Jonathan Pollard 8888 Days in Captivity Today

Justice4JPnews - March 23, 2010

Today, March 23, 2010, just a week away from Pesach, the Jewish Holiday of Freedom, Jonathan Pollard marks his 8888th day in an American prison for the offense of passing classified information to Israel to save Jewish lives.

Pollard worked under the auspices of the Israeli Ministry of Defense. In 1998, the Government of Israel ended more than a decade of lies and evasions by formally recognizing Jonathan as an Israeli agent, but to this day has yet to take any serious steps to secure his release. The American Jewish leadership (with scant exception) cravenly follows Israel's lead, marginally paying lip service, but taking no effective or meaningful action to bring this politically-driven nightmare to an end.

There is no one to rely on but Avinu Sheh Ba'shomayim.

The number 8 is universally acknowledged as representing infinity. Turn it on its side and you have the sign for infinity. Write it 4 times, 8,888 (the number of days Jonathan has been in captivity) and you have infinity to its infinite degree in terms of a human life expectancy. Instead of the median sentence of 2 to 4 years for the offense he committed, Jonathan is now in his 25th year of a

life sentence

with no end in sight. Our silence, our complacency and our indifference keeps him there, in anguish and in constant mortal danger.

Rabbi Pesach Lerner, Executive VP of The National Council of Young Israel recently wrote:

"Former CIA Director James Woolsey, former head of the Senate Intelligence Committee US Senator (ret.) Dennis DeConcini, former American Special Envoy to the Middle East Dennis Ross, as well as a cross section of other notable Americans, and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations are calling for Jonathan's release. Enough is enough, they say.
"Even former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, the man who drove Jonathan's life sentence, admitted in an interview before he died, that the Pollard case was a "minor matter" which had been exaggerated, "made much more important than it was" in order to serve another agenda.
"It is time for the Jewish community to pay heed to our Torah sages, such as HaRav Aharon Leib Steinman and HaRav Shalom Yosef Eliyashiv, in Israel, and numerous Torah sages and Jewish community leaders in the United States, who have called upon the public to assist in the mitzvah of Pidyon Shvuyim for Jonathan Pollard.
"Jonathan's own Rav, the former Chief Rabbi of Israel, HaRav Mordechai Eliyahu (who is thoroughly familiar with the facts of the case) has ruled that the Pollard case is not the simple mitzvah of Pidyon Shvuyim, but is the most exalted form of the mitzvah: "the mitzvah of Pidyon Shvuyim for one who was moser nefesh for Am Yisrael."
"The information Pollard provided to Israel 25 years ago was critical and is still protecting Israelis to this very day. It caused the Jewish State to completely revamp its civil defense program, supplying every citizen with a gas mask and chemical antidote kit, and legislating that every new home built in Israel must have a "sealed room".
"Last week, thanks to Pollard, the government of Israel began a new distribution of gas masks and chemical antidotes to its citizens. This is not to justify that Pollard broke the law. He deeply regrets breaking American law. Nevertheless, it is a fact that he did so only in order to save Israeli lives. He has paid dearly for his actions, languishing in prison for the last 25 years of his life. Every Jew owes Jonathan our utmost involvement in seeking his freedom. He deserves our assistance, not a blood libel."
(The complete essay can be read here.)

Jonathan's release is the key to the release of all of the MIAs and captives; and along with them, the release of the entire Jewish People from bondage. As long as Jonathan Pollard remains in an American prison, his continued incarceration - the consummate symbol of Jewish impotence and humiliation - prevents every Jew from being truly free.

This is the Hebrew month of Nissan, the time of our liberation from bondage to freedom. Next week we will sit at the Seder table and relive our exodus from Mitzrayim, celebrating both our personal and our national liberation. Our freedom requires that Pollard sit with us at the table as a free man, here at home in Yerushalyim, with his beloved wife Esther and all the Nation of Israel.

Let's make it happen!

J4JP asks everyone to take time today to say the following verses from Tehillim (Psalms)* as prescribed by His Honor, HaRav Mordechai Eliyahu, shlita, in the merit of Yehonatan ben Malka:

Psalm 20
Psalm 91
Psalm 48

Please pray for a swift and speedy redemption for Yehonatan ben Malka amongst all the captives of Israel; and for a refuah shleimah for him amongst all of cholei Yisrael, including HaRav Mordechai (Tzemach ben Mazal) Eliyahu. Amain!

In the merit of an outpouring of prayer today, the 8888th day of Pollard's captivity, may all of our prayers be speedily answered to the good, and may we once again merit to see nissim v'niflaot (miracles and wonders) today, as we did in the days of old. May we once, again relive the exodus from Mitzrayim as a nation, with Jonathan Pollard and all of our captives and MIAs home in the Land, in full health and strength! Amain, ken yihi ratzon!