July 12, 2002

"At the Wall"

Water is dripping from the Kotel, and a handful of self-appointed mystics have declared that the remnant of our Beit Hamikdash is weeping for the suffering of our people.

Jews are all too familiar with suffering. We have known inquisitions, crusades, pogroms, and a Holocaust. We have been at the mercy of hostile rulers, and in modern times, even leaders of democracies have turned their backs on us. Franklin Delano Roosevelt fiddled as Hitler's fires reduced Europe's Jews and their communities to ashes. Roosevelt could have bombed the railroad tracks into Auschwitz. He could have sent commandos to free Jews from the camps. He could have opened the gates of  immigration before the exterminations intensified. He didn't.

Yasir Arafat wants to finish what Hitler could not, but the difference today is that Jews do not have to depend on other leaders. Our armies brought the Palestinian Authority and its hate-mongers to their knees. From Hebron to Nablus, in every Arab town and city that harbored terrorists, Israel's powerful  military dealt blows to terrorists. Our hearts may be broken but our faith should be stronger than ever. Auschwitz's survivors have triumphed because our enemy has taught us how to fight.

Last week Yaacov Aminov and a young El Al agent died by the cruel hand of a terrorist at the Los Angeles airport. Unlike past times, however, courageous Jews quickly responded. Chaim Sapil, El Al's Chief of Security at that airport, shot and killed the murderer.

In Poland and in Yemen, in Germany and Iraq and in pre-Israel Palestine, Jews were beaten and murdered, and justice was not done. Jews fell to the ground and there were no voices of protest, no arrests. Yaacov Aminov's family, and the families of all victims of terrorism, should know that at least now, Jews are no longer helpless.

So, let the enemy weep who chose terror when offered peace, who threw rocks, used guns, hijacked planes and wreaked havoc on the shores of the land of liberty, but failed to diminish the strength of the Jews or the freedom-loving Americans.

Let the Saudi moguls weep who may now have to drink their oil as Americans are discovering alternative sources of energy and are mining cheaper fossil fuels in the fields of Siberia and Azerbaijan.

The Wall today is not weeping. It is singing as Moshe did: "O nations, sing the praises of His people, for He will avenge the blood of His servants and bring retribution on His adversaries, and make expiation for the land of His people." (Deuteronomy 32:43)

The Wall is laughing at the enemy who has failed to break the resolve of the Jewish people, failed to intimidate Israel's Prime Minister, failed to diminish our hope. Arafat, our maniacal enemy who believed he was the incarnation of Nebuchadnezzar and Saladin, has now made his own people weep as they view the ruins of their dreams.

The Wall is calling to every nation to take note that G-d has granted forgiveness to His people because of His land. We have returned to that land and no longer remain sitting ducks for terrorists, militants, nationalists, all bloody murderers.

The Wall is singing as Deborah and Barak sang in days of old: "So may all Your enemies be destroyed, HaShem, and let those who love Him be like the powerfully rising sun." (Judges 5:21)

Shabbat Shalom