Excerpted from Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider’s Torah United: Teachings on the Weekly Parasha from Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, and the Chassidic Masters, co-published by OU Press and Ktav Publishing House
The Life-giving Torah
After wandering the desert for forty years, the Jewish people were finally on their final approach to the promised land. Having had more than enough time to prepare for their arrival, their enemies set a massive ambush of devastating potential in the crevices and caves along Wadi Arnon. Little did they know, however, that the ark preceded the people and miraculously leveled the terrain to make it more easily traversable. This time, it brought the two sides of the riverbed together and crushed all the would-be murderers lying in wait. The Jewish people would have remained blissfully unaware of the threat and its neutralization if not for two people afflicted with the special skin condition tzara’at residing temporarily outside the camp, who noticed blood trickling out of the rock. When they reported their discovery to the camp, the entire people burst into a song of thanksgiving.
Rav Avraham Yitzchak Hakohen Kook unpacked this account recorded in the Talmud as a figure of things to come. The ark which was imbued with the power to bring down mountains and clear a path for the nation of Israel represents the Torah’s power and vitality, which serve as a source of strength and guidance for all time. Since the birth of our people, numerous enemies have attempted to eradicate us physically and spiritually, to prevent us from achieving our lofty aspirations. Sometimes they conceal dangerous ideas like mines, waiting for centuries to be tripped and cause mayhem. By virtue of our allegiance to the Torah, the Talmud tells us, our ultimate safety and success as a people are assured.
The jubilant song that followed the dispatching of the ambushers begins, “Rise, well” (Numbers 21:17). The Torah as water, well, or fount is common imagery in the Torah, since the Jewish people drink of its endless wellspring of knowledge and wisdom. The Jewish people expressed their thanks to the Torah, the water that kept them alive. This may explain why Moshe did not lead them in song as he did at the sea some forty years earlier. The bond between the people and their Torah, the way of life that will guide them when they enter and settle their land, is unmediated.
One of the most puzzling aspects of this episode is the role of the two metzora’im. Traditionally, tzara’at appears on one’s body to signify some spiritual imperfection. So why were such individuals privy to this information? Rav Kook explained that the metzora’im at the edge of the camp represent Jews on the fringes who have experienced the world and understand the dangers that lurk therein. Jews in the midst of the camp, even the most sheltered ones, can see a frontal attack coming. It is hard to miss the open hatred, whether shouted at anti-Semitic rallies, displayed in Nazi tattoos, or acted upon through physical violence. Sometimes, though, our enemies come at us from the flanks or from the modern-day equivalent of caves – tunnels below the ground. The God-fearing Jew may not have the capacity to think like the insidious enemy and imagine these invisible threats. It is precisely those on the margins who can comprehend the peril, appreciate the salvation, and disclose God’s greatness to the entire people.
It is difficult not to read between the lines of this piece and see Rav Kook recording his own thoughts about momentous events unfolding before his very eyes. With the modern mass return to the land, Rav Kook believed that it was vital for the Torah to serve as the foundation of the emergent Israeli society. The Jew’s return home would renew ties to the land, and the whole body of agricultural Halachah, for example, would need careful application to present realities. In addition, Rav Kook felt that the ingathering of the Jewish people demanded unconditional appreciation of every single Jew and his or her contribution to the blossoming of the people in their land.
Rav Kook weaved together this vision of Torah, people, and land united in a beautiful response to the national anthem, “Ha-Tikvah” (The Hope), which he did not find satisfying. He titled this hymn “Ha-Emunah” (The Faith):
Notably, Rav Kook used two words from the ancient song in Parashat Chukat to end the song: “a gift from the desert” (Numbers 21:18). While this is traditionally taken as a reference to the Torah given in the wilderness of Sinai, the words can also be understood to refer to the Land of Israel. Indeed, coming home to our land was the ultimate gift for a people on its feet all those years. The destiny begun in our land by Avraham eons ago, and which can again be met by so many of our people, is to be a holy people, following the holy Torah, living in our Holy Land. Rav Kook’s wonderful vision has fittingly inspired many generations of Religious Zionists, and should serve as inspiration to us all.
