Page 4 - HaMizrachi #26 Tu Bishvat USA 2021

TORAT MIZRACHI

Continued from page 3
between Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael as to return to it and mentioning it at every diplomat Lord Curzon called the San
a marriage between husband and wife. 4 wedding, praying about returning to it Remo Conference “the Magna Carta of
Indeed, marriage is the one human rela- three times a day and facing towards it the Jewish people,” in terms of the legal
tionship which most closely resembles in every prayer from all corners of the recognition of their rights to the Land.
a covenant. It is the hope and prayer of globe. This recognition would be enshrined
bride and groom that their union will in international law and subsequently
not be dependent on conditions and The Moral Claim reinforced by the League of Nations and
circumstances, it will last forever and Jewish suffering and persecution again by the United Nations in Novem-
that it will be built on a mutual vision throughout history gives birth to a strong ber 1947.
and values, in which the me and you moral claim to the Land. They have even
become us and we. The core of this rela- produced new words in the English Lan- The Tu BiShvat Connection
tionship is a commitment to the vision guage – ghetto, pogrom, inquisition, Tu BiShvat is a time of appreciation for
of a greater good and a better future Holocaust. During the Second World the remarkable relationship between a
together. So too the connection between War, immigration restrictions remained people and its Land.
the Jewish people and its Land. in place in British-ruled Palestine and in Tu BiShvat is a time to savor the fruits
This covenantal relationship between many other western countries. Borders of the Land, which – according to our
G-d and Am Yisrael has created an were locked and ships carrying Jewish Sages – are the ultimate sign of this
extraordinary bond unlike the peo- refugees were mercilessly sent back to unshakable covenantal bond.
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ple-land connection of any other nation. Nazi Germany.
That is why the Jewish claim to Israel Israel, the one country and the one Land And Tu BiShvat is a wonderful oppor-
is first and foremost a religious one, Jews have always called their own, is the tunity to reflect on and commit to our
rooted in our primal spiritual mission one place they are safe from discrimi- Covenant with Elokei Yisrael.
and based on an unshakable eternal nation and persecution. It is here and Tu BiShvat Sameach!
covenant between us and G-d. only here, under Jewish sovereignty, that

there have never been restrictions on
The Historical Claim Jewish immigration. All Jews are wel- 1 Bereishit 15:18.
Secondly, from a historical point of view, comed with open arms, granted imme- 2 See Bereishit 17:1–14. The root word תי ִ ר ְּ ב
it is clear the Jewish People and Juda- diate citizenship and absorbed into the appears 10 times in these 14 verses. The Cov-
enant of Circumcision has, of course, been
ism have been tied to the Land since country, no matter their age, circum- accepted throughout the generations and across
the very dawn of Jewish history. The stances and utility to society. There is the Jewish spectrum, regardless of levels of
very first time G-d spoke to the first a strong and just moral imperative for observance.
Jew, Avraham, it was for him to jour- creating a safe haven for arguably the 3 The Dignity of Difference, p. 202.
ney with his family to the Land that G-d world’s most persecuted people. 4 For example, in the sheva berachot recited
would show him, Canaan, which would under the chuppah, the blessing of ׂשיׂ ִ ש ָּ ת ׂש ֹוׂש
become Eretz Yisrael. This began a now The Legal Claim juxtaposes the unique connection between the
Jewish people and the Land and that between
more than 4,000-year connection to the 2020 marked the 100th anniversary of bride and groom. Just as they are unified in a
Land unrivalled by any other nation on the pivotal San Remo Conference in covenant of marriage, so too on a collective level
earth. The only other living people with Italy. In April 1920, the world’s major is there such a relationship between the Jewish
such a lengthy historical connection to powers agreed to designate Eretz Yisrael people and the Land.
a land are the Chinese. However, the as the place where Jews from around 5 See for example Sanhedrin 98a, where Rabbi
Chinese have never been exiled from the world could settle. All of Arabia, Abba sees this in the verse in Yechezkel 36:8.
their country.
Syria and Mesopotamia were granted
Despite the long, dark exile and perse- to the Arab nations with Palestine/Eretz
cution over millennia, Jews never forgot Yisrael granted to the Jews. So signifi- Rabbi Doron Perez is Executive Chairman
their connection to their Land, dreaming cant was this decision that the English of the Mizrachi World Movement.

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