What is Really on Trial at the International Court of Justice

In what may go down in history as the biggest show trial in the history of show trials, the nation of South Africa is alleging that the nation of Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians. Their evidence? In a pep-talk to soldiers heading into Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is alleged to have mentioned the biblical imperative to wipe out Amalek, the embodiment of human evil & chaos, from the face of the earth.

By some magical extrapolation, the “Palestinian” people are Amalek, ergo Israel designs to commit genocide against them.

Gaza comprises an area of a mere 139 square miles. Even with hundreds of thousands of boots on the ground, the military echelon admits it will take another year before all the Hamas combatants are neutralized in Gaza. Let’s put that in perspective: in 1943, Patton’s 7^th Army (with a little help from Montgomery & the British 8^th Army) conquered Sicily in a bit more than a month. Sicily is almost 10,000 square miles.

So why hasn’t Israel already conquered Gaza, an area 1.5% the size of Sicily, in three months? The reason this war drags on is precisely BECAUSE Israel is going to extraordinary and unprecedented efforts to minimize civilian casualties. This is despite the fact that Gaza Arabs willingly protect Hamas terrorists.

No other nation at war would give succor to their enemy while guns are still blazing – except the Jews. And we do this, knowing full well that much of the fuel and food being allowed into Gaza winds up in the hands and bellies of the very combatants we are trying to kill. The reason we have only neutralized 25% - 30% of the Hamas-niks is because they are comfortable in their bunkers – plenty of food, water, and gas for electricity – compliments of the Government of Israel.

They understand, as we do, that if Hamas is not destroyed root & branch, they have won. And they think time is on their side.

For years, Israel has provided Gaza with free electricity and drinking water – a sure indicator of genocidal intent.

Israel used to allow tens of thousands of Gazan, Judean & Samarian Arabs to enter Israel daily to work, since the “Palestinian” economy does not exist, other than the kleptocracy at the very top.

Israel can document tens of thousands of cases of Gazan, Judean & Samarian Arabs being treated in Israeli hospitals. Even the fat cat PLO plutocrats prefer to be treated in Israeli hospitals for their diseases of affluence – heart disease, obesity, cancer and all the rest.

If we’re mass murderers, we’re pretty bad at it.

The International Court of Justice should laugh this complaint out of court. Since the facts refute the frivolous charges, and the South Africans surely know this, what is really on trial here?

I have the privilege to teach Torah to middle school children. We are currently studying the rebellion of Korach (Numbers 16 ff.). Korach’s rebels essentially say to Moshe & Aharon: “Thanks, but we don’t need your leadership, we have no use for your guidance. We are all capable of being our own priests and leaders, for we are all holy, just as holy, in fact, as you. Why do you make yourself superior over Gcd’s holy people?”

What is on trial in the Hague is nothing less than the Bechirah, the Choseness of the Jewish People.

The world proclaims at the Hague:

-        We reject your claims of moral superiority on the battlefield. You are – have to be - just as guilty of genocide as we are.

-       Why do you set yourself as exceptional among the nations? We are all children of Gcd. You are no better, and perhaps far worse, than we are.

-       We reject your moral example to be a light unto the nations. We don’t need your guidance, and we certainly don’t need your moral leadership. In fact, your very existence offends us.

-       We are quite proud of the sophisticated, woke, relativist moral constructs that we have created for ourselves. And in our narrative, the Jew is the new Nazi.

So in light of the foregoing, it must be asked:

At what point do we stop groveling for the approval of the “U”s – the UN, the US, the EU? They all have Jewish blood on their hands - especially & including the Roman Catholic Church.

At what point do we stop caring about anti-Israel resolutions in the UN?

At what point do we start putting our own survival above the needs of those sworn to our destruction?

At what point do we prioritize the needs of the innocent over the needs of the guilty?

At what point do we turn inward for validation instead of outward?

We witness miracles in Israel everyday. The presence of Gcd is palpable among us. While we enjoy the support of millions of ethical people around the world, we are nevertheless a nation destined to dwell apart.

Let us emerge from the mentality of the Galut (diaspora) which craves for acceptance from our neighbors. Instead let’s cultivate a mindset of Geulah (Redemption), where we stand upright in our Land, acknowledge our Bechirah, i.e., our Divine calling to create a world of universal brotherhood and peace under the banner of ethical, compassionate monotheism. It is high time we stop giving power to and focusing on the haters and welcome those of all backgrounds who wish to join us in this holy endeavor. “All those who are thirsty, let them come & drink.”

An Appeal from the Heart on the War in Gaza

I'm not a politician and I'm not a general; I am a simple rabbi, least among rabbis. But I have devoted my life to studying the Torah - the authoritative Word of Gcd in this world - its depth, its eloquence, its mysteries, and its urgent messages for our time.

As a Jew, I share the pain and distress of our People in this difficult hour and I am confident that, with Gcd's help, we will eventually prevail over the Axis of Evil arrayed against us. Though I alone cannot bring this war against the forces of evil to a successful conclusion, I believe that, working together, even simple people like ourselves can bring that goal much closer.

Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak HaKohen Kook taught that the way to combat evil is to flood the world with good.

I believe Gcd is urging us to quantify the mitzvot "ben adam l'chaveiro" - good deeds which directly impact others. Let's flood the world with gratuitous acts of kindness: greet everyone with a genuine smile; open a door for an elderly person; perhaps buy a homeless person a meal; give tzedakah directly into the hands of the needy.

There are those who would characterize the Jews as monstrous, genocidal mass murderers. What better way to combat this pernicious slander than by showing who we really are - Rachamanim b'nei Rachamanim - kind-hearted people, from a long & distinguished lineage of kind hearts.

Every Jew is an ambassador of the A-lmighty. A long-term, sustained kindness campaign, especially direct to our non-Jewish neighbors, will win hearts and change perceptions, and will of course hasten the Ultimate Redemption.

If this idea resonates, please do the following: (1) repost; (2) PM me to coordinate, share ideas and spread this message; and (3) consider purchasing my book, Holistic Judaism, contains detailed instructions on how to hasten the Messianic Age of universal brotherhood and peace to which we all aspire.

Hashem yikom damam avadav hashafuch.

All reactions:

14Judy Livny, Akiva Hollinger and 12 others

Komemiut B’Artzeinu

There is a very subtle but significant difference in the morning devotions of the Ashkenazim (the Jews who resided in Europe for 1800 years after Roman Expulsion) and the Edot HaMizrach (the Jewish communities of the Levant and North Africa).  

In the Ashkenazi siddur (prayerbook), we beseech G-d ”to lead us upright to our Land;” in the Edot HaMizrach siddur the phrase reads “lead us upright in our land.”

The Ashkenazi version is phrased in the future tense, a prayer looking to a future time, a future redemption; the Edot HaMizrach version is phrased in the present tense, already sovereign in our own land.

Since 1948 we have been sovereign in our own land. But are we really? We certainly don’t behave like we are.

A sovereign doesn’t negotiate with terrorists who are committed to the destruction of the Sovereign State. By negotiating with Hamas, we elevate this band of murdering, raping monsters to co-equal status with the Sovereign State of Israel. We grant legitimacy to Hamas by even talking with them. Worst of all, the world interprets this dialogue to mean that we tacitly concede that they have a claim to the Land of Israel. It is the behavior of the vassal, not the hegemon.

Hamas certainly behaves like the hegemon. As expected, they have strung out this cease fire, knowing full well that with every passing day, the chances of resuming offensive operations in Gaza diminish, in spite of the fat talk of the politicians to the contrary. (Q: How can you tell when a politician is lying? A: His lips are moving.)

Hamas are calling the shots; they are in the driver’s seat in these negotiations. They determine how many hostages to dangle before the broken hearts of our suffering nation. And we kowtow to their conditions. They are not only holding 170 Jews hostage, they are holding an entire nation of ten million people hostage. They are playing us for fools and we are letting them do it. They rule our land; not us.

It is time that we exercise our sovereignty, walking upright in our land. No more negotiations with terrorists. We are sovereign here, not Hamas. We should immediately close the Temple Mount to all Moslems until all hostages are returned. Period. Once the hostages are released, Moslems would again be allowed to pray freely at their shrine.

And every time a Jew is attacked by a Jihadi, we close the Temple Mount again.

Such a policy would send an unequivocal message in the only language they understand: we are sovereign here, not you.  

And it goes without saying that offensive operations in Gaza must resume immediately.

Lastly, the UN, EU, US and all the rest must be put on notice that we are sovereign here and will not split it in half or share control of our land with anyone.

May G-d grant us the courage to walk with our heads held high IN our land.

The First Fruits of Swords of Iron

Rav Kook once wrote that, while no one relishes war, war has some positive aspects. One is that it forces people to reflect on and define their values. Specifically: What is worth fighting for? What is worth dying for? Is defending your family worth dying for? Your homestead? Your core principles and values? Your country?

While the indescribably sadistic barbarism of the Simchat Torah Pogrom will be seared into our collective consciousness for generations to come, we are, nevertheless, already beginning to taste the first fruits of this war that has been forced upon us. Let us consider three major differences in the world before and after Simchat Torah.

Jewish Unity: Before Simchat Torah, we Jews were ripping ourselves apart. In Israel, the socialist, anti-religious oligarchs were attempting nothing less than a coup d’etat against a legitimately constituted government. Mass demonstrations, street riots and violence, tires burning on the highways were the new normal. In the diaspora, Jews were so deeply divided on social and political policies that it was becoming almost impossible to engage in civil dialogue with those holding opposing views.

The Simchat Torah Pogrom galvanized the Jewish People together in a way that hasn’t been seen in half a century or more. Jews of all stripes – secular, Reform, Conservative, Modern Orthodox, Chareidi, socialists, pro-Bibiniks, anti-Bibiniks, all speak now with one voice. Even strident anti-Zionist Chassidic grand rabbis are urging their chasidim to pray for Israel and her inhabitants.

One of the enduring messages of Megillat Esther is that when the Jewish People are unified, Heaven showers miracles upon us. When Haman persuades the king to allow him to wipe out the Jewish People, he characterizes us as ‘scattered and dispersed among the 127 provinces of the empire.’ The antidote? Esther commands to ‘go and gather all the Jews together.’  As the verse says, “He unifies their hearts and understands all their deeds.” (Psalm 33)

The Veil Falls: Since Oslo and before, the world has evinced boundless sympathy for the hapless “Palestinians.” Since Operation Swords of Iron began, the whining has become a howl of indignation. Forgive me, but where is the Dunkirk-esque flotilla of European transport ships to carry the “innocent” Gazan Arabs – the mothers and children, the elderly – to a safe refuge, away from the battlefield? Where are the UN hospital ships to care for the Arab wounded? Where is the airlift of transport planes to carry the innocents out of the war zone? If they believe so ardently in the Palestinian cause, where are the international volunteers flooding into Gaza to take up arms with their beleaguered Hamas brethren? Thousands of people from all over the world went to Spain to aid the Republican cause in 1936.

They don’t exist. The Western horizon of the Mediterranean is stunningly empty of rescue ships. The skies are empty of transport planes. Egypt won’t lift a finger. Jordan has turned its back on her own people (the worst kept secret in the Middle East is that Jordan is Palestine.)

The most these protectors of the “Palestinians” can do is sputter, fume and howl, or send some small amount of humanitarian aid which they are fully aware will be commandeered by Hamas. Protests in New York and London are easy, but ultimately have very limited enduring effect - other than making the protesters feel good about themselves. That their crocodile tears don’t translate into concrete action is eloquent proof of their mendacity.

Know thine enemy, know thyself: There is an old saying: ‘tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are.’ But the opposite is also true: our enemies define us as well.

The International Community, with the United Nations at the fore, are working desperately to preserve Hamas intact. They are urgently trying to negotiate a cease fire to prevent the collapse of Hamas. Why? The international community needs Hamas. They know that the overwhelming majority of Gaza Arabs, as well as the Arabs in Judea and Samaria support Hamas, its worldview and its methods. They are also aware that it is just a matter of time – weeks? months? – until Abu Mazen achieves room temperature and Hamas consolidates its power over all those areas. Then Palestinian Nationalism will finally achieve its original, intended purpose: to serve as a lever, a cudgel, a battering ram to finish off both the Jewish People and the Jewish State.

We have progressed not at all from the 1930s, when the consensus of informed and genteel opinion was that on balance, the world would be a better place without Jews in it. We Jews naively thought that the Holocaust revealed the ugly side of state-sponsored Jew-hatred; we were wrong. The enduring lesson the Nations took away from the Holocaust was that Jews should be killed in dribs and drabs – onesies and twosies. A Daniella Shefi here, a Dolphinarium there is fine. But no more mass executions of Jews, because it upends the delicate balance of moral relativism. Jewish blood can run in the gutters, but lest one harm a hair on a Palestinian head…

When we were kids in Hebrew day school, at the height of the campaign for Soviet Jewry, we used to make note of the fact that ‘Russia’ in English means ‘evildoer’ in Hebrew. The Hebrew word for China is ‘Sin’. In Hebrew, the word ‘Korea’ means to tear, rend or destroy. Iran was known for thousands of years as Persia, but the country changed its name to ‘Iran’ during World War II, a Farsi bastardization of ‘Aryan.” The gematria of "The United Nations" equals the gematria of "Magog". Lastly, Hamas is an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya, which means Islamic Resistance Movement in English. But every Hebrew speaker knows that Hamas means ‘destruction.’

We are on the brink of a HUGE Yeshuat Hashem – a Divine Salvation is in the offing that has not been seen in modern times and which will leave the enemies of G-d scattered from before Him.

The Wall Street Journal headline tells the story: “Global War on Jews.” Or the Yahoo.com headline: “A War Unlike Any Other.” The battle lines are drawn: 

Magog, Evil, Sin, Destruction & Aryans are arrayed against the Servants of the One True G-d.

This is the time for all those who worship and revere the G-d of Israel - by whatever name you choose to call Him – to come together, stand behind Israel and the Jewish People, and help us in eradicating this evil from the face of the Earth. All people of goodwill, not just Jews, must ask themselves: what am I willing fight for?

As Moses said: Mi Hashem Aylay! All those who are for G-d – stand by me!

The Jewish Manifesto: נקדש את שמך בעולם (Sanctifying Gcd's Name in the World)

בעה''י

The Jewish Weltanschauung and its Implementation

“When a person does not see others or want to see them, there is darkness in the world.” - Ktav Sofer

I. The Lost Voice
Rav Y.B. Soloveitchik, zt”l, wrote that there are three alternative interpretations of the history of Western civilization - the Islamic, the Christian and the Jewish. The adherents of each are unshakably committed to its fulfillment, and each vision is mutually incompatible with the others. In the end, only one worldview will be demonstrated to be truthful, accurate, and correct; only one worldview can account for all the historical data without the need to disregard or gerrymander inconvenient facts. There are no stakes higher; the worldview that prevails will hold the pen that writes the final chapters of the history of Western Civilization.

Non-Jewish Worldviews As sojourners in Christian and Moslem cultures, we are well acquainted in the tenets of Christianity and Islam. Our host cultures communicate their dogmas in both explicit and subliminal ways. A Jew cannot grow up in the United States without exposure to the major signposts of the Christian calendar. Your day-timer has a little “A.D.” on it, and includes reminders for Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday, Lent, Easter Eggs and jelly beans. Sundays are shaded to signify the Christian day of rest. There’s Mother Mary coming to me, hocking my cheinik to “Let It Be”, Kyrie Eleison telling me there’s a road that I must travel, and of course, Christmas carols ad extremis, culminating in the Hallelujah Chorus of Handel’s Messiah.

With the ascension in recent years of miltant Jihadist Islam, all non-Moslems are quickly learning about the key tenets of orthodox Islam, of the Sunni/Shi’a schism, of dhimmitude, of the jizya, of hudnas, of the Mahdi and the writings of the Koran and the Hadiths. We are being forced to acknowledge that a significant subset of Islam (perhaps as much as 50%, according to Islamic scholar Dr. Daniel Pipes) subscribes to the radical expansionist Islamic worldview which motivates the Jihadists. The adherents of this worldview are committed to waging violent Jihad against all non-Moslems to establish the global Caliphate under strict Sha’aria law. Jews, we are informed, descend from pigs and monkeys, and the idea of an independent Jewish State on ancestral Jewish land is anathema. As George F. Will once observed, it is not “that Israel is being provocative, but that Israel being is provocative.” According to R’ Soloveitchik’s view, the Jihadists are not waging war against Western Civilization as much as waging war for the domination of Western Civilization.

(It is an interesting philosophical question whether the modern secular ethos is merely a derivative of Christianity, as Rav A.Y. HaCohen Kook zt”l argues, or if it is a form of avodah zara [idol worship] in its own right. Either way, it seems to be distinct from the other three, and carries with it a full array of postulates, prejudices, morals and behaviors.)

Jewish Worldview is MissingBut what of the Jewish worldview? In these extraordinary times, where is the clarion call of the Jewish Weltanschauung? Who is advancing our unique understanding of history and current events, and our role, relative to the roles of others, in the shaping of those events? Why do we not hear expression of the Jewish worldview in the great marketplace of ideas? Where are the voices of our Gedolim, our Manhigim, in the mainstream media? We certainly hear the views of others in great abundance. Why are Am Yisrael content to sit on the sidelines of the public debate and watch world events unfold without public comment? I refer not to isolated public pronouncements on specific policy issues, like school vouchers or euthanasia; I refer to a comprehensive articulation of the Jewish ethos on all facets of cultural life. Where is the proud, cogent, passionate articulation of the Jewish Strategic Vision for mankind? This question is especially pressing at a time when the Jewish Weltanschauung has so much to contribute to the vigorous public discourse and to the greater common weal.

Of the three worldviews, only the Jewish worldview can point to concrete historical developments that corroborate its understanding of Western history. The Torah promises first and foremost that despite our disobedience and subsequent exile, the Jewish People would never be completely eradicated from the face of the earth; it promises a re-establishment of the Jewish Commonwealth and the return of the Jewish exiles from the ends of the earth. Israel was a forgotten wasteland for millenia. Today, in fulfillment of Torah prohesies, Israel sprouts forth with such verdant lushness that astronauts from space could clearly demarcate the "Green Line" between lands under Jewish and Arab control. The Talmud teaches us that this is the surest sign that the final redemption is near (Sanhedrin 98a). All of this has come to pass. Yet, even in Jewish circles, these phenomenal events to which our generations bear witness are rarely ever discussed in their proper context.

To articulate the Jewish worldview requires nothing less than a comprehensive cheshbon nefesh - a rethinking of what it means to be Jewish in these times, in these days of the atchaltah d’geulah.

II. The Aberration of Galut Throughout the Torah, we are repeatedly adjured to be kedoshim, and to rise to our Divine calling to be mamlechet kohanim v’goy kadosh (a Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation - Exodus 19:6). This is the only reason for our bechirah. It is our Divine mission; it is to permeate our every act, infuse our every utterance. In the dark world of three millennia ago, Judaism alone held up the banner of morality, of compassion, and of hope against polytheism, chaos, nihilism and frank evil. So impeccable was to be our example of righteousness that the Umot HaOlam (the 70 Nations) would declare “Happy is the Nation who has Hashem as their Gcd!” (Psalm 144:15) Through our passionate deeds and words, Hashem would be sanctified in the world - mekadesh ba’olam. But to our unending sorrow, we stumbled in that mission: “mipnei chataeinu galinu me’artzeinu, v’nitrachaknu me’admotaeinu…” ("...because of our sins we were exiled and distanced from our land... - Festival Mussaf) Within a few hundred years of entering Israel, the Jewish Commonwealth had been split in two, and the persistent pagan cults of ba’al and asherah were never successfully uprooted from the fields and minds of the Jewish common folk. Jew fought Jew, Torah observance lapsed, and the storm clouds of Assyria, Babylonia and Rome darkened our skies. Exile followed, and we have lived with the sequellae of the churbanot without interruption since that tragic time; indeed, we feel its rumblings down to this day.

Since Yavneh, Jews loyal to Torah have been forced to sacrifice our higher mission for the imperatives of mere survival, and we have been focused ever since on issues of preservation. The extraordinary act of committing the oral Torah to paper was itself an incredibly courageous act of preserving the unbroken chain of mesorah for future generations facing a very uncertain future. In perhaps the most painful consequence of our transgressions, the task of educating the world to the existence of the Gcd of Israel passed to the Christian and Moslem. It was not the Jew who exposed the Gaul, the Goth and the Celt to the Gcd of Abraham, it was the Catholic Church. And it was left to the Mohammedan to speak of the One Creator to Africa and Asia. We were too pre-occupied with issues of meager survival, and marginalized by the host cultures in which we lived. The Rambam says that Hashem intended Christianity so that people would have a concept of mashiach (lit., the Savior, but more broadly, the concept of the history with purpose and direction). But weren’t they supposed to learn that from us?

The leitmotif of our galut existence can been seen as one of survival and preservation - of our faith, of our morals and of our dedication to Torah & mitzvot in the most difficult and disparate social conditions and environments, and in the face of terrible persecution and suffering. Exiled, without power or means, we were forced to abandon our calling and withdrew from an active role in shaping the course of human events; in exchange for being allowed to survive, our worldview was ruthlessly suppressed. While a long succession of “New Israel’s” expropriated our Torah, twisted our morality, and undermined our calling, we were content to be left alone; we were sustained by the promise of Jeremiah that Hashem would not abandon his "Treasured People," and that our galut would not be permanent. So for most of the last 1900 years, and under this most unlikely set of circumstances, Judaism miraculously endured in the face of determined attempts to eradicate both it and its worldview from the face of the planet.

Then came the spiritual tsunami of the Haskalah (Enlightenment). To be charitable, perhaps it can be said that the first generation of reformers were genuinely motivated by a desire to preserve Judaism in the face of massive assimilation on the one hand, and the apparent, imminent extinction of Torah-based Judaism on the other. Sadly, 200 harsh years of history have shown us they accomplished the polar opposite: the liberal Jewish reformers are largely responsible for accelerating assimilation and intermarriage, i.e., undoing our 19 century-long survival success story.

The American Jewish Establishment has been controlled from the beginning by liberal Jews. How has the American Jewish Community fared under their leadership? The demographics are pretty sobering: In 1970, there were 6.7 million Jews in the US, according to the Brittanica Book of the Year. By 1990, according to the National Jewish Population Survey (NJPS) of that year, there were 5.5 million Jews. According to the Year 2000 NJPS, there are 5.2 million Jews in America. And of the 5.2 million who self-identify as Jews, only about 3 million are Jewish according to the settled standards of Jewish Law. The Maskilim have failed by any objective measure.

In light of the false predictions of the demise of Torah Judaism on the one hand, and the responsibility for the destruction of diaspora Jewry on the other, intellectual integrity on the part of the Maskilim should demand a vidui; a disbanding and return to the values and behaviors that have sustained us throughout the dispersion. While such a declaration is unlikely, history will nevertheless adjudge the modern dissent movements as mere footnotes to Jewish history, with no appreciable legacy or significant contribution to Jewish thought. They are spawns of the galut, little more than historical aberrations, and are destined to wither there.

But look at the havoc they have wrought! The American galut is unlike any other. On the one hand, we have enjoyed, for the first time in our galut experience, five generations of heretofore unimagined personal liberty and wealth. American Jews have witnessed the miraculous re-establishment of the Jewish State and the beginning of kibutz galuyot (ingathering of the exiles); we have helped nurture the renaissance of Torah Judaism after the Holocaust. On the other hand, 90% of American Jews spurn traditional Jewish values, living as "un‑Jews." We stand at the threshold of a new era, where we are being shown, before our very eyes, that the moment of geulah (redemption) is at hand. Indeed, like the Egyptian galut of yore, American Jews stand on the precipice of the 49th stage of tumah (spiritual distancing from Gcd); if we are not redeemed soon, we, too, will be irredeemable, ch”v. We, the awake ones, cannot allow this to happen.

How has the atherosclerotic Jewish Establishment responded to these unprecedented challenges? By not responding at all – ‘to keep doing what we did before’, to ‘go with what we know’ and to stick doggedly to our aberrant galut survival leitmotif. We continue to view survival a.k.a. “Jewish continuity” a.k.a. the preservation of Jewish identity to be our highest priority – for it's own sake. The American-Jewish canoe is almost over the falls, and the Establishment response is to re-pack the picnic basket between the thwarts.

The true mission of the Jew - our higher calling to kedushah (holiness) and to be mashpia on the world - have been long ago discarded as an irrelevant, inconvenient, politically incorrect anachronism. The centrality of Israel to Jewish life (read: aliyah/return to Israel) has been nullified. Like terrorized ghetto-dwellers, American Jews hope that if they are silent enough, invisible enough, they will be left alone, unharrassed by the greater world. Tzitit in, kippah off, head down. The scandalous, unspoken truth is that Jews are happy with this trade-off: straddling two cultures, gleaning from both, committing entirely to none. Jews are quite content navigating the murky paradoxes and ambiguities of American Jewish life, and rather enjoy the galut existence. So like a modern-day Jonah, we run from the tzav Hashem (Divine Imperative). Rav T. H. Weinreb once said with regard to North American aliyah and Eretz Yisrael: “It is as if Hashem threw Am Yisrael a party, and no one attended.” Jonah couldn’t hide from Hashem, and neither can we. Portentous world events are unfolding so quickly and ominously that we are being compelled to examine our deeds and the predicates of our very lives. Jews are so focused on the activities perceived to be so critical to survival, we have forgotten that all of Western history, as Rav Kook says, is but a preamble and preparation for Geulat Yisrael. The tools that served us so well in galut are obstacles to the geulah, and the geulah is at hand.

III. Mamlechet Kohanim
Lih’yot mamlechet kohanim v’goy kadosh: In the same way that the Cohanim and Leviim ministered to Hashem on behalf of Klal Yisrael (lichaper ba’ado, u’vaad beito, uva’ad kol k’hal Yisrael [for the High Priest to atone for himself, for his household, and for all of Israel - Leviticus 16:19]), Klal Yisrael’s mission is to minister on behalf of the 70 Nations of the world. In the same way that the Cohanim were the ba’alei mesorah, the mechanchim, the teachers of Klal Yisrael, so, too, are Klal Yisrael the light-bringers to the Nations. And in the same way that the Cohanim had specific mitzvot that were not incumbent upon Klal Yisrael, so, too, Klal Yisrael has mitzvot that are not incumbent upon the other peoples.

Were the Cohanim “better Jews” or dearer to Hashem than stam Yisraelim by virtue of their of their avodah (service in the Temple)? Of course not. They simply have a different role to play; a different voice in the complex fugue that is avodat Yisrael. Are Jews intrinsically “better human beings” than other people? We are not. But we have a different role to play; a role that requires the careful and enthusiastic observance of the Tarya”g (613) mitzvot. Our great commission is the urging of the Nations to join us in the holy task of being metaken olam b’malchut Sh-adai (rectifying the world in preparation for the Kingship of the A-lmighty). Nothing is more timely or critical.

I use the word ‘urging’ deliberately. One of the axioms Hashem built into His created Universe is the unfettered free will of every person to choose between right and wrong, between good and evil. Free will is the fundamental prerequisite of genuine religious faith; no “believer” can coerce a non-believer into belief. Therefore, any authentic voice of Torah MUST work to preserve the unfettered ability of each individual to choose between good and evil, belief or disbelief, mitzvah or aveirah, even though it perforce means suffering skeptics and unbelievers in our midst. (Perhaps this is another understanding of why we say “B’yeshivah shel ma’alah” before Yom Kippur.)

A gedanken experiment: let us suppose that we could somehow abduct every irreligious Jew, and drug them and strap them to a cot for 25 hours, and by such coercive means ensure that they could not desecrate Shabbat. Would such an act be pleasing to Hashem? Of course not. Hashem wants the avodah of all His flock from their own free will.

Rav Chanan Morrison expounds an idea of Rav A.Y. HaCohen Kook zt”l on the Mei Merivah (Waters of Strife - Numbers 20): in the time of mashiach, we will again be able to speak to the rock, using words and logic and persuasion, and rectify the hitting of the rock which created a paradigm of force and coercion in human affairs. That is why we must urge, advocate, influence, encourage, support - but never compel – either our fellow Jew or the Nations to goodness. Hashem, the Font of all Good, Who's name is "GOOD" and is described as Kulo Tov (completely good) wants only good for his creations. The existence of the possibility of evil in the world is necessary to preserve absolute free will. However, we must recognize that while Hashem created the possibility of evil, the evil we experience in the world is of our own making, not Hashem’s. The hard truth is that we inflict most of our pain on ourselves by our own boneheaded choices.

I see a world where all people come to recognize, without coercion, manipulation or force, that all good emanates from Hashem, Creator of heaven and earth, the Eternal One, Gcd of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the One who wants for us only good. It is the natural state of the human soul, the spark of the Divine, to connect with its Source. For Christians, belief in Gcd is inextricably entwined with belief in their Jesus. So when people have difficulty accepting elements of Christian dogma, they feel distanced from Gcd. This state creates tremendous angst in the world. We Jews must show them that their angst is unnecessary, and that there is another path. To the 70 Nations we must declare that the Jewish People convey a tremendous message of hope! First, know that there is a compassionate Gcd – Elokei Avraham, Elokei Yitzchak, v’Elokai Yaakov - Who created us all: Moslem, Christian and Jew; Who loves us all; and Who has assigned each one of us a specific task in the great and holy work - our common goal - of perfecting the world together. The very existence of the Jewish People bears testimony to this Truth. You were born to your specific family for a reason; you were born to accomplish a specific task in the great creative endeavor called tikkun olam (perfecting the world). Gcd doesn’t want you to become Jewish; Gcd wants you to be who you are, to choose the path of the GOOD, as defined in the Torah by the Seven Noahide Laws. Each one of us must struggle to discover what our particular mission is, so that we can join together, Jew and Gentile, shoulder to shoulder, to complete the work that Hashem left for us to complete on this earth.

Jewish liberals, who have discarded authentic Torah values, have substituted in their place jingoisms like ‘social justice.’ "Tikkun Olam" has has morphed into "redistribution of wealth." The authentic Jewish urging is not an appeal to socialism, or feminism, or gay rights, or gun control, or any other over-exploited, feel-good political agenda, but rather a clarion call to genuine goodness and to compassion; a call to the heart that penetrates the layers of cynicism and transcends the superficial. It is a call to Truth and service and love. The very survival of the faithful remnant of Yisrael, the nation that bears His name within its own, is tangible proof that Gcd exists, and that He keeps His word, and that His Torah is true.

Second, unlike faiths that threaten eternal damnation to non-believers, we proclaim the inclusive, universal message that Gcd accepts all good people in heaven (i.e., keepers of the basic elements of human justice and compassion as embodied in the Seven Noahide Laws, irrespective of race, creed, or color. There is no place in Gcd’s world for racism or exclusion. Thirdly, the Gcd who calls us to His Goodness is the Gcd who bequeathed the land of Israel to the people of Israel.

Israel is in the headlines every day - out of all proportion to her size (she ranks about 125th in size out of 180 countries) and population (100/180). The Torah says that it is the place that Hashem watches “from the beginning of the year to the end of the year”; so, apparently, does the rest of the world. Why? Yerushalayim and the Har HaBayit (Temple Mount) are the spiritual epicenter of the world, as the place chosen by Hashem lishaken Shmo sham (for His Name to dwell there). The Jewish/Arab conflict in the Middle East is not about the relative merits of Jew or Arab to live on the land; there is enough land in what was once known as “Palestine” for all. Rather, the ongoing war in Israel is the fulcrum of the intellectual/spiritual conflict between the worldviews that oppose Gcd’s rule on earth, and it’s manifestation through the return of the Jews to the Land.

Amru: l’chu v’nach’chidem migoy, v’lo yizacher shem Yisrael od. Ki no’atzu lev yachdav, alecha brit yichrotu. Ahalei Edom v’Yishmaelim, Moav v’Hagrim. G’val Amon v’Amalek, Pleshet im yoshvei Tzur. Gam Ashur nilvah imam, hayu zro’ah livnei Lot, selah.
They say: "Come, let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel will be remembered no more. The consult together with a united purpose; against Hashem do they make a covenant. The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites. Gival, Ammon and Amalek; Philistine and the residents of Tyre. Assyria is also joined with them; they have become an appendage of the children of Lot, selah. (Psalm 83)

A sovereign Israel is a threat to the adherents of Christian & Moslem replacement theologies; it shakes their worldviews to the foundations. The continued survival of the Jew puts the lie to his system of beliefs. The destruction of the State of Israel and the re-expulsion of the Jews are critical to Christian and Moslem worldviews, in order to correct the “aberration” of kibutz galuyot. Therefore, all efforts to hobble and constrict the State of Israel, to push her back to indefensible borders, to murder Jewish women and children, especially new immigrants, are important milestones toward their ultimate goal. But Israel and the settlement enterprise will endure because it is the mitzvah she’kol ha’mitzvot t’luyin bah (i.e., living in the Land of Israel is the mitzvah upon which every other mitzvah is predicated). Witness the miracles in the battles of 1948, 1967, 1973. Nowhere in the Prophets does it say that Hashem will return us to our land only to be expelled again.

Disparate and difficult headlines - Iranian nuclear weapons, increasing worldwide anti-semitism, assimilation and intermarriage, the global jihad, the Vatican’s unceasing call to wrest Jerusalem from Jewish control, the Arab war against Israel, the prying away of Eretz Yisrael from the Jews by degrees, the blackmail of the Petrodollar – can all be cohesively understood through the prism of Geulat Yisrael. The vested interests of the galut will stop at nothing, including, terror, coersion and mass murder to prevent the realization of the Jewish Weltanschauung. Such people cannot be reasoned with; the intellectual battle can only be engaged.

The 70 Nations must decide on which side of history they wish to be aligned. It is most notable that many Evangelicals intuitively support Israel and the Jewish claims to the Land, because they believe the promise of Gcd to Abraham and his descendants: mivarechicha baruch, um’kallelecha arur (Those who bless you will be blessed, and those who curse you will be cursed and all the peoples of the Earth will be blessed through you. - Genesis 12:3).

To our fellow Jews, we must agitate for an internal revolution. We must cultivate a mindset of manhigut (spiritual leadership), and behave in a manner that reflects our noble calling. We must cultivate the absolute Ahavat Yisrael so famously embodied by R’ A.Y. HaCohen Kook, zt”l, while simultaneously and equally strongly rejecting unholy behaviors. Notwithstanding the earlier harsh assessment of the movements of Jewish dissent, our argument is with ideologies and the behaviors that extend from them, not individual Jews. First and foremost, we must shed our reflexive survival leitmotif.

Try this experiment: go to a Jewish high school and ask a teen: “Why be Jewish?” A simple enough question. Yet how many could give a cogent answer? How many Jewish adults or educators could give a cogent answer?

This question is the crux of the matter: in a world of limitless (although ultimately meaningless) choices; in a materialistic/pornographic society where the 24/7 MTV block party seductively beckons, where everyone is on the endless search for the ultimate buzz and self-gratification, why should a kid opt-in to be Jewish? After all, it’s such a drag, so many rules. Besides, what’s so wrong with today’s prevailing morals and values? If you answer that teen with a vague reference to the memories of Bubbe and Zayde and “Jewish survival,” you have no answer at all.

If, on the other hand, we can speak of mission, of purpose, of calling; if we can kindle the fire of youthful passion in the disseminating of all that is holy and good, of priesthood and of leadership, our children and our children’s children will remain faithful to Knesset Yisrael (Rav Kook’s concept of the Jewish “collective unconscious”). We will not only survive, we will thrive.

We must join hands and scream out in unison, “Yehe Shme Rabba Mevorach…” - understanding “mevorach’ like the shoresh of “breichah” i.e., Hashem’s Great Name should spread out throughout all the worlds and spheres of existence! – and thus, the gemara teaches, annul the gezerot ra’ot, the evil decrees planned by our accusers.

We must root out insidious materialism and consumerism, break from the addictions of the galut, and make immediate aliyah. Halevai! If there were one million religious/Zionist North American olim, the political dynamic in Israel would be transformed overnight. We must recognize and tap into the inherent mystical synergy of Am Yisrael b’ Eretz Yisrael im Torat Yisrael (People of Israel/Land of Israel/Torah of Israel). Ki Mitzion Tetzeh Torah, u’Dvar Hashem m’Yirushalayim. (From Zion shall go forth Torah, and the word of Gcd from Jerusalem - (Isaiah 2:3) The pasuk says Tzion, not Monsey; Yirushalayim, not Lakewood.

In order to stem the tide of assimilation and preserve the remnant of Jews in the Galut, the Diaspora leadership must re-rank its communal priorities. It must shift the emphasis on bloated bureaucracies and outdated and ineffective survival paradigms, and focus instead on authentic Torah education, command of Hebrew, and facilitation of aliyah. The American Jewish community is still sufficiently wealthy that it can afford to guarantee a Torah education to every Jewish child.

We must shatter apathy, perform our mitzvot with passion and dedication, and strive to perceive the mission behind the mitzvah. We must read the words of the Siddur as if reading it for the very first time, with depth and meaning. Wake up brothers and sisters! Why do you sleep? The time is at hand. We must learn Torah, not just lilamed, but k’dai la’asot. There is a variant girsa of Avot 4:6 that reads:

Rabi Yishmael bar Rabi Yossi omer: HaLomed al m’nat l’lamed, AIN maspikin b’yado l’lmod ule’lamed; v’haLomed al m’nat l’asot, maspikin b’yado l’lmod u’lelamed, lishmor v’la’asot.

Rabbi Yishmael son of Rabbi Yossi said: One who learns in order to teach, will not succeed either in teaching or learning; but one who learns in order act, will succeed in learning, in teaching, in observing (the mitzvot), and in doing.

Lastly, we MUST take a stand in the culture wars, and be the voice of Emet (Truth) in a world of institutionalized sheker v’hevel (falsehood). Through these actions the Jew, the Priest to humanity, the Prometheans of the Gcdly light, will help lead the entire world from the dark place of pain, despair, cruelty, ignorance and narcissism to a place of brotherhood, authentic spirituality, tranquility and Gcd's peace.

The Chatam Sofer taught that the Jewish People are likened in the Torah to the stars of the sky, because we were given the responsibility to illuminate the otherwise dark and cold void that is the world. Through the re-introduction of the long suppressed Jewish world view, this Klaxon of Truth, we can begin to banish cynicism and pain, give our confused neighbors context and clarity to our seemingly chaotic times, and bring the world a quantum step closer to the vision of Zechariah: “bayom hahu yihyeh Hashem echad u’shmo echad.” (...on that day, Gcd will be One and His Name One.)

To rise to this calling, we must re-invent ourselves, our families and our communities. The time to act is now.

The Jew in the Mirror

בעה''י

[First Published July 3, 2002]

I received my first Neo-Nazi hate mail this week. As a writer, one strives to communicate ideas, hopefully true and worthy ideas, though you never really know who you reach with your pen. Well, now I know.

Where does blind, irrational Jew-hatred come from? why is it so tenacious? and should we even care?

Of course, we thought we had it cured. The Enlightenment promised a quick death to anti-semitism, but when we embraced emancipation, they hated us for our liberalism. Assimilation pledged to slay anti-semitism, but when we converted, they reviled us for contaminating the Christian race. Socialism declared the blind brotherhood of all workers, but when we joined the great class struggle, Stalin murdered the Jews first. Zionists tried to solve “the Jewish problem,” but were accused of treason and treachery by their host nations. Even the Holocaust, that apocalyptic paroxysm of Jew-hatred, and the eventual establishment of a sovereign Jewish State did not eradicate the scourge of anti-semitism from the face of the earth, only forced it back into dark corners for a while. And in our own day, little girls are gunned down in pizza parlors and synagogues are razed by those who demand “justice for occupied Palestine.”

Who are we Jews, the objects of perpetual vilification? Who is the Jew you see in the mirror?

Open a siddur (prayerbook) and see who is reflected in it’s pages. The Jew, first and foremost, lavishes endless praise on the Creator: “Ilu pinu maleh shira kayam...”

“Even if our mouths were full of song as the sea, and our tongues as full of joyous song as it’s multitude of waves; were our lips as full of praise as the breadth of the heavens, and our eyes as brilliant as the sun and the moon; were our hands as outspread as eagles’ wings, and our feet as swift as hinds - we still could not thank you sufficiently, our Gcd and Gcd of our forefathers”

We are the people who wish only to cling to Gcd and His precious Torah:

“...instill understanding in our hearts to understand and elucidate; to listen, learn, teach, safeguard perform and fulfill all the words of Your Torah’s teaching with love”

We are the people that pray three times a day for insight, repentance, forgiveness, redemption, life and healing, justice, and, above all, peace. Pretty venal stuff so far.

We are the people who, “because of our sins, were exiled from our land.” We are sustained by that one little promise Gcd made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and we are acutely aware that, were we to be adjudged upon our own merits, we would have been long ago consigned to the dustbin of history.

But here we are, against all odds. Players on the world stage. Israel consistently receives more column-inches of news coverage than just about any other single country, issue or conflict. For two millennia we have wanted, above all else, to be left alone by the greater world, unharrassed to study Torah, to deepen our connection to Gcd, and for 2,000 years, the world hasn’t given us a moment’s peace.

There is a screaming dissonance between the way we understand ourselves - devotional, introspective, long-suffering, faithful keepers of Gcd’s light - and the way in which we are perceived by others.

Sample some of the comments posted recently on the website:

“We don't want to pay for your dirty war with our tax dollars. We don't want another hit from terrorists on account of YOUR DIRTY WAR AGAINST THE PALESTINIANS! A Jewish state based on ethnic cleansing and discrimination is immoral!” - Wendy Campbell

“How about Zyklon-B on the Jewish terrorist state?” - Hoeft

“you lot should be fu....ing shot.you have been like this for 3 thousand years killing anybody that is not a fu...ing jew, and you will be persecuted for another 3 thousand years. that's for sure. hitler was right,hitler was right,hitler was right you are not from human race! you have not evolved to human race yet.”
- John Sankho

“Forcing a defenseless (they have no army) people to live in what amounts to a concentration camp, and firing upon them with great frequency, stripping them of any human rights and dignity is what has created their willingness to do whatever it is they are able to do to fight back. Anyone in their position might resort to the same actions.” - anonymous

“In the name of Peace, sacrifice is sometimes necessary! Wouldn't it be easiest to simply eradicate the 14 million jews on this planet, instead of facing unending war and terrorism, caused by rightfully angry Pals and Muslims? After all, you jews started the terrorism when you erected your contemptible little dirt-State: stealing land and homes from the rightful owners; murdering many; then abusing the remnant for decades... Don't be fooled, when enough American Whites learn all the facts, you jews are going to get what you have coming to you. Death to Israel. Death to the jews.” - Mr. Tsun

“There is one simple solution to the end of Martydom [sic] operations - leave the land that Prophet Mohammed NEVER promised you, yet indeed you stole. There will never be any peace in the region where you and your father, the dirty American and British governments interfere.” - Abdullah

“No wonder Hitler did what he did to you. And I think you deserve even more.” - A Moslem

“Yeah, and Sharon, what, he killed only maybe 20,000 people in Lebanon.... nah, that's not a big deal! You people are so AMORAL.” - anonymous

“Let's execute every family member of every American who has ever supported the terrorist state of Israel. It is not only those responsible for the continuing invasion, occupation and ethnic cleansing of Palestine who ought to be murdered, but also all of their innocent relations.” - Kevin Barrett

“The present actions of the Israelis and American jews are already turning blind U.S. support into skepticism and sheer revulsion. When the American public finally decides that unquestioning, blind support of Israel is immoral and suicidal, the situation will come to a head. I'm starting to wonder if Adolph Hitler perhaps knew something that we're only now starting to realize...” - Joe Sixpack

Clearly, we have a public relations problem on our hands. Recent studies prove that such virulent ideas are widely held. We are misunderstood at best, and reviled at worst. Anti-semitism is nothing if not consistent, and every artifice to address it in the past has failed. We must confront it though, because it is our Divine mission to influence the world for good.

We live in a world that confuses technological progress with human advancement. We live in a world that rejects absolutes, and gaily bobs amid a vast shifting sea of relativisms. We are the still, small voice of conscience in a world that has no use for morals. We are the light keepers. No matter how much we are beaten, maimed and scorched, we always get back up to bear witness to the Great Truth. Our very existence puts the lie to every dogma that purports to have supplanted us.

So we are marginalized; we are impugned with the crimes of our accusers; we are repressed; and we are murdered. There is no substantive difference between an innocent 15 year-old girl murdered in a café in Herzliyah, and an innocent 15 year-old girl murdered in a gas chamber.

How do we explain that the good and loving Gcd sees all, reckons all, and has a place in heaven for ALL good people of the earth, regardless of race or creed? How do we explain that Gcd does not stand aloof from His creations, but is invested - every moment of every day - in our lives, urging us on to holiness? How do we explain that, despite our imperfections, the Jews are still Gcd’s “kingdom of priests,” consecrated with the responsibility to bring the Gcdly light into a very dark world? How do we explain that our bechirah (selection) imposes additional restrictions and responsibilities, not additional privilege? How do we explain that there is Divine guidance to human history, meaning that all will be good in the end? How do we explain that the continued existence of the Jewish People, the ingathering of exiles and the renaissance of the Jewish State bear eloquent witness that Gcd keeps his promises for all humanity? How do we urge all mankind to invest the mundane with sanctity, and act upon this imperfect world in goodness?

For two centuries, we have attempted to mitigate Jew-hatred by purging ourselves of our objectionable “Jewishness,” and in this we have utterly failed. It is time to stop fighting our true nature and once and for all embrace our Divine calling. The Jew-haters are wrong: there has never been an international Jewish conspiracy to rule the world. But maybe there should be an international Jewish summons to holiness; then, perhaps, the Jew in the mirror will more closely resemble the Jew in the siddur.

Truth or Dare

בעה''י

[First published June 27, 2002]

For 35 years, the Arab world has whined that the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip is at the root of the Mideast conflict. Force Israel back to the 1949 Armistice lines, they insinuated from behind their kaffiyehs, and the Israeli/Arab conflict might end. Israeli leftists and Jewish liberals cheered from the sidelines, all too willing to convict themselves in a frenzy of self-flagellating guilt; and the world at large, unable still to square an ascendant Jewish State with their own waning fortunes, gleefully picked up the cudgel of Palestinian victimhood to beat the renascent Jewish State.

So in this week’s Mideast policy address, President Bush dared the Arabs to prove it. In exchange for the promise of an imminent sovereign Palestinian State, he called upon the Arabs to embrace Truth: to eschew terrorism absolutely, to reject their current corrupt leadership, the embezzlers of billions and architects of this campaign of terror, to establish a genuine democracy with meaningful separation of powers, and to establish a culture which cultivates peaceful co-existence with their Jewish neighbor.

There are those who have been stridently critical of the President’s address, claiming that any promise of Palestinian statehood rewards the current campaign of terror. Let us remember, though, that Mr. Bush has come a long way in two years. He inherited a foreign policy that bullied Israel into Oslo II, Hevron and Wye, disregarding Arafat’s consistent violations of earlier agreements. During the 2000 Presidential campaign, George Bush was conspicuously reticent about the Middle East, and upon assuming office, adopted a policy of no policy at all. When, after the Dolphinarium massacre, he was forced to become engaged in the Middle East, he consulted with the likes of James Baker and Dad, people not known for their effusive pro-Israel sympathies.

But to his enduring credit, Bush recognized certain hard truths about the Middle East conflict. President Bush saw that it was Yassir Arafat and not Ariel Sharon’s Temple Mount stroll that let slip the dogs of war. He acknowledged Israel’s superhuman restraint in the early days of the current pogroms. He stood up to recognize Israel’s sovereign right to defend herself in a community of nations that was pounding its collective fist for more Jewish blood to feed the altar of Arab nationalism. He accepted Israel’s documentation that Arafat and his thugs were the organizers of the violence. He internalized the reality that Islamic Jihad, Hamas and Hezbollah were working hand in glove with the Palestinian Authority, understood the Al-Qaeda and Iran connections to the PA, and froze their funds in the US. He understood the implications of the Karin-A, and the PA pay stubs to known terrorists. He recognized the irredentist Arab claim to the ‘right of return’ for what it is - a death sentence for Israel. And, as a man of faith and conscience, he was distressed by the appalling living conditions of the Arabs under PA occupation, and has watched their lives deteriorate even further over the last few years. These truths are embodied in his policy address this week, and that is both unprecedented and portentous.

No Arab state has openly differed with Bush’s new policy, but the Arab response has been tentative at best. A century ago, when German Chancellor Bernhard von Bulow disagreed with Kaiser Wilhelm II on foreign policy (which was most of the time), he never disagreed with him openly. A grand master of the diplomatic arts, he would enthusiastically embrace petulant Wilhelm’s latest ‘inspiration,’ and then begin to systematically undermine it with an endless litany of “yes, your Highness, except...” Invariably, Wilhelm’s callow interests drifted elsewhere, his passion would abate, and von Bulow was thus able to manage the ship of state into deeper waters.

We are already beginning to see ‘von Bulow diplomacy' from the Arab world and their allies. Yassir Arafat has already declared that the Palestinian people are proud of their democracy just the way it is. Collin Powell already envisions a figurehead role for Yassir Arafat, the Johnny Appleseed of modern terror, and if the Palestinian Arabs elect him President again, Powell says the US will have to deal with that too. So much for new leadership. Powell also acknowledged that the violence will probably never completely stop, implicitly granting the terrorists carte blanche to continue.

Let us also ponder for a moment the realistic prospects of a genuine democracy in the Arab world. Rather an ambitious task for a culture in which byzantine intrigue, equivocation and self-denial are integral components of interpersonal, and by extension, international relations. A vibrant Arab democracy with an educated electorate is a far more serious threat to the billionaire bedouin petro-pashas than any Islamist insurgency. Does anyone seriously believe that in three years the Palestinians are going to be magically transformed into...Canadians?

It’s truth or dare for President Bush as well. If President Bush resolutely sticks to the truth and holds Arab feet to the fire, then the terrorist war is likely begin in earnest, both in Israel and in the United States. And if he capitulates to Foggy Bottom and dumbs down the requirements for Palestinian statehood, then Israel’s strategic situation will grow unsustainably worse, and regional war will be the certain result.

In his policy address, he got it mostly right; there are only two more things he must grasp. First, the fast of the 17th is upon us, and it teaches us that not all problems are given to diplomatic resolution. There is an Unseen Hand controlling the pieces on the chessboard, and it is masochistic to suggest that we are the unbridled masters of our destiny. Second, the two states he envisions must be divided by a particular muddy brook and a certain salty lake.

I am counting on George Bush. He has come a long way in two years, and I believe he has the courage to stand by his convictions. Educating George takes time. At this point, perhaps he believes that the issue is land; inevitably, though, he will come to learn the Arabs are far less interested in creating a state than in destroying one.

Given time, he will come to realize that the crux of the Middle East conflict is not the destiny of a few barren hills. The outcome of this conflict will send shock waves around the world. For my dear, honest George, what is at stake here is nothing less than who will grasp the pen that writes the final chapters of the history of Western civilization.