Pollard: Youth Arising On My Behalf is Like the Miracle of Chanukah

Yaffa Goldstein - Hatzofeh - December 19, 2003

Translated by J4JP

"Just as in the time of Chanukah when a small but mighty band of everyday heroes arose, today another heroic band of brave Jews has arisen to go forward to do battle on behalf of the Jewish People. That group of everyday heroes calls itself Noar L'man Pollard (the Pollard Youth Movement.)" So writes Jonathan Pollard from prison in Butner North Carolina, in an open letter to the growing numbers of young people who are joining the ranks of Noar L'man Pollard to fight for his release.

Pollard writes that if anyone had ever told him that he would go into prison and many years later he would surface so strongly in Israel's national consciousness that thousands of youngsters would be carrying posters bearing his name, he would never have believed it. But in fact, that is the miracle which is occurring. He calls the youngsters, "G-d's secret weapon" and "the seeds of redemption" which G-d planted years ago for him and for the Jewish People. He says that our youth have arisen at a very dark time when destructive forces operating under a number of guises such as liberalism, humanism, Americanism and Oslo-ism are tearing the Jewish People apart, destroying our unity.

In a large part of his letter, Pollard does not deal with his own plight, but with the problems facing the State of Israel. He writes about the problems the Nation has in confronting its enemies and of the problems it has with faith and belief. "Just as in the time of Chanukah and the Maccabees, we are today so assimilated, so browbeaten, so tired and worn out by oppression from within... We know, deep in our hearts, that peace with those sworn to our destruction will never come about through weakness and capitulation.... So why do we keep caving in? Why don't we fight? Why do we not stand united as a People and cry out to HaShem for help, and tell our leaders: Enough! You MAY NOT free murderers and terrorists. You MAY NOT uproot Jewish homes and families from Jewish Land! You MAY NOT give weapons, training and funds to our sworn enemies!"

Pollard reinforces the idea that all of Israel are responsible for each other. He praises Noar L'Man Pollard youth for working for his release and for their recognition of their responsibility not only to him but to each other and to the Nation as a whole. He blesses the youth to be worthy of HaShem's miracles and that they should be the vessel through which redemption comes to him and to all of Israel. He ends with the hope that he and his wife will soon be home to light Chanukah candles in Jerusalem.