“SHAKE HIM UPSIDE DOWN!”
Recently, Rabbi Dov Landau Shlita”h, the 94-year-old Rosh Yeshiva of Slabodka, came to the U. S. with other great rabbis to resuscitate Israeli yeshivos, which are in mortal danger from government cutbacks.
He words rang across the world: “Save us!”
My friends, these two words apply to our entire Nation. We are standing now on the brink of Tisha B’Av and every Jew in the world is in mortal danger. As a nation, our task at this moment is to reach into the depths of our hearts and cry, “Save Us!” to the Master of the Universe.
“Shomer Yisroel, protect the remnant of the unique people. Let not the nation be destroyed, those who proclaim the Oneness of Your Name.”
Several weeks ago in Yerushalayim, a mother took her three-year-old to the park. Someone pushed a heavy swing sideways. The child was struck so hard that he flew three feet and, when he landed, his head hit a rock. The mother raced over. He was totally unresponsive. His face was white, his lips blue.
Screaming! Cries of “Call Hatzola!”
Suddenly, the mother heard a loud voice, “Hold him upside down and shake him!” She lifted her – apparently dead -- child by the feet and started shaking him. The blood returned to his head. By the time Hatzola got him to the hospital, he was acting normally! I believe the voice was the voice of Eliahu ha Novi! This was nothing less than techias ha maisim!
It is Tisha B’Av, the day the world turned upside down. It has been upside down since then. The Children of Israel were thrown to the Four Corners of the World and left to the hatred of the nations who want to eliminate all memory of Hashem. And now, my friends, we are threatened on every side, in every place. The missiles are aimed not only at Eretz Yisroel but Am Yisroel. Let’s not be naïve; we are all in the crosshairs. I am not referring to rhetoric; I am referring to physical violence and the threat of complete chaos, G-d forbid.
Two weeks ago, we read the following: “Then the word of Hashem was upon me a second time, saying, ‘What do you see?’ And I said, ‘A boiling pot and its bubbling is from the northern side.’ And Hashem said to me, ‘From the north shall the evil loose itself upon all the inhabitants of the Land … and they shall come; and each … shall place his throne at the entrance of the gates of Yerushalayim … and all the cities of Yehuda….” (Haftaras Matos; Yirmiyahu 1:13ff)
Have you seen the headlines?
Notice, please, my friends, that the Novi says that “all” the inhabitants of Israel will be vulnerable, up to the “Gates of Yerushalayim” and the “Cities of Yehuda.” We are in extreme danger, outside and inside Eretz Yisroel.
Just as I was writing, I received a brilliant statement written by Rabbi Aharon Feldman Shlita"h, Rosh Yeshiva of Ner Yisroel, who presents a moshul, as if Hashem were speaking to His People:
“Until you change your ways … you will have to fight for your survival…. The war with Hamas will never end…. Even if you drive them out of Gaza, they will attack from some other quarter…. The nations of the world will not come to your assistance. They want a world free of Jews …. You must realize that they are not the enemy. The enemy is you yourselves, [the Children of Israel!] and your attempt to obliterate the Jewish People by abandoning the Torah and assimilating it into the culture of the nations of the world. Once you realize this and return to My Torah, your enemies will return to their holes and peace will reign in my My Land.”
My friends, we have to shake the child upside down until he revives!
We are the child!
“Shake him upside down!”
At the Akeida, Hashem says to Avraham Avinu, “Bi nishbati …. By Myself I swear ….” Radak says this constitutes Hashem’s irrevocable oath which He will never abandon. In the words of the Ramban, even if Avraham’s descendants sin grievously, we will never be permanently severed from Hashem’s protection and our ultimate salvation. Hashem is our Father and He loves us unconditionally. This is why He brings such grievous tests upon us, to bring us back to Him and His Torah, because He will never abandon us. (See Artscroll Tanach Series, Bereishis)
“Shake him upside down!”
The time has come for us to return to our Father in Shomayim and free ourselves from the ways of the surrounding nations. In the words of the Novi, “Let him put his mouth to the dust. There may yet be hope!” (Eichah 3:29)
Yes, my friends, there is hope. When everything is turned upside down, the Redeemer will come and we will be saved. “Then I will return your judges as in earlier times and your counselors as at first, [and] after that [Yerushalayim] shall be called City of Righteousness, Faithful City. Tzion shall be redeemed with justice [and] her returnees with righteousness.” (Haftaras Dvarim)
Praying at the Western Wall
GLOSSARY
Akeida: the “binding” of Isaac
Eliahu ha Novi: Elijah the Prophet
Moshul: parable
Novi: prophet
Rosh Yeshiva: head of the yeshiva
Techias hamaisim: resurrection of the dead
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