as his outstretched  arms seemed to be trying to embrace the entire wall.

One could rightfully assume that he was conversing with God, asking for the arrival of the Messiah. No longer a young man, his face expressed him being well aware that his remaining years of waiting were limited. I then caught site of a middle-aged, European couple. Looking somewhat disoriented, their eyes wandered around hastily, trying to take everything in. As they observed all the movement and outpouring of emotions around the wall, they were probably thinking: "These people have gone mad!" For the old man, this wall encompassed the meaning of his life while the tourist couple saw it as merely another place to shoot few photographs before moving on to the next attraction.

My trip back to New York was a long one, but it allowed me to share the experiences of my trip with some fellow passengers. Many of them expressed similar emotions. The strong connection that exists between the people and the land is almost metaphysical. 

Several years later, I was watching CNN news, as the Israeli and Palestinian representatives were going at it after yet another suicide bombing in Israel. A Palestinian spokesman was saying that all the Jews that live in Israel come from Russia, America and even Ethiopia. He asked, "What are all these 'foreigners' doing there?" His words took me back to that evening in Jerusalem, near the Western Wall. How could I explain to him the connection that Jews have to Israel and Jerusalem in particular? This connection is neither fictional nor made up; it's not like the Jews looked at a map one day and picked Israel as a particularly appealing place to settle. The connection is Biblical, historical and, most importantly, emotional. The last sentence of the Jewish Passover prayer is "NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM." Needless to say, the Passover Seder was not written by some Zionist 60 years ago. It is nearly as old as the history of Jewish people. It represents the feelings of belonging to the land they were unjustly removed from so many times in its tragic history. I have no doubt that the reason lies in the powerful connection that emanates from the land and from the traditions and books that originated there.

Watching the body parts of the victims of the bombings laying all over the pavement and the twisted metal debris of a blown-up bus got me thinking. Over centuries, Jews have survived the armies of the Nebuchadnezzar, the legions of marauding Romans, the torture chambers of the Inquisition and the Nazi concentration camps, to name a few. The price was huge, the toll on human life staggering and the suffering unimaginable.  Yet, here we are, staring into the face of another enemy who has no regard for any form of life, neither ours nor their own.

"Never Again" was proclaimed right after World War II and yet, here at the beginning of the 21st century, you can feel the hurricane of hatred making it's way around the world. As sure as the spring will follow the winter, there will be a new wave of anti-Semitism for every generation of Jews. It seems to have almost become an additional law of nature. One does not need to look very hard to hear the rhetoric emanating from the  Muslim world; for example:

·         Several newspapers in the Arab countries attributed the 9/11 attack to Jews. Couple of days later it became an undisputed fact. Some still believe it to this day even though Usama Ben Ladin took responsibility for it

·         Russian tsarist lie concocted in the 19th century about the "Elders of Zion" became widely watched miniseries in modern day Egypt

·         In 1994 Iran has sponsored the terrorist attack in Buenos Aires Argentina that killed 85 people in the Jewish Center. The last time I looked at the map, Buenos Ares was not anywhere near Israel

·         Malaysian President Mahateer announces to the world that Jews control the world through commodity speculations:

 - Jews were responsible for 9/11 atrocities. As my co-worker Rick was making his way across the Brooklyn Bridge, after the collapse of the Twin Towers, he witnessed several men approached a "Jewish looking woman" and stated yelling insults at her. "Its the work of you Jews"Several newspapers in the Arab countries attributed the attack to Jews. Couple of days later it became an undisputed fact. Some still believe it to this day even though Usama Ben Ladin took responsibility for it

The scariest part about the examples above is how many different countries are mentioned, yet they are only a small portion of all the countries that share these feelings toward Jews.

All this is going on in conjunction with the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe, a continent with a monopoly on morality. It seems that the 60 years after the Holocaust  have served as a sufficient respite. They can now go back to what they did so well over the centuries; inventing new reasons for hating Jews.

Then there are the newest of the world's Jews, the Americans. "Hating America is the new world sport", remarks John Gibson in his new book "Hating America".  It took 60 years to have the lessons of the Holocaust begin to fade away; it took only few  years after 9/11 for people to begin to forget the fact that we were unjustly attacked. The fact that a large percentage of the world's population was on the side of Saddam Hussein - regardless of what one's feelings may be about this war - is very telling. Where do we go from here? The questions that resonate in my own mind are:

With regards to the unified hatred of Israel, all the Arab nations are operating as a generally cohesive unit. Without Israel to beat up on, these same countries will be at each others throats in no time. If you need a proof, just listen in on the Arab League conferences. To answer the second question about America would be redundant. Just consider where we would be without America influencing the world order over the last century.

While gazing at the Western Wall I could not help noticing the Israeli solders and police all around the place. Just before I arrived here there was a wave of suicide bombings that hit Israel and Jerusalem specifically. Yet I felt absolutely at peace, the way you feel at home surrounded by your family and friends. This is a home that needs to be protected at any cost because for Jews it's the last stop. Next stop is the oblivion. In the meantime, as I watch the news about the killings, suicide bombings and beheadings, I think about Jerusalem and that moment of peace that is worth dreaming about, and  even fighting for.