IDF VICTORIES= BENTCHING= G-D'S RIGHTEOUSNESS- Parshat Ekev | Rabbi Ari Shvat | Beit Midrash

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Parashat Hashavua Series'Library Piskei Din (Hebrew)Test Yourself

Almost every day we fulfill the mitzvah of bentching after meals of bread (some, like Rif, Ramban, Rashba etc. say that Al HaMichya is also m'doraita- if you haven't learned my tune yet, just Google: Al HaMichya Tune and it's the first one that comes up (in conjunction with Ephraim Naiman)!). The source is this week's parsha: "ואכלת ושבעת וברכת את ד' אלקיך על הארץ הטובה אשר נתן לך", "You shall eat, be satisfied and bless Hashem your G-d for the great Land which He gave you" (Bamidbar 8, 10). We must remember each time, and teach our children as well, the simple meaning of this mitzvah is that we must remember to thank Him, not only for the food, but for the Land of Israel which He gave us.
In fact, the halacha (Brachot 49a; Shulchan Aruch Or.Ch. 187) is that if one bentches and forgot to thank Hashem for the covenant which He granted our fore-fathers to give us the Land of Israel forever, he must even go back and bentch again, for that's the essence!
Every day in the morning psukei d'zimra we also say: "...וכרות עמו הברית לתת את ארץ הכנעני החיתי האמורי והפרזי והיבוסי והגרגשי לתת לזרעו, ותקם את דבריך כי צדיק אתה", "… and You made the covenant with him (Avraham) to give the Land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give to his descendants, and You KEPT YOUR WORDS, for You are RIGHTEOUS" (Nechemya 9, 8).
For 2,000 years of Galut, G-d's righteousness was not visible in this Biblical and liturgical context, for as if it were, He did not "keep His word". Reminiscing about some ancient event of what used to be, would hardly show His righteousness in the present! On the other hand, the 2nd Kuzari (written about 300 years ago by Rabbi David Nieto, based on the Q & A framework of R. Yehuda HaLevy's classic, iii, 94-96) explains that when Hashem does us kindness and victory over our enemies, one of the reasons He does so is so that we should praise and thank Him. This Torah pasuk is just one more source in the Torah for the obligation to say Hallel on Yom HaAtzma'ut and on Yom Yerushalayim (for the 6 Day War) for giving us the Land of Israel, and for thanking Hashem for each and every victory, from the "Pager Attack", to setting back Iran's nuclear program. When my relatives in Williamsburg & how much more so Neturei Karta, deny and don't thank Hashem on Israel Independence Day and Yom Yerushalayim & don't participate in Israel's celebrations this year, they are that much less religious and unfortunately don't see "G-d's righteousness" and keeping His word to us! Yes, G-d is alive and well and still "the G-d of Israel".
Similarly, regarding our present day Gathering of the Exiles which sees most (!) of the Jewish People (except just those who choose not to participate…) already regathered to Israel, we say in the long Tachanun every Mon. & Thurs., "הושיענו ד' אלקינו וקבצנו מן הגוים להודות לשם קדשך להשתבח בתהילתך", "Save us, O Lord, our God, and GATHER us from the nations, to give thanks to Your holy Name, to boast with Your praise" (Tehillim 106, 47). When my relatives in Williamsburg & Meah Shearim deny and don't thank Hashem for Zionism and our modern national return to Eretz Yisrael, they are that much less religious, and that much less praising Hashem and recognizing that He, not the UN, runs the world!
The Mesilat Yesharim (ch. 19, THE classic mussar work) quotes chazal (Tana d'Bei Eliahu, 4), "Every wise person.. who has true words of Torah, and moans for the honor of G-d and the honor of Israel his entire life, desires… the redemption and gathering of the exiles… for through her will come the heightening of G-d's Name". To be a religious-Zionist is to be more religious.
In short, I think if the Yeshiva world would learn more Tanach or even focus more on the siddur, davening, bentching & mussar, they could not help but be that much more religious by being religious-Zionists, and they wouldn't even have to call it by that term! Just call yourself: serious & authentically religious.
In short, why wait for Yom HaAtzmaut? Don't even wait to celebrate every victory that Hashem brings the IDF. Thank, celebrate and appreciate them and Him every time you bentch or say "Al HaMichya", as is explicit in this week's parsha!
Shabbat Shalom, Rav Ari Shvat (Chwat)

Ekev