Recalling the past and its dangers
Within one week, we commemorate the Holocaust, (“Yom Hashoah commemoration marks Nuremberg anniversary,” May 5), mourn on Yom Hazikaron honoring those killed defending the State of Israel and joyously celebrate Israel’s Independence Day on Yom Ha’atzmaut.
This should also be the time of reflection, recalling the words of George Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Do we remember or ignore tell-tale signs of danger and how will this auger for world Jewry?
In the 1930s, Hitler declared his goal of the elimination of world Jewry. This threat was ignored.
Anti-Semitism is growing in Europe, fueled by Muslim immigration. Last year, the calamitous Iran nuclear deal was implemented, despite threats by Iran to eliminate Israel and world Jewry. Just last week,
UNESCO overwhelmingly voted to sever Judaism from its historical and biblical history in Israel. It renamed the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, declared that Jews were planting fake graves on the Mount of Olives, and that Rachel’s Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs are mosques. Many college campuses have become propagandized that Israel’s is an apartheid regime and a brutal occupier of “stolen Arab land.”
The line between anti-Semitic and anti-Israel has become blurred.
J Street, a Jewish self-proclaimed pro-Israel organization lobbied Congress to accept the Iran deal.
Jews like Noam Chomsky work actively to undermine Israel publicly, including at the United Nations. Jewish Voice for Peace, allied with the more radical Students for Justice in Palestine, is active on more than 135 college campuses, using its Jewish identification to steer public support away from the Jewish state.
We need greater effort by Jewish organizations to take Santayana’s warning seriously and gear up for the fight to safeguard the future of Jewry. We need increased education of Israel’s history in public and private schools. The insidious BDS movement must be exposed for what it is. We need to educate our Jewish enemies of Israel that without unity, there can be no future for the Jewish people.
WARREN A. MANISON
Potomac
Emergency box for seniors
Regarding the article about aging (“Questions and answers about caregiving,” May 5), I thought it might be very helpful for the aging still living in their own homes.
There is a system where the only ones who have key access to a Knox Box are the fire and rescue department. These secure boxes are required for all commercial properties. They can be installed at a residential residence also. I have installed one on my residence here in Montgomery County and in Delray Beach, Fla. The cost of this item is well worth not having to replace a door if emergency entry is required.
Our Knox Box contains a key to our home, emergency phone numbers, our identification photos (driver’s licenses), insurance cards (Medicare and supplemental) and our medical directives. Others might want to include more items.
LENNY RASKIN
Chevy Chase
