          In the traditions of Rabbi Meir Kahane, z"l
              Today's Lost "Shepherds of Israel" 
                            May 1991
                     by Gershon Ben Shabtai

       I was watching the news on television, here in Israel, and I just could not believe what I was
hearing.  The president of the World Jewish Congress was addressing himself to pressing Jewish
problems.  He clearly saw that antisemitism is growing, worldwide, and that his organization must do
something to combat it or else there soon may be no diaspora!
       Here is a Jewish "leader" whose eyes can see evidence of pending disaster for his people,
whose lips accurately predict what is about to happen and whose ears refuse to listen to his mouth! 
Is this not madness?
       No one came to him to preach that G-d is bringing the exile to a close and that the
redemption is about to take place; that our rabbis teach us that the two cannot coexist.  He stumbled
upon that fact all by himself and, rather than accepting it, he has decided to fight it and to try to
prolong the beloved "diaspora"!
       Clearly this Jew, who has been thrust into a position of leadership of his people, hasn't an
inkling of an idea of what authentic Judaism is.  He is a product of our two thousand year exile and
has grown accustomed to the foul stinking waters in which we have been floating for so long.  He is
afraid to lift himself and his people out of it even as he beholds, but denies, the fulfillment of a two
thousand year old Jewish dream, a precious gift that our G-d has given to us, all of us, not just victims
of the holocaust and escapees from Russia-- the Land of Israel.  
       Why can he not recognize that antisemitism is merely a tool to get us to leave the exile? 
Why can he not fulfill his role as shepherd of his people and call for immediate return to our
homeland?  Why will he not lead the way?
       I will tell you why.  Because he doesn't believe that Israel is his real home.  He thinks that
America is the promised land.  He likes his well paying job, his prestige in the community, and the
illusion that he is a leader.  He is afraid to live in an Israel which faces dangers of war, high inflation,
and uncertainty of continued existence.  Israel is good for refugees from Jewish oppression in Russia
and Ethiopia.  It has simply never occurred to this fellow that, even if he is wealthy and happy in
America, he is still living in an exile that will soon come to an end.
       Or worse.  It has occurred to him, but he chooses not to think about it.  He is the prototype
of the "Jewish Leader" who climbed the barricades to prevent a real Jewish leader from being heard. 
Arabs and anti-Semites didn't threaten his sheltered world, but real Jewish leaders who presented
painful but very vital Jewish truths, terrified him with the threat that he should open his eyes and face
Jewish problems head on.  
       The fiery words of Isaiah,(Chap. XXX, vs. 9&10), recognized the likes of this brand of
Jewish leader: "... this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the Law of the
L-rd.  Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak
unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits".   








       And the prophet Ezekiel, Chap. XXXIV, vs. 8&12, predicted that the "shepherds" of Israel
would not live up to their roles, so that the One true Shepherd of Israel, the living G-d of Israel, will
Himself gather His flocks and bring them home:
       "As I live, saith the L-rd G-d, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became
meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for
my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock;... As a shepherd seeketh out his
flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will
deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day."
       Yes, our G-d will rescue us from our self-deceiving leaders.  But we need not wait for the
"cloudy and dark day".  As we, and even our lost "shepherd" can clearly see, the clouds are already
gathering.