Never again again

History is a good teacher.

Lesson number one: We need to defend ourselves, but we also need Divine blessing to make our efforts successful.

Lesson number two: Finish the job. Pure evil must be eradicated totally.

Yesterday the plumber came to my house. The drains were clogged, and all the water leaving the house was backing up.

So he used a “snake” to push through the dirt, but it didn’t help; there was so much dirt in the pipes, that the dirt kept coming back together to reclog the drains. He switched to another connecting drain pipe, and kept working at it, drilling over and over, until he finally eliminated enough dirt to allow all the draining water to go through and push away the rest of the dirt.

In other words, when you are clearing away dirt, you need to clean it all.

When you fight evil, you need to destroy it completely, or it will again raise its ugly head.

Nazis, ISIS, Hamas — you need to complete the job and eradicate it all, every last bit of it.

We must do our part to wipe out evil, so that there is not even the tiniest trace left.

May the Almighty bless our efforts with success, and may He bless the land of Israel with peace and strength, so that the peace and light and powerful teachings of morality — as illuminated in G-d’s Torah — radiate throughout the world.

May He bless the land. And may He redeem us now.