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| Art by Vitaly Urzhumov |
One of the Torah’s 613 commandments is the prohibition of ploughing a field, harnessing an ox and donkey together. Many reasons and insights have been presented to explain this mitzvah.
The Zohar reveals to us some of the mystical depth behind this commandment. It writes that the shor (ox) represents Esau and the Western world, while the chamor (donkey) represents Yishmael and the Arab world. The Torah is alluding to us in this commandment that if these two powers join together – i.e. the “ox” and the “donkey” plowing together - they can destroy the entire world.
The Mystics add that if the Jewish people do a collective teshuvah and repent from our errant ways, as the prophet exhorts us: “Shuvu banim shovavim …Return, O wayward sons…” [Jeremiah 3:14], we will reach shleimus (perfection) and thus be able to eliminate the power of the shor [Esau] v’chamor [and Yishmael], which will ultimately lead to Bias HaMoshiach, the Coming of the Messiah, speedily and in our days.
To prove this connection they point out that the Hebrew words “Shuvu banim shovavim”, “shleimus”, “shor v’chamor”, and “Bias HaMoshiach” all have the exact same gematria (numerical value) – they all equal 776 - and are thus related to each other on a mystical level.
Source: Torch Torah Weekly
Source: Torch Torah Weekly
The histories of both the West (Esav) and the Arabs (Yishamel) are both histories of barbarism, colonialism, slavery, domination, and so on. The West went from feudalism to capitalism, colonialism to imperialism, yet its chauvinist nature remained unchanged. The Arabs went from a Caliphate to an Empire to pan-Arabism to pan-Islamism, but their chauvinist nature (including hatred of Jews) also remained unchanged. The only thing which changed in both was the ideological justification.
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