Wednesday, August 05, 2020

Reasons to Feel Proud

BS”D
Parashat Aikev 5780
by HaRav Nachman Kahana


A: The Gemara (Shabbat 30b) records a didactic strategy that the illustrious amora Raba ben Nachmani would employ in order to gain the attention of his students before entering into a complex halachic discourse. He would begin with a humorous story or joke. So, in the spirit of the 15th of Menachem Av, one of the two happiest days in the lives of our ancestor’s years ago, permit me to begin with a light story.

In Chicago a 15-year-old 6’7” tall high school student who was a basketball star was dismissed from the team due to scholastic “shortcomings”. One day the teacher informed the class that he was giving the young man a chance to prove his intellectual prowess by answering one question! How much is 4 plus 5? After a moment of silence, the boy he replied “9“. At that moment the entire class rose to their feet begging, “Teacher, give him another chance”. The point of the story is that 10 years later, as a player in the NBA, he was paid millions of dollars a year by a company to promote their sport shoes. Intimating that if you wear them, you too will be able to leap as high as a kangaroo.

The power of endorsement!

B: This week’s parsha is the ultimate endorsement of a product by its producer. In chapter 8,7-10, the pasuk states:

ז) כי ה’ א-להיך מביאך אל ארץ טובה ארץ נחלי מים עינת ותהמת יצאים בבקעה ובהר:

ח) ארץ חטה ושערה וגפן ותאנה ורמון ארץ זית שמן ודבש:

ט) ארץ אשר לא במסכנת תאכל בה לחם לא תחסר כל בה ארץ אשר אבניה ברזל ומהרריה תחצב נחשת:

י) ואכלת ושבעת וברכת את ה’ א-להיך על הארץ הטבה אשר נתן לך:

7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills;

8 a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey;

9 a land where bread will not be scarce, and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron, and you can dig copper out of the hills.

10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.


And in verses 11 through 12 the Torah relates the greatness of Eretz Yisrael, as endorsed by the Creator Himself.

ארץ אשר ה’ א-להיך דרש אתה תמיד עיני ה’ א-להיך בה מרשית השנה ועד אחרית שנה

A land which the Lord your God perpetually demands (cares for); the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.


These are not mortals recommending sport shoes. This is the ultimate endorsement; the Creator Himself who constantly observes what is occurring in His holy land. In a similar vein I wish to endorse the wonders of our great Medinat Yisrael, as it is being led upwards by the Creator Himself.

C: An excerpt from my forthcoming autobiography, to be entitled “Aliya Made Us” (not we made aliya).

A month before the opening of the school year, we went to acquaint ourselves with our future home in Moshav Nechalim, halfway between the airport and Petach Tikva. According to my contract signed in New York, the yeshiva committed to provide us with housing. The exact word in the contract was “tzrif”, which translated in our dictionary to bungalow or hut. We convinced ourselves that “bungalow” would be the more realistic meaning.

Upon arriving in Nechalim, we were warmly greeted by Rabbi Yosef Bagad, who had established the yeshiva. He took us to see the “tzrif” which would be our first home in the Holy Land and was intended to house all of our life’s material possessions.

As we made our way to the tzrif, we were joined by a workman who was dragging a lawn mower. I had the feeling that this was not a portent of good things to come. We arrived at a small wooden hut whose entrance was obscured by tall grass. The worker cut the grass and we entered. However, the grass did not stop at the entrance, but continued growing in the two rooms of the hut between the tiles which comprised the floor. I looked at Feige; she looked at me, and we both looked at Rabbi Bagad. He half apologized and half encouraged us with something to the affect that “Eretz Yisrael is built from the ground up…”

A memory which lives on with me, is the picture of Feige sitting on the floor of the hut with scissors in hand cutting the grass between the tiles. Another scene which always brings a smile to my face is when Feige would daily take a pot to a farmer-neighbor and return with milk warm from the cow, and freshly laid eggs. There was also the local grocery where we and many others would purchase a half loaf of bread because a whole one was expensive.

Now to the point.

This week Feige and I were hosted to a grand tour of the luxurious Jerusalem Estates Project, which is being constructed on the former Shneller army base, in the neighborhood of Geula.

The guide was our son Efrayim, one of Yerushalayim’s master builders. He is the project manager whose responsibilities are quality control and synchronization of the over 30 contractors and sub- contractors in the beehive of the project.

This is not a recommendation to purchase an apartment or two or five as some very wealthy religious families have done, but a testament to the advances our Medina has made in the 58 years that we have participated in that destiny.

I cannot describe the beauty of the planned 13 building complex, of which 5 are now being completed. We entered one completed furnished apartment whose owner agreed could serve as a model. The interior furnishings cost over one million shekels; the lighting and audio systems and all the other automatic systems were very sophisticated.

Two thoughts came to my mind while viewing this project. That if this is olam hazeh (this world), what does Gan Eden look like? The other is more practical and is the point of this week’s article.

When we came on aliya in 1962, a luxury apartment consisted of 3 rooms: 2 bedrooms and a living room (kitchen and bathrooms are not counted separately in Israel). It cost in the area of $35,000 to $40,000, which was out of the reach of the vast majority of Israelis. My salary was 400 liras a month, equal at the time to $115.

Construction is only one aspect of our national effort to restore the grandeur that was once Am Yisrael. Not to mention the 110-story building which will be constructed in Ramat Gan.

Despite its small area the Medina is on the cutting edge of the main areas of science and technology, just to mention a few: solar power, natural gas, space science and technology, aerospace engineering, agricultural engineering, computer engineering, cybersecurity, hydraulic engineering, water-saving technologies, military engineering, life sciences and biotechnology.

And in the Torah world; there are more students and talmidei chachamim in this little city of Yerushalayim than in all the other parts of the world combined.

So, the Jews in Eretz Yisrael must be doing something right, as this week’s parasha states:

והיה עקב תשמעון את המשפטים האלה ושמרתם ועשיתם אתם ושמר ה’ א-להיך לך את הברית ואת החסד אשר נשבע לאבתיך:

ואהבך וברכך והרבך וברך פרי בטנך ופרי אדמתך דגנך ותירשך ויצהרך שגר אלפיך ועשתרת צאנך על האדמה אשר נשבע לאבתיך לתת לך

When you abide by these laws and are deliberate in following them, the Lord your God will keep His covenant of love with you, as He swore to your ancestors. He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land, your grain, new wine and olive oil, the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land He swore to your ancestors to give you.


As we near the end of the Book of Devarim and look back at what we read during the past year, it becomes clear that in addition to all else the Torah is a love story. A love story between the Creator and Am Yisrael. He is the eternal chattan and we His kallah. There is no sin too dastardly, nor wayward act, for HaShem to forgive, HaShem patiently waits for us to return to Him.

So, let’s be proud of who we are and who made us what we are and remember the three Bs:

B careful, B healthy, B here

– and JLMM Jewish Lives Matter More

Shabbat Shalom,
Nachman Kahana
Copyright © 5780/2020 Nachman Kahana

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