Sometimes there are flashes that give an advantage to one side, even if they only come to confirm a claim. For example, the causes of World War I are still not entirely clear to this day (there were many factors). One of the results of the war was the Balfour Declaration. When you think about the number of Jews in the Land of Israel at that time (about 58,000) compared to the number of Arabs, more than 450,000, the equality expressed in the declaration and the evident desire to help the Jews establish an independent home in the Land of Israel are not so clear. Therefore, one can argue that the war was a significant factor in the process of the Return to Zion.

That’s not a lesson from the war but cause and effect.

With God’s help, 27th of Nisan 5781

Although for many people the lessons drawn from shattering events are just an intensification of old worldviews, there are events so powerful that one can identify striking shifts in consciousness among many people. Thus, following the Holocaust, many survivors reached the conclusion that the Jewish people had no hope in the lands of the Diaspora—and following this reversal, hundreds of thousands streamed to the country, including many who had not been Zionists at all (or had been merely “armchair Zionists”), and immigrated to Israel.

Among American Jews as well, the national feeling and the sense of commitment to active solidarity in helping their brethren outside the United States grew greatly. A parallel shift in consciousness also took place in the general American public and in U.S. policy. Until the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States upheld the “Monroe Doctrine,” avoiding political and military involvement in global conflicts.

From that point on, Americans internalized that it was impossible to remain neutral regarding what was happening “outside,” and that the United States had a mission to be the leading power protecting and guiding the entire free world. If the U.S. had refused to join the League of Nations so as not to be involved in resolving global conflicts, it did join the UN as a leading power.

The new American feeling—that their country needed to be “the defender of freedom in the world”—led the United States to send its army and fight in defense of states threatened by the communists—South Korea and South Vietnam.

The long, futile American entanglement in the Vietnam War brought about a retreat in this trend. The insight that idealism leads humanity into endless entanglement in wars on ideological grounds led to the growth of postmodernism, which distrusts all ideals as well.

Among the Germans and the Japanese too, the world wars and the severe defeats they suffered in them brought about an enormous shift in consciousness. Peoples who had sanctified militarism and imperialism began to loathe the path of war and instead turned to developing the economy. Instead of conquering the world by force of arms, the Germans and Japanese discovered that they could “conquer the world” through their high-quality industrial products.

In short:
The human spirit does indeed tend toward mental inertia, but powerful events also bring about powerful shifts in consciousness.

Best regards,
Amizur Yaron, may his light shine

Paragraph 4, line 2
…and fight in defense of states…

You can learn anything from the Holocaust.

Just a random example.

The Holocaust proves that someone who says to his fellow, “You’re talking nonsense. That can’t be. That can’t happen,” is basically an idiot. Because even if he’s right most of the time, on the occasions when he’s wrong it can lead to the destruction of his family and his people.

Without the Holocaust, even though he would still have been an idiot, there would not have been decisive proof of it that everyone agrees on.