B”H
Modern psychology may pat itself on the back for coining the term “projection”, but our Sages get the credit for defining it thousands of years ago: “Kol HaPosel beMumo Posel” (Tractate Kiddushin 70 a and b) means “All who disqualify, in his own defect disqualifies”.
Yes, it is a terrible thing that the arabs around and within Eretz Yisrael learn terrible lies about us and learn to hate. But what is equally if not more (much more) terrible is that Jewish Israeli children, educated by the Erev Rav right here in Eretz Yisrael, are taught to hate our holy Torah and Torah-Jews.
A couple parshas down the road we’ll come to the damning Sin of the Golden Calf. The idol was made by the Erev Rav, not B’nei Yisrael. But the sin involved was that the Erev Rav also managed to get a bunch of Am Yisrael to succumb to this terrible idolatrous sin as well. Ditto for the sin of what is happening in Eretz Yisrael today whereby Erev Rav educators – part and parcel of the Erev Rav establishment – are “educating” young Jewish minds. And the “education” in the Israeli Jewish public (non-religious) schools is anti-Torah. This is how the government of the State of Israel can get Jewish IDF soldiers to ‘just follow orders’ and sin by evicting their brethren from their homes right here and right now in the Land of Israel.
At best, Torah is taught in the secular schools as just another subject in the curriculum. On the worst side of the spectrum is pretty much a tie between the anti-religious educators who teach that Torah is outdated, thus basically just another history lesson, and the atheists who teach Torah more as fairy tale folklore and literature. And throughout that spectrum, the impression is given (inculcated, indoctrinated!) that this archaic preoccupation is really only for the “dossim” anyway.
One could then come out and argue that all of Am Yisrael, all of its souls collectively for all times, were present at Mount Sinai and thus all are obligated to observe Torah, and not just the “dossim”. But what is really lacking is not just the proper perspective of what Torah really is, or the proper manner and methods by which Torah is traditionally taught, but the love and brent that only one immersed in Torah can appreciate and enjoy. This is what is really a shame: What these Jewish children miss out on is Ahavat haTorah. Is it any wonder then that our Am has such struggle with Ahavat Yisrael and Ahavat HaAretz then too? The love of or for our People, our Land, and our Torah all go together under the single term Yisrael. When one “leg” of this solid triangle is weakened, so are the other two – because they all go together.
But, Baruch Hashem!, our holy Torah also promises us an end to all this hatred. We know that the nations of the world will soon “…..not learn war any more” (Isaiah 2: 4), just as we learn that Hashem will weed out the accursed Erev Rav from Am Yisrael (Zohar, Beresheet, sections 271-273). And then we will continue to grow and build throughout all of Eretz Yisrael HaShlema.
Am Yisrael lives by Torah, and it is only Torah that promises us hope and a wonderful future! (bimhera beyamenu).
Am Yisrael chai vekayam vekadosh!
