Parsha Matos 5765:  Remaining "in peace" during a War of Survival.
By, Moshe Burt


I'm a bit late with this Parsha HaShevua.  The struggle for Gush Katif has been hot and heavy and, when not updating the news Portal and blog or travelling to Kissufim, I managed to be plagued with a computer problem on Friday which precluded completing this Parsha Shevua to send out via email.  And the version I said over during Shabbos was put together "on the fly."

In Parsha Matos, Sh'vatim Gad and Reuven approached Moshe Rabbeinu regarding their desire to graze their flocks and settle their families on the East side of the Yarden.  To this, Moshe Rabbeinu replied, "Shall your brothers go off to war, and shall you sit here?" (Sefer Bamidbar, Perek 32, posuk 6)

Moshe was quite angry at the two Sh'vatim.  He was concerned lest Gad and Reuven wold avoid taking part in the wars for Eretz Yisrael, that the Sh'vatim might follow suit and B'nai Yisrael might be condemned to wandering in the desert another 40 years.

There are those commentators who hold that the hearts of Gad and Reuven were in the right place and that they had every intention, of their own volition, of taking part in the wars and, in fact, preceeding the rest of B'nai Israel into battle.

There were other commentators who viewed the desire of Gad and Reuven to settle on the East side of the Yarden as representing greed, a secular approach to Eretz Yisrael and a tendency toward separatism vs. communal responsibility.

But, I found the most poignant explanation of the situation as coming from the Tiferet Yehonatan who is quoted in the sefer "Torah Gems" where he states, on "'Shall your brothers go off to war, and shall you sit here?", that '...when your enemies attack Israel -- you shall sit here' -- you will remain in peace in whatever country you are living in?  Do not think so for an instant, because a war in defense of Israel is a war for the survival of the entire Jewish people whereever they are.'" (Torah Gems, Aharon Yaakov Greenberg, Parsha Matos, page 156.)

This explanation is as poignant now, as we gear up to battle for Gush Katif against the Regime and it's warped plan to Chas V'Chalila expell Jews, our brethren from Jewish land, as it was when related to Sh'vatim Gad and Reuven and the War to capture the Land of Israel.

There are 4, no 5 reasons why this expulsion stinks on ice. And they should all be taken as of equal importance.

1/ Jew does not expel Jew, and surely not from the Land of Israel.  And yes, Gush Katif and all of Gaza is part of the Land of Israel as researched and written on by Dr. Menachem Kovacs of Baltimore last year and published on the Israel National News website.       .
 
2/ Sharon is making us all pay for his alleged wrongdoings and those of his nasty, corrupt family. Paying blackmail, while at once seeking to rack in big bucks on the Casino he wants built on the blood, toil, hurt and agony of his brethren, his constituency, both in Gush Katif and throughout all of Eretz Yisrael.  What kind of despicable human being ...??
 
3. The loss of a significantly huge piece of Israel's agricultural sector would kill agriculture and the entire economy.

4. And when the Kassams now falling in Neve Dekalim and Sderot begin falling in Ashdod, Ashkelon, Kiryat Gat and beyond?? What about the collective tax bite and minus for Yosef Q. Secular Israeli? Who will the Am then blame?

5. We are the front line of Judaism. Our humiliation at rewarding terror would cast all Jews here and in Chutz L'Aretz again as "spineless". Look for serious Anti-Semitic backlash. And Chas V'Chalila after Jew would expell Jew, expect the Arabs and the world to attack us at will and as we have probably not seen in the past 50 years. We would again be viewed by the world, as we were seen by the Nazis, as spineless, sub-human creatures. Nothing would remain sacred.

We felt betrayed when we were attacked at the Munich Olympics, on the Holy day of Yom Kippur, in the Air France plane hijacked to Entebbe. Don't dare feel betrayed again because, for the Secular Israeli who Chas V'Chalila supports expulsion of his Jewish brothers, perhaps nothing Jewish could ever be sacred again. 

So it is for all of the reasons, that every believing Jew belongs taking part in this battle to his fullest and beyond, to the extent that he can.

B'Ezrat Hashem, may it be that come this Rosh Hashanah, we pray thanks to Hashem for the Ge’ula Shlaima and for keeping our Brethren in Gush Katif and in the Shomron in their homes and neighborhoods and away from the horror and Chillul Hashem of expulsion.   And may we soon see freedom and long life in Eretz Yisrael for Jonathan Pollard.

May we see the “Yom Hashem Al Kol HaGoyim,” Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!

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Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of the Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.
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