What To Do Now

Many of us are feeling helpless, asking, What can I do about the situation in Israel? We have plenty to tell the politicians, the world leaders, the military and all the other major players. But for the rest of us, those who feel powerless in the realm of politics, what are we supposed to do besides sit and read the papers?

First of all, we need to remember this is the Jewish nation, a miraculous nation. We have never survived by natural means, but by a succession of unpredictable miracles. When was the last time in history the Jewish people appeared to be a viable venture, capable of lasting another century? As the historian Arnold Toynbee declared—in a tone of aggravation and bewilderment, “By all dictates of common sense these people should be relics of the ancient past.” Too bad, Mr. Toynbee. Miraculously, we are alive, we have our land, and we are strong.

Our survival was never a matter of having the right treaties, the right friends, the right economic or military strategy. When all looked secure and stable in the times of Esther, we were threatened with annihilation. And when it looked impossible, as in the times of the Maccabees, we emerged victorious. So the pattern—or lack of it—continued throughout the ages. Playing the game as good Egyptians or Persians or Romans or Spaniards or Poles or Germans never helped much. Yet while empires crumbled into the dust of history, we are still here, alive and invincible as ever.

That is not to say we mustn’t fight for our survival or that we should avoid politics altogether. Esther played politics and the Maccabees fought. But they didn’t rely on those things. Because if they had, they would have given up before they started. They saw them only as an adjunct to a higher strategy. They knew that the real playing cards lie not in the hands of warriors or kings, but in the hands of the One who spoke and the world came into being. The Jewish nation has a mission to accomplish. All our success and survival depends on that mission, and on that mission alone.

Secondly, we need to know that the Jewish nation is not a conglomerate of individuals. We are one whole with many faces. Whether you are a professor in Haifa or a resident of the West Bank, Russian or American, observant, not-so-observant or unaffiliated, you share in the actions and destiny of all other Jews. Our enemies couldn’t make the point any louder for us: They tell us that if one Jew is to blame for what is going on right now, then all of us are to blame—and they are 100% right. It works the other way as well, even more forcefully: When one Jew does good, all of us are uplifted.

These two points are related: It is this unity that makes miracles possible. All the accusations, the infighting, the declarations of “We told you so,” aren’t going to help. As shocking as it may sound, unity and working together are more important than being right. If all the Jewish people worshipped one idol together, the sages of the Talmud taught, G-d could not punish them. Only once they begin to quarrel over which idol is better, then do they render themselves vulnerable. All the more so when they are united in a good cause—that oneness is the vessel to receive open miracles.

And we are united: We all want peace. We all want the survival of the land and its inhabitants. In 95% of the matter, 95% of us are in full concordance. Certainly, the other 5% is of earth-shaking consequence. But when you look in the face of another Jew who sits on the other side of the fence, you must remember it is your brother and ally in a time of trouble you face—not your enemy.

That is why, in every crisis to meet the Jewish people in the last half-century, the Rebbe’s response was to lift up the spirits of Jews everywhere, to bring them together, to raise them up with more mitzvahs, more Torah, more commitment to our people.

In 1967, it was the tefillin campaign. In ‘73, it was with joy and gatherings of children. In the Lebanon crisis, it was principally through the prayers and Torah study of Jewish children. In the Gulf War, it was by building our trust in the Protector of Israel and belief that all this is a sign of the imminent end of exile and the beginning of redemption.

Today, the ultimate is on the block: Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. Don’t fool yourself into believing that these are merely places on a map. These are places in the Jewish soul, at its very core. The very fact that Jews can discuss abandoning them is a symptom of something very wrong inside us. Something we now have the ability to heal.

That is why it is an oxymoron for a Jew to attempt to save Jerusalem by verbally assaulting another Jew. That’s how we lost it in the first place. Jerusalem is a place where all of Israel comes together as one. How can disunity possibly save the wholeness of the Jewish people?

Do whatever is in your power and more, if the Jewish People and their heart and soul mean anything to you. But, whatever you do, don’t vent your frustration in words against a fellow Jew. We have enough enemies to do that already.

We are one. We are strong. And we shall all come together in Jerusalem. May it be sooner than we imagine.