"Sarah saw the son that Hagar had born to Abraham playing. She said to Abraham, 'Drive away this slave together with her son. The son of this slave will not share the inheritance with my son Isaac!'" (Genesis 21:9-10)
Rashi comments, "From Sarah's response that Ishmael would not inherit with Isaac, we derive that Ishmael had been quarreling with Isaac over the inheritance, saying, 'I am the firstborn and I shall take my double portion.' They would go out into the fields and Ishmael would take up his bow and shoot arrows at Isaac."
For Abraham, who was also Ishmael's father, Sarah's demand was difficult, as it says, "This matter involving his son troubled Abraham very much." (verse 11) Rashi comments, "He was troubled that Sarah has told him to banish his son." Yet, G-d said to Abraham, "Do not be troubled because of the boy and your slave. Do everything that Sarah tells you. It is through Isaac that you will gain posterity." (verse12) Indeed, the Torah tells us that Ishmael become a "rebel" (16:12) and an "expert archer" (21:20). He lived in the desert and he would rob passersby. His hand was against everyone and everyone's hand was against him. After all, "he was a bandit, and everyone hated him and provoked him." (Rashi)
Our ancestors' deeds presage our own. It is true that thousands of years have passed since Ishmael would shoot arrows at Isaac with the goal of driving him out of Eretz Yisrael, but unfortunately, the Arabs, Ishmael's descendants, have not ceased to fight us. Their goal remains driving us out of the land of our life's blood. Only now, they have replaced their arrows with missiles, their stones with rifles and other modern tools of destruction.
And just as Abraham found it hard to part with Ishmael, he was still commanded by G-d to heed Sarah, who said, "Drive away this slave, together with her son," so, too, in our own generation. We must follow in the path of Abraham and separate ourselves from the Arabs by sending them away into the desert. We must encourage them to emigrate to Arabic countries, just as did Abraham, that man of kindness; he took bread and a flask of water and gave them to Hagar to sustain her son Ishmael. Yet, if the Arabs continue to threaten our survival and they wish to make good on their plans to liquidate the State of Israel, the Jewish State, then we shall have no choice but to go according to the principle that "if someone sets out to kill you, kill him first." We will then be forced to banish the Arabs, just as Ben-Gurion banished hundreds of thousands of Arabs from Eretz Yisrael in the War of Independence, and ? not to mention the two in the same breath ? just as Ariel Sharon and his peons banished thousands of Jews from Gush Katif and northern Samaria.
And through such means, the day will not be far off when through us will be fulfilled the divine oath to Abraham: "God declared: 'I have sworn by My own Essence... I will bless you greatly, and increase your offspring like the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring shall inherit their enemies' gate. All the nations of the world shall be blessed through your descendants - all because you obeyed My voice.'" (Genesis 22:16-18)
Rashi comments, "From Sarah's response that Ishmael would not inherit with Isaac, we derive that Ishmael had been quarreling with Isaac over the inheritance, saying, 'I am the firstborn and I shall take my double portion.' They would go out into the fields and Ishmael would take up his bow and shoot arrows at Isaac."
For Abraham, who was also Ishmael's father, Sarah's demand was difficult, as it says, "This matter involving his son troubled Abraham very much." (verse 11) Rashi comments, "He was troubled that Sarah has told him to banish his son." Yet, G-d said to Abraham, "Do not be troubled because of the boy and your slave. Do everything that Sarah tells you. It is through Isaac that you will gain posterity." (verse12) Indeed, the Torah tells us that Ishmael become a "rebel" (16:12) and an "expert archer" (21:20). He lived in the desert and he would rob passersby. His hand was against everyone and everyone's hand was against him. After all, "he was a bandit, and everyone hated him and provoked him." (Rashi)
Our ancestors' deeds presage our own. It is true that thousands of years have passed since Ishmael would shoot arrows at Isaac with the goal of driving him out of Eretz Yisrael, but unfortunately, the Arabs, Ishmael's descendants, have not ceased to fight us. Their goal remains driving us out of the land of our life's blood. Only now, they have replaced their arrows with missiles, their stones with rifles and other modern tools of destruction.
And just as Abraham found it hard to part with Ishmael, he was still commanded by G-d to heed Sarah, who said, "Drive away this slave, together with her son," so, too, in our own generation. We must follow in the path of Abraham and separate ourselves from the Arabs by sending them away into the desert. We must encourage them to emigrate to Arabic countries, just as did Abraham, that man of kindness; he took bread and a flask of water and gave them to Hagar to sustain her son Ishmael. Yet, if the Arabs continue to threaten our survival and they wish to make good on their plans to liquidate the State of Israel, the Jewish State, then we shall have no choice but to go according to the principle that "if someone sets out to kill you, kill him first." We will then be forced to banish the Arabs, just as Ben-Gurion banished hundreds of thousands of Arabs from Eretz Yisrael in the War of Independence, and ? not to mention the two in the same breath ? just as Ariel Sharon and his peons banished thousands of Jews from Gush Katif and northern Samaria.
And through such means, the day will not be far off when through us will be fulfilled the divine oath to Abraham: "God declared: 'I have sworn by My own Essence... I will bless you greatly, and increase your offspring like the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring shall inherit their enemies' gate. All the nations of the world shall be blessed through your descendants - all because you obeyed My voice.'" (Genesis 22:16-18)