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The Law of the Land Journey Through Tanach!

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The Law of the Land Journey Through Tanach! בס“ד Parshat Devarim / Chazon 9 Av, 5778/July 21, 2018 Vol. 9 Num. 43 This issue of Toronto Torah is sponsored by Esther and Craig Guttmann and Family שרה טובה בת יהושע ז“ל in honour of the upcoming yahrtzeit of Sheila Guttmann and by Mervyn and Joyce Fried and Family משה יהודה בן יצחק אייזיק ז“ל for the shloshim of Murray Zoltak Fasting on the Ninth, Fasting on the Tenth Rabbi Baruch Weintraub A mishnah (Megillah 1:3) teaches, Talmud, what is the difference between the ninth of Av can be understood as an “Tisha b’Av… may be delayed, but not fasting on the ninth and fasting on the act of repentance. On the tenth of Av, advanced.” What is the reason for this? tenth? the destruction was completed – so Why, when the calendar falls as it does fasting on it can be understood only as this year, is the fast delayed to Sunday Perhaps an analogy can be made to the an act of mourning. and not advanced to Friday or tragic story of Dovid HaMelech and his Thursday? first son from Batsheva. As part of the Such an understanding may also have punishment for King David’s sin, the been behind Rebbe’s attempt to do away The Babylonian and Jerusalem child became ill and died a few days with the delayed Tisha b’Av. The Talmud Talmuds give different answers to this after its birth. During the child’s illness, (Megillah 5a) teaches that according to question. King David fasted and lay on the one opinion, Rebbe tried to cancel Tisha • According to the Babylonian Talmud ground, constantly pleading to G-d to b’Av when it was delayed from Shabbat (Megillah 5a), the reason is: “We do save the baby. After the child’s death, to a Sunday. When the fast happened not advance punishment.” This is a however, King David stood up and ate a on Tisha b’Av itself, Rebbe accepted the universal idea, not specific to Tisha meal. need for a fast of repentance. But in b’Av. years in which Tisha b’Av was delayed • According to the Jerusalem Talmud, King David later explained his behavior from Shabbat to Sunday, that meant however, the reason brought in the to the amazed servants: “While the child the nature of that fast would be one of name of Rabbi Yirmiyah is: was still alive, I fasted and wept mourning, not repentance, and Rebbe “Logically, the fast should [always] because I thought: ‘Who knows? thought that this type of mourning was be on the tenth, for it was then that Hashem may have pity on me, and the not relevant any more. Of course, [the Temple] was burned; why then child may live‘.But now that he is dead, Jewish law is in accordance with the do we fast on the ninth [in regular why should I fast? Can I bring him back Chachamim, who opposed Rebbe on years]? Because it is then that the again? I shall go to him, but he will this matter. punishment began.” The Jerusalem never come back to me.” (Shemuel II Talmud holds that the tenth of Av is 12:22-23) At first, the servants saw the Hopefully, this analysis of the nature of not just the day after the ninth of Av, king’s actions as stemming from Tisha b’Av and its different days will but rather a day which deserves its mourning, and thus expected them to help us to experience it in a meaningful own fast. This view is strengthened increase with the death of the child. way, and thus bring us closer to the day by the practice of several sages King David, meanwhile, was involved in when Tisha b’Av will become a day of mentioned a few lines later, who repentance in an attempt to avoid the happiness and rejoicing. would fast on both the ninth and the punishment, and thus he ceased after tenth day of Av. From this custom the punishment was given. [email protected] we can infer that these sages did not see the ninth and tenth of Av as two It may be argued that these two possible possible dates for the fast, but two sources of fasting and crying are also separate dates which each deserve to the root of the difference between be a fast. fasting on the ninth and tenth of Av. The burning began at the ninth of Av, Within the view of the Jerusalem but it was still reversible – so fasting on This is the last “Toronto Torah” of Volume 9; see you in Elul! COMING TO TORONTO TORAH, VOLUME 10: THE LAW OF THE LAND AND Find our upcoming shiurim on-line at www.torontotorah.com JOURNEY THROUGH TANACH! We are grateful to Continental Press 905-660-0311 והורשתם את הארץ וישבתם בה )במדבר לג( Marking the State of Israel’s 70th Year! Israeli Landmark: Kfar Darom, Gush Katif Yaron Perez Gush Katif was a collection of 21 residents, and they succeeded in vegetables, which became popular in communities in the southern portion of defending the area. Jewish communities worldwide. Over Aza (the “Gaza Strip”); on the eve of the the years, the community dealt with 2005 Disengagement, there were After the establishment of the State, numerous terror attacks and murders, approximately 9000 residents. The first the Egyptian army invaded. After a but the demand to live in Kfar Darom of these communities, which marked pitched battle and a siege against Kfar rose steadily. the establishment of Gush Katif, was Darom, the fighters abandoned the site Kfar Darom. and escaped through the Egyptian On the tenth of Av, 2005, in the same front line to Israeli-held territory. Some year when a new Kfar Darom In the 1930’s, Tuvia Miller and Moshe of the residents then established the synagogue was dedicated, and during Smilansky purchased land from local moshav Bnei Darom near Ashdod. the period when we mourn for the Arabs, and began to implement their destruction of the two Batei haMikdash dream of establishing a kibbutz in the In 1970, three years after the return of by the Babylonians and Romans, the area. However, shortly thereafter, the Aza to Israeli control, Prime Minister Sharon government began to expel the Arab riots of 1936 caused them to Golda Meir authorized a Nachal residents of Gush Katif from their abandon the site. division of Bnei Akiva to establish a homes. On the thirteenth of Av, Kfar settlement in the area. Over time, this Darom was evacuated, its houses Immediately after Yom Kippur 1946, a became a temporary dwelling for destroyed and its lands delivered to the group organized by HaPoel HaMizrachi groups awaiting permanent settlement Palestinian Authority. determined to return to the area, in local communities, including Netzer establishing “Kfar Darom”. This was Hazani, Ganei Tal, Katif, and Gadid. May we merit to see the rebuilding of part of a broader, Negev-wide Jerusalem speedily, in our days! settlement plan called “The 11 Points”, In 1988, Minister of Defense Yitzchak with the goal of including the Negev in Rabin approved permanent settlement [email protected] the future boundaries of the State of in Kfar Darom. The community grew, Israel. One year later, local Arabs and including the Machon haTorah Sudanese forces began to attack the v’ha’Aretz institution applying Jewish local communities, but Palmach law to modern farming. This paved the fighters arrived to reinforce the way for growing bug-free leafy The Zionist Idea: Making Aliyah? Adam Friedmann Perhaps the greatest challenge which confronts the means assured. When the rain falls, and he is provided with contemporary Jew living in the Diaspora, and all the more so what he needs, he understands that to claim that his efforts the Religious Zionist, is the question of aliyah. What was for alone have yielded his crop is folly. He senses G-d’s direct many years a distant hope, and then later a powerful goal, interaction with his personal life in a way which is has become an all-too palpable reality. Anyone versed in the impossible anywhere else. teachings of the Bnei Akiva system can recount the religious importance of living in the land of Israel: So why don’t we all make aliyah? The reasons against may • The fulfillment of biblical prophecies foretelling the return not be as concretely rooted in sources, but they are just as of the Jewish people from the far-flung corners of the real and just as serious. Making aliyah may mean coming Earth; home in a greater sense, but it also means leaving home, in • The mitzvah (albeit debated at a technical if not practical a direct and painful way. It means leaving behind the level) to settle the Land; lifestyle, language, and culture in which one was raised and • The ability to fulfill the mitzvot hateluyot ba’aretz, the accepting, at some level, to become a stranger. More than commandments which relate directly to the Land itself; this, it means imposing a great distance on family and • The opportunity to participate in Jewish history, where it is friends. The result of these opposing forces is a great being written and lived every day. struggle, the result of which can be, perhaps rightly, to remain in the concrete home and yearn for the ultimate And perhaps, beyond all of this, there is the opportunity for a home from a distance. [See Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, direct encounter with G-d: The Torah tells us that the Land Diaspora Religious Zionism: Some Current Reflections.] of Israel is not like Egypt which was watered in abundance by the overflowing of the Nile.
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