Parshiot Behar Bechukotai  26 Iyyar 5761, 19 May 2001

By Shlomo Riskin

Efrat, Israel - I write the interpretation of this week's Torah portion with a heavy heart, just returning from the tragic funeral of Koby Mandell, a thirteen and a half year old student in the eighth grade of the Efrat Ohr Torah Stone Junior High School. Koby and his family made aliyah from Silver Spring, Maryland, six years ago; for the first four years in Israel, the family lived in Efrat and these last two years in Tekoa. Koby was a happy fun loving sensitive and outgoing student - who especially loved to hike and explore the landscape of Israel.

Yesterday, the Tuesday before Lag B'Omer Koby and his classmate Yosef went hiking in a park of caves on the outskirts of their home town Tekoa (Ma'arat Haritan). When they failed to return by nightfall, their worried parents began a search which concluded with the discovery of two dead bodies - cruelly stoned to death almost beyond recognition by a savage group of Palestinians. Ten thousand shocked Gush Etzion residents participated in the heart rending funeral.

What the world Jewish community must realize is that we in Israel are in the midst of a war - perhaps the most difficult and significant war of our entire history. It is difficult, even horrendously and cruelly difficult, because the enemy has made the roads, parks, and residential areas the front lines of battle; indeed our soldiers are often mere babies and young children completely free of wrongdoing. Koby and Yosef were soldiers who were murdered in the line of duty, holy sacrifices. We would not have chosen to make them soldiers; unfortunately, our enemy has dictated the rules of this war.

This war is significant because it is a continuation of our War of Independence. Our battle to maintain our homes and our freedom in Israel. Do not make the mistake of thinking that is about our right to Judea, Samaria and Gaza; we have already given up 96% of the land of Judea, Samaria and Gaza in which Palestinians live, and former Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered to give up 94% of the remaining areas (with the land swap in the Negev for the other 6%) - including the Jordan Valley, Arab and Christian East Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount above the ground. Arafat's response was terrorist attacks in every part of Israel; his reason was that it was his goal to return not only to the 1967 boundaries but to the 1947 boundaries, including West Jerusalem, Netanya, Haifa, et al. In defiance of the now defunct Oslo accords, Arafat is training an army and trading in the negotiation table for armed terrorism.

Palestinian, indeed all Arab, television, newspaper, and literary works, as well as religious Moslem homilies, are constantly filled with vile and invidious venom against Israel and the Jews; suicide bombing and young children's participation in stone throwing are monetarily encouraged, aided and abetted. If a Palestinian baby is a tragic victim, it is only by accident and in self defense because we must protect ourselves from shell-fire emanating from Palestinian homes with young children; however, if an Israeli child is a sacrificial victim in this war it is by design, with he or she having been singled out for a sadistic death by a crazed and whipped-up enemy. Tragically, the world community refuses to face these bold facts; at the very least, all of world Jewry and fair-minded citizens at large must rise up in defense of a besieged Israel in our time of need and existential danger.

This week's Torah reading

: "I broke the pegs of your yoke, and led forth with your heads held high" (Leviticus 26:13)

Rav Shlomo Ullman explains that the end of the plowing-planting season, the farmer removes the pegs of his yokes from his oxen - but he retains the yokes themselves for the following season. When he sells his entire agricultural enterprise however, he rids himself of all his yokes! Our Torah reading is referring to the first Commonwealth when the pegs of our subjugation were removed, but the yoke would soon return to haunt us after the Temple's destruction. Our request in the Grace After Meals is for the entire yoke to be cast aside because we shall have entered the period of our complete and our eternal redemption.

Allow me to make an alternate suggestion: the Biblical verse to our subjugation in the Exile; when the Almighty concludes our Exile, he removes the pegs of the yoke. However, the yoke itself still follows us, even in our homeland Israel. After all, do we not still suffer the terrorist acts of our enemy as well as the constraints placed upon military actions by our American allies? Therefore, in the Grace After Meals, we ask the Almighty to completely remove the entire yoke from our necks and to lead us with heads held high within our land! So may it be!

Shabbat Shalom.

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