Back in my charedi days, my objection to the prayer for the State of Israel was that it describes the state as reishit tzmichat ge’ulateinu, the first sprouting of redemption. As my mentors taught me, how on earth can such a claim be asserted? After all, the state was founded by secularists!
Later, as I started to learn more about Jewish theology and history, and realized that events of profound religious significance do not necessarily have to involve people of impeccable religious credentials, I still had an issue with it. Yes, it’s possible that the State of Israel is the start of the Final Redemption, but who can say for sure?
Today, as Israel burns with wildfires apparently set by arsonists, fighting a war on so many fronts with Iran getting ever closer to nukes, and so internally divided, with the ever-growing charedi community determinedly driving the state towards economic collapse, I am certainly not convinced that Israel will never fall. Of course, you can never predict the future, but that cuts both ways. Even putting aside all the problems listed above, there’s global warming and AI, which threaten the entire world. Who can say that the State of Israel will never fall?
But actually, I have a separate reason for disliking the phrase reishit tzmichat ge’ulateinu.
Israel isn’t merely the hoped first step of a redemption. It’s a redemption all by itself.
A redemption does not need to be the Final Redemption in order to be a meaningful redemption. We celebrate the redemption from Egypt, even though that wasn’t the final redemption, even though the Jewish People ended up in exile, and even though that entire generation died in the Wilderness. Because it was a meaningful redemptive event, along with a fundamental change in situation for the Bnei Yisrael.
Most of us are too young to come close to fully appreciating the significance of the State of Israel. But if you learn about the history of the Jewish People - not just the Holocaust, but all the persecution that went on - you can start to grasp the significance. For two thousand years the Jewish People were the lowest of nations, persecuted and massacred and expelled all over the world, not even able to find any country that would take them in on the eve of the Holocaust. And then, just a few years after suffering the worst genocide in history, we won a spectacular political and military victory and regained sovereignty in our homeland. It’s the most extraordinary instance of redemption that has happened in the entire history of the world.
This is not even to mention all the things that the Jews in Israel have been able to accomplish ever since, and as a result of, the miracle and redemption and transformation of 1948. If I started to list those, that would be a post unto itself.
And if you think that only a Zionist would see things this way, think again. Read the following extract from a letter from none other than Rav Dessler:
Regarding that which we are now in the Holy Land - it is difficult to describe it at present as the beginning of the Redemption. But in any case it is certainly a great kindness from one extreme to another - from the extreme of the suffering of the destruction of six million of our brethren (may God repair the breach) to the other extreme - the settlement of our nation in the Holy Land. From this, we need to learn and establish emunah in our hearts; woe to the one who comes to the Day of Judgement and is still blind from perceiving this tangible reality. (Michtav Me-Eliyahu vol. III, p. 352)
(I’d speculate even further. There is a Midrash which states that when the Messianic Era arrives, there will be no more festivals except Purim (and Chanukah, according to Rav Moshe Feinstein). Bnei Yissascher and others explain that the other festivals will not actually be cancelled, but rather they will pale into insignificance. I’m not so sure that this would be true for Yom HaAtzma’ut; I think it would remain at least as significant as Purim and Chanukah.)
It makes no difference what happens from this point on. It makes no difference if Israel is the first step to a Messianic utopia or if it turns into a third world country that is too weak to fight Iran or if it becomes too hot to live in. Nothing negates the amazing transformation of our nation’s fate and character that took place. Nothing cancels the accomplishments that God has helped the Jewish People achieve in the past 77 years. Nothing can undo the blazing message that our nation can soar from the depths to the heights.
I’ll leave you with this beautiful text for an Al HaNissim for Yom Ha-Atzmaut, one of several that have been composed, which makes no promises about the future, just expressing appreciation for the wonder of what has already happened:
The is indeed the correct perspective, and very important:
"Who can say that the State of Israel will never fall?
But actually, I have a separate reason for disliking the phrase reishit tzmichat ge’ulateinu.
Israel isn’t merely the hoped first step of a redemption. It’s a redemption all by itself.
A redemption does not need to be the Final Redemption in order to be a meaningful redemption. We celebrate the redemption from Egypt, even though that wasn’t the final redemption, even though the Jewish People ended up in exile, and even though that entire generation died in the Wilderness. Because it was a meaningful redemptive event, along with a fundamental change in situation for the Bnei Yisrael."
This is a fundamental major general insight: things hold value in the present even if circumstances later shift.
That's the thing that intuitive thinking doesn't get: people intuitively believe (and this is exacerbated by fundamentalist beliefs) that things only have value for some future utopia, and if that utopia doesn't arrive, then it's all for naught
Whether or not the world falls apart all around us or the country implodes due to its own dysfunction are things that we cannot know as we don’t know the future. However, we do now have the benefit of 77 years of hindsight and I would note some things that you did not mention, perhaps you were not aware of. Number one: Prior to 1948,
95%-99% of Jews in the world lived in חו״ל. This percentage has remained static since the destruction of the temple. Even as Jews began to come to Israel in the 1800s and early 1900s, the percentage of Jews living outside the land of Israel remained largely unchanged as 95 to 99% of Jews remained living outside the land. In the past 77years, we have seen the percentages shift to approximately 50% of Jews worldwide living in the land of Israel. This is a phenomenon that has not happened in 2000 years. At what point do we then say that this is the in gathering of the exiles. Does it need to be 55%? 80%? 100%? If we take the dictum of רובו ככולו, then this indeed is the אתחלתא דגאולה. Secondly there is the statement in the Talmud that the clearest sign that the redemption is on the way is that the land of Israel begins to bear fruit. When compared to 77 years ago, there has been an agricultural revolution here that is obvious for everyone see. Israel as a major grain, fruit and vegetable producer/supplier. Such did not exist prior to 1948. And lastly, I would observe that if God wanted to end this entire experiment, He could have allowed nature to take its course and allowed the country to lose one or all of its existential wars. Then it would’ve collapsed and disappeared. Within the face of all these existential wars and internal problems, the country still stands, the percentage of Jews living here continues to grow, and all the while it has become a leading exporter of technological advancement. If at the time one wasn’t sure that 1948 was the beginning of the sprouting of redemption, then taking an objective view of the events of the past 77 years and what could have happened in the negative should be proof enough.
Great piece, beautifully stated.
The is indeed the correct perspective, and very important:
"Who can say that the State of Israel will never fall?
But actually, I have a separate reason for disliking the phrase reishit tzmichat ge’ulateinu.
Israel isn’t merely the hoped first step of a redemption. It’s a redemption all by itself.
A redemption does not need to be the Final Redemption in order to be a meaningful redemption. We celebrate the redemption from Egypt, even though that wasn’t the final redemption, even though the Jewish People ended up in exile, and even though that entire generation died in the Wilderness. Because it was a meaningful redemptive event, along with a fundamental change in situation for the Bnei Yisrael."
This is a fundamental major general insight: things hold value in the present even if circumstances later shift.
That's the thing that intuitive thinking doesn't get: people intuitively believe (and this is exacerbated by fundamentalist beliefs) that things only have value for some future utopia, and if that utopia doesn't arrive, then it's all for naught
Whether or not the world falls apart all around us or the country implodes due to its own dysfunction are things that we cannot know as we don’t know the future. However, we do now have the benefit of 77 years of hindsight and I would note some things that you did not mention, perhaps you were not aware of. Number one: Prior to 1948,
95%-99% of Jews in the world lived in חו״ל. This percentage has remained static since the destruction of the temple. Even as Jews began to come to Israel in the 1800s and early 1900s, the percentage of Jews living outside the land of Israel remained largely unchanged as 95 to 99% of Jews remained living outside the land. In the past 77years, we have seen the percentages shift to approximately 50% of Jews worldwide living in the land of Israel. This is a phenomenon that has not happened in 2000 years. At what point do we then say that this is the in gathering of the exiles. Does it need to be 55%? 80%? 100%? If we take the dictum of רובו ככולו, then this indeed is the אתחלתא דגאולה. Secondly there is the statement in the Talmud that the clearest sign that the redemption is on the way is that the land of Israel begins to bear fruit. When compared to 77 years ago, there has been an agricultural revolution here that is obvious for everyone see. Israel as a major grain, fruit and vegetable producer/supplier. Such did not exist prior to 1948. And lastly, I would observe that if God wanted to end this entire experiment, He could have allowed nature to take its course and allowed the country to lose one or all of its existential wars. Then it would’ve collapsed and disappeared. Within the face of all these existential wars and internal problems, the country still stands, the percentage of Jews living here continues to grow, and all the while it has become a leading exporter of technological advancement. If at the time one wasn’t sure that 1948 was the beginning of the sprouting of redemption, then taking an objective view of the events of the past 77 years and what could have happened in the negative should be proof enough.