Rabbi Rael Blumenthal

The first meeting between Lord Arthur Balfour and Dr Chaim Weizmann took place in 1906, three years after the Zionist leadership had turned down the offer of a Jewish homeland in Uganda. Their conversation lasted more than an hour.

Balfour could not understand why the persecuted Russian Jews refused the offer of a safe asylum in East Africa. Weizmann tried to explain why the Zionists could not accept a home anywhere but Jerusalem. “Suppose,” he said, “I were to offer you Paris instead of London.”

“But, Dr Weizmann, we have London,” Balfour replied. “That is true,” Weizmann said, “but we had Jerusalem when London was a marsh.”

“Are there many Jews who think like you?” wondered Balfour.

“I believe I speak the minds of millions of Jews,” replied Weizmann.

“It is curious,” Balfour remarked, “the Jews I meet are quite different.” “Mr Balfour,” said Weizmann, “you meet the wrong kind of Jews.”

That conversation contained within it, the seeds of the Balfour Declaration, which was signed a decade later on November 2nd, 1917. It was the first modern international document acknowledging the Jewish claim to Eretz Yisrael.

When news of the declaration spread to Poland, Rabbi Shmuel Borenstein, the Rebbe of Sochachov gathered a group of his wealthiest and most influential chassidim and related the following:

”Until now we had seen no sign that Hashem wants us to continue our efforts in the Land of Israel, to the contrary, we have been met with pitfalls at every step in these matters. Thus, we too, have not acted urgently to advance the state and wellbeing of the Yishuv in our Holy Homeland. But now it has come to pass that the promise קול דודי דופק (The sound of my beloved is knocking) is being fulfilled in our lives. Hashem has placed in the hearts of the sovereigns of the land to appropriate our Holy Land to us; indeed it is like some of the Rishonim who explain that just the second Beis HaMikdash was predicated upon the permission of Koresh, so too will the final redemption begin with the permission of the nations...

Thus there is a Holy obligation on us to wake up and prepare ourselves both in the physical and spiritual realms. The time has come to work towards the expansion of the Yishuv in Eretz Yisrael through Torah and Mitzvos.”

Following the Balfour Declaration, the Sochatchover Rebbe redoubled the efforts of his father, the Avnei Nezer to purchase land in Eretz Yisrael with the knowledge that despite the secular nature of Zionism, the time had come for Jews to return home.

But this excitement was shared by many but not all Jews.

There were many Jews, both observant and unobservant, who opposed the visions and values of Zionism for various religious, social and political reasons.

It’s clear that this opposition frustrated the Sochatchover Rebbe.

In his Sefer, Shem Mishmuel, on Parshas VaYera 1920, the Rebbe raises the following question:

In our parsha the Torah relates to us the story of Lot, a resident of Sodom, and the nephew of Avraham. Due to his relationship with Avraham, angels arrive at his door to warn him of the impending destruction of his city.

As the angels arrive, Lot's house is besieged with angry neighbors demanding: אַיֵּה הָאֲנָשִׁים אֲשֶׁר־בָּאוּ אֵלֶיךָ הַלָּיְלָה – Where are the men that came you this night?!

A fight ensues between Lot and the other residents of Sodom. As tensions rose, the Angels inside the house dragged their host back in doors and bolted the door.

The Torah then describes the fate of the mob outside: הִכּוּ בַּסַּנְוֵרִים מִקָּטֹן וְעַד־גָּדוֹל וַיִּלְאוּ לִמְצֹא הַפָּתַח – They struck with blindness, so that they were helpless to find the entrance.

With the people outside stricken with blindness, Lot takes the opportunity to tell his relatives that Hashem is about to destroy the city and that they too should flee, but the response he gets is less than enthusiastic: וַיְהִי כִמְצַחֵק בְּעֵינֵי חֲתָנָיו – It seemed like a joke to his sons-in-law.

This reaction is surprising and perplexing: Surely these sons-in-law could see the mob of people miraculously stricken with blindness? Could they not see how the violent rioters clamoring towards the door were suddenly robbed of their sight!?

If there was ever a sign that something serious and important was happening, miraculous blindness should fit the bill.

The Shem Mishmuel (וירא תר”פ) answers: > ונראה שגם זה הי' ממכת הסנורים, כמו שבגשמיות נלאו למצוא הפתח והיו רואין ולא רואין כן נמי בפנימיות הענין היו רואין את הפלא ולא היו יכולין לשים אליו לב.

It appears that this inability to understand the enormity of the situation was part of the curse of blindness. The physical aspect of blindness meant that they were unable to find the door – they were seeing and not seeing. Likewise the blindness effected them internally. People could see the miracle in front of their eyes, but could not take it heart.

He continues to warn us: In these times we need to be wary not to be afflicted with the blindness of רואין ולא רואין – seeing, but not really seeing. As the world is changing, and Hashem's hand is so clearly directing every aspect of the world, we cannot allow ourselves not to see.

Over a century has passed since the Shem Mishmuel wrote his warning; and in the past year, I have often wondered what part of Hashem’s message we’re still missing.

We have witnessed His Hand directing our lives in tragedy and triumph, and yet the war is not over. The hostages are not home. Mothers are still burying their sons who have fallen in Gaza and Lebanon.

But perhaps there is an even deeper blindness; one which have failed to notice, much less conquer.

Why were Lot’s sons-in-law laughing? What exactly did they think was a joke? Perhaps they could see indeed see clearly that Hashem was acting miraculously. Maybe they understood that Sodom was minutes away from annihilation. In that moment, they had resigned themselves to the fate awaiting them. They could not imagine that they had any chance to be saved.

That’s the blindness.

A friend of mine asked me this week how Mashiach will come to our fractured generation. Is unity not a prerequisite for redemption? We’ll probably have to wait for a future time...

Rav Kook was asked a similar question about the irreligious founders of the Kibbutzim: On what merit will these Jews build the Land of Israel?! Rav Kook responded: It will be in the merit of their actual work in building.

All too often we are blind to the truth that we can do something in our hearts and homes and heads. That the work we do is meaningful; that our actions are changing the calculus of the universe. We don’t need to know how it all adds up; only that it all adds up.

Sometimes the blindness is thinking that we still need to wait for history to unfold. Sometimes we cannot see that Hashem has already sent angels to pull us towards Geulah.

Sometimes, the only thing left to do is pack up and leave Sodom.

Hashem should help us that when the Angels come, we should be ready to go.