In 1903, Rav Yechiel Michl Tuckachinski wrote about the rebuilding of the Hurva Synagogue by the descendants of the students of the Vilna Gaon. They saw in this a step in the process of the Geula (Redemption), “to raise the Shechina (G-d's dwelling) up from the dust”. These Jews, called Perushim, put on their finest holiday garments, and busied themselves in clearing the ruins of centuries, and in rebuilding the destroyed Synagogue. The construction began in the 1850’s, was finished in 1862, and ran into countless hassles from Moslem (Turkish) authorities. It was to these problems that Rav Tuckachinski turned in his analysis of the process of Geula:
“The awakening of the hearts of world Jewry to the new Yishuv (dwelling) in our holy City, Jerusalem, may it be speedily and firmly rebuilt, fittingly bears the Hebrew title ‘Hitor’rut’, awakening. For as a man awakens in the morning from his sleep, at first his limbs begin to feel a bit, and his eyes will open slightly to let in a little light; but then he’ll close his eyes, and sleep some more. A few minutes later he will move a bit, open his eyes again, gaze at his surroundings- yet lie there in bed, lazily, until finally with effort he’ll raise his head, then his trunk, and finally
For many years we slept our national sleep, and only after centuries did we begin to awaken.
stand on his feet full of life!
“This is the model for the reawakening of the holy Yishuv: for many years we slept our national sleep, and only after centuries did we begin to awaken. Each time there were signs of life, but we would fall asleep again- and start another cycle , awakening, falling back asleep. But with each step the YEKITZAH (awakening; hence the word ‘ketz’, the end of the process of history) was stronger, longer-lasting, and more complete.
“Now we stand, thank the Lord, during a prolonged period of the eyes reopening….but anyone who feels that the earlier periods of settlement were of no value, since they did not last, only errs. This is like one who does not understand that without the first false starts of awakening in the morning, the sleeper will simply not, in the end, wake up.
“We are constantly getting closer to the target, as the Midrash learns in the following parable: The king became angry with his shepherding business, closed up the sheep-pen, dispersed all the flocks and banished the shepherd. Later, regretting his action, he rebuilt the pen and brought the sheep back. The shepherd heard about the restored pen and sheep, and complained: ‘And what about me, the shepherd?’ ( Midrash Tehillim, chap.70).
This is the story of the Redemption: the shepherd is the principal character in the care of the sheep. Yet he only makes his reappearance at the end of the story. Thus the Mashiach (Messiah) will only come at the end of a long process of Geula, even though his rule is the aim, and his rule is only a derivative of the rule of the Almighty who was the Prime Mover, the ‘Reishit’, in the whole story.
Thus it says in the Psalms: ‘For your servants loved the very stones of the Holy Land, and her very dust found favor in their eyes…and the Lord will build Zion…’(chapter 102,verses 15 and 17) - yet only afterward it says ‘L-David’, does the Mashiach-King David appear (chapter 103,verse1).
Watch sheep as they return home: they wind their way slowly but relentlessly through the countryside, ahead of their shepherd. As the flock nears the pen, they move faster and faster, until they practically burst into the enclosure.
Regarding the Hurva project: these Perushim saw themselves bringing the Return to Zion yet another step closer to its ultimate goal. They regarded the rebuilding of the Hurva, the repopulation of Jerusalem and the reclaiming of more and more of the Land of Israel as an accelerating drumbeat in progress to the Redemption”(cited by Rav Tzvi Yisrael Tau, Emunat Iteinu, volume 8,pages 97-99).
Rav Tau analyzes the following question: What do we mean by” Reishit Tzmichat Geulateinu”, the first flowering of our Redemption. He also addresses an issue on which Rav Avraham HaKohen Kook, Israel’s first Chief Rabbi, was widely misunderstood. Many thought that Rav Kook used to praise the early 19- 20th-century pioneers who physically built this country, most of whom were not religious Jews, for some mystical reason: that they were possessed of some hidden, divine good, not shared by their pious,non-Zionist brethren.
However, Rav Kook never meant to praise the nonreligious early founders of the State as such; in fact, when Herzl died, Rav Kook eulogized Herzl’s accomplishments and spirit without ever mentioning Herzl by name, since Herzl was irreligious and felt that “ Zionism has nothing in common with Judaism”. Rav Kook saw a two-pronged danger in Herzl’s attitude: it would lead to an attack on Judaism by the Zionists; and inevitably it would lead to an attack on Zionism itself, by the Zionists.
The reason was clearly tied to Rav Kook’s definition of the awakening, of the Reishhit Tzemichat Geulateinu. Behind this awakening, hidden in Holiness, was the Geula’s source and motor, the Almighty Himself, the “Reishit”, First Cause of all existence. The surest sign of this godly “Push” behind the reawakening was the fact that all segments of society were involved: “Tzibbur”=Tzadikkim+Beinonim+Reshaim, both religious and irreligious, both “zera adam and zera beheima”, as it says in Jeremiah 31, 26: “And the Lord will plant (in the Land) the House of Israel and the House of Yehuda, the seed of Adam and the seed of the beheimah”.
Rav Kook knew that both these segments of society were necessary for Geula. In fact, from the analogy of the Yekitzah( Awakening), he knew that the “Zera Beheima”, the lower, materialistic segments of society would awaken first. They, driven by the One Above as the source of their yearnings for land and country, would return first, and physically build the Land.
However, Rav Kook foresaw troubles coming, the “ikvta di’Meshichah”, all the disasters of the pre-Messianic epoch
We have the Lord’s promise that this Return is irreversible.
foretold in ancient times by our Rabbis. For since the “Zera Beheima” were so materialistically oriented, they would be close philosophically and emotionally to the Gentiles, and would be strongly influenced by them. Also, during the first stages of the Awakening, the Diaspora would not yet have finished its purifying, healing process on the Nation of Israel; therefore, both Zera Adam and Zera Beheima would be capable of great, tragic errors.
The non religious, with their tremendous energy and power to build the Land physically, would also be capable of great destruction. Luckily, we have the Lord’s promise that this Return is irreversible, and any harm caused by them could not and cannot bring about a total Destruction
(Note: This is a key feature of Rav Kook’s thought, distinguishing him from pious hareidim. They feel that this Tzmichat Geulateinu, the“first flowering of Redemption”, might be only transitory, and capable of being destroyed. As such, the sins of the non religious could cause a third Churban, destruction. Rav Kook had numerous proofs that this Geula is irreversible; for example, see Ramban Genesis 43,14 starting with shacholti shachalti).
Surveying the state of the Nation, Rav Kook thus saw that troubles, the “ikvta diMeshicha”, were sure to come. Not only were the “zera beheima” sure to make tragic, destructive errors, but the “zera adam” would err as they too needed to develop. Rav Kook saw the role of the religious as providing direction to the Tzmichat Geulateinu. They are not to fall into despair at the downturns, but are supposed to bring all elements of Israeli society to recognition of the One who is in truth the source of this miracle of the reawakening of the Jews, so that it is “clear to all that the goal is the establishment of a Kingdom of Priests, with the standing of a living Nation of Israel on the stage of History; this requires the fullest development of all segments of the society, zera Adam and zera beheima (Emunat Iteinu,vol.8,pages112-114).
The zera-Adam have the national responsibility of providing the form that the Rebuilding of our destroyed (Churva) Nation is to take, until the point that the Nation demands the fullest, natural development of its power to act, which will build the actual, physical Nation.
The lower foundations need the upper foundations. Just as a living, awake and fully functional body cannot exist without a soul, nor a soul without a body, neither can the ‘kodesh’(holy) function without ‘oz’ (physical power), nor the ‘oz’ without ‘kodesh’. One without the other will fall from crisis to crisis. Separately they must achieve their full ripe development, but at the Source they are one, and their separate present-day courses are historically necessary for the future in which each will complement and complete the other in a fully functional rebuilt national home, a Churva standing again in its full ‘netzach vhod’, eternal national splendor”.
These are the thoughts that fill our hearts as we thank the Almighty and say Hallel on the day of Israel’s Independence, the words of Jeremiah filling our souls: “ Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will plant the House of Israel and the House of Judah, zera-Adam and zera-beheima. And just as I was swift to destroy, demolish, break, massacre and inflict evils- so I will now act swiftly to build and to plant, says the Lord…and I shall be for them their G-d Almighty, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31,26-32).