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receive the rain in its time and we will thrive and live in peace in of Israel’s Messianic borders will bring to fruition the concept that
our land. But if we do not obey God’s word then the heavens will be “the last in deed is the first in thought” (a phrase sung in “Lechah
shut up (no rain will fall) and we will be exiled from the Land. The Dodi,” one of the Shabbat evening prayers); these borders already
message is clear. The Jewish people’s right to live in the Holy Land is conceived of at the moment of creation will finally be established at
a privilege directly dependent on its actions and the moral and ethical the End of Days.
fiber of the Jewish society created in the Land. The same holds true In the future, the Creator’s infinite energy will be revealed within
for the physical borders of the Land: the greater the Jewish people’s the finite parameters of the physical world. In a sense, the finite’s
merit and degree of holiness, the more the borders will expand and ability to contain the infinite is the ultimate unity, the resolution of
the more the holiness of the Land will increase. Ultimately, in the the paradox of how an infinite Creator can relate to a finite world. In
Messianic era this holiness will radiate throughout the world and the Chassidut the experience of this paradox is captured by the Yiddish
borders of the Land will expand to encompass the entire world. The phrase “in velt v’oys velt” (being in and out of the world at the same
people and the Land in fact form a unified symbiotic unit. The Land time). This redemptive reality is represented by Israel’s holiness
responds to the Jewish people’s actions, and the people are meant to expanding to encompass the entire world, as the limited borders of
respond to the Land’s great holiness. this present physical reality will expand to encompass the infinite

A beautiful remez to the central role played by the Land and people Presence of God. Until then, we need to use our thoughts, speech,
of Israel in humanity’s historic progress is found in the description and action to create vessels that will prepare the world for that era.
of the borders in our portion of Masei. The Torah uses the same May it come to pass speedily and in our days.
word (totsotav), “its limit,” to describe the border in each of the four
directions. Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh explains that the numeric
value of this word is 913, the same as “bereishit” (“in the beginning”),
the first word of the Torah. This link between the Land of Israel’s
borders and the first word in the Torah reminds us of Rashi’s very
first comment on the Torah: Why if the essence of the Torah is the
commandments does the Torah begin with the account of creation
and not with the first commandment given to the Jewish people?
Rashi answers this rhetorical question by stating that in the future 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 17 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:05 | SR:-- | Magenta #24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 17 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:05 | SR:-- | Yellow 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 17 -
the nations of the world will accuse the Jewish people of stealing
the Land of Israel. In order to preempt such a challenge the Torah
begins with the account of creation to establish once and for all that
the same God who created heaven and earth is the One who gave
the Jewish people the Land of Israel. This insight is quite relevant
today, when much of the world does in fact accuse us of stealing the
Holy Land. In this sense, Rashi’s commentary is truly prophetic.

On a deeper level, we must realize that the borders of Israel are
intrinsically connected to the very purpose of creation – establishing
a dwelling place for God in this the most physical of worlds. The Land

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