The morning prayers in Judaism bear the name Shacharit - a word derived from the Hebrew word "shachar," meaning dawn or morning. According to Jewish tradition, the institution of daily morning prayers was a contribution of our father Avraham, the founder of our faith and people. It is written in the Bible that Avraham awoke early in the morning to address his God, and this concept of morning prayer remains deeply ingrained in Jewish life. The morning prayers consist of thanks and appreciation for being alive (no small matter!) and for the honor and responsibility of serving God and man by being Jewish. It is during the Shacharit prayers of the morning that men wear a talit (a large four cornered cloak with tzitzit attached at each of the four corners of the garment) and tefilin - the black boxed phylacteries that Jewish males wear on their arms and heads daily - except for Shabbat and holidays - from their Bar-Mitzva day onward. There is halachic discussion regarding the propriety of women wearing tefilin, but the overwhelming custom of Israel is that women do not wear tefilin. Women are, however, enjoined to pray the Shacharit services in the same fashion as their male counterparts.

The Shacharit service consists of a number of sections. After the thanks mentioned above, there appear a number of Psalms praising the Lord and recounting His wonders and greatness. This section is titled "Pesukei D´Zimra" - verses of joyful praise. This order of prayer is in line with the Talmudic idea that before one asks for favors and blessings, one should realize Who is being asked. In this section, historical events such as the Exodus from Egypt and the splitting of the Red Sea are recalled, as well as the triumphant Song of Moses upon the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Pharaoh. The next section of the Shacharit prayer centers upon the recitation of "Shema Yisrael" ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one’- the core prayer of Judaism. There are two blessings that precede the Shema prayer- one regarding the wonders of the light of day and the other describing our gratitude for receiving God´s Torah at Sinai. After the recitation of the Shema there is a blessing thanking God for our past redemptions and survival and entreating the Almighty for the future redemption of Israel and all mankind.

The next part of the service consists of the nineteen-blessing Amidah that is recited silently standing at attention, so to speak. Encapsulated within that prayer are all of our possible requests from the Lord - for health, prosperity, peace and a just world. Additional personal requests and entreaties may be added to the standard ritual text to fit one´s situation. This nineteen-blessing Amidah is repeated out loud for the benefit of the congregation, to accommodate those who were unable to recite it by themselves. The service then continues with the penitential prayer Tachnun, consisting of Psalms and verses asking for forgiveness of sin. On Mondays and Thursdays a lengthier version of Tachnun is recited, as well as the reading of the first part of the Torah portion of the week from the Torah scroll itself. The service concludes with the recitation of a number of additional Psalms and verses that ask for Divine help in the day´s forthcoming tasks, as well as the recitation of the psalm of the day that was recited and sung by the Levites in the Temple in Jerusalem. In fact, the entire Shacharit service is seen as a replacement for the morning sacrifice service that opened the daily Temple service in Jerusalem.

Prayer is seen as an excellent way to begin the day. It focuses a person´s thoughts on the true priorities in life and gives one sustaining spiritual strength to face the mundane and often vexing problems of everyday existence. Jews were wakened to prayer by a person who knocked at the door and shouted, "Rise up to serve the Lord, our Creator." Such doorknockers may be relics of past history but the morning prayer service remains the foundation stone of a Jew´s entire day.

Moses and a Bush

An angry and frustrated President of the US is reflecting one morning in his Texan farm how to rid the world from the terror disease, when he suddenly observes Moses strolling through the fields. Assuming that the best advice on the subject can be obtained from this great teacher and leader, he calls out to Moses, only to be disregarded.

The President begins to run after Moses, pleading that he turn his face to him. But to no avail: Moses simply ignores him.

The President´s ire increases. "Moses," he exclaims. "Do you know whom you are ignoring? The President of the United States! Why would you not have the decency to talk to me for a moment?"

"Listen to me," Moses tells the President. "The last time I spoke to a burning bush, I was stuck in a desert for forty years."

In the beginning of the second Torah portion Massei, the Bible summarizes the entire route followed by Israel from its Exodus from Egypt, in the year 1313 B.C., until it stood poised to cross the Jordanian River and enter the Promised Land, forty years later. In all, the Jewish forty-year sojourn through the Sinai wilderness included forty-two encampments, each one enumerated by name in this week´s portion.

The Torah portion opens with the following statement: "These are the journeys of the Children of Israel who went forth from the land of Egypt. Moses wrote their goings forth according to their journeys at the bidding of God; and these were their journeys according to their goings forth."

The Torah now proceeds to describe the route taken by Israel -- from the Egyptian City Ramses, to Succoth, to Etham, to Marah, to Elim, to Yam-Suf, to Sin, to Dafkah, etc.

A simple reading of the biblical text brings to mind several questions.

First, why does the Torah single out this particular part - the story of the Jewish journey in the desert - stating that it was written by Moses at God´s bidding, when in truth Moses wrote the entire Torah at God´s instructions! Why doesn´t the Torah state, for example, that "Moses wrote the story of the splitting of the sea at the bidding of God"?

Secondly, what is the meaning of the words "Moses wrote their goings forth according to their journeys, and these were their journeys according to their going forth"? And what is the difference between "goings forth according to their journeys," and "journeys according to their going forth"?

Thirdly, the beginning of the verse makes mention of God´s role in the process: "Moses wrote their goings forth according to their journeys at the bidding of God." But when the verse repeats itself to describe the actual journeys - "and these were their journeys according to their goings forth" - mention of God is omitted in the repetition!

This seems to indicate that the transcribing of the journeys was Divinely ordained while the journeys themselves were humanly decided. Yet this is contrary to the reality that God designed the entire route of the Jewish people throughout the wilderness: "according to the word of God would they encamp and according to the word of God they would journey". If so, why does the Torah not write here, too, "And these were their journeys according to their goings forth at the bidding of God"?

Finally, as we have discussed numerous times, the entire Torah is a blueprint for life, a road map for life´s journeys. But how does this entire episode, which occurred some 3300 years ago in a distant wilderness, apply to our lives today?

Rabbi Moshe Chaim Ephrayim of Sedlikov, a grandson of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov, was one of the great spiritual masters of his age. In his Chassidic work Degel Machne Ephrayim he discusses a beautiful idea taught by his saintly grandfather.

The route followed by the Jewish people in their trek from Egypt to Israel, including all forty-two encampments on the way, says the Baal Shem Tov, represent the journey of every human being throughout his or her life, beginning in Egypt and culminating in the "Promised Land."

We begin our voyage by leaving Egypt, by departing the narrow passageway of our mothers’ bodies ("Mitzrayim", the Hebrew term for Egypt, means "narrow constraints," representing the narrow channels through which a fetus emerges). We then slowly become exposed to the wilderness of the world, to the confusion and turmoil that life imposes on each of us. As we continue to mature, we learn that life was never meant to be easy, but it was designed by our creator as a journey through a challenging and arduous desert, that could nonetheless lead us to a transcendental terrain of holiness, symbolized by the Promised Land.

Our personal journeys through our individual deserts -- just like the journey of our forefathers 3,000 years ago -- include forty-two major "encampments." Although no two people live the same lives, each of us in his (or her) own way encounters, during his life, forty-two singular experiences made up of particular psychological and emotional "ingredients." These 42 experiences are represented by the names of the 42 places where the Jewish people camped during their journey through the Sinai desert and become part of our voyage to our own Promised Land.

All of the circumstances we encounter - they may range from a quarrel with your spouse to the loss of a job, from the birth of a child to the buying of a new home - can be utilized by us as a tool for emotional and spiritual growth and productivity, or, conversely, as a source to demoralize and debase us, plunging us into despair. They can bring us closer to our inner Holy Land, or they can drive us from our spiritual destination. The choice must be made by the traveller himself.

For example, one of the stops of the Jewish people in the desert was named Kevros Hatavah, which means the "graves of craving." On the simple level it was named thus because this was the location where the people who succumbed to gluttonous cravings died from excessive consumption and were brought to burial. Yet on a deeper psychological level, a defining moment in every person´s life emerges when he or she is granted the opportunity to "bury" and subdue immoral cravings and lusts, elevating oneself to an entire new level of consciousness.

But that very same experience presents an equal opportunity for man to create a "grave" for himself and bury himself therein. It is ultimately he himself who must make the choice of how to define the reality of this "encampment" -- an opportunity for growth or an invitation to disaster.

In light of this perspective, the Degel Machane Ephrayim explains the meaning of the above mentioned cryptic verse: "Moses wrote their goings forth according to their journeys at the bidding of God; and these were their journeys according to their goings forth."

The journey per say is predetermined "by the bidding of God," who has meticulously designed the forty-two stations each and every person must encounter during his or her voyage on planet earth. Our challenge is to "go forth" according to the "journeys." This means, to utilize each and every situation in life as an opportunity to heal, grow and become better human beings, reaching the destination God has in store for us.

But what happened in reality was something entirely different: "And these were their journeys according to their going forth." The Jewish people allowed themselves to be bogged down by the circumstances they encountered at certain locations in the desert and lose their sense of direction.

Thus, the original forty-two journeys as they were defined by God, were sadly redefined according to their own poor and sometimes immoral choices, "according to their going forth" in the wrong direction.

God writes the script of your life. You decide weather the script is a blessing or a curse. You make the choice of whether you will go forth according to God´s planned journey for you, or you will redefine the journey based on your own condition at any given moment.

So the next time you are confronted by an event, encounter, or circumstance that challenges you deeply, don´t allow it to shake you up and throw you off the beaten track. Instead make an attempt to view it as one of those forty-two encampments that grant you the opportunity to discover a deeper place within yourself, allowing you to come one step closer to the holy soil embedded in your soul.

GET OLD, GET HAPPY

by Lionel Blue

My mother was a modern woman with only a limited interest in religion. When the sun set and the fast of the Day of Atonement ended, she shot from the synagogue like a rocket from Cape Carnaveral to dance the charleston and black bottom the whole night through at the La Bohème dancing rooms "where the elite used to meet" in east London.

That is why she was so upset when I rang her from Oxford to tell her I was going to study for the rabbinate. But after I told her that otherwise I would be going off to the Himalayas and would return as a guru and sit outside Golders Green station with a begging bowl while her friends and foes passed by, she became more reasonable. She could accept the rabbi business, she said, provided I did not sport a black beard and look like a clerical crow. I introduced her to my rabbinical teacher who was shaven and blond. She took to him immediately and graciously gave way.

As she got older she began to dabble in religion. In her late eighties she decided to light candles for her dead mother, brother, sister and great-aunt. She also began to dabble in theology. Why was there so much suffering in the world?, she wondered. Why did some female octopuses eat their husbands alive after making babies? – she saw this on TV and it had been troubling her. Why did aged people suffer so? The classical answers I gave her didn’t convince and the one which did was her own work.

God was a "He", she said, the prayer book said so and "He" meant male. Now she had known many males – and they had their uses as partners in the La Bohème dancing rooms – but, she added confidentially, you couldn’t rely on them. For responsibility only a "She" would do. That was why the world was the way it was. I thought it was a jolly good try for an untaught amateur in theology and I told her so, which cheered her up.

But really she didn’t need much cheer. She enjoyed old age and because of her I’ve begun to enjoy parts of it too. Now there are some things, of course, you can’t enjoy. So far I’ve had it good and am crumbling nicely. But you don’t know what your body is going to do to you. It could be dancing all night in Benidorm propped up by a Zimmer or inhabiting the eerie world of Alzheimer’s. Also old friends die on you and they’re irreplaceable. Also you become dependent.

But good things come too. And I’m not just referring to riding the buses. To my surprise my seventies are nicer than my sixties and my sixties than my fifties and I wouldn’t wish my teens and twenties on my enemies. Now this isn’t what I expected. I remember watching my youthful hair fall out of my head before a hotel mirror. I was horrified and decided to do away with myself before I lost the lot. But then Yul Brynner appeared on the films and in the fashion magazines all shorn and chic, so I delayed my demise and lived to be a correspondent for The Tablet.

In my life there are pluses that only come with age. I’m outside the rat race and no longer worship the bitch goddess Success. At business parties I can concentrate on the finger food and not bother about networking. It’s more fun to watch without joining in. Also on the way to work good-hearted young girls sometimes offer me their seats, which I accept and bless them in return, a transaction satisfying to all concerned.

Being outside the clerical rugger scrum, I also begin to see my own religion and culture more objectively and my role in it. I begin to understand what the aged Rabbi Leo Baeck, who had gone through concentration camp, meant when he said, "Lionel, Judaism is your religious home; it’s not your religious prison". Chosen-ness and nationalism together have made us Jews become too self-absorbed, so that we prefer fences to bridges, which is part of our present tragedy.

I used to bewail my patchy life. But not now. I am not a camera but a small window which lets in some light and fresh air so that the outside world is perceived as something more than just a Jewish problem. That is where I fit in and where I’m needed. I am pleased now that I have lived in a gay as well as a religious ghetto, although it hasn’t been very comfortable. Taken together, their limitations cancel each other out and I have seen the world more kindly and more honestly. I am also pleased that I fell into a Quaker meeting and then strayed into Catholic contemplative retreats and introduced my students and friends into priories. I have been moved by the kindness I have received in theatres, squats and bars. The secular world is more spiritual than it thinks, just as the ecclesiastical world is more materialist than it cares to acknowledge.

When I was young I was very uptight, ideological and exclusive. But the experience of God in other people has made me more amused, gentler and inclusive. An aged rabbi, crazed with liberalism, once said to me, "We Jews, Lionel, are just ordinary human beings". And then he added, "Only a bit more so!"

The place: The Rimonim Hotel in Safed. The time: Almost four years ago. The event: A two day meeting of public figures from academia and the communications media, representing most of the broad spectrum of Jewish and Arab society in Israel. On the agenda: to ponder the scenarios written by the members of the group, the ‘first harvest’ of the seeds sown during many months of study (demographics, sociology, economics, security/defense, etc.) and intensive discussions, fraught with friction and crises. The purpose of the scenarios was to predict, on the basis of current available data, what Israel will be like in the year 2025. If the prognosis looked serious, then the members of the group would act – vis-a-vis the government authorities and within their own communities – to prevent the ‘bad’ scenarios from coming to pass (the definition of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ was problematic in and of itself, changing in accordance with the breakdown of the opinions present).

The participants had the first document before them. The scenario, concerning what might take place in Israel in 2025, did not include any diagrams – demographic, economic or otherwise. It told a story. The exchange of small talk and jokes among those present, as is common among acquaintances that gather together once a month, tapered off soon after the first section was read. When the author of the document, who was a bit late, walked into the meeting room, he was met with pensive, even grave, expressions. Nothing was said. The man, who was usually greeted warmly and with friendly barbs by his intellectual adversaries, was startled by the silence. Later on, he said that for a minute, he thought that perhaps some disaster had occurred to his community or family and, as sometimes happens in Israeli life, news of the disaster had reached the participants before it reached him. Yet no secret was revealed before he arrived, except for the contents of the scenario, which had spawned the silence.

On Memorial Day eve, 5785 (2025), so began the scenario, the President of the State of Israel, Dr. Munir Al-Amin, announced that he would be unable to make it to the Western Wall to participate in the traditional ceremony that had been taking place at that location for 57 years. "This is not the memorial ceremony for the fallen of the country that I symbolize," the President wrote in his announcement, "but rather that of the previous state, the Zionist one, that used to be here. The soldiers in whose memory the ceremony took place at Al Bouraq (the Arab-Islamic name for the Western Wall) killed my people, expelled them, demolished their homes, erased their villages from the face of the earth and stole their lands. We are now at the beginning of a new age," the president added, "a bold and honest attempt to create a common state for the Israeli Palestinians and for what remains of the Israeli Jews. Let us renounce official State commemorations of events and dates that separate us; henceforth, let us observe only those ceremonies that are acceptable to all the residents of this country."

The President’s proclamation created a frenzy in the country. The Speaker of the Knesset, Abdul Aziz Ra’anam, immediately announced – the statements were apparently coordinated in advance – that the gala session of the Knesset, that takes place every year on Yom Ha’atzma’ut (Israel’s Independence Day) was also canceled. "It’s inconceivable," he declared, "to hold a gala ceremony in which half the citizens celebrate the catastrophe of the other half. Inasmuch as a joint committee has already been convened in accordance with a decision of the Knesset to wrestle with the problem of writing a new national anthem and designing a new flag, the time has also come to find a replacement for Yom Ha’atzma’ut. We must find a new national holiday that will express the new commonality between Jews and Arabs, rather than what divides them."

The pages of the scenario tell the story of that Yom Ha’atzma’ut. It also tells of how two Arabs were chosen for the high elective offices. Even after the high Israeli Arab birth rate endowed them with great political power, the Jewish political parties maneuvered the Arab parties into a situation in which they would get ministerial portfolios not connected with foreign affairs or security matters. The Arabs, with a sophisticated and discerning political sense, understood that from their perspective, it would be preferable to control the symbolic positions of president of the state and Knesset speaker, in addition to the communication, labor, housing, and national infrastructure portfolios. For the essence of the Jewish-Arab conflict had become one centering on symbols: the national anthem, the flag, holidays, language and historical narrative. The scenario also described how the families of fallen Israeli soldiers and the national organization dedicated to their commemoration reacted to the cancellation of the official memorial ceremonies by appealing to the High Court of Justice. As expected, the court ruled that the State must be considerate of the Arabs’ feelings since they constitute close to 40% of its population. The scenario also tells of the reaction of the Jewish Knesset Members. A significant portion them agreed, albeit grudgingly, with the Knesset Speaker’s position. Others, defying the Speaker’s decision, tried to conduct the traditional ceremony, but the Knesset Guard prevented them from doing so. Even the traditional reception at the Presidential Residence for senior military commanders, retired generals and outstanding soldiers, held for 77 consecutive years, was of course canceled.

The events of that Yom Ha’atzma’ut end, according to the scenario, in a terrible tragedy. A terrorist bomb hidden in a cake is smuggled into the hall where the victory party organized by the Arab leadership for its two representatives, the President and the Knesset Speaker, is being held to celebrate their successful cancellation of the Yom Ha’atzma’ut and Memorial Day ceremonies. The "cake" explodes near the Presidential dais killing a number of those present, among them the President and the Infrastructure Minister. Dozens are wounded. In the wake of the assassination, civil disturbances break out throughout the country. Hundreds of thousands of Arabs attack nearby communities and loot, riot and murder. Soldiers from the Palestinian State, called to the aid of their brethren by the general Arab media, exploit the prevailing chaos to seize control of a number of communities, including suburbs of Kfar Sava and Netanya. Israeli Arabs, mostly from the Negev, the Galillee and the "Triangle" of communities northeast of Tel Aviv containing a significant Arab population, threaten to invade Israel’s most important cities. The reserves are called-up. Many refuse to stand for service. "We swore allegiance to defend the country against an external threat," they say. "We are not obligated to the security of a country that attacks its own citizens." The civil war quickly becomes a regional war and thousands are killed and wounded. The scenario does not tell of the outcome and the aftermath.

It was only three years ago that a scenario like this was able to shock even the most hard-core optimists regarding the future of Jewish-Arab relations, especially within the State of Israel. Indeed, a number of those identified with the Israeli left that attended the forum, among them two of those who initiated the Oslo process, briefly lost their cool and their self-confidence, but quickly recovered. They quoted the two moderators of the group who repeatedly argued that futuristic scenarios never actually materialize, since the authors formulate them on the basis of the information at hand, hunches, beliefs and the timetable in which they frame their projections. History, said one of those identified with the Oslo Accords - an historian - is much more optimistic.

Indeed he is correct. The scenario’s timetable, for example, was without doubt mistaken. It is an indisputable fact: Hostilities by Israeli Arabs against Israel did not break out in 2025, but rather in the year 2000 and on a totally different background and the outcome was not as terrible as that of the scenario. Yet the scenario tells of a trend, of a general direction of events, of something that will almost certainly transpire one way or another, unless drastic steps are taken to prevent it. In any event, those who look to the future and prepare for it have a chance of avoiding a catastrophe or maybe even of molding a better future. On the other hand, those who deny what can clearly be expected to happen are liable to pay with our national existence. Currently, even those who are losing sleep over the tick of the demographic clock are burying their heads in the sand instead of confronting the issue.

The members of the group, over twenty individuals, wrote fourteen different scenarios. Most of them, perhaps because of the effect of the first scenario – which was written before all of the others – also predicted a fair amount of difficulty in the country’s future and for nearly the same reasons. In the end, through a difficult process of merging and combining the scenarios, the group united around four possible scenarios. The first, the one that was described above, was the most pessimistic. The second scenario forecast that in the year 2025, the deepening divisions during the first two decades of the 21rst century would cause the country to split into a federation of ethnic and religious groups. A frail and shaky central government would be maintained, but only in order to provide certain governmental services. The scenario also predicts autonomy for Israeli Arabs, with all the internal and external trappings of sovereignty.

The third scenario foretold of the rise to power of an extremist right wing political party in the wake of the demographic and security threat. This party, in the name of the Jewish majority, would not permit a situation in which the country lost its Jewish symbols. The Israeli Arabs, according to this scenario, are oppressed even more than they are oppressed now and would live under conditions of severe discrimination. This perpetuates the conflict with the Arab world and Israel becomes an isolated leper among the nations of the world. This was called the "slave-ship scenario".

The fourth scenario, the "optimistic" one, written by a well known economist, argued that the whole world is on its way to an age characterized by the gradual disappearance of nation-state frameworks. Globalization, according to the scenario, is the nationalism of tomorrow. The race for the Lexus is the tomorrow for all of humanity (as was written a year later by Tom Friedman of the New York Times, the "Prophet of Globalization", in his book The Lexus and the Olive Tree).

In the aftermath of the disillusionment experienced by many as an outgrowth of the October 2000 hostilities by Israel’s Arab citizens, the (predicted or unpredicted) protracted war of attrition with the Palestinian Authority and the debacle of the Oslo process, it now appears to many that this reality, as foreseen in the scenarios, has been going on since time immemorial. However, that is not what happened. Only a little over a year ago, two and a half years after the Safed group completed the scenarios, none of the decision makers, news media, research and academic personages, or public figures to whom the scenarios were disclosed were primed and ready for the turn of events, despite the fact that they all expressed agreement with the essence of the prediction. This would occur in the "distant future," was the common belief, but "not on my watch."

The Velvet Holocaust

From a national perspective, and undoubtedly over the next twenty years, the peril from the present war of attrition is not from the hostile actions per se. It is generally agreed that if the Israeli government would "allow the Israel Defense Forces to triumph", and this is not just a catchy billboard slogan(1), it would have completed the task long ago - albeit at a high domestic and international cost that, in all likelihood, a significant portion of the country’s citizens would not have been willing to pay. The current, drawn-out warfare, aside from the erosion of support it causes in Israeli and international public opinion, distracts the country’s leadership, as well as us, from a number of basic problems. If not dealt with fully and fundamentally, the danger stemming from them may well exceed that posed by Yasser Arafat and his merry band, or even the dangers forecast from the direction of Damascus, Baghdad and Tehran.

We are speaking of weighty structural problems, more serious than the security problems on which the concern for our future is currently focused, endangering the future of the Jewish people in its land as well as the Jewish people in the Diaspora. The seriousness of these problems stems from two main circumstances: There is no national agreement regarding the way to deal with these problems and, sometimes, regarding the very idea that these are problems (for example, many Israelis do not view it as a bad thing that, within less than a generation, the country will become a "state of all its citizens" and abdicate its Jewish character). In contrast, the best minds and organizational forces available deal with strategic threats, such as a missile attack from Iraq or Iran. The lion’s share of the country’s budget is invested in countering them and the responses prepared against these threats are the best possible.

The most acute threat facing Israel during the next quarter century is demographic. According to statistical forecasts from leading demographers, in the year 2025, irrespective of what the borders between Israel and the Arabs are at that time, about 15 million people will be living in the Land of Israel west of the Jordan River. More than half of that population will be Arab. This is an intolerable number with regard to population density, even without factoring in the friction between the two peoples. As of this writing, there are about 6 million residents within the State of Israel, i.e., within the pre-1967 cease-fire lines, about a fifth of whom are Arabs. Already today, 24 years before the year of the forecast, Arab children under the age of 18 constitute 40% of the total in their age bracket in the country. The Arab population’s birth rate is approximately 2.5 times that of the Jewish birth rate and the difference in the birth rates is growing steadily. According to research by Professor Arnon Sofer of Haifa University, the Negev Bedouin, for example, double their population every 12 years. Most of the men have four wives, some from the Gaza Strip and the Hebron Hills area, and no one enforces Israel’s bigamy laws against them. As of this writing, they constitute 25% of the Negev’s population; however, 60% of the births in the Negev’s largest hospital, Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, are by Bedouin women.

Currently, when they amount to "only" 20% of the country’s population, the Israeli Arabs prove to us that a large national minority in a democratic state, in particular a minority that contends that the land fully belongs to them, can prevent the majority from realizing its national goals. When, during the lifetime of most of the readers of this article, this minority reaches 30% or more of the country’s population, Israel is likely to become a bi-national state. Given the proximal Palestinian state and given the immediate adjacency, both geographic and national, of additional Arab countries such as Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, as soon as the demographic balance is in their favor, this Arab sector of Israel’s population will strive to change the country from a bi-national state to an Arab state.

This is the meaning of the scenario that was presented in Part I of this article. It is indeed a realistic forecast, unless we start to prepare a national emergency plan to counter this harsh and fateful scenario.

A second demographic "front" also poses a threat, but from beyond Israel’s borders. In 1945, after the Holocaust, the Jewish people numbered about 13 million. Today, about 55 years, later that number has shrunk to about 12 million. Egypt, by way of example, has tripled its population since then. Similarly, or even more so, have most Arab countries increased their populations. China, which permits only one child per family, nearly tripled its population. Only the Jewish population has been shrinking. The Jewish people are undergoing what has been called a ‘velvet holocaust.’

For population growth to occur, the birth rate must be at least 2.1 children per family. True growth means 3 children per family. Currently, Israeli Jews have on average about 2.1 children per family. Ten years ago the Jewish family’s birth rate was about 2.5 children per family and twenty years ago it was close to 3. By contrast, the Israeli Arab birth rate currently stands at about 4.5 children per family (10 years ago the number was about 4.8, not a significant difference relative to their current birth rate). The current Bedouin birth rate: 7.2 (a decade ago it was 6.5).

The Jewish demographic picture outside of Israel is gloomier still. For several decades now, the Jewish birth rate in the Diaspora has been negative – less than 2. For example, in the U.S. it currently stands at 0.9, separate and apart from the assimilation rate. In other words, within thirty years, according to the leadership of the American Jewish community, Jews are liable to disappear as a distinct ethnic community within the U.S.

It is not difficult to surmise the strategic implications of the disappearance of the American Jewish community or what might happen to Israel’s standing in the U.S. when the American administration will not be forced to take into account powerful Jewish lobbies and Jewish financial support of politicians. Additionally, it is important to note that the situation in other parts of the Diaspora is even more grave than that in North America. The intermarriage rate in South America is greater than that in North America, as it is in Western Europe, as well.

Tomorrow, Not the Day After

At the end of 2000 and the beginning of 2001, these scenarios were presented before an important and respected Israeli forum, The Forum for National Agreement. Already while the slides describing the scenarios were first being shown, the raised voices of the participants in the forum could be heard demanding: Show us positive things, don’t depress us. Yet this is the situation. The Jewish people - even the best among them - does not want to be shown what fate is in store for them, but the forecast is for tomorrow, not for the end of time.

On the Sabbath day that precedes the week in which the fast day of the Ninth of Av occurs - a fast day which marks the destruction of the two Temples in Jerusalem, the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, the defeat of the Bar Kochba rebellion against Rome in 139CE, and other tragedies in Jewish history which coincided with that fateful date, a special reading from the Prophets - a haftorah - is recited publicly in the synagogue. The reading is taken from the first chapter of the book of Isaiah and is a scathing indictment of the moral failings of Israel. The reading begins with the word "chazon" - vision. It is from this word that the Sabbath itself derives its special name - Shabat Chazon, the Sabbath of Stark Vision. Even though the prophecy of Isaiah was annunciated by him in First Temple times, a century before the actual destruction of the Temple by the Babylonians, it remains uncomfortably and eerily relevant to all other times of Jewish and human life as well.

The language and words of the prophet have a cruel beauty to them and the list of sins enumerated therein is long. But the central message of the vision is that the Lord expects us to be loyal to Him, His Torah, and His value system. Tragedy in Jewish history was always traced not only to external factors and hatreds but also to inner failings and disloyalty amongst the Jews themselves. The rabbis of the Talmud attributed the destruction of the Second Temple, not so much to Roman imperial policy, as to the presence of baseless hatred and demonization of others amongst the Jews themselves. Thus it is not only the historical event that is being remembered but, just as importantly, the spiritual and social cause for that sad event is also highlighted and emphasized.

This Sabbath is therefore one of subdued joy and of greater introspection than any other Sabbath of the year. It is even mentioned in halacha that festive Sabbath clothing should not be worn on this Sabbath. However, Jewish communal custom remains that even on this Sabbath, as on all other Sabbath days of the year, special Sabbath clothing is nevertheless worn. During the week of the Ninth of Av (according to Sephardic custom) or even from the first day of Av onwards (according to Ashkenazic custom), Jews refrain from eating meat or poultry and from drinking wine. However, on the Sabbath, even on this semi-somber Sabbath, the traditional Sabbath menu, which includes wine and meat dishes, is maintained. The Sabbath "zemirot" - songs sung at the Sabbath table in honor of the Sabbath - are also sung on this Sabbath as well. Yet, the reading from the prophet Isaiah, the Haftorah - is sung to the mournful melody of the Book of Lamentations, Megilat Eicha, which itself is recited on the night of the Ninth of Av. The joyful poem, Lecha Dodi, which is otherwise always sung to happy melodies in order to usher in the Sabbath on Friday nights, is sung on this Sabbath to a much more mournful melody. Thus, this Sabbath of Stark Vision, like much of life itself, is made up of different, oftentimes contradictory customs, ceremonies and emotions.

Even though much of this Sabbath contains overtones of foreboding and sadness, it also carries with it hope and comfort. In order to support this more optimistic view of the future - and Judaism is nothing if not optimistic about mankind´s eventual future - Jewish custom ordains that the public reading of Isaiah´s prophecy end with words of comfort taken from one of his later prophecies. It is certainly true that the stark vision of Isaiah has come to pass in spades. But as Rabbi Akiva pointed out long ago in the Talmud, just as the dire prophecies have been fulfilled fully and literally, so too will the prophecies of hope and comfort, peace and serenity all see fulfillment and fruition as well.

Question: Why do we conclude our Yom Kippur prayers with the request, "Next Year in Jerusalem?"

Answer: We shall try to explain this concept in a simple manner. The theme of all our Yom Kippur prayers is repentance or t’shuva. The root of the Hebrew word t’shuva means to return. Suppose that a man is expelled from his house by thieves. The wrongdoing will only be corrected when the owner returns to repossess his house.

For the world to reach perfection, G-d decreed that the Jewish people must live a life of Torah in Israel. G-d’s first commandment to Abraham is to go to the land of Israel in order to serve G-d in the most complete way.

Afterwards, G-d commands Moshe to bring the Jews out from Egypt to Eretz Yisrael. Over and over, the Torah repeats that the Jewish people are to live their unique Torah life in Israel. When the holy Jewish nation lives a holy life of Torah in the Holy Land, the vessel is formed to bring the light of G-d to the world. The nation of Israel becomes an international beacon, an example and light to all of the nations of the world.

At the time of the Second Temple, when we failed to uphold the high moral standard demanded of us by the Torah, we were punished and exiled from the land. G-d’s worldly vessel was shattered. Israel was conquered, Jerusalem was razed, the land was laid waste. G-d’s chosen people were scattered and debased. Like the Jews, G-d’s Presence went into exile. His light in the world became hidden. In effect, mankind was cut off from G-d. Thus to rectify this tragedy and return the world to G-d, the Jewish people must return to their previous stature, including a national life in Israel, the only place in the world where the Torah can be observed in all of its wholeness, because of the many commandments unique to the land.

It can be seen that the return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel is a necessary stage in the t’shuva of the nation. It follows that a Jew who becomes a baal t’shuva (penitent) in Chicago has only returned a part of the way home. While his personal character and behavior have been purified by the light of the Torah, he has traveled only half of the journey. The t’shuva train is continuing on to Israel. The final stop is Jerusalem. Every Jew needs to bring his little light home to the Holy Land where it can join the great flame. He has to raise up his private, individual life, to the higher life of the Clal, to merge his personal goals with the goals of the nation. To rectify the blemish caused by galut, he has to stop being in exile and join the ingathered. He has to actualize the words of his prayers, "And gather us together from the four corners of the earth."

Next year, may we all be blessed to say these heartfelt words, "Next Year in Jerusalem" in the rebuilt city of Jerusalem itself.

Question: What are some of the things I have to be careful about to make sure that my Sukkah is kosher?

Answer: The commandment to dwell in the Sukkah for seven days, literally means dwelling in it - eating there, sleeping there, spending Chol HaMoed in one’s Sukkah studying Torah. How wonderful it is in Jerusalem now, seeing Sukkah booths being built in every yard, every terrace, and every corner you look.

Regarding what to watch out for in a kosher Sukkah, let’s start from the floor and work our way up. Since the Sukkah reminds us of the Clouds of Glory which totally encompassed the Jewish people in the wilderness after leaving Egypt, even the floor is an integral part of the Sukkah. Therefore the ground where the Sukkah is situated must be legally acquired. One should be sure to erect the Sukkah on one’s own property. If someone builds a Sukkah on another person’s property, while the Sukkah itself may be kosher, the blessing over sitting in the Sukkah may not be said. If a person wants to place his Sukkah out on the street because he doesn’t have room in his yard, he should secure official permission from the municipality where he lives.

If one acquires permission to place his Sukkah on the street, it is important that the Sukkah not be situated next to an odorous garbage bin or a foul-smelling business or restaurant. Also, if the Sukkah is erected on the street or in a person’s front yard, and one will be afraid that vigilantes will invade the Sukkah, then it becomes not kosher since a person is to enjoy dwelling in the Sukkah and not sit there in fear.

Furthermore, if a person decides to make a wooden or marble floor for his Sukkah, one must be sure that all of the materials used have been properly paid for. If one uses a rug to cover the floor, then the rug becomes "muktzah" and can only be used in the Sukkah for the whole week of the Festival.

Regarding the walls, any material can be used, including elephants, or members of the family. Nevertheless, the walls have to be made of material that will maintain their shape and size for the duration of the holiday (for instance, a Jew in Alaska should not use blocks of ice which could melt in a hot spell). The walls also have to be stationary so that they do not sway in the wind more than 24 centimeters. People who use linen sheets or nylon for walls must be very careful in this matter. Walls should not start higher than 24 centimeters above the ground in order that small animals will not interrupt the holiday meals.

The covering of the Sukkah, known as the "schach," must be something that has grown from the ground, such as palm leaves, bamboo stalks, vine branches that have been uprooted, and the like. One must be sure to choose substances that will not shrivel up in the sun leaving the family without any shade. If someone should want to use regular lumber, the boards should not be wider than eight centimeters. If they are wider than 32 centimeters, they are not considered "schach" at all. A bamboo mat (the type found in Japan or the tropics) should not be used for roofing since it is considered a vessel designed for some other purpose. However, if the bamboo mat was constructed specifically for "schach" for the Sukkah holiday it is kosher.

Once a kosher Sukkah is built, there are certain things that should not be brought inside due to the sanctity of the Sukkah. For instance, it is improper to bring a television into the Sukkah. Since the mitzvah is to literally dwell in the Sukkah, it is praiseworthy to equip one’s Sukkah with a comfortable couch or bed. Kitchen utensils should not be left in the Sukkah beyond the course of the meal, and if a family is accustomed during the year to bring food to the table on serving plates, then pots and pans are not allowed in the Sukkah. For the holiday meals, one’s finest dinnerware set and cutlery should be used, and not paper plates.

Since there are dozens of laws related to having a kosher Sukkah, one should consult one’s local Orthodox rabbi with questions. In the meantime, we pray that the Almighty erect the fallen Sukkah of David with the reestablishment of the kingship of David in the land of our forefathers, soon in our time.

Question: For some time now, I have been feeling anxious and depressed. It is a general feeling, not connected to any specific thing that I can pinpoint, but it’s driving me crazy. Does Judaism have anything against going to psychiatrists? Please answer as soon as possible with any advice you can give.

Answer: First of all, the Torah commands us to be happy. "You should be happy with all of the good that G-d has given you." Rabbi Nachman teaches that it is a mitzvah to be happy at all times. Therefore your feeling of depression is not only an emotional concern, it is a spiritual concern as well.

In answer to your question, our sages teach in "The Chapters of the Fathers" that every man should find a teacher. Rabbi Chaim Moshe Luzzuto, in his classic work, "The Path of the Just," describes life as a garden maze, the type found on the lawns of kings. These mazes are filled with many dead ends, making it difficult for a person to find his way through the windings and turns. To discover the true path, the seeker must rely on the guidance of someone who sits above the maze, looking down from a higher perspective. These true guides are the rabbis.

Judaism does not have anything against psychiatry, psychology and its branches. Many people have been helped by psychological treatment. The Torah emphasizes that a person is to take special care over his health, and this includes his physical and emotional well-being. Certainly there can be potential pitfalls that should be avoided. For instance, if your psychiatrist advises you to let off all of your repressed pent-up anger at your parents, and you act on this advice, this may be in violation of the commandment to honor your father and mother. Or if he tells you to stop feeling guilty about your desires and to do anything you feel like doing, this may lead you to transgress a handful of Torah prohibitions.

Perhaps, in accord with the month of Elul, we will suggest another avenue of exploration. In his book, Orot HaT’shuva ("The Lights of T’Shuva,") Rabbi Kook teaches that anxiety and depression stem from an alienation from G-d.

"What is the cause of melancholy?" he asks. "The answer is the over-abundance of evil deeds, evil character traits, and evil beliefs on the soul. The soul’s deep sensitivity feels the bitterness that these cause, and it draws back, frightened and depressed."

"All depression stems from sin, and t’shuva (penitence) comes to illuminate the soul and transforms the depression to joy."

"Every sin causes a special anxiety on the spirit, which can only be erased by t’shuva. According to the depth of that t’shuva, the anxiety itself is transformed into inner security and courage."

Thus, you should know that your depression is a positive sign. It means that you are still spiritually awake and able to feel your pain. This is the first step towards feeling better. In fact, you should feel glad that you feel bad. Some people are so ensconced in sin and distant from G-d that they don’t even know how bad they are feeling.

So perhaps, before rushing off to the psychiatrist’s couch, you should embark on the glorious road of t’shuva. When a person does t’shuva, he opens his soul to a river of spiritual delight. The joy he discovers is like nothing he has ever experienced.

"Great and exalted is the pleasure of t’shuva. The searing flame of pain caused by sin purifies the will and refines the character of a person to an exalted sparkling purity until the great joy of life is opened for him. Nothing purges, and a person raises him to the status of being truly a man like the profound process of t’shuva. In the place where the masters of t’shuva stand, even the completely righteous cannot stand."

The self-help books on psychology and being happy which fill bookstores contain many useful insights and tips. After all, man is influenced by a wide gamut of factors dating back even before his conception, through his childhood years, and spanning life’s passages. Rabbi Kook reveals that on an even deeper level, there is a spiritual phenomenon of wondrous beauty, like a butterfly enclosed in a cocoon, waiting to soar free. This is the great light and the healing wonder of t’shuva.

Question: Is listening to music permissible during the Three Weeks before the Ninth of Av, the day commemorating the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple?

Answer: During the period known as the Three Weeks, before the Ninth of Av, certain customs of mourning are observed in keeping with the tragic events surrounding the siege on Jerusalem, which led to the destruction of the Temple. During this time, weddings are not held, shaving is forbidden, we don’t say the ‘Shecheyanu" blessing on buying a new garment, along with several other prohibitions.

Regarding the question of whether a person can listen to music or not, the halachic response is based on the Magen Avraham, who states that singing and dancing are prohibited during this period. The Minchat Yitzchak extends this concept to the playing of musical instruments. However, a musician who makes his living playing music is allowed to play for non-Jews.

Rabbi Shlomo Dichovsky differs, saying that listening to music is allowed. He mentions that Rabbi Moshe Feinstein permitted listening to classical music as background music. Along the lines of this leniency, one may listen to sad music, and religious or Hasidic type music. In addition, soothing music is permitted. According to his opinion, these types of music can even be heard in a live performance. The Chelkat Yaacov states that devices like radios and tapes, which didn’t exist at the time of the original rabbinic ruling, can be used to listen to music up to the first day of Av. (These rules apply to the Ashkenazic communities. Sephardic communities are generally less stringent until the week in which Tisha b’Av falls.)

The reason for the various prohibitions surrounding the Three Weeks is to awaken in our hearts a deep and conscious grief over the great tragedy that befell our nation. Since the Temple was destroyed, and we were exiled from our land, the Jewish People have been in a semi-state of mourning. A Psalm of King David states, "When the L-rd returns the outcasts of Zion, we will be like those who dream. Our mouths will then be filled with laughter, and our lips with joy." This means that our joy can only be complete when we return from our exile amongst the gentiles and become an independent nation in our land.

Citing the above verses of the Psalms, Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai teaches that it is forbidden to completely fill one’s mouth with mirth in this world. That is to say, a Jew is not allowed to be one hundred percent happy. Rather, even at his happiest moments, under the wedding canopy, for example, he is to remember that the Temple has been destroyed and feel the loss of our national kingdom. This is the source for the custom of breaking a glass during the marriage ceremony. The Talmud states that from the time that Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai’s student, Raish Lakish, heard his master’s teaching, laughter never again filled his mouth.

Referring to the Temple’s destruction and the exile of the Jewish nation, Jeremiah’s prophecy says that G-d is weeping: "My soul shall weep in secret for your pride." In a discussion in the Talmud, Rabbi Shmuel bar Yitzhak explains that "pride" is the pride of the Jewish people, which in their downtrodden state has been stripped from them and given over to the gentiles. Rabbi Nachami states that "pride" refers to the pride of G-d, which has been disgraced due to the destruction of His Heavenly Kingdom.

Rabbi Shlomo Aviner explains that fallen pride of the Jewish people and the fallen pride of G-d are one. G-d cries because Israel’s national framework is shattered in exile. The Jewish People no longer have a kingdom, an army, a judicial system, and an economy of their own. We are scattered, downtrodden and oppressed among the nations. Since the kingdom of G-d appears in this world only through the life of the Jewish people, when we are debased, the grandeur of G-d is debased with us. Exile is the greatest desecration of G-d that there is, as the prophet Ezekiel states: "When they came to the nations into which they came, they profaned my holy name, in that men said of them, These are the people of the L-rd and they are gone out of his land." The honor of G-d and the honor of the Jewish people are one. Thus, we mourn not only over the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem, but also over the honor of G-d that has been tarnished among the nations because of Israel’s fall.

This year, may the words of the prophet come to pass: "Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad with her all you who love her; rejoice for joy with her all of you who did mourn for her." As the Talmud teaches, "All who mourn for Jerusalem will merit to see its great joy."

Question:

In response to Israel’s present war condition, we received several e-mails inquiring about Judaism’s perspective on war.

• "The prayer for shalom (peace) is the climax of a Jew’s daily prayers, so why should Jews go to war?"

• "How do the cruelty and destruction of war fit in with the notion of an all-compassionate and loving G-d?"

• "Why from Biblical times up till today has the history of the Jewish People been crimsoned with war?"

Answer: In his classic treatise, OROT, Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak HaCohen Kook explains that war is one of the ways that G-d advances the Redemption of Israel. While Rabbi Kook wrote his essays on war during the First World War, his profound Torah insights pertain all the more to our situation today, when the Israel Defense Forces are fighting to defend the Jewish People in the Promised Land.

The image of war as hell has been imbedded on humankind’s psyche. War is seen as the manifestation of Satan, as the outpourings of man’s darker passions on a global scale, empty of all idealism and goodness. If war could be abandoned, the world would be a better place. While abhorring senseless slaughter, Rabbi Kook explains how G-d brings about the Redemption of Israel even through wars.

Certainly, the Jewish people are in favor of world peace as the final goal of mankind. We do not consider the Spartans, Vikings, or Mongols the epitome of human civilization. Nevertheless, it is important to understand that the ideal world we long for can come through the upheavals of war. Just as there are times of light and times of darkness, there are times of peace and times of war. In the midst of the horrors of World War One, Rabbi Kook wrote that "When there is a great war in the world, the power of the Mashiach (Messiah) awakens."

Like all moral people, Rabbi Kook condemned the horror, waste, and depravity of war, yet his connection to Torah led him to understand something much deeper. When looked at through the perspective of Torah, war also possesses a positive value. War ushers in Mashiach. Even through the destruction of war, the light of Mashiach appears. The power of Mashiach is released when a great war grips the world. In fact, the greater the magnitude and force of the war, the greater the revelation of Mashiach that follows.

Behind this comprehension is a higher world vision. The Talmud in tractate Sanhedrin describes the terrible times which will accompany the advent of the Mashiach. Rabbi Yochanan teaches that if one sees a generation with great tribulations, one can expect the Mashiach to come. He sees ahead to the light at the end of the tunnel. This is the same encompassing vision which enables Rabbi Kook to see the coming of Mashiach in a world darkened by war.

The Mashiach is not only the ideal Jewish King, but a process which evolves over time. The Talmud tells us that "There are two thousand years of Mashiach." The Jerusalem Talmud emphasizes that Israel’s Redemption unfolds, "Little by little."

Rabbi Kook’s vision is rooted in the teachings of our Sages. The Gemara states that "War is also the beginning of Redemption." There, the Talmud says the Mashiach comes after a period of struggle and war. The Midrash teaches that if you see the empires of the world waging war against each other, you should expect the "footsteps of Mashiach." The Rambam tells us that one of Mashiach’s premier tasks is to fight the wars of Hashem (G-d). In our daily prayers, we proclaim that "Hashem is the Master of wars."

The prophesied Redemption of the Jewish people is a historical development sure to come true. But how does the process of Redemption unfold? Rabbi Kook tells us that when there are great international upheavals like wars, in accordance with the magnitude of the conflict, the Redemption of Israel progresses toward its destined perfection. This is precisely what occurred in Rabbi Kook’s time.

The Balfour Declaration, which recognized the right of the Jewish people to Eretz (the Land of) Yisrael, was a direct result of the First World War. As an outcome of the war, the British were left in charge of Israel to facilitate the birth of a Jewish State. G-d overthrew the Turks, who had scorn for the Bible, and replaced them with Englishmen who supported the Jewish people’s Biblical claim to the Land.

The result of World War II marked an additional step forward in Israel’s developmental process – the foundation of Medinat Yisrael (the State of Israel.)

These modern hallmarks of Jewish history, and their connection to the wars which preceded them, are obvious discernible facts. While textbooks and erudite historians may expound a plethora of social, political, and economic theories in explaining these World Wars, the discerning Jewish eye can see a more exalted plan. The World Wars in our time were the instruments G-d used to re-establish the nation of Israel in its Promised Land.

Once we understand that the Redemption of Israel can come about through war, we can still philosophically wonder why G-d doesn’t bring Redemption about through peaceful means? The answer lies in the understanding that G-d directs the world in a natural, historical fashion, achieving His aims through the vehicles of nations and kings. "He dethrones kings and raises kings up." To return the scattered Jewish people to Israel, G-d had to rearrange the world map. Thus, when Rabbi Kook looks at the First World War through the glasses of Jewish world history, he knows that the war’s outcome will be beneficial to Israel. He knows that the war has come to facilitate the political redemption of the Jewish people and to lead us back to sovereignty over our Land.

Rabbi Kook continues: "The time of the songbird has come, the weeding of tyrants. The evil ones are obliterated from the world, the world becomes perfected, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our Land."

The World Wars of the previous century led to the destruction of tyrannies and dictatorships and established democracies in their place. Obviously, the annihilation of Bismarks, Hitlers, Mussolinis and Hirohitos brings a cleansing to the world. Justice, freedom, and morality find a new environment in which to evolve toward a universal ideal. The great light of Israel can now begin to shine. At first with its physical resurrection, and then with its spiritual building.

Each new war brings another stage of Redemption. From World War One and the Balfour Declaration, we advance to World War Two and the establishment of the Jewish State.

What does this insight mean for today? G-d willing, war uproots tyrants and brings to the people Israel possession of all Biblical lands.