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Orchard of Delights 15
£An Ancient Disagreement An Ancient Disagreement An Ancient Disagreement An Ancient Disagreement An Ancient Disagreement An Ancient Disagreement
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in Contemporary Termsin Contemporary Termsin Contemporary Terms
When the spies returned from spying out the Land of Israel, ten of the
spies declared that despite it being, as promised, a land flowing with
milk and honey, the inhabitants were far too strong to be defeated;
therefore, they concluded that the people of Israel would be unable
to conquer the Promised Land. Two of the spies, Caleb and Joshua,
strongly disagreed and claimed that since God was with the people
of Israel, they would be able to conquer the Land. As mentioned in
the introduction and many times throughout this book, the Torah is
a prophetic work and its narratives are manifestations of primordial
spiritual energies that surface again and again throughout history.
Thus, it is not so surprising that since 1967, when Israel in a war for
survival reconquered large parts of what was once biblical Israel, a
debate similar to the one Caleb and Joshua had with the ten spies has
raged. On the one hand, there are those who say, the State of Israel
can and should hold on to this land, and, on the other hand, there are
those who claim that the State of Israel cannot or should not do so.
It is important to note that the contemporary debate is not so
much about whether the territories conquered in the Six Day War
constitute the ancient Land of Israel. There is far less debate about
this than most people imagine. The vast majority of Jews in Israel
and around the world understand that this land (comprising what
is commonly known as the “West Bank”) is in fact the cradle of
Jewish civilization, the heartland of biblical Israel, land on which
thousands of years of Jewish history took place. The patriarchs and
matriarchs lived and were buried there; the tribes settled there; King
David was born and ruled there; and the kingdoms of Judah and
Samaria flourished there for close to a thousand years. Even during
two thousand year’s of exile there was never a time the Land of Israel
was devoid of a Jewish presence.
Like the ten spies, those who favor returning the land adopt a
position that is largely pragmatic. They argue that for true peace the
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State of Israel should return the land either to extricate itself from
a political minefield or to restore the moral health of the country by
ending Israeli rule over another people. They argue that this step
might finally end the unceasing state of war and constant terrorist
attacks and the admittedly unjust and hypocritical criticism offered
by the world. A combination of these factors, leads them to proclaim
the ten spies battle cry: “We are not able to go up against the people,
for they are stronger than we.” Those who favor holding onto the
land, on the other hand, not only advance pragmatic security
arguments (about strategic depth, not giving into terror, and so
forth) but also argue out of a deeply felt conviction of the rightness
of their cause, for a historical wrong has finally been corrected: either
from a secular perspective of the Jewish people’s long history in the
land or from a religious perspective that the Land of Israel was given
to the Jewish people by God as an everlasting covenant. From a
religious perspective, one could well ask, what right does the State
of Israel have to return what God has promised and given us? Or as
Caleb urged, “Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able
to overcome it.”
Our intention here is not to enter into a political debate; rather
our goal is to simply point out how the controversy that took place
in the desert is not a unique, onetime event, but a manifestation of
spiritual energies that form the very fabric of contemporary Israeli
society. This is a classic example of the Torah’s enduring relevance
and of how its narratives contain much profundity buried beneath 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 15 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:05 | SR:-- | Magenta
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