I may not be a member of the greatest generation, but I do consider myself a member of the baruch HaShem generation.
Baruch HaShem is Hebrew for “thank God.” It’s a phrase that should always be on our tongues.
Through good times and bad, these two simple words convey a most profound belief: to thank God for all that happens, for everything that happens, for anything that happens.
Meaning we thank God for whatever comes our way because we believe God wants only good for us and gives only good to us, though it often doesn’t seem that way or feel that way.
But God’s ways are not our ways, and so our sense of logic, our sense of what is good is not necessarily His. Which is why we thank Him for whatever comes our way, knowing it’s good even when we don’t see it.
Imagine then how much greater a gift it is when we do see it. When our minds can grasp the good being put in front of our eyes.
So it is with the times in which we live, for the generation of Jews of which we are a part.
Ours is the first Jewish generation not to have to pray for, dream about, hope for a Jewish state. Israel is a part of our Jewish reality.
Ours is the generation that has seen the Jews of the Soviet Union freed, the Jews of Ethiopia rescued.
Ours is the generation that has seen the amazing victory of the Six-Day War, seen Holocaust movies win Oscars, a Yiddish writer, a Hebrew writer and an Auschwitz survivor win Nobel Prizes.
Ours is the generation that has seen a Jew running for vice president of the United States, more than a minyan of Jews sitting in the Senate, two Jews on the Supreme Court at one time.
Ours is the generation of Yitzhak Rabin and Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of Steven Spielberg and Sandy Koufax.
Ours is the generation that has seen the end of anti-Semitism as a force in the lives of the Jews of America. Ours is the generation that has not seen Jews being persecuted, the victims of pogroms or exiles.
And, beyond the Jewish world, ours is the generation that has seen democracy spread throughout the world, seen the fall of the Soviet Union, the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, the ending of apartheid in South Africa, the toppling of Saddam Hussein.
So many wondrous things. So many things to say baruch HaShem about.
Talk about shock and awe. That is what our generation of Jews has gotten on almost a routine basis. All to the good.
Indeed, it seems the good stuff, the amazing stuff, is happening more and more, coming faster and faster.
And especially fast right now. The last couple of weeks have been breath-taking.
There has been much good news coming out of the Middle East. Coming mostly from Iraq. Some of it small, but noteworthy, some of it giant, a watershed.
Small, but noteworthy is the fact that Iraqi Muslims helped repel looters from the cultural center of Baghdad’s Jewish community. Amazing. Baruch HaShem.
Far more significant is that one can feel that what is going on in Iraq is the beginning of the end for the sickness, the depravity, the subhuman behavior that has characterized that part of the world, that has found Israel living in a neighborhood full of uncommonly barbarous killers, uncommonly nutty kooks, where up was down, black was white.
What will follow will change not only Iraq, but the entire region, making us all safer, finally giving Israel neighbors with whom it can live. Baruch HaShem.
It’s happening already. One of the top officials of the Iraqi National Congress said a new government’s goal will be to fulfill a vision of “an arc of peace” in the Middle East that includes Iraq, Turkey, Jordan and Israel.
Not the kind of talk one is used to from Iraq. Baruch HaShem.
And it’s spreading, already. There is a new Palestinian prime minister with real power and real courage. The Cabinet he has named includes foes of Yasser Arafat and includes real reformers, professionals who want to build Palestine, not destroy Israel. Baruch HaShem.
Beyond that, the United States is making it very clear to Syria that the era of nutty countries is over. Stop blaming Israel for everything, stop abetting terrorism, stop with the weapons of mass destruction. Those days are coming to an end. By saying that to Syria, the United States is also letting Hezbollah know its days are numbered. Baruch HaShem.
For too long, nuttiness has been allowed to flourish, continue unimpeded in the Middle East. The last few weeks have shown just how insane everyday life, the countries of the area are. Like the emperor with no clothes, the United States has said no more. Baruch HaShem.
And that matters in all kinds of ways, as we will see as the weeks and months unfold. We’ve already seen it in the transformation of Ariel Sharon.
I know my fellow Oslo supporters don’t believe a word Sharon says. But an interview he gave recently is stunning. I believe he means what he said and believe what he said is unbelievable. In a good way.
In an interview, Sharon said a Palestinian state is “inevitable.” And more. Of the settlements, at the heart of any peace, he said, “our whole history is bound up with some of these places. Bethlehem, Shiloh, Beit El. And I know I will have to part with some of these places. There will be a parting from places that are connected to the whole course of our history.”
That ain’t spin or clever PR. That’s from the depths of his Jewish heart and soul.
Just as the Middle East is a changed place as a result of Iraq, I believe Sharon is a changed man. He understands the opportunities now in front of Israel, and so the responsibilities.
To my fellow Jews, I say keep watching. You will be amazed at what’s to come. Baruch HaShem.