Rolf Verleger, former chairman of the Jewish Community in Schleswig-Holstein (a German Federal State), criticizes the 'all too simple' comments of German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Israel's recent military action against the Palestinian people. To hold only Hamas responsible does not reflect the very complex historical development of the situation. He asks four questions:

1. None of his Grandparents survived the Nazi Holocaust. Did this fact give Jewish franctireurs and the Jewish Army in 1947/48 the right to expel hundreds of thousands of Arabs from Israel?
2. The German Nazis expropriated the property of his Great-Grandfather in Berlin. Did this fact give the state of Israel the right to confiscate the property of the expelled Arabs?
3. All his uncles and aunts were murdered by the SS. Does this fact give the state of Israel the right to exercise a dictatorial occupation for the last 40 years over the Palestinian people?
4. His Grandma Hannah was shot, because she went to her hair-dresser without wearing the "Judenstern" ( a yellow star to mark Jewish People. It had to be put visibly on the clothes). Does this fact give the State of Israel the right to starve and bombard the people in Gaza?

"In general terms", he asks, "does the fact that the European Jews were the victim of a great wrong, give the state of Israel the right, before God and humanity, to wrong others? This is the real question. And here, Mrs. Merkel is oversimplifying. Israel is not always right."

He also compares the blockade of Gaza with the blockade of Sarajevo in 1990, and adds, "the leaders who did that then were punished as war criminals in The Hague."

"Judaism once was 'the religion of acting charity'. When I say that today, no one is going to believe me."

(Excerpt of an interview given on Deutschlandfunk, 12/29, 2008)

See also:

• The Palestinians are the Jews of the Israelis
• Israeli settler abuse compared to pre-holocaust Europe

The Rebbe surprised some scholars with the question: "Where does God live?" His guests laughed at him and said: "What are you talking about! All the world is filled by HIS Glory!" So the Rebbe anwsered his own question: "God lives, where ever you let him in…" Hasidim

In days of yore, there dwelt in east a man
Who from a valued hand received a ring
Of endless worth: the stone of it an opal,
That shot an ever-changing tint: moreover,

If you must hate, if hatred is the leaven of your life, which alone can give flavor, then hate what should be hated: falsehood, violence, selfishness.

Ludwig Börne (Juda Löb Baruch)

The Rabbi's students asked him: "Rebbe, please, help us. The Talmud teaches us to thank God both and equally for the bad days as for the good. How can that be done?"

The Rabbi thought for a moment and then answered: "Go and see Rabbi Zusya. He knows the answer…"

So they went to see Rabbi Zusya and found him in the poorest quarter of the town. When they entered his scrubby home, they found him sitting at an empty table, near a tiny window, studying. He greeted them warmly, offered bred and water, but his guest refused and replied: