Shirayim From My Rebbe

In the Torah, God tells Avraham: "Koum, Hithalekh Baaretz". Most people will translate that as "Stand up, walk around the Land (of Israel)". However, in Hebrew, this is not what it means. If we wanted to say Walk, we would say "Koum, Lekh Baaretz". The word Hithalekh means to "make yourself walk". Why did God need to tell Avraham to make himself walk instead of just to walk?

Rav Mordechai Elon Shli"ta gives a great answer:
When we go from New York to Montreal, then really, our goal is to go to Montreal, and the way, the flight there, is just because we need to get there. If we could, we would tele-port ourselves. If we could, we would skip the flight. In Israel, walking is a goal unto itself. Every 4 amot is a mitsvah! Therefore, we tell ourselves to "make ourselves walk" because the walking is already a goal!

If we look a bit deeper, we can see that in Chutz Laaretz, the emphasis is on the past and the future. We were in New York, we want to get to Montreal. In the eyes of Torat Chuts Laaretz, its very hard to give value to the derech, we want the goal right away. Torat Erets Israel comes and tells us there is value in the present also, there is value in the derech, there is value in the process itself as a process even if it didn't lead to the desired goal!
Rav Kook illustrates this profoundly in one of his most powerful quotes:

"It is only the anticipation of redemption that preserves Judaism in Exile, while Judaism in the Land of Israel is the redemption itself." R. AI Hacohen Kook

"It is only the anticipation of redemption that preserves Judaism in Exie" - It is only the past and the future which kept us alive in galut. Thinking about the great times we had and how it will one day be that way again. That is what insured our survival during 2000 years of exile.

"while Judaism in the Land of Israel is the redemption itself." - In Israel, the present is the unfolding of the redemption. This is where Jewish History is taking place. This is where our past, present and future come together. This is where we live our redemption.

I was at a shiur recently in which the Rabbi exclaimed: the generation which is currently bringing about the third redemption is much great than the generations of the first and second redemptions.
All the people in the shiur were shocked. Are we really better than all these great rabbis?

The Rav explained that what he said was describing the people as a whole and not the leaders. The Rabbis back then might have been much greater then the Rabbis today, but the people today, klal Israel, is much greater. He then went on to explain: Back then, we had just gone out of Egypt. Or in the case of the second temple, we still had the memory of prophecy. When we went to Eretz Israel, it was great, but it was not fully our merit. God had to help a lot.

In our generation, we are engaging in a slow and tedious process in which each step is taken by Klal Israel. This is incredibly productive for our growth as our nation. So even if externally we look at such a low level, this is just because God is not pushing us in any way. Internally, we are at a much higher level than we ever were! We are returning to our land on our own, rebuilding Jerusalem on our own, sacrificing our lives in the army on our own.

Its similar to a parent forcing a child to give charity, or the child giving it from his own heart. This is why each step of the process is important, even if so many of these steps are so painful. Each step leads to this growth which will ultimately prepare us for this final and ultimate redemption.

This is why we need to me "Mithalekh", make ourselves go and learn to appreciate the actual journey, rather than just go with the destination (the final redemption) being our ultimate goal without any appreciation of the growth we can get from the current process.