The people of Israel have had to contend with a perplexing problem since they became the people of Israel upon their Exodus from Egypt. Walking into physical freedom and into an intimate relationship with the Divine Redeemer at the same time, has been a delicate and precarious endeavor. Being chosen as a people to be a paradigm for the world, and the measuring stick by which the world could determine the advance and fulfillment of G-d's plan, has been a voyage mixed with ultimate bliss and physical peril. Whether or not they are worthy of it ,G-d has been using these people to make a simple point to the world.
That point is simply that He is G-d. When the plan completely unfolds and the pieces of the puzzle are firmly in place, mankind will be able to recognize G-d's fingerprints all over the history and destiny of the people He chose.
The difficulty with the reality of being used by G-d to display Divine intervention in this world is that sometimes, the people being used for that purpose forget who is being used and who the User is. It is too easy to become enamored with one's successes and claim them as successes of their own making. It is too simple to assume that they are all due to our wisdom, or our great strength and prowess and our mighty army.
Deuteronomy 32;15: "And YeShurun became fat and kicked [Vayishman YeShurun vayivaat]... and he forsook G-d who made him, and contemned the Rock of his salvation."
It was that arrogance that led the people of Israel to attempt to copy and emulate the culture and customs of the Hellenists around them in the days of the Temple. It is quite the same arrogance that persuaded the politicians of the State of Israel to ignore the warnings of the intelligence community, which brought about the Yom Kippur War fiasco that cost so many lives. It was that same self-delusional sense of grandeur that persuaded Israeli leaders to gamble on the prospect of inviting bloodthirsty terrorists into the land of Israel and to begin the ill-fated Oslo peace process.
It is exactly the same overblown, fattened sense of self that has enabled Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to embark on this Disengagemnt/Expulsion plan, which offers nothing and promises less. In fulfillment of the verse, "and Sharon became fat and kicked...."
Prime Minister Sharon may have had good intentions at the start, but his vision became clouded when it began to be filled with a sense of self instead of that sense of duty. Recently, as Prime Minister Sharon began to see the opinion polls favoring this plan drop dramatically and the thin shreds holding his government together begin to fray, he declared in an almost frantic manner, "Nobody can stop the Disengagement Plan from happening."
Those words sounded hauntingly familiar, but distant, until I was reminded of the words of another world leader in another place and time. Exodus 5:2: "And Pharaoh said: 'Who is the Lord, that I should hearken unto His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.'"
The power of secular Zionism was their vision. The failure of secular Zionism has become their faltering eyesight. Yet, as our tradition has stated, G-d always places in its place the cure before the onset of the illness. That "cure" is found in the book of Zechariah.
When secular Israel looked for an emblem for the newborn state, they chose the menorah flanked by two olive branches. Not much thought went into the source of this image except that the Menorah was a traditional emblem and the olive branches represented peace. Yet, that image speaks out a message that is much more powerful.
Zechariah 4:1-6: "And the angel [Gavriel] that spoke with me returned, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep. And he said unto me: 'What seest thou?' And I said: 'I have seen, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and its seven lamps thereon; there are seven pipes, yea, seven, to the lamps, which are upon the top thereof; and two olive-trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.' And I answered and spoke to the angel that spoke with me, saying: 'What are these, my lord?' Then the angel that spoke with me answered and said unto me: 'Knowest thou not what these are?' And I said: 'No, my lord.' Then he answered and spoke unto me, saying: 'This is the word of HaShem unto Zerubavel, saying, "Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit," saith HaShem Tsevakot.'"
The answer to the failure of secular Zionism is already hanging on the wall of the Knesset and very prominently behind the chair of the prime minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon. "'Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit,' saith HaShem Tsevakot."
That point is simply that He is G-d. When the plan completely unfolds and the pieces of the puzzle are firmly in place, mankind will be able to recognize G-d's fingerprints all over the history and destiny of the people He chose.
The difficulty with the reality of being used by G-d to display Divine intervention in this world is that sometimes, the people being used for that purpose forget who is being used and who the User is. It is too easy to become enamored with one's successes and claim them as successes of their own making. It is too simple to assume that they are all due to our wisdom, or our great strength and prowess and our mighty army.
Deuteronomy 32;15: "And YeShurun became fat and kicked [Vayishman YeShurun vayivaat]... and he forsook G-d who made him, and contemned the Rock of his salvation."
It was that arrogance that led the people of Israel to attempt to copy and emulate the culture and customs of the Hellenists around them in the days of the Temple. It is quite the same arrogance that persuaded the politicians of the State of Israel to ignore the warnings of the intelligence community, which brought about the Yom Kippur War fiasco that cost so many lives. It was that same self-delusional sense of grandeur that persuaded Israeli leaders to gamble on the prospect of inviting bloodthirsty terrorists into the land of Israel and to begin the ill-fated Oslo peace process.
It is exactly the same overblown, fattened sense of self that has enabled Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to embark on this Disengagemnt/Expulsion plan, which offers nothing and promises less. In fulfillment of the verse, "and Sharon became fat and kicked...."
Prime Minister Sharon may have had good intentions at the start, but his vision became clouded when it began to be filled with a sense of self instead of that sense of duty. Recently, as Prime Minister Sharon began to see the opinion polls favoring this plan drop dramatically and the thin shreds holding his government together begin to fray, he declared in an almost frantic manner, "Nobody can stop the Disengagement Plan from happening."
Those words sounded hauntingly familiar, but distant, until I was reminded of the words of another world leader in another place and time. Exodus 5:2: "And Pharaoh said: 'Who is the Lord, that I should hearken unto His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.'"
The power of secular Zionism was their vision. The failure of secular Zionism has become their faltering eyesight. Yet, as our tradition has stated, G-d always places in its place the cure before the onset of the illness. That "cure" is found in the book of Zechariah.
When secular Israel looked for an emblem for the newborn state, they chose the menorah flanked by two olive branches. Not much thought went into the source of this image except that the Menorah was a traditional emblem and the olive branches represented peace. Yet, that image speaks out a message that is much more powerful.
Zechariah 4:1-6: "And the angel [Gavriel] that spoke with me returned, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep. And he said unto me: 'What seest thou?' And I said: 'I have seen, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and its seven lamps thereon; there are seven pipes, yea, seven, to the lamps, which are upon the top thereof; and two olive-trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.' And I answered and spoke to the angel that spoke with me, saying: 'What are these, my lord?' Then the angel that spoke with me answered and said unto me: 'Knowest thou not what these are?' And I said: 'No, my lord.' Then he answered and spoke unto me, saying: 'This is the word of HaShem unto Zerubavel, saying, "Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit," saith HaShem Tsevakot.'"
The answer to the failure of secular Zionism is already hanging on the wall of the Knesset and very prominently behind the chair of the prime minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon. "'Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit,' saith HaShem Tsevakot."