Where's the line?

When on the subject of Israel vs. Eretz Yisroel there's a very fine line, especially fore those of us in the Chabad community. When the Rebbe spoke of ארץ ישראל השלמה he obviously wasn't referring to Israel as a secular entity, but rather as a place of Hashroas Hashechinah and a place of dwelling of millions of Jews. Similarly, when he would scream about the situation in Israel and the fact that its leaders are giving away their very lifeline, it wouldn't be the State of Israel that the Rebbe would worry about, at least not as a secular state.

Therein lies the dilemma.

It seems to this blogger that the lines are getting very blurred, and this is not good. These days the average Lubavitcher has very little idea what the Rebbe's approach was to the "zionist question" and it shows. Although there are many examples such as shluchim and Chabad houses showing Yom Ha'atzmaut on their calendars, I'd like to stick to the issue at hand, namely the Disengagement/Expulsion.

Many of our brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisroel felt it was their holy duty to go to Gaza and barricade themselves in Shuls and homes. They sang and danced with their brethren, not a problem in and of itself, but the content may have been questionable. I can understand it, but it was totally misguided. Physically fighting the decisions of the government was never in the Rebbe's plans, and there were times that it could've been. When Yamit was expunged in 5742 was there a call to arms from the Rebbe? was there any less displeasure then? of course not. Chabad never participated in public demonstrations just for that reason, not in Israel nor in America when it came to Soviet Jewry.

Besides for the misguided plan of action there is also the problem of crossing the line. Most Lubavitcher fall into the trap of the so-called "kanoyim" who accuse Lubavitch of being "more Zionist than the Zionists". This can be traced to the fact that most Lubavitchers are very active in both Shleimus Ha'aretz and the Israeli electoral process. There's also the fact that they're part of the Israeli educational system and invite politicians to their functions. That being the case, coupled with the fact that most Yeshivahs don't teach Shitas Chabad in these matters makes for a confused and uninformed Chabad populace.

When a Yungerman in my bungalow colony mentioned this fact, namely that Lubavitchers should not have been in Gaza, and that the Rebbe would have disapproved of it, he was almost driven out of the shul, but I believe he was right. The view of the Rebbe was never to make political statements (save for 5748-9) nor to support political parties and that would include fighting cops and soldiers in Gush Katif.