WE ARE ALL HOSTAGES
A choshuve person asked me why I have not written about the hostage release. “This should be a time of elation, a time we should all want to say Hallel.”
My friends, I do want to say Hallel, but my mouth is dry. The words do not come.
“Al naharos Bavel … By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and also wept when we remembered Tzion…. Our captors requested words of song…. How can we sing the song of Hashem? …. If I forget you, Oh Yerushalayim, let my tongue adhere to my palate if I fail to … elevate Yerushalayim above my foremost joy! …. Remember, Hashem …. those who say ‘Destroy! Destroy to its very foundation!’” (Tehillim 137)
Since October 7, 2023 we have been at war, and it’s not over. The feeling of helplessness is overwhelming. We daven and daven; we do acts of chessed and many mitzvos, and yet the darkness is palpable. Our own brothers and sisters are still locked in Gehenom only a few miles away, but we cannot reach them!
And now, they have started to send them home, those who remain alive. I made the mistake of watching a video of the release and saw the human animals who have been holding them captive. Was there remorse? Was there any sign of humility after the punishment of the last fifteen months? Nothing! We are rejoicing for those who have come out of the darkness, but something is wrong.
My friends, I am sorry, but I do not feel elated at this moment. Instead, I feel crushed, broken. We Yidden have spent the last fifteen months relentlessly punishing the murderers and evil beasts on every side of us. Hundreds of our finest youth have been killed and wounded. We pounded them, and – with the Help of Hashem – were successful in eliminating many of these beasts from this world. And yet, after fifteen months of this torture, they are still here, filled with the same cruelty and ferocious hatred as they had on Simchas Torah 5784, waiting and planning for their next opportunity to attack us.
On the day that the first three hostages were released, Donald J. Trump was sworn in as President of the United States. He was the picture of strength and composure, calling the shots around the world. And we, Am Yisroel, sit here in our Holy Land, making deals with subhuman beasts and releasing mass murderers into our midst.
We are the hostages.
Not for nothing do we say in bentching, “Please Hashem our G-d, grant us speedy relief from all our troubles. Please make us not needful … of the gifts of human hands nor of their loans, but only of Your hand which is full, open, holy and generous, that we not feel inner shame nor be humiliated for ever and ever.”
My friends, there has been almost no rain in Israel this winter. I saw an article from about a month ago which said that, so far, this is the driest winter in twenty-five years.
Every day we say: “If you will continually hearken to My commandments … then I will provide rain for your land in its proper time, the early and late rains …. [But] beware lest your heart be seduced and you turn astray and serve gods of others and bow to them. Then the wrath of Hashem will blaze against you [and] He will restrain the heaven so there will be no rain ….”
We are clearly close to the Final Redemption, but it feels so far away. I feel as if we are standing in the day described by the Novi who said, “And it will happen on that day that there will be neither clear light nor heavy darkness.” (Zechariah 14:6; Haftaras Sukkos)
Where is the rain? Where is the simcha? Where is the joy, gladness, elation and unity?
“If you continually hearken to My commandments …. To love Hashem your G-d and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul …..” It’s so simple. But we the Children of Israel have to know that we have only One Place to look for salvation. And, in order to merit that salvation, we need to come together as One Nation and return with full hearts to Hashem. We need to know that our lives depend on this.
This is a day that can turn to light if we desire it. “In the evening, one lies down weeping, but with dawn … a cry of joy!” Everything can turn around in an instant. “For the Jews there was light, gladness , joy and honor …. So may it be for us! I will raise the cup of salvation and I shall invoke the Name of Hashem.” (Megillas Esther 8:16; Havdallah)
The Tigris River, Babylon
No comments:
Post a Comment