Lisa's quote of Rabbi Kahane: BRILLIANT!!!

[zachor_ve_kavod]

I read this on one of Lisa's threads today.  She was quoting Rabbi Kahane (z"l): "I'd rather be at their level than six feet below their level."

Can you think of any Jew in the public eye today who would make such an intelligent and logical statement?  There is a great deal of wisdom in this saying and Jews need to consider this statement seriously.  Why do the Jews of Israel take evey measure to not kill unnecessarily?  Why do they provide aid and comfort to the enemy?  Why do they provide the arabs with scholarships to higher education in Israel?  Why do they release arab murderers when arabs do unspeakable things to the Jews they capture?  Israel is so concerned about the opinions of the world that hates it, that it has this policy of "not sinking to the level" of the arabs.

Why do galut Jews march with arabs against Israel?  Why do galut Jews condemn other Jews while acting as slaves to the arabs?  Largely for the same reason.  They don't want to sink to the level of the arabs.  By adopting this attitude, Jews are showing that they don't respect the arabs as enemies.  They only have contempt for the arabs.  This is dangerous and foolish.  The arabs are going to continue to try to kill Jews regardless of the Jewish attitude towards arabs.  It is a far better attitude to respect the arabs as dangerous enemies of the Jewish people, and act accordingly.

I admit, there are even people in my own family who ask me how I can advocate expelling the arabs from Israel--aren't I sinking to their level?  My answer has always been to ask them in return why they think that they have so much contempt for the arabs, why is it more important to them to have this high and mighty attitude, when Jews will be killed as a result of it?  Jewish lives are more important than this arrogant moral superiority.

Today was the first time that I heard this quotation from Rabbi Kahane.  I was pleased to know that what I have been saying was more or less in line with the great Rabbi, though he articulated this position much better than I could have.  None of us here at JTF (I hope) are filled with such conceit as to adopt this posture of being so high, that we would not want to sink to the level of the arabs; if it means that we would endanger our people not to do so.  Jewish pride means valuing Jewish lives.  Jewish pride is not adopting this foolish attitude that we can't fight dirty because we don't want to sink to their level.  We are fighting a dirty enemy.

So, I want to thank Lisa for bringing up this statement by Rabbi Kahane.  If every Jew could contemplate it, they would see how profoundly logical AND moral it is.

[Dr. Dan]

"Can you think of any Jew in the public eye today who would make such an intelligent and logical statement? "




Only us...and we have to everytime we speak to people especially fellow jews whenever there is a war...

[q_q_]

another form was.. If you don't sink to their level, then you don't, you sink 6ft below it..

another brilliant one relevant to the famous turning swords into ploughshares..

"I am all for turning swords into ploughshares. But when my enemy has a sword, I don't want a ploughshare"  Rabbi Kahane



and if you saw the speech nobel prize winner of Game Theory, yisrael aumann, made .. he quoted that verse and came to the same conclusion, though without that witty line.

another one he said..
"we should be a light to the nations, and not a memorial candle." Kahane.

he had thoughts on everything, though he onlte tended to give the ones related to saving israel.. and problems facing the jewish people..

this one is particularly good

Life is essentially a question of values.
Meir Kahane

or this one we know all too well

One of the great problems with Americans is that - being a decent people - they assume that everyone else is equally decent.
Meir Kahane

there are many here
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/meir_kahane.html

[Lisa]

Thank you Zachor Ve Kavod for your kind words.  

I don't remember the exact source of that quote from Rabbi Kahane.  Obviously it was from one of his books or one of his debates.  But it's been seared into my brain for ages.  Maybe Chaim will know when exactly the Rabbi said it.  

However, I don't know if I would criticize Jews for being "high and mighty."  After all, we better than them in so many ways.  We value education and hard work.  We don't commit honor killings.  We don't send our children to commit suicide bombings.  Nor do we chop off the clitorises of little girls with broken glass.    

The problem is that Jews are worried about looking bad.  We've got to stop it.  We can't let our fear of what others think stop us.  

So otherwise, I agree with your post.  

[zachor_ve_kavod]

"Can you think of any Jew in the public eye today who would make such an intelligent and logical statement? "




Only us...and we have to everytime we speak to people especially fellow jews whenever there is a war...

We're just not really in the public eye, yet.  I can't think of any famous Jew who would say such a righteous thing.  All the famous Jews I can think of today are just the opposite:  Barbara Streisand, Noam Chomsky, Woody Allen, Richard Dreyfus, Stephen Spielburg... (Man! I'm getting depressed just thinking about these people!)

[Xoce]

"I admit, there are even people in my own family who ask me how I can advocate expelling the arabs from Israel--aren't I sinking to their level?"

Well, first of all, there's only one "little Israel" (as Chaim says) but there are how many "Arab Muslim Nazi" (as Chaim says) countries encompassing how many thousands of square miles?

So I'd argue "expelling arabs from Israel" is in NO WAY equivalent to "expelling Israel and all Jews from the face of the planet."  Tell your family that.

[IsraelForever]

It is a brilliant statement... and I'm going to start using it myself.  Rabbi Kahane sums up 10,000 words in that one true sentence.  This is what separates the poets from the rest of us.  Thank you for posting it.

[Ithaca-37]

"I am all for turning swords into ploughshares. But when my enemy has a sword, I don't want a ploughshare"  Rabbi Kahane

Surely, the Rabbi would also have agreed with this similar line (original unknown):  "Those who beat their swords into plowshares will soon find themselves plowing for those who still have swords."

37

[Dr. Dan]

"Can you think of any Jew in the public eye today who would make such an intelligent and logical statement? "




Only us...and we have to everytime we speak to people especially fellow jews whenever there is a war...

We're just not really in the public eye, yet.  I can't think of any famous Jew who would say such a righteous thing.  All the famous Jews I can think of today are just the opposite:  Barbara Streisand, Noam Chomsky, Woody Allen, Richard Dreyfus, Stephen Spielburg... (Man! I'm getting depressed just thinking about these people!)

we may not have microphones or tv/radio access. However, we can still to from one individual to the next and tell them these things...and hopefully it will just spread around and then eventually become wild fire..