Hammering in Sharon's legacy

You have to hand it to Ariel Sharon. He was an extraordinary general during times of crisis. Unfortunately, the IDF doesn't give him the credit he deserves for his tremendous contribution. During Sharon's funeral, the IDF stationed anti-rocket defense systems near the border with Gaza and deployed aircraft over the skies of the Hamas-ruled area. Isn't it rude to mock Sharon's philosophy during his funeral, of all times?

Officials in the Education Ministry hastened to announce that students would be instructed on Sharon's legacy. Just like Yitzhak Rabin, however, who, exactly, can define what his legacy is? Does it include the unlawful takeover of a plot of land and converting it to a cemetery? And what about the Sharon government's claim before the High Court of Justice that uprooting Jews from their homes would improve our security situation?

Will the students also learn what Ben-Gurion said of Sharon: "If only he would recover from his weakness of not telling the truth, he could be a model military leader"? Does Sharon's legacy also include ignoring the Iranian nuclear program? Did Sharon buy the silence of certain segments of the media who were willing to look past his criminal investigations because of his willingness to throw Jewish settlers from their homes? Is that, too, part of his "legacy"-

In recent days, anyone who got within a kilometer of Sharon was interviewed by the press about their fondness for the man and the supposedly close relationship they shared. This reminds me of a famous writing by Alter Druyanov, who once observed:

"When the famous, wealthy man was taken to the cemetery for burial, his relatives wept as they followed his casket. A stranger was seen following them, and he, too, wept. One of the relatives asked: 'Why are you crying? You're not a relative of the dead man.' The reply: 'That's why I'm crying.'"

What annoys them-

As things stand now, the Americans are upset not because of what Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said, but because they read about it in the newspapers instead of finding out about it through their wiretappings.

Did somebody say terrorism-

On Wednesday morning, the village of Dir Istiya, not far from Ariel, was overrun by large contingents of police and soldiers. This was after a group of disturbed individuals who should be apprehended and sent to jail tried to set fire to the door of a mosque.

Months earlier, state prosecutors decided to treat "price-tag" perpetrators as terrorists. When a mosque was set on fire, there wasn't a politician worth anything who didn't issue a condemnation. This included religious lawmakers from the right as well as chief rabbis. They condemned the act, and rightly so.

This week, however, three synagogues were vandalized in Israel. Torah scrolls were torn apart, scribbled over, and stepped on by intruders. This happened in the same week as the "price-tag" incident. Yet there were no cameras, no army officers arrived on the scene, and no condemnations from politicians.

This past year, synagogues have been vandalized in Jaffa, Acre, Ramle, Lod, and other places. Nobody got worked up over these incidents. A number of synagogues in areas of south Tel Aviv that are full of Sudanese have been shuttered. The few Jews left in the area are scared to wander the streets. One synagogue remains open. The synagogue's manager was beaten and injured, and later died of his wounds.

State prosecutors have decided that anti-Arab graffiti is terrorism. They're not too worked up about the death of the synagogue manager. After all, it's not as if graffiti was spray-painted on a mosque.

One song missing

Some beautiful songs were played during Sharon's funeral. One particularly poignant song was missing -- the song sung by the girls of the synagogue in Neve Dekalim.

Just one order

The problem of the infiltrators could be solved just by giving one, single order. For whatever reason, it has yet to be given.

Let me explain. The Sudanese are well-known for doing jobs such as washing dishes in restaurants and hotels, where they earn below-minimum wages and are denied labor benefits. The Economy Ministry has inspectors whose job it is to make sure that employers pay their workers as required by the law, including benefits. For whatever reason, the minister has yet to send these inspectors to the businesses that employ Sudanese migrants. Why?

On the other hand, the restaurant and hotel owners claim that Israelis don't want to work in these jobs. This is an outright lie. The garbage collectors in the center of the country are all Israeli. Why? Because the salaries are decent. There also is no dearth of workers whose job it is to bury the dead. Why? Because, once again, the wages are pretty good. It seems as if Israelis are willing to handle trash and take care of corpses when they are paid well. They will also wash dishes if the restaurants pay more.

This week, the Sudanese migrants went on strike. The country did not collapse as a result. They didn't wash dishes. Instead, they took some leisure time and went for a walk. High school students also went on strike. They demanded that we allow them to take field trips.

This leads us to the next question: Does that mean that on those days, the students washed the dishes at home?

Weird

It's pretty weird that whenever someone who got to within a kilometer of Sharon was asked this week about how they knew the man, nobody interviewed Martin Schlaff and Cyril Kern.

If we're on the subject

Any connection between this story and the event that took place this week is completely coincidental. It also comes from Druyanov's writings.

"The educated man was asked: 'A chicken gives a small egg, yet the gentile permits it to come into the home and stand on the table. While the pig, who gives much meat and fat, is removed from the home by the gentile and kicked out whenever he enters the home. What is the point of this-'"

"The educated man replied: 'That is how the chicken wants it, and that is how the pig wants it. The chicken gives little, but it gives every day. While the pig gives a lot, but only after it dies."

טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו