This letter is not to my Prime Minister, not to any Senator, not even to my mayor. It is not to any politician but to my own people, including myself. Will we ever learn? The answer is, after thousands of years not learning, it is safe to say that the answer is, no, at least not on a national level.
Everyone thinks they’re an expert, that they know enough to weigh in on the situation here in Israel. They have their opinions about the war, who’s right and wrong, and what to do about it. Some of these perspectives are reasonable, but others are so far from any truth and so over the edge that you wonder if all their lights are on.
From Day One it has been about da’as. Actually, from Day Six once man was created. Their main test was not to eat from the Aitz HaDa’as Tov v’Ra. If God had just wanted to test their ability to follow instructions, a simple tree would have sufficed. But it was specifically a tree of knowledge of good and evil, making the test more about da’as.
It’s a very tense stage of modern Jewish history. We’ve had several so far over the last 70 years, but this one is different. It’s the first time since the Holocaust that so many non-Arabs have shown overt hatred of Jews, and it seems to be growing.
I would like to talk about the risks of AI, Artificial Intelligence that seems to be taking over society. But before you roll your eyes and say, “Not another one!” you should know I am not referring to the AI you are used to hearing about. So far, it is not as dangerous as this one. By artificial intelligence, I mean people pretending to be acting intelligently when they are doing the opposite. They are basing their anti-Israeli response to the current war on false media reports, biased “marketing,” and personal hatred. They want to believe that they are taking up the noble cause when they are just perpetrating a terrible lie.
It was no coincidence that many of the top physicists in the world in the 1930s were German (many were Jewish as well). German universities excelled and were desirable places to learn and advance educationally. Then came the Nazis. Already in the mid-1930s they were chasing Jews out of prominent positions in German society. Einstein was traveling and speaking in the States when the Nazis froze his assets, forcing him to remain abroad as early as 1933. Lise Meitner, and who knows how many other Jewish geniuses, was also forced into exile around the same time.
It’s a classical case of Catch 22, Israeli style. It’s the reason why the hostages are still hostages and the war has not ended. It’s why Israel can’t reach its objectives—again. This war started because of a lack of Arab humanity, and continues because of excessive Jewish humanity. Hamas not only knows this, they bank on it.
The Persian Gulf War that began in 1990 was auspicious, but not for what we thought it would be. Just like Y2K seemed to be about one thing and ended up being about something quite different (see my book, “The Equation of Life”), the Persian Gulf War seemed to be about one thing, but was about something else in the end.
Everyone likes to be taken seriously, even comedians and clowns. It validates a person, makes them feel as if they have somewhat of a meaningful existence. It’s hard to take ourselves seriously if no one else does, and that can be very disheartening. God is no different, though for a very different reason. Obviously He requires no validation from us for His sake, but for our sake. Everything He does is for our good, the good and the seemingly bad, the easy and the hard, and taking God seriously means that we take it all to heart and appreciate it.
The war is still continuing and soldiers are dying or getting injured. Many families are still displaced, making it hard for any healthy normalcy. And, of course, hostages remain hostages by the worst kind of captors, with little hope of survival. Yet there is a lull. Part of the reason is the government, which has a policy of hiding the war as much as possible from its citizens. It is a small country with a small economy, and it needs to remain productive. People need to feel safe enough to carry on with their daily routines, so that the country can continue to survive and prosper.