Subject: It Is My Brothers Whom I Seek Date: Sun, 12 Nov 1995 00:00:49 -0500 Ateret Cohanim The Jerusalem Reclamation Project IT IS MY BROTHERS WHOM I SEEK (Gen.37:15) =========================================================================== Note: This is the declaration made by Rav Zvi Yehuda Kook, zt'l, in the fall of 5708 (1947), when the struggle against British Mandatory oppression brought with it internal divisions between the various underground defense organizations (Hagana, Etzel, Lechi) to the point of physical violence. =========================================================================== It is my brothers and sisters, throughout our nation, in all the parties and all the military organizations, famous or unknown, public or secret, those affiliated and those unaffiliated - it is all of them whom I seek to place my urgent request before them: Have mercy upon your own souls and upon those of all of our nation. Let us not for one minute forget what a weighty responsibility we have at this time, after the immense destruction of the holocaust and at the beginning of the tremendous upbuilding of our homeland. G-D forbid that we cause a desecration of His Name at this time. Let no one decide - no individual, group, or party - all of whom want only the best for our people, and the building of our homeland - that he is the sole guardian of all truth and justice. At this awesome time, let no one desire or delude himself into thinking that he can force his own will upon another through the use of violence. Let no one forget that opinions cannot be implanted in this manner, even in the intensity of this sacred ideological struggle, for in this way they can not prevail - they will simply melt away like ice. The freedom of opinion and thought, of ambitions and plans, discussion and implementation - Let us not poison all of this by overstepping the boundaries of violence and implanting hate and scorn in people's hearts. We must remember that 'one who raises his hand against his fellow man is called a wicked man' (Sanhedrin 58). Bad feelings multiply unrestrainedly when reflected by one's fellow man - one's brother. We must limit dissension within our nation to oral and written debate and honest undistorted implementation. We must not poison the debate with violence or abusive language. We must bear in mind the good intentions and ideological commitment of each one of us. Then we shall find the right and proper way to relate to each other and to take concrete steps towards realization of our ideals. 'Truth and justice and peace - Decree in your courts - and let no man think in his heart to harm his fellow man' (Zecharia 8). The more we restrain ourselves from verbal and physical abuse, the more we emphasize the things which unite us, (which are far greater and more weighty than what divides us), and the more this attitude dictates our public actions, the greater the possibility of mutual understanding and a common language among us, the greater will be the success of our leaders, our achievements, and the name we make for ourselves in the world. =========================================================================== Translated by Bracha Slae. Quotation is allowed without permission but requires citation of the author and distributor. (c) 1995 Ateret Cohanim. All Rights Reserved. Note: In the wake of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the above text was distributed throughout Israel, at the Knesset, Kikar Malchei Yisrael and at the Mount Herzl Cemetery, by Ateret Cohanim students. Ateret Cohanim The Jerusalem Reclamation Project