Tuesday, January 30, 2007

The Rebbe And The Only Solution; Caroline Glick and Professor Aumann Weigh In; MY Dinner

The Rebbe And The Only Solution
By Faige Lobel

My friend and neighbor passed me on the street carrying an orange flag. Gush Katif? I wondered. But no, the flag in Hebrew lettering proclaimed, “The Only Solution is Moshiach ben Dovid.”

“That’s a defeatist slogan and I don’t accept it,” I told her, “because it means giving up, shirking our responsibility. While sitting and waiting for Moshiach, more Jews will be expelled from their homes; more Jews will die.

“No,” she said, not understanding me at all. “Moshiach is coming right now. There isn’t any waiting.” And then she delivered the punch line, the accusation that has no answer: “You don’t learn enough Chassidus.”

But what I said is true. While believing with perfect faith in the Only Solution, six million Jews died! While religious Jews were occupied with the Only Solution, other Jews – secular with a pioneering spirit – paved the way for the State of Israel. We must ask ourselves a very serious question: Who accomplished and who merely sat on the sidelines? Praying, believing and waiting – on the sidelines.

My friend wants me to go on mivtzoyim to hand out flyers that say things I don’t believe in (like the Only Solution) and she really thinks that this effort will bring Moshiach. Neither she nor anyone else knows what will bring Moshiach. Even the Lubavitcher Rebbe told his followers that he had done all he could.

I honestly believe that my position does not contradict the Rebbe’s position. He always said that Maaseh hu ha-ikur, the deed is the main thing. The Rebbe was always an activist and his accomplishments changed the face of the Jewish world.

I came home feeling disappointed that my friend did not understand me and with a determination to clarify my thoughts.

On the personal level no Jew speaks of the Only Solution. If one needs a wife, children, a job, everyone understands that action is required. No one expects Moshiach to do what he himself has to do. If r”l one needs a refuah, again one does what one can. One davens, gives tzedakah – and calls the doctor. We are told that the doctor is given permission to heal.

On the family level or community level, again, no one is relying on the Only Solution. There is work to be done and responsible people go ahead and make the effort required.

We have learned that Jews are responsible for one another.

Or have we? When we consider the problems facing Am Yisrael, when we consider the situation of our brethren in Israel – all of a sudden we’re not so sure. That is when the slogan of the Only Solution becomes attractive. We throw up our hands. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that we can do other than to daven, give tzedakah – we can dress modestly and get others to do the same and we can do acts of kindness – and repeat, ad nauseum, the Only Solution. With that slogan we are absolved of further responsibility.

Moshiach will take care of it – when he gets here. And just how will Moshiach take care of it? Not our problem. Not our responsibility. We don’t even have to offer our help to those Jews who are working hard, very hard, trying to remedy the situation. We have already proclaimed their efforts futile, even counter-productive.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe understood Jewish problems on a global level. He understood the responsibility that every Jew carries for every other Jew. Only we, with our small minds, reduce his great words to a simplistic level and wash our hands of the whole thing.

Caroline Glick On The Palestinian State, Prof. Aumann On The End Of Israel
"The multitude of protesters worldwide who demand an end to the so-called "occupation" and the establishment of Palestine should be made aware of the fact that Palestine already exists. The hordes of political leaders mindlessly squawking about "visions" and "two-state solutions" should know: This is Palestine. Enter at your own risk. "

Click here for the full article.

Nobel Laureate Professor Robert Aumann spoke at the Herzliya Conference on a threat greater than Iranian nuclear capability: Speaking after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Aumann said that post-Zionism "will be the end of us."

Click here for the full article.


MY Dinner
Some of you have written in about attending the dinner but not being able to pay either in full or at all. While we need the funds we need your bodies and hearts and minds just as much, if not more. If you would like to come but are short on cash, feel free to contact the US or Israel MY office (see the links for the websites) and send us some contact information. We would love to have you attend.





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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

thank u for the article its interesting saying that the slogan term "dirah bitachtonim" is only accomplished through our efforts we like to think abt some great and holy rabbi putting a halt on the "descent of the generations" but it would make sense to say that truth is in the haphazard sluggish human struggle it could be that manhigut yehudit led by mr moshe feiglin and shmuel and other is the next step towards destiny towards fuffilemt of eitz hada'as sinai nevi'im torah mesorah galus history and above all destiny people that roll up the sleeves and treat the sickness that is going on that must be stopped immediatly! but we also like to think in terms of ahavas yisroel achdus yisroel kedusha taharah dveykus above all ahavas hashem can it be done by a political group or are we just talking to grand for ourselves can we make a spiritual/social revolution can we make the people around the world better people?? better jews?? more closer to hashem and to toras moshe?? or is this just A 4 yr term for a guy who will get bogged down by all sorts of minutia and stuff that needs to be done and shoulders to rub before the midterm or before he leaves office (after all we all goto the movies and trim our beards) is manhigut the spiritual journey of history??? technically after a certian period i would say abt the early 1990s this is my own personal opinion that it was the end of real gedolei yisrael and of mesoras hatorah as new ideas. can it be that since moshe feiglin is the guy who wants to stand up as the next jewish leader to represent the jewish people and not just that but for advancing the goals of destiny?? saving israel saving society saving the world does that make manhigut yehudit, kadosh and a peulah amiti or is this a political faction within the likud that is going to be the next act on stage then leave the stage and back to the spiritual world digression BUT the truth is that the world is made of millions of jews and people whos job is to make the story of bri'ah. moshiach is still a person beyond any comprehension acc to most sefarim soo to think that everything is abt u and who needs emes and truth is false i dont know but as i see it the address to knock on and the site to put alerts on is still manhigut yehudit i just hope we are tzaddikim and we do what we can and not just focus on NOT giving away free prisoners everyone knows that well its common sense but shemitah chinuch kavod kashrus and all the stuff that makes a yid unique like sha'atnez the ones that dont make any sense and arent warm and fuzzy bc we dont understand them but give us as a society some firm discpiplined consistency and texture even if i and most of these peple goto the these guys goto the movies were doing what needs to be done but our goal must be not to be nis'poel and try to achieve world destiny im proud of u moshe and people that dont capitulate and remain original may we be succesfull in our efforts and may we learn more torah and hold ourself back from saying something we shouldnt say to someone we should do everything we can im not talking abt halachic state but how much can we and will we accomplish to change the spiritual charachter of our country and world

thanks for reading my musings all the best to who reads this and success to u and me yishaya

Batya said...

I wish we could unite.
Seems like we're going in too many directions.

Anonymous said...

Somewhere on this site there is a comment that Manhigut wants to limit trips to Israel to only the top 2 office holders (PM and FM) until Jonathan Pollard is free.

What about a policy that Manhigut will balance the need to avoid "religious coercion" with the need to remember Shamor and Zachor. That way there will be Jewish homeland for him and all of us.