Pinchas: Invest in Israel Now

In various stages in life, we have the regrets that come with them. In life we go from “I wish I would have gone to that summer camp or that school, to have wished to have gone to that college, I wish I would have made this career move until the ultimate regret–real estate regrets. 

The home you could have bought early on, the rate you could have locked in, the deal you could have cut, the co-op you could have qualified for, and the rent you could have locked in. I remember living in Washington Heights and having a lovely neighbor who knew my grandfather and was still loved into a three-digit rent in a beautiful apartment. Everyone has their stories. An Israeli satire show did a skit about group therapy for Israelis whose grandparents moved out of downtown Tel Aviv to buy apartments elsewhere who are now mourning their lost fortunes. In the 1990’s the Trump organization was offered an opportunity to buy the GM building for $500 million dollars. They deemed the price too expensive. Last year, the building was sold for 1.4 billion dollars. 

And yet, like many things, real estate requires faith. The greatest investments require faith in something that others do not necessarily believe in, and it is that faith that is rewarded. 

It is that intersection of faith and real that we see in this week’s parsha. 

As Moses is told that he will not enter the land, and not long after the spies scare Bnai Yisrael of going into the land, the daughters of Tzlofchad demand a share in the land. Their father had died in the desert with no sons, and they wanted his share in the land of Israel. 

Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin explains that they could have demanded a share with their second cousin, Gilad, in an area of Israel that Moses had already conquered. They did not. They desired the long path—the path of taking the land of Israel with the rest of Bnai Yisrael and showing their faith in it. 

The rabbis point out the fact that they are the granddaughters of Yosef who also showed his faith in the land and asked for his bones to be buried in the land of Israel. 

It is no secret that the Jewish people, the people of Israel, and the land of Israel are facing the most difficult point we have faced in 75 years. Rockets on Israel’s north, drones from Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon, terrorism in the West Bank, war in Gaza, and raging antisemitism throughout the diaspora. 

It is easy during these times to remove your Start of David necklace and your yarmulka, travel and invest in Israel, or express your support for Israel. 

It is easy to take the path of those Jews who refused to leave Egypt, who wanted to stay in the desert, or perhaps even on the other side of the Jordan river, a place that has been taken by Moses, but is not quite the same as Israel proper. It is easy to quit. Yet we did not make it here after 3500 years because we are a nation of quitters, we made it here because we are a nation of believers.  

Now is the time for us to follow the lead of Bnot Tzlofchad and believe in the future of the land of Israel. 

The rabbis applauded not only the daughters of Tzlofchad but also the women of that generation. While the men demanded to return to the land of Israel, the women asked for real estate in Israel. They believed in its future. 

While those who built modern Israel made the desert bloom in the most beautiful ways, one of the most beautiful early cities built by those who revived Jewish life in Israel is the city of Rosh Pina, built-in 1882. A little north of the Kinnert sits this beautiful which has become a hub for artists and leaders, is a city on a mountain whose houses are built from stone. Between local attacks, the heat, disease, and difficulty, the cemetery began filling up very fast. Many of the parents living in the diaspora began sending letters asking the builders of Rosh Pina to at least sent their grandchildren back to the diaspora. The women of the town decided to host a meeting in the synagogue of the town, which is one of the most beautiful synagogues I have ever seen. 

A young woman who came from a wealthy family and was used to a very comfortable lifestyle yet suffered a great deal from the perilous situation asked for permission to speak. Everyone thought she would ask people to start leaving or at least to send their children back to Europe. The woman got up and said: “for 2000 years, these lands have been waiting for us to return. Millions of Jews are watching us now to see if we will surrender and break. If we leave now, it may be another 2000 years before we return to this land.” She went to the ark of the Torah scrolls, opened it, and told every woman in the room: “With the oath of a Torah scroll, I ask every woman here to commit to never leave. The women of the town lined up one by one, put their hands on the Torah scroll, kissed it, and told her they were not leaving Rosh Pina. 

Rabbi Norman Lamm points out that while zealotry comes with many dangers and often cannot be something we condone before it happens, we often owe our very existence to zealots who create something and then learn how to settle down. From the extremist socialist Kibbutzim, without whom much of Israel would not be built, to the Irgun and the Lechi, as well as many very religious factions who preserved the traditions of our people and preserve who we are to this day, we owe our existence to devotion. 

It is at this time when the challenges of Israel and the Jewish people are most significant that the potential for returns is also greatest. Now more than ever is our time to stand with Israel, to stand with the Jewish people, and to stand with our Judaism. It will not be easy, and there will be prices to pay. Yet, like in real estate,  it is when the prices are the lowest that the opportunities are at their highest. Let us invest in our future, the future of the Jewish people, and the future of Israel.