So Disengaged

So what? Another American rabbi took a tour of the Disengagement victims' present living conditions--you call that living!?!--and decided that it's a shanda, a disgrace. And we're supposed to be impressed?

All of this was predictable, and you didn't need any great mystical gifts to see it. One of my greatest disappointments during last summer's visit to New York was the fact that the Orthodox Jewish community was disengaged from the threat of Disengagement. Besides the rally I attended in Times Square, there were no other public expressions about the fate of our People.

I admit that I didn't expect the sort of fear and unity I remember from the pre-Six Days War. That was an amazing time, but I was certain that there would be an awareness of the dangers Disengagement would bring. First to the people uprooted, thrown from their homes. It was clear that there wouldn't be any housing for the vast majority. And that was the easy part.

The most serious of the Disengagement dangers was the precedent of giving away Jewish land to the Arabs without even the pretence of getting something in return. This Disengagement just to make Jews suffer is the worst. It is DISENGAGEMENT in the purest sense of the word. It is a flight from reality. That is the meaning of "disengagement." Disengagement is the act of releasing from an attachment or a connection.

That is exactly what I felt was happening. The American Jewish Community had disengaged from the Israeli Jewish Comminity. And I must admit that the situation is much, much more serious. There is disengagement in Israel, too. Most of the Israeli Jewish Community is also disengaged. They really don't care what happens to other Jews, even in Israel.

That's why the Kadima Party is so popular. It's the "me and now" party. Don't care about Eretz Yisrael. Don't care about YESHA. Don't care about other Jews. Don't care about the future. As long as terror and rockets just touch the perifery, the "border" areas. Keep Ramat Hasharon, Ramat Gan, Ramat Aviv.

They don't want to be reminded of history. Who cares about Shiloh, Shechem, Hebron and Beit El? They're disengaged. But they don't realize that without our ancient history, they have no rights to Tel Aviv, Kfar Shmariyahu and Herzliya. There would be no Herzliya without Herzl's dreams. Today's Israelis dream of Los Angeles and New Zealand. The kibbutzim dream of selling their land to yuppies for luxury housing and reaping millions from the deal.

The "settlers" frighten them by their unabashed love of the Land, by their large families, by their faith. Just look at the pictures from Amona, and it's clear that Olmert, as head of Kadima and defacto Prime Minister, declared war on loyal citizens. That's one of the reasons that the (sic) security forces were instructed to hit the young demonstrators in their reproductive organs. The physical blows were sexual, sadistically aimed to physically and emotionally traumatize those innocent young kids. They aren't the sexually active teens you'll find in the Tel Aviv pubs. Most of the demonstrators strictly follow Jewish laws restricting sex for marriage.

The physical attcks at Amona are a continuation of Disengagement. All of those who didn't protest Disengagement helped encourage the government to go further in attacking Jews. Now it's just harder to stop, but we must, because each additional government act is worse.

It is up to us, each and every one of us. Yes, it's late, but we have no choice. We must not give up and we must not give in.

Shabbat Shalom