Words of Torah from the Front Lines of
the IDF
(Introdcution: I received the following from a friend who has been serving in tzahal since
pesach 2003- his intense love
for eretz yisroel burns strong, he wanted it
passed along to as many jews as possible, thanks- Sorah)
So here's a little Torat
Ha'aretz: You know the roshei teivot of Elul
right? Ani LeDodi VeDodi Li. So it's a strange thing because chazal say
that we're
approaching a serious time of din . So we gotta get all strict
and serious. No time for the lovy-dovy stuff right. But let's go back a
step. Elul is coming off Av, a pretty rough month, bad mazal for Yisrael.
And as we're rolling in the ashes chazal tell us that in a
week is Geula Tu
BeAv, yontiff. And at our darkest hour they whisper, mashiach is born, now
in the flames. And chatzot Tisha BeAv we
are already getting back on our
feet. And them come the parshiot of nechama. Is there anything more
beautiful that those perakim from
the prophets; "Rise O Jerusalem, adorn
the garments of your glory," "Wake Up, Wake Up zion," "For eye to eye you
will see the return of
God to Zion." Mamesh so beautiful. The source of
hope for two thousand years of poor exiled Jews. And all of a sudden your
listening
to the parsha and all you hear over and over and over again is
"when you in herit the land," "when God brings you to a land flowing with
milk and honey, a good land." You know it's almost like enough already
Lordy we get it- but you don't. Not until you're standing in
a shabby beit
knesset on an army base with your yeshiva/soldier friends listening to the
words of Moshe Rabbeinu echoing in your
ear-"When you conquer the land from
your enemies, etc." Than it clicks. Youor living thousands of years of the
geratest of Jewish
dreams. The fiery words of the prophets with all their
talk of glory and honor and redemption lit a beacon of hope for all time.
The
secret to get up from the sorrow of destruction is to see the bigger
picture of the destiny of the Jewish people. And more than that to
know
that you have a part in it. And especially for us to realize the impact of
what it means to be living in a generation that
experiences the fulfillment
of ancient prophecy, the fruition of Jewish hope as a reality. How supernal
is our joy. It's enough even
to rise above the pain of this week's hell in
Be'er Sheva. For moments darkness engulfs your world. Hundred of people in
minute's
incident will never experience life the same way ever agin. But
then you realize that at least we're here. We're home on our land. Eretz
Yisrael isn't just a phrase in the parsha, it's our reality. And even if we
suffer here it's still one thousand fold more meaningful
than being in
exile. Link up to a higher set of ideals that will constantly feed you with
joy. All the prophecies of restored glory,
hope, and redemption are for us
now as the verse in Tehillim "With the Lord's return of the captives of
Zion we will be like
dreamers." The focus after Tisha BeAv is to connect to
the miracle which will be our return, albeit painful, to Zion. It is the
ultimate comfort for any Jew who has tasted of the bitterness of exile, of
being a stranger in a strange land.
This is
all the backdrop of Elul. I humbly think that this has two
important messages for us on our paths to judgement on Rosh Hashannah. One
is that just as our happiness and excitement over being part of the
redemption of Israel fills us with unbelievable excitement in the
national
sense we must take it into our personal paths of Teshuva. Return to the
right path filled with joy and excitement for being
part of the Jewish
people. My second understanding is that this setting a focus for us to do
Teshuva. Instead of just focusing on
ourselves our sages are begging us to
rise above our own mess. To connect to the clal of the nation of Israel. In
so doing we can rise
above the strictness of judgement, for God
unboundlessly loves the nation of Israel as a whole and their destiny far
beyond any
individual's errors.
Shaabbat Shalom,
Please send to other Jews. Thanks.
BeAhava,
Yehonatan.
