“The spiritual leaders have to and can contribute their part to quickly establishing the words of Allah the Exalted from the mouths of his prophets who promised to bless this city (Jerusalem) and its surroundings (the Holy Land).”
Rabbi Menachem Forman
Mahmoud Abbas
For the past few years I customarily send the noble Palestinian nation blessings for the occasion of the Feast of the Sacrifice through the Palestinian president, my brother Yassir Arafat. I remember my last conversation with him, close to his death, when he answered me with emotion: “You are my brother!” and of course it is possible to explain his emotion, that he wanted to tell me, close to his death, that the two nations – the Israelis and the Palestinians – are brothers, that if the fate of one improves so does the fate of its double. The president customarily would thank me for these blessings and would order that these blessings be publicized in the Palestinian newspapers so that the Palestinian nation will know that there are Jewish rabbis who are blessing them with blessings of peace.
This year Allah the Exalted caused that the Feast of the Sacrifice would fall immediately after the election of a new president in Palestine and after the renewal of the continuation of the government in Israel – at the time where new hopes for peace are awakened. Therefore, this year there is a special reason for blessings of peace from the rabbis to the noble Palestinian nation on the occasion of the Feast of the Sacrifice.
Therefore, after the thanks that we have to say to Allah the Exalted that He gave life to all of us, we the rabbis want to bless the noble Palestinian nation with all the worthy blessings. These days when we remember the Prophet Abraham, may his memory be blessed, we pray to Allah the Exalted – whose most beautiful name is “peace” – that he should bless all the children of the Prophet Abraham, may his memory be blessed – Arabs and also Jews – with blessings of peace, which is the most beautiful gift of all that Allah the Exalted can give the human beings that He created.
From the difficult experience of the shared history of the two nations – the Israel nation and the Palestinian nation – we can learn one important thing – between two brothers – when one’s fate is bad, the fate is also bad of the second. Only when it is good for one, it will be, with God’s help, good for its double. Little Jewish children know the famous story (the hadith) of the man who came to the head of the Jewish Sages and asked him to teach him the principle of the Jewish religion while he was standing on one foot (in one sentence). The Sage taught him, “Love your neighbor exactly how you would love yourself.”
Allah the Exalted established the Palestinian nation as our neighbor. Therefore, from this hadith, which summarized the main principle of our religion, it’s possible to learn that just as Jews have obtained a free and thriving state from Allah the Exalted, respected in the world, and just as we obtained from Allah the Exalted a state with Jerusalem as its capital, our neighbor will also obtain a state with its capital as Jerusalem. If both nations will be fortunate to stone the Cursed Satan who stimulates war and hate, and establish Jerusalem as a capital of peace of Israel and Palestine, there will be, God Willing, Jerusalem the Capital of Peace for the whole world!
The whole world is observing us – Israelis and Palestinians. The two nations who live in the Holy Land are two small nations. But the world expects that they will fulfill a big task in the world – that they specifically can build a bridge between the Western world and the large Muslim world. Jerusalem is the most suitable place where the West can make the step that is so essential for peace in the world which is giving the deserved respect to Islam. The whole world expects us – Israelis and Palestinians – to turn Jerusalem into the capital of peace.
This is the opportunity to personally bless the new Palestinian president that we should all merit – Palestinians and Israelis – that the hope stimulated by his election will be fulfilled in the two nations. This new Palestinian president has the opportunity before him to suggest that we should learn one important thing from our difficult experience from our shared history in the past four and a half years – the political leaders of the two nations have to have backup from the spiritual leaders of the two nations. The efforts of the political leaders to find a correct solution of peace needs a previous reinforcement from the religious leaders, the most important ones from Islam and Judaism, and also from the authors, poets, journalists, lawyers and from the economic leaders of the two nations.
Practically, it is desirable to immediately establish a “Palestinian-Israeli Friendship Board” which will represent the two nations. A Friendship Board like this – which can include the important spiritual leaders of the two nations – can influence the public opinion of the two nations and to repel the stresses that damages the Israeli and Palestinian public opinion. This Board can, God Willing, also send its representatives to the United States and Europe in order to repel the stresses that damage the world and to represent the will of the Palestinians and Israelis for peace. This Board can, God Willing, contribute a subdued contribution to realize the new hopes to stop the wars that are connected with each other – the war in the Holy Land and the war between the West and powers of Islam in the entire world.
The spiritual leaders have to and can contribute their part to quickly establishing the words of Allah the Exalted from the mouths of his prophets who promised to bless this city (Jerusalem) and its surroundings (the Holy Land).
Sincerely,
In the Name of the Rabbis
Rav Menachem Froman
Tekoa, Israel
