Rabbi Itamar Cohen, head of the pre-military academy in Nokdim, was asked today for a Torah approach to the situation. "It appears that after almost three years of this, our hearts are already getting hardened to the death and to the tough situation," Ariel Kahane said.
"This is a natural reaction," Rabbi Cohen acknowledged, "but we cannot allow it to overtake us and to harden our hearts... I told my students today after the shofar blowing - which gives us the month-of-Elul message to 'wake up from our slumber,' as Maimonides writes - that we take this time to get into the mood of introspection and reviewing our actions of the past year and repentance. This is a process not only for individuals, but also as a nation. This involves chiefly the leaders. I'm not only talking about the terrible mistake of Oslo, which also requires true repentance, but even after the decision was made to fight the terrorists to some extent - it was done only in a pareve way, compromising our firmness and our resoluteness against our enemies. This itself is very dangerous, and requires repentance."
A-7: "You're talking politically and militarily, but where's the spiritual guidance?"
Rabbi Cohen: "Everything in our national lives in the past generations is nourished from spiritual aspects and from ideology. When a nation has to fight for itself, it must do so with total dedication and to the end, without compromising. Yassin can't also be a target and also not be killed, and Arafat can't be relevant and irrelevant - this waffling reflects back to our enemies, and leads to the bad situation in which we find ourselves... We have to ask ourselves what we're doing in this land, and why have we been returned here after 2,000 years of Exile and persecution? I don't think it was merely in order to be a financial haven in the Middle East or some such - but those who think so will lead us, from a practical standpoint, in one particular direction. But if we realize that we have a true destiny, to be a 'kingdom of Priests' and a light unto the nations, then the way in which we will handle the practical aspects will also be different... I would just like to conclude by saying that of late I hear interviews on the radio that give off a feeling of despair and the like - but this is not right: 'A time of tribulation for Yaakov, and from it he will be saved,' the verse says. There are tremendous strengths within the Nation of Israel, and precisely this crisis will force us to clarify our path in the direction of what I said above. We are imbued with faith that this is what will occur."
"This is a natural reaction," Rabbi Cohen acknowledged, "but we cannot allow it to overtake us and to harden our hearts... I told my students today after the shofar blowing - which gives us the month-of-Elul message to 'wake up from our slumber,' as Maimonides writes - that we take this time to get into the mood of introspection and reviewing our actions of the past year and repentance. This is a process not only for individuals, but also as a nation. This involves chiefly the leaders. I'm not only talking about the terrible mistake of Oslo, which also requires true repentance, but even after the decision was made to fight the terrorists to some extent - it was done only in a pareve way, compromising our firmness and our resoluteness against our enemies. This itself is very dangerous, and requires repentance."
A-7: "You're talking politically and militarily, but where's the spiritual guidance?"
Rabbi Cohen: "Everything in our national lives in the past generations is nourished from spiritual aspects and from ideology. When a nation has to fight for itself, it must do so with total dedication and to the end, without compromising. Yassin can't also be a target and also not be killed, and Arafat can't be relevant and irrelevant - this waffling reflects back to our enemies, and leads to the bad situation in which we find ourselves... We have to ask ourselves what we're doing in this land, and why have we been returned here after 2,000 years of Exile and persecution? I don't think it was merely in order to be a financial haven in the Middle East or some such - but those who think so will lead us, from a practical standpoint, in one particular direction. But if we realize that we have a true destiny, to be a 'kingdom of Priests' and a light unto the nations, then the way in which we will handle the practical aspects will also be different... I would just like to conclude by saying that of late I hear interviews on the radio that give off a feeling of despair and the like - but this is not right: 'A time of tribulation for Yaakov, and from it he will be saved,' the verse says. There are tremendous strengths within the Nation of Israel, and precisely this crisis will force us to clarify our path in the direction of what I said above. We are imbued with faith that this is what will occur."