by Rav Sh. Yosef Veitzen yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.
Response to the fourth challenge: Divine Redemption – or Man-Made?
We continue with our series "The Certainty of Redemption," which notes three different approaches towards the national-historic process the Jewish Nation is currently experiencing. One holds that the Ingathering of Jews in the Holy Land is not a significant Redemption development, as the State of Israel is not run by a Torah government. Another view holds the opposite: The State of Israel is definitely the fulfillment of many Biblical prophecies, and we are on a one-way journey of undetermined length towards Redemption. The third approach is that the current situation is a bona-fide opportunity for Geulah (Redemption) - depending on our national and personal behavior.
Many challenges have been presented to the second approach, and Rabbi Shlomo Yosef Veitzen, the Rabbi of the Binyamin community of Psagot, responds to three of them here, here and here. A fourth challenge, and his response, are presented herein.
Challenge #4:
What do we gain from being so sure that the State of Israel is most definitely the beginning of our Geulah? After all, the approach that holds the State of Israel to be a "possible opportunity" for Redemption, depending on our deeds, is not that different than the "certainty" approach; both require that we rectify our deeds, etc. The Hallel prayer that we say on Independence Day is the same whether we are "certain" or merely "confidently hopeful."
Response:
1. The Return of the Divine Presence Jumpstarts a Process
As we have explained, the main difference between the two approaches mentioned here is our role in the process as mortals: Are we in a beginning stage in which man, with Divine aid, plays a major role? If so, the progress is dependent upon our spiritual level. Or are we actually much further along in the process because a Divine decision has already been made to redeem Israel, no matter what our status? This question brings us to an important principle in understanding the Redemption.
The "certainty" approach knows that it is not man and his actions that initiate and direct the Redemption process; rather, it is G-d's will, hidden from our eyes, that pushes the entire process forward. Redemption means the coming close of G-d to His People. During the Exile, the Shechina (Divine Presence) too is in Exile. Redemption begins when this changes: when the Presence leaves and reveals itself in the Land of Israel. The Divine Presence in Israel during the Exile is fundamentally different than at the time of Geulah: In exile, the nation has no existence, and G-d's supervision is only upon as individuals according to the actions of each and every person. Providence over the nation is only for the purpose of keeping Israel alive in exile, and so that the 70 wolves constantly seeking to devour the one sheep that is Israel should never succeed.
As we read in Vayikra (Lev. 26,44): "Despite all this, while they are in the land of their enemies I will not … reject them to annihilate them, thereby breaking My covenant that is with them; for I am the Lord their God."
2. We're Right Behind the Divine Presence!
Let us consider, for example, the following simple question: What caused the People of Israel to remain in Exile for nearly 2,000 years (!), and only begin returning to Zion in the modern period, 140 years ago? The man-based view of the situation provides various explanations, all connected with historical-sociological processes such as rise of nationalist movements, changes the Jewish People underwent ever since the French Revolution, anti-Semitism, etc. But a faith-based approach knows that the real motivating factor of the Jews' movement and return to their homeland is this: The Jewish Nation can live only where the Divine Presence is found! As long as the Presence was outside the Land, the Jewish People were able to subsist there. But once the Presence "ascends" to Eretz Yisrael, the Jewish Nation loses its ability to survive outside among the Gentiles. The nation knows and instinctively feels that its existence as a people is, from now, dependent upon its return to its Land. Of course the other reasons listed above, and more, are all part of the Divinely-spun story as well; but the inner force that shunts us en masse out of our former host countries, and specifically to Eretz Yisrael, is our instinctive sense responding to the signal to quickly leave the Diaspora that has now become a cemetery for us. Only in Eretz Yisrael are we destined to find life.
And this is how the Geulah worked: The Land began producing fruits most generously (the clearest signal of the upcoming Redemption, as the Talmud states) even before the Jews begin gathering in the Land by their myriads. This is because of what we stated: The Divine Presence ascends to the Land even before the Nation does! Once the Shechina is in the Land, abundant blessing automatically begins to be revealed there – for even before it was the Land of Israel, it was the Land of G-d. Yechezkel 36 teaches that the redemption of the Land precedes that of the People.
3. G-d Produces Leaders
Just like the return to the Land is driven by the Shechina, so too regarding other aspects of the Geulah – such as its main aspect: the spiritual level of Israel. Our "heart of stone" of so many generations will finally turn to a "heart of flesh" – and how will this happen? Not only via human efforts. Rather, the Divine decision that this is the time brings great, high-level souls into the world, and they prepare and prime Israel for the Redemption. For instance, the light of redemption began shining in the soul of the Holy Arizal, who revealed secrets of the Torah and thus brought the revelation of the Shechinah closer. Afterwards this light continued to shine in the wondrous personage of the Gaon of Vilna, who founded the school of thought of "Redemption via natural means."
Of course, not only the great leaders must undergo the necessary change; the same must happen with every Jew. How is this done? How is the Exile to be removed from their hearts, after having been entrenched there for so many generations? Some claim that this would be the result of various changes in Western culture – but we do not agree at all. "Not like these is the Portion of Jacob" (Jeremiah 10,16): It is only the presence of the Shechina that provides Israel with the will for true freedom. And the great strengths born in the nation at this fateful hour are those that bring about the various forms of Jewish brazenness that, as is known, increases during Messianic times.
And so, if we define our Redemption as "Geulah via nature," clearly we will not understand many of the processes that we are undergoing. But since our Geulah is actually a Divine process, we must understand the resulting phenomenon with that in mind – that G-d spins spiritual processes in order to bring about the desired spiritual revolution in Am Yisrael.
4. Becoming a clal
As mentioned, the approach that today's situation is merely an "opportunity for Redemption" renders it dependent on mortal deeds – and since we have not yet dramatically changed, there is a danger that the entire process will collapse. But the "certainty of Geulah" approach means that we do not look at the deeds of any given individual, or of all of them; G-d is restoring His Presence to the entirety of Am Yisrael. This concept and reality of "nationhood" did not exist in the Exile, and only now has been reborn. This understanding lends a very different perception of many things happening in our generation.
For example, how do we relate to those who have shaken off the yoke of Torah and its commandments? During the generations of the Exile, a Jew's connection to his nation was manifest via his fulfillment of commandments – or his failure to do so. But in the generation of Geulah, as Rav Kook taught in his famous Igeret Takanah, one's connection to the nation can come via his belonging to the general essence of the soul of Israel that is becoming revealed, and not only via the mitzvot. His very willingness to be called a Jew, and his link-up with the nation's destiny, is the manifestation of his connection with G-d.
In Exile, this doesn't work, as there is no "national soul reality," whereas during the Geulah, when the nation is a genuine reality, even a Jew-in-his-heart is close to G-d. Today, an individual Jew can be a sinner, but he is still a Jew in all respects, and is therefore close to Hashem.
The same is true regarding the mitzvah of living in the Land today. This is one of the 613 commandments according to Nachmanides – i.e., to settle the Land even during the Exile – but nowadays we are not merely fulfilling a technical mitzvah by doing so. Rather, during times of Geulah, this is the fulfillment of a national public mitzvah: the return of the Shechinah to Zion. The more we cling to Eretz Yisrael, the more we reveal the essential soul of the nation.
Rav Kook explains often that this is true regarding Torah study as well. The Torah that was studied during the Exile was generally reduced to details, whereas during the Geulah, the study is one that illuminates the entire Torah with the overall light of general Israel-ness.
5. Hallel
In sum, and in the terms used by the "challenge" above, the Hallel recited for the "opportunity of Geulah" is not the same as that recited for "certain Redemption." The former is a form of thanksgiving for the specific miracles wrought for a specific generation that returned to the Land, with the anticipation that something even greater might one day develop.
But the Hallel recited for the certainty of today's Geulah is for the fulfillment of the vision of the Prophets in our very times, for the revelation of the Divine Presence in our midst right now – and therefore is a thanksgiving for our general national salvation. This does not mean the process is over. It has started, however, and it will continue and develop until the Shechina completes its appearance on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
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