Parshat Vayeshev - 5761 "Bikesh
Yaakov Lay'shev B'Shalvah" "Israel
at the Crossroads" Rabbi Berel
Wein, the founding rabbi of Congregation
Bais Torah, located in Monsey, New York, was in town from Yerushalayim
to be the Scholar-in-Residence at his former shul.
On Motzaei Shabbat Parshat VaYishlach, he addressed an assemblage of
old congregants, new congregants and the general community, on the topic of
"Israel at the Crossroads." The
following is an approximation of what he said.
Obviously, any deviation(s) are entirely the fault of the author. Rabbi Wein
pointed out that in life there are moments in which one comes to realize
that ideas that one has long accepted no longer apply.
An example he cited was the perception of the brothers of Yoseph of
their relationship with him. When
they came face-to-face with him in Mitzrayim, the Torah records their
reaction as "…and his brothers could not answer him, for they were
afraid in his presence" (Bereshit 45:3). They had
pursued a policy based on the assumptions that Yoseph's dreams were false,
that he was a dangerous egoist, and that he had to be removed from the
family of Yaakov, in order for them to achieve their destiny as a nation. But then Yoseph's dreams came true, and they found their
previous policy to have been fatally wrong. One has to
be as wary of one's "Mitzvos"
as of one's "Aveiros." They
had thought that they were right. And
yet they were proved wrong. The
split between "Malchut Yehudah," the Kingdom of Yehudah and "Malchut
Yisrael," the Kingdom of Israel in the time of Rechavam ben Shelomoh,
seems to have been one consequence of their error.
The trauma of their mistake has continued for centuries; nay,
millennia. In Israel, we are
experiencing the trauma of shattered beliefs.
A century of illusions that we believed in have been shattered; and
new policies now need to be created. The Zionist
Movement never addressed the description of "Eretz Yisrael"
correctly. Zionism projected
the idea that in recent times, Israel had been an empty country.
In fact, for decades, even centuries before 1948, the Arabs were a
majority in the Land. In 1948,
when the "Milchemet HaShichrur," the War for the Independence of
the State of Israel took place, and a Jewish State was "created"
by the UN west of Jordan, some 500,000 to 700,000 Arabs fled the scene of
the battle. Why they fled is
not clear. But their having
fled solved a demographic problem for Israel; namely, that the birth rate of
the Arabs is considerably higher than that of their Jewish
"cousins." Were all
the Arabs who fled at that time to return today, the Jewish population of
the State of Israel would be inundated, and that would, effectively, be the
end, G-d Forbid, of the Jewish State. Today, there
is a trend that threatens to restore the demographic problem.
That is, that there is a continuous stream of illegal Arab immigrants
to Israel. It is not hard to understand why this has been the case in recent
years. The "Quality of
Life" in the State of Israel is far superior to that in any of the Arab
countries. In fact,
statistically, Israel ranks high among all the nations of the world.
Israel is 17th in median income, 3rd in
longevity and by the measure of Gross National Product (excluding oil),
Israel outranks all the Arab countries combined. In 1948,
there was felt in the Jewish world that a historic, religious moment had
arrived. Agudat Yisrael ran as
the headline of their newspaper, "Blessed is He Who has given us life,
and maintained our existence, and brought us to this day."
Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, that important religious
organization no longer feels that way today. The nature
of the problems facing the Jewish State changed in 1967, the year of the Six
Day War. Israel was threatened
initially by Egypt, Syria, the PLO, other "friends" in the Arab
world, later Jordan would join the fray, but achieved a decisive victory.
The Duke of Wellington is said to have remarked, "The only thing
worse than defeat is victory." After
the War, Israel had to absorb a tremendous amount of territory, and also 1.2
million Arabs. But in the flush
of victory, the problems were "papered over." Moshe Dayan,
the chief architect (among the human "architects") of the victory
announced that he was sitting next to his telephone, waiting for it to ring.
He was ready to give back everything, with some minor strategic
adjustments. But the Arabs had a meeting in Khartoum in which they
formulated the policy of the three "No's,":
No War, No Peace, No Negotiations. But Dayan's
opinion was not the only one in high places in the Israeli Defense
Establishment. In the wake of
Khartoum, Dayan felt that Israel had no choice but to create "facts on
the ground;" that is, Jewish Settlements in the lands that Israel had
conquered in the War. So new
neighborhoods were established in East Jerusalem, French Hill, Ramot Eshkol,
Gilo, Ramot, etc, etc. But his
opinion was opposed by Yigal Allon, who firmly believed that the Settlements
would only complicate matters in the relationship between the Arabs and the
Jews, which was the crucial relationship in this part of the world. And both
views were assumed to be correct, although that "chulent" was an
illogical, self-contradictory policy. The
Expansionist Idea was founded on the "Greater Eretz Yisrael" and
on the "New Israel" Ideas. But
indeed, what was the basis for the Jewish title to Tel Aviv, to Savyon?
Ehud Barak's farm is built on property that was owned by Arabs before
1948! The New
Israel Idea is founded on a new creed: that stated in Herzl's book,
"Das Judenstat." Everything
the Bible has to say is wrong! Jewish
History begins in1897. If we
have no historic right to the Land, we're colonizers!
But for that, we were in the wrong century. In the 19th
century, that was OK. But in
the 20th and certainly now in the 21st, we are nothing
less than imperialists! That
idea was founded on service to the White Man; now it is unconscionable, and
not allowable. Secular
Zionism itself destroyed its own legitimacy.
Yossi Beilin says in effect that the Palestinians are right.
Reporters for "HaAretz," always a supporter of
pro-Palestinian policy, egg on ministers of the already pro-Palestinian
government. But
we used to be the Palestinians! In 1979,
with the support of Jimmy Carter, PM Menachem Begin entered into a peace
agreement with Anwar Sadat. Sadta
himself was assassinated for signing it, but now, no Arab leader will sign
an agreement for less than what Sadat got.
Begin gave back every inch of the Sinai.
He gave back Yamit. He
gave back the oil fields and natural gas reserves that Israel had discovered
and developed. Jimmy Carter
bribed Sadat into signing with the promise and delivery of an enormous
amount of American aid. Begin
promised that the Palestinians would be granted "autonomy," a term
yet to be defined. Assad of
Syria refused to sign based on a disagreement over a strip of land that was
just 10 meters wide. It would be
sheer fantasy to imagine that any agreement that Israel could obtain now
would be better. There arose
in the 1980's a group of enormously committed Jews, mainly students of Rav
Tzvi Yehudah Kook of Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav, who were totally committed to
building up the country. They
attracted a significant number of Americans who joined in their effort.
Rabin himself approached Rabbi Steven Riskin to build Efrat. Two things
resulted: First, the NRP was
destroyed. Once it controlled
15 seats in the Knesset. Now
half its members favored the Settlements and half opposed them.
The "best and brightest" of the young Yeshiva graduates
went to the Israeli "sticks," such places as "Karnei Shomron,
etc. Tragically, partially
because they are not visible in Israel's big cities, the majority of
Israelis have no affinity for them. By launching
Oslo, Yitzchak Rabin believed he knew what Arafat would settle for: the
Right of Return, etc. He
thought that somehow, Israel could live with that. Barak at
Camp David thought he gave Arafat an offer he couldn't refuse. But still Arafat didn't bend an inch. The Israeli
public is so desperate for "peace" that any agreement, even if it
only promised 20 years of peace, would pass immediately.
Let the grandchildren worry about what happens after that. But the
Palestinian Authority has re-written the definition of corruption.
We are dealing with a corrupt, cruel, heartless organization.
There is a joke attributed to Dr. Burg;
"Nothing in Israel is organized," therefore, the Arabs
aren't organized. Rabin thought
he could strike a deal, believing he could reverse the process.
But the reality is as Lincoln is supposed to have said after two
colleagues of his were introduced, one from his Party, "Which scoundrel
is mine?" The Religious Camp puts forth no solutions to Israel's major problems, though as regarding minor matters, there is no shortage of posters on the wall. The military
solution is not realistic, because the European Union would immediately
intervene, followed closely by the United States. Rabbi Wein
has three recommendations:
In his
personal life, Rabbi Wein teaches a class at Ohr Sameach.
There are two ways to get there, one, safer, through a Charedi
neighborhood, the second, shorter but more dangerous, by way of Shaar
Shechem. Rabbi Wein has chosen
recently to take the Shaar Shechem (the more dangerous) route, and feels
much better about himself. Jews own
billions of dollars of real estate in Florida.
Would make a tremendous impression if a fraction of that were in
Israel. Rabbi Wein's
father-in-law begged them to let him buy a bed room in their apartment.
This is not a time for the faint-hearted.
We say "Chazak Chazak V'Nitchazek;" Let us act accordingly. The old
situations are gone, and we are faced with new realities.
Let us say again "Chazak!". Utzu Etzah
V'Tufar, Daberu Davar V'lo Yakum, Ki Imanu E-l! To realize
the question is half the answer. We
realize that the illusions are gone. If we do
ours, HaShem will help us. Author's Comment:
Over and above Rabbi Wein's remarks on this extremely important
subject for the Jewish People, there permeated the hall an atmosphere of
love and appreciation and "Hakarat HaTov," gratitude, to Rabbi
Wein and Jackie Wein and to Rabbi Wein's father, Rabbi Zev Wein, who hadn't
made the trip but is remembered fondly by all who knew him in the shul.
The impact of this family on our lives is not measurable. Rabbi Pinchas Frankel |
