The two topics that we will be discussing
I would like to think together about the tragedy which has taken place here in Eretz Yisroel. There are really two separate topics that need to be addressed. One is the question of how to relate to these events from a perspective of Emunah. How do we understand what happened? Where is the Hashgacha leading us? In a way, this is like reading a map; you try to figure out where you are and what’s happening around you.
The second topic is how we are supposed to react. What is our obligation in Avodas Hashem at this time? These are the two issues we must come to terms with. In truth, these are the questions that we always ask ourselves, but we are not accustomed to doing so in the context of such a horrible event, with such dimensions.
These two topics do not always go together because there are times when you cannot read the map, yet you still have to respond. So, there can be a degree of disconnect between these two topics. And even when you can read the map, you don’t know exactly; you are not a Prophet. You try to read what is going on, but at the end of the day it’s personal and subjective. You can’t sign off that your interpretation is the pshat.
I only want to think together in a way which is perhaps a little broader than other ideas which have been suggested. It is important for us to understand that something has happened here to the entire Klal Yisroel; terrible, but unique.
The parallel between Yom Kippur and Shemini Atzeres: Hashem’s love for Klal Yisroel is paramount
Thinking back, we realize that everyone immediately thought the same thing: Jewish and non-Jewish, Charedi and non-Charedi. Everyone saw that what happened here is an exact parallel to what happened 50 years ago with the Yom Kippur war. Both times, it was an absolute surprise. The Borei Olam, so to speak, “closed” the eyes of the army. There’s no other explanation. People will of course try to explain: “This one is responsible, that one is responsible.” There is no explanation: the Borei Olam simply said, “I do not want you to see what’s going to happen.” If that’s what the Borei Olam wants, then nothing helps. That’s how it was in the Yom Kippur War, and in this war, which began on Shemini Atzeres, it was the same.
There are two days in the year when Hashem reveals that He is connected more to Klal Yisroel than to anything else. One day is Yom Kippur and the other is Shemini Atzeres. On Yom Kippur, we see that in Teshuva. The midrash states that according to the Torah, teshuva is impossible: it should not work. Rather, the person who committed an aveira has no choice but to bring a korban, etc. But the Borei Olam says ”I say you should be chozer beteshuva.” In other words, Hashem is interested in the Jewish people, beyond what is written in the Torah.
This is dealt with in the Tana D’Bai Eliyahu. The Tana D’Bai Eliyahu says: Hashem has two things in the world that He loves. One is the Torah, and the other is Yisroel, but which one comes first? Eliyahu HaNavi says, “The world says the Torah comes first, and I say that Klal Yisroel comes first.” Throughout the whole year, we hold that the Torah comes first. But on Yom Kippur, we hold like Eliyahu HaNavi — Klal Yisroel comes first.
The Borei Olam’s concern for Klal Yisroel was revealed in the Yom Kippur war
Now what happened by the Yom Kippur War? He allowed us to be caught by surprise and our lives were placed in danger in an almost impossible situation. On the surface, it seemed that the Borei Olam was absolutely not interested in us, that He didn’t care. That’s what it looked like. But to everyone’s amazement, the war was followed by a wave of Teshuva, which carried through the entire Jewish nation. Even the miracles and Chessed of the Six-day War did not inspire such a movement. After ’73, there was a flood of Baalei Teshuva. You could be sitting on the Bank Hapoalim board — very left-leaning — and you didn’t know whether next week, someone would come in wearing a kippa! That was really happening.
Hashem’s interest in Klal Yisroel, that they should do Teshuva, was revealed in the Yom Kippur War. It took years for that interest to be realized. At first, it appeared that no, He’s not interested in us. But in truth, He was revealing his love. We were not even aware of that; it was like a big blur. But with time, we saw that in truth Hashem is interested in Klal Yisroel more than anything.
What is revealed on Shemini Atzeres
So too on Shemini Atzeres — it is revealed that Hashem is interested in Klal Yisroel above everything else. On Shemini Atzeres, Hashem says “קשה עלי פרידתכם” — your parting is difficult for Me. (Rashi Vayikra 23) I want to keep you with Me for one more day. Here too, Hashem is showing us that Klal Yisroel is more important for him than anything else. The words of Rashi are “קשה עלי”, not “קשה לי”. What’s the difference? “עלי” means – בינו לבן עצמו- between Him and Himself. As we find at the splitting of the Yam Suf, Hashem said “עלי הדבר תלוי”. It is between Me and Myself: this is my business.
“קשה עלי פרידתכם” means that the Klal Yisroel is important to the Borei Olam on the most “personal” level — between Him and Himself. Here we see Hashem’s interest in Klal Yisroel even more than through Teshuva. Because on Yom Kippur, there was a whole process. There was great danger: Hakadosh Baruch Hu wanted to start all over. But we had Moshe Rabbeinu, and he fought for us, and there was a whole give and take between Hashem and Moshe until Hashem agreed, after forty days of pushing. On Shemini Atzeres, it is coming from Him. There was no one pleading or pushing. On his own, the Borei Olam says, “I cherish Klal Yisroel more than anything else.”
What was revealed this last Shemini Atzeres
Now, what happened this year on Shemini Atzeres was similar to what happened by the Yom Kippur War; it was terrible — worse than ever before. It appeared to be the day that the Borei was not connected to Klal Yisroel. He let unimaginable and unheard-of things happen. There is a Midrash on Tehillim that I want to show you.
“אמרו רבותינו כל נפש ונפש שהרג עשו מישראל כביכול נטל הקדוש ברוך הוא מדם כל נפש ונפש וטובל פורפוריון שלו עד שצבעה דם, וכשמגיע יום הדין ויושב עליו בבימה לדון אותו, לובש אותו פורפוריון ומראה לו גופו של כל צדיק וצדיק רשום עליה, שנאמר ידין בגוים מלא גויות, באותה שעה מתנקם הקדוש ברוך הוא ממנו שתי נקמות, שנאמר אל נקמות ה’ אל נקמות הופיע.”
“Every soul from Yisroel that was murdered by Esau, HaKadosh Boruch Hu, so to speak, takes from the blood of every soul, and dips his royal garment in it until it is the color of blood. And when the day of Judgement will arrive, He will sit in this garment to judge, and he will show the body of every Tzaddik (Note that now the murdered are referred to as Tzadikkim…) imprinted on the garment. At that time HaKadosh Baruch Hu will take double revenge…”
Let’s continue to Yeshaya (63). “מדוע אדם ללבושך ובגדיך כדרך בגת…” The Navi asks Hashem (at the future judgement) why His clothes are stained red. Hashem’s response will be “פורה דרכתי לבדי ומעמים אין איש אתי…”, that he was taking revenge alone. Meaning that he will not allow anyone to accompany him. Who is able to be there – those whose blood color his garment, whose bodies are “imprinted on his garment”. Those who were killed by the gentiles because they were Jews. They are close to Hashem — on his royal garment. None of us will be able to be with the Borei Olam then, it doesn’t matter what kind of Tzaddik we are; we are not holding there. But those people, who were killed because they are Jewish — they are so close to the Borei that they will be able to be there. That is a special closeness to the Borei Olam.
We are seeing something very powerful, and very frightening. The Borei Olam took these people by force, and said, “I must have you close to me.” That is what happened on Shemini Atzeres.
On Shemini Atzeres, the Borei says, I want you close to me. That’s the Yom Tov, but this year it was revealed through a terrible Middas HaDin. That doesn’t make you happy. It’s not good. We think being close always means to be hugged and caressed. No! Being close means being close, and it was a terrible thing that was revealed on Shemini Atzeres. The Borei Olam said, “I will bring you close by force; I will not allow you any choice other than to be close.” That’s what He said. The Yom Kippur War revealed, “I want you close, but I leave it up to you.” “You can do Teshuva.” And many did, but Teshuva by definition depends on the person. On Shemini Atzeres, nothing is dependent on the person. “No. I will come into the picture, and I will bring you close.”
This is frightening. I don’t know what will come out. I’m not a Prophet. But this is the map which I see. I see a picture in which the Borei Olam is entering the world and He says, “I will not ask you; you will be close.” “And even those of you who are very far away — and there were people who were very far away, who were killed — I will not let you stay afar.” “I will take you back forcefully and you will be closest to me, closer than all these other people, who are doing the right things, and trying to do the right things. You will be closer. I will not let you be detached.”
I hope you understand now that you can’t say, “Ah, it’s these people or those people.” No. No. No. No. It’s not about them, or anyone. It has to do with Klal Yisroel and Shemini Atzeres. The Borei Olam wants His people by Him. And He’ll come in with force to take them back to Him.
The second topic: our obligation at this time
I cannot tell you to work according to this reading of the events. Not only because it is a very powerful and frightening message, and it’s difficult to work with, but more so because I would be saying that my “picture” is the right one, and because I am right, you have to work according to my reading of the events. I can’t do that. When something happens to you personally, inflicts you personally, you can do that. You work according to what you see. But over here, it happened to the entire Jewish nation; Klal Yisroel is under attack. So you can’t say, “It speaks to me like this and this, and therefore I will work according to how it speaks to me.” Excuse me: It doesn’t speak only to you. It speaks to the entire Jewish people.
So that’s the wrong response. But to not do anything at all, that’s obviously a mistake. Let’s think together.
Like a soldier
Firstly, it must be said that certainly to daven, to learn, to perform mitzvos, that is our Avodah now. (And it can be difficult right now. People are shaken up.) But I want to think together: how do you approach your Avodas Hashem?
We are at war, and so we have soldiers. I have to be like a soldier. I am in a war. That is a sort of נושא בעולם עם חבירו. We see that by Moshe Rabbeinu. When Moshe Rabbeinu saw the Jewish nation enslaved in Egypt, he went out to them, and he was carrying heavy wooden beams. He was not easing their burden. There were three million people working; one more worker would not make a significant difference. That was not the point. The point was to work in the same way that they were. He wasn’t necessarily doing that all day. But for a period of time, he entered that dimension.
When there is a war, we also have to be at war. Now we have to be careful. When we Chareidi Jews think of war, we immediately think in — excuse me for saying so — a megalomanic way. We start to plan and strategize, etc. The truth is, there are very few soldiers who are involved with the tactics of wars. That’s the realm of generals. All the rest are simple soldiers. So please, come down from your pedestal, you are not a general and you don’t have to plan.
So how does a soldier work? Soldiers are trained to only see the next five minutes. A soldier doesn’t see the whole day, he sees the next five minutes. That’s it. He doesn’t think now I have to walk 24 hours. No, that way he will break down. He will walk the next 5 minutes, and then the next 5 minutes, and then the next 5 minutes. That’s the way your mind works in the military. You only see the next 5 minutes.
Being a foot soldier makes a person fully “in” whatever he is doing. Someone who served during the Lebanon War told me that afterwards, his mother had complaints against him: “You didn’t call me for four whole days!” He told her, “It’s not that I forgot about you. You were not present at all. There was no mother. There was no home. There was nothing there. There was only the war in front of me.” That was the whole thing. There was nothing there. He did not step one iota out of his job.
The challenge of working like a soldier
But there is a problem. For these five minutes, the soldier is fully “in”. He will be completely present during those five minutes, because his life is in danger. But we do not experience that.
The Mesilas Yesharim (chap. 2) writes that someone who is not cautious and thoughtful regarding his Avodas Hashem is worse than an animal. Animals know to flee from danger, but he does not. But I have an issue. For sure, when I see danger, I also run. But I don’t see that my life is in danger. Apparently, we are not holding by the Mesilas Yesharim. We just don’t see danger when it comes to Avodas Hashem.
Now, I can’t just decide that I will work and learn mussar for the next two years until I appreciate the danger that exists when someone is neglectful in Avodas Hashem. And then perhaps we’ll be able to do these five minutes in the way of the Mesilas Yesharim. We are in a state of emergency now. I can’t react to a state of emergency by taking off two years to learn Mussar. I have to work now. This is our problem. I don’t see a danger if I forget to say Asher Yotzar. But the soldier is concerned with danger. Therefore, he is completely present. He knows he must do his job, period. There’s no place for self-examination: How was I? Did I do the job well? Did people like it? But that’s how we are in Avodas Hashem. How was I? How was my tefilla? How was my bein adam lechaveiro, my learning? Was it good? Was the chabura good? That’s because we don’t see ourselves as involved in matters of life and death. The soldier does, so he doesn’t ask these questions — he’s fully in. There’s not one millimeter of his whole being outside of his job, not one. And by us, we are doing the right things, but we are not “inside”. We’re not in there. This whole exercise of five minutes is about being in there. I must be “in” my mitzva for five minutes.
You see the complaints made about the Chareidi public that we are not really moser nefesh, have some truth to them. For a soldier in Gaza, he’s dealing with life and death, because those bullets are real for him. But for us, our Avodas Hashem is not really a matter of life and death. Instead, we get defensive, and we have all types of answers…
Here is an illustration of what it means to be “in”. We think that the challenge of tefilla is to concentrate, but that’s a mistake. Let’s say I would have a conversation, or say a shiur, the way I daven. You would say, Leuchter needs psychiatric treatment. No, that’s not the way you speak to a person! When I speak to you, I don’t have to concentrate — I am present, I am “in”. Without concentrating, I still won’t think about anything else, because I have to speak to you. I am “in”, I am present. But by tefilla, I am not “in”, and therefore I need to concentrate just so that I should think something while I say the words. If I was “in” by tefilla, my mind wouldn’t drift off, the same way it doesn’t when I am in the middle of a conversation. It would not require concentration and effort.
A different approach
Before we continue, let’s remember: Moshe Rabbeinu wasn’t shlepping beams the whole day. He did so only for a set amount of time. So, we are also only aiming for a limited time, maybe half an hour. It’s not about feeling pressure, it’s about living with a different quality.
We are not holding by the Mesilas Yesharim — we don’t have that Emuna. Right now, I’m willing to accept that. Okay, I’m worse than an animal; I accept that I am the worst guy in the world, but that doesn’t help me either. That doesn’t make me work.
I think there’s another way. The Nefesh Hachaim speaks about this and the Chassidishe seforim also speak about it. You understand that in your Avodas Hashem you are dealing with something which is way bigger than you. That’s the whole point of the Nefesh Hachaim. Your actions, your learning, your davening, are in truth way bigger than you; way, way, way bigger. You have the opportunity to speak the words of the Borei Olam. That’s tefilla. You have the opportunity to understand what He who created the whole universe wants from you specifically. That’s learning Torah. It’s much bigger than you. You must find a place where you are able to identify with that. That you see that what you do is much bigger than you.
When you do something with the awareness that what you are dealing with is much bigger than you, that helps you to be “in”. Because it’s bigger than you, you have to be inside. It’s an awareness.
I understand it’s not the whole “job”. It’s still not like the soldier. We are still living with that problem. I apologize for telling you that we are worse than any animal in the world, according to the Mesilas Yesharim. We are worse, what shall I do? That’s what he says. But we have to find a way that we can get out of that a little bit. We need to be parallel to those people who are in trouble, and the people who are in trouble are the soldiers, not the generals. I don’t have to go to war as a general. I want to be a simple foot soldier.
Our Avodah
We need be fully present in our mitzvos. It’s not enough to do the right thing. Someone asked me, why isn’t it enough just to do the right thing? Let me ask you: the Rambam writes that a person can receive eternal life for one Mitzva. Do you really believe that you will receive eternal life for an action that you performed without being fully “there”? Will you live for netzach netzachim from something which you did outside of yourself? I can’t understand that. Why should it be? You only get life from something to the extent that you live in that thing.
A soldier must do this 24/7. That’s a basic demand for a soldier. But we do not have that trigger, that dimension that our life is in danger in a tangible way. So, I can’t ask you to do that 24/7. And Moshe Rabbeinu didn’t do it 24/7 either. But in some way, we have to work and function the way soldiers are functioning. For five minutes, we have to be all “there”. And then perhaps for another five minutes.
It’s difficult. I admit. I try to do it in my Shemona Esrei, and it works. It’s a different type of Avodah. It is one thing to concentrate for the whole Shemona Esrei; this Avodah is ten times harder. You have to be “there”. That’s much more demanding. But a Jew must react to the suffering of others, the way we learn from Moshe Rabbeinu.