The Gold Apollo Hornet Sting

 

וגם את־הצרעה ישלח ה' אלהיך בם עד־אבד הנשארים והנסתרים מפניך: (דברים פרק ז פסוק כ)

הצרעה - מין שרץ העוף,  שהיתה זורקת בהן מרה ומסרסתן ומסמָא עיניהם בכל מקום שהיו נסתרים שם (ראה סוטה לו , א).

Hashem, your G-d, will also send the hornet upon them until all the remaining and hiding of them are destroyed from before you. (Devarim 7:20)

Rashi – Hornet: A type of flying insect that would cast into them gall (venom) which would emasculate them and blind their eyes wherever they would be hiding. (Sotah 36a) 

The second you hear anything buzz, watch out!

We Jews are obligated in 613 torah commandments and plenty of Rabbinic ones to boot. The non-Jews get off easy. They are only obligated in 7 commandments. This applies to almost any type of non-Jew with one exception. The descendants of Yishmael (Arabs).

In addition to the universal 7 commandments, the sons of Yishmael have one additional Torah obligation. Circumcision (Brit Milah).

This commandment was given to Avraham Avinu to be passed down to all of his descendants, and this includes Yishmael. And, in fact, the descendants of Yishmael do perform this mitzvah. They do not do it as thoroughly as we do, but they indeed do perform it. But this is all that they do. They perform this mitzvah and then perform any other activities that can be performed with this organ.

 עשרה קבים זנות ירדו לעולם תשעה נטלה ערביא ואחד כל העולם כולו. (קידושין מ"ט:)

This mitzvah is not meant to be only performed. It is meant to sanctify a person. It comes with an additional obligation –

ואתה את בריתי תשמר

We must guard the bris. It should only be used for constructive purposes.

Our Yishmaeli cousins go less than half way. Not only do they stop short of complete performance of the milah, they do not practice shmiras habris at all.

As such, HKBH says, “If you do not guard the bris, you do not deserve to keep it.”

And so, this past week, we have seen some astonishing events that HKBH has inflicted upon some of the Yishmaelim to our North. An entire shipment of communication devices miraculously malfunctioned all at once. Those who were stricken by it felt the heat in three primary places – the eyes, the hands, and the lower extremities (the “bris”).

This is the sting of the Hornet – the צרעה.

Why these three parts?

The eyes – ולא יראה בך ערות דבר ושב מאחריך (Devarim 23:15)

The hands - כל היד המרבה לבדוק בנשים, משובחת. ובאנשים, תקצץ.  Any hand that is frequent to inspect [the genital area], if that of a woman is praiseworthy, if that of a man is fit to be amputated. (Niddah 13a)

The bris - ואתה את בריתי תשמר

If Yishmael is required to perform the bris, he is likewise required to guard the bris. If not, he is misusing it.

And so, HKBH tells Moshe (Shmos 34:10):

ויאמר הנה אנכי כרת ברית נגד כל עמך אעשה נפלאת אשר לא נבראו בכל הארץ ובכל הגוים וראה כל העם אשר אתה בקרבו את מעשה ה' כי נורא הוא אשר אני עשה עמך

And He (HKBH) said, “Behold I will be ‘koress a bris’. All across your nation I will do wonders that have not been created in the entire world and for any of the [United] nations. And the entire nation that has you among them will see the actions of G-d, for He is awesome, which I will do for you.

Perhaps there is more than one way to be koress a bris.

HKBH keeps His word. He is performing for us unprecedented wonders. And He is sending them the Hornet to blind them and emasculate them. He is trying to communicate with them. He is paging them.

I don’t know if they got the message. But the message is really for us.

וראו כל עמי הארץ כי שם ה' נקרא עליך ויראו ממך.