Israel vs Hamas: The Christian Struggle Within - Ari Abramowitz: The Land of Israel Fellowship

but uh you know one of the great themes throughout this Fellowship has been the idea that the Torah portion is a blueprint for our times that the paraa illuminates the events that are unfolding both in our personal lives but also in the um what's unfolding in the in the world and so you know a cute example I thought I would start my my piece with that would demonstrate this principle would be one thing that happened this week that Jeremy actually made a powerful viral video about regarding the Washington rally you remember did anyone see that raise your hand if you saw Jeremy's video it really got out there it was very good it was a very very powerful video every word was perfect there in my mind anyways uh that rally was alluded to in this week's Torah portion and if you know where I'm going with this raise your hand so Jacob successfully receives Isaac's uh blessing and he is told to flee to bit Lavan to laan's house now the definition of laan's name Lavan is white meaning that Jacob was indeed sent to B Lavan to the White House in the very same week that the children of Israel that Jacob's Children of the nation of Israel converged on the White House so that happened and I thought that that was a cute way we could uh we could start but this idea of the Torah in general and the Torah portion of the weekend specific shining a light of context and and understanding to our times goes infinitely deeper so let's start by looking at one very telling verse that I think opens up an entire world of understanding for us a whole a whole world particularly for us in this Fellowship so after many years of Rebecca being Barren the sages say actually exactly was 20 years um Isaac and Rebecca both pray to Hashem and they finally conceive and Rebecca is pregnant and then well let's look inside a chapter 25 verse the children struggled within her and she said if so why am I thus and she went to inquire of Hashem so Rebecca is feeling this struggle inside of her between Esau and Jacob and uh you know for many years now I've reflected on this idea because as we know Esau is the father of Rome of the West which geographically is Europe and America but even more so on a spiritual philosophical and and ideological level Esau is the father of replacement theology which I'm sure many of you are familiar with and for those of you who aren't standing on one leg replacement theology is the idea that took R thousands of years ago that Hashem has rejected his Covenant with Israel in favor of Esau and Christianity and this very perverse idea has been the root in the foundation of unimaginable persecution and murder of Jews throughout history really cumulatively far greater than what we saw on October 7th and I personally started seeing this verse in a very different light in my personal encounter with the Christian World many years ago because throughout the years I've seen tens of thousands hundreds of thousands of Christians going through exactly the same struggle within their souls now keep in mind I'm looking at this from the outside so I don't know that I can really testify to this but this is what I've seen I'd be very interested to hear from some of you in this Fellowship who are Christians are somewhere around there I know the definitions are sort of getting old lately but um but just so that a quick disclaimer you know we're family here and we're committed to speaking the truth with each other even potentially controversial subjects and this could be one of them so please know my heart that I love all of you and if any of you uh want to speak up or share your feelings I I would love to hear that but anyways I'm going to go on I see Christians today going through the same inner struggle between the Jacob within and the Esau within meaning within themselves and the reason I say this is because according to my understanding and my personal observations I've come to see Christianity as in essence a mixture between Jacob which is Judaism meaning the Torah itself as Christianity does believe in the divine origin of the Torah right is called the Old Testament um and uh but there are also elements of Esau within conventional Christianity Catholicism I think in in in particular as there are also you know Pagan ideas that have become infused in Christianity as well whether it's uh you know certain elements of Christmas or Easter which in my understanding uh have pagan origins to them and you know we can get deeper into that another time because I intentionally don't want to over focus on the theology part of things but rather on the deeper spiritual implications of it because I've come to see that the the true gauge what I believe is the true gauge of whether each individual Christian is refining the Esau out of themselves and embracing and identifying with Jacob or refining the Jacob out of themselves and identifying and embracing with Esau is whether they stand with Israel during these times that's far more telling of the true condition of their soul and whether they celebrate Christmas or Easter as some of the greatest friends of Israel and the Jewish people that I know people that I love dearly with all my heart celebrate both of them so I don't want to get into the ritual and Theology of it it's really more a heart issue and so on the deepest level if a Christian stands with Israel I believe that that means that they are choosing the Jacob within themselves that they are you know they're seeking a a you know a with a passionate thirst I've Just Seen over the years this passionate thirst that so many Christians have uh to connect with and understand the the Jewish roots of their own faith and I'm seeing that more strongly than ever during these times when so many so many around the world are turning their backs on Israel even in the right-wing conservative World in which so many Jews have come to believe that support for Israel is a given so many of them are made wedges wedges are being put in in there from you know Tucker Carlson Joe Rogan Candice Owens it's really happening very much and I'm speaking to my conservative friends in America they don't know what to do with themselves they're so their their Idols are being shattered also and you know so I I want to give a few examples of what I'm talking about here because considering the unbelievably strong contrast that we're seeing today in this war between light and darkness between good and evil between Israel and Kamas so many Jews Like I said are recoiling in Shock at the isolation of Israel and the isolation of the Jewish people from all sides and so those that are standing up and speaking out for Israel um from the nations of the world are being focused on are being highlighted are deeply appreciated by the Jewish World by the entirety really of the Jewish world in my own family group in which I have family from around the world countries around the world they're religious they're secular they're right and some are even even a little bit left still they're taking great comfort in what uh what I'm about to show you now the video I'm about to show you I can't remember whether I showed it to you before but if I did I'm showing it to you again because it just made me feel good and it's of the Maori tribe did I show you this yet hopefully not anyways we are uh this Maori tribe now they're clearly Christians and they're standing opposite a group of Hamas protesters performing something called a Haka which looks very much like a pre-war psych out dance and they're doing with all their souls you got to [Music] [Applause] see [Applause] ho [Applause] you know I mean my cousins were like I never had anyone have a perform a a haka for me before and you know like I think that the Hamas protesters were like from The River To The Sea like they were just I think the wind was just taken out of their sales there um and uh and it just the fact that there was like no push back on them I think says as much about the couraging conviction of the Maori as it does about the inherent cowardice of the Kamas activist let's see you know rushing on them so that went viral and all of a sudden you know my family and pretty much every Jo I know has this newfound affection and love for the Maori so uh so one of the by the way Maori actually means maor is like an illumination a source of Light which is a really beautiful idea anyways one of the most powerful examples of the remnant of the Nations that is fiercely standing with Israel is that of the famous cowboys you guys know what I'm talking about have you heard of these guys of course you have everybody's heard of these guys I'm like they just came to Israel and now they're like International Sensations I don't know anyone in the Jewish world who hasn't heard of them and the story uh with these Cowboys started a few weeks ago when they were you know the world is increasingly turning on Israel more and more and more and there were even some Jews that were fleeing the country out of fear for what's in store there were there were really Jews that were I'm out of here right now I don't know if what happened in Gaza is gonna happen to the whole country really that was a real fear that was happening and I don't think anyone was judging anyone at this time as a matter of fact that's how I got my two dogs that serve very little function other than entertaining my children to no end and so I'm really sort of stuck with them and now one of them is pregnant and all I wanted them to do is to bark when someone comes near just bark nope nope they're not going to do it unless it's another dog or a fox or something then they'll bark but anyway so I'm stuck with these dogs now um and uh what was I talking about talk about add anyways so uh so they were ju fleeing the country and I got them from one of these families that was fleeing the country that's the connection anyways as this was happening someone snapped a picture at the airport that's been just going around the world and it's a picture of these Cowboys in the airport that are not fleeing Israel to the safety and serenity of their homes in Montana know they are on their way into Israel to stand with us and support us in whichever way they could and that's the picture of them so everyone is contacting me my friends my family trying to find out who they are because they assume for some crazy reason that I would know them um and it seems like everybody just wanted a piece of these poor guys and then our friends in hayovel uh put out this video that they had been found and they were introducing themselves my name is John cler and I'm from Montana I'm Ezekiel strain and I'm from Montana hey y'all I'm Luke hutler and I'm from Huntsville Arkansas my name is ysf I'm from Montana I'm here to serve Israel we're just here to serve Israel any way we can during their hard time here and their struggle against Moss just out in the West Bank Jud in Samaria just um serving people whatever way we can help so you got to love them you don't even know him you got to love him and so any why was everybody contacting me because they wanted to invite them over for a Shabbat and show their gratitude to them they they wanted to meet them in person and I think I think to ensure that they were real you know in this past Shabbat that's exactly what happened they were hosted in the Judean community of arrat which is one of the most prominent and settlements in Judea and people were fighting with each other over who would have the great privilege of Hosting them in their homes because you know the abrahamic hospitality thing is a real thing particularly in Judea across the board anyway so they were hosted in the Jewish community of arrat and they were so in demand people so badly wanted to meet them that Mo Shabbat Saturday night after Shabbat they were hosted in one of the biggest one of the largest synagogues in the community and as you can see there was standing room only look at these pictures standing room only here they are these these poor guys they're like I don't imagine that they've had orator classes and lessons and public speaking they were just coming to like prune some Vines and do whatever they could and here they are like International Sensations but um God doesn't always give you a heads up sometimes you're just there and I just heard that the response was overwhelming and people were just so inspired and uplifted by what they had to say and all the fears and doubts by the way that a very small group of loud people were spreading that these Cowboys were missionaries with Sinister motivations and evil intent I just was so happy that they had an opportunity to speak because that was just summarily put to rest you know that the rumors started spreading and then you hear them and you just who you are speaks even louder than what you say and this simple beauty sincerity tamim you know that's what God tells us Tam to you should be innocent before the Lord there's just a certain truth and Purity and innocence and so by one of my good friends here's the testimony that he gave about it he sent this to me he said whoever said the Cowboys are missionaries couldn't be farther from the truth these guys are just here because they love us and believe stronger than many Jews that we we are hashem's chosen people and this is where we're supposed to be and those who bless us will be blessed it was amazing meeting them and hearing them speak in a fraud over Shabbat it's it it's it's so simple so many Israelis that I meet when I talk about you know Christian love for Israel and non-jews like most of the time the response is like a conditioned one like oh yeah according to their whole theology they want us to come back so then Jesus will come again and then we'll all die and that whole thing is going to happen and it's just I'm like abstract theology I'm like I'm sure there are those that do believe that I know that that's true but that is not the motivation of the people that I know that just have a love for Israel just just to Genesis 123 those who bless Israel will be blessed and just that inner Compass moral compass in your heart that you just know is right and true and um anyways that Israelis are open to hear that they just you know some ways they want to hear that they don't want to hear that these incredible friends of Israel have these sin Minister motivations and it just it's a shame it's a shame but you see there's a a refinement process you know that we've been talking about here in the Christian world that's been a journey it's it's a journey of of Truth and it's a journey of Discovery and I mean a journey of Truth meaning you have to have a heart that is seeking truth they say that emit truth is God's seal and if you're seeking that truth and you're willing to go wherever it takes you even if into no man's spiritual No Man's Land well that's often where you end up when you follow God's truth in a spiritual no man's land and that can be a scary place to be but ultimately that's where we are here together and that leads you to to the Holy Land anyways all of that work that I've seen happening with the wallers with so many of you with so many Christians that are on this journey has really been I believe for right now because the whole world is able to see where each and every person is falling here and it's inspiring to see because you know indeed there is a line in the sand and the line is no less than the line between Jacob and Esau between those who stand with the god of Israel and those who stand against the god of Israel and I I know this is a little bit longer than most Clips but I just wanted to play it for you right here it's not the end of the fellowship I still have what to share with you so hold tight but I wanted at this point to play for you a song um that was composed and performed by my beloved friends the wallers which I've watched many times over the years and I think it was recorded then I think it was recorded seven years ago for this moment right now and so I want I want to share that with [Music] you there's a battle raging over our people land land will you Rage with the nation or will you stand and say I believe in the god of Abraham Isaac and Jacob I Believe In the words of the Covenant spoken again many years [Music] ago and I believe in the god of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and I believe in the words of the Covenant spoken many years [Music] ago I believe and I will stand yes I will [Music] stand there's a line in the sand where will you stand there's a choice being made and we you stand and say I believe in the god of Abraham Isaac and [Applause] Jacob and I be Believe In the words of the Covenant spoken many years [Music] ago I believe in the god of Abra Isaac and [Applause] Jacob and I believe in the words of the Covenant spoken many years ago I believe and I will stand yes I will stand for the kingom for the nation will you be strong I believe in the Covenant of Abraham Isaac and Jacob stand [Music] here God talk with Abraham and [Music] jaob the nation here is the L of the I believe in the god of Abraham I believe in the covenants of Abraham Isaac and Jacob I shall plant them in their land and they shall no longer be pulled up in the land I have given I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you and in you all the families of the Earth shall be blessed he remembers his Covenant forever the word which he has commanded for a thousand Generations we believe in the of Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the where will you stand