Re: Israelis or Jews? by David Wilder - Commentary- Shoftim and Shotrim

Israelis or Jews? by David Wilder
Aug 25, '06 / 1 Elul 5766

My Commentary:

Dear David, amv"sh

I read with interest your article. It seems that the Secular Israeli's have divided the country into two distinct parts. Israeli (Yisroel) and Jews(Yehudah). David, You know better than most that one year ago prior to the disengagement I suggested a similar separation. It wasn't because I wished to divide the Nation but I recognized that we could not and did not wish to coerce the Israeli population to be a Jewish Nation based on Torah and Mitzvoth. It was clear that majority of Israeli population supported disengagement and were simply not on the level and ready to live a life based on Torah and Mitzvoth. Such a life requires living on Faith - Kol Mitzvosecho Emunah.

The Settlers of Yesha have the right to live a life based on Torah and Mitzvoth.In America citizens respect and relate to the concept of freedom of religion.

The Jews of Yesha failed to make the distinction of a government that is based on Torah and a government that is secular so the Israeli's did it for us. I argued that the Jews of Yesha had no alternative but to make that distinction prior to the disengagement and unfortunately failed to do so giving unity as their excuse.

Avrahom said to Lot "Why should brothers fight". Avraham called for a separation because there was no way he could live with the corrupt ways of Lot and his shepherds. After the separation, the shechina once again returned to Avrahom.

The Settlers have no choice but to declare that they wish to live a life based on Torah. They wish to have a Sanhedrin, Shoftim, Judges as well as Shotrim, a Jewish army to enforce the laws of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin will declare laws based on their halachic decisions and their laws are binding. The population is required to adhere to the decisions of the Sanhedrin under penalty of law.

The time has come to at the very least to discuss an alternative to the existing Government. The Government of Israel wish to separate from us and has separated themselves from us as you so clearly show in your article. In addition they treated us brutally. They stole our homes and they imprison our children. They gave Our Land to the enemy who used it to fire rockets at us. They took away our means of Parnassa. That alone should give us sufficient right to separate from them.

But the real reason to separate ourselves is none of the above. The real reason is because if we really yearn to live a life of Torah of Mitzvoth we simply have no option. Setting up a government based on Torah and Mitzvoth with Shoftim and Shotrim is revolutionary. There will be many pitfalls and many mistakes. It seems to me very clear that an attempt such as revolutionary as this has to be done very small scale with people that want it. It would be counterproductive to coerce anyone. This model should come from precisely the Land that the State of Israel wishes to give to the Arabs. It seems very logical to create a government based on Torah and Mitzvoth on Land that is rejected from the State of Israel but fall within the Biblical boundaries delineated in Parshat Masei. The new infant government would be declared a theocracy and not a democracy. It would be self governing theocracy but not based on radical Fundamental Islam, be it Hamas or Palestinian Authority. On the contrary, It would be a proud Jewish theocracy based on the Bible. A Torah government that will enforce Shabbat and Kashrut, It will destroy any temples that are clearly identified as idol worship. The specific laws must be defined by the Shoftim that are established and enforced by Shotrim. The job of the Sanhedrin would be to seriously review all the Mitzvoth read in Sefer Devarim. Moshe knew that he would not enter the Land of Israel and specifically wrote down Sefer Devarim as a guideline of how the Nation of Israel was to keep the Torah in Eretz Yisroel. Many of these Mitzvoth are read at Hakhel following the Shemittah year.

The initial goal is to express the desire and the yearning and intense love for Eretz Yisroel and the Mitzvoth of Eretz Yisroel among our people. I am convinced that with much prayer, we will be Matzliach and this small model will grow and grow as the Nation of Israel and Nations of the world recognize the beauty and the Hashgacha Pratis, peace and security Hashem will bestow this Gush Emunim.

I am also convinced that we will be required to do acts that will go against our nature of being Rachmanim bnei Rachmanim. We will attack brutally any entity that wishes to destroy us including women and children if necessary. We must erase any form of idol worship in our midst. Torah overrules Democracy. The Sanhedrin will define what constitutes Torah. Democracy has worked well for America and many other countries. For Eretz Yisroel, only Torah is the answer and not Democracy. There are many elements of Democracy that exist in the Torah. Yet Constitutional Democracy and Torah are mutually exclusive. We must not fall into the trap of Kochi VeOtsem Yadi. We are required to blindly follow the Mitzvoth and halachot defined by the Sanhedrin and have faith that it will bring positive results in spite of negative press and alarming odds against us in battle and elsewhere.