Q&A: Two Unrelated Questions
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Two Unrelated Questions
Question
- I have a neighbor, and we often argue about current events and the like. Recently it became clear that the point of dispute is that he thinks most Arabs, including the Palestinians, want to live alongside us quietly and are not “terror supporters,” while I think most of them support the violent struggle in one way or another. A. How does one decide an argument like this? B. I’d be glad to hear your opinion.
- Is the fact that the Promised Land is a place less prone to natural evils such as storms, tsunamis, volcanoes, and earthquakes a matter of chance, or is it divine providence over the Jewish people?
Answer
- I think that, as in many arguments, both of you are right. It is clear that most human beings want peaceful and quiet lives. The question is at what price, and whether they will fight for it. If the Palestinians could achieve a quiet life with us in the sea, I assume that a very large majority of them would be very happy about that (and the reverse seems true about us as well). If they need to fight the extremists in order to achieve quiet, most of them do not do so. And in the end, their main problem is that the public is always led by extremists who do not allow progress toward a reasonable peace. Even if the majority would want that, consciously or unconsciously, in practice their public conduct does not reflect it.
- I assume this is not a matter of providence (because in my opinion there is no such providence). But I am not at all sure that it is true. You need to compare it to all the places in the world, and not only the ones where you hear about earthquakes. I am almost certain you will find quite a few calmer places. But even if it were true, it could be the result of prior planning and not ongoing providence. There is also the possibility that the Holy One, blessed be He, chose for us in advance a land that is geologically optimal.
Discussion on Answer
That was clear before as well, and my answer stands.
Following up on the first question: I’ll try to explain what I’m basing myself on. To say that only the extremists among them support terror is roughly like saying that only 100,000 leftists oppose the reform, since that’s the number of demonstrators. It seems much more reasonable to me that when you see a large number of activists (I hope we can agree that the result of 14 murdered people in a month plus many attacks that were foiled is a large number of terrorists in Palestinian society), you can understand that there is a mechanism of active and passive education and encouragement in that society that the majority belong to. It’s like this in every society; see, for example, the emissaries in Chabad or the officers in Religious Zionism—there aren’t many who actually do it, but the relatively large number stems from the fact that this value is sanctified in that society. Hope I made myself clear…