This came from Rabbi Chaim Richman of the Temple Institute. He is not a believer (Yet), so please add him to your prayer list. He does speak at several Messianic functions in Minnesota and Texas. Please pass this along your email chain. It reveals a side of Israel's plight that the media doesn't. In Him,
Mike Rose, Rose of Sharon Ministries, Minnesota
Snyder Bible Home
Jew and Gentile
Humanity at the Abyss
Today is the 17th day of Tammuz, the day on which the walls of Jerusalem were
breached following a prolonged siege. The story hasn't changed much, though
there does seem to be some role reversal: today, it is Israel that is building
a wall around Jerusalem and through the country, voluntarily entering into a
state of siege. Today is a fast day that begins a 3-week period of national
mourning, culminating with the fast of Tisha B'Av, the day on which both the
First and Second Temples were destroyed. The historical precedent for sorrow on
that day, leading to the anguish of later generations, began with the debacle
of the men who journeyed to spy out the Land of Canaan, and the negative report
that 10 of them delivered to the people of Israel. The Torah records that
Israel's lack of self-confidence and negative self-image played a major role in
that fiasco, and it was that lack of self-confidence which exploded into
baseless national hysteria: "The Land through which we have passed is a
land that devours its inhabitants! All the people that we saw in it were huge!
There we saw…the sons of the giant…we were like grasshoppers in our eyes, and
so we were in their eyes!"
"The entire assembly lifted up their voice and cried, and the
people wept that night (Tisha B'Av)." (Num.13,14).
Our rabbis have commented that "even if they felt like grasshoppers, it
doesn’t mean that others perceived them as grasshoppers". What right did
the spies have to interpolate their own feelings of vulnerability on others?
How could they assume how others view them? It's that old Jewish self-image
problem, judging ourselves by our fear of what others will say. This is
what causes us to build walls around ourselves, instead of around our enemies.
It leads to disaster, as we are taught: "G-d said, 'Because you cried that
night for no reason, I will see to it that in the future you have a reason to
cry on that night'."
Last week, we read the Torah portion of Balak (Num.22-25), in which the Moabite
king Balak engaged the powerful heathen prophet Balaam to curse the Jewish
people. "Please come and curse this people for me, for it is too powerful
for me, perhaps I will be able to strike it and drive it away from the
land." Balak was counting on Balaam to settle his Jewish problem and was
waiting breathlessly for the latter to arrive to give his speech. How coincidental
that all throughout last week, the week of the Torah portion of Balaam's speech, the world waited
breathlessly for President Bush's address on the Middle East. Reports indicated
that contrary to the "Bush Doctrine" of fighting terror, the
President was poised to call for the immediate declaration of a
"provisional" Palestinian state, thus effectively rewarding 20 months
of unmitigated terror that has claimed the lives of over 550 Israelis, created
hundreds of widows and orphans, and maimed thousands for life.
But inconveniently for those who seek to curse Israel, that discourse had to be
postponed repeatedly, as throughout last week tens of Israeli men, women, and
infants, including a grand- mother and her toddler granddaughter, and a mother
with three of her children, were brutally murdered, in cold blood, in
near-daily attacks by bloodthirsty Arab
… creatures. "Creatures" I say, because the exact biological
classification of these murderers presents some difficulty. They are not
animals, because animals only kill to eat. Anyone who has seen photographs of
the bodies of the Israeli soldiers lynched in Ramallah or
the two young boys murdered in the cave near Tekoa, anyone who has seen the
many pictures of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl's murder on the
internet, knows that animals would never do what was done to these.
Outwardly, these monsters appear to be human beings. Yet mothers who carried
them in the womb and bring them into this world, joyously encourage their
children to kill themselves. Are not human mothers generally known for
zealously protecting their children, cherishing them and protecting them with
their own life? Are there any mothers reading this? What would you not do to keep your child alive for even one more
moment? But these are mothers who make send-off video clips with their sons,
both brandishing assault rifles, joyously anticipating the son's death and the
death he is about to inflict upon other children. These are fathers who say
that their only regret is that they don't have another 70 children who could
die so that more Jews would die, but even so this one will be an example to the
other siblings.
"How beautiful it is to kill and to be killed,"
wrote one bomber in a note. Hizballah's Secretary General Nasrallah revealed
the truth in a recent interview: "We have ! discovered how to hit the Jews
where they are the most vulnerable. The Jews love life, so that is what we
shall take away from them. We are going to win, because they love life and we
love death."
Is there any other "people" in the world that has elevated
cold-blooded murder to a position of worship? Is there any other
"people" in the world who are so amorous of killing that mothers who
gave birth to children, gleefully send them off to kill themselves? It has been
pointed out that even the Nazis, who had previously been unsurpassed in their
hatred for the Jews, were not willing to kill themselves or their
children for the sake of killing Jews. And all of this is done as a religious
duty, in the name of a god who promises Paradise. Even in the idolatrous rites
of Moloch of old, so despised by G-d, parents sent their children through the
fires, but they were not sent to murder others. The new Palestinian Moloch has
surpassed all previous forms of death worship; an all-encompassing orgy of
killing for its own sake. Yet British Prime Minister Tony Blair's wife Cheri
and others have expressed "understanding and compassion" for these
humanoids, still propagating the myth that their actions are caused by
hopelessness." These monsters are not hopeless. The bombers have been
educated young people, some pursuing degrees, some engaged to be married. On
the contrary, they are quite hopeful, for they have been taught that their hope
lies in the demise of every last Jew, and the world has taught them that
terrorism pays. By equating the perpetrators with the victims, by comparing the
suffering of parents whose child has been murdered with the suffering of the
family who has sent their son off to kill that child, these actions are
condoned…and the boundaries of what it means to be a human being become
blurred. All of humanity stands poised at the abyss. Once over the edge, there
is no return.
Palestinian "squalor" is self-induced, since Arafat lines his own
pockets with millions of dollars from donor countries, and uses the rest to
finance terror…like the $20,000 payment he authorized for the Al Aksa Brigades,
a part of his organization who claimed responsibility for some of last week's
victims. Consider this: if it is hopelessness that is causing this phenomenon,
there is hopelessness all over the world. Despair is not unique to the Middle
East; there is even worse despair in other places. Why is that no other people
in the world have taught their own children to become professional death
machines? No other people in the world have declared a love affair with death.
This region will appear "hopeless" until the rest of the world will
take off the blinders of political correctness and summon the courage to admit
the truth…that Israel is dealing with an insidious force the likes of which the
world has never seen.
"Stand here by your burnt offering," Balaam said to Balak, "and I will see if G-d happens upon me." We have been standing by our burnt offerings long enough. Human look-alikes are burning Jewish children alive. And Israel should be left alone to deal with this exactly as it should be dealt with.
"…any man from the Children of Israel and from the stranger who lives with
Israel, who shall give his seed to Moloch, shall be put to death. The people of
the land shall pelt him with stones. I shall set My face upon that man, and I
shall cut him off from among his people… But if the people of the land avert
their eyes from that man when he gives from his offspring to Moloch, not to put
him to death – then I shall set My face against that man and upon his
family…" (Lev. 20)
In addition to appearing human, these Arabs also appear to be very religious.
All their frenzied slaughter is done as a religious duty, in the name of a god
who promises Paradise in return for dead Jews.
Balaam also appears to be extremely religious – saying "Even if Balak will
give me his houseful of silver and gold, I cannot transgress the word of the
L-rd, my G-d" – he still went and did just that. Though it was against
G-d's will – "G-d's wrath flared because he was going" – He was
all for trying to curse Israel, and did his very best.
On his way over to curse the Jewish people, Balaam came to a "tight place,
with a fence on this side and a fence on that side." An angel stood to
greet him, ready to confront him over his zeal to curse Israel. The angel went
further and stood in "a narrow place, where there was no room to turn
right or left." Balaam was a wicked prophet who prided himself on his
spiritual visions. But on this particular occasion he could not see that which
stood directly in front of him…he was less spiritually attuned than his own
ass. The beast perceived the angel of G-d who stood positioned to block the
excursion, and she wanted nothing to do with the mission.
Balaam continued with his plan, but was not successful. Although he tried
twice, looking at a portion of the camp of Israel from two different vantage
points, he saw that G-d would not allow him to curse. The words got mixed up,
twisted around inside his mouth, and just wouldn't come out the way he wanted.
Beautiful blessings came out instead, much to Balak's chagrin.
Balaam was not used to this situation…not being in control of his own mouth.
His ass, however, was by contrast intelligent and articulate. Nachmanides
teaches that the purpose of the miracle was to show Balaam that if a beast
could speak intelligently, then surely Balaam could be forced to say what G-d
wanted him to say.
Balak was angry and discouraged – after all, they had an agreement – but then
he hit upon an idea, to utilize Israel's own negativity, as the Midrash
relates. "Balak said to Balaam, Even if G-d does not allow you to curse,
it doesn’t matter. When the Jews look up and see you standing up here and moving
your lips, they will think that you're cursing them, even if you are really
blessing them. So the words don’t really matter…"
Thus we see more grave consequences of the same predisposition towards
negativity that was present in the spies' report. Indeed, the affliction of our
own lack of confidence is our enemy's best weapon, and they know it, too.
As everyone knows, cursing the Jewish people is an extremely popular pastime
today as well. There are many different "vantage points" from which
to look at Israel in order to formulate the curse, as Balak told Balaam:
"Go now with me to a different place from which you will see them,
however, you will see its edge but not see all of it – and you will curse it
from there."
There are many "places," vantage points from which to look upon the
Jews in order to curse them, and each is politically correct in its proper
time. We're not against Jews, we're just against Zionists…or Occupiers,
or Settlers, or whichever direction the current evil eye is looking.
And so on his third attempt to curse Israel, seeing that G-d was insistent upon
blessing them, Balaam set his face towards the wilderness. Those who seek to
curse Israel can never see more than the edge. They will never have a full
clear picture, an understanding of who these people are. Not wanting to
recognize who the Jewish people really are, what they have accomplished, and
the benefit they have brought the world, like Balaam they "turn and face
the wilderness."
"The words of Balaam son of Beor, the words of the man with the open eye;
the words of the one who hears the sayings of G-d, who sees the vision of
Shaddai, while fallen and with uncovered eyes…"
These verses emphasize that Balaam, like President Bush, had a "vision
thing." For the longest time, and now in his most recent address,
President Bush has been talking about his vision: "My vision is two
states, living side by side in peace and security." Like Balaam, President
Bush found himself in a "tight place." And although he concluded his
address by quoting from the Bible, he advocated Israel abandoning the
Divinely-appointed right to dwell in all of her land, to become a "narrow
place, with no room to turn right or left." But the very Bible from which
the President quoted is the only source to our exclusive rights to all of this
land. It is also the only source that matters, and the only one that cannot be
removed. Can one pick and choose
through the Bible, and use only those quotations that are politically expedient?
Our sages state that through the words that Balaam uttered, we can discern what
it was that he really wanted to say…the opposite. "Balaam raised his eyes
and saw Israel dwelling according to its tribes, and the spirit of G-d was upon
him. He declared his parable and said: 'How goodly are your tents, O Jacob,
your dwelling places, O Israel. Stretching out like brooks, like gardens by a
river, like aloes planted by G-d, like cedars by water'."
Today this can be translated as "How beautiful are your settlements, O
Jacob! Wherever you dwell, you are settlers, O Israel!" For every Jew in
the Land of Israel is a "settler" today. Thus we can get a good idea
of what it was that Balaam really wanted to say…in the words of President Bush:
"Israeli settlement activity in the occupied territories must stop."
Calling for Arafat to be replaced and declaring his corrupt regime a source of
terror is a step in the right direction, because it is the beginning of
recognizing that the entire Oslo peace process is based on lies and
nothingness. But if surveys of the Palestinian street reveal that over 60% are
in favor of suicide bombings, getting rid of Arafat is not enough. Replacing
Arafat will not change Arab culture or the way they raise their children.
In concluding his vision for the Middle East, President Bush chose these words
from Deuteronomy: "I have set before you life and death, therefore, choose
life." Ironically, however, he did not quote the entire verse, nor
examine its connection to the next passage. Had he done so, he would have seen
that this verse really is the perfect conclusion to his address. We would be
well-advised to study it carefully:
"I call heaven and earth today to bear witness against you: I have placed
life and death before you, a blessing and curse; and you shall choose life, so that
you will live, you and your offspring – to love the L-rd your G-d, to listen to
His voice and to cleave to Him, for He is your life and the length of your
days, to dwell upon the Land that G-d swore to your forefathers, to Abraham, to
Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them (Deut. 30:19-20).
With blessings for the Redemption, Rabbi Chaim Richman THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE
PO Box 31876 Jerusalem, Israel 97500 www.templeinstitute.org