I received a call this week that reminded me of an old story.



They tell of an old, almost ancient, donkey that fell into an unused dried up well. The well was very deep and the donkey could not make its way out of the darkened prison. The donkey began an incessant braying until his owner the farmer came to see what the noise was about. He looked down and saw his donkey and then shook his head. The well was much too deep and, as it was, the donkey was very old. He called together some of his friends and they began to shovel garbage into the well.

This would serve to end the misery of the donkey, bury it and fill up the dangerous well all at the same time.



The donkey began to bray even louder and then after a short period of time, it became silent.



After another little while the farmer looked into the well and he was shocked to see

the donkey standing defiantly on his four legs. As the garbage would land on its back it would shake it off and then use its hoofs to pack down the earth below it. Slowly but surely the distance to the top of the well was becoming smaller. Very quickly the donkey was able to hop up and out into freedom.



The lesson to be learned was not to wallow in self pity and crying out as garbage is

being flung unto you. Shake the garbage off your back, stomp it down and continue

to reach for higher ground.



I received a call from a woman, one of the expelled refugees from Gush Katif. She

has been instrumental during these last months, being the liaison between our

Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof and the expelled families in the hotels. She has

funneled help to and expressed the needs of hundreds of families in distress. She

did this while holding together her large family in the midst of the uncertainty

prevailing in their own personal lives.



Yet the call had nothing to do with all the uncertainty around her own life nor the

needs of the expelled communities. The call was about organizing families and

people around the coming election and help bring about the downfall of Olmert's

Kadima party. As overwhelmed as she may have been, she felt an urgent call to try

to prevent the pain and sorrow that they had experience from being inflicted on other families in Judea and Samaria. A valiant Jewish mother was feeling an unselfish need to ignore the garbage that had been flung her way and to continue the struggle to maintain the Destiny of the Jewish people.





Several years ago I met a young man from Italy that had decided to convert to

Judaism. After years of searching and questioning he ended up at the office of one of the well known Rabbis in Jerusalem. After this young man unfolded his life history and personal voyage, he described his love for G-d and his passion for Torah. He then recounted the questions and challenges he explored and resolved. The Rabbi remained silent.



Finally the rabbi raised his eyes and looked at the young man and gently asked, "but

do you love the Jewish people?'. The young man, a little flustered said, 'Rabbi I

explained my love for G-d and for His word.". The rabbi responded," you don't have

to be Jewish to love G-d, but you have to love the Jewish people to truly live as a

Jew".



We are a people in the midst of great turmoil and division. We have witnessed much pain inflicted by one brother on another. There are implications to such actions. There is justice that must be seen to its complete resolution. Yet we need to not lose faith in this, our people. We need to find ways as difficult as it may seem to reach out to each other on the higher levels rather than remained mired in the lower levels we have succumbed to. We need to continue to share , influence and impress each other with passion truth and idealism. We cannot be lured into the bland enticing trap sometimes called realpolitik or pragmatism. Passionless wishful thinking is neither real nor pragmatic. We need to shake off the garbage off our backs and strive higher.



We need to do that because we have no choice. The peoples and nations of this

world all formed together out of circumstance or need.



The Jewish people were brought together by Divine destiny.



We have no choice but to build the bridges and elevate a nation stained by the

vicious violence of Amona and the criminal negligence surrounding the expulsion

from Gush Katif.



We need to that because we have no choice.