"What do you know from fighting fires, mister smart?" replied Reb Ehud. "You already admitted you do not have a better solution, one that would work and save the barn."

Reb Ehud ordered the villagers to redouble their efforts. They quickly raced to nearby homes and stables and brought out more bundles of straw. They doubled the size of the straw piled into the barn.

The flames disappeared beneath the new fresh straw and Reb Ehud ordered a special celebration, with kiddush wine from the shul's pantry.

But before the bottles could be opened, new flames shot up from the ruins of the barn and the neighboring inn and cottages burst into flames from the flying sparks.

"Faster, you lazy ones!" screamed Reb Ehud. "You are not working hard enough to bring straw. We need to try something new now."

Reb Ehud ordered the villagers to take packets of straw and light their ends from the flames and to toss them into alleys and buildings several streets away from the barn. "This will spread the heat around, lowering the temperatures and will result in the fire diminishing and cooling off."

"A complete madman," groaned Tevye. "Can't you see that everything you did until now just made things worse? Now you will create even greater destruction!"

"Sha, shtil," replied the Rebbe. "We are still waiting to hear your solution for saving the barn and putting out the fires."

"But there is no solution. I explained this to you. The only thing to be done is to prevent the catastrophe from growing larger."

"Idiot," said the shamash from the shul, agreeing with his Rebbe. "Can't you see the current situation is unbearable? The barn is demolished and more buildings are now in flames. We cannot simply sit back and tolerate the intolerable. If you cannot offer a real solution, then hold your tongue. If not, we will have you imprisoned by the cossacks for criminal incitement and sedition."

New piles of straw were brought in now from every part of the village and tossed upon the flames. The flames leapt from rooftop to rooftop, burning all of the unfortunate fiddlers and chickens up there. Fire crept towards the village square and now threatened to burn the shul and the sacred scrolls.

The villagers saw the damage and broke into collective lamentation, as if it were the ninth day of Av.

"There is still one last chance to save the town from destruction," said the Rebbe. "All is not yet lost if we just fight this catastrophe with all of our beings and all of our souls and all of our strength. So all of you together now, with every fiber of your being. And you too this time, Tevye. I beseech every one of you:

"MORE STRAW!!!"

Steven Plaut teaches at the University of Haifa.

Shas, Barak, and the Coming Catastrophe

(Continued from p.1)

Barak's own self-proclaimed principles about clean government and resisting blackmail from small parties quickly crumbled in the face of his desperate desire to secure the votes necessary for an accord that will give Arafat a Palestinian state in the heart of the Land of Israel. Of course, as soon as an agreement is reached with Arafat and the Knesset --Shas included-- endorses it, Barak will no longer have any need for Shas. He can bring Meretz back into the government, shut down those radio stations over some alleged infraction and slash the budget to the Shas schools on the grounds of some pressing economic need--and Shas, having already lent its votes to support Barak's territorial concessions, will no longer have any leverage with the prime minister or any way to make him fulfill his pledges to it. Will Shas realize its mistake and pull out before it's too late?

This is the politically fragile and confused Israel to which the four MKs returned. They brought back to Israel a powerful message that will resonate not only among the many Israelis who already oppose Barak, but also among Shas's constituents and many of Barak's own disillusioned supporters: Congress will not pay for Clinton's lame-duck promises; Barak's deal with Arafat is anchored in illusions of American backing that will not materialize--meaning that what Barak calls "peace" will, in fact, set the stage for war.

That is a warning that Israelis would do well to heed in the fateful months ahead.

Herbert Zweibon is Chairman of Americans For a Safe Israel.

Outpost               - 10 -               June-July 2000