This week has been a horrendous week for Israel….  a number of soldiers died, and in a particular gruesome attack 8 yeshivah students were murdered in their study hall at the Merkas Harav Yeshiva in the heart of Yerushalayim.

I myself attended a satellite yeshiva of Merkas Harav in the same neighbourhood.  The students,, are amongst the most committed, Zionistic, devoted and idealistic in the country as well as being devoutly religious, following the teachings of Rav Kook who was renowned for his love of Israel and his love of the Jewish people  and his desire to see greater unity between different strands.  Many of their students volunteer for elite army units.  They are dedicated to their country as well as serious about their torah learning.  Any fatality is a tragedy, yet somehow the sight of a blood-stained pair of tzitzit, of bodies being removed from a place of study, which is supposed to be a safe haven from the horrors of society, and the sight of religious texts spattered with the blood of children – some as young as 15 – is too much to bear.  I cried bitter tears, seeing such pictures, in our supposedly civilised world in 2008.  As ever, Jews are being persecuted and killed for being Jewish.  What has really changed?

I don’t generally like to speak about politics and the answer is not to campaign or lobby, but rather to strengthen ourselves and our commitment.

However I do wish to make the following comments on recent events.  Last summer I got up during the Lebanon war and I had the unusual distinction of getting a round of applause for a Shabbat sermon.  I spoke about the situation in Israel, about my own pride in the achievements of the State of Israel and my disgust at the media coverage and the general attitude of the rest of the world.  I spoke of our need to stand proud and tall in the face of adversity.  I just looked at my words from last summer and, sadly, little has changed.

The residents of Gaza were not crying bitter tears.  They were rejoicing, firing in the air, handing out sweets.  I ask you how anyone can seriously talk of peace with such a partner that rejoices over the indiscriminate killing of teenagers?   I quote our own Gordon Brown: "Those who wish to stop the peace process by violence should be stopped from doing so by the combined voices of people throughout the world.  The way to answer those people of violence is to move forward the peace process as quickly as possible."

This is not a popular view but one which has to be considered – since the Oslo process, the terror has got worse many-fold.  What use is a peace process if more people are dying than in official ‘war’?  Peace in our time, as Chamberlain said, a piece of paper, nothing more.  Each time we hear the same platitudes about continuing to talk, making concessions, meanwhile Israelis long for peace, Jews pray for peace 3 times a day, and our peace partners dance in the streets and make a national holiday when we are killed.  I have no answers for you, but I ask you to consider this irony before we automatically cheer for the peace process.  I  would also remind you that rocket attacks from Gaza (which remember the Israelis handed over to the Palestinians as part of the peace process) continue unhindered on a daily basis on Israeli cities which are not in any disputed territory by anyone’s standards; unless you dispute Israel’s very right to exist.

There is a sick joke which was doing the rounds around the time of the September 11th attacks in the USA when Osama Bin ladin calls up Yasir Arafat and complains that he only carried out one attack yet the USA are invading Afghanistan, Iraq, sending thousands of soldiers to find him, yet Arafat and his gang are doing this the whole time and nobody seems bothered.  The difference is, Arafat tells him, we only kill Jews.  It's no joke.  It’s true - unfortunately when it is Jews dying, it is somehow different.

Let us be under no illusions who are friends are and who they are not.  The UN Security Council, to their credit, tried to put together a resolution of condemnation and most members wanted it, but it was scuppered by Libya.  The UN, set up as a response to WWII, with the words of Isaiah on its walls – about beating swords into ploughshares – cannot even condemn what is clearly to any decent normal person an outrage, how much more so when perpetrated against the Jewish people, who have suffered so much.  The world has become so obsessed with ‘fairness and justice’ that rather than condemn a vile, despicable act for being just that, we hear about the ‘cycle of violence’ and the ‘tit-for-tat’ killings, we fail to condemn what is clearly an outrage by any stretch of the imagination.  Have we become so numb to basic decency that we cannot discern right from wrong?

CNN initially reported that terrorists had attacked Jewish students in a seminary.  By Friday morning it had changed to ‘Palestinian militant kills 8 Israelis at entrance to Jerusalem’ going on to suggest that it might be disputed territory (which it is not) and that the Merkas Harav is closely identified with the settler movement (which it is but is totally irrelevant to the issue at hand).

Even here in Wales, many groups harbour anti-Israel agendas and sentiments which are often hard to distinguish from anti-Jewish ones.

I don’t like to speak about these things because it often comes down to “What is the point of discussing it, what can we do in answer to all these world events?”

One thing we can do here and now is to pray for those who were injured and for those who lost loved ones, to resolve to strengthen our own commitment to Judaism and to Israel to be proud, to speak up to our friends and neighbours.

Most of you will have hopefully received a copy of the 60 Days for 60 Years book, kindly sponsored by Linda Harris and her grandchildren.  It contains 60 essays about Israel.  It is a relatively light read, yet is also a form of Jewish learning and study.  Shuls around the UK and indeed around the world are distributing this book to members and encouraging them to read, discuss, study one chapter each day from today for 60 days, culminating on Yom Ha’atzma’ot, to celebrate Israel’s 60th.  This project is dedicated to Roger’s memory and the love he had for Israel.  I would also like to suggest it would be appropriate for us all to resolve to take a few minutes each day to join in with this project, together with Jews across the country, and to dedicate our 5 minutes a day to the murdered Yeshivah students who can study no more, as well as to all those who have given their lives for Israel.  It’s a small gesture, but it’s something concrete, something Jewish, to commemorate the lives of those whose lives were devoted to study.

Many people have gone to a lot of time, effort and expense to produce these books.  All you have to do is open it for 5 minutes a day.  It’s not too much to ask.  Please, let’s all try to join in with this project and get our families involved.  It will also give us a spiritual boost in our Jewish learning and knowledge.  Let’s also try, in whatever way works for each of us, to spend a few minutes each day thinking and praying for the situation in Israel.

The month of Adar was always supposed to be a good month for the Jews.  It doesn’t seem to have started out that way.  As we approach Purim, a time of joy, a time when we celebrate the downfall of those who would sought to wipe us off the face of the earth, may Hashem grant us that the Jewish nation know more sorrow, that once again He thwart the efforts of all those who continue to seek to harm us and ensure their swift downfall, that the tens of thousands of our brethren in the Holy Land who have lost loved ones or who have been maimed for life be granted a return to full health, comfort and long life, as we said in our prayers earlier, Heavenly Father,Avinu Shebashomayim, grant peace in your holy land and everlasting happiness upon all its inhabitants, spread the shelter of your peace upon all the dwellers on earth, may this be Your will

Amen.