Yishmael and Terror (1994) by Amnon Goldberg
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Editor's Note: |
Yishmael and Terror (1994) by Amnon Goldberg
The recent terror attacks in Israel remind one that the Torah's description of Yishmael is not "odom pereh," but instead "pereh odom" i.e. Yishmael is not a human being behaving like a beast, but rather that Yishmael is actually a beast masquerading as a human being (Rav Hirsch)!
In the Kabbalah Yishmael is considered a manifestation of chesed d'klippah (False KIndness): i.e. being weak, mealy-mouthed, placatory, negotiating for hostages, and offering land-for-peace has the opposite of the desired effect by making Yishmael worse. Sarah Imeinu (Sarah our ancestress) set the precedent: "Expel this bondwoman and her son, for the son of this bondwoman shall not inherit (Eretz Yisrael) with my son, even with Yitzchak" (Breishis-Genesis 21).
By Moshe Dayan's 1967 folly of rushing to prevent the Arabs from fleeing in toto of their own accord, the Israelis made a rod for their own backs: "Those that you let remain will be as thorns in your eyes and as pricks in your sides, and they will harass you in your land; and I will do unto you as I thought to do unto them" (Bamidbar-Numbers 33) - "Not only will they hold on to the parts of Eretz Yisrael (Lan d of Israel) which you have not yet conquered, but even in those parts that you have conquered they will harass you.... and tell you `get out of here'!" (Or Hachaim).
"I will see what will be their latter end...they will be a generation that will reverse itself ...children of faithlessness...they will arouse Me to anger with atheism and vanities...I will arouse them to anger with a no-people...I will provoke them with a vile nation" (Dvorim-Deuteronomy 32).
At the time when warships will come from Kittim to attack Ashur (Iraq?) and Ever (Iran?) Bilam wailed Oy! mi yichiye misumo E-l? - "Woe, who will survive when G-d does this?" (Bamidbar-Numbers 24), which is interpolated as Oy, mi yichiye m'Yishmoel? - "Woe, who will survive Yishmael?" "Four things Hashem regretted having created....the Yishmaelim...." (Sukkah 52). "The Ishmaelites have been denied a place in Shamayim (Heaven). But in the merit of them circumcising themselves, they have been given a place in the Holy Land. And until that merit is exhausted, they will be permitted to harry the Jews in it" (Zohar II:32). "10 degrees of tipshus (stupidity) descended on the world, and the Ishmaelites took nine of them" (Midrash Esther Rabboh 1:17).
"The terrorists are teaching us that if Jews do not believe in Hashem and His Torah, and desecrate Kedushas Eretz Yisroel (the Holiness of the Land of Israel) with obscenity, then goyim will arise who will be prepared to sacrifice themselves to the death for the land according to their faith" (R.Avraham Ochana)....: "they believe in falsehood but with a true belief, whilst we believe in the truth but with a weak belief!" (Lubavitcher Rebbe).
The Rebbe strongly urged the encirclement and investment of Cairo and Damascus in 1973, of Tyre in 1978, of Beirut in 1982 and Baghdad in 1991, then being Divinely Propitious times to defang the klippas yishmael (Spiritual Shell of Yishmael) once and for all. Yet to this day misguided Israeli leaders have repeatedly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. In 1992 the Lubavitcher Rebbe stated that it is forbidden to even talk about giving away any part of Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel), that to cede any part of it would be a chillul Hashem (Desecration of the name of God), a chillul Hakodesh (Desecration of Holiness),and a lamentation for generations, and that the ensuing inexorable pressure from the nations could lead to the loss of Yehudah, Shomron, Gaza, East Jerusalem, Golan and even the Galil etc. He also predicted that the number of terrorist victims would rise in proportion to the amount of land ceded, witness the thousands killed since Oslo in 1993, may Hashem preserve us!
"Whoever holds Yericho holds the the keys to Eretz Yisrael" (Midrash Tanchuma). We await the day when Yishmoel "will fall in the face of his brothers" (Breishis-Genesis 25), which will herald Moshiach- Messiah (Baal Haturim). Yet because Avraham Avinu (Abraham our Father) prayed "O that Yishmael might live before you", and because Yishmael was finally reconciled with Yitzchak, some Ishmaelites (c.f. the recent 'Abraham Accords'!) may merit to witness "On that day there will be a highway connecting Egypt to Assyria...Israel will be with Egypt and Assyria as a blessing for the Earth...blessed will be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance" (Yeshaya 19) .