Rabbi Weissman: Encouragement.....

 Encouragement for Lonely Truth-Tellers

Remember what Hashem told Yirmiya when he was in despair

Have you felt isolated over the last few years? 

Were you unwilling to allow your sinuses to be regularly invaded with PCR tests? Were you unwilling to cover up your Tzelem Elokim and suffocate yourself with ghastly masks? Were you unwilling to be locked down like a criminal and robbed of your most basic G–D-given freedoms? Did you refuse to get injected with Amalek juice, no matter how much they cajoled, pressured, threatened, and punished you?

Did you suffer for it? Were you treated abusively by strangers and loved ones alike? Did you lose relationships that were precious to you? Were you persecuted? Were you made to feel like an outcast in your own society?

Did you try to speak out and rescue others from physical and spiritual harm in spite it all?

Were you generally unsuccessful? Do you feel like it only brought more abuse and persecution upon you for nothing? Did it make you even more isolated, perhaps irreparably so? 

Do you feel like you failed? Do you feel like it was all a waste?

What about your efforts to reach people about the true history and nature of the Erev Rav Faux-Jewish State, the Haganah-turned-IDF, the October 7 betrayal and cover up, pretextual wars past and present, “safety instructions”, what the Torah has to say about all this, and so much more?

Have you lost a lot of relationships, simply because you refuse to be a senseless, pom-pom waving cheerleader for a state and an army that has consistently failed you and betrayed you? Do people seethe at you because your love for these entities is not unconditional, and you answer to a Higher Authority?

Do you feel isolated? Hopeless? Angry? Depressed? Ready to just give up?

Then this is for you. 

Yirmiya had a rough career as a prophet. For forty years leading up to the destruction of the first Beis Hamikdash he delivered harsh prophecies to his people. He loved them. He agonized over the terrible fate that awaited them if they didn’t change their ways. 

They did not love him back, at least not once he started rebuking them. Suddenly his own townsmen, including his own family, conspired to poison him. 

(They planned to invite Yirmiya to a meal and prepare his food with a slow-acting poison that would create plausible deniability that he had been murdered — the sort of poison people no longer believe might be deployed in pharmaceutical products, food additives, consumer products, and chemical clouds in the sky.)

Hashem saved Yirmiya from that conspiracy theory, but Yirmiya continued to be rejected, mocked, shamed, cursed, threatened, beaten, incarcerated, and almost killed.

And for what? For warning people he loved that they were in danger, that they were making poor decisions, that they were going against the Torah, that the establishment was misleading them, that many of the “leading rabbis” were false prophets who sold their souls and sold them out. His warnings were credible, if only they would listen. 

Yirmiya wasn’t angling for anything. He wanted nothing for himself, just for people to listen to what he had to say, with a modicum of decency and respect, and take his words seriously. 

There was no reason for his family, neighbors, and the average Jew on the street to hate him. But they persecuted him day after day, until he finally cried out to Hashem in despair. 

Hashem’s response really hits home for me, and I try to keep it in mind when I also feel “what’s the use”. 

I’ve been looking forward to teaching Yirmiya chapter 15, and tonight was the night. It’s embedded above and on Rumble here. Trust me, it will really inspire you.

Here’s a related article from 2021, “Frustrated? Learn from Yeshaya”:

Are you feeling frustrated? Do you feel that you’ve wasted your time over the last couple of years (or even longer) trying to get through to people? Do you believe it was all for nothing?

The navi Yeshaya felt the same way:

ואני אמרתי לריק יגעתי לתהו והבל כחי כליתי

And I said I toiled in vain, I used up my strength for emptiness and for nothing... (Yeshaya 49:4)

Day in and day out Yeshaya was warning the people and exhorting them to do teshuva. He probably influenced some people, but overall his efforts were unsuccessful. What is the point of spending your life warning people who never listen, resent you, and even wish to harm you? Yeshaya was troubled by these very thoughts.

Then he continued in the same pasuk:

אכן משפטי את ה’ ופעלתי את אלהי

Indeed, my judgment is [revealed before] Hashem and [the reward for] my work is with my G–D.

Yeshaya took solace in the knowledge that he had done his job faithfully. Hashem would reward him in full even though the people did not listen to him; that was not his responsibility.

It is not our job to convince people, which is not in our power. We are responsible only to share the truth. As frustrating as it can be to be ignored, insulted, mocked, slandered, bullied, and abused, this is an occupational hazard of following Hashem in the present time. Hashem is absolutely lovesick with us for all that we are doing in His service.

In fact, in a certain sense our service is superior to that of the prophets. They were explicitly charged to deliver messages to the people, messages which were generally unwelcome. The prophets had no choice in the matter; a prophet who refuses a mission is liable for death at the hands of Heaven.

We, on the other hand, were not instructed to warn people day after day. We could easily absolve ourselves from this unpleasant, even dangerous task, especially if we see little fruit from our efforts. Yet we continue to stand for Hashem and try to awaken others.

Do you think Hashem doesn’t notice? Do you think this counts for nothing?

Hashem responds to Yeshaya:

ויאמר נקל מהיותך לי עבד להקים את שבטי יעקב ונצירי ונצורי ישראל להשיב ונתתיך לאור גוים להיות ישועתי עד־קצה הארץ

Is it trifling for you to be My servant? To establish the tribes of Yaacov and bring back the besieged of Israel? [Behold] I will make you a light of nations, so that My salvation will be until the ends of the earth. (Yeshaya 49:6)

Not only would Yeshaya receive the full reward for his service, despite seeming to toil for nothing, he would get much more than he ever imagined. Instead of only preaching to a generation that generally dismissed him, his words and work would live on thousands of years later, to return the Jews, inspire the nations, and bring salvation to the world.

After hearing this, it’s fair to assume that the next time a Jew made a snide remark to Yeshaya, it didn’t ruin his day.

Indeed, we find a completely different reaction in 50:6:

גוי נתתי למכים ולחיי למרטים פני לא הסתרתי מכלמות ורק

I gave my back to those who strike and my cheek to those who ripped out my hair. I did not hide my face from humiliation and spitting.

Radak notes that it is not mentioned anywhere that Yeshaya faced such abuse – he enjoyed high social status – but it is possible that this still happened. Either way, he was willing to subject himself to that with love to carry Hashem’s message. This is a drastic change from complaining that it was for nothing.

Rashi sees in this an allusion to a dialogue between Hashem and Yeshaya at the beginning of his prophetic career. “My children refuse to listen,” Hashem told him. “My children are burdensome. [I give you this job] on the condition that you don’t get angry at them.” Yeshaya agreed.

This is an extremely timely lesson for us as well. Many of our fellow Jews, including people close to us, are refusing to listen and are being extremely burdensome. If we wish to follow in the ways of our prophets, we need to try our very best not to get angry at them. We have to remind ourselves that their bodies and minds have been severely affected. It is fair to say that many of these people have become mentally ill and spiritually distant. Whatever responsibility they bear for their behavior does not change the fact that they have been severely abused, brainwashed, and traumatized. They are sick. We will not help them or serve Hashem by getting angry at them.

It isn’t easy by any means, but we need to accept this upon ourselves.

Hopefully, if nothing else, we will be able to convince them not to get angry at us, either. If we can agree on little else at the present time, hopefully we can agree on that. That alone would be a game-changer.

*

One additional message of support. Even if we remain unpopular to the end of our days, we should not despair. The Gemara in Shabbos 153a teaches in the name of Rav that we can tell from a person’s eulogy whether he is destined for the world to come. If the attendees are roused to emotion (even if it requires effort from the speaker) it is a sign that he has a place in the world to come, otherwise not.

When Abaye heard this teaching, he was very disturbed. His teacher, Rabba, was hated by the Jews of Pumbedisa, his province, for they were cheaters and Rabba rebuked them. Who would be roused at his funeral?

Rabba reassured his student that he would have two such people, Abaye and Rabba bar Rav Chanan. That would be sufficient.

Hopefully we will be universally loved for our efforts to bring people closer to Hashem. If not, so be it. We are not trying to win a popularity contest or an election. If we were, we wouldn’t be who we are, and our messages would have no meaning. Even if virtually no one appreciates us, we should follow in the footsteps of Rabba and keep trucking on.

High-profile globalist actor: Jews should keep Shabbos!

Stupid people: That’s so exciting! Moshiach!

Me: How about you keep the 7 Noahide laws, then get back to me?