Reserved for Arik

Reserved for ArikMay 26, 2003

Dear Emma and Abba,

 

It’s time that I again fill you in. Yesterday, you cannot imagine what happened here. I’ve been here for over two years, but you know, time here isn’t like time where you are, there’s so much more. But yesterday, what a ruckus, what noise, what bewilderment. Everyone was running around, even in and out of the holy throne room, it was unprecedented. 

Maybe you noticed, yesterday morning in Hebron it rained, on and off, several times during the morning. Do you know why? Someone brought in a copy of the newspaper Yediot Achronot, passing it around. Then came the command to bring it into the holy throne room. The Prime Minister of Israel, the hero of our People, he said that the time has come to divide the Land, to abandon parts of Eretz Yisrael to our enemies, to the people who killed me and so many others, to give it to them. And when He read it, He cried. I’m told by the elders that this is the first time, in maybe two thousand years, that G-d cried. When word spread, others wept too. And those tears, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Leah and Rachel, together with His tears, it rained in Hebron.

And you know, from here I can see things that you can’t. You know what I saw – I saw so many people sitting together, Arabs, leaders of the murderers, and you know what they were doing – they were laughing. Oh, how they enjoyed it. They were smoking big cigars, drinking whiskey, shaking hands, and laughing and laughing. One of them, Abu something, he was laughing the loudest, and  he kept saying, “we did it, we did it”. “Just a little more time, a little more patience, and it’s all over.” Someone whispered in his ear, “should we continue killing them?” and he shook his head, up and down, again and again, answering, “of course, of course, you see, it works, the more we kill them, the more they give us.”

Another one, Mohammed something, chuckled, “did you hear him – the Jews will always have security. I guarantee the Jews in Israel eternal security.” “Ha – how long does he believe he’ll be the Israeli Prime Minister – he is 75 years old, soon he will not be able to lead – and whoever replaces him – we will wipe up the floor with him and wipe all the Jews into the sea.”

Yesterday afternoon a short man with white hair, pacing up and down, kept yelling at a short woman with gray hair, “what fools they are, didn’t they learn anything? How can they make a decision like that?” She too, “We’ve gone through this before – a Palestinian state – what palestinians? Don’t they understand what is going to happen?” Both of them collapsed in tears.

I heard a couple of men speaking in a corner. They were in shock. One of them, they called him Gandhi,  exclaimed, “what, they’re staying in the coalition, Rabbi Benny, and Avigdor, Effie, I don’t believe it. I’m going to request special permission to go down and speak with them – I resigned when the army pulled off of Abu Sneneh in Hebron – now there’s a decision to accept an enemy terrorist state, to uproot communities, and they are staying in the coalition? I just don’t believe it.”

Emma, Abba, I have to read you something, tell me what you think:

It's clear beyond all doubt that the government has disregarded the warnings and alerts from all those in charge of our security. These warnings have made not the slightest impact.

Whatever is being done now - and it's relatively little, and not necessarily what's needed - could have been done before the latest wave of terrorist attacks erupted. It might have been possible to prevent it, or at least some of it.

What lessons must we learn now which couldn't have been absorbed before?

But the flock of sheep pays the price, and drifts back into its routine.

The government proclaims it will act wisely and responsibly, and regularly announces: "Whoever tries to harm Israel will be punished right away."

And "We'll draw conclusions…But the grass-eaters hear what's happening, and stay silent. They just go on chewing the cud.

This is an article called “AND THE SHEEP GO ON CHEWING,” authored by ARIEL SHARON, appearing in the Jerusalem Post on March 22, 1996

I have to tell you, there’s a man here, he crouches in a corner, sort of sitting on a little stool, they say he hasn’t moved in almost two thousand five hundred years. He is surrounded by tears, by his tears, he has never stopped crying. His name is Gedalya, and he was that last governor of Israel, after the destruction of the first Temple. Way back then his friends came to him and warned him that an evil man name Yishmael ben Nesania was going to kill him. He refused to listen, rejecting their counsel, unwilling to accept slander. The day after Rosh HaShana, when Yishmael ben Nesania arrived at his home, Gedalya welcomed him. But when Gedalya turned his back, Yishmael murdered him. Our sages teach that Gedalya was a righteous man, but is labeled as a righteous fool. He was forewarned, yet took no precautions, and the last governor of Israel was killed, leaving the land leaderless until the return from the Babylonian exile. Every year, since then, Jews fast on the day Gedalya was murdered.

There are things I’m not supposed to tell you, but I’ll tell you anyhow. There is another stool, next to Gedalya’s. Nobody ever sits there because there’s a small sign on it, which says, ‘reserved for Arik.’

Emma and Abba, I’m so happy to see that I have two sisters. I’m just sorry that I never had a chance to play with them. And I miss you.

Your loving daughter,

Shalhevet