The Lens of Golus

Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

The Jewish people were blessed with three avos. Yaakov Avinu was the av of golus. He was the one who left Eretz Yisroel for extended periods, and the last seventeen years of his life were spent in Mitzrayim.

This week’s parsha of Vayechi is the final chapter of Seder Bereishis and of Yaakov’s life. In this parsha, Yaakov bequeaths to his children and to his progeny throughout the ages the lessons they would need to survive and excel as Jews in the Diaspora. Some of what he bequeathed is more apparent through reading the pesukim that recount his words to his sons and some require deeper study.

Parshas Vayechi is what is known as a parsha setumah, meaning that the blank space that usually separates the Torah’s parshiyos does not exist here. The word setumah means blocked or closed.

Rashi begins his exegesis on the parsha by giving two reasons why Vayechi is setumah. One is that when Yaakov passed away, which is recorded in this parsha, the Mitzriyim began subjugating the Jews and their eyes and hearts became blocked from the pain of the subjection.

The other explanation is that prior to his passing, Yaakov wanted to reveal what would happen at the time of the final redemption and it was blocked from him.

It is commonly understood that Rashi is saying that Yaakov was blocked from telling his children when the final redemption would arrive. If this is so, we need to understand what benefit there would have been for the shevotim to know then that their children would sin and go into exile for thousands of years. What consolation would it have been for the shevotim to know that the geulah would come in 5784?

If Yaakov intended to give hope to his family who longed to leave Mitzrayim and return home to Eretz Yisroel, knowing that their offspring wouldn’t get to live permanently in the land of their fathers for thousands of years would have been a cause for further despair.

Meforshim question that, according to this second explanation of Rashi, the stimah should have been placed where the posuk hints that Yaakov wanted to reveal the keitz to the shevotim and not at the beginning of the parsha. Why, then, is the hint that Yaakov was prevented from revealing the period of the End of Days placed at the opening of the parsha?

Let us take a closer look at the pesukim at the beginning of the parsha. The pesukim recount that Yaakov made Yosef swear that he would guarantee that Yaakov would be buried in Eretz Yisroel. The pesukim tell us that sometime later, Yosef heard that Yaakov was ill and brought his children to be blessed by him. Yaakov strengthened himself, sat up on his sickbed, and proceeded to bless the two sons of his beloved son, Yosef. He told Yosef that his sons are as precious to him as his own sons, Reuvein and Shimon, and that Yosef’s sons would be included among the shevotim.

Yaakov then interrupts himself to digress to events in the past. He recounts to Yosef the death of his mother, Rochel, and how he buried her in Bais Lechem. The Torah then relates in posuk 9 that Yaakov saw the sons of Yosef and asked who they were. When Yosef answered that they were his sons, Yaakov told Yosef to bring them closer to him so that he could bless them.

Posuk 10 continues that Yaakov was unable to see. Posuk 11 tells us that Yaakov remarked to Yosef that he never dreamed he would be privileged to see his beloved lost son again, and now, on top of that, he even merited seeing Yosef’s children.

Yosef then approached Yaakov with Menashe on his right and Efraim on his left. Yaakov placed his right hand on the younger Efraim and his left on the firstborn, Menashe, and blessed them. Yosef was troubled that his father reversed his hands so that the younger son “received” the right hand that should rightfully have been placed on the firstborn, the bechor. Yaakov explained that the younger son is destined to achieve greater stature than his older brother in the future. He blessed them again and said that for all time, Jews will bless their sons with the words, “Yesimcha Elokim k’Efraim v’ch’Menashe.”

What transpired here was obviously a great deal more than a simple scenario of an old and blind grandfather blessing two grandchildren he hardly knew. Both Efraim and Menashe were born to Yosef prior to Yaakov’s arrival in Mitzrayim. Yaakov, by now, had been in Mitzrayim for 17 years, so these boys were at least 18 years old. Yaakov had surely come to know them. The Medrash, in fact, states that Efraim would study Torah every day with Yaakov.

Yet, posuk 9 states that Yaakov saw the boys but did not know who they were, Posuk 10 says that Yaakov could not see at all, and then, finally, in posuk 11, the Torah states that he was overjoyed to have seen Yosef’s children!

It is obvious that in the give-and-take between our hallowed forefathers, lofty matters were being discussed. Perhaps we can gain some insight into these profound exchanges with a different explanation to the Rashi and Medrash that discuss why the parsha is setumah.

We can explain that Yaakov’s desire was to reveal to his sons the secrets of how to bring about the period of Acharis Hayomim. He wanted to tell them what they had to do to bring about the keitz that we so desperately yearn for. The world must be prepared for Moshiach to arrive and reveal himself to the masses. Yaakov wanted to teach them the principles that deal with preparing the world for the ultimate redemption.

This knowledge was suddenly withheld from him. Hakadosh Boruch Hu, so to speak, told him that these mystical truths must be concealed. They can only be revealed through the pious efforts of ehrliche Yidden who dedicate themselves to Torah learning and purify themselves to the degree that they merit to attain that deeper wisdom.

Am Yisroel must work on itself to reach those levels of holiness and purity that lead to a grasp of what Hashem desires of us. It’s not something that can be taught or fed to us. We have to arrive there through our study of Torah.

The middah of Yaakov is that when he left home for Mitzrayim, he brought along the cedar trees that would be required to construct the Mishkon in the desert. He was preparing his family for a life of kedusha in the exile of the midbor. In the same vein, when, prior to his passing, Yaakov saw that he wasn’t able to teach his sons how to bring about the geulah, he instead taught them how to live and persevere in golus.

That’s why the parsha is setumah before the story of the encounter between Yaakov and Yosef and Efraim and Menashe. Moshiach ben Yosef is the harbinger of the geulah. Thus, Yaakov wanted to reveal to Yosef the secrets of how to bring about the inception of the messianic era. But suddenly, the information vanished, triggering confusion for Yaakov.

Yaakov wondered if there was something faulty with his vision. He thought that perhaps the boys who accompanied Yosef were not his sons. He thought perhaps this was the reason he wasn’t able to impart to Yosef and his sons the ability to awaken within them their ability to bring about the redemption through their middah of Bais Yosef lehava.

Yaakov told Yosef that his sons, Efraim and Menashe, would be like his own sons, the shevotim. Yaakov saw them, but didn’t recognize them, so he knew that something was amiss and that he wouldn’t be able to deliver the secrets of ikvisa diMeshicha.

Instead, he revealed to them the secrets of golus survival. He said that Jews would bless their children to be as Efraim and Menashe. Just as these two sons were born in a strange land and merited to attain the level of Reuvein and Shimon, so too, for all time, Jewish boys would be reminded that although they are in exile, if they work on themselves, they can rise to the highest levels of Torah and gedulah.

Yaakov revealed to Yosef that his mother was buried at a lonely site along the side of the road because of something that was to transpire centuries later. As the Jews would be driven out of Yerushalayim and Eretz Yisroel, Rochel would cry for them and Hashem would promise, in her merit, to return them to the Promised Land.

Yaakov blessed the sons that the angels who accompanied him as he went into exile and protected him throughout its duration would stand by them in golus. The angels would call upon them the names of Avrohom, Yitzchok and Yaakov, and Am Yisroel would thus prosper in the Diaspora.

He foretold to Yosef that the kings Yerovom and Achav would come from Efraim and Yeihu would descend from Menashe. But he also told him that Menashe would give birth to Gideon, and Efraim to Yehoshua, who would lead the Jews into Eretz Yisroel after Moshe’s passing. And then he set about revealing other secrets of the golus to the rest of shevotim.

We have not yet perfected ourselves and made ourselves worthy of Moshiach ben Yosef arriving and foretelling the arrival of Moshiach ben Dovid. Thus, we remain in golus.

As we contemplate the current painful reminder that we are in golus, we know that we’ve been here before. Once again, we find Jewish soldiers fighting an existential war. Once again, the State of Israel feels it necessary for its men to take up weapons to defend themselves from depraved enemies. Once again, the nations of the world take the side of the murderers as ancient anti-Semitism is evident.

People who had become so assimilated that they almost lost touch with Judaism are now reminded wherever they go and seek to reattach to the faith of their forefathers and mothers. We, too, are reminded that most nations of the world detest us. That reality pains us and we seek to understand the deeply felt hatred and anger at a people that simply seeks to live in peace, without bothering anyone. Yes, America is different than many of the Western countries and the vast majority of the political leaders of this country are friendly and welcoming towards us and supportive of Israel, even now.

While we used to take their friendship for granted, we no longer can. Since October 7^th, it has become more apparent that a growing number of Democrats and educational institutions despise us and seek our ruin. We need to express appreciation to those who show us friendliness and sympathy and be thankful to Hashem that we live in the greatest democracy ever known to man.

We have the comfort of living in freedom, with the military draft long ago abolished. Do we know the fear of mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, and wives and children as their sons and husbands paint their faces, load up their gear and go to battle, never knowing if they will come back again alive and whole?

Those who are younger and those who aren’t tuned in well enough forget about the rivers of tears and oceans of blood that have been spilled over the past decades. But we all know that we are living in unprecedented times. We realize that history is being made daily, and as the events unfold, they are carefully guided and orchestrated by our Heavenly Father.

Political leaders and military generals will ultimately have to face the infuriating fact that they are powerless. They are pawns in Hashem’s hands. Israel’s leaders thought that by handing Gaza over to the Palestinians, they would be satisfied to rule over themselves and never terrorize Israel again. Yet, as the world watches the war and ponders the post-war Gaza, they ignore that ever since Gaza was evacuated on America’s insistence and Arik Sharon’s malfeasance, the area has become a hot-bed of anti-Semitism and a base for terrorists to attack Jews.

The terrorists’ promises of making a better life for the people of Gaza proved to be empty propaganda, as fictitious as the very notion itself of a “Palestinian people.” Since Israel abandoned Gaza, there were no efforts undertaken there to establish permanent peace, build up an economy, or create a normal life for Gazans.

On the contrary, the group Gazans voted into power has so little regard for the lives of Gaza’s citizens that they readily use the civilian population as human shields. They welcome civilian casualties, using the carnage they provoke to incite global outrage and hatred against Israel. Once again, they are proving how adept they are at that, as they are clearly winning the P.R. war, while they are losing the military war. Thousands demonstrate against Israel, not only in Arab capitals, but in every major Western city. The media internationally covers the war with a clear pro-Hamas bias, bashing Israel at every opportunity.

None of this should surprise us. We have to be sure to view what is transpiring through the lens of golus and remember the double standard that has prevailed since time immemorial. We have to turn to sifrei kodesh to understand how we are to respond to the current crisis.

We live in the times of ikvisa diMeshicha, the times that Chazal warned about. We must increase our devotion to limud haTorah, lomdei Torah and shemiras hamitzvos. We have to embrace each other and increase the achdus among us, ridding ourselves of hate and division. The world was created for Torah and in its merit, we exist and prosper.

The first thing that Yaakov Avinu did when he realized that his family was going to be spending time in Mitzrayim was send Yehudah to establish a yeshiva where they would be able to study Torah. He was sending a message to all coming generations that the Jewish people require yeshivos for their very existence. All throughout Jewish history, there have been yeshivos wherever we were, and it was the yeshivos that kept our people enduring, vibrant and connected to Hashem. The yeshivos cannot exist without communal support, and there is no greater zechus than contributing to allow them to exist and expand.

In the early days of Jewish life in this country, there were very few, if any, yeshivos, for whatever reason, and the result was that millions of Yiddishe neshamos were lost. It was only after intrepid souls were moser nefesh to follow Yaakov Avinu’s lesson and established yeshivos where the new generation could be educated that frumkeit began to continue from one generation to the next. The fact that Yiddishkeit sprouted and took hold here and is flourishing today is thanks to the foresight and dedication of those exemplary people.

There is another lesson from Yaakov Avinu relevant to us during these tough days.

The Medrash states that in the words of Yaakov Avinu we detect what will bring the long-awaited geulah. He called to his children and said, “Hayosfu v’agida lochem es asher yikra e’schem b’Acharis Hayomim hikovtzu v’shimu bnei Yaakov v’shimu el Yisroel avichem – Gather together and I will tell you what will happen to you at the End of Days, assemble and listen children of Yaakov and listen to Yisroel your father.”

In these words of telling them to gather together and listen to Yisroel to hear about Acharis Hayomim lies the hint that in order to bring about the period known as the End of Days, you must gather together. There cannot be any division or separation between you.

Moshiach can only come when the Jewish people are united, respecting and loving each other, irrespective of differences.

Yaakov bequeathed to us the secret of the geulah: coming together in complete achdus.

We must bless our children that they should be like Efraim and Menashe and excel despite the darkness of golus. We have to train and guide them to grow and mature into talmidei chachomim and tzaddikim who can light up the world with their Torah and righteousness. We have to be mechaneich them and ourselves to love and not hate fellow good Jews, bring Jews together and not divide them, treat everyone with respect and seek to create achdus.

We bless our children as our parents blessed us. Be like Efraim and Menashe, who remained loyal to the mesorah of their father and grandfather as they lived in the depraved swamp of golus. Be like Efraim and Menashe, who cleaved to a life of Torah and mitzvos as the world around them sank deeper into tumah.

We are nearing the day when the grandson of Yosef, Efraim and Menashe, namely Moshiach ben Yosef, is so close to revealing himself to us that we can almost hear his footsteps. It is up to us to make it happen.

In Parshas Vayechi, Yaakov Avinu showed us the way.

Brotherly Love

Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

It happened last year and caused some buzz, but lots has happened since then and the story is all but forgotten. I was reminded of it this past Motzoei Shabbos as I sat at Rav Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin’s seudas hodaah, celebrating the neis of his release from a dark place six years ago.

Last year, at the Torah Umesorah Presidents Conference in Doral, Florida, there was a surprise guest appearance. The former president, who happens to own the hotel, came by and offered a few words. Donald Trump was listing the many things he had done for the Jewish people and for Israel while he was in office.

Many of those were historic and sweeping in nature, such as stopping the Iran deal and moving the U.S. embassy to Yerushalayim, and as he listed them, he received polite applause. And then he offhandedly mentioned that he commuted the sentence of Sholom Rubashkin. When he said that, the audience rose to its feet for a long round of spirited applause.

The former president was shocked. He could not understand why that deserved a stronger applause than everything else he did.

And the reason is because Rubashkin is our brother and people feel differently about things that affects their brother.

Witness the relatives of the Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza. Against all odds, they don’t rest for a minute, demonstrating, speaking, and lobbying around the world, trying to get something going that will lead to the release of their relatives. Despite all the setbacks and reasons that would cause others to forsake their mission, they persist, because they are fighting for their fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters.

Some fifty years ago, a plane carrying many Jews, among them Rav Yitzchok Hutner, was hijacked. Jews around the world davened that the hostages survive the ordeal. Rav Chaim Shmulevitz, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Mir in Yerushalayim, arrived in the bais medrash to deliver a shmuess about the situation, but he never said it.

He stood at the amud in the front of the bais medrash and remarked, “If the prisoners would be your brothers, think about how much kavanah you would have as you say Tehillim for them.” And then he began to weep. Through his tears, he cried out, “And they takeh are your brothers.”

He was so overcome that he couldn’t say anything more. The message he delivered that day affected all who heard it and all who heard about what happened when the famed Rav Chaim tried to speak in Yeshivas Mir about the hostages.

Brothers are different. And we are all brothers.

For real. We really are brothers.

In this week’s parsha, Vayigash, the sad story of Yosef and his brothers reaches its climax. Ever since Yosef dreamt that one day the brothers would bow to him as a ruler, they could not come to terms with him. Hashem brought a hunger upon the earth and the brothers were forced to travel to Mitzrayim, the only place that had food, to provide for their families. Each time they came, Yosef had recognized them, but they had no clue that the person they were bowing to and begging for food from was the long lost Yosef, whom they had sold into slavery.

Yosef had Shimon jailed and now was about to have Binyomin join him on trumped-up charges. As they sat together around a table negotiating their future, Yehudah stood up to the viceroy of Egypt disrespectfully. On their previous trips, the brothers acted respectfully and fulfilled Yosef’s increasingly bizarre requests. But this time it was different. This time, Yosef was threatening the freedom of their brother, Binyomin. When you chepper with a brother, it’s different. Yehudah, as leader of the brothers, stood up and confronted him.

Yosef was overcome when he saw how much the brothers cared for each other. He saw that they had repented for selling him and now truly cared for each other. Chazal say that Yosef had heard them discussing between themselves their regrets that they sold their brother into slavery and did not feel Yosef’s pain (Bereishis 42:21-21). Prior to the sale, they had determined halachically that Yosef deserved to be sold, but as things didn’t seem to be going right for them, they had second thoughts about whether he deserved to be sold.

With their brotherly feelings toward Yosef restored and the concern they had for Binyomin portrayed, Yosef understood that there was no longer any need to torment his brothers. The brotherly love and feelings had been restored, and now the shevotim would be able to proceed to the next step in the formation of Am Yisroel and carrying out Hashem’s plan. So Yosef revealed himself to them, told them who he was, and there was a tearful reunion.

Yosef and Binyomin fell on each other’s shoulders and cried. Chazal teach that they were not crying over the pain of separation and the joy of reunion. They weren’t mourning their mother, whose tears would define a nation. They were crying over the churban of Mishkan Shiloh in the cheilek of Yosef and the destruction of the two Botei Mikdosh that would be built in the portion of Binyomin.

As brothers, they cried over events that would take place well ahead in the future, but were foremost on the minds of these great people who were concerned about their brothers, sisters, sons and daughters throughout the ages. They wept just as their mother, Rochel, would, and great people like Rav Chaim Shmulevitz did all through the centuries of our golus. They put aside their own personal feelings and concerns and became consumed with their brethren, because that is what being a Jew is all about.

The Chashmonaim were the same. They saw what was happening to their brothers and sisters. They saw how Am Yisroel was getting swallowed by the Yevonim and turning away from Hashem and the Torah, so they went to war. With millions of Jews in spiritual danger, without considering their personal welfare, they went to battle against a powerful army, armed with faith that Hakadosh Boruch Hu would cause them to win.

Because when brothers are threatened, brothers do whatever they can to save them.

One of the many lessons that emerge from analyzing the maasei avos in the parshiyos of Sefer Bereishis is that our forefathers viewed their experiences not as isolated incidents, but as part of something much bigger crafted by Hashem to lead us to the ultimate redemption. There are bumps along the way, as well as periods and happenings of great elation. Our challenge is to always consider the fact that whatever course we are upon was charted by Hakadosh Boruch Hu for reasons larger than us and our circumstance.

Avrohom Avinu was on his way to the Akeidah when he saw Har Hamoriah looming in front of him (Bereishis 22:4). He visualized the future, the nitzchiyus, the smoke of the korbanos being olah lereiach nichoach, and all the glory that would yet come forth from that exalted spot.

He turned to his companions and inquired if they saw this as well. When they told him that they didn’t see anything up ahead, he told them, “Shevu lochem po im hachamor - Stay behind with the chamor, while I go up with Yitzchok on the mountain you don’t see nor are aware of.”

Chazal explain that Avrohom was describing his co-travelers as an “am hadomeh lachamor,” a nation compared to a donkey. Those who failed to see the mountain are similar to the animal that symbolizes base instinct, with neither depth nor vision. They are people who cannot see beyond the moment. The donkey sees what is directly in front of him and has no concept of the past and the future.

We read later in this week’s parsha of the emotional reunion between a father broken by longing for his son and the son torn from his father’s side while still a teenager (46:29). Yet, at this time, as they met, they didn’t discuss each other’s wellbeing, or catch up on the years spent apart, or simply say how happy they were that this moment had finally arrived. Rather, Rashi (ibid.) tells us that Yaakov Avinu’s reaction upon meeting Yosef was to recite Krias Shema.

Yaakov had feared that he would never again see his beloved son. He was undoubtedly overcome with joy to see and hold him once again. But when he saw Yosef together with his brothers, Yaakov was witnessing a much larger picture than a reunion of individuals.

When he saw the achdus between the brothers, he perceived that his mission of creating the shivtei Kah could proceed. He saw how a circle that could only have been drawn by Hashem was coming together, and he knew that although they were now beginning another exile, Hashem brought them there for the greater purpose of founding Am Yisroel.

Thus overwhelmed, the words of Krias Shema sprang forth. The greatness and Achdus Havayah were plainly evident, and Yaakov celebrated the present and the future at that moment.

Chazal teach us that “maaseh avos simon lebonim,” namely that by seizing the perspective of the avos, we can rise above the stream of negativity, pessimism, grim prognoses, and dire warnings that confront us.

In our lives, quite often, things do not go as we had planned. There are many bumps in the road. Things don’t turn out the way we want them to. Relationships sour, children don’t excel, jobs and careers go south, we don’t make enough money, we lose money, and we are under constant pressure. The list goes on and everyone has their own stories and pekel.

Yosef’s message to his brothers (45:4-11) is relevant to us in our situations. After revealing himself to them, he told them not to be upset over selling him years before. He told them that it was now evident that he was sold so that when the hunger would come, there would be a place of refuge for the entire family. They were merely Hashem’s messengers in setting it up.

When we think that things aren’t going right for us, we need to remember Yosef’s admonition and recognize that everything that happens to us is from Hashem, and not always do we understand the purpose, but knowing that there is one is comforting and reassuring.

And when tragedy befalls the Jewish people, such as the period we are in now as an existential war rages in Gaza and the world plots our defeat, there is much we must do. The most important is to increase our devotion to Torah observance and study and to work to increase achdus between us.

The Zohar in last week’s parsha of Mikeitz (page 200b) writes that “when there is peace amongst the Jewish people and there is not between them people who cause disputes, Hakadosh Boruch Hu has rachmanus on them and din has no power over them. And even if they all serve avodah zorah, if they live peacefully with each other, din will have no power over them.”

The Meshech Chochmah (Shemos 14:25), citing pesukim and Chazal, explains that when the people are lacking in manners and middos and are engaged in machlokes, Hashem removes His Shechinah from among them. But when they conduct themselves with proper middos, refrain from speaking lashon hora and love each other, then even if their level of mitzvah observance is wanting and even if they have succumbed to avodah zorah, Hashem is present with the community and performs miracles for them.

Today, as we are desperate for miracles and Divine assistance to help us overcome our enemies who seek our destruction, we must find it within ourselves to set aside the divisions and disputes that have cropped up among us. If we want the nations of the world to stop pressuring Israel to give up its battle against the evil terrorists, then we have to stop vilifying each other. We have to be able to look aside from some things, and even if we disagree with other people, or groups of people, we can do so respectfully and with love, bearing in mind that we are all brothers.

We have suffered enough from the sins of division, starting with the destruction of the Bais Hamikdosh, which caused thousands of years of golus, pogroms, blood libels, irrational hatred and myriad tragedies and pain. The way to end the war and end the exile is plainly evident to anyone who studies the holy seforim.

The sooner we recognize that we are all brothers and treat each other with love, the sooner Moshiach will be able to reveal himself, as Yosef did to his brothers when the love between all the shevotim was restored.

When we will all be able to proclaim Shema Yisroel together as brothers, we will merit the great victory and the resultant peace we all eagerly await.

Let’s get to it now, for real, not just as a talking point, or a bumper sticker, because brotherly love is not just a nice sounding sound-bite. It is our ticket out of the mess.

Brotherly love will bring us home, bekarov b’yomeinu. Amein.

Fueling the Flame

Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz 

Four thousand years ago, Yaakov fought the sar of Eisov in the eternal battle of emes against sheker, just against unjust, right against wrong.

Two thousand years ago, the war between the Jews and the Yevonim was once again a war of ohr neged choshech, light against darkness, right against wrong, moral against immoral.

It was less than a century ago that six million of our brothers and sisters were brutally murdered by the Nazis and their evil cohorts. The world said that they would never again permit a holocaust such as that to occur. To assuage their guilt, they gave the Jewish people rights to a country in Eretz Yisroel and stood by them for some years.

And here we are, once again, fighting choshech and evil in our time. G-d’s chosen people, blessed with Torah and mitzvos, living according to a higher moral code and calling, we are constantly and viciously attacked by the nations of the world.

Two months ago, in front of the eyes of the world, we were once again brutally attacked on a massive scale. Over 1,200 people paid with their lives, and many others with their limbs, for the crime of being Jews. Initially, the world was appalled and stood by Israel as it declared that it was going to wipe out the evil named Hamas from the world. But as the war intensified and more portions of the land given to the so-called Palestinians in the name of peace were overtaken by Israel, the nations of the world, publicly and privately, began working to undermine the aggrieved country fighting for its life.

Raising old canards, fictions, and lies, the Jews are being accused of genocide and worse. Jews around the world are targeted for harassment and cruelty. In the days of old, pogroms were perpetrated by illiterate peasants as the upper classes cheered from the side. Today, active anti-Semitism is practiced not only by the lower classes of society, but by the literati themselves.

Yovon is referred to by Chazal as choshech, darkness. The battle between the Maccabim and the Yevonim is referred to as a war between the forces of light and the forces of darkness.

We may wonder: Torah is light, since it provides light to our world and guides us in life. But why is Yovon considered a dark force? After all, they brought culture to the world, including philosophy, mathematics, music, medicine, literature, drama, sports and the Olympics. They gave birth to Western culture. Why do we call them choshech?

There are many ways to answer the question, but for anyone who follows the news and saw how the presidents of three of America’s leading universities contorted themselves in front of Congress and the world last week, the answer is obvious.

It is assumed that university presidents are intelligent, accomplished, cultured individuals with clear morals who are able to tell right from wrong and defend and educate what is right. You would think that such people are articulate, especially when it comes to giving one-word answers to the simplest of questions. You would also think that they are kind and good-hearted, and when appearing for a public hearing on anti-Semitism in their schools and others, they would be prepped to offer the perfect sound-bite responses that make their schools look good.

Instead, when asked whether calling for the extermination of Jews violates their school’s rules on bullying and harassment, not only did they not condemn such calls – that would be asking too much –they couldn’t even say that they were opposed to the calls. Instead, they provided heartless, inane, absurd, halting, rigidly expressed, lawyerly, bizarre answers. The responses were stunningly pathetic utterances emanating from the very symbols of accomplished inteligencia, whose schools are the highest institutes of learning in the country.

Instead of providing light, they demonstrated that they provide darkness. Not a shred of honesty, morality, decency and intelligence was on display. People see what is happening at the Ivy League schools of this country, as their students vilify and bully Jews, surround Jewish students with an aura of fear, and march for a free Palestine and genocide of the Jews. They engage in other crude, anti-Semitic behavior as the school’s administrators sit by apathetically, in silence.

While universities should be producing educated, thoughtful, decent people committed to the promotion of democracy and moral values, with foundations of conviction and a just sense of purpose, instead they educate in platitudes and liberal fictions, contributing to the woke darkness that has taken hold of the Western world. 

So once again, the people of the light, the Torah and the menorah are under attack by the forces of darkness and evil. Not only are we assaulted, beaten and butchered, but our way of life is mocked and ridiculed. What do we need to do to empower the forces of light and right to overcome the darkness and evil that seek to overwhelm us?

And even as Israel fights an existential war against 30,000 terrorists sworn to its destruction, America publicly expresses its support, but behind the scenes, it is seeking to prematurely end the conflict, working with the Palestinian Authority to hand Gaza over to them to administer with Hamas, according to the PA so-called prime minister. 

From where do we derive our strength? What is it that keeps us going throughout the ages, from the time of Eisov through the domination of Yovon and Bovel, Yishmoel and Edom? From where did we get the strength to defeat Yovon and to survive the churban and all these years of golus?

It is only through Torah. Not only do our lives revolve around Torah and its precepts, but Torah is the fuel that powers our engines and our people. Nothing can operate without fuel, and without Torah we are done. Without Torah, we would lose our light source, our energy, our fuel, as well as the reason for life. We would lose what makes our lives worth living and what gives us life.

Back in the time of the miracle of the Chashmonaim, many of the Jewish people had gone dark, becoming disconnected from Torah. They went over to the side of their occupiers. They were slipping away from Jewish life and becoming lost to their people. The Yevonim were gaining in their objective, and had the Chashmonaim not come along and battled their oppressors, who knows what would have happened to our people?

On Chanukah, we celebrate the Chashmonaim and their mesirus nefesh for kedusha. They rose to throw off the forces of darkness from the nation that was blocking their light source. They were the me’atim, the few, the tzaddikim, the tehorim, the pure and holy. They were the people who performed Hashem’s service in the Bais Hamikdosh and in the bais medrash. How were they able to win?

We declare the answer in Al Hanissim when we thank Hashem for the miracles and the strength He blessed us with and for the military victories. We state there the purpose of the Yevoni takeover of Eretz Yisroel. It wasn’t simply to add to their empire and have a new source of income. Rather, it was to cause the Jews to forget the Torah and veer away from observing the mitzvos.

We thank Hashem for standing by us in our trying time, fighting our battles, taking revenge for us, handing over the strong ones to the weak ones, the many to the few, the defiled to the holy, the wicked to the righteous, and the disdainful to those who studied Torah. 

The culmination of what Hashem did for us at the time of the Chashmonai battles is that He handed the victory to the ones who were diligent in their Torah study. This seems to indicate that what caused their victory was their dedication to the study of Torah.

When Chazal established the Yom Tov of Chanukah, they did so by citing the primacy of the miracle of the tiny oil flask. The drops of oil that were sufficient for only one day lit the menorah for eight days. This is evident in the Gemara (Shabbos 21b), which questions what Chanukah is and responds with the miracle of the oil.

In the wording of the question in that Gemara (ibid.), “Mai Chanukah? What is Chanukah?” The response to the Gemara’s question is, “Detanu rabbonon, the rabbis learned.” Some see in this a lesson in the power of Torah. They read the Gemara to be saying, “How did the miracle of Chanukah come about? Detanu rabbonon. It was because the rabbis were studying Torah.” It was the study of Torah that empowered the Jewish people to win the war, though they were weak and few. It was their Torah and mitzvos and righteousness and purity that caused them to be victorious over the superior forces of Yovon.

This is celebrated through lighting the menorah, for Torah is compared to light and oil is compared to Torah, which provides light. Therefore, the miracle for which Chazal established this special holiday was the one pertaining to the holy oil and the light it allowed to burn. The war was all about Torah. It was fought to enable the Jews to study Torah once again, and the Jews were victorious in the merit of the Torah.

It is often stated that in the word Chanukah, there is a hint to the war, for in Hebrew, the word “chonu” means to rest, and chof hey in Hebrew is the number twenty-five. If you spell out Chanukah in Hebrew and break it up, it means they rested on the 25^th.

But it’s not so simple, because there is a dispute between the Rishonim as to which day the war ended and when victory was declared. So, according to those who hold that the war ended on the 24^th day of Kislev, why does Chanukah begin on the 25^th of Kislev? It should begin on the 24^th.

We can say that since the war was based on the Torah and the ability to study Torah, and Torah was what allowed them to win the war, therefore, although the war ended on the 24^th, they were not able to commence studying Torah until the 25^th, and that is why the Yom Tov begins on that day.

All through our history, as Rav Saadia Gaon so eloquently expressed, “Ein umoseinu umah ela bishvil Torah,” we are only a people because of the Torah. Torah is what defines us and also what keeps us going. We would not have lasted all these years had we forsaken the Torah. Through all our years of tragedy and plenty, we have remained loyal to the Torah, and that is what has provided for us and earned for us the right to persist and exist.

In our time as well, and especially now as our brethren in Eretz Yisroel are engaged in a desperate battle to beat back the evil forces of darkness who seek to destroy us, we must remember that the might of Israel is dependent on Torah.

Tens of thousands of soldiers are battling savages, and everyone understands that they need support teams, as well as tanks, howitzers, ammunition, food, morale boosters and much else to keep them going. But we also cannot forget that the fuel that powers the soldiers and the army is Torah and tefillah. Without them, they don’t stand a chance.

At a time of war, everyone is drafted and deployed. Us too. Even those who don’t serve in the army have to kick in and do their share. As our brothers are dying in battle, we need to ramp up the support system and provide the fuel they need to advance.

In a time of sakanah, such as we are presently in, we must increase our study of Torah. We have to learn better and learn more as a source of merit for the fighters in Gaza and for the people of Eretz Yisroel. We need to make kabbalos to improve our kiyum hamitzvos, also as a source of merit and fuel. Regardless of whether we ourselves can learn and whether we can improve the quality and quantity of our learning, we have to do what we can to allow and support others to learn.

Rav Elya Brudny, one of the leaders of the Torah world here in America, told me that Rav Dov Landau, who has assumed the mantle of leadership of the bnei Torah in Eretz Yisroel following the passing of Rav Gershon Edelstein, recently wrote a letter. Rav Landau lamented that he heard from roshei kollel who returned home from fundraising trips abroad that their income this year is not matching income of previous years. He writes that the economic situation in Israel is currently weak due to the war and the effect it is having on the country. He fears that if there is not sufficient support from the United States for yeshivos and kollelim in Eretz Yisroel, the learning will suffer, and at a time when we need to increase limud haTorah, the opposite can happen, r”l.

So, to those who care about Eretz Yisroel, those who care about our brethren in that country, those who are working on themselves to increase achdus and ahavas Yisroel and Torah study and observance – and who isn’t? – we all have a responsibility now to add oil to the flame, fuel to the fire, and energy to the cause by doing whatever we can to help and support those whose lives are dedicated to limud haTorah, at all times and especially now.

The menorah and its light should serve as reminders to us that we each have the ability to help the light overcome the darkness, the right overcome the evil, the good defeat the bad, and the kedusha defeat the prevalent tumah, so that we will be zoche for this war to end well and for Moshiach to swiftly arrive to fight the war of all wars and ignite the strongest light ever, bimeheirah beyomeinu. Amein.

Kiss from Above

Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

The Gemara (Me’ilah 17a) cites a story to depict the ongoing confrontations during the period leading up to the Chanukah miracle between the Jews and their oppressors, the Greeks. 

Rabi Reuvein Ben Istraboli was going to meet with Greek officials. Prior to the meeting, he had his hair cut in the style of the Greeks, so that he would not appear as a Jew. He began his discussion with them, expressing why the gezeiros they placed on the Jewish people made no sense. He discussed the three main edicts they had established and enforced in a bid to separate the Jews from their religion.

As he brought up each edict and demonstrated how it would not accomplish their goal, and would actually strengthen the Jews, they repealed the gezeirah, until all three gezeiros were rescinded.

Then, somehow, they realized that he was a Jew. When that happened, they reestablished the three harsh edicts.

The obvious question is: If they had been convinced that the effect of their decrees would be contrary to their intentions, why would they reinstate them after learning that the person who had convinced them was Jewish? Did his religion change the facts or the proofs he had cited?

The answer is that this is another manifestation of the hatred the nations of the world have for the Jews. It is not rooted in reality or intellect. Rather, it is an irrational, inbred hatred dating back thousands of years. Even if it is proven to them that they are mistaken in their facts and actions, they will persist in their hatred of us.

Take a look at the present war, in which no rational person can argue that Israel doesn’t have a right to self-defense against a barbaric enemy sworn to its destruction. Yet, all around the world, people are marching against the Jewish genocide, crying, “How dare they defend themselves? How dare they go after a terror group that brutally murdered 1,200 of its citizens, wounded 5,000 of them and took some 250 hostages?

The intelligentsia, the bastions of higher learning and the mainstream media side with the terrorists, doing what they can to foster sympathy and support for the murderers.

Western countries, which are also targets of Islamic terror, support the terrorists and their cause. The United States, the beacon of freedom in this world, works actively to crimp Israel’s ability to realize its stated goal of destroying the terror group and not allowing it to establish bases along Israel’s border. The president and vice president announce publicly and repeatedly that their goal is to establish a Palestinian state in Yehudah, Shomron and Gaza at the war’s end.

There is no logic involved in that pursuit, which has no basis in fact or history, for there never was a Palestinian state and there never was a Palestinian nation prior to the founding of Israel. Any land that Israel has given them in the pursuit of peace has served as a base for attacking Israel and Jews. Yet, the nations of the world meet and plot and discuss how they will force Israel to end the war before it is able to win, and how they will force Israel to agree to the establishment of a state for their enemies on their doorstep as a reward for murdering so many Israelis.

As this war continues to rage, there are flashes of Divine kindness, reminding us that He is in charge and that we all play a role in the war’s success.   

This message is inherent to Chanukah, which we begin celebrating this week.

The question is often posed why the Yom Tov of Chanukah was established to commemorate the miracle of the pach shemen. The Jewish people found one small jug of tahor pure olive oil, which was sufficient for one day’s lighting of the menorah. Miraculously, that small jug was used to light the menorah for eight days, until they were able to produce uncontaminated oil.

There were many miracles that took place daily in the Bais Hamikdosh, yet there is no commemoration for them, so why is there one for this miracle?

Furthermore, it would appear that the much greater and impactful miracle was the Jewish people’s ability to overcome the much larger and stronger army of their authoritarian tormentors and achieve victory against those who sought their annihilation. Why wasn’t the Yom Tov established to commemorate the military victory?

Rav Chaim Shmulevitz answered that the miracle of the pach shemen was smaller than winning the war, but it indicated Hashem’s love for His people. When they found that jug and were able to light the menorah for eight days, it was, so to speak, a kiss from Hashem to His beloved. That was the reason why the Yom Tov that celebrates the victory was established as a tribute to the smaller miracle.

In the current war, which was launched in response to a terrible tragedy, Hashem has been exhibiting His love for His people. On Simchas Torah, the terror attack was unleashed for reasons we cannot understand, but we know that it was brought about by Hashem. Everything that happens in this world is Divinely caused, but sometimes knowing that is a matter of faith and other times it is clearly evident.

It is now known that Hamas had been planning the attack for a long time and Israeli intelligence people close to the ground found out about the plans and reported them to their superiors. The intelligence went up the chain of command, until it was negated and ignored. Spotters who sat and watched what was going on near the border on their screens were convinced that something bad was on the way, but the people they reported to told them to stop with their reports; it was impossible that anything was in the offing.

The Israel-Gaza border fence was considered the safest and most sophisticated in the world. But on that tragic day, it failed to keep out the murderers, and its electronic warning systems did not work either. From when the terrorists began their rampage, it took the army seven hours to reach the multiple scenes and begin to battle the savages.

Nobody could have imagined that the attack would have worked out like that. It is obvious that the Yad Hashem was guiding the events.

There were many people who survived the pogrom and went public with their stories. Some said that they repeated Shema Yisroel dozens of times, and as they did so, terrorist bullets flew off of their car, speeding away to escape the carnage. Others told stories of how they spoke to Hashem, begging Him to save them, and they were saved. The variety of stories is amazing and a chizuk in emunah. Even in a time of din, there is rachamim.

As the Soton and his Yishmoeli messengers were slaughtering 1,200 Jews, there were many Heavenly kisses evident that saved many people from certain death.

And even as the battles rage in Gaza, stories are circulating of Divine kisses intervening and saving soldiers from death.

As a result of these signs from Shomayim, untold numbers of Jews are looking to establish a relationship with Hashem and his Torah. We have written about this in the past and the stories are well known. People who never davened or observed mitzvos have accepted upon themselves to wear tefillin daily, to learn Torah, to observe Shabbos, and to bring themselves closer to Yiddishkeit.

Two Fridays ago, a high-ranking army officer arrived at a major yeshiva in Yerushalayim. He came from Gaza to speak to the well-known and respected rosh yeshiva. The rosh yeshiva was not in the yeshiva then and the officer didn’t have time to go to his home, because he had to rush back to Gaza. After all, there is a war going on. And so, he left a voice message with the security officer. This is the message he left for the rosh yeshiva, which I verified, heard and translated for you:

“With deepest respect, I wanted to personally thank you in the name of all the soldiers in my battalion who are serving in Gaza. I meet with soldiers in Gaza and across the border in Israel, and I see with my own eyes the Hashgocha Elokis. It appears as if Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself is accompanying each and every soldier and is saving their lives. 

“What you are doing is simply fascinating. Your tefillos and Torah learning on behalf of the soldiers are protecting them. Thank you from the hearts of all the members of our battalion.

“People tell me personally, ‘We don’t know what is going on here. We have our own personal Hashgocha Elokis. It is impossible that we aren’t getting killed by all the shooting that is directed at us. It makes no sense that we have survived and are alive.’

“I now understand that what you are doing in the yeshiva is holy work and you are a part of this entire war. Thank you. Thank you. I love you.”

Is that not a kiss from Hashem amidst a dreadful war? Should we not be celebrating the miracles that these people are experiencing daily?

That is the message of Chanukah, knowing that even in times of tragedy and suffering, Hashem sends signs from above that He is watching us, looking out for us, and holding our hands. As the posuk states, “Gam ki eileich begei tzalmovess lo ira ra ki Atah imodi – Even when I walk in the valley of death, I fear no evil, because You are with me.”

This was evident at the time of Chanukah and is apparent today.

When things aren’t going the way you want them to – people aren’t behaving properly toward you or you have a health issue, a financial problem, or some other challenge – you must remember that everything that happens to us comes from Hashem and is for our benefit. Sometimes kindness is obvious and other times it is not. When you get a kiss from Above, it is a reminder that He is there, watching over you.

When we celebrate great nissim that occurred in the past and when we read and hear stories of miraculous recoveries and happy endings throughout the ages, in good times and in bad, it should bring us cheer and reason to sing shiros vesishbachos.

Ah freilichen Chanukah.