Weekly Sidra: Shofetim (Rulings)
Torah Portion: Devarim / Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9
Haftorah: Yeshayahu / Isaiah 51:12-52:12

I, I am He who comforts you! What ails you that you fear Man who must die, Mortals who fare like grass?  You have forgotten the Lord your Maker, Who stretched out the skies and made firm the earth! And you live all day in constant dread Because of the rage of an oppressor Who is aiming to cut [you] down. Yet of what account is the rage of an oppressor? (Isaiah 51:12-13)

This week’s Sidra opens with Hashem telling Moses to appoint leaders over Israel who will judge them fairly.  “Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you. (Devarim 16:20)

This leads me to this week’s Haftarah.  The portion above states that Hashem is the one who comforts us and who made the skies and the earth.  Who have we to fear?

Many Jews are afraid to be Jews.  In our politically correct society everyone has to cow-tow to the wishes of special interest groups.  For three years, hundreds of students (Muslims) have been praying in the cafeteria at Valley Park Middle School during their lunch hour. The school doesn’t run or pay for the service.   TDSB director of education Chris Spence said the decision to hold the prayer sessions was made in consultation with the school community.  Eighty (80) per cent of Valley Park students are Muslim, and the school began the Friday services to prevent students from missing classes to pray at a nearby mosque.  The TDSB defended the sessions, saying it’s simply trying to accommodate the religious beliefs of its many Muslim students, as mandated by the Ontario Human Rights Code.  It said the issue is not one about religion in schools but about religious accommodation.

Excuse me, but if Jews were to try and pray in a public school we would be condemned.  Israel is always being vilified.  There were eight Israelis who died in a recent attack.  The BBC headline read “Israel pounds Gaza after deadly attacks near Eilat”

Once again, in true BBC style, the story is not about a terrorist attack on Israelis but on Israeli counter-measures, presented as aggressive actions.  And what did the BBC choose to focus on as over 100 rockets and mortars rained on Israel’s southern towns and cities over the weekend?

I am a Jew and proud of it!!  We are not to bow to the whims of Muslims or any other group.  How many of us will remain silent?  I will not!!  How many of us when we start new jobs are afraid to tell our boss we don’t work on Shabbat?  Or to tell our friends that we will not join them at a non-Kosher restaurant?

I am reminded of a story.

In the first Lebanon War in 1982, the IDF essentially forced the PLO terror organization out of Lebanon and into exile in Tunisia. The PLO was in complete disarray. One of the prisoners in the Israeli detention camp, Ansar, was a senior terrorist, admired by his henchmen. His name was Salah Taamari and he was a broken man.

In the book about Taamari, Mine Enemy, penned by Israeli journalists Amalia and Aharon Barnea, Taamari told Barnea of the transformation he underwent in Ansar. While in prison, he had completely despaired of any hope that the Palestinians would one day realize any of their territorial dreams. He was ready to renounce the struggle and was well on the way to convincing his prison-mates that they would never defeat Israel.

Then, one Passover, he witnessed a Jewish prison guard eating a pita. Taamari was shocked, and asked his jailer how he could so unashamedly eat bread on Passover. The Jew replied: "I feel no obligation to events that occurred to my nation over 3,000 years ago. I have no connection to that."

That entire night Taamari could not sleep. He thought to himself: "A nation whose members have no connection to their past, and are capable of so openly transgressing their most important laws, has cut off all its roots to the Land."

He concluded that the Palestinians could, in fact, achieve all their goals.

From that moment, he determined "to fight for everything – not a percentage, not some crumbs that the Israelis might throw us – but for everything. Because opposing us is a nation that has no connection to its roots, which are no longer of interest to it."

Taamari goes on to relate how he shared this insight with "tens of thousands of his colleagues, and all were convinced."

Taamari did indeed influence his co-terrorists and breathed new life into the war against Israel. It is hard to exaggerate the damage done by the pita in the mouth of just one Israeli prison guard on the holiday of Passover.

May we never fear any man!!  If we do, not only do we inspire our enemies, we also show our lack of faith in the one we should fear!!  Ein od Milvado. There is no one, but Hashem!!