Vayischlah 5785

This past Wednesday, I met with a senior from the USCGA to discuss the Israel-Palestinian conflict. She was working on a final term paper for one of her classes. It was rather interesting to learn that her parents were diplomats, currently serving in Germany. She had grown up in Bahrain and Saudia Arabia. Her parents had taught her to understand the plight of the Jewish people, with anti-Semitism sometimes being dormant and sometimes being on the rise. They taught her to protect the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Her experience as a dhimmi in Arab lands taught her how the Arab world reflects upon outsiders who are not of the Muslim faith.

She had five questions:

• As a religious leader do you view the Israel-Palestine conflict primarily as a religious or political issue? Why?

• How does your Jewish faith shape your views on the sovereignty rights of Israel and Palestine?

• In terms of the Israel-Palestine conflict, how would you interpret Just War Theory within the context of your faith?

• How do the perspectives of sovereignty and statehood differ between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in the context of the Israel-Palestine conflict?

• How do you think the religious perspectives of the Abrahamic religions intersect with or challenge one another regarding the concept of justice and human rights in the region?

I enlisted the guidance of a younger colleague, a retired United States Navy chaplain, to provide me with responses that would reflect the thoughts that might be acceptable to a USCGA cadet. This young woman and I spent quite a bit of time discussing the issues both from my perspective and from those of my younger colleague. Why a younger colleague? My views are painted from the 1970’s and beyond; his reflect more of the views of a younger generation. As rabbis, however, we agreed on the responses. At some point, at a study session, our congregation can discuss his answers and mine. Suffice it to say, that she understood that the students standing in protest, and the world that stands in protest of Israel, is also held hostage by the news reports and how they are slanted towards the Palestinians and Gaza, and how they lack clarity and truth.

What was more revealing to her was that this week’s parasha, Vayetze, shares with us many thoughts related to the questions.

I began by opening the Chumash to the story of the rape of Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, by Shechem, the son of the chief of a city state in Canaan. I compared and contrasted the Biblical story to that of October 7th. Then I shared with her the rest of the story: how two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, plotted to take revenge upon the entire male population of that city state for the rape. At the end of the story, Jacob turns to his sons and admonishes them, stating “You have brought trouble upon me, making me odious among the inhabitants of the land.” His sons respond: “Should our sister be treated like a whore?” That is where the story ends, with the question. And that question is rather important in our discussion, since nowhere in civilized societies is the rape of women considered acceptable, not during Jacob’s time, and not during Israel’s time.

I then turned back in this week’s Torah reading to two other narratives. The first was the meeting of Jacob and Esau. As they finally joined together, the Torah states that Esau hugged his brother Jacob, and gave him a kiss on the neck. Over the Hebrew words are a series of dots, one on each letter. It is rare for the scribes to place anything in the Torah but the letters themselves. But in this instance, these dots appear. Most commentaries suggest that these dots are commentary on the action of Esau. And these dots represent a disbelief of the genuineness of Esau’s kiss. The commentaries suggest that Esau was not sincere, and perhaps even went to bite his brother Jacob. Needless to say, Esau may still have felt betrayed by Jacob and his parents, having been tricked to go out to the field to hunt, while Jacob was bestowed the blessing of the firstborn which Esau was entitled to.

I commented to this young woman, that is how Israel has seen most of the Arab world’s political and military actions towards Israel. From the War of Independence in 1948 until today, most of the Arab world’s reaction to the State of Israel remains the same. It is the based on the plan of Egypt’s President of the time, Gamal Nasser, and his plan to throw the Jews into the sea, and recapture the land for the Arab world. Back then it was to throw the Jews into the sea. Today it is retitled, from the river to the sea. Thankfully, we have those who have understood the value of the only democracy in the region, such as Egypt, Jordan and the UAE, who have made peace with Israel. But even so, caution remains, just as with Esau’s kiss.

Finally, I shared with her the beginning of the story and of Jacob’s fears of meeting his brother Esau. Jacob only understood Esau as a man of war and of the hunt. He was so fearful of what Esau might do, that he split his camp into two, saying if he attacks one, the other can flee or remain safe at a distance. As night fell, Jacob finds himself in a battle with an angel of God.

Rabbi Tali Adler, in her weekly teaching, suggests that Jacob’s battle with the angel is one that changes how Jacob dealt with adversity and with those who challenge him. Jacob is portrayed in the Torah as one who runs away from confrontation. Unfortunately, the Jewish people, throughout the ages, have either had to move by choice or were forced from one county to another, until the establishment of the State of Israel. This moment in Jacob’s story changes his reality. And Israel standing up to its foes changes the Jewish narrative.

Jacob faces his own fears of confrontation, instead of running away. Rabbi Tali Adler suggests that at first Jacob was so fearful of Esau that he chose to change his direction, so as not to come into contact with Esau. As Jacob changes direction, Esau does the same, so as to meet his brother.

His battle with the angel, is Jacob’s confronting himself as he prepares to meet Esau. As he battles the angel, and as morning comes, Jacob demands that he receive a blessing if the angel wants his freedom. In doing so Jacob confronts his own ghosts of past. He is now willing to stay the course and stand up for himself and to protect his family.

As Jacob emerges with the blessing, he also has sustained a hip injury, that will cause him to limp for the rest of his days. Israel too received both the blessing of a homeland and a haven for the Jewish people under the League of Nations charter. But Israel has also been maimed by the Nasser plan, and the wars that as a nation it has had to fight in order to keep its borders secure. Israel has been wounded by countless terrorist attacks. I shared with her one that took place on the night of the wedding of my roommate in Israel, while we were rabbinical students studying there, and I reminded her of the Munich Massacre and the terrorist attack on the Israeli Olympians. I stated that Israel has been wounded by the way in which the world and the news have depicted Israel as the aggressor, rather than as the victim, which it truly is. I pointed out to her that just a couple of days ago, a U.S.-based charity, the World Central Kitchen, fired dozens of Palestinians working for the charity in the Gaza Strip after Israel said at least 62 staff were linked to militant groups to see the truth. One only has to look to the truth that some of those who brutally and savagely attacked Israel on October 7th were members of the United Nations peace keeping force located in Gaza.

She understood.

While there is much more to unravel within the discussion this wonderful young woman and I were able to have, what is clear is that the stories of the Torah reading for this Shabbat were rather timely in providing a response from past for today.

Am Yisrael Chai!

Bring them home now!!!

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi K