"We will not negotiate with murderers!"
In a thundering declaration yesterday, Mahmoud Abbas, the "courageous" leader of the Palestinian Authority raised a glimmer of hope in the eyes of the Western Media and Governments that as a voice of reason and moderation his Fatah Government will not negotiate with Hamas.
Huh?
Pretty powerful words for a man whose hand are dripping with Jewish blood and whose Al Aksa Brigade operatives continue to carry out murderous attacks against innocent Jewish civilians throughout the land of Israel.
But, the power of deception is not a new trick in the book and for as long as man has walked the face of the earth, "survival of the fittest" was coined to describe a human (or sometimes inhuman) nature of "survival" at the expense of the life of another.
Still, while the enemies of Israel are obsessed in their own self-destruction, let's not lull ourselves into thinking that these are traits that only our adversaries contain.
Deception and underhandedness are human fallacies that few can claim to be untainted of their unfortunate mark.
Honest and transparent relationships last longest because the trust gained when your words accurately reflect the thoughts you think you create a secure environment where life can thrive.
Too often we create a facade to dress up the truth and make it seem easier to stomach. In retrospect, the hard learned lessons could have been avoided if we would have just said the truth.
So why then in the Torah do we read of what seems to be cutting edge marketing and advertising;
After a plague of venomous snakes broke out in the Jewish People, God instructs Moshe and Aaron to form a copper snake on a pole and whoever looks up at it would be healed. But then the Talmud adds something else, because;
"Now did the serpent kill or did the serpent restore to life? No. But when Israel looked upward and subjected their hearts to their Father in Heaven, they were healed; but if they did not, they pined away." Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 29a
If it was all about praying to G-d anyways then why the need for the whole stick on the pole thing?
But perhaps the "healing snake on the stick" was a reminder that although we pray for G-d to remove our problems, the ‘snake’ itself was also from G-d. Our mission is only to reveal the blessings concealed in the curses.
May we be blessed that all of the "venomous snakes" terrorizing the people of Israel be transformed into the "snake on the stick" bringing happiness, blessings, and most importantly peace and security for the Jewish people of Israel and around the world.
ב"ה