Rabbi Judah ben Bezalel Lowe, known as the Maharal of Prague was famous among Jews and non-Jews alike. He was a mystic who was revered for his holiness and Torah scholarship, as well as his proficiency in mathematics, astronomy, and other sciences. Eventually, word of his greatness reached the ears of Emperor Rudolph II.
The Emperor invited the Maharal to his castle on February 23, 1592. There they conversed for one and a half hours, and developed a mutual respect for each other.
Rabbi Judah Lowe made use of his excellent connections with the Emperor, often intervening on behalf of his community when it was threatened by anti-Semitic attacks or oppression.
The nations cannot understand why the Jewish people should have a land.
“If it is G‑d and scriptures and heaven that you are all about,” they argue, “then why do you want a piece of earth?"
"Is G‑d in a place? Will you find G‑d in settling land, in governing a country, in defending it? Make up your mind: Is it heaven you want, or earth?”
Those words, perhaps, are never said. They are tacit words, deeply etched into the fabric of the human psyche.
Yet they are the bias behind all their contentions with us: We don’t belong here on earth where they belong, playing by their rules. Because G‑d is in the heavens, and the earth belongs to humankind.
But this is the mission of the Jewish people: For all to see that the same G‑d in heaven is here within the earth, within all the endeavors of humankind. For there is nothing else but Him.
Beginning with that specific, well-defined, very special piece of earth to which our destiny is tied.