Shiloh Israel Children’s Fund

On a tragic night several years ago, a young married woman named Rachel, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, and the mother of a little girl, lost her husband in a horrible crash on the roads near Shiloh. For a couple of years, it seemed as if she was in a state of emotional collapse. She couldn’t handle both her own pain and that of her daughter. I remember meeting her one day in Jerusalem and listening to her trembling voice describing her efforts to find a good psychotherapy program for her young child. I told her about the subsidies that Shiloh Israel Children’s Fund was offering for our various play therapy programs in Shiloh and I am convinced that that very moment was the beginning of their recovery from trauma. I am happy to report, and Rachel has said it herself many times, that our therapy programs were a life-saver for Rachel’s daughter.

Tonight was Rachel’s wedding at Tel Shiloh, the site of Ancient Shiloh, the place where the Tabernacle stood for 369 years in Biblical times. It is also Shiloh to where the men of the tribe of Benjamin came in the summer to find wives from the young maidens of Shiloh who were dancing in the vineyards in their white dresses (Book of Judges 21:19-22).  So too in our times, Rachel’s young groom found his wife in Shiloh and there was singing and dancing in the vineyards once again.

Congratulations to Rachel, to her daughter, and of course, to Rachel’s new husband. Mazal Tov to them and to all those who have the privilege of turning trauma into miracles in our times!

David Rubin

Shiloh, Israel

Eleven months ago, I blogged on this site about the new American President Barack Obama, whose charisma, smooth talk, and minority status captivated Jews across America. Polls reported that the first-term senator was elected with 78% of the Jewish vote. During Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s trip to the White House back in March, he referred to Obama in the concluding press conference as “a great friend of Israel”. On the other hand, a recent Smith Poll taken in Israel revealed that only a miniscule 6% of Israelis consider President Obama to be “Pro-Israel”.

How are we to understand all this? Which perception is correct and which is wishful thinking? In my blog, written well before the Inauguration, I chose to give the new President the benefit of the doubt. I decided to hope that he might transcend his Muslim roots, reach out to Israel and stand with freedom and liberty, as an expression of America’s Biblical roots. This despite the ominous warning signs that were manifest in Obama’s close associations with violent leftists and haters of America. These included former but unrepentant terrorist William Ayres, or Obama’s Israel and America-hating pastor Jeremiah Wright, who the new president had often referred to as his “mentor”, and his extreme “Palestinian”  pal Prof. Rashid Khalidi. These relationships were all close until it proved politically necessary to deny them. I saw all of this and was very wary, but since his election, it has become even clearer that the warning signs were real and that President Barack Hussein Obama is no friend of Israel, but is in fact a veiled leftist Muslim enemy who is trying to achieve friendship with the Muslim dictatorships at Israel’s expense. 

Since Obama’s term in office began, his words and actions have become more extreme.  Even his slick computer-savy media advisors can’t hide his infamous and degrading bow in deference to the Saudi King, nor can they put a convincing, positive spin on his obviously pro-Muslim speech in Cairo. Furthermore, his advisors’ photo release of his “chat” with Netanyahu with the soles of his shoes pointed at the Israeli leader’s face was a clear display of insult known well in the Muslim world (note the “old shoe attack” on former President Bush). We see that President Obama is,  unfortunately, both an “Obamination” for Israel and a threat to world peace, as his perceived weakness in confronting the terrorists and his coolness towards Israel, will no doubt be exploited by the world alliance of  terrorist organizations.

 So how do we explain Netanyahu’s praise for the “great friend of Israel”? Whether or not he believes what he said, he is simply pandering to the leader of what is still the most powerful nation in the world, but such pusillanimous behavior is never respected nor rewarded. Let us state this as clearly as we possibly can - Netanyahu and Israel need not fear.  Obama’s views and opinions are not the views and opinions of the average American, many of whom believe that God’s promises to Israel are forever. The God of Israel is much greater than the great Obama.

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will continue to speak the name of the Lord our God.” (Psalms 20:7)

That is the best answer to Obama and his deceitful plans for “peace”, for any “peace plan” that isn’t based on Biblical history and historical fact has no chance of succeeding.

David Rubin

Shiloh, Israel

I grew up in the United States, where both Mother’s and Father’s Day are important holidays. Now an observant Jew living in Israel, I often reflect on the importance of those days, but not just once a year. The Ten Commandments that were given to Moses and the Israelites on Mount Sinai well over 3,000 years ago featured a commandment to “Honor your father and your mother”. Half of the Ten Commandments are considered to be commandments between people and people, while the other five are between people and G-d. Interestingly, the commandment to honor one’s parents is listed as being between people and G-d, in order to emphasize the crucial role that one’s parents play in this world. One of my professors in Teachers Colllege at Columbia University once aptly referred to education as “the responsibility of parents that is shared with the schools”. Likewise, the Torah clearly was teaching about the central and primary role of parents in the education of their children. We parents don’t own our children, but they are expected to honor us, and we have the responsibility and privilege of raising them up to be honorable and moral adults.

Which brings me to Ruby Rubin. These days when I speak or write about Ruby Rubin, I am almost invariably speaking or writing about my now ten year old son, who was wounded with me in a terror shooting attack in Israel seven years ago. From the trauma of that attack emerged the Shiloh Israel Children’s Fund, my non-profit organization to help Israeli children, which was and is my response to the terrorists.

Yet there was another Ruby Rubin who was central in my life, and that was my father of blessed memory, who returned his soul to his Creator over twenty years ago. He lived a life that was dedicated to children, not just his own, but many thousands of others. As a dedicated teacher in Brooklyn, NY for some 30 years, he taught with a gentleness and patience that I often admired, especially in my many years of teaching, many years later. He taught in one public school, educating children of all races and religions in the era of deteriorating neighborhoods and high crime in Brooklyn. He was mugged at gunpoint while supervising his school’s lunchroom, but he refused to stop teaching there after the mugging. 

Ruby also ran a summer camp for children in a large bungalow colony in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York. Through the years, he always had a vision of what he wanted to accomplish in that camp, always keeping in mind both the short-term and long-term needs of the children who were entrusted in his care for those crucial two months of the year. Often it was sports activities, or a very comprehensive “color war”, which taught the values of creativity and cooperation combined with intense competition. Then there were the activities of a more spiritual realm —- getting in touch with nature through hikes and camping out, or trying to gently inspire the children with Jewish tradition with a Sabbath evening service, to the extent that he thought they could handle it and to the extent that he sensed that their parents would desire it.

Although I am sure that I inherited my father’s love for children and his passion for educating the next generations of children, the one thing that stands out foremost in my mind about him is the constant sense of optimism and idealism which was the prism through which he viewed life.

Those were the values that he hopefully succeeded in passing along to the thousands of children whose lives he touched, and I am honored to have been touched by him as well. Happy Father’s Day to all!

David Rubin

Shiloh, Israel

It is a rare politician that manages to transcend the maxim that “politics is the art of the possible” and advances from politician to visionary. Prime Minister Netanyahu may or may not have failed that test in his Bar Ilan University response speech to President Obama’s pro-Muslim speech at Cairo University.

Obama had implied in his infamous praise of Islam and criticism of Israel speech, that Israel was formed as a response to the Holocaust in Europe, thus supporting the Muslim canard that Israel was created at their expense to atone for European guilt. Netanyahu adequately responded to this, by giving a history lesson about our ties to the Land of Israel. He also spoke positively about the pioneers who are struggling against all odds to build up the Biblical heartland of Israel, although I wasn’t pleased that he spoke against the expansion of west bank settlements (communities in Samaria and Judea). Such a policy is inherently unfair, as it ignores the rampant illegal expansion of Arab towns. and should never be based on foreign pressure against Israel.

The main problem as I see it, is that no one will remember the proud history lesson nor the nice words about the “settlers”, but they will remember and repeatedly quote that Netanyahu finally agreed to the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Sure, he placed several conditions on its creation, such as the recognition of Israel as a Jewish State and Jerusalem as Israel’s undivided capital city. These conditions might make the plan’s acceptance by the Arab world a non-starter. With G-d’s help, they will refuse this peace plan as they’ve refused all the others that fall short of guaranteeing Israel’s destruction.

Even so, calling for such a state is dangerous, not only because of the precedent that it sets, but because it is morally and historically wrong to say that such a state deserves to come into existence. Even if the Muslim Arabs of the Land of Israel are considered to be a people, they certainly have no historical roots as a nation in this Land that G-d gave to His chosen nation Israel. Furthermore, to promise them a state is to reward the fathers of terrorism, while not stopping the inevitable pressure on Israel from Obama and his cohorts to compromise on these statedly firm conditions.

To be a visionary is to not be afraid to be morally right even if it hurts your international popularity. Netanyahu may yet surprise us by standing firmly behind his conditions, and if he does, there will be no surrender of our Biblical heartland because the Arabs are extremely unlikely to accept his conditions. In that case, his speech will be praised as a brilliant move in the chessboard of international diplomacy. If not, he will go down in history as just another spineless Israeli politician who failed the true test of a visionary — which is not collapsing one’s principles due to pressure and at the same time seizing the opportunity to speak truth to power.

David Rubin

Shiloh, Israel

The pressure is on. But the essence of that pressure has changed. Rather than just calling for a two-state solution (translation: another Muslim terror state, this time in the historic heartland of Israel), We are now being told by Obama’s surrogates, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden, that we need to stop all “natural growth”. As I asked on a recent CBN news report (see link below), what exactly is being implied here? Are they suggesting that we not provide our children with homes to live in? Are they demanding that we stop having children? While not (yet) explicitly stating that, the demand reminds me of Hitler’s infamous Nuremburg Laws, in which he regulated the sexual behavior of German citizens, both Jewish and Gentile. In this case, the American administration is only speaking about the Jewish residents of Samaria and Judea (the so-called West Bank), so I guess it can’t be racist, since it passes the Left’s litmus test of political “correctness”. According to the arrogance of politically correctness, a policy can’t be racist if it fits a particular extreme left-wing ideology, which in this case jibes with radical Islamic ideology.

Let it be said clearly for the political leaders of the world to hear: We will continue our natural growth in the Biblical Heartland of Israel. We will continue to have many children, we will continue to build homes and schools for them, and we will continue to build therapy programs for the terror victims who need our help because of the Muslim Arab terrorism. But if you side with those terrorists in attempting to stop our natural growth, you will be going against a historic, Divinely-ordained  process that is much greater than you.

“The smallest will increase a thousandfold, and the youngest into a mighty nation. I am G-d, in its time, I will hasten it.” (Isaiah 60:22)

David Rubin

Shiloh, Israel

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2009/May/Obama-Calls-for-Halt-of-Jewish-Settlements/

Iran has threatened Israel and the Western democracies with its soon to be functional nuclear program. This is not an idle threat, somehow restricted to its Hitlerian leader, Achmadinejad, but extends to his more ”moderate” opponent in the upcoming Iranian elections. The difference is that Achmadinejad threatens both loudly and clearly. But the question I’d like to address here is this; How will we respond to that threat? There is a great deal of discussion these days in the American and Israeli corriders of power about the possibility of an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Word has it that President Obama is demanding Israeli concessions in exchange for American cooperation/silence in the face of such an attack. This apparently refers to the ongoing Arab/ Muslim/American demand for Israeli agreement to the creation of a Muslim terrorist state within its tiny borders, a sure recipe for Israel’s destruction, or at least a sharp increase in terror attacks by our “partners for peace”. According to a news report in yesterday’s papers, Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, apparently caving in to the misguided American pressure, voiced support for the so-called “Two-State Solution”, in which a Palestinian terror state would be created in Israel’s biblical heartland of Samaria and Judea.

Such pandering to Obamian and Clintonian whims will solve no problems, but will certainly create new ones by projecting Israeli weakness at a time when we need to stand firm against the Iranian Muslim regime that would love to nuke Israel as a critical first step to renewed attacks on the remaining NY coastline and American interests around the world.

Is Obama simply naive about the stark realities in the Middle East, or was his infamous bow before the Saudi monarch several weeks ago just a symptom of a much more ominous Obamian admiration for the Muslim culture that he was raised in?

More importantly, will Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stand up to Obama and Clinton and speak truth to power?

In about two weeks’ time, we will probably know the answer, as Netanyahu leaves for his trip to Washington.

David Rubin

Shiloh, Israel

The purpose of SICF has always been to heal the children, to restore some of the lost innocence to their lives and to rebuild for the Biblical heartland of Israel. But how does one accomplish that? As a fervent Zionist, I believe in doing, as opposed to just talking. As our new website clearly shows, we are  mainly focused on supporting our central programs ——the therapy programs, educational projects, youth programs, and camps.

We feel blessed to have the support of friends of Israel from around the world. Our accomplishments are because of you who partner with us. But there is an accomplishment that I don’t often speak about — being a catalyst. Because we are supporting winning  programs for children in need, other organizations, both governmental and non-governmental, are gradually wanting to join in. Because we are succeeding in our educational and therapeutic projects, meeting the needs of a multi-ethnic/socioeconomic population and working in schools that do not turn any students away, many parents whose children live well outside the zoned area of Gush Shiloh (the Shiloh bloc of communities) want to send their children to learn here, despite the fact that there are private, more homogenuous schools in their own areas. Furthermore, those who live here are becoming more and more optimistic for the future, despite the effects of war and terrorism that confront us daily. As a result of all this, the Therapy Center has been expanded and the local schools are bursting at the seams, which has spurred on the Education Ministry to approve the upcoming construction in Shiloh of a new, additional school building to meet the growing need. There are also new housing projects getting underway (after many years of stagnation), to meet the local demands of young families for housing. 

In short, we are looking forward to the future— creating momentum and encouraging momentum!

David Rubin

Shiloh, Israel

Stop the carnage! The Israelis are killing civilians! Save the innocent Palestinian civilians! So goes the mantra that we’ve been hearing.

I recently saw video clips from a demonstration in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, which could have easily taken place in Iran. A Muslim women, in full Muslim garb, was filmed shouting to the Jewish counter-demonstrators across the street, “Go back to the ovens. You’re gonna need a big oven!” This kind of vile exploitation of American democracy and freedom of speech by Muslim Nazis is shocking to many Americans, but these kinds of abhorrent displays should have been expected, given the violent nature of Islamic extremism and its inroads into American society.

Lest we forget, the war in Gaza was started by a Muslim terrorist government that has been launching missiles at Israeli civilian population centers for the past eight years. That Muslim terrorist government was actually elected in free elections encouraged and supported by the Americans, the Europeans, and the Russians. And guess who voted for the Hamas terrorists? The “poor, oppressed” Muslim Arab civilians, the ones who send their young children to Hamas and Fatah military training camps to learn the art of terrorism and hatred, of “Death to the Jew and the Infidel”, as their Muslim preachers so proudly proclaim. That is how they raise their children and they do so proudly. They train their young children to hate and kill while simultaneously, the Shiloh Israel Children’s Fund and other Israeli organizations struggle to support camps where terror victim children can play soccer, enjoy field trips and try to regain some of the lost innocence of childhood that the elected Hamas and Fatah terrorist governments had stolen from them with their shootings on the roads, bombs at bus stops, and missiles in the air.

During WWII, the allies bombed German cities mercilessly and repeatedly, killing and wounding both Nazi soldiers and the civilians who elected Adolf Hitler, all with the clear understanding that justice was on their side, that in wartime, enemy civilians often perish along with the soldiers. And that is perfectly understood. Only with Israel is there a double standard in place.

No, I will not cry for the Hamas and Fatah civilians who have died along with the Hamas and Fatah soldiers. They are no more innocent than the Nazi civilians who were killed in WWII Germany, as their brethren were simultaneously murdering six million innocent Jewish civilians in the concentration camp ovens some 65 years ago.

Yes, as the historians tell us, history does repeat itself, and the anti-Semitism that we are facing today comes primarily from the Muslim world, which has its roots in the Jew-hatred of Islam’s founder, Muhammed. The civilians who worship him as a prophet are the same ones who elected the evil Hamas as their leadership and, according to the word “on the Arab street”, would do it again. I will shed no tears for such civilians.

David Rubin

Shiloh, Israel

The ground troops of the Israel Defense Forces (the I.D.F.) have just entered Gaza. We hope and pray for their success and minimal casualties on our side.

This attack on the Muslim terror organization known as Hamas should have been done several years ago, while we still had thriving, although besieged Israeli communities in Gaza, but that was not to be. In the Summer of 2005, our political leadership, led by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and gleefully supported by his then deputies Ehud Olmert and Tzippi Livni, foolishly and callously destroyed those wonderful communities that had literally made the desert bloom, in the naive hope that the terrorists would halt their rocket attacks, thus bringing peace on Earth and goodwill towards men, women and children. How blind and careless they were. After the expulsion and subsequent withdrawal of the IDF, the rocket attacks picked up speed and range, as there were no Israeli soldiers in Gaza to prevent the bomb and rocket factories from increasing their capabilities and expanding production, with massive funding and technical support from Iran and the political acquiescence and quiet financial support of the so-called Arab moderates who are relatively moderate only in their degree of adherence to Muslim Sha’aria (religious dictates) and the extent to which they oppress their women.

Finally, after months of speaking of the magnificent virtues of restraint as our children were repeatedly traumatized by the threat of war and terror always hanging over our heads, our corrupt governmental triumvurate of Prime Minister Olmert, Foreign Minister Livni, and Defense Minister Barak, while awaiting the Feb.10th elections and seeing their political parties’ plummeting poll numbers, have finally woken up and suddenly realized that rocket attacks on Israeli cities are an existential problem for Israel after all!

So the troops have finally gone in. We wish them great success in their mission and pray that the self-serving governmental triumvurate will overcome its myopia and understand that a ceasefire should not be discussed at this time. A temporary cessation of violence until our Feb.10th elections or a few months or even a year beyond that date is not sufficient. If we don’t destroy Hamas now, destroy their weapons smuggling tunnels now, collect their weapons now, and fully reconquer Gaza, we will be back in a similar situation or worse within the year.

And let the world remember before it’s too late, we Israelis are here on the front lines fighting the war on terror, but the ultimate sights of the terrorists’ weapons are aimed at the United States, Europe, India, China, and any other country in which Muslims are not in control.  If we don’t win the battle here in Israel and if we don’t receive your support in this battle, the terrorists will (once again) reach your borders and your cities.

David Rubin

Shiloh, Israel

After abandoning Gaza several years ago, destroying the vibrant Jewish communities of Gush Katif, and allowing the Hamas terror organization to fire rockets on Israeli cities and towns, the Israeli government has finally woken up and we are responding. We have one of the best armies in the world and there is no doubt that God is with us. If we use all of our power and move quckly with faith in the rightness of our battle, it will be a glorious victory!

I would like to believe that our leadership will choose that road and stand strong against the inevitable pressures that will be applied on Israel to agree to a hasty ceasefire. It is time to reconquer Gaza and drive out all of the Islamic terrorists before they can do further harm to the Children of Israel. Please remember that the war against Israel is really aimed at the United States, Europe, India and the rest of the free world. We just happen to be on the front lines!

As we speak, rockets continue to be fired on our cities and towns and our ground troops are on the border of Gaza, waiting for the order to enter! Please pray that our political leaders will give the order to fight with the courage and faith of Joshua, the great leader who brought down the walls of Jericho.

David Rubin

Shiloh, Israel Read the rest of this entry »