Message for Today
Strengthen the Settlement
by HaRav Dov Begon, Head of Machon Meir
Following the riots of 1920-1921, the British meted out light punishments to the Arab rioters. When the British High Commissioner Herbert Samuel asked Chief Rabbi Kook what he thought about the lightness of the punishments, Rabbi Kook answered with the following illustration:
Why did the Torah punish the thief only with a fine of double the value of the stolen object rather than with something more severe? When a thief goes to steal, he puts his own life in danger, since if he is caught breaking into a home, he might be killed. Even so, this does not deter him. Therefore, if a similarly severe punishment is imposed on him to begin with, that will not deter him from stealing either. At the same time, a monetary punishment like the double-value fine represents a tangible danger to him, for with this, he forfeits what he is seeking — monetary profit.
“Therefore,” concluded Rabbi Kook, “It does not bother me that the punishments meted out to the Arab rioters are so light. Even heavy punishments would not deter them. Yet their whole goal is political gain, and that it is forbidden to award them. Quite the contrary, the only punishment that can deter the Arab rioters is political loss of ground, for that would constitute a setback to their goals” (Shivchei HaRe’iyah, 154, Professor Chaim Lipschitz).
The present war that has been forced upon us represents a continuation of the chain of riots and wars which the Arabs have been forcing upon us since before the State’s establishment, and its purpose remains the same — to drive out the Jewish People from Eretz Yisrael. It will never be!
The response to Arab aggression must be to nullify their political ambitions. This will be accomplished through strengthening and consolidating the State of Israel, through strengthening settlement everywhere, and through strengthening the spirit of the people. The people’s spirit, in turn, can be strengthened through our strengthening our identity and our roots, and through studying and clarifying our historic national purpose — as a nation chosen by the Creator to benefit all of mankind and to shed our light upon them. As G-d promised Abraham, father of our nation: “I will make you a great nation… and you shall be for a blessing. All the families of the earth shall be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:2-3).
