The Principle of Pikuach Nefesh - Interview with Rabbi Moshe Tendler on the situation in Israel

Even before the government voted to destroy the communities of the Gaza Region, most people were feeling helpless - clueless about how they could personally help change the terrible decree facing the Jewish people. As the Jerusalem protest tent was folding last month, Voices Editor (moi) and Publisher had the opportunity to chat with the respected Yeshiva University rosh yeshiva and Jewish leader Rabbi Moshe David Tendler, shlita. Here are some excerpts of our talk:

Many years ago, a talmid of mine married and lived on a kibbutz. After nine years of married life, which included visits to the biggest fertility specialists in Israel, G-d did not strengthen with them with children.
He was appointed as a shaliach to America, where the couple consulted with experts in fertility management. None of the doctors they met had the key that the Ribono Shel Olam keeps in His pocket. After almost two years, and no children, they prepared to return to Eretz Yisrael. He asked me if he could see my father-in-law [the great sage of the previous generation HaRav Moshe Feinstein] ztz'l. Like a good Litvak, my father-in-law said to him, 'Did you try everything? The best in Israel? The best in America? You gave up? There's nothing else? Well, now the Ribono Shel Olam will help.' As long as you think you have a better idea, one that the Ribono Shel Olam didn't think of, He waits until you finish. Once you make up your mind that there's nothing to do, then you come to the conclusion, ‘Ein lanu al mi le'hisha'en elah al Aveinu She'BaShamayim.’ (We have no one to rely on, except our Father in Heaven.)
On the way home, they took a side trip to France and to Italy, and by the time they landed home in Israel, she was expecting. They have nine children today, bli ayin hara.
I use this story for myself and for others. The trick is to give up. We haven't given up enough.
Surely, we have to do everything. Lemaan yevarechecha H' Elokecha bechol ma'asecha asher ta'aseh... (So that Hashem will bless you in everything you do. If you do, Hashem will bless you, and if you don't, He won't bless you.)
So you did everything you could possibly do, and you have to have confidence that it will work out fine. The question is, 'Did we do all we could possibly do?' That's the whole shayala (question). Give up when there are some obvious important things to do yet, and then HaKadosh Baruch Hu is not yet involved.
Did we do everything possible? I think there is more to do:
We must contact the American money men, who support Sharon and the city of Jerusalem. Money talks and money men talk. They should be told that we cannot have confidence in Sharon when military men, Shabak and the secret service all say we're increasing the danger to the lives of Israelis with this act [the Sharon Plan]."
We must get the cooperation of the OU (Orthodox Union), the RCA (Rabbinical Council of America) and the Young Israel to organize a march on Washington with very simple signs, 'Bush, would you let this happen in America?' 'Bush, where is your biblical integrity?' We must bring out 50,000 people, as we did for the march on Washington a few years ago. If we do, I am convinced that the Senate will become stronger in its support of Israel.
Pikuach Nefesh
"There's a klal gadol baTorah. In the gemora, sometimes discussions or controversies end up with the word teiku. What's teiku? Tishbi yetaretz kushiyot ubaayot (Eliyahu HaTishbi will answer the questions we have when he comes).
But in halacha, there's no such thing as no answer. When there's no specific answer in halacha for this case, you fall back on principles. Safeik de'oreita le chumra. Safeik derabanan lekulah. (If you have something you're not sure of, if it's from the Torah, you take the stringent approach. If the question is from the rabbis, you take the more lenient option.)
There's no specific answer to the problems facing Am Yisrael today. There's no quick answer to the Kassam rockets. But we have a base halacha which says, when in doubt, pasken the halacha as it is written. And what's written, Pikuach nefesh is docheh kol mitzvah she baTorah. (Where there's a life at stake, you can transgress the mitzvoth in the Torah [note: except three]). Therefore, analyze the situation.
Am I endangering the life of a Jew by the 'disengagement'? Am I improving their security by doing that? That will be my decision. Pikuach nefesh is docheh kol mitzvah she baTorah. So I ask myself a question, 'Is pikuach nefesh involved here?' The generals say it is. The Shabak says it is. The rabbanim in the hitnachluyot say it is. The people are yelling, 'You're killing me.' So, the 'disengagement' is forbidden.
Not because of ahavat haaretz (love of the land), Eretz Shelaimah (wholeness of the land). That confuses the situation. It causes the opposition to demean the machloket (disagreement) into whether we want more territory or less territory. That's not the issue. We want our children not to be killed. Period.
On the big issue of what's good for the Jews or bad for the Jews, we've reached an impasse - teiku. When you have a teiku, you go back to principles. The key principle here is pikuach nefesh.
That's the big error that's being made now in this whole battle. They [the organizations fighting the dismantling of Gush Katif] are putting too much Zionism into the picture. When in doubt, go with the halacha.
And the halacha says clearly, 'This act is endangering the life of Jews.' Oslo was isur me'doreita (forbidden from the Torah) for one reason - not because you felt it was going to fail, but because the signing of Oslo and the reincarnation of Arafat that followed, led to more Jews being killed.
That was foreseen by the little rabbanim in the hitnachlayut (Yesha communities). It wasn't seen by the big rabbanim who had trouble deciding whether they do or do not vote with the government. A shayala was asked, ‘Is Oslo good for the Jews or bad for the Jews al pi halacha?’ They didn't know, so they decided to support the government. That wasn't the issue. If they didn't know, they should have gone back to principles. The first principle, 'pikuach nefesh.'
The Infinite Jew
What do the proponents say? Will [disengagement] increase or decrease security? 'Well...it will decrease security now. But in the future, it will be good.' There's no such halacha that you kill somebody now because in the future you'll save more lives. That's against the halacha. We don't have that concept of sacrificing a few Jews so you can save a lot more Jews, because to wax mathematical and poetic, a Jew is of infinite worth, and ten infinities are no more than one infinity. Infinity is infinity.
What should regular people do?
Push this one point. Don't talk about anything else.
Don't talk about how much effort [people of Gush Katif] put into building their hot houses, and what a terrible thing it is to uproot someone, or that it is reminiscent of the Shoah. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about one simple thing, 'You're killing our children.' Period. Not here. Not in Gush Katif. You're killing our children in Tel Aviv.
The Kassam rockets are getting better. Israel is so small. Add a few more grains of powder to a kassam rocket. If you're not interested in accuracy, and just want blind terror, it will hit Tel Aviv also. If it hits Tel Aviv, then you'll get a reaction.
If the first rocket landed in Tel Aviv, they would have wiped out swaths of enemy territory in order to prevent it.
Endangering Ourselves
I have big investments in Eretz Yisrael - 43 grandchildren and great-grandchildren living here, bli ayin hara. So I'm not exactly an outsider. It cannot be that while I was not looking Israel became a fascist dictatorship country with one man calling all the shots.
The fact that Sharon is so resistant to a Misha’al Am (referendum), indicates that he knows he is not presenting a popular plan. If he could have a mandate and a decent majority voting with him, he'd have it his way.
We are surrounded by enemies. They're killing our children. Which nation has ever suffered this thing of arbitrary missiles - 'I'll just send out a missile and see whom I can kill' - and it doesn't lead to a declaration of war!
It boils down to: we have to do what we have to do. And no one's asking me.
[Speaking after the deadly Kassam missiles hit Sderot, Rav Tendler said] Right now, Sharon doesn't understand that he can do whatever he pleases against the Arab terrorists with full support of the people of America. Bush will yell that it wasn't a measured response, and so on. But the majority of Americans today, as anti-Semitic as they are, are pro-Israel, because they hate the Arabs more. It's not from Ahavat Mordechai, but from Sinat Haman.
If I were Sharon, I'd make an announcement on the radio today, 'If one more Kassam rocket lands, this geographic area consisting of ten blocks will be destroyed in the morning by bombers. You have 24 hours to take your belongings and leave. Next Kassam rocket, 20 blocks get destroyed. Next, 30 blocks get destroyed.' They'll stop.
This is like what Yehoshua did when he came into Eretz Yisrael. 'I will leave you an escape hatch, and you can go out.'
The halacha is clear. Pekuach nefesh must be the motivating factor."

Article published in the February Issue of Voices Magazine

Quotes from Israeli Security Officials on Sharon's Expulsion Plan

Shock. That's the only way I can describe what so many people are feeling right now, following all the committee and Knesset votes to destroy Gush Katif, train the Palestinian Security Services and bring Arab armed forces in sneezing distance to our cities.
Nausea. Our reaction to the photos of Knesset members applauding and congrat-ulating one another after the passing of the Jewish evacuation/PA empowerment vote. They seemed to be celebrating something great, as they were all smiles over the plans to destroy communities, lives and futures. Sure, before the Cabinet vote, the Prime Minister said, “This day isn’t an easy day, and not a day of joy,” but you could have fooled me by the jubilant faces on our Knesset members after the vote.
Disgust. The opinion of anyone who's read B'Sheva's account of police plans to brutalize the citizens of Gush Katif and the Gaza Region. Adding non-Jewish forces to their ranks, B'Sheva says, the police were told to remove their tags, so that no one could complain about their violence, and that they would not accept any complaints for minor brutality like "breaking an arm." In the most frightening news since the time of Stalin, "B'Sheva also reported that police are being trained how to use violence without leaving any external signs which could be used as evidence against them."
The new level of police brutality has already previewed at the road-blocking demonstrations recently, where police used unprecedented force against the teenagers on the street.
Where is the outcry from human rights activists now? Where is the outcry of every Jew in Israel, of every Jew in the world at the plan to break the bones of our brothers?
Peace and Security
Will all this violence and destruction bring us peace and security for the Jewish people, in their albeit shrinking state?
What? Who says there won't be a utopian tomorrow?
* We can begin with one of our most dapper terrorists Mohammed Dahlan (the man responsible for the attack on the Kfar Darom bus that cost the lives of Miri Amitai and Gabi Biton, HY”D and that ripped off the legs of the Cohen children). According to Jpost, Dahlan said only last week that if Israel doesn't leave the Philadelphia Route (which it needs in order to control illegal weapons smuggling from Egypt to the PA) then "the Palestinians will continue to launch attacks on Israel".
* Not so well-dressed Hamas official Said Siam said that if ALL Arab terrorists and security prisoners are not released from Israeli jails unconditionally, "there will be no calm or hudna (temporary truce)."
* The soon-to-be-ditched Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon just told a Tel Aviv conference that Hamas terrorists are exploiting the cease fire to rebuild arms. Not a popular opinion, Bogie.
* IDF soldiers revealed, according to Israel National News, that terrorists are planting land mines at a rate of one a day, inside the Gaza Region and across the Green Line as well.
* HaModia reported that Maj. Gen. Aharon Ze'evi, the head of IDF Intelligence, told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in the beginning of the month that "any lull in terror attacks is merely a tactic being employed by the terror groups to help the Palestinian Authority extract more concessions from Israel."
* GSS head Avi Dichter, "usually a calm speaker" finally spoke his mind (it spelled his political demise). HaModia reported that Dichter "lashed out against the prime minister. 'I don't know what's happened to you. There is no 'calm' yet, there is no quiet, and as of yet, there isn't the slightest guarantee that Abu Mazen will ultimately be able to fulfill his promise of achieving calm on the Palestinian street, but here you're already rushing to give him things that he'll deserve when there will be peace…You're in too much of a hurry."
Truth, not being in fashion lately, the delegitimization of Avi Dichter and his opinions began immediately. His experience could have been taken straight from Jeremiah, who prophesized the destruction of the Holy Temple if the Jews didn't repent. Instead of his warnings being heeded, Dichter was accused of prophesizing "doom and gloom."
What of other experts?
* Lt.-Col. Itamar Ya'ar, Deputy Chairman of the National Security Council, told the Knesset Interior Committee, last month, "It is very likely that the territory to be evacuated in the context of the disengagement plan will be taken advantage of [by terrorists],"
* Col. Uzi Buchbinder, the army's civil-defense officer, warned the Knesset Environment Committee last month, "The implementation of the Gaza disengagement/transfer plan will place 46 western Negev communities within range of Kassam rockets fired from northern Gaza….Other major Israeli population centers, including Afula, Hadera, and Ashkelon - the latter two of which host major Israel Electric Company power stations - will also come within range of Palestinian terrorists, if the pullout from Gush Katif and northern Shomron is carried out."
What? Did he mention Ashkelon?? Folks there are not afraid of a Sderot II scenario. They're fearful of much worse.
* "Ashkelon Mayor Roni Mehatzri warned, since the rockets are being improved all the time, Ashkelon's southern neighborhoods or even its downtown could come under threat. At the Katza station, there are gas containers that are stored above ground, only 1,500 meters away from residents, he said. He warned that 5,000 to 10,000 residents could be in danger from Kassam hits."
* The Knesset Interior Committee, according to INN, "assessed that the area threatened by missiles after a withdrawal would expand by 6-12 miles - and not 4-5 miles as has been previously assumed. Cities such as Ashkelon, Netivot, Ofakim and Kiryat Gat will be within firing range. The withdrawal from the northern Shomron, too, will place Beit She'an, Afula, Hadera and the towns of the Jezreel Valley within the sights of terror groups taking advantage of the newly evacuated areas."
* Mordechai Yogev from the conservative National Security Forum, confirmed those fears, and added Pardes Hanna to the Kassam-bound list of targets.
* Experts have told the media that there is no defense program in place or in development to protect any of the 46 communities in immediate danger from the withdrawal.
While many security officials have already announced that Israel's main power stations in Ashkelon and Hadera, as well as the Eilat-Ashkelon oil pipeline are vulnerable to Arab attack if Israel leaves Gaza, what about its abandonment of Northern Shomron?
* INN reported that according to the manager of the water utility, Dr. Yosef Dreizen, “The loss of control of the northern Shomron will likely create serious problems for Israel's water infrastructure.” He warned that “it could bring about the drying up of the Jezreel Valley water supply and the salination of the coastal aquifers."
* All of these security officials might have made their findings known to the public last month, but Shas Mentor HaRav Ovadiah Yosef, shlita, announced three months ago, "We must vote against the disengagement! Dismantling Jewish communities in Gush Katif and northern Samaria will endanger Israel. Next, they will chase Jews out of Ashkelon, Hevron and Be'er Sheva; there will be no end!. This plan is 'pikuach nefesh' - a danger to life. If, Heaven forbid, we evacuate these Jewish communities, who will come in their place? The terrorists, who will then be in range of Ashkelon and Netivot, and they will fire their rockets and Kassams."
* The Finance Ministry has its own evacuation problems that will soon spill over into our pocketbooks. Bottom line, there isn't enough money to pay for the "disengagement." Jpost reported that the total cost of withdrawing Israeli forces from Gaza will reach NIS 5 billion, according to the Finance Ministry. But the political and defense establishments believe, that the true cost could leap to as much as NIS 6 billion. "This translates to about 1.1 percent of gross domestic product, and is triple the amount the treasury originally earmarked for the pullout in the government's 2005 budget." Other costs left unbudgeted involve adding protection to the next towns that would be threatened by the pullout, plus the costs of paying off coalition partners.
So, what will happen if there's no money to pay for the destruction of Gush Katif and the northern Shomron communities? There are two options. Increase the budget deficit (how high is the sky), or raise taxes (proof that blood can be taken from a stone).
Safe and Sound
If we all sit back, and allow the destruction, chas v’shalom, will the rest of Yesha be secure, as we’ve been promised?
What? Not that either?
World Net Daily reported, " Sharon, speaking to reporters after giving his annual address to the foreign press corps, said Bush supported the concept of a final peace agreement in which Israel would retain land in the West Bank and not accept Palestinian refugees if the Jewish state carried out the Gaza withdrawal."
"I don't think that we made compromise or concessions without getting anything in return," Sharon said. "In the agreement between Bush and myself, we [received] tremendous achievements that Israel never had since its establishment." Sounds good, but unfortunately when a US official was asked, by David S. Bedein, director of the Israel Resource News Agency, to confirm America's agreement to Israeli settlement in blocs in Yesha, his answer was NO!!
Don't believe him? So, ask US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. INN's headline after Rice's meeting with Dov Weisglass (he’s the casino king - today Jericho, tomorrow Gaza, the new Monte Carlo on the Mediterranean) read "Israel Must Withdraw from More than Gaza and Samaria." Why? Because, America's Road Map calls for the new Arab state to have continuity between Gaza and Yesha, "effectively dividing Israel in half, north and south of the Gaza-Hevron connection."
What about Israel’s continuity? Well, if Am Yisrael had a feeling of continuity to its past and an appreciation of its heritage and its land, we wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place.
Surely our own government will demand that President Bush hold to his letter supporting Israel's desire NOT to return to the 1949 armistice lines. Or maybe not.
This week’s cabinet vote called for the withdrawal from Gaza, and the approval of the fence route (which Voices told you long ago would be the border!) that would keep only 7% of Yesha as part of Israel. If these dastardly plans are realized, get ready, chas v’shalom, for Evacuation-The Sequel, to be played in a community near you, or maybe even closer than that.
Need confirmation on the plans to do away with Yesha?
INN reported that Transportation Minister Meir Sheetrit said that groups from Gush Katif could resettle anywhere in the Negev or the Galilee. If they wished to move individually to Yesha, they could, but not as groups. "The government expects that many of the settlers will not want to move to the West Bank since that area will probably be evacuated in the long run as well, the official said."
Why? Why? Why?
Noah's sons (in the musical "NOAH! Ride the Wave!") say, "There must be a reason for all this." "I wish I knew what it is." Everyone else is wondering the same thing.
Caroline Glick, the Jerusalem Post's absolutely brilliant columnist, wrote last week, that Sharon's plan "arguably the most controversial plan ever to be adopted by an Israeli government - is being bulldozed through to implementation without Sharon or his allies ever satisfactorily explaining how it will advance Israel's security or political interests….Sharon has not explained how turning Gaza over to the Palestinians will enhance Israeli security….He has not explained how Israel will protect itself from rocket and mortar attacks on Ashkelon, Ashdod or Netivot after the withdrawal….He has never explained why it is necessary to give the Palestinians the communities in northern Gaza - Dugit, Alei Sinai and Nissanit - which are geographically indistinguishable from Ashkelon and whose heights control the entire area….He has never explained how Israel will be able to defend the strategic sites like the Ashkelon power station and the Ashkelon-Eilat oil pipeline with Hamas roaming freely on those heights.....He has never explained why it is necessary for Israel to remove itself to the 1949 armistice lines, rather than retain the areas necessary for its security and what Israeli acceptance of these lines in Gaza means for future negotiations regarding Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem."
And, unless we want to be charged with incitement in this period of democracy-suspension, we're not even allowed to ask.
Good luck to us all. Rocky waters ahead. May Hashem save His people. Especially in these times, when Am Yisrael needs you ... Let your Voices be heard.

Printed in the Febraruy 2005 Issue Voices Magazine

A Few Facts to Ponder

"Oslo - the Original Sin"

FACT - In 1987 Arabs stoned Israeli cars.

FACT - Before/during the Oslo process the Israeli right warned the Rabin government not to give the Arabs guns lest they be turned on Israelis.

FACT - Rabin hoped the guns would be turned on the Hamas.

FACT - Before the Oslo process the Isreali right warned the Rabin government that the Oslo process will bring rocket attacks to Sderot and Ashkelon

FACT - Suicide bombings in Israel only began after the Oslo process

QUESTION - Should Israel continue to make public policies based on false hopes?

QUESTION - If the Oslo process is the original sin that caused Israel to be terrified into giving up more and more of its own land to a sworn enemy (look at current PLO mandate that was never changed) then why are we continuing the process where it left off in 2000?

"Peace" Talks - again?

FACT - Just over a week ago the Israeli government was finally talking about a massive operation in the Gaza strip to crush the Gaza militias in order to stop the rockets flying over the fence into Sderot.

FACT - Step one of the infamous American Road Map is for the Palestinians to unarm all the armed militias. (A step that, according to the RM, must be fulfilled before any negotiations -Have you heard any Israeli demand for this step?)

QUESTION - If the euphoria of Oslo is returning and peace talks begin, why do Jews need to be transferred from their homes? Is that how peace is defined?

QUESTION - Or, if no peace is on the horizon then why are we giving the Arabs a prize for their 4 year terrorism? And why even sit down and "talk" (sic) peace with them without geting rid of their armed militias first?

The Israeli Supreme Court/Human Rights Activists Showing their True Face

FACT - The Israeli Supreme Court ruled against the State of Israel transfering the family of a terrorist from Shechem to Gaza to act as a deterent for future suicide bombers.

FACT - The Israeli Supreme Court ruled against transferring Beduin who illegaly built homes on State/army land.

FACT - The Israeli Supreme Court ruled against the planned route of the seperation wall because it cut off the path between some Arabs families and their farmlands.

QUESTION - Is the Israeli Supreme Court protecting the rights of 8,000 Israelis about to be forcefully transferred from their homes?

QUESTION - Are human rights activists protesting the planned human rights abuse of 8,000 Israeli citizens?

QUESTION - What would happen if Israel decided to transfer only 8! Arab families from their homes in the Galil to the Negev (within Israel)?

Would the world sit quietly?
Would human rights activists sit quietly?
Would human rights activists refuse orders?
Would human rights activists try to stop the soldiers?
Would the Israeli Supreme Court allow it?

Regardless of where you stand on the issue - the situation today with regards to the possible transfer of 8,000 Israeli citizens from their homes stinks and people better start focusing on the facts instead of the spins, media hype and Oslo eupohoria....

...haven't we been here before?

Here's to a better tomorrow when Jews begin to believe in themselves, their faith and their abilities as a nation to stick to their beliefs.

Human Rights for all and justice for all.....will only be accomplished when we turn the State of the Jews into a true Jewish State. Here's praying and working towards a future Jewish leadership for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel.

What are you doing to change the situation?

Avi Abelow

Scary Times - but hold on to your hope

Last week the Israeli public was awakened to horrifying statements from prominent society members. The maddening thing about it was that they were all reported by the press in passing without any discussion, revulsion or any reactions of any kind!!!!

The first statement was made by Yair Lapid, the son of Tommy Lapid (leader of the Shinui party). He said that he is not afraid of a civil war in Israel because the settlers are not "our" brothers. --- Another nail in the coffin deligitimizing the settlers.

The second statement was made by Ehud Olmert, Sharon's right hand man in the government. He said that the army has to break the settlers bones. ---One step further in painting us to be the enemy.

The third statement was made by Ephraim Sneh, a prominent MK from the Labor party, who said that a little blood spilt in a civil war is better than more blood spilt later.

The fourth statement was made by Ami Ayalon, a past head of Shabak, Israeli intelligence, and now a contender for the Labor party leadership. He said that it is about time for Israel to have another Altalena. (The story of the Altalena is when David Ben-Gurion ordered Hagana soldiers to fire upon Menachem Begin's Irgun soldiers who were on a boat bringing in weapons to Israel). Ami Ayalon was refering to it being about time for Jews to once again shoot at fellow Jews.

These are extremely scary comments made by prominent people and reported in the press - none of them cause any uproar in Israel, none whatsoever!!! Don't you think that something is a little wrong with that?

For those who understand the real nature of the conflict in Israel it makes perfect sense because the real conflict in Israel today is not between Arabs and Jews, but between Jews and Jews -Those Jews who want to be Israelis without any connection to their Jewish heritage and those Jews who want to be Jews who live in a state connected to its Jewish heritage.

This is the reason our enlightened brothers are psychologically preparing Israels to acept the phenomenon of shooting at fellow Jews, even though these same enlightened Israelis are the ones who vehemently disagree with excesive violence used against our true enemies who kill us everyday.

Expelling Jews from YESHA is part of this fight against the Jews who want an Israel connected to its Jewish heritage.

The truth is that expelling Jews from their homes, anywhere in Israel, will not solve our problem with the Arabs around us. Furthermore, Israel will never be able to solve its conflict with the Arabs until it first solves theburning cultural conflict of Jew versus Israeli.

We are about to go through some scary times - where Jews are actually endorsing the need to shoot at fellow Jews.

Beezrat Hashem we will overcome this, and make sure Sharon and the most evil government the State of Israel has ever had goes down in Jewish history as a sad footnote.

Avi

The article below in today's Haaretz is worth your time to read.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/525461.html
Genuine alarm
By Nadav Shragai
Civil war is no longer a theoretical possibility. The subject is not a matter of hollow threats or baseless horror scenarios. True, there have been an abundance of these, up until a few weeks ago, whose sole purpose was to deter the prime minister from uprooting the settlements of Gush Katif. But now it is a genuine alarm. Some of the nightmare scenarios are now based on reality, even if it may be masking tactics of intimidation and deterrence.
Thousands of Israelis are signing petitions in which they proclaim their refusal to abet the disengagement. Thousands more are declining to sign, but make it clear that they will not cooperate when the day of disengagement comes. They represent not only the religious public, which defers to rabbinic halakhic authority, but also many others - religious and secular Jews - who wish to remain loyal to the dictates of their conscience. Immediate danger is posed by a handful of Yitzhar-type zealots, who are liable to strike at evacuating forces. Former head of the Central Command Yitzhak Eitan speaks of the possible use of live ammunition.But the real rupture that is developing is the chasm between a significant group in the Israeli public and a regime that is perceived as illegitimate, as deceiving its voting public, as carrying out an expulsion and "transfer" of its citizens, without having received any mandate from the public.The prime minister makes life easy for himself by throwing responsibility for the great conflagration that is arising before his eyes solely on the opponents of disengagement. He bears supreme responsibility for what is unfolding. It is he who wrought a situation that has brought us to the brink of the abyss, where refusal to follow orders in the army has ceased to be a marginal phenomenon and is gradually becoming the mainstream view among opponents of disengagement.This process occurred because Sharon has for months stubbornly refused to let the people make the historic decision, as is only right. Sharon could have neutralized this dangerous wave many months ago, and he can still cut it short simply by giving the people the right to decide.This would not only be moral and right; it is also the smart move. The mainstream among opponents of disengagement - the Yesha Council of settlers and the majority of extra-parliamentary rightist organizations, including most of the rabbis - have already announced their readiness to accept whatever decision is made. They believe that they will be able to persuade the public that Sharon is making an awful mistake. They have to be granted the opportunity to prove it, not only because Sharon's style of governance - firing ministers, threatening MKs and ignoring decisions reached by the institutions of his own party and its members - is undemocratic, but mainly because he has deceived his voters.Sharon - who declared prior to the elections that "so long as Palestinian terror continues, there will be no progress on even the beginning of an agreement," who promised "not to evacuate settlements when I am in office," who said that "any such withdrawal would only encourage terror," who spoke of "painful concessions only in exchange for true peace"; Sharon who showed Amram Mitzna the door, when the latter spoke of a unilateral evacuation of settlements - refuses to put his plan to the broad public test, for one simple reason: He is afraid of losing.Somebody has to tell the prime minister - and the president of Israel would be a suitable candidate - that at a time when civil war threatens to break out among us, he should put aside his political accounts and do all he can to prevent it. If he loses, it means that there truly was no legitimization for the unilateral uprooting of individuals from their homes. If he wins, he can carry out his plan, without the danger of a civil war. It is so simple. In fact, the knights of democracy from the left should have subdued their burning passion to evacuate settlements and said this to Sharon.Instead, supporters of Peace Now and the kibbutz movement, whose eyes are sometimes blinded by hatred, are now pouring oil on the burning campfire and enlisting battalions of volunteers for the evacuation. This draft, which Yoel Maharshak, one of the leaders of the kibbutz movement, says is being done with the blessing of the Prime Minister's Office, is a surefire recipe for civil war.However, most worrisome of all, the prime minister who bears the supreme responsibility to prevent a civil war promises he will not let the opponents of disengagement "win" and does not understand that in the internal dispute between Jews, there are only losers. The past few days show that Sharon and his close aides are panicking when it comes to the opponents of disengagement. Evidence is provided by recent statements about "breaking hands and legs."Logic also dictates that Sharon now maintain open channels of dialogue with the public that opposes the course he has taken, but Sharon, in his fervor to "disengage," has also been blinded by the light and has instructed the chief of staff and the defense minister to cease meeting with Jewish settlement leaders in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip.The prime minister, it turns out, has not plumbed the depths of the rupture taking place among broad sections of the public, who feel more insulted and bitter with every passing day. This large public is only a step away from the Yitzhar-type extremists, but Sharon the Disengager is widening the circles of fanaticism instead of narrowing them. The president of Israel, who has in the past expressed his support for turning the decision over to the people, is well aware of the danger of internal conflict, but awareness is inadequate. If he wishes to prevent bloodshed between brothers, he must immediately throw his full weight behind an attempt to refer the decision to the public.

Have Hope - Hard to Believe but the seeds for a better tomorrow are being planted today

There are two sides to every coin and at least three opinions for every two Jews....

In the same vien I want to give over to you a more positive perspective on all the chaos that is engulfing the lives of Am Yisrael and the existence of Eretz Yisrael today.

On the one hand, it seems that the seams of Israeli society are coming apart bit by bit.
1. In the eyes of many the settlers and their supporters have become the enemy of the state
2. the threat of disobeying orders is tearing the army apart
3. the charedim have turned their backs on their fellow religious Jews who live in YESHA and the on the land of Israel
4. the Israeli political system is all topsy turvy (left wing parties supporting Sharon, right wing parties not, Likud MKs acting as if they belong in Meretz etc.)
and on and on and on.

Some days I really feel that I'm going to cry of utter sadness at what we are doing to ourselves.

However, there is another way to look at what is going on. To put it simply, I think that the process of chaos we are now going through is actually going to help us become a better, more solid society. A very very good thing that is necessary for the continued existence of the State of Israel.

It may be that the seams of Israeli society are coming apart right now because those seams aren't that strong enough to begin with or because they aren't made out of a strong enough foundation??

Think about it, is the "status quo" (that politicians love to talk about when refering to the religious/secular silent agreement on how we are supposed to live together) really the healthiest bond that is supposed to hold the Jewish people together in our own land?

I really don't think so, not at all.

The status quo has every type of Jew looking out for his own interests. Our political system has always been sectarian. The secular look after their interests, the national-religious look after their interests, the charedim look after their interests, the Russians look after their interests, the Arabs etc. Each and every group looks our for itself, but no group looks our for all of our interests as a society! They might preach that their interests are for the good of the state and all its citizens but that is just retoric, In reality, over the years, these "interests" have split our society further and further apart.

The irony is that the one actual set off values that tie us all together, the values of Judaism, are used by each and every group to tear us apart!

This is no way to bring a society together and no way to rebuild a Jewish society in the Holyland. It is actually the current status quo that has been lingering silently all these years that has lad to all the chaos now surrounding us. It just so happens that Sharon's expulsion plan is the straw that has broken the camels back and brought these issues to the fore.

The process taking place before our eyes is a direct consequence of the weak bonds that currently hold Israeli society together.

However, the good news is that due to the chaos taking place around us, and between us, a stronger more appropriate bond will take shape, bring us together and make us a stronger nation.

What I'm saying is that the chaotic process we are now going is actually going to help us rebuild the society around us based on more solid bonds, which is a good thing.

To say such a thing with all the craziness here in our holyland - with petitions flying around to refuse orders to expel fellow Jews, and politicians, army brass and Justice ministers coming up with every punishment in the books to punish those who are protesting against Sharon's expulsion plan - you must think I get my news from somewhere else. But I don't.

I'm just looking through the symptoms of today's chaos and focusing in on the illness.

Only with a correct diagnosis can a cure be found.

Our continued focus on the symptoms paints a very depressing picture, but a focus on the diagnosis is actaully a cause for gret hope.

I can't tell you exactly how this healing process will happen or how the common bonds will be strengthened between us after all this chaos that is tearing us further apart.

However I can tell you that I firmly believe it will happen because a majority of Israeli society believe, as I do, that we are closer and more connected to one another than our politicians and media make us out to be.

Most Jews in Israel feel a bond to each other and to the Land of Israel. We just lack leaders who take advantage of this bond to make these connections stronger. Instead we have leaders who use the differences between us to strengthen themselves politically. Most of the people see this hypocrisy.

The current chaos is the process that will bring the more appropriate leadership to the fore.

As a very relevant aside, I believe in the right of a soldier to refuse an army order to expel Jews from their homes, just as I believe in the right of a soldier to refuse an army order to expel Arabs from their homes or refuse an army order to serve in YESHA, if the order goes against his or her conscience. Each and every refusal should be accompanied by its appropriate punishment, but the right to refuse an immoral army order should not be delegitimized. It is our G-d given right to obey our conscience not the army, not even the Israeli army.

The time has come for the Jewish people to respect each others values, even if they conflict. I believe this because basically they are all the same moral values that deserve all of our respect even if we might disagree with the application of those values. I do not advocate agreeing with the application of those values but only respecting the right of ones judegement according to his or her values.

Contrary to what many of our (sic) leaders - political, community and even Rabbinic -are warning us about a rift in our society due to the right of soldiers to refuse the order of expulsion, I believe that our country, our people and our army will be stronger when we allow each soldier to refuse those orders he/she believes to be immoral and wrong. Otherwise how are we really different then those soliders that defended their actions against our grandparents and great grandparents with the claim that they were just following orders of a democraticly elected government?

From darkness will come light. Hold on to your faith, your hope, your prayers and your love for all of Am Yisrael. We will get out of this crisis in better shape, hopefully together with the families of Gush Katif and the Shomron still living in their homes.

Oh yeah, and with it all, this is our home and this is where we all belong as soon as we can get here because it is here that we are building our Jewish homeland.

Shabbat Shalom,
Avi

PS - For a good read on why Sharon's expulsion plan still is not realistic read this Letter to Heroes of Gush Katif...

First they came to expel the Jews of Gush Katif and the Northern Shomron

Many years ago I spoke to a group of children in Manhattan Day School on or near Israel Independence Day.

One message I left them with (one that I try to give over whenever I talk about the importance of Israel and living in Israel) was that when I was a soldier in the Israeli army I knew that I was not just protecting the Jews living in the State of Israel,but I was a Jewish soldier protecting Jews worldwide. I felt this because the I knew that the existence and the strength of the State of Israel is world Jewry's best protection.

I firmly believe that the worldwide rise of anti-semitism today is directly linked to the submisive diplomatic stance and military doctrine (no military solution to situation - military to keep the terror on a low flame) that Israel has taken vis a vis our sworn enemies who continue to kill us.

The ultimate climax of this situation is that Israel has begun to train its own army on how to confront fellow Jews with the aim of expelling them from their homes. Regardless of whether you agree with Sharon's policy or not, it is a sad day that the protectors of world Jewry are being trained to turn against their fellow Jews. It is therefore no surprise to me that anti-semitism worldwide is on the rise - one is a direct link of the other.

Below I have adapted a famous poem from the days of WWII Europe (that I believe also applies to today) with a few minor changes. I believe it is a testament to the denial of Jews, in Israel and abroad, to the underlying process that is taking place in Israel today that is fundamentally aimed at Jewry (with Israel being Jewry's major symbol), just like the denial that was back then.

The poem is called "First they came for the Jews"

First they came to expel the Jews of Gush Katif and the Northern Shomron
And I did not speak out –
Because I did not live in Gush Katif or the Northern Shomron.
Then they came to expel the Jews of Yehuda and Shomron
And I did not speak out –
Because I was not a Jew of Yehudah or Shomron.
Then they came to expel the Jews of the Golan
And I did not speak out –
Because I was not a Jew of the Golan.
Then they came to expel the Jews of the Galil and the Negev
And I did not speak out –
Because I was not a Jew of the Galil and the Negev.
Then they came to expel the Jews of Yafo and Acco
And I did not speak out –
Because I was not a Jew of Yafo and Acco.
Then they came to expel all the other Jews who lived in Israel's auschwitz borders
And I did not speak out –
Because I was not a Jew of Israel's auschwitz borders.
Then they came for me –
And there was no-one left
To speak out for me.

With it all, I'm very optomistic that even Sharon's Gaza expulsion plan will not come to fruition and I firmly believe we will stop this process - I just wish more of my fellow brethren would wake up from their slumber of denial.

Shabbat Shalom,
Avi

Sharon's Hypocrisy

How sad, but true.

This is why Sharon's end as an Israeli political leader is on the horizon - he has fallen into the same trap as Rabin, the other "Mr. Security", that Israelis followed blindly into today's oslo war.

A good read....

Look who’s Talking about Defeating Terror
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/475593.html

By Israel Harel

Haaretz 09/09/2004

"You cannot make compromises with terror," Ariel Sharon told the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov. "It must be fought and defeated."

And the sorrowing guest - this revolutionary lesson being taught to him at a time when most of the victims had not yet been laid to rest - did not respond, at least according to the communique that reported the above lesson, "Look who's talking about defeating terrorism." But if not publicly, than at least during their private conversation, it would nevertheless have been proper for the guest to put his host in his place."If one cannot make compromises with terror," Lavrov might have asked (though he apparently did not), "why did you declare, at the height of the terrorist war against Israel, that Israel recognizes the Palestinians' right to a state? No prime minister before you ever said that, and so from the Palestinians' point of view, that statement was not merely a compromise - it was capitulation. And from the standpoint of those who are fighting Islamic terror worldwide, Israel, who gave the terrorists a state before defeating them militarily, thereby encouraged terrorism against us, however unintentionally."And even when the terrorists continued their atrocities, thereby proving that they were not fighting only for a state - since if they had been, they would have stopped blowing up buses and started establishing their state - you compromised, in defiance of the lesson you just taught me, with the ongoing terror."Fact: Instead of defeating them, as per your own doctrine, you began to build a fence. And even before the fence had been completed, you hastened to announce an additional compromise: the `unilateral disengagement.' And the disengagement, in addition to being a compromise with terror, is also causing an internal rift in your nation and your party the likes of which have never been seen before."In the past, Israel acquired a reputation - in Operation Jonathan in Entebbe, for instance - as a country that does not give in to terrorism. And in a world in which countries many times larger than Israel, such as Germany and France, did give in to terror and even paid it protection money in various forms, your uncompromising stance aroused admiration and constituted a strategic asset."No longer. And, though it pains me to say so, this process of Israel losing its deterrent power in the face of terror has occurred precisely at a time when someone like you, who contributed perhaps more than any other Israeli to your country's deterrent image, is at its helm. The fact that you, of all people, are the one who decided to grant the Palestinians a state in response to terrorism, and to hide from terrorism by means of a fence, and who afterward chose the already tested option known as `unilateral disengagement,' has caused a vast erosion - whose negative ramifications are hard to exaggerate - in your country's deterrent power vis-a-vis other, `conventional' enemies as well.Moreover, instead of waging the offensive war that previously characterized your army, and particularly your own military leadership, you are putting your people and your army into a narrow ghetto, both mental and territorial, and turning the Arabs, the originators of suicide terrorism, into the victors and heroes of the Muslim world. And that fact also impacts on us: We assume that the Palestinians' impressive achievements - yes, impressive - will also encourage our terrorists and increase their motivation."You know that we oppose the settlements. But tell me: What is the rationale behind packing them up now, before you have defeated the terror? If that is the conclusion you draw from the rule you advised us to adopt - that `one cannot make compromises with terror' - then I must say, with all due respect, that this capitulation is a negative contribution to the war that we and the rest of the world are waging against terror. And don't be impressed by the compliments you receive - including, publicly, from us - for uprooting settlements: That is part of the verbal protection money that we also pay to buy a little quiet. But, as was proven in Beslan, to no avail."Despite the flattering articles in favor of disengagement that have appeared both in Israel and the rest of the world - articles whose purpose is to push you into additional concessions - you will never achieve the rehabilitation for which you long so greatly. Even now, they are saying that the fence is an act of apartheid and that you should be put on trial, along with the defense minister and senior Israeli officers, on charges of crimes against humanity. And such things were never said before, even when you controlled all the territory, when you built settlements on it, when you declared that it was the inheritance of your forefathers and that a Palestinian state would never arise upon it."Your excessive concessions have led the Palestinians, and all Muslims, to reach one clear conclusion: Terrorism pays. And that is what worries us. Just as international public opinion justifies terror against you, it is liable to justify terror against us, even though we are a great power. And we are liable to lose all the autonomous Muslim republics, not just Chechnya."Presumably, these things were not said. But there is no doubt that Russians, Americans, Britons and even Frenchmen who are engaged in the war on terror are indeed astonished by what has happened to Israel, which has lost its self-confidence - a development that, as noted, also impacts negatively on the entire world's ability to fight Islamic terrorism.

The Tide Is Continuing to Build Up

Enjoy the read....

Right-wing petition calls for refusal to evacuate settlements

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/475966.html

By Nadav Shragai, Haaretz Correspondent

Haaretz 09/09/2004

A right wing petition signed by 185 officers, former MKs, scholars and other public figures is calling on police and Israel Defense Forces troops to "listen to the voice of their personal and national conscience" and refuse to take part in the evacuation of settlements, an act they define as a crime against humanity, a national crime and an explicitly illegal act.

The petition, the first of a series of advertisements published starting Thursday in the Besheva newspaper, will be seen on other papers on Friday. It was signed by Ben Zion Netanyahu, the finance minister's father, as well as by Netanyahu's brother and uncle. The petition was also signed by Meir Har Zion of the renowned IDF unit 101, former Prime Minister's Office director-general Yossi Ben Aharon, senior IDF reserve officers, scientists, municipal council heads, former MKs, as well as writer Naomi Frenkel and Ezra Cohen.

The petition states that "in light of the Sharon government's intention to destroy settlements in the land of Israel and hand them over to the enemy, uprooting their residents and violently expelling them, we hereby declare that expulsion and uprooting are a national crime and a crime against humanity, constitute evil, arbitrary, dictatorial behavior, aimed at depriving Jews of their right to live in their country. We declare that the Israel Defense Forces' purpose is to defend against an enemy and not to act against Jewish civilians. The IDF is the people's army and does not belong to any political group."

"Therefore," the petitioners call on "public officials who are called upon to lay out the groundwork for the ethnic cleansing of Jews from their homeland, as well as on all of the officers, troops and policemen, to listen to the voice of their personal and national conscience and refrain from taking part in acts that will cast a mark upon them, and which they will regret for the remainder of their lives."

The petitioners also call on the "future victims of the expulsion not to cooperate with the expulsion machinery, not to receive compensation, to resist the uprooting but to refrain from harming the people of their nation, even though they come to demolish their homes."

A surprisingly refreshing read from Haaretz - written by a Left wing writer!

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/474477.html

On terror and hypocrisy
Haaretz

By Yoel Marcus

September is steadily gaining a name for itself as the most damned month of the year. World War II broke out in September. In "Black September," King Hussein confronted Arafat and his cronies, and exiled them to Lebanon. The Al-Aqsa intifada, in which 4,000 Israelis and Palestinians lost their lives, began in September. The assault on the Twin Towers, which exposed America's vulnerability to foreign aggression for the first time since Pearl Harbor, took place in September. This September will be remembered for the terror attack in North Ossetia - one of the cruelest, bloodiest rampages the human eye has ever seen on live TV.
Unlike September 1939, when Europe quickly realized that it was looking at a world war, it's not clear whether Europe today realizes what America grasped long ago - that World War III is in full swing. This war is different from all the wars in history. It's not countries fighting countries. It's not a war that can be won by conquest or some cut-and-dried military victory. Because the enemy is terror. It's everywhere and nowhere.Terror is not bound by the Geneva Convention. Not only is harming civilians not a problem, but those are precisely the targets it seeks out - women, children, old people. Ordinary folk are murdered just because they happen to be there. To make it hurt more. If the Al-Qaida pilots had settled into the cockpit two hours later, the casualty figures for 9/11 would have hit 30,000.The world has known all kinds of terror since World War II: anarchists like Danny the Red and Carlos; the Irish, the Basques and the Palestinians, spurred on by nationalism. But those who have inflated terror to its current proportions - murdering indiscriminately, shooting helpless children, choosing random targets - are the Muslims, and to what aim no one has entirely figured out.In his book "What Went Wrong," Prof. Bernard Lewis speculates that it is connected to the backwardness of Muslim society since the fall of the Ottoman Empire, and Islam's inability to keep pace with Western modernization. Islamic regimes have contributed nothing since then to world culture or the advancement of their people.President Bush is the only one who hasn't beaten around the bush. He says there's an Axis of Evil out there. A war without rules and borders, a war that must be stopped before the worst happens, which could be anything from a biological holocaust to a nuclear showdown. The terror organizations and those who harbor them must be fought wherever they are, using every ounce of strength the world can muster. But the strength of Monsieur le President de la Republique and Herr Chancellor lies in condolence telegrams.Europe has donned kid gloves and is playing UN. It decides which terror is justified and which isn't. When the attack is in Israel, it's because we're being tough on the Palestinians. As if terror will stop as soon as an agreement is signed. President Putin enjoys great respect in Europe even when 100,000 people are massacred in Chechnya as it battles for independence. To paraphrase Skinny in "The Teahouse of the August Moon," political pornography is also a matter of geography.In the European Union, hypocrisy and double standards are the name of the game. When it comes to gathering intelligence, the countries of Europe may help America here and there, but they won't physically participate in the war on terror or those who harbor terrorists. They won't raise a finger against Syria, which shelters Hezbollah and Hamas, or against Saudi Arabia, which supplies manpower for the most gruesome attacks, for fear of an oil embargo. They won't say boo to Iran, despite definite proof that it has been involved in mega-attacks in recent years and is building itself up as a nuclear power with missiles capable of reaching the very heart of Europe.Israel is both a victim and a member of the Bush brigade, a tiny link in a family of nations determined to defend itself against the scourge of terror. In the eyes of this family, there is no such thing as justified and unjustified terror. Terror is terror. The entire Western world is a potential target. One day, when someone decides in the hallowed name of Allah to carry out the ultimate attack-to-end-all-attacks, even Europe will not be spared.

The Tide is Turning, But...

It might sound weird, but even with all the media hype surronding the future implementation of Sharon's Gaza expulsion plan, I'm not so worried anymore that Sharon will actually be able to implement it.

The more anti-democratic and dictatorial that Sharon acts in his zeal to implement this plan the more desperate he is actually becoming in trying to overcome the obstacles within his own party to implement it.

The truth is that today I'm more worried and distraught about the state of much of Am Yisrael - who have come to believe and trust Sharon that it is in Israel's best interests to destory Jewish settlements and expel Jewish residents from their homes.

I have to give credit to Sharon for one major accomplishment over the past 4 years - he convinced most Jews and the world that "peace" today can not be achieved with the Arab murderers who live in our midst.

But his accomplishments end there. Unfortunately, he has managed to also convince a whole lot of people that defeatism is in our best interests - even staunch Likudnikim and strong supporters of Israel, who would have never dared accept that theory before his leadership.

And that worries me a lot.

How can people believe that destroying settlements and expelling Jews from their homes will help Israel?

Expeling our own brothers and sisters from their homes will only raise the moral of our enemies to continue their war against us.

In addition to that, it will be even easier for them to attack us (easier access to weapons, no Israeli army in the area to stop them, much harder to gather intelligence information, rockets over the fence and tunnels under the fence etc.). Especially with yesterday's statement from the Israeli Attorney General who said that any attack by Israel on Gaza (after the Gaza expulsion) will probably be considered a war crime by the international community. So how will we exactly defend ourselves when attacked from our enemies in Gaza?

The world pressure won't let up either. After we run out of Gaza the pressure will be on to run away from Yehuda and Shomron, then East Jerusalem, and then the Galil and the Negev (in case you missed it in the news - just last week Peres said to a Labor gathering that one day we will have to come to an agreement with the Arabs in the Negev and the Galil. - something to think about)

Domgaphic difference for Israel? You must be kidding! Gaza will be a ticking time bomb of Arabs waiting to overflow somewhere, at some time. I do not think Egypt will allow them to extend into the Sinai so so the only place they can extend into will be into Israel - with world pressure. Ditto for the West Bank after we run from there as well (specially since nothing will stop millions of Arabs from migrating to the West Bank which would quadruple the number of Arabs living in the West Bank - to then overflow into Israel).

This expulsion plan is a dangerous slope to start sliding on if you really want Israel to continue to exist.

No, acts of defeatism - giving away our land and expeling fellow Jews - are not the answer to our ills, just a symptom of our weakness and tidings of even worse to come.

Our weekness is big, very big and it is in not realizing that our biggest nemesis are not the Arabs, but our fellow Jews/Israelis who are excited about getting rid of Jewish land and expelling Jewish residents. They have been preaching this attitude for years, and now it has become mainstream, but they still remain a minority of the population.

As long as that attittude remains dominant, even after a Gaza expulsion, our problems will continue.

The solution to our situation lies in neutralizing the voices and the influence of those people within Jewish/Israeli society who weaken our resolve and our cause. Only then will Israel be able to truly cure its ills (not just security but society ills as well). Once the people of Israel once again feel justice in our cause to live in the land of our forefathers, our enemies power will decrease.

Sound simple? It might, but it is reality. Unfortunately, most people place their faith on so-called leaders and their promises and predictions that in reality are futile.

You would think that after trusting Rabin, Peres, Clinton, Barak, Netanyahu, Bush etc that Jews would wake up and realize that their promises of peace and/or security are futile words all based on Israeli steps of defeatism. After 12 years of an attitude of defeatim, we are still considerred the major impediment to peace.

Sharon started to change this with Operation Defensive Shield and we all thought he would continue in this direction, but he too fell into the pit of defeatism and brought many of us down with him - since it must be true if the most right wing PM of Isreal follows this path as well.

Maybe soon we can wake up and realize that it is actually the attitude of defeatism that is defeating us, and that to change our situation we must begins to change our thinking and the Jews/Israelis with influence in Israel and the US before we can win this war against our enemies.

Am Yisrael will prevail as will Eretz Yisrael. Have faith in your own intellect in disecting the reality around you and not blind faith in promises of leaders who tell us to trust them.

Avi

Food for Thought this Tisha Ba'av

I was forwarded this email and I thought it pertinant for Tisha Ba'av as well.

A meaningful fast to all.

Avi

BS”D Bayn Ha’me’tzarim 5764

Today is the 17th of Tamuz, which ushers in a three week period of mourning, concluding with the ninth day of Av. The period is called Bayn Ha’metzorim, meaning “between the straits”, for the dangers and tragedies which befell our nation over the generations in this period are likened to a light ship being tossed from boulder to boulder in treacherous waters, with each blow ripping apart another piece of the ship.

As I walk around the walls of the Old City, I can visualize the moment when the northern side was breached by the Roman troops on this day 1934 years ago, and according to some, was breached on this very day 500 years earlier by the troops of Nevuchadnetzer, King of Bavel.

What marks the intimate, exclusive relationship between Am Yisrael and the Creator is not the suffering we have endured to this very day, but the fact that with it all Hashem has caused this impossible little ship to survive the straits. For me, all our history was reduced today to a simple act. I walked near the City’s walls with the blue-white flag of Medinat Yisrael over the old city and waved to a Jewish boy in uniform and spoke to each other in the language our fathers spoke in the bet hamikdash.

And it occurred to me:

The prophet Zecharia says in chapter 8,19:

“Thus says the L-ord of hosts, “the fast of the fourth (month 17th of Tamuz) and the fast of the fifth (month 9th of Av) and the fast of the seventh (month Tzom Gedalia on the 3rd of Tishrei) and the fast of the tenth (month the 10th of Tevet) will be (in the future) for the House of Yehuda for joy and gladness and for holidays and truth and peace shall exist together in love”.

It is enlightening that this year the 17th of Tamuz falls out in the week of the Fourth of July, the 228th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America. The 17th of Tamuz called the “fast of the fourth” which marks the beginning of our long exile, falls out in the week of July fourth, the day of independence of that land which became home to so many Jews. There is a message here, as there is in everything a Jew sees and does.

Zecharia’s sees that these fast days will one day turn into days of rejoicing. How can one eradicate the raging sounds of the 17th of Tamuz when the walls came crashing down and the enemy charged into the city to vent their rage on the Jews of Yerushalayim!? How can we sing on the 9th of Av when so many bitter things happened; the worst being the destruction of the bet hamikdash and the beginning of our 2000 year exile!?



But the words of the prophet are torah and hence true. Indeed, we see them becoming a reality today in many parts of the world. In the Jewish communities of Antwerp, London, Jo-berg SA., Sidney, Sao Paolo, the “Five Towns”, Teaneck, Boca, Beverly Hills (don’t feel left out if I didn’t mention your spot). In all these places, the fasts of the “fourth” and the “fifth” have become days of “joy and gladness”, because what occurred on them caused all these Jews to be where they are today.

If not for the 17th of Tamuz in the year 70 CE, the big palatial home in Silver Springs would not have a beautifully designed mezuza near the entrance, but a little statuette of the “savior” of some goyishe family in the garden.

If not for Tish’ah Be’Av, Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights Brooklyn, would have several hundred more black families rather than wide brim hatted young Jewish men proclaiming a holy Jewish soul now residing in Olam Haba as still alive and waiting to answer your questions - just write it on a note and put it into the sefer.

If not for these days of strife, which have like the Prophet’s prediction, turned into days of joy for their contribution in giving our brothers in galut the comforts they enjoy, we would all be here in Eretz Yisrael having to struggle together to maintain a Jewish presence in the Holy Land.

So let us give praise to these days of joy!

I propose that in recognition of the simcha of the “fourth” and “fifth” fasts, that a new greeting be instituted. On Shabbat you say “gut shabbas”, on yom tov you say “gut yomtov”, from now on greet your fellow Jew in galut on the 17th of Tamuz and the 9th of Av etc., with the words “a freilicha churban”.

I can very well imagine the reaction of many people to what I have written. Let me explain.

My brother, Rav Meir z”l, and I, very often discussed how we can bring about the return of Jews to Eretz Yisrael. He claimed that the most potent way is through fear. So he raised the flag of fear in his talks and writings: fear of anti-Semitism; fear that your son will one day bring home a shiksa, fear that after all your efforts your children will depart from yiddishkeit. I would answer Meir, that he might be correct that fear is the most potent method, but I don’t think Hashem wants His children to come home because of fear. My way is different.

I want my brothers and sisters to recognize the absolute incompatibility with a torah way of life in chutz La’aretz when the gates of Eretz Yisrael are open. I want to show that the communities in the galut today are in a state of voluntary exile - a sin of the highest order.

A serious pious Jew has to ask himself, free of the influences of his rabbi etc.: I have one life to lead, and a day gone by can never be > regained. Where does my Jewish conscience lead me. To make myself the center of my world or to make Hashem the center of my life.

G-d gave us the freedom to make choices in our lives, and we are responsible for what we choose. Life is like a super-market. When you enter you get a cart into which you can put any assortment of items. No one will limit your choices. But at the end of the day, the cashier will take out, register and charge you for every item you chose. So too, when we are born we get a proverbial cart. You can put into it mitzvot, avayrot, foolishness, arrogance - whatever+ you wisht. But at the end of the line the angel will withdraw every act and thought of your essence, weigh it, register it, and charge you. And up above there are no credit cards or checks - it'’s cash on the line.

The way for a Jew to go is to escape the siren’s song of the galut. To take advantage of the huge zechut Hashem has given us - to return home to Eretz Yisrael. It is here where by our concerted efforts we will bring the ge’ula ha’she’layma and indeed turn the days of fasting into holidays-holydays. Here and only here, can we close the historical circle which began in agony and terror and will end in joy, gladness and thanksgiving to Hashem for being born Jews and sharing in the bounty of eternity.

Nachman Kahana

Food for Thought: Imagine If...

Imagine if Shimon Peres was Prime Minister and he would announce a plan to annex the Gaza Strip against the wishes of the Labor party and his parties platform - would the media stay silent about this behavior?

Imagine if the Labor party central committee passed a resolution against such an action - yet he pushes through the annexation plan anyway - would the media stay silent about this behavior?

Imagine if a referendum was held for Labor party members that Prime Minister Peres morally committed to honoring and it came out against the annexation plan, yet he pushes through the annexation plan anyway - would the media stay silent about this behavior?

Imagine if he fires government ministers just to secure himself a supportive ministerial vote to support the annexation plan - would the media stay silent about this behavior?

Imagine if part of the plan called for transferring Arabs from their homes - would the media stay silent about this behavior?

Imagine if famous Left wing personalities started speaking out against the plan and calling upon citizens to stand up against the plan - Has the media/government and justice offices stayed silent?

*Yossi Sarid and former MK Ya'ir Tzaban wrote in Yediot Acharonot (June 27, 1990), in response to a proposal to temporarily move several Arab villages until the end of the grape harvest: "Let there be no misunderstandings amongst us, and let it not be said that you were not warned in advance: We shall not obey the transfer order, nor will our children or our students obey it. The day that the transfer order - a patently illegal order - is given, shall be the day of refusal to obey an order."
*Yehonatan Gefen, 1998: "Secular Israel is the occupied territories of the religious parties. If the secular desire to live here, they have no choice but to start an intifada. Yes, I am prepared to throw the first stone."

*An article in the Ha-Kibbutz newsletter, August 1995: "They [the settlers] are not my brothers. [...] A civil war will be a war [...] I will run to it [...] and I will crush their flesh with mighty blows, to rout them. [...] I will go forth to the foe in order to fight, for once, a justified war. [...] Much blood will be shed."

*Zeev Sternhal, in the Davar newspaper, 1988: "Fascism cannot be stopped with rational arguments. This can be stopped only by force, and when there is willingness to risk a civil war. When necessary, we shall have to forcibly deal with the settlers in Ofrah or in Elon Moreh. Only a person who is willing to advance against Ofrah with tanks will be capable of curbing the fascist drift that threatens to inundate Israeli democracy."

*In an article in the Ha'Aretz newspaper in 2001, this same Sternhal incited the Arabs to murder settlers, advising the terrorist organizations to place explosive charges only on the eastern side of the Green Line. "There is no doubt regarding the legitimacy of the [Arab] armed resistance in the territories themselves. If the Palestinians had a bit of sense, they would concentrate their struggle against the settlements. [...] They would similarly refrain from placing explosive charges on the western side of the Green Line."

*Minister Yosef Lapid himself has publicly supported refusal to serve in the IDF in any capacity as a form of protest, "I am merely calling for soldiers to refuse to carry out an illegal order - a principle taught to every IDF soldier during basic training." Elitzur quoted Lapid as having written, "The shame of exempting yeshiva students from IDF service will not end until a draft refusal movement arises in Israel ... Only if hundreds and thousands of draftees return their service orders will the political establishment be compelled to come to the IDF's aid."

This message is sponsored by the wake-up-already-if-you-still-think-Israel-is-a-functioning-Democracy-committee.

Israel, Judaism and Democracy - Does it Exist Today? No. Can they Coexist? Yes

The Situation in Israel today is very sad. The democratic process has been bulldozed by the current Prime Minister and Israelis and Jews worldwide don't even care!

Not only do they not care, many actually even support his undemocratic actions because they have been convinced that it is for the best.

Whether his plan is for the best or not is irrelevant. A democratic process is one a democratic country and leadership is supposed to follow regardless of the intentions of this or that plan.

Or am I wrong?

Would all you Jews (American/Israeli) who support Sharon's expulsion plan support President Bush (or any American President) if he signed a bill into law that would have no party support, no majority for it in the Senate or the Congress, but only various public opinion polls to support his plan? Would that fly in the States? Would the press remain silent?

Reading the world and Jewish press you would think that I'm wrong, that bulldozing the democratic process is ok - considering hardly any publication is questioning the undemocratic actions of Sharon and his government.

Hum, whatever happened to the press being the gaurdian of democracy?

Democracy lovers should be having a very hard time morally accepting the events that have taken place in the State of Israel lately. Sharon's Gaza expulsion plan is in the planning stages, not becuase of democracy and the democratic process, but in spite of it.

Don't expect simple citizens like me to sit quietly while the fate of thousands of Jews who live in the Gaza strip, specifically, and the fate of the millions of Jews who live in the rest of Israel, are tied to the strong-armed, anti-democratic tactics of a leader without a supportive party or government.

Maybe it's me, but either the steps Prime Minister Sharon has taken the past few years (going against his party's institutional decisions - against establishing another Arab State West of the Jordan and against the Gaza expulsion plan - and using termination as a weapon to pressure government ministers to vote a certain way etc.) are undemocratic and therefore unbecoming a democratic society......

or Israel has a democratic governance model that must be changed.... yesterday!

I have had enough of democratically elected Israeli leaders "sic" who do whatever they want in power even when it totally goes against their election platforms, against the mandates given them by their voters upon being elected and against the party platform!

I will not sit quietly anymore while our country and our rights are bulldozed by an undemocratic process and undemocratic leaders, definately not when they take undemocratic action of expulsion against my fellow Jews in Gush Katif. (And why should we believing Jews accept the undemocratic action of expulsion of Jews from their homes, while left wing Israelis do not accept the action of expelling Arabs from their homes. Only transfer of Jews is moral but transfer of Arabs is immoral? Or today's understanding of morality is all screwed up!)

Will you?

Avi

The government practices of the Oslo decade have placed the whole debate of Israel, Judaism and Democracy in a whole new light.

Read the following article for an insightful pespective on the issue.

Democratic Because it's Jewish

By Moshe Feiglin

The motto, "a Jewish and democratic State", has become meaningless.
Aharon Barak,
with an abundance of tortuous explanations, has drained its Jewish
aspect of
significance and has in fact declared that what (in his opinion) is
democratic is Jewish.

The Haredim and the national religious Jews who are trying to face the
issue are going
wrong in the opposite direction. They are giving up democracy (as it
were) in favor of
Judaism. In other words, they are accepting the interpretation of the
head of the
Supreme Court and are in fact saying that if democracy means the end of
Judaism,
they want no part of it. Give us a king, who will enforce the wishes of
the Almighty.

Belief-based people who adopt this approach are falling into the trap
twice. The first
time, because they are abandoning the most basic principle in Judaism –
freedom. The
second time, because they are giving up the sole brake that can halt
Israel's current
slide into violent totalitarianism, a process that we are now
witnessing.

To be a Jew is to be a free man. The Jewish people brought the message
of liberty to
the entire world. All human progress from slavery to a flesh and body
king, towards
human liberty, starting with the English Magna Charta, continuing with
the American
constitution, and ending with the French Revolution – Judaism formed
the source of
inspiration for them all, as they publicly declared.

The division of authority, the recognition that the king is not the
source of authority
but the representative of the sovereignty, and that he is subject to
constant criticism by
the parallel institutions of clarifications and direction (Sanhedrin,
kehuna), and that all
of them – the king, the institutions, and the people, are equally
subject to the same
rules, are the fundamental elements of the modern free regime, or in
other words, the
foundations of democracy.

However, the term democracy has been made meaningless by the extremist
Left that
has compared the democratic method to its values. Aharon Barak's test
of a "civilized
person" is an outstanding example of the way in which the concept of
democracy is
distorted. It is not surprising that many people currently tend to
throw out the baby
with the bathwater. The term democracy may well have become so
distorted that it
can it can no longer be used, just as happened to the term "Israeli" in
its original
meaning. It may well be preferable to return to the term "liberty", but
it would be a
grave error to abandon the real values forming the basis of the term.

It is not easy to understand the meaning of democracy. Hundreds of
definitions have
been given, and all kinds of people (including mass murderers) have
drawn legitimacy
from the term for their own needs. (examples are the People's Democracy
of China, or
the democratic elections held by Arafat's murder gangs.) However,
before trying to
understand why the belief-based public is the sole chance for democracy
in Israel, or,
if you wish, why Israel can be democratic only as a Jewish State, and
why, if it
abandons its Jewish character, it inevitably acquires totalitarian
characteristics, let us
examine Israeli reality.

It is difficult to call the first days of the State of Israel
democracy. Ben-Gurion's
regime after the establishment of the state was very centralized, the
opposition was
persecuted with the aid of close cooperation between the defense
establishment and
the ruling party, and great courage and an independent income were
required to
oppose the regime.

Let us therefore focus on the four decades that have elapsed since the
Six Day War (in
which the Herut party first entered Eshkol's unity government). It can
be said that
during this period Israel began really progressing towards a regime
based on the
fundamentals of democracy. Since 1967 we have been relatively
democratic.

However, it is easy to point to two occasions during this period in
which Israeli
democracy retreated towards dictatorship in the guise of democracy.

The separation fence between a free state and a totalitarian one has no
color, nor can it
be felt. It can only be discovered using the sense of smell. And just
like any stench,
those lying inside it don't feel it. There have been numerous examples
in the 20th
Century of free societies that crossed the fence without noticing it,
and continued to
believe that they were free and advanced, even when the atmosphere of
freedom was
replaced by the stench of dictatorship.

As we have said, this fence has been crossed twice since the Six Day
War. The first
person to lie on it was Yitzhak Rabin, and the second, Ariel Sharon, is
doing so now.

These leaders were not the first to wish to hand over parts of the
country to the enemy,
to destroy entire settlements and drive out their residents. The first
to do so was
Menahem Begin, to his everlasting ignominy. But Begin didn't do this
terrible deed
while crossing the fence. He possessed public legitimacy for his
action. The majority
of the nation, hypnotized by Sadat's visit to Jerusalem, supported him.
Begin didn't
change the rules of the game and fit them to his needs, but acted in
accordance with
them. His opponents were opposed to the retreat, but not to Begin.
They could not contest Begin's legitimacy as the elected democratic
prime minister.

Rabin and Sharon crossed the fence quite blatantly. The hypnotizing
spell of the first
Camp David Conference had faded away, and the public had already
developed the
intellectual antibodies needed to understand what it was really
getting. In order to
overcome the basic Jewish values, the fundamental loyalty to Eretz
Israel, and Jewish
identity, that again played a key role in the public consciousness,
Rabin at that time,
and Sharon now, had to cross the fence separating democracy and
dictatorship,
between those people whom Rabin discounted, and his voters, whom he had
promised
there would be no talks with the PLO. His government was a minority
one, and he
achieved the majority necessary for these fateful steps by bribing
people such as
Segev and Goldfarb. In this way, with a fragile coalition, a leader of
a free state
initiated a major national decision that split the nation over
fundamental issues. Broad
popular protest was suppressed with great violence, and the media, as
in every
dictatorship, supported the regime. Only in this way could the Oslo
Process, whose
results are well known, be sold to Israeli society.

The current situation is far more serious. The intensity of the
controversy is
unchanged, but the hopes planted at the time of the Oslo process no
longer exist. But
the fence crossed by Sharon has exactly the same smell.

There is no argument about the nature of the majority achieved by
Sharon. He lost in
the referendum and doesn't deny this. As long as he has the support of
the Left, he is
not obligated to observe any rules, not even those he himself fixed. He
no longer
attempts to bribe his ministers, but fires them. The human rights of
those planned to
be evicted no longer exist. Now, just as then, the media have been
recruited to support
the regime. "We shall not only evict you and destroy your homes" (in
the name of the
new democracy), "we shall also fix the rules governing how you will be
permitted to
resist, what language you may use, and perhaps even the thoughts you
will be
permitted to think… If you don't obey, you will be responsible for a
civil war…"

Not only the media but the courts and the Public Prosecutor's
department have been
recruited. The idea of trying to halt this madness through an appeal to
the High Court
of Justice, based on the law, "The dignity and freedom of man", is just
ridiculous.

Israeli totalitarianism is now advancing, and all the media are in a
count-down to the
day when thousands of citizens will be called on to pack up their
belongings and move
to a new place, and every morning on the State radio Arieh Golan comes
up with a
new idea for implementing the new democracy, such as a unit of
sharpshooters
deployed on the roofs and equipped with live ammunition. In such a
state of affairs it
will not be surprising if at some stage they start hanging people from
the lamp posts,
naturally in the name of the law for dignity and freedom of man, and in
order to
protect the values of civilized persons.

This sounds far-fetched?

How many Arab collaborators were hanged on the lamp posts as a
sacrifice for the
Oslo process? Not only the Left looked aside, but also the Right. The
High Court of
Justice did not intervene, but accepted Rabin's declaration that "this
is a political issue
and not a judicial one".

During the Rabin era the emperor thought he was dressed and attempted
to persuade
the nation of this. At least there was some kind of plan, and an
attempt was made to
create the impression of democracy. However, Sharon now knows that he
is naked,
but doesn't care. "The referendum was morally but not legally binding."
All this in the
name of the "rule of law". And I am the law.

This is a time to keep one's distance from the lamp posts.

Without noticing it, we have fallen into a situation of dictatorship
whose stench is
already making itself felt.

Let us now try and understand what democracy is, and why only a Jewish
State can be
democratic.

The most important feature of democracy is the subservience of both the
ruler and the
ruled to the same set of rules. This has been clearly violated by both
Rabin and
Sharon.

There are several viewpoints of democracy and I shall only address two
of them: the
liberal and the community approaches.

The liberal tradition supports a single fundamental criterion, a
universal standpoint
that does not recognize a different culture, tradition, or values. It
believes in the values
of equality and freedom of the individual, where the state is intended
to serve the
individual only. The state has no purpose and does not represent the
values of its
society.

The second viewpoint is the community one, according to which a person
needs
recognition by society in order to achieve self awareness, and in this
way express his
opinion regarding the issues of morality and values. Consequently the
community
plays a decisive role, and through it the individual identifies with
his country. The
community and the state are assigned an important role in the
realization of the values
and identities of the citizens.

According to this interpretation, democracy is a method of government
permitting the
_expression of the basic values of the society. Every society whose
basic values are
those of freedom can and must be democratic, but it must fit the lid to
the pot, and
adopt its form of democracy to its nature and its unique values.
Those who understand democracy using this approach can also understand
that the
first democratic approach described, as adopted in Israel, must
inevitably lead to
dictatorship.

The dispute regarding Eretz Israel is not about territory or security.
The issue of
national identity currently finds _expression through Eretz Israel.
Those who wish to
abandon parts of the country in fact want to sever the links with their
Jewish identity.

"The Jews defeated the Israelis", explained Shimon Peres in an
interview for Ha'aretz
after he lost to Netanyahu. The argument is between those holding on to
their Jewish
identity and those who wish to disengage from it and replace it with a
new Israeli one.

The process of disengagement is one of enforcing the new identity on
the vast
majority of the nation. Consequently it must inevitably lead to a
dictatorship, as is
actually happening. Only if Israel lives in harmony with its Jewish
identity, and tries
to serve this identity instead of fighting it, will it also be really
democratic.

A response to a further comparison of Manhigut Yehudit to Gush Emunim

I believe that considering the infancy of Manhigut Yehudit it has been extremely successful. Its goal at the moment is to gain political power within the Likud party in order to then influence the value changes necessary in Israeli society. It has also been proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is in the process of happening, even though the movement is only in its infancy and only a mere 5% of the Likud central committee membership. The reason it has succeeded is because it has harnessed the idealogues of the Likud who have been leaderless. (it just so happens that currently the Land of Israel issue is the hot potato political issue that has actually assisted MY in gaining more of a leadership role within the Likud, but that is not its whole agenda).

Also, they don't believe that the silent majority of Israelis believe with their values, they believe that the silent majority of Israelis want a more Jewish identity for the State of Israel (proven in numerous surveys and polls) yet have no leadership leading them in the direction to accomlish that goal. It will take much time in harnessing the desire of that silent majority to support MY in its agenda. We are not deluded as the greatness of this goal. Will it succeed? It might and it might not. But I'm surprised at a position that negates even giving it a chance because of a fear of failure. Is this fear based on the fear of further erosion for the stature of the Dati Leumi community in Israeli society? That I also negate since, with our assistance or without, that erosion is steadily proceeding without any activities of Manhigut Yehudit.

I believe that MY's endeavors should be given a chance - doubts and all. The current political environment hasn't done the Dati Leumi community any good, only harm.

As for the doubt that developing communities in YESHA without selective acceptance would have amde a change - Yes, the goal of 2 million Jews in Yesha would probably have come to fruition if those selective committees were not established in the YESHA communities - Ariel and Maale Adumim are full with a diversified group of Israelis. If more communities like that would have been created in the beggining as well, it would have made a huge difference. Let us not forget that it is due to the fact that most of the yishuvim are selectively all religious that the Dati Leumi community, with Gush Emunim, created an elitism and stigma that might not have been created if most settlements followed the same mold as Ariel and Maale Adumin.

In response to your feeling that Manhigut Yehudit is reading the map incorrectly just to reinforce the feeling of its members that it is succeeding - I don't believe they are viewing the map incorrectly at all. They do not believe that the silent majority of Israelis currently believe in their cause, but they do know that the silent majority of Israelis want the State of Israel to have a more Jewish identity and the current religious parties are failing to accomplish any change in this realm because they are sectoral parties after their own interests (a very big chilul Hashem that continues day by day). Therefore they are building upon this silent majority to either continue supporting the Likud or join the Likud because only the Likud has the power to work towards successfully strengthening the Jewish character of the State, as its constitution says it is supposed to. Also, as opposed to public perception, MY does not want to flood the Likud with new members to take over the party - it only wants to make up a substantial, but relatively small, percentage of the party membership - larger than 5% but much lower than 40%-50% because it does not want to take over the party numberswise, but ratehr work together with the existing Likud faithful.

Will MY be vilified for true or untrue statements and positions? Will some Likud faithful be afraid of associating with them and attack them? Of course that will happen, it already it. But I don't believe it will harm it or the Likud in the long run.

The MY train has left the station. It will take a long time to reach its destination, but it is not turning back. The Likud might have its ups and downs - due to MY's identification with the party or not. But most Likud members/voters won't be running to any other party because of them and, over time, they will see the true face of MY and support it in its endeavors in the Likud party.

I leave you with the following thoughts and then I think this should be continued at the debate between you and Moti Karpel.

1. Meimad tried a number of ways to influence the Jewish character of Israeli society at the political level and failed in all of them.
2. The existing political structure does not allow the Dati Leumi community to influence, only to disgrace itself (personal belief).
3. The right wing/religious non-parliamentary groups have tried a numer of times to unify over the past 12 years (Prof. Hillel Weiss tried twice with Hatikvah in 1993 and again in 1995 under another name) in order to pressure the right wing/religious political parties to unify for the good of the nation - all failed endeavors.
4. The religious parties tried to secretly unify in 1996 - a failed endavor.
5. Social action without political actioin will not change Israel - not when the establishment (press, politics, beaurocrats etc) are all pursuing a different agenda.

A new direction needs to be tried and MY is currently the only political option open to us, and so far they are succeeding. Especially when we look at the history of failed endeavors to change the direction the State of Israel is going, I think we should give MY a chance to succeed.

Avi

What Makes Manhigut Yehudit Different?

This write up is my response to somebody's question on how Manhigut Yehudit differs from Gush Emunim, which failed in its goal of achieving public support in changing Israeli society to have a more Jewish orientation.

Gush Emunim focused its attention on establishing settlements - with the perspective that with those actions and the consequences of those actions, the rest of Israeli society would be influenced. However, GE made one major mistake - the settlements that they established became almost all religiously occupied due to the strict communal rules established for acceptance to those settlements. This was a fatal mistake that alone was instrumental in cutting off whole populations from taking part in the societal change that they wanted to institute. Hence, in hindsight, they now realize that they should have focused on establishing more city like settlements like Ariel and Maale Adumim with no acceptance committees. They didn't and we are now suffering the consequences.

In addition, GE (which turned into moetzet Yesha) turned into a political body subservient to the establishment - not in a position to change society, but only in the position to look after its own interests, haggling for budgets like every other political body. This was another fateful mistake that made it impossible for them to fulfill their societal mission.

MY on the other hand is focused on becoming the establishment, by working within a party of the amcha that stands up for the same ideals. The key issue is that we are in the Likud to strengthen it because the emuni aspect is missing, even though the ideals are there. As we have all seen, the ideals themselves have not helped the Likud leaders lead according to them. Without the emuni basis for those ideals, the minute they attain leadership, the ideals they say they stand for are dropped. We have strengthened those within the Likud who hold these ideals dear and they are very happy that we are there saving the party from self-destruction.

MY has set itself the goal to become the political establishement because only then will we have a chance to make real change happen. At the same time we must spread our messages of societal values and change at the personal level so that the public pressure would exist for the political realm to institute the changes. One can not exist without the other, otherwise certain failure will result. This is a long process that does not happen overnight and MY can't be judged now for what can only be accomplished after a number of years.
It can only be judge now on the steps it has taken to be in a position to attain its goals, and if we use that as a measuring stick it has been extremely successful in a very short period of time.

Gush Emunim failed because of mistakes it made. That does not mean that learning from those mistakes and making another go at accomplishing societal change should be scrapped.

Finally, after being involved with MY and meeting many of its members that include secular Israelis, veteran masorati Likudnikim and Russians, I know that many Israelis are thirsting for the values that we stand for. They just have never been approached before by religious people wanting to work WITH them to accomplish it. Up until know the religious political establishment has always acted in a sectoral fashion only looking after its own interests. Here is finally a group that is acting within a diversified group together with all the other groups.

The age of the sectoral religious/right-wing parties is ending, Baruch Hashem, and it is MY that is making it happen - in a few more elections the Likud will be the natural home for all Jews who have a strong Jewish identity, regardless of their religious observance - and in my eyes, that is the way it should be and it is only being accomplished because of MY's efforts today.

Please look over the attached articles for some interesting views of veteran Likudnikim, who are not MY members.

Let me know if that debate takes place between Moti Karpel and Rabbi Finkelman, I would love to attend as well.

Avi

A non-MY Likudnik writing about MY:
http://www.likudnik.co.il/Newspaper/reports.asp?reportId=2667

An article articulating the values of the Likud, that have been squashed over the last few years, that are exactly those promoted by MY:
http://www.likudnik.co.il/Newspaper/reports.asp?reportId=2654

Democracy and Judaism

The fact that consecutive Israeli governments (left and right) have dealt with our control over YESHA, Yerushalayim and Har Habayit irresponsibly does not mean that we must give up our right to live there, it means we finally must take full responsability for YESHA and deal with the issues connected to the Arabs who live in all of Israel.



The starting point of left and right are the same, that the current situation vis a vis the Arabs is wrong. It is the steps afterwards that we take different directions.



I do not believe it is right nor wise to formulate a solution for our situation seperating the Arabs who live in YESHA and the Arabs who live in Israel - in the end they will all work towards the same goal - the annihalation of the Jewish State - in one way shape of form, regardless of all the "practical" seperation plans implemented. Whether by continous intifadas within Israel (Galil and Negev) with support from YESHA Arabs, or through the "demographic" demon one day rearing its head (regardless of a "border" between Israel and YESHA) and turning Israel into a bi-national state en-route to an Islamic/Arab state.



In addition, the Arabs are not our problem, we are the problem. If we would establish the Jewish society we are supposed to in Israel, then the Arabs will get off our backs. Our cultures are in some ways more similar than Western society. Many of our values are similar - modesty in dress/speech, respect for elders, family, an overall tribal responsability, religion as a communal way of lfe etc. as opposed to the individualistic "rights" based values of the western cultures.

We are hated here in Israel by the Arabs because we currently symbolize the Western culture in the Middle East. But Jewish society is not equivalent to Western culture. If we would just become more of a Jewish culture stressing the Jewish values over Western individualistic values, we would probably be pleasantly surprised to see our relations with the Arabs change. Now we are truly acting like colonists, western colonists, who happen to be Jews.



Domgraphics is not the problem. It is the substance of the Jewish State that is the problem.



The Torah is very clear on the issue of Ger Toshav as a way to deal with "others" who live within the Land of Israel. The Torah did not promote this solution as a form of discrimination. It is a a just solution that limits the influence that the "others" can have on Israeli society - which is exactly what is needed today. Any society with unique cultures need ways to preserve those cultures. Today, the world values equal rights for everybody and everything, but that doesn't make it correct that everyone must have the right to vote in a society with a unique culture different than theirs. There are countries in this world that make it extremely hard, even almost impossible, for "others" to become citizens of their countries for the simple reason of limiting the impact on the host countries culture/society (Japan is just one example).



In any case, Ger Toshav is the most practical solution that deals with the core problem - the substance of the State. Just because the democratic ethos causes problems for some Jews to think that the Ger Toshav solution is not a possile solution with today's world value system, does not make it wrong or inapplicable. It just means we have to reintroduce the concept, why it is correct and why it is right - to ourselves and the world. A democratic system with a vote for all is not necessarily a Jewish value, just the best governing model that has worked to this day - but that doesn't mean that we have to adapt our governing model, our citizenship rules and our value vis a vis the Land of Israel because of the way others view democracy.



Avi