Jewish sources are replete with stories about the downfalls of the Jewish people. The one common denominator to all these stories is the mindset of the Jewish people that preceded the tragedy. These stories revolve around communities with a thriving economy, a beautiful diplomatic relationship and a large Torah-learning crowd. In some cases, we had a well-trained army, and in others, we had people high in government, whispering in the monarch's ears. We had great rabbis, generals and leaders.
But we had one more thing that came with most of these downfalls. We had pride.
When I speak of pride, I'm not talking about holding our heads up high and saying, "Look I'm a Jew." There's nothing wrong with being a Jew, and by G-d, we should be proud of it.
But that's exactly how we should be proud - by G-d.
The common denominator to all the times that the Jewish people suffered was the taking of credit for things that should have been attributed to the Lord of Lords, Host of Hosts, Hashem.
Recently, I heard our prime minister speaking in the Knesset at a ceremony commemorating sixty years since the liberation of Auschwitz. He said: "Many times nations have tried to destroy us, and we don't have anyone to depend on but ourselves."
I don't know whether I was the only person in the country who heard our prime minister's words, or just the only one who put significance to what he said. Either way, what I heard convinced me that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and the people he represents, are on the way to another downfall.
Downfalls always began with the declaration of "kochi ve'otzem yadi..." - my strength and the power of my hand created all this for me. Whenever the Jewish nation managed to create for itself a nice stronghold with the help of G-d, the next step was usually to forget that it was actually G-d who got us there.
Prime Minister Sharon was misquoting a Gemara that lists things that will go wrong at the end of days. The Gemara concludes with the quote: "And we don't have anyone to depend on but our Father in Heaven." I believe the prime minister purposely changed the end of the quote from "our Father in Heaven" to "ourselves", rendering it a statement of "kochi ve'otzem yadi...."
I haven't been a great supporter of the prime minister since his expulsion plan was announced. However, I was not among those who believed that it would necessarily bring about the destruction of the state, mostly because of the miracles that have brought us this far. Even though I knew that the secular world was not the greatest advocate of the will of G-d, but using our Jewish sources in such cynical fashion completely earned my distrust. Even if a miraculous change occurs and the prime minister drops the expulsion plan, there is no way that I would be able to consider him and myself on the same side.
Since I doubt that the prime minister will ever read these words, and even if he does I don't think they that will have any impact on him, I do have a message to the people who I hope will be reading this. The prime minister is not the only one making this major mistake. We must continue working on the practical level, but we must not forget - no matter what we do, none of it will matter if we don't have Hashem right there with us, in every aspect and at all times.
But we had one more thing that came with most of these downfalls. We had pride.
When I speak of pride, I'm not talking about holding our heads up high and saying, "Look I'm a Jew." There's nothing wrong with being a Jew, and by G-d, we should be proud of it.
But that's exactly how we should be proud - by G-d.
The common denominator to all the times that the Jewish people suffered was the taking of credit for things that should have been attributed to the Lord of Lords, Host of Hosts, Hashem.
Recently, I heard our prime minister speaking in the Knesset at a ceremony commemorating sixty years since the liberation of Auschwitz. He said: "Many times nations have tried to destroy us, and we don't have anyone to depend on but ourselves."
I don't know whether I was the only person in the country who heard our prime minister's words, or just the only one who put significance to what he said. Either way, what I heard convinced me that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and the people he represents, are on the way to another downfall.
Downfalls always began with the declaration of "kochi ve'otzem yadi..." - my strength and the power of my hand created all this for me. Whenever the Jewish nation managed to create for itself a nice stronghold with the help of G-d, the next step was usually to forget that it was actually G-d who got us there.
Prime Minister Sharon was misquoting a Gemara that lists things that will go wrong at the end of days. The Gemara concludes with the quote: "And we don't have anyone to depend on but our Father in Heaven." I believe the prime minister purposely changed the end of the quote from "our Father in Heaven" to "ourselves", rendering it a statement of "kochi ve'otzem yadi...."
I haven't been a great supporter of the prime minister since his expulsion plan was announced. However, I was not among those who believed that it would necessarily bring about the destruction of the state, mostly because of the miracles that have brought us this far. Even though I knew that the secular world was not the greatest advocate of the will of G-d, but using our Jewish sources in such cynical fashion completely earned my distrust. Even if a miraculous change occurs and the prime minister drops the expulsion plan, there is no way that I would be able to consider him and myself on the same side.
Since I doubt that the prime minister will ever read these words, and even if he does I don't think they that will have any impact on him, I do have a message to the people who I hope will be reading this. The prime minister is not the only one making this major mistake. We must continue working on the practical level, but we must not forget - no matter what we do, none of it will matter if we don't have Hashem right there with us, in every aspect and at all times.