הבחירות האמיתיות • הולכים סביב או פועלים מהפנימיות? | הרב דוד בן-נתן

Tonight is the yahrzeit of the Meor Einayim of Chernobyl, and the Meor Einayim brings, in Parshat Vaetchanan, in the name of the Baal Shem Tov, a very special explanation on Chapter 79 of Psalms, a Psalm of Asaf: "O God, the nations have invaded Your inheritance, they have defiled Your holy temple, they have turned Jerusalem into ruins. They have given the corpses of Your servants as food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of Your pious ones to the beasts of the earth. They have poured out their blood like water around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury them." He explains it with a very special explanation. He asks, why? Why have nations come into Your inheritance? Why did this happen? Why are they so successful? He says it is because "they poured out their blood like water around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury." What is his explanation? He explains it in terms of serving God. He says Jerusalem is called the heart. As it is written: " Speak to the heart of Jerusalem." And we know that to pray is to pour out our heart. There are expressions in the Sages regarding this, that "for Your sake we are killed all day long"—this refers to prayer. So the Baal Shem Tov says, "They poured out their blood like water around Jerusalem," because all the weight of the prayer, all the effort of the prayer, is only done " around Jerusalem." And "there is no one to bury," meaning there is no one who takes the prayer and brings it deep into the heart, into the Jerusalem inside. So because of that, "nations have come into Your inheritance, and defiled Your holy temple"—that is how he explains it. Meaning, in the service of God, he says that when a person does not focus their prayer inward—yes, everyone knows this day-to-day. If you come to pray, you—what do you want to happen there? You are standing before the Holy One, blessed be He, you are setting your heart upon Him. If so, then the nations, the*kelipot*(husks), the distracting thoughts, all of them —they are less able to draw near. But when a person comes just "around Jerusalem," they are as if praying, they put on tefillin, they read the words of the prayer book, they are going through the motions of prayer somehow, then naturally all the hold of all the*kelipot*is present, they enter into their prayer and confuse them. And of course, if the Baal Shem Tov explains this regarding the service of God in prayer, then there is a great principle that Rav Kook often states, and returns to many times in various places. In*Orot HaTeshuvah*, it appears several times that in order to truly do *teshuvah*—a process of true repentance—one must always connect the general processes with the personal ones. As if there is no true general repentance without personal repentance, and no personal repentance without general repentance, so one must take... Hasidism very often took the general concepts of wars and events, and during the exile, when there was no option to carry them out literally, they took everything to the personal service of God. But they opened up new things and new understandings, just like this thing that the Baal Shem Tov brings from the simple meaning. >> Yes, so no verse departs from its simple meaning. So if we take what the Baal Shem Tov says and connect it more to the simple meaning of "around Jerusalem," it is essentially saying: Why is there a hold of nations on Your inheritance? And why is it that Jews struggle so much just "around Jerusalem "? So many righteous people in so many places invest, strive, and do the most wonderful things in the world. >> But around Jerusalem, the surroundings of Jerusalem—there is no one, it's as if there is no one who brings it inside , to place their entire weight within Jerusalem. That. So certainly anyone who is privileged, anyone privileged to be here, is still a representative of the people of Israel, to come and say: We want to bring our work not just to be in the surroundings, but to be inside, to be at the central point, as close as we can, to bring all our work as far inward as possible. From within it, one can do many, many things outside. There are many important mitzvot, in general and in particular, and many matters of Yiddishkeit, but this inner point of being connected to the heart within—and in this matter too, I think it is a great calling for everyone engaged in any mitzvah that is around Jerusalem (and there are many such things), that everyone needs to take some, to come and strive to take a little from the inside of Jerusalem for the mitzvot that are found around it. Meaning, thank God, there are mitzvot throughout the Land of Israel and the spreading of Judaism, and thank God there are so many Jews who have such dedication, but they need to feel their point: that they are taking from the inner point, from the inside, from this holy and wonderful place, for "from Zion shall go forth Torah." And when we are connected to the point of Zion, connected inward into the heart, then surely the things that reach the outside become much more directed, organized, straight, and internal. So, our prayer for ourselves is first of all that we be more connected within, and also that all the people of Israel will feel, especially in these stages where there is so much talk of elections, what are we choosing... >> What are we choosing? We are always meant to ask, before elections, what we are choosing—we must ask what the Holy One, Blessed be He, chose. It is written, "For the Lord has chosen..." >> Zion. >> In Zion. >> So Jews, Jews, especially at times when there is so much talk of choice, we must say that our choice is in what the Holy One, Blessed be He, chooses. For " The Lord has chosen Zion," may we merit that with God's help, the people of Israel will also choose this with all their being; and to be at the inner point both in private service to God, but even more so in public service to God, to place our weight and our efforts around this place for the building of our holiness and our glory, with God's help, immediately and right now.