Who is right

Israel. The Jews. How are they different? What makes them right and Hamas wrong? What makes Israel right and Hezbollah wrong? What makes Israel right and Iran wrong?

What makes the Jews right and the world wrong?

After all, aren’t colonizers wrong? Didn’t Israelis come and settle land that had been Arab land?

And if Israelis are colonizers who took land belonging to others, then aren’t Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran justified in trying to eject those who, they say, stole the land? Isn’t the world right in telling Israel to give away land?

Who is right?

And the answer is: The Jewish people are right. Because G-d, to Whom the land belongs — because He created it — chose to first give the land to others (who are enumerated in Genesis 15; 19-21), and then G-d chose to take the land away from them, and to give it to Abraham’s descendants, who would be enslaved in a foreign land (Egypt), and would then be freed. (See Genesis 15; 7-21)

So the land belongs to the Jews, because G-d gave it to us.

That, says Rashi, in his commentary on the Torah, is the reason why the Torah begins with the story of creation, and not with the first Mitzvah (commandment). Because in case the nations claim (as many are doing now) that the Jews stole the land, we can reply that the land is ours because G-d, Who created the world and everything in it, gave it to us.

And why did He give it to us? Because He wanted to.

The land of Israel is called the Holy Land. Even non-Jews refer to it as the Holy Land.

And the Jewish people were chosen by G-d to be a holy nation, to cleave to G-d by fulfilling His commandments, including the commandment that G-d told Moses at Mount Sinai, to tell the seven Noahide laws to all the nations.

By fulfilling these seven laws, the world will be peaceful.

The Jewish people are a holy people, chosen by G-d to be a light to the nations. And now, as Israel, with the Almighty’s help, steadfastly continues to rid the world of evil, by destroying Hamas and stopping Hezbollah and Iran, Israel is illuminating the world, teaching nations that robbery and murder must not be tolerated, that barbarism and terrorism must be eradicated, and that this is the way to bring peace and stability to the entire world.

The Medrash says that the reason G-d created the world, is because He desired to have a dwelling place below.

Chassidus explains, that a person’s dwelling is a place where a person can feel free to be oneself. A home is where people don’t feel constrained, but rather are relaxed, comfortable, expressing themselves freely. A home is where we allow our inner selves to shine.

G-d wanted a dwelling place in this world, a place where His Essence can be known.

When the Redemption comes with Moshiach, G-d’s light will shine for all. There will be no evil. The world will then appreciate how the Jewish people, G-d’s chosen nation, a holy nation, remained loyal to Him for thousands of years, dispersed among the nations, bringing light to the whole world.

And then G-d’s glory will fill the world, a time when the holiness will be cleansed from impurity, so that G-d’s Holiness will shine for all.

And the Jewish people, a holy people, will all be in the Holy Land of Israel, including past generations who will be revived — “And those reposing in the earth will awaken and rejoice, for the lights of dew is your dew” (Isaiah 26; 19), and will worship G-d in the third and final Temple on the holy mountain in Jerusalem. And all the nations will come and bow before G-d, for “the entire world will be filled with knowledge of G-d, just as the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11; 9)

May it happen very soon.