WE FINISHED OFF last week’s parsha with halachos of self-worth. In this week’s parsha we find out that self-worth comes from having none. I know, I know, it sounds like an oxymoron, or just a moron. But it isn’t. Making yourself like an ownerless desert that people trample all over is the secret to feeling great about yourself.
Still not convinced? Consider this. One of the most important messages from last week’s parsha (aside from, do the right thing and take the blessing, not the curse) is taught by a single word: b’keri. It means happenstance, and it is used by the Torah to refer to Jews who turn messages from G–D into, well, non-messages.
In the case of last week’s parsha, it specifically refers to Jews who suffer and decide to pretend that “life,” not G–D, got in the way. That shifts of the onus of change from the sufferers to life instead.
Uncannily, I came across of a real-life modern example of this during the week of the parsha itself. It was on the cover of a magazine I stopped reading years ago because it seems to embrace exile, not work to end it. It was about the anti-Semitic attack in a well-known city recently, and the two front page quotes basically blamed the government and local authorities for the lack of security and demanded they rectify the situation immediately before an attack occurs again.
No doubt. The government and local authorities have already proven themselves to be anti-Semitic, but are they the cause of the anti-Semitism, or just the means Heaven is using to carry it out? As the Haftarah for Bechukosai said:
G–D says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart turns away from the Lord…Blessed is the man who trusts in G–D; G–D shall be his trust. (Yirmiyahu 17:5, 7)
See how easy it is to act “b’keri” with Hashgochah Pratis?
And by the way, acting b’keri doesn’t only mean writing off the bad as random events. It also refers to failing to adequately thank G–D for the good as well. When a person says a brochah perfunctorily, they’re acting b’keri with G–D. If you bentch after a meal because that is the halachah and not because your heart is yearning to thank G–D for what He has blessed you with, that is acting b’keri.
Do I think that increased anti-Semitism is G–D telling Jews the exile is over and it is time to make plans for aliyah, the answer is yes. Do I think people will listen and learn, taking the past into account? The answer is, no. As one Canadian Jew was recently quoted as saying, “No matter how much they hate us, Israel is not an option.”
Brilliant. But death is? Incarceration is? Beatings are?
This, of course, is nothing new for the Jewish People. We’re only here today because of G–D’s promise to leave a remnant of His people in every generation. How many of those will survive remains to be seen, but the prophetic predictions are not so positive. Israel may not be an option for some, but not because they say it isn’t, because Israel does. Their rejection of aliyah may actually be aliyah’s rejection of them.
At the end of the day, what really keeps Jews away from Eretz Yisroel is comfort, both material and spiritual. Jews have become so invested in their Diaspora homelands that they can’t imagine becoming detached from them. Material growth has been easier for them as has, they believe, spiritual growth. They have come to define themselves by where they live and how they live, forgetting about who they really are in essence.
That’s why G–D started us out in the desert. In the “desert,” you can only define yourself by who you are, what you are spiritually become. As such, there is no sense of entitlement or false pride, and you certainly can’t rely on other people for survival, only G–D. But as the prophet said, that is the source of blessing, not curse.
That is also the basis for Kabbalas HaTorah. The more ego and sense of entitlement a Jew has, the less “room” they have for Torah. Water keeps us alive, but it is the vessel it goes into that determines how much of it we get. In one week that light will come down to fill our “vessels.” Maybe it’s time to visit the desert, at least figuratively.
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Sha’ar HaGilgulim, Version 3, VOLUME 2 is now available through Amazon and Thirtysix.org.
The “Sha’ar HaGilgulim Course” began, on April 27, and Session 3 is this week, b”H, with four more to go after that. For more information, go to: https://www.shaarnunproductions.org/Sha-ar-HaGilgulim-Course.html.
Have a great Shabbos,
Pinchas Winston
The book of Bamidbar is perhaps one of the saddest, so to speak, of all of the Holy Scriptures. Whereas the book of Shemot, which records for us the sin of the Golden Calf also gives us pause, it concludes with the final construction of the Mishkan and God’s Presence, so to speak, resting within the encampment of Israel. But the book of Bamidbar, which begins on a high note of numerical accomplishment and the seemingly imminent entry of the Jewish people into the Land of Israel, ends on a very sour note. It records the destruction of the entire generation including its leadership without their entrance into the Promised Land.
The narrative of the book of Bamidbar tells us of rebellion and constant carping, military defeats and victories, false blessings, human prejudices, and personal bias. But the Torah warned us in its very first chapters that “this is the book of human beings.” And, the weaknesses exhibited by Israel in the desert of Sinai, as recorded for us in the book of Bamidbar, are definitely part of the usual human story and nature.
Over the decades that I have taught this book of Bamidbar to students and congregants of mine, invariably many of them have then asked me incredulously: ”How could the Jewish people have behaved in such a manner?” I cannot speak for that generation of Jews as described in the book of Bamidbar, but I wonder to myself “How can so many Jews in our generation relate to the existence of the State of Israel in our time so cavalierly?
How do we tolerate the cruelties that our one-size-fits-all school system inflicts on the ‘different’ child? How do we subject our daughters to the indignities of the current matchmaking process? How, indeed!?” And my answer to myself always is that for the great many of us, human nature trumps common sense, logic, and true Torah values. I imagine that this may have been true of the generation of the book of Bamidbar as well.
One of the wonders of the book of Bamidbar is that the count of the Jewish people at the end of the forty years of living in the desert was almost exactly the same as it was at the beginning of their sojourn there. Though the following is certainly not being proposed by me as an answer or explanation to this unusual fact, I have always thought that this is a subtle reminder to us that that no matter how great the experiences, no matter how magnificent the miracles, no matter how great the leaders, human nature, with all its strengths and weaknesses, basically remains the same.
It is not only that the numbers don’t change much, the people and the generations didn’t and don’t change much either. Human nature remains constant. But our task is to recognize that and channel our human nature into productive and holy actions and behavior – to bend to a nobility of will and loyalty. Only by recognizing the propensity of our nature will we be able to accomplish this necessary and noble goal.
Shabat shalom.
Rabbi Berel Wein
It seems pretty clear why we count the Omer.
In Mitzraim, our ancestors were almost lost in the darkness of deep tumah. They stood at the 49th degree of degradation, a shocking hairsbreadth from disappearing into the spiritual sewer. Hashem rescued them at that very second!
From that moment, a huge elevation was needed to lift them from that lowly level to the spiritual height at which they were able to accept the Torah at Har Sinai. Our Omer count reflects the arduous upward movement by which our ancestors scaled the spiritual heights. So it seems clear why we count the Omer.
But what I have difficulty understanding is the connection between the Omer count and the bringing of the Korban Omer, the offering of barley in the Bais Hamikdosh. What does a barley offering have to do with our spiritual journey?
I heard from Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz and others words which clarified the nature of the Korban Omer and why it was brought from barley, which is considered the lowest type of grain and which is usually fed to animals.
We were at the animal level when we left Mitzraim. Our Egyptian hosts lived on a level at which physical desires governed their lives, analogous to the warning in the Shema not to follow our heart and our eyes to destruction, chas v’Shalom.
The Korban Omer exemplified our spiritual level at the moment we left Mitzraim. And then our ancestors took a step up, and another step and another step. Day by day they climbed out of the pit. That is how one grows spiritually, step by step. And that is how our ancestors achieved the tremendous spiritual ascent from Egypt to Har Sinai, in order for us to merit standing at that mountain and receiving the Torah directly from Hashem.
On Shavuos, two loaves of challah made from wheat, the highest form of grain, were offered in the Holy Temple. That represented the amazingly successful spiritual ascent which our ancestors had made at that time. Today – as we count the Omer each day – we are trying to replicate that incredible spiritual journey. Sefiros ha Omer is a spiritual ladder which the Torah has given us which enables us to imitate the heroic actions of our ancestors.
In Mitzraim we were at the level of animals. At Har Sinai we had become holy Jews filled with yiras Shomayim. This scenario is not only embedded into our life through the Torah but also represents a huge source of chizzuk for us in this generation.
What is the chizzuk?
When we examine the present state of our messed-up world it can be incredibly depressing. We are surrounded by a culture that is mired in crass materialism. Even spiritual people are affected by the lure of money and power and material success, which can destroy midos and spiritual goals. All around us we find gross immorality. All around we find a culture sunken in the desire for physical pleasure. I do not think that people in general realize the degree to which we are trapped and ensnared in this culture. In general, we are drawn to the world of non-Jewish standards, which we have come to regard as normal.
How can we survive as the Holy Nation in such a terrible environment? How can we actually bring Moshiach to this degraded world?
The answer is that Hashem pulled us out of Mitzraim when our ancestors stood at mem-tes Shaa’re tumah, the forty ninth level of degradation. If it could happen in Mitzraim, it can happen today! That is the incomparable chizzuk of Sefiras ha Omer! If Hashem took our ancestors out of Mitzraim from mem-tes Sha’are tumah, then we have reason to hope and believe that He will also rescue us from our own contemporary degraded world.
Having said this I would like to discuss another aspect of Sefiras ha Omer which continues to baffle me: how exactly do we understand the daily incremental changes embodied in this process? What exactly do the forty nine sefiros represent? What is the difference between day one, day two and day three and so on? I looked at several sefarim which discussed this process, but I had trouble understanding them.
So I thought I would examine my own life experience and try to connect it to the Omer count. Maybe, through examining personal experiences, I could understand what our ancestors experienced thousands of years ago. Sefira is counted in days and also in weeks. So let's start with weeks, since that seems a bit easier to comprehend.
How would we divide a spiritual journey into seven parts?
Looking at my own life, the first phase encompassed approximately the first seven years, when I lived in such utter darkness that I did not know I was in darkness. I had no experience outside of this darkness. I was actually terrified of physical darkness. As a child, I always slept with my room door open. I had to have light in the room, because I was afraid. Once, the wind blew my room door closed and I screamed out in fear. I remember it well!
The second phase was the beginning of a perception that there might be a place of light outside the darkness. I started to look for a way of life that could free me from darkness. My search in the beginning was in the physical world, for example I began to like hiking. I thought that nature was G-d. That brought me into my teenage years.
In the third phase, in high school, I met my future wife. We started searching together for truth. Our path now turned toward social action, like racial discrimination or anti-war activities, as well as more spiritual areas involving the writings of pseudo-Oriental gurus, poetry and philosophy.
In the fourth period – and now we were in college – we got married. But, without G-d, our marriage fell into crisis. Our world was in danger of exploding! At this critical time it looked as if I was either headed for a mental breakdown or … something had to give which I did not expect. This is where Hashem rescued us! The moment had come when we realized that there not only is, but there has to be a G-d Who runs the world!
The fifth phase was plunging into avoda zara. When you believe that God is real, but you are not prepared to accept the Torah, you can plunge into deviant spiritual realms. This phase lasted about eight years, until the utter emptiness of the deviant spiritual practices became overwhelmingly obvious.
This led to the sixth phase, a period of utter emptiness in which I realized that every single path we had ever traveled was completely devoid of meaning and substance! Where would we go? What would we do? Was there no truth in the world?
At that moment, when all seemed lost, the sun rose and Hashem saved us. After eleven years of marriage and at the edge of the precipice, we met Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis in the spring of 1974. She introduced us to the Torah and rescued us from the utter emptiness of a world without meaning. This was the seventh phase of our lives, when we started first learning and then living a Torah life. We were indeed standing at that moment at Har Sinai!
My friends, life does not end at Har Sinai. That is really where it begins! May we all continue to be elevated by the Torah until the day when the entire world is bathed in its Holy Light and the Bais Hamikdosh is standing once again in Yerushalayim Ir ha Kodesh!
The upward path
GLOSSARY
Avoda zara: idol worship
Bais Hamikdosh: Holy Temple
Chas v’Shalom: G-d forbid
Chizzuk: encouragement
Har Sinai: Mount Sinai
Mitzraim: Ancient Egypt
Korban Omer: Temple offering
Omer: measure of barley
Sefiros: spiritual levels
Tumah: spiritual impurity
Yiras Shomayim: fear of G-d
וַיְדַבֵּר ה' אֶל מֹשֶׁה בְּמִדְבַּר סִינַי בְּאֹהֶל מוֹעֵד בְּאֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ הַשֵּׁנִי בַּשָּׁנָה הַשֵּׁנִית לְצֵאתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם לֵאמֹר (במדבר א, א)
Sefer Bamidbar is a very "strange" sefer. Unlike the other four sefarim of the Chumash, Bamidbar seems to have no clear, definitive central theme, except that it talks about Am Yisrael - בַּמִּדְבָּר. But most of sefer Shmot and all of Vayikra also speak about Am Yisrael בַּמִּדְבָּר, so what makes this sefer different? Even the name of the sefer is not really definitive. We call it sefer Bamidbar, when in fact the word in the first passuk upon which this derivation is based is actually Bemidbar, not Bamidbar.
This already hints to us that sefer Bamidbar is something of a conundrum. The fact that we call it Bamidbar is a little derogatory actually, because if we would call it sefer Bemidbar Sinai (it's real name), at least that would be a reference to Matan Torah. "Bamidbar" seems to be "unaffiliated" - "in the desert", like wandering around aimlessly in the desert with no affiliation.
Sefer Bamidbar is also uncharacteristic in terms of the number of mitzvot that appear there. Sefer Breishit deals with the reality before the Torah was given and before the Nation of Israel was born, so it is understandable that in the entire sefer Breishit, we only have three mitzvot (פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ, בְּרִית מִילָה, גִּיד הַנָּשֶׁה). Of the four sefarim after we received the Torah and became a nation, Bamidbar has the least number of mitzvot. Here are the stats – Shmot 111, Vayikra 247, Bamidbar 52, Devarim 200.
In the Gemara (שבת קטו, ע"ב), Rebi says that sefer Bamidbar is actually divided into three separate sub-sefarim. The first "sub-sefer" is from Bamidbar to the middle of Beha'alotcha, to the passuk וַיְהִי בִּנְסֹעַ הָאָרֹן (במדבר י, לה). The passuk וַיְהִי בִּנְסֹעַ הָאָרֹן itself (enclosed in reversed letters "nun"), is a separate (second) "sub-sefer", and after that passuk, the remainder of sefer Bamidbar, until the end of Mas'ei, is the third "sub-sefer".
Obviously, there is a lot more depth to this subdivision, but purely from a "content" perspective, we see a distinct shift in the content after the passuk וַיְהִי בִּנְסֹעַ הָאָרֹן. Until that passuk most of the psukkim dealt with positive things (with the exception of the parsha of the Sotah). Following וַיְהִי בִּנְסֹעַ הָאָרֹן, however, there is a small "smattering" of positive content (like hafrashat challah, temidin and musafim, ma'aser and truma), but the vast majority of the content is negative in the extreme.
The first passuk after וַיְהִי בִּנְסֹעַ הָאָרֹן talks about the מִתְאֹנְנִים, and it degenerates from there, to the spies, Korach, Mei Meriva, Balak, Ba'al Pe'or, the journeys (and backtracking) in the desert. It is like a sefer of "dirty laundry", that makes us uncomfortable and perhaps wish it hadn't appeared in the Torah at all.
In this shiur I would like to explore the hidden essence of sefer Bamidbar and show how it reflects a process of rebirth.
We in fact have four processes of "birth" in the Chumash.
The first birth is that of Adam HaRishon in parshat Breishit. We read how HKB"H created Adam HaRishon and Chava בְּצֶלֶם אֱ-לֹקִים. Adam, the pinnacle of Creation, sinned and was diminished. Adam's neshama was fragmented and scattered over the entire world and time.
This resulted in the necessity of a second birth, Avraham Avinu, the original purpose for which the world was created - אֵלֶּה תוֹלְדוֹת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהָאָרֶץ בְּהִבָּרְאָם (בראשית ב, ד). The Midrash (בראשית רבה יב, ח) says don't read it as הִבָּרְאָם but as אַבְרָהָם.
The third birth is when HKB"H sent Moshe and Aharon to lead Am Yisrael out of Egypt, וּמֹשֶׁה בֶּן שְׁמֹנִים שָׁנָה וְאַהֲרֹן בֶּן שָׁלֹשׁ וּשְׁמֹנִים שָׁנָה בְּדַבְּרָם אֶל פַּרְעֹה (שמות ז, ז). At Har Sinai Moshe Rabbeinu, who is called מְחֹקֵק סָפוּן (דברים לג, כא), brought down the Torah. Am Yisrael were reborn and the Creation was reset to its state before Adam HaRishon sinned.
Following Matan Torah, however, Am Yisrael sinned with the egel, which necessitated a fourth birth, Am Yisrael's wandering for forty years בַּמִּדְבָּר before they could enter Eretz Yisrael.
We see the umbilical connection between these four birth processes from the wondrous gematria of 248, which is - בְּצֶלֶם אֱ-לֹקִים, אַבְרָהָם, בְּדַבְּרָם, מְחֹקֵק and … בַּמִּדְבָּר.
The gematria of בַּמִּדְבָּר is also רֶחֶם, meaning womb. Am Yisrael's wanderings in the desert were equivalent to a rebirth. According to the Torah the birth process results from something called סִרָחוֹן, as it says מֵאַיִן בָּאתָ, מִטִּפָּה סְרוּחָה (אבות ג, א). What does this mean?
R' Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the first Lubavitche Rebbe, the Ba'al HaTania (ליקוטי אמרים א, לא) explains it as a sequence of פְּשִׁיטַת צוּרָה וּלְבִישַׁת צוּרָה. In order for life to perpetuate, you need a continuous cycle of "shedding form" and "assuming form". Take, for example, planting a seed. When you plant a seed in the ground, the outer layers of the seed decay and are "shed" to reveal the inner essence of the seed which then miraculously "assumes a new form", it sprouts roots and grows into the new plant. If not for this process of סִרָחוֹן, the seed would remain lifeless, dormant and would eventually die. Only by being exposed to a "hostile" environment that strips away the tough, outer layers of the seed, is continuation of life ensured.
Rebirth is only necessary when the inner essence has become masked, encased in a tough outer coating that separates it from the truth. When a person (or a nation) sins, they become covered in such tough outer layers, called קְלִפּוֹת which form barriers between them and HKB"H. To reestablish the direct, uninhibited connection, these outer layers must be shed by סִרָחוֹן, being allowed to decay, disintegrate and vanish.
[Aside: This is why, according to Meir Panim, the Lechem HaPanim, which comes to atone for Adam and Chava's sin, require a process of סִרָחוֹן to achieve a thickness of one tefach].
After Adam and Chava sinned it required 20 generations (ten from Adam to Noach and another ten from Noach to Avraham). Generations of debauchery and sin, that had to "de-generate" before the inner essence – Avraham Avinu - could be revealed and be reborn.
Avraham set into motion the process of rebirth that culminated in the 12 Tribes of Israel – his great grandchildren, all born of pure stock, without any of the קְלִפּוֹת that remained from Adam HaRishon's sin. Had the brothers themselves not sinned, they would have received the Torah directly and become Am Yisrael – in Eretz Yisrael.
However, since they sinned by selling Yosef, וַיּוֹסִפוּ עוֹד שְׂנֹא אֹתוֹ (בראשית לז, ח), erecting barriers between them and HKB"H, they necessitated a further rebirth – in Egypt. The gematria of 248 is וַיּוֹסִפוּ עוֹד.
To remove the tough outer קְלִפּוֹת that resulted from this sin required the 12 Tribes being "planted" in the hostile environment that was Egypt, the world center for debauchery and decay, to shed these קְלִפּוֹת and return to their inner essence. They achieved this at Har Sinai. At Har Sinai Am Yisrael achieved the status of Adam HaRishon before the sin, which was a status higher than angels.
When they sinned with the egel, once again Am Yisrael erected barriers separating them from HKB"H. These required removal in the same way as above, by another rebirth – shedding the outer layers through decay, thus revealing the inner essence. The desert is a hostile, desolate place where nothing grows. Every year, for 38 years, Am Yisrael "planted themselves" in the ground, literally. Every year 15,000 of them were buried/planted and decayed in the Midbar, until the entire generation of adult males who left Egypt were gone (except for Yehoshua and Calev). What remained was the inner essence of Am Yisrael, who sprouted and entered Eretz Yisrael with Yehoshua.
According to the Midrash (במדבר רבה יט, יג) Moshe remained behind with the מְתֵי מִדְבָּר in order to lead them into Eretz Yisrael in the time of the Geulah and תְּחִיַּת הַמֵּתִים – the final rebirth.
Indeed, what we read about in the latter two thirds of sefer Bamidbar is a repetitive, degenerative series of decaying - from the מִתְאֹנְנִים, to the spies, to Korach, to Mei Meriva, to Balak, to Ba'al Pe'or and the plague that killed 24,000 (according to the Ari z"l [ליקוטי תורה], the 24,000 students of R' Akiva were gilgulim of these 24,000 and did tikkun for them). It is not pretty, Decay is never pretty, but it is an essential process of rebirth. Without decay there can be no rebirth. It is therefore an essential and integral part of sefer Bamidbar, for without it, Am Yisrael would have perished in their entirety in the Midbar!
We have described the process above as a series of "rebirths". Other opinions in Chazal (מדרש אגדה, ויקרא פרק יב; ספר הכוזרי, מאמר ראשון, אות פא-פג; מי השלוח, חלק ב, דברים, ואתחנן; ועוד.) say that these were different stages in the same birth.
The first stage, exile in Egypt, was the conception. Slavery was the pregnancy. Passing through the sea at Yam Suf was the birth process. Wandering in the desert for forty years was adolescence. Entering Eretz Yisrael was reaching maturity.
Similarly, it is possible to examine the history of our nation over the millennia, through the same prism. We reached maturity and entered Eretz Yisrael with Yehoshua. This stage reached fruition with the building of the 1st Beit HaMikdash by Shlomo HaMelech. Am Yisrael had again been reborn and attained the status of Adam HaRishon before the sin (as they did at Har Sinai).
Then again began the cycle of sin, resulting in a new process of rebirth – exile (conception), oppression/expulsion/Holocaust (pregnancy), return to Eretz Yisrael (birth process), the past 78 years of statehood (adolescence). We have not yet reached maturity.
Once again, this time in the middle of an existential war with our enemies, we find ourselves plunged into another round of what I like to call "national psychosis" - a new round of general elections. Unfortunately, as has been made plainly obvious over the last 78 years, politics serves only to divide and widen the rifts in our nation, not heal them.
We are currently in our "national' adolescent stage, unsure of our national identity, our place in the world, our purpose in the world. There are so many pressing issues that require national resolution. The role and responsibility of Charedim within Am Yisrael as a whole. The infiltration of foreign Western liberal progressivism into our society – specifically in the civil service, academia and the media. The optimum balance between "state" and "religion". Our vision for the future of this country – a safe haven or a light unto the nations. How to fight (and defeat?) our enemies. How we relate to ownership of our ancestral homeland. Resolving the "schizophrenia' of being part of Am Yisrael but not settling and living in our ancestral homeland, etc. etc.
For decades these pressing issues have been swept under the carpet, or stuffed like a genie in the bottle – with politics. Political agendas have seen to it that these issues continue to fester beneath the surface and remain unresolved. We are now experiencing a very similar situation that Am Yisrael faced in the Midbar, with the same "adolescent" manifestations – politics (Korach), agendas (spies), infiltration of foreign values (erev rav), etc. which prevent these issues from being resolved once and for all. They are continually swept under the carpet and are thus perpetuated.
Back then it was for 40 years, now (so far) it has been 78 years. You cannot plug these issues in a bottle with a cork or sweep them under the carpet. HKB"H will not allow them to remain unaddressed, He requires resolution, one way or the other.
Am Yisrael need to find some apolitical, agenda-free way of confronting and addressing these issues, with courage and conviction. We need to bring our nation to maturity and not keep "passing the buck" down the line to future generations.
One thing is for sure - it will not be pretty. Dirty laundry seldom is. Nobody likes a bad smell. However, סִרָחוֹן is an essential component of rebirth. It is inescapable and history demands that we have the courage to face it head on and resolve it – for our children.
Meanwhile the "national psychosis" and accompanying שִׂנְאַת חִנָּם is raging destructively - full steam ahead. There has to be a better way and we are collectively responsible to find it. The process will reach maturation, whether we like it or not – HKB"H will make sure it does. We get to decide how painful or painless it will be, by virtue of how we behave and how much responsibility we take upon ourselves.
Am Yisrael needs to find a way to sidestep the political and agenda levels by confronting these issues on a grassroots level, uninfected by government and political agendas, which are a dead end. A huge chunk (perhaps the majority) of this country is already being run on a grassroots level and not on a governmental level, by private initiatives, charities, NGO's, NPO's etc.
If we had to wait for the government/political level to solve all our problems, there would be no MRI's in hospitals, no departments/research in universities, no national ambulance/hatzala services, insufficient equipment for our soldiers to wage war, etc. etc.
The most important lesson that October 7 taught us is that we cannot rely on the government/civil service level to protect us or ensure the wellbeing of our nation. Am Yisrael at the grassroots level have to take the initiative and not wait for these bodies to arrive and deal with anything. We need to individually pack our bags and rush to the front and fight on our own, raise funds to provide missing essential equipment, recruit our own forces to house and support those evacuated, wives whose husbands are away from home and have been fighting non-stop for the last 2½ years, helping small businesses to stay afloat, providing psychological and welfare care for those injured physically and mentally, those orphaned and widowed.
If we want to have a board of inquiry into how October 7 came about, we need to primarily indict ourselves. How we collectively allowed a small minority of politicians, civil servants with progressive and personal agendas to take control over the lives and destiny of our entire nation, rather than take responsibility for it ourselves. How we could possibly trust such a vital task to such an irresponsible and corrupt group of people.
Am Yisrael need to resolve all the burning issues – ourselves at the grassroots level, the way we rallied to fight on October 7. Not to wait for the politicians and civil servants to resolve them. We all need to accept responsibility and band together to establish forums and frameworks for national reconciliation and cooperation that are apolitical. To establish apolitical media channels whose only agenda is achieving national reconciliation and consensus.
Am Yisrael need to wake up and realize that national politics/psychosis is nothing more than "Hollywood". It is not real. It is all an illusion that we like to deceive ourselves into believing. It has never and will never resolve the critical issues that face our nation. Only we can do that ourselves. We need to accept that and take responsibility.
Am Yisrael are such an incredible nation. When we rally together with a common cause, we are unstoppable. Instead of us running after the politicians, judges, generals, reporters etc. we need to have them running after us. We need to regain control over our own nation and not "outsource" this role to incompetent people with agendas.
It begins on a family level, a neighborhood level, a community level, a town/city/province level and then it envelops the whole country and the entire nation.
How do we want our generation to be remembered by history? Like the generation of the spies, Korach, Zimri? Or like Moshe, Aharon, Miriam and Pinchas? It is our collective mission to make sure this happens, to restore Am Yisrael to a – nation! Not an eclectic potpourri of warring factions.
Nobody says that this will be easy. Being in the Midbar was not easy, it was not all mann/clouds/wells and roses. It was often tough, unpleasant, uncomfortable and downright dirty and smelly at times. But it was essential, back then and today. We cannot escape history or responsibility. We have to grapple with it and resolve it to the best of our ability.
Shabbat Shalom
Eliezer Meir Saidel
Machon Lechem Hapanim
Why do Jews keep Saturday holy? For thousands of years, the Jewish people have observed Shabbat — a full day of rest, peace, family, spiri...
