Gary Cooperberg, July 26, 2006

The Passover seder is basically a history (and destiny) lesson to remind us who we are, from whence we came, and where we are going, and, most important of all, Who has always been guiding and protecting us through all generations. "In every generation there arise those who seek to destroy us. But G-d always has mercy upon us and intervenes to rescue us."

Although we have a commandment to blot out the memory of Amalek, clearly this eternal enemy was created to serve a purpose. We find, consistently throughout our history, that Amalek attacked us when we failed to live up to our obligations. This was symbolically seen during our battle with Amalek in the desert. When our teacher, Moses, raised his hands to heaven we prevailed. When his hands grew weary and were lowered Amalek prevailed.

Rashi tells us that immediately after our redemption from Egypt the entire world was afraid of Israel. They saw the miracles G-d performed for us and would never dream of opposing us in battle. It was as if there was a moat of boiling water surrounding us and no one would dare even put his toe into that moat. Amalek hated G-d and the Jewish people so much that he literally jumped into that moat of boiling water (so to speak), to certain death, just so that the water would be cooled enough for Israel’s enemies to attack us.

Hizbulla today is clearly emulating the hatred of Amalek toward G-d and the Jewish people. No terrorist organization can take on an army. Hizbulla has no hope of defeating Israel. What it does have is an unbridled religious hatred which has driven it to engage in a suicidal battle in the hope that it will eventually draw in the entire Arab world along with it (not to mention non-Arab haters of Israel).

Ehud Olmert is only fighting this war because he has no other option. It is a war which he feels can be justified to the entire world. The fact is that no war needs to be justified to the entire world. One fights a war which is justified to himself. If nobody cares whether or not the Jewish state is defeated does that mean we should simply surrender to our enemies? When nations threaten Israel and try to take away her land, even "peacefully," we have an obligation to protect our country and our people by fighting for what is ours. The concept of Land for Peace is simply a clever request for us to peacefully surrender to our enemies. We have no right to consider such an absurd proposal.

The battle we are fighting now is not one of our choosing. Were our leaders inspired with genuine Jewish faith, we could use this battle to hasten redemption by removing our enemies from our midst and permanently possessing all Jewish Lands currently under our control, including Gaza. We would tell the American leadership that we cannot accept the concept of another Arab state on Jewish soil. If the so-called "Palestinians" need a state there is plenty of room to build one in Saudi Arabia or any of the other 21 Arab states in the region.

Once again the Creator of the Universe has given us a miraculous opportunity to hasten redemption and defeat our enemies. This is truly the path to genuine peace. Only by serving G-d can peace be achieved. Instead we have consistently defied Him. Only by returning to our G-d, our Torah and our Homeland can we earn a speedy redemption.

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

Copyright © 2006 Gary Cooperberg