DICTIONARY:

Opportunism is the art, policy, or practice of taking advantage of opportunities or circumstances, often with little regard for principles ….

Synonym for opportunism: exploitation

KINDNESS WITH STRANGERS

This Parasha provides us with some details of the personality of Abraham Abinu. Already close to 100 years of age, what does Abraham dedicate his life to? The man who discovered God, how does he spend his precious time? Abraham, the Tora tells us this week, is sitting in his tent actively looking for people who need help. We know the story of the three “visitors” of Abraham, but perhaps we do not absorb the enormous magnitude of what Abraham does. Let me explain: Abraham lifted his eyes, and behold, he saw in front of him three men [foreigners, people totally unknown to him]; he stood up and ran toward them, bowed down to them” and invited them to his house. We know the visitors were “angels” [messengers of God, prophets, etc.] but the main point of the story is that Abraham did not see anything special in these men. He did not reach out to them because they had money, and he wanted to take advantage of them: The Tora describes them as “walkers” – a sign of poverty – and not as traveling merchants riding on donkeys or camels. Abraham saw this, but far from discouraging him, the fact that these people were (or seemed) humble was the opportunity Abraham was waiting for! Abraham lived a very comfortable life in material terms. In passing, the Tora mentions that he had a house, food, livestock, workers, property, and silver. Abraham was sitting at his tent’s door, waiting for an opportunity to help others. This behavior is entirely abnormal!

OPPORTUNISM IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION

“Opportunists see a chance to gain some advantage from a situation, often at the expense of ethics or morals. An opportunist seizes every opportunity to improve things for himself.” 

A stranger you have never seen before is the perfect potential victim of tricksters or con artists who cheat, steal, and abuse. Without fear of retaliation because strangers are defenseless. Notice that the very word “opportunism” is always used negatively. Abraham’s opportunism, however, is 180 degrees different. Abraham was purposely on the lookout for someone who needed help. Please think if you have ever met someone like Abraham Abinu! Someone is standing outside a supermarket, for example, waiting for the opportunity to selflessly help people who need assistance getting their shopping bags to their car or something like that. Are there individuals like this? Human angels, who spend time “waiting for the opportunity to help the humble and the needy” selflessly?

CHESED IN YOUR DNA …

Abraham is proactive in his kindness; he does not wait at the door of his house for someone to come and ask for his help. The visitors did not even approach Abraham’s tent. It was Abraham who literally “ran” to meet these strangers; he offered them water, food, and shade as if he had something to sell! The Tora records this particular story because, in the end, these men announced to Abraham that Sara would have a son, but we must remember that this action of Abraham was not the exception but the rule. Abraham devoted his life to this Chesed. The Sages explained that Abraham invited foreigners to his house regularly. And they added that when the guests finished eating and wanted to bless Abraham for his generosity, he would tell them, “You don’t need me to thank me, we need to thank the Creator, who has provided us with this food” (nebarekh sheakhalnu mishelo). Abraham is from a different planet.

PROOF OF JUDAISM

Our Sages say that we, the descendants of Abraham Abinu, have inherited this virtue from him. The Sages affirm that the Jews possess three hereditary characteristics transmitted by our ancestors. So strong (and meaningful) is this genetic load that a Jew who does not have these virtues may not be a Jew: the first one of these traits is Gemilut Hassadim, the inclination of Jews to assist others, to proactively and selflessly care for those in need.

God revealed himself to Abraham in a vision while sitting at his tent’s entrance. Abraham notices that three travelers pass near him, and as was his custom, he runs to invite them to his house. The men accept the invitation and Abraham prepares a sumptuous banquet for them. These men, sent by God, reveal to Abraham that Sara will give birth to a boy within a year. Sara, almost 90 years old, heard this and started laughing. God rebukes Sara reminding Abraham that nothing is impossible for Him.
The men/angels depart and head to Sodom to destroy the five cities of that region for their tremendous corruption. God informs Abraham of his intention to destroy Sodom. In another display of his boundless goodness, Abraham tries to dissuade God and asks him not to destroy the city if fifty righteous people live there. God considers Abraham’s request. But Abraham “negotiates” with God, and finally, God accepts to spare Sodom if only ten righteous people would be found in the city.
The men sent by God reached Sodom. Following what he learned from Abraham, Lot invites them to his house to rest and eat. But the news of foreigners in Lot’s house spreads throughout the city, and people react badly. Accustomed to abusing foreigners, the outraged residents of Sodom surrounded Lot’s house to assault his guests. Lot tries to protect them, but the Sodomites try to break down the door. The angels blind everyone around the house and rush Lot to flee Sodom with his wife and daughters.

God caused fire and brimstone to fall from heaven on Sodom, which destroyed the entire region. (By the way, modern archaeologists have found ample evidence of a meteorite falling in that geographic area, forming the Dead Sea and making it the lowest place on earth. See here). Lot’s wife looked back and was petrified, like a statue (perhaps because of the ashes produced by that mega explosion. Ash states were found in Pompei after the eruption of volcan Vesubio in the year 79 CE). Lot and his daughters took refuge in a cave and thought God had destroyed the whole world and that they were the last survivors. The daughters intoxicate his father with wine and seduce him to repopulate the earth. Both gave birth, and each had a child who eventually became the patriarchs of the Ammonites and Moabites nations.
Abraham moves to the Philistine city of Gerar because of the famine. Abimelekh, the king of the Philistines, takes Sara, who Abraham presented as his sister. But God punished Abimelekh and the members of his palace. God appears to Abimelekh in a dream, warning him about Sara being Abraham’s wife. Abimelekh obeys God, frees Sara, and showers Abraham with gifts as compensation for the damage caused.

Just as the angels who visited Abraham had anticipated, Sarah conceives and gives birth to a son at the age of ninety. The child is called Isaac, “he who will laugh” (or “the one who will make his parents laugh with happiness”). Abraham circumcised Isaac at eight days.
Isaac grows up, and Sara realizes that Ishmael, Isaac’s older half-brother, negatively influences her young son and demands that Abraham expel Ishmael from the house, along with her mother Hagar. God tells Abraham that he must listen to Sarah. Hagar and Ishmael run out of water in the desert and nearly die of thirst. But an angel “opens Hagar’s eyes” and helps her see the water well. Ishmael grew up in the desert and became a skilled hunter.

Seeing that Abraham is God’s chosen one, Abimelekh asks Abraham to make a pact with him: neither of them would try to conquer the other for three generations. Abraham agreed but pointed out to Abimelekh that his man had stolen a well of water that Abraham’s men had dug. Abraham took seven sheep and gave them to Abimelekh as a testimony that he, Abraham, had dug the well. Abraham settles in the city of Beer Sheba and proclaims the name of God to everyone he meets.

In the last Aliya, God tests Abraham’s loyalty. He commands Abraham to take his only son Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice to Him. Abraham sets out for the mountain with Isaac and two of his servants. When he reaches the place, Abraham goes up the mountain with Isaac and builds an altar there. He binds Issac’s hand and foot and prepares to carry out the Divine order. At that moment, he hears an angel of God ordering him to stop. Abraham sees a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. He takes the ram and offers it as a sacrifice to God. God blesses Abraham and his descendants for his loyalty and obedience.
Abraham hears that his sister-in-law Milka has given birth. One of his sons, Bethuel, was the father of Rivka, the future wife of his son Isaac.

Noah was a righteous and upright man who “walked with God.” While humanity was sinking into anarchy, corruption, and violence, Noah remained faithful to God’s ways. God told Noah that He was going to destroy the earth due to the evil and theft that had become normalized: “I am going to bring a mabbul (flood) upon the earth to destroy all living creatures.” But God also promised Noah that He would establish a covenant (of protection) with him and his family, and He instructed him to build a teba (ark) of wood with compartments for animals and storage for food for all the living creatures aboard.

God instructed Noah to bring into the ark seven pairs of pure (kosher) animals and two pairs of impure animals, male and female. Noah did everything according to what God had commanded. Rain began to fall on the earth, and underground springs opened and overflowed so that water covered everything. Noah, his family, and all living creatures in pairs survived in the ark.

The flood lasted for 40 days, covering even the highest mountains and destroying all forms of life. For the next 150 days, the waters covered the earth. God sent powerful winds, and the waters began to recede, and the land started to dry. Noah sent a raven, which found no place without water to rest and returned. Then he sent a dove, which also returned. Seven days later, the dove returned with an olive leaf in its beak, indicating that the waters had receded and there were already trees—food!—on the earth. After another seven days, the dove did not return, and Noah knew that the land had dried.

God then told Noah, “Leave the ark with your family and all the living creatures with you. Be fruitful and multiply upon the earth.” Noah built an altar to God and offered sacrifices from each pure animal and bird. God was pleased with the sacrifices and promised not to destroy humanity again, recognizing that the inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.

God blessed Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, allowing them to eat animal meat but prohibiting them from eating the flesh of an animal that had not yet been slaughtered (eber min hachai, or consuming the flesh of a mutilated animal). He also explicitly prohibited murder. Additionally, He established that the rainbow would be the sign of this eternal covenant between God and the earth.

Noah became a farmer, planted a vineyard, drank wine, became intoxicated, and undressed in his tent. His son Ham saw his nakedness—or perhaps this is a euphemism for something more serious—and told his two brothers. Shem and Japheth respectfully entered the tent and covered their father’s nakedness.

After the flood, Noah lived 350 years, dying at the age of 950. Both he and his sons had many descendants who spread throughout the earth.

All humanity spoke one language and had a unified project: to build a city with a tower—step pyramids or ziggurats—that reached to the sky to make a name for themselves and avoid being scattered across the earth. (Or, to challenge God or survive another possible flood; interpretations of the Tower of Babel’s intention vary.) God said, “Now they have one language, and is this what they intend to do?” God confused their language, making them speak different languages, and scattered them across the earth. Each people, each nation, would from now on be differentiated from the others by their language.

The Torah concludes by listing the descendants of Shem, ending with Terah, the father of Abram, who was married to Sarai but had no children. Terah and his family had left Ur Kasdim, a city in Babylonia (200 km from Baghdad), and had reached Haran, in southern Turkey, on their way to the land of Canaan (Israel).

THE GENERATION OF THE FLOOD

When God created humanity, He endowed them with a neshamá—the soul, intelligence, the capacity to think, and the freedom to choose. These faculties were described in the biblical text as being “in the image and likeness of God.” Humanity was not created as just another part of nature but as a supernatural being with the potential to choose between good and evil, to follow the Creator’s guidance, or to be swayed by earthly, insatiable desires.

Ten generations after creation, humanity, as a whole, chose the path of evil. Corruption and violence became normalized in that generation. The powerful—those who should have used their ability and power to lead, organize, and inspire—exploited their leadership for personal gain and to oppress the weak. The prevailing rule was “the survival of the fittest,” where the strong devoured the weak. Corruption is contagious, and human society degraded itself, sacrificing its divine image. Humanity transformed into an intelligent predator, driven solely by the satisfaction of animalistic instincts. This generation is known as Dor haMabbul, the generation deemed deserving of being wiped from the earth by the Flood.

One man, Noah, proved to be an exception to this rule. Compared to the rest of the world—or, according to another view, despite the widespread corruption—Noah conducted himself with integrity, living with an awareness of God’s existence, something that had become obsolete for the rest of humankind.

God saves Noah and grants humanity a second chance. Noah builds the ark, and he, his wife, his three sons, and their wives—a total of eight people—along with the animals, survive the devastating Flood.

THE FIRST LAW

After leaving the ark, God blesses Noah, urging him to be fruitful, multiply, and repopulate the earth. He presents a set of fundamental laws to educate humanity and prevent its moral decline. The first law pertains to animals. God permits Noah and his descendants to kill animals and consume their flesh (Genesis 9:3), something that was previously forbidden, as God had instructed Adam and Eve to consume only plants: seeds, vegetables, and fruits. Now, God allows humanity to take the lives of animals. This law reflects humanity’s new status: having once been the protector of the animal kingdom, humans would now be the predator at the top of the food chain.

Nevertheless, or perhaps because of this, God imposes one limitation to preserve, in some way, their humanity in this area: humans cannot mutilate a living animal and consume its flesh, as carnivorous predators do with live prey. Before consuming an animal’s flesh, it must first be sacrificed. This law is known in Hebrew as eber min hachay (prohibition against eating from a living animal).

THE SECOND LAW

The second law God commands Noah also pertains to killing, but this time about another human being. This law is formulated differently than the “You shall not kill” of the Ten Commandments and states: “Whoever sheds the blood of a man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind” (Genesis 9:6). This law establishes capital punishment for the crime of murder. It is formulated primarily to prevent the impunity that characterized the previous generation’s widespread corruption. Here, it will not be God who enforces justice but humans themselves, who are tasked with punishing abuse and establishing that, regardless of position or wealth, every human being deserves respect, having been created in the image and likeness of God.

THE COVENANT BETWEEN GOD AND NOAH

In a sense, God entrusts humanity with the responsibility of enforcing punishment where it is due, which is why one of the seven Noahide laws—though not explicitly written—is the obligation to establish courts of justice that apply the law and punish criminals. For His part, God promises never to bring another flood or universal catastrophe to destroy humanity. The rainbow will serve as a reminder that the rain will eventually cease and that God will not erase humanity from the face of the earth.

These three basic laws are the foundation of what is known as the Seven Laws of Noah: 1. Do not murder. 2. Do not eat meat from a living animal. 3. Prohibition of idolatry, 4. Blasphemy, 5. Theft, and 6. Incest. 7. The obligation to establish courts of justice that will prevent impunity.

PREDILUVIAN THOUGHTS 

What caused the universal flood? A meteorite? A climate change event? The Tora is not an ordinary book: it is a Divine book. And as such, it demands an unconventional reading. This type of reading implies, among other things, reading the silences of the text, reading between its lines, and, particularly, knowing that nothing is there unnecessarily.

In the fifth chapter of Bereshit (Genesis) in last week’s Parasha, we read the first human genealogy: a seemingly unnecessary list of the years that each of the descendants of Adam, the first man, lived. The Tora mentions nine generations: Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Yared, Hanokh, Metushelach, and Lemekh, Noach’s father. All lived a long life. The longevity record (so far …) is Metushelach’s, who lived 969 years.

The question remains: What does this lifespan registry teach us beyond satisfying our curiosity? Why do we need so much detail about the age of the first humans?

THE DEATH OF THE FIRST MORTAL

If we look carefully, we will discover something astonishing.

An extraordinary event took place in the year 930, counting from Creation. Adam, the first man, died. Humans, the thousands or hundreds of thousands of descendants of Adam, already knew that a human being could be “killed”, or die accidentally, like Abel. But now, seemingly for the first time, humans see death as inevitable. Men have discovered “natural” death. 

HaShem had already told Adam that he would not live forever. But that warning took more than nine centuries to materialize—enough time for humans to forget about mortality. Given their advanced age, Adam, Set, Enosh, etc., were seen as immortal. The natural death of Adam was an unprecedented event and provoked a state of shock and especially panic. The only thing that could alleviate this fear, the terrifying fear of death, was to assume that mortality would only affect Adam for having disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit.

HANOKH IS NO LONGER WITH US..

But in the year 987 (you have to calculate the years by yourself because this calculation is not explicit in the Tora!) the second natural death is recorded: Hanokh dies at the tender age of 365 years. This second death, which was not caused by accident, could no longer be attributed to disobedience. The Tora explicitly states that Hanokh was a righteous man who walked on the Divine Path (Gen. 5:24)… Hanokh’s death was an even more shattering event. The Tora describes the death of Hanokh with words that seem to reflect the widespread surprise, terror, and innocence of the men of that generation, coping with an event they did not quite understand. “Passing away” of natural death was so novel that men could not define it with conventional words. The text does not say that Hanokh “died”. Reproducing with exquisite sensitivity the feeling of awe of primitive men, the Tora copies their words that sound like the words we use to describe death to a child: “Hanokh is no longer with us because God took him.”

VIOLENCE AS A RESPONSE TO DEATH 

The third natural death was that of Set, the son of Adam. This traumatic event took place a few years later: in 1042. Now death is a fact. And it is here to stay.

Humanity’s reaction to the inevitability of death is seemingly described at the end of the last Parasha, and it is not very positive. This new awareness of mortality caused a panic that revealed the worst of the human race, like one of those Hollywood situations when people react with violence and desperation when learning about the imminent falling of a meteorite that will destroy the earth. When the men of that generation saw that they would die, no matter what, they focused on satisfying their material instincts as much as they could before dying. As Yesha’ayahu (22:13) said, quoting the philosophy of men with no Tora: אכול ושתה, כי מחר נמות, “Let us eat and drink [as much as we can], since tomorrow [anyways] we are going to die”.   

In addition, once humankind sees life as inevitably limited, it loses its sacred status for them. Their reasoning was: why should I not kill my neighbor if he is going to die anyways? Respect for other people’s life was now lost. Theft, rape, and murder (in biblical Hebrew, “hamas”) got normalized. A phrase in the text of the Tora reveals something about that new human condition: “And the powerful men saw the women [of other families, tribes. etc.] and took [by force] all they wanted.” Our rabbis added that the generation before the flood was guilty of sexual violence, corruption, oppression of the weak, widespread crime, and especially lack of law, order, and justice.

RESETTING HUMANKIND 

The Creator then decides to do two things in this situation: 1. Shortening human life. Something that, as we will see, will happen gradually. Ten generations after Noah’s lifespan reaches merely 150- 200 years, and in subsequent generations, it continues to decline. A shorter lifespan might help humankind better understand mortality and the need to live a purposeful life. 2. God also brings the flood to do a “reset” of human civilization.

Now we understand that for the Tora, what caused the flood was not a meteorite or climate change: it was that state of anarchy, chaos, and corruption of men reacting violently to the discovery of their inevitable mortality.

Noah, the protagonist of our Parasha, was born in 1056. He is the first man recorded to be born in a world of men aware of their mortality. At the end of the flood, Noach received the first code of laws condemning homicide, robbery, promiscuity, etc., and commanding the establishment of courts of justice to avoid anarchy and impunity. All this will bring a new climate of law and order.

But we will have to wait for another ten generations for another man, Abraham Abinu —and his descendants— to make a second discovery. 

1. Although limited and relatively short, life is the opportunity God gives us to get close to Him by our own choice and effort. 

2. We were not in this world to exploit our neighbor but to assist him, helping each other. “”The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”. 

3. And finally, that mortality affects man’s body. But our Divine spirit, the neshama, survives if we dedicate ourselves to nurturing it. 

BACK TO THE BEGINNING

This year,  Parashat Bereshit, Genesis, which contains the account of the creation of the world, left us with only one day to study it—this past Shabbat—so before saying goodbye to Bereshit until next year, I want to share with you a brief reflection on something new we can learn from this Parasha. About ten years ago, I published my book “Awesome Creation”, where I explained the story of the world’s creation based on a faithful reading of the Hebrew Bible. I showed that when this literal reading (peshat) is ignored—voluntarily or involuntarily—many critical aspects of Emuná (Jewish faith) are affected, and the Tora can be discredited, reducing it to the level of fables or, God forbid, a irrelevant text. Today, I will mention an example of a topic I have not yet published. This example, I believe, deserves the first prize for ignorance of biblical Hebrew and its unexpected consequences.

THE FIRST ANIMALS

The initial chapter of Bereshit (Genesis) mentions the creation of the first animals that appeared on our planet on the fifth day. The Hebrew text says: וַיִּבְרָ֣א אֱלֹקים אֶת־הַתַּנִּינִ֙ם֙ הַגְּדֹלִ֔ים וְאֵ֣ת כָּל־נֶ֣פֶשׁ הַֽחַיָּ֗ה הָֽרֹמֶשֶׂת֙

“And God created the  taninim gedolim and all [other] living creatures….”

What were the taninim gedolim?

Let’s begin with the first word. Tanin (singular of taninim) appears about 15 times in the Tanakh and describes a group of animals, including crocodiles, lizards, snakes, and vipers. In other words, in biblical Hebrew, tanin means “reptile.” The next word, gedolim, plural of gadol, does not necessarily mean “large” in size. Depending on the context, it can also mean “terrible,” “fearsome,” or “powerful.” In my book, I mention several examples of this connotation, such as when God punishes Pharaoh for taking Abraham’s wife. It says nega’im gedolim (Genesis 12:17), translated as “terrible” plagues or diseases. In our context, the best translation of the word gedolim, which expresses both size and the fear these animals inspired, could be “imposing or giant.”

Therefore, taninim gedolim should be translated as “great/giant reptiles,” but inexplicably, this translation almost doesn’t exist!

THE CONSEQUENCES OF IGNORANCE

Let’s look, for example, at a classic non-Jewish translation, the New American Standard Bible  from 1995

”God created the great sea monsters and every living creature”

Why translate taninim as “sea monsters,” two words that don’t appear in the original Hebrew text?

First, let’s clarify that in biblical Hebrew, the word “monster” does not exist (Note 1), simply because the Tora does not believe in monsters,  despite the fact that  ALL ancient civilizations believed in monsters and mentioned them regularly in their creation myths (see, for example, here: Tiamat). That’s is the reason why a translation that renders taninim as “monsters” instead of “reptiles” should be considered tendentious and even offensive, as it—voluntarily or involuntarily—equates the Tora with pagan mythological legends.

So, how should the expression taninim gedolim be translated?

IN GREEK AND HEBREW

Richard Owen (1804–1892) was a renowned British scientist and paleontologist known for his work in classifying fossil remains of prehistoric animals. In 1842, he coined the term dinosaur to describe a group of huge extinct reptiles. This term, dinosaur, is a combination of two words of Greek origin: deinos, which means gigantic, powerful, imposing, or fearsome (similar semantic field of gedolim) , and saurus, which means lizard or reptile. Thus, the term dinosaur means “the gigantic reptiles” of ancient times, the exact words that the Tora uses to describe the first creatures created by God on the fifth day!

MONSTERS OR MONSTROSITIES?

The word “monsters” found its way in the Bibles’s translations possibly from non-Jewish commentaries written before Owen classified these fossils as “dinosaurs.” Pagan cultures assumed that those giant fossils that appeared everywhere in the world, belonged to monsters or dragons, imaginary beings worthy of pagan mythology. This would explain why the word “monster” was used in the Middle Ages. But to translate taninim gedolim as “sea monsters” in the 20th or 21st century (Note 2) is unforgivable because it forces a mythological reading of the Tora and takes away its incredible historical credibility.

The translation of taninim gedolim as “dinosaurs”—or at least as “great reptiles”—should be the most literal translation, and a testimony that the Tora was the FIRST and ONLY ancient book that records the existence of these prehistoric creatures—the first animals created by God on earth—without legends or fictions worthy of Harry Potter.

Note 1: The word mifletzet, used in modern Hebrew for “monster,” describes a totem of pagan peoples, like pesilim, see Jeremiah 50:38.

Note 2: The word “sea” also does not appear in the text, which, by the way, does NOT describe only animals that inhabit the sea!

This is the story of two historical documents: a letter written 1,900 years ago and a video of a phone conversation I received a week ago in my family chat. The ancient letter was unknown to the young man speaking in the video. Still, remarkably,  both documents convey the same message: the unwavering will of the Jewish people to fight for their land and their dedication to the precepts of the Tora in the most critical moments.

Let’s start with the video. Rivka, my sister-in-law, is one of my wife Coty’s younger sisters. Her husband, Shalom, passed away from cancer about 20 years ago when Shmuel Yosef was only three years old.

Rivka lives in Ashdod and has four sons and a daughter, Reina. Shimon, the oldest, served in the army and now handles security (Bitachon) in his settlement, Sha’are Darom, very close to Sderot. David served in an intelligence unit of the Israeli Defense Forces. Rafael, 30 years old, currently serves as a reservist (Miluim) in Zikim, a military base near Gaza. It is a warehouse (machsan) from which the army’s supply chain of ammunition, food, clothing, and other necessities is administrated.

Rivka’s youngest son, Shemuel Yosef, is fighting in Gaza alongside the troops in Jabalia, a Palestinian city north of Gaza. Israel plans to evacuate civilians from the northern part of Gaza, representing one-third of the strip, to turn it into a closed military zone under Israeli control. About 200,000 Palestinians remain in that area, and terrorists hide among the civilians, from where they prepare ambushes against Israeli soldiers. Israel is making significant efforts to clear the area of terrorists. Unfortunately, several Israeli soldiers have been killed in Jabalia, including the Druze colonel Ahsan Daqsa, commander of the 401st Brigade, the highest-ranking officer to fall since the beginning of the war, who died today, October 20, in a tragic explosion.

Shemuel Yosef is a very young soldier. His face and expression still have the innocence and purity of a child, which even the harsh army life has not managed to change. He wears a large white knitted Kippah and long pe-ot that peek out from under his green helmet.

A few days ago, I received a video in the family chat. In the video, Rafael can be seen talking on the phone with his brother, Shemuel Yosef. I cannot send the video for security reasons, but I will share part of the conversation for you to hear

First, Rafael identifies himself by his combat name and then says something like: “Right now, I’m taking care of getting the lulavim and etrogim for you and your battalion. I want to make sure you subdue the enemy, so aim (your prayers or the lulav movements) in all directions, but especially towards the heavens (kivune shamayim).” Then, more informally, Rafael asks, “How are you?”,” Baruch Hashem,“ replies Shmuel Yosef, “Today I spoke with Shimon. He said he would bring some lulavim to [mom in ] Ashdod.“.  ” Yes, I know, Shimon was in Zikim, and we brought some sets [of lulavim] here too,“ replies Rafael.

When I saw this video, it gave me chills. Why? Because my mind traveled 1,900 years into the past.

The last time the people of Israel had an army, before the establishment of the State of Israel, was in the year 130 of the common era, in the days of Bar Kochba. Since the destruction of the Bet HaMiqdash in 68, the Romans had ruled the land of Israel, and Jerusalem was in ruins. In 117, Emperor Hadrian came to power, obsessed with ending the Jewish people and gradually restricting religious practice. He first banned the Berit Milah (circumcision) under penalty of death, then outlawed the observance of Shabbat, and later the study of the Tora. Around the year 129 CE, dissatisfied that Jews continued to observe the Tora in secret and risking their lives, he planned his greatest provocation: to build an idolatrous temple in Jerusalem dedicated to the Roman pagan god, Jupiter.

At that moment, a brave Jewish leader named Shimon Bar Kochba decided they could not stand idly by and organized a revolution against the powerful Roman Tenth Legion to regain their national and religious freedom. Miraculously, Bar Kochba’s makeshift army was entirely successful and destroyed the mighty Roman legion. They recaptured Jerusalem and even minted coins that said, “In the first year of the Liberation of Jerusalem.“ These coins were minted for three years, meaning that during this time, the Jews regained their religious independence.

But then the unexpected happened: Hadrian’s hatred of the Jews was so great that he decided to bring his entire army, the most powerful in the world, to fight against the Jews. His troops came from England, Gaul (France), and Germania (Germany). This event reminded me of what Hitler did in 1944, when, losing against Russia, he decided to allocate his military reinforcements to deport 500,000 Jews from Hungary to Auschwitz and abandon the Russian front.

After a heroic struggle that lasted years, Bar Kochba’s army was defeated. Many historians consider that despite the military defeat, Bar Kochba triumphed because, thanks to his struggle, a pagan temple was never built in the holy city, which would have been the greatest affront and humiliation possible to the ruins of the Bet HaMikdash.

In addition to being a military leader who fought against Israel’s enemies, Bar Kochba guided the people of Israel to fulfill the mitzvot and embrace the Tora. 

A few decades ago, the famous Israeli archaeologist Yigal Yadin discovered a letter written in the handwriting of Shimon Bar Kochba himself, found in the caves of the Judean desert. In that letter, the Jewish leader addresses one of his combatants to request some essential supplies.

The letter reads: “From Shimon [Bar Kochba] to Yehuda: … I am sending two donkeys and two men. Take them to see Yehonatan bar Masabla… and they should ask him to load the donkeys and bring them back with palm branches [lulavim] and etrogim. He should also send other men to bring myrtle branches [hadasim] and willow branches [aravot] to our camp. Make sure the tithe (ma’aser) is already separated. Send everything to my camp. [Remember that we need a large number of lulavim, as] our army is very large. Shalom.”

In Rafael’s video and in Bar Kochba’s letter, we see the same pattern of behavior. In the midst of war, a general or a soldier of the Jewish army distracts himself momentarily from critical military matters to attend to something more urgent: ensuring that their fighters can have lulavim and etrogim to celebrate the festival of Sukkot.

Because both in the days of Bar Kochba and now in Gaza or Lebanon, what is at stake is not just a military operation to reclaim territory or defeat the enemy, but the unwavering will to remain Jewish, to observe our Tora, our connection to God, and to the land He granted us.

CHAG SAMEACH.

Sukkot’s days were celebrated with extraordinary joy in the Bet haMiqdash (Temple of Jerusalem). In addition to the biblical commandment of holding the four species (ארבעת המינים), two other mitzvot were fulfilled in the Temple. One of these was nisukh hamayim or water libation, the ceremony of pouring water on the altar. The second is the Mitsva of the ‘araba.

NISUKH HAMAYIM

The rabbis describe the great joy of the water libation ceremony: “He who has not seen the celebration of the water libation has never experienced true joy. Big golden lamps were hoisted, with four cups of gold on top of each lamp. Four young apprentice priests rose to the top, carrying large oil jugs to fill the lamps. Once lit, no courtyard in Jerusalem did not shine with the light emanating from the Temple. Special balconies were built to allow the women of Israel to see the Sages of the Sanhedrin as they danced. People sang, and the righteous and pious men danced before them while juggling with lighted torches. The Levites stood on the fifteen steps leading down from the court of Israel to the court of women, playing music with lyres, harps, trumpets, and many other instruments. Two priests stood on the top of the stairs, on each side of the entrance to the great door of the court, and honked the silver trumpets [these were real trumpets, not shofarot]. They did all this to honor the commandment of the water libation. At dawn, people came singing to the spring of Shiloach, at the foot of the walls of Jerusalem. One of the Cohanim carried a special jug of gold and filled it with water from the spring. Then the congregation walked back to Temple, led by the priest bearing the water. Upon reaching the Temple, the priest brought the vessel to the altar and poured water into a basin of silver in one of the corners of the altar.” (Mishna Sukka, Chapter 5). This festive ceremony, known in Hebrew as Simchat Bet haShoeba, was connected to the beginning of the prayers for rain and was accompanied by Tefilot and psalms of praise, trusting that HaShem will bless the earth and its products with rain during the coming year. 

MITZVAT ‘ARABA

The other special ceremony held at the Bet haMiqdash during Sukkot was Mitsvat ‘Araba. “The commandment of the willow branches”. This ritual was different and independent of the Mitsva of the two willow branches that we have in the four species (ארבעת המינים), which are tied together with the lulab and the myrtle. There was a place outside Jerusalem called Motza (which still exists today, with the same name) located on the banks of the “Soreq” river. Each day of Sukkot, people went to Motza and cut down large willow branches (about 20 feet high). They would place these branches at the altar’s foot (mizbe’ah), with the top bent over the altar. Since the altar was 16 feet high, the branches jutted a few feet above the top of the altar on all four sides.

Each day of Sukkot, the Kohanim (and, according to other opinions, the city’s elders) went around the altar once, marching with their lulabim in hand, and praying to the Almighty “Anna Hashem hoshi’a na; Anna Hashem hatzliha na.” Please, God, save us. Please, God, grant us success. On the seventh and final day of Sukkot, Hosha’na Rabbah, people would go around the altar seven times.

Nowadays, we go around the bima —the platform on which the Sefer Tora is placed–every day of Sukkot with our lulabim and etrogim in remembrance of the Mitsvat ‘Araba of the Bet haMiqdash. In Hosh’ana Rabbah, the seventh and last day of Sukkot, we go around the bima seven times.

There is an additional ritual that belongs to the mitsva of ‘Arabah. A tradition established by the later prophets of Israel, Haggai, Malakhi and Zecharia, after the destruction of our first Temple. At the end of the Tefillah of Hoshana Rabba we take a few branches of ‘Araba (the tradition is to take five ‘arabot, which can not be those used with the lulab) and without reciting any blessing, we hit these branches into the ground. This ancient tradition is called habitat (or hibut) ‘araba.

Why so much emphasis on the ‘araba?

Our rabbis explain that by the end of Sukkot, the Celestial Court issues the verdict on the rain that will fall during the next year (bachag niddonim al hamayim). This is why, following a Kabbalistic custom, we stay awake all night during Hosh’ana Rabba studying Tora.

Rain is indeed the most critical element for our sustenance. The ‘araba —the plant that needs more water than all other plants and the one that gets dry faster than all other plants of the four species- also reminds us of our vulnerability and dependence on the rain that HaShem sends us. Moreover, hitting the branches of ‘araba on the ground and seeing how it loses its leaves with each stroke helps us internalize our fragility and total dependence on God, not only for our sustenance and prosperity but also for our very survival.