February 14, 2025
Start with the Children
There is so much happening in the Jewish World, I don’t think anyone knows where to place focus. Do we attend another rally? Write to our politicians? Get involved in the hostage healing or helping displaced Israelis? Register for another webinar?
This week alone offered the following items in the news. I’ve provided some links, but please Google the rest. Each item is worthy of your attention.
1. The three hostages to be released tomorrow (please Gd)
2. Trump’s future plans for Gaza
3. The Australian medical staff members who admitted that they would kill (have killed?) Jewish patients
4. The swastika T-shirt that Kanye West is selling
5. The fake (AI-generated) video of Jewish Hollywood celebrities wearing T-shirts in response to Kanye
6. The Craig’s List casting call “In Search of Individuals for a Paid Protest” $200-$1000 just to attend
7. Eurovision: The Jewish singer who will represent the Muslim country of Aizerbaijan, and the Nova Festival survivor, Yuval Rafael, who will represent Israel. (Click here to see her Survivor Testimony video, made long before she was chosen for Eurovision.)
8. The disgusting antics at TDSB regarding the Antisemitism Report
The most disturbing thing that caught my eye this week has to do with #8 from the above list. It is the following Grade 8 Composition.
THE STORY OF PALESTINE
Once there was an Arab country. It was called “Palestine”. There, Christians, Muslims, and Jews lived peacefully and the country was ruled by the Ottoman Empire in the 1800s.
One day a British politician called Balfour promised Israel to give them Palestine to be their own country. So Israeli people started to gather together. After that, some Jewish people went to Palestine as refugees. Later on, some territories and homes were lost in Palestine because the government took them away from Palestinians.
In 1948, Israel declared the establishment of its country. Then more Israelis arrived seeking refuge, and so thousands of Palestinians fled their homes to survive. Palestinians had no right to return back to their homes, and they had no right to fight for the land that they owned. Israel then expanded more and more.
For the past 75 years, Palestinians have been trying to reclaim their land, and now and always, Palestinians believe that one day their country will be free.
Believe it or not, that essay was vetted and selected to be published in the Toronto District School Board Anthology. Reading it and knowing that this “twistory” will now be shared as fact for our children makes me ill. That’s the thing. If adults have it wrong, we correct them, one by one. Children in school, however, learn as a group, memorize the information, keep it with them for the rest of their lives. They have no reason to doubt what the teacher is teaching them.
With that in mind, we must recognize our responsibility with our youth. The most recent group class of The Song Shul b’nai mitzvah students was devoted to Israel and its history. We’ll be continuing at the next class. These kids, some at Jewish Day School, some at other private schools, some in the TDSB, knew very little, if any, of what I was showing them. Have discussions with your children and grandchildren. Make sure they know the truth. If you need help with the facts, visit my blog and check out any of the “Just The Facts” posts. It’s easy reading and important information. Let’s save our kids, the next generation, before it’s too late. We can not afford not to.
Am Yisrael Chai!