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<font size=3>Below are some selections from Rav Dr. Joseph Breuer's Essay
</font><font size=4>Israel — A Challenge </font><font size=3>that
appeared in the Mitteilungen, Vol. 24, December 1962/January 1963 and is
reproduced in A Unique Perspective: The Essays of Rav Breuer, 1914 -1973
recently published by Feldheim.<br><br>
A trip to Israel has become routine in our time. The amazing<br>
technological progress in the speed of air travel has helped in the<br>
enormous rise of volume of travelers bound for Israel. The Holy<br>
Land has become a focal attraction for the Diaspora. We would<br>
rather not analyze whether it is longing for the ancestral land
which<br>
motivates the travelers’ plan — a longing which all but consumed<br>
the heart of a Yehudah Halevi. Undoubtedly, the existence of a<br>
Jewish state in the Holy Land, recognized by a majority of the<br>
world’s nations, draws many thousands into its orbit, who then<br>
return home warmed by the glow of the numerous achievements<br>
which the State has accomplished in the brief period of its
existence.<br><br>
As for us Torah-true Jews, we must be permeated by the following<br>
thoughts:<br><br>
From the beginning the Jewish people was assured possession<br>
of Eretz Yisrael only as God’s nation. Every page of the Torah<br>
proclaims this irrevocable truth. To deny it would mean a denial of<br>
God’s Torah itself. Only he who no longer recognizes the truth of<br>
the Divine creative pronouncement of “I shall take you as My<br>
people” —with which God called our people into existence—will<br>
fail to grasp the absolute interdependence between the “I shall<br>
bring you to the Land” (Shemos 6:8) and the emergence of the<br>
Jewish people as God’s nation. The disruption of the sole tie that<br>
bound this nation to its land inevitably sealed the fate of nation
and<br>
land. <br><br>
Similarly, the future of this land is intimately and forever tied to<br>
the future of this nation. Redemption of the Jewish people also<br>
means redemption of the Jewish land. Thus, a true ingathering of<br>
our people into its land is not possible without our return to God<br>
and His life-shaping proximity. For the Land, too, longs for the<br>
return of God’s Shechinah.<br><br>
<snip><br><br>
For God guided His people, which His creative Will awakened<br>
to life and which can exist only through Him, and implanted it “in<br>
the Mountain of His heritage, in the site of His presence on earth,<br>
in the Sanctuary founded by God’s hands” (Shemos 15:17). Through<br>
God’s nation the Divinely sanctified soil was to be transformed into<br>
one singular Mount of Sanctity, looming high above a humanity<br>
estranged from God, as a symbol of the Divine claim of inheritance<br>
to His realm of earth and mankind. Who can then measure the<br>
gloom of the Prophet’s mourning (Yirmeyahu 2:7): “. . . but you<br>
came and desecrated My land and turned My heritage into
abomination”!<br><br>
Have we who tread upon the soil of our homeland still an ear<br>
for this stirring plaint? Do we feel shame for our brethren who<br>
respond with derisive laughter to this heart-rending pain; who feel<br>
no compunction to demonstrate to a world, which is familiar with<br>
the Book of the Prophets, how the very descendants of this people<br>
ridicule their own leaders?<br><br>
<snip><br><br>
Let us face it: The Jewish State in its present form is far from<br>
being a State of God. This realization is the basis for the
desperate<br>
struggle of Torah Jewry in Israel for the salvation of Torah in
Israel.<br>
Are not the establishment of the State and the resurrection of the<br>
land from the decay of millennia Divine challenges to our people?<br>
Are you ready for your ultimate redemption? That is why every<br>
truly Jewish man or woman must tremble for the future of the State,<br>
for the future of our land.<br><br>
Yet we need not tremble for the future of God’s Torah. Our<br>
anxiety is directed to our people and its God-willed destiny.
Despite<br>
the fateful significance of the tasks confronting Torah-true<br>
Jewry in the Holy Land, it would be of even greater fateful
consequence<br>
were we to underestimate the importance of strengthening<br>
Torah-true Jewry in the Golah.<br><br>
We applaud him who chooses to make his permanent domicile<br>
in Israel, in order to support and strengthen the cause of Torah in<br>
the Holy Land. However, in view of the regrettable state of affairs,<br>
a visitor to Israel will be burdened by the experiences which may<br>
be expected in the Golah but which are unbearable in the Holy<br>
Land.<br><br>
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