“Some people believe exactly what I believe, but they like to wear ties. They know their ties neatly around their necks, cutting the brain off from the flow of blood, and this solves the problem. The mind to one side, life to the other. I, you know, don’t like ties. I don’t like dividers. Understand me. My beliefs are nurtured not only from external well springs, but also from my veins, and in my veins flows blood” -Israel Eldad
On a Saturday night at Nefe Neḥemiah I walked around the community and spoke to my host. “People used to die for their beliefs” he told me as we gazed upon the Samarian hills. I conceded. Today, it seems, less people are willing to live for their beliefs, let alone die for them. We are left with a mentality that even if your beliefs are right, then it is a crime to act on them. The risk of being called an extremist is too powerful, but it seems many people have forgotten that there is such thing as “extremely good.”
An animal has no beliefs, no ideologies, this is a privilege granted only to human beings. An animal survives. A human being lives for something greater.
Belief isn’t something to be argued about at the dinner table, it’s not a passing thought. It’s something to act on. Something to live by. Something that gives us strength.
Judaism was built on people who today would be called “extremists.” Avraham Avinu was willing to be thrown into the fire to live up to what he knew to be true. While the rest of the world fought against his claims, he fought for truth. He never agreed to the “almost oneness” of G-d, only accepting the one truth, while the Idol-worshipping world continued to call him crazy. Today, there are people who follow in the path of Avraham and live by what is true while the rest of the world continues to call them crazy. It is time that the world wakes up to the other side of extremism, the side that leads to positive change in the world, that compels people to act, the kind that brings good into the world and the kind that we as people who desire to change the world should embrace.
(Originally published at https://itsjustsomethingtothinkabout.wordpress.com)
