For the Rebbe, the struggle to preserve the territorial integrity of Eretz Yisroel is a struggle for the path of Torah. Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry
THE REBBE’S MESSAGE MUST BE HEARD
Last week, thousands of the Rebbe’s emissaries gathered in Beis Chayeinu for the International Shluchim Conference. Quite often, the conference takes place in the background of serious developments on the world scene. This time, the shluchim arrived from all over the world as a new intifada continues to spread throughout Eretz HaKodesh. While we’ve already gotten used to recent events, what we actually have here is the unsettling routine of an average of two terrorist stabbings per day. It’s like listening to a typical news report with weather updates on overnight rainfall. A stabbing in Chevron, a stabbing in Yerushalayim, another murder victim added to the endless list of mourning. That’s today’s news. And so it goes…
The shluchim gather as Eretz Yisroel is engulfed in turmoil, particularly in Yerushalayim, Yehuda, and Shomron. However, it’s much more than that. The terrorism has also struck cities like Raanana, thereby placing the country’s soft underbelly at serious risk. As a direct result of this rampage, the message emerging from the recent International Shluchim Conference must be an unrelenting continuation of all efforts in the Rebbe’s holy campaigns to dispel the darkness of exile and lead us to the Redemption. The shluchim are not the representatives of some neutral Jewish organization marketing a nice and acceptable form of Judaism, giving out jelly donuts on Chanukah, graggers on Purim, etc. First and foremost, Chabad-Lubavitch is a Chassidic movement based on the Rebbe’s teachings. The Rebbe has a message for the world: the announcement of the Redemption while striving for “a complete (and uncompromised) Nation, a complete (and uncompromised) Land, and completeness in all of the Land, together with a complete (and uncompromised) Torah – which all of these are interdependent.” Thus, while the terrorists continue to run wild, our shlichus must be sharpened even more as we spread the Rebbe’s message: the Land of Israel for the People of Israel according to the Torah of Israel.
This is not just a mission of encouragement for the Jewish People at this critical time, rather a change in approach. If we want the message to be internalized properly, we must convey it in the clearest way possible, especially as the scourge of violence brings havoc to the streets. What are we supposed to do when Jews tend to have a poor memory? If we don’t explain to them now that the current rise in terrorist activities is a direct product of the weak policies of recent years, they will continue to support the division of Yerushalayim and the transfer of the city’s Arab neighborhoods to Hamas – “just as long as they leave us in peace.”
It is specifically due to the Rebbe’s shluchim warm and friendly demeanor that they possess the strength to get the message across to their listeners. The Rebbe’s struggle on the issue of shleimus ha’aretz does not ch”v stem from nationalism, rather from a true and genuine sense of concern for every Jew and his personal security. Therefore, we must emphasize that the Torah of Life forbids genuflecting before the nations of the world. It’s no longer a question of one form of ethics or another, because we have the only true Jewish ethic. This ethic demonstrates real compassion for any loss of life, and it’s specifically for this reason that the terrorists must be totally destroyed – to stop them from causing any further deaths or injuries. Jewish ethics have clear guidelines in the war on terror, foremost among them: “If someone comes to slay you, slay him first” and “He who has mercy upon the cruel will eventually be cruel to the merciful.”
The Rebbe’s message must be heard as a clear statement of Torah. For the Rebbe, the struggle to preserve the territorial integrity of Eretz Yisroel is a struggle for the path of Torah, where it is written that the Land of Israel belongs to the People of Israel and the only way to ensure true security is according to the Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, Sec. 329.
WHY IS IT FORBIDDEN TO ASCEND HAR HA’BAYIS?
Two weeks ago, a red line was crossed. After a campaign lasting several months in the ultra-Orthodox newspapers about how the current wave of terror is the direct result of discussions on Jewish sovereignty over Har HaBayis, the “Mishpacha” magazine publicized a manifesto in Arabic, asking the potential terrorist not to kill chareidi Jews – after all, “we’re with you.” We too are against ascending Har HaBayis.
The journalist who publicized this despicable message apparently thinks the recent terrorist attacks have been justified. He adamantly claims that the sole reason for Jews being murdered is because Jews are going up to the Temple Mount and angering the Arabs. They’re killing Jews? Nu, what did you expect? We annoyed them… He obviously forgot the more than one thousand terrorist victims murdered since the Oslo Accords, not to mention the thousands more from the days of the Fedayeen guerrillas. He also forgot that even before the founding of the modern Jewish state in Eretz Yisroel, Jews were already being slaughtered there. Even then, this was apparently due to talks on Jewish sovereignty over the holiest site of the Jewish People…
However, the main thing he forgot was that the halachic prohibition against ascending Har HaBayis stems from its great holiness to Am Yisroel, and not the opposite ch”v. The strict Torah limitation on this subject has nothing to do with submitting to the threat of Arab terror or concern over angering the Wakf. It is solely based on the pasuk “Any outsider who approaches shall be put to death.”
Strictly from a theoretical standpoint, let’s say that we knew where the holiest spot on Har HaBayis was located and we would be permitted to ascend there in a state of spiritual purity. Wouldn’t the chareidi journalist from the “Mishpacha” magazine still claim that the current wave of terror is the direct result of annoying the Gentiles? As far as he’s concerned, walking to the Kosel and definitely through the lanes of the Old City constitute an unnecessary aggravation of their feelings. What about Jews living in the Holy Land – and in Yerushalayim to boot? How can the Arabs possibly live with that in peace?
Anyone who tries to find reasons for Arab terrorism is a fool. He’s looking for justification why they murder Jews, instead of understanding that we must close ranks, bring greater unity among the Jewish People, and stand firm on our Divine right to Eretz Yisroel. This is the only true answer to the brutal and murderous Islamic terror.
THE ANSWER TO TERRORISM: JEWISH EDUCATION
In a sicha from Yud Shvat 5736, the Rebbe taught us what to do in a situation of “the nations in a commotion:”
“When the nations begin to ‘conceive plans which are hostile towards G-d and His anointed one,’ we must then forestall these schemes with our own methods. This is achieved when Jews rally together, with all the commotion — not r”l ‘against G-d and His anointed one’, which are (“Do not touch My anointed ones” and refers to) the little Jewish children learning Torah — rather in order to speak about and take action in matters of Torah and mitzvos, beginning with ‘My anointed ones’ — ‘these are the Jewish children learning Torah.’
“Although any time during the year is appropriate for such undertakings, there are some occasions which require these activities to be performed with greater intensity, as we see the commotion being made from ‘the nations gathering and kingdoms thinking vain things.’ Even though we know that their plans are ‘vain’ and frantic, and ‘Contrive a scheme, but it will be foiled; conspire a plot — it will not materialize,’ since ‘G-d is with us,’ nevertheless, since the ‘hands of Eisav’ have become more forceful, there must be an even more forceful response by the ‘voice of Yaakov,’ far more than in usual times.
“Therefore, when we hear that a new chapter is opening in ‘the nations gathering and kingdoms thinking vain things,’ above all, we must know that it is in ‘vain.’ However, since ‘G-d did not create anything in His world without purpose,’ the very fact that such a report has reached us is in order to increase the ‘voice of Yaakov’ (thereby nullifying the ‘hands of Eisav’), and particularly, we must intensify in those matters of a comparable nature, in a manner of ‘precede his shekels with your shekels.’ Thus, when the nations speak against ‘G-d and His anointed one,’ we must speak about the greatness of G-d and the greatness of His anointed Ones, Jewish children learning Torah — the magnitude of Jewish education, and how relevant it is.
“When the nations scheme against Eretz Yisroel HaShleima and Yerushalayim, ‘the city where Dovid encamped,’ we must speak in a manner of ‘commotion’ and ‘planning’ — with all the uproar that the Torah demands — that they are an inheritance from our fathers, and G-d gave it to the Jews as an everlasting covenant — the Land of Israel to the People of Israel with the Torah of Israel.
“Thus, it is appropriate here to mention the following point: Since there are many tens of Jews present here today (‘the Sh’china rests upon every group of ten Jews’), and all the Gentiles together are no more than seventy nations [since ‘He set up the borders of the nations per the number of B’nei Yisroel’ – and the entire number of the children of Israel (traveling to Egypt) was seventy], therefore, we must find seventy Jews to make a ruling on the wholeness of the Land of Israel, the Torah of Israel, and the People of Israel. Since this will be a definitive Torah ruling, it will ‘definitely endure.’ As we derive elsewhere, ‘whoever occupies himself in studying the sections of Torah which deal with the sacrifices — it is counted as if he personally offered a sacrifice;’ the same holds true regarding one who involves himself in rulings relating to the wholeness of the Land of Israel, the Torah of Israel, and the People of Israel.
“This is the only reason for wasting Jewish time on the ‘commotion and empty plans of the nations,’ time which could be better utilized learning Torah and performing mitzvos. The explanation for this is the need to increase the ‘voice of Yaakov’ in a comparable manner…”