In the waning hours of 5773, I humbly wish all of the readers of these weekly divrei Torah, those who agree with the spirit of the words and those who reject it, may each merit a sweet year of good health and yir’at shamayim.
The real diabolical motives behind the apparent moral positions of the Western powers, are known to HaShem, but not to the general public. The US and Europe are not acting now to retaliate for the crimes perpetrated by the Syrian government, or to prevent further acts of cruelty against humanity. The reality which might never be told is that the decisions are anchored in deep Christian, anti-Semitic religious motives.
The driving motive behind the forth-coming attack on Syria is in order to arouse the Moslem world to retaliate and destroy Medinat Yisrael. The deciders may not even be the heads of state, but a small group of individuals in the Council of Foreign Relations, or the Vatican.
Midrash Tanchuma explains the intention of Yechezkel in this verse 53:10 to mean that Aisav married the daughter of Yishmael with the intent of influencing him to kill Yitzchak, then he (Aisav) will act as the “goel hadam” the justified avenger to kill Yishmael, thereby paving the way for him to be the uncontested spiritual heir to Avraham.
Replace the name “Aisav” with Europe. Replace “Yishmael” with the Arab countries, and replace “Yitzchak ” with Medinat Yisrael and you have the script of what is transpiring these very days.
The time of our so long awaited redemption may be now. Our Father-in Heaven will protect His people Israel.
On that day when Moshe said to the Jewish people, “You have declared this day that the Lord is your God”, Moshe saw that the people had finally internalized that HaShem took them out of Egypt in order for them to be His chosen nation. And when that realization came about Moshe informed the nation: “And the Lord has declared this day that you are his people”. He saw that it finally sank into the national consciousness that in order to survive they will have to join together as one nation, with “one for all and all for one”.
To be part of Am Yisrael today…
Halacha recognizes two types of war – milchemet mitzva (obligatory war) and milchemet reshut (optional war). Our parasha begins with milchemet reshut and ends with the war against our sworn enemy Amalek, which is a milchemet mitzva.
Every occurrence of a Jewish man or woman marrying a gentile is for the Jewish nation not less than the death of that person. The Jew or Jewess and their offspring are forever lost to the nation, and they frequently become anti Semites.
This “death” can be compared in many ways to the corpse that is found in the episode of the egla arufa (the beheaded heifer), but with a major difference.
The rabbis in every city where an intermarriage takes place cannot wash and say “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.”
In parashat Aikev, Moshe Rabbeinu implores the people not to be intimidated by the facts on the ground. The enemy is many. His strength is legendary. He is a giant and fortified in great walled cities. But despite the circumstances where logic dictates that the Jewish people have little, if any, chance to liberate the Holy Land, Moshe dictates that we must believe that HaShem will make us victorious over all our enemies.
