Dear {{first_name}},
Parshat Chaye Sarah opened with the death of the matriarch Sarah and her eventual burial. Avraham was confronted with the death of his life partner, and in that moment he was grieving and found himself in need of a place to bury his beloved. Naturally, he wanted to bury her somewhere near his home, so he went and asked the Hittites, the locals, for a burial place. The Hittites replied that Avraham was a good person (paraphrasing) and that he could bury his wife somewhere he would like. Eventually, he turned to one Hittite in particular, Ephron, and asked him to sell him a burial place and eventually Avraham convinced/forced Ephron to accept money for the cave of Machpelah as a family burial ground. This text paints a picture of Avraham needing to pay for the land, not merely accepting it on the words of the Hittites, to make sure nobody could question his authentic and real ownership. The land in question would become the tomb of the Matriarchs and Patriarchs in Machpelah in the city of Hebron. Sarah, Avraham, Rivkah, Isaac, Leah and Yakov are all buried inside of that cave.
Hebron is the second holiest city to the Jewish people and has historically been a location of Jewish communities since the time of the settling of the land by Joshua. For centuries there was a Jewish population in Hebron that flourished and created Jewish infrastructure. At the same time, very sizable Muslim and Christian communities began to grow and eventually dwarf the Jewish community. The Jewish community came to an end in 1929, when Arabs rioted across Israel and massacred more than 100 Jews and maimed countless others. Hebron was one of the main locations of the riots; as a result of the violence the remaining Jews left. Following the Jordanian occupation of the West Bank in 1948 no Jews were permitted to live there or even visit. The second holiest place to our people and we were forbidden to even see it.
In June of 1967 the Jewish community and the world were shocked by the miraculous land gains that Israel made in the Six Day War. Israel took over both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip along with East Jerusalem. They also managed to take over the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula, but those are not part of what I want to talk about right now. The settlements that started to be created after 1967 were not a thought-out plan at first, and in fact the original settlements to be created were actually the rebirths of previous Jewish communities. Hebron was one of the first; it was not so much about taking as reclaiming land. It is true that under international law these communities, and all other settlements for that matter, are illegal. However, it is important to recognize that Israelis, Jews, are not invaders but natives to the land.
Just as Avraham was adamant about paying for Machpelah all those years ago, the Jewish people who moved back to Israel did the same. When Jews began to return to Israel in massive waves beginning in the 1880s, they purchased land from wealthy absent landowners. They did not take land… they did not steal land… they did not murder and capture land. The Jewish people who moved back to Israel made it their mission to buy land in Israel. It was critical that we had legitimate ownership over our Homeland; It was critical that we built a homeland based on legitimacy and not usurping it from others. No one gave the Land of Israel to the Jewish people, we bought it and we earned it.
At this moment many people are accusing Israel of all sorts of evil. This is nothing new. Jews have been falsely accused of wrongdoing since the days of Pharaoh, Haman, the Romans and others. The blood libels leveled against the State of Israel were not created by the world press, the UN or anti-Semites of today; instead they were created by the false accusation of early Christians that we killed Jesus, and later that we killed Christian boys to use their blood to bake matzah. The claims of us stealing land is no different than the wrong doing we were accused of when we were forced to be money lenders, and no different than the forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
History is repeating itself, yet it feels more acute and more real, as if we have nowhere to turn and no one to count on. We all need to spend some time being educated about the history of Israel and we all need to be able to express what Israel has and has not done over the years. We all need to be able to stand up for Israel. The reality is that we have numerous facts on our side to support our legitimate right to be in the Land of Israel, and our legitimate right to live in safety.
Since October 7th I have only spoken about Israel in my sermons and in my articles. Yes, I am getting tired of typing I.S.R.A.E.L over and again but I will not stop. I will not stop advocating for Israel and its people until all hostages are back home. I will not stop until Hamas is no longer able to hurt our loved ones in the Land of Israel. I will not stop until our soldiers are able to return to their regular jobs and to their families. I will not stop until Israelis are able to worry about mundane concerns again instead of existential ones. There is much happening in our world that needs to be discussed but this is what we as a people need to be concerned with at this time.
Avraham made his presence known and official by insisting on purchasing that which he could just have taken as a gift. We have each been given a gift in the State of Israel and we cannot take that for granted. We cannot assume that Israel will always be around. We cannot assume that Israel will be “fine”. We must make our case known and show our undying support. So far, I have only heard from three people who are going to be in DC with us on Tuesday to make our claim know to the world. I am hoping that more of OVS will be able to show up for our community and for our homeland. Please let me know if you can attend with us on November 14th.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Hearshen
