HaRav HaGaon, HaRav Schechter, HaRav Teitelbaum, HaRav Mara D'Asra, Morai VeRabosai. When this evening's Yom Iyun was scheduled, none of us anticipated the heightened level of awareness and profound concern for Eretz Yisrael which we'd all be feeling tonight. In fact, Eretz Yisrael is always central and critical to our lives, to our religious identity and being. To echo Rabbi Teitelbaum's Tfilah, may this evening's Divrei Torah regarding the centrality of Eretz Yisrael serve as a Zchus and help bring about the ישועת השם כהרף עין which we so desperately need and for which we so desperately long. Let's briefly and certainly incompletely review the centrality of Eretz Yisrael within Halacha. Now, the most obvious area within Halacha is one we'll just mention but not dwell on. And obviously, there is a whole Seder Mishnayos of Zraim dealing with Mitzvos Hatluyos Ba'aretz which as the Mishna in Kiddushin tells us that כל מצוה שהיא תלויה בארץ, any mitzvah which relates to the ground is noheges exclusively in Eretz Yisrael, is only operative in Eretz Yisrael with the three exceptions of Orlah, the fruit of the first three years from a fruit tree; Kilayim, crossbreeding; and Chadash, which of course is much more complicated in terms of whether it is or is not operative in חוץ לארץ בזמן הזה, but possibly the third exception of Chadash, grain which had not been planted at least a couple of days before Pesach that it's assur to eat that until the Tes Zayin Nissan of next Pesach. And again of course that's complicated. So that's one whole area of Halacha. Again, it comprises just about one sixth of Mishnayos. The Gemara in Sotah tells us that Moshe Rabbeinu desired very strongly, he craved to enter Eretz Yisrael because he wanted an opportunity to be mekayem, to fulfill all these Mitzvos Hatluyos Ba'aretz. The second obvious area of Halacha, mitzvah which comes to mind, is the Mitzvas Aseh which the Ramban enumerates, in his opinion the Rambam, the Rambam mistakenly omitted this from his enumeration of the Taryag Mitzvos, and that is that the Ramban counts living in Eretz Yisrael, gaining control of Eretz Yisrael, and settling Eretz Yisrael as a Mitzvas Aseh d'Oraisa, as a mitzvah which is operative in all generations at all times. And the Ramban quotes from Chazal that ישיבת ארץ ישראל שקולה כנגד כל המצוות, that this is such a weighty mitzvah that in some sense it is the equal of all other mitzvos. But what is worth underscoring and illustrating is how Eretz Yisrael is central to Halacha even in areas seemingly removed or independent of Eretz Yisrael. In Inyanei Orach Chayim, seemingly equally all these mitzvos and dinim which are equally operative in Eretz Yisrael and Chutz La'aretz and nevertheless even in this context Eretz Yisrael is central. Perhaps the most repercussive halacha is the fact that the Halacha's international dateline is determined by Eretz Yisrael. Exactly how is subject to a major major dispute perhaps amongst the Rishonim, certainly amongst the Poskim, but everyone agrees that Eretz Yisrael is central in determining that dateline. Whether Eretz Yisrael is central in that we only look at Eretz Yisrael as the center of an upper hemisphere of the globe and that the dateline therefore is ninety degrees east of Yerushalayim so that if you go east of Yerushalayim the day will begin up to six hours earlier than the day begins in Yerushalayim and it will begin as late as eighteen hours afterwards. But again even if that's the dateline as the Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi in the Kuzari explains that's again because of the centrality of Eretz Yisrael but that we're looking at again the upper hemisphere again which was where all civilization existed until just a few centuries ago and because of Eretz Yisrael's centrality that dateline is determined. And certainly according to the Poskim that we go a hundred and eighty degrees both east and west of Eretz Yisrael so then certainly we're looking at Eretz Yisrael as the center of the world and the day can begin as much as twelve hours before the day begins in Eretz Yisrael and the day can begin as much as twelve hours after. So according to that view in the Poskim Shabbos can begin as you go a hundred and eighty degrees east it will begin as much as twelve hours ahead of Eretz Yisrael as you go a hundred and eighty degrees west it will begin as much as twelve hours after Eretz Yisrael but the common denominator of both opinions is that everyone agrees that the dateline is dictated by the centrality of Eretz Yisrael. And this of course affects everything we do it affects when we keep Shabbos how we keep Shabbos it affects the davenning every day everything all the halachos in Orach Chaim which hinge on day and night and times of the day so all of that again not necessarily foremost in our consciousness but all of that is linked to Eretz Yisrael and again testimony to the centrality of Eretz Yisrael. In Birchas HaNehenin there is the halacha let's say one is about to partake of two fruits two fruits both of which the appropriate beracha is Borei Peri HaEtz so one's going to have let's say for argument's sake an apple and a pomegranate. So one's only going to make one beracha the Birchoseihen Shovos right they both warrant the same beracha of Borei Peri HaEtz so the question is which of the two should I taste first which of the two should the beracha relate to most directly most immediately should it be the apple should it be the pomegranate? And let's say for argument's sake that my preference is that in general I enjoy an apple more than I enjoy a pomegranate so nevertheless Rabbi Yehuda maintains and according to most Rishonim this is how we pasken we pasken like Rabbi Yehuda. This is also the impression which the Mechaber gives in Shulchan Aruch that Min Shiva Odif that if amongst the two competing fruits one of them is one of the seven fruits one of the seven species associated with Eretz Yisrael ארץ חטה ושערה וגפן ותאנה ורמון ארץ זית שמן ודבש
wheat and barley grapes figs pomegranates and dates so if one of these fruits is involved so then you make the Borei Peri HaEtz on the Min Shiva and you eat the apple later. So Min Shiva again Eretz Yisrael right sitting here in New York somehow or other Eretz Yisrael is determining the priority in terms of making berachos. And finally the last example I'd like to mention is in Birkas HaMazon the Gemara says that if one doesn't mention Eretz Yisrael in benching so one has not fulfilled the mitzvah of Birkas HaMazon and in fact we know that of the three berachos which are d'Oraisa in Birkas HaMazon so the second beracha is identified by Chazal as Birkas HaAretz that's the primary theme of the second beracha. of Bircas Hamazon in fact is על הארץ ועל המזון is thanking Hakadosh Baruch Hu for Eretz Yisrael. Now to understand the significance of this, that Eretz Yisrael is so central, let's perhaps focus on that last example of Bircas Hamazon. Why is it that Eretz Yisrael is so central to Bircas Hamazon? Right here I'm sitting in New York, so I enjoyed a good meal and I was satiated, so I have a chiyuv to say Bircas Hamazon. Why is it that Eretz Yisrael looms so large within that Bircas Hamazon? The truth is that when one goes back to the psukim in Chumash where the mitzvah of Bircas Hamazon is presented, so then the the question is accentuated. Because the mitzvah of Bircas Hamazon is presented to us in the midst of a discussion of Eretz Yisrael. The Torah says כי ה' אלוקיך מביאך אל ארץ טובה ארץ נחלי מים עינות ותהומות יוצאים בבקעה ובהר.
The Torah continues ארץ אשר לא במסכנות תאכל בה לחם לא תחסר כל בה
that Hakadosh Baruch Hu right here in the 40th year Bnei Yisrael are on the threshold of Eretz Yisrael about to enter Eretz Yisrael so Moshe Rabbeinu tells them you should know that imminently Hakadosh Baruch Hu is going to bring you into a wonderful land unequaled, unparalleled and he describes, he describes the wells and the springs in Eretz Yisrael and he describes the the plenitude which will be found in Eretz Yisrael. And then in that context, in that context the Torah says ואכלת ושבעת וברכת את ה' אלוקיך על הארץ הטובה אשר נתן לך.
So this is really curious, right? This really provokes us. The mitzvah of benching again, which seemingly is totally, totally unrelated to Eretz Yisrael, so not only does the Torah require that we integrate into benching the theme of Eretz Yisrael and that we thank Hakadosh Baruch Hu for Eretz Yisrael, but the whole mitzvah is presented within the framework of a discussion and description of Eretz Yisrael. So what does my pastrami on rye sandwich sitting in New York have to do with ה' אלוקיך מביאך אל ארץ טובה? I went to the Lower East Side, I didn't go to to Yerushalayim to procure the pastrami on rye. So later in Parshas Ekev, in the same parsha, the Torah again returns and describes in most glowing terms Eretz Yisrael. And the Torah concludes that discussion and description of Eretz Yisrael with the following pasuk: ארץ אשר ה' אלוקיך דורש אותה. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is constantly mindful of Eretz Yisrael. As it were, it's always on His radar screen. תמיד עיני ה' אלוקיך בה constantly, without cessation, without interruption, the eyes of Hakadosh Baruch Hu k'v'yachol are affixed on Eretz Yisrael. Rashi quotes a comment from Chazal. What do you mean that Eretz Yisrael is the land אשר ה' אלוקיך דורש אותה? והלא אף כל הארצות הוא דורש?
Isn't Hakadosh Baruch Hu mindful of the entire world? Doesn't Hakadosh Baruch Hu exercise divine providence over all of creation, over every land, over every continent? Ella k'v'yachol says Rashi אינו דורש אלא אותה. As it were, says Rashi, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is mindful only of Eretz Yisrael. כביכול אינו דורש אלא אותה ועל ידי אותה דרישה שדורשה דורש את כל הארצות עמה.
And it is only through that concern, through that preoccupation with Eretz Yisrael. well that it spills over and encompasses the rest of the world. And it's the concern for Eretz Yisrael again which overflows and encompasses the rest of the world. The Ramban elaborates on this a little bit. The Ramban says יש בו סוד עמוק. There is a very deep and profound secret here: כי הארץ הזאת נדרשת בכל והיא הכל וכל הארצות מתפרנסות ממנה באמת.
In truth, the Ramban says, the entire world, the entire creation is sustained through Eretz Yisrael because of its connection, because of its organic connection to Eretz Yisrael. Now what does this mean? What what does this mean? What does it mean that kavyachol HaKadosh Baruch Hu is focused on Eretz Yisrael but then there's an overflow? That kavyachol the whole world is sustained through Eretz Yisrael? So what the Ramban really means, what the sod amok really is, is is not for me to decipher. But superficially, I think we can understand a little bit of this idea. But to do so, I think we have to be cognizant of a certain pattern, very fundamental pattern within the beriah, within creation. In the bracha of havdalah we speak of המבדיל בין קודש לחול, bein or l'choshech, bein Yisrael l'amim, בין יום השביעי לששת ימי המעשה. It's axiomatic to the world, to all of creation that there's havdalah. HaKadosh Baruch Hu created kodesh, intrinsically sanctified, and HaKadosh Baruch Hu created chol, that which has not been intrinsically sanctified, but rather that which we are called upon to sanctify. And this notion of havdalah again is axiomatic to the entire world, right? It's it's axiomatic to time; in the temporal sense there's havdalah: בין יום השביעי לששת ימי המעשה, bein or l'choshech. In a geographic sense there's havdalah between Eretz Yisrael, ארץ ישראל מקודשת משאר ארצות, vis-a-vis the rest of the world. Shabbos is mekudash from all days of the week, and Klal Yisrael of course is mekudash mikol ha'amim. Let's look for a moment at the relationship between Yom HaShvii and Sheshet Yemei HaMa'aseh to try to understand exactly what the dynamic is here within the havdalah. On Shabbos, as we all know, so we're prohibited from doing melacha, right? There are 39 categories of melacha; there are lamed-tet avos melachos. And where are the avos melachos derived from? So we know that it's derived from the smichus parshiyos in Parshat Vayakhel, the fact that the Torah juxtaposes the melechet hamishkan with the parsha of Shabbos. And that juxtaposition teaches us that those melachos, those forms of labor which had to be performed in the course of constructing the Mishkan, it's those forms of labor which are prohibited on Shabbos, right? And of course that's the source for all of hilkhot Shabbat—harim hatluyim base'ara. Because of that one little allusion in Torah She-bi-khtav again, that's the foundation for all of Masechet Shabbat, for all of Orach Chayim hilkhot Shabbat. When one thinks about it al pi Aggadah, so that derivation is very paradoxical. It's very paradoxical that the melachos which were undertaken in the course of constructing the Mishkan... that those very melachos are the ones which are identified as being prohibited on Shabbos. Why? Because when you think about doing melacha on Shabbos, so one's immediate association is that to do melacha on Shabbos is to profane Shabbos as the term chilul Shabbos connotes, it's to profane Shabbos. So melacha then represents again something profane. And it's very paradoxical that somehow or other the melachos which were used to create kedusha, the melachos which were necessary to construct the mishkan, to induce hashraas hashchina, ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם, that it's precisely those melachos which are then considered an act of profaning. It's very ironic. We would have expected that there should be some other source for the issur melacha on Shabbos, and then perhaps the Torah would tell us and this prohibition is so far-reaching and all-encompassing that you can't even do the melacha for the sake of the mishkan. No, the Torah tells us: you know those melachos which generate kedusha, those melachos which create kedusha, precisely those melachos if you do them are a profanation of Shabbos. That's a way of profaning Shabbos. So what's to be understood from this paradox? The answer is that the Torah is telling us that the key and the secret to any endeavor during sheshes yemei hama'aseh, during the week, to create kedusha, to generate kedusha, the key to that is in observing Shabbos. That the relationship really is, the true relationship is that these melachos are only capable of creating kedusha and generating kedusha because we're mekadesh these by abstaining on Shabbos. And that's the true relationship between Shabbos and the melachos hamishkan. How is it possible, how is it possible that we generate, that we can create kedusha through what we do? How is it possible that through acts of being choreish, plowing, and through acts of being zoreia and planting, and through acts of cooking, and through acts of writing and building and creating fire that we can create kedusha? The answer is because we abstain from these melachos on Shabbos. We abstain from these melachos on Shabbos, we anchor what we do during the week in kedushas Shabbos, so that creates the potential during the week to generate kedusha. And that's what the Torah has in mind with the smichas haparshios between Shabbos and the mishkan, that the secret to creating kedusha on Sunday through Friday is the abstaining, is the withdrawal, is the being rooted and anchored in kedushas Shabbos. And that's what the relationship is between Shabbos and the mishkan. Now what that suggests, what that suggests is that our avoda to live and lead a sanctified life even during sheshes yemei hama'aseh, Sunday to Friday, when there is no intrinsic sanctity to the time, to the day, that what makes that possible, what facilitates that is the fact that we're anchored in Shabbos. That Shabbos is the lifeline for the sheshes yemei hama'aseh. And in fact, that's what we say in Lecha Dodi that Shabbos is mekor habracha. That's what it means, that Shabbos is the lifeline for the sheshes yemei hama'aseh. Now having recognized that, so then I think we can proceed to understand that this same relationship exists within all of the fundamental havdalos, again, which are axioms. Now having recognized that, so then I think we can proceed to understand that this same relationship exists within all of the fundamental havdalos, again, which are axiomatic to the entire world. And the same way, again, our activities during the sheishes yemei hamoase have to be rooted and anchored in Shabbos, hence the smichas haparshios that you have to abstain from zoreia on Shabbos in order to create kedusha by being zoreia during the week, the same holds true for the havdala between Eretz Yisrael and she'ar aratzos. It's only when Eretz Yisrael is the center of the world, when the whole world revolves around Eretz Yisrael, when the whole world again draws from Eretz Yisrael, so only then can we live, again, can outside of Eretz Yisrael, places which are not holy be populated. The same way a person can only undertake to live sheishes yemei hamoase, a person can only live those days with sanctity if he's rooted, anchored in Shabbos, so too life anywhere, anywhere in the globe can only be a life of kedusha if the connection to Eretz Yisrael exists. And the same way, if sheishes yemei hamoase are not anchored in kedushas Shabbos, so then there's no potential anymore to sanctify or to lead a sanctified existence during sheishes yemei hamoase, so too if she'ar aratzos are not anchored, are not rooted in Eretz Yisrael, there's no possibility again of living a life of kedusha elsewhere. And that's what the Ramban means that כל הארצות מתפרנסות ממנו באמת, that throughout the beriah, kedusha is the lifeline for chol. That that which is sanctified is the source of life, is the lifeline for that which is mundane. Shabbos is the source of kedusha, is the lifeline for the sheishes yemei hamoase and in the same sense Eretz Yisrael is the source of kedusha for the entire world. It's the lifeline, the source of life for the entire world. It's remarkable to notice again, we spoke about these fundamental havdalos: bein kodesh lechol, bein or lechoshech, bein Yisrael la'amim, בין יום השביעי לששת ימי המעשה that Hakadosh Baruch Hu distinguished between that which is sanctified, that which is mundane, between Shabbos and the week, between the Jewish people and the nations of the world, between light and darkness. Now each of these havdalos in turn is linked to Eretz Yisrael. Bein or lechoshech, day and night, so again we reviewed the halacha how Eretz Yisrael dictates the calendar. The havdala of or and choshech, of time, of or lechoshech and בין יום השביעי לששת ימי המעשה, that havdala depends upon Eretz Yisrael. But even the havdala bein Yisrael la'amim, Rashi tells us at the beginning of parshas Lech Lecha of לך לך מארצך וממולדתך ומבית אביך אל הארץ אשר אראך ואעשך לגוי גדול,
right, so we all remember Rashi quotes that שם אתה זוכה לבנים פה אי אתה זוכה לבנים. If you Avraham Avinu will go to Eretz Yisrael, there you'll merit children, there you'll become the progenitor of Klal Yisrael. So the very formation, the very emergence of Klal Yisrael is inextricably intertwined with Eretz Yisrael, with kedushas Eretz Yisrael. So each of the havdalos ultimately come back to the havdala of Eretz Yisrael from all other places within the universe. And the idea again in each instance is that Kedusha is the lifeline for chol. Yom HaShvi'i for sheishes yimei hama'aseh, the light of the moon is a reflection from the light that we have during the day, Klal Yisrael again ultimately, ultimately by bringing the Geulah comes to a time when ומלאה הארץ דעה את ה' כמים לים מכסים. Again, it's a lifeline, it's a source of life for everyone, for all peoples. So when we think about Eretz Yisrael and when we think about a crisis engulfing Eretz Yisrael, it's not only, not that this needs to be supplemented, it's not only that acheinu bnei Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael are in mortal danger, but it's our lifeline also. Unfortunately, sometimes we don't relate sufficiently, we don't empathize sufficiently with that basic, basic fact that acheinu bnei Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael are in mortal danger. It's that and it's even more than that. Again, Eretz Yisrael is the lifeline for any aspiration for Kedusha anywhere, because it's only because of the relationship again between Eretz Yisrael and the she'ar aratzos, bechol ha'aratzos, בכל הארצות מתפרנסות ממנה באמת. It's only because of that relationship that we're able to function, much less strive for Kedusha anywhere. And hence, in Bircas HaMazon, why does the Torah frame the mitzvah of Bircas HaMazon in the midst of its discussion of Eretz Yisrael? What is the enjoyment, the benefit which I had from Hakadosh Baruch Hu's munificence in chutz la'aretz, what does that got to do with Eretz Yisrael? So the answer is that Eretz Yisrael is the lifeline. And whether I'm aware of it or unaware of it, we're always, always totally dependent, again, both physically and spiritually on the welfare of Eretz Yisrael.