Jewish Culture and Jewish Religion

By Moshe Feiglin

And Yehoshua bin Nun and Calev ben Yefuneh, from those spying out the Land tore their garments. And they said to the entire congregation of the Children of Israel 'The Land through which we passed to spy it out - the Land is very, very good. If G-d desires us He will bring us to the Land and give it to us; a Land flowing with milk and honey. (From this week's Torah portion, Shlach Lecha, Numbers 14:)

The sin of the spies is not the average sin committed by a person who could not control himself. These were the leaders of the nation, sent by G-d. Certainly, they knew how to control their evil inclinations. Their sin was on a deeper and more serious plane. The spies did not fall asleep during their guard duty; they forgot what they were supposed to be guarding, altogether.

When former Mossad Chief Meir Dagan says that it is stupid to attack Iran, it could very well be that on a purely operational level - he is right. But once again, one of the leaders of the Children of Israel forgot that the problem is not the Iranian bomb, but the fact that Iran has planted a question mark over the right of the State of Israel to exist. The sin of the spies is the sin of missing the mark in an ocean of details. It is the sin of he who cannot see the forest through the trees.

Judaism has a destiny that can be fulfilled only through the Land of Israel. The Torah defines that destiny as, "And you shall be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." In other words, the Jewish People must be a nation that lives its sovereign life in a way that bears testimony to its Creator. G-d did not command us to live a sanctified life but rather to live a sanctified sovereign life. This condition can only be met in our Land.

When the Holy Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and we were exiled from our Land, there was no choice. In order to preserve the nation, our Sages created a "virtual Temple" that was based primarily on Jewish law. In other words, Judaism turned into religion.

The spies wanted to remain in the religious dimension alone. They preferred to remain in the desert, safely outside historic reality. Not only did they miss the point, but they had a completely different goal in mind. The dimensions of their mistake transform it into an essential sin. Instead of believing in G-d and trusting Him, the heads of the Children of Israel chose the easy route - to be "religious."

The pinnacle of the connection between the physical and the metaphysical is the Temple and the Temple Mount. While this location has coordinates on a physical map, it is a place through which the Creator chose to manifest His Presence in His world; a place that a person can physically access and where he can find refuge in the palace of the King of Kings. While totally incomprehensible to us, this is what G-d commanded and it is for this purpose that He created the Nation of Israel. Our denial of the Temple Mount and the Temple, our attempt to leave them for the "Messiah" - smacks of that same desire to relegate Judaism to the dimensions of religion, alone.

It is only natural, then, that Manhigut Yehudit, the movement that strives to rectify the sin of the spies and to connect the Torah of Israel to reality, is one of the organizations heavily involved in the return to the Temple Mount.

This Tuesday, the 19th of Sivan, our monthly ascent to the Temple Mount will take place. We will meet at the entrance to the Temple Mount at 7:30 after all halachic preparations and in non-leather shoes. Please join us.

Shabbat Shalom