Dear Congregants,

Below you will find most my remarks on the death of Yasser Arafat.

As a rabbi I find it difficult to ever say, “I’m happy when a person dies.” We all know of situations when as sad as we may be, there is relief after the death of a person who has suffered through a long debilitating illness. Very often we say, in that situation, “His or her death is a blessing.”

So even with the death of Yasser Arafat two days ago, I won’t say that I’m happy, but I will say I’m relieved. In this case I’m relieved that his death did not come about from the hands of the Israelis.

After years of speculation that Yasser Arafat might be assassinated, as were many other Palestinian leaders, in the end, Yasser Arafat was spared that fate, and died a more natural death from serious illness.

While he will undoubtedly be martyred among the Palestinian people, at least the Israeli government did not tribute to raising his status of martyrdom by killing him.

I’m trying to figure out what might happen now.

Will the Palestinian people remain trapped by the power and persuasion of Yasser Arafat, or will they be able to move beyond his control and his persona now that he has died?

Soon we may be able to know whether it was Yasser Arafat acting alone, for his own self-interest, when he refused to accept the agreement presented to him by then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak and President Bill Clinton at Camp David in the summer of 2000.

Or, was his intransigence then, indicative of what we will can come to expect from the leaders who will succeed him in promoting the cause of the Palestinian people.

Yasser Arafat has been the face of the Palestinian people for 40 years. During those 40 years, he could not do what Moses did. He could not successfully lead his people through the wilderness to enter a land they could truly, legitimately claim as their own.

Yes, it is true that every Israeli leader since Yitzhak Rabin, including Ariel Sharon, recognizes that there must indeed someday be a Palestinian state.

Yes, it is absolutely certain that the current president of the United States has promoted that same ultimate goal. And one has to wonder whether Yasser Arafat deserves any credit for bringing not only his people, but the world, to that reality.

I imagine that another leader might have been able to procure and win so much more for his people than Yasser Arafat seemed to be able to accomplish over such a long period of time.

As stated by a television commentator on Thursday morning, Jack McCafferty, on the CNN American Morning show, “Yasser Arafat was always first and primarily interested in Yasser Arafat. He stole money consistently from his people, and he, more than anyone else, allowed them to live in conditions that were worse than miserable.”

Bill Schneider (CNN) invoked Abba Eban’s famous statement about the Palestinians :

“They never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.”

One final comment about the last couple of weeks, and then a hope and a prayer.

Have you ever seen more confusion, chaos and misunderstanding about first the illness, and then the ultimate death, of a well-known leader?

Every day we heard about the divisiveness of the Palestinian leaders, the protectiveness of Mrs. Arafat, the various illnesses that Yasser Arafat may or may not have experienced.

Don’t you find it interesting that Yasser Arafat, this great Arab leader, was not taken to any Arab nation for treatment?

Interesting, yes, surprising, no! Would you want to be treated for a serious medical condition in Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, even Saudi Arabia?

Perhaps indeed Yasser Arafat will be more powerful and influential in death, than even in life?

Or, maybe now a huge obstacle to peace will be removed from the political landscape in the Middle East and, maybe, just maybe, there will be some greater movement toward peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Yes, I know that many commentators believe that Arafat’s death will ruin Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s greater plan of not going beyond the planned withdrawal of Gaza and a few settlements from the West Bank.

Maybe there will be a greater challenge to create peace placed upon the Israeli government and the Israeli people than we have seen or known for many years.

Of that I am not afraid – more than that, I welcome it, and I know that so do many, if not a majority, of Israelis.

Jeff Jacoby wrote the following in a column found in the Boston Globe:

“It would take an encyclopedia to catalog all of the evil Arafat committed. But that is no excuse for not trying to recall at least some of it.

Perhaps his signal contribution to the practice of political terror was the introduction of warfare against children. On one black date in May 1974, three PLO terrorists slipped from Lebanon into the northern Israeli town of Ma'alot. They murdered two parents and a child whom they found at home, then seized a local school, taking more than 100 boys and girls hostage and threatening to kill them unless a number of imprisoned terrorists were released. When Israeli troops attempted a rescue, the terrorists exploded hand grenades and opened fire on the students. By the time the horror ended, 25 people were dead; 21 of them were children.

Thirty years later, no one speaks of Ma'alot anymore. The dead children have been forgotten. Everyone knows Arafat's name, but who ever recalls the names of his victims?

So let us recall them: Ilana Turgeman. Rachel Aputa. Yocheved Mazoz. Sarah Ben-Shim'on. Yona Sabag. Yafa Cohen. Shoshana Cohen. Michal Sitrok. Malka Amrosy. Aviva Saada. Yocheved Diyi. Yaakov Levi. Yaakov Kabla. Rina Cohen. Ilana Ne'eman. Sarah Madar. Tamar Dahan. Sarah Soper. Lili Morad. David Madar. Yehudit Madar. The 21 dead children of Ma'alot -- 21 of the thousands of who died at Arafat's command.”

It is customary among knowledgeable Jews to add the words, “Yemah shemo – may his name be erased” after mentioning the name of someone like Adolph Hitler.

In other words, you would say the name, “Adolph Hitler,” “yemah shemo – may his memory be erased.”

Some people used that same term in reference to Yasser Arafat, while he was alive, and I imagine that they will do so now that he has died.

I did not use that phrase, at least not with any regularity, before, and I won’t do so now. But neither will I say, “Alav ha-shalom – may he rest in peace.” Not now, not ever.

Shabbat Shalom.