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Lessons from Protective Edge

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Various Rabbis

Tammuz 23, 5774
Question
Rabbi, I am interested in knowing what we should learn from the recent events. What can we learn from the military operation going on now and the rocket attacks by Hamas? Thank you!
Answer
There is Hashgacha over Am Yisrael, and we must ask ourselves what has caused these tzaros to happen to the nation, as Maimonides writes in Hilchot Taanit that every tragedy requires reflection. I have no doubt that Am Yisrael has yet to understand the significance of our generation and is constantly searching for a partner to turn over lands to. We have an obligation to settle the land and yet we continue the Sin of the Spies. Even in the generation of the desert this was the biggest sin. The weaknesses that appear in the various circles within our nation, we see laws that attempt to strike against the Torah and the land. Some of our own are trying to erase the Jewish identity. Am Yisrael has the unique quality of our faith and the Torah, how is it possible that we should come to our land and try to blur the nature of our people?! For instance, how is it possible that there should be legislation against keeping Shabbat, like with public transportation?! Or to join to the nation people who are not really Jewish, like with the law regarding conversion to Judaism. Is it for this that the Jews suffered for 2000 in the diaspora? To come home to our land and have our identity obscured? In Bilaam’s prophecy it says "From the top of the rocks I see him..." and the pasuk is interpreted to mean that if this nation maintains its culture and uniqueness - it will grow stronger, but if it does not then the other nations will overcome it. The land of Israel belongs only to Am Yisrael, we must stop this so-called "peace process" and stop giving away regions. So long as Am Yisrael does not understand its destiny among the nations, G-d forbid, we are prone to much suffering of this sort. I fear that the situation might only get worse as far as the other nations are concerned; the suffering we are going through is a result of weakness of our nation regarding Jewish life and regarding the land of Israel. We must strengthen ourselves in these matters, strengthen our leadership, in interpersonal relations, and regarding laws, not to legislate rules that harm the uniqueness of Am Yisrael. We are, first of all a Jewish state and only then a democratic one. This question was answered by Rabbi Dov Lior
את המידע הדפסתי באמצעות אתר yeshiva.org.il