In a video message released this week, Rav Yaakov Shapiro, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Merkaz HaRav, offered reflections on Operation “Am K’Lavi,” framing it as a moment of profound elevation for the Jewish people.
“This is an extraordinary time,” Rav Shapiro declared. “Hakadosh Baruch Hu is raising the stature of Am Yisrael—the pride of the nation and the honor of Hakadosh Baruch Hu Himself.”
Citing the verse, “V’ra’u kol amei ha’aretz ki sheim Hashem nikra alecha v’yar’u mimeka,’” Rav Shapiro emphasized that the shame endured by the Jewish people on Simchas Torah is being reversed. “Hakadosh Baruch Hu is turning the wheel and raising the glory of the Torah and of Eretz Yisrael,” he said.
The Rosh Yeshiva pointed to a powerful awakening among Jews around the world toward Eretz Yisroel. “Hundreds of thousands of Israelis are seeking any way to return to Eretz Yisrael. Jews outside the land are yearning for it as well. And in Parshas Shelach, where the meraglim diminished the spirit of emunah, we are now in a time of uplift—hein am k’lavi—we resemble a lion,” he stated.
Quoting the Shulchan Aruch, Rav Shapiro invoked the directive to “rise like a lion to do the will of your Father in Heaven,” and explained, citing Rav Kook zt”l, that “a lion’s strength is innate—when the moment arrives, it knows how to harness that strength.”
Rav Shapiro concluded with a call to the entire nation to rise to this spiritual occasion: “All of us—students, the wives of students, soldiers and their families, and every Jew who bears the name Yisroel—are partners in this historic moment. And with Hashem’s help, we will merit to fulfill Moshe Rabbeinu’s final words: ‘Ve’atah al bamoseimo tidroch’—‘And you shall tread upon their high places.’”
{Matzav.com Israel}