A Brief Argument on Longer Topics...

Amichai: But everything the prophets said came true. The Word of G-d has never been false. When G-d Told the prophets This is what will happen, such was the result. And everything Foretold beyond the age of prophets, for those after the First Temple Period, has come to pass. Every prophecy, prophesied for all generations to come, has become the reality. The Temple was destroyed and Judah, as Israel, was conquered and driven into exile. Then the Temple was rebuilt, but still Israel was scattered amongst the nations, as was Foretold. Every Word has been the reality. We were brutally harmed, and not given a moment's rest. Not until today, which is what has been prophesied for the "End of Days."

Would you rather go back to the pain? Would you rather relive the curse of our exile? Would you want more to suffer and die? Would you want our people to continually live as victims that await their slaughter? How can you say such things? It is disgusting. What our ancestors would have given to be here today. How they prayed for this moment and yearned to see the fulfillment of the great occurances that had been Foretold. This is what they lived for. This was the hope that carried them forward. Yet you turn it down without a thought, and frown upon it without a reason. In our moment of glory, you speak of calamity. In the time of our redemption your thoughts foretell the disintegration and assimilation of our nation. You turn a miracle into a tragedy, and speak of a blessing as if it were a curse. Accursed are your thoughts and embittered are your words, for your pessimism condemns your people, and your fear is harmful to yourself.

In our time of greatness and in the moment of G-d's Glory, you are apathetic to the most important things and refuse to believe anything will happen. You grovel in your newfound comfort, kissing up to those who slaughtered your ancestors. You try to befriend and please those who killed your people, while they frown upon you with disgust and stare at you in distrust, as if to say you are a filthy person. Perhaps they are not far off, for your sweet behavior towards the gentiles along with your scorn for Israel, is as if you are dancing over the grave of your brother and desecrating his remains; the remnants of Israel, and what is left of our quickly abandoned Heritage. You speak of death, yet you accuse me of making threats. The only threat I make, is that G-d should "dare" to make Israel great.

Skeptics: In the time of the Bible, whenever Israel turned away from G-d and didn't follow His Laws, G-d sent a leader, a judge, a prince, or a prophet, to bring them back to Him. These people usually didn't believe they were up to the task, for who were they, they were just people. They told G-d on many occasions, "Why should the people believe me, and why should they listen to me?" So G-d Gave them power to prove to the people that He was With these leaders. He Told them what to say, and Gave the people Signs that He was speaking through them. He Performed miracles through them. He Prophesied through their words. He Gave them great powers, and so the people believed, and followed their lead (G-d's Lead). They were inspired because these people had power. They did miraculous things. Therefore they were certain that G-d was with them.

But you; who are you? Why should anyone believe what you say? Why should anyone follow your lead? You don't perform miracles. You're not a powerful person. Perhaps if you did something great, something miraculous, then things would be different. But the fact is, you haven't done anything, and yet you preach as if you are great...

Be reasonable. The point of religion is only to make people good; only to bring morals into the world. Don't get yourself stuck with the other stuff, it will only make you crazy. G-d isn't here, and G-d won't do anything. He ignored us for so many years. Why should today be any different? So many of His people died, and He Did nothing. Don't expect any miracles. Don't expect the "moshiach." G-d isn't with us. You know where G-d is? G-d is in us. He is within us. Nothing happens unless we do it. When miracles happen it is when we believe in ourselves; when we believe G-d has Given us the strength to do what we think is right. G-d won't save us. We must save ourselves. And I believe He Will Give us the strength to succeed in our deeds.

Amichai: Sounds like a messianic vision. Are you sure you don't believe in the moshiach? It all comes down to good and evil... Movie after movie this plot is reiterated. The good guy fights the bad guy, and he usually wins. However, while the bad guy would destroy the world and all its people, the good guy is too "good" to even kill the evil. This is pathetic; disgusting! At times, when I hear about all these lofty and "high" ideals, I just want to kill someone. Why? Just to see what would happen. To find out how and if I'd be punished. To see if you would be too "good" to harm me. Because you people are very mistaken, and your behavior is very sloppy, carelessly improvised, and consistently irrational, and even you know it. Whenever the good are too "good" to harm the evil, good people are slaughtered, and the ones first to die are usually the Jews. We die, because we're too stupid and weak to do the sensible thing.

We're always the victims. We're always the ones that are oppressed. Always the ones first to be slaughtered. Israel is like the weak policeman that is always shot and targeted at. And we don't bring justice, nor do we punish. People laugh at us because we speak a lot and do nothing. They hate us because we tell them how to live, and teach them goodness, yet we fear evil and appease the wicked. They say Israel has no authority, because we act like cowards and live as victims. So why should they listen to us and give credence to our teachings, when they know we don't have any power and refuse to defend even our own people? In the end they always get sick of us, our frailty, our hesitence, and our inefficiency, and revert to their animal instincts. Like the german germs that rose up against us and slaughtered more than one third of our nation (more than Six Million Souls). And what did we do? Did we avenge the deaths of our brothers? Did we execute justice and condemn the evil? No. Instead we appeased the germans and blessed them with kindness and sympathy (sympathy for what, I have no idea).

The germans laugh at us because they escaped judgement, while Israel and Zionism is likened to nazism. This is the biggest absurdity the world has seen. The germans mock us and pretend to be good. They give us money, in the form of reperation payments, as if to buy "indulgances." They pay us off to shut us up. As if to say, "look we're sorry, what can we do? We give you money, now don't bother us anymore." As if to say, "all these Jews care about is money. We pay them a few dollars here and there, and already they forget and treat us like friends, even after having killed Six Million of their brothers." And these germs come to Israel in large numbers. They send their missionaries and their pilgrims. They sing their german songs and speak their words of germs, expecting us to treat them hospitably and welcome them and their forgetful attitude. And what's disgusting is that we do, and we treat them at times better than our own people. Instead of being punished, evil has been rewarded. The germans should die for what they have done, and all who dare to oppose Israel and mock our G-d, should be the ones to pay for their sins and the many sins of their nations.

This is why king David was loved so much. Because he did not fear evil, nor succumb to the enemy. At the time, Israel was indulgent and tolerated the nations that lived in its Land and mocked the Living G-d. The people were content to live amongst the gentiles and only went so far as to defend themselves. They'd be so neglectful and timid that they'd always lead themselves towards disaster, and G-d would always have to Save them from being conquered and massacred. But David was different. He wouldn't stand for this disgrace. He would say, "How dare them mock the Living G-d and intimidate His people, Israel." David defeated Israel's enemies and conquered the Land that was Promised to us for all generations (from the river of egypt, the Nile, to the river Euphrates, and from the Red Sea, the Sea of Reeds, to the Great Sea, the Mediterranean). David was not afraid to kill the evil, and destroy the nations' evil intentions. This is why David's household was Chosen to rule Israel forever. For through David was Hashem glorified and the Word of G-d exulted throughout Israel and the rest of the world. It was through David that G-d Made Israel a great nation. And it is because of this that the Moshiach ben David will follow in David's lead and make Israel even greater than it was before, and G-d will Bless Israel (and thus Bless the world) evermore. Not by subjugating ourselves and subecting our nation to the will of the gentiles and the whims of humanity, will the world become a better place. It is only by the Will of G-d and by the Word of His Law that peace and prosperity will become a reality.

Skeptics: What are you talking about? I can see right through you. These are only excuses. This is only a means to justify your revenge. You're approaching things from the wrong direction. This is a new and modern world, with good people and enlightened leaders. The world is in good hands, and we have a chance to do great things. Would you have us abandon our friends and give up this momentous opportunity, just to chase after our rage and kill our accomplishments? We've brought good into the world, rather than let humanity degenerate over the path of never ending vengeance. You have to understand that these are different people, and for their sake as well as ours, we must be tolerant. If we try to pay them back, then they'll have a good reason to pay us back. And what are we?--for we are few in numbers. And all the world would see us differently, for the despicable things we would have done. This is a civilized world, and we must be civilized people. You don't have to forget, but you should forgive, because hate will only lead you to bad places.

What you speak of is not religion, it is politics. There's no place for G-d in politics, nor for religion in issues of governance. We base these types of decisions, decisions that affect many people, purely on rationality and on the grounds of understanding. You can't be narrow minded and think only of yourself or your people, for politics affects many people and many different races. We must make peace, we must compromise, and we must not force our thoughts upon others. We can reach an understanding if we are reasonable, but we cannot be understood if we seek to reach impractical goals. Perhaps it's dangerous to back down to threats and give up in the face of opposition, but it's worth a try if our sacrafices can bring peace and our cooperation can lead to agreement and conciliation.

There will always be Jews and we'll always love Israel, but we're not living in the time of the Bible. G-d is not our Shepherd and we are not sheep. We have a mind so that we can think and we've been Given freedom so that we can decide. The Bible was not written for our time. There's much to learn from it, but not everything applies to modern life. We see Israel as a spiritual homeland for our people, but the Land itself is not worth fighting over. Israel is a sanctuary for us to run to in the event of harm, but we are not imperialists and don't want to rule over and subjugate other peoples. It's much better for Israel to be a peaceful democracy that's backed by the words and supported by the forces of the western world, and to share the Land with its inhabitants and allow all who please to enjoy the life of the Holy Land, but we cannot ask for much more. At least this way we'll know that Israel will always be there for us, I guess. But we have a life of our own in America and the rest of the world. And we're not about to abandon all that we have just to squeeze ourselves into a small Land with big problems, and limit ourselves at the cost of Israel, our people, other nations, and the rest of humanity. From here we have access to the world and its resources. We have our sights set on greater goals, like doing good deeds in the world and bringing goodness to its people. This way we can be both the guardians of humanity as well as the guardians of a limited Israel.

When you speak of this craziness, this messianic age of vengeance, you only discredit our religion and make us look bad in the eyes of the gentiles. Do you think the gentiles will be happy to hear you say such things? Do you think they'll be pleased by your accusations or frightened by your condemnations? They have their own religions and their own beliefs. They have enough nonesense to think about and enough brainwashing to deal with, that they should have to be further confused and incited by your ranting and raging. You'll only create more enemies for us. You're not helping. You're only widening the gap and deepening the problem.

It's better not even to talk about religion. If you believe certain things, keep them to yourself, and don't try to preach to anyone. The good thing about Judaism is that it doesn't push you to do anything, doesn't force people to convert, and doesn't send missionaries to brainwash uncertain and gullible persons. Judaism is supposed to be the only religion that stands alone, and even discourages those who seek to join its ranks. Now you would make us like everyone else, and fight over beliefs as if people are sheep--as if they are property?

It's better to keep G-d out of it, and focus on the most important things. Keep religion behind the curtain, and bring out the Torah only for prayer. In life we think reasonably and argue intelligently. On your own time you can study religion and argue about beliefs, but there are some things you just don't mention in public. It's not becoming of us, nor is there a need, to anger the gentiles and speak of such things. Besides, are you going to believe everything it says in the Bible? You can't take it all literally. So why should you lash out at the geniles about things they don't believe and issues they don't even understand, when you could instead speak their own language and thus accomplish much more?

Enough of this nonesense. I don't think you know what you're doing, and I don't think you've thought out the consequences of your decisions. People won't listen to you and it's better that they don't. Your thoughts are not commonplace. You're an outsider, an inciter, and an agitator. Your thoughts are revolutionarry for our times. They will bring only war and suffering. Ideas are dangerous, and yours are all the more fanatic and miscalculated. Do you expect to achieve something along the lines of the American revolution? Do you expect people to take their sides, fight off the issues, and kill the problems, and then suddenly there will be a revolutionary undertanding and all will benefit from it? Do you think it will be that easy for Israel to rebel against the world? And even if we are Granted a miraculous victory, what are the odds that everyone would suddenly agree with us, when even we don't agree with ourselves? Instead of being a light unto the nations, we'd become a nation of tyrants and an army of occupation, like all the other imperialists in the world. We won't gain freedom for ourselves nor liberate anyone else. Instead we'd only cause much harm and do the things that we despise.

Your thoughts are chaos. They are anarchy to society and poison to the world. Many would die because of them, and partly because of you. Do you think G-d would want us to use the Torah to do harm? Because that is what will happen if you speak this way. The world is civilized and society is ordered. Life has an order to it, and most people are content. When you talk this way, you create confusion. You make people think they lack Something, and this is a threat for a rebellion. Things don't, and they won't, change overnight, and it's better that you don't try to change things at all, because we are doing just fine. So do what you want, I don't care what, just don't get us into this mess. I'd pay you off just for you to be quiet. Or if it would please you to be punished?--then perhaps you should sit in jail. Because the world doesn't have space for people like you, nor is humanity strong enough to survive your point of view!...<:-(...The world frowns upon you.