How do the majority of Israelis practice Mitzvot, an essential element
of Judaism. The usual tendency is to dismiss associating Mitzvot with
Israel, the state, after all, only ten percent of the Israeli Jewish
population is Orthodox. Therefore, many assume that the secular
majority dismisses the Mitzvot outright. Wrong. The Israelis practice
some of the most difficult Mitzvot, at a great risk for their lives.
Many Israeli secular Jews, if not most, believe that living in Israel
is, by itself, a great Mitzva. They know they are Israeli Jews. They
believe that they are the carrier of the true Jewish life in the land
of Israel. You live in Israel, you are a Jew even if you do not
practice Mitzvot knowingly. So much of Judaism is intermixed into the
Israeli life, you just live it. For example, most commercial life
stops Friday afternoon, many prepare for Shabat as a day of rest, as a
normal practice. Many seculars that would rarely be in a synagogue, or
ever think about mitzvot will light the Shabbat candles before dinner.
Shabbat is a day of rest, relaxing activities, and enjoying family and
friends. In Israel, the reality is that you are surrounded by Judaism.
But that is relatively easy.
But the practice of Judaism in Israel has a larger significance than
just following traditions, because for the first time in millennia
Jews are running their own country. With all of our long and erratic
history, from the biblical kings, to the destructions of the Temples,
to the exile among the nations, through the Holocaust and the
continuous, deep global anti-Semitism, could Jews run a modern
country?.
Not only that, could we run a country according the essential elements
of Judaism: Justice, Compassion, Reverence to human life, peace,
Tikkun-Olam, and the most difficult one in that neighborhood - love
your neighbor. I believe it is an im****tant question to all Jews.
After all, is there any uniqueness to our way of life, to all that
Judaism stands for? You may almost ask - is there any rationale to all
the death and suffering Jews endured for thousands of years, that we
have remained Jews, instead of disappearing among the nations?.
I would not attempt, nor dare to answer this huge and complex
question. But I would like to give you some examples that touch these
im****tant questions.
When I visited Israel a few years ago, the Palestinians blew up two
armored trucks full of Israeli soldiers. Ten Israeli soldiers were
blown apart by huge explosions. The Palestinians celebrated the event
by playing football, which was televised on their TV, with the heads
of the dead Israeli soldiers.
I watched the Israeli reaction for hours on TV. Israel was in a shock.
How could they? How could they treat the dead in such disrespect?
Any sensible country would have shown this inhumanity on TV to the
world, to expose the Palestinians on the type of atrocities they often
commit against captured Israelis. But the Israelis, from all sectors,
did not. They said this is disrespectful to the dead and their
families. But more significant to me was the Israeli attitude. I did
not see, or hear any Israeli, private or public, say what it would be
common elsewhere: =93let's kill the bastards, blow them to pieces for
their atrocities=94 or any similar hateful words.
I did not hear, nor sense, anything of that nature of hate towards the
Arabs, not then, not all the years I lived there, years of close
contacts with my family and friends, of all political spectrum.
Despite the unrelenting Arab attacks and the murder of twenty two
thousand Israelis in wars and in peacefull times, most Israelis do not
seem to exhibit animosity towards the Palestinians. However, they do
not want to be near them or deal with them because of the inhumanity
they have exhibited towards innocent Israelis, especially Israeli
civilians.
To me this is amazing.
Now something about the deep reverence for life, probably the most
im****tant aspect of Judaism, that the Israelis have been practicing
for so long:
Several years ago a retired commander of the Israeli Air Force gave a
talk in our congregation about the targeting of Palestinian terrorist
leaders from the air. He asked our liberal American Jewish audience to
think about the following real case: There is always a danger of
killing uninvolved civilians in an air attack. A group of Israeli
pilots are preparing to attack a group of terrorists driving to kill
Israelis; estimated Israeli casualties at least ten. What is the
maximum number of Arab civilians that this air attack might injure or
kill?
The American audience allowed a larger number of civilian casualties
than the Israeli pilots would allow themselves. The Air Force
commanders do not make that decision, the pilots who risk their lives
and carry the attacks, make them in the air.
The Israelis spent millions of dollars and made an extreme effort to
reduce civilian casualties from their air attacks, few civilians if
any are now being killed when Israeli aircrafts attack terrorist on
the ground in Gaza .
Now look at a similar situation during the 2006 Lebanon war. You may
have read about it, but think about these in light of the commandments
the Israeli are willing to follow.
No other country would have done what the Israelis did to save Arab
civilian lives while they were themselves under attack by Hizbullah
which was sup****ted and encouraged by most Palestinian Lebanese.
Let me illustrate these by three actual cases I followed closely:
In the middle of the first day of the war an Israeli pilot was ordered
to blow the main bridge between Syria and the Hizbullah territory.
This bridge was the only path to send additional missiles from Syria,
the main supplier of Hizbullah. Approaching the bridge, the pilot
radioed his controller that he would not attack because too many
civilians would die. Although many weapons could have reached
Hizbullah from Syria the pilot returned to base and destroyed the
bridge at midnight when few civilians were on it.
Think about this for a few seconds.
A pilot detected at night a large truck-mounted missile launcher in
Hizbullah land, it was going to hide in a few seconds after launching
its medium range missiles on northern Israel. He was ready to destroy
it when he thought he saw three kids in the area. He told his
controller that he would not fire because he might hurt the kids, and
returned to patrolling the sky. This is with the full realization that
that weapon would fire additional rockets into Israel as soon as it
could.
Hizbullah used an apartment in a high rise building in southern
Lebanon as an observation post to spot Israeli aircrafts and troop
movement. It had to be destroyed. Three options were possible:
Destroy the building with a large air missile without any Israeli
casualty and assure destruction of the target.
Shoot a small missile into the apartment, destroy it, but you may kill
civilians in a nearby apartment. The likelihood of success was also
lower.
Send ground troops into the building, attack the apartment directly
through the door. This is the most risky option, most likely to have
Israeli casualties but less risk to Arab civilians nearby.
The Israeli took the third, most risky option, one Israeli soldier
died, other injured.
Do the Israelis set an example to the world in their humanity? Does
the world appreciate this?
http://www.jewishmag.com/123mag/matania/matania.htm
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