The fact that the warrior Arik Sharon, from the political Right, replaced Israel?s most decorated soldier, Ehud Barak, from the political Left, as this country?s prime minister, and yet Jews remain helpless victims of Arab terrorists, should teach us that politics cannot solve Israel?s dilemma. That Israel still stumbles along like a drunkard should teach us that politics has deprived this country of direction or of any sense of national purpose.
That Israel?s government continues to genuflect to Washington and sought peace from a murderous villain like Yasser Arafat ? and now from Abu Mazen, a Holocaust denier ? should teach us that politics has enfeebled this country and undermined its dignity or sense of national honor. The successive election of seven Israeli prime ministers - Begin, Shamir, Rabin, Peres, Netanyahu, Barak, and Sharon - and their obvious inability to diminish the ?Arab problem?, should teach us that democratic elections have been exercises in futility.
That Yasser Arafat remains alive despite his many rivals, that he should endure an air crash and persevere despite a crippling disease; moreover, that this ugly terrorist should win international esteem and make Israeli prime ministers appear like cretins and cravens, should make us suspect that he may be serving a world-historical purpose. That purpose, negatively stated, is to prevent Israel?s success as a secular democratic state.
I dare say that Arafat and his coterie serve only as an instrument of Almighty God, as a whip to teach Israel that neither democratic politics, nor this or that prime minister, nor the United States, nor the Israel Defense Forces, nor technology can win the peace that Jews so ardently desire. Arafat and his minions are thus teaching us that we can rely only on God for our salvation, but then, only if we make peace with God by serving Him rather than the idols of modernity.
Stated another way, the sole function of the long-decadent, but militant, Arab-Islamic world is to create conditions that will compel Jews to become Jews.
It is no accident that the Arabs control the oil-rich Persian Gulf, which induces the democratic West to appease and arm Arab dictatorships and thus reveal the moral bankruptcy of Western democracy. It is no accident that the United Nations repeatedly condemns the diminutive State of Israel, for this confirms this verse of the Torah: ?Behold a people that will dwell alone and not be reckoned among the nations.? (Numbers 23:9) That verse can also be rendered, ?Behold a people that dwells alone and does not reckon itself among the nations.? Israel, however, desperately wants to be recognized as a conventional democratic state. In witness thereof, ponder the title of Benjamin Netanyahu?s book, A Place Among the Nations.
The Arabs, personified by Arafat, will not allow Israel so modest a place. They are programmed, committed to Israel?s destruction. But this threat of destruction is precisely what Israel needs to become Israel. Indeed, Israel?s becoming Israel is precisely what our sick world itself so desperately needs: The spiritual rebirth of God?s Chosen People, the teachers of ethical monotheism, who alone know how to ascend Jacob?s ladder, to link body and soul, heaven and earth.
No political ideology, no political system, no political leader, no gentile nation, can help Israel climb that ladder.
Nevertheless, in death and destruction, the Arabs are unwittingly making more and more Jews recognize that they must take their destiny into their own hands. This they can only do by returning to their one source of life, the Torah.
The Jews must, therefore, restore their truth-bearing emunah in the God of Israel. With truth-bearing emunah they must stand alone and thereby set an example to mankind of a nation wherein freedom dwells with righteousness, equality with excellence, wealth with beauty, the here-and-now with love of the Eternal.
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Professor Eidelberg is the President of the Yamin Israel movement.
That Israel?s government continues to genuflect to Washington and sought peace from a murderous villain like Yasser Arafat ? and now from Abu Mazen, a Holocaust denier ? should teach us that politics has enfeebled this country and undermined its dignity or sense of national honor. The successive election of seven Israeli prime ministers - Begin, Shamir, Rabin, Peres, Netanyahu, Barak, and Sharon - and their obvious inability to diminish the ?Arab problem?, should teach us that democratic elections have been exercises in futility.
That Yasser Arafat remains alive despite his many rivals, that he should endure an air crash and persevere despite a crippling disease; moreover, that this ugly terrorist should win international esteem and make Israeli prime ministers appear like cretins and cravens, should make us suspect that he may be serving a world-historical purpose. That purpose, negatively stated, is to prevent Israel?s success as a secular democratic state.
I dare say that Arafat and his coterie serve only as an instrument of Almighty God, as a whip to teach Israel that neither democratic politics, nor this or that prime minister, nor the United States, nor the Israel Defense Forces, nor technology can win the peace that Jews so ardently desire. Arafat and his minions are thus teaching us that we can rely only on God for our salvation, but then, only if we make peace with God by serving Him rather than the idols of modernity.
Stated another way, the sole function of the long-decadent, but militant, Arab-Islamic world is to create conditions that will compel Jews to become Jews.
It is no accident that the Arabs control the oil-rich Persian Gulf, which induces the democratic West to appease and arm Arab dictatorships and thus reveal the moral bankruptcy of Western democracy. It is no accident that the United Nations repeatedly condemns the diminutive State of Israel, for this confirms this verse of the Torah: ?Behold a people that will dwell alone and not be reckoned among the nations.? (Numbers 23:9) That verse can also be rendered, ?Behold a people that dwells alone and does not reckon itself among the nations.? Israel, however, desperately wants to be recognized as a conventional democratic state. In witness thereof, ponder the title of Benjamin Netanyahu?s book, A Place Among the Nations.
The Arabs, personified by Arafat, will not allow Israel so modest a place. They are programmed, committed to Israel?s destruction. But this threat of destruction is precisely what Israel needs to become Israel. Indeed, Israel?s becoming Israel is precisely what our sick world itself so desperately needs: The spiritual rebirth of God?s Chosen People, the teachers of ethical monotheism, who alone know how to ascend Jacob?s ladder, to link body and soul, heaven and earth.
No political ideology, no political system, no political leader, no gentile nation, can help Israel climb that ladder.
Nevertheless, in death and destruction, the Arabs are unwittingly making more and more Jews recognize that they must take their destiny into their own hands. This they can only do by returning to their one source of life, the Torah.
The Jews must, therefore, restore their truth-bearing emunah in the God of Israel. With truth-bearing emunah they must stand alone and thereby set an example to mankind of a nation wherein freedom dwells with righteousness, equality with excellence, wealth with beauty, the here-and-now with love of the Eternal.
--------------------------------------------------------
Professor Eidelberg is the President of the Yamin Israel movement.