See the iconic picture of the bloody tallith, Jewish prayer shawl, with bullet holes in it? An Arab madman and former driver for the famed Yeshivat Merkaz Ha Rav in Jerusalem entered its gates carrying a package. It was on the occasion of Rosh Chodosh or the beginning of the Month of Adar heralding the advent of Purim. He went to the library unwrapped his package and fired a semi-automatic Kalashnikov assault rifle and a pistol killing 8 and wounding 10 young men, some seriously. A quick witted part time yeshiva student and a yeshiva graduate, a former paratrooper officer, with weapons wounded and killed the perpetrator of this heinous crime. The Israeli authorities found and razed the dwelling of the family that spawned this perpetrator aggrieved by the IDF defending Israel against the ‘rocket blitz’ from Gaza. The family funeral tents were adorned with Hamas flags. Gazans were overjoyed at the slaughter in Jerusalem taking to the streets, firing weapons and passing out candy in celebration.

The world leaders announced their horror at this bloody tragedy. They minced words by suggesting a “return to the peace process” and that Israel has the right to self defense but only on terms approved by these world leaders.

Thousands thronged the funeral in Jerusalem this morning of the slaughtered yeshiva students and shouted “death to Arabs”.

What will outraged Jewish Israelis and Jews in the diaspora do? Many of them , are embarrassed by Religious, let alone secular Zionists, and the right of Israelis to defend themselves.

Coincidentally, I received an essay from Rabbi Daniel Gordis on the Zionist ‘malaise’ in Israel and in the diaspora. Note this conclusion in his essay, “The Shame of it all”:

Because to go to war (or more accurately, to respond to the war that’s been unleashed against you) to defend your citizens, you’d have to be able to articulate why this country still makes any difference. You’ve have to be able to say something about why it was created in the first place. You’d have to have a sense of Jewish history. You’d have to have a vision for the Jews, an agenda for your country. You’d have to be able to see yourself as part of a several thousand year old conversation. You’d have to have some courage. And yes, you’d ¬have to love your people more than you love your office.

There were days when this land was filled with that. There were days when we remembered, and we knew. And we fought. And even if we died in the process, we figured it was worth it, because life here was about something, for something. And so was dying here.

But those days are gone. Our Prime Minister doesn’t want to defend Sderot. Or Ashkelon. He doesn’t want to tell Bush that the charade with Abu Mazen is bound to explode, and that when it does, more of us will die. He just wants a country that’s “fun to live in.”

Rabbi Gordis has made stunning arguments about what happens when Israel abandons its Zionist ethos and religious roots.

What happens daily in Sderot where homemade Kassem rockets rain, and what erupted last week with Katyusha rockets falling on Ashkelon should not be forgotten. Remember the breach of the Gaza Egyptian border that supplied those Katyusha rockets. Last night’s savage attack on Yeshiva students in Jerusalem brought home the realities. Israelis need to get the message about the lack of their Zionist ethos and the callowness of the Olmert government as Rabbi Gordis discusses in his essay.

Those who died or were injured from the several hundred rounds of Kalashnikov automatic fire in the library at Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav were the epitome of Rav Kook’s quest for religious Zionism. So, too was the 40-year-old Yitzchak Dadon, the part time yeshiva student who wounded the Palestinian terrorist from East Jerusalem and the ex-paratrooper officer and yeshiva grad, David Shapira, who used his skill and M-16 to shoot the Arab perpetrator dead. The brave Givati soldiers who died in last week’s assault in northern Gaza to rid southern Israel of the Katyusha rocket threat were carrying out the Talmud imperative “Im ba l’hargekha, hashkem l’hargo,” “If someone comes to kill you, rise up and kill him (first).”

Israel’s largely secular society has abandoned the Zionist ethos of poets Bialik and Alterman cited by Rabbi Gordis .

A talented young American Israeli, Jonah Schiffmiller had this to say in his blog ,“What is MerkazHaRav?”

Mercaz HaRav is dedicated to Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook, thought of by many to be the spiritual father of Religious Zionism. His numerous books are studied extensively in nearly all Religious Zionist yeshivot. A large portion of Zionist post-high school Roshei Yeshivot (heads of yeshivas) in Israel learned at Mercaz from Rabbi Kook’s son, Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook. Most of Religious Zionism’s current rabbinical leadership spent years studying in the halls and libraries of this Jerusalem institution. The yeshiva’s alumni also include current and former Members of the Knesset.

Mercaz HaRav is thought of as the spiritual center of Religious Zionism. The attack last night sent shock waves throughout the community. The Israeli Arab terrorist who committed the heinous crime struck at the very heart of the movement that views the founding of the State of Israel as the will of the Almighty. The movement views army service and settling of the Land of Israel with supreme importance.

Israel’s education ministry derogates the merest thought of Israel’s history, origins, Ha Shem’s covenant with his people. Instead, they live in denial and delusion that Israel is somehow an extension of America and its ‘mall rat’ culture.

Israel’s government is corrupt and corrupting, save for a few Knesset members , who, like the Biblical Jeremiah, rail into the wind about saving the nation’s ‘neshumeh’ , or soul , fighting for its existence against heinous Islamist foes who want to ‘wipe it off the map’.

We should all say kaddish for those Yeshivat Merkaz students and the brave Givati soldiers-youngsters all- who were the light and future of Israel on this the 60th anniversary of its founding forged in fire and blood.

Remember those who died valiantly in the cause of Zionism and the State of Israel. And may the veil drop from the eyes of all Israelis and many Jews in the diaspora about the necessity of defending Israel as the bastion of hope-Ha’tikva- for Kol Yehudim.

Doron Mehereta, 26, of Ashdod
Ro’i Rote, 18, of Elkanah in Samaria (Shomron)
Yonadav Haim Hirschfeld, 19, of Kokhav HaShachar (Shomron)
Yochai Lipshitz, 18, of the Old City of Jerusalem
Yonatan Yitzchak Eldar, 16, of Shilo (Shomron)
Neriah Cohen, 15, of Jerusalem
Segev Pniel Avichayil, 15, of N’vei Daniel in Gush Etzion
Avraham David Moses, 16, of Efrat, Gush Etzion
St. Sgt. Doron Asulin, 20 from Beersheba
St. Sgt. Eran Dan-Gur, 20 from Jerusalem