Message of
the Miracles
This
morning I read the article on Arutz Sheva entitled: Living
with Miracles in Jewish Gaza (full text is below).
The read proved a very powerful microcosmic rendition
of the dynamics in play regarding Israel’s
status and woes.
Moshe Saperstein poignantly
describes, “a massive war is being fought 50
feet above our head. And yet a bubble of calm
prevails below all of the pyrotechnics, with people
pushing baby carriages and children riding their
bicycles.” Mr. Saperstein significantly in
succinct fashion explains to the world why such an
ongoing miracle takes place: he says that the people
of Neve Dekalim carry “real faith and trust in
the G-d who gave us the Land of Israel and who
decides where missiles fall and what they hit.
Mr.
Saperstein is attesting that this miracle status
proves G-d’s oversight over Eretz Yisroel and
the miracles that can take place under the cloak of
His protection. This posture deserves accolade and
applause. Then came the spoiler. After further
adding that “we are a community of people who
openly admit that miracles are a part of life and
that gives us strength,” and his wife Rachel,
adding that of the 3000 plus mortars fired to date
“nobody here has ever been killed by one,”
Moshe Saperstein despoils Kavod Hashem when he
declares:
“G-d
simply asks that we be active participants in
determining our fate. As always, if we do our part,
G-d will grant us salvation. If we go forth to
destroy our enemies, G-d will grant us victory.”
Rabbi
Akiva and those after the destruction of the two
temples who pursued this very course in what is known
as the Bar-Kokhba Revolt shared the same thinking and
found out otherwise. Rabbi Kahane, also precocious in
his insights regarding the current status of Israel
with the Arabs, also ultimately found it unwise to
deploy violence in the name of Hashem. This is not
permitted and is a Khillul Hashem of the first
magnitude.
The
issue never was 2000 years ago as it is likewise not
today our perceived enemies. Israel never had enemies
and never will since Israel is under the realm of
protection by Hashem. Thus perceived enemies
are not enemies at all but messages to the Jewish
people of Israel. The message is that enemy
is in the mirror. While Neve Dekalim is proof certain
of G-d’s continued oversight over Eretz Yisroel
the sole question and issue has been and continues to
be whether the State of Israel is a nation moving to
or away from G-d. If away from G-d, then it will have
a population as the case today that does not honor
Hashem and His central place and role in Israel, as
otherwise do Moshe Saperstein and the residents of
Gush Katif, thereby invoking G-d’s open and
miraculous interventions.
However,
creating a precept that G-d is commanding the Jewish
people to destroy “our enemies” is bereft
of historical precedent and the purpose of the first
Exile. The sooner we understand that the enemy are
those insistent on secularizing Israel to prove to
the world that Israel is a nation Khillul Hashem (to
wit: a nation among nations), the sooner we will be
in moving to destroying the same enemies that caused
our first Exile, to preclude the Second and it seems
the final one.
Joseph
Ehrlich
Sender, Berl & Sons Inc.
October 31, 2003
Living
With Miracles in Jewish Gaza Neve Dekalim has been
hit with thousands of mortars fired from the
neighboring Palestinian Authority-controlled Khan
Younis over the past three years. “It sometimes
feels as though the rest of Israel forgets about us—
a mortar hitting a house in Neve Dekalim is barely
registered on the news," said Mrs. Sheled, a
member of the local council.
Israel National News asked Moshe Saperstein to
describe what life was like living under attack in a
Gaza community:
“I go outside some evenings and marvel at the
scene – the sky is lit up with tracer bullets
and illumination flares – a massive war is being
fought 50 feet above our heads. And yet a bubble of
calm prevails below all of the pyrotechnics, with
people pushing baby carriages and children riding
their bicycles.”
When asked what gave residents such calm resolve
Saperstein answers without a second thought. “Faith.
Real faith and trust in the G-d who gave us the Land
of Israel and who decides where missiles fall and
what they hit.”
Moshe Saperstein speaks about such faith from
firsthand experience. He was injured twice, first
losing an arm fighting in the Yom Kippur War, and
then shot in his other hand over a year ago while
running down a terrorist who had murdered a young
couple minutes earlier. He has never considered
leaving Neve Dekalim.
“The people of Israel are such a mighty, heroic
nation – and yet there is an admiration pecking
order of perceived courage today,” mused
Saperstein when asked if he considered himself
heroic. “When I go to the bank in Jerusalem, the
clerk tells me how brave I am to live in Neve
Dekalim; back at home we look to the residents of
Kfar Darom and they are our heroes; over in Kfar
Darom they admire those who live in Netzarim –
the truth is that every place in Israel requires an
amount of optimism, bravery and faith to live in
today. Gazans are certainly not unique in their
bravery – which is to be found in all parts of
Yesha (Judea, Samaria and Gaza) and across all of the
Land of Israel, but we are a community of people who
openly admit that miracles are a part of life and
that gives us strength.”
The residents of Gush Katif (the group of Jewish
communities in southern Gaza) overwhelmingly describe
their experiences with the incessant mortar attacks
as ‘miraculous.’ Of the 3,497 mortars fired
to date “nobody here has ever been killed by
one,” says Rachel Saperstein, Moshe’s wife.
Moshe agrees strongly. “There are always those
who claim we’ve just gotten lucky, or that the
Arabs have lousy aim – but if all the terrorists
were blind and firing wildly into the air in the
general direction of our homes – logic dictates
that we would experience numerous casualties. Now, I
understand those whose worldview precludes their
admitting that anything is miraculous – but I am
frustrated by those are religious – and will
talk all about all sorts of miracles in our history
but refuse to recognize what goes on here every day.”
“I do not fear the Arabs,” Moshe explains,
“I do not fear the United Nations, the European
Union, or the American State Department that has
always plotted our destruction. Rather, I am
terror-stricken that because fear of man is so much
more of a dominant force than fear of G-d, today. We
continue to ignore what is happening. The secular
waste our substance in futile negotiations with our
enemy under the auspices of our pretend-friends
overseas. The religious will satisfy themselves with
the saying of Psalms, and the belief that increased
charity and an extra page of Talmud studied may bring
salvation. But salvation is at hand. G-d is already
protecting us. G-d simply asks that we be active
participants in determining our fate. As always, if
we do our part, G-d will grant us salvation. If we go
forth to destroy our enemies, G-d will grant us
victory.”
As of today 3,497 mortars have been fired at the
Jewish communities of Gaza. Residents have started an
online petition demanding that the Israeli government
respond in a way that will put an end to the attacks
may be found at:
http://www.katif.net/patzmar/en_bpatzmar.php