HaRav Shlomo Aviner is head of Ateret Yerushalayim Yeshiva in the Old City.
Question:
Why has there recently been a phenomenon (especially among young people) of returning to religious observance?
Answer:
- We do not know the scope of the phenomenon, whether it involves only a few individuals or an entire movement, and we also do not know whether it is a momentary awakening or an ongoing process. But in principle, the connection between repentance (teshuvah) and war is understandable.
- To what may this be compared? Someone who wants to interest people to buy a certain product needs to connect it to something the purchaser loves - for example, that it insures health, that it tastes good, that drinking it promotes sociability - and to convince them that it is particularly suitable for them. This is what is referred to in The Guide for the Perplexed: “Who is wise? One who knows a thing through its causes."
Accordingly, one must know what kind of spiritual or emotional connection is closest to our generation, and especially to young people. The answer is the Land of Israel. For the sake of the Land of Israel, people built the Land with self-sacrifice, immigrated to the Land with self-sacrifice, established the State with self-sacrifice, and fought in all the wars with self-sacrifice, including the current war.
Rabbi Kook wrote: “They ask: By what merit did our generation attain the beginnings of Redemption? The answer is simple: because the generation engaged in the greatest of all commandments, the commandment equal to the entire Torah (conquering and dwelling in the Land of Israel which leads to Israel’s Redemption as explained by the Rambam in his discussion of the Mashiach in the Laws of Kings and Their Wars). "
"And not only did it engage in this supreme commandment - it is presently carrying on with the Heavenly work and will continue to engage unceasingly in Israel’s Redemption (whether realizing the religious significance or not) and this attachment to the Divine Will elevates the generation and blesses it with salvation" (Shemonah Kevatzim VII, 1).
- In wartime, national feeling and self-sacrifice are awakened, and from this arises love for both the physical and spiritual properties of the nation (as in the days of our holy and heroic forefathers), and from that, repentance shines forth, radiating over the generation, the religious and the not-yet religious streams, uniting them as one.
- May it be soon.