Only in a Religious Neighbourhood in Israel…

Is anybody in the "frum" world really working on themselves? Finding oneself in a place like Israel and travelling on buses regularly (amongst other close-contact "sports" in Israel) can make one wonder if anybody actually cares about the other. If you've been lucky enough to travel on an Israeli Egged bus or the like, you'll probably have fond memories of people pushing, shouting and yelling (Ah… there's no place like home!) You'll probably remember the good times of the bus driver even punching a hole in your bus ticket two or three times (by accident of course!) or punching a hole in a "combined city" ticket on the wrong side (causing you to forfeit your entire two-way ride!)

And then of course, you may remember the good times of having asked a bus driver to please tell you when a particular stop is (so that you could get off course!) and found yourself to be the last person on the bus with the driver reaching his final point and now asking you to please get off (only without using such pleasant language.) Should you ask why he never mentioned anything about your real stop (that you had asked him to let you know about) he may come back with a variety of excuses, all told over in that special Israeli talk – which can often sound like shouting to those coming from many other countries.

It's all in the name of real Jewish friendship of course! 

What of those who go home that night – only to think over about their days – and realise that maybe they actually were in the wrong?! What would they do?! What would be the chances of meeting up with the person they had "bumped" into on the bus that day – or even meeting the driver to perhaps apologise for having shouted at him?! And what of the driver having realised that perhaps he had actually done something wrong?! In fact, the Chofetz Chaim teaches a similar idea when it comes to having spoken badly about another in public. One can never really do Teshuva – repentance – because one would be required to find every person who heard the bad talk – and let them know that one had erred – a practically impossible task!

Living in the religious area of Beitar Illit does every now and again provide some very important life lessons for us all, and as I opened the weekly "Shavua Tov" magazine (which is sent free of charge to all residents of Beitar – sponsored by the advertisers) I noticed something I've probably never seen in my life before. The person had taken out an advert costing some 300-500 shekel (about $90) to share something with the entire city. It read:

"REQUEST FOR FORGIVENESS

On Wednesday 28 Shevat at about 3:30

on bus 1, I embarrassed a person on the bus

It was clear that I made a mistake in calculating the change

I request forgiveness

And I hope that no other mistake will come through me again

The Driver"

As I read that last line in particular, it made me aware of something truly unique about the greatness of a Jew – a bus driver – who is focused on growth, focused on Torah – because Beitar Illit is in fact a Torah city. What lead to the initial mistake and how the driver did not check and double check before embarrassing the passenger – I don't know. But it was that after-the-fact behaviour that caught my attention in this particular case!

It's something that seems to only happen in a city filled with Jews – where even the bus drivers are Torah scholars. Where even after an event such as this – they can think over matters again, and realise that they may have been in the wrong (perhaps just over a few aggarot) – and who can then be prepared and actually do so – to pay for an advert costing some 300-500 shekel – in order to ask forgiveness from someone they may never see again!

When last did you see such an advert in your local newspaper? When last were you ever prepared to post such an advert if you'd ever hurt anyone?!

Such is the greatness of Torah and the greatness of a Jew and the beauty of Israel.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Israel, Security and more

When coming to Israel, a major topic of conversation and consideration as to where to live concerns what you believe about the Land of Israel. Are we permitted to give parts of it away? If you chose to live on one or other side of a colored line (in this case green) is anyone permitted to regard you as being outside of the border?

When it comes to understanding about the Land of Israel and its connection to every Jew, the only place to learn is from the Torah. The Lubavitcher Rebbe - in the video below, speaks firmly of the importance every Jew has in acknowledging every part of the Land of Israel - as belonging to the Jews. Nothing may be given up - because each part belongs to every Jew. Therefore, no Jew has the right to give up something that belongs to another. In fact, by even considering the possibility of peace through the giving up of our Land, we actually bring ourselves to further problems of encouraging the rest of the world to feel that there is even the remotest possibility for negotiations.

There is not! In fact, just the opposite - we MUST admit that our Land is OUR land, and in our every behaviour towards it, we must show and acknowledge well that whether it's Jerusalem or Beitar Illit or any other part of Israel - this is all of our Land! There is no excuse for a Jew stating that what G-d gave us - He did not... When one is given a gift of such magnitude, one must learn to appreciate every part of it, rather than to drive around with Israeli flags on one's car expressing one's loyalty to the land - then going against every commandment of the Torah - and then furthering the problem by actually admitting to the world that it's not really our country! It sounds quite comical - and yet this is the attitude taken. Israel is ours. It is our gift, and we must treasure it by realizing that every part of it is absolutely filled with G-d's Presence. We show our appreciation towards it by means of doing all we can. Fulfilling the wishes of the King in His Palace! This means the complete humility in accepting all of the Torah - including appreciating that there are no negotiations when it comes to Israel. Israel belongs to the Jews - servants (and children of the King) in the Kings Palace.

Eretz Yisrael - "I want to be a Jew"

In various discussions with Jews who are in Israel, coming to Israel and have been in Israel, a certain fact crops up from time to time. There are those who think or believe that returning to live in the Land of Israel is a new idea, a new trend, something Zionistic.

The truth is, returning to or living in the Land of Israel began with Avraham Avinu, our father in the Parsha of Lech Lecha where G-d tells Avraham to leave his land, the place of his birth and journey to the land that G-d will show him. G-d promises Avraham that the land, at that time known as Eretz Canaan will be given to the descendants of Avraham through Yitzhak and Yaakov. In fact, when Avraham Avinu came to settle in Eretz Canaan, it could have ended there.

For reasons I do not understand, when a famine began in the land, Avraham and Sarah, his wife, journeyed down to Egypt to obtain what they needed and wait out the famine. This action was not favorable to G-d and as a result the children of Yaakov repeated their grandfathers actions in journeying down to Egypt at the time of famine.

Of course, G-d is Infinite and could have sustained us in Israel, but for reasons known to G-d, the events described in the Torah transpired.

We are taught of two other significant times that Jews came to Israel. The first was Yaakov our father who returned to the land of his father and grandfather after spending years with Lavan. Now he returned with wives, children, livestock and wealth. The second time is the famous time of the Exodus from Egypt when we were lead by Moshe Rabeinu and later Yehoshua in our return to the land of our fathers.

In further posts we will look at our great rabbis, sages and Tzaddikim who returned to live in the Land of Israel, including their reasoning, messages to Am Yisrael and other lessons to learn from them.

For now, let us return to our father Yaakov. As we are taught in the Chumash, Yaakov had a struggle with the angel of Eisav his brother. This struggle took place through the night and at dawn, when Yaakov was deemed victorious, he received a name change to Yisrael.

It is this name Yisrael that we take on when coming to live in this special land. The name Eretz Yisrael ארץ ישראל means I want to be Yisrael. We get this from the following. Ratz or רץ is from the language of Ratzon meaning to want or desire. When we put an aleph in front of a word, (verb) it becomes a future tense for I, therefore becoming I will want or I will desire Yisrael.

What is this Yisrael that I will desire? There are two ways to translate this. As we see from the above scenario, Yaakov was given this name when overcoming adversity, when being victorious over the darkness. So it is that most Jews when returning to Israel, go through a period of struggle and darkness. However, if we remember our goal, Eretz Yisrael, I will desire Yisrael, we can maintain our focus and come through victorious just as Yaakov Avinu was. After this we become worthy of settling in and living in the Land of Yisrael, the Land that G-d promised to the descendants of Avraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov or Yisrael.

The second way to understand this is that Eretz Yisrael means "I want to be a Jew". In other words I desire to do those things that a Jew should do in this world.

This is Eretz Yisrael - the true desire of every Jew. The Jew wishes to be Yisrael (as opposed to Yaakov) and he/she wishes to be a good Jew, studying the Torah and fulfilling the Mitzvot, the ultimate place for this being in Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel.