Beware the Eisav/Yishmael Alliance

29 Marcheshvan 5786
Erev Rosh Chodesh
Yom Kippur Katan 

The world doesn’t know it yet, but the relationship between Trump and MBS will be remembered as the alliance that changed the world.

Think sword dance (May) 2017.

A month after Trump’s visit, King Salman rescinded the Crown from Muhammad bin Nayef, in favor of MBS.

[Leading to an attempted assassination of MBS under cover of the Las Vegas Massacre on October 1, 2017.]

This led to the infamous Saudi corruption purge of (Nov) 2017 and consolidation of power/money within the Saudi royal family. Nayef and his faction were essentially neutralized.

Why is this significant to the US? Because in 2015, Trump himself accused the Nayef faction, via Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, of buying/controlling US politicians.

Trump, along with King Salman and MBS, took out the corrupt faction within the Saudi royal family, and have been working together ever since to create a new world and peaceful Middle East, which included neutralizing Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

And the world had no idea it was happening.  (Source)

Eisav and Yishmael at Bayit Lavan 

Maybe this sounds good for America and also for Saudi Arabia, but we all know for a fact that it's not good news for the Jews.

Parashat Toldot - Esau Marries 

(Stone Edition Chumash, Bereishit 27.34-35)

When Esau was forty years old, he took as a wife Judith daughter of Be'eri the HIttite and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite; and they were a source of spiritual rebellion to Isaac and to Rebecca.

Commentary...  Rashi cites the Midrash:  Esau is compared to a swine that, when it lies down, stretches out its cloven hoof, as if to say, "See, I am a kosher animal!"  Similarly, the princes of Esau rob and extort wihle they pretend to be honorable....  So it was with Esau. Until he was forty, he had been living immorally, enticing married women from their husbands, but when he became forty, he said hypocritically that he would follow the example of his father who married at that age.

Unlike his father, however, Esau married Hittite women; his passions were unbridled and he chose to marry into a nation that matched his evil nature.  With these marriages, Esau set the seal on his complete unfitness to carry on the mission of Abraham.  In a home ruled by two Hittite women, the Abrahamitic ideal lies buried (R' Hirsch).

(Stone Edition Chumash, Bereishit 28.6-9) 

When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him off to Padan-aram to take himself a wife from there, as he blessed him, he commanded him, saying, "You shall not take a wife from among the daughters of Canaan"; and that Jacob obeyed his father and mother and went to Paddan-aram; then Esau perceived that the daughters of Canaan were evil in the eyes of Isaac, his father.  So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, sister of Nebaioth, in addition to his wives, as a wife for himself.

Commentary...  This passage justifies the portrait of Esau as a selfish person, oblivious to all but his own desires.  For 23 years he had permitted the behavior of his Canaanite wives to cause anguish to his parents, yet it seems to have dawned on him only now.  Instead of divorcing them, however, he merely took another unsuitable wife in addition to them.  Thus, he proved that he had no feeling for the House of Abraham, and Rebecca's assessment of his complete unfitness for the future leadership of the nation was fully justified (R' Hirsch).

Thus ends this week's parashah.

Oh, the irony of calling the evil plans hatched by Eisav and Yishmael "The Abraham Accords"!! 

Still trying to prove their own relevance.

In Jewish sources, the idea that a union between Eisav and Yishmael is a negative event for the Jewish people is a concept found primarily in Midrashic and Kabbalistic literature,....

Genesis and Rashi's Commentary: The narrative in Genesis 28:9 mentions that Eisav married Mahalath, the daughter of Yishmael. While the text is a genealogical detail, some midrashic interpretations, as cited by commentators like Rashi (to Genesis 16:15 and 28:9), see this union not as a positive reconciliation but as an attempt by Eisav to gain a specific, powerful "attribute" to use against Yaakov (Jacob).

Midrashic and Kabbalistic Interpretation: Various Midrashim and works of Kabbalah, such as the Megaleh Amukos, interpret the union of Eisav (often associated with Rome/Christianity/the West) and Yishmael (associated with the Arab/Muslim world) as a joining of "forces of the klipah" (forces of impurity or evil). 

Edom and Yishmael as Allegories: In rabbinic literature, Edom became an enduring allegory for the Roman Empire, and later Christendom, while Yishmael was seen as the ancestor of the Arabs. The idea is that these two powers, which represent different aspects of opposition to the Jewish people, would typically be at odds, but their alliance would create a formidable, potentially devastating force.

Yaakov's Strategy: One text suggests that Yaakov strategically split his people into two camps when preparing to meet Eisav (Genesis 32:9) to allude to the future exiles under Edom and Yishmael, ensuring that if one camp were overwhelmed, the other would remain as a refuge. This implies that if these two entities were to unite, the Jewish people would be in greater danger.

The Vilna Gaon's View: A prominent teaching attributed to the Vilna Gaon interprets the biblical prohibition against yoking an ox and a donkey together (Deuteronomy 22:10) as an allegory for the potential, and negative, union of Esau (ox) and Ishmael (donkey). The Gaon is cited in sources as believing such a union would be "devastating to the world" and the Jewish people.

Prophetic/Eschatological Context: In Jewish eschatology, the alliance of Esau and Ishmael is often seen as a significant, and negative, development toward the end of days, preceding the ultimate redemption. This concept is sometimes linked to interpretations of Daniel's vision of the four kingdoms, where Edom and Ishmael are seen as the final, divided kingdom that will eventually be broken by God.

These sources suggest that a powerful, unified front between the descendants of Eisav and Yishmael is considered a particularly challenging and dangerous scenario for the Jewish people throughout history and in the messianic era.  (Source:  Google)