                        A Voice from Hebron
                      by Gary M. Cooperberg
                         April 27, 1995
         How Long will we Accept Jewish Self-humiliation?

. . . .Throughout Jewish history our enemies have always recognized and feared the strange
power of the Jewish people.  The very existence of a weak and wandering nation, exiled from its
homeland, beaten and persecuted wherever they went, gave proof to the existence and strength of
the invisible G-d to whom they prayed.  
. . . .Nations who worshiped idols and stars came to power, yet failed to move the tiny
Jewish nation to reject its invisible G-d.  In anger, jealousy, and yes, even fear, they attacked and
often tried to destroy the Chosen People.  The Romans, and the Greeks made it a crime
punishable by death for a rabbi to teach lessons from the Torah.  In spite of this many rabbis
defied the "law" and risked, or even suffered, death for their defiance.  But the Torah and the
Jewish people survived long after their persecutors were erased from the face of the earth.
. . . .One would imagine, after so many years of persecution and defiance of every attempt
to destroy us, both physically and spiritually, that today with the return of Jewish sovereignty to
our homeland, never again would the Jew need to fear religious persecution.
. . . .How does one begin to explain then the reality of the unique situation which finds the
Jewish government persecuting Jews for practicing Judaism?  National madness is the closest term
I can think of to describe the unimaginable policies espoused by governments from the entire
political spectrum in this country.  
. . . .Who cannot recall the emotional announcement in June of 1967, "The Temple Mount is
in our hands!"?  Indeed the Jewish army liberated the holiest site in the world to the Jewish nation
and vanquished our enemies.  Genuine redemption was at hand, just waiting for us to bring it to
an immediate culmination.  It was a moment of triumph, pride and glory to the Jewish people. 
Yet this incredible and miraculous moment, a clear gift to the Jewish people from the Creator of
the Universe, was soon to be dashed by the very government which achieved it.   



. . . .Today Jews are arrested and prosecuted by Jewish police should they dare attempt to
offer a prayer at this holy place!  Several years ago a case was actually brought before an Israeli
court against Jews who were suspected of "plotting to pray" here!  Why is Jewish prayer not
permitted by a Jewish government which allows Christians and Moslems to pray at our holiest
site?  The reason is simple.  Moslems fear the Jewish G-d.  They will risk death in order to
prevent Jews from praying to their G-d in this holy place for fear that their prayers will be
answered and Allah will be proved to be a false god.
. . . .The only problem in Israel today is that Jewish leaders do not fear the Jewish G-d as
much as do the Moslems.  If they did, they would throw the Moslems off our holy mountain
altogether and arrange for Jewish prayer to be held where halachically permissible on our Temple
mount.  Instead they have chosen to retreat from glory.  Our holy mountain has today become a
defacto area of Arab sovereignty!  It is the fanatic Islamic waqkf which rules over our holy place
and to whom the Israeli government is subservient.
. . . .Torah is not a tool to be used to justify the vacillating system of morality preached by
modern man.  It is a Divine set of unchanging values which elevates those who submit their will to
it.  It is not subject to change with time and technology.  It is eternal.  
. . . .Just as our enemies, throughout our history, expressed their fear of the Jewish G-d by
persecuting and trying to destroy both the Jew and his Torah, today we find the same exact fear
being expressed in a similar fashion by Jewish leaders who have rejected the greatness which
could have been their's.  Because they lack the faith to accept the reality of miracles which have
occurred before their very eyes, they have rejected those miracles and presumed to place
themselves in G-d's stead.  It is they, in their "all knowing wisdom", who will create "peace" in
their own image.  
. . . .Rabbi Ido Elba is a young, idealistic rabbi.  His Torah expertise is far in advance of his
youthful age.  He is the rabbi of a group of elderly Torah scholars who learn in a kollel at the
Cave of Machpelah.  Perplexed and distraught in the aftermath of the preemptive strike by the
martyred Dr, Baruch Goldstein, z"tl H"yd, they turned to their rabbi for a Torah perspective. 
Rabbi Elba, drawing predominantly from writings of the Rambam, did some scholarly research
and presented his findings to his study group.  He did not attempt to issue new rulings, only to
offer words of our sages to explain what halacha requires of the Jew.

. . . .Somehow word of his lessons made their way to government officials who had the
rabbi arrested immediately prior to Rosh HaShannah.  Only just before Passover were the
proceedings against the rabbi culminated in court.  He was found guilty of "inciting to racism" and
sentenced to two years in prison for his "crime".  The woman judge condescended to offer some
friendly "advice" to the rabbi after he was sentenced.  She suggested that the rabbi use his two
years constructively by changing his warlike Torah into a Torah of peace.
. . . .Recently, just prior to his death, former Chief Rabbi, Shlomo Goren, z"tl, issued an
official halachic ruling that Jewish soldiers are obligated by Jewish law to disobey any order to
dismantle Jewish settlements.  Threats were made to have this sage arrested.  When learning of
such threats the rabbi openly declared that even should they choose to hang him he cannot change
the Torah.  One can imagine how Rabbi Goren would have expressed his outrage that an Israeli
judge, not only sentenced a rabbi to prison for teaching Torah, but actually instructed him to
change the Torah!
. . . .Do we have no rabbis left?  Where is the outrage?  The Torah has been defiled and
demeaned by the government of Israel.  One would expect our most prominent rabbis, from all
over the world to express their outrage in the most vehement terms.  Instead there is silence...
deafening silence.  If our religious leaders will not come to the defense of our Torah, especially
when it is under attack by our secular Israeli leaders, then what right do they have to call
themselves religious leaders? 
. . . .How can world Jewry sit quietly as the government of Israel frees terrorist Arabs from
prison, gives them arms and calls them "policemen", while simultaneously locking up rabbis and
Jews for speaking and living Torah?!  The leadership of a once proud nation has fallen into the
hands of fools and cowardly self-hating appeasers.  How long will we permit them to shame our
G-d, our people and our country?