Ancient Blueprint For Modern Times - Ari Abramowitz: The Land of Israel Network

shalom my friends so i used to struggle with a primary question how is it that the jewish people could not only witness the greatest series of nature defying miracles in human history but to have those miracles be performed for them for their redemption from slavery from under the oppressive boot of one of the world's greatest superpowers or perhaps the world's greatest superpower of the time and nonetheless to complain against god and against moshe again and again and again i mean in this week's torah portion alone the jewish people complained about the lack of water followed by an even worse complaint that the mana as food was not substantial enough for their liking now they do a lot of complaining it's a little much now on the one hand it's further testimony to the divine authorship of the torah because no nation would write a book about themselves being the chosen people and at the same time highlight their many rebellions and shortcomings again and again and again on the other hand it's a lot of chutzpah a lot of nerve it seems a little much did they not see again and again that hashem is with them and watching them and protecting them i mean how could they be so short-sighted and so rebellious it's a real question that i always struggle with around these torah portions and then after synagogue last week immediately after reading about the sin of the spies and the other complaints i met this sweet jew outside of synagogue now that we're going back to synagogue i met him after prayers and he asked me where i live and i told him about the farm and how we came out to settle these mountains on the judean frontier and he responded that although he believes in the jewish right to judea that holding on to this land to him just didn't seem practical after all with the pressure from the biden administration and iran he said something about an iranian sniper having six seconds and an israeli three seconds in an israelis a sniper having six seconds and all of these details he talked about the un and the the the eu the european union the united nations we're just not strong enough to hold on to it that's what he said he actually said that i mean i wasn't talking to a jew in berkeley california or the university of london or some other bastion of western leftist anti-israel liberalism we were in the heart of jerusalem and i couldn't believe my ears did he not read nearly exactly those same words that the spy said that entering the land wasn't practical and that on a military and strategic front it wasn't realistic to think it was even possible to overtake these giants in these well-fortified cities and then i realized that while times have changed human nature and jewish nature have in many ways just stayed the same because the same question could be asked of my new friend that was asked of the generation of the exodus who complained again and again because think about it just now within the last 70 years we've gone from being the victims of the largest and most systematic dehumanizing genocide in human history to returning to our ancient homeland in one miraculous war after another and i mean absolute miracles hundreds to one odds the ancient prophecies the fulfillment of which we've been praying for for thousands of years are being fulfilled right before our eyes through our hands to us and still after that we still have doubts we need to play that pragmatism practicality game after all the miracles we've seen and after all the proof that god is with us just i don't understand how we could compromise our values and what we know is true in the name of this pragmatism in the name of being realistic so after all the unimaginable nature defying miracles hashem's done with us moving forward in jewish history and world history just as he promised that we would be hashem is just going to get up and walk away that he's going to abandon us it's just it's just to me it's so crazy to even think such a thing but there are jews who think that way many of them many people in the world who think that way so how do we liberate ourselves from this small-minded lack of faith and i think the answer is the same now as it was then we just need to zoom out we need to not fall victim to the all-too-human phenomenon of this small-minded myopia of seeing nothing beyond the very narrow time which we're presently occupying we need to be able to expand our perspective and see things with a greater scope not just the last three years but the last 300 years and not even just the last 300 years but the last 3 000 years all of history it may be easy to look back and to see god's hand in the past but the challenges of this day can be so consuming and so all-encompassing it can be so scary and challenging that we zoom into them and that's all we see it's like holding up a tiny little shekel to your eye in front of the sun and all you see is just this little shackle it blocks out the entire sun the idea is that we need to zoom out and expand the range of our perspective so we can see the shekel in the proper perspective because that which we're going through now in history we've gone through before and if we see ourselves on the timeline of all of history then the parallels become glaringly obvious and we can clearly see how the lessons of the past provide blueprints from which we can learn how to navigate the great challenges and confusions that we face today that really may not be that great after all case in point we can learn from this week's half torah it's taken from the book of judges chapter 11 verses 1 through thirty three now rav binyam and zev kahana won a great rav of jewish history that was actually assassinated that's another story he pointed out the perfection of the parallel between what the nation of israel faced almost exactly three thousand years ago to what we're facing today in our times okay so the story starts in the torah portion not the hakhtur but the torah portion with the nation of israel continuing their journey to the promised land and they send emissaries seeking permission to cross through the lands of the and the ammonites and they came as friends they were super polite they called them brothers they said that they would stay on the king's road and that if any of their people or their animals drink from the waters they would pay full price but no in their state of seeming vulnerability these kings heartlessly refused them and they confused their civility the the civility of the jewish people that is with weakness and both kings waged an offensive war on the jewish people and both kings lost after which the nation of israel inhabited the lands that they had just conquered in these defensive wars with clear undeniable intervention of hashem on their behalf now here's where it gets interesting let's go back to the haftora in the book of judges which takes place just 300 years after that in the time of the judges the jewish people find themselves in dire straits under threats from the ammonites from which they because of which they recruit yiftak now he was this warrior leader who they rejected many years before and they promised him leadership if he would come to their aid against the ammonites so yiftak agrees but before heading out to war he seeks a diplomatic solution so he sends emissaries to the ammonite king and asks him what his issue is with israel that he's seeking war in such this this unprovoked way now listen carefully the king of amon explains in judges chapter 11 verse 13 that israel quote took away my land when they came out of egypt from our known as far as the our book and the jordan and that war could be avoided if they just returned the land that they stole is that crazy what is he saying land for peace land for peace we've heard that before he calls the lands that israel conquered in a defense of war which israel tried to avoid he calls it stolen land and he demands the return of the land in exchange for peace three thousand years go by and nothing changes here we are just the faces and the names change but everything is pretty much the same the same baseless accusations are held at israel with the same demands and the same dilemmas but if we only take a moment and zoom out if we only expand our range and study the way yiftak responds then perhaps we can understand how we too can respond to these attacks today because what doesn't he do he doesn't ask them about their narrative nor does he demand that they accept his narrative he just tells the truth and speaks in the name of god starting in chapter 11 verse 15 he recounts the entire chain of events and then in verse 23 he culminates his message by saying so now the lord of israel has driven out the amorites from before his people israel that you should possess the land right get this so now the lord of israel has driven out the amorites from before his people israel and you should possess his land will you not possess what your god kemosh gives you to possess we will possess all that the lord our god has given us in our inheritance that's what they said my friends may hashem finally bless us with the leader who will have the courage and the faith to speak that simple truth that it's not because of any historical claim that we have a right to this land nor is it because of a continuous jewish presence nor is it because of the united nations or the league of nations or any other certification from the nations but the land is ours because god has given it to us as an eternal inheritance in order for us to be a light unto the nations and a blessing to the world may hashem finally bless us with that leader that will confidently proclaim that god created the world and that the world is his and in his wisdom he gave the land of israel to the nation of israel and that is our right to the land because when we have that leader who speaks that simple truth to the nations of the world i believe they'll respect it and if they don't they'll face the same fate that the king of amon did against iftach they'll be subdued and defeated before the nation of israel who places our faith and our destiny in the hands of god that's my message today thank you so much my friends back to you jeremy this highlight was taken from the land of israel fellowship every week hundreds of families from literally around the world come together on our live zoom sessions to strengthen each other to inspire each other and to learn torah from the land of israel in which we connect the dots between the bible the hebrew language and the confusing events of our times go to www.theland of israel.com backslash fellowship or click on the link below to join thank you