What Am I Doing?

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz 

These days talk of presidential politics and Covid have taken over the public conversation and thought. People are consumed by those topics, seemingly to the exclusion of all else. It would seem that we need to be reminded that there should be more to our lives than current events and the fleeting pursuits that occupy the minds of the masses.

By remembering that at our essence we are Torah Jews with a solid core, we can remain rooted in the values that have allowed us to endure and prosper, without losing sight of the important things in life, not becoming overtaken and swept along by trivial pursuits and conversations.

We cannot permit banality and superficiality to overtake us. We have come too far and paid too high a price to get here to slide backwards into becoming puerile addicts chasing after the latest posts and clickbait.

Let’s look at this week’s parsha and learn some lessons we can all follow. We learn about Yaakov Avinu’s dream, his years with Lovon, his marriages, and the birth of the shevotim. Ever since we were youngsters in school, we have been riveted by the account of many stones joining together to become one single rock upon which Yaakov rested his head as he left the yeshiva of Sheim V’Eiver on his way to Lovon.

We were generally taught that Yaakov slept on Har Hamoriah, site of his father’s Akeidah and the future site of the Botei Mikdosh. The sun set early and all of Eretz Yisroel folded under him, as Hashem promised him the land and assured him that He would watch over him and bless him with many descendants.

Yaakov awoke in the morning and was overcome by the awesomeness of the promise he had received as he slept. He awoke and said, “This is a holy place. Hashem is in this place and I didn’t even know.” He consecrated the stone upon which he had slept and promised to give Hashem ten percent of his possessions. 

Yaakov traveled on to Choron, where he came upon shepherds sitting aimlessly with their flocks around a watering hole. They explained that they had to wait until all the local shepherds would come and then all of them would together push off the huge rock that covered the underground cave filled with water. When Rochel arrived with her sheep, Yaakov summoned the strength to roll off the boulder by himself.

Yaakov was the av of golus. What happened to him on his way from Bais Lechem to Choron was the introduction to Yaakov’s first foray into exile as he began his journey into golus.

He walked until dark and then lay down to rest in a place seemingly devoid of holiness. Upon awakening, he realized that “ein zeh ki im bais Elokim, this is a place laden with kedusha, the house of Hashem and the gate to heaven.”

Yaakov Avinu was essentially teaching us how to survive in golus. Throughout the ages, we have been forced to leave our homes and move to places that seemed empty of any good. We viewed them as unable to receive holiness, much less become homes for kedusha and people who seek to live exalted lives. The places seem as inert as stone when we get there.

The Jewish people’s golus experience is tragic. In essence, we are a family torn apart and spread across the world. We have endured all types of oppression and pain over the course of this journey. On the surface, it seems that we have been removed from the realm of the Divine, pushed into a world without holiness.

But as we have bounced from place to place, we have seen, as Yaakov Avinu taught, that even the darkest places in the world can be homes for kedusha. A stone can become a mizbeiach. Ein zeh ki im bais Elokim. This is the secret of survival in golus. We can live under the thumb of evil rulers such as Lovon, and still conduct our lives according to Torah providing we maintain our values and drive for self-improvement and kedusha.

Along the way, we learned not to give up on any place or any person. There was a time when everyone believed that America could never become hospitable to Torah Jews. There was a time when anyone who immigrated to this land was doomed to a life of dark emptiness, and for many years that was the case.

Eventually, Hashgocha orchestrated for leaders who had learned the lesson of Yaakov to come here. They planted yeshivos where people said no Torah could grow. They insisted on shemiras Shabbos where there was none. They convinced parents to send their children to receive a Torah education when doing so was mocked and vilified as old-fashioned and wrong.

And now, in America, there are frum communities located from coast to coast, where Torah blossoms on a massive scale. This came about because some of Yaakov’s children didn’t go to sleep when they got here. They didn’t view the place as stone cold. They believed that any place, anywhere, can be transformed into a Bais Elokim.

Not only in America, but around the world, Torah is found in places no one ever thought it was possible. Wherever Jews who remember Yaakov’s lesson go, the brocha he received that night in his dream of “uforatzta yoma vokeidma vetzafona vonegba” is being realized on an unprecedented scale.

No matter where our people end up, they believe, they build, they plant and they grow. And while doing so, they uncover and reveal sparks of holiness in the largest cities, the smallest towns, and the lightest and darkest corners of the world.

We never give up on anyone. We never say that he or she is beyond hope. We know that there is good everywhere. Our task is to find it and cause small hidden sparks of goodness to flare up into flames. We need to remember what we are about and not permit the flames to die down as we endure the Covid crisis and are locked in our homes with nowhere to go.

The anthem of golus­ is “achein yeish Hashem bamakom hazeh.” Never think you are alone. Never think you are forsaken. Never think anyone is too far gone. Never think that there is a location that cannot be transformed into a place where we can live and flourish. And even with all the problems we face today, we must seek to use our time constructively, improving ourselves, our homes, our loved ones and the communities in which we live.

Rav Chaim Volozhiner foretold that America would be the final station of Torah in golus. When we uncover enough watering holes here, we get to finally go home. Let’s keep those holes open and flowing with Torah and kedusha. Lethargy, apathy and mindless activity can cause them to atrophy and weaken their flow.

We have been spread across the world, and wherever we’ve gone, we’ve established botei Elokim, spreading kedusha and Torah where naysayers said it couldn’t be done. The cycle repeated itself every few hundred years. Jews would grow accustomed to their host country after having brought as much kedusha to that land as possible. The country rose up against them, and once again the Jews were on to the next bleak outpost. Finally, we are here, learning and teaching Torah across the land, awaiting that great day of “vehayah Hashem lemelech al kol ha’aretz.”

We often lose sight of those who refined and purified the American landscape, enabling the Torah world to rise. The great impact of the famed post-war giants sometimes overshadows the silent, hidden avodah of those who came before them and first uncovered the “achein yeish Hashem” on these shores as well.

The going was rough in those early turn-of-the-century days, as millions of Jews escaped the poverty and pogroms of Eastern Europe and came here looking for a better tomorrow. They settled in cities and towns all across the country, initially eking out a living as peddlers and shopkeepers. The ruach was stone cold. The water pits were blocked and refused to open.

With the peddlers came rabbonim, who sat and learned by themselves and with the people. They wrote seforim and corresponded with the giants of Europe. They fought for Shabbos and Jewish education. Oftentimes, they failed and many were lost, but they increased the kedusha here. The zechuyos created by limud haTorah accumulated, balancing out the forces of hedonism and allowing frum people to live and thrive here. They cleared the air of spiritual pollution to the degree that shuls and yeshivos could be built, and botei medrash and kollelim could flourish all across the country.

In Omaha, Nebraska lived Rav Tzvi Hirsch Grodzensky, cousin of Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzensky, who toiled in Torah. In Boston, Rav Zalman Yaakov Friederman presided over huge kehillos and made sure that there would be kashrus and rabbonim in Massachusetts, as he learned and taught Torah. Rav Eliezer Silver of Kovno ended up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and from his pulpit there, he influenced the entire Torah world.

Travel across this country and you’ll find Jewish cemeteries in the strangest of places. You think you’re the first frum Jew to ever drive through some forsaken town off the beaten path, and then you pass the bais olam and realize that neshamos were moser nefesh to find sparks of kedusha in that location and do their best to lay a spiritual foundation in this country and help prepare the world for Moshiach.

Generations of such people, who came to the final golus from Europe, brought with them Torah and mitzvos, sometimes leading very lonely lives. Others were more fortunate. Whether they learned into the wee hours of the morning in the Rocky Mountains or led quiet tishen on Friday nights in places very far from Mezhibuzh, they were slowly but surely pushing away the rocks that blocked the water of Torah from spreading. History might not be aware, but everything that came after those pioneers is because they uncovered the holy spark of “achein yeish Hashem bamakom hazeh,” and our existence here proves that.

We have made it through many nisyonos here in this country. We cannot allow the nisayon of Covid to get the better of us. We must remain strong and dedicated to Torah and mitzvos, just as before. We are being tested with new temptations that dull our passions for kedusha. We must remain loyal to our upbringing and not let what our people have worked for to fall by the wayside as we seek things to do to occupy our time.

A person who has the awareness that the Master of the Universe maps each step and writes every chapter lives with emunah and simcha, for he knows that whatever happens, there is one reaction: achein, behold, yeish Hashem bamakom hazeh. Wherever it is, He is there too.

Yaakov Avinu throughout this parsha faces all sorts of challenges. He travels, lonely and impoverished, and arrives with nothing. He faces Lovon’s trickery and deceit, and then toils under a blazing sun and in fierce cold for a selfish boss. Never do we see him focused on the great evil being perpetrated against him. He never assumes the role of nirdof. He isn’t consumed with Lovon’s spite.

He saw the Hand of Hashem there, too. “Achein yeish Hashem bamakom hazeh.”

Thus, he emerged from Bais Lovon with all the brachos in the world, rich in family and possessions.

A person is crafted by Hashem, a wondrous, spectacular creation. Each person has value. Every grandchild of Yaakov has the potential for kedusha.

In that spot, the very place where Yaakov revealed Hashem’s Presence, the Bais Hamikdosh will stand, the ultimate testimony to the fact that along the entire journey, the long path through golus, He accompanied us: He was there, leading us home.

As we continue on the path of the golus, dark and confusing as it may be, we have it within us to stop and say, “Achein yeish Hashem bamakom hazeh.” I possess a neshomah. Is what I am doing helping to sustain the neshomah, or is it serving to negate the influence of the neshomah on my life? Is what I am doing in my home helping to make it a place where Hashem can be felt, or is it turning it into a hedonist temple?

Imagine if before we did something, we would say to ourselves, “Will what I am now engaged in help bring Moshiach?” How much nonsense would that save us from! How much wasted time would that prevent! How much better, happier and more productive would our lives be!

We would live wholesome, healthy lives, planting the seeds of Moshiach.

We have the strength to roll away the stones that block our paths. All we need is the will.

Jokers

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

This week’s parsha introduces us to a new phenomenon: hypocritical tricksters and cynical jokers. The posuk (Toldos 25:19) tells us, “These are the children of Yitzchok, the son of Avrohom; Avrohom gave birth to Yitzchok.” Rashi (ibid.) points out the repetition, explaining that the leitzonim of the generation alleged that Yitzchok was the son of Avimelech and not Avrohom. Hashem thus made Yitzchok appear exactly like Avrohom, so that people could look at him and see that he was indeed the son of Avrohom.

As with all leitzonim, the facts of the story are not important. What is important to them is that they establish their narrative and stick to it, no matter what the truth is. Yitzchok was born two years after Sarah was taken hostage by Avimelech. Obviously, their story had no validity, yet Hashem still felt the need to have Yitzchok look like his father.

We translate leitzonim to mean jokers, but in fact, as we see in our day, leitzonim present themselves as serious people. They fashion a narrative and repeat it unabashedly, fictitious as it may be. Vacuous people buy into it and believe it, despite evidence to the contrary. People are superficial and too lazy to think and examine what the real story is, so Hashem provided a bona fide proof to demonstrate the fallacy of the leitzonim, so that people would not be led astray and deny the lineage of Am Yisroel.

Leitzonim are people with agendas who play with people’s minds, mocking the truth and advancing their schemes by creating an alternative reality. This is done in matters of religion by people who present themselves as religious or Orthodox and act in ways discordant with halacha and tradition. They present themselves as thoughtful progressives and broadminded scholars, concerned about health, people’s feelings and the transmission of Torah to future generations and those far removed, while they mock the ones who follow the path of Avrohom and Yitzchok as close-minded myopic fools blinded by a fidelity to insular, ignorant rabbis who are unconcerned about the wellbeing of others and uninterested in outreach, knowledge or scientific truths.

Later in the parsha, we are introduced to Eisov and his shenanigans. The posuk states (Toldos 25:27), “Vayehi Eisov ish yodei’a tzayid – And Eisov knew how to trap.” Apparently, the Torah is informing us that Eisov was a hunter who excelled at trapping animals. However, Rashi tells us that the Torah is also letting us know that Eisov was a charlatan who tricked people with his mouth and words.

Eisov tricked his father, Yitzchok, into thinking that he was a righteous person by presenting halachic questions to him. He reasoned that by presenting himself as a tzaddik, his father would love him more than Yaakov, who did nothing other than learn and do mitzvos all day. While we know from studying Torah and Chazal that Eisov was a fraud, it is likely that he not only asked Yitzchok his shaylos, but also, from outward appearances, presented himself as a tzaddik and worthy heir to Avrohom and Yitzchok. It was only through Divine intervention and actions by his mother Rivkah that Eisov didn’t emerge as the spiritual successor to Yitzchok.

In life, we encounter all types of people. There are those such as Yaakov who keep to themselves and dedicate their lives to studying, teaching and fulfilling the precepts of Torah while maintaining a strict fidelity to the truth. Then there are those like Eisov, who are corrupt to the core and project a religious exterior. We have to be able to discern the difference between the two and attach ourselves and do business only with people who are scrupulously honest and G-d-fearing. We have to also examine ourselves and ensure that our motivations are pure and our actions holy.

The struggle between Yaakov and Eisov endures and will continue until the end of days. One lived the life of the bais medrash and the other lived the life of the street. Yaakov was a tzaddik tomim, while Eisov was the opposite.

Yaakov spoke with respect, humility and empathy, as did his father, Yitzchok, and grandfather, Avrohom. Eisov had no use for anything holy and glibly sold his bechorah to Yaakov for the symbolic price of a bowl of lentil soup.

The parsha tells us that while it appears that Yitzchok appreciated Eisov, the difference in speech and manner between his two sons was obvious to him. When Yaakov came forth to receive the brachos of “Veyiten lecha,” Yitzchok was confused, for although Yaakov was wearing the coat of Eisov, he sounded like Yaakov. “Hakol kol Yaakov.”

Eisov later cried to his father, begging for a brocha, as he plotted his brother’s murder. The words meant nothing. Yitzchok discerned something in Yaakov’s voice, a sincerity and heart that marked him as different.

Words are everything to a Jew. Our manner of speech defines us. How we speak, the words we choose, and our tone of voice all matter. We are to be refined, disciplined and respectful. We respect people whose words are soft and thoughtful, not brash and irreverent. We respect and promote men and women of truth, whose fidelity to honesty and halacha grounds them. It is him and people like him who embody the ideals of Am Yisroel.

We are in the exile of Eisov and must make sure that we do not adopt his perfidious and disrespectful nature.

In this week’s haftarah, the novi Malachi (1:2-6) repeats to the Jewish people Hashem’s words: “I love Yaakov and Eisov I hate…” As for the kohanim, the posuk states, “Amar Hashem Tzevakos lochem hakohanim bozei shemi.” They failed to demonstrate proper respect to Hashem and the Mikdosh.

Underpinning the reprimand, and perhaps the connection to the parsha, is the fact that the kohanim earned their role and mission as a result of Yaakov’s purchase of the bechorah. The bechorim did not act properly, and the kohanim were chosen to replace them as attendants to Hashem.

The original sale of the bechorah was rooted in the fundamental difference between the brothers. Yaakov was a man of respect, while Eisov epitomized ridicule and scorn. As the posuk says of Eisov, “Vayivez Eisov.” His personality was one of derision.

Thus, if the kohanim had fallen to the level where they became “bozei Hashem,” embodying Eisov’s characteristic of the middah of bizayon, they were demonstrating that they were no longer worthy of inheriting the gift bequeathed by Yaakov to serve Hashem in the Bais Hamikdosh.

As bnei Avrohom, Yitzchok and Yaakov, we are identified by three traits. We are rachmonim, baishonim and gomlei chassodim, people of mercy, bashfulness and kindness. We are invested with sensitivity and compassion, and the words we use, our tone of voice, and our approach have the ability to awaken those traits.

We recently lost Rav Dovid Feinstein, a brilliant Torah giant who cloaked his greatness in simplicity. The many thousands around the world who mourn his passing saw in him a personification of the positive attributes we aim for, with humility, devotion to Torah study, halacha and relating to other people with kindness and compassion and decency. We should emulate the example he set for us.

We live in a time when political parties recently spent billions of dollars to put forth their narratives and impact an election. When the recent election was over, one side was declared the winner. They shut down all discussion by the other side and successfully set about implanting their narrative everywhere, as if it represented the truth and the will of the people. With mock righteousness that would make Eisov proud, their vision took hold and whoever disagrees with them is treated as an out-of-touch lunatic.

Eisov doesn’t see past the surface. He sees a red soup and refers to it by its color, saying to Yaakov, “Haliteini na min ha’adom ha’adom hazeh... Al kein kara es shemo Edom” (Bereishis 25:30). Eisov and his offspring are referred to as “Edom,” because he referred to the lentil soup as “edom.” He exposed his superficiality. All he cared about was its color. Its identifying trait was one that had little to do with its flavor and consistency.

Eisov doesn’t care about the truth other than to project himself as truthful and upstanding. He seeks to take advantage of people’s honesty and sincerity, seeing it as naiveté and gullibility.

Edom, as a people, also fails to perceive beyond what it can touch and feel. Hence the fascination in our world with looks, color and presentation. There is no depth that’s meaningful to them beyond the surface image.

We have to work harder to rid ourselves of that pernicious influence so that we can be worthy heirs to the glorious heritage passed down to us from our forefathers. We have to seek out what is real and proper and bypass what is shallow, superficial and impure. The test becomes greater by the day, as does the temptation to be affected by the glossy lures and come-ons.

The Chofetz Chaim kept pictures in his home that he would look at from time to time. One of them was a picture of a tall man in a threadbare caftan known as Reb Shimon Kaftan because of his tattered cloak. The man was neither a talmid chochom nor a rov. After losing his wife and children in a plague, he arrived in Vilna. Every day, he did just enough work to sustain himself and would spend the rest of the day going around town with a pushkah, softly asking people to put in their coins, which Reb Shimon used to feed hungry families and support yeshivah bochurim and Torah scholars.

As he walked about, he hummed a little tune: “Someone who gives a penny here receives Olam Haba there.” It was a simple tune, but the Chofetz Chaim would tell the story of Shimon and sing his song. The gaon and tzaddik of Radin perceived the latent holiness in a little Yiddishe niggun, because the simple words and authentic Yiddishe emotions caused Jews to open their hearts. It was the timeless kol Yaakov and the Chofetz Chaim would sing it as if it were a sacred piyut.

The niggun and its words were sacred and holy because it was pure and simple and touched the neshamos of pure, holy Jews.

As children of Avrohom, Yitzchok and Yaakov, we are all shluchim to continue their holy work. We are to care about each other, and speak with love and soft words people can understand and accept. We speak neither with a forked tongue nor with animosity, hate or sanctimonious judgmentalism. We are not hypocritical, flippant or glib. We are and remain positive and hopeful, treating all people properly, as our forefathers did.

The tug of war between Yaakov and Eisov is eternal and continues to this day. The Chazon Ish told Rav Chaim Kanievsky in the early days of the state of Israel that, “There is a long rope, Ben Gurion holds one end and tries to pull all of Am Yisroel to his side. I hold on to the other end and try to pull all of Am Yisroel to my end. Sometimes he’s stronger, sometimes I am.”

There is an ongoing battle until the arrival of Moshiach between good and evil, between those who are righteous and those who pretend to be. We must always be on the side of truth and goodness, avoiding lies and charlatans.

We earned the brachos of Veyiten Lecha because we spoke plainly, softly and with respect. To act this way is our birthright and what identifies us and brings us blessings and favor in the eyes of Hashem.

What’s Going On?

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

Klal Yisroel has been buffeted about of late and is worried. We have lost a most amazing gadol baTorah, a man who learned through Shas and Shulchan Aruch hundreds of times and was familiar with kol haTorah kulah. Whenever there was a difficult question, we knew that there was a place on the Lower East Side of Manhattan where we could turn to and receive a definitive answer.

My grandfather, Rav Eliezer Levin, learned in the Radin Yeshiva for seven years. He once told me, in Yiddish, that the Chofetz Chaim looked like a poshuter Yid. “If you didn’t know who he was, you thought he was a simple person. Az men hut nit gevust, hut men gornit gezen - If you didn’t know, you didn’t see anything. Uber az men hut gevust, hut men altz gezen - But if you knew who he was, then you saw everything.” That’s what he said about Klal Yisroel’s rebbi.

If you knew you were looking at the Chofetz Chaim, and you watched him carefully, you could see in his every move that he was a very holy person.

We can say the same thing about Rav Dovid Feinstein zt”l. He was a great gaon and tzaddik, but if you didn’t know who he was and you saw him in the grocery helping someone reach a product, or filling the yeshiva’s soda machine, or sitting in the back of the bais medrash, you could be forgiven for assuming that he was just another nice East Sider.

He was sensitive to Klal Yisroel’s needs and those of every individual. For some time, the Yated had a halacha column with American poskim, in which Rav Dovid participated. He repeatedly told the column’s coordinator, Rabbi Elli Bohm, to make sure that every person who sends in a shailah gets a response, even if the question is not published in the newspaper. Every person’s feelings were important to him, and he wanted to ensure that they would have proper halachic guidance.

Modest and understated, Rav Dovid had no need to impress anyone. From all outward appearances, he seemed like a regular person. Yes, he was a scion of greatness, who spent his life learning and growing, humble and far from the public spotlight. Yet, when he visited Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the latter rose in his honor.

Kavod was not important to Rav Dovid and he never forced his opinion on anyone.

At his bar mitzvah, he undertook to never speak lashon hora. Rav Dovid was not wont to speak about himself, but when someone once asked him to what he attributes the strength of his brachos, he simply told the person that because he didn’t speak lashon hora, what emanates from his mouth is accepted.

He was able to learn with total concentration no matter what was transpiring at the time. On 9/11, when the Twin Towers fell, Rav Dovid was not yet in yeshiva and the talmidim began to recite Tehillim. When Rav Dovid entered, he sat at his shtender, opened his Gemara Bava Kamma, and began learning. Everyone followed. He sat and learned with total concentration, because for him, there was nothing more important going on anywhere than limud haTorah.

Following seder, a talmid asked him why he hadn’t joined in the recitation of Tehillim. He responded that the highest level of protection is derived from Torah study.

He would say that the ikkar hishtadlus takes place in the bais medrash. We need to inculcate that message.

Rav Dovid’s passing leaves a tremendous void in the world of Torah, the world that really counts, and his petirah came at the end of a week that left people baffled, not knowing what to think as they fear the future.

Paranoia and conspiracy theories are grabbing hold, as people try to figure out who really won the U.S. presidential election. Whistleblowers tell stories depicting wholesale corruption in the counting of ballots, while a lack of transparency on the part of the people doing the counting and those responsible for them feed the feeling that something wrong is going on.

Much effort was expended to ensure that Republican poll watchers would not be able to supervise the counting process in certain areas. Close to seventy-one million people voted for Donald Trump, and they believe that the election was stolen from him. That is not healthy for this country. Such things are not supposed to happen in a legitimate democracy.

For four years, people were fed a steady diet of Trump-bashing. He was portrayed as an out-of-control fringe figure with a dwindling following. Electoral polls ever since the nomination predicted a Democrat sweep, with Trump far behind.

The polls never made any sense to Trump supporters and to objective observers, but it didn’t make a difference. The media, with the exception of Fox News, spoke in a unified voice, gloating over Trump’s resounding defeat and anticipating the Democrat takeover of Washington.

Senator Charles Schumer, envisioning himself as Senate Majority Leader, warned the president not to dare nominate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, saying that if he did, when Schumer would take over the Senate, he would exact a quick and dramatic revenge, forever changing the court and the way it operates. He and Speaker Pelosi had a list of changes that they would enshrine in law, tilting the country towards a one-party leftist country, and nobody doubted it would happen.

Data didn’t stand in the way of the Democrat narrative. Trump was constantly portrayed as an evil white supremacist racist. Everything he said was parsed to fit the narrative. His words were taken out of context and repeated enough times to, for example, prove that following Charlottesville, he praised Nazi sympathizers. He was portrayed as an anti-Semite, despite the fact that he was the best friend Israel ever had in the White House, doing that country untold favors, publicly and privately. He freed Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin, with no ulterior motive. And most glaringly, he permitted his daughter to convert to Judaism and marry a Jewish boy, to whom he entrusted some of the most important aspects of his presidency. Unlike some of the secular Jews who can’t stand him, Trump has Jewish grandchildren.

Trump supporters find it difficult to accept that a candidate who barely campaigned and drew sparse crowds when he did, didn’t do interviews or answer questions, and is clearly past his prime, pulled out a stunning victory?

These questions and many others bother people and they search for answers. They are afraid that soon they won’t be able to express their opinions without fearing retribution.

Batches of votes were brought to the counting areas in the middle of the night when nobody was watching, and 100% of those votes were for Biden. Trump outperformed every Republican presidential candidate over the past sixty years in non-white votes. I did not compare the numbers, but it is said that Biden underperformed Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in major metropolitan areas, except in the battleground cities of Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Detroit.

People wonder what they are to make of the mess.

The fiction of much of what goes on has been revealed since Trump came to power. Institutions that Americans long revered - such as the FBI, CIA and Justice Department, along with many politicians, their families and political groups - were exposed to be corrupt. And that was prior to the election. And that may be a blessing in disguise.

We all know that it was foretold that in the times of Moshiach, we will recognize that ein lonu lehisha’ein elah al Avinu shebashomayim. We will have no one to depend on but Hashem, as everything else that we believed in will crumble.

Rav Elchonon Wasserman writes in Ikvesa D’Meshicha that prior to the coming of Moshiach, the Jews will believe that their fate is controlled by avodah zorahs that operate independent of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He says that before the geulah, all those avodah zorahs will be exposed as false hopes. He lists socialism, communism, nationalism and democracy. With the latest revelations, people have become insecure about the ability of democracy to save them. For all we know, the current upheaval will lead to the coming of Moshiach bekarov. It is time we remember that Hakadosh Boruch Hu coordinates all that transpires in the world - “hamamlich melochim velo hamelucha” - and it is He who appoints kings, leaders, and even presidents.

One of the highlights of learning under my rebbi, Rav Avrohom Yehoshua Soloveitchik, in Brisk is the Chumash shiur, where eye-opening, mind-expanding divrei Torah are commonly discussed. Stories and anecdotes of Bais Brisk are a special feature, always providing a lesson for life and conveying important hashkafic lessons. An example comes to mind now.

The Bais Halevi would wonder why the Marxists were granted so much power by Hakadosh Boruch Hu, as they tortured the Jews under their control in Russia and made their lives miserable. He’d explain that while the czar ruled with an iron fist, killing people at will, pillaging their property and exercising power with no mercy or fealty to decency, the Jewish people thought that there could be no government worse than his. They fervently davened that Hashem strengthen the Marxists and enable them to topple the czar and take over control of Russia and its environs.

The people davened with such fervor and devotion that Hashem accepted their prayers and caused the Marxists to topple the evil czar and assume power, as the Jews had requested. The Marxists turned out to be more oppressive and evil than the tyrant they supplanted. Consequently, the Jews suffered much more than they had previously. Ultimately, Jews suffered under Communist rule for many decades.

The Bais Halevi would say that when we plead for Hashem’s assistance in Hallel, we say, “Ana Hashem hoshiah na, Hashem, please help us, ana Hashem hatzlicha na, Hashem, please cause us to succeed.” Hashem doesn’t need our advice to tell Him how to help us; He knows what to do. We need to let Him run things His way, for that way, we will all succeed and merit what is beneficial for us.

We have all become armchair political strategists trying to make sense of the bizarre. Instead, we should follow the example of Rav Dovid Feinstein to return the bais medrash and concentrate on learning Torah, recognizing that what happens is Divinely orchestrated for reasons we may or may not understand with time.

Rav Elazar Menachem Man Shach went to be menachem a grief-stricken family. He told them that it is not tzidkus to accept Hashem’s harsh judgment, but, rather, it is simply the smart thing to do. It is beyond our abilities to understand what Hashem does and figure out the reasons why. However, many times, in hindsight, we see that things that people thought were terribly tragic and incomprehensible when they occurred, turned out to be greatly advantageous for all.

Rav Shach gave an example of just such an occurrence. When the Second World War broke out, the Soviet authorities announced that they would permit anyone who feared the war to leave Russia, providing exit visas to those who submitted an official request. A debate broke out among the Jews who lived in the border regions of Russia and the eastern European countries. To some, this was a golden opportunity to escape the notorious Soviet repression and anti-Semitism. Others saw it as a communist ruse, designed to trick people into betraying themselves as enemies of the state. They reasoned that all who apply to leave will be branded as traitors and harshly punished.

Some filled out the forms and applied to leave. Others, fearing the worst, decided that they wouldn’t fall into the trap. And a trap it was. The people who asked to leave were singled out and banished to far-off tundra-frozen Siberia.

At the time, it seemed that it was a terrible miscalculation to have asked to leave. Those who were sent to Siberia and their families bemoaned their tragic fate and agonized about how they had been ensnared in a trap. Those who had decided to stay congratulated themselves on their foresight.

However, with time, it became evident that those who had been exiled to Siberia were the lucky ones. By being out there, far from the ravages of war, and under constant Russian domination, they survived the awful Holocaust. The people who had thought that they had made the correct decision, staying behind in the Soviet border zone, were overrun by the Nazis when those areas fell. Many of them died tragic deaths.

We don’t understand what is happening. It is beyond human comprehension. But we are people of faith and we know that there is something going on behind the scenes, way deeper and more impactful than we can imagine.

Far be it from me to try to understand Hashem’s plan, but permit me to offer a thought, if only to demonstrate that we have no comprehension of the world’s topical issues and events.

When it became known that Iran was on a mission to secure for itself nuclear weapons with which to threaten Israel and the world, people began to panic. Israel wanted to bomb the Iranian reactor, much as they bombed the one Saddam Hussein was contracting in Iraq. America put a stop to that idea, and people again began worrying that Iran would secure the bomb and wreak havoc in Eretz Yisroel.

I had heard that my rebbi, Rav Moshe Schapiro, had spoken about the crisis, so when I met him in the United States at that time, I took the opportunity to ask him how he understood what was going on. He answered that he saw it building to a crescendo, with a showdown with Iran that would precipitate the coming of Moshiach.

Much has happened since he spoke those words. The previous administration struck a deal with Iran, which took the issue off the table. President Trump changed all that, backing out of the treaty Obama and Biden signed with Iran, and began to isolate Iran and squeeze them economically, forcing them to curtail their nuclear ambitions. President Trump and his administration are working with friendly Arab countries to join with Israel in further isolating Iran. Should Biden assume the presidency, that policy will change and the United States will return to the previous appeasement policy, which will arouse Israel and its newfound allies to take matters into their own hands.

For all we know, this is why Hakadosh Boruch Hu decided that a change in leadership is necessary, and He is laying the groundwork to cause the arrival of Moshiach.

Let us recognize that all that transpires is part of a Divine plan. We may not always understand the workings of Hashem, but we must recognize that they are what causes everything to happen and nothing happens just because. As observant Jews, we must ensure that we don’t act erratically and foolishly in golus. We may be in for hard times, but let’s keep it all in perspective and remember that it is up to us and our maasim tovim to determine the outcome of this trying historic period.

“Lev melochim vesorim b’Yad Hashem” is not just some overused cliché. It is the truth. “Yishma Keil.” Hashem will really listen to us if we trust in Him and reach out to Him as we should.

We don’t know what the Ribono Shel Olam’s plan is, but we beg him, “Ana Hashem hoshiah Na,” please, Hashem, help us and save us from anyone’s evil plans.

Let us do what we all know is incumbent upon us to merit the Divine mercy as the world prepares for the coming of Moshiach tzidkeinu, bimeheirah beyomeinu.

Remember Our Mission

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

When there is bad news in the world, when there is pestilence, terrorism or a war, people ponder why these things are befalling them. They look for others to blame. They blame the liberals, the leftists, the media, the Arabs, the internet, the iPhone, the freiyeh, and the Tziyonim. When all else fails, they chalk it up to chevlei Moshiach.

Whatever the problem is, they can generally point to one or more of the above culprits and that usually works for them. They are satisfied that they know why it happened and can move on without much introspection.

Those who live according to the Torah know that tzaros befall individuals, communities, countries and the world because of sin, as the Rambam writes (Hilchos Taanis 1). We rationalize and try to make sense of anything that occurs in life, usually attaching natural reasons to what transpires. If we would acknowledge the truth of Hashem being behind everything, that would obligate us to mend our ways and do teshuvah to rectify the underlying problem.

In Israel, a great commotion ensued after Rav Chaim Kanievsky advised that chadorim and yeshivos should remain open, following strict scientific preventative measures as Israel endures another lockdown. Rav Chaim was accused of planning an insurrection, and as for the chareidim who followed him, well, you can imagine what was said about them. I don’t have to repeat it here. Last week, on Israeli television, no less than three channels discussed the fact that two weeks after the schools were opened, the infection numbers among chareidim were lower than among all other groups. “How can it be?” they asked. “Maybe there is something to what the rov says that Torah is what sustains the Jewish people.”

Rav Chaim’s gabbai and grandson, known affectionately as Yanky Kanievsky, was featured in a long interview in Israel’s Yediot Acharonot newspaper, which tried to understand the phenomenon. Torah is our lifeblood and we cannot afford to be without it. If scientifically schools can be open and children and adults and their families can be protected, then we are obligated to see to it that Yiddishe kinder are studying Torah.

There is always more going on than what meets the eye.

In this week’s parsha, we read that after the destruction of Sedom and Amorah, Avrohom looked out at the smoldering cities, “vayashkeif al pnei Sedom” (Bereishis 19:28). It is interesting to note that the posuk uses the term “vayashkeif” to describe Avrohom Avinu’s gazing at the cities. Lehashkif denotes a deep, penetrating gaze. It implies looking and contemplating. He didn’t merely go there to glance indifferently as a tourist would. He stood there beholding the scene.

To most onlookers, the city was nothing more than a bastion of hedonism and immorality, inhabited by sadistic and selfish people. They were so vicious that offering hospitality to strangers was a capital crime punishable by death. It was a place whose destruction most people would view as a cause for celebration.

Yet, our forefather Avrohom had a deeper perspective. He gazed into the town’s innermost soul and found supreme goodness.

What did he see? The posuk states in Tehillim, “Motzosi Dovid avdi - I have found My servant Dovid.” Chazal (Bereishis Rabbah 41:4) ask, “Heichon motzosi? Where did I find him? B’Sedom.” The roots of Dovid Hamelech were found in Sedom.

Dovid Hamelech descended from Rus, a daughter of Moav, who merited surviving Sedom’s destruction. Moshiach ben Dovid emerged from Moav, a fulfillment of Avrohom Avinu’s vision and conviction that good could emanate even from Sedom.

Rav Shlomke Zviller was well-known as a holy person, detached from his surroundings and living on a different plane. Yerushalayim, where he resided, is a city with a tremendous number of stray cats. Old Yerushalayimers say that the rebbe would feed cats and display great kindness toward them.

The rebbe’s custom aroused the curiosity of many. One day, his gabbai decided that he had to understand why the rebbe spent time with the cats. He began pestering the rebbe about his habit until the rebbe revealed his secret.

“I feed the cats because they have holy neshamos,” he said. “They are the gilgulim of chassidim who were involved in a certain bitter machlokes many years ago. They were sent here to achieve a tikkun for those neshamos.”

Sometimes, a person experiences hardships and begins wondering what he did wrong to deserve such punishment. In the times of the Arizal, people who were facing adversity would approach him for assistance. Sometimes he would tell them that the torment they were living through was connected to their neshamos in a previous life and not brought on by anything they had done in this life.

The Arizal was able to see beneath the surface and perceive the reason for people’s misfortune. He saw the blemishes on their soul that needed to be rectified.

A person in difficult straits approached Rav Elozor Menachem Man Shach, whose yahrtzeit is this week, and shared his tale of woe. Rav Shach took out a Shabbos zemiros and turned to the zemer of Koh Ribon. He read aloud the words “lu yichyeh gevar shenin alfin la yei’ol gevurteich bechushbenaya.” Rav Shach explained that these words mean that even if a man were to live for one thousand years, he would not be able to fathom the cheshbonos of Hashem and the constant chassodim being performed for him.

To emphasize his point, Rav Shach began a discussion about Akeidas Yitzchok. Pirkei D’Rebbi Eliezer states that Yitzchok Avinu’s neshomah left him at the Akeidah. The Zohar states that when Yitzchok was revived, Hashem sent him a different neshomah. He writes that Yitzchok’s initial neshomah was one of bechinas nukvah, and had it remained, Yitzchok would not have been able to have children. The neshomah that Hashem sent him following the Akeidah was bechinas duchrah and thus he was able to father children.

Rav Shach told the broken man, “In other words, what the Zohar is saying is that if not for the Akeidah, Yitzchok would not have had children. It was due to the experience of the Akeidah that the bechinas nukvah was removed from Yitzchok and Klal Yisroel sprung forth from him. It is impossible for us mortal beings to understand why things are happening to us, to others and to the world, but we must know that everything that occurs is part of a clearly designed Divine plan.”

Many wonder why such a big deal is made over Avrohom’s conduct in the nisayon of the Akeidah. Avrohom had discovered on his own that Hashem created the world and directs it. He dedicated his life to spreading that truth among the masses, jeopardizing his very life for that cause. When Hashem appeared to Avrohom and commanded him to undertake a certain action, as difficult as it was, of course Avrohom was going to do it.

Rav Shach explains that the only novi to whom Hashem appeared b’aspaklarya hame’irah was Moshe Rabbeinu. Only Moshe was told explicitly what Hashem wanted him to do. All other nevi’im received their prophecies in a dream and in a parable.

When Hakadosh Boruch Hu appeared to Avrohom and told him regarding Yitzchok, “Vehaaleihu shom l’olah,” Avrohom would have been justified in interpreting the command in numerous ways, none of them involving the death of Yitzchok. After all, Hashem had promised Avrohom that his name would live on through his son Yitzchok. It would have been perfectly reasonable to assume that Hashem had something else in mind and that “vehaaleihu” didn’t mean to sacrifice his beloved son, but rather to raise him.

But Avrohom analyzed Hashem’s words as though they were referring to someone other than his son, and he reached the conclusion that Hashem’s intention was for him to offer Yitzchok as a korban.

When we are obligated to perform a mitzvah, or when we have obligations to carry out, the temptation is to find an easy way out. There are always excuses and rationales that we could use to realize our responsibilities in an easier way. As bnei Avrohom, we have to demonstrate fidelity to the Torah and its principles, even when it appears difficult and we don’t understand it.  

The posuk states, “Vayashkeim Avrohom baboker… And Avrohom awoke the morning of the Akeidah and set out to find the appointed place.” Many explain that the posuk is teaching us the greatness of Avrohom. Even though he was going to sacrifice his son, he awoke at the crack of dawn to fulfill the word of Hashem.

The Brisker Rov says that it is natural that a person who is going to fulfill the word of Hashem would wake up early to perform the action without delay. He says that the lesson of the posuk is that Avrohom was able to sleep the night before setting out to shecht Yitzchok. Even though he knew that he was going to kill his beloved son in whom all his dreams for the future were invested, he was able to sleep peacefully.

He who is sure of himself, without doubting or questioning the ways of Hashem, serves with complete faith and sleeps very comfortably at night. One who deals honestly with his fellow man; one who hears the pleas of the hungry, the desolate and the poor; one who rises to every occasion and doesn’t turn a deaf ear to the cries of the abused and afflicted; one whose life isn’t a string of excuses and half-truths is a child of Avrohom Avinu and can sleep comfortably at night.

Rav Dovid Soloveitchik, may he have a speedy refuah sheleimah, told of his experiences during World War II. He described the situation in Brisk as the Germans pounded the city to complete their takeover of Poland. In the days leading up to Rosh Hashanah of 1939, the bombs seemingly didn’t stop falling from the sky.

His father, the Brisker Rov, was not in the city, and Rav Dovid, who was then a teenager, was petrified along with everyone else regarding what their fate would be. Houses were destroyed one after the next and streets were being blown up. That was until a local ehrliche Yid told him that every bomb has an address where Hashem wants it to fall, and if it is not meant for you, then it will not hit you. By now, that advice has become a cliché, often repeated in the name of the Brisker Rov, but living through constant bombardment and hearing it for the first time and accepting it is something totally different.

Rav Dovid recounted that during that period, a siren warned of an imminent bombing by the German Air Force. Everyone ran from their apartments and from wherever they were to basements and shelters. There was a man who was paralyzed and couldn’t move without help. He was stuck alone in his third-floor apartment as bombs hit the building. The entire building collapsed on the people in the basement. The paralyzed man landed on top of the pile and was easily evacuated without injury.

We look around and are worried. We analyze this week’s election and fret about the future. We receive the tragic news of people felled by the virus, which has apparently rearmed itself and is spreading here and around the world, though at a much lower mortality rate. We see how New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio have been able to demonize our community in the name of health and science without repercussion. Millions are convinced that the rate of corona in our community is higher than in any other because we don’t care about life and health. We worry about our businesses, our incomes, our children and their schools. We worry about our health. There are so many things to worry about these days; some people are overcome with anxiety 24/7.

The posuk (Vayeira 18:1) states that when Hashem appeared to Avrohom Avinu to visit him following his milah, “vehu yosheiv pesach ha’ohel, Avrohom was sitting outside the tent.” The Medrash (Bereishis Rabbah 48) states that Avrohom attempted to rise, but Hashem said to him, “Sit, veyihiyeh hadovor siman levonecha, and it will be a sign of what will happen to your children. Just as you sit and the Shechinah stands, so will your children sit and the Shechinah will stand above them. This will be when the Bnei Yisroel enter the botei knesses and botei medrash and sit down to honor Me and I will stand above them, as the posuk states, ‘Elokim nitzov ba’adas Keil.’”

In a speech, Rav Shach quoted this Medrash and said that traditionally, Jews have always sat outside of the tent as we lived in golus among the nations of the world. Jews had no permanent place, but were always on the go, never feeling safe and always fearing the next gezeirah, pogrom, inquisition, pillaging and exile.

Whenever Jews got too comfortable in one place, ill winds would come and blow them out of that country. When we begin to view ourselves as equal citizens, something happens to remind us that we are a homeless nation on a centuries-long trek home.

We are home when we are in our shuls and botei medrash, davening and learning, awakening our neshamos, restoring our faith while remembering our mission and essence as the Shechinah hovers above us.

In these anxious days, let us remember who we are and what we are about so that Hakadosh Boruch Hu will have mercy on us and return us to where we belong. Until then, let us have the faith of Avrohom Avinu, and people such as Rav Shach and ybcl”c Rav Dovid Soloveitchik (Meshulom Dovid ben Alte Hendl), so that we may grow and prosper, worry-free.