Every great success brings out critics. Our thank-you letter to Sean Hannity for standing with Israel– which went viral– was no different. On his show, Sean Hannity said that he was never more humbled and honored by a letter in his entire career. Syndicated radio host Mark Levin spoke about it on his show too congratulating Hannity on receiving such a glowing tribute.
So
what didn’t the critics like? Firstly, some resented that the 1200+
signatories on the letter, symbolic of Schindler’s list of 1200,
referred to Hannity as a modern day Schindler. Secondly, some disparaged
the whole idea of a gratitude campaign: “What’s the big deal,” they
asked? Here is my rebuttal to those who seek to clip the wings and mar
the soaring and graceful flight of our thank-you campaign.
With all of Europe calling for Jews to return
to the ovens and gas chambers and polls showing anti-Semitism at
pre-WWII levels, with defenders of Israel being threatened in various
and serious ways, I have zero problem thanking our “Schindlers” before
Jews are forced to run around courtyards naked at gun point and forced
to coalesce as ashes in a crematorium. The Holocaust is my legacy, my
people, my family. The flesh and blood arms that hugged me in my life
were imprinted with the “numbers” bequeathed to them by Nazis and their
campaign of serialization, dehumanization and extermination. In the name
of the six million who never lived to sing Hatikvah, by their
blood, me and every other Jew is sanctioned and compelled to thank our
modern day Schindlers before it is too late. We, the signees, do not
need permission to use what belongs to us.
What a double travesty the Holocaust would be
if we chose to bronze it and archive it instead of learn from it. “Never
again” is a slogan that is growing evermore dim and being drowned out
by the feverish shouts across the globe that “Hitler was right.” Oh, but
how dare we thank Hannity for acting as a modern-day Schindler when he
had to push his own network to let him cover Israel regardless of the
inbound threat of rockets and Fox’s tendency to shy away from in-depth
international news coverage? How dare we thank Hannity who put himself
in the line of fire of some very dangerous, mean, spiteful and wholly
capable murderous people out there? Oh, how dare we thank Hannity for
standing with a nation which the whole world readily, reflexively and
often cluelessly, vilifies? Make no mistake about it–standing with
Israel has its price! The problem is we live in a gutless world where
most people won’t risk it even if they know the truth. As such, Hannity
stands out as veritable mensch among men, and a valiant man among shiftless approval-seeking mice.
The value of thank-you is immeasurable. In
fact, the entire Torah is a book of thank-you, teaching us how to show
gratitude and appreciation to the One who created us and to all that He
created: time, animals, land, crops, etc. The first thing a Jewish
person is supposed to do in the morning upon waking before even taking a
single step is to say the one line Modah Ani prayer thanking G-d for restoring our soul back into our body. The Hebrew words Torah and todah (thank-you)
are so closely related phonetically, structurally and spelling wise as
to be deeply meaningful to those who study Hebrew etymology and gematrias. “Thank you” is the very foundation of the world. For without the gratitude of what is, humanity would stop safeguarding the vitals of its own preservation and unravel into chaos—(oh wait, it just may be).
Someone once asked: “What it you woke up
tomorrow with only the things you said “thank you” for yesterday?” Too
many of us would realize that there were too many things for which we
didn’t say thanks. And though the letter in discussion here is
graced with names of those of different faiths, I’m certain of this: We
came together as one united voice and heart, and with the common
understanding and pain of being victims of calumny and oppression. We
came together with the heart’s wisdom to know right from wrong and good
from evil; our thank you came from the universal heart that has no
divides and that is why it packed a mighty punch. And so again, “thank
you” Sean Hannity and all defenders of Zion. You do God’s work–it says
it right there in His Book. For the sake of Zion, I will
not be silent, and for the sake of Jerusalem I will not
rest.
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