DO WE DESERVE REDEMPTION? “Blood, Covenant, and Return”- Parshat VaEra

Beit Midrash

Torah Portion and Tanach
Shmot
Va'era

קטגוריה משנית

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Q. Are we today so much greater than say the Rambam's generation? Why is G-d returning us to Israel & doing so many salvations and victories over Hamas, Hizballah, Syria and Iran in recent years, even if we haven't done Teshuva & don't deserve it?
A. Our sages teach us that our forefathers in Egypt were even pagans (Yalku"Sh Shmot, 234), but Parshat VaEra teaches us that nevertheless, G-d redeemed us. "And also, I established My covenant with them (our forefathers) to give them the Land of Canaan… And I heard the moans of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians enslaved, and I remembered My covenant… And I will take you to Me as a people, and I will be a God to you… I will bring you to the Land, which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and I will give it to you as a heritage; I am the Lord.'". 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… to give to his descendants, and You KEPT YOUR WORDS, for You are RIGHTEOUS" (Nechemya 9, 8). Of course He will keep His promise, it's just a question, when.
Similarly, we say every day in the Amida, that G-d will redeem us unconditionally for 3 reasons: "ומביא גואל לבני בניהם למען שמו באהבה": a. "For the descendants of our fore-fathers", for He had made a covenant with them that we are the Chosen and Eternal People and will receive the Land of Israel forever. b. "for the sake of His Name", that even if we chose not to do teshuva, Hashem must redeem us because exile is a terrible Chilul Hashem and bad reflection upon Him ("Can He not redeem His people?!"). c. "With love", He loves us and didn't want to send us to exile in the first place. Even if we don't deserve it, G-d is redeeming His children, just like He did from Egypt.
How much more so, when we DO keep our covenant, "And I will give you and your descendants… the entire land of Canaan for an everlasting possession… This is My covenant, which you shall observe between us and your descendants, that every male among you be circumcised…" (Breishit 17). True, in Egypt our fore-fathers neglected circumcision (Shmot Rabba 19, 5), but today, when even when many Jews are non-observant, surprisingly one of the minimal mitzvot almost all observe is circumcision. In fact, the Ramban (Shir HaShirim, 8), learns from the pasuk: "You too-with the blood of your covenant I have freed your prisoners" (Zecharia 9, 11), alludes here to the [period of] footsteps of Mashiach, when the generation will be totally guilty and Torah will be forgotten from Israel, and there will be abundant chutzpah… and will only have the MERIT of the mitzvah of circumcision".
In addition, how can anyone say that Israel doesn't have great merits?! So many millions gave their lives over history, e.g. in the Holocaust where our only "crime" was just being Jewish. If so many Jews, including innocent children and babies, suffered just because of being Jews, it totally makes sense and is actually "just", that we should also gain just because of our being Jews.
How much more so over the past two years when so many soldiers and civilians actually chose to endanger their very lives in order to save other Jews! This is also the BLOOD OF OUR COVENANT, where our altruistic Father (Who gives without getting anything in return, for He lacks nothing) cannot but be blown away by our ALTRUISM. I personally heard from R. Shlomo Zalman Aurbach's regular taxi driver, that R. ShZ often said that the holiest people in the world are the boys buried in the military cemetery on Mt. Herzl, and that's where he would go to daven by "Kivrei Tzadikim" (graves of the righteous, based on Bava Batra 10b).
I was once asked to be a Sandak & hold the baby at a BRIS which took place precisely between Yom HaShoa & Yom HaZikaron. As the mohel was "cleaning up" the blood, I understood the depth of what we had just recited at the Pesach Seder and again there at the circumcision, "ואומר לך בדמייך חיי ואומר לך בדמייך חיי" (Yechezkel 16, 6), Yechezkel is told that Hashem feels sorry for the weak & fledgling Israel, and when coming to redeem and wash us off, tells us twice "And I… saw you downtrodden with your bloods, and I said to you, 'With your bloods, live,' and I said to you, 'With your bloods, live.'. What does it mean that through our bloods (in plural) we shall live, and why is this repeated twice?
It "hit me" that this is stressing both types of blood, that of Yom HaShoah (where our blood was spilled involuntarily, but brought us to realize we need a State), and Yom HaZikaron, when we altruistically gave our blood voluntarily on the battle field for that State. Both types of these ultimate sacrifices surely deem Israel meritorious. G-d's redeeming us is not just undeserved, but also a NATURAL & WELL-DESERVED OUTCOME of our ultimate LOVE FOR HIM and HIS NATION Israel.
In addition, a poll released in November by the Jewish People Policy Institute found that 27% of Israelis have increased their observance of religious customs since the war began. Roughly a third of Jewish Israelis say they are praying more frequently than before the war, and about 20% report reading the Tanach or psalms more often. This is all what's called: Teshuva!

Va'era