What will be?
That is a question that is often heard these days in Israel
as the presumptions that many have entertained for many years
have crumbled. Is there a peace process with a "partner" who
tries his best to murder you? Can Arafat make a deal? If he
goes then what or who will take his place? What will be
without tourism, without a high-flying stock market, without
increasing economic growth?
Knowing what will be helps one to plan. One can take steps to
maximize the gains from the future or at least to minimize
the losses.
More than the utility of knowing what the future holds is the
sense of security it seems to provide. If we know what will
be and where we fit in, then we are "secure" in that
knowledge, or at least we feel that way.
But that is not the direction to turn for security. As
predictable as things seem, they can always change
drastically. As likely as a certain course of events seems,
it can quickly jump onto a new path that will have an
entirely different outcome. Anyone who has lived through the
past three months has seen for himself how dramatically and
unexpectedly things can change.
When the Maccabim began their struggle against the dominant
Greeks they did not make extensive surveys and studies. They
just decided that the time for action had come and sought
their security in the spiritual realm, in the certainty that
their course was right. Once they knew that their actions
were right according to the eternal standards of the Torah,
they were not concerned with the chances of success as
measured according to the usual laws of nature.
Matisyohu and his sons were not paralyzed into inactivity by
the overwhelming challenge that they faced. They did not let
the fact that they were a handful facing the mightiest power
of the day, stand in their way. As Maran HaRav Shach
zt"l said nine years ago soon after the heretical
government was set up: "We needn't worry. They may win the
elections and we will be in the minority. But the minority
will win! We must strengthen ourselves in our own knowledge
and if we are strong in our knowledge they will of necessity
give in. We are a people who is alive and we have Hakodosh
Boruch Hu Who is alive and stands at our side. As it is
said in the name of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (Succah
45b): `I have seen the bnei aliya and they are few. If
they are a thousand, I and my son are among them. If a
hundred, I and my son are among them. If they are two, I and
my son are they.' . . . Even if most are against the Torah,
we will stick to it, . . . and this way we will be saved."
We must look for our security in the knowledge that what we
do is the right thing to do. If we act on that basis, then
Hashem will certainly respond.
