Dear JWW Activists:

I could not let Yom Hashoah 2011 conclude without sharing with you my hope and prayer for the eradication of evil forces in our world. I am sure that none of us missed the irony that we learned yesterday, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, of the death of Osama Bin Laden– a person who has become an almost universal symbol of death and destruction on earth. We Jews are almost never supposed to celebrate the death of a human being, as we are taught that every human being is created in God’s image. However, even the Bible recognizes the exception to that rule; when Amalek and his tribe tried to destroy the Jewish people after the Exodus, the Jews were actually ordered by God to kill the Amalekites. In fact, scholars say that Saul lost his kingship by failing to comply with that positive commandment to commit a genocide of the Amalekites. Later, the Jewish people were also given permission to kill Haman, a killing which we actually celebrate with feasting and partying on Purim. So, while it is indeed unusual to celebrate death, we can celebrate the death of Osama Bin Laden who, like Haman, is a metaphorical if not actual descendant of the Amalekites. In Bin Laden’s death, the world moves a step closer to justice; in his death, we affirm life. And, for those of us fighting against genocidal Amalekite-like maniacs on a daily basis, with the death of Osama Bin Laden we can celebrate both the eradication of an evil leader, and the perfect poetic justice of him taking his last breath on Yom Hashoah!

Janice Kamenir-Reznik, President
Jewish World Watch
Not Standing Idly By…
Fighting Genocide & Mass Atrocities
www.jewishworldwatch.org