“Do not say in your heart when Hashem pushes the nations away from before you, saying, because of my righteousness did Hashem bring me to take possession of this land and because of the wickedness of these nations did Hashem drive them away from before you. Not because of your righteousness and uprightness of your heart are you coming to take possession of the land, but because of the wickedness of these nations does Hashem your G-d drive them away from before you, and in order to establish the word that Hashem swore to your forefathers.”
From time to time we hear the voices of those that oppose returning to the Land of Israel, that now is not the right time, we are not on that level yet, we do not deserve the Final Redemption, for we have many sinners among us.
We cannot afford to wait around for the “knock on the door” - that almost unattainable level of meriting it - but we must “make it happen.
Certainly, when the time comes for us to go back home, it will be done through many miracles, as we witnessed when we left Egypt, and until that time we must sit tight and do nothing.
Our parsha, though, teaches us differently: “Not because of your righteousness” – still, Hashem was bringing us in to conquer and settle the land. The prophet Isaiah tell us that redemption will come about in ether of two ways; if we are totally righteous, then it will arrive miraculously, immediately without troubles, and if not - it will still come, but in its time and through natural means.
And so we find that even in the best of times we have not been on that level to have merited the redemption in a miraculous fashion. Rather, it has always been through natural means. Yehoshua led the way into the Land, and for seven long years the Jewish people battled the inhabitants of the Land, and then for seven more years the Jews divided it among the tribes. The wicked spies, who caused a generation of Jews to be destroyed, believed that redemption can only be supernatural, so they opted to wait in the safety of the desert until they would receive the “knock on the door” that they can enter the Land miraculously and without having to battle – they, of course, were dead wrong, for the Torah teaches us: “Not because of your righteousness that I bring you into the land”.
This same theme repeats itself time and time again throughout our long history. We find at the beginning of the Second Temple period, that permission was given by Cyrus, a non-Jewish king, for the Jews to return to their Land. Most Jews refused to believe that this was a G-dly move and so did not return home, for they said that G-d does not work through non-Jews to redeem His people. But truth be told, here, too, it only came about though Cyrus because the Jews did not merit the miraculous redemption path; rather, the redemption was cloaked in the natural order of things.
During the revolt against the Romans, the great Rabbi Akiva declared that Bar-Kochva is King Mashiach. In fact, Rabbi Akiva became Bar-Kochva’s weapon carrier. How can that be, that our master Rabbi Akiva, whose name is quoted daily in connection to hundreds of Mishnayot, claimed during the bloody war that Bar-Kochva is the long awaited Mashiach? Rather, Rabbi Akiva understood that the redemption comes though a natural process, where one must battle, settle and build. We cannot afford to wait around for the “knock on the door” - that almost unattainable level of meriting it - but we must “make it happen”, as the Redemption process is on the natural path of this world, and so our great teacher and master Rabbi Akiva was willing to become a weapon carrier to Bar-Kochva.
Today, too, with the return of the Jewish people to their Land, the cries are heard from the “spies of today” that we have not merited the Redemption, this cannot be “it”, this cannot be what we have always been waiting for. Can a G-dly act need permission from the nations of the world, as was given to us from the UN back in ‘48? The Torah tells a different story. “Not because you are righteous do I bring you into the land”; over the past 60 years, history has proven that Hashem has covered the redemption process with a natural covering.
The prophet Ezekiel teaches us in chapter 36 that Hashem will redeem His people at the end of the day, not because we are righteous, but rather because the time has come, as the exiles have become one big “Chulul Hashem”, a desecration of G-d’s Holy Name.
As history has shown us time after time, this is the only way to Redemption. There is no more excuse for not joining in - waiting for that “knock on the door” is not an option. Either you belong to the camp of the spies - which can only lead to destruction - or we can become the weapon carriers of today’s warriors.
From time to time we hear the voices of those that oppose returning to the Land of Israel, that now is not the right time, we are not on that level yet, we do not deserve the Final Redemption, for we have many sinners among us.
We cannot afford to wait around for the “knock on the door” - that almost unattainable level of meriting it - but we must “make it happen.
Certainly, when the time comes for us to go back home, it will be done through many miracles, as we witnessed when we left Egypt, and until that time we must sit tight and do nothing.Our parsha, though, teaches us differently: “Not because of your righteousness” – still, Hashem was bringing us in to conquer and settle the land. The prophet Isaiah tell us that redemption will come about in ether of two ways; if we are totally righteous, then it will arrive miraculously, immediately without troubles, and if not - it will still come, but in its time and through natural means.
And so we find that even in the best of times we have not been on that level to have merited the redemption in a miraculous fashion. Rather, it has always been through natural means. Yehoshua led the way into the Land, and for seven long years the Jewish people battled the inhabitants of the Land, and then for seven more years the Jews divided it among the tribes. The wicked spies, who caused a generation of Jews to be destroyed, believed that redemption can only be supernatural, so they opted to wait in the safety of the desert until they would receive the “knock on the door” that they can enter the Land miraculously and without having to battle – they, of course, were dead wrong, for the Torah teaches us: “Not because of your righteousness that I bring you into the land”.
This same theme repeats itself time and time again throughout our long history. We find at the beginning of the Second Temple period, that permission was given by Cyrus, a non-Jewish king, for the Jews to return to their Land. Most Jews refused to believe that this was a G-dly move and so did not return home, for they said that G-d does not work through non-Jews to redeem His people. But truth be told, here, too, it only came about though Cyrus because the Jews did not merit the miraculous redemption path; rather, the redemption was cloaked in the natural order of things.
During the revolt against the Romans, the great Rabbi Akiva declared that Bar-Kochva is King Mashiach. In fact, Rabbi Akiva became Bar-Kochva’s weapon carrier. How can that be, that our master Rabbi Akiva, whose name is quoted daily in connection to hundreds of Mishnayot, claimed during the bloody war that Bar-Kochva is the long awaited Mashiach? Rather, Rabbi Akiva understood that the redemption comes though a natural process, where one must battle, settle and build. We cannot afford to wait around for the “knock on the door” - that almost unattainable level of meriting it - but we must “make it happen”, as the Redemption process is on the natural path of this world, and so our great teacher and master Rabbi Akiva was willing to become a weapon carrier to Bar-Kochva.
Today, too, with the return of the Jewish people to their Land, the cries are heard from the “spies of today” that we have not merited the Redemption, this cannot be “it”, this cannot be what we have always been waiting for. Can a G-dly act need permission from the nations of the world, as was given to us from the UN back in ‘48? The Torah tells a different story. “Not because you are righteous do I bring you into the land”; over the past 60 years, history has proven that Hashem has covered the redemption process with a natural covering.
The prophet Ezekiel teaches us in chapter 36 that Hashem will redeem His people at the end of the day, not because we are righteous, but rather because the time has come, as the exiles have become one big “Chulul Hashem”, a desecration of G-d’s Holy Name.
As history has shown us time after time, this is the only way to Redemption. There is no more excuse for not joining in - waiting for that “knock on the door” is not an option. Either you belong to the camp of the spies - which can only lead to destruction - or we can become the weapon carriers of today’s warriors.