| Israel: The Great Light We Call Home The IDF has fought wars for Israel’s survival since the inception of the State. Syria, Lebanon, Jordon and other Nations who are in close proximity to Israel could have easily chosen to live in peace but chose war. Thousands of years ago Balak, the king of the Moabite nation, refused to let the Jews pass through his country peacefully AND he even hired someone (Bilaam) to destroy the Jews. The question is, why did Balak feel the need to annihilate the Jews? They weren’t a threat, on the contrary, G-d commanded them not to wage war with Moav, Balak’s country. The territory given to them was rightfully theirs, G-d told the Jewish people not to conquer the Moabites. So, once again, what was Balak afraid of? Is it possible that Balak wasn’t aware that the Jewish people were not allowed to invade his country? It’s not probable because when Moses asked for a safe passage through Moav; the first thing he mentioned in the ask was, don’t worry, we’re never allowed to attack you. We come in peace by G-d’s command. Let’s return to our question, if the Jews posed no threat to Balak, why did he want to eliminate them? Shem m’Shmuel (1855-1926) explains that Balak was not afraid of a military confrontation, he was afraid of the Jewish people getting to Israel. Why? There’s a major difference on how G-d deals with the Jews when they are in the desert as opposed to how He will deal with them in Israel. Right now, in the desert, they live in a spiritual vacuum. They have no physical needs, they don’t need to work for food, water, or shelter. Their clothes didn’t wear out and they didn’t even need to go to the bathroom. Everything is supernatural; they see the hand of G-d in a palpable way. They basked in the Shechinah, G-d’s ‘presence’ due to the manna, well of Miriam, and the protective clouds of glory, there was never before or after as clear a manifestation of the Almighty as it was to the generation in the dessert. But when the Jews enter the Land of Israel there will be significant changes. Moses will no longer be their leader, and they will have to fight to conquer the land and work hard for food, water, and shelter, and they will need a standing army to protect them. They will plant seeds and pray it will rain—nothing is guaranteed. If they want bread, they will have to plant, harvest, grind the wheat, and bake it. Balak thought, as long as the Jews live in a spiritual cocoon, their existence is not a reproach to my nation. Jews in the desert live a life of holiness and dedication, is that any reflection on my nation? No, Jews have manna, a miraculous well, and the protective clouds of glory, but we are people with real lives. We conduct business, foreign affairs, need a budget for military and other matters; we have real needs. G-d can’t expect too much of us because we’re too busy having to confront real problems in the real world. Balak was afraid of what would happen when the Jews entered the land and had to start farming, doing business, having an army, and all the other things necessary for a society. He understood that they would remain faithful to their relationship with G-d and would continue to be spiritual beings. It wouldn’t be the same as the desert, but it would be a life of commitment and purpose—a life of Torah and mitzvos—would still be crucial to them and they would pass that commitment on to their children. That is a reproach to all the nations of the world who were living corrupt and immoral lives.Rogue regimes were the way of the ancient world. Their argument was, you can’t function in the real world unless you overpower those weaker than you and remember to look out for number 1—your selfish self. The Jewish nation would be a negation of that. Balak’s fear was not that they would invade his nation, it was that they would create a special, holy, society in Israel. The nations will no longer have an excuse. In the past they could say to G-d, You can’t expect us to live a moral existence when we have all the burdens of life to deal with; the Jewish people in Israel would be a rebuttal of that false way of thinking. Therefore, Balak’s goal was to prevent the Jewish people from entering the land of Israel. Have things really changed? Israel is surrounded by rouge governments who have no regard for the lives of their own people. In Gaza, they put military bases in hospitals, in Israel, the hospitals take care of their enemies. In the countries surrounding Israel children are taught to hate and carry out acts of terror to civilians, in Israeli secular schools’ children are taught to be democratic and peaceful and in religious schools an additional message is conveyed, every human is created in the image of G-d and deserves to be treated with dignity. Golda Meir once said, “I have given instructions that I be informed every time one of our soldiers is killed, even if it is in the middle of the night. When President Nasser leaves instructions that he is to be awakened in the middle of the night if an Egyptian soldier is killed, there will be peace.” Israel’s neighbors harbor terrorists and facilitate their obtaining weapons to kill innocent people, whereas Israel sends highly trained rescue teams abroad to save innocent people when there is a natural disaster. We are a unique people living on a special piece of land. The fact that a country the size of Vermont, without oil and other valuable resources, and has been under attack since its inception, has helped to transform the world into a better place through Nobel Prize winning innovations and maintain the only democracy in the region, is one of the greatest reproaches of some of the world’s nations.Countries that have natural resources, forests, lush beaches, and other natural amenities deprive their citizens of a safe and good life. Our existence as Jews in a Jewish state is a big advertisement to the world that against all odds you can be a guide for goodness and morality. If they hate us for that, we need to keep doing it and continue to bring more light into the world. |
