Their return is happening now. It is not accidental. It is not demographic or sociological. It is prophetic. And with prophecy comes responsibility.
Rabbi Michael Freund
The Haftorah for Parashat Vayishlach, drawn from the fiery words of the prophet Ovadiah (Obadiah), is the shortest book in all of Tanach - just 21 verses. Yet within its compact frame lies a stirring message about Jewish destiny and the ultimate triumph of truth over treachery. It is a text that speaks directly to our generation.
Ovadiah’s single chapter is a blistering rebuke of Edom, the descendants of Eisav, for its cruelty and unwillingness to help its “brother” Jacob, the people of Israel. What makes this extraordinary is that according to the Talmud (Sanhedrin 39b), Ovadiah was himself a righteous convert of Edomite descent. He merited to become a prophet because, while serving as a steward in the palace of the wicked King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, he risked his life to save 100 prophets from persecution by the idol-worshipping queen.
His words, therefore, are the heartfelt cry of one who chose the Jewish people not out of convenience but conviction. Ovadiah embodies the spiritual courage of those who, lacking ancestral ties, nevertheless bind their fate with the people of Israel with love, loyalty and unwavering devotion. Who better than a convert, someone who knew what it meant to take a stand against a world hostile to the Jewish people, to condemn Edom’s betrayal and to proclaim Israel’s ultimate vindication?
And yet the Haftorah is more than a tale of past treachery. It is a vision of the future, a roadmap of return, restoration and redemption. In a fascinating verse, Ovadiah (1:20) declares: “And the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad shall possess the cities of the Negev.”
Citing the Targum Yonatan, Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, 1040-1105) explains that Sepharad refers to Ispamia, the Aramaic word for Spain. This is nothing less than a prophetic allusion to the Bnei Anusim, the descendants of Jews who were forcibly converted in Spain and Portugal in the 14th and 15th centuries. Known historically as Marranos (or Conversos), these men and women-hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions - are a scattered branch of our people.
Their ancestors practiced Judaism in secret, at unimaginable risk, preserving fragments of faith in whispers and shadows: lighting candles in hidden corners, avoiding pork despite Church scrutiny, murmuring half-remembered blessings, tracing Jewish identity through stories told in the dead of night. The Inquisition ruthlessly sought to hunt them down, but they persevered.
Ovadiah, the convert who clung to Israel in the palace of Ahab and Jezebel’s idolatry, becomes the prophet who promises that these children of hidden loyalty will one day rejoin the Jewish people. Who better than he, a spiritual outsider who found his way in, to speak directly to the descendants of Jews who were forced out?
And in recent decades, that prophecy has been coming to life before our eyes. Across Spain, Portugal, Latin America and the American Southwest, thousands of Bnei Anusim are awakening to their roots. DNA tests, family traditions, whispered memories of “we are different” and unexplained rituals passed down through generations are leading countless individuals back to the Covenant from which their ancestors were torn. They are knocking on our collective door, yearning to learn, to reconnect, to return.
In communities from Barcelona to Bogotรก, from Lisbon to Lima, the embers that the Inquisition tried to extinguish are glowing once again. And their return is not accidental. It is not demographic. It is not sociological. It is prophetic.
Ovadiah foresaw a moment when the exiles of Sepharad would return and reclaim their place within the Jewish people. He saw that history cannot erase identity, nor can persecution extinguish the Pintele Yid, the Divine Jewish spark. He saw that those who were uprooted will one day be replanted.
And yet with prophecy comes responsibility.
For too long, the Jewish world has overlooked or minimized the story of the Bnei Anusim. These souls, wandering through history with fragments of memory, deserve not skepticism but support; not dismissal but dignity; not obstacles but open arms. It is incumbent upon us - religious leaders, communities, institutions and the State of Israel - to recognize the magnitude of this moment.
Our generation is witnessing a homecoming that was foretold two and a half millennia ago by a convert who knew the pain and the power of choosing Israel. We dare not ignore it.
Ovadiah’s Haftorah for Vayishlach reminds us that while betrayal has consequences, fidelity - however hidden, however suppressed - has endurance. It reminds us that no child of Israel is ever truly lost. And it reminds us that redemption is not only a miracle; it is a mandate.
The exiles of Sepharad are stirring. The echoes of their footsteps as they make their way back are audible.
The question is: will we have the courage and foresight to heed their plea and open the door?
Rabbi Michael Freund, a former Deputy Communications Director under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is the Founder and Chairman of Shavei Israel (www.shavei.org), which assists lost tribes and hidden Jewish communities to return to the Jewish people.
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