B"H

To My Son: WAR

The first time I held him to nurse him after the birth he was five hours old. I said to him: "Eat my child. Grow big and strong. One day they will come and take you out of my arms and send you to war. So eat now and grow big and strong." And I cried.

My child has grown big and strong. He will be going off to war soon.

We have armed him with the following teaching: Do not hate your enemy because the enemy that God brings you is always that which you must battle in yourself. The worst in you is projected "out there" onto the screen of "reality". It is that which you must do war with. If you will battle your dark aspects within they will not harm you from without. Neither will you harm them.

This is the true teaching of Torah: When God commanded us to do war with the seven nations that inhabited the Land, we were being given a choice.

Either make war on Peoples too great for you to conquer -OR-

Do battle with your own seven deadly sins.

The wise among us took the latter road.

Only those who do not know this basic lesson think their enemies are objectively real and shoot at themselves.