Yeshiva
Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Vayikra
- Bechukotai
The Torah study is dedicatedin the memory of
Asher Ben Haim
On the other hand, we see that the Land’s lot is tied up with our welfare as well. Rashi (ibid.:32) explains the pasuk "I shall make the Land desolate" as a favor for Bnei Yisrael, that other nations would not have success with the Land in our absence, apparently in order to make our return easier. The Land, which was commanded at creation to give fruit, remains a wasteland, in deference to a nation that does not even merit staying in the Land. So what does the Land want, and what are its rights?
Perhaps the key to this issue is found in Midrash Rabba (Vayikra 36:5) on the pasuk of remembering the patriarchs and the Land. The midrash compares the situation to that of a king who has three sons who are raised by one of his maids. When the king inquires as to the welfare of the children, he inquires about the maid’s welfare as well. In other words, the Land is the nation’s responsible caregiver, but it does not have special, individual rights. Its prominence comes from its ability to "raise" the nation.
Yet the midrash refers to the maid as "one of his maids." In other words, she was not there for the children to stomp all over. Rather, she represented the king and the extent to which they respected her authority was indicative of the respect the children showed their father, the king. Such is the relationship between Bnei Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael. It is to raise us and we are to respect the boundaries Hashem put on our use of it. If we abuse it or abuse His authority in other ways, the Land will spit us out (see Vayikra 18:25). Yet, Eretz Yisrael will not flourish when the evil children are sent away. Rather, it is set aside for the time that it will be able to raise Bnei Yisrael once again. Any other use of it would be a demotion from its past and future high station.
Let us pray that the reunion between the nation and the Land continue in full force and strengthen, as we use it to better serve our and its Maker.
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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Hosha'ana Rabba FLYDUBAI & HOSHANA RABBA- ANI VAHU HOSHIA NA- I & HIM SAVE US
"Ani vaHu Hoshia Na", "I and Him, Save Us". We don't just pray to Him, but we also pray to and for ourselves that we should emulate and educate our children to have that instinctive altruism with which He created the world. President Trump seemed amused about Yaniv Hayon, our PLUMBER who confidently worked with G-d like Superman (he learned from a pilot on a TV show!) to save 174 lives on the Dubai hijacking, but we in Israel are totally accustomed already 78 years to our plumbers, teachers, garbage-men, rabbis, farmers & doctors being Hashem's shlichim! This is what Zionism is about.
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
P'ninat Mishpat A Non-Contractor in Changing Times – part I
(based on ruling 85128 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Moreshet Shaul Our King on Rosh Hashana, Our Father on Yom Kippur.
Based on Aroch Siach, p. 221 (Rav Shaul Yisraeli)
