The Meaningful Life Center

Tag: Middle East

  • We Shudder

    We Shudder

    As we read in this week’s Torah portion how our patriarch Isaac shuddered a great, very great, shudder (Genesis 27:33) — we are all still shuddering over the latest brutal massacre and the ensuing war in Israel.

    After a rather lengthy sleep we have suddenly been jolted back to reality with the latest conflagration in the Middle East.

    Is anyone shocked?

    We children of the West, born in freedom, have been spoiled by the façade of our many distractions that have allowed us the luxury of denial of the stark battles of good and evil, creating an illusion of false security. The reverie of a peaceful siesta is far more comfortable, but one need not be very intelligent to recognize that the Middle East is a combustion chamber, a fermenting hotbed of noxious toxins always ready to explode.

    September 11 and other attacks remind us sporadically from time to time that there are powerful brewing forces that must be reckoned with before we enter an age of true peace, but it is so easy to sink back into our comfortable cushions. Such is the nature of the beast of denial.

    Just a bit of history can surely wake you up:

    1948–1949: Israeli War of Independence
    1951–1955: Retribution operations
    1956: Suez War
    1967: Six-Day War
    1967–1970: War of Attrition
    1973: Yom Kippur War
    1978: South Lebanon conflict
    1982: First Lebanon War
    1982–2000: South Lebanon conflict
    1987–1993: First Intifada
    2000–2005: Second Intifada

    And more recently, with a with more detail which we all certainly remember:

    August 2005: Israel unilaterally withdraws from Gaza.

    June 2006: Hamas militants infiltrate an army post near the Israeli side of the Gaza Strip and abduct Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

    July 2006: Second Lebanon War, sparked by persistent rocket shelling of Northern Israel by Hezbollah.

    2008–2009: Gaza War

    Are these coincidences that every Israeli acquiescence is followed by another uprising by its enemies?

    In 2006 it was Hezbollah from the north. Six years later, in 2012, it was Hamas from the south.

    2014: Yet another Gaza War

    Which brings us to today…

    October 7, 2023: Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. A barrage of thousands of missiles launched at Israel, over 1,400 brutally murdered — more killed than on any day since the Holocaust — and 240 elders, men, women and children taken hostage into Gaza.

    Hamas is back in action…

    Hamas clearly views the Arab-Israeli conflict as a religious struggle between Islam and Judaism that can only be resolved by the destruction of the State of Israel, and thus opposes any Arab-Israeli peace talks.

    If you’re still asleep, here are a few quotes from the Hamas covenant (or charter):

    Preface: “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” (A quote by Imam Hassan al Banna)

    Article 6: “The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinguished Palestinian movement, whose allegiance is to Allah, and whose way of life is Islam. It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine, for under the wing of Islam followers of all religions can coexist in security and safety where their lives, possessions and rights are concerned…”

    Article 7:”The Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to the realization of Allah’s promise, no matter how long that should take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: “The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews, when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharqad tree would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews.”

    Article 11: “The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up.”

    Article 13: “There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. The Palestinian people know better than to consent to having their future, rights and fate toyed with.”

    Article 28: “The Zionist invasion is a vicious invasion … It relies greatly in its infiltration and espionage operations on the secret organizations it gave rise to, such as the Freemasons, The Rotary and Lions clubs, and other sabotage groups. All these organizations, whether secret or open, work in the interest of Zionism and according to its instructions… When the Jews conquered the Holy City in 1967, they stood on the threshold of the Aqsa Mosque and proclaimed that “Mohammed is dead, and his descendants are all women.” Israel, Judaism and Jews challenge Islam and the Moslem people. “May the cowards never sleep.”

    Article 32: “After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying.”

    What to be done?

    As in all serious confrontations one needs a short-term plan and a long-term one. Obviously, first and foremost everything possible must be done in the short term to protect innocent lives and never allow Hamas — or any terrorist group — to violate the security of a peace-loving nation ever again. A show of strength is necessary to serve as a deterrent.

    We all would wish that this short-term approach would be enough. But the fact remains that even when these immediate fires are quelled (hopefully sooner than later), the region is festering with centuries old toxins, driven by religious passions and often fanatical faith (misguided or not), and the resulting hostility to Israel will not just go away. It is built on a philosophy and unwavering belief system of millions.

    Indeed, these battles have been raging for thousands of years, beginning with the hostilities between Ishmael and Isaac, both children of Abraham, and Esau and Jacob, both children of Isaac.

    Thus, one thing is for sure: Until we don’t come to honest terms with the brutal truth about the true nature of the conflict – religious and spiritual as opposed to political – we will not know how to fight this war and we will never win it. Fires may be suppressed, but the underlying forces will not be tamed.

    It is no surprise therefore that the current outbreak began on Simchas Torah, the conclusion of a month of intense praying and fasting and celebrating.

    During the month of Tishrei we traditionally increase in all our commitments, in our Torah study, prayer and charity. Above all, we intensify our love and kindness to each other – counterbalancing the dark forces that surround us, then just as now.

    For a few weeks we had armed ourselves with spiritual weapons, and as the enemy came to destroy us we now deploy all the reservoirs we have been accumulating over Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Sukkot.

    Just as we need to fight the physicals war to protect innocent lives, we also need to fight the spiritual war.

    As mentioned, first and foremost everything must be done in the immediate to protect the innocent. But in the long term big picture, we must remember that this – as in past battles in Israel, all the way back to the Babylonian and Roman destruction of the Temples – is ultimately a spiritual and religious battle, reflecting the battle of all life.

    The true battle of life is not for land, honor or wealth. It is for the dominance of spirit over matter. Our greatest challenge is not political but spiritual. It is about finding purpose and direction.

    We thus intensify our efforts in reconnecting with out inner purpose, through our increased study, prayer and charity, thereby creating internal harmony. Above all – we do all we can to battle divisiveness and foster love between each other.

    As long as we do not understand the current confrontation – some call it a “clash of civilizations” – we will continue to be its victim, and be putting out fires in a never-ending, slowly bleeding vicious cycle.

    The ultimate victor will be not the one with the most powerful weapons. It will be the one with the most powerful spiritual vision.

    So while all peace-loving people grieve over the tragic loss of any life, and pray for the return of the hostages and end of all hostilities – we must always remember that even while we are forced to deal with the short-term challenges, there looms a much larger picture.

    The universe is at war and has always been at war – the raging battle between materialism and spirituality, between personal gain and higher purpose, between matter and spirit, between evil and good. Center stage of this war – now and throughout history – has always been Israel.

    So ladies and gentlemen: It is time to wake up.

    Perhaps this is the power of the promise “hineh lo yonum v’lo yishan shomer Yisroel,” “Behold, the protector of Israel does not slumber nor sleep” – even when we may.

  • Israel: Is this a Political or Religious War?

    Israel: Is this a Political or Religious War?

    Israel is under attack. Yet again. How many years has it been? Let’s see. It began when Abraham first brought his son Isaac to the Temple Mount. Then there was Jacob who fell asleep and had his famous ladder dream on this same spot.

    Years later, David bought the area to build the Holy Temple. Built by his son Solomon, the Temple stood for 410 years. Then the Babylonians made it their mission to conquer Jerusalem. 70 years later the second Temple was built by the Jews. 420 later the Romans destroyed the Temple and conquered Jerusalem. Then came the Byzantines.

    Centuries later came the turn of the early Muslims to battle and occupy Jerusalem. The Crusaders captured it next. Followed by the Mameluks, the Ottomans and then the British.

    Everyone, it seems, wants a piece of Israel.

    And the battle rages on.

    A friend of mine in search of peace argues with me all the time.

    “All the terrorist attacks are happening because the Palestinian population cannot tolerate occupation. If the Israeli occupation were to cease, all the attacks would stop.”

    But, “what if,” I ask him, “the opposite were true.” What if after conceding everything to the Palestinians, we discover that they are still unhappy and continue to wage war against Israel – this time, well armed and with a ‘state’ of their own?” What if that were to happen – how do we prepare for that possibility today?!

    First he answers, “It will never happen. America won’t allow it, France won’t allow it. Saudi Arabia won’t allow it.” Oh really?! After I challenge him just a bit – that perhaps the world will not really care – he posits: “Israel is too strong. As a nuclear power no Arab country will dare attack it. And from a position of strength, Israel can afford to compromise.”

    But “what if” that is not the case? What if they really want nothing less than elimination of Jewish control – what a terrifying thought? Why is this option not discussed or even considered? Does no one really believe in the ‘remote’ possibility that the Palestinian/Arab world will simply never be satisfied, no matter what concessions are offered?!

    Or has wishful thinking taken over? Are people perhaps afraid of the possibility that this may actually be a ‘religious war?’

    I recently heard a statement from a spokesperson for some ‘Jewish organization’: “The solution to all the problems in the Middle East is contingent on one thing: WE MUST TAKE G-D OUT OF THE PICTURE!” That is an exact quote.

    Over a billion Christians think it is a religious war. Over a billion Muslims think it is a religious war. Are they all wrong – and the only ones right are the minority of liberal secular thinkers, who are trying to convince themselves and everyone else that G-d has nothing to with this? Or even worse – that G-d is the cause of the problems?

    Actually, it seems quite ‘logical’ that if we were to eliminate G-d from the entire picture, no one would have reason to battle to the death? After all, without a G-d in the picture there are no absolutes, no unwavering convictions and principles, nothing really worth fighting for.

    Sounds delightful.

    But I guess life is not logical. Nor is history. Nor are billions of burning passions – misplaced or not – fighting for a piece of the Divine.

    I remember a conversation I had with an editor of a major news outlet. He told me – off the record – that his editorial roundtable is dominated by liberals [and he added: liberal Jews], who insist that religion and faith are a throwback to ancient habits, and don’t deserve center stage. He didn’t say as much, but I gathered from his words that they believed that their role as journalists is to educate and enlighten the masses to move away from the past and embrace the forces of modern society as the ones that truly shape our lives.

    Whenever he would suggest a cover story on, say miracles or angels, the editors would nix the idea. So one day he suggested that they conduct a national survey: How many Americans believe in miracles, and how many believe that a miracle has happened to them. The editors insisted that the numbers would be minimal. They conducted the survey, and were quite surprised by the results. 85% of Americans believe in miracles, and 75% believe that a miracle has happened to them.

    The editors dismissed the results, arguing, with dripping condescension, that the numbers were dominated by the Bible Belt and Mid Westerners, who didn’t reflect the progressive free-thinkers of New York…

    Is this a conspiracy against G-d? I would put it this way: There is no question that over the last few centuries the image of religion has been tarnished, the name of G-d blackened. But it is not actually G-d that has been blacklisted; it is the way G-d has been presented to us. In other words: Our educators, clergy and parents have offered us a god that is not worth following.

    When science challenged and then rejected the backward beliefs of religious fanatics it was actually going to war against false religions and insecure, narrow-minded people masquerading behind faith.

    When Nietzsche writes that ‘god is dead’ many are unaware of the fact that he was actually saying: The ‘god’ you have given us is dead. Why? Because he never was alive in the first place.

    Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Berditchever (l’havdil) said it best to a self-proclaimed atheist: “The god you don’t believe in I also don’t believe in.”

    But wise people don’t ‘throw out the baby with the bathwater.’ Just because corrupt clergy and false authorities offered us a counterfeit G-d doesn’t mean that G-d – as the true Higher Reality and Essence – is false. It just means that our search for G-d and journey toward truth will be that more difficult, having to overcome our distorted stereotypes.

    True people of faith don’t use G-d as a crutch; for them G-d is the domain of the open-minded free spirits. For them freedom is actually not possible without G-d.

    But this attitude, of course requires a new appreciation – or actually, the original understanding – of G-d, as He was experienced by the first Divine men and women and history.

    So, what if we were to find out that the Middle East is indeed in the midst of a religious war – and one that is threatening the entire world? What if this really is about G-d?

    And what if this is the essence of the battles raging over Israel for thousands of years? What if?

    This is the question I pose to my liberal, peace-loving friend – and to the liberal, peace lover inside each of us.

    This is also the question that I pose to the skeptic inside all of us. What if?

    And if it is about G-d, is there any other solution to the battle than finding the true G-d and finding out what He wants from us? And if we don’t, will we be able to stop the battle?

    What if?

    Let’s not forget Pascal’s wager: I’d rather live a meaningful life and find out that there is no G-d, than to live a meaningless life and find out that there is a G-d.

  • Bamidbar/Shavuot: After 3336 Years How Far Are We From Sinai?

    Bamidbar/Shavuot: After 3336 Years How Far Are We From Sinai?

    Something is terribly wrong.

    Israel is under attack, yet again. After experiencing rockets, riots and rapes, missiles and mortals, kidnappings, killings and complete devastation on October 7… the world is calling for them to seize fire. The land that is defending itself against terrorism, the land that treats their Arab citizens with more human decency and respect than their own countries, is the bad guy, yet again.

    And this is by no means an anomaly. This has become a tragic constant in our times: Terrorism is all powerful and seem to have a great PR team behind them turning the terror they enforce on others into self-victimhood. They abuse and yet are the abused. Somehow the recipients of their anger and killings are turned into the abusers, while they come out the heroes. Forgive me if that’s a confusing read, but this is a confusing matter! Muslims commit atrocities against civilians on a sustained and ongoing basis, with very little global uproar. There is virtually no demand that the Muslim countries protest and once and for all eradicate this campaign of terror. You don’t hear any journalists trying to understand what type of environment is breeding citizens that brutalize innocent people, and do so in the name of G-d.

    With all the news streaming from the Middle East, once again it is Israel that is under physical and political fire. How are they the bad guys?

    What exactly is going on?

    Perhaps the true reason that we don’t hear outrage against Hamas, is precisely due to the success of the power of terrorism: It so lowers the ante, that we begin to find it acceptable. Like an abused wife who becomes so desensitized and detached that she denies (or minimizes) her husband’s beatings. The carnage has tragically become so routine, so common, that we just dismiss it. Instead of outrage and anger, we chalk it up to just “another day” in the Middle East.

    This is far beyond double standard. It’s chillingly reminiscent of Hitler, who deliberately convinced the world that the only way to deal with his madness was to appease him. Hitler kept pushing the envelope, betrayal after betrayal of his promises, until the world caught on. Even the equally cruel Stalin was fooled. Let alone Chamberlain, who infamously declared “Peace in our times. The great Hitler has been humbled.” As he was deplaning and waving the paper in his hand relinquishing the Sudetenland to Germany, the Nazis were brazenly marching into Poland. Churchill then said: “Appeasement is feeding the sharks in the hope that you will be eaten last.”

    Don’t get me wrong. No doubt that the majority of Muslims and Arabs could, and may want to, be peace-loving. But one could argue the same for the majority of Germans during World War II. Yet, we hold them collectively responsible for allowing the Nazis to come to power. In face of the genocide and atrocities taking place under their eyes even their silence was a crime. In addition to the fact, that the Nazis were not some foreign import; they were the children and products of German society.

    The Middle East is a breeding ground—a platform—for terrorism, for genocide (I don’t even have the right word for it). The schools are educating the children with certain ideas that are allowing for mass terror as a viable option to be exercised—or tolerated—in order to advance a cause. That simply is unacceptable.

    The time has come to finally call them on it.

    And this may be the ultimate reason why we don’t hear outrage: It’s just simply too unsettling to realize that we are dealing with a confrontation with 1 billion Muslims. A clash of civilizations is the last thing that people want to hear about.

    However there may be no choice. Just as over a billion Christians were tamed, the same goes for the Muslims. Humanity must live in a civilized way. Especially people claiming religious beliefs must comply with G-d’s universal laws.

    As we stand in proximity of Shavuot, when we relive the revelation at Sinai, this may be the best time to demand accountability of the Arab/Muslim world for their actions, and to call the rest of the world to demand a response.

    * * *

    The single most important event in history took place 3336 years ago.

    Sinai set in motion a series of events that would change the world forever, and continues to impact our lives today.

    At Sinai the human race received a Divine blueprint how to live our lives. This great gift was given for all of mankind, however at the time the nations of the world rejected it. As our sages tell us that the children of Esau and the children of Ishmael both were offered the Torah and they rejected it after seeing that they could not live up to its laws, namely the prohibition on murder, theft and sexual transgressions.

    It would take over 1000 years for the children of Esau—the Roman/Western/Christian world—to begin embracing the Sinai principles. It would take another 700 years for the children of Ishmael—the Muslim/Arab world—to do the same.

    Yet, even after the birth of Christianity and Islam both would struggle with these principles and wreak global havoc in the process. For centuries Christians terrorized the world in the name of their religion. The Crusades, the Inquisitions, the pogroms are a few examples of the awful horror the Christians inflicted in their search to eradicate so-called heresy. Only in the last few hundred years has Christianity been tamed.

    Islam too has had periods of aggression, now rearing its ugly head and terrorizing the world.

    The bottom line is that the children of Ishmael are still struggling with the message given at Sinai.

    What was it at Sinai that the children of Esau and Ishmael rejected, and what is its message today that they need to embrace?

    At Sinai the world changed. For the first time the human race was given the opportunity to bridge heaven and earth—to fuse spirit and matter. Until that point there existed an invisible wall between the transcendental and the material. A decree, a schism separated between above and below. “That which was above could not descend below, and that which was below could not ascend above.”

    Sinai opened a door, never again to be closed, that allows mortals in a material world to become Divine. It gave us the power to spiritualize the material, and to make our lives sacred, not just ethical.

    This was no small event.

    Philosophers, thinkers, theologians and lay people have all always asked the eternal question: How high can a human being reach? Are we humans just sophisticated beasts, with limited potential? Can we ever reach heaven and beyond or bring heaven down to earth? Can we integrate spirituality into our material lives? Can we fuse the finite and the infinite?

    The fact is that matter and spirit are in a perpetual struggle. Narcissism, greed, corruption are staples of life. When we look at ourselves each of us knows that we often feel that “I exist and nothing else” (“ani v’afsi oid”), to the detriment of others. When this feeling becomes extreme it can destroy lives of those around us.

    On the other hand, we also have a spirit inside of us. We have the power to live noble lives, filled with dignity and selflessness.

    So we have an inevitable clash. Matter by its very nature is selfish. Spirit is selfless. No wonder that people have always speculated whether these two worlds can meet, let alone merge.

    In general we find two approaches evolving in history: Asceticism and immersion. One states that in order to experience spirit we must separate ourselves from the material tentacles of life, and “climb the mountain” to meditate and become absorbed in a higher reality. Basically, one must deny the material life. An extreme version of this would be the ascetic life. To achieve the sacred the material life must be compromised. The infinite may be reached, but only by denying the finite.

    The other extreme is that we cannot really reach heaven. We must live ethically, build healthy homes and workplaces, and find spirit in limited ways within our limited lives. Because we are essentially mortal creatures, with inherent selfishness or even evil, we cannot expect anything more than the best an earthy creature can achieve. A variation of this includes the ability of achieving salvation but not through our own efforts but by embracing something beyond us. The infinite is not integrated into our own personal lives.

    Sinai opened the door of a third option. Sinai created an interface that bridged heaven and earth, giving us the power to integrate matter and spirit, utterly and completely, without compromising one or the other. The finite can become one with the infinite; matter one with spirit; the sacred one with the secular. Briefly, because G-d is neither spirit nor matter, He gave us the power to completely integrate the two.

    This third option, however, does not come easily. As limiting as the first two options may be, they seem simpler, while the Sinai option requires a continual straddling of the thin line between matter and spirit.

    That is why Sinai did not come easily. The nations of the world could not accept—nor understand—how one can bridge the two worlds. They therefore rejected the Torah at the time. Even the Jewish people did not reach Sinai effortlessly. Twenty-six generations of hard work, culminating with the terrible Egyptian slavery, was necessary before the people would be ready for Sinai.

    This struggle between heaven and earth has many manifestations, including the battle that we so often have witnessed between religion and secularism. If you are a firm believer how do you deal with the secular world? According to the two-abovementioned options you either have to wage a holy war against the secular, or your basically embrace the secular with limited sanctity.

    Therein lies the essential root of the religious wars waged throughout history. Recognizing secular heresy as an enemy, the Christians and later the Muslims, engaged in aggressive battles with the forces they perceive as threatening.

    These battles actually began in the home of Abraham. Abraham, father of all nations, was the one that began the process, which was consummated at Sinai, of discovering and embracing the method of integrating the Divine and the mundane. Yet this effort encountered many challenges, including the difficulties with his son Ishmael. “He [Ishmael] will be a wild man. His hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him” (Genesis 16:12). It came to a point that Ishmael had to be banished from Abraham’s home.

    This battle only intensified in the home of Isaac, son of Abraham, in the struggle between the twin brothers, Esau and Jacob. “Two nations are in your womb. Two governments will separate from inside you. The upper hand will go from one nation to the other. The greater one will serve the younger.” The brothers are diametrically different characters. Esau is a “skilled hunter, a man of the field.” “Jacob was a wholesome man, who sat in the tents” – a scholar who dwelled in the tents of study.

    The battle between Esau and Jacob represents the battle between the material and the spiritual, a struggle that would only be resolved at the end of times.

    What was the core of Ishmael and Esau’s difficulties, one that would later cause their children to reject the Torah, while the children of Jacob were embracing it?

    Chassidic texts explain that the problem was rooted in balance. Ishmael (son of Abraham) was an archetype of abundant chesed (love) without the discipline of gevurah (judgment and discretion). Esau (son of Isaac) was an extreme of gevurah without the sensitivity of chesed.

    Jacob, by contrast, was tiferet. Tiferet is beauty—harmony within diversity. Tiferet has the power to fuse love and discipline into one symmetrical unit. Tiferet possesses this power by introducing a third dimension—the dimension of truth, which is neither love nor discipline and therefore can integrate the two. Truth is accessed through selflessness: rising above your ego and your predispositions, enabling you to realize truth. Truth gives you a clear and objective picture of yours and others’ needs.

    Jacobs’ children were educated with this Tiferet balance. They thus were ready for Mattan Torah, to receive the Torah at Sinai, which is called Tiferet. This is why we don’t find the Jewish people embarking on any religious war against heretics, or converting the nations of the world to Judaism. Conversion is actually dissuaded in Jewish law. When you are a person of Tiferet—secure in your own beliefs; aware that all humans were created in the Divine image, and one need not be Jewish to serve G-d; maintain a perfect equilibrium between love and discipline; absolutely confident that the sacred and the secular can be integrated with the Divine, and that this integration will come to fruition; lacking any fear that evil may be more powerful than good—then you can maintain the highest standard of spiritual integrity without resorting to killing or terrorizing others to conform to your beliefs.

    Ishmael and Esau lacked this balance. Unbridled love and untempered discipline, even if they are driven for a good cause, ultimately become aggressive forces of destruction. Too much undisciplined love spoils a child and can create a monster, like too much rain that floods and destroys the fields. Unlimited judgment and severity, without underlying love, becomes tyrannical.

    Thus, at Sinai the children of Ishmael and Esau were not yet prepared to receive the Torah. But their time would come, and come it did. Maimonides writes that by the mysterious ways of Divine Providence, Christianity and Islam helped pave the way for the Messianic age by acquainting the world with the principle of Messiah, the Torah and mitzvot. As time would pass their beliefs would continue to refine and mature.

    In the centuries that followed Esau and Ishmael’s descendants would go through their growing pains in learning how to balance religious beliefs and daily life. This would not be an easy process; history is witness to the devastation and bloodshed wreaked by this journey. But slowly, slowly, Sinai would seep into the fibers of all people. The process concludes with the refinement of the last two powers, Edom (Esau) and Ishmael, which leads to the Messianic age—a world where there is no more destruction and terror and all children of Abraham serve the One G-d of Abraham in peace and harmony.

    After years of tyranny the Western/Christian world has finally bred countries like America that champion the fundamental principles of Sinai: All people are created equal with inalienable rights and freedoms. The children of Esau have come to embrace the teachings of Abraham, formalized at Sinai.

    The time has come for the children of Ishmael to do the same. We need to look at the education system, the curricula that Muslim children are being taught, and analyze it with the same rigor that we do in the media with far more superficial issues.

    I understand the risk of interfering in the sovereignty of another country’s education system. Yet, we must approach this with pure intentions, infused with humility, demanding of ourselves the same standards we expect of others. Then we have a right to demand of ourselves and others to live up to the standards that Abraham taught all his children and all of civilization.

    America today plays a special role in this work. The foundations of this country are built on absolute principles of faith and trust in G-d. This is not just a country of economic opportunity. The success of corporate America and unprecedented prosperity is a result of an unwavering mission statement: All equal, in G-d we trust, diversity and individual, e pluribus unum — under one G-d.

    This country must align itself with its mission – the business of this nation must reconnect to its higher calling. Then and only then does this country earn the right to hold itself up as an example to the world. Simply being a nation of great wealth and power does not by any means give it the moral high ground. Other nations, religions and peoples have much longer traditions and histories than the relatively new world of America. But America can demonstrate something unique to the world. As a country, it can rise above our own national issues and serve as a beacon of light teaching the world the universal principles of all humankind – the principle upon which this nation was founded – how to live in peace with G-d.

    3336 years ago the children of Esau and Ishmael rejected the Torah. Perhaps G-d could not impose it on them. But we can.

    Today we must call on them, and insist, that they finally accept what they rejected then – that they finally accept the Torah in its entirety.

    After all we have endured in the last three millennia, and with the current state of atrocity in the Middle East, we can appreciate the need for all nations to embrace the mandate given to us at Sinai.

    So, 3336 years later how far are we from Sinai? On one hand it seems quite far, but on the other Sinai may be just around the corner. It’s up to us to determine which one it will be.

    Is there a more powerful challenge to us as we approach Sinai?

    This is the call of the hour. The call of Sinai. The call that sounded 3336 years ago and resonated around the globe and throughout history. This call is still reverberating today, waiting for our response.

  • Vayechi: Babylon Unplugged

    Vayechi: Babylon Unplugged

    Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather and I will tell you what will happen to you at the end of days” (This week’s Torah portion, genesis 49:1)

    Jacob showed (revealed to) them the wars that would take place at the end of days [in Babylon (Basra) and Edom – Isaiah 34:5-6], he showed them the building and destruction of the Temples (Midrash, Bereishis Rabba 98:2)

    Babylon – modern day Iraq – is in the news yet again. And so is Nebuchadnezzar, its leader. You see, Saddam Hussein, executed in a most humiliated fashion last Saturday, modeled himself after his predecessor, the king Nebuchadnezzar who ruled Babylon in the 6th century BCE.

    Though Saddam Hussein was vanquished several years ago, and this tyrant who once terrorized millions and paralyzed his country in fear has long become insignificant, his being symbolizes so much of the essence of Babylon, and his execution represents a stage in the demise of Nebuchadnezzarian power.

    We are taught that “the heart of kings and ministers are in the hands of G-d” (based on the verse in Proverbs (21:1): “The king’s heart is in the hand of G-d, as the rivers of water: He turns it whatever way He wills”). Thus, the rise and fall of world leaders, whether noble or cruel, signifies a major event – a key milestone in the narrative of history. Indeed, our sages and mystics always read much meaning into the historical and spiritual shifts defined by the death of the kings and leaders of nations.

    The toppling of Saddam’s reign and now, his recent execution, is a benchmark in the bigger, cosmic picture. Especially considering that Saddam was not just another leader, but (in his own words) an incarnate of Nebuchadnezzar, and Iraq is not just another nation, but the perpetuation of ancient Babylon, and indeed the root of all civilization: The Garden of Eden, Abraham’s birthplace, the Tower of Babel and more (click here for a comprehensive list of the Babylonian past).

    In case we should for some reason overlook this significance, it’s impossible to ignore the key dates marking Saddam’s fall, capture and execution:

    • Gulf War I – which resulted from Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990 – ended on Shushan Purim, when the Jews experienced a major victory precisely in that same region in the times of Persian King Achashverosh, who replaced Nebuchadnezzar (and his grandson, Babylonian King Belshazzar). Though Hussein was not toppled at the time, in retrospect, 1990 was the beginning of his end.
    • Gulf War II (in March 2003) began on Purim. See Shushan War.
    • Saddam Hussein was captured on Yud Tes Kislev (December 2003) – a powerful day of liberation, which symbolizes the beginning of a new stage in the sublimation of “Esau” and “Ishmael,” the forbearers of the Western and Muslim world respectively – see Kislev 19 in Babylon.
    • Hussein was executed on the on the 9th of Teves, one day before we commemorate the beginning of the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, Saddam’s great mentor. On the 10th of Teves 2400 years ago Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem, eventually destroying the First Temple, slaughtering hundreds of thousands of Jews, and sending the rest into exile. The 10th of Teves has since been established as a fast day among the Jewish people.

    Many of the major milestones in history can easily remain unnoticed, like the forest that is overlooked because of our focus on the local trees. As we live through our lives moment by moment we tend to ignore the underlying big picture of the human chronicle.

    We therefore are blessed with minds, with the power of insight, to look beyond the superficial, to peer beneath the surface. Often, as if an invisible hand is helping us along, certain outstanding patterns will emerge.

    Is it possible to dismiss the geography and the dates that mark the rise and fall of Saddam Hussein?

    “My enemies have made me wise,” says the Psalmist.

    To understand the historical significance of Hussein’s end, we can learn much from his own representation.

    In 1979, Hussein was quoted by his semi-official biographer as saying: “Nebuchadnezzar stirs in me everything relating to pre-Islamic ancient history. And what is most important to me about Nebuchadnezzar is the link between the Arabs’ abilities and the liberation of Palestine. Nebuchadnezzar was, after all, an Arab from Iraq, albeit ancient Iraq. … That is why whenever I remember Nebuchadnezzar I like to remind the Arabs, Iraqis in particular, of their historical responsibilities. It is a burden that should… spur them into action because of their history.”

    And indeed, Hussein’s final words, as the trapdoor opened beneath him, “Palestine is Arab!” tell us about his innermost feelings. Despite the noose around his humiliated neck and the taunts of his captors, he didn’t forget his most innate instincts about Israel. Even without an in depth Freudian analysis it’s quite clear that Saddam was obsessed with the destruction of Israel. Who can forget those dark days in 1991 when Saddam Hussein, unprovoked, was shooting Scud missiles at Israel, or his bankrolling of Palestinian suicide bombers?

    But what lies at the heart of his obsession? Indeed, what is root of Nebuchadnezzar’s drive to conquer Jerusalem and destroy the Holy Temple? And later –

    the Romans, the Ottomans, and earlier – the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Crusaders – basically every empire and superpower throughout history felt compelled to attack, conquer and destroy Jerusalem and then turn it either into ruins or into a city in their own “pagan” image.

    Why did Roman Emperor Hadrian insist on renaming Israel “Palestina,” obliterating its Jewish past and replacing it with the derogatory name that means “foreign invaders? And renaming Jerusalem “Aelia Capitolina,” dedicating the city to the Roman gods of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva?

    The root of the battle between Babylon and Israel – and the universal obsession with Israel, Jerusalem and the Holy Temple – can be understood by studying their Hebrew names. Hebrew is a metaphorical language; a spiritual language. Each word is filled with layers of meaning and spiritual significance, and each Hebrew name expresses and reflects the essence of the entity that goes by that name.

    Babylon means confusion.

    He named it Babel, because this was the place where G-d confused (balal) the world’s language, and it was from there that G-d dispersed [humanity] over all the face of the earth (Genesis 11:9).

    Babylon represents the chaos and confusion of life – both physical and psychological.

    Israel is the name given to Jacob by Esau’s arch-angel, after they struggled all night long, meaning “you have struggled with the divine and with man and you have triumphed” (Genesis 32:29).

    Jerusalem is comprised of two words: “Yirah-Shalom,” complete awe.

    As the spiritual epicenter of the universe – the “gate to heaven” – all the nations throughout history sensed the power surging from the vortex. They therefore felt (con or unconsciously) that controlling Israel and Jerusalem was the key to controlling the world.

    Conversely, as the center of the universe, Israel and Jerusalem – like the central cosmic nervous system – was the first to become aware of how broken the world is without its soul connection. The Holy Temple was destroyed and Jerusalem was left barren and lonely because the world had disconnected from its purpose.

    Babylon and Jerusalem cannot co-exist. Similar to the Esau/Jacob dissonance captured in the verse (Ezekiel 26:2): “I shall become full from the destroyed city,” Tyre became full [gained power] only from the destruction of Jerusalem, they will not be equal in greatness; when one rises, the other will fall (Megillah 6a. Pesachim 42b). When Babylon-confusion prevails the complete awe of Jerusalem and the spiritual dominance of Israel is compromised and hurt, or even destroyed. When the spiritual clarity of Jerusalem (and Israel) is at full strength confusion melts away.

    Therein lays the obsession of Saddam Hussein, King of Babylon, and all those before him: They represent the forces that resist and battle the complete and seamless integration of spirit and matter represented by Israel and Jerusalem.

    Babylon was a source of chaos 2400 years ago, and even farther back – 3800 years ago (when the Tower of Babel was built), and continues to plague the world till this very day. Good old Iraq – Babylon – will just not go away easily. (see Iraq – Yesterday and Today).

    Christianity (born out of the Esau, ancestor of the Roman/Western world) has over the centuries slowly learned to temper religious intolerance and integrate faith with respect of individual rights. Today, Islam (born out of Ishmael, forbearer of the Arab/Muslim world) has to come to terms with balancing religious passions and life in a material world.

    Saddam Hussein, like his hero Nebuchadnezzar before him, represented the blunt force of Babylonian chaos.

    Now, Saddam Hussein’s hanging on the day before the 10th of Teves, marks another stage in the decline of Babylonian strength. Hopefully, this will lead to the total conquest over the Babylonian quagmire, replaced by the Jerusalemite spiritual awe.

    In personal terms, this should stir us all to muster strength to battle our own inner turmoil and confusion. As we enter a new stage in history, we have the opportunity to access our inner “Israel” which empowers us to battle the forces of the divine (within Esau) and of man and to triumph.

    * * *

    Question for the week: What do you do when you get confused?

  • Vayigash: 2006

    Vayigash: 2006

    The Year in Review

    As we conclude the calendar year – my 50th on earth – it’s an appropriate time to examine the past year’s events, and attempt to place them in perspective.

    One of the most vital lessons in life is to both live in the moment but never forget that the moment is part of a continuum. As a period comes to a close, connect the small steps of your day to day life with your larger ones; align the small picture with the bigger picture.

    After all, our lives are like one running film, which we must live frontward, but can only be understood backward (as Kierkegaard said).

    Highlights of the small picture of 2006 include:

    • Confrontation with Iran as a nuclear threat, with the rising prominence of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his inciting words.
    • A bottomless pit called Iraq.
    • The Middle East quagmire remains “intact.”
    • The threat of radical Islam and worldwide terrorism.
    • The Hezbollah Israeli War in Lebanon during last summer.
    • Midterm elections – with the Republicans losing control of both houses to the Democrats.
    • Accelerated battle between science and religion.
    • Radical atheism emerges – with best-selling books The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins and Open Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris.
    • Warren Buffet’s unprecedented $35 billion charitable donation.
    • North Korea, under President Kim II Sung, rattles its nuclear sabers.
    • Unprecedented wealth generated by the financial markets.
    • Technology speeds ahead at a breathtaking pace.
    • YouTube and MySpace lead the Web 2.0 revolution of personal empowerment, with Time magazine designating “You” as its 2006 Person of the Year.
    • Our dependency on oil and gas controlled primarily by despots only continues to grow.

    What stands out among all these events is a gnawing paradox impossible to ignore: While prosperity grows profound unrest is brewing below.

    On one hand, Warren Buffet demonstrates an unheard of level of giving. Charity, in general, continues to grow. On the other, narcissism is also on the rise. Frank Rich makes the case (in the NY Times) that Time magazine’s choice of “You” as Person of the Year is actually a condemnation – reflecting today’s narcissistic pastimes of the Internet.

    As technology advances and individual expression finds a universal platform, is the world – and our personal lives – improving?

    The continued battle between a faith and atheism is merely another reflection of the dichotomy of our times: Dawkins and Harris passionately argue, with a tone no less fundamentalist and dogmatic than that of their religious compatriots, how religion and God have caused all the world’s problems. Simultaneously, religion continues to dominate people’s lives. The mega-churches are routinely turning out 20,000 plus people each week. Just look at the successes of pastors like Rick Warren (best selling author of The Purpose Driven Life) and Joel Osteen (Your Best Life Now), and best sellers like the “Left Behind” series selling over 100 million copies. With 2.5 billion Christians and 1.5 Muslims religion is hardly on the decline.

    Indeed, the battles originating in the Middle East – which is also the source of most of the world’s oil – are religious in nature.

    Yet another paradox: Freedom steadily grows around the world. Most nations today proclaim (though not always practice) universal human rights as an ideal. Yet, in Iraq and in the Muslim Middle East it seems that tribal passions and religious fervor takes precedent to personal freedom which many Westerners see as a God given right, ”written in the hearts” of all peoples and “the permanent hope of mankind,” “the longing of the soul.” Some Asian countries, like China, with only 2.5 billion people, might also disagree with the Western definition of individual rights that they feel disturbs the collective good.

    So with all the empowerment of “You” – YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, blogs and, of course, Google – the globe is not exactly embracing individual power. And one can strongly argue, that placed in corporate hands (MySpace owned by Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, YouTube bought by Google) commercialism, not individualism, lies at the heart of their business plans. Only now “individuality” carries powerful marketable equity. Are you feeling empowered?…

    Don’t get me wrong. I firmly believe, that despite corporate cynicism, the “individual” will rise, but only when individuality will be fused with higher purpose and a sense of a higher calling (see Individualism and G-d).

    The fact remains: Unprecedented technologies, which dramatically have improved our standard of living, cannot protect us from our deepest vulnerabilities exposed by primal religious wars being waged against us. The profound tensions festering fermenting simmering in the Middle East casts a long shadow of global uncertainty. All our medical and scientific advancements have not improved the quality of our emotional and intimate lives, only amplifying the growing dissonance between our outer and inner lives, between material progress and spiritual regression.

    2006 can be summed up as a year of pronounced disparity between prosperity and uncertainty. It’s as if success and bankruptcy are growing hand in hand.

    Placed in context, the paradox of our times is nothing new. Nothing more than a manifestation of the millennia-long battle between spirit and matter. As our material lives continue to prosper our souls beckon for equal time. And therein lays the tension and anxiety of our age – crying out from the rift between our material and our spiritual lives.

    The Zohar states: “Strong body, weak soul.” Material dominance equals spiritual weakness. This however does not mean that material success is a curse. It is a challenge – the challenge that has vexed mankind form the beginning of time continues to vex us today: How do we reconcile matter and spirit?

    Global tensions – driven today primarily by the clash between the Muslims and the West – reflect the battle between different world views on the meaning of human progress and how we must make our peace with G-d.

    Technology – with its inherent contradiction between uniting us as people in unparalleled ways, while depersonalizing us in the process – creates its own form of existential tensions.

    As we enter 2007 these conflicts will only intensify. It is vital that we see the small picture in context of the big one – the universal friction between our outer and inner lives. Only when we begin to bridge the two will we find some peace.

  • Lech Lecho: Iraq – Yesterday and Today

    Lech Lecho: Iraq – Yesterday and Today

    The First Iraqi Emigrant

    Who was the first documented emigrant from present day Iraq?

    The answer lies buried in the beginning of history. 3819 years ago a man was born in the locale of modern-day southern Iraq, and his journey changed the world forever.

    The chaos of that geographical region goes back to the beginning of time, and continues to this very day.

    This essay explores the roots of the Iraqian quagmire, and ancient lessons that are relevant today more than ever.

    As America is about to elect new officials in an election whose greatest factor is the Iraqi war we would do well do learn from Biblical events that took place four millennia ago in the Tigris-Euphrates River Valley.

    Who would have imagined just several years ago that a country called Iraq would dominate headlines and influence the elections in the mightiest country on Earth?

    But indeed, at the dawn of the 21st century, the Middle East and Iraq in particular, is shaking up the entire world, and affecting events in all hemispheres. As Americans are about to go to the polls, what is the number one factor concerning voters? Not the economy, not crime, not terrorism. Nothing as much as the war in Iraq.

    As Iraq spirals into total chaos, affecting events all over the world, it’s wise to recognize that this same area is where chaos prevailed 4000 years ago and over the millennia and has in turn shaped all of history.

    Though hardly a consolation, the current mess in Iraq is nothing new. As Iraq dominates the headlines and is about to affect the elections in a nation thousands of miles away, it’s hard to ignore that the exact same region also dominates this week’s “Torah” headlines.

    Where does Abraham’s journey in this week’s Torah portion take place? You guessed it: In no other place but in what is today Iraq!

    In this week’s Torah portion we read about G-d’s commandment to Abraham Lech Lecho – Go to you, away from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you.

    Abraham was the first Iraqi Jew, born in the city of Ur Casdim in the Hebrew year 1948 where he lived for at least 48 years [The Ramban disagrees with Rashi and holds that Abraham was born in Charan]. Ur Casdim, in the land of the Chaldees (Genesis 11:28), an ancient city of Sumeria and later Babylonia, was located in the lower Tigris-Euphrates River Valley in the region known historically as Mesopotamia, approximately 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast of the Iraq’s modern capital city of Baghdad.

    The Ur Casdim area formed the eastern arm of the Fertile Crescent stretching from the Persian Gulf northwestward through the Tigris-Euphrates River Valley toward Syria and then southwestward along the Mediterranean to Egypt and southward along the Nile River Valley. In Abraham’s times Semitic tribes settled in the Mesopotamian region to farm, to tend flocks, and eventually to create the great empires of Babylonia and Assyria.

    Abraham was 48 years old when the Tower of Babel was built (Seder Olam), which resulted in the confusion of languages and the beginning of the first major population migrations (Genesis 11:9). Sometime after that Terach, father of Abraham, moved from Ur Casdim “heading toward the land of Canaan [Israel] and they came [as far as] Charan and settled there” (11:31). They traveled apparently along the Euphrates River (to ensure access to water). Charan, a city in ancient Mesopotamia, is situated somewhere near the Western border of Iraq and Syria, up the Euphrates approximately 600 miles northwest from Ur Casdim, and 400 miles northeast of Israel.

    Then when Abraham was 75 years old he was commanded Lech Lecho. He picked himself up and left Charan and traveled to Canaan. [Actually Abraham left Charan twice, once when he was 70 years old, when he experiences the Divine Covenant of the Promised Land, and then returns to Charan for five years, after which he takes his final Lech Lecho journey (Tosafos Avodah Zorah 7a. Daas Zekeinim M’Baalei Ha’Tosfos Genesis 12:4)].

    Many more major historical events took place in the same region. About three a half years ago, when the current war in Iraq began (March 2003), this column explored the roots of chaos in the region which was Babylon of old. Indeed, the name Babylon (Babel) means “confusion.” Here are some links to those articles, which include a list of the events that occurred over the millennia in that part of the world.

    But here we will concern ourselves with Abrahams’ journey from Ur Casdim in southern Iraq to Charan, and then from Charan to the Holy Land.

    Being that Lech Lecho is the first mitzvah, the first commandment in the Torah to Abraham, “father of all nations,” it clearly is a major event: Abraham’s journey from Iraq to the Promised Land launches all the subsequent Biblical events, which would define the course of history. Indeed, the Arizal explains that Lech Lecho marked the beginning of the Sinai revelation.

    What is the significance of Abraham’s journey? Lech Lecho is the secret to transcendence and all forms of growth and achievement. As long as Abraham remained stuck in his “land,” “birthplace” and “father’s house” in Ur Casdim and Charan he would not fulfill his true potential.

    True growth, Abraham was told, is only possible when you leave the environment that influences you, especially when that environment is defined by chaos (Babylon) and wrath (Charan). And the Chaldean/Babylonian/Charanian quagmire affects you in three ways.

    “Your land” – social conformity and peer pressure, which affect your standards and mind-sets.

    “Your birthplace” – your inherent bias and self-love, which distorts your views and judgments.

    “Your father’s house” – parental attitudes that shape and influence your life.

    Thus G-d’s first commandment to Abraham: “Lech Lecho” – Go to you, away from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. “Go to you” and discover the “real” you by leaving the subjective influences of your inherent bias, your parents and society. Then you will go “to the land that I will reveal you,” your true self.

    Everything that happened to the patriarchs is an indication for their children (Midrash Tanchuma Lech Lecho 9.  Bereishis Rabba 40:6). All the events that happened with the Patriarchs [Abraham, Isaac and Jacob] come to teach us about the future…they were shown what would happen to their descendants (Ramban Lech Lecho 12:6).

    Like our father Abraham – who G-d took and “made him Yours, bringing him from Ur Casdim, and giving him the name of Abraham” (Nechemia 9:7) – each one of us is brought forth from Ur Casdim and called to Lech Lecho:

    We are all born into a chaotic world (Babylon), a dark, wrathful universe (Charan), out of touch with its higher purpose. The mission of our lives is to not remain stuck in our subjectivity – our natural self-interest, our habits, patterns and parental influences. Thus we receive the call of Lech Lecho – our calling to leave our wrathful environment and go on a journey; to travel toward the Promised Land and discover our true selves – our essential beings.

    War in Iraq today brings our attention to that region in the world. It compels us to realize that the entire human experience began in that area, and that above all, the actual geography of Iraq tells us the story of our own lives.

    Regardless of our opinions about the American presence in Iraq today, it is clear to any student of history that this region in the world – the cradle of civilization – has been a center of chaos from the beginning of time. Indeed, even the Garden of Eden, whose Tree of Knowledge is the origin of confusion, is situated in Iraq, by the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers (see In Search of Eden).

    Perhaps the real battle is rooted in the eternal struggle to find Divine purpose in an aimless world. What we are truly facing is a battle that has been raging in one form or another for thousands of years. This battle can be understood only in a historical and Biblical context. There is no short-term solution to the war. Even after removing Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden, the region is a boiling pot of stewing forces within a population of over 1 billion (and growing) Muslims, many driven by fierce ideology, which is not going away. His has become a breeding ground for radical and violent martyrdom. The battle is about the tension created by the clash between the secular and the sacred, between the material and the spiritual, between the universe and G-d.

    Though I am not pro-war, this war is an inevitable – even tragic – necessity to get out of our complacent reverie and begin confronting the real issues facing our lives and the world today. September 11 was the first wake up call; this is the second.

    History is a continuum. Peace in our lifetime will only be possible if we make peace with the rifts of our past. Today, we are confronted with forces that have been unleashed thousands of years ago.

    Yet, we gather profound strength from our pioneering father Abraham, who paved the way to travel from the depths of the Mesopotamian abyss to the Promised Land. And with Abraham’s eternal legacy we forge ahead in our Lech Lecho journeys, transcending our own comfort zones and mechanical patterns, to… reach heaven and beyond.

    *  *  *

    A related letter received today:

    Dear Rabbi J.

    Last week you asked the question “Are you for or against the war in Iraq? Why?” Then I proceeded to read an article you write close to three years ago when the war in Iraq began. I quote:

    “As foretold, the war that began in Iraq on Shushan Purim (March 19) ended in the days of Nissan (April 9 is when Baghdad was officially taken displacing the power of Saddam Hussein), just as all major victories in history took place in this month of redemption.

    “The question is what happens now? Is the world safer? Are our lives better? What will it take to make this world a secure place? Do we have to attack Syria, Saudi Arabia, Libya… and then what happens next? And what about all the greed and corruption in America – does this country have the right to preach to others and dictate terms when it as guilty as anyone?

    “Now that Saddam Hussein has been removed from power, is Iraq free, as promised in “Operation Iraqi Freedom”? Will it become free? And what does freedom actually mean – freedom by whose definition? Will Iraq’s majority of 60% Shiite Muslims rule, will it be controlled another faction or will civil war break out. At least three quarters of Iraqis are members of one of the country’s 150 tribes – what exactly will constitute freedom in this country of so many driving forces?”

    I commend you for your foresight back then in questioning the consequences of the Iraq invasion – chaos that we are now tragically witnessing, escalating each day. Yet, you conclude in your article that the battle in Iraq is an inevitable part of a historical quagmire.

    Interestingly, this parallels Elie Kedourie’s essay, “The Kingdom of Iraq: A Retrospect,” published in 1970 – and cited by David Brooks in today’s NY Times – that disorder is endemic to Iraq. Iraq is a bomb of a nation and crisis there is perpetual. “The record of the kingdom of Iraq is full of bloodshed, treason and rapine,” Kedourie (a Baghdad-born Jew) wrote. It is “a country riven by obscure and malevolent factions, unsettled by the war and its aftermath. The collapse of the old order had awakened vast cupidities and revived venomous hatreds.”

    Can you please elaborate on this topic?

    [signed]

    * * *
    Question for the week: Please share any practical suggestions that can help each of us get out of our “comfort zones” and experience Lech Lecho, a journey beyond our own propensities? What can we do on a daily basis that would allow us to get beyond our own selfish needs?

  • Vayelech: A Year In Perspective

    Vayelech: A Year In Perspective

    — Samach-Vav Part 2 —

    There are times and there are times. Times to address the immediate – the needs and issues of the moment. And times to step back and look at the big picture, to see the forest from the trees.

    As we enter a new year (5766) this is the time to look back at the year in perspective. And since no year stands in a vacuum, an effective annual review requires us to also reflect on the general period in time in which we live. We do so in order to make better sense of our lives, correct mistakes and improve our actions as we chart a course ahead. Studying the patterns of the past help us define trends of the future.

    These days especially, the ten days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, are particularly auspicious to define our priorities. These ten days are days of building [in Kabbalsitic language: the building of malchut] – days that define and construct the year ahead. Like a central nervous system this month of Tishrei (same letters as reishit, head) controls the mechanics of the upcoming year.

    Highlights of the last 12 months include, working our way backwards:

    • Our human vulnerability – as well as the rifts between the poor and the wealthy – was exposed in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and (to a smaller degree) Rita.
    • The Middle East remains a bottomless quagmire, with Iraq haunting us daily, but not limited to Iraq.
    • The threat of terrorism – able to strike anytime anywhere – hovers over us, whether we think about it or not.
    • The Middle East remains a hotbed, with the force of one billion Muslims yet to be reckoned with. We are sitting on a powder keg.
    • The identity crisis in Israel has come to the fore with Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, with no peace in sight and no clue of a future strategy.
    • Here in the United States, the housing boom continues, technology and medicine and science march boldly ahead, reflecting on our ongoing prosperity, yet oil prices are rising, family life and children remain deeply dysfunctional and the ineptness of our infrastructures are stark reminders of a very fragile and tenuous balance between our increasing outer prosperity and our decreasing inner control.
    • The battle around the role of religion and faith in our lives continues to surprisingly accelerate, with no resolve in sight.

    Overall a growing tension is developing between our personal happiness and our personal comforts. Are we becoming happier people standard of living gets higher? It appears that the more comfortable our material lives, the more therapy we need.

    What is clear from all recent events is that we stand at the transition stage between changing paradigms. Whenever we move from one state to another, many many cracks open up, reflecting the need to adjust and align ourselves to a new reality.

    Events and developments in the last few centuries – coined Renaissance, Enlightenment, Emancipation, Democracy, Capitalism, Freedom, Equality, Liberalism, Science – have moved us from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age. Following the first two revolutions, the Agricultural and the Industrial, we have entered the third revolution – called by various names – the Atomic, Nuclear, Computer or Information Revolution (the most poetic perhaps is the one I like most: The Quantum Revolution).

    Is this however the end of history? If, as Hegel contends, the “struggle for recognition” (self-esteem and dignity) is the driving force of individuals and nations, and the cause of wars, then it would seem that evolution of the human spirit and history would come to and end with the liberal democratic state, as Francis Fukuyama argued in his book The End of History (1992).

    Fundamental to Torah psychology is the confidence that every challenge is preceded by its solution, as every illness is preceded by its cure. This gives us the strength to face any challenge knowing that it can always be conquered.

    Samech Vov – whose centennial we celebrate this year (as discussed in last week’s article) – offers us a fresh vision for the future.

    Following the opening discourse which we addressed last week, Samech Vov continues with a comprehensive discussion on the nature of human achievement and pleasure. Basically, the Rebbe Rashab explains that all pleasure known to and experienced by man are linear forms of pleasure, distinguished by different quantitative levels that each of us experiences as we climb the ladder of our personal development. All these dimensions of pleasure, even the highest forms, are mortal and limited – and therefore inevitably fragmented (the pleasure of a good wine, for instance, has no relationship with the pleasure of reading a good book). All these pleasures are derived from the “river that flows from Eden and waters the garden.”

    The ultimate pleasure however is the one that the “eye has yet to see” (Isaiah 64:3) – an immortal, eternal, unlimited pleasure, that is qualitatively different than any pleasure ever experienced. This level of pleasure – called “Eden” itself – is the essence and source of all pleasure, and is a pleasure that is integrated into all our life experiences, from the mundane to the sacred. This pleasure is accessed through our toil in this universe. Our mitzvot have the power to generate new unprecedented dimensions of pleasure that create a seamless, unifying flow between all aspects of existence.

    The ultimate revolution, according to Samech Vov, is the one achieved through our work in building out of the material world a “home” for the sublime.

    As long as we do not access this essential level, we remain locked in battle with the forces of progress and the dichotomy of accelerating material pleasures and decelerating psychological and spiritual ones; between an increasing comfort zone and a decreasing level of personal peace of mind.

    All pleasures of life are only as powerful as the root of the pleasure. On our own, as we say in the Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur prayer,

    “man’s origin is dust and his end is unto dust, he earns his bread at the risk of his life, he is likened to a broken potsherd, to withering grass, to a fading flower, to a passing shadow, to a vanishing cloud, to a blowing wind, to scattering dust and to a fleeting dream.”

    However, we have been endowed with the gift of being Divine, and accessing the essence and source of all pleasure, which does not break, whither, fade or vanish.

    The issues we are facing today go back to the ongoing struggle between matter and spirit that has been with us since the beginning of time – so powerfully captured in Samech Vov. These issues have accumulated over history, and the last few centuries have brought them to the surface in new ways. Modernization of the world, advanced science and technology, exposure of outdated systems and corrupt religious forces – have all contributed to our current predicaments, locally and globally.

    However, the struggle has been coming to a head in the last 100 years. Both World Wars, followed by the baby and economic booms, and the information revolution we are currently undergoing, have all set the current stage for a final showdown between the narcissistic forces of materialism and the uniting powers of spirit.

    Samech Vov poses for us the following challenge: All the forces in the universe, all the diversity among nations and all the conflicting opinions, can be resolved by recognizing that destiny is in our hands. Our individual moral choices and specific actions in this physical world determine the future course of our lives and the life of the universe.

    This challenge is the core of our soul searching work during these Ten Days of Teshuvah/Return between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur – when we attempt to uncover the superimposed elements of our lives and return to the Essence, and – align our daily lives to this Essence.

    As Maimonides writes:

    “A person must see himself and the world as equally balanced on two ends of the scale—by doing one good deed, he tips the scale and brings himself and the entire world redemption and salvation.  Therefore in the days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, more than all year round, it is customary to increase charity and good deeds and the performance of the mitzvot” (Rambam, Laws of Teshuvah 3:4).

    Now the question is: Do we have the courage to accept the challenge?

  • Passover: Our Calling

    Passover: Our Calling

    Part II

    Dear Rabbi Jacobson,

    Thank you for yet another brilliant and relevant – dare I say visionary – article, The Calling of Our Generation. In it you describe the foresight of the spiritual leaders who recognized, in 1908, 1924 and 1949, the onset of a new period, in which the forces of Edom and Ishmael would dominate and the primary need would be to counter the difficult challenges with the faculties of netzach and hod, endurance and humility/acknowledgment.

    My question is: Where do we stand now? Clearly, we are in midst of a confrontation between the Western world (Edom) and the Islamic world (Ishmael). Whether this is as a “clash of civilizations” (as Samuel P. Huntington argues) or not, these two forces are pitted against each other and the battles between them are only accelerating.

    With the Arizal’s declaration that Edom and Ishmael are the “final frontier,” what does that bode for us today?

    Best wishes for the holiday,

    Eileen B.

    Dear Eileen,

    Thank you for your kind words, but frankly any brilliance should be attributed to where it belongs: The Rebbe Rashab’s and Rebbe Rayatz’s discourses. I was simply presenting their words in the language of our times.

    Indeed, the prescience of the Rebbe Rashab is even more astounding considering that the challenge of Islam would not rise till the end of the 20th century. In 1908 the long rule of the Ottoman Empire was dissolving giving way to the dominance of the Edomite West. Who could know at the time that the current challenge of Ishmael would reemerge several decades later, in a world ravaged from both World Wars?

    The Rebbe Rashab’s foresight can be appreciated when we place things in context of the words of the Arizal cited in last week’s article: Following the Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian and Greek empires, the final stage of transforming the world consists of the refinement of the last two powers, Edom (Esau) and Ishmael, the Roman and Islamic empires (netzach and hod), which leads to the Messianic age – a world where all children of Abraham serve one G-d in peace and harmony.

    The Arizal is saying that the last two millennia has essentially been dominated by the two powers of Rome, which refers to the general Western World, and Ishmael: From the first century and on Rome and its descendants ruled. Then, in the 7th century Islam rose to power. And the historical narrative ever since, till this very day, has been the confrontations between the West and Islam.

    Even in 1908, with the fall of the Ishmaelite Ottoman Empire, the Rebbe Rashab recognized that the story with Ishmael was not over. It would take over a half century until the Arab/Muslim powers would rise again. Armed with rich energy resources – and the Western dependency/addiction to these resources – Ishmael would pose a formidable challenge to the West.

    That is where we stand today: Edom and Ishmael are still at each other’s throats, with Israel always in middle of the fray.

    Perhaps this helps explain the relevance of Edom and Ishmael to the year 1949, when the Rebbe Rayatz published his discourse on this subject: The Arab-Israeli War of 1948 marked the beginning of the new stage of conflict with Ishmael, since the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the early part of the century.

    Thus, we see a pattern emerging: In 1908, when the Ottoman Empire began to dissolve and the stage was being set for the upcoming upheavals, the Rebbe Rashab delivered his discourse defining the historical and spiritual significance of the events to come. In 1924, with the dark clouds descending, the Rebbe Rayatz delivered the same discourse, with his unique additions (as discussed in last week’s article). Then in 1949, in the wake of untold destruction resulting from both World Wars, and following the Arab-Israeli War, the Rebbe Rayatz published the same discourse.

    And to complete the cycle, listen to this: The late 70’s and early 80’s marked the beginning of the period, which has by now accelerated beyond anyone’s control, of the current confrontations involving Ishmael and Edom (the Western and Islamic civilizations). And true to form: In 1976 and then again in 1981, when the Ishmaelite powers began to rise (the first obvious Ishmael challenge to the West was the oil embargo in 1973-4, following the Yom Kippur war), the Rebbe (son-in-law and successor to the Rebbe Rayatz) delivers the same discourse, in his own unique style with new additions!

    So where do we stand today?

    We stand at the end of two thousand years of struggling with Edom and Ishmael, the forces of netzach and hod, and our mission has been defined and reinforced repeatedly – in 1908, 1924, 1949, 1976 and 1981:

    We must stand resolute in our relentless pursuit of creating a better world; unwavering in our faith and commitment to fight for morality and virtue. We cannot allow anything to daunt us. This force of will determination is the only power that can vanquish the negative forces of netzach and hod, aggression and (misguided) faith, which terrorize the world.

    In the face of passionate beliefs, we cannot afford to be passive bystanders, complacent and reactive; negative netzach and hod can only be countered with positive netzach and hod – an equal if not stronger, passionate embrace of our inner values.

    And the end of the story?

    In the words of the Midrash: (1)

    The King of Poros (Ishmael) (2) will bring destruction to the entire world, and all the nations will be outraged and confused… and Jews will be outraged and confused and say: where shall we come and go, where shall we come and go? G-d will answer them: My children, do not be afraid. Everything I have done, I have done for you. Why are you afraid, do not fear, the time of your Redemption has arrived…

    ——

    (1) Midrash, Yalkut, Isaiah remez 499.

    (2) Maharal, Netzach Yisroel ch. 21. Ner Mitzvah.

    ***
    Above are some thoughts to ponder as we enter the last days of Passover, which are related to the final redemption — as we read in the Haforah of the last day of Passover Isaiah’s eloquent description of the end of days. The Baal Shem Tov also instituted a custom to eat a final meal before sundown of the last day of Passover, called “Moshiach’s Meal.”
    ***

  • Netzovim – Vayeilech: Birthing

    Netzovim – Vayeilech: Birthing

    The Power to Create

    — Samach-Vav Part 18 —

    “Every year there descends and radiates a new and renewed light which has never yet shone. For the light of every year withdraws to its source in the Essence of the Ein Sof on the eve of Rosh Hashana, ‘when the moon is covered.’ Afterwards, by means of the sounding of the shofar and by means of the prayers, a new and superior light is elicited… a new and more sublime light that has never yet shone since the beginning of the world. Its manifestation, however, depends on the actions of those below, and on their merits and penitence during the Ten Days of Teshuvah” (Tanya Igeret HaKodesh ch. 14).

    Did you ever wonder what actually happens to a seed planted in the ground? Or a fertilized egg in the womb? What mysterious process allows for the emergence of a new fruit, the conception of a new life, the birth of a new child?

    The mystery of birthing is revealed in the Chassidic discourse of Samach-Vav delivered a century ago this week, and along the way it teaches us about the enormous power each of us carries even, and especially, when we feel that we are  floating in the unknown, with no inspiration or clarity.

    *  *  *

    The past year has been complex. Profound unrest brewing in the Middle East has cast a long shadow of uncertainty across the globe. With the unpredictable cancer of terrorism threatening the entire world, the challenges ahead can be quite daunting. If we stare into the face of reality, we cannot help but be confused by the ultimate paradox of our times: Unprecedented technologies, which dramatically have improved our standard of living, cannot protect us from our deepest vulnerabilities exposed by primal religious wars being waged against us. All our medical and scientific advancements have not improved the quality of our emotional and intimate lives, only amplifying the growing dissonance between our outer and inner lives, between material progress and spiritual regression.

    All this can leave us feeling quite powerless, with no sense of control over the future course of our own destinies.

    Yet despite the unknown, we are blessed with an approaching new Rosh Hashana, which holds the secret to renewal. The New Year, now and throughout history, has always been a source of newfound hope and direction.

    As we stand at the dawn of the 21st century, with an uncertain future, it’s wise to remember that one hundred years ago, the dawn of the 20th century was far more difficult, only to decelerate and bring us the most deadly period in all of history. But then, just as now, we had a gift called Rosh Hashana, and we had an invaluable companion, called the Torah – the Torah of life and direction – a co-traveler through history that has always been at our side through thick or thin, through the worst of times and the best of times, to illuminate and inspire us. And above all – to help us transcend the immediate challenges and see the bigger picture, and in the process – gather strength and clarity to forge ahead.

    A century ago, the Rebbe Rashab (Rabbi Sholom Ber), delivered the classic series of discourses, called Samach-Vav (short for the Hebrew year 5666). Over the past year, every few weeks, this column has attempted to tackle the central developing themes of this fundamental series of 61 discourses. (The entire series of articles, plus a running summary and related commentaries, can be found in our special Samach-Vav section on our website).

    This week’s Samach-Vav discourse, in true style, illuminates the deeper meaning and enormous power of Rosh Hashana.

    What is higher, the Rebbe Rashab asks, heaven or earth? Which is superior: spirit or matter? The Talmud offers two opinions: The school of Shammai argues that heaven precedes and is greater than earth. The school of Hillel disagrees and feels that earth precedes and is superior to heaven.

    Samach-Vav explains that both opinions are correct, each addressing a different perspective. On the conscious level of existence, the “cosmic order,” heaven precedes earth. But from the perspective of the purpose of existence, earth is the ultimate purpose, while heaven is only a means to an end.

    The process of implementing any plan (say, real-estate development) consists of various stages, from abstract strategizing to written designs and charts, from the skeleton layout to the final product. Obviously, the early planning stages must precede the actual building. But the initial purpose of the entire plan, and all its stages, is fulfilled only with the final finished structure. As we sing in the Friday night Lecho Dodi prayer:

    “Sof maaseh b’machshovo techila,” “Last in action, first in thought.” Or in the expression of the Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Formation): “The end is wedged in the beginning; the beginning in the end.”

    The entire purpose of all of creation, including the highest levels of heaven and the loftiest dimensions of spirituality, is that the human being should transform the material earth into a Divine home. In doing so, each of us creates something entirely new – something possible only on earth, not in heaven.

    All the spiritual dimensions, even the highest revelations, are ultimately nothing more than just that: revelation. They only reveal higher states of consciousness. Nothing new is generated. But the selfless act in a selfish world, the kind gesture in a callous environment, like the lowly seed planted in the ground, can give birth to new fruit. The inedible seed can produce a delicious crop.

    In the mystical language of the sefirot: All the sefirot are spiritual expressions of the Divine, which do no not innovate or create anything new, only reveal that which is higher than them. Malchut, however, is rooted in the Essence (“The end is wedged in the beginning”), which is beyond any revelation, and includes many things that are not transmitted in the light. Therefore Malchut has the power to actually create anew, while even Keter creates levels that are relatively new, but they are still sublime. Malchut carries the power of creating the material existence, which is a truly new entity.

    The same is true in our work of refining the sparks: The primary objective of refining the material universe is fulfilled on earth, in our “lowest” world, where the Divine is completely concealed. Here, you have to create a new state of being; matter must be converted into spirit, the inclination to narcissistic survival must be transformed into becoming a selfless channel that serves a higher calling.

    In earlier discourses, Samach-Vav discussed the two types of souls and two types of service: The soul of Atzilut which is an extension of the Divine, and therefore serves like a son who has access to the inner revelations of the Divine. The soul of B’iya, which is a “new” entity outside of the Divine and serves like a simple servant through hard work and earns its right to the divine through exertion (unlike a son that naturally inherits his father’s wealth).

    Despite the greatness of the Tzaddik (the soul of Atzilut), the true innovation and the purpose of creation is fulfilled by the “simple servant,” for only he truly creates a new energy.

    In probing the dynamics of innovation and creation, Samach-Vav defines two conditions necessary for true innovation: 1) The simple servant is under the control of the material domain and has no natural spiritual inclination. Thus his choice of Divine service is a complete and unprecedented transformation from a materially driven individual to one totally subjugated to the Divine. 2) The effort – and its results – is completely self generated, not due to any other infusion or help, or a result of a ready-made product. When someone else does the work for you, you are getting a ready made product. And it therefore does not contain the innovation, and resulting pleasure, of self-initiated effort.

    Higher souls, who have an innate sense of the Divine, do not create real transformation, only revelation. Only by the self-generated hard work below fulfills the ultimate purpose of existence: To transform the material universe into a Divine home – a truly new innovation, drawing down unprecedented energy from the very Essence of the Divine.

    One of the biggest questions of life is whether it’s all worth it. After all the difficult challenges that life presents, after all the pain and loss, what do we ultimately achieve with our lives? Do we actually have the power to generate something worthwhile, or is life one aimless battle to make ends meet? Is there something to life that is more than just mere survival? Do our choices and actions make a difference in the world, or are they merely arbitrary?

    Rosh Hashana – as illuminated by Samach-Vav – offers us a powerful and unique answer: Precisely through the difficult challenge of overcoming darkness, with no Divine revelation, our self-generated effort draws down new, unprecedented energy and fulfills the purpose of all existence.

    Many of our activities are about reshaping the old. We tinker with what we are given and try to produce something nicer. But our greatest achievement, one that gives us the most satisfaction, is when we create something new.

    Yes indeed, we have the power to create. Not just reveal, expose, actualize potential, but to innovate – to birth something utterly new, never before experienced. Each of us has a unique contribution to make, to a play a song that has never ever been played before.

    As this complicated year comes to an end and we are about to enter the unknown of a new year, it is quite refreshing and empowering to know that this Rosh Hashana brings with it “a new and more sublime light that has never yet shone since the beginning of the world.” Its manifestation, however, depends on our initiatives.

    As this new, unprecedented energy enters into our universe, the big question we must ask ourselves is this: What will my new contribution be this new year? What exclusive energy will I generate?

    You are an original.

    What will be your unique creation? What will you birth this coming year?

    * * *

    Question of the week: What are your wishes for the New Year?

  • Toldos: Back to Reality

    Toldos: Back to Reality

    As we read in this week’s Torah portion how our patriarch Isaac shuddered a great, very great, shudder (Genesis 27:33) — we are all shuddering over the latest brutal killings of fellow Jews in Israel.

    After a rather lengthy sleep we have suddenly been jolted back to reality with the latest conflagration in the Middle East.

    Is anyone shocked?

    We children of the West, born in freedom, have been spoiled by the façade of our many distractions that have allowed us the luxury of denial of the stark battles of good and evil, creating an illusion of false security.

    The reverie of a peaceful siesta is far more comfortable, but one need not be very intelligent to recognize that the Middle East is a combustion chamber, a fermenting hotbed of noxious toxins always ready to explode.

    September 11 and other attacks remind us sporadically from time to time that there are powerful brewing forces that must be reckoned with before we enter an age of true peace, but it is so easy to sink back into our comfortable cushions. Such is the nature of the beast of denial.

    Just a bit of history can surely wake you up:

    1948–1949: Israeli War of Independence
    1951–1955: Retribution operations
    1956: Suez War
    1967: Six-Day War
    1967–1970: War of Attrition
    1973: Yom Kippur War
    1978: South Lebanon conflict
    1982: First Lebanon War
    1982–2000: South Lebanon conflict
    1987–1993: First Intifada
    2000–2005: Second Intifada

    And more recently, with a bith more detail which we all certainly remember:

    August 2005: Israel unilaterally withdraws from Gaza.

    June 2006: Hamas militants infiltrate an army post near the Israeli side of the Gaza Strip and abduct Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

    July 2006: Second Lebanon War, sparked by persistent rocket shelling of Nothern Israel by Hezbollah.

    2008–2009: Gaza War

    Are these cooincidences that every Israeli acquiescence is followed by another uprising by its enemies?

    In 2006 it was Hezbollah from the north. Now, six years later, in 2012, it’s Hamas from the south.

    For the record Hezbollah, which means the Party of G-d, views its conflict with Israel as “an existential struggle” as opposed to “conflict over land” (as Lebanese scholar Amal Saad-Ghorayeb underscores in her book, Hizbu’llah: Politics and Ideology). In the words of Sheikh Naim Qasim, Hezbollah’s deputy secretary-general, “Even if hundreds of years pass by, Israel’s existence will continue to be an illegal existence.”

    Although Hezbollah had denounced attacks on Western civilians, they make an exception in the case of Israel. As Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, head of Hezbollah put it, “in occupied Palestine there is no difference between a soldier and a civilian, for they are all invaders, occupiers and usurpers of the land.” After Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, some analysts predicted—and many Lebanese hoped—that Hezbollah would soon wind down its military operations and become a purely political party. But Nasrallah had greater ambitions than to win more seats in Lebanon’s parliament, and he had had the firm backing of Iran and Syria. At once a determined radical and an astute pragmatist, he viewed Hezbollah both as a Lebanese party committed to assuring the welfare of its constituents and as a vanguard in the pan-Islamic struggle to destroy Israel and restore Palestine to its native inhabitants.

    By no means did this restrict Hezbollah’s action to Israel alone. In the early 1990s, Hezbollah members were connected to two notorious attacks in Buenos Aires: the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy, which killed twenty-nine people, ostensibly in retaliation for Israel’s assassination of Sheikh Musawi; and the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center, which killed eighty-five civilians.

    Tragically, it doesn’t end there. In March 2004, after the Israeli assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas, Nasrallah said to Hamas: “We are under your command. Your blood is our blood; our fight is one.” Hezbollah demonstrated its solidarity with the Palestinian group by firing more than sixty-five rockets at six different Israeli military positions in the Shebaa Farms in southern Lebanon.

    And now Hamas is back in action, relentlessly launching missiles into Israel…

    You may recall that Hamas, now controlling the activities in Gaza and the West Bank, initiated the crisis in 2006 by kidnapping the Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. Hamas clearly views the Arab-Israeli conflict as a religious struggle between Islam and Judaism that can only be resolved by the destruction of the State of Israel, and thus opposes any Arab-Israeli peace talks.

    If you’re still asleep, here are a few quotes from the Hamas covenant (or charter):

    Preface: “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” (A quote by Imam Hassan al Banna)

    Article 6: “The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinguished Palestinian movement, whose allegiance is to Allah, and whose way of life is Islam. It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine, for under the wing of Islam followers of all religions can coexist in security and safety where their lives, possessions and rights are concerned…”

    Article 7:”The Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to the realisation of Allah’s promise, no matter how long that should take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: “The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews, when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharqad tree would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews.”

    Article 11: “The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up.”

    Article 13: “There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. The Palestinian people know better than to consent to having their future, rights and fate toyed with.”

    Article 28: “The Zionist invasion is a vicious invasion … It relies greatly in its infiltration and espionage operations on the secret organizations it gave rise to, such as the Freemasons, The Rotary and Lions clubs, and other sabotage groups. All these organizations, whether secret or open, work in the interest of Zionism and according to its instructions… When the Jews conquered the Holy City in 1967, they stood on the threshold of the Aqsa Mosque and proclaimed that “Mohammed is dead, and his descendants are all women.” Israel, Judaism and Jews challenge Islam and the Moslem people. “May the cowards never sleep.”

    Article 32: “After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying.”

    What to be done?

    As in all serious confrontations one needs a short-term plan and a long-term one. Obviously, first and foremost everything possible must be done in the short term to protect innocent lives and never allow anyone – terrorists or sovereign states – to violate the security of a peace-loving nation. A show of strength is often necessary to serve as a deterrent.

    We all would wish that this short-term approach would be enough. But the fact remains that even when these immediate fires are quelled (hopefully sooner than later), the region is festering with centuries old toxins, driven by religious passions and often fanatical faith (misguided or not), and the resulting hostility to Israel will not just go away. It is built on a philosophy and unwavering belief system of millions.

    Indeed, these battles have been raging for thousands of years, beginning with the hostilities between Ishmael and Isaac, boith children of Abraham, and Esau and Jacob, both children of Isaac.

    Thus, one thing is for sure: Until we don’t come to honest terms with the brutal truth about the true nature of the conflict – religious and spiritual as opposed to political – we will not know how to fight this war and we will never win it. Fires may be suppressed, but the underlying forces will not be tamed.

    It is no surprise therefore that the current outbreak began on the threshold of Rosh Chodosh Kislev, the month in which we vanquished our enemies and pervailed in the story of Chanukah. The Holiday of Lights symbolizes the victory of Jewish spirit and light over all its adversaries. This victory is commemorated with the kindling of the menorah, which was lit daily in the Holy Temple.

    During this time we traditionally increase in all our committments, in our Torah study, prayer and charity. Above all, we intensify our love and kindness to each other – counterbalancing the dark forces that surround us, then just as now.

    Just as we need to fight the phsyical war to protect innocent lives, we also need to fight the spiritual war.

    With the second Temple’s destruction by the Romans our long diaspora began, in which we pray for the Temple’s restoration. Because the Temple wasn’t a mere structure of bricks and mortar. It was a window – a literal gate – between heaven and earth. “Build Me a Sanctuary,” G-d says, “and I will rest among you.” The Temple’s destruction marked the closing of the window between spirit and matter, between the Divine purpose of existence and existence itself. Think of it as a traveler losing sight of his destination, an entity losing touch of its mission – a world losing direction.

    The first symptom of a dichotomy between matter and spirit – the misalignment of existence and purpose – is expressed in personal disunity. When an individual loses touch with his own raison d’etre, his fragmented self has to cause anxiety and ultimate insecurity and erosion of self-respect. In its extreme it escalates into a self-loathing (the purposeful soul loathing the aimless life). This inevitably spills over into our relationships with others: When you hate another it is a projection – or deflection – of hating yourself. A secure person can co-exist with anyone. Even if he may disagree with or be attacked by another, the secure person distinguishes between the actions of the enemy and his person.

    From the personal, divisiveness carries over to the collective: To the splits between communities, religions and nations.

    Once divisiveness infected the people, the Holy Temple – which bridged spirit and matter – could simply no longer stand. There was no room for it in a fractured world. It no longer was appreciated and no longer served its purpose…

    Just as divisiveness destroys the Temple, unity rebuilds it. And mind you, unity here means on a universal scale. Indeed, the Midrash tells us that had the nations of the world known how the Temple protected them, they would have built legions around it shielding it from any harm!

    Thinking about the story of Chanukah and the dominance of quality over quantity, light over darknes, the few over the many – helps shed light and underscores the true nature of the larger war.

    As mentioned, first and foremost everything must be done in the immediate to protect the innocent. But in the long term big picture, we must remember that this – as in past battles in Israel, all the way back to the Babylonian and Roman destruction of the Temples – is ultimately a spiritual and religious battle, reflecting the battle of all life.

    The true battle of life is not for land, honor or wealth. It is for the dominance of spirit over matter. Our greatest challenge is not political but spiritual. It is about finding purpose and direction.

    We thus intensify our efforts in reconnecting with out inner purpose, through our increased study, prayer and charity, thereby creating internal harmony. Above all – we do all we can to battle divisiveness and foster love between each other.

    As long as we do not understand the current confrontation – some call it a “clash of civilizations” – we will continue to be its victim, and be putting out fires in a never-ending, slowly bleeding vicious cycle.

    The ultimate victor will be not the one with the most powerful weapons. It will be the one with the most powerful spiritual vision.

    What exactly this battle entails has been discussed at length in this column.

    So while all peace-loving people grieve over the tragic loss of any life, and pray for the end of all hostilities – we must always remember that even while we are forced to deal with the short-term challenges, there looms a much larger picture.

    The universe is at war and has always been at war – the raging battle between materialism and spirituality, between personal gain and higher purpose, between matter and spirit. Center stage of this war – now and throughout history – has always been Israel.

    So ladies and gentlemen: Time to wake up. “Everybody up, up, up, up” was the annoying sound of the reveille call we would hear each morning in summer camp, abruptly disturbing our peaceful sleep. Annoying indeed.

    Perhaps this is the power of the promise “hineh lo yonum v’lo yishan shomer Yisroel,” “Behold, the protector of Israel does not slumber nor sleep” – even when we may.