That's a fact

Just met an older British man on the bus. Since my weak Hebrew prevents me from meeting people in Israel, I couldn't resist. I could tell that he was Anglo because he didn't step all over me to get to his seat, because his clothes were neat and his small beard trim, and because he was wearing a cap. Israelis don't wear caps.

How long have I been here, he just had to know. Zionists always ask you that and smile happily at your answer. Whatever I say, my mind then adds "unfortunately." I don't say it, but I think it. I don't want to bum people out.

As for him, he'll never live anywhere else he said. The world is falling apart.

I told him that Israel is falling apart too. But he didn't seem to know about that. It's almost as if he had built his entire mind around the Aliyah sales pitch that Israel is wonderful. Should I have reminded him that the economy is in a shambles, that the government is the most unstable in the world? Should I have reminded him that 1,200 Jews were murdered on Oct. 7, some of them by the IDF? Should I have reminded him that 350 soldiers have been killed since then and thousands maimed for life? I didn't want to get into a fight. 

But when he mentioned that anti-Semitism has taken over America, I reminded him that Jews are murdered in Israel every week, just two days ago in fact, along with a soldier yesterday (by 'friendly' fire). In America, maybe somebody gets yelled at from time to time, not that there's any yelling in Israel (ahem). Not only that but the US Congress passed a proclamation against anti-Semitism. Presidents of three elite universities were forced to resign when they were characterized as having not done enough to protect Jews on campus. That doesn't happen in an anti-Semitic country.

None of this moved the man. He shook his head no about the terrorism. But he's wrong. It's a fact. Just read the newspaper. He wasn't interest in all of that fact stuff. Who needs facts?

Talking to this man I got the sense that the entire meaning of his life was that he lives in Israel. All is good now.

Really? Do you study enough Torah, do enough chesed, guard your eyes and tongue? Do you think about Hashem? What I find with "Religious" Zionists is that none of that matters as long as you live in Israel. It is as if they are saying, "I am a tzadick because I live in Israel."

Uh, I think we have been down this road before. Tisha b'Av just passed. They all lived in Eretz Yisroel under a Jewish government. Evidentially, that's not enough. And that's a fact. It's in the Gemara.