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HOLIDAY READING

Rabbi Judah Mischel

The Light of the Land

e are approaching the great pain of exile and to realize the absolute that is pulsating, alive, shining with
day of Lag BaOmer, the impossibility for its character to fulfill G-d’s light.
Whilulah, or celebration, of its potential as long as it is oppressed
the Tanna Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai on foreign soil” (Orot, p.95). The Navi (Melachim Alef, 6) refers to
(Rashbi), when he revealed the Holy Iyar as the month of ziv, “shining” or
Sefer haZohar to his closest disciples Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai lived after splendor. This word is translated into
before leaving the world. The Zohar is the destruction of the Second Beit Aramaic by the Targum as nitzan,
much more than just the primary text- HaMikdash. When the Temple stood, “blossom.” Nitzan itself alludes to the
book of Jewish mysticism, the secrets Am Yisrael’s relationship with G-d was sweet fragrance of the coming redemp-
of the Torah, and a sefer of inner light an obvious fact. After its destruction, tion of our Land and her people:
and deep wisdom. It is a guidebook to G-d’s existence was concealed and the ... ַ עיִּ ג ִ ה רי ִ מָּז ַ ה ת ֵ ע ץ ֶ ר ָ א ָ ב ּוא ְ רִנ םיִנ ָּ צִּנ ַ ה
navigating the world of the soul, and it Shechina was exiled.
allows us to see there is a reality beyond “Blossoms have appeared in the Land;
that which we can sense, measure or The Gemara relates that Rabbi Shimon the time for song has arrived…
understand. bar Yochai, the Holy Tanna, said: “See
how beloved Israel is to HaKadosh The song of the turtledove is heard in
Hashgacha Pratit (Divine Providence) Baruch Hu, for wherever they went our Land.”
is clearly revealed in the fact that in into exile, Shechina imahen, the Divine
the month in which we celebrate The Presence went with them. They were (Shir HaShirim, 2:12)
Zohar and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai,
we also mark the return of the Jewish exiled to Egypt, and Shechina imahen; May the merit of Rashbi open our eyes
nation to its homeland, and rejoice over they were exiled to Babylon, veShechina to see the great splendor of the Torah,
the restoration of sovereignty and the imahen. And when Am Yisrael will be and awaken us to the urgent need for
expansion of our borders as meaningful redeemed in the future, the Shechina redemption. May the joyful songs of Lag
steps in the unfolding of Jewish destiny will be redeemed with them…”(Megil- BaOmer be heard throughout the uni-
and redemption. lah 29a). verse, and may we bask in the holiness
of Eretz Yisrael with the great return of
Indeed, the secrets of the Torah and the In a world darkened by destruction, our nation.
special days in Iyar can be viewed as a exile and Divine concealment, the
single idea. As Rav Kook taught, “The Zohar reveals hope and meaning by Rabbi Judah Mischel is Executive Director
of Camp HASC, the Hebrew Academy for
secrets of the Torah bring redemption opening our eyes to our true inner life- Special Children, Mashpiah of OU-NCSY
and return Israel to its Land because the force and the reality of G-d’s plan and and founder of Tzama Nafshi.
Torah of truth… demands the complete involvement in everything transpiring
soul of the nation. Through this inner in the world. Beneath the surface of A member of the Mizrachi Speakers Bureau
Torah, the nation begins to feel the world events, there is an inner reality mizrachi.org/speakers

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