Dear Friends:
Now we begin the summer, traditionally a time of tragedy for the Jewish People, and this year is no exception. Is it coincidence that, while the surrounding culture frolics in the sun, we cry out in the darkness?
The month of Tammuz has begun, and with it comes a new level of worldwide hatred and slander against us. The attacks are so illogical that one must try to comprehend what is going on. Why does such baseless hatred gain such instant worldwide support?
We read this week in Parshas Chukas about the law of the Para Aduma, the Red Heifer, the classic “chok.”
What is a “chok”?
It is a statute from the Al-Mighty which is totally beyond our understanding.
Rashi says: “Because the Accuser and the nations of the world aggrieve Israel by saying ‘What is this commandment’ and ‘What reason is there to it?’ therefore Scripture [called it a] ‘statute,’ which [implies that] ‘it is a decree from before Me’ [and they do not have the right to question it].” (Rashi on Bamidbar 19:2)
Can you imagine this? Here we have the elemental law by which the Children of Israel are able to overcome the curse of death and the reign of the Yetzer Hara, and it is totally beyond our understanding.
“Although my heart emboldened me to write hints of the reasons for [this] mitzvah … I fear to open my mouth at all … for King Solomon attained knowledge … of all the reasons of the Torah except for this! .… Moreover it was related in the Midrash of R. Tanchuma that Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu, ‘To you I will reveal the reason for the heifer, but not to others….’” (Sefer ha Chinuch, Mitzvah 397)
Is anything “logical” about the existence of Am Yisroel?
The power of the nations is based upon statistics, numbers, mathematical probability, steel and metal, concrete, internal combustion, atomic reaction and immense armies. Our power – lehavdil! – is based upon a Jew who goes alone once a year inside a tent in the Desert and speaks to a Power that no one can see!
The nations comprise countless billions of people; Am Yisroel is “the fewest of all the peoples.” (Dvarim 7:7)
The nations fire sophisticated electronic weapons by pressing buttons on computer keyboards thousands of miles from the battlefield; our weapon is a rock in the hand of a shepherd who cries out in the Name of G-d!
“Aile v’rechev, v’aile vasussim, va’anachnu b’Shaim Hashem Elokainu nazkir. … Some with chariots, and some with horses, but we call out in the Name of Hashem our G-d!” (Tehillim 20)
The Gemora in Berachos (54a) gives us an idea from this week’s Parsha (Bamidbar 21:14) how we are protected. “A beraisa taught… when the Israelites [were going to] pass through the [canyons of Arnon], the Amorites … made caves [in the mountainside] …. They said, ‘When the Jews pass through here, we will kill them.’ But they did not know that the ark was traveling in front of the Jews…. When the ark came, the mountains [on the two sides] cleaved together and killed the Amorites….”
Our enemies do not know the Ark of G-d is traveling in front of us.
Tragically, some of us also do not know the Ark is traveling in front of us!
Our entire existence is incomprehensible to those who do not live in the world of Torah. Our strength comes from a Power that is so beyond human comprehension that we can understand Him only to the extent that He reveals Himself to those who delve in His Holy Torah and live that Torah with every ounce of strength they possess.
We live a CHOK!
The nations mock us not only because they do not understand us, but because they do not WANT to understand us. They could honor us for the blessings that we bring into the world. A few exceptional people have done that, but in general the world of Esav (the Western nations) desires only its “frolic in the sun,” while the world of Yishmael (the Moslem nations) spends night and day plotting our destruction, G-d forbid. In either case, they desire to eliminate the annoying people who remind them of the existence of the Ruler of the Universe.
Since we cannot depend on the nations for help, we must grasp this chok with all our strength, even going beyond our abilities, just as G-d gives us understanding beyond our abilities.
We CANNOT expect them to understand us.
We CANNOT expect them to endorse our lifestyle.
We CANNOT expect them to accept us and our way of life.
There is only ONE Who accepts us!
So all we can do is … TESHUVA!
This is the lesson of The Three Weeks and, indeed our entire existence. We are not going to get one grain of understanding, appreciation or acceptance from the surrounding world culture. Furthermore, our survival does not depend on their understanding, appreciation or acceptance!
May I quote once again the prophetic words at the beginning of my book, 2020 VISION:
“In the End of Days, after the Children of Israel have returned to their land, the children of Ishmael and the children of Esau will unite to attack Jerusalem. They will form a world coalition against the tiny nation of Israel. But something will go wrong with their plan. The religious beliefs of the children of Ishmael and the children of Esau will clash, and the two nations will collide and destroy each other. This is what is referred to as the War of Gog and Magog. Following this cataclysmic conflict, the Final Redemption of the Jewish People will occur with the coming of Messiah the Son of King David.” (Malbim” on Yechezkel 32:17)
Does this not describe today’s world? Our tears should be mingled with boundless hope, for the current insanity is but a sign that “the Final Redemption” and “the coming of Moshiach ben Dovid” are but a stone’s throw away!
A stone in the hand of the shepherd who cries out in the Name of G-d!
May we see it soon with our own eyes!
