We are now in the weeks of nechomoh for the
churban of the Beis Hamikdash. The
nevi'im console us in the haftoros following
Tisha B'Av starting from "Nachamu, nachamu ami" --
(Yeshaya 40:1). If we think somewhat deeper we can
find nechomoh in the Torah's instructing us how to
reach peace and tranquility in Eretz Yisroel, the land
Hashem swore to give to our fathers. It is naturally the
greatest nechomoh that after all the tragedies that
have befallen us we can be zocheh to return to the
way we once lived.
There is a deluge of thunderous voices from every direction:
hostile Arab countries surround us, the world is against us.
There is no country in the world like Hashem's inheritance
in Eretz Yisroel which is so resented and threatened and so
many crucial decisions have been made concerning it. Almost
all non-Jews seem to challenge Eretz Yisroel's remaining in
Jewish hands.
Each year Jews read the pesukim that guide them how
to live peacefully in Eretz Yisroel without any protests
from other nations:
"Wherefore it shall come to pass, if you hearken to these
judgments and heed and do them, that Hashem your Elokim
shall safeguard for you the covenant and the kindness
which He swore to your fathers. And He will love you and
bless you and multiply you, and will bless the fruit of your
womb and the fruit of your land: your corn and your wine and
your oil, the offspring of your cattle and the flocks of
your sheep in the land which He swore to your fathers to
give you. You shall be blessed above all peoples"
(Devorim 7:12-14).
These eternal pesukim determine clearly: If "You
harken to these judgments and heed and do them" then and
only then "Hashem your Elokim shall safeguard for you
. . ." We should not expect to be saved by sophisticated
political tactics. We dare not rely on the "stately
demeanor" of political leaders and surely not on the
heretical outlook of "Let us decide our own fate!" The only
way to be saved is to listen to what the Torah tells us. We
must study the Torah and follow its guidance and mitzvos.
The Torah later writes: "Every mitzvah which I command you
this day, you shall observe to do, that you may live and
multiply and go in and possess the land which Hashem swore
to your fathers" (Devorim 8:1). Rashi (ibid.)
explains that "every mitzvah" means exactly that -- to
observe all mitzvos, without any exception.
This is what we have been Divinely commanded and guided.
This is the way we must live. The Torah is showing us a
distinct way to inherit Eretz Yisroel when "He will deliver
their kings into your hand . . . A man will not stand up
against you until you have destroyed them;" this is the
greatest nechomoh there can be.
It is imperative that we constantly remind ourselves of the
above. We must be aware of the nechomoh the Torah is
giving us.
There are many who become terribly depressed when they
contemplate our present situation. They reason that Jews
living in Eretz Yisroel have no way out of this predicament
and that they must continue to feel like bnei Yisroel
before krias Yam Suf, whose only choice is either
jumping in the ocean or facing the enemy awaiting them in
the desert.
We must take time to reflect and see correctly what has
really happened. It is not the nechomoh of the Torah
and the nevi'im that has disappointed them, chas
vesholom. It is the few vain comforts that our nation
has embraced over the years that have really disillusioned
them. The belief that through the kindness of other nations
we can be delivered from golus and our suffering is
what has caused them to become disheartened.
This fruitless plan of trying to convince world leaders to
recognize the legitimate right of Jews to a National Home
and an independent country was adopted by Zionism. Theodore
Herzl, founder of Zionism, embraced this task wholeheartedly
and coined the impressive slogan: "If you wish, it is not a
dream." A hundred years after he had uttered that slogan and
fifty years after the State was founded according to his
"prophecy" there are, however, many who are disappointed --
and no one is really pleased.
Am Yisroel await the redemption and long for a
nechomoh and do not want to be deceived. They want
the true and tangible nechomoh from Hashem.
Actually what has happened to us is nothing new. It is as
long as the golus, repeated throughout our history.
During the bitter golus and persecution, a gnawing
away of our hopes and a weakening in emunah is always
possible. Those who suffer are understandably likely to
pursue illusions and falsehoods, to be ready to adopt even
something that looks partially true.
In modern times we have seen the Enlightenment Movements and
those following foreign cultures as agents who request a
nechomoh from the non-Jews. This has been even at the
price of annulling their own lifestyle and assimilating
amongst them.
" `Nachamu, nachamu ami' -- they sinned doubly, were
punished doubly, and are consoled doubly" (Midrash
Eichoh 1:24). In two ways we find ourselves entangled in
an inescapable situation: first of all when we disobey the
Torah's guidance on how to inherit Eretz Yisroel: "Do not go
up for Hashem is not among you so that you may not be
smitten before your enemies" (Bamidbar 14:42).
Second, even after entering Eretz Yisroel according to
Hashem's command and in the way the Torah has directed us,
we should not forget the Divine warning of "Beware lest you
forget Hashem your Elokim, by not keeping His
commandments and His judgments and His statutes which I
command you this day" (Devorim 8:11).
In both these matters the "Zionist Redemption" has sinned
against the Jewish Nation. They sought the benevolence of
the non-Jews and even relied on the heretical concept of "my
power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth"
(Devorim 8:17). Jews will control their own destiny,
they said.
In addition, they decided to set up in Eretz Yisroel an
explicit and mapped- out plan to create a populace that will
forget Hashem's name and will uproot emunah and
Torah. This is the direct opposite of the conditions the
Torah has given for obtaining our rights in Eretz Yisroel
and our being able to continue living there.
Today's reality as far as Eretz Yisroel and the Jews living
within it is complicated and it is therefore not entirely
similar to any of the above ways. "Official" Zionist
historians indeed claim that all that we have accomplished
in Eretz Yisroel is a direct result of what they did. They
claim this not only to help forget and overlook what others
have done but mainly to deepen the heretical concept of
relying on the kindness of other nations and our own
strength. Such a concept of military supremacy opposes the
Jewish emunah of, "For they did not get the land in
possessing by their own sword nor did their own arm save
them, but Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your
countenance because You did favorably accept them"
(Tehillim 44:4).
The historical truth is that the roots of the renewed Jewish
settlement in Eretz Yisroel are kodesh. They begin
from the aliya of the Ramban more than seven hundred
years ago, the aliya of Spanish Jews after their
expulsion, and the aliya of the Chassidim,
talmidim of the Baal Shem Tov, and the Perushim,
talmidim of the Vilna Gaon, that took place some two
hundred years ago. All of these aliyos were, of
course, carried out according to all the conditions that the
Torah and Chazal require to fulfill the mitzvah of living in
Eretz Yisroel. This is a mitzvah that obligates us today
too, one whose main requirement is our living a Torah
lifestyle in Eretz Yisroel and fulfilling Hashem's
mitzvos.
From these foundations and their offshoots the Torah
community exists and flourishes in Eretz Yisroel. This Torah
community is doubtless, as we believe, the decisive factor
in our ability to live here. This belief is reinforced when
we constantly see the abundant and amazingly evident Divine
rachamim protecting the Jews living in Eretz Yisroel
from their many enemies.
The ways of the Supreme Hashgochoh are hidden from us
but it is impossible to ignore what we do happen to see
clearly: in contrast to all the many dark shades that it is
unnecessary to write about in detail, the many rays of
intense light have, boruch Hashem, increased. This
bright radiance prevents the anti-religious from
strengthening their heretical hold over the Jews in Eretz
Yisroel, a hold they once thought was absolute.
Heaven has rachmonus on the remnants of His people
and the land has been favorable to them. It is, boruch
Hashem, being built, developed and is flourishing. Eretz
Yisroel is a "land in which you shall eat bread without
scarceness, you shall not lack any thing in it"
(Devorim 8:9) in its broadest meaning.
It is popular knowledge that Maran the Chofetz Chaim
zy'a often hinted in his last years about the
terrible tragedy that was about to befall European Jewry.
The only nechomoh that he told those who asked him
about our future was, "Upon Mount Zion there will be refuge
and it will be holy" (Ovadia 1:17). The Chofetz Chaim
said this to the Ponevezher Rav zt'l too, and he
later placed this posuk on top of the yeshiva's
building in Bnei Brak.
"Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your
countenance because You favorably accepted them"
(Tehillim 4:4). Although today light and darkness are
mixed together, we doubtless see Hashem's blessing. Indeed
the dense dark shades around us both cripple and unsettle
us. They cause us to worry endlessly since this darkness
strengthens our enemies who wish to destroy us.
On the other hand, we must realize a magnificent fact: the
land that was desolate when in the hands of various non-
Jewish conquerors for so many years has been kind to us and
desires us. It has been fulfilled "I will bring the land
into desolation and your enemies who dwell in it shall be
astonished at it" (Vayikra 26:32). The Ramban
explains: "The posuk is telling us good tidings:
during all the goluyos our land does not accept our
enemies."
From the time the aliya of Jews to Eretz Yisroel
started, the land has been redeemed from its desolation and
has, boruch Hashem, accepted us graciously.
If we had been zocheh and the aliyos to Eretz
Yisroel in the last generations would have been according to
the Torah's guidelines and with pure intentions, we would
today be living here securely. We would not be threatened
day and night by enemies surrounding us. Our distant
"friends" who are kind to our enemies while being
particularly demanding only with us would have acted
differently.
We must believe that just as we have to thank those who
study Torah and the multitudes who fulfill its mitzvos for
our being privileged to experience daily miracles, it is
also vital that we realize that suffering comes as a result
of our sins. The greatest sin causing us hardship is that
Jews have "mingled among the nations and learned their
deeds" (Tehillim 106:25).
HaRav Naftoli Tzvi Yehudah Berlin (the Netziv) in
Ha'ameik Dovor writes on the posuk, "It is a
people who shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among
the nations" (Bamidbar 23:9): as long as the Jewish
Nation is "alone" and does not mingle with other nations it
will "dwell" in serenity and honor. However, if the Jewish
People is "among the nations," when it wants to mix together
with them, then "it will not be reckoned" -- non-Jews will
not consider them at all. They will disgrace them and try to
harm them.
As long as we continue to look for worthless consolation
either through our might or from the benevolence of other
nations, we will suffer, and this suffering, Rachmono
litzlan, includes the bloodshed of Jews living in our
land. HaRav Meir Shapira zt'l, the founder and head
of Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin, in his speech at the Second
Knessia Gedolah, connected four haftoros of
nechomoh.
He cited a Yalkut Shimoni in which Chazal tell us
that when HaKodosh Boruch Hu sent Yisroel to
golus He called out to all of the nations to console
them. Yisroel, however, immediately started crying and was
not prepared to accept any nechomoh from them. This
is the content of the four haftoros. HaKodosh
Boruch Hu calls out to the nations "Nachamu, nachamu
ami" -- comfort My nation Yisroel (the haftorah
of Voeschanon). Knesses Yisroel, however,
answers while crying: "And Zion says Hashem has forsaken me
and Hashem has forgotten me" (Yeshaya 49:14). You are
telling non-Jews to console us but we want only You to
console us (the haftorah of Eikev). Hashem
answers, "O you poor, afflicted, tossed with tempest and not
comforted." I only wanted to test you if you would agree to
be comforted by the nations (the haftorah of
Re'ei). Since you are afflicted and refuse to be
consoled by others and desire only HaKodosh Boruch Hu
to comfort you, therefore "I, even I, am He that comforts
you" (Yeshaya 51:12), (the haftorah of
Shofetim).
This speech of the Lubliner Rav was after the pogrom of 5689
(1929) in Hebron. At the speech's conclusion he said
something just as applicable seventy-two years ago as today:
"We are finishing maseches Zevochim. May HaKodosh
Boruch Hu help us to honor His name that there will not
be anymore zevochim of Jews who are slaughtered. We
have given enough sacrifices and we now want to sacrifice
zevochim as per Divine will in the Beis
Hamikdosh, to offer incense of real menochos. May
He have rachmonus on us and that "the earth will be
full of knowledge of Hashem" (Yeshaya 11:9). May that
knowledge of Hashem overshadow and stand up against the
culture and enlightenment of the twentieth century."
In this connection it is fitting to reflect about what HaRav
Elchonon Wassermann Hy'd wrote in Ikvesa
Demeshicha (pg. 41): "Eretz Yisroel takes up a principal
place in the Torah. Three sedorim of Shas are
also connected to Eretz Yisroel: Zero'im, Kodshim,
Taharos. A large portion of the remaining sedorim
is also connected with Eretz Yisroel. In seder Mo'ed
there are several masechtos [connected with Eretz
Yisroel] such as Yoma, Shekolim, Chagigah, the last
part of Pesochim, the last chapters of Sukkah
and Taanis. In seder Noshim: Nozir and
Sotah. In Nezikin: Sanhedrin, Makkos,
and Horayos. This summary shows that almost two
thirds of Shas is connected to Eretz Yisroel and that
same relationship is in the Chumash too. It is
therefore understandable that Eretz Yisroel is a mitzvah in
itself."
Boruch Hashem, we were zocheh to a great miracle. In
contrast to those who wanted to make "Eretz Yisroel without
Torah," there is a Torah Jewry in Eretz Yisroel that is
constantly extending its borders. This large community of
yirei Hashem is living proof to the fact that "Eretz
Yisroel takes up a principle part in the Torah." Through
widespread observance of the Torah and mitzvos in Eretz
Yisroel we are zocheh that Eretz Yisroel can be
called the land of the Jewish People, a land suitable to
receive the rachamim and chassodim of Hashem
Who has bequeathed to us this "desirable, good and spacious
land."
