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Parashat Shelach: Chutzpah and Redemption
When Jews started to consider a return to
the Land of Israel, there was
always a minority voice that said, "How can you go up to Israel? You
must wait for a sign from G-d." They pointed to this week's parasha.
After G-d decreed that the Jews would be in the desert for 40 years,
some people, the Maapilim, tried to go to Israel anyway, and failed
miserably.
The response to this anti-Zionist approach is found in the writings of
Rav Zadok HaCohen of Lublin. He asks how the Maapilim, the defiant ones,
could have the chutzpah, the audacity, to go against G-d's will? He
answered that as the Talmud says, "Chutzpah is kingship without a
crown"
(San. 105a). But the Jewish people have a certain royalty to them, so
that their Chutzpah is kingship with a crown. They felt that if the
Jewish people would show the resolve to go to Israel, then it would
become the new desire of G-d as well. Therefore, it was not Chutzpah. So
then why was their effort to go so thoroughly thwarted by G-d?
Rav Zadok replies that this Chutzpah which has its place, is only in the
wake of the Messiah, as the Talmud says (Sotah 49), "In the throes of
the Messiah, Chutzpah will abound." According to Rav Zadok, it means
that during the pangs of the Messiah, we have a right to take destiny in
our hands and ask G-d to make our will His will, and to grant us to
return to Israel.
In fact, in our generation, we have returned to Israel, and G-d has
allowed the country to flourish, physically and spiritually. The early
Jews who smuggled their way into Israel when the British forbade it,
called themselves the "Maapiliim," those with the Chutzpah to
come to
Israel without anyone's blessings. We hope and pray, that G-d will bless
this fledgling country with peace. |
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