Excerpt of a shiur given to Shuvu Banim in Bet Shemesh, Wednesday night, December 20th, 2023

(Part I – there’s a lot to translate here, and a lot of hints and allusions to what is going on right now. Enjoy!)

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….There are almond trees the whole route towards Ein Kerem.

Whoever travels to Ein Kerem, already from the first of Shvat, there are already lots of [blossoming] almond trees.

It was all Arab villages there, that they ran away from. They ran away without anything.

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They did a Davidka [a type of phony bomb, that ‘sounds’ like a bomb but actually doesn’t contain any explosive].

They took a cannon, and then made a noise. They didn’t have any cannon balls, they just made a big noise, like a nuke.

Everyone ran away!

In Haifa, everyone ran away. Pesach was on Shabbat, and on Wednesday everyone had already run away.

I was a child ten years old in 1948. I was born in 1938…. I got up at seven in the morning, and there wasn’t a single Arab in the city – everyone had run away.

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The Castel – this was the most strong fortress of the Arabs, the strongest place.

All the cars that got burnt [on the road up to Jerusalem] – it was from the Castel.

They ran away just like that, without firing a shot. When they came to conquer [the place], they didn’t find a single Arab there. Everyone ran away, everyone disappeared.

And it was also like that in Bido Village next to Shmuel HaNavi, and everywhere.

They disappeared – they found the food, the pans still on the fire. It was straight away….The soldiers hadn’t eaten for three days and then they had ready-made food.

So everyone ran away.

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Now, we are teaching them [the Arabs] to not run away.

This is what Meretz is teaching them. Now Meretz is actually against this war. They say, what is this war? What is this, it’s not our Land. Go away from here! Go to Johannesburg, go to the Victoria Falls!

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Now we saw [in the Hitchadshut Magazine] the photos of the Victoria Falls.

Have you been to the Victoria Falls? We were at the Victoria Falls, we were there. On the 10th of Tevet we were at the Victoria Falls.

Now, tomorrow, it’s the 10th of Tevet.

We gave over a shiur for an hour and a half [in 2015]. And here [in Israel], it snowed – a snowfall like there hadn’t been for decades. It was knee-deep.

There wasn’t electricity – only in the Homa HaShlishit there was electricity.

The whole of Jerusalem didn’t have electricity, except for the Homa HaShlishit. In the events hall there was electricity – for the hiloula of Rav Natan there was electricity.

And all the electricity fell. All the powerlines fell.

There was such snow, like you get in Siberia. People were walking in the snow up to their knees.

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[Skipping some. The Rav starts talking about how the Judge Gideon picked his army of just 300 men, to fight against the Midianites.]

Millions upon millions came from Midian – everyone fell in Emek.

They were [as numerous] like the sand on the shoreline, they were like the sand. And Hashem said to Gideon you don’t need so very many people.

He came with 32,000 [men]. Hashem said we don’t need them, send them home.

“Who is the man who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house...”[1]

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So from 32,000, there were 22,000 [men] left.

10,000 remained. [Hashem said to Gideon] Also 10,000, I don’t need. What am I meant to do, with 10,000?! Take them down to the stream. Whoever puts their head in the water is disqualified. Only those who scoop up water in their hand, and then lick it with their tongues – that person continued to be a soldier.

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Now, the soldiers said ‘Shema Yisrael’ [over the speaker system of a mosque in Jenin].

They kicked them out of the army.

It’s impossible to understand this. It’s an army [run by] crazy people, an army [run by] the mentally ill!

It’s impossible to understand this.

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So, only those who licked with their tongues, so they took 300 men.

They went to there, up against millions [of Midianites]. Like what happened at Chanuka, where 800 men remained [with Yehuda the Maccabee, at the beginning of the rebellion].

There were 3,000 men. Then they saw the elephants – everyone ran away. An elephant was a tank, it was impossible [to fight against] elephants. This is 25cm thick, this is more [armored]  than a tank.

This is more protected than a tank.

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Elazar [the brother of Yehuda HaMaccabee] went and the elephant crushed him.

There were five brothers. Rashi says 12, it seems maybe there were others who didn’t join in with the fighting, or together with Yochanan, with the brothers of Matityahu.

Because according to the Midrashim, Yochanan also had five sons – the father of Matityahu. And he had five, this is ten, and another two.

Rashi says in Vayechi this was 12. Now we will be reading Vayechi next week.

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[Skipping some].

So, for 26 years the Jews helped the Romans to conquer the world, to conquer Egypt.

After 26 years, so they came here – Pompey came here. He killed 12,000 [Jews] in one day.

Because of Horkanus. In Bava Kamma it’s written that Horkanus was inside and Aristobulus was outside.

There were two cute brothers, dafka so nice, with long payot down to their shoulders. One was called Horkanus, and one was called Aristobulus. So Rabbi Akiva explains there – R Akiva Eiger, we need to study Rabbi Akiva Eiger – that at the beginning, there was Horkanus inside.

This is the Gemara, Bava Kamma. After this, [Tractate] Menuchot 64, and Sotah 69, it’s written the opposite, that it wasn’t Horkanus inside, but rather Horkanus outside.

So really, […] says, this was the order: Horkanus was inside and Aristobulus was outside.

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There were two brothers, afterwards it changed around, in the end he went inside, glanced around, and Horkanus escaped outside.

And then, he brought Pompey.

He was in Damascus. They said he wouldn’t conquer Eretz Yisrael. It’s impossible to fight against the Jews. There was Yael, there was Devorah, it’s not possible to fight against these.

“The kings of the earth did not believe, nor did any of the world’s inhabitants, that the adversary or enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem.”[2]

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Yehuda [HaMaccabee] could kill 10,000 men in a single day, by himself, with his sword.

He didn’t use to get tired, he used to hold on to his sword and chop them up, he used to slice their heads off – of 10,000 men.

The last battle at Beit Tzur, he was fighting for 24 hours, and then he fell.

Because they were 100,000, and he killed 10,000 [of them]. He began at 7am and finished at 7pm – seven at night. And at seven at night, he fell.

Because, how much more was possible?

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This occurred because he made an agreement with the Romans.

The RAMBAN brings all this down, the RAMBAN brings it on Bereishit, Parshat Vayishlach. We’ll read the RAMBAN on Vayishlach.

So, the son of Yehuda, and the son of Yehonatan, so they went to make an agreement.

All of this is written in Parshat Vayishlach. We read it exactly three weeks ago.

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FOOTNOTES:

[1] Devarim 20:8.

[2] Lamentations 4:12