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…”
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View MK Michael Ben-Ari a student of Rabbi Kahane, actions and
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