Forest Fires - How Israel is Different...

When California brush fires raged, neighboring Arizona residents didn't do celebratory dances. It was simply a natural disaster evoking human sympathy. But the case of Israel is and always will be different. Even when it is the worst fire in Israel's history, religion and political resentment is at the front line. Not much to our surprise, immediately after the fire engulfed our little country, articles and allegations that the fire is God's way of punishing Israel for Occupying Arab Lands were all over the media. It is easy to get upset, even angry at Arab commentary such as ""May Allah punish all Arabs who helped put down the fire. We pray to Allah that the fire will grow and spread to oil wells in the Arab world."  This is Israel's struggle. But this should not be it's weakness. Instead of focusing on negative media reports, it's much more meaningful in these times of national disaster to focus on the strengths of our people. Israel has often been brought to its knees- with rocket attacks, suicide bombings, and political isolation to name a few. But this is the beauty of our country and of our people. We are resilient. We are willing to help each other and our homeland out at the slightest outcry. And this is exactly what the Jewish worldwide community did after hearing of the devastation of the Carmel fires. In fact, aid did come from the international community - such as the US, Turkey, Russian, Egypt and Jordan. Monetary donations flowed in to the JNF and the government. This is where our pride lies. Let's hope and pray that Israel can rest on the comfort that it has support from us. In that way, together, we will get through anything.


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