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Israel: of the Blessing

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Israel: of the Blessing THE NEW OLD PATH BY RABBI BENJI LEVY CEO Of Mosaic United the order in the verse dictates the order Israel: of the blessing. Based upon this talmudic discussion, the order of the blessings A Spiritual is: wheat, olive-oil, barley, date-honey, grapes, figs and pomegranates. or Physical Rav Kook, sensitive to the nuances behind talmudic discussions, notes an additional Homeland? question: Why is ‘Land’ mentioned twice, and why does it separate the fruits? (This srael is described in this week’s idea is based on Gold From the Land parasha with reference to its seven of Israel, adapted from Ein Eyah; Olat Ifruits as: ‘a Land of wheat and barley Re’iyah). In answer, he reflects that there and grapes and figs and pomegranates, are different sources for love of the Land a Land of olive-oil and date-honey’ of Israel. The first recognizes the spiritual (Deut. 8:8). While the seven species take oasis – God’s chosen Land where one precedence over all other fruit when can fulfill the divine commandment to determining priority in the recitation of live in Israel and other commandments blessings, the Talmud derives, the order connected to the Land. The second of priority for reciting blessings over the regards the Land as a physical oasis – a seven species themselves based on this safe haven for all Jews. The first set of verse (BT, Tractate Berachot 41b). Some fruit represents a love that stems from claim that the sanctity of a fruit is derived a spiritual source. These species are in from its proximity, in the verse, to the word their raw God-given state, like the pure ‘Land’. Others state that it is the order of spirituality that underpins the Torah mention in the verse that is definitive. For and the Land of Israel. These five fruits example, the question is raised of whether correspond to the five Mosaic books – the a blessing should be recited first on barley Torah. or on olive-oil, since barley is mentioned The second set of species, the oil and first in the verse, but olive-oil is closer to honey, stemming from the olive and date the word ‘Land’. Ultimately it is agreed respectively, are mentioned in forms that that priority is defined by proximity to are one step removed from their original the word ‘Land’, yet in cases where two state, indicative of human involvement. fruits are equidistant from that word, These two, in contrast to the first five, 60 TORAH TIDBITS / EIKEV 5780 represent a love for Israel based upon its ourselves. During the time period that material and physical benefits. Since the connects Passover to Shavuot there are Talmud ultimately resolves the debate two significant days on which the duality by drawing upon both measures of of our physical and spiritual connection importance, we learn that both sources of to the Land is celebrated. love for the Land – physical and spiritual Yom HaAtzma’ut, on which we celebrate – are essential. the establishment of the modern State of Israel, represents the physical Our nation, previously connection we have with the Land. Our dispersed across the four nation, previously dispersed across the four corners of the earth, received corners of the earth, received a a physical homeland to return to. On physical homeland to return to Yom Yerushalayim – Jerusalem Day – we celebrate the victory of the Six-Day War and the reunification of Jerusalem. After Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik makes a that historical event, for the first time distinction between fate, in which one is since the establishment of the State of a passive experiencer of phenomena that Israel, the Jewish people could walk up to lie outside of one’s control and resigns the holy site where the Temple once stood. oneself to whatever the future has in store, Therefore, Yom Yerushalayim represents and destiny, in which a person actively the beginning of the fulfilment of the creates and shapes his or her future (Kol messianic prophecies and embodies our Dodi Dofek). Rabbi Soloveitchik describes spiritual connection to the Land. how Judaism recognises two covenants – a covenant of fate and a covenant of destiny. It is therefore meaningful and fitting The covenant of fate is represented by the that the flowering season – the very first Exodus. Without being given a choice, stage of growth – of the seven species of the Jews were enslaved and then rescued fruit, which represent the duality of our from Egypt. The covenant of destiny is physical and spiritual ties to the Land, represented by the Revelation at Sinai, takes place between Passover and Shavuot and the choice of whether or not to accept – between the celebration of our physical the Torah and the spiritual relationship redemption and our spiritual redemption, that it embodies. and between Yom HaAtzma’ut and Yom Yerushalayim – when we commemorate At Passover, we recall our fate and our nation’s physical fate and then celebrate the physical redemption that proudly unite to celebrate our people’s it brought us – the birth of our nation. spiritual destiny in the Land of Israel. On Shavuot, we declare our destiny as a people, celebrating the spiritual climax Stay in touch with @RabbiBenji and learn of our having accepted the Torah upon more at www.RabbiBenji.com OU ISRAEL CENTER 61.
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