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 Therefore the law of the Talmud that a home with two entrances to the public domain requires two lightings is no longer valid because there is no need to take into consideration that people outside might think that a person has not lit (O.H. 571:8).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 Holy Kfira

This is the continuation of the topic from last post: http://www.tsmicha.com/2007/11/to-be-shtark-or-to-be-emet-true.htm I got some positive response so I thought of going a bit deeper the subject. The first post was mostly reactionary to the reality of Today’s Jewish World. This Post is more thought based.

Kfira in modern Hebrew means Athiesm. However, its root comes from the word “to reject”. In truth, it means “rejection” (in the case of atheism, rejection of God).
Rav Kook writes in many places that the kfira of his generation is not the same as the kfira of other generations. If we look at traditional Kfira, we see that people would leave religion out of “taava” (lust) for different pleasures. In Rav Kook’s generation, people left religion in order to go to what they belived were higher ideals – either secular nationalism or socialism.

Rav Kook explained that while Kfira is always bad (atheism is one of the worse sins), the root of Kfira in his generation was very holy. People were not leaving Judaism for lust, they were leaving Judaism in order to find deeper truths. They were presented with a superficial practice of Judaism which did not represent the deep ideals truly found in Judaism, and rejected it. Instead, they looked in secular ideologies for deeper truths.

Of course, they wrong to leave Judaism. They should have looked deeper into Judaism where the higher truth is really found. We can see confirmation of the fact they were wrong by today’s reality where everyone who left Judaism for these other ideals has also lost these ideals: Secular Nationalism is much weaker today (completely secular nationalism), Communism and Socialism are also very weak. What they should have done is look deeper into Judaism.

The root of Kfira is something amazing. It is not something bad. It is something definitely dangerous since it can lead to kfira but it is not something bad. If we took this root of kfira, which is asking so many questions of the truths of Judaism, and brought it to the right environment, brought it to the beit midrash, then we would be able to, through these hard questions, delve into the deepest depths of Jewish Thought.

We all have some form of kfira in us. We all have hard questions that we ask ourselves. There are 3 possible reactions to these questions and only one of them is correct.

The first reaction is to ignore those questions. Try to drown those question in an attempt to keep practicing Judaism in a superficial level. Stay “Shtark” without ever really understanding the depths of Judaism. This is a practice which is encouraged in a lot of religious circles but it is extremely destructive! Not only is it destructive to the religious community, since questions will always come up (if not today, tomorrow) and if there is no structure to deal with the questions, the questions then because very dangerous. It is also destructive to Am Israel as a whole, because the religious sector should be able to deal with the questions of the less religious sector in order to inspire them to accept and connect to God.

The second reaction is to take these questions and look everywhere for an answer. For example, after seeing how the religious community put so much emphasis on personal growth in the 1800s, some people asked themselves: “What about the nation of Israel?” “What about Humanity?”. Those who asked themselves about nationalism went to look at secular ideologies which encouraged secular Nationalism. Those who were worry about humanitarian issues looked at socialism and even communism. Unfortunately, by looking for answers in the whole world they left their own beliefs in order to espouse those of others.

The third reaction is the right one. The third reaction starts with a realization that God gave the Torah to the Jewish People. My point here is not to debate whether this realization should be attained rationally or through what some call “blind faith” – for the purpose of this post, what is important is that it should be attained. Once this is realized, then there is no reason to be afraid of questions. We know where the truth is found! Those questions will just make us delve deeper into this truth. We will bring those questions to the beit midrash in order for us to find the answer in the boundaries of Judaism.
This approach is not afraid of questions, it encourages them. It realizes that the root of kfira which is based on a quest for truth is a good root. It fosters this root and encourages it without allowing it to translate into kfira. It allows us to have an actual Judaism and not one which is based on “being “shtark””. It allows us to have an authentic connection to God and not just a set of blind rules. This is the whole point of Jewish Learning. The root of Kfira is also, when treated in the right way, the root of Jewish Growth.
Through this approach, Judaism will become deeper, more encompassing. Those who look for nationalism will be able to find it in Judaism which is full of it! They will realize that the fact that the people in the 1800s concentrated on personal growth does not mean it is all that is found in Judaism. Those who look for humanitarian messages will also find them in Judaism. They will not only find these messages but will also understand the right approach to them, which can only be found in Judaism. They will understand how ones nationalism, how one’s socialism can be a basis for ones connection to God. It does not need to be a contradiction.

More then that, it is through these questions which people will bring up that authentic Judaism will come out. It is through these questions that we will be able to being the light needed for the rebuilding of or temple on Har Habayit.

Only through the fostering of the root of kfira can we fight the two extremes: We’ll fight BLIND “Shtarkness” and we’ll fight the actual Kfira. Through it, we will bring AUTHENTIC Judaism. more...

Some basic texts to look over

I'm not sure why I feel like posting this right now, but here are some basic texts to look over. 2 poems from Rav Yehuda Halevy on love of Zion, and one essay from Rav Kook on the Shofar.

My heart is in the East

My heart is in the East, and I am at the ends of the West;

How can I taste what I eat and how could it be pleasing to me?

How shall I render my vows and my bonds, while yet

Zion lies beneath the fetter of Edom, and I am in the chains of Arabia?

It would be easy for me to leave all the bounty of Spain --

As it is precious for me to behold the dust of the desolate sanctuary.

In Hebrew.

לבי במזרח ואנוכי בסוף מערב

Zion - thou art anxious for news of thy captives
"Tzion Hallo Tishali leshlom asirayich"

"Zion, thou art doubtless anxious for news of thy captives;
they ask after thee, they who are the remainder of thy flock

From West and East and North and South, from near and far;
bring peace from every side.

And peace is the desire of the captive, who giveth his tears
like the dew on the Hermon and yearns for the day they will fall on thy hills

I am a mourner who weeps for your poverty and when I dream
of the return I am the accompaniment to thy songs.

In Hebrew

ציון הלא תשאלי לשלום אסיריך

Rav Kook on Shofar;

http://www.geocities.com/m_yericho/ravkook/ROSH_65.htm

more...

In Honor of Rav Kook's Hilloula (Gimmel Ellul)

Rabbi A.Y. Kook Documentary

http://www.israelnationalnews....

Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook (5625-5695, 1865-1935 CE), of saintly blessed memory, served as the first Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel and was one of the most profound thinkers of our time. He ...

In Honor of Rav Kook's Hilloula! (Gimmel Ellul)

more...

Torat Erets Israel

Yesterday, I had the priviledge of spending some time with cousins I hadn't seen in quite some time. A few of the discussions we had brought up some ideas I want to share with you. I will speak of two right now.

First of all, I want to share the Dvar Torah I gave at the table before birkat hamazon:
In the Torah, God tells Avraham: "Koum, Hithalekh Baaretz". Most people will translate that as "Stand up, walk around the Land (of Israel)". However, in Hebrew, this is not what it means. IF we wanted to say Walk, we would say "Koum, Lekh Baaretz". The word Hithalekh means to "make yourself walk". What did God need to tell Avraham to make himself walk instead of just to walk?
Rav Mordechai Elon Shli"ta gives a great answer: When we go from New York to Montreal, then really, our goal is to go to Montreal, and the way, the flight there, is just because we need to get there. If we could, we would teleport ourselves. If we could, we would skip the flight. In Israel, walking is a goal unto itself. Every 4 amot is a mitsvah! Therefore, we tell ourselves to "make ourselves walk" because the walking is already a goal!
If we look a bit deeper, we can see that in Chutz Laaretz, the emphasis is on the past and the future. We were in New York, we want to get to Montreal. In the eyes of Torat Chuts Laaretz, its very hard to give value to the derech, we want the goal right away. Torat Erets Israel comes and tells us there is value in the present also, there is value in the derech, there is value in the process itself as a process even if it didn't lead to the desired goal!
Rav Kook illustrates this profoundly in one of his most powerful quotes:

"It is only the anticipation of redemption that preserves Judaism in Exile, while Judaism in the Land of Israel is the redemption itself." R. AI Hacohen Kook

"It is only the anticipation of redemption that preserves Judaism in Exie" - It is only the past and the future which kept us alive in galut. Thinking about the great times we had and how it will one day be that way again. That is what insured our survival during 2000 years of exile.

"while Judaism in the Land of Israel is the redemption itself." - In Israel, the present is the unfolding of the redemption. This is where Jewish History is taking place. This is where our past, present and future come together. This is where we live our redemption.


The second discussion I wanted to share with you is about "who is religious?". Different people were saying different things: Someone who is shomer shabbat, someone who wears a kippah, someone who wears skirts, someone who has a beard.
I think it is a tragedy that in our days such external things decide who is religious and who is not. When someone sees someone with a kippah, they think he's religious. When they see someone without a kippah, they think he isn't. But tell me: Since when is a little peice of cloth decisive of someone's religious observance?
Let me ask you something:
On the one hand, you have someone who eats kosher, is shomer shabbat, has a hat and a beard, but is always in a bad mood, insults people, never smiles, doesn't join the army etc...
On the other hand, you have someone who might not wear a kippah, but join the army, smiles at his neighbourghs every day, has a lot of anava, loves all of the jewish people, lives in the land of Israel.
Who is more religious?
Now, many religious people would love to say that the first one is more religious. Unfortunately for them, the Torah says the opposite. There is NO DOUBT that the torah values internal things much more then the external superficial changes. Unfortunately, the religious world does not tell us that because that would mean they need to make big internal changes which they are not willing to make... but what can I do... I made this blog in order to give you guys some authentic judaism, not some fake superficial judaism, and so this is what I will keep on doing.

I think its clear that in our generation, the reason why so many people left religious is davka because it has become a superficial religion of the biggest rabbi being the one with the most pictures our there, the most religious person the guy with the longest beard and the most pious man the person with the longest peyot. Again, this is the complete opposite of what Torah stands for! The most religious person is the person who had good middot, and sure also you need to follow mitsvot, I never said the opposite, but the torah even says that Derekh Erets KAdma Latorah. There is a midrash that says that if you do not have good middot, Torah becomes a poison for you! If you have good middot, then it is the most amazing thing!

Lets stop with this superfcial fake Judaism. Our generation wants more! Our generation is the generation which saw the State of Israel existing. Our generation is a generation which people are not afraid to sacrifice their lives in wars in order for the Jewish People to move on! Our generation's Judaism is more then a peice of cloth on the head, or the measurement of a beard. Its time to bring back honest authentic torah with no superficial fake requirements!

As the Midrash says when comparing the Torah of Erets Israel to gold:
Ein Torah Ketorat Erets Israel! - There is no Torah like the Torah of Erets Israel! more...

“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!

Bimhera Beyamenu! more...

Birth pangs of the Mashiach Part 2

As I stated in the first part of this series, the biggest problem the Jewish People have right now is the internal problems the Israeli society is having. In many ways, if this was solved, we can expect that all our other problems will be marginal.

After having the discussion that I related in the first post with one of my Israeli cousins, I had another discussion with another one. With her, we discussed some more detailed issues which were dividing the people in Israel. For example, she told me that many secular people would want to send their kids to religious schools for cultural and traditional purposes. However, when they do send them there, when the kids return, they return completely detached from their parents reality. Its as if these school try to be factories for creating religious kids out of secular kids and when the kids go back home, there is a great incoherence between what they believe and what their parents believe. This creates two main problems: 1. the kids many times decide to completely reject the religious education they got. 2. When they don’t reject it, their religiosity many times comes at the expense of their relationship with their parents, giving an image in the Israeli Population of the Torah creating conflicts rather then bringing peace, thus creating a big hillul hashem.

I think the source of this problem is from a twofold misunderstanding of the word kiruv. First, we religious people have to understand that kiruv is not about looking at our brothers who are less religious and trying to make them like us. We are not point of reference! Kiruv is on the one hand educating but also on the other hand learning from the other. If you think you have nothing to learn from your secular brother who goes to the army, sacrifices his life for the good of klal Israel, works hard to bring food on the table for him family, smiles to everyone when he sees them on the street, then you are not in a position to teach him anything about religion. Rav Kook in a very famous essay explained how the 3 main messages of Judaism were spread out in his generation in 3 different sectors of klal Israel: Kodesh (religion) was represented by the orthodox jews, Uma (nationalism) was represented by the secular Zionists, Adam (Universalism) was represented by the Socialists. Rav Kook explained that we each had to learn from each other in order to have the ultimate homogenous message which includes all 3 messages.

Kiruv is about going to your secular Zionist or socialist brother not only to change him, but because you feel you need something out of him the way he is. Kiruv means that while I will teach him about religion, I will strive to learn some socialist or nationalistic messages out of him. Its not that I am better and everyone has to be like me. Its that we need to learn from each other. Its less kiruv (me bringing you closer to something) then hitchabrut (us getting closer to each other). And I don’t mean me becoming less religious or you less nationalistic, but both of us becoming very religious, very nationalistic and very socially minded.

The problem is that while 99% of people will say they agree with this, I think 99.5% of Kiruv workers do not work like that. Rather, the way its presented is that you go to lectures where a rabbi “shows you the light” because he knows the truth which you don’t know. Unfortunately, he forgets that you know some truths that he doesn’t know.

If people in Israel realized that, then there would be a healthy interaction between the secular and religious sectors.

The second misunderstand of the word kiruv is that even when doing kiruv, which is probably the most klal Israel thing to do, people only think of their own private olam haba. Instead of thinking of the higher light of the building of a Nation representing God, which is the goal of all of creation, they think of gathering points in order to get a bigger olam habaa (of course I’m generalizing but its what is mostly out there). What this ends up being is that instead of trying to make the whole nation gradually get closer to God, they try to recruit individuals and “save them” from their current life. Each soul they “save” is extra points for them in olam haba. Not only is this extremely close to some Evangelical Christian practices, the fact is that the goal of Am Israel is not to create 100 000 tsaddikim but rather a nation which is holy. This is what we learn from a minyan, which is called “eda” (one of the words to describe a nation). Even 9 tsaddikim cannot make a minyan but 10 regular people who just finished bar mitzvah can. We need the whole edah to be together, even if they are not tsaddikim. My Rav, Rav Mordechai Elon Shli”ta, created this program in which secular parents and children learn torah together in order to grow together and for there not to be a division between what the parents believe and what the children believe.

The second problem me and my cousin discussed (and I’ll be brief on this one), if the fact that secular and religious kids simply don’t hang out. In Ch”ul, you have religious kids and secular kids who are best friends, go together to pizza etc… In Israel, most of the time they live in different cities and when they don’t, they go to different hang out spots. If we do not see each other, how can we respect each other? How can we love each other? True, it’s a bit of a risk to raise a family around secular people, but look, in Montreal, this risk is being taken by everyone who lives in the jewish community since secular and religious people live together and the fact is that the same question always comes back: Whats more importants, your personal success or Am Israel’s success? The answer is Am Israel. If we saw each other on the street and say good morning to each other every morning, maybe then it would be less of a problem to respect and love each other.

Beezrat Hashem, the gueoula shelema will come bimhera beyamenu. more...

Our Generation's Parasha

This week’s parasha is probably the most important parasha for our generation to read and learn from.

In this weeks Parasha, we see Am Israel on their 40th year in the desert, ready to start entering the land of Israel. This parasha is the parasha of the end of galut. It’s the parasha of Atchalta Digueoula.
This parasha comes after many parashiot in which Am Israel went through different crises: The Meraglim, Korach, etc… During 40 years in the desert, Am Israel was going through crises after crises.

The parasha thus starts with the mitzvah of Para Adumah which we will ignore for our purpose because its more complicated to explain how it fits here (and there are some deep reasons why it does, but for another time).

The first event to happen in this week’s parasha is the death of Miriam. Right after the death of Miriam, Bnei Israel start complaining of the fact that they do not have any water. If you think about it, their complaint is not something horrible. If a nation is in the desert and does not have water, isn’t it normal for them to ask their leader for Water?
However, Moshe Rabennu was not happy at all with their demand. God tells him to take his stick and speak to the rock: water will then come out of the rock.
Instead, Moshe Rabennu took his stick, called Am Israel mere Rebels, and hit the rock. The Mefarshim disagree on what Moshe’s sin really was: Was it to call Am Israel rebels or to hit the rock? Others say other things. If it was to hit the rock, then why did moshe even need to take the stick? If it was calling Bnei Israel rebels, was this sin really that bad? No explanation is really satisfying.
Right after this event, Am Israel asks to pass through Edom, and Edom refuses. What does this story teach us?

After learning what Rav Moshe Charlap and Rav Mordechai Elon have to say about this parasha, I now think most of Sefer Bamidbar is here to tell us this parasha. In this parasha, we are told the secret of the difference between am Israel in chuts laarets and am Israel in erets Israel.

In order to understand this better, lets look at Moshe’s sin once again. When God told Moshe to go give water to bnei Israel, called bnei Israel an "eda" (20:8). However, when Moshe and Aaron called bnei Israel, instead of calling them an Eda, they called them a kahal. What is the difference between a kahal and an eda?

A kahal is an agglomeration of individuals (many individuals together).
Eda comes from the word Edout, Testimony. An Eda is one block which is testimony to something.

When God called Am Israel an Eda, he wanted Moshe Rabennu to tell Am Israel that even though we saw in the last few parashiot that they sinned a lot, they were still considered an Eda: a testimony to God’s name. Even though externally they looked like a mere kahal, inside, they were an Eda. They had not lost and could not loose their segulah which is to bring Gods name into this world.

However, Moshe Rabbenu called Am Israel a kahal. He could not see the special segulah that Am Israel had. Rather, he saw bnei Israel as a collection of Individuals who sinned. Therefore, when he called them, he called them rebels. Therefore, instead of speaking to the rock, he hit it. By speaking to the rock, Moshe would have shown Am Israel that at their internal level, mere speech could achieve miracles – Hakol Kol Yaakov. However, instead, Moshe hit the rock – Hayadaim yedei essav. Rav Elon explained that the reason why God told Moshe to take his stick is davka to show the world that even if he has the stick in his hands, he will talk to the rock: Hakol Kol Yaakov".

This is what God told Moshe: "I’m punishing you because you did not believe in me!" When you do not believe in Am Israel, you do not believe in God’s image in this world (hitgalut). This also explains his punishment: If you cannot see Am Israel as an Edah, then you cannot lead Am Israel into Erets Israel.

Now we can also understand why Edom refused for Am Israel to pass through its territory. If Am Israel had reached the level of Eda, then the whole world would have given them the red carpet for them to fullfil their mission of building a mamlechet kohanim vegoy kadosh, because they would realize this is best for the whole world! "Venivrechu Becha Kol Mishpechot Haadama". However, instead, Am Israel was still, externally, a mere kahal. And therefore, Edom did not want to be a part of their conquest of Erets Israel.

I think that from this parasha we can learn a lot of very important lessons for our generation. 2 of them come out to my head in particular.

1. Klal Israel Eino Hoteh. It’s a rule. The Klal, the Edah, is always going to stay pure, its Godly! Even when we look around and we feel that Am Israel is doing horrible things, we feel Am Israel is at a low level, when we look deeper, we know that there is nothing that will ever erase this characteristic of edah which is engraved in the deepest parts of our being as a nation.

2. At a time where leadership is missing in Israel, we can now see what type of leader we need in order to transform our atchalta digueoula into gueoula mamash. We do not need leaders who will fight and defend our nation alone. We need the nation to grow by itself. At night, when its dark (galut), we see the stars in the world, the different leaders are what gives us light. In the day, its only the Sun (Klal Israel itself) which gives us light. Our leader needs to be one which will help raise the level of Am Israel to the level of Edah.

If we learn all these lessons, beezrat hashem, our Kahal will transform itself into an Edah, and our neighbours will stop attacking us and instead help us accomplish our mission, and beezrat hashem, the gueoula shelema will come… bimhera beyamenu! more...

The Birthpangs of Mashiach - Part 1

The sages have always taught us that our redemption will come through “birthpangs”- some challenges. While a lot of people think that the birthpangs of our redemption are the problems we have with our neighbors, I think the greater problem is problems which exist inside of the Israeli society. The society which is supposed to be a model for all of mankind goes through many different challenges but the most important one has always been the lack of unity between the different sectors of society. Everyone agrees this is a huge problem: the religious, the secular, the sephardis and the ashkenazis. Yet, the problem stays. What is the source of this problem? How can it be resolved?

In the next few posts, I want to deal with this very important question which was brought back to the surface in recent discussions I’ve had with my Israeli cousins which would identify themselves as Secular. I say “which would identify themselves” for 2 reasons: 1. I think the start of the problem of unity lies in the labeling of people in different groups. 2. I don’t even know HOW we can label someone religious or secular. In today’s world, what makes someone religious is the little piece of cloth which he puts on his head. On one side, you’ll have someone with great middot, who goes to the army with a lot of messirut nefesh for am Israel but doesn’t wear a kippah and on the other, someone who beats up his wife and speaks lashon hara and wears a kippah and yet our society will call the one wearing the kippah religious. To me it makes no sense for us to define a person based on a piece of clothes which is not even really a mitzvah miderabanan but rather something which the tsibbur has taken upon itself (in other words, not really so important compared to other things.)

My discussion with my first cousin started when I told her I went to yeshiva, and she saw I was becoming more religious. At that point, she started telling me how Israelis don’t mind religious people as long as they go to the army and participate in the national life of the state of Israel. At the point, I should have interrupted her and told her: How is it possible for someone to be “religious” if he’s not participating in the national life of the state of Israel? If someone is a good Jew, by definition he needs to go to the army and participate in this national life!

I think the problem lies in something we discussed many times, but is always worth repeating because in my opinion it is the main problem of our generation. People think Judaism is a RELIGION. Judaism is NOT a religion. The Jewish religion is just a means to an end. Judaism is a form of Nationalism!
When God promised Abraham what his children will be, he never spoke of religion, he spoke of “a big Nation” – “Vees’ha le-Goy Gadol”.
Every Morning, when we wake up, we bless God “Which chose us among the nations, and gave us the torah” - “Asher Bachar Banu Mikol Ha-amim Ve-Natan Lanu et Torato”. The goal is to be a Nation, a chosen Nation, the way is through the Torah.
Our role in this world is not to be good Jews, but to form a “Mamlechet Kohanim Vegoy Kadosh” – A Kingdom of Priest, a holy nation!

Rav Kook in his introduction to Shabbat Haarets wrote that the segulah of Am Israel (what makes it special) is that it looks at the world through Godly eyes. We are here to show the world what a moral, Godly nation is in order for the world to take example.

In the time of the galut, it was very hard to speak about nationalism because we were all spread out. Also, if we spoke of nationalism, our host nations would have kicked us out. Then, Judaism changed. It became more based on its religious message then what it actually is.

Rav Kook teaches that when people started rebelling against religion, their rebellion was justified although their way was not. Instead of leaving religion, they should have fixed it. The reason for their rebellion was, however, very holy. They were asking for authentic Judaism. It was time to go back home, to Israel. We do not want exilic Judaism anymore, WE WANT TORAT ERETS ISRAEL NOW!

Unfortunately, the rabbis then did not provide so they went to go look elsewhere. Once again, this was a mistake (they should have looked deeper in Judaism), however, it came from a very holy property of seeking the real truth and not being happy with half truths.

This is exactly what my cousin was expressing: “Israelis do not liked people who do not participate in the national life of the State of Israel!”. ISRAELIS WANT AUTHENTIC JUDAISM. They want Torat Erets Israel. They cannot stand exilic Judaism anymore. It is time for real Judaism to come back!

Unfortunately, when people look at the Jewish World, they look at Haredim who represent the Judaism of Galut as the representation of Judaism. Why is that? Probably because they dress differently and so this makes them look more “intense”. THERE IS NOTHING MORE INTENSE THEN TORAT ERETS ISRAEL and the only tsibbur (group) which is representing torat erets Israel is the dati leumi tsibbur which goes to the army and participates in national life. This is Torat Erets Israel. This is Authentic Judaism.

Maybe, if the world starts understanding that authentic Judaism is not represented by wearing a hat and black clothes, then they will be able to take a serious look at the dati leumi sector and then, when “secular” Israelis will see this tsibbur which is completely engaged in National Life, goes to the army, and is very serious about making Am Israel the holy nation it needs to be, then they will understand that Judaism is not a dry set of rules but rather a guide as to how to run a holy nation.

I also cannot stand the fact that some people call themselves religious without participating in the national life of the Jewish People. My cousin was not criticizing Judaism, she was criticizing this fake practice of it which has been taken by a big sector of the population of Israel today, and she was right, much more then she even thought. Hopefully, however, when people realize that this is not authentic Judaism, instead of rebelling against Judaism, they will rebel against this representation of Judaism, they will rebel FOR Judaism, in order to bring back Judaism to its authentic nature.

Beezrat Hashem, we will soon all be participating in the national life of a Mamlechet Kohanim Vegoy Kadosh. more...

Top 12 reasons to live in Israel

Someone asked me to make a post of the 12 reasons why I will make aliyah. Click Here for more info. I think it can be interesting. These are in no particular order:

1. Shnitzies and Burgers Bar - I know they opened a Burgers Bar in Brooklyn but its just not the same J.
2. I am Jewish, and just like Italians are connected to their homeland in Italy, I am connected to my homeland in Israel.
3. There is no authentic Judaism outside of Israel. Judaism in Galut is by definition exilic Judaism and therefore BEDIEVED. A real Jew wants to live Real Judaism.
4. We live in a generation where the biggest miracle of history is occurring. That’s right, bigger then pessah! In Pessah there was one nation which came out of one land after 210 years. Now, one nation is coming out of hundreds of lands after 2000 years! How can we not be part of this!
5. I want to have an active hand in the building of the beit hamikdash. People forget this is our ultimate prayer now… Not to become super religious, not to learn torah, but for the Beit Hamikdash to stand on Har Habayit.
6. Am Israel is right now in Israel. How could I not live where my nation is? How could I separate myself from the whole nation and not be an active participant in its growth.
7. It is a fact that Jewish History is being written in Israel right now. I’m not even sure the Jews of America will have a chapter in a book on Jewish history written in 200 years.
8. The Kotel, enough said
9. In Israel, we are mamash a family with all the Jews around. People are not fake, they are true. And even though people call this a lack of politeness, anyone with eyes will see that it is really a lack of hypocrites.
10. I like white and blue
11. Jewish Books are cheaper here
12. Leshana Habaa Beyerushalaim Habenuya will now feel like an ongoing process and not like a distant impossible dream! more...

The Meraglim in our generation

In Kol Hator, the GRA (Vilna Gaon) said that in the time right before mashiach, the sin of the meraglim will come once more.
The meralim were the 12 spies sent by Moses to tour erets Israel of which 10 came back giving a report urging the people not to go to war.

Before I go on with this post, let me make something very clear. When you call someone one of the meraglim, this is not an insult. It is actually one of the biggest compliments you could give them. The Meraglim were HUGE talmidei chachamim that just made one sin. When you call someone one of the meraglim, you are first saying he’s a talmid chacham, then saying that he is making a mistake on one specific idea in Judaism.

What is this idea?

The kli yakar explains that the sin of the Meraglim was not because the talmidei chachamim did not like erets Israel, or because they had a lack of emunah when it comes to winning the war with God’s help. That wouldn’t make sense since these people were HUGE talmidei chachamim! No, the sin was something more refined. The Meraglim were used to living in the desert. Think about life in the desert: You wake up, go to the mikveh, pray shacharit, learn all of morning seder, then go home and eat with your family for lunch. Then, you go back to learn for afternoon seder, praying mincha somewhere in between, and go back home to spend some time with the family once again and relax. You then pray arvit and learn as late at night as you can manage. Sounds familiar? Well to anyone who every learnt in yeshiva, it should!
In yeshiva, all the food is provided, there is no need to work, we can completely concentrate on our spiritual growth. Isn’t this the ideal live to live a religious life?

Well, while it might be the ideal way to live a religious life, it is not the way to live a Jewish life. This is mamash torat chuts laarets. You can learn all you want, if you don’t apply it to the national life of the Jewish People, then it is not authentic Judaism. Judaism is first and foremost a nationality. Thus, our national life is more important then anything else.

What happened with the meraglim? They were ready to enter erets Israel, but then they told themselves: Wait a minute, this will mean we will need to fight wars. This is horrible for our limmud torah. It also means we will need to work the land, I mean, the Mann is going to stop falling from the skies, this is also horrible! Who wants to go to Israel? Its not Godliness, its Maase Satan! Zionism is Kfira!

THIS IS WHAT 10 OUT OF 12 MERAGLIM SAID!
The Majority of Talmidei Chachamim got it wrong and said: “We’re better off not joining the IDF, not going to the army, not entering and working the land. Nothing! Just limmud torah!”

When Kalev and Yehoshua spoke, I can hear the voices of the people saying: “You kofrim! Go back to sit! You’re just a Zionist Kofer!”
But they were right! They were the only ones who understood that there is no authentic Judaism outside of Israel and any opportunity to go to this land needs to be taken.

The problem is that after a long time in exile where all our focus is on limmud torah, we tend to forget that the ikar is not limmud torah. Torah is secondary to the Jewish People. The Rambam says this explicitly in Igeret Teiman: If there was no Jewish People, there would be no torah (since Torah is our national message).

In our generation, just as the GRA predicted, in the generation of atchalta digueoula, we see the same arguments coming once more. All we can do as individuals is to make sure to strengthen our Judaism. Those of us who know the importance of the national life in Judaism need to show that we can be Jews who are just as serious about our Judaism as the ones who don’t understand the importance of nationalism. We need to be Kalevs and Joshuas.

And to our brothers following the meraglim of our generations, who are mamash talmidei chachamim but who are wrong on one very important issue, let me tell a story:
Rav Oury Cherki was in Montreal for a Shabbaton, while I was in Israel. I therefore wasn’t there but my friend told me at the melave malkah, Rav Cherki asked everyone to say what he thought of Jerusalem and one of the Charedi Rabbis there said: Jerusalem makes me think of the Gay Parade.
In a generation where the Jewish People is going back to its ancestral homeland, all that someone focuses on is one religious incident which occurred in this holy city, taking away the awesomeness of the miracle of National Resurrection.
My friend told me Rav Cherki completely destroyed this person’s answer but this shows how in our generation, just like in the meraglim’s generation, people show much more value to the Religion then to the Nation when the religion is just secondary to our Nationalism “Asher Bachar Banu Mikol Haamim Venatan Lanu et Torato”.

So please guys:
Stop being “religious”, start being Jewish!

Shabbat Shalom more...

The long way leading to Israel

I am now in yeshiva in Israel and therefore I will not update this blog as regularly although I plan to update it at least once a week with my laptop.

I don't post "personal" stories very often but I think this one is worth sharing.

I was supposed to arrive to Israel on the 21th of May. I only arrived on the 28th. What happened?

Well, I went to the airport the 20th of May as planned with all my luggage. Once there, as I was checking in my luggage, they checked my passport. I was then shocked to hear they told me I couldn't go on the plain. No, its not because my passport was not valid. No, its not because I'm on any FBI or Mossad list, baruch hashem. The reason why is because they have a very hard to understand rule that you can only get on a plane if your passport is valid 6 months after the date of your return ticket! Having never heard of this rule, I thought my passport was valid. Truth is, it was valid, just not valid "enough".

Thank God, I got to Israel although I missed my good friend's wedding in the process.
But for the past week, I was trying to find the svara (reasoning) behind this seemingly irrational law. I still do not understand what reasoning the people who enacted it had, but I think I know why its existence is really about.

We live in a generation where all it takes to go to Israel is a plane ticket. We often forget what tsipiya liyeshuva means, expectation of redemption. We don't know what it feels like to fait for eagles to bring us to the land of Israel at any moment because whenever we want, we can hop on a metal eagle and it will bring us there in less then 12 hours.
It's very easy to live in New York when there's an El Al office in JFK.

For one week, I felt what it means to be in chutz laaretz without the possiblity to leave. Even if I sold all my property for a plane ticket, there was no way for me to leave. It wasn't a choice anymore. And even though the whole year long I'm not in Montreal because I want to but rather because I have been instructed by my rabbis to follow my parent's will, there is always the theoretical possibility to leave.
For one week, I have seen what it is to say "Teka Beshofar Gadol" and pray to go back to Israel without having the possibility to go.

If I learned one thing from this experience which everyone also needs to learn: We are way too spoiled in our generation. It is so easy to go to Israel that we often forget how much of a miracle it is that we are able to go there.

May my experience help all of us learn how to be grateful towards God for his amazing miracles and may we learn from it how to be metsapeh liyeshoua more...

The Case for Religious Zionism

It happens all the time. People born and raised Secular or Traditional Zionists start becoming more and more religious. They are then confronted with one serious question: Now that they are a new person, should they Zionists or not? Basically, is Zionism Kosher?

What makes this question even more excruciating for them is that most of the time, their tshuva was initiated by a non-zionist rabbi who hid his opposition to Zionism until the person was “ready” to hear it, in a serious case of hypocrisy in the name of religion. Before showing his true colours, the rabbi would speak about how amazing the land of Israel is. Only after would he say that land and state mean two different things to him. Only after will he say that in his opinion, you can love the land of Israel without being Zionism.

Today, I am embarking on a very tough mission. It is especially tough because theoretically, I am in no position to embark in it. I am nothing more then an am haaretz. But the Pirkei Avot say clearly: In a place where there are no Men, strive to be a man. In North America, there are very few Men who are ready to take the time to explain the awesomeness of the greatest miracle in history, and defend it against its detractors. Only few men are willing to fight the tumah of the people who call God’s Miracle’s Satan’s actions. There is a serious need for a well written, thorough defense of religious Zionism so that newly religious people, who often go with their heart and are not always aware of all the aspects of a certain question because they are only fed one point of view, get the full picture and understand how irrational and un-Jewish it is to oppose Zionism. I will do my best to make the Case for Religious Zionism while recognizing that I am not up to the challenge of describing the greatest miracle in history. If it took God to speak of yetsiat mitzrayim in the Torah, no man will be able to really capture our generation’s yetsiat mitsrayim. I will still do my best. The truth is that even any Am Haaretz can understand the awesomeness of Zionism when presented with all the facts.

We will start by defending Religious Zionism from the 3 main accusations leveled against it by Anti-Zionist and non-Zionist Jews. You will quickly realize that all the arguments of the Anti-Zionist Jews fall in one of these categories in one way or another. We will completely destroy the case of these anti-Zionist Jews. Then, we will answer one of the tougher questions: How can you be so sure you are right? Through this, we will make a strong case for what we know as Religious Zionism.

Before starting, I feel forced to make an important note: People do not be fooled! A lot of religious people will try to make themselves sound Zionist in order not to turn you off while they try to transform you into one of them. Don’t be afraid to ask straight out: Are you Zionist? If the person hesitates, if he starts ducking the question by telling you how amazing the land of Israel is, chances are he is not Zionist but is afraid to say the truth. Hopefully, by the end of this article, you will better understand what to answer him then.

The 3 main arguments people make against Zionism are:
1. How can something started by secular, and sometimes anti-religious, Jews be holy, let alone the start of the redemption?
2. All the big rabbis are against Zionism! How could they all be wrong?
3. We need to wait for Mashiach before building a state for ourselves! The state of Israel is one big Sin!

1. Secular Zionism as something holy

To tell you the truth, this argument is probably the hardest to fully understand because we live in a world where everything is black and white and people have difficulty seeing shades of grey.

Lets first go through one of the false arguments the AntiZionists will bring up:

Herzl wanted to convert the whole of the Jewish People to Christianity and only after this did not work did he think of Zionism.
This is simply untrue! While it is true that he wanted to convert the whole of the Jewish People (a horrible thing to think), he then realized how stupid his idea was. It was after this realization that he came up with Zionism. Zionism was his TSHUVA!

Now that this has been said a few points:

--> Religious Zionism is not based on Herzl’s Ideology. It is based on the Ideology of Rav Kook who got his Ideology from Rav Kalisher and Rav Gutmacher who were themselves students of Rav Akiva Eiger who was a student of the GRA (Vilna Gaon). When someone is a religious Zionist, he IS NOT SAYING that Herzl was right in his ideology. We actually disagree with many things Herzl said. We identify with the Rabbis who have called for generations and generations on their students to go up to Israel and rebuilt the state of Israel (Starting with the GRA in Kol Hator). Now, in one of his essays, Rav Kook explains that there are 3 ways with which the Jews will leave Galut: by listening to their rabbis, through secular ideology or through hatred of other nations. The Jews did not listen to their Rabbis from the time of the GRA up to the time of Herzl. While the rabbis were calling on people to go up to Israel and establish a state, they refused. So, God went with Plan B: Secular Zionism. God Promissed Gueoula and so he was going to bring it even if it was through secular vessels. But everyone needs to realize that the reason why we had to resort to Secular Zionism was because the Religious Jews did not listen to their Rabbis. They did not listen to the call of people to go back to Israel. Unfortunately, today, we see religious Jews still living comfortably in New York, Lakewood etc.. instead of listening to the call calling them back to the Land of Israel. Imagine how holy the state of Israel would have been if we would have listened to our rabbis! Imagine what kind of Kingdom we would have built! But because we did not listen, the path is longer towards redemption and we need to go through secular Zionism before going to a religious State of Israel in the time of the Mashiach. IT IS ALL BECAUSE OF “RELIGIOUS” JEWS IGNORING THE ORIGINAL CALL OF THE VILNA GAON’S ZIONISM. Don’t let these same Jews deter you from Zionism today.

--> There is a great misconception in the Religious World whereas Zionism was the movement which brought secularism. People think that Zionism was a way to be a new nation without religion. This is simply a lie! Secularism came with the enlightenment. Zionism was a type of tshuva to this enlightenment period. Lets look at how Rav Kook looked at this period of history:
When we were first chosen, we were chosen as a holy nation, not a religion. God told Avraham: I will make you into a great nation. He did not say into a great religion. Authentic Judaism is nationalism. The goal of Judaism was always to create Mamlechet Kohanim Vegoy Kadosh, a holy nation! Unfortunately, when we went to Galut, it was impossible to stay true nationalists. First of all, the nations we lived under would not host us as foreign nations. They were more likely to accept other religions. Also, since we were so spread out, it was hard to act as a nation. The BIG light of authentic Judaism (Jewish Nationalism) was dimmed into a small light of Jewish Religion.
What happened during the enlightenment? Rav Kook explains that the Jews of the Enlightenment who left religion left it not as a rebellion against Judaism, but rather as a rebellion against the representation people showed them of Judaism. By then, it was already time for the big light of Authentic Judaism to come out and the souls of these Jews were not happy with the smaller light of Jewish Religion. Therefore, they left. Where did they go? Mainly to two movements: 1. Communism and 2. Secular Zionism. It is interesting to note that both of these movements tell people to stop thinking only of their individual self. Communism tells you to look at the collective while secular Zionism tells you to look at the Nation. Jews wanted authentic Judaism but instead of providing them with it, the religious communities rejected their request as a sign of evil rebellion and kicked them out of the communities.
Today, there are still those who will reject Secular Zionism instead of understanding it as a Call for authentic Judaism based on true Jewish principles of Nationalism and not the small light of individual religious practice. Instead of rejecting this call, we should work on providing these lost Jews with the big light of Religious Zionism which combines the principles of Judaism with Nationalism, thus bringing back Judaism to its authentic nature.

-->If religious Jews were to build the state of Israel, as we have already seen, it probably would never have been build because people were too busy learning torah to listen to their rabbis and bring gueoula! In Jewish Thought, there is Mashiach Ben David and Mashiach Ben Yossef. Mashiach Ben Yossef comes before Mashiach Ben David and builds the physical redemption of the Jewish People. Brings them back to their land, creates a state etc.. This does not need to be done by a religious person. Only when Mashiach Ben David come will all these great things be combined with the depth of Jewish Thought (See Kol Hator and Hahesped Hagadol).

--> Some people will tell you they do not oppose the state they only oppose the government and that is why they are against Zionism. This is crazy! The people who oppose the government the most are the Religious Zionists. Who was at all the rallys against the disengagement? Religious Zionists! If you oppose the current government that doesn’t make you anti-zionist. The government changes all the time! If you oppose the government and live out of Israel, make aliyah, go to vote and then next government will be more religious! Stop using the current government as a reason to oppose the holy movement of Zionism!

2. All Rabbis are against Zionism?

This claim is another completely false claim. The people who say all the big rabbis are against Zionism say so for one reason: As soon as a rabbi is Zionist he is not great to them anymore! Therefore, Rav Kook, Rav Soloveitchik, Rav Charlap, Rav David Cohen, Rav Tzvi Yehuda, Rav Ashkenazi, Rav Neriyah, etc… are not guedolim to them but these were the greatest rabbis of the times! They only discredit them because they are Zionist! If by definition a Zionist is not a gadol then of course no gadol will be Zionist!

Today, in Israel, most rabbis of cities and in high positions are Zionists. Rav Ovadia Yossef openly said one should say hallel on Yom Haatsmaout. Rav Mordechai Eliyahu called everyone who opposes the State of Israel one who listens to his yester hara. Rav Getz, rosh yeshivat hamekubalim, said Hallel with a bracha on Yom Haatsmaout etc…
Of course, they are not Zionist though because it is impossible for a Zionist to be a gadol!

That being said, even if it WAS true that Zionism was the opinion of a minority (and it is NOT true), the GRA said explicitly in Kol Hator that the sin of the Meraglim would come back right before the redemption and that it would davka attack the guedolim. Let us not forget that the Meraglim were all huge talmidei chachamim! But what was their sin? They refused to go into the land of Israel! They said its better to stay in Galut! Why listen to Moshe Rabbenu, he looks Egyptian, he doesn’t wear a black hat!
Today, we see some guedolim saying the same thing: Stay in Chuts Laaretz! Don’t become a partner to Zionism! This is the sin of the Meraglim. Once again, I am saying this with the outmost respect for the guedolim because the Meraglim where HUGE tsaddikim! Yet, they sinned.
Let us not forget that the meraglim were 10 and only 2 people opposed them. We see from there the majority is not always reliable!

Some will then say that if we look at the state today and its security situation, we see that we were better off before and so even if majority doesn’t matter its clear which guedolim were right.
I think this is the biggest insult which could be said to victims of the holocaust. During the Holocaust, MANY anti-zionist guedolim told their students not to leave Poland even if they had tickets to go to what was then Palestine. They said nothing will happen in Europe and its better to stay there then join the Zionists.
The religious Zionist rabbis told their students to move to Israel.
Let me know now, who was right? Those who sent their students to the gas chambers or those who brought them to the state of Israel?

3. We need to wait for Mashiach before building a state for ourselves! The state of Israel is one big Sin!

This argument is mostly based on a gemara in Ktubot. This argument is so inaccurate I do not even want to deal with it and instead I will link here to a place I found dealt with it very clearly. But just a note:
We do not learn halacha from Gemarot. So even if it was true (and its not!) that we went against this gemara, it would still not be an issue! No possek every took this gemara as halacha.
Here are the links dealing with this issue- there is a list of 13 reasons why this argument is completely untrue:
http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/2005/09/kuntres-she-lo-yaalu-ke-homah.html
http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/2005/09/kuntres-she-lo-yaalu-ke-homah-ii.html
http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/2005/09/kuntres-she-lo-yaalu-ke-homah-iii.html
http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/2005/10/kuntres-she-lo-yaalu-ke-homah-iv.html
http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/2005/11/kuntres-she-lo-yaalu-ke-homah-v.html
http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/2005/11/kuntres-she-lo-yaalu-ke-homah-vi.html
http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/2005/11/kuntres-she-lo-yaalu-ke-homah-vii.html

4. How do we know Religious Zionism is right?

So, how do we know religious Zionism is right anyways?

I heard from a rabbi once:
When Moshe went to Egypt and presented himself as the savior of Am Israel, no one was sure he was the right guy. He looked Egyptian, no black hat. Why would he be the savior of Am Israel? People asked questions and these questions were fair.
However, after kriyat yam souf, after the splitting of the sea, the only people still asking questions were Datan and Aviram! And we know what the torah says of them.
Today, we are not only after kriyat yam souf, we’re in Erets Israel. Unfortunately, some Datan and Aviram is left in Am Israel.

Rav Soloveitchik used to be anti-zionist in his youth. When asked why he changed sides, he said: Before the miracles in state of Israel, there was a machloket as to whether Zionism was good or bad. After these miracles, it became clear. God was possek and he said Zionism was good!

May we all free ourselves from the sin of the meraglim, free ourselves from the sin of Datan and Aviram, and recognize the amazing miracle God has provided us which is mamash the beginning of our redemption. more...

The Foundation on which Judaism resides

After celebrating Yom Haatsmaout and Yom Yerushalaim in Montreal, I realize that there is a big need to review the foundations of our Jewish Thought (which are hard to access in Chuts Laaretz) in order to be able to properly understand how we are to relate to the different aspects of our Judaism. The Ramchal, in the introduction to his book Derekh Hashem, says that in order to really understand Judaism, one must take time to learn the general ideas which come out of Judaism and not limit his study to the details of Jewish Law and gemara. Jewish Law only makes sense when it is understood in the context of Judaism and therefore, to truly understand Judaism, we need to take time to study this “Jewish Context”.

In order to truly understand the basic foundation of Judaism, there are 3 concepts which we need to properly define. These 3 words are: Prat, Tsibbour and Klal.

The Prat can be translated as the Individual. The Tsibbour can be translated as a group of individuals. ie: When many individuals come together, they create a Tsibbour.

Then, there is another concept called Klal. Unfortunately, many of the problems of our generations stem from the fact that people confuse Klal and Tsibbour. The concept of Klal is extremely hard to explain. The Klal is not a group of individuals. The Klal is not dependant on the individuals. The klal is an over-arching idea which includes all the individuals without depending on them. The klal has a message.

The Goal of Am Israel is to take the Tsibbour of individual Jews and to turn it into a Klal.

One of my friends gave me an amazing Mashal (metaphore) once. It is like a nice painting. When you look at a painting, there is an image which comes out. This image is the klal. Each brush stroke is a prat, an individual. All the brush strokes together on the canvas is called the tsibbour. If each brush stroke gives out the right color in the right place, then the right image will come out: The tsibbour will be a klal. If any individual does something wrong, it will hurt the representation given by tsibbour on the canvas but the image will still be pure, the image is always pure. It will just not be well represented on this canvas.

In other words, while the klal is not dependant on the prat, the prat represents the klal.

When we understand this, we can start to understand Judaism. When we understand that the goal of Judaism is on a national level, and that the individual actions of people are just a means to this national representation of “Klal Israel” (which is brought through individual mitsvot), we understand on of the most fundamental ideas of Judaism.

Klal Israel is a very special Klal whose message is to bring out Godliness in this world. Therefore, when we do mitsvot, we are helping the tsibbur turn into klal since out individual actions help the group of individual (tsibbur) turn into its higher nature (klal). When we look at it that way, wearing tfillin becomes a nationalist action! This is why kabbalists, before doing a mitsvah, say "leshem yichud" in which they say they come to do this mitsvah "in the name of all of Israel". This mitsvah is for the nation, it is a nationalistic action. It is turning the tsibbur into a klal. Through this, we can also start seeing that Judaism is not like all other religions. In other religions, the goal is individual growth towards a God. It is the individual going from down to up. In Judaism, the goal is for the nation to represent the Godly idea which comes from up to down. Our job as individual is not to leave our nature and hurt our bodies in order to go in a spiritual realm. Rather, it is to make space for the Godly message to come down on a national level. That is why all rabbis have always called out against self inflicted flagellation and all sorts of mechanisms to “Get out” of this spiritual world. Rather, our goal is to make space for Godliness to rest within our nation.

This reality changes a lot of important things in Judaism. For example, when a person has the choice between going to the army or learning torah, if the goal of Judaism was to make the prat (individual) higher, then Judaism would say to stay and learn torah and not care about the army. However, “Bemilchemet Mitsvah Hakol Yotsim”, the rambam clearly states that everyone needs to go out to war when it is for Erets Israel (and other cases called Mihemet Mitsvah). Why? Because our national success is more important then our individual spiritual growth. Our main goal is national success and individual spiritual growth is just a means to an end. Am Israel is first a nation, and the religious component is just a way of expressing the deep nature of Am Israel.

Every morning we say in bircat hatorah, the blessing on our “religious text”: “Asher Bachar Banu Mikol Haamim Venatan Lanu Et Torato”. We bless the one who made us a nation and only after did he give us the torah. First we are a nation, only after do we express our nature through religious means.
Need more proof?
What did God promises Avraham?
“Veescha Legoy Gadol” – And I will make you into a powerful NATION!
He did not say a religion, he said a nation.
Unfortunately, during the years of galut, our situation as a nation was unnatural. The Maharal mentions 3 things which were unnatural for a nation: (1) we were under the control of other nations, (2) we were outside of our land and (3) we were dispersed among the nations. All 3 of these things were the tragedies of galut (even the Jews of New York who are not victims of anti-semitism are victims of these horrible tragedies). Therefore, our big light of Jewish Nationalism was dimmed and we started acting as a religion like all other religions. (One obvious reason for this is also because if we kept being nationalists, no other nation would have hosted us in exile. As a religion, other nations could be more tolerant.) Unfortunately, we slowly started believing ourselves that we are a religion rather then a nation. Galut changed Judaism into a religion like all others. The Big Light of Jewish Nationalism was turned into a small candle of Jewish Religion. Today, thanks to the State of Israel, Judaism is slowly finding its true nature once more. Unfortunately, people have become so used to perceiving Judaism as a religion that they look at any attempt to bringing back Jewish Nationalism as changing Judaism. Truthfully, Jewish Nationalism is AUTHENTIC Judaism. Jewish Religion which doesn't include a nationalist aspeci is the one which is entranched in the influences of the other nations. It is the job of our generation to let the big light of Jewish Nationalism, authentic judaism, come out once more in order for this big light to help bring the complete redemption, bimhera beyamenu. more...

Yom Yerushalaim Video

Inspiring Video for Yom Yerushalaim

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Rav Elon Yom Yeroushalaim Tish

Another video for some more inspiration getting ready for Yom Yerushalaim

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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 Yerushalai