The Islamic terror stems from an unbridled evil force that is even sinking into 14-16 year old girls, poisoning their minds and causing them to leave their homes brandishing scissors in search of a victim. This is a time to unite and channel into the world the positive force that can stop the terrorism.
While we are debating whether we are in the midst of a wave of terrorism, the third intifada, or war, we are missing the main issue-every day people are being murdered here. Young and old, innocent citizens who up until a moment ago had dreams are killed each day, and we thank God that the judgment spared us one more time. We switch to another channel and avoid the news because we have an inherent ability to adapt to any reality, even a very harsh one.
But we must not accept a routine of bloodshed. We must not allow succumb to apathy. As hard as they work, security forces can only scratch the surface of the problem. To solve it, we must act at a deeper level. The real enemy lies within; it is the separation among us. At every moment of separation, the external enemy is gnawing away at us, but if we want to end the war, we must subdue the enemy within.
Out of Balance
The insane urge of terrorists to murder us comes from very deep. The accusations of Sweden's foreign minister and those of her colleagues in the European Union, who tried to connect the bloodbath in France to Israel, come from the same place. They harbor inbred hatred that stems from sources that go far beyond the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
It is written in The Book of Zohar that all of humanity is connected in a single network. Currently, negative forces are flowing through it leading the world toward extremism, hatred, and destruction. The channels through which the good forces of unity, mutual consideration, and care for others should flow to the world are almost fully blocked leaving much room for improvement in the network of connections among us.
The nation of Israel has a special role in determining the balance of powers in this network. When we make an effort to unite, we channel the positive forces into the world, and balance out the negative ones. But when division reigns among us, we become part of the negative force and increase its power in the world, as it is written in The Book of Zohar that there will be poverty, ruin, robbery, killings, and destructions in the world.” The direct result is that our enemies “raise their heads and mainly want to destroy Israel,” as it is written in the “Introduction to the Book of Zohar.”
Chronicle of Destruction
The hatred of Israel and terror toward the Jews is not a new phenomenon. The nation of Israel was founded over 4,000 years ago on the tenet of “Love thy neighbor as yourself.” The main novelty that we brought to humanity was our wondrous ability to unite because “Israel holds the key to the unity of the world” (Rabbi Kook, Sacred Lights). This mutual guarantee is the only justification for its existence. When unfounded hatred broke out among us and ravaged every decent part of it, the Temple was destroyed. This hatred cut off the flow of the positive force from us to the world. You can see this logic throughout history-when the evil force prevails it brings destruction, war, and bloodshed.
The Islamic terror in Israel stems from the same root–the cruel unbridled force that even causes 14-16 year old girls to take leave of their senses and go out of their homes brandishing scissors in search of a victim.
“In each and every generation, we are commanded to strengthen the unity among us so that our enemies will not rule over us,” writes Rabbi Eliyahu Kitov in The Book of Consciousness. As long as we don't repair the social rift within us, the evil force will urge more and more enemies to destroy us. This does not end at Israel's borders; the more Europe suffers from the evil force, the more it will blame us and hold us responsible for the spread of fundamentalist Islam …. the results of which will soon follow.
Bestowing Good upon the World
The security forces will continue to protect the citizens of Israel and make every effort to prevent the next attack, but this is not enough to prevent the next victim. We must awaken love of others, connection, and mutual guarantee. These are the ingredients that make up our resilience as a nation.
When these positive forces begin to flow through us to the rest of the world, it will balance out this chaos the world is in. Accordingly, we'll get our peace, tranquility, and sense of security back on the streets. It is as Rav Kook wrote, “if we are ruined and the world was ruined with us by unfounded hatred, we will be rebuilt, and the world will be rebuilt with us through unfounded love.”
