A Montrealer, who recently crossed the border into the United States from Canada this week, related the following experience to my wife. “The border officer asked if we were from Israel since our passports say “Birthplace Israel”. We were a bit confused as to why he was asking, but we very proudly said “Yes! We are!” He then went on to ask “Do you have family there?” To that, we answered “Yes, seven million family members!” He bowed his head and said: “Ma’am, I’m really sorry about what’s happening to your people! It’s all very sad!” We thanked him.”
There is no question that the tragic events in Israel have stirred up deep feelings in Jews and non-Jews alike. As an educator with training in Kiruv, I receive many hashkafic questions. One of my students is a retired gynecologist, who, as a doctor, put his name on the list to go to Israel and help.
He was shocked and horrified by the heinous murders and violations committed by the Hamas monsters; they are worse than animals. He could not understand how a loving God could allow something like this to happen. He asked me how we can feel that Hashem loves us when we face this reality. Many Jews are feeling bewilderment and anxiety.
In truth, as we know, anti-semitic violence is nothing new. For thousands of years we have been tormented by nations, the destruction of the two Batei Mikdash, the Spanish Inquisition, Blood Libels, the Crusades, Pogroms, the Holocaust, the massacres and wars in Eretz Yisroel, and terror attacks around the world.
I’m not a prophet, I told him. I do not know Hashem’s plan, but I can tell you what the Torah teaches us.
Towards the end of his life, in parashas Ki Tavo, Moshe Rabbeinu addresses Klal Yisroel. He instructs them to follow the Torah. He promises that if we do not deviate from it at all, we will be blessed. (Devarim 28:1-14).
I opened up the parsha with my doctor student and we read the pesukim together. The first posuk says : “If you obey Hashem your Lord carefully keeping all His Commandments as I’m prescribing them to you today, then God will make you the highest of all the nations on Earth”. The second posuk goes on to say: “As long as you listen to your God your Lord, all these blessings will come to bear on you”. Then we turned to posuk ז: “If any enemy attacks you, God will make them flee from you in panic. They may march against you on one road, but they will flee from you in seven directions”. Posuk 9 reads: “If only you keep the Commandments of God your Lord and walk in his path, God will establish you as his holy nation, as He promised you”. And finally, we read posuk י: “All the nations of the world will realize that God’s name is associated with you, and they will be in awe of you.”
Stated simply, follow the Torah and all will be good for the Yidden. But woe betide Klal Yisroel if they do not. Beginning in posuk טו, the Torah takes a change of direction. ”if you do not obey God your Lord and do not carefully keep all his Commandments as I’m prescribing them for you today, then all these curses will come to bear on you”.
We continued to read through all the curses, shocking in their severity. Many of the posukim are particularly chilling in the light of recent events. Posuk כה: God will make you panic before your enemies. Posuk כח : “Hashem will strike you with insanity, blindness, and mental confusion”. Posuk ל: “When you betroth a woman, another man will sleep with her. When you build a house you will not live in.” Posuk מא: “you will have sons and daughters but they will not remain yours since they will be taken into captivity”.
I asked the doctor, is this not what we are experiencing today?
Finally, after a long list of terrifying curses, in posuk מז we are told the ultimate reason for the curses. תַּ֗חַת אֲשֶׁ֤ר לֹֽא־עָבַ֨דְתָּ֙ אֶת־ה׳ אֱלֹקיךָ בְּשִׂמְחָ֖ה וּבְט֣וּב לֵבָ֑ב מֵרֹ֖ב כֹּֽל: because you did not serve your God with happiness and gladness of heart when everything was abundant.
Everything was prophesied clearly in the Torah. I reassured the doctor that he shouldn’t become despondent. In parashas va’eschanan (Devarim 4:30) we read: בַּצַּ֣ר לְךָ֔ וּמְצָא֕וּךָ כֹּ֖ל הַדְּבָרִ֣ים הָאֵ֑לֶּה בְּאַֽחֲרִית֙ הַיָּמִ֔ים וְשַׁבְתָּ֙ עַד־ה׳ אֱלֹקיךָ וְשָֽׁמַעְתָּ֖ בְּקֹלֽוֹ: when you are in distress and all these things have been following you at the end of days you will return to Hashem your God and listen to His voice. כִּ֣י קל רַחוּם֙ ה׳ אֱלֹקיךָ לֹ֥א יַרְפְּךָ֖ וְלֹ֣א יַשְׁחִיתֶ֑ךָ וְלֹ֤א יִשְׁכַּח֙ אֶת־בְּרִ֣ית אֲבֹתֶ֔יךָ אֲשֶׁ֥ר נִשְׁבַּ֖ע לָהֶֽם: For the Lord your God is a merciful God; He will not let you loose or destroy you; neither will He forget the covenant of your fathers, which He swore to them. And again in Parashas Nitzavim (Devarim 30:1-9), Moshe tells the Yidden “It will be that when all these things come upon you the blessing and curse that I set before you… you will return to Hashem and listen to His voice, according to everything that I command you today”. We will be gathered from all over the world. In the final reckoning, these very curses will be visited instead upon our enemies.
We suffered a horrific attack, but the result was a unification of Jewish people. Suddenly secular Jewish soldiers want to wear Tzitzits and Tefillin. Yidden all over the world are strengthening their observance, praying, rallying around with acts of chesed, and keeping Shabbos. The prophecy of Moshe Rabbeinu over 3,000 years ago IS unfolding in front of our very own eyes. Jewish people are coming back home to serve Hashem. Jews around the world are doing teshuva, returning to Hashem, just as Moshe Rabbeinu promised us. Before Moshiach comes we WILL ALL come to serve Hashem בְּשִׂמְחָ֖ה וּבְט֣וּב לֵבָ֑ב מֵרֹ֖ב כֹּֽל, with complete happiness and joy.
(This is the main reason I decided to write my recent book “I Can Learn”. Lacking foundation skills in learning creates a huge gap of understanding, whilst truly being able to break down and internalise the kedusha of Torah texts, will bring the learner to a new level of Simcha and serve Hashem with joy. May this fulfill a tikkun of תַּ֗חַת אֲשֶׁ֤ר לֹֽא־עָבַ֨דְתָּ֙ אֶת־ה׳ אֱלֹקיךָ בְּשִׂמְחָ֖ה.)
The doctor was astounded to see so clearly how the Torah predicted historic and current events. He had never read these pesukim before in a careful way and never contemplated their significance. It should be noted that in the face of tremendous anxiety, uncertainty, and doubt, as is natural to feel in the midst of this upheaval, we do not need therapists or psychological tools. We need emunah and bitachon. These can be strengthened by simply picking up a Chumash and reading it and internalizing the messages.
Let’s pray and hope that, as is written in parashas Beshalach:
ה׳ יִלָּחֵ֣ם לָכֶ֑ם וְאַתֶּ֖ם תַּֽחֲרִשֽׁוּן: Hashem will fight for you, but you shall remain silent. (Shemos 14:14)
And merit וְגַם֙ אֶת־הַצִּרְעָ֔ה יְשַׁלַּ֛ח ה׳ אֱלֹקיךָ בָּ֑ם עַד־אֲבֹ֗ד הַנִּשְׁאָרִ֛ים וְהַנִּסְתָּרִ֖ים מִפָּנֶֽיךָ: Also the Hornets will Hashem your G-D send among them until the survivors and hidden ones perish before you. (Devarim 7:20)
Let the prophecy of Yeshayahu regarding בְּאַֽחֲרִ֣ית הַיָּמִ֗ים the end of days chapter 2:2 be fulfilled in our days: “Many people will go up and say come let us go up to the mountain of Hashem to the temple of God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in this path from Zion with her come forth and the word of Hashem from Jerusalem Posuk ד ……..They shall beat the swords in the power shares and the spears into pruning hooks; לֹֽא־יִשָּׂ֨א ג֚וֹי אֶל־גּוֹי֙ חֶ֔רֶב וְלֹֽא־יִלְמְד֥וּ ע֖וֹד מִלְחָמָֽה: nations will not lift the sword against nation and there will no longer study warfare”.
May we all merit to see the third Beis HaMikdash b’mheira v’yamenu amen.
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JUST PUBLISHED!
I Can’t Learn Published by Feldheim.
To contact Rabbi Abenson
Tel. 15147393629
Cell/Whatsapp 15149935300
Email: [email protected]
Rabbi Abenson is the founder and director of ShaarHatalmud, a unique yeshivah-based online program, which incorporates learning all Kodesh subjects, from Kriah up to learning Gemara, Rishonim, and Shulchan Aruch. He also conducts evaluations, remediation, and training, and consults with school principals to improve students’ underdeveloped skills.