Rabbi David Samson is co-author of the books, “Lights on Orot," “War and Peace in the Teachings of Rabbi Kook," “The Art of T’shuva," “Torat Eretz Yisrael Anthology," and “Rabbi Abraham Abulafia Explained."
Studying the Book of Devarim, in which the commandment to live in the Land of Israel is stated again and again, leads to the question: Why are so many Jews still living in foreign lands?
On the 4th of Av, thousands of Jews in Israel visited the ancient cemetery in Safed to pay respects to the renowned Kabbalist, the holy Arizal, on the anniversary of his yahrtzeit. Rabbi Chaim Vital, the foremost student of the Arizal, writes in his preface to the Arizal’s book, “Etz HaChaim," that “the prolongation of the exile and its tribulations are because the learning of the secrets of Torah has been neglected."
One of the great contributions of the Arizal was revealing the relationship between transgression and rectification, known as tikun. For instance, the sin of the Spies in the wilderness fell on the night of Tisha B’Av. Our Sages tell us that their lack of faith in G-d, expressed in their refusing to journey on to Israel, and their rejection of the supreme importance of the Land of Israel to the Jewish People and Torah, planted the seeds for the future national destruction and exile. Because their sin was in despising the cherished Land, the rectification is to love the Land and to make every possible effort to live there.
Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak HaKohen Kook stated that a large portion of his teachings were based on the Torah secrets which the Arizal revealed. Stressing the absolute necessity of learning the secrets of Torah at the time of Israel’s Redemption, he transformed the Arizal’s esoteric style into a rich and poetic Hebrew, more fitting for his generation. In a letter he wrote soon after his arrival in the Holy Land, he states:
“The foundation of the Exile’s continuity and the degradation that persists in the world stems solely from the fact that the Land of Israel, its value and its wisdom, are not made known, and from the failure to rectify the Sin of the Spies who slandered the Land. The proper repentance for this sin is to proclaim and announce throughout the entire world the Land's splendor and majesty, its holiness and its honor" (Rabbi Kook’s Letters, 96).
Here, we must pause and pay attention to Rabbi Kook’s words. He states that the Exile continues because the exalted significance of Eretz Yisrael to the Jewish Nation and to Torah are not sufficiently known. Also, he states that the Exile in foreign, impure lands continues because the Sin of the Spies (the Meraglim) who rejected the Land remains uncorrected in that Diaspora Jews persist in remaining there.
Echoing the teachings of the Arizal, he declares that the needed rectification will come when Jews “proclaim and announce throughout the entire world the Land's splendor and majesty, its holiness and its honor." A staunch proponent of Aliyah, Rabbi Kook told Rebbe Yosef Yitzhak of the Lubavitch dynasty that “there was absolutely no excuse in the world not to make Aliyah,"(See the biographies of Rabbi Kook, “An Angel among Men," and “Above the Stream").
In a similar light, Rabbi Kook wrote that due to an alienation from the secrets of Torah, the supreme importance of a Jew’s connection to Eretz Yisrael is not properly understood. In his classic treatise, “Orot," Rabbi Kook bases his deep insights into the renaissance of the Jewish nation in Eretz Yisrael on the esoteric teachings of the Arizal and the holy Zohar, clothing Kabbalistic concepts in the language of nationhood and rebirth. He writes:
"By alienating oneself from the secrets of G-d, the highest segulot (treasures) of the deep Divine life become extraneous, secondary matters which do not enter the depths of the soul, and as a result, the most potent force of the individual's and of the nation's soul will be missing; and the exile is found to be pleasant in its own accord. For to someone who only understands the superficial level, nothing basic will be lacking in the absence of the Land of Israel, the Jewish Kingdom, and all of the facets of the nation in its built form" (Orot, Eretz Yisrael, 2).
What is Rabbi Kook saying in this difficult sentence?
He is saying that someone who understands only the superficial level of Judaism will feel nothing lacking if he lives far away from the Land of Israel, in a foreign country, in a gentile land, under a gentile government. A person like this lives a Judaism that focuses on the individual and the individual mitzvot that he or she can do. Without a deeper understanding of the Torah, which is, first and foremost, the national constitution of the Nation of Israel as a whole, teaching us how to live in our unique Holy Land as an independent Jewish kingdom, he will not feel the need for a Jewish Land of his own, nor for a Jewish country with a Jewish army, nor for a life arranged according to the Hebrew calendar, nor for any of the other foundations of national Israeli life.
His focus is on Shabbat, kashrut, and tefillin. He thinks that in order to perform them, he does not need Eretz Yisrael. He is satisfied with the individual percepts which he feels he can perform just as well in Chutz L'Aretz, and thus the exile finds favor in his eyes. Being estranged from the national component of Torah, he does not miss having his own Jewish Homeland.
The opposite is true - he enjoys the galut. He enjoys his work, his community, the education he can give to his children, and the opportunity he has to experience the “best of both worlds" - his Judaism and the gentile world around him. If there is an inner need to live in Israel, or to live there because it is the true place of the Torah’s performance, he does not feel it. Therefore, something will be missing in his yearning for Salvation, in his yearning for Jerusalem, and for the Temple, the Sanhedrin, for prophecy, for Jewish Kingship, and for all of the aspects of the Jewish nation in its rebuilt form.
To his way of thinking, the concept of nationhood has nothing to do with Judaism, or with being observant, frum. He fails to understand that the highest worship and sanctification of G-d comes through the life of the Nation of Israel, in the Land of Israel, and not through the deeds of the individual Jew in the exile.
On the eve of Tisha B’Av, here are some deep Torah teachings to help awaken our love for the Land and increase our yearning to live there:
The Arizal taught that just by eating the fruits of Eretz Yisrael, a person’s fear and reverence for G-d is increased.
In a similar light, the great Torah master, the Chatam Sofer, taught that just saying the words “Eretz Yisrael" increases a person’s kedushah (holiness).
The Hasidic master, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, who based much of his teachings on the secrets which the Arizal revealed, taught his students that the holiness of Eretz Yisrael is the epitome of holiness, encompassing all other levels of holiness, and that genuine enlightenment and Torah wisdom come only in the Land of Israel.
Repeatedly, he stated that only through the special spiritual treasures of Eretz Yisrael can a Jew rise up to the highest levels in the service of G-d. In addition, he taught that true faith and prayer are only possible in Eretz Yisrael, for it is here that prayer ascends to the worlds above (Likutei Etzot, Eretz Yisrael).
In addition to deepening our Torah learning, how can we increase our love and yearning for the Land of Israel?
Rabbi Nachman says: “Pray to G-d to give you desire and yearning for the Land of Israel. Then you will succeed in reaching there."