Martin H. van den Bergh

Celebrating Pesach during war conditions has been somewhat challenging. Yet, this has once again shown the resilience of the Jewish People in continuing to keep the commandments relating to Pesach and especially the Seder night. Like many others and at the suggestion of our Communal Rabbi, we prepared a second Seder plate in our safe room in case we had a siren in the middle of the Seder. As it is we had a siren after the Seder as well as several sirens during the day. The sirens indicating incoming rockets or shrapnel remind us that the Iranian are still intent of our destruction here in Israel.

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It is therefore disconcerting that some world religious leaders, including the Pope and the Archbishop of York. ignore the dangers which Iran still poses against us, and perhaps somewhat surprising including Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. Rabbi Eliezer Simcha Weisz, who was a senior rabbi in England is now a member of the Chief Rabbinate Council of Israel wrote to the Archbishop of York while in a safe room and told him: “Israel is not engaged in a war of choice; we are defending our homes against a regime that publicly and repeatedly vows to wipe us from the earth.” Therefore, this is not a pointless war as the archbishop alleges.

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For our part we must continue to defend ourselves and destroy Iran’s capability to produce nuclear and conventional bombs, and especially cluster bombs. The latter, which are prohibited under international law have caused and continue to cause terrible damage in Israel, and yet the international community is silent. Thus, religious leaders like the Archbishop of York and others, must voice their opposition to Iran whose aim is to destroy the Jewish People, who are the Holy People of the world and to this day preserve its status especially in the observance of the Kashrut laws.