Osama Bin Laden: Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish

Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish

I had written and posted my Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance) blog when the news of Osama's death came via text message from my mother.  It was her on that September day who called me on the phone yelling, "turn on the TV, turn on the TV...."

As I watched the news on Bin Laden, I did not cheer or cry but reflected on the horror of 9-11 and how so many lives were forever changed.  His death cannot turn back time or replace lost lives or heal the rescue workers who are sick from particle inhalation.  However, I find the timing of his death appropriate.  April 30, 1945 was the date of Hitler's death.  So close.  Erie and uncanny yet JUST.

Spin the Rand McNally

Osama was a man who held our nation and other nations hostage.  It was not because he was a Muslim.  He was a radical, an extremist, an egomaniac hell bent on destruction of peace.  He supported genocide in Darfur, killed his OWN people--more Muslims than any other religious group, hated America, Israel, India, Africa...just give your Rand McNally a spin.

In between the news, I face-booked friends and read their comments--some of which I would like to share:

Ding Dong The Witch is Dead...

Vern posted:  "Ding Dong The Witch is Dead...Sorry...This will change nothing..."

Sheri wrote:  "He is dead.  Will this take back the events of 9/11?  Will it bring back all the soldiers killed in the hunt?  Will it end the fighting and bring our troops home?  I am having trouble finding much joy in any of it."

Mark said:  "Hooray, OSAMA is dead!  I give Pres. Obama credit for ordering the attack that resulted in his death.  (BTW, that is 100% more credit than Obama give GWB, whose tireless and courageous efforts set the stage for Obama taking the credit.)

Jason wrote:  "Guess what the last thing on Bin Laden's mind was--5.56 ammo!"

Airport Analogy

Dave wrote:  My father used to take us to the airport and watch the people coming and going. We were never going on an airplane, just went there to watch. People are interesting.

Barak had a great day , he should revel in his accomplishment.

I give him his due, but I feel less than honest if I don't say that I have mixed feelings.

I feel like I am at the airport again watching all the excitement but I am not going anywhere.

It's Raining Men

Judy stated:  "Osama Bin Laden is dead!!!!" 

Comments followed with Cindi saying, "And may his 72 Virgins be Men!!  Just sayin!!!  And myself adding the video, "It's Raining Men!  Hallelujah!."

Burial at Sea

Last night I posted:  Well, now what to do with the body..."I don't want him, you can have him, he's too bad for me...LET'S EXPORT HIM!"

Well, he got a proper, traditional Muslim preparation of being washed and wrapped in a white sheet just to be floated out on a board to sea.  It seems like a terrible waste of water to me and now there is MORE contamination in our oceans.  And I thought we were going "GREEN."  I'm with Glenn Beck--he should have been wrapped in bacon prior to "burial"...

Yom Hashoah: Holocaust Memorial Day

Lead by Rabbi Katz,Yom Hashoah was a beautiful service of remembrance at Congregation Beth El in Tyler, Texas.  Being a reform temple, Yom Hashoah was a musical program which opened with the "Theme from Schindler's List" played on the violin.  I looked around at the small group of maybe 75 people but thought of how it could have been non-existent.  The Holocaust claimed the lives of 6 million Jews and 5 million others at the hands of Nazis under Hitler's rule.  We were some who survived, remained, remembered.

Torah Processional

For those who are unfamiliar with the Torah, it is the first 5 books of the bible--the books of Moses.  It is also known as the Pentateuch (meaning five).  It contains:  Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.  It is G-D's covenant (agreement) with his people. 
A Sefer Torah is a hand written scroll on parchment.  The scrolls are stored in the Aron Kodesh ("Holy Ark") inside a temple or synagogue.  The highly decorated cabinet is designed to face Jerusalem.  The doors or curtain are all artistically unique painted or woven designs of doves, flowers, trees, the sea...
Beth El's Yom Hashoah scroll once belonged to a community in Roudnice, Czechoslovakia which was destroyed.  This scroll was written around 1850.  All scrolls were once cherished by congregations but as the Jews were savagely murdered, the scrolls were destroyed or stolen--some of which have been recovered and now in back in the hands of the people or museums.
It was carried through the temple dressed as a king on which for us to gaze and reflect.  Put in the Ark, "Shema Yisreal" was spoken, "Hear, O Israel:  the Lord is our G-D, the Lord is One!"

From the Diary of a Young Girl  (Anne Frank)

"Who has inflicted this upon us?  Who has made us Jews different from all other peoples?  Who has allowed us to suffer so terribly up till now?  It is God that has made us as we are, but it will be God, too, who will raise us up again.  If we bear all this suffering, and if there are still Jews left, when it is all over, then Jews, instead of being doomed, will be held up as an example.  Who knows, it might even be our religion from which the world and all peoples learn good, and for that reason and that reason only, do we have to suffer now.  We can never become just Netherlanders, or just English, or representatives of any  country for that matter, we will always remain Jews, but we want to, too..."

Community Declaration

Mourner's Kaddish, a prayer spoken to remember those who have passed and the sanctification of G-D's name, was spoken and the Hatikvah (Israeli National Anthem) sung.  Six candles were lit--one for each million Jews and flowers placed for the five million other children of G-D who died in the Holocaust. 

Together we made a "Community Declaration:"

Through the pain we have endured as a community,
we understand that there is never any excuse for genocide.
Yet, hatred and persecution exist in our world.
Together, may we find the courage to resist ignorance.
Together, may we find the courage to resist evil.
Together, may we find the courage to fight for those who need our help...
so that "never again" truly means "never again."

Leaving the temple, the Holocaust sculpture stood in the garden.  In it's silence it said,
"Triumph over Tragedy."