Rabbi Kahane's Last Articles "Numbers 23:9"

RABBI KAHANE’S LAST ARTICLES

Rabbi Meir Kahane, may G-d avenge his blood, wrote weekly columns for over 20 years for The Jewish Press.  Below is a copy of one of his last articles which appeared in The Jewish Press. His final thoughts to all of us 

Numbers 23:9
“Lo, it is a people that shall dwell alone and not be reckoned among the nations” (Numbers 23:9)

Numbers 23:9.  The reality; the reality of Israel against the world.  The reality that is so terrifying to so many; the reality that cannot go away – for upon it is based all of Judaism

 

I ponder the phenomenon of synagogues – including Orthodox ones – that incredibly ban me from speaking, that, in effect, have declared a view of halachic a of a rabbi and talmid chacham as banned from the synagogue.  And the words of the Prophets acquire new and real meaning for me; words spoken by seers and visionaries of broken hearts, who proclaimed in their hurt: “They hate him that rebuketh in the gate and abhor him that speaketh uprightly” (Amos 5).  And: “And I raised up from among your sons, prophets, and from your young men, Nazarities … but you gave the Nazarities wine to drink and commanded the prophets,  saying: ‘Prophecy  not’” (Amos 2).  And: “For it is a rebellious people, children who lie, children who will not hear the Law of the L-rd.  Who say to the seers:  ‘See not!’ Who say to the visionaries: ‘Envision not, unto us correct things, speak unto us smooth things envision deceit.’” (Isaiah 30)  

 

And so they invite the delusions and the deceit of the leaders who speak to them that which they wish to hear, and the prophet weeps and cries out: “Peace, peace and there is no peace…”

 You think it pleasant to speak painful truths that cause pain to those who refuse to listen and who then react with pain and hate against the one who speaks?  You think it is tranquil to be the messenger that brings forth the reaction, “Kill the messenger?”  You think it is comfortable to be the one who compels the blind to see and the deaf to listen – because a Jew is compelled and commanded to love Jews – even those who defame and smear and destroy him?  Hardly.  But that is the decree and that is the statute of love of Jews.  And that, too, is the days of yore and there is nothing new under the sun; “Hear, ye deaf, and look, ye blind – that ye may see.  Who is blind but My servant, or deaf as My messenger I sent?  Who is blind … as the L-rd’s servant?  Seeing many things but thou observes not, opening the ears but none heareth…  Who among you will give ear to this?  Who will hearken and hear for the time come?” (Isaiah 42).  And: “We wait for light – and behold darkness, for brightness and we walk in blackness.  We grope for the wall like the blind, as if we had no eyes, we grope; we stumble at noon day as in the night….”

But though we refuse to see and hear, and though we shut out the messenger – the voice will cry out, causing pain because it itself is in pain, pain for a people that refuses to be chosen and climb the mountain.

For those who wish to see and who refuse to blind themselves to reality, it is clear that two fundamental processes are, today, unfolding for the Jewish people.

 

One: Events in the Middle East are leading to inexorable international pressure on Israel to make terrible, mad concessions.  The “new world order” of which George Bush speaks will bring together the nations of the world – east and west, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., Moslem and Christian – to try to impose tragedy on the Jewish state and people.

Two:  Events in the Middle East are joining together with the galloping economic collapse and unraveling of the social fabric in the United States to create a political explosion and horror that will bring anti-Semitism and tragedy upon the American Jew to a degree beyond his worst fears.

For those secular Jews and all the ones of little faith who perceive the Jewish people and state as similar to all the others, of course, the obvious and growing isolation of Israel and the clear and present danger to its very existence are terrifying.  To such people, the fear of losing allies and especially the United States is frightening.  To them, there is nothing more important than Israel’s pursuing policies that will not incur the wrath of America and the world.  To them, Israel cannot exist without the support of the United States and the Western world.

For those secular Jews and all the ones of little faith who see the Jewish people in “practical” and “realistic” terms of realpolitik, the U. S. and the West are seen as home and heritage and future.  There is nothing more frightening to them than the thought of a tidal wave of anti-Semitism that would threaten their lives there.  To them, the fight for the preservation of Jewish life in the exile is the most important thing on their national agenda.

But for the Jews of authentic, classical Judaism it is clear that the birth and future and destiny of the Jew and his State are based precisely on isolation and on a Jewish State in which live all the Jewish people; that faith in the G-d of Israel (and, of course, Jewish strength based on that faith) is the only hope of the Jew and his State; that fear of the world and reliance on the nations and allies are not only illusions and delusions but, worse, a desecration of the name of G-d and a declaration that it is not He but human beings who hold our fate in the balance; that the gathering together of nations against Israel and the ultimate collapse of Jewish life in the exile are things that are sadly immutable.

 From the birth of the Jewish religio-nation, a number of divine iron laws of history were decreed for the Jew, nation and state:  

 

1.      The Jewish people were selected by G-d to be His unique, chosen and holy people from all the nations on earth.

2.      This special chosen-ness imposed upon the Jew, the obligation to accept the yoke of heaven – the laws and commandments of Torah along with the immutable consequences:  Acceptance of the obligation would lead to glorious and majestic redemption, while refusal must lead to punishment and tragedy.  There is no escape from this iron law of Judaism

3.      The Jewish people are a people that dwells alone, separate and isolated from the nations and it is the Almighty alone who is their Redeemer and Savior – when they are deserving of it.  Those who fear the nations and look to them for salvation are swamped by delusion and lack of faith in the G-d of Israel.  For real faith in Him means that He is stronger than both Baghdad and Washington; that He is the Decreer and Decider of history; that if the Jew looks to Him and does His will, then and only then will the Jew be spared the tragedy that looms; that Israel must look to its own interests without fear of what the nations will say.

4.      The exile – all the lands that lie outside the Land of Israel – can never be anything more than ultimate punishment and suffering for the Jew.  It can never be aught but tragedy for a Jewish people commanded to dwell alone.  It is not the futile fight against tidal wave of hatred of the Jew – the inevitable product of the coming U.S. socio-economic collapse – that should be the main item on the American Jewish agenda,, but rather the return home, to the Land of Israel, where the Jew must dwell alone, that should obsess us.

5.       And above all, let it never be forgotten:  It is precisely the isolation of the Jew and his ultimate aloneness, without allies or gentile support that is the key to Jewish redemption in this final era of redemption.  It is precisely the apparent hopelessness and impossibility of Jewish survival in isolation that will most prove the Omnipotence and Kingship of the G-d of Israel.

Faith in the G-d of Israel, and not trust in the nations of the world.  An end to pleading for American economic aid that, on the one hand, causes Israel to tremble lest it anger Washington and thus threaten both its alms and arms, and that also leads the Jewish state to refrain from following the normal, logical and sane policies that are its own interest.  And leaving the lands of the exile, the ultimate lands of tragedy for the Jew – to come home and to be a nation that shall indeed dwell alone, fearing

G-d and not the nations.  That is the Jewish way.  That is the only way.

“Lo, it is a people that shall dwell alone and not be reckoned among the nations.”

Indeed, how tempting and deductive to say those pleasant and soothing things that the public and masses would like to hear; that the Jewish leaders mouth in sterility and emptiness, to the detriment of our people.  But the iron law of Judaism is immutable – “if you walk in My statues” or, “and if you shall reject my statues…”  

 If you did not receive this article personally and would like to be on my weekly Rabbi Meir Kahane article e-mail list, contact me at: BarbaraAndChaim@gmail.com

 

To view previously sent articles by Rabbi Kahane go to:

 www.barbaraginsberg-barbara.blogspot.com

 View MK Michael Ben-Ari a student of Rabbi Kahane, actions and words at:

www.mkmichaelben-ari.blogspot.com