Page 5 - Mizrachi RZC Sefer Berachot 5783

The Dual Return and the Role of Mizrachi
Rav Doron Perez
Chief Executive, World Mizrachi

This is a great milestone year for the Zionist movement in general
and the Religious Zionist Mizrachi movement in particular. We
celebrate 125 year since the founding of the World Zionist
Organization, 120 years since the founding of Mizrachi and 75 years
of the State of Israel.
Rabbi Yehuda Alkalai, one of the great rabbinic precursors to the
Zionist movement, makes a critical insight into the process of
Teshuva. (The Writings of Rabbi Yehuda Alkalai, Mosad Harav Kook (pg 237,
323/4) which goes to the very core of Mizrachi’s mission.
He highlights the inextricable link between the spiritual return of the
Jewish people to Hashem and the physical return to the Land, as
clearly evidenced in the Torah in the section dealing with Teshuva
[Sefer Devarim (30, 1-10)]:
...םוֹיַּה ְוַּצ ְמ י ִכֹנ ָא־ר ֶשֲׁא לֹכ ְכּ וֹלֹק ְב ָתּ ְﬠַמ ָשְׁו יֶק ֱא 'ד ־דַﬠ ָתּ ְב ַשְׁו

"And you will return to the L-rd, your G-d and heard His voice, according to all
that I command you today ...”
And immediately afterwards the next verse states:
הָמּ ָשׁ יֶק ֱא 'ד ְצי ִפֱה ר ֶשֲׁא םי ִמַּﬠָה־לָכּ ִמ ְצֶבִּקְו ב ָשְׁו ֶמֲח ִרְו ְתוּב ְשׁ־ת ֶא יֶק ֱא 'ד ב ו ָ שׁ ְ
“Then, the L-rd, your G-d, will bring back your exiles.... He will once again
gather you from all the nations, where the L-rd, your G-d, had dispersed you.”
The concurrent processes of the spiritual return to Hashem and the
collective return of the Jewish People to the Land are clearly part
and parcel of the same process, notes Rabbi Alkalai. It is no
surprise, therefore, that the incredible return of millions of Jews to
Israel, primarily since the founding of the State, has transpired in
tandem with the rebuilding of the spiritual world of Torah learning
and living.
This dual return is one of the most extraordinary events in all of
human history . On a national physical plain - the establishment of
an independent sustainable Jewish country for 75 years now and
currently home to over 7 million Jews , more than at any other time
in history is astonishing . On a spiritual religious plain - the
remarkable rebuilding of the Torah world with more Torah learning
in Israel and across the Jewish world, arguably more than in any
other generation . What breathtaking blessings !
Mizrachi is deeply committed to giving our all to this dual process
of physical and spiritual homecoming .
Please join us in Israel this coming Yom Ha’Atzmaut as we
celebrate these extraordinary milestones and recommit to our
historic Mizrachi mission .