The Work Was Still Far from Complete
Avraham Avinu’s sacred work in paving the way for the Jewish people was only the beginning of the rectification. After him came Yitzchak Avinu, who continued it, and then Yaakov Avinu, the third of the Avot, who merited the decisive rectification.
Through his exalted Divine service, Yaakov Avinu merited that the glorious structure of Knesset Yisrael would emerge from him.15
The three Avot refined the seed, and the twelve tribes became the roots of Knesset Yisrael. From them, all the souls of the Jewish people unfolded and descended into the world, from the time of Yaakov Avinu until the final day.
Yet even after the seed and roots had been purified, the trunk, branches, leaves, and fruit still required their own rectification.
This refinement unfolded over the course of the generations.
In the year 2488 from Creation, the sacred leadership of Yehoshua bin Nun began, lasting for the next twenty-eight years. After his passing at the age of 110, the leadership passed to the elders of that generation. However, because they were lax in properly eulogizing Yehoshua, they were punished, and all of them passed away during that same year.16
After the elders passed away, the period of the judges began. During this era, the Jewish people began serving idols, and over time this spread until they served every form of idolatry,17 as it says after the passing of the eighth judge, Yair HaGiladi:
“The children of Israel continued to do evil in the eyes of the L-rd, and they served the Baalim and the Ashtarot, and the gods of Aram, the gods of Tzidon, the gods of Moav, the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Pelishtim; they abandoned the L-rd and did not serve Him” (Shoftim 10:6).18
The period of the judges continued until Shaul was crowned king of Israel. Then a new era began: the era of the kings.
After Shlomo HaMelech, the third king of the Jewish people, passed away, the kingdom split in two: the kingdom of Yehudah and the kingdom of Israel.
These two kingdoms existed for approximately 380 years. All the kings of Yehudah came from one family, the descendants of David HaMelech, while the kings of Israel came from different families.
In general terms, the kings of Israel came from seven families, whose heads were Yeravam ben Nevat, Baasha ben Achiyah, Achav ben Omri, Yehu ben Nimshi, Pekach ben Remalyahu, Menachem ben Gadi, and Hoshea ben Elah. Regarding them, the prophet said, “The mother of seven has languished” (Yirmiyahu 15:9).
Throughout those years, the Jewish people served idols with deep attachment and desire.
Because of this terrible attachment to idolatry, the Land of Israel was destroyed, and the Jewish people were scattered to the four corners of the earth.
As the holy Gemara states (Gittin 88a): “Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: The Land of Israel was not destroyed until seven courts served idols within it.” These “courts” refer to the seven families mentioned above.
Eventually, the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed, and the Jewish people were exiled to Bavel. After seventy years of exile—under the dynasty of Nevuchadnezzar and later under the kings of Persia and Media—they merited to return to the Holy Land.
The books of Ezra and Nechemyah describe what took place during the first period of their resettlement in the Land.
In Sefer Nechemyah, chapter 9, it is recorded that the Men of the Great Assembly nullified the yetzer hara for idolatry:
“On the twenty-fourth day of this month, the children of Israel gathered with fasting, sackcloth, and earth upon them... They stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers... Then Yeshua and Bani, Kadmiel, Shevanyah, Buni, Sherevyah, Bani, and Kenani stood upon the platform of the Levi’im, and they cried out in a loud voice to the L-rd their G-d” (Nechemyah 9:1–4).
It was through their powerful cry that they succeeded in eliminating the yetzer hara for idolatry.
After 920 years in which the yetzer hara for idolatry had been active among the Jewish people from the time they entered the Land of Israel, it was finally nullified. It disappeared!
Yet once that pull was removed, other forms of misplaced admiration began to arise.
At the beginning of the Second Beit HaMikdash, some Jews began to admire Greek culture. After the victory of the Chashmonaim, that admiration began to fade from among the Jewish people.
Much later, during the period of the Geonim, admiration for philosophy in general, and for the wisdom of Aristotle in particular, began to emerge among some Jews. This grew especially strong in the lands of Spain. With the expulsion from Spain in the year 5252, that admiration for philosophy faded from among the Jewish people.
In a later period, the Haskalah movement began in Berlin, and took root in the hearts of Jewish communities throughout the diaspora, and this impurity continues to exist until this very day.
Wellsprings of Wisdom
15. The Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh writes (Devarim 32:8): “All of G-d’s works were made corresponding to one another—good and evil. All the souls among created beings were planted by G-d from two trees: one tree of good and one tree of evil. The good tree is Adam HaRishon, but when Adam sinned and evil became mixed with good, evil souls once again began to emerge from the offspring of Adam HaRishon. This continued until one pure soul emerged in whom all the holy souls were included, and the good tree was clarified anew. This was Yaakov Avinu, peace be upon him.”
16. The verse states: “It was after these things that Yehoshua bin Nun, servant of the L-rd, died at the age of one hundred and ten years. They buried him within the border of his inheritance, in Timnat Serach, which is in the mountain of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. The people of Israel served the L-rd all the days of Yehoshua and all the days of the elders who lived long after Yehoshua, and who knew all the deeds of the L-rd that He had done for the people of Israel” (Yehoshua 24:29–31).
Rashi explains that the name “ Mount Gaash” teaches that the mountain trembled and threatened to kill them because they did not eulogize Yehoshua properly. Although they were ultimately spared, the verse’s phrase “the elders who lived long after Yehoshua” teaches that they lived long in days, but not in years, because they were punished and they died soon afterward.
17. Yalkut Me’am Loez (Shoftim 2:11–13) explains that at first the Jewish people served Hashem together with other powers, thereby abandoning Hashem as the sole G-d of their fathers, Who watches over His people with individual providence. Eventually, however, they fell even further and followed other g-ds entirely.
18. Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler explains (Michtav MeEliyahu, vol. 5, p. 143) that the Sages teach, “Whoever is greater than his fellow, his yetzer is greater than his” (Sukkah 52a). This can be compared to a pendulum: the higher it rises on one side, the stronger its swing to the other. The souls of the generations of the judges and kings were very great souls, with profound awareness of truth. Precisely because of their spiritual greatness, a powerful opposing force arose against them and tempted them toward idolatry.
