NEXT YEAR IN
JERUSALEM?
July 23, 2000
Am Yisrael is
presently marking what is called "the three weeks," an annual period
of mourning for the destruction of the first and second Temples, the "Beit
HaMikdash." The mourning reaches a climax on the day known as "Tisha
b'Av," the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av, the day on which
both Temples were destroyed, thousands of years ago. Fasting and refraining
from any worldly pleasures for 24 hours, from sunset to sunset, commemorate
this day.
Our sages teach
us many reasons for the destruction of the most sacred of all sites - located
in the "Old City" of Jerusalem, commonly known as "Temple
Mount" or, in Hebrew, Har HaBait. These include blind hatred of our
brethren, bloodshed, adultery, and idol worship. However, the primary cause of
the devastation begins in the days of Moses in the desert, following the exodus
from Egypt. Moses sent 12 men to spy in the land of Israel and report back to
him. These men were the 'cream-of-the-crop,' the presidents of the twelve
tribes, the chosen leadership of the Israelite people. When they returned after
40 days in Eretz Yisrael, this was their report:
'We
came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and
honey; and this is the fruit of it. Howbeit the people that dwell in the land
are fierce, and the cities are fortified, and very great; …'We are not able to
go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.' And they spread an
evil report of the land which they had spied out unto the children of Israel,
saying: 'The land, through which we have passed to spy it out, is a land that
eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men
of great stature… and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were
in their sight
And
all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that
night… said, 'Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would we had died
in this wilderness! And they said one to another: 'Let us make a captain, and
let us return into Egypt.'
Two
of the twelve spies had a different reaction - Caleb and Joshua:
And
Caleb stilled the people toward Moses, and said: 'We should go up at once, and
possess it; for we are well able to overcome it…''The land, which we passed
through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land. If the L-RD delight in us,
then He will bring us into this land, and give it unto us--a land which floweth
with milk and honey. Only rebel not against the L-RD, neither fear ye the
people of the land; for they are bread for us; their defence is removed from
over them, and the L-RD is with us; fear them not.'
That
night of weeping became a day of weeping over the generations, for that day was
the 9th of Av, the very day, centuries later, when the Temple would
twice be destroyed and the Jewish people sent into exile.
The
events taking place at Camp David give us an opportunity to reverse the sin of
the spies, an error that has plagued Am Yisrael through this very day. Their
transgression was a rejection of Eretz Yisrael, the land given to us by
G-d. The time has come for the Jewish
people to prove that we do want Eretz Yisrael, more than anything else.
The
scenario is as follows: Barak, Clinton and Arafat sign an agreement, giving the
terrorists control over East Jerusalem, Temple Mount, and about 95% of Judea,
Samaria and Gazza. The PLO flag will fly over the Holy-of-Holies on Temple
Mount. Gazza's Jewish community is to be evicted as are Jews in Hebron and
other settlements. Other communities will be abandoned, their Jewish residents
left under Arafat's sovereignty. Barak will announce either general elections
or a national referendum, as previously promised.
What
can we do? What can YOU do?
All
Jews throughout the world, from the United States, Europe, South America,
Australia - Jews everywhere, who care about Eretz Yisrael, who reject
abandonment of Jerusalem to the terrorists, who refuse to accept the above
agreements as an inevitable given, must immediately come to Israel and declare
Israeli citizenship. This does not mean that all Jews must presently decide to
come live in Israel (even thought that would be nice), rather, for the time
being, it is enough to declare citizenship. Offices of the Ministry of the
Interior must be packed, day in and day out, with Jews filling out the
necessary forms in order to be recognized as legal citizens of the State of
Israel, who will have the legal right to vote in all Israeli elections, including
the upcoming referendum which will
reject or accept the Barak-Clinton-Arafat-Camp David II Accords.
At
a minimum, hundreds of thousands of Jews will declare citizenship. After a few
months, (it will take at least three months to organize elections or a
referendum) all these Jews will come back to Israel and vote, OVERWHELMINGLY
REJECTING THE TREATY WITH ARAFAT.
This
is exactly the opposite of what the spies did in the desert when they rejected
Eretz Yisrael. Am Yisrael, Jews from Israel and around the world, will declare
their allegiance to the Land of Israel by rebuffing the accords intended to
abandon the heart of Israel to our arch-enemy, who desires our total
annihilation. Only yesterday the spokesperson for Hamas in Gazza, Abdul Rahman
Rantisi said, "We must dismantle all the settlements, but first we must
dismantle the settlement called Tel Aviv." Rantisi speaks not only for
Hamas, but for hundreds of thousands of Arabs living in Gazza, Judea, Samaria
AND IN ISRAEL PROPER.
My
friends, there is a solution, there really is - but it is dependant not only on
the Jews living in Israel, but on Jews all around the world. Eretz Yisrael
belongs to all of us, and it is our responsibility and obligation to save Eretz
Yisrael for our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. But not only
for them. We must save Eretz Yisrael to sanctify G-d's Name. For what will
people say when they see the miracles that have been performed over the years?
Who could have imagined that four years after the ovens of Aushwitz Jews would
be living in their own State, fighting and defeating Arab armies bent on our
destruction? Who could envision the miracles of 1967 or 1973? What will people
say when, looking back at history, say, "What happened to those Jews - is
this the way they said thank you to G-d - by abandoning the GOOD LAND that He
gave them, by repeating the sin of the spies in the desert, thousands of years
ago? Why didn't they learn from their errors?"
Friends,
how will you be able to look yourselves in the mirror, knowing that you did
NOTHING to save Jerusalem - NOTHING to save Hebron - NOTHING to save ONE
HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND JEWS ABOUT TO BE ABANDONED BY THE BARAK GOVERNMENT?
MY
FRIENDS, HOW WILL YOU, NEXT PESACH, BE ABLE TO SAY "NEXT WEEK IN JERUSALEM,"
KNOWING THAT BY DOING NOTHING, YOU ARE PASSIVELY PARTICIPATING IN THE
ABANDONMENT OF TEMPLE MOUNT TO ARAFAT, THAT YOU ARE HELPING TO RAISE THE PLO
FLAG ABOVE THE HOLY-OF-HOLIES?
My
friends, there is a solution, but it includes you too. Do not let us down - do
not let yourselves down, do not disappoint the aspirations of the Jewish people
over all the generations - those Jews who were burned at the stake because they
dared to say, "Next Year in Jerusalem."
Friends,
which group do you belong to - the 10 spies who said:
'We
are not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we… let us
return into Egypt.'
Or
the two spies who said:
'We
should go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it…The
land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land.'
Now
it the time to make your choice. Tomorrow will be too late.
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See
the web site http://www.eretz.org for
details on how to declare Israeli citizenship.
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