Arik Sharon, go study at Machon Meir.



Chizkiya [Hezekiah], king of Judah, was a penitent. Why was he called ?Chizkiya?? It is because G-d strengthened him [?Chizko Y-a?] to withstand the pressure of Sancherev, King of Assyria, who headed the greatest superpower of those times. Others explain that Chizkiya brought Israel close to their Father in Heaven.



?What did he do? He thrust a sword into the entranceway of the study hall and he said, ?Whoever does not study Torah shall be stabbed with this sword.? An investigation from Dan to Be?er Sheva uncovered not one ignoramus.? (Sanhedrin 94b; Maharsha) By leading all of Israel to study Torah, Chizkiya thereby strengthened the nation and thwarted Sancherev?s oppression, such that even the Assyrian army was smitten by a plague. As our sages teach: ?Chizkiya?s oil, which burnt in the synagogues and study halls, brought about the fall of Sancherev and freed Israel from oppression? (Ibid.).



Where did Chizkiya derive the strength and spirit to do what he did, to compel all of Israel to study Torah? He understood that Torah study amongst the Jewish people is not the private affair of this individual or that. Rather, it strengthens the people?s spirit and gives them the fortitude and the wherewithal to confront enemies and oppressors. Torah study guarantees the survival of the Kingdom of Israel. He therefore decreed that the Torah must be taught from Dan to Beersheva, and the nation, understanding the matter?s importance, diligently and lovingly toiled over the Torah until not one man or woman, boy or girl could be found who was ignorant of the laws of purity and impurity.



Today, the Prime Minister of Israel is confronting President Bush, head of the greatest superpower on earth. Yet, unlike Chizkiya, who repented and strengthened Israel, the Prime Minister is yielding to America?s demand to establish a state for the Arabs within the very heart of the land of our life?s blood, and what is more, to destroy Jewish settlements. Sharon?s weakness derives from the fact that he has never learned Torah, and does not learn it now. Whoever truly clings to Torah will never exchange principles for clever ruses.



Were Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook alive, he would certainly invite Prime Minister Sharon to the yeshiva to study and to deepen his roots. And just as Sharon went with Rabbi Kook at the beginning of the struggle over our hold on Eretz Yisrael, so would he show fortitude with the continued struggle as well. In his time, Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu told Ehud Barak that he should repent and go and study in Machon Meir. Unfortunately, he did not heed him, and we all know the outcome?



Arik Sharon can be told the same thing: Repent and go study Torah in Machon Meir, or any other yeshiva of your choosing. By such means, you will become stronger and will strengthen the nation, and then you will have great assistance from G-d so that we will be able to repel our oppressors and defeat our enemies. G-d will then grant strength to His people, and there is no strength but Torah. As a result, He will bless His people with peace.

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Rabbi Dov Begon is founder and head of Machon Meir institutions.



Machon Meir is an Israeli educational institution and Hesder yeshiva dedicated to Jewish learning BeAhava UveEmunah (with Love and in Faith), in the spirit of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, the late Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel. Students at Machon Meir, Israelis and new immigrants, come from religious and non-religious backgrounds, and learn in Hebrew, English or Russian. The Machon can be contacted through its website, http://www.machonmeir.org.il.