Category: Redemption Watch

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ISRAEL’S INDEPENDENCE DAY: It is an Obligation to Liberate the Land of Israel

In order to appreciate the full significance of Israel’s Independence Day, one must clarify what the day is meant to commemorate, as well as what this connotes within the context of Jewish history and Torah Law. One of the major reasons for the celebration of Yom HaAtzmaut is to rejoice in the restoration of Hebrew independence in the Land of Israel following a long and bitter exile of the majority of Jews from our soil. Yom HaAtzmaut celebrates the liberation of Eretz Yisrael from British rule and the reestablishment of Jewish political sovereignty over our country.

In his supplement to the Rambam’s Sefer HaMitzvot, the Ramban teaches that it is a Torah commandment in every generation that the Nation of Israel take control of and inhabit the entire Land of Israel.

“This (a war to liberate Eretz Yisrael) is what our Sages call milḥemet mitzvah (obligatory war). In the Talmud (Sotah 44b) Rava said, ‘Yehoshua’s war of liberation was an obligatory duty according to all opinions.’ And do not err and say that this precept is the commandment to vanquish the seven nations… this is not so. We were commanded to destroy those nations when they fought against us and had they wished to make peace we could have done so under specific conditions. Yet we cannot leave the land in their control or in the control of any other nation in any generation… Behold, we are commanded with conquest in every generation… this is a positive commandment which applies for all time… And the proof that this is a commandment is this: ‘They were told to go up in the matter of the Spies: ‘Go up and conquer as HaShem, G-D of your fathers, has spoken to you. Do not fear and do not be discouraged.’ And it further says: ‘And when HaShem sent you from Kadesh Barnea saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you.’ And when they did not go up, the Torah says: ‘And you rebelled against the Word of G-D, and you did not listen to this command.’” (Positive Commandment 4 of the Ramban’s supplement to the Rambam’s Sefer HaMitzvot)

The Ramban asserts that the conquest of Eretz Yisrael is a mitzvah for Israel in every generation and that we are forbidden from allowing any part of our country to fall into – or remain under – gentile control. It is found in the Shulḥan Arukh that all of the arbitrators of Torah Law (Rishonimand Aḥronim) agree with the Ramban concerning this issue.

“All of the Poskim, both Rishonim and Aḥronim, decide the Law in this fashion on the basis of the Ramban.” (Shulḥan Arukh, Even HaEzer section 75, Pitḥei Tshuva 6)

The Nation of Israel is eternally commanded to conquer and implement Jewish sovereignty over our country. Yom HaAtzmaut commemorates the fifth day of Iyar, 5708, when Israel fulfilled this mitzvah for the first time in nearly two thousand years by declaring Hebrew independence in portions of our homeland.

Aside from renewing the mitzvah of Hebrew sovereignty, there is another essential reason to celebrate Yom HaAtzmaut. The Megillat Ta’anitteaches that it is a mitzvah to thank HaShem for the miracles He performs. This was the basis for sanctifying Ḥanukah and Purim. And like Ḥanukah, Yom HaAtzmaut commemorates the triumph of a small and ill equipped band of Jewish freedom fighters over one of the world’s most powerful empires.

The British had ruled the Land of Israel since World War I and had done everything in their power to prevent Jewish independence. While Israel’s political leadership grudgingly acquiesced to Britain’s imperialist designs, a courageous minority of revolutionaries launched a war of liberation that eventually succeeded in attaining independence. As Hebrew fighters displayed tenacious heroism in the face of nearly impossible odds, HaShem worked through these fighters to force the British Empire from Palestine. And it was on the fifth of Iyar – Yom HaAtzmaut – that the Union Jack was ultimately lowered from the Jewish homeland.

Throughout the period of our exile, scattered Jewish communities have had the authority to establish what is called a “Purim Katan” – a sacred day of thanksgiving meant to express gratitude to the Kadosh Barukh Hu for saving a community from danger. Since Yom HaAtzmaut is a day on which a miracle occurred for the entire Jewish people, it is a Torah precept to ordain a public festival for commemoration of HaShem’s kindness towards His people. Israel’s Chief Rabbinate declared that the nation recite Hallel on this day in order to remember the miracles performed on Israel’s behalf.

But if the commandment is really so obvious and clear, why would so many great scholars appear so unsure about – or often even vehemently opposed to – the State of Israel and the celebration of Yom HaAtzmaut? The Gaon of Vilna answers this question in Kol HaTor (the Gaon’s teachings regarding the redemption process compiled by his student Rabbi Hillel Rivlin of Shklov).

“The Sin of the Spies… hovers over the Nation of Israel in every generation… How strong is the power of the Sitra Aḥra that it succeeds in hiding from the eyes of our holy fathers the dangers of the klipot; from the eyes of Avraham our father, the klipah of exile… and in the time of the Messiah, the Sitra Aḥra attacks the guardians of Torah with blinders… Many of the sinners in this great sin of, ‘They despised the cherished land,’ and also many of the guardians of Torah, will not know or understand that they are caught in the Sin of the Spies, that they have been sucked into the Sin of the Spies in many false ideas and empty claims, and they cover their ideas with the already proven fallacy that the mitzvah of the settlement of Israel no longer applies in our day, an opinion which has already been disproven by the giants of the world, the Rishonim and Aḥronim.” (Kol HaTorchapter 5)

The Torah debate over Yom HaAtzmaut is actually far more psychological than legal. Those who relate to Jewish history as having played out in ancient times, but being currently paused until the eventual arrival of a Messiah, generally restrict Jewish life to matters of “religion” often divorced from public life and national developments. But those who view themselves as participants in history and active characters in an incredible living story appreciate how current events – and even the actions we take – can have the power to impact and influence the Hebrew calendar.

The most amazing miracle of Yom HaAtzmaut is perhaps the foundation for all of the others. After so many centuries of persecution in exile, HaShem placed a new spirit of valor into our people. For the first time in modern history, a generation of Jewish heroes arose – willing to lay down their lives for the liberation of their homeland. And even more astonishing than this is the fact that the Kadosh Barukh Hu strengthened the hearts of Israel’s political leaders so that they would declare independence for the Nation of Israel despite being faced with overwhelming international pressure not to do so.

Yom HaAtzmaut is the most significant world event to take place in nearly two thousand years. It was on this day that HaShem returned the Children of Israel to the stage of history so that we may lead mankind towards a world of total blessing. It is the goal of Creation that the Divine Ideal be fully expressed through Israel bringing humanity to an awareness of HaShem as the timeless ultimate Reality without end that creates all, sustains all, empowers all and loves all. The Maharal of Prague teaches in Netzaḥ Yisrael that in order for Am Yisrael to fulfill our historic mission, we must first unite as an independent nation on our soil. Only as a strong and healthy nation living a collective life of national kedusha can Israel reveal the greatness and unity of HaShem’s Ideal in every major and minor sphere of existence. Only through the vehicle of Jewish independence can we bring mankind towards a universal blessing through illuminating the world with the light of Torah.

The modern State of Israel – the foundation of HaShem’s Throne in this world – must be understood not only as His Divine handiwork but also as an early stage in the development of universal redemption – a process that unfolds through a series of historic events. While the current Jewish state has not yet reached the greatness for which it is destined, it must be recognized that the physical vessel once again exists in our world and will eventually grow to reveal its exalted inner potential. After so many centuries as a ghost walking through history, Israel again functions as a living nation on the world stage. The Jewish people has taken an enormous step forward by reestablishing Hebrew independence in portions of Eretz Yisrael. While the mere existence of a Jewish state was never the final goal of our ancient yearnings, it is certainly a powerful vehicle with which to now achieve Israel’s greater aspirations. The liberation of our people will continue to progress as new heroes arise to confront the challenges of our generation and advance Jewish history to the next stages of redemption.

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NORTH KOREA AND THE END TIMES: “Then the whole world shook with the violence of battle”

Rebbe Nachman says the following at the end of his famous story The Cripple:

“…all the remaining Whisperers were furious at this injustice, and they went up on earth and brewed trouble among all the kings of earth, so that there was hunger, and pestilence, and death everywhere among men and among demons of the earth; then the whole world shook with the violence of battle, and earthquakes came of war. And then the walls of the Demon’s pit fell inward, and the soil filled the pit and pressed against the Tree, and the water passed through the earth to the Tree, and the Tree drank.

And all the Demons perished.”

The World stands on edge as North Korea, a despotic, brain washed country led by an insane person is about to throw humanity seemingly over the nuclear cliff. How have we gotten to this point? The Cripple’s end is eerily similar to the mayhem the leaders of our World are heading to.

King Solomon teaches us “the hearts of kings are in the hand of G-D.”  When we see nonsensical actions taking place in front of us the chaos unleashed can only have one goal and that is a sort of wiping the slate clean of the past.  Chaos leads to order.  Darkness to light. The “demons” of our world, those creatures we entertain in the dark recesses of our society have no choice but to be destroyed.  These demons of corporatization, globalism, atheism, consumerism, and moral relativism have no place in a rectified World.  Yes, the collapse is on and the chaos unleashed because of leaders gone mad seems incoherent with a Divinely empowered existence, but in fact the crisis flowing from the “End of the Earth” on the Korean peninsula is now the trigger G-D is using to move humanity beyond the demons of its past.

The World’s super system and hierarchy of lies is being destroyed. All we have to do is have the faith to hold on.

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Are You Ready for Freedom?

Between Israel’s slavery in Egypt and the final redemption in Jerusalem, the story of the Exodus continues throughout time. In every generation we find challenges and heroes in our unbroken struggle for complete liberation as we inch ever closer toward history’s ultimate goal.

The festival of Pesaḥ is the holiday of Israel’s initial emancipation, marking the birth of the Hebrew Nation and HaShem’s great love for us. It was on this day that the Kadosh Barukh Hu took Israel out from Egyptian slavery in order that we become His human representative in this world. We were brought from subjugation to freedom in order that we establish the civilization meant to express His Divine Ideal and bless humanity with the light of His Truth – a light that can only be illuminated through Israel experiencing complete independence in our historic homeland. It is therefore precisely on Pesaḥ – on the birthday of the Hebrew Nation – that we must educate ourselves to the true value of freedom.

Rashi teaches that the miracles of the Exodus began on the tenth of Nisan, a few days preceding the festival. It was on this date that Israel overcame our fears and psychologically freed ourselves from the chains of bondage. Each household prepared to slaughter a lamb, one of Egypt’s most prominent national deities, and displayed it defiantly for our oppressors to see. Although the Egyptians would naturally seek to punish their Hebrew slaves for such an offense, the Children of Israel remained miraculously unharmed. This was therefore the day on which the miracles of redemption truly began and when Hebrew courage was first demonstrated after so many years of persecution.

On Pesaḥ of 5707 (1947), the last year of British rule over our country, an importantseder took place in the Jerusalem Central Prison. A few days before their scheduled executions by the foreign regime, six young men were conducting the Pesaḥ seder with Rabbi Yaakov Goldman. They were Dov Gruner, Mordekhai Alkaḥi, Yeḥiel Drezner, Eliezer Kashani and Meir Feinstein from the Irgun Zvai Leumi (National Military Organization) and Moshe Barazani from the Loḥamei Ḥerut Yisrael (Fighters for the Freedom of Israel). Dressed in their red death row jumpsuits, these boys were provided with haggadot and food so that they could sit together and celebrate the holiday of their people’s freedom for the last time.

The young men eventually arrived at the part of the haggadah which relates Rabbi Akiva and other Sages discussing the Exodus from Egypt all night in B’nei Brak. When dawn broke, their students came to inform them that it was time to say “Shema Yisrael.”

The prisoners sitting around the table discussed where these rabbis might have been that they could not see the light of day in order to know the time. It is well known that these Sages had supported the Bar Kokhba Revolt against the Roman Empire and that Rabbi Akiva had even served as Bar Kokhba’s personal arms bearer. Acting as the spiritual leader of the insurrection, Rabbi Akiva had gone so far as to proclaim Bar Kokhba the Messiah. These rabbis must have been hiding in caves from where they were organizing the revolt against Rome. They were discussing the Exodus – the importance of freedom – all night long and when dawn broke, their students came to tell them that it was time for “Shema Yisrael” – time to sanctify G-D’s Name through liberating the Land of Israel from foreign rule.

Nearly two thousand years later, these six young men – freedom fighters captured and sentenced to death – were reading the story of the rabbis in B’nei Brak. Dov Gruner said to the others, “It is a shame that our political leaders do not learn what Rabbi Akiva said, that if the Egyptians had not received fifty makot (plagues/strikes) and another two hundred and fifty makot at the sea, they would never have granted the Hebrews their freedom. If Rabbi Akiva understood that in order to become free, there had to bemakot, then why is it so difficult for Israel to understand now that we must give makotto the British in order to win our freedom?”

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Dov Gruner – ready to be executed by the British administration – internalized the teachings of Rabbi Akiva, who had himself been brutally executed by Rome. Now, after nearly two thousand years of terrible degradation, the students of Rabbi Akiva had at long last arrived. The students that history had been waiting for had come to proclaim that dawn was finally braking. The students – all dressed in red and eating a prisonseder only days before their executions by a modern incarnation of Rome – had arrived to reestablish a sovereign Hebrew state – even if at the expense of their lives. These were men who walked in the path of Rabbi Akiva, knowing that it was their final Pesaḥseder before singing HaTikvah and mounting the British gallows. And without fear or regret, they questioned why the official Jewish leadership of their generation had not understood the eternal teachings of redemption.

Prior to his execution, Dov Gruner wrote a farewell letter to his commander, Menaḥem Begin:

“Sir,

From the bottom of my heart I thank you for the encouragement that you have given me during these fateful days. Be assured that whatever happens I shall not forget the principles of dignity, generosity and resolve. I shall know how to uphold my honor, the honor of a Jewish soldier and fighter.

“I could have written in high-sounding phrases something like the old Roman ‘Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori’ (‘it is sweet and proper to die for one’s country’). But words are cheap, and skeptics can say ‘after all, he had no choice.’ And they might even be right. Of course I want to live. Who doesn’t? But what pains me, now that the end is so near, is mainly the awareness that I have not succeeded in achieving enough. I too could have said ‘let the future take care of the future’ while enjoying life and being content with the job I was promised upon my demobilization. I could even have left the country altogether for a safer life in America. But this would not have satisfied me, neither as a Jew nor as a Zionist.

“There are many schools of thought as to how a Jew should choose his way of life. One way is that of the assimilationists who have renounced their Jewishness. There is also another way, the way of those who call themselves Zionists – the way of negotiation and compromise, as if the existence of a nation were but another transaction. They are not prepared to make any sacrifice and are therefore forced to make concessions and accept compromise. Perhaps this is a means of delaying the end but, in the final analysis, it leads to the ghetto. And let us not forget that in the ghetto of Warsaw alone there were five hundred thousand Jews.

“The only way that seems, to my mind, to be right, is the way of the Irgun Zvai Leumi, the way of courage and daring without renouncing a single inch of our homeland. When political negations prove futile, one must be prepared to fight for our country and our freedom. Without them the very existence of our nation is jeopardized, so fight we must with all possible means. This is the only way left to our people in our hour of decision: to stand on our rights, to be ready to fight, even if for some of us this way leads to the gallows. For it is a law of history that only with blood shall a country be redeemed. I am writing this while awaiting the hangman. This is not a moment at which I can lie, and I swear that if I had to begin my life anew I would have chosen the same path, regardless of the consequences.

Your faithful soldier,

Dov”

Dov Gruner embodied the teachings of Rabbi Akiva and understood the struggle for freedom in Eretz Yisrael as the highest and truest service to HaShem. After receiving Gruner’s letter, Menaḥem Begin wrote:

“Great is the courage in Israel at a time of destruction and in this time of resurrection. We will be proud of them all and in all of them we will recognize holiness. But in the ladder of Jewish heroism, there is one level that is supreme. And from that level arises those who are Harugei Malkhut (martyrs of the kingdom). They were fighters whose fighting was not passive. It was active. They were revolutionaries whose revolution was not without choice but initiated. They went to the gallows and their heroism was not once. It is eternal. From their bleeding hearts, a song of freedom was sung. The song that sang how there is no purpose in being slaves anymore and that freedom would win and justice would arrive. And now, G-D of Israel, I tell You: Because You have given Israel such children as these, I say ‘Yitgadal V’Yitkadash Sh’mei Rabbah.’”

Begin declares “Yitgadal V’Yitkadash Sh’mei Rabbah” – “May His Great Name be exalted and sanctified.” The evidence that G-D’s Name is exalted and sanctified is that Israel has sons who are prepared to give their lives – boys ready to sacrifice themselves on the alter of Israel’s freedom so that the next generation would see a Hebrew flag over Jerusalem.

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The legendary tzadik of Jerusalem, Rabbi Aryeh Levine, came to see Yeḥiel Drezner before he was taken to the gallows. When Drezner asked the pious sage for help with the confessional prayer before death, Rabbi Levine began to cry. He told the young fighter not to worry about death and that the confessional prayer is not necessary for martyrs.

And dawn broke. The British retreated from Eretz Yisrael shortly after the execution of these courageous boys. A Hebrew flag signifying renewed Jewish independence once again soared over portions of our homeland, initiating the first flowering of Israel’s redemption.

The Talmud (Brakhot 20a) asks why Israel experienced less open miracles in Talmudic times than in Biblical times. The Sages question if it might be because the Jewish people in Talmudic times were less immersed in the study of Torah. But the Talmud dismisses this and answers that it can be proven that there were Biblical generations that studied less Torah yet still experienced greater miracles. The Talmud continues by revealing that the difference is not due to a distinction in scholarship but rather to a distinction in self-sacrifice for the Hebrew mission. Israelis in Biblical times were more willing to give their lives for the sanctification of G-D’s Name. The Talmud therefore concludes that miracles are a result of courage and selfless devotion. When Israel is ready to meet HaShem half way, we are rewarded with assistance and great Divine kindness.

So dawn breaks not when Rabbi Akiva has students who merely study the Torah but rather when he has students who actually live the Torah and are willing to give their lives for the advancement of Jewish history. The young death row inmates understood what the haggadah means when it proclaims that next year the Jewish people will be free. In blood and fire Hebrew sovereignty fell and in blood and fire it would again rise. The haggadah is not simply a book that teaches us what took place once upon a time in Egypt. Nor is it merely an instruction manual for properly conducting the rituals of aseder. The haggadah in every generation is meant to teach Israel how to liberate our people and to understand the basic values of our freedom. The heroic martyrs of the pre-state Jewish underground were not simply fighters. They were educators – educators for a generation who did not yet understand the true meaning of freedom. And when the Jewish people will understand the true significance and value of Hebrew liberation, there will no longer be any necessity for such martyrs.

The lesson is clear. Freedom is a miracle and miracles require valor. History demands that Israel establish a kingdom that will manifest the Divine Ideal in all spheres of national life in order to liberate humanity from a world of systemic injustice and false dogmas. But in order to accomplish this lofty mission we must first psychologically free ourselves, as did our ancestors in Egypt on the tenth of Nisan. The sooner we believe in ourselves and in our ability to stand proud as a strong moral force among nations, the closer we will come to expressing the full grandeur of HaShem’s Ideal for this world and ushering in an era of total blessing for humankind.

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HAVE WE HAVE ARRIVED? Israel, Syria, and the Final Redemption

Isaiah 17:1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

The above verse has been rolled out over and over again since the Syrian civil war began six years ago.  The verse offers an important sign that indicates the final stage of the redemption of the Nation of Israel at the End of Days. Now, with tensions rising between the USA and Russia over President Trump’s shooting of 59 missiles into Syrian territory, the above verse has become extremey significant.

With those 59 missiles Donald Trump not only recalibrated the Syrian conflict, he has changed his and in turn America’s relationship with the Putin regime in Russia to one of possible rapproachment to nearing open conflict.

King Solomon says the following in the book of Proverbs:

21:1 The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD as the watercourses: He turneth it whithersoever He will.

We believers know that a leader has no true will power of his own when it comes to global affairs and so the Trump White House no matter the promises before the election of not getting involved in Syria is now involved. Trump is not the sort of president to back down and there is no position Russia or Iran could retreat to in order to compromise with the USA on Assad’s future.  Given this, the conflict in Syria has become the trigger for something far bigger.

In ancient days Damascus was always the thorn in the side of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. This ongoing tug of war between the Kingdom of Israel and Aram and later Assyria played itself out in much of the book of Kings.  The State of Israel at this stage is a representation of that Kingdom, with only the Messiah representing the return of the Davidic Kingdom of Judah.  Furthermore we understand that Damascus falling at the End of Days is equally important, not just for the rectification that needs to occur in relation to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, but because of the way in which this once great city becomes no more.

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The Bible is replete with accountings of a final war between the Nations of the World. Although this war is global, it is also connected to the Land of Israel.  The modern State of Syria, at least the area of Syria and Lebanon up to the Euphrates River fell within the Davidic Kingdom and will be part of that reconstituted Kingdom at the End of Days.

The Nations of the World duke it out in and around the Land of Israel just prior to the Messiah’s arrival.  It is this war that spreads out from a collapsing Damascus that lays the foundation for a new era.  It is once again the principal of chaos to order, we see thoughout the Creation and expressed so beautifuly in the beginning of the Torah and its accounting of the Creation of the World. We are entering a period of intense chaos, one which will lead to a new order.

Syria, Passover, Rebbe Nachman, and the Ongoing Redempion

Every year we find ourselves back at the Seder and yet every year there seems to be a new set of personal, national, and global challenges.  Passover is our time to feel that our personal and national freedom is guided by the Almighty.

Each one of us sees the world and the chaos that flows throughout it as a threat to our very existence.  Yet, the opposite is true.  The chaos is an opportunity.  This chaos will settle and afterwards there will be a new order and set of rules for the world to follow. Yet, just like the time of the first redemption we did not know when the chaos would end, we drew comfort in following Moses, the one true leader of the generation. However, it was not Moses alone. The Midrash teaches that it was in fact the bones of Joseph who the Nation of Israel carried out of Egypt and went in front of it that led to the Sea splitting.

We are at the proverbial sea again. There are nations all around us.  Some are fighting eachother and others are preparing to attack us.  We have no where to go and yet we wonder in which form our salvation will come. The politicians want us to believe it is they who we should trust, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov teaches that the Messiah will conquer the world without firing a shot.  How does this happen? We know the redemption from Egypt is a prototype for the final redemption.  The chaos of the world around us is nothing other than the clearing of the deck to make way for a far higher consciousness to prevail. The boundaries and order established by the elites are crumbling. The false kingdom is being laid to waste.

Damascus, who challenged the Kingdom of Israel thousands of years ago, essentially challenging the Creator’s plan, will now be destroyed as the empires of the world take one final swipe at eachother before their reign comes to an end.

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Rebbe Nachman said his fire wil burn until the coming the Messiah. Those who opposed his leadership just over 200 years ago, thought the statement was mad. Yet, it is Rebbe Nachman and his teachings who have penetrated the mainstream Jewish conciousness in a way that could have never been imagined even 20 years ago. As the world of lies continues to crumble, the world of truth prepares to be revealed.

Passover instills us with a deep faith that all is in the hands of the Almighty and all will be good no matter the chaos that seems to be ovetaking us.  Syria is the trigger for the final war. Rebbe Nachman teaches that simple faith in the Almighty is the key to the final redemption.  Now more than ever we too need to cling to the faith that all is for the best just as we did during the very first Passover thousands of years ago.

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The Temple in Jerusalem Will Bring a Higher Reality

VAYIKRA opens with an explanation of the various korbanot. And like many other Hebrew words and ideas, the concept of a korban loses its true meaning and essence when translated into the English language. While some might mistakenly translate the term korban as “sacrifice” the word actually comes from the Hebrew root karov (near), indicating that a better translation into English might be “that which brings near.”Korbanot brought to the Mishkan (and later to the Temple in Jerusalem) essentially serve the purpose of enhancing a person’s overall closeness to the Divine.

VAYIKRA’s fourth aliyah specifically features the korban shlamim, which Sforno explains as offerings voluntarily brought when one feels personally motivated to express gratitude to HaShem. This korban, brought from a sense of love and appreciation, is an expression of recognition for the Kadosh Barukh Hu’s constant generosity and eternal connection to the Children of Israel.

According to Rashi, the name shlamim is derived from the word Shalom, because theshlamim has the ability to increase peace in our world. Living in a generation without aMishkan or Temple makes it difficult to understand how bringing korbanot – a seemingly primitive act by Western standards – can actually have any meaningful impact on the universe. When judged by the wrong yardstick, mitzvot like the ritual slaughter of animals can appear insignificant or even barbaric. But while Western thought measures things according to the present reality as perceived through our limited senses, Israel’s Torah views life according to the standard of our reality’s deeper inner workings, as well as where we understand the world to be heading. Only by viewing reality through a pure Hebrew lens can one attain the necessary vision to appreciate how each korban serves to release Divine energies that flow into this world and uplift Creation to a higher plane of existence.

Torah concepts of mitzvot, especially those pertaining to the Temple in Jerusalem, come from a higher dimension of reality that our world is meant to exist on and will certainly reach as history progresses towards a more advanced state. The individual stages that bring about this higher goal can only be perceived when one achieves a broader view of the amazing reality mankind is currently approaching. In order for a person to appreciate the significance of an individual piece of any given puzzle, he must first have an idea of what the entire picture should look like. Only then can he realize the necessity and value of each piece – each phase of the process leading up to the complete picture.

Each korban brought to the Temple in Zion has a ripple effect that adds incredible blessing to the world – curing diseases, alleviating suffering and influencing random acts of kindness across the globe. Jerusalem’s chain reaction of Divine goodness demonstrates how all of existence is connected at the source.

Korban Aharon supports Rashi’s understanding of the shlamim by explaining that the peace expressed through its name is the harmony between the heavenly world of the spirit and the earthly material world. Bringing a korban shlamim to the Temple works to unite the spiritual and material facets of existence. Israel is meant to serve as a national bridge between the holy and seemingly mundane spheres of life. The Jewish people is meant to reveal kedusha in every aspect of this world in order to uplift existence to its highest potential. This Divine mission necessitates Israel attaining self-determination in Eretz Yisrael as only by existing as an independent nation in our homeland can we reach and elevate every facet of life to its highest ideal. And only through a Hebrew Kingdom in the Land of Israel can we bring mankind to the awareness of HaShem as the timeless ultimate Reality without end that creates, sustains and empowers all with His love.

The Ramban offers a special explanation for the word shlamim, teaching that it is derived from the Hebrew word shleimut (completeness). He further explains that a person who brings this offering is not motivated by a need to atone for past sin, but rather by a sense of completeness and free-willed desire for universal perfection. He is not apologizing for any wrongdoing but expressing an idealistic drive to elevate the world. His service to HaShem stems from an active Torah that aspires to revolutionize human civilization and bring history to completion. Instead of living an individual “Judaism” of personal reward and punishment, he is involved with a macro-level Torah of cosmic proportions that harmoniously connects him to all of Creation.

Due to the terrible persecution our people suffered throughout nearly two thousand years of exile from our soil, many Jews have turned inward and developed a warped sense of our collective national mission. Some have come to genuinely believe that the goal of the Jewish people is to merely serve G-D quietly without distractions or the threat of outside aggression. The very concept of the korban shlamim clearly exposes the error of this perspective. The mission of the Hebrew Nation is to revolutionize the world, bringing it to perfection as determined by the Kadosh Barukh Hu. Israel is to serve as HaShem’s instrument in leading mankind to a lofty state of total blessing and everlasting peace incomprehensible to the leading thinkers of contemporary Western civilization.

Israel is to bring humankind to its highest state of universal perfection. If properly trained, we can learn to perceive the realization of this objective in our own generation through events bringing history closer to its ultimate goal. The redemption process is currently materializing with the rebirth of a sovereign Hebrew state in portions of our homeland, a still yet to be completed ingathering of our exiles and a spiritual revolution reacquainting many Jews with our Torah. After centuries of bitter oppression and exposure to external cultural influences, a decolonization of Jewish identity is taking place. Our generation has been Divinely chosen and blessed with the opportunity to participate in and contribute to the present stages of redemption – to recognize the miraculous developmental process unfolding and to facilitate the building of HaShem’s Divine Kingdom in our world.