Reprinted from April 2012
TOM WATSON v. LEO FRANK
A reminder from our Spiritual Leader who will never stop teaching and inspiring us. “לצז”
The last ten years have left our country war-weary. We have been involved in two conflicts that have taken a heavy toll in life, money and resources. The last thing any of us wants is to be involved in of us wants is to be involved in another war. Yet we may have no other choice if Iran gets a nuclear bomb. We have participated in extensive diplomatic negotiations to resolve the issues peacefully. So far these efforts have been fruitless. Nor have sanctions worked. We ought to pursue peaceful endeavors as long as there is a possibility of achieving something positive. At some point, however we may find ourselves facing a stark reality: Iran is determined to have its own atomic weapon; and she will allow no one and nothing to stand in the way of that goal. If that is the case, and you believe that a nuclear-armed Iran is an intolerable reality, then force will be the only option. There is no question that an Iran with nuclear weapons threatens the very existence of Israel, the security of the United States, the stability of the Middle East, and the peace of the world. As much as we don’t want it, violent intervention may be the sole viable choice.
Harry Emerson Fosdick once said that though he loathes war, he loathes even more those who believe there is nothing worth fighting for. All of us passionately desire peace. However, wanting is not the same as achieving or promoting peace. Those who want peace may run the risk of doing the wrong thing for the right reason. It is naive and unrealistic to assume that all problems can be solved peacefully. We Americans enjoy countless freedoms; but, all too often we take them for granted, acting as if these freedoms always existed and always will exist. But, such liberties have been won at a terrible cost in blood and we will continue to enjoy them only as long as we are still willing to defend them with equal vigor.
No people ever regarded peace more highly than the Jews. The prophetic denunciations of war include many of the most moving passages in the Bible. But, the drive for freedom is not the sole consideration in Jewish thought. Although God is referred to as Shalom, Peace, He is also called Ish Milchamah, the Lord of war. While Isaiah and Micah ask that swords should be turned into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks, Joel, in bitter irony cautions the nations to turn ploughshares into swords and pruning hooks into spears. For despite all the prayerful yearnings for peace, the prophets and the sages maintained that if war is reprehensible an unjust peace is immoral. Jeremiah denounced those who cry “‘Peace’ when there is no peace.” The greatest desire for peace, by itself, cannot avert war. “The Watchman”, Ezechiel cries, “who sees the sword come, and blows not the horn,” so that people may be forewarned for battle and someone dies in the vain hope for peace, “his blood will I require at the Watchman’s hand.”
Karl Von Clausewitz, the nineteenth century Prussian officer who authored the world’s most famous primer on war, contended that war could succeed only if it has the support of the people. Our sages understood that very well; therefore, they ordained that the Jewish nation could go to war only if the Great Sanhedrin of 71 approved a declaration of war. Similar considerations moved America’s Founding Fathers to vest the power to declare war in the hands of the Congress. The mullahs of Iran may never have read Clausewitz; but they instinctively understood the psychology behind it.
That is why they constantly warn the United States that public opinion will become disillusioned at the sight of multitudinous body bags.
Clausewitz also comprehended that likely possibility, which is why he wrote the following admonition. “The fact that a bloody slaughter is a horrible act must make us take war more seriously, but not provide an excuse for gradually blunting our swords in the name of humanity. Sooner or later someone will come along with a sharp sword and hack off our arms.” In other words, the unalterable reality is that war is a bleak business in which you can succeed only if you possess a readiness to kill or be killed.
It upsets me terribly that it may be necessary sometimes to sacrifice life in order to achieve worthwhile objectives. I wish this were not the case. Perhaps, after the Messiah comes, it will not be. In the meantime, it would be the height of folly to believe that pietistic moralizing about peace will be enough to achieve a just and tranquil society.
Miryom, Sarah, Lewis and Sarah, Danny and Debby, Judah, Nava and Bennett join me in wishing you all a happy and kosher Passover.
Chag Sameach!
Dr. Rabbi Alvin Kass