Dvar Torah: Why The Country of Israel is The Center of The World

(This dvar torah below is from Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb, Rabbi of Shomrei Emunah in Baltimore who is currently on sabatical in Israel for the year).

The Dynamic Attraction of Kedushah

“Bereishis bara Elokim es ha-shamayim v’es ha-aretz.” (1:1)

The opening pasuk of the Torah is so familiar to us that we take it for granted. Rashi, however, quotesChazal (see Yalkut Shimoni, Parshas Bo #187), who wonder why the Torah begins at the beginning. After all, it’s not until much later, in Parshas Bo, that the Jewish people receive their first commandment, the mitzvah of Kiddush Ha-Chodesh, sanctifying the new moon. Wouldn’t it have made more sense, therefore, to begin the Torah with the first mitzvah?

Rashi famously cites the explanation that the Torah begins with the creation of the world in order to reinforce the Jewish claim to Eretz Yisroel. After all, “if the nations of the world will say to Israel ‘You are bandits’ for you conquered the lands of the ‘Seven Nations,’” we can reply that Hashem is the creator of the world – He gave the Land of Israel to the “Seven Nations” and therefore He had the right to take it away from them and give it to the Jewish people.

In the excitement over Rashi’s “punch line” we may overlook something quite startling that he mentions in passing: The Shiva Amamin, the “Seven Nations,” were divinely sanctioned as the initial inhabitants and rulers of Eretz Yisroel!

From what we know about the sanctity of the land and, conversely, the immorality of these nations, this is a shocking phenomenon.

     

What are we to make of the fact that holy Eretz Yisroel was originally given to these wicked people? Why would such sanctity be entrusted to morally bankrupt nations?

Rav Mayer Twersky suggests that, “this jarring contrast was intended to foreshadow a fundamental historical pattern – indeed, a veritable law of history – and metaphysical truth. Sanctity arouses violent opposition.”
While we might have imagined that immoral and non-religious and anti-religious people would simply ignore religious holy places and sacred symbols, R. Twersky keenly observes that in truth, throughout history that has simply not been the case. “On the contrary … forces of evil and impurity are perversely drawn to holy sites. They seek to suppress sanctity by gaining sovereignty over such sacred places.” One famous example of this trend is Titus, who chose the Menorah and the looting of Jerusalem to be singled out from all of his conquests, and engraved on the “Arch of Titus” in Rome.
The first example – and paradigm – of this historico-spiritual reality was the initial granting of Eretz Yisroel tothe Shiva Amamin. “Precisely because of its sanctity,” R. Twersky, concludes, the Land of Israel, “would arouse the forces of evil and become the focal point in the struggle between Good and Evil.”

This insight was foreshadowed – and perhaps even inspired – by a drasha given by Rav Soloveitchik where the Rav made the same essential point in explaining a seemingly incidental detail mentioned by the Gemara at the end of Maseches Makkos.

As is well known, the Gemara recounts the story of a number of great sages walking in close proximity to the ruins of the Holy Temple shortly after the Churban Ha-Bayis. After the rabbis witness a shual, a fox, rummaging around the area where the Kodesh Ha-Kedoshim, the Holy of Holies, used to stand, they become overwhelmed with grief and most of the rabbis break down in tears. On the other hand, the Gemara continues, R. Akiva had the opposite reaction and laughed.

While much rabbinic attention has been focused on the vivid scene depicted by the Gemara, R. Soloveitchik wondered about the significance of the shual.

“Er hut nisht besser a pletzer tzu shpa’tziren?”

Was there no where else, he asked, for the fox to scurry? Could it be nothing more than a coincidence that the fox was in, of all places, the Holy of Holies?

The Rav answered that the presence of the fox demonstrates the significance of the Beis Ha-Mikdash.

“Az de’shual veist instinctiv az di makom is heilig.”

The fox – symbolizing the kochos ha-tumah, spiritually impure forces – is instinctively drawn to this holy place; in fact there is nowhere the shual would rather be than in the Beis Ha-Mikdash.

Once again we have an example of this metaphysical truth.

Tumah is attracted to Taharah and Chol gravitates towards Kedushah.

The “Seven Nations” were originally in Eretz Yisroel and the fox was in the ruins of the Kodesh Ha-Kedoshim.

As Jews around the world continue to battle various forms of anti-Semitism and as Israel continues to face the specter of enemy attacks and diplomatic condemnation, it might be natural to wonder: why us? Why is it always us? Why can’t they just leave us alone?

From the halls of the U.N. to the desert plains of Iran, the world’s continued preoccupation with Israel and the Jewish people is but the latest example of the of the historical pattern that Rashi alludes to in his opening commentary. The perverse obsession with us is a result of the fact that they recognize – consciously or otherwise – the true holiness of our homeland and nation.

This understanding should offer us a measure of comfort, and perhaps, like R. Akiva, bring a smile to our face.

And more important than understanding the psychology of our enemies, it should remind us of these axiological truths. It’s woefully inadequate if only the “shual” appreciates the holiness.

We must be aware of and committed to kedushah and we too must “veist instinctiv” that both Eretz Yisroeland Am Yisroel are “heilig.”

In the merit of our increased sensitivity and dedication to this sanctity may we merit to soon see the day where there is true peace and God’s presence is manifest to all.