The Land I Will Show You, sec. 5, chapter 3
Exilic People – The Divine Plan and the Oaths
3: Exilic People – The Divine Plan and the Oaths
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After the Jews in Babylon rejected the cherished land, they were obligated to remain in exile, wandering among the nations like the generation of the wilderness for a thousand years. This was the will of Hashem; this was the “tikkun” needed for them to develop anew the correct approach to the Holy Land. The question arises: Can halakha be established based on such conjectures about Hashem’s will and His Providence? After all, at least according to the Ramban’s approach, residing in Eretz Yisrael is a positive commandment from the Torah that cannot be set aside due to such uncertain considerations. How did the Jews of Eretz Yisrael reject the Babylonians from returning and settling in Israel, as commanded in the Torah? Can halakha be decided in such a way?!
This is problematic even if residing in Eretz Yisrael is not a positive commandment. The Torah explicitly and repeatedly praises Eretz Yisrael, while the above-mentioned determination of exile’s suitability for certain people to achieve rectification is part of the secrets of divine providence, the “secret matters of God” known to those who delve into the counsel of Hashem, which do not have the power to override clear instructions. Such considerations cannot determine proper action contrary to what is explicit in the Book that was written to guide the entire Jewish people in the proper path.
Indeed, it seems that this is not a new way to determine the conditions of the mitzvah to reside in Eretz Yisrael – who is obligated and when. We will never decide that a specific community is destined to be in exile because it is necessary for them; rather, everything gets back to the issue of the oaths, meaning danger. We need not know more than this: Eretz Yisrael is very important to the Torah, but in a situation of danger, we are forced to leave it, with no choice. This consideration alone decides every question about settling in Eretz Yisrael, including the question of the Babylonians who did not ascend during the Second Temple era. As explained (sec. 4, chapter 5), the Jews in Eretz Yisrael who ascended under Cyrus’s edict were in danger of captivity and destruction and plunder, and after the edict’s period ended, it was forbidden for all of Israel to ascend en masse and thereby increase the danger. Who then is still fit to join the Jews in Eretz Yisrael, and who is not? During the Second Temple era itself, it was permissible – or even desirable – for everyone to join the voice of the edict extended to “Any of his people among you” (Ezra 1:3), but after the inviting edict ceased, when the security of the community in Eretz Yisrael weakened, not everyone who wants to join them is welcomed. A delicate balance must be maintained: There are Jews in Eretz Yisrael who remained from the Second Temple era, the time of the recall, but if masses of Jews from the exile would join them, it would bring great danger to all.
Who will be accepted and who will be rejected? This question was decided against the Babylonians. Since they are the ones who missed the opportunity at the right time, they are considered to pose a danger to the Jewish people if they join the inhabitants of the Land. They are the ones who must ensure not to endanger the Jewish people by settling the Land en masse. If all of Israel would come to its land together, it will be dangerous for everyone; it is necessary to decide who is privileged to return to the Land and who is not; since the Babylonian community did not seize the opportunity at the right time, they are the ones forbidden to change their status and thus pose a danger to the people. This is just a regular halakhic decision.
It emerges that the opposition of the Jews of Eretz Yisrael to the Babylonians and their ascent to the Land is not very different from the opinion of Rabbi Yehudah who said, “Anyone who ascends from Babylonia to Eretz Yisrael transgresses a positive mitzvah.”[1] As explained (sec. 2, chapter 3), Rabbi Yehudah’s opinion is fundamentally concerned with the violation of the oaths, meaning the danger to the Nation of Israel, and likewise any opposition to ascending to Eretz Yisrael can only be based on the danger to life which overrides the entire Torah, including settling in Eretz Yisrael, which is equivalent to all the commandments.
We have learned that the halachic decision was made in the usual ways, without considering the intricacies of the divine plan. Because of the fear of danger, the Babylonians were not accepted in Eretz Yisrael. Does the course of action imply that it is nothing more than this – that there was no divine plan stipulating that those who despised the cherished land should remain in exile like the generation of the wilderness, as we established above in Chapter 1? Certainly not. And here we must distinguish between the considerations of halachic authorities, the recipients of the Torah, and the considerations of the One Who calls forth the generations, the Giver of the Torah. Halachic authorities are required to act according to the rules of halacha and its principles, even if the entire plan operates according to a precise divine design. Hence, indeed there was a divine plan that they should be exiles: Only because of this plan of God were they actually unable to return without facing danger, and therefore Rabbi Yochanan quoted the verse “Let my God reject them, for they didn’t listen to Him, and let them be wanderers among the nations.” They were despised – in reality – because they did not listen to Hashem, and they remained wanderers among the nations. Since Hashem did not want them to return, He decreed that they would not be able to return in peace. Hashem says and does, decrees and fulfills, and by observing what He does, we can know what He said. Why could the Babylonians no longer return in peace? Because there was danger. And why is there a danger if the entire people return to their land? Because Hashem does not want them to return. He wants the Babylonians to remain in exile in order to develop a new approach to Eretz Yisrael; had He wanted them to return, then they would have been able to return in peace. But the halachic decision is not determined according to our understanding of Hashem’s plan. These are the secrets of God that we cannot determine action upon – but we can know them based on establishing the proper course of action in the usual ways of halachic decision. Halacha is determined according to reality, and reality is determined according to the will of the Creator.
Consider well the delicate points explained here, reflect on them and see their correctness.
The opposition to the return of the Babylonians corresponds to the three oaths that warn against danger. If the opposition continued, as explained, for a thousand years, it implies that the oaths were also intended to last a thousand years. There are several sources for this idea, which are not relevant here;[2] but one proof of the idea develops from the words of the Midrashim mentioned above.
Yaakov asked Esau for 'one day' – meaning a thousand years, a period of tranquility that he earned when he competed with his brother for their father Yitzchak's love. Esau was his father's favorite because he fed him and gave 'venison in his mouth' (Genesis 25:28), and when Yaakov fed Yitzchak instead of Esau at the crucial moment – he earned his blessing, the blessing of Hashem. The fact that Esau sold this day to Yaakov implies that Esau had the right to a thousand years of goodness by virtue of Yitzchak's love for him.
We learn that it is possible to determine a period for the happiness earned from Yitzchak's love: a thousand years. Esau had the right to a thousand years of happiness, which he sold to Yaakov. Yaakov received a thousand years of happiness, meaning favor in Hashem’s eyes, and at the end of a thousand years of tranquility under Esau's shadow, Esau returned to his favored status. Then Esau enjoyed what he earned from Yitzchak's love for him, and this love is the cause of the continuation of the oaths:
'Do not awaken or arouse [love until it desires]' (Song of Songs 3:5)... Rabbi Yuden said, 'The love that Yitzchak loved Esau, as it is said, "And Yitzchak loved Esau" (Genesis 25:28). What is "until it desires"? Until the desire of the old man is done.'[3]
Yitzchak's desire to favor Esau entitles him to a certain time of happiness, and during this time we must wait patiently. According to what has been explained, this time is a thousand years. At the end of this time, the oaths end, meaning the danger associated with returning to Eretz Yisrael ends, and thus the divine plan requiring exile before ascending to the land comes to an end. All the sources fit together perfectly.
What happened a thousand years after the destruction of the Second Temple? If indeed the period of the oaths, which is the period of the decree of exile, ended, when after this time 'If they were to be subjugated more, it isn’t according to the King’s decree, but only since they don’t want to return to Him', as the Zohar states, we would expect to see some sign of this important change in the history of the Jewish people. Is there something we can point to as the fulfillment of this hope?
Two events of immense importance occurred after a thousand years of exile. The first: the activity of Rabbi Yehudah Halevi in writing his great book – The Kuzari – in which he called for the entire Jewish people to return to their land. As if in a voice from heaven, Rabbi Yehudah Halevi called for the entire Jewish people to ascend to the Land of Israel and accused them of a transgression in this decisive sin due to their negligence, and he expressed no concern for the danger of the oaths. This means that the danger ended and the time to return arrived. The second event: the decline of Babylon as a center of Torah Judaism and as a substitute for the Land of Israel. After the era of Rav Hai Gaon, who was 'the end of the Geonim',[4] Babylon was no longer considered the land of the Torah. The Chasam Sofer asserted:
From the days of the Rif and onwards, the land of Shin’ar is not superior to other lands in terms of the dominion of the Torah.[5]
Once upon a time Babylon was considered like Eretz Yisrael, to the extent that they said: 'Whoever lives in Babylon is as if he lives in Eretz Yisrael';[6] 'Just as it is forbidden to leave Eretz Yisrael for Babylon, so it is forbidden to leave Babylon for other lands.'[7] But this is rooted in a specific reality and therefore is limited and only valid in relevant historical circumstances. As Rabbi Yaakov Emden stated in his glosses: 'Surely this was said only for their generation of Amoraim when yeshivas were common, which is not the case now that the yeshivas have ceased.'[8] Babylon's special status came to an end, as the Chasam Sofer said, from the days of the Rif and onwards. Babylon was no longer an important place among the Jewish people, because it no longer had a special abundance of Torah.
The timing is exactly as we would expect it to be. A thousand years of exile were decreed from heaven for the people of Babylon. During this period, Babylon was a substitute for Eretz Yisrael. It was chosen as the place where the Jews would dwell in their Torah in peace and quiet, from where the redemption would begin and from where they would ascend to Jerusalem. After this time, Babylon fell from its high status. Why? Because from then on, it was expected that the Jewish people would return from there to their land, as per the holy call of Rabbi Yehudah Halevi. The Sages predetermined that the redemption would begin from Babylon, and from there they would ascend to Jerusalem:
'Even in the days of the Messiah, they will not see the birthpangs of the Messiah... for from there the redemption begins, from there they ascend to Jerusalem.'[9]
But this did not happen. The prediction did not materialize. Because there is no glorious destiny guaranteed except for those who want to fulfill their destiny. Had we wanted, we would have responded to the call of Rabbi Yehudah Halevi; and if not, there is no one to blame but ourselves: “If they were to be subjugated more, it isn’t according to the King’s decree, but only since they don’t want to return to Him.” If the Babylonians had returned to the Land of Israel, then the period of redemption would have begun, as they said: “If you see benches full of Babylonians in Eretz Yisrael, expect the footsteps of the Messiah.”
After all these things, we can summarize the main point in practice in one point: Everything depends on reality. When there is an opportunity to ascend to Eretz Yisrael safely, it is a sign that we must do so, and when we must not do so, there will be no opportunity to ascend. We are not required to know the secrets of God.
A sign of this is – the spies. After they despised the cherished land, the children of Israel were punished with forty years of exile, and they were even forbidden to ascend. They were warned about the ascent in this language: 'Why do you transgress the command of the Lord, and it will not succeed' (Numbers 14:41). Meaning, if it succeeds – there is no transgression. The transgression is measured by the lack of success: There will never be a successful ascent to Eretz Yisrael if it is done in transgression. If God does not want us to be there, we cannot be there, and if we can be there – it is the will of God.
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[1] Kesubos 110b.
[2] See Rabbi Chaim Vital, Etz HaDa'at Tov, Zolkiew 1871, Parashat Vayetze, 29d: 'For the Holy, blessed be He, swore to leave them [the Jewish people] in exile for a thousand years, as it is said, "I have sworn unto you..." etc... For on the fifth day the oath was made, but in the sixth millennium, it depends on repentance, and then will be fulfilled "Today, if you will hear His voice" (Psalms 95:7)'; Rabbi Chaim Vital, Sha'ar HaHakdamot, Jerusalem 1909, Introduction: 'And because of this, "I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem"... there was a great oath to God not to force the redemption... And our sages of blessed memory have already said that the time of the oath is until a thousand years.' The second source is discussed in the book Va’Yoel Moshe, Essay on the Three Oaths, Sections 70-73.
[3] Shir HaShirim Rabbah 2:18. This is also defined as the reward that Esau ought to receive in exchange for honoring his father Yitzchak; see Tanchuma Yashan, Devarim, Addition 4: 'And once I repay him for the honor of his fathers, I will exact punishment from him, as it is said, "Thus says Hashem of Hosts: After the glory has he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you" (Zechariah 2:12).' The Midrash is cited in Rashi's commentary on that place in Zechariah, and in the Iggeret HaShmad (Letters of Maimonides, Jerusalem 1995, Vol. I, p. 45).
[4] According to the Sefer HaKabbalah, Philadelphia 1967, p. 43, and similarly written by the Meiri in the introduction to Masechet Avot.
[5] Responsum Chasam Sofer, YD, 233, beginning “I wondered much.”
[6] Kesubos 111a.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid, beginning “So is it forbidden.”
[9] Tanchuma Noach, 3.