There was a moment or two earlier today where we thought that Israel and Hamas had reached a ceasefire agreement and that an incursion into Rafah would be delayed. Reports out of Israel indicated that Hamas had agreed to a ceasefire deal based on terms that were never presented to them. This caused Israel, who was in talks to ink a deal to bring home the remaining hostages, to publicly renege, making it seem as if it was them who denied the offer that was presented by Hamas. This is deception at its finest. However, while this continues to remind us of the nature of our enemy, many in the world at large see this based on the narrative spun with Israel having denied a Hamas, Egypt, Qatar ceasefire proposal. In the ensuing hours after it became clear that the offer was indeed fake news, Israel began targeted strikes into Rafah that will likely progress in the near future into a ground incursion, which seems inevitable at this point. With the name Rafah getting the airtime and publicity that it has over these past weeks and months, it has given me the opportunity to reflect on its name and perhaps to probe its inner significance. On its surface, the name Rafah is of Arabic origin and is said to mean well-being and prosperity, and is a name suited for a little prince who lives in the lap of luxury.
To be sure, the word Rafah, is pronounced with a hard “ch” sound at the end like a ches rather than a hei. Linguistically there is also a difference in the Israeli enunciation of the word, Rafiah, to the way Muslims pronounce, Rafah. The word Rafiah is spelled reish-peh-yud-ches, which are letters that also form the word yifrach, which will sprout or blossom, as in the verse in Psalms: “Yifrach b’yamav tzaddik v’rov shalom ad bli yareach,” which some commentaries explain is referring to Moshiach and the abundant peace and goodness that will abound in his days. The truth is in addition to the similarity in the letters Rafiah and yifrah I was drawn in by the promise of the verse towards abundant peace. Biden and other world leaders have repeatedly drawn a hard line in the sand proscribing Israel from entering Rafiah, which they say will cause a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The issue of course is that Rafiah is extremely significant strategically and with this war carrying on for six months it would trivialize the entire operation and the losses incurred not to bring finality to it. I’m reminded of the political reaction to Trump’s decision to move the Israeli embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. From the way the pundits and politicians made it sound, we were sure that the move would cause a war. What ended up happening was absolutely nothing. There was not a word said in the aftermath of a move that countless U.S. presidents had deferred out of fear of retribution.
Now, the humanitarian fears of an Israeli invasion in Rafah are true. However, Israel had repeatedly warned Gazans living in the area to flee to safety in order to avoid that crisis. Knowing Hamas, they will likely shoot at civilians seeking to leave as they have been known to do.
The name Rafah represents a very significant number in the mystical tradition. Rafah isn’t a word, but it does represent the numerical value of 288 which is the number of Divine sparks that need to be redeemed from within the physical reality in order to purify the world and usher in the messianic era. So, regardless of how one refers to the place it carries messianic significance, either the blossoming of the righteous and the promise of peace or a symbolism of the final sparks required in order to usher in that long-awaited era.
There is a midrash that says that at the giving of the Torah the nations of the world were frightened, thinking that He was bringing another mabul to the world. Now, it so happens that had the world been ready, the giving of the Torah was supposed to initially take place in the days of Noach, which ended up manifesting as the mabul. However, aside from that, this demonstrates how the influx of sanctity and holiness can be misconstrued by the nations of the world in a fearful manner. I mention this here because the dread and fear that Biden and other world leaders are arousing if Israel enters Rafiah (which is currently under way) may outwardly be on political and humanitarian grounds but on a more profound level relates to a subconscious knowledge of a great influx of sanctity and holiness that can potentially flood the world if Israel goes into Rafah and does its job correctly. In G-d’s prophecy to Abraham at the bris bein habesarim in which he foretold of the Egyptian exile, He said “afterward they will go out with fantastic wealth.” It is known, during krias Yam Suf the Yidden were busy with the spoils that provided this great wealth that G-d had promised them. Furthermore, Chazal tell us that G-d was afraid, so to speak, of Avraham Avinu coming to Him with a complaint that he fulfilled the prophecy of exile but not that of the wealth, therefore G-d made sure to fulfill that aspect of the prophecy as well. The Egyptian exile is a paradigm of all of the four exiles. And although I haven’t seen this anywhere, I would like to suggest that the redemption from this final exile will be preceded with material wealth and spiritual wealth as a harbinger of a time that will reign in everlasting goodness and peace and the awareness of G-d’s dominion over the entire world and the end of the reign of despots and fools, which is what these leaders are most fearful of.
Yochanan Gordon can be reached at ygordon5t@gmail.com. Read more of Yochanan’s articles at 5TJT.com.
