Extinguishing the Volcano of Hatred that Burned Against Gush Katif

A bit of unexpected dizziness kept me from neighborhood Tisha B’Av programs that I attend each year. Instead I laid low in the house, learned a bit and then watched some of the recommended videos about the destruction of Gush Katif and all it represented.

Even today, seven years later, it is so clear why the left-wing of this country could not allow the continued existence of Gush Katif, and why they hated the Gush Katif population with their entire being.

I am not one for harsh words. I am usually the one who tries to teach everyone Barney's song, "I love you. You love me. We're a happy family....Won't you say you love me too." That's the way I believe life should be, and the way we should raise our children. I long for brotherly love among our people, because the lack of it destroys Temples and towns.

But if we don't face the problems of our society, and we are constantly feeding innocents to the volcano, hoping that that will keep it from exploding and destroying us all, we will find that we have sacrificed the good for an unquenchable evil whose ultimate explosion will be more horrendous than anything we had feared.

Hatred and Jealousy

It is always hatred and jealousy - Cain against Abel, Esau against Jacob, Joseph's brothers, the Hellenists, onward and onward.

Seven years ago, the hate was so strong, nothing could extinguish the flames of the left-wing volcano. Gush Katif was everything hateful in their eyes.

The left could not fargin the Gush Katif residents a life of paradise – even with the kassams falling, even with the terror attacks. According to Rabbi Mendel Weinbach of Ohr Somayach, fargin means not to begrudge the success or well-being of someone else.

If You are Right, I Must be Left Wrong

If the way of life displayed in Gush Katif was the right way, then everything the Israeli left stood for was wrong. The people of Gush Katif were their opposite mirror image. So instead of looking into the mirror of their souls to correct their own lives/ideas/priorities, in order not to feel guilty, the left understood that the mirror must be smashed completely.

Yes, when left-wing Israel perceived that the bloc of Gush Katif communities stood for everything they were not, they simply couldn’t  fargin an entire population that lived in brotherly-love; that possessed higher values of dedication to Eretz Yisrael, Am Yisrael and Torat Yisrael – values that shined from the oldest to the youngest of their towns. They couldn’t fargin the sea of greenhouses and the bright red peppers that symbolized millions of dollars of produce for Israel. If only their businesses suffered from the terror around them. If only the world would really reject their produce, then at least they could gain a bit of  sympathy.

As the left-wingers lived for their nights out in the pubs or at the cafes, their designer jeans and name-brand possessions, they couldn’t  fargin the Gush Katif farmers for opening their hot houses widely to help the needy.

They couldn’t fargin them for flaunting their love of Torah with magnificent yeshivot and synagogues.

They couldn’t fargin them for having such an elevated existence, yet seeming regular, as well. If they were only detestable in every way, like the hareidim with their modestly dressed women and men in black, okay…but they wore tzitzit and kippot and still loved surfing and walking barefoot on sand dunes. They played a wizard game of basketball, rode horses and ATVs on the beach. From the outside they seemed too regular, so the left hated them even more.

And while the majority of left-wing Israel lived in the overcrowded overheated Merkaz (which isn’t the Merkaz – center – at all, because truly Judea and Samaria are) in apartments with two kids and a dog, the left hated the folks of Gush Katif with their big beautiful haciendas, filled with laughing children. "Why should they have more than I do?"

More than anything else, they hated them because they were heroes – because they took the cursed sand and turned it into a treasure for the State of Israel, because they didn’t say give me give me, but give you give you, and because they stayed planted during the bad, as they had during the good. If only they had cried and ran whenever there was a kassam, their Israeli enemies would have just smirked, “Ha ha, see them run now.”  

Surely the left would have let them stay if they had only shown fear. Every night’s news broadcast would have been an affirmation of everything they believed, “You see, that’s what they get for trying to create paradise. Now they’re getting what’s coming to them.” But they didn’t run. They stayed fast. They praised G-d if there was a miracle, and they accepted G-d’s ruling when there wasn’t.

Therefore, the left hated them because they represented so much of what was right and good. And, so the left-wingers momentarily thought, if they are right, then what am I?

And instead of delving any further into that idea, they said instead, “They must be destroyed. Then I will feel better.”

So Gush Katif was destroyed, its homes were reduced to rubble, its hot houses rotted away, its parents lost their livelihood, their spirits were broken and the beautiful synagogues were demolished. Success.

But the Israeli left is still unhappy. They still pray for visas to America, for flashy cars, for a world without G-d and His rules, for an end to everything that reminds them that their lifestyle is not perfect. Their problem still exists. So, who must be destroyed now? 

Extinguishing the Volcano

No amount of sacrifices will ever be enough for a volcano that feeds on hatred. 

Gush Katifers themselves and their supporters tried to put out the flames with their Panim el Panim (Face to Face) campaign. That was a commendable start. So too are the yeshivot and Jewish hang-outs in Tel Aviv.

Emergency!!! There needs to be a drastic campaign in the entire country, in every single school to teach the values of Eretz Yisrael, Am Yisrael and Torat Yisrael, yes the values embodied by Gush Katif. Just as school children have begun to be exposed to Jerusalem and even Chevron, they must be exposed to Torah thoughts and Jewish personalities of the past and present. This will breed understanding, Jewish pride, a strengthening of our roots, a feeling of purpose, and brotherly love. This is the only plan that will save the nation and put out the volcanic fire of hatred.