There is only a fine line dividing the efforts a person is
permitted to make in his life from the faith in the aid of
the Supreme Being that must guide his life. This line also
separates those who tangibly feel such a Divine Power and see
His intervention in their daily life, from those whose faith
is a more general, cloudy realization.
The difficulty of discerning this keen difference eclipses
our view of what is expected of man, and as a result many
people fail to find their right direction in life.
Unfortunately, they are utterly oblivious to where their
chosen course is gradually leading them. An astute observer
understands that what others view as simple and well
delineated is really complex and ambiguous. Many people pass
through life without even treading on the right path that
would lead to a realization of their objectives.
Life's depths, its internal significance, has endless routes
that lead to it. The human race is running, trying to grab
what it can, to accomplish the maximum -- but only a few
individuals actually succeed.
The gemora (Taanis 22a) tells us that R' Baroka
Chazo'oh was accustomed to escort Eliyahu Hanovi through the
marketplace of Dvei Lefet. One day R' Baroka asked Eliyahu
which people in the marketplace would enter into Olom
Haboh. Eliyahu's surprising answer was: No one!
A busy marketplace symbolizes the heartbeat of life, the
place where efforts for a livelihood are most evident.
Precisely there, R' Baroka asked man's most meaningful
question, the question whose answer determines a man's
destiny after this life: Will any of these people enter
Olom Haboh? Eliyahu's frightening response was that no
one among the numerous people found in the marketplace would
have Olom Haboh.
Within the vibrant marketplace solid values are liable to be
blurred. Is there any compass that can guide us so we will
not deviate from the right path? Life's marketplace is
everywhere. Wherever a person finds himself he can live as if
in a marketplace: dashing to and fro, engaging in hasty
undertakings and daring initiatives, trying his utmost to
reach impressive achievements.
When Moshe Rabbenu sent the twelve
meraglim to spy out Eretz Yisroel he chose the cream
of the crop of bnei Yisroel -- only those who were
real tzaddikim. Yehoshua, the Divinely-selected leader
after Moshe Rabbenu, was only the fifth in stature among the
meraglim, as the Ramban (in his commentary on
Chumash) points out.
Why was it necessary to send such prominent people for this
task? Would it not have been more fitting to send men well
acquainted with life's ways, its heartbeat, and its many ins
and outs? Would such worldly people not have been better able
to evaluate the situation and to make better decisions about
what should be done?
I believe the sending of the meraglim can be explained
in an innovative way. These tzaddikim were sent to
appraise the land's singular spiritual qualities and assets,
to grasp Eretz Yisroel's special needs, so they could
correlate them to the nature of am Yisroel and its
unique characteristics. This knowledge was needed to find the
balance between a person's own efforts and his faith in
HaKodosh Boruch Hu's aid.
We are obligated to have such emunah, but we must also
attempt to sustain ourselves. What exactly is the appropriate
track to follow? Only elevated tzaddikim could be
assigned the weighty responsibility of solving this
question.
Even they, unfortunately, failed. The hubbub of life and its
stormy waves -- all that they saw: giants, a land that
devours its inhabitants, funerals, odd oversized fruits --
strengthened their feeling that this land would thwart the
Jewish Nation from attaining its sublime goals.
The task of the meraglim was to decide how to act
according to the Torah's principles and to coordinate between
mortal efforts and faith. Renowned Tannaim (Rabi Shimon Bar
Yochai who said that one should always learn Torah and Rabi
Yishmoel who said that one should spend time pursuing a
livelihood, in the sixth chapter of Brochos) seemingly
argue about this very question, although that was actually no
real disagreement and each Tanna guided the members of his
generation according to a different level. R' Yishmoel
directed his guidance to those who could only live according
to the commonly accepted way of life (derech Eretz),
while R' Shimon Bar Yochai spoke to those who possessed a
loftier level and of whom more was demanded.
Now we can understand what the meraglim said: "For
they are stronger than He" (Bamidbar 13:31). Chazal
(cited in Rashi) write that the meraglim claimed that
even Hashem could not help them conquer the nations living in
the land. How is it possible that such tzaddikim could
speak in that way?
It seems that according to what they saw it was totally
impossible for Am Yisroel to take over Eretz Yisroel.
The material efforts that would apparently be required of
them to live there, were above their abilities, far more than
emunah obligated them. The meraglim saw only
what was evident to their mortal senses and could not see
Hashem's covert conduct, for example, in causing all the
funerals so that the meraglim would not be
discovered.
There is no logical explanation for the
development of the Torah world over the last fifty years. The
best minds, exceptionally talented scholars, and energetic
people full of initiative, are immersing themselves in their
Torah studies. These gifted people could easily succeed in
business, management, sciences, and other white-collar
vocations, but instead they opt to forego material
prosperity.
The anti-religious are astonished. From where do these boys
and men derive such unique inner strength? In their own
schools, many students earn a high school diploma only with
difficulty, and after they have completed their set
curriculum of studies they do not have any interest in what
they have studied. But in the yeshivos, the talmidim
are diligently engaged in mastering and reviewing the Torah,
and the few who study listlessly are pushed off to the
sidelines. The yeshiva students' secret inner power, their
indifference to temptations, is why life's maladies do not
bother them.
This secret is revealing itself bit by bit, and even the
general public is becoming aware of it. Bnei Torah are
the most intellectual sector of the populace, since they
devote the most years to studies and willingly choose to live
lives of moderation. They have, Boruch Hashem, large
families despite their limited material means. Among the
secularists, as the intellectual level of a family rises, the
size of the family declines. Among bnei Torah just the
opposite is generally true.
In general, their lifestyle does not follow the conclusions
of professional polls. There is no psychological or
sociological explanation of why they do not aspire to a
career in the wide world. Their lives go against the basic
social principle that a career determines the size of the
family, its development, the age of marriage, and other
factors.
No academic research can explain this paradox, which shatters
most modern social theories. A huge community has sprouted
and developed, composed of people who are worthy to be the
"cream of society" but instead humble themselves to the
gedolei Torah. These Torah scholars "kill" themselves
in the Torah's tent, and are not swept away by the ailments
of modern Israeli society -- ills that are so depraved that
we do not wish to even allude to them.
This is the real reason behind the reckless incitement
against the Torah World. The IDF does not need bnei
Torah as soldiers, but the truth is that the Israeli army
is not only a military force fighting against its enemies.
Ben Gurion advocated explicitly that the army be the Israeli
melting pot, that Israeli society should absorb within it the
characteristics of the army. The atmosphere of raw power, of
"Let us take our fate in our hands," being the "spearhead,"
the "top of the heap," is an admission ticket to high society
in Israel. A person who was not bred in such a milieu is
considered to be missing something essential. In addition,
that person was not "fortunate" enough to undergo an
intensive brainwashing carried out almost entirely by Leftist
"educators."
Israeli society considers someone who does not read the
newspapers, who does not listen to radio, and who does not
watch television, as not one of its members. He is not a
proud Sabra who scorns his nation's past, but on the contrary
he derives strength from our glorious past. The media
broadcast at length and in great detail every soccer or
basketball player and still more about movie or theater stars
who have died, about their works, contribution, and influence
on society. By contrast, gedolei Torah who are
niftar are mentioned in just a few lines, and this is
more in order to satisfy people's curiosity and feeling for
folklore than to seriously report about them.
It is incontestable that the brainwashing in Israel by the
media and various spokesmen have one identical objective, for
the sake of which both act with full coordination: They are
attempting to create an atmosphere of de-legitimization of
the Torah-observant, and especially of the bnei Torah
and yeshiva students.
The Torah is the antithesis of any theory of permissive
living, of living without restraints. You will not find our
children touring India or climbing the Tibetan mountains. Do
not bother looking for them hiking in the jungles of South
America either. A true ben Torah has no need or desire
to be in such places. He strives to grasp a machlokes
between the Rambam and the Ravad, to fully understand the
commentaries of the Ramban, Rashba, and Ritva, to labor over
a perplexing interpretation of Rashi and the Tosafos. His
total desire is to stock his spiritual cargo with inestimable
spiritual wares. This is what gives him the strength to
withstand temptations and to loathe lowly, earthly
endeavors.
When the anti-religious speak about "sharing the burden of
national security equally" they are really aiming to corrupt
the sublime lifestyle of bnei Torah so that they will
conform to the standards of Israeli (Leftist) society.
It is an understatement to say that we currently find
ourselves in a difficult period. People who proclaim an all-
out war against the Torah and its supporters have gained
power. Maran HaRav Shach shlita writes in one of his
letters that when the atmosphere outside is foul it is
difficult to protect the pure atmosphere within the beis
midrash. We must be aware of this and prepare
ourselves.
@BIG LET BODY = All the development and "spiritual depth" of
a former Chief of Staff who became Israel's Ambassador to the
U.S. and later Prime Minister, was acquired around the
bonfires of the Palmach (the Leftist Haganah pre- State
striking forces) and in the course of his formal military
career. He had no training or background that prepared him to
meet the masses of American Jewry. His attitude -- as was
reported at that time -- was cold and condescending towards
them. He had never before met a living Jewish community that
did not evaluate Judaism through a gun sight.
His background was altogether lacking the factors that could
connect him with those elements of the Jewish Nation that did
not take part in surprise attacks, bloody battles, and acts
of retaliation. He could not relate to Judaism through a
daf gemora, through performing mitzvos, through
attachment to past traditions -- or through the Jewish future
awaiting him and his children.
Just as Berlin was the capital of Reform and Yerushalayim
meant nothing to them, so a generation has grown up in Israel
for whom New York is its capital and Yerushalayim does not
speak to them. The possibilities of entertainment in
Yerushalayim do not satisfy them, and they only know about
the Galilean hills because of the political problems involved
in them. The Tibetan mountains are more treasured for them;
Brazil and Chile inflame their imagination.
The culmination of this type of education is like that of the
Reform Movement -- assimilation and disappearance from the
Jewish map. The presence of hundreds of thousands of non-Jews
in Eretz Yisroel creates extensive possibilities for
assimilation and, chas vesholom vanishing from the
ranks of the Jewish People. Israeli parents, grandfathers,
and grandmothers should have a prime interest in the future
of their descendants, which is currently in grave danger. Not
offering solid Jewish education, overlooking our glorious
past, only viewing present difficulties without paying
attention to all of the miraculous, astonishing occurrences
that have happened to the Jewish Nation, not stressing Am
Yisroel's Divine promised future -- these are abominable
crimes by any historical criterion.
@BIG LET BODY = We must take an additional point into
consideration. Those who had the zechus to do
teshuvah and emerge from darkness to brilliance, cry
out in pain over how the so-obvious truth was hidden from
them. This pertains to Jews who were born and bred in a non-
religious atmosphere, persons who possess a profound
realization of their new way's soundness, intellectuals whose
powers of reasoning are not to be questioned.
Let us not forget that those ba'alei teshuvah have
driven away darkness with the candle of mitzvos and the torch
of the Torah. These are people who, with their bold decision
to return to Torah, relinquished a lifestyle whose entire aim
is to convey pleasures to man, to make his life more
delightful and gratifying. Instead they willingly entered a
system requiring endless sacrifices and concessions from
them, and placing them in constant battle with their
yetzer. They are the ones who point an accusing finger
at the system that originally thrust them into a disgraceful
way of life.
This can be well illustrated by imagining what would happen
if a chareidi person walked into the Israel Museum and burnt
the Dead Sea Scrolls, whose worth today is more emotional
than actual. Surely he would be denounced by everyone. Not
only would he be blamed, but all his mentors and any person
or group who had anything to do with him would be
condemned.
But what is happening with the other findings in
archaeological diggings? Children are not told at all about
the evidence the archaeologists have revealed that there were
always people who meticulously observed the Torah. They are
not told of the mikvo'os in the heights of Masada, of
the botei knesses, of the tefillin in the
Qumran caves, the letters from Bar Kochva about supplying his
soldiers with arba'as haminim, and the other remains
that tangibly prove the Jewish Nation's devotion to lives of
Torah and mitzvos and of the halochos of tumah
vetaharoh. Where is their intellectual honesty if they do
not explain this to their children?
It is astounding. Mikvo'os were found in Masada, in
Lublin, in Lithuanian Vilna, in Tzan'a in Yemen, in Fez in
Morocco, all separated by many generations and a span of
continents. However, in Eretz Yisroel, where nevi'im
once walked, where halocho was laid down for all
generations, children are not told about all this. How great
a crime is this!
Perhaps we have strayed from our starting point, but it is
actually all one topic. It is the overall view we are
required to contemplate.
HaRav Y. D. Rosenberg is the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas
Me'or Yisroel in Netanya.
