                      Rabin is not Mashiach
                     His word will not Stand
                          May 3, 1993
                      by Gary M. Cooperberg

     I could not believe my ears when I turned on the morning news and heard that Rabin
has already decided to give away everything.  After all, one would, at the very least, expect
him to wait until the negotiations were complete before relinquishing everything he had.  Now
what will he negotiate?  Has our Prime Minister gone raving mad?  First he tells us that we can
never give up the Golan Heights.  Now he tells us that he has to give it all up.  First he sets the
record for expelling Arabs.  Now he grants them the Arab equivalent of the Law of Return! 
Recently he told us that any armed Arab should be shot.  Now he is arming 20,000 Arabs in
Judea Samaria and Gaza and expects us not to shoot them.
     It is easy to fall victim to panic under such circumstances.  But let us hold on to our
hats for a minute and stop to think about what is really happening.  Is this the first or most
difficult challenge to face the Jewish People?  Is it anything more than a threat?  No.
     We are the spoiled descendants of many generations of Jews who faced far more
difficult challenges and overcame them.  One glaring example that comes to mind is that of our
first redemption.  We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt with no logical hope to ever change our
lot.  When we finally cried out to G-d from the depths of our despair, He came to our aid and
saved us.  G-d builds up our enemies for two reasons.  First, to frighten us into recognizing
from whence our true salvation comes; and secondly, to make the fall of our enemies a
significant event.
     Here too we have the very same elements.  Only when the Jewish People, as a nation,
perceives its apparent pending doom, with no way out of it, do we unite as a nation and cry
out to our G-d to save us.  And, secondly, only when the apparent fate of our nation is clearly
one of destruction, will our redemption be an obvious miracle to all of the nations of the
world, and achieve its main purpose... to demonstrate the existence of the One G-d of
Creation.
     So, rather than fall into fits of despair, let us recognize the fact that our redemption is
clearly unfolding before us.  Let us unite as a people and stand up against all obstacles.  For, in
reality, there are no obstacles to Jewish Destiny other than our refusal to recognize it.
     I still wake up every morning, before dawn, and go down to Machpela to pray at the
graves of our Fathers and Mothers.  On Shabbat I walk there alone in the predawn darkness. 
Never have I had a problem, nor do I expect to have one (although I do carry a pistol with
me... just in case).  In the nearly twelve years in which I have been praying there I have only
witnessed progress.  Yes, I have been thrown out and arrested for refusing to leave on more
than one occasion.  But I have always come back.  The officer who worked so hard to have
me imprisoned is no longer around.  But I am.  
     The large Hall of Isaac, where I prayed so often alone, against the law, is now the
location of a large daily minyan, and I am no longer alone (not that I ever really was).  Do you
think that a mere announcement by Rabin can shake my faith in our Jewish future here? 
Never.  Kiryat Arba, Hebron and all of Judea Samaria and Gaza will remain Jewish.  No
power on earth can change that fact.  I will never leave Hebron, for here is the very source of
our homeland, the Promise G-d made to our Father, Abraham.  Without that we have nothing. 
As I stand here, in the very footsteps of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and watch my children
play where the original Children of Israel once played, I have absolutely no doubts that the
Land of Israel will never fall into the hands of strangers again.