It's 01:00 am so later more 😊
The Torah verses convey profound messages that we can insightfully extract for our daily lives. Rabbi Shay Tahan, the Rosh Kollel of Shaarei Ezra in Brooklyn, NY, graciously opens the gates to understand them.
The recent conflict in Lebanon raises the age-old question regarding the northern borders of biblical Eretz Yisrael. Where exactly did Hashem define the boundaries, and are we obligated to conquer those areas? Do the mitzvat of terumah and ma’aser apply to those lands as part of Eretz Yisrael, or are they considered outside the borders?
The Torah provides clear guidelines regarding the areas we were commanded to conquer when taking possession of the land.
In the last generation, the term "Greater Israel" has come to the forefront. It is sometimes used in political or religious discussions about the ideal or future borders of Israel, often in the context of messianic or Zionist aspirations. Some interpret it as a call for the re-establishment of Israel’s biblical borders. However, the concept varies in meaning, ranging from symbolic or spiritual interpretations to literal geographical claims.
This term refers to the concept of the biblical boundaries of the Land of Israel as promised to the Jewish people in various parts of the Torah. It is often associated with the land described in the Covenant with Avraham (Brit Bein HaBetarim), which stretches from the "River of Egypt" (interpreted by some as the Nile or a smaller river in Sinai) to the Perat River. This expansive region includes parts of modern-day Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq.
When Hashem promised Avraham Avinu the Land of Israel at the Brit Bein HaBetarim, the pasuk says (בראשית טז): "On that day, Hashem made a covenant with Avram, saying: To your descendants, I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates."
At the blessing at the end of Parshat Ekev, Hashem tells us that we are granted every land we will conquer within the borders mentioned. In the north, the Torah states: "Every place where the sole of your foot will tread shall be yours—from the wilderness and the Lebanon, from the river—the Euphrates River—until the western sea shall be your boundary." This promise from the Creator clearly places the land of Lebanon within the Promised Land of Israel, or what some refer to as "the Complete Land of Israel", or “The greater Israel”.
Israeli Settler Video Shows Destruction of Haram al Sharif | Tikun Olam |
’Temple Mount' messianic extremists create video featuring IDF bomb destroying Al Aqsa
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Podcast from 25th of September before massive terror attack on Beirut suburb, the location of Hezbollah headquarters.
From Gaza to Beirut: Abdaljawad Omar on the ripple effects of Israel’s attack on Lebanon | Mondoweiss |
Israel’s rogue behavior in Gaza, and what we’re
seeing right now in Lebanon, wouldn’t be possible
without the U.S.’s unconditional support for Israel.
Many experts have called the U.S. approach a
disastrous failure of policy. In what ways has the
U.S. failed to de-escalate the situation or hold
Israel accountable both in Gaza and Lebanon?
Well, one of the things here is that nobody really knows what the Americans want. Do they want to just contain the war while allowing it to continue endlessly? Do they want to give Israel more maneuvering space to exact a price from Hezbollah, Hamas, and all these different groups challenging Israel? Or do they want to end the war?
It’s difficult to distill a consistent policy from the Americans. On the one hand, they claim that they want a ceasefire, but they hold the keys to stopping the war by stopping the flow of arms.
Without this endless flow of arms, Israel would have a hard time fighting a war on these multiple fronts and using its airpower in this way. America has a lot of leverage, unlike what it says. It says it’s incapable of actually stopping the war, which is factually and objectively untrue.
I think that America, at some level, sees Israel’s willingness to continue fighting could play to its advantage as long as it does not harm its vital interests in the Middle East or lead to all-out war regionally. So if the war widens to Lebanon but remains confined to it, and if Israel is able to weaken these resistance groups at the same time, America can just simply attempt to manage the war and prevent its expansion to the wider region. That’s one way of thinking about it.
The second way of thinking about it is that America
is actually supporting an Israeli policy of slowly escalating
to the point of even confronting Iran, Iraq, or Syria.
They’re thinking, Israel has moved from Gaza and was able to come back with some results in terms of depriving the resistance of some of its capabilities, so perhaps it should emulate the same scenario in Lebanon and then move to other areas. Perhaps it could even seek a military solution with Iran or, at the very least, weaken it.
Fulfilling the conditions for the Second Coming of Christ
The desert will blossom and become fruitful
Hoover's FBI: Patriotism, Nationalism, MAGA, Fascism
In short ... erasing dissent as red vs blue confront one another. The "Left" as representative of social justice, workers' rights, women's rights and gender equality has been furiously attacked in the media and eliminated. A hard right turn towards fascism has escalated ever since the opportunity given by 9/11. Similarly in a worse case scenario the western world stays silent post 10/7 and the genocide of Palestinians by the Jewish State of Israel. Horror is contagious.
Related topic, see my recent diaries ...
The Lamb, the Throne, and the Desert: V. Abraham, life as sacrifice, and the call to another country
Welcome to Apartheid, Jerusalem Against Annexation
ברוכים הבאים לאפרטהייד, ירושלים נגד סיפוח
The graffiti read "Price tag, King David is for the Jews, Jesus is garbage." In addition, a "Death to Arabs" graffiti was spotted on the door of a home and on an electrical box in the Old City of Jerusalem. Jewish extremists are the main suspects.
The phrase "price tag" is notorious in Israel, associated with a string of violent attacks on Arab residents and Palestinians in the West Bank, in the past decade
