Tu Bishvat and the Process of Redemption

Why do we celebrate Tu Bishvat? This isn’t quite clear. The holiday of Tu Bishvat does not appear in the Torah. It does not appear in the Mishna. It does not appear in the Gemara. I does not even appear in Geonim or Rishonim. The first time the holiday of Tu Bishvat was celebrated was with the students of the GRA and other mekubalim, who then instituted a minhag of eating fruits on that day. Before that, this day was simply a technical halachic day for the calculation of years. Yet, these mekubalim started a new minhag of eating fruits on that day. Why is the meaning of this minhag and why on this day?

In the gemara, we are told that the day of Tu Bishvat was used to calculate a technical halachic year. Again, there was no mention of it being a holiday. Yet, we are told that the reason why we are to use this day in our calculations is because it is the day in which fruits start to ripen. They are still not eatable but they start the process of ripening which eventually will lead them to become eatable. Our previous question now becomes stronger! Why did the mekubalim institute a minhag of eating fruits, of celebrating fruits, on the day in which the fruits are not even eatable? Wouldn’t it make more sense to have this holiday on the date in which most fruits are eatable?


The mekubalim have an approach to things that we can learn a lot from. For example: There are many different opinions as to when the day comes. Some people will only recognize the day when it is sunny outside, at noon. Others say it is day when the sun rises. Others say it is day when the first glimpse of light comes out. The Mekubalim do something amazing: In the middle of the night, at hatzot, (where the middle of the night is also the start of the end of the night, since the night is not starting to end), the mekubalim wake up and say tikkun hatzot. They already wake up, already start feeling that the day is coming.

This is what is happening with the fruit. The fruit is just starting the ripening process, but the mekubalim decide that this is already a time to start celebrating what the process will lead to. As the fruits start ripening, we already start eating fully ripened fruits.

This is a lesson we can apply in many aspects of our lives. On a very individual, personal level, we all often go through times which are not always the easiest. During these times, the traditional Jewish saying is: “Hakol Letova”! Everything is “for the good”. No, we’re not blind, we’re not naïve, we know there are some things which are bad… But we also have faith in God that ultimately, this is all part of a greater process which is for the good, and therefore, even if right now, the fruits of this process are not ripened, we can still celebrate the ripened fruit and say, everything is for the good. Eventually, we will understand that it is for the best.

On a national level, this teaching takes such an incredible meaning in our generation! Some people will only recognize that the redemption has come once the beit hamikdash has been rebuilt and we have a king once again. The mekubalim teach us to look deeper and to try and feel the coming of the mashiach from its first steps. In our generation, we are smack in the middle of this amazing process of the coming of the redemption! Once, someone told Rav Tzvi Yehuda: “If Rav Kook called the start of the settlements in Israel atchalta digueoula, a lot of time has already passed since, when will the redemption actually come?” Rav Tzvi Yehuda answered in a very short answer, with so much meaning, like he is accustomed to: “Kvar Ktzat Ba – It has already come a bit”. We are in the middle of the process! We might not have malchut yet, but jewish sovereignty has returned to Am Israel! We might not have a beit hamikdash, but Jerusalem is being rebuilt! There might be people left in chutz Laaretz, but there are over 5 million Jews living in Israel today, more then anywhere else in the world! The process is really picking up and moving forward!
During this process, however, we have a lot of hardships. Just recently, I had a very good friend of mine that mamash broke my heart when he told me he’s turning his back to the State of Israel because of the disengagement. He said he looks around Israel today and he doesn’t see the Zionism he used to support. This is not a reason to pack your bags and leave this amazing process! Even though the fruits are not ripened yet, we can already start blessing on them because we know they will ripen! We need to be patient. Human nature is always want to skip processes but sometimes they are necessary in order to get to an incredible goal and trying to skip them can bring disaster.

In the gemara, it states the following: “Ulah stated: “Let the Messiah come as long as I will not see him.” Raba also stated: “Let the Messiah come as long as I will not see him.” However, the rabbi which we all follow said something completely different. Rav Yossef said: “Let the Messiah come even when I will have to sit in the shadow of his donkey’s dung”. The donkey symbolizes the material world. In Hebrew, the word donkey comes from the world “material”. Rav Yossef knew there would be a time where Zionism would loose its idealism and would become a materialistic movement often engaged in things which do not follow the torah. Yet, he said: we know there will be tough times, we know it will not be simple, but we keep moving forward, we don’t pack our bags until the fruits have ripened. If I have to sit on the shadow of the dung of the donkey, I will, because I know that once the fruit ripens, this whole process will have been worth it.
As Am Israel continues the slow step by step process towards redemption, it is no surprise that Tu Bishvat suddenly became one of the most popular holidays in the Jewish World. A holiday which did not exist 1000 years ago is now celebrated by absolutely every community. I don't know of one Jew in the world who says tachanunim on that day. The message of Tu bishvat is needed for our generation to, each of us in our own way, help this process of redemption move forward, and keep blessing and Thanking god every day for each step of this process even if the redemption is not complete yet. As we bless the fruits this Tu Bishvat, lets all also bless our unfolding redemption and and each take practical steps of how to ensure our part is done to ripen the fruits of our redemption!
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Chodesh Tevet

The central point of the month of Tevet, other then the fact it starts on channukah, is not such a happy day. The 10th of Tevet is a fast day in which Jews commemorate the siege of Jerusalem where the Babylonian armies laid a siege on Jerusalem before destroying the first temple. In our generation, the 10th of Tevet is also the day which has been chosen by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel as the day to say kaddish on for the millions of victims of the Holocaust for whom we do not know the day of death.

As the month of Tevet start and the 10th of Tevet comes closer, I thought we should explore together one aspect of how Judaism deals with suffering.

Let me start by quoting a teaching I have heard by Rav Mordechai Elon Shli"ta in the name of Rabbi Natan MiBreslev:
There is a famous teaching in the midrash which explains that God first tried creating the world with din, with the attribute of Judgement, and then realized that the world could not stand and therefore put into it the attribute of Rahamim (mercy). Most commentaries on that midrash as the obvious question: How is it that God could have made a mistake? However, Rabbi Natan, in Likutei Halakhot, asks an even more basic question. He asks:
I can understand that God decided to create the world with Judgement and Mercy. What I can't understand, is how can God even have the Hava Amina (thought) that the world, the way it is today, would be able to withstand some pure judgment? What was he thinking? Why did he want it that way?
Rabbi Natan explained: God told himself, you know there are two ways people can learn lessons. On the one hand, we can explain them nicely and slowly and nicely and slowly. Then slowly slowly they will understand and grow. This is the attribute of Rahamim. However, everyone here knows, with a little bit of hardships, we can learn much more than all the rahamim in the world. Sometimes, a little slap in the fact does more to wake us up than all the nice words.
Rabbi Natan explained that God wants to create the world in a way where everyone who needed a slap in the face would get. Ultimately, this formula would be for our own good. It would shoot us forward towards our final redemption. But the world could not withstand it and God had to combine the attribute of mercy.

From this whole teaching, we can start to understand the concept of "yissurim shel ahava" - Hardships which are brought to us out of love. This is one of the basic concepts we need to assimilate when dealing with suffering from the Jewish Point of view. Sometimes, for our own good, God needs to make us go through some tough times in order for us to grow, for our own good. This is similar to a parent refusing to give too many candies to his son - its for his own good, but the kid doesn't know just yet.

Another important concept is the realization of the process leading to a goal. We need to realize that all our lives, and all of human history, is part of this huge process which is eventually going to lead only to good. The typical reaction of a religious Jew dealing with hardships is to say "Hakol LeTova" - everything is for the good. This is a really amazing statement. It is not a blind statement as some understand it. We realize not everything is good. Some things are very bad! Yet, everything is FOR the good. In the greater schemes of things, our little hardship is here really to lead towards something good.

As we approach the 10th of Tevet, we need to learn how to mourn in a way which can bring us forward. I am not sure I know exactly how this is done because I think everyone needs to find the more productive way for himself. But when thinking of the siege of Jerusalem which brought the destruction of the holy temple and when thinking of the horrible Holocaust, both unexplainable and horrible horrible things, maybe our approach needs to be one of how to build from this destruction, how to find the good which comes out of this horror, how to learn the lessons which are thought by those nightmares. Hopefully, with this approach, our fasts will be productive and our resulting actions will help rebuild our nation and holy temple so that these days of fast can be turned into days of great joy, speedily in our days. more...

Rav Kook on Channukah

(Amazing Article from the Bat Ayin Website. I would have reworded it from my perspective but I am in the middle of exams in Law School. Enjoy!)

In an article entitled "The Chanukah Candle" (printed first in 1935 and later in a collection of his essays) , Rav Kook uses a specific aspect of the laws of Chanukah as a metaphor for the way Am Yisrael should relate to its mission in the world.

As is well known the Talmud (Shabbat 21b) says that Chanukah candles should be lit at the door of the home facing the outside. However, in a time of danger it is sufficient to place the Chanukiah on the table inside the house. This limitation was for a long time the usual mode of candle lighting in Ashkenazi communities. This is reflected in the glosses of the Rema (R. Moshe Isserles) on the Shulchan Aruch which were written in the 16th century. The Rema assumes that everyone lights inside the house. Therefore the law of the Talmud that a home with two entrances to the public domain requires two lightings is no longer valid because there is no need to take into consideration that people outside might think that a person has not lit (O.H. 571:8). In addition, there is no need to make sure to light while there are still people on the street (O.H. 572: 2). Though today we are not afraid to light in our doors or windows there is an opinion supported by at least one contemporary posek that the original halacha requiring us to light outside is no longer authoritative and has been nullified (see the discussion in Mitzvat Ner Ish Ubeito by Rabbi E. Shlezinger of Gilo).

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Chodesh Tov!

Chodesh Tov! I know I am a bit late but Chodesh Tov.

The Month of Kislev is the month of Hannukah.

Hannukah (or channukah or Hanukah or hannuka or channuka or chanuka etc… lol) is an incredibly important holiday for our generation.It is the holiday in which we celebrate the true example of a Jewish Nationalist Movement based on Jewish Values which God Miraculously helped. In Meged Yerachim (the monthly calendar of Rav Kook which we always mention), Rav Kook writes for the month of Kislev: “True Heroism can only be found where you see Godliness”. A real Jewish Nationalistic movement needs to be connected to God. True Zionism only works in the framework of Godliness.On the other hand, the Rambam teaches that on Channukah, we celebrate the 400 years of Jewish Independence which followed the miracle. All 400 years, yes. These 400 years include some of the worse kings the Jewish People have ever had! One of those kings passed a law demanding the execution of every single rabbi of the time! If we thought we had bad leadership today, we forgot how bad it was back then. Yet, we still celebrate the sovereignty of the Jewish People even if it is sovereignty with horrible leaders, because Jewish Sovereignty is a value in and of itself.

At this turning point in Jewish History in which the Jewish People have regained Sovereignty after 2000 years of exile through the creation of the state of Israel, we often complain about the lack of proper, God Fearing, leadership. Others celebrate the State of Israel so much that they forget we are just in the middle of the process. The creation of the state of Israel is only the start of our redemption, there is still a way to go towards a God Fearing king known as Mashiach which will rebuild our temple.

Hannukah teaches us to recognize the value of our new-found sovereignty. IT teaches us to celebrate this sovereignty and be greatful for it. It teaches us to sing Hallel on Yom Haatsmaout even when or leadership is not the most fit.On the other hand, it also teaches us to keep yearning for the ultimate dream where our temple will be rebuilt on har habayit, where it will be used as a house of prayer for all nations, with the King Mashiach as our national leader. more...

The Bitter Month

(Its short because I am very busy lately.)

It is known that the month of Cheshvan is known as “Mar” Cheshvan, bitter Cheshvan, because of its lack of holidays. Why is it that this month is so empty of holidays?

Rav Kook, in Meged Yerachim, writes for the Month of Cheshvan: “When the soul is illuminating, even a cloudy sky can give bright light” (rough translation).

The message is clear. After the intense month of Tishrei where almost every day has special significance and where we continuously grow, now we are put to test. What are we going to do in a regular, day to day, life? How will we react in a month devoid of holidays?

We can look at that month as a cloudy and dark month. Or, we can recognize the fact that its cloudy but also that it hides some deep light behind the clouds. And when our soul is illuminated after such an intense month of growth, we can attain this light even through the clouds.

The light of the Month of Cheshvan is very deep. Most of the time, the deeper the thing, that harder it is to get to it, the less obvious it is. May all our preparations of the month of Tishrei give us enough strength to find the light inside the month of Cheshvan. Chodesh Tov!

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Getting to True Love.... with God

Something Short on Simchat Torah:

We are getting closer to the end of a long process which we started in Ellul... I spoke a few times already about this process but i think i got a new perspective on it.

We start the process with Ellul, Rosh Hashana, Kippur, all of them revolve around the theme of personal individual growth. We try to make ourselves as good as we can, as holy as we can, ... but why exactly? What are we aiming for?

In essense, all of this preparation is to make us worthy to enter a deep relationship with God. Right after the end of Kippur, Askenazim say "LEshana Habbaa Biyerushalaim". They basically say, "God, I want you to bring me into your palace". We had a great Yom Kippur, Take your bride in your palace! Right after, we start building the sukkah... The Sfat Emet says that the sukkah is really like a chuppah, a chuppah for Am Israel and God. We are building our chuppah and sukkot is when we go under the chuppah with God. After Kippur we have become worthy of this relationship and now we are entering in it.
Then, we have simchat torah which really is a wierd holiday. Technically, Simchat Torah is supposed to be on Yom Kippur, since that is when we received the second tablets but for some reason, they put it at the end of this process. There is nothing being celebrated about the day of Simchat Torah, rather, God did not want to leave us. He loved the honeymoon (sukkot) and wants to extend it. This is true love.

If we compare both times we recieved the torah and the way we celebrate, we can really get to the bottom of the meaning of Simchat Torah...
On Shavuot, we sit and learn all night. Learn and learn and learn... All year long we actually learn.. On Simchat Torah, we don't even open the torah! We just take it, hug it, and dance with it... That’s Dvekut! Thats the climax of our relationship with God!

The deeper message of simchat torah is that while all year long we are rationalists about the torah and judaism, learning it intellectually and all, on simchat torah, our rational minds concede that there are things which transcend rationality. Love doesn't have to always make sense... You can have Dvekut without even opening the book!

I feel sometimes when I see some chozrim bitchouva... they have so much more passion then me. Sometimes I look at people and say: "Wow, these people know how to pray!" and yet, I know they are not the most advanced scholars in Jewish Thought.In some ways, its because they know so much less... rationality limits your ability to feel intensly, knowledge can often limit emotion. But a truly rational person will realize that there is more then rationality in this world, some things that we can't understand.. and I think thats the key for us to keep feeling the same passion every day and to stay chozrim bitchouva all our lives. Before even opening the Torah, we Hug it, We dance with it!

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IMAX your life!

There is a famous teaching which I have heard many times about the holiday of sukkot. I hear it quoted by many different rabbis without ever really understanding what we are supposed to understand from it. I think I now found the key to understand it properly.

I traced back this teaching to the Vilna Gaon in Kol Hator but it might have even earlier sources.

The teaching goes like this: “There are only two mitsvot in this world in which you fully enter your body in the mitzvah: The mitzvah of Sukkah, and the Mitsvah of Yishuv Erets Israel”. Nu, ok, great! We enter our the mitzvah with our whole body. Whats the chiddush? What does this change in my life? Why do I need to know this interesting fact?

I think, that if we understand this teaching more deeply, we will, together, be able to understand the true nature of the sukkah we are sitting in and also, we will be able to more fully understand and appreciate the nature of erets Israel.

My Rav, Rav Mordechai Elon Shli”ta, once told us that when he spent a few days in Eilat giving over shiurim to the public there, the people who were hosting him asked him: “Rav, have you ever been to IMAX before?” The Rav didn’t really know what IMAX was. You have to understand, in Israel, IMAX is not something you find on every street corner. And the IMAX theatre in Eilat is a very popular attraction for Israelis since its one of, if not the only one in Israel. So Rav Elon’s host told him: You absolutely need to come and try it out. So the Rav went, and they decided to go see some educational movie about whales. Now, before you enter the IMAX theatre, they give you glasses which you put on and then, when the movie starts, you’re in a completely new world. The whales come racing at you and you move away to try to avoid them! You’re Mamash IN the movie!

Why am I telling you this now?

I think that if we understand the difference between IMAX and a regular movie, then, we’ll understand the difference between the reality outside the sukkah and the reality inside the sukkah, and also the difference between the reality in chuts laarets and the reality in erets Israel.

When you live your day to day life here in Montreal, in order to find kedusha, there are clear ways to find it. Tefillin has kedusha because you use it for a mitzvah. You can find kedusha in the beit midrash because it is the place where we learn torah! But then, we can go outside and there is no more kedusha. We know that we can’t throw a siddur on the floor because it has kedusha but a pile of regular pieces of paper doesn’t have kedusha. Even Chassidut, which talks a lot of turning everything around you into holy things by revealing the hidden light inside the things around you, tells you that you need to do that through mitsvot. A chair stays a regular chair until you use it for a holy purpose like learning torah and only then will you have revealed its holy potential. In Chuts Laarets, outside the sukkah, you live in a regular world and the holiness is something with defined boundaries, “on a screen”.

When you enter the sukkah, you enter a world which is all one big mitzvah, its all kedusha! Everything around you is part of this mitzvah! Your whole body, and your whole existence, enters this world of kedusha. The chair you are sitting on is not only holy if you learn torah with it, the chair is already showing its holy potential by being used inside the sukkah!

The same is true with Erets Israel:

When you get to erets Israel, you enter a world where everything around you is holiness. You are inside the holiness. There isn’t “Judaism” and then “the real world”. The Real World is Judaism! It’s not something with defined boundaries. It’s not “on a screen”. It’s Mamash all around you! You are living IN the movie!

I’ve said this a few times but: for example, When you plant a tree in chuts laaretz, then afterwards, in order to feel a little bit of holiness, you go to shower to be mechubad and then you can say a few tehillim, learn a bit of torah.
In Erets Israel, as you are on your knees planting the trees with you hands full of dirt, then is the right time to look up and say “I feel the kedusha!”. The dirt on your hands in the kedusha! The tree you are planting is kedusha! Everything is kedusha!

In Erets Israel, in Medinat Israel, everything is kedusha! The land is kedusha, the buildings are kedusha, the plants are kedusha, the economy is kedusha, the agriculture is kedusha, the army is kedusha! Everything is Kedousha!

For 2000 years, we have lived in a reality where our whole Judaism was always “on the screen” except maybe for the 7 days we spent in the sukkah where we were able to enter a reality where everything around us is kedusha. This was necessary. We needed these 2000 years where Judaism was something a bit external from our “real life” in order to be able to have space to contemplate it, study it, and deepen our understanding of it. We needed to get ready to be able to internalize it more and more in order to properly live in the reality where everything around us is holiness!

Today, baruch hashem, we have the opportunity to go back to a place where everything is kedusha, to erets Israel.

I was once with a few of my friends in my Rav’s office and we were trying to organize some leadership training for some of the yeshiva bachourim. One of us then told him: There are some people that will not want to participate because they will say its “bitoul torah” – they could be learning instead! Rav Elon looked at us with a smile and told us: Its not bitoul torah, maybe its bitoul toyreh, but its definitely not bitoul torah!
He then explained himself: There is a gemara in massechet chaguiga which says: “There has never been a bitoul torah like the time when Am Israel left Erets Israel.” Rav Elon then asked: How can we say such a thing? When we went to Chuts laaretz, when we went to galut, this is where we wrote all the rishonim, all the acharonim, the shulchan arouch, the rambam! Even the gemara was written in chuts laaretz! There has never been as much flowering of torah as in chuts laaretz! Rav Elon then explained: There is a difference between bitul torah, and bitul toyreh. Bitul Toyreh, is when there is less torah, and yes usually its something bad but Rav Tsvi Yehudah already told us that if you do not know when to close the gemara, don’t open it! Because then are sometimes where the gemara itself tells you to close it! Bitoul torah is something completely different. Bitoul torah is when you have a lot of torah! You have a Shoulchan Arouch! You have a Mishnei Torah! You have a Gemara! But the torah is “mevutelet”, you cannot connect it to your day to day life. You have torah conceptually, philosophically, but its in books not all around you. The torah is on the screen, you are not living the movie, you are not living the torah! This is TRUE bitul torah!!

It says that in the time of mashiach, the whole world will become erets Israel. I always thought weird that this was a bit of an unjewish imperialistic, colonialist sentence! We will conquer the world! Now I understand: The whole world will be filled with holiness! The whole world will be part of this reality where we can see Godliness, holiness, all around us! When the Jews return to their land, then, “venivrechu becha kol mishpechot haadama”. The whole world gains from it. Its actually the most humanistic, universal message. The whole world gets to live Godliness.

Beezrat hashem, we will all soon be zoche to sit in the sukah of Leviatan in Jerusalem. Even before that, beezrat hashem, we will sit in a stam sukkah in Jerusalem! Until then, our job is clear. Our job is to find holiness wherever we have it and make it the ikar, the most important part of our lives, for all our lives to be illuminated by those specific defined places: The beit midrash, the tfillah in synagogue etc… Our job is also to deepen our understanding of this torah so that when we go back to Israel, very soon, each at the time at which he will be able to make it, we will be able to properly live in a world where we are completely surrounded by holiness, in erets israel.

Beezrat Hashem, harachaman hou yakim lanu et sukat david hanofelet.

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Sukkot after going out of Egypt?

I don't do this much, but this is something from one of my friends, Ethan Bienenfeld. It is really amazing so enjoy!

With the holiday of Sukkot coming up I would like to relate some words of torah I heard from Rav Meir Goldvicht. The word Sukkot is found numerous times throughout tanach. What we must realize, however, is that in tanach the name of a person or place is not just a name, but rather the essence of that place or person. The first place that the Jewish people encountered when they came out of Egypt was called Sukkot. Additionally, when Yaakov departed from his brother Eisav for the last time, he first came to Sukkot. What is the special significance of this place called Sukkot? It is not just coincidence that Yaakov and Bnei Yisrael both encountered a place named Sukkot after such events.
During the daily morning prayers of Shacharit the prayers are written in a specific order. The Talmud in Berachot (4b) makes a point of mentioning that one must make sure to say the bracha of Ga'al Yisrael right before beginning the Shemoneh Esreh . The Talmud makes a point to state that one must make sure to connect the statement of geula, or redemption, mentioned in the bracha of Ga'al Yisrael to the Shemoneh Esreh. The Talmud then goes on to ask as to why this is not the case with Maariv. In Maariv these two prayers are not connected but rather the bracha of Hashkiveinu is inserted between them. The Talmud resolves this problem by stating that the bracha of Hashkiveinu is really just an extension of the bracha for Geula – it is a Geula Arichta.

Whenever God brings the Jewish people to a position of Geula, or redemption and freedom, it is always in danger of being lost. Despite reaching the threshold of peace and serenity, the possibility of it all being lost is always imminent. Therefore, our need for God's protection does not end once we achieve redemption. On the contrary, we are in need of God's protections always, even within a framework of redemption. Even more so we need this protection to maintain the state of Geula that we are in. This protection, this power, this Shemira, is the Sukkah

The Sukkah is a completely open place - it is open to the heavens, and open to visitors. On Sukkot we are commanded to leave our secure homes and bring our homes into the Sukkah. This demonstrates our belief that our protection comes not from the bricks and wood of the house, but rather directly from God; even in the open, flimsy Sukkah we are completely secure. Looking back at Yaakov and Bnei Yisrael, we now understand that they went from redemption to Sukkot in order to gain the protection of the Sukkah for the new state of Geula that they found themselves in. We can now understand the Gemara's ruling regarding the Bracha of Hashkiveinu. In that Beracha we say "U'fros Aleinu Sukkat Shlomecha" – 'and spread over us your Sukkah of peace" - we ask that God not only grant us Geula, but also a Shemira for the Geula – a Geula Arichta!

Chag Sameach
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Great Yom Kippur Torah:

From a Rav Kook website at: http://www.geocities.com/m_yericho/ravkook/EMOR59.htm
Enjoy!

While there are several rabbinically-ordained fasts throughout the year, only one day of fasting is mentioned in the Torah:

"It is a sabbath of sabbaths to you, when you must fast. u must observe this sabbath on the ninth of the month in the evening, from evening until (the next) evening." [Lev. 23:32]

This refers to the fast of Yom Kippur. The verse, however, appears to contain a rather blatant 'mistake': Yom Kippur falls out on the tenth of Tishrei, not the ninth!

The Talmud [Berachot 8b] explains that the day before Yom Kippur is also part of the atonement process, even though there is no fasting: "This teaches that one who eats and drinks on the ninth is credited as if he fasted on both the ninth and tenth."

Still, we need to understand:

• Why is there a mitzvah to eat on the day before Yom Kippur?
• In what way does this eating count as a day of fasting?

Two Forms of Teshuva

The theme of Yom Kippur is, of course, teshuva - repentance, the soul's return to its natural purity. There are two major aspects to teshuva. The first is the need to restore the spiritual sensitivity of the soul, dulled by over-indulgence in physical pleasures. This refinement is achieved by temporarily rejecting physical enjoyment, and replacing life's hectic pace with prayer and meditation. The Torah gave us one day a year, the fast of Yom Kippur, to concentrate exclusively on refining our spirits and redefining our goals.

However, the aim of Judaism is not asceticism. As Maimonides wrote [Mishneh Torah, Dei'ot 3:1]:

"One might say, since jealousy, lust and arrogance are bad traits, driving a person out of the world, I will go to the opposite extreme. I will not eat meat, nor drink wine, nor marry, nor live in a pleasant house, nor wear nice clothing ... like the idolatrous monks. This is wrong, and it is forbidden to do so. One who follows this path is called a sinner. ... Therefore, the Sages instructed that we should only restrict ourselves from that which the Torah forbids. ... It is improper to constantly fast."

The second aspect of teshuva is more practical and down-to-earth. We need to become accustomed to acting properly, and avoid the pitfalls of material desires that violate the Torah's teachings. This level of teshuva is not attained by fasts and meditation, but by preserving our spiritual integrity while we are involved in worldly matters.

The true goal of Yom Kippur is achieved when we can remain faithful to our spiritual essence while remaining active participants in the material world. When do we accomplish this aspect of teshuva? When we eat on the ninth of Tishrei. Then we demonstrate that, despite our occupation with physical activities, we can remain faithful to the Torah's values and ideals. Thus, our eating on the day before Yom Kippur is connected to our fasting on Yom Kippur itself. Together, these two days correspond to the two corrective aspects of the teshuva process.

By preceding the fast with eating and drinking, we insure that the reflection and spiritual refinement of Yom Kippur are not isolated to that one day, but are connected to the entire year's involvement in the physical world. The inner, meditative teshuva of the tenth of Tishrei is thus complemented by the practical teshuva of the ninth.

[adapted from Ein Eyah vol. I, p.42]

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Shana Tova Email

With the new year coming this week, I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone an amazing and blessed year. I also want to personally ask each and everyone of you for forgiveness for anything I might have done to you, with or without your knowledge, during this past year or even before. I truly am sorry if I every caused any harm to any of you and hope you will find in your hearts to forgive me. If you don't mind letting me know I can count on your forgiveness (by replying to this message), I would appreciate it a lot.

I also think I should let you all know that I have updated my blog with a new design. Although I haven't had a chance to update it regularly, I plan to do so now that I am back in Montreal after my summer in yeshiva in Israel.
http://www.tsmicha.com

In his book Orot Hatshouva, Rav Kook introduced many ideas which he thought were essential for our special generation to learn in order to go through the appropriate Tshouva Process we need to go through in our generation. His main "Chiddush" (new idea) was that of "Tshouva Klalit". Rav Kook explained that in reality, there is a force in this world which is pushing all of creation closer to God (the Kabbalists call this the "Derech Hayichud"). God promissed that one day, he and his name will be one - He will be represented in this world the way he really is thus giving us finally the true unification of God's name. By making this promise, he created this force pushing everything towards that day, the day of our complete redemption. Rav Kook explained that in order to do a meaningful Tshouva (Repentance), what we need to do is tap into this force and join in! Not only should be tap into the force, we should also help move the world forward towards this special day!

As we engage in these special days of repentance, I really wish that we all tap into this amazing force so that every small step that we take in our tshouva, whichever new years resolution we each take each at our own level, will be so much more powerful and so much more meaningful since it will be helping bring the world to the day of our final redemption.

When Rav Kook wrote his book, he was already foreseeing the start of Zionism (albeit Secular) as an important step in that direction. Zionism was still a uptopic dream to most but he saw it as a reality. In his eyes, this movement of return to the holy land would lead to the Jewish finally regaining national independance and slowly building a state which would grow into the foundation of God's throne on this earth.
If Rav Kook saw that when there were less then 500 000 Jews in Israel, how much closer are we today! The state of Israel is now a reality, Jewish soldiers are sacrificing their lives each day for the good of the Jewish Nation in the greatest kiddush hashem probably since the times of David Hamelech, Jerusalem is being rebuilt after 2000 years of daily prayers and cries of yearning to simply touch the dust of its destruction, AM ISRAEL HAS RESURRECTED! This is not some zionist speech, it is an objective description of reality!

We are so close to this final step until this "Tshouva Klalit" which we have been waiting for for centuries! We are so close to the day where our redemption will become complete. It is precisely in this time that we need every Jew to stand up and accept to be a hero: Every Jew needs to stand up and understand that he needs to take responsibility for the whole world. It is up to us to use our freedom of choice to move the world through the finish line of this universal, wordly Tshouva in order for God's name to finaly be unified in this world.

May this year be the year of our final redemption, may we merit to see the building of our beit hamikdash and may each of our small actions be enhanced by their association to this incredible movement of return to God, of return of his nation to his land, and of unification of God's name in our world.
As we say each year: Ti'hle Shana Vekiloteha, Ta'hel Shana Ubirkoteha
May this past year end with all of its bad decrees, and may the new year start with all of its blessings

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First night of Slichot for Ashkenazim

I think its very interesting that I’m writing this for the day on which Ashkenazim start to say slichot, when I started saying slichot a month ago since I am Sfardi!
So then, I took the slichot which were said yesterday night to find something nice to say and I saw that the slichot start with a sentence which I find has a lot of chutzpah: “We are coming on Erev Shabbat to say Slichot Early” We are coming early? A week before is early? Maybe I should say skoyach: better late then never? What is this?
I then decided to explore the difference between the askenazi minhag and the sfardi minhag.
The reason for the sfardi minhag is clear: No, its not because we eat kitniyot on pessah that we need to compensate. Its known that these 40 days are days of forgiveness and so we do slichot on these 40 days.
The Askenazi minhag is summarized in the Mishna Brura. Orignally, they wanted to do slichot during assara yemei tshouva. This makes sense, they blow the shofar from rosh chodesh ellul and then say slichot on level 2. Then level 3 is kippur and soon I will make a post letting you know that level 4 is sukkot.
Then, they realized that on 4 of the 10 days, you don’t say slichot: Rosh hashana is 2 days, then there’s Shabbat and on yom kippur. So, they added 4 days before rosh hashana.
Then, in order to add even more days, They arbitrarily chose a day in which slichot will be said each year, on Yom Rishon.
Now, we understand everything except for one thing: Why Saturday? Which is yom rishon.
We could say its arbitrary but it doesn’t seem right! Things in Judaism are not usually arbitrary.

In order to answer this I need to go on a small tangent. In this week’s parasha, we are introduced with the mitzvah of tshouva. This parasha is always read either before or after rosh hashana. One who reads the parasha carefully realizes there are 3 types of tshouvas being described: There is first “tshouva ad”, Tshouva until. This is a lower level tshouva. Then, there is a long description of kibboutz galouyot, tshouva to erets Israel, 1948!. Then, we are introduced with the highest tshouva, tshouva el! Tshouva to God! Not only until the door, but you get TO GOD.

So we understand the literal meaning of the parasha but what is the difference between tshouva ad and tshouva el. Also what difference does 1948 make? Why is it significant here?

So, Rav Kook wrote a whole book on the answer to this question called Orot Hatshouva. And I could write 20 books of commentary on that book of Rav Kook, but ill just summarize everything in one minute.

Tshouva AD, is the regular tshouva that we are used to. We sin, we do tshouva in order to return to the way we were before. WE GET UNTIL the way we were before. Its nice but the best.

Tshouva EL is something much greater. Tshouva El starts with a realization. It starts with a realization that everything in the world is constantly returning to God. The vegetation, the animals, the nations. There is this force pushing everything towards God all the time. Our job is then to tap into this force. This force tries to bring about the unifying of God’s name in this world which is basically the goal of this world. Our goal is to tap into this amazing force and join in it and go in the same direction and help the world get to that goal of theirs which is the unification of God’s name in this world.

So, why is 1948 relevant to all of this? 1948 is the start of kibbutz galuyot, it’s the start of our gueoula. Many writers compare galut to night and gueoula to the day and for good reason! At night, its dark, you don’t see anyone. You are just with yourself. Your emphasis is on personal growth. This is true in galut also. The Jewish People didn’t have a respectable part in society. We were forced into a reality of pure internal spiritual work – which we definitely needed. There, what is relevant, is Tshouva AD, correcting our sins, correcting our personal life.
Since 1948, dawn has started again. We can see around us and have an influence towards the people around us. The Jewish Nation is not on the sidelines of society! We can start to actively work towards tikkun olam, towards bringing the world towards the unification of Gods name. 1948 itself is a huge step towards the unification of Gods name since it is the resurrection of God’s nation. We can now tap into this amazing energy, into this amazing force of Tshouva!

We have one question left to answer: Why Yom Rishon? Why did Ashkenazim arbitrarily choose Saturday Night to start Slichot. The logical thing would be to start Friday, to say we are returning to the way we were created, on Friday. We are returning to our original self. But no! The Jewish People is making a greater statement! We are taking responsibility for the whole world. We are going to tap into this great energy and bring the full tshouva to whole entire world. We are going to bring the gueoula for the whole world! The world started being created on Sunday, we are starting slichot on Sunday because we are responsible for the whole world!

Beezrat hashem, as we start slichot, I hope that we all have a meaningful time of tshouva and that we can mamash tap into this amazing energy of tshouva which is, especially in our generation, bringing the whole world towards the revelation of God’s one name. Even when we are doing some small, personal resolutions this new year, like for some of us it can be more kavanah on tfillah, starting to eat kosher, etc… ANYTHING, if when we do these small things, we do them as part of the worldly process of everything going back to God, it becomes so much more powerful for us, and so much more beneficial for the whole entire world!
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“Every generation that does not merit to see the rebuilding of the temple, is as if it was destroyed in their days.”

We are now entering one of the saddest periods of the year, the 3 weeks between the fast of the 17th of Tammuz and the fast of Tisha Beav. For centuries, for millenniums!, Jews all around the world have been crying, yearning, praying for the end of their long exile. They have been praying for the rebuilding of our holy temple in Jerusalem as a house of prayer for all the nations. For centuries, we have been praying for our gueoula.

Our generation has a special status. On the one hand, we have witnessed the amazing miracle of the creation of the state of Israel. After 2000 years, Jews have once again found political independence and have finally been able to put into action their romantic love for their land that they have been praying towards for centuries. The gueoula has started! This is a great testimony to the high level of our generation in the deepest places of our souls. However, davka when the gueoula starts to come, this is when the yearning becomes even more intense for the complete redemption.

Rav Nevenzhal Shli”ta, in his weekly address, quoted a makhloket in the gemara: Who should mourn more for the beit hamikdash, the inhabitants of Babel (outside of Israel) or the ones of Israel? On the one hand, the inhabitants of Babel have more to mourn about since they are also out of their land. Yet, the inhabitants of the land of Israel, who see the ruin of the beit hamikdash on a regular basis, feel this mourning so much more.

The most important part of our gueoula is the resurrection of the Jewish Nation after 2000 years of exile. But what is so special about the Jewish nation? Rav Kook in the introduction to Shabbat Haaretz explains that the special nature of the Jewish Nation (the segulah) is that we see all aspects of life with lenses of Godliness! Our job is to be witnesses to God’s presence in this world to all the nations. However, we can only do this on our national level.

This is why it says that the Beit Hamikdash was destroyed because of baseless hatred (Sinat Chinam). Rav Kook derived from this that the only possible tikkun is therefore Baseless Love (Ahavat Chinam). The reason for that is clear. Sinat Chinam is the complete opposite of Gueoula. This is true for a few reasons:

- Gueoula is something which is absolutely amazing, so how can we ever get the merit to receive it. The fact is that we can’t! Even 100 000 000 Tsaddikim won’t have enough merit to receive the gueoula. However, there is one this in this world which is even greater then any number of individual tsaddikim – That thing is Am Israel! As a nation, we have the zchut to receive the gueoula. It says in a passouk brought in the famous Mishna in Sanhedrin: “Veame’h, Koulam Tsaddikim” - “And your nation are all tsaddikim”. We know this is not true! I know a lot of individual Jews which are definitely not tsaddikim! What the passouk is teaching is that when we act as Koulam, then we are considered Tsaddikim. “Veamech, Koulam…… Tsaddikim”. A person can try to perfect his individual self as much as possible, learn as much torah as he wants, become the greatest tsaddik. While all of this is good and important, if it is not brought into the context of the national growth of the Jewish People, it is useless.

- The Rambam says that there is no difference between This World and the Time of the Mashiach except for the fact that the Jewish People will once again find political independence. However, if we have political independence, the only way to function is as a united nation!

- Our goal during gueoula is to build a beit hamikdash as a house of prayer for all nations, a universal message. However, according to Torah, the universal message of the Jewish people can ONLY go through the nation. Our message is a national one, not one of individuals.

We see therefore, through all these reasons, that the reason why sinat chinam destroyed the temple is because the definition of gueoula is opposite to sinat chinam! The only way to get to Gueoula is by connecting ourselves to the national message of the Jewish People.

“Every generation that does not merit to see the rebuilding of the temple, is as if it was destroyed in their days.”
This quote hints that there is something active that must be done in order for the beit hamikdash to be rebuilt and that staying passive is also criticized and looked at negatively. We can’t sit back and say that the beit hamikdash is destroyed and it’s the reality. If it is not rebuilt, if the status quo stays, it is our fault!

Rav Mordechai Elon Shli”ta told us many times in yeshiva an interesting observation which I think holds a very deep message. In 1967, when the IDF reconquered the Temple Mount, Motta Gur, one of the previous chiefs of Staff of the IDF expressed enthusiastically “Har HAbayit Beyadenu!” “The Temple Mount is in Our Hands!”.
Now, we have a principle in Jewish thought that when a leader of Am Israel is leading Am Israel, it is not his personal decisions which matter anymore because God is really the one leading Am Israel (Rav Kook says “There are some things too great to be risked with freedom of choice and Am Israel’s destiny is one of them”.) However, when we see the reality today, we see that the Temple Mount is hardly in our hands! Jews can hardly visit! The beit hamikdash is still destroyed!

Rav Elon explained what Motta Gur meant. Motta Gur thought to himself: God, we live in a special generation. You brought us here to the land of Israel after 2000 years of exile. You even brought us to Jerusalem. Today, we even got to the kotel! We are 200 meters away from the “finish line”. 200 meters away from the beit hamikdash! God! Why don’t you just build the beit hamikdash and get it over with? Why make us wait here 200 meters away?

Then Motta Gur told himself: Ah, I understand God. You brought us to Israel through amazing miracles! You brought us to Jerusalem in a war which we were supposed to loose but won in 6 days. We can now pray at the kotel thanks to your amazing miracles. Now Har Habayit, the Temple mount, that is in our hands!
If we act the way we’re supposed too, we will get it!

We cannot stay passive! If we want Har Habayit, the gueoula, all that we’ve been praying for in the past 2000 years, we need to actively connect ourselves to the Jewish Nation. We have to actively participate in its destiny by helping by helping shape the State of Israel in the vessel towards our ultimate redemption. We need to constantly ask ourselves: “Am I doing everything I can for the good of Am Israel? Am I connecting myself to the deepest message of Am Israel?”

When all of us will connect ourselves, in our own way, to this national message, then Har Habayit will be in our Hands!

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Yom Yerushalaim: A SECOND MATAN TORAH!

On Yom Yerushalaim, starting Tuesday night and continuing on Wednesday, we will be blessed with another obligation to celebrate a holiday which appeared in our generation. But since Yom Yerushalaim is so new, we really need to ask ourselves an important question: What is the meaning of Yom Yerushalaim? What are we celebrating and what are we supposed to learn from it?

The most famous sentence used in order to describe Jerusalem in Tanach comes from tehillim:

“ירושלים הבנויה :כעיר שחוברה-לה יחדיו” – “Jerusalem, which is built like an
interconnected city”- Tehillim 122

There is a disagreement in the commentary as to what exactly is interconnected in Jerusalem. Some say that it is Yershalaim Shel Maala, the spiritual and Godly Jerusalem, and Yerushalaim She Mataa, the Jerusalem of this world. Others say that it is Am Israel which is interconnected together through Jerusalem. Since Jerusalem is the center of Jewish life, and since they used to go there 3 times a year, all of am Israel would connected together through Jerusalem.
Rav Mordechai Elon SHLI”TA explained that really, the two commentaries do not disagree. If Yerushalaim Shel Maala is representative of the Godly Presence, then really, it is when two people look at each other that one can find the Godly spark in this world, since it is found in every Jew. Thus, by connecting Jews together, Jerusalem is also connecting Yerushalaim Shel Maala and Yerushalaim Shel Mataa.

What is clear from all of this is that Jerusalem, the capital city of the Jewish People, is the eternal symbol of Jewish Unity and Nationalism.

So, what is Yom Yerushalaim?
Technically, Yom Yerushalaim is the day of the most obvious miracle in modern times, where Jerusalem became once again connect, united, into one whole city.

Rav Oury Cherki explained once that, while Yom Haatsmaout is the day in which we celebrate Jewish Independence, Yom Yerushalaim is the day in which we celebrate the land of Israel, since most of the biblical cities were only liberated then. In other words, while on Yom Haatsmaout we were out of the Egypt, but still in the desert, on Yom Yerushalaim we really got inside Erets Israel. While this explanation makes sense, I think we can explore much deeper into Yom Yerushalaim!
If Jerusalem is the symbol of Jewish Unity and Nationalism, then Yom Yerushalaim is the day in which Am Israel was able to really find once more its National Unity. Yom Yerushalaim is that day where we were able to once again make Jerusalem in the centre of our lives, not just on a theoretical level (like during all the years of galut), but also lemaaseh, in a serious active level, by visiting it and living in it.

Rav Moti Elon once said: “The same way Yom Haatsmaout is connected to Shevii Shel Pessah through At B”ash (click here for shiur on Yom Haatsmaout), Yom Yerushalaim is connected to Matan Torah (Shavuot) since its starts the week in which Shavuot will fall (the week of Malchout in sfirat haomer).”

I think that we can now start to understand that statement. In the introduction to Derech Hashem, the Ramchal explains that there are two parts to the learning of Torah: The Klal and the Prat. The Klal is the general idea which Torah tries to give over while the pratim are the small details of halacha through which the idea is communicated. The Ramchal tells us that he wrote the book of Derech Hashem in order to teach us the Klal because if we do not know the klal, it would be impossible for us to really understand the pratim since in order to really understand them, we need to know the place they have in communicating the more general idea.
In other words, in order to really understand the details of halacha, we need to know which broader idea they want to communicate. One can be learning halacha and gemara all day his whole life without ever really understanding anything about broader Judaism.
In the gemara, Rabbi Akiva hints to us what is the main klal on which all of the torah rests. He says: “ואהבת לרעך כמוך – זה כלל גדול בתורה” – “Love your neighbor as yourself is a big “Klal” in the torah”.
What Rabbi Akiva was trying to tell us is that the big klal which all the pratim of the torah comes to express is “ואהבת לרעך כמוך”- national unity. In other words, the true message of the torah is National Unity.

Now we can understand why Yom Yerushalaim is a new Matan Torah. If Yom Yerushalaim is the symbol of National Unity, and the Torah all really about National Unity, then, when Jeruslem came back under our control, it was like receiving the Torah once again. It was a second Matan Torah!

On Yom Yerushalaim, we received a new opportunity to follow the Torah based on its true klal of “ואהבת לרעך כמוך”. We received the Torah for a second time! I think it is important here to explain one of the biggest misconceptions in the modern Jewish World. People think that in the Modern State of Israel there is much less unity then what there was in Poland or Morocco. This is completely untrue! Let me explain myself: When we were in Poland and Morocco, it was very easy for Polish Jews to love Moroccans who lived so far away, and Moroccan Jews to love Polish Jews who lived so far away. Even in America where you can find a city of Polish and Moroccan Jews, its much easier to like each other when you go to different synagogues. Its very easy for the religious and secular to co-exist when they see each other only on Yom Kippur. Its very easy for two people of the same type to like each other when there is always the possibility for a break off minyan whenever there is a problem!
However, this unity is very superficial. True unity comes through friction. In Medinat Israel, all types of jews are uniting their destiny into a common destiny. They vote in elections for a common leader. They fight in wars for each other’s survival. Now, the friction can cause a bit of sparks of fire, but in the end, when happens is that through friction, we can also mold our nation into a united nation. On Yom Yerushalaim, we got the symbol of this unity back.
I think that we can now relate this whole discussion with Rav Cherki’s explanation that Yom Yerushalaim was the day we got Erets Israel once more.

Rashi and the Ramban both said that Mitsvot were only meant to be lived in Israel, and that the reason we practice them in Chuts Laaretz is simply in order to remember them in order to be able to do them once more when we get back in Israel.

Before going on: Some people get almost insulted when they hear this because they then think all their Judaism is useless in Chuts Laarets. This is not true. On a basic level, Judaism is about following God’s will and God’s will is for you to follow his mitsvot even in Chuts Laarets. The only thing is that the reason for you to follow them in chuts Laarets is just as a reminder while in Israel, it is for the real reason. But what is that real reason anyways and why is it not valid outside of Israel?

We just saw that the real reason for all of torah, including all the small mitsvot, is National Unity. When we went to Galut, this reason became secondary to the spiritual quest of individuals. It became almost impossible to speak of National unity because we were so dispersed. The biggest group of people people could speak of is the community. Therefore, it was impossible to live Judaism based on its true Klal of National Unity.
Therefore, in Chuts Laarets, we only have mitsvot in order to have reminders. Mitsvot remind us that we’re Jewish, they protect us of assimilation etc… The truth is they also provide us with spiritual benefit but the most important part of Judaism. It’s important, but its not THE MOST important part. Truth be told, spirituality can be found anywhere. What is special about Judaism is the National aspect of our moral message.In Erets Israel, and especially when we have Jerusalem as our capital city, then, we can start really doing the mitsvot once more.
On Yom Yerushalaim, we got our national unity back, we got our torah back, we got our mitsvot back, we got erets Israel back. On Yom Yerushalaim, Am Israel turned from a nation seeking survival to a living nation.
On Yom Yerushalaim, Am Israel became Am Israel once more.

Its mamash a new Maamad har Sinai. It’s a new Matan Torah!

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Yom Haatsmaout: Stop Praying, Start Acting

I wrote this pretty quickly because of exams.

In a very interesting drasha, Chazal point out that each day of pessah always fall on the same day of the week as one of the holidays of the year. In what is even more interesting, they point out that this can be seen through the mechanism of “At Bash” where the first letter of the alphabet (aleph) is matched with the last letter (tav), the second letter (beit) matched to the second to last (shin) etc…
So, they explain:
Alef - Taf: Tisha B'av will always fall on the same day as the first day of pessah. This year, pessah started on Monday night, so tisha beav will start on Monday night.Bet - Shin: Shavuot – Shavuot will be on Tuesday nightGimmel - Resh: Rosh Hashana – Rosh Hashana on Wednesday NightDalet - Kuf: Kriat Hatorah (Simchat Torah) – Simchat Torah on Thursday NightHey - Tzadi: Tzom (Yom Kippur) – Yom Kippur on Friday Night…Vav - Pay: Purim – Purim on Saturday Night, Motsei Shabbat.

These are more then simple combinations. There is a deep connection between the first day of pessah, where we tend to remember avdut more, and the day of tisha beav. And this is true for each combination.

However, Chazal did not speak of the 7th day of pessah which is also the last day of pessah in the Real Jewish Calendar which is followed in Erets Israel. I have heard many times that while the first days of pessah speak of the past redemption, the last speak of the redemption to come. Therefore, I think the reason chazal did not find the combination of the 7th day of pessah is because it was not yet to be found. However, Ashrenu Shezarichinu Lihyot Bedorenu ! We are so lucky to live in our generation where our redemption is unfolding !

Rav Mordechai Elon Shli”ta once told us in a shiur, that the 7th night of Pessah, the zayin, corresponds in at bash, to the ayin – The 7th night of Pessah will always fall on the same day of the week as Yom Haatsmaout! This Year, Yom Haatsmaout, the fifth of Iyar (the regular day for Yom Haatsmaout) will fall on a Sunday night!

What is the connection between Yom Haatsmaout and the 7th Night of Pessah? Let us first find out what happened on the Shevii Shel Pessah:
On Shevii Shel Pessah, Am Israel had just gotten out of Egypt. Pharo started chasing after them and Am Israel was stopped in front of the red sea and it seemed like it would be the end of Am Israel. Moshe starts praying to God and the midrash says God yells back at him: “This is not a time to pray!”. Not a time to pray? Prayer is so valuable to Judaism how could it not be a time to pray? Then, Nachshon Ben Aminadav, not Moshe Rabenu but Nachshon, jumps in the sea, and the sea splits.

Let us try to better understand how God could ask us not to pray! In Massechet Ketubot, in the famous passage about the 3 vows, Rashi has 2 different editions of a part of the gemara. On one of the editions, it says that the Jews promised “lo leharchik et haketz”, not to make the end of times further away. Rashi explains that this would happen through sins and bad actions. On the other edition, it says that the Jews promised “Lo Lidhok Et Haketz”, not to make the end of times closer! Now, the anti Zionists like to take this as a reason to say Zionism is bad because it tries to bring mashiach early, however, even before going through the 100 reasons why they are wrong, lets read rashi a bit further and see how he defines bringing mashiach earlier. Rashi says we should not exaggerate with our prayers and pray too much.

Once again, we see God telling us not to pray. This is very shocking when we know how important prayers are in Judaism. Is there a connection between both instances?

I think the answer lies in a Gemara in Massechet Sanhedrin. The Gemara says: “Zachu, Ahishena, Lo Zachu, Beita”. If we merit it, the gueoula will come before its time. If we do not merit it, it will come in its time. There are two ways the gueoula could come: “Hayom Im Bekolo Tishmaou”, today if we follow mitsvot, through amazing miracles, or through a natural process in its pre-defined time.

Now we can understand the gemara in Ketubot. Rashi’s two editions apply to the different ways in which the gueoula could come: If we merit it, it will come before its time – therefore, we are forbidden to make it come later by sinning and not doing mitsvot. If we do not merit it, it will come in its time, through a natural process. In that case, we are forbidding to keep praying too much, because instead of praying, we need to take our hands and build homes in Jerusalem, take our hands and fight in the IDF in order to bring sovereignty to the Jewish People. If it comes through natural means, while we still need to pray, we should not pray too much, because we also need to act.

This is why Moshe was told to stop praying. Yetsiat Mitsrayim, even though there were amazing miracles, based on Rashi was considered a time in which the gueoula came “in its time”. As such, instead of continuously praying for a solution, all Moshe had to do was go in the water for the sea to split. The gueoula is on its way, just do your part! Stop Praying Too much!

We are extremely lucky to live in a generation which has seen the return of the Jewish People to the land of Israel. In 1948, on Yom haatsmaout, Am Israel was once more in a state of redemption “in its time”. While part of Am Israel decided to stay in shtetels and yeshivot and pray for the mashiach, another part of Am Israel decided to act. True, unfortunately, the part of Am Israel which decided to act Left the yeshivot instead of bringing the yeshiva with them in their actions, but the fact is they decided to Act. On Yom Haatsmaout, Ben Gurion was told that if he declared the independence of the State of Israel, all arab armies would come and throw the Jews in the Sea. And really, who could stop them? The Jews hardly had tanks! But Ben Gurion had some faith deeply hidden inside of him, maybe without even knowing it. He, as a leader of Am Israel, was now connected to God and his decisions became Godly. He decided to Act. The time for redemption has come, it is time to jump in the sea for it to split. He declared the state of Israel and, miraculously, Am Israel defeated the Arab Armies and the State of Israel was established.

Yom Haatsmaout and Shevii Shel Pessah, are thus deeply connected.

2 generations later, we are still moving slowly in the process of redemption. The question we need to ask ourselves now is what are we doing to make this process move forward? How are we making the destiny of Am Israel move forward? How are we connection ourselves to this klal and making sure the gueoula which is unfolding will keep moving forward quicker and quicker. We’re in crunch time guys, we mamash are in crunch time. Everything around us is moving so quickly. Most of Am Israel has returned to Erets Israel on the back of eagles called El Al. The only spot in Jerusalem left to build is Har Habayit. The Israeli public has become disillusioned from its political leadership and is looking for real, messianic leadership! There is only one small 200 meter wide sea to split.

Rav Elon many times told us that in 1967, when the paratroopers for to Har Habayit and liberated the kotel, Moti Gur, the general at the time, said: “Har Habayit Beyadenu!”. However, lets ask ourselves, is har habyit really in our hands? Maybe, maybe not, who know… Maybe Moti Gur was saying something much deeper. Whether he knew what he meant or not doesn’t matter, but maybe, what Moti Gur was saying is: “God, you brought to erets Israel from all around the world, you brought us to Jerusalem, you even brought us to the Kotel! We are 200 meters away, why do you not build the bet hamikdash! Why stop here? But I think I understand… You brought us to Israel through miracles. You brought us to Jerusalem, through miracles. You even brought us to the Kotel through Miracles. Har Habyit: It is in out hands…. Only through our actions will we build the beit hamikdash”.

If the Beit hamikdash was destroyed through sinat chinam, it will only be rebuilt with ahavat chinam. Rav Kook thought that ahavat chinam starts with the realization that everybody in the Jews People shares a common soul which is chelek eloka mimaal mamash. When we realize that, we realize the importance of connection to Klal Israel, to Am Israel. We live in the most critical time of Jewish History. It is our time to act. And we need to seriously think what our role in Am Israel will be.
Will we live a life of the klal, working day after day to move am Israel closer to gueoula through limmud torah, binyan erets Israel etc… Or will we live a life of the prat, a life of us as individuals, where our individual success will be more important than this amazing, incredible unfolding event happening to am Israel called the Mashiach.
Ben Gurion made his choice, and even if many criticize many of his actions, he made the right choice. Nachshon Ben A