This Shabbos we discussed the great Mitzvah of going to Israel. There is a positive Torah commandment to live in Israel. We discussed the idea that it is better to live in a village in Israel where they worship idols, than anywhere outside of Israel. We discussed the practice of tearing our clothing in mourning, when we are in exile and not part of the leadership of our communities.
Hashem promises Abraham the land of Israel for the Jews. Eventually Joshua conquers the land, but the Jews get sent into exile when the Romans take over. Although some Jews may have remained, we were in exile until 1948 when Israel gained its independence. David talked about how much progress we have made since independence in 1948. Today there are more Jews living in Israel than anywhere else. Many families are making Aliyah. And Israel supports Jewish people throughout the world.
We talked about the holiday of Yom Ha’atzmaut that we celebrate to commemorate the establishment of the State of Israel. We talked about how we have to thank Hashem for miracles, if we want more miracles which is why many Jews say the Hallel prayers as part of Yom Ha’atzmaut services, and on other holidays. It took a long time to set up Yom Ha’atzmaut as a holiday, as Jews are more interested in the long term and act slowly to declare a new holiday based on current events.
We discussed some of the specifics of this holiday. It is not a Torah holiday so we are allowed, and do move it when it interferes with Shabbos. This is unlike holidays such as Rosh Hashanah, which can fall on a Shabbos, in which case all we can do is refrain from blowing the shofar.
We did discuss that there are a minority of Jews who think we should be waiting for the Masiah to give us Israel rather than having fought a war of independence and acquiring the land on our own. Others believe that the coming of the Masiah is a gradual process and does not happen all at once, and that the creation of Israel is part of that process.
The Jews were in agreement with the land of Israel as given to them, and did not intend to be greedy and conquer more land, however there was also an agreement that other nations would recognize and respect Israel as an independent nation. David talked about how his father would say the other nations did not keep their side of the deal an attacked Israel, so we do not have to, and should not keep our side of the deal either. Given that other nations are a threat to us, we have a right and responsibility to do what is necessary to defend ourselves. We discussed this idea in contract law about what happens when a party does not follow what it has agreed to do, and whether or not the other party has to follow through on its obligations.
Yaki talked about how our spiritual and physical health can affect each other. When we are spiritually unhealthy, for example by talking about and judging others, it can show up as physical ailments such as leprosey and other skin diseases.
Finally we discussed the holiday of Lag B Omer which is coming up. This is celebrated on the 33 day of the Omer. All mourning is suspended on this day. It is believed that Rabbi Akiva’s students stopped passing away on this day.
This is a summary of what we discussed this Shabbos. No Halachic rulings are intended or should be inferred.
This is a summary of what we discussed this Shabbos. No Halachic rulings are intended or should be inferred.
2 comments:
Clarification on the issue of tearing clothing: Tearing one’s clothing (“K’ri’ah”) is a standard mourning practice and is mandated when one sees or hears about the passing of a close relative. Our sages also applied this practice to anyone who sees Jerusalem or the cities of Judea in their destruction. Many Jews perform K’ri’ah when they arrive in the Old City of Jerusalem, based on the fact that the Beit HaMikdash is still in its state of destruction.
The text we are studying, P’ninei Halacha by R. Eliezer Melamed, cites the Beit Yosef and the Ba”Ch, who felt that the practice of K’ri’ah depends on the definition of “destruction.” Their view was that the status of destruction was dependent on sovereignty over the Land of Israel. If Jews are sovereign, then the status of destruction, and hence the procedure of K’ri’ah, does not apply. This lends support to the view that Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel is religiously significant.
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