We were attacked in our
spiritual heart - within a Shul. Every attack is hideous and dreadful and all the more so an
attack on the heart. It is not by chance that they chose this holy
place. The forces of evil wanted to attack the heart, even though they
will obviously not succeed in their goal. The Nation of Israel is certainly
stronger than the forces of evil, and the Torah is certainly the strongest of
all.
I
remember a joke – although it is certainly not a times for jokes – from Meir
Uziel, a comedian and grandson of former Chief Rabbi Ha-Rav Ben Tzion Uziel: In
the competition for Ms. Ethical among the 200 nations of the world, we always
come in last place, since we are the only ones who show up! We must
certainly be ethical, but to our brothers, not the enemy.
During
the Second World War, the Allied power destroyed neighborhood after
neighborhood in Berlin, because everyone understood that there was no other way
to wage war. Did King Hussein of Jordan deal with Black September with
kid gloves? No, he killed 17,000 Palestinians and ended his Intifada
once and for all. President Assad killed 21,000 Palestinians in one month
when there was an uprising in Syria. And when Hamas wanted to take over
Gaza, they killed many, many people. This is the language they speak and
understand. This is how we must deal with them.
I
remember that a terrorist once attacked a woman in Neveh Dekalim. She lay
down on the baby carriage to protect her baby, and he stabbed her fifteen times
in the back. By some miracle, someone came and shot him and saved
her. Later, an unethical reporter interviewed the rescuer on the radio
and asked: "How do you feel after killing a person?" He
responded: "The thing which I killed was not a person." I
remembered this and quoted it various times. I once met someone and I
said "shalom." He said: "You don't know me but you quoted
me. I am the person who killed that thing which was not a
person." I said: "Yashar Koach – Way to go. Your actions
followed what the Rambam says in Moreh Nevuchim (vol. 1 #7)." The
Rambam discusses the "demons" mentioned in the Gemara. He says
that a "demon" looks like a person on the outside, but is a wild
animal on the inside. It is more dangerous than a wild animal in that it
has intellect. People periodically ask me: Is the theory that we came
from animals true? I answer: "I do not know. I was not
there. The question, however, does not bother me. What bothers me
is whether we have left being animals."
We
must therefore wage war with strength and courage and strengthen the Nation of
Israel in our Land.