Observation: PM Netanyahu and the Jewish Rip Van Winkle
Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA 14 November 2010

"I insist that any proposal meet the State of Israel's security needs, both
in the immediate term and vis-à-vis the threats that we will face in the
coming decade."
PM Netanyahu's Remarks at the Start of Today's Cabinet Meeting
(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)14.11.10

Mr. Netanyahu has children and grandchildren.

His only concern is for the next decade?

This attitude of sacrificing the welfare of future generations for the sake
of short-term gain runs counter to Jewish tradition. The story is told
(Ta'anit, 23a) of Honi Hame'agel, the Jewish Rip Van Winkle, who saw an old
man planting a carob tree. He asked the man why he was working so hard,
since the tree would bear fruit only in 70 years.

Replied the man: "I found a world with carobs because my forefathers planted
them, and I say: I also plant a carob tree ... for my children after me."

We owe it to ourselves, to previous generations who sacrificed so much to
get us here as well as to the unborn future generations, to resist the
temptation to forfeit the future in return for what at best may be momentary
relief.