Shabbat Parashat Vaetchanan 5785

Parashat Hashavua: “All Creation Will Know” – part I

At the end of our parasha, Moshe gives instructions how to change the Land of C’na’an into the Land of Israel. The C’na’anites engaged in very lowly idolatry, which was the total opposite of the message to the world of Am Yisrael. The goal of Am Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael is to be a holy nation, both in service between man and Hashem and man and his fellow man. Everything must be with purity – pure intentions, thoughts, attributes, and actions. This is what turns them into a special nation.  

In order to maintain this purity, the Torah commands removing the pagan nations from the Land, not to intermarry with them, and to destroy the signs of their idolatry (Devarim 7:2-6). After this goal is completed, it is possible to move on to the greater goal – to perfect the world by having all accept the dominion of Hashem. This is an undertaking that various prophets took part in. While each one had his own presentation, there are three principles that are joint to all:

1. There is no End of Days without the ingathering of the Jewish exile. For the world to be fixed, Am Yisrael must return home. This phenomenon is happening before our excited eyes. It is not just that almost half of the nation has returned to Eretz Yisrael but that they have done so as a nation, not as individuals. Jewish nationalism has reemerged, with a Jewish state that extends to almost all of our Land, which is spiritually valuable. The reawakening of nationalism has gone hand-in-hand with our independence. One who does not thank Hashem for this runs the risk of being ungrateful, as it does not make sense to make gratitude conditional on arriving at the end of the process.

2. One of the prophets’ signs for the liberation is the “flowering” of Eretz Yisrael, which welcomes its children with a “beaming countenance,” like a bride toward her groom. In our times, the words of the prophets take on broader significance than in the past. Not only is there agricultural flowering but it extends to the fields of Torah scholarship, science, medicine, commerce, and satisfaction with life, which allows chesed enterprises to deal with all social issues. The Land produces brave sons of unparalleled levels. Belief in Hashem has taken off after the tragedy of Oct. 7.

3. The nations of the world will repent and will serve the Creator along with Am Yisrael. They will accept that Hashem chose Am Yisrael with love and gave it Eretz Yisrael, and that Hashem taught the founder of the first Jewish state, King David, that its spiritual center is Jerusalem and its Temple. The Rambam taught that the beginning of the long, complicated process is the ascent of Christianity and Islam, which fought and uprooted paganism in large parts of the world. The process of expanding belief in one special G-d has already begun. However, history has taught us how painful such a process can be, although in our days, there are improvements in fulfilling the prophets’ vision of religious cooperation.

Yeshayahu (2:1-4) foresaw the nations flocking to the Temple in Jerusalem. He continued to describe the emergence of Torah from there to be spread to the world and the beating of swords into plowshares.

Next week, we will discuss what happens to those who do not participate in the process.

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