Page 16 - HaMizrachi Sukkot 5783 USA

And Your Children shall

Return to their Own Borders

Rav Chanan Porat zt”l

Anyone who hopes to thoroughly deal with the question of “what seedling to a large enterprise of about 300,000 souls [currently,
is Religious Zionism” and “who is a Religious Zionist” cannot be there are about 500,000 Jews living in these areas – Ed.]. Today,
satisfied with an abstract or theoretical discussion but must the movement is like a tree with deep and powerful roots which
rather examine the way Religious Zionism has left its mark on no wind can succeed in uprooting.
the real-world return of Am Yisrael to Eretz Yisrael in our time and
its impact on the Torah, the nation and the Land. Now, after over forty years of successes and failures, achievements
and crises, we can look back with satisfaction: we climbed the
One great enterprise in which Religious Zionism has played a mountain and succeeded! We merited, with Hashem’s kindness,
foundational role and likely would not have occurred without it to withstand the double challenge of Psalm 24: “Who shall ascend
is the settlement of Yehudah and Shomron (Judea and Samaria). the mountain of Hashem, and who shall stand in His holy place?”
My goal here is not to list the historical or geographical facts
of the settlement movement, but rather to examine the idea Climbing the mountain was certainly difficult. Kol hatchalot kashot,
behind the movement and use it to shed light on the uniqueness all beginnings are hard and demand effort and courage. But no
of Religious Zionism, which challenges the premises of ‘safe easier, and perhaps even more difficult, is the task of standing on
haven Zionism’ and establishes in its stead a new but ancient top of the mountain and holding onto it permanently. Because
alternative: ‘redemptive Zionism’. in a certain sense, kol hatchalot kalot, all beginnings are easy; the
The settlement of Yehudah and Shomron after the Six-Day War enthusiasm and joy of youth inherent in the act of pioneering
began with a handful of young dreamers who went up, a few obscures the hardships and difficulties. But [as the poet Rachel
months after the war, to reestablish the homes of their parents Bluwstein writes,] as the years go by, “the gold is hidden and the
that were destroyed in Gush Etzion in 1948. Since then, the peaks have become a plain.” Routine can gnaw at and cool the
settlements have grown and flourished from a small, tender initial enthusiasm, and those who have climbed the mountain

(PHOTO: HOWIE MISCHEL)

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