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Leah’s Blog – Parashat Vayishlach – Arrow’s on Bashan 2024

Vayishlach – December 2024 ARROWS ON BASHAN

I don’t know if I ever told you this, but our boys teach special- forces all over the world, coming from Israel is all the more GRADE A par excellence. When growing up in the wake of the intifada, they witnessed the castration of Jewish might as our enemies were given guns not a five minute drive from here. Our little boys were shooting arrows, running and preparing for D day. When there was hallucination on the part of the land for peace bloc in planning a withdrawal from the Golan Heights we all went to demonstrate- a miracle happened and we remained steadfast. Imagine if the defensive line was at the shore of the Kinneret. A delusion took over the western minded infused leaders of Israel in the 1990’s and we are paying for it dearly now.– For me, it was essential to buff up our kids integrity as friends and neighbors were murdered here for just being Jews. My own father was a Partisan in Poland, a character that bore likeness to the idea of strength in the backdrop of the ghostly holocaust; it imprinted itself unto us in the darkness of Oslo. The mission of my life, more than any other would be to be a light in the darkness- in my own capacity in raising our children during this crossroads of struggle and crisis to be forever connected to PLACE AND MEMORY- our historical and holy sites were turned into garbage dumps and our holy cities here in the heartland into cities of refuge for terrorism. If you would ask me what was the greatest challenge during the years we raised our five children I am saying it likened the journey back to Israel as Yaakov took entailed raising a family as time morphs, family history is shaped- in the face of struggle both within the family and crisis from outside forces. I would nick name our sons Shimon and Levi and they knew what that meant. The word stone in Hebrew means father and son- אבן. The Land of Israel is described as “stones of metal” – “”אבניה ברזל. They had to be.

Israel is at war and she roars now. Isaiah’s prophecies of Damascus in ruins at the end of days is this close to coming true. The scenes we are witnessing now of the destruction of our enemies is putting the world into a different mindset- people want to side with the victor. How did Damascus fall? If I would have told you about the dead zones that now exist between us and our enemies before October 7 2023 you never would have imagined. Push has come to shove. It is a Shimon and Levi moment. This is the generation of victory, of sons who are made of metal. The resistance to truth and integrity became the catalyst for our passion for it. This is what it means to be a light in the darkness. Taking root now as our own sons are fathers now, they too will sweat in the challenges presenting themselves in the momentum of restoration. But these metal stones have a heart- for their land, for their people and the only way to combine being a rock in a hard place and being kind is to know the Torah and follow it.

In this week’s Parsha, Yaakov emerges complete. He crosses the Jordan back home to the Promised Land leaving the “old world” behind. He faced new enemies and his attitude was split into three decisions: 1)- war 2)- diplomacy 3)- gifting to appease. Although Yaakov, now Yisrael becomes a new man on return home, he felt “progress” could be achieved through many methods in handling the enemies of Israel.

Sons rectify their fathers.

“For the sake of our little sister” there is only one way to deal with evil.

The generation that left Egypt is not the generation that entered the Promised Land.

The generation that created Zionism and believed we could swipe hummus in Damascus by giving away our precious tiny land – that era has just ended. Yaakov realizes this as in his blessing to his sons before passing – “ואני נתתי לך שכם אחד על אחיך אשר לקחתי בחרבי ובקשתי “- “And I have given you one united Shechem which was taken with swords and arrows. “His sons did that for him and for eternity.

Shabbat shalom! Leah