RUTH WRITES: Gil has some great things to share with us this week about the place of trust in our lives.....always so appropriate! Also a beautiful song - one of my favourites, from my favourite Israeli singer, Jonatan Razel. Do send your thoughts on what Gil writes here...... GIL WRITES- Kislev 14th, 06-12-2014 Shalom everyone! I trust this blog post finds you all well. Some of you might still be on Shabbat (it is Saturday night here in Israel) so I can say Shabbat Shalom real time The past week was quite quiet here with warm sunny weather and apart from the fact that we now know we are going for new elections (again!), not much is new; which is a good thing in this part of the part the world… I really do not want to write about Israeli politics, even though there is a lot to say about what is going on spiritually, so Ill just jump straight into PARASHA HASAHVUA which is far more interesting and even relevant! Parashat VAYISHLACH (Exodus 32-36) begins with Yaakov ( Jacob) sending angels (MALACHIM) to Esav,(Esau) twenty years before regarding the blessings from Yitzchak ( Isaac) Yakkov is absolutely terrified of meeting Essav. There is no way to avoid commenting on this, as it is repeated several times in the verses. We see different descriptions of the feelings that Yaakov felt before this meeting. Let us try and think about this fear that Yaakov is sensing very deeply in his heart. This is Yaakov, right? One of our three fathers of the nation. Yaakov who received the blessings to continue Avrahams way, Yaakov who has had the dream about the ladder with Gods promise to look after him for as long as he shall live. What was he so afraid of? Didn’t he have the faith that God will help him no matter what happens with Essav? Not only that, the night before meeting Essav, Yaakov was fighting the whole night with an angel. We do not really understand from the verses what purpose that angel came to serve and what was exactly the meaning of this fight. One thing is certain; this was not a regular physical fight as we can see the outcome of it: Yaakovs name is being changed to: YISRAEL (and therefore we are named like that up until today). There is a lot we could say about the name YISRAEL and about the circumstances under which it was given to Yaakov, However that is not what I would like to write about right now. I would like us all to try and think about the fear that he had of Essav, the fear of dying by another man, in this case; his own brother. What could possibly be so fearful when you are Yaakov who was prophesied over several times in his life about Gods watch and love for him? There could be many possible answers to this question and I would like to offer my own thought about it. It is not of course anything definitive; rather it is just my personal thought and understanding in light of what is going on today as I truly believe we must always find the way in which the scriptures relate to us these very days. I believe the reason for Yaakovs fear is the 20 years he has spent into exile. Yaakov is the first Jew to be exiled and persecuted. He is the first Jew who must run away for his life and his familys. He has been robbed for twenty years by his own father in law (who was obviously not a Jew), being lied to and deceived, being forced to do things he did not want necessarily want to do, etc. These 20 years Yaakov spends at Lavans ( Laban) house represent the future years in which all of Yaakovs descendants (us) would spend in foreign lands and go through similar things and worse (and we all know the history). Following this line of thinking, I can so understand Yaakovs fear. Exile really puts one down as far as for losing all self-confidence, being scared of any rustling of leaves behind you, and being constantly worried that you are not going to make it to the next day. That is probably the purpose that exile should serve, and being sent into exile we need to learn something from it. I would even say that exile makes one feel DEFEATED always. True, you know you are promised survival. True, you know that every day you survive is a living miracle and could be a sign for the promise to still be kept. We know all these things and knowing them keeps us strong and makes us continue. However, knowing this in your head cannot heal the (broken) heart. The heart is aching, and different types of negative emotions can be felt from time to time and my thought is that Yaakovs great fear is due to these years in exile at Lavans house. Yaakovs story is our own, and we still need to be healed from the horrible years we have spent away from our promised land, Israel. The healing process is now taking place and the strongest evidence for it is that we can start having relationships with the Gentiles again. I know it is happening when I hear my almost five year old daughter saying to her cousin: Not all the Goyim (Gentiles) are bad you know. I know Ruth and she is very nice… This was said after her five year old cousin said that all Goyim want to kill us… Sad story, but true. We are in a generation in which wonderful things are happening. We can really feel how God is coming closer and closer every day. This coming closer of Him allows these wonderful things to happen as He and only He can see the big picture for all of His children, Jews and Gentiles. Today we see impossible things which actually happen (for me these could be many things) and we must believe that it is all part of His great plan to bring salvation to the world. We must look very closely at the scriptures and learn all we can from them in order to understand better what He wants from us. Their story is our story. Let us end with Yaakovs words as he was praying for God to save him. קטונתי מכל החסדים ומכל האמת אשר עשית את עבדך... הצילני נא! “ I am not worthy of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which Thou hast shown unto Thy servant; Please save me!” These words have been beautifully set to music by Yonatan Razel which I would like to share with you (please see the link): https://youtube/watch?v=HZYivKwVmJc Send your thoughs and comments.....love hearing from you! Gil :)
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 03:36:56 +0000
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