Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, HYD |
It looks like the war in Gaza is winding down. I just hope
that Israel is not doing it out of pressure.That’s what happened last time Israel
was at war with Hamas. And the result is
more of the same today - just a few years later. This time they need to finish
the job - the negative PR of those images coming out of Gaza notwithstanding.
One picture counters 1000 words |
Thankfully the majority of Americans support Israel. At least those with any wisdom. Wisdom
comes with age. So the younger one is - even in America - the less likely they
are to pay attention to anything other than those images. Who wouldn’t be moved
by those images? And who wouldn't immediately blame those firing the missiles for the carnage?
It is sad that anyone blames Israel in the slightest
for this. Even the most minimal understating of what is going on must lead one to conclude
that Hamas is responsible for it all. The Arab states understand this –
even though they won’t say so out loud. They are in fact rooting of for Israel
to destroy Hamas – an organization that they all fear no less than ISIS.
Israeli Ambassador to the US, Ron Dermer |
A word about all the modern day Nevi-im – prophets who
inevitibaly tell us why we are being ‘punished’
by God. There are some people – usually those who have some sort of rabbinic
reputation – who will always tell us what we are doing wrong that made God
so angry at us. They are doing it here too. In almost every case it is based on
a pre-existing agenda. Like the fact that Tznius in not sufficiently being
observed. In what has to be one of the most absurd examples of that is the recent
call in Lakewood for women to shorten the lengths of their Shaitels in order to
stop a rash of serious automobile accidents that were happening there at the
time. Some times it tests your faith to see such nonsense coming out of the
mouths of religious leaders – even 2nd or 3rd tier leaders.
The recent kidnap and murder of the 3 teenagers and the current
barrage of rockets being fired upon Israel - is for example being blamed by some on what they perceive as the
recent anti Charedi legislation. Even if one concedes that it is anti-Charedi (…I
do not) I wonder how three religious teenagers were the ones punished for this ‘crime’?
Is the ‘Divine outrage’ about that really supposed to be heaped on upon 3
teenagers who had no part in that legislation? …and by all accounts had Midos
and maturity far beyond their years? The same can be said for the IDF soldiers
that have been killed in the current war. Is there anyone who can honestly say
that their deaths are God’s direct retribution for the ‘evil decrees’?!
How foolish. Do these people actually believe that they are God’s accountants?! They have no more ability to know the mind of
God than does a monkey. That they make these kinds of statements undermine their credibility and their authority. It undermines the respect for Torah when Torah
personalities make such statements in complete sincerity. If it wasn’t so sad,
it would make me laugh.
This is of course not to say that God is trying to send us a
message. Perhaps we all need to look inside of our own hearts and see where we
could use improvement in our service to God, whether it is in how we interact
with our fellow man (Bein Adam L’Chavreiro) or in how we interact with God (Bein
Adam L’Makom). But for people to look outside of themselves and blame others
for the problems that are besetting us, takes a certain amount of Ga’avah - a certain
degree of haughtiness and sense of superiority over others.
I think that the only way to battle this kind of stupid
rhetoric is to not only ignore it, but to take note of who is saying it and in
the future cast them aside as any kind of authority. Perhaps if they are
marginalized, they will change their tune.