DoD wrote:
> How do the majority of Israelis practice Mitzvot, an essential element
> of Judaism. The usual tendency is to dismiss associating Mitzvot with
> Israel, the state, after all, only ten percent of the Israeli Jewish
> population is Orthodox. Therefore, many assume that the secular
> majority dismisses the Mitzvot outright. Wrong. The Israelis practice
> some of the most difficult Mitzvot, at a great risk for their lives.
>
> Many Israeli secular Jews, if not most, believe that living in Israel
> is, by itself, a great Mitzva. They know they are Israeli Jews. They
> believe that they are the carrier of the true Jewish life in the land
> of Israel. You live in Israel, you are a Jew even if you do not
> practice Mitzvot knowingly. So much of Judaism is intermixed into the
> Israeli life, you just live it. For example, most commercial life
> stops Friday afternoon, many prepare for Shabat as a day of rest, as a
> normal practice. Many seculars that would rarely be in a synagogue, or
> ever think about mitzvot will light the Shabbat candles before dinner.
> Shabbat is a day of rest, relaxing activities, and enjoying family and
> friends. In Israel, the reality is that you are surrounded by Judaism.
> But that is relatively easy.
>
> But the practice of Judaism in Israel has a larger significance than
> just following traditions, because for the first time in millennia
> Jews are running their own country. With all of our long and erratic
> history, from the biblical kings, to the destructions of the Temples,
> to the exile among the nations, through the Holocaust and the
> continuous, deep global anti-Semitism, could Jews run a modern
> country?.
>
> Not only that, could we run a country according the essential elements
> of Judaism: Justice, Compassion, Reverence to human life, peace,
> Tikkun-Olam, and the most difficult one in that neighborhood - love
> your neighbor. I believe it is an im****tant question to all Jews.
> After all, is there any uniqueness to our way of life, to all that
> Judaism stands for? You may almost ask - is there any rationale to all
> the death and suffering Jews endured for thousands of years, that we
> have remained Jews, instead of disappearing among the nations?.
>
> I would not attempt, nor dare to answer this huge and complex
> question. But I would like to give you some examples that touch these
> im****tant questions.
>
> When I visited Israel a few years ago, the Palestinians blew up two
> armored trucks full of Israeli soldiers. Ten Israeli soldiers were
> blown apart by huge explosions. The Palestinians celebrated the event
> by playing football, which was televised on their TV, with the heads
> of the dead Israeli soldiers.
>
> I watched the Israeli reaction for hours on TV. Israel was in a shock.
> How could they? How could they treat the dead in such disrespect?
>
> Any sensible country would have shown this inhumanity on TV to the
> world, to expose the Palestinians on the type of atrocities they often
> commit against captured Israelis. But the Israelis, from all sectors,
> did not. They said this is disrespectful to the dead and their
> families. But more significant to me was the Israeli attitude. I did
> not see, or hear any Israeli, private or public, say what it would be
> common elsewhere: “let's kill the bastards, blow them to pieces for
> their atrocities” or any similar hateful words.
>
> I did not hear, nor sense, anything of that nature of hate towards the
> Arabs, not then, not all the years I lived there, years of close
> contacts with my family and friends, of all political spectrum.
>
> Despite the unrelenting Arab attacks and the murder of twenty two
> thousand Israelis in wars and in peacefull times, most Israelis do not
> seem to exhibit animosity towards the Palestinians. However, they do
> not want to be near them or deal with them because of the inhumanity
> they have exhibited towards innocent Israelis, especially Israeli
> civilians.
>
> To me this is amazing.
>
> Now something about the deep reverence for life, probably the most
> im****tant aspect of Judaism, that the Israelis have been practicing
> for so long:
>
> Several years ago a retired commander of the Israeli Air Force gave a
> talk in our congregation about the targeting of Palestinian terrorist
> leaders from the air. He asked our liberal American Jewish audience to
> think about the following real case: There is always a danger of
> killing uninvolved civilians in an air attack. A group of Israeli
> pilots are preparing to attack a group of terrorists driving to kill
> Israelis; estimated Israeli casualties at least ten. What is the
> maximum number of Arab civilians that this air attack might injure or
> kill?
>
> The American audience allowed a larger number of civilian casualties
> than the Israeli pilots would allow themselves. The Air Force
> commanders do not make that decision, the pilots who risk their lives
> and carry the attacks, make them in the air.
>
> The Israelis spent millions of dollars and made an extreme effort to
> reduce civilian casualties from their air attacks, few civilians if
> any are now being killed when Israeli aircrafts attack terrorist on
> the ground in Gaza .
>
> Now look at a similar situation during the 2006 Lebanon war. You may
> have read about it, but think about these in light of the commandments
> the Israeli are willing to follow.
>
> No other country would have done what the Israelis did to save Arab
> civilian lives while they were themselves under attack by Hizbullah
> which was sup****ted and encouraged by most Palestinian Lebanese.
>
> Let me illustrate these by three actual cases I followed closely:
>
>
> In the middle of the first day of the war an Israeli pilot was ordered
> to blow the main bridge between Syria and the Hizbullah territory.
> This bridge was the only path to send additional missiles from Syria,
> the main supplier of Hizbullah. Approaching the bridge, the pilot
> radioed his controller that he would not attack because too many
> civilians would die. Although many weapons could have reached
> Hizbullah from Syria the pilot returned to base and destroyed the
> bridge at midnight when few civilians were on it.
> Think about this for a few seconds.
>
>
> A pilot detected at night a large truck-mounted missile launcher in
> Hizbullah land, it was going to hide in a few seconds after launching
> its medium range missiles on northern Israel. He was ready to destroy
> it when he thought he saw three kids in the area. He told his
> controller that he would not fire because he might hurt the kids, and
> returned to patrolling the sky. This is with the full realization that
> that weapon would fire additional rockets into Israel as soon as it
> could.
>
> Hizbullah used an apartment in a high rise building in southern
> Lebanon as an observation post to spot Israeli aircrafts and troop
> movement. It had to be destroyed. Three options were possible:
>
> Destroy the building with a large air missile without any Israeli
> casualty and assure destruction of the target.
>
> Shoot a small missile into the apartment, destroy it, but you may kill
> civilians in a nearby apartment. The likelihood of success was also
> lower.
>
> Send ground troops into the building, attack the apartment directly
> through the door. This is the most risky option, most likely to have
> Israeli casualties but less risk to Arab civilians nearby.
>
> The Israeli took the third, most risky option, one Israeli soldier
> died, other injured.
> Do the Israelis set an example to the world in their humanity? Does
> the world appreciate this?
> http://www.jewishmag.com/123mag/matania/matania.htm
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