by Eliana Benador
✡ I will bless those who bless Israel and I will curse those who curse Israel ✡
בראשית ✡ Bereishit ✡ Genesis ✡
As Rosh Hashana celebrations began last Wednesday night, it was time for reflection and introspection. And this time, so much became clear, especially as a on that same day, my article on “Saudi-made Taqqiya Injects Muslim Fantasy of Democracy for our Corrupt Politicians” was published here. In it, I dealt with the issue of Saudi women willingly abiding by the patriarchal, misogynist laws of their land, to say it mildly.
By contrast, Jews, who have had queens and heroins as an active and proactive element in their History, worldwide honored two women at the end of Rosh Hashana main portion: The first day was the story of Hannah, Elkana’s wife -who had been childless for many years. This echoed the story discussed in the day’s Torah reading, about Sarah giving birth to Isaac after many years of childlessness. During one of her annual pilgrimages to Shiloh, the site of the Tabernacle, in Samaria, Chanah tearfully asked G‑d to bless her with a son, promising to dedicate him to His service. Chana conceived and gave birth to Shmuel (Samuel), who she brought to Shiloh and entrusted him to the care of Eli. The haftorah ends with Chanah’s prayer and prophesies regarding the Messianic redemption.
On the second day, we read about G‑d’s everlasting love for His people, and the future in gathering of their exiles. In the last verse of this hauntingly beautiful haftorah, Jeremiah begins by affirming G‑d’s love for the Jewish people. “With everlasting love I have loved you; therefore I have drawn loving kindness over you.” Because of this love, G‑d assures His nation that they have a very bright future awaiting them. Jeremiah then describes the in gathering of the exiles, when all of Israel will be returned to the Holy Land: “Yet again shall you plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria, indeed planters shall plant [them] and enjoy their fruit . . . Behold, I will bring [Israel] from the land of the north. . . I will turn their mourning into joy, and will console them and gladden them after their sorrow.” Jeremiah then describes the heavenly scene, where the silence is broken by the sound of bitter weeping. Matriarch Rachel refuses to be consoled, for her children have been exiled. G‑d responds: “Still your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears . . . There is hope for your future; the children [of Israel] shall return to their border.”
And, last but not least, yesterday, we had a fast day to commemorate the assassination of the former Israeli Governor of Judea, Gedaliah, a righteous man and the tragedy that it brought upon the Jewish people, roughly four to five years after the destruction of Jerusalem and the First Temple in 586 BCE.
Fast-forwarding to our days, we are witnessing intense world pressure on Israel and her leaders to give back strategic land recuperated as a result of war victories in the past years.
But, in order to better understand this complex situation, I am going to take my Torah and read together with you, my readers, some invaluable information.
To begin with, the Torah is not a prayer book. In Judaism we have prayer books exclusively for that, to pray. We have *Weekday* Siddur or prayer book; we have *Shabbat* Siddur or prayer book ad hoc for Shabbat. For Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, we have an ad hoc prayer book: the Machzor or, in plural, the Machzorim.
The Torah is the most comprehensive study book ever, made out exclusively of G-d’s lessons of history, geography, survival kit, moral behavioral code, philosophy, judicial system, health and medical issues, human, and animal relation pattern, society structure, seasonal agricultural systems and so much more .
Some of us, learn it, more or less, on a daily or weekly basis, we study passages, we discuss their meanings and symbolism -and there are great Torah sages that have lived through centuries and millennia, from whom we have inherited their wise approach through their writings and via the oral Torah.
For full disclosure: I am by no length a Torah erudite. I am an observant Jew who is proud of her Jewishness and of Israel, who finds Judaism a blessing in her life and who understands how the word of G-d in this very materialistic life is the Light that can make us achieve a better way for a successful survival. And I am a long time activist and a writer who stands for truth and justice. Both of which are tragically missing in our world nowadays.
“And God said [to Abraham], Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son [at this set time in the next year] … and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.” Genesis 17:15-22
ISRAEL’S BORDERS
“And the L-RD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land:
The East to West borders of the Land of Canaan were from the
the river of Egypt (the Nile) To the Great River, the Euphrates, Gen 15:18
The North to South borders of the Land of Canaan were from Hamat (which is 100 miles North of Damascus) towards the south to M’rivot-Kadesh 100 miles south of Jerusalem and to the Egyptian river, the Nile.
[This would include all of modern day Israel, the west bank (Judea and Samaria) of the Jordan, all of Lebanon,
and substantial parcels of Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.]
Thus saith the L-rd G-D; This shall be the border, whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions.
And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another: concerning the which I lifted up mine hand to give it unto your fathers: and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance.
And this shall be the border of the land toward the north side, from the great sea, the way of Hethlon, as men go to Zedad;
Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazarhatticon, which is by the coast of Hauran.
And the border from the sea shall be Hazarenan, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath. And this is the north side.
And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran, and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land of Israel by Jordan, from the border unto the east sea. And this is the east side.
And the south side southward, from Tamar even to the waters of strife in Kadesh, the river to the great sea. And this is the south side southward.
The west side also shall be the great sea from the border, till a man come over against Hamath. This is the west side.
So shall ye divide this land unto you according to the [twelve] tribes of Israel.” Ezekhiel 47:13-21
JERUSALEM
While Muslims argue that they have legitimate claim to Jerusalem and more, there is absolutely no mention of Jerusalem in the Koran. As a matter of fact, they do not pray towards Jerusalem, ever. It is also never mentioned in any of their prayers. It has also never had any relation with the life of Mohammed -and for that matter, it has no political or scholarly connection with Islam and has never been capital to any Muslim country.
Comparatively, however, Jerusalem is mentioned 667 times in the Jewish Torah and for that matter, Zion -which refers to Jerusalem and sometimes to the Land of Israel- appears 154 times, both together, 821 times. The Christian Bible mentions Jerusalem 154 times and Zion 7 times. However, writer Moshe Kohn specifies that Jerusalem and Zion do not appear even once in the Qur’an, just “as they do in the Hindu Bhagavad-Gita, the Taoist Tao-Te Ching, the Buddhist Dhamapada and the Zoroastrian Zend Avesta.”
ISRAEL, ONLY COUNTRY WITH G-D GIVEN BORDERS
Fact is, that although other cultures, civilizations and countries are mentioned or alluded in the Torah, it is exclusively His Land, the Land of Israel, that actually received precise borders from G-d Himself. None other. Only Israel.
And that alone explains the miracles and the wonders that have happened and continue to happen in Israel. The desert flourished when finally the Jews arrived back home after the European, Nazi Holocaust.
Even amazing Israel war victories are so unexplainable that military strategic courses throughout the world do not teach them because they are just that: unexplainable.
As recent as last December 2010, the largest natural gas reserve was discovered in Israel worth approximately $95 billion. Coincidence? No. We, Jews, know there are no coincidences.
To wrap up, here one of my readers’ comment on my article on the Cern and Israel: The Real Friend Walks In as the Whole World Walks Out:
“The positive contributions to the world by Jewish people are staggering.
It is statistically impossible for so small a subset of people to have made so many advances in every field of scholarly endeavor. Nevertheless, here it is, irrefutably, in black and white.
At a minimum, the world should be saying a humble “thank you”, instead of attacking the Jewish people -and Israel.
Anyone who understands the statistical anomaly will be filled with wonder for these amazing people who have contributed so much to humanity.”
G-d Bless His Land, Israel, and His people, the Jewish people
Copyright©ElianaBenador Art©StephenEHughes
Goodwill Ambassador Eliana Benador is a national and international global strategist and the former CEO and founder of Benador Associates. You can find her at the Goodwill Ambassador or at her website. Follow her on Twitter, or her political page on Facebook and her business page on Facebook