Facebook has been inundated the past few days,with panoramic photographs of the Chabad Rabbis gathered in Brooklyn for their annual Shlichim get together. Everyone appreciates the work of the self-sacrificing Shluchim for Jews the world over. But why gather in Brooklyn? Why not awaken the idea of Jews coming to Israel by holding the gathering in Jerusalem, especially now when antisemitism is on the rise.
The festivities inside the giant ballroom are marked by dancing and festive song. But wait one minute. How can that be? Didn’t the Psalmist declare, “How can I sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?"
In long and pointed passages, the Torah unequivocally teaches that Jewish life outside the Land of Israel is a curse, whether the scene be in Spain, Germany, or modern day America. Hashem hates the Galut and Hashem hasn’t changed since He gave us the Torah.
The Gemara states that three times a day, Hashem cries out:
“Woe to the father who exiled his children. And woe to the children who are cast away from their father! Hashem sits and roars like a lion and says, ‘Woe to the children because of their sins I destroyed My house and burnt down My abode and exiled them among the nations of the world’" (Berachot 3A).
This cry is repeated still today by the pious who recite the Midnight Lament (Tikun Hatzot).
Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak HaKohen Kook wrote the following passionate essay “Hibat Yerushalayim" during the “Three Weeks" in Rehovot in the year 1912. Hearing the echoing words of the Prophets with his Divine Inspiration, he asserts that the time has come to abandon the Exile and to transform the yearning for Jerusalem into actual deeds:
“From the ruins of Jerusalem, a voice calls out: ‘A Heavenly Echo weeps like a dove, saying: ‘Woe is me, for I have destroyed My house, burned My sanctuary, and exiled My children among the nations.’
“And the voice calls again. The Divine Echo moans like a dove: Woe to the Father who has exiled His children. Woe to the children torn from their Father’s table.
“And this echo, this quiet moaning, like the sigh of a dove has continued for two thousand years. It passes through generations, through every era. It speaks its cry to hearts and souls to living souls, and to the souls of the dead who wait, bound in the bundle of life: Even the dead in their graves await the day when the light of Your dawn will break.’’
“The dove’s cry penetrates the depths of our hearts. Jerusalem, City of Holiness, palace of the Eternal King, ancient throne of the kingdom of priests and holy nation, now lies in ruin, disgraced, and desolate.
“The heavens cry out in bitterness. The angels of peace weep. Still, the echo moans like a dove: ‘Woe is me, for I have destroyed My house. It cries in our ears like the wail of the sick, its voice growing stronger, our ears shuddering to hear it. A terrifying, mighty voice like the roar of an army, like the voice of God speaking, like a lion’s growl: The Lord shall roar like a lion. From His holy dwelling He shall give forth His voice. He shall roar mightily over His home.’
“Our souls tremble. We stand shaken, listening to the moaning of the dove rising from the ruins of Jerusalem, bellowing in grief until it becomes a lion’s roar. Like the sound of a great shofar, like the thunder of storms, a crashing wave, an explosion. If from the ruins of Jerusalem, a dove’s cry rises to our ears saying, ‘Woe is me, for I have destroyed…’ and we hear again a broken voice: ‘Bitter weeping; Rachel weeps for her children. She refuses to be comforted, for they are gone...’
“The time has come. The events of these days all cry out to us with a mighty voice: ‘Israel build your holy city! Remember, eternal people, holy nation, keepers of faith, remember your vow, the vow you swore by the rivers of Babylon: ‘If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its strength. Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you.’"
“And if the easier part of that oath has been fulfilled, your tongue has not clung to your palate, for you have remembered Jerusalem with your mouth, and continue to do so now and forever. But now your right hand is needed, when it must be stretched out and raised in strength and mightiness, the right hand of valor to act out in concrete deed the first part of the vow - this is being demanded.
"The same Divine Echo, still moaning like a dove from the ruins of Jerusalem, now demands: ‘Hear, O Israel’ from the rising of the sun to its setting, in all the lands to which you were exiled. And every time your heart turns to God, in every moment of longing that rises from the depths of your soul, turn your heart toward Jerusalem, the holy city: ‘The city of our holiness and our splendor, where our ancestors gave You praise.’
"Listen to the voice of the moaning dove, rising from Jerusalem’s ruins and to the roar of the lion, coming from the foreign buildings that mock our inaction, that scoff at our weak hands, our hesitation even in this moment of opportunity, when God’s hand is outstretched for good, to begin in reality the rebuilding of our city of splendor. To lift her from her desolation, to crown her again in glory, to build her with precious structures, and to establish her upon pillars of majesty, with the beauty of holiness. The time has come when we must hear the voice of God in every shifting event, in every impulse of the heart, in every movement of life, both personal and collective.
"And the voice of God calls out to us in strength from the ruins of Jerusalem and from her desolation: ‘Arise, My children and build the soul! Raise up the holy city that lies in ruins! Remember God though you be far, and let Jerusalem rise up upon your heart!’" (Rabbi Kook, “Hibat Yerusalayim" from the book, “Ma’amarei HaRiyah, part 2, pg 329.]
Jerusalem - not Brooklyn.
In 1929, Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak HaKohen Kook, the Chief Rabbi of Eretz Yisrael, hosted the sixth Admor of Lubavitch, Rebbe Yosef Yitzhak Schneerson, in his home during the Admor’s visit to the Holy Land. Rabbi Kook exhorted his distinguished guest to bring his followers to the Chosen Land. Since it was Parashat Matot, Rabbi Kook said a Dvar Torah about the events in the Parasha, asking why Moshe Rabeinu didn’t receive Divine punishment for speaking harshly to the tribes of Reuven and Gad for wanting to remain on the eastern bank of the Jordan River and not journey on to the Promised Land proper. After all, when Moshe called the Jews rebels when he smote the rock to bring forth water, Hashem punished him by not allowing him to enter the Land. Here, Moshe calls them “a brood of sinful men," yet he is not punished.
Rabbi Kook explained that because Moshe Rabeinu rebuked them for weakening the Nation by not wanting to make Aliyah, as in the case of the Spies, it was correct to address them harshly, and Hashem agreed.
“Even more so today," Rabbi Kook told his distinguished guest. “We see the way of Torah in this matter. When the tribes balked in performing the mitzvah of making Aliyah and conquering the Land of Israel, even though they presented a tangible excuse in possessing much cattle, it is not appropriate to answer them politely - yelling at them is the proper response. And if this is the case with the Tribes of Israel, how truer today, in a generation so poor in deeds, even if we find the most justified excuses, if that were possible, in failing to perform the mitzvah of Aliyah to the Land - what are we, what Torah do we have, what is our righteousness, what is our strength when compared to the Tribes in the days of Moshe?"
Rabbi Kook added, “Our knowledge is limited, and the ways of Hashem are hidden, but there is absolutely nothing in the world which can absolve a person from making Aliyah to Eretz Yisrael. We must strengthen our faith and belief that only in the Aliyah to Israel and its settlement will the Torah be fulfilled, as it says regarding the exile: ‘Her kings and her princes are among the nations - there is no Torah,’" (Lamentations, 2:9. From the biography of Rabbi Kook, “Above the Stream" by Tzvi Fishman).
In explaining the tragedy of Jewish life in the Diaspora, Rabbi Kook’s son, Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook, head of the Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva, would point to a famous prophecy of Ezekiel (Ch. 36):
“And when they came to the nations into which they came, they profaned My Holy Name, in that men said of them: These are the people of the L-rd, and they are gone out of His Land."
Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda taught: “This prophecy is coming to tell us the mere fact that Jews are living outside the Land of Israel is a desecration of God. Why? Because in the eyes of the gentiles, our presence in the Diaspora proclaims that God lacks the power to keep us in His Land (see Rashi there)."
That was back in Ezekiel’s days. Now in our time, when God has returned the Land of Israel to the Jews, and Jews throughout the world are free to make Aliyah, the situation is even worse, for it seems, in the eyes of the gentiles that in clinging to our Diaspora communities, we prefer foreign lands to His.
This is a desecration of God. Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda was not talking about individual cases where someone must be in the Diaspora to take care of sick parents, and the like. We are taking about entire Jewish communities ensconced in the darkness of exile. Based on this verse of Ezekiel, the Rosh Yeshiva taught that the Diaspora is the worst desecration of God that there is, since it involves so many Jews. The opposite is also true, he explained:
“Today, we are struggling between the phenomenon of Kiddush Hashem (the sanctification of God’s Name) and Chillul Hashem (the desecration of God’s Name.) The greatest sanctification of God is that which involves all of the Jewish People, as the prophecy of Ezekiel proclaims:
“And I will sanctify My great Name which was profaned amidst the nations, which you have profaned in the midst of them. And the nations shall know that I am the L-rd, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes" (Ezekiel, 36:23-24).
“How will G-d bring about this great Kiddush Hashem in the world?" Rabbi Kook asked, and answered with the continuing words of the prophet:
“For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and I will bring you into your own Land" (Ibid).
“This sanctification of God, which comes through the instrument of His nation, isn’t limited to the religiious," Rabbi Kook said. “This great sanctification of God comes through all of the House of Israel, the righteous and the non-righteous alike. Today, we see that the national body of Israel is returning to its health, and to its healthy Land, from amidst the impurity of the nations. This is the highest sanctification of God that we can find.
“The intrinsic value of the State of Israel is not dependent on the arrival of Mashiach or on the number of observant Jews who live here. Of course, our aspiration is that all of our people will embrace the Torah and the mitzvot - nonetheless, the State of Israel is holy, whatever religious level it has in its being the vessel which Hashem has created to enable the ingathering of the exiles and the establishment of Jewish sovereignty over our Land (see the Ramban’s Supplement to the 613 Mitzvot of the Rambam, Positive Mitzvah number four).
“There are religious Jews who express a type of criticism and say: ‘If the State and its lifestyle were run according to the Torah, we would accept it. Until then, we abstain from it.’ They talk as if the State of Israel is not kosher until Mashiach establishes it on his own. The fact is, the State of Israel belongs to all of us, to the entire Congregation of Israel. Each and every one of us is commanded in all generations to obey this Torah commandment ( see the Shulchan Aruch, Even HaEzer, Petchai Tshuva, Section 75, Sub-section 6.).
"Anyone who refuses to recognize the State of Israel as the beginning of our Redemption does not recognize the One who is ‘Returning His Divine Presence to Zion,’ as we say in our prayers" (See the book, “Torat Eretz Yisrael, the Teachings of HaRav Tzvi Yehuda," Chapters 6-13).
“First there is an ingathering of the exiles, and then, after we have returned to the Land, a return to the Torah will follow, as the Prophet describes:
“For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and I will bring you into your own Land. Then I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean…. And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to follow My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments and do them" (Ezekiel, 36:23-28).
“Today, thank G-d, there are more Torah giants, religious Jews, and joyous religious observance in Eretz Yisrael than in all other place in the world combined!
“The end of the Galut has come! Ezekiel’s vision of the Valley of Dry Bones is crystalizing before our eyes in the ingathering of our dry scattered bones to national life in Israel. ‘Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of you graves… and I shall place you in your own Land (Ezekiel 37, 12-14. Rashi explains the Dry Bones are as a metaphor for the Jews in Galut. See also Sanhedrin 92B.)
“The first step in Israel’s revival is seen in our coming home. The great repentance of our nation is preceded by the ingathering of the exiles. Today, we are in a struggle between the Chillul Hashem (Desecration of God) caused by our continued existence in foreign gentile lands, and the great Chillul Hashem (Sanctification of God) in our return to our Homeland.
“The Geula (Israel’s Redemption) stands in sharp contrast to the Galut. What is Galut? An aberration which was never meant to last forever. In our normal state we need to be here, the entire nation in the Land of Israel. And ALL of Eretz Yisrael needs to be our hands. The Gemara teaches us that the Geula comes about in gradual stages like a slowly dawning sunrise (Jerusalem Talmud, Berachot 1:1). Baruch Hashem, Jerusalem is now in our hands! And we are now independent in large portions of our Land! This is happening in our midst through our actions, now!"
Let us all hope and pray that next year’s gathering of shlichim be held in Jerusalem!