[img]96|left|Shachar||no_popup[/img]Dateline Jerusalem — According to a recent survey, Israel is considered one of the happiest countries in the world, coming within the top ten countries on the list. Finland came in first, Israel tied Canada. The U.S. was way down the list somewhere.

I find it a very interesting statistic considering that the people in Israel must constantly be vigilant of their surroundings, prepare against terror, and send both sons and daughters to the army because its very existence is threatened on a daily basis.

Yet I can understand why it is a happy country. For me, I feel Hashem's (G-d) presence at all times. There is something calm and serene in the air about me. I am more relaxed than I have been for years. Although life may be difficult here without many of the conveniences we take for granted in the states, I have learned to live without the “luxuries.” Perhaps that also accounts for why this simpler life is a more fulfilling one.

I also attribute the happiness here to the attitude of the people. A friend here told me, “The happiest of people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have.” Instead of bemoaning their fate, wondering day to day whether Iran will annihilate them, whether missiles and rockets from Gaza or Lebanon or Syria will destroy their homes and lives, whether the daily bus to work will blow up, whether Palestinians will throw rocks and small boulders at their vehicles, whether they will be victims of Palestinian sniper fire, the people of Israel live their lives to the fullest.

They believe in life, not death and martyr-ism. Israelis cherish their children's lives, doing everything they can to protect them, unlike Hamas and Hezbollah who endanger their children by cowardly hiding behind them during times of confrontation.

What baffles me more than anything is the attitude of the world toward Israel. “Time” magazine thinks Israel's optimism means Israelis do not want peace. What skewed reasoning! However, if Israelis were unhappy, they would probably be criticized as well. For no matter what Israel does, it is damned by the world.

An example of further skewed thinking is a thesis written by a left-wing Israeli woman who claimed Israeli men discriminate against Palestinian women because during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza last year, Israeli men did not rape the Palestinian women!!

The fact that Jewish men in general, not just Israelis, are not usually known for crimes of rape or violence is not taken into account by the authoress. Although Muslims are mass raping women in the Sudan, an event that the U.N. and the rest of the world seem to be ignoring, it seems that rape of women is to be expected. But it isn't just Palestinian women that are not raped by Israeli men. Therefore, Israeli men must discriminate against Israeli women as well, because an Israeli woman feels perfectly safe walking the streets of Israel at all hours of the night without the fear of being raped!

All I can attest to is the fact that I am extremely happy living in Israel. It is perfectly understandable to me why Israelis are among the happiest people in the world.

L'hitraot. Shachar