                                                               
                      A Voice from Hebron
                     by Gary M. Cooperberg
                         March 28, 1997
                                
              "Don't Be Afraid, my Servant Yaacov"
                                
     Fear is a terrible thing.  It makes us lose our perspective in life and drives us to make
choices out of assumed expedience rather than weighed-out honesty.  Our Father, Yaacov, could
have avoided much strife in his own life, and in that of his descendants, had he overcome his fears. 
     At the time when he saw the Angels climbing and descending the ladder in his dream, our
sages tell us that he watched angels trying to go up the ladder, but falling off.  G-d then called
upon Yaacov to climb the ladder.  Had he trusted in G-d and not been afraid of falling off the
ladder, he would have ascended to the very top.  Had he done this his children would never have
been exiled.
     When Shimon and Levy avenged the honor of their sister, Dinah, Yaacov was not angry
with them.  He did not chastise them for doing something wrong.  He was afraid that their act of
vengeance would endanger him and his family.  The fact was that the Shechem massacre had
exactly the opposite affect.  It placed the fear of G-d in the hearts of all of Israel's enemies.
     And, when he met his brother, Esau, on his way home to Hebron, again Jacob was afraid. 
He offered his brother gifts, as tribute, and humbled himself before his wicked brother.  For this
too he was punished.  
     The Jewish People is a minority of minorities.  The Jewish State is a tiny and veritably
undefendable piece of property.  Logically it simply cannot continue to exist, as its enemies seek
to destroy it and they have enormous odds on their side.   But, throughout the thousands of years
of Jewish history, such has always been the case.  There is only one reason why, in every
generation, despite efforts by powers far greater than us to destroy us, we always survive our
enemies.  
     We are the Chosen People of the Living G-d of Israel.  We were placed on Earth as living
evidence of His existence.   He took us out of slavery in Egypt to show the entire world that there
is no power greater than He.  It is for exactly the same reason that He saw fit to re-establish
Jewish sovereignty in the tiny Land of Israel, in spite of world opposition.  The United States,
France and England, to this very day, refuse to recognize that Jerusalem is the capital of the
Jewish State.  They don't mind, too much, that the Jews have some kind of a homeland.  What
they do mind is to accept the fact that our homeland is fulfilment of G-d's Promise to our Father
Abraham.  They are jealous of the fact that we truly are G-d's Chosen People.  
     Today's Children of Israel suffer from the same malady as did their Father.   We are afraid. 
We know that the Arabs consider us their greatest enemy; that they cannot accept the concept of
a non-Islamic entity having sovereignty on, what they consider,  Moslem soil.  They have always
sought to destroy us and only ceased open warfare when they realized that they could not succeed
by that means. Today they continue to seek new ways to destroy us.  Already they have made
considerable military advances against us using the delusion of  "peace negotiations" to
accomplish what they could never dream of accomplishing via warfare. 
     And, we are afraid of the United States.  Despite the fact that we are a modern, and self
sufficient nation, we have this dependence complex on Uncle Sam.  We really have come to
believe that, without direct aid from the United States, we would not be able to continue to exist.  





This concept is not only blasphemous, it is untrue.  Rather than place our trust in our Creator, we
heap it all on the doorstep of  President Clinton, who not only cannot save us, but who will not
save us.
     We see on our television screens living evidence of the wonderful achievement
accomplished by our peace process.  Now that we have given Arafat, the veritable symbol of Jew
hatred in this generation: defacto sovereignty over Gaza, Jericho, Jenin, Shechem, Ramallah,
Kalakilia, Tulkarem, Bethlehem, and most of Hebron; a fully equipped army with bases
throughout Judea, Samaria and Gaza; an airport; offices in Jerusalem which conduct relations
with foreign powers; and our acceptance of their right as a legitimate, independent entity on
Jewish soil, we have won their love and respect and that of the nations of the world.
     That explains why troops are deployed in order to enable us to build Jewish homes in
Jerusalem; why Jews cannot pray at the Tombs of Rachel and Joseph because Arabs are rioting
there; why Jews living throughout Judea, Samaria and Gaza are still being pelted with rocks as
they drive their cars on brand new roads built for the express purpose to avoid contact with our
peace partners; why a soldier from our most peaceful partner of all, Jordan, shot down seven little
girls in cold blood at a class outing; why an Arab blew himself to smithereens in a coffee shop in
Tel Aviv, taking three young Jewish women with him; and why Madeline, who is not all too
bright, calls upon Arafat to place a red light on the terror to which she refused to admit he had
given a green light.
     As we watch our mighty army deploy tanks outside of our cities and see our well trained
and well armed soldiers stand by and politely accept being pelted by rocks thrown by Arab rioters,
we can really begin to understand why we are losing the "peace".  It is really very simple.  We are
afraid.
     Fear can also be a good thing.  If we put it in the right place.   For a Jew there is only one
thing to fear.  We must fear our Father in Heaven.  It is only He who makes peace and causes
war.  And it is only He who determines who will win and who will lose.  We the Jewish People
have a special relationship with G-d.  It is His Will that we return to His Land and live there
according to His Law.  By rejecting our obligations to Him, and fearing our enemies rather than
our Creator, it is we who prevent real peace from being achieved and who bring war and
devastation upon ourselves and the world.
     A genuine Jewish leader would demonstrate this proper fear by immediately ending the
Oslo fiasco.  The war being openly waged by Arafat against the Jewish State, must be
"negotiated" in terms which cannot fail to be understood by all of our enemies.  Since the Arabs
have violated the agreement, in so many ways, it is no longer valid.  The IDF should immediately
re-take all Jewish lands and remove our enemies from them.  Rioters should be shot on sight,
following a loud and clear warning to do so. War is inevitable. It is already going on!  The only
question is when and under what conditions will we fight back?  We are not talking about a war
of aggression.  We are talking about a war to defend the Jewish State against those who seek to
take it from us.  No country or entity in the world would restrain themselves from obliterating
such enemies . . . or to die trying.

     "Therefore fear thou not, my servant Yaacov, saith the L-rd: neither be dismayed, Oh
Israel: for lo, I will save thee from afar, and their seed from the land of their captivity; and
Yaacov shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet and none shall make him afraid."  
                                              Jeremiah XXX 10