Dvar Torah for Parshat VaEtchanan

Based on Likutey Moharan II, Lesson #78

Approximately two months before he passed away from tuberculosis, Rebbe Nachman taught Lesson #78. In one of his prefatory remarks to the lesson he said that the only thing that kept him going in that difficult time was that he had been in the Holy Land.

Rebbe Nachman was a scholar of the highest note. He was expert in Talmud and halakhah (Jewish law), Midrash, Zohar and all of the kabbalah. None of that was sufficient to see him though his terrible illness.

Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses our teacher) prayed 515 different prayers to be allowed entry to the Holy Land. He tried all manner of argument, persuasion and deal-making to be granted that privilege, even if only temporarily.

"Moshe! You spoke with God face to face for 40 days! You successfully transmitted the Torah to the Jewish people and you saved their lives again and again! What would be so terrible if you didn't go to Israel?!"

Apparently there is something to be gained by being in the Holy Land, something without which all other accomplishments are incomplete.

If you haven't been here, how many more prayers are you going to offer to "pay for your ticket?" If you have been here, how many more prayers are you going to offer in order to be able to feel the value of having walked the Land and breathed her air? to get back here? If you are here, stop once in a while and treasure the privilege of experiencing the holy energy of simply living as an ordinary Jew in an extraordinary place.

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agutn Shabbos!
Shabbat Shalom!