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לימוד תורה

The importance of Controlling Territory – In those days, at this season

Parashat Hashavua – Shabbat Vayeshev – Chanukah 5785

Rabbi Eliezer Haim Shenvald

Praying for the IDF soldiers' success, to protect them from any harm, to the healing of all the injured and the return of the kidnapped.

We are in the midst of days of historical changes of national, security and religious significance. We are in a יְשׁוּעַת ה' כְּהֶרֶף עַיִן "Yeshuat Hashem Keheref Ayin", "G-d's Salvation Comes in the Blink of an Eye" era.

The severe damage to Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, affected the rapid collapse of the Syrian regime, like a house of cards, and caused severe damage to the Shiite ‘axis’, which was established to destroy the State of Israel. In response to the events, Israel made an immediate decision to take over the buffer zone on the Syrian border, and the Syrian Hermon.

The takeover was intended to protect the border of the Golan Heights. It stemmed from an insight that has become much more acute since the outbreak of the war that in order to defend, one must control the territory from the ground and create a defense and warning zone that is not on the line with the settlements.

This time, unlike other cases in recent decades, no magical technological substitutes were offered in place of ground control of the territory. This is not something new. We did not have to pay a price to learn this lesson, this is a fundamental rule in the combat doctrine, which should not change: there is no substitute for ground action in defense and attack. As in defense, there is no military victory in an attack without ground maneuver and military control of the territory. In any other way, it is possible to cause the enemy destruction and harm, but not to defeat him. This has been the case in wars throughout history. In most wars, the capture of territory was the image of victory!

A famous example was “The Blitz” - a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for a little more than 8 months during the Second World War. Over 43,000 civilians were killed in the bombings and 139,000 were injured. Over a million homes were destroyed but did not bring it to a successful solution. However, in recent decades, an idea has developed where wars can be brought to a successful conclusion by counterfire deadly attacks– from the air, sea and land, without ground maneuvering, thus sparing casualties. Of course, there is no chance of that.

The fighting in Gaza continues. It has unprecedented achievements. However, in order to win and achieve the goals that were set from the beginning, there is no other choice but to seize territory and take full control - military and humanitarian. To defeat Hamas, it must lose territory. That would be the picture of victory!

Hamas does not see itself as responsible for the suffering of the Gaza residents since it has a fundamentalist Muslim tendency. Even endangering people and destruction will not count as a defeat. Only loss of territory. To this day, Islam marks “Nakba Day” (the Catastrophe النكبة), as a day of national mourning for the loss of territory in the War of Independence, and “Naksa Day” (Day of Defeat يَوْم النَّكْسَة), for the loss of the territories of Judea and Samaria in the Six-Day War. Without losing territory, they stand on the ruins and mark the victory. The destruction and the lost lives only exalt this victory, because despite the heavy price, no territory was lost.

From history, we have learned about additional strategic implications that controlling the territory might bring along, such as: controlling the population, the distribution of resources, public order, and preventing potential hostile enemies from becoming organized.

In our Parasha, we begin to read the stories of Yosef and his descent into Egypt. Later, we read about his appointment as deputy to Pharaoh, and about the responsibility he received for the Egyptian national project to overcome the famine years that Pharaoh had foreseen in his dream. Yosef formulated a centralized control plan that would provide a solution to an extraordinary catastrophic national challenge. He prevented chaos and the takeover of national resources by forceful and self-interested authorities during the 7 years of satiety and succeeded in "educating" the population to change their consumption habits, during the years of satiety and hunger. In this way, he saved Egypt from itself.

In the advanced stages of the famine years, he purchased from the population all of its agricultural areas, and took control of the land, the distribution of seeds, and the accumulation of grain.

וַיִּקֶן יוֹסֵף אֶת כׇּל אַדְמַת מִצְרַיִם לְפַרְעֹה כִּי מָכְרוּ מִצְרַיִם אִישׁ שָׂדֵהוּ כִּי חָזַק עֲלֵהֶם הָרָעָב וַתְּהִי הָאָרֶץ לְפַרְעֹה. וְאֶת הָעָם הֶעֱבִיר אֹתוֹ לֶעָרִים מִקְצֵה גְבוּל מִצְרַיִם וְעַד קָצֵהוּ... וַיֹּאמֶר יוֹסֵף אֶל הָעָם הֵן קָנִיתִי אֶתְכֶם הַיּוֹם וְאֶת אַדְמַתְכֶם לְפַרְעֹה הֵא לָכֶם זֶרַע וּזְרַעְתֶּם אֶת הָאֲדָמָה. וְהָיָה בַּתְּבוּאֹת וּנְתַתֶּם חֲמִישִׁית לְפַרְעֹה וְאַרְבַּע הַיָּדֹת יִהְיֶה לָכֶם לְזֶרַע הַשָּׂדֶה וּלְאׇכְלְכֶם וְלַאֲשֶׁר בְּבָתֵּיכֶם וְלֶאֱכֹל לְטַפְּכֶם.

"Yosef bought all of the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for each Egyptian sold his field because the famine was strong upon them; so the land became Pharaoh's. As for the people, he transferred them, by cities,⁠ from one end of the border of Egypt to the other...Yosef said to the people, "Behold, I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh. Here is seed for you, that you may sow the land. When the produce is gathered, you will give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts shall be yours: as seed for the field, food for you and for those in your houses, and for your little ones to eat”. (Bereshit 47:20-24)

Only in this way did he have complete control over the land and the food, and through it he ensured equal distribution to the entire population, and the maintenance of public order.

Chanukah is upon us, in which we celebrate the victory of the Hasmoneans over the Greeks, the few over the many, the light over the darkness, the sacred over the profane. However, there is another lesson for generations: Despite the defeat of the Greek army and winning four heroic battles, the victory was not complete until they conquered the cities that were in Greek hands and, above all, Jerusalem. On the 25th of Kislev they purified the Temple. This was the image of victory for generations.

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