Thorns in your Side

By Michael Fuah

"And you shall drive out the inhabitants of the Land and you shall dwell in it. And if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the Land from before you and it will come to pass that those that you leave will be thorns in your eyes and thistles in your sides and they will harass you in the Land in which you dwell. (From this week's Torah portion, Matot, Numbers 33:53-55).

The Midrash tells us that when Joshua and the Israelites came to conquer the Land of Israel, they presented the Canaanite inhabitants of the Land with three options: He who wishes to leave should leave, he who wishes to make peace may make peace and he who wishes to make war may do so.

The severe warning issued in this week's Torah portion refers to those inhabitants of the Land who choose to make war. But what happens to those inhabitants of the Land who choose to remain? Do they automatically become equal citizens? The answer is a resounding "no". Full citizenship in the Land of Israel is reserved for Jews. If a non-Jew wishes to be a full citizen, he must undergo a complete conversion, accept all the Torah commandments and become an inseparable part of the Jewish nation. If he chooses not to convert he can remain as a foreign resident who accepts all 7 Noahide Commandments and enjoys full human rights in the Land of Israel, without citizenship.

The warning in this week's Torah portion is the reality in which we live today. If Israel is simply another state of all its citizens bereft of its Jewish destiny, what gives us the right to "conquer" Tel Aviv and Haifa from its inhabitants? Our enemies are empowered by our weakness. We do not know how to explain what we are doing here to ourselves, and lose the moral justification to fight, as a result.

The way to regain our moral high ground is to renew our connection to our Jewish identity and destiny. Once we have set our sights firmly on our Jewish goals, we will be able to tell the non-Jewish inhabitants of this country that they can make peace, leave or fight.

With prayers for a complete and speedy recovery for David Yosef ben Faigeh Perel,

Shabbat Shalom