Tu Beshvat | Rabbi Joel Kenigsberg | January 28th 2026

Good morning everybody. Thank you for coming. There are no handouts this morning. It's going to be Tasha Balpe. So uh hope that's okay. I thought today we talk about as we all know Tishvat is coming up very very soon. So what better to talk about on Tishvat or towards Tishvat than to talk about Erit Israel and to talk about Torah in Erit Israel and what that means. And what I wanted to start off we'll say just a couple of words about Tishvat is a very strange holiday when you think about it. It's not really a yumtov. It's not a yumtov. Where does tishvat come from? Comes from really one obscure line in a Mishna, right? The Mishna, the beginning of rashana tells us that there are there are four new years in in the year. Four new years for different different inyanim differentiations. One of those is new year when it comes to tithing of fruits, right, of trees. And uh that's where this comes from. on the new year for trees that is really it's a between whether it's but that's it has ramifications it's not brought there is no mitzvat somebody once asked me a question somebody once called me they said it was of they said rabbi I have a question for you I have a problem they said my mother is coming to spend the tubishvata with us and uh it's going to be you know normally we wait until after but she needs to start early she needs to earlier. Can we eat the fruit? Can we say the braha on the kaz of fruit before on two bish? So you're all laughing but the person who called me was very very serious. So I thought about it for a moment. I said you know sometimes we have to wait sometimes like for pes for example so we have to wait until nightfall before we can start but by tishvat it's not required you can start before. So she was very she was very pleased with that answer. But the fact is there is no the obligation right to eat fruits or to sayanu or to do anything on tishvat. In recent years it's become much much more popular. Everybody has to do tishvat have a tishvata. In this community we have a tishvata. Um and I think part of the reason for that is because we've come back to Israel. Tishvat is all about it's all about the land of Israel. When we were in the galut for many many years for many generations. So it was it was a bit uh disconnected. Well, we're going to celebrate celebrate and they go look here. That's why it's come back into our come back into our consciousness a little bit. I think and by the way you know we the fruit we eat on Tishvat. Everybody knows you eat dried fruits on Tishvat. People think that it's preferable to eat dried fruits over fresh fruit. The reason why we have dried fruits on Tishvat is because for centuries we couldn't get fresh fruits. The only fruit that we had were the dried fruits and that's those are actually a poor substitute. So it's better to eat the fresh fruits obviously from Israel as opposed to from Turkey etc. But uh in any event but let's I want to talk a little bit about Torat Israel. It's a concept we've heard. It's words that we know. What does it actually mean and I want to start off with a contradiction so to speak. There are two. I think it's fair to say these are fairly well known both of these. I want to read just one line from each. I want to read want to read each of them to you and then we'll think together about the contradiction and really how two two sentences which seem to make so much seem to be understood and self-evident at first glance but when you think about them and particularly think about these two together in the context we'll see that they seem to seem to contradict one another. The first is the Quran. Well, the second the first is the says as follows. From the day that we went into exile, the beta mikdash was destroyed. The Jewish people went into galut. What happened as a result? Says the is the greatest tora that there is. That is a nullification of the Torah. What does that mean? Torah generally we we we use that we use that phrase talk about when a person is meant to be learning and you're not learning and you're wasting the time right to a lack of Torah. There is less Torah in the world. I guess that's what we would say. I heard once an explanation of this what does it mean that before the exile we were all together in Israel. We had a Sanhedrin and we had if it came up a question an interpretation about Torah. So ultimately the would sit together and they would argue we and we would we would get the answer after the galot. So what happens? What happens is that you have Rashi in France and you have the riff in Spain and you have the Rambam where he is and you have the Ritzvan you have all the different and all the across the world and the Torah becomes not just one Torah and not just two Toras and not just five but so many different opinions and so many different and so many different interpretations and we're we're at a loss to know what is actually the Torah and what is actually the Torah trying to say because we can't work that out together. Anyway, that's one interpretation but The second I want to quote for you is and this is a that I'd say is fairly wellnown. You know sometimes people uh like to quote it when they talk about the importance of learning. So sometimes you'll see people will say the says only has in the world so to speak the four amort the few cubits of meaning if we take that at face value what does that mean the only thing that matters the only thing that's important the only thing that has isra okay so I've seen I've seen many times you know you have certain books or these para sheets or whatever talking about the importance of halaka and they want to show how important it is. So they showed this kumar this is kind of the tagline you know this is the the cheerleader so to speak the problem with that is and this is one of the reasons why it's shab and I didn't give you a saw sheet so that you could so you could see but I'm sure some of you are thinking ahead of me I've only quoted half the what is the full extent what is the actually saying again we said all that God has in his world so to speak is the four cubits I left out four words. The four words at the beginning of that sentence is mikdash from the day that the beta mikdash was destroyed. All that's left all that has is before of so this has turned the meaning of the entire head. Meaning you're telling me I thought that is a positive thing. I thought we you come here every week right and you sit here every Wednesday morning and you have a share in contemporary issues right now you're telling me that's only after the after the [clears throat] only after mdash so we have to understand we have to understand what this means but more than that if we take the two together I think we have a real contradiction we have a real challenge again the first that we saw said okay but both of these are referring to the situation that is after the exile after the destruction during the exile So one says one says mdash it means the same thing. So Wangar tells me from the time of Galut from the time of there is no greater Torah than that and Torah's finished to Torah's gone Torah's in danger whatever that means we know by the way I talk about the fact that the torp as it implies is bal it's oral how do we have it written down how do we have these bookshelves filled with Mishnan etc that's the tells us that you're not allowed to write down. But there was a concern of we came into a situation, we know this, through exile, through persecution, the Torah was in danger. If Tasha Balpe had just been kept exclusively oral and we had relied only on that oral tradition, we would have lost it and therefore rebi started writing down the Mishna and we were allowed to to write it down etc. There are those ravut and others explain that even after that the the reason it's so hard one of the reasons it's so hard to learn gumar and so cryptic is it's done in a way that although it was written down but it was still written down in a way that you still require that oral transmission in order to teach in order to learn to to have it properly so it wasn't fully written down but in any event so on the one hand the there is no greater Torah than that tora is lost to is canceled to is nullified Okay. What does do to Torah? What does it do to does causes the most damage we could imagine? Second, which is actually the first but the second from the day that the beta mikdash was destroyed all that Hashem has left is in other words I don't know what he had before and we have to think about that. we have to try and answer but whatever there was and whatever Torah maybe spoke in a certain way and spoke to a certain something in the world but all that's left is meaning is the fortress is what's left is what survives is what's strong so is it that the galot causes Torah or is it that the that the galut causes a strengthening of this is the thing that that that holds on to so to speak question number one that is just that that is the contradiction between the two. Question number two, for the Quran to come and say, right? How is that true? How is that true? Think about all the again turn around and look at all the books that we have in here. Okay? All the the entire we have a Shiaomi but few and far between are the people who learn, right? Tami Shassim, the entire bookshelf, the entire the entire library of nearly or the vast majority of it until recently was composed in was composed in Galot. This is the greatest growth and outpouring and and and and the amount of creativity and you look through you look through the and through the rishim and through the there were those init but again the vast majority in Ashkanas in North Africa everywhere we have so much Torah and that we're sitting here in Israel we're sitting here but what are we learning we're learning the which is from the so how can you tell me since the galut we produced so much to so what does it mean what does it mean that there is no that that that we have that galut equals to historically and that just doesn't seem to be the case and right what does it mean that only from the galut only from the time of that's when we have the that's when that's when that becomes something strong and something to uh something that remains Okay, those are those are the questions. That's the that's the challenge I think that I'd like to try and answer in this uh in this show in the next few minutes that we have. So before we carry on again I have some ideas but I'm I'm I'm open to hear if anybody has a suggestion or resolution or thoughts that that emerge. Yeah. Is it because um [clears throat] has kept a consular to practice for Israel for being in Israel is really only >> Okay. So you're alluding you're you're alluding to the cif we're going to get to that. We're going to get to that. There there is an idea that really the ultimate fulfillment of Torah is what's meant to be in what what's meant to be in Israel. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. We'll get to that. >> Yes. Just to comment on the So it's interesting that there was another which is mentioned over here and then and then it's called so here you can you can you can get here [laughter] just by okay >> yeah fair okay very nice maybe we'll come back to that as well yeah any other thoughts any other questions yeah >> just to continue what she said that there's a a da that any mitzvah that we're doing outside of Israel is really only practice >> right >> so when you the word but I don't know if she was saying exactly what she said but maybe that's what it means that it's only when you get back to Israel is it going to be the real otherwise you're just doing it you'll get some but not the same and it's really only practice >> okay all All right, I I'll point out let's talk about that now for a moment. I want I want to point out something else which >> the >> Yeah, >> I think making all these and they really done many of them were done but we shouldn't forget it. >> Right. Right. So we have we have we have many as you say which things that we do so we don't forget. We're going to talk exactly talk exactly about that. Um, one thing which nobody mentioned and maybe you noticed and maybe you thought about it but notice in the two there's one there's a very strong difference in the language. One talks about tora and one talks about and there's is there a reason why that word is changed? So we'll come to that as well but basically what I want to say and we'll get we'll get on to the the midrash that a number of people have alluded to. I want to go with three ideas, three reasons why Torah itself becomes deficient when we get to when it's in and through and and how we can fix this, so to speak, right? But three three reasons why when we say yes, we have amazing works and we're learning Torah and we're studying things and we're fulfilling Torah, but there's something missing. There's something that's not there. What is that? Say in other places what does it mean that we have? So let's talk about this on three levels. The first level is very simply that there is a nullification there is a there are certain elements of Torah that cannot be done that cannot be fulfilled. Right? The most obvious example is well called we have a whole category of mitzvot but the whole if you mentioned so is the is divided into six into six uh six categories right and [snorts] one of them is said one of israim means seeds it's all about agriculture so in the mishna we have many different that are inside isra Ini we have all sorts of discussions in the only that you have relating to isot why because all the other discussions of trum and m and all sorts of things and are just not relevant when it comes to it's all these agricultural laws right why is it that every seven years we have such fights and we have such arguments and everybody nobody knows exact what's the right thing what's the solution how What should we do in in one of the reasons is because for so long we weren't here. We weren't fulfilling these laws. We we we forgot them. We forgot. So this is what the cif says many people quote this and then this war was alluded to before. Many people quote this in the name of the Ramban. The Ramban in Parv says this idea but the Ramban is really quoting the which is which is much earlier midrash. And the midrash says as follows. I'll read it to you. It says [snorts] says Hashem, even though you are going into exile and I'm exiling, I'm throwing you out of the land, sending you to you should nonetheless continue to keep the mitzvot, continue to uh to be distinct by these mitzvot which you perform. Why? So I would have thought because there's mitzvot that I have to keep. So what does it matter where I right most mitzvot are not mitzvot okay I understand is to do with the land but what has shabbat got to do with the land and what has kash got to do with the land and what has bril got to do with the land and what has putting on got to do with the land and all whatever what you can think of why the reason why is so that when you come back and we've come back. When you come back, they won't be new to you. You won't have forgotten them. You'll still know what to do. Amazing. Okay, I just have to say here because I'm going to be misqued. We are still obligated to keep mitzvot in. Okay, this is there's an idea here behind us. But I saying on a certain level, the reason why we're obligated in is not because we intrinsically should be obligated there, but it's intrinsically we're obligated here because Tora is init. And then the the gives it there was a there was a king and he was very angry at his wife and he threw out of the palace but he said keep on wearing your jewelry when you come back it won't be new it won't be foreign to you. says, "I'm throwing you out, but when you come back, I don't want it to be foreign. You have to remember, you still have to be adorned with these mitzvah. You should have a a a signs, landmarks on the way." So, we have to remember remember the mitzvot. So, that is we don't want to forget. And the truth is that we know that we see those mitzvot which we did not keep at all the mitzvah that we kept in and and and all all these things we know how to do them throughout it. We've got throughout chass we've got discussions we've got the hakot we've got there there was no in 1948 when the state of Israel was established nobody asked the question okay now that we have a state of Israel how do we keep how do we put on everybody knew how to put on because we've been doing it for generations so we still did okay but those things which we did not keep we see how important this is this idea that we could forget there are many things that we forgot we forgot we forgot all All the mitzvah that we were not keeping we forgot we forgot how to do them. So we come back to Israel and because we have in every generation. So you had Rafuk and you had the Kazunish and you had the different at the time who were able to rec reconstruct and recreate the corpus of of that regarding those things which didn't come without argument and didn't come without controversy and come and to this day as I say there are arguments and controversy about all all of these things but that is on a simple level that is Torah there's the B to rather there's mitzvot that we stopped keeping and we weren't able to fulfill them and we weren't able to remember how to fulfill them. So that is one that is one element of a second element which is somewhat similar to the first but is is a little bit different and this is fascinating that there are certain which we keep and we continue to keep in in but you know in there's a there's a concept of a of extenuating circumstances right the entire galut The entire exile was and is a is an extenuating circumstance and that means all of sometimes you look there are certain that are meant to be there's a certain idea what's meant to be and you look at what is done in practice and you look at what is written in about them and you find all sorts of loopholes and all sorts of leniencies and all sorts of things that are kept and sometimes you wonder you know is this really the way that it's meant to be or is it just that reality is dictating ated that it has to be kept in a c in a certain way. I'll give you an example as an example which I've thought about a lot. We have called kadesh kadesh means new or in English you'd probably call it kadosh right everybody which is which is relating to kashut relating to grain right that the new crop that has been planted from a certain date until the a certain date passes during pes that is when until that time that crop is forbidden for use for for consumption that's called kadash right and only afterwards you're allowed to use that Now there are many many disc the truth is that depending on where you live in the world and depending on when the planting seasons are. So sometimes these are in certain places these will be more be more relevant or will be less relevant. But let me read to you from from the way he summarizes and he says as follows [clears throat] as we know is the land of Israel. This is where we're meant to be. This is the place in which the Torah is meant to be fulfilled because of the agricultural seasons in Israel. It makes sense and it's easy to keep them invad because generally speaking the wheat is planted at the beginning of winter and it reaches the stage of harvest when we uh or or the stage of ripening when we get towards and therefore once you get to the which is the time when the new harvest is going to be allowed that's the time when it's ripened and that's and that's going to be fine. those crops that become ripe just before. So we have to wait until the in order to fulfill to fulfill the in other parts of the world where it rains also in the summer. Sometimes the planting takes place only after pes does the mitzvah of kadash apply in as well. I'm not going to now get into all the technicalities. It's a fascinating topic and we can talk about another time. But the reasoning r behind the idea of kadash in but if you look the of the simple reading you look through the and the simple understanding the the default position would be to say that yes kadash applies init and kadash applies init as well. Circumstances dictate that if for centuries in especially in colder climates we were going to be concerned about khadash and we were going to hold that it was that it was forbidden in it's the same way as init for in many places in many generations there simply would not be what to eat it would have been it would have been impossible so you have a whole set of literature that says there is no such thing many right there is no such thing as Now, I'm not saying the Buskim got it wrong. I'm not saying they made it up. I'm not saying that they're right. They they base it on arguments. They find reasonings and and and and like I say, that's that's a show for for another time. I don't want to be on anyway. But what but you see you cannot ignore the fact that there was a need to come to the there was a need to to to to find the rational that will allow us to say that there is no such thing as because it just it it wasn't possible it wasn't practical to get by to get by with that. So in a sense in that in a sense is meaning to cannot find its fullest most genuine most objective expression the way that it can init very very often we have to find loopholes we have to find leniencies again they're built into the system allowed it he allowed he gave the tools to find again who's a pose how can they do that that's that's a that's a that's a serious That's a whole series of sharing but but that is built into the system in order that we can survive in order that we can thrive doesn't want us to be wiped out in galot right but it's not all of a sudden the Torah is not looking the way that maybe we thought it was maybe the way it could have been I'll give you another example okay the times of there are all sorts of of discussions in if you go to a place that is very very far north right where the timing of uh the timing of and of sunrise and of sunset. You know, there are some places where you have months that it's only sunlight and then there are months when it's only darkness, right? How do you keep Shabbat in a place like that? And don't don't let's not even talk about Raenut, right? But what do what do you do? Or even go not that not not that extreme, you know, but when I was this is something that I noticed when I was in England. And I was on I was in London on for 4 years and um there okay in the winter it gets dark a little bit early in the summer it gets dark a bit later but it's not crazy you know you go a little bit further north in Scotland etc and and becomes impossible. My wife used to tell me that when she was in school in primary school that uh they did you know when they they went into school the next morning and then they did havalah because shabas comes out so late you can't no one no one's no one's awake for that right but and I noticed that there are certain elements of you know here we wait we make sure we don't in the morning we den's a certain time we don't put on fill in before a certain time we don't we have and then when we before nightfall and we have in Mariv are denied for right and it's a common practice in erit Israel most places not everywhere and there are reasons again there are leniencies that are built into the in in into the system and I don't it's not my intention to denigrate any of those but generally speaking the more common practice init while it's still day and then the rav gives a share or you sit around and talk to your friends or whatever and you wait and then you dar afterwards 16 minutes 18 minutes 20 minutes not getting into that but you wait but it's possible it's never Inlar it's much more common that what that people go to shore where it's still daytime and they dare and then they go home and then the next lot comes in and they right if you think about that there's something it's and it's not clear in so the writes that if I have a situation whereby I'm not going to be able to get a minion I'm not I'm not going to be able to get people to come back later on so fine it's it's it's contradictory because if I'm ding at the same time and right if it's day I can have a min if it's night I can and I can't have them both and I certainly can't mar and then somebody else comes and dar it doesn't make sense in terms of the time but we do it because we're because otherwise we won't have a minion okay and there's all sorts of other examples of how the times work and I always say you know I joke this is if you needed more proof that you're not meant to live in places like this right that's another that's another that's another proof they say how do you keep Shabbat on the North Pole the real answer is Jews aren't meant to live on the North Pole Oh, right. I see you all agree. I'm glad. But but but but that's another example. So we find all sorts of loopholes. We find all sorts of ways. It's a light for 6 months of a year. So you find the northernmost place where it actually does get dark every day and you go according to that or you go accord. But again, we can ask the question, is that what the Torah meant when it said you work for six days and you rest on the seventh? Is that what the Torah meant when the said we have we have defined times during the day of when you come along and when you come and pray but you have a certain reality in certain places in that doesn't allow that so okay we're there it's a situation as I said it's a we have to figure out how to make do we have to figure out how to what we'll do but that I think in a certain sense is what maybe what Kazar meant when they said it's Torah it's pul tora it's not the way it's not it's certainly not the idea And it's not what exactly what the Torah meant and what Torah intended when I said we have kadash and we have and we have all sorts of examples. You can look through the and you can look through the and you'll find many many examples of these of these kind of things that are born out of out of an unidal reality that again is to make do. The system gave us the tools to make do. But is that the ideal or is that maybe the bear in a sense? So number one we said was those mitzvot that we simply cannot keep and those mitzvot that we forgot. By the way there's a whole another genre of this where this comes up and this has come up a lot over the last few years. We've spoken about some of these issues here previously but you look at the laws of the laws of having an army right. So there's a big discussion is given to about are we allowed to learn from the for example is not a book right we go to we have the we have the oh can we derive from the so sometimes you'll find that puskim will quote certain things particularly when it comes to questions about war and questions about you know uninvolved civilians and what's considered moral use of weapons and things like this we don't have it in the we don't have it in the garra we it in very very limited places. We have it more in the Tanakh because it was a reality then when we were living in our land and we had an army and we had a state in that sense whereas later on we didn't. So we forgot we forgot what these are. We forgot how it works. We have to try and reconstruct it. Okay. So that's category number one there that we cannot keep. There is Torah that we cannot keep. There are which don't apply and if it doesn't apply it doesn't apply. That's number one. Number two is that even amongst those areas of and those areas of Torah which still apply and still have relevance they cannot be kept in the most pure objective form maybe in the expression the ideal expression that the Torah gave to them. So it gave us a different system, a different way of fulfilling it like khadash likem like all sorts of things but it we have to adapt we have to adapt to that imperfect reality and that is in a sense. Now we come to the third and the third and I think this is the most important one and this is the most critical one and this is maybe I'll start off with a mashall give an example that relates to the the the previous area so so that you understand what I'm what I'm talking about let's take a question we spoke here once spoke a couple of years ago in Shabot night some of you may have been here we spoke about the question about milking cows on Shabbat I remember you know somebody said to me what what are you talking about in Shabot and I said I'm talking about milking cows in Shabbat and they said I'm sure in your kila there are lots of people that need to know how to do that right same way that none of you are living on the north pole none of you are milking cows every Shabbat right but why did I say why did I talk about that topic and why am I talking about it now because it expresses a principle that is so relevant to every single one of our lives and the principle is this okay says is forbidden on Shabbat according to most it's going to be there says in the dash again I'm not getting into the technical discussion right now but we have a problem and the problem is that if you leave a cow unmilked for 24 hours it causes an incredible amount of pain to the animal you cannot do that so you have to milk the cow because it's according to most also is a is the writer on a biblical level so what do you do on the one hand you aren't out so there are those who say by the way that if if milking those who understand that milking is a daban and especially if we say that we don't want the milk or we're milking what's called then maybe it will be a daban and the daban might trump the da in such a case okay but in it was quite easy to solve why because on average you know a Jewish community or a Jewish farmer had maybe a cow you know one cow in the I can't milk my cow on Shabbat but I will ask you know the non-Jew the local shabasi to come along and milk the cow and we've solved the problem. When we're in a Israel, the question takes on an entirely new dimension for a number of reasons because we're not dealing with one cow, but we're dealing with you look at the state of Israel, all the kibut and all the mushim and you are dealing with millions, you know, if not possibly billions of shekels and first of all, where you going to find all the people to come and milk the cows and you're going to lose all that milk and what's it going to do to the economy and that? So it's a different question whereas in it was an individual question in Israel becomes a national question. Okay. Now what do we do about milking? Again I refer you to the show that was given a couple years ago on shaveat. There is no recording because uh because it was on shaveat but it is in I actually wrote an essay on one of the volumes of if people are interested you can tell me afterwards I can send you I can send you that summary. But I use that as a as a as a paradigm to show that the difference in the way that works and the difference in the way the Torah works is that the Torah was given to us was given as a system as a way to to guide a community to guide a nation. It's not about individuals. It's also about individuals. But what happened is that when we went into and we didn't have a society, okay, we had the and we had the community and we have whatever, but we don't have a national entity. We're no longer a we become individuals. Takes on an entirely different character. Ravk writes about this. Ravk says this in a rotator. He says in in many places you know this is maybe one of the one one of the main ideas behind Rafuk's whole philosophy and his whole way of thinking is to is Torah speaking to the individual is it talking to the is talking to the community. So this is what he writes he says this is the difference the main primary difference between and so he says In other words, when we talk about in we still have Torah and we still have now I'm saying it's a tora in the sense that it's no longer focused on the community. It's no longer focused on the collective. It's focused on the individual himself. in we're focused on you as an individual on me. It becomes almost becomes egocentric. But how can I get by as an individual? How can I find you know my material my spiritual satisfaction deals with this world with the next world but everything is about me. You know there's there's an amazing thing and Rafuk alludes to this in other places Sheriki has spoken about this at length [snorts] the world to come we don't find any explicit mention of that in the Torah >> to the extent that there really in the explicit mention to the extent that there are those there are you know there are academics who say to to accept such a thing but there are academics who say that in biblical Judaism there There's really no concept of the world to come. It's only later on that it was added in by the rabbis. Okay. Obviously, we would not accept that. But there is a question you the claim comes about because if I look through the Torah, I look through the Tanakh, we don't find much very much being said about certainly nothing explicit. There are hints to it. There are illusions to it throughout the Tanakh. And if you have a sensitive ear and you hear what tell us, you can you can find it all over the place. But really going back Jews didn't really talk about so much. It's only later on right from the times of the Mishna and even later that we suddenly find a focus on we find a focus on the world to come. Why is that? So it's not because we didn't believe in it and then somebody with some you know external influences came and introduced a new concept. No, that is incorrect. But what it is is that the focus was the cloud. The focus was the community. When we talk about when we talk about God's presence amongst us, we meant we focused on it being here in our society in our land. That's what we mean when we are exiled and when we no longer have that. So then the focus shifts. It shifts from a national focus to a personal focus. It shifts from a focus on the here and now because now it's such an imperfect reality. So we talk about the ideal reality. We can the thing we can dream about is the amaba. And that's why we suddenly start talking about it more. Every single one of them, every single one of the asked the question, why is not mentioned? Why when we get to reward and punishment, the Torah speaks about this world, speaks about physical rewards and punishments, doesn't talk about the next world. And there are many many different answers given. But according to this line of thinking the answer is because that was the primary focus and people's primary focus and goals and dreams was about yeah but it's about living as part of that idea part of that collective where we don't have that collective in that sense anymore. So we can't talk about it in the same way. So continues he says that is can talk to can talk about this world can talk about the next world can talk about spirituality talk about can talk about all these things but it does it for the individual is about the collective all the individuals come together is part of the collective they are elevated through it. Okay. And he goes on and we find this the truth is we find many expressions of this in as well. There are in a purely sense the concept of Israel only exists in Israel does not exist in so where do we find this? We find this for example where you know there's a big discussion do we say hello again I'm not getting into that that is a whole series of sharim on itself as well okay the spec is that we say hello I think that's the meaning of oh you Israel as well >> with with the with the musical instruments without musical instruments whatever that's a separate that's a separate discussion what's that >> with or without >> with brah without brah right okay so there are there are a number of facets to this discussion which I'm not going to get into now but one of the facets is the is the following. There are writes that when would we say halal? We would only say it on a ness on a miracle that was performed for all of Israel. But if it was performed only for a portion of Kal Israel, for that you would not say halal. For that you would have a certain a community celebration and there's different ways and we're coming up to Purim. There are many throughout the ages. There have been many communities where an individual community in Kutzlar had a certain decree or had a certain miracle that they were saved and they established a yontov on that day. Purim of Frankfurt and Purim of Tripoli and also all all sorts of things. Okay. But that is not something that happened to a specific community did not happen to all of Israel. So then you will not institute halal on such an occasion. So one of the arguments and again in the framework the those who say that uh your mats so you're celebrating what happened in 1948 there were 600,000 Jews living in Erit Israel the rest of the Jewish people were living in so you can't say that it's a na that took place for all of for all of Israel. So to so ju I'll just address briefly one argument and to my mind and again you look at what's happening now and you look at what we've experienced over the last few years I think it's clear and obvious for all to see that the existence of the state of Israel and what happens in this country and what happens in the wars here and the salvation that Hashem brings us here is going to effect is going to affect Jews all all around the world I think it's very very hard to argue with that just from a perspective but what what what what concerns us now in terms of the discussion that we're having is that there are many puskim who say I don't care if there are 600,000 Jews in Israel and there are millions inclar but what's called Israel what's called the Jewish people that's who's in Israel and the people that are inlar sorry to say from from this perspective are irrelevant of course they're relevant of course we care about them right we love them very much all of them but but but but from aic perspective definition of clo Israel that is the Jewish people that are in Erit Israel. So that was a miracle which affected certainly affected everybody in the land of Israel and and that's enough again I'm not pasing now I'm not getting discussion of of that's not it's not our subject but where we find this from we find a number of sources one of them is when it comes to the talks about and then and then the talks about what's called which means there is a certain what happens when the Sanhedrin makes a mistake what happens when the Sanhedrin tells the Jewish people to act in a certain way and then we have a whole about this that says that if they made a mistake and what's considered a mistake then uh so everybody so we need to bring a kurban we need to bring a kban on behalf of the tib what's considered the right the is those that are in Israel and not those that are inarat another place where you see this and you see it very strong is the raesh the talks about sanctification of the moon etc and he writes this um in he alludes to it in a number of places but also in saf is I think the most direct where he says what would happen if there was no he says nowadays there are there are other opinions on this but nowadays that we don't have a and we don't have taking place actively every month he says it only we still have a calendar because we have Jewish people living in Israel and the Rambam writes if there was a situation where there was not a single Jew living in the land of Israel. If such a thing could happen, well then we would not have a calendar. It could not be there could not be cannot take place theoretically without any Jews living in Israel. And he says therefore we know we have a promise that that that will never happen. There will always be at least one. There will always be Jewish people living living in the land of Israel. So we see we see time again from all these different places and all these different sources this idea that Torah itself can't take place without w- without Jews in the land of Israel. But the Torah is meant to guide us. It's not just meant to be who am I and what am I going to do and what's going to be my and what's going to be my we have so much focus on that. It's important. It's important for every individual to learn and to grow and to figure out, but only as part of a bigger picture and part of a bigger collective. And that's what the Torah is ultimately trying to say and and speak to and and and and help us to achieve. And that is why the says that it's only from the time of the that is not a positive statement. It's a very very negative statement. Not because we're against, not because we don't believe in alaka, but essentially what that's saying is Torah encompasses a wholeness of life. Torah is meant to encompass everything. And when we as a Jewish people are living in our land and we have a society and we're able to engage in all the different facets of of life governed by the Torah, that's the ideal. But when we're stuck in and when we're stuck in exile and the and all this wholeness of is reduced to and it's reduced to the and it's something we needed is a whole essay we explains what was the purpose what was the function of the galot and why we had to go and what we achieved and yes we have the whole and we still learn it as part of Israel nowadays we still learn it yeah okay it's very important but that's only a It's only a piece of the puzzle. When Torah only focus on only focus on what can I do, what do I need to do to get to my that's only a very very small part of the picture. So that taken all taken all together and that is what really that's what we're celebrating on tishvat and so when we eat those fruits whether they're dried fruits or they're fresh fruits you eat them before scar you eat them after scar yeah you can wait till after you know it's if you want but what what what are we saying and what are we doing and what are we celebrating the fact that these are the fruits that yes eating fruits themselves that is part that is part of the Torah I'll end with this there's an amazing in the says when When Mosherenu wanted to wanted to enter the land of Erit Israel and says why why does he want to come he wants to come into the land of Israel to eat its fruits and it says no because he wants to fulfill the mitzvot so we have the we say after eating fruits and after eating uh grains right and there's a phrase in there it says we we give Hashem thanks for being able to eat from the fruits and there are those who say you should not say that that phrase should be omitted. That's what the Garra says very very critically. Says what mushenu wanted to come into adel to eat from its fruits. So we're going to use those words as part it says that rhetorically right. So we're going to use those words as part of our the commentary on the to says absolutely we say those words because the fruits in are imbued with the sanctity of the because yes that is part of we are not in the situation of we're not in situation of exile where we say he has far more than that he has to which is which is which encompass our entire life, encompasses every facet, encompasses even the fruits that we eat and that is what we are celebrating on.