Dear friends,
I have written to you more than once about a young man who chooses to remain anonymous. He lost both legs in Azza, and part of one arm. When Rav Asher Weiss visited him several weeks ago, he asked the rav if he may ask a question. The question he had was not what you may have expected – and none of us could have judged him if it were.
Instead, he asked if he should say the brachah “she’hechiyanu” when his prosthesis are fitted. Rav Weiss hesitated to answer – it was a question that he had never been asked before. The young man who I will call Eli (not his name) said, “Is it less of a simchah than getting a new suit?”
I heard from Eli’s family this week. He is now in a rehab center progressing unbelievably well. By the nature of things, there are several other soldiers there for similar reasons. He asked them what was motivating then to fight. The answers were varied. Some said, “I had to protect my family.”
Others said, “I had to be there for the country,” and still others, “Because it was the right thing.” What they had in common was that their heads were still held up high and that there were no regrets.
WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH TISHA B’AV?
We are deep in galus. Maharal explains that galus is concealment, and that geulah is getting back to your real potential. The deepest potential that any Jew has is to find the Shechina within him, and to redeem it by letting its voice be heard. Galus haShechina takes place when it is inaudible.
THE STATE OF THE STATE AND THE REDEMPTION – HARD QUESTIONS TO ASK, AND HARDER ONES TO FACE
WHY BRING UP CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES WHEN WE NEED UNITY?
Two voices are competing for center stage
Voice one: About 200 years ago, the Vilna Gaon concluded (as did some of the Chassidic Rebbes of the time) that the time for the return to the Land had come, as a pre-requisite to the final redemption. He referred to this era as the time of Moshiach ben Yosef (an era, not a person).
Yehoshua ben Nun of Efraim began the physical conquest of the land, and he predicted an era before we go back to our higher selves, as will happen with the ultimate geulah, that the time for another entrance to the Land had come. The goals of living a more sanctified life by drawing on the Land’s inherent kedushah, and keeping the mitzvos that can only be done in Eretz Yisrael were their aspirations.
Most of the observant Jews (and that covers a wide spectrum) see becoming part of this vision of living a life with greater kirvah (closeness) to Hashem as what brought them here. When you visit, this is why you may find yourself at the Kotel. You don’t have to have read the Gaon’s writings or those of his students to intuitively hear the underlying message that they convey.
Voice two: Another kind of galus is the terrible suffering that being Jewish has meant to those of us who ended up in Europe, and those of us who suffered the constant humiliation of being a third-class citizen because of dhimmi in the Moslem countries.
For some, geulah is not necessarily spiritual at all, but is related to getting out of situations that are both painful and tragic. The solution was to drop everything that makes our lives different from the vision for life put forth by the more progressive elements in non-Jewish society.
The way out both for survival and for dignity from their perspective was to have find our place within the nations. We need an army, an economy, language, and the adaptation of progressive values for this to happen. For some, but not all, this has led to a paranoiac relationship to religion.
The movement towards uncompromising drafting of yeshiva students (effectively closing the yeshivas) and forbidding public prayers for observant Jews (Muslim prayers are permitted) in Tel Aviv are the most extreme examples of this sort of vision of what the State is for.
These two voices are in an unending shouting match.
There are third and fourth voices.
For some, the return to the Land is a fulfillment of the prophecies, and the secular State is perceived as faulty, but they choose to see it as they wish it were; a work in progress. For them, the Vilna Gaon’s vision is the beginning of redemption, not just a step towards redemption.
When the Chazon Ish encouraged Agudat Yisrael (which later divided into Shas and Degel HaTorah to enter the Knesset), he had no illusions, but felt that the voice of Torah must be heard in order to bring about change.
The gift of the return to Eretz Yisrael after close to 2,000 years is not the end of the story of galus and geulah – it is the gift that no one could have even imagined, and it carries with it serious responsibility. It is not the beginning of the geulah, but a sacred challenge.
From the perspective of Meshech Chochma, it is a responsibility that can only be carried out with genuine love of all of our people, and inclusion rather than rejection of those who are most distant.
I am including part of the long last Meshech Chochma on the Haftorah of Parashas Dvarim. To me, it says it all, and will also answer some unasked questions about my own view of dealing with differences that are not just stylistic, but have real bases. If your Hebrew is up to it, consider reading the entire peirush.
THE MESHECH CHOCHMA
Quoting the Haftorah, Meshech Chochma discusses the ketoret offering.
We find that the chachamim that every fast day in which the sinners of Am Yisrael are excluded isn’t a proper fast. This is why the ketoret contained a fragrance called Helbonah, which had a foul smell. When it is mixed with the others and is mixed with the rest of them, it absorbs their fragrance, and the result is that it extracts the good smell of the ketoret even more.
It says when the reshaim are scattered it is good for them, and good for the world. If THEY form a union (with each other) it is bad, but if they join with others who are not reshaim, (and thus lose their unity) they are like people who join a minyan, and benefit from the group’s merits; the Shechina is with all of them.
He then illustrates this point by talking about two holes that are found in an animal’s lung. If they are attached, they make the entire animal treif, but if one is an actual hole, and the other is a “kemet”, a sort of bend, (or other defects along this line) the animal remains kosher.
Similarly, if each individual has a real flaw, one is stingy, one spreads lashon hara, or one has anger issues, when they are together, even though they all have flaws, each one improves the other.
The stingy one will observe and learn to spend, the one with an anger issue will learn how to relax and wait out his anger, and the one who is addicted to lashon hara will learn to be quiet. If, however they all have the same deficiency, they will validate and strengthen each other, so what may have been a spider’s web, now becomes a thick strap.
THE BAIS HAMIKDASH
The BHMK united our hearts. This is why huge crowds all had room to bow – their hearts were all directed towards Hashem. This was miraculous, the effect of the Jews uniting in the BHMK brought down miraculous interventions from Hashem.
As in the case of a minyan, the ten constant miracles were supernatural manifestations of hashgachah. Individuals would not have the power to change the laws of nature in this way. Each Jew has his own “fragrance” – when we are together, we form a perfected union.
One may have Yiras Hashem, another may give large amounts of tzedakah. Another may have genuine love of his fellow Jew, one may be willing to lend a hand, and still another may know a great deal of torah. We are compared to an apple orchard in which each blade of grass has its own fragrance. Even those who are deficient are included.
The minchah offering was never offered by two people who were partners. It had to be offered by only one person, who represented the unity of the community. This unity is reflected by each person contributing to every other person in his specific and unique way, like limbs of one body.
When this is lost, each person lives only for himself and can “eat up” anyone who gets in his way. This is what Yirmyahu meant when he told the Jews of his time, “don’t bring useless minchah offerings”, and your ketoret is abominable.
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?
If you treat the one you are trying to influence as someone like yourself, you won’t be able to do anything, – he will be defensive because the hurt is so great. Instead, see him for what he has to face. If, for instance, he has a family, and not-such-great parnassah but is still honest in business just see that side of him (don’t focus on his flaws when you talk to him).
If someone is single, but keeps the laws of tznius, let that fill your vision of who you are talking to... The person to whom you are speaking will feel as though he is listening to a great and holy person (he will mirror back what you see in him).
There will be no feeling of hurt or insult. When you feel to do this, you fit into what Chazal said “Yerushalaim was destroyed because people didn’t give rebuke (in this way) to each other”. This also leads to people hating talmedei chachamim.
When they either don’t give rebuke at all, or do it wrong, they feel, “If only he lived my life, he would know what he is talking about. Sure, he could be holy. If he was in the real world, he would be much worse than me. Their leaders are like rams who walk in a straight row, so each one only sees the backside of the one in front of him, and not his face. This affects everyone, since no one is learning to see the perfection inherent to anyone but himself.
The miracle of the red string turning white on Yom Kippur only happened in the first temple’s time. At that point there was unity and love of Am Yisrael. Thus we find that Achav, a real rasha lived in a society in which lashon hara was not spoken.
His son, Yehoram showed respect to the torah that he didn’t observe. He bribed the king of Bnei Amon with everything he owned except the sefer torah. This is why the string would turn white.
During the time of the second temple, it stayed red, because their inner lives were filled with disunity and needless hatred.
Attached are kinnos about October 7th.
Tziporah
Attached are kinnos about October 7th.
Tziporah
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