Abraham Abinu was born into a world run by powerful, corrupt leaders (the political class). They used “religion,” idolatry, to manipulate the masses and hold on to power. The product they sold, the idols and their worship, was fake. Many people knew it. Nobody questioned it. The marketing was too good. They had built a propaganda machine so effective, a real feat of mind engineering, that no one could escape it.
The Sages say the supreme leader was King Nimrod, “a mighty hunter” (Bereshit 10:9). A polite way of saying murderer and tyrant. Or, as Rashi explains, Nimrod was a marketing genius: he “hunted people’s minds” and talked them into submitting to him. His most ambitious project, also according to the Sages, was the Tower of Babel. There he got all of humanity to “speak one language.” In other words, to think the same thoughts, so that no one would dare step away from the totalitarian regime.
FEAR
Then Abraham was born. Maimonides tells us that Abraham, while still young, began to think for himself (Hilkhot Aboda Zara 1:3). He watched the sun, the moon and the stars, and asked who was moving them. He had no teachers and no books. At forty, he concluded that there was one Creator, and that the whole world was wrong!
That was great. But it was not the most important thing Abraham did. It is not what made him the most influential man in human history. Others in his time, like Shem, Eber or Malkitsedeq, king of Shalem, also knew the gods were fake and believed in one God (or in a supreme God). But none of them dared to say it in public. No one had the courage to confront paganism. Out of comfort, ignorance or fear. Society had become a partner and an accomplice of the dictators and the corrupt. It was a regime of terror. Those who disagreed with Nimrod’s ideas were executed. Burned alive, so the rest of society would learn the lesson. And so, out of fear, the dictatorship became normal, and everyone submitted.
ABRAHAM BREAKS THE SILENCE
Abraham confronted Nimrod’s world. He did not keep his ideas to himself. He went out to argue and debate openly with the people of Ur Kasdim. He told them their gods were “fake” (quite an insult to the system), and he tried to reason with them: how could idols be the creators of the world if they could not even move? He posted all the facts on the social media of his day. All the evidence. But data and logical arguments were not enough to get people out of their comfort zone. Not even those who knew the truth. People kept obeying the regime.
The most extreme case was Abraham’s own father. The Midrash tells that when Abraham smashed his father’s idols, Terach heard his son’s convincing arguments and was not convinced. Quite the opposite! Terach accused Abraham and brought him before the authorities, before King Nimrod, who sentenced him to be burned alive. But God miraculously saved him.
In this week’s Parasha, Lekh Lekha, the Torah gives Abraham a special name, or nickname. It calls him “Abram HaIbri,” Abraham the Hebrew (Bereshit 14:13):
וַיָּבֹא֙ הַפָּלִ֔יט וַיַּגֵּ֖ד לְאַבְרָ֣ם הָעִבְרִ֑י
The word ibri comes from eber, “the other side.” Literally, Abraham came from the other side of the Euphrates River. But the Midrash (Bereshit Rabba 42:8), with great psychological depth, reads it another way: “the other side of the river” also alludes to Abraham’s courage. While the whole world, out of convenience, ignorance or fear, stood on the side of the idols and of Nimrod the tyrant, Abraham stood on the other side. The side of truth. All alone. And he stayed there. Despite enormous peer pressure, Abraham had the courage to defend his ideas and to confront tyranny, falsehood and hypocrisy head on. He fought alone, he won and, in time, he LED.
ISRAEL HAIBRI
The descendants of Abraham, and the nation they built, are in a similar situation today. They stand on the other side: where no one else stands. They defend themselves and confront the forces of evil like no other nation. Alone.
To understand it, just look at this table:
| Surrendering to Islam | Fighting Islam |
|---|---|
| 🇬🇧 UK 🇫🇷 France 🇪🇸 Spain 🇵🇹 Portugal 🇮🇪 Ireland 🇨🇦 Canada 🇦🇺 Australia 🇧🇪 Belgium 🇳🇴 Norway 🇸🇪 Sweden |
Israel 🇮🇱 |
Today, in the streets of Europe’s capitals, you hear a frightening slogan: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” What those words mean is simple: intolerance of the very existence of the world’s only Jewish state, Israel, which sits between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Let’s be clear. It is not a call for peace. It is not even a call for “two” states, one Jewish and one Palestinian, living side by side. It is the radical slogan of Hamas, a terrorist organization, and of regimes that openly declare that their goal is the disappearance of Israel.
The worst part is that, ironically, since October 7, 2023, it is not only Islamist extremists who chant this slogan. A large part of non-Muslim society has joined this campaign with “genocidal” ambitions. The Palestinian flag is “raised and idolized” in Paris, London, Belfast, Brussels, Berlin and New York. The call to destroy Israel has become normal, and no one confronts the extremists head on. Out of conviction, ignorance or fear.
WHY THE OBSESSION WITH ISRAEL?
Radical Islam and its European partners are obsessed with Israel. Why? Because while the countries of Europe cave to Islamism, Israel has become the ONLY COUNTRY ON THE PLANET with the courage to confront the Islamists, militarily and politically. And B”H, it is defeating them!
The radical Islamists pressure the whole world to stop Israel. To make Israel surrender, to make it stop defending itself. And the Europeans, instead of applauding Israel for fighting the very people who want to destroy Europe, criticize it, accuse it falsely, demonize it. In September 2025, less than two years after the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, and with hostages still in Gaza, Britain, France, Canada, Australia and other countries responded to October 7 by “recognizing a Palestinian state.” Their leaders reason that if they give the Islamists what they want, Israel’s head, the Islamists will calm down, integrate into their societies and leave them alone. But as those who know say, what starts with the Jews does not end with the Jews. Europe is already paying the price for its naivety.
The price Israel pays for its courage is very high: isolation. Israel is an isolated, condemned, unmentionable country. It is the Abraham HaIbri of the nations.
THE OTHER SIDE
Ibri means “the one who stands on the other side.” Abraham came from the other side of the river, and he never crossed over to everyone else’s side. He did not seek anyone’s approval. He did not trade his convictions to be accepted. He stayed alone, on the side of truth. On God’s side.
They accused him, persecuted him, condemned him. And still, he kept going. Against everyone. And in the end, the idols of Ur Kasdim disappeared, and the idea Abraham was willing to die for is known today by the entire world.
Israel is living the same story today. It stands alone, accused, condemned. The nations demand that it give in, surrender, cross over to the other side. But Israel, like Abraham, does not move. Because being alone does not mean being wrong. Sometimes being alone is the proof that you are on the right side.
Today Israel stands alone against the world. And BE”H, like Abraham, it will triumph.
