Emuna: "Mama Rachel" and the Rebuilding of Israel

by Rav Bnayahu Bruner, President of Yeshivat Hesder Tzfat, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.

This week, on the 11^th day of Mar-Cheshvan, the Jewish Nation commemorated the passing of our Matriarch Rachel near 3,680 years ago. Rachel, wife of the Patriarch Yaakov, was a woman of the Exile, in many ways. She was born outside the Land, married Yaakov in Haran, and died shortly after entering the Holy Land with him; she was buried along the way outside Bethlehem.

The Prophet Jeremiah teaches us that Rachel wept for her descendants as she watched them limp along into Exile: "So says the Lord: A voice is heard on high, one of lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel crying for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, for they are gone."

But G-d comforts her in the next verse: "Refrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for there is reward for your work, says the Lord; and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope for your future, says the Lord, and the children shall return to their border."

Rav Kook, the visionary Chief Rabbi of the Holy Land until his death in 1935, saw how these words of solace began to take shape and form. Not only did he see the nation begin to return to its Land, but he also saw how this return itself enabled the "writing" and formation of an original Jewish creation: "A truly Israelite enterprise, in thought and in practical life, can be effected only in the Land of Israel." The bonds between the Nation of Israel and the Land of Israel are intrinsic and essential, and therefore such a creation and be formed only when the Nation is in its Land. Any Jewish creation formed outside the Land is not essentially Jewish/Israelite; its creative forces are drawn from the general world, and not from the Jewish Nation.

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Another aspect of Rachel is seen in her son Joseph, whom she bore to Yaakov. Joseph is he who saved his family (and much of the world) from the debilitating famine, and took care of all their needs. He merited to receive the birthright from his father Yaakov, and thus his two sons received inheritances in the Land as if they were Yaakov's sons. From Joseph emerged the force of "Mashiach ben Yosef," the materialist/physical aspects of the Messianic period.

Today, as well, whoever devotes his life to Israel's Redemption on the practical plane is a successor to Yosef. He also has the attribute of "good communication" with the Gentiles: He was the viceroy of King Pharaoh – the second-highest position in the Egyptian empire. Still and all, he remained loyal to his G-d; he remained Yosef HaTzaddik, Joseph the Righteous.

Yosef's successors in future generations, and today, also have this attribute, and therefore they are able to face off with the nations and emerge victorious over the descendants of Esav. Rav Kook writes:

"The Medrash teaches us that the deeds of the forefathers are signs for their descendants [to learn from and to do]. Yosef was the provider whom G-d sent "to revive a great nation" [B'reshit 50,20, referring to the sons of Yaakov], and he brought physical life to Yaakov and his sons with needed food, while the other nations came to Egypt for the same purpose. Yosef knew how to blend in with the Gentiles, and he knew 70 languages – showing the aspects of commonality between Israel and the nations – but still he knew and preserved the strength of his sanctity. Precisely for this reason we are taught that Esav will fall [to the Jews] at the hands of Rachel's descendants."

We see from the above prophecy that Rachel senses deeply the grief of the Nation as it goes into Exile, and she cries bitterly. The future kingdom of the "Mashiach ben David" is to emerge from the seed of Leah (Yehuda) – but the present is given to the descendants of Rachel. Rachel is the "family foundation" that forms the basis for the "national foundation," on which the nation will be built. As Rav Kook writes:

"The present and the future are the two pillars on which will be built the great fortune of the nation and the individual… When the leadership is perfect and protected from all pitfalls along the way, then the present will be revealed in all its light, and will be able to be a fine guide to the future that is exalted above and beyond it [i.e., the present]."

In our generation, we have been privileged to free large parts of our Holy Land from desolation and/or foreign rule, and to establish our State, and to bring home millions of Jews. The process that began in Rav Kook's lifetime has expanded and broadened. Though Rachel is no longer crying bitterly as she once was, we still need her help so that we can stabilize our grasp on the Land and reinforce the Jewish family unit so that we can be ready for the Davidic kingdom.

In this month of Mar-Cheshvan, when we remember the death of Rachel as she traveled, let us fortify our grasp as we journey to the Complete Redemption, may it come speedily in our days.