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HOLIDAY READING

Lt. Colonel (res.) Rabbi Yedidya Atlas

The Torah of the Klal

TORAT ERETZ YISRAEL IN THE EYES OF RAV KOOK

o understand the concept of Yisrael to the laws of kings and waging In that context, we can understand
Torat Eretz Yisrael, we must first war. the words of Rabbi Chiya (Yerushalmi,
Tcomprehend the scope of Torah Berachot): “Such is the coming redemp-
in general. The term Torat Eretz Yisrael appears in tion, in the beginning, little by little…”
Vayikra Rabbah 13:5: “‘And the gold of
Torah is all-encompassing: Am Yisrael’s the Land is good,’ teaches that there is And as explained by the Maharal in
way of life as a nation, and every Jew no Torah like Torat Eretz Yisrael, and his introduction to Or Chadash, “the
as an individual. Moreover, since Eretz there is no chochma – wisdom – like redemption will not occur all at once,
Yisrael is the natural habitat – both chochmat Eretz Yisrael.” And in Bava but in stages.”
physically and spiritually – for Jews, it Batra 158b, Rabbi Zeira declares “the air When the State of Israel was established
is only there that the full gamut of Torah of Eretz Yisrael makes one wise.” in 1948, Yom HaAtzmaut was cele-
learning, and therefore Jewish life, can brated by Jews across the religious and
be achieved. Thus our Sages declared: On the most basic level, one can distin- political spectrum for the miracle that
“because Israel has been exiled from guish Torat chutz laAretz from Torat it represented. Sadly, as time passes, as
her Land, there is no bigger bitul Torah Eretz Yisrael: only in Eretz Yisrael can we come ever closer to the next stage
than this” (Chagiga 5b). one potentially perform all of the mitz- in our national redemption, many of
vot in the Torah. Even today, without a
Yes, throughout almost two millennia, Beit HaMikdash, all individual mitzvot our fellow Jews, although still living in
Jews in exile produced such seminal and many of the mitzvot dependent truly miraculous times, no longer see
works as the Talmud Bavli, the Shul- on the Land can be fully observed. Of the reality. As Rabbi Elazar said: “even
chan Aruch, and much more. But nearly course, there is also the well-known one to whom a miracle happens, fails
all these dealt only with the Jew as an concept brought by the Sifrei, Rashi and to recognize it” (Niddah 31a).
individual, not as a nation. As our Sages Ramban on Parashat Eikev (11:18), that
wrote: “From the day the Beit HaMik- even the observance of individually-ori- It behooves us to strengthen our con-
dash was destroyed, G-d has no place in ented mitzvot in chutz laAretz has less nection to Torat Eretz Yisrael, thereby
His World but the four cubits of hala- intensifying our commitment to Am
cha” (Berachot 8a). Limited in scope, value than keeping those same mitzvot Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael, and fully live
the Torah of the Galut, Torat chutz in Eretz Yisrael. the miracle as we work together to bring
laAretz, ignored those areas of national Rav Kook writes in Orot HaTorah, the ultimate Redemption ever closer.
Jewish existence in our own Land. More Chapter 13: “Torat chutz laAretz deals
than half the subjects dealt with in the only in repairing the individual soul…
shisha sidrei Mishnah, for example, are whereas Torat Eretz Yisrael is always
not dealt with in the Talmud Bavli. Not concerned with the klal, in favor of the
even one tractate deals with the mitz- national soul in its entirety.” Thus, we
vot teluyot baAretz – commandments can understand that Am Yisrael can
dependent on the Land of Israel. The only live a completely fulfilled life in
Shulchan Aruch essentially deals in Eretz Yisrael.
Torat haYachid – laws pertaining to Lt. Colonel (res.) Rabbi Yedidya Atlas is a
the individual Jew. Only the Rambam, Therefore, Torat Eretz Yisrael, despite veteran journalist specializing in geo-polit-
in Yad HaChazaka, covers the laws of all the current limitations of living with- ical and geo-strategic affairs in the Middle
both the individual and the nation. He out a Beit HaMikdash, is the Torah not East.
addresses the issues of Am Yisrael as only of the individual Jew but of the
a functioning nation in its own Land, Jewish nation in its entirety, as we move A member of the Mizrachi Speakers Bureau
from the mitzvot dependent on Eretz ever closer to the ultimate Redemption. mizrachi.org/speakers

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