It is a quiet Shabbos night. The kids are in bed and my husband and I are just settling in comfortably to chat for a bit before we clean up the kitchen and turn in. We sigh, turn to each other and smile. And then the beeper goes off. A minute later, he is gone and I am washing dishes alone, with no expectation of his return that Shabbos.
"Isn't it awful to have him called on Shabbos? What if you have plans? What about the kids?" my friends used to ask. But it wasn't awful; it was wonderful.
You see, my husband has some special training and I always knew that if he got called on Shabbat, then it was an opportunity to be part of a miracle. Someone - someone's parent, teacher, friend, co-worker, neighbor, loved one - was close to death with no hope of a future. A patient with a dying heart, sick and suffering, languishing on a list and hoping to survive long enough to match with a donor. Then suddenly -- it is always sudden -- a donor is found, and the beeper goes off.
So much in life depends on perspective. Our point of view determines what we see, and what we see greatly influences what we do. Often, it is just when everything looks bleakest that we are blessed with the potential to do much.
We are all terribly worried about Israel - about its ability to defend itself, its will to survive, the well-being of the Jews who live and die here. It is so demoralizing. The projects begun with JNF, pennies lovingly scraped together one by one to purchase sand dunes in Gaza, are being given without price to murderers and thieves. The thriving villages built up out of sweat and ingenuity and the blood of our people are now to be surrendered for less than nothing.
We receive in return only the promise of more terrorism, and the forthright declaration by Abu Mazen of his intention to continue to war against the Jews until he has won all of Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem, and the right to overwhelm the country with Arabs until she is once again a single (Islamic) state. But even where reported, this is given no importance. After so much superhuman effort to create, to sustain in the face of adversity, to assist the Arab population, and to accede to their unfair demands again and again in the hope of achieving something like peace, the world grants nothing - no credit, no support, only demands for further sacrifice.
All this is true: the political body of the State of Israel is split, perhaps irrevocably. The trust between citizens is severely damaged. Whole sectors of the population are being delegitimized not for their actions, but for who they are. The foundations of democracy are visibly crumbling: there is no independent press, no unassailable right of protest, no equality under the law, no status quo guaranteeing the rights of minority populations, no public trust in the fairness or good intentions of a government so corrupt and abusive of its power. It seems not only possible, but likely that the continued pressures of Islamic and Arab warfare, international libel and coercion will destroy the economy and rend the social contract, that the secular State of Israel will implode and disappear.
What will you do? That depends on your point of view.
If you are a Jew living in the West, what do you see? We have here a land reclaimed from the wastes of sand and swamp, now gorgeous and bountiful for its rightful occupants. We have here cities that have time and again benefited from Divine protection, perhaps because we have here populations of genuinely good and holy people who exemplify the commandments to love your fellow and to settle the land. We have, thank God, daily, open miracles. We have opportunities. Doctor, the patient may look like he's dying, but really he is ready for that transplant. The body is here and waiting.
When in the past 2,000 years have we seen this occur? We Jews have sovereignty in our Holy Land. We have homes and schools and farms and businesses and factories. We have, in the West, huge populations of Jews with Torah and Ahavas Yisroel, with health and wealth, and finally, the freedom to raise themselves up and come home. We have opportunities that our grandparents and all the generations before them only dreamed of.
What goals has God set for us? We all know - to be a light to the nations. We are to establish ourselves as a holy nation in our holy land, with a Sanhedrin, with prophets, with Moshiach and with a holy Temple in Jerusalem. This process has already begun; and just in the nick of time, too, as the world out there has become a very dark place. To continue, though, is not just a matter of destiny. It is also a matter of personal choice.
It is transplant time. The State might be on its deathbed, but there is still time, a window of opportunity where an infusion of life would make all the difference. But we are Jews, and our life is neither money nor military might. We do not live by economic influence nor by alliances, however strong. Our life is our Torah. So, if you have any of this precious heritage of ours, now is the time. Rush to bring it home. This is where the patient is.
Do you wonder if this is what God intends? Look at what is happening:
We have gone through a terrible time, and because of this, the plight of Israel has been publicized daily, sympathetically or not, world-wide. Is there a corner of the world where someone might be ignorant of what is going on here? Apparently, God does not intend to accept excuses of ignorance.
We have reached a demographic point where nearly every Israeli politician has publicly encouraged Jews to come on aliyah (immigrate), clearly outlining the relationship between population and security. It is patently false that "one family more or less makes no difference."
We have reached a position among the nations where our right of national existence is not irrevocable, barbaric acts of war against our civilians is not terrorism, and no effort at self-defense, however passive, is justified. No one can honestly claim to think that Israel doesn't desperately need every scrap of support immediately, if not sooner.
Right now, we are in the midst of a very public struggle to hold on to a principle: that Jews have a right to settle in Israel, that land honestly bought by the Jewish National Fund belongs to us, that homes and businesses built on barren wastelands belong to those who built them. The only true foundation for the Arab claim to Gaza is that they want it, and they want it ethnically cleansed. Clearly, if our rights to Gush Katif can be revoked, so can our rights to any other real estate in Israel. They know it and state it openly in the press. You know it as well. The crisis point, the moment on which history pivots, has arrived. Population transfer will occur, in one direction or the other.
And it is happening right now, in the Three Weeks - a time associated not just with disaster and loss, but also with hope for the future. And it is happening right in the middle of the summer - could God have picked a more convenient time for you to come? And this moment has been clearly coming for nearly a year now. Could you have asked for more notice than that?
Now is not just a tragic time, it is also the moment of greatest opportunity, when ignorance and weakness and corruption can be replaced, healed by the glorious aliyah of the healthy communities that have flourished in Torah and mitzvos elsewhere.
The patient is ready for transplant.
"Isn't it awful to have him called on Shabbos? What if you have plans? What about the kids?" my friends used to ask. But it wasn't awful; it was wonderful.
You see, my husband has some special training and I always knew that if he got called on Shabbat, then it was an opportunity to be part of a miracle. Someone - someone's parent, teacher, friend, co-worker, neighbor, loved one - was close to death with no hope of a future. A patient with a dying heart, sick and suffering, languishing on a list and hoping to survive long enough to match with a donor. Then suddenly -- it is always sudden -- a donor is found, and the beeper goes off.
So much in life depends on perspective. Our point of view determines what we see, and what we see greatly influences what we do. Often, it is just when everything looks bleakest that we are blessed with the potential to do much.
We are all terribly worried about Israel - about its ability to defend itself, its will to survive, the well-being of the Jews who live and die here. It is so demoralizing. The projects begun with JNF, pennies lovingly scraped together one by one to purchase sand dunes in Gaza, are being given without price to murderers and thieves. The thriving villages built up out of sweat and ingenuity and the blood of our people are now to be surrendered for less than nothing.
We receive in return only the promise of more terrorism, and the forthright declaration by Abu Mazen of his intention to continue to war against the Jews until he has won all of Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem, and the right to overwhelm the country with Arabs until she is once again a single (Islamic) state. But even where reported, this is given no importance. After so much superhuman effort to create, to sustain in the face of adversity, to assist the Arab population, and to accede to their unfair demands again and again in the hope of achieving something like peace, the world grants nothing - no credit, no support, only demands for further sacrifice.
All this is true: the political body of the State of Israel is split, perhaps irrevocably. The trust between citizens is severely damaged. Whole sectors of the population are being delegitimized not for their actions, but for who they are. The foundations of democracy are visibly crumbling: there is no independent press, no unassailable right of protest, no equality under the law, no status quo guaranteeing the rights of minority populations, no public trust in the fairness or good intentions of a government so corrupt and abusive of its power. It seems not only possible, but likely that the continued pressures of Islamic and Arab warfare, international libel and coercion will destroy the economy and rend the social contract, that the secular State of Israel will implode and disappear.
What will you do? That depends on your point of view.
If you are a Jew living in the West, what do you see? We have here a land reclaimed from the wastes of sand and swamp, now gorgeous and bountiful for its rightful occupants. We have here cities that have time and again benefited from Divine protection, perhaps because we have here populations of genuinely good and holy people who exemplify the commandments to love your fellow and to settle the land. We have, thank God, daily, open miracles. We have opportunities. Doctor, the patient may look like he's dying, but really he is ready for that transplant. The body is here and waiting.
When in the past 2,000 years have we seen this occur? We Jews have sovereignty in our Holy Land. We have homes and schools and farms and businesses and factories. We have, in the West, huge populations of Jews with Torah and Ahavas Yisroel, with health and wealth, and finally, the freedom to raise themselves up and come home. We have opportunities that our grandparents and all the generations before them only dreamed of.
What goals has God set for us? We all know - to be a light to the nations. We are to establish ourselves as a holy nation in our holy land, with a Sanhedrin, with prophets, with Moshiach and with a holy Temple in Jerusalem. This process has already begun; and just in the nick of time, too, as the world out there has become a very dark place. To continue, though, is not just a matter of destiny. It is also a matter of personal choice.
It is transplant time. The State might be on its deathbed, but there is still time, a window of opportunity where an infusion of life would make all the difference. But we are Jews, and our life is neither money nor military might. We do not live by economic influence nor by alliances, however strong. Our life is our Torah. So, if you have any of this precious heritage of ours, now is the time. Rush to bring it home. This is where the patient is.
Do you wonder if this is what God intends? Look at what is happening:
We have gone through a terrible time, and because of this, the plight of Israel has been publicized daily, sympathetically or not, world-wide. Is there a corner of the world where someone might be ignorant of what is going on here? Apparently, God does not intend to accept excuses of ignorance.
We have reached a demographic point where nearly every Israeli politician has publicly encouraged Jews to come on aliyah (immigrate), clearly outlining the relationship between population and security. It is patently false that "one family more or less makes no difference."
We have reached a position among the nations where our right of national existence is not irrevocable, barbaric acts of war against our civilians is not terrorism, and no effort at self-defense, however passive, is justified. No one can honestly claim to think that Israel doesn't desperately need every scrap of support immediately, if not sooner.
Right now, we are in the midst of a very public struggle to hold on to a principle: that Jews have a right to settle in Israel, that land honestly bought by the Jewish National Fund belongs to us, that homes and businesses built on barren wastelands belong to those who built them. The only true foundation for the Arab claim to Gaza is that they want it, and they want it ethnically cleansed. Clearly, if our rights to Gush Katif can be revoked, so can our rights to any other real estate in Israel. They know it and state it openly in the press. You know it as well. The crisis point, the moment on which history pivots, has arrived. Population transfer will occur, in one direction or the other.
And it is happening right now, in the Three Weeks - a time associated not just with disaster and loss, but also with hope for the future. And it is happening right in the middle of the summer - could God have picked a more convenient time for you to come? And this moment has been clearly coming for nearly a year now. Could you have asked for more notice than that?
Now is not just a tragic time, it is also the moment of greatest opportunity, when ignorance and weakness and corruption can be replaced, healed by the glorious aliyah of the healthy communities that have flourished in Torah and mitzvos elsewhere.
The patient is ready for transplant.