The People of Moshe's Message to the Negotiators in Oman

It's Friday in my beautiful, tired country. It's not too cold, not too warm, not too cloudy, and not too sunny.
In another world, US and Iranian representatives are speaking, negotiating in Oman. They believe the future of Israel stands on what they decide. To the Iranians, we are a target - justified behind all the nonsense by what they perceive as the single great sin of the Jewish people. We rejected Mohammed and have every day since. We are the first to be called infidels, you are the second.

And to the Americans, we are those stiff-necked people who somehow manage to survive the unthinkable, the unsurvivable. We've been knocked down more times than the Americans can count, and still we are here.

And today, I've decided to tell you why. Two reasons...God and Moshe.

God challenged us...and, oh, we are a people who love to win any challenge. And so we strive for the life and land God promised us. Like a proud parent watching a young child struggle across the pool, at times He has had to jump in and save us; times He wanted to but knew we had to keep trying.

And Moshe. Moshe taught us what love is. He killed for us. He stopped those who would harm us and then, when even God had had enough of us and promised to make Moshe the leader of a great nation...other than us...Moshe said no. He said no to God...for us.

He could have been a Prince of Egypt, instead he was our savior. And when he died, God made us a promise...never again would there be a man, a leader, such as Moshe. But always, He would be with us and always, this would be our home.

And so, we learned, we saw, and we became. We are the people of Israel and we are the people of Moshe. So talk in Qatar, make plans, negotiate until you are red in the face. Agree or disagree but don't worry about us.

You start these talks with a misconception...you think we are between you, a target to one, a responsibility to the other. So let me explain something to the Iranians...and to the Americans.

To the Iranians - we are no one's target. You come for us, we'll do worse than we did last time. And this time, good chance your leaders will experience their own personal climate change. This time, no one will hold us back. This time, you'll meet the Amaleks, the Ancient Egyptians, the Romans, the Assyrians, the Greeks and Babylonians, you'll even meet your ancestor Haman (and when you do, tell him that even if his people don't remember who he is, we do...and in a few weeks, he'll hear us cursing him to eternal hell yet again).

To the Americans - thank you and don't worry. Long before you were born, we were walking the alleyways of Jerusalem. We are an eternal people. Moshe taught us not only how to survive, but to want to survive. We are not the infidels they call us. We are the people of the Torah, a people of faith. We have returned to our land...the land Moshe stared at in the last moments of his life. He saw that we would do well in the land that he brought us to. He knew that we would leave it again and again and always come back and now we are here to stay.

We aren't afraid. We are Israel. Nothing you decide in Qatar will change our destiny. Israel is our destiny, our eternal home.

Shabbat shalom...and you guys are welcome to fly here after you finish talking there and spend Shabbat here. One Shabbat, walk and understand...the peace you strive for, the peace that eludes you time and time again, is not the peace that feeds our souls. That is the peace of Shabbat...and it's coming soon...very soon.