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2 March 2003 Dear Friends,Ilan means tree. Before he died, Ilan Ramon sent the following message back to earth: "I call upon every Jew in the world to plant a tree in the land of Israel during the coming year. I would like to see at least 13 or 14 million new trees planted in Israel exactly one year from now, on the anniversary of the launching." Upon hearing Mr. Ramon's statement, Jewish National Fund Chief executive Officer Russell Robinson said, "It is so meaningful that the first Israeli astronaut calls out from space, to Jewish people everywhere on earth, to have a direct connection to the land of Israel by literally planting roots in its soil." In Israel, Jewish National Fund officials immediately took up the challenge last week by planting the first 13 trees in the Ben Shemen Forest in honor of Ilan Ramon and the Columbia team. As JNF World Chairman Yehiel Leket said, "On the Colombia's next orbit around the earth, Mr. Ramon will already be able to see the first 13 trees that JNF planted as a response to his request." Mr. Leket had already planted a tree in Mr. Ramon's honor in the new Bible Forest on Tu B'Shevat, where he noted that the Israeli astronaut's first name, Ilan, literally means "tree." With the tragic deaths of Ilan and his fellow astronauts, Ilan's wish to see the land of Israel blooming with millions of new trees, forests so thick that one could see them from space, takes on new meaning. Please spread this message. Plant a tree for Ilan and his fellow astronauts, may all their memories be blessed. |
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13 September 2001 Dear friends,I hope this finds you and your family safe and well. On behalf of the residents of Ramla I wish to express our deepest feelings of sorrow and offer our condolences to the American people, on these terrible days of terror and tragedy. Our hearts reach out to all those effected by these horrific and cowardly acts, and we pray for the speedy recovery of the injured. Such events put the character of a nation to the test. Yet, we are certain that the American spirit will remain untouched, and that America will prevail stronger and prouder. The state of Israel declared Wednesday as a national “Day of Grief” throughout the country, and thousands of people have rushed to donate blood. We share your grief and offer you our assistance in any way possible. On the eve of the Jewish New-Year I wish to take this opportunity to wish you and your loved ones a New Year of joy, success, health and happiness. On behalf of the residents of Ramla,
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From Jerusalem, With Solidarity
BY: Naomi Ragen Just yesterday, a day after three suicide bombers blew themselves up all over Israel, killing five more innocent Israeli civilians, I sat writing how I longed for America. From my home in Jerusalem, it shone in the distance, a beacon of stability and safety, it's shores so secure and inviting. Can it be that only twenty-four hours later my birthplace, the City of New York, the place that educated and nutured me with its thrilling diversity and endless promise; the place my brothers and their families still live, is now a graveyard of thousands of innocent people cut down by the same murderers that have been bloodying the streets of my spiritual birthplace, Jerusalem? "Vicious, cowardly terrorists," is how Mayor Guiliani described them, "attacking innocent men, women and children going about their lives..". "An attack on freedom and our way of life." And Tony Blair, who rose to the occasion, talked about this being an attack on the free world, on democracy. How we in Jerusalem who have been under attack by the same terrorists for months have thirsted to hear these words! In East Jerusalem, the Palestinian celebrations, the joy of the man-- and woman-- in the street at this savage act of barbarism, is now broadcast by CNN and the BBC which has been wallowing in sympathy for Palestinian suicide bombers for months, interviewing their parents; examining their delicate sensibilities, their noble motives....How, I wonder, do these networks feel now? Are they embarrassed? Are they enlightened? I'd really like to know. Just the other day in reporting Sunday's multiple suicide bombings in Israel, the BBC reported: "Eight died in Mideast violence." And this is what they meant: Three suicide bombers and their five Israeli victims who were murdered in cold blood. I imagine they won't be counting the suicide pilots in the the body count of the American victims, or say that they died in a continuing cycle of violence. Not now when Britain itself feels that the ground beneath its own feet is suddenly less solid then before. Why do we have to learn these lessons of history again and again: that tolerance for anti-semitism and the murder of Jews inevitably leads to a hundredfold number of casualties among innocent people of all races and religions all over the world? That evil and immorality and racism always chooses the Jews as its first target, but never its last? If the attack is tolerated, it grows in strength and begins to devour the rest of the world. Appeasement, Churchill said, is feeding a crocodile in the hope that he will eat you last. It doesn't work. And now, just days after the debacle in Durban which unleashed the most vicious racism of modern times, comes the physical attack on the leader of the free world and its people. I feel no satisfaction that the world which has been so blind, so wrong-headed, in its abandonment of the Jews of Israel, feeding us to the crocodiles, must now experience the horrors we have been living with on a daily basis for months, even years. But it is my hope, as I wearily type these words, that a new light will come out of the billowing evil smoke of destruction and darkness that has claimed so many innocent lives, destroyed so many, many innocent families. A light of determination and clear-headed moral thinking that will allow all the good people of the world to gird their loins and join forces to defeat the embodiment of evil fanacticism and disregard for human life dressed in religious clothing: Muslim fundamentalism. I am so sorry englightenment had to come at such a terrible price. Let it be the last we pay. My prayers are with my fellow Americans. May God bless you and watch over you all. Naomi Ragen |
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Excerpts from a friend in Israel ....thought you would find this of interest... I am not the least afraid to go any place, by bus or to a mall. I didn't change or stop doing ANY thing I used to do before this mess began! People tend to forget that twice the casualties from terror get killed on the roads! More people still die from heart attack, cancer, and other things;they just don't show them on TV. Don't understand me wrong, there is a war going on, it's not pleasant, but lets face it.. WE HAVE NEVER BEEN BETTER!!!! It's only TV and media that make people think it's the end of the world coming. Only 60 years ago!! They were leading Jews to their death like sheep to the slaughter! No country, no army. 55 years ago!! Seven Arab countries declared war on the small Jewish state, only a few hours old!! We were then 650,000 Jews! Against the rest of the Arab world! No IDF, no mighty air force, just tough people with nowhere to go (Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia, attacked all at once). The country the U.N. "gave us" was 65 % desert. The country started from scratch! 35 years ago!! We fought the three strongest armies in the Middle East, and wiped them out in six days. We fought against different coalitions of Arab countries, with modern armies, and masses of Russian soviet weapons, and still won!!! We have today a country, and an army, and a strong air force, and hi-tech economy, exporting millions, Intel-Microsoft-IBM develop their stuff here, our doctors win world prizes for medical developments, we made the desert flourish, selling oranges and vegetables to the world. Israel has sent its own satellite!! In space (three satellites all together!!), we sit proudly with the U.S. (250 million people), Russia (200 million people!), China (1.1 billion), the Europeans -- France-England-Ge rmany (350 million), as the only countries in the world to shoot something into space!! Israel is today in the world nuclear power family with U.S, Russia, China, India, France, and England. (We don't admit it, but every one knows...) To think that only 60 years ago, we were led, shameful, with no hope, to our death!! We crawled out of the burning ashes of Europe, we won our wars here with less than nothing in our hands, we built an "empire" out of nothing. Who the hell is Mr. Arafat to make me scared? Terrified? You make me laugh! Passover is coming, let's not forget what the story is all about. We overcame Pharoah, we overcame the Greeks, the Romans, the inquisition in Spain, we overcame the pogroms in Russia, we overcame Hitler, the Germans, the Holocaust, we overcame seven other Arab countries at once, we overcame Saddam. Take it easy, folks, we will overcome these ones too. No matter at what part of human history you try! to think of, for us, the Jewish people, our situation has never been better!!! So let's lift our heads high, and remember: any nation or culture that tried to mess around with us was destroyed to the ground - while we kept going!!! Egypt? Anyone know where their empire disappeared to? The Greeks? Alexander of Macedonia? The Romans? Anyone today speak Latin? The Church? Anyone care about the Pope as more than a symbol? The Third Reich? Anyone heard any news about it lately? And look at us, the nation from the Bible, from slavery in Egypt we are still here, speaking the same language!! Right here, right now. The Arabs don't know it yet, but they will learn there is one God As long as we keep our identity, we are eternal. So, sorry for not worrying, bitching, crying, or being scared, things are going o.k. here. They surely can go better, but still, don't fall for the media junk, they won't tell you that there are festivals going on, people keep on living, going out, seeing friends. Yes, our morale is low, so what? It's only because we weep for our dead while they enjoy the blood (and this is the same reason why, we will win, after all). You can forward this e-mail (if you choose) to the whole of the Jewish community in the United States,and the world. They are part of our strength and it might help some of them to keep their head up high. ; tell them there is nothing to worry about. Tell them to think BIG and to see the whole picture.
"See you next year in Jerusalem." |
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