D’var Torah Behar

I am the Lord, your God, Who took you out of the land of Egypt from being slaves to them; and I broke the pegs of your yoke and led you upright (komemiyut). ( Leviticus 26:13)
In a previous Dvar Torah, we dealt with the significance of the prayer "lead us upright (komemiyut) to our Land," recited prior to the morning recitation of Kriat Shema, noting as well the significance of referring to Israel's War of Independence as "Milḥemet haKomemiut."
Responsa "Halachot Ketanot" [Volume 1:185] (Rabbi Yisrael Ya'akov ben Shmuel Ḥagiz, born in Fez, Morocco 1620, died in Constantinople 1674) considers the question of whether the wording of the blessing within the Land of Israel should be "lead us upright within our Land," concluding that this, indeed, is the appropriate wording, and the accepted custom in Israel(!). Rabbi Ḥagiz adds, "however, one (in Israel) who says 'lead us upright to our Land' has not lost out." The rationale of Rabbi Ḥagiz' latter halachic decision is that even those who pray within the Land "beseech on behalf of our brethren as well." That is, the Jews of Eretz Yisrael, who are privileged to walk upright within the Land, pray also that all of the Nation of Israel, wherever they may be, will merit ascending to the courtyards of God, joining those who already dwell within the Land of the Shechina.
Rabbi Ḥayyim David haLevi, the chief rabbi of Tel Aviv (1979 until his death in 1998), expanded Rabbi Ḥagiz' rationale, writing "In all our prayers, there are no private and personal requests; rather they are all requests on behalf of the nation in its totality." Therefore, were the Jews of Israel to pray "lead us upright within the Land," they "would be explicitly stressing the intent of praying only for themselves, excluding those of our nation who are still in the Diaspora." [Responsa Mayyim Ḥayyim, Volume 1:12]
These responsa reflect the connection between the Jews of Eretz Yisrael and our brethren who have not yet ascended to the Land, as well as the hope that all Jews will ascend to the Land. The significance of the wording "Lead us upright to our Land," which in practice is the wording used in Israel, is the aspiration to achieve unity between those Jews who dwell in Zion and those who are in foreign lands. The depth of this matter is that Israel's true national unity is dependent upon the Land, as Zohar [3:93] expounds:
“Who is like your nation Israel, a nation one in the land.” [ II Samuel 7:23] - when are they one? Only when they are within the Land.
We may add that Israel's national uprightness necessarily depends upon the state. (David Magence)


Shabbat Shalom

The Va’ad