July 27, 2001

"Vigilantes & Self-Appointed Messiahs -
Not the Way of the Wise"

Anarchy is destructive chaos. Israeli police are investigating the murder of three Arabs, including a child, and I pray the culprits, when found, will not be Jews. The response to terror is not more terror. The pages of Jewish history are stained with the blood of our people as a result of vigilantes and self-appointed messiahs who acted upon their own whims and fancies.

Some argue that Israel was established by brave men who engaged in acts of terror against the British colonial government and it is therefore inherent within Zionism to do the same, but this makes no sense whatsoever. The pre-state members of Haganah, Etzel and even the Stern gang did not shoot civilians. Their attacks were against tyrannic government forces whose presence on Israel's soil was the result of a League of Nations' mandate to establish a Jewish state there. Rather than fulfilling the mandate, the British succumbed to Arab pressure and denied Holocaust survivors and other oppressed Jews their homeland. Etzel, or the Irgun, led by the late Menachem Begin, was falsely accused of annihilating Der Yassin, an Arab village abutting Jerusalem. Though a United Nations' commission concluded, after investigation, that the residents of Der Yassin were murdered by their own people, to this day, the accusation is the lynchpin of Arab propaganda.

Rage and anger against Arafat's murderous schemes must be dealt with accordingly by the state and its duly elected leaders. There is a vast difference between Israel and the Palestinian Authority; Israel is a democracy which strives to live in peace. . .to live and let live. We are not a band of cold-blooded murderers, and at no time should we succumb to passionate hatred in spite of the fact that normal emotions could lead to it. 

Had Arafat seriously negotiated for peace, the blood-letting would never  happen. If Israel's Defense Force is not attacked and if the so-called Palestinian Authority had not engaged in mad suicide bombings, drive-by shootings, firing mortars and detonating bombs in public places, not an Israeli bullet would have been fired or an ounce of blood shed. Israel is, however, morally and religiously obligated to defend its population and to prevent acts of terror, no different from other civilized governments. The Sharon government has acted with extraordinary restraint and painfully avoiding a Waco or Ruby Ridge. And if you do not agree with Ariel Sharon's approach, then fight for change and new elections.

Having spent several weeks recently in Israel, I believe that Sharon knows well what he is doing. Restraint is painful, but in this dangerous situation, it portends wisdom and great courage. Ariel Sharon, in my view, is not Shimon Peres' pawn. Israel's Prime Minister would be doing what he is doing with or without Peres or a unity government. Shots from the hip are  easy, but talk of war is cheap and irresponsible, bereft of rational thought. A war at this time would give Arafat everything he wants, and if Sharon determines that there is no alternative, he will engage in a quick and swift  action, hoping for limited casualties, but only in self-defense, not an overt act.

Jews have languished for two thousand years in exile, but these millennia were proud years. We endured indescribable pain and persecution but remained a faithful people of the book, not the sword. Occasionally, some took the destiny of our people into their own hands. When in the 12th Century, David Alroy, as an example, amassed thousands of Jews from the caucuses for a march on Jerusalem, all were massacred, but Alroy, like other false messiahs, cared little for his people as he indulged in his egocentric needs. Discipline is the Torah way. Impetuous self designation is the worst form of Avoda Zora, idolatry. Tisha B'av, marking the destruction of our temples and the exile of our people, should have reminded us of zealots whose independent actions brought Bar Kochba and his heroic revolution to a crushing defeat and two thousand years of horrendous suffering. The wise choose their words carefully, and Hashem long ago ordained that we be a wise people.

Shabbat Shalom