We've been reading about the "road map" to peace in the Middle East for many years. Anyone can see it hasn't taken us very far. It's been like trying to get to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco using a map of Lower Manhattan. You can try harder, pray harder, and double your speed. But your efforts only succeed in getting you to the wrong place faster. The fundamental problem has nothing to do with traffic jams, diversions or delays; it has everything to do with using the wrong map.

For over a decade, Israel has navigated tiresomely to achieve peace using the Oslo map, which was built on this premise: Assuage the other side's grievances -- end the occupation; give the Palestinians land, armed forces, their own state-- and peace will follow. Hence in 1993, Israel brought the P.L.O. out of exile and gave it recognition, international legitimacy, governmental autonomy and authority over 98% of the Palestinian population.

Where has this map brought us? In the past decade, terrorism has increased dramatically. Eleven years ago, Yitzhak Rabin in his historic speech on the White House lawn, spoke of a future in which mothers no longer wept for sons lost in battle. But the weeping has not ended; it reached a deafening crescendo. Terrorists have killed more Israelis in the eleven years since Oslo began in 1993 than in the 45 years of Israel's existence before that.

Obviously we've been using the wrong map to move us toward peace. Is there an alternative?

Ludwig Wittgenstein, once said that his aim as a philosopher was, "To show the fly the way out of the fly-bottle." The fly keeps banging its head against the glass in a vain attempt to get out. The more it tries, the more it fails, until it drops from exhaustion. The one thing it forgets to do is look to the sky. Like the frustrated fly, the one thing Israel has forgotten to do is look to the sky.

If Israelis were to look up, they would see an alternative map to peace, provided by El Al, Israel's renowned airline.

El Al is the gold standard in aviation security. There is a sense of safety and comfort on El Al planes felt by all of its passengers - Jews, Christians and Moslems alike - that one does not feel on any other aircraft. This is an astounding achievement, since El Al is the world's most coveted terrorist target in the sky.

Now, imagine if El Al decided that because it has been despised for decades, it is time to change its policy and methods of security. First, El Al would invite people who in the past wished to hijack and blow up its planes and passengers and give them "autonomy" on one section aboard El Al aircraft. In these sections, former hijackers could move about freely without scrutiny or supervision. Next, El Al would make these "reformed militants" responsible for the security of passengers seated in their area of the aircraft. This overture of peace would certainly demonstrate to the international community that El Al is truly committed to coexistence and liberal values. It would help put an end to the animosity felt by many toward El Al.

Some would propose that El Al show more "flexibility" and relinquish control of the cockpit to the former terrorists. Some would advocate that El Al construct a wall to enclose the autonomous aisles or to unilaterally withdraw from several seats that are in close proximity to those aisles.

All of these strategies, of course, would be suicidal for El Al. All of them miss the fundamental point. Compromising on security or granting autonomy on a single seat would spell cataclysmic disaster for the entire airline. The life of every passenger, Muslim, Jew and Christian, would be placed in mortal danger. Travelers would before long bid farewell to El Al. That would spell the end of the airline.

The only way for El Al to eradicate terror from its airplanes is not through concessions or autonomy, but rather by destroying any hope the terrorists have of achieving their objectives. El Al has adopted an uncompromising stance against terrorism, and they make no apologies. The world stands in admiration of what El Al has accomplished. The El Al road map goes by the name "peace through strength."

This is the right road map to peace in Israel.

If the last decade of the Oslo process has taught anything, it is that no responsible government can give in to terror. Such behavior does not end terror, but invites it yet more.

The Arab terror war against Israel is no more a territorial conflict than was al Qaeda's strike against America, and it can no more be resolved by the current "road map" than anti-Americanism could be appeased by yielding New Jersey to Osama bin Laden.

Hence, Israel's intent to withdraw from Gaza is profoundly misdirected. The Palestinian goal over the last decade has been to demoralize the Israeli people through terrorism and force a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from the territories. If they succeed, the relentless war against Israel will be launched far more advantageously from their newly acquired territory.

At the end of World War II, Winston Churchill quipped, "You can always rely on America to do the right thing, once it has exhausted the alternatives." Israel, which has far fewer alternatives than the U.S., has long ago exhausted them all. How much more innocent blood needs to be spilled before we abandon the failed maps of the past? How many more children have to be blown up by suicide bombers before we pursue the course El Al has bravely charted?

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Rabbi Dov Greenberg is executive director of Chabad at Stanford University and a popular lecturer on Judaism. You can Email him at: Info@chabadstanford.org ~~~~~~~~~~~

The Two Faces of Life Dealing with the "days" and "nights" of human existence By Yosef Y. Jacobson

"On the day the Tabernacle was erected, the cloud covered the Tabernacle," the Bible records in the Torah portion of Behaaloscha (1). "Then, in the evening, there would be upon the Tabernacle like a fiery glow till morning."

"From then on it remained that way," the Torah continues. "The cloud would cover it [by day] and a glow of fire by night (2)."

Two points require clarification. First: What was the significance and purpose of this dual miraculous canopy that hovered over the Tabernacle in the desert -- a cloud during the day and a glowing flame during the night (3)?

Second: Like every episode recorded in the Bible, this one, too, contains a spiritual interpretation that continuously plays itself out in journeys of the human spirit. How can we apply the story of this Tabernacle canopy to our lives today?

Smugness vs. despair

The Tabernacle was the edifice erected by the people of Israel in the Sinai desert to serve as a home for the Divine presence. In Jewish writings, the Tabernacle represents the place in the heart where the light of G-d resides (4). The Tabernacle, then, exists timelessly within the human soul.

This sacred and noble place within us, declares the Bible, must include both a cloud by day and a fire by night.

Each person experiences in his or her life "days" and "nights" -- moments of light and moments of darkness, times of happiness and contentment as well as times of agony and turmoil. For some, the days are longer than the nights; for others the nights sadly exceed the days. Yet most humans possess a share of both realities.

Now, when things are going well for us -- when we're paying the bills nicely, the kids are healthy, our spouses are there for us and we're satisfied -- we often forget how vulnerable we really are in this world. We tend to become smug, complacent and desensitized. We often become apathetic to other people's pain. We don't feel the need for genuine friendships, and certainly not for G-d. WE don't feel the urgent need to be real.

On the other hand, when things become (heaven forbid) difficult and painful -- a loss in the family, illness of a loved one, a marriage goes sour, the bank is after us, our children are not doing well or we are overcome by inner mental or physical challenges -- we often fall prey to feelings of despair and loneliness. We sink into the morass of life's hardships, as we say to ourselves, "it's dark and it's getting darker."

Don't get carried away

Thus, the Torah this week teaches us a movingly profound lesson.

If you are to become a human Tabernacle, if you wish to discover the grace of G-d within your heart, you must recall the darker cloud hovering above you even during times of brightness and splendor. A person must always remember that ultimately he cannot claim ownership over anything in his life: Life is a gift, love is gift, parents are gifts and children are gifts. One ought never to become blind to the truth that everything can change in a single instance (5) and that there is so much pain in the world. When you remember the clouds, you will never become arrogant, detached and false.

On the other hand, when night falls upon us, when life exposes its painful and darker side, we need to recall the glowing light hovering above us. We must remember that every experience we endure must become part of our life's journey to transform the world into a home for goodness and G-dliness. Every challenge contains an opportunity for deeper growth and for a deeper relationship with our soul and our G-d. Each cloud contains a flame within.

Judaism's Mission Statement

This is the powerful significance behind the mitzvah, the Jewish tradition, to recite twice each day the Shema Yisroel, the most reverent Jewish prayer, once in the morning and once in the evening.

When dawn breaks and the sun emerges to embrace us with its warmth, we state: "Hear O Israel, the Lord is our G-d, the Lord is One." Each of us is essentially a reflection of G-d, a recipient of His grace.

When night falls and darkness pervades our lives, we once again declare: "Hear O Israel, the Lord is our G-d, the Lord is One." G-d is one means that the same G-d Who was present during the "day," is also present during the "night." Darkness is painful and bitter, but it, too, must become part of a dynamic relationship with life and with G-d (6).

The breaking of the glass

This is also the mystical reason for the enigmatic Jewish custom to break a glass under the wedding canopy (the Chupah) at the moment when the groom and the bride are about to enter into a private room and celebrate their union, and the guests are about to begin feasting and dancing.

Granted, we break a glass during a marriage ceremony to remember the destruction of Jerusalem and all of the broken hearts in the world. But couldn't we do the breaking a little earlier, during the more solemn moments of the ceremony? Must we, at the happiest moment of a bride and a groom, introduce sadness and melancholy?

The answer: Those who at the peak of their personal joy remember the pain that is still present in the outside world, will, at the moment of their pain, remember the joy out there in the world. On the other hand, those who at a moment of a personal high, become totally submerged in their own mood and are indifferent to the broken hearts around them, then, when struck by pain and hardship, they will remain stuck in their own quagmire, unable to reach out and glean hope and inspiration from the laughter and joy still present in the world (7).

Thus, the Torah states: "From then on it remained that way, the cloud would cover it [by day] and a glow of fire by night." This is an eternal directive. During your days, look up to the clouds; during your nights, gaze up to the fire.

And if during your days, you will remember the clouds, then during your nights you will remember the flame (8).

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Footnotes: 1) Numbers 9:15. 2) Ibid. 9:16. 3) It is clear that the cloud did not serve as a shield from the hot son burning in the desert. First, the entire dwelling place of the Jews was constantly surrounded by "clouds of glory" (see, for example, Leviticus 23:43 and Rashi ibid; Talmud Sukah 11b.). It is also clear from the commentary of Ramban on this verse that the cloud did not serve the purpose. The Or HaChaim ibid. presents a twofold explanation for the existence of the hovering cloud during daytime from the literal point a view. What follows is the spiritual explanation of a metaphysical and timeless tale. 4) See Alshich to Terumah 25:8. Reishis Chachmah Portal of Love chapter 6. Shalah 69a; 201a; 325b; 326b. Likkutei Torah Naso 20b. 5) See the commentary of Even Ezra to Ecclesiastes 7:14. 6) See Sichas 24 Teves 5704 (Published in Toras Yemei Bereshis). 7) Heard from my brother Simon Jacobson, during my own chupah, in the name of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. 8) This essay is based on the writings of the Chassidic masters. Cf. L'torah U'lmoadim (by Rabbi S.Y. Zevin) Parshas Behaaloscah.

~~~~~~~~~~~ When Gershon Jacobson Debated Arnold Toynbee Are Jews a Culture or a Civilization? By Yehoshua S. Hecht

I wish to share with you a fascinating story about the late Gershon Jacobson, editor of the Algemeiner Journal, who died on May 29.

The noted British historian Arnold Toynbee best known for his 12-volume series A Study of History (1934-1961) wrote an article in the spring of 1946 that conjectured that the Jewish people are a culture and not a civilization. Toynbee's article was translated and subsequently appeared in a widely read Yiddish periodical that served the culturally starved community of Holocaust survivors who were in Paris. Many of theses people were themselves accomplished writers, thinkers and artists who came together for book discussions and intellectual conversation even as they tried to normalize their shattered lives.

At the time, a young man with the name of Gershon Jacobson who had escaped the advancing German army was studying Talmud at a Yeshiva in a suburb of Paris. Upon reading Professor Toynbee's opinion that the Jews are a culture but not necessarily a civilization, he wrote a letter to the editor disavowing Toynbee's premise. The editor of the Yiddish Literary Review was impressed by the correspondence. Three months later he extended an invitation to the erudite and learned Jacobson to a debate that the Dr. Toynbee had agreed to participate in. To the surprise of all, the evening for the debate arrived with Toynbee present and the mysterious Gershon Jacobson nowhere to be found.

Moments later as the young beret clad Gershon Jacobson introduced himself, the venerable organizer of the debate realized that the letter to the editor dissenter was only a twenty-year-old student of Talmud who spoke French, Russian, Yiddish, and some English. He also realized that the young man was self-assured, intelligent and well read. With no other choice with Toynbee having already arrived into the packed hall, he relented and introduced the distinguished panelists to the assembled.

Toynbee sizing up the young Gershon Jacobson and offered to have Jacobson speak first. Jacobson asked Toynbee to define the difference between a culture and a civilization. After a measured pause, the noted historian asked what Jacobson thought on the subject.

For forty-five minutes, Jacobson captivated his listeners with an overview of world and Jewish history. Jacobson conceded that the origins of Judaism and its genesis with Abraham and Sarah were indeed humble. However, it was Abraham and Sarah who introduced the concept of a moral and infinite Creator amongst the pagan idolaters of their day. Is this not the foundation of all civilization?

Nineteenth-century American president, John Adams, put it well:

"I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize man than any other nation. If I were an atheist, and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that chance had ordered the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations. If I were an atheist to the other sect, who believed or pretended to believe that all is ordered by chance, I should believe that chance has ordered the Jews to preserve and propagate to all mankind the doctrine of a supreme, intelligent, wise, almighty sovereign of the universe, which I believe to be the great essential principle of all morality, and consequently of all civilization."

The Sinai wilderness, the location where The Ten Commandments were given to the world, young Gershon Jacobson argued, might not be the most cultured location, but it certainly established a solid and immutable foundation for modern day civilization. The commandments of do not murder and do not steal as well as the belief in an all knowing G-d gave the ancient Israelites a code of conduct way more progressive and meaningful than anything that existed amongst the surrounding nations who were making human sacrifice to their various cult deities.

Jewish culture, Jacobson said, perhaps could not compare to the culture of other countries and empires. Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem was indeed a most beautiful edifice which served as the central point of the first Jewish commonwealth that lasted almost 900 years, yet as a whole, Israel's culture did not compete with the later technological advances of the Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman empires. Their philosophy, science, music, art and literature, as well as their aqueducts and especially their stadiums were colossal works of culture.

However, their way of life was lacking in the most basic rudiment of civilization. The huge crowds gathered in the coliseums lusting to witness first hand the blood of both gladiator and beast is legendary in the history of Rome. The fetishes of body worship violence and brutality were well represented in the cultures of Persia, Greece and Rome. Yet as far back as the days of Abraham and throughout the history of both the first and second Jewish commonwealth the lust for blood and human degradation was for the most part considered anathema to the Jews.

If anything -- the young impassioned speaker concluded -- the Jewish people are the guardians of civilization, not of culture. They carried the beacon of enlightenment and human dignity to the world.

The upshot of the debate was Toynbee's response. "Young man you are correct and I stand corrected." The Jewish people not only a culture but also a civilization."

The land of the free and civilized

This distinction has a powerful contemporary message: Our great United States of America was fortunate to have founding fathers that looked to the Bible for direction and insight as to how best assure liberty and personal dignity to every one of its inhabitants. They believed in the words of Leviticus (25:10) "Proclaim liberty throughout your land for all its inhabitants." America is not only a land of culture but more importantly it is a society based upon Biblical principles that uphold our entire modern civilization.

We ought to remember that the beauty of America is not its MTV or Hollywood culture alone -- but more importantly it is the Bill of Rights and the Constitution inspired by the values of Torah and human dignity that assures that we will uphold the pillars of civilized conduct.

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Rabbi Hecht is the Spiritual Leader Beth Israel Synagogue of Westport/Norwalk and President of the Rabbinical Council of Connecticut. ~~~~~~~~~~~ www.algemeiner.com

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