When famine strikes Eretz Yisroel, Yitzchak Avinu plans to go to Mitzrayim. However, Hashem instructs him to remain in Eretz Yisroel and go to the land of the Plishtim. Hashem assures him of great blessing: “I will increase your offspring like the stars of the heaven; and I will give to your offspring all these lands; and all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your offspring. Because Avraham obeyed My voice, and observed My safeguards (mishmarti), My Commandments, My decrees and My Torahs.”
The commentaries differ on the meaning of the word “mishmarti” in the Torah’s description of Avraham’s righteousness. The Seforno offers a novel interpretation of “mishmarti.” He writes that this refers to the trait “that is guarded (mishmeres) to me,” which is that of chesed. Thus, Hashem is praising Avraham for being so proficient in emulating Hashem’s own mida of chesed. The whole foundation of Hashem’s creation is chesed, and Avraham emulated this trait by doing the greatest possible chesed of giving others the opportunity to get close to Hashem.
The Seforno continues in the same section to address a very difficult problem with this passuk. On two occasions in the Parsha, Hashem blesses Yitzchak, but only in the merit of Avraham. The first is the passuk above. The second is after Yitzchak’s travails with the Plishtim: “I will bless you and increase your offspring because of Avraham my servant.” The Seforno contrasts this with both Avraham and Yaakov who were always blessed in their own merit and not in that of their fathers. He explains that Avraham and Yaakov were both involved in teaching others from early in their lives. Avraham’s exploits are well-known and Seforno writes with certainty that Yaakov taught people who came to the Yeshivas of Shem and Ever. Accordingly, they were blessed in their own merit throughout their lives. In contrast, up to this point, Yitzchak did not call out in the name of Hashem, and consequently did not warrant to be blessed in his own merit. He is blessed in his own merit only after he emulates his father by calling out in the name of Hashem: “He built an altar there, and called in the name of Hashem.” Soon after, Avimelech approaches him to make peace and ends by calling him the “Blessed of Hashem.” It is at this point, the Seforno writes, that Yitzchak is blessed in his own merit.
Rav Elyashiv Shlita comments on the implication of this Seforno. He points out that Yitzchak Avinu was one of the three Avos, that he had been willing to give up his life for Hashem in the Akeida, and that he was so holy that he could never leave Eretz Yisroel. Yet the Torah writes about him as if he has no merit until he calls out in the name of Hashem! Rav Elyashiv writes: “We see from here the incredible merit and reward that one receives for spreading Yiras Hashem to the people.”
The foregoing idea raises two fundamental questions. First, why did Yitzchak, despite his lofty accomplishments, not achieve the level of being blessed in his own merit until he spreads Hashem’s name. And second, why did Yitzchak refrain from calling out in the name of Hashem until this point?
Rav Chaim Volozhin, zt”l, explains the supremacy of spreading Hashem’s name. He writes that “bracha” means “ribui”, which we translate as “abundance.” Thus, the purpose of bracha is to cause an increase or continuation in something. Based on this, my Rebbe, Rav Yitzchak Berkovits, Shlita, explains that a person is only worthy of receiving the bracha of ribui if he himself contributes to causing ribui and continuity in the world by causing others to follow the derech Hashem. Accordingly, despite all his great acts, Yitzchak only received blessing in his own merit when he himself contributed to the increase of people who would follow the derech Hashem.
Why then did Yitzchak refrain from calling out in the name of Hashem until this point? Rav Elyashiv suggests the following explanation. Since Yitzchak’s father Avraham had already spread awareness of Hashem, there was no need for Yitzchak to do so. However, Rav Elyashiv points out, we see the great reward that Yitzchak received for doing so even though his father had already done so.
We learn from here a lesson that is highly relevant in the world today: The fact that there are some people who devote time and effort to spreading Torah does not exempt everyone else from also contributing in some form. A person may argue that since there are people already involved, there is no need for him to do so. The problems with this argument are twofold: Firstly, we see from the Seforno that a person needs to be involved in bringing others close to Hashem for his own benefit and to be worthy of bracha. Secondly, the number of people who are involved in any form of kiruv rechokim - including part-time kiruv, such as learning a few hours a week with a beginner or having secular people for Shabbos - is tremendously low, in comparison to the secular Jews who are leaving Judaism in the millions. The only possible way to stem the tide is if every Jew takes upon himself to devote some amount of time to kiruv.
Indeed a little known fact is that Gedolim have demanded that every ben-Torah must contribute some of his precious time to being mekarev secular Jews. Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, issued a “call to action” to yeshiva students in 1973. He cites how Moshe Rabbeinu was initially unwilling to lead the Jewish people, but that when it became clear that there was no one else capable of the task, he undertook it with great vigor. Rav Moshe writes, “As Moshe responded to the voice of authority when it told him that he must, because there was no one else, so too must our yeshiva students. … There are no others who are qualified for the task. Under such circumstances, Torah study must also be interrupted.” He concludes that “as in charity, where one has an obligation to give a tenth of his income to the poor, so must one spend one tenth of his time working on behalf of others, bringing them close to Torah. If one is endowed with greater resources, he must correspondingly spend more of his time with others.” Other gedolim have issued similar “calls to action.” In Eretz Yisroel, Rav Wolbe, zt”l, exhorted avreichim to devote one night every week to visiting the homes of secular families and showing them the beauty of Torah and Yiddishkeit.
Great talmiday chachamim have always taken every opportunity to emulate Avraham Avinu’s efforts to bring people close to Hashem. The well-known Maggid Shiur, Rav Mendel Kaplan, zt”l, made great efforts to befriend and teach secular Jews whenever he encountered them. His outreach even extended to children. A non-religious secretary in the yeshivah once brought her nine-year-old son with her to work. When Reb Mendel saw the little boy playing in the hall, he called him over, pointed to a Chumash and asked, “Do you know what this is?” “Sure,” the boy answered, “it’s a Bible.” “No,” answered Reb Mendel, “this is a Chumash.” He then pulled up two chairs and sat with the boy for an hour, teaching him Chumash on a level that the child could understand and appreciate. Later that day someone asked him why he had devoted so much of his precious time to a nine-year-old boy. Answered Reb Mendel, “I hope that I’ve a planted a seed that will grow years from now.” We may think that we cannot have any positive effect on unaffiliated Jews. However, one can never know whether and when the seeds that he plants now may bloom in a seemingly unconnected way many years later. Rav Kaplan was a great talmid chacham who reached great heights in his own Torah learning and general righteousness. However, he recognized that this did not absolve him of his responsibility to look for opportunities to “call in the name of Hashem.”
We learn from the Seforno that even a great tzaddik is not worthy of bracha unless he spreads the awareness of G-d in the world. Rav Elyashiv further teaches us that there is no validity to the argument that others are already doing so is.
May we all be zocheh to play our roles in being vayikra b’shem Hashem.
Showing posts with label kiruv. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kiruv. Show all posts
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
ALEI LEHAKIM - KI SAVO
When the Jewish people entered the land, they were to assemble at two mountains for a new acceptance of the Torah, but the command to do so is found already in this week’s parsha. Twelve commandments were to be enumerated, and the people would acknowledge publicly that blessings await those who observe them and curses will befall those who spurn them. Each command discusses a specific act with the exception of the final one. It states: “cursed is the one who will not uphold the words of this Torah, to perform them; and all the people shall say, ‘Amen’ .” The commentators ask, what does this seemingly vague command involve? The Ramban brings a Yerushalmi that answers this question. “Rav Assi says in the name of Rebbi Tanchum Bar Chiya, one who learnt, taught, guarded and performed, but, who had the power to strengthen the Torah and did not, is considered ‘accursed.’… Even someone who was a complete tzaddik in his actions but did not strengthen the Torah in the face of those who do not keep it - he is considered ‘cursed’ .
The Chofetz Chaim zt”l wrote an entire Sefer, ’Chomas Hadas’, which was dedicated to urging people to do more to strengthen the Torah against the increasing tide away from Torah that threatened the very future of Torah observance. In his hakdama, ‘Chizuk Hadas’ he enumerates four separate chiyuvim that every Jew is obligated by the Torah to strive to increase observance amongst our fellow Jews . The fourth is based on this Yerushalmi; the Chofetz Chaim argues strongly that this obligation applies to any Jew who has the power to influence others. If a person does so, then he receives the blessings that were said on Har Gerizim and if he does not, chas v’shalom, then he will suffer the curses of Har Eival. He points out how awesome this idea is: The Leviim turned to six hundred thousand people who stood on the two mountains and blessed the people who would keep these commands and everyone present answered ‘amen’. Consequently, anyone who tries to uphold the Torah is blessed by the Kohanim, Leviim and six hundred thousand people, Hashem’s haskamah. And the opposite is true for anyone who does not try to keep this command. He writes that when a person does not try to save the Torah, “that the [heavenly] hashpaa to the whole world is reduced.”
My Rebbi, Rav Yitzchak Berkovits Shlita notes that by looking at some of the other sins enumerated in the curses we can begin to get a clearer idea of the seriousness of the failure to uphold the Torah. Amongst the other curses are; one who makes a graven image, one who degrades his parents, one who commits grave immorality, and one who strikes his fellow in private. There would be an inclination to think that failure to uphold the Torah is not such a terrible sin but we see from here that one who fails to uphold the Torah is placed in the same category as one who commits such terrible aveiros as the other sins mentioned in the curses at Har Eival. And the opposite is also true; a person who even tries to influence others to increase their observance is greatly praised by the Torah.
The Yerushalmi brings an example from Tanach of a person who epitomised the desire to mekayem the command of this passuk. Yoshiyahu Hamelech was brought up in a generation that had no knowledge of Torah to the extent that he had never seen a Sefer Torah. When he was a mere child one of the Kohanim, Chilkiah, found a Sefer Torah in the Temple courtyard, it was rolled to the passuk, “cursed is the one who will not uphold the words of this Torah..” When Yoshiyahu heard this he rent his clothes and said, “alei lehakim”, ‘it is my responsibility to uphold the Torah’ . He proceeded to do so and successfully reintroduced Torah learning and observance to the forlorn people. The Netsiv zt“l discusses the actions of Yoshiyahu in the context of his own time. There was already a great flow of people leaving Torah for other ideologies and there seems to have been a difference of opinion as to how the remaining Torah true Jews should react to this. Some people believed that the best course of action was to hide away and focus on their own personal avodas Hashem. The Netsiv wrote a teshuva in which he strongly disagreed with this approach. He believed that this was not the time to focus on one’s own ruchnius whilst the rest of the world was being spiritually destroyed . One of his proofs for his attitude is the story of Yoshiyahu. The passuk says that after Yoshiyahu found the Sefer Torah, he said to the Kohanim and Leviim, “… now go and serve Hashem your G-d and his people, Israel. ’ In what way did he mean for them to serve Hashem and his people? The Netsiv explains, that up till that time, the only people who had maintained their spiritual level were the Kohanim and Leviim and that they had retreated into their own world to avoid the perils of their surroundings. They had devoted themselves to their own spiritual development and relationship with Hashem but had neglected the rest of the people. Yoshiyahu now urged them to change their behaviour and to spread Torah to those who had lost their connection to it. He said that by serving the people in bringing them closer to Torah they would be simultaneously serving Hashem because that was his ratson at this time.
The Netsiv argues that just as in Yoshiyahu’s time there was a great need for the observant Jews to uphold the Torah, the same was true in his time, where people were leaving Torah in droves. If the Netsiv’s era could be compared to that of Yoshiyahu, then, all the more so the case is true in our time. There has never been a situation where so many Jews are so distant from any form of Torah than now. A survey was taken in 1990 of the state of observance in USA; here are some of its results . In 1950 the intermarriage rate in USA was 6%, by 1990 it was 52% and rising. 2 million Jews do not identify themselves as Jews. 2 million self-identified Jews have no Jewish connection whatsoever. For every wedding between two Jews, two intermarriages take place. 625,000 US Jews are now practising other religions. 11% of US Jews go to shul! Every day, dozens of intermarriages take place, which means that in the time that it takes to read this article, some Jews were lost forever! What would the Netsiv say if he were alive today? In Elul we all try to do a cheshbon hanefesh of our shemiras hamitzvos. We learn from this week’s parsha that an essential part of that cheshbon is that each person should ask himself, ‘am I doing enough to uphold the Torah?’ We all may have good excuses as to why we have not done a great deal in this area, but, the Chofetz Chaim asks, would these reasons stand up in court? He says, “at the end of one’s life, when his soul comes in front of Hashem’s throne of glory, and he asks to be honoured [for his mitzvos] in the heavenly Assembly, what will he say if they ask him, ‘why didn’t you care about My honour; in front of your very eyes, people desecrated My honour and that of My Torah.?! ”
The Chofetz Chaim, in his own life, demonstrated his fear of being judged for not doing enough to strengthen Torah observance on many occasions. When a community had weakened in its observance he would stand on the bimah in their shul and describe how he would be summoned to judgement after his death and he would be asked, “Yisroel Meir! You were there at the time. Why didn’t you rebuke the people? At times he would ask the congregation to sign their names to a document saying that he had fulfilled his obligation and rebuked them . On another occasion, during a three week stay in Riga he convinced 300 shopkeepers to close their stores on Shabbos . Another time, upon hearing from Jewish soldiers that on Pesach they had eaten chometz, he immediately set out to write Machane Yisroel which quickly spread among the Jewish soldiers. He founded and raised money for a Kosher Kitchen Fund, and he personally tried to come in contact with soldiers to influence them. A group of soldiers used to pass through Radun every summer. The Chofetz Chaim invited them to a banquet in his home, received them with fatherly love, and gave them a drasho to encourage their Torah observance .
The Chofetz Chaim constantly emphasised that there are many ways in which a person can strive to uphold the Torah, whether it be by giving drashos in front of large audiences, establishing places of learning, or befriending those that are distant from Torah. Each person is blessed with unique abilities to help bring others closer to Torah. At present, there are kiruv organisations that are providing many avenue through which people can increase their involvement in kiruv, even on a part-time basis. They offer classes in kiruv training, opportunities to learn one-on-one with a secular chavrusa, and many other options. With the yom hadin fast approaching may we all be able to learn from Yoshiyahu and say that we genuinely tried to uphold the Torah.
(If you would like to hear more specific details of what you can do to uphold the Torah and whom to contact, then you can contact me on email: Gefen123@smile.net.il Or call me on: 992 4050; 052 761 9935.)
Kol tuv
The Chofetz Chaim zt”l wrote an entire Sefer, ’Chomas Hadas’, which was dedicated to urging people to do more to strengthen the Torah against the increasing tide away from Torah that threatened the very future of Torah observance. In his hakdama, ‘Chizuk Hadas’ he enumerates four separate chiyuvim that every Jew is obligated by the Torah to strive to increase observance amongst our fellow Jews . The fourth is based on this Yerushalmi; the Chofetz Chaim argues strongly that this obligation applies to any Jew who has the power to influence others. If a person does so, then he receives the blessings that were said on Har Gerizim and if he does not, chas v’shalom, then he will suffer the curses of Har Eival. He points out how awesome this idea is: The Leviim turned to six hundred thousand people who stood on the two mountains and blessed the people who would keep these commands and everyone present answered ‘amen’. Consequently, anyone who tries to uphold the Torah is blessed by the Kohanim, Leviim and six hundred thousand people, Hashem’s haskamah. And the opposite is true for anyone who does not try to keep this command. He writes that when a person does not try to save the Torah, “that the [heavenly] hashpaa to the whole world is reduced.”
My Rebbi, Rav Yitzchak Berkovits Shlita notes that by looking at some of the other sins enumerated in the curses we can begin to get a clearer idea of the seriousness of the failure to uphold the Torah. Amongst the other curses are; one who makes a graven image, one who degrades his parents, one who commits grave immorality, and one who strikes his fellow in private. There would be an inclination to think that failure to uphold the Torah is not such a terrible sin but we see from here that one who fails to uphold the Torah is placed in the same category as one who commits such terrible aveiros as the other sins mentioned in the curses at Har Eival. And the opposite is also true; a person who even tries to influence others to increase their observance is greatly praised by the Torah.
The Yerushalmi brings an example from Tanach of a person who epitomised the desire to mekayem the command of this passuk. Yoshiyahu Hamelech was brought up in a generation that had no knowledge of Torah to the extent that he had never seen a Sefer Torah. When he was a mere child one of the Kohanim, Chilkiah, found a Sefer Torah in the Temple courtyard, it was rolled to the passuk, “cursed is the one who will not uphold the words of this Torah..” When Yoshiyahu heard this he rent his clothes and said, “alei lehakim”, ‘it is my responsibility to uphold the Torah’ . He proceeded to do so and successfully reintroduced Torah learning and observance to the forlorn people. The Netsiv zt“l discusses the actions of Yoshiyahu in the context of his own time. There was already a great flow of people leaving Torah for other ideologies and there seems to have been a difference of opinion as to how the remaining Torah true Jews should react to this. Some people believed that the best course of action was to hide away and focus on their own personal avodas Hashem. The Netsiv wrote a teshuva in which he strongly disagreed with this approach. He believed that this was not the time to focus on one’s own ruchnius whilst the rest of the world was being spiritually destroyed . One of his proofs for his attitude is the story of Yoshiyahu. The passuk says that after Yoshiyahu found the Sefer Torah, he said to the Kohanim and Leviim, “… now go and serve Hashem your G-d and his people, Israel. ’ In what way did he mean for them to serve Hashem and his people? The Netsiv explains, that up till that time, the only people who had maintained their spiritual level were the Kohanim and Leviim and that they had retreated into their own world to avoid the perils of their surroundings. They had devoted themselves to their own spiritual development and relationship with Hashem but had neglected the rest of the people. Yoshiyahu now urged them to change their behaviour and to spread Torah to those who had lost their connection to it. He said that by serving the people in bringing them closer to Torah they would be simultaneously serving Hashem because that was his ratson at this time.
The Netsiv argues that just as in Yoshiyahu’s time there was a great need for the observant Jews to uphold the Torah, the same was true in his time, where people were leaving Torah in droves. If the Netsiv’s era could be compared to that of Yoshiyahu, then, all the more so the case is true in our time. There has never been a situation where so many Jews are so distant from any form of Torah than now. A survey was taken in 1990 of the state of observance in USA; here are some of its results . In 1950 the intermarriage rate in USA was 6%, by 1990 it was 52% and rising. 2 million Jews do not identify themselves as Jews. 2 million self-identified Jews have no Jewish connection whatsoever. For every wedding between two Jews, two intermarriages take place. 625,000 US Jews are now practising other religions. 11% of US Jews go to shul! Every day, dozens of intermarriages take place, which means that in the time that it takes to read this article, some Jews were lost forever! What would the Netsiv say if he were alive today? In Elul we all try to do a cheshbon hanefesh of our shemiras hamitzvos. We learn from this week’s parsha that an essential part of that cheshbon is that each person should ask himself, ‘am I doing enough to uphold the Torah?’ We all may have good excuses as to why we have not done a great deal in this area, but, the Chofetz Chaim asks, would these reasons stand up in court? He says, “at the end of one’s life, when his soul comes in front of Hashem’s throne of glory, and he asks to be honoured [for his mitzvos] in the heavenly Assembly, what will he say if they ask him, ‘why didn’t you care about My honour; in front of your very eyes, people desecrated My honour and that of My Torah.?! ”
The Chofetz Chaim, in his own life, demonstrated his fear of being judged for not doing enough to strengthen Torah observance on many occasions. When a community had weakened in its observance he would stand on the bimah in their shul and describe how he would be summoned to judgement after his death and he would be asked, “Yisroel Meir! You were there at the time. Why didn’t you rebuke the people? At times he would ask the congregation to sign their names to a document saying that he had fulfilled his obligation and rebuked them . On another occasion, during a three week stay in Riga he convinced 300 shopkeepers to close their stores on Shabbos . Another time, upon hearing from Jewish soldiers that on Pesach they had eaten chometz, he immediately set out to write Machane Yisroel which quickly spread among the Jewish soldiers. He founded and raised money for a Kosher Kitchen Fund, and he personally tried to come in contact with soldiers to influence them. A group of soldiers used to pass through Radun every summer. The Chofetz Chaim invited them to a banquet in his home, received them with fatherly love, and gave them a drasho to encourage their Torah observance .
The Chofetz Chaim constantly emphasised that there are many ways in which a person can strive to uphold the Torah, whether it be by giving drashos in front of large audiences, establishing places of learning, or befriending those that are distant from Torah. Each person is blessed with unique abilities to help bring others closer to Torah. At present, there are kiruv organisations that are providing many avenue through which people can increase their involvement in kiruv, even on a part-time basis. They offer classes in kiruv training, opportunities to learn one-on-one with a secular chavrusa, and many other options. With the yom hadin fast approaching may we all be able to learn from Yoshiyahu and say that we genuinely tried to uphold the Torah.
(If you would like to hear more specific details of what you can do to uphold the Torah and whom to contact, then you can contact me on email: Gefen123@smile.net.il Or call me on: 992 4050; 052 761 9935.)
Kol tuv
Sunday, August 7, 2011
STRIPPING AWAY THE ILLUSION - TISHA B’AV
Chazal say that since Churban Bayis Sheini we should really be in a permanent state of mourning. However, we could not permanently live that way so for most of the year we conduct our lives as if everything is normal and how it should be. For three weeks of the year, culminating with Tisha b’Av we face the reality of our situation and adopt the customs of aveilim. We recognize that things are not as they should be - there is no Beis Hamikdash, we are in galus and we live in a time of hester panim when Hashem’s hashgacha over us is not evident to the eye. On Tisha b’Av in particular we focus on the events in Jewish history that reflect this hester panim as a way of internalizing the terrible state of affairs.
It seems that in different eras the hester panim manifests itself in different ways. For generations its main expression was through anti-Semitism. Jews steadfastly kept to the traditions of their ancestors and often had to give up their lives for it. More recently with the Holocaust, Jews were murdered merely for being Jews. The untold suffering that we have endured is something that people rightfully focus on a great deal on Tisha B’Av - by reading about such events we feel more aware of the terrible consequences of heseter panim. Whilst this hanhaga is certainly commendable, it seems that the ikar manifestation of hester panim in the present era is not anti-Semitism. Take out five seconds and think yourself what it is……..
I imagine that most of you answered that today the main manifestation of hester panim is the desperate state of Torah observance in Klal Yisroel today. We all have a vague, intellectual awareness that things are not as they should be but how bad is it? The intermarriage rate in USA in 1950 was 6%, by 1990 it was 52% and rising. 2 million Jews of Jewish origin do not identify themselves as Jews. 2 million self-identified Jews have no Jewish connection whatsoever. For every wedding between two Jews, two intermarriages take place. 625,000 US Jews are now practicing other religions. 11% of US Jews go to shul . Every day dozens of intermarriages take place which means that in the time it took you to read this, some Jews were lost forever. These statistics make the situation a little more real to us but it is still far from our hearts. A couple of years ago I had to go to a plastic surgeon in Mevasseret on Tisha B’Av when my son got a bad cut on his mouth. I found myself in a Kanyon and was met by a scene of what chillonim do on Tisha B’Av; they go about their lives as normal. I saw Jews eating in a Macdonalds, acting as if everything was normal. What’s more, is that the exact same scene would great you on Shabbos. We all know that chillonim don’t keep Shabbos but to actually experience it! Baruch Hashem we have no idea of what it means to have no Torah, no Shabbos, no relationship with Hashem, no direction in life … but this is the lot of our brothers and sisters - and what’s the difference between us and them? Simply that we were born into a Torah-observant family and they were not - that’s it.
So back to the initial point - This is the time of year that we strip away the illusion that everything is okay - EVERYTHING IS NOT OKAY. We have to face the truth - and what’s more is that we have to accept the responsibility for the way things are, and, on Tisha B’av in particular, we must feel the pain, we can’t hide from it. Chillul Shabbos is EVERYWHERE, inter-marriage is EVERYWHERE. And the most important thing to remember is how Hashem ‘feels’ about it. Just to make that idea more real - Imagine that you had 10 children and you brought them all up to be fully Torah-observant Jews. Nine of them follow the path that you hoped they would but one is slightly lax in this observance. How would you feel? Ask any person who has experienced such a thing and he will tell you that it caused him considerable distress. What if that one child was not just slightly lax but had abandoned Torah completely? Of course that would cause the parents untold grief. Imagine if not one but two children went astray, how much additional pain that would cause. If over half the children totally abandoned Yiddishkeit and of the remaining few only one was fully observant, you would feel unbearable anguish.
All Jews are banim l’Makom - Hashem is their father, and this is the state of Hashem’s ‘family’ - let us take this one day and face the reality - this is what the galus is about today and to end the galus this is what must be dealt with. Hashem is hidden, his children don’t see him, they barely even know he exists - there is certainly plenty to mourn. May this be the last Tisha B’Av of sadness and may it be transformed into a day of rejoicing when ALL Jews know what it means to be Banim l’Makom.
It seems that in different eras the hester panim manifests itself in different ways. For generations its main expression was through anti-Semitism. Jews steadfastly kept to the traditions of their ancestors and often had to give up their lives for it. More recently with the Holocaust, Jews were murdered merely for being Jews. The untold suffering that we have endured is something that people rightfully focus on a great deal on Tisha B’Av - by reading about such events we feel more aware of the terrible consequences of heseter panim. Whilst this hanhaga is certainly commendable, it seems that the ikar manifestation of hester panim in the present era is not anti-Semitism. Take out five seconds and think yourself what it is……..
I imagine that most of you answered that today the main manifestation of hester panim is the desperate state of Torah observance in Klal Yisroel today. We all have a vague, intellectual awareness that things are not as they should be but how bad is it? The intermarriage rate in USA in 1950 was 6%, by 1990 it was 52% and rising. 2 million Jews of Jewish origin do not identify themselves as Jews. 2 million self-identified Jews have no Jewish connection whatsoever. For every wedding between two Jews, two intermarriages take place. 625,000 US Jews are now practicing other religions. 11% of US Jews go to shul . Every day dozens of intermarriages take place which means that in the time it took you to read this, some Jews were lost forever. These statistics make the situation a little more real to us but it is still far from our hearts. A couple of years ago I had to go to a plastic surgeon in Mevasseret on Tisha B’Av when my son got a bad cut on his mouth. I found myself in a Kanyon and was met by a scene of what chillonim do on Tisha B’Av; they go about their lives as normal. I saw Jews eating in a Macdonalds, acting as if everything was normal. What’s more, is that the exact same scene would great you on Shabbos. We all know that chillonim don’t keep Shabbos but to actually experience it! Baruch Hashem we have no idea of what it means to have no Torah, no Shabbos, no relationship with Hashem, no direction in life … but this is the lot of our brothers and sisters - and what’s the difference between us and them? Simply that we were born into a Torah-observant family and they were not - that’s it.
So back to the initial point - This is the time of year that we strip away the illusion that everything is okay - EVERYTHING IS NOT OKAY. We have to face the truth - and what’s more is that we have to accept the responsibility for the way things are, and, on Tisha B’av in particular, we must feel the pain, we can’t hide from it. Chillul Shabbos is EVERYWHERE, inter-marriage is EVERYWHERE. And the most important thing to remember is how Hashem ‘feels’ about it. Just to make that idea more real - Imagine that you had 10 children and you brought them all up to be fully Torah-observant Jews. Nine of them follow the path that you hoped they would but one is slightly lax in this observance. How would you feel? Ask any person who has experienced such a thing and he will tell you that it caused him considerable distress. What if that one child was not just slightly lax but had abandoned Torah completely? Of course that would cause the parents untold grief. Imagine if not one but two children went astray, how much additional pain that would cause. If over half the children totally abandoned Yiddishkeit and of the remaining few only one was fully observant, you would feel unbearable anguish.
All Jews are banim l’Makom - Hashem is their father, and this is the state of Hashem’s ‘family’ - let us take this one day and face the reality - this is what the galus is about today and to end the galus this is what must be dealt with. Hashem is hidden, his children don’t see him, they barely even know he exists - there is certainly plenty to mourn. May this be the last Tisha B’Av of sadness and may it be transformed into a day of rejoicing when ALL Jews know what it means to be Banim l’Makom.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
ALEI LEHAKIM - KI SAVO
When the Jewish people entered the land, they were to assemble at two mountains for a new acceptance of the Torah, but the command to do so is found already in this week’s parsha. Twelve commandments were to be enumerated, and the people would acknowledge publicly that blessings await those who observe them and curses will befall those who spurn them. Each command discusses a specific act with the exception of the final one. It states: “cursed is the one who will not uphold the words of this Torah, to perform them; and all the people shall say, ‘Amen’ .” The commentators ask, what does this seemingly vague command involve? The Ramban brings a Yerushalmi that answers this question. “Rav Assi says in the name of Rebbi Tanchum Bar Chiya, one who learnt, taught, guarded and performed, but, who had the power to strengthen the Torah and did not, is considered ‘accursed.’… Even someone who was a complete tzaddik in his actions but did not strengthen the Torah in the face of those who do not keep it - he is considered ‘cursed’ .
The Chofetz Chaim zt”l wrote an entire Sefer, ’Chomas Hadas’, which was dedicated to urging people to do more to strengthen the Torah against the increasing tide away from Torah that threatened the very future of Torah observance. In his hakdama, ‘Chizuk Hadas’ he enumerates four separate chiyuvim that every Jew is obligated by the Torah to strive to increase observance amongst our fellow Jews . The fourth is based on this Yerushalmi; the Chofetz Chaim argues strongly that this obligation applies to any Jew who has the power to influence others. If a person does so, then he receives the blessings that were said on Har Gerizim and if he does not, chas v’shalom, then he will suffer the curses of Har Eival. He points out how awesome this idea is: The Leviim turned to six hundred thousand people who stood on the two mountains and blessed the people who would keep these commands and everyone present answered ‘amen’. Consequently, anyone who tries to uphold the Torah is blessed by the Kohanim, Leviim and six hundred thousand people, Hashem’s haskamah. And the opposite is true for anyone who does not try to keep this command. He writes that when a person does not try to save the Torah, “that the [heavenly] hashpaa to the whole world is reduced.”
My Rebbi, Rav Yitzchak Berkovits Shlita notes that by looking at some of the other sins enumerated in the curses we can begin to get a clearer idea of the seriousness of the failure to uphold the Torah. Amongst the other curses are; one who makes a graven image, one who degrades his parents, one who commits grave immorality, and one who strikes his fellow in private. There would be an inclination to think that failure to uphold the Torah is not such a terrible sin but we see from here that one who fails to uphold the Torah is placed in the same category as one who commits such terrible aveiros as the other sins mentioned in the curses at Har Eival. And the opposite is also true; a person who even tries to influence others to increase their observance is greatly praised by the Torah.
The Yerushalmi brings an example from Tanach of a person who epitomised the desire to mekayem the command of this passuk. Yoshiyahu Hamelech was brought up in a generation that had no knowledge of Torah to the extent that he had never seen a Sefer Torah. When he was a mere child one of the Kohanim, Chilkiah, found a Sefer Torah in the Temple courtyard, it was rolled to the passuk, “cursed is the one who will not uphold the words of this Torah..” When Yoshiyahu heard this he rent his clothes and said, “alei lehakim”, ‘it is my responsibility to uphold the Torah’ . He proceeded to do so and successfully reintroduced Torah learning and observance to the forlorn people. The Netsiv zt“l discusses the actions of Yoshiyahu in the context of his own time. There was already a great flow of people leaving Torah for other ideologies and there seems to have been a difference of opinion as to how the remaining Torah true Jews should react to this. Some people believed that the best course of action was to hide away and focus on their own personal avodas Hashem. The Netsiv wrote a teshuva in which he strongly disagreed with this approach. He believed that this was not the time to focus on one’s own ruchnius whilst the rest of the world was being spiritually destroyed . One of his proofs for his attitude is the story of Yoshiyahu. The passuk says that after Yoshiyahu found the Sefer Torah, he said to the Kohanim and Leviim, “… now go and serve Hashem your G-d and his people, Israel. ’ In what way did he mean for them to serve Hashem and his people? The Netsiv explains, that up till that time, the only people who had maintained their spiritual level were the Kohanim and Leviim and that they had retreated into their own world to avoid the perils of their surroundings. They had devoted themselves to their own spiritual development and relationship with Hashem but had neglected the rest of the people. Yoshiyahu now urged them to change their behaviour and to spread Torah to those who had lost their connection to it. He said that by serving the people in bringing them closer to Torah they would be simultaneously serving Hashem because that was his ratson at this time.
The Netsiv argues that just as in Yoshiyahu’s time there was a great need for the observant Jews to uphold the Torah, the same was true in his time, where people were leaving Torah in droves. If the Netsiv’s era could be compared to that of Yoshiyahu, then, all the more so the case is true in our time. There has never been a situation where so many Jews are so distant from any form of Torah than now. A survey was taken in 1990 of the state of observance in USA; here are some of its results . In 1950 the intermarriage rate in USA was 6%, by 1990 it was 52% and rising. 2 million Jews do not identify themselves as Jews. 2 million self-identified Jews have no Jewish connection whatsoever. For every wedding between two Jews, two intermarriages take place. 625,000 US Jews are now practising other religions. 11% of US Jews go to shul! Every day, dozens of intermarriages take place, which means that in the time that it takes to read this article, some Jews were lost forever! What would the Netsiv say if he were alive today? In Elul we all try to do a cheshbon hanefesh of our shemiras hamitzvos. We learn from this week’s parsha that an essential part of that cheshbon is that each person should ask himself, ‘am I doing enough to uphold the Torah?’ We all may have good excuses as to why we have not done a great deal in this area, but, the Chofetz Chaim asks, would these reasons stand up in court? He says, “at the end of one’s life, when his soul comes in front of Hashem’s throne of glory, and he asks to be honoured [for his mitzvos] in the heavenly Assembly, what will he say if they ask him, ‘why didn’t you care about My honour; in front of your very eyes, people desecrated My honour and that of My Torah.?! ”
The Chofetz Chaim, in his own life, demonstrated his fear of being judged for not doing enough to strengthen Torah observance on many occasions. When a community had weakened in its observance he would stand on the bimah in their shul and describe how he would be summoned to judgement after his death and he would be asked, “Yisroel Meir! You were there at the time. Why didn’t you rebuke the people? At times he would ask the congregation to sign their names to a document saying that he had fulfilled his obligation and rebuked them . On another occasion, during a three week stay in Riga he convinced 300 shopkeepers to close their stores on Shabbos . Another time, upon hearing from Jewish soldiers that on Pesach they had eaten chometz, he immediately set out to write Machane Yisroel which quickly spread among the Jewish soldiers. He founded and raised money for a Kosher Kitchen Fund, and he personally tried to come in contact with soldiers to influence them. A group of soldiers used to pass through Radun every summer. The Chofetz Chaim invited them to a banquet in his home, received them with fatherly love, and gave them a drasho to encourage their Torah observance .
The Chofetz Chaim constantly emphasised that there are many ways in which a person can strive to uphold the Torah, whether it be by giving drashos in front of large audiences, establishing places of learning, or befriending those that are distant from Torah. Each person is blessed with unique abilities to help bring others closer to Torah. At present, there are kiruv organisations that are providing many avenue through which people can increase their involvement in kiruv, even on a part-time basis. They offer classes in kiruv training, opportunities to learn one-on-one with a secular chavrusa, and many other options. With the yom hadin fast approaching may we all be able to learn from Yoshiyahu and say that we genuinely tried to uphold the Torah.
(If you would like to hear more specific details of what you can do to uphold the Torah and whom to contact, then you can contact me on email: Gefen123@smile.net.il Or call me on: 992 4050; 052 761 9935.)
Kol tuv
The Chofetz Chaim zt”l wrote an entire Sefer, ’Chomas Hadas’, which was dedicated to urging people to do more to strengthen the Torah against the increasing tide away from Torah that threatened the very future of Torah observance. In his hakdama, ‘Chizuk Hadas’ he enumerates four separate chiyuvim that every Jew is obligated by the Torah to strive to increase observance amongst our fellow Jews . The fourth is based on this Yerushalmi; the Chofetz Chaim argues strongly that this obligation applies to any Jew who has the power to influence others. If a person does so, then he receives the blessings that were said on Har Gerizim and if he does not, chas v’shalom, then he will suffer the curses of Har Eival. He points out how awesome this idea is: The Leviim turned to six hundred thousand people who stood on the two mountains and blessed the people who would keep these commands and everyone present answered ‘amen’. Consequently, anyone who tries to uphold the Torah is blessed by the Kohanim, Leviim and six hundred thousand people, Hashem’s haskamah. And the opposite is true for anyone who does not try to keep this command. He writes that when a person does not try to save the Torah, “that the [heavenly] hashpaa to the whole world is reduced.”
My Rebbi, Rav Yitzchak Berkovits Shlita notes that by looking at some of the other sins enumerated in the curses we can begin to get a clearer idea of the seriousness of the failure to uphold the Torah. Amongst the other curses are; one who makes a graven image, one who degrades his parents, one who commits grave immorality, and one who strikes his fellow in private. There would be an inclination to think that failure to uphold the Torah is not such a terrible sin but we see from here that one who fails to uphold the Torah is placed in the same category as one who commits such terrible aveiros as the other sins mentioned in the curses at Har Eival. And the opposite is also true; a person who even tries to influence others to increase their observance is greatly praised by the Torah.
The Yerushalmi brings an example from Tanach of a person who epitomised the desire to mekayem the command of this passuk. Yoshiyahu Hamelech was brought up in a generation that had no knowledge of Torah to the extent that he had never seen a Sefer Torah. When he was a mere child one of the Kohanim, Chilkiah, found a Sefer Torah in the Temple courtyard, it was rolled to the passuk, “cursed is the one who will not uphold the words of this Torah..” When Yoshiyahu heard this he rent his clothes and said, “alei lehakim”, ‘it is my responsibility to uphold the Torah’ . He proceeded to do so and successfully reintroduced Torah learning and observance to the forlorn people. The Netsiv zt“l discusses the actions of Yoshiyahu in the context of his own time. There was already a great flow of people leaving Torah for other ideologies and there seems to have been a difference of opinion as to how the remaining Torah true Jews should react to this. Some people believed that the best course of action was to hide away and focus on their own personal avodas Hashem. The Netsiv wrote a teshuva in which he strongly disagreed with this approach. He believed that this was not the time to focus on one’s own ruchnius whilst the rest of the world was being spiritually destroyed . One of his proofs for his attitude is the story of Yoshiyahu. The passuk says that after Yoshiyahu found the Sefer Torah, he said to the Kohanim and Leviim, “… now go and serve Hashem your G-d and his people, Israel. ’ In what way did he mean for them to serve Hashem and his people? The Netsiv explains, that up till that time, the only people who had maintained their spiritual level were the Kohanim and Leviim and that they had retreated into their own world to avoid the perils of their surroundings. They had devoted themselves to their own spiritual development and relationship with Hashem but had neglected the rest of the people. Yoshiyahu now urged them to change their behaviour and to spread Torah to those who had lost their connection to it. He said that by serving the people in bringing them closer to Torah they would be simultaneously serving Hashem because that was his ratson at this time.
The Netsiv argues that just as in Yoshiyahu’s time there was a great need for the observant Jews to uphold the Torah, the same was true in his time, where people were leaving Torah in droves. If the Netsiv’s era could be compared to that of Yoshiyahu, then, all the more so the case is true in our time. There has never been a situation where so many Jews are so distant from any form of Torah than now. A survey was taken in 1990 of the state of observance in USA; here are some of its results . In 1950 the intermarriage rate in USA was 6%, by 1990 it was 52% and rising. 2 million Jews do not identify themselves as Jews. 2 million self-identified Jews have no Jewish connection whatsoever. For every wedding between two Jews, two intermarriages take place. 625,000 US Jews are now practising other religions. 11% of US Jews go to shul! Every day, dozens of intermarriages take place, which means that in the time that it takes to read this article, some Jews were lost forever! What would the Netsiv say if he were alive today? In Elul we all try to do a cheshbon hanefesh of our shemiras hamitzvos. We learn from this week’s parsha that an essential part of that cheshbon is that each person should ask himself, ‘am I doing enough to uphold the Torah?’ We all may have good excuses as to why we have not done a great deal in this area, but, the Chofetz Chaim asks, would these reasons stand up in court? He says, “at the end of one’s life, when his soul comes in front of Hashem’s throne of glory, and he asks to be honoured [for his mitzvos] in the heavenly Assembly, what will he say if they ask him, ‘why didn’t you care about My honour; in front of your very eyes, people desecrated My honour and that of My Torah.?! ”
The Chofetz Chaim, in his own life, demonstrated his fear of being judged for not doing enough to strengthen Torah observance on many occasions. When a community had weakened in its observance he would stand on the bimah in their shul and describe how he would be summoned to judgement after his death and he would be asked, “Yisroel Meir! You were there at the time. Why didn’t you rebuke the people? At times he would ask the congregation to sign their names to a document saying that he had fulfilled his obligation and rebuked them . On another occasion, during a three week stay in Riga he convinced 300 shopkeepers to close their stores on Shabbos . Another time, upon hearing from Jewish soldiers that on Pesach they had eaten chometz, he immediately set out to write Machane Yisroel which quickly spread among the Jewish soldiers. He founded and raised money for a Kosher Kitchen Fund, and he personally tried to come in contact with soldiers to influence them. A group of soldiers used to pass through Radun every summer. The Chofetz Chaim invited them to a banquet in his home, received them with fatherly love, and gave them a drasho to encourage their Torah observance .
The Chofetz Chaim constantly emphasised that there are many ways in which a person can strive to uphold the Torah, whether it be by giving drashos in front of large audiences, establishing places of learning, or befriending those that are distant from Torah. Each person is blessed with unique abilities to help bring others closer to Torah. At present, there are kiruv organisations that are providing many avenue through which people can increase their involvement in kiruv, even on a part-time basis. They offer classes in kiruv training, opportunities to learn one-on-one with a secular chavrusa, and many other options. With the yom hadin fast approaching may we all be able to learn from Yoshiyahu and say that we genuinely tried to uphold the Torah.
(If you would like to hear more specific details of what you can do to uphold the Torah and whom to contact, then you can contact me on email: Gefen123@smile.net.il Or call me on: 992 4050; 052 761 9935.)
Kol tuv
Monday, July 12, 2010
STRIPPING AWAY THE ILLUSION - TISHA B'AV
Chazal say that since the destruction of the second Beis HaMikdash, we should really be in a constant state of mourning. But we cannot live that way, so for most of the year we conduct our lives as if everything were normal and as it should be. For three weeks of the year, however, culminating in Tishah b’Av, we face the reality of our situation and adopt the customs of mourners. We recognize that things are not as they should be: There is no Beis HaMikdash, we are in galus, and we live in a time of hester Panim, when Hashem’s involvement in our lives is concealed. On Tishah b’Av in particular, we focus on the events in Jewish history that reflect this hester Panim, so we can internalize the terrible state of affairs.
It seems that in different eras the hester Panim manifests itself in different ways. For generations, its main expression was anti-Semitism. Jews steadfastly preserved the traditions of their ancestors and often gave their lives for them. More recently, with the Holocaust, Jews were murdered merely for being Jews. The untold suffering we have endured is something on which people rightfully focus a great deal on Tishah b’Av. By reading about such events, we feel more aware of the terrible consequences of hester Panim. While this practice is certainly commendable, it seems that the principal manifestation of hester Panim nowadays is not anti-Semitism. Take five seconds, and think what it is…
Most of you probably answered that the main manifestation of hester Panim today is the desperate state of Torah observance. We all have a vague, intellectual awareness that things are not as they should be, but how bad are they?
In 1950, the intermarriage rate in the U.S. was 6%; by 1990, it was 52% and rising. Two million Jews do not identify themselves as such. Two million self-identified Jews have no Jewish connection whatsoever. For every wedding between two Jews, two intermarriages take place. Some 625,000 American Jews practice other religions. Only 11% of Jews in the U.S. go to shul. Every day dozens of intermarriages take place, which means that in the time it took you to read this, some Jews were lost forever. These statistics make the situation a little more real to us, but it is still far from our hearts.
A couple of years ago, my son got a bad cut on his mouth on Tishah b’Av, so I had to take him to a plastic surgeon in the Jerusalem suburb of Mevasseret. The surgeon’s office was in a mall, and there I saw what secular Jews do on Tishah b’Av: They go about their lives. I saw Jews eating in a McDonald’s, as if everything were normal. What’s more, the same scene would have greeted me on Shabbos. We all know some Jews don’t keep Shabbos, but to actually experience it! Baruch Hashem, we have no idea what it means to have no Torah, no Shabbos, no relationship with Hashem, no direction in life… but this is the lot of our brothers and sisters. And what’s the difference between us and them? Simply that we were born into Torah-observant families, and they weren’t.
So this is the time of year in which we strip away the illusion that everything is okay. Everything is not okay. We have to face the truth. What’s more, we have to take responsibility for the way things are. On Tishah B’Av in particular, we must feel the pain, not hide from it. Shabbos desecration is everywhere; intermarriage is everywhere. And the most important thing to remember is how Hashem “feels” about it. Just to make that idea more real: Imagine you had ten children, and you brought them all up to be fully Torah-observant Jews. Nine of them follow the path that you hoped they would, but one is slightly lax in his observance. How would you feel? Ask any person who has experienced such a thing, and he will tell you that it caused him considerable distress. What if that one child were not just slightly lax but abandoned Torah completely? Of course, that would cause the parents untold grief. Imagine if not one but two children went astray; how much additional pain would that cause? And if over half the children abandoned Judaism, and only one was fully observant, you would feel unbearable anguish.
All Jews are children of Hashem, and this is the state of His “family”!
Let us take this one day and face reality: This is what the galus is about today; and to end the galus, this is what must be dealt with. Hashem is hidden; His children don’t see Him, and they barely even know He exists. There is certainly plenty to mourn.
May this be the last Tishah b’Av of sadness, and may it be transformed into a day of rejoicing, when all Jews know what it means to be Hashem’s children.
It seems that in different eras the hester Panim manifests itself in different ways. For generations, its main expression was anti-Semitism. Jews steadfastly preserved the traditions of their ancestors and often gave their lives for them. More recently, with the Holocaust, Jews were murdered merely for being Jews. The untold suffering we have endured is something on which people rightfully focus a great deal on Tishah b’Av. By reading about such events, we feel more aware of the terrible consequences of hester Panim. While this practice is certainly commendable, it seems that the principal manifestation of hester Panim nowadays is not anti-Semitism. Take five seconds, and think what it is…
Most of you probably answered that the main manifestation of hester Panim today is the desperate state of Torah observance. We all have a vague, intellectual awareness that things are not as they should be, but how bad are they?
In 1950, the intermarriage rate in the U.S. was 6%; by 1990, it was 52% and rising. Two million Jews do not identify themselves as such. Two million self-identified Jews have no Jewish connection whatsoever. For every wedding between two Jews, two intermarriages take place. Some 625,000 American Jews practice other religions. Only 11% of Jews in the U.S. go to shul. Every day dozens of intermarriages take place, which means that in the time it took you to read this, some Jews were lost forever. These statistics make the situation a little more real to us, but it is still far from our hearts.
A couple of years ago, my son got a bad cut on his mouth on Tishah b’Av, so I had to take him to a plastic surgeon in the Jerusalem suburb of Mevasseret. The surgeon’s office was in a mall, and there I saw what secular Jews do on Tishah b’Av: They go about their lives. I saw Jews eating in a McDonald’s, as if everything were normal. What’s more, the same scene would have greeted me on Shabbos. We all know some Jews don’t keep Shabbos, but to actually experience it! Baruch Hashem, we have no idea what it means to have no Torah, no Shabbos, no relationship with Hashem, no direction in life… but this is the lot of our brothers and sisters. And what’s the difference between us and them? Simply that we were born into Torah-observant families, and they weren’t.
So this is the time of year in which we strip away the illusion that everything is okay. Everything is not okay. We have to face the truth. What’s more, we have to take responsibility for the way things are. On Tishah B’Av in particular, we must feel the pain, not hide from it. Shabbos desecration is everywhere; intermarriage is everywhere. And the most important thing to remember is how Hashem “feels” about it. Just to make that idea more real: Imagine you had ten children, and you brought them all up to be fully Torah-observant Jews. Nine of them follow the path that you hoped they would, but one is slightly lax in his observance. How would you feel? Ask any person who has experienced such a thing, and he will tell you that it caused him considerable distress. What if that one child were not just slightly lax but abandoned Torah completely? Of course, that would cause the parents untold grief. Imagine if not one but two children went astray; how much additional pain would that cause? And if over half the children abandoned Judaism, and only one was fully observant, you would feel unbearable anguish.
All Jews are children of Hashem, and this is the state of His “family”!
Let us take this one day and face reality: This is what the galus is about today; and to end the galus, this is what must be dealt with. Hashem is hidden; His children don’t see Him, and they barely even know He exists. There is certainly plenty to mourn.
May this be the last Tishah b’Av of sadness, and may it be transformed into a day of rejoicing, when all Jews know what it means to be Hashem’s children.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
RESPONSIBILITY FOR OTHERS, PART 2
In the previous article about responsibility, we began discussion of the concept of Arvus - that all Jews are responsible for one another. Rav Aharon Kotler discusses this idea at length. He brings the Tomer Devorah in the name of early sources that all the souls of Israel are intrinsically bound together as one spiritual entity. We normally understand our obligation to rebuke our fellow Jew as a mitzvo like any other - if we fulfil the mitzvo we receive reward, and if we do not, we are punished. Rav Aharon writes that the factor of Arvus works on a much deeper level - if we help another Jew in his mitzvo observance, then our own merits increase, very much in the same way as if we in fact did the mitzvo ourselves. And if we do not prevent him from sinning when we could have, then we are damaged as if we sinned ourselves. (Mishnas Rebbe Aharon, Chelek 1, Ch.10, p.243-4). In a similar vein, Rav Chaim Vital writes on the mitzvo to love your fellow Jew, “you must realize that all Israel form a single body… every single Jew is like an individual limb. This is the (reason for the) responsibility that every Jew bears for every other Jew that sins.” (Likutey Torah, Taamey haMitzvos Vayikra 19:18).
This reality has come to the fore in Jewish history many times. The classic case of this is that of Achan. When Yehoshua conquered Jericho, he dedicated all the spoil to G-d. Achan, however, violated this dedication and took a few things from the spoil for himself. Even though only a single person had sinned, the Navi says, “the children of Israel committed a sin with regard to the devoted spoil. For Achan … took the devoted thing, and G-ds anger was kindled against Israel.” (Yehoshua 7:1) As a result of this misdeed, G-d’s protection was removed from Israel and they suffered their first defeat in the battle of Ai. The Medrash gives an analogy to help understand how a whole nation could suffer because of one person. “Rav Shimon bar Yochai gave an example. A number of people were sitting in a ship. One of them took a drill and began making holes in the hull. The others asked him, “what do you think you are doing?” The driller replied, “what business is it of yours? I am only drilling under my own seat.” They answered, “when water fills the ship, it will sink with all of us!” (Vayikra Rabbah 4:6).
Another notable instance of Arvus is found in sefer Ezra. A small number of people had married gentiles, and nothing had been done to prevent them from this grave sin. When Ezra heard about his, he gathered everyone to the Temple to repent and pray for forgiveness. While there, Shechania ben Yechiel (who had not sinned) cried out saying, “we have sinned against our G-d and have taken in alien women.” (Ezra 10:2) The Malbim asks, why did he say “we” have sinned, when he and most of the people had not, indeed only a very small number of people were guilty? He answers that the intermarriage was considered a national sin, because it was committed in public and the leaders did not protest, therefore, “the sin was considered as if it came from the general populace, because of the reason of Arvus.” (Ibid.) Even though less than one percent of the people had actually intermarried, all of them were included in accepting guilt, to the extent that it was as if they had intermarried themselves.
This example from Ezra is an ominous message for our generation when more than fifty percent of all Jews are intermarrying. It teaches us that the rampant assimilation is not merely a problem that other Jews face. Rather it is our own problem, and we are responsible to do whatever we can to stem it. May we all merit to see the day when all Jews cling to the ways of their ancestors.
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