Editorial: Our Brother's Blood - J. Pollard

Rabbi Avraham Y. Heschel, Hamodia Editor [NY]

Hamodia Special Passover Edition, March 31, 2015

NB: [Square brackets] added for clarification by J4JP.

Pesach is the Yom Tov of Geulah [The Holiday of Redemption].

Every year, each member of Klal Yisrael [the Jewish Nation] merits the possibility to achieve lofty levels of spiritual redemption; it is up to us to take advantage of this remarkable opportunity.

It is also a most opportune time for a personal geulah [redemption].

As we prepare to usher in this glorious Yom Tov, this is the most appropriate time to think about Yehonasan ben Malka [Jonathan Pollard]. As we get ready to celebrate our freedom from Egyptian bondage, this is when we American Jews should look into our own hearts and souls and examine what we have done - and failed to do - to help Jonathan Pollard, now in his 30th year of a life sentence, to obtain his freedom. More than a quarter century has passed since Jonathan finished serving the median sentence of two to four years for the crime he committed - passing classified information to an ally. No one has served anywhere close to the amount of time that Jonathan already has for this offense.

It is important to realize what the information that Jonathan gave the Israelis was all about. It was not about America; it was information about Israel's sworn enemies that America was supposed to - but didn't want to - share with Israel.

Newly declassified documents confirmed that Jonathan, motivated by a genuine concern for the safety of the Jews in Eretz Yisrael, gave over crucial material relating to grave threats against Israel. This included information about how the Pakistanis were attempting to build a nuclear-capable rocket with a range sufficient to reach Tel Aviv; how the Iraqis were secretly manufacturing nerve gas specifically for use against Israeli urban areas and how the Syrians were in the process of receiving covert shipments of new surface-to-surface missiles that were accurate enough to knock out Israeli air bases for the first time.

Another recently declassified document specifically states that Israel never requested information from Jonathan concerning "U.S. military activities, plans, capabilities, or equipment." These documents point to the same conclusion: Jonathan Pollard's activities may have ruffled some feathers in the Middle East, but there was no material impact on U.S. national security.

Continue reading: Our brothers blood