(Author’s Note: Rabbi Moshe Levinger, Z’l, initiator of renewed Jewish settlement in the city of Hevron, was one of the principle leaders of the Gush Emunim Settlement Movement for nearly forty years. The tenth anniversary of his passing will be held this Sunday afternoon in Hevron)
I am often asked why does the whole world seem to go crazy when a handful of Israeli teenagers put up a cluster of caravans and shacks on a barren hillside in Judea and Samaria? Why should Jews living on the mountains of Biblical Israel make officials in the U.S. State Department use all of their influence to pressure the Government of Israel to tear down these makeshift dwellings?
While there are political reasons for this very strange behavior, the real answer lies in understanding the Redemption of Israel which is unfolding in our time.
The continuing settlement of Eretz Yisrael is the most important mitzvah of our generation.
Rabbi Moshe Harlop was one of the closest students of Rabbi Kook. In his book, “Maayanei HaYeshua,” he explains that if you want to know the most important mitzvah for Am Yisrael in any generation, it is the mitzvah that the nations of the world most oppose. In the time of the Hashmoneans, the Greeks made their most forceful decrees against the mitzvot that most highlighted the Jews as a unique holy Nation – the commandments of Shabbat, Rosh Hodesh, and Brit Milah.
This was because the Greeks wanted to impose their unholy Hellenist culture over all of the world. Because their culture celebrated human intellect, physical beauty and hedonist pleasure, they could not tolerate the existence of Judaism which brings God into every aspect of life, the spiritual and the physical as well. So they tried to stamp out the commandments that sanctify time and the holiness of the human body, symbolized by the brit milah. The Greeks wanted to keep the gods confined in heaven in order not to be beholden to any holy, all-powerful Divinity here on earth.
Rabbi Harlop writes that in the time of the footsteps of Mashiach, the mitzvah that the nations of the world most oppose is the mitzvah of settling the Land of Israel. This is because in the time of Mashiach all holiness comes to the world through the settlement of the Eretz Yisrael. The greatest sanctification of God in our time occurs when Jews return to settle the Biblical hilltops of Israel in fulfillment of Divine Prophecy. The nations of the world don’t care if Jews build kosher neighborhoods in Monsey or Antwerpen. Today, Jews can keep Shabbat in Moscow and Berlin. They can build luxury frum communities in Arizona and Texas. But when a handful of Jews erect a tent on the hillsides overlooking Shilo, Elon Moreh, or Beit-El, it is an international scandal. This is because the Jewish prophets said this would happen, that Jews would return to these same Biblical hillsides, and its coming to pass means that there is a God in the world, an active, living Supreme Ruler of Heaven and Earth, who chose the Nation of Israel to be His messenger to teach the world His commandments and ways. Of course, the nations of the world rise up in protest. It is OK for them to pay lip service to God when He is restricted to heaven. But, like the Greeks before them, they don’t want to be bound by His laws here on earth. In their collective conscience, if you get rid of the Jewish settlers, you get rid of God. By taking the Land of Israel away from the Jews, they can prove that God doesn’t really exist and that the Torah isn’t true. Then they can go about with their stealing and murdering and adultery in peace, without having to worry about Divine Retribution.
Therefore, it isn’t a wonder that all the nations of the world want to hinder the resettlement of Israel by the Jews. They place all of their weight and power precisely on this matter. In their deepest subconscious they know the resettlement of Hashem’s Chosen Land by the resurrected Nation of Israel will awaken a tremendous spiritual awakening in the world which will eradicate the forces of evil from which they derive their strength.
For this reason, we must continue to build on every barren hilltop. Not only to spread the settlement of our country and thus strengthen our sovereignty throughout all of our borders, and not only because of the great military and strategic importance of Israeli control over Judea and Samaria in preventing the Arabs from using it as a base for attacks on Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv coastline, but also because the salvation of the world depends upon it. This is how God’s Presence returns to the world. Through the resettlement of Israel, its rebuilding, and through its victory over enemies who seek to foil its mission, God makes Himself known as the true ruler of the world, ushering in the longed-for era of everlasting peace. In the words of the Prophet:
“Thus says the Lord: Again there shall be heard in this place, which you say is ruined, without man or beast – in the cities of Judea and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without men, without inhabitants and without beasts – the sound of joy and the sound of happiness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those saying, ‘Praise the Lord of Hosts, for the Lord is good, for His mercy endures forever,’ as they bring sacrifices of thanksgiving to the House of God. For I shall bring back the captivity of the Land as in the past, says the Lord” Yirmiyahu 33:10-11).
Not only is it a great mitzvah to settle the broad hillsides and valleys of Judea and Samaria, it is imperative for the strengthening of our Nation to study these matters in depth, particularly the teachings of Rabbi Kook in the book “Orot” and the teachings of his son, HaRav Tzvi Yehuda. People who can write must write about these matters. Poets must pen poems of yearning for the Promised Land. People gifted with musical talent must compose songs of Redemption. Artists must paint inspiring landscapes of the Holy Land in order to draw all of our still outcast brethren closer. In working along with Hashem in the Redemption of our Nation, and the Salvation of the world, we all must be soldiers in the battle to wipe out the forces of evil who strive to stand in our way.
