The murdered Fogel family
This is a guest column by Rabbi Da-vid Rosenthal, from Aish Minnesota.
I have struggled this week whether to look or not.
There are some events that are too horrible to think about. The horrendous slaughter of a young family in Israel has occupied my mind throughout the week. The pictures of the slain family lying in pools of blood were published by Israel. I have heard discussions about the wisdom of publishing those pictures – some are totally flabbergasted, others are in complete agreement.
I have not yet looked at the images. They are very close to home. The children’s ages were Yoav(11), Elad(4) and Hadas (3 months). I myself have a four year old boy, and a seven month old baby girl. They leave behind 3 orphans – Tamar(12), Roi(8) and Yishai(2).
And even though I have not yet looked, I feel it is extremely important that we not shield ourselves from the event. We need to look evil in the eye, and understand how truly wicked are the people that we are dealing with. To run away and go back to our regular lives is like going on with business as usual as the 9/11 planes crash into our office building.
There are two parts here.
Firstly acknowledging that there is evil in the world.
This is a fact that is all too often brushed under the carpet. People think that circumstances produce bad acts, not people. For example, the presence of settlements is used as an excuse for the terrorism. This is not a Torah perspective. Of course, circumstances can influence the setting of a particular decision, but at the end of the day, it is the person himself that chooses to either be good or evil.
Evil cannot be discussed away, cannot be negotiated with, and cannot be trusted. It must be destroyed.
Unfortunately, we envision our enemy as we do ourselves. Just as we cannot imagine having such cruel intentions, we project that inability onto our enemies, and assume they must really be decent people who are just under difficult circumstances. I have heard the claim of insanity – surely anyone who committed such a terrible act must be insane! The people in Gaza celebrated the news of the slaughtering of the Fogel family – they distributed candies and cheered in delight (similar to their reaction on 9/11). Can we imagine such vile behavior? When we, by necessity, kill our enemies, it is with a heavy heart and regret for no alternative. The evil that was present in the murderous actions of the few, seems to have permeated their entire society.
The second point is much more personally challenging.
If good is to triumph, we must be as committed to it, as our enemies are to evil. Our enemies are willing to kill or be killed in their struggle to assert their dominance over the Western world. Do we feel as committed to our values as they are to theirs? If we are not, then we are doomed.
There was an interview with a Jordanian minister after the war of 1948 asking why they were beaten by the Israelis. He responded that the Arabs were outnumbered 10-1. When confronted with the actual statistics, he said “No, you don’t understand. Although we outnumbered them statistically, there were 10 times as many of them that were willing to die for their cause, than there were on our side.”
Do you know what you’re willing to die for? Do you have such clarity in your beliefs?
The evil is not going to disappear by itself. It is only through clarity and commitment to that clarity that we can hope to defeat the murderers of the Fogel family.
What are you willing to die for?
What value is so important to you that you would put everything on the line?
May we all have a peaceful Shabbat, and may Hashem end all evil soon in our days. Good Shabbos
(Photos: commons, wikimedia commons)
I wrote about this as well, trying to make sense of the world and life.
http://www.newdaynewlesson.com/?p=5512
It is horrible and painful to learn of these murders. Let’s clear up a false report right away: There were no jubilant crowds of Palestinians cheering this act. Right-wing bloggers manufactured the fictitious anecdote, rather than reporting the reaction among Palestinians, which was in fact widespread revulsion. (http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2011/03/17/a-brand-new-myth-for-the-israeli-right/)
But the author aims to contextualize these murders within a false dichotomy of good and evil in which no circumstantial consideration should be taken into account.
Of course, no murder is ever justified or acceptable whatsoever. But Jews and all lovers of Israel need to be realistic about what these rapidly expanding illegal settlements are doing to Israeli-Palestinian relations. I’ll give you a hint: they aren’t helping at all. Too many in the diaspora are blind to the horrors suffered by people living in the West Bank so that Israelis may continue to expand and defend their illegal settlements. There is a reason no country in the world accepts these settlements as legal, including the United States. All they do is make it harder for Palestinians and Israelis to actually achieve a legitimate, lasting peace. Lovers of Israel should see settlement expansion as it truly is: a hardcore barrier to peace. It is a slap in the face of the Palestinians, for whom settlements often mean being forcibly kicked off their lands. Well that’s just not cool, or helpful for Israel’s long-term security.
And while I’m at it, let me bust another myth: Those who cling to the naive stereotype that our enemies seek to “assert dominance over the Western world” simply because they are “evil” and motivated by religious extremism are ignoring the local and larger geopolitical repurcussions of Western (including some Israeli) actions. In the real world, people hate you for a reason. Effects are born from specific causes. It’s science. Let’s have a little more introspection as to the root causes behind anti-Western and anti-Israeli sentiment.
I’ll tell you what, in my mind, is and isn’t worth dying for: I don’t believe that illegal settlements which displace Palestinians and further damage chances for peace are worth dying for. Human rights for all are worth dying for. An Israel that seeks to restrict democratic freedoms for women and minorities (you can look that up too) is not worth dying for. But an Israel that is true to its democratic virtues, genuinely striving and sacrificing for a true, sustainable peace–that is the Israel I want to see.