Once while walking in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, I happened upon a handsomely dressed young couple with a young son standing between them and a photographer doing his bar mitzva thing. I stopped for a moment to ask the parents if I could tell them something? Their reaction was cold because they were probably expecting me to ask for money, but they hesitantly agreed. I asked the boy that since you are now bar mitzva and obligated to observe the mitzvot; how many mitzvot are in the Torah?
There was no chance in the world that he would know, so in order to minimize the pain, I immediately said 613. However, herein lies a problem. In Hebrew the word mitzva is in the singular meaning that you as a bar mitzva young man are obligated with only one mitzva, when the Torah contains 613 commandments?
I noticed that the parents were now a little more comfortable when realizing that I was not asking for money. I went on to explain that there are indeed 613 mitzvot, however, at this stage in your life there is one mitzva which is the most meaningful, which if you keep it seriously all the rest will fall into place. And what is that mitzva? Honor your father and your mother.
Then we parted with a big smile. As I was walking away, I overheard daddy say to mommy, “If only for this one experience, it was worthwhile to have come to Israel for the bar mitzva."
Now just as a bar mitzva boy and bat mitzva girl are committed to observe all 613 mitzvot but one mitzva is the most meaningful at that time of life, this principle applies to every individual Jew who is obligated to uphold all the available mitzvot in his time, he has a particular mitzvot for which he has to specialize and for which he was brought down to this world.
Moreover, this applies not only to individuals but also to generations. What was incumbent on the nation at the time of Moshe in the wilderness was not what was incumbent on the generation of Yehoshua bin Nun when entering the promised land.
Now, what is the particular mitzva driving the Jewish nation for the last hundred years or so?
It is resurrection - t’chiyat hamaytim - restoring life that was interrupted by death.
The Landscape of Eretz Yisrael after the Jewish Exile 2000 Years Ago
Mark Twain visited Ottoman-ruled Palestine in 1867 and recorded his observations in a series of newspaper letters that later formed his famous 1869 travel book, The Innocents Abroad.
Following are some key quotes and descriptions on the landscape:
"A desolate country whose soil is rich enough but is given over wholly to weeds. A silent mournful expanse... a desolation is here that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action... We never saw a human being on the whole route."
“Of all the lands there are for dismal scenery, I think Palestine must be the prince. The hills are barren, they are dull of color, they are unpicturesque in shape... Palestine is desolate and unlovely."
On Jerusalem:
"Renowned Jerusalem itself, the stateliest name in history, has lost all its ancient grandeur, and is become a pauper village; the riches of Solomon are no longer there... mourned, and dreary, and lifeless; I would not desire to live here."
In a sentence he was describing a dead land.
The Hebrew Language of the Torah
Ivrit, the mother tongue of the TaNaCH. But from the perspective of the overall Jewish nation, it was a dead language used only by rabbis in their correspondences and halachic writings.
In linguistics, a language is considered "dead" when there are no native speakers left who use it as their primary, daily medium of conversation. Hebrew ceased to be a spoken mother tongue around the 2nd to 4th century CE following the Roman exile.
Classic Historic Character of the Jewish Nation
2000 years of galut dulled the sharp edge of the Jewish national character.
Sources state that the Jewish personality contains two qualities: the book and the sword.
The soldiers of King David’s army were examples of this. The Gemara (Kiddushim 76b) states that King David would go to war only with the best of the best - Torah scholars and men of the sword.
Because of this tradition, King David and his soldiers became the historical paradigm for the "Soldier-Scholar" (Sifra v'Sayfa). Rather than seeing military force and religious devotion as mutually exclusive, classical Rabbinic thought viewed spiritual righteousness as the source of army strength. In modern times, this exact archetype of David’s men is frequently invoked in Israeli society and religious-Zionist ideology (such as the Hesder program) as proof that a devout scholar can and should also hold the sword.
These three areas: The land of Eretz Yisrael, the Hebrew language of the Torah, and the classic character of the Jewish people, which were for all intents and purposes more dead than alive, have risen from the graves of history as shining suns in a blackened night in Eretz Yisrael through the millions of Jews who have come and those who were born here. This is t’chiyat hamaytim in our time.
The particular mitzva that is driving the Jewish nation in the last hundred years or so, is to resurrect - restore life - to the three areas mentioned above: land, language and Jewish national character.
My recommendation is to give the reins of leadership to those people who have done the most in these three areas.
Rabbi Nachman Kahana is a Torah scholar, author, teacher and lecturer, Founder and Director of the Center for Kohanim, Co-founder of the Temple Institute, Co-founder of Atara Leyoshna - Ateret Kohanim, was rabbi of Chazon Yechezkel Synagogue - Young Israel of the Old City of Jerusalem for 32 years, and is the author of the 15-volume “Mei Menuchot" series on Tosefot, and 3-volume “With All Your Might: The Torah of Eretz Yisrael in the Weekly Parashah" (2009-2011), and “Reflections from Yerushalayim: Thoughts on the Torah, the Land and the Nation of Israel" (2019) as well as weekly parasha commentary available where he blogs at https://NachmanKahana.com