"...the Midianites came up..."

ג וְהָיָה, אִם-זָרַע יִשְׂרָאֵל--וְעָלָה מִדְיָן וַעֲמָלֵק וּבְנֵי-קֶדֶם, וְעָלוּ עָלָיו.

3 And it was, when Israel had planted, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east; they came up against them;

(Shoftim 6:3)


The struggle over the Land of Israel is an intrinsic part of the furthering of the redemption of Israel and thus the entire world.  Every piece of Land we settle and inhabit draws light and life into the earth and infuses the particles with G-dliness. The inverse is also true...every piece of the Land of Israel that is taken away from us and settled by our enemies and those which seek to remove Israel from its Land draws impurity and darkness into the earth and stalls the redemptive process.

This is why the non-Jewish nations in the area of Israel in the time of Gideon sought to take our Land when we planted. It was this planting which restores the inherent G-dliness to the soil and in turn furthers the building of Malchut Yisrael (the Kingdom of Israel).  So too today we have a similar problem.  We have come home to settle and to live and whether subconsciously or consciously we are aware that we are building a Kingdom of G-d and yet our enemies close by with the help of those abroad and those among our Nation who have lost their way seek to take our Land from us.

Below are some pictures that I took just before Shabbat of new illegal Arab buildings 100 meters from the road descending to our community.  The attempt is clear and is a planned effort to choke our community of 62 families off from the main North South road between Beer Sheva and Jerusalem.

These are three of the 7 Arab Houses close to the turn off

Behind me are the above houses. Ahead is my car and the turn off to our Community to the left or to the right back to the main road.

Bani Nayim...the Main Arab village near us has expanded rapidly with help from Saudi, American, and European funding

To understand the significance of the juncture, the top of the hill is about 1000 meters above sea level.  Our community Pnei Hever/Maale Hever is located at 810 meters above sea level.  The top is believed to be the place where Avraham and Lot stood and gazed out at the Land, dividing it (Lot getting Ever HaYarden and Avraham getting Canaan.)  Although the Arabs call the top the Nebi...I would like to rename it Mitzpe Avraham and in truth when hiking or driving up to the top there is a beautiful area (the IDF has a pill box there) to look out and gaze out onto the Dead Sea Valley, the Moav Mountains, Karmel, Maon, and more.

With the help of the Almighty we can reclaim our Land and reset our redemptive course towards the full revelation of Mashiach.