Rav Sharbaf, the CEO of Harhivi, takes us back to the Jewish history of Gaza City and leads us into the Jewish future of the city.
Rav Uzi Sharbaf, the CEO of the Harhivi movement, discusses the history of Gaza as part of Sovereignty Movement’s series of Zoom meetings on the events of the Iron Swords War.
Rav Sharbaf opens his remarks by mentioning Gaza as Grar, the place our forefather Yizhak went to on his way to Egypt, but the Almighty stopped him in the area of Nahal Grar and instructed him not to go down to Egypt, but to live in this Land and Ramban notes that this Land meant this area, and that he will be blessed there with the blessings of the Land, he and his descendants.
This means that it is Yitzhak stake in this place that is the basis for the promise that he will receive the entire Land of Israel.
The clear meaning arising from this is that Gaza is an integral part of the Land of Israel, which led Joshua to conquer this part of the Land, even if Joshua is criticized for not completing the work of inheriting this area and later, the tribe of Yehuda conquers the area.
Rav Sharbaf notes that the southern border, in the opinion of most rabbinical arbitrators, is Nahal Mitzrayim, which is a branch of the Nile that empties into the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the Rishonim (the leading rabbis and religious arbitrators who lived approximately during the 11th to 15th centuries) said it was less far, and that the border is Wadi Arish, which is also farther south than El Arish.
Therefore, the obligation to inherit Gaza is equal to inheriting any other place in the Land of Israel.
In his remarks, Rav Sharbaf emphasizes this, stating that we should not base our holding Gaza on security needs, but on the essential connection of the Land belonging to the People of Israel.
According to the Rav, our role now is to return to the Gaza Strip, to Gush Katif and cause the place to become beloved after some tried to make it hateful to us. “This is part of what was promised to our forefather Yitzhak in remaining there and thanks to him, the promise relates to all parts of Israel”, says the rav, adding that the fact that the People of Israel are being tried precisely in the matter of Gaza, may not be in vain.
Rav Sharbaf also notes that from the beginning, Gaza was supposed to be the entry to the Land of Israel and through its byways the children of Israel were supposed to enter the cities of the Land, but the Almighty chose to turn them around so that they would not experience war and return to Egypt, so he brought them to the other opening of the Land of Israel, Jericho. “This is the part of the wonderful Land that we were supposed to encounter first”.
The Almighty pushes us to possess every part of the Land of Israel that we abandon. We must possess the place even if there is a wonderful people there and if we don’t do it, security problems result, so when we don’t control the Negev, security problems arise, and this is so in the Galilee as well.
The equation is that security problems arise so that we will build another layer of connection to the Land of Israel”.
Because of this, says Rav Sharbaf, when we return now to the Gaza Strip, we must return to every part of the south all the way to Wadi El Arish and not be satisfied with just returning to Gush Katif.
“More than 3 times, it is mentioned that the Almighty gave us the Land as a covenant and a promise”. “This is the condition for our life in this Land. Therefore, we must wage the war in Gaza courageously, because we now have an opportunity to possess this place, and Lebanon as well, which continues to be a nest of murderous terrorists, until we possess this part of the Land”.
Rav Sharbaf repeatedly emphasizes the importance of the Gaza Strip to Israel, not only from the security point of view but on the highest level, the level of spirituality, and just as the Torah must be pure, complete, the Land of Israel also must be complete. “If we redeem the Land of Israel, we redeem ourselves”.
To Rav Sharbaf, victory in the war is to possess all parts of the Land in the south, and it is not enough to push the Gazans southward.
To do this, we must settle the place with Jewish communities under Jewish sovereignty, “and if there is someone who is not ready to accept the People of Israel’s control over its Land, we should take him, load him on a boat and get him out of here.
Non-Jews who wish to remain will remain as residents, who must acknowledge the People of Israel’s control of the Land of Israel. This is called victory”.
And all of this is apart from the obligation and the need for the People of Israel to take revenge on the rioters, as was done in Midian. “If we avenge the spilled blood of his servants, we bring down mercy to the world because this evil and wickedness will be ended. Therefore, the matter of revenge is fundamental to this war.”
Rav Sharbaf views the security and demographic situation in Gaza as trials of faith, that the Almighty places before the People of Israel. “When we speak of it as we face the people and the soldiers, we are building a layer of belonging to this part of the Land, and then there will be enough Heavenly support to uplift the government. If, as of now, their ears are not open to this, the People will make it heard so that they will also come to this conclusion that will lift the spirit and awaken the heroism to bring about solutions for everything.”
Rav Sharbaf defines the idea of bringing Abu Mazen from the PA to control Gaza after our soldiers sacrifice their souls in the war as a moral failure of the first degree. “We cannot send our sons to fight in order to bring in a foreign element.
There is only one way and all other ways are delusional and will worsen the security problem. The People of Israel must take full control of the Strip in the south.”
Relating to the international pressures on the Israeli government, Rav Sharbaf says that indeed, without faithful leadership it is extremely difficult to withstand the pressures from the world and clarify the destiny of the People of Israel after thousands of years of exile, and those who wish to join and fulfill this destiny is invited. “Everything stems from the holiness of the Land of Israel”, Rav Sharbaf mentions the remarks of Rav Charlap and adds that redeeming the Land will also bring about the redemption of the hostages, as we saw de facto with the entry of our forces into Gaza.