By the Grace of G.d
-------------------
A Message to the Nations (i.e. our non-Jewish friends)
-------------------
This week's Bible Reading:
Genesis 12:1-17:27 (known in Hebrew as "Parshas Lech Lecha")
-------------------

	You wonderful people among the righteous of the
nations know very well the scriptural promise the L-ord made
to Abraham when He first called him:  

"And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth 
thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."  
(Genesis 12:3)

	From here it is obvious that the L-rd is telling us that
in order to be blessed, one must bless the seed of Abraham, who are
the Jewish people.  (see Gen. 17:21)  The obvious question is,
how does one bless the Jewish people?

	The opposite, mentioned in that verse, has its historical
precedent, as is well know with the long history of anti-Semitism.
But how does one bless the Jewish people, thereby bringing blessing
upon your own self?

	Let's see what the Bible says.

	In Psalm 29:11, we read the famous verse, "The L-RD will
give His people strength, the L-RD will bless His people with peace."
Note what the Psalmist is saying, "The L-RD will bless His people
WITH peace."  This means that peace is the conduit through which
the L-rd bestows His blessing upon His people Israel (see Talmud
'Ukzin 3:12), as is evident by the words of the priestly blessing
(Numbers 6:24-26).

	Very well, bring peace to Israel and then you are thus
blessing them, thereby being blessed.  People have been trying
for a long time to bring peace to Israel.  How do you bring peace to
the Jewish people?  The answer is also in the Bible.

	In Leviticus 26:3-6 we read the admontion that the L-rd
gives to His people, Israel:  "If ye walk in my statutes, and keep
my commandments, and do them... I will give peace in the land."
From here we see that peace among the Children of Israel can only
come if they keep G-d's Law.  This is the reason there is no peace
in the Middle East, because Israel is run by an evil secular government
rather than a theocratic government as the Bible commands.

	Now, maybe you can't make the Israeli government become
religious all by yourself, but you can bring peace to individual
Jews.  You certainly know some Jewish people who are not religious.
The reason that they are not religious is that they want to be
accepted by the nations of the world.  These people are not
interested in the words of Rabbis, because of the wall that the
Satan has built over their eyes.  They want to be accepted by the
nations.  If you, as a righteous gentile, tell a Jew to become
"Orthodox", or convince them to keep even one Jewish precept, you
are thereby bringing peace to this Jew, since Torah observance is the
source of peace for Jewish people.  Thus, by bringing peace to
them you are blessing them, since the L-rd blessed His people with
peace.  By blessing the Jewish people, you are bringing
blessing upon yourself, both in this world and the next.

	Don't worry, remember G-d's promise, "For I the L-rd thy G-d 
will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, 'Fear not; I will help
thee."  (Isaiah 41:13)

----------
(C) By Joseph Kolakowski
http://www.geocities.com/itzik18
----------
this article can be found on-line at http://www.geocities.com/itzik18/Lech.txt