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Ner Uziel
Perspectives on the ParashahRabbi Uziel Milevsky
Ner Uziel
For too short a time, until his passing at a young age, Rabbi Uziel Milevsky electrified his students with his masterful classes on Chumash. His discourses on themes in the parashah were profound yet understandable, deep but always lucid. As we read his explanations and savor his insights we feel that these words are emes - they are truth.
Ner Uziel collects the teachings of this illustrious scholar and teacher and allows those not privileged to have heard him to still reap the full benefit of his brilliance. 2 volumes, shrink-wrapped.
Book Excerpt from Ner Uziel
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Ner Uziel:
Rabbi Uziel Milevsky, a"h, a dynamic and beloved teacher, shares his perspectives on the parashah in a profound yet lucid manner that electrifies readers as it electrified his many students.
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Bereishis
Does Eretz Yisrael Really Belong to Us?
Rashi opens his commentary of the Five Books of the Torah with the question, Why does the Torah begin with an account of Creation? It would seem more logical for it to have begun with the verse “This month shall be for you the first month...” (Shemos 12:2).The basis for Rashi’s question is the fact that the Torah is neither a history book nor a genealogical record. It is an instruction manual that teaches us how to fulfill the will of God through mitzvah performance. This being the case, the Torah should have omitted the entire book of Bereishis and begun instead with the very first mitzvah that the Jewish people were given - “This month shall be for you….”
In answer to his own question, Rashi cites the verse “He declared to His people the power of His deeds, in order to give them the homelands of the nations” (Tehillim 111:6). He explains that the first book of the Torah establishes God’s sovereignty over the world and thereby justifies the Jewish people’s claim to Eretz Yisrael. When the gentile nations will accuse us of having “stolen” the Land of Israel from its rightful possessors (as is the case today), all we will have to do to validate our claim is to open the book of Bereishis and show the nations this account of Creation. When they see it, they should immediately retract their accusations and recognize our claim to the land. Evidently the book of Bereishis was included in the Torah specifically for the benefit of our generation.
At first glance, however, Rashi’s interpretation seems flawed. Our legitimate claim to Eretz Yisrael could have been proven just as well had the Torah started with “This month shall be for you…” This verse refers to the era preceding the Exodus from Egypt, which culminated in God’s leading the Jewish people into the Land of Israel. This in itself should suffice to validate our claim. Why, then, did God deem it necessary to include the works of Creation in the Torah?
The purpose of parashas Bereishis is not to teach us how God created the world. As a matter of fact, after reading Bereishis, we come away knowing less about Creation than we did before - “for every ‘handbreadth’ that the Torah reveals, it simultaneously conceals two.”
Consider the verse “God said, ‘There shall be light…’ ” (Bereishis 1:3). At first glance it seems eminently simple. However, the commentators explain that the Torah does not refer here to the visible light that surrounds us, but rather to a supernatural light which was set aside for the righteous in the World to Come (Chagigah12b). Sunlight was created three days later, on the fourth day of Creation.
Sefas Emes asks a fundamental question: Why does the Torah employ the same terminology in reference to both types of light? Is this not misleading?
Sefas Emes demonstrates that no other terminology would have been appropriate. Spirituality and corporeality are all one, he explains. They are merely two ends of a single continuum. Those entities which are manifest in both the spiritual and the physical dimensions must necessarily take on different properties, but in essence they are part of a single, unified whole.
In this context, light in its abstract, spiritual sense represents absolute truth; in the corporeal reality within which we live, light manifests itself as physical waves of electromagnetic radiation that make it possible for us to see with our human eyes.
The Kotzker Rebbe comments that the verse “The children of Israel had light in their dwellings” (Shemos 10:23) refers to that same supernal light that was created on the first day of Creation. God granted the Jewish people the celestial knowledge that emanates from this light, which He had set aside for the righteous in the World to Come. It was through this light that the Jews were able to discern where the Egyptians had hidden their valuable possessions.
Having glimpsed this exegetical approach, it becomes evident that we’ve hardly begun to understand the deeper significance of parashas Bereishis. Although we read it year after year, we fail to fathom its true meaning. Thus the question remains: Why did God deem it appropriate to include this parashah in the Torah at all?
God’s purpose was to teach us an essential truth - that the world was created ex nihilo, and holiness emanates from one Source: God, the Supreme Being; He alone brought the world into existence. The works of Creation are a manifestation of God’s absolute control over the dimensions of time and space.
God’s control over time is reflected in Shabbos. It is the source of holiness for the dimension of time; every holy day draws its sanctity from the seventh day of the week. Likewise, the Land of Israel reflects God’s control over space - Eretz Yisrael is the source of holiness for the dimension of space.
Let us now return to our original question: How does Bereishis, and the lessons it teaches, give us the right to lay claim to the Land of Israel? According to Aristotle’s postulation, that the world is eternally old, no one could claim divine right to any piece of land. Whichever nation settled in a given region first ought to be its rightful possessor. Were a nation to conquer that region and displace its original inhabitants, those conquerors would be considered thieves. This is in fact the prevalent attitude of society today. The Jewish people are perceived as having robbed Eretz Yisrael from its previous inhabitants, who are seen as the rightful possessors of the land.
Parashas Bereishis teaches us, though, that man does not have power over space. God wields sole control over all dimensions. Only He may determine which nation will take possession over the Land of Israel. If only we would internalize this concept and believe it, the nations would change their attitude toward us and recognize our claim to Eretz Yisrael.
At this point one might protest, “But many Jews believe that Eretz Yisrael is ours!” The problem is that our very belief that Eretz Yisrael belongs to us is misguided, for it is based on a falsehood. We must ask ourselves, Why do we think it belongs to us?
Some people think it is because the Jews won Israel’s War of Independence. But anyone who contemplates this logic will quickly realize that it is sheer nonsense. Since when is violence a legitimate method of taking possession of a piece of land? In plain language, that method of possession is considered outright theft!
Others say that Eretz Yisrael belongs to us because we were subjected to the Holocaust. This is even more ridiculous. If anything, the Holocaust might have justified a Jewish takeover of Germany; but what does the Holocaust have to do with Eretz Yisrael?
Any nationalist who does not believe in the Torah must know deep down that he is fooling himself, that he cannot present a single legitimate argument to substantiate his claim to Eretz Yisrael. The only irrefutable argument is that God, Who alone controls time and space, decreed that it be ours.
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