Ruth King
Fear Not Your Enemies
"Fear not your enemies, for they can only kill you. Fear not your friends, for they can only betray you. Fear only the indifferent, who permit the killers and betrayers to walk safely on the earth."
-- Edward Yashinsky, a Yiddish poet who survived the Holocaust only to die in a Communist prison in Poland.

April 19th is the sixty-first anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. The revolt coincided with Passover and deserves to be commemorated during the retelling of the Jewish exodus from Egypt.

In November 1940, the Jewish population of Warsaw was forcibly located inside an area designated to house all Jews. By the middle of the month, their previous homes were given to local Poles, usually as a reward for their cooperation in rounding up Jews. Jewish men, women and children began to die from disease, beatings, torture, or execution. Nonetheless, crowding increased as Jews from neighboring villages were herded into the squalid homes of the ghetto. Conditions became increasingly unbearable. Then the systematic transports to the concentration camps began. Between July and September of 1942, 300,000 Jews were transferred. By early 1943, the population of Jews in the ghetto was reduced to 56,000. Those who did not die were sent to the extermination camps.

A resistance group had begun to form in the ghetto as early as 1942. Members used smuggled guns and manufactured homemade explosives, sporadically attacking the Germans. The Germans began to accelerate the transports and empty the ghetto of its threadbare and emaciated Jews. Finally, on April 19th, 1943, the coordinated uprising began and the Jews held off the Germans for almost a month. The Germans, stunned by the power and vigor of the revolt, called for reinforcements and tanks. On May 16th, the Germans began to torch the entire ghetto and the revolt was crushed. Eight thousand Jews were shot and the rest sent to the extermination camps.
The Jews of Warsaw had no military training but they held off the Germans longer than the Poles or the French had done. By the time World War II ended in 1945, one of every three Jews in the world had been killed. Mordechai Anielewicz, a hero of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, wrote: "The dream of my life has become true. Jewish self defense has become a fact. Jewish armed resistance and retaliation became a reality and I have been a witness."

Reflections on Passover
This April, Jewish families throughout the entire free world will gather to celebrate Passover. This lovely holiday celebrates and retells the story of liberation from slavery 3000 years ago. Moses led the Jews from bondage in Egypt to their homeland in Israel. Pharaoh's army chased them through the desert towards the Red Sea and it is told that a miracle occurred. The sea parted and the Israelites were able to cross to the other side. When the Israelites watched the waters of the Red Sea sweep away Pharaoh's army they were finally free.

It is a cruel irony that the aforementioned Warsaw Ghetto uprising occurred during Passover, but it is wonderful to tell the story today, when the Jewish people have returned to their ancient homeland. Israel, in its brief history, has welcomed millions of displaced and persecuted Jews. In the decade following independence, the survivors of the Shoah -- traumatized, injured, dislocated, tortured, sick in soul and body -- came home. More than 800,000 persecuted Jews came from Arab countries where they had lived for generations, leaving behind all they possessed. They were given housing, food, counseling, vocational training, and schooling. There were over one hundred different languages, many with different alphabets, but in a matter of months, the newcomers learned functional Hebrew. What made this epic so special to rescued Jews was the experience of immediate citizenship and the knowledge that in spite of seemingly insurmountable difficulties and enemies, a Jewish army stood ready to defend and shelter them.

The Jews of Ethiopia and the Soviet Union came on a fleet of silver jets emblazoned with the blue Star of David. The Jews trapped in Entebbe were rescued by Israeli top guns wearing uniforms with the Star of David. Today, steel-hulled submarines and ships part the waters of the seas as they patrol and protect the Jewish state. Tanks marked with the Star of David cross deserts and missiles reach toward the heavens. An astronaut on the tragic American space mission proudly wore a jumpsuit embroidered with the Star of David which was found a year later, intact.

These are the stories and celebrations of Passover where past is present and modern day miracles have happened. There is so much to celebrate but there is a black cloud. Israel is in retreat, mesmerized by the hallucination that hardened enemies will make peace. Jewish pioneers in the heartland of the Jewish patrimony are being abandoned, Jerusalem is being forgotten and there are no leaders. 

Ruth King is a member of the executive committee of Americans For a Safe Israel.