#yishmael

A story on the first shard of a male Viera and a big goofy dragon man, also known as an au ra (drahn) named Yishma’el 🦎  It would be neat if drahn were able to shapeshift into actual dragons, so Yishma’el’s creator and I are running with it~ 

Ari’s just very glad yish didn’t eat him, Yish found him injured and dragged him away from some lingering sin eaters, saved his life, and now the two of them rely on one another.

וַיַּרְא יַעֲקֹב כִּי יֶשׁ שֶׁבֶר בְּמִצְרָיִם וַיֹּאמֶר יַעֲקֹב לְבָנָיו לָמָּה תִּתְרָאוּ (בראשית מב, א) And Yaakov saw that there was grain being sold in Egypt. Yaakov said to his sons, “Why should you purport [to be content]?” (Bereishis 42:1)

When hunger came upon the Land of Canaan, Yaakov encouraged his sons to travel to Egypt to buy grain. According to Rashi, Yaakov and his family still had food, but Yaakov said to his sons, “Why should you show yourselves before the sons of Yishmael and the sons of Eisav as though you are sated?”

Why does Rashi say that Yaakov was concerned about the resentment of the sons of Yishmael and Eisav, who lived some distance from Yaakov, and not of the envy of his immediate neighbors in the Land of Canaan? Implied is that Yaakov was not truly concerned about envy, (and rightfully so, as Yaakov and his family did not really have that much food themselves.) Rather, he was concerned about criticism and accusations that would come specifically from the children of Yishmael and Eisav.

The source of his concern was that despite their limited supply of food, his sons were entirely content, as though they had all the grain that they would ever need. They were confident that G-d would provide for their needs miraculously, without requiring them to relocate, or even to travel to Egypt to buy food.

Yaakov was concerned that such behavior might draw unwanted attention from the sons of Yishmael and Eisav. For had there not been other famines in the Land of Canaan, due to which Avraham and Yitzchak had indeed been forced to move—Avraham to Egypt, and Yitzchak to Gerar? “Do the sons of Yaakov think that they are more worthy than our common grandparents, the saintly Avraham and Yitzchak, that G-d will provide for them without requiring them to relocate?,” the sons of Yishmael and Eisav would ask.

In truth, there had been other factors that motivated Avraham and Yitzchak’s relocation during the famine (see Rashi on Bereishis 12:10). However, being as the children of Yishmael and Eisav might not be aware of those reasons, Yaakov told his sons not to appear as though they regard themselves as more worthy than Avraham and Yitzchak, and therefore to travel to Egypt to restock on provisions the natural way. If not for this concern, however, Yaakov too would agree that they could remain in Canaan and be confident that G-d would provide for them miraculously.

The Prophecy regarding Yishmael (the Arabs/Islam) in Israel according to Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer -

Rabbi Ishmael said: In the future the children of Ishmael (the Arabs/Islam) will do fifteen things in the land (of Israel) in the latter days, and they are: They will measure the land with ropes (to determine the borders of their state) They will change a cemetery into a resting-place for sheep (and) a dunghill (not allow Jews to access their Holy Sites and desecrate those that fall into their hands). They will measure with them and from them upon the tops of the mountains (to gain an upper hand on the tops of mountains e.g. the Golan Heights.) Falsehood will multiply and truth will be hidden (Lies will abound and truth will disappear). The statutes will be removed far from Israel (Secularism will run rampant and Torah will be far from the Jews). Sins will be multiplied in Israel Worm-crimson will be in the wool (the thinnest of threads will be seen as thick rope – e.g. the so-called peace process). And he (Yishmael) will cover with insects paper and quill (all written agreements and treaties will be treated as null and void)   He will hew down the rock of the kingdom (destroy Jewish structures) And they will rebuild the desolated cities and sweep the ways (Jericho, Gaza, Shechem) And they will plant gardens and parks, and fence in the broken walls of the Temple (see the pics of people picnicking on the Temple Mount); And they will build a building in the Holy Place (The Dome of the Rock) And two brothers will arise over them,' princes at the end (Hamas and Fatah?) And in their days the Branch, the Son of David, will arise, as it is said, ll " And in the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed " (Dan. ii. 44).