THE EJECTION FROM AMERICA (Part 2)
One of the most frightening aspects of this week’s Parsha is how Bilaam so utterly fooled himself. Hashem said clearly, “You shall not go with them.” But Bilaam wanted to go, for he saw reward ahead: money, honor and the fulfillment of his hatred of Am Yisroel. His heart was so twisted that reality was turned upside down. This prophet, who spoke to Hashem, did exactly the opposite of what Hashem told him to do, and, in so doing, destroyed himself.
Since this appears in the Torah, it becomes a lesson for all of us. As we say twice a day, “Do not explore after your heart and your eyes after which you stray …”
It is frighteningly easy to fool ourselves and – chas v’Shalom – ruin our lives. As Rabbi Yisroel Salanter zt”l taught the Alter of Novardok, “Personal desires have to be dead to you.” (The Alter of Novardok, Artscroll/Mesorah) This bedrock of mussar determines whether our lives will be successful.
With these thoughts in mind, I would like to continue the discussion which I began last week in which I mentioned the recent New York City primary election and the prescient words of Rabbi Yechiel Perr zt”l, who said years ago, “The ejection from America has begun.” I don’t remember the exact catalyst for the Rosh Yeshiva’s remarks, but it is not relevant. Golus is not forever. In the immortal words of Rabbi Chaim Volozhin zt”l, “America will be the final stop of the Jewish people before the arrival of Moshiach.”
The world is beginning to tilt: the Land of Israel is tilting upwards, and the rest of the world is tilting downwards. The days of Edom and Yishmoel are ending and the days of Moshiach are about to begin. “When the wicked bloom like grass and all the doers of iniquity blossom, it is to destroy them forever.” (Tehillim 92)
I am not a posaik and I am not speaking in halachic terms, but I want to state what should be obvious: it would be tragic if, at this stage in history, we act like Bilaam and fail to see reality. We have come to believe that it is normal for us to live in Golus, among the other nations.
It is not normal. And now the ominous signs are impossible to miss.
I mentioned last week that a real estate broker reported a surge of calls after the New York City primary from people wanting to move to Florida. Why Florida? Is there safety in Florida? Years ago I saw an article about the safest places to live in the event of nuclear war. Let’s not live in a fantasy world!
Safety is not guaranteed anywhere, but, at this moment, how can one compare Florida or any other destination to the Land of Our Destiny, upon which Hashem’s eyes rest “from the beginning of the year to the year’s end….” (Dvarim 11:12)
I understand that it is not easy to move. My wife and I would not be in Israel except that Hashem made a miracle for us and took us out of chutz l’Aretz “b’yad chazaka … with a strong hand and an outstretched arm….” (Dvarim 26:8) It happened to us before we knew what was happening, but Hashem took us out.
Nevertheless, it is time to wake up. As we say every Friday night, “Arise and depart from amid the upheaval. Too long have you dwelt in the valley of weeping.”
It is historical fact that the lands of Exile, which seemed so secure, can turn suddenly into Gehenom. Perhaps the clearest example is Germany, where Jews occupied high positions before the Third Reich came to power. People did not believe it could happen, but everyone knows what happened. “This was the bitter disillusionment that came to the German Jews, who had surrendered their Jewishness to the German people, whose integrity and kindliness they had so implicitly trusted….” (Rabbi Avigdor Miller zt”l, A Divine Madness) My friends, we saw what happened only a few weeks ago, when suddenly it became impossible to reach Israel. This can happen anytime.
Bilaam said: “Am levadad yishkon … they are a nation that will dwell in solitude and not be reckoned among the nations.” Here is a quote from my book, Hold On: Surviving the Days Before Moshiach: “We are a nation apart. We were not meant to be a part of any nation and yet we have contracted a sickness in which we desperately try to ally ourselves with our enemies, as if we need them in order for us to to feel that we can ‘belong’ to the nations of the world. This sickness is potentially fatal….
“It is all coming to an end now. Soon, we will have been rejected by every nation and every individual among the nations. The entire world is rejecting Israel …. We are outcasts. Hashem is sending us this message to force us to wake up…. The events of Biblical Egypt occurred in order to separate us from the Egyptians…. So too today. The violent hatred in today’s world is apparently necessary because we are so attracted to these nations that we do not now how to extricate ourselves.”
Bilaam, our bitter enemy, told us thousands of years ago that our survival depends upon separation from the other nations. The lands of our exile are pushing us out. This is a message from Shomayim.
May we all soon be gathered together in safety under the wings of the Shechina in the Land of our Destiny in the presence of our King Moshiach ben Dovid!
Shoes in Auschwitz
GLOSSARY
Bilaam: the non-Jewish prophet who was a bitter enemy of Israel
Chas v’Shalom: G-d forbid!
Chutz l’Aretz: the world outside of Israel
Gehenom: Hell
Halacha: Torah law
Mussar: Jewish self development
Posaik: rabbi who decides matters of Torah Law
Shechina: The Presence of G-d
Shomayim: Heaven
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