Good Cop, Bad Cop

This excerpt was taken from Rabbi Eliezer Melamed’s book “Revivim: Nation, Land, Army”
Amona – The Faithful and Rescuing Youth
In the Wake of the Events at Amona
4 Shevat, 5766 (Feb. 2, 2006)

An upsetting, ugly, witless, despicable, cruel and evil mixture has surrounded us. In the place where justice is meant to transpire, lies wickedness. In stead of wisdom, arrogant imperviousness meant to trample and oppress any feelings of faithfulness to the holy land. The dictators, who inherited their control through flattery, boast arrogantly saying: “I will rule’, “I will expel”, “I will destroy”, and “I will find favor in the eyes of the goyim by haughtily stampeding on the gravesites of their forefathers and mothers”. Coarse policemen – instead of seeking justice and morals – wish to hit and injure, to please their bosses. The media is anti-Semitic.

In contrast to all this evil ugliness, our good youth have risen to stand faithfully. How beautiful and delightful they are; full of life and faith, they came to stand-up for the soul of the nation in Amona. In the cold and dark night, they waited anxiously for the light of day to see if it would bring with it good news, or rows of heartless policemen in black.

Even while being hit and wounded, they continued to stand firm, and an awesome sense of bravery began to sprout in their souls. They will save the nation from its enemies. Every blow they absorbed will increase their faith; every bone broken will strengthen their power; every injury will sharpen their scrutiny. The pain will build within them the future.

Similar to the Jewish officers in Egypt who absorbed blows from the Egyptians in order not to oppress the nation and in the end, rose to greatness, so too, they will merit greatness. Like the Maccabees who were chased till death by the Hellenists, but in the end saved Israel, they too will save Israel. And like the members of the Etzel and Lechi who were chased and extradited by their brothers to the British government, but in the end merited to rule, so too, our precious youth, who felt the pain of the Jewish nation down to the bottom of their hearts, will merit to rule. But in contrast to the members of the Etzel and the Lechi who reached control without Torah, and were defeated by struggles against the anti-Zionist courts and media, they will rise from within faith and Torah, and will bring perfection to the world.

The Beaten Officers in Egypt

“The administrators pressured them and said, “You must complete your daily quota, just as before when there was straw” (Exodus 5:13). However, the Sons of Israel could not satisfy the requirements, and the administrators demanded that the Jewish officers beat the nation, thereby urging them to fulfill the requirement of making bricks set by Pharaoh. The Jewish officers, who were sincere, sacrificed themselves for Israel, saying: “Better we get beaten than have the rest of the nation thwarted”, “and they suffered the blows to lessen the load of their fellow Jews. Therefore, they merited ‘ruach ha’kodesh’ (Shmot Rabba 5:5).

“When God said gather me seventy men from the elders of Israel, Moshe said before God: Master of the earth, I do not know who is appropriate and who isn’t. God said to him: The ones who I know are the elderly of the nation and their officers, those same elders and officers who sacrificed themselves to be beaten in their stead in Egypt over the amounts of bricks, they shall come and assume this greatness… and since they sacrificed themselves to be beaten instead of the public, therefore, they will bear with you the burden of the nation, which comes to teach you that God compared them to Moshe. From this we learn that someone who sacrifices himself for Israel merits honor, greatness, and ‘ruach hakodesh’ (Bamidbar Rabba 15:20; Shmot Rabba 5:19).

Evil Policemen and Good Youth

Unlike the Jewish policemen in Egypt, the policemen who beat the youth in Amona will return to their homes and will find that their hearts have also become black. Those who are single will find it difficult to get married. The family lives of those who are married will fall apart, for without a heart there is no love. They will cheat on their wives and their wives will cheat on them, and their children will run exhaustedly between the houses of their divorced parents. Until they repent publicly, requesting forgiveness for the brutal blows they dealt.

In contrast, the precious and dear youth, whose hearts were dedicated to stand-up for their nation in Amona, will merit to build houses filled with love and joy, for one who has a sorrowful heart over the land and seeks “May the barren one be happy and exult with the ingathering of her children” will merit “the  sound of happiness and the sound of joy, the sound of the groom and the sound of the bride, the sound of grooms’ jubilation from their chupah, and of the youths from their feasts of song”. They will merit seeing sons and daughters, grandsons and grand-daughters, great-grandsons and great grand-daughters, engrossed in Torah and mitzvoth, and will be constantly going from weddings to brit milah, to bar mitzvah’s, from bar mitzvah’s to engagement parties, and from engagement parties to visit their grand-daughter who just gave birth.

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