Rabbi Shlomo Aviner
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Wave of the future: "Orange" teens
Photo: Gil Yochanan
The future is orange
We returned to Israel and Jerusalem. We will return, too, to Gush Katif
The Jewish people have endured a lot of destructions in our troubled history. There have been many expulsions and pogroms.
Rabbi Shlomo Aviner is the head of the Ateret Kohanim yeshiva in Jerusalem and the chief rabbi of the West Bank town of Beit ElUs Against Them
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But in a way, this was the worst of all, because it came from our brothers. As in the biblical story of Joseph, whose brothers mercilessly threw him in a pit and sold him into slavery, our brothers burned down a Jewish community in the land of Israel.
In a matter of days, a community built with blood, sweat and tears, over dozens of years, was turned into rubble.
Purity, education, and mutual support
For years, Gush Katif was an island of purity, an island of education, self sacrifice, charity and mutual support. It was a place of integration and expansion, and it all took place quietly, away from the headlines, without high, exalted words.
They built together, they absorbed new families together, and together they created a fantastic social fabric.
But this social fabric was plowed under by the wicked of this land.
Teary prayers
The same purity beats within the hearts who, despite the cruel expulsion, continue to pray for the welfare of both the State of Israel and the IDF, albeit with broken hearts and tears in their eyes.
Because that spirit is not short-sighted. We understand the long-term nature of history, enough to not break up the army or the country itself.
So despite the media's portrayal of the people of Gush Katif and northern Samaria as violent thugs who would spill much blood during their deportation, the community acted honorably during this terrible eviction, without resorting to violence.
In the battle for this stretch of land, we lost. But in the battle to remain full of love for other Jews, we have won.
The victory in Gush Katif and northern Samaria is a victory of the spirit, not of power – a spirit so strong, it cannot be broken.
The future is orange
We believe the messiah will come, and hope that this destruction will lead to an even higher level, a blink-of-an-eye in the greater process of a Jewish nation soaring to greater and greater heights.
Our people has returned to the Land of Israel, and we have returned to Jerusalem. We will return to Gush Katif.
The un-conquerable spirit is orange. That is impossible to destroy.
