The Adventures of Milo

It was a little over a year since we bought Milo, our rabbit. He didn’t move much. He relieved himself wherever he wanted, and soon enough our balcony began to smell like a pile of rotten potatoes.

It was time to set him free.  

Worried, my wife asked, “Can he survive?” 

“There is no other option. We will set him loose in the forest. There is plenty of grass and leaves. Every morning, the dew will provide enough water for him.” 

We drove up to our forest, opened the door to the cage, and let him out.  

At first, he didn’t know what to do. Living on a balcony for a year kept him from hopping. Once in this massive, open area, he took some small steps, smelled everything around him, and then just sat there. 

“Same old Milo.” I thought.  

After about ten minutes, he got comfortable. My wife went to pick him up, and he darted off. For thirty seconds I saw him hop higher, leap longer, and move faster than I had ever seen him.  

It’s amazing what a creature can do when he is set free from unnatural constraints and released to a place where he belongs.  

The Jewish Homeland 

For two thousand years, we, the Jewish People, were trapped on a balcony.  

Over the last eight decades, we’ve been set free to where we belong. Despite our relatively small population of over seven million Jews living in Israel, in less than a single lifetime, we have become one of the most prosperous, developed, and powerful places on earth.  

For every technology, Israel has either invented it, developed it, or created a company at its forefront.  

In defense, Israel intercepts rockets traveling at super speeds while still half a mile in the air. In agriculture, Israel has literally made the desert bloom, taking what author Mark Twain called “barren land” and transforming it into a huge farm that feeds millions of people with plenty extra to export.  

Israel also has mastered the trade of turning seawater into drinking water, transforming its entire western border into a huge kitchen faucet.  

It’s amazing what a Jew can do when he is set free from unnatural constraints and released to a place to which he belongs.  

Breaking Out of Our Bonds 

If millions of Jews can accomplish so much materially when we are released to the land we belong, imagine how much more we do when we are spiritually in our own habitat. 

A rabbit goes from eating and staggering around the balcony to leaping like a superhero after he’s released from a cage. Jewish potential goes from lawyer, banker, or actor to transforming the world in agriculture, water, defense, and technology the moment he returns to his eternal home.  

Imagine what the Jewish soul does when it returns to its Maker in teshuvah. Every time we pray, learn Torah, and perform chessed, we return our soul to where it belongs: with God. We are plugging our existence into our Source and connecting with our King.  

If the material impact of the people of Israel in the Land of Israel is massive, can you even estimate the impact we make when each Jewish soul returns Home? 

Maybe that’s why Haredim are adamant about learning Torah instead of serving in the army. They know that Hashem gives them the ability to do so much more for all of us in Yeshiva than anywhere else.  

Hashem commands us to remember the Exodus from Egypt every day. God commands us to remember when we stood before Him at Sinai and received the Torah.  

Every day we must remember where we belong, where we don’t belong, and what we must do to merit His Salvation and Redemption of our nation.  

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David Ben Horin lives in Afula with his family, millions of sunflowers, and Matilda, our local camel. David‘s Israeli startup, 300 Marketing Solutions, is a lean marketing agency for startups and small businesses that creates and promotes SEO-optimized ROI-driven to the right audience on LinkedIn to make your business the star of the show.