The secret of “The soul of the Jew yearns”

Parasha in our everyday life - Parshat Vayetze – Bnei Akiva’s Shabbat Irgun 5783

Rabbi Eliezer Shenvald - Head of the Hesder Yeshiva 'Meir Harel' Modiin

This Shabbat is known as "Bnei Akiva's Shabbat Irgun." This year the theme chosen for the month is "Nefesh Yehudi Homiyah- נפש יהודי הומיה- The soul of a Jew yearns." It is important to stimulate an ideological, educational and public debate on this issue. In the decade and a half that I was a member of the national board of Bnei Akiva, I stressed the importance of involving parents in the topic of the month. They should be partners in education with their children and with each other, and not just be the drivers back and forth to activities in the middle of the night, the launderers of stained clothes, or the 'cheerleaders' at performances.

It is not for nothing that the words "Nefesh Yehudi Homiya" by the poet Naftali Herz Imber (19th century) were adopted as the Zionist anthem and later as the Israeli national anthem (originally his poem was longer, with nine stanzas). In the original wording, the first stanza clarifies the meaning of his words:

As long as the "soul of a Jew still yearns" and waits and hopes to return to the land of Israel, the hope will not be lost to fulfill the dream of generations to return to Israel. The cry of the soul that pulses in the hearts, inspires, incites and gives rise to wonderful deeds of great magnitude to the point of devotion that makes the 'unbelievable' possible. And that is exactly what happened, as stated in the Declaration of Independence:

לאחר שהוגלה העם מארצו בכוח הזרוע שמר לה אמונים בכל ארצות פזוריו, ולא חדל מתפילה ומתקוה לשוב לארצו ולחדש בתוכה את חירותו המדינית.

מתוך קשר היסטורי ומסורתי זה חתרו היהודים בכל דור לשוב ולהאחז במולדתם העתיקה; ובדורות האחרונים שבו לארצם בהמונים, וחלוצים, מעפילים ומגינים הפריחו נשמות, החיו שפתם העברית, בנו כפרים וערים, והקימו ישוב גדל והולך השליט על משקו ותרבותו, שוחר שלום ומגן על עצמו, מביא ברכת הקידמה לכל תושבי הארץ ונושא נפשו לעצמאות ממלכתית.

“After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom.

Impelled by this historic and traditional attachment, Jews strove in every successive generation to re-establish themselves in their ancient homeland. In recent decades they returned in their masses. Pioneers, ma'pilim [(Hebrew) - immigrants coming to Eretz-Israel in defiance of restrictive legislation] and defenders, they made deserts bloom, revived the Hebrew language, built villages and towns, and created a thriving community controlling its own economy and culture, loving peace but knowing how to defend itself, bringing the blessings of progress to all the country's inhabitants, and aspiring towards independent nationhood…”

There is an ideological, educational and public importance about raising this issue. The State of Israel is a 'Jewish State' existing thanks to the dream of many generations and the rumbling of the Jewish soul that beat in their hearts. Its uniqueness and its right to exist. The cry of the Jewish soul is the basis and the guarantee of its future. The attempts to blur Israel’s unique identity, and to make it a 'state of all its citizens', considering the minorities living in it, endangers its existence and future. The State of Israel needs to take care of the rights of its minorities, but it must not lose its Jewish national identity because of it.

In the words, “in his heart within, a soul of a Jew still yearns” lies a deep secret that has no equal in the whole world. In the heart nestles and pulsates the soul of a Jewish, unique, special, imbued with faith cry. Throughout thousands of years, enormous efforts have been made to suppress it by nations and cultures all over the world. Forcing it to adopt emotions and customs of the peoples around and assimilate, through culture, coercion and conversion. However, it remained faithful to its inner soul. It didn't and couldn't change its special nature. This unique quality we inherited from our fathers and mothers, from Abraham and Sara, Yitzchak and Rivka, Ya’acov, Rachel and Leah. It passes through our DNA and spiritual inheritance from generation to generation.  

One should not conclude from this that one can be satisfied with the fact that it nestles in our hearts as a unique quality. It must be nurtured and strengthened all the time, through study and education, and through harnessing for action. In every generation it is challenged in different ways and with different strengths. We must develop tools to deal with and turn the changing challenges into empowering opportunities, from problems to solutions.

In the month of Kislev, we commemorate one of the most challenging periods in our past. The great victory over the attempt to Hellenize the people of Israel and lose their identity.

Our Parasha describes Ya’acov and his family’s moral challenge against the culture of lies and wickedness of Beit Laban. After twenty years, Ya’acov sums up this period (in a message to Eisav in Parashat Vayishlach):

וַיְצַ֤ו אֹתָם֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר כֹּ֣ה תֹאמְר֔וּן לַֽאדֹנִ֖י לְעֵשָׂ֑ו כֹּ֤ה אָמַר֙ עַבְדְּךָ֣ יַעֲקֹ֔ב עִם־לָבָ֣ן גַּ֔רְתִּי וָאֵחַ֖ר עַד־עָֽתָּה׃

“and instructed them as follows, “Thus shall you say, ‘To my lord Eisav, thus says your servant Ya’acov: I stayed with Laban and remained until now…” (Bereshit 32:5). Rashi explains that he also had to deal with spiritual challenges:

דָּ"אַ גַּרְתִּי בְּגִימַטְרִיָּא תרי"ג, כְּלוֹמַר, עִם לָבָן גַּרְתִּי וְתַרְיַ"ג מִצְוֹת שָׁמַרְתִּי וְלֹא לָמַדְתִּי מִמַּעֲשָׂיו הָרָעִים:

" גרתי I have sojourned- Another explanation: the word גרתי has the numerical value of 613 - תרי״ג - it is as much as to say, “Though I have sojourned with Laban, the wicked, I have observed the תרי״ג מצות, the 613 Divine Commandments, and I have learned naught of his evil ways”. (Rashi ibid)

In Laban's house there was idolatrous worship (idols- הַתְּרָפִ֖ים, Tanhuma Vayetze 12, and Ramban ibid 31 39), which could harm Ya’acov's spirituality. He managed to fully maintain his spirituality and identity. Dealing with the challenge strengthened even more and enriched his unique spiritual virtue.