Uniting all Jews - The Covenant

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What will unite all Jews? It's the Torah. The time has come to finally focus on the Covenant. G-d promised the Land of Israel to Avraham Yitzchok and Yaakov and to their children for Achuzat Olam. Hashem repeats it many, many times in the Torah.

In this weeks Parshas Vayechi, it is repeated in Perek 48 Pasuk 4. "Jacob said to Joseph. "Kel Shakai had appeared to me in Luz in the Land of Canaan and He blessed me. He said to me 'Behold - I will make you fruitful and numerous; I will make you a Congregation of Ntions, and I will give this Land to your offspring after you, as an eternal posession'"

The Covenant is repeated over and over again in the Torah. When something is repeated over and over it is because Hashem wants us to know how important it is.

Here are some obvious questions. Why isn't the Covenant mentioned by Rabbanim who are knowledgeble in Torah? Why is the Covenant ignored by Secular Zionists when the Land of Israel is what it's all about?

I suggest the following. Many Rabbanim wish not to focus on the Land of Israel and the secular Zionist will not focus on the Torah. The Rabbanim have chosen Torah without Eretz Yisroel and the State has chosen Eretz Yisroel without Torah. The Rabbanim have a history of rejecting the Land starting with the Miraglim. The State of Israel has a flaw. It's formation left Torah out of the picture.

Judaism has survived 2000 years of Galus without the State of Israel. The Land of Israel is something that is a dream. We daven for it, we yearn for it but when we get it we refuse to see that it is relevant to our religion.

The State of Israel has been good to the Torah Jew. It built Yeshivot and supported religious Jews and their Institutions. The Religous Torah Jew was satisfied with this arrangement and was happy not to take the lead and preferred the insulation.

But now there is a crisis. The Secular State is actively not allowing freedom of religion. The religious Jew has Hakaras Hatov to the Secular State that has up till now supported them. They refuse to see that the State is forcing them to choose between a State and their religion. They are naive. They keep on letting the State be their leaders hoping that the State will somehow change their mind. They choose not to put claim to the Covenant.

The Religious Jew in the Diaspora still yearns for the Land of Israel in dreams of the future. But the Land of Israel of today which even though is an Eternal Covenant is simply not relevant to their religion and to keeping of the Mitzvoth.

Then there is the fear of public opinion that dominates all. If we speak about the Covenant then it might appear like we are being arrogant because it's as if we are saying that we believe that G-d is directly talking to us. How dare we talk like we have a revelation! That is Christian idealogy. So it is politically incorrect to bring up the Scriptures. Also who are we to say something that our Rabbi's have been silent about. Also the Torah sounds very cruel at times especially those passages instructing Yehoshua with how to deal with the inhabitants of Eretz Canaan when they reposess the Land. So of course we try our hardest to ignore passages and not mention those passages that sound undemocratic and cruel.

Mentioning specific Mitzvoth such as Shemittah and it's connection with living with security in the Land is taboo. Again much too "religious fanaticsm". We are very afraid of what others think and how it will sound.

So in my humble opinion G-d allowed the disengagement to happen. He wants us to desire the Land, to claim the Land and to focus on the commandments. Hashem has been patient with us this time. He forced us out by our own people, and we were crying together. It's pretty horrible but could have been a lot worse if it was an alien country forcing us out such as what happened in Churban Bayis I and II.

A Tikkun is definitely a possibility.

First step is to focus on the Covenant. That by definition is in direct opposition to Bush's Roadmap Plan. If Rav Shteinman and Rav Eliashiv would come out with statement referring to the Covenant and our Biblical claim to the Land then hundreds of thousands of our brethren could follow through with PR. Kupat Hair is fabulous at PR. Every Lamppost in Flatbush and Boropark. Glossy inserts in every edition of the Jewish Press whose circulation is hundreds of thousands. Glossy inserts in Yated and Hamodia as well.

President Bush would have no support for his Roadmap Plan from Believers of the Bible. The Fundamental Christians have been talking about the Covenant and against the Disengagement. Orthodox Jews bonding together with Fundamental Christians on the Covenant is too strong of a block for President Bush to ignore.

I would be interested in any feedback to this post.

Thank you for inviting me to JewishClubMaoz. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JewishClubMaoz/messages