As many of you know, I live in Jerusalem, on the same street as the official residence of the Prime Minister of Israel. Basically, this makes me PM Netanyahu's neighbor. I hear his convoy leaving the residence every morning when he goes to work, and then I hear it again in the evening when he is back. I often think what an ungrateful job it is to be a leader of a country, and especially a leader of a country such as Israel, when the eyes of the whole world are focused on you, and the finger of blame is waved at you more often than it should. I think of all the hatred he is faced with, both from within and from without, when people from the liberal Left use every scheme they can in order to topple him down, with no success so far: "But the more they afflicted him, the more he prevailed and spread out". They go after his family, his children, his wife, they try to bring him down with one investigation after the next (and so far he has not been found guilty in any of them, but they keep trying), they make noisy demonstrations just outside of his residence, trying to scare him and make him feel threatened. I often think to myself: why would Bibi (as we call him here, short for Binyamin) even want to be in that position? Why not let go and let someone else become the target of this insane mud slinging?
One of the greatest rabbis of our time once said about Bibi, that he would be the one to "hand over the key" to the Messiah, and that he should prevail against the wars waged against him. I didn't vote for him in the last elections, for different reasons, but the more the media and other "beautiful souls" afflict him and try to ruin him, the more sympathy I have for him. I think he is a good prime minister. Not perfect, not necessarily a righteous person, but a good Prime minister. He knows how to navigate the troubled water of the Middle East politics and the sensitive political position of Israel in the world quite successfully, and what is most astonishing, he does this under constant, brutal fire from his relentless opponents at home.
This Shabbat we will read in all the synagogues around the world the weekly Portion called VaYikra (Leviticus 1:1 - 5:26). This is the very first Portion of the Book of Leviticus, in which there are many technical laws related to the worship of the Kohanim (Jewish priests, descendants of Aharon until this day) and the sacrifices. Our rabbis throughout the ages taught us many important moral, ethical and spiritual lessons from every word and even every letter in this Book, but I will not repeat what they said here. Maybe some other time, in the future. But one verse caught my eyes as I read the Portion today: "When a leader sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the commands of the LORD his God...". It doesn't say "If a leader sins", but rather: "When a leader sins", implying that when man is placed in a position of leadership, he would almost certainly sin in some way or the other. Bibi is not an exception. I am sure that here and there he might have done some mistakes, but - come on - to take him down because he received a gift of cigars from someone? Or because he bought too much ice cream to entertain his important heads of states guests? I cannot accept that.
I don't know why, but it seems that no matter what happens, G-d is behind Bibi, helping him, giving him a gentle back-wind and helping him to get out of any trouble. It is almost unbelievable. But, as it was written somewhere else in the Bible, "for it is not as man sees: for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart", G-d knows the intricate maze of world politics and the important role that Israel should play in it, and from all the people available today in the Jewish People, and in Israel specifically, He chose Bibi to be the leader in this period, to lead us forward. He has supported Bibi in this journey for so many years now, against fierce opponents and very hostile media, and helped him stay in power despite so many troubles and enemies. I'm sure my neighbor just two blocks away has a special role to play in the contemporary history of Israel. Even if he is not the righteous person we would have wanted him to be, he is at the moment the chosen, chosen by the people, and chosen by G-d. We shall wait and see how the story, of which he a main protagonist, develops.
In the meantime, Shabbat Shalom!
One of the greatest rabbis of our time once said about Bibi, that he would be the one to "hand over the key" to the Messiah, and that he should prevail against the wars waged against him. I didn't vote for him in the last elections, for different reasons, but the more the media and other "beautiful souls" afflict him and try to ruin him, the more sympathy I have for him. I think he is a good prime minister. Not perfect, not necessarily a righteous person, but a good Prime minister. He knows how to navigate the troubled water of the Middle East politics and the sensitive political position of Israel in the world quite successfully, and what is most astonishing, he does this under constant, brutal fire from his relentless opponents at home.
This Shabbat we will read in all the synagogues around the world the weekly Portion called VaYikra (Leviticus 1:1 - 5:26). This is the very first Portion of the Book of Leviticus, in which there are many technical laws related to the worship of the Kohanim (Jewish priests, descendants of Aharon until this day) and the sacrifices. Our rabbis throughout the ages taught us many important moral, ethical and spiritual lessons from every word and even every letter in this Book, but I will not repeat what they said here. Maybe some other time, in the future. But one verse caught my eyes as I read the Portion today: "When a leader sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the commands of the LORD his God...". It doesn't say "If a leader sins", but rather: "When a leader sins", implying that when man is placed in a position of leadership, he would almost certainly sin in some way or the other. Bibi is not an exception. I am sure that here and there he might have done some mistakes, but - come on - to take him down because he received a gift of cigars from someone? Or because he bought too much ice cream to entertain his important heads of states guests? I cannot accept that.
I don't know why, but it seems that no matter what happens, G-d is behind Bibi, helping him, giving him a gentle back-wind and helping him to get out of any trouble. It is almost unbelievable. But, as it was written somewhere else in the Bible, "for it is not as man sees: for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart", G-d knows the intricate maze of world politics and the important role that Israel should play in it, and from all the people available today in the Jewish People, and in Israel specifically, He chose Bibi to be the leader in this period, to lead us forward. He has supported Bibi in this journey for so many years now, against fierce opponents and very hostile media, and helped him stay in power despite so many troubles and enemies. I'm sure my neighbor just two blocks away has a special role to play in the contemporary history of Israel. Even if he is not the righteous person we would have wanted him to be, he is at the moment the chosen, chosen by the people, and chosen by G-d. We shall wait and see how the story, of which he a main protagonist, develops.
In the meantime, Shabbat Shalom!