There is one and only chapter in the book of the prophet Obadiah, in which, in a chilling prophecy, the prophet predicts the fall of Edom as a punishment for standing by during the occupation of Jerusalem. Adom watched without intervening in the brutal massacre that took place in Jerusalem: “On the day of [שְׁעָרָ֗יו] ואלְלְרוֹשלִ֙ם֙ יָ֣ו גְר֔ל ַּאֲַ֥ד מִחִם” Wilkot Shimoni interprets – you were not allowed to rejoice in Idi and stand and blaspheme the attacked people: And do not multiply your sins in the day of trouble…and do not be afraid of the people in the day of Idom” and in particular the prophet warns: And don’t close his remains in the day of trouble.”
Do not cut off the one who was saved and tail him and do not betray the vaporous remains shadowed by fire. Don’t stand on your neighbor’s blood.
Attorney Uri Aguz, photo: Private
Parshat of the week Parshat Vaishlach
The prophet expects help from Edom since Esau, the father of Edom, is considered a brother of Israel. Even Jacob, who is afraid of what he has done, still calls him a brother: “Hatsila֥ני נּא מִַּ֥ד אִָ֖י מִיַ֣ד עַש֑ו” and Rashi says “My brother does not treat me like a brother, but the evil one does.” .
And Esau himself calls Jacob a brother: “And this connection between them for a moment is significant, but enmity still prevails between the descendants: when the people of Israel pass through Edom on their journey from Egypt, Moses asks for permission to pass through the border of the king of Edom: ” And he sent Moses Angels from the temple, to the king of Edom: Thus he said, your brother Israel, you knew all the trouble we found…” and promises that they will not deviate from the path and will not harm anything, but the king of Edom refuses and threatens: “No Pass through me with the edge of the sword, I will go out to call you.”
And despite the statement “You shall not abhor Edom, for he is your brother” (Deuteronomy 23), the enmity between the two nations becomes open and the struggle continues: David appoints commissioners in Edom “and all Edom shall be servants to David” (Samuel 28), and the rebellion against King Solomon receives assistance from Edom (1 Kings 11), Jehoshaphat confronts you in Edom with the help of a governor (Ma 1 22, 8), during the days of Jehoram his son Edom revolts (Ma 1 8, 20), Amaziah returns and conquers Edom (Ma 2 y 7), then in the days of Pekah the Reds return and conquer Eilat (Ma “2 16 f). This is how the wars continue between us and Adom (Yehuda Isenberg).
But the prophet Obadiah, whom the Talmud considers himself a son of an Edomite camp, and it is not clear if he is the same Obadiah who is mentioned in the days of Ahab (Kings 1, 18, verses 1-16) and prophesied when Arabs and Philistines invaded the kingdom of Judah during the reign of Jehoram and Esau There are names in it: And they went up to Judah, and conquered it, and captured the All the possessions found in the king’s house, and also his sons and his wives” (2 Chronicles 21:16-17), or that Obadiah is a prophet who prophesied at the end of the first verse, when Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon, exiled The people of Israel: “On the rivers, in Babylon–there We sat, we also wept: in our remembrance, Zion… Remember Jehovah, the children of Edom, the day of Jerusalem”, the same Ovadia revolts against the silence of Edom when a disaster occurs to Israel. And why does he expect them to rise to our aid? Because of the distant bond of sisterhood, but also because the human hope is that despite the tensions, when evil rises up against you, the nations of the world will stand up to help. If the world understands what happened to us on the seventh of October, it will not stand by.
At the Commission on the Status of Women at the UN, I raised the cry of Jewish women
In the past year, I had the painful privilege of representing Israel, among other things, in the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations and describing the horrors that women, girls, and girls went through on the Seventh of October. It seems to me that I experienced something similar to this expectation of its workers. Do not stand by when such terrible crimes are committed, and do not stop us from acting for our self-defense. and the return of our people, and from that, when I read the case, I felt a deep connection between the Haftar and the case beyond the subject of Esau Adumi, a connection which is the prosecution of not standing by when a terrible crime happens.
Our chapter has the dubious honor of carrying within it the first rape in the Bible. It was almost preceded by the rape of Lot’s daughters, and it is possible that the coming of Reuben on his father’s concubine should also be seen as an act of rape, and in the distance will come the act of a concubine on Gibeah and Amnon and Tamar and also Absalom who hits his father’s concubines on the roof before my eyes The people in order to establish their power, but the first rape occurs here: בַּת-לֵּה אַשֶ֥ר יָֽלָ֖ה ליֽעֲק֑ב לרא֖וֹת בִּנ֥וֹת הֽרז: ויַַַ֥ח שקקם בנ-חמור הֽיו֖י נשיׂ֣יא ה֑רז ויִַּ֥ץ תוּה And he lay down with her and answered her.”
After Dina is attacked by Nablus in retaliatory rape, Nablus comes to his father and asks to marry her. Jacob is deafened when he hears the request, but the brothers who have returned from the field are boiling. In a ruse, they promise to take Dina to Nablus and ask that the citizens of the city provide for themselves first. And after the word “And it shall be on the third day that they shall be as fathers, and shall take two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon, and Levi, the brothers of Dinah.” ויָּב֥ו אַלָהִ֖יר בֶ֑תח וַיַּֽהְַ֖ו כּל זְקָֽכ” and they also kill Nablus and Hamor and then “בַּו אַלַחִלִים וִיָּ֥ו אַלָהִלִים וִיָּ֥ו אַלֶחִלִים וִיָּ֥ו אַלַהִלִים וִיִָּ֥ו אַלָהִִר ואט-את-בקר֖ם ואט-חֲחֽרִיִ֑ם ואַת אשר-באיר ואת-אש֥ר בשדְזה לקָֽכו: ואט-כל-כיל֤ם ואט-כל-פאפמ֙ וַיָּב֑זּו וְא֖ת קּל-אַשֶ֥ר בַּֽיִת”.
The act of rape was met with a very severe collective punishment. Jacob is worried and angry: “I will be ashamed of you in the land וְנִשמְדִּ֖י אּנִ֥י וִביִֽי” Jacob is afraid that he will be attacked.
The midrash itself has difficulty giving an explanation for the cruel collective act and the Ramban formulates the question: “And how did the righteous sons of Jacob do this act of shedding clean blood?” And the opinions are divided: the Maharal believes that “it is permissible to take their revenge from them.” Because it is true that in wars between peoples, one must first settle peacefully, but not when it was preceded by a “vicious act” such as rape.
Or Ha’im interprets that the citizens of the city opposed the death of their president who sinned and therefore “the slain is a persecuting law”. They also assisted in the plundering of Dina and for the plundering of Noah’s sons they must die, hence the description of the sacking of the city. The Ramban himself believes that the sons of Jacob thought they could harm the people of Nablus because they broke the covenant with Jacob and were wicked.
But the fascinating explanation that caught my heart is Rambam’s: in the “Laws of Kings” he stated that since it is their duty to appoint judges who will judge and warn the people of transgressions: “(They) must appoint judges and judges in every kingdom to discuss these six mitzvot (commandments of the people of Noah), and to warn the people” (9:13). Therefore, the townspeople who knew what happened to Dina, had to prosecute those responsible but they chose not to. And in his words: “And because of this, all the owners of Nablus committed murder, for Nablus was plundering, and they saw, and knew, and did not condemn it” (19). They were punished by death because they saw what was done, they knew about the crime, but did not bring it to justice. The law that is also hidden in the name of Dina. The claim that justice will be done with her.
The gang rape in Eilat
A month ago, the verdict was given in the case of the accused in the gang rape incident at the Red Sea Hotel in Eilat that shocked Israel about four years ago. 11 defendants were prosecuted for brutally assaulting a girl under the influence of alcohol. Four defendants took part in the rape and seven others, were present and insulted and humiliated and in their presence from the side. They did not actually rape, but they also hurt and were also convicted of complicity in rape. Because they are exactly like the rapists. “It is difficult to understand how, despite the difficult picture that unfolded before their eyes for many minutes, none of the defendants found a decisive way to react – to try to stop what was happening, to shout, to express a protest, to try to physically remove the complainant from the room, or to call the police. Instead, they continued to look, enter to the room, to laugh and show enthusiasm for what is happening. Not a single tzaddik is found in Sodom,” the judges wrote in the horrifying verdict.
This is the sin of which the prophet Ovadia speaks, the sin of watching from the sidelines while other terrible acts are taking place.
This is the sin in the line of people of Nablus. It is the sin of standing on the sidelines of some of the nations of the world and its various institutions in the face of the horrors we went through on Simchat Torah and the continued harm to our abductees and abductees. Standing on the sidelines destroys the entire basis for the mutual guarantee of a society that desires life.
Martin Niemler, the German priest wrote after the Holocaust:
“First they came and took the socialists –
And I did not make my voice heard, because I was not a socialist;
Then they came and took the members of the trade union –
And I did not make my voice heard, because I was not a member of the trade union;
Then they came and took the Jews –
And I did not raise my voice, because I was not Jewish;
And then they came and took me –
And there is no longer a person left to speak for me.”
There is no resurrection when you allow something like this to happen, that’s what I said there, and the cry of the people and women and children who were murdered and the cry of those who are still captives there, we too must shout and not stand by. to cry out in front of the world and cry out within ourselves.
Uri Aguz is a lawyer and mediator, a writer for theater and television
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