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By Moshe Burt
This 2nd Parsha HaShevua takes some of the points from the original, brings additional points and wings it as to the modern-day Matzav.
“Hashem said to Avram, Go for yourself from your land … to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation…” (Breish’t, Perek 12, posukim 1 & 2) Lech Lecha, the “Aliyah Parsha.”
Rashi writes on the posukim;
“For your benefit and good. It is there that I will make you a great nation …” (Rashi on Breish’t, Perek 12, posuk 1)
Sefat Emet asks;
“If G’d Himself promised… that the move would be for his good and his benefit, why should this have been such a great test?” It seems that it was exactly because of Hashem’s promise to him that the test was of greater magnitude because when Avram actually went, he did so “as Hashem had spoken to him.” (Breish’t Perek 12, posuk 4)
“In other words, he went purely because he had been told to do so by G’d, without any intention of deriving any benefit from his actions. The test… was whether, after all of these promises, he would still be able to fulfill G’d’s will without even the hint of any desire for any benefit for himself.” (Quotes attributed to Sefat Emet, Torah Gems, Aharon Yaakov Greenberg, Parsha Lech Lecha, pge 97)
The Midrash Says, by Rabbi Moshe Weissman (Parsha Lech Lecha, pages 128-129) provides insight as to the principles and morals of Avraham Aveinu.
Torah tells that Hashem blessed Avraham when He told him Lech Lecha. Avraham was promised wealth and power, the ability to bless those he wished to bless as well as fame in the world. So, after all of the blessings and promises bestowed by Hashem, Avraham had one objection to leaving Charan in Ur Chasdim; Kibud Av V’Eim –“How can I leave my father?”
Avraham never asked where he was going, how long the trip was, how he would earn a living — his only concern was not for himself, but for his father and Chillul Hashem which would result from what he saw as a lack of respect for his father.
To this Hashem replied;
“I exempt you from the obligation to honor your father… You may leave him. Your father and brothers who appear to befriend you in reality scheme against you, They have in mind to kill you.”
Like Avraham, whose main concern when he got the call — to make Aliyah — was “How can I leave my father?”, those who make Aliyah do so, having heard the call, while recognizing the difficulties involved in leaving familiar surroundings and venturing into the unknown; i.e. lesser lifestyle, less material possessions and riches, abusive and indifferent bureaucracies on all levels, a government whose actions are far from Jewish and lacking all truth and candor, low earnings, high taxation, a personal/business ethic where commitments such as employee salaries, business/personal financial obligations, etc. are often not fulfilled on time, or for that matter, not for months or years later. These all lend to worsen the over-all economic morass.
But those who have made, or have committed to making Aliyah have heard the call and heeded it recognizing that the ultimate fulfillment of a Jew’s potential for mitzvot, of chessed, of tefillah, of Ahavat Yisrael can only occur here in Eretz Yisrael, in experiencing the closest of closeness to Hashem.
For many of us born in the “enlightened” 20th century, our grandparents emigrated from Eastern European dictatorships. The Jews of Eastern Europe held stubbornly to the uniqueness of our Religious/Spiritual/ National purpose throughout the dispersion up to the turn of the 20th century. We, who were born in the 20th century were born in or resided in a land, a nation which “killed us with love.” Our first allegiance, we perceived, was to the nation of residence as was inculcated into our learning and our lives either through the educational system or via peer group pressure. And so, many have lost track of why they exist and perceive Eretz Yisrael as a fantasy, as not the “real world.”
Therefore, the Jewish People’s unique status as a spiritual religion, culture and nation based on our divine legacy of the Land of Israel became subserviant to allegiance to the sovereignty of one’s residence. This allegiance to the land of one’s birth or residence necessarily meant that he must assimilate — melt into the mass of population, be like everyone else thereby losing his separate, distinct, multi-dimensional Jewish heritage lest he be seen as holding dual-loyalties.
But our connection with G’d is strongest when we live in Israel where there a direct, unhindered connection to the divine presence. There are Torah commentators who say that the Mitzvah of Yishuv Eretz Yisroel is equal to all of the 613 Mitzvot. The commentator Rashi, who expounds on the words of Torah, says that performing Mitzvot in Galut is considered merely a rehearsal for performing them in Eretz Yisroel. In Israel, It’s the “Big Leagues”, “Showtime”, the “Real Deal”, the “Whole Enchilada” for performance of Mitzvot.
But because many didn’t hear, or feel, or were oblivious, or didn’t heed the call, the US — home to the vast majority of Jews in Chutz L’Aretz — now has a president inately hostile to Jews and Israel (despite the support of the mass majority of “liberal” Jews). American Jews, by and large, have not caught up with who Obama’s friends, associates, advisors are (i.e. terrorists like Ayers or Khalidi, ACORN, Khalid al-Mansour — adviser to a Saudi billionaire and royal family and financier of Arab Moslem terror, prominent attorney Percy Sutton — counsel for Malcolm-X — who pulled strings for Obama at Harvard, etc.). Many may still not hear the call as time goes on and, in the end, could Chas V’Chalilla have to flee to israel “on the run” to escape, as those lucky enough to escape Europe did — with barely any possessions and after the loss of entire families and loved ones.
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, of Blessed Memory, beautifully expressed Yishuv Eretz Yisroel when he penned an English translation to the Hebrew prayer of “V’HaSheiv Kohanim”, a section of the Mussaf tefilla on Yom Tov — “Restore the Kohanim to their service…” It reads in part, “Return again, return again, return to the Land of your soul. Return to who you are, return to what you are, return to where you are born and reborn again….”
May we, the B’nai Yisrael be zocha that our brethren — the refugee families from Gush Katif be permanently settled and be made totally whole, that our dear brother Jonathan Pollard, captive Gilad Shalit and the other MIAs be liberated alive returned to us in ways befitting Al Kiddush Hashem and that we fulfill Hashem’s blueprint of B’nai Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha to see the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, as Dov Shurin sings; “Yom Hashem V’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bim hay v’yameinu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!
Good Shabbos!
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Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of the Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.
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