Parsha Nitzavim 5765: 
            

Parsha Nitzavim begins; "Atem Nitzavim HaYom...Today you are standing before Hashem, your Lord...  You are thus being brought into the covenant of Hashem, your Lord, and [accepting] the dread oath that He is making with you today.  He has established you as his nation, so that He will be a G'd to you..."   (Devarim, Perek 29, posukim 9-12)

In the renewal of Hashem's covenant with B'nai Yisrael, the concept of responsibility for one another is introduced where every Jew is obligated to help others to cleave to Hashem, to observe the Torah and to restrain them from violating Halacha.  Rabbi Artscroll refers to the Or HaChaim who noted "...that Hashem would not hold them responsible for the sins that had been done secretly, but that they would be liable for transgressions committed openly."  Artscroll then states that "This is essential to the world view of the Jew, for it explains why one may not be apathetic to the shortcomings of others and why public desecrations of the Torah are the concern of every Jew of good conscience."  (Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash, Parsha Nitzavim, page 1086)

And in Torah Gems, a Maharal is brought on "Atem Nitzavim HaYom Kulchem L'fnai Hashem ..." which teaches that "Moshe assembled them before G'd on the day of his death, to enter them into the covenant (Rashi).  Only ... on the threshold of Eretz Yisrael were they able to enter into the covenant, because it is Eretz Yisrael which unites the Jewish people." (Torah Gems, Aharon Yaakov Greenberg, Parsha Nitzavim, page 297)


It would seem that this concept of collective responsibility for each other is not restricted to the Asseret HaDiv'rot, refraining from loshen hora or pointing out to our fellow Yid the position of his Tefillin Shel Rosh when need be.  It would seem that this concept of collective responsibility extends to such Halachot as Pidyan Sh'vu'im -- redeeming our Jewish brethren held captive; be it by their home nation, by a foreign nation or by an enemy nation.

And collective responsibility extends to asserting our inalienable, divinely-given legacy -- our right and inheritance, Eretz Yisrael.

But Jewish non-action, political cheshbonot and equivocation have resulted in Jonathan Pollard's continued incarceration in prison in the US for the "crime" of having a  Yiddishe Neshama and for having acted to save 10s of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands or millions of Jewish Lives.  

The collective non-action, equivocation and abrogation of responsibility by the government of Israel and by American Jews constitutes a transgression committed so openly as to be an obvious Chillul Hashem in the eyes of the gentile nations. It is at least the equal of Jewish collective self-doubt about their divine inheritance of The Land of Israel and the resultant gezeirah rah in which thousands of Jews were expelled from their homes, communities and Shuls in Gush Katifand the Shomron and made penniless and destitute by a hard-hearted government of Israel.  It is the same self-doubt which fosters the dagger of the gezeira rah now aimed squarely at the Shalchevet neighborhood in Chevron for immediately after the Chaggim.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Shalchevet neighborhood or where it is;  it is the former Arab Shuk that the IDF shut down in the 1990s after daily attacks by Arabs in the Shuk upon Jews.  The vacant buildings then gradually became occupied by young Jewish families and this neighborhood was later named for Shalchevet Pass, the baby gunned downed down by Arab snippers. 

The collective non-action, equivocation and abrogation of responsibility is exemplified by the recent expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif makes a mockery of Jewish values and casts doubt, in eyes of the nations, upon the divine validity of Jewish connection with Eretz Yisrael.  In fact these two open and obvious transgressions; expulsion of Jews from their homes and roots on Jewish land and failure to perform the mitzvah of Pidyan Sh'vu'im seem intertwined, each Chillul Hashem seems to feed on and reinforce the other in a strange, myopic, perhaps supernatural way. A vulnerable, already brain-washed segment of Israel's population, as well as American Jews, have been long victimized by both the anti-Torah big-lie of Israel's hard-hearted political leadership as well as by that false American demon of "the Council of Presidents" called "dual loyalties." 

Pollard's continued incarceration, now at nearly 21 years, is due to the same perrenial myopic, "whatever gets you through the night..." mind-set of many who similarly viewed or perceived "separation" from Gush Katif as part of the "only" solution to a so-called "demographics problem" as well as an offering to Avodah Zora Washington in order to maintain the expensive Israeli addiction to American Foreign Aid.   Somehow, from generation to generation, the demographics bomb never seems to materialize and has recently been shown authoritatively to have been overstated by at least one third.  And a funny thing has happened this year to Israel's latest pleadings for a US foreign aid fix to defray "disengagement costs."

However, there are substantially increasing numbers of our Jewish brethren cleaving to Torah, to the ways of Hashem, doing Chassadim for those of our brethren in need and who have Jonathan Pollard constantly in their prayers and thoughts.  For that reason, the "Old General", despite his "victory" at the Likud Central Committee in keeping the contest for Head of Likud at it's originally scheduled date in 2006, is locked way over his head in a struggle which he can't possibly win or politically survive ultimately.  And as Sharon's house of cards, the various rationales for the expulsion collapse one-by-one in a heap, so too will the dominos of lies and tall, dark, evil political intrigue and cover-up keeping Jonathan Pollard behind bars be revealed. 

As the Yom HaDin approaches, our brethren -- the refugee families from Gush Katif as well as our dear brother, Jonathan Pollard are central in our thoughts, prayers, chassadim and actions.

B'Ezrat Hashem, may we soon know the day when Torah is the law of the land, when we pray thanks to Hashem for the Ge’ula Shlaima and for the restoration of our Brethren, expelled by the evil regime from Gush Katif and the Shomron towns to bigger and more beautiful homes and neighborhoods, Bati Knesset, Yeshivot in Gush Katif and the Shomron and only happiness and success for all time.  May this abominable period of history called hitnatkut be as a bad dream. And may we soon see freedom and long life in Eretz Yisrael for Jonathan Pollard.

May we see the “Yom Hashem Al Kol HaGoyim,” Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol.
 
May we be zocha the Moshiach, the Ge'ula Shlaima, "Yom Hashem V'Kol HaGoyim", the Ultimate Redemption, bim hay v'yameinu -- speedily, in our time", -- Immediately; Achshav, Chik Chuk, Meiyad, Etmol!!!

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Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of the Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.