A Love Letter from Tel Aviv

I've never written for Arutz Sheva before. I never thought that I would really be welcome.

I live in Tel Aviv, I like to go to nightclubs and bars on occasion, and I'm not observant, even though I have great respect and admiration for Orthodox Judaism.

With these "strikes" against me, I joined the wonderful, idealistic, intelligent people who infiltrated Gush Katif to help stop the Disengagement. They welcomed me with open arms and I loved them. I was inspired by the spirit, love, values, and energy of the Gush communities and their supporters.

Throughout history, the Jewish people have always been persecuted. Now, in our own state, the Jewish people are being persecuted - the Jewish people embodied in the largely Orthodox communities of Gush Katif - because they are the bearers of the Jewish conscience and the Jewish spirit; a conscience and spirit that have led to prosperous, generous and happy Jewish lives.

I also saw the terrible destruction. After being dragged out of the N'vei Dekalim synagogue with those amazing young women, I returned to face the apathy and lack of compassion of many of my peers in Tel Aviv.

I don't want any more Disengagements. I don't want any more Jewish persecution - in Israel or anywhere else.

I want to witness a cultural and spiritual revolution in Israel, so that Israel remains a vibrant, strong and successful Jewish State. I want to see one people, one state, on one side of the Jordan. I don't see any other option. My leftist friends don't like it when I say that, but if they want to survive, they should listen to me a little more.

But I decided to write for Arutz Sheva because I want to help. Coming from the "other side of the fence", I want to tell you what I think needs to be done now to revive the Jewish State. And I will be critical, and maybe even sacrilegious, but I say this out of love.

I heard it said that one solution is to build more settlements and move into Judea and Samaria. But we all saw in Gush Katif that the presence of more bodies hardly deters the army. What's another thousand people to them in another Jewish settlement? They help, but only so much. This solution treats the surface condition, but not the inner wound.

Another solution offered is to create mini-Gush Katifs within Israel. This, of course, works well, because Israeli society needs the spirit of Gush Katif infused within it. But we have already seen that the light of Gush Katif was not enough to draw masses of protesters or to change soldiers' minds. The soldiers and almost-protesters may have felt bad about themselves, but that's about it.

I offer a solution that is much more difficult. It will take physical and spiritual resources that many of Judea, Samaria and Gaza (Yesha) and pro-Yesha Israelis may not have harnessed before, or at least, may not have harnessed enough. This is partly because Yesha and pro-Yesha communities look down upon the secular Israeli world - in some cases, for good reason - which prevents them from fully intermingling with the secular world and its secular systems. But the way I see it, aside from all out mutiny, this may be the only way to make Israel Jewish. Nothing good comes easy.

It is time for those wonderful youth alongside of whom I had the privilege of fighting in Gush Katif to get really involved with mainstream Israel society - to become the next generation of journalists, lawmakers, military leaders, politicians, writers, filmmakers, artists, scientists, judges and philosophers. In the spirit of Torah u'mada, I want to see them in the government, I want to see them writing articles read by Israeli masses, I want to see them making movies, I want to see them on the Supreme Court.

It is time for the brave of heart to study in places like Tel Aviv University and Haifa University. It is time for them to become the activists on campus, to expose the anti-settler propaganda and anti-Zionist teachings in the political science and Jewish history classes. It is time for them to climb the ladder of achievement in all the arts and sciences, to counter all the leftist damage that has been done. It is time for them to become the new leaders and to usher in the cultural, spiritual and intellectual revolution.

And they could do it, because they are smart. They are smart enough to separate the wheat from the chaff; to take the good and pure from general studies and to reject the immoral and nonsensical, applying sound general knowledge to a value-driven, ethical, Jewishly proud vision and philosophy. But this requires tons of vigilance, preparation, dedication and open-mindedness. It's easy to believe what professors say. It's harder to challenge convention and to raise a different voice, while taking the truth and shunning the falsehood.

They can influence the people around them through their passion, intelligence and example.

I know this is a difficult choice, because many families are afraid that their children will be exposed to the materialism, decadence, anti-Semitism and nihilism of the secular world. The youth and their families may have to choose more lenient rulings in Halakha and a more open-minded Hashkafa to make this choice, but to me, this is definitely one path that can revolutionize Israeli society.

Israel is deteriorating very fast and I'm not sure how long the country could last. I'd wager that this would be a sure-fire solution if we had more time. We don't have too much time. But I saw those youth and they are diligent and resourceful. Within one generation, they could change a country.

And if they ever want to find their way around in Tel Aviv, I'll personally show them around. They are always welcome in my city, as I was welcomed in theirs.

The reason the United States invaded Afghanistan and Iraq was in order to secure Israel's witdrawal from the "occupied territories", period. The Cold War rationale for the Islamic hatred of Israel has basically been removed. Palestinians will have their state.

The rationale for Islamic hatred of Israel will now become a matter of "culture" in that Israel represents a revetment of western values.

Within a short period, the Internet will remove that rationale as the entire planet becomes culturally "westernized" like it or not, insofar as "westernized" is a code word for "scientific". Were the Imams, Kommissars and Cafe Literati to unleash a holy war of terror and suppression against the Internet, they'd have a decent target in their crosshairs, but then they'd also be on record as declaring the elevation of bald human stupidity a noble spiritual objective.

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walter alter artist - wiseguy - savant
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PORTFOLIO: http://infojockey.tripod.com/
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Praying that His Remnant will remain so very close to Him, will trust Him only and His faithfulness, and avoid the snares, lies and lures of the devil. Praying they will stay safely under His great protection.

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