When you read a letter or article that ends with the words "And truth and peace loved," it is a bitter and fierce argument, uncompromising and penetrating to the roots of opinions. The writer clings to the words of the prophet Zechariah to say that despite his love for peace, he is zealous for learning the truth.
And this is our tragedy, here in the possession of God that we inherited from His ancestors, in the State of Israel. True people lead their parties with zeal and devotion. They were elected to fulfill the will of the voters and will not deviate from their true doctrine until the long-awaited victory.
But victory over whom?
The Talmud (Sanhedrin 6b) confronts the figure of Moses, the man of truth, and the figure of Aaron, the man of peace. The expectation of Aaron is different from the demand of Moses. Moses is a leader who acts by virtue of God's great hand. In this respect, he will always be called the "man of truth." Moses' truth is not sectarian but divine. Absolute and complete truth. Aaron was never elected to lead or decide. He is neither a judge nor a navigator, he is a Cohen. His role is to instill peace in the camp and, with the help of peace, to bring the Shekinah to Israel.
The coalition celebrates after the passage of the law to abolish the cause of reasonableness // Credit: Yehuda Schlesinger
Peace requires him to constantly act coldly and compromised. In front of Moses' boiling water, the waters of Aaron flow lukewarmly. Is the compromise the revelation of the truth in the world? Apparently not. "If there is truth, there is no compromise, and if there is no compromise, there is no truth" (Sanhedrin, page 6). And yet do we want truth or compromise? Is it possible to live in a world based only on judgment: "Jerusalem was not destroyed, but they put themselves on trial?" The priest is in charge of "beyond the line of law." Therefore, He is the atonement for the Israelites.
The choice of political public representatives to lead a policy with a very clear color is a personal and public decision. They are the emissaries of the voters and express in their world and outlook the will of the majority that elected them. But once those elected parties have become an elected government, they can no longer be sectoral. They are already a "kingdom" and the entire kingdom is before their eyes.
The public's elected officials failed and chose their truth and those of their senders. Protest against the legislation, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Every child who has walked around here in the past six months knows that the great task of all public emissaries was to create peace at home. But elected officials failed to choose their truth and those of their senders.
The coalition victory this week is another stone that is plunging us into the abyss. The strength and joy of idleness, smugness and blindness are the lot of those who triumph over their brethren at home.
Obviously, there are situations in which the measure of truth must be taken and "judgment must be fixed on the mountain," but there are situations in which the truth must be abandoned in favor of peace. This is what the Commissioner of Volozhyn taught us in his reply (Responsa Devar Part III, J): "If the law cannot bring about peace, it must be compromised. Likewise, Tanya in the Sanhedrin (Def 33): "Tzedek Tzedek will pursue one for judgment and one for compromise, how two ships are like."
The Commissioner is referring to the familiar story of two ships, one loaded and one unloaded, which will be rejected from being unloaded. On the part of the law, it should have been said that "every Dalim" prevailed, the gods would drown the other and be saved. "But this is not a magistrate's trial. Because of this, the law is coerced, and a compromise is obliged."
Another such victory and we lost. Minister of Justice Levin, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
A recurring wheel in the world. We have already been in crisis situations in which those holding the helm were from another political camp, behaved violently and with the degree of "truth" according to them, and determined the fates of the "other side" without compromise and without peace. This vindictiveness and the urge to subdue and win is an act of Satan that seeks to reach out to us and to the dream of our national home. Another such victory and we lost. I will not conclude my words with "truth and peace" but with a prayer for peace: May his peace bring blessing and life and peace upon us. Left and right about Israel Shalom. Merciful He will bless His people in peace.
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