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The Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit
Midrash
YHE HOLIDAY: SPECICAL PACKAGE
"This
is the Lord's Doing It is Wondrous in Our Eyes!" Based
on a sicha by Harav Adapted
by
Every year at the beginning of the month of Iyar, we experience
Yom Ha-Zikaron (Memorial Day for fallen soldiers) and Yom Ha-Atzmaut
(Independence Day) one right after the other. It is usually quite difficult to
celebrate joyous occasions so soon after commemorating mournful ones, but Rashi
teaches us a profound lesson in this regard in his commentary to
Bereishit (6:6): "In a time of joy there shall be joy, and in a time of
grief there shall be grief." When
I read these comments of Rashi, I cannot help but recall the wedding of my
eldest daughter, which took place in the yeshiva immediately after the Yom
Kippur War. After all the pain
resulting from that war both the pain of the nation and the pain of our
yeshiva, which lost eight students I found it very difficult to listen to the
band, and I almost did not join in the dancing. But then I was approached by Justice Zvi
Tal, whose son's wedding I had performed on Rosh Chodesh Elul, right before the
war. His son went out to battle and
never returned. Justice Tal
mentioned to me these words of Rashi "In a time of joy there shall be joy,
and in a time of grief there shall be grief." Rashi's
comments also bring to mind the day of 5 Iyar 5708 (May 14, 1948), when two very
significant events transpired. On
that day, we received the tragic news of the fall of This
pattern has repeated itself in recent years, as well, as we witnessed brutal
terror attacks on an almost daily basis.
Nevertheless, we insist that "in a time of joy there shall be joy, and
in a time of grief there shall be grief." Indeed, there can be no doubt that
despite the pain, there is something to celebrate. In 1948, I learned the dreadful news of
the fall of
The
prophet relates in II Melakhim (14:23-27): In
the fifteenth year of Amatzya son of Yoash, Yarovam son of Yoash, king of
Israel, ruled in Shomron for forty-one years. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he
did not deviate from all the sins of Yarovam son of Nevat, who had led Israel to
sin. He restored Israel's border
from Levo Chamat until the Arava Sea, in accordance with the word of the Lord
spoken through His servant, the prophet Yona son of Amitai from Gat-Chefer. For the Lord beheld Israel's very bitter
suffering, that Israel had hardly a bound or free man, and the Lord did not
declare that the name of Israel should be eradicated from under the heavens; and
so He saved them through the hands of Yarovam son of
Yoash. A
situation arose where there was "hardly a bound or free man," and the Almighty
decided to intervene so that the name of Israel would not
disappear.
I
do not wish to compare the situation of Jewish People at the time of the State's
founding with the situation during the time of Yarovam ben Yoash, but there has
never been a state of near destruction comparable to the one following the
Holocaust. Had events unfolded
according to their natural course, Heaven forbid, and had the well-arranged
armies that invaded the Land of Israel on 5 Iyar and fought against untrained
groups of Jews succeeded in overpowering us, we may have indeed reached the
point of "the name of Israel would be eradicated from under the heavens," God
forbid.
We read at the end of Makkot: Once
[the Sages] were ascending to Jerusalem.
When they reached Mount Scopus, they rent their garments. When they reached the Temple Mount, they
saw a jackal leaving from the site of the inner sanctum [of the Temple]; they
began weeping, but Rabbi Akiva laughed.
They
said to him, "Why do you laugh?" He
said to them, "Why do you weep?"
They
said to him, "Jackals now tread on the site regarding which it is written, 'And
the foreigner who approaches shall die' (Bamdibar 1:51) shall we not
weep?" He
said to them, "For this very reason I laugh
In the context of [the prophecy of]
Uriya it is written, 'Therefore, because of you, Zion shall be plowed like a
field' (Yirmiyahu 26:18), and in [the prophecy of] Zekharya it is
written, 'Elderly men and women shall once again sit along the streets of
Jerusalem' (Zekharya 8:5).
Until Uriya's prophecy was realized, I feared that perhaps Zekharya's
prophecy would not be realized; but now that Uriya's prophecy has been realized,
it is certain that Zekharya's prophecy will be realized." What
unique promise did Zekharya's prophecy convey? Did the Jews not know that the Almighty
would rescue the nation? There are
so many stirring prophecies of redemption in Yeshayahu. Why was it specifically Zekharya's
prophecy that provided consolation for Rabbi Akiva and his
colleagues?
Moreover,
once Rabbi Akiva chose for whatever reason to cite from Zekharya, why did he
prefer this verse over the immediately preceding passage, which deals directly
with the rebuilding of the Temple "Thus says the Lord: I have returned to Zion
and I shall reside in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called 'The City of
Truth,' and the mountain of the Lord of Hosts, 'The Sacred Mountain'"? The rabbis wept upon seeing a jackal
scurrying about on the site of the Mikdash.
Why did Rabbi Akiva not draw their attention to a prophecy that foretells
the rebuilding of the Temple ruins?
It
seems that Rabbi Akiva's colleagues would not have found consolation upon
hearing the first prophecy, the promise of the Temple's restoration, just as
they would not have drawn comfort from Yeshayahu's many prophecies relating to
the same theme. Only Zekharya's
second prophecy "Elderly
men and women shall once again sit along the streets of Jerusalem" provided a
source of comfort. What is unique
about this prophecy?
We find a debate among the Rishonim as to whether human nature
will undergo a fundamental change in the Messianic era. The Rambam writes in his Guide of the
Perplexed (III:32): Although
in every one of the signs [miracles] the natural property of some individual
being is changed, the nature of man is never changed by God by way of a
miracle. It is in accordance with
this important principle that God said, "O that there were such a heart in them,
that they would fear Me
" (Devarim 5:26). In
other words, God will alter nature in performing miracles, but will never change
the nature of man. The Ramban, in
contrast, presents a different approach in his commentary to
Devarim: "And
the Lord shall circumcise your heart" (Devarim 30:6): The following
concept that I present emerges from the Scriptures. Namely, since the time of creation
people have had the power to do as they wish to be righteous or wicked and
this is so throughout the time of the Torah, so that they will earn merit by
choosing good and punishment by preferring evil. In the times of the Messiah, however, they will by nature
choose good; their heart will not desire that which is inappropriate, and one
will not crave it at all
At that time, man will return to his state before the
sin of Adam, who would by nature do what was appropriate to do and did not wish
for something and its opposite
This is the elimination of the evil inclination
and the fashioning of the heart [to desire] appropriate conduct
At that time,
there will be no need to train them; rather, their inclination will at that time
be altogether eliminated. According
to the Ramban, in the time of Mashiach
the Almighty will change the nature of man.
In the 19th Century, R. Shmuel Mohliver suggested the
possibility of rebuilding the Mikdash
in his time, and he requested a letter of approbation from R. Yehoshua of
Kutna. R. Yehoshua, however,
responded that rebuilding the Temple at that time would serve no purpose; in any
event, the vast majority of the Jewish people had no interested in offering
sacrifices. R. Mohliver replied
that a minority can bring the public sacrifices on behalf of the entire nation,
and sacrifices could thus be offered even if the majority of Jews were
uninterested.
The Keli
Chemda,
a student of R. Yehoshua of Kutna, wrote that R. Mohliver's response did not
address the Rav of Kutna's contention.
The Rav of Kutna meant that if most of the nation has no interest in
offering sacrifices, then there is no possibility of offering on their
behalf. The sacrifices have no
meaning or purpose if the people on whose behalf they are offered are not ready
for it. The Keli
Chemda
thus concluded by claiming that rebuilding the Mikdash
would not solve anything if the people are not ready for it; the Mikdash
has no significance until the people show an interest in
it.
We can now understand Rabbi Akiva's remarks to his colleagues. Had Rabbi Akiva attempted to console
them by citing prophecies about the restoration of the Mikdash,
his attempts would have been to no avail.
After all, the Rambam maintains that human nature will not undergo any
intrinsic change in the times of Mashiach,
and the rabbis would not have believed that in the near future Am Yisrael
would repent and earn the rebuilding of the Temple. Rabbi Akiva therefore mentioned the
promise that "elderly men and women shall once again sit along the streets of
Jerusalem;" Zekharya conveys here a different prophecy, one which does not hinge
on the previous prophecy of the Temple's restoration. Upon hearing this prophecy, the rabbis
felt consoled; they understood that this prophecy could, indeed, unfold already
in their time, even before the repentance of the entire
nation.
At weddings and sheva berakhot, we recite a blessing which
mentions five sounds: "May there again be heard in the cities of Judea and in
the markets of Jerusalem the sound of jubilation, the sound of
joy, the sound of a groom, the sound of a bride, the sound
of the rejoicing of grooms from their canopies and young men from their feast of
dancing." The origin of this text
is a prophecy of Yirmiyahu (33:11).
The first four sounds are identical in both texts. However, whereas in the berakha we describe the fifth "sound" as the sound
young men celebrating, Yirmiyahu speaks of a much different "sound:" "The sound
of people saying: 'Give thanks to the Lord of Hosts, for the Lord is good, for
His kindness is eternal' and of people bringing thanksgiving offerings to the
House of the Lord." What a
beautiful sound people expressing thanksgiving to God and bringing sacrifices
in the Beit Ha-Mikdash!
Why did the Sages change the text in formulating this
berakha? Why did they not
include the sound of people offering sacrifices among the "sounds" that we pray
to God to restore?
The Sages instituted this berakha in the aftermath of the Temple's
destruction. They sought to console
the people by telling them that although the ideal state of a rebuilt
Mikdash will not likely be achieved in the near future, there is another
prophecy that can be fulfilled in the near future the promise of joy and
security. Rabbi Akiva similarly
consoled his colleagues in this fashion, insisting that even if the Temple's
return does not appear on the horizon, there is still something to anticipate
and to give thanks for. Even if the
supreme ideal has yet to materialize, we still owe a debt of gratitude to the
Almighty for the blessings He has bestowed upon us.
During
the Hallel service, we say, "This is the Lord's doing it is wondrous in
our eyes." Indeed, everything that
takes place around us is "wondrous in our eyes." Everything that has taken place in the
State of Israel since its founding until today has unfolded in a miraculous
fashion. The United Nations'
decision to establish a Jewish state occurred before East and West had united on
any other issue. The War of
Independence was also a miracle; it is difficult to describe to you what it was
like when organized armies with modern weaponry fought against a nation whose
weapons were obtained from secret caches.
After the war came the great miracle of immigration, the result of which
is today's population of over five million Jews in Israel. The most anti-Israel countries opened
their doors and allowed their Jews to emigrate to Israel an unfathomable
irony. The Arabs had fought
relentlessly against Jewish immigration to Israel how did they suddenly allow
their Jewish citizens to move to Israel?
Each time, a window of opportunity miraculously opened and the Jews were
quickly taken to Israel. The Jewish
immigration from the Communist nations and the immigrants' absorption in Israel
is likewise a remarkable phenomenon.
And we have not even begun to discuss the Six Day War and the economic,
military and scientific strength of the State of Israel today.
Herzl is always spoken of as the founder of Zionism, but I would argue
that his vision was a romantic one, which had no grounding in reality. There was no chance that the Jewish
people would leave the Diaspora in order to come to the Land of Israel. Rashi, commenting on the verse, "with a
mighty hand he [Pharaoh] shall chase them from his land" (Shemot 6:1),
explains that Pharaoh's "mighty hand" was necessary because Bnei Yisrael
would otherwise not have agreed to leave.
From that time until today, every wave of mass immigration of Jews to
Israel resulted from crisis or life-threatening danger. Even the vision of the State's founders,
the men of the second aliya such as Ben Gurion and his colleagues,
collapsed on the day statehood was declared and thousands of Jewish refugees
came to Israel from internment camps on Cyprus. These leaders had a different vision, a
vision of a new people, a strong, powerful country, rather than a religious,
exilic people. They scorned the
"golus Jew," claiming that he had simply walked like sheep to the
slaughter. Natan
Alterman once wrote a poem that tells of a ship bringing refugees to the
recently-established State, and he describes the alienation felt by the "sabras"
in Israel towards those immigrants and the fundamentally different mentalities
of these two populations. He goes
on to describe how the immigrants' culture "strangled" the healthy culture of
the Israelis, and depicts the struggle that ensued between the immigrants and
the natives over the character of the State. This poem was written when this struggle
still was being fought, before the mass immigration. Once the thousands of refugees arrived,
it became clear that the entire Zionist dream to establish a "new people" had
completely collapsed. It is hard to
describe what the situation in Israel would be like had events unfolded
differently, and we cannot explain in natural terms how this vision crumbled and
the State assumed a distinctly Jewish character, a place of refuge for every
Jew. "This is the Lord's doing it
is wondrous in our eyes!" In
conclusion, I would remark that "independence" implies acting upon the stage of
history and reaching decisions responsibly. Along with the State, God gave us
several options, and we now face one main concern. Although the State of Israel is strong
and will survive, the question remains whether it will be a Jewish state, or
simply the State of Israel, in a number of years. We must work to guarantee the Jewish
character of the State, as well as the Jewish majority of its population. The "solution" of bringing people of
questionable Jewish status here in order to make us the majority does not help -
it adds to the problem. I never
believed in religious coercion, but I have always believed in a State with a
distinctly Jewish character, and right now that character is fading. We cannot fulfill our obligation by
simply saying, "God will help;" we have to stand up and
act! Let
us conclude with the David's stirring words in Tehillim (144:9, 15):
"God, I shall sing to You a new song; I shall sing praises to You with a
ten-stringed harp
Fortunate is the nation who has it so fortunate is the
nation for whom God is Lord!" (This
sicha was delivered on Yom Ha-Atzmaut 5763 [2003].) |