The Vision of Sir Winston Churchill - Then and Now

When we read the following speech by Rabbi Nachum Shifren, we knew it was a speech we had to share with Sunlit Uplands readers.  Rabbi Shifren evokes the memory and words of our blog's patron, Sir Winston Churchill, in rallying people of good will to the defense of Western civilization.  As Rabbi Shifren points out, the struggle in which the West finds itself today is no less serious, and in many ways a continuation of that great struggle led by Churchill -- away from the "abyss of a new dark age" and "forward into broad, sunlit uplands.''

Rabbi Shifren's speech is addressed to the thousands of supporters of the English Defense League in Luton, England.

From NewsWithViews

By Rabbi Nachum Shifren

For millions of Americans such as myself, there remains a special grandeur in the British people, long after the "Great War" has ended, long after the average schoolboy or girl has stopped recalling that there was once a real threat to the entire island.

What we remember most from those long-forgotten trials of fire, is the tremendous spirit of defiance, an unyielding attitude of tenacity in the face of an overwhelming evil. There are no fitting words to use in recounting the admiration that has been shown for that great statesman and hero to all that understand and cherish what we have in our Western civilization, the great Sir Winston Churchill.

As one re-reads those now-famous utterances that gave hope to a lost world, devastated entirely by the Nazi juggernaut that stood poised to conquer it, there arises at once an immediate recognition and correlation of a modern symbolism of those dark years of despair and loss of freedom.

From "Their Finest Hour Speech" by Sir Winston Churchill:

"I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions ..... The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. (He) knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands.

But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister..... Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, This was their finest hour."

Is there one of you today that does not recognize these words and their relevance at this time? What British man or woman does not understand the similar peril that threatens to consume Britain along with America?

My dear British friends, the battle for your land, the struggle over your souls has begun! Let no one deny the tenacity and mercilessness of our enemy, both here and abroad. There is not one person here today that doubts that the essence of Islam is about war and submission. It is long past the hour where men of good faith came to reason and dialog, where the dimmering light of reason was snuffed out by the dreadful call of ......ALLAH AKHBAR!

And so, as you go on your daily routines, you are struck by the sheer audacity of this "enemy from within", as he dictates to you what you can do and what you can't:

-- Which public swimming pool you may or may not swim in.

-- Which neighborhood police and fire personnel may or may not go in.

-- How much tax money shall go to "educate" our youth about the wonderful "live-and-let-live" attitude of the "religion of peace" in the British classrooms?

-- Which and how many Christian girls shall be raped and abused by a religion that considers them "whores."

-- Which Ministers will be bought off with the most notorious of Muslim means of extortion to further the Islamic march toward total conquest of Britain?

-- The scurrilous, seditious BBC and their quisling colleagues in the Leftist infested media, ever ready to aid and abet the blood-thirsty enemy that desires ever more submission and power.

As in those dark days, of exploding V-2 rockets that would break the mettle of most men, so too are we now called upon to bear a totally different sword into battle. Each of you is called upon to remember who you are, and what your purpose is, for your children and generations of British fellow citizens. In this new battle, the weak will be swallowed up. Those of little or no faith will be brought asunder. Those who have trouble "identifying" the enemy will instead become a fifth-column to the detriment of your fellows.

For us in the States, there remains no doubt of what is at stake for you, and for us. Over two centuries ago we fought you in our War of Independence. Now, we pray to G-d that you may remain strong and never forget who you are and why you must vanquish the sword of radical Islam and all its vestiges from your land. We stand beside you in this darkest hour.

We proudly look upon this awesome assembly of Englishmen, the mighty infidels of the EDL, and know in our hearts the eternal truth of those words so bravely uttered: NEVER HAVE SO FEW, DONE SO MUCH, FOR SO MANY!!
May G-d bless you, and your country, England.

Rabbi Shifren is a southern California native. He graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a degree in Spanish and German literature. He has been a language teacher in LA City schools since 1992. He is also fluent in Hebrew. Having lived in Israel for nearly a decade, he has been an observer and commentator of developments in Israel, the Israeli and foreign press, and the recent rise of Islamic Jihad.

He is also the dirctor of "surf and soul" surfcamp, where teens learn self-discipline, proper attitude, and physical fitness. A Malibu surfer since 1962, he is known universally as the surfing rabbi. Through his seminars and classes, he has taught thousand the challenge and thrill of wave riding and the postive aspects of the surfing life style.

He is a tireless supporter of individual freedoms and preserving the distinctive greatness of America, her language, and culture. Known for his no-nonsense approach to education and prison reform, Rabbi Shifren is in his own class of patriotism and staunch conservative values.

E-Mail: rabbi.shifren@gmail.com

Website: rabbiforsenate.com/