Dear Friends:
Now we approach Mount Sinai.
One thing, above all, is clear. There is One Ruler in this world, and we, the Children of Israel, are going to meet Him, an encounter that will change us and the world forever.
Everything hangs on that: “Hashem Echad u’Shmo Echad.”
It’s absolutely life-changing to contemplate that there are not multiple sources of power in this world. There is only One. In the first of the Ten Commandments, G-d tells us that “I am Hashem, your G-d, Who delivered you from the land of Egypt….”
As the Haggadah emphasizes, “Ani v’lo malach… ani hu v’lo achair” … I and not an angel… it is I and no other!
We Children of Israel have had the unique privilege of traveling through history in direct contact with the Creator. As we are reminded every day, more than once, the closeness of that relationship varies according to our behavior at any given time. It all depends on us. “Beware lest your heart be seduced and you turn astray and serve gods of others and bow to them. Then the wrath of Hashem will blaze against you….” (Shema)
We read Parshas Bechukosai just before Shavuos. The Torah lays it on the line: “But if you do not listen to Me …” (Vayikra 26:14ff). Woe to us if we do not pay attention! The intervening centuries have been a catalogue of the fulfillment of these mind-boggling words. “We have turned away from Your commandments and from Your good laws but to no avail. But You are righteous in all that has come upon us, for You have acted truthfully while we have caused wickedness.” (Selichos)
Yet, wonder of wonders, even this – the very fulfillment of these dire predictions – is cause for the most amazing hope! Can you imagine if we had gone through the millennia without these admonitions from the Torah? Then all these things might have come upon us without warning and without explanation. In His infinite goodness, G-d explained to us in advance what the consequences would be if we deviated – G-d forbid! – from His commandments.
THUS, THE VERY FULFILLMENT OF THESE PROPHESIES, THE TERRIBLE CONSEQUENCES OF DEVIATING FROM THE WILL OF THE AL-MIGHTY, IS IN ITSELF PROOF OF THE TRUTH OF HIS WORDS!
In this way, we have survived the centuries and all that has come upon us. Thus, we are able to understand how the G-d can say to us, at the end of the Admonition in Parshas Bechukosai, “but despite all this, while they will be in the land of their enemies, I will not have been revolted by them, nor will I have rejected them to obliterate them, to annul My covenant with them, for I am Hashem their G-d. I will remember for them the covenant of the ancients, those whom I have taken out of the land of Egypt before the eyes of the nation, to be G-d unto them – I am Hashem.” (Vayikra 26:44ff)
I remember vividly the funeral of Rabbi Moshe Dov Stein ZT”L, the beloved posek of Yeshiva Sh’or Yoshuv. A few weeks before his death, his son had called.
“Tati, how do you feel today?”
Rabbi Stein’s answer, “Baruch Hashem, worse!”
Can you imagine! Only a Child of Israel could speak like that!
Thus, we have marched through history! Thus, we have survived!
Now we approach Mount Sinai. We know that everything that has come upon us up to now, has come for a reason. It is no accident that, in the current era of world history, our enemies are trying to unite in an effort to isolate the Jewish Nation and the Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel. We know that “Sinai” is related to “sina,” hatred. (Meseches Shabbos 89a and see Artscroll footnote 41 there) Instead of rejoicing that there exists in this world a Nation of Priests through whom blessings come to this world for the benefit of every creature, those who are jealous would rather not have the blessings at all than receive them through us! And so, our service to mankind, our ceaseless effort on behalf of all who inhabit this world, is not only not appreciated, but resented to the point of jealousy, hatred and violence. Amalek would rather be scalded in the boiling cauldron than to see Israel live. (Rashi on Dvarim 25:18)
But Israel lives! Am Yisroel chai! Our Father watches over us. “He Who implants the ear, shall He not hear? He Who fashions the eye, shall He not see?” (Psalm 94)
As we near Mount Sinai, it is essential to remember that there is no power other than the Creator of the Universe who determines our fate. There is no suffering or simcha that is not based on our own actions in relation to the “fiery Law” (Dvarim 33:2) handed down to us at Mount Sinai. As I have said before, the words of Rabbi Moshe Shternbuch Shlita”h, which I heard with my own ears, continue to ring in my memory: “The only thing which affects the Children of Israel in this world is our relationship with G-d!”
NOTHING ELSE!
I remember my early years, searching in vain among all the activities that go on “tachas ha shemesh… under the sun,” trying to find a meaningful way of life apart from the Torah, G-d forbid. “Vanity of vanities,” (Koheles 1:2). There is nothing there!
In vain do we beg the surrounding nations for understanding!
In vain do we plead our case in the ears of those who ridicule and mock us!
Do they have power? Do they control the world?
“Those who fashion evil into a way of life … join together against the soul of the righteous, the blood of the innocent they condemn. Then Hashem became a stronghold for me and my G-d the Rock of my refuge. He turned upon them their own violence and with their own evil He will cut them off. Come let us sing to Hashem, let us call out to the Rock of our salvation. Let us greet Him with thanksgiving, with praiseful songs let us call out to Him. For a great G-d is Hashem, and a great King above all heavenly powers.” (Psalm 94)
“Hashem echad ushmo echad… G-d is One and His Name is One.”
There is only One Source of salvation, and we are marching toward Har Sinai to meet Him and to receive His Torah once again!
“It shall be on that day that the L-rd will once again show His hand, to acquire the remnant of His people, who will have remained…. He will raise a banner for the nations and assemble the castaways of Israel, and He will gather in the dispersed ones of Judah from the four corners of the earth…. There will be a road for the remnant of His people … as there was for Israel on the day it went up from the land of Egypt.” (Isaiah 11:11ff)
May we arrive in glory at Mount Sinai and carry forward with honor the Torah that is once again presented to us. May we soon see the fulfillment of all these prophetic words and merit the day that is “altogether good”!
With hope for a complete and speedy redemption!
© Copyright 2010 by Roy S. Neuberger
