Who Gives Sovereignty, the World or G-d?

20 Menachem Av 5780

Yes, I'm still on the topic of Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria. I strongly feel the need to keep my eyes on target despite all our troubles, and those of the world.

Karni Eldad writes on the Sovereignty (Ribonut) website concerning an enemy state on Israeli territory, as provided for by US President Donald Trump's Peace to Prosperity plan:

One of the key clauses that supporters of establishing a Palestinian state try to use to calm the concerns of the opposition is the clause that stipulates the demilitarization of the Palestinian state. A demilitarized state that will not have any significant weapons will not pose a threat to the State of Israel, they state. This statement seems logical, but is such demilitarization at all possible? General (res.) Gershon HaCohen is familiar with the matter both in its practical aspect in the field and at the level of research and in an interview with Arutz 7 he responds to the question in the absolute negative.

General HaCohen explains there how war and weapons have changed a lot since 1967, the keys being the miniaturization of everything and the ease of building weaponry that can be used in a civilian manner (dual-use) from the internet and even with the help of a computer. And there's a lot more specific information where this came from.

What worked for Israel in the past, strategy-wise, won't even touch the problem now.

And Israel has a bigger problem. Our leadership still has the attitude that we can't do anything without the approval of the United States. Because the USA is still busy with the riots and protesting there — not to mention the upcoming election — our sovereignty issue has been pushed under the table.

Let's just admit to ourselves that, despite our accomplishments, we've been nothing but a vassal to the US until now, and go on from there. I'm not saying we should be giving up. This is the pit we're in, and we have to figure out how to get out of it. No stone must be left unturned, including telling ourselves the truth — that we can't rely on any nation to help us without making sure our enemies are right beside us and living among us so that we're within attack range — even the one we think has been our best friend for the decades since the Six Day War.

Then we must consider that we have more than just ourselves to think about. The last I read, we're expecting some 250,000 new olim in the next few years.

(At least one rabbi thinks there may be some 100 million Jews out there waiting to come home (here's where he says it, so you don't have to hunt for it — this video is from June 2020, right before the start of his first 40-day journey. We will need a lot of room for them! NOTE: People who wish to go on his next 40-day journey are invited to sign up here ahead of time, and review the other videos on the site.)

The current system may need to be opened to allow for something the people who support it have been pushing off for a long, long time: The existence of G-d.

My husband asked me to look up Kosovo recently. Among other things I found that it is not universally accepted by all the nations of the world either. But does this tiny land in the middle of the Balkan Mountains get hassled the way Israel does? No. Does it get publicly shamed constantly? No. One hardly hears of it.

There is a lot of precedent of different nations having a tiny taste of what Israel has been on the receiving end of for a couple thousand years. If they are still jealous of us, as most nations seem to be these days, have they thought about what their problem with us is?

I suspect I saw a clue in last week's parasha, Ekev, at its very end. D'varim/Deuteronomy 11:25...

  Rashi: 

The middle Rashi above comments on a particular phrase: pahdechem umora'achem. They both mean fear (the "chem" part refers to Israel in the second person plural), as explained above.

In particular, the latter word, mora'a, denotes long-term anxiety and dread, according to the Artscroll translation of the Rashi (paper book, no link). Is a couple thousand years long enough? Does this explain the pamphlet "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and the book Mein Kampf, and many other publications of all kinds, including in Arabic these days?

***

No man will stand up [before you]: From this verse it is understood only [that]“a man” [will not be able to stand up before Israel]. How do we know that a nation, a family, or a woman with her witchcraft will also not be able to stand up before Israel? Therefore, it says: לֹא-יִתְיַצֵּב, “there will be no standing up [before you]”-at all. If so, why does it say:“man”? [It means any man], even as [mighty as] Og, king of Bashan. - [Sifrei]	לא יתיצב איש וגו': אין לי אלא איש, אומה ומשפחה ואשה בכשפיה מנין, תלמוד לומר לא יתיצב מכל מקום. אם כן מה תלמוד לומר איש, אפילו כעוג מלך הבשן:
The Lord… will set] the fear of you and the dread of you [on all the land]: Heb. פַּחְדְּכֶם וּמוֹרַאֲכֶם. Is not פַּחַד the same as מוֹרָא [both meaning fear]? But [the answer is that] פַּחְדְּכֶם“the fear of you,” refers to those near by, and מוֹרַאֲכֶם,“the dread of you,” to those distant, for פַּחַד denotes“sudden fear,” and מוֹרָא denotes anxiety enduring many days.	פחדכם ומוראכם: והלא פחד הוא מורא, אלא פחדכם על הקרובים ומוראכם על הרחוקים. פחד לשון בעיתת פתאום. מורא לשון דאגה מימים רבים:
as He spoke to you: And where did He speak [about this]?“I will cast My terror before you” (Exod. 23:27). - [Sifrei]	כאשר דבר לכם: והיכן דבר (שמות כג, כז) את אימתי אשלח לפניך וגו':

 ***

Does this explain why we have been, and still are, constantly and insistently pressured not to do what haShem told us to do when we return to our land? While at the same time they support those who threaten extinction of Israel with impunity??? (Thanks and praise be to G-d that we weren't blown up last week, as was intended by HEZBOLLAH. Thank you, R' Lazer Brody, for pointing this out clearly.)

Why do we think we need to bend to these pressures, since they are driven by fear, and nothing more? Do we really need their permission, now that we're back, to claim our full Land, to claim our entire Ancestral Homeland???

Only G-d gave us this land. Only He took it away, temporarily. Only He has the right to say who may live on it. All we have to do is openly say so, driving our fear away. 

What gives the Muslims and the Christians the right to claim our land on behalf of their gods, but not us?

We allowed this situation out of weakness (by the time we were to declare the state, we were coming out of the Holocaust!). Seventy two years have passed. We can take our allowance back now that we know to rely on the One who is strong, and Who commands us.

any, many Jews are on our side (and many are not, too. We need to ignore them for now.).

We can do this because when we do, we will have backing from the Holy One, our Source of Blessing.

For only He gives sovereignty to whom He will give sovereignty. 

Just so that you have some context, here are more examples of nations being given the lands of others — especially p'sukim 4-12 — in the same manner as the land we Israeli Jews live on, by HQB"H in the book of Devarim/Deuteronomy, chapter 2.

Ein 'od mil'vado | There is none other than Him | אין עוד מלבדו