Gary Cooperberg
17 March 2003

Saul was a good King. He fought against Amalek valiantly. He began the mitzvah with a full heart and without fear. But he fell prey to both logic and public opinion. The people could not understand why they should destroy the best of the cattle and sheep rather than plunder them. And Saul saw no reason not to spare King Agog, after all he destroyed his army and humiliated him. It is reminiscent of the war we fought in Lebanon when Prime Minister Menachem Begin issued orders not to kill Arafat, rather to let him escape with his personal weapons.

This also reminds me of an editorial that appeared a few years back in the Jerusalem Post by Yosef Goel. It was an amazing criticism of the prophet Samuel! The reporter actually complained about the fact that Samuel saw the need to kill all the sheep! This was the reason why Saul lost his Kingdom, for sinning against G-d, not Samuel. How amazing that even today a reporter could have the audacity to challenge G-d's Morality concerning a Biblical event! Why then should we be surprised to find so many people challenging our obligation as Jews to follow G-d's Law today?

We can argue as to whether or not Arafat and his followers are truly descendants of Amalek, but there can be no doubt that no Jewish government has the right to give away Jewish land to anyone, much less to enemies of the Jewish people. In the Passover Seder it says, "In every generation there are those who rise up to destroy us, but HaShem, in His mercy always rescues us from them." It is one thing to depend upon G-d's mercy, but another thing entirely to actually oppose G-d by aiding our enemies in their effort to destroy us.

The Jewish government has given weapons and strategic bases inside the Land of Israel to our enemies from which they have launched attacks against Jewish civilians, indiscriminately murdering hundreds. Our enemies have turned their own children into human bombs exploding busloads of our people. They have sent suicide murderers into Jewish communities to murder whoever they can find. Is there any government on earth, other than the Israeli one, which would think to negotiate with such people?

Purim comes to remind us of our obligation to obliterate Amalek. It is not enough to sound our noise makers during the mention of Haman's name during the magillah reading. We have a Jewish state which represents the Jewish people and, yes, the Jewish G-d. When this state is attacked, when its citizens are murdered, it is an attack against the G-d of Creation. Not to avenge such attacks is a sin against G-d. To seek to negotiate and give reward to such people is to bring Divine Wrath upon ourselves.

We already have a "road map". It is called the Torah. It is truly a road map given to us by the Creator of the Universe and thus one that cannot lead us astray like the one Bush and Sharon are trying to put together. As our children are being murdered and others made into orphans we must redouble our efforts to get the real "road map" into the hands of our leaders before the new one leads us into further disaster.

Project Shofar is dedicated to spreading these truths wherever it is possible to do so. It is sounding the alarm, to Jew and Gentile alike, to open our eyes to the G-dly process that is presently underway, and work to support it. We dare not stand idly on the sidelines.