Since the terror attacks on Washington and New York and the
ensuing international tension, the whole world is in dread of
what
may happen to the entire world in the near future. The
American
government has already acted on its "declaration of war"
with
everything this entails. Wars, by their very nature, are
events with
a clear beginning, but nobody can foresee how
events will unfold and
how much carnage will take place.
Any thinking person cannot help
but be frightened by this
situation. It is in times such as these
that the glaring
difference between the real believers and the
irreligious
becomes obvious. Those who have yet to internalize the
fact
that only the First Cause is the cause of all events past,
present and future, feel as if the ground is disappearing
from under
their feet; they have nothing to hold on to except
some delusions
about the restoration of "world order" by
means of military might,
even though it has been proved very
publicly that a handful of
terrorists can make a mockery of
the greatest power in the world and
wreak such utter
destruction in it.
Observant Jews, on the other
hand, know that all world events
are supervised by a Divine Hand, and
that there are no
coincidences. However, even someone with pure
emunoh
cannot be sure of reaching conclusions appropriate to
each
individual and the nation as a whole. As we shall see, our
rabbonim have taught us that a Jew can be strong in his faith
that
everything is from above, but still -- with the best of
intentions --
use his free choice to err in interpreting the
meaning of events
using holy concepts.
What are we referring to?
Ever since the
earthshaking events in America during the last
week of the year all
sorts of "hints" and "proofs" have been
circulating to the effect
that the redemption is imminent and
that these terrible events are
only part of chevlei
moshiach. These rumors have a welcoming
audience, since
every Jew is brought up with the expectation of the
geuloh and yearns for it throughout his life. When
depressing
events are interpreted as being part of the
"redemption program" he
relaxes in the knowledge that there
is a "solution" and "explanation"
for such terrible
events.
This is especially the case when these
rumors are backed by
various "proofs" consisting of quotations from
Tanach
and from Chazal (such as "Ben Dovid will come at the
end
of the shmittah year"), hints, gimatriyos,
kabbalistic concepts and so on.
We shall not discuss the
substance of these arguments, but
only the attitude underlying such
interpretations.
It is very tempting to interpret events in such a
manner. The
listener is comforted by the thought that he is looking
at
events as a believing Jew; unlike our straying brethren he
sees
the hand of Hashem guiding our affairs.
The trouble with this
interpretation is that it does not
require a person to do anything.
If events are part of a
"redemption program" of ikvesa
demeshicho then they
have no relevance to us who simply witness
these events as
passive onlookers. We watch as predetermined events
unfold,
which have no connection to our deeds.
The Rosh Yeshiva
shlita has in the past pointed out
the dangers inherent in
interpretations of this nature, which
actually distance a person from
an accurate analysis of his
real duties during difficult
times.
He was speaking in 5734 (1973) after the terrible events of
the Yom Kippur War, in which thousands were killed and
injured. This
war dented the false feeling of security, which
reigned in Israel
after the Six Day War. Many people wondered
why Hashem had made this
happen, and the religious public
started talking about the "process
of redemption" and certain
dates and hints were discussed (that war
also broke out at
the end of a shmittah year). As a
bochur in
Yeshiva ketanoh I remember the strong
impression made
by these rumors which predicted future events, and
how
everybody was discussing them during Succos that year.
The
Rosh Yeshiva said then that although every Jew is obliged
to believe
in the coming of Moshiach and await his
coming every day,
nevertheless anyone interpreting events in
such a light takes
attention away from our real duties and
the necessary stock-taking
that both the pubic and the
individual have to make.
He gave a
penetrating shmuess (published in
Digleinu in Cheshvan
5734) on our duties during that
difficult time. He warned against
saying that everything
happened by chance chas vesholom,
stressing that we
had to know what was expected of us: an improvement
in our
Torah studies and tefilloh.
At the beginning of
that shmuess he made a point
which, unfortunately, remains
topical to this day. The war
took the inhabitants of Eretz
Yisroel by surprise.
Following the success of the Six Day War the
population was
complacent and arrogant. Zahal was "unbeatable" and
the Arabs
"stupid and primitive cowards."
The Israeli public then
was no less amazed by the Arab
intelligence services and the precise
planning of its armies
than the Americans were now by the destruction
wrought by a
handful of fanatical Muslims who made a mockery of the
biggest security system in the world. The Rosh Yeshiva talked
about
the Israeli public's reaction and called on everybody
to internalize
the Rambam's words that every calamity is the
result of our evil
actions: "We are certainly not free of
evil deeds, but the worst of
them is the idolatrous faith in
`the might of my hands.' The nation
has been accustomed to
believe in Zahal, in the assistance of the
United States and
in the power of effective weapons, as if the Arabs
have no
power or weapons. Are they really so powerless? This current
war has uprooted the foundations of this attitude. The
arrogant
illusion of an invincible Zahal has been smashed to
smithereens.
"The whole country was in terrible danger. We must
realize
that it was only our prayers that helped and only Hashem
saved us. If we witnessed open miracles on Yom Kippur and the
days
afterwards, this was only by virtue of our supplications
and prayers,
because according to the natural course of
events there was no reason
for the Arabs to have failed in
their endeavors. There can be no
doubt that this war has come
in order to debunk the avoda zora
of kochi ve'otzem
yodi. It is middoh keneged middoh.
This is
Hashem's way of treating people.
"They thought that `we
have the might' and therefore, because
of our great sins, we were
dealt a mighty blow, to teach us
that we do not have the might. It
has been proved that there
were failures and mistakes were made by
various parties. We
have been shown that humans are ordinary mortals,
that
victory is not guaranteed, and victory is still not yet in
sight, the war is not over yet. Who knows what will happen in
the
future? Only Hakodosh Boruch Hu knows, and may He
put a stop
to all our troubles!"
With the background of this shock and
confusion, there were
an abundance of "prophets" calculating the date
on which the
geuloh would take place. They cited
gimatriyos,
statements from the Zohar and so on. The
masses
swallowed all of this and in the weeks following the outbreak
of war, tension increased as the date drew near on which
Milchemes Gog Umogog was to commence, or the sound of
the
shofar heralding Moshiach was to be
heard.
The
gedolim warned about this dangerous tendency, and
many
expressed the fear that these rumors would affect the
faith of the
innocent masses, who were eagerly awaiting the
advent of a certain
date. Once it passed, it was feared that
these people would stop
believing altogether in
Moshiach because of their dashed
hopes.
HaRav Shach made another point at the time: the very
attempt
to explain events as a "planned process" instead of a
heavenly decree resulting from our deeds and a warning sign
requiring us to repent was flawed at the outset.
"People are
talking a lot about matters to do with the end of
days, they cite
midreshei Zohar, signs from the stars.
Another tells us about
his dreams. All these people create an
atmosphere conveying the
message that all the sufferings and
misfortunes the Jewish nation is
currently experiencing are
because we are living in a certain
`period,' as if calamities
were predestined to occur at a certain
date.
"But we are forgetting our main task. We are suppressing the
fundamental principle outlined by the Rambam at the beginning
of
Hilchos Taanis that misfortunes happen to the
Jewish nation
only because of our sins in order to wake us up
into repenting. We
must realize that according to the Torah
the only thing we have is
teshuvoh and all the
calculations about ikvesa
demeshicho and chevlei
moshiach are totally irrelevant.
All those who connect
the events of our time with all sorts of
calculations divert
the public's attention away from the main thing,
which is
teshuvoh. Chas vesholom, they attribute events to
chance by connecting them to a certain historical period,
instead of
to our many sins.
"The Rambam, Shulchan Oruch and
poskim do not
talk at all about secrets of the geuloh,
only about
repentance. The holy Chofetz Chaim zt"l was very
involved in these matters, but his speeches to bnei
Torah and
to the masses were dedicated only to
repentance, and he did not talk
about calculations. He only
taught us that we had to wait expectantly
for the Melech
Hamoshiach who could come literally at any
minute, even
right at this moment we are standing here."
HaRav
Shach said that we commit the sin of attributing
everything to
chance, which the Rambam talks about, not only
by lacking
emunoh, but also by explaining misfortunes
as part of a
predetermined "process" that we can do nothing
about:
"When we do
not hear the correct messages, the opposite of
the intended happens.
Instead of repenting, as we are
required to do according to the
ruling of the Rambam, we
neglect teshuvoh and rely on symbols.
We want to make
it easy for ourselves, but that is not what
Hakodosh
Boruch Hu wants. If we do not awaken, we will be
transgressing the posuk, `If you will walk contrary to
me
[bekeri, attributing things to chance].' Shlomo
Hamelech says
in Mishlei, `Even if you pound a fool in
a mortar with a
pestle, his foolishness will still not depart
from him' (27:22),
because he still does not realize clearly
that he is being pounded.
He is still uncertain whether the
blows are for the sake of being
pounded.
"Let us not resemble that fool. Let us understand what is
required of us. The world tends to concentrate on
insignificant
matters. We have just experienced a war. A
person living according to
the Torah has to know the simple
truth: it was a punishment for our
sins. Those who are far
removed from Torah instead of looking for the
shortcomings,
which caused this downfall, grab the snake by its tail.
We,
on the other hand, are fully versed in the Rambam's statement
that misfortunes are a direct result of `And you shall not
listen to
Me,' but we still have some people trying to draw
conclusions leading
to other avenues. They have already found
`explicit' references that
the war is the last stage in the
coming of Moshiach and that
there is no more need to
do teshuvoh, since it is not our
sins, which are the
cause of our suffering, but ikvesa
demeshicho."
In that same shmuess HaRav Shach also said
that the
entire method of the people making these calculations goes
contrary to our whole tradition: "We believe with a complete
faith
in the coming of Moshiach. He can come tomorrow,
today and
also now. But who can rely on statements from the
Zohar, whose
esoteric secrets are only understood by
the initiated? Even if we
could understand statements
according to their plain meaning, we
should still not rely on
a sole ma'amar Chazal. Otherwise, we
could reach the
conclusion that the tzoras habas is permitted.
Our
only guideline for halachic rulings are the books of the
poskim. The Rambam mentions only one sign (see
Hilchos
Teshuvoh and Hilchos Melochim): `They
all commanded us to
repent, and the Torah has already
promised that the Jewish nation
will repent in the end at the
time of the redemption and then they
will be redeemed
immediately, as it says, "And it shall come to pass
when all
these things shall happen to you -- that you shall return
unto Hashem your G-d." '
"The Chofetz Chaim also spoke a lot
about the geuloh,
and we can see from his books that he was
very fluent in the
Zohar, but nevertheless we do not find him
making any
hints about these signs. A ben yeshiva has to know
from which sources to derive halachic rulings. From any other
sources, however holy, we cannot derive anything; even if the
angel
Gavriel should come and make a ruling contrary to the
Rambam, the
halocho will not change, because that is
how we make rulings,
and not by using other signs or
hints."
These thoughts apply very
much to our current situation too.
Any attempt to explain grim events
as "part of the redemption
process," as part of a divinely directed
course of events not
affecting us, diverts attention from our real
duty.
As HaRav Shach said then in the middle of the war: "What is
our duty? In what lies our strength? What is our weapon?
Every Jew
is obligated not to have his attention diverted
from his duties.
There are Jews losing their lives, and with
every minute of Torah
learning we can protect and save them.
In addition, we must adopt our
ancestors' practice regarding
appeasement and prayer. This is our
great obligation at this
time, to believe and know that it is within
our power and
that we have to tip the scales for merit, and that if,
chas vesholom, we do not do so, we will be responsible
for
the blood of our brethren who are risking their lives
every
minute."
