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Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Bamidbar
- Masei
Translated by Hillel Fendel
The very source of the Torah commandment to settle and live in the Land of Israel is found in this week's Torah portion of Mas'ei [Bamidbar 30,2 - 32,42]: "You shall clear out the Land and settle in it, for I have given you the Land to inherit it" (33,53). This is an important tenet in the teachings of Rav Kook, who adopted the position of the Ramban, that there is a Torah commandment not only to settle in Eretz Yisrael, but also to ensure that the Land is under Jewish control – i.e., to conquer it.
In addition to the basic mitzvah involved, there are many other benefits to settling the Land in terms of other mitzvot and Torah-related areas of sanctity, Israelite nationalism, a Torah atmosphere, saving lives, and more.
We now approach the Nine Days of Mourning, the first nine days of the month of Av [beginning this year on Friday, July 29], in which we mourn as a nation over the destruction of our Holy Temples. It is therefore appropriate to study the following passage by Rav Kook in his work Ein Ayah, his commentary to the well-known Ein Yaakov compendium of Talmudic Aggadot. Rav Kook emphasizes here that Jewish life in the Land of Israel is a life of nature, a life of balance among all the forces of life. Jewish existence without Eretz Yisrael is part of the catastrophe of the Exile.
The Book of Lamentations, which we read aloud on Tisha B'Av, states: "I have forgotten what goodness is" (3,17). The Talmud (Shabbat 25b) explains the various types of physical goodness that this is referring to, such as even just a good shower – but the bottom line is that the curse of Exile is "forgetting the goodness." Rav Kook elaborates:"The content of serene and complete life should be [that in which] all of the most spiritual and abstract demands jibe with the natural inclinations and everything that is natural – to the extent that even men of holiness with all their heart and soul for sanctity and wisdom, will be able to introduce into their souls, with no resistance, the proper functioning of normal life and all the suitable enjoyment that is natural for man, together with the light of wisdom and the holiness of fear of G-d… Nothing of these [natural enjoyments] should block one's uplifting to sanctity… The soul will be able to give everything its proper sustenance…
"But during the times of the Exile and the general turmoil, it is nearly impossible to find a complete and totally healthy soul, and therefore the inclination to the extremes is a necessary result, and the spiritual and material situations necessarily clash with each other." (Ein Ayah, Shabbat, passages 65-66)
That is to say, outside the Land of Israel, our engagement with the physical world comes at the expense of Torah and sanctity. We in fact see that the Torah studied in Exile shuns in an extreme manner many areas of natural life. Only when the Nation of Israel is in the Land of Israel is "normal," natural life enabled – for, in fact, even that which is material and physical is holy. As the Rambam (Maimonides) writes (Laws of Kings 5,10), "The greatest of Sages would kiss the ground of Eretz Yisrael, kiss its stones, and roll around in its dirt – and so says King David (Psalms 102,15), "For Your servants hold her stones dear and cherish her very dust."
Rav Kook further writes (in his Orot Yisrael):
"The revealed unity between the ethical, spiritual and intellectual world, on the one hand, with the material, practical, technical and social world, on the other hand, is expressed in the world by Israel. It is the special characteristic of the Land of Israel to establish in the world the manifestation of this unity – unity that gives a new character to all human culture and all its functions…
"In Eretz Yisrael, it is possible to grasp how the flesh of the Israelite body is holy precisely as much as the holiness of the soul – and there is no great need to frustrate the body from its natural rest, but rather to upraise it…"
In short: Eretz Yisrael is far from being just another geographical location, but rather has ramifications of holiness upon all areas of life.
In order to get articles like this delivered straight to your inbox every week, subscribe to the Israel National Torah newsletter here.
The very source of the Torah commandment to settle and live in the Land of Israel is found in this week's Torah portion of Mas'ei [Bamidbar 30,2 - 32,42]: "You shall clear out the Land and settle in it, for I have given you the Land to inherit it" (33,53). This is an important tenet in the teachings of Rav Kook, who adopted the position of the Ramban, that there is a Torah commandment not only to settle in Eretz Yisrael, but also to ensure that the Land is under Jewish control – i.e., to conquer it.
In addition to the basic mitzvah involved, there are many other benefits to settling the Land in terms of other mitzvot and Torah-related areas of sanctity, Israelite nationalism, a Torah atmosphere, saving lives, and more.
We now approach the Nine Days of Mourning, the first nine days of the month of Av [beginning this year on Friday, July 29], in which we mourn as a nation over the destruction of our Holy Temples. It is therefore appropriate to study the following passage by Rav Kook in his work Ein Ayah, his commentary to the well-known Ein Yaakov compendium of Talmudic Aggadot. Rav Kook emphasizes here that Jewish life in the Land of Israel is a life of nature, a life of balance among all the forces of life. Jewish existence without Eretz Yisrael is part of the catastrophe of the Exile.
The Book of Lamentations, which we read aloud on Tisha B'Av, states: "I have forgotten what goodness is" (3,17). The Talmud (Shabbat 25b) explains the various types of physical goodness that this is referring to, such as even just a good shower – but the bottom line is that the curse of Exile is "forgetting the goodness." Rav Kook elaborates:"The content of serene and complete life should be [that in which] all of the most spiritual and abstract demands jibe with the natural inclinations and everything that is natural – to the extent that even men of holiness with all their heart and soul for sanctity and wisdom, will be able to introduce into their souls, with no resistance, the proper functioning of normal life and all the suitable enjoyment that is natural for man, together with the light of wisdom and the holiness of fear of G-d… Nothing of these [natural enjoyments] should block one's uplifting to sanctity… The soul will be able to give everything its proper sustenance…
"But during the times of the Exile and the general turmoil, it is nearly impossible to find a complete and totally healthy soul, and therefore the inclination to the extremes is a necessary result, and the spiritual and material situations necessarily clash with each other." (Ein Ayah, Shabbat, passages 65-66)
That is to say, outside the Land of Israel, our engagement with the physical world comes at the expense of Torah and sanctity. We in fact see that the Torah studied in Exile shuns in an extreme manner many areas of natural life. Only when the Nation of Israel is in the Land of Israel is "normal," natural life enabled – for, in fact, even that which is material and physical is holy. As the Rambam (Maimonides) writes (Laws of Kings 5,10), "The greatest of Sages would kiss the ground of Eretz Yisrael, kiss its stones, and roll around in its dirt – and so says King David (Psalms 102,15), "For Your servants hold her stones dear and cherish her very dust."
Rav Kook further writes (in his Orot Yisrael):
"The revealed unity between the ethical, spiritual and intellectual world, on the one hand, with the material, practical, technical and social world, on the other hand, is expressed in the world by Israel. It is the special characteristic of the Land of Israel to establish in the world the manifestation of this unity – unity that gives a new character to all human culture and all its functions…
"In Eretz Yisrael, it is possible to grasp how the flesh of the Israelite body is holy precisely as much as the holiness of the soul – and there is no great need to frustrate the body from its natural rest, but rather to upraise it…"
In short: Eretz Yisrael is far from being just another geographical location, but rather has ramifications of holiness upon all areas of life.
In order to get articles like this delivered straight to your inbox every week, subscribe to the Israel National Torah newsletter here.
Rabbi Ari Shvat
Lectures at various yeshivot, michlalot and midrashot. Has published many books & Torani articles and is in charge of Rav Kook’s archives.
Ein Aya Complete G-dliness Doesn't Weaken But Enhances Natural Drives
Ein Aya Shabat Chapter B Paragraph 50
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Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 9 - "Seeing is Believing" (parag. 21-30)
These paragraphs elaborate on the theme that seeing and knowing is better than any attempt to prove logically, and begins explaining the difference between Israel and gentiles.
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Rav Kook examines the various stages of redemption, explaining how (in addition to the obvious oft-mentioned stages of ingathering the exiles, reviving the Hebrew language, army, state etc.) the messianic dream of world prosperity, the State of Israel and world unity can and are realistically and logically gradually coming true.
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How do we know that the "claim" of mass revelation to 2,000,000 witnesses at Mt. Sinai is really true? This important class answers all of the questions skeptics ask about this claim of the Kuzari.
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Rav Kook explains why the world was originally divided into the various seemingly contradicting ideologies and cultures, in order to develop each one respectively. Swords or armies symbolize how each respective ideology defends themselves, as well as deters their opposing ideologies and cultures. On the other hand, the messianic era will be one of peace, and Rav Kook explains the transition to that stage, which mankind is already undergoing.
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The question was asked, how can one make Aliyah with the LGBT parades?
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 7 - Five Accumulative Proofs of G-d
As a preparation for the Kuzari's classic proof of G-d from the mass-revelation at Sinai, we start here with 5 other directions to strengthen our belief which also contribute to what the Kuzari will present as well.
Ein Aya Muscle & Meaning: The Dual Nature of Gevurah (Physical Strength)
Is physical strength and fitness a necessity or an ideal? Although it if often totally overlooked among topics of Judaism, Rav Kook writes that it clearly is also a necessity to deter the many enemies of Israel, but even in Y'mot HaMashiach, in the Messianic era, to a certain extent, it's ideal continues even after our enemies will have been finished off.
