bs"d
Torn Together (You can view it by visiting> http://tinyurl.com/csn7k ) shows Ahavas Chinom in the highest degree. It will be Ahavas Chinom that will bring the 3rd Beis Hamikdash. I wish to add a different dimension.
I remember reading that Hashem asked in what merit will my children be redeemed. He asked the Torah and the the Torah couldn't defend them. He asked the Avot and the Avot also couldn't defend them. He asked others. Finally it was Teshuva that came to their rescue, that was what was able to redeem them.
If you believe you can destroy, believe you can repair (Rav Nachman of Breslov)
(If you have a more accurate version of the above, please send it to me because I can't recall where I heard or read this).
Subj:
Examples where unity doesn't work
Date:
9/3/05 11:57:20 PM Eastern Daylight Time
To:
info@beitorot.org, nissan@IsraelNationalNews
Shavua Tov!
There are examples in Parshas Reeh where the Mitzva seems to portray the exact opposite of brotherly love but apparently it is an expression of saving the people and ultimately leads to unity and brotherly love and blessing. Devarim Perek 13 Pasuk 7. If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is like your own soul will entice you secretly saying "Let us go and worship the gods of others" that you did not know, you or your forefathers, from the gods of the peoples that are all around you, those near to you or those far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth - you shall not accede to him and not hearken to him; your eye shall not take pity on him, you shall not be compassionate nor conceal him. Rather you shall surely kill him, your hand shall be the first against him to kill him, and the hand of the entire people afterwards. You shall pelt him with stones and he shall die, for he sought to make you stray from near HASHEM, your G-d, Who takes you out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. All Israel shall hear and fear , and they shall not again do such an evil thing in your midst.
Doesn't sound very much like brotherly love to me.
The Torah continues
If, in one of your cities that Hashem, your G-d, gives you in which to dwell, you hear, saying "Lawless men have emerged from your midst, and they have caused the dwellers of their city to go astray, saying "Let us go and worship the gods of others, that you have not known you shall seek out and investigate, and inquire well, and behold it is true, the word is correct, this abomination was committed in your midst. You shall surely smite the inhabitants of the city with the edge of the sword. You shall gather together all its booty to the midst of its open square, and you shall burn in fire completely the city and all its booty to Hashem, your G-d, and it shall be an eternal heap. It shall not be rebuilt. No part of the banned property may adhere to your hand, so that Hashem will turn back from his burning wrath; and He will give you mercy and be merciful to you and multiply you, as He swore to your forefathers, when you hearken in the voice of Hashem, your G-d to observe all his commandments that I command you today to do what is right in the eyes of Hashem your G-d.
This doesn't sound very merciful and forgiving way to treat our brothers who have sinned yet it evokes mercy from Heaven above. Here we are not discussing how to treat our enemies. These are discussions about how to treat our fellow brothers even our wives and husbands, sons and daughters if they lead us astray. G-d forbid we should ever have to come to this but if we fail to act strong to stand up for Hashem's Torah and Mitzvot it will lead us to hate our brothers. We will be resentful of them and resentful of what they have done to us.
Other examples of the Torah where brother fought against brother and was sanctioned by Hashem was after Chait Haegel. Shemos Perek 32 Pasuk 26. Moses stood at the gateway of the camp and said "whoever is for Hashem, join me." and all the Levites gathered around him. He said to them. So said Hashem the G-d of Israel. Every man, put his sword on his thigh and pass back and forth from gate to gate in the camp. Let every man kill his brother, every man his fellow, and every man his near one.' The Levites did as Moses said, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day. Moses said, Dedicate yourselves this day to Hashem - for each has opposed his son and his brother - that He may bestow upon you a blessing, this day."
So the Torah sounds very much like extreme religious fanaticism. Very politically incorrect. Very cruel. Very barbaric, Very inhumane. One thing I am convinced. Acts such as these, killing members of our family, killing our brothers, go against the very grain of the nature of the Jew. We are Rachmanim Bnei Rachmanim. But there are certains Mitzvot that require us to go against our nature. Avraham Aveinu's ultimate test was the Akeida. His whole life he was preaching about the depravity of the idol worshippers who sacrificed their children to the G-ds and then he himself was in the situation where he was required to do so. However, I believe that even though deep down he was willing to do whatever G-d commanded him, he believed that G-d would somehow come through and not require him to actually kill his son. Breishis 22/5 (And Avraham said to his young men, "Stay here by yourselves with the donkey, while I and the lad will go yonder; we will worship and WE will return to you.")
We have to stand up for the Torah. We are committed to the Torah. Sometimes when we stand up for the Torah it is perceived as an act against our fellow Jew. It is not. Declaring our independance from the State of Israel when they brazenly defy the Torah is not an act of war against our brothers. It is simply and expression of Mi Lahashem Ali. Hashem knows how desperately we do not wish to harm our brothers and our knowledge of the intrinsic value of each and every Jew and his contribution to the whole and our loss when his contribution is missiong. However, it is those that defy the Torah that are the part of our whole that is diseased and if not agressively dealt with, will spread to the healthy part. Not visa versa. In Gush KAtif there was never a declaration of war to our brothers. There was also never a declaration of allegience to Hashem and to His Holy Torah which by definition should have not allowed us to willingly give away our Land. It is my belief if we would have declared allegience to Hashem and His Holy Torah and showed a willingness to stand up to any aggression be it Arab or Jewish, there would have been an outpouring of support among the generals, the soldiers and citizens that it would have stopped the disengagement in its tracks and would not have caused a war among brothers. Where was the simple declaration that this Land belongs to G-d and it is an everlasting inheritance to the children of Avraham Yitzchok and Yaakov? The State of Israel is secular. Apparently, the nation as a whole is not yet ready for a gov't based on Torah. Therefore, let us then live peacefully side by side and let us try to set up a gov't based on the Torah. We love you. You are our brothers. Nevertheless, our love for G-d and His holy Torah supercedes the love we have for any human being.
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