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The Gemara (Chagiga 5b) quotes the pasuk (Yirmiyahu 13,17):

If you do not listen, I will weep in a secret place because of glory;
My eyes will weep bitterly, overflowing with tears, because the Lord’s flock will be taken captive.

Rav Shmuel bar Inia said in the name of Rav, “HaShem has a place On High and it is called Mistarim (literally mysteries, concealment), where HaShem cries each day because of His lost glory”. In yeshiva they asked, “What is ‘the lost glory’ referring to?”

Between the years 1970-72, I served as the Assistant to the Minister for Religious Affairs of the State of Israel, Rabbi Dr. Zerach Warhaftig ob”m.

It was a very interesting and enlightening period in my life, as I witnessed the inner workings of our government and met the movers and shakers of the Medina. In this position, I was privileged to make my small contribution to the national effort.

It was that period of time right after the Six Day War when the government relegated the task of restoring the plaza area adjacent to the Kotel to the Minister for Religious Affairs.

Rabbi Warhaftig published a public tender to architects to present their ideas for the Kotel plaza. After several months, five world-renowned architects met in his office to present their suggestions. Also present were the general director of the ministry, others and me as the minister’s assistant.

Yalkut Shimoni explains that the “stone”, “straw” and “lead” describes the death in the sea of three types of Egyptians: the most wicked, those in between, and the mildly wicked. The most wicked died a slow death, like “straw” on the water’s surface, which does not sink quickly. The “stone” alludes to those in between, who drowned after a bit of suffering. The “lead” refers to the mildly wicked, who died quickly, just as lead sinks quickly in water.

The critical factor in any sukkah is its schach (the leafy roof), which is governed by three Halachic conditions: (1) it must be from the vegetable family (grown from the earth); (2) it must be detached from the earth at the time of use; and (3) it must be an entity that cannot acquire tuma, making bread or fruit not valid material for schach.

The Zohar (Emor 103a) and kabbalists have revealed that during Sukkot the souls of the seven great leaders of Israel – Avraham, Yitzchak, Ya’akov, Moshe, Aharon, Yosef and King David – appear in every kosher sukkah as ushpizin (guests). Some claim that each one appears individually on his respective night, while others claim that they appear together, with one serving as the leader in his respective night.

Discernment, insight, and conscious awareness are the adhesives that bind the building blocks of Judaism.

They are the everyday qualities necessary for a Jew, but they gain prominence in two issues we face today: parashat Ki Tavo and the approaching “Days of Awe” of judgement and teshuva.

Our parasha begins with the mitzva of Bikurim, where the grower of any of the seven fruits indigenous to Eretz Yisrael brings a sampling to the Bet Hamikdash, and while standing before the holy altar, consciously declares:”… I have come to the land the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us… So, the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and now I bring the first fruits of the soil that you, Lord, have given me.”

Medinat Yisrael is 68 years young. In terms of nation building we are still in our infancy, and like an infant that cries and grows, we cry at the cost of the 23447 lives of our defense forces from the turn of the 20th century and the more than 2500 citizens who lost their lives through Arab terror from the beginning of the Medina, as we continue to grow in every field of endeavor.

If anyone doubts the miraculous existence of the Medina just consider the following statistics…