Arabs Against Arabs

Yoni Lavie from Shabbat Bi-Shabbato Parshat Bo

No doubt about it, we have become accustomed to the idea. "A hundred and forty two people were killed in Syria yesterday, including thirty-five children... Scud missiles were fired from Damascus towards areas that are under the control of the rebels. At least ninety people were killed... There was heavy bombing of the city of Homs. Dozens of people were badly hurt..." When such reports come day after day for months at a time, it almost begins to sound to our ears more like "the weather tomorrow will be partly cloudy, with clouds high in the sky" than a report about cruel murder of citizens of a neighboring country. However, when this happens in an enemy country with which we have a long history of bloody battles, many of our people feel that it involves them. This can range from a feeling of joy ("very good – let them be busy with their own problems and leave us alone") or cynicism ("let us wish both sides great success") to anger about the apathy of the world and sorrow about the great loss of life. What should a Jew of faith feel when he or she hears about such events day after day for an entire year? How should we relate to this when it happens to one of the worst enemies of our own country?   Hypocrisy of the World   Before anything else, it is hard to refrain from mentioning the insolence of the rest of the world, which is very hard to understand. Every theoretical building permit on a rocky hill and every slight injury of Palestinians rioting in a demonstration trigger harsh criticism and threats out of all proportion, but mass butchering of women and children for months is greeted with a weak and stammering response. The great countries of China and Russia cast veto after veto at the United Nations Security Council at every attempt to do something against the Syrian regime, while with their other hand they sign new contracts with the tyrant in Damascus, selling him weapons and oil. The hypocrisy and the distortion of morality cry out to the heavens. How do you dare to come at us with ethical demands? How do you dare to try and teach the State of Israel how to behave morally, when it makes superhuman efforts not to harm anybody who is not directly connected with terrorism?   The Wolf and the Sheep   Moshe Dayan, the legendary Chief of Staff and Defense Minister, once said: "In the future, when the verse 'a wolf will dwell with a sheep' will be fulfilled, we will be better off if we are the wolf..." When you see how the Arabs relate to their brothers, how they butcher their own people without any mercy, you cannot avoid a harsh thought: If they ever get a chance, what will they do to us? Have no illusions about what is going on. The rebels in Syria are not better or more moral than their President. The simple truth is that they have fewer resources available in order to butcher and be cruel to their enemy. If they had an opportunity, what we have seen until now would be "small change" as compared to the scenes we might see in the future. A well-known President of a Middle Eastern country who received a Nobel Prize for Peace once said, "the number of treaties that were broken by the Arabs is no less than the number of treaties that they signed." The only democracy in the Middle East should not forget this statement when it comes to signing a peace treaty full of clauses of total surrender to a dictatorial regime. For us our word is binding, and a treaty is something that must be observed. For them, a peace treaty is merely an opportunity to improve their status and a way to start the next war from a better position.   World Remorse   We have no intention of relating to these acts of killing, violence, and cruelty with apathy, and certainly not with cynicism. The phrase, "to mend the world in the Kingdom of Shadai" is not an invention of Jewish leaders. It is a prayer that every Jew recites three times every day, just a short time before he closes the Siddur and goes to work. This is our aspiration and our vision, and everything we do at any moment of our lives is nothing more than a part of this great dream. Rabbi Menasheh from Ilia, a disciple of the GRA, would often say:   "As long as there remains even one worm caught in a crevice in a stone, under stress and praying to be allowed to continue on its way, it is impossible for anybody to live in peace and to view everything as good."   That is the way a true Jew feels when he walks on the path of the Holy One, Blessed be He, who is good for everything and who has pity on all of His works. He knows how to fight evil when it is necessary, but he also knows how to feel sorrow and pain about any loss of human life. He is not swayed by the hypocrisy of the world, and he never loses sight of his strong moral backbone. He does not allow apathy and repetitious behavior to take control of him, and he continues to pray for a world that is pure, mended, and moral – a world which will be linked to the Holy Name of G-d.