Fulfilling Our Vow to Jacob - Ari Abramowitz: The Land of Israel Fellowship

shalom my friends there are so many things happening in the world sometimes it's challenging to know what to focus on how to frame it how to connect the dots and to see it in a broader perspective and as i struggle with these consequences and these questions as well particularly during these confusing times the parsha is always a compass or even let's say a north star keeping my eyes keeping our eyes trained in the right direction and help putting everything else in line and in perspective so this week we read about ya'akov passing away jacob passing away and this year i've been feeling a sense of of mourning as it as if it's happening in real time in my life and as jacob is on his deathbed before blessing his children he does a curious thing he asks joseph to make a solemn vow v you and the time drew near that israel must die and he called his son joseph and said to him if now i have found favor in your eyes put i beg you your hand under my thigh and deal kindly and truly with me bury me not i beg you in egypt but i will lie with my fathers and you shall carry me out of egypt and bury me in their burying place and joseph said i will do as you have said he was talking about right over those mountains so there's so many secrets and mysteries buried within this portion but one thing i never understood was why jacob made joseph swear did he not trust him if anyone is trustworthy it's his son joseph rabbi samson raphael hirsch shares an interesting perspective he says jacob knew quite certainly that joseph would bury his father with all possible splendor but he says kindness do not forget the ahmet do not forget the truth i would rather not be buried at all than be buried in egypt the whole stress is on the request not to be buried in egypt we would have thought that carrying out this request did not entail such difficulties that it should have required this ceremonious oath uh to carry it out but as we can deduce from everything pharaoh and the egyptians would be uh would they by no means be pleased if jacob and his family had moved back out of egypt so that the bringing of the body up to canaan would by no means make a good impression on them it would clearly show that joseph's family still did not consider themselves naturalized and that their hearts were still in their homeland but the real motive could lie much deeper jacob had still lived 17 years with his family in egypt thus he could have noticed what a powerful influence the the torah says they were gripped by the land he noticed that this was beginning to have such an effect on his descendants have they already began to see the jordan in the nile and to find their stay in egypt not really to be a galut to be in exile and this was sufficient motive enough for him to press with such ceremonious solemnity that they should not bury him in egypt but that they should carry him to the land of their old true homeland it was motive enough for him to say to them you hope and wish to live in egypt i do not even wish to be buried there that is also why he did not express this wish as jacob from his individual personal standpoint but as israel by his name israel as bearer of the national mission as a warning of the national future of his children that was what rabbi sampson rafal hearst said so building on what he said rabbi foreman explains that he was ensuring joseph's success and shielding joseph from the accusations allowing joseph to explain such a controversial move that he simply has to do it it's out of his hands he made a vow to his father after all but on a deeper level i believe jacob is trying to send one last critical message to his children egypt is not your home don't get too comfortable there no matter how long you're there how many generations how much you may start to forget and identify as an egyptian egypt is not your home you are my children you are the children of israel not the children of pharaoh not the children of egypt but the children of israel and as history has shown us when we forget this truth the nations into whom we are seeking to assimilate they'll remind us and what happened to the israelites in egypt was the first perfect prototype for what has happened to the jewish people time and time again throughout our long exile we move to a nation usually due to fleeing from the persecution of another we bring success and blessing to that nation and we start to assimilate within and then the nation looks upon us differently a new pharaoh arises and they begin to viciously persecute us and we flee for our lives having been viciously reminded again and again that we're not persians spaniards poles germans yemenites insert the name of the nation here we're jews and our home is judea and this is the truth that jacob is declaring with this vow israel is your home never forget that now this week as we read jacob's reminder two great events transpired here in israel which i believe are rooted in this promise the first is the arrival home of jonathan pollard an american jew convicted of spying on the u.s for israel he finally made it home now most american jews hate every moment the pollard's in the headlines they hate the subject they hate the name it brings up their deepest traumas and fears that they too will be accused of dual loyalty as jews have been so many times in the past if you have time google the dry fist affair as it was a false accusation of this type and the driver's affair sparked the inspiration for theodore herzl to begin his battle to establish the modern state of israel but as opposed to the dreyfus accusation which was false the charges against pollard were true so what happened i'll try to make it sure jonathan pollard was a stanford graduate who went on to serve in the american naval intelligence now he became privy he became aware of certain information that iraq and iran and libya and syria had nuclear and chemical and biological weapons that were being developed to use against israel he found out about terrorist attacks that were being planned about ballistic missiles that were being planned for use against civilians now there was and still is a memorandum of of agreement an agreement between the united states and israel which as allies logically they're supposed to share this intelligence but the us was not sharing this critical life and death information with israel so pollard goes to his superiors and he says please share this information with israel they need to know this but the officers responded he should mind his own business because quote jews get paranoid when they hear about poison gas now the average prison sentence for spying on an ally was like two to four years which he felt was a small price to pay to prevent another holocaust and he was caught and he took refuge in the israeli embassy and one of the most painful chapters in israel's history they locked him out and turned him over to the us authorities they were just afraid of the embarrassment of the whole thing he was tried and in an unbelievable and inexplicable fashion they gave him a full life sentence and recommended no parole there's no precedent for this and his punishment was unbelievably cruel particularly when we're talking about america israel's ally the champion of human rights the first seven years they locked him in solitary confinement underground without sunlight unimaginable there were spies spying against america for hostile foreign countries that got nowhere near a punishment like that and finally after 35 years he has finally arrived home those of us who advocated for him prayed for him and fought for him had tears in our eyes as he stepped foot off the plane with his wife esther the whole country watched as this great man who had sacrificed so much for all of us arrived in the holy land and i'll never forget what i saw the first moment he stepped off the plane onto the land for which he'd sacrificed so much benjamin netanyahu the prime minister was waiting for him there and put out his hand to greet him the prime minister of israel and what does jonathan pollard do he tells the prime minister wait one moment and he falls to the ground kissing it then he greets the prime minister this is a jew who remembered when the moment of truth came that he is the son of israel yes america has been a great country for the jewish people i love america i'm proud of america and many jews have fought and sacrificed their lives for america which is a beautiful thing but when it came to an immoral and lethal violation that could cause the death of countless innocent jewish lives he acted with courage and with truth the second story i want to share with you and i'll have to make this brief because i'm going on beyond what i should do to time constraints the aliyah that happened this week the week of this torah portion of 303 ethiopian jews who have finally returned to the land of their fathers under tremendous persecution and pressure over thousands of years they clung to their jewish identity and heritage even at the cost of their lives an ethiopian jewish woman from a prior aliyah shared her testimony she said that up until the age of nine when she moved to israel she lived in a world where the temple still stood in all of its glory because keep in mind the ethiopians were exiled with the northern tribes and they didn't know the temple was destroyed in her mind and that of her whole community community in ethiopia the second temple stood in its place in jerusalem and she said it was literally made in her mind of pure gold she explained that she grew up hearing about the kohanim the holy priests and how they worked in the temple she fell asleep listening to stories about the halo hovering over jerusalem and about jews who merited to dwell in the holy city were people blessed with pure hearts cloaked in white garments righteous people with clean thoughts and devoid of sin she explained that she would imagine the shrina the divine presence overhead and she would picture pure angels she then describes in inspiring detail the devastation her family felt when they arrived to find out that the temple was destroyed it's such a beautiful testimony send me an email or whatsapp and i'll send you a link to the whole article you should really read it anyways the point is that jacob's message has penetrated deep into the heart of the nation of israel throughout our exile a message that has remained for thousands of years that israel is the promised land the land of our fathers the land of our destiny and so my beloved friend says this is the parsha of blessings allow me to bless all of you all of us to remember that israel is the beating heart of our nation i bless us that this truth burns strong in our hearts in our souls in our prayers and in our actions and that we all of us by clinging to this truth cleave with our very lives to the god of israel who brings us together here on this very day may continue to in gather the exiles from among the nations and elevate these holy sparks of light who have attached themselves to the jewish people and to the jewish mission amen please my friend stay in touch stay connected reach out i don't always respond immediately and for that i'm sorry but i will we need to stay connected and hold on to each other tight for the challenging times that lay ahead love you all very much back to you jeremy