I then realized that perhaps I was not invited to the meeting because I would have been too intimidated to speak my mind sitting before the president of the United States. Could I assume for even a moment that I would speak up as did Calev and Yehoshua?
Rabbi Dovid Kviat in his sefer Sukkat Dovid ponders why Yaakov, Moshe and David Hamelech – great tzaddikim – had to flee their enemies, while for 40 years in the desert the Jews continuously sinned but were victorious against their foes. He answers that despite its many sins, the Jewish nation, considered as a whole, merits what no single individual merits regardless of his or her stature.
If only we took this to heart and reminded ourselves that we Jews outlasted Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Spain, Germany, Great Britain and the combined Arab nations and their terrorist proxies, we would feel secure in supporting a united Israel.
Perhaps only when a majority of Jews realize we are one people, with one land, who believe in one God, will we indeed be able to defeat all our enemies. Were that to occur, perhaps the Ninth of Av would become a celebration for which all Jews would be happy to open the invitation when it arrived in the mail.