Gary Cooperberg, June 14, 2007

If we look at today's events in Israel we can surely see the Hand of G-d. The rockets keep coming from Gaza, and our leaders fail to take the needed steps to stop them. So what happens? Hamas starts murdering its Fatah brothers in a successful bid to take over Gaza. Both factions are enemies of Israel and it is wonderful to see them killing each other. When the dust clears at least we will have an enemy that doesn't pretend to be a friend. Maybe then our leaders will have an easier time understanding that you don't negotiate with those who seek to destroy you...you destroy them first.

On the political scene over the last few days you can also see the Hand of G-d. Barak, the general that tried so hard to give Judea, Samaria and Gaza to Arafat (and failed thanks to Arafat's sense of self respect), has been re-elected the head of the Labor Party. And the Knesset, which clearly has absolutely no semblance of self-respect, elected the biggest failure of all to be our next president! Shimon Peres, who is prepared to give away all of Israel, with the possible exception of the Peres Peace Center (humbly named after himself), to make peace with those who seek our annihilation is our new president. This one man has caused more harm to the Jewish state than any enemy has.

Mankind has approached a time in which it is capable of completely destroying itself. Without spiritual direction it seems likely that it will do so. The only hope for the future of Mankind is for it to return to its recognition of G-d. G-d, in his infinite mercy, has created the cure even before the illness. He has always known that His creations would eventually sow the seeds of their self destruction. He thus provided the world with a living example to show it how to survive. He created the Jewish people as a gift to the entire world and an instrument to save it from itself.

So the way things look now, we have a real loser for president. In upcoming elections we will have the fabulous option to choose between Olmert, Barak, and Bibi, all of whom have not an inkling of an idea of how to lead this nation. When you look at it from a distance it really seems like G-d is laughing at us. Do we really think we are controlling things? Only when we realize that our return to our ancient homeland is part of a Divine Process, and that this process brings with it Divine obligations on our part, will we begin to understand how we can make things better. As long as we have leaders who think they are geniuses who can make peace by negotiating with our enemies, rather than destroying them, we will suffer needless tragedy.

As our recent history has consistently shown us, it is not our leaders who have the intelligence to make the right decisions. It is in reaction to our enemies that we are forced to make the right decision. Arafat was beginning to win the "peace". Now we have Hamas coming to destroy what is left of Arafat's army and replacing it with proud Arabs who will not lower themselves to playing the peace game. They fully intend to destroy Israel completely. It is only this kind of enemy that can force our leaders to take the steps needed for us to survive. This too is a tragedy, but G-d needs to save us from ourselves, and we don't deserve the great miracles which He would prefer to send us. So we will have to settle for the hidden miracles which we are already beginning to see...if we would but look.

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

Copyright © 2007 Gary Cooperberg