08 Aug Parshas Va’etchanan – Sanctifying Israel; The Land, Her People
Sanctifying Israel; The Land, Her People
Biblical times were an intense spiritual time, and a time of prophecy.
The Torah gives an account of the lineage of Man from the time of Creation of Adam and Eve. A reason for this is not just to record physical lineage, but to follow the biblical people who were vessels of powerful spiritual energies. They were conduits that passed down physical and most importantly spiritual attributes.
From the time of Adam to Noach was only 10 generations and from Noach to Avraham was 10 generations.
A brief account; Noach had 3 sons; Japhet, Shem and Ham. When the Ark rested, Noach planted a vineyard, drank the wine and became intoxicated. Ham entered his father’s tent and ‘saw the nakedness of his father’, a euphemism that refers to a sexual act. According to the sages this may be, sodomy, castration or seeing his father naked (a serious transgression of the time). Ham then told his brothers outside of the tent of their fathers ‘nakedness’. When Noah realizes what Ham had done he cast out Ham and his grandson Canaan.. We learn from this that a transgression the sins of the father affect a lineage as Noah’s curse affects Canaan and his ancestors. The Canaanite Nations became idolaters They come to occupy the land then know as Canaan, later to be known as Israel.
Creation and the Connection to Eretz Yisroel
According to Abrahamic religions which include Judaism, Christianity and Islam, G-d made a covenant with Avraham that the Land of Canaan will be called Israel and shall be The Land for Abraham and his descendants.
Deeper Insights with Gematria
One of the tools we use to gain deeper insight is gematria, numerology. The occurrences of associated Hebrew letters, phrases and numbers are a phenomenon of the Torah in a way that no other book in the world can compare.
In Parshas Eikev, we reveal through a brief gematria, a deeper hidden meaning regarding a great bond of the Jewish People to the Land of Israel (and an insight to refute a ‘2 State Solution’). Rav Yitzchak Ginsburgh brings down the following;
In the verses Duet.8:7-10 referring to ‘The Land and People of Israel’ there are 203 letters. 203 is the numerical value of the second word in the Torah, barah “created.” The letters of the word barah; beit, reish, alef, are also the first three letters of the first word of the Torah, bereishit. The fact that this unit has barah = 203 letters points us clearly in the direction of the creation of the world, and particularly to the first day of creation, where the word barah first appears. In the entire account of the six days of creation, God’s Name, Elokim (whose numerical value 86 = h’tevah = “nature,”) is written 32 times.
In Kabbalah we learn that the inner essence of God’s Name, Elokim– which represents nature — is God’s essential Name, Havayah (the tetragrammaton Y * V * ). The relation between Havayah and Elokim is expressed in Psalms (84:12): “Havayah Elokim is the sun and its shield.”God’s essential Name, Havayah is likened to the sun while Elokim is referred to as the shield of the sun. The essence of the sun, the infinite lights of God’s essential Name, Havayah, are concealed by the shield of nature.
Within each of the 32 times that Elokim is written in creation, Havayah (Y * V * numerical value of 26) is at its inner core. 32 times 26 equals 832, the numerical value of Eretz Yisrael. This gematria of Elokim X Havayah = 832 is the essence of our meditation and the essence of Hashem at the core of the Land of Israel. The beauty of nature (Elokim) concentrated in Eretz Yisrael reflects God’s purpose for creating the world. The mission of the Jewish People is to unite with the Land of Israel and to reflect God’s essential, infinite light concealed within the Land to all creation. (Rav Y. Ginsburgh; The Supernal Crown)
The Torah refers to the Land that the Jews will come to possess it. This would mean that we are custodians of the Land of Israel on a continuum to posses the Land. This comes with the condition of rectification of ourselves and the rectification of the Land as we grow ever closer to G-d and the ushering in of the Messianic era where the Land and Her People are unified as One. This is a lofty Messianic spiritual state of being…The Messianic Era.
As we are ‘custodians’ on a continuum to possess and unify the Land and Her People, we must recognize that All belongs to Hashem. This includes the land. According to Jewish Law Land may only be given away by a Sanhedrin (Supreme Court), a court that exists when there is a Temple and in the future 3rd Temple, resurrected prophecy.
It should be noted that Jewish Law prohibits the encouraging of ransom payments to kidnappers as it could cause the re-occurance of such an act. It is however halachic law to redeem captives. Where there is no Sanhedrin to negotiate land, war remains an option to redeem captives.
It should be especially noted that the Torah is very detailed in halachas or Laws of war. To learn these halachas reveals a deeply compassionate way of dealing with a most difficult situation such as war. In the War of October 7, the IDF has dealt with the situation of war in a Torah appropriate way (requires further explanation).
Included in halachas of war is that Land that is acquired through a war by enemy attack is considered equal in status to the existing Land of Israel. It becomes the same status as The Land of Israel and we recognize victory by the hand of G-d.
All 7’s Are Dear; The 7 Canaanite Nations
As we had said, God made a covenant with Avraham. The Land of Canaan will be called Israel and it shall be for Abraham and his descendants. Parshas Va’etchanan speaks of conquering the 7 Canaanite Nations that are occupying Canaan (Israel).
Va’ethchanan 7:1 When God, your God, brings you into the land that you are entering in order to possess, He will cast out many nations from before you: the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites—seven nations more numerous and powerful than you.
The 7 Canaanite Nations of the cursed lineage of Ham and Canaan were idolaters and according to G-d could not reside in the place of ‘The Holy Land’, a land where the people were to be involved in the unification and rectification of; The Land and Her People. The 7 Nations were initially given the option to divest their idolatrous ways, to leave the land, to convert (to Judaism or B’nai Noach [righteous Gentile] ) or choose to fight. It remains the halachic understanding that only a Jew and righteous Gentile may occupy the Land. This is a condition of The Final Redemption and Moshiach.
The conquering of the 7 Nations had profound spiritual effect as it ‘opened the gates’ of the 7 emotive spiritual channels (sefirot) making it possible for us to affect a rectified Tshuvah to Tikun. This opening of the gates is similar to the effect of the conquering of the 5 Kings and the opening of the gates of The 5 Books of the Torah.
Perhaps we may now find a deeper level clarity regarding the value of Eretz Yisroel to the Jewish Nation. Among other things is the issue of a so called‘ 2 State Solution’ which according to our Torah can’t be done as no Land may be given away without the approval of a Sanhedrin.The idea of those currently living in the Land that don’t meet halachic requirement is an issue that we will have to visit in the future.
Leib Getzel (Lawrence) Lax
Addictions and Counseling
