A Local Call

Howdy Everyone…

We here at Doctor Hazak Incorporated would like to express our most sincere apologies for having neglected our extraordinary fan base during the past few weeks. Following Passover, a number of happenings kept our staff from producing any Blog-Worthy Material (other than our lead writer's unprecedented 13-Round Knockout Victory over Former Heavyweight Champion Lennox Lewis) and due to resource-allocation difficulties and management-miscommunications the Blog was left without its normal driving force at the helm.

Anyways, in response to the overwhelming need for further Hazak in this world, we present you with these few words of wisdom from this week’s Torah Portion: Behar-Behukotai. Leviticus 25:38 reads, “I am Hashem your God, Who took you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, to be a God unto you." In his commentary on the Torah, the great medieval scholar Rashi explains that God gave the land of Canaan to the Israelite nation as his part in the covenant at Mount Sinai; the same covenant in which Am Yisrael agreed to keep the 613 Commandments. Rashi then expounds the last part of the line, “To be a God unto you,” to mean, ‘anyone living in the land of Israel has Hashem as their God where as anyone living outside of Eretz Yisrael is comparable to an idolater.”

The obvious question of course, is how can Rashi say this? What about all of the great Jewish leaders who lived outside of Israel during the various Exiles? What about Rashi himself who lived in France (Clearly the Worst of the Nations)? The answer (with a dash of Kabalah to spice it up) is that amongst the nations of exile, God hides his face and it is necessary to go through various spiritual messengers (Malachim/Angels) for one’s prayers to reach Him. In Eretz Yisrael, God’s Splendor is tangible—If You Don’t Believe in Miracles Just Open Your Eyes (Rav Shimon Hurwitz Shlita)—and your can reach him directly. Forgive the overused metaphor but in Israel speaking with God is a Local Call.

So B’Kitzur—“to sum it up quickly”—The Jewish People’s Presence in The Land of Israel is contingent upon our following the laws of the Torah as given to Moshe Rabenu at Mt. Sinai; and get to Israel and make Aliyah before the Jerks at Verizon figure out at way to charge you seventy-five cents per minute for calling your Maker.

Link Time:
If you Missed out on Lag Ba’Omer and want to see what Hasidic Woodstock looks like: http://www.rashbimeron.org/
If you think that Arab Terrorism was at its lowest when they started sending suicide bombers to blow up Israeli night clubs then you haven’t met Hamas’ Mickey Mouse: http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD157707