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In the Beginning…
By Amos Ben Ami
Islam claims Israel or rather Palestine as their land. Jews must subjugate themselves to the rule of the Koran. How did the Arabs come up with such a claim? Is not the Koran, as well as the New Testament based on the original Hebrew bible?
In the Beginning G-d created the heaven and the earth. So starts the original Big Book, the Bible. Christianity and Islam which are based on this which starts out simply by informing us that in the beginning, before there was anything, there was G-d and He created the heaven and earth.
Rashi, the classic biblical commentator, like others were perplexed with the question of why do we need to know that before G-d created the world only He existed. How does this knowledge enhance our life or bring us closer to G-d? Is not the purpose of the Torah to instruct us as to the various mitzvoth that we must do?
Therefore Rashi chose to open his commentary on the bible by quoting the words of Rabbi Yitzchak, who lived some two thousand years ago, to tell us that in reality the Torah should have started with the words, "This month shall be unto you the beginning of the order of months." Why? Because this is the first command given to the Jews as a people as they awaited their freedom from Egyptian captivity.
So, Rabbi Yitzhak continues, what is the reason that the Torah beginnings with the story of creation and the division of mankind and their lands? In order to fulfill that which is written in Psalms 111:6, "The power of His works has He declared to His people to give them the inheritance of the nations." The reason, Rabbi Yitzhak tells us, is that if the nations of the world come and complain to Israel that we usurped the lands of the nations that dwelled in the land before us, we should reply to them saying: All of the lands belong to G-d, He created them and he gave them to whom He found favor. Through His good will He gave them lands and through His desires He took the lands from them and gave them to us.
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Looking back on world history, we see that many nations have come, been mighty and gone. Many of wars have been fought over lands. Europe, too, has seen the mighty Prussian empire come and go. The great Empires of Greece and Rome are but a miniscule of their former glory. The great Russian empire has collapsed. Nations that have existed have disappeared and others have come to take their place. Peoples have moved across the globe settling in new areas, offsetting and displacing the indigenous peoples.
As G-d in His mercy has begun to bring the Jews back to their national home, they had to contend with the Ottoman Turks who controlled the vast Middle East. Cruel and corrupt, we had to pay dearly to come and live in Israel. Then the British challenged our right to be here. Although they had promised a National Home for the Jews in Palestine, they changed their minds and decided to aid the Arabs in taking Palestine as theirs. Fortunately for us, G-d had other plans and the Jews established their home in the land of their fathers in spite of the opposition of the then British Empire.
Today Britain and the European community recognize Israel and its right to exist, but the Arabs still refuse to acknowledge our right to our land. This stems from the fact that the land of Israel was under the rule of the Arab Turks and according to the Koran the land of Israel is considered by them to be land that was conquered by Islam.
Now what most people do not know is that Islam demands from it adherents world conquest. It divides the world into two groups: Dir al Islam and Dir al Charav. Dir al Islam is the land that was conquered by Islam so that Islamic law may have its reign. Dir al Charav are the lands that Islam's adherents must still conquer. Charav means sword and this means that Islam, which was spread by the sword, must continue to fight further battles to gain its goal of world domination.
The land of Israel has the dubious distinction of being Dir al Islam, land conquered by Islam. Therefore to the fundamentalist Muslim, the fact that this land is now under rule of infidels (that is what we Jews are in the Muslim's opinion) is an affront to their religion. They feel compelled to regain it. Not only are Jews devils, in their eyes, but we have taken "their" land! Islam requires Jews to be second class citizens and not the rulers. As a result, it is impossible for the Arabs to fully accept Jews having their own country in Israel.
But Rabbi Yitzhak has already foretold us that they will come with complaints. Who gave the Arabs the right to live on this land? It was G-d. And just like He gave them the land, He takes it from them and gave it to us.
Why should we even get involved with their lies? Their religion is based on the sword and terrorizing people into acceptance. There is no justice in their courts, there is only terror.
We must only remember what Rabbi Yitzhak told us which is written in Psalms 111:6, "The power of His works has He declared to His people to give them the inheritance of the nations." That is our answer, G-d had given it to them but now He has taken it from them and given it to us.
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from the November 2006 Edition of the Jewish Magazine
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