Rabbi YY Radio Show: I've Made So Many Mistakes - Summary: This radio show aired on March 7, 2015. What is the best way to deal with mistakes we have made in life? How to rid ourselves from paralyzing guilt? How do we forge ahead knowing how much damage we wrecked?

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Watch/Listen to 4 Recent Lectures by Rabbi YY Jacobson

Watch/Listen to 4 Recent Lectures by Rabbi YY Jacobson:  New Vayakhel Pekudei Class: My Dream vs. My Reality  G-d Dwells in the Home We Construct from our Real Lives; The Secret Behind the Golden Calf Yiddish: At the Purim Tisch of the Klausenburger Rebbe Can a Jew Really not Know the Difference Between "Cursed Is Haman" and "Blessed Is Mordechai?" Vayakhel: You Changed My Life, But You Don't Own Me When Leaders Lose Perspective I've Made So Many Mistakes... "I Married the Wrong Person... I Hurt Others... I Destroyed My Life."

Yiddish: At the Purim Tisch of the Klausenburger Rebbe Can a Jew Really not Know the Difference Between "Cursed Is Haman" and "Blessed Is Mordechai?" By: Rabbi YY Jacobson

Yiddish: At the Purim Tisch of the Klausenburger Rebbe

By: Rabbi YY Jacobson

Summary: Rabbi YY Jacobson addresses the Shushan Purim "Tisch" of the Sanz-Klausenburger Rebbe, Rabbi Shmuel David Halberstam Shlita, in Boro Park. The address was presented on Motzaei Shabbos Ki Sisa, 16 Adar 5775, March 7, 2015, after midnight, with hundreds of Klausunberg Chassidim gathered to celebrate in an annual post-Purim festive "Tisch" with their Rebbe.

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Netanyahu Made One Mistake The Free World is Craving Moral Leadership By: Rabbi YY Jacobson

Netanyahu Speaks

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday March 3, was powerful and enthusiastically received. It exemplified leadership in a way that Americans have not seen for years. The elected leadership of the US conspicuously displayed their awesome delight from the speech; somehow it restored their own dignity and faith in the role of America today. As a result of the Jewish Prime Minister of a tiny country speaking his mind with unwavering resolve, moral clarity and historical dignity, all those present in the gallery felt better about themselves and their own duties in a confused and bloody world.

It is one of the most important lessons of the event—one that constitutes a major theme in the holiday of Purim we celebrate today.

The Case for Genocide

In the biblical book of Esther, Haman, the viceroy and second in command in the large and powerful Persian Empire, and whose defeat we celebrate on the holiday of Purim (this year Thursday, March 5th), makes a short but powerful presentation to the Persian king, Ahasuerus, attempting to persuade him to embrace his plan of Jewish genocide.

"There is a certain people," Haman says to Ahasuerus (1), "scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your realm. Their laws are different from all the other nations, and they do not observe the King's laws. Therefore it is not befitting the King to tolerate them. If it pleases the king, let it be recorded that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand silver talents… for deposit in the King's treasuries."

Haman's argument is straightforward and clear: Jews are different. They are alien, outsiders, an obstruction to normal society. They don't fit into the rest of the human family. They have their own faith and their own laws, which they feel are superior to the king's laws. They are a nuisance, a thereat, a growth in an otherwise harmonious and integrated society. They ought to be disposed of.

The Talmud (2) records an oral tradition describing Haman's presentation in some more detail. "They don't eat from our food," Haman lamented to Ahasuerus; “they do not marry our women, and they do not marry their women to us (ironically, at this point they were both unaware that the King's wife was Jewish). They waste the whole year, avoiding the King's work, with the excuse: Today is the Sabbath, or today is Passover."

Haman also discusses bad Jewish habits: "They eat, they drink and they mock the throne. Even if a fly falls in a glass of wine of one of them, he casts away the fly and drinks the wine. But if my master, the King, touches a glass of wine of one of them, that person throws it to the ground and does not drink it (3)."
The Jews, Haman argues, see themselves as superior to us; they will forever stand out. They are a threat to the throne. Who needs them?

Repeating Haman's Words

Some six centuries after Haman, these same words are repeated by Philostratus, a third-century teacher and resident of Athens and Rome, who summarizes the pagan world's perception of the Jews.

"The Jews," Philostratus wrote, "have long been in revolt not only against the Romans, but against humanity; and a race that has made its own life apart and irreconcilable, that cannot share with the rest of mankind in the pleasures of the table, nor join in their libations or prayers or sacrifices, are separated from ourselves by a greater gulf than divides us from Sura or Bactra of the more distant Indies (4)."

The same argument, in one form or another, would be repeated thousands of times throughout history. The greatest Roman historian, Tacitus, living in the first century CE, had this to say about the Jews:

"The Jews regard as profane all that we hold sacred; on the other hand, they permit all that which we abhor… toward every other people they feel only hate and enmity, they sit apart at meals and they sleep apart, and although as a race they are prone to lust, they abstain from intercourse with foreign women."

One example he mentions to describe the moral conflicts between the Romans and the Jews is worthy of note. "The Jews," Tacitus writes, "regard it as a crime to kill any newborn infant." The Romans, as the Greeks before them, killed mentally and physically handicapped infants. In their minds, keeping such children alive was pointless and unaesthetic (5).

First Lady Intervenes

Back to the Haman story of Purim. The viceroy's arguments persuade the King. A decree is issued from the Persian throne. Every Jewish man, woman and child living under Persian dominance would be exterminated on a particular date.

Then, in a delightful turn of events, the First Lady, the Jewish queen Esther, invites her husband and Haman to a drinking feast. As we recall, Esther, from all the thousands of young women who were brought from across the Empire as potential candidates for the role of queen, succeeded in gaining the affection and grace of the King. "The King loved Esther more than all the women, and she won more of his favor and grace than all other women; he set the royal crown upon her head (6)." Years later, during this wine feast, the King makes a pledge to Esther that he would fulfill every request and petition. She utilizes the opportunity to make the fateful pitch.

"If I have won Your Majesty's favor and if it pleases the King," Esther tells Ahasuerus (7), "let my life be granted to me as my request and my people as my petition. For we — I and my people — have been sold to be destroyed, slain and exterminated. Had we been sold as slaves and servant-girls, I would have kept quiet. The compensation our adversary [Haman] offers cannot be compared with the loss the king would suffer [by exterminating us, rather than selling us as slaves]."

Clearly, Esther is attempting to approach the issue from two sides, a personal one and an economical one. First, she exposes her Jewish identity. The queen is a member of the people condemned to death. Esther knows, however, that this alone may not do the trick, so she continues to discuss dollars and cents (Haman too, as recorded above, used a two-point approach in persuading the King: logic and money). By selling the Jews as slaves, Esther argued, Ahasuerus would be profiting far more than by exterminating them. The money Haman offered him is miniscule vs. the potential profit from their sale into slavery.

The King, who never realized that Esther was Jewish, is outraged at Haman. He has his minister executed and his decree subverted. In subsequent conversations with Esther, Ahasuerus grants the Jews the right to self-defense against anybody who would dare to harm them. The entire climate in the Persian Empire toward the Jew is radically transformed. Esther's first cousin, a Jewish sage, Mordechai, is appointed viceroy, replacing Haman.

Yet, one question remains. Haman did not argue the case for Jewish extermination on the basis of senseless venomous passion. He presented what was to the King a sound and persuasive argument. The Jews, Haman argued, were an alien growth, a bizarre people, a separatist nation that would not accept the King's ultimate authority and even considered their law superior to the King's. A leader could not tolerate such a "superior group" in his empire.

This is a strong accusation. The King accepts it and as a result issues a decree demanding his subjects dispose of all the Jews — men, women and children. Yet nowhere in her entire dialogue with the King does Esther refute this argument. Why did Ahasuerus consent to the abolishment of his original plan if he believed Haman's outcry to be valid?

One might argue that Esther's charm and grace were the exclusive factors for the King's change of heart. Yet, as proved above, it is clear that Esther does not rely on this alone. That is why she presents a logical argument for slavery vs. genocide. She refutes the economic offer made by Haman by demonstrating that the king would lose money. How, then, could she ignore the powerful argument of Haman advocating a "Judenrein" society?

When False Notions Face Reality

Some questions are canceled out via answers; some arguments refuted by counter-arguments. But there are those beliefs or notions that require neither debate nor dialogue to disprove them. Reality does the job. When reality is exposed, they dissolve into nothingness.

Haman's argument fell into this category. Esther responded to Haman's argument for Jewish genocide not by dialogue, but by her sheer presence. The moment she identified herself as a member of the Jewish people and as a product of the Jewish faith, Haman's previously attractive "thesis" vanished.

Ahasuerus knew Esther intimately. She was his wife. He sensed her soul, he touched her grace, he cherished her personality. He adored her body, her glow, her charm, and would do almost anything for her (as he explicitly told her). He knew that Esther's character and values were noble, dignified and pure. He chose her from thousands upon thousands of young women, all of them not Jewish. Yet the king never realized that she was Jewish—a daughter of the Jewish people and a product of the Jewish faith.

When Ahasuerus suddenly discovered that she was a proud member of the Jewish people, an adherent of the Jewish faith, he immediately realized the falsehood of Haman’s arguments—not through dialogue and debate, but there Esther’s very living presence. Esther’s day-to-day life demonstrated, louder than any argument could achieve, the absurdity of Haman’s arguments that the Jews threatened society. Looking at Esther, seeing her refinement and inner beauty, the King understood that this alien Nation who lived by another code, ought not to be loathed, but respected. They may be very different, but it is an otherness that elevates other nations rather than threatens them. (Leo Tolstoy wrote: "The Jew is that sacred being who has brought down from heaven the everlasting fire, and has illuminated with it the entire world (8).") The Jew may be very different, but it is this "otherness" that has the power to inspire all of the nations of the world to live and love deeper, to encounter their individual path to G-d.

When the Persian King learnt that the royalty of Esther was a symptom of her Jewishness, he did not need to hear anything more. He got it. The last thing he needs to worry about is the Jewish people and their faith. If anything, they will prove to become the greatest blessing for his Empire. The decree was annulled.

Should We Hide?

The lesson for our times is clear. Sometimes Jews think that by hiding the “otherness” of Judaism and the Jewish people they will gain the approval of the world. Yet the facts prove otherwise: Assimilation, the eclipsing the otherness of the Jewish people, has never assuaged anti-Semitism. Tradition tells us (9) that the Jews of Shushan (the capital of the Persian Empire at the time of the Purim story) were quite assimilated. Yet, this did not deter the Persian viceroy and king from believing that despite all of the Jews' compromises and attempts not to be "too Jewish," they were still strange, distinct and different.

This pattern has repeated itself in every milieu since. Never in history, has assimilation solved the problem of Jew hatred. Jews in Germany were the most assimilated and integrated in mainstream society, yet it was in that very country where the worst Jew hatred in history sprouted.

Scores of great non-Jewish thinkers, sympathetic to Jews as well as to anti-Semites, saw in Jews and Judaism something different, bizarre and extraordinary. In Tolstoy's letter above he continues: "The Jew is the religious source, spring and fountain out of which all the rest of the peoples have drawn their beliefs and their religions." John Adams wrote that "the Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation (8)." Friedrich Nietzsche, on the other hand, believed that the Jews introduced to the world the "slave virtues" like "pity, the kind and helping hand, the warm heart, patience, industriousness, humility, friendliness," designated "for the weak and envious (10)." Hitler blamed the Jews for inventing the life-denying reality called conscience. Today, many academics and laymen believe that the Jews are responsible for the great conflict in today’s world. 

As much as we attempt to run from our identity as Jews, the non-Jewish world reminds us of who we are and where we came from. The non-Jew senses that since the day the Jew stood at Sinai, he or she has been different.

The solution for the Jewish people is therefore not to deny its otherness. That will never work. Rather, the Jew ought to embrace his or her Jewishness, and just like Esther, be proud with the lifestyle and moral ethic of Torah. When we learn how to embrace our otherness with love and grace, rather than with shame and guilt, it will become a source of admiration and inspiration for all of humanity.

Just like Esther, the presence of a Jew who is permeated by the love and dignity of Torah and Mitzvos—speaks for itself. The grace of a true Torah Jew, the integrity, the innocence, the discipline, the modesty, the moral code, the sensitivity to all that is noble and dignified in life, the love for man and G-d which Torah inculcates in the Jew—all these refute the argument of Haman more than debate can ever hope to achieve.
The great Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin once remarked: "If a Jew doesn't make Kiddush (to sanctify himself by maintaining a distinctly Jewish lifestyle), then the non-Jew will make Havdalah for him (by making the Jew realize he is truly different)."

Israel, for example, will never succeed portraying itself to the world as “a regular country.” Its choice is either to run from its destiny or to embrace it, and thus become a source of pride for the entire world.

Craving for Clarity

In this sense, Netanyahu’s address to Congress was a mesmerizing tour-de-force. The Prime Minister made, in my opinion, only one mistake. He completed his speech with these beautiful words: “Before the people of Israel entered the land of Israel, Moses gave us a message that has steeled our resolve for thousands of years. I leave you with his message today: “Chizku ve'imtzu, al tiru ve'al te'artzu m'pneihem,” “Be strong and resolute, neither fear nor dread them” (Deuteronomy 36:6). The Prime Minister received a strong applauds.

Netanyahu should have added the conclusion of the verse: “ki A-donay Elokeycha hu haholech imach lo yarpecha velo yaazveka,” “because G-d your Lord is the One who is going with you, and He will not fail you or forsake you.” Had he included with that verse, his impact would have been double fold and the applauds thundering. America is a faith-based country; its founding fathers were inspired by the Hebrew Bible. As much as the US leaders cherished every word that came out of the Prime Minister’s mouth, they would have been deeply effected by a Jew who would inspire in them the core and root of American values and its resolve to protect innocent people everywhere from opression and murder. They would have been comforted  by a Jewish leader expressing what lay in each of their hearts. Netanyahu himself did not realize how much more power and admiration he would have gained had he spoke as an ambassador of the people who had carried for millennia the torch of G-d, a G-d who cares first and foremost about how we treat each other.

The world admires Jews who admire their heritage and faith. The free world is craving for this type of Jewish leadership—one that can allow humanity to unite with passion and resolve around a G-d that inspires life, liberty and happiness, rather than a god who evokes death, oppression and misery. (11)

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1) Esther 3:8.
2) Megilah 13b.
3) Wine poured in idolatrous service is according to Torah law forbidden to the Jew. The rabbis decreed that wine touched or poured by an idolator, even if not in service to his
deity, be prohibited for a Jew to drink (See Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 123:1).
4) Quoted in Why The Jews? (By Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin, NY, 1983) p. 83.
5) Ibid. pp. 86-88.
6) Esther 3:17.
7) Ibid. 7:3-4. The translation of the last clause of the verse follows Rashi's interpretation.
8) Quoted in Radican Then, Radical Now (Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, London 2000) p. 3 with reference noted there.
9) See Talmud Meggilah 12a; Shir Hashirim Rabah 7:8. Introduction to Manos Halevi. Sicah, Purim 1941.
10) Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil (Harmondsworth, 1978) p. 178.
11) This essay is based on a talk delivered by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Purim 5729, March 4, 1969, published in Sichos Kodesh 5729 vol. 1 pp. 401-414.

I Am Joseph The Light Born from Life's Challenges By: Rabbi YY Jacobson

In disguise

There were two beggars sitting side by side on a street in Mexico City. One was dressed like a Christian with a cross in front of him; the other one was a Chassidic Jew with a black coat and a long beard.

Many people walked by, looked at both beggars, and then put money into the hat of the one sitting behind the cross.

After hours of this pattern, a priest approached the Jewish Chassidic beggar and said: "Don't you understand? This is a Catholic country. People aren't going to give you money if you sit there like a real Jew, especially when you're sitting beside a beggar who has a cross. In fact, they would probably give to him just out of spite."

The Chassidic beggar listened to the priest and, turning to the other beggar dressed as a Christian, said: "Moshe... look who's trying to teach us marketing."

A brother’s identity disclosed

The story of Joseph revealing himself to his brothers after decades of bitter separation is, no doubt, one of the most dramatic in the entire Torah. Twenty-two years earlier, when Joseph was seventeen years old, his brothers despising their younger kin, kidnapped him, threw him into a pit, and then sold him as a slave to Egyptian merchants. In Egypt he spent twelve years in prison, from where he rose to become viceroy of the country that was the superpower at the time. Now, more then two decades later, the moment was finally ripe for reconciliation.

"Joseph could not hold in his emotions," the Torah relates in this week's portion (1). “He dismissed all of his Egyptian assistants from his chamber, thus, no one else was present with Joseph when he revealed himself to his brothers. He began to weep with such loud sobs that the Egyptians outside could hear him. And Joseph said to his brothers: 'I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?' His brothers were so horrified that they could not respond.

“Joseph said to his brothers, ‘please come close to me’. When they approached him, he said, ‘I am Joseph your brother – it is me whom you sold into Egypt.

“’Now, be not distressed, nor reproach yourself for having sold me here, for it was to be a provider that G-d sent me ahead of you …G-d has sent me ahead of you to ensure your survival in the land and to sustain you for a momentous deliverance.”

Analyzing the encounter

Emotions are not mathematical equations that could or should be subjected to academic scrutiny and analysis (besides, perhaps, in your shrink’s office). Emotions, the texture through which we experience life in all of its majesty and tragedy, profess independent “rules” and a singular language, quite distinct of the calculated and structured ones of science.

Notwithstanding this, we still feel compelled to tune-into the particular phraseology employed by the Torah in describing this powerfully charged encounter when Joseph reveals his identity to his brothers.

Four observations immediately come to mind (2).

1) After Joseph exposes his identity to his brothers, he asks them to come close to him. Despite the fact that they were alone with him in a private room, Joseph wants them to approach even closer. At this moment we are expecting Joseph to share with his brothers an intimate secret. But that does not seem to come.

2) After they approach him, Joseph says, “I am Joseph your brother – it is me whom you sold into Egypt.” But he has already told them a moment earlier that he was Joseph!

3) Why did Joseph feel compelled to inform them that they sold him too Egyptians, as though they were unaware of what they had done to their little brother some two decades earlier? Why could he not immediately begin his explanation as to why they need not reproach themselves for selling him?

4) The first time Joseph discloses himself he does not define himself as their brother; yet when he repeats himself again he does mention the sense of brotherhood, “I am Joseph your brother.” Why the difference?

The unrecognized soul

The longest unbroken narrative in the entire Torah is from Genesis 37 to 50, and there can be no doubt that its hero is Joseph. The story begins and ends with him. We see him as a child, orphaned by his mother and beloved by his father; as an adolescent dreamer, resented by his brothers; as a slave, then a prisoner, in Egypt; then as the second most powerful figure in the greatest empire of the ancient world. At every stage, the narrative revolves around him and his impact on others. He dominates the last third of the book Genesis, casting his shadow on everybody else. Throughout the entire Bible, there is nobody we come to know as intimately as Joseph. The Torah seems to be infatuated with Joseph and his journeys and struggles more than with any other figure, perhaps even more than with the two pillars of the Jewish faith, Abraham and Moses. What is the mystique behind Joseph? Who is Joseph?

Joseph’s life embodies the entire drama and paradox of human existence. Joseph on the outside was not the Joseph on the inside; his outer behavior never did justice to his authentic inner grace. Already as a young teen, his brothers could not appreciate the depth and nobility of his character. The Midrash (3) understands The Torah’s description of Joseph at the age of seventeen as a “young boy” to indicate that he devoted much time to fixing his hair, grooming his eyes, and walking at the edge of his legs. Joseph appeared to most people around him as spoiled and pompous.

Then, when Joseph rose to become the vizier of Egypt, he donned the persona of a charismatic statesman, a handsome, charming and powerful young leader, a skilled diplomat and a savvy politician with great ambition. It was not easy to realize that beneath these qualities lay a soul on fire with moral passion, a kindred spirit for whom the monotheistic legacy of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob remained the epicenter of his life; a heart overwhelmed with love toward G-d.

Joseph’s singular condition – embodying the paradox of the human condition -- is poignantly expressed in one biblical verse (4): "Joseph recognized his brothers but they did recognize him." Joseph easily identified the holiness within his brothers. After all, they lived most of their lives isolated as spiritual shepherds involved in prayer, meditation and study. Yet these very brothers lacked the ability to discern the moral richness etched in the depth of Joseph's heart. Even when Joseph was living with them in Israel, they saw him as an outsider, as a danger to the integrity of the family of Israel. Certainly, when they encountered him in the form of an Egyptian leader, they failed to observe beyond the mask of a savvy politician the heart of a Tzaddik, the soul of a Rebbe.

The fire in the coal

This dual identity that characterized Joseph's life played itself out in a most powerful way, when his master's wife attempted to seduce him into intimate relations. On the outside, she thought, it would not be very difficult to entice a young abandoned slave into sacrificing his moral integrity for the sake of attention, romance and fun. But, when push came to shove, when Joseph was presented with the test of tests, he displayed heroic courage as he resisted and fled her home. As a result of that act, he ended up in prison for 12 years.

The Midrash (5) compares Joseph to the fresh wellspring of water hidden in the depth of the earth, eclipsed by layers of debris, grit and gravel. In a converse metaphor making the identical point, the Kabbalah sees Joseph as the blaze hidden within the coal. On the outside, the coal seems black, dark and cold; but when you expose yourself to its true texture, you sense the heat, the fire and the passion. You get burnt.
 

Disclosure

And then came the moment when Joseph removed his mask.
The Zohar, the basic Kabbalistic commentary on the Bible, presents a penetrating visualization of what transpired at the moment when Joseph exposed himself to his brothers.

When Joseph declared, “I am Joseph,” says the Zohar (6), the brothers observed the divine light radiating from his countenance; they witnessed the majestic glow emanating from his heart. Joseph’s words “I am Joseph” were not merely a revelation of who he was, but also of what he was. For the first time in their lives, Joseph allowed his brothers to see what he really was. “I am Joseph!” must also be understood in the sense of “Look at me, and you will discover who Joseph is.”

When Joseph cried out “I am Joseph,” says the Midrash, “his face became ablaze like a fiery furnace.” The burning flame concealed for thirty-nine years within the coal, emerged in its full dazzling splendor. For the first time in their entire lives, Joseph’s brothers saw the raw and naked Joseph; they came in contact with the greatest holiness in the world emerging from the face of an Egyptian vizier…

Loss

“His brothers were so horrified that they could not respond,” relates the Torah. What perturbed the brothers was not so much a sense of fear or personal guilt. What horrified them more than anything else was the sense of loss they felt for themselves and the entire world as a result of his sale into Egypt.

“If after spending 22 years in a morally depraved society,” they thought to themselves, “one year as a slave, twelve years as a prisoner, nine years as a politician -- Joseph still retained such profound holiness and passion, how much holier might he have been if he spent these 22 years in the bosom of his saintly father Jacob?!”

“What a loss to history our actions brought about!” the brothers tormented themselves. “If Joseph could have spent all these years in the transcended oasis, in the sacred environment, in the spiritual island of the Patriarch Jacob – how the world might have been enriched with such an atomic glow of holiness in its midst!”

Contrasting Joseph’s present condition to what might have been his potential, left the brothers with an irreplaceable loss by what they sensed was a missed opportunity of historic proportions.

The error

At this moment, “Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Please come close to me’.” Joseph wanted them to approach even closer and gaze deeper into the divine light coming forth from his countenance.

“When they approached him,” relates the Torah, “He said, ‘I am Joseph your brother – it is me whom you sold into Egypt.” Joseph was not merely repeating what he had told them earlier (“I am Joseph”), nor was he informing them of a fact they were well aware of (“It is me whom you sold into Egypt”), rather, he was responding to their sense of irrevocable loss.

The words “I am Joseph your brother – it is me whom you sold into Egypt” in the original Hebrew can also be translated as “I am Joseph your brother – because you sold me into Egypt.” What Joseph was stating was the powerfully moving message that the only reason he reached such tremendous spiritual heights is because he spent the last 22 years in Egypt, not in Jacob’s sacred environment.(7)

The great catalyst 

The awesome glow that emanated from his presence, Joseph suggested, was not there despite his two decades in lowly Egyptian society, far removed from his father’s celestial paradise; it came precisely as a result of his entanglement with a life alien to the innocent and straightforward path of his brothers. The incredible trials, tribulations and adversity he faced in the spiritual jungle are precisely what unleashed the atomic glow the brothers were presently taking in.

Had Joseph spent the two decades voyaging with his father down the paved road of psychological and spiritual transparency and lucidity, he would have certainly reached great intellectual and emotional heights. But it was only through his confrontation with a glaring abyss that gave Joseph that singular majesty, passion and power that defied even the rich imagination of his brothers.

That is why Joseph asked his brothers to come closer to him, so that they can behold from closer up his unique light and appreciate that this was a light that could only emerge from the depth of darkness, from the pit of Egyptian promiscuity.

[This is also the reason for Joseph mentioning, the second time around, the element of brotherhood. For Joseph was attempting not only to tell them who he was, but to share the reality of their kinship, the fact that he, like them, was deeply connected to his spiritual roots].

If only…

Just as the brothers, many of us, too, live our lives thinking “If only…” If only my circumstances would have been different; if only I was born into a different type of family; if only I would have a better personality… The eternal lesson of Joseph is that the individual journey of your life, in all of its ups and downs, is what will ultimately allow you to discover your unique place in this world as a servant of G-d.

The Forest

"The sea was much better," the traveler complained. "Whenever I got tired it at least had its currents to push me forward on my journey but you," he looked at the vast desert surrounding him, "you are of no help."

He went down on his knees, dead tired. When his breaths restored back to normalcy, a while later, he heard the desert's voice.

"I agree. I am of no help like the sea and thus I often depress people. But do you really think people will remember you for crossing the sea? Never! For the sea doesn't allow you to leave any mark. I, on the contrary, do. Thus, if you cross me, I swear, you will in turn immortalize yourself with the imprints you leave over me!"

The traveler got the essence and got up to walk on. "It's always about the imprints," his heart echoed.(8)
_______________

1) Genesis 45:1-7.
2) The following observations are discussed by many of the biblical commentators, who offer various explanations (See Midrash Rabah, Rashi, Ramban, Klei Yakar Or Hachaim).
3) Midrash Rabah Bereishis 84:7. Quoted in Rashi to Genesis 37:2.
4) Genesis 42:8.
5) Midrash Rabah ibid. 93:3.
6) Zohar vol. 1 p. 93b.
7) The Sefas Emes movingly interprets the Hebrew phrase used by Joseph “asher mechartem,” that it is similar to the term “asher shebarta,” meaning “yasher koach shesebarta,” thank you for breaking the tablets, and thank you for selling me to Egypt.
8) This essay is based on Chassidic writings: See Sefas Emes Parshas Vayigash. See further Sefer Halikkutim under the entry of Yosef; Sefer Letorah U’Lemoadim (by Rabbi Shlomo Yosef Zevin) Parshas Vayigash (p. 60-61); Likkutei Sichos vol. 25 pp. 255-257.

A Titanic Victory and a Small Cruse of Oil Eyes Fixed on Eternity By: Rabbi YY Jacobson

David Brooks, in an engaging article on Hanukah in the New York Times (The Hanukah Story, NY Times, December 10, 2009), sheds light on the brighter side of the Greeks who emphasized the power of reason and the importance of individual conscience and brought theaters, gymnasiums and debating societies to the cities. He also illuminates the darker side of the Maccabees, who liberated the Jews from barbaric Syrian-Greek oppression, but whose own regime became corrupt, brutal and reactionary. The Maccabees became religious oppressors themselves, fatefully inviting the Romans into Jerusalem.

While admiring the Greek contributions to civilization -- its politics, philosophy, art and architecture – it is easy to forget what Greek society was really like. Mr. Brooks fails to discuss the barbaric daily practices in the Hellenist culture -- infanticide, pedophilia, pederasty, the "Spartan Lifestyle," and the glorification of torture in many instances. None other than Aristotle himself, the teacher of Alexander the Great, argued in his Politics (VII.16) that killing children was essential to the functioning of society. He wrote: "There must be a law that no imperfect or maimed child shall be brought up. And to avoid an excess in population, some children must be exposed [i.e. thrown on the trash heap or left out in the woods to die]. For a limit must be fixed to the population of the state."
 
But let us focus here on the actual Hanukah narrative. A brief historical introduction is important.

The festival of Hanukah commemorates an extraordinary victory -- of the Maccabees, a relatively small and dedicated force of fighters, against one of the great imperial powers of classical antiquity, the Seleucid branch of the Alexandrian empire.
 
This story takes us back 2100 years ago, to the year 164 BCE, some 150 years before the birth of Christianity and two centuries before the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans. Israel was then under the rule of the empire of Alexander the Great. A Syrian ruler Antiochus the 5th ascended the throne and he was determined to impose his values on the Jewish people. He forbade the practice of Judaism, set up a statue of Zeus in the Temple, and systematically desecrated Jerusalem's holy sites. Jews who were caught practicing Judaism were tortutred to death. This was tyranny on a grand scale. Sadly, he was helped in this endeavor by two Jewish high priests, Jason and Menelaus, who assisted him in banning the Jewish lifestyle and turning the Temple into an interdenominational house of worship on Greek lines.
 
To put it into historical perspective, had Antiochus succeeded, Judaism would have died. Its daughter religions -- Christianity and Islam – would have, of course, never come to be.
 
A small group of Jews, led by the elderly priest Matityahu and his sons, rose in revolt. They fought a brilliant campaign, and within three years they had recaptured Jerusalem, removed sacrilegious objects from the Temple, and restored Jewish autonomy. It was, as we say in the Hanukah prayers, a victory for 'the weak against the strong, and the few against the many.' Religious liberty was established and the Temple was rededicated. Hanukah means "rededication."
 
This was a remarkable event and an extraordinary triumph. We, the Jewish people, are here today only because of the courage and vision of this small group of determined Jews who would not allow their G-d and their Torah to be reduced to the dustbins of history by the Syrian-Greek tyrant.
 
Yet astonishingly, the Talmud, the classical text of Jewish law and literature, gives us a very different perspective on the Hanukah festival.
 
“What is Hanukah?” asks the Talmud (Talmud, Shabbat 21b.) The answer given is this:
 
“When the Greeks entered the Sanctuary, they contaminated all its oil. Then, when the royal Hasmonean family overpowered and was victorious over them, they searched and found only a single cruse of pure oil that was sealed with the seal of the High Priest—enough to light the menorah (candelabra) for a single day. A miracle occurred, and they lit the menorah with this oil for eight days. The following year, they established these [eight days] as days of festivity and praise and thanksgiving for G-d.”
 
So, according to the Talmud, the festival of Hanukah is less about the military victory of a small band of Jews against one of the mightiest armies on earth, and more about the miracle of the oil. The Talmud makes only a passing reference to the military victory (“when the royal Hasmonean family overpowered and was victorious”), and focuses exclusively on the story with the oil, as if this were the only significant event commemorated by the festival of Hanukah.

 
This is strange. The miracle of the oil, it would seem, was of minor significance relative to the military victory. Besides the fact that this was a miracle that occurred behind the closed doors of the Temple with only a few priests to behold, it was an event concerning a religious symbol without any consequences on life, death and liberty. If the Jews would have been defeated by the Greeks, there would be no Jews today; if the oil would have not burnt for eight days, so what? The menorah would have not been kindled. Would the latkes taste any worse?
 
Let us grease the question with a contemporary touch.
 
Imagine that following the extraordinary Israeli victory of the 1967 six-day war, during which six Arab armies were determined to exterminate Israel and its three million Jews, a candle located in a Jerusalem synagogue would have burned for six days. Sure, it would have added a nice sentimental touch to the euphoria of Israel’s salvation, but would have this, rather than the deliverance of millions of innocent human beings from a second holocaust, been the cause of celebration? Would this detail even make it to the front page of the media?
 
Similarly, the burning of the Temple candelabra for eight days was, no doubt, a heart-warming follow up to a great victory. It was a demonstrative sign that G-d cherished the sacrifice of His children and had rewarded them with an astounding miracle. Yet it is clear that this was merely the icing on the cake, a coup-de-grace to a historical momentous victory on the battlefield. Yet the Talmud turns this minor detail into the decisive motif for the Hanukah celebration?
 
What is more, the miracle with the oil is the only element of the Hanukah events that we commemorate to this very day. We have no custom or ritual commemorating a miraculous triumph. What we do have is the kindling of a menorah for eight days, commemorating the fact that the oil in the Temple menorah lasted for eight days. How are we to understand this?
 
The answer allows us to appreciate the essential ingredient that has defined 4,000 years of Jewish history. The military victory was extraordinary; yet it didn't last. The dynasty of the Hasmonean family became entrenched in civil war and corruption. 210 years after Hanukah, in 68 CE, the Temple was destroyed, this time by the Romans. Jerusalem was plundered, Judea was decimated and the Jewish people exiled. It was the beginning of a period of Jewish powerlessness, dispersion and persecution which had lasted almost two millennia.
 
Unfortunately, the political and military victory of Hanukah did not last. What lasted was the spiritual miracle -- the faith which, like the oil, was inextinguishable.
 
Strength that is founded on military power alone is temporary. It may endure for long periods of time, but ultimately, its might will wane and it will be defeated by another power. Strength that is founded on moral and spiritual light can never be destroyed.
 
The sages who instituted the Hanukah holiday keenly understood this truth. With their eyes focused on eternity, the rabbis of the Second Temple era grasped that the timeless core of Hanukah was not the victory on the battlefield alone, but rather the fact that this military triumph led to the re-kindling of the sacred light and the moral torch. The military victory was an enormously significant event that we must be deeply grateful for. Yet what makes Hanukah a vibrant and heart-stirring holiday thousands of years later across the globe is the story of a little cruse of oil that would not cease to cast its brightness even in the darkest of nights and among the mightiest of winds.
 
David Brooks writes that “Rabbis later added the lamp miracle to give God at least a bit part in the proceedings.” He missed the point. The oil miracle constitutes the very foundation of the Hanukah holiday.
 
For more than two millennia, Jews have been gathering around their Hanukah candelabras, kindling each night an additional candle. As they gazed at the dancing flame atop their menorahs they can hear the candles sharing their story. It consisted of a simple punch line: The flame of Jewish faith, the flame of Torah, the flame of the Mitzvos, would never be extinguished. The candles were right: Judaism lives.
 
Imperial Greece and Rome have long since disappeared. Civilizations built on power never last. Those built on care for the powerless never die. What matters in the long run is not simply political, military or economic strength but how we light the flame of the human spirit, how we ignite the light of faith that brings more brightness and warmth to the world.

Israel, Stop Stuttering After Four Millennia, the Eyes of the World Are Still on Israel By: Rabbi YY Jacobson

Telling Time

Two elderly Jews, who haven't seen each other in 50 years, meet, slowly recognize one another and embrace. They go back to one of their apartments to talk about the days long ago.
The conversation continues for hours. Night falls. One asks the other, "Look at your watch. What time is it?"
"I don't have a watch," says the second.
"Then look at the clock."
"I don't have a clock."
"Then how do you tell the time?"
"You see that trumpet in the corner?" said the man. "That's how I tell the time."
"You're crazy," says the first. "How can you tell the time with a trumpet?"
"I'll show you," said the other man, picking up the trumpet and blowing a deafening blast out the open window.
Thirty seconds later, an angry neighbor shouts, "Two thirty in the morning, and you're playing the trumpet?"
The man turns to his friend and says, "You see? That's how you tell the time with a trumpet!"

Confident Speech

There is a lovely short prayer recited many times on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur which will be observed next month. It reads like this: "And so, Lord our G-d, grant honor to Your people, glory to those who are in awe of You, good hope to those who seek You, confident speech to those who yearn for You, joy to Your land, and gladness to Your city..."

What is the meaning of these words, "Confident speech to those who yearn for You"?

The Obsession

One of the great enigmas of history is the world's obsession with the Jewish people.

From our very inception 3,700 years ago, and throughout our long history until this very day, the Jewish people have evoked passionate response. Jews, it seems, never knew how to play "little league," staying out of the world's spotlight. We have been always playing "big league," caught up in the center of world events. Over the past four millennia, almost every great culture and civilization has been obsessed with the Jew, for better or for worse.

When a guru sits and meditates on a mountaintop—who blinks an eye? When Indian shamans smoke peyote and go into a trance, who pays attention? When a monk secludes himself in a monastery, who notices? But when the world spots a Jew, even an assimilated and self-hating Jew, it experiences an allergic reaction. Suddenly everyone is sneezing.

Indonesia has a population of 300 million people. How often do you hear about it? Israel has a population of seven million, yet barely a day goes by without front-page news from this little piece of land the size of New Jersey. The Muslims blame all their woes on Israel. Many Christians accuse Jews of deicide, and many extreme liberals and atheists blame the Jews for the scourge of terrorism. Nations who don't see eye to eye on anything, many of whose populations have never even met a Jew, unanimously agree that Israel is guilty of many sins. The only thing you can get the United Nations to agree on is condemning Israel. The Jew appears to be the great unifier, possessing the ability to unite the world in a profound and unique way.

Why the obsession with a people who never constituted more than one percent of the world's population? Why can't the world ever forget about us? Why do we generate so much interest without intentionally wanting to do so?

History as a Progression of Sermons

Israel's first chief rabbi, Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935), was a brilliant scholar, mystic and poet. He once formulated his own daring response to this age-old question. Whether one agrees with his conclusions or not, it is an idea worth reflecting upon.

All cultures, civilizations and peoples, suggested Rabbi Kook, have emerged on the world arena to grant humanity a unique contribution: A philosophical perspective, a scientific truth, an artistic expression, a political principle, a technological development and the like.  Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Greece, Rome, Byzantine and so many other cultures and states left their individual mark—small or large, positive or negative—on civilization. Once the people or civilization gave the world the gift of its genius, it left the center stage; the civilizations presented their "sermon" with pathos and then moved on to allow for the next "speaker" to emerge and deliver his subsequent message to humanity.

How about the Jews? From the moment they ascended to the center stage of history to deliver their message to the world, they have never descended. They have not even moved slightly off stage. The Jewish people remained standing in the center of every age and milieu in history. While the Greeks and Romans of old have vanished, the Jews still manage to constitute the hot topic at dinner parties and political conventions the world over.

Why?

Because, says Rabbi Kook, after 4,000 years of existence, they are still stuttering. The Jews have yet to deliver their message to the world with unwavering dignity and unambiguous clarity. We stand there, on center stage, the eyes of the world upon us on a virtually daily basis, but we speak in half sentences and apologetic undertones, continuously turning around to make sure we are not offending anybody. Lacking the courage to present ourselves for who we really are and what we really have to share with the world, humanity awaits with bated breath for the real Jew to stand up and speak.



Some Jews recoil into religion, shunning the world and ignoring its reality. Others travel in the other direction, attempting desperately to accommodate modernity and not come across as "too Jewish." Yet Judaism in its purest sense is the courageous attempt to generate that romantic kiss between heaven and earth, to uncover the truth that the G-d of the heavens and the reality of earth are truly one.

Our ambivalence often stems from our own confusion about whether we could place our wholehearted trust in our tradition, in our Torah, in our faith. Many of us feel that to embrace Torah in a modern world is unsophisticated and fundamentalist. Even Jews who adhere to a lifestyle governed by Torah feel that the Torah is good for their families and communities, but that it can't stand up to the pragmatic reality on earth. Washington and the United Nations are too "goyish" for Torah. They will never accept Torah. So our leaders, rabbis, politicians, journalists and spokesmen stand there during press conferences and stutter.

Should We Be Ashamed With Judaism?

Sometimes, hearing it from the mouths of non-Jews themselves, can be helpful.

Nineteenth-century American president John Adams wrote: "I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize man than any other nation. If I were an atheist who believed or pretended to believe that all is ordered by chance, I should believe that chance has ordered the Jews to preserve and propagate to all mankind the doctrine of a supreme, intelligent, wise, almighty sovereign of the universe, which I believe to be the great essential principle of all morality, and consequently of all civilization."

Another Non-Jewish philosopher, Peter Kreeft, wrote these words: "The prophetic spirit of the Jew finds a meaning and a purpose in history, thereby transforming mankind's understanding of history. Their genius for finding meaning everywhere—for example in science and in the world of nature—can be explained in only two ways: either they were simply smarter than anyone else, or it was G-d's doing, not theirs. The notion of the chosen people is really the humblest possible interpretation of their history."

The Torah is the only thing that never let us down and never gave us false hopes. The Torah predicted thousands of years ago that if we forsook our identity as a "kingdom of princes and a holy nation," we would fail miserably. The same Torah also predicted that no matter what happens to us, we will outlive all our enemies and never vanish. The Torah possesses the most enduring, powerful and relevant truths available to humanity.

Telling the Truth

The State of Israel is one critical example. The Arab world has been thundering for 70 years that we are thieves; we have stolen their land and built a state on Islamic soil. Yet, in our response to the Arab accusations, we are always stuttering. Our leaders talk about Balfour Declarations and United Nations resolutions; we talk about self-defense and our readiness for peace. But we have no answer to the blatant outcry of the Arab world: The "Zionist entity" was built on occupied territory.

The Arabs present their message clearly: All of Palestine belongs to them. The entire State of Israel is one big settlement. That is why there was no peace before the 1967 war, a time of no Jewish settlements and no settlers. Gaza belonged to Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem to Jordan and the Golan Heights to Syria. Why did six Arab countries decide to invade and exterminate Israel that year? Because in their belief, all of Israel occupies Arab land. According to the Koran, Jews have no right to establish a self-governed homeland on Islamic soil. For a Muslim who believes the Koran to be the word of Allah (G-d), even if Israel conceded 95 percent of its soil to the Arabs, the remaining 5 percent would need to be snatched from them. Non-Muslims are forbidden to govern any land that once belonged to Muslims.

While Israel was once held in awe, today, close to six decades years after its miraculous founding, it has reached its nadir. Never before has it been so isolated, lonely, abandoned and maligned, today becoming the world's favorite punching bag. Even in America, Israel's true friend, the intelligentsia on college campuses across the country continue to denigrate, humiliate, and harm Jews by pressuring universities to divest from Israel. Not since Hitler, not since the 1930s, have we seen such overt anti-Semitism rear its ugly head the world over.

It's high time we cease being on the defensive and let the world in on our big secret. The only reason Jews came from Odessa, Vilna and Warsaw to the land of Israel is because G-d gave it to them; because the Creator of the heaven and earth chose to give his Holy Land to the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as stated clearly in the Torah. There are three billion people in the world who believe in the Bible, who live with the Bible and who quote the Bible. But you will never catch any self-respecting Jew, the people who gave the world the Bible, dare even to whisper in public the obvious, simple and plain truth that our sole connection to the land of Israel is the Bible.

History has proven scores of times that the acquiescence of Jews has never succeeded in gaining the affection of our non-Jewish neighbors. The world respects Jews who respect themselves and their tradition; the world dislikes Jews who dislike themselves and their Judaism. What we desperately need today are Jews who are not stuttering, who are saturated with the quintessential message of Judaism, that the G-d of heaven and the reality of earth are one. This is the road to peace and reconciliation between the Jewish and non-Jewish world.

Paradoxically, it seems the world is waiting for this. Not only the Christian and Islamic world. Even the secular world seems respect Jews who respect themselves and their faith. The world is waiting for Israel to treat the land the way Israel should be treated, as G-d's personal gift to the Jewish people.

The world's ongoing obsession with the Jew, according to Rabbi Abraham Kook, is society's subconscious plea to the Jew to stop stuttering and share with the world what it heard at Sinai: that humanity is capable of building a world that will reflect the oneness and harmony of its Divine creator, and that each and every one of us can transform our corner of the universe into a Divine palace.

"Grant confident speech to those who yearn for You," we will pray five times on Yom Kippur. Let our people who deep down believe in You and yearn for You have the confidence to share with the world the revolutionary vision of Judaism that the spiritual and the physical can be seen as one. And that  G-d, Israel and Torah are inseparable.

Why Is Israel Scared of the Truth? At the end of the day we have one moral argument. Why don’t we use it? - by Rabbi YY Jacobson

What To Do About the Terror In Israel? A New Approach Parents and three children of the Fogel family were murdered Friday Night in their home in the town of Itamar. What is the cause of this bloodshed? What's in the mind of man who slits the throat of a 3-month old baby? Rabbi YY Jacobson

Intimacy in Flames As the Jewish future was consumed in Roman flames, G-d impregnated them with a seed By: Rabbi YY Jacobson

Crash Landing

An airliner was having engine trouble, and the pilot instructed the cabin crew to have the passengers take their seats and get prepared for an emergency landing.

A few minutes later, the pilot asked the flight attendants if everyone was buckled in and ready.

'All set back here, Captain,' came the reply, 'except one lawyer who is still going around passing out business cards.'

The Great Crisis

On the ninth of the month of Av in the year 70 CE (next Tuesday, August 9th) the Roman legions in Jerusalem smashed through the fortress tower of Antonia into the Holy Temple and set it afire. In the blackened remains of the sanctuary lay more than the ruins of the great Jewish revolt for political independence; it appeared that Judaism itself was shattered beyond repair.

Out of approximately four to five million Jews in the world, over a million died in that abortive war for independence. Many died of starvation, others by fire and crucifixion. So many Jews were sold into slavery and given over to the gladiatorial arenas and circuses that the price of slaves dropped precipitously, fulfilling the ancient curse: "There you will be offered for sale as slaves, and there will be no one willing to buy" (Deuteronomy 26:68). The destruction was preceded by events so devastating that from an objective perspective, it seemed that the Jewish people had breathed its last breath.

This is what amazed a philosopher like Nietzsche, a fierce and fateful critic of the Jews, as it has so many other thinkers throughout the ages. In Twilight of the Idols and The Antichrist the German philosopher wrote: "The Jews are the most remarkable people in the history of the world, for when they were confronted with the question, to be or not to be, they chose, with perfectly unearthly deliberation, to be at any price ... They defined themselves counter to all those conditions under which a nation was previously able to live ... Psychologically, the Jews are a people gifted with the very strongest vitality ... The Jews are the very opposite of decadents."

How did the Jews achieve this indeed?

The Cherubs Embracing

The Talmud relates a profoundly strange incident that occurred moments before the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple:

“When the pagans entered the Holy Temple, they saw the cherubs cleaving to each other. They took them out to the streets and said: ‘These Jews ... is this what they occupy themselves with?’ With this, they debased [the Jewish people], as it is written: ‘All who had honored her have despised her, for they have seen her nakedness (1).’”

The meaning of these words is this: The innermost chamber of the Jerusalem Temple, the most sacred site in Judaism, was known as the "Holy of Holies" and seen as the spiritual epicenter of the universe. Two golden cherubs – they were two winged figures, one male and one female -- were located in the "Holy of Holies." These cherubs represented the relationship between the cosmic groom and bride, between G-d and His people.

The Talmud teaches (2) that when the relationship between groom and bride was sour the two faces were turned away from each other, as when spouses are angry with each other. When the relationship was healthy, the two faces of the cherubs would face each other. And when the love between G-d and His bride was at its peak the cherubs would embrace “as a man cleaves to his wife.”

Now, the Talmud is telling us, that when the enemies of Israel invaded the Temple – during the time of its destruction in the Hebrew month of Av (3) -- they entered into the Holy of Holies, a place so sacred that entry into it was permitted only to a single individual, the High Priest, and only on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year. There they saw the cherubs embracing each other. They dragged them out of the Temple and into the streets, vulgarizing their sacred significance (4).

This seems bizarre. When the enemies of Israel invaded the Temple to destroy it, the relationship between G-d and His people was at its lowest possible point, for that was the reason for the destruction and the subsequent exile. The Jews were about to become estranged from G-d for millennia. The manifest presence of divinity in the world, via the Temple in Jerusalem, would cease; Jews and G-d would now be exiled from each other.

Yet, paradoxically, it was precisely at that moment that the cherubs were intertwined, symbolizing the profoundest relationship between G-d and Israel. How are we to understand this (5)?

Preparing for the Voyage

The most daring explanation was given by the heir to the founder of Chassidism, Rabbi Dovber, known as the Magid of Mezrich (d. in 1772). Quoting the injunction of the sages that a man ought to consort with his wife prior to leaving home on a journey, the Maggid suggests that G-d, prior to His long journey away from home, expressed His intimacy with the Jewish people. Prior to the onset of a long exile, the cherubs were intertwined, representing the intimacy preceding the journey (6).

What the Chassidic master was conveying through this dazzling metaphor – and it is a central theme in Chassidic thought -- was that it was at the moment of the destruction that a new relationship between G-d and His people was beginning to develop. The greatest moment of crisis was also a moment of intimacy. As the Temple was going up in flames, and with it so much of Jewish life and history, G-d impregnated (metaphorically speaking) a seed of life within the Jewish soul; He implanted within His people the potential for a new birth.

For two millennia, this "seed" has sustained us, giving the Jewish people the courage and inspiration to live and propser. Judaism flourished in the decades and centuries following the destruction of the Temple in an unprecedented fashion: The Mishnah, Talmud, Midrash and Kabbalah were all born during those centuries. The very tragic conditions of exile became catalysts for unparalleled rejuvenation. The closing of one door opened many more.

Many empires, religions and cultures attempted to demonstrate to the Jewish people that their role in the scheme of creation has ended, or that it has never began, luring them into the surrounding, prevailing culture. But the “intimacy” they experienced, so to speak, with G-d just moments before He "departed" from them, left its indelible mark. It imbued them with a vision, a dream and an unshakable commitment. Throughout their journeys, often filled with extraordinary anguish, they clung to their faith that they were in a covenant with G-d to transform the world into a divine abode; to heal a fractured world yearning to reunite with its own true reality.

Birth

This grants us a deeper understanding into the ancient Jewish tradition (7) that the Moshiach (Messiah) was born on the ninth of Av. At the moment the Temple was about to be engulfed in flames, the dream of redemption was born. There was an intimacy in the flames and it produced a hidden seed that would eventually bring healing to a broken world. Think about it: The very possibility for the rabbis of those generation to declare that Moshiach was born on the ninth of Av, was nothing but testimony to the intimacy that accompanied the milieu of estrangement and exile.

Now we are finally ready for the birth (8).
___________

To read the footnotes or to post a comment on this article, please click here.

Israel's Greatest Mistake; Israel Repeated the Same Error Six Times. Will It Act Differently This Time? By: Rabbi YY Jacobson

Israel is, thank G-d, a strong country, with an exceptional military that combines courage, skills and profound moral standards. Israel will fight back until Hamas accept a cease fire, at least for the time being.

Yet that is exactly what we must fear.

Israel has begun the "surgery" to cleanse its environment of the noxious diseases of terror. But when the blood caused by the surgery begins to gush forth, the UN may condemn, the State Department may criticize and the Israeli left will become self loathing. The Jewish State might then be compelled to "sew" up the wound before the infection has been eliminated. If that happens, the infection of terror will be allowed to simmer beneath the surface until the next explosion occurs in a year or two or 10. The Arabs, it must be said, have lots of patience.

This has been the tragic Israeli error all along: It has never professed the courage to go all the way, to establish untouchable truths and maintain them with unwavering resolve and determination. Six examples are noteworthy.

First, in the Six-Day War, when seven armies vowed to obliterate Israel, the Jewish State fought back and won, and tripled its original size. In the aftermath, instead of demonstrating strength, clarity and determination, Israel immediately sent a delegation to Washington to express its readiness to return all of the occupied territories to the Arab nations. (As usual, the Arabs refused the offer; they wanted more.)

Israel was attempting to demonstrate its passion for peace, but it misunderstood the psychology of the enemy. The move demonstrated to the Arab world that Israel was, in the final analysis, unsure and vulnerable, and capable of being defeated through long-term resolve.

In the second example, in June 1982, Israel entered Lebanon to eliminate Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization, which had been terrorizing Israel's northern cities and towns. Just as the army stood on the verge of total victory, the military's hands were tied. The Israeli army waited futilely on the outskirts of Beirut instead of swiftly completing its objectives. The casualties grew from day to day, the results were catastrophic for Israelis and for Arabs, and the PLO survived and thrived. (A little more than a decade later, Arafat would win the Noble "Peace" Prize.)

An Israeli man looks out from an apartment building that was hit by a rocket launched presumably from the Gaza Strip, claiming three lives on Thursday in Kiryat Malachi, Israel.

And third, in probably the greatest political mistake of a modern country, Israel resurrected the PLO in 1993, negotiated the Oslo peace agreements, withdrew from most of the West Bank and much of Gaza, supplied weapons and money to its foes for a police force, and allowed a mighty terror infrastructure to be built in its own back yard. When the first Israeli bus exploded in 1994, and the PLO did nothing to stop it, Israel had the opportunity to liberate itself from the deadly illusion that peace was on the horizon and completely cut down the terror foundations in the West Bank and Gaza. Instead, Israel showed restraint. During the next 10 years, rivers of blood flowed in the Holy Land. Thousands of innocent Jews and Arabs have lost their lives or been maimed forever.

Then, in a fourth example, Israel evacuated Gaza in august of 2005, leaving it ‘yudenrein.’ Ten thousands Jews were expelled from their homes, with their communities demolished by the Israel Defense Forces under the leadership of the hawkish Ariel Sharon who in a single instant has reversed his philosophy of sixty years. Not a single Jew or soldier was left in Gaza. Israel gave its neighbors the opportunity to create an independent state with a flourishing society. Instead, the following day rockets came pouring down on Israeli cities, targeting civilians in homes, schools and streets. Instead waking up to the deadly consequences of the Gaza withdrawal and re-entering Gaza, Israel showed restraint. The results? Hamas has built a powerful terror war machine, 15,000 rockets have terrorized Israel’s south for years, and all of Israel stands today in great danger. Just this past week, Hamas has sent some 450 rockets pouring down on Israel, murdering and maiming innocent Jewish women, men and children.

A fifth example: In July 2006, Hezbollah attached Israel on the north, shooting rockets on Israeli towns, and thus diverting its attention as it murdered eight soldiers and kidnapped two. The subsequent war ended with Israel not fulfilling even one of its objectives. Hezbollah remains stronger than ever, waiting for the right opportunity to attack. The two kidnapped soldiers were not freed. (They were later returned in coffins for exchange of Israel freeing some of the worst terrorists.)

Finally, in January 2009, Israel was forced to reenter Gaza to stop the incessant rocket attacks. But once again, Israel chose to allow the terror-cancer cells to remain intact. They left Gaza with Hamas intact.

Time and time again, the State of Israel has proven the truth of the ancient saying, that when a Jew finally makes a fist, he bangs it on his heart to confess his wrongdoings.  Israel has failed to recognize that when you leave part of the cancer tumor intact so that you can complete the surgery as fast as possible, it will resurface, to attack the organism. Terror is a cancer; it must be completely eliminated.

So now we're back at the drawing board. Hamas is as strong as ever and its capabilities are impressive. Rockets have reached Tel Aviv, 50 miles from the Gaza strip. Will Israel once again fear its own strength and compromise its moral responsibility to ensure the life and safety of every single person in Israel? Will it buckle under and agree to some type of nebulous cease fire, giving its enemies the time and space to reorganize and plan their next opportunity to attack?

The Future 

There are many questions about the future. What is the long-term solution? What about the demographic problem of a minority of Jews in a sea of Arabs? How can Israel continue to “occupy” Palestinian territory?

The great mistake of Israel has been to ask—and answer—questions of peace in times of war. Israel, for more than 15 years now, is in a state of war, though it never acknowledged it as such. For 15 years, there have been Arab attempts on almost a daily basis to murder Jewish men, women and children throughout the country. Many have succeeded; most have failed, only because of the diligence of the IDF and the help of G-d. In a time of war, you talk not about demographics or occupation. You make sure that your citizens are not being murdered and kidnapped.

When Israel's neighbors embrace the path of peace, then we all will have the luxury to confront the demographic problem, as well as any others. In the meantime, Israel must complete the job it began years ago but never saw through till the end.

Broken Why Breaking the Tablets Was Moses' Greatest Accomplishment By: Rabbi YY Jacobson

"The world breaks everyone, and afterwards some are stronger in the broken places.” -- Ernest Hemingway 

Broken

 

The simple reading of the story (recorded again in this week’s portion, Eikev) goes like this: After the Jews created a Golden Calf, Moses smashed the stone tablets created by G-d, engraved with the Ten Commandments. Moses and G-d then "debated" the appropriate response to this transgression and it was decided that if the people would truly repent, G-d would give them a second chance. Moses hewed a second set of stone tablets; G-d engraved them also with the Ten Commandments, and Moses gave them to the Jewish people.

 

Yet a few major questions come to mind.

 

1. Moses, outraged by the sight of a golden calf erected by the Hebrews as a deity, smashed the stone tablets. He apparently felt that the Jews were undeserving of them, and that it would be inappropriate to give them this Divine gift. But why did Moses have to break and shatter the heavenly tablets? Moses could have hidden them or returned them to their heavenly maker? 

 

2. The rabbis teach us that "The whole tablets and the broken tablets nestled inside the Ark of the Covenant (1)." The Jews proceeded to gather the broken fragments of the first set of tablets and had them stored in the Ark, in the Tabernacle, together with the second whole tablets. Both sets of tablets were later taken into the Land of Israel and kept side by side in the Ark, situated in the Holy of Holies in the Temple in Jerusalem. 

 

This seems strange. Why would they place the broken tablets in the Holy of Holies? After all, these fragments were a constant reminder of the great moral failure of the Jewish people (2). Why not just disregard them, or deposit them in a safe isolated place?

 

3. In its eulogy for Moses, the Torah chooses this episode of smashing the tablets as the highlight and climax of Moses’ achievements.

 

In the closing verses of Deuteronomy we read: “Moses, the servant of G-d, died there in the land of Moab... And there arose not since a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom G-d knew face to face; all the signs and wonders which G-d sent to do in the land of Egypt... that mighty hand, those great fearsome deeds, which Moses did before the eyes of all Israel.”

 

What did Moses do “before the eyes of all Israel?” Rashi (3), in his commentary on Torah, explains “That his heart emboldened him to break the tablets before their eyes, as it is written, ‘and I broke them before your eyes.’ G-d's opinion then concurred with his opinion, as it is written, ‘which you broke—I affirm your strength for having broken them.”

 

This is shocking. Following all of the grand achievements of Moses, the Torah chooses to conclude its tribute to Moses by alluding to this episode of breaking the tablets! Granted that Moses was justified in breaking the tablets, but can this be said to embody his greatest achievement? How about his taking the Jews out of Egypt? Molding them into a people? Splitting the Red Sea? Receiving the Torah from G-d and transmitting it to humanity? Shepherding them for forty years in a wilderness?

 

Why does the Torah choose this tragic and devastating episode to capture the zenith of Moses’ life and as the theme with which to conclude the entire Torah, all five books of Moses?!

In the Fragments

 

We need to examine this entire episode from a deeper vantage point.

 

Moses did not break the tablets because he was angry. Rather, the breaking of the tablets was the beginning of the healing process. Before the golden calf was created, the Jews could find G-d within the wholesomeness of the tablets, within the spiritual wholesomeness of life. Now, after the people have created the golden calf, hope was not lost. Now they would find G-d in the shattered pieces of a once beautiful dream.

 

Moses was teaching the Jewish people the greatest message of Judaism: Truth could be crafted not only from the spiritually perfected life, but also from the broken pieces of the human corrupt and demoralized psyche. The broken tablets, too, possess the secret of G-d.

 

Which is why the sages tell us that not only the whole tablets, but also the broken ones, were situated in the holy of holies. This conveyed the message articulated at the very genesis of Judaism: From the broken pieces of life you can create a holy of holies.

 

G-d, the sages tell us, affirmed Moses’ decision to break the tablets. G-d told him, “Thank you for breaking them (4).” Because the broken tablets, representing the shattered pieces of human existence, have their own story to tell; they contain a light all their own. Truth is found not only in wholesomeness, but also—sometimes primarily—in the broken fragments of the human spirit (5). There are moments when G-d desires that we connect to Him as wholesome people, with clarity and a sense of fullness; there are yet deeper moments when He desires that we find Him in the shattered experiences of our lives.

 

We hope and pray to always enjoy the “whole tablets,” but when we encounter the broken ones, we ought not to run from them or become dejected by them; with tenderness we ought to embrace them and bring them into our “holy of holies,” recalling the observation of one of the Rebbe’s, "there is nothing more whole than a broken heart."

 

We often believe that G-d can be found in our moments of spiritual wholesomeness. But how about in the conflicts which torment our psyches? How about in the very conflict we experience between a godless existence and a G-d-centered existence? We associate “religion” with “religious” moments. But how about our “non-religious” moments?

 

What Moses accomplished with breaking the tablets was the demonstration of the truth that the stuff we call holiness can be carved out from the very alienation of a person from G-d. From the very turmoil of his or her psychological and spiritual brokenness, a new holiness can be discovered.

 

It is on this note that the Torah chooses to culminate its tribute to Moses’ life. The greatest achievement of Moses was his ability to show humanity how we can take our brokenness and turn it into a holy of holies.

 

(This essay is based on a talk delivered by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, on the 20th of Av 5725, August 18th 1965, on the occasion of his father’s yartziet (6)).