Monday, December 01, 2008

Light versus Darkness

A few days have passed since the tragic end of the Siege of Mumbai Chabad House. For most, it will likely soon be relegated to "old" news, forgotten as one of the many similar stories of terror that we are now "used" to. Not for me. And, I hope, not for you either.

Together with people of good will everywhere, we mourn the deaths of the almost 200 innocents, including two Australians, brutally murdered in Mumbai. Yet the attack on Chabad House was no "ordinary" act of terror. As stated by Israeli Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni, it was a calculated Islamic terror attack against a predetermined Jewish target. As such it represents a new front in the Global Islamic War of Terror that some continue to deny even exists. It has ramifications for Jews everywhere.

I believe that we need to respond in three ways:

1) Displaying heightened vigilance in matters of physical security.
2) Gaining a better understanding of the nature of the threat.
3) Becoming more committed Jews.

1) Heightened vigilance in matters of physical security.

Locally we must support and expand the work of the CSG as well as demand Government assistance in protecting our communal infrastructure. There is however no place, G-d forbid, for fear. Fear is precisely what the Islamic terrorists want and giving into it would grant them an undeserved victory. We must continue to attend shule, school and Jewish social and cultural activities.

2) Understanding the nature of the threat.

After Shabbos, I searched in vain for any sign of protest from the Australian Muslim community. The fact that they are not protesting loudly against this shame perpetrated in the name of their religion, which included at least two Australian deaths, indicates complicity on their part. Islam and the entire Muslim world must be held accountable until they actively uproot this cancer from their midst. The onus should be on them if they wish to be accepted as a civilized people and religion.

Mumbai plain and simply was an attack on the West - which unfortunately is yet to "get" it.

There should be no pussyfooting around the notion that this was an attack on Western and Israeli interests in response to "persecution" of the Palestinians or countless other Muslim "grievances". Anyone who reads Islamic theology comes very quickly to the conclusion that its aim is world domination by the Umah through whatever means are available. They merely exploit local grievances - whether in the Philippines, Bali, Thailand, India or "Palestine". It is patently ridiculous to think that giving Land for Peace (in Israel, Asia or Europe) will satiate the appetite of those who see the Umah and its Caliphate extending throughout Europe and Asia.

Those in the West who continue to insist that the source of the world's trouble lies with the Palestinian issue do so at their own peril. We are already seeing where this is headed. In England Muslims were "offended" by the teaching of the Holocaust - and the authorities gave in and removed it from the syllabus. In Durbin, at the UN Conference Against Racism - most of the world remained ominously silent as the most radically anti-Semitic resolutions since the Holocaust were propagated. History teaches us that while attacks may begin against the Jews, it is never long before the rest of humanity suffers. They should of course not be attending the upcoming Durbin II Conference Against Racism (sic), but should they unwisely choose to do so, we must at the very least demand of PM Rudd and President-elect Obama that they protest vociferously at any attempt to once again condemn Israel and Jews.

The root cause of terror lies not in local issues but in an ideology bent on world domination. Israel and the West wrongly believe that they can placate the beast with gestures, including the release of terrorists and murderers. Daniel Pearl's head was cut off by a terrorist who India released as a "gesture".

It is about time that the West demanded the only gesture that really matters. The reinterpretation of the Koran and Islam as a peaceful religion that disavows force, murder and "martyrdom" as a method of spreading its word or dealing with its "grievances". As long as children are educated to hate the infidels, this war will continue. There is simply no place for debate or discussion with a religion that does not meet this one simply precondition.

c) Recommit to becoming more Jewish

We should follow the example of our holy brothers and sisters who died "al kiddish hashem" in the Chabad House in Mumbai. When Zaka entered the building immediately after it was safe to do so they came upon the bodies of the Kedoshim which were riddled with bullets in a room splattered with blood. Rabbi Holzberg and the two other rabbis lay on the floor with holy books in their hands - they were praying and studying Torah until the moment of their deaths. Nearby was the body of Rivka, the Rebbetzin of the Chabad House. It was covered with a Tallis. Somehow, before being murdered themselves, they had managed to cover her. Such holiness and purity in the midst of bestial carnage. Just as these Kedoshim dedicated their lives, and ultimately gave them, for the love of Jews and Torah, so too must we, each in our way. Choose a Mitzvah and do it. Or commit to a programme of Jewish study - join our JLI Adult Education programme or the new advanced JLI Talmud programme that will commence in February and which I am dedicating to the Holzbergs. In whatever way it is - become more Jewish.

When Fedayeen attacked Kfar Chabad in 1956 killing five students, the Rebbe responded with three Hebrew words, behemshech habinyan tinachemu - "through continuing the work of building (Judaism) you will be comforted."

May we merit the ultimate comfort - the coming of Moshiach - immediately.

With blessings of peace

Rabbi Benzion Milecki

P.S. Please read the following article by Uri Orbach, a prominent religious Zionist spokesperson and journalist. His article appeared in Sunday's Yediot Acharonot.