Page 559 - 24107

Orchard of Delights # 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 18 - B | 18-01-28 | 12:12:05 | SR:-- | Cyan 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 18 - B | 18-01-28 | 12:12:05 | SR:-- | Black 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 18 - B | 18-01-28 | 12:12:05 | SR:-- | Magenta #24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 18 - B | 18-01-28 | 12:12:05 | SR:-- | Yellow

#
understood how much the Temple in Jerusalem benefited them, they snowcapped mountains and burning deserts, rich agricultural lands
would have appointed guards to protect it. and salty plains, seas and lakes, waterfalls and springs, the largest
natural crater in the world and the lowest place on earth.
This notion assumes especial relevance today when Israel, though
barely a dot on the world map, is at the very epicenter of international The Hebrew word denoting “everything” in this verse is “kol.”
politics, global economics and technological advances, and, of course, This verse echoes Jacob’s words to Esau when he returned to the
religion. Given the country’s miniscule size and relatively small Land of Israel. Esau said to Jacob, “I have much,” whereas Jacob
population, its importance exceeds all expectations. Yet the answer said “I have everything (kol).” Indeed, the word “kol,” which has the
to this paradox lies in the verse we are discussing: the world’s eyes numerical value of fifty, does not simply mean “everything,” it is also
are focused on this very place because God’s eyes, as it were, are a remez, an allusion, to the fiftieth gate of understanding. According
focused on it. In fact, the world’s obsession with the Land of Israel to tradition Moshe reached the forty-ninth gate of understanding,
has been evident throughout history as one empire after another has but not the elusive fiftieth gate (though some say that when he died
sought to control the Land of Israel, the spiritual and geographical by the “kiss of God” he did reach that level). Moses’ search for the
crossroads of the world. fiftieth gate explains why he longed to enter the Land of Israel, which
is blessed with “kol”; he knew that the fiftieth gate of understanding
24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 18 - B | 18-01-28 | 12:12:05 | SR:-- | Magenta
The phrase “the eyes of God,” found throughout the Torah, are a
#24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 18 - B | 18-01-28 | 12:12:05 | SR:-- | Yellow
metaphor for God’s Divine Providence. The Sages taught that this could be found in the Promised Land.
24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 18 - B | 18-01-28 | 12:12:05 | SR:-- | Black
24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 18 - B | 18-01-28 | 12:12:05 | SR:-- | Cyan
verse teaches us that God judges the world on Rosh Hashanah – The Torah was given to the Jewish people fifty days after the exodus
for the verse explicitly states that His eyes are always on the Land from Egypt. The Jews were supposed to immediately take the Torah
from “the beginning of the year” – and that the judgment continues into the Land and build an ideal Torah society. The Jubilee year,
“until,” as the verse states, “the year’s end” (Rosh Hashanah 8a). celebrated every fifty years, only in Israel, represents the freedom
The Hebrew word translated as “beginning” has the same Hebrew and the idyllic state that a Torah observant society should naturally
root as the Torah’s first word: “In the beginning God created the embody (see the potion of Behar for more on the Jubilee year). The
heavens and the earth.” Commenting on this verse, Rashi explains opportunity to experience and construct such a utopian society is
that the phrase “in the beginning” could be interpreted to mean “for another reason why Moses wanted so very much to enter the Land.
the sake of the beginning.” He then quotes two verses that imply Significantly, the Jewish people’s mission remains unchanged to this
that the Torah and the nation of Israel represent different aspects very day – to live in the Land of Israel and reveal to each and every
of the beginning – being the first – inferring that for the sake of the person in the world that “everything” can be discovered in the Torah
Torah and the Jewish people, God created the heavens and the earth. and in the Land of Israel: “For from Zion the Torah will come forth
This explains why the “eyes of God” are always focused on the Land, and the word of God from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:3).
for this is the place where Torah and the Jewish people are meant to
unite and thrive, the place from which God’s ultimate purpose for
creation will eventually shine forth to envelop the entire world.

562 559