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

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו

Inviting the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land

‘Let My People Go’

‘And may our eyes see Your return to Zion with compassion...’

The return to Zion today is ultimately the continuation of the Exodus from Egypt thousands of years ago. The goal of the Exodus was the People of Israel’s return to the Holy Land, and the return to this Land today does just that, returns our People to the Land after our latest exile. One of the important undertakings of our era is not just returning to the Land, but also developing the Jewish settlement in the entirety of this Land through full devotion and through the belief that this Land is a Godly given gift to the Jewish People.

This spirit of devotion toward the Holy Land so naturally permeates through the atmosphere of Hebron, as the Tikunei Zohar describes the calls of redemption, calling Israel back to the Holy Land, as blowing from Hebron. In this sense, Rabbi Moshe Levinger of Hebron can be seen as continuing the message of the Exodus, which began with Moshe Rabeinu, into our era, realizing the goal of this Exodus by returning to and re-settling the Holy Land. Indeed, it is also Pesah, the Day of the Exodus, of 1968, just after the Six Day War, that Rabbi Moshe Levinger is most famed for in his Seder Night at the Park Hotel in Hebron, which was the trailblazing event that brought forth the settlement of Judea and Samaria today.

Rabbi Levinger was born in Jerusalem in 1935, and studied at the Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva in Jerusalem under the guidance of Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook. In his own words, he learned "that the Land of Israel must be in the hands of the Jewish people - not just by making settlements, but also that this Land must be under Jewish sovereignty." Under the guidance of Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, Rabbi Levinger was a leading figure of Gush Emunim, a movement dedicated to settling Jews in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. Although Rabbi Levinger founded and lived in Kiryat Arba, he is famous for his work in Samaria as well, as representing the settlers of Sebastia, who later founded Elon Moreh and other settlements in Samaria.

In 1987, Hadashot asked a panel of twenty-two leading Israelis, from all parts of the political spectrum, to name the "person of the generation, the man or woman who has had the greatest effect on Israeli society in the last twenty years". First place in this poll was shared by Rabbi Levinger and Menachem Begin.

Rabbi Levinger was a symbol of simplicity, always traveled by hitchhiking or by bus, as he despised materialism. He was always on a mission, always active for the People of Israel and the Land of Israel. He did not engage in small talk, everything always revolved around the great goal - the Land of Israel.

Rabbi Levinger passed away in 5775, and was buried in Hebron’s Ancient Cemetery on Jerusalem Day, the famous liberation day of the Six Day War which liberated Judea and Samaria, to which Rabbi Levinger was so famous for settling.

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Real Stories from the Holy Land #249

‘During one great blizzard in Israel, a few children played underneath a pergola. Suddenly, a great crack was heard - the pergola collapsed in the snow... but no children were there. Just two minutes before, the children changed their place of play elsewhere.’

Sources: Wikipedia on Rabbi Levinger

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