In these apocalyptic times, if a simple Jew who loves God were to write Him a letter, it might go something like this:

Dear God:

As the Creator of heaven and earth knows, from time to time an American diplomat is dispatched to Israel. These diplomats believe in a doctrine political scientists call “conflict resolution.” But as our Creator profoundly knows, the conflict between Jews and Muslims is a theological one. The scripture worshiped by Muslims rejects not only the ethical monotheism of the Jews, but Your imminence in history as articulated in the Torah.

Ten Commandments Monument on the grounds of St. Micahel’s Episcopal Cathedral, Boise, Idaho. Photo: Ken Freeman, CC BY-SA 2.0 Generic License

Few Jews recognize, however, that they are embroiled and are being tested in a theological or world-historical conflict.  If the conflict could be solved by human agency, it would have to be solved by a theologian, and not a theologian in the world is equal to this conflict. Moreover, no political leader dares expose the most obvious cause of the conflict, Islam’s bellicose theology, which, like Marxism, posits the primacy of force rather than the primacy of reason.

This is the teaching of Muhammad, whose Qur’an exalts war and death, not peace and life.

More than other people, we Jews should know this. We should know that nations do not resolve theological conflicts. We should know that such conflicts only facilitate the leadership of power-seeking politicians, with or without a religious veneer.

And so, dear God, no one but you can solve the present theo-political conflict, and thus prevent its engulfing mankind in another world war.

We do know, however, as Your Torah has taught us since You parted the Sea of Reeds to save us from the pursing Egyptian army, that You and You alone are the Master of War – “Ish Milchama.”

Nachshon takes the first step

But even back then, some courageous Jewish act was required to merit your salvation.  We needed a Jew, Nachshon, to take the initial step – not simply to jump into the Sea, but to walk into its waters to the top of his head, thus signifying his faith in You, that he was willing to risk death to merit the salvation of the Jewish people.

So what must we do now to merit Your salvation?  Our leaders are not firm believers, and they are not quite the stuff of which heroes are made. They are cautious and timid politicians, and they are more concerned about inflating their names than about sanctifying Your Name.

Before parting of the Sea, You performed other miracles that violated what wise men deem immutable “laws of nature.” But You, dear God, proved to all and sundry that You and You alone are the master of Nature – and also of History, as we see by the return of Jewish people to the Land of Israel, as promised in Your Torah.

And now, dear God, Your people may soon be threatened by nuclear missiles launched by Muslims who, like the Egyptians of old, worship a false god. We need a Nachshon to initiate a course of action that will merit Your salvation.

The drowning of the cruel Egyptians in the Sea was fitting, since they drowned male Jewish infants. Since Iran has vowed to wipe Israel off the map, and since it is developing nuclear weapons for this purpose, that nation deserves the catastrophe of which it threatens Israel.

But inasmuch as Israel’s Government harbors no such genocidal intentions toward Iran, and since Iran used thousands of its own children to walk across and explode Iraqi minefields during its war with Iraq, it would not be inappropriate for Israel, using electronic counter-measures, to return any approaching Iranian missiles back to their Iranian launchers!

We want to magnify and spread what we learned at our Exodus from Egypt, that You and You alone are the God of Nature and History.☼