THE CLEAREST SIGN

In the middle of the Tochachah (Admonition) in Parashat BeChukotai, the Torah states, – I will make the Land desolate; and your enemies who dwell in it will be desolate upon it (26:32). Seemingly, this is a continuation of the long list of misfortunes that will befall the Jewish people if they fail to follow God’s ways. Chazal, however, see things differently. They see this verse as a “silver lining” in the dreadfully dark cloud of Jewish suffering throughout the exile:

This is a good measure. [It means] that the Jews will not say, ‘Now that we have been exiled from our Land, our enemies will come and find satisfaction on it.’ For [the verse] says, And your enemies who dwell in it will be desolate upon it – even your enemies who come afterwards will not find satisfaction in the Land. (Torat Kohanim [Sifra], ibid.)

What is most striking about this Midrash (quoted by practically all of the commentators) is its historical accuracy. For close to 2,000 years, Eretz Yisrael was in a state of ruins; and this was not due to a lack of interest on the part of the nations. The Crusaders, the Marmaluks, the Ottomans, the Turks, the Arabs, and others tried to settle the Land. Some were more successful than others, but none were able to make it flourish, until the Jews began to return around 150 years ago.

In the mid 1800s, Mark Twain traveled around the world, recording his impressions in a book entitled “The Innocents Abroad.” This is how he described the Holy Land at the time:

Of all the lands there are for dismal scenery, I think Palestine must be the prince. The hills are barren, they are dull of color, they are unpicturesque in shape. The valleys are unsightly deserts fringed with a feeble vegetation that has an expression about it of being sorrowful and despondent… It is a hopeless, dreary, heart-broken land… Small shreds and patches of it must be very beautiful in the full flush of spring, however, and all the more beautiful by contrast with the far-reaching desolation that surrounds them on every side…

Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes. Over it broods the spell of a curse that has withered its fields and fettered its energies… Renowned Jerusalem itself, the stateliest name in history, has lost all its ancient grandeur, and is become a pauper village… the wonderful temple which was the pride and the glory of Israel, is gone… The noted Sea of Galilee… was long ago deserted by the devotees of war and commerce, and its borders are a silent wilderness…

Palestine is desolate and unlovely. And why should it be otherwise? Can the curse of the Deity beautify a land? Palestine is no more of this work-day world. It is sacred to poetry and tradition — it is dream-land. (End of Chap. 56)

Some 600 years earlier, the Ramban wrote:

The statement, And your enemies will be desolate upon it, is a good tiding. It proclaims in every generation that our Land does not accept our enemies. This is a great proof and promise for us, for you will not find in the entire world another land that is so good and spacious, and was always inhabited, but is [now] in such a state of ruin. Ever since we left it, it has not accepted any other nation; and they all try to settle it, but are unsuccessful.

Rabbeinu Bachya derives this concept from a different verse: – I will give to you [Avraham] and your descendants after you the land of your sojournings – the entire Land of Canaan – as an eternal possession (BeReishit 17:8). He explains:

This means that the Land will be Israel’s eternal possession, and only they will inherit and settle it. And if, perchance, they are exiled from the Land, they will return to it, for it is their eternal possession, not the nations’. This is a great sign for the Jewish people, for ever since they were exiled from their Land, no other nation settled there. Rather, it is destroyed and desolate until its children [lit., “its chicks”] return to it.

The fact that this prophecy has come true in our times is more than just historically impressive. According to Chazal, the rejuvenation of Eretz Yisrael is the clearest sign of the imminent redemption:

Abba said, “There is no clearer [sign of the] End [of Days] than this [verse]: – But you, O mountains of Israel, will give forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel, [for they are soon to come] (Yechezkel 36:8).” (Sanhedrin 98a)

Rashi explains, “When Eretz Yisrael gives forth its fruits in abundance, the End will be near, and there is no clearer [sign of the] End [of Days].”

It is a great privilege to be living at a time when the clearest signs of redemption are coming to pass before our very eyes. This privilege, however, comes with some obligations, like appreciating what HaShem has given us and returning to His Land to help it flourish even more.

Reprinted from Eretz Yisrael in the Parashah by R’ Moshe D. Lichtman

Daily Archives: May 15, 2017

Behar-Bechukosai

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