TEMPORARY TENTS OR PERMANENT DWELLINGS

מה טובו אוהליך יעקב משכנותיך ישראל (במדבר כד:ה)

How goodly are your tents, O Ya’akov, your dwelling places, O Yisrael (24:5).

What exactly are “the tents of Ya’akov” and “the dwelling places (משכנות) of Yisrael”? Many answers have been given to this question. Rashi (based on Chazal) explains that they refer to the tents and houses of the Jewish people, which are characterized by tzni’ut (modesty) and kedushah (holiness). Alternatively, he says that they refer to the Mishkan and the Beit HaMikdash, even in their state of ruin. Others say that the verse is talking about the synagogues and study halls of the Jewish people. The Malbim, however, suggests a very different and novel interpretation:

An ohel is a temporary tent, while a mishkan is permanent. In the desert, the Jews dwelled in tents, but at this point they were prepared to enter the Land and dwell in permanent dwellings. Bil’am saw all of this and said, How goodly are your tents, O Ya’akov, referring to the tents of the desert. Then he said, How goodly are your dwelling places, O Yisrael, in reference to the fact that they were willing to dwell in permanent dwellings in Eretz Yisrael. The name Yisrael is greater than the name Ya’akov. [This teaches] that when they enter the Land they will be on a higher level and will be called by the name Yisrael.

The Malbim continues this theme in his explanation of the next verse: – Like brooks that stretch out, like gardens by a river, like aloes planted by the Lord, like cedars by the water:

In reference to the “tents of Ya’akov” it says, Like brooks that stretch out, for the waters of a brook [eventually] cease to flow… Similarly, the Jews wandered from place to place in the desert. Rivers, however, are permanent; they always flow. This refers to the “dwelling places of Yisrael” [in Eretz Yisrael], which will be permanent – Like gardens by a river, which continuously flows.

Then, once again, it says in reference to the “tents of Ya’akov,” Like aloes planted by the Lord. [Aloes] are fragrant herbs. The tents of the desert were like aloe plants and other fragrant herbs that sprout, then wither, and then are replaced by others. So too, the Jews’ “plantings” [in the desert] were not permanent or deeply rooted. In contrast, “Your dwelling places, O Israel” – in Eretz Yisrael – are like cedars by the water. Cedar trees are permanent; they last thousands of years.

The analogy of the brook [and the river] signifies the abundance they receive from HaShem, which [flows] like water. In Eretz Yisrael it will never cease. And the analogy of the aloes and the cedars signifies the Nation itself, its stability and strength [which is greater in Eretz Yisrael, as explained above].

The message is obvious: The Land of Israel is our only true and permanent dwelling place. All other places are just way stations on our journey back home. All Jewish communities outside the Land eventually wither away. What is left (Jewishly) of places like Pumpedita, Spain, Worms, Warsaw, Lublin, Yemen, Morocco, Newark, Brownsville (the list goes on)? They are all Judenrein! Eretz Yisrael, in contrast, has always and will always be a central part of our national conscience. Even when we were exiled from the Land, we never lost sight of where we truly belonged. Two thousand years of exile, however, have weakened our collective memory and have made some Jews think that America is their permanent (or at least semi-permanent) dwelling place. The time has come to set the record straight and educate Diaspora Jews to realize that our only true Homeland is in the Middle East, not the east (or west) coast.

And for those Jews who already know all of this (at least on a theoretical level), but choose to remain in the lands of exile and occupy the spiritual “tents and dwellings” that these lands have to offer: Don’t forget that Eretz Yisrael has a few “tents” of its own. There are probably more shuls and batei midrash in Jerusalem or B’nei Brak than there are in the entire Diaspora. Eretz Yisrael has become the undisputed center of Torah study for the first time in two millennia. How can we just ignore that fact and remain satisfied with the spirituality of Chutz LaAretz? Don’t Chazal say, “There is no Torah like the Torah of Eretz Yisrael” (BeReishit Rabbah 16:4)? Didn’t the Malbim say, “When they enter the Land they will be on a higher level and will be called by the name Yisrael”?

May we soon see the fulfillment of Chazal’s statement “The synagogues and study halls of Babylonia will eventually be transplanted to Eretz Yisrael” (Megillah 29a).

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

Daily Archives: July 6, 2017

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