Stories of Jewish Heroism

Our Youngest (can't exactly call her IddyBiddyDarDar anymore) recommended a book to me, written by one of her teachers in Israel, Yossi Katz -- A Voice Called. Stories of Jewish Heroism

I haven't read it all yet, but it is truly balm for the Jewish soul.  Every Jew needs to know who these people are -- Herzl of course, Begin, the poet Bialik, David Marcus, Sharansky, astronaut Ilan Ramon, but many others of whom you may not have heard:  Michael Halpern, Manya Shochat, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, Sarah Aaronsohn, Orde Wingate, Barney Ross, Dov Gruner, Barazani and Feinstein, Murray Greenfield, Eli Cohen, Avigdor Kahalani, Zvika Greengold, Morris Katz, Naomi Shemer, Brian Bebchick, David Sprung, Roi Klein, Michael Levin, Tal Brody, Yonatan Ben-Meier, Irv and Miriam Katz.

It is a shondeh that most of us are unfamiliar with our own heroes, but B"H it's not too late.  Buy the book.  Buy a dozen.  Get one for every bar and bat mitvah at your shul. Donate them to your local Sunday school, Hebrew school and or day school. Our children need to grow up on these stories, and we need not to grow old without them.

On page 151, Yossi quotes the words of Menachem Begin, then commander of the Etzel, February 1st 1944:

"We shall fight; every Jew in the homeland will fight. The God of Israel, the Lord of Hosts will aid us.  There will be no retreat. Freedom - or death...

"The fighting youth will not flinch from tribulation and sacrifice, from blood and suffering.  They will not surrender... until they have ensured for our people a Homeland, freedom, honour, bread and justice...."

Sixty-six years later, the task to which Begin called us remains unfinished.  And here all I'm asking you to do is read a book!  You'll be glad you did ... and more importantly, you'll see your children walk with their heads held high.  Youngest does, and that is due is large measure to Yossi's personal transmission of pride taken in Jewish heroes like these. Yossi should live to be 120, and you my dear readers should go right now to Amazon.

Comments

[Mannie Sherberg]

Yael -- I don't know if your list of heroes covered in the book is complete, but if it is, there would appear to be three conspicuous omissions. The first, of course, would be Ze'ev Jabotinsky, for whom the word "hero" seems almost inadequate. The man's life exemplified fortitude, tenacity, self-sacrifice -- all the traits typically associated with heroes. His funeral in New York City -- unlike any Jewish funeral there before or since -- attests to the veneration felt for him by his fellow Jews. Only a true hero could have received such homage. A second omission would be Rabbi Meir Kahane. I know, I know: for many "enlightened" Jews, his name has become anathema. But he was a man of inordinate bravery, and with every fiber of his being manifested ahavas yisrael. Some Jews, I realize, would -- like the Soviet stooges who rewrote Soviet history to please Stalin -- rewrite Jewish history with Kahane's name erased -- all to please the politically correct crowd. But the rabbi's memory deserves to be honored. A final omission would be Rudolf Sonneborn, who -- more than anyone -- was responsible for obtaining the weapons with which the nascent State of Israel won the 1948 war. That may not sound heroic, but Sonneborn -- and the many Americans who assisted him -- ran very real risks every day. Maybe Yossi Katz will write a sequel. Happily, modern Jewish history has produced enough heroic figures to fill several volumes.

[Kae Gregory]

This post, and the comment above are also 'balm for the Jewish soul'. I will buy the book. Thank you for recommending it.