Rav Kook: Love of the Land: 78 Years of the Jewish State | Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider | April 29 2026

Great to see everyone and I welcome everybody back. And Baruch Hashem that we that we're here together, that we're able to learn this morning. And we welcome everyone for our learning. Let me just begin with the sponsors of our sheer this morning. Rabbi Goldfeder's sheer is dedicated to the ilui nishmas Miriam bas Avraham The Shem Tov ben zichrono livracha. And also dedicated by Reggie Regina Cummins for the refuah shleima for her grandson Michael ben Bracha Rina. So, our learning this morning is the ilui nishmas those that we mentioned and also a refuah shleima for Reggie's grandson. It's great to be back. And this morning, what I'd like to do is the following. We we missed our learning together last Wednesday because it was Yom Ha'atzmaut, the 78th anniversary of the State of Israel. And I don't want to miss the opportunity to to look at the teachings of Rav Kook and Eretz Yisrael. How could we pass up on the opportunity to see some of the beautiful teachings and the beautiful ideas in the writings of Rav Kook and the thought of Rav Kook related to Eretz Yisrael. Very much the heart and soul of Rav Kook is his his love for the land of Israel and his great vision and the prophetic vision of the Jewish people returning to the land of Israel. So, that is going to be our topic this morning. And in particular, I'd like to begin with the idea of Chibat Ha'aretz, the love for the land of Israel. Chibat Ha'aretz, the love of the land of Israel. And I'll begin with an anecdote which I often tell of Rav Kook. And a student of of Rav Kook once came to him and said to him, "It seems that no matter what we are studying, no matter what Gemara, no matter what Halacha we're studying, no matter what philosophy or Hashkafa we're studying, it seems that you always come back to Eretz Yisrael. We could be studying about Shabbos, about Kashrus, about about Eruvin, whatever it is, it somehow you it it finds its way back. Whenever we study with you, it finds its way back to the topic of Eretz Yisrael. Rav Kook said, "You know what? When I open up a Chumash and I begin to read the Chumash, I see that Hashem says to Avraham that this is going to be your land, the land for the Jewish people. And then to Yitzchak and to Yaakov, Moshe, as he stands at the Sneh, God says, 'I want you to bring the Jewish people to Eretz Zavat Chalav U'Dvash.' So many Halachos as I continue in the Torah that relate only to land of Israel. Moshe Rabbenu, as he comes to the end of his life, he's praying to enter the land of Israel. And Rav Kook said, "I see that Hashem is always talking about the land of Israel. And if Hashem is always talking about the land of Israel, I'm in good company with Hashem. Hashem loves the land of Israel. Hashem is always talking about the land of Israel, and I also," says Rav Kook, "I'm always talking about the land of Israel." So, where do we find the Gemara that speaks about the love of the land of Israel, Chibbat Ha'aretz? And it's interesting that it's found in the Gemara in Ketubot. What is a Ketubah? A Ketubah, as we all know, it represents that love, that bond of a husband and a wife to one another, the relationship, the responsibility of one to one another, of a wife and a husband, husband to wife. And a student of Rav Kook, the Nazir Rav David Cohen, he said that it's not coincidental that we find many of the Gemaras that talk about the love of the land of Israel, that it's in Ketubot. Because it represents love, and love of the Jewish people for the land of Israel, that bond is like a bond of a husband and wife. The yearning for one another, the closeness with one another that we have a marital bond to some degree with the Jewish people, with the land of Israel. So, let's go to the very end of the Massechta, and it's worthwhile, if you ever want to just see beautiful Gemaras that talk about the land of Israel, we find it at the end of Ketubot. And I want to highlight three different small vignettes. This the uh the Gemara ends as it comes to the end of the Massechta, three little stories, vignettes about sages who loved the land of Israel. So, this is on page one at the very top. It's daf kuf yud bet, 112 amud alef, and it says Rabbi Abba Menashe kipe de Akko. Akko, when he would come, when he would make his way from the ship, he would come to the port of Akko, and he would make his way onto land of Eretz Israel, he would pick up the stones, and he would kiss the stones of Eretz Israel. That was the chibah, that was the love. He loved the land so much that he picked up the stone, he kissed the stones. And this this is reminiscent of what many people do, especially in the old days, when they would come to the land of Israel, right? That they would bend down, and they would kiss the land of Israel, literally to kiss. Anybody here do that? Raise your hand. I did a couple times. Now, they bring you right to the gate. You can't, you know, that you have enter the airport. Unless you want to kiss the carpet in in Ben Gurion. But, um in the old days, I think Nefesh b'Nefesh flights, they make a point of having the people come down so they can But, no? Is that not true? I don't know. Okay. So, that was So, that was Rabbi Abba. He was Menashe kipe de Akko. The Gemara then says, Rabbi Ami v'Rabbi Assi kaimei mishimsha letula metula shimsha. This is very interesting. It says that they were chavrusas with one another, Rabbi Ami v'Rabbi Assi, and it says that if they were in a place that was too cold, they would find a place that was a little bit >> [clears throat] >> If they were in a place they were learning together and it was too hot, they would find a place that was a little bit cooler. So, Rashi explains what this means. What does this have to do with Hibat Ha'aretz? Rashi says that they did not want to possibly say anything negative about the land of Israel. That they might say it's too hot here in Israel. Or it's too cold, you know, the winters are too cold and damp in Israel. They didn't want to possibly say that. And Rashi says, "Even in the midst of their learning where you have an issue of bittul Torah, of taking time from learning, that they would find a place. Maybe it took 5 minutes, maybe it took 20 minutes to find a place that would be a little bit cooler, that they did not want to say a negative word. That they might accidentally say something negative about the land of Israel." And I think that's it's a beautiful lesson for all of us. Right? Often we're a little bit quick to say, you know, this about Israel. "Oh, I remember how great it was, you know, in New York and there was parking there and the stores were more comfortable and so we have to be very careful." Says the Gemara, "Hibat Ha'aretz means that we're very careful not to say a negative word about the land of Israel." And then the uh the final example Rebbe Hiyya bar Gamda began there by Afra. It seems Rebbe Hiyya bar Gamda that he that he took it to another level. Not only kissing, as we had before, kissing the stones, but he rolled in the dust of Eretz Yisrael. He actually wanted the dust of Eretz Yisrael, the soil of there. Imagine that. To put the soil of Eretz Yisrael, the dust of Eretz Yisrael on his body. He wanted to feel the kedusha of Eretz Yisrael. So, here we have a very interesting comment that's made by the Maharal of Prague. The Maharal of Prague writes what's called the Hiddushei Aggados. He has a commentary on the uh on all of the Gemara and the Aggadata of the Gemara. And he says that each one of these represent a different halakha. He says that Rebbe Abbahu had kissed the stones of Eretz Yisrael. I don't have the source here. I'm just just sharing it with you. That that the stones represent a different halacha, and that is the Gemara says that if you walk on the stones of Israel, if you walk just walking dalet amot in Eretz Yisrael, it's considered to be a mitzvah. Every dalet amot that you walk, right, it's not true in Monsey. It's not true anywhere else in the world. Only in Eretz Yisrael if you walk every dalet amot, every four steps that you take. You should think about that when you're walking, right? Just take that in for a moment that it's a mitzvah every four steps that you take in the land of Israel. And he said the the second example of the Gemara that they got up from the place that was too hot to a place that was cooler, that it represents the avir. It represents the atmosphere. And he says that's another halacha, says the Maharal. The halacha is that the avira de ar'a machkim. That just being within the atmosphere of Eretz Yisrael that it gives us greater insight. It gives us greater wisdom. Just being in Eretz Yisrael, just the atmosphere of the kedusha, the holiness of the land of Israel. Of the air of the land of Israel. And then the last halacha, Rebbe Chiya bar Gamda, that he would roam the dust. He says that that also alludes to a particular halacha, and that is being buried after 120 years of being buried in the dust, in the soil of Eretz Yisrael, says the Gemara, that one has a kapara, that one is atoned for all their sins. One who is buried in Eretz Yisrael. So a very beautiful the Maharal Maharal points out that all of these examples are particular examples that reflect a a something special about the land of Israel. Rav Kook has the following comment. And he says, why does the Gemara need to talk about the stones of Eretz Yisrael and also the dust of Eretz Yisrael? It sounds like essentially the same thing. And Rav Kook says, if you spoke about the soil of Eretz Yisrael, you might think that you might think that the kedusha of Eretz Yisrael is only because there are mitzvot hatluyot ba'aretz, because there are certain mitzvot that are connected to land of Israel, that's what gives it kedusha. But the stones don't have any kedusha. There's no mitzvah that relates to the stones, and says Rav Kook, that reflects the idea that intrinsic embedded in the land of Israel is kedusha. There within the soil itself, within the stones of Eretz Yisrael, there is there is inherent kedusha. So here we have I mentioned three different rabbis related to their love, their ahavah, their chibah to Eretz. And I was thinking about this actually as I was I just flew back from America the other day, and on the plane I was thinking about these rabbis, the great love that they had, the chibah. And I thought, well, how about modern day rabbis, examples? Trying to think of three modern day rabbis, contemporary rabbis, and the expression of love that they had. Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, zatzal, who was the son-in-law of Rabbi Soloveitchik, he was the Rosh Yeshiva in Gush Etzion, one of the outstanding rabbinic personalities, a a gaon, a genius of of of Torah, and moved to Eretz Yisrael. So a story is told about him that whenever he would fly back, he would go to America every so often when he was Rosh Yeshiva, he went back, he was interviewing students, and other other times that he went back, as he would make his way into Eretz as he was on the plane, and they would say, you know, time to buckle up and sit down, and we have another, you know, 20 minutes until we're going to land, he would take out his book of Tehillim, and he said that that reciting of Tehillim is a preparation, is a hachanah, in entering the land of Israel. In other words, he felt that he had to recognize and kind of uplift, to elevate himself by reciting Tehillim that I'm preparing a hachana, a preparation for entering Israel, which is really a very beautiful I was thinking about that as I as I was entering, you know, most people are still watching the movie as they're entering Israel, they still have the sitcom on or whatever the the game that they're playing. So, that's one way of entering Israel, maybe people just kind of need to pass the time, but the idea is you as you recognize that you're about to enter the airspace and you're about to enter Eretz Yisrael. It's a very beautiful. The Rav Aaron Lichtenstein that there was a time that he took out his Tehillim and to prepare spiritually to enter the land of Israel. There's a great rabbi here in Israel today, Rav Victor Nevenzal. He he should live a long life. He's he's elderly. One of the one of the gedolei Torah, he was a chavruta with Rav Zalman Auerbach, and he served as the so the chief rabbi of the Old City for many years, still lives in the Old City. So, he he went to America a couple of times. He was he was he taught at Yeshivat Hakotel. He I remember he went in for a dinner, maybe other a few other times in his life that he traveled to America. So, he had the following, this is this is really quite astounding. This was his practice. So, on the flight that I just took, so there was, you know, davening on the flight. I'm sure everybody is quite aware of that, all the everyone getting their tallis and their tefillin. Whether you're supposed to make a minyan, not make a minyan, and that's what's happening. And then when I arrived in Israel, it was still daytime. I know or yes, it was still the same day. So, Rav Nevenzal, when he came back, he davened on the flight, and when he came to Israel, he put on tefillin a second time. He had already put on tefillin. So, I put on tefillin tallis, I came to Israel, and I already davened. But, he put on tefillin a second time when he arrived in Israel. Why did he do that? So, his practice was that if you could do a mitzvah a second time, once you're back in Israel, you should do that. That you can compare a mitzvah that's done outside of the land of Israel to a mitzvah that is done in Israel. So, he put on tfillin he already put on tfillin he fulfilled the mitzvah putting on tfillin already, but he felt now that I'm back in Israel, I need to put on tfillin another time. That the mitzvah is not quite the same. And that's based on Rashi and the Ramban says that every mitzvah that you do outside the land of Israel, Shabbos, kashrus, everything is not a full-fledged mitzvah. Again, I'm not talking about mitzvahs that are Eretz Yisrael related mitzvahs, just any mitzvah. Any mitzvah outside the land of Israel is not considered a mitzvah in its fullest un- un- unless it's done in the land of Israel. So, that was his uh that was his practice. Yeah. Did he daven shmoneh esrei again? By the way, is that a problem with you? Well, again, there's only so tfillin you can put on another time. In other words, I don't I don't I don't think he daven the same davening again. In other words, that that you can't do another you know, that you can't do a second time. Again, I don't know if he made a bracha the second time he put on tfillin, but he put it on a second time to uh to have the mitzvah in in the land of Israel. Yes, please. Uh I once I learned in the past from you Yes. Ramban says that uh that mitzvahs that you do in Eretz Yisrael are are uh l'shem chinuch. That's right. That's right. L'shem chinuch and lo l'chatchila, right? That's the language of the Ramban and Rashi says the same thing as well, young. And then I asked you this shaila like that and you sort of hesitated. But but I was I learned in Gemara recently in Gemara it says that there's a difference where it's considered different the whether it's d'rabbanan or d'oraita. Uh-huh. If it's done in Eretz Yisrael Right, done in chutz la'aretz. So, again, Right, right. Right. Okay, good. Um one other one other story. So yeah, one other story. Mordecai Gifter Mordecai Gifter said he was the Russia Shiva of Tels in Cleveland. And he came to Israel for a period of time that they wanted him to head the Yeshiva which is called Telshe Stone. Anybody know what Telshe Stone is? So that's the Yeshiva Telshe and Stone is the philanthropist. Like the Stone Chumash, that's why it's called Telshe Stone that he was supporting that that community. So he was here for a while as the Russia Shiva. And then they wanted him to come back to Cleveland. And they felt that they needed Gifter to be back here even though they were trying to build Telshe the Yeshiva. It never really took off here. The building is still there in Telshe Stone. I'm not sure if anyone is familiar with that. So he went back to Cleveland. When he went went back to Cleveland his home was still there and he said I'm not moving back into my home. And as long as I'm living in America, I'm not going to live in a permanent way. He said I'm going to live in the dorm with the other students. And that's what he did for the rest of his life. He said that as a Jew and that I lived in Israel, I don't want to live in a house outside of Eretz Yisrael. That I should always always know that that's not this is not my permanent place. And actually I told that a couple years ago I told that story and somebody wrote me an email afterwards who listened to the class and he says you're absolutely right, it's true. He said I was there in seventh grade on a Shabbaton that they brought [clears throat] our class to Cleveland and we were in the dorm and about 2:00 in the morning we were all playing in the hallways like we were wrestling with one another all the guys. And a woman came out and said, "My husband Gifter is trying to sleep. If you could you know, if you could keep it down." So so it's true that he lived in the dorm and he lived in the dorm the rest of his life. Again, with that with that intent, with that beautiful kavana that a that a Jew living outside of Eretz Yisrael, I'm not going to live in a house, but I'm going to live in an impermanent way, knowing that um that Eretz Yisrael is the only place of permanence. Okay. So, that is uh that's that's how we begin with the the chibah for the land of Israel. And here I want to share one other very interesting idea, which is on the same Gemara. And the very last example in the Gemara is Rebi Chiya bar Gamda that he would roll in the dust of Eretz Yisrael. And then the pasuk is quoted, "Shin'emah rakhi ratzu." If you want to see that, it's at the bottom of the very first paragraph. "Kiy ratzu avadecha es avaneha." "For your servants have cherished her stones. Kiy ratzu avadecha es avaneha, v'es afarah y'chonenu." And they have favored her dust. It's a pasuk in Tehillim. So, Rav Chala, Rav Yaakov Moshe Chala, so he points out the following. If you look on the daf Gemara, and if you look at Rashi, Rashi quotes this pasuk. Again, you know that Rashi on the side, he has a commentary, running commentary in the Gemara. He quotes the pasuk, but he doesn't add anything to the pasuk. He just quotes the pasuk and that and that's it. In other words, usually you have what's called a dibbur hamaschil that Rashi quotes from the Gemara and then will add to it. Here he quotes the pasuk, but nothing is added. A very, very strange thing. And uh Rav Yaakov Moshe Chala takes note of that. So, let me read to you the following. This is from his teaching. This is the middle paragraph, page one. "Ahavas Eretz Yisrael bo'eres." The love of the land of Israel that is a burning love, [clears throat] a passionate love. "B'echad mishiyurav l'meidah Rav Chala b'divrei haGemara b'Maseches Kesubos, daf kuf yud beis" yud beis that we just read. "Rebi Chiya bar Gamda meganderet ba'afra, they would roll in the dust. Shenemar, ki ratzu avadecha avaneha, ve'et afaraha yechanenu. Befeirush od mitzaded Rashi et ha'pasuk, Rashi quotes the verse, ki ratzu avadecha avaneha, ve'et afaraha yechanenu. Kara ha'Rav et talmidav et ha' peirush ha'tamua, v'sha'al, mah chiddush chiddesh Rashi b'fi ha'peirush ha'kacha? What did Rashi add by adding just by quoting that verse in his commentary? Lo, Rashi kol ha'atik et ha'pasuk mi'sefer Tehillim. It seems all that Rashi is doing is he's citing the pasuk from Tehillim. It's perek kuf bet in Tehillim, pasuk oto tzitit kvar ha'Gmara atzma. This verse was already quoted by the Gmara, u've'er ha'Rav Chalav, and this is the explanation that Rebbe Chalav gave to why Rashi quotes the verse without adding any commentary to it to it. Rashi mefaresh et ha'Gmara b'ofen yesod divrei ha'Ge'onim. Seder Chalav, that Rashi is explaining the Gmara in a fundamental and a ingenious way. Rashi machak Rashi, he erased one word, et ha'milah shenemar. Rashi does not say the word shenemar, and then he says the following. What does that mean? hitgolel b'afar ha'aretz me'ahavato ha'tivit lo, v'lo biglal shenemar, lo biglal shekatuv. What does that mean? That he rolled in the dust of Israel not because it said it in the pasuk, not because he was commanded to do it, but because naturally he felt a yearning for the land of Israel, that he wanted to be close to Israel. There are two ways of doing a mitzvah, a mitzvah that I'm obligated to do it, and therefore I'm going to do it. But there's another way of doing a mitzvah, and that is that you're just drawn to the mitzvah, you're just drawn to Eretz Yisrael. So he says, "Why does Rashi say that?" Rashi quotes the verse dropping the word "she ne'emar". That's what it says in the Gemara. He drops the word and he did it not because she ne'emar, not because it's said in the possuk. He did it because he just felt he felt that way. He felt drawn to land of Israel. Let me just read the last line and take your question. "Avat Avdei Hashem le'eretz Yisrael hitiv". The the love that we have the for eretz Yisrael is something that is natural. "Ahavah bo eretz be'atzmoteinu". It's a love that is burning in our bones. "Ki ratzah Hashem be'amado be'at Yisrael be'at Yisrael yechonen". Did you have a question? You want to say something? Please. Yeah. Like my creative mind thinks of two additional ways to look at this story. Good. One of them is that he was so happy to be back in the land. He wanted to be in the dust while he's alive and not when he's dead under the dust. >> [laughter] >> Okay, good. That's right. He wanted Right. He left out the word "she ne'emar" because he doesn't want to be sitting in the beit midrash reading the words. He wants to be out working in the land and experiencing the land. He wants to live it. Beautiful. Beautiful. Okay, yeah, great. Wonderful. Okay, so the these are these are all beautiful insights all related to this uh the chibat ha'aretz of the rabbis of old, the rabbis contemporary rabbis of Rav Lichtenstein, Rav Nachman Salzer, Rav Gifter, and the love of a Jew and the natural love. That's the way that Rav Charlop, again his beit midrash is just around the corner here. He was the rav of uh Sha'arei Chesed in Rechavia and a beautiful teaching. That's how he understood why does Rashi quote the verse? He wants to make the point not "she ne'emar". He drops that one word. Our love is a natural love. It's a yearning that comes from the heart from uh it's it's it's burning in the bones, he says, of of a Jew, the love for the land of Israel. So, now I want to share with you a uh an aggadah. It's actually the very first aggadah in Shas. Now, we know that when we talk about Gemara, most of Gemara is a halachic analysis. That's what Gamara is for the most part, but interspersed throughout the Gamara is a God of a God of our stories. A God of our you know, spiritual teachings and uh, and hashkafa. And and actually with Cook, he was uh, he was a proponent of of spending more putting more emphasis on a God of that we haven't studied it as carefully as we should. And actually in his lifetime, he wrote a commentary on all of brachos and all of shabbos on the agadata which is called the Aina Ya. Okay. So the very what's the very first story in shas? What's the very first story that the Talmud shares with us? So it's a story, I'll share the story maybe and then I'll I'll read a a few a few words of the story, but let me share it with you. It's a story about a rabbi, his name is Rebbe Yossi. It says Rebbe Yossi is walking in the ruins of Yerushalayim. This is after the destruction of the temple. And he sees churbot [snorts] Yerushalayim. A word that we're familiar with. We even have the shul in the old city which is called the Churva synagogue. So this is Rebbe Yossi, he's walking after the destruction of the temple after churban habayis. Imagine how painful that was. To have the Beis Hamikdash, the Har Habayis not there, the Beis Hamikdash destroyed. And he's walking amongst destroyed buildings. He enters into one of the Churva of Yerushalayim says the Gamara and he prays in that Churva. He begins to daven. And the Gamara says that he hears a bat kol, that he hears a voice from heaven. And the voice from heaven is the voice of God and it says in the Gamara that it was cooing like a dove. Cooing like a dove and God was lamenting. God was crying over the fact that the Jewish people have been exiled, that they're not here, that my Beis Hamikdash, the holy Beis Hamikdash is not standing and the Jews have gone into exile. That's what he hears inside of the Churva. Okay. The the Gamara and the story continues. It says that he turns around and he sees that somebody is standing at the door. And who's standing at the door? Eliyahu Hanavi. Elijah the prophet is standing at the doorway. Interesting to me, by the way, that the very first Gemara is about an Eliyahu Hanavi story. Eliyahu Hanavi is standing at the doorway and he says to Rabbi Yossi, "Why did you enter this Horva? Why did you enter this broken ruin, this broken-down building?" He said, "Well, I entered this place because I wanted to daven and I wanted to be able to concentrate, and I went into a place where I could where I could have a kavana." So, Eliyahu Hanavi says, "You should not have entered this Horva." So, Rabbi Yossi says, "Well, I entered the Horva because I wanted to be able to daven properly and I didn't want to daven on the road where I would have been distracted." And Eliyahu Hanavi says, "You should have davened on the road, and even if it meant a short prayer, you should have prayed you should have davened there and not enter the Horva." That is the first aggadata. That is the very first story that we find in Shas. Let me just read it to you. Even though I just told it to you. Tanya, I remember Yossi I was walking on the road. I was walking on the road. And I entered one of the Horva to daven. He was standing by the door. Finished my davening. Why did you enter? I was walking on the Maybe I would be distracted. You should have davened a short prayer outside of the Horva. That is the story. Story number one of the Talmud. Now, the question it's a very enigmatic story. What's going on here? What's the What is Eliyahu, right? What is Eliyahu Hanavi saying? Okay, good. So, one of the explanations with Cook writes this and others write this as well. What is the very first story of the Talmud? What's the very first message of the story? What does Eliyahu Hanavi represent? And we all know what Eliyahu Hanavi represents. We open the door for Eliyahu Hanavi not that long ago. How many days ago? 27 days. This is pure, right? 27 days ago. That was 28. We opened the door for Eliyahu Hanavi. And why are we opening the door? Because Eliyahu Hanavi represents the personality who's going to usher in the Mashiach. He represents Mashiach. He's So, what is Eliyahu Hanavi? So, here he appears and tells Rabbi Yossi, "Do not enter Hurva." Do not enter that place of destruction. In other words, don't be overwhelmed by destruction. You have to remain optimistic and hopeful. Don't enter that dark place of Hurva, of destruction. Always remain hopeful. That's Eliyahu Hanavi is the is is about hope. He wasn't and then he became >> Okay, good. That Okay, that's true. That's a whole other share, but yes, that's true. He wasn't that. He was critical and he be he becomes that that you're absolutely right. And what's interesting is Eliyahu Hanavi, what does he tell him? "Even if it meant a short prayer, you should have prayed on the road." First of all, means stay on the road. In other words, find that path. Eliyahu's message is to Rabbi Yossi and to all of us reading the Gemara as we open the Gemara for the very first time from Brakhot is stay on that path. Find the way back. How are we going to find our way back to Eretz Yisrael? What's the way back to to Geulah, right? Don't like Rav Gifter, don't get too comfortable in your home in Chutz La'aretz. Right? What's what's the way back? What How are [clears throat] we going to strategize? What's the plan that we and all of Am Yisrael are going to make their way back. And interesting to me also is specifically says it should be a tfila ketzara. You should have davened a short prayer. Where else do we have that in the Torah? A very well-known moment where the Jews are praying and God says it's not a time for prayer, it's a time to move forward. Very nice. Right, Yam Suf. So there's a time we we we think we should always be praying. Well, there's a time that a short prayer is in order and we have to be active. We have to be pro- active. And this is what the Gemara says that Eliyahu's message is, be pro-active. So this is a very very beautiful a very beautiful idea and a beautiful way for the Gemara to begin, especially we're learning Talmud Bavli. And Talmud Bavli is the Babylonian Talmud and we can feel very comfortable and very proud of the fact that look at this great learning of the Bavli and what's the very first message message of the Bavli in the hashkafa of of Talmud Bavli? Find your way back. Look for where is that path that's going to bring you back to Eretz Yisrael? Yes, please. Yeah, I think it's an animal or it says lo tasu in terms of Mitzrayim and again lo tasu with the K'nani. And the Kli Yakar says, why does it say lo tasu both times? Could have been once. Cuz there are two different lessons. They Mitzrayim not talking to the Mitzri, it's talking to us. We shouldn't be complacent [clears throat] like we were. Only four four fifths did not go out. So you can't be complacent. >> Don't be complacent. And the K'nani, don't be like the Meraglim who came to Eretz K'naan and criticized. Good. So we have to learn don't be complacent. Beautiful. And don't criticize once you get >> [laughter] >> Okay, good. Those are the messages. Don't be complacent, beautiful. That's what Eliyahu and that's the first message of the Gemara. Then we see also from the end of the example that we have, don't negative words. We're never to be negative about Israel, always the positivity. And here, let me just share with you one of the one of the beautiful teachings of Rav Kook just about Eretz Yisrael and what it means to live in Eretz Yisrael. This is from Orot. This he writes in his lifetime. This is his classic work Orot. It's the fourth piece in Orot. And here you'll appreciate appreciate the the language of Rav Kook and the message. He says, "E of Sharlot Adam" this is the bottom of page one. Says that outside the land of Israel our thinking and our perceptions and our visions are not fully there. They're it's it they're Only in the land of Israel When you come back to land of Israel, a Jew living in the in the land of Israel, the vision of a Jew, the thought of a Jew, the perceptions, the dreams of the Jew, that's where where we where we experience them in their fullest as we said before in terms of mitzvot. Experiences of holiness the on any level that we feel kedusha in Eretz Yisrael nikiyoten be'eretz Yisrael. They are clean. They are pure in Eretz Yisrael lifnei Eretz. outside of the land of Israel There's a lot of dregs. sigim and klipot a lot of coverings a lot of shells. We can't really penetrate to the to the core to the the purity of of kedusha outside the land of Israel. But then he writes the following which is optimistic As long as a person is connected the more that a person is connected even if they're outside the land of Israel There is anyone even outside the land of Israel, if you have a desire to be in the land of Israel, the more you connect with Israel, the more you daven for Eretz Yisrael, the more that you are connected, he says, to the avir, even if you're not in the avir of Eretz Yisrael, but you can connect to it. And then he ends with a beautiful pasuk from Tehillim, Simchu et Yerushalayim begilu ba kol ohaveha. All that love Eretz Yisrael Yerushalayim, that everybody can feel that uh that purity and that connection. So, that is a a famous one of the beautiful pieces, a famous teaching of Rav Kook. Okay. That is part one. Now, part two. And um now the question is, what does it mean to return to the land of Israel? What is the What is that that dream of return [clears throat] to the land of Israel? What is it that we are to accomplish? What is the goal? Not only to return to the land physically, but what are we to accomplish once we enter the land of Israel? And here, I want to share with you a really very beautiful teaching of Rav Kook, which is something that is found throughout his writings. And um we'll begin in the following way. And it's actually the very first Gemara, begins with the Mishna in Brakhot, and the way that Rav Kook interprets the very first Mishna. Now, the very Where does Gemara begin? What's the very just interesting What's the first topic that is addressed in all of Talmud? In the thousands of pages of Talmud, what does it start with? Which halakha does it begin with? With Kriyat Shema. Which is just interesting to note that that's where the Gemara begins with an analysis of the Shema, and a halakhic analysis of when the Shema is recited. And it begins with the follow This is the opening words of the Gemara. Ma'eimatai I mean, it's the first Mishna in the Gemara. Ma'eimatai korin et Shema ba'arvin? When does one recite the Shema at night? Misha she'hakohanim nichnasim le'ekhol bitrumatan. It's the time that the Kohanim enter to eat the Trumah. Now, that is a very, very difficult line. And there's a lot of commentary on that, the Gemara itself. What should the Gemara say? When can one recite the Shema? Now, that's the question that the Gemara begins with. The Shema, and when can you recite it? Well, when is Shema recited? It's recited night time, when the stars come out at night, nightfall. That's when one can recite the night time Shema. But the Gemara or the Mishna does not answer in that way. That would be the simple answer. It says something a bit complicated. That is from the time that the Kohanim enter to eat the Trumah. Now, that's the same time as nightfall, but they do it in a roundabout way. The time that the Kohanim, when they're purified, they have to wait until the night time, then they can eat the Trumah when they are tahor. Okay. Now, you see like the the difficulty here, the complexity here. Why does the Gemara do that? And this is what Rav Kook is going to address in the very first piece that he has on this uh this statement, this teaching of the Gemara. And he's also going to address that there's a night time Shema and the morning Shema. And what is the difference? Is there a difference between the two? And you would think there would be some difference. In other words, if Hashem commands us to say it at night and to say it in the morning, is there a distinction between the Shema that's recited at night and the Shema that's recited in the morning? Okay, here we go. So, what is the Shema all about? What's the message of the Shema? Why does the Gemara specifically talk about when the Kohanim enter to eat the Trumah when referring to the night time Shema? And what is the message of the Shema overall? Let's take a look at the beautiful teaching of Rav Kook. This is the very his very first piece on the very first Gemara in the work which is called Eyn Ayah. How old was he when he wrote this, when he started his work? He's 20 years old. He's a little boy. He's a young He's a young man. I'm always astounded. I mean, he And then he works on it the rest of his life. But what we're reading here is a 20-year-old Rav Kook who's beginning to write on the Agadita in Chass. And he's going to say something which is really fabulous, which is like a breakthrough idea, which is going to become a a very important part of his philosophy overall. Okay, so here we go. Rav Kook. May eimatai He quotes the Gemara. If If you want to follow along, where it says ein aya. And ein aya, ein is like the eye, like ayin. And what's aya? That's a what? Good. Avraham Yitzchak Kook. Good. That's his name. May eimatai korin et shma be'arvit. And he's again just quoting from the the Gemara or the first Mishnah Misha sha'akohanim nichnasim le'echol bitrumatan. Kri'at shma shel arvit v'shel shacharit. There is the reading of the shma, reciting the shma both both at night and in the morning. Modim, I'm sorry, morim al shnei minei hakri'ah b'shem Hashem hamutelit al Yisrael. It represented teaches us morev morim. It teaches us about two ways in which we call out two ways in which we are obligated hamutelit al Yisrael. They were obligated to call out in the name of God. Number one, anuchnu tzerichim lekabel ol malchut shamayim al atzmeinu. One way, one idea, when we read the shma, what are we doing? We're accepting upon ourselves, literally, the yoke of heaven. What does it mean when I close my eyes and I say shma Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad? I'm accepting upon myself the obligation to keep the mitzvot. I believe in God, I believe in the Torah, and I'm obligated to keep the law. That's one way, and that's that's traditionally how we understand the reading of the shma. But here's the chiddush of Rav Kook. But there's another way to reading the the another idea in reading the shma, the full gun came the creation of a Shem Shelanu, it's also the purpose of the Shema is as we call out with the name of our God She so call so the I do call you that we want in the end all people all mankind to know the oneness of God that God reigns over all humanity all people. The name of the salute and here is the key teaching of cook is going to make a distinction what it means to be a galoot Jew and what it means to be a Jew of Israel. The name of the but when we are outside the land of Israel Arab which is like night. Who wrote a book with the title night? Ellie Wiesel and night represents the suffering of the Jew in exile. So if cook says the same thing when we talk about the night time we're talking about a time of galoot. What do we do at night in the state of galoot in Iraq? That's only really regarding ourselves in order to withstand the waves of society and culture around us but I am a sham. Okay but Lila Shaya at the night we need a lot of faith. Because for ourselves die to What is the night represent that we personally as a people as a community outside the land of Israel galoot that we are accepting upon ourselves the miss vote and our declaration that we believe in God. And here's the key line last three lines on none but what's going to happen in the time of galoot? Should care and it sell that the light of Israel will be known as the mailer Tavo Shaata Pula Shel Kriyat Shema Shel Shacharit. Kriyat Shema Shel Shacharit represents a different kind of calling out in the name of God. And what is that? An Ahavah Rabbah, a love, a great love, Shekol Ha'amim Yomru She'or Israel Ye'er La'olam, where the world will recognize that the light of Israel is a light for the world, that we will be a light to all the nations. So here Rav Kook says, "Why does the Mishnah say that the Kohen enters into his private place, Nikhnasim La'hol U'l'khitzmatan?" That represents a Shema of the Galut. It represents when we have to kind of hunker down as a people, that we kind of go, you know, we we create communities, and yes, very beautifully, we hand down to the next generation our belief and our commitment, but there's something else that we are to accomplish as Jews. It doesn't end with our commitment to Judaism alone. We want to bring the light of Judaism, light of Torah to all humanity. So the Kohen represents entering that private place. That represents, he says, represents Galut, represents the Erev, the night time. That's one part of the Shema, but the Shacharit, the light of the morning, that Shema is calling out for all humanity to know the oneness of God. Now, where does Rav Kook get this idea? How does he know that Shema, and this is new, this was new to me, and I imagine new to some people here as well, when we're calling out with the name of God, Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad, is that a call to our fellow Jew, or is that a call that really goes beyond our fellow Jew, and it's really for all mankind to hear that message of the oneness of God? So look at what Skip to the bottom of the page for a moment. Look at what the uh the pasuk in the Torah. Go to the very bottom. Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad. So where do we look when whenever you want to see just a basic shot in any possuk? We go to Rashi. What does Rashi say? And here I have it for you. Hashem. Now, Rashi, by the way, the first words Hashem Yisrael, does Rashi say anything? He doesn't say anything. He assumes, I guess it's it's understood. Shema Yisrael means Hear, O Israel. We're calling out to the Jewish people. But then Rashi explains what Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad means. Hashem, let's go to Rashi. Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad, Hashem shehu Elokeinu Atah. God who is our God at this moment, below Elokei Amot. And the nations of the world do not know the oneness of God. Who Atid Lihot Hashem Echad. The time will come in the future that all mankind will know the oneness of God. Shenemar possuk from Yechezkel, Ki Az Efoch El Amim Safah Berurah. Likro Chulam Beshem Hashem. That all the nations of the world will call out with the name of God. Venemar, and he quotes one more verse, Bayom Hahu Yihyeh Hashem Echad Ushmo Echad. And the day will come where everyone will call out with the oneness of God. Look at this. This is a This is astounding. Rashi says that the interpretation of this possuk that we all say, that we all know, and I imagine I imagine that many of us, I would say 98% of Orthodox Jews probably never had this in mind when they say when they say the Shema. I know I never had it in mind when I said the Shema until I learned this not that long ago. So again, when you cover your eyes and you say Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, the Lord is our God, Hashem Echad, the Lord is one. So, what are we what are we to have in mind when we say those words? By the way, do we know what Rashi had in mind when he said Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad? Do we know what Rashi thought about? Yes. How do we know? Cuz he wrote it. If he wrote that this is the explanation of the verse, I imagine that's what Rashi had in mind when he said the Shema every day. He says that is the explanation of this verse, of this pasuk in the Torah. So, how do we What do we have in mind according to Rashi? Shema Yisrael, hear O Israel, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem who is our God, Hashem Echad. What does that mean according to Rashi? We pray that everyone a time will come where all mankind will know the oneness of God. We're not satisfied with just our people knowing God. Now, that is That's That's very very important and that's foundational. That's And Rav Kook would say that's We've been holding onto that in the galut, but now that we come back to the land of Israel in a period of geulah, we can begin to think about How do we spread the light of Judaism? We're not talking about proselytizing. We're talking about inspiring, enlightening. Who said that word? Nice word. Enlightening. How do we enlighten the world? How do we take this great Torah, the great wisdom, the goodness and the light of Torah, and how do we bring it to all humanity? We want to change the world. We don't just want to change our community. We don't want to just change our people. We actually want the entire world The entire world to know one God and to know compassion and to know goodness and to know tzedakah, to know sheva mitzvot b'nei Noach. And he says, "Every time Rashi says we say Shema Yisrael, how many people have ever thought about this when they said the Shema?" I'm glad you're honest. You have? Okay. I never did in my lifetime. I never heard this in my lifetime. I thought Shema is just to believe in God, that I believe in one God. That's not how Rashi understands the verse. It's not how Rashi understands. And Rashi is not Rashi is giving a basic, as we know, p'shat, the basic interpretation of a possuk. You taught this to us not long Well, you're right. I I have taught this in the past. So, so when Rav Kook says this, this is the source this is Rav Kook has is not coming up with this idea on his own. Right? This is this is sourced in Rashi. And this becomes one of the really, you know, breakthrough ideas of Rav Kook. The universal ideas of Rav Kook. That how do we take Judaism, how do we bring it to mankind? Is there any other rab- Now, Rav Kook is talking a lot about this in his writings. In the last 100 years, are there any other any other rabbis that are talking who are who are sharing this idea? Who are Not that you know of. Is any other rabbi talking about how do we as Jews change the world? What? The Lubavitcher Rebbe, yes. The Lubavitcher Rebbe. And I always bring this example. I've I've I shared it here also. On the men's side of the Kotel, you you walk down, so there's a Chabad stand, and they put on tefillin. They say, "Are you Jewish?" If you're Jewish, they'll say, "Have you put on tefillin yet?" If you say, "I have not," you'll have a pair of tefillin on you within about 10 seconds. Um now, if you say, "I'm not Jewish, I'm a gentile," and you have a lot of gentiles, I think more gentiles in tourist season there's more gentiles visiting the Kotel than Jews. Um and they say and if they say, "No, I'm not Jewish, I'm a gentile, I'm a Christian," what does the Chabad fellow who's standing there then do? Good. He gives you a pamphlet with Sheva Mitzvot B'nei Noach. And that's from the Rebbe. The Rebbe said that it's time as we're getting closer to Mashiach, and the Rebbe felt they were getting very close to Mashiach. He Maybe he thought he was the Mashiach, we're not sure, but he thought we were getting very close. He says, "Now that we're getting closer to a Messianic time, we have to start teaching Gentiles as well the mitzvah that they have, the Sheva Mitzvot B'nei Noach. We have to teach Torah to them as well. Again, not converting them, but to teach them what they need to know. So, this is really like a fascinating idea. And again, I recommend it by the way, when you say the Shema, there are many ways, many different kavanas that one can have. There's a lot of There's a whole book by the Rabbi Lamb. It's a book that's not that well known. He wrote a book on the Shema. It's called the Shema, Rabbi Norman Lamb, big fat book. And he goes through all the different interpretations, but this is Rashi's interpretation. There's Rav Kook's interpretation as well. As we're moving to a messianic time, that it's time for the Jewish people. Now, let me ask you this question. Is Israel doing this today? Is Israel a light to the nations? What's the answer? We're trying. Yes. I The answer is yes. How about the war that we were engaged in and engaged in that we part that Israel is partnering with America? Right? And the It's to help the world, to bring security to the world, to bring light to the world. And this is what Rav Kook believed. We can't do this in galut. Were we able to do this in galut the last 2,000 years? To impact all society? To impact all mankind? Not at all. We were just just trying to hold on, right? Just trying in our shtetls and trying to teach Shabbos to our children and kashrus and learn Torah. That's the Jew, and that's the Kriyat Shema of Layla. That's all Malchut Shamayim. And it kind of ends there. There's a limit. That's what Rav Kook says, there's a limit. But Judaism, there's a there's a bigger picture. There's a much larger vision of what what Judaism is all about. And that Judaism, that larger picture, can only be fulfilled when we return to the land of Israel. When we build a nation, when we have an army, when we have a great society. And then the world is going to learn from us, and we're going to teach them the beauty of Torah, the spirituality of Torah. I'll end Yeah. Why we have to learn? So, there Yeah, I mean, the basic covering the eyes the Yeah, that that there is that I think Klaisenberg Rebbe said that that it represents the things that we don't understand. The basic interpretation is kavana. In other words, that it's it's kava kavana. Kavana, the concentration. Yeah. Okay. >> [laughter] >> Okay. Yeah. >> [snorts] >> Okay. Okay, good. Let me just Let me just conclude with one with one line. I see we're just uh we're coming to the end. Um there's a a pasuk in the Torah that is repeated It's not on We're done with the source sheet. Um a pasuk in the Torah that is repeated again and again about the land of Israel. It's a pasuk that everybody here knows. And that is Eretz Zavat Halav U'dvash. How many times in the Torah I looked it up before class. How many times in the Torah does it appear? By the way, how many times does Shabbat, the halakha of Shabbat, appear in the Torah? The Gemara says seven times. Good number, seven for Shabbos. How many times does Eretz Zavat Halav U'dvash appear in the Torah? 15 times. Like going back to that story of cook that we started with. Hashem just loves talking about the land of Israel. Eretz Zavat 15 times. Eretz Zavat It appears in every sefer of the Torah other than Bereishit. And it appears the very first time Moshe Rabbeinu at the Sneh, God says, "I want you to bring them So the question that's asked, why Okay, we can talk about why the repetition, but why that in particular of why the emphasis on a land of milk and honey, a land of milk and honey. That sounds like you would think when God talk would talk about the land of Israel, a land of spirituality, a land of of Torah, a land of of goodness. Why is about the place of milk and honey? Okay, good. Yeah, we did Okay, good. And that's one explanation. Yeah, we need good food here. We need good food. We need good restaurants. We'll be happy here if we, you know, there's good dairy restaurants. Maybe that's the first message of Moshe. Let them know, they'll be, you'll enjoy the restaurants. You'll enjoy come to Israel. So Cook says that the keyword in that is not the but the keyword is about. Now, it doesn't say it's a land of milk and honey. It says a land that is flowing with milk and honey. There was a best-selling book in America called Flow. Came out like 20, 15 years ago. It sold millions of copies. Copies. Flow. That's the title of the book, Flow. What's flow? Flow is What does it mean when you're in a flow? And the book is about how to find flow in life. It was how to do the things that you feel that are most natural, that where time just Like this class, right? It just went by like in a minute. This this 45 minutes. Like when you're just when you're just in the flow. So that it's a whole book. If you're interested in how to bring that into life and how to find the things in life that you kind of like feel that flow. So Cook says that when you come to the land of Israel, it's a land of flow. That's really what the It's not so much about the the milk and honey, but it's about the spiritual experience of the Jew in the land of Israel. He says it's all about a flow from Shamayim. He's talking about he he says that the possuk is a reference to Ruach Hakodesh and Nevuah that we can attain levels of of perception like that that section that that from Rav Kook that we read a few a few moments ago. Insight, wisdom, avira that a person feels a certain a certain flow in the land of Israel. And I thought about another flow and just like the flow of of life and the flow of the year and the flow of the of the chaggim and a Yom Hazikaron and a Yom Ha'atzmaut and a and a Shavuot and outside the land of Israel as we remember, you know, the other holidays of the year and kind of like not feeling that's exactly where we should be in the holidays that we should be exposed to that there's a flow to life. And I just took a flight back and so I took the train. It was about 8:00 at night. I sat down the train, had my luggage with me, and then there was a man that was making his way through the the train and he was announcing Maariv, Maariv, and everybody from their seats like made their way to daven Maariv together. And I thought of this idea of just these about the flow what one finds in the land of Israel that people are comfortable and people davening together. And that minyan like so many minyanim, there was a young man with a with a rifle over his shoulder and a chassid and a Sefardi and a guy from New York who made aliyah and all of us are davening together in the comfort of the in the flow and just the beauty of being together with Jews, being together the comfort, the flow of being in Eretz Yisrael. So we should all be zocheh to feel that flow, that bracha, our attachment, the love, the natural love that we have for the land of Israel. And this is in honor of the 78th anniversary. We didn't do it last week, so we're doing it today. We should continue to celebrate many, many more years of joy and nachas in Eretz Yisrael. Amen.