Coping with Difficulties

Our opinion is that we need to express our pain in the staunchest way possible. We need to express our difficulty in accepting a decree which goes against the Torah and which undermines the commandment to settlement the land of Israel.

The destruction of the settlements, the cruel expulsion of the settlers, the suppression of those who demonstrated against the state and the government - these matters have taught us that the working-from-within approach is destined to fail.

One disengagement leads to another, and those who disengage themselves from the past cannot bring us to our true future. Perhaps they can bring us to a Swedish or Luxembourgian version of the future, but not to the real destiny of the Jewish people.

There could be almost no greater desecration of God’s Name than relinquishing portions of the land of Israel. The entire world would be made aware that God’s children agreed to give away the land which God Himself gave them as an eternal possession.

In the past few years, nations have come upon us and demanded that we relinquish portions of the Land of Israel to strangers. This is one of the calamities concerning which we are supposed to fast and cry out to God about.

: Sometimes an act which results in severe short-term damage, serves the important role of making a clear statement concerning the importance of settling the Land, and impresses upon all the preference of Divine law over transient political rulings.

Today's settlers have infused the entire nation with strength. They are the great victors in the present battle against terrorism. The Jewish people ought to express gratitude to these people and say, "Thank you."

Every affliction that God brings upon us is meant to uplift us to a higher level. True, it is difficult to sense this - but it nonetheless exists. We must therefore respond to every setback with additional growth and development - another neighborhood, another hilltop, more houses, more determination.

Despite all their suffering, Israel holds a central spiritual place in the world. The Jewish people are recognized as a people of faith, a people of the Bible, and a people whose entire existence is illuminated by the Torah.