"Just Asking..."

21 Menachem Av 5786

A comment was submitted which posed the following... 

...focus more on encouraging us to break out of the them vs us paradigm, to work towards real solutions.

...Instead of blaming, can we find a way forward where we can change something in ourselves, to break the paradigm that has us all trapped pointing fingers at others, instead of doing something ourselves, to improve the situation?

So there are two separate issues to address here.  It's very important to me to get this right; to ensure that my efforts have not gone in vain.  I'll try to be more succinct.

If you live in Israel, you can't have missed the constant reference to the "conceptzia".  It comes from the English word concept...

Definition:  A concept is an abstract idea, a general notion, or a mental picture of what something is and how it works. It helps us group similar things together and understand the world around us.

The concept upon which the Oslo Accords were based, along with everything that followed out from it, up to and including not just the Simchat Torah Massacre, but up until this very day and what is coming immediately upon us, was a false "conceptzia."  Most intellectually honest people can admit that now.

But, there are other false conceptzias out there like ahavat chinam is the solution to sinat chinam or the State of Israel is already the messianic kingdom so all that's left is to build the Temple, or that unity comes before everything else.  None of these concepts has any basis in Torah, they are child-like wishful thinking.  The questions that plague me are...

How do you unwash the brainwashed mind?

How do you convince people that the Torah already has all the answers and convince them to pay heed to it?

These are the "real solutions," but "breaking people out of the them vs us paradigm" is not part of any solution, it's at the heart of the problem.

Separation is the key to Redemption.

The Torah is full, full, full of examples:  Creation began with separation and it ends with the birur separation.  Those who did not sin with the Golden Calf were called to separate from those who did, the people gathered around Korach were commanded to separate themselves from him and his family and supporters or go down with them.  The Maccabim called for those loyal to Hashem to separate from the Hellenists.

In my blog posts, I've identified some serious misconceptzias and a solution to go with it.  A "first step" - separate from the sinners so you don't share their fate.  

Did you know that the meforshim say that those who stood by and watched the celebration of the Golden Calf and said nothing against it were considered as guilty parties?

Herem is the Torah-mandated way to wake sinners up to the facts of life.  And it is in everyone's power to separate themselves from evil-doers.  You've just been brainwashed to believe just the opposite.  

You tell me, how do we undo all these disastrous anti-Torah concepts in the minds and hearts of otherwise righteous Jews?  Anyone??