The problems with the Arab population of Israel keep getting worse. World opinion overwhelmingly supports the Arab claims. A feeling of desperation is spreading. On the one hand, there are the broken Zionist illusions; on the other, genuine and pressing questions. Is there a solution to the Arab problem? Can we stand up to the world? Did we have the right to disinherit the Arabs as we did? If so, why all this contention?



In Parshat Masei we read: "You shall disinherit all the inhabitants of the Land before you; and you shall destroy all their temples; all their molten images shall you destroy; and all their high places shall you demolish." (BaMidbar 33:52)



The commandment is clear in its historical context. The seven nations that inhabited the Land of Israel in the time of the first conquest had to be disinherited. Less obvious is how the commandment relates to our times. Maybe only the seven nations were to be dispossessed and the commandment does not apply at all in our times? Maybe the only reason for the commandment was the idol worship of the seven nations? After all, the verse refers to their molten images. The Arabs are not the seven nations, and they do not serve idols.



The next verse addresses the issue: "You shall disinherit the Land, and you shall settle in it, for to you have I given the Land to possess it." (BaMidbar 33:53)



That is, disinheriting the Land is a commandment in itself because the Land is ours to possess. The commandment still stands, because the reason for it is eternal: HaShem promised the Land to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.



If that is the case, why did we end up in all this trouble just because we came to live in it? Doesn't that prove that we are somehow wrong? Maybe the timing is wrong and we should have waited in the Diaspora until the Land would be given to us in a peaceful way?



Our Sages explain: "The Holy One, Blessed is He, said to Israel: 'I could have created another Land of delight for you, but in order to show you my Power, I shall disinherit your enemies from before you and give you their Land,' as it says: 'The strength of His deeds He declared to His nation to give them the heritage of peoples.' (Psalm 111)." (Midrash Tanchuma, Parshat Masei)



To a certain degree, contention is part of the plan. It is essential to the scene that HaShem desires, as it were, to display his Power. Moreover, the very contention that the commandment to disinherit is bound to generate makes it into a crucial test of faith.



As a warning for the faint of heart, Rashi explains the above verse (BaMidbar 33:53) as follows: "If you will disinherit the Land from its inhabitants you will be able to settle in it. And if not, you will not be able to maintain yourself in it."



We do not inherit the Land because of our righteousness, and the test that we must pass does not prove our righteousness. It only proves the minimal requirement - faith. And if we do not muster this faith, G-d forbid, the contention that we try to avoid will escalate and turn into great danger. Those that are eager to accept that HaShem gave us the Land must also accept that the giving is conditional. Only if we disinherit we will inherit and be able to give the inheritance to our children.



The Torah itself states a similar warning: "But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the Land before you, those of them whom you leave shall be as pins in your eyes and as thorn-hedges at your sides, and they will harass you upon the Land in which you dwell. And it shall be that what I had meant to do to them, I shall do to you." (BaMidbar 33:55,56)



The name of the Parasha, Masei (journeys), brings to mind the journey of mankind to the valley of Shinar, in which a phenomenal city was built in defiance of the Divine commandment to rule over the Earth (Bereishit 11). In view of the unfulfilled commandment to go and displace the enemy that is in the Land, isn't it tragic that so many of us live on top of each other in our valley cities?



May the curses of the past be reversed and may the future chronicles of Redemption relate something like this: "The inhabitants of the Land that had remained came down from the mountains of the East and harassed the Jews in the cities in which they had been gathered. The People of Israel were awakened and understood the message in the curse. They spread out from the valley and took hold of the whole Land. Multitudes settled in the great and good cities of Bethlehem, Shechem, Hebron, and Jerusalem."

--------------------------------------------------------

Moshe Lerman writes from Enav, Israel.