CHOCHMAS NASHIM: KATONTI M’KOL HACHASADIM
By: Suri Davis
In this week’s torah portion, Jacob is returning from his sojourn with Lavan back to Israel, per G-d’s direction to him. He hears that Esau, his angry brother, is approaching him with 400 men, seemingly to wage war with him and Jacob turns to G-d and prays the following:
קָטֹ֜נְתִּי מִכֹּ֤ל הַחֲסָדִים֙ וּמִכׇּל־הָ֣אֱמֶ֔ת אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשִׂ֖יתָ אֶת־עַבְדֶּ֑ךָ כִּ֣י בְמַקְלִ֗י עָבַ֙רְתִּי֙ אֶת־הַיַּרְדֵּ֣ן הַזֶּ֔ה וְעַתָּ֥ה הָיִ֖יתִי לִשְׁנֵ֥י מַחֲנֽוֹת׃
I am unworthy of all the kindness that You have so steadfastly shown Your servant: with my staff alone I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.
הַצִּילֵ֥נִי נָ֛א מִיַּ֥ד אָחִ֖י מִיַּ֣ד עֵשָׂ֑ו כִּֽי־יָרֵ֤א אָנֹכִי֙ אֹת֔וֹ פֶּן־יָב֣וֹא וְהִכַּ֔נִי אֵ֖ם עַל־בָּנִֽים׃
Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; else, I fear, he may come and strike me down, mothers and children alike.
וְאַתָּ֣ה אָמַ֔רְתָּ הֵיטֵ֥ב אֵיטִ֖יב עִמָּ֑ךְ וְשַׂמְתִּ֤י אֶֽת־זַרְעֲךָ֙ כְּח֣וֹל הַיָּ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹא־יִסָּפֵ֖ר מֵרֹֽב׃
Yet You have said, ‘I will deal bountifully with you and make your offspring as the sands of the sea, which are too numerous to count.’”
The word Katonti, has as its root, Katan, the letters kuf, tet and nun, which together have a numerical value of 159, the number of hostages still remaining in captivity. The commentary on this questions why Jacob would fear Esau, is there a trust issue, especially in light of G-d’s promise to Jacob that he would be bountiful?
Says Rashi that Jacob was afraid that when he was living with Lavan, he might have sinned which would have prevented G-d from following through on his promise.
According to the Toras Menachem, Jacob’s splitting his family and then praying actually shows Jacob’s belief that G-d would save him, that his why he split his family, understanding that at least one of the groups would survive to fulfill G-d’s promise of Jacob’s future.
As the weeks since simchat torah pass, and we hear more and more stories of miracles which occurred during the October 7th progrom, we might feel unworthy of all that G-d has bestowed upon us already. Seventy-five years ago, the Jews were permitted to return to a sovereign Israel, and have miraculously survived surrounded by Esau and Ishmael and Amalek, each with its own brand of hatred and antisemitism.
Just as the survivors of the Holocaust are dying off, and there were discussions of who will testify to the atrocities and barbarism of humanity and endemic/worldwide antisemitism, which occurred during World War II, while the nations of the world stood silently by while the Nazis decimated European Jewry, we have another Holocaust, a new generation who can testify about the cruelty of humanity and the worldwide hatred of the Jews and pro-Palestinian vitriol which continues unabated, in every generation.
The German nation, as an entire nation, was held responsible for Nazi atrocities, as they elected Hitler knowing his platform and they knew what was going on with the Jewish roundups. Similarly, the Arabs who want to claim a state named Palestine, the entire people, must be held responsible for electing Hamas over the Palestinian Authority, the civilians are shown to celebrate when Jewish civilians die as a result of terrorism, on October 7th, the clapped as a naked Jewish corpse was paraded through Gaza, when hostages escaped, the “civilians” returned them to Hamas, and not one of them has denounced the atrocity for what it was. They are guilty, they are all guilty.
They were not “occupied” by Israel, who had removed 50,000 Israelis and left them infrastructure for residences and international industry worth millions. It was their brethren who betrayed them and with every dollar and resource Israel and other nations provided to them, they built terror instead of prosperity. Shfoch chamaschah el hagoyim.
Chanukkah is coming, may the miracles of the few defeating the many permeate the war in Israel and Gaza and lead to the coming of Moshiach bimhayra b’yameinu. Amen.
Good Shabbos
Chag Sameach
-Suri