ISIS Threatens Israel, Who Cares? (must read)

“To find out why everybody blames us for everything from ISIS to Ebola, we need to look into our roots. Our own sources tell us over and over that our strength lies in our unity (…) Moreover we are told that we are chosen in the sense that we must project the light of unity to the world. (…) We have been entrusted with (the Golden Rule) not in order to keep it to ourselves, but to share it with the world. In this, we are a chosen people, and in nothing else.

According to our sages (…) the word “Israel,” comes from the Hebrew words, Li Rosh (“My Head,” or “I Have a Head”). They explain that all of humanity is a single system and Israel is its Rosh (head). This may sound condescending or presumptuous, but judging by the blatantly harsher standard by which the nations judge us, it is clear that they expect of us what they do not expect of any other nation. Like it or not, this makes us leaders by example, or in a word, the Rosh (…)

Just as the head in our body thinks, and the body executes, what Israel thinks, the world necessarily executes. This is a crucial point to understand—being the head, when Jews have bad thoughts about other Jews, they are reflected in bad deeds among the nations (…)

However it is not enough to be like everyone else. The world will simply not settle for it. We have to nurture and display exemplary connections among us that will inspire the world.

We change our connections by our actions. And because we are the Rosh, when the connections among us are fundamentally altered for the better, they will transform human connections throughout the human system. In this way we can drastically reduce, and eventually eliminate violence throughout the world, including such extreme elements as ISIS. And just as now the world blames us for the existence of ISIS, when we mend our connections, the world will praise us for creating beauty and love.”

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JERUSALEM POST

A few days ago, I.S.I.S chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, finally turned his death threats against Israel. Why finally? Because it’s been expected to happen for some time. In the war against ISIS, Israel is not like other countries. Other countries are perceived as victims of radical Islam. Israel is perceived as its perpetrator. Therefore, when ISIS sets its eyes on Israel, the world is more likely to let out a sigh of relief than a sigh of concern. Fortunately, Israel is the only country that can land ISIS a lethal blow.

On December 26, ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, released a message and video of a Hebrew speaking Jihadi militant warning that jihadists will soon come, take over Israel, and slaughter the Jews. I doubt that this has surprised anyone. Europe’s greatest fear today is of fundamentalist Islam, and many Europeans openly express their views that their problems are Israel’s fault. Swedish Foreign Minister, Margot Wallstrom, linked the November 13 Paris carnage with Israel’s handling of the Gaza strip, and so did the Dutch Socialist Party leader, Jan Marijnissen. In Germany, the mayor of Jena, Albrecht Schröter,accused Israel of responsibility for the Syrian refugee crisis and called on Germany’s foreign minister to “show less restraint” toward the Jewish state. And in Greece, remarks made in the Greek parliament accused Greek and American Jews of exacerbating the country’s financial crisis.

Perhaps the most noticeable example of the global mindset concerning Israel is the grossly one-sided media coverage of the recent wave of terrorism happening in Israel. Repeatedly, the terrorists are regarded as “attackers” or “assailants” but not as terrorists. Often, the number of casualties includes the terrorists themselves, and the media “forgets” to mention that the attackers were Arabs and that the victims were Israeli civilian Jews. Imagine the uproar if the headline of a respectable paper reported the San Bernardino massacre like this: “16 people die in gunfire episode in San Bernardino, California.” Or in traditional anti-Israeli media style: “Police shoot dead two people in San Bernardino, California. 14 others are hurt, as well.” This is not a mockery of the victims of that terrorist act; it is a presentation of the warped manner terrorist attacks in Israel are often presented in the global media, applied to a different event in a different country.

I am not even going to try to show how biased the UN is against Israel. It doesn’t do anything other than bash Israel and declare it as the world’s no. 1 criminal, guilty of every conceivable crime, from genocide to women’s rights (according to the UN, Israel treats women worse than Iran, Syria, and any other country in the world, really!). In short, we can describe the United Nations as an aggregate of nations fighting one another either actively, financially, or diplomatically, and united only by their condemnation and judgment of Israel. In light of all that, and in light of what I will write below, it is pretty safe  to say that whatever tragedy happens in the world tomorrow, the Jews will be blamed for it, and first and foremost, Israel.

However, I am the last person to argue that anti-Semites are benighted. Some are, but many others are well-educated people. Distinguished college professors and intellectuals throughout the US are bashing Israel senselessly. But why do otherwise sensible, enlightened people become almost blind fanatics when it comes to mentioning the word, “Israel”? Clearly, reason has nothing to do with it. It is all about feeling, an emotion that stems right from the gut, and which tells them that they are right when they blame Israel and the Jews for everything, even if they can’t explain it logically.

I don’t think they’re right; Jews aren’t natural born murderers, and every statistic in the world proves it. Jews donate per capita by far more than any other ethnic group, and for numerous causes, many, if not most of which have nothing to do with religion. Jews volunteer more and Israel helps more than any other country when a natural disaster occurs. In the April 25 earthquake in Nepal, the Israeli delegation of medical personnel was not only the largest, most active, and best equipped, but was almost three times larger than that of the second largest delegation, that of Taiwan.

To find out why everybody blames us for everything from ISIS to Ebola, we need to look into our roots. Our own sources tell us over and over that our strength lies in our unity. Moreover, everywhere, from the Gemarah, through The Book of Zohar, and down the line of great Jewish scholars, religious and secular alike, we are told that we are chosen in the sense that we must project the light of unity to the world. The Golden Rule that Mark Twain spoke of in his epic essay, “Concerning the Jews,” is none other than “love your neighbor as yourself.” We have been entrusted with it not in order to keep it to ourselves, but to share it with the world. In this, we are a chosen people, and in nothing else.

According to our sages, such as Rabbi Moshe Chaim Ephraim of Sudilkov, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, Rabbi Nathan Sternhartz, Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag, The Book of Zohar, and many other sources, the word, “Israel,” comes from the Hebrew words, Li Rosh (“My Head,” or “I Have a Head”). They explain that all of humanity is a single system and Israel is its Rosh (head). This may sound condescending or presumptuous, but judging by the blatantly harsher standard by which the nations judge us, it is clear that they expect of us what they do not expect of any other nation. Like it or not, this makes us leaders by example, or in a word, the Rosh.

Just as the head in our body thinks, and the body executes, what Israel thinks, the world necessarily executes. This is a crucial point to understand—being the head, when Jews have bad thoughts about other Jews, they are reflected in bad deeds among the nations. We do not feel it, but the nations still blame us for everything that’s wrong with their lives, because they sense (!) that we are causing it. Of course they cannot say how, or point to any specific action that we do, because we don’t do anything—we think it! As individuals, we are not worse than any other civilized nation. Our only problem is our connection, our attitude toward fellow members of the tribe.

However it is not enough to be like everyone else. The world will simply not settle for it. We have to nurture and display exemplary connections among us that will inspire the world. Now we can understand the gravity of the tenet, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This is why it is the general law of the Torah, as RASHI tells us, and encompasses all the laws.

However, we can change our connections. We can teach ourselves to care for one another and in this way change the fate of the world. Did you ever do something nice to someone, not out of adulation, but because you felt it was the right thing to do? For example, did you ever help a stranger’s child cross the street? How did you feel about that child after the fact? How did you feel before you did it? Or, did you ever help a stranger lift a heavy piece of furniture up to his flat? How did it make you feel toward him?

We change our connections by our actions. And because we are the Rosh, when the connections among us are fundamentally altered for the better, they will transform human connections throughout the human system. In this way we can drastically reduce, and eventually eliminate violence throughout the world, including such extreme elements as ISIS. And just as now the world blames us for the existence of ISIS, when we mend our connections, the world will praise us for creating beauty and love.

To conclude, the sooner we start doing good to one another, the sooner we will transform our feelings for each other, and the sooner the world will calm its wrath. When this happens, crises will end and anti-Semitism will vanish. It is the inexorable structure of our reality, so the sooner we start, the better it is for all.