Rachel's Children on Fire

If you’re not a mom, you might not fully understand the luxury of a “Girls Night Out.”  That occasional night when the kids stay home with dad or a sitter while mom goes out with her friends to relax and unwind.  A “Girls Night Out” usually involves dinner, movie, and a cocktail or two.  But unfortunately, a “Girls Night Out” in Israel can involve a different kind of cocktail.  A Molotov cocktail.

I have the honor of knowing what the world refers to as a “settler” in Israel.  I have another name for the “settlers” though; pioneers.  Pioneers reclaiming the Land of Israel.  I also refer to them as prophets.  Prophets, because they are doing one thing better than anyone else in the world; telling the truth.  But they don’t just tell the truth, they live the truth.  And bottom-line, that’s what prophecy is.  The truth.  But more on that in a moment.  Back to the “Girls Night Out” with a splash of Molotov cocktail thrown in.

My friend, who lives in the Judea and Samaria region, recently went with her sister and three other friends for a “Girls Night Out.”  Their night included an award-winning movie, Fill the Void, produced by a chassidic woman.  They enjoyed the movie almost as much as they enjoyed being out together.  Their enjoyment came to an abrupt end though.  On their way home, they experienced an all-too-common incident throughout Judea and Samaria.  A Molotov cocktail was thrown in the road in front of them.  Fortunately, the women knew that it was a ploy to scare them out of the car, and if they had got out, I hate to think what kind of barbaric acts could have been inflicted on them.  Instead, they quickly made a u-turn and sped away.  Eventually they were able to find members of the IDF who helped them get home. 

In describing the incident, my friend said, “This is what we go through.  Every time my family leaves the house, these are the kinds of situations we have to think about.”    

She is not exaggerating when she says that every time her family leaves the house they have to be aware of impending dangers.  Ask Jews what can happen if one makes a wrong turn and ends up in an Arab neighborhood.  If they could speak from the grave, Jews would tell you how they were lynched and killed after making a wrong turn.  Ask Jews what can happen if a rock is thrown at their car while driving through Judea and Samaria.  Some of those Jews and their children would also have to speak from the grave.  Ask off-duty soldiers what can happen during a hike in the hills outside of Hebron.  You guessed it.  They would have to speak from the grave too.  Rocks.  Molotov cocktails.  Ambushes.  No big deal, right?  After all, these attacks are happening to “settlers,” who in many peoples’ eyes are only getting what they deserve for living in so-called “disputed” or “occupied territories.”  When people fall prey to the propaganda that the "settlers" are illegally occupying Jewish land, they can also easily fall prey to thinking that terrorists acts against the "settlers" are justified, perhaps even deserved. 

My pioneering friend not only has to be concerned about impending danger when she leaves home, but while she is at home too.  Far too often Shabbat has ended with a mob of Arabs with weapons rioting in her neighborhood chanting, “Death to the Jews!”  Thank G-d, she and her family have not been harmed.  The same cannot be said for some of their vineyards.  But again, who cares?  She is only a “settler.”  By living beyond the “green-line,” otherwise known as the heartland of Israel, she chose to put herself and her children in harms way, right?

To sum up the events of her night out, my friend said, “We felt Hashem guiding us and leading us out of danger.  Thank you Hashem!  No matter what we go through we feel safer here and we know this is our home!” 

I’m not surprised by her reaction.  It is the reaction of a true pioneer, of a true prophet.  It is the reaction of one of Rachel’s children responding to Rachel’s cries per Jeremiah 31.  It is the response of someone who has truly come home. 

There are many Jews living in Israel.  But not all of them are really living in Israel.  They are living in a faux, political dream.  They are living according to how the nations are telling them to live instead of how the G-d of Israel instructed them to live.  If a Jew is living in the Land while trying to give the Land away, he or she has not truly come home yet.  Rachel still weeps for them.

The pioneers, though, they are the epitome of living in the Land; of being home.  Besides the IDF, they are another line of defense, staking claim and protecting the Land of Israel against enemies within and without who are not only trying to steal the Land of Israel, but are actually trying to end Israel’s very existence.  But, instead of being lauded as a second line of defense, the pioneers are considered by many, including fellow Jews, as the #1 roadblock to peace.  An Arab terrorist can, G-d forbid, don a suicide-belt, launch rockets, and slit Jewish women and children’s throats.  But in the twisted logic of liberals, barbaric acts of terrorism are nothing compared to a Jew picking up a hammer to build a home in Judea and Samaria.

In Obama’s first term, he launched his presidency with his famed speech in Cairo.  In the speech he was quick to point his finger, as other US administrations before him did, at the “settlers” in Israel for being the biggest obstacle to peace.  Yet, what the pioneers are really an obstacle to are the plans of the nations to continue to shrink Israel until, “Poof!” it no longer exists.  While the nations push for pre-1967 borders, while liberal Jews continue to dream of a two-state solution, while the Israeli government bulldozes pioneers’ homes in cowardly acts of appeasement, the pioneers continue to stand on one simple truth – every inch of Israel belongs to the Jews.  Period.

In a world of revisionist history, in the midst of the conniving schemes of Peace Now, and despite many members of their own government and population being against them, the pioneers are a beacon of unadulterated Biblical truth: the Land of Israel was given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and that has never changed.  Twenty-first century politics and “peace accords” will not cause the pioneers of the Land to sway.  If anything, the liberal ideas of man will only make the pioneers stronger in their stance to live out the promises given to their forefathers.  In the long run, revisionist history and propaganda are no match against pioneers who are the living embodiment of Biblical prophecy coming to pass.  

After the most recent “cease-fire” in Israel, hundreds of Arabs rioted throughout Judea and Samaria throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at Jews in buses and cars and at Israeli soldiers and police.  Much of the rioting took place at Rachel’s Tomb where Arabs threw 73 Molotov cocktails at the tomb’s compound and at the security forces there.  (It is worth noting that Rachel’s tomb is just one of several historical sites in Israel that Arabs have tried to claim as their own, with the help of UNESCO, and then desecrated the site with barbaric acts, just as they did with Joseph’s tomb.) 

The flames of Molotov cocktails, though, pale in comparison to the holy flames Rachel’s children have become.  Rachel's children have returned to their land.  There, they will stay.  The House of Jacob.  The House of Joseph.  A fire and a flame, in the guise of hammers and nails, consuming those who would oppose their existence.   

                              Dedicated to Hela - the beautiful, indomitable pioneer.