OH JERUSALEM
On Wednesday we will celebrated the reunification of the city of Jerusalem. Many Religious Zionist schools danced and praised Hashem while some secular schools cursed the day we occupied Palestinian Jerusalem, and some of the Chareidi sect watched with total indifference at best, and scorn at worst. 
How long can this situation continue? Do we really deserve to live in an era in which Jews can freely pray at the Wailing Wall and yet have a total lack of appreciation? We are living in an era in whichsoldiers belonging to the Jewish faith are responsible for the safety and security of their own nation. Yet we complain, we hate, we have finally come home but can’t figure out how to get along!
Can this possibly be the beginning of messianic days? Is it possible that Jews who are not observant are the tools that G-d is using to start the redemption process? An army who’s high ranking officers do not keep many of the Torah laws; can we rely on them to help protect Am Yisrael? A new generation is being educated in Israel, they speak the Hebrew language and yet can’t say Shema Yisrael without stuttering, is this a sign of Messianic days?
Well it all depends on whether you look at the world with a shade of black or perhaps you have the ability to see the white light. I do not believe there is a single G-d fearing Jew who believes we have made it to the final Geula. However to deny the obvious signs is at best silly or at worst a blemish of KFUY TOVAH, ungratefulness to Hashem.
For the first time in two thousand years, there is more Torah being studied and books being written in Eretz Yisrael than ever before! We are witnessing what our sages taught is a clear sign of the Geula, the gathering of Jews from all four corners of the earth;Ethiopia, Russia, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, USA, England, Australia and more! Marriages between Ashkenazi and Sephardic or Yemenite couples are proof and witness to the modern day Kibbutz Galuyot.
The teshuva movement has taken off like never before. Jews who are completely disconnected are finding themselves on the many Jewish roots seminars in Israel. Perhaps the most unbelievable imaginable occurrence came about when the nations of the world themselves voted and gave the Jews a right to rebuild, after two thousand years, a religious, national Jewish homeland in the Land of Israel!
While many would like to color the obvious beginning of redemptions black, the truth is that more than 50% of officers in the Israeli defense forces are religious! The army is indeed a Jewish one. The IDF is shomer Shabbat and therefore does not allow any army exercises to take place on Shabbat or chagim! Military cooks by law must abide by Jewish dietary laws! On Holidays and Shabbat it is common to find a Minyan in any army base made up of all Jews. Soldiers who abide by a chareidi way of life are given special units as well as meals so that they can continue to abide by their customs and at the same time contribute to the safety of Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael.
While there are those who laugh at the Israeli flag and call it a sign of idolatry they forget that the flags colors were picked in order tosymbolize and remember the Techelet on Tzizit! A totally secular Jew picked colors because they symbolize the garment we wear that reminds us of our Jewish duties! It is really not that hard to see the good here! It just depends on whether you want to see it!
In order to cause Shalom Bayit, the State of Israel had allowed the brightest students t
o be excused from army service on the condition they spend all their time learning, Does this sound like an anti Jewish State to you?!
Why did G-d pick Ben Gurion? Ask G-d!
Perhaps we, the religious, became so used to and comfortable with our lives in Galut, our dream to return to the Land of Israel was limited to words of prayer alone. Per
haps it wasn’t G-d who picked Ben Gurion but rather it was us, the religious, who did not stand up and see the sign that it was time to come home! The fact that people who were less observant were the ones to start the process should not be a blemish on the movement but rather a symbol of shame to the religious.
Yes, there are Jews who are not observant and there are many problems in Israel today but do not forget that when we left Egypt we were on the lowest level of impurity and yet we dance and sing based only on the fact that we were freed. Torah is what has kept us alive for two thousand years of exile but do understand that when you, my Chareidi brother, make nasty remarks about our holy soldiers or even when you do not speak out against those who desecrate their memory by not standing during the siren or even the fact that your Yeshiva refuses to say a teffilah for the safety of our Chayalim, you are hurting people! You are causing tremendous pain to those who have sacrificed their own children, who are in constant danger, so that you can sit safely in your Yeshiva and learn.
Understand, my Chareidi brother, when you demonstrate hatred or negativity towards the State and in the same breath accept money from the State, money from taxes taken from hard working people who do NOT always agree with your way of life, you are causing a tremendous Chilul Hashem.
When the mobs of Chareidim who check their Etrogim with a magnifying glass learn to check their appreciation and love for their fellow Jew with same kind of awe and fear, the argument of the Geula will be totally irrelevant due to the fact that AhavatChinam will be bring the final Geula
While I am distanced from those who lead the masses, I scream to those Gedolim who stand as a lit torch for those who follow, please break your silence! Give instruction, teach cautiousness when it comes to insensitivity towards fellow Jews. Whileyou might not hear the screams and disrespect in your homes, while you yourself would never act in a way that would cause harm or embarrassment to anyone, while you may not see the hatred that is being both demonstrated and caused it exists, it is terrible and is being transgressed by those who say you are there representative!
To my non observant Jewish brothers and sisters, I understand your anger and frustration towards certain sects of Jews, However, you are Jewish! You survived two thousand years of exile and are lucky enough to witness the rebuilding or our homeland. Many of you lost family members and have paid the ultimate price of the rebuilding of our homeland. What for? Why are we here? Why is it that you are willing to put yourselves and your family in danger?
Things are not perfect, there is plenty we must do to improve The Rabbinate must learn to behave with warmth and stop collecting money for Kashrut on things like bleach. There are many Jews who dress as religiously pious people but their actions are not. There are plenty of things that must and can change BUT don’t judge Judaism by Jews! Do not throw out your two thousand year old tradition because of those who use it for deceit. We have survived two thousand years of exile and have finally come home, now is NOT the time to give up!
While It is important to you that every Jew living in Israel contribute to the physical survival of our small Jewish State, isn’t just as important that every Jew contribute to our spiritual survival as well ? It is embarrassing and totally insensitive when Jews continue walking as if nothing happened as the memorial siren wails on Yom Hazikaron, “DON”T THEY FEEL ANY CONNECTION?”
Why does it not bother you when Jews no longer remember to cry on the 9th day of av when women ate their young out of hunger and our temples were destroyed? Is it because of the time that went by? Don’t you believe in the motto “NEVER AGAIN”? Isn’t your insensitivity just as bad?
You, my Jewish brother, scream at the religious and ask, “Who gave you the right to monopolize Judaism” and at the same time keep your children ignorant when it comes to Torah study. After walking out of the flames of Europe or the shackles of Arab lands, after surviving and conserving our tradition for two thousand years in spite of our enemies, now is the time to enrich ourselves with our tradition, to strengthen our roots to show our enemies that they have not succeeded! No one has a monopoly and that is the reason you should embrace your tradition. If you distance yourselves from our tradition then it is you who is causing certain sects to claim they are the “real” Jews.
I have witnessed Jews celebrating Sylvester or even Valentine’s Day in Israel! Is this why we the Jews have survived 2000 years? What are you are celebrating? Do you understand the lack of connection, the embarrassment and insensitivity of Jews who celebrate holidays that caused your ancestors tremendous amounts of suffering death and pain? It has come to a point where more secular Jews celebrate the Christian New Year than those who keep Chag Shavuot! We have no present without our tradition and we have no future without you and every other member of the Jewish nation connecting to that tradition. Perhaps when you become emotional about your Jewish roots as you do about your Israeli roots it will be you who will bring the prophecy of peace unity into the realm of reality.
So come join the celebration, come daven, dance and rejoice in the fact that we have come home. After two thousand years of wishing, and praying, come show your gratitude to Hashem for allowing us to live in Jerusalem. Do not be impartial and do not scorn me. Put your arm around another Jew and feel the happiness in the reunification of Jerusalem. We have received a tremendous gift from Hashem!
Let us use our Jerusalem to unite the nation so that we will not argue about whether we are witnessing the beginning of redemption but rather experience total redemption.
