Pesach (Passover) marks our 3,314th birthday, in which we celebrate our Jewishness. The birth of the Jew was accompanied by great fanfare, miracles and wonders marking the entry into the world of a spirited people, a nation of priests, prophets and leaders. We were formed as a people in the desert at Mt. Sinai and armed with nothing material, other than an idea, an ideal, a vision of a perfect and wholesome world, and a passionate commitment to abide by the blueprint for life, the Torah, to achieve this objective. The Jewish people were chosen to have an inordinate amount of influence on the world. Witness how three Jews transformed the twentieth century. Albert Einstein, Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud, and one Jew, from his grave, still influences two billion people.
An integral part of the Passover Seder is eating the bitter herbs. Alas, this year they are unusually sharp and bitter as we contemplate the lack of spirit, the total abdication of leadership and the loss of nerve at the top in Israel. What happened to the spirit of Entebbe, the rescue of Jews in danger a continent away? The Jewish people were always at the forefront of the war against terrorism, inspiring the world with their courageous example of never caving in to terrorism, which stiffened spines around the world. If Menachem Begin would have asked ?permission? to attack the Iraqi Reactor or if Israel would have requested ?permission? to preemptively strike back during the Six Day war, the answer would have been no, and justifiably so. These actions were unusually courageous and heroic. If Israel had turned to an authority to ask for permission, the very question would have demonstrated that they don't have the fire in the belly necessary to carry out these special actions.
Crying victim becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. When Israel plays the victim blaming their problems on the Arabs, the Americans, the Europeans and the UN, it only confirms that Israel doesn't have what it takes to get the job done. There's only one thing more frightening to the United States than the suicide bombers: Israel's lack of resolve. It worries them sick. Our struggle against terrorism is an unconventional war that demands extraordinary spirit, courage and strength. At this critical moment, when the world desperately needs Israel's resolve more than ever, Israel has become weak-kneed. Jews are on the front line, the heart of the current struggle. If the heart is healthy the whole body is healthy. If, however, the heart grows weak, then the whole organism feels vulnerable. Therefore, Israel's lack of resolve is the greatest threat to global safety and security.
When the Jew leads he inspires respect and awe. When the Jew abdicates his leadership position, however it evokes a fierce sense of disdain, disgust and revulsion. Witness Durban. The architects of ?Oslo?, in their pursuit for normalization, have awakened anti-Semitism throughout the world to levels that we haven't seen since the 1930's. Jews must lead the way in this battle against absolute evil. Instead, with ?Oslo?, for the first time in its history, Israel has made peace with terrorism. We are a people of spirit and the war against terrorism will only be won through spirited action taken by leaders who have the moral courage and the backbone neither to compromise nor to blink, who will look evil in the eye and mercilessly eradicate it.
The terrorists have declared war against life itself. The arrogance of the hundreds of suicide bombers who took their own life and thousands of innocent people with them is staggering. According to the Torah, a person is not allowed to mutilate himself, let alone kill himself. Life is sacred, a divine a gift of the Almighty, and we neither own nor control our lives. Every fiber of our being and every bone in our body screams out in protest against the brazen toying with life by the suicide bombers in America and in Israel, who violently assault the very foundations of existence itself.
Let us shamelessly admit that we Jews are guilty as charged. We are extremists. When it comes to life, we are absolutely fanatical about it. We are a holy people because life is holy to us. For 3,800 years it has been inculcated into every Jewish child that saving one life is the equivalent of saving the entire world. A Jew must violate 610 out of the 613 mitzvot (commandments) in order to save a single life. Every Jewish home, whether right wing or left wing, inculcates into their children a love for life. Israel is the only army in the world that never leaves a wounded soldier behind and every time a life is lost the entire country mourns. Hundreds of Jewish communities around the world have Hatzolah groups, trained paramedical volunteers, who are on call 24 hours a day for any emergency, just in order to save lives.
Life is sacred and has an inherent and absolute value and there's nothing in the world that could justify the taking of a single innocent life. Nothing. It doesn't matter how angry the murderer is or what his grievances are. This war will be won when we have the same passion for truth and life as the beasts we face have for murder and death. We will triumph when we have the same moral clarity to defend G-d's desire for life, as they are clear about their mission to destroy G-d's gift of life.
Terrorism is a malignant tumor and you don't make peace with cancer. If you play nice with cancer it will kill you, show mercy to a tumor and it will metastasize and mercilessly kill you and kill itself in the process. The only merciful thing to do is to eradicate, destroy and pulverize the tumor into oblivion. The same is true with terrorism. If we want to live the terrorists must die and if they live we will die. We state unequivocally that we are good and they are evil. Let no one undermine us or undermine our confidence. Those who have encourage guilt should be run out of town. To win we must believe one hundred percent in the justice and in the righteousness of our cause.
The Prime Minister of Israel states that he refuses to drag Israel into war. The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, zatzal, however, clearly articulated the Torah point of view. According to the Torah, if one life is in danger it is war. Jewish law (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 329:6) states unequivocally that when life is in danger, even a single life, there can be no political considerations. The country must mobilize, go to war, uproot and stamp out the terrorist threat at its source. In addition, the primary responsibility of a democratic government is to protect its own citizens.
We hope and pray that the slumbering giant within every Jew will awaken and lead, earning the eternal gratitude of the world for delivering the coup de grace to terrorism around the world. We pray that Israel will immediately launch "operation chemotherapy" and obliterate the chometz (leavening, forbidden on Passover), the whole infrastructure of terrorism, in its midst.
Israel?s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, once quipped: While it's easy to take the Jew out of exile, it's difficult to take the exile out of the Jew. Instead of exiling themselves, it's high time that the Jewish people removed the exile within.
Chag Someach.
----------------------------------
Rabbi Krasnianski is the Director of Chabad Lubavitch of the Upper East Side.
An integral part of the Passover Seder is eating the bitter herbs. Alas, this year they are unusually sharp and bitter as we contemplate the lack of spirit, the total abdication of leadership and the loss of nerve at the top in Israel. What happened to the spirit of Entebbe, the rescue of Jews in danger a continent away? The Jewish people were always at the forefront of the war against terrorism, inspiring the world with their courageous example of never caving in to terrorism, which stiffened spines around the world. If Menachem Begin would have asked ?permission? to attack the Iraqi Reactor or if Israel would have requested ?permission? to preemptively strike back during the Six Day war, the answer would have been no, and justifiably so. These actions were unusually courageous and heroic. If Israel had turned to an authority to ask for permission, the very question would have demonstrated that they don't have the fire in the belly necessary to carry out these special actions.
Crying victim becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. When Israel plays the victim blaming their problems on the Arabs, the Americans, the Europeans and the UN, it only confirms that Israel doesn't have what it takes to get the job done. There's only one thing more frightening to the United States than the suicide bombers: Israel's lack of resolve. It worries them sick. Our struggle against terrorism is an unconventional war that demands extraordinary spirit, courage and strength. At this critical moment, when the world desperately needs Israel's resolve more than ever, Israel has become weak-kneed. Jews are on the front line, the heart of the current struggle. If the heart is healthy the whole body is healthy. If, however, the heart grows weak, then the whole organism feels vulnerable. Therefore, Israel's lack of resolve is the greatest threat to global safety and security.
When the Jew leads he inspires respect and awe. When the Jew abdicates his leadership position, however it evokes a fierce sense of disdain, disgust and revulsion. Witness Durban. The architects of ?Oslo?, in their pursuit for normalization, have awakened anti-Semitism throughout the world to levels that we haven't seen since the 1930's. Jews must lead the way in this battle against absolute evil. Instead, with ?Oslo?, for the first time in its history, Israel has made peace with terrorism. We are a people of spirit and the war against terrorism will only be won through spirited action taken by leaders who have the moral courage and the backbone neither to compromise nor to blink, who will look evil in the eye and mercilessly eradicate it.
The terrorists have declared war against life itself. The arrogance of the hundreds of suicide bombers who took their own life and thousands of innocent people with them is staggering. According to the Torah, a person is not allowed to mutilate himself, let alone kill himself. Life is sacred, a divine a gift of the Almighty, and we neither own nor control our lives. Every fiber of our being and every bone in our body screams out in protest against the brazen toying with life by the suicide bombers in America and in Israel, who violently assault the very foundations of existence itself.
Let us shamelessly admit that we Jews are guilty as charged. We are extremists. When it comes to life, we are absolutely fanatical about it. We are a holy people because life is holy to us. For 3,800 years it has been inculcated into every Jewish child that saving one life is the equivalent of saving the entire world. A Jew must violate 610 out of the 613 mitzvot (commandments) in order to save a single life. Every Jewish home, whether right wing or left wing, inculcates into their children a love for life. Israel is the only army in the world that never leaves a wounded soldier behind and every time a life is lost the entire country mourns. Hundreds of Jewish communities around the world have Hatzolah groups, trained paramedical volunteers, who are on call 24 hours a day for any emergency, just in order to save lives.
Life is sacred and has an inherent and absolute value and there's nothing in the world that could justify the taking of a single innocent life. Nothing. It doesn't matter how angry the murderer is or what his grievances are. This war will be won when we have the same passion for truth and life as the beasts we face have for murder and death. We will triumph when we have the same moral clarity to defend G-d's desire for life, as they are clear about their mission to destroy G-d's gift of life.
Terrorism is a malignant tumor and you don't make peace with cancer. If you play nice with cancer it will kill you, show mercy to a tumor and it will metastasize and mercilessly kill you and kill itself in the process. The only merciful thing to do is to eradicate, destroy and pulverize the tumor into oblivion. The same is true with terrorism. If we want to live the terrorists must die and if they live we will die. We state unequivocally that we are good and they are evil. Let no one undermine us or undermine our confidence. Those who have encourage guilt should be run out of town. To win we must believe one hundred percent in the justice and in the righteousness of our cause.
The Prime Minister of Israel states that he refuses to drag Israel into war. The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, zatzal, however, clearly articulated the Torah point of view. According to the Torah, if one life is in danger it is war. Jewish law (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 329:6) states unequivocally that when life is in danger, even a single life, there can be no political considerations. The country must mobilize, go to war, uproot and stamp out the terrorist threat at its source. In addition, the primary responsibility of a democratic government is to protect its own citizens.
We hope and pray that the slumbering giant within every Jew will awaken and lead, earning the eternal gratitude of the world for delivering the coup de grace to terrorism around the world. We pray that Israel will immediately launch "operation chemotherapy" and obliterate the chometz (leavening, forbidden on Passover), the whole infrastructure of terrorism, in its midst.
Israel?s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, once quipped: While it's easy to take the Jew out of exile, it's difficult to take the exile out of the Jew. Instead of exiling themselves, it's high time that the Jewish people removed the exile within.
Chag Someach.
----------------------------------
Rabbi Krasnianski is the Director of Chabad Lubavitch of the Upper East Side.