Arafat's 100% effort By Rabbi Berel Wein rbwein@netvision.net.il (March 26, 2002) In the Alice in Wonderland world in which we are now living, we are being treated to a spectacle in which the world expects 100% results from us regarding the implementation of Tenet/Mitchell/Oslo, UN resolutions, etc., while Yasser Arafat has only to demonstrate 100% effort. Results are objectively measurable and attainable. Effort is a much more ephemeral value, subject only to eventual interpretation, guesswork and wishful thinking. I really think that Arafat is now making a 100% effort to destroy the Jewish state by any means he can - diplomacy, duplicity, terror and war. His effort over the past 30 years to destroy Israel is clear to all, though everyone interested in quieting down our area - the UN, the US government, the Israeli government, the European Union - is still locked in, mentally and by habit, to continuing to pursue Arafat and begging for a 100% effort to stop the violence. All past and present indications are that it is unlikely he will change his spots at this late date in his life. But I guess we can always hope. Speaking about 100% effort, what about the Jewish world? Where is our 100% effort on behalf of our cause? The extremists, on the Left and the Right, are still engaged in placing their own unrealistic demands and expectations before the national welfare of Israel and the Jewish people as a whole. Naturally, this is all done under the cloak of pious ideologies and/or in the name of human rights, democracy, ideological principle, and consistency. But where is the sense of unity and support for the vast majority of the people of Israel? Did the resignation of the two right-wing cabinet members two weeks ago have any positive effect on anything going on here? Is it not just another example of political petulance and shooting oneself in the foot in the cause of perceived righteousness? The reservists who are refusing to serve and their noisy supporters must realize the IDF is defending Tel Aviv and Netanya, not just the "settlements." So what is their well-publicized behavior accomplishing? Where is our 100% effort here? Last week, the Hapoel Tel Aviv soccer team lost in Milan. One of the reasons it lost was one of its players scored an own goal! Well, generally, it seems we are all pretty proficient at doing that in many areas of life. The March of the Living fiasco is another example of the lack of 100% effort on our part. It was shameful enough to accept the fact Milan would not come here to play. Israel should have said to UEFA: "Too bad, we'll forfeit, but we are not going to allow cowardice to rule us." Instead, like good little boys we went to Cyprus to play the match. So now, responding to the implicit message of that cave-in, the March of the Living, which is supposed to signify Jewish pride and resurgence - am Yisrael hai - goes to Poland, where the Catholic Church still spreads the blood libel, but won't come here. If Israel is too dangerous for this supposed 100% effort to restore Jewish pride, just cancel the whole event for this year. But Poland and not Israel? What am I missing here? The entire response of Diaspora Jewry to the current crisis is certainly less than 100% effort. Prayer and fast days are necessary, of course, but what about visiting the country, investing in it, purchasing real estate here instead of in south Florida? Our struggle here is not only one of guns and bombs, it is of morale and spirit and encouragement as well. And it is there we now require 100% effort. And lastly, speaking about 100% effort, what is so wrong in asking 100% commitment from prospective converts to Judaism - again not necessarily 100% results, but 100% effort in fulfilling the tenets of the Torah and tradition as practiced by Jews over the millennia? Is that not really what the whole conversion furor and Supreme Court case is all about? No one is being coerced into becoming Jewish. There are probably 1.5 million non-Jews living here anyway. Why raise the issue of who is a Jew all over again? It is again an example of heading the ball into our own goal. You can't win many games doing that. We need 100% effort from everyone for our cause and our unity to sustain ourselves in our current situation. Shabbat shalom and hag sameah