In my hometown, Beit Shemesh, they distribute free newspapers and newsletters... and some are exclusively dedicated to the parsha of the week.
One of the newsletters which is basically dedicated to whats happening in Beit Shemesh is called "Temurah" and even though chareidim is not their target audience, they do add a "dvar Torah."
This week's "dvar Torah" was submitted by a Chabadniker by the name of Harav Eliezer Veiner.
He starts off very nice explaining how Avraham Aveenu bought the Mearas Ha'machpeilah with good money for a steep price, so that Sarah, his late wife, would never be part of the "Bnei Cheis" even after her death ..and so he made sure to own the property ... and then to ultimately give this as a heritage to his descendants ...
All nice and good..... right?
Not so fast.... in his very last paragraph he goes off on a tangent to embed Chabad theology into this sacred story ..
which would be ok ..except this last paragraph is blasphemous ...
He tells a story of the third Lubavitcher Rebbe (1789-1866), R' Dovber who was known by the title the "Tzemach Tzedek."
It seems that a Jew went to the Rebbe for his blessings as he wanted to make Aliyah ... the Rebbe instead of giving him his blessings told him..
"Make Eretz Yisrael here."
Rabbi Veiner explains that "when a Jew takes a material object or anything and in turn makes it holy, and performs a mitzvah with that object or place ... he turns that place into holiness.. into Eretz Yisrael"
So I know you are wondering....you are scratching your itchy head trying to understand why this is "blasphemous?"
It's "blasphemous" on so many levels that I don't even know where to begin ...
I'll just scratch the surface..
First ...
Know that just like the Catholic Church pre 1993, Chabad does not recognise the State of Israel....... nope.... they absolutely do not recognise it ... even though you may argue that the previous rebbe did meet with the President and Prime Ministers of Israel... he met them as Jews and as leaders of Jews ... not as representatives of the State of Israel....
So Rabbi Viner knowing the above story of the Tzemach Tzedik, couldn't reconcile this story with the parsha and was wondering why Avraham Aveenu would buy land in Chevron, part of Eretz Yisrael, and pay top dollar ..if he could just buy a cheap piece of land in nearby Iraq and "make this land into Eretz Yisrael"and bury his wife Sarah with her parents and grandparents in Chutz Le'aaretz ....as the Tzemach Tzedik suggested to that poor Jew "make Eretz Yisrael here" ... a Jew who because of this advice probably lost all his descendants in the Holocaust or were most likely assimilated into the Russian secular society ......never to be heard of again..
So instead of saying to himself ... "hey... this story does not square with the parsha... he tries taking a shoehorn to the "Avraham Aveenu story" so that it fit with this irrelevant theology... that one doesn't have to live in Eretz Yisrael and one can live in Timbuktu and make that holy..
I don't know really what transpired by the Tzemach Tzedik and why the Rebbe would give this advice.... to this Jew ..who knows...?
But what's sure is sure...
The Ribono Shel Olam gave Avraham Aveenu and his descendants Eretz Yisrael.... he didn't give them Lubavitch, Russia where the Tzemach Tzedik and that poor Jew lived ...
Hashem could have easily told Avraham Aveenu to remain in Iraq and "make that holy"
Hashem wants all Jews to come home... not wait for Moshiach to come home... but to come home now...
The Baal Shem Tov who lived just a generation before the Tzemach Tzedik tried making Aliyah ..and his students actually did go..
The Grah, the Chafetz Chayim all didn't say "lets make Radin, or Vilna holy" but made plans to emigrate from the blood soaked earth to Eretz Yisrael ...
Rabbi Viner actually lives in Israel... but to remain true to his ideals he tries to embed Chabad theology into his divrei Torah ... it's ok .. I have no problem with that ... but don't talk "narishkeitin"
Secondly, Rabbi Viner wrote this article in a newsletter that is read primarily by chilonim ....
Can you imagine ....? A guy wants to read a Dvar Torah ...something that he can repeat at his shabbos table and he reads to his family that you can live in San Frans'sicko and "make that holy ..." that it's not important to remain in Israel....
Bad message ... and false..
Shabbat Shalom
DIN
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