Love of the Land: Remembering with a smile

Remembering with a smile

Marc Prowisor
Yesha Views
19 April '10

I entered the Central Bus station in Jerusalem to get on the bus to take me home to Shilo. It was the evening before Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day), a few hours before the sirens went off to signify the start of this most difficult of days.

I admit that I find this day very difficult, as the feelings start to set in before the sirens, before the torches, and before the start of the ceremonies. I suppose it is very hard for Jews outside to feel as we do here. This pain, this hurt, this contemplation takes everybody back in time. We go back to the stories we heard as children, then we reflect on our days of youth in the face of terrorism and wars, we remember our days in the Army, then reserves, we remember the not to distant past, the last decade, years, months and finally days. We reflect our own experiences, our own battles, and wonder.

We swell inside, sometimes smiling at the memories of our friends and families, and then fight to hold back tears because we miss them, and we know that this is not the end of the fighting.

It is a day of intense emotions, to say the least.

I looked around me in the crowded station, and as the thoughts started to cloud my feelings, I realized that I was living the dreams and prayers of so many before me.

I was looking at Israel, at who we are, and how we get there. No ceremony, no Ultra Zionist speech, no Flag waving. I was surrounded mostly in a sea of olive drab uniforms, with a rainbow of berets on their shoulders. The pins and unit ID’s on their uniforms shined proudly. They smiled, they laughed, they grabbed each other like they haven’t seen one another in years, but in reality it was only a few weeks. They are all so young.

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Love of the Land: Remembering with a smile

Love of the Land: Remembering with a smile

Remembering with a smile

Marc Prowisor
Yesha Views
19 April '10

I entered the Central Bus station in Jerusalem to get on the bus to take me home to Shilo. It was the evening before Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day), a few hours before the sirens went off to signify the start of this most difficult of days.

I admit that I find this day very difficult, as the feelings start to set in before the sirens, before the torches, and before the start of the ceremonies. I suppose it is very hard for Jews outside to feel as we do here. This pain, this hurt, this contemplation takes everybody back in time. We go back to the stories we heard as children, then we reflect on our days of youth in the face of terrorism and wars, we remember our days in the Army, then reserves, we remember the not to distant past, the last decade, years, months and finally days. We reflect our own experiences, our own battles, and wonder.

We swell inside, sometimes smiling at the memories of our friends and families, and then fight to hold back tears because we miss them, and we know that this is not the end of the fighting.

It is a day of intense emotions, to say the least.

I looked around me in the crowded station, and as the thoughts started to cloud my feelings, I realized that I was living the dreams and prayers of so many before me.

I was looking at Israel, at who we are, and how we get there. No ceremony, no Ultra Zionist speech, no Flag waving. I was surrounded mostly in a sea of olive drab uniforms, with a rainbow of berets on their shoulders. The pins and unit ID’s on their uniforms shined proudly. They smiled, they laughed, they grabbed each other like they haven’t seen one another in years, but in reality it was only a few weeks. They are all so young.

(Read full story)

Please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.

Love of the Land: Remembering with a smile

Torat HaRav Aviner: The Obligation to Make Aliyah at this Time

The Obligation to Make Aliyah at this Time

פורסם על ידי Mordechai Tzion ב- 01:53

16

אפר

2010

Ha-Rav Tzvi Yehudah Ha-Cohain Kook
[Sichot Ha-Rav Tzvi Yehudah – Bereshit p. 276]

The Pitchei Teshuvah (Even Ha-Ezer 75:10) wrote: "The obligation to fulfill this mitzvah applies at all times, and this is explained by all of the halachic authorities, the Rishonim and Acharonim, based on the ruling of the Ramban (Bemidbar 35:53 and additions to the Sefer Ha-Mitzvot of the Rambam, Positive Mitzvah #4).
There are those who have claimed that there is no mitzvah at this time because of the danger in traveling to Eretz Yisrael, as mentioned in the Tosafot (Ketubot 110b and see Mordechai ibid. and Shulchan Aruch Even Ha-Ezer 75:5). Ha-Gaon Ha-Rav Eliyahu Klatzkin wrote a small book of Halachah called "Dvar Halachah" in which he dealt with this strange and even somewhat funny claim, since people make more dangerous trips for business (#38 p. 27a).
And there are those who claim that there is no mitzvah at this time based on what is mentioned in the Poskim that there is no mitzvah to make aliyah when one cannot find a livelihood in Eretz Yisrael (Pitchei Teshuvah ibid. in the name of Terumat Ha-Deshen and Tashbetz). Ha-Rav Klatzkin wrote regarding this idea that in practical terms it is not accurate to say that there is a livelihood outside of Israel but none in Eretz Yisrael. On the contrary, there is a "kosher" livelihood of working the Land in Eretz Yisrael, while the livelihood outside of Israel is through profiteering and the persecution of Israel.
And there are those who claim that there is no mitzvah to make Aliyah since there is a concern that one will become corrupt by being distanced from the Torah. But on the contrary, the Gemara and Poskim explain that one should live in Eretz Yisrael even in a city where the majority of residents are idol worshipers (Ketubot 110b. Shulchan Aruch Even Ha-Ezer 75:3), despite the potential negative influence. Although some authorities write that heretics are worse than non-Jews in this regard and there is a greater chance of negative influence, Ha-Rav Klatzkin explained that the same law applies in a city in Eretz Yisrael where the majority of residents are heretics. His proof is from the Gemara in Eruvin (61b-62a. Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim #385) where the law appears that it is impossible to make an "Eruv Chatzerot" (lit. mixed [ownership of] courtyards, which allows one to carry within the courtyard on Shabbat) with a Tzeduki (Saducee, i.e. a heretic), and various options are given if one lives in the same house as a Tzeduki. But there is no mention of a prohibition of living in such a placeor that one is obligated to live in a place solely populated by observant Jews. He adds that one's failure to observe the mitzvot of Hashem based on a concern that spiritual damage will result is discussed by the Gemara in Berachot (10a) regarding King Chizkiyahu, who did not engage in the mitzvah of procreation since he saw through Divine intuition that unvirtuous children would issue from him. The prophet Yeshayahu said to him: "What you are commanded to do, you must do!" And Ha-Rav Klatzkin added (ibid.): As if there is permission to act wiser that Hashem's mitzvot!
There is a story that after the establishment of the State of Israel, Jews from North Africa and Yemen made aliyah and were abandoning traditional observance. The person who headed the Department of Aliyah at the Jewish Agency was a Torah scholar named Ha-Rav Shlomo Zalman Shragai, and he was being eaten up inside by this fact. He did not know whether it was proper to continue to bring Jews to Israel under such circumstances. He went to the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Ha-Rav Ha-Gaon Tzvi Pesach Frank, and asked him what to do. Rav Frank said to him: Can you do me a favor and hand me the Yalkut Shimoni? He opened it and showed him the words of the Yalkut Shimoni on Megillat Eichah (#1038): "Hashem says: If only my children, my Nation, would be in the Land of Israel, even though they make it impure." And he continued: What do you want from me - to transgress the words of our Sages?! You are not guilty for what is occurring. You must bring Jews to Israel and make every effort to connect them to Torah. Rav Shragai continued to bring Jews to Israel and he mentioned this story various times.
When the Belzer Rebbe (Ha-Rav Aharon Rokeach) made Aliyah, he came to Reb Noson (Ha-Rav Shalom Natan Ra'anan Kook, Maran Ha-Rav Kook's son-in-law) and said: You and we had differences regarding the way to bring Jews on Aliyah. We said that they should first be strengthened in Judaism outside of the Land and only then could they make Aliyah in order to build in holiness, and you said that every one of them should quickly come on Aliyah without calculation. After the Holocaust, it has become clear to us that we erred, and we are greatly distressed over this fact.

Torat HaRav Aviner: The Obligation to Make Aliyah at this Time

For Zion's Sake: The Curse of Exile

The Curse of Exile

Dedicated to the refuah sheleima of Tamar Dina bat Smadar


על נהרות בבל שם ישבנו גם בכינו בזכרינו את ציון. על ערבים בתוכה תלינו כינורותינו כי שאלונו שובינו דיברי שיר ותוללינו שמחה. איך נשיר את שיר ה' על אדמת נכר

"By the river of Babylon - and Monsey, and Toronto, and Boca Raton, and London and Paris- we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. Upon willows we hung our harps because our captors asked of us words of song, and our tormentors joy. How shall we sing HaShem's song on foreign soil?" (Tehillim 137)

Whenever a Jew has finished eating a meal, he sits down and reminds himself that he is a stranger in a strange land. He reminds himself that he was exiled so long ago forcibly from his home. He thanks G-d for the "the desirable, good and spacious Land" that He gave his forefathers. Three times a day, he turns in longing and fervent prayer to Jerusalem and pleads with G-d that "his eyes should behold in mercy [G-d's] return to Zion".

The Jewish people were chosen by G-d to be a holy people living in a holy land. We were chosen in order to bring light, goodness and G-dliness into the world, as evident by Israel's incredible Sanctification of G-d's Name in Haiti. Unfortunately, many Jews do not understand the greatness or the loftiness of our role. They do not know the Jewish people's mission or task. Throughout the long and harsh years of exile, many have forgotten or do not know what it means to be Jewish. They believe that being Jewish is simply a matter of personal conscience comparable to being a Christian or a Buddhist. They do not realize that to be Jewish is to be part of a nation.

In G-d's infinite mercy, He returned sovereignty to the Jewish people over 60 years ago and has begun the process of our Redemption. In His eternal kindness, He has brought the masses of the Jewish people back home. Entire communities en masse have made aliyah and have returned to the Land of Israel. Eastern Europe, Yemen, Morocco, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Russia, practically all of the Jews of the Islamic world, have come back to Israel. The remaining Jews in many small and isolated communities are joining their brethren in Israel. As anti-semitism rises in France and the rest of Europe, many are beginning to come back.

And yet despite 62 years of Jewish independence, a free and prosperous Jewish state boasting one of the world's most flourishing and resilient economy, booming enterprises, a powerful army and plenty of opportunity, close to half of the world's Jews choose to live in exile. When the Jews were trapped and prevented by their gentile persecutors from making aliyah, they wrote songs of longing for Eretz Yisrael. In cellars and dark rooms, in secret, hiding in fear from Romans, Crusaders, the Inquisition, Nazis or Soviets, they declared with complete confidence and faith "Next Year in Jerusalem!". At every Jewish wedding, they crushed a glass (and continue to crush a glass) and pledged: "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem..." Now, however, that the doors of aliyah are wide open and the Land is calling out, ready to take in her long-lost sons and daughters, only a trickle decide to return home.

The Jewish people's destiny is in the Land of Israel. Only in the Land of Israel can the People of Israel achieve their true potential, to live completely Jewish lives, free from interference or insecurity. Many of the Torah's commandments can only be performed there. It is only there where a Jew does not have to live in the unnatural role of minority, with all of the insecurities that accompany it. There he is free of self-consciousness, of the ever nagging "What will the goyim think?" It is there that the Jewish people can build a Jewish society based on Jewish values. It is there that Redemption is not just a dream but a living reality.

In this week's Parsha, G-d brings upon the Plague of Darkness upon the Egyptians. Rashi explains that in that generation there were wicked Jews who did not wish to leave Egypt and that they died during the Plague of Darkness. What is the reason that these Jews did not want to escape the torment and affliction of Egypt? The Midrash Tanchuma provides us the answer: they had Egyptian friends and enjoyed honour and fortune in Egypt. These Jews felt properly at home in the idolatrous and perverse Egyptian culture and did not wish to leave in order to receive G-d's Torah and to settle in the Land of Israel. In our own generation, we see the same phenomenon repeating itself. Many otherwise good Jews, many of whom stringently keep the Torah, are simply too comfortable in the lands of their dispersions. They have their synagogues, schools and communities in Toronto, New York or Los Angeles. They are content to stay in exile and have exchanged Miami for Jerusalem.

The Jewish people must open its eyes and remember that its home is in the Land of Israel. Only there can we fulfill the prophecy that "out of Zion shall come forth Torah, and the Word of G-d from Jerusalem". No matter how comfortable exile is, it is nonetheless a punishment and a curse. A Jew should never be content living as a minority in a strange country. He must remember the lament of the Jews being taken captive to Babylon: "How shall we sing HaShem's song on foreign soil?" May Hashem open the eyes of His people that they return to their own soil, speedily in our days.

For Zion's Sake: The Curse of Exile

Love of the Land: Battle Over The Identity Of Eretz Yisrael

Battle Over The Identity Of Eretz Yisrael

It is still difficult to imagine that even though his passion remains within these words, he is no longer with us.

By Tsafrir Ronen z"l
Written Thursday, May 22, 2008

The historic significance of the rise of settlements since the beginning of Zionism has been not just to restore the Jewish people to Eretz Yisrael, but chiefly to reinstate the Hebrew identify of Eretz Yisrael.

The pioneers who transformed Um Juni to Degania, the first kibbutz in the Holy Land (1910), restored its Hebrew identity. With that act, a parcel of our homeland was conquered. The work brigade that transformed “Ein Jalud” to Ein Harod (1921) restored the Biblical identity from Gidon’s days to the valley. The same goes for the transformation of the hills of “Abu Shusha” to Mishmar HaEmek, and the transformation of “Ja’uni” to “Gai-Oni” (Valley of My Strength), and then to Rosh Pina. Every settlement restored to every abandoned spot in the Land its Biblical, Hebrew identity.

The establishment of Elon Moreh renewed the Israeli identity of Elon Moreh.

The recent fight in Hebron over Jewish settlement in part of Hebron’s Jewish Quarter where Arab squatters had set up a marketplace was not just over the rights of two families. The pioneers of Jewish Hebron understand that this battle is over Hebron’s identity. If Hebron is populated by Jews, Hebron’s identity will be Jewish, and if there are only Arabs in Hebron, then even Hebron’s name will be abandoned in favor of “Al Halil,” the Arabic name. The Left wants an Arabic identity for Hebron. Their hatred for settlement is hatred for the idea of linking Eretz Yisrael and the Jewish people. That is the whole story.

Yet not just Hebron is involved. The Left also does not want any of Judea and Samaria to have a Jewish identity. Their friends in the media continue to label the heart of Eretz Yisrael by foreign names given to it by our people’s enemies, such as “Palestine,” the “West Bank,” the “territories,” and the “occupation.” They’ll call the land of the Bible by every possible name, just not the only name that restores a Jewish identity to our land – Judea and Samaria. The meaning of the name “Judea” is that this is the land of the Jews, and Eretz Yisrael means that this is the land of Yisrael – just as Eire-land is the land of the Eires, Eng-land is the land of the English, and Fin-land is the land of the Finns. They cannot be occupiers of a land named after them. A land’s identity is like the identity of the people inhabiting it. The people of Israel cannot be considered occupiers of the Land of Israel.

Had there been no renewed settlement in Shiloh, Beit El and Elon Moreh, these would have remained abstract Biblical names, in the realm of legend. Settlement created the Land’s identity anew. Settlement restored to these areas their true names, and removed from the Arabic conqueror the false Arabic names. Shiloh recreated Biblical Shiloh. If Judea and Samaria are ever abandoned, they won’t just be abandoned physically but in terms of their identity.

Once more, on all the world’s maps, Eretz Yisrael will no longer be called Eretz Yisrael or Israel, but something else. Surely, until 1967, Judea and Samaria were called “the West Bank of the Kingdom of Jordan.” Israel’s military victory over Jordan restored to them their true Biblical name. If Israel abandons them, the enemy will not call them by their Hebrew name, but by their counterfeit name, Palestine, a name artificially created by the Emperor Hadrian when he subdued the Bar Kochba revolt in his longing to destroy the Jewish identify of Judea.

Hadrian’s curse failed. The name Palestine was abandoned entirely over the years. Already the Crusaders called the land “the Kingdom of Jerusalem.” The Arabic conquest didn’t call the Land by any name whatsoever. It was just Southern Syria. For 1300 years the land lacked any identity, and lacked any people that identified with the Land – except for our people. The anti-Semitic British, halting aliyah and settlement by way of their White Paper, understood what the anti-Semites in our midst understand: settlement restores Jewish identity to the Land.

Every outpost carrying a Hebrew name transforms another section of the Land to Hebrew. The battle is not one of tanks or jets. The battle today is the most decisive battle ever. It is a battle over the identity of the Land. Will the Land carry a counterfeit Arabic or pagan identity, a forged name from the Emperor Hadrian? Or will it have an Israelite, Biblical identity – the true identity of the Land.

Only settlement will restore to the Land its Israeli identity. The Arabs demand that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hand over to them the Land, empty of Jews. As long as there are Jews in Judea, it will be impossible to call it by its counterfeit propaganda name – Palestine. The only thing stopping this government from handing over Eretz Yisrael to the enemy is their inability to destroy Jewish settlement, which meanwhile is stopping the wheels of destruction in Judea. The construction of hundreds of new outposts is the only guarantee that the identity of Eretz Yisrael will be preserved.

The desire to destroy settlements is the desire to destroy the identity of Eretz Yisrael – the land of the people of Israel.






Love of the Land: Battle Over The Identity Of Eretz Yisrael