These weeks between Pesach and Shavuot have always been days of tension. Ever since our redemption from Egypt, we count the days of the Omer and every day has its own blessing. The days are counted because they are part of the process of ascending the ladder of freedom, reaching the peak of Kabbalat HaTorah at Mt. Sinai, which established our spiritual independence for eternity.



In our generation, the Almighty blessed us with special events in the month of Iyar, days that bring spiritual elevation to our process of redemption. We Jews of faith celebrate the 5th day of Iyar as the day of Israeli independence and the 28th day of Iyar as an additional step forward in independence, namely the reunification of the holy city of Jerusalem and the return to the ancient cities of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, the heartland of Israel.



This past week, our faith has been both tested and deepened, strengthened by special events that have revealed the power of courage and devotion of multitudes of Jews. This Independence Day, more than 100,000 Jews from every corner of Israel flocked to Gush Katif to embrace 7,000 of our brothers and sisters who have amazingly turned a desert area into flourishing communities, thriving with Jewish life and filled with the joy of serving our G-d in this process of redemption.



It is unbelievable that the continuous existence of these communities has now been threatened by our own Prime Minister's irresponsible plan of "disengagement", which really means uprooting these communities and transferring the Jews from their homes. The decision to refer this plan to a referendum of Likud party members placed a challenge before us. We felt that we must prove the strength of the roots of Jewish life in Gush Katif and its support among the loyal members of the Prime Minister's own party. In fact, just a year ago in national elections, these multitudes voted for Ariel Sharon and his political agenda, which declared that a Jewish settlement in Gush Katif is no less important than Tel Aviv.



Our instinctive response was to call upon the masses of Jews in Israel to celebrate Independence Day by joining our brothers in Gush Katif in a massive demonstration of loyalty and commitment to our Land. The roads leading to these Jewish communities overflowed with hundreds of bumper to bumper vehicles, both buses and cars, many of whom waited hours in long lines till they could reach the Gush. Instead of the usual tense "road rage" at being gridlocked in an endless traffic jam, these thousands of Jews were overjoyed at the phenomenon of such great numbers of supporters of Jewish settlement in this important area of the Land of Israel. We came home very late that evening with great satisfaction that the spirit of our people was heightened and strengthened by this inspiring experience of Jewish unity and faith.



This mass demonstration of brotherhood made a great impression on the registered voters of the Likud, whose decision would determine the continued existence and growth of Gush Katif. This helped us tremendously in our efforts to persuade these voters to express their loyalty to their party's platform by voting against the plan of "disengagement". We cannot disengage from our homeland and the roots of our national existence, especially in the face of an enemy whose goal is the destruction of Israel.



On the day of the referendum, Palestinian terror demonstrated once again its inhuman cruelty and ultimate goal. On the main road leading to Gush Katif, Palestinian terrorists opened fire on a car driven by a pregnant Jewish mother killing her and her four young daughters ages 11, 9, 7 and 2. When the car stopped, one of these wild animals approached the vehicle and emptied his entire magazine of bullets to make sure these innocent little children were dead. One of the terror organization spokesmen declared "we will make sure that you abandon not only Gush Katif, but all of Israel." The Prime Minister's office responded to this heinous attack by saying "this is why we have to disengage from Gush Katif, so we don't have more of these tragic events."



It was astounding to hear such an absurd response by a responsible leadership. Are the Jews to "disengage" from every town, village and city being attacked by Arab terror? Are the Jews to begin a practice of fleeing our enemies, believing that they will not continue chasing us? When we were dispersed among the nations in Exile, we always fled from town to town, from country to country in the face of attack and pogroms inflicted upon us by the enemy. We've come back to our homeland so that we do not have to flee ever again.



How painful that an Israeli government can even consider the crime of uprooting Jews from their heritage and whitewashing this act by calling it "disengagement". Only leaders who are disengaged from Jewish faith and the divine Zionist process could devise such a horrible idea and call it a "peace process". Thank G-d that the Likud voters proved their faith and loyalty to the Zionist process by voting overwhelmingly against "disengagement". Every Jew whose eyes are open to Zionist history sees clearly that we are in the process of reconnecting with our homeland, with our tradition, with our G-d. This is a divine process that must strive towards its completion in order to ensure the destiny of the People of Israel.



I turn to our leaders, especially to our Prime Minister, Mr. Sharon: You have a last chance of not falling into the pit of Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of England during World War II, who also thought he must bring an immediate solution to the threat of annihilation of Europe by Hitler. His solution was negotiation, compromise and yielding Czechoslovakia, which he thought would bring the enemy to a peaceful position. Only Winston Churchill understood that this solution would encourage and incite the enemy to continue its path of destruction. Churchill demonstrated his leadership ability by offering the people of England "blood, sweat and tears" in a united effort to confront the enemy and overpower him. Nothing less than complete victory could be acceptable.



Mr. Sharon: Jewish leadership has a divine source from which your inspiration can be drawn. In your life of devotion to the Jewish people and the State of Israel, you were certainly influenced by the divine spirit of the Zionist process, which led to your great achievements both on the battlefield and in building and developing Jewish communities in all of Israel. At this crucial stage of Jewish history, your leadership is being tested, and you dare not yield to the pressures of illusionary false solutions that have deceived previous leaders, and thereby brought much pain and tragedy to the people of Israel. Rise up, Mr. Sharon, and continue to draw your courage of leadership from the divine strength of Jewish destiny expressed in the words of the prophet Amos which we read this past Shabbat:



"And I will return my exiled people of Israel? and I will plant them upon their land and they shall never be uprooted from their land which I have given them, said the Lord, thy G-d." (Amos 9:14,15)