Parshat Shoftim
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo in Hebron
בס"ד
Seeking the Honor of the Holy Presence in
Our Holy Land
"כִּי תָבֹא אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר ה' א-היך נֹתֵן לָךְ וִירִשְׁתָּהּ וְיָשַׁבְתָּה בָּהּ... שום תשים עליך מלך"
"And so give honor to Your People, praise to those that fear You, good hope to those that seek You... happiness to Your Land, gladness to Your city, a budding of the horn of David your servant, and a setting of the lamp for the son of Jesse, speedily in our days..." (Amida of Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur)
The spirit of the coming new year is already in the air, and with it the inspirational days of Elul leading to the days of Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur, about which it is said (Isaiah 55, 6) "seek HaShem when He is present, call unto Him when He is close" (Rosh HaShana 18a).
Indeed, the closeness of HaShem, the intensity of the Holy Presence, is greater at this time, and even more so in the Land of Israel, the "land that HaShem 'seeks' it, forever the 'Eyes of HaShem Your God' are upon it from the beginning of the Year (this is the only inference to the term Rosh HaShana in the Torah) till the end of the year" (Deut. 11, 12) It is this Land of the "Honor of God", a term used for the Holy Presence (see Onkelos in parshat Shlah and many places), that we pray on these holy days to be granted happiness in conjunction with the gladness of the holy city of Jerusalem and the ascent of the kingdom of David and the Messianic era.
Although many are aware of the concept of the Messianic era, much fewer are aware that this concept is really rooted to a commandment incumbent on the People. As we learn from our title quote in this week's parsha, there is a commandment to appoint a king upon Israel (Rambam Melachim Vemiklchamot 1), and the Messiah is the one who completes this commandment in its ideal state (ibid, 11-12).
As we see from our title quote, this commandment is dependent on Israel's entrance to the Land of Israel, and so rules Rambam in the very first law regarding kings (ibid 1, 1): "Three commandments Israel were commanded upon entering the Land of Israel: to appoint a king... to obliterate the descendants of Amalek... and to build the Bais HaMikdash... Appointing a king precedes the war with Amalek... and obliterating the seed of Amalek precedes the building of the Bais HaMikdash."
From this dependency of the commandment to appoint a king on the Land of Israel (it should be added that the Sifri deduces from the Torah's words that the king must be appointed in the Land of Israel, and more), we can understand why the fore-mentioned prayer on Rosh HaShana links the state of the Holy Land and Jerusalem to the Kingdom of David.
However, why is all this mentioned specifically in the prayers of Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur and not the entire year, and what does the honor of Israel, mentioned in the beginning of the prayer, have to do with "happiness in Your Land" and the return of the Kingdom of David? Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur are days of heightened awareness to the Kingship of God upon all, and thus we emphasize in our prayers the concepts of honor befitting a King, the "Royal Presence" in the form of higher intensity of His Holy Presence as found in the Holy Land and Jerusalem, and the concept of kingship itself in the form of the ideal Kingdom of David, for "the kingship on Earth has similarity to the Kingdom of Heaven" (Brachot 58a).
Ultimately, the honor of Israel, God's People, is the honor of our God-King, as David declares before Goliath who tried to diminish the honor of Israel (see Sam.I, 17, 25 and on): "You come before me with the sword... but I come before you in the name of HaShem the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel who you have dishonored." Thus, by praying for Messiah and working for his coming, we are working on greatening God's Honor, which means greatening HaShem's Presence through our "Holy People" (Deut. 14, 21) and the holy places, Jerusalem and the Holy Land which together illuminate the entire world with their Godly light.
It is Hebron, cradle of the Kingdom of David in its first stages, the burial place of the forerunners of royalty, Jesse and Ruth, the "City of the Patriarchs", who were promised royalty to their descendants by God, and the stronghold of sovereignty of Israel of today despite the multitudes who oppose us, that plays a crucial role in the advent of Jewish rule, and ultimately the recognized rule of God upon all Earth.
Real Stories from the Holy Land #30: "Today I came to Ma'arat HaMachpela before dawn to say Tehilim at the famous "Seven steps", since today Jews were restricted from entering the Ma'arat HaMachpela because of the Muslim's Ramadan. The Muslim's put their loud-speaker on so loud and for a long duration that it was difficult for me (and quite clearly also for others) to concentrate. I then decided to say the Tehilim loudly so I could concentrate. Immediately as I did so, the Muslim loud-speaker stopped suddenly and ceased entirely (there was no chance that the Muslims or police/soldiers heard me since the loud speaker was so loud)."
