Torah: To Live In Israel
Until the morrow of the seventh week, you shall count fifty days, and you shall offer a new meal offering to the Lord. From your dwelling places, you shall bring two loaves of bread that shall be waved. (Vayikra 23:16-17)
With the reading of Parshat Emor, we’re now into the heart of the counting of the Omer, the fifty days between Passover and Shavuot. The Sefer HaChinuch (13th Century Spain, anonymous), among others, describe this liminal time as a preparation for our receiving the Torah on Shavuot. Immediately following that commandment, our parashah commands the above, to bring two loaves of leavened bread as part of the sacrifice of Shavuot. This mitzvah could only be performed in the land of Israel, and interestingly, must be made from grains harvested in Eretz Yisrael. The Zohar explains the reason: “The two loaves symbolize the Torah, and one cannot attain a full understanding of the Torah outside the Land of Israel” (Parashat Bereshit).
Throughout my time in Israel this year, I’ve come to understand the truth in this statement. Until one has spent the year living in the land of Israel, it’s hard to understand why the Rabbis would mandate dwelling in sukkot in 30 degree weather (with snow!), why we sing “hashkediyah porachat” (the almond trees are blooming) on Tu B’shvat, or why Hanukkah is on the longest day of sunlight in the year (for our friends in the southern hemisphere). Until one has spent time in Israel, the Torah does not come alive. Here, you get a real sense of the distance our ancestors walked between Hebron and Jerusalem. You can step into mikvot from the Second Temple period that pilgrims would have cleansed in before heading to the Temple to sacrifice on chagim. You can walk Derech Avot, the road our ancestors would have traveled upon. You watch how the blooming of agriculture corresponds to our chagim. You can imagine the game of hide and seek played by David and Saul in its natural habitat. And you can see the magnitude of the supporting walls of the Temple, and can imagine just how large and imposing the Temple must have been when fully intact. To live in Israel is to walk the streets our ancestors walked on, to eat from the same soil they grew food in, and to worship Hashem in the same places. To live in the land of Israel is to realize that there’s a context to the Bible, that it’s not just a series of made up stories, but that there were real people that lived here, a real Jewish claim to the land.
While my time studying here may be coming to an end, my memories of Israel will stay with me through my prayer, divrei Torah, and, God willing, by bringing many people here to grapple with our long and complex history as a Rabbi, so that they may have their own relationship to this Land, and that they too can obtain a full understanding of the Torah.
Sam Blustin is an alumnus of the Conservative Yeshiva (2014-2015) and a current Rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary (Class of 2020). You can view more divrei Torah at www.samblustin.com or contact Sam directly at samblustin@gmail.com.
