To the best of my memory, I’m going to tell you a story that I heard from a well-known rebbetzin around 20 years ago (but that actually took place long before that).
 
An "Honorable" Wedding
Originally, this rebbetzin lived in a small Jewish community (predominantly secular, I think) in northern Israel where they had friendly relations with the local Arabs. Pre-Intifada, it was the custom for these Arab and Jewish communities in that area to attend each other’s simchas.

She was at an Arab wedding when all of the sudden, chaos broke out on the men’s side. Turning to the Arab women for explanation, she knew enough Arabic to understand words like, “dead” and “murdered”—in other words, she understood that it was time to leave the wedding.

What had happened?

Well, apparently, there is a special dance performed at Arab weddings and it is a great honor to lead the dance.

However, honor is worth killing for in Arab culture—and that’s exactly what happened.
Both the father of the groom and the father of the bride wanted to lead the dance. Things got overheated and one stabbed the other to death. (I think the father of the bride stabbed the father of the groom.) Then the son of the slain father got up and killed the father who had just killed his own father. (Are you following this?) Then the son of the first father killed got up and killed the son of the second father.

Bride’s father kills groom’s father—groom’s brother kills bride’s father—bride’s brother kills groom’s brother. And so on.

(Isn’t it interesting that people get upset about some guy in an unattractive hoodie stabbing the photo of an Arab, but when actual Arabs are stabbed by fellow Arabs, no one gives a peep? I mean, did you ever hear about this Arab wedding event—or others like it—in any media? Nope, me neither.)

Anyway, I think someone else joined the fray (an uncle or another brother) and killed the bride’s brother until finally the guests managed to put a stop to this.

(And shockingly, the bride and groom remained married! Although I can only imagine how she is treated by her husband and his family…)

Yet the revenge killings did not stop at the wedding. All in all, 8 people were murdered in what became a blood-feud over leading this stupid dance.

I think that probably most of the people reading this already know that this kind of thing is totally acceptable and even laudable within many parts of Arab (especially Muslim-Arab) society.
 
Worse than Sodom
It is always horrifying to read about how Arabs (and many other Third World people) will murder their own child for such petty reasons, such as refusing to marry the person the parents chose for them, or even murdering a young girl who was assaulted (no matter how young she was or how many brutes were involved in the attack).  As many of you recall, the society is so twisted that a Palestinian woman murdered her teenage daughter after that daughter was assaulted and impregnated by her own brothers—and that wasn’t considered so bad by their society or their courts. (This "honor" killing happened after the girl gave birth and the baby given up for adoption.)

The mother received a 6-year sentence while the brothers received 2-3 years in prison. General Arab society obviously has no problem with this kind of violence nor with the fact that they disregarded a particularly strong and abhorrent taboo. The mother was not humiliated by her sons’ aberrance and brutality, but only by her daughter’s innocence and victimhood.
(And judging by the lenient sentencing, the Palestinian courts concurred with the mother.)

If you ever speak with certain types of Arabs in Israel, they are totally open about their bestial attitudes. Whether it is supporting terrorism or boasting of beating their wives, the ones who maintain such attitudes make no attempt to hide them. For example, after an attack by a female terrorist from Jabal Mukaber who was killed by Israelis, an Arab told my husband about the terrorist: "I knew her! She was such a nice woman. Why did they have to kill her?"

To be fair, other Arabs have admitted to my husband that they are upset by the attacks on Jews and blamed them on the mosques, which rile up the brainwashed masses.

Also, is there anyone living in Israel who does NOT know that Arabs regularly shoot off automatic weapons during weddings? Has anyone reading this who lives in Israel NOT heard the bizarre combination of rat-a-tat-tat amid Arabic wedding music? It’s bizarre and hypocritical that Jews waving around weapons at a wedding are condemned while Arabs who actually shoot weapons (or people!) at a wedding are completely ignored.

Overwhelming evidence dictates that we need to be far more concerned about Arab aggression than Jewish "aggression."
 
Let’s Be Honest: Of Course They Know! They Lack Heart, Not Brains and Military Intelligence
My other point is that if there is an arson, or any other type of crime within an Arab community, logic and experience proves that it is most likely to have been committed by fellow Arabs—and not Jews (or Mormons or atheists or Baha’is, etc).

And in Duma, there were already convincing indications that the arson was the result of an ongoing blood-feud between fellow Arab clans. It is so easy and much more convenient and “honorable” for the local clans to plant red herrings that point to Jewish involvement.

The lack of brotherhood among Muslim brothers has long been an irreconcilable embarrassment to them. When they can, they’re happy to find a scapegoat.

I know you already know all this, dear readers. But I also just want to be part of the exalted “We’re-Not-The-Brain-Dead-Suckers-That-You-Foul-Sociopaths-Think-We-Are” movement.

And obviously, Jews living in Israel are definitely familiar with Arab mentality, even if they’ve met decent Arabs who don’t share their brethren's warped attitudes.

So everyone knows, but how many people really care?

What’s particularly chilling is that the Israeli ministers certainly know. The Israeli security agencies certainly know. If you have ever served in most parts of the army, you certainly know. These groups have interacted personally with Arabs and have made it their business to know the ins and outs of Arab customs and attitudes. In other words, they are very aware of how a great many Arabs think and behave—they can’t NOT know.

So why are they picking on—or turning their backs on—Jewish youths?
 
At the Crux of the Struggle, It's All Down to Emuna
Needless to say, the hollow hearts will not win.

In fact, they have already lost.

Through their words and actions, they have crossed an unforgivable line.
Like others have already said, it is a time to turn to Hashem and plead on behalf of Elisha ben Naama and any others who are unjustly incarcerated and interrogated or persecuted in any way.

Through our voice, we show Hashem Whose side we’re on and that we don’t care about externals like kippahs or clothes or hairstyles or diverse customs, ethnicities, or nusachim—we only care about what Hashem thinks.
 
Hashem wants our hearts.
And that has always been the most important part of our service to Hashem.

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"Yosef said to his father, 'They are my sons, whom Hashem gave me here.' So he said, 'Now bring them near to me, so that I may bless them.' " (48:9)

There appears to be a question of why they deserve to be blessed. After all, the Kli Yakar points out, terrible people, like Ahab and Yeravam eventually will descend from them.

He says that Yosef Tzaddik’s answer is a sort of favorable judgment on the Jewish people:

“...ba’asher hu sham—in the place where he is currently”—This was said by Hashem’s angel to Hagar regarding Yishmael. Even though Yishmael was destined to cause a lot of agony to the Jews, at that moment then, Yishmael was not doing anything wrong.

(He was rendered harmless at that moment due to being nearly dead of fever and dehydration).

Rashi explains it to mean that Hashem judges you according to your deeds now, not those you may commit in the future.

So the Kli Yakar is pointing to two merits, two favorable judgements for the Jewish people:

• A Jew is basically holy and good. A Jew may do bad things due to a certain genetic disposition inherited from less kosher ancestors, like Betuel and Potifera. While it in no way excuses the transgression, it does imply that the sinning Jew is not entirely at fault—partly at fault, yes. Even mostly at fault. But not entirely. He or she still has something (even a little something) in his or her favor.
  

• You can make yourself worthy of blessing at any given moment, just by doing the right thing (or by refraining from doing the wrong thing) right now. Hashem is always looking at our good points and at our better moments. He is always looking to judge us favorably.
  

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Hashem Prefers the Small and Seemingly Insignificant
"May the angel who redeemed me from all evil bless the youths, and may they be called by my name and the name of my fathers, Avraham and Yitzchak, and may they multiply abundantly like fish, in the midst of the land." (48:16)

The Kli Yakar takes this opportunity to note that Hashem often chooses the lesser one.
The smaller one is, the more Hashem wants to raise and increase him. He brings several examples of firstborns (Yishmael, Esav, Reuven, and Menashe) who were skipped over and whose birthright was given over to a younger brother (Yitzchak, Yaakov, Yehudah, and Efraim).

In a later parsha, the Kli Yakar points out that Mt. Sinai was a smaller mountain. And in the story of Gidon in Judges, Gidon was the youngest of the smallest family in the smallest tribe. Yet Hashem chose him to save the nation out of all the myriads of others He could have chosen among Am Yisrael.

The Kli Yakar states that this Divine preference toward the smaller and lesser ones is a hint. "V’hamaskilim yavinu—and the wise ones will understand." 
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Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim of Luntschitz (1550-1619) lived in Bohemia (which is today Poland and Czechoslovakia). He served as rabbi and dayan and wrote several books, the most well-known being his commentary on the Chumash known as the Kli Yakar. 
This is my own translation and therefore, any errors are also mine. 

"I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will bring you up, also ascending…." (41:4)
In short, the Kli Yakar (and many other Sages) explains this verse to mean that Yaakov Avinu feared the deeper meaning behind going down to Egypt. After all, Hashem appeared to Yaakov Avinu at night, hinting at the darkness of Exile.

It sometimes feels very lonely, very dark, and very confusing in this world. But we need to remember that Hashem makes sure to never leave us alone for even one moment.
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Note from Myrtle Rising: I am not 100% sure, but the way the Kli Yakar describes the one who leads his friend (the molich) implies that the one leading is holding the hand of his friend the whole time because if he didn't, the friend who apparently doesn't know how to stay afloat in deep waters would drown.
This implies a very close and supportive relationship between us and Hashem.
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Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim of Luntschitz (1550-1619) lived in Bohemia (which is today Poland and Czechoslovakia). He served as rabbi and dayan and wrote several books, the most well-known being his commentary on the Chumash known as the Kli Yakar. 
This is my own translation and any errors are also mine. 

Paradox is an inherent aspect of our world. 

We live in a 3-dimensional world, but really, there are many more dimensions that we cannot see (although certain kinds of meditation can enable expanded vision and comprehension of further dimensions).

We cannot imagine even one dimension more or less than our own.

For example, we cannot visualize a 2-dimensional world consisting of only length and width, but no height.
(In other words, a wholly horizontal or side-by-side world with no vertical or up-and-down.)
The closest we can come to visualizing that is something very thin, like a sheet of paper. But even a sheet of paper still has height, however imperceptible. And certainly, we can't really imagine something beyond our 3 dimensions, like a tesseract.

Here are 2 photos of the Orion constellation, a nightly example of paradox:

The Orion constellation features prominently in the Israeli sky. With the naked eye, you can see a smudgy streak below Orion's Belt.

(Orion's Belt consists of the vertical-diagonal row of three evenly spaced stars in the middle.) 

In those photos, the streak south of Orion's Belt is clear and you see what looks like a small trail of stars.

Yet this is what that streak really looks like (kind of):

This nebula is around 30-40 light years across. When you gaze at it, it looks tiny and you can see the whole thing, yet you are really looking at something that would take you zillions of years to traverse.

Of course, this is just one of millions of examples of paradox.
 
Paradox is inherent to monotheism. Only Judaism is willing to recognize paradox and make an attempt to bring a human being up to God's Level (which is impossible, but every effort is tremendously beneficial), rather than to squeeze God down into human perception.

(Even seemingly limiting descriptions of Hashem are for the purpose of elevating and expanding a person's mind by introducing Hashem's Infinity in a language that person can understand.)
 
Every other belief system attempts to either limit Hashem or divide Him – which I guess is the same thing, really. Or to say that because we have no perception beyond our own pathetic 3 dimensions, then He must not exist. (Boo.)

The atheist (and the polytheist, for that matter) sees exactly what the monotheist sees.

Yet instead of attempting to accept the paradoxes and see where it takes him (or her!), the atheist retreats into a deluded state in which he sees order, micro- and macro-complexities, miracles, mathematically impossible "coincidences" (or any other kinds of impossible coincidences), goodness, and meaning – yet denies the only logical reason for the existence of these realities.

The main difference between a monotheist and an atheist:

•  A monotheist must live in a state of paradox

•  An atheist must live in a state of cognitive dissonance

Pure monotheism is the only belief that can elevate a person to his or her full potential.
It is the only way to achieve true humility, compassion, wisdom, inner tranquility, and joy.

In other words, the Truth is the only thing that can save us.

"And it was at the end of two full years that Pharaoh was dreaming, and behold, he was standing by the Nile." (41:1)
 
With this event, Yosef Hatzaddik is finally remembered and taken out of prison, then elevated to one of the most powerful positions in the world at that time.
 
As a springboard off this idea of a high-ranking person (Pharoah) remembering someone forgotten or disregarded by society and the elite (Yosef Hatzaddik), the Kli Yakar mentions the philosophers who look at the vastness and intricacies of the universe and conclude that Hashem cannot possibly be involved in every little detail of the world; they firmly deny the fact that Hashem cares about even the lowliest and smallest people.

And yet, the Kli Yakar points out, Hashem is certainly with the lowliest and most humble people because even His 4-letter Name is written with the smallest letters (like the tiny yud or the broken-up hei, for example) and whose gematria (numeric value) is very low.
Yud = 10 (the very lowest of the double-digit numbers)
Hei = 5
Vav = 6
(Remember, the hei appears twice in the 4-Letter Name.)

Hashem certainly could have spelled His Name with a tav (400) or a kuf (100) or even a lamed (30). But instead, He chose letters of low numerical value.

The Kli Yakar then quotes the Gemara Megillah, which states that "every place you find the Greatness of the Holy One Blessed Be He, you also find His Humility."

Then the Kli Yakar states:

"So he [Yehudah] said, 'What is the collateral that I should give you?' And she [Tamar] said, 'Your signet ring, your cloak, and the staff that is in your hand.' So he gave them to her, and he came to her, and she conceived for him." (38:18)
 
The Kli Yakar explains that the collateral requested by Tamar possessed spiritual symbolism.

• "your signet ring" – the sign stamped in one's flesh: the holy brit milah
  
• "your staff" – the staff of kingship (Mashiach, the ultimate human king, descends from Yehudah)
  
• "your cloak" – the tzitzit which are attached to a four-corned garment
  

These three things protect a man. How so?

• Brit Milah – a reminder that one is holy and should direct his passions only for holiness
  
• Kingship – a Jewish king is commanded to refrain from having many wives, again to curb this passion
  
• Tzitzit – the mitzvah of tzitzit saves a man from immoral behavior
  

When Yehudah gave these away, he symbolically gave away any protection he had from giving in to his passions.
 
Yet at the same time, the Kli Yakar sees in this episode a larger and more profound meaning:

This is a powerful analogy.

As I write this, the sun is shining through the window. Everything looks bright and full of light.

We seem to see everything pretty clearly.

But in reality, we are actually in an existence that is just as unimaginably dark as the universe was before there was any light, neither a spiritual light nor the light from stars and nebulae.

When we follow other nations, we are going in darkness. The only way to be able to grope our way through this darkness is to cling to Torah values (which non-Jews can also do by following the Seven Noachide Laws). But the darkness still remains a solid fact of this current existence. The Torah helps us to keep going, but we can't really see (even if it seems like we can).

Yet eventually –  and hopefully very soon! –  we all will experience the joy of real light.