What Makes One A Tzadik

The United States are called in Modern Hebrew ארצות הברית - the Lands of The Covenant. The truth is that there is no Bris for the USA. There is, however, a Bris for Israel. Hashem made a Bris with the Avos to give to their children the Holy Land.

The leader of the Jews when they captured Eretz Yisroel was Yehoshua Bin Nun who was descended from Yosef whose middah was guarding his Bris [i.e. sexual purity]. In bentching, the bracha on Eretz yisrael mentions the Bris [ועל בריתך שחתמת בבשרינו]. The middah of guarding the Bris is called in Kabbala "Tzaddik" which is why Yosef, who heroically overcame man's strongest urge, is known as "Yosef HaTzadik". The pasuk says צדיק יסוד עולם - a person who guards his Bris is the foundation of the world. In order to merit Eretz Yisrael we must guard our bris as it says ועמך כולם צדיקים לעולם ירשו ארץ - Your nation is made up entirely of Tzadikim, they will inherit the Land forever.

The entire Jewish People are called Tzadikim as in the pasuk ועמך כולם צדיקים. Even when not guarding the Bris it is considered an act that is not reflective of our internal essence. This is indicated by the fact that the major conquerer of Eretz Yisrael was the tribe of Yehuda. Yehuda's two sons ער and אונן were guilty of not being shomrei bris and despite this fact their descendents captured Eretz Yisrael. This shows that in their pnimiyus, even those who aren't shomer bris in action, are really connected to the middah of Tzadik and merit conquering Eretz Yisrael. [עיין תקנת השבין לכהן הגדול רבי צדוק מלובלין סי' ו' אות עה]

The biggest nisayon of this generation is shmiras habris. There are countless bnei yeshiva, who ideally are the elite corp of Klal Yisrael and all of mankind, who stumble in this critical area. Of course, even married men with families, talmidei chachomim and especially the average layman who is out there in the world, also struggle greatly to actualize their middah of Tzadik.

This has been discussed many times before on these pages and will be again in the future Bez"H.

לזכות אברהם מרדכי בן נעכא גיטל