Ghost Of A Rose

I bet your history teacher forgot to tell you about the White Rose Society. So before the hate-and-blame the USA fest begins on the 6th of August, let me tell you a little story – a story you will never ever read on Dog Smear, Smearya, David Dukelsey or Ron Jeremy Rosen.

In 1942, a small group of students –six in all- realized that their darling Chancellor, ‘Der Führer’ was in fact a bloodthirsty murderer, a despotic tyrant and a brute who’d eventually bring ruin and devastation on his own nation. They started to scribble anti-Hitler graffiti on campuses and busy streets, as well as distributing anti-Hitler pamphlets. Among other things, they appealed to the German conscience, warning that they are accomplices and enablers in the greatest atrocity in the world. They were intercepted by the campus genitor, denounced, tried, and executed by decapitation. (Seems like Herr Hitler was quite inspired by Messieurs Marat and Robespierre – and in turn influenced our non-violent Muslim allies.)

Unfortunately, the heroism and the actions of the White Rose were too little and too late. Their minuscule number is also quite telling. (Although to our Obama-loving Teutonic brothers’ credit it must be said Thomas Mann and a handful of intellectuals fled Germany in ’34 in protest of Nazism. If any of your professors or pseudo-intellectual bloggers ever mentions Mann’s Dr. Faustus, please give me a call – I’ll buy you a beer.)

What is the relevance today? Today we’re just like the good Germans who marched to the Nazi drum, or like the White Rose, at best. There are many people, blogs and others in the media who try to warn us of impending dangers.
Yet nothing is being done – it’s still business as usual. Our empty frocks and empty schtreimels still lecture us about minute tznius details, beautiful aggados and razor-shrap lomdus. Anything but. Anything but waking their congregations up to reality, anything but having to give up on something, to give in to something, anything but to have to discomfort themselves a drop and, most horrifying of all, anything but relinquishing an iota of their imaginary rule.

What can be done? A lot. First, taking lessons from the history: what caused and aggravated the great calamities of the past? Apathy and discord. First, everyone ignores and downplays the dangers, no one wants to act. Then, after it’s too late, everyone marches to their own drum and devises and carries out their own plan. This happened during churbon habayis, gerush sfarad, the holocaust, the rescue effort etc. Each group saw only its own objective, and looked at others with contempt and animosity.

If our so-called sages would only sit down and really care about Clal Yisroel – not just their own little pathetic constituency, come up with a solid –even if imperfect- plan that would address disasters prevention & protection, response in event of catastrophe, reconstruction in the aftermath, and most importantly, a concise code of conduct for peace time. (Meaning teaching of true Torah, instead of pandering to the rich, relying on welfare programs and schnorr, worshiping the Western idols - moderation-Moloch, Asheracademia, and of course the biggest of them all, the Helige Mommon, the common idol of Hassidim, Reform, MO, secular, Litvaks, Conservatives et al.)

Would our geniuses form Chellm unite at least in the face of danger, I’d follow any decision they’d take – even voting for O’Bama.
But of course, why try to save Am Yisroel from danger as long as we have waht to eat, and can bicker about geirus, Evolution, kashrus and tznius? Last time we were turned into soap at least the we got a few teardrops (and a few dollars too – just ask Peres and the Holocaust Claims Commission – they grew quite fat on reparations, but shhhh don’t tell anyone!) and some nice memorials. This time, if we’re nuked to hell, gassed or overrun by third-world barbarians, no one will be left to mourn for us.


© Joseph Izrael 2008