Questions in Faith

I think the Bible, which has no compassion for any nation, definitely conveys this message.

On the occasion of the Day of Atonement, the year of “all life” is celebrated for Israel’s independence

To David, “Peace be upon you,”

Indeed, the Bible does not pity any nation, but rather imposes on them the heavy burden of the Seven Commandments of the Noahide: to believe in one God and not to worship others, and to uphold basic moral values – not to murder, not to commit adultery, not to steal, not to eat an animal’s organ, and to uphold a normative system of laws in order to create a reformed society.

In order to instill these fundamental values in humanity, a ‘pioneer army’ was established, the people of Israel who heard the Ten Commandments at Sinai, so that they would be a ‘kingdom of priests and a holy nation’, the Archimedean point that would move the world from religious and moral barbarity to the faith of the Bible and its values.

In order to be influential and not influenced, the people of Israel must first deepen and internalize in their hearts those fundamental beliefs and values. To this end, they received individual guidance from the Torah and the prophets and their disciples, the Tannaim and the Amoraim and the sages of the generations. And the 33 commandments that would internalize in the hearts of the ‘chosen patrol’ the faith and values in a more organized and profound way.

But in order for the people of Israel to be influential on all of humanity – The people need political independence in which a ‘model society’ will be created that will enlighten humanity, until nations and people from all over the world will come to the &#8217house of the God of Jacob’ to learn from his ways and walk in his ways. Political independence is the basis for spiritual independence, which will be influential and not a drag.

Indeed, it was the founder of the kingdom in Israel, King David, who expressed in a psalm that he wrote when the Ark of the Covenant was moved to his new capital, the vision of influencing all nations to call on the name of the Lord. The psalm opens: ‘Give thanks to the Lord’; call on his name; make known among all peoples his wonders’.

David's work plan to create a faith-based and ethical influence on all humanity is summarized in the last six chapters of the Book of Psalms. Psalm Kama ends with hope: ‘And bless all flesh, if there be a holy place for ever and ever’. And in the following psalms the path is outlined. The way to the center in Zion (Kemu), and the way to the people of Israel, to whom He gave unique laws and judgments (Kemz), and when the Lord will raise up the horn of His people (Kemh) and execute judgment on their persecutors and oppressors (Kemt) – then the vision will be fulfilled that all nations will recognize the kingdom of the Lord; and every soul will praise the Lord’ (Kn5),

The beginning of spiritual influence on the nations was in the days of Solomon, when people from all over the world came to hear his wisdom. But the early temptation to try to influence led simultaneously to the penetration of foreign influences into the people of Israel. The women whom Solomon tried to convert in order to establish cultural ties with the nations of the world – turned his heart and weakened his strength. And the concepts of absolute rule of the kings of the nations penetrated the hearts of Rehoboam and his young friends and led to the division of the kingdom and the loss of the ability to influence faith and values.

A new path that led to an increased spiritual influence on the nations of the world came during the period of the Return to Zion through the guidance of the people of the Great Knesset. The weakness and separation of the people scattered and separated among the nations – necessitated the mobilization of renewed forces to preserve the Jewish character.

Thus, in every city and every village a community arose that maintains a spiritual life around the ‘small temple’ The local temple, a temple devoid of statues and idols, but full of spiritual activity around prayer and studying the Torah and the words of the prophets and the scriptures, while maintaining the connection with the temple in Jerusalem and maintaining the expectation of complete redemption according to the vision of the prophets.

The Gentiles were amazed by the religion that was different from anything they had known. Some despised the ’atheism’ of a religion without idols, and the ’idleness’ of a nation that refrained from work for more than a seventh of its life. But in contrast to the –scorners– there were also many Gentiles who came to visit and become interested in a nation of philosophers whose lives revolved around the weekly gathering in the ’small temple’ and the Holy Scriptures that were read and studied diligently by great and small.

Many of the Gentiles who were interested began to draw closer to Judaism and its commandments, and some became complete converts, and some began to observe the commandments partially. The influence was so great that Roman writers complain that there is no Jew in Rome. This progress was halted by Hadrian's decrees on circumcision, which led to the Bar Kokhba revolt and its brutal suppression. Hadrian's successors abolished the prohibition against Jews, but strictly prohibited the circumcision of Gentiles, thus stopping the possibility of converting Gentiles.

But the Jewish "hard-liner" which entered Roman culture was not eliminated, but rather mutated, by Christianity, which proposed accepting the Bible, the belief in monotheism, the vision of the prophets of the Bible, and the idea of the weekly day of rest, while abolishing the burden of individual commandments and raising the claim that a new Torah had been given that abolished the Jewish Bible. A similar process occurred several hundred years later in the Arabian Peninsula, when Muhammad created Islam, which accepted some of the values of Judaism, while renouncing others.

The rebellious daughters of Judaism - Christianity and Islam - introduced the values of monotheism and the vision of the prophets, the weekly day of rest and prayer, and more, into the consciousness of hundreds of millions of people. But this partial adoption was accompanied by many distortions and disruptions, and hatred of the source, of Judaism that refused to accept what the ’disciples’ did to the original Jewish teachings.

So we are ’middle of the road’. Hundreds of millions of people have accepted a significant part of the values of Judaism – but in their good will towards the source from which they drew – they have brought about great moral corruption.

Let us hope that the renewed resurrection of the people of Israel in their land will also bring about a renewed spiritual flourishing of the people of Israel, and as a result, the strengthening of its faith and values influence on all of humanity.

With greetings, Amioz Yaron Schnitzel”