: Israel Today & Always: Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me? : Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me? : by Rabbi Meir Kahane, zt"l : The following essay was written by Rabbi Kahane, of blessed memory, on : 21 Iyar 5746 (May 30, 1986). It is just as relevant now as it was then. : If we would like to know the heart of the tragedy of Israel, of the : Jewish-Arab struggle, of the reason why peace eludes a Jewish State : that so desires it, of the cause of the ongoing suffering and tragedy, : of the immutable rule that there will not be tranquility and peace for : the Jew or his state, let me explain. : Some time ago, an opinion poll was given to Arabs and Jews by sociology : Professor Ephraim Ya'ar of Tel Aviv University. The professor gave his : respondents a list of 14 factors that may or may not influence the : course of peace between Israel and the Arab states, and asked each of : them to rank the list in importance from one to 14. The results? The : Arabs placed "the will of G-d" first; the Jews placed it last. : Or another example: Yet another Tel Aviv University project was : conducted by its Jaffe Center for Strategic Studies. Respondents were : asked to comment on the Biblical verse, "The Guardian of Israel neither : slumbers nor sleeps." They were asked who, in their minds, represented : the Guardian of Israel. Fifty-seven percent replied "the Israeli army" : and 17% declared that it was G-d. And that, dear Jew, is the reason and : the source and the cause of a tragedy that is building up, and that, : unless swift, radical change takes place in Jewish thought and action, : will bring down horrors upon the Jew and his state, Heaven help us. : The truth is that the Jew has long since become the most unbelieving of : all people, the most atheistic of nations. Deluded by his intelligence : and intellectualism, believing that he inhabits the heavens, he turns : into the most arrogant and proud of men. Like some modern-day Adam, he : has eaten from the Tree of Knowledge and dreams of Divinity. Like some : modern-day builder of Babel, he is convinced that he can climb to the : heavens and conquer. His cleverness and brightness that so persuaded : him that he is the wisest and most perceptive of men, insures that he : will be the blindest and most obtuse. : No people and no faith is so convinced that its destiny is essentially : its own, in its own hands. None has relegated G-d to the bin of : antiquity, to the shadow of irrelevance, as the Jew. There are those : who are convinced that He does not exist. There are those who invent : Him as a Being Who, indeed, has a place, but it is conveniently limited : and He had better know it. There are those who pay prodigious amounts : of lip service and ritual to G-d and whose religion fills their lives : as long as there is no need to place their "belief" on the line in time : of danger. Few are the Jews who sincerely believe that victory in war : is totally in the hands of G-d, who are prepared to take the difficult : and dangerous steps their religion demands, lest they have to put their : faith where their claims are. : The people that were the most religious of all have become the most : indifferent to G-d. The People of the Book place more faith in that of : the check than the Bible. In time of crisis, the Jew does not believe : in anything, except that which he can see, touch, feel. He can see the : U.S. President; he believes in him far more than in the G-d of Abraham. : He can feel the Arabs; he fears them more than the intangible G-d he : pays lip service to as long as there is no crisis. He can touch the : tanks of the Israeli army, and so he prays that there will be enough of : them instead of believing that One is enough of Him. "For My people : have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living : water, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no : water" (Jeremiah 2). : The truth is that we will swear our belief in the Omnipotence of the G- : d of Israel as long as this remains in the abstract, in the realm of : theory. We show our fervent belief in the miracles that happened : *yesterday*, but we shrink from testing them today or tomorrow. That : which we need not do ourselves is easily believed in and avidly taught : or sermonized. Yesterday is always smoothly dealt with - who needs to : place himself on the line? Who must be tested? The belief in the : *general* Omnipotence of G-d easily fills our hearts. It is only when : we must get down to specifics, to real and actual implementation of : faith in our own lives, that the hypocrisy becomes a stench which is : overpowering. : The G-d of Israel is not a Santa Claus. The religion of Israel is not a : plaything. If there is one thing above all that the Almighty desires of : us, *demands* of us, it is *faith*. "Therefore, the L-rd heard and was : wroth; and a fire was kindled against Jacob and anger also came up : against Israel, because they believed not in G-d and trusted not in His : salvation" (Psalms 78). That is the Jewish Iron Law: Belief and trust : in G-d, rather than looking to and raising Jewish eyes unto the : gentile. There can be no greater Hillul HaShem, desecration of the Name : of G-d, than when the Jew places his faith in the power of the gentile. : For what he is saying by this is that there really is no G-d; and this : is the end of Judaism, and this is the end of any reason for the : existence of the Jew. Jews have long sighed, " It is hard to be a Jew." : As with most things, this too is a statement of hypocrisy. They do not : really believe it. They really do believe that they can mold for : themselves a good and happy life and at the same time gild it with a : thin covering of comfortable Judaism. : Of course, it is nonsense. Of course, it really *is* hard to be a Jew, : the kind of Jew that the Almighty demands -- the kind of Jew who is the : son and daughter of Abraham, who faced the furnace for his belief and : did not flinch; the kind of Jew who is the son and daughter of : Mordechai, who faced the gallows and did not bow; the son and daughter : of the Jew whose entire Torah rests on the one commandment: "And the : righteous shall live by his faith." That is difficult. That is a Jew. : King David turned, in his day, to G-d and lamented: "My G-d, my G-d, : why hast Thou forsaken me?" If one listens carefully, the voice of the : G-d of Israel can be heard in this era of Jewish neo-atheism, calling : softly: "My people, My people, why have you forsaken ME?" : Back To Israel Today & Always : -- : With GOD in my heart : Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ : Before you buy. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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