Almost Eden

BS"D Parashat Korach 5769

It is apparent that the Creator imbedded absolute laws into the affairs of human beings, as He did with the "immutable laws" of nature we find in the various disciplines of nature (physics, chemistry etc.)

One of the "laws" governing human affairs is that no man can bring about two revolutions in his lifetime.

• Noach saved humanity, but then fell into disgrace and did not merit to be the progenitor of the Jewish people.
• Avraham established the Jewish spiritual presence in Eretz Yisrael but was unable to eradicate idolatry from the world.

Follow up:

• Yitzchak showed us the path to mesirat nefesh (the ultimate sacrifice of one's life for the ideals of Judaism) but did not father the twelve tribes which began the nation of Israel.
• Ya’akov established the foundation of the nation through his children but then died in the galut of Egypt.
• Moshe Rabbeinu brought the Jews from Egypt to Mount Sinai to give them the Torah, but he was unable to lead them into the Holy Land.
• King David established the monarchy but was unable to build the Bet HaMikdash.
• King Solomon built the Bet HaMikdash, but laid down the roots of dissent which were to cause the secession of the northern tribes of Yisrael from the southern kingdom of Yehuda.

Another "law" governing human events is that HaShem the Creator gives some people only one opportunity to achieve greatness; and if they fail the opportunity is forever lost for them.

• The Zohar teaches that the perfection of all the universe was dependent on Adam and Chava arriving to Shabbat without sin. They failed their one-time opportunity, and we are still paying the price of that failure.
• In his dream on the Temple Mount, our father Ya’akov was told by HaShem to ascend the ladder; but Ya’akov resisted and so Jewish history took the path that it did.

The exceptions to this rule are Korach and our own Binyamin Netanyahu, for in addition to they being both Levi’im, they have in common the fact that they were awarded two opportunities to have their actions eternally imbedded for good in Jewish history - and they failed both times.

When Korach led his rebellion against Moshe Rabbeinu, accusing him of nepotism on the appointment of Moshe’s brother Aharon as Kohen Gadol (High Priest), Moshe gave Korach two opportunities to publicly retract and apologize for his accusations - on the day of the rebellion and on the following day before the test of truth was initiated. Had Korach done so, he would have been hailed in Jewish history as a man of great character, who was not abashed to repent his sins in public and would be an eternal example for others that the opportunity for teshuva is always available.

Instead, Korach persisted in his opposition to HaShem’s decree regarding Aharon and the nature of the Jewish people in general, until the earth opened its bowels and swallowed him and his followers into Gehennom.

Hashem gave Binyamin Netanyahu, the present Prime Minister of Israel, the unique opportunity to stand before the world’s leaders and tens of millions of people who were attentive to his every utterance and nuance, to declare that the God of Israel, Creator of all mankind, chose the Jewish nation as His own and presented us with the Land of Israel, for all time.

No man before him has had such an opportunity to announce to the world the eternal bond between the God of Israel and His chosen nation in the land of Israel.

What came forth was the pronouncement that the TaNaCh (the Bible which is not universally associated with God) is our historical deed to the land together with the fact that Jews have resided here for over three thousand years. Nevertheless, we will be willing to share the land with our worst enemies and permit them to establish an internationally-recognized demilitarized state.

Our Prime Minister came away from the speech heralded as a shrewd diplomat who was able to crawl out from under Hussein Obama's clutches for the present, but he fell far short from the immense kiddush HaShem (sanctification of God’s name) he could have made in the world.

The pillars of the universe would still be trembling had Binyamin Ha’Levi Netanyahu declared before the world that HaShem, the Creator of all things and people, chose this land to be holy and ordered His chosen nation Israel to live upon the land, defend every grain of it and never relinquish any of it to any gentile.

This is not to condemn the Prime Minister, because except for the limited circle of rabbis to which I belong, most rabbis, even gedolim, would not have the fortitude to proclaim these fundamental beliefs of our people in public. "Sha, Sha - don’t aggravate the already disturbing feelings of anti-Semitism by publicly announcing what we teach our children in schools. Let the goyim continue to believe that Judaism is the liberal torchbearer of human rights, so that we can continue to live among them in the galut." Better to be smart than to be right is the motto.

Every day, Binyamin Ha’Levi Netanyahu is given a second chance to sanctify the name of HaShem. He can, at will, announce to the world that he retracts his agreement to even consider a foreign entity on the soil of Eretz Yisrael. If he would do so, he would find himself and the people in Medinat Yisrael in conflict with most of the world; but the God of Israel, Who has saved us from our formidable enemies of the past, will bring about the realization of the great prophecies that He told our prophets.

HaShem did not return us to Eretz Yisrael in order to become a vassal state of any world power. Our miraculous return is meant to herald in a new era of malchut Shadai - the kingdom of heaven on earth. But it will be so only if we have leaders who are not afraid to state the Torah’s truth, in word and in deed.

It is not anger that I feel towards our Prime Minister. It is pity for the man who was so close to becoming one of Judaism’s greatest leaders, but will have to settle for a picture on the wall with all the other has-been Prime Ministers of Israel.

As matters are evolving today, had the PM made these pronouncements, granted the world would have gone into convulsions at his audacity but very quickly the attention of world leaders would become transfixed on what is now transpiring in Iran and North Korea. This is perhaps HaShem’s way of unknotting our impossible dilemma with a nuclear Iran.

The Midrash Yalkut Shimoni, commenting on the end of the Book of Yeshayahu (#499), states that, in the future, Paras (Persia-Iran) will be the dread of the entire world. The world's leaders will be frustrated in their useless efforts to save what they can, to no avail, and the people of Yisrael will also be petrified by the impending danger. HaShem will say to us, "Why are you afraid? All of this I have done in order to bring you the awaited redemption. And this redemption will not be like the redemption from Egypt, which was followed by suffering. This redemption will be absolute, followed with peace."

What we are witnessing today is the unraveling of a possible revolution in Iran and our release from the noose we feel around our necks.

The God of Israel will forever protect His people Israel. If we only had leaders whose eyes and hearts were open to this simple fact, the redemption of our people would come about so much sooner and without pain.

At the heart of the matter is the question concerning the uniqueness of Eretz Yisrael that bestows upon the land its superior status in the value system of Judaism.

What is behind the RaMBaN’s assertion that HaShem gave us the Torah to be kept in Eretz Yisrael and the commandment to uphold the Torah in the galut in order not to forget the Torah when we return home?

The answer to this question fills volumes, but I will condense it into several sentences.

• Rabbinic writings of the last 1500 years - such as Rashi, Tosafot and Rambam - are a perush (clarification and elucidation) of the Gemara.
• The Gemara, in turn, is a perush of the Mishna.
• The Mishna is a perush of the Written Torah, without which we could not extract the intricacies of the Torah's mitzvot.
• The Written Torah itself is a perush of Eretz Yisrael, for without it we would not know what HaShem requires us to do here. What is the purpose of the mount called the Temple Mount? How and when are we to plow and plant, and to present the various tithes, and so on through the whole gamut of human experience in the land?
• And Eretz Yisrael is a perush of Olam Haba (the world to come), for whoever understands the secrets of the land will understand the world to come.

Mr. Binyamin Netanyahu, what part of the world to come are you willing to part with when dismembering a portion of the Holy Land?

Shabbat Shalom
Nachman Kahana
Copyright © 2009 Nachman Kahana