14 Nov HOW TO RESPOND TO THE WAR OF 5784 – PART FOUR
As the scary, tumultuous
events of the Israel-
Hamas conflict unfold
daily, we see before
our eyes the fulfillment
of many Biblical and
Midrashic forecasts.
About Yishmael, the
Torah tells us, “Yado vakol v’yad kol
bo – His hand will be into everyone, and
everyone will be in him.” It has long been
understood that the phrase ‘everyone will
be in him’ refers to the global need for oil
from the Arab kingdoms. But, what does
‘yado vakol’ mean, that his hand will be into
everyone?
Many were shocked by the behavior of
the elite and Ivy League colleges, how
they failed to protest vehemently against
open antisemitism, how they told their
Jewish constituents to stay low, instead of
coming out with figurative guns-a-blazing
at the horrific behavior of the anti-Jewish
sentiment.
Well, don’t be too shocked. In the last few
decades, the lowest estimation is that the
elite and Ivy League colleges received eight
billion dollars in Arab funding. A whopping
four billion dollars came from Qatar, the
source of the recently proclaimed ‘Global
Day of Jihad.’ We were all appalled at the
Cornell professor who was “exhilarated”
over the Hamas attack. Why should we be
surprised when Cornell alone received 1.5
billion dollars in Arab funding? This is the
fulfillment of yado vakol. The Arabs have
their hands influencing all over.
Yado vakol is not just in the area of
education. It’s also in the political arena
where Arab funding has been funneled
into different campaigns, influencing the
selection of political leaders who further
spew rhetoric such as “From the river to the
sea, Palestine will be free.”
When we hear about a United Nations
resolution after the Hamas atrocities of
October 7 condemning all violence against
all civilians, thus equating Hamas’ and
Israel’s actions, and giving no room for
Israel’s right of self-defense or no room for
the condemnation and outrage against the
unprovoked murder and torture by Hamas
of children, women and men.We see the
fulfillment of that which it says in the
Medrash Tanchuma in this week’s parsha
Toldos [5], “Such is the might of one sheep
standing among 70 wolves,” and what Reb
Yehoshua ben Levi concludes with his
soothing, “Great is the Shepherd (Hashem)
that saves the sheep from them.”
When hundreds of
thousands gathered in
London, the UK capital,
for a Palestinian anti-Israel
rally. And in Washington
DC, also hundreds of
thousands chanting “Lift
the siege on Gaza now,”
and, “Palestine will be
free.”It reminds us of some
very important truths. As
the Torah prophesized in
Bamidbar [23:9], “Hein am
levadad yishkon u’vagoyim
lo yis’chashoav – We are a
nation that dwells apart,
amongst the nations we are
not important. As the great
Netziv, zt”l, zy”a, interprets, “If we stay to
ourselves and keep our laws, we will dwell
securely. But, if we assimilate, they will not
give us any value.” As the famous saying
goes, “When the Jew doesn’t make Kiddush,
then the goyim make Havdalah.” This
means that if we don’t sanctify ourselves by
our behavior in our fulfillment of the Torah,
the goy will actively shun us and denigrate
us. We also see openly before our eyes
the clear fulfillment of halacha b’yadu’ah,
“She’Eisav sonei’h es Yaakov.”
There is another vital lesson. Many
impressionable young Jewish minds
have been swayed by the opinions of
hundreds of thousands of liberal minded
Americans. They have been influenced
to believe that alternate life styles like
LGBTQ are completely acceptable.
For, after all, thousands of people are
accepting and lauding such ways of life.
It should be an eye-opener to many of
them, that hundreds of thousands (many
of the same liberal woke persuasion) can
come chant and applaud the behavior of
Hamas who entered homes and cold-
bloodedly gunned down entire families.
How the same liberals go around pulling
down pictures of kidnapped hostages.
How black lives matter champions can
glorify pictures of Hamas Terrorits may
their name be erased coming on hand
gliders to attack.
Rav Avigdor Miller, zt”l, zy”a, once
said that you might think that in order
to not believe in Christianity you need
to study Christian theology. He roundly
debunked this. Rather, he said, all you
need to do is look at the many Christian
leaders who promoted the blood libels,
or the many crusaders who represented
the church while murdering and raping
Jewish families as they were carrying
the cross. Rav Miller also recommended
not to pay attention to the behavior of the
masses. He was once asked why Hashem
allowed Islam to be born. He explained
that when the faith of Christianity was
introduced, many people said, “How could
it be wrong? Look how many millions have
embraced it.” So Hashem introduced Islam
which also had millions of adherents. Then,
since one had to be wrong, we can accept
that they both are wrong.
Once again, the young impressionable
Jewish minds affected by the woke
persuasion should take a good look into
their Jewish souls and realize the lunacy of
those chanting “From the river to the sea,
Palestine will be free,” essentially espousing
the obliteration of Israel. They should say
to themselves, “Just like this is garbage, a
lot else of what else is liberal ideology is
equally foolishness and futility.”
I will end off with the last Baal HaTurim of
parshas Chayei Sarah [25:18], on the words
of the parsha where it says, “…Al pnei chol
echav nafal,” that Yishmael lived among
all of his families. The Baal HaTurim
writes, “And the next posuk (the first posuk
in parshas Toldos) says, ‘V’eileh toldos
Yitzchak,’ to teach us that when Yishmael
falls, at the end of days (emphasizing
nafal, fall) then will sprout the Moshiach,
son of Dovid, who is from the offspring of
Yitzchak.” The holy Baal HaTurim is telling
us that it won’t be a peace treaty or a two-
state solution. Rather, Yishmael will fall and
Moshiach ben Dovid will come.
May we all, speedily and in good health,
see this time in our days.