Another ghastly murder by beastly savages, sons of Ishmael. This time two sisters dead with their mother in critical condition. Another anguishing Chillul Hashem as barbarians roam free in the Land of the Jews while the Jews cower before them in fear. Sure, the IDF will find and kill the murderer or put him in prison where he will earn a Master’s Degree in Jewish Education, but the barbarians will continue on with their undaunted slaughter while the Jews will continue to tremble in fear of the goyim.
This Pesach it should be clear to everyone that while we long ago left the land of Egypt we are still not free men. Something went wrong. The spirit of slavery and the fear of the goy still plague us. The Torah commentator Ibn Ben Ezra diagnosed the mental disease long ago explaining that the newly liberated Children of Israel thought to return to Mitzrayim when the forces of Pharaoh pursued them at the sea because they still bore the mentality of slaves and could not rise up against their former masters, even though they had the numbers and arms to do so.
2000 years of exile, of being oppressed and slaughtered by the nations reinforced this emotional, psychological, and spiritual weakness, and Hitler dealt us an additional devastating blow, until we saw ourselves like the grasshoppers of old described by the 12 spies in the Bible, as compared to the goyim*. Indeed it is perhaps the greatest miracle of all that a handful of still-proud Jews managed to summon up the courage to establish the Modern Jewish State. But the deep underlining fear of the goy still remained – fear of the Arabs, fear of the United Nations, fear of America… a fear which still haunts us today.
Clearly the problem is not the only Israel Supreme Court, as destructive to our nation as it is. We the Jews are the problem. Our age-old fear of the goy is the problem. Our lack of faith in Hashem is the virus running through our veins. From the “Haflaga” policy of Ben Gurion toward the Arabs and British to the bowing down and surrender before Esau and Ishmael adopted by Israel’s Prime Ministers ever since, we have continued to see ourselves as grasshoppers among the nations.
Geographically, our ancestors left ancient Egypt but we remain slaves. We allow the Arabs to feel like the masters of the Land and we are the apologetic intruders afraid to use the great power we have. Apprehending and eliminating one terrorist after the other won’t stop the slaughter which cries out to Heaven. Hashem bequeathed the Land of Israel to us. We are its masters. Hashem told us how to deal with our enemies. Barbarians who refuse to acknowledge our sovereignty and who rise up to destroy us must be erased from our God-given Land. If not now – when?
Source:
*Numbers 13, 33: There we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, descended from the giants. In our eyes, we seemed like grasshoppers, and so we were in their eyes..
Tzvi Fishman was awarded the Israel Ministry of Education Prize for Jewish Culture and Creativity. Before making Aliyah to Israel in 1984, he was a successful Hollywood screenwriter. He has co-authored 4 books with Rabbi David Samson, based on the teachings of Rabbis A. Y. Kook and T. Y. Kook. His other books include: "The Kuzari For Young Readers" and "Tuvia in the Promised Land". His books are available on Amazon. Recently, he directed the movie, "Stories of Rebbe Nachman."
