Legacy of the Unshaken

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

Yom Tov provides an idyllic break from the ups and downs of life. Each day of the yemei chol is a battle between our yeitzer tov and yeitzer hora. Throughout the day, we endeavor to do what is right, to follow the path of Hashem, seeking to rise and better ourselves, while pushing back on thoughts and actions that veer us from the correct path and lower us.

Every day, we work to be good and do good to ourselves and to those around us. Hashem put us here to daven, learn Torah, perform mitzvos, help others, and contribute to the betterment of our world. Life is a daily contest between doing what we know is right and trying to do enough to get by.

We are thankful for the good days and for the good things we have, and when things don’t go the way we would like and we have issues of one type or another, we are reminded that everything is from Hashem and we reach out to Him for His help.

This week’s parsha of Shemini records one of the greatest days in Jewish history. After months of elevating themselves, the Jewish people raised themselves from their spiritual bottom as Mitzri slaves to constructing Hashem’s Mishkon as a home for the Shechinah among them.

On the day that the people celebrated their great apex with the consecration of the Mishkon, tragedy unfolded. Aharon Hakohein’s two eldest sons suddenly died after being consumed by a holy flame.

The Torah tells us that in this time of public and private grief, Aharon remained silent: “Vayidom Aharon.” Moshe offered him words of consolation and Aharon’s response was silence.

It was the greatest day in his life, when he was finally able to perform his avodah with the assistance of his sons. Suddenly, without warning, two of his sons were snatched from him. The man who was appointed by Hashem to be Moshe Rabbeinu’s spokesman did not utter a word.

The Chofetz Chaim would say that the word “vayidom” is derived from the word “domeim,” which means an inert object, such as a stone. Not only did Aharon not speak of his pain and tragedy, but he did not flinch and it was impossible to notice anything about him from looking at him.

How did he do that? How was he able to remain silent and composed in an unplanned moment of great personal tragedy?

His ability to maintain complete self discipline without showing any signs of mourning or sadness was, of course, due to his complete faith in Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He knew that everything that happens in our world is from Hashem. And since it is from Hashem, it is good.

His silence spoke volumes, for his time and for all times. The people learned from his lesson and example, and for all time, when tragedy strikes, the reaction of the faithful is silent acquiescence. We don’t ask questions, for the answer is known: It happened because Hashem willed it so. The tzaddik and those who endeavor to be tzaddikim, yerei’im ushleimim haholchim b’derech Hashem, practice the vayidom that Aharon Hakohein bequeathed to us.

In our individual lives, we experience periods of challenges and tragedy, ups and downs, regarding health, relationships and finances. People of faith are always at peace, no matter what they are facing away from public view, for they know that it all comes from a merciful Creator, who wants what is best for His creations.

We don’t have to understand everything, and there is much that we are confronted with in life that we don’t, but we can’t let that get us rattled or get us down. We accept what Hashem has done and wait until another day to comprehend what it’s all about.

Following the Holocaust, there were two courses of action for survivors. Their harrowing experiences left many forlorn and broken. They lost their will to live and felt that Hashem had forsaken them. And who could blame them? They couldn’t recover.

But there were people whose emunah was stronger, and although they had lived through those same experiences as the people who became depressed and lost, they put their lives back together, established new homes, and found things to celebrate as they went on to live productive lives of “vayidom,” neither complaining nor becoming immobilized by their multiple tragedies.

Far be it from us to comprehend what they lived through or to judge the people who were subjected to sub-human abuse, but we can learn from their examples. Each one of those people, from the simple Jews to the venerated leaders, is a hero to our nation. Together, they rebuilt and resurrected a decimated people. Their bodies were ripped apart, their families were destroyed, they were penniless and lonely, but their souls remained whole and pure.

When the news is too awful to bear, when death befalls people young and dear, when fire consumes good people at a time marked for joy, it is a time of “vayidom,” thousands of years ago and today. With superhuman strength and hearts tough as steel, it is a time of “vayidom.”

Whatever life does to us, we must remain whole and unbroken. Sometimes, the temptation to break down is overwhelming. At times such as those, we have to think back to Aharon Hakohein at the chanukas haMishkon and how our zaides and bubbes reacted to the tragedies that could have consumed them. They remained strong and pushed on, and that is why we are here.

When things happen to us, we must follow their examples and rise above our experiences in a state of “vayidom.” If we do so, nothing can break us and nothing can bring us down. Of course, it’s easier said than done. Oftentimes, we need the help and reassurance of good people to keep us on track, but survival and endurance always beat the alternative.

Our grandparents’ generation could have easily fallen into despair after losing so much, experiencing immense pain and grief. Transplanted into a new country, where they were initially overwhelmed by crushing poverty, they found reasons to celebrate and worked to live Yiddishe lives of simcha with a renewed faith in Hashem, themselves, and Yiddishkeit.

We all need little reminders of what we are about, what it means to be a Yid, and how we can make the world a better place, continuing the golden chain of Yiddishkeit that stretches through centuries of good – and not-so-good – times.

My grandfather, Rav Leizer Levin, was such a person. A talmid of the Chofetz Chaim and of Kelm, he barely made a living as rov of a small shtetel. Hashem helped him and his family, and they successfully escaped the inferno that engulfed his native Lita. He reestablished himself in this country. It wasn’t easy, but he never complained or spoke about what he had lost. He practiced the “vayidom” of Radin, Kelm, and Aharon Hakohein.

When his wife was niftar on Hoshanah Rabbah, he displayed no emotion until Yom Tov ended. When his daughter, my mother a”h, was niftar at a young age, he sat shivah with us young children, sitting stoically the entire time, showing us by example how to accept the din of Hakadosh Boruch Hu with emunah and bitachon, dignity and grace.

And just now, on Erev Pesach, our family suffered a terrible tragedy with the sudden passing of 25-year-old Rav Chaim Lipschutz zt”l, son of my dear brother, Rav Avrohom, and his wife. His family received that same guidance from their father, Rav Avrohom, who, like his zaide before him, accepted the din with a “vayidom,” conducting the Sedorim and observing Yom Tov as best as possible under the circumstances, delivering a masterful hesped at the Chol Hamoed levayah and displaying no aveilus until after Yom Tov.

The ability to live that way comes from being an oveid Hashem, of thinking always what Hashem wants me to be doing now and doing it. If we spend our lives doing what Hashem wants of us and always keeping that uppermost in our minds, Hashem provides us with the strength necessary to get through situations we never thought would befall us.

We can all use inspiration, and true inspiration comes from Torah, from devotion to Torah, from learning seforim such as Mesilas Yeshorim and Chovos Halevavos and the like. They strengthen us by reminding us what life is really all about, by discussing the challenges we face and how to overcome them with Torah and Torah principles.

We live in difficult times. Eretz Yisroel is beset by war, both internal and external, and her enemies are lined up to defeat her militarily, politically, and through the culture. Since it was overtaken by the Ayatollahs decades ago, Iran has been working to bring about Israel’s destruction. As they raced towards owning nuclear weapons, a succession of American leaders promised to stop them, but never did. Jews mistakenly placed their faith in a new president, who they thought would quickly go to war against Iran or enable Israel to. But they have now found out that the new president has been negotiating secretly with Iran for a long time, and now negotiates publicly, as he and his Jewish assistant seek to reach an accommodation with that empire.

Israel’s premier has been unsuccessfully working to put together a coalition against Iran and continues to say that he will ensure that they never achieve their nuclear ambitions. He fails to recognize that is not up to him or to anyone else, for all are pawns and puppets in Hashem’s unfolding master plan that will bring the world to Moshiach.

Our salvation is in His hands, peace is in His hands, and the end to the economic gyration is only in His Hands. As quickly as the current situation was brought about, it will end, when we prove ourselves worthy of Hashem’s blessings.

For now, Hashem has allowed our enemies to become emboldened. American universities are hothouses of anti-Semitism, European cities are hotbeds of anti-Israel activities, and despite all that has been exposed about Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian terrorism and genocide, France is about to recognize a non-existent Palestinian state.

Meanwhile, at a time when Jews should be coming together and appreciating the power of Torah and its study, the secular Zionists have been so successful in educating two or three generations of Israel that many of the people have no appreciation for Torah and those whose lives are guided by it.

Grandchildren of religious people, who know virtually nothing about their heritage, agitate against Torah observers and those who dedicate their lives to Torah study. They aim to rid our community of its political power, punish its school-aged youth, and institutionalize crushing financial penalties against Torah causes. They don’t appreciate the foundations of Yiddishkeit and fail to study history and the fate of the countries that have sought to force Torah scholars to forsake the Torah they dedicate their lives to. To struggle for Torah is regrettably nothing new. Our forefathers, gedolim and leaders of the past generations have showed us the way. When others measured their strength in chariots and swords, we drew close to Hashem Yisborach. He protected us then and will protect us now.

Life presents us with issues, financial ones or those involving health, shidduchim, schools, children, social relationships, friendships, and challenges brought on by quickly evolving technological changes that affect how we operate.

We have lots of good in our lives. Every night, before you got to sleep, make a list of the good things that happened to you that day and you’ll be surprised by how many things went the way you wanted them to.

And when you think something didn’t go your way, and you are faced with tension, anxiety or loss of any type, know that it came from Hashem, who loves you enough to have created you and sustain you in His world.

Think of the zaides and bubbes, of our rabbeim and moros, and Aharon Hakohein, and the path they paved for us.

There is no better cure for that which ails and bugs us than to remember to reach out to Hashem with teshuvah, tefillah and tzedakah, coupled with chizuk in emunah and bitachon. 

May the spirit of Zeman Cheiruseinu remain with us as we await the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu bekarov.