It always begins with a lie. It started all the way back in the days of Egypt, the hatred of Christians towards us for hundreds of years: the blood libels, the cause of the Black Death, the Dreyfus Affair, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion to Israel bring the poster child for genocide.
The lie is like a virus; it gathers strength and destroys everything in its path and lingers after its destructive force. How does one fight against this? In the past we have had eloquent speakers to defend us—the Ramban at the Barcelona dispute, Rabbi Hirsch, the Chofetz Chaim, The Rav, Rabbi Moshe Sherer, Elie Wiesel, Abba Eban and Rabbi Lord Johnathan Sacks to name a few. Who will take up the mantle to battle for the truth?
I am reminded of a line in “Rocky III” where Apollo Creed is trying to encourage Rocky to keep fighting, saying, “There is no tomorrow.” It is now in the present where we must make a stand even though we are not well-versed in fighting and we are tired. Oh how tired we are. Emotionally, psychologically and physically. It is now in the present where we must clap our chests and raise our voices and tears to heaven and pound on the gates of heaven and say, “There is no tomorrow.”
We must not get complacent or numb to what is going on in Israel or America. Every Jew who has died because of this is not a statistic, but a future that is no more.
Life at times feels like a long highway with very few rest stops and it feels at times that we keep driving with no end in sight, but that’s not true. Life is about the people we meet along the way. Life is about the places we pass by. Life is about the impact we make, knowing and unknowing. Life is precious and we will prevail and we will keep fighting because we know there is no tomorrow.
David Adler
Passaic