Statehood - A Torah Commandment

People occasionally ask, where is it written in the Torah that we have to build a State? Apparently, they are not familiar with the words of the giant Torah authority, the Ramban, who repeatedly stated that we are commanded that the Land of Israel be in our hands, and not in the hands of any other nation:

“We were commanded to inherit this Land which the L-rd, Blessed Be He, gave to our Forefathers, to Avraham, Yitzhak, and Yaacov, and not to abandon it to the hands of other nations, or abandon it to desolation. Hashem said to them, ‘To inherit the Land and dwell there, for to you I have given the Land to possess, and you shall inherit the Land that I swore to your Forefathers’ – behold, we are commanded with its conquest in every generation (Ramban, Supplement to Sefer HaMitzvot of the Rambam, Positive Commandment 4).

The Ramban continues:

“This is what our Sages call ‘Milchemet Mitzvah,’ an obligatory war. This Land is not to be left in the hands of the Seven Nations, or in the hands of any other nation, in any generation whatsoever…this is a positive commandment which applies at every time” (Ramban, ibid).

The Ramban concludes:

“And the proof that this is a Torah commandment is this – they were told in the matter of the Spies, ‘Go up and conquer the Land as Hashem has said to you. Don’t fear, and don’t be discouraged.’ And further it says, ‘And when the L-rd sent you from Kadesh Barnea saying, Go up and possess the Land which I gave you, and you rebelled against the L-rd your G-d, and you did not believe in me, and did not listen to this command’” (Ibid).

All of the early and later Torah authorities, the Rishonim and Achronim, decide the law in this fashion on the basis of the Ramban that the precept of conquering the Land applies in all generations, and all of the agree that it is a commandment of the Torah (Shuchan Oruch, Pitchei T’shuva, Evan HaEzer, 75:6).

Sovereignty over a country means having an army, a government, courts, an economic system, etc. By commanding us to rule over the Land of Israel, the Torah commands us to establish a State. Rabbi Kook emphasized that whether sovereignty is brought about by a prime minister, a prophet, a judge, or a king, it is valid Jewish sovereignty when it comes on behalf of Clal Yisrael (Mishpat Kohen, 337).

"Go and possess the Land!"

Thus, the State of Israel is a commandment of the Torah. Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook emphasized that, “The intrinsic value of the State is not dependent on the number of observant Jews here. Of course, our aspiration is that all of our people will embrace the Torah and the mitzvot. Nonetheless, the Statehood of Israel is holy, whatever religious level it contains.”

“There are religious Jews who express a type of criticism and say, ‘If the State of Israel were run according to our lifestyle and spirit, then we would accept it. Until then we abstain from it.’ They talk as if the State does not belong to them. But the truth is that the State belongs to all of us.”

Anyone who refuses to recognize the State of Israel does not recognize Hashem’s rule over what takes place in the world.

Rabbi Kook said that we had to be patient, that Redemption came slowly in gradual stages, little by little (Jerusalem Talmud, Berachot 1:1), and that it would reach perfection with time.

“In the Gemara, our Sages explain that all of the material used in building the Temple became sanctified only after it was set into place. We build with the profane and sanctify afterward (Meilah 14A and B, see Rashi there). This was enacted because our Sages realized that during the construction, workers would sit in the shade of the building to rest from the sun, and thus improperly derive personal benefit from something which had been exclusively dedicated for the use of the Temple. The Beit HaMikdash was built in this fashion, and this is the way the Redemption of Israel develops, in stages, little by little. Just as the stones used in building the Temple were not sanctified, so too the building of Eretz Yisrael is accomplished by every segment of the nation, by the righteous and by the less righteous. We build with the secular, even though this causes complications and problems, and little by little all of the various problems will vanish, and the sanctification of Hashem will appear in more and more light.”

Just as settling and building the Land is a great mitzvah, people who discourage others from performing this all-important commandment are committing a grave sin. Rav Tzvi Yehuda stressed:

“In our generation, we are in a situation of war, and we must be careful over what we say. We must strengthen the conquest and settlement of the Land with intelligence and reason, boldness and strength, and by guarding our speech. We must guard against language which leads to discouragement. The Torah forbids this weakening of others by saying, ‘Lest his brother’s heart melt like his heart’ (Devarim, 20:8). In our time, weakheartedness is as forbidden as pork.”

"Aliyah is suicide!"

Whether this weakheartedness comes from diehard leftists in Israel, or from masturtalkbackers on the Internet, all of their highfalutin theories are as traf as pork.

The Mitzvah to Live in Israel

As Israel Independence Day approaches, it is an appropriate time to review some basic understandings and laws that are often neglected in the Diaspora. This neglect is due to the fact that for nearly 2000 years, we were scattered over the world, without a national homeland of our own, and without a state of our own. We lived as individuals and unconnected communities. The emphasis of Judaism became focused on the private mitzvoth that we could still perform in the exile, rather on the true national character of the Torah.

However, the Torah is not just a list of individual commandments affected a person’s daily life – it is the national constitution of the Jewish Nation. Thus, the life goal of our greatest spiritual leaders, like Moshe Rabanu, Yehoshua, and King David, was to establish the nationhood of Israel in Eretz Yisrael.

Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook (center) just after the conquest of the Old City

This national essence of the Torah was emphasized by Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak HaKohen Kook, and by his son, Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda, and became the distinguishing feature in their teachings as the Jewish Nation began to return to its homeland during the last century. Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda would stress that G-d created the world and apportioned the lands to the different peoples He created. In doing so, He created one special Holy Land and gave it to the Jews. Eretz Yisrael is our Land. This is where G-d wants us to be. The Torah can only be truly fulfilled here.

Therefore, when G-d chose Avraham to be the founder of a unique holy nation, He commanded him to go to Israel. G-d’s master plan is that His word to the world come, not just through chosen individuals, but through a chosen NATION. Everyone can understand that a nation needs its own land. Therefore, the Jewish Nation and the Jewish Land go hand in hand.

"Get yourself forth to the Land"

“A single man can drift from place to place,” Rav Tzvi Yehuda taught, “but a people, a nation, has to be rooted in a fixed, permanent position on the globe. Therefore, the Almighty told Avraham to journey to Eretz Yisrael, which would become the eternal homeland of the great nation that Avraham would father.”

Thus, when G-d leads the Jewish People out of Egypt, He commands Moshe to bring them to Israel. In preparation for beginning their new life as an independent nation, Moshe gives the Jews a review of the Torah, the Book of Devarim, known as the “Mishna Torah.” Moshe begins by recounting everything that has happened until then, and then he explains the Torah with his own unique illumination, as it says, “Moshe began to explain this Torah.” What is the first thing that Moshe tells them?

“The L-rd our G-d spoke to us in Horev, saying, ‘You have dwelt long enough in this mountain. Turn and take up your journey! Go and posess the Land!” (Devarim, 1:6-8).

This true understanding of Torah that the Jewish Nation is Divinely commanded to live in the Land of Israel faded during the long and bitter exile from the Land. It wasn’t possible, so it wasn’t learned. The focus of Torah learning became on the individual commandments and not on the commandments affecting the Nation in Israel – subjects which comprise over two-thirds of the Mishna.   

Thus Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook reminded his students that living in the Land of Israel was the fundamental basis for the entire Torah:

“It is well known that the Ramban establish a fundamental halachic ruling that living in the Land of Israel and conquering the Land are commandments of the Torah which apply in every age (Supplement to the Sefer HaMitzvot of the Rambam, Positive Command #4). Among the supporting he cites is the verse, ‘Rise up and possess the Land.’ The Ramban emphasizes that this is a command. In contrast to this, the rejection of the precept is a rebellion against Hashem, as the Torah itself states: ‘And when the L-rd sent you from Kadesh Barnea saying, Go up and possess the Land which I gave you, and you rebelled against the L-rd your G-d, and you did not believe in me, and did not listen to My voice,’ (Devarim, 9:3). They didn’t listen to Hashem in conquering and settling in the Land. Settling the Land is a mitzvah, and the opposite is a rebellion against Hashem.”

The Torah is eternal. The Torah doesn’t change. The commandments in the Torah do not depend on who happens to be the Prime Minister of Israel at the time, or on how many religious politicians sit in the Knesset. What was true in the time of Moshe is true for us today. For 2000 years, we didn’t have the physical possibility of re-establishing the nation in Israel, so we were prevented from doing the mitzvah, but the moment the opportunity returned with the establishment of the State of Israel, then the commandment to live in Israel returned in all of its force.

I know. It is inconvenient to learn these matters. It is easier to bury one’s head in the sand and pretend things are otherwise. It is more comfortable staying put where one is in Vienna and Brooklyn and clutching on to hundreds of excuses and less challenging interpretations of the Torah.

As Israel Independence Day approaches, just open your eyes and see that it is G-d who has done this miracle of rebuilding in Israel. Why not hop aboard? Come along on the ride of your life! This is your destiny. As a member of the Jewish People, this is what you were created for.   

(To be continued)

Who Took the Bones Out of Gefilta Fish?

If the recent six day overdose of Yom Tov and Shabbat weren’t enough to get Diaspora Jews to move to Israel, with its force-feeding of gefilta fish day-after-day, until fish jelly dripped out of their noses and horseradish dripped out of their ears, I don’t know what it’s going to take until they are fed up with practicing Judaism in a jar.

Judaism in a Jar

Since we are on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, let’s go back to the Shabbat of Chol HaMoed Pesach and take another look at the Haftorah. Our Sages explain that the Dry Bones of Ezekiel’s prophecy represent the Jewish communities in the exile, which the Prophet pictures as a grave:

“Then He said to me, son of man, these bones are the House of Israel” (Ezekiel, 37:11).

“Lo, I will open your graves and cause you to come out of your graves as My People, and bring you home to the Land of Israel” (Ezekiel, 37:12).

Can anything be clearer than this? The Prophet clearly states that it is G-d’s will that His People rise up from their graves in Vienna, and Monsey, and Australia, and Japan, and come home to Israel.

Valley of Dry Bones

Isn’t this exactly what happened in the wake of the Holocaust? Can there be a clearer picture of the Jewish People miraculously rising from their graves to return home to the Land of Israel?

Make no mistake my beloved and deluded brothers, the exile is a grave. Don’t be deceived by the beauty of your cemeteries, the manicured lawns and towering monuments – the lands of the Diaspora are graveyards.

Valley of Dry Bones, East

The Jewish communities there are dry bones, scattered, dislocated, discombobulated, disintegrated, withered, sapped of life, “a valley of bones – exceedingly dry” (Ezekiel, 37:2).

Those who have broken away from the Torah to find sanctuary amongst the goyim have decomposed beyond recognition, turning into gefilta fish without bones; and those who bravely cling to the tenets of the Torah have only its dry, crumbling skeleton to cling to, without being graced with the life-giving spirit of the Land of Israel inside.  

The establishment of the State of Israel out of the graves of the Holocaust is the greatest Sanctification of G-d that there is!

Graveyard of Galut

The Greatest Sanctification of G-d

Just as the Prophet declared:

“And I will lay ligaments upon you, and I will make flesh grow over you, and cover you with skin, and put breath into you, and you will live, and YOU WILL THEN KNOW THAT I AM G-D” (Ezekiel, 37:6).