21 Apr WILL THERE BE ANOTHER CHURBAN?

I. The Promise
This week, Israel
is celebrating the
78th anniversary of
its independence.
It was not always
a given that there
would be a first anniversary, much less
a 78th. But Rav Yitzchak Herzog was
personally convinced that the Jewish
settlement in Israel would continue
indefinitely. He said so on multiple
occasions. Perhaps the most famous was
when he was in the United States during
World War II and met with President
Franklin D. Roosevelt. His son, Rav
Ya’akov Herzog (20th cen., Israel), told
the story in a 1969 radio interview (A
People That Dwells Alone, p. 16):
“In 1941, when Rommel was at the
gates of [British-] Palestine, my father
[Rav Yitzchak Herzog] was on a visit
to Washington and President Roosevelt
warned him not to return, for the
country was about to be conquered by
the Germans. My father replied that

the Prophets had foretold only two
destructions and had said nothing about
a third. A week after the Six Day War,
the late Levi Eshkol reminded me of my
father’s answer.”
Rav Ari Chwat (pronounced Shvat;
cont., Israel) collects a number of reports
of Rav Herzog saying this to different
people, including Lord Edward Wood,
the Earl of Halifax, who served as British
Ambassador to the United States from
December 1940 through May 1946.
Rav Chwat concludes that Rav Herzog
frequently told this to people (Masua
Le’Yitzchak: A Collection of Lectures
Commemorating the 50th Year After the
Passing of the Late Chief Rabbi of Israel
Yitzchak Herzog zt”l, vol. 2, pp. 45-48).
Rav Hershel Schachter (cont., US) reports
that he heard that Rav Herzog told this to
Rav Yitzchak Soloveitchik (the Brisker
Rav) in order to convince him not to flee
Israel to Switzerland in order to avoid
the potential Nazi invasion. Rav Herzog
reportedly said that he has a tradition
that there will not be a third churban,
destruction of the Jewish settlement in

Israel. The Brisker Rav
reportedly responded that
he has a tradition that
when people shoot, we
run (Be-Ikvei Ha-Tzon,
p. 215).
II. The Source
The obvious questions
are where Rav Herzog
gets this “tradition” and
whether it applies to
the State of Israel. Rav
Chwat (loc. cit.) quotes the Midrash
Tanchuma (Shofetim, no. 9):
“‘But one-third shall remain in it’ (Zech.
13:8): They shall only settle in their
land in the third redemption. The first
redemption was the redemption from
Egypt. The second was the redemption
of Ezra. The third has no end.”
Similarly, Rashi explains the verse, “You
have been fully chastised for your sins,
city of Tzion. He will never exile you
again” (Lam. 4:22) as meaning: “He will
never exile you again – after the exile of
Edom (Rome).” Rav Chwat quotes
other midrashim and commentators
that state that there will not be a third
exile.
Rav Hershel Schachter (op. cit.,
pp. 214-215) quotes Ramban (Lev.
26:16) who explains that the two
tochachos (rebukes) in the Torah
(Lev. 26, Deut. 28) refer to the first
and second destructions, respectively.
Since the Temple during the Second
Commonwealth was diminished, and
did not have divine fire consuming
the sacrifices, the second rebuke does
not even mention that the destruction
would lead to the end of sacrifices. All
we see in the second rebuke is human
destruction and the destruction of the
Jewish settlement in the land of Israel.
But, Rav Schachter points out, there is
no third rebuke in the Torah. That must
mean that the Jewish settlement will
not be destroyed a third time.
III. The State of Israel
Rav Schachter suggests that the
halachic definition of Jewish
settlement in Israel can be found in the
rule that we tear our clothing when we
see the cities of Judea in destruction
(Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim
561:1). Rav Avraham Gombiner (17th
cen., Poland) writes that when the

cities are controlled by gentiles, they
are considered destroyed even though
they may be full of vibrant life (Magen
Avraham, ad loc., 1). Conversely, Rav
Schachter argues, Jewish control over
the cities is considered redeeming and
rebuilding the cities. We would not tear
our clothing over Judean cities within a
sovereign Jewish country.
With that definition of rebuilding, Rav
Schachter argues that once there is
Jewish control over the land of Israel,
i.e. a sovereign Jewish country, the land
has been redeemed and will never again
be destroyed, i.e. removed from Jewish
control. He adds that the modern State
of Israel suffices for this definition, but
following that argument will take us too
afar.
According to Rav Schachter, the promise
that there will only be two destructions
and not a third applies to the modern
State of Israel. With this, he explains
why Rav Herzog was confident that the
Nazis would not conquer the land. Once
the Jews resettled the land, the biblical
prophecies apply and there can be no
future destruction. This does not mean
that Israel will win every war. Nor, sadly,
does it mean that individuals will survive
every war and attack. It only means that
the Jewish settlement in the land of Israel
will continue.
I pointed out to Rav Schachter that Rav
Herzog made his prediction even during
World War II, when the British controlled
the land of Israel. If so, how could Rav
Herzog be certain that there would not be
a future destruction? Maybe the Jewish
resettlement was like the minor kingdom
of Bar Kochba, that did not control much
of anything and was destroyed? He was
not sure how to answer for Rav Herzog
but perhaps Rav Herzog had a broader
definition of the cities and the land being
rebuilt.