Tag Archives: Ishmael

Hamas in the Torah

In this week’s parasha, Noach, we read about the Great Flood that “reset” the world millennia ago. The reason for the Flood is given in one terse sentence right at the beginning of the parasha: “The Earth became corrupt before God; the Earth was filled with hamas.” (Genesis 6:11) Two verses later, we are again told: “God said to Noah: ‘I have decided to put an end to all flesh, for the Earth is filled with hamas because of them, so I will destroy them with the Earth.’” The mysterious word hamas appears just a few more times in the Torah. It is typically translated as “violence” or “lawlessness”. Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Itzchaki, 1040-1105) comments here that hamas is gezel, “theft” or “robbery”. Chizkuni (Rabbi Hezekiah ben Manoach, c. 1250-1310) explains that hamas is a particular type of theft or robbery accomplished through subterfuge and manipulation. He brings verses from other places in Tanakh that use this term to show that it can also mean sexual sin, idolatry, and the shedding of innocent blood. The Ibn Ezra (Rabbi Avraham ben Meir ibn Ezra, 1089-1167) adds that hamas refers to the abduction of women against their will. As we’ve horrifically witnessed in recent days, all of these are accurate descriptions of the group that calls itself Hamas, an organization that is violent and manipulative, a band of thieves who abduct, rape, and pillage, shed the blood of innocents—and do it all supposedly in the name of Allah, a most-appalling act of idolatry.

Countries that designate Hamas as a terrorist organization.

This is certainly not a coincidence. It appears that long ago the Torah encoded and predicted the rise of yet another Hamas that would wreak destruction upon the world. In fact, every instance of hamas in Tanakh seems connected to the terror group Hamas. The third case after the two above is when Sarah vented to Abraham her frustration with the pregnant Hagar, saying hamasi aleikhah (Genesis 16:5). Of course, Hagar would go on to give birth to Ishmael, forefather of the Arabs and spiritual father of Muslims. This makes a clear link between hamas and Ishmael, so that we would know exactly who they are!

The next instance of hamas in the Torah is connected to Simon and Levi’s surprise-attack upon the people of Shechem. On his deathbed, their father Jacob reproved them for the massacre, and said they should not have taken up klei hamas against their neighbours (Genesis 49:5). The next two cases both invoke ‘adei hamas, lying and conspiring false witnesses (Exodus 23:1 and Deuteronomy 19:16). Lying eye-witnesses and staged “Pallywood” videos are a classic tool in the Hamas book of tricks. This was most apparent in the recent errant rocket that landed short in the parking lot of a Gaza hospital. A minor event with minimal damage was creatively transformed into a “major attack” by Israel upon a hospital that supposedly killed hundreds. The whole thing was an elaborate lie, but the media ate it up and demonized Israel instantly without bothering to check the facts.

King David presciently foresaw the lying media in Psalm 58, which he began by saying that those who are looked upon to speak truth and justice instead have “wrongdoing in their hearts”. They have blood on their hands, too, for they collude with those ba’aretz hamas (58:3). In Psalm 11 he reminds us that “God seeks out the righteous man, but loathes the wicked one who loves hamas.” They will get their comeuppance, and “He will rain down upon the wicked blazing coals and sulfur; a scorching wind shall be their lot. For God is righteous and He loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold His face.”

Meanwhile, Ezekiel spoke at length about the final war at the End of Days (Ch. 38-39), then described the Third Temple and the outlines of a rebuilt Jewish kingdom. He quotes God as chastising the failed leaders of Israel: “Thus said the Lord God: Enough, leaders of Israel! Make an end of hamas and crime, and do what is right and just! Put a stop to your evictions of My people—declares the Lord God.” (Ezekiel 45:19) We shouldn’t forget that it was the State of Israel’s failed leadership that unilaterally handed over Gaza to the Palestinians back in 2005 and created this mess, while forcefully evicting Jews who had lived there peacefully. And we shouldn’t forget that Israel’s leadership once quietly supported Hamas in the 1980s, hoping to use them as a wedge against Fatah. (This was the same mistake made by the United States in supporting the Mujahideen against the USSR, only to have the same terrorists turn around and attack America some years later.) And where was Israel’s leadership last week? We are all still confounded as to how such a massacre was even possible. Ezekiel tells us that God will hold Israel’s leaders to account. And he makes it clear that the leaders of Israel must “do what is right and just” and finally end hamas v’shod for good.

That second term shod (שד) is typically translated as “crime” or “rapine”. However, the same word with the same spelling is shed, a demonic force. When we look at the recent crimes of Hamas—which they proudly displayed for the whole world—there is no doubt that the demonic was involved. No human being could commit such crimes without assistance and inspiration from the Sitra Achra, the “Other Side”, the realm of evil. It isn’t surprising, therefore, that our Sages centuries ago described that there are those within the House of Ishmael that are likened to “demons of the outhouse” (Kiddushin 72a). Interestingly, the numerical value of hamas (חמס) is 108, equal to Gehinnom (גיהנם). In Reishit Chokhmah, we learn that there are three origins or “gates” to Gehinnom: in the sea (ים), in the wilderness (מדבר), and in a settlement (ישוב). One can immediately see a connection to Hamas’ recent three-pronged attack, with an invasion by sea landing at the Zikim Beach, an attack on a nature party in the wilderness, and into Sderot and surrounding settlements. This was a massacre straight out of Hell.

It is worth concluding with a Mishnah in Eduyot (2:10) which suggests that five things last exactly one year or twelve months: the Flood, the suffering of Job, the plagues in Egypt, the forthcoming war of Gog u’Magog, and the judgement of the wicked in Gehinnom. This ties everything together: we began with the Flood, where the notion of hamas is first introduced; and our suffering today is much like the suffering of Job, who tragically lost all of his children, his home, his wealth and health, and even his faith. The Prophets compare the events at the End of Days to those in ancient Egypt (and say that Pesach seders in the future will recount not just the Exodus but also the salvation at the End of Days). And we hope to be in the final Gog u’Magog war now, when all evil and all the forces of Gehinnom will be defeated for good. This was foreseen by Isaiah, who declared that “No more shall hamas be heard in your land, nor shod or ruin within your borders” (Isaiah 60:18).

Let us pray that we see this day very soon.

The Last Oppression

As we tremble and mourn the senseless carnage in Israel over the last several days, we begin a new Torah reading cycle as well. Beresheet opens by telling us that the first thing God created was light. This was a special, divine light which was subsequently hidden away for the World to Come. It is therefore known as the or haganuz, the “hidden” or “concealed” light. The Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni II, 499) states that this light has the power to destroy all evil instantly. For now, it is stored away under God’s Throne, to be revealed only at the End of Days. Unfortunately this means that, at the moment, the world is more like it was before God brought forth this light, when the cosmos was “chaotic and void, with darkness over the face of the abyss” (Genesis 1:2). Indeed, the Midrash teaches that this verse is speaking of the future Four Exiles of the Jewish people: “chaotic” being an allusion to Babylon, “void” to Persia, “darkness” to the Greek, and the “abyss” to the Edomite (Beresheet Rabbah 2:4).

At the same time, our Sages taught that each exile actually has two parts, and is a partnership between two oppressors. (The term “oppression” or “persecution” is probably more accurate than “exile” since, for instance, the Greek oppression happened in the Holy Land and did not involve exile.) Babylon only finished what the Assyrians started in the decades before by destroying the northern Kingdom of Israel and banishing the Lost Tribes. Persia was allied with Media, and the Greek oppression began with Alexander, who was a Macedonian. Similarly, while Edom began the final exile, it is Ishmael who concludes it. This is alluded to in several places in the Torah, including when “Esau went to Ishmael and took for a wife, in addition to the wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael.” (Genesis 28:9) The Vilna Gaon taught, in his commentary on Sifra diTzniuta, that in the End of Days, too, the world of Edom will “marry” the world of Ishmael to oppose Israel.

This is precisely what we see today, where Israel’s terrorist Ishmaelite oppressors—Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and their main financier, Iran, among others—are enabled and supported by Western countries. European nations are quick to condemn Israel and send “aid” to the terrorists. The Western mainstream media constantly paints Israel as the aggressor, and describes the real villains as the poor and oppressed victims. Russia pretends to have good relations with Israel, but keeps Iran as one of its closest allies, arms them, and props up the Iranian regime. It even invited Iran to join its CSTO military defense pact. (Though not currently a full member, Iran is the only non-Soviet nation to be part of the CSTO.) Nor is the United States off the hook since, despite its valuable aid, it has often thrown Israel under the bus. It was George W. Bush’s “roadmap to peace” that pressured Israel to give up Gaza for nothing, and create the huge disaster we are mired in. And it is no coincidence that this current war began just weeks after the Biden administration unfroze $6 billion in Iranian funds, supposedly for “humanitarian” purposes. (Internal memos reveal that the Biden administration was aware the money might go to terrorists, and they proceeded with the deal anyway.)

Make no mistake, nearly the whole world is complicit here in some way. Let’s not forget that the United Nations spends much of its time attacking Israel, and has passed more resolutions against Israel than any other country (than most other countries combined, in fact). Long ago, our Prophets predicted that God would “gather all the nations” against Israel (Zechariah 14:2), and “many nations” would join the wicked Gog against Israel at the End of Days, first among them Persia (Ezekiel 38:5-6). King David foresaw that those who “secretly conspire” against the Jewish people come from both “the tents of Edom and Ishmael” (Psalm 83:7). He goes on to list Moab and Ammon (today’s Jordan), Tyre (ie. Lebanon), Syria, the “Philistines” and, of course, Amalek.

The Torah presents us with 70 root nations in the world, from which all others branch out. These were divided up between “the tents of Edom and Ishmael”, which is why we often see reference not to 70 nations, but to 72 nations. The Vilna Gaon found further proof for this from Psalms 20:8, which says “These [call] on chariots and these [call] on horses, but we call in the name of the Lord, our God.” The word these, eleh (אלה), has a value of 36, alluding to the fact that 36 nations under the umbrella of Edom stand on one side, and 36 nations under the Ishmaelite umbrella stand on the other side. All of this reinforces the notion that the final exile and oppression is an Edom-Ishmael partnership.

Throughout ancient Jewish texts, it is Ishmael who is described as starting the final war in the End of Days. The Midrash (Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer 30) says they will launch a three-pronged attack to start the conflict, with an assault in the wilderness, an invasion by sea, and in a “big city”. This is highly reminscent of what we witnessed earlier this week, with terrorists slaughtering helpless young people at a nature party in the wild, landing at the Zikim Beach from the sea, and taking over the city of Sderot, and neighbouring kibbutzim.

Within the wider world of Ishmael—the whole house of Islam—who is it in particular that is the main culprit? Not surprisingly, the Midrash identifies Paras, Iran, as the one that’s really behind the war that “destroys the world” (Yalkut Shimoni II, 499). This is tremendously prescient, since Paras back then was not Muslim, and not yet Ishmaelite. It was only in the 7th and 8th centuries that the Islamization of Persia occurred. And today, Iran is the undisputed leader of Ishmaelite extremism.

Amazingly, the Midrash here says that Iran will do this precisely at a time when the “king of Arabia” will head west for council and diplomacy. Indeed, in recent weeks we saw how Israel and Saudi Arabia were getting closer and closer to a long-awaited peace deal. Iran could not let this happen, and made sure to use their terrorist proxies to attack Israel and axe any such deal. Iranian weapons, training, and funds are behind the deadly massacres we witnessed. Nearly two millennia ago, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai taught that “when you see the Persian horse tied to the graves of the land of Israel, expect the footsteps of Mashiach.” (Shir haShirim Rabbah 8:9) In other words, when Iranian armaments are causing graves in Israel, the coming of Mashiach is imminent.

The multitude of graves we see today in Israel are beyond tragic, and there are no words to describe the unspeakable crimes committed by the Ishmaelites. While it is no consolation whatsoever, this terror was foreseen, and the Midrash even states that God deeply “regrets” having created four things, foremost among them is Ishmael (Yalkut Shimoni II, 424). The Talmud describes some of these Ishmaelites as se’irim shel beit hakis’e, like “demons of an outhouse” (Kiddushin 72a). We certainly saw such demonic beings in the grotesque crimes committed against innocent civilians, helpless youths, and little children—may Hashem avenge their blood.

Foreseeing these tragedies, the Sages declared: “Let [Mashiach] come but let me not see him!” They would rather not be alive to witness such things. The same Midrash cited above (Yalkut Shimoni II, 499) says the Jewish people will be so confounded at the End of Days that they will repeat over and over again l’eikhan navo v’nelekh? “Where do we go from here?” But God will reveal Himself soon after, and restore the primordial light of Creation—that hidden or ha’ganuz first mentioned at the start of this week’s parasha. We will bask in this light, glow with it, illuminate the whole world, and finally enjoy the era of peace and prosperity we’ve been awaiting for so long.

May we merit to see it very soon.

The War in Israel and How to Help

Perspectives on the sensless catastrophe in Israel – and how these horrific events may tie into ancient Biblical, Talmudic, and Midrashic prophecies – followed by three simple but powerful ways to spiritually assist our brothers and sisters in Israel.