Sometimes, answers to difficult questions lie right before one's eyes. Due to the great importance and gravity of the questions, we seem to look for answers that are convoluted and intricate, while in reality the truth is so much simpler.
In order to understand the implications of unilateral retreat from areas of conflict, one simply had to have visited war-torn Kiryat Shmona, or visit currently beleaguered Sderot. If one wanted to truly comprehend the intentions of the Palestinian government, one only needs to watch and listen to the fuzzy Mickey Mouse look-alike that the official Palestinian TV has created for the youth of this terrorist state.
In the frustration regarding what is missing, we lose sight of what is truly there.
It seems to be self-evident that if one group of people terrorizes and attacks your community, then you must act to contain that terror. It seems that when one retreats from territory and leaves it vacant and accessible to a terrorist entity, that territory will become a base for further terror. One would think it would be clear that when every attempt at negotiations with an enemy only leads to further retreat from only one side, any attempt at reaching an arrangement based on mutual compromise is doomed. It makes sense that a government riddled with corruption and illegal activity would be replaced as quickly as possible in a democratic society.
Yet, in a world wherein truth and falsehood, light and darkness, and good and evil, intermix and become confused, the Israeli government hesitates in determining a clear and direct response to the attacks being perpetrated on Sderot and the rest of the Western Negev. Over nine billion shekels are allocated for the expulsion of Jews from the settlements of Gaza and the northern Shomron, yet only 210 million shekels were even put aside to buttress the defense of the cities surrounding the Gaza Strip.
Ehud Olmert's government continues to entertain all types of schemes and dialogues with an enemy bent on Israel's destruction. This shaky coalition run by Israel's present Prime Minister is so weak that it is that very weakness that ensures its survival. A weak government led by weak leaders in a parliamentary system will do everything it can to retain its power and avoid its political demise.
So much has been written about the corrupt nature of these past Israeli governments, and so much ink has been spilt describing the hedonistic and selfish nature of parts of modern Israeli society, that it seems superfluous to add any more. Yet, in the frustration regarding what is missing, we lose sight of what is truly there.
That is not only unfortunate, but it is also dangerous. Israel has been so sure of its power and strength that it has lost sight of the source of that power and strength. In the ensuing darkness, there is a general sense of impotence and sadness. Yet, it is in times of darkness that light shines forth with the greatest strength. In the midst of the barren desert that epitomizes much of Israeli society, there is a consistently growing and flourishing return to vision and hope. Signs of that strength are to be found everywhere outside of the corridors of temporal power.
You sense it in the young recruits in the army. You feel it in the halls of study of the Hesder yeshivas that seem to be strengthening in faith, as opposed to losing it after all they have suffered. You see it in the tent demonstration outside of Olmert's residence manned by people who have never taken part in any demonstration previously. You feel it in the tone and anger in the voices of the common man on the street whenever this government is discussed. What all these people share is some sense of vision, determination and belief that things could, and should, be different.
When one is filled with bloated self-delusions of power and grandeur, there is no more room for vision and determination.
These characteristics spawned by vision and spirit are sorely missing in a leadership that is so filled with themselves and their importance. When one is filled with bloated self-delusions of power and grandeur, there is no more room for vision and determination. There will be many cynics and other spiritually tired people who will wonder what can vision and faith do against a well-oiled machinery of self-serving political ambitions. Spirit and faith did nothing to stop the expulsion of Jews from their homes in Gush Katif and the northern Shomron. Such criticism would be accurate if those two qualities do not lead to action. Not walking out one's sense of vision inevitably leads to great obstacles being raised on the pathway of destiny. Yet, it is that very spirit and faith that remains eternal. It is that spirit and faith that will lead those impassioned by it to regain control of Israel's destiny.
In the Haftarah of the Shabbat Torah portion of Behaalotcha, we read from the book of Zacharia (4:1-6):
And the angel 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 menorah 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 Zerubbabel, saying: 'Not by might,nor by power, but by My spirit,' saith HaShem of hosts.
The emblem of the state of Israel is based on exactly that same image, a menorah and two olive branches on either side. Right behind a Prime Minister who mumbles or pontificates about the strength and courage of Israel as a pretence for showing more weakness, hangs that emblem as the official symbol of the state of Israel. It stands as a silent and clear reminder to those who may have forgotten and for those who truly want to hear about the source of all power: "'Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit,' saith HaShem of hosts."