A Message From Rabbi Stephen A. Leon

As days and weeks continue to pass since the horrific day of infamy which took place on October 7th when a sworn enemy of Israel and the Jewish people namely the terrorist group Hamas conducted an unprovoked violent attack on babies, children, the elderly, disabled, women and men in Israel I feel compelled to respond. Motivated by my love for humanity and my belief in the Jewish principle of "Rodeiph Shalom" which means the "pursuit of peace" I cannot be silent as I watch college students, celebrities, countries, organizations, elected officials and many others in increasing numbers participating in rallies, protests, on social media and in published articles condemning Israel and the Jewish people, accusing us of genocide against Palestinians, apartheid, some extremely hateful anti-Semitic declarations because the Israel Defense Force has chosen to defend its citizens from this hateful Hamas terrorist group and to uproot and destroy it once and for all. These " pro Gaza" protesters choose to minimize or even ignore the fact that this group burned alive and decapitated babies, shot and murdered hundreds attending a musical concert, executed parents in front of their children, raped teenage girls, and have kidnapped babies, the elderly and disabled civilians and have kept them as hostages since that day of tyranny and bloodshed!

Just look at the many times in our history that enemies of the Jewish people and Israel have tried to destroy us. 3300 years ago, the Egyptians enslaved us for no reason. In fact, it was a Jew by the name of Joseph who saved Egypt from a famine. Moses led us out of Egypt, and we then gave the world the 10 Commandments which demanded that human beings act with morality and justice toward one another! We returned to Israel; the land God promised to be the homeland of the Jewish people from the time of Abraham as an everlasting covenant. The only time we left in 4000 years was when other nations conquered us and forced us to leave. Time and again because we were different and because our belief in being the moral conscience of the world, nations tried to eradicate the Jewish people and failed. 2500 years ago, the Babylonians destroyed our Holy Temple and exiled our people to Babylonia (Iraq). We returned to Israel and rebuilt the Temple until the Romans came into Israel and destroyed the 2nd Temple in the year 70. In 1492 all the Jews of Spain were expelled after suffering forced conversions, torture, the burning alive of men, women, and children for no crime we had committed but simply because we refused to become Christians. The atrocities that the Spanish government together with the Church inflicted upon my ancestors are reminiscent of what Hamas did to us on October 7th. As we all know, the tactics of the Nazis and its goal of wiping out the Jewish people resulted in eradicating one third of us! The charter of Hamas calls for the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people. The only difference between the time of the Inquisition and the Holocaust and October 7th is that we now have the State of Israel and this tiny country`s brave soldiers to defend us and to destroy the evil Hamas terrorist organization. I am sorry that innocent civilians in Gaza are losing their lives. The Jewish people cries for each innocent child, man and woman wounded and killed. But with all these protests Israel for defending itself why have we have not heard leaders of the Church or Muslim nations condemning these horrific Nazi-like atrocities committed by Hamas on my people. You will never destroy us, and you will never succeed in preventing us from continuing to teach the world TIKKUN OLAM!

I believe that there is a viable response to Hamas and the protesters who support its inhumane actions on October 7th. Yes, it is important to send donations and supplies to Israel, to have rallies in support of Israel, to pray for Israel and to write to our elected officials to support Israel, but there is something more we can do. As we are all aware there are only 14 million Jews in the world today, fewer than the 16 million that existed before the Holocaust. According to scholars, DNA experts, authors, professors, and others there are between 100 and 200 million people in the world who are the descendants of the victims of the Inquisition. Unlike the number of survivors of the Holocaust which sadly diminishes every year, the number of crypto-Jews who are alive is quite significant. As the founder and rabbi of the Anusim Center/Synagogue I say that this is the time for all of us involved in the teaching about B`nai Anusim, who have written books or done research about crypto-Jews, who are simply aware of the phenomenon of Conversos, join together and make a concerted effort to enthusiastically do outreach, spread the word, publicize and take the necessary steps to inform these millions of potential "returnees" of their Jewish roots and to encourage them to consider returning. I am not saying we should proselytize or seek converts, not at all, but we should be motivated by this current attack on Jewish survival to inspire us to educate the uneducated and to inform as many as possible to explore their Jewish roots. If we are successful in just a fraction of the possible millions to return, we will be proclaiming in a united loud voice to our friends and to our enemies "Am Yisrael Chai " The People of Israel Lives and Will Live Forever!" If you are interested in joining me in achieving this goal, please contact me.

With that in mind I invite everyone to join in person or by Zoom a Havdalah Service in support of Israel on Saturday evening November 4th at 5:45 PM MST at the Anusim Center/Synagogue 1665 Futurity Drive, Sunland Park, New Mexico. For Zoom, Meeting ID 856 2352 1369, Password AnusimEP23.

Shalom,

Rabbi Stephen Leon

Anusim Center/SynagogueK