New Hebrew Book Presents Rebbe’s Strategy for Peace in Middle East
by Motti Wilhelm – chabad.org
Just hours before departing for New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was offered a summary of a new book by a visiting delegation of Chabad rabbis to help him prepare.
“A summary? I’m going to read the entire book on the flight and return it to you full of marginalia and notes!” the prime minister replied.
The book is the newly published Oseh Shalom: Mishnato Hamidinit Shel HaRabbi MiLubavitch, a Hebrew-language adaptation of Make Peace: A Strategic Guide to Achieving Lasting Peace in Israel by Rabbi Elisha Pearl, which brings together the diplomatic and military principles articulated by the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, outlining his framework for achieving lasting peace and security in the Land of Israel and the broader Middle East.
The Hebrew edition was recently released by Sela Meir, one of Israel’s largest nonfiction publishers. In the days following its publication, prominent Israeli officials and diplomats attended a series of launch events, expressing their enthusiasm for a comprehensive work that clearly presents the Rebbe’s confident and sage approach to the conflict.
Insightful, But Hidden
Over nearly two decades, the Rebbe laid out a comprehensive framework for understanding, addressing and resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict.
His teachings were delivered across numerous public talks, primarily in response to unfolding events, and his carefully developed framework was never organized as a systematic study of the subject.
Piecing it together required studying decades of his talks, placing each in its historical context and identifying the overarching principles that connected them. The Rebbe taught in Yiddish through the lens and idioms of the Torah, quoting liberally from original Torah sources. The original body of his teachings on the defense of the Holy Land is also massive: one incomplete compendium of his talks on the subject numbers close to 800 pages. As a result, distilling these teachings into a clear framework and articulating it for a broader audience was an immense undertaking.
The need for such a work had long been apparent. As the conflict evolved and new challenges emerged, so did the need to understand how the Rebbe’s principles applied to changing circumstances. Following the horrific October 7 massacre, that need became even more acute.
“What we heard from many in Israel was that before October 7, most people had firmly held opinions about how to resolve the conflict,” says Rabbi Shmuly Avtzon, director of Sichos in English, whose imprint, Yonah Press, published the English edition of the book. “Those events shook Jews in America and around the world, challenging not only their sense of security but also their political views and long-held assumptions. Many began searching for a genuine resolution, rather than simply accepting the familiar positions they had held until then.”
In the preceding years, there had been plans to collect and translate the Rebbe’s talks on the subject, but the project had progressed slowly. The day after Simchat Torah 2023, following the October 7 massacre, Pearl and Avtzon met and agreed that Pearl would devote himself entirely to the project.
The work began as a simple attempt to update older tracts on the subject but quickly evolved into something far more ambitious: a comprehensive study of the Rebbe’s strategic framework. Over the next nine months, Pearl devoted himself full-time to research and writing. In July 2024, Make Peace: A Strategic Guide to Achieving Lasting Peace in Israel was released.
Over the following two years, the book sold tens of thousands of copies, made its way to both the Republican and Democratic national conventions, and reached numerous governors and other American political figures. Through talks and presentations in communities, schools and on college campuses, Pearl brought the Rebbe’s decades-old, but freshly presented, vision to new audiences, from policymakers and the next generation of leaders to ordinary people seeking clarity on the conflict.
“One thing the book’s reception in the U.S. highlighted for me was just how little the average English speaker knows about the realities on the ground in Israel,” Pearl says. “I spoke with many American military experts who were unfamiliar with Israel’s topography, a critical factor when considering territorial concessions. Once they understood the geographic realities, they agreed that the concessions they had advocated were not in Israel’s interest.”
The next step was to bring the book to Israel, where the decisions at the heart of the conflict are made and their consequences most directly felt.
“We reasoned that despite the existence of several excellent works and collections of primary sources on the Rebbe’s views on Israel’s security, no work had been written that clearly outlined the Rebbe’s grand strategy in terms that would speak to every Israeli,” Pearl says.
“We wanted this book to be more than a work of theoretical or academic study. We wanted it to spark meaningful public discussion and present the Rebbe’s words for what they truly were: a practical military and diplomatic strategy offering concrete solutions to the challenges facing both individual Israelis and the country as a whole,” Avtzon says.
Now In Hebrew
After another two years of intensive work, including extensive research into how best to present the subject to Israeli readers, the Hebrew edition was released this month by Sela Meir, the publisher of some of Israel’s biggest recent bestsellers, including Eli Sharabi’s Hostage.
More than a translation of the English original, the Hebrew edition was adapted specifically for an Israeli audience, drawing on readers’ greater familiarity with the country’s history and the realities on the ground.
In the two weeks since its release in Israel, the book has received an enthusiastic reception and is now stocked by major bookstores across the country. A series of launch events drew government ministers, Knesset members, and leading scholars from military and public policy think tanks to explore and discuss the Rebbe’s strategy.
The book also reached the highest levels of the Israeli government during Chabad’s annual pre-Sukkot visits, when representatives of Chabad emissaries from across the country, joined by members of Israel’s Chabad rabbinic leadership, presented government officials with the Four Species ahead of the holiday. During this year’s visits, the book was presented to Defense Minister Israel Katz and it was during another such visit that the book was presented to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“While we wish the Israeli government and public had wholeheartedly embraced the Rebbe’s teachings when they were first delivered, we can at least do our part to bring his wisdom and practical outlook to them now,” Pearl says.
“Thanks to the English and Hebrew editions, we can confidently say that the Rebbe’s strategy is now being seriously considered at the highest levels of government and by Israelis from all walks of life, from high school students and newly enlisted soldiers serving in combat and intelligence units to the minister of defense.
“It is my sincere hope that Oseh Shalom will serve as a gateway to the Rebbe’s wisdom on achieving lasting peace in Israel at this critical juncture in the country’s history.”
