And now a word from someone else

It was early December, 2003. I was at a Shiva minyan between Mincha and Maariv, and a young but respected Rav gave a D'var Torah on Parshat VaYishlach which I would like to repeat for you here. Unfortunately, I can't tell you his name. I have asked several people who were there, and gotten several different guesses, but no one remembers for sure. All I can tell you is that he was Israeli, he lived in Kochav Yaakov, and as I said he was well respected. He was NOT a Massachusetts-born liberal like me.

Before he began, he pointed out that it is usually not allowed to give a regular D'var Torah on the Parshat Ha'Shavua in a Shiva house, but it is permitted for an IMPORTANT D'VAR MUSSAR (emphasis mine). (If I had tried something like that I would have been shouted down as an apikoris.)

At the beginning of the Parsha, Yaakov hears that Esav is coming with an army. He is afraid and so he makes elaborate plans: he prays, he sends gifts, and he prepares for war. But the next day, when Esav actually arrives, gone are all the preparations; he basically just walks up to him (with a few bows.) Why? What happenned to all his fear?

To answer this question we have to look at a paradox we encounter on Pesach. At the Seder, we make a big deal out of the fact that it is Hashem HIMSELF who kills the firstborn Mitzrim. "I and not a messenger..." But the Torah seems to contradict that! Shmot 12:23: "...He will see the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts and He will not allow the destroyer to come to your house to strike." Who or what is the destroyer? It sounds like a Shaliach, a messenger! So what gives?

The answer is that the most important part of a Divine judgement is not the final execution, but the decision in the Heavenly court. THAT is the decision that Hashem will not delegate to any Shaliach. Once that decision is made, the carrying out of that decision is automatic so it doesn't matter if Hashem does it directly or sends a shaliach.

Similarly by Yaakov. When he first heard Esav was coming, he was afraid and took precautions. But that night, he had a fight with the angelic representative of Esav, and won. In other words, he won the spiritial battle in the Heavenly court! Once that decision was final, he had nothing to fear in the physical world. (My own note: now I understand why some of Chazal criticize Yaacov for bowing 7 times...there was no longer any need.)

Similarly today: the important thing is not how many planes or guns we have to fight our enemies, but how we present ourselves in the Heavenly court. We have to change our emphasis to win THAT battle, and the rest will take care of itself.

Let me add one thing. I am not saying, nor I'm sure was this Rav saying, that we should NOT fight our enemies, that we should put aside our weapons and simpy rely on Hashem. That's nonsense. As long as people are trying to kill us, we have to do whatever we can to protect ourselves. The difference is the emphasis. When an army is fighting a war, it must protect its flanks, but the commanders must never forget that the front line is the main war. Our external enemies -- Arabs, Chilonim, Dubya, and Western pseudo-liberals -- are the flanking attacks. The MAIN enemy is ourselves! (Walt Kelly, author of the political comic strip Pogo, said it years ago: "We have met the enemy and he is us.") We MUST concentrate on winning the SPIRITUAL battle in Bet Din Shel Ma'ala or Hashem will just keep throwing more enemies at us, and if we DO win, then none of them will be able to touch us, as I have said before.

So let's turn the main force of our efforts to the home front, to the main battle to make our own people truly once again an Or Lagoyim (light unto the nations.)

Ashrecha Yisrael

(based on the second Meturgeman Drasha, Simchat Torah shel Galuyot, 23 Tishrei, 5762)

I'm often rather negative and gloomy (you noticed?), but I am still an optimist because I know that, no matter how long the road may be, the Geula will be at the end and it will all be worth it. All Hashem asks of us is to behave like mentschen, and then He will fulfill all His promises, do our fighting for us, and make sure we will never have to fight again.

So we come on Simchat Torah, the pinnacle of Z'man Simchateinu, to the pinnacle of the K'riya, the Chatan Torah. And what does it say? (D'varim 33:29) "Happy are you, Israel, who is like you? A nation saved by Hashem, the Shield of your help and the Sword of your pride; your enemies will oppose you, but you will tread on their high places."

It can't be put any simpler than that. The task that has been laid on us is never easy, but it can be done. Once it is, we will have earned the ultimate Simcha.

Got Milk?

This is a true story told to me by Rav Chaim Wasserman, now of Jerusalem. I may not remember the details correctly, but the story speaks for itself.

There was a man who worked at a Yeshiva in America. He used to bring his own milk with him for his coffee and such, and it kept disappearing. He thought maybe people thought it was supplied by the school, so he put notes on it saying it was private property. It still kept disappearing. So he upgraded the notes to say he did not give anyone r'shut (permission) to take it. It still kept disappearing. Then he changed the notes to say that taking the milk was g'neiva (theft). It still kept disappearing. Finally, he put a new note on that said, "Not Chalav Yisrael." His milk was left alone.

Did you laugh? Did you cry? Do I need to say anything more? Apparently I do; I'm willing to bet more of you laughed than cried, and most everyone shrugged it off as an unfortunate situation...but nothing more.

This is one very small example of the deep problems we have WITHIN the frum community that are the source of all our suffering. Far too many people will kill themselves to be machmir on mitzvot bein adam laMakom (between man and God); but bien adam lachavero? The way you treat your neighbor? Who cares? Either he is frum like you, in which case he will say T'filat Zaka before Yom Kippur. In that prayer, among other things, he forgives anyone who has wronged him in the past year, so you're ok. Or else he is an eirev rav and not really Jewish, so we can do whatever we want to him anyway.

I learned many years ago from Rabbi Binyamin Blech, that when the non-Jew came to Shammai and Hillel asking to learn the Torah while standing on one foot, he was really asking, which leg of Torah is more important, our relations with Hashem or with our fellow humans? Shammai would not answer, but Hillel answered, "That which is hateful to you do not do to your neighbor." The golden rule in it's original form. Bein Adam Lachavero is the essence of Torah. (Not that you can stand on one leg all your life, which is why Hillel told him to go out and learn the rest.)

That non-Jew converted because of Hillel. The whole world doesn't need to become Jewish, but if we can honestly demonstrate in our lives the same dedication to Mitzvot Bein Adam Lachavero, we can teach them all to recognize Hashem, which is as much a part of bringing the Mashiach as our own redemption.

Time for US to wise up.

(based on the first Meturgeman Drasha, Parshat Ha'azinu, 12 Tishrei, 5762)

Too many of us seem to forget the cause of our problems. God knew that we would forget, so he had Moshe teach B'nei Yisrael a song to bear witness (see Parshat Vayeilech, D'varim 31:16-21). Ha'azinu is that song. It tells of Israel sinning and being punished. It tells of "Hester Panim," which we all talk about...bad things happen to the Jews because God has withdrawn, hidden His face from us. But it doesn't stop there. There is a more serious level. D'varim 32:29-30 is ostensibly aimed at our enemies, but remember who this song is for. It says, if THEY were wise they would only understand, but WE need to relearn that wisdom, too.

"How can one chase a thousand, or two cause 10,000 to flee? If not that their Rock has sold them out, and Hashem has shut them out."

Wow. That's not Hester Panim, it's much worse. God goes knocking, as it were, on our enemies doors, saying, "You want to destroy this nation? It's yours, I've locked them out."

How can your average non-Jew refuse such an offer? He certainly has never had much in the way of high moral example, say from the Jews around him for example. Just as God hardened Pharoah's heart, He puts these ideas into our enemies' heads. If we defeat an enemy without doing the T'shuva He expects, He can and will find another.

No, there is only one way. That's the whole point of Ha'azinu; we are reminded of the reason we are suffering and also the cure. We have to cure ourselves; STOP DOING all the things that brought about the problem. That's the whole message of the season of Rosh Hashana around which we read this Parsha: if we fix ourselves, Hashem will immediately accept us and all of our enemies will be as nothing. If not, we have ONLY ourselves to blame.