The 12 Psukim

Among the terrible tragedies occurring in Israel are the incidences of intermarriages between Jewish women and Arab husbands rachmonoh litzlan. Besides the obvious spiritual tragedy of such a sinful union, and besides the absurdity of a Jewish woman joining her life with members of a nation bent on our destruction r”l, these unions invariably result in tragic consequences for the wayward woman in a very physical sense as well. Very soon after the “marriage”, the woman will discover that, rather than having become a wife, she has instead become a literal slave, forced to endure the most unspeakable tortures and abuse as part of her daily fare. Tragically, once settled in an Arab village she turns into a virtual prisoner, it being practically impossible to escape (not to mention that any such attempt would be risking her very life, should she be unsuccessful). She is, furthermore, powerless to save her children, once she realizes what she has submitted them to.

Boruch Hashem, numerous organizations are dedicated to addressing this pressing issue, and many daring rescue missions have been carried out, in which numerous of these hapless women were saved from their sorry fate. They were then placed into homes where they are provided with the assistance and support needed to recover from their terrible ordeal, and where they often become closer to the Yiddishkeit from which they had become estranged.

In one specific incident, one of these women was rescued together with her 2 young children. Trying to put her suffering (that she had brought upon herself by her foolishness) behind her, she tried to get on with her life. Unfortunately, her troubles were not over. Her Arab “husband” tracked her down, and stole back the two children.

Now, when the spouse forcibly takes the children, this becomes a legal matter, that makes it possible for the authorities to intervene and bring them back. However, in such situations, they are often faced by a serious obstacle: The mother will almost never venture back into the lions’ den, from which she would never emerge alive; thus, the police and/or soldiers would need to be the ones to identify the kidnapped children. The Arabs, therefore, in such situations, will bring numerous Arab children of the same age into the house (being searched), making it practically impossible for someone other than a parent to make positive identification of the particular child in question. This ploy successfully hindered the efforts of the Israeli authorities in many instances.

In this particular story, the soldiers informed the woman of the difficulty that they expected to encounter. She, however, was not daunted. “When you get into the house”, she said to them, “start screaming the Pesukim Shma Yisroel and Torah Tziva, and you’ll surely discover which are my children”.

The soldiers arrived at the house, where they found 30 young children scattered throughout the rooms (who had been brought there as a diversion, as they had feared). Following the woman’s advice, they began to loudly recite the pesukim. Suddenly, they heard a plaintive voice from the closet crying “IMA”. They opened the closet, and released a 4 year old girl. The girl pointed downwards, and the soldiers, following her directions, searched the basement, where they discovered her 2 year old brother wrapped in a rug.

After the successful conclusion of the rescue, the woman was asked what the rationale behind her plan was. She related the following by way of explanation:

“As I child I attended the mesibos Shabbos group, that was run by the Chabad shliach in the town in which I lived. Every Shabbos we were encouraged to scream the Pesukim, for which we would receive an “artik” (an ice cream bar).

When I was stuck with the Arab, and started having second thoughts about my actions, I resolved to try to impart as much Yiddishkeit as I can to my children. Since the only things Jewish that remained in my mind were the Pesukim that I used to so enthusiastically recite, I would spend every spare moment saying them with my children. It was for this reason that I was confident that if my children would only hear the pesukim they would immediately identify themselves”!