I often wonder why the Israelis did not welcome the land of Judea and Samaria as their lost land, which they regained while protecting the rest of their country from the aggressors Arabs.
I often wonder why the Israelis in 2013 still debating giving away their own land to Arab squatters who have been at war with them for over 100 years and will never end that war so long they are able to breathe.
No elected government of Israel has a right to give away Jewish land to the enemy of the Jewish people. The land is not their personal property to give, it belongs and the property of the entire Jewish nation. It is like a museum curator who gives away display items as a gift to the people. That is simply impossible!
Several months ago I received an invitation to attend a screening of a film about Judea and Samaria. Since the subject is close to my heart I was going to RSVP, but the invitation only had venue street address, without indicating the city and country. I send a message to the host who issued the invitation and that is how I met Ezra Ridgley, a Toronto, Canada resident. I never attended the screening but I gained a long distance friend, a man who is totally in love with the state of Israel, in particularly the land of Judea and Samaria.
I see it deem necessary to tell and share the story about Ezra Ridgley and his love affair with Judea and Samaria with the hope others are caught in this love bug net.
Ezra, a single man, has been a full time sales person in the organic dairy industry for the past twenty years. He was raised as a secular, but now is an observant Jew. Becoming an observant Jew was a slow process, he tells me.
The Judea and Samaria bug Ezra caught happened ten years ago when he first visited Israel. Unlike other people he wanted to experience Israel his way. For him modern Israel was a miracle that happened to the Jewish people and he wanted to inhale it, if he could. The restoration of the Jewish state, Israel, brought about an awakening to the Jewish nation, its roots grow deep in the land of Israel, he claims.
After visiting almost every possible place and corner of the country, with the idea to see every place where Jewish life has been revived, he decided to take a drive and visit Gush Katif, the block of communities that sprung in the Gaza Strip. At that time there were already discussions about disengagement. The day before his visit Ezra read an article about the Jews of Gush Katif. The columnist described them as evil (Part of the Left propaganda to make the public in Israel believe that the disengagement is good for the country). Reading the article made Ezra even more determined to visit the Gush. On the border he picked up two hitchhikers from the Gush “who turned to be the nicest people one wants to meet.” They were hospitable, showed him around and defied any claim to be evil.
Soon after returning to Canada, Ezra traveled back to Israel, visited every single community in Gush Katif and developed great affinity to the people there and their model productive communities. Upon his return to Canada, Ezra made it his task to educate people how important Gush Katif was to Israel’s security and economy.
We already know the end result of this dissent. Gush Katif was gone and Ezra literally got emotionally sick; for him the fight for the land of Israel continued. He turned his attention to the communities of Judea and Samaria because he understood that they are the next on the disengagement’s list.
Ezra’s actions began with writing the book ‘Judea and Samaria, the land of God’, (To purchase the book), its purpose is to educate the Jewish world and beyond about this ancient land. On his vacation, using his own financial resources, in seven trips, Ezra literally visited every community in Judea and Samara, 120 in total. While travelling the land he also filmed hundreds of hours. The goal, to inspire the Jewish world and beyond and to bring it to realize that the building of Judea and Samaria should now be the project of the entire Jewish world.
Subsequently, Ezra produced the movie ‘The Spring of Judea and Samaria’.
Promo: “The Spring of Judea and Samaria” – DVD is now available:
Trailer: ‘The Spring of Judea and Samaria’
Judea and Samaria is the cradle of the Jewish Nation and Judaism. Regardless of unjust, bordering illegal, politics, Judea and Samaria belong to the Jews. It is land that the Arabs illegally occupied and squatted on it for 19 years. In 1967 the IDF returned it to its lawful owner, the Jewish people. Now the message Ezra has, do not give it away, keep it, and continue making it bloom.
If you wish to help Ezra contact him: judeaandsanaria@gmail.com