Author: Ari Shvat

Although only about 10% of Europe, Moslems are easily taking over that continent (as seen in their elections and anti-Israel rhetoric) because they know exactly who they are and what they want (Jihad), while the other Europeans are contrarily busy UPROOTING their own subjective national identities. Many EXTREME leftist and global ideologies follow the “Korachism” in this week’s parsha, claiming we are all identical, and there’s no essential difference between people (although they somehow forgive Arab nationalism…). Christianity claims “you don’t have to be Jewish” and anyone who accepts their religion is now the Chosen People; socialism opines that all mankind is alike; and feminism in its early form also sang “anything you can do I can do better!”. But we all know that Jews cannot be gentiles, and even Yisraelim and regular Levi’im cannot be Kohanim and vice-versa, just as men cannot give birth and normal women cannot box like men (as seen in the last Olympics…).

Rav Kook writes that whenever the world goes to any extreme, Israel, as always, is meant to return equilibrium to mankind (Orot Yisrael 8, 7-8). There is a delicate BALANCING-act between individualism and nationalism, particularism and universalism, and today’s west is, like Korach, strongly over-leaning towards the identicalness of mankind. Just when they think to weaken the family unit, comes Israel with our Leil Shabbat family dinners and highest western birthrate (even among the secular) to limit that extremism. Just as western youth forego values in exchange for social media, the Israeli Shabbat and our young soldiers’ recent altruistic war show that idealism and nationalism are still “alive and kicking” and one need not come at the expense of the other.

Rav Kook explains the names of his “Orot” books (Orot HaKodesh ii, p. 440), that the difference between light (Or) and darkness, is that when you take all of the colors and “mush” them together, one on top of the other, you get “darkness”. But if you take those exact colors and arrange them in the proper order, where each color is individually expressed and harmonizes with the others, that is the prism which comprises light.

This G-dly UNITY is THE SECRET of the world (music harmonizes the varying sounds as opposed to anarchy which sounds terrible; a salad is tasty as opposed to mushing those same vegetable together in a blender; art matches the various colors as opposed to clashing them). Rav Kook stresses diversity, and every stream and movement has part of the unified G-dly truth, and the only way the One G-d is revealed to the world is through the revelation of all of the truths together (Hassidim and Mitnagdim, right-wing (nationalist) and left-wing (universalists), religious and Zionist, masculine and feminine etc.).

Just as our Saturday Shabbat symbolically mediates between Islam’s Friday and Christianity’s Sunday, Rav Kook writes brilliantly in kabbalistic terms that Israel teaches the balance: that Avraham’s Chessed (morality) which Christianity took to an unlivable extreme (“if one strikes you, turn the other cheek and let him strike you again”), and Yitzchak’s Gevura (strength), which many Moslems take to a terrorist extreme (Jihad) are supposed to unite in Ya’akov/Yisrael’s Tiferet (harmony) (ibid 5, 4). That’s why Israel is presently showing the Christian world that naïve wimps are doomed, and that Moslem Jihadists should be, as well.

In addition to good music and salads, this is the key to a happy marriage, a healthy society (not only tolerating but appreciating each individual for who they are), a peaceful world (don’t force your religion upon anyone!) and a generally happy and “wealthy” life for the individual and mankind alike.

I was once asked by a transgender from Germany if Judaism would accept him as a convert? I answered that without getting into the question of on which side of the mechitza s/he should sit, why doesn’t s/he just love her/himself like G-d does?! If you’re jealous that the “grass is always greener on the other side”, you can never achieve happiness, for today’s opportunities are almost endless. If one is in the “mode” of jealousy, there will always seem to be a better option. “Who is wealthy? One who’s happy with his lot” (Avot 4, 1).

Globalization should and will eventually be good, but that doesn’t justify “Koraching”, artificially blurring or being jealous of the beautiful uniqueness of every individual, group or nation.

Especially for western Jews, the obscuring of identity is another word for assimilation and intermarriage. It was always a problem in America, but how much more so when some Jews turn it into an ideology. Not just blurring one’s gender but actively erasing their Jewish identity, being embarrassed of their Jewish State and brothers in the IDF, is no less than personal suicide and unhappiness.

I won’t be surprised if in the end, like in Germany and Columbia University, the anti-Semites will save these Jews from themselves by telling them they are unwanted because they are Jews. Just as an individual Jew can try baptizing himself 100 times, but it will never wash away his essence, so too history has proven the same to those “Wanna-Be gentiles”.

But we pray “Shelo asani goy”, asking Hashem that He should make me proud of the way He made me, without needing the gentiles to be the ones to “make me Jewish”. Shabbat Shalom! Rav Ari Shvat (Chwat)

Jewish tradition teaches that the sin of the spies was not merely a historical event but a recurring national failing that has accompanied the Jewish people throughout history (Ta’anit 29a). While many explanations have been offered, King David’s interpretation seems particularly significant: “They despised the beloved Land” (Tehilim 106:24). The punishment—that the generation would not enter the Land of Israel—was therefore a natural consequence of the sin itself: they did not want the Land, and thus they did not enter it.

According to the Rosh (Rabbeinu Asher, Yevamot 64a), even Avraham Avinu may have faltered here. Avraham was in the Land at age seventy but later left, requiring Hashem to command him again five years later: “Go forth from your land.” The Midrash similarly teaches that many Israelites preferred remaining in Egypt, even in slavery, rather than journeying to the Promised Land. Most perished during the plague of darkness. Yet remarkably, even those who left Egypt repeated the same mistake in the episode of the spies.

Even after failing twice, G-d had to surprisingly urge Yehoshua to bring the people into the Land despite their reluctance (Rashi Devarim 31, 7). The pattern resurfaced in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, when the majority of Jews, including many leading figures, chose to remain in exile rather than return to rebuild the Second Temple (Yoma 9b).

Throughout Jewish history, prominent rabbis such as the Ya’avetz, the Vilna Gaon, and the Ohr HaChaim lamented that even Jews who were meticulous about other commandments often neglected the mitzvah of settling the Land of Israel, a mitzvah described by the Sages as “equal in importance to all the others combined” (Tosefta, Av.Z. 5, 2).

R. Yehudah Halevi’s Kuzari (ii, 24), when challenged about his personally living outside the Land, the learned rabbi admits: “Indeed, you have found the source of my shame.” Likewise, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, despite criticizing American Jews for not making Aliyah (“Kol Dodi Dofek”), openly confessed his own failure to do so, acknowledging his sin towards Eretz Yisrael and personal blame without excuse (Ish Al HaEdah, p. 251). Rabbi Yissachar Teichtal, in Eim HaBanim Semeichah (p. 167), similarly describes a puzzling indifference—and even opposition—to the Land among respected rabbinic leaders in Europe.

One might have hoped that the final and eternal return to Zion would be different, that Jews would finally make Aliyah joyfully. Yet the Sages already warned (Rashi, Dvarim 30, 3) that the ingathering of the exiles would be extraordinarily difficult, as though G-d Himself would need to “drag” each Jew individually home to Israel.

The answer to this constant weakness, I believe, lies in a deeper understanding of the spies, ourselves and the Land.

The rabbinic midrashim apparently present contradictory portraits of the spies. One source describes them as righteous men when they departed; another claims they were already corrupt. Kabbalists explain that they preferred the spiritual atmosphere of the wilderness, where they could devote themselves to Torah study without worldly concerns. They feared that life in the Land would require engagement with work, army, politics, and material reality. But other sources suggest the exact opposite: that they preferred the comforts of ordinary life and were intimidated by the intense spiritual demands of the Land of Israel.

Even the famous giant fruits of the Land are interpreted differently. Some traditions say the 10 spies brought them to emphasize the Land’s excessive materialism, while others maintain that Yehoshua and Calev brought them to demonstrate that the Land excelled not only spiritually but also materially.

These conflicting traditions point to two OPPOSITE fears. Some viewed the Land as too physical; others saw it as too spiritual.

I recall from my non-Zionist relatives who avoided Aliyah claiming Israel was too secular, while conversely, many secular Jews avoided it because it was the “Holy Land” and therefore, in their minds, belonged to the religious! In short, the Land of Israel often “falls between the cracks,” so whatever one’s outlook, one can find a reason to reject her!

The deeper truth, however, is that the Land of Israel embodies a unique harmony between the spiritual and physical. Here, the sacred and the mundane are not enemies but partners. A physical land but also holy.

This, I believe, is both the CHALLENGE and the SECRET of the Land of Israel. Its uniqueness lies precisely in its ability to unite heaven and earth. It testifies that there is one Creator who fashioned both this world and the next, the sacred and the ordinary. In such a place, even figs and stones possess holiness.

The punishment of the spies is now obvious. Those who fail to appreciate the Land’s complexity and harmony, by simplistically seeing either black or white, and pessimistically focusing just on what they DON’T want, are simply unprepared for it, and will inevitably not make Aliyah, doomed to stay in the exile.

Only the partnership represented by Yehoshua and Calev (the positive spies) provides the proper perspective: Yehoshua, from Ephraim, associated with practical nation-building; and Calev, from Yehudah, associated with spiritual leadership. Together they embody the religious-Zionist synthesis necessary to understand the harmony and secret of Eretz Yisrael and monotheism. Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Ari Shvat (Chwat)

Our parsha describes Moshe Rabbenu, the most complete individual ever (Rosh HaShana 21b), as “very humble, more than anyone in the world” (Bamidbar 12, 3). This trait of modesty undoubtedly is part of Moshe’s uniqueness that we should all strive to emulate (Rambam, hil. Teshuva 5, 2).

The Smag (R. Moshe of Coucy, one of the ba’alei Tosafot) in his introduction to his counting of the mitzvot, tells of two dreams which he stresses he is not fabricating! G-d told him in a vision that he should write a new book counting the mitzvot, for the Rambam’s Sefer HaMitzvot omits some of the most important commandments. The Smag awoke and got to work, but as he was completing the job, he received a second vision telling him that he also forgot that MOST IMPORTANT mitzva of don’t be arrogant which leads to forgetting G-d (Dvarim 8, 11). Just as by Moshe, we must understand why modesty is so central to Torah?

Our first thought would probably be that one who is arrogant doesn’t like to be told, even by Hashem, what to do! How much more so regarding the mitzvot bein adam l’chavero (morality between our fellow man), that an egoist has more difficulty not to put down others, not steal, etc. We also know that socially it’s much more pleasant to be around thoughtful and considerate people, so society and the Jewish State gain.

But Rav Kook (Orot HaKodesh iii, p. 147) and his prized pupil Rav Charlap (MiMaynei HaYeshua, p. 12) stress that Jewish nationalism inevitably educates to humility and ALTRUISM, selfless giving, which is the key to G-dliness. It’s the only possible reason why G-d created the world. As the Ramchal writes (Derech Hashem 1, 2), He doesn’t lack or need anything, yet created the world out of the ideal of SELFLESS giving, which is the only motive which doesn’t infer that He needed anything.

Living in the context of a Jewish State inevitably brings out in us that G-dly altruism. The clearest example is the IDF where one gives 3 entire years, in addition to an annual month in milu’im (not to mention when we are at war, where my boys and sons-in-law have each done more than 400 days away from their wives, children, jobs and yeshivot), and if necessary even give their life for Am Yisrael. Giving time and money is great, but to even sacrifice your very life is as selfless as man can get. One can always volunteer anywhere in the world, but the obligation turns the IDF and Sherut Le’umi into a super-high NORM for all Israelis.

Even showering and flushing toilets in Israel, where there is a constant water shortage, demands us to be considerate. Only in Israel do we listen and follow the news obsessively, for all problems and issues are Jewish ones. If there is chalila a lost child or fire in any community, the Jews will obviously pitch in to help their fellow Jew, but in Israel, all lost children, fires, attacks, kidnapping etc. are all Jewish issues where we must constantly think altruistically, “how can I help out”? If you see a Yid with a kippa with his car broken down along the Chicago highway, we would all help out, but realize that in Israel, even if he is without a kippa it obligates me for he is just as Jewish as anyone.

The stereotype Israeli is often drawn as a kibbutznik, for that “all for one and one for all” is what having a Jewish State is about. I recall reading an article by a gentile sociologist whose thesis is that a culture’s dance reflects it’s view of society. When the waltz was in, the hugging of the man and woman expressed the strength of marriage and family. As the twist and disco evolved, it paralleled and expressed the turning inward of the “Me Generation”. But he then showed the opposite phenomena in the Israeli Dance, the Hora, where the circle expands from the family unit and even includes everyone as partners and equal.

In short, living in a Jewish State, as the Tanach norm, and as obligated by the Rambam (Igrot HaRambam, p. 66), is not just good to prevent assimilation and fight anti-Semitism, for we have the home-court advantage (how much more important in a global world with global culture and anti-Semitism!), but actually helps us achieve humility emulating Moshe Rabbenu and even G-d Himself in the small actions of day to day life! Shabbat Shalom! Rav Ari Shvat (Chwat)

An interesting halacha helps clarify the Torah’s necessity for Jewish nationalism (Zionism). If one isn’t sure if he said Birkot HaTorah in the morning, he can have in mind to fulfill that bracha while saying the paragraph of Ahava Rabba right before Kriyat Shema (Shulchan Aruch O.Ch. 47, 7).

Although we recite 3 different Birkot HaTorah every day, the Talmud (Brachot 11b) teaches that the “best” of these 3 is the final one, “אשר בחר בנו מכל העמים ונתן לנו את תורתו…”, “that He chose us from all of the nations, and gave us His Torah”. Rashi explains why this is the best of those 3 brachot: “For it contains thanks to G-d, and praise for Torah and ISRAEL”.

Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook zt”l often stressed (e.g. Mitoch HaTorah haGoelet, ch. 4) that first Hashem chose Israel, and subsequently gave us His Torah. Not that our uniqueness stems from what we received the Torah, but contrarily, He first chose us and accordingly gave us the Torah. One who forgets the specialness of Israel is missing the key to accepting the Torah. It’s a “package deal” (the midrash inferring that G-d considered giving the Torah to other nations comes to teach another message, but is exactly that, just a midrash).

Similarly, upon examining this parallel between Ahava Rabba (the “great love” that G-d loves Israel) and Birkat HaTorah, we see that the essence of this most important bracha (which together with Birkat HaMazon are the only 2 brachot which are m’d’oraita), is as always found in the end, subsequent to the summarizing bracha:

“והביאנו לשלום מארבע כנפות הארץ ותוליכנו קוממיות לארצנו, כי א-ל פועל ישועות אתה ובנו בחרת מכל עם ולשון… ברוך אתה ה’ הבוחר בעמו ישראל באהבה” , “And bring us to peace from the FOUR CORNERS of the earth and lead us UPRIGHT to our LAND. Because, You are the Almighty, Who performs acts of REDEMPTION, and You have chosen us from among all NATIONS and LANGUAGES, and You have brought us close to Your great Name, forever in truth; that we may give thanks to You, and proclaim Your Oneness, with love. Blessed are You, Adonay, Who chooses His nation Israel with LOVE”.

Similarly, the other bracha before Kriyat Shema, which praises G-d as the Creator of lights, explicitly mentions that it’s not just referring to 5786 years ago, but also “אור חדש על ציון תאיר”, “the new light which He will shine on Zion” with the advent of Israel’s redemption, which again is subsequent to the summarizing bracha, is included in that plural blessing, “ברוך אתה ה’ יוצר המאורות” (haMe’orot). G-d’s running of Jewish history and redemption to this day, is a natural continuation of Creation.

Accordingly, as we approach Shavu’ot, and celebrate our receiving the Torah, we must recognize that the current Zionist gathering of the exiles in mass aliya to Israel, and living “upright” with self-respect in our Jewish State, are the direct doing of Hashem “Who performs acts of redemption”. This entire Zionist rebirth is a direct outcome that we are His chosen nation. And just as we are about to proclaim His Oneness (in Shema), He first proclaims OUR oneness, and His unique love for Am Yisrael.

The Mishna (Ta’anit 4, 8) teaches us on the pasuk “on the day of his marriage” (Shir HaShirim 3, 11), is referring to Shavu’ot, when Hashem wed with Israel. This act of mutual designation of the other’s oneness and single love, is what we celebrate.

How can we not love Israel, when Hashem loves us so much! The Zohar (vol. 3, 73a) teaches that “Israel, the Torah, and G-d Himself are actually one and the same”. Accordingly, Shavuot, the holiday of Matan Torah, resonates with His and our love of Israel, the Land, the State (“קוממיות”) and the Torah. עם ישראל בארץ ישראל על פי תורת ישראל!

Chag Same’ach and Besorot Tovot! Rav Ari Shvat (Chwat)

The essence of Yerushalayim is that she “unites it all” (Tehilim 122, 3). When she is complete, our capitol unites the national (King’s palace), the religious (Sanhedrin) and the universal (Beit Hamikdash, “”כי ביתי בית תפילה ייקרא לכל העמים”, ישע’ נו, ז, “ונקוו אליה כל הגוים” (ירמ’ ג, יז)), or the right-wing, the left-wing and religious. Rav Kook writes that these are the 3 ideologies which comprise mankind, and like 3 sides of a triangle, they must each kiss, as well as limit the other 2 from going to an extreme (Orot, pp. 70-72). It’s not a coincidence that davka David HaMelech, who was a nationalist, religious and sensitive/poetic leader, acquired Yerushalayim.

Even today, Yerushalayim is already our national capitol (whether one wants to demonstrate against or for the government), the Torah center (teaming with yeshivot, batei din and halachic authorities), and universal focus (which interests most to all religions and nations).

Rav Kook writes (Orot Yisral 8, 5) that if one claims that he loves all human beings the same, without having a particular love for his immediate family or nation, that’s a sign that he doesn’t know what real love is, and his HUMANIST claims are just a bluff. Love of family/nation helps define and understand what love is, enabling us to eventually widen that love to other broader fields, and also limits universalism from becoming just theoretical or extreme.

Similarly, Rav Kook (ibid 4, 5) writes that one who thinks that love of our nation brings one to dislike other nations, obviously doesn’t know what Ahavat YISRAEL is. For as opposed to most other patriotism, love of Israel doesn’t put down others, but rather brings us to want to better the lot of the gentiles of the world, “and through you will come blessing to all the families of the world” (Breishit 12, 3).

Similarly, Rav Kook writes (ibid 7, 6) that anyone who thinks they can live a full life of Torah outside of the Land and State of Israel (i.e. religion without nationalism), he doesn’t know what Torah is about. Just as one who thinks Judaism is just between man and G-d (religion), ignoring man and his fellow man (humanism), is missing the boat.

In short, the national-religious-universal are all necessary, to help complete each other. In a nation of millions, inevitably there are going to be some more national oriented, as well as others more universal oriented or religiously oriented (although all of the 3 are obviously religious, Rav Kook in this case is referring to religion as it was expressed in the galut: Shabbat, Kashrut etc.). Only when all are working together can we achieve the proper balance and reveal the unity of mankind’s 3 ideologies. Yom Yerushalyim Same’ach and Shabbat Shalom! Rav Ari Shvat (Chwat)

They even quote the Torah and or the Tanakh to prove their views. They claim since the Jews killed their own Prophets, this discredits Judaism and the Rabbis and the Jews for having rejected Jesus and/or Muhammad, and believe the Jews wanted to kill them. Therefore Jews cannot be believed as far as who is a Prophet, since they admit that King Ahav killed the prophets of Elijah, King Yoash killed Zechariah and King Menashe killed Isaiah. I am asking this question not because I agree with the claims of Christianity and Islam. I am asking what the Jewish response to these claims, that there were Jews that sinned in Biblical times and worshipped other gods and worshipped the Golden Calf

Answer: Yes, there are sins mentioned in the Bible, and they are there precisely to teach us what not to do. “Judaism is perfect, Jews are not”, in fact, nobody is. I’m sure you are aware that there always were bad people, especially in the primitive world (e.g. see the Codex of Hammurabi…), and especially kings in the era of dictator monarchs, where there was very little accountability, if at all (except for in Israel, where we had prophets, who were sometimes targeted by kings for that very reason!). The Jews were also the only people in the ancient world who ever were honest in writing history, stressing even the shortcomings of their leaders (including Moses and David), thousands of years before democracy, and that accountability, transparency and “check and balance system” is our “fault”, for which several prophets paid for, with their lives. Also, the Jews were the only ones in the ancient world who were not (!) 100% pagans, and we always criticized the Jews who acted like everyone else at the time, and served idols. It’s unfair and even comical to criticize (instead of admiring) the only nation at the time who was not (!) totally idolatrous, for having, punishing and criticizing that minority of idolaters!

The fact that several prophets were murdered over a 3,300 year history (not in the Torah as your friends claimed, but in the Prophets), doesn’t mean that all, or most, or even 1% were killed, and surely has nothing to do with murder of people who aren’t prophets or who are false prophets… The U.S.A. has had, in just 250 years, more than 30 presidential assassination attempts, but it’s absurd to deduct from this that Americans are murderers, and should not be trusted to vote who is worthy of the presidency…

If you want to put things in an honest, objective and non-anachronistic perspective, I suggest you simply take a look at the Jews in your personal country (wherever you live), and you will find that they have much less (!) murderers and idolaters (including trinity believers) than the general population, and that is in every country of the world in every era of history! That’s a pretty good accomplishment, and speaks for itself. Even today in Israel, where Jews comprise 80% of the population, by far the vast majority (!) of the murderers are from the non-Jewish 20%! Shabbat Shalom! Rav Ari Shvat (Chwat)

This week’s parsha deals with the prohibition of Kohanim to contact death.

Rav Kook explains that as opposed to other religions who mainly turn to the clergy before and during the process of death (for all agree, when man does not understand a topic, it’s “prime-time” to turn to religion or l’havdil, superstition) and there are “no atheists in the foxholes”, we don’t want our holiest people to be associated in our minds with death, but rather life.

Similarly, Rav Kook explains the kabbalistic custom that some WOMEN don’t enter the cemetery, for they are ALL LIKE Kohanim, who should be preoccupied with conceiving and raising life, tahara, and not the opposite, tum’ah! Even though “death” is seemingly “part of life”, all of Yisrael are called “ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש” (Shmot 19, 6), “a nation of Kohanim”, likened to KOHANIM, because Am Yisrael lives forever and is preoccupied with -טהרה life, and the Living Torah.

Children inevitably focus on short-term pleasures, eating as much candy as possible, without thinking of cavities or diabetes. Contrarily, mature adults already know that long-term pleasure is more important than short-term. But Judaism says, why settle for third class (short-term) pleasure or even second class (long-term) pleasure, when one can opt for longer than long= ETERNAL pleasure which is first-class. The eternal G-d, created the eternal Israel, to live the eternal Torah in the eternal land of Israel. We focus on the eternal, and don’t get hung up on death. Our enemies glorify death and the Shahid, but we fight our enemies for the sake of giving life to our eternal people and eternal Torah, yet even after death, there is “life after death”.

The mitzvot bring a taste of that eternal Living Torah to our daily lives, but every child knows that just about all mitzvot are superseded by life itself (Shulchan Aruch Or. Ch. 329). We grow up with this as obvious, but the Samaritans will not drive in an ambulance on Shabbat nor will they eat on Yom Kippur even to save their lives! They say to us cynically “we are more religious than you, and do G-d’s mitzvot even when it’s hard, even if it really ‘costs us’ our lives”. We answer that our Living Father is a מלך חפץ בחיים””, a King who desires life, who commands “וחי בהם ולא שימות בהם”, “live by them [the mitzvot] and don’t die by them” (Vayikra 18). Only the 3 cardinal sins, idolatry, murder and adultery [as the Maharal, Netzach Yisrael, ch. 5, p. 36, explains, which respectively correspond to the epitome of the 3 mitzvah categories: between man and G-d, man and man, and man and himself- his desires for making life], show us that life itself is meant for meaning. That same G-d is the One who created us with the survival instinct, the strongest of drives, to continue our life.

Apparently, Hashem has arranged that the most known Hebrew phrase in the world (unfortunately probably even more than “Shema Yisrael”, and probably because of “Fiddler on the Roof”!), is “LeChaim”- “To Life”, for we are in fact preoccupied with life. Shabbat Shalom! Rav Ari Shvat (Chwat)

This week’s parsha returns to the mysterious death of Nadav and Avihu, the sons of Aharon, about which G-d says: ‘I will be sanctified through those near Me, and before all the people I will be glorified,’ “בקרוביי אקדש ועל פני כל העם אכבד” (Vayikra 10, 3). We don’t understand and sometimes Israel pays a price for being “בני ישראל עם קרובו” (Tehil. 148, 14), the closest nation to Hashem, but that is essentially part of our role.

Rav Kook explains (Ayn Aya vii, 41, Orot, p. 157) just like the prophets often suffered for saying uncomfortable G-dly messages, similarly Am Yisrael historically had to pay the prices as “the conscience of mankind”, and the way Hashem is seen to the world. Israel is called “the nation of prophets”.

I heard Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook zt”l on several Yom HaAtzma’uts, and each time he would mention the central theme until it “sank in”: “עם זו יצרתי לי תהלתי ייספרו” “This nation [Israel] I created for Myself; they shall say My praise” (Yishaya 43, 21). G-d is not commanding us to “PREACH” about Him, but our very HISTORY testifies His creation of the world and its destiny.

On Yom HaAtzma’ut we sing (Tehil. 126, 2), first the nations proclaim that Hashem did great miracles for Israel (“אז יאמרו בגוים הגדיל ה’ לעשות עם אלה”), and only then we “dare” say that which we always knew, “הגדיל ה’ לעשות עמנו”.

Just like the greatest praises of Am Yisrael in the Torah apparently must be said by some objective and respected gentile (e.g. Bil’am), similarly today: first more and more gentile leaders publicize that which many Jews are embarrassed to say. Many don’t like Pres. Trump for various reasons (some of them objective!), but one cannot deny that he was elected head of the world super-power and his stands regarding Israel can be now considered “politically correct”. Trump is not an eloquent philosopher or analyst, but it’s unquestionably worth your while to read the following by someone who is:

There’s Something About Israel That Makes People Uncomfortable (by Allister Heath, editor of the British Sunday Daily Telegraph):

“There’s something about Israel that makes people uncomfortable, and it’s not what they say it is.

They’ll point to politics, settlements, borders, and wars. But scratch beneath the outrage, and you’ll find something deeper. A discomfort not with what Israel does, but with what Israel is.

A nation this small should not be this strong. Period.

Israel has no oil. No special natural resources. A population barely the size of a mid-sized American city. They are surrounded by enemies. Hated in the United Nations. Targeted by terror. Condemned by celebrities. Boycotted, slandered, and attacked.

And still, they thrive like there’s no tomorrow. In military. In medicine. In security. In technology. In agriculture. In intelligence. In morality. In sheer, unbreakable will. They turn desert into farmland. They make water from air. They intercept rockets in mid-air. They rescue hostages under the nose of the world’s worst regimes. They survive wars that were supposed to wipe them out, and win.

The world watches this and can’t make sense of it.

So they do what people do when they witness strength they can’t understand.

They assume it must be CHEATING. It must be American aid. It must be foreign lobbying. It must be oppression. It must be theft. It must be some dark trick that gave the Jews this kind of power. It must be blackmail.

Because heaven forbid it’s something else. Heaven forbid it’s real. Heaven forbid it’s earned. Or worse, DESTINED.

The Jewish people were supposed to disappear a long, long time ago. That’s how the story of exiled, enslaved, hated minorities is supposed to end. But the Jews didn’t disappear. They actually came home, rebuilt their land, revived their language, and brought their dead back to life — in memory, in identity, and in strength. That’s not normal. It’s not political. IT’S BIBLICAL.

There’s no cheat code that explains how a group of people return to their homeland after 2,000 years. There is no rational path from gas chambers to global influence. And there is no historical precedent for surviving the Babylonians, the Romans, the Crusaders, the Inquisition, the pogroms, and the Holocaust, and still showing up to work on Monday in Tel Aviv.

Israel doesn’t make sense.

Unless you believe in something beyond the math.

This is what drives the world crazy. Because if Israel IS REAL, if this improbable, ancient, hated nation is somehow still chosen, protected, and thriving, then MAYBE GOD ISN’T A MYTH AFTER ALL. Maybe He’s still in the story. Maybe history isn’t random. Maybe evil doesn’t get the last word. Maybe the Jews are not just a people… but a testimony.

That’s what they can’t stand.

Because once you admit that Israel’s survival isn’t just impressive, but divine, everything changes. Your moral compass has to reset. Your assumptions about history, power, and justice collapse. You realize you’re not watching the end of an empire. You’re witnessing the beginning of something eternal.

So they deny it. They smear it. And rage against it. Because it’s easier to call a miracle “cheating” than to face the possibility that G-d keeps His promises.

And He’s keeping them still.”

We read in this parsha about how part of the Tikkun of tzara’at, or punishment for Lashon Harah is that in the olden days, one had to leave his city and even family (Vayikra 13, 46). Man is defined in creation as “M’daber”, a “speaker”, for our essence is our ability to speak (Targum of Br. 2, 7), which is something we do with our fellows. One of the central tragedies of galut we commemorated on Yom HaShoah is that we are reduced to live as vulnerable individuals, and lost our national self and respect, and part of our essence as people and Am Yisrael. Galut is a 2,000 year Tikkun and punishment, where we were like the leper, away from our nation, City, and often even splitting our own families! The Jew “fought with his passport”, on which there is only YOUR picture. When on the run, you can’t even save your parents, spouse or child, how much more so, your fellow Jew from outside your family!

We always comforted mourners that they should be comforted “together with all of the mourners of Tzion and Yerushalayim: (Prisha, Y.D. 393), for the real comfort is to be with YOUR own. Unfortunately for 2,000 years that comfort did not come (until now)!

Perhaps because of the universality of anti-Semitism, as expressed in Chazal (“[It’s a] halacha that Esav hates Ya’akov”, Sifre Bamidbar 69), we unfortunately sometimes tend to make simplistic associations, and lump all this hatred together, for in fact “in every generation the [gentiles] rise up to eradicate us” (“והיא שעמדה”). Similarly, as Jewish history is somewhat cyclical, we somewhat justifiably associate our present war with Iran as just another link in that chain of “Anti-Semites”.

On the other hand, Rav Kook (Ayn Aya Brachot 7, 15) explains that just as it’s important to learn history (“זכור ימות עולם”) for it somewhat repeats itself, but the continuation is “בינו שנות דור ודור” (=examine and notice the differences between every generation).

As we’ve written previously, although they are so close on the calendar, there is no comparison between Yom HaShoa and Yom HaZikaron, and how much more so, the systematic eradication of 6,000,000 Jews in the Shoah is totally different on almost all accounts from our present war with Iran. There’s no comparison between having to occasionally carry our children to the shelter just to be safe, and the child (later Prof.) Yaffa Eliach’s baby brother being suffocated so the Nazis won’t hear his crying reveal the family’s hiding place.

We are not only stronger than we were 80 years ago, but even compared to 2 years ago, before Oct. 7th/Simchat Torah. Hamas is hiding like mice in their tunnels, Lebanon and Syria are begging us for peace treaties, and even the giant Iran is helpless against our air-force. Our status in the Mid-East, the world and the present President Trump, the most influential person in the world, is stronger than it ever has been for the past 3,000 years (with some specific exceptions right after the Six Day War), and approaching what it was in the time of David HaMelech. With Hashem’s help, “we’ve come a long way”!

According to the US News, we are the 10th strongest country in the world (militarily and economically) out of 193 in the United Nations! We hope that the present cease-fire will lead to good peace agreements, BH out of a position of strength and not weakness, and we surely have a lot to thank Hashem for on this coming Wed., Yom haAtzma’ut! Chodesh Tov and Shabbat Shalom! Rav Ari Shvat (Chwat)

I was once asked to be a Sandak and hold the baby at a bris which took place precisely between Yom HaShoa and Yom HaZikaron. As the mohel was “cleaning up” the blood, I understood the depth of what we had just recited at the Pesach Seder and again there at the circumcision, “ואומר לך בדמייך חיי ואומר לך בדמייך חיי” (Yechezkel 16, 6). Yechezkel says that Hashem feels sorry for the weak and fledgling Israel, and when coming to redeem and wash us off, tells us twice that through your blood you shall live, and again, through your blood you shall live. All ask the question: what does it mean that through our blood we shall live, and why is this repeated twice?

Then it hit me that these are precisely the 2 types of “blood” (damayich is also in the plural!) in that process of redemption of Yechezkel, separated every year by one week of differentiation: that of Yom HaShoah, and that of Yom HaZikaron (commemorating those who fell in the wars of Israel). Rav Zvi Yehuda Kook often said that we can never understand the Holocaust, but retroactively, the period was clearly a gett (bill of divorce) of the parting of Am Yisrael from the exile. Most (!) of the large ancient Jewish communities in the world from a century and millennium ago, in Europe, Asia and Africa respectively, within one decade (1940-1950/ת”ש-תש”י) suddenly collapsed. The qualitative and quantitative centers of the Jewish world, have now and forever returned from the Ashkenazi and Sefaradi countries, back to their original, holy and eternal homeland of Israel. Soviet Russia was soon to follow. Inevitably, all significant transitions, especially national and historic ones for most of world Jewry, entail upheavals and challenges. בדמייך חיי.

It is brought in the name of Rav Kook (R.M.Tz. Neria, Chayei HaReiya, p. 190) upon being asked by a Jew from Europe in the early 1930’s/תר”צ, who was deliberating his future: on the one hand anti-Semitism had already raised its head there, but he also feared the problems the Jews were suffering in Eretz Yisrael from the Arab marauders. Rav Kook answered that when we come across such difficulties, we must remember to clearly differentiate, for there is no comparison between birth pangs (of redemption in Israel) and death pains (of the end of exile). Both are painful, but one is the beginning of life, and no one would trade it for the other, the end of life! He similarly pointed out (Ma’amarei HaReiya, p. 278), that if one doesn’t know which direction is east or west, he can mistakenly confuse the darkness left at the sunrise of redemption (personified by Yom HaZikaron) for the sunset of exile (embodied by Yom HaShoah). In the Land of Israel today, we are on our way up, not on our way down, but that doesn’t mean it will always be easy. Yes, we celebrate Yom HaAtzma’ut, but we first identify that it comes via the altruism of Yom HaZikaron.

Eretz Yisrael, like Torah, Olam haBah and really anything worthwhile, is acquired through challenges, yissurim (Brachot 5a). Children are our greatest pleasure, but also the source of our greatest heartache.

Let us thank Hashem, appreciate and differentiate that on Yom HaShoah we remember the blood of 6 years we had to hide like mice, and in the words of the Israeli ambassador to the UN: the greatest hope of the Warsaw uprising was to die honorably, as opposed to Yom HaZikaron, where thanks to Hashem and our valiant altruistic soldiers, albeit the blood it cost us, pretty quickly Sinwar and Nasralla, Hamas, and Hizballa were the ones hiding like mice. Yes, there is still darkness, but BH the hostages were freed, Iran is “on the run”, and most important, it’s part of the sunrise, not the sunset. In short, BH we’ve come a long way. בדמייך חיי, that davka through our blood, we eternally live and survive.

On Yom HaZikaron let’s also learn from OUR tragic mistakes which led to the Hamas massacre and kidnappings, which are also part of the birth pangs of Mashiach, learning how to and HOW NOT to, run a Jewish State. This includes the necessity of solidarity and mutual self-sacrifice, and not to take security for granted. Let’s also take the day to stop and learn from and emulate the altruistic soldiers and volunteers who courageously fight with unity like lions, in a generation where many feared that we had “lost” that determination and idealism. The bumper stickers still pasted all around Israel, with each chayal who fell’s picture and idealistic “quote”, are the best way to admire and learn who they were and who we should be, to appreciate those who fell, and the value of the State, Land and People for which they did so. Like Judaism and similarly Israel, if something is worth dying for, how much more so that it’s worth LIVING FOR/IN and appreciating. Besorot Tovot Yeshu’ot v’Nechamot! Rav Ari Shvat (Chwat)