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Showing posts with label rav leazer brody. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rav leazer brody. Show all posts
9/11/12
4/28/12
The key to deterrence
By rav Lazer Brody
Almost everyone in Israel laments our lack of deterrence. Some trace it back to Israel's hasty retreat from Lebanon a dozen years ago. Others go back further, to the first Intifada, or Arab uprising, in the late 1980's. Still others claim that our lack of deterrence is a result of Israel's failure to score a decisive victory over the Hamas and coalition of Gaza terrorists, both in operation “Cast Lead” two and a half years ago and in the recent round of Gazan rocket attacks against the south of Israel last month. Even worse, Israel failed miserably against a mere few thousand Hizbolla fighters five years ago in 2006, who virtually paralyzed the north of Israel.
The above facts, although noteworthy, are mere symptoms; they are not the core reason for Israel's lack of deterrence.
So where's the deterrence?
The Torah gives us the secret of deterrence (Deuteronomy 28:10): "For all the nations of the earth shall see that the Name of God is upon you (literally, that the Name of G-d can be read from your countenance, in other words, that you reflect His Name) and they shall fear you." That's the entire doctrine of deterrence in a nutshell.
Our sages tell us that by way of the mitzva of tefillin, the "Name of Hashem shall be upon you." The Lubavitcher Rebbe of saintly and blessed memory began his tefillin project worldwide right before the Six-Day War in 1967; according to the Kabbalists, this invoked the Divine Compassion that tipped the scales so miraculously in Israel's favor. By putting tefillin on so many Jews around the world, the Lubavitcher Rebbe made sure that the Name of Hashem was upon our people; sure enough, the nations feared us.
In 1972, my wife was a young soldier in the army, the personnel secretary of a tank battalion. On more than one occasion, she boarded a rickety old Arab bus that took her from East Jerusalem to Bethlehem, where she'd frequent Rachel's tomb. Today, no lone female soldier in uniform would dream of doing such a thing.
Everyone is aware of the famous photo from Jenin of recent years as a lone 9-year old Palestinian boy with a rock in his hand confronts an Israeli tank. They no longer fear us. Why?
As a nation, we no longer reflect the Name of Hashem.
After Cain's heinous transgression of killing his brother Abel, he lost the Divine reflection from his forehead. He became deathly afraid. He protested Hashem's severe punishment that sent him into exile. He claimed that any animal that would see him would kill him. Hashem recognized Cain's claim as totally justified, so He gave him a letter of His Holy Name to reflect from Cain's forehead as a protection.
One who commits a serious sin, particularly a sin that's punishable by ka'ret, or severance from the Divine Presence, loses his tzelem Elokim, the Divine image that reflects from a person. To an animal, a person without the reflection of the Divine image looks lower than an animal. A dog or a wolf will readily attack such an individual. Interestingly enough, have you ever seen a dog enter a train station with hundreds of people milling about, yet make a beeline dart towards a certain individual? You can bet that the particular individual did a serious transgression recently.
Almost everyone in Israel laments our lack of deterrence. Some trace it back to Israel's hasty retreat from Lebanon a dozen years ago. Others go back further, to the first Intifada, or Arab uprising, in the late 1980's. Still others claim that our lack of deterrence is a result of Israel's failure to score a decisive victory over the Hamas and coalition of Gaza terrorists, both in operation “Cast Lead” two and a half years ago and in the recent round of Gazan rocket attacks against the south of Israel last month. Even worse, Israel failed miserably against a mere few thousand Hizbolla fighters five years ago in 2006, who virtually paralyzed the north of Israel.
The above facts, although noteworthy, are mere symptoms; they are not the core reason for Israel's lack of deterrence.
So where's the deterrence?
The Torah gives us the secret of deterrence (Deuteronomy 28:10): "For all the nations of the earth shall see that the Name of God is upon you (literally, that the Name of G-d can be read from your countenance, in other words, that you reflect His Name) and they shall fear you." That's the entire doctrine of deterrence in a nutshell.
Our sages tell us that by way of the mitzva of tefillin, the "Name of Hashem shall be upon you." The Lubavitcher Rebbe of saintly and blessed memory began his tefillin project worldwide right before the Six-Day War in 1967; according to the Kabbalists, this invoked the Divine Compassion that tipped the scales so miraculously in Israel's favor. By putting tefillin on so many Jews around the world, the Lubavitcher Rebbe made sure that the Name of Hashem was upon our people; sure enough, the nations feared us.
In 1972, my wife was a young soldier in the army, the personnel secretary of a tank battalion. On more than one occasion, she boarded a rickety old Arab bus that took her from East Jerusalem to Bethlehem, where she'd frequent Rachel's tomb. Today, no lone female soldier in uniform would dream of doing such a thing.
Everyone is aware of the famous photo from Jenin of recent years as a lone 9-year old Palestinian boy with a rock in his hand confronts an Israeli tank. They no longer fear us. Why?
As a nation, we no longer reflect the Name of Hashem.
After Cain's heinous transgression of killing his brother Abel, he lost the Divine reflection from his forehead. He became deathly afraid. He protested Hashem's severe punishment that sent him into exile. He claimed that any animal that would see him would kill him. Hashem recognized Cain's claim as totally justified, so He gave him a letter of His Holy Name to reflect from Cain's forehead as a protection.
One who commits a serious sin, particularly a sin that's punishable by ka'ret, or severance from the Divine Presence, loses his tzelem Elokim, the Divine image that reflects from a person. To an animal, a person without the reflection of the Divine image looks lower than an animal. A dog or a wolf will readily attack such an individual. Interestingly enough, have you ever seen a dog enter a train station with hundreds of people milling about, yet make a beeline dart towards a certain individual? You can bet that the particular individual did a serious transgression recently.
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