Independence War, the Six Day War, the Yom Kippur War, the Lebanon Wars, and all of the military operations that have be
בס"ד
A TIME FOR SANCTIFICATION Based on an idea in Eretz Yisrael in the Parsha by Rav Moshe Lichtman In this week's פרשה, after learning about the high standards of spirituality that כהניםmust keep, we seem to touch an opposite theme: מְׁ קַ דִ שְׁ כֶּם,. בְַׁתֹוְך ְׁבנֵׁי י ְִִׁׂ םרֵֹׁ ו ֹש נִי ה, וְׁנִקְׁ דַ שְׁ תִ י,שֵׁ ם קם דְׁ שִ י- ֶֹּ ַת, ו ְׁאֹֹ ַתְׁ ַַ ְְּׁוּו. ה, ֹש נִי, ֹ ַֹתם ם, ו ֲַש ִִׂ יַתֶּ ם, מִ צְׁוַֹתַ י,ּושְׁ מַ ְׁרתֶּ ם . ה, וִהְׁ יֹוַת םוכֶּם וֵֹׁאֹקִ ים ֹש נִי,הַ ּמֹוצִיֹ ֶֹּ ַתְׁ כֶּם מֵׁ ֶֹּ ֶּרץ מִ צ ְַׁרי ִם And you shall guard My mitzvot and do them, I am G-d. And you shall not desecrate my name, but I shall be sanctified among Israel, I am G-d who shall sanctify you. That brought you out of Egypt to be your Gd, I am G-d. (ו"ג-ֹ" ו:)ויקרֹ כ"ב We see here two distinct ;מצוַתnot to profane G-d's name ()ַיווו השם, and to sanctify it ()קידוש השם. Chazal teach that out of all of the ֲבירוַתthat a Jew can transgress, ַיווו השםis so bad that it cannot be atoned through יום כיפורor through personal suffering- it can only be מכפרthrough its polar oppositeקידוש השם. In other words, the bad that desecrating G-d's name in the world can do is so bad that the only way to fix it is through an equal sanctification of His name. With this in mind, we will explore a prophecy in יַזקֹו, part of the הפטרהfor פרשַת פרה, to learn about a very serious ַיווו השםgoing on right now, as prophesied millennia ago: הַ ּגֹוי ִם- ֶֹּ ו,ֹוַיםבֹו
וַיִזםרּו בםֹש םרצֹוַת,ו םָאפִ יץ ֹ ַֹתם ם בַּגֹוי ִם
הַ מְׁ ַֻ ְּםו,שְׁ מִ י הַ ּגםדֹוו-ו ְִק ַדשְ תִ י ֶֹּ ַת
, וַי ְׁטַ ּמְׁ ֹּו ֹֹוַתם ּה,ַאדְׁ מם ַתם ם- בֵׁיַת י ְִִׁׂ םרֵֹׁ ו י ֹשְׁ בִים ֲַ ו,ָאדם ם-בֶּן
ַארצֹו יםצםֹּו ְׁ ֵׁ ּומ, ֵֹׁ ְֶּּה.ה-בֱֶֹּ מ ֹר וםהֶּ ם ֲַ ם--שֵׁ ם קם דְׁ שִ י- ֶַֹּת, וַי ְחַ לְ לּו,בםֹּו שם ם-ֹש שֶּ ר
- ֶֹּ ו,הם ֹש םרצֹוַת; ו ְׁהֵׁ בֵַֹׁתִ י ֶֹּ ַתְׁ כֶּם- ו ְׁקִ ַבצְׁתִ י ֶֹּ ַתְׁ כֶּם מִ כםו,הַ ּגֹוי ִם-וְׁוםקַ ְַׁ תִ י ֶֹּ ַתְׁ כֶּם מִ ן
בְַׁתֹוכםם, ֹש שֶּ ר ִַ ְַּוְׁתֶּ ם,בַּגֹוי ִם
ַאדְׁ מַ ַתְׁ כֶּם. Ben-Adam (Ezekiel), the Israelites will sit on their land and they will defile it… And I will scatter them among the nations and they will be dispersed throughout the countries… And the gentiles will come and they will desecrate My name, saying 'these people of G-d are not in His land' … And I will sanctify My great name, which had been desecrated among the nations… And I will take you back from the nations, and I will gather you from all of the lands, and I will return you to your land. ()יַזקֹו ו"ו It was prophesied to Yechezkel that בני ישרֹוwould be scattered because of their sins, and would be forced to leave their land and go to foreign lands, where their mere presence would be a ַיווו השםas the nations as they wonder what G-d would abandon us. But, the prophecy concludes on a positive note- despite this continued desecration to His name, G-d will save us from the foreign lands, and will return us to our land, thus sanctifying His name- thus undoing the ַיוווthat we created by being outside of Eretz Yisrael. Rashi expounds on this idea further, explaining that the ַיווו השםthat בני ישרֹוwill do by being outside of the Promised Land is that when the גויםsee us, they will wonder why
G-d took us out of Eretz Yisrael, and why He stands by us we suffer in the Exile. When we return to the land, G-d will undo the ַיווו השםby showing the nations that there was a master plan- that He didn't, ַס ושוום, sit on the side on the side and watch us suffer; He was waiting for us to do ַתשובהfrom our sins which sent us into the גווַתso that we could merit the גֹווה. Ever since יֲקב ֹבינוoriginally left ֹרץ כנֲןin biblical times and we began to be a ֲם בֹרץ וֹ והם, we have naturally never fit into our surroundings in the foreign lands. Realizing this, the gentiles- whether the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Muslims, Germans, or Christians- question why we are among them. Because of their belief systems, they cannot see that our גווַתis מפני ַטַֹתנו גוינו מֹרצנו, but rather they see it as a sign of G-d's weakness ( )ַס ושווםor even worse, that our G-d is not true. Every minute that we are in the גווַתis a desecration of G-d's name, and as we keep on waiting, it seems less and less likely that we will ever merit a גֹווה. But, as the end of the prophecy shows us, once we return to our land, we will have undone this ַיווו השםwith a קידוש השם- by showing the nations that G-d is All Powerful and He never abandoned us, and that we have earned our way back to the land fair and square. I believe that this time is now upon us. For millennia, the Jewish people have been strangers in a foreign land, waiting patiently (and not-so-patiently) for a chance to return. During that time, we have managed to attract the wrath of almost all of the nations in existence, and through this we may have caused much ַיווו השם. But, G-d has given us an opportunity to undo this, with the return of the Jewish settlement to Israel. For the first time in over 2000 years, we have the option to return to our roots- to leave the foreign lands where our ancestors were tormented to a place where they only dreamed of being able to live. The נבוֹהin יַזקֹו פרק ו"וsays that when G-d returns us to our land, it will be so obvious to the nations that we will be forced to accept that it is יד השםand this קידוש השםwill undo the ַיווו השםof our גווַת. Since the establishment of Israel in 1948, we have only seen יד השםin the Holy Land. The Independence War, the Six Day War, the Yom Kippur War, the Lebanon Wars, and all of the military operations that have been conducted by the Jewish state, could not and should not have succeeded. Why did they succeed? I believe that based on 'יַזקֹוs נבוֹה, it is clear that these miracles occurred to be a קידוש השםto the nations- to remind them that despite the hard times that the Jewish People have had in the Exile, G-d is still watching us and has not abandoned us. This קידוש השם, a ַתיקוןfor the ַיווו השםthat we've caused during our time in Exile, serves as reminder to the ֹומוַת הֲווםwho's running the world- our G-d. It is possible that this קידוש השםalso serves another purpose- to awaken the Jewish People so that we can realize that it's time to come home. For millennia, we've caused ַיווו השםby being a nation
without a home, seemingly abandoned by our G-d. Now that we have the opportunity to stop the ַיווו השםand return to the land promised to our forefathers, does it make any sense to prolong the exile. In יַזקֹו פרק ו"ו, the order of the prophesied גֹווהis that first G-d will sanctify His name so that the nations will know who is G-d, and then, G-d will gather in the exiles, and, finally, He will purify us and He will dwell with us. If we interpret this order as a timeline, we can see that G-d has already sanctified His name (through the miracles continually surrounding Israel) and has set us aside as a holy nation. Before we can merit being purified and having G-d dwell among us in the Holy Land, we must first heed his call, through these נסים ונפוֹוַת, and return there. Only through this tremendous זכוַתcan we merit the final stage of the גֹווה, the coming of the ַמשי, very speedily in our days. Shabbat Shalom.
