracy to further push Islam through a president (Obama) who has done more to harm America's relations with the Middle East than any other president (sadly, even Bush). 

Yet the Iftar meals and other Muslim celebrations held at the White House are only the starting point for Nathanael's campaign to force Christianity upon the rest of America through the executive branch. Besides demanding that the White House put up and maintain a nativity scene throughout the month of December, Nathanael's foundation demands that the Chanukah menorah be banned. Thus showing that Nathanael isn't really all that worried about other religions having their time in the public square but rather just wants Judaism banned from public view. 

This rather rabid approach to attacking what, if Nathanael was truly Jewish from birth, he should realize is a minor Jewish holy festival is just the starting point. From this jumping off point fanatics like Nathanael leap into pushing for restrictions on openly celebrating Passover (Pesach) and Yom Kippur. The real target in these perverse attacks is the ultimate denial of religious observances in any manner that might offend the fringe elements of Christendom.

And since it is impossible to exist without offending somebody, somewhere, it is impossible to celebrate any of these holy days at any time. Pesach is the mark on the calender with which Christians use to identify when Easter arrives each year. Yet the push for "MORE" Christian symbols in the public square while limiting Jewish symbols would mean that Pesach would basically have to be banned all together. 

Now I, as a conservative Jew, don't much care for the parts of Pesach which the rest of society gets to see in public (i.e. the grocery store). Matzo is one of the worst pieces of bread ever made... which makes it's name fitting. And yet if radicals like this are allowed any real respect in public thinking then the matzo would have to be done away with so the Easter Bunny can have it's place in the public square. For all public facilities are an extension of the public square and therefore symbols of a religion in those facilities are just as offensive as if they were placed upon the White House lawn. 

"WHOLESOME sexual ideology"

This one statement in his "vision statement" isn't Nathanael's first time indicating that Judaism in the reason for homosexuality across the world. This is a running theme in Nathanael's preaching as he pushes a homophobic ideology onto a modern society. It doesn't take long listening to Nathanael to realize that this ideologue truly believes that homosexuals are Satan's spawn and thus products of "the Jews". 

Once again it is hard to incorporate the traditional beliefs of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam with those of a modern, tolerant, and open society. The reality of living in a day and age where all people are to be accepted as they are rather than what a given religion would dictate for them has evaded Nathanael and his organization. Where members of all three Abrahamic faiths have found it within themselves to accept others the members of this hate group reject homosexuals outright. Instead of acceptance and the "love of Christ", homosexuals can only expect vile bigotry from Nathanael and his followers. 

This is only made more bizarre by Nathanael's belief that his narrow minded hate speech should be standard reading for our children in public schools. So much so that Nathanael's organization has drafted curriculum teaching "orthodox" Christian doctrine as fact instead of scientific reality that homosexuality occurs naturally. Thus attempting to force one religion's views upon the youngest citizens of our country through a state funded system (in direct violation of "separation of church and state"). 

Fortunately the "foundation" has had no such luck in forcing it's bigoted views upon any public school so far...

Antisemitism And Other Prejudice

Regardless of his main views of "the Jews" as being the main enemies of a Christian nation, Nathanael's hatred is not bound simply to religion. In several videos and throughout his writing Nathanael often expresses a profound hatred for non-whites. He takes this hatred for the "lesser races" by proposing that "white America" is on the brink of becoming extinct. He cites supposed illegal immigration regardless of the immigration process these "lesser races" took to arrive here. He also, of course, blames "the Jews" for this wave of "third world" immigrants.

"America's Multicultural Nightmare" 

- February 2011

"American Jewry's Push For Massive Immigration"

- October 2010

"White Anger Or White Stupor?"

- September 2010

"The End Of White America"

- May 2012

These "third world" immigrants from "non-Christian countries" are a threat in the eyes of radicals like Nathanael. All we have to do is compare his views with those of well known racists like David Duke (also an antisemitic hate monger). By noticing the common enemies these two radical Christian windbags choose we can see who the ultimate source of their hatred really is. Though the "third world" immigrants get to take some of the blame for the supposed downfall of "white America", "the Jews" get the bulk of the alleged guilt. 

Freedom Of Hates Speech

In a civil society we must always learn to tolerate the fringe elements of every given group. However, we must also make a consistent push to isolate these voices and separate ourselves from them. By giving them favorable recognition we allow their views to be seen as somewhat acceptable and even respectable. 

We must make certain that we speak out against these radicals with every chance we are given. We must be relentless in identifying their fallacies whenever and wherever they attempt to push them. By making it clear that these are not opinions that our society at large accepts we make it clear that the liberties of all our citizens are protected from the tyranny they attempt to push. Though we must allow them the opportunity to speak we do not have to give them the chance to be left unchallenged. For with every right there are obligations, and the challenging of hate speech is an obligation that arises with the freedom of speech itself.

First They Came For The Hijab

France's Religious Freedom Failures

When the last wave of fascism spread across Europe the socialists who spread their banner of intolerance across the nations of Western Europe wasted no time targeting religious freedoms. Conservative Judaism suffered immediate harassment as the French brown shirts took up the German jackboots' cause. Beards were publicly desecrated as the peyos locks were sheered off. To add insult to injury these same Jews were then forced to adorn their clothing with a yellow star to identify themselves ironically in much the same way their religious customs had. However this time their sense of religious identity was upon the terms of the fascist and not in accordance to their religious customs.

For the Muslims of France the first step in reestablishing these very sins committed under, and often blamed upon, the Nazis. Yet in modern France there are no foreign fascist to blame these modern denials of religious freedoms upon. Today the French have only themselves and their own bigotry to blame for the denials of religious practices to a distinct religious group.

Once again the French strip away one of the most precious practices of their victims in an attempt to humiliate their victims. It is no more an attempt to preserve "French values" than it is an attempt to impose higher values upon the targeted portion of their society. For if religious intolerance is a French value than the victimized community should not be expected to practice religious tolerance anywhere on the planet. Once shown that their faith is given less value than that of their oppressors', how can France expect a social standard be shown toward them that they deny to others?

The idea of forcing a new set of standards upon a small portion of society is not only counterproductive but also goes completely against the ideals of liberty and equality. In a free and open society there can be no room made for intolerance of our basic G-d given rights. Let alone when it is the government applying such double standards upon society at large. For if any portion of our society is not allowed to practice their basic human rights; none of us are truly free.

The main excuse for the "burqa ban" has been the blatantly false concern for public safety. When politicians run out of things to blame their biases upon these days they turn to the mind-numb masses and screams danger. And in a modern world where the masses are just about gullible enough to drink the kool-aid these scare tactics somehow still have an affect.

But what are we really risking by allowing our Muslim sisters to be abused by the legislators of Europe?

Small Steps Toward Tyranny

When Germany began it's march toward totalitarianism in the late 1920's the German public was not well aware of what was awaiting them over the next two decades. Their flirtation with a national sense of pride and the promises of a politicians was a poison that would rot their sense of self worth. Their own identities would have to be sold to the state if they wished to obtain the prizes that their new leaders dangled just out of reach. And sure enough, the Germans took the bait. 

In France Europe watched as deviant leaders dangled lofty promises of "restoring French pride" in a society that never really had any. Slowly the seed took root and the people of France began to sell off their own self worth for the promise of a new and better France. Their own identities as liberal and free thinking individuals has slowly decayed as France inches it's way toward fascist socialism. The lie of what a person must be to be truly "French" has already be swallowed by the masses. The cookie cutter image of what a "good French citizen" should look like has already been supplanted in place of their own self image. No longer is the model citizen allowed to freely and openly practice their faith, but rather is expected to pay homage to a godless state. 

With the removal of publicly displayed Christian symbols the French were expected to show that they were cutting ties to their Christian past and moving toward a free and open society. However, once the public accepted that the church and state were separate the state began to cross the boundary and play the role of church. Where the idea of limiting the role of religion in politics had been so keenly imposed the rationalization of limiting the state's role in religion was not. 

This is where the hijab battle in Europe is best displayed. 

In a public that was willing to limit and even oppress the rights of it's Christian "bitter clingers" the society cannot expect the state to practice limits. This is why the overreaching of the state in it's relationship with the mosque is not surprising. Had the state been pushed back when it was dabbling in the church it would have been less likely to have reached it's hands into the mosque right afterward. Yet the public said nothing, so now they can do little to stop it. 

The pace at which a state moves toward tyranny is determined by the reaction of those who it governs. If the public remains silent as the state oversteps it's bounds with one group than all the rest have no ability to rely upon the others when the state comes stepping on their toes as well. The old poem "First They Came" is in this sense a warning to all portions of community when dealing with a government that attempts to grow at their expense. 

As for France, the Roma have long been the canary in the coalmine. 

When the government of France began deporting legal Romani citizens alongside newly immigrated Roma from Eastern Europe their countrymen remained silent. The deportations of Roma were looked at as an attempt to bring law and order back to the ghettos of France's cities. The scapegoat, the Roma, were just the objects upon which the French attached their collective sins. And in step with their history with France, the Roma took another one on the chin while Europe covered it's eyes. 

The canary's calls were ignored. And even when the canary fell to the bottom of it's dirty cage... nobody said a word. 

Now the fascist have moved on to another target that they had been eyeballing for years now. 

Prison Or Piety?

"O children of Adam, We have bestowed upon you clothing to conceal your private parts and as adornment. But the clothing of righteousness - that is best. That is from the signs of All-h that perhaps they will remember." ~ Qur'an 7:26

The hijab is to Islam what the kippa is to Judaism. It is yet another way for the observant to show their faith and devotion to All-h. Not publicly, contrary to what the outside world might think, but in a very personal manner that professes their dedication to the path G-d has directed for them. It is only coincidence that this portion of their faith is visible to a world that does not fully understand or appreciate it. 

Contrary to what a non-Muslim might think, the burqa is not mentioned in the Qur'an. However, the word "hijab" is mentioned in the Qur'an seven times (five times as hijab and twice as hijaban). In every occurrence the word hijab is used to mean "a barrier or veil between G-d and the human being". It is at no time mentioned as an article of clothing or a garment with which a female should adorn herself in the presence of a man. 

In this light one should understand that if a woman, especially one in a secular society, chooses to adorn the article of clothing we refer to as a hijab they are doing so under their own will. It is not a compulsory portion of Islam and has not been commanded of them by the mosque or their imam. Thus the decision to wear the headscarf is one born out of their own religious ideals and is not a "prison" with which Islam "enslaves" them (as Western feminists and conservatives have often said). 

This decision on behalf of the hijab wearing Muslim is much the same as the decision of orthodox Jews to wear the kippa (often refereed to in Yiddish as a yarmulke). Not once in the Torah does G-d command Jewish men to wear a a kippa. This is evident by the lack of a blessing associated with putting on the kippa since there is no commandment for Jews to recite (as is custom when putting on articles such as the tallit). Therefore the two garments are a rather personal decision, and though not born out of religious mandate, that should be respected due to the individual's personal relationship not with their religion but with their G-d. 

For me, a conservative Jew who does wear a kippa daily, the decision to wear the kippa is one that reminds me of G-d's will for my life. It is a sentiment that is just as sacred as keeping my beard. And even though it is just a small circle piece of clothing, the kippa is a part of my daily routine that keeps my love, my passion, and my desire to serve G-d at the front of my mind. I can only imagine that for Muslim women wearing the hijab this article of their clothing holds just as much sentiment and significance for them as well.

Who Is Next?

The main reason that the hijab battles spreading across Europe should be worrisome even to those who are not religious is rather simple. In a society where we are willing to deny the rights of a few there is no sense of security for the many. If a government is able to restrict the practices of a portion of society they are more than capable of stripping the rights of every other citizen as well. And where a portion of society is capable of being isolated and set aside for devious intent the risk of crimes against all humanity remain a very real possibility. 

When the first Germans were sent off to be reeducated the rest of Germany remained silent. That silence was a weapon in the hands of the government. It was the ammunition they needed to take the next step toward absolute control. With that silence the governments of man can strip away the identities of every individual and replace it with a soulless, heartless, and numb collective. The very essence of what we are as a society is denied to us as the image of what a faceless regime wants us to be replaces it. With our silence we not only lose our voice but also the very liberties we should be using our voices to defend.

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