In the first war that we fought as a nation, we had a
"secret weapon": the hands of Moshe Rabbenu. As Chazal
themselves ask: Do the hands of Moshe make or break a war?
Rather, whenever Yisroel looked upward and subjugated their
hearts to their Father in Heaven, they were successful, and
if not they fell.
If you listen, even somewhat, to all the "experts" who tell
us how to solve all the troubles of Klal Yisroel, you
can only become jealous of their inside track to the truth.
(And if this was so up until now, just imagine how it will
become once the election campaign heats up.)
Just listen to how strongly the Left makes its case that all
we need to bring peace at last is just One More Concession,
and to dismantle a few of the more troublesome settlements
that annoy the Arabs no end. Once we do that, we can expect
peace and quiet for at least past the next election.
Or just see what simple goods the Right has to offer. All we
need according to them is just to act a little tough and
that will surely end terror forever. "Let Zahal win," is
their latest slogan.
Each side speaks with such convincing sincerity and such
confidence in its position with no second thoughts or doubts
that its approach will certainly bring peace in our time.
We also have our approach to a solution, but it is neither
Right nor Left. We know that in the long run there is only
one real and fully successful solution: Im bechoksai
teileichu . . . venosati sholom bo'oretz, that the only
way to bring peace to the place that we live in is to follow
the laws of the Torah.
We are certainly happy to see the fall of the current
government. From the start it has been firmly opposed to the
eternal values of Klal Yisroel, and we do not forget
that the first element of Prime Minister Barak's unusually
broad governing coalition to become unstuck was the
withdrawal of United Torah Judaism from the coalition last
summer in connection with the transport of the huge
generator component on Shabbos. The principled withdrawal of
UTJ at the orders of gedolei Yisroel was the first
public indication that Barak's broad coalition was not
sensitive to the feelings of the religious public.
We happily say "Good riddance" to this government whose only
persistent principle was expressed in its recent initiative
of a "secular revolution" which was stopped only by the
outbreak of the latest intifadah. Yet we cannot look forward
to any of the likely replacements, which will probably
continue to ignore the positive power of keeping the
Torah.
We know that the direction is neither right nor left;
neither further appeasement nor another war will bring any
relief to our troubles. It is upward that we must look for
our salvation. If we subjugate ourselves thoroughly to
Hashem and go in His ways, we have the guarantee of the
Torah that there will be peace in our Land and as long as we
do not have this, we cannot truly rejoice no matter who
takes over (though we certainly will prefer the party that
is the lesser threat to Toras Yisroel).
Our salvation will never come from the Knesset nor from the
prime minister's office. "These come with chariots and those
come with horses, but we mention the sheim Hashem our G-
d."
