Last night somebody told me a great dvar torah that is very appropriate for today.
When Shimon and Levi destroyed the inhabitants of Shchem, they first made them all get circumcised. the common explanation why they did that is that by them getting circumcised, they had been weakened, thus making it easier for Shimon and Levi to then be able to wipe them out.
This fellow gave me a new explanation for the need for circumcision. Had Shimon and Levi killed them out with no circumcision, they would have been killing non-Jews, and the whole world would have screamed about the Jews killing goyim. Because they first circumcised them, thus in essence converting them, now it was Jews being killed. That is something the world can live with and let happen with no protest.
For 8 years Jews have been under fire, and the world remained silent. Suddenly the Jews are fighting back and killing non-Jews in retaliation, and the world is up in arms.
One slight flaw - Muslims get circumcised...
ReplyDeletecute, but the medrash relates that in fact there was an uprising by the other nations and yaakov had to come and rescue the brothers
ReplyDeletebut i do agree in general that the world simply doesn't care about jews being killed or attacked. Whatever ones feelings regarding Pres Bush and his domestic policies and his Iraq stance, he gave Israel a lot of rope to defend themselves.
ha! that's mishug! so cool! (putting aside the two comments above mine...)
ReplyDeleteSilly. Nobody needs to be circumcised; now or ever.
ReplyDeleteEvery mammal on earth evolved a foreskin before there was surgery or soap.
The Torah has all the evidence I need to know we MUST NOT circumcise those who can't give consent. Taking body parts without permission is stealing. Thou Shall Not Steal.
Interesting peice. Yet, Shaya G is right. The Sefer Ha-Yashar mentions that the nations did rise up about what happened and that it was Yehudah that conviced Yaáqov that they could defeat the other nations.
ReplyDelete