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Page 2 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN November-December 2010<br />
<strong>The</strong> world is a better place because of Israel<br />
Through the centuries, Jews have been<br />
portrayed as pariahs, a non-native people<br />
abominated by those in whose presences they<br />
existed, and an almost sub-human species<br />
who plot and scheme against the interest of<br />
the majority in whose presence they eked out<br />
a living.<br />
Fortunately for those of us who have the<br />
good luck to live at the present time in this<br />
great country, the outward restrictions and<br />
many of the taboos are no longer evident from<br />
our non-<strong>Jewish</strong> neighbors. But both conscious<br />
and subconscious stereotyping still exists in<br />
BY<br />
Marvin<br />
Botnick<br />
the world.<br />
What is different, however, is that for the<br />
first time in two thousand years there is now a<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> state that was conceived out of love<br />
and born out of tragedy. <strong>The</strong> umbilical cord<br />
was barely cut before its neighbors tried to<br />
deny it an existence through a barrage of military<br />
and verbal attacks. As we know, these<br />
were not successful. Military actions continued<br />
over the years with the same lack of success;<br />
however, luckily at the present time<br />
these no longer are being carried out. But the<br />
verbal attacks and accusations have increased.<br />
Since Israel could not be annihilated militarily,<br />
the detractors appear to have plotted a<br />
course to discredit it verbally. Using the<br />
geopolitical power of oil and the cache of<br />
money generated by this natural resource that<br />
happened to be located on their land, there has<br />
been a concerted effort and the expenditure of<br />
enormous sums of money to delegitimize the<br />
creation and existence of Israel. To the world,<br />
there is no differentiation between Israel as a<br />
country and Jews as a people, regardless of<br />
where we live. <strong>The</strong>ir history of the Jews and<br />
the historical stereotyping of us have been<br />
blended together with the establishment and<br />
existence of Israel to do what could not be<br />
done with arms: challenge and compromise<br />
the legitimacy of the Israel.<br />
Israel must remain militarily strong.<br />
Jews, both in Israel and the Diaspora, must<br />
remain vigilant in defending and confronting<br />
false allegations and misrepresentations. But I<br />
THE<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> <strong>Georgian</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Jewish</strong> <strong>Georgian</strong> is published bimonthly by Eisenbot, Ltd. It is<br />
written for Atlantans and <strong>Georgian</strong>s by Atlantans and <strong>Georgian</strong>s.<br />
Publisher Marvin Botnick<br />
Co-Publisher Sam Appel<br />
Editor Marvin Botnick<br />
Managing Editor Marsha C. LaBeaume<br />
Assignment Editor Carolyn Gold<br />
Consulting Editor Gene Asher<br />
Associate Editor Barbara Schreiber<br />
Copy Editor Ray Tapley<br />
Assistant Copy Editor Arnold Friedman<br />
Makeup Editor Terri Christian<br />
Production Coordinator Terri Christian<br />
Designer David Gaudio<br />
Medical Editor Morris E. Brown, M.D.<br />
Photographic Staff Allan Scher, Phil Slotin, Phil Shapiro,<br />
Jonathan Paz<br />
Graphic Art Consultant Karen Paz<br />
Columnist Gene Asher, Susan Asher<br />
Jonathan Barach,<br />
Janice Rothschild Blumberg,<br />
Marvin Botnick, Suzi Brozman,<br />
Shirley Friedman, Carolyn Gold,<br />
Jonathan Goldstein, R.M. Grossblatt,<br />
George Jordan, Marice Katz, Balfoura,<br />
Friend Levine, Marsha Liebowitz,<br />
Howard Margol, Bubba Meisa,<br />
Erin O’Shinsky, Reg Regenstein,<br />
Susan Robinson, Stuart Rockoff,<br />
Roberta Scher, Jerry Schwartz, Leon Socol,<br />
Bill Sonenshine, Rabbi Reuven Stein,<br />
Cecile Waronker, Evie Wolfe<br />
Special Assignments Lyons Joel<br />
Advertising Eileen Gold, Ruby Grossblatt,<br />
Francine Lowe<br />
Michael Pelot, VP OP<br />
Bill Sonenshine<br />
Editorial Advisory Board Members<br />
Sam Appel Rabbi Alvin Sugarman Sam Massell<br />
Jane Axelrod Albert Maslia William Rothschild<br />
Gil Bachman Michael H. Mescon Marilyn Shubin<br />
Asher Benator Paul Muldawer Doug Teper<br />
8495 Dunwoody Place, Suite 100<br />
Atlanta, GA 30350<br />
(404) 236-8911 • FAX (404) 236-8913<br />
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<strong>The</strong> <strong>Jewish</strong> <strong>Georgian</strong> ©2010<br />
think we fall short on trumpeting the contributions<br />
to and the benefits received by the<br />
world in general that have been produced and<br />
delivered by this small, start-up country that,<br />
disproportionately to its population and<br />
resources, has made such major contributions<br />
to advancement and wellbeing of the world.<br />
<strong>The</strong> character of Archie Bunker, in the<br />
sitcom All in the Family, had a frequently<br />
used line, “Stifle yourself, Edith.” It almost<br />
seems as though this is the mantra that has<br />
been adopted by the world when consideration<br />
is given to any discussion of the contribution<br />
of Israel.<br />
We often refer to the mission of the<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> people to be “A Light Unto the<br />
Nations” and a challenge to “Repair the<br />
World.” While it is critical that we refute<br />
accusations that are factually incorrect and<br />
advocate in support of the continued existence<br />
of Israel, it is time for us to trumpet to the<br />
world community the major contributions that<br />
are being made by the Jews and Israel. It is<br />
time to sound the shofar to awaken the world<br />
to what has been done to make the lives of all<br />
people healthier and improve their living conditions.<br />
It is time to focus attention on the light<br />
that has shown forth out of Israel in its fulfillment<br />
of good works for mankind.<br />
In any endeavor, there needs to be both a<br />
defensive and an offensive strategy. I am suggesting<br />
that there be a more aggressive offensive<br />
game plan. We have been forced into a<br />
position of defending and justifying selfpreservation<br />
actions. I believe that there<br />
should be a greater effort to show the benefits<br />
that have inured to all people resulting from<br />
the establishment of the state of Israel.<br />
It is for this reason that this year we<br />
added to the content of <strong>The</strong> <strong>Jewish</strong> <strong>Georgian</strong><br />
a column “You Need to Know.” In this piece,<br />
in each issue we recount several of the activities<br />
and developments that have come out of<br />
Israel, which have contributed to the betterment<br />
of world. In addition to the items in the<br />
column in this issue, we have highlighted the<br />
activities of the <strong>Jewish</strong> National Fund’s<br />
Parsons Water Fund, which is involved in<br />
helping develop sources of water. <strong>The</strong> recycling<br />
of wastewater, the economical use of<br />
irrigation, and the work being done on<br />
desalinization to produce potable water, in all<br />
of which efforts Israel is the leader, is technology<br />
that is critical to people in all countries.<br />
In the future, we plan to continue our<br />
efforts in this direction. <strong>The</strong>re is the wellknown<br />
exercise that deals with how you<br />
respond to the question of “When did you stop<br />
beating your wife?” <strong>The</strong> accusation is made in<br />
the question, and the response does not do<br />
away with the damage of the question.<br />
For our part, we do not wish to concentrate<br />
on attempting to justify the array of public<br />
relation vilifications. We will follow the<br />
course of airing the many positive contributions<br />
of Israel, its record of governing by the<br />
rule of law, its open and free press, and its<br />
democratic form of government that provides<br />
for the rights of all of its citizens. We choose<br />
to highlight the positive.