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I've been reading it and hearing it from various places. We are facing an Enemy that wishes to destroy the entire Western Society. General Yaalon says it, Yated who quotes Nachum Segal, the New Yorker and Frontpage etc reports it. The New York Times will quote Nasrallah of Hizbollah and Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad the President of Iran who is quite blatant. Even my secular brother-in-law from Maryland recognizes the reality.
Jews wherever they are on their number one hit list and they are happy to have Jews conveniently placed in one place like Israel so that it is that much easier to destroy them.
This is my commentary.
The orchestrator is Hakodosh Baruch Hu. Why does Hashem put the entire world at risk for destruction. What is Hashem's goal? We know that the goal is for the entire world to recognize the Oneness of Hashem. What is the role of the Jew? It is the Jews job to bring that recognition to the world. As it says in Aleinu "Lesakein Olam BeMalchus Shakai Vechol Benei Basar Yikrau Bishmecha.." to
Correct the World with the Kingdom of G-d and all of humanity will call Your name.
Let us look at the elements of Western Culture and the elements of Fundamentalist Islam. These are the two opposing forces in the world today. Certain basic elements have given America it's power and different elements has enabled Islamic Fundamentalism's rise to power. Judaism has the capability to take these forces and use them to serve G-d rather than to destroy G-d's world. When these forces are not channeled properly and when we, Am Yisroel, the spokespeople of G-d are not doing our job, the forces go unchecked in dangerous ways. The entire world is then in danger.
I will use America as the representation of Western Culture. America is known for it's strong work ethic and puts its strong emphasis on materialism and living the good life. One raised in western society will believe in the following: "We have worked hard and we have become the superpower that we are. We believe in Democracy, and wish the entire world to be Democratic as ourselves. We are powerful. We have destabilized Iraq so that we can put in a gov't that will be Democratic in order that the lives of the citizens of Iraq will improve. Their quality of life will be much improved and they will benefit from Western Society freedoms. We support the Roadmap Plan in the Middle East which will bring two Democratic States living side by side in peace and harmony. We will destabilize any gov't and put in it's place a gov't that supports Democracy for the betterment of Mankind. We enjoy our freedoms and wish the entire world to live in peace and prosperity and the pursuit of happiness."
Radical Fundamentalism puts their focus not on this world but on the the World to Come. We believe in Allah and put our faith in Allah. We are ready to die for Allah and wish to destroy the infidels from the world. We don't care about material values of this world and even are willing to sacrifice our life for Allah. We will be patient and will obtain freedom and our beliefs will take over the world or we will achieve Martyrdom in the process. We will win either way. Our human life and no human life is sacred. The Jews are weak and their State is weak. They too have forsaken G-d and have adapted the Western ways. It is our duty and obligation to destroy them. We are doing the will of Allah and will be greatly rewarded in the World to Come. Allah is Great!
What is the role of Am Yisroel and where have we failed so miserably?
The Lubavitch Rebbe writes
TRUST IN G-D –
and you will have peace.
When the Jewish people will trust in G-d, that the Land of Israel belongs unequivocally to them, and are willing to declare this openly to the nations of the world, then “No one will contest the matter, and you will not need to go to war.” In fact, even weapons will prove unnecessary…” The Rebbe, (Likutei Sichos, vol. 34, p. 8)
In the beginning, G-d created the Heavens and the Earth
What is the reason the Torah begins with Creation? Because if the nations of the world say to Israel: "You are robbers because you have conquered with force the lands of the nations of Canaan" Israel can answer: "He created it and gave it to whomever was proper in His eyes. Of His own will He gave it to them and of His own will He took it from them and gave it to us."
-- Rashi on Genesis 1:1
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Torah and Democracy are not the same. We must choose Torah over Democracy. We must not be the puppet of the American Gov't. We proudly must declare the Torah Position, which by definition is a theocracy, as the ideal form of government for Eretz Yisroel. We must not fear public opinion or fear that we will be branded as Radical Religous Extremists. We are not Islamic Fundamentalist and neither do we accept Democracy as our religion. Eretz Yisroel and Torah and Am Yisroel are One and our mission is to be a Mamlechet Kohanim and Goy Kadosh, a Kingdom of Priests and a H-ly Nation.
Having the Land is not enough. Living on the Land in not enough. The Land belongs ultimately to G-d. G-d has given us many commandments and as it says in the beginning of Parshas Reeh,
Deuteronomy:
26 See, this day I set before you blessing and curse: 27 blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin upon you this day; 28 and curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn away from the path that I enjoin upon you this day and follow other gods, whom you have not known.
As the commentary in Stone Chumas points out, we can not choose mediocrity. If we do not choose heights we choose curses.
The Torah then continues to command us to wipe out all places of idol worship. That doesn't sound too democratic. When the Talibans destroyed the temples they were blasted in the Press. Yet the Torah commands us to do the same to places of idol worship. Democracies believe in Freedom of Religion. Yet the Torah would clearly wish us to destroy the temple in Tzefas whose worship is to the Sun.
The Torah clearly delineates the boundaries of Eretz Yisroel in Parshas Maasei. Parshas Reeh has 80 Mitzvoth. These Mitzvoth are to be done in Eretz Yisroel. Moshe knew that he would not be able to enter Eretz Yisroel. The entire Sefer Devarim is guidelines of how to live in Eretz Yisroel. How can we say that we are focusing on these Mitzvoth and at the same time disregard the Boundaries specified in Parshas Maasei. When President Bush speaks of the Roadmap, have we united to say that it is direct contradiction to the Bible? If we, the believers and keepers of the Bible don't speak up then who will? When the disengagement was happening, did we unite and declare that the disengagement was clear violations of the Torah. If we truly yearned to keep the Mitzvah of Shemitah which requires a piece of property we would never be silent. We would declare that this is our Land and we in turn are obligated to observe the Mitzvoth. Sefer Yehoshua is quite clear in the rebuke of the Tribes of Bnei Yisroel for their failure to conquer parts of Eretz Yisroel including Lebananon and Gaza.
We see that we are on the brink if not in the midst of WWIII yet we still refuse to claim even in principal in a unified and unequivocal voice that Eretz Yisroel is the inheritance of Am Yisroel and we are obligated in keeping the Mitzvoth.
The Mitzvah of Shemittah is the Mitzvah that has direct relationship to security of the Land. In this past weeks Parshas Reeh, it talks of Shemittas Kesafim. This Mitzah requires us to relinquish our possessions for the Shemittah year. We return the Land to Hashem and if we are a farmer, forego our source of Parnassa for the year. If we are not a farmer we forego our money through loans that need not be repaid. This is the antidote to Kochi VeOtzem Yadi which is the cancer referred to by the Islamic Fundamentalists.
Islamic Fundamentalist wish to sacrifice their lives and their children lives for their idolatrous beliefs. The Torah clearly condemns sacrificing human life and condemns very clearly sacrificing children to the Molech. The Torah does demand that we trust our sustenance will come from G-d alone rather than on the work of our own hands. Rather than putting our full trust in Hashem and keep the Mitzvah of Shemittah (without heter Mechirah or Pruzbul), we are willing to go to battle and die. Our Sages say that poverty is like death. Yet if we believed in the Torah and Mitzvoth we would believe that Shemittah brings blessings and not poverty. And going off to War is surely more dangerous then risking losing our job and being dependant on others not to starve. And in fact the reality of today is precisely what we are most afraid of. Millions have been displaced and have been homeless and out of work and their homes have been looted. And in spite of how bad it is, we still did not starve because of the tremendous Chesed of our brothers. So now we've experienced the worse and no one can deny that it's still a lot better than what Nasrallah and Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad wishes to do to us.
In Shemittah year we put our faith in G-d completely, and made sure to eat. After the year is over we know that we did not work yet we did not starve. In fact we ate and ate feasting from the farms of our neighbors and obtaining whatever we need through loans that we are under no obligation to repay. When the enemy puts the gun to our necks and says get out, you are occupying OUR Land, we reply, this Land is G-D's! We spent this entire SHemittah year proving this point. We let our Lands lie fallow. We returned the Land to G-d this past year. G-d chose us to inherit the Land because we keep the Commandments. This year we have prayed so hard for our sustenance and have seen G-d's miracles first hand each and every day. Praying comes second nature. We now pray against you, our enemies and in conjunction with the merit of having kept the Torah, this will cause our enemies to dissipate like the wind.
When we do not keep the commandments and are willing to give away the tools necessary to keep the commandments, specifically the Land, we must Trust that Hashem too will keep His word about the curses. Hashem Yishmor.
My prayer is that it is still not too late. Let us proclaim unequivocally that the Land of Israel is Ours. We are obligated in keeping the Mitzvoth. We believe in the Bible and what the Torah says the Torah means. Shemittah is coming up. We will brainstorm and call upon economists, political scientists and Biblical Scholars and come up with ideas and laws specific to a Shemittah year. Hashem Yerachem! Please G-d have Mercy!
