Article: The Spark of Return by David Wilder

The Spark of Return

by David Wilder

The Jewish Community of Hebron

September 19, 2006

 

Shalom.

 

Usually when I give tours in Hebron, I do the talking and the visitors do the listening. Hebron's highlights are much more than just seeing the sites. The history, the culture and tradition and, for me, the stories, are what make a good tour. However yesterday, in the midst of an excursion around the city of the Patriarchs, my guest turned to me and said, 'now I want to tell you a story.' And what a story it was, especially for this time of the year, only a few days from Rosh HaShana, the Jewish new year, and Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year.

 

The story starts in Hebron, August, 1929. The riots that swept Hebron left 67 dead and over 70 wounded. One of those who survived, and was not physically injured was a young woman from a well-known family. True, she wasn't physically hurt, but the anguish, hearing the screams, witnessing the rape and torture, experiencing the horror, left not only scars, but open wounds on her soul.

 

She decided 'enough is enough. I don't want any more of this.' She met a British officer, married him and fled Eretz Yisrael. For Australia. Leaving her Jewish roots, her family roots, her Hebron roots, far behind.  But just Australia wasn't enough. She made her way, with her husband, to some remote village, populated by Australian aborigines, basically forgetting what seemed to her to be a retched past.

 

The years went by and she gave birth to a son who grew up having no inkling of his mother's past. He too married an Australian women and had children of his own.

 

But something bothered him. Israel. Israel kept tugging at him, for no rational reason. He couldn't get Israel out of his mind, and was almost literally going crazy. His wife had no idea what was happening to her husband and didn't know how to help him. His mother, remembering her past, kept her mouth shut.

 

Finally, he couldn't take it any more and left Australia to visit the holy land. When he returned he still couldn't rid himself of a constant attachment to Israel. At long last, seeing her son's turmoil, the man's mother sat down with him and told him her story. 'My son, I am a Jewess – I came from the holy city of Hebron, and fled, following the horrors of the 1929 massacre. If I am a Jew, than you too, my son, you too are a Jew, from a prestigious Jewish family, a family of deep fertile Jewish roots, from the first Jewish city in Eretz Yisrael.'

 

Yesterday's guest told me how he happened upon the family, this man and his mother, who turned their home into something of a 'little Israel' in the middle of nowhere in Australia, hosting Jews, and primarily Israelis who make it a point to come and visit there because 'there's a family there who helps Israelis.'

 

Why is this story so appropriate for the days preceding the High Holy Days? In every Jew is a spark, a spark of sanctity, a spark which cannot be extinguished, even in the most dreadful circumstances. A person can try to run, flee, escape, but the spark is an integral part of his being. It cannot be left behind. It can be buried deep within the soul, it can be forgotten or ignored, but it cannot be quenched. This is the spark of Judaism.

 

During this time of the year, observant Jews attempt to deal with the concept of 'Tshuva' which is usually translated as repentance, but literally means 'return.' Repentance literally means remorse or sorrow, but this is only one aspect of Tshuva. In order 'to do tshuva' a person must repent, but that alone is not enough. If a person is sorry about what he or she did, but then turns around and does the same thing again, of what value is the remorse? Rather, repentance is the first stage, but the second stage is to accept upon oneself a vow, not to repeat the same mistake again. And to really try and keep that self-made promise.

 

In Judaism, this concept is called Tshuva – returning. Returning to what? To our fundamental selves, to the purity of our initial being, returning to the life that G-d laid out for us, via Torah and mitzvot, fulfilling the positive precepts and refraining from forbidden acts.

 

Why is this called 'tshuva' – returning, what are we returning to?  We are returning to that spark, deep inside us, rediscovering it, allowing its light to warm us, to envelope us, to fill us with a Divine spirit; to allow that spirit to be at one with us and to try and live accordingly, each person at his own level and ability. So it was with this one man, living so far away, but sensing a spark deep inside him, pulling him, not giving him peace, until he discovered the source of his existence, the roots of his life, the spark of Judaism which was a part of his soul.

 

This year has not been easy in Hebron. Trying to live with the pain of last year's expulsion from Gush Katif and the northern Shomron was difficult enough. However, the hurt didn't stop there. This year, since February, Hebron residents were expelled from 12 homes – nine in the Mitzpe Shalhevet neighborhood, known as 'the shuk' and another three apartments in Beit Shapira, just down the road from the Avraham Avinu neighborhood. The Rinat Shalhevet Torah center, opened in the Mitzpe Shalhevet neighborhood in memory of murdered infant Shalhevet Pass hy"d was forced to move. All in all, not an easy year. So, in retrospect, how do we deal with these issues?

 

The answer, I believe, is buried in the above story. First, we have to remember that our very existence today in Eretz Yisrael is something of a miracle. For two thousand years Jews lived as a persecuted minority, being forced, in many instances, to convert or be killed. Thousands, tens of thousands, were murdered for one reason alone, because they were Jews. Our return to Eretz Yisrael was, and is, nothing less than a true Divine miracle. A rekindling of a spark.

 

Our return to Hebron, even after the return to the Land, even after creation of the State of Israel, is too a miracle. Who could have dreamed of Jews living next to Ma'arat HaMachpela, the Tombs of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, off-limits to Jews for 700 years? Following the 1929 riots and massacre who would dare live in a city of such hate? Yet, back we came, again a miracle, this time the miracle of 1967 and the Six-day war.

 

Following Oslo and the Hebron Accords, the Hebron Jewish Community was as good as finished – so we were told. How can Jews continue living in a community filled with terrorists who controlled about 90% of the city, including the strategic hills, which surround the civilian Jewish population?

 

And then, exactly six years ago – the Oslo war, on the eve of Rosh HaShana, 2000, - for two years the terrorists used those hills to shoot at us in an almost unceasing attempt to chase us from our homes. Yet they did not succeed. The Jewish Community of Hebron would not be vanquished. The spark continued to grow.

 

True, sometimes there are setbacks, at times the powers of evil give an illusion of bettering the powers of good. But this is only an optical illusion, temporary, soon to be forever changed.

 

Because the same spark that pulled and tugged a man who grew up as a non-Jew in the depths of Australia, bringing him back to his Judaism, that same spark continues to pull and tug at the Jewish people, wherever they are, be it in North America, Europe, South Africa, or Israel. That is the spark that brought us back to our land, to Eretz Yisrael, that brought us back to our Hebron, and that will eventually bring us back to Mitzpe Shalhevet, the rest of Hebron, to Kfar Daron and Netzarim, and to all of Eretz Yisrael,

 

That is the spark inside our neshama, inside our souls, individually and collectively, the spark of Torah, the spark of Am Yisrael, the spark of Eretz Yisrael, the spark of Tshuva, the spark of return.

 

Shana tova – Happy New Year.

 

With blessings from Hebron.

 

This article can be commented on at: http://www.davidwilder.blogspot.com/

 

Response

 

Shalom and thanks for writing.

 

A number of people have written asking why I didn't mention Moshe Feiglin in my last commentary "The bullet's in the chamber" [www.davidwilder.blogspot.com].

 

There were who suggested that I may have a personal aversion to Feiglin, and this in not correct. I have met him on various occasions, though we are not personal friends. I regard him with great respect, as a Jew with tremendous mesirut nefesh (dedication) and for what I consider to be sizable achievements, beginning with "Mitvtza Machpil" and Zu Artzenu and continuing through the present.

 

As much as I admire Moshe Feiglin, and the political inroads he has made, I do not consider him to be a serious candidate for Prime Minister, at least, not at the present.

 

Why not? There are several reasons:

 

1. As we have seen from recent catastrophies – i.e., Barak and Olmert, Prime Ministers' without necessary experience are not suited for the job. (That doesn't mean that anyone with experience is suitable!)  To the contrary, their inexperience has proved to be calamitous. Feiglin is undoubtedly G-d fearing, honest, and has all the qualities necessary for a true Jewish leader. This does not me, however, that he can justifiably jump from civilian clothing into the Prime Minister's seat. The Prime Minister of Israel must be able to make decisions which are not only ideological. They must also be professional. As we have recently witnessed, the lack of ability so obvious in the persons of our present Defense Minister and Prime Minister costs lives, and could, G-d forbid, put the existence of the State of Israel in jeopardy.  Despite Feiglin's tremendous abilities, I personally do not believe that he has, as of yet, garnered the experience necessary in various fields, to allow him to successfully become Prime Minister at this time.
2. It has been noted that he is popular within the Likud and that a campaign to enlist further Likud members from the right could bring about his election as chairman of the Likud. This, in turn, could bring about his election as Prime Minister. I believe that these ideas are inaccurate. As the last election proved, the chairman of the Likud cannot be guaranteed 1^st or 2^nd place in the Knesset. The Likud  came in tied for third.  Also, memories prove to be too short.  Only a few years ago Labor nominated Amram Mitzne as chairman of the Labor Party. As a result Labor plummeted and a party like Shinui was able to skyrocket. Traditional Labor voters could not vote for Mitzne due to his left-wing extremism, and, as a result, voted for Shinui. In other words, that fact that Feiglin might be able to capture the Likud leadership does not, in any way, guarantee support for him for Prime Minister. To the contrary, I personally believe that were he to be elected chairman of the Likud, the result could have disastrous implications. Traditional Likud voters would likely turn left (as we witnessed only a few months ago, with the huge swing to Kadima) thereby again bringing to power, strong, left-wing parties.
3. One must also take into account the present form of Israeli elections, i.e. voting for a list, and not for an individual prime minister. As long as the present system exists, how can we vote for a list containing people who favored, or at the least, did not actively reject the expulsion from Gush Katif, the abandonment of over 80% of Hebron and the very Oslo agreements which triggered the current talks of further expulsion of tens of thousands of Jews and continued abandonment of Eretz Yisrael. Even if Moshe Feiglin stands at the head of the list, what does he have behind him?

 

The question then asked is, what is the alternative, and as I stated my article, there aren't too many favorable alternatives. Israel has a serious leadership problem. There are ideal solutions, which, unfortunately, do not yet seem to yet be achievable. Until there is a major change, we have no choice but to work within the frameworks which currently exist, as faulty as they are. At the same time, we must attempt to bring about the changes necessary to overcome these difficulties. However, shooting ourselves in the foot is not going to bring about the salvation we so yearn. For these reasons, I did not present Moshe Feiglin as an alternative candidate for Prime Minister in the commentary: "The bullet's in the chamber.'

 

With blessings from Hebron for a Happy, healthy New Year,

David Wilder

 

The bullet's in the chamber

The bullet's in the chamber

September 5, 2006

 

Almost everyone I speak to asks the same question: What or who, is next?

 

Olmert's gone. Whether indicted by Attorney General Mazuz on any of the corruption charges being investigated, or expelled from office as a result of the findings of any of the committees investigating the failures of the Lebanese war, or, perhaps being on the losing end of the next Israeli elections, which will probably occur in the very near future. Or any other possibility that can be thought of. Olmert's gone. He has to go.

 

Olmert's removal from office, together with those surrounding him: Amir Peretz, Tzippy Livni, Dan Halutz, and a few others, is a case of life or death. The brains of the country are petrified at the thought of the current regime running Israel when, say, Syria attacks, or Iran starts flinging bombs at us, or should a few of our neighbors get together and decide to replay 1973. It is preferable not to let the possible results escape our lips. But it's no secret. Totally irresponsible, inexperienced, political crooks running the country is a sure recipe for disaster.

 

According to Debka (sometime straight-on and other times a little off) – in Hebrew (only partially accessible in English), a very recent evaluation by the American government of Israel and the present administration led to the conclusion that the State of Israel is in bad shape. The article's final line, quoting Bush, "Those Israelis, they're not what we thought." (It doesn't make any difference if he really said it or not – it's the truth!)

 

In truth, one need not be a veteran intelligence analyst to realize that the Israel of 2006 isn't the Israel of the past. Much has changed. Any political leadership willing and able to tear its own citizens from their homes, basically forsaking them, only to witness the catastrophic results in the shape of missiles flying from the very land they abandoned, yet still proclaiming the necessity to continue with a further expulsion and abandonment, this is real bad news. Yet, despite the continued Kassam attacks, the current Prime Minister planned on implementing just that. G-d forbid.

 

For the time being perhaps the priorities have changed. But not the principles behind them. Eretz Yisrael is still profane. Only secularity is holy.

 

That's when the so-called 'big question' comes into play. Once Olmert goes, who’s next. Who is the next Mashiach (Messiah)?

 

Years ago we thought it would be Begin. A big disappointment. Then, after the advent of Olso-Rabin-Peres, we all sang and danced upon Bibi's victory. Total euphoria. Quickly doused. A modern-day Shabbatai Tzvi. The false Messiah at his best. And again, not yet learning, after the Barak (Ehud) calamity, breathing a deep breath of relief at the election of Arik. That deep breath was almost our last. His stranglehold left us down and almost out.

 

And now, we are on the verge of replaying the tape. Who is this year's hero?

 

I suppose there are any number of answers to the question. There are also various levels of answers: Theoretical and/or practical.

 

On the theoretical level, personally, I would definitely prefer an observantly religious Jew taking the reins, a person with fear of G-d, and not fear of Bush, Annan, EU, etc.

 

However, at the moment, the chances of that happening within the framework of the present form of Israeli government seems to be miniscule, if at all, possible.

 

So, who do we want to see in the PM's office. Assuming that the choice falls between a candidate from the Likud, Labor, and (ugh) Kadima, again, personally, the only person I could probably trust is Rubi Rivlin. But it doesn’t look like he has too much of a chance to take control of the Likud. He might make it to the President's Home in Jerusalem, which is a nice honor, but politically, not worth much more than that.

 

Realistically speaking, it looks like we're going to get Bibi back again. This time, without the celebrations. We know what we're getting.

 

A few years ago I asked someone close to Netanyahu if he was sorry about Wye – the fateful accords he agreed to sign, which ultimately cost him his job. The answer: Yes, Bibi's sorry, but not for the right reason. He's sorry about Wye because it cost him his government, but he still doesn't realize that Eretz Yisrael isn't to be toyed with.

 

It doesn’t look like Bibi's changed. His positions concerning Gush Katif certainly don't point to deep repentance. His position concerning unilateral concessions seems to be clear, but cutting up Eretz Yisrael in a negotiated 'piece agreement' would be acceptable.

 

So, what do we do?

 

First, pray. Pray that G-d should bring us the real Mashiach before the next elections. (If he arrived today we wouldn’t object.)

And if G-d doesn’t see it our way? We certainly don't have to vote for Netanyahu. But, should he be elected, the pressure has to be exerted even before he takes the oath of office.

 

What pressure? It has to be 100% clear that any Israeli leader who plays around with Eretz Yisrael, who even thinks that he has a mandate to dismantle our homeland, will, quite simply, fall, will be removed from office at the first available moment.

 

We may have to play out the scenario again and again, with one Prime Minister after another, until one of them finally wakes up. Eventually it will happen. It's not an optimal plan of action, but we may not have any choice.

 

What is the alternative? We've experienced that for the past couple of months, leaving us with 3 POWs, 156 dead and I don't know how many wounded. And this is the least of it. For as Debka reported, and here, accuracy has nothing to do with the concept, Israel's credibility is quickly running down the drain. And in practical terms, our survival is dependent on just that credibility, on our enemies understanding that they don't have a chance against us. Should our deterrent image tinge, should the vision of Israel as a supreme opponent, incapable of being defeated be quashed, we are in big trouble. And that's what' starting to happen. It doesn't mean that we will lose the BIG war, but the price we may have to pay to win is excruciatingly unthinkable.

 

In short, we have to get our act together real fast. Because at the moment, with Olmert and Co. running the show, I get the feeling that we're playing a Middle East version of Russian roulette. And I'll tell you a secret: I cheated and peeked. The bullet's in the next chamber.

 

With blessings from Hebron.

You are invited to comment on this article at: http://www.davidwilder.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lava of Love for Eretz Yisrael

Lava of Love for Eretz Yisrael

August 31, 2006

 

A few days my wife and I, together with our two youngest children, (aged 11 and 15) took a break from Hebron city life and drove up north. All the way up north. To Kiryat Shemona.

 

Actually, we had been planning on going north at the beginning of August. However, at that time, Nasrallah, Olmert and G-d had other plans for that part of the country. So we had to wait.

 

Life in Kiryat Shemona is, at least for tourists like us, back to normal. People moving around, cars, shopping, restaurants, etc. On the other hand, it was difficult to escape an intuitive impression that life was, very much, not really back to normal. It takes a little time to readjust after having had missiles being shot into your homes. In Hebron we had some experience with such events. True, we didn't have rockets being shot at us, but two years of bullets isn't a bad second.  

 

Sunday night we had dinner with old friends. It was a nice evening of 'catch-up." Monday morning we went 'kayaking' – that is, river rafting, down the Hatzbani river.  If you've already done it, obviously you're having a difficult time waiting for a repeat performance. If you've never done it, you don't know what you're missing.

 

Gliding down the river in a rubber boat, or kayak, soaking in the scenery, heating up under the hot sun and then cooling off in the refreshing water, playing 'splash games' with the kids and colliding with other water-travelers; it's two hours of totally losing yourself, forgetting the real world, simply drifting, mind and body alike.

 

Unfortunately, the two hour water venture finishes much too soon. As you disembark you feel like you could do it again and again and again. However…

 

Reality quickly reminds you that the Garden of Eden is still something of a fantasy.

 

Leaving the Hatzbani, we looked for something else to do before leaving the area. We sighted signs to Tel Chai and decided to make the short ride there.

 

Tel Chai is located on the outskirts of Kiryat Shemona, sort of between the roads leading to Misgav Am and Metulla. It became famous during the skirmishes between the French and the Arabs during World War One. The Arabs, thinking that the Jews were assisting the French, attacked them and the small villages they had founded along the Israel-Lebanon border. One of these outposts was called Tel Chai.

At the end of 1919, a former Russian war hero named Joseph Trumpeldor was asked to take command and find a way to protect the few isolated settlements and their meager population. It was an almost hopeless task.

 

Arguments raged amongst the Jewish leadership of pre-State Israel. Interestingly, according to the movie shown at the site, David ben Gurion favored sending reinforcements, saying that Jews must be protected wherever they are. On the other hand, Zeev Jabotinsky preferred to evacuate the civilians due to the excessive danger.

 

On March 1, 1920 – the 11th of Adar, six Jews were killed at Tel Chai, including the one-armed Trumpeldor. His famous last words, heard by three people were, "It's nothing, it's good to die for the sake of our homeland." The outpost was burned to the ground and evacuated. A year later, Jews returned to the area and reestablished a Jewish presence in the north of Eretz Yisrael.

 

Trumpeldor and his fallen friends were buried on the outskirts of one of these communities, Kfar Giladi, and a huge stone lion was place above their common grave, called 'the roaring lion.'

 

After viewing the movie, we took a short ride to the cemetery, to see the lion. It really is quite impressive. However the lasting impression wasn't formed from the lion. It came from the blackened areas, surrounding the cemetery. Black, burnt, from the katusha rockets recently aimed at our homeland by our enemies, from only a few kilometers away. It left a very empty feeling in my stomach. On the one hand, such courage, such heroism, and on the other hand, a big question mark, where has it all gone?

 

From Tel Chai-Kiryat Shemona we drove a few hours south, reaching Zichron Ya'akov. A tourist town, not far from the Mediterranean, Zichron Ya'akov sports a seemingly unending amount of coffee shops and restaurants. Being that there's a limit how many breakfasts you can eat, we wandered the streets and happened upon another historic site – the Aaronson home. We bought tickets and went inside.

 

In Israel, the Aaronson family, Sarah Aaronson, Aharon Aaronson, and their colleague, Avshalom Feinberg, are almost a synonym for dedication and heroism. Initiating one of the first Jewish spy rings in Israel in 2,000 years,  called "Nili" – (Netzach Yisrael Lo Yishaker – the eternity of Israel will not be silenced), the group assisted the British fighting against the Turks and the Ottoman Empire during World War One. They had one goal: to oust the Turkish invader and prepare conditions for the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Yisrael.

 

Feinberg was killed by Bedouins in the Sinai, when trying to make contact with the British. Twenty-seven year old Sarah, after having been captured and tortured by the Turks, committed suicide so as not to reveal secrets she knew about the organization and fellow members.  Others were captured and hanged.

 

In the Aaronson house, seeing the bathroom where Sarah shot herself to protect others, you get goose pimples, you can experience the electricity of moments that occurred almost 90 years ago. 

 

And again, that sensation, the same one felt at Tel Chai. On the one hand, such unbelievable heroism, and on the other, where has it all gone? The Aaronson's and their compatriots never had a chance, and more than likely, they knew it. Who did they have behind them? There was no Jewish army, no state, virtually nothing. We are talking about Eretz Yisrael of  1915-1916-1917. (Sarah died the day after Succot, in 1917.)

 

Despite their miniscule chances of success, they refused to despair. A small group of dedicated Jews, against the Ottoman empire. One of those captured and hung in Damascus, Yosef Lishanski, moments before his death, declared: "We are not traitors, we did not betray our homeland, for before their can be treachery, there must first be love. We never loved the [Ottoman] homeland; we hated it the supreme hate...those of us, members of Nili, headed by the 'great Jew' (Aharon Aaronson), have dug you a huge grave, disgraced Ottomans...For as you are busy hanging us, the great British army is entering our holy city, Jerusalem and your armies are fleeing from the city without a fight."

 

Such dedication, such courage, such heroism,  - there aren't enough adjectives in the English language to describe these people, the Trumpeldors, the Aarnonsons and Feinbergs, and others like them, who laid down their lives for one thing and one thing alone: for Eretz Yisrael.

 

And today I can only ask: where has it all gone? Has that same love of the land that they died for disappeared?

 

Despite the superficial illusions, I think not. The love is still there. But it has been buried, deep inside our souls. It no longer glows and shines as it did for Sarah Aaronson. The brainwashing of 'reality,' the indoctrination of 'a palestinian homeland,' the propaganda of self-hate, the lies of wolves in sheep's clothing, whose sole desire is the eradication of the State of Israel, all have obscured love of the homeland. Trumpeldor's and Aaronson's love of Eretz Yisrael wasn't contrived, it was natural, as natural as eating, sleeping and breathing. And dying for what you believe in.

 

Nature isn't easily changed.  We need only dig a little, and when we hit it, it will spout forth as a volcano spews lava – the lava of love for our land, for all our land, for Eretz Yisrael.

 

That's the lesson of this year's vacation.

 

With blessings from Hebron.

 

For reasons beyond my control, this article and others I author will not appear on the Hebron web site. You are invited to comment at: http://www.davidwilder.blogspot.com/

Israelis or Jews? by David Wilder

Israelis or Jews?

August 24, 2006

 

IDF reservists are petitioning a demand for answers. Why weren't they allowed to win? Why were the decision-makers indecisive? IDF officers have started confessing: "We are arrogant."  

 

Blame is flying every which way and finger-pointing is at its peak. Yet, the real point has yet to be addressed.

 

A few days ago, following Olmert's statements that the next planned expulsion of some 100,00 Jews from Judea and Samaria is no longer on the top of his priority list, I received an email dealing with 'convergence.' In my words, the letter said, 'It's not enough to see expulsion dropped from 'number-one' priority. We have to make sure it is dead and buried, never again to be resurrected.'

 

Very true. How can we make sure that happens?

 

Why did we lose the Hizballah war? Because the Israeli army, rather than prepare for battle with the enemy, prepared for war with its brethren. The government spent millions of dollars and immeasurable man-hours training the troops, not how to win a guerilla war against terrorist-barbarians, rather, how to expel men, women and children from their homes, 'b'regishut' – sensitively, but with 'nechishut' but with resolve. The brainwashing involved  was unparalleled: One example: Participants were told to close their eyes and imagine the most beautiful scene they could think of –where they would most like to be. That accomplished, they were then told to imagine that a wall now divides between their utopia and themselves.

 

Following the imaging, with eyes wide open, they were then told: The dream is peace, and the wall is the 'settlers.' The one must be removed in order to reach the other.

 

Who were those brainwashed? Not only the man on the street, the privates and the corporals. Rather, the cream of the crop, officers in the standing army and the reserves, of all ranks. They were forced to listen, breath, and then implement, the crime of all crimes: evicting brothers and sisters from their homes and then abandoning the land to the enemy – an act never ever done before by any  people in the world.

 

From the moment Sharon, together with Olmert, and later with the backing of Mufaz, decided to eradicate Gush Katif from the map, the IDF was transformed into a WMD – a weapon of mass destruction – or perhaps better put, a weapon of mass self-destruction. The physical and psychological demands upon the officers and soldiers, as well as the time lost preparing for a civil war rather than a real war, there were major factors in the recent lack of victory.

 

However, the decision-makers who forced Gush Katif down the collective throat of the Israeli public, how can we possibly expect them to have the necessary intellect to reach  the proper and necessary conclusions concerning authentic warfare, upon which the survival of the country may be at stake?

 

What is guiding light of these decision-makers?

 

I recently heard a true, hair-raising story: A high-level delegation from Israel met with the French minister of war. The goal: to achieve French support for the 'convergence-expulsion' plan. The minister asked the group: How can a country perpetrate such an act against its own people? The answer: "We are Israelis. Those being expelled are Jews." 

 

In other words, we are two peoples, two nations, two seemingly mutually exclusive sects: Israelis and Jews.

 

All well and good until it comes time for dying. When called upon to put your life on the line, it seems those lines get blurred. Then we are all ---- what? Jews? Israelis? What are we then? Who are the soldiers dying for, for Jews, for Israelis, for whom?

 

We lost the war in the north because we forgot who we are – what we are, and why we are here, why we are fighting. The IDF – the Israeli Defense Forces, perhaps should change its name to the JDF – to the Jewish Defense Forces, because that is the root of our legitimate right to wear uniforms, carry weapons, and if need be, die for our land and our country. Because we are Jews, fighting for our land and our people, not fighting against our land and against our people.

 

As we begin the month of Elul, with Rosh HaShana just around the corner, it would be wise to do a little soul-searching in hopes of mending the tremendous rifts in our society. A good place to begin would be at our roots, at the source of our being, remembering that we are one people, in one land, under one G-d.

 

Chodesh Tov – a good month.

 

With blessings from Hebron.

 

Following posting of this article on Arutz 7, I received the following newspaper clipping from a reader:
On the day following his defeat by Benjamin Netanyahu in the 1996 election for prime minister, Peres had this exchange with a journalis:

Interviewer: What happened in these elections? Peres: We lost.
Interviewer: Who is we? Peres: We, the Israelis.
Interviewer: And who won? Peres: All those wo don not have an Israeli mentality.
Interviewer: And who are they? Peres: Call it the Jews.
(Available in 'What Shimon Says' – Published by AFSI)

 

 

The Lessons of 2006

The Lessons of 2006

August 11, 2006

 

A number of years ago I authored an article titled, 'The Lessons of 1929,' a version of which was printed in the Jerusalem Post. The gist of the article was trust no one but yourself. Don't place your security, the lives of your family, friends, and country in the hands of foreigners. First and foremost, our security is in the hands of G-d. However, the good L-rd doesn't expect us to sit home and watch while He strikes down evil with lightening and thunder from the heavens. We are commanded to protect ourselves, be it on a personal or public level. Personally, each and every person must take care of themselves. Publicly, our government is responsible for the security and welfare of its citizens.

 

In 1921, Hebron's Jewish leadership erroneously believed that they could trust their next-door neighbors to protect them. After all, during the 1929 riots, Hebron's Jews came to no harm. Despite offers by the Hagana to provide weapons and protection, the Jewish Hebronites preferred to leave well enough alone, and refused any outside assistance or interference.

 

The results speak for themselves.

 

The modern state of Israel, catastrophically following in the footsteps of 1929 Hebron, fell into the same self-created trap, this time called Oslo. The tenets of Oslo were axiomatic: Israel could not, and would not achieve peace and security without full coordination and full cooperation from the so-called Palestinian government and security forces. If they played the game our way, all would be OK. If not, tough luck.

 

They played the game, their way. At a cost inexpressible in numbers or words. Close to two thousand dead and tens of thousands wounded does not do justice to the cataclysm. Who can enumerate the pain and grief of orphans and widows?

 

When looking in the mirror, in the reflection behind us, there is no one to blame. The proverbial 'finger' is pointing straight ahead, at us. We did it to ourselves.

 

A year ago, again. Seeing the wondrous result of the Lebanese retreat, Israel made the same mistake once more. The expulsion from, and abandonment of Gush Katif could and would undoubtedly solve all our problems. The Arabs would get what they want, the rest of the world would be appeased, and Israel would live happily ever after for eternity.

 

Israel's leadership forgot one thing: Middle East eternity is spelled b-r-i-e-f.

 

Soon the mortars being aimed at Gush Katif's saintly Jewish population were transformed into Kasam missiles and were targeting Sderot and Ashkelon. Terrorist forces invaded Israeli army bases, killing and capturing soldiers. Acts of war.

 

And the adventures up north are all too fresh, the wounds still pouring blood like a faucet of water to have to add too much. But something has to be said, as we seeming are on the verge of another disastrous capitulation.

 

Recent past history: Ehud Barak was considered to be an excellent soldier, and his brilliance led to his appointment as Chief of Staff of the IDF in 1991, serving in that position until 1995. Almost immediately following his retirement from the army he entered politics, becoming Interior Minister in the Rabin government in early 1995. Upon Rabin's assassination be became Peres' Foreign Minister and was elected Labor party leader after Peres' defeat, in 1997. In May, 1999 he was elected Prime Minister of Israel. Almost exactly a year later he ordered the IDF to flee from South Lebanon. Less than a year later he was no longer Prime Minister.

 

Journalist/Author Raviv Drucker titled his book about Barak "Harikari – Ehud Barak, the Failure." That just about says it all. Barak's greatest mistakes, offering Arafat 90% of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, as well as East Jerusalem, and his abandonment of northern Israel, led to his speedy political demise.

 

Why?

 

Barak had no political experience whatsoever. He was a soldier, a soldier's soldier. But generalling, and running a country are two different things. And trying to govern Israel, a state of Jews, is all the more complicated. The considerations, the results, the repercussions, all demand more than a brilliant mind and a few decades in uniform. Barak was missing the necessary components essential for international give and take. In simple terms, he blew it. The only problem is, if a minor employee 'blows it,' so, big deal. When a Prime Minister, who is responsible for survival of the Jewish State 'blows it,' take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Big, big time disaster.

 

You would think that Israel, it's citizens, would have learned. But no, we have to go back and run a repeat performance.

 

Who has been running Israel for the past few months?

 

Who is Ehud the Second?

In the IDF, after being injured, he was a journalist. He was a Knesset member. His cabinet positions: Minister without portfolio, Responsibility for Minority Affairs, Health Minister, Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor, Minister of Communications. For a short time, after Netanyahu broke with Sharon, he was Finance Minister. He became acting Prime Minister following Sharon's stroke.

 

He was also Mayor of Jerusalem.

 

His wife, Aliza, is a well-known leftist activist, who, according to the 'wikipedia' is rumored to have been a founding member of "Women in Black."

His daughter Dana, a lesbian, is active in the left-wing organization "Machsom Watch." His son Shaul, lives in New York. His son Ariel studies in France and did not serve in the IDF. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmert]

 

Is this Prime Minister material? Does he have the capabilities to decide when to go to war, how to run the war, how to end the war? He has neither the brilliance nor the experience of Ehud the First, and what a failure he was! What could we possibly expect from such a mediocre successor?!

 

Who is Defense Minister Amir Peretz? Reaching the rank of captain, Peretz was wounded during the Yom Kippur War. He became an leader in Peace Now in the early 1980s. In 1983 he became Mayor of Sderot. In 1988 he was elected to Knesset and in 1994 became Deputy Chairman of the Israeli Labor organization, the Histadrut. He became chairman a year later. Upon election as Chairman of the Labor party in November, 2005, he had never served in the Israeli Cabinet. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amir_Peretz]

 

Who is Foreign Minister Tzippy Livni? A lawyer, she was elected to Knesset in 1999 and has served as Minister of: Regional cooperation, Agriculture, Immigrant Absorption, Housing and Construction, and for a short time, Justice

 

These are the three people running Israel. Together with Chief of Staff Dan Haluz, whose experience as commander of the Air Force failed to provide him with the proper tools necessary to lead an army to war.

 

In an article published in HaAretz on August 4, Ari Shavit wrote: Israel failed in the first three stages of the war of 2006. The air offensive failed, the limited ground offensive failed and the days of the hesitation and confusion of post-Bint Jbail failed. As a result, Israel was perceived to be helpless in the face of a sub-state terrorist organization that was battering it repeatedly without being vanquished.. The political establishment failed… The military establishment failed… The Israeli elites failed. The capitalists, the media and the academics of the 21st century failed in that they bedazzled Israel and deprived it of its spirit. Their recurrent illusions about the historical reality in which the Jewish state exists led Israel to navigate poorly and lose its way…While the broad Israeli public displayed sobriety, determination and staying power in all the tests it faced in the past decade, the elites disappointed. They imparted to Israeli youth a flawed set of values, which makes it very difficult for them to charge ahead when charging ahead is indisputably just. A country in which there is no equality, no justice and no belief in the justness of its path, is a country for which no one will charge ahead. And, in the Middle East of the 21st century, a state for which many of its young people are not willing to kill and be killed, is a state living on borrowed time. A state that is not sustainable.

 

Today, August 11, he writes: It's time for truth, not spin: First there was the aerial spin…After that came the ground spin…Then came the diplomatic spin…At the same time, there was the civilian spin... No more. The culture of lies that has surrounded the war from its first day must disappear. The attempt to confront an existential challenge by means of virtual false presentations must cease. A war is not a real-estate transaction, or even an election campaign. It invites a real encounter with history, which is looking deep into our eyes…A war of spin is a war that is divorced from reality, without an accurate reading of the map and without the necessary determination; a war without a goal and without a vision. Such a war cannot lead to victory.

 

And Shavit, in another article called  'Olmert cannot remain in the prime minister's office': …However, one thing should be clear: If Olmert runs away now from the war he initiated, he will not be able to remain prime minister for even one more day. Chutzpah has its limits. You cannot lead an entire nation to war promising victory, produce humiliating defeat and remain in power. You cannot bury 120 Israelis in cemeteries, keep a million Israelis in shelters for a month, wear down deterrent power, bring the next war very close, and then say - oops, I made a mistake. That was not the intention. Pass me a cigar, please.

There is no mistake Ehud Olmert did not make this past month. He went to war hastily, without properly gauging the outcome. He blindly followed the military without asking the necessary questions. He mistakenly gambled on air operations, was strangely late with the ground operation, and failed to implement the army's original plan, much more daring and sophisticated than that which was implemented. And after arrogantly and hastily bursting into war, Olmert managed it hesitantly, unfocused and limp. He neglected the home front and abandoned the residents of the north. He also failed shamefully on the diplomatic front…

 

As guilty as Olmert is, as guilty as Peretz is, as guilty as Livni and Halutz are, our finger-pointing must be directed not only at them and their cronies. We, all of us, the citizens of the state of Israel, and perhaps also Jews around the world, must take a good look at ourselves and ask: how did we allow this to happen? Are we really that stupid; or blind; or just plain apathetic?

 

The handwriting was on the wall – we've been asking for this for over a decade, since we signed and implemented the first Olso Accords, culminating with the abandonment from Gush Katif and continuing with Olmert's declarations about the next stage: expulsion of one hundred thousand Jews from Judea and Samaria and forsaking  that land to our enemies.

 

If we are truthful with ourselves, reach the necessary conclusions and implement them, then maybe, maybe, it will all have been worth it. We must realize, first and foremost, that Eretz Yisrael belongs to Am Yisrael and only Am Yisrael. We need not answer to anyone, no nation, no people, excepting the Creator of the World. He gave us this land, he created this people, and instructed us how to live. If we are willing to live according to those rules, within those guidelines, we will be victorious. If we decide otherwise, we will continue to be vanquished. It's as simple as that.

 

Let that be the 'Lessons of 2006.'