Is there no limit to secularism? Is there no stop to the deterioration of Judaism? We are not surprised by the tumble of the spiteful minority, those who are knowingly heretical, into the area of a crash and the pit of suicide. But the ignorant many follow them like lemmings, the secular society which is striding toward the abyss, forces us to cry out, "Brothers, repent!"
This is the way of secularism, resting on "anti-," opposition, saying no: this is the fate of a society which has no values of its own, none, nothing. When it falls, it fall into nothingness.
We remember, as members of the "older generation," growing up in the State of Israel and being proud of its independence and amazed at its success. When we were religious youths at the margins of "active Zionism," taking pride in its accomplishments, our elders whispered in our ears, "Good boys. But don't get carried away. One day there will be an Arab minister and an Arab member of Knesset will sit on the Foreign Affairs and Defense committee…" They added, "There will even come a day when the presidency will rotate between a Jew and an Arab."
Our fathers saw it correctly, because they looked deep into the source and were wise and sharp enough to see the unavoidable results of developments in secular society.
Symbolism, more than anything else in the life of a country and of a nation, is so fundamental and real that it inspires zealotry. The flag and the pageantry don't actually mean anything, but their symbolism elevates them into something worth dying for.
Having Arabs sitting on the Foreign Affairs and Defense committee does not present a security risk to the State of Israel. Every beginning journalist knows more about issues of foreign affairs and defense than the Knesset members who are not members of Foreign Affairs and Defense sub-committees. Even if an Arab MK were elected chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense committee it would make not one whit of difference in the lives of the average citizens. Even the appointment of an Arab president wouldn't disturb the tranquility of the average citizen.
But the symbolism, the ideological and conceptual portentousness of the choice, has halted the Arabization of Israel at the governmental level and loaned an ethical, or anti-ethical, aspect to the entire issue.
We have nothing against our Arab neighbors as citizens. We lived amongst the gentiles during the Diaspora and patiently waited for the coming redemption, we lived for many years with Arabs in the Land of Israel and waited for the approaching redemption. We passed the time doing everything we could to preserve the remnants of the Jews. Thus, we objected to political moves by Zionists which led to bloody wars. The opinion of Torah-true Judaism was clear. Every overture was to be made to the gentile so that we could live as Jews in every place, and pass the days of exile until the day of redemption came. That was one hand. On the other hand, we would refrain from any action which cause deliberate and pro-active provocation against the nations amongst whom we shelter.
The political and security conditions suggested by the Oslo Accords, for example, could have saved many lives -- had we implemented them long ago, as suggested by the Torah sages long before the secular denominations in our nation began persecuting, physically and socially, Torah-true Judaism. The words are etched in the annals of our people over the past century, and in each additional short period, with each additional political and social move, the spiritual vision of the lights of the last century becomes more clear as the Holy Spirit visiting them in their study halls.
It doesn’t bother us at all that an Arab citizen of Israel serves on the Foreign Affairs and Defense committee of the Israeli legislature. It creates no security risk, but this is not the place to explain why. His claim, from his point of view, is certainly correct: If he has the right to pass harsh laws or to prevent lenient laws, he certainly has the right to sit on the Foreign Affairs and Defense committee. Even the 'president' of the State of Israel could be an Arab. What does it matter to the citizens of Israel who their president is?
But here is where the state shows its true face, the same face as was revealed by our spiritual leaders when it Zionism first began. The state, the State of Israel, is not the "Jewish state." This is the headline of the Arab revolt against the state which is ushering in the second half-century of the state and shows the ideas of its founders and the values of its initiators.
This is what bothers us!
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Our steadfast and solid faith in all the words and acts of the Torah greats us the only guarantee of overcoming all the spiritual blocks and heretical hurdles. The wisdom is to believe in them and their words when one's eyes are closed, when the blinding light blurs the vision and the heart is thrilled by external ricochets. The challenge is to believe in them when our reason tells us otherwise, even when we seem to have upon what to rely!
The sages of Israel who did not follow Zionism but spoke highly of the settlement of the Holy Land, uncovered its true face even then, but the youth of Europe didn't understand what was wanted of them when the sages warned about secular Jews, even when they spoke the praises of "the land of Israel." We can imagine if a sage had risen then and warned that one day the Zionists would have an independent state with an Arab on its Foreign Affairs and Defense committee -- what would they have said?! Or if, when Zionism called for the sword and sickle, for "conquering the desert" and "redeeming the land" and mobilization for terror (which is what it really was until the establishment of the IDF, aside from guard duties) against the partition plan, some leader of the generation stood and warned against the day when the Zionists would give the Arabs a "Palestinian state" within the bounds of the Land of Israel, west of the Jordan River -- what would people have said about him?
But they did say, in a way which could have been accepted, in words which were reasonable, that the secular creation which the Zionist wished to give life in the Holy Land had foundations in a spirit of transgressing religious creed, was rooted in tearing Jews from their spiritual heritage, was based on legislating laws against the Torah, and in the end -- "a state of all its citizens." Not "a Jewish state," "the State of Israel," a state belonging to all citizens of the state; an Arab is also an "Israeli," as is a Thai and a Russian, a Ukrainian and a Romanian, a Filipino and an African. All are "Israeli," all have the right to elect and to be elected -- a state of all its citizens.
Now that we are aware of this unbelievable scenario, we are wise enough to say "Oh, how right were the Torah sages who warned us about this so long ago, who told us that this is how the state for which they spill so much blood would look. It's a shame that so very many of that generation left to join the bad culture of Zionism and did not heed the warnings of our rabbis and teachers. What a shame!"
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This teaches us a lesson in faith: Even those who left the camp of Torah thought they were smarter than the Torah sages. They stuck stubbornly to their reason and did not consider that faith in the sages is a shield against secular calamity, and that only those seep in and teaching Torah can truly lead us.
It is incumbent upon us all to once again warn, for the 1001st time, that the masses of our fellow Jews who have gone out to a bad culture did not leave religion in a single day; they did not cut off their payot and reject the Torah on a single stormy night. That is not what happened. It all began with a small crumb of doubt in the words of the sages, in the slightest shadow of a doubt about the "wisdom" of the Jewish leaders. The poison of heresy was absorbed in the limbs along with the smallest of questions about whether the Jewish sages "erred," that perhaps "activists told them"…
This is a lesson for all generations, and especially for our own! This is a lesson which each father and each mother, each teacher and leader, each older brother and sister, must know and place upon his or her heart. It is a frightening and chilling lesson. We must also mention the insolent journals which then flooded the Jewish street, which seemed utterly innocuous but hid the poison of doubting the simple and sacred faith in the sages. Bulletins which did not look like "bandages," which showed their split ("kosher") hooves so as to mislead the masses, sent shock waves belittling the faith in the sages and cool the ardor of following "in all that they command you" without second thought.
We should all learn a lesson and not be amongst those who scream for the past. When a child is exposed to the written word which his father read, and if when he grows he is found to be spiritually shaky, his family should not start placing blame without first checking whether they were warned against bringing a strange songbird into their home.
We have gone on at length in incidental comments about the terrible historical attempt which we must today adopt, but let us return to the limits of secularity, lest the failure of secularism turn out to be our fault. When our definitions moved on and our walls moved before us -- what could the secular say?
But beyond all else, we fear that the State of Israel is tumbling to a new nationalism, to a non-Jewish Israeli folkism. There are those amongst the secular who have already given this expression, and we have yet to see his words making an impression. Mr. Aryeh Naor, who served as secretary to the Begin government, said, "It is possible that future historians will see the beginning of the change to 'a state of all its citizens' as the peak of Zionism, since Zionism expanded the demographic boundaries of the Jewish nation, turning the longing for Israel into its dominant factor…to the point that it also included Israeli Arabs, and a new Israeli nation was formed."
This is exactly what the sages of Israel foresaw when they warned against a secular Zionist state. That there is no limit to secularism -- they foresaw with their holy spirits! And we, the Jews who guard the Judaism we have inherited, do not plan to cross the lines and become "a new Israeli nation." There's are limits in Judaism!
From: HaModia July 23, 1999