I was asked to give a sermon in my synagogue on the Shabbat of the Bible and Haftorah readings of "Beshallach".
As someone who has devoted myself to speaking up for Israel internationally I found great resonance in the stories of this particular portion of our Bible as metaphors to what has been unfolding within Israeli and Jewish society.
Here is what I had to say;
IN OUR MILITARY AND IN OUR SOCIETY, IN ISRAEL AND ABROAD, WE SEE AN INCREASING BODY OF JEWS WHO FIGHT AGAINST US, OR DIVIDE US IN THE NAME OF JUDAISM.
THOSE THAT DON’T SERVE IN THE IDF, AND SOME THAT DO. THOSE WHO ACT AGAINST US IN THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY FROM NATUREI KARTA TO RABBIS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS. AND THOSE THAT MAKE STUPID STATEMENTS OR ABUSIVE ACTS IN THE NAME OF JUDAISM.
I WAS STRUCK HOW MUCH OF THIS WEEK’S SEDRA IS LINKED TO TODAY’S PROBLEMS.
IT WOULD BE EASY FOR ME TO TALK ABOUT OUR REDEMPTION FROM EGPYT AND OUR STRUGGLE TO REACH OUR PROMISED LAND AND LEAVE YOU WITH A “FEEL GOOD” FEELING.
TODAY, I WANT TO STIMULATE AND PERHAPS MAKE YOU THINK DEEPLY ABOUT SOME RECENT EVENTS IN ISRAEL THAT TROUBLE ME A LOT.
IS THE BIBLE OUR GUIDE TO BEHAVIOUR? OR SHOULD OUR SOCIAL CONDITION BE ACCORDING TO WHAT THESE PEOPLE TELL US TODAY? DOES OUR ANCIENT HISTORY HAVE ANY RELEVANCE TO US TODAY? I BELIEVE THAT THE METAPHORS WE READ TODAY SHOULD BE THE GUIDELINES TO OUR BEHAVIOUR RATHER THAN THE ILL ADVICE OF THOSE WHO WEAKEN US, OR DESTROY US.
IN THIS WEEK’S PORTION WE ARE TOLD WHY GOD FORCED THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL TO WANDER THE WILDERNESS FOR A GENERATION INSTEAD OF TAKING THE SHORT DIRECT ROUTE TO THE LAND PROMISED TO US. NOTICE I SAY “US” AND NOT “THEM”. WE HAVE RECLAIMED THAT LAND.
THAT REASON HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH NOT DAVENING (PRAYING) ENOUGH, OR NOT BEING RELIGIOUS ENOUGH. GOD SAW THAT THE ISRAELITES WERE NOT MENTALLY, OR SPIRITUALLY, READY TO FIGHT THE PHILISTINES WHO STOOD IN OUR WAY. DESPITE THE FACT THAT WE WENT OUT OF EGYPT ARMED (HAMUSHIM) WE WEREN’T READY TO FIGHT OR ACT FOR OUR SELF DETERMINATION IN THE LAND THAT GOD CHOSE FOR US. WE WERE LAZY AND COWARDS. WE COMPLAINED. THAT IS NOT HOW YOU BUILD A PEOPLE OR A NATION.
SO, INSTEAD, HE LED US INTO THE WILDERNESS TO STRENGTHEN OUR RESOLVE AND TO FORGE US INTO A PEOPLE WILLING TO FIGHT AND ACT FOR OUR SURVIVAL AND OUR RIGHT TO OUR SOVEREIGN LAND. TO MAKE US A NATION.
HE PUT THE AMALEKITES IN OUR WAY TO TEST US AND PREPARE US FOR THE BATTLES AHEAD.
MANY WANTED TO GO BACK AND LIVE AMONG OUR ENEMY, THE EGYPTIANS, RATHER THAN FIGHT AND STRUGGLE FOR THEIR OWN PEOPLE.
THIS STORY REPEATS ITSELF IN THIS WEEK’S HAFTORAH. WE READ OF ANOTHER BATTLE.
THIS BATTLE, AT MOUNT TABOR, WHICH IS NORTH OF AFULA, WAS THE MOMENT WHEN ISRAEL REGAINED SOVEREIGNTY IN OUR LAND. HAD WE LOST THIS BATTLE WE, VERY LIKELY, WOULD NOT BE HERE IN ISRAEL TODAY. THAT’S HOW DECISIVE IT WAS. IT WAS TRULY A TURNING POINT IN OUR HISTORY. WE WERE BADLY OUTNUMBERED AT THE BATTLE. ISN’T THAT ALWAYS THE CASE? NUMBERS COULD HAVE COUNTED.
AND YET, CLOSE TO THE SCENE OF THE BATTLE WAS THE TOWN OF MEROZ. IT WAS POPULATED BY ISRAELITES, JEWS WHO, UNBELIEVABLY, REFUSED TO COME TO THE AID OF OUR PEOPLE. OR MAYBE IT’S NOT SO UNBELIEVABLE WHEN WE SEE JEWS TODAY FAVOUR OUR ENEMIES RATHER THAN THE JEWISH STATE OF ISRAEL.
THEY REFUSED TO LIFT A FINGER TO HELP THEIR PEOPLE, OUR PEOPLE, AT A CRITICAL TIME IN OUR HISTORY. AND WHAT DOES THIS WEEK’S SEDRA SAY ABOUT THEM?
JUDGES v: 23 SAYS “CURSE YOU, MEROZ. CURSE YOUR INHABITANTS BECAUSE YOU DID NOT COME TO THE HELP OF THE LORD.”
IT SAYS "HELP THE LORD" NOT "HELP THE PEOPLE". GOD DEMANDS OF US TO FIGHT FOR OUR LAND. THIS MESSAGE REPEATS ITSELF THROUGHOUT THE BIBLE AND EVEN IN OUR MODERN HISTORY.
IN THIS FIGHT, WE MUST WELCOME AND BLESS THOSE THAT HELP US EVEN IF THEY ARE NOT JEWISH, AND CURSE THOSE WHO DON’T, ESPECIALLY IF THEY ARE JEWISH.
THE REAL HERO, OR MORE ACCURATELY HEROINE, OF THE BATTLE OF TABOR WAS A WOMAN, YAEL. SHE RISKED HER LIFE WHEN SHE KILLED CICERA, THE ENEMIES GENERAL AND CHIEF OF STAFF. HER BRAVE ACT WAS THE TURNING POINT IN THIS IMPORTANT BATTLE FOR ISRAEL.
WHAT WAS SO SPECIAL AND UNUSUAL ABOUT YAEL? WE LEARN THAT SHE WASN’T AN ISRAELITE. SHE WASN’T EVEN JEWISH. YET SHE WARRANTS PRIDE OF PLACE IN OUR BIBLE.
ISN’T THAT STRANGE? NOT REALLY. IN NEXT WEEK’S SEDRA WE WILL LEARN ABOUT JETHRO, AND HE WASN’T JEWISH EITHER, AT LEAST UNTIL HE CONVERTED, BUT HE, LIKE YAEL, HAD A DEEP RESPECT AND LOVE FOR ISRAEL AND THE JEWISH PEOPLE.
WHAT IS CRYSTAL CLEAR FROM THIS WEEK'S BIBLE READING IS THAT GOD WANTS US, IN FACT HE INSISTS, THAT WE FIGHT FOR OUR LAND AND OUR INHERITANCE.
ON THE SUBJECT OF RELIGION AND BATTLES, ELI YISHAI, THE LEADER OF THE SHAS RELIGIOUS PARTY, RECENTLY TOLD US THAT THE REASON WE DID NOT ERADICATE HAMAS IN OPERATION CAST LEAD WAS BECAUSE OUR SOLDIERS DID NOT DAVEN (PRAY) ENOUGH. HE COMPARED THAT BATTLE WITH THE SIX DAY WAR IN WHICH WE WON DECISIVELY. HE CLAIMED OUR SOLDIERS WERE MORE RELIGIOUS THEN. I’VE GOT NEWS FOR ELI YISHAI. HE IS WRONG.
THE IDF DURING THE SIX DAY WAR WAS LED BY SECULAR OFFICERS. MOST OF THE SOLDIERS IN THE SPECIAL UNITS CAME FROM SECULAR KIBBUTZIM.
OUR MILITARY LEADERS IN THAT WAR, MOSHE DAYAN, YIZCHAK RABIN, MOTA GUR WERE ALL SECULAR MEN.
AND YET, THEY LED OUR FORCES TO A VICTORY OF BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS WHEN WE LIBERATED JERUSALEM.
WHEN MOTA GUR SENT THAT MESSAGE ‘THE TEMPLE MOUNT IS IN OUR HANDS!’ THE WORLD JOINED WITH ISRAEL IN APPRECIATING A DIVINE, GOD GIVEN, MOMENT WHEN GOD’S PROMISE TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE CAME TRUE. JEWS, RELIGIOUS AND NON-RELIGIOUS, PRAYED TOGETHER AND GAVE THANKS FOR THIS MOMENT IN TIME. THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL, AND THE JEWS OF THE WORLD, SHARED THIS MOMENT KNOWING IT WAS HOLY, IT WAS WHAT GOD INTENDED FOR US, AND THAN GOD’S HAND WAS IN OUR VICTORY.
I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST DAVENING. I HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO DO IT FROM TIME TO TIME. BUT THERE ARE TIMES, AS IN THE STORIES OF "BESHALLACH", WHEN GOD WANTS US TO ACT, NOT PRAY. WHEN THE ISRAELITES ARRIVED AT THE RED SEA, HOTLY PURSUED BY THE EGYPTIAN ARMY, THEY CRIED AND ORDERED MOSES TO PRAY TO GOD ON THEIR BEHALF. TO PARAPHRASE EXODUS xiv:15, GOD SAID TO MOSES, ‘’WHY ARE YOU CRYING TO ME. STOP IT. DON’T PRAY. ACT!”
THERE ARE TIMES, LIKE TODAY WHEN WE ARE BEING DEMONISED AND DELEGITIMISED, THAT CALLS UPON US TO ACT, NOT TO COMPLAIN TO OUR LEADERS, OR TO GOD, BUT TO ACT AND DO IT FOR THE SAKE OF OUR NATION.
SO HERE WE HAVE REPEATED INSTANCES WHERE GOD INSISTS THAT WE FIGHT THE BATTLES FOR THE LAND HE HAS GIVEN TO US – WHERE HE SAW WE WERE NOT FIT TO FIGHT THE PHILISTINES, WHERE WE TOOK ON THE AMELEKITES, WHERE HE GUIDED US TO VICTORY OVER THE CANAANITES AT TABOR, EVEN BROUGHT US TO LIBERATE JERUSALEM IN THE SIX DAY WAR SO THAT THE PRAYER “NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM" BECAME A REALITY.
SO WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE NAME OF RELIGION IN OUR NATION TODAY?
I REFUSE TO TOLERATE A COUNTRY, OR A RELIGION, WHERE WOMEN ARE FORCED TO SIT AT THE BACK OF A BUS BECAUSE RELIGIOUS MEN DICTATE IT. IF OUR WOMEN ARE BRAVE ENOUGH TO DRIVE OUR TANKS, FLY OUR FIGHTER JETS AND, YES, DRIVE OUR BUSES, THEY SHOULD BE ABLE TO SIT ANYWAY THEY CHOOSE. AND IF THE MEN DON’T LIKE IT, LET THEM WALK.
I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THIS IS ABOUT PURITY OF THE SOUL. NO IT ISN’T. I CAN LOOK AT THE WOMEN IN OUR SYNAGOGUE AND APPRECIATE THEIR BEAUTY, THEIR CHARM, THEIR INTELLIGENCE WITHOUT IMPURE THOUGHTS. WHAT IS IT ABOUT THESE MEN? IT IS, IN MY OPINION, ABOUT CONTROL. THEY ARE COMING OUT OF THEIR GHETTO AND IMPOSING THEMSELVES ON US WITH AN INCREASINGLY RADICAL IDEOLOGY.
WE SHOULDN’T TOLERATE A SOCIETY WHERE WOMEN HAVE TO WALK ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STREET, OR ENTER A SHOP THROUGH A DIFFERENT ENTRANCE. SOON THEY WILL WANT TO CLOAK OUR WOMEN IN A BURKHA. IS THAT WHAT WE WANT? IS THAT TRUE JUDAISM? I DON’T THINK SO.
IF OUR SYNAGOGUE IS TO CONTINUE TO BE THE WONDERFUL LIBERAL COMMUNITY IT HAS BECOME, WE SHOULD ALL BE OUTRAGED BY THIS.
WE SHOULD NOT TOLERATE THE BEHAVIOUR OF A JEW, ESPECIALLY A RELIGIOUS JEW, SPITTING ON AND ABUSING A YOUNG GIRL IN RAMAT BET SHEMESH, OR HAVE OUR MINISTER OF HEALTH WALK OUT ON AN AWARDS CEREMONY BECAUSE THE SCIENTIST THAT WENT ON THE STAGE TO RECEIVE THE PRIZE WAS A WOMAN.
IT IS INTOLERABLE THAT ANY WOMAN IS BROUGHT TO THE POINT OF TEARS AND FEAR IN THE NAME OF RELIGION. THIS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, IS NOT MY RELIGION.
AND I ALSO REFUSE TO TOLERATE THE NOTION THAT IS WRONG TO HEAR WOMEN SOLDIERS SING. THE INTRODUCTION OF THIS MODERN DAY PERVERSION OF OUR RELIGION GOES AGAINST EVERYTHING THAT OUR BIBLE TELLS US.
LOOK AT THIS WEEK’S BIBLE PORTION, FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE! YES, FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE. THIS WEEK’S READING CLEARLY PROVES THAT THIS NONSENSE HAS NO PLACE IN JUDAISM.
ONE PERSON WENT SO FAR TO SAY HE WOULD RATHER FACE A FIRING SQUAD THAN HEAR A GIRL SOLDIER SING AT AN IDF CEREMONY. MY GOD, WHAT HAVE WE COME TO?
WHAT WOULD THESE SOLDIERS HAVE DONE WHEN OUR PEOPLE MADE IT TO THE SAFETY OF THE FAR BANK OF THE RED SEA AND MIRIAM TOOK OUT HER MUSICAL INSTRUMENT AND LED THE ISRAELITE WOMEN IN SONG AND DANCE? CLOSED THEIR EARS? CLOSED THEIR EYES? SHOT THEMSELVES?
THE BIBLE TELLS US THAT THE MEN JOINED IN THE CELEBRATION, AND THAT’S HOW IT SHOULD BE.
MIRIAM’S SONG WAS A SONG OF NATIONAL TRIUMPH AS IT IS TODAY AT OUR IDF CEREMONIES.
IF GOD WAS PLEASED THEN, HE IS EQUALLY PLEASED TODAY. I WILL TAKE MY RULING FROM HIM AND NOT FROM SOMEBODY LIVING IN ONE OF THE GHETTOS WHO DEVISES MAN-MADE LAWS IN CONTRADICTION TO WHAT WE READ IN OUR HOLY BOOK.
AS FURTHER PROOF OF THIS, THIS WEEK’S HAFTORAH TELLS US OF THE SONG OF DEBORAH AFTER THE BATTLE OF TABOR. THE MEN AGAIN JOINED IN THE CELEBRATION. THEY DID NOT TURN AWAY, OR PUT A TENTPEG IN THEIR FOREHEAD. WHAT FURTHER PROOF DO WE NEED THAT THIS NEW PHENOMENON IS WRONG?
LADIES! I’M WITH YOU. I WILL BE ONE OF YOUR CHAMPIONS. WE CANNOT HAVE OUR RELIGION, AND OUR COUNTRY, DICTATED TO BY PEOPLE WHO WILL REDUCE US TO THE LEVEL OF THE TALIBAN OR THE IMPOSITION OF A JEWISH-STYLE SHARIAH LAW.
WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE A LIBERAL, ENLIGHTENED, PEOPLE. SURELY WE ARE NOT FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE ISLAMISTS?
IF ISRAEL WAS, AND IS TO BE, THE NATION OF MIRIAMS, DEBORAHS, AND YAELS, WE NEED TO FIGHT TO KEEP IT THAT WAY.
THIS IS WHAT GOD WANTS. THIS IS WHAT WE DESERVE.
SHABBAT SHALOM!
Barry Shaw
Author of ISRAEL - RECLAIMING THE NARRATIVE.
www.israelnarrative.com
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