By Rabbi Yair Hoffman According to a report by Channel 12, the security for Prime Minister Netanyahu and his staff has been increased following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. The ShaBak has ordered Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials to only attend events with easily accessible shelters and avoid tours of open areas near any of the war fronts. This comes as Iran and Hamas have both vowed to retaliate against the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Not only is Netanyahu’s safety a matter of concern, but the safety of Israel itself is on everyone’s minds.  Virtually every airline other than El-Al has cancelled its flights.  The entire IDF is on high alert. There is one step, however, that can be taken, which has not yet been done – that Netanyahu can opt to exercise which will ensure the safety of both the Prime Minister as well as the safety of the country.   It was a step advocated by Netanyahu’s own political mentor. In fact, this step has protected Israel from the date of its inception.  There are extraordinary powers to this step -as found in Israel’s Constitution (section 1:2:3) Let’s just take a walk back to 1982.   It was somewhat of a tight battle.  Prime Minister Menachem Begin faced an irreligious Knesset membership when he argued that El Al, Israel’s national airline, should not be flying on Shabbos. Israel’s Constitution of course is the Torah, and Genesis 2:3 tells us how G-d Al-Mighty blessed the seventh day.  The prayers that Jews recite every Friday evening include the words, “ki hi mekor haBracha – She, the Shabbos, is the source of all blessing.” Prime Minister Menachem Begin began: Forty years ago, I returned from exile to Eretz Yisrael. Engraved in my memory still are the lives of millions of Jews, simple, ordinary folk, eking out a livelihood in that forlorn Diaspora where the storms of anti-Semitism raged.  They were not permitted to work on the Christian day of rest, and they refused to work on their day of rest. For they lived by the commandment, ‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.’ So each week they forswore two whole days of hard-won bread. This meant destitution for many. But they would not desecrate the Sabbath day. Shabbos is one of the loftiest values in all of humanity, it originated with us. It is all ours. No other civilization in history knew of a day of rest. Ancient Egypt had a great culture whose treasures are on view to this day, yet the Egypt of antiquity did not know of a day of rest. The Greeks of old excelled in philosophy and the arts, yet they did not know of a day of rest. Rome established mighty empires and instituted a system of law still relevant to this day, yet they did not know of a day of rest. Neither did the civilizations of Assyria, Babylon, Persia, India, China – none of them knew of a day of rest.” “One nation alone sanctified Shabbos, a small nation, the nation that heard the voice at Sinai, – so that your man-servant and your maid-servant may rest as well as you.’ “Ours was the nation that enthroned Shabbos as sovereign Queen.”   “So, are we in our own reborn […]