Olmert and Bush and Rice and Peres and Barak and Mohammed and Moishe and all the other Pinocchios have come up with another Pinocchio Peace Plan to sell Judea and Samaria down the drain.

"The Pinocchio Plan does not endanger Israel."

Get ready to listen to all of their promises and lies, and the millions of Pinocchio news reports and political commentaries and editorials and interviews and media hype that will follow. They will give their plan a fancy new name, but it’s all the same garbage of “territories for peace” and a “Palestinian State” and the “final solution” to the problem of the fanatic settlers who are the “real obstacles of peace.”

You have to give them credit for trying. They never give up. Plan after plan. Lie after lie. Perhaps there are still naïve readers out there who want to give these Pinocchios the benefit of the doubt and say that they really mean well, and that they are just trying to find a fair solution to the conflict for the benefit of everyone, but that they don’t know what to do – well I can save the people of Israel the agony of going through another one of their doomed fiascos and all of the innocent Jewish lives it will cost. 

The situation resembles a story by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov that goes something like this:

There was once a simple peasant who had a lot of worries and problems. Nothing seemed to go right. Whatever he tried, he couldn’t make a living. Once dreamed that there was a great treasure under a bridge in Vienna. He traveled the long distance on foot and by wagon to Vienna and stood near the bridge, trying to figure out what to do. He did not dare search for the treasure by day, because of the many people who were passing by.

After a while, a police officer passed by and asked, “What are you doing, standing here and thinking so much?”

The peasant decided that it would be best to tell the truth and ask for help, hoping that the officer would share the treasure with him. So he told him the entire story.
The officer replied, “You Jews are concerned only with dreams! I also had a dream, and I also saw a treasure. It was in a small village, in a small house, under the cellar.”
The officer then proceeded to describe the exact village and the exact house where the peasant lived. Without saying a word, the peasant rushed home, dug under his cellar, and found the treasure.

The point is that the peasant had the treasure all along. But to find it, he had to travel to Vienna. Rabbi Nachman taught that this is also true in serving G-d. Each Jew has the treasure, but in order to find it, he must travel to the tzaddik.
When we abandon all of the Oslo Plans, and Disengagement Plans, and Pinocchio Peace Plans, and follow the Torah’s Plan, then our problems will come to an end.

In our case too, the Nation of Israel has had the treasure all along. The key to all of our problems has been in our hands, right before our eyes, for thousands of years. Our treasure is the Torah. When we abandon all of the Oslo Plans, and Disengagement Plans, and Pinocchio Peace Plans,  and follow the Torah’s Plan, then our problems will come to an end. We will have peace and prosperity, and lasting triumph over all of our enemies – just like the Torah promises.

Here are a few of the platforms of the Torah Plan, as set forth in the book of Devarim by Moshe:

ECONOMY: The Israeli economy will be run according to the guidelines of the Torah, as it says: “And it shall come to pass, if you hearken diligently to my commandments which I command you this day, to love the L-rd your G-d and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give you the rain of your Land in due season, the early rain and the late rain, that you may gather in your corn, and your wine, and your oil (Devarim, 11:13).

FOREIGN POLICY: Relations with the world will be conducted according to the directions of the Torah, as it says, “Keep the commandments and do them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, who shall hear all of the statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people… that had G-d so near to them” (Devarim, 4:7).

JUSTICE: The Justice system shall be according to Torah law, as it says, “Judges and officers you shall appoint in all thy gates, which the L-rd thy G-d gives thee, throughout thy tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment… Justice, only justice, thou shall pursue, that thou mayst live and inherit the Land which the L-rd thy G-d gives thee” (Devarim, 16:18-20).

EDUCATION: The Education system shall be according to the Torah, as it says, “And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thy heart, and thou shall diligently teach them to thy children” (Devarim, 6:6).

WELFARE: The Welfare system shall be according to Torah law, as it says, “If there be among you a poor man, one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in the Land which the L-rd your G-d gives thee, thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from thy poor brother, but thou shalt open thy hand wide to him, and thou shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he lacks,” (Devarim, 15:7).

DEFENSE: The Defense establishment will be run according to the dictates of the Torah, as it says, “For if you shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you to do them, to love the L-rd your G-d, and to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him, then the L-rd will drive out all these nations from before you, and you shall possess nations larger and mightier than yourselves, (Devarim, 11:22-23).

HEALTH: The Health system will be administered in light of the wisdom of the Torah, as it says, “And the L-rd will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knewest, upon thee, but will lay them upon all of those who hate thee,” (Devarim, 7:15).

ARABS IN ISRAEL: Relations with foreigners in the Land who refuse to accept Jewish sovereignty over all of Eretz Yisrael will be according to the Torah, as it says, “Thou shall make no covenant with them, no show mercy to them,” (Devarim, 7:2).

Enough with all the Pinocchios and their lies. It is time we returned to the Torah.

A Jew who comes on aliyah to Israel today has all kinds of organizations to assist him. There is Nefesh B’Nefesh, the Jewish Agency, Tehilla, and groups such as Americans and Canadians in Israel, the British Olim Society, and the like. Plus the Government of Israel offers tax breaks, subsidies, and other incentives. But the main help, of course, comes from G-d, as He promises in this week’s Torah portion:

"For the L-rd thy G-d brings thee into a good Land, a Land of water courses, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a Land of wheat, and barley, and vineyards, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a Land of olive oil, and honey; a Land where thou shall eat bread without scarceness, thou shall not lack anything in it” (Devarim, 8:7-9).

No organization can give you a better guarantee then that!
Even if a Jewish astronaut were to eat a pastrami sandwich on the moon, he would still thank G-d for the pastrami sandwich and the Land of Israel.

The verse which follows immediately after this Divine insurance policy is one of the 613 commandments of the Torah: “When thou hast eaten and are satisfied, then thou shall bless the L-rd thy G-d for the good Land that he has given thee” (Devarim, 8:10).

This is what is called the “Birchat HaMazone,” the Blessing after Meals. After finishing a meal in which we ate bread, we are to thank G-d for the food and for the Land which He has given us, as we say, “Blessed are Thou, O L-rd, for the Land and the sustenance.”

Thus, if we live in Paris, we say, “Blessed are Thou for the land of France and the sustenance.”

If we live in Beverly Hills, we say, “Blessed are Thou for the land of America and the sustenance.”

Or if we are in Toronto we say, “Blessed are Thou for the land of Canada and the sustenance.”

"Blessed art Thou for America and for the bagel."

Wait a minute! That isn’t right. Wherever we are on the globe, we say, “Blessed are thou, O L-rd, for the Land and the sustenance,” where the meaning of “the Land” is the Land of Israel.

Even if a Jewish astronaut were to eat a pastrami sandwich on the moon, he would still thank G-d for the pastrami sandwich and the Land of Israel.

"Blessed art Thou for the Land of Israel"

How can it be that a Jew on the moon, or in a bagel café in Beverly Hills, or in some expensive kosher restaurant in Paris, should thank G-d for the food which he ate and for Land of Israel? What’s the connection between the Land of Israel and a bagel or a baguette? We can readily understand why a Jew living in Israel would be called upon to thank G-d for the Land of Israel, since he is living there. But why should a Jew in France or Canada thank G-d for the Land of Israel after he eats? That, my good friends, is the question.

There are several facets to the answer. First, we thank G-d for the Land of Israel because a Jew is supposed to be living in the Land of Israel, and not in France or Canada. The sad fact that there are Jews living outside of the Land is in punishment for the sins of our past. When we were cast into exile a long time ago, our Rabbis decreed that we should continue to practice the mitzvot, even though G-d gave them to us to observe in Eretz Yisrael. This was in order to make sure that we wouldn’t forget how to do them during our long absence from our Land, as Rashi teaches in this week’s Torah portion: “Even though I am exiling you from Eretz Yisrael to outside of the Land, distinguish yourselves with the commandments, so that when you return, they will not seem new in your eyes (Rashi, Devarim, 11:18; Sifre, Ekev, 11:18. See also Ramban on the Torah, there). Rashi explains with a parable: “This is like a king who became angry at his wife and sent her back to her father’s house. He said to her, ‘Wear your jewelry so it won’t seem new to you when you return to the palace.’ Thus the Blessed One Holy Be He says to Israel, ‘My sons, distinguish yourselves with the precepts so that when you return, they won’t be new to you.’ This is what the prophet, Jeremiah, meant when he said, ‘Set up way marks for yourself, make yourself signposts” (Jeremiah, 31:20). These are the mitzvot which the People of Israel are commanded to do” (Rashi, loc cited).

Included in the mitzvot that we are to do wherever we are on the globe is the mitzvah of grace after meals. Even though we have been temporarily uprooted from our home in Israel, we are to continue to thank G-d for the food and for the Land of Israel, the one and only place that we are really supposed to live.

A further reason why we thank G-d for Eretz Yisrael and not America is because the commandment states, “When thou hast eaten and are satisfied, then thou shall bless the L-rd thy G-d for the good Land that he has given thee” (Devarim, 8:10).  G-d didn’t give the Jews the land of America. G-d gave it to the Indians until the English/Americans came and slaughtered them all.

The other reason why we continue to thank G-d for the Land of Israel is to ingrain in our psyche the centrality of the Land of Israel to the Torah and to Jewish life. This is to make sure we don't mix things around and put our craving for bagels over our craving for the Land. Every time that we eat a meal, we are to repeat this understanding until it becomes like a mantra, implanting in our brains the eternal recognition that our one and only homeland, the place where we are to live out our lives, and the source of our physical and spiritual sustenance, is Eretz Yisrael - and not France, Canada, or the USA.

Today, when the decree of exile has lifted, and every Jew can simply hop on an airplane and come back home to Israel within a few hours, our days of schizophrenia are over. Finally, a Jew can eat his meal and fulfill the mitzvah in its intended wholeness,  so that when he says the grace after meals, he can say it where it was meant to be said, whether it be a bagel café on Dizengorf Street in Tel Aviv, or in a baguette shop on Rehov Yafo in Jerusalem: “Blessed art Thou, O L-rd, for the Land and for the sustenance.” Amen.

Just like the Bible says: "A Land that doesn't lack anything." In the picture, a contented new immigrant from France.