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The return of a Torah scroll and confronting painful memories
By Rabbi Berel Wein
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
THE EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT, Hosni Mubarak, has made a farewell gesture to
Ezer Weizman, Israel's retiring president. The remnants of the Torah scroll that
went into Egyptian captivity at the outset of the Yom Kippur War and which
was until now exhibited in the Egyptian War Museum in Cairo, has been
returned to Israel as a goodwill gesture to Ezer Weizman. According to
Midrash, every Torah scroll has its own mazel --- fate and fortune. This Torah scroll was a constant reminder of our failings that led to our very narrow
escape at the onset of that bitter war. The fact that it was in the hands
of our hopefully former enemies served as a galling memory of our near
defeat. Now, that the Torah scroll has been returned to Jewish hands,
perhaps we will have better memories of that war, though I personally doubt
it.
One of the great failings of modern Jewish life is a complete failure of
memory, especially of painful memories. This stems from an abysmal
ignorance of our history by the masses, coupled with a distorted,
revisionist and basically anti-Jewish view of Jewish history by many of the
professional Jewish historians of the last 150 years. Thus we have no real
sense of memory. The Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel
have become the sum total of Jewish history among most present-day Jews.
Since these events are remembered without any historical perspective, their
true historical value is diluted and many times distorted and perverted.
The Zionist culture, which denigrated the accomplishments and story of the
Jews in galut -- in their exile -- cut off the Jewish story from its past and
removed the frame which housed the Jewish picture. The Socialist Jews and
Labor Zionists decided to begin the Jewish story with Marx, to our
everlasting sadness. Therefore, many of the lessons of Jewish history have
been lost to our current generation of Jews. And this loss is reflected in
everyday life here in Israel, as well as in all of our social tensions and
even in our diplomatic regional and international policies.
Jewish history warns us against three fundamental failings that have
always weakened the Jewish people. One is arrogance and hubris. The runup
to the Yom Kippur War is the most expensive example of what arrogance cost
the people and the State of Israel. "The Arabs would not dare attack us!"
was the slogan of the time. Thus our arrogance blinded us and almost
destroyed us. The return of the remnants of that captured Torah scroll
should somehow remind us of the folly of arrogance, especially unwarranted
arrogance. The words of Solomon that "pride goes before a fall" are still
as true today as they were when he wrote them millennia ago. The State of
Israel, its political and social leaders, its media and its intellectuals,
can all stand a strong dose of humility. We are not a superpower, we cannot
afford to cavalierly alienate large sections of our own population (the fervently Orthodox
for example), nor should we disregard completely how the rest of the world
sees us. Knowledge of our history will make us at one and the same time
proud and humble. But pride is not arrogance --- it is self-worth and
self-confidence.
The second failing that Jewish history highlights for us is the danger of
being too relevant and current with the foreign culture and value system
that surrounds and has always surrounded us. The sexually liberal society,
with all of its breezy philosophy to justify hedonism, is not a new
phenomenon. The Jews faced rampantly sexually promiscuous and homosexual
societies in the Classical Era of Greece and Rome. The Jewish response --
controlled, legitimate, family-oriented, and striving for sanctity and not
merely pleasurable exploitation of one's partner -- eventually proved to be
stronger than the permissiveness of Greek and Roman society. The secular
wagon in Israel is not empty. It is filled with the extremes of
Marxist history and economics, and Greek and Roman
licentiousness and violence. We are just too up-to-date in our thinking and
behavior. Neither feminist innovation in Jewish traditional life style and
ritual nor calling non-Jews Jews will guarantee any measure of continuity
or survival for Israel and the Jewish people.
Lastly, Jewish history teaches us the folly of continued internal
warfare. It is obvious that there are great differences that divide the
Jewish people today. The factions involved therefore should not seek to
needlessly provoke confrontation one with another. The Jewish people need
less issues being brought before the Supreme Court, a more tolerant
attitude and behavior pattern towards other Jews and certainly a disdaining
of violent words and deeds by Jews against Jews. Vandalism, violence,
public demonstrations that demonize others, and bitter personal disputes
are all not new events in Jewish history. A study of our history will
reveal to us how counter-productive and self-defeating these attitudes and
behavior patterns are. Jews will not be brought closer to Torah values and
behavior by Knesset laws or harsh words. Our country can never be united as
long as the press, media and political parties vilify entire large sections
of Jewish society and denigrate their cherished beliefs and way of life.
All of history has taught us that this open and hostile disunity amongst us
is most dangerous.
Memories of our past may be painful. But they are necessary and vital to
cleanse us of our present malaise. We cannot afford to walk whistling past
the graveyard
JWR contributor Rabbi Berel Wein is one of Jewry's foremost historians and
founder of the Destiny Foundation. He resides in Jerusalem. You may contact Rabbi
Wein by clicking here or calling 1-800-499-WEIN (9346).
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