Chanukah 2- Kedushas Eretz Yisroel

By definition golus is when one is exiled in a foreign land. The third golus we went through as a nation- the one that gave us Chanukah, was that of Yavan- the Greek empire. Yet we were in our homeland, with the Bais Hamikdosh standing, all along. What about the struggles we went through with the Greeks is categorized as golus? The Marsha (Megillah 11a) answers: The objective of the Greeks in their conflict with Yisroel was to take the kedusha out of Am Yisroel. The Greek philosophy was that there is no kedusha in the world, nothing is holier then the next thing- Yisroel is just like any other nation, the Torah is just as mundane as any other subject and the Holyland, Eretz Yisroel, is just like any other land in the world. In their fight against Yisroel the Greeks were successful in uprooting the kedusha from Eretz Yisroel thus making our homeland foreign to us. The three golios that took place outside of Eretz Yisroel are compared to a son that is lost and far away from his father. The golus of Yavan is compared to a son who doesn’t recognize his father’s house, thus feeling like a foreigner while he is in his own home. With the kedusha taken out of Eretz Yisroel, Eretz Yisroel itself became the foreign land we were exiled to. The victory of Chanukah had to have included in it the freedom from this struggle. With the Neis of Chanukah the kedusha was put back into Eretz Yisroel and was once again the home of Klal Yisroel.
Chanukah was the completion of the dedication of the second Bais Hamikdosh. Chasmal tell us that when they returned to Eretz Yisroel to build the second Bais Hamikdosh, Ezra sanctified the land for eternity- ‘kudsha leshata ul’usid lavoh’. R’ S. R. Hirsch (Bamidbor 15;18) explains this to mean, that the goal of the second Bais Hamikdosh was to equip Klal Yisroel and prepare them for the centuries of dispersion that lay ahead of them. The victory over the mighty Greeks completed the work of sanctifying the land that Ezra had started, making the kedusha of Eretz Yisroel a reality for eternity. Bringing the second Bais Hamikdosh and the kedusha of Eretz Yisroel to completion- a kedusha to last for eternity.

Parsha Point to Ponder

We find that Moshe davened 515 tefillos trying to reverse the decree that he cannot go into Eretz Yisroel.
Why do we not find Aron - who recieved the same decree at the same time- davening at all for the privilge to enter the holy land?

This week’s parsha we learn about the mitzvah of bentching. The posuk seems to tie the mitzvah of bentching and Eretz Yisroel together.
There is a machlokes (Tur, Orach Chaim; 208) regarding the wording of the brocha of ‘Al hamichya’. Some reshonim (so is the Sfardic custom) take out the words ‘Venochal mepirya v’nisba metuva’ where we ask to be able to enjoy the fruits of Eretz Yisroel. Rabbianu Yona explains that in a prayer where we ask for the rebuilding of Yerushalayim, our aspirations shouldn’t be the wanting of eating of the fruits. In such a special brocha we should much rather ask to be able to fulfill the mitzvos that are special to Eretz Yisroel. The Bach defends the Ashkenazic custom. He writes that the land of Eretz Yisroel is actually blessed by Hashem and there is a spiritual manifestation in the actual soil and thus in every fruit that grows in Eretz Yisroel. The only way to get that piece of Hashem into your body is if you go and eat a part of the land- which would be a fruit. So that the prayer and yearning to eat the fruits of Eretz Yisroel isn’t merely to be satiated with delicious fruits, rather a will to ingest part of the kedusha of Eretz Yisroel into our bodies.
Every one of the seven parshios that we read after Tisha B’av has a special message of nechama in them. We could say that this is the message of the Parsha. We are fixing the first tragedy that led to the churban- the meraglim. Their mistake was that they didn’t perceive Eretz Yisroel as Hashem’s land. The Torah puts them both together - the fruits of the land and the mitzvah of bentching - to thank Hashem for what we ate and to remind us to yearn to be able to eat the much more delicious fruits- the ones that have a piece of Hashem in them.

Parshas Shemos

Chazal tell us that Avraham asked Hashem (Brieshes 15;8) “Bameh aidah”- How will I know that my descendents will inherit me? To which he was answered- seemingly as a punishment- “Yoda tiedah” You shall know that your descendants will have to endure 400 years of exile and suffering. The Masai Hashem (the rebbi of the Alshach and Baal Lecha Dodi) explains that the golous Mitzraim wasn’t a punishment but rather Hashem answered Avrahams question. The very first Rashi in the Torah teaches us that Klal Yisroel having the Torah proves that Eretz Yisroel rightfully belongs to us and we didn’t just go to war and kick the Cnanim out of their land. The Torah is like our receipt that we were righteously given the land as an inheritance. Avraham fully believed in Hashem that he’ll have a son, he just wanted that when the nations of the world should realize that Eretz Yisroel belonged to him. He wanted Hashem to give him the Torah- the deed to Eretz Yisroel right then. To which Hashem told him- not as a punishment but rather as an explanation, three things are only acquired through hardships Eretz Yisroel, Torah and the world to come. In order for your descendants to receive the Torah, and with that Eretz Yisroel they will first have to endure the hardships of a exile, be redeemed and be created by Hashem as a nation. The golous is just the path we must embark on, in order to get to the geulah.

P.s. excuse the grammer, spelling its close to shabbos, sorry. Shabbos Shalom!