The battles, an angel and a lion

A battle by which no party is bothered by legal rules and international agreements

Parashat Vayishlaḥ opens with one of the most striking transitional moments in the Torah. As Ya’aqov is about to be reunited with his estranged brother Esav, he encounters an angel, with whom he wrestles all night long. This is the scene in which he receives his new name, Yisrael, which, rabbis love to remind us all, means, “the one who struggles with God.”

We may not leave out the second part of the Torah’s etymology of Yisrael (Bereshit / Genesis 32:29):

וַיֹּ֗אמֶר לֹ֤א יַעֲקֹב֙ יֵאָמֵ֥ר עוֹד֙ שִׁמְךָ֔ כִּ֖י אִם־יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל כִּֽי־שָׂרִ֧יתָ עִם־אֱ-לֹהִ֛ים וְעִם־אֲנָשִׁ֖ים וַתּוּכָֽל׃

Said [the angel], “Your name shall no longer be Ya’aqov, but Yisrael, for you have striven with beings divine and human, and have prevailed.”

We are not only the people who struggle with God, but we often also have to struggle with humans.

Ya’aqov’s spiritual wrestling match is a foreshadowing of Jewish history: we struggle with the concept of God and how we relate to the Divine, but we are, in some sense, grappling eternally as a people with the others around us, and mostly not by our own choosing. We have been forced to do this for thousands of years, and mostly we have prevailed.

For centuries, our community has been challenged by people around us.

On more than one occasion, there were certain groups that blackened the Jewish People in general, because they were in conflict with a certain Jewish group. Now it is no different. An extremist Islamic group is in conflict with an extremist Jewish group, and as two ruffs they attack each other, while there are now a lot of innocent victims on both sides.

On one side we see Hamas, who not bound by the laws of military engagement, tortured and raped as if nothing. On the other side, we can see a group of whom we would have thought they would be civilised and would not go against humanitarian laws. But that group is also not at all bothered by legal rules and international agreements concern the conduct of war and protection of injured people, women and children.

In certain areas, such as the U.S.A. a lot of people fall into the trap that the Israeli government and their American counterpart have forged. They are not at all shy about violating the truth and hiding that they support an apartheid regime that allows settlers to take land from others.

For several years now, the Israeli government has been building a partition wall and excluding Palestinian citizens from normal life in the regions. The exclusion and difficulties that the Israeli government imposes on the Palestinians make it possible to understand that there has been a danger that certain Palestinian groups will be involved in the resistance. Bad enough, some of those groups also target innocent Jewish citizens.

The harsh reactions from the Israeli army made lots of people all over the world cry out for a Judenfrei world. Ultimately, it is a secular group of Jews who managed to get the world to such an extent that more hatred of Jews has arisen in the world. In many places, especially in industrialized countries, we see right-wing nationalism with anti-Semitism.

Numerous people now again, want to deny the Jews our right to self-determination in the land from which we came and which was promised by El ʿElyon to His and our people.

Despite millennia of oppression, despite the very real genocide of Hitler, the forced conscription and pogroms of the czars, the Expulsion from Spain, and yes, October 7th, because of the actions of the Israeli government we have suddenly become the oppressors. Already for a longer time several people considered us the rich imperialists and tarrers on others their difficulties and money. Suddenly, we now also have become the ethnic cleansers. And the United States of America is helping with it, by proclaiming Israel has to wipe out the Islamists.

Bad enough because of the many false news reports that the Israeli government is sending into the world, the whole credibility of the entire Jewish community is shattered.

We would love to have people come to see Jews are not a dangerous and hateful race. We like many Palestinians would love to be a free people in the land from which we came, unmolested by terrorists as we recline under our own vine and fig tree. The land is big enough to shelter Jews, Palestinians, Muslims, Christians and even goyim.

It is not at all bad to stand against terror, but one has to have a clear view at all the parties that are terrorising. Unfortunately, we have to admit today that some of the Jews have gone off the rails and started doing similar things that the Germans have done with our ancestors.

They have learned horrible lessons from the devil and have started to apply them to people they hate, just as the Nazis did. They have stigmatized a people and have led the outer world to believe that all such people are as they claim, and because they are “beasts” they should be slaughtered. In this way, a battle has arisen which the fighters against the beast will have to lose out, because it will be clear to others that those people to be fighting against, are not animals at all. Such a violent government draws many Jews into the wake.

Basically, the Jewish communities should show the world that we are not such a cruel people at all, and that our name is being misused by those in power who have the intention to even get more power and who are wishing to acquire even more goods and land.

Ya’aqov survives the wrestling match with the angel, but limps away. With the attack by Hamas our people has been wounded. But also by the revenge of the Israeli government are we wounded. We may be injured, but the Jewish spirit is not broken, and pride in being Jewish, in our peoplehood, our history, our traditions, our text, our rituals, is still found throughout the world. For months, Israelis have wanted to bring Netanyahu to justice for his corruption, but through his “friends’ too much opposition has come and he has not only been able to stand but even limit our right to speak.

Throughout history we have been dragged through the mud several times. For far too many decades, many lies have been told about us. Unfortunately, a group of unbelieving Jews has now risen who proclaim both lies and hatred and violate other people.

It is now up to the believing Jews to bring out the truth and show the world our true face. We must also show those who want to harm us that we have a strong will as a lion. We are not just getting small. We rely on the Most High Who will want to be with those who also keep His Ways.

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Preceding

1. 50 Years after the Yom Kippur attack a new Hamas attack
2. Israel: Gunmen from Gaza kill at least 22 in major attack
3. Israeli Leaders Say ‘Now Is Time for War’ and Vow to Wipe Hamas ‘Off the Face of the Earth’
4. Putin compares Israel actions to Nazi Germany
5. Killing on the sabbath but no mourning
6. Besmirch of Jewish people and Jewish faith
7. A Secret of our Enemy :Inter-Ethnic Fault Lines Among the Jews (Full Article)
8. A vibrant and inclusive movement within the American Jewish community

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5. Mondoweiss: The Palestinian Authority is a figleaf for Israeli apartheid. Disband it.
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10. Hamas’ attack on Israel
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13. Imprisonment and slaughter in the Gaza Strip
14. Israel strikes Gaza following surprise attack by Hamas
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