The World (or why things are so crazy)

Watching the politics and the killings and the riots of the world and Israel, one has a hard time understanding why everything is the way it is. This is one explanation that seems to me to account for much of the terror in the world.

God, or HaKadosh Baruch Hu, has many traits. We put names on them to understand them, even if the divisions are superficial, and only meaningful in our attempt to understand his ways. One of the primary 'divisions' which we make is between gevurah or din and hesed, between strength and compassion.

The Muslim/Arab world is attached to gevurah, to strength. It is associated with Jacob, our forefather. It is the side of God that demands, that puts limits, that makes rules. When an Arab goes into a crowd and blows himself up screaming Allah Achbar, God is greeat, he is seeing before his eyes the holy war, the command to fulfill God's will.

On the other hand, the Israeli people and government have little interest in treating this as war, in responding to the fact that people are daily attacking citizens with automatic gunfire. Where does this come from?

It is easier to understand the part of this that comes from America and the West, although the truth is that it is part of Rabin's legacy, and become quite ingrained in large parts of Israeli society. People fear loss of life, and are willing to do anything to avoid loss of life. It has become the ultimate measure of society. That might even seem logical to the reader of these lines, which just goes to show how ingrained this is as a value.

In most societies, there is understanding that, as important as individual life is, there are things that are more important. Those are the values that motivate people to fight against a tyrant, to achieve freedom.

Our society has lost that sense, because of the Christian view of the world, which is attached to hesed, to compassion. In their world, the most important thing is doing good, being nice to another person.

Ultimately, a Jew sees the world as built on the combination of these values. The world can not stand on compassion alone, nor on absolute justice. Only by seeing God in all his attributes do we have a chance at understanding truth.

The tendancy to take one attribute and call it God, is perhaps the fundamental principle of Idol worship. Shema Yisrael, Adonai Elohainu, Adonai Echad. Hear o Israel, the lord our God, the lord is One.