Sorting it out

Right and left. Two opposites. Yet with the right approach, right and left can work together to accomplish good things.

‘Right’ and ‘left’ have come to mean different things to different people, depending on the context and situation. In politics, right symbolizes conservative views, and left symbolizes liberal views.

Judaism teaches that right represents kindness, while left is strictness. But they often combine. A parent punishes (left) in order to achieve kindness (right). The punishment is meant to benefit the child.

In general, the Jewish people are compassionate by nature. That’s why so many Jews identify with liberal causes, and Jews contribute so much money and effort to help others.

So when October 7 happened, the shock to the Jewish people was so severe. So many Jews had bent over backward to help Arabs, to give them land and self-autonomy. Jews were on the verge of giving Palestinians a state. Israel signed Camp David and later the Oslo Accords. But then intifadas happened. And finally, October 7 happened. Suddenly so many Jews realized, that their compassion had been misplaced and misguided. Suddenly the Jewish people realized, that sometimes being strict, is being kind. That holding on to the land of Israel, and mobilizing, is the approach necessary to protect all lives, Arab lives too. Sometimes, you just gotta be strict, in order to be kind.

October 7 taught the Jewish nation a crucial and unforgettable lesson: Do not give away any land. Mobilize, show strength, show the enemy that you are prepared to attack. And then, the attack won’t need to happen. Because would-be terrorists will become scared and discouraged.

Yesterday the Knesset voted to not recognize a unilaterally declared Palestinian state. But this allows room for a bilaterally declared state. So a terrorist can think that there is still what to gain via terrorism. The Prime Minister needs to declare that Israel is not giving away any land at all — unilateral or bilateral or any lateral.

Left and right. Strictness and kindness. When used and combined correctly, guided by the lessons of history, especially as illuminated by G-d’s wisdom in Torah, as transmitted by Jewish sages throughout the centuries, then we are on our way to creating, with G-d’s help, a beautiful and peaceful world, benefiting all mankind.

Perhaps we are almost there, as Moshiach’s arrival and the complete Redemption seems so close to so many. May it happen very soon.