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Moshe Kempinski , author of The Teacher and the Preacher, is the editor of the Jerusalem Insights weekly email journal and co-owner of Shorashim, a Biblical shop and learning center in the Old City of Jerusalem.
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By Moshe Kempinski
March 10, 2006
The scent of orange blossoms is in the air. It is a very delicate and fleeting scent but it is definitely there, in the breeze, wafting through this land. The media is digging up all sorts of refuse and garbage in order to mask the sweet smell of the orange blossoms. The politicians are trying to divert the senses of the public so as to deny that sweet fragrance. Yet the scent is palpable. The orange scent of a change is growing.
The faithful community has been very busy trying to heal and revive the expelled Jews of Gush Katif and the northern Shomron. The Vision- based people of this land have been learning to cope with the hatred and violence they experienced in Amona with all its theological and ideological repercussions .The Eternal people have been auguring strength for the long voyage that is still ahead.As a result of all these factors, many people have simply not noticed the signs of an impending change blowing in the wind.
The signs may be small and may not herald any expectations of great changes in this coming election but change is a necessary ingredient of growth and its scent is there.
The polls continue to augur success for Olmert's scandal ridden party.
The media makes a conscious effort of describing Olmert's success as an axiomatic given. The overall pall that these facts have produced has convinced many that the battle has been lost. They have begun to believe that the forces that augur further disengagement from both the spiritual and physical moorings of our faith have succeeded. Yet many fail to detect that orange scent in the air.
Some of the signs that point to this change need to be contemplated and
thought about:
Over seventy percent of those that are approached for those polls don't even answer.
Over thirty five percent that have answered, declared that they remain completely undecided.
Close to forty percent of the general population are seriously considering not voting.
A recent expose on Channel 10 showed that in at least three of the major polling groups, individuals hired to ask the questions frequently answer the polls themselves in order to achieve their quotas.
The almost daily exposes of the corruption rife in the Kadima party are only now beginning to surface.
No media whitewashing can forever ignore the simple fact that Hamas, which came into power on the wave of Israel's capitulation, gleefully announce that they await more such retreats.
The thousands of people being contacted either by phone or in person by the Mateh Zazim Yeminah movement are either showing disgust with all the parties or are easily returned to the nationalist camp.
In a time where people are disillusioned by corruption and hedonistic candidates, the opportunities for faith and ideology based movements are great. Those without vision will not make an effort to come out to vote. Those with vision cannot allow themselves not to.
It is critical that those who believe in the eternity of this great people not become daunted by the long voyage. We are about ten parliamentary seats away from returning sanity into this embattled and embittered land. Now is the time to get re- involved. Contact the Zazim Yemina group or any of the other faith based organizations and help establish another rung in the ladder out of the black pit we have been thrust into.
We have all matured since the expulsion and after the violence in Amona.
We have all become even more aware that the political process and its results are but a minor and perhaps insignificant step in the long process of redemption. Yet we cannot ignore even the small steps lest we falter in the large ones.
Pirkei Avot remind us: It is not placed upon you the onus of finishing the work , yet you cannot abstain from your obligation to be part of the work.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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