At Avot 3:2, Rabbi Chanina segan HaKohanim teaches:
הֱוֵי
מִתְפַּלֵּל בִּשְׁלוֹמָהּ שֶׁל מַלְכוּת, שֶׁאִלְמָלֵא מוֹרָאָהּ, אִישׁ אֶת
רֵעֵֽהוּ חַיִּים בְּלָעוֹ
Pray for the integrity of the government; for were it not for the fear of
its authority, a man would swallow his neighbour alive.
Few readers of Avot Today will have missed the news of the
remarkable developments in Syria, where President Assad’s much hated but hitherto
unassailable regime has been swept aside. In its place there has emerged a
coalition of forces that share some aims but are themselves in conflict over
others.
What are the stated objectives of the successful forces?
According to an early statement we learn the following:
"After 50 years of
oppression under the regime, and 13 years of crime, tyranny and displacement,
and after a long struggle and fight and confronting all forms of occupation
forces, we announce today on 12-8-2024 the end of this dark era and the beginning
of a new era for Syria.
To the displaced all over the
world, free Syria awaits you”.
This new Syria is declared to be a place where everyone
."…coexists in peace,
justice prevails and rights are established, where every Syrian is honoured and
his dignity is preserved, we turn the page on the dark past and open a new
horizon for the future."
These are noble aspirations, but is there any prospect that
they will be delivered? Success has come through the cooperation between numerous
factions which, though united in their determination to force a regime change,
are themselves deeply divided along political, religious and ethnic lines.
There is a further point
to consider. The once-thriving Syrian Jewish community effectively vanished in
1992 when the father of the current President permitted the last remaining 4,000
Jews to emigrate on condition that they did not make aliyah. Most settled in
the United States. Might they respond to the clarion call of the coalition: “To
the displaced all over the world, free Syria awaits you”? In the event that they are tempted to return (and we Jews have returned
to many countries that sought to eliminate us), we would need to ask what this
means to us. Does this mishnah address only the needs of the country in which
we live, or does it speak also to those countries in which our brethren live
and in which their welfare and safety depend on enforcement of the rule of law
by a government with integrity?
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