[Avodah] Metzorah "LEPERS DO CHANGE THEIR SPOTS"

[Cantor Wolberg via Avodah]

On this, the Shabbos preceding Yom Haatzmaut, we read the Haftarah 
containing the following verse referring to the four lepers: “And they said
to one another: ‘We are not doing the right thing; today is a day of good tidings
and yet, we remain silent! If we wait until the light of dawn (until it’s too late),
we will be adjudged as sinners; now come, let us go and report to the king’s
palace.”  Second Kings 7:9

It is fascinating that in our own times, this verse contains a challenging message.
It is remarkable how the events of modern Israel ran parallel to the the story told 
in this Biblical chapter. The Arab armies besieging the Jewish community in Israel,
their panic and sudden flight, the great deliverance which followed, and the birth of
the State of Israel — do we not see the hand of Providence in all these events?

In one respect we are deeply worried. The lepers of the Haftarah possessed the 
moral obligation to proclaim the miracle. “We are not doing the right thing. This is
a day of good tidings and it is not proper that we should be quiet about it.”  Many
of us today (outcasts of yesterday) have still not risen to the moral height of 
recognizing that a miracle has transpired before our very eyes and therefore our
duty to proclaim the greatness of the day!

Let us, therefore, proclaim it to our children and to the world. Let us, with a firm belief 
in the future of Israel, do everything possible to assure its existence, strengthen its
foundations, and thus look forward to the day of good tidings, the day of Israel’s 
total and quintessential Independence!
rw

John Adams:  "I will insist the Hebrews have [contributed] more to civilize men than any other nation. 
If I was an atheist and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews 
to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations… They are the most glorious nation that ever inhabited this Earth. 
The Romans and their empire were but a bubble in comparison to the Jews.”

John F. Kennedy: "Israel was not created in order to disappear — Israel will endure and flourish. It is the child of hope and the home of the brave. 
It can neither be broken by adversity nor demoralized by success. It carries the shield of democracy and it honors the sword of freedom."