By Moshe Feiglin
20 Cheshvan, 5771
Oct. 28, '10
Translated from Ma'ariv's NRG website.
Listening to the Torah reading this past Shabbat in the synagogue, I realized what Ahmadinijad was looking for in his highly publicized visit of Israel's border with Lebanon. After all, Ahmadinijad is not stupid. Why would the president of a large and powerful state come to a dingy Lebanese town to yell into loudspeakers that could be heard all the way to Tiberias? If we dismiss his actions by simply pronouncing him a toy soldier with an ego problem, we are not being serious. Ahmadinijad is a head of state who does not lack attention.
Haman-dinijad could have made his speech in his sheltered parliament in Tehran, far away from the IDF's UAVs and from the risk that somebody in Israel would nevertheless decide to eliminate him. What exactly did he gain by sticking his head into the lion's mouth? What was the gain that justified the risk?
"Go forth," the King of the world says to Abraham; go to the Land of Israel. And Abraham goes forth - no questions asked. Abraham's nephew Lot comes with him, eventually settling in the Biblical predecessor to Las Vegas - Sin City - Sodom. In the meantime, Abraham continues his journey through the Land of Israel. True, he had a promise from the Master of the Universe, Himself. But in the meantime, he was nothing more than a new immigrant, bereft of clear territory and certainly unimpressive relative to the ancient cultures residing in the Land.
Then war breaks out - a war in which the new immigrant has no part:
And the king of Sodom and the king of Amorah and the king of Admah and the king of Tzvoyim and the king of Bela, which is Tzo'ar, went out and waged war with them in the Valley of Sidim. With Kdarla'omer the king of Eilam and Tid'al the king of Goyim and Amrafel the king of Shin'ar and Aryoch the king of Elasar - four kings against the five. (Last week's Torah portion, Lech Lecha, Genesis 14:8-9)
Lot, who had settled in Sodom to make money, finds himself on the wrong side of the battle and is taken captive. The modern-day, strong and sovereign State of Israel is not capable of releasing a soldier held captive for years just a few kilometers from its border. But Abraham does not wait for a minute:
And Abram heard that his brother was captured and he led his trained men, born in his house, forth; three hundred and eighteen, and he pursued until Dan. And he divided himself against them by night, he and his servants and he smote them and chased them until Hova to the left of Damascus. (Genesis 14:14-15)
What happened to Abraham? Did he go completely crazy? Why did he and his tiny army of 318 pursue the triumphant alliance of regional armies all the way to Damascus? And all for Lot, who had cast his lot with the evil city of Sodom? Why didn't he just look the other way?
Abraham understood something that is currently completely outside our frame of reference. He understood that if the locals would see that he did not respond after his relative was taken captive, he would never attain the status of landowner in his new home. True, G-d had sent him to this Land, but that did not absolve him of fighting for it when necessary.
There are situations in which pragmatic, rational considerations must be sidelined in favor of long-term concerns. Abraham would never be able to shake off his dependant foreigner status if he would not prove that whoever harms his family would have to pay a steep price. The question of victory or loss in the war was secondary in this case to the necessity to prove that he was willing to fight for his sovereign existence.
Sure enough, Abraham's victory over the Northern Kings Alliance - a victory described by military historian Uri Milstein as one of the greatest strategic triumphs in military history - is followed by the Covenant of the Pieces and inheritance of the Land:
On that day G-d made a covenant with Abram saying: To your children I have given this Land, from the river of Egypt until the great river, the river Euphrates. And the Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite. And the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim. And the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite. (Genesis 15:18-21)
Now let us return to last week's events and what Ahmadinijad was looking for. The keen Persian villain understands that we have forgotten Abraham's lesson. He wasn't just looking to come to our border and inflate his chest. Ahmadinijad was well aware that nobody in Israel would dare harm him. That is exactly what he wanted the world to see. 3,748 years after Abraham's war to redeem Lot, it is possible to take Israeli captives, to openly plan Israel's destruction, to dare Israel and its mighty army to attack the chief villain - and to emerge safe and sound.
Ahmadinijad's message to the world is clear: Abraham's achievements were temporary; his children really do not belong in the Land and are not sovereign there. They are simply immigrants living there on borrowed time. This is the achievement that he brought back with him to Tehran.
Oct. 28, '10
Translated from Ma'ariv's NRG website.
Listening to the Torah reading this past Shabbat in the synagogue, I realized what Ahmadinijad was looking for in his highly publicized visit of Israel's border with Lebanon. After all, Ahmadinijad is not stupid. Why would the president of a large and powerful state come to a dingy Lebanese town to yell into loudspeakers that could be heard all the way to Tiberias? If we dismiss his actions by simply pronouncing him a toy soldier with an ego problem, we are not being serious. Ahmadinijad is a head of state who does not lack attention.
Haman-dinijad could have made his speech in his sheltered parliament in Tehran, far away from the IDF's UAVs and from the risk that somebody in Israel would nevertheless decide to eliminate him. What exactly did he gain by sticking his head into the lion's mouth? What was the gain that justified the risk?
"Go forth," the King of the world says to Abraham; go to the Land of Israel. And Abraham goes forth - no questions asked. Abraham's nephew Lot comes with him, eventually settling in the Biblical predecessor to Las Vegas - Sin City - Sodom. In the meantime, Abraham continues his journey through the Land of Israel. True, he had a promise from the Master of the Universe, Himself. But in the meantime, he was nothing more than a new immigrant, bereft of clear territory and certainly unimpressive relative to the ancient cultures residing in the Land.
Then war breaks out - a war in which the new immigrant has no part:
And the king of Sodom and the king of Amorah and the king of Admah and the king of Tzvoyim and the king of Bela, which is Tzo'ar, went out and waged war with them in the Valley of Sidim. With Kdarla'omer the king of Eilam and Tid'al the king of Goyim and Amrafel the king of Shin'ar and Aryoch the king of Elasar - four kings against the five. (Last week's Torah portion, Lech Lecha, Genesis 14:8-9)
Lot, who had settled in Sodom to make money, finds himself on the wrong side of the battle and is taken captive. The modern-day, strong and sovereign State of Israel is not capable of releasing a soldier held captive for years just a few kilometers from its border. But Abraham does not wait for a minute:
And Abram heard that his brother was captured and he led his trained men, born in his house, forth; three hundred and eighteen, and he pursued until Dan. And he divided himself against them by night, he and his servants and he smote them and chased them until Hova to the left of Damascus. (Genesis 14:14-15)
What happened to Abraham? Did he go completely crazy? Why did he and his tiny army of 318 pursue the triumphant alliance of regional armies all the way to Damascus? And all for Lot, who had cast his lot with the evil city of Sodom? Why didn't he just look the other way?
Abraham understood something that is currently completely outside our frame of reference. He understood that if the locals would see that he did not respond after his relative was taken captive, he would never attain the status of landowner in his new home. True, G-d had sent him to this Land, but that did not absolve him of fighting for it when necessary.
There are situations in which pragmatic, rational considerations must be sidelined in favor of long-term concerns. Abraham would never be able to shake off his dependant foreigner status if he would not prove that whoever harms his family would have to pay a steep price. The question of victory or loss in the war was secondary in this case to the necessity to prove that he was willing to fight for his sovereign existence.
Sure enough, Abraham's victory over the Northern Kings Alliance - a victory described by military historian Uri Milstein as one of the greatest strategic triumphs in military history - is followed by the Covenant of the Pieces and inheritance of the Land:
On that day G-d made a covenant with Abram saying: To your children I have given this Land, from the river of Egypt until the great river, the river Euphrates. And the Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite. And the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim. And the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite. (Genesis 15:18-21)
Now let us return to last week's events and what Ahmadinijad was looking for. The keen Persian villain understands that we have forgotten Abraham's lesson. He wasn't just looking to come to our border and inflate his chest. Ahmadinijad was well aware that nobody in Israel would dare harm him. That is exactly what he wanted the world to see. 3,748 years after Abraham's war to redeem Lot, it is possible to take Israeli captives, to openly plan Israel's destruction, to dare Israel and its mighty army to attack the chief villain - and to emerge safe and sound.
Ahmadinijad's message to the world is clear: Abraham's achievements were temporary; his children really do not belong in the Land and are not sovereign there. They are simply immigrants living there on borrowed time. This is the achievement that he brought back with him to Tehran.
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