In the last Israeli elections campaign, as in the past,
international developments and the country's security were
debated between the various political parties. Most parties
addressed these issues, each one corresponding to its
particular ideology. The charged discussions filled the air
until people would wonder sometimes why the Torah-true prefer
to "downplay" all other pressing issues except those relating
to religion. Why do they not designate a central spot in
their platform for political and security problems just like
all other parties?
The answer is simple. The Torah-true in Eretz Yisroel aspire
to true peace and security no less than all other sectors of
the population. On the contrary, for us, saving lives is not
only an inherent mortal need but a mitzvah of the Torah: "You
shall live in them" (Vayikro 18:5). The fulfilling of
this commandment overrides all aveiros except for the
three cardinal sins (avoda zorah, promiscuity, and
bloodshed).
Nonetheless, we do not place peace and security at the top of
our priorities since we firmly believe that the international
political and defense situation is fully dependent upon the
spiritual condition of am Yisroel. We must devote our
utmost efforts and energy in strengthening the Torah since
the peace and security of the Jewish Nation depends on it.
Only "if you walk in My statutes" (Vayikro 26:2) then
"I will give peace in the land" (v. 6).
To understand the actual causes for the lack of peace in the
Holy Land during the past decades we do not have to wander
far away. The answer appears in Parshas Acharei: "You
shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments and shall
not commit any of these abominations . . . that the land will
not vomit you out also when you defile it as it has vomited
out the nations who were before you (Vayikro 18:26,
28). Rashi writes that "this can be compared to a prince who
is fed something repulsive. The food does not remain long in
his stomach until he vomits it out. Likewise, Eretz Yisroel
does not permit those who commit aveiros to remain
there." The Torah teaches us that Eretz Yisroel's preeminence
cannot endure sinners, just like the finicky prince whose
stomach cannot bear something revolting.
We can undoubtedly conclude the following: The attempt in
Eretz Yisroel, the King's palace, to create a culture
desecrating the Torah constitutes a tangible threat to the
peace of the Jewish Nation living in the Holy Land. Indeed
ever since the Zionist Movement embarked on building a
national entity and seized control of the leadership of the
Jewish community in Eretz Yisroel, the Jewish settlement has
continuously been threatened by enemies plotting to destroy
them, Rachmono litzlan.
As we have written in the past, the Or HaChaim in the
beginning of Parshas Re'ei writes that the
relationship of our enemies to the Jewish nation living in
Eretz Yisroel is totally dependent upon the spiritual conduct
of the Jews living there. He interprets the posuk,
"Behold I set before you this day a brocho and a
keloloh," (Devorim 11:26) as referring to our
being given Eretz Yisroel. "In this gift there is a
brocho and a keloloh. `If you will obey the
mitzvos of Hashem,' (v. 27) Eretz Yisroel will be given to
you as a brocho -- a blessing, but `if you do not obey
the mitzvos of Hashem,' (v. 28) Eretz Yisroel will be a
keloloh -- a curse, for you. Because of it the nations
will be jealous of you and in revenge will destroy you." When
the Torah is profaned in the Holy Land the brocho is
liable to be converted, chas vesholom, to a
keloloh and "because of it the nations will be jealous
of you."
Besides the spiritual reasons involved,
history has proven time and again that forsaking Judaism,
casting off the Torah's yoke, has directly awakened the anger
of the nations surrounding us.
Only recently, distinguished Moslem individuals and communal
representatives from the Israeli Arab sector sharply
criticized the lack of moral values among secular Jews. They
renounced the attempt to permeate this contemptible
atmosphere among Arab Israelis. This took place when, in an
effort to display "brotherhood" and "equality," a delegation
from the Arab sector was invited to a new Israeli
entertainment show. Arab-Israeli newspapers protested angrily
against the show's low moral level and wrote that this is
part of a "long-time design aimed at assimilating [the Arabs]
within the defective Israeli society that lacks any values,
traditions, modesty, or self-honor." These Arab dignitaries
described the show as being, "Equality in moral
permissiveness."
Their fears that the invitation to the show was a "scheme"
purposely intended to introduce morally low values among
Arabs reminded us of an interesting research work written by
Prof. Yehoshua Porat of the Hebrew University of
Yerushalayim, a lecturer in the history of Islamic countries.
The research dealt with the roots of the anti- Zionist and
anti-Jewish ideology in the nationalist Arab society living
in Eretz Yisroel (printed within a compilation called
Hatred of Jews Throughout History, published by
Merkaz Shur). It seems from the report that Arab
hatred for Jews living in Eretz Yisroel erupted when Jewish
nationalist ideas began to be aired publicly and loudly and
the secular chalutzim (pioneers) started making
aliya.
The starting point for our former good relations with the
Arabs, writes Prof. Porat, "was the existence of the
traditional Moslem relationship of extreme tolerance. The
basic perception of Islam superiority was protected, and in
daily life a condescending feeling of the Arabs toward the
Jews continued. This feeling, however, was never attached to
any attempt to harm Jews or force them to convert to their
religion."
This blessed coexistence was due to the fulfilling of
Chazal's advice of "conceal yourselves" and of the Jews being
mindful to retain a low profile in the general society. "The
Jews did not try excessively to equate their status that was
set by the (Ottoman) law. They were careful to remain at
society's perimeters and, by acting like that, a relationship
that both sides accepted was formed and the conflict between
them was never large. Until political issues connected with
the Zionist enterprise in Eretz Yisroel developed, this
relationship, that all were aware of, generally functioned
well in practice."
Hatred spiraled later coinciding with Jewish nationalist
awakening. "It is characteristic that after the Jews
celebrated the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration with
great pomp and splendor, the first protest of the Palestinian
Arabs against it was organized. . . . Therefore," writes
Prof. Porat, "for a long time the principle distinction
between Jews and Zionists was observed."
Prof. Porat points out that the foreign ideologies "imported"
to Eretz Yisroel by the chalutzim who immigrated from
Russia also offended the Arabs. For instance, the Arabs
claimed that the Jews brought Bolshevism to Eretz Yisroel and
the Middle East. "Naturally this argument had a factual basis
since the Palestinian Communist Party was set up by Jewish
immigrants."
Local Arabs claimed that the chalutzim brought with
them a milieu of permissiveness and pritzus contrary
to the values prevalent in the region. Prof. Yehoshua Porat
writes: "A most important argument should be pointed out here
since it has been deeply implanted and has lasted many years:
From the era of the Second Aliya, the argument was raised by
the Arabs that arriving Jews were bringing permissiveness to
the Middle East traditional society with them. This
intensified, naturally, during the Third Aliya that was much
more revolutionary than the Second Aliya in all that was
connected to lifestyle, and especially regarding collective
organization in kibbutzim . . . The [Arabs] saw the
kibbutzim and the communal lifestyle, and the argument
that the Jews introduced Communism was wrapped together with
the argument that the Jews brought permissiveness with them.
The kibbutz is, according to the Arab claim, the
summit of all of these elements."
Prof. Porat writes at length and cites details of the
bitterness of Arab settlements when confronted by the
pritzus common among the chalutzim and
primarily in the kibbutzim. The Arabs reached the
conclusion that "the lifestyle in the kibbutzim is a
lifestyle of hefkeirus and social anarchy."
Here we have a living materialization of the fulfillment of
the Torah's warning that the land will vomit out
reshoim. Adopting alien ideologies, deserting
traditional Jewish lifestyle, and living lives of
hefker and pritzus, have caused, among other
things, a thorny tension between Jews and Arabs, from which
we suffer to this day. This is as the Orach HaChaim
writes: "`If you do not obey the mitzvos of Hashem,' (v. 28)
Eretz Yisroel will be a keloloh for you. Because of it
the nations will be jealous of you."
This unfortunate situation came about because of the
provocations of the Zionist Movement and the attempt to
create an entity on a political basis, contrary to the Jewish
settlement that lived here according to the Torah before any
Zionist Congress. This is how the Palestinian-Arab hatred
that threatens the Jews in Eretz Yisroel mounted for
decades.
The frum Jews at that time had only one aspiration: to
cling to Torah, to serve Hashem and to fulfill the mitzvah of
settling Eretz Yisroel because of the Divine promise.
The warnings of the gedolei hador zt'l of the past,
who clearly saw the results of this process even in the
Zionist Movement's early years were not heeded.
The gedolei Yisroel shlita now warn that those who
have been trying for hundreds of years to create a "new
Jewish Nation" have brought tragedy on the Jewish Nation.
They have enraged the Arabs and have caused a terrible
whirlpool of blood, but the hoped-for spiritual change for
the better is still not in sight.
"If you will obey the mitzvos of Hashem" -- that is our
political platform. "The Torah guards and saves"
(Sotah 21a) -- is our security stand.
