YAAKOV HAD A DREAM!

Translation by Rabbi Binyomin Schlanger

So Yaakov had a dream! Does this mean that Eretz Yisroel belongs to the Jewish People?

Someone once came here for a visit and asked me how I might substantiate my words to the extent they ought to be spoken in the UN, supporting the fact that Eretz Yisroel belongs to the Jewish people. G-d said to our patriarch Yaakov, “And you should spread forth to the West, and to the East, to the North and to the South” and “To you will I give her [Israel] and to your children.” This was told to Yaakov on his way to Haran, when he was tired and exhausted from the journey. As usual, when one sleeps, one dreams! Therefore, this fellow asked me: “Just because Yaakov had a dream, does this mean that the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish People?”

I answered him: “It is well known that the power of prophecy is attained specifically during sleep. Maimonides explains [Laws of the Fundamentals of Torah Chap. 7.2] that all prophets spoke prophetic words either at night while sleeping or by day in a state of loss of consciousness. Only in such a condition were they able to receive prophecy. For in order for the spirit of prophecy to rest on a prophet, he had to be in a state whereby the presence and power of his material shell was minimized. Thus it was with Yaakov: All of the patriarchs were a vehicle for G-dliness; their conscious awareness was immersed in the extra-universal energy which flows into and moves the cosmos [not subjected to the concealment imposed by the curtain of Earth’s matter]. Yaakov’s life was a continuum of alertness to the flow of G-d’s life force. Therefore, also during times of sleep when dreams occur, he was mindful of this spiritual vitality.

The gentiles already understand that Eretz Yisroel belongs to the Jewish people. Now, all that remains is to convince Jews of this. Gentiles know that the connection which Arabs have to Israel began only when they came to Israel, just a few hundred years ago, no more. Additionally, even the Arabs who live around Israel, as for example Egypt, are not the Egyptians of time gone by. These are a different nation from a different root, with no connection to the ancient Egyptians. Substantially different however is the bond of the Jewish people with the land of Israel, beginning with the Revelation at Sinai, and before, when G-d, the G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, gave the land to the Jewish People. Even gentiles know this, and that the dream which Jacob had was the factual truth, and that the entire world is an instrument to make this dream a reality!

Despite all this, it is actually the Jew who argues that he does not believe this! He is bound to exclaim: “What are you doing in the Land of Israel? Go to Chutz LaAretz! There, from your viewpoint, it will be better! How is the holiness of the land of Israel in any way of greater value than countries outside of Israel?” Indeed, there are so many Israelis who have left Israel, most of whom did not have this faith in the Land.

[From the farbrengen of Parshas Tzav, 1976]

Dear Reader,

Please take a few moments to copy, paste, and email this sicha to 10 friends, asking your friends in turn to email the same to 10 further friends, ad infinitum. Thereby you will be taking a strong and active part in the Rebbe’s battle to protect the lives of millions of Jewish people whose lives are so endangered. This is, as the Rambam writes, Milchemes Hashem, and we will see it through to the final Nitzachon!

Please go to http://beismoshiachmagazine.org/true-peace/ where you will find the current sicha.