And Isabel his wife said to him, now you will have kingdom over Israel, arise, eat bread and satiate your heart and I will give you the vineyard of Navot the Jezreelite. And she wrote decrees in the name of Achav and she signed them with his seal and she sent the decrees to the elders and to the Horim in his city, who dwelled with Navot. And she wrote in the decrees, declare a fast and seat Navot at the head of the people. (Kings II, 21:7-9)
And he sent royal decrees to all the states of the king, each state in its form of writing and each nation in its language, so that every man would rule in his home and speak the language of his nation.
(The Scroll of Esther 1:22)
What do the decrees of Isabel and Ahashverosh have in common? In both cases, they are an attempt to squelch justified disobedience. In both cases, the decrees are based on "the law."
Navot the Jezreelite is unwilling to sell his family inheritance. Vashti is unwilling to embarrass herself in public. In the face of disobedience that is obviously just, all that a king can use is the most corrupt of tools: The rule of law.
It is impossible to miss the similarity in style. They make laws, sign them with the royal seal and send them throughout the kingdom. It is reminiscent of the Evacuation/Compensation law, enacted with careful attention to the letter of the law. This was not a criminal act, heaven forbid. It was the product of an orderly legislative process that encompasses everyone!
When the assassination plot of Bigtan and Teresh is exposed, there is no need for all this. Everyone understands that they will receive the death penalty. But when justice is not with the king, he can always pull the "rule of law" act out of his hat.
Shabbat Shalom and Happy Purim,
Moshe Feiglin
Monday, March 21, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
The Political Solution: By Moshe Feiglin
"And what is your solution?" the leftist asked me.
"I don't have one," I answered.
"You don't have one?"
"I do not have a solution for your problem, but I do have a solution for mine."
When we outline a political program, we must first of all honestly define what the program is supposed to achieve. In other words, how do we understand the strategic objectives of the State of Israel? Current Israeli consciousness dictates that the most important objective is peace. Both Right and Left claim that peace is their desire and that their program will bring the longed-for peace more efficiently.
But both sides are not telling the entire truth. For the Left, peace is a means to an end; the achievement of "normalcy." For the faith-based public, peace is a result and not an objective. It is the result of the achievement of the Jewish goals that our ancestors dreamed of.
Strange as it may sound, the National Camp has never clearly defined its strategic objectives. As a result, it never managed to present a political program and to stand behind it. If you do not define where you want to go, you will never be able to explain how to get there.
The definition of the strategic objective is not the definition of the borders of Israel or the status of the Arabs. That is part of the program. The definition of the strategic objective does not answer the question, "How should we conduct ourselves here in Israel," but rather, "Why do we have to be in Israel?"
The Left answers: So that we can be like the rest of the nations of the world.
The faith-based public says: So that we can be holistic Jews.
The truth is that the faith-based public does not dare reveal its real strategic objective - but at least it has one. Nevertheless, the only objective left on the table - the objective that dictates all of Israel's tactical plans - is the objective of the Left. That is the reason that the Left always rules. Neither the media nor the justice systems are to blame for that. We are - because we never placed an alternative to the Left's agenda on the playing field.
Let us explore the strategic objectives and dreams of the Left.
The Left's objective is for Israel to be a state of all its citizens that conducts itself by Western, liberal standards and that is not committed to Jewish values.
"For me, the Oslo Accords mean forgetting that I am a Jew."
(Authoress Dorit Rabinian, in an interview to Israel's Channel 1 on the first anniversary of Rabin's assassination).
We can say that the strategic objective of the Left is to blur our Jewish identity and to make us forget it by fashioning a liberal state of all its citizens.
All the tactical solutions and political programs proposed by the Left are the logical conclusion of its strategic objective. This is the only way to understand the apparent lack of logic of its plans. The Left strives to achieve its strategic super-objective and to detach the State of Israel from its Jewish identity. Our return to our Biblical landscape and the ideological, faith-based settlement of Biblical Israel are obstacles in its path. The Left does not desire to uproot the settlements and retreat from Hebron and Jerusalem in order to achieve peace. It desires to make peace so that it can uproot the settlements and retreat from Hebron and Jerusalem - the flagships of our Jewish identity.
What then, is the strategic objective that will dictate the tactical solutions of the faith-based public? The objective of the faith-based public is to establish a Jewish State of freedom based on the eternal values of the Nation of Israel: a state that will restore sovereignty to the Jewish Nation that was expelled from its Land, will ingather its exiles, will be a tool to develop its authentic culture, will build its Holy Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and will establish an exemplary society that will sanctify G-d's Name. In short, to create a culture and society for all humanity to emulate.
Do we think that we can achieve this entire lofty goal by tomorrow morning? That would be great, but even if there is a long road ahead of us, we will not be deterred. Our strategic commitment is to continue to march in this direction and certainly not in the opposite direction - by surrendering sovereignty on the Temple Mount to the Moslem wakf, for instance, or by surrendering parts of our Holy Land to foreigners.
We do not strive to erase our Jewish identity but rather, to strengthen and develop it. This also requires that we do not surrender the Biblical Land that ties us to our identity. On the contrary, we must do all that we can to strengthen our hold on our Land.
Now that we have clarified our objective and priorities, we can outline policies that will deal with foreign claims on our Land.
But first, a question: Is the strategic objective of the Arabs clear to us? Can we embark on a political plan without examining the objectives of the Arabs? After all, if we wish to adequately respond to the challenge with which they confront us, shouldn't we examine what they want?
The person who most accurately defined the strategic objectives of the Jews and Arabs was the (anti-Semitic) Foreign Minister of Great Britain, Ernest Bevin. In February, 1947, in his speech before the United Nations in which he transferred the mandate over Palestine from Britain to the UN, Bevin shared some of the insights he had gained from thirty years of British rule over the Land of Israel: Remember - Bevin did not like the Zionists. But he did not deceive himself, as we are wont to do. He astutely observed the following:
"For the Jews, the main point is the establishment of a sovereign Jewish state. For the Arabs, the main point is to oppose Jewish sovereignty in any part of Palestine to the very end."
We like to deceive ourselves into thinking that the Arabs and Jews share the same objective. But that is not true. The Jews want a state. And the Arabs want to make sure that the Jews do not have it.
Nothing has changed in the 63 years that have passed since Bevin's speech. If the Arabs would have wanted a state, it would have been established long ago. Never has an ethnic group received such generous international aid to establish its state - and the state has not been born. Their objective is not to build their own state - but to destroy ours. The last thing that interests them is a Palestinian state.
Now that we understand the objectives of both sides within our nation and the objective of the Arabs, we can go to the drawing board and design our political plan.
Believe it or not, the Likud constitution clearly states the starting point for a political plan dictated by the faith-based strategy. Not only that, but it deeply understands the Arab strategy:
"The preservation of the right of the Jewish Nation over the Land of Israel as an eternal, inalienable right, persistence in the settlement and development of all parts of the Land of Israel and the application of the sovereignty of the State upon them."
(From the Likud Constitution, Chapt. 4, "The Goals")
It's as simple as that. Just as we applied Israeli sovereignty to Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, so we must do for all parts of the Land of Israel that are in our hands. If we do so with confidence, if we do not leave any doubt as to our firm belief that this is our Land, if we stop nurturing the hopes of the Arabs to succeed in their strategic objective to destroy our sovereignty here - then peace will be at hand. As a result - not as an objective!
And what about the demographic problem?
The Land of Israel is the strategic foundation around which we solve the tactical problems. Herzl understood this when the Jews made up merely a few percent of the total population in the Land. Ben Gurion understood this when he declared the independence of the tiny state of Israel, with a 50% Arab population. Today, we have a solid Jewish majority in Israel of over 60% from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River. According to realistic forecasts, the demographic scales are tilting in our favor.
Of course, we must encourage the Arabs who live in Israel to emigrate to any one of the 22 Arab countries or to any other place in the world. These Arabs have developed a culture of work in a modern, Western society. They have professional knowledge in many important areas. Western states are desperate for this type of immigration because they are in the throes of a negative growth pattern. The question is not "Who will build in Canada?" but rather, "Will the builders in Canada be Sudanese, who specialize in building huts, or Arab immigrants from Israel who specialize in building skyscrapers?" A simple calculation shows that if Israel takes the money that it continues to spend on the Left's false solutions of retreat and spends it instead on encouraging Arab emigration, it will have over a quarter of a million dollars per Arab family that chooses to emigrate over the next decade.
What about those Arabs who remain? Will we give them the right to vote?
An Arab who is a loyal resident and completely accepts Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel will enjoy full human rights and permanent resident status. He will not have voting rights. Today, there are American soldiers fighting in Afghanistan who do not have voting rights in the US.
The automatic connection that we are used to making between human rights and political rights is false. Every country must honor human rights, protect the life, property and honor of any minority that accepts and respects it sovereignty and power. Actually, what Israel did to its loyal citizens in Gush Katif would be forbidden to do to any foreigner or citizen in any country. Political rights, however, are a different issue. Some countries grant unchecked citizenship while other Western countries, like Japan and Switzerland, do not necessarily grant residents citizenship even if they are third generation residents of those countries.
The State of Israel is both a Jewish and a democratic state. Not the opposite. We did not return to our Land just to establish another democracy. For that, we could simply have emigrated from Russia to America. We returned to the Land of Israel to establish a Jewish state. Around this principle, a democracy was formed to serve - not eliminate - the Jewish State.
In addition, voting rights should be given to Diaspora Jews who have tied their fate to the State of Israel. For after all, we are the State of the Jews - the state of all the Jews - not just the Israelis.
Will the world accept this plan? The existing Jewish identity-blurring plan has convinced the world, and it no longer recognizes the legitimacy of the Jewish State that even the Israelis do not want. The world expects us to be our authentic selves and to conduct ourselves in accordance with our Jewish strategic objective. When that happens, it will ultimately accept this plan.
And what about the Left? I do not have the solution for the Left's problem. I do not know how to flee my identity and I have no desire to do so. Other than continuing to love them, I have no answers for the identity crisis plaguing the leftist minority. But there certainly is a solution for the large Jewish majority in the Land of Israel.
"I don't have one," I answered.
"You don't have one?"
"I do not have a solution for your problem, but I do have a solution for mine."
When we outline a political program, we must first of all honestly define what the program is supposed to achieve. In other words, how do we understand the strategic objectives of the State of Israel? Current Israeli consciousness dictates that the most important objective is peace. Both Right and Left claim that peace is their desire and that their program will bring the longed-for peace more efficiently.
But both sides are not telling the entire truth. For the Left, peace is a means to an end; the achievement of "normalcy." For the faith-based public, peace is a result and not an objective. It is the result of the achievement of the Jewish goals that our ancestors dreamed of.
Strange as it may sound, the National Camp has never clearly defined its strategic objectives. As a result, it never managed to present a political program and to stand behind it. If you do not define where you want to go, you will never be able to explain how to get there.
The definition of the strategic objective is not the definition of the borders of Israel or the status of the Arabs. That is part of the program. The definition of the strategic objective does not answer the question, "How should we conduct ourselves here in Israel," but rather, "Why do we have to be in Israel?"
The Left answers: So that we can be like the rest of the nations of the world.
The faith-based public says: So that we can be holistic Jews.
The truth is that the faith-based public does not dare reveal its real strategic objective - but at least it has one. Nevertheless, the only objective left on the table - the objective that dictates all of Israel's tactical plans - is the objective of the Left. That is the reason that the Left always rules. Neither the media nor the justice systems are to blame for that. We are - because we never placed an alternative to the Left's agenda on the playing field.
Let us explore the strategic objectives and dreams of the Left.
The Left's objective is for Israel to be a state of all its citizens that conducts itself by Western, liberal standards and that is not committed to Jewish values.
"For me, the Oslo Accords mean forgetting that I am a Jew."
(Authoress Dorit Rabinian, in an interview to Israel's Channel 1 on the first anniversary of Rabin's assassination).
We can say that the strategic objective of the Left is to blur our Jewish identity and to make us forget it by fashioning a liberal state of all its citizens.
All the tactical solutions and political programs proposed by the Left are the logical conclusion of its strategic objective. This is the only way to understand the apparent lack of logic of its plans. The Left strives to achieve its strategic super-objective and to detach the State of Israel from its Jewish identity. Our return to our Biblical landscape and the ideological, faith-based settlement of Biblical Israel are obstacles in its path. The Left does not desire to uproot the settlements and retreat from Hebron and Jerusalem in order to achieve peace. It desires to make peace so that it can uproot the settlements and retreat from Hebron and Jerusalem - the flagships of our Jewish identity.
What then, is the strategic objective that will dictate the tactical solutions of the faith-based public? The objective of the faith-based public is to establish a Jewish State of freedom based on the eternal values of the Nation of Israel: a state that will restore sovereignty to the Jewish Nation that was expelled from its Land, will ingather its exiles, will be a tool to develop its authentic culture, will build its Holy Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and will establish an exemplary society that will sanctify G-d's Name. In short, to create a culture and society for all humanity to emulate.
Do we think that we can achieve this entire lofty goal by tomorrow morning? That would be great, but even if there is a long road ahead of us, we will not be deterred. Our strategic commitment is to continue to march in this direction and certainly not in the opposite direction - by surrendering sovereignty on the Temple Mount to the Moslem wakf, for instance, or by surrendering parts of our Holy Land to foreigners.
We do not strive to erase our Jewish identity but rather, to strengthen and develop it. This also requires that we do not surrender the Biblical Land that ties us to our identity. On the contrary, we must do all that we can to strengthen our hold on our Land.
Now that we have clarified our objective and priorities, we can outline policies that will deal with foreign claims on our Land.
But first, a question: Is the strategic objective of the Arabs clear to us? Can we embark on a political plan without examining the objectives of the Arabs? After all, if we wish to adequately respond to the challenge with which they confront us, shouldn't we examine what they want?
The person who most accurately defined the strategic objectives of the Jews and Arabs was the (anti-Semitic) Foreign Minister of Great Britain, Ernest Bevin. In February, 1947, in his speech before the United Nations in which he transferred the mandate over Palestine from Britain to the UN, Bevin shared some of the insights he had gained from thirty years of British rule over the Land of Israel: Remember - Bevin did not like the Zionists. But he did not deceive himself, as we are wont to do. He astutely observed the following:
"For the Jews, the main point is the establishment of a sovereign Jewish state. For the Arabs, the main point is to oppose Jewish sovereignty in any part of Palestine to the very end."
We like to deceive ourselves into thinking that the Arabs and Jews share the same objective. But that is not true. The Jews want a state. And the Arabs want to make sure that the Jews do not have it.
Nothing has changed in the 63 years that have passed since Bevin's speech. If the Arabs would have wanted a state, it would have been established long ago. Never has an ethnic group received such generous international aid to establish its state - and the state has not been born. Their objective is not to build their own state - but to destroy ours. The last thing that interests them is a Palestinian state.
Now that we understand the objectives of both sides within our nation and the objective of the Arabs, we can go to the drawing board and design our political plan.
Believe it or not, the Likud constitution clearly states the starting point for a political plan dictated by the faith-based strategy. Not only that, but it deeply understands the Arab strategy:
"The preservation of the right of the Jewish Nation over the Land of Israel as an eternal, inalienable right, persistence in the settlement and development of all parts of the Land of Israel and the application of the sovereignty of the State upon them."
(From the Likud Constitution, Chapt. 4, "The Goals")
It's as simple as that. Just as we applied Israeli sovereignty to Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, so we must do for all parts of the Land of Israel that are in our hands. If we do so with confidence, if we do not leave any doubt as to our firm belief that this is our Land, if we stop nurturing the hopes of the Arabs to succeed in their strategic objective to destroy our sovereignty here - then peace will be at hand. As a result - not as an objective!
And what about the demographic problem?
The Land of Israel is the strategic foundation around which we solve the tactical problems. Herzl understood this when the Jews made up merely a few percent of the total population in the Land. Ben Gurion understood this when he declared the independence of the tiny state of Israel, with a 50% Arab population. Today, we have a solid Jewish majority in Israel of over 60% from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River. According to realistic forecasts, the demographic scales are tilting in our favor.
Of course, we must encourage the Arabs who live in Israel to emigrate to any one of the 22 Arab countries or to any other place in the world. These Arabs have developed a culture of work in a modern, Western society. They have professional knowledge in many important areas. Western states are desperate for this type of immigration because they are in the throes of a negative growth pattern. The question is not "Who will build in Canada?" but rather, "Will the builders in Canada be Sudanese, who specialize in building huts, or Arab immigrants from Israel who specialize in building skyscrapers?" A simple calculation shows that if Israel takes the money that it continues to spend on the Left's false solutions of retreat and spends it instead on encouraging Arab emigration, it will have over a quarter of a million dollars per Arab family that chooses to emigrate over the next decade.
What about those Arabs who remain? Will we give them the right to vote?
An Arab who is a loyal resident and completely accepts Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel will enjoy full human rights and permanent resident status. He will not have voting rights. Today, there are American soldiers fighting in Afghanistan who do not have voting rights in the US.
The automatic connection that we are used to making between human rights and political rights is false. Every country must honor human rights, protect the life, property and honor of any minority that accepts and respects it sovereignty and power. Actually, what Israel did to its loyal citizens in Gush Katif would be forbidden to do to any foreigner or citizen in any country. Political rights, however, are a different issue. Some countries grant unchecked citizenship while other Western countries, like Japan and Switzerland, do not necessarily grant residents citizenship even if they are third generation residents of those countries.
The State of Israel is both a Jewish and a democratic state. Not the opposite. We did not return to our Land just to establish another democracy. For that, we could simply have emigrated from Russia to America. We returned to the Land of Israel to establish a Jewish state. Around this principle, a democracy was formed to serve - not eliminate - the Jewish State.
In addition, voting rights should be given to Diaspora Jews who have tied their fate to the State of Israel. For after all, we are the State of the Jews - the state of all the Jews - not just the Israelis.
Will the world accept this plan? The existing Jewish identity-blurring plan has convinced the world, and it no longer recognizes the legitimacy of the Jewish State that even the Israelis do not want. The world expects us to be our authentic selves and to conduct ourselves in accordance with our Jewish strategic objective. When that happens, it will ultimately accept this plan.
And what about the Left? I do not have the solution for the Left's problem. I do not know how to flee my identity and I have no desire to do so. Other than continuing to love them, I have no answers for the identity crisis plaguing the leftist minority. But there certainly is a solution for the large Jewish majority in the Land of Israel.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
The Surprised and the Amazed: By Moshe Feiglin
The Surprised and the Amazed: By Moshe Feiglin
13 Shvat, 5771
Feb. 17, '11
Why didn't Mubarak send in the tanks? Why didn't Tahrir Square turn into Tiananmen Square? Is the Egyptian regime less cruel than its Chinese counterpart?
How is it that all the dictatorships in the Arab world have suddenly gotten weak in the knees over unarmed civilians doing nothing more than demonstrating? After all, the regime is all-powerful; they have built their security forces over decades in concentric circles so that the inner circle will owe its existence and power to the ruler and will always do his bidding. And if the need will arise, it will always force the ruler's will on one circle after the next until it reaches the very last citizen. What brought about the collapse of all these mechanisms of oppression?
We all look on in amazement as history unfolds before our very eyes. Nevertheless, we must differentiate between the amazed and the surprised. When rightist former MK Geulah Cohen stood up in the Knesset thirty years ago and spoke of the aliyah of millions of Jews from the USSR, current President Shimon Peres mocked her and said that she was hallucinating. When the Camp David Accords were signed, there were those who promised eternal peace, while others warned that war was just a question of time and the risk and price were not worth the return. And then came the Oslo Accords, when the "surprised camp" euphorically reveled in the New Middle East and World Peace, while the "amazed camp" went out into the streets to warn of the national catastrophe. Why are all the wise men - all the foreign affairs commentators, former ambassadors and professors - always surprised, while the regular people look on in amazement, but are not surprised in the least?
The answer is simple. The "surprised camp" is the camp of the utopian hallucinators that detached itself from reality - the Holy One, Blessed Be He. They pretend to create reality themselves and when that doesn't happen, they are surprised.
The "amazed camp" is made up of the people connected to reality. These are the people who knew that the Egyptian regime was a dictatorship that would fall sooner or later. They knew that the all-out war between decadent and decaying Europe and the sword of Islam would not be settled with the Western-style democratization of Egypt, Jordan and Syria. They are the same people who, even at the entrance to Auschwitz, knew that one day the Jewish Nation would return to its Land, as the Creator had promised. They did not know how it would happen, just as we do not know how the Jewish State with Jerusalem and the Temple Mount as its spiritual center will take shape and form. What we do know is that it will happen and that it is more certain than all the learned pontifications of the "surprised camp." We stand amazed as we watch the tapestry unfold, just as Eliezer the servant of Abraham watched in amazement as Rebecca drew water for him, understanding that G-d had crowned his journey with success.
What is causing the revolutions taking place before our eyes?
Sovereignty in any type of regime is always in the hands of the nation. When the nation does not view the leader as being legitimate, all the mechanisms propping up the regime are of no avail. They will all collapse like a house of cards. This is true for dictatorships and democracies alike. The difference is that in democracies, a mechanism is in place for the orderly transition of government. Often, the regime will manipulate democracy to fool the public and into thinking that it chose the existing regime and that it desires its rule - even though nothing could be farther from the truth. These tricks can postpone the revolution - but they cannot prevent it.
Here in Israel, we are somewhere in the middle. Israel is not a dictatorship by its simple definition. It has broad freedom of speech. But where the borders of freedom of speech end, democracy also ends and turns out to be a dangerous illusion. And woe to he or she who expresses an opinion that is beyond the limits set by the Israeli Thought Police.
We live in a dictatorship of thoughts, constantly under the watchful eye of the Thought Police. It is not easy to sense our dictatorship. That is why people in Israel are not demonstrating in the city squares. But the suffocation feels the same - the suffocation that doesn't even have a Tahrir Square to light up the end of the tunnel.
But there is something we must remember: The Egyptians did not go out to the streets because their economy was bad. Is the average Egyptian worse off now than he was five years ago? All the attempts to explain the revolution in Egypt with one reason or another do not adequately explain what happened. It isn't the economy, not the oppression, not Facebook and not Twitter. It is simply the Divine removal of the legitimacy of the regime. While it may seem overly simplistic to say that the revolution in Egypt was Divinely inspired, that is the basic truth.
Does this mean that we can go home and wait until G-d hands us the leadership on a silver platter? Certainly not. We must be on the playing field, in the best shape possible and completely prepared. But we must understand that the necessary process of faith-based revolution - a process that will surely occur, for we have no other option - has its own timetable that is not dependant upon us.
We will do our part and when the time comes, the legitimacy will be taken from the current regime, will return to the nation and from there to the faith-based leadership that it deserves. We must take the responsibility to prepare for that day and pray that it happens soon.
13 Shvat, 5771
Feb. 17, '11
Why didn't Mubarak send in the tanks? Why didn't Tahrir Square turn into Tiananmen Square? Is the Egyptian regime less cruel than its Chinese counterpart?
How is it that all the dictatorships in the Arab world have suddenly gotten weak in the knees over unarmed civilians doing nothing more than demonstrating? After all, the regime is all-powerful; they have built their security forces over decades in concentric circles so that the inner circle will owe its existence and power to the ruler and will always do his bidding. And if the need will arise, it will always force the ruler's will on one circle after the next until it reaches the very last citizen. What brought about the collapse of all these mechanisms of oppression?
We all look on in amazement as history unfolds before our very eyes. Nevertheless, we must differentiate between the amazed and the surprised. When rightist former MK Geulah Cohen stood up in the Knesset thirty years ago and spoke of the aliyah of millions of Jews from the USSR, current President Shimon Peres mocked her and said that she was hallucinating. When the Camp David Accords were signed, there were those who promised eternal peace, while others warned that war was just a question of time and the risk and price were not worth the return. And then came the Oslo Accords, when the "surprised camp" euphorically reveled in the New Middle East and World Peace, while the "amazed camp" went out into the streets to warn of the national catastrophe. Why are all the wise men - all the foreign affairs commentators, former ambassadors and professors - always surprised, while the regular people look on in amazement, but are not surprised in the least?
The answer is simple. The "surprised camp" is the camp of the utopian hallucinators that detached itself from reality - the Holy One, Blessed Be He. They pretend to create reality themselves and when that doesn't happen, they are surprised.
The "amazed camp" is made up of the people connected to reality. These are the people who knew that the Egyptian regime was a dictatorship that would fall sooner or later. They knew that the all-out war between decadent and decaying Europe and the sword of Islam would not be settled with the Western-style democratization of Egypt, Jordan and Syria. They are the same people who, even at the entrance to Auschwitz, knew that one day the Jewish Nation would return to its Land, as the Creator had promised. They did not know how it would happen, just as we do not know how the Jewish State with Jerusalem and the Temple Mount as its spiritual center will take shape and form. What we do know is that it will happen and that it is more certain than all the learned pontifications of the "surprised camp." We stand amazed as we watch the tapestry unfold, just as Eliezer the servant of Abraham watched in amazement as Rebecca drew water for him, understanding that G-d had crowned his journey with success.
What is causing the revolutions taking place before our eyes?
Sovereignty in any type of regime is always in the hands of the nation. When the nation does not view the leader as being legitimate, all the mechanisms propping up the regime are of no avail. They will all collapse like a house of cards. This is true for dictatorships and democracies alike. The difference is that in democracies, a mechanism is in place for the orderly transition of government. Often, the regime will manipulate democracy to fool the public and into thinking that it chose the existing regime and that it desires its rule - even though nothing could be farther from the truth. These tricks can postpone the revolution - but they cannot prevent it.
Here in Israel, we are somewhere in the middle. Israel is not a dictatorship by its simple definition. It has broad freedom of speech. But where the borders of freedom of speech end, democracy also ends and turns out to be a dangerous illusion. And woe to he or she who expresses an opinion that is beyond the limits set by the Israeli Thought Police.
We live in a dictatorship of thoughts, constantly under the watchful eye of the Thought Police. It is not easy to sense our dictatorship. That is why people in Israel are not demonstrating in the city squares. But the suffocation feels the same - the suffocation that doesn't even have a Tahrir Square to light up the end of the tunnel.
But there is something we must remember: The Egyptians did not go out to the streets because their economy was bad. Is the average Egyptian worse off now than he was five years ago? All the attempts to explain the revolution in Egypt with one reason or another do not adequately explain what happened. It isn't the economy, not the oppression, not Facebook and not Twitter. It is simply the Divine removal of the legitimacy of the regime. While it may seem overly simplistic to say that the revolution in Egypt was Divinely inspired, that is the basic truth.
Does this mean that we can go home and wait until G-d hands us the leadership on a silver platter? Certainly not. We must be on the playing field, in the best shape possible and completely prepared. But we must understand that the necessary process of faith-based revolution - a process that will surely occur, for we have no other option - has its own timetable that is not dependant upon us.
We will do our part and when the time comes, the legitimacy will be taken from the current regime, will return to the nation and from there to the faith-based leadership that it deserves. We must take the responsibility to prepare for that day and pray that it happens soon.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Warning Sign!
The idea that a new government in Egypt might simply cancel Egypt's Peace Agreement with Israel has been greeted with disinterest by both the international community and the U.S. administration. It is a worrisome warning sign. Especially about the durability of any deal cut with the Palestinians.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
No entry for Jews?
(This is how sick the Israeli Government is)
Two days ago, Friday, February 11, on the eve of the Shabbat of the
portion of Tetzaveh, security forces, army and police, prevented a
group of dozens of Women for Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green)
members from touring the Crusader neighborhood in Hebron, that is
located less than 100 meters from the Cave of Machpelah.
As part of the movement's monthly tours in the area of Judea and
Samaria, this time under the headline: "You have three places
regarding which the nations of the world cannot defraud Israel and
say, You are thieves: the Cave of Machpelah, the tomb of Joseph, and
the Temple," dozens of participants came to Hevron from Jerusalem,
Beit Shemesh, Maaleh Adumim, Modi'in, Efrat, Gush Etzion, and Kiriat
Arba-Hebron.
The tour began at the Cave of Machpelah, where the guide, Aryeh Klein,
explained the cardinal importance of Hebron as the place of the Jewish
people's first acquisition in Eretz Israel. Abraham purchased, not
only the cave to bury his wife Sarah, but also the surrounding field,
thereby acquiring a possession for the Jewish people in its land.
After the tour of the Cave of Machpelah, the group wanted to enter the
nearby Crusader neighborhood. This is a neighborhood that until
recently was neglected, and inhabited by only a few individual Arab
families. Recently, however, much money flowed there from European
countries in order to renovate the quarter, to bring in hundreds of
families of released terrorists, all for the purpose of driving a
wedge between Kiriat Arba and ancient Hebron. Noam Arnon explained
during the tour that if, Heaven forbid, this plan for populating the
quarter were to come to fruition, it would be a ticking bomb.
At the beginning of the week leaders of the Women in Green movement
informed the IDF of the intention to tour that quarter, and received a
negative answer. Indeed, large IDF and police forces stood at the
entrance and prevented the group from going in. Yehudit Katsover and
Nadia Matar, in the name of the entire group, protested this disgrace
and humiliation. "How is it possible that the Spanish Foreign Minister
could tour here last week, but not us? Instead of allocating so many
security forces to prevent us from entering the neighborhood, allocate
these forces to provide security for the tour, which is only a
five-minute long tour of the quarter - less than 200 meters long - in
Area C, which is under Israeli control. Now we have learned that there
is no point in requesting permission. So don't be surprised if our
youth tour the hills of Judea and Samaria without asking for
permission, because every request for permission is refused. We
promise to return to the quarter, without asking for a permit, without
informing you, and tour in it."
Details about the upcoming tour of the quarter will be publicized shortly.
After the protest, the group continued as planned and went to see the
"Stakes in Hebron" exhibition in the Machpela Visitors' Center - an
exhibition of historical photographs taken by Gershon Ellison on the
beginnings of the renewed settlement in Hebron after 1967. The message
of the exhibition is clear: to take the initiative, to push, to
advance, to do, to establish facts on the ground, and to struggle.
The struggle for the land of Israel continues today.
With G-d's help, by the merit of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs who are
buried in Hebron, and by the merit of all the pioneers, the successors
of Caleb son of Jephunneh, "We will certainly go up, and we shall gain
possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it" (Numbers 13:30).
For details: Yehudit Katsover 050-7161818 and Nadia Matar 050-5500834
http://www.womeningreen.org/
Two days ago, Friday, February 11, on the eve of the Shabbat of the
portion of Tetzaveh, security forces, army and police, prevented a
group of dozens of Women for Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green)
members from touring the Crusader neighborhood in Hebron, that is
located less than 100 meters from the Cave of Machpelah.
As part of the movement's monthly tours in the area of Judea and
Samaria, this time under the headline: "You have three places
regarding which the nations of the world cannot defraud Israel and
say, You are thieves: the Cave of Machpelah, the tomb of Joseph, and
the Temple," dozens of participants came to Hevron from Jerusalem,
Beit Shemesh, Maaleh Adumim, Modi'in, Efrat, Gush Etzion, and Kiriat
Arba-Hebron.
The tour began at the Cave of Machpelah, where the guide, Aryeh Klein,
explained the cardinal importance of Hebron as the place of the Jewish
people's first acquisition in Eretz Israel. Abraham purchased, not
only the cave to bury his wife Sarah, but also the surrounding field,
thereby acquiring a possession for the Jewish people in its land.
After the tour of the Cave of Machpelah, the group wanted to enter the
nearby Crusader neighborhood. This is a neighborhood that until
recently was neglected, and inhabited by only a few individual Arab
families. Recently, however, much money flowed there from European
countries in order to renovate the quarter, to bring in hundreds of
families of released terrorists, all for the purpose of driving a
wedge between Kiriat Arba and ancient Hebron. Noam Arnon explained
during the tour that if, Heaven forbid, this plan for populating the
quarter were to come to fruition, it would be a ticking bomb.
At the beginning of the week leaders of the Women in Green movement
informed the IDF of the intention to tour that quarter, and received a
negative answer. Indeed, large IDF and police forces stood at the
entrance and prevented the group from going in. Yehudit Katsover and
Nadia Matar, in the name of the entire group, protested this disgrace
and humiliation. "How is it possible that the Spanish Foreign Minister
could tour here last week, but not us? Instead of allocating so many
security forces to prevent us from entering the neighborhood, allocate
these forces to provide security for the tour, which is only a
five-minute long tour of the quarter - less than 200 meters long - in
Area C, which is under Israeli control. Now we have learned that there
is no point in requesting permission. So don't be surprised if our
youth tour the hills of Judea and Samaria without asking for
permission, because every request for permission is refused. We
promise to return to the quarter, without asking for a permit, without
informing you, and tour in it."
Details about the upcoming tour of the quarter will be publicized shortly.
After the protest, the group continued as planned and went to see the
"Stakes in Hebron" exhibition in the Machpela Visitors' Center - an
exhibition of historical photographs taken by Gershon Ellison on the
beginnings of the renewed settlement in Hebron after 1967. The message
of the exhibition is clear: to take the initiative, to push, to
advance, to do, to establish facts on the ground, and to struggle.
The struggle for the land of Israel continues today.
With G-d's help, by the merit of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs who are
buried in Hebron, and by the merit of all the pioneers, the successors
of Caleb son of Jephunneh, "We will certainly go up, and we shall gain
possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it" (Numbers 13:30).
For details: Yehudit Katsover 050-7161818 and Nadia Matar 050-5500834
http://www.womeningreen.org/
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Iranium The Movie - A MUST See
Iran’s nuclear program presents a threat to international stability. Yet successive American administrations—Republican and Democratic alike—have misread the intentions and actions of the Iranian regime.
How dangerous is a nuclear Iran, even if it never detonates a weapon? What are the guiding principles of the Iranian leadership? To what lengths would the regime go to carry out its agenda? How far have Iran’s leaders already gone to fund the world’s most powerful terrorist organizations? And why have American leaders failed to gain the upper hand in relations with Iran during the past 30 years?
In approximately 60 minutes, Iranium powerfully reports on the many aspects of the threat America and the world now face using rarely-before seen footage of Iranian leaders, and interviews with 25 leading politicians, Iranian dissidents, and experts on: Middle East policy, terrorism, and nuclear proliferation.
http://www.iraniumthemovie.com/
Friday, February 11, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Have a Nice Flight: By Moshe Feiglin
G-d heard my silent prayer and a friendly American couple took their seats next to mine. In their seventies, dressed fashionably in leisure-wear, suntanned and thin. He, tall and strong looking, took the aisle seat, while she, petite, elegant and smiling - just what I had hoped for - took the seat next to me. She immediately and politely introduced herself and her husband.
"This is not our first trip to Israel," she said.
"Better late than never," I answered with appreciation for the solid couple who, in their senior years, had decided to connect to their Homeland through their feet.
"Are you from Israel?"
"Yes, thank G-d. And where are you from?"
"Illinois. Do you know where that is?"
"Of course! My wife's family came from Chicago. Perhaps you know them?"
"No, we don't know them."
"Are you Jewish?" the husband suddenly asked.
"You can't see that I'm Jewish?" I asked, surprised. I immediately understood that not only was the couple next to me not Jewish, but they had probably never met a Jew, which would explain the fact that the kippah on my head meant nothing to them.
They were Evangelists - "Lovers of Israel". A quick survey of the seats around me revealed that I had been seated in the middle of an entire group of Evangelists happily on their way to the "Holy Land."
I felt ridiculous. Here I was in the middle of a Christian congregation, looking for my wife's long-lost relatives.
"We love Jews," the husband interrupted my train of thought.
I was pleased to be the object of the man's love. If one must be stuck next to somebody for ten hours, it is best to be stuck next to someone who loves you, isn't it?
"We're also Jews!" he added and upon my look of amazement added, "sort of." I kept my thoughts on identity theft to myself. After all, I still had ten hours to sit next to them.
An interesting conversation developed between us. They did not know me, but I understood who I was dealing with and answered them in a sort of Bible-ese that fit their pre-conceptions of Jews.
"I thank God for seating us next to you," said the husband.
I nodded uncomfortably.
By the time the plane took off, I was fast asleep. Our conversation resumed close to landing.
"What do you think of this?" the wife asked as she pulled a brochure out of her purse and handed it to me.
I looked inside. "All that you have to do is to believe in Jesus and he will forgive all your sins," it said.
"I'm the conservative type," I answered with a smile. "I have done very well with the Old Testament for the past three thousand years, and I think I will renew my subscription for at least the next three thousand."
"O.K., the woman said, slightly embarrassed, understanding that I wasn't so naive, after all. Her smile disappeared and the pleasant atmosphere disappeared along with it.
Countless important Israeli NGOs and organizations fall into this Christian "love of Israel" trap and stretch out their hands for their generous contributions. Even if they will not admit it, the end always includes the little brochure - just like the brochure that my polite flight neighbor pulled out toward the end of our journey. There are no free lunches. The final result is the baptism of Jews.
In the past, when I discovered that the friendly non-Jew generously donating to Manhigut Yehudit was - despite his declarations - a devout Christian, I cut off all monetary relations with him.
The nationalist and religious organizations that receive Christian aid must understand that there is no such thing as a Christian who is not a missionary toward the entire world, just as there is no 'religious' Jew who is not a 'missionary' toward his Jewish brethren on some level.
Every truly religious Jew - even if he is not into Jewish outreach - is happy to hear of more and more of his Jewish brothers who have joined the ranks of the Observant, simply because the Torah includes every Jew. It is impossible to believe in the Torah and not to hope that every Jew will observe its commandments. The same is true of Christianity - just that it sees all of humanity as a target for its mission.
The Golden Rule does not make exceptions for important Jewish organizations: He who has the gold still makes the rules. When you accept a contribution from a Christian - as nice and sympathetic as he may be - you turn your organization into a channel for missionary influence.
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