Question: What
is Ha-Rav's opinion about the fact that the heads of the Israeli Police, the Shabak
(Israeli internal security service) and the Mossad (foreign intelligence service) are all religious? It's like a dream come true!
Answer: The
question itself shows that we are still suffering from the terrible disease
caused by our exile: sectarianism. And
in the words of our Sages: Sinat Chinam – baseless hatred.
The
very cause of our national destruction was baseless hatred, i.e. the claim that
only one group contains all of the truth, all of the righteousness and all of
the integrity, while all other groups are rotten, wanting and wrong. Or in the words of the philosopher Kant:
There is "us" and there is "them". Or in words of the philosopher Sartre:
"The other is Gehinom". It is a
national obligation to wage war with all of our means against sectarianism and
the idea of raising our group's flag over another's.
Maran
Ha-Rav Kook described this phenomenon with great pain in his article "Masa
Ha-Machanot" (The Journey of the Camps), in relation to the religious and
secular, and called for all to remember that we are one Nation (Maamrei
Ha-Re'eiyah), "Who is like you, Israel, one Nation in the Land".
We
must cease this cursed behavior of relating to a person not according to who he
truly is but rather according to the group with which he is affliated.
Regarding
the statement: "It is like a dream come true", what dream? The dream that only the religious are in charge
of everything? This is a horrible
dream. The Messiah
has not yet come.
But
if the dream is that the religious become involved in all parts of the State
and take on responsibility – this is truly a great dream.
We
will therefore end on an optimistic and joyous note. We will point out that the choice of these
three individuals proves that two ideas are lies.
1.
The First Lie: The religious do not take upon themselves national
responsibility. This is not true. Many important appointments have been made,
not based on any political pressure, but rather on personal abilities and great
self-sacrifice. Ben Gurion once said:
"Where are you, the religious, in the military cemeteries?" When he said it, it was not correct. And all
the more so today.
2.
The Second Lie: The religious are blocked from being promoted in the security
apparatus. This is not true. After all, since these three individuals were
deemed fit for the position, what they wear on their head did not bother anyone.
The
message of the story: We are one Nation.
What binds us together is greater than what separates us.
