Sunday, April 25, 2004
Sparks From Israel
Yom Ha Shoa
Yesod Shel Gevurah
Yom Hashoah in Israel falls out on the sefirah of Yesod shel Gevurah. Yesod refers to the seed of a man, as well as the foundation of the world, while Gevurah means strength or strict justice . What is the connection? What is the seed of strength? What does ‘din’ strict justice give birth to?
The answer is catastrophes like the Shoa are born. And from this catastrophe, a Nation is born. Israel’s identity is rooted in the Shoa and the Warsaw ghetto uprising. A new Jewish religion was born based on the Jewish soldier. What appeared to be G-d’s representatives went quietly to their graves, while the fighters of the ghetto witnessed miracles as the whole German army was defeated for months by a handful of Jews.
In a way the birth of Israel was a rebellion against G-d to some. The Zionists had ‘enough’ of the pattern of Jewish history and would now change that pattern by taking destiny into their own hands and fighting back. Of course the problem arises, that if one takes the Shoa as a ‘last straw’ in a history of tragedy and beginning of the era of the ‘new Jew’ how does one come to terms with today’s battles. Don’t the Arabs give these ‘new Jews’ a déjà vu of the Warsaw ghetto? Are they too, not a handful fighting against a great army and succeeding?
It seems that Hashem has a sense of humor, or ‘irony’ as he forces these ‘new Jews’ to examine their ways and determine if indeed they have taken destiny into their own hands now, or if they were always part of His destiny that is shaped reflexively by the action of the Jewish people. If so, then of course we must answer the question of why the Almighty punished us so cruelly in the Shoa? The answer to this question lies in the same question as why Moshe hit the rock and the generation that might have entered the land, instead, died in the desert.
What would have been if those Tzadikim who represented G-d had not accused the people of being ‘rebels’ and understood that their thirst for water was legitimate? What would have been if they had joined the Zionists and told their flock to leave when they could have left, and seen the changing tides? Could they not see water coming from the rocks in Israel, and the desert turning into gardens? The rock was speaking to them, but did they see or hear? Imagine what influence they could have had on this generation? Instead modern history has been written parallel to our ancient history and only after the last of the desert generation dies out, will the truly ‘new Jew’ understand the mistakes of the past and be healed.
The Tabernacle had to be set up and taken down each day until the eight day when it finally stood. On that day the healing process began by the recognition of two great sins. Aaron brought a heifer representing the golden calf (the sins of the leadership), and a he-goat representing the sale of Yoseph (the sins of the Nation). The punishment of the rock was a culmination of previous sins where the leadership instead of sanctifying G-d's name as Chur did, appeased the angry crowd, and instead of giving a good report as Yehosua and Calev did where afraid to lose their ‘galut’ positions and lacked faith to enter the land. This culminated in the sin of the rock where there was even in the last moment a chance to mend this rift, but not seized.
The sins of the mob was the persecution of true leaders who in each generation selflessly tried to save their brothers from the approaching storm; like Chur and like Yehoshua and Calev. Instead they are hated, banned, persecuted and sold by them. And like Yoseph, in the end it will be understood upon whose shoulders the world stood. The chosen of the chosen who always kept the purest light burning and the completeness of Torah; a Torah which doesn’t exist without a soul nor without a body. The purest of the one fifth that left Egypt ‘armed’. Armed with Torah and mitzvoth, and also armed with weapons - a double-edged sword, not a single-edged sword.
The new Jewish religion of the Jewish soldier is missing its foundation and is therefore being undermined by an Arab mob that attacks the Jewish Achilles heel, making him feel guilty of his victories, and returning all the miracles because the faithless soldier feels small next to a world of giants. But the religious world should not pride themselves on his dilemma, for the ‘Jewish soldier’ is an important piece of the puzzle. It is not a complete piece, but a very important one. It is the religious world that could have elevated the generation and led them to safety, but instead where punished and to add salt to the wound, they refuse to do teshuva.
They who believe in punishment and reward say that this punishment cannot be understood and so they pat themselves on the back as they continue to wander through the dessert. There was one great luminary Rabbi Teichtal (z’tl) who lived through the times and understood them. He perished, but he left behind a book that should be in every yeshiva Em Habonim Somaycha.
The acquiring of the Land of Israel comes in stages. And so, on the sefirah of Yesod shel Gevurah, we witness Yom Hashoa day and are reminded of the process in which the land was originally acquired. First as a burial ground for Sarah (Yesod shel Gevurah) – from death came life, then as a heritage for Yoseph (Yesod shel Yesod) – from teshuva will come forgiveness, and finally by David (Yesod shel Malchut) to build the Beit Hamigdash – from completeness there is Geula. May the rifts be healed quickly and the Nation be united.
Yom Ha Shoa
Yesod Shel Gevurah
Yom Hashoah in Israel falls out on the sefirah of Yesod shel Gevurah. Yesod refers to the seed of a man, as well as the foundation of the world, while Gevurah means strength or strict justice . What is the connection? What is the seed of strength? What does ‘din’ strict justice give birth to?
The answer is catastrophes like the Shoa are born. And from this catastrophe, a Nation is born. Israel’s identity is rooted in the Shoa and the Warsaw ghetto uprising. A new Jewish religion was born based on the Jewish soldier. What appeared to be G-d’s representatives went quietly to their graves, while the fighters of the ghetto witnessed miracles as the whole German army was defeated for months by a handful of Jews.
In a way the birth of Israel was a rebellion against G-d to some. The Zionists had ‘enough’ of the pattern of Jewish history and would now change that pattern by taking destiny into their own hands and fighting back. Of course the problem arises, that if one takes the Shoa as a ‘last straw’ in a history of tragedy and beginning of the era of the ‘new Jew’ how does one come to terms with today’s battles. Don’t the Arabs give these ‘new Jews’ a déjà vu of the Warsaw ghetto? Are they too, not a handful fighting against a great army and succeeding?
It seems that Hashem has a sense of humor, or ‘irony’ as he forces these ‘new Jews’ to examine their ways and determine if indeed they have taken destiny into their own hands now, or if they were always part of His destiny that is shaped reflexively by the action of the Jewish people. If so, then of course we must answer the question of why the Almighty punished us so cruelly in the Shoa? The answer to this question lies in the same question as why Moshe hit the rock and the generation that might have entered the land, instead, died in the desert.
What would have been if those Tzadikim who represented G-d had not accused the people of being ‘rebels’ and understood that their thirst for water was legitimate? What would have been if they had joined the Zionists and told their flock to leave when they could have left, and seen the changing tides? Could they not see water coming from the rocks in Israel, and the desert turning into gardens? The rock was speaking to them, but did they see or hear? Imagine what influence they could have had on this generation? Instead modern history has been written parallel to our ancient history and only after the last of the desert generation dies out, will the truly ‘new Jew’ understand the mistakes of the past and be healed.
The Tabernacle had to be set up and taken down each day until the eight day when it finally stood. On that day the healing process began by the recognition of two great sins. Aaron brought a heifer representing the golden calf (the sins of the leadership), and a he-goat representing the sale of Yoseph (the sins of the Nation). The punishment of the rock was a culmination of previous sins where the leadership instead of sanctifying G-d's name as Chur did, appeased the angry crowd, and instead of giving a good report as Yehosua and Calev did where afraid to lose their ‘galut’ positions and lacked faith to enter the land. This culminated in the sin of the rock where there was even in the last moment a chance to mend this rift, but not seized.
The sins of the mob was the persecution of true leaders who in each generation selflessly tried to save their brothers from the approaching storm; like Chur and like Yehoshua and Calev. Instead they are hated, banned, persecuted and sold by them. And like Yoseph, in the end it will be understood upon whose shoulders the world stood. The chosen of the chosen who always kept the purest light burning and the completeness of Torah; a Torah which doesn’t exist without a soul nor without a body. The purest of the one fifth that left Egypt ‘armed’. Armed with Torah and mitzvoth, and also armed with weapons - a double-edged sword, not a single-edged sword.
The new Jewish religion of the Jewish soldier is missing its foundation and is therefore being undermined by an Arab mob that attacks the Jewish Achilles heel, making him feel guilty of his victories, and returning all the miracles because the faithless soldier feels small next to a world of giants. But the religious world should not pride themselves on his dilemma, for the ‘Jewish soldier’ is an important piece of the puzzle. It is not a complete piece, but a very important one. It is the religious world that could have elevated the generation and led them to safety, but instead where punished and to add salt to the wound, they refuse to do teshuva.
They who believe in punishment and reward say that this punishment cannot be understood and so they pat themselves on the back as they continue to wander through the dessert. There was one great luminary Rabbi Teichtal (z’tl) who lived through the times and understood them. He perished, but he left behind a book that should be in every yeshiva Em Habonim Somaycha.
The acquiring of the Land of Israel comes in stages. And so, on the sefirah of Yesod shel Gevurah, we witness Yom Hashoa day and are reminded of the process in which the land was originally acquired. First as a burial ground for Sarah (Yesod shel Gevurah) – from death came life, then as a heritage for Yoseph (Yesod shel Yesod) – from teshuva will come forgiveness, and finally by David (Yesod shel Malchut) to build the Beit Hamigdash – from completeness there is Geula. May the rifts be healed quickly and the Nation be united.
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