Gary Cooperberg, July 25, 2005

The Jewish people, throughout our history, have always made serious mistakes and fallen short of our obligations. It was on Tisha b’Av, the ninth day of the month of Av, that the spies whom Moses sent to scout out the Land returned with their evil report. The people cried for nothing as they trusted the words of the spies above the Command of G-d. As a punishment G-d declared that since they cried for nothing on this day, in future generations they would cry for good reason. It was on this day that both Temples were destroyed. It was decreed that those who cried needlessly would all perish in the wilderness and only the next generation would merit entering the Land of Israel. It was on Tu b’Av, the fifteenth day of Av, that the last Jew of those who cried perished and the way was cleared for their children to come home. To this day we celebrate Tu b’ Av as a joyous holiday.

As D day approaches tension is rising and everyone is wondering how this terrible dilemma will be resolved. Certainly the government of Israel would seem to have the power to do just about anything it chooses. Yet, we have already seen that enormous numbers of ordinary citizens are prepared to endure all kinds of hardships to oppose the madness of unilateral surrender and expulsion of Jews from their homes.

The morning news today announced that Israel plans to deploy around sixty thousand security personnel to make sure that the expulsion goes smoothly. If this was announced on the news, perhaps the Arabs were listening too. Did anyone ever consider that perhaps some of our charming neighbors might use this information to their advantage? If nearly the entire Israeli army is out in Gaza forcing Jews out of their homes, who is left to protect the country? What an opportune time for a carefully planned attack upon Israel by a combination of neighboring Arab nations!

Clearly the government of Israel is very worried that, indeed, the majority of its citizens will physically oppose their undemocratic decision to abandon whole Jewish communities to our enemies. The press may have distorted the numbers of protesters at Kfar Maimon, but the government knows the real numbers and is terrified that it may grow much larger when the real demonstrations take place. Thus all kinds of threats, real and implied, are being publicized in the press to try to frighten Jews into submission. Jail sentences for those who dare to be in Gaza; court martialing of soldiers who conscientiously object to throwing Jews out of their homes; water cannons and other forms of physical punishment against protesters, are but a few of these draconian tactics.

While it is anyone’s guess as to how the next few weeks will unfold, we would all do well to stop for a moment and try to realize the unique reality that is Eretz Yisrael. Recent history itself is clear proof that this country is far more than just another political nation. There is nothing natural about the way this country was reborn, or how it has managed to survive from day to day, much less how it has managed to grow and develop in spite of enemies both within and without. Back in 1948 most of our political leaders were against the idea of declaring independence from Britain. They were afraid that we couldn’t stand on our own two feet. And logically they had a good point. But statehood was declared in spite of them, and the tiny state survived in spite of the fact that all of our Arab neighbors attacked with intent to destroy us completely.

So what has changed? Our Arab neighbors still seek our destruction and our political leaders are still afraid that we cannot stand on our own two feet. Given the historical reality that over the past fifty-seven years all attempts to destroy us not only failed but found us redeeming yet more of our destined homeland, and, in spite of efforts by our "allies" to mitigate our military victories, our country has continued to grow and thrive, it is a wonder that our leaders are still so afraid that we cannot stand on our own two feet.

What is it that we are afraid of? Even before the effort to remove Jews from Gaza has begun, despite the fact that Sharon clearly stated that Hebron will always remain part of Israel, Peres has announced that the PA wants Hebron and thus we will eventually have to leave that too. What a remarkable peace of statesmanship for a political leader to begin negotiations for our enemies even as our tail is already between our legs as we seek to flee from Gaza.

What our puny leaders consistently forget and ignore is the fact that they are not at all in control of what happens here. The rebirth of the Jewish State after nearly two thousand years of Exile is no accident. The beginning of return of Jews from all over the world to the very Land of our birth and the restoration of our ancient Hebrew tongue is no coincidence. How can any human being think to try to undo miracles of such magnitude? It is foolhardy to imagine that Jewish destiny can be stopped and changed by a Peres or a Sharon. It is simply not possible. All that will be accomplished is needless suffering which could have been avoided were we to simply recognize and honor our Jewish obligations in this Divine Process of Redemption.

The local media would have its readers believe that peace is around the corner. At long last those selfish land grubbing settlers will be thrown out of the "occupied territories" and the Arabs will love us and shower us with peace. Remember that wonderful peace we enjoyed before 1967; before those land grubbing settlers were in Gaza or Judea and Samaria or even East Jerusalem? All was bliss, love and peace.

Fleeing our responsibilities will never bring peace closer. On the contrary. It will only make it harder to achieve and bring terror and bloodshed to our land. The Jewish People have a heavy responsibility to our G-d, to ourselves, to our country, and to all of Mankind. Like the prophet, Jonah, we can try to flee from our responsibility, but we will never escape it.

If we but open our eyes we can clearly see redemption already beginning to unfold before us. It is our destiny to bring genuine peace to all of the nations of the world. But this cannot be accomplished by trying to appease our enemies. If Sharon is willing to deploy sixty thousand soldiers to Gaza, why not use them to clear out our enemies once and for all? What folly to uproot Jews while the Arabs are murdering us! Can he not see that he has already formed a defacto partnership with those who are murdering us? This is simply madness!

I don’t know what will be after Tisha b’Av. I do know that it is good for Jews to be worried during these three weeks. It is a time of mourning and sadness. But I also know that soon afterwards comes Tu b’Av which is a time of gladness and rejoicing. May it be G-d’s Will that this Tu b’Av, which comes out on Shabbat (August 20), that we will all have good reason to rejoice. I fully expect that this will be.

Gary Cooperberg, a resident of the Jewish community in Hebron, Israel, is the founder and director of Project Shofar.

Copyright © 2005 Gary Cooperberg