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Adar Bet 24, 5768, 3/31/2008
“Medinat Yehudah Now!”
A woman was arrested the other day for throwing a newborn baby boy into a garbage bin across the street from the hospital where it was born. During the police interrogation, she said she threw the baby away because she didn’t want a baby – she wanted a fully grown son. The police tried to explain that the baby would one day grow up to be a fully grown boy, but the woman was adamant. She didn’t want all the hassle of a baby. She wanted a grown-up son that could take care of himself now.
Just as there is “Peace Now,” and “Mashiach Now,” there is “Medinat Yehudah Now!” All are infantile obsessions, irresponsible, perverted orientations to life, as dangerous as letting a child drive a car when his feet don’t even reach the pedals.
The prophecy of Ezekiel teaches us this by describing the Redemption of Israel as a slowly evolving process that unfolds over time, and not as something that is born complete from the beginning. Once the Jewish People return to the Land of Israel, they undergo a spiritual metamorphosis, like that of a butterfly emerging from a caterpillar cocoon.
The prophet describes it as a spiritual heart transplant, in which our unfeeling, exile hearts and confused mentalities are removed and replaced with new, holy minds and hearts. Like a transplant, the process is accompanied by a lot of uncertainty, fear, and bleeding. But the operation turns out a success:
“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; from all of your filth and from all of your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel, Ch.36).
When we wake up from the surgery, we wake up anew, not American Jews, or French Jews, or secular Israeli Jews, but as G-d’s People:
“And you shall dwell in the Land that I gave to your fathers; and you shall be My people, and I will be your G-d.”
This national rebirth of the Jewish People in the Jewish Land leads to the ultimate goal of world history – the sanctification of G-d throughout all the world, when all mankind will proclaim that the G-d of Israel is king:
“And they shall say, ‘This Land that was blighted is become like the Garden of Eden, and the waste and blighted and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’ Then the nations that are left around you shall know that I the L-rd have rebuilt the ruined places and have replanted that which was blighted; I the L-rd have spoken it and I will do it.”
We have G-d’s assurance that He will do it. Everyone must play his and her share in this grand historical pageant, and know that G-d will bring it to pass.
There are those who will have the fortune to board the boat of Redemption and take an actual part in the rebuilding in the Land; there are those who will help from afar; and there are those will write angry, complaining talkbacks, like a baby who doesn’t get his bottle now.
Builder or kvetcher? Take your pick.
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Adar Bet 23, 5768, 3/30/2008
Sorry Fellas
Sorry fellas. The Prophet Ezekiel said it, not me. We read it yesterday in synagogue on Shabbat. For those of you who couldn’t make it to shul, and for those who you who have trouble with the Hebrew, here it is in plain English. The Haftorah (Ezekiel, 36:16-38) describes the process of Redemption – what happens to the Jews when they are expelled from the Land because of their sins; and what happens to them when they return to the Land of Israel. We’ve written about this before, but our Sages require us to reread it ever year, so that the message sinks in. This is what G-d has to say via the Prophet Ezekiel: “And when they came to the nations to which they came, they profaned My holy Name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the L-rd, and they are gone out of His Land.’” This means that when a gentile in America sees a Jew eating a hot dog at a ballgame, or lining up on the Upper East Side to see the latest movie, or studying the labels in the supermarket for microscopic OUs, or hurrying in their black coats and black hats through the Manhattan Diamond District on their way to work, the non-Jew is moved to exclaim: “Hey, Momma, what is going down here? Looky, looky, here’s a Jew. Didn’t G-d give him the Land of Israel to live in? What the hell is he doing here? He likes the old USA more than the Land that G-d gave him? Man, what a put down of the L-rd! Hey, brother, whatch you doin here? Why don’t you get your Jewish @@@ home?” A Picture Says a 1000 Words
This, in the words of the Prophet, is a desecration of G-d, or what is called a Chillul Hashem. The Jew doesn’t have to do anything bad. His mere presence in a foreign land is a profanation of G-d. Seeing the Jews at the country club and theater, other gentiles say, “Man, I thought that G-d was all powerful. But if He can’t even keep His own people in their Land, He ain’t no super power after all. We don’t have to be afraid of Him or believe in the Torah, cause the G-d of the Jews is weak.” This too is a desecration of G-d. In fact, Jewish life in the Diaspora is such a terrible shame, the time comes when G-d can’t bear it any more: “But I had concern for My holy Name which the House of Israel profaned among the nations into which they came. Therefore, say to the House of Israel, ‘Thus says the L-rd G-d; I do not do this for your sakes, O House of Israel, by for the sake of My holy Name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will sanctify My great Name which was profaned amongst the gentiles, which you have profaned in the midst of them; and the nations shall know that I am the L-rd, says the L-rd G-d, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.’” And how does this great sanctification occur? The Prophet continues: “For I will take you from amongst the nations, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own Land.” The cessation of the exile is the greatest sanctification of G-d that there is. When the Jews give up Virginia, and Monsey, and Manchester, and Kyoto Japan, and return home to Israel, the gentiles proclaim the greatest of G-d for keeping His promise to the Children of Israel. “Holy cow!” they exclaim. “The Torah is true! The Prophets are true! G-d is the greatest super power of them all!” With G-d’s help, we shall continue to look at this prophesy tomorrow. In the meantime, do some homework, and try reading it again. Remember, Fishman didn’t write it. It’s the word of G-d.
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Adar Bet 20, 5768, 3/27/2008
Medinat Yehudah
I have news for all of the refuseniks who refuse to come to Israel because of its imperfections, and who are waiting for Medinat Yehudah. Medinat Yehudah already exists. It is called Medinat Yisrael. Just as a parent does not throw a newborn baby into the garbage can because it makes doody and cries in the night, we are not prepared to trash Medinat Yisrael because it has not yet reached it destined maturity. Only a childish, puerile perspective demands that a gigantic, world revolutionizing project like the rebirth of the Jewish State in the Land of Israel be perfect from the start.
L’havdil, a thousand differences, not even America was complete upon its inception. Sixty years after its founding, it was engaged in a horrendously bloody Civil War to abolish the institution of slavery. Yes, after sixty years of Israeli independence, we still have secular Hellenists running the government, but that will naturally change as the population becomes more religious. Already the Land of Israel is by far the Torah center of the world, with more Torah scholars and Torah institutions than anywhere else. After waiting for this baby for nearly 2000 years, we have the patience and maturity of thought to wait a few more years if need be, knowing that the G-d of Israel is calling the shots, and that the spiritual revolution will come.
And now, a few words about the inane blabber of establishing Medinat Yehudah in the area of Judea and Samaria. This proposition comes clearly from a person who has never even visited Israel. The Jewish population in Judea and Samaria lives in scattered settlements, distant one from the other, each one surrounded by Arab villages and cities. While we favor the expulsion of all Arabs from Eretz Yisrael, the notion of transfer is not presently realistic, and will not be until the great spiritual revolution, or until all the refuseniks come home. In the meantime, assuming that all of the remaining unsettled lands of Judea and Samaria could be transferred to Medinat Yehudah, it would still be inundated with Arabs. Furthermore, the settlements to the north and south of Jerusalem would be totally separated from each other by the Holy City itself, which for the time being is in the hands of Medinat Yisrael. In other words, the settlements of Medinat Yehudah would be absolutely indefensible. Without the presence of Tzahal, it would be slaughter for the settlers, no matter how many rifles they had. And any notions that Medinat Yisrael would agree to defend this new Jewish neighbor are totally unfounded in reality. The “Israelis” don’t want us to be there in the first place, why risk their lives to defend the fanatic settlers of Medinat Yehudah once it becomes an entity of its own?
Besides being militarily unfeasible, Medinat Yehudah would have no viable economy, no water and electric of its own, no allies, not even Jerusalem for a capital. Is this to be our dream of 2000 years – a Jewish State without Jerusalem?
In short, Medinat Yehudah is a lot of Swiss cheese, dressed up in a fancy wrapping, but shot full of holes. If this wasn’t cyberspace, writing about it would be a waste of paper. G-d has given us Medinat Yisrael, and the truly brave among us are working to make it a better, more Jewish place, little by little, as our Sages have taught, that the Redemption of Israel comes slowly, just like the morning dawn.
The darkest hour is just before the dawn
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Hollywood to the Holy Land
by Tzvi Fishman
Tzvi Fishman was awarded the Israel Ministry of Education Prize for Jewish Creativity and Culture
Before making Aliyah to Israel in 1984, Tzvi Fishman was a successful Hollywood screenwriter. He has co-authored 4 books with Rabbi David Samson, based on the teachings of Rabbis A. Y. Kook and T. Y. Kook.
His other books include: The Kuzari For Young Readers and Tuvia in the Promised Land. His most recent book, Secret of the Brit, can be found at JewishSexuality.com, along with an abbreviated online version. |
