Parshas Tazria-Metzora – Over the Garden Wall (the Forerunner of Great Events)

OVER THE GARDEN WALL

By Roy S. Neuberger

I am writing from Yerushalayim. A few weeks ago, when it was still permitted to daven outdoors, I was fortunate enough to be over a garden wall from a minyan. I was davening alone (my shul had shut down), but I could hear the sounds of prayer right over the wall. It was amazing to answer“Amen, y’hai Shmai rabbo,” “kadosh, kadosh, kadosh” and to hear the kohanim duchenin from behind the wall! And I thought of a possuk.

“Oh, My beloved, dwelling in far-flung gardens, your fellows, the angels, hearken to your voice of Torah and prayer. Let Me hear it, that they may then sanctify Me.” (Shir Hashirim 8:13) We just read these words onShabbos Chol ha Moed Pesach, when our love for the Ribono shel Olam is especially kindled and we are painfully aware of our separation.

My friends, Hashem is listening to us over the garden wall. He is hearing everything we say, everything we think and feel. The worse it gets, the greater the Geula will be: “l’fum tzara agra … in proportion to the tzar is the reward.” (Pirkei Avos 5:26).

I do not know whether, when you read these words, the current plague will be abating or continuing to rage, but this test we are undergoing is certainly the forerunner to great events.

We read on Shvii shel Pesach, “And the earth quaked and roared, the foundation of the heavens shook; they trembled when His wrath flared.” (II Shmuel 22:8)

Mitzraim was destroyed so that our ancestors could be freed to ascend to Har Sinai. It is not easy. We tend to long for what we regard as the “good old days,” when life seemed simpler, like the Children of Israel in themidbar, longing for the days in Mitzraim, as it says, “We remember the fish that we ate in Mitzraim free of charge; the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.” (Bamidbar 11:5).

But we are on the path of Torah. As difficult as it may be to travel through this midbar, there is little doubt that the same process our ancestors went through must take place before we reach the Promised Land. We have to let go of what we were used to in order to arrive at the new world which lies ahead.

It is not easy to believe that the mann will fall tomorrow and Miriam’s well will continue to supply us with water. We were all raised in the culture of Edom, but it seems as if that is fading into the past. This is today’s nisayon. 

The world is shaking and the rope to which we cling is flailing violently, but Hashem is listening over the garden wall. “Flee, my Beloved, from our common exile and be like a gazelle or a young hart in Your swiftness to redeem and rest Your Presence among us on the fragrant Mount Moriah, site of Your Temple.” (Shir ha Shirim 8:14)

A new world is dawning. “And Yehoshua said to the people, ‘Prepare yourselves, for tomorrow Hashem will do wonders in your midst!” (Yehoshua 3:5; Haftaras Pesach First Day)

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Roy Neuberger is an author and public speaker. His new book, “Hold On: Surviving the Days Before Moshiach” (Mosaica Press) is available in Jewish bookstores

and on his new website at www.2020vision.co.il.

© Copyright 2020 by Roy S. Neuberger

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• The Garden Wall
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• Shoshanas Yaakov