Norm also shared that his Mom was a very good judge of character, for example being very good at being able to spot a “fish”. And although she could sometimes come across as very direct and blunt, she was very loving and caring and most interested in being helpful and honest. David shared about having her at his Pesach seder.
This Shabbos we discussed from Rav Yeager, 3 types of opposition we face as Jews, and where these originate in the Torah. The first type of opposition is from those who do not believe in God at all. This includes atheist and those who worship idols. We discussed the idea that these people originate from Nimrod, a person that tried to take Abraham’s life. The second type of opposition we face is from those who believe our Torah has been completely replaced by the Koran and is not valid at all. We discussed the idea that these people originate from Ishmael. This opposition includes the Islamic terrorists who have been active in our world recently. And the third type of opposition comes from those who accept our Torah as valid but object to us being the “chosen people”. We discussed the idea that these people originate from Esau. This opposition includes those who teach that believing in Jesus is the way to be “chosen”.
We discussed that there are 3 different ways we can fight this opposition. These are the same as the 3 ways in which Jacob tried to deal with his brother’s opposition in the parsha. We can attempt to negotiate and appease. We can fight with armies and military. And we can pray. We spent some time discussing the balance between fighting and making peace.
We discussed how the same principles that apply in the parsha, apply in our current day. In the parsha, Jacob’s son Simon and Levi have no interest at all in making peace and kill all the male inhabitants of Shechem. Jacob disapproves of this saying that they went overboard wiping everyone out which will only cause hatred and lead to further problems. Today we face the same questions. If we completely wipe out muslim countries in order to deal with terrorism, we risk stirring up anger from more than a billion people.
On the other hand, doing nothing at all other than offering to make peace doesn’t work either as we will continue to suffer from those who continue to strike out against us. We clearly must fight to some extent. Dave W brought up the point that in recent history we have really backed away and gone too much in the direction of doing nothing and being peaceful when we should be fighting.
We discussed that there was not really as much conflict when we only lived in Islamic countries. It was when we started following our Torah which commanded us to live in Israel, that problems began. The descendants of Ishmael consider our Torah and what it says to be completely superseded by their Koran, so any suggested from God we should live in Israel is false and untrue, according to them.
We discussed the good news that the descendants of Esau have made T’Shuva to some extent. We see this amongst the strong support for Israel that is found within this country, and from some through-out the world. Although there has been some T’Shuva, there is still hope from others that we will assimilate and one day change and revert to Christian.
We discussed how many of the events in the parsha take place in Samaria and Judea. I remember going to visit Beth El when I was in Israel and touring a tefillin factory. Norm remarked that the wine from this region is excellent, and we should consider purchasing some in order to help them economically. We discussed how we have signed a peace agreement with Israel and Jordan but it has not been that easy with the Palestinians.
Finally we discussed that this is the parsha in which Jacob’s name is changed to Israel. And that from this parsha comes the prohibition against eating sirloin.
This is a summary of what we discussed. No halachic rulings are intended or should be inferred.
We discussed that there was not really as much conflict when we only lived in Islamic countries. It was when we started following our Torah which commanded us to live in Israel, that problems began. The descendants of Ishmael consider our Torah and what it says to be completely superseded by their Koran, so any suggested from God we should live in Israel is false and untrue, according to them.
We discussed the good news that the descendants of Esau have made T’Shuva to some extent. We see this amongst the strong support for Israel that is found within this country, and from some through-out the world. Although there has been some T’Shuva, there is still hope from others that we will assimilate and one day change and revert to Christian.
We discussed how many of the events in the parsha take place in Samaria and Judea. I remember going to visit Beth El when I was in Israel and touring a tefillin factory. Norm remarked that the wine from this region is excellent, and we should consider purchasing some in order to help them economically. We discussed how we have signed a peace agreement with Israel and Jordan but it has not been that easy with the Palestinians.
Finally we discussed that this is the parsha in which Jacob’s name is changed to Israel. And that from this parsha comes the prohibition against eating sirloin.
This is a summary of what we discussed. No halachic rulings are intended or should be inferred.
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