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<font size=3>The following is from the new translation of RSRH's
commentary on Chumash Bereishis 16:14. You may read Rav Hirsch's complete
commentary on this Pasuk at
<a href="http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/arab_jew_bereishis.pdf" eudora="autourl">
http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/arab_jew_bereishis.pdf<br><br>
</a></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>These two ideas,
<i>chai</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>and
<i>roi</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>— God is the absolute Master
of space<br>
and time, and He watches over and guides all — were gifts given to<br>
the Arabian people by their matriarch and patriarch. All the Arabian<br>
thinkers and philosophers worked at developing these ideas for
mankind.<br>
This work constitutes the essence of the Arabian people’s treasury<br>
of ideas.<br><br>
The story of the genesis of the Ishmaelite nation contains all the<br>
elements of the Ishmaelite character, which later emerged from
potentiality<br>
into actuality. Cham’s sensuality, Hagar’s thirst for freedom,<br>
Avraham’s spirit — these are the basic threads from which the Arab<br>
national character was woven.<br><br>
The Arab nation, descended from Avraham and Hagar, is
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>one-sidedly<br>
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>Jewish.<br><br>
We, the Jewish people, have been assigned by God a dual mission:<br>
(a) <i>emunah</i>, intellectual truths, which we are to absorb in our
hearts and<br>
through which our minds are to develop; (b) <i>mitzva</i> shaping — in
harmony<br>
with these truths — all of life according to the dictates of God’s<br>
Will.<br><br>
<snip><br><br>
Yishmael inherited from Avraham the sanctification of the intellect,<br>
but he did not inherit from Sarah the sanctification of the body.<br>
When a Jewish woman bears, nurses, and brings up her child, the<br>
child’s body is sanctified from the very beginning. <br><br>
I think that these ideas may help us to understand how a female
</font>Egyptian lawyer could suggest that Arab men should
sexually harass Israeli women. See the MEMRI video clip at
<a href="http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/1903.htm">
http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/1903.htm</a> <br>
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Yitzchok Levine</body>
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