Throughout our history, Jews prayed in times of trouble. It is in human nature to call out for help to someone with more power then yourself. Babies cry to their mothers, subjects beg kings, citizens rally governments, but nearly everyone calls out to their god. During the crusades, Jews authored countless prayers, many of them are still repeated today. Persecution after persecution, new prayers were added. As times got bad, Jews yearned for the Messiah. For almost two thousand years, Jews thought their redemption was right around the corner. For two thousand years we prayed for an end to our problems and for a rebuilt Jerusalem. For two thousand years we have not been saved.
Soon after the Jewish people marched out of Egypt, the entire Egyptian army with Pharaoh as their leader, charged after the new Jewish nation, intending to enslave them again. When the Jews were finally cornered against the sea by Egypt's army, surrounded on all sides, there seemed nowhere to go. As would be expected, Moses called out to God. Then ?God said to Moses, ?Why do you cry out to Me??? (Exodus, 14:15) He then instructed Moses to tell the Children of Israel to continue forward. God did not split the sea after we prayed. Only after we took initiative did He destroy our enemies and take us to Israel.
The Jerusalem Talmud states: ?Any generation that does not see the Temple rebuilt in its time, would have been liable to have had it destroyed.? Past generations were obviously not worthy of a Temple, or the Temple would have already been rebuilt. Those generations prayed, added prayers, but, sadly, disdained those who did not. Until after the Holocaust, Jews were quick to prayer, but not very quick to action. Even those who did not pray did not fight for the redemption of Israel or the rebuilding of Jerusalem. After 2,000 years of prayer we have not had a savior. Prayer alone is clearly not enough and lack of action does not help.
In 1948, it may have looked as though God had handed us Israel without any effort on our part, but in fact, with the help of God, we fought the Arab nations for it. Although the Messiah has not come yet, many people feel that we are closer today then ever before. Now is not the first time Jews thought this; Jews have always thought redemption to be near in times of trouble, but this particular time is different. It is in our capability to stop relying solely on the power of our prayers to God to have him save us. As history proves, prayer alone can only grant and guarantee us a meager survival. Today, we can and must change our natural instinct and fight for our freedom. God did not strike down or smite the seven nations (that inhabited the Land of Israel while we were in Egypt) with a bolt of lightning while we sat around and sipped tea. Bnei Yisrael stood up and went to battle against them. When they had a firm belief that it was God behind them - helping them to fight - God stayed behind them - helping them - and they won.
Now is not the only time when we were almost saved. There was a man named Bar Kokhba who could have been the Messiah. He led a revolt against the Romans from 132-135 C.E. In fact, at the beginning of his uprising, the famous Rabbi Akiva thought that he was the real Messiah. Bar Kokhba's downfall came when he thought it was his own efforts alone and not Hashem that gave him victory; he was killed and his rebellion thwarted. He had forgotten the verses, (Deuteronomy 8:17-18) ?And you may say in your heart, 'My strength and the might of my hand made me all this chayil.' Then you shall remember the Lord, your God: that it was He who gave you strength to make chayil, in order to establish His covenant that He swore to your forefathers.? Although the word chayil is translated as ?wealth?, with a tiny change of vowels it can be read as chayal, the word meaning ?soldier?. Israel has one of the best armies in the world today, but it is not because we have the best tank or the best trained pilots or any other similar reason. It is because God is on our side; we must always remember that it is God that ultimately gives us the strength to do all that we do.
Jews are being killed in Israel. According to Maimonides (Hilchot Melachim, Chapter 5, Halacha 1) this classifies any military steps to protect them as a Milchemet Mitzvah (an obligatory war). This means that if we have perfect faith that what we do is only possible with God's help, we will be victorious. We cannot cower and pray while the equivalent of an Egyptian army (or an actual Egyptian army) is behind us, showering us with arrows. We must protect ourselves or we will have hardly done better then our recent forefathers and the Temple will not be rebuilt for many more generations. The Temple was destroyed because Jews hated each other due to disagreements. If we disagree too much now, we will have failed.
God himself has made us successful in establishing and defending the modern state of Israel; a fact that is blatantly obvious when one reviews the many miraculous wars the IDF has fought. Prayer alone is not enough to bring the Messiah. There must be a balance between prayer and action. Today, we are so close to a final redemption and the rebuilding of Jerusalem. If we do all we can, we will not lose our first real chance in over a thousand years to bring the Messiah. After all, prayer is no longer the only weapon we can and must rightfully use.
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Yoni Lansey is a student. He can be reached at YoniL@Juno.com..
Soon after the Jewish people marched out of Egypt, the entire Egyptian army with Pharaoh as their leader, charged after the new Jewish nation, intending to enslave them again. When the Jews were finally cornered against the sea by Egypt's army, surrounded on all sides, there seemed nowhere to go. As would be expected, Moses called out to God. Then ?God said to Moses, ?Why do you cry out to Me??? (Exodus, 14:15) He then instructed Moses to tell the Children of Israel to continue forward. God did not split the sea after we prayed. Only after we took initiative did He destroy our enemies and take us to Israel.
The Jerusalem Talmud states: ?Any generation that does not see the Temple rebuilt in its time, would have been liable to have had it destroyed.? Past generations were obviously not worthy of a Temple, or the Temple would have already been rebuilt. Those generations prayed, added prayers, but, sadly, disdained those who did not. Until after the Holocaust, Jews were quick to prayer, but not very quick to action. Even those who did not pray did not fight for the redemption of Israel or the rebuilding of Jerusalem. After 2,000 years of prayer we have not had a savior. Prayer alone is clearly not enough and lack of action does not help.
In 1948, it may have looked as though God had handed us Israel without any effort on our part, but in fact, with the help of God, we fought the Arab nations for it. Although the Messiah has not come yet, many people feel that we are closer today then ever before. Now is not the first time Jews thought this; Jews have always thought redemption to be near in times of trouble, but this particular time is different. It is in our capability to stop relying solely on the power of our prayers to God to have him save us. As history proves, prayer alone can only grant and guarantee us a meager survival. Today, we can and must change our natural instinct and fight for our freedom. God did not strike down or smite the seven nations (that inhabited the Land of Israel while we were in Egypt) with a bolt of lightning while we sat around and sipped tea. Bnei Yisrael stood up and went to battle against them. When they had a firm belief that it was God behind them - helping them to fight - God stayed behind them - helping them - and they won.
Now is not the only time when we were almost saved. There was a man named Bar Kokhba who could have been the Messiah. He led a revolt against the Romans from 132-135 C.E. In fact, at the beginning of his uprising, the famous Rabbi Akiva thought that he was the real Messiah. Bar Kokhba's downfall came when he thought it was his own efforts alone and not Hashem that gave him victory; he was killed and his rebellion thwarted. He had forgotten the verses, (Deuteronomy 8:17-18) ?And you may say in your heart, 'My strength and the might of my hand made me all this chayil.' Then you shall remember the Lord, your God: that it was He who gave you strength to make chayil, in order to establish His covenant that He swore to your forefathers.? Although the word chayil is translated as ?wealth?, with a tiny change of vowels it can be read as chayal, the word meaning ?soldier?. Israel has one of the best armies in the world today, but it is not because we have the best tank or the best trained pilots or any other similar reason. It is because God is on our side; we must always remember that it is God that ultimately gives us the strength to do all that we do.
Jews are being killed in Israel. According to Maimonides (Hilchot Melachim, Chapter 5, Halacha 1) this classifies any military steps to protect them as a Milchemet Mitzvah (an obligatory war). This means that if we have perfect faith that what we do is only possible with God's help, we will be victorious. We cannot cower and pray while the equivalent of an Egyptian army (or an actual Egyptian army) is behind us, showering us with arrows. We must protect ourselves or we will have hardly done better then our recent forefathers and the Temple will not be rebuilt for many more generations. The Temple was destroyed because Jews hated each other due to disagreements. If we disagree too much now, we will have failed.
God himself has made us successful in establishing and defending the modern state of Israel; a fact that is blatantly obvious when one reviews the many miraculous wars the IDF has fought. Prayer alone is not enough to bring the Messiah. There must be a balance between prayer and action. Today, we are so close to a final redemption and the rebuilding of Jerusalem. If we do all we can, we will not lose our first real chance in over a thousand years to bring the Messiah. After all, prayer is no longer the only weapon we can and must rightfully use.
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Yoni Lansey is a student. He can be reached at YoniL@Juno.com..