The World Press pushes us towards Redemption

At first blush, the Jewish religion looks pretty good. It claims to focus on the spiritual link between Man and G-d. It claims that justice and truth will one day emanate from the Jewish nation and its capital, Jerusalem. It claims that Israel will be the source-point for world peace.

But if you read The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Guardian (England), Haaretz and The Times of London, you might conclude that peace and truth have nothing to do with Jews, Jerusalem or Judaism. For these newspapers, when Jews control Jerusalem, they become brutal oppressors.

The Jewish religion says the nation of Israel seeks peace, truth and justice. The World Press says Israel is the enemy of peace, truth and justice. Is someone lying?

According to a man called by many the father of Religious Zionism-- the Rav Avraham Yitzchok HaCohen Kook (1865-1935)—lies play a role in the Jewish Redemptive process. To paraphrase Rav Kook, the world of Truth can come only after the world of lies disappears.

We live in a world of lies. Some of the world’s most influential newspapers do not tell the truth; they  repeat fictions they call truth. Those fictions are simple: Israel is immoral and unpeaceful; the Arab is innocent and peaceful. The Arab wants only self-determination; the Jew wants only to control.

The anti-Israel Press promotes these fictions. It claims that  Israel rejects a ‘two-state’ solution. But as the Press clamours that Israel rejects two states, Arabs hold up plaster maps to show that their Arab ‘Palestine’ will replace Israel, not stand beside it.  

Who is telling the truth?

The Press excoriates Israel for ‘intransigence’. But as it claims that Israel rejects peace with the Arab, the Arab announces he will make the Middle East Judenrein—Jew-free.

Who is lying?

Rabbi Dr Tzvi Hersh Weinreb reminds us (OU Torah Tidbits number 1051, July 5-6, 2013) that the world stands upon three fundamental principles: justice, peace and truth. To understand the power of ‘three’, think of a farmer’s milking stool. This is a small three-legged stool upon which one sits to milk a cow. That stool has three legs because a farmer understands stability: a stool is never stable with just one or two legs.  Stability requires a minimum of three legs.

Our Heritage teaches that the world is the same. It cannot stand on only one or two principles.  Stability requires a minimum of three principles; and those are justice, peace and truth.

Many Christian Denominations, Peace advocates, the Press and the anti-Israel movement all promote justice and peace. Everyone understands justice and peace.

But where is truth? Name one country where there is justice and peace without truth.

Peace and justice do not exist in a world of lies--period. If you want peace and justice, you have to tell the truth. You also have to accept the truth when you see it.

For example, if you tell Israel to ‘make peace’ while the Arab wants to war against Israel, you will not get peace until you address that Arab desire. If you want justice while the Arab wants to kill Jews because that is a religious mandate for him, you will never get justice until you confront that murderous mandate.

Peace and justice are built on truth—not fictions.

Perhaps Israel can show the way to the world of truth by exposing how the Press promotes fictions. One easy example of such exposure comes from Gonen Ginat, who has written an intriguing essay in the newspaper Israel HaYom (see loveoftheland.blogspot, July 7, 2013). He writes about a story that appeared in another Israeli daily, Yedioth Ahronoth, about a woman called Fatma Vardi, identified in the Yedioth story as Israel’s only female Bedouin stand-up comic. The writer of the essay about Ms Vardi described her as one of four wives of a Bedouin man, a mother to 17 children. But Gonen Ginat wrote that a simple internet search on Ms Vardi shows that Fatma Vardi’s real name is Gila Zimmerman, a Jewish comic who lives not in an Arab village but in a Tel Aviv suburb. Ms Zimmerman is a stage-performer. She invents fictional characters for comic purpose. Fatma Vardi is one of those fictions. Apparently, the Yedioth writer didn’t do any homework. He just reported what the actress-comic told him. He couldn’t tell the difference between truth and fiction.

The anti-Israel Press behaves the same way with Israel. It does little-to-no homework. It parrots every Arab claim about Israel. It embraces the Fatma Vardis of this world. It promotes fiction over truth.

Rav Kook understood Redemption. He also understood that a world of lies is nothing more than a door to Redemption.

The world’s Press is that door. To reach Redemption, that’s the door we must unhinge. Then, we must rebuild it.

We start that rebuilding process by telling the truth.