THE VIEW FROM JINSA

Satellite shot proves Reagan's wisdom

By Shoshana Bryen

WASHINGTON, D.C.—We weren't really worried about being hit by debris from an American satellite launched in 2006 and falling back to earth this month - though concerns both about hazardous fuel landing in a populated area and the potential compromise of spy technology if it landed in the territory of an adversary might have been realistic.

The interesting thing is what the government did with the problem - or challenge or opportunity if you are an optimist - and how few Americans appear to understand just how extraordinary it was. We quote Rikki Ellison, President of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, on the process:

A Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) was fired... off the USS Lake Erie (CG-70) using information fed by the ship's on board Aegis radar tracking and discrimination sensor to guide the missile close to the falling satellite where the missile engaged its heat seeking sensor thereby enabling a direct perpendicular hit on the 5,000 lb satellite with a kinetic energy impact of 22,000 mph... The majority of the small pieces of the satellite will burn up in the atmosphere upon reentry whereby the bigger pieces will fall harmlessly into the Pacific Ocean in the first 48 hours, and the remaining pieces will re-enter the atmosphere over the next month.

The Sea Based X band radar was deployed in the area to support independently the discrimination and tracking of the destroyed Satellite. Other U.S. military sensors and satellites were deployed in the area and were also used for evaluation of the intercept. The Aegis Destroyer USS Decatur (DDG-73) accompanied the USS Lake Erie in this mission as a redundant back up with a capable SM-3 missile of its own as well as a duplicate Aegis sensor and radar.

Are we the only ones awed by the technological capability demonstrated Wednesday?

JINSA has backed the development of ballistic missile defenses from the beginning and pushed for the American withdrawal from the ABM Treaty to permit development and deployment of systems that would one day protect us from missiles launched from enemy territory. Sea-based defense, in particular, is important because as this event shows, the ability to put the defender missiles where you want them as the threat changes gives the United States powerful options.

So it wasn't a missile from enemy territory. So it was a failed American satellite. So what?

Deterrence is the art of making one's adversaries conclude that the price of attacking is unacceptably high. An American bullet-to-bullet hit on a missile-equivalent 150 miles above the Pacific Ocean certainly caught the attention of the North Koreans, the Iranians, the Russians and the Chinese.

Almost 25 years to the day from President Reagan's "Star Wars" speech in 1983 (and hamstrung until 2001 by the ABM Treaty), America's missile defense community has done what the "experts" said couldn't be done, and we are markedly safer for their skill and dedication to the proposition that defense is both moral and achievable.

Bryen is special projects director of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA)









THE WRITER'S GROTTO


Free at last, free at last ... to write a column

By Gary Rotto

SAN DIEGO—“Don, I’m a free agent.”  And with that precise description of my new found freedom, I asked editor Don Harrison of San Diego Jewish World if I could have my own column.  This is something that I’ve wanted to do for quite awhile, but when you work for an elected official, you have to either reflect that person’s opinion or expect to be fired.  It makes it even tougher when you are a Democrat working for a Republican (albeit a moderate Republican.)

I have just spent two years as the Deputy Chief of Staff (COS) for County Supervisor Ron Roberts.  It was a very nice title which didn’t tell people very much.  Basically, I was his policy director. 

“You must be great at cocktail parties,” was a statement I heard on more than one occasion as I described the breadth of my policy duties.  I don’t know how entertaining I was in such social settings, but I hope to fulfill that level of expectation here in cyberspace. 

So what can you expect to find in this space?  I will focus on politics and the Jewish community.  Sometimes, the entries will lean more towards pure politics and sometimes they will be devoid of politics and focus on the community.  Sometimes my thoughts will be reflected in more of a column format (like this one) and sometimes they will be in a short blogging format with an active link to an interesting article.

In short, my goal is for the readers of San Diego Jewish World to walk away thinking, “hmmm, that’s something I didn’t know.” 

To give you a flavor of what’s in the works, these are some entries that I am working on as I write this introduction:

• In the run up to the Ohio Primary, where does the Jewish community stand?
  
  
• Why I think that Scott Peter’s experiences as a child in New Jersey make him a great candidate for San Diego City Attorney.  (See, you didn’t know that Scott is from New Jersey!)
  
  
• Despite the fact that all five members of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors are Republicans, their viewpoints are not as homogeneous as you might think.

Oh, and I can promise you that you will not receive those annoying emails saying, “ Hey look at me!  I’ve uploaded another blog entry!”  You’ll just have to set a reminder in your blackberry to check out San Diego Jewish World every other day and see if I’ve added a new post.

Rotto is a long-time Jewish and political activist in San Diego







TORAH ON ONE FOOT

Why Moses was angered by Golden Calf
   
By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal

SAN DIEGO—Parashat Ki Tissa contains the infamous tale of the Golden Calf. The Israelites grew impatient when Moses went up Mt. Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. They said to Aaron, "Come, make us a god who shall go before us, for that man Moses, who brought us from the land of Egypt-we do not know what has happened to him." (Ex. 32:1) Perhaps thinking they would not follow through, Aaron consented. The Israelites quickly contributed their gold and Aaron molded it into a calf.  The Israelites were delighted and organized a celebration.

At the top of the mountain God said to Moses: "Hurry down, for your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have acted basely...They have made themselves a molten calf and bowed low to it and sacrificed to it...." (Ex. 32:7-8)

Moses ran down the mountain. The Torah reports: "As soon as Moses came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, he became enraged, and hurled the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain." (Ex. 32:19)

Our sages were surprised by Moses' reaction. He seems to have been caught off guard by the Israelites behavior and his shattering of the tablets appears to have been a spontaneous act of rage. However, Moses should not have been surprised by what he saw. After all, God had told him that his people "have made themselves a molten calf and bowed low to it and sacrificed to it." Moses should have had more than enough time to compose himself and give a more reasoned response to the Israelites' sin.
 
Rabbi Ovadia Sforno (1470-1550, Italy) explained: "When Moses saw them rejoicing in their sin he became angry. He knew he could not persuade them [using reason and kind words] to repent of their sin."
 
Rabbi Simcha Raz amplifies  Sforno's comment. When God first told Moses about the Israelite's sin he rationalized their behavior and gave them the benefit of the doubt. He told himself that it was only out of despair and desperation that the Israelites forged the Golden Calf. They must have felt forced to fill the void left by Moses' absence. Surely, thought Moses, they acted with sadness and regret.
 
However, when he saw the Israelites dancing and celebrating around the Golden Calf he knew he had been wrong. The Israelites were not reluctant sinners. They reveled in their idolatry. It was when Moses realized the depths of the Israelites' perversity that he became angry and threw the tablets on the ground. He knew that it is possible to persuade people to do teshuva when they realize the sinfulness and consequences of their action. However, when people revel in and celebrate their sins, as though they were some type of glorious accomplishment, there is not much hope that words alone will persuade them. (Shivim Panim l'Torah, Shemot, p. 228)

As I read Rabbi Raz's explanation I could not help but think of Donald Smith, who was convicted of 26 criminal counts during his trial for a home invasion robbery and series of rapes committed in the Mission Beach neighborhood of San Diego in 2006. The local NBC news station reported: "As jurors gave their verdicts, Smith smiled and played with his fingernails. He even appeared disinterested, looking up at the ceiling and laughing while talking to his attorneys."

When criminals and sinners revel in their atrocities, one must wonder if teshuva is ever possible.

Rabbi Rosenthal is spiritual leader of Tifereth Israel Synagogue in San Diego.

AMAZING STORIES OF JUDAISM Parsha Ki Sisa


A scream in the dark, a knock on the door

By Rabbi Baruch Lederman

SAN DIEGO—Moshe urged Hashem (G-d), "Let me know Your ways... (Ex.33-13). The ways of Hashem are indeed puzzling to us - particularly how Hashem runs the world. Things seem to make
no sense. This is because we only see part of the puzzle at a time. Trying to look at the world today and understand why things happen as they do, is like picking up a thousand page novel, turning to page 463, and trying to understand what is going on. Still, every so often, we are privileged to see how the pieces fit together as the following true story illustrates:

Rabbi Henry and Rebbetzin Esther Soille were in their apartment in Paris when they heard a scream. They recognized it as neighbor of theirs - a non-Jewish woman. Feeling the terror in the woman's voice, Mrs. Soille said  "Lets get dressed and go help her." Rabbi Soille agreed and added, "If we wait that long she may be dead by then." So, they immediately ran outside, dressed only in their pajamas to help.

When they got outside they saw a Nazi car coming toward their building so they dashed out of sight. From their hiding place they could see that the Gestapos were going to none other than their own apartment. Had they not responded with sensitivity and courage to the anguished cries of their neighbor, they would have still been in their apartment for the Nazis to find them and drag them off. Because they engaged in a chesed (act of kindness), their own lives had now been spared.

Why was the woman screaming? They later learned that the woman neighbor was screaming because the Nazis had come to seize her husband for smuggling. She told them to spare her husband and take the Rabbi next door instead. Her intention was to trade the Rabbi's life for her husband's life. It didn't even help her because they still took her husband. In attempting to betray the Rabbi, she actually saved him...   (The foregoing true story was authenticated by Avraham Dov Dimenstein)

Dedicated by Baruch & Miriam Stehley in honor of their children Aaron, Elie & Talya.

Rabbi Lederman is spiritual leader of Congregation Kehillas Torah of San Diego






REFLECTIONS

Cousin Barry—Another Shimmering Soul

By Sheila Orysiek

SAN DIEGO—In the Feb. 22, 2008 edition of San Diego Jewish World, editor Don Harrison wrote of a short story he read in which the author relates that when we remember or speak about someone who has died, their soul shimmers.  As I read this I found myself very much in agreement.  Even someone who has been gone a long time, when the name is mentioned in word or thought for that moment the soul is once again alive. I believe I have experienced the result of that soul “shimmering.”

Barry was only eight years old when he was killed.  Outgoing, intelligent and mischievous, he had blonde hair and snapping brown eyes; a good looking little boy full of charm and wit.  He was my cousin, a first cousin.  I was six when it happened.  It was 1947.  My parents had just gotten a television and were watching it one evening when the local news in Philadelphia broadcast the details - with pictures.  Horrified, they turned off the TV, abruptly sent me to stay with a neighbor and left to go to my uncle’s house, my mother’s brother.  Apparently, my aunt and uncle were in such utter shock - they hadn’t gotten to the point of communicating the horror to the rest of the family. 

It was explained to me later what had happened.  Barry had been walking to school with a group of children and had stopped before the crossing street.  The children were still on the sidewalk when a car ran through a stop sign and was hit by a truck.  The car flew through the air and landed on my little cousin.  He was the only one hurt.  He was killed instantly. At six years old I realized something terrible had happened but of course had no understanding of the utter finality and depth of the tragedy of such a young death.  I saw the adults all around me in mourning and despair.

We were closely related and our families visited often.  As the younger child and a girl, I had often been the object of my cousin’s mischievous boyish pranks.  Like the time he wanted to try out his new bow and arrows.  He carefully lined me up against a wall, stepped back and took aim.  Each time I tried to run away he brought me back.  Finally my loud wails brought out his mother who promptly rescued me and confiscated the toy weapons.  That was probably the last time I saw him.  My parents attended the funeral and went to sit shiva every night at my uncle’s house but did not take me.  However, the mirrors in our house were draped, my parents sat on hard wooden stools, a pair of Barry’s shoes was torn up, and there was no laughter in our house for a long time.

Since that time I have thought of Barry.  I know that I have been fortunate to have lived so many years and to have fulfilled so many of my dreams.  As an adult and as a mother I came to a full sense of the enormity of that long-ago tragedy.   As a child I had no such realization and so it was not until forty-five years later that the grief finally found expression.  Apparently it was always there, deep inside of me. 

It was only after I gave expression to that grief that he came to me in a dream.  I was walking up a gentle grassy slope.  Along the top was a low white picket fence that split the hill in half.  As I walked up I saw coming toward me a young man in his twenties.  He was handsome with blonde hair and wore a dark suit.  I stayed on my side of the fence and he stayed on his, but he reached out his arms and hugged me.  I knew it was Barry.  We talked quietly for a time.  He assured me he was well.  We held hands and then he said he had to go and began walking away. I watched him leave and then I, too, turned away.  I knew that I could not follow him.  There was no doubt in my mind then, nor today, that this is the way he chose to communicate with me.

I awoke from my dream, sat up in bed and at last after forty-five years cried for my little cousin, Barry Pogreb.  And I cry as I write this - I hope my memory makes his soul shimmer.  He is still remembered and missed.

Orysiek is a freelance writer based in San Diego