Why are the nations in an uproar?
By Harav
Dov Bigon
Israel's rebirth in their land, from start to finish, was foreseen
by the prophets and sages of Israel. As the
Prophet Ezekiel
states, "I will take the children of Israel from among the nations…
and bring them into their own land" (Ezekiel
37:21). We have indeed
been privileged to see millions of Jews gathering together in their
land.
Ezekiel also says, "And I
will sprinkle clean water upon you, and
you shall be clean. A new heart also will I give you, and a new
spirit will I put within you"
(Ezekiel 36:25-26). Thank G-d, we have
merited to see a great movement of return to Jewish roots. The
number of people studying Torah
is rising into the tens of
thousands, and there are many hundreds of Torah institutions and
thousands of synagogues throughout the
land. And we are only at the
beginning of our path. As the process of rebirth continues, the
unity of Israel will be more and more
revealed: "I shall make them
one nation in the Land" (Ezekiel 37:22).
Our sages as well describe the end of the exile:
"Rabbi Abba said: We have no more open sign of the end of days than
this: `But you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot forth
your
branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel, for they are at
hand to come' (Ezekiel 36:8)." (Sanhedrin 98a).
As
Rashi there explains, when the Land bears its crops in abundance,
the end of days will be near, and we have no more open sign of the
end of days than that.
How fortunate we are that we have merited to see obvious signs of
redemption, the ingathering of the exiles
and the flourishing of our
land!
Yet immediately after this remarkable vision, Ezekiel mentions the
War of Gog and Magog. At
that time, the nations of the world will
mass together with the purpose of conquering Jerusalem:
"You shall say, `I will go up
against the land of unwalled
villages... to turn your hand against the waste places that are now
inhabited, and against the people that
are gathered out of the
nations... and you shall come up against My people Israel, as a
cloud to cover the land" (Ezekiel 38:11,12,16).
The results of that war are well-known. Israel, with G-d's help,
will win a resounding victory, and through such means, "I will
be
magnified and sanctified, and I will make Myself known in the eyes
of many nations, and they shall know that I am the L-rd" (verse
23).
It was based on this that the Jewish People developed the custom of
beginning Kaddish with the words, "Magnified and sanctified be
G-d's
great name," thus expressing absolute faith in Israel's victory.
Today, we are seeing clearly the ingathering of millions of
Jews,
may their numbers increase. The Land is being transformed into a
flourishing, developing garden. At the same time, we face
pressures
and threats from the nations, including the United States and
Europe, a threat from the Arab nations, and a war of terror
being
waged by the Arabs in our own land. All of these serve as a reminder
of the verse, "you shall come up against My people Israel,
as a
cloud to cover the land."
It is true that we believe fully that those threats will quickly
dissipate like a cloud as
well. At the same time, however, we must
ourselves become stronger, and we must strengthen the nation's
spirit, and the spirit of the
Israeli government, so that they can
confront our enemies and oppressors.
We have to learn and be aware of why we established
the State of
Israel. It is not just a haven and solution for the Jews' distress,
but a means towards Israel's rebirth in their land.
It is the source
of all of mankind's hope for full redemption, for increasing the
light of faith and love, joy and peace in the world.
Every clod of
earth, every grain of sand in Eretz Yisrael adds light to the world.
Ours is a war between the children of light and the
children of
darkness.
The nations and the Arabs are waging a war against us that will
fail. As it says in Psalms, "Why are
the nations in an uproar? Why
do the peoples mutter in vain... against the L-rd and against His
anointed?" (Psalm 2:1). We will not
succeed through "disengaging,"
giving up or surrendering. Quite the opposite, through attaching
ourselves to our Torah, our land and
our people we will merit
complete redemption speedily in our day, Amen.
Looking forward to complete salvation,
Harav Dov
Bigon
