Monday, April 26, 2010

Wooing World Opinion
by Compromising Jewish Values

The picture shows Nazis having fun cutting the beard of an eldely Jew in Poland. The identity crisis here discussed is about the Jew who'd rather cut off his own beard to prevent Gentile hatred of him. What he fails to realize is - it won't help him!

It's hard not to wonder sometimes what is it that drives some Israelis to undermine the foundations of their own country. They do this when, at the same time, within the country and around it terrorist organizations threaten to kill their children, women and men. The healthy person's normal instinct would resist the wishes of one who wants to quash his soul. Yet here you have Jews who continually seek to shackle the security forces, even to the extent of treason.

A parallel characteristic of those who seek to uproot the security of the nation is - they also seek to undermine the Jewish character of the state. They'll fight for Arab rights to overtake entire communities in Jewish cities, but they'll holler and protest were a Jew to legally purchase a home in East Jerusalem. They also support the unfettered influx of Gentile aliens and workers into the country. You cannot help but ask, do they not realize where these policies are leading to.

Neither is understandable the inner pressure felt by Netanyahu to submit to a foreign government's dictates regarding the building freeze in Jerusalem. For what purpose had a Jewish country arisen if it cannot be independent and take care of its concerns? If they cannot build in their metropolis, then what else remains of the wish to be a free people?

Behind these destructive tendencies lies a psychological problem. The ideal nation these Jews dreamed of is letting them down. They wanted a nation that once and for always will resolve "the Jewish problem". They want Israel to be like all nations. They want its "Jewishness" removed as an issue in global events. They want to remove Israel from the world's focus; To live out of the limelight, and be as, for example, Ireland or Portugal. They want a quiet life.

But try what they will, this "Jewish issue" never seems to disappear. In fact, quite the contrary is true; Somehow the little Jewish country always seems to grab global headlines. Preoccupation with the Jewish state deviates from normal proportions. All around the world cruel wars are raging, but the world couldn't care less; But any event in Israel triggers hectic worldwide diplomatic activity. Rather than solving "the Jewish problem", Israeli statehood has amplified it many times over.

In truth, this actually need not surprise us. The Jewish nation is not a nation as other nations, and the thought that Jews can be as Gentiles bases itself on a faulty premise. As G-d said some 3,000 years ago, "If it dons on you that you'll be like other nations or nationalities - perish the thought!" (Yechezkel 20, 32).

True Jewish independence essentially means not to mimic other nations or peoples, but rather to become Jewish in the full sense of the word. The holy Land of Israel, "the King's palace", cannot be another London or New York. Jewish people must follow The Code of Jewish Law and demonstrate to the world how to live by Torah as it was first rendered at Sinai.

Those Jews who cannot accept this edict and suffer from a "different-from-Gentiles complex" lead their country (and themselves) to self-destruction. They feel that if Israel were "less Jewish", more "liberal" or "progressive", beautiful people in the world would love them more. This, of course, is not happening, just as the assimilation of German Jews on the eve of the holocaust did not prevent Jewish animosity.

Jews have one choice - to be proud Jews, to restore their frayed value system, to nurture a genuine Jewish spirit in the tradition of Torah heritage, and to rebuild towards a oneness and love of all Jews.

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