Our time is one of great upheaval. Presently, Israel is defending itself from enemies bent on destroying the Jewish State, Heaven forbid.
While we know that this war has come to advance the Israelite Nation to a new stage of Redemption (Orot, Chapter on War, Essay 1) all of us, not only our holy and valorous soldiers, are charged with doing whatever we can to strengthen the Nation.
As anti-Semitism rages throughout the Diaspora, Jews the world over are being reconnected to Israel, if only in beginning to wonder what it means to be a Jew. Even in the midst of the battle, the Land of Israel welcomes its people home to Zion. The Exile draws to its inevitable close with every idealist Jew who arrives at Ben Gurion Airport to take up new residence in the Land of their Forefathers.
The ingathering process is transforming the Jewish People from individuals scattered amongst the nations to an Independent Nation reborn on its own ancient soil. This transformation demands that we broaden our Torah concepts and understandings to encompass the reality of our restored existence as the sovereign State of the Jewish People.
Since our generation is experiencing a resurgence of Teshuva in this era of National Revival it is essential to elaborate on the concept of Teshuva and its relationship to the return of the Jewish People to Eretz Yisrael. As Rabbi Kook teaches in his book “Orot HaTeshuva,” penitence that relates only to personal wrongdoing is incomplete because the Teshuva of each individual Jew is actually only a part of a much greater National Teshuva of Am Yisrael and to the subsequent Teshuva of all of the nations, and to the Tikun (perfection) of all of the world.
The Torah was given not only as religion for individuals, but as constitution of the Jewish Nation, as the great Rabbi, the ‘Ohr Samayach,’ reminds us in his commentary to the Torah: “G-d does not rest His Name on the individual” (Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk, Meshech Chochma, Vayikra 18:4 and 23:21). He states that “the Torah was given to the Nation as a whole” and “can only be kept in its entirety by the whole Nation ( Meshech Chochma, Shmot 19:8; Ohr HaChaim, Shmot 39:32).
By his connection to the Clal (the national, generation-spanning Israelite entity), the individual takes on an infinitely greater importance and significance (Orot 144:3, 147:6). He is then linked to the blessing and Divine Connection of the Clal. Even his individual life and actions are imbued with the infinite significance of the Clal of which he is part (Kuzari 3:19; Rambam, Laws of Tefilla 8:1). The converse is also true - when a person separates himself from the Nation he severs his link to eternity, as we learn: “He who separates himself from the ‘Tzibur’ (the community), even though he has no sins... he has no part in the world to come” (Rambam, Mishna Torah, Laws of Teshuva, 3:11).
The Divine Ideal of the Nation transcends the individual and is expressed through him. Therefore, keeping the Torah is not a private affair between the individual and G-d, but rather stems from his being a part of the national whole. This is why before the performance of mitzvot we say that we do so “in the name of all of Israel.” Our prayers are in the plural form, praying for the good of the nation.
The Vilna Gaon clearly writes that “It is forbidden to pray for one’s private needs, rather for the perfection of Am Yisrael” (Shnot Eliyahu on Brachot 5:1, explaining the Mishna: “directing their hearts to G-d” as being the praying for the good of Israel!) Also see Rav Chaim of Volozhin, “Nefesh HaChaim,” 2:11. In the same light, at the beginning of many prayer books the words of the Ari HaKadosh are cited, “Before every prayer one should accept upon himself the Commandment of “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” to love all of Israel and thus connect oneself to the Clal).
The oneness of Israel is the foundation upon which all Torah, Mitzvot, and ‘yirat shamayim’ (fear of heaven) are built. Only when this unity was attained were we able to receive the Torah. This is so because the Torah is the Divine Content and Ideal of an entire NATION that ultimately revitalizes all human culture, restores harmony to the world, and brings to fulfillment all of creation (see Rav Kook, Orot p. 17 ch. 9; Olat Riyah I:60-61. Orot HaKodesh II:427; Olat Riyah I:289; Orot HaTorah 1:3, 6:4; Orot HaKodesh II, Article 5, pp. 513-574, especially p. 573; Iggrot HaRiyah, Vol. I Letter 301).
G A L U T N E G A T E S T H E J E W I S H I D E A L
For 2000 years in Exile, the Jewish people had been unable to fulfill its National Mission, since Galut by its very nature is the destruction of our National Framework—void of Jewish government and army, prophecy, Temple and Sanhedrin. These tools of National Expression are unattainable outside the Land of Israel and as a result, the Name of G-d expressed through them is lacking. This provides a deeper explanation for why the Galut is called a “Hillul Hashem,” a desecration of G-d’s Name (Yehezkel chap. 36), for the Divine Ideals (שם ד') cannot be fully expressed outside our Land.
The simple understanding cited by Rashi (there) is that since G-d’s Name is called upon us, (Dvarim 28:10, Yirmiyahu 14:9), the Exile and suffering of the Jewish People are attributed by the nations to His inability to save us or keep us in His Land. They attribute their success over us to their strength (or the strength of their god) and to the weakness of Hashem. But if we understand more deeply that His Name is the absolute Divine Ideal for Creation, then when the vehicle for its expression, Am Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael, is fractured or demeaned, His ideal is unable to come to full expression in the world. This is a desecration (חילול—linguistically connected to void/empty—חלל) of His Name, as if separating or cutting off the world from the Divine.
The implications of this disconnection are profound and far-reaching. No longer is this simply a subjective question of what the nations will say, rather an objective description of G-d’s absence in the world. This also explains what the Rabbis tell us that the Exile is the greatest nullification of His Torah (Chagiga 5b), since Torah is the worldly expression of His Name (Brachot 21a and Maharsha; Ohr HaChaim, Parshat Ha’azinu; Zohar 2:87a, 90b, 3:13a).
Thus, when the Jewish People are in Exile, the Divine Influx is withheld from actualization.
An independent Jewish government in Israel, Malchut Yisrael, therefore, is not simply a system to facilitate the improvement of the private lives of its citizens, but rather the vehicle that receives and expresses the Divine ideal in this world. In Parshat Yitro, G-d revealed to the Jewish People their National Role, to be a “Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation,” even before He revealed to them the Ten Commandments. Our National Mission, when fulfilled, demonstrates to mankind that the expression of spiritual ideals in our lives is not limited to the individual but also encompasses the most complex aspects of human existence, that of national life and international relations. This is diametrically opposed to the Christian belief in the inability to sanctify this world, thereby resulting in a separation of Church and State, and in which holiness is limited to the purely spiritual realm.
The Christian ideal is realized therefore by living in a monastery far removed from life. In contrast, the Torah Ideal of living as a holy NATION necessitates the sanctification of every element of individual and national life including that of a government, an army, industry, agriculture, etc. This ideal manifests the oneness of G-d that encompasses both heaven ֹand earth, the spiritual and the physical realms. This oneness is expressed only when Am Yisrael is in Eretz Yisrael. “Since Knesset Yisrael is now in Galut, it is as if He is not called One. [And] when is He called One? When Israel leaves the exile and Knesset Yisrael returns to its place to be with G-d, as it says, ‘In that day will He be One and His Name One’... ‘Who is like Your Nation one in the land’ (Divrei HaYamim I 17:21).
And when is Israel called one? When they are in the Land, and not when they are outside it” (Zohar 3:93. See “Writings of Rav Yehuda Chai Alkalai,” Vol. I p. 278. Sfat Emmet, Parshat B’Har 5653; Mo’aday HaRiyah, pp. 160-161; Orot, p. 170:9).
This ideal is not mere philosophical speculation, but rather constitutes the very essence of our national reality. In fact, our ability to realize this goal is rooted in the Divinely created structure of the Jewish Nation. “This nation have I created for Me, they shall say My praise” (Yishayahu 43:21). Or in the words of Rabbi Kook, “In Am Yisrael, the Divine Content rests in the inner nature of the soul of the Nation.”
Like the nature of all things in reality, this innate holiness is not a product of our free will, nor is it affected by our awareness or belief in it. The role of our free will, indeed our obligation and privilege, is to recognize and reveal the inner holiness by setting up our lives in the Land of Israel, both personal and national, in accordance with this inner National Essence of the Torah.