Still on The Journey

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

On Friday, we usher in the month of Av, which conjures up so many bitter collective memories. On Shabbos, we lain the parshiyos of Mattos and Masei, which discuss the travels of the Jewish people in the desert. And then, when done, we call out to ourselves and each other, “Chazak, chazak, venischazeik - Let us be strong.”

The experience of the Jewish people ever since our founding has been full of hills and valleys, ups and downs, times of great tragedy and times of great deliverance, periods of enormous destruction and periods of tremendous growth.

And it’s not only extended periods, because even during times of relative calm, such as ours, there are great tragedies as well as times of great exhilaration. Our job is not to be broken by tragedy and not to become complacent when things are going well. The parshiyos of Sefer Bamidbar are full of the ups and downs of Klal Yisroel, the nation rising to great heights and then suddenly plunging to catastrophic sin and then climbing back up.

Mattos and Masei read like the pattern of our people since the churban. We were here, we went there, we stayed for a while, and then we moved on to somewhere else, until we finally reached the Promised Land. We are still on the journey, however, traveling the world, as if on a giant cruise ship, docking in one place and then getting back onto the ship to decamp in some other city. We’ve been on that ship for almost two thousand years and have gotten seasick many times over as we await docking at our final destination with the arrival of Moshiach.

Throughout our history, the first week of Av has seen wrenching, with catastrophic events for the Jewish people. That legacy of sorrow and disaster continues. It’s a sadness shrouded in this rootlessness, a sense that things are not as they should be and we are not where we should be.

As we enter Chodesh Av, we wonder what we can do to reverse that cycle. When will it end?

Our search for a ray of hope begins with the awareness that the root of all our sadness and misery is the churban Bais Hamikdosh. We reflect on the Gemara in Maseches Yoma (9b) that teaches that the first Bais Hamikdosh was destroyed because we did not properly observe the halachos of avodah zorah, gilui arayos and shefichas domim.

The Gemara says that at the time of the destruction of the second Bais Hamikdosh, the Jews were proficient in Torah and gemillus chassodim. What brought about that churban was sinas chinom.

We’ve heard it so many times, but apparently we need to continue hearing that since sinas chinom caused the churban, the final redemption likely won’t take place until we have all been cured and cleansed from that sinful failing, ridding ourselves of the ridiculous hatred that seems to accompany the Jewish people wherever we are. Somehow, there is always a fight going on or brewing. For some reason, we can’t disagree without getting into a battle and disparaging one another.

When will we say that we’ve had enough of hating others? When will we stop dividing ourselves into different factions?

Klal Yisroel has many shevotim with differing customs all rooted in Torah. Why must we call into question observant people who have different customs than us? Why can’t we decide once and for all that what unites us is greater than what divides us and stop disparaging people who don’t behave exactly the way we do?

Chodesh Av is about connection. It is about a relationship that was severed, to ultimately be renewed. We are working towards returning to our portion in Eretz Yisroel.

The parshiyos of Mattos and Masei are always read during the period of the Three Weeks. They deal with the connection of the Jewish people to Eretz Yisroel. We are connected to that land not only as a nation, but also as individuals.

The parshiyos contain the seeds of our geulah, lessons for us to improve our behavior in golus in order to merit our share in Eretz Yisroel.

Parshas Mattos begins with the laws of nedorim and shavuos, different types of vows and promises a person makes, and the obligation “not to defile your words and to do whatever you said you would” (30:3).

In our society, words are thrown around carelessly, sometimes to impress and sometimes just to pass time. In the social media generation, everything is superficial, most of all words. They are used to express opinions and feelings that contain little meaning and no depth. Little thought goes into what is said, or written. They are just released to provoke a momentary rise, a passing chuckle, and then on to the next silly thought. And if someone gets hurt in the process, it is of little concern.

There was a time when people valued written and spoken words, when they perceived the inherent value of every utterance. People thought before speaking, before writing, and certainly before publishing. Today - not to sound like a kvetch - people post and publish whatever pops into their head, without thinking about how it will impact other people, and whether it will bring harm or benefit anyone in any way.

We need to remember that words affect us and other people. What we say affects other people. To end the golus and help rebuild the Bais Hamikdosh, we should think before we speak and ensure that our speech is neither hurtful nor insulting.

Words have the power to break and to repair. The words we use can destroy a person’s self-confidence or build it up. Words heal and words sicken. Words bring people together and words separate people. Words can make enemies into friends and friends into enemies. The words we use have lasting repercussions.

In this period of the Nine Days, among the other things we do to mark the churban and seek to bring about the redemption, we can add to the list to be careful about what we say and write, refraining from engaging in idle chatter and certainly when it is harmful, hurtful, and without any benefit.

With such gestures, we can impress upon ourselves the great loss as we aspire to reach the levels of our forefathers with a home for the Shechinah in our world.

We know that whatever happens to us is but a sentence in an unfolding story. Chapters have been completed and many more remain to be written. We must forge ahead to our destiny, neither tiring nor being satisfied with past accomplishments, nor becoming bogged down by failure.

On Tisha B’Av, we mourn the tragedy of the loss of the Bais Hamikdosh. We also mourn the loss of Beitar. While we commonly understand that the tragedy of Beitar was that tens of thousands of Jews were killed in that city by the Romans after the churban, the Rambam (Hilchos Taanis 5) describes it a little differently:

“A great city by the name of Beitar was captured. Inside were many tens of thousands of Jewish people. They had a great king whom all of Yisroel and the rabbis believed was the king Moshiach. He fell into the hands of the gentiles and they were all killed. It was a great tragedy, as great as the destruction of the Bais Hamikdosh.”

Rav Moshe Shapiro explained that the tragedy was that their king, Bar Kochva, who could have been Moshiach, was killed. What could have been a period of redemption instead became one of destruction. Through their chatoim, an era that could have returned the Jews to the state they awaited since the chet hameraglim turned into tragedy. That is what we mourn on Tisha B’Av.

We have come so close to the redemption that we can hear the footsteps of Moshiach and suffer from the chevlei Moshiach. Before Moshiach’s arrival, the tumah of the world increases, as the Soton fights to prevent his arrival.

We must work to raise the levels of kedusha in this world so that we can overcome the kochos hatumah and allow Moshiach to reveal himself. It is plainly evident to anyone that tumah is spreading rapidly. It has a foothold everywhere and many have become entangled in its temptatious grasp.

The posuk tells us, “Tzion bemishpot tipodeh veshoveha betzedakah.” If we do what is correct and engage in righteousness and charity, we strengthen kedusha in the world and weaken the koach hatumah.

Nisyonos abound. The test of greatness is how you handle a moment you didn’t expect. If you have strengthened yourself through learning Torah and seforim such as Chovos Halevavos and Mesilas Yeshorim, you will be able to withstand difficult situations. The yeitzer hora won’t be able to destroy you. Even if you temporarily fail, you will be able to rebound.

The Satmar Rebbe, Rav Yoel Teitelbaum, would say that following the awful tragedies of the Holocaust, Hashem was about to bring Moshiach. As a taste of the redemption to come, He gave the Jewish people the Land of Israel. It wasn’t complete ownership; it was in the hands of scoffers. The Bais Hamikdosh wasn’t returned; halacha did not rule. It was a taste of things to come. But the Jewish people were satisfied with the bone that had been thrown to them, so Hashem said, “If so, you aren’t deserving of the redemption,” and we were left with this small semblance of what could be.

Like two thousand years ago in Beitar, we were so close to redemption, but we transgressed. The blood that could have been the fuel of geulah was spilled in yet another churban.

It is not enough to abstain from swimming, music, and wearing new clothes. We also must realize that there is something wrong with us and the way we live. We need to know that we are not meant to be here, that we are in golus, removed from our right place in the world. We need to know that we, with the way we live, act and speak, have the ability to bring about the geulah.

We travel. We go to Eretz Yisroel and tour the Holy Land. We go to Yerushalayim and tear kriah at the sites of the churban. We go to the place from where the Shechinah never left and stand at the Kosel, imagining what was and what will be. We go to Bais Lechem and Chevron to daven at the kevorim of the avos and imahos. We feel their presence and beseech Hashem to help us in their merit. We ask to be united with them at techiyas hameisim.

At great expense, people travel to the alter heim in the countries of Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Belarus, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Croatia, Germany, Morocco, Spain, Turkey, and the other stations along the path of golus. They visit the old botei medrash, shuls, yeshivos and cemeteries, and daven to be united with our ancestors.

Wherever Jews find themselves these days, we mourn all the terrible tragedies that befell us since the Botei Mikdosh were destroyed. We get past the usual superficiality and frivolity. We take a break from the hubbub of life and think about all the persecutions, inquisitions, murders, pogroms, destruction and ruin that the Jewish people have suffered since we went into golus until the Holocaust and this very day. We think about all the untimely deaths and losses, and we seriously ponder why they happened and what we can do about it.

Our ship sailed a long time ago, it is now approaching the port and about to lay anchor. A large ship needs tugboats to push and navigate it to shore. We are all little tugboats. Let’s give it the final push it needs.

In Mourning

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

The heart refuses to accept and the hand cannot write what the mind is trying to process. A young rosh yeshiva, scion to a royal family and traditions, groomed his entire life for the position he attained and was excelling in, was suddenly taken from us. Widely respected and beloved, his tragic passing has left so many gasping in sadness and grasping for support.

As Rav Shmuel Yehudah Levin said in his final seudah shlishis shmuess, moments before his sudden passing, the Maharsha discusses that the 21 days that comprise the three-week period between Shivah Assur B’Tammuz and Tisha B’Av are days of judgment comparable to the 21-day period between Rosh Hashanah and Hoshanah Rabbah.

We began these days of mishpot with shocking din. We are davening for so many sick people, beseeching Hashem that they be granted a refuah sheleimah, but for Rav Shmuel Yehudah ben Rav Avrohom Chaim, we were not given the opportunity.

Dodi yorad legano lilkot shoshanim. Hakadosh Boruch Hu plucked him from our midst.

V’einenu ki lokach oso Elokim.

The Gemara in Yevamos (117a) discusses the posuk (Mishlei 27:19) which states, “Kamayim ponim el ponim, kein lev ha’adam el ha’adam – Just as water reflects the image of the person who is looking at it, so too, the heart of a person is reflective of the person’s attitude to the person he is dealing with.”

Rabi Yehudah says that the posuk is referring to the study of Torah.

Rashi explains that Rabi Yehudah is saying that a student’s success in absorbing his rebbi’s Torah is dependent upon the way the rebbi treats his talmid. If the rebbi treats his talmidim with love and care, their learning and growth will be on a much higher level.

The Rambam in Hilchos Talmud Torah (5:17) states that a rebbi must be careful with his talmidim and must love them.

Rav Shmuel Yehudah was a quintessential rebbi to his talmidim, selflessly giving of himself for their betterment. Each talmid felt like a son, loved by a rebbi who cared for him. He was always available for his talmidim, always learning with them and encouraging them to grow in Torah and avodah.

The Gemara in Moed Koton (25b) states, “Ki noch nafshei d’Rabi Yaakov ischamiyu Kochavi b’yemomah – When Rabi Yaakov was niftar, stars were visible by day.” Perhaps we can explain that after the passing of Rabi Yaakov, the efforts he put into his talmidim became evident as they shined. The Gemara was praising Rabi Yaakov that he had raised such great talmidim that each one grew to be a star.

We recently lained Parshas Chukas, which begins with the halachos of parah adumah. Rav Ami taught (Moed Koton 28a) that the parsha of parah adumah follows the discussion of the passing of Miriam to demonstrate that just as the parah adumah brings forgiveness, so does the passing of tzaddikim.

Many question why the passing of tzaddikim is compared to the parah adumah, which cleanses from tumah but does not forgive. Why is it not compared to any of the various korbanos that are intended for kapporah?

In his hesped for Rav Tzvi Hirsh Rabinowitz, the son of Rav Yitzchok Elchonon Spector and his successor as Kovna Rov, Rav Yitzchok Yaakov Rabinowitz (no relation) of Ponovezh, offered the following explanation:

He cited the Mishnah (Parah 3:11), which states that the ash of the parah adumah was divided into three portions. One was saved l’mishmeres, one was used to sanctify kohanim, and one was used to sprinkle upon those who had become tamei and needed to be purified.

He said that when a tzaddik passes away, he leaves behind three distinct inheritances. The first is his neshomah, which will remain under the Kisei Hakavod. This is akin to the eifer l’mishmeres. The second is the chiddushei Torah he leaves behind for the kohanim, meaning the talmidei chachomim and rabbonim who dedicate their lives to Torah and are compared to kohanim. Their third inheritance is their middos tovos, which all of Klal Yisroel can inherit from them to study and follow in their ways.

And finally, he said, another reason that misas tzaddikim is compared to parah adumah is because to receive forgiveness through the other korbanos, the supplicant doesn’t have to perform any action; everything can be done by the kohein. But in order to be purified by the parah adumah, the person who became impure must perform an action with the eifer haparah.

Rav Itzele Ponovezher explained that in order to receive the kapparah that is available upon the passing of tzaddikim, we must do something. We must actively work on ourselves to adopt the fine middos and acts of the tzaddik whose passing we mourn.

Rav Shmuel Yehudah Levin was such a person, leaving behind much Torah for his talmidim and talmidei chachomim to study, and fine middos which everyone can learn from and emulate, as his neshomah has gone to rest under the Kisei Hakavod.

This week, we lain Parshas Pinchos, which begins with the enduring kana’us of Pinchos. The same act that caused others to become so traumatized that they didn’t know what to do caused Pinchos to be bold and courageous. His kana’us lives on for all time as one of passion and commitment, epitomizing the instincts and reactions of a servant of Hashem.

The parsha continues with a count taken of each individual Jew in Klal Yisroel. Each person has a mission. Every person has a tachlis in the world and it is our job to realize that.

Pinchos took a stand when others did not, and in so doing formed a covenant with Hashem.

The parsha reinforces this message with the counting of the Bnei Yisroel. Every Jew counts. Everyone can do what Pinchos did, acting as a lone soldier, demonstrating the strength of character and devotion to bring glory to Heaven. Each individual has intrinsic value. The counting reminds every person that he has the ability to make a difference. You matter. Every person matters.

The avodah zarah of Baal Peor diminished man and caused him to believe that humankind is a small being with limited abilities that he is unable to face or overcome (see Chasam Sofer in this week’s parsha). Thus, the yeitzer hora reduces people to the level where they think they are inconsequential, their actions are inconsequential, and whatever they think or do has no meaning or importance.

Pinchos maximized his abilities and withstood the entreaties of the yeitzer hora to stand by the side and let someone else do what had to be done. He realized his shlichus and with achrayus acted upon it.

It is because of Pinchos and people like him in every generation that our nation has endured to this day.

Rav Shmuel Yehudah was such a person. He stood out because of his sense of achrayus, as he carried out his shlichus of harbotzas Torah. He cared about every talmid. He cared about everyone in his yeshiva and in his city. Following in the footsteps of his great father and grandfathers, he didn’t sit off to the side and only concern himself with his own dalet amos and growth in Torah and mussar. Rather, he was makriv himself for the tzibbur.

Shekulah misas tzaddikim k’sereifas Bais Elokeinu. Klal Yisroel now adds a new tragedy to the long litany of tzaros that occurred during the Three Weeks. We have lost a young rosh yeshiva in the prime of his life, who brought up many hundreds of talmidim and propelled them to excel and realize their shlichus as he was becoming increasingly involved in inyonei haklal. Many saw in him a future national leader.

Every Jewish tragedy has its roots in the churban, which we mourn during these weeks of sorrow. We mourn the destruction of the Botei Mikdosh and mourn the passing of Rav Shmuel Yehudah and recognize what we are lacking. We look into ourselves and dedicate ourselves to fulfilling our own individual shlichus of being marbeh kevod Shomayim and growing in Torah and middos. We do not get deterred as we seek perfection and success.

Kol hamisabel al Yerushalayim, anyone who mourns the destruction of the holy city and the Bais Hamikdosh, zocheh veroeh b’simchasah, will merit seeing its joy. Those who appreciate gadlus baTorah and are respectful of their rabbeim and morei derech, roshei yeshiva and rabbonim, in their lifetimes; those who mourn the passing of talmidei chachomim and feel the pain of their loss, indicate that they are serious about their shlichus in this world and will be zoche to grow and excel in Torah and avodah, helping prepare the world for Moshiach Tzidkeinu, when we will be reunited with the neshamos that now rest tachas Kisei Hakavod and celebrate the rebuilding of the Bais Hamikdosh.

Tehei nishmaso tzerurah betzror hachaim.

Its all About Middos

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

It is a well-worn truism that people hear what they want to hear. People can be having a conversation about a specific topic, and each participant will take have a different understanding of the conversation. Each one will think that the other person said something different from what he said. Based on prior experiences and biases, people inflect and arrive at conclusions that they are convinced are the truth, without recognizing that they totally misconstrued what the other fellow was saying.

People do it subconsciously, without being aware of what they are doing. They allow their subconscious to take hold of their thought process and act in an incorrect manner. They may be convinced that they are correct, or that they are doing what we were taught to do or following the directions of their rabbeim and parents, when, in fact, they are doing just the opposite.

Is it their fault? Is there something they can do to prevent hearing what they want to hear instead of hearing what was really said?

The Steipler Gaon wrote a letter to Rav Moshe Mordechai Shulzinger (Peninei Rabbeinu Ha’Avi Ezri) pertaining to Korach and how he came to deny the validity of the Torah. In it he writes: “If a person sinks with sin, or a ruach tumah comes over him through eating non-kosher foods and the like, that will bring him to kefirah. Also, if a person is tempted by something the Torah forbids, he will come to be a kofer to enable him to fulfill his desire and then he will sink continuously further.

“This is what happened to Korach. Because his pride was hurt when he wasn’t chosen for the position he coveted, he became angry at Moshe. In order to take revenge on Moshe and defeat him, Korach descended to kefirah and then found arguments and complaints with which to depose Moshe. This happened because when a person’s bad traits - middos raos - take over a person’s actions, they compromise his thinking ability and take over his thought process [and he is unable to think and perceive things properly].”

Thus, while Korach began as a tzaddik who had witnessed the many miracles Hashem performed through Moshe Rabbeinu, when the temptation for kavod affected him, it completely took him over and he sunk to the depths of depravity.

Middos.

It is all about middos.

We always viewed middos as things that pertained to behavior and the way a person deals with other people. But the Steipler enlightens us that middos affect not only the way we act, but also the way we think. If we want to be able to think clearly and be able to reason intelligently, then we have to improve our middos.

We can have everything going for us. We can have impeccable pedigree, be a brilliant talmid chochom, and be an acknowledged tzaddik, yet if we don’t learn sifrei mussar and don’t control our desires, we can end up deep in the hole, r”l.

Bilam, the protagonist of Parshas Bolok, is another example of a person whose lack of middos tovos led to his demise. Blessed with the gift of prophecy, his craving for respect and adulation led him astray. In the current vernacular, we would say that his middos did him in.

The Gemara (Gittin 45a) tells a story. “Rav Ilish was captured and held in captivity. One day, a person who understood the language of birds sat down next to him. A crow came by and called to Rav Illish. ‘What did he say?’ asked Rav Illish. The man answered that the bird said, ‘Illish, escape! Illish, escape!’ He said in response, ‘A crow is not trustworthy. I will not rely on what he said.’

“A dove came by and called out to him. Rav Illish asked the man what the dove said. He responded that the bird said, ‘Illish, escape! Illish, escape!’ To which Rav Illish said, ‘Knesses Yisroel is compared to a dove. Apparently, a miracle will happen with me.’ He attempted to escape and succeeded.”

Rav Akiva Eiger (Gilyon Hashas, ibid.) cites the Aruch, who says that from this Gemara it is apparent that Rav Illish understood the language of birds. However, the Seder Hadoros disputes the Aruch and says that this story indicates that he did not understand bird talk, because if he did, why did he have to ask the stranger what the birds were telling him? He knew on his own. How does the Aruch deduce from the story that Rav Illish understood the language of birds?

Rav Chaim Shmulevitz asks why Rav Illish would believe the stranger over the crow. What made him more trustworthy? The crow flew by with a message. He asked the man to interpret what the bird said and when the man said that it told Rav Illish to escape, he said that he didn’t trust the bird. Assuming that Rav Illish did not understand what the bird said and that is why he asked the stranger what the bird said, why would he trust what the heathen man told him the bird said, a heathen is an assumed liar. Perhaps the man told him to escape because he wanted him to get caught and severely punished.

He explained that this question is what led the Aruch to state that Rav Illish understood what the birds were saying and the reason Rav Illish asked the man what the bird said was because he feared that he was hearing what he wanted to hear and had misinterpreted what the bird said because he wanted to be freed from his predicament. 

When the other man told him that the bird said to escape, he knew that that was what the bird had said. He didn’t follow the advice of the crow, because it is not an honest bird, but he accepted the advice of the dove and successfully escaped.

We can be as great as the Amora Rav Illish, but we must always be on guard to ensure that we are not allowing our personal wants, desires and biases to interfere with our thought process. Before acting on something we hear, we must always ensure that we heard what was said, not what we want to have been said.

Thus, we read (Bamidbar 22:13) that Bilam recounted to Bolok’s messengers that Hashem did not permit him to return with them to Bolok. The posuk says, “Moein Hashem lesiti lahaloch imochem – Hashem does not allow me to go with you.” To which Rashi adds, “He won’t allow me to go with you, but He will let me go with higher level ministers than you.”

Hashem told him unconditionally not to go with Bolok’s envoys. Bilam’s bad middos and his desire for kavod led him to hear, or to imagine, that he couldn’t go with these messengers because they weren’t important enough, but if the king who desired to curse the Jews would send more important people than they to sign him up for the deal, it would be okay to go. His middos had grabbed a hold of his mind and altered it so that not only could he not think straight, but he also couldn’t hear what was being said to him.

The pattern continued, with messages being sent to him through other intermediaries, such as his donkey, stating that this mission wasn’t for him, yet he continued along his path, determined to win the admiration of Bolok and his nation. As many times as he saw that he could not curse the Jewish people, he would not be deterred and tried again, for his mind was clouded and his thought process corrupted.

For all time, Bilam is viewed with derision, but the Torah tells us the tale of his downfall for us to learn from him and work on our middos so that our minds don’t mislead us.

Often, we are confounded by people and it is difficult for us to discern whether they are motivated by good or bad intentions. Chazal (Avos 5:19) provide us with a method of telling the two apart. They teach that if a person sees things with positivity and is humble, you can assume that he is a student of Avrohom Avinu. If he is cynical, arrogant and conceited, he is a student of Bilam.

A person with good character traits is referred to as a student of Avrohom, because to achieve that status, he had to have worked on himself to achieve perfection. Achieving greatness requires a lifetime of work and dedication. To maintain the energy and will to engage in steady self-improvement, a person must be suffused with faith. A person who believes that all that happens to him and to the world is from Hashem is a positive person, who is able to view others kindly and without jealousy and disdain. Such a person does not become consumed with hatred and jealousy.

Such a person arrives at his level through studying Torah and mussar. Like Avrohom Avinu, he perfects his character and middos, and therefore his actions are selfless and pure. His mind and everything about him have not been corrupted and taken over by middos ra’os. He can be trusted to be a fine and good person.

However, a person who doesn’t study Torah and mussar is under the control of his middos ra’os, and everything that he does is degraded and tainted. Every action of his, and every thought, is motivated by greed and selfishness. He cannot be trusted to do good, and even when it appears as if he is acting forthrightly, you can be confident that it is a ruse driven by his need for self-advancement and enrichment. Such a person is a student of Bilam.

Let us take the opportunity of studying this parsha to enhance our middos tovos so that we become better people b’ruchniyus u’vigashmiyus, improving our thoughts and actions and helping to raise ourselves and those around us so that we can help bring closer the arrival of Moshiach tzidkeinu.

Who We Are

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

In this week’s parsha, we learn about the parah adumah, the purely red cow, whose ashes are used in the purification process of people who became tomei by being in contact with a lifeless body. How does it work? We don’t know. Not only don’t we know, but the Torah tells us that the reason for this mitzvah and how it works is beyond our comprehension. It is a chok.

Rashi explains the Torah writes that this mitzvah is a chok because the Soton and the gentiles mock the Jews for performing this mitzvah and ask us why we do it. Therefore, the Torah describes it as a chok to teach us that the reason we observe this commandment is because Hashem wills it so, forbidding delving into it and searching for reasons for implementing this process to achieve purity. 

When outsiders and scoffers ridicule us, we need not pay heed to them and seek explanations for what we do.  All throughout the ages, gentiles have been mocking Jewish service and mitzvos, and Jews have bothered answering them, mistakenly assuming that by doing so, they could temper their anti-Jewish feelings.

The Torah is the basis for laws of jurisprudence in civilized countries, yet we are regularly vilified by citizens of those very countries and characterized by old anti-Semitic stereotypes as dishonest shylocks. Wherever we have been, we have been mistreated and held to a double standard. Dialogue and debates never succeeded in winning over the hearts and minds of haters.

Yet, we persist in trying to prove the justice of our cause, hiring public relations experts and attempting to explain our way of life to those motivated by age-old bias. We need to have enough self-confidence to be able to ignore the senseless cries and know that there is not much to be gained from articulating who we are when dealing with irrational, ingrained hatred.

In fact, the Torah quotes Moshe Rabbeinu as stating, “Behold, I have taught you chukim and mishpotim as Hashem commanded me. You shall observe and follow them, for they are your wisdom and knowledge in the eyes of the nations, when they will hear of these chukim and they will say, ‘This is a wise nation’” (Devorim 4:5-6).

Our laws and mitzvos, whether understood or not, are the bedrock of our lives, culture and religion, and we have nothing to be embarrassed of when we are faithful to Torah. The rules we follow and the credo of our existence are not subject to the changing cultures and moral underpinnings – or lack thereof – of society. In times such as these, when moral values that have been accepted for centuries are wiped out in favor of deviant behavior, our values are not only out of favor, but under the very real threat of being made illegal by woke politicians.

Eighty-three percent of Americans are not happy with the economy and are dissatisfied with the way things are going in this country. And who can blame them? The administration and its allies in power across the country and in the media ignored warnings that their policies would lead to spiraling inflation. As they poured trillions of wasted tax dollars into the economy, they raised the deficit and brought us quite close to a recession. Despite the incompetent president blaming everything on Putin, people recognize that he is out of his depth, being led by agenda-driven progressives.

Under the current administration, everything has risen astronomically in price. People are having difficulty purchasing the basics. The president doesn’t seem to care, nor do those who work for him. They see historic prices being paid for gas as a bump in the incredible transition to green energy.

Public safety used to be considered the government’s prime responsibility, but no more. Democrats worked to defund and curb policing in cities across the country. Now, as crime rises as rapidly as inflation due to lax policing and prosecuting, the crime wave is blamed on guns and Supreme Court decisions. A society that does not police crime is destined to pay the price.

All of this pales in comparison to the cultural changes brought to this country since Biden’s election. Things that were taboo until very recently are now flaunted, celebrated, and protected by law. The Supreme Court righted a wrongful right to kill babies that was instituted fifty years ago and half of the country has erupted. The leadership, elites and media have incessantly been castigating the justices and calling for amending the court system.

Last week, the professionally produced Jan. 6 show trial held a special session to feature a young former White House assistant with a fantastical tale about an out-of-control President Trump battling with Secret Service officers for control of his vehicle. Her testimony was splashed across the front page of the New York Times and every other mainstream newspaper, and loop repeated in other forms of media, along with warnings that this is really the end of Trump. They neglected to mention that the Secret Service agents involved denied that the story happened. But it doesn’t really make a difference, because the congressmen conducting the so-called investigation have already accomplished their goal of reinforcing the image of their strongest electoral foe as an out-of-control crazy man.

The same people who are so concerned about the country’s democracy and the former president’s corruption have buried any congressional investigation of the current president’s involvement with his son Hunter and his corrupt overseas dealings. Throughout the presidential election campaign, Joe Biden promised that he was not aware of his son’s dealings and never discussed them with him. Although this was hard to believe, because as vice president he flew his son with him to China and Ukraine on Air Force Two and conceivably would have spoken to him about where and why he was going, no media bothered pursuing the issue and it was allowed to drop out of sight.

That changed when Hunter’s laptop was found and it included loads of incriminating evidence against the father and son. The New York Post and some Fox reporters dug into the story and revealed cascading amounts of information proving that the elder Biden was deeply involved in his son’s corrupt deals in China and Ukraine. The Post was cancelled and thrown off Twitter for its reporting. Every once in a while, the issue is introduced in passing in the media, and then it is quickly shunted away. None of the politicians so concerned about the crimes of Trump, a past president, now out of office, care at all that the man occupying the White House may be compromised in his dealings with foreign heads of government.

Such is the system of jurisprudence and governing among those who mock us. The very same people who are taking the country in a sad, immoral, socialist direction are those who exhibit anti-Semitic tendencies against Jews and Israel.

So, do we care or don’t we about what they say? Do we have to act in a way that finds favor in their eyes or can we simply ignore them?

Later in this week’s parsha (Bamidbar 20:7-13), we confront the tragic incident of Mei Meriva, where Moshe and Aharon were commanded by Hashem to speak to a rock and ask it to produce water for the Jewish people in the desert. Instead of speaking to the rock, Moshe hit it with his stick. Hashem told Moshe and Aharon that because they didn’t sanctify Him by ordering the rock to give water, they forfeited their task of leading the Jews into the Promised Land, and they would both die and be buried outside of Eretz Yisroel.

The Alter of Kelm taught that an examination of the posuk and Rashi’s explanation indicate that Moshe and Aharon were faulted not for causing a chillul Hashem, but for not bringing about as great a kiddush Hashem as was possible. The fact that an inert stone was able to give forth water for the nation and its animals in the desert was itself a miracle (see Ramban, ibid.). They were faulted because speaking to the stone would have brought about a greater kiddush Hashem.

Rashi explains that the Jews would have been able to make a kal vachomer. They could have realized that if a stone that neither speaks nor hears, and has no need to earn a living, follows the word of Hashem, certainly we should.

The Alter would say that the difference in the miracle between the rock being spoken to rather than smitten is minute and so imperceptible that Rishonim struggled to understand the sin, yet the punishment was so severe.

Had Moshe brought the Jewish people into Eretz Yisroel then, they never would have been exiled and the Bais Hamikdosh would never have been destroyed. Yet, as an outgrowth of Moshe’s punishment for not having caused as great a kiddush Hashem as was possible, we lost the Bais Hamikdosh and were driven into golus, where we still are.

Rav Yitzchok Eizik Chover, famed disciple of the Vilna Gaon, writes in Ohr Torah (27, 29, 81, 145) that because Moshe hit the stone, it became difficult to study and understand Torah. Forgetfulness in Torah study set in and Moshe Rabbeinu died early, causing the wells of Torah to dry up. From then on, there was machlokes in understanding Torah and arriving at the halacha.

He says that if Moshe had spoken to the rock, the Torah would have been revealed in totality and would not be as difficult to understand as it is. Had Moshe spoken to the rock, there would have been no golus, the Bais Hamikdosh would not have been destroyed, Hashem would not lead us through hester ponim, learning Torah would not be such a struggle, and we would retain what we learn.

All this came about because Moshe and Aharon failed in a small way to be fully mekadeish Hashem.

The lesson for us is that in our lives, as well, we must use every opportunity to be mekadeish Hashem as much as possible. When people fail to conduct themselves properly, whether by not learning well, or by fooling around during davening, or by being dishonest, or being nasty to people, or not being careful in the observance of mitzvos, their punishment is so much greater than if they had simply not caused as great a kiddush Hashem as they could have.

When people are in a public thoroughfare and they observe the rules of the road, extending courtesies to other drivers or pedestrians, they can bring about a kiddush Hashem, as people note how gracious and proper Jews are. But if you cut people off and make quick lefts when the light has turned red, and when you don’t give people the right of way or let them enter the road from a parking lot, instead of using the opportunity to make a kiddush Hashem, you have made a chillul Hashem, as people say, “Look at how that Jew drives.”

We see in this parsha the punishment for not maximizing an opportunity to make a kiddush Hashem. We can only imagine the severity of the punishment for causing a chillul Hashem.

Zos chukas haTorah. When the nations and people of the world mock us for parah adumah, for our observance of mitzvos, for our moral clarity, we need not pay heed to them. We shouldn’t take their comments to heart. We don’t have to answer them. But just as well, the Torah mandates that we behave in such a way as not to arouse them and not to provoke them and not to give them an opportunity to criticize us, our Torah, and our G-d.

We must always be conscious of who we are and that we are expected and required to live on a higher level of kedusha than the rest of the world, conducting ourselves according to the mitzvos and chukim of the Torah. If we did, we would be able to compensate for the sin of Moshe and Aharon, bringing an end to the golus and the return of the Bais Hamikdosh speedily in our day.