Israel’s Ungodly Quest for Peace
By Prof. Paul Eidelberg
(The following passages are abstracted from an essay in process.)
In his commentary on parashat Pinchas (Numbers 25:12), the illustrious Torah
philosopher Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch’s defines peace as “a state of the
most complete harmony,” and not only between man and man, but between man
and God. God’s covenant of Peace or “Brit Shalom” with Pinchas represents
God’s promise that peace will ultimately reign over the whole world.
Hirsch emphasizes that “True peace of men with each other rests on the
peace of all of them with God.” He points out that he who dares to wage war
with people who are against the Torah is actually fighting for the Brit
Shalom on earth. Conversely, “he who, for the sake of so-called peace,
quietly leaves the field TO PEOPLE WHO ARE AT VARIANCE WITH GOD, his love of
peace is at one with the enemies of the Brit Shalom on earth” (my emphasis).
Hirsch’s commentary has shocking implications. What is shocking is not
that the policy of land for peace has nothing to do with true peace. That
should have been obvious to any intelligent and candid student of
Arab-Islamic culture. It is simply stupid or dishonest (and perhaps
cowardly) for Israeli governments to pursue a policy of land for peace with
Arab despots, no less so than it was for England to have pursued such a
policy with Nazi Germany at the expense of Czechoslovakia. What is shocking
is that the dishonest quest for peace in Israel applies not only to its
secular parties but to its religious parties!
According to Hirsch’s commentary, those who oppose the Torah-which applies
to Israel’s secular parties-do not seek true peace because true peace
requires making peace with God. But Hirsch also indicates that he “who,
for the sake of so-called peace, quietly leave the field to those who are at
variance with God [namely those very secularists], his love of peace is at
one with the enemies of the Brit Shalom on earth”! Which means that the
religious parties, which have acquiesced in the policy of land for peace,
are no less blameworthy for Israel’s ungodly plight!
