You would think that the director of the new movie, “Stories of Rebbe Nachman,” will surely be traveling to Uman for Rosh HaShanah. After all, several of the actors in the film, and several crew members will be going, so why not the film’s director? Since a lot of people ask me, I will try to explain the reason. I have never been to Uman. I have friends who go there every year, and people in my family have made the trip, but I have never gone. Like the expression goes – live and let live – certainly whatever helps a person get closer to Hashem is a positive thing. I like Rebbe Nachman’s teachings. I love his stories. I’ve learned a great many things from Rebbe Nachman about serving Hashem, about tshuva, about simchah, about emphasizing the good points, about always striving to go higher and higher…. But there is something else which I have learned from him, and from other great Sages, and that’s the exalted value of Eretz Yisrael.
I love Eretz Yisrael. I’m crazy about Eretz Yisrael. Like the love of a man for his wife on the day of their wedding, I love Eretz Yisrael with a passionate love. It’s a love that gets stronger and stronger. Maybe because I lived half of my life in America, in a strange and foreign land, and only discovered Eretz Yisrael through a Heaven-sent flash of illumination while I was reading the Tanach on a beach in California, maybe because of that the Land of Israel is such a cherished treasure for me. King David’s teaching that we are to set Yerushalayim above our highest joy is something I feel in all of my bones.
So did Rebbe Nachman. He used to say that wherever he traveled, he was traveling to Eretz Yisrael. He said that his highest understandings of Torah only came after he had been to Eretz Yisrael. In the book, “Likutei Etzot HaMishulash,” a compilation of his teachings, Rebbe Nachman declares:
“The principle holiness of a Jew is that he merit to constantly rise to a higher and higher level in his service of Hashem, which is made possible through the holiness of Eretz Yisrael. And the principle victory in battle which a person must attain in this world is to come to the Land of Israel. And this is the main matter with which we busy ourselves from Rosh HaShanah until Simchat Torah – everything we do is to reveal the holiness of Eretz Yisrael, in order that we merit to quickly come to the Land of Israel. And this is what is (Kabbalistically) know as building the sefirah of Malchut, with which we are engaged during these days, as is set forth in the “Shar HaKavanot” (of the Arizal). For the principle matter in building the Malchut is to reveal the Kingship of Hashem over all of mankind, which we pray for at this time of the year, and the principle revelation of Hashem’s Kingship is in Eretz Yisrael. Therefore, the holiness of Eretz Yisrael is most poignantly revealed on Rosh HaShanah, as is written, “For the eyes of Hashem are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year” (Devarim, 11:12).
Of course, Hashem sees all of the universe in a glance, but on Rosh HaShanah, his focus is on Eretz Yisrael and on the prayers of the Jews in the Land.
In addition, Rabbi Nachman teaches: “The entire matter of the blessings which we say on Rosh HaShanah: Malchiot, Zichranot, and Shoferot, it is all in order to reveal the holiness of Eretz Yisrael, which is the essential place of the ingathering of the exiles, through the blowing of the shofar, as is written, “On that day a great shofar shall be blown…” (Yishayahu, 27:13).
