A Spiritual Revolution?

Question: With the growth of the religious parties in the Knesset, is it possible to bring about a spiritual revolution?

Answer: It must be understood that a spiritual revolution in Israel cannot occur simply by stressing the need to do “mitzvot”. Rather, the entire Jewish idea must be spread, and blatant contradictions between Jewish and western concepts must be dealt with.

Unfortunately, in the Torah world itself, the authentic Jewish idea has been so watered down, and so many have turned the Torah into a “mitzva” collection, taking the soul out of Judaism.

The source of this evil is the exile, which severed the Jewish nation from a vital and living Torah. When one lives outside of his country at the mercy of the gentile culture and mentality, it is virtually impossible to preserve the pure Torah concepts, which are in essence the heart of Torah. And so, even after we have returned to our land, the distortion has not been corrected, and the idea or soul of the Torah is missing. Today the concepts of Torah have become putty in the hands of the pervertor, and there is noone to counter.

And so, despite the steady increase of “Baal Teshuvas” over the years, there is no electricity in the air, and no special atmosphere which is the requirement for any revolution. Something is lacking. Learning partial messages of Torah, while turning the more vital messages into something “unimportant” because they are “controversial” or “politics” will bring minor changes, but will not create an explosion or revolution. The trend towards Judaism we witnessed these past elections and the blessed growth in the number of “Baal Teshuvas” is a reflection of the disappointment for the secular way. But this is not enough.