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By: Alan A. Mazurek, MD
News item: 2/28/24 Anti- Israel protesters shut down event, hosted by Jewish students at UC Berkeley, smash windows and doors.
News item: 2/28/24 Defense Minister Gallant: Terror groups will turn Ramadan into second phase of October 7.
News item: 2/27/24 Secretary of Treasury Yellen demands Israel take action to support Palestinian economy.
News item: 2/27/24 Israeli pavilion in Venice “rejected” by artistic community.
News item: 2/27/24 Will Israel be excluded from the Paris 2024 Olympics?
News item: 2/27/24 New York Times journalist who participated in October 7 massacre, given prestigious award.
News item: 2/27/24 Harvard anti-Semitism task force Co-Chair resigns; says she has no confidence that Harvard will do anything to combat anti-Semitism; citing that Chair of anti-Semitism task force has called Israel “a regime of apartheid” in the past, and is a member of the Harvard Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine(!)
News item: 2/27/24 Black shirted protesters attack Jerry Seinfeld, calling him, “Nazi scum and genocide supporter” for his support of Israel.
News item: 2/27/24 Tunisians burn down second largest synagogue in Tunisia. Largely unreported in mainstream media.
News item: 2/27/24 After Hamas massacre, US, European Union and many western nations call for a “two state solution” with leadership of the Palestinian state to consist of “a revitalized, Palestinian authority, united with Hamas“.
News item: 2/26/24 China supports “Palestinian people’s use of force to resist foreign oppression and complete the establishment of an independent state“, four months after Hamas invasion and massacre in Israel.
News item: 2/26/24 Russia to host Palestinian unity talks from February 29 to March 2 for “inter-Palestinian talks”, inviting as many as 14 Palestinian groups, including Fatah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad.
News item: 2/23/24 Secretary of State Antony Blinken calls Jewish settlements, “illegal by international law”, hours after terrorist attack near Maale Adumim kills one and wounds 7.
Everyday: Massive protests by thousands against Israel in USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, all across the world- accusing Israel of genocide after Israel suffered a true genocidal attack by Hamas, who say that they “will do it again, there will be an October 8th, 9th and 10th, until all Jews are dead“.
Had enough? Need any more proof that the world is insane? And of course those who are reading this, know this is but a smattering of the reportage out there. It seems as if the whole world is against us. We just want to be left alone but the world won’t leave us alone! So how does a Jew, a lover of Torah and Israel, who knows the truth, and that our desire is to “just be left alone“, how does that Jew cope? He or she must remember our Holy Torah‘s words, that were intended as a curse by the evil prophet Bilaam, but ultimately became a Bracha, a blessing, and a prophecy for the future: Am Levadad Yishkon- עם לבדד ישכון.
The full text from Bamidbar, Numbers 23:9 is:
…הן עם לבדד ישכון, ובגויים לא יתחשב. “Lo, it is a people that dwells alone; not reckoned among the nations”.
ArtScroll translates it as “Behold it is a nation that will dwell in solitude, and not be reckoned among the nations”.
Levadad- is it alone or solitude? Is it a curse or a blessing? To be “alone” sounds like a curse, while being in “solitude” can be perceived as a blessing. The concept of hitbodedut, solitude or self seclusion with G-d is considered a lofty spiritual environment.
The esteemed and inimitable rabbi and scholar, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks זצ״ל, in his masterful work Covenant and Conversation 5771(2011), most definitely comes down on the side that this verse means “alone” and is a curse.
He quotes the gemara in Masechet Sanhedrin (bavli,105b) that states (at least according to Rabi Abba bar Kahana) that “all the blessings with which Bilaam blessed the Jewish people reverted back to curses, except for “how goodly are your tents, O’ Jacob”, מה טובו אהלך יעקב,” which we incorporated into our morning liturgy. He insists that Bilaam deliberately left the language ambiguous, so that the words could be understood as a blessing, but also as a curse. Badad, “alone”, Rabbi Sacks says, is not good , as in לא טוב להיות האדם לבדו, it is not good for man to be alone (Bereishit, Genesis 2:18). Admittedly, says Rabbi Sacks , there are times when being alone can be termed a positive, as most of the commentaries on our verse עם לבדד ישכון indicate.
Rashi, for example, says it means we alone among the nations will be indestructible.
Ibn Ezra says it means we will not assimilate.
Rambam says we will maintain our integrity.
“ It does not mean that we are destined to be isolated without allies or friends“ adds Rabbi Sacks. Yet paradoxically, he continues to assert that עם לבדד ישכון is not a blessing, but a curse.
I humbly disagree, and a closer examination of the gemara in Sanhedrin cited above indicates that the majority view held by Rabi Yochanan is that the utterances of Bilaam were all converted from curses into blessings, and remained as such.
But I think ultimately the answer of whether Levadad, alone, is a blessing or curse depends on us, our attitude and our actions.
When we are encountered by this flood of hatred, of anti-Semitism, anti-Israel, and anti-human activity, do we cower, hunker down, alone and afraid and hope it will blow over? Or do we stand up for what we know is right and true, relish in our oneness, as עם אחד בלב אחד, one unified people of one heart, with a singular purpose of bringing the message of the living G-d to the whole world, whether they agree with us or not.
Being alone doesn’t mean being unengaged. It means, as we have always been, alone in our belief in the One True God, and His Holy Torah, welcoming friends, allies, converts, and adherents, but proud and brave to take up the battle against those who would deprive us of our lives, liberties, beliefs and futures. It means being alone as a united people, despite our differing opinions, fighting those who would destroy us, G-d’s singularly chosen people Who gave us His singularly chosen Land, the Land of Israel, as He says כי לי הארץ, the Land is Mine (Vayikra, Leviticus 25:23).
When confronted and surrounded by this unrelenting and depressing circle of evil, rather than despair, we should look up in joy at this as a prophecy fulfilled. Yes, Am Levadad Yishkon, we are a people dwelling apart, but not alone. Apart in חסד ואמת, kindness and truth; צדק ומשפט, righteousness and justice; כח וגבורה, strength and bravery; ענווה ורחמים, humility and compassion.
And now it makes so much sense. For then as Rashi says, we shall be rewarded with the culmination of the remainder of this very same verse, as a blessing, ובגויים לא יתחשב, “and not be reckoned among the nations”. Rashi, quoting the Targum and Midrash, says we will not be punished or destroyed with the other nations, and we will rejoice, alone with G-d,as the verse in Devarim, Deuteronomy (32:12) tells us ה׳ בדד ינחנו, ואין עמו אל נכר, “for G-d alone has guided them (us), and no other power was with them”. It means we will no longer be dependent on any other nation or people, not the United States or anyone else, save Hashem and ourselves.
It is so clear, that this seeming overwhelming isolation, the feeling that the whole world is against us, is another indicator that we are truly on the threshold of redemption! We will be a people apart, but not alone, independent, not dependent, finally free of the galut, in our own Land, to bring the light , G-d’s light, unto the nations of the world, to the benefit of all humanity.
As predicted in Sefer Yeshayahu,Isaiah 42:6 at the End of Days, found in the Haftarah (parshat Bereishit) read the week after this war began, אני ה׳ קראתיך בצדק ואחזק בידך,ואצרך ואתנך לברית עם לאור גויים.
“I am Hashem; in righteousness have I called you and taken hold of your hand; I have protected you and appointed you to bring the people to the covenant, to be a light for the nations.”
We are not alone; G-d has taken us by the hand, leading us, protecting us, so that we can bring that light of wisdom, peace and understanding unto the nations. Don’t despair, hold on tight, we’re almost there.
Alan A. Mazurek, MD a retired neurologist and proud Zionist who made aliyah with his wife a year and a half ago. He is a former Chairman of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA).
