Why We Need Sheep Dogs

Here’s one of Aesop’s fables: One day, the wolves sent a delegation to the sheep and asked to make eternal peace with them. “The dogs are at fault for the conflict between us,” the wolves told the sheep. “They are the source of dispute. They bark at us, threaten us, and provoke us. Banish the dogs and there will be nothing to prevent eternal friendship and peace between us.” The foolish sheep believed this and banished the dogs. And so, without the protection the dogs used to offer, the sheep became easy prey for the wolves. -As quoted by Guy Bechor
at Ynetnews.com in his story A Middle Eastern Lesson

You can compress the fable into the sentence, "when one lives with wolves, keep dogs for protection". Bechor is using the fable to illustrate the need for Jews in the middle east, who live among many wolves, to keep "dogs". The primary "dog" kept for protection is the Land of Israel itself and of course, the Land's chief defense force, the IDF. Much of the world, such as the United States and the particularly the Obama administration, believe that the sheep should send away their dogs (the nationhood of Israel and the Israeli army) in order to ensure peace between sheep and wolves. However, if you've been paying attention to a number of terrorist events as I recorded them in a recent blog post, you can see that sending away the dogs is a very bad idea. Especially in light of the so-called unity pact forming between Hamas and Fatah as well as the emphasis that such a pact does not need to recognize Israel as a state. No, Israel needs to keep the dogs.

Bechor says what you'd expect him to say from his perspective, and I agree with him, but he did make one unexpected statement:

When one observes the fate of the Christians in the Middle East, one realizes what would have happened to the Jews had they been defeated, heaven forbid, or remained without protection. Christians are being butchered in states that experienced “democratic change” such as Iraq, Egypt and Tunisia; their churches are being burned, they’re prompted to escape, and their property is looted.

The Christians were misfortunate enough not to establish a state with a clear Christian identity, unlike the Jews. Naively, the Christians believed in partnership with other ethnicities, and now they’re paying the price – in Lebanon, where they’re becoming extinct, in the Palestinian Authority, and very soon in Syria as well.

Bechor amazingly compares Christians and Jews and more or less suggests a "Christian state" in the middle east as a means of protection. He compares the motives behind Zionism and Jewish statehood to what Christianity should have done in the middle east and, having "naively" assumed they (Christians) could live in peace among their Muslim neighbors, are now paying the price, even in so-called "democratic" Arab nations.

I recently read a commentary of Menachos 52 that re-enforced Bechor's point very successfully:

Shortly after the Holocaust, when Rav Yisrael Grossman, zt”l, paid a visit to the Abir Yaakov of Sadigura, zt”l, he was surprised to find him in an exceptionally joyous mood. When the rebbe noticed Rav Grossman’s surprise, he used a parable to explain why he was filled with joy despite the recent tragedy. “Imagine a poor Jew, beaten down and sickly, who has nowhere to even rest his head. If people have mercy and open their homes to him, he will surely be filled with boundless joy from gratitude.

“The Jewish people today are likened to this poor man. Although we endured such cruelty which resulted in the murder of millions of Jews, we must never lose sight of the positive. Now that we have entered Eretz Yisrael, which is our homeland, we are exactly like a poor displaced man who has finally found a home.”

He added, “You might argue that the spiritual level here is not exactly optimal. Nevertheless, the very fact that Hashem has brought us back home after such a tragedy is also enough to make us joyous!”

The Kaftor VaFerach, zt”l, learns the greatness of Eretz Yisrael from a statement on today’s daf. “The Midrash Rabbah explains that the verse (Bereshis 2:12) - 'the gold of that land was good,’ refers to the spiritual gold of Torah. ‘There is no Torah like the Torah of Eretz Yisrael and there is no wisdom like the wisdom of Eretz Yisrael.’ In Bava Basra (158b) we find that the very air of Eretz Yisrael imparts understanding of Torah. In Menachos we see that when Rav Avin told over a teaching to Rav Yirmiyah, his hearer criticized those who live in Bavel saying that they were fools who lived in a place of darkness. This is in contrast with Eretz Yisrael, whose very air is the breath of Hashem.”

Menachos 52
Stories off the Daf
The Land of Light and Wisdom

It's commentaries like this one that warms my heart and makes me long to visit the Holy City and to breathe the air, but this isn't an option for me for a number of reasons, not the least of which is financial. Some Christians, when they describe "going home" are talking about going to Heaven when the die. Other Christians believe that the Jews are just "holding" Israel for them and, when Jesus comes, the Jews will be marginalized, and all of the covenant promises involving Jews and the Land will be transferred to the Christians.

I don't believe that, but then, as a Christian, as Bechor points out we have no place to go. Or do we?

In Rabbi Hershel Brand's book On Eagles' Wings: Moshiach (Messiah), Redemption, and the World to Come, he makes his various points using a fictional conversation between a Rabbi and a young student. At one point, when the Rabbi is describing Gentiles in the world to come, the student is incredulous and asks if there will even be Gentiles in the world to come. The Rabbi answers in the affirmative and assures his student that there are actually some "righteous Gentiles" who have merited a place the world to come. Despite the book's generally anti-missionary tone and its less than Christian-friendly presentation, it's nice to know from Rabbi Brand's point of view, that a few of us will "make it".

But where do we Christians belong? Today, the Jews have a land: Israel. Although the rest of the world is fighting as hard as it (we) can to take it away from them and to exterminate the Jews once more (didn't we just finish commemorating Yom HaShoah?), the Land is God's and He gave it to the Children of Israel as their perpetual inheritance. Some say that, as grafted in non-Jews, we also have a stake in the physical land, but Israel isn't very big, even in terms of its Biblical borders, and it's hard to imagine the worldwide population of Christians and Jews (at least in today's world) being able to fit. Also, you have to examine the idea of whether or not Christians are "Israel" in the sense that Israel is Israel.

In any event, a Christian has as much chance of making aliyah (emigrating) to Israel today as a wolf does of winning a popularity contest among the sheep...that is to say, none.

Jews have a mandate to establish and maintain a Holy Land that goes all the way back to Abraham. Although all nations will be blessed through Abraham's offspring (Genesis 22:18), that blessing doesn't translate into an inheritance such as the one provided to Israel by God.

Gentile disciples are blessed through Abraham's seed, Jesus (Yeshua). As disciples of the Jewish Messiah, we have belonging to each other and to God and salvation in the world to come. As far as I can tell, we also have a part of this:

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. -Revelation 22:1-5

The wolves are savaging the Christian sheep in the middle east. They want to do the same to the Jewish sheep, but the Jews were smarter and built a strong pen for themselves (I can't help but be reminded of the three little pigs and houses made of straw, sticks, and bricks). God was the prompt for the Jews to build that pen. The rest of us have our individual nations and it would behoove the Christians in the middle east to find safe haven in countries that will not try to kill them. We don't have a "Christian nation" (America never was and it especially isn't in the current era). Assuming Revelation 22 includes the Gentile disciples of the Jewish Messiah as "his servants" then our inheritance, as such, isn't available in any tangible sense. Until the Messiah comes, we continue to live in the various nations of the world and to live inside our faith and our hope...and we continue to wait.

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark.

Zionist

Zionism (ציונות, Tsiyonut) is the national movement for the return of the Jewish people to their homeland and the resumption of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel, advocated, from its inception, tangible as well as spiritual aims. Jews of all persuasions, left and right, religious and secular, joined to form the Zionist movement and worked together toward these goals. Disagreements led to rifts, but ultimately, the common goal of a Jewish state in its ancient homeland was attained.

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I remember thee not; if I set not Jerusalem above my chiefest joy. -Psalm 137:5-6

I'm not Jewish. While there is disagreement in Christian and Messianic circles regarding Gentiles in the Messianic age, I don't automatically believe I have a physical inheritance over even one square inch of the Land of Israel. I've never visited Israel, though I wish I could, and I may not be able to in this lifetime.

Yet, for the sake of God's will and His promises to the Children of Israel, starting with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I fervently desire and support an Israel exclusively for the Jewish people.

The Lord said to Abram, Go forth from your native land and from your father's house to the land that I will show you.
I will make of you a great nation,
And I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you
And curse him that curses you;
And all the families of the earth
Shall bless themselves by you."
-Genesis 12:1-3 (JPS Tanakh)

This ancient promise of God has never been revoked or abandoned, regardless of what some churches, occasionally some synagogues, and especially what the Palestinians say about it. Why am I up in arms this morning?

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Friday night that in the future Palestinian state "there will be no Israeli presence."

While touring Ramallah, Abbas rejected the possibility that Israeli soldiers would remain stationed along the borders of the future Palestinian state or will be a part of an international force that will deploy there.

"We are prepared to move toward peace based on international resolutions, the Road Map and 1967 borders, but when a Palestinian state is established it will be empty of any Israeli presence," said the Palestinian leader.

"If a Palestinian state is established with Jerusalem as its capital, we will object to the presence of even one Israeli in its territory. This is our position," he said.

Ynetnews.com article: Abbas: No Israeli presence in future state

Even while thousands celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem in a Palestinian controlled area of Israel, Abbas continues to hack away his own slices of Israel, including Jerusalem, the City of David, for an Arab people who have no right to override the promises of God.

You may think that it's poor manners on my part to "get political", particularly on December 25th and especially on Shabbat, but as we all know, or should know, there's a lot more at stake.

With the current American administration throwing Israel under a bus and supporting the demands of the Palestinians to carve up the borders of Israel like a Christmas goose, it looks like the safety and security of Jewish Israel and the unity of Jerusalem is experiencing its greatest danger since the modern state of Israel was founded.

But then, I remind myself of this:

In the last days
the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established
as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
and peoples will stream to it.

Many nations will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the temple of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
He will judge between many peoples
and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
Everyone will sit under their own vine
and under their own fig tree,
and no one will make them afraid,
for the LORD Almighty has spoken.
All the nations may walk
in the name of their gods,
but we will walk in the name of the LORD
our God for ever and ever.
-Micah 4:1-5

Remember the former things, those of long ago;
I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me.
I make known the end from the beginning,
from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say, ‘My purpose will stand,
and I will do all that I please.’
From the east I summon a bird of prey;
from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose.
What I have said, that I will bring about;
what I have planned, that I will do.
Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted,
you who are now far from my righteousness.
I am bringing my righteousness near,
it is not far away;
and my salvation will not be delayed.
I will grant salvation to Zion,
my splendor to Israel.
-Isaiah 46:9-13

The Bible is replete with such promises of God to the Children of Israel and, as grim as many of the stories in the news may be, we must remember (yes, I must remember too) that events will become much worse before they get better and that God ultimately will fulfill His promises to the Jewish people and to the Land of Israel...and to the rest of us.

The Master said it this way:

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” -Luke 13:34-35

I read a news story a few days ago which quoted Rabbanit Tzivya Eliyahu, widow of former Sephardic Chief Rabbi (Rishon LeTziyon) Mordechai Eliyahu regarding Christmas and the Shabbat falling on the same day this year:

Jewish observance of the Sabbath day is a known way to bring the Messiah, she said. It is written in the Talmud that if the Jews were to observe two Sabbath days in a row, “they would be redeemed immediately,” she noted.

Each individual can make a difference, she said, “When I asked the rabbi, he always said that even just one extra person keeping the Sabbath day could tip the scales in favor of everyone.”

At times like this, I find faith in unexpected sources:

Spock: "History is replete with turning points, Lieutenant. You must have faith."
Valeris: "Faith?"
Spock: "That the universe will unfold as it should."
Valeris: "But is that logical? Surely we must....."
Spock: "Logic, logic, and logic..... Logic is the beginning of wisdom, Valeris, not the end."

The scene I just quoted was acted out between Leonard Nimoy and Kim Cattrall in the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). It seems to say that, while each of us should fulfill our role in the affairs of humanity and God and act in accordance to those roles, it's God, in the end, who brings about His will and who fulfills His promises as He has stated.

Abbas can make whatever proclamations about the "future state of Palestine" he wants, but it is God who will have the final word in everything. It's our job not to lose faith and, in keeping our faith, we gain everything.

Afterword, December 26th: Read this haaretz.com story this morning called Deputy FM: 'The state of Facebook' is more real than Palestine. Seems to be relevant to the theme of this blog post.