This Land is My Land

We're getting close to Shavuot, the reason for the Exodus from Egypt. The parshah of Bamidbar is always read before Shavuot. As the parshah begins, Moshe is commanded to count each tribe , with the tribe's president assisting him. Those included in the census are "those who can go out and wage war." Reb Noson writes that the reason for the emphasis to wage war is that all Jews must be ready to wage war, to fight the battle for God in this material world. The reason for a total count was that the way to be able to wage war is through unity. This is why this parshah is read before Shavuot, because the unity between Jews is what enables us to receive the Torah, empowering us to be able to fight God's battle (see Likutey Halakhot Arev, 5:31-32).

Reb Noson continues with this idea. We find the Jews encamped with the Mishkan (Tabernacle) throughout their sojourn in the desert. Whenever the Jews traveled, they took apart the Mishkan. They reassembled it wherever they encamped. Prior to its assembly, and after it was dismantled, the place was a scorching desert, filled with snakes and scorpions. But, when it was assembled, no matter where, it had all the sanctity of the Tabernacle. This shows us that no matter where we travel, we can take our holiness with us and reestablish it wherever we go (ibid., Beit Knesset 4:2).

The idea behind this is that the Sanctity of the Tabernacle is established and permanent. It can never be done away with. Even today, for example, though the Holy Temple is not with us, it maintains its sanctity and all the laws of those impure apply even now, making a pilgrimage to the Temple Mount forbidden. The same applies to the sanctity of the Holy Land. Though the sanctity does not seem to be there, it IS there, waiting to be brought to light. Just as it was the Jews who, in the desert, were able to erect a Sanctuary, so too, we today have the power to erect and reveal the sanctity of the Land. We must want to reveal the sanctity, otherwise it won't happen. Instead, we'll see more and more of the insanity that we witness daily. We know we can't change things overnight. We know there's a process–a purification process–that must take place. Still, we can contribute towards the goal, if only by remaining honest to our ideals. Rebbe Nachman told the following parable of The Tainted Grain to illustrate this.

The king's star gazer saw that the grain harvested that year was tainted. Anyone who would eat from it would became insane. "What can we do?" said the king. "It is not possible to destroy the crop for we do not have enough grain stored to feed the entire population."

"Perhaps," said the star gazer, "we should set aside enough grain for ourselves. At least that way we could maintain our sanity." The king replied, "If we do that, we'll be considered crazy. If everyone behaves one way and we behave differently, we'll be considered the not normal ones.

"Rather," said the king, "I suggest that we too eat from the crop, like everyone else. However, to remind ourselves that we are not normal, we will make a mark on our foreheads. Even if we are insane, whenever we look at each other, we will remember that we are insane!"

So it is. The world has become insane. On one hand it accepts terrorism and death as legitimate political means–as long as its on someone else's turf–while on the other hand it denies the Jews the right of self-defense, their battle on behalf of God. Many of us have fallen into such despair, that we accept this insanity as well. We accept it because the whole world's gone nuts and it seems that this is the way it has to be. Not so.

We may be tainted, we may have fallen victim, but who's to say we can't overcome it. Even if the craziness out there seems overwhelming, let us at least make a mark to remind us of where we are and what we've faced. Doing so, will allow us the build the Sanctuary, and motivate us to finally reveal the hidden sanctity of the Land. Then, when that sanctity is revealed, the world will leave us be, for they, too, will recognize that God is King over the entire world, the Land is His and He gave it to us. Period!

It's almost Shavuot, and we'll soon be at Parshat Behaalotekha, when we began this series, This Land is My Land: A Breslov Perspective on the Holy Land. We've covered many aspects of the Land of Israel, why the Jews deserve it, why it belongs to them, why the Arabs want it and why the world wants the Arabs to have it, along with many other concepts. We can go on, but all that's been presented has been the surface material, for it was what lent itself to a short essay on the week's Torah reading, the perspective of the Holy Land and whatever "current events" were taking place. It's time to begin concentrating on the Rebbe's and Reb Noson's deeper teachings on the inner meaning of the Holy Land and this is going to take more than short weekly essays. So, soon we will finish this series and begin, God willing, a book about the Holy Land.

While we work on the book, we will start another series of essays. The first will be called More Blessed to Give, a Breslov perspective on the greatness of giving charity. It will NOT be used a fund-raising series. For many years I've had the good fortune to meet many outstanding and astounding people who give regularly to charity. The following question always bothered me, "Does this person have any idea what he's just done? To what extent he has benefited, not only personally, in this world and in the next? What he has done for others, indeed all of humanity and Creation?" I've seen this as a gap that has long needed to be filled and hope to be worthy of presenting Rebbe Nachman's teachings on charity. As with "This Land is My Land," the ultimate goal is to turn this series, and others, into a book. God willing, we hope to begin in a about a month.

Within 6-8 weeks after beginning the charity series, we hope to also begin a Rebbe Nachman on Practical Kabbalah series of weekly essays. When Reb Noson first became the Rebbe's follower, Rebbe Nachman said, "I have longed for a student who clear style of writing. Now, I can give the lessons, Reb Noson will record them, so that even children will be able to understand the writings of the ARI" (i.e., Kabbalah; see Tzaddik #363). Indeed, throughout the writings of Rebbe Nachman and Reb Noson we find the Etz Chaim and Pri Etz Chaim, the main treatises of the ARI, presented in a clear, simple manner, explaining the depths of the Kabbalah in such a way as to allow each person to apply the deepest mysteries of Creation, and the meditations of the ARI, to his life 24/7!

There are additional projects we'll be working on at the same time, God willing, and we'll keep you informed as we go along. At any rate, our latest book, 7th Heaven: Shabbat with Rebbe Nachman has just been published. Within the next few weeks we hope to print two more books, The Tree that Stands Beyond Space: Rebbe Nachman on the Mystical Experience by Dovid Sears, and Chanukah, by Rabbi Yehoshua Starrett, who authored The Breslov Haggadah, Esther and The Inner Temple.

Anyway, best wishes, looking forward as always for salvation for Klal Yisrael.
Chaim