The Haftorah for this week's double Torah reading of Tazriah-Metzorah is from II Kings Chapter 7. Often this particular reading coincides with the week of Yom Ha'Atzma'ut – Israel's Day of Independence. Having been selected centuries ago to fill this Haftorah slot, no one would have anticipated that the story contained in this chapter could be used as a response to various voices of criticism towards the establishment of the State of Israel
Non-observant Jews led the movements which culminated in the establishment of the State.
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In a speech delivered at New York's Yeshiva University forty four years ago by HaRav Aharon Soloveichik Zt"l on the 18th anniversary of the State several key arguments were addressed. What follows is an excerpt of this lecture from 1966 (printed in Gesher, Vol. 4) capturing the creative message so relevant to contemporary times as well.

"Those who do not recognize the importance of the establishment of the State of Israel give several reasons. The first argument raised is that non-observant Jews led the movements which culminated in the establishment of the State. They argue that the results of such leadership cannot be of great historical significance for the Jewish people. These results cannot be considered a step towards redemption, but rather as a step away from redemption.

A second argument is that inasmuch as exile is a penalty for abandonment of the Torah, it follows that any salvation or deliverance can take place only as a result of repentance. The Zionist movements, however, did not originate as part and parcel of a universal Jewish movement of repentance.

Chapter seven of II Kings has a bearing on all these arguments. Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, was besieged by the mighty armies of Assyria and was in the throes of famine. Ordinary food was unobtainable and articles of food which, under normal circumstances, would have been considered repulsive were obtainable only at fantastic prices. Samaria seemed doomed.

Desperate as the situation of the inhabitants of Samaria was, the condition of the four lepers outside the city (II Kings 7:3, above) was infinitely worse. According to our Sages, these four lepers were none other than Gechazi and his three sons who were afflicted with physical leprosy as a penalty for their spiritual leprosy [described by Rambam as heretics]. Kept from the city because of their malady, they faced certain death by starvation. Consequently, they decided to surrender to the enemy. At worst, they might be put to death immediately – that would be much better than starving. At best, their lives might be spared. They had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

As they approached the camp of the armies of Syria, they beheld a miraculous spectacle – the camp was empty, and on every side there were signs of a panicky flight. In their haste, the Syrian soldiers had abandoned everything: tents, horses, an abundance of food and arms, and precious stones and metals. The four lepers went from tent to tent taking these precious objects and hiding them.

But as soon as they finished providing for their own needs, their consciences began to prick them, and they said (II Kings 7:9), 'We are not deporting ourselves properly. This is a day of good tiding. We are not allowed to be passive. If we tarry till the next morning, we will be guilty of an unforgiveable sin'. Consequently, they entered the city of Samaria and conveyed the good tidings to the inhabitants. We thus see that the miracle of deliverance of the inhabitants of Samaria was carried out through the medium of four lepers: physical lepers, yes, but above all, spiritual lepers.

The first argument as to how any relief to the Jewish people could be realized through the medium of heretics can easily be rebutted by the precedent of the deliverance accorded to the people of Samaria through the medium of the four lepers. This episode shows that no Jew can be excluded from the grace of G-d,  and that there is an innate tendency towards altruism even in the hearts of spiritual lepers; it also shows that G-d does not exclude any Jew from salvation and He may therefore designate even spiritual lepers as the messengers of relief and deliverance fo
Perhaps the fact that non-observant Jews are in the forefront today is a penalty for Orthodox Jewry's failure to play the most important part in the formation of the State."
r the people of Israel.

Consequently, we cannot ignore the significance of the establishment of the State of Israel simply because Jews who stand a substantial distance from any form of observance of Mitzvot were in the forefront of the movements which established the State and are in the forefront of the State itself. Perhaps the fact that non-observant Jews are in the forefront today is a penalty for Orthodox Jewry's failure to play the most important part in the formation of the State."

In a subsequent passage, Harav Aharon Soloveichik Zt"l continues to bemoan the fact that the Torah observant community worldwide has not yet fully mobilized in the task of building up the modern State of Israel in Eretz Yisrael.

"The State of Israel represents not the "break of dawn" of redemption, but the "appearance of the morning star" of redemption. The 'break of dawn of redemption' must be part of the actual day of redemption. Unfortunately, we have not yet attained that. Perhaps, if in the course of the last fifty years all observant Jews had dedicated themselves to the up building of the land and would not have allowed spiritual lepers to take the lead, then we might have attained the the 'dawn of redemption' and perhaps even more."

Yom Ha'Atzma'ut Same'ach--Happy Israel Independence Day!