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Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi wrote in Kinos, “Tziyon Halo Tishali L’Shlom Asireich.” How do we know that Zion inquires as to the welfare of its inhabitants, the Jews? The barrenness of the hills of Judah and the land of Israel for centuries coupled with the fact that no one else was able to colonize it, bears constant testimony to Zion’s constant yearning for the return of her inhabitants.

In Judaism we have the concept of Agunah, a man or woman in a state of limbo, constantly yearning for their missing spouse to return. The Agunah recognizes that time is slipping by and the chance to marry again and create a life for him/herself grows more remote with each passing day. Yet, she waits. The land of Israel is an Agunah waiting for its mate to return even though he has been gone for so long. The Bris Bein Habesarim guaranteed that the land would remain loyal and wait for the people to return.

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The inanimate land can remain a loyal Agunah indefinitely. However, the problem is how to ensure that the people remain loyal to the land? A husband can be an Agun as well, waiting for his wife to return. The Jewish nation has been an Agun, waiting for the land. Achad HaAm (someone far from religion, see essay Emes M’Eretz Yisrael, Part 1) wrote that he came to Jerusalem and visited the Kotel on erev Pesach and observed how Jews from Edot HaMizrach were praying. He noted that the stones are witness to the destruction of our land and these people are witness to the destruction of our nation. He asked which is worse. He answered that a land that was destroyed can be rebuilt by those who return, like Ezra, Zerubavel and Nechemia. But who will rebuild a nation that is destroyed?

Achad HaAm’s mistake was that the group of people he observed were not witnesses to the destruction of the land. But his question is correct. How can a nation maintain its identity and live uniquely under such conditions? Everything about the Jew is different from the world around us. Our writing right to left, our prayer, our calendar, are all examples of how we differ from those around us. Jews expressed their uniqueness by living in Europe for a thousand years yet did not assimilate and remained loyal to Eretz Yisrael.

Rationally, one should not support Israel. After all, how can it survive against so many enemies? Yet, this is the great wonder and power of our nation, our ability to wait for the land, to yearn for it and return to it. It is an inseparable part of our unique identity.

The same applies to the relationship of the Jew to Torah, especially Torah SheBe’al Peh. Mathematics is a discipline that cannot be mastered by simply reading a book. It is a method that must be integrated into one’s thought processes. The same is true of Torah SheBe’al Peh, it is a method that becomes part of a Jew’s personality, distinguishing him from those around him.

The fact that people wait for a land for so many years is based on Hashem granting us the land L’dorosam, forever. This eternal aspect of the gift was granted in the covenant associated with Bris Milah and not in Bris Bein Habesarim. It is the second covenant that grants the land eternally to a people that keeps Torah SheBe’al Peh, a people that rejoices differently and mourns differently.

Bris Milah is a Chasimah. Chasimah is not just a signature; it is the mark of the individual expressing his uniqueness. Circumcision is called Chosam Os Bris Kodesh because the Jewish nation is different and unique from all others. It is this uniqueness that guarantees our constant yearning for and connection to the land.


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Rabbi Joshua Rapps attended the Rav's shiur at RIETS from 1977 through 1981 and is a musmach of Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan. He and his wife Tzipporah live in Edison, N.J. Rabbi Rapps can be contacted at [email protected].