Repentance as a Nation: The Key to Redemption

“If you follow My statutes... I will bring peace in the Land... and if you do not listen to Me... I will bring upon you disaster” (Lev. 26:14, 16)
The Torah is Israel's strength. When they guard it, G-d strengthens them to overcome the nations, and only through that strength do the nations recognize Israel's might and submit to them peacefully.
Now, dear friend, heed a great principle for our age, when the Messiah's footsteps are so near. Place it over your eyes and heart – perhaps G-d will have mercy. The period in which Gog goes forth to war against Israel will be a terrible time of fear and dread on earth. If Israel are unworthy of redemption “in haste”, redemption devoid of terrible Messianic birthpangs, G-d in His great mercy, will try to delay, so as to avoid bringing the world redemption “ in its time”. Like a merciful father, G-d extends His deadline again and again in hopes of His children repenting and returning to Him, so that He, in turn, can return to them instantaneously, in glory and majesty.
Ponder my words well. Perhaps they will influence your emotions and understanding, dear reader, to hurry and cry out to our people, to tell them how to save themselves from awful, avoidable suffering. G-d said, “Oh that my people would hearken to Me and Israel walk in My ways – I would soon subdue their enemies” (Ps. 81:14-15). I have already explained that if Israel would only listen to G-d, He would bring redemption literally in a moment, for He is ready to take revenge on Gog and the nations instantaneously. G-d also said, “Oh that you had hearkened to My mitzvot! Your peace would then be like a river” (Isaiah 48:18) Avodah Zarah 5a teaches, “If only [hebr. 'im'] you would follow My statutes (Lev. 26:3): 'Im' can only connote supplication. It thus says, “Oh that My people would hearken to Me” and, “Oh that you had hearkened to My mitzvot!” G-d entreats Israel, so to speak, to repent and do acts of self-sacrifice, for only this will prove their faith and trust in G-d – and through such acts G-d will hasten redemption.
Our sages said (Torat Kohanim, Bechukotai, Parsheta 1):
“If only you would follow My statutes”: This teaches that G-d yearns for Israel to toil in Torah. It likewise says, “Oh that My people would hearken to Me”; “Oh that you had hearkened to My mitzvot!” and, “If only their hearts would remain this way, in awe of Me... for all time, so that it would go well with them and their children forever” (Deut. 5:26).
These verses surely refer to mitzvah observance, yet to bring redemption much more is required. The source continues: 'If only you would follow My statutes”: Might this refer to mitzvah observance? When the verse adds, “And be careful to keep My mitzvot” (Lev. 26:3), that connotes mitzvah observance. What then am I to learn from the first part of the verse? That we must toil in Torah.
We learn a major principle here. G-d does not suffice with mere mitzvah observance. Rather, He demands toil, hard labor, even psychological grief. He demands that we keep the difficult mitzvot which require faith and trust in G-d. Generally, these are the chukim, the statutes, which are hard to fathom and which oppose the will of man, who is ensnared by his weak, limited intellect. G-d says, “If you would only follow My statutes.” If we follow the ways of the Torah, even regarding the difficult chukim; if we do not just study them mechanically but engage in difficult, discouraging toil, in faith and trust in G-d, which is what G-d yearns for, then He will bring redemption instantaneously.
G-d fiercely longs to sanctify His name, profaned daily by the nations, but He demands that Israel sanctify His name first through complete and perfect faith and trust in G-d. They must take hold of dangerous, frightening mitzvot which leave them isolated and alone, with the nations opposing them, for only this can prove their real trust in Him. Then, when they have sanctified His name in this way, He will go forth in His wrathful revenge against the nations who profane His name, and will thereby save both Israel and Himself, so to speak.
Thus, complete and perfect deeds of trust in G-d sanctify His name, blot out the terrible chilul Hashem inherently associated with fear of the nations, and pave the way for majestic redemption “in haste”.
What, then, are these deeds? I shall enumerate them, dear friend, and you should engrave them on your hearts and proclaim them loudly in the streets to the Jewish People, before G-d's great and awesome punishment visits us, Heaven forbid!

1. Those Jews who dwell in the impure exile, thereby scorning the Pleasant Land and its holiness, profane G-d's name by their very habitation under the yoke and sovereignty of the nations. Through their dependency on the nations, they transform them and their false religion to masters over Israel, to whom Israel must lift their eyes. G-d will not bear this chilul Hashem. He will not tolerate the assimilation and the influence of the alien culture on Israel. These destroy their souls and introduce foreign thoughts into the Jewish People and their Torah.
This conquest of Jewish bodies and souls is a chilul Hashem, and also prevents the Jewish People from being a chosen, special people who dwell alone in their holy, special land. G-d, therefore, decreed that Israel had to leave Egypt and go up to Eretz Yisrael, and that otherwise, it would be their burial place.
The first exile is an omen for the last. G-d will not give in regarding Israel's scorning the Land. When it comes time for G-d to punish the nations for their sins, raining down upon them His wrath, He will “turn their hearts to hate His people, to scheme against His servants” (Ps. 105:25). All this will be in addition to the tragedy He will unleash upon all Jews who live among the nations, when He takes revenge on the nations for all their sins through the collapse of lands and peoples. G-d's liquidating the exile through Israel's leaving it and going up to Eretz Yisrael is a major part of His removing the chilul Hashem and sanctifying His name.

2. The impoverished regime, whose conception and birth occurred in the alien culture of the nations, and who denies the Torah of Moses, has refused to apply the authority and sovereignty of the people and G-d of Israel upon all parts of Eretz Yisrael for fear of the nations. This constitutes a chilul Hashem, a rebellion against and degradation of the holiness of Eretz Yisrael, large parts of which have remained under the control of the nations. A condition for complete redemption through Kiddush Hashem is control and sovereignty of the G-d and of the people of Israel over all portions of Eretz Yisrael in our hands.

3. For many hundreds of years, Jews lifted their eyes to the Holy Temple, about which was decreed, “Any alien who comes near shall die” (Num. 18:7). Here was the Holy of Holies where only the Kohen Gadol could enter once a year. The presence at this site of impure Ishmaelite heathens who wholeheartedly hate the Jewish People is blasphemy. The impoverished regime is handing over to the impure Ishmaelites ownership and authority over the Temple Mount and simultaneously preventing G-d's people, Israel, from ascending to the permissible places. Let all ears be spared hearing about this! For this shall Zion sit in sackcloth, in somber mourning. Could any chilul Hashem be more severe, more degrading? What can one say, knowing that the cause of all this is the heretics' fear of the nations and absolute lack of trust in G-d? Israel are turning the Divine blessing and kindness associated with the beginning of redemption, which are a Kiddush Hashem, into an unprecedented nightmare, a sordid, abominable chilul Hashem. G-d's wrath looms over us, and woe to the insult to our holy mountain! We bear a holy duty to remove the cursed Ishmaelites from the site of our Temple and to remove the disgrace of their mosques which daily anger G-d, if we hope to save our souls from the day of wrath.

4. The call of the hour is to “drive out all the Land's inhabitants” (Num. 33:52). Woe to us for having dealt treacherously with the Land and it's owner, G-d! Through our fear of the nations, we have refused to conquer the Land by banishing the enemies and revilers of Israel, the lowly Ishmaelites. How much innocent blood has been spilled in the Holy Land through murderers being allowed to remain in it!
G-d is imploring us, His beloved, chosen sons, to agree to accept what He desires to give us. The Messiah is knocking at our door, his footsteps can be heard in the streets, and the voice of the G-d of Israel calls: “Return to Me – the word of the L-rd of hosts – and I will return to you” (Zechariah 1:3). Hasten! Hurry! In glory! Today! At this very moment! “Today, if you hearken to His voice!” (Ps. 95:7). Yet if, G-d forbid, we miss our chance, and the moment arrives from which there is no turning back; if, Heaven forbid, G-d brings the last stage of redemption “in its time”, with Messianic birthpangs and tragedies the likes of which we have never known, then it will come, suddenly, out of the blue.
This is the choice, the only choice. All the rest is worthless and of no avail. Time is running out. The decision is in our hands.

Compiled by Tzipora Liron-Pinner from 'The Jewish Idea' of Rav Meir Kahane, HY"D

Parashat Ha'azinu – Torah of Life – Rav Meir Kahane

May my teaching drop like the rain, may my utterance flow like the dew; like storm winds upon vegetation and like raindrops upon blades of grass (Deut. 32:2)
G-d gave His people Israel a true, trustworthy, pure and perfect Torah. Thus we find, “The word of the L-rd is pure” (Psalms 18:31); “The words of the L-rd are pure words, as silver tried in a crucible on the earth, refined seven times” (Ibid., 12:7); “Your word is refined to the uttermost” (Ibid., 119:140) “The law of the L-rd is perfect, restoring the soul”(Ibid., 19:8).
This perfect Torah is formed from two elements – first, from concepts, ideas, Divine values and attributes, and second, from those practical commandments constituting Jewish observance.
The first group constitutes the Torah's very core. They serve as a lamp to our feet, elucidating and defining the ways of G-d; the path we must follow. It is to these the Torah refers each time it uses the word “derech”, way, as in “to walk in G-d's ways” (Deut. 26:17), interpreted by Ramban as meaning “to do what is right and good and to perform kind acts.”
It is G-d's ways which show us how to emulate Him. Man's task, after all, is to learn these ways and emulate G-d. As our sages said (Sifri, Ekev 49), “If it be your wish to know the One Whose word brought the world into existence, study Midrash, for through it you will come to know G-d and cling to His ways. If you fulfill your duty, I shall fulfill mine.”
Sifri (Ibid.) also comments:
“To walk in all G-d's ways” (Deut. 11:22): These are the ways of G-d, as it says, “The L-rd, the L-rd, G-d, merciful and gracious, long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth...(Ex. 34:6). It also says, “It shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the L-rd shall be delivered” (Yoel 3:5). How can a man “call on the name of the L-rd”? Rather, just as G-d is called “merciful and gracious”, so, too, must we be merciful and gracious... Just as G-d is called “righteous”, so, too, must we be righteous...
The essence of Torah is to learn, to know, to become familiar with Divine attributes, concepts and ideas and to walk in G-d's ways – to cling to Him. Ritual observance is only the external expression of the internal idea. It is the conceptual framework which stands at the heart of Torah, determining the path one must follow.
How important it is to note here the role played by one revolutionary perversion, the awful removal of Bible study from the yeshivot. Who can fathom ignoring our sages' words (Avot 5:25), “At age five Bible study begins,” or their devoted instruction regarding real Torah education, or their directive that we must teach the child all of Scripture before he delves into Mishnah and Talmud? Our sages understood that the Bible is the source and foundation of the Torah structure, and that without it a flimsy, unfinished edifice will arise. They understood that only in Scripture can we find the natural model of the Jewish leader who lived and grew up in the Land of Israel in a holistic setting, and the Divine ways and ideas we must emulate.
The Torah is like a forest; the mitzvot are its trees. If someone is unfamiliar with the shape and general appearance of the forest, and the path through it, he will never know what role each tree serves or where and how to plant trees to suit the shape of the forest. The nature of G-d and the tenets of our faith are the shape of the forest. Only through them can we understand the role of the practical mitzvot and laws, thereby planting the forest as the Planner intended. Those tenets which teach us the shape of the Torah come from study of Aggad'ta and Midrash. They teach the thought and nature of G-d. Only by studying these, the larger picture, can we understand the place and essence of the practical mitzvot, the details. It is a pity we have abandoned and neglected Midrash and Aggad'ta. We are much impoverished as a result.
G-d regrets having created four things, and the main one is the exile, which perverted the original idea of Jewishness. A complete, speedy and glorious redemption is impossible until we restore the Torah to its former glory. We must destroy the dross and cut from the Torah – the Tree of Life – the branches of distortion. Once more we must embrace devotion, accepting G-d's yoke in complete submission, until we restore to ourselves an accurate grasp of G-d's nature and the Torah's concepts and values, these constituting the Torah's very heart. Then we will once more be able to establish the true, complete Torah edifice, devoid of every forbidden combination, of all foreign cultural influence. We will be able to know G-d's true ways and we will have a complete understanding of our Jewishness. We will set a straight course, veering neither right nor left from G-d's truth.
Moreover, we will then be at one with G-d. With love and joy we will accept the yoke of His kingdom, His mitzvot, His attributes, without the stain of conceit, but with devotion, with cries of “Cling to Him!” (Deut. 10:20).
When a person does not understand a mitzvah and the idea behind it, or worse, he has internalized alien, distorted concepts and attributes; then when he fulfills the mitzvah, the external form of devotion, he is only emphasizing an idea that is fallacious, or, G-d forbid, that contradicts G-d's eternal truth.
Clinging to G-d, accepting the yoke of Heaven, demands full submission and readiness on a Jew's part to accept upon himself all the details of the mitzvot, especially the Divine concepts, values and attributes, precisely as G-d commanded; although some of them may conflict with his world view or his innate feelings. G-d, and not man, establishes religious concepts, ideas and commandments. He defines exactly what is kindness, justice, uprightness, and mercy.
It is entirely possible that a person will disdain some command of Divine value, or that one of them will conflict with “kindness and mercy” as he sees them. In his false perception, G-d's ways may border on “cruelty”. Yet if someone rejects Divine attributes and concepts as our Father in Heaven determined them to be, then despite his continuing to fulfill the rituals, he is not a “mitzvah observer”. He cannot be labeled 'one who fulfills G-d's commands.” Such a person does as he sees fit. He is a slave to himself, pronouncing that he is G-d. He denies Hashem's existence.
Suppose, then, that someone who denies that the Torah's commandments originated with G-d performs a mitzvah, such as honoring one's parents or giving charity, doing so not because it is a decree of the King, a Divine edict from Sinai, but because he finds it morally agreeable. It most certainly follows that his action is worthless. His blessings are not blessings and his mitzvot are bot mitzvot – but blasphemy.
True, our sages taught (Pesachim 50b) that one should fulfill G-d's commandments even without sincerity, since insincere performance will lead to sincere performance; but that has nothing to do with the case at hand. Here, the person in question has no belief whatsoever in the concept of a “commandment”; hence his actions do not even constitute insincere fulfillment. I believe that the Pesachim source refers to one who does a mitzvah chiefly because he finds it agreeable. Our sages might agree that a mitzvah performed “insincerely” borders on not being a mitzvah at all; yet, they would say, it is still better for him to perform it. That way, there is hope that he will reach a state of sincere fulfillment, performing mitzvot as commandments in the literal sense.
It emerges that the cornerstone of the Torah edifice upon which all the mitzvot stand, and without which they would all collapse, is the yoke of Heaven and absolute devotion to G-d and His commands. With this the world has a reason to exist. Without it, Hashem rises up to His role of E-l Shadd-ai, “Almighty G-d,” and threatens to destroy it (Shabbat 88a): “G-d set a proviso before the universe:'If Israel accept the Torah, you will survive. Otherwise, I shall reinstate chaos.” It also says, “The world endures only for the sake of the Torah given to Israel” (Esther Rabbati 7:13); and “Just as it is impossible for the world to be without winds, so is it impossible for the world to be without the Jewish People” (Ta'anit 3b).
Were there no nation ready to receive the Torah and fulfill it, there would be no reason for the world or man to exist.

Compiled by Tzipora Liron-Pinner from 'The Jewish Idea' of Rav Meir Kahane, HY"D