Suddenly, real war is thrust upon us...

 26 Tishrei 5784 | כ"ו תשרי ה'תשפ"ד

 

 War - the Temptations (the original version, 1970)

If songs like this one had changed the world, we wouldn't be having this war now.
My beracha (blessing) is that our enemies will end up singing this song,
and the more shortly, the better!

 ***

The Eternal God of the Jews is a Jealous God, and He does not change, despite what others may tell you.

It won't be easy to explain to people who were taught that jealousy and envy are one and the same, synonymous. It wasn't always that way, and since this is a time of sorting things out and coming to clarity, I would like to contribute to that effort, even if only a little bit, by explaining why we need to separate them again in people's minds so that each has its own meaning, even though they usually refer to the same issues.

What does jealousy mean? What is different about it from envy? 

I'd like to share my studies on how and why God dealt with our "rubbing Him the wrong way" (my expression; our Torah example can be found in the Book of BaMidbar/Numbers, chapters 25 and 31, in parashioth Balak and Mattoth, respectively...) long ago, and how that relates to what's going on now.  

Of course, the offense back then was really much worse than a brush of another's hair in the wrong direction; part of the reason is because we don't fully understand God's prerogatives as the Creator, as opposed to our rights as human beings. Some have though that what God does is an example for them to follow, with disastrous results. Misunderstanding this, and many other things, has led to many mistakes, and even criminal actions, on the part of humans the world over.

We do have courts of justice to settle these things...or do we?

The work may be difficult if not impossible, but that doesn't mean we desist from hard questions. I am writing further about this topic, and how it applies to God and our relationship with Him. The war between Israel and Hamas (which might turn out to be between Israel and the "Palestinians" and even more) is a good place to use as an example before we start. I think that God allowed this war because we in Israel especially haven't been paying attention to His role in keeping it relatively peaceful here. Because our leadership is always blocking Him and His ways regarding how the country should be run, He cannot defend it fully. But He will, eventually, when enough of us say, "ENOUGH!"

I should not have to remind my readers that if we had done things the way He wanted them in 1967, when we had just won the Six-Day War, there would be total peace here (I'm looking at you, Moshe Dayan, who made the mistake of letting the wrong people have the Temple Mount at the worst possible moment, and a few others as well, for being all too generous after the war.).

Stay tuned. We may be in for a rocky ride here. Or — and this is what I'm hoping and praying for — a better way up and out of this situation and into the culmination of geulah shlemah for us and for all the good and decent people in the whole world.

***

More reading:

New prayer for the soldiers, translated to English | "I can't believe I'm alive," Rachel Edry told the news site Walla after her release | The "Settler" [Judea-Samaria Jewish Homeland] Heroes Saved Tel Aviv from a Katyusha Holocaust 2.0 | 50 Israeli Supreme Court Decisions...see why Israel needs judicial reform. | Al-Jazeera doesn't want you to see this video about the Temple Mount [Har haBayit]! |