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{"id":46,"date":"2016-09-12T14:12:57","date_gmt":"2016-09-12T18:12:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/?p=46"},"modified":"2016-09-12T14:12:57","modified_gmt":"2016-09-12T18:12:57","slug":"9-11-and-making-holy-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/2016\/09\/9-11-and-making-holy-war\/","title":{"rendered":"9-11 and Making Holy War"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The Bible continues.\u00a0 The priest speaks to the troops and says: \u201cSh\u2019ma Yisrael\u2014Hear O Israel!\u00a0 You are about to join battle with your enemy.\u00a0 Let not your courage falter.\u00a0 Do not be in fear, or in panic, or in dread of them.\u00a0 For it is the Lord your God who marches with you to do battle\u2026\u201d (Deuteronomy 20)\u00a0 This refrain of \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid, God is with you\u201d is often repeated.\u00a0 Such words make \u00a0us uncomfortable.\u00a0 This week we are marking the 15th<\/sup> anniversary of 9-11, a day that continues to wound and a day in which our country, and our city, were attacked by people who believed that they were likewise doing God\u2019s bidding, that their heinous acts had God\u2019s blessing.\u00a0 So how do we read our holy books and not cringe at even such vague similarities?<\/p>\n

We can apologize and say but our book is better than theirs.\u00a0 But that only works to a point.\u00a0 There are verses in the Bible that I hesitate to read out loud.\u00a0 We can say that all this verse means is that soldiers must steel up their resolve.\u00a0 You can only win a war if you believe that you are right, your cause is just, that if not for your potential sacrifice your home and your very own family might be killed or destroyed.\u00a0 You need to feel that your actions are blessed by God.\u00a0 Then again, we have learned, sometimes painfully and other times hesitantly, in war sometimes these actions are indeed blessed and sometimes they are most certainly not.\u00a0 That is why our tradition leans so heavily on the prophets. \u201cNation shall not lift up sword against nation, nor ever again learn war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Isaiah\u2019s words continue to stir the heart.\u00a0 One day, may it be soon, there will never again be the need for even a war college.\u00a0 It\u2019s not just that we won\u2019t need tanks, planes and soldiers.\u00a0 We won\u2019t even need West Point.\u00a0 It is a dream to be sure, but it is a powerful dream, hope and prayer.<\/p>\n

Deuteronomy offers deferments to potential soldiers.\u00a0 The newly engaged are not called up.\u00a0 The Bible states: \u201cIs there anyone afraid and disheartened (the Hebrew literally reads, soft-hearted)?\u00a0 Let him go back to his home.\u201d\u00a0 And what is the reason for this?\u00a0 The Torah responds: \u201cLest the courage of his comrades falters like his.\u201d\u00a0 I have often found this the most remarkable of verses.\u00a0 It is also the most instructive.<\/p>\n

The Torah\u2019s Book of Deuteronomy appears focused on exactly what we need to hear: how to manage fear in the face of our enemies.\u00a0 That is perhaps what we really most need today.\u00a0 This offers the most profound lesson for the fear that still bubbles up to the surface as we remember 9-11 and continue the now fifteen year fight against terrorism, and the demonic and murderous hatred of Al-Qaeda, ISIS and the like.\u00a0 Does this point us towards some answers?\u00a0 One answer is we have to make war against those who wish to do us harm. We have every right and every obligation to defend ourselves.\u00a0 We can argue about the details, about the where\u2019s and the how\u2019s, but let\u2019s not make any mistake, this is our moral obligation.\u00a0 It is our Jewish obligation.<\/p>\n

The more important lesson is about fear and how to manage it.\u00a0 The Bible understands that fear is contagious.\u00a0 It disheartens troops readying for battle and it infects the citizenry just the same.\u00a0 The worst thing a leader can do is to sow fear. The worst thing a comrade, or a neighbor, can do is sow fear.\u00a0 And what is Deuteronomy\u2019s response?\u00a0 Send him home.\u00a0 There is only one response to fear and that is to banish it.\u00a0 Otherwise judgments are clouded and values are lost.\u00a0 You can never effectively fight an enemy if you are motivated by fear.\u00a0 It has to be about defending our lives and protecting our values.\u00a0 It has to be about securing who we are and what we still hope to be.\u00a0 Let those whose hearts are filled with fear go home.<\/p>\n

This, I am convinced, is what we must hold fast to.\u00a0 Not fear and terror, but instead the values that animate our great country, the very same values that our enemies attack and loathe\u2014namely that we can be united despite differences of opinion, of race, of religion, of culture.\u00a0 We are a hodgepodge of people and a jumble of different cultures, but united.\u00a0 That is exactly what makes this country great.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet not your courage falter.\u00a0 Do not be in fear, or in panic\u2026\u201d\u00a0 Or as the Hebrew more accurately states: \u201cDo not let your hearts grow soft!\u201d<\/p>\n

Hold fast to who we are. \u00a0Remain steadfast in our convictions.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Bible\u2019s Book of Deuteronomy, which Jews are in the midst of reading, details the laws about making war.\u00a0 It is worth noting that although we might prefer to cling to the words of the prophets and their lofty visions of peace: \u201cNation shall not lift up sword against nation\u201d or \u201cThe wolf shall lie […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2763,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n9-11 and Making Holy War<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Bible\u2019s Book of Deuteronomy, which Jews are in the midst of reading, details the laws about making war.\u00a0 It is worth noting that although we might\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"9-11 and Making Holy War\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Bible\u2019s Book of Deuteronomy, which Jews are in the midst of reading, details the laws about making war.\u00a0 It is worth noting that although we might\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/2016\/09\/9-11-and-making-holy-war\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wheels of Faith: Coasting Uphill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-12T18:12:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rabbi Moskowitz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rabbi Moskowitz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/2016\/09\/9-11-and-making-holy-war\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/2016\/09\/9-11-and-making-holy-war\/\",\"name\":\"9-11 and Making Holy War\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-12T18:12:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-12T18:12:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/#\/schema\/person\/6e5313a344c66c628fc3b482a9e4963a\"},\"description\":\"The Bible\u2019s Book of Deuteronomy, which Jews are in the midst of reading, details the laws about making war.\u00a0 It is worth noting that although we might\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/2016\/09\/9-11-and-making-holy-war\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/2016\/09\/9-11-and-making-holy-war\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/2016\/09\/9-11-and-making-holy-war\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"9-11 and Making Holy War\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/\",\"name\":\"Wheels of Faith: Coasting Uphill\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/#\/schema\/person\/6e5313a344c66c628fc3b482a9e4963a\",\"name\":\"Rabbi Moskowitz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a692720533ddae0bcb62f31f7d244bf?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a692720533ddae0bcb62f31f7d244bf?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Rabbi Moskowitz\"},\"description\":\"Rabbi Steven Moskowitz is the spiritual leader of Congregation L\u2019Dor V\u2019Dor on Long Island\u2019s North Shore. 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