Ki Savo - Protecting Israel
“You
shall come to whomever will be the Kohen in those days, and you shall
say to him, ‘I declare today to Hashem, your God, that I have come to
the Land that Hashem swore to our forefathers to give us.”
Deuteronomy 26:3
After
2000 years of wandering the globe, the Jews miraculously have returned
to Eretz Yisroel. All Jews in Israel, at some level of
consciousness, are excited by the following two things:
- Being surrounded by mishpacha, family.
- Living in the miracle of the return of the Jews to the Holy Land.
One
is filled with awe that after a long and hard Golus, what is written in
the Bible is coming true, “In the end, I will bring you back”.
One’s heart overflows with appreciation that the Jews again live in the
land of Avrahom, Yitzchak, Yaacov, Dovid, Shlomo, and the Bais
Hamikdosh. We are amazed at the beauty of the mountains and the
plains, with its holy and bustling cities.
But Israel is
surrounded by very powerful enemies that have a commodity – oil – that
the world needs. So it behooves us to think about what we can do
to win this struggle against our enemies, so we can continue living in
this beautiful and holy land.
As in all aspects of life, we have
to deal with this challenge on both the physical and spiritual
levels. On the physical level, we need a great army and strategy,
and we need a vibrant and creative economy. But in addition to
this physical activity, we should also be active on the spiritual level
to enable us to continue living in Eretz Yisroel.
The second
Brocha of Birchat Hamazon deals with Eretz Yisroel, a land it describes
as Chemda, Tova, Ucharva – desirable, good, and wide. The Gemarah in
Brochas 48b says there are two things that must be mentioned in
this second Brocha: Milah (circumcision) and learning Torah. In fact,
we do mention both Mila and Torah in this Brocha. Rashi explains
that this Brocha about Israel must mention these two things because
it’s from the Zchus - the merit - of Milah and learning Torah, that we
get Eretz Yisroel.
The Shlah, quoting the Zohar, says
something very interesting about this. He says that one reason
that the Jews are in conflict with the Arabs over Israel is because
they also have a form of Milah. Therefore, our main advantage in
our struggle with the Arabs – on a spiritual level – is learning Torah.
This
idea is echoed in the Parsha of Bechuchosai at the end of
Leviticus. It says, “If you go in My paths” you can live in Eretz
Yisroel, and if you don’t “go in My paths”, you will have to leave the
land. Rashi says that this specifically refers to how much we are
“Amelim in Torah”, working hard to learn Torah.
Therefore, both
the Chumash in Bechuchosai and the Gemorah in Brochas make clear that
the merit of living in Israel requires learning Torah. Why is learning
Torah so important for keeping Eretz Yisroel? We will suggest two
reasons.
First, there is a practical reason why learning Torah
helps us stay in the land. To use an analogy, let’s say a person
gets a car. In order to drive the car, the person has to get a
driver's license. Driving without knowing how to drive is
dangerous. People don't have the right to drive a car unless
they know how to drive.
Likewise, living in the holy land of
Israel requires knowledge of how to be a holy people. Every
machine comes with a manual that explains how to use it. The
Bible, along with the explanations of our sages, is the manual of how
to live in a holy land. That is a very practical reason why
learning Torah gives us the right to live in Israel.
There is
another, even more spiritual reason. This second reason explains
why Rashi refers to Amalus (working hard) in Torah. When we work
diligently and fervently at learning Torah, Heaven sees this, and wants
to help us. Heaven then sends down Divine help to clarify what we
want to understand. This Divine help is called Siata Deshmaya,
help from Heaven.
This Divine help is a kind of Shefa, a channel of Brocha. We open up this channel of
Shefa and Brocha by our effort involved in learning Torah. Once this channel
is open, it fills every part of our life. Ask anyone who learns Torah,
and they will tell you how the Shefa that comes from learning Torah is
the greatest thing we can have in life. When the Shefa is
flowing, it can be used in all areas of life – for health, earning a
living, and personal and family peace – whatever we need and
want.
The Talmud in Sotah says that when we pray or do a
Mitzvah, the Shefa comes down only while the we are praying or doing
the Mitzvah. But when we learn Torah, the channel of Shefa
continues to flow even when we are not learning.
Israel
is a special holy land that requires this kind of Shefa, this flowing
of Brocha. And learning Torah opens up the pipe of Shefa and keeps it
flowing.
Living in Israel is at least as complex as
driving a car, and of course we have to learn how to drive in order to
have the right to drive. We have to learn the manual of being a
holy people living in a Holy Land. In addition, this special land
requires a flowing of Shefa that can be achieved by learning
Torah. When we learn Torah, Heaven sends down Shefa to help us
understand what we are learning. This channel of Shefa – that helps us
in all areas of our life – is what we need to live in a holy land.
So
to continue living in Israel, we should do what we can on both the
physical and spiritual levels. Let’s have a great army and economy. And
let’s learn Torah. Learning Torah helps us be a holy people, and
opens up the channel of Shefa, that we need to live in the Holy Land.