Yehuda HaKohen, Author at Israel Rising

October 11, 2016

Yom Kippur: Appreciating the Infinite

On Yom Kippur, we attain a glimpse of our lives, our choices and our relationships to HaShem from a Divine perspective that grants us a more holistic view of the larger story in which we participate.

When we experience something positive in our lives, we generally praise the Kadosh Barukh Hu by saying, “Blessed is He Who is good and does good.” When faced with a negative occurrence, however, we say, “Blessed is He Who is a true Judge.” Our Sages teach that in the future we will say “Blessed is He Who is good and does good” even regarding the tribulations we experience. When we look back and see the entire story from a Divine perspective, we realize that every seemingly negative situation – both in our personal lives and in our collective national life – has actually contributed to HaShem’s plan for bringing all of Creation towards a Divine goal of total good. We will ultimately understand how every perceived misfortune and disaster that befell us was actually a necessary point on the road to the future goal in which all humankind will joyfully connect to their deepest and truest selves through the vehicle of a Hebrew Kingdom and Temple in Jerusalem.

This higher understanding of how even the seemingly negative is actually a necessary component of the greater ultimate positive also holds true for every transgression an individual commits. Although we possess the free choice to do other than that which the Torah instructs, we are unable to actually oppose HaShem’s Will or undermine His plan. Even our transgressions are ultimately recycled back into the Divine plan and contribute to the goal towards which history is always moving.

While this could potentially be misinterpreted as a license to sin, it must be clarified and understood that transgressions actually create a feeling of distance from HaShem, causing alienation and spiritual anguish, sometimes even manifesting as physical ailments. But when one sincerely regrets his wrongdoings and resolves never to repeat them, he is forgiven and even his past sins are then put towards future good.

Yom Kippur is a day of spiritual recharge and transformation when the light of the World-to-Come is figuratively shining into our world, turning our darkest deeds from the past into light. By plugging ourselves into the expanded consciousness of Yom Kippur through the proper acts, thoughts and tefillot prescribed for the day, we can receive – and be transformed by – the day’s all encompassing light.

Yom Kippur is essentially a mikvah in time. According to Torah Law, when a person immerses in a mikvah — a purifying ritual bath — there can be absolutely nothing between his skin and the water. The mikvah’s waters represent G-D’s Divine Oneness and when one enters into a mikvah, he is essentially immersing himself back into that all encompassing Oneness, simulating the experience of existing within the greater infinite Whole we call HaShem. In the mikvah, we become one with the waters, completely absorbed, submerged and surrounded. By immersing our bodies in the water, we express our desire to experience our souls merging back into the Oneness of HaShem. We acknowledge that He is our context and essence and that nothing at all can ever separate us from Him.

We exist within HaShem in a similar sense to the existence of an idea within the mind of its thinker. A major difference between our relationship to G-D and that of an idea to its thinker, however, is that a thought has no free choice whereas we essentially do. Yet at the same time any choice we make still remains within the context of HaShem and His plan for this world. While, from our limited human perspectives, we enjoy freedom of choice, the Kadosh Barukh Hu still remains in absolute control. We are free to disobey and to do other than His Will but we are not able to oppose that Will or undermine His plan. And while a person could understandably wonder what difference our choices actually make, the truth is that our real choice is whether to become HaShem’s conscious partner or His unconscious tool.

We can choose to consciously do G-D’s Will and actively contribute to His plan in a way that brings us to experience the ecstasy of our unity within Him. Or we can choose to oppose His Will and through our own choices unknowingly fulfill His plan. While the first choice empowers us to live superhuman lives, the second option denies us the awareness of our inseparable connection to HaShem and instead causes us to feel estranged from our Divine Source.

The purpose of a mitzvah is to manifest HaShem’s Ideal and express our true inner selves as unique sparks of the Divine in this world. Transgressions, on the other hand, promote illusions of separateness that create painful feelings of alienation and anguish. We can only actively choose to disobey G-D’s Will when we mistakenly believe that we exist separate from Him. The erroneous belief that each of us exists as an independent entity separate from one another is itself the true punishment an offender suffers as it causes him to feel isolated from other people, estranged from his inner self and disconnected from the context and essence of his very existence.

The awareness of HaShem as the infinite Whole in which we all exist allows us to appreciate not only His Divine Oneness but also our special relationship to Him. And although we can theoretically choose do other than His Will, the glimpse of the Divine perspective we receive on Yom Kippur strengthens and inspires us to cleave to His Torah and its statutes as the healthiest and most natural means for expressing our inner selves and fulfilling our purpose of manifesting His Ideal.

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October 7, 2016

“Moshe went and spoke these words to all of Israel…”

“Moshe went and spoke these words to all of Israel. He said to them, ‘I am a hundred and twenty years old today; I can no longer go out and come in, for HaShem has said to me ‘You shall not cross the Jordan’. HaShem, your G-D – He will cross before you, and you shall possess them; Yehoshua – he shall cross over before you, as HaShem has spoken.’” (DEVARIM 31:1-3)

Moshe – who taught, guided and nurtured the Children of Israel for forty years in the wilderness – was not to be permitted into the Promised Land. The prophet who had received the Torah on Israel’s behalf would be forced to take leave of his people just before the liberation of Eretz Yisrael and the establishment of HaShem’s Divine Kingdom therein.

The most well known explanation for why Moshe was forbidden from crossing the Jordan is that he had once lost his patience with Israel and struck a rock. The Midrash, however, explains that this incident was only when the sentence took effect. It had been decreed decades earlier that Moshe would be prohibited from crossing the Jordan River.

“G-D said to Moshe, ‘Whoever acknowledges his homeland is buried in his homeland. Yosef acknowledged his homeland, as it is written, ‘for indeed I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews…’ (BEREISHIT 40:15). You did not acknowledge yourhomeland… How? The daughters of Yitro said, ‘An Egyptian man saved us from the shepherds’ (SHEMOT 2:19). You heard them and remained silent. Therefore you will not be buried in your homeland.’” (Devarim Rabbah 2:8)

Although he had been raised as royalty in Pharaoh’s palace and had never in his life actually seen the Land of Israel, Moshe was held accountable for allowing himself to be referred to by others as “an Egyptian man.” Regardless of where we each currently reside, Jews should be vigilant never to view ourselves as belonging to any people or nation other than our own. Moshe, the paradigm of Hebrew unity and national responsibility – who killed an Egyptian on the spot for merely striking a Hebrew slave – was penalized for neglecting to protest when being referred to as an Egyptian. This episode illustrates the gravity of viewing ourselves as German, French, American or any nationality other than Israeli. We must understand thatIsrael is one people with one country and one collective mission reflecting the Torah’s blueprint for an ideal perfect world. And it is only through the advancement of Israel’s national aspirations that humanity can attain higher consciousness and total blessing according to HaShem’s Divine plan for Creation.

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October 6, 2016

Remembering Gedaliah ben Aḥikam

Of all the Jews murdered throughout history, why does Israel fast on the third of Tishrei for Gedaliah ben Aḥikam? There must be a significant reason beyond the assassination itself.

To answer this question, it’s important to also view events from the perspective of Gedaliah’s assassin, Yishmael ben Netaniah, who likely saw himself acting justly on behalf of his people.

A higher and more nuanced perspective enables us to see the situation from both sides. While some might claim that because Yishmael made an alliance with another regional king (Baalis of Ammon), he had forfeited his right to attack Gedaliah’s connection to the Emperor Nevudkhadnetzar. But a deeper look reveals that Yishmael’s alliance with Baalis was in order to initiate a shared Judean-Ammonite struggle against the Babylonian Empire – the motivation for which would have been liberating Judea from foreign rule. An alliance with Ammon based on intersecting anti-imperialist interests cannot be compared to Gedaliah representing Babylonian interests in Judea. As a descendent of King David fighting for Hebrew independence, Yishmael likely felt a patriotic duty to cut down the emperor’s Jewish client governor. But pure motivations and a just cause still carry an obligation to see a larger picture and the potential consequences of zealous actions.

From the other side, Gedaliah was simply trying to do the best he could under the conditions that existed. He was close to Yirmiyahu (who David’s descendants, their supporters and probably also the Babylonians mistook for a traitor) and was being pragmatic under the circumstances. Because he really wasn’t a traitor and was actually trying to prevent Judean society from falling apart following a catastrophe, it was probably difficult for him to understand that others viewed him as such. This would explain why his guard was down – he and Yishmael likely saw their disagreement in a very different light.

The Rambam teaches in Hilkhot Taanit 5:2 that what we are really fasting over on Tzom Gedaliah is the complete loss of Hebrew sovereignty. Despite being a puppet governor appointed by the foreign emperor who had just destroyed Jerusalem’s Temple and exiled her people, Gdaliah was – according to the Rambam – the last ember of Judean independence.

We mourn Gedaliah’s death on the third of Tishrei each year because – despite him being a vassal appointed by a hated foreign ruler – he represented the last tiny thread of Hebrew sovereignty in our land.

But just as it was clearly a mistake for Yishmael and his supporters to demonize Gedaliah then, it might also be a mistake for us to demonize Yishmael now. The primary message we should take away from the fast is the need to appreciate the spiritual value of the Jewish independence we currently have, despite its limitations and the sometimes disappointing behavior of Israeli political leaders. According to the Rambam’s position on Tzom Gedaliah, even a small thread of Hebrew sovereignty has spiritual value.

September 29, 2016

“It will be that when all of these things come upon you”

“It will be that when all of these things come upon you – the blessing and the curse that I have presented before you – then you will take it to your heart among all the nations where HaShem, your G-D, has dispersed you; and you will return to HaShem, your G-D, and listen to His voice, according to everything that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and all your soul. Then HaShem, your G-D, will bring back your captivity and have mercy upon you, and He will gather you in from all the peoples to which HaShem, your G-D, has scattered you. If your dispersed will be at the ends of heaven, from there HaShem, your G-D, will gather you in and from there He will take you. HaShem, your G-D, will bring you to the land that your forefathers possessed and you shall possess it; He will do good for you and make you more numerous than your forefathers. HaShem, your G-D, will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, to love HaShem, your G-D, with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. HaShem, your G-D, will place all these imprecations upon your enemies and those who hate you, who pursued you. You shall return and listen to the voice of HaShem, and perform all His commandments that I command you today. HaShem will make you abundant in all your handiwork – in the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your animals, and the fruit of your land – for good, when HaShem will return to rejoice over you for good, as He rejoiced over your forefathers, when you listen to the voice of HaShem, your G-D, to observe His commandments, and His decrees, that are written in this Book of the Torah, when you shall return to HaShem, your G-D, with all your heart and all your soul.” (DEVARIM 30:1-10)

A superficial reading of these verses might seem confusing to those with a narrow understanding of tshuva. In verse 30:2, it appears that the Jewish people return to HaShem. We are then brought back to the Land of Israel and receive Divine blessings. But then verse 30:10 states that Israel again returns to HaShem, prompting a question on the chronology of events. Is Israel first brought back to our borders or does the nation first return to living in accordance with our Torah?

The famous Ohr Sameaḥ, Rabbi Meir Simḥa HaKohen of Dvinsk, teaches in the MeshekhḤokhmah that these verses refer to two types of tshuva. He points out that in verse 30:2 the return to HaShem is written as v’shavta ad-HaShem while the later tshuva in verse 30:10 readstashuv el-HaShem. Ad-HaShem, he explains, is not necessarily a return to Torah observance but rather to Jewish national consciousness. It is the Children of Israel once again self-identifying as part of a single people after generations of trying to assimilate into the host populations in the lands of our dispersion. We suddenly desire our own country, want to speak our own language and seek to express our own unique cultural identity. This stage oftshuva is essentially the reawakening of our ancient tribal identity and a feeling of solidarity with fellow Jews throughout the world.

El-HaShem, the later return, is a renewed embrace of the Torah and its commandments in both our private lives and in the collective national life of the Jewish people. The Ohr Sameaḥ teaches that once we return to a healthy Jewish national consciousness, we will certainly return to observing the statutes of our Torah. Returning to a sense of peoplehood and collective responsibility is the first stage of a process leading to tshuva on a level far greater than any individual’s personal return could ever reach. More than merely fostering personal piety among Jews, tshuva that begins with a reawakening of Hebrew identity will lead Israel to express kedusha in every sphere of national life, from social services and agriculture to warfare and diplomacy. The early stages of returning to national consciousness are part of a Divinely guided historical process that even those participating in are often unaware.

The kabalist Rabbi Yehuda Ḥai Alkalai (in Kitvei HaRav Alkalai) supports the Ohr Sameaḥ’s view regarding two types of tshuva, clearly defining them as national and individual. Rabbi Alkalai illuminates further that national tshuva is Israel returning to our native land. The redemption, he explains, does not occur all at once but rather takes place in stages – stages in which the Jewish people must actively participate. Israel coming back to a feeling of peoplehood – after bitter centuries of dispersion and persecution – is a response to the magnet of the Divine Will for Creation. The initial stage of the redemption process is a healthy and natural feeling of Jewish nationalism, seemingly identical to the nationalism found amongst gentiles.

In Sha’ar 100 of the Akeidat Yitzḥak, Rabbi Yitzḥak Arama points out that the process of redemption takes place with the tshuva of returning to nationalism, followed by HaShem bringing Israel back to our borders. Only following this ingathering of the exiles comes the later tshuva of Israel returning to Torah and experiencing full redemption.

Rabbi Zvi Yehuda HaKohen Kook concurs with this view and adds that the redemption is in and of itself tshuva as it is the Jewish people returning to the completeness of what the Hebrew Nation is naturally meant to be. Rabbi Kook points out that the redemption comes “slowly, slowly” (Jerusalem Talmud Brakhot 1:1) and further demonstrates, based on several Biblical verses, that ad-HaShem is a collective subconscious tshuva of returning to nationhood in our homeland whereas the tshuva of el-HaShem stems from a conscious understanding that Israel fully expressing ourselves as the national manifestation of HaShem’s Ideal for Creation necessitates a certain vision and behavioral norms. While thetshuva of ad-HaShem generally has no conscious destination, the tshuva of el-HaShemcarries with it a deep awareness of the Divine Source to which Israel is returning.

The concept of el-HaShem occurring after the ingathering of the Jewish people to our homeland is expressed throughout Scripture (YOEL 2:12, AMOS 4:6, EIKHAH 3:40-41) with YISHAYAH 44:22 stating “return to Me for I have redeemed you,” implying that Israel returns to Torah after being redeemed. And one of the clearest examples of this process can be found in chapter 36 of the Book of YEḤEZKEL.

“I will take you from among the nations and gather you in from all the lands, and I will bring you to your own soil. Then I will sprinkle pure water upon you, that you may become cleansed; I will cleanse you from all your contamination and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you, and I will make it so that you will follow My decrees and My ordinances and fulfill them. You will dwell in the land that I gave to your forefathers; you will be a people to Me, and I will be a G-D to you.” (YEḤEZKEL 36:24-28)

At the deepest core of Jewish national aspirations burns a drive to bless humanity with the knowledge of HaShem as the timeless ultimate Reality without end that creates all, sustains all, empowers all and loves all. The Zionist movement emerged as the external practical expression of Israel’s ancient spiritual yearnings that for generations lay dormant within our people’s collective soul. The national consciousness of the Jewish people has come alive in modern times to initiate a movement of universal tshuva that will drive world history toward its ultimate future goal. Through the vehicle of a Hebrew Kingdom in Eretz Yisrael, mankind will be brought to the awareness of HaShem as the infinite Whole in which we all exist – an awareness that will usher in an era of total goodness, global harmony and universal fulfillment. This is the true inner essence of Israel’s national aspirations, culminating in the entire Jewish people living securely in our homeland with a Temple in Jerusalem, shining G-D’s light to mankind.

September 21, 2016

In This Generation Of Redemption We Must Clarify Our Role

It is crucial in this generation of redemption that we clarify for ourselves the exalted role we are meant to play. We must wholeheartedly embrace our national function as the heart of mankind that will usher in an era of absolute peace and fulfill the Hebrew mission of bringing Creation to total perfection.

“This day, HaShem, your G-D, commands you to perform these decrees and these statutes, and you shall observe and perform them with all your heart and with all your soul. You have distinguished HaShem today to be a G-D to you, and to walk in His ways, and to observe His decrees, His commandments and His statutes, and to hearken to His voice. And HaShem has distinguished you today to be for Him an Am Segula, as He spoke to you, and to observe all His commandments, and to make you supreme over all the nations that He made, for praise, for renown and for splendor, and so that you will be a holy people to HaShem, your G-D, as He spoke.” (DEVARIM 26:16-19)

These verses allude to Israel’s collective historic role, as well as the special relationship we enjoy with HaShem. Concerning verse 19, the Ramban explains the words “for praise” as meaning that “all the nations of the earth will praise you for HaShem being close to you.” It is through the story of the Jewish people in history that the Divine Ideal will be expressed in this world and humanity will come to know HaShem as the timeless and boundless ultimate Reality that creates and sustains all that exists. Israel is tasked with setting an example of national kedusha and bringing mankind to Creation’s ultimate goal – a world of total goodness functioning in accordance with the Divine plan that preceded it. Israel must lead the world to an era of total peace and universal perfection through the establishment of a Hebrew Kingdom in the Land of Israel that will reveal HaShem’s Oneness to all of Creation.

The Hebrew Nation is a treasured people uniquely created to help mankind in reaching its ultimate purpose. Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi teaches in The Kuzari that Israel is meant to be to humanity at large what the heart is to the human body, pumping blessing and life to all the peoples of the world. Israel is G-D’s emissary on earth – His national expression uniquely created to personify and manifest His Divine Ideal.

HaShem established a partnership between Israel and Himself – a partnership in constructing a world of total goodness. The union between HaShem and Israel is an unparalleled partnership of love and devotion. Because the most exalted unification most humans are able to grasp is that between a husband and wife, King Shlomo compares the relationship between Kadosh Barukh Hu [G-d] and Israel to that of a man and woman. This is the meaning of the words “My Beloved is mine and I am His” (SHIR HASHIRIM 2:16).

Two lovers are seen, one in partnership with the other. I am His and He is mine. This is the purest alliance that can exist, for each gives to the other rather than selfishly taking. The partnership of man and woman is expressed through the clinging of body and soul as the partnership between HaShem and Israel is one of Jews clinging to Him and to His Torah. It is crucial in this generation of redemption that we clarify for ourselves the exalted role we are meant to play. We must wholeheartedly embrace our national function as the heart of mankind that will usher in an era of absolute peace and fulfill the Hebrew mission of bringing Creation to total perfection.