| Dear Yeshiva Family:
First, I want to thank all those that were so gracious to come out and celebrate with the Yeshiva and me this past Monday night. Your joining us was incredibly meaningful to me personally and to the Yeshiva, so a very deep and sincere thank you and Yasher Kochachem! This week's parshah describes the destruction of Sedom, a city of institutionalized sin. There was one family in the city, Lot's family, deemed worthy of being saved, if not for their own merit, but in the merit of Avraham Avinu. Yet there is a curious conversation between Lot and the malachim prior to the destruction. The malachim urge Lot to run out of the region, for everything was going to be destroyed. Lot was nervous that he might not make it out before the destruction would begin, so the malach made the line of destruction closer to where Lot was, making escape easier.
The Be'er Yosef asks why this conversation was necessary. Surely the malachim had the ability to transfer Lot through some miraculous means out of "Ground Zero"; why did they demand that he run away, to the point that Lot was scared he would not be able to do so physically, and then because of that even change the line of scrimmage? Why not just spirit them away on a magic carpet?
The Be'er Yosef explains that Lot was actually deserving of the same fate as the Sedomites, because he specifically moved there to be part of their society. He was only saved in Avraham Avinu's merit. Therefore, the Be'er Yosef posits that in order to be saved, he physically had to remove himself from the society of Sedom. He had to do the work! His relationship to Avraham was what awarded him the opportunity to do teshuva, to extricate himself from his own doing, and thereby be saved. But he still had to take the initiative, running away from the sinful society he chose in order to deserve being saved. When sizing up the situation and determining it was just too hard for Lot to extricate himself from Sedom, the malach even shortened the distance to the goal to make it easier and more doable, but it still had to be Lot's doing in order to warrant being saved. Sometimes we are deserving of extra help from Heaven, but in order to access this extra help we need to invest just a little bit of sincere personal effort, whether it is removing ourselves from wrong, or involving ourselves in what is right.
In recent weeks, many members of Klal Yisrael have taken upon themselves new kabbalos. Some have committed to begin Shabbos several minutes early; some have initiated a new learning or davening schedule; some have adhered more strongly to Shabbos or tzniyus. What is interesting to note is that of those who have begun something new, I have met many who are so excited with their kabbala, they enjoy it, they appreciate what they are doing; the beauty of the mitzvah is talking to them. They have had siyata dishmaya waiting outside their doorstep for who knows how long, waiting for them to taste the enjoyment of that specific mitzvah, and they just needed toinvest that initial effort in order to access it!
There are two points I wish to make about kabbalos. First, don't think kabbalos are no longer necessary. Generally, the inspiration one receives when hearing horrific news fades after a while. We get used to the new reality and start to get back to our normal lives. One has to realize that the world is still in an extremely precarious state. There is a reason the United States military is investing extensive resources to maintain a presence in the Mediterranean, including aircraft carriers, cruisers and destroyers. The world is perilously close to another global war, though we pray that Israel's safety and peace in the region will arrive without an escalation of that magnitude. Now is not the time to relax, but rather to increase our dedication and kabbalos; it is still a dangerous situation.
Secondly, there is a famous anecdote of someone looking for parking. He starts by asking Hashem, "oh please Hashem, if you find me parking, I'll give 10 dollars to tzedaka…I'll daven a good Mincha…I'll bentch from a siddur," etc. Suddenly, right in front of the building he needs to go to, a car pulls out of the rare free parking on the street, and he moves neatly into the perfect spot. He then says "Oh, forget it Hashem, no need to bother, I found one!"
Some may feel their kabbalos are not "helping." But we have to understand that over the past three weeks, many miracles have been taking place minute by minute. Every rocket that has been intercepted was potentially a terrible sakana and 9,000 of them did no damage. That's 9,000 rocketsthat were diverted due to someone being mevater somewhere in the world, or due to some little child's Tehillim or someone's chesed or limud Torah! We can't say afterwards, "Oh, forget it, Hashem, I found a parking spot.;" Our kabbalos are the things "giving us the parking spot" and saving us from many more disasters. The situation is heart wrenching and scary, but we have Hashem working for us! Let us continue to be mechazek and help Klal Yisrael together, with our continued dedication to Hashem and his mitzvos!
Rabbi Moshe Revah Rosh HaYeshiva, HTC - Beis HaMidrash LaTorah moshe.revah@htc.edu | 
No comments:
Post a Comment