HaRav Dov Begonis Head of Yeshivat Machon Meir in Yerushalayim.
The Torah vouches about the Land of Israel: “A good Land… a Land in which you will lack nothing” (Devarim 8:7-9). At first glance, some may see many shortcomings in the Land of Israel, but in truth, the Land of Israel lacks nothing for it contains everything that an individual Jew and the Israelite Nation needs in order to flourish. As the Baal HaTurim writes: the Land of Israel will not lack, but for the wicked, they will lack everywhere, as it is said: “The righteous eats to satisfy his soul, but the belly of the wicked shall lack” (Proverbs 13:25).
In the Land of Israel, the soul perceives the quality of totality - seeing all, from beginning to end, from one end of the world to the other. This all-encompassing seeing is a unique property of Eretz Yisrael, similar with prophecy which the “Kuzari” states occurs either in the Land of Israel or for it, such as the prophecy of Moshe in Mitzrayim. One must see how the past, present, and future are one unified matter, all connected. The all-encompassing vision sees life as one great unity, not as elements and events which are separated and disunited.
It is a vision that illuminates the world and the soul, as hinted at by the verse: “And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (Bereshit 1:31). This is the special blessing of the Patriarchs, Avraham, Yitzhak, and Yaacov, the blessing of “in all, with all, all” (‘bakol mikol kol’), with which the Holy One, Blessed Be He, gave our Forefathers a taste in this world of what is in store in the World to Come (Bava Batra 17a).
Today, we have finally merited to return to the Land of our Life, the Land in which the kingship of the Almighty is revealed to all. From here light and goodness go forth to all humanity, from the Land of Torat Eretz Yisrael which lacks nothing. Our Prophets and Sages have already told us that when we return to our Land to fulfill our historical mission of bringing light to the world, the nations will rise against us, as it is said: “Why do the nations rage and the peoples imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth stand up… against the Lord and against His anointed” (Psalms 2:1-2).
The children of darkness rise up to extinguish the Light of the World - the People of Israel. But we are assured by the Almighty that, in the end, the Nation of Israel will triumph. Our great Divine light, the “new light on Zion,” will drive out the darkness. May it be soon.