See the Good

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

I remember when I was a young, small child, sitting at a classroom desk in Yeshiva of Spring Valley, hanging on to every word of my rebbi as we learned Parshas Vayeitzei, describing Yaakov Avinu’s dream, his years in Lovon’s house, his marriages, and the birth of the shevotim. Ever since our earliest years, we’ve sat riveted by the account of many stones joining together to become the single rock upon which Yaakov rested his head. 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 Yaakov. In his sleep, Hashem promised him the land and assured him that He would watch over him and would bless him with many descendants.

Yaakov awoke in the morning and was overcome by the awesomeness of the promise he had received. He said, “This is a holy place. Hashem is here and I didn’t 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 at a watering hole. They told him that they had come there to provide water for their sheep, but the underground well was covered with a large rock and they had to wait until more shepherds would arrive. Collectively, they would be able to push off the rock and access the 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 transpired to him as he left the home of his parents in Be’er Sheva to go to Choron was the introduction to Yaakov’s first expedition into exile, as he began his journey into a long 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 demonstrating to future generations how to survive in golus. Forced to leave places that hosted us for several generations, we arrive in places that are desolate, barren of any good. They are perceived as unable to receive any holiness, much less be a home for kedusha and people who seek to live exalted lives. The places are as inert as stone.

The golus experience is tragic, the Jewish 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’ve been removed from the realm of the Divine, pushed into a world without holiness.

But we come to realize, as Yaakov Avinu taught us, that even the darkest places in the world are potential homes for kedusha. A stone can become a mizbeiach. Ein zeh ki im bais Elokim. This is the secret of survival in golus.

We don’t give up on any place or any person. There was a time when it was commonly thought that nothing good could take root in America. They believed that anyone who immigrated to this land was doomed to a dark life of emptiness, and for many years that was the case. But eventually, Hashgocha orchestrated for giants who had learned the lesson of Yaakov to come to America as they sought refuge from the ravages of Europe.

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. They brought kedusha to a place of tumah.

Thanks to the efforts of good people everywhere, now in America we have frum communities from coast to coast and Torah is blossoming on a massive scale. This happened because there were enough of Yaakov’s children who believed that any place could be transformed from inert stone into a mizbeiach and a makom kadosh.

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

No matter where our people end up, they build, they believe, they plant and they grow. And while so doing, 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 repair. We never say that they are beyond hope, as inert as stone, as dark as a seemingly forsaken place, for we know that there is holiness and good everywhere. Our task is to find it and cause embers to flare up into flames.

The anthem of golus­ is “Achein yeish Hashem bamakom hazeh.” Never think that you are alone. Never think that you are forsaken. Never think that 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.

We are all familiar with Rav Chaim Volozhiner’s prophecy that America would be the final station of Torah in golus. When we uncover enough watering holes here, we get to finally go home.

We have been spread across the world, and wherever we have gone, we have 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, spreading Torah across the fruited plain, awaiting that great day of “vehoyah Hashem lemelech al kol ha’aretz.”

We often lose sight of those who refined and prepared 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, eking out a living as peddlers, tailors, knitters, and shopkeepers. The ruach was stone cold. The water pits were blocked and refused to open.

With the peddlers came rabbonim, who sat at home 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.

The temptations were many and they were very strong. People who didn’t work on Shabbos found it very difficult to find employment. They went hungry. Their children begged for food, clean clothes and heat. There were few Hebrew schools. There was little choice but to send the children to public schools, where many were lost to assimilation. Every generation has its unique nisyonos, which cannot be overcome without much determination and belief, and it is unfair for us to judge people who lived in those generations.

Many failed and many were lost, but those who persevered increased the kedusha here. The zechuyos created by limud haTorah and mesirus nefesh for kiyum hamitzvos accumulated, balancing out the klipos hora and allowing frum people to live and thrive here. They made it possible for shuls and yeshivos to be built, and botei medrash and kollelim to flourish.

In Omaha, Nebraska lived Rav Tzvi Hirsch Grodzensky, cousin of Rav Chaim Ozer Grodeznsky who toiled in Torah. In Boston, Rav Zalman Yaakov Freiderman 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 prepare the country for its spiritual rebirth and 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 night in places very far from Mezibuzh, 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.

Glance through the Yated on any given week and you’ll see news items from places as varied as Elizabeth, New Jersey; Waterbury, Connecticut; South Bend, Indiana; Houston, Texas; Portland, Oregon; Phoenix, Arizona; Atlanta, Georgia, Columbus, Ohio; Scranton, Pennsylvania; Boca Raton, Florida; Chesterfield, Missouri and elsewhere.

Rav Moshe Mordechai Shulsinger wrote that during one of Israel’s wars, people asked Rav Elazar Menachem Man Shach for areas in which they should improve to help the war effort. He offered two suggestions. The first was to recite the first brocha of Birkas Hamazon from a bentcher. The second idea was not to be “fartayned” all day. “Don’t be perpetually aggrieved,” he said. “Some people go through every day of their lives with complaints against everyone. ‘They didn’t do what I told them to do.’ Or, ‘They didn’t ask me how to do it. If they would have asked me, the whole thing would have come out so much differently - and better, of course.’ People have complaints against their spouse, parents, children, rabbonim, rabbeim, moros and chazzan. They think that other people tried hurting them, harming them, and insulting them. People become bitter, angry and upset and get into arguments.”

Stop, Rav Shach advised. Stop complaining. Stop seeing the incompetence of those around you and start seeing the blessings.

“A person can spend his day in kapdanus and bitterness,” Rav Shach would say.

Don’t say that this is an empty place. Don’t say that the water is buried beneath a rock too heavy to move. Don’t say that everything is bleak and hopeless. Rather, think, “Achein yeish Hashem bamakom hazeh.” Open your eyes and see the potential. See the good. See what the good people do and want to do, and help to remove the stones and pebbles from  their lives.

A person who lives with 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.

Nothing happens just because. Everything happens for a reason and a purpose.

Yaakov Avinu, throughout this parsha, faces many challenges. He travels, lonely and impoverished, and arrives in Choron with nothing. He faces Lovon’s trickery and deceit, and then labors in extreme heat and in fierce cold for a selfish, unappreciative boss.

Never do we see him with ta’anos, focused on the evil being perpetrated against him. He never assumes the role of the nirdof. He isn’t busy 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.

The purpose and task of chinuch is to bring out that value in a child, lovingly encouraging and motivating him from a young age to do good and be good. Chinuch works by helping a child believe in himself, enhancing his self-assurance and letting him know that if he aims to succeed, he will.

Hashem crafted man as a wondrous, spectacular creation, and infused each person with value. To close a door on a person is to lose out on beholding the glory. It wasn’t about the inconvenience or difficulty, for achein yeish Hashem bamakom hazeh. Every person carries some of that kedusha.

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

All along, dark and confusing as it may be, we have it within us to stop and say, “Achein yeish Hashem bamakom hazeh.” No matter where we are, how difficult things seem, how dark and cold and lonely we are, we need to always remember that we are not alone.

We all have the inner strength to roll away the stones that block our individual paths and the paths of others. Instead of being sorrowful, complaining of our difficulties, we should summon the abilities Hashem gave us to deal with and overcome our struggles.

It is easier said than done, but if at least we would change our mindset and not look at nisyonos as things that are impossible to overcome, but rather as challenges that are surmountable. With enough effort, tefillah, emunah and bitachon, we will be able to roll off the rocks that separate us from accomplishment and happiness.

Doing so will enhance our lives and hasten the arrival of Moshiach, may he come speedily in our day.

Honestly

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

This week’s parsha introduces us to Yaakov and Eisov, whose struggle endures until the End of Days.

The differences between them were already apparent prior to their birth. One sought to escape to the bais medrash and the other was interested in avodah zorah. Yaakov was a tzaddik tomim, while his wicked twin brother, Eisov, presented himself as an upright person.

Yaakov distinguished himself through speech. He spoke softly, 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 some lentil soup. He lived a heathen life, though he conducted himself virtuously around his father.

After selling the bechorah, Eisov did not regret his action. The Torah informs us, “Vayivez Eisov es habechorah – And Eisov mocked what had been bestowed upon him.”

Baalei mussar say that this is indicative of the reaction of people whose silly actions set them back. When a child loses a game, he invariably says, “I don’t care that I lost. It was a dumb game anyway and I didn’t even try to win.” Bad people find excuses for losses and always blame their miscues on others.

An intelligent person regrets his mistakes and admits that he missed an opportunity. Eisov lacked the capacity for introspection. Instead of pondering what he had done, he mocked the whole thing, quieting whatever soft voice of sincerity he had, before it could lead him to repent for what he had done.

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 to receive the brachos of “Veyiten lecha,” Yitzchok was confused, because he discerned a sincerity and heart in the voice. Although Yaakov was wearing the coat of Eisov, he spoke in the manner of Yaakov. “Hakol kol Yaakov.” Eisov, while begging his father for a brocha, was plotting Yaakov’s murder. His words were superficial and not reflective of what lay in his heart.

Words are everything to the offspring of Yaakov. 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 flippant. We respect and promote men and women of truth, whose fidelity to honesty and tradition grounds them.

We are not meant to follow those with the quick put-downs and glib tongues. Negativity and cynicism may sound clever and bring popularity to the one who uses his intelligence to mock others, but we are to respect the one who works hard, speaks softly and truthfully from the heart, and seeks to do good. His life is one of finesse and accomplishment. It is he and people like him who embody the ideals of Am Yisroel.

Living in the golus of Eisov. we must ensure that we do not adopt his perfidious and disrespectful nature. Though we are under the heel of Edom, we have to distinguish between authenticity and fiction and remain loyal to the truth. We should not become like those who suppress the truth for ulterior motives.

In this country, and in others, the media controls the news and the way people think about what is going on. For example, last week, Congressional Republicans held a press conference to discuss Biden family corruption. It was mostly ignored in the media, and those who covered it did so to mock the Republicans. Most Americans don’t know what was said at the press conference. All they know is that Republicans are extremist, anti-democracy conspiracists.

In another example, also last week, former President Trump announced that he will be running to get his old job back in 2024. This is not meant to advocate for him, but rather to make a point. He stood on his feet for an hour discussing issues and his positions on them. Nobody reported on what he said. There was no fair and balanced report on the announcement anywhere. Nobody gave an evenhanded account of what Trump accomplished as president and where he failed, as is customary in reporting on a candidate. The coverage devolved into a bashing contest of who could make more fun of Trump, mocking him and his followers. Additionally, nobody contrasted his performance with that of the current occupant of the White House and a likely opponent should Trump win his party’s nomination.

The effect of the daily one-sided reporting is that tens of millions of people unwittingly develop opinions about people and issues that the media desires for them to have.

It is a world of lies, and those lies have an effect. Paint a person or a group or an issue in a negative light, and people will think negatively of them. Witness the religious community in Israel, constantly maligned and vilified in the mainstream media. Is it any wonder that outside of the religious areas, even well-intentioned people look down upon “the chareidim”?

Power and elections have become a game of manipulation. Those who are best at it get to govern, dominate, and even become popular. Nothing is about the truth.

This is not supposed to be our way. As heirs to Avrohom, Yitzchok and Yaakov, we are expected to be eminently truthful in all we do, the way we think, and the way we approach life. When we seek success in any field of human endeavor, in our daily work lives as well as in social and familial settings, we don’t lie, cheat or obfuscate to get ahead and advance our theories, positions, business, or anything else.

From our mouths, pens, and computers, only truth should emanate.

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

Understanding the admonition, and perhaps the connection to this week’s parsha, is that the kohanim essentially earned their role and mission as an outgrowth of Yaakov’s purchase of the bechorah. Originally, bechorim performed the holy functions, but when the bechorim did not conduct themselves properly, kohanim were chosen to replace them as attendants to Hashem.

The sale of the bechorah was rooted in the fundamental difference between Yaakov and Eisov. Yaakov was a man of respect, while Eisov epitomized ridicule and scorn. As the posuk says of Eisov, “Vayivez Eisov.” The essence of his personality was derision. Thus, when the kohanim sinned and became “bozei Hashem,” embodying Eisov’s characteristic of the middah of bizayon, they were no longer worthy of inheriting the gift handed down by Yaakov to serve in the Bais Hamikdosh.

We are rachmonim, bayshonim and gomlei chassodim, people of mercy, bashfulness and kindness. We are invested with sensitivity and compassion, and the words we use, our tone and our approach must be reflective of those traits.

The secret of using words well is believing in the intrinsic holiness of the people you are addressing. As the wisest of men wrote, ma’aneh rach, soft words, have the potential to be meishiv cheima, turn away anger, because they open the heart of the person you are speaking to and allow them to accept your message. Many of our leaders were soft people. They spoke softly and carried no stick. Through gently speaking words of truth, they were able to educate and inspire masses of people.

People of sensitivity see this. 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 shemo Edom” (Bereishis 25:30). Eisov and his offspring are referred to as “Edom,” because he referred to the lentil soup as “edom.”

By referring to the soup by its color, he exposed his own superficiality. He didn’t know anything about the soup other than that it has an appealing color. That was enough for him. He forsook his future for the momentary pleasure of something superficially appealing.

Edom, as a nation, 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.

Though we live in Golus Edom, we must ensure that we do not become enamored with – and influenced by – the external and the superficial, but we must remain purposeful and discerning people with content and depth. We must not permit ourselves to be misled by glib, empty rhetoric, half-truths and outright distortions.

As children of Avrohom, Yitzchok and Yaakov, we are shluchim to continue their mission. We are to care about each other, and speak with love and soft words that people can understand and accept. As maaminim, we should be positive and hopeful, treating all people the way we want to be treated, no matter the occasion of our interaction.

Let us not be influenced by the dominant lies of the day. Let us use the measurements of Torah to assess the prevailing trends around us and find the moral courage to stand up for the truth, no matter how unpopular that may be.

We need to act as our avos and imahos did. We need to study the parshiyos of Bereishis with the depth they deserve and not be content with a superficial reading. There are many lessons there to enhance our lives.

The posuk (Bereishis 25:19-20) tells us that Yitzchok took Rivka, the daughter of Besueil of Aram and sister of Lovon, as a wife. Rashi explains that although we have already been told who Rivka was, the Torah tells us again about her father and brother and town to praise her, namely, that although she had a wicked father and brother and came from a town of wicked people, she did not learn from them, but remained a virtuous person.

Rav Meir Soloveitchik elucidates further and cites the famous Rambam in Hilchos Dei’os (6:1) that man was created in such a way that his thoughts and deeds are influenced by friends, and people conduct themselves according to the customs of where they live. Therefore, a person must connect himself to the righteous and always dwell near chachomim to be able to learn from them, avoiding the wicked who are in darkness, so that he won’t learn from them.

Rivka went against human nature. Although her family was evil and her neighborhood was evil, she didn’t learn from them. Because she was able to triumph over human nature, she merited marrying Yitzchok and becoming one of the imahos. Just as Avrohom withstood the ten nisyonos and stood up to the world together with Sorah, so too, Rivka and Yitzchok had the strength necessary to confront and withstand the influences and pressures of the world.

In our day, as well, we must remain true to the heritage they bequeathed to us and be strong enough to resist the pull of our surroundings to engage in dishonorable, unethical, duplicitous, and plain old improper behavior.

To earn the brachos of hatzlocha, nachas, and spiritual and financial success, we must follow the example of our avos and imahos. Doing so will grant us the blessings of success, achievement and prosperity that they were rewarded with. Amein.

Transmitting a Message

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

Republicans and many of us were convinced that there would be a great big Red Wave, sweeping them into control of the Senate and Congress and clearing out Democrats from governorships and other state positions across the country. It didn’t happen. And everyone is pontificating on what went wrong.

There must be a disconnect when despite it being plainly evident to all that prices are rising, the economy is failing, crime is rampant in big liberal cities, and the president is often incoherent, a majority of people still vote for the guilty party.

To their credit, Biden’s handlers succeeded in covering up his many errors, lies and missteps, and basically kept him out of the campaign, where he only would have done damage.

In fact, following the election results, President Biden mocked the Republican Ripple and said that he doesn’t plan on doing anything different than the big government, socialist policies he’s been following until now.

Hopefully, when the Republicans take over Congress and begin enforcing some checks and balances, he will come to regret what he said. Who knows. And when they begin aiming for cutting discretionary spending and undercutting his war on gas and oil, as well as his inflationary measures and woke initiatives, his handlers and party-mates may begin to shuffle things around, if only to improve their chances for 2024.

With an administration tone deaf on high energy prices, the open border and rampant crime, and 75% of Americans telling pollsters that the country is heading in the wrong direction, struggling middle- and lower-income families voted to keep things basically the way they are.

The president and his party obfuscate, shamelessly lie, and create straw men to cause voters to focus not on the issues, but on tangential things unrelated to a candidates’ positions and ability to do the job they are running for. This is the third election in a row that this strategy was successfully deployed.

The Republicans never responded to the propaganda that they are a group of extremist election denying, anti-democratic racists who seek to deny people their rights and want to do away with social security and welfare. They thought that the charges were ridiculous and unrelated to the main concerns of voters. But by every Democrat, from the president on down, hammering away at these charges through the media, the Democrats were able to change the focus of the average voter.

They switched the election from being a referendum on an unpopular, incompetent president; historic inflation and rising prices coupled with a worsening economy and recession; a porous border inviting millions of illegals; rising crime; loosening morals and many other ills confronting the country, to phony claims, which were untrue and had no effect on people’s lives.

Did the Red Wave become the Red Puddle because Republican messaging was bad, or was it the candidates who were bad? Both theories may be correct, but if you look at who won, those problems didn’t make any bit of a difference for the other side. Biden was a dismal candidate, rarely leaving his home throughout the entire 2020 campaign. This time around, he didn’t travel much either, unwanted by candidates, who feared that his loser stigma would rub off on them. John Fetterman, an embarrassing candidate, won in Pennsylvania. It is doubtful that there is anyone who voted for him because they think that he is qualified to be a senator. He beat an intelligent heart surgeon, because voters thought that it was either him or their freedoms and democracy, and they want their freedoms and democracy.

So, when Joe Biden was giving silly speeches about Ultra-Maga Republicans trying to destroy the country, lying about the economy and Covid and a host of other issues, and you were thinking that he must have lost his mind, you were wrong.

Apparently, his people had poll-tested every word of those speeches for their effectiveness. Not talking about inflation and the open border was not stupidity. It was the result of a strategy designed by skilled propagandists to steer the mind of the voters from the real issues, which would have doomed them.

So while Republican Senate and House leadership put together an agenda for what they would be doing should they assume power, very few people knew that there was an agenda or what it was. Voters thought that Republicans had no plan other than to take away freedoms and destroy the country. High prices, crime, and the general unraveling of accepted social norms were not a factor in how people voted. Even if they knew that Biden’s policies caused the mess, they didn’t know that the Republicans would seek to turn around the country’s direction. Or the voters simply didn’t care.

Arizona is a border state being overrun by people crossing in from Central America and the world over. Who would imagine that people would vote for the party that denies that there is a problem and is responsible for it? Yet Democrats won the major races there.

Democrat Covid lockdowns killed the New York economy, and rising crime brought on by woke laws affecting policing, jailing and prosecution is keeping the city down. The standard bearer governor held on against an energetic campaign by Lee Zeldin, who hammered the governor and Democrats on crime, yet he came up short. His defeat should not have come as a surprise, as he was behind in every poll.

It is very easy to blame Donald Trump for everything that went wrong, and many people – especially those who never liked him – are jumping on the bandwagon, especially after he issued bizarre and intemperate statements following the Red Fizzle.

Republicans at the top of the leadership, who allocated funding for races and organized the get-out-the-vote campaigns must share the blame. Their mistakes conspired with other process missteps to allow Democrats to over-perform.

But there is more at work here and there are lessons for us as well. I would say that the Republicans lost an opportunity to do what was expected of them and which every out-of-power party usually does in the midterms, because they don’t understand public relations, marketing, and communication.

And to top that off, Republicans have not developed a competent method of getting out their message, even if they have one.

It doesn’t make a difference what their agenda is, or what their message is, or what their response to Biden’s attacks is if nobody sees or hears what they have to say.

Too often, they, and we, speak in an echo chamber. In our communities, we speak to each other, and argue and debate issues between ourselves, crystallizing our opinions and approaches, not always appreciating that there is a big world out there, and in order for us to be able to prevail, it is not sufficient to convince the people we daven with. We have to convince the big world out there.

Republicans didn’t win because they have no platform from which to broadcast what they have to say. The media – with the exception of certain outfits all owned by one man – is all leftist, as it is in most countries. The media that “everyone” reads and watches reports everything from one biased angle in support of the Democrats.

Generally, any mention of Republicans, as a whole, or as individuals, is negative, and it is folly to think that people will be perceptive enough to recognize fact from fiction, especially when considering that the educational system is controlled and staffed by Democrats and leftists who have molded a generation to think and see things their way.

The Republicans haven’t been able to break the stranglehold of the left on the media. Every so often, they will have a press conference and tout their great accomplishments, or policies, and think that by doing so they have threaded the needle and advanced their cause. But the opposite is true, because they are only speaking to themselves. If nobody outside their circle is hearing what they are saying, then they may as well not speak. At least that way they won’t delude themselves into believing that they are advancing their cause.

When Republican campaigns are covered and their speeches are quoted in the media, it is always designed to mock them, to prove the narrative that they are backward, extremist fascists who seek to take away the rights of women, blacks, senior citizens, and everyone else. The media and their opponents use their own words and quotes to undo them and make them look silly.

We don’t watch television or partake of local media or have ongoing discussions and communications with members of the general society, so we aren’t tuned in to their thought process or the way they view things. But if we want to convince them of the justice of our arguments and communal concerns, we have to speak to them in a language they understand with efficacious reasoning that will impress them.

Sometimes we get wrapped up in a cause and act the same way as Republicans. We forget that we are fighting in a large arena against people who view us as extremists who are opposed to freedoms and education, as well as intellectual stimulation and cultural advancement.

When seeking to advance our cause, we aren’t always cognizant of the inflections and nuances that will be used against us. Our arguments don’t always consider the positions and thought processes of our opponents. We seek to win them over with the same logic that seems so obvious to us and our colleagues, friends and community. And generally, that doesn’t work.

So when we see countries turn to the left and in democratic elections vote leftists to power, we wonder how that could happen. Venezuela was a successful country, with a decent economy and government, yet people fell for the propaganda and elected a leftist. Today, Venezuela is a failed country, with an economy in shambles and many of its residents fleeing and sneaking into the United States. And instead of seeing that example and learning from it, people are shielded from the truth. Increasingly, leftists are being elected to power in Central and South American countries.

We follow the news in Eretz Yisroel and were thrilled when Binyomin Netanyahu beat the leftists, hopefully to return to power soon. It seems obvious to us that he, and not a buffoon like Yair Lapid, should be the prime minister. After all, he was Israel’s longest serving prime minister, in the past he has restored the country’s economy and directed its growth, he occupies a prominent place on the world stage, he is widely respected and renowned, he is tough on security issues, and he is a statesman and an orator.

Yet, the election was a lot closer than it seemed. The media in Israel is much like the media in the US, and they hate Netanyahu. There is rarely a kind word about him in the Israeli newspapers, or on radio or television, where he is portrayed as a corrupt, anti-democratic extremist. But there is a difference: There is a major newspaper that was founded by a wealthy Netanyahu supporter that counteracts what is said in the other papers, and the religious parties have their own newspapers which allow them to get their message out to their followers. There are religious radio stations where religious MKs and other public officials and community leaders are interviewed and given an opportunity to explain their positions. Additionally, there are religious magazines and sites, which allow at least the religious community to be informed of the truth and push back against the constant disinformation of the left.

The counterbalance translates into many votes for the religious parties. Imagine if there was no religious media and the entire election campaign depended on tzetlach. I wonder how many seats the religious parties would get. Elections in that country and in this one prove the value of a frum media and of the ability to be able to transmit a message to the community.

Instead of us learning from the goyim, the goyim should learn from us!

In the parshiyos that we lain these weeks, we learn that Avrohom and Yitzchok Avinu dug water wells and we wonder why. There were definitely other water wells from which people extracted water for themselves and their livestock. Why did the avos need to have their own wells?

I saw an explanation that they dug wells because in their day, that was where people gathered. There were no newspapers, and people grew their own food and made their own clothes, so there was little need for going to a store. But everyone needed water, so people would head to the wells and they became public squares. Since the avos, starting with Avrohom, wanted to influence people and spread the concept of Elokus, they dug wells and would spend time there fulfilling their shlichus, speaking to and influencing people.

Today, we all have running water and don’t gather at the well. It is impractical to stand outside a supermarket and try to sell an idea. Thankfully, we have other methods of mass communication, one of them being the religious media.

Think of the recent mass registration and support for the Zeldin campaign. Would it have been possible without a frum media? And this week’s Torah Umesorah campaign? How would they get the word out about themselves and the campaign if they didn’t have the frum media? There are so many causes that have been advanced through it, and many more that could be if people took advantage of the opportunity.

In effect, it boils down to education. If we want people to buy our product, if we want others to buy into our concerns, they need to be educated. Our arguments and pitches need to be carefully crafted and effectively communicated, whether we are looking for financial or moral support or to convince people of the correctness of our way of life. Doing so will go a long way for the advancement of Torah and communal causes.

Elections are lost and elections are won, but the causes remain, revealing the importance of ongoing advocacy and public involvement. Just because we lost a race or won a race doesn’t mean that we can fold up our placards and disappear until the next round. The causes that got us involved are still pressing and require our vigilance and public involvement.

May our efforts be rewarded with eventual success.

A Visit to Our Roots

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

Hashem was very kind to me and enabled me to spend a few days in Eretz Yisroel over this past week. I was apprehensive about going, but when such opportunities present themselves, we have to grab them, and I’m happy I did. Besides, I am a libi b’mizrach type of Yid, and being in mizrach was refreshing and reinvigorating.

I got an inkling of the type of trip I would have shortly after entering a taxi at the airport for the ride to Yerushalayim. The driver was obviously secular, though nothing is really obvious in that country, and things are not always what they seem. It is folly anywhere to judge people by outward appearances, but in that country it is doubly foolish.

We began talking. Actually, he spoke and I listened. He expressed his joy with the result of last week’s election, with the right defeating the left and chasing them from power. But that wasn’t a chiddush; everyone I spoke to during my stay there expressed similar sentiments. But this guy was sort of baring his soul. “Tishma, ani lo dati. I am not religious. But I am Jewish. And I was revolted by what the defeated government did to try to destroy the religious community. I mean, it was so obvious and so disgusting.

“I usually vote for Likud, but this time I wanted to stick it to the Left and Lieberman, so I voted for Ben-Gvir. He’s religious and he is the most likely to aggravate them. They took food out of the mouths of children and they made it difficult for the religious community.”

He hopes Ben-Gvir won’t make too much trouble.

Then he tells me that his brother’s son was chozer b’teshuvah and became a doss. He lives in Bnei Brak with his wife and children and studies in a kollel.

Scratch the surface and even irreligious people feel a kinship for their religion and want a Jewish country.

The elections clearly showed that, as the stalwart leftist parties suffered serious losses and Meretz got wiped out.

I had another similar conversation with a different taxi driver, who seemed completely secular. He had no yarmulka or tzitzis or any other indication that he has any use for religion. He was thrilled that Netanyahu won. We were driving down Rechov Meah Shearim to the Kosel and he pointed to the road that leads to Bais Yisroel. “You see that? Down that road is where I was born 74 years ago.” He hasn’t lived there in decades, but said that every morning he wakes up “kevatikin” and goes to shul to daven Shacharit. He never does anything before he davens. Go figure.

Then, since he was talking about his life and was taking us to the Kosel, he began reminiscing that he was one of the paratroopers who freed the Kosel from Jordanian occupation when he was 19 years old. He said that he is one of the soldiers in the famous picture with Rabbi Shlomo Goren blowing shofar at the Kosel when it was taken in 1967.

Then, we arrived at the Kosel. The ride was over. I handed him 34.3 shekels for the fare and was quickly forced to exit the car by a security person before I was able to ask him his name.

Once again, I didn’t know if he was shomer Shabbos, or anything about his dikduk b’mitzvos or his family, but I knew that his heart pumped Yiddishe blood and he was proud of it. He needs the latent to become vibrant. He needs his roots to bring nutrition to his body and place him firmly in the camp of Hashem, where he belongs.

I was happy to meet such people and note that despite all the problems in Eretz Yisroel, all is not lost. Yet, at the same time, it is sad to think that the connection of such people to Yiddishkeit is likely to remain on a small burner as it’s been their entire lives. And who knows what their children are like and if there is any hope for them?

But my eyes were opened and hope for the future was restored the next evening when I traveled south, to the Be’er Sheva area, with Lev L’Achim leaders. It’s been some thirty years since I was in that city, and I was expecting to encounter a dusty desert town with a smattering of kiruv activities on the fringes.

In kiruv, like much else in our world, there is much hype, and it is not always borne out by the facts. I’ve known and been involved with Lev L’Achim since its inception, and I know that their public relations doesn’t come close to what they actually do, but still, I was not prepared for what I saw.

It was Thursday evening and we went to three Lev L’Achim botei medrash in different neighborhoods. At the first stop, there were hundreds - literally hundreds - of men and boys of all ages who came to hear a shiur. Some are religious and some aren’t. And if the past is any indication, a large percentage of them will become frum as a result of the shiur and other learning activities that are held on a regular basis. Some of the young men I saw with tattoos and bare heads will go to yeshiva, a real yeshiva, and will become bnei Torah indistinguishable from their frum-from-birth peers.

I was given the honor of addressing the group, and as I rose to speak, I wondered how I would connect to the crowd. I need not have worried. As I began to speak, I felt the energy of hundreds of eyes looking towards me, and I could feel their hearts and souls opening wide to swallow Torah and chizuk.

These people weren’t lost souls. They were souls who had found their home and were heading there, making up for lost time, as they sought to reconnect and satiate themselves, just as the novi Yeshayahu foretold: Ure’isem vesos libchem v’atzmoseichem kadeshe tifrachna.

The energy in the room was palpable. Nobody forced them to come, but amazingly, they flocked to hear words of Torah, adding meaning and joy to their lives. At the shiur and during the other activities, there is no pressure placed on anyone.

It is the eternal Jewish soul that pulls them there, and then it is the Torah itself that draws them in, more and more, deeper and deeper.

From there, we went to a different shiur in a different Lev L’Achim bais medrash in another part of town. A smaller group than the first stop, but impressive nonetheless. As we entered, I saw a young fellow saying the shiur and couldn’t help but notice in the front row an old man named Charlie, who everyone seemed to know.

Then I found out the rest of the story. The young man saying the shiur is Rav Dovid Bitton, who is said to be a talmid chochom who you could test on Shas. He looks like a very fine young ben Torah. That’s true. But he also happens to be a baal teshuvah who was attracted to the Lev L’Achim learning activities as he was professionally playing soccer. One thing led to another, and now he has a frum wife and family. He learns in a local kollel and gives back by saying shiurim to ignite the neshamos of fellow Be’er Sheva-ites.

And Charlie? Charlie is his father.

There was another shiur we went to, also given by a yungerman, who eight years ago began attending Lev L’Achim shiurim and today is a full-fledged ben Torah. The room was packed with teenagers, and not one of them looked like they were on the path to Torah and a yeshiva. But looks are deceiving. There was a big soccer game that night between the Be’er Sheva soccer team and a team from Spain, but these boys gave up their tailgating parties to come to learn. They were all looking forward to heading over to the stadium after the shiur.

Last year, 83 boys such as those we had seen at the shiur went to yeshiva and blended in with the bochurim who hailed from the types backgrounds you would expect.

I met such a boy and his family. It was in a yishuv named Paamei Tashaz, the footsteps of 1948. A 16-year-old boy named Omri made a siyum on Maseches Megillah. This is the first masechta he learned, and he was totally areingeton and dedicated to understanding it. He is still in public school, and I don’t know the level of his parents’ observance, but the holiness of his neshomah is evident, as the Torah he has studied is charging him.

The siyum was a festive, catered, fleishige affair, with Omri, his family’s friends and local yishuvniks in attendance. A yeshiva bochur approached me and introduced himself. He’s Omri’s older brother and he learns in Rav Nissan Kaplan’s yeshiva. It wasn’t that long ago that he looked like Omri, but thanks to Lev L’Achim and its dedicated people, he’s well on his way to a productive Torah life.

Be’er Sheva is a city with a rich history, as we learn in this week’s parsha that it was given its name because it was there that Avrohom made a bris (covenant) with Avimelech after Avrohom reprimanded him when his people destroyed Avrohom’s water well (Bereishis 21:31).

Following the bris, Avrohom established his aishel, from where he educated people about Hashem (Bereishis 21:33, Rashi).

What is going on there seems unbelievable and I ask my hosts how it happens. They themselves don’t know. They say that there is a special siyata diShmaya at work. I say that perhaps it is in the zechus of Avrohom’s eishel and his efforts to spread kedusha and yedias Hashem in Be’er Sheva that the revival is taking place there. Tzaddikim set up eishels to teach Torah and bring kedusha to the local residents and are meeting with phenomenal success. They attract boys off the street and work and learn with them. The yearning of their neshamos becomes satiated. From a small spark, a giant torch emerges.

In our cynical world, it sounds bizarre, strange and untrue that such a phenomenon can be going on, but believe me. it is true. I was there. I saw it. And the next time you are in Eretz Yisroel, I recommend that you check it out for yourselves. You will be transformed and mesmerized.

Lev L’Achim began around the same time that this newspaper was born, and ever since then, we have been partnering with them in explaining what they do, trying to help them maintain and expand their activities.

The people who run the organization and those who work for it - 3,000 volunteers - form the nucleus of the movement of bnei Torah that is changing the face of Eretz Yisroel. The people we met and those I traveled with are highly intelligent and multi-faceted. They don’t confine themselves to prescribed parameters. They are tzaddikim with huge hearts and neshamos who use all their abilities to spread the shadow of holiness the best they can, reaching and teaching Jews, one by one, by the hundreds and the thousands.

You have probably never heard of Rav Tuvia Levenshtein, a veritable ball of fire, who is responsible for the southern areas of Eretz Yisroel for Lev L’Achim. His phone didn’t stop ringing, with people asking him questions of pikuach nefesh. Some questions he answered himself based on past experiences and others he forwarded to gedolei Torah. Listening to the questions and how he fielded the calls was a chizuk in emunah and in the power of individuals to effect change, building and supporting people and helping to bring Moshiach.

There was more to the trip, but that will have to wait for a different week.

Wherever I went while in Eretz Yisroel, I found reason for inspiration and chizuk, from walking the streets of Geulah and Meah Shearim and speaking to people to just watching regular people daven and go about their day. As I walk and gaze, I hold a small camera in my hand and photograph my subjects.

Each picture is a gorgeous poem waiting to be written. But for now, just viewing them suffices to remind me of who we are and what we can be if we remain optimistic, driven by our neshomah and yeitzer tov to do good things for ourselves, for others, and for Klal Yisroel.

Separationists

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

It is interesting that last week, when the Torah introduced us to Noach, it did so in glowing terms, informing us that he was a tzaddik tomim, who walked with Hashem. When referring to Avrohom Avinu, the father of our people, we aren’t told much about him. His lineage is presented at the end of Parshas Noach, and this week we are told that Hashem appeared to this person named Avrom and told him to leave his home and move somewhere.

We know nothing about this person, why Hashem would communicate with him, or why He would offer him several blessings. All he had to do was move and go somewhere else. Hashem doesn’t tell him where to go. Apparently, the more important part of the directive was that he should move, separating himself from the culture and people he was with, and settling in a soon-to-be-determined location.

We learn from Medrashim most of what we know about Avrohom. Although Noach was still alive when Avrohom was born, the world had already forgotten about its Creator and began serving the moon, stars, sun, and idols they fashioned. Avrohom, on his own, recognized that the world had to have been created by a Higher Being and spent the first years of his life seeking Him out.

He was vilified by those around him for violating the doctrines of his day. Worse, he became a threat to his father and the ruling powers. They conspired to kill him and put an end to his dangerous influence.

It would have been much easier for Avrohom to play along with them as he pursued his own agenda. His life would have been smoother had he not antagonized the powerful as he went about his personal search to understand how the world came into being.

But Avrohom was uncompromising in his battle for the truth. He discovered the Ribono Shel Olam and shared his findings with the world. He was not deterred by the powerful or by friends, or even by his father.

When his father gave him control of his idol shop, Avrohom fearlessly destroyed the idols. When he was threatened with death by fire, he didn’t hesitate, negotiate or compromise. He didn’t rationalize that if he were to die, there would be nobody to promote the idea of a Creator and return justice and morality to the world.

Hashem’s directive to Avrohom of Lech Lecha seems to define him. At every juncture in his life, when he is confronted by evil people, he is never pragmatic, but always decisive about moving on independently.

When he learned that the shepherds of his close nephew and disciple Lot were improperly grazing his animals in the fields of others, he told Lot that it was time for them to separate.

Avrohom instructed Lot, “Hipared na mei’olay - Please separate from me” (Bereishis 13:9). He was his closest relative and student, but that didn’t matter when Lot would not rectify the thievish behavior.

Sending Lot away, Avrohom finalized his separation from the people of his past. A few pesukim later, the posuk (13:14) states that “acharei hipared Lot mei’imo, after Lot had parted from him,” Hashem blessed Avrohom. After Avrohom separated from a person consumed with pettiness and dishonesty, he became worthy of more blessing (see Rashi). Hashem told Avrohom to take a sweeping view of the land, for it would all be given to him and his plentiful offspring. “Walk its length and breath, for I will give it to you,” Hashem says.

Later in the parsha, Avrohom went to war to defend Lot and his Sedomites. When the king of Sedom attempted to gift Avrohom all the captured wealth, Avrohom declined. “Harimosi yodi el Hashem konei shomayim va’aretz. I will not take from you even a thread or a shoelace.”

Avrohom felt that he did what he had to do for his nephew and battled the enemies of his region, but when the war was won, he wanted no benefit from the spoils of that war that the king of Sedom offered him.

He could have easily rationalized his right to the treasure. After all, Hashem had promised him great wealth, and this could be seen as fulfilling that promise. Sedom was a place of evil, and Avrohom separated himself from having anything to do with its king or its wealth.

And once again, it was following the separation that Hashem appeared to him and said, “Al tira Avrom, Anochi magein loch, sechorcha harbeh meod,” giving him new, monumental brachos, culminating with the Bris Bein Habesorim (Bereishis 15:17-21).

Lech lecha. Separation leads to brocha. Lech lecha, go along your own honest, moral path and you will be blessed. Lech lecha, follow My word and detach yourself from those who chase fleeting pleasure and you will have more than they in this world and the next.

When Hashem’s blessing came to fruition and Avrohom returned from Mitzrayim weighed down with wealth, he remained the same as he was in Choron. As he returned from his adventure in Mitzrayim, which led to the accumulation of his great fortune, the Torah recounts that he returned to the same tent in which he had previously lived. He did not permit his material success to give rise to pride and arrogance and turn him from Hashem. He returned to his mizbeiach and called out in the name of Hashem.

He remained separated from the physical and temporal, interested only in the holy and enduring.

Lot was different. He hung onto Avrohom, but when he returned from Mitzrayim, there was a change. The posuk doesn’t recount that he called out in the name of Hashem. The posuk doesn’t say that he returned to where he had been living. The pesukim (13:3-5) which state that Avrohom returned to his previous home and mizbeiach are followed by the posuk which recounts that “Lot who traveled with Avrohom also had sheep, cattle and tents.”

Lot gravitated to Sedom, known for its depravity and hedonism. Its lifestyle was attractive. It was a place of glitz and glamour. It was then that his employees began quarreling with those of Avrohom, leading Avrohom to separate from him.

Someone who is enamored with physical pleasure will find it hard to resist the temptation for money. If glamour and glitz appeal to him, he will have a tough time turning his back on that world. He will quickly jettison his values to earn more money and seek pleasure. He won’t be able to separate himself from what is corrupt and improper.

If the “good life” is attractive, then it will be difficult to smash idols. Avrohom was far wealthier than Lot ever dreamed of becoming because he remained loyal to his mizbeiach and cared for others. The selfish people of Sedom wouldn’t share anything with anyone. They needed everything they had for themselves. They ended up with nothing but eternal damnation.

Avrohom and his offspring who follow in his separatist ways will forever be sealed with brocha - becha chosmin - as long as they remain loyal to what is true and good, follow the Torah and mitzvos, and refrain from engaging in devious, dubious, dishonest behavior. They raise their children to distinguish right from wrong. People who are deserving of the Divine brachos are not seduced by the blandishments of Sedom.

The pressures are difficult to withstand. Life is expensive and hard. Everything is going up in price. It is difficult to be like Avrohom Avinu, unimpressed by the physical, the mighty and the powerful. It is not easy to be a separatist, cleaving to the truth, speaking and acting truthfully and going against the tide.

The elections are next week and people have decisions to make. People have to decide whether to stay home, not taking part in impacting the culture of the land, or if they will extend themselves and put in the effort to take advantage of the democratic process to do what they can to bring back morals, law, justice, and honesty to the land.

It was no secret that the Pennsylvania Democrat senatorial candidate suffered a stroke. What was a secret was how the stroke affected him. His campaign and party colleagues all said that the health issues didn’t affect him much and that he would be able to effectively serve in the highest legislative body in the country.

In the debate, he was not able to coherently express an opinion on any pressing issues. His performance was embarrassing and pitiful. Any intelligent person watching the debate could quickly determine that the candidate had no grasp of the issues, nor the ability to think them through or discuss them at any depth.

Parties and voters are supposed to be making decisions based on what is best for the country and the citizenry. So, you could be forgiven for expecting party leaders to apologize for running this candidate and not replacing him when it was still possible. You could have expected his family members and campaign aides to apologize for regularly reassuring voters that Mr. Fetterman was fine. It is clear that he wasn’t and isn’t and cannot effectively serve in the position he is running for.

But that didn’t happen. The party rallied around him while the mainstream media covered the debate as if everything was normal.

The party’s two biggest heavyweights (everything is relative), the president and vice president, who haven’t done much public campaigning, were brought into the state for a joint rally on behalf of a candidate who had just showed that he is not capable of serving. Party spokesmen and leaders were all over the media, denying what everyone had seen and heard, acting as if the candidate would be a fine senator should the people elect him.

They demonstrated the difference between us and them. “Asher pihem diber shov.” Their word is not a word, their facts are not facts, and their interests are for power and not the public benefit.

As heirs of Avrohom, we have to remain loyal to following in his ways, uninfluenced by the culture around us, unimpressed by all the temptation for that which is glitzy, shiny and glossy and appears to be glamorous. We have to seek separation from all those who are not – and all that is not – consistent with Torah and Torah ideals. We have to be all about truth, honesty, fairness, decency and kindness, and if we are, we will merit the brachos Hashem blessed Avrohom and his children with. Amein.