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Opinion
& Comment
Lessons of the Churban: A Letter From the Alter of Kelm
Zt'l
The Alter of Kelm zt'l wrote the following letter and
had copies sent out to the members of his circle. A copy of
the letter, originally taken from a copy handwritten by the
Alter's talmid HaRav Shmuel Hillel Sheinker
zt'l (whose role in founding Yeshivas Or Chodosh in
Yerushalayim was the subject of an article in the parshas
Terumoh edition of our paper), recently came to light. At
the end of the general letter, there is a personal note to
the Alter's son, HaRav Nochum Zeev Ziv zt'l, which has
never previously been published with the Alter's other
writings and which is relevant to the present period of
bein hametzorim.
Addressing the Group
Listen my friends, faithful comrades, who have banded
together to take Torah's path and turn our hearts toward
mussar -- those who are together in our yeshiva in
Kelm, in Grobin, Slobodka, Kovna and Lomzhe -- precious young
men, who are trained to bear the yoke of Torah and mussar
from their youth. May Hashem bless you and grant you
success in this world and the next.
Now, someone who travels a firm road that is frequented by
others [may make his own way safely and] does not need to go
as part of a caravan. Someone travelling through a desert
however, or an area where there are robbers, must take care
not to travel alone. He must seek a large party of
companions, the larger the better. In our times, and
especially in this generation, the Torah's paths are
extremely hazardous. I therefore said to myself, "I shall go
to my faithful friends and we shall take counsel together."
Each of us will assist his brother's [efforts in both] Torah
and mussar from afar and will [thus] ensure [our]
deliverance from the foes and saboteurs that lurk along the
way.
A thought came to me on Tisha B'Av during the kinnos,
when I considered the scope of the lamentations penned by the
holy mourners in their wisdom over the Churban and all
its details. I am at present prevented from indulging my wish
to speak about this at length -- may the One on High have
mercy upon us and draw us closer to His service -- so I shall
write with great brevity and those who study [my words]
should give them much thought. We learn two things from this:
that the fair Judge has enabled us to understand the events
perpetrated, and the preservation of the perpetrator.
Devastation of Sin
[First,] he has shown us effects of sin and the extent of its
power in bringing punishment once the measure [of guilt] is
full -- [punishment] without mercy, without any pardon
whatsoever, chas vesholom, with outpoured wrath, as it
were. [By showing us] the power of sin in bringing punishment
and vengeance upon those who transgress His will, chas
vesholom, in this world, where He has combined the
attribute of mercy together with that of judgment, Hashem
enables us to understand its strength in the world [to come]
of retribution, where His verdict is one of judgment, not
mercy for "mercy has no place in judgment." The hairs on a
person's head and flesh stand on end when he [realizes this
and] recalls the power of sin. And if it is so for the nation
as a whole, how much more so is this true for the individual,
chas vesholom.
The second lesson that we ought to take from this is that a
person ought not to give way to his own wishes, letting them
operate unbridled, at full strength, chas vesholom,
for this can lead him to become divested of his humanity,
chas vesholom, and to wreak thorough destruction. The
accursed rosho Titus ym"sh, strongly desired to
destroy the Beis Hamikdosh and Heaven allowed him to
do as he wished. He should have given some thought as to why
he was suddenly able to do so, for [the city was universally
believed impregnable, as the posuk says,] "The kings
of the land and people of the world did not believe that an
oppressor and enemy would enter the gates of Yerushalayim"
(Eichoh 4:12).
He should have realized that there was no other explanation
but that their sins were the cause [and that he was merely an
instrument]. Yet his powerful desire, [propelling him] like a
horse in headlong gallop, led him to do what the biggest fool
would never have done. If, when the strong one and the weak
are both below [on the same level the weak fears the strong,]
then [how much more so] when the strong one is up [in Heaven]
. . .
Can it be believed? That this accursed rosho ym"sh,
raised his accursed hand against Heaven in anger and fury and
lost his humanity because of his headlong rush to achieve his
desire, which led him to believe that his own power
and strength had achieved it?
We must learn to be careful of giving free rein to our
desires, so that we are not led to attribute independent
power to ourselves. This is an extensive topic that is worthy
of close consideration.
Rectifying the Cause
In maseches Yoma (9), Chazal ask why the Second
Beis Hamikdosh was destroyed and tell us that it was
because of the causeless hatred that existed among the
people. They ask whether the sins that led to the first or
those that led to the second destruction were more severe,
and they answer, "Look at the edifice, which returned for the
earlier generation but not for the later one." Causeless
hatred is thus more serious than immorality, idolatry and
murder [the sins that brought about the first
churban]. Why is this so?
There is a very well founded explanation but I am unable to
expand on it now. In our many sins, this shortcoming is still
rampant among us, to the point where even people with good
traits, for whom it is easy to give tzedokoh and to
practice kindness towards others and who are far from
immorality, as above, are nevertheless swept along with this
bitter sin, in that they are happy at the misfortunes of
others and find it hard to see their good fortune, their
greatness or their honor, and they certainly do not rejoice
in their friends' good fortune.
The posuk states fully and explicitly, "And you shall
love your friend like yourself" (Vayikra 19:18). This
is the foundation of proper behavior and it is "a fundamental
Torah principle" meaning that it is a fundamental principle
in fulfilling the Torah.
Anyone who does not invest toil and effort into attaining
love for his fellow human beings, will necessarily chas
vesholom fall into the Gehennom of hating them,
for human nature tends towards this. And especially someone
whose nature is difficult in this way, chas vesholom,
[it is as if he] lives with idolatry, immorality and murder,
and worse, every day.
Practical Steps
We said earlier that where the roads are dangerous, one
should only proceed as part of a caravan. It is therefore our
duty to resolve to greatly occupy ourselves with the mitzvah
of "love your neighbor like yourself," all year round. We
will thereby be making ourselves part of Klal Yisroel,
which is a very safe caravan to belong to.
Now, my brothers and friends, I have discovered a simple and
easy method of doing this and I hope that it will yield a
bountiful harvest in the coming year, may it be a good one.
However, just as a doctor does not prescribe medicine unless
he has found it effective, so I too have now found a sefer
written by a holy man of Hashem, the work Tomar
Devorah. Although I had already seen it, I had neither
the heart to understand, nor the eyes to see, until now, as
the posuk (Devorim 29:3) says, "And Hashem has not
given you a heart to comprehend, nor eyes to see . . .until
today." For, where a person does not delve sufficiently
deeply into something, he neither sees nor understands [the
things that he does once he does fathom them fully].
When my eyes were opened to it this time, I saw that it is a
good idea to learn a fixed portion of it regularly, without
skipping. [It is] also [good] to occasionally dwell on the
positive command to, "Love your friend like yourself" with
ideas . . .and to fix [this contemplation at] times of
prayer, such as:
"(Umishpotecho) And Your judgments" -- Know Him in
your every path; "(Vetzidkosecho) And Your justice" --
Your fair dealings with the world; "(ad afsei oretz)
[extend] to the ends of the earth."
"Vesoresecho udevorcho yossim al libbo -- [Happy is
the man] . . . and who takes Your Torah and Your word to
heart" -- as above, meaning that one should model his conduct
upon Hashem yisborach's traits (from Ezras
avoseinu, Shacharis).
Similarly in the brochoh of "bonei
Yerusholoyim" too, one should contemplate why
Yerushalayim was destroyed, as above, and ensure that one is
doing one's part to rectify it by strengthening Torah study
and one's love for one's fellow creatures. Also by keeping
fixed times for learning from Tomar Devorah, we can be
certain that there will be a rich yield next year.
If we pool our ideas, proceeding together as a caravan, each
of whose members occupies himself with these things in his
own place but together, I hope that we will all have great
merits amid Klal Yisroel.
From myself, who is your good friend, my beloved,
With blessings,
S.Z.
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