#1175 TAZRIA-METZORA — 2 – 3 MAY 2025 & 5 IYAR 5785
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Today, the 5th Iyar, is the 77th anniversary of the founding of the State. However, Yom Haatzmuat is observed two days earlier on 3 Iyar, so that the celebrations will not cause the desecration of Shabbat. In May 2018, our family was privileged to visit the State of Israel as she celebrated her 70th birthday. On Yom HaZikaron, the day before Yom Haatzmaut (Independence Day), we travelled to Independence Hall on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv. It was in this building, formerly the home of the city’s first mayor, Meir Dizengoff, that David Ben Gurion proclaimed the Declaration of Independence on 14 May 1948, corresponding to 5 Iyar 5708. In that historic location, unchanged since 1948, we could almost hear Ben Gurion’s booming voice as he proclaimed the state and ushered in a new era of Jewish sovereignty. The rebirth of the Jewish State aroused feelings of euphoria, excitement, vindication and religious ecstasy.
On Yom Haatzmaut in 1956, the illustrious Rabbi J.B. Soloveitchick of Yeshiva University, delivered an address at the yeshiva in New York, in which he discussed the religious significance of the birth of the modern State of Israel. That address was published as a booklet entitled Kol Dodi Dofek, “The Voice of my Beloved Knocks”, a phrase from the Song of Songs. In the section Six Knocks, The Rav (as he was known) outlined six ways in which Israel changed Jewish history. The following is an extract from that section.
“Eight years ago, in the midst of a night of the terrors of Majdanek, Treblinka, and Buchenwald; in a night of gas chambers and crematoria; in a night of total divine selfconcealment; in a night ruled by the devil of doubt and destruction who sought to sweep the Lover from her own tent into the Catholic Church; in a night of continuous searching for the Beloved — on that very night the Beloved appeared. The Almighty, who was hiding in His splendid sanctum, suddenly appeared and began to beckon at the tent of the Lover, who tossed and turned on her bed beset by convulsions and the agonies of hell. Because of the beating and knocking at the door of the mournful Lover, the State of Israel was born. How many times did the Beloved knock on the door of the Lover? It appears to me that we can count at least six knocks.”
“First, the knock of the Beloved was heard in the political arena. From the point of view of international relations, no one will deny that the rebirth of the State of Israel, in a political sense, was an almost supernatural occurrence. Both Russia and the Western nations supported the establishment of the State of Israel. This was perhaps the one resolution on which East and West concurred [during the Cold War era]. I am inclined to believe that the United Nations was especially created for this end — for the sake of fulfilling the mission that Divine Providence had placed upon it. It appears to me that one cannot point to any other concrete accomplishment on the part of the United Nations…”
“Second, the knock of the Beloved was heard on the battlefield. The tiny defense forces of [the State of] Israel defeated the mighty Arab armies. The miracle of “the many delivered into the hands of the few” materialized before our eyes, and an even greater miracle happened! God hardened the heart of Ishmael and commanded him to go into battle against the State of Israel. Had the Arabs not declared war on Israel and instead supported the Partition Plan, the State of Israel would have remained without Jerusalem, without a major portion of the Galilee, and without some areas of the Negev…”
“Third, the Beloved also began to knock on the door of the tent of theology, and possibly this is the strongest beckoning. I have, on several occasions, emphasized in my remarks concerning the Land of Israel that the theological arguments of Christian theologians, to the effect that the Holy One has taken away from the Community of Israel its rights to the Land of Israel, and that all of the biblical promises relating to Zion and Jerusalem now refer in an allegorical sense to Christianity and the Christian Church, were all publicly shown to be false, baseless contentions by the establishment of the State of Israel…”
“Fourth, the Beloved knocks in the heart of the youth which is assimilated and perplexed. The period of hester panim [Divine concealment] in the 1940’s brought confusion among the Jewish masses and especially Jewish youth. Assimilation increased, and the urge to flee from Judaism and the Jewish people reached its apex. Fear, despair, and ignorance caused many to forsake the Jewish community and “climb aboard the ship,” to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord (Jonah 1:3), just as Jonah sought to flee God’s presence. A seemingly unstoppable tidal wave stood over us and threatened to destroy us. Suddenly, the Beloved began to beckon to the hearts of the perplexed, and His beckoning, the establishment of the State of Israel, at least slowed the process of flight. Many who were once alienated are now bound to the Jewish State with ties of pride in its mighty accomplishments. Many American Jews who were partially assimilated find themselves beset by hidden fear and concern for any crisis that the State of Israel is at the time passing through, and they pray for its well-being and welfare even though they are far from being totally committed to it. Even Jews who are hostile to the State of Israel must defend themselves from the strange charge of dual-loyalty and proclaim daily and declare that they have no stake in the Holy Land…”
“The fifth knock of the Beloved is perhaps the most important. For the first time in the annals of our exile, Divine Providence has amazed our enemies with the astounding discovery that Jewish blood is not cheap! If the antisemites describe this phenomenon as being “an eye for an eye,” we will agree with them. If we want to courageously defend our continued national and historical existence, we must, from time to time, interpret the verse of an “eye for an eye” literally. So many “eyes” were lost in the course of our bitter exile because we did not repay hurt for hurt. The time has come for us to fulfill the simple meaning of “an eye for an eye” (Exodus 21:24)…”
“The sixth beckoning, of which we should also not lose sight, was heard at the time of the opening of the gates of the Land of Israel. A Jew escaping from an enemy’s land now knows that he can find refuge in the land of his forefathers. This is a new phenomenon in the annals of our history. Up to now, when a Jewish population was uprooted, it wandered in the wilderness of the nations without finding shelter and habitation. The shutting of the gates in the face of the exiled caused total destruction for much of the Jewish people. Now the situation has changed. When any nation expels its Jewish minority, the exiled now direct their steps to Zion, and she, as a compassionate mother, absorbs them. We are all witnesses to the settlement of Oriental Jewry in Israel over the last several years. Who knows what would have been in store for these brothers of ours in the lands of their origin if not for the State of Israel, which brought them to her in planes and ships? Had Israel been born before the Hitlerian Holocaust, hundreds of thousands of Jews could have been saved from the gas chambers and the crematoria. The miracle of the State tarried somewhat, and in the wake of its delay, thousands and tens of thousands of Jews were taken to the slaughter. Now that the hour of hester panim has passed, however, the possibility exists for Jews who are pried from their homes to take root in the Holy Land. This should not be taken lightly. Listen! My Beloved Knocks!”
Lee, Chani Merryl & Naomi join me in wishing you Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi Liebenberg.
Rabbi’s YouTube message: https://youtu.be/9Se1ky9h5MY?si=DZndtKEdFUdjn7Yz