The Ugliness of Ingratitude

Rabbi Lazer Brody - Lazer Beams Weblog - June 29, 2010

There is one thing worse than the three arch-transgressions that we must sacrifice our lives to avoid (idolatry, bloodshed, and forbidden sex): ingratitude.

The word for "Jew" in Hebrew - Yehudi - literally means "one who is grateful." We should take nothing for granted. When we thank Hashem for every heart beat and every breath we take, we are surely smiling.

Depressed people either fail to acknowledge or don't count the blessings they have. Happy people are those who are satisfied with whatever Hashem gives them.

Sorry to say, folks, but all of Israel's national problems stem from ingratitude in general, and more specifically, ingratitude to Hashem. As a nation, do we truly thank Hashem for all the miracles He did and does for us from 1948 until now? No - we pin it on our army. By giving himself credit for the Six-Day War in 1967, Moshe Dayan nearly lost it all for us in 1973. When we're ingrates, Hashem shows us how miserably pitiful we are on our own, without His help (case in hand, the recent Turkish flotilla fiasco).

Jonathan Pollard put his life on the line to share vital information for our national security that a so-called friendly government was withholding from us. Our ungrateful politicians sold him down the river. As of today, he is 8,987 days in captivity, or nearly

25 years

. Many people walking around on Israel's streets today owe Jonathan Pollard their lives. Anyone say thank you? Certainly not the government, who's doing nothing to keep Jonathan from rotting in a North Carolina penitentiary.

The same regime that won't free Jonathan Pollard now wants to deport Mosab Hassan Yousef, the oldest son of one of Hamas' founders, who worked undercover for Israeli security for over a decade. Many terrorist attacks were foiled thanks to him. Israel should be protesting the deportation, because Mosab Hassan Yousef will be dead meat if goes anywhere near an Arab country. Even better, because so many people who are walking around on Israel's streets today owe Mosab Hassan Yousef, Israel should give complete political asylum to him, including a change of identity and a place to live.

The ingratitude to those who have sacrificed their own lives to save our lives is ugliness. Gratitude is beautiful. Let's make this world a more beautiful place.

We can show our gratitude right away to Jonathan Pollard by praying for his quick release and by joining the Pollard phone-in campaign.

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