We find ourselves on the eve of Rosh Hashanah 5787, in the month of Elul - days of reflection. But we are also on the eve of elections, in which parties are taking part - parties which, as their name suggests, divide us.
Such division could, Heaven forbid, bring war upon us, as happened on the eve of the Yom Kippur War and on the eve of the most recent war, which has not yet ended. This divisiveness places a veil over our eyes and makes us short-sighted.
Therefore, I ask that we rise somewhat above the parties and above the divisions, and sharpen our vision. Regarding the elections - since on Rosh Hashanah we crown God as King, “who has chosen us from among all the nations" - let us also fulfill His will: “Choose life."
King David says: “Let them contemplate the kindnesses of the Lord" (as Ibn Ezra explains it: the kindness of contemplation). To assist us in doing so, each and every one of you will this time receive the “Book of Prophecy." This is a book that compares the reality of our lives in Israel with the words of the prophets; a book that reveals the great wonder called the Jewish people, a people unlike any other; a book that shows the fulfillment before our very eyes of prophecies written 2,500 years ago - explicit words recorded in the books of the prophets of Israel.
Let us look at the macro picture, rather than the micro. Let us consider the transformation that the Jewish people have undergone over the past 100 years - something that did not happen during the previous 1,900 years. Changes of extraordinary speed and intensity: Jews gathered from more than 102 different countries and began building cities, paving roads and making the land flourish. In doing so, they created formidable economic, military and technological strength.
In the Musaf prayer we say: “And concerning the countries it will be decreed: which to the sword and which to peace." Rabbi Elazar, author of the Rokeach, writes about this in his commentary on the prayer book (section 133).
Rabbi Elazar of Worms, who lived approximately 850 years ago, was a mystic and halachic authority, one of the great rabbis of the Hasidei Ashkenaz and a student of Rabbi Judah HeHasid. On November 14, 1196, 22 Kislev, two murderers broke into his home, severely wounded him and his son, and murdered his wife Dulcea, his 13-year-old daughter Belat, and his six-year-old daughter Hannah. It is worth remembering that there is nothing new under the sun.
Regarding this prayer, he writes that on Rosh Hashanah it is decreed concerning every country: which will be given over to the sword, where people will be killed; which will have peace, where the sword will not come; which will suffer famine, where people will die of hunger; and which will enjoy plenty. Rain will fall upon one city while another will receive none.
Today we can clearly see, with our own eyes, what under normal circumstances we would expect to see only through the screens of the ISA and Unit 8200 (and, as we have seen, sometimes even they, despite all their sophisticated tools, fail to see it). In other words, things that in the past could be discerned only after tremendous effort are now visible to us with the naked eye. We see that “the hearts of kings and rulers are in the hand of the Lord."
We see that stability and security throughout the world stand on extremely shaky foundations. Kingdoms provoke one another, such as Russia and Ukraine (and as a consequence, Russia did not intervene actively in the fighting against Iran). Groups of bandits, such as those in Syria, topple regimes and alter the world order.
Against this backdrop, the miracle of the Jewish people's existence as “a sheep among seventy wolves" stands out more and more, particularly in light of the events of the past three years, since Simchat Torah 5784. The entire world is changing before our eyes, and there is no doubt that everything is ultimately for the good and for blessing, with God's help.
In Parashat Haazinu we read: “When the Most High gave nations their inheritance, when He divided the children of man, He established the boundaries of peoples according to the number of the children of Israel." The Midrash, cited in Yalkut Shimoni (Haazinu, section 942), says that when the Holy One, blessed be He, distributed the world among the nations, He established the territory of each nation so that they would not be mixed together and so that they would not enter the Land of Israel, as it is written: “He established the boundaries of peoples."
And when several nations nevertheless attempt to depart from the divine world order and harm Israel and its land, there is a need to call them to order and return them to their proper place. This is precisely what IDF soldiers have done in this war: with courage, heroism and uplifted spirit, they have, with God's help, struck the various snakes - the Gazans, Hezbollah, the Syrians, and the chief of the snakes: the Iranian regime, including the Yemeni Houthis. And the work is not yet finished, with God's help.
Therefore, before we offer a blessing for the coming new year, it is appropriate that we first give thanks for all the good our nation has experienced in the past. I am certain that many in previous generations would have wished to live in our generation. As people say today: “They would have died to live in our generation."
Let us give thanks that we have merited seeing, in our generation, after 2,000 years of exile from our land, the fulfillment of many of the prophecies of our prophets and the promises of our Torah, as described in the Book of Prophecy before you. Among them:
• The miracle of survival: Let us give thanks for the miracle of our people's survival, a despite thousands of years of exile. This is a miracle surpassing even the miracle of the Exodus from Egypt, through which You redeemed us (“Ladder of Beth El," Rabbi Jacob Emden's prayer book).
• The desolation of the land before our enemies: Let us give thanks for the desolation of our land during our exile, so that it did not produce crops for those who sought our destruction: “Your land shall become desolate, and your cities shall become ruins" (Leviticus 26:33).
• The ingathering of the exiles: Let us give thanks for the ingathering of our exiles, exactly as our prophet Isaiah prophesied: “He will raise a banner for the nations, and gather the dispersed of Israel; He will assemble the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth" (Isaiah 11:12) - as we see in Karmei HaNadiv and, with God's help, also in Lod, on the farms, and throughout the length and breadth of our land.
• The acceptance of Israel and the State of Israel: Let us give thanks for the nations of the world accepting our return to our land and for the State of Israel - an inseparable part of our redemption - as it is written: “Nations shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory; and you shall be called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord shall designate" (Isaiah 62:2).
• Victory over our enemies: Let us give thanks for our victories over all our enemies, with divine assistance and through the bravery of our soldiers, as Joshua said: “The Lord has driven out before you great and mighty nations, and no man has been able to stand before you to this day" (Joshua 23:9-10).
• The departure of foreigners: Let us give thanks for the departure of foreigners from our land, as was already written in our Torah: “The Lord your God will drive out these nations before you little by little" (Deuteronomy 7:22) - and the work has not yet been completed.
• Technological strength: Let us give thanks for the Iron Beam laser system, the Arrow system, the pager operation, and for the technological strength granted through divine assistance and through the minds of our people, as written in the Book of Judges: “Each one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss" (Judges 20:16), against our enemies.
• A victorious economy and abundance: Let us give thanks for a strong economy and economic abundance, contrary to predictions and contrary to the situation among most of our enemies and even our friends, despite the prolonged war and the war that lies ahead - as the prophet Amos prophesied concerning our people: “The days are coming, declares the Lord, when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes the one who sows the seed; the mountains will drip sweet wine and all the hills will flow with it" (Amos 9:13).
• Settlement and development of the land: Let us give thanks for the settlement of the land and for each of you being a partner in the development and prosperity of our homeland, the inheritance of our fathers, as it is written: “I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel, and they shall rebuild ruined cities and dwell in them. I will plant them upon their land, and they shall never again be uprooted from the land I have given them" (Amos 9:14-15).
• High life expectancy: Let us give thanks for life expectancy in the Land of Israel, among the highest in the world - “He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers" (Deuteronomy 30:5).
• The flourishing of Torah: Above all, let us give thanks for the study of Torah, which is flourishing in our land more than at any other time in our people's history, as it is written: “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9).
I ask that we examine together the Shema and its blessings, which are entirely about accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven, as expressed in the blessing of “Kingship" in the Musaf prayer, beginning with the joining of redemption to prayer in the blessing that follows the Shema. For three times a day, in the Amidah, we pray for the future redemption that is gradually being realized before our eyes.
The Talmud says in Berachot 4b: “Rabbi Yohanan said: Who is a person of the World to Come? One who joins redemption to prayer." Rashi there cites the Jerusalem Talmud (Berachot, chapter 1): “To what is one who does not join redemption to prayer compared? To a lover of the king who came and knocked on the king's door. The king came out and found that he had gone away; he too went away. Rather, a person should draw the Holy One, blessed be He, close to him and appease Him with praises and songs of the Exodus from Egypt, and He draws close to him; while He is close, he should present his needs [and pray for his redemption and the redemption of his people]."
In other words: before you pray for the future redemption, you must understand that redemption must be joined to prayer - the redemption of our people's past must be joined to the redemption of the future. Only through remembering and giving thanks for the miracles of the past, some of which we have just mentioned, can we hope and pray for the future. Or, as the saying goes: A people that does not honor its past has a poor present and a future shrouded in uncertainty.
Among those exempt from military service during wartime is “the one who is fearful and fainthearted." There is an opinion that this refers to someone who is fearful because he interrupted between redemption and prayer. But according to Rabbi Yose the Galilean, the Talmud (Sotah 44b) says that this refers to “one who speaks between one prayer and another." Rashi explains that this means speaking between putting on the arm tefillin and the head tefillin. The Ran, at the end of tractate Rosh Hashanah (16a), writes in the name of the Ra'avad: “So that there will be one reality for both."
At first glance, this is difficult: If someone is concerned that he spoke between putting on the arm tefillin and the head tefillin, what is so terrible about that? Rabbi Chaim David Halevi, of blessed memory, Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, explains in his book Mekor Chaim (Volume I, Chapter 30, on the order of putting on tefillin) the meaning of the expression “one reality for both":
National wholeness is achieved through both together: religious obligation and national consciousness. In retrospect, neither obligation prevents the other - one may put on arm tefillin without having head tefillin (or when one is ill in the head, or as happened with Yehuda Katz, of blessed memory, who was killed in the Battle of Sultan Yacoub 44 years ago and was recently brought for burial on the Mount of Olives. Yehuda went to war wearing only arm tefillin because, as a tank crewman, he wore a helmet over his head).
The same was true of the Jewish people during their long exile: it existed as though wearing only arm tefillin - on religious foundations without a state. Yet in practice, this was a period of national illness: the loss of statehood and sovereignty. Likewise, if the Jewish people base their lives solely on national foundations - as though wearing only head tefillin, which is also a mitzvah, and which someone whose arm has been amputated may wear on its own - that too is certainly a national illness. In general, there must never be a separation between the world of Jewish thought and the world of building the House of Israel.
Therefore, one must not interrupt between redemption and prayer. To pray for the future redemption, we must first give thanks for the redemption of our ancestors in the past. We cannot sing a new song to God without remembering that the redeemed sang praise at the shores of the sea. For this reason, the one bringing first fruits begins with the beginning of history: “An Aramean sought to destroy my father," and so forth.
Therefore, before the Amidah, in the blessing following the Shema, we say: “It is true and certain - You are the help of our ancestors from everlasting, a shield and savior for their children after them in every generation. Fortunate is the person who listens to Your commandments, and places Your Torah and Your word upon his heart."
Our Sages say (Berachot 9b): From when do we recite the Shema? In essence, from when can a person accept upon himself the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven? “From when he can see his friend at a distance of four cubits and recognize him." First, one must learn to see one's fellow properly, to recognize them and their needs, and to appreciate their efforts. As the Mishnah says (Yoma 8:9): “For transgressions between a person and God, the Day of Atonement atones; but for transgressions between a person and his fellow, the Day of Atonement does not atone until he appeases his fellow."
In this declaration of “Hear, O Israel," we say: “With all your heart and with all your soul" - even if it means giving your life. Indeed, tens of thousands of Jews have sacrificed their lives for the sanctification of God's name, including the brother of Yossi Zilber 44 years ago, and Netanel Hershkowitz, of blessed memory, who, on the eve of Yom Kippur, will have been gone for two years since he sacrificed his life. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One" - literally: God is the Almighty, the attribute of judgment and the attribute of mercy, both of them coming from Him, blessed be He.
As is well known, the Shema is also preceded by two blessings: “Who forms the lights" and “With great love" / “Everlasting love." But why, before accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven and the yoke of the commandments through the Shema, do we describe the entire universe, all of creation, in the blessing of “Who forms the lights"? The entire world and all that fills it, illuminating the earth and its inhabitants; He prepared the rays of the sun, created ministering angels, placed the heavenly luminaries around His strength, and the heavenly wheels and holy creatures rise toward the seraphim. What connection does all of this have with accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven, which the worshipper is about to take upon himself?
During the Days of Awe, on the one hand we stand before an individual judgment, and on the other hand before the judgment of the nations. On the one hand: “All who enter the world pass before You like a shepherd examining his flock, passing them one by one beneath his staff" - meaning that each individual is judged in a personal judgment. And on the other hand, concerning all the countries of the world: “Concerning the countries it will be decreed: which to the sword and which to peace, which to famine and which to plenty."
What, then, is the connection between the entire universe and accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven that the worshipper is about to take upon himself?
The Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, of blessed memory, says that the answer lies in the blessing adjacent to “Who forms the lights" - the blessing of “With great love," and in the two blessings together. The order contains an important message: Every Jewish man and every Jewish woman should know that from the entire universe, from all the angels and from all the nations described in “Who forms the lights," the Holy One, blessed be He, chooses the smallest of peoples - the people of Israel! As we say in the blessing over the Torah: “Who has chosen us from among all the nations and given us His Torah."
This is so despite the fact that, at that time, in Egypt, the Jewish people had descended to the forty-ninth level of impurity. And why did He choose us? Because “You loved us with great love. With great and abundant compassion You had compassion upon us, for the sake of our ancestors who trusted in You" - in the merit of our ancestors. In other words: Despite everything, from the infinite universe, “Who forms the lights" chose us from among every nation and tongue to be a light unto the entire world. Upon us rests the enormous mission and tremendous responsibility of being a light unto the nations - and, of course, first and foremost, a light unto ourselves.
Let us pray that this year, before our very eyes, all the prophecies of the prophet Ezekiel concerning the unity of our people will also be fully fulfilled, as it is written:
“Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the wood of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel his companions, and I will place them upon it together with the wood of Judah and make them one wood, and they shall be one in My hand. And I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel, and I will make with them a covenant of peace; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will establish them and multiply them, and I will place My sanctuary among them forever" (Ezekiel 37:19-26).
And let us pray for the continued building and settlement of our land, as it is written:
“They shall rebuild ruined cities and dwell in them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine; they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them upon their land, and they shall never again be uprooted from their land that I have given them" (Amos 9:14-15).
This is a wonderful era in which we are privileged to live and to take part, as the prophet says, in the building of the land.
A good and sweet year to all the people of Israel.