18 Years and Still Smiling

Today is July 4th which marks my 18th year Aliyah anniversary... and I am still smiling!

I still break my teeth speaking Hebrew, have problems reading the Yediot Aharonot newspaper (not such a loss) and can’t figure out why I work on Sunday but – I am still smiling!

I pay close to $9.00 a gallon for gas (so stop complaining about gas prices in the USA), check every Pesach product 12 times for Kitniyot and will be sending my kids to camp for a grand total of two weeks (Israeli camps stop after two weeks – what the heck is that all about??) but – I am still smiling!

I go to army reserves every year even though they don’t let me shoot anybody, pay a ridiculous TV tax even though I don’t have a TV and eat about 15 sufganiyot on Chanukah even though 14 of them never have jelly but – I am still smiling!

Since I am one of those 'crazy' people who had the nerve to oppose the Oslo 'Peace Process' (how dare I do such a thing???) I have had the honor of being beaten by Israeli riot policemen, been arrested 10 times, convicted of sedition, sentenced to 12 months in prison and fired from my job by Shulamit Aloni (remember her?) yet, through all of it… I am still smiling!

Of course I do not smile when I think of this week’s terror attack by a Jerusalem Arab. I also do not smile when I remember my dear friends Binyamin and Talia Kahane with whom I ate lunch four days before their tragic murder by terrorists who received guns from Shimon Peres. I do not smile when I think of my close friend Hillel Lieberman who I used to dovin with in Kever Yosef and talk with at length about the holy city of Shechem. Furthermore, I do not smile at the fact that at Hillel’s funeral, I was shot at by Arabs. Only a miracle guided those bullets away from my car. And finally, I do not smile at the saddest day of my entire Aliyah – just 4 months after I arrived here – when I joined 150,000 Jews in burying my holy and amazing Rebbe, HaRav Meir Kahane ztz"l. On that sad day I waited in line to say some prayers by his newly dug grave and vowed to do whatever I could to bring his dream of Israel as a strong and proud Jewish State to fruition. Thank G-d, I have kept that promise as I work, night and day, to bring new leadership to this country.

And so, even though not all of the 6,570 days have been rosy, I am still smiling because I know that in the end we will emerge victorious. Good will defeat evil and those who work to sanctify G-d’s Name will beat those who desecrate it. New leaders beaming with Jewish pride will soon lead Israel and the once mighty IDF will become the army of G-d it should be.

The first 18 years are now over and I thank G-d for being with me every step of the way. My wife gave birth to two beautiful babies here in Israel and they joined our four American imports, thank G-d. We built a house, walked two children down to their chuppa and had our son’s bar mitzvah catered by Kentucky Fried Chicken (try that in the States!!)

What will the next 18 years bring? I pray that G-d will guide me, my family and all of Klal Yisrael in doing what needs to be done to end the pain and suffering of His people. I beg G-d to help us sanctify His great and holy Name and hope that the shedding of Jewish blood is over forever. By the time I write my article for my 36th anniversary I pray that the Bet Ha’Mikdash will have been built and that all our brothers and sisters – from the four corners of the earth – returned to our Promised Land.

And I pray that I will still be smiling…