Wednesday, October 18, 2023

Our Beloved Is STILL Knocking!

Eight years ago, in the midst of a night of the terrors of Majdanek, Treblinka, and Buchenwald; in ‎a ‎night of gas chambers and crematoria; in a night of total divine self concealment; in a night ruled ‎by ‎the devil of doubt and destruction who sought to sweep the Lover from her own tent into ‎the ‎Catholic Church; in a night of continuous searching for the Beloved — on that very night ‎the ‎Beloved appeared. The Almighty, who was hiding in His splendid sanctum, suddenly appeared ‎and ‎began to beckon at the tent of the Lover, who tossed and turned on her bed beset by ‎convulsions ‎and the agonies of hell. Because of the beating and knocking at the door of the ‎mournful Lover, ‎the State of Israel was born.‎ 

How many times did the Beloved knock on the door of the Lover? It appears to me that we ‎can ‎count at least six knocks.‎ 

First, the knock of the Beloved was heard in the political arena. From the point of view ‎of ‎international relations, no one will deny that the rebirth of the State of Israel, in a political ‎sense, ‎was an almost supernatural occurrence. Both Russia and the Western nations supported ‎the ‎establishment of the State of Israel. This was perhaps the one resolution on which East and ‎West ‎concurred [during the Cold War era]. I am inclined to believe that the United Nations was ‎especially ‎created for this end — for the sake of fulfilling the mission that Divine Providence had ‎placed upon ‎it. It appears to me that one cannot point to any other concrete accomplishment on ‎the part of the ‎United Nations. Our Rabbis of blessed memory already expressed this view: At ‎times rain falls on ‎account of one individual and for one blade of grass (Breishit Rabbah 66:2). I do ‎not know who the ‎representatives of the press, with their human eyes, saw to be the chairman in ‎that fateful session ‎of the General Assembly in which the creation of the State of Israel was ‎decided, but he who ‎looked carefully with his spiritual eye saw the true Chairman who conducted ‎the proceedings — ‎the Beloved. He knocked with his gavel on the lectern. Do we not interpret the ‎passage “On that ‎night the king could not sleep” (Esther 6:1) as meaning that the King of ‎the ‎Universe could not sleep? If Ahasuerus alone had been sleepless, the matter would not ‎have ‎been at all important and salvation would not have arisen on that night. If, however, the King, ‎the ‎Master of the Universe, could not sleep, as it were, redemption would be born. If just ‎anyone ‎were to have opened the session of the United Nations, the State of Israel would not have ‎been ‎born. But it was the Beloved who rapped on the Chairman’s lectern, and the miracle ‎materialized. ‎Listen! My Beloved Knocks!‎ 

Second, the knock of the Beloved was heard on the battlefield. The tiny defense forces of ‎‎[the ‎State of] Israel defeated the mighty Arab armies. The miracle of “the many delivered into ‎the ‎hands of the few” materialized before our eyes, and an even greater miracle happened! ‎God ‎hardened the heart of Ishmael and commanded him to go into battle against the State of ‎Israel. ‎Had the Arabs not declared war on Israel and instead supported the Partition Plan, the State ‎of ‎Israel would have remained without Jerusalem, without a major portion of the Galilee, ‎and ‎without some areas of the Negev. If thousands of years ago Pharaoh had allowed the children ‎of ‎Israel to leave immediately, as Moses had originally requested, Moses would have been bound ‎by ‎his word to return in three days. Pharaoh, however, hardened his heart and did not listen ‎to ‎Moses. “The Holy One then took Israel out with a mighty hand and by an outstretched ‎arm” ‎‎(Deuteronomy 4:34). Consequently, the force of the promise [that the children of Israel ‎would ‎return to Egypt] was vitiated. No contract that is based upon mutuality of promise binds one ‎side if ‎the other party refuses to fulfill its obligations. Listen! My Beloved Knocks!‎ 

Third, the Beloved also began to knock on the door of the tent of theology, and possibly this is ‎the ‎strongest beckoning. I have, on several occasions, emphasized in my remarks concerning the ‎Land ‎of Israel that the theological arguments of Christian theologians to the effect that the Holy ‎One has ‎taken away from the Community of Israel its rights to the Land of Israel, and that all of the ‎biblical ‎promises relating to Zion and Jerusalem now refer in an allegorical sense to Christianity and ‎the ‎Christian Church, were all publicly shown to be false, baseless contentions by the ‎establishment of ‎the State of Israel. One must have a broad familiarity with theological literature ‎from the time of ‎Justin Martyr down to the theologians of our own day to comprehend the full ‎extent of this marvel ‎by which the central axiom of Christian theology was shattered. We should ‎pay careful attention to ‎the learned explanation of our Secretary of State, Mr. Dulles (who served ‎as the deacon of an ‎Episcopalian Church), to a Committee of the United States Senate that the ‎Arabs hate the Jews ‎because they killed the founder of their religion. This “explanation” possesses ‎hidden and deep ‎symbolic significance. I am not a psychiatrist and surely not a psychoanalyst, but I ‎know how to ‎study Talmud, and I remember well what our Rabbis of blessed memory said about ‎Balaam: “from ‎his blessings  …  you may learn what was in his heart” (TB Sanhedrin 105b). ‎Sometimes, when a ‎person speaks too much, something of the truth slips out. When one of the ‎Senators asked the ‎Secretary of State, “Why do the Arabs hate the Jews?” he really wanted to ‎answer, “Personally, I ‎too, as a Christian, have no great love for them, because they killed our ‎messiah and consequently ‎forfeited their portion of Abraham’s heritage.” An angel sat in the ‎throat of the Secretary, or a ‎hook was put into it (as in the exegesis of the Rabbis of blessed ‎memory on the phrase “and God ‎put a word in Balaam’s mouth” [Numbers 23:5, TB Sotah 10a], ‎‎“[i.e.] he put a hook in his mouth”), ‎and instead of saying, “Our Lord” and “for myself,” he let other ‎words slip out, the “Arabs” and ‎‎“Mohammed.” In his subconscious he was terrified of the “awful” ‎fact that the Community of ‎Israel rules over Zion and Jerusalem. I find satisfaction in reading about ‎the State of Israel in the ‎Catholic and Protestant newspapers. Despite themselves they must ‎mention the name of Israel ‎when they report the news of Zion and Jerusalem, which we possess. I ‎always have a special sense ‎of satisfaction when I read in the paper that Israel’s reaction is not as ‎yet known because today is ‎Saturday and government offices are closed or when I read, on the ‎eve of Passover, an item from ‎the United Press that “Jews will sit down tonight to the seder table ‎in the hope that the miracles of ‎Egypt will return and recur today.” Listen! My Beloved Knocks!‎ 

Fourth, the Beloved knocks in the heart of the youth which is assimilated and perplexed. ‎The ‎period of  hester panim in the 1940’s brought confusion among the Jewish masses ‎and ‎especially Jewish youth. Assimilation increased, and the urge to flee from Judaism and the ‎Jewish ‎people reached its apex. Fear, despair, and ignorance caused many to forsake the ‎Jewish ‎community and “climb aboard the ship,” to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord ‎‎(Jonah ‎‎1:3), just as Jonah sought to flee God’s presence. A seemingly unstoppable tidal wave ‎stood over ‎us and threatened to destroy us. Suddenly, the Beloved began to beckon to the hearts ‎of the ‎perplexed, and His beckoning, the establishment of the State of Israel, at least slowed the ‎process ‎of flight. Many who were once alienated are now bound to the Jewish State with ties of ‎pride in its ‎mighty accomplishments. Many American Jews who were partially assimilated find ‎themselves ‎beset by hidden fear and concern for any crisis that the State of Israel is at the time ‎passing ‎through, and they pray for its well-being and welfare even though they are far from being ‎totally ‎committed to it. Even Jews who are hostile to the State of Israel must defend themselves ‎from the ‎strange charge of dual-loyalty and proclaim daily and declare that they have no stake in ‎the Holy ‎Land. It is good for a Jew when he cannot ignore his Jewishness and is obliged to ‎perpetually ‎answer the questions “Who are you?” and “What is your occupation?” (Jonah 1:8), ‎even when ‎extraordinary fear grips him and he does not have the strength or fortitude to answer ‎with true ‎pride, “I am a Jew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven” (Jonah 1:9). The unrelenting ‎question ‎of, “Who are you?” ties him to the Jewish people.‎ 

The very mention of the name Israel is a reminder to the fleeing Jew that he cannot escape ‎from ‎the community of Israel in whose midst he has been enmeshed from birth. Everywhere we ‎turn ‎we hear the name “Israel.” When we listen to a radio station, when we open a paper, when ‎we ‎participate in a debate on current events, we encounter the question of Israel; it is always a ‎topic ‎of public concern.‎ 

This phenomenon is extremely important for Jews who are afflicted with self-hatred and want ‎to ‎turn away from Judaism and run for their lives. They hide, like Jonah in his day, in the recesses ‎of ‎the ship (Jonah 1:5) and seek to “slumber” (Jonah 1:5). The Captain, however, does not ‎permit ‎them to ignore their fate. The shadow of Israel continuously chases after them. Random ‎thoughts ‎and paradoxical reflections arise from the subconscious of even the most confirmed ‎assimilationist. ‎And when a Jew begins to think, to reflect, when he is unable to sleep, it is ‎impossible to know ‎where his thoughts will take him and how his doubts will be expressed. Listen! ‎My Beloved ‎Knocks!‎ 

The fifth knock of the Beloved is perhaps the most important. For the first time in the annals of ‎our ‎exile, Divine Providence has amazed our enemies with the astounding discovery that Jewish ‎blood ‎is not cheap! If the antisemites describe this phenomenon as being “an eye for an eye,” we ‎will ‎agree with them. If we want to courageously defend our continued national and ‎historical ‎existence, we must, from time to time, interpret the verse of an “eye for an eye” literally. ‎So many ‎‎“eyes” were lost in the course of our bitter exile because we did not repay hurt for ‎hurt. The ‎time has come for us to fulfill the simple meaning of “an eye for an eye.” (Exodus 21:24) ‎Of course, I ‎am sure everyone recognizes that I am an adherent of the Oral Law, and from my ‎perspective ‎there is no doubt that the verse refers to monetary restitution, as defined by ‎halakhah. However, ‎with respect to the Mufti and Nasser I would demand that we interpret the ‎verse in accordance ‎with its literal meaning — the taking of an actual eye! Pay no attention to the ‎saccharine ‎suggestions of known assimilationists and of some Jewish socialists who stand pat in ‎their ‎rebelliousness and think they are still living in Bialystok, Brest-Litovsk, and Minsk of the year ‎‎1905, ‎and openly declare that revenge is forbidden to the Jewish people in any place, at any time, ‎and ‎under all circumstances. “Vanity of vanities!” (Ecclesiastes 1:2) Revenge is forbidden when it ‎is ‎pointless, but if one is aroused thereby to self-defense, it is the most elementary right of man ‎to ‎take his revenge.‎ 

The Torah has always taught that a man is permitted, indeed, has a sacred obligation, to ‎defend ‎himself. With the verse, “If a burglar is caught in the act of breaking in” (Exodus 22:1), the ‎Torah ‎establishes the halakhah that one may defend not only one’s life but his property as well.7 If ‎the ‎thief who comes to take the property of the householder is capable of killing the ‎householder ‎‎(should the householder not comply with his demands), the householder may rise up ‎against the ‎criminal and kill him. For good reason the Torah relates that two of its great heroes, ‎Abraham and ‎Moses, took sword in hand to defend their brethren: “And when Abraham heard ‎that his kinsman ‎was taken captive, he led forth his retainers” (Genesis 14:14). “And when Moses ‎saw the Egyptian ‎smite a Jew  …  he struck down the Egyptian” (Exodus 2:11–12). This behavior ‎does not contradict ‎the principle of loving-kindness and compassion. On the contrary, a passive ‎position, without self-‎defense, may sometimes lead to the most awesome brutality. “And I will ‎gain honor from Pharaoh, ‎and all his hosts, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians will ‎know that I am the Lord” ‎‎(Exodus 14:17–18). God did not seek honor and recognition. He wanted ‎Pharaoh, Moses’ ‎contemporary, to know that he must pay a high price for his edict that “Every ‎male child born shall ‎be cast into the river” (Exodus 1:22). His present desire is that the blood of ‎Jewish children who ‎were slain as they recited the eighteen benedictions of the daily [Amidah] ‎prayer shall also be ‎avenged. When God smote the Egyptians, He sought to demonstrate that ‎there will always be ‎accountability for the spilling of Jewish blood. At present, it is necessary not ‎only to convince the ‎dictator of Egypt [Nasser], but the self-righteous Nehru, the Foreign Office in ‎London, and the ‎sanctimonious members of the United Nations, that Jewish blood is not cheap. ‎Therefore, how ‎laughable it is when they try to persuade us to rely on the declaration of the three ‎Great Powers ‎guaranteeing the status quo. We all know from experience what value can be ‎attached to the ‎pronouncements of the British Foreign Office and the so-called friendship of ‎certain officials in our ‎State Department. In general, how absurd is the request that an entire ‎people be dependent on ‎the kindnesses of others and remain without the ability to defend itself. ‎Public and private honor is ‎dependent upon the possibility of defending one’s life and one’s honor. ‎A people that cannot ‎defend its freedom and tranquility is neither free nor independent. The third ‎of the phrases of ‎Divine redemption is “And I shall redeem you with an outstretched hand and ‎with great ‎judgments” (Exodus 6:6).Thank God we have lived to see the day when, with the help ‎of God, ‎Jews have it within their power to defend themselves.‎ 

Let us not forget that the poison of Hitlerite anti-Semitism (which made Jews fair game to all) ‎still ‎permeates this generation, which looked with equanimity upon the horrible scene of ‎the ‎suffocation of millions in gas chambers as a normal event that need not be challenged. ‎The ‎antidote for this venom that poisoned minds and dulled hearts is the readiness of the State ‎of ‎Israel to defend the lives of its citizens. Listen! My Beloved Knocks!‎ 

The sixth beckoning, of which we should also not lose sight, was heard at the time of the ‎opening ‎of the gates of the Land of Israel. A Jew escaping from an enemy’s land now knows that ‎he can ‎find refuge in the land of his forefathers. This is a new phenomenon in the annals of our ‎history. ‎Up to now, when a Jewish population was uprooted, it wandered in the wilderness of the ‎nations ‎without finding shelter and habitation. The shutting of the gates in the face of the exiled ‎caused ‎total destruction for much of the Jewish people. Now the situation has changed. When any ‎nation ‎expels its Jewish minority, the exiled now direct their steps to Zion, and she, as a ‎compassionate ‎mother, absorbs them. We are all witnesses to the settlement of Oriental Jewry in ‎Israel over the ‎last several years. Who knows what would have been in store for these brothers of ‎ours in the ‎lands of their origin if not for the State of Israel, which brought them to her in planes ‎and ships? ‎Had Israel been born before the Hitlerian Holocaust, hundreds of thousands of Jews ‎could have ‎been saved from the gas chambers and the crematoria. The miracle of the State tarried ‎somewhat, ‎and in the wake of its delay, thousands and tens of thousands of Jews were taken to ‎the slaughter. ‎Now that the hour of hester panim has passed, however, the possibility ‎exists for Jews who ‎are pried from their homes to take root in the Holy Land. This should not be ‎taken lightly. Listen! ‎My Beloved Knocks!‎  

 חובת יהדות התורה לארץ-ישראל

What was our reaction to the beckoning of the voice of the Beloved, to the munificence of ‎His ‎loving-kindness and miracles? Did we get out of our beds and immediately open the door, or ‎did ‎we continue to rest like the Lover [in the story of the Song of Songs], and were we too lazy to ‎get ‎out of our beds? “I have washed my feet, how shall I soil them?” (Song of Songs 5:3).‎ 

All the trembling and fear for the geographical integrity of the State of Israel, all the suggestions ‎of ‎our enemies which are directed at territorial concessions by the State of Israel, and all of ‎the ‎brazen demands of the Arabs for boundary changes are based on only one fact: the Jews have ‎not ‎populated the Negev and established hundreds of settlements there. Had the Negev been ‎settled ‎with hundreds of thousands of Jews, even Nasser would never have dreamed of the ‎possibility of ‎rending it from the State of Israel. Wide and unpopulated expanses constantly and ‎perpetually ‎endanger the tranquility of the State. The Torah has already emphasized this notion ‎when it states, ‎‎“You shall not be allowed to quickly destroy them, so that the wild animals will not ‎over whelm ‎you” (Exodus 23:29). The fact that the Jews have conquered the Negev is not enough, ‎its ‎settlement is what is important. The great sage Maimonides ruled that the first sanctification of ‎the ‎Land of Israel was not a lasting one because it was the result of a military conquest, which ‎was ‎annulled by the violent attack of an enemy whose army was vast and armaments numerous, ‎who ‎conquered the Land and took it from us. The second sanctification of the land, which was ‎carried ‎out through occupation and settlement by Divine sanction, through toil and sweat, was ‎never ‎annulled.8 The sanctity that is based on the settlement of the Land is, simply stated, for now ‎and for ‎all time! We are terribly guilty for this gross negligence. American Jewry could have ‎certainly ‎accelerated the process of colonization. Yet, why should we examine the faults of others ‎and place ‎the responsibility on the shoulders of nonobservant Jews? Let us admit our own faults ‎and confess ‎to our own derelictions. Among the Jews of America, Orthodox Jews bear the most ‎blame for the ‎slow pace of the conquest of the Land through settlement. It was for us, the loyalists ‎of Judaism, ‎to heed the call of the Beloved more acutely, and to respond to it immediately with ‎extraordinary ‎effort. In commenting on the verse “And I shall lay desolate the land” (Leviticus ‎‎26:32), Rashi states ‎in the name of Midrash Torat Kohanim: “This is a boon to Israel, that its ‎enemies will not ‎find tranquility in its land when it shall be bereft of its true inhabitants.” The Land ‎of Israel cannot ‎be built by any other nation or people. Only the Jewish people have it within their ‎power to settle ‎the Land and make its desolation blossom. The Creator’s promise was turned into a ‎wondrous ‎reality in different periods in the annals of the history of the Land of Israel. We cannot ‎forget even ‎for a moment, that the Land of Israel, like a magnet, attracted the nations of the world ‎‎— both ‎Christians and Muslims. The Crusades in the Middle Ages were undertaken with the ‎purpose of ‎conquering the Land of Israel and populating it with Christians. All the toil of the ‎Crusaders was for ‎naught. They did not strike roots in the Land. Even the indigenous Muslims did ‎not succeed in ‎properly settling the Land. It remained a barren desert, as is said, “And your land ‎shall become a ‎desolation” (Leviticus 26:33). Even in modern times, when European nations, in the ‎seventeenth ‎and eighteenth centuries, settled and populated entire continents, the Land of Israel ‎remained ‎desolate and in a more primitive state than its neighboring Arab lands: Egypt, Syria, and ‎the ‎Lebanon. Had the Land been settled by an industrious, successful, and cultured people, had ‎the ‎Land been properly populated and developed, our attachment to it would have been eroded ‎by ‎the course of events, and no Jewish foot would have trod upon it. Strangers would have eaten ‎its ‎bounty and its fruit, and our rights would have become null and void. However, the Land of ‎Israel ‎did not betray the Jewish people. It was loyal to them, awaiting redemption throughout ‎the ‎years. Logic dictates, then, that when the Jewish community was given the opportunity to ‎return ‎to its Land — which had withheld its treasures from foreigners and stored them for us — ‎Orthodox ‎Jews should have hastened to perform so great a mitzvah, to plunge with joy and ‎enthusiasm into ‎the very midst of this holy work: the building and settling of the Land. However, to ‎our regret, we ‎have not reacted that way. When the “desolate one,” which longingly waited for us ‎from era to ‎era, invited us to come and redeem her from her desolation, and when the Beloved ‎who watched ‎over the desolation for almost nineteen hundred years, and decreed that during this ‎time no tree ‎should grow, and no wells should fructify the Land, beckoned at the door of the ‎Lover, we the ‎Orthodox Jews — the Lover — did not bestir ourselves from our beds to open the ‎door for our ‎Beloved. If we had contiguous settlements throughout the Land from Eilat to Dan, our ‎situation ‎would be very different.‎ 

Let us publicly and frankly confess: we complain about certain Israeli leaders and their ‎attitude ‎toward the values of our tradition and religious practice. The complaints are justified. We ‎have ‎serious charges against the secular leadership of the Land of Israel. However, are only they to ‎be ‎blamed, and are we as faultless and pure as the heavenly angels? Such an assumption is ‎without ‎foundation. We could have extended our influence and done something to shape the ‎spiritual ‎character of the Land if we had but hurried to awaken from our slumber and open the ‎door for the ‎Beloved who is knocking. I fear that we Orthodox Jews are still enveloped in sweet ‎slumber. If we ‎were to establish more religious kibbutzim, if we were to build more housing for ‎religious ‎immigrants, if we were to establish an extensive system of schools, our situation would ‎be ‎completely different. Then there would be no need to come forward with complaints against ‎the ‎leaders of other movements....  Indeed, the loyal ‎Lover is quite ‎splendid, her eyes are like twin doves and her face radiates a beautiful charm (Song ‎of Songs 1:15, ‎‎4:1). She is much fairer than the nonreligious lover. However, beauty is vain and ‎grace is deceptive‎‎ (Proverbs 31:30) if this Lover is stingy and very lazy. “I have removed my cloak, ‎how shall I put it on ‎again?” (Song of Songs 5:3). When one calls a rich Jew and asks him to give to a ‎just cause, he ‎answers, “I am going to Florida, and this year I have decided to stay in a luxury hotel, ‎and I don’t ‎have the wherewithal to give you what you requested.” What did the scholar tell the ‎King of the ‎Khazars? “You have embarrassed me, King of Khazars! …  And our saying ‘worship at His ‎holy hill’ ‎‎[Psalms 99:9] is but the chirping of a starling” (HaKuzari 2:24). Do we not hear in ‎our ‎trembling over the safety and tranquility of the Land of Israel in our day, the beckoning of ‎the ‎Beloved who begs the Lover to let Him in? He has already been beckoning for eight years, and ‎still ‎He has not been properly responded to. Nonetheless, He continues to beckon. To our ‎good ‎fortune, our inherited Land has become more beautiful. The Beloved has not shown the ‎Lover any ‎favoritism, but He has compassion for her. The Beloved beckoned for only a short ‎moment that ‎night and disappeared, yet with us He has exhibited extraordinary patience. It is ‎eight years that ‎He has continued to beckon. Hopefully, we will not miss the opportunity!!‎