Winds of Change

There are times when one feels rather small, watching on as huge currents swirl around us, feeling rather powerless as the contours of the world we have come to know, alter and shift before our very eyes. These are such times.

One example of this is the economic crisis which, as it unfolds, becomes more and more incredible. Huge companies collapsing, shares in freefall, people losing their jobs, a world economy that has lost its confidence. One wonders where this is going and whether anyone understands how and when we will see an upturn, and an end to the fear, the panic.

Here at home, I feel that things are similarly out if kilter, with the unsuspected taking us by surprise.

We had to vote for Bibi or Tzippi. OK fine. But we got Leiberman! Currently it seems that we face the prospect of Leiberman as Foreign Minister. See this Haaretz article (link). Even if it is exaggerated... after all, it IS Haaretz, nonetheless, Leiberman as certainly the "anti-diplomat" espousing belligerent attitudes and an "anti", provocative political culture. I certainly have no desire to see Leiberman as the face of Israel around the world. But whether "Bibi" or "Tzippi" became PM, it seems that Leiberman would be the key politician.

And then there is the question of the world changing its attitudes towards Israel. Britain recognised Hezbollah this week, and they are establishing diplomatic ties. Britain see no problem with one of our most formidable of enemies. Heart-warming!

America with Obama is certainly striking a very different path than Bush. Whether they are sending diplomats and invitations to Syria, or expressing a willingness to talk to Iran, the mood has certainly shifted. Moreover, it isn't just the mood but the substance too. See this VERY important and excellent article (link) that shows that America is in the process of a significant move AWAY from Israel. Whereas Bush and Condoleeza backed Israel whatever they did, Obama and Clinton intend to tread a very different path. Clinton's criticism of Israel this week (link) is just the beginning. The US government is going to be calling for settlement construction to be halted. There will be condemnations of Human Rights abuses and what have you. The wind is blowing in a different direction. We better get used to it.

Add to that, the increased anti-Israel mood worldwide, post-Gaza. Campuses have become battlegrounds. So have sports fields, whether in Sweden with the Davis Cup, or Shahar Peer being banned from Dubai, these are not good days for Israel internationally. The pressure is on Israel, and increasing. We are being delegitimised with increasing frequency and intensity.

So what does this mean? How are we to respond to this world shift? Should we capitulate to the world view? - after all, we cannot stand totally alone. Or should we stoically hold our ground?

(Last year, in a Knesset debate, Leiberman publically denounced Mubarrak for not visiting Israel, ever. This blatant critique sent Peres and Olmert groveling to Mubarak with apologies. But on the radio many talk-show hosts were praising Leiberman's courage to say the truth, which is that if Egypt are truly a friend then why can Mubarak not visit.

On second thought, if the world is turning increasingly towards the arabs and calling on Israel to alter its course and political views, maybe it will take a Leiberman to represent us!

But maybe not. The guy still scares me.)

New realities abound as we sit still. The world is changing, and it is a huge challenge to know how to respond.

Parashat Mishpatim:Every Jew a King

Last week I attended a fabulous lecture at Machon Pardes (where I work) by Rabbi Dr. Joshua Berman. He has published an interesting book (link) and one of the points that he made is a perfect chiddush for this week's parsha.

He spoke about Vassal Treaties (more here). what is a Vassal Treaty? It is quite simple. Nowadays, international agreements are genrally contracted assuming that each Nation-State or party has autonomous equal standing. In the ancient world, that was not the case. Most agreements were contracts between stronger and weaker States. A king or nation who were in distress (war, famine and the like) would appeal for assistance to a more powerful king. They would then make an agreement which involves recognision of the supremacy of the "protector" king.

Now, as Joshua Berman pointed out (and I am not interested in elaborating here) many features of the Covenant at Har Sinai mirror these ancient treaties. It is like God was using the cultural language of the times in order to make His treaty with Bnei Yisrael. Of course God is the supreme King and we are the lower "protected" nation, but the good news is that we have a contracted association with God.

So now, let me add a second detail. These contracts or treaties are between kings. They are never between the citizens of different states.

Joshua Berman then moved on to one of the details or features of these Vassal Treaties. They frequently contain a clause obligating the lower King to visit or "see the face" of the protector king on an annual basis. Here is an example:

“Sunashshura (the vassal king here) must come before his Majesty and look upon the face of His Majesty."

Now this very interestingly reflects a passuk in Parashat Mishpatim. In respect to the law of Aliyah LaRegel, the Torah says:

"...three times a year, all of your males shall be seen by the face of the Lord" (Shemot/Exodus 23:17)

Now, we must realise the deepest and most phenomenal observation. What God is telling us here, is that he wants each of us to see His face. In other words, EVERY JEW IS A KING! Every Jew has a contract with God. Every Jew must appear before God 3 times a year to express the treaty, the relationship, the fact that God protects us (and we need protection and support) and we, in turn, serve Him.

Hence, Aliya LaRegel takes on a new meaning. It is a deep expression of the fact that every Jew matters. We don't have a king, priest or prophet who mediate our relationship with Hashem. Each one of us has a direct link, a personal contract and audience with God.

Shabbat Shalom!

Parashat Beshalach

Waltz with Bashir, Gaza, and Israeli Militarism

This week, the Israeli movie “Waltz with Bashir” won a Golden Globe for best foreign film. It is up for an Oscar as well.The movie has been highly acclaimed around the world for its exceptional animation as one of the most creative movies for years. Mazal Tov! So, what is the movie about? It is about a soldier who is trying to piece together his traumatic memories of the Lebanon War. The horrors of war and sense of moral compromise that wars bring are illustrated graphically.

Why am I mentioning this? Because here, yet again – even as we win awards around the world – Israel is portrayed and cast as a military nation, dedicated to violence, addicted to it. Likewise, last summer’s hit movie, “Don’t Mess with the Zohan” (link), despite being a farce and a comedy, highlighted Israelis as military machines (as well as sex-obsessed and crude. The values of the Zohan movie have been discussed in this article.)

If this was only in the movies, I wouldn’t mind, but I believe that we are living in a generation where for a great number of people around the world, Israel is perceived as an aggressor, as a personification of the “blessing” to Esau – על חרבך תחיה – and not as a purveyor of morality, truth, wisdom, sensitivity and the like. The word Israel is synonymous with war. See this interesting blog piece by Treppenwitz (link) as he describes a visit to Sky News’ offices in Jerusalem. He pays attention to the art on the walls and what they say about Israel:


On the walls of their Jerusalem office are ten or twelve beautifully framed black & white photographs that are clearly supposed to demonstrate to a guest, the space's occupant's appreciation for the rich, multi-cultural tapestry that is Israel.
There are photos of Christians in and near the ancient Churches of Jerusalem... Muslims (including crying children) near mosques and in pastoral settings, and of course Jews... mostly in prayer:

Jew photo #1- A close-up of a hand holding an open siddur (Hebrew prayer book) with a sub-machine gun in soft focus on a table in the near background, within easy reach.

Jew photo #2- An Israeli soldier wrapped in tallit and tefillin praying in front of an enormous battle tank (not the famous one from sukkot taken during the Yom Kippur war).

Jew photo #3 - An Israeli soldier wearing a helmet and holding an assault rifle next to his face, peering around a corner of a stone building as if trying to line up a difficult shot.

After viewing the first two images of Jewish Israelis, an observer could be forgiven for assuming that the soldiers were praying, not to G-d, but to the tools of war before them. And the third photograph does nothing to dispel the notion of Jewish Israelis as an entirely militaristic society.

Whereas we within Israeli society perceive ourselves as peace loving and gentle, as interested in furthering our society, Israeli technology, poetry and the like, the outside view frequently looks upon Israel as aggressive, militaristic and violent.

2.

Now some will say that the world likes Jews as docile and powerless. They are disturbed to see a Jew in a position of force and domination. If this is true, then possibly this feeling has Christian roots, in that Christianity believed in the destiny of the Jews as a degraded, displaced and shameful people. Christian doctrine sought to subject the Jews to humiliation and disgrace. And indeed, Zionism came to change that. The notion of the fighting Jew is central to Zionism. The idea that we can take care of ourselves is a cardinal principle of the modern State of Israel.

As Dominic Lawson put it last week in The Times: (link)

I was startled by the monument that stands at the entrance to Yad Vashem, Jerusalem’s memorial to the Holocaust. One side of Nathan Rappaport’s diptych is what looks like a caricature of Jews. The hunched, twisted figures, with hooked noses and heavy-lidded eyes, seem devoid of physical energy. The other panel displays a group of heroic young men and women who are heavily muscled, standing tall, weapons at the ready.

It turns out that the first group is meant to depict Jews being marched to their deaths, while the second is the leaders of the Warsaw uprising; the whole monument is constructed of granite imported from Sweden by the Nazis for the construction of what was meant to be one of the Third Reich’s victory towers.

The message is in fact close to the view expressed with brutal clarity by Israel’s founding father, David Ben-Gurion: “That masses of exiled Jews walked to the death trains . . . silently, stupidly . . . is a decisive, embarrassing and painful statement of the disintegration of spiritual-ethical strength. What is their place among us?” Ben-Gurion envisaged that “new Jews”, with the security of their own nation state, would erase what he saw as the shameful memory of a “submissive, lowly camp of strange creatures . . . who know only how to arouse pity”.

In short, Israel decided that it would represent the empowered Jew, the fighting Jew.



3.

But after the fighting in Gaza, after any fighting, I always experience a personal backswing. After listening to and reading the foreign media, I am disturbed by this military personification of Israel. Is that our message to the nations? Is that our legacy?

I recall how Rabbi Jakobovits, a man who I admired, spoke out against excessive militarism in Israeli society. He warned of the ethically corrosive nature of the Israeli-Arab conflict, of the moral compromise that is war. He insisted that we keep in mind even our enemies suffering: “Compassion extends to all who suffer, even our enemies.” He was deeply disturbed that Israel was one of the world’s major arms exporters, trading in death. He spoke of how we were meant to export “Torah from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem,” rather than tools of destruction.

We have just been to war. Let there be no doubt about it, this war has been justified absolutely. We have engaged in a battle against an amoral enemy which doesn’t balk at using women and children, schools and mosques as weapon launching pads, as arms stores. These people have perfected the demonic art of the “Human shield” uncaring as to how many will die as they seek to achieve their hallowed goal of destroying the “Zionist Entity.” As Nassrallah said some years back:

"We have discovered how to hit the Jews where they are the most vulnerable. The Jews love life, so that is what we shall take away from them. We are going to win, because they love life and we love death."

He said it! This culture of Hamas and Hizbolla is evil personified. This is the culture of Molech. This is the ideology of suicide bombers and people who let miserable refugees fester in hatred, despair and squalor rather than allowing them rehabilitation, hope, life, a future. In this regard, this war has been a supremely moral war, the sons of light against the sons of darkness, hatred and death.

And yet, at the same time, we have now killed over 1000 people, many of them innocent; so many children. How do we regain our sensitivity to life? Morality needs hard work in times like this. How do we ensure that the bullets of war do not warp and twist our moral direction? How do we refine our ethical compass so that we educate our children to love life and to understand that human life is still ultimately sacred?

I recall the famous Midrash quoted in the name of our patriarch Jacob. As he prepared for battle when his life and the lives of his family were threatened, the Torah tells us:

“Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed.”

Rashi elaborates:

“Greatly afraid: that he might be killed; Distressed: That he may kill other people.”

In war, we have to protect ourselves, we must know that our first priority is to protect our people. However woe to us if we lose that worry, that concern with the lives of others. We may not delude ourselves that our right to defense is a license to kill. We must retain a sensitivity to the life of our enemy. Furthermore, we must understand that even when we kill justifiably, the act of killing desensitizes us and darkens us. We do not remain unaffected.

My feeling is that in the dialectic between War and Peace, between sensitivity and softness on the one hand, and aggression and violence on the other, in the excruciating dance between the hand reaching for the gun, and alternatively, extending it in Peace, we are in need of a rebalance. Not for the world, not for the media or the UN or international opinion; No! - for ourselves! We need to teach our children to preserve, to love and protect life; Not only our own lives, but the lives of the children in Gaza, as well.

No Withdrawal without Gilad Shalit

If we are the winners in this war, If we have indeed "crushed" Hamas, is there any justification whatsoever for Israel to accept a Ceasefire without the safe return of Gilad Shalit?

(And I would say furthermore, that unless we get Shalit back, Hamas will always proclaim this as their victory. The return of Shalit will prove inconclusively that we had the upper hand.)

I call upon our leaders: No Withdrawal without Gilad Shalit!

Brothers in Arms

I received a letter today which reported a visit by two chayalim (who had been in Gaza this week) to a Jerusalem Yeshiva. It gives the picture above added meaning:

"After Mincha, our Rosh Yeshiva broke into a round of "Am Yisrael Chai" (figuring the non-dati chayalim would be familiar). We danced around the beit midrash, and then the dancing came to an end.

As we were about to "break ranks," Omri called for our attention. Putting his arms around the students next to him, he shared a description of the moments before they entered Gaza.

"We stood in a big circle like this, prepared for battle. We put our arms around each other, and we sang the following song." Recreating their experiences of two weeks, we gathered in a large circle encompassing the beit midrash, and sang with them: "Yisrael b'tach bashem, ezram u'maginam hu. Anachnu maaminim bnei maaminim v'ein lanu al mi l'hisha'en ela al avinu shebashamayim." Yisrael, trust in Hashem! He is their help and defense. We are believers, the children of believers, and we have nobody in whom to trust but our father in Heaven.'"

Destruction above Human Life and Wellbeing

From today's Guardian, I loved this quote (link):

I will never stop criticising Israeli policies that I take to be wrong-headed, short-sighted or immoral. But I have no sympathy for the critics of Israel who refuse to see that there are ideologies who put destruction above human life and wellbeing. Hamas has changed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from something that can be solved, to a clash defined by the principle that only one side can survive - critics cannot expect Israel to accept this simply because it is the stronger side.

• Carlo Strenger is a professor of psychology at Tel Aviv University strenger@freud.tau.ac.il

See this piece from the NYTimes:

January 9, 2009
Fighter Sees His Paradise in Gaza’s Pain
By TAGHREED EL-KHODARY

GAZA CITY — The emergency room in Shifa Hospital is often a place of gore and despair. On Thursday, it was also a lesson in the way ordinary people are squeezed between suicidal fighters and a military behemoth.

Dr. Awni al-Jaru, 37, a surgeon at the hospital, rushed in from his home here, dressed in his scrubs. But he came not to work. His head was bleeding, and his daughter’s jaw was broken.
He said Hamas militants next to his apartment building had fired mortar and rocket rounds. Israel fired back with force, and his apartment was hit. His wife, Albina, originally from Ukraine, and his 1-year-old son were killed.

“My son has been turned into pieces,” he cried. “My wife was cut in half. I had to leave her body at home.” Because Albina was a foreigner, she could have left Gaza with her children. But, Dr. Jaru lamented, she would not leave him behind.

A car arrived with more patients. One was a 21-year-old man with shrapnel in his left leg who demanded quick treatment. He turned out to be a militant with Islamic Jihad. He was smiling a big smile.

“Hurry, I must get back so I can keep fighting,” he told the doctors.

He was told that there were more serious cases than his, that he needed to wait. But he insisted.

“We are fighting the Israelis,” he said. “When we fire we run, but they hit back so fast. We run into the houses to get away.” He continued smiling.

“Why are you so happy?” this reporter asked. “Look around you.”

A girl who looked about 18 screamed as a surgeon removed shrapnel from her leg. An elderly man was soaked in blood. A baby a few weeks old and slightly wounded looked around helplessly. A man lay with parts of his brain coming out. His family wailed at his side.

“Don’t you see that these people are hurting?” the militant was asked.

“But I am from the people, too,” he said, his smile incandescent. “They lost their loved ones as martyrs. They should be happy. I want to be a martyr, too.”

The whole Country is a Front Line

The news isn't so great today. Katyushas were fired from our NORTHERN border. Yes! The North! Is it Hizbolla, or some splinter Palestinian group? Who knows? The Government did expect this. Nonetheless, the knowledge that rockets are now hitting BOTH in the North and South is not particularly heartwarming.

I love how the news talk about the "Northern Front" (from Haifa Northwards) and the "Southern Front" (From BeerSheva to Kiryat Gat to Gaza) and the Palestinians have been throwing rocks and Molotov Cocktails on the roads in the West Bank. The whole country is the Front!

Yesterday, Gush Etzion had an evening fair with shopkeeperes and businesses from Sderot. The idea was to invite the stores of Sderot to do business here to prop up their waning revenues. A great idea. However they got to the army checkpoint, and when the army said that there had been some rock throwing on the road up to Gush Etzion, most of them turned round and went home. Better the rockets you know than the stones that you don't! The whole country is a Front Line!

Anyway, we'll have to see how things develop today. Seems like the army are working hard in Gaza. I have two pieces for you to look at today.

the British Press have been strongly anti-Israel throughout this crisis. Some of the language has certainly gone beyond the lines of any reasonable journalism. But see this strident piece by one of their central editors, a proud Jew, Daniel Finkelstein. It is an excellent read. (link)

In regards to the UN school that was hit, this post (link) was unbelievable. The headmaster is the mastermind of Islamic Jihad's missile division! There are reports that Hamas fighters go to children in the street and demand that the children accompany the fighters in order to ensure that the fighters are not fired at. Sick!

All I can say is .... Shalom! Hope it is a good day.

Something to laugh (or cry) at...

Something to take your mind off Gaza! (and worry about our other problems.)

A Soldier's Update

Today has been a difficult day with several soldiers killed, some from an incident of friendly fire. Of course, now is the hard part. The first week, we were bombing them from a distance. The first day of the ground assault, the soldiers were moving in open areas. Now, they are fighting in built-up regions where Hamas have an advantage and we have a disadvantage. By all accounts, our Chayalim seem to be doing excellent work. Keep praying and connecting!

To read an interesting account of a soldier describing his experiences in Gaza and what they have found there, see this article (link) released today. It describes how Hamas have boobytrapped Mosques, how they have traps everywhere, tunnels for kidnap operations, loads of weaponry and other things for military action. Sounds like most of the Hamas operatives have fled their homes. But one wonders why a people who have little money to live expend so much of the scant resources on weapons whose objective is killing us!

Another fantastic article that is well worth reading attacks people who make loose comparisons between Tzahal and the Nazis! You can find it here. He argues his point eloquently and convincingly. (And to the best of my knowledge, Aaronovitch is not Jewish)

Let's hope that we can achieve a victory and an end to the killing very soon.

Two moving pieces. Our children as Soldiers.

Here are two moving pieces regarding the Gaza operation and our children as soldiers: Daniel Gordis (link) and Yossi Klein Halevi in the Washington Post (link): As My Son Goes to War, I Am Fully Israeli At Last.

Keep in Touch with Israel

"We are not war hungry, but we shall not, I repeat shall not, allow a situation where our towns, villages and civilians are constantly targeted by Hamas." (Ehud Barak - today)

Here are 2 blogs and one charity to keep you connected with our battle in Gaza. From what I can read between the lines, we are doing well, and Hamas are pretty desperate. Let's hope that things continue that way.

I have found the the Muqata blog has excellent coverage of the Matzav. I already pointed out Oleh Girl. Here is another blog. It is from sderot by Yakira Weisel, an 18 year old Sherut Leumi volunteer (National Service.) The work that these young women do at a pretty young age is unbelievable. Last week Yakira brought her group of kids from Sderot to get out of the fighting and raised the funds to take them bowling and to the zoo in Jerusalem. Read her blog here (link).

Here is an amazing charity. See their work here. Standing Together, http://www.stogether.org/ is collecting warm socks, toothbrushes, toothpaste, deoderant, fleece ski masks, hot cups, bottled drinks, packaged cookies and cakes to bring to our soldiers coming in and out of Gaza. . You can also help by sponsoring online an $18 package for a chayal containing long underwear, hats, and socks. To donate funds to puchase these things please go to www.stogether.org/gaza Thanks so much and Tizku L'mitzvot.

Keep in touch!

Prayer for Tzahal

If you visit this blog, please say this prayer for our soldiers in Gaza:

מִי שֶׁבֵּרַךְ אֲבותֵינוּ אַבְרָהָם יִצְחָק וְיַעֲקב הוּא יְבָרֵךְ אֶת חַיָּלֵי צְבָא הֲגַנָּה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, הָעומְדִים עַל מִשְׁמַר אַרְצֵנוּ וְעָרֵי אֱלהֵינוּ מִגְּבוּל הַלְּבָנון וְעַד מִדְבַּר מִצְרַיִם וּמִן הַיָּם הַגָּדול עַד לְבוא הָעֲרָבָה בַּיַּבָּשָׁה בָּאֲוִיר וּבַיָּם. יִתֵּן ה' אֶת אויְבֵינוּ הַקָּמִים עָלֵינוּ נִגָּפִים לִפְנֵיהֶם. הַקָּדושׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא יִשְׁמר וְיַצִּיל אֶת חַיָלֵינוּ מִכָּל צָרָה וְצוּקָה וּמִכָּל נֶגַע וּמַחְלָה וְיִשְׁלַח בְּרָכָה וְהַצְלָחָה בְּכָל מַעֲשֵׂה יְדֵיהֶם. יַדְבֵּר שׂונְאֵינוּ תַּחְתֵּיהֶם וִיעַטְרֵם בְּכֶתֶר יְשׁוּעָה וּבְעֲטֶרֶת נִצָּחון. וִיקֻיַּם בָּהֶם הַכָּתוּב: כִּי ה' אֱלהֵיכֶם הַהלֵךְ עִמָּכֶם לְהִלָּחֵם לָכֶם עִם איבֵיכֶם לְהושִׁיעַ אֶתְכֶם: וְנאמַר אָמֵן:

See also my post from the Lebanon War here.

Gaza

I have been deliberating about what to write about Gaza. So much has been written already. I must admit that I have had many doubts as to whether this is the right thing for us (Israel) to have entered into at this time... a war is a big thing. In addition, we have all been shaken by the huge numbers of casualities in Gaza. Of course the coming days and weeks will tell us whether this was the right course of action. The test of this will be whether we can indeed stop the rocket fire and not function as if Hamas is calling the shots, which has been the case for the past 3 years. To write comprehensively about this would take many posts. I will just write some short notes here and give you some links. (I liked this blog)

1. There is no question that this is more than justified. after 8 years of holding back and trying every negotiation route, what is Israel to do? we have the right to fight back.

2. While we certainly do not want any civilian casualties on the other side, of course there will be, and have been many. Any talk about how we are hitting civilians has to be considered in the light of the following factors:
a. Hamas put their arms depots and military instillations amongst civilians to make them immune to Israeli attacks. So does that mean we can never attack terrorists like this?
b. Of the 300+ Palestinians killed 75% are terrorists. So say the UN figures. That is a very good statistic. Tzahal clearly have their bombs well aimed.
c. In Gaza just like in South Lebanon, I think that most people civilian or military are Hamas. The entire population are mobilised to destroy Israel. Just like 9/11 which was perpetrated by cicvilians, in the new constellation of the non-conventional war (like in Iraq or Lebanon etc.) there isn't the traditional division between civilian and military. Where do you draw the line for Ahmed who has a store but mans a Hamas phone line at night, or Fatima who passes messages by hanging out her green shirt on the washing line, or Muhammed who smuggles arms for money but doesn't really believe in the cause?

3. we need to pray that this is succesful and that many Chayalim don't get hurt.

4. Having said that, I am fearful that we are going to fail here. why?
Because of us and because of them.

Us: See Harel's article in Haaretz (link) and Bret stephens in WSJ (link).

We are not determined enough. We need to persist and not to look back. If we realy want to succeed we are going to have to be quite ruthless and to really engage in alot of destruction and punishment. I am unconvinced that Olmert Livni and Barak have the staying power. already after 48 hrs, Barak was pining for a way out. What is that? If you start, don't you know how you want to continue? as Harel writes, the person who blinks first is dead. Barak blinked first! This, if it is to be succesful will be long, very long and arduous. Do we have the stamina? Do our leaders have the ability to keep going... y'know - the long haul?

Again what is the point of this op.? It is to make them realise that shooting missilies is NOT in their best interests. How do we do that? By making sure that we take out their infrastructure and weapons stores and by making them suffer. True, we have destroyed development labs and many missiles and tunnels. All good. We have given them a shock. But if we go in, do we know the objective? When will it be clear that we have victory? What if the missiles don't stop? Do we stay in Gaza if the missiles dont stop? At what cost? And if we do pull out , how can we ensure that they do not see it as a victory??

Caution is needed.

Them: I always think that our secular leaders misjudge the religious mind. Hamas are religious people. They are passionate and they believe in the name of God in their way. They will fight to the death. I feel that frequently secular thinkers don't get it, they think that our decisions are based upon self interest and quality of life. But for a religious person it is based on belief. The Haredim are willing to live in abject poverty for the sake of limmud torah. Hamas think that we are infidels. They believe that Israel should be destroyed. Will a few bombs break that? I doubt it.

(Now again, this just underscores how dangerous Hamas are... go back to Bret Stevens article. When they get funds, they use it to buy weapons, not to pave streets or to creat industry and prosperity for the average Palestinian in Gaza. But again, if they are so motivated, so focused, so ideologically directed, then will a few strikes deter them? I fear that we are back in Lebanon 2006.)

And then there is the desparation of the Palestinians. See this interesting article. (link)

“There is a state in the world with no heat, no gas, no oil, no diesel, no drugs, no food,” said Muhammad Ahmed, 33, angrily. “The Jews have everything, and they won’t understand that on the other side there is nothing!
“People dig the tunnels out of hunger,” he insisted, and then warned, “When you don’t feed animals, they get angry and they bite you!”

They Palestinians have little to lose. In Sharon's Op. of 2001 (Homat Magen) he was succesful because he totally ran over the cities and he did stop the terrorism. Will this do the same? I fear that the Gaza people have little to lose. How will their lives become worse exactly? Do they have anything to lose?

Once again, I do hope our leaders know what they are doing,and I know we are justified in striking Hamas, but knowing Ehud Barak and Olmert, I doubt they have what it takes to finish the job.

And if we pull out and they see it as a victory, we are far worse off.

I do really hope that our leaders will prove my fears wrong. I hope that we can indeed change the status quo, and restore Israel's deterrent vis a vis Hamas. I do not envy our leaders in these situations. Only time will tell.

Parashat Vayishlach: Financial Advice From the Midrash

In this week's parasha, Yaakov, fearful for the safety of his "camp" - his servants and livestock - decides to divide them into two different groups. He said: "If Esav attacks one camp, the other will escape."

The Rabbis in Midrash Rabba applied this to the most elementary piece of financial advice, namely a diversified portfolio!

בראשית רבה פרשה עו ד"ה ג ויחץ את

ויחץ את העם, לימדך תורה דרך ארץ שלא יהא אדם נותן כל ממונו בזוית אחד ממי אתה למד מיעקב, שנאמר ויחץ את העם וגו'

The Torah has taught you about worldly matters: A person should not place all his money in one corner (of his house). From who do we learn this if not from Jacob, as it says "He split his camp etc."

Eco-Hannuka

I just love the things that people will do to make a Jewish festival relevant and to link it to causes which they care about. This is a great one... a friend of mine directed me to the group on Facebook. It is by http://www.svivaisrael.org/

Read here from their Facebook page:

Let's celebrate Hannukah 5769 by
1) cleaning up the world!
2) sharing Jewish environmental teachings
(והשנה גם בעברית )!
3) ...and lighting the Hannuka candles!

On the 1st day of Hannukah, pick up 1 piece of litter and put it in the trash can / recycling container.

On the 2nd day of Hannukah, pick up 2 pieces of litter and place them in the trash can / recycling container.

On the 3rd day of Hannukah, pick up 3 items of litter and ...well, you get the idea.

In the spirit of Limud U'Maaseh, every day of Hannukah, Eco Lights participants will receive a daily Jewish Environmental teaching from incredible guest writers!

If you pick up one more item each day, then by the end of Hannukah's 8 days, you will have picked up 36 items of litter and helped make our world a better place to live (If you live in Israel, you get extra points for beautifying Israel - Mitzvat Yishuv Eretz Yisrael :) )

And I love the important caveat at the end!

** Please do not pick up the garbage while your Hannuka candles are burning. Use this time to reflect on how even a small flame (or act) can light up the darkness.**

Thundering Silence

Last week, a house in Hebron was evacuated amidst extreme protest and violence. (link) I am aware that the legal status of that house is under discussion and contention. And yet, whatever the circumstances, the violence was shocking and more than troubling.

What we are seeing is a new violent streak in the Religious Zionist community, and new in two ways:
1. That it delegitimises the government , police and army. Since the Disengagement it has decided that the legal representatives of the State are undermining our Jewish presence in Israel and are thus illegitimate.
2. They now feel it is perfectly OK to smash Arab graves, set their homes on fire and to frighten and intimidate the Arab people around them

Just read this story from Hebron (from Jpost - link) and that is BEFORE all this mess.

So let's get this straight.
There is NO WAY that this violence by the Hebron settlers against soldiers, and Arab neighbours can be legitimised. Olmert called it a pogrom. That is what it looks like to me! It is violent. It is lawless. It involves awful crimes of abuse, intimidation, violence and destruction of property. I am embarrassed as a Jew to see Jews act in this way. Their Judaism has little in common with mine!

So where are the leaders?
Where are the Rabbis?

Where are the Rabbi Riskins, the Avi Gissers, the Tzohar Rabbis, the heads of the Yeshiva High schools, the Rav Aviners? The Yesha Council, The Yesha Mayors? Why is there absolute silence?

Today in the newspapers quite incredulously, there were two pieces lending support to these hooligans! (here and Here)

I'll tell you - these leaders and Rabbis are scared that if the talk out, they will be branded as leftists and enemies of eretz Yisrael etc. Well, they must not be intimidated! They must stand up and represent the Right Wing, and at the same time, reject violence and lawlessness. If the settler movement act with restraint, morality, dignity and legality, they will achieve far more. They will also control the moral high-ground. They might even be a Kiddush Hashem.

This violence needs to be decried in the most absolute fashion, or else, we are really dealing with a most dangerous momentum that will end in tragedy. Once it is legitimate to shoot at Palestinians and burn their homes, Jews will be next. Once it is legitimiate to intimidate and riot, there are no boundaries.

The time to act is NOW. It is already late. Leaders - speak out!



UPDATE (Wed Dec 10): Thank God, some leaders are speaking out. Here is a piece from Ynet about a letter from (Mori VeRabbi) Rav Lichtenstein expressing the Hillul Hashem of last week's events in Hevron and calling upon parents to direct and guide their children. - LINK. The article also talks about a conference tomorrow at Kehillat Yedidya. Unfortunately it is being sponsored only by far left-wing religious-zionist groups and hence it is likely that they will be preaching to the converted.

Can we Create a Tolerant Society in Israel?

Here is a topic that has been troubling me for a number of weeks. It started with this video.



It is pretty gruesome watching. It shows Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint taunting a kneeling bound and blindfolded Palestinian. They are doing it for fun. I watch the video and I am embarrassed. How can our soldiers humiliate and torture a fellow human being. These people have crossed a dangerous line.

So, I was watching this video and I showed it to my wife. I remarked, "look what happens when you have absolute power over another individual!" To which she replied: "It's not about power. These kids are just plain rascist."

My feeling was that when you put 19 yr olds in that powerful situation, there is bound to be abuse."The Occupation Corrupts!" - so goes the slogan, and I believe that it has great potential to do so. I know that i will be talking to my son as he nears enlistment age as to the respect to be given to any human being.

But my wife had a point. Is it just plain old Racism?

which brings me to the next point. Obama! I, like many others, was delighted when Obama won. I won't go into all the reasons but we all realised that this was Historic. After slavery, after seperate busses and park benches, a black man would be the President of the United States. what a victory for tolerance and equal rights. what a success for the civil rights movement! But it took years! It took over 100 years to get that process happening. It took marches and protests and legislation and lobbying, and positive discrimination and television to create black heroes (and presidents - see 24 for example which I imagine DID influence people that a black man could be president.)

Now, lets get back to Israel. we know that Israel is not an equal society. Arab schools are horribly underfunded. Some villages don't have running water. Arabs are not represented in government ministries and offices. It is certainly true that in Hospitals, Arab doctors and nurses are well represented and Arab patients get exactly the same treatment as Jews. We ARE an equal society! And yet, it is clear that Arabs have a way to go before we treat them on equal ground.

And now I am conflicted. Because on the one hand, I do have to be honest that I do NOT want to see the Arabs gaining absolute equality here. See this piece from Daniel Gordis in this week's Jpost (article link):

"...while Israel must absolutely strive to make race a non-issue (even among Jews, as with Ethiopians, for example) and to accord Israeli Arabs a significantly greater piece of the pie, we ought to be honest: If Israel one day were to have a Knesset in which a majority of the members were Arab, Israel will have failed in its purpose. ISRAEL WAS established as the sole country in which the Jews could flourish as only a majority culture..."

I will add more. If Israeli Arabs do make it to equality , the intermarriage rate will shoot up here. Is that what we want? Do we want a country in which Arab culture is absolutely equal to Jewish culture?

So can we really do both? Can we try to give genuine opportunity and equality to Arabs, stamp out Racism and bigotry and separation? Or, if we wish to remain a Jewish society will we only go so far? After all, the American model created genuine equality, embraced multi-ethnic marriage, dreamed of an American president. Do we? I think not! The American model took 100 years. (Did you hear Obama as he spoke in his victory speech about Ann Nixon-Cooper, the 106 yr old lady?) Do we have 50 years?

But if we don't do that, are we destined to a future of soldiers taunting Arabs?

How does an Israeli-Arab feel when we talk about the Arab birthrate as a "demographic threat" to the existence of the Jewish state. Would they be wrong to imply that we effectively resent every arab baby born! Is that Racism? - even left wing MK's talk that way.

Neither extremes are acceptable. Is the middle ground a possibility? A Jewish state which is still Jewish but absolutely tolerant?

Even European countries after 9/11 and after the bombings in London began to examine whether their Islamic minorities were a threat to the hegemony and tradition of their cultural heritages. On the one hand is equality, tolerance and multiculturalism. On the other hand is the right of a country to continue to exist - culturally - as its majority population wish it to exist. In many European countries, the very raising of the question was so controversial that it simply could not be discussed. But I feel that this is what we are facing.

The calls are growing to giving Arabs full representation in Israel, calls for equality and full acceptance; co-existence, it is called.

Can the Jewish State afford that?

But if we don't are we condemned to a continuation of ugly Racism?

Oy!

UPDATE
I would just like to add a comment here. after I posted this, I realised that despite giving this much thought, there may be some naieve thinking here. after all, I imagine that despite Obama's election, there are still many rascist pockets of American society. Likewise, many Israelis ARE respectful and tolerant, and isolated incidents cannot be brought to prove the rule. And yet despite that, there is a feeling here that Arabs sometimes get the thin end of the wedge.

Much of this has to do with the "conflict". Some say that Israeli arabs will never be able to feel part of Israel nor us Israelis trust them until there is a resolution of the Palestinian conflict. In the meantime we are torn between seeing them as full citizens and seeing them as a fifth column of sorts. They are torn between Israel where they want to live and their Palestinian cousins, and certainly, there is evidencxe of radicalisation amongst Israeli Arabs.

I am not looking to be simplistic here. Once again I reiterate... coming from a Western culture and mindset that celebrates tolerance and equality, the question of how to instill these values and actualise them here in Israel seems far more complex and fraught with difficulty. Sometimes its difficult to even know precisely what we wish to achieve.

Parashat Vayetze: Yaakov Stoned!

Our parsha would appear to have something of a fascination with stones. Yes! You heard correctly! Stones!

Look at the evidence:
1. Yaakov, in response to his night-time epiphany turns the stone from under his head into a monument.
2. Yaakov proceeds to Aram, where there is an entire drama with the stone that covers the well. Yaakov exhibits unusual strength as he removes the weighty stone with ease “like a cork from a bottle.” (Rashi).
3. And then, at the close of our parsha (31:45-6) as Yaakov and Lavan part ways, Yaakov establishes another monument (matzeva.)
4. Yaakov then instigates the collection of stones, more stones to create a pile so large that he and Lavan can eat upon this artificial “hill!” This mound becomes a monumental symbol, a sign of their eternal separation.

Later in the Yaakov story, we hear of more stones:

5. The stone that he establishes on his return to Beit El (35:14) which would appear to have some sacrificial relevance.
6. and, the Matzeva on Rachel’s grave (35:20) … again mentioned three times in a single passuk. (We have never seen a monument or column/pillar on a person’s burial-place up to this point in the Torah.)

Rabbi Dr. Josh Berman wrote an article many years ago connecting the significance of Jacob’s FOUR matzevot. He suggested that the original Matzeva replicates or animates the dream: The ladder mutzav artza – placed firmly in the ground – with its head “rosha” reaching heaven. Hence Yaakov sets up (VaYatzev) a vertical column and pours oil “Al Rosha” on its head.

The ingredients of the dream are:
1. Yaakov's covenantal status
2. God will protect him
3. God will return him to Eretz Yisrael.

Hence:
1. At separation from Lavan, he sets up a Matzeva to recognise God's protection
2. At Beit El, he has been returned to the land.
3. Rachel's death marks the birth of his 12th son which he marks with a matzeva recognising God's granting him offspring and his covenantal status.

And even if this is correct (it is a pretty good theory!) it does not explain the other stones.

What is it with Yaakov and stones?

Ideas in the comments please?

The G-dcast.com

More Torah cartoons at www.g-dcast.com

I think that cartoons are an incredible medium for education. This video is full of Midrashim and I am unsure that I buy the precise message, and yet, I love the feel, the mood, the energy. A welcome addition to the weekly parashat Hashavua