BS”D
THE SHTTERED VASE
By Roy Neuberger
Erev Shabbos, just before candle-lighting, a crystal vase was accidentally knocked over and shattered. It happened because I was agitated, which increased my anguish. I felt it was my fault and I was very upset. I left the house and walked to minyan.
How could I begin Shabboslike this? But I couldn’t shake it.
On the way to mincha, I suddenly realized ….
What! It’s a few days before Tisha B’Av!This is Shabbos Chazon, the darkest week of the year! And you are upset about a crystal vase?
What about the Bais Hamikdosh!
You’re not upset about the Bais Hamikdosh?
You are crying about a vase and you’re not crying for the Bais Hamikdosh?
What’s wrong with you?
Suddenly, I knew that Hashem had sent me a message! Get your head together! Get your priorities straight! You only get upset when a vase is smashed, but meanwhile your whole world was smashed!
What happened to, “If I forget you, Oh Yerushalayim, let my right hand forget its skill. Let my tongue adhere to my palate if fail to recall you, if I fail to elevate Yerushalayim above my foremost joy….”? [1]
Suddenly, my brain cleared. I knew exactly why that vase had shattered.
“So remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come …. before the silver cord snaps and the golden bowl is shattered, and the pitcher is broken at the fountain, and the wheel is smashed at the pit. Thus, the dust returns to the ground as it was, and the spirit returns to G-d Who gave it. Futility of futilities, said Koheles, all is futility.”[2]
My friends, it is tempting to shield ourselves from truth, but the truth is that “all those who mourn for Yerushalayim will merit to witness her joy …..”[3]Unless we mourn for Yerushalayim, we are in danger of missing her redemption, G-d forbid.
One way to feel the seriousness of the moment is to focus on our current troubles, and the world is now in the midst of unprecedented troubles. Biblical Mitzraimwas brought down by plagues; today the entire world is in the midst of a great plague.
Several months ago, I quoted Rabbi Yitzchak Berkovits, who wrote about the Corona virus, “Nobody in this world knows if, when and how this is going to end.” Every word of atalmid chachamis measured, and it is significant that Rabbi Berkovits used the word “if” when referring to the end of Corona.
We have to be prepared. This may end very differently from the way many people want and expect. Rabbi Refoel Rosenstein, a distinguished friend and kollel administrator, provided me recently with a powerful insight into our current situation.
Rabbi Rosenstein showed me several midrashim, which all make the same point.
“Sof davar … the end of the matter … fear G-d and keep His commandments ….”[4]The Midrashapparently interprets the word “davar” at the end of Sefer Kohelesin two ways: as if it meant “matter” or“subject,”and also asif it meant “dever… plague.”The Midrash continues: “Rabbi Levi said: Why is pestilence called ‘dever’….?” Here the Midrash is hinting that there will be a plague at the “end.”[5]
Pesikta Rabbatiis more explicit, and states, in the name of the same Rabbi Levi, “Near the days of Moshiach a great plague (‘dever gadol’) will come to the world.”[6]
Shir ha Shirim Rabbahstates, “Rabbi Chiya bar Abba said: Samuch limos hamashiach … shortly before the days of Moshiach (the same language as the Pesikta) a great plague will come to the world ….”[7]
My friends, this is real, tangible, palpable, like the shattering of a crystal vase.
Our present world appears to be shattering and breaking. The same way Mitzraimwas shattered, our world is being shattered.
But what is this shattering?
“The Rabbis taught in a Baraisa: [If there is] a plague in the city, take your feet in [to your house to avoid becoming infected), as it says,‘And as for you, you shall not leave the entrance of the house until morning,’, and it also says,[9]‘Go, My people enter your rooms and close your door behind you [hide for a brief moment until the wrath has passed],’ and it also says,[10]‘On the outside the sword [of the Angel of Death] will bereave, while indoors there will be dread.’”[11]
Mitzraimwas shattered in order that our Fathers could go out to Har Sinaiand receive the Torah. We should know that, provided that we hold tightly to the Torah, all shattering is only to build.
“The Holy One, Blessed is He, said: [It is incumbent] upon Me to pay for the blaze that I kindled. I lit the fire in Tzion, as it says:[12]‘He lit a fire in Tzion which consumed its foundations.’ And I [will in the] future build it [again] with fire, as it says[13]: ‘And I will be for it … a wall of fire all around and for glory will I be in its midst.’”[14]
There are grounds for rational hope on this Tisha B’Avthat we will soon see the end of our long Golus. We seem to be almost there, my friends.
“Remember the exhausted [nation] that won [Your favor], and return her to Your soil. Eternally will I laud You, saying ‘Ashrei … praiseworthy are those who dwell in Your House.’”[15]
How could I begin Shabboslike this? But I couldn’t shake it.
On the way to mincha, I suddenly realized ….
What! It’s a few days before Tisha B’Av!This is Shabbos Chazon, the darkest week of the year! And you are upset about a crystal vase?
What about the Bais Hamikdosh!
You’re not upset about the Bais Hamikdosh?
You are crying about a vase and you’re not crying for the Bais Hamikdosh?
What’s wrong with you?
Suddenly, I knew that Hashem had sent me a message! Get your head together! Get your priorities straight! You only get upset when a vase is smashed, but meanwhile your whole world was smashed!
What happened to, “If I forget you, Oh Yerushalayim, let my right hand forget its skill. Let my tongue adhere to my palate if fail to recall you, if I fail to elevate Yerushalayim above my foremost joy….”? [1]
Suddenly, my brain cleared. I knew exactly why that vase had shattered.
“So remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come …. before the silver cord snaps and the golden bowl is shattered, and the pitcher is broken at the fountain, and the wheel is smashed at the pit. Thus, the dust returns to the ground as it was, and the spirit returns to G-d Who gave it. Futility of futilities, said Koheles, all is futility.”[2]
My friends, it is tempting to shield ourselves from truth, but the truth is that “all those who mourn for Yerushalayim will merit to witness her joy …..”[3]Unless we mourn for Yerushalayim, we are in danger of missing her redemption, G-d forbid.
One way to feel the seriousness of the moment is to focus on our current troubles, and the world is now in the midst of unprecedented troubles. Biblical Mitzraimwas brought down by plagues; today the entire world is in the midst of a great plague.
Several months ago, I quoted Rabbi Yitzchak Berkovits, who wrote about the Corona virus, “Nobody in this world knows if, when and how this is going to end.” Every word of atalmid chachamis measured, and it is significant that Rabbi Berkovits used the word “if” when referring to the end of Corona.
We have to be prepared. This may end very differently from the way many people want and expect. Rabbi Refoel Rosenstein, a distinguished friend and kollel administrator, provided me recently with a powerful insight into our current situation.
Rabbi Rosenstein showed me several midrashim, which all make the same point.
“Sof davar … the end of the matter … fear G-d and keep His commandments ….”[4]The Midrashapparently interprets the word “davar” at the end of Sefer Kohelesin two ways: as if it meant “matter” or“subject,”and also asif it meant “dever… plague.”The Midrash continues: “Rabbi Levi said: Why is pestilence called ‘dever’….?” Here the Midrash is hinting that there will be a plague at the “end.”[5]
Pesikta Rabbatiis more explicit, and states, in the name of the same Rabbi Levi, “Near the days of Moshiach a great plague (‘dever gadol’) will come to the world.”[6]
Shir ha Shirim Rabbahstates, “Rabbi Chiya bar Abba said: Samuch limos hamashiach … shortly before the days of Moshiach (the same language as the Pesikta) a great plague will come to the world ….”[7]
My friends, this is real, tangible, palpable, like the shattering of a crystal vase.
Our present world appears to be shattering and breaking. The same way Mitzraimwas shattered, our world is being shattered.
But what is this shattering?
“The Rabbis taught in a Baraisa: [If there is] a plague in the city, take your feet in [to your house to avoid becoming infected), as it says,‘And as for you, you shall not leave the entrance of the house until morning,’, and it also says,[9]‘Go, My people enter your rooms and close your door behind you [hide for a brief moment until the wrath has passed],’ and it also says,[10]‘On the outside the sword [of the Angel of Death] will bereave, while indoors there will be dread.’”[11]
Mitzraimwas shattered in order that our Fathers could go out to Har Sinaiand receive the Torah. We should know that, provided that we hold tightly to the Torah, all shattering is only to build.
“The Holy One, Blessed is He, said: [It is incumbent] upon Me to pay for the blaze that I kindled. I lit the fire in Tzion, as it says:[12]‘He lit a fire in Tzion which consumed its foundations.’ And I [will in the] future build it [again] with fire, as it says[13]: ‘And I will be for it … a wall of fire all around and for glory will I be in its midst.’”[14]
There are grounds for rational hope on this Tisha B’Avthat we will soon see the end of our long Golus. We seem to be almost there, my friends.
“Remember the exhausted [nation] that won [Your favor], and return her to Your soil. Eternally will I laud You, saying ‘Ashrei … praiseworthy are those who dwell in Your House.’”[15]
© Copyright 2020 by Roy S. Neuberger
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1 comment:
Beautiful! By next year, we pray Tisha B'Av will be a day of the greatest joy!
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