{"id":4375,"date":"2025-01-29T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.takemeon.org\/dir\/?p=4375"},"modified":"2025-01-31T01:13:03","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T01:13:03","slug":"jews-and-indian-country-understand-treaty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.takemeon.org\/dir\/2025\/01\/29\/jews-and-indian-country-understand-treaty\/","title":{"rendered":"Jews and Indian Country understand Treaty"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Even as historical circumstances change, a treaty is a treaty that must be addressed and honored by both parties, until officially\/legally dissolved. Jews are an Indigenous people, and we fully understand the First Nations\u2019 mindset on making and keeping treaties. Let\u2019s learn together!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Colonial
The British-pan-Arab \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf8 post-WW1 Colonial Palestine (Mandate for Palestine) was divided by treaty in 1948 between Indigenous Israel \ud83d\udd4e\ud83e\udeac\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf1 and Colonial Jordan \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf8 . Arab Palestinians \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf8 got over 75 percent of our native Judean land!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There is a kind of treaty that can never be broken by humankind. It is a treaty made between an Indigenous people and the God of their sacred land. All sons and daughters of the soil will tell you this. Amongst the Jewish people of the Canaan land of Israel, we call this \u201cBrit ha\u2019Moshe\u201d \u2013 a vassal treaty between a people and the divine god-King that rules the land. Only Y-HWH can break this treaty, but will not do so, so it is a permanent treaty \u2013 both obligatory and promissory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also a kind of treaty that is made between peoples\/nations. It too is a sacred pact or \u201ccovenant\u201d that carries significant spiritual weight amongst Indigenous peoples. We Jews call this form of treaty a \u201cbrit ha\u2019lev\u201d, which is likened unto a \u201cketuba\u201d (a marriage contract). Such treaties are binding through sacred ceremony, and cannot be simply broken at will. Like a ketuba, a treaty between nations can only be dissolved through a formal \u201cget\u201d (a divorce decree\/certificate).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even as historical circumstances change, a treaty is a treaty that must be addressed and honored by both parties, until officially\/legally dissolved. Just like within a marriage, a spouse must address and honor the obligations agreed to, for it is binding by this marriage. This doesn\u2019t mean that there won\u2019t be continued ongoing negotiations on how to best implement the marriage treaty, but both parties must agree on these amendments for them to be valid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why our elders with wisdom, our Jewish sages, of the ancient Near East likened Y-HWH to a husband and Moshe (representing Israel) to a wife during the Brit ha\u2019Moshe at Mount Horeb\/Sinai. Two tablets with the agreement written on them, one for Y-HWH and one for the Jewish people of Israel. In the ancient Near East, the pacts or covenants made between our Jewish people and another people were made formally official by passing between cut pieces of flesh of an animal sacrifice. Now, in more modern times, we do these treaties with sacred words, song, and dance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why, despite ALL the rejections of established treaty by the non-citizen Arab \u201cPalestinian\u201d political land-squatters upon parts of our 1948 decolonized Israeli land, we Israelis will not simply \u201cdeport\u201d these Palestinians from our land. We could have rightfully done so after the war in 1967, and some of us say that we should have \u2013 for peace and security. But, native Israel chose to make treaty with the Palestinians for mutual peace and security upon our sacred SWANA land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Jews\/Israelis, we have a marriage \u201cbrit\u201d between Colonial Palestine and Indigenous Israel. Our spouse is a habitual abuser and full of deceit, yes! But there is no \u201cget\u201d existing between us, so our negotiations must continue on. We pray daily that our spouse chooses peace and security for ALL of us upon Southwest Asia\u2019s sacred Indigenous lands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cR. Abba the son of Judah said: The community of Israel praised the Holy One, blessed be He, from on high to below, while the Holy One, blessed be He, praised Israel from below to on high. Israel praised Him from on high to below when she caused Him to descend from the upper spheres to the lower sphere, as it is said: That they make me a Sanctuary (Exod. 25:8). He praised them from below to on high when He said: The Lord Thy God will set them on high (Deut. 28:1). Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness?\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

R. Johanan declared:\u2026 When you devote yourself to the Torah you are consuming milk and honey, for you declared at Sinai: We will do and we will hear. Hence, Thy lips, O my bride, drop honey. Just as I called you My bride, so the Torah adorns and bedecks Israel like a bride. He gave Moses all of Israel\u2019s adornments, the Scripture, the Mishnah, the Talmud, the laws and legends, as one gives gifts to a bride, as it is said: He gave unto Moses as though she was His bride (kekhalto). Tablets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is it called luhot (\u201ctablets\u201d)? Because they tire one\u2019s lehi (\u201cjaw\u201d). Written with the finger of God (Exod. 31:18). If Israel had received the first tablets (which were shattered), no people would have been able to rule over them.\u201d \u2013 Ki Tisa Siman 18, Midrash Tanhuma-Yelammedenu, translation by Samuel A. Berman, Sefaria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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