Land of Israel

In Tana D'Bei Eliahu, Eliahu Hanavi teaches us that when the People of Israel settle in the Land of Israel, Hashem's Name is sanctified around the world. We therefore exalt Hashem's Name by settling in the Land of Israel and building it, as we learn today...

Elija the Prophet went up to Heaven with horses of fire. Fire in Hebrew is "Aish", Aleph-Shin. This are also the first letters of "Emuna" and "Shalom" - emuna and peace carry us high also.

Aliya, like everything else, only makes sense in the context of emuna. People worry about Israel's economic and military challenges as well as other difficulties when opting to remain in the Diaspora, but they rarely ask themselves the true question: what does Hashem want from me? Don't be afraid and see this:

Derech Avot, "The Way of the Forefathers," is the ancient road between Hevron and Jerusalem used to make pilgrimage to our Holy Temple from the south. On the way, there are a series of ritual baths - mikvas - that pilgrims would use to purify themselves. Rabbi Lazer Brody shows the remarkable lesson we learn here, for we're not just talking about a "way" to travel along, but a way to live our lives.

Successful Aliya depends on emuna, but to attain complete emuna, a person must make Aliya. Here's why:

Rabbi Lazer Brody tells the story of the village of Etri in the Judean Hills from the time of the Second Temple and its heroic fall to the Romans in 135 CE; featuring special guest Menachem Herman. "Belief in Hashem, no matter what the adversity, is the greatest freedom there is."

You're invited to a very special Succoth event with Shlomo Katz and Lazer Brody; here's all about, with beautiful music by Shlomo and exquisite views of the Land of Israel - Chag Sameach!

Throughout Tanach, "Hashem's vineyard" (see Isaiah 5:7, for example) is a metaphor for the Land of Israel and the vines symbolize the Jewish People. On the Sabbath, we sing the ancient "Dror Yikra" sonnet that was composed over a thousand years ago by Donash ben Labert from Spain, where he alludes to a prophecy in Jeremiah 2:21 when Hashem promises that He will replant the "cuttings" - those who have been cut off from their ancient homeland - in His vineyard. As such, the flourishing vineyards in the Land of Israel are a clear sign of the imminent redemption and ingathering of the exiles, as is we see today with our own eyes.

Jeremiah the Prophet says that right before Moshiach comes, vineyards will be planted in the Land of Israel. Throughout the Scripture, vines are a parable for the Jewish People. Both the sons and the vines grow best on their native soil.

If you don't think that our Talmudic sages saw far into the future with their crystal-clear spiritual vision, then hear today's podcast, which shows just how the holy Raba bar Bar Chana saw what would happen in our generation in general, and with the upheaval of COVID-19 in particular.

Here's today's emuna news: the preoccupation with Coronavirus has taken the focus away from Israel's northern border, where an acute threat of hundreds of thousands of Hizbolla and Iranian missiles are aimed at us right now. Moses saw all this in this week's Torah portion...

We've just entered the Three Weeks again, the notorious period between the 17th of Tammuz and Tisha B'Av, when the worst things happened to the Jewish People throughout history. We can't understand the Three Weeks without understanding the root of Tisha B'Av and the destruction of both Holy Temples. It was the eve of Tisha B'Av when the twelve spies returned to the Israelite encampment from 40 days of scouting out the Land of Israel. All of them except for Calev ben Yephuneh from the tribe of Judah and Yehoshua Bin Nun from the tribe of Ephraim said slander about the Land of Israel and about how dangerous it was. That night, the entire Israelite nation sat in their tents and cried. Hashem said to them, "OK, you want to cry for nothing? I'll give you plenty of real reasons to cry for generations to come." What's the connection between the sin of the spies and everything that's happening to us today?