Spiritual and
Ethical Issuesin the B'reishit Stories BEIT YAAKOV IN GALUT [1] "In what way did Moshe fail to sanctify G-d's Name when he smote the rock instead of speaking? In the desert, Israel depended on Hashem's miracles to provide water. Now, however, they were to enter the Promised Land and those open miracles were to cease. Moshe was to teach them that there, when they needed water, they were able to speak, to pray to G-d for it. That characteristic of the Land, Moshe failed to teach and so failed to sanctify His Name" (HaEimek Davar)."Why did Israel's entry into Eretz Yisrael so threaten Balak, that he hired Bilaam not to destroy them but rather solely to prevent that entry? Their entry was neither a military nor political danger to Moav nor its allies, so why the fear? As long as their whole existence was miraculous - food from Heaven, water from Be'er Miriam, protective clouds of glory to satisfy their material needs - they constituted no religious and spiritual threat to Balak's paganism or philosophy. However, with their entry into the Land their well-being - material, political and military - would depend on their work and efforts; no more miracles from Heaven but only Divine Reward and Punishment. Such a religion and faith endangered Balak's world as perhaps then G-d would make human actions a prerequisite for material and political success from the nations of the world" (Shem Mi Shmuel). Time and time again, the Torah warns us that in Eretz Yisrael our material and physical well-being and very existence depends solely on our adhering to G-d's mitzvot. We should be careful not to make the common error that what is involved is only the observance of the mitzvot hateluyot ba'aretz. "How is it that the Torah tells us that the reward for mezuza is the prolonging of our days on the Promised Land, when that is not restricted to the Land but is to be observed anywhere in the world? It is telling us that in chutz la'aretz they are only signs to reminder us of them when we return to the Land" (Rashi, D'varim11:20). Accordingly, Rambam in the codex Yad Chazaka, includes all the mitzvot, those practiced only in Eretz Yizsrael as well as those practiced in the Gola. Since the purpose of all the mitzvot is their observance in their pre-destined place, Eretz Yisrael, it follows that there, reward and punishment lead to safety and prosperity, or to exile. However, our sources clearly tell us that in galut that follows from non-observance, Hashem will keep a remnant alive only because of chesed, because of His promise to the Avot. Secular Zionism is often accused of wanting to make us like all the nations and in this respect of being masters of our own fate, that is true. Where it really differed from the human action orientation of the Torah's view of our life in Eretz Yisrael was that it rejected the corollary teaching that our life in that Land is depended on Divine reward and punishment for those actions. In the Land all is reward and punishment for human actions: How different is our history in the galuyot where human agency is minor so that our material actions have little effect?: "Yaakov and his family descended to Egypt, [not voluntary but] compelled by Divine Decree" (Pesach Haggada). When Yosef wishes to settle them in the ghetto of Goshen, he needs to supplicate the Par'o in order to obtain the right to dwell there. Then he has to restrict their commercial activities to the despised profession of shepherding in order to avoid the military obligations of citizenship. Later, when he wishes to bury his father in Ma'arat Hamachpeila he, the all powerful Viceroy, has to get permission to go from the foreign ruler. Yosef's act in saving Egypt places him in a similar situation to Jews of the future galuyot as applicators of unpopular economic policies on behalf of the gentile authorities; tax farmers, managers of their royal and noble estates and financiers of foreigners wars and pleasures. The act of Israel's enslave- ment is, in human terms, due the familiar scenario of "there arose a new king who forgot Yosef", just like throughout history the contributions of the Jews never saved them. The Exodus only came as the result of Divine Redemption so that throughout, the Torah refers to us being taken out from Egypt; even to Par'o sending us out, but never to us escaping or freeing ourselves. Chanuka and Purim highlight these intrinsic differences between life in Eretz Yisrael, the promised habitat of Israel as a nation- religion which is its essence and specific nature, and galut the severance of that natural existence. On Chanuka, played out in the Land, we say Hallel while on Purim, which occurred in the galut of Persia, we do not. Both have spiritual messages and are religious holidays, yet they are different. One witnessed miracles granted to human agency; Mattityathu and his sons waged a war, captured Yerushalayim and rededicated the Bet Hamikdash in the spiritual struggle between the two philosophies. On Purim, Hashem engineered the plotting of Haman, his threatening of the Jews and his downfall; Mordechai and Esther were merely vehicles of the Divine Plan. [The Parshat Vayigash Homepage]
|
