Posted January 31 2008 by Brett Kugler
Where do you pledge your allegiance?
Today I found myself in a heated debate with several of my students. The topic was the army and to which army we pledged our allegiance. I found that both sides made incredibly compelling arguments about their feelings towards where they would fight if the need arose. While most students put Israel first, others felt strongly that if you live in a country (America), then you should protect that country as much as it has protected you. However, the real question is, “What protection are we speaking of?” While Israel is very far away from us in distance, the beliefs that they fight for are the very beliefs that we hold near and dear to our hearts right here in America. The life of a Jew in America is strongly correlated to the things that are being fought for in Israel. Our religious freedoms in America exist because people are willing to take a stand for our beliefs in our homeland. Whether or not our residence is in this country or another, our hearts will always be in Israel. And as we all know, without a heart, we cannot go on. Therefore, I look forward to the continued debate in my classroom, and I hope that it will result in many more wonderful debates in the future because the most important thing is not who you fight for, but that you believe in what you are fighting for.
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2 Comments currently posted. 
Ahron Lerman says:
Zechariah Mehler says:
There are people that would argue that the borders of Israel are anything but man-made.
the classic question: are you an american-jew or a jewish-american? and furthermore - should you decide that, if it came to it, you’d rather fight for israel than america, how does that reflect your continuing to live in america? and what does that say about those that give a lot of money to the state of israel, but choose to live in america or elsewhere? money is support, too.
i pledge allegiance to this world
and to all life contained within.
one soul,
indivisible under god,
with respect and love for all.
personally, if it came to a fight, i’d pick the side that’s gonna win. i am not willing to die for any man-made boundary. there are other ways to show allegiance besides fighting.