The Daily Chizzuk by our Rebbe Rav Eliezer Berland shlit”a — “In the future, it will be forbidden to walk with shoes”
Sunday, 12 Av 5783 — “Suddenly, the whole world will receive the holiness of the Land of Israel”
These are his holy words:
Yosef did not have shoe — if they had given him shoes, there would not have been a problem. They sold him for the sake of a pair of shoes.
They ask how could it be that the brothers did not have shoes. The Pelach HaRimon says that the Land of Israel is a holy land with the holiness of the Holy of Holies. Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov sanctified the Land — “Arise, walk about the Land through its length and its breadth.”
Rabbi Natan says that when we walk in chutz la’aretz (outside of Israel), we sanctify chutz la’aretz. When we walk in the Land of Israel, we sanctify the Land of Israel. When we walk in the Land through its length and its breadth — you are coming to a shiur from Ofakim, travelling 300 km. — then we sanctify the entire Land. The entire Land turns into Holy of Holies, to the holiness of Jerusalem. They come to Jerusalem for a shiur and return — then they are drawing the holiness of Jerusalem.
Through coming to Jerusalem and returning, then we sanctify the entire world with the holiness of Jerusalem, for “Rabbi Yochanan said: In the future, Jerusalem will reach until the gates of Damascus (Shir HaShirim Rabbah), and the Land of Israel will spread out through the entire world.
Every day, we sanctify the world anew. We still do not see this, but suddenly the whole world will receive the holiness of the Land of Israel, and then it will be forbidden to walk with shoes.
The moment that we will be holy with the holiness of Jerusalem, with the holiness of the Temple, then we will not walk with shoes. For Reuven would not walk with shoes. Shimon would not walk with shoes. No one had shoes — suddenly, they sold Yosef, then that’s it, it’s already impossible to walk without shoes.
For the Tzaddik draw the holiness, only through the Tzaddik, only through this, that they dispute the Tzaddik, scorning and putting him down — “And my soul shall be like dust to everyone” (Berachot 17a), [that] he reaches the floor.
One needs to sanctify the entire Land with the holiness of Jerusalem, the holiness of the Temple, Holy of Holies. The entire Land is sanctified. It’s written that Shlomo sanctified the entire Temple courtyard. During the time that there was no Temple, it was permitted to bring sacrifices in every place because everywhere was holy with the holiness of the Land of Israel, with the holiness of the Holy of Holies, with the holiness of Jerusalem. However, since the Temple was built, it’s already impossible to bring sacrifices in another place; only for gentiles it is permitted. For us, it is forbidden.
It’s written in the Rambam, in Hilchot Avodah, that it is permitted for gentiles to build a Temple in every place and that for us, it is forbidden, as it is written, “An altar to Hashem in the land of Egypt” (Yeshaya 19:19).
