The Land of Emuna

Translated by Aaron Yoseph
 
 
The Land of Israel looks just like everywhere else. It has mountains, desert, cities, and fields. You don’t see anything special. Reb Nosson explains that the holiness of The Land of Israel is something that we create every day. But isn’t it holy anyway? What is emuna? A person can believe in Hashem – that He’s up in the sky somewhere. Hashem is up in the sky. This world – He gave to us. What is emuna? Emuna is that faith comes down into this world. The Land of Israel. Emuna has to be within the realm of nature. Have emuna about your income and your health. Hashem is in charge of it. When it rains in The Land of Israel, it’s a miracle. Naturally, we’re in an area that rain doesn’t reach. The Land of Israel is about living in nature, but everything is miracles. Hashem brought us to live in a place where we’re surrounded by enemies. We can only live here when we cleave to Hashem. Otherwise, there’s no way to live here. Shemittah, Sabbatical Year, who ever heard of such a thing?! But this is The Land of Israel. Living here is living above nature.
 
How did this area get built up? Nobody knows. Nobody around here had any money. But this is the reality of The Land of Israel. To have emuna down here in this world. One person has emuna, and so he doesn’t do anything at all. Another person has emuna, and opens a business, and believes that Hashem will help him. Which one is greater? They’re both the same, but the second one has brought emuna into this world. Some people don’t get married. They’re worried – who will provide for the children? More than two children and a dog – how will I support them? We trust in Hashem – He will take care of everything.
 
Rebbe Nachman would faint when he spoke about the holiness of The Land of Israel. This is the sweetness of having emuna in Hashem, within this world. This is the light of the Baal Shem Tov. At home, with the wife and children, spiritually – all the ups and downs. This is where Hashem wants us to have emuna. The Meraglim (spies) didn’t want this. They wanted to stay in the Midbar and eat Mann. But that wasn’t what Hashem wanted from us. Believing in the holiness of The Land of Israel is believing that we can serve Hashem from within this world.
 
The Land of Israel is where all the problems are. Because this is where all the soul corrections happen. When we bring Hashem into this world, this is called correction of daat, or spiritual awareness. The Land of Israel is a place where there are no illusions. It’s a place of truth. “This is the gateway of Heaven.” What does this mean?
 
Our prayers need to be accepted Above. Eating and believing that we’ve fixed something is the holiness of The Land of Israel. Everything in this world can be a tool to serve Hashem. Rebbe Shimon Bar Yochai revealed how there’s good in everything, that we can reveal. We believe in this. If we think that everything is material – a person looks up at the planets, and thinks it’s all just dust. We see differently. We believe that this world is created anew every day. There is something beyond this world, which is the source of this world. There is a spiritual dimension that it Above space and time. Where is the place that this world connects to that dimension? The Land of Israel.
 
The Land of Israel is the Shechina, the Divine Presence. When we have a thought of emuna, we elevate the Shechina. Outside The Land of Israel, such a thought elevates sparks, but in The Land of Israel itself, it elevates the Shechina. The holiness of The Land of Israel is divided up into twelve areas for the twelve tribes, which are the twelve different nusach’s of prayer. Heaven and earth are connected. This is the Torah that the Tsaddikim revealed – to live with Hashem and be close to Him. When the Beis HaMikdash stood, this was clear to see. There are people who learn kabbalah and chassidut, but they don’t live with it. When we learn these things properly, we learn how to live with Hashem. We learn to believe in what we’re doing – how everything we do brings delight to Hashem. Whatever problems we face – we turn to Hashem in prayer. We bring everything back to Hashem. We live with yirat shomayim – on the street, at home. We live with Hashem. If you’re walking around in The Land of Israel, be happy. Being in The Land of Israel is the biggest Tikkun HaBrit. What are the tikkunim? Everything you go through. The holiness of The Land of Israel is believing in Hashem and trusting in Him. We are the ones who build up the holiness of The Land of Israel. We believe that this world is connected Above.
 
Rebbe Shimon Bar Yochai and the other great Tsaddikim are the ones who reveal this to us. That we serve Hashem by raising this world up to Hashem, by living with emuna. We believe in Hashem and trust in Him, in every situation. We believe in prayer. We know that Hashem is with us. “Live in the land” – why in the “land”? The land represents the Shechina. We have to eat and sleep in this world. We have to live normally. But “Sow emuna.” You’ll have parnassah in the merit of your emuna in Hashem. The Land of Israel is the Land of Emuna.
 
The Land of Israel is there the main place where the prayers go up from. This is the gateway to Heaven. Believing in The Land of Israel is the gateway to Heaven. What is a gateway? A gateway is where you’re standing on one side and want to get to the other side, but there’s a locked gate stopping you. Emuna is what opens the gates. This is what the Zohar HaKadosh reveals – that we need to elevate this world. Everything we elevate has to go up, through these gateways, which we open with our emuna. This is how our prayers go up and are accepted lovingly.