On Purim we begin to learn about the holiday of Pesach which is only one month away. On Purim morning, when a few students of Yeshivat Machon Meir stopped by for a happy “L’Chaim!" on their way to fulfill one of the favorite mitzvot of the holiday, I took the opportunity to learn something with them about the upcoming festival of Pesach.
At the beginning of the Passover Seder we say, “Now we are here; next year we will be in the Land of Israel. This year we are slaves; next year we will be free men."
The words of the Haggadah, “Now we are here" means “Now we are here in the Diaspora." Because we are living outcast from our Homeland and scattered amongst the Gentile, we express the yearning that in the coming year we will be in the Land of Israel. Then we remind ourselves that “this year (in the Diaspora) we are slaves. Next year (in the Land of Israel) we will be free men."
Why say that in Jerusalem? Because the Jewish People are one, even though millions have indeed returned to restore Jewish sovereignty in the Promised Land we continue saying the words of the Haggadah, understanding that our salvation in Israel cannot be complete so long as almost half of the Nation is still enslaved by the grip of alien identities and cultures.
We learn from this three important foundations of the Torah.
Firstly, we are to yearn for salvation from exile in foreign lands.
Secondly, we are considered slaves in foreign countries.
Thirdly, we can only be free in Eretz Yisrael.
It matters not if Jewish life in a foreign country is one of persecution or pleasure. The Torah, the Prophets of Israel, and our holy Sages define all Jewish life in a foreign country as a punishment and a curse. In ancient Egypt the Jews were in exile even during the good years when Yaacov and Yosef were alive because they were no longer living in the Land which Hashem gave them. So too today, life in Brooklyn, Boca, and LA may seem pleasant, but as long as we live immersed in the foreign culture around us, we are “slaves" to that culture..
The curse of galut is not dependent on our being oppressed. Our mere existence in a foreign land under foreign rule without our own Jewish sovereignty is a punishment, in and of itself. In his writings in the book, “Orot," Rabbi Kook explains that if a Jew doesn’t feel the unpleasantness of his situation when he is outside the Land of Israel then something is wrong with his connection to Torah and Hashem (Orot, Ch. 1, Eretz Yisrael).
To remind us of our debased situation in foreign lands our Sages decreed that our mourning over our exile from the Land of Israel be expressed by the recital of Psalm 127 after our daily meals: “How can we sing the L-rd’s song in a foreign land?" (Mishnah Berura, 1:9, in the name of the Shlah). This Psalm is to be recited not only when Jews live under oppressive regimes like Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia, but also when Jews live in the comfort of a democratic country.
Thus, a Jew who believes that Hashem is perfectly pleased with his good life in France, Australia, or America is sorrowfully mistaken. Notice that on Purim we don’t recite the joyous prayer of Hallel like we do on Hanukkah. Why? Because after the great salvation from the decree of the wicked Haman the Jews still lived in Persia under foreign rule. Even though the Jews found new acceptance, social standing, and wealth under the protection of Ester and Mordechai, we were still in galut.
We were in physical galut outside of our own Jewish Homeland, and we were in cultural galut in adopting the ways of the Persians. And we were in psychological galut in identifying ourselves as loyal citizens of Achashverosh before our loyalty to Hashem and His desire that we live in the Land which he gave us for all time. Although the prophets Ezra and Nechemiah urged the Jews of Shushan to return with them to the Land of Israel to rebuild the Temple only 40,000 heeded the call.
The universal classic of Jewish Belief, “HaKuzari," compares our national health in exile to a body riddled with disease: “In the same way that the heart may be affected by the disease of other organs, thus also are the Jewish People exposed to illness originating in its inclinations towards the Gentiles, as the Psalm says, ‘There they were mingled amongst the heathens and learned their ways’ (HaKuzari, 2:44; Tehillim 106:35).
In reciting Psalm 126 after daily meals, our Sages further bid us to remember that life in Spain, Germany, or America isn’t to be our goal. “If I don’t set Jerusalem above my highest joy." Thus we are repeatedly reminded that we should YEARN to flee from our exile as minorities in foreign lands with foreign identities and cultures, and return to our true sovereign Jewish life in the Land of Israel.
When we understand this, we can rightly ask, “If this is the case, why do so many Jews choose to live in foreign lands rather than making Aliyah?" Rabbi Kook writes in “Orot" that this stems from a general failure to learn the Torah in all of its depth (Orot, 1:2).
In the book “HaKuzari" the king asks the Rabbi this very embarrassing question of why he doesn’t flee the land of the Kuzars for the Homeland of the Jews. The wise sage answers in shame:
“This is a severe reproach, O king of the Kuzars. It is the sin which kept the Divine promise with regard to the Second Temple Sing and 'rejoice O daughter of Zion; (Zecharia, 2:10) from being fulfilled. Divine Providence was ready to restore everything as it had been at first, if they had all willingly consented to return. But only a part was ready to do so, while the majority and the aristocracy remained in Babylon, preferring dependence and subjugation, and unwilling to leave their villas and their business affairs.
He continues: "The words, I have put off my coat (Shir HaShirim, 2-4) refer to the people’s slothfulness in consenting to return to Israel. The verse, My beloved stretches forth his hand through the opening may be interpreted as the urgent call of Ezra, Nechemiah, and the Prophets, until a portion of the people grudgingly responded to their call. In accordance with their unwillingly disposition, they did not receive full measure. Divine Providence only gives a man as much as he is prepared to receive - if his receptive capacity be small, he obtains little, and he receives much if it be great.
Were we prepared to meet the G-d of our Forefathers with a pure mind, we would have found the same salvation as our Fathers had in Egypt. If we say, Worship at His holy mountain - worship at His footstool, He who restores His glory to Zion (Tehillim, 99:9) and other words to this effect, this is but as the chattering of the starling and the nightingale. We do not realize what we say by this sentence, nor by others, as you rightly observe, O prince of the Kuzars" (The Kuzari 2:24).