Concessions and Old Fish
The Rambam teaches us to accept truth from whoever gives it to us, even if it’s someone of a different political party or religious orientation than our own…
The editorial page of Breslev Israel's English website, 2009
The Torah is Hashem’s light. Just as Hashem is eternal, so are the words of Torah eternal. By the same token, the more a leader or scholar clings to Torah and devotes his life to learning Torah and to fulfilling all of its commandments, the more his teachings are far reaching and relevant to subsequent generations.
The Rambam teaches us (Introduction to the Mishna) to accept truth from whoever gives it to us. Many people refuse to hear the truth if it is told to them by someone of a different political party or religious orientation than their own.
For example, the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s forewarnings about what would happen if Israel succumbs to international pressure and/or makes concessions to our hostile neighbors have materialized to the letter. The Lubavitcher Rebbe was a true tzaddik, and we as Breslever Chassidim connect ourselves to all of the true tzaddikim. A number of readers with anti-Chabad leanings have written us irate letters for reprinting the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s teachings. We answered them by saying that they don’t have to sing Chabad melodies or make Shabbat-morning Kiddush on a glass of Smirnoff, but they can’t deny the truth.
Politicians with no connection to Torah lack an understanding about Israel’s task in the world, and where it should be heading. Also, their decisions often have nothing to do with the welfare of the Jewish People and the Land of Israel in the long run. International pressure and short-term comforts and convenience frequently cloud their judgment. Today’s mistakes will have to be corrected tomorrow. Today’s convenience is tomorrow’s suffering. When outcries protesting the infamous disengagement from Jewish Gaza warned that Grad missiles would fall in Ashdod and Ashkelon, the convenience seekers scoffed. In retrospect, it’s today obvious who was right.
When I was a student at the University of Maryland in the late 1960’s, a proud Jew with a star of David on my black-leather motorcycle jacket but light years away from Torah and teshuva, a young rabbi from New York City came down to our campus and spoke to our group of “Jewish Students for Israel.” He pulled me aside, put a loving arm around my shoulder, and blessed me that someday I’d live a life of total commitment to Hashem. I never met such a warm, caring, and sincere Rabbi. He didn’t preach about anything except assimilation, which he called a victory for Hitler. He encouraged us to take pride in our Jewish identity and to learn more about ourselves. He told us to be honest and upright citizens and to be a credit to our people.
Just a few days ago, I received the following letter that was written by the above-mentioned rabbi, of blessed and martyred memory:
Many times I have spoken of the Talmudic parable of the king, his servant, and the fish. Never was it more apt.
Once there was a king who sent his servant to buy a fish. The servant returned with a fish that stank. In fury the king gave the servant a choice of three punishments: "Eat the fish, get whipped for the fish, or pay for the fish." In common with most people, the servant chose not to reach into his pocket and he decided to eat the stinking fish but after two bites the stench made him give up and he decided to get whipped for it. The pain of the lashes, however, made him stop that, too, and he cried out, "I will pay for the fish!" And so the fool ate the fish, got whipped for the fish and, in the end, had to pay for it, anyhow. Those in Israel and without, who refuse to understand that nothing will deter America from demanding that Israel make the maximum concessions, play the same fool. Those who do not understand that there is nothing that Israel can possibly do, that there are no compromises it can make, that there is nothing short of full retreat to the 1967 borders that will satisfy the United States – are the same fools as the servant who ate, got whipped and in the end had to pay anyhow.
Their refusal to make the difficult choice of telling the Americans "no", now, at this moment, will see them making the retreats they hope will avert American anger; it will see this effort fail even as the frontier moves from its present lines within the Arab heartland to new ones close to the Jewish cities; and most important, the Americans will make the same demands they always have envisioned since the days of the Rogers Plan-total Israeli withdrawal. And since this is a thing that not even the most dovish of Israelis will agree to, the result will be an ultimate Israeli firm "no," an ultimate American anger of the kind all men of "new initiative" propose to avert today by compromise, and exactly the same conditions of confrontation that would come anyhow if the Israelis said their "no" today. There would be one great difference, however, a "no" today will bring the crisis while Israel stands poised near the Arab capitals. A "no" tomorrow, after all the hapless and confused compromises and "initiatives," will bring the same crisis near Tel Aviv, Beersheva and Netanya.
This is what happens when foolish and confused Israelis, by refusing to pay the price of saying "no" to the stinking fish of pressure, attempt to eat it, submit to getting beaten over it and then learn to their dismay that there is no escape from the difficult decision that they should have made in the first place.
Let the Israeli government, its men of "new initiative" and the Jewish leaders in America understand several basic axioms:
1) America is committed to the world's interpretation of Security Council Resolution 242, i.e. Israeli withdrawal from all (but insignificant) parts of the lands of 1967. This includes the Golan Heights, Gaza, the entire West bank and the entire Sinai as well as changing Jerusalem's present Jewish sovereignty status.
2) American interests lie, in the minds of most officials in Washington, with Arab oil, the huge potential Arab market and with supplanting Soviet influence with American. This means, at best, an "even-handed" policy rather than a pro-Israeli one.
3) America is moving steadily to recognition of the "Palestinians" as a people and of whomever they decide to have as their leaders. Those leaders are clearly the PLO and already the move to "moderate" the PLO, "public-relations-wise" is underway so that Washington can more easily pressure Israel into recognizing them.
4) The [incoming] administration is determined to prevent stagnation and will pressure Israel into concession after concession.
5) No administration will go to war for Israel and no administration will continue the present aid level no matter what Israel does or concedes. The frantic search for human allies will end as unsuccessfully as those Jews in the past who forgot what faith in the Jewish G-d was and who turned to Egypt or Assyria or other "allies" for help, only to learn to their dismay that the allies betrayed them.
Stinking fish are not made to be eaten or to get whipped for. One must have the courage to look at the truth and pay the bitter price of honesty. America is tired of the Israeli nuisance and wishes it would eat the fish already. The time to loudly proclaim "no" is now.
Meir Kahane, 1976
Rebbe Kahane became a martyr when an Arab assassin’s bullet put an end to his life. Say what you like, but like the Rambam tells us, “Accept truth from wherever you hear it.” One can argue with Rabbi Kahane’s outlook or methodology, but his words said 33 years ago are painfully relevant today. May Hashem give us the strength to do what’s right for our people and our country Israel, amen.
Tell us what you think!
Thank you for your comment!
It will be published after approval by the Editor.