On Iraq And The Gulf Crisis Pt. 1: Politics?
Written by Rabbi Meir Kahane
In days gone by when Jews were the people of an Almighty in whom they truly believed; in years long since gone when Jews were tied to their Father in Heaven with an awe and love and spiritual intoxication that made Him a permanent part of every thought and deed and sinew, they understood and knew that all that occurs on earth is because of Him and tied to the deeds of Israel. That reward and punishment are not things for esoteric afternoons when a lesson in Ethics of the Fathers is given to an entertained Sabbath audience or for the 15 minutes set aside in the yeshiva for mediation in a Mussar Sefer, to be admired and mused over in theory, distinct theory.
In times of yore when Jews truly believed that the Almighty rules and directs the world and punishes for sins; in generations of true piety when people knew that they did indeed sin and wept and anguished over it, in fear that there would be punishment for those sins - any threat and danger that would arise for the Jew led, instinctively, naturally, automatically, to the raising of one's eyes to Heaven and both a search for Jewish sins that might be the cause of the danger as well as a plea to the Almighty to have mercy on His people Israel, to forgive them and help them deal with their enemies and the dangers they posed.
In eras when Jews were truly religious, as opposed to practitioners of ritual and comfortable denizens of comfortable
mitzvot, they felt G-d, they touched Him and were constantly touched by Him. They loved Him as a real being and they feared Him because He was so real. In times when the Jew knew that G-d had made him and not that Man had thought Him, the Jew knew that no one hurt his finger in this world unless it was ordained from above. How much more so was it axiomatic that great events in the world, wars and threats and dangers and clashes between nations, were part of G-d's design and plan.
And so, quite naturally, every time that danger and suffering loomed, the Jew turned, not to the political commentator and political science professor, and not to analysts and "experts", but to the source of what will be - His Father in Heaven. For the Jew of authenticity, and before the humiliation of Torah by Jews corrupted and spiritually assimilated by an exile into which they entered before it entered them, there was never any such concept as "politics". There was no separation of one part of life from another part. The Jew knew that life was created by G-d, given to us by G-d, commanded to us by G-d, and that that life was a unitary, indivisible unit governed by Torah laws that covered every aspect and every centimeter.
Life for the Jew was an "orach chayim", a way of life, a total way of life. It never even entered his mind that life was made up of separate "religious" and "secular" areas. To speak of "politics" was a totally foreign thing to a Jew who never heard of and never would have accepted the pernicious, gentilized and Hellenized concept of "separation of church and state." Such were the days of old, when chassidim rishonim, the pious of former times, would sit a full hour before praying, to contemplate and immerse themselves in the awe and joy of entering the presence of a Divine and real G-d.
Alas, for that which once was and is gone...
There is no clearer proof of the perversion of Torah in our times than the glaring separation of Torah and "politics", both among the Jews of non-observance as well as those who are pious practitioners of Jewish ritual. The former, of course, for whom G-d is, at best, a socio-cultural concept with little if any relevance to reality and the affairs of this world, private or public, not surprisingly never bring G-d into a discussion of "politics". To them, events of the world, what will be, are matters to be decided and discussed in political, economic, social and military terms. For them, Man is the great and ultimate decider of destiny, with G-d having a most limited place in the world, one that does not impinge on the important areas of Man's life.
As for the practitioner of Jewish ritual, it would appear that this is not so. On the surface, to such a Jew, the Almighty plays a most relevant role that fills much of his life. But, again, only on the surface. While ritual fills a very great part of the life of the Jew of ritual, whole areas of that life are compartmentalized, with two very broad categories emerging, i.e. "religious" and "secular" affairs.
And as part of the latter, the "secular" part of life, one finds an extraordinary amount of vital areas of human existence, not the least of which is the area known as "politics". Thus, one hears over and over again the concept of "we don't allow politics in the synagogue", in reference to a "controversial" speaker. But worse, far worse, is the rise of a phenomenon that sees events of monumental importance such as Israel, the Arab issue, the Territories and Jew-hatred in exile, become "politics", hence outside the realm of real Torah life, as opposed to "authentic" Torah issues such as the "eruv", glatt kosher, and the size of the "etrog".
We have before us, once again, the pernicious results of a "galut", an exile, that has warped, perverted and twisted the original concept of Torah. What we see daily is the separation of Torah and state, Torah and "politics", Torah and "secular world". That is perversion.
Torah Judaism, as given by the Almighty at Sinai, was a Judaism that set down a cardinal rule: The Almighty, G-d of Israel, is King of kings, who created a world with paths and laws and commandments that cover every single aspect of life. History exists only within the context of His will and direction. There is no separation of any area of life from that. There is no Jewish concept of separation of religion and "politics". There is no such thing in Judaism as "politics". There are laws of government as set down in the Talmud and codified by the Rambam. There are the laws of war. There are laws of faith. There are the laws of the gentiles. There are countless Torah laws that deal with what the Jew of ritual and gentilization - the Jew of "shatnez" - today dubs "politics".
By Rabbi Meir Kahane September - October, 1990 Kahane Magazine
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On Iraq And The Gulf Crisis Pt. 2: The Final Redemption
Written by Rabbi Meir Kahane
Iraq is not a political issue; it is a religious one. The pitiful, finite, temporary players on the stage of history, Saddam and Bush and Kuwait and Hussein, are mere instruments of the Almighty in His move to bring to an end a world that moves inexorably into the final part of this era of "ikvot d'mshicha" and "atchalta d'geula", the footsteps of the Messiah and the beginning of the redemption. One does not look to the New York Times or Time Magazine or ABC to understand what will be in the world, in America, in the Middle East, in Israel. One goes to the source of all that was, is and will be - Torah Judaism. But the authentic kind. And from the lips of those who have escaped the terrible grip of an exile that has so corrupted and perverted us with its majority gentilized influence.
Everything that happens in the world - including and especially Iraq and Kuwait and the awful crisis that brings the agonies of the Messiah closer and more terribly so - happens because of the Jewish People. Saddam and Bush are mere instruments, staffs of G-d's wrath. Horror or joy will occur, not because of a Texas millionaire who vacations in Maine and temporarily sits in the White House, or an Arab barbarian and Hun who temporarily sits in the same Assyria-Babylon that was once the "staff of my wrath". We live in the final era and the final redemption comes; but G-d help us, may we not have see the needless horrors that accompany it because of our sins.
Iraq? Kuwait? War? Gas? What will happen to Israel? What will happen to you Jews who sit in the quicksand of Exile? Turn not to "experts" in political science, to William Saffires, to pundits and political analysts.
"Return unto me and I will return unto you", is the key to what will be. To look at ourselves, and at our own sins. Introspection. What are the stains on our souls? Desecration of the Sabbath? Dishonesty? Greed? The sloth of material comfort that sees Torah learning and piety slip away in favor of the good life? The refusal to leave the Exile and come home to Israel where we are commanded to live? Fear of the gentile and the consequent fear of removing the Arab cancer and annexing the territories that are part of Eretz Yisrael?
There are the things that will decide the fate of Saddam Hussein. And of ourselves.
That the startling and incredible events in the Middle East are yet one more giant leap in this, the era of “atchalta d'geula” and "ikvot d'mshicha", the beginning of the redemption and the footsteps of the Messiah, is too painfully clear for all but the most blinded to see. The gathering together of armies and nations to the doorstep of Israel, the terrible threat of awesome weapons, the raging and pandemonium of economies and politics and nations, all testify to the escalation by the Almighty of the final era, the inexorable progression toward the battle of Gog, coming up against the Land of Israel.
The basic rule and concept of the final redemption is that the era of the Messiah, and the battle of Gog, that is an integral part of it, can come about in one of two ways: Either swiftly and gloriously or slowly and accompanied by terrible agonies that culminate in "chevlei mashiach", pangs of the Messiah, that finally bring the redemption. This is certainly not the place to go into great detail concerning this or the general outline and discussion of the overview of the redemption. (That is part of my new sefer which will be hopefully out, in Hebrew and for scholars, in a year.) Nevertheless, a general understanding of the era of the redemption and the battle of Gog is not only important but essential for us in order to save our people and ourselves.
The above rule is enunciated a number of times by our Rabbis. Thus, in Sanhedrin 98a, we find: "Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi brought down the following contradiction: It says (in the verse in Isaiah 60): 'in its time will I hurry it [the redemption]' - 'in its time' and it says 'I will hurry it.' (i.e. how is it possible for a thing that has a "time", a definite and fixed time, to be hurried?) But if they [Israel] merit it - it will be hurried; if they do not merit it - it will be only 'in its time.'" And the Rabbis (ibid) continue and bring down yet another contradiction. "It says (Daniel 7): 'And behold there came with the clouds of heaven one like unto a son of man', and it says (Zecharia 9) 'lowly and riding upon a donkey.' If they merit it - it [the redemption] will be 'with the clouds of heaven,' if they do not merit it - only 'lowly and riding upon a donkey.'"
And in Sanhedrin 97b, a discussion between Rabbi Eliezar and Rabbi Yehoshua is brought down. "Rabbi Eliezar says: If Israel repents, they will be redeemed and if not, they will not be. Rabbi Yehoshua says: If they do not repent, they will not be redeemed but the Almighty sets up against them a king whose decrees are as bitter as those of Haman and because of that they repent and return to good." And clearly the meaning of R. Yehoshua is that the repentance will not come because Israel really returns, but out of terrible fear and a sense of hopelessness in the face of isolation and as the Rabbis say (Sanhedrin 97a) concerning the verse in Dvarim 32: "‘When He seeth that their power is gone and there is none to help, they are blocked and forsaken,’ The son of David will not come until Israel loses hope of redemption, as it is said, 'When he seeth that their power is gone…' as if to say, there is no one to support or aid them."
And, indeed, similarly, concerning the verse (Jeremiah 3): "Return backsliding children, saith the Lord, for I have lorded over you," the Rabbis say (Yuma 86a): "This speaks of [redemption] through suffering".
And concerning the difference between R. Yehoshua and R. Eliezar, the Talmud (Sanhedrin 98a) concludes with R. Yehoshua bringing proof from a verse for his position and concludes "And R. Eliezar was silent" (i.e. accepted R. Yehoshua's view).
And so, the rule is clear: The redemption comes in one of two ways, one magnificently and the other terrible prior suffering and all is dependent on whether the Jews repent and thus deserve the redemption based on their own merits or not. (And the reason for a redemption that is undeserved is one that over the years we have brought down continually, i.e. in order for the Almighty to sanctify His name that was defiled daily by the very existence of an exile that sees Jews not only massacred and persecuted but forced to live under the tolerance and sovereignty of the gentiles.)
To our sorrow and because of our sins we did not merit the redemption of the swift and glorious duration and so the redemption of "in its time" is upon us, that of which the Rabbis said (Sanhedrin 98b): "Let it come but I do not want to see it…"
And the time is now and we are beginning to see not only the first buds of redemption but the first taste of the terrible sorrow that precedes it. And the Rabbis tell us (Avoda Zara 9a): "The world will be six thousand years. Two thousand - of anarchy [without Torah]; two thousand - of Torah; two thousand - the days of the Messiah. And because of our many sins, of the two thousand (when the Messiah could have come at any time, even from the beginning) there have already come and gone all the years that came and went."
The horrors of redemption that comes about not through our merit but in spite of it, are alluded to in the Talmud:
"In the generation in which the Son of David will come, there will be a diminishing of scholars, and those who remain will see agony and sorrow, and great troubles and harsh decrees will be renewed; before the first passes, the next shall come" (Sandhedrin, 97a).
"If you see a generation with troubles that come upon it as a river, wait for him [the Messiah]…" (ibid 98a).
"In the footsteps of the Messiah, brazenness will spread and value will be debased; the vine will give its fruit in plenty and wine will still be dear and none will admonish; the house of gathering of scholars will become harlotry; the Galilee will be destroyed and the people of the borders will wander from town to town and none will have mercy on them; the wisdom of the scribes will be despised and pious men scorned and the truth will be absent and the face of the generation will be as that of the dog; the young will shame the elderly and the great will have to stand before the small; the son will deal obscenely with his father and the daughter shall rise against her mother and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and the members of his household will be a man's enemies… And upon whom can we rely? Only on our Father in Heaven…"
"The Son of David shall not come until the informers shall multiply… until the kingdom shall all become deniers (of Torah)… until they despair of being redeemed" (Ibid 97a).
"The Son of David will not come until the [evil] kingdom shall conquer Israel for nine months" (Ibid 98b). Which led Ulla and Rabba to say: "Let him come and let me not see it" (Ibid).
This is the horror of a redemption that comes despite our sins - and the gathering up of the nations against the Land of Israel, which will be the battle of Gog, will be in any event. But were Israel to be worthy of redemption, then the battle and the glorious victory over Gog and the nations will be swift and majestic, with Israel saved from the travails of the Messiah. On the other hand, if Israel is not worthy - let him come but…
The battle of Gog coming up with the nations and hosts of armies against the Land of Israel, as foretold by the Prophets and the Rabbis, is the climatic final part of the final redemption. It is a thing that must be, whether the redemption comes swiftly and gloriously or with terrible agonies. Gog will be brought there, enticed by the will and desire of G-d, as the ultimate attack upon and desecration of the Lord, G-d of Israel, through the humiliation of His people, Israel. He will be brought there for the purpose of the ultimate, incredible glorious, breathtaking destruction of the armies of the nations by the Almighty, of their arrogance, as a prelude to the entire world bowing in awe and fear before the Almighty, the G-d of Israel, and accepting His sovereignty.
"Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal; and I will turn thee about and put hooks into thy jaws and I will bring thee forth and all thine army… Persia, Cush and Put among them, all with shield and helmet; Gomer and all his bands; the house of Togarmah in the uttermost parts of the north and all his bands; even many peoples with thee… in the latter years thou shalt come against the land that is brought back from the sword, that is gathered out of many peoples, against the mountains of Israel."
How that battle will play itself out depends upon us. If we deserve it and merit it through our deeds and our deep faith in G-d as manifested by actions that defy the gentiles and are rooted in total trust in Him, then the battle will be swift, glorious and the destruction and collapse and humiliation of the nations, total and complete. If not, if we do not merit it, because of our stiff-necked and stubborn refusal to accept the yoke of Heaven, then, in the words of our Rabbis: "The Son of David will not come until the [evil] kingdom will conquer Israel for nine months" (Sanhedrin 98b). And in the words of the Prophet (Zacharia 14): "And I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women ravished…" The choice is ours.
The Almighty, in His infinite mercy, gives the Jew, time and time again, a grace period, another and another opportunity to repent. Each time period that lapses, however, without repentance, moves history further down the final path of the redemption with horrors. And that is what Kuwait and Iraq and the entire incredible and stupefying spectacle of the nations of the world moving their armies but a stone's throw from the Land of Israel means. The final war of Gog and the nations going up against Israel moves a giant step forward - and we still see and understand nothing.
The un-Jewish Jew, the secularized and Hellenized and gentilized "step-son" of Abraham, who looks at all with the eye of the denier and scoffer, for whom G-d is an absolute stranger in the halls of political, military, economic and historical events, is cursed with the tunnel vision of all horses and donkeys with blinders. The thought that everything that is happening in the Gulf and the Middle East is only because of Jewry and that, indeed, everything that happens in world affairs is only because of the Jew, is so foreign and, indeed, tribalistic and "racist" to him, that it never trespasses his barren mind.
And so everything is looked at through geo-political lenses, and so few understand what it means! So many are overjoyed to see the United States facing an Arab enemy and so many echo the sad little man of little vision who is the Prime Minister of Israel as he issues declarations that "at last the whole world sees that the PLO and the Arabs do not want peace." And how happy we are and grateful and certain that this is all good for Israel and how Jews who are un-Jewish in their thinking can understand and see nothing!
By Rabbi Meir Kahane September - October, 1990 Kahane Magazine
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On Iraq And The Gulf Crisis Pt. 3: Isolation
Written by Rabbi Meir Kahane
For all practical and pragmatic Jews who look at world events through the spectacles of geo-political and socio-economic theory, let it be understood that - from that point of view - no matter what will be the result of the American-Iraqi confrontation, Israel loses. You think not? Consider.
Should the Americans fail to go all the way and crush Iraq, Saddam will emerge as a victor and Arab hero not known since the days of Saladin. Should the Americans not have the persistence and discipline to go all the way - and that is a distinct possibility given the condition of the American body politic and inability to take serious losses - then Saddam will emerge as the hero of the Arab masses from Morocco to the Gulf, a tiger whose appetite will be inflamed by his victory. Time is and will be even more on his side, as the Iraqi march to nuclear and ever-more deadly chemical and biological weapons goes forward. For that is the real threat of Iraq. Not the takeover of Kuwait oil or even of Saudi fields, but the inevitable (should he not be crushed) acquisition of weapons of total destruction. Stopping him from invading Saudi or Jordan or the Emirates is totally irrelevant to this, the real threat. And once having it, little will prevent him from giving a "baby" nuclear weapon or two to the terrorists of the PLO.
Should the Americans, on the other hand, succeed in crushing Saddam, let it be known that it will have been done under the umbrella of a multi-national force that saw Syrians, Egyptians and other Arabs fighting at the side of the United States force. It will be the precedent for such a multi-national force pressuring Israel to retreat from territories of Judea-Samaria-Gaza. Those Arab states who fought against Iraq will tell Washington: "We fought against our own brothers for you; now you owe it to us to save our Arab credentials by stopping Israeli aggression, too." You think that Bush and Baker, who are hostile to Israel in any event, will not agree? Do you think that the same economic embargo that was called against Iraq will not be used against Israel? Is there anyone who does not understand that U.S. weapons for "friendly" Arab states can no longer be stopped and that AIPAC's sun is setting? Is there anyone who believes that the United States, in crushing Saddam, the darling of the Arab masses, will not try to save its reputation in the Arab world by showing "even-handedness" against Israel?
More. American and Israeli interests are not the same; far from it. American and Israeli interests differ enormously; indeed, they clash. Not only is the long-term American interest to remain on good relations with "moderate" Arab states, but the short-term interest - not to bomb the Iraqi strategic and top-secret centers lest American hostages there are killed - totally contradicts the Israeli need to destroy those centers before they become places of mass destruction against Israel. Will Israel refrain from bombing targets that threaten its very existence because American lives are at stake? Knowing Arens and Shamir, what would you say?
Of course, Israel cannot win in any secular, "practical" event, for that is what the Almighty decrees. He will never bring redemption to a Jewish people that has not returned to Him and His law except through the creation of the conditions that create the foundations of the redemption: Isolation; Israel alone and without allies; Israel with no one to turn to except G-d.
"The exiles shall not be gathered in except through the merit of faith in G-d." Thus, says the Mechilta in Beshalach. And I repeat again what the Rabbis say:
"When he seeth that their power is gone and there is none to help, they are blocked and forsaken…" (Dvarim 32). "The Son of David will not come until Israel loses hope of redemption as it is said, ‘When he seeth that their power is gone…’ as if to say, 'there is no one to support or aid them.'"
As long as Jews have even one supposed ally, they will always believe that it was that ally that enabled them to overcome and survive. Thus was it with France in the ‘50s and for the last 20 years with the United States. Never was G-d seen as the One who saved Israel. A people of little faith never looked to Heaven and never credited it with salvation. And so, the redemption cannot come without true faith in G-d, for that is the heart of repentance; and even those who are practitioners of Jewish ritual but people of little faith, always looking to the nations, cannot save the Jews.
The Jew must be alone. He must be isolated. That was, from time immemorial, the demand and command of G-d. "Am l'vadad yishkon", a people that dwells alone (BaMidbar 23). And: "And Israel dwelleth in safety, the fountain of Jacob alone" (Dvarim 34).
Only a Jewish people that is alone, with no allies, will perforce turn to Heaven. It will then have to turn to Heaven. If it does so willingly, the redemption will come swiftly and with joy. If the Jew eagerly and with total faith turns from the gentiles and looks to G-d, the Messiah comes "today, if you will but hearken to My voice." If the Jew refuses and in his tiny lack of faith clings to the gentiles, the nations, then his allies will rip him away from them as they turn on him, and the isolation will come anyway - but because we did not seek it ourselves, only with terrible punishment.
This is how the Jew, the authentic Jew, looks at the crisis in the Middle East. The others will continue to wallow in their gentilized delusions and bring down tragedy on all of us.
By Rabbi Meir Kahane September - October, 1990 Kahane Magazine
Topic: Coming back to real, authentic, fundamental Judaism by Rabbi Kahane - part 1 (Read 404 times)