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Parshat Eikev
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו

Discovering the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land

והיה אם שמוע תשמעו

“Blessed are You HaShem Who chooses His People Israel with love.”

This blessing, said just before reciting the Shema completes the reciprocal description of the loving relationship between God and Israel, for in the Shema we describe Israel’s obligation to love God. One of the interesting aspects of the love of HaShem upon Israel to contemplate is the fact that in this Recitation of the Shema contains also a section which describes HaShem’s retribution upon Israel when Israel do not observe the commandments and serve idolatry. When we contemplate this matter we may come to the conclusion that it is actually through HaShem’s love upon us that He brings upon us retribution, as the verse says ‘to those that HaShem loves He shall scold.’ Just as a loving father  scolds his son for his bettering, so too HaShem brings upon us troubles for our improvement.

On a deeper level, it is actually the Providential nature of retribution that makes people notice God and awaken themselves from the ‘foreign worship’ they were previously occupied with. This is the simple meaning of the verse in Hazinu talking about the retribution upon Israel, ‘How can one [person] pursue a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their [Mighty] Rock has sold them out, and the Lord has given them over?’

On a yet deeper level, one can connect one’s own troubles to the ‘suffering/exile of the Holy Presence’. This means elevating one’s conscious to perceive that one’s own suffering is essentially a kind of revelation from HaShem on the state of the Holy Presence from which one’s soul is derived like a spark from a great fire, so-to-speak.Through this ‘revelation’ one is meant to realize God’s love upon oneself, to realize that HaShem Himself is communicating to us through this hardship to come ever ‘closer’ to us in order to bring us closer to Him.

In this way we understand why it is said ‘there are no happier days than Tu B’Av and Yom Kippur.’ Indeed, both Tu B’Av and Yom Kippur are days when we return greatly to HaShem.  Just as Yom Kippur is a day of repentance, so too on Tu B’Av we return to God through internalizing just before the message of Tisha B'Av, the retribution-day of the ages, ‘the loving scolding of our Father in Heaven’. When this message will be fully internalized, not only will Tu B'Av be a day of rejoice, but also Tisha B'Av itself will become a day of rejoice, b”h may this occur speedily in our days.

One of the important events of Hebron that occurred at this time of the year was the Massacre of Tarpat (1929). We can visit the tombs of the martyrs of Tarpat in Hebron’s Ancient Cemetery and take contemplation. Let us contemplate this event as a message for us all. This event occurred in the City of our Patriarchs, the common roots of our whole people and also of mankind. With no doubt, our ancestors had great pain that such an event occurred in their cherished city, and thereby we, as their children, also feel their pain. Yet, it is this pain that awakens us to realize that HaShem is communicating with us through this incident.

Through this contemplation, let each one of us feel their personal ‘revelation’ from HaShem to bring each one of us closer to Him and His Holy Presence. Let us internalize this message in our thoughts, speech, and actions. Let us open the channels to our hearts and make ourselves emerge through these very channels in the rejoicing of Redemption. 

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Real Stories from the Holy Land #230

‘On the eve of Tu B’Av I was stuck with a dilemma whether to go to the Tomb of Joseph in Shechem (which is rarely opened today) or to go to a wedding of the daughter of a friend of mine. Therefore, I felt an urge to consult with my Rabbi to ask him for his opinion, to which he advised me to do what my heart desires. After asking my Rabbi, he asked me if I had received the invitation to his daughter’s wedding that very evening (!), to which I answered that I had not...  Thus, on Tu B’Av night I went to two weddings, of my Rabbi’s daughter and that of my friend’s daughter, and also sent part of my family to pray at the Tomb of Joseph on our behalf and on behalf of all Israel...’ A.I

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