Page 3 - HaMizrachi #9 Yom HaAtzmaut 5779

Torat HaMizrachi

Rabbi Doron Perez
ISRAEL:

A GREATER MIRACLE

THAN THE EXODUS?

believe that the story of the return modern era Jews came from well over integrated into the cultural and ethnic
of the Jews to Israel in our time is 100 countries, having been scattered environments of their host nations. As
I not only one of the greatest ongoing literally to all four corners of the Earth. Rav Chayot suggests, it would require a
miracles of the modern era, but indeed And from the most distant places they separate remarkable miracle to unite so
of all of Jewish and human history. have returned and continue to return. many culturally, linguistically disparate
From Buenos Aires and Baghdad, people into one functional society. Yet
Greater in Three Ways
Washington and Wellington, Manchester this is exactly what has happened in
In some ways, the miracle of the and Melbourne, Cape Town and Cochin, modern day Israel.
Ingathering of the Exiles – ת ֹוּי ֻ ל ָּג ץּו ּ ב ִ ק – Moscow and Minneapolis, Toronto and
is greater than the greatest of miracles – Tehran , Aleppo and Addis Ababa and In truth, this drama is not just a modern
םִי ָ ר ְ צ ִ מ ת ַ אי ִ צְי – the Exodus from Egypt. It Fez and Far Rockaway. saga but rather a chapter in a much
is true that the 10 Plagues, the Splitting bigger story, the plot of which was
of the Sea, and the Revelation at Sinai Thirdly and profoundly, Rabbi Tzvi mapped out thousands of years ago.
are unprecedented miracles in terms of Hirsch Chayot, one of the great Galician
transcending the laws of nature. Nothing rabbinic leaders in the early 19th Perhaps more than anything else, our
Prophets identified the return from
compares. Nevertheless, the Ingathering century, points out a critical difference Exile to Eretz Yisrael – an almost
of the Exiles transcends the laws of relating to the cultural linguistic milieu
history in unparalleled, extraordinary (Maharatz Chayot, Section 1, p. 74). inconceivable phenomenon – as the
single most salient and significant sign of
fashion. Nothing compares. In Egypt, the Children of Israel were
confined both to a ghetto in Goshen and the era of Redemption in all of Biblical
Here’s why. The Ingathering of the Exiles to a life of segregation and slavery. They literature. The Ingathering of the Exiles
in our times is greater than that of ת ַ אי ִ צְי could neither assimilate nor integrate appears in hundreds of prophecies and
םִי ָ ר ְ צ ִ מ in three ways: 1. the length of into Egyptian society. Our Sages point scores of prayers as a distinct indication
exile 2. geographic dispersion and 3. the out that they maintained their names, of the future messianic era.
vast cultural linguistic differences among their language and their dress code. One such example is in the Book of
the returnees. They spoke Hebrew to each other and Isaiah, in what would become the
were culturally similar, distinct from the
Firstly, the Exodus came after 210 years Egyptians. source of the heartfelt prayer about the
whereas the return to modern Israel Ingathering mentioned thrice daily in
happened after almost 2,000 years of On the other hand, in the Ingathering the Amidah, the silent prayer (Isaiah
exile – almost 10 times longer. of the Exiles, the Jews spoke as many 11:11-12):
as 80 different languages! They were
Secondly, all of the Jewish people were often unable to understand one another,
in one country, Egypt, whereas in the
and many had been assimilated or Continued on page 4

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HaMizrachi also contains PUBLISHED BY THE MIZRACHI WORLD MOVEMENT
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of views and interests in Assistant Editor production@mizrachi.org Jerusalem Mr. Harvey Blitz
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any official position of Creative Director Hadas Peretz www.mizrachi.org Rabbi Doron Perez
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Cover photos: Operation Exodus 1992, Zion Ozeri/The Jewish Lens and Aliyah 2018, Sasson Tiram/Nefesh B’Nefesh