Staying Holy
Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
We recently celebrated Pesach, which is referred to as
Zeman Cheiruseinu, the days upon which we commemorate our freedom. We
were exalted and relaxed as we sat at the Seder engaging in the mitzvos
of the evening, primarily that of discussing our exodus from slavery and
bondage and our creation as a free independent nation. We sang the tunes we
memorized back in our childhood with the same joy and geshmak with which
we have been singing them ever since: Mah Nishtanah, Avodim Hayinu,
Vehi She’amdah, Dayeinu, Mekimi Mei’ofor Dol, Chasal
Siddur Pesach, and so many more.
Wherever we were the night of the Seder, we were on
top of the world, just as the Jews who came before us were every year, back
until the first Seder in the desert.
But then the Seder was over, Yom Tov ended, and
before we knew what happened, we were thrust back into an inhospitable,
disturbing world.
Besides the usual pressures and challenges, a new one has
cropped up: anti-Jewish demonstrations in major American cities. Vile masses of
students and agitators gather at the most respected universities and call for
genocide of Jews.
For those who don’t understand, that means mass murder of
Jews. Us.
They chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be
free,” which means that Israel and its inhabitants will be destroyed and
replaced with the so-called Palestinians, Rachmana litzlon.
Many of us live in our little bubbles of self-contained
communities and don’t venture to the big cities, certainly not to where the
universities are, so we are walled off from what is going on and lulled into a
false sense of complacency. We don’t appreciate that the Ivy League
universities, which are currently hotbeds of Jew-hatred and calls for doing
away with us, are the temples of the country’s culture, education, intelligence
and future. What happens at the top universities impacts the country. The current
demonstrations are driving the media, as they elicit reams of fictitious
coverage of stories about Israel’s anti-humanitarian war, killing innocents at
will, only because that is what Jews do.
The anti-Jewish crusade is spreading across Western capitals
around the world, with feeble pushback here and abroad. Constitutional
privileges, such as freedom of speech and others, are thrown about to obscure
the reason that those in leadership positions do not speak up against the
crazy, irrational, Marxist, revolutionary fascism being broadcast from the
chaotic grounds of elitist bedrock.
In less than four years, the country’s switch has been
flipped and leftist zealots have taken over, steering the country down a
terrible path. Those misguided souls who advocated in 2020 for the Democrats
are witness now to what that party stands for and where it aims to take the
country. There is no more self-deluding as to what the upcoming election is
about and that there will be terrible consequences should the wrong party win.
But that is said as an aside and is not our focus today.
Many wonder what is at the root of the recent campaigns. The
Gaza war was caused by a wanton murderous attack by Arab terrorists against
thousands of innocent civilians. Is a country not allowed to defend itself and
vanquish its attackers? In the scope of wars, though every loss of life is
tragic, this one is not major. Millions of Africans are killed in ongoing wars,
Syria’s despot has killed untold numbers of his subjects, Russia bombs entire
Ukrainian cities to oblivion, and the students and their teachers aren’t
concerned about any of those wars and genocides. All they are concerned with is
going after Jews.
Why is that?
The Netziv wrote a treatise on this topic
and published it with his sefer on Shir Hashirim. Named
“She’er Yisroel,” it is a classic and bears study, at least once a year,
when we study and read Shir Hashirim.
He opens with our question: “Many ask about the hatred that
dwells in the hearts of anti-Semites. Everyone tries unsuccessfully to find the
proper response to this question, each according to his thoughts and ideas
about Judasim and the way Jews should conduct themselves vis-à-vis those
amongst whom they live.
“We will offer an explanation based upon Torah and faith, and
we will say that the hatred towards the Jewish people is known to all Jews from
the ‘Vehi She’amdah’ that we proclaim at the Seder.”
He says that we begin the Seder with the passage of “Arami
oveid avi” and the relationship between Lovon and Yaakov to teach us that
since the time of [Avrohom and Yitzchok and] Yaakov, in every generation, the
Jew-haters want to destroy us and Hashem spares us from them. In some
generations, the desire for our demise is stronger than others, but it is
always present. Even when it appears that we are loved, we have to know that
the hatred is there, but it is suppressed until Hashem decides that we have
veered from the path of Torah and need to be brought back to the proper Torah
way. When we regain proper faith, Hashem watches over us and prevents any harm
from befalling us, just as he watched over Yaakov when Lovon wanted to destroy
him.
This has been the pattern of our exile until today. The Jews
settled as refugees from a foreign land and prospered and integrated into the
new host country. Things were looking up. Here we are welcome, respected and
treasured. Here it will be good, they thought. And then the people turned on
them, vilified them, and kept their distance, eventually dominating them,
killing their children and tormenting them in every way they knew.
The Jews packed up their stuff and went on the road again,
looking for a place that would allow them to live there. After beginning their
sojourn in the new country as refugees, they slowly acclimated, began to feel
at home in the new land, and then assimilated into the new culture, attending
its schools and universities, marrying into its religion and feeling as if they
really belong in this place this time. They thought that here it is different. Here
they appreciate us, love us, care about us, and accept us as one of them.
Alas, after being there for years and generations, they find
out that it is a charade, as the nation turns on them, shunts them aside, and
begins accusing them of every crime. It is said that their money was illegally
obtained, their patriotism is questioned, and they are accused of being a bunch
of parasites who take advantage of the system. The charges are similar in each
place, as are the results. The only difference is how long it takes.
We give it a name to make ourselves feel better, as if it is
some type of malady that the country and world can be cured of. Anti-Semitism.
We forget that what is happening today is a manifestation of the historic
pattern set into place by the Creator to keep Am Yisroel separated
from the outside culture and moral degeneration, and to keep them connected to
Torah and Hakadosh Boruch Hu.
The latent hatred is always there, but as long as the Jewish
people keep to themselves and recognize that Hashem watches over them
with Hashgocha Protis, as they follow the mitzvos of
the Torah according to the Shulchan Aruch, caring for each
other and using their blessings for communal benefit, Hashem keeps the hatred
hidden and the superficial love is apparent. When the people get so comfortable
that they think that they need no protector and can veer away from Hashem and
His commandments, the hatred rises to the surface and what we call
anti-Semitism is manifest.
Following the First World War, the nations of the world, led
by United States President Woodrow Wilson, formed the League of Nations with
the stated guarantee that a world war would never again take place. From the
ashes of the Second World War, the United Nations was formed so that a
monstrous demagogue like Hitler would never again rise to power.
Unity, it was thought, would be a barrier that no dictator
could overcome. The organizers didn’t factor in apathy and indifference. They
didn’t factor in corruption and bigotry. Though it was founded in the shadow of
the Holocaust, anti-Semitism was the least of their concerns. Instead, today,
the United Nations lies about everything, especially Israel.
The media also regularly lies about Israel, twisting its
coverage as it attempts to convince the world that the Jewish people are evil.
141 countries under the banner of the U.N. have recognized
Palestine as an independent country. The latest to sign on was the tiny island
country of Barbados, which has no Jews and knows nothing about Jews, Israel or
history, yet its vote counts as much as a large, successful nation, thanks to
the United Nations.
Iran, which has a stated public goal of destroying Israel, is
afforded the same respect as a decent, rational country with a proper system of
laws and ethics. It is even permitted to chair the UN Human Rights Council, the
epitomic portrayal of the hypocrisy of the UN and a majority of its member
nations.
As the Jews have become the victims of international hatred,
the International Criminal Court now joins in this charade and threatens
Israel’s leader and anyone who supports him.
This is all part of the historical pattern, and nothing we
can say to the nations and their leaders will change a thing. No amount of
arguing, debating, or posturing, and no number of op-eds, will alter the
current trajectory. It is only Avinu Shebashomayim who can bring about
change, and that is dependent on our mitzvos, maasim tovim and tefillos.
The entire world witnessed on Simchas Torah that when
Hashem removes His protection from Israel, the most sophisticated intelligence
system and the world’s mightiest army are powerless in the face of Israel’s
lowly enemies. When Hashem wants to remind Am Yisroel who
their Protector is, who fights their battles for them, and Who it is who keeps
their enemies at bay, inexplicable things happen, and the strongest, mightiest,
and brightest are shown to be helpless.
All were able to see that the reason such a tragedy did not
occur previously in Israel’s history was because Hashem prevented it from
happening. Just before Pesach, we saw evil Iran unleash an unprecedented
number of powerful missiles on Israel. Miraculously, only one Bedouin girl was
hurt. Hashem saved us.
Some years back, Israel instituted Holocaust Remembrance Day
on the 28th day of Nissan, which fell this past Monday. Every
year, they speak of the 6,000,000 kedoshim who perished in the Holocaust
and offer a message of support to the Jewish people, proclaiming that now that
there is a Jewish state, the Jewish people are much better off, as they are not
alone and are protected by the state and its army. That proclamation grates on
me every year, as I’m sure it does on believing Jews everywhere. But this year,
it was especially painful in light of what happened when Hashem removed His
protective dome the last day of Sukkos. Since then, Israel has been
bogged down in a war that has unleashed much hatred and diplomatic regress.
Yet, while this year’s commemoration was muted out of security concerns, the
ability to rely on the state and its army to prevent another Holocaust was
front and center.
Now may not be the proper time to castigate other Jews, but
it is a most appropriate time to remind our people Who protects us and what is
incumbent upon us to do to earn that protection.
This week, we lain Parshas Kedoshim, which instructs
us to conduct ourselves in the manner of kedoshim, holy people. This is
accomplished by observing the mitzvos discussed in the parsha, as
well as the other parshiyos of the Torah.
The world today is defined not only by hate and hypocrisy,
but also by dishonesty and depravity. Immoral people and lifestyles are vaunted
and praised, and welcomed by the avant-garde culture.
But despite all the temptation and the
many lures, we are to be kedoshim, living lives of uncompromised kedusha.
We avoid any media that doesn’t increase our holiness and abstain from
activities that dull our kedusha and sense of right and wrong. The Torah
is our guide in life, not glitzy presentations, charismatics, and the “in
crowd,” who could lead us away from a just and holy life. Torah combined with emunah
and bitachon and deveikus in mitzvos and maasim tovim
leads us to a successful, fulfilled and satisfying life, instead of sadness and
vacuousness wrapped in a veneer of superficial joy.
It also earns us the protection we need in whatever we do and
wherever we go.
May we merit the
protection of the Shomer Yisroel and may the ongoing tensions and
conflicts lead to the geulah sheleimah very soon.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home