Parsha Vayera 5766

Eviction! Of the Arabs from the Jewish homeland!
by Yaakov Landsman

Excerpts;

Parsha VaYera. Genesis 21 reads, in Part:

“9. Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian [Yishmael] , whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking [Isaac].”

“10. Therefore she said to Abraham, ‘Cast out [garesh] this handmaid and her son! For the son of this handmaid will not inherit [yirash] with my son, with Isaac.'”

“The contest for inheritance begins early – who will succeed Abraham? Who will inherit his land, his riches, and his blessing? As a small child, Ishmael was already bringing violence, lewdness and idolatry into the household. Sarah notes Ishmael’s behavior, especially his jealousy of Isaac. She no doubt knew that her husband Abraham was very connected to Ishmael, and yet, she must have thought the problem was important enough to demand: ‘Cast out [garesh] this handmaid and her son! For the son of this handmaid will not inherit [ki lo yirash] with my son, with Isaac.'”

“From this one line in the Torah, we learn two immutable facts: 1) there is a contest between Isaac (the Jewish people) and Ishmael (the Arabs) over the legacy of Abraham; and 2) inheritance (yirusha) and eviction (gerush) are inextricably intertwined, and in fact, the two words are etymologically related. There is no ‘two-state solution’, there is no ‘peace process’ – there is only the cold, hard, Middle Eastern way of life. For one son to inherit, the other must leave.

My Commentary:

I find this D’var Torah on our Parsha Vayera particularly meaningful. It brings to mind a comment I’ve heard a number of times over the years which was attributed to Rav Me’ir Kahane, z’l as having been made by him about a decade before he was assassinated in 1990. In fact, Sunday, 20 November is the 15th Yahrtzeit of Rav Kahane’s passing.

And I find it a wonderment that Rav Kahane’s Yahrtzeit would coincide with our Parsha and the dialogue between Avraham Aveinu and Sarah Emeinu regarding Yishmael and his Mother, Hagar.

The comment, as passed on to me and/or as I understood, was to the affect that either I [Rav Kahane] will govern Israel as a Torah-based nation, or Arafat will have dominion …

As we have witnessed Gush Katif and 4 towns in the Shomron having been made Yudenrein, that Shalchevet neighborhood in Chevron is endangered, the Jordan Valley seems on the chopping block, our Holy Places are in danger of being signed over to the Vatican or entities of other religions; even the E-1 area between Jerusalem and Ma’alei Adumim is problematic as to whether building will ever take place and whether the area will be contiguous between the two, we can look back on this comment of Rav Kahane and see it’s relevance today. MB