Personal Tragedy-Pinchas 2011

Insights and Inspiration
from the 
Holy Land
from 
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

July 15^th 2011 -Volume I, Issue 34–15^th  13^th of Tamuz 5771

Parshat Pinchas

Personal Tragedy

 

It is one of the most important rules of becoming a good tour guide, they told us. Personalize your tours. Share with your groups your own personal anecdotes. Rather then just sharing with your eagar listeners the  historical significance of a site that you take them to; it’s biblical stories, the wars that took place, or the geographical and geological uniqueness of the area, tell them what happened to you over there. If nothing did, then try to paint them a picture of a real or even imaginary person- let’s call him “Chaim Yankel” that did. People connect with people. It is those personal stories that will stay with them and remain in their hearts and souls long after they have gone back home and have forgotten most of the other facts and sites that they have heard about.

and sites that they have hearss

Like most things in life though this rule applies to many areas. You want to teach your children something impactful- personalize the message. Do you want to remember something well when you are studying for a test or learning? Find or create a story around the material that connects to and you’ll find that the lessons will remain with you even longer. We live in an age of information. We can know everything about anything in a split second. But unfortunately the downside is that we become overloaded. Nothing grips us or holds us and certainly doesn’t last in our psyche much longer then the “next big story”.

This week’s Torah portion shares with us a powerful, although sometimes overlooked,  insight in to how this attribute is meant to be used in perhaps one of the most trying of circumstances- during times of horrific tragedy.

Last week the Torah portion concluded with the story of the plague that struck the Jewish people after they were seduced to worship and “fraternize” with the idolatry and women of Midian. 24,000 Jews died in the plague that struck the people from the wrath of Hashem that was only quieted when Pinchas arose and in what the Torah defines as the ultimate act of heroism, struck down the chief perpetrators of this desecration of the holy nation. But 24,000 died…How do we respond to this? What was Chaim Yankel feeling? Where does he go from here and what should he do? And here is where the story gets interesting…

Hashem commands Moshe right after this story

“Tzror es Ha’midyanim Vihikisem Osam Ki Tzoririm haim lochem bnikleihem asher Niklu lochem Al Dvar Pe’or….” The word Tzror- Rabb Eli Munk translates as make enemies- of Midian, other commentaries translate it as harass, torment, or pain them.the rest of the verse tells us to smite them for they are our enemies as they plotted to make us sin in the act of the worship of Pe’or and by sending their princess daughter to seduce the tribes of Israel.

The Ohr Ha’Chayim HaKadosh notes that this command was meant to be an immediate emotional response that the surviving Jews were meant to have, as the command and details of the war will not follow until later. What is this command all about? It is interesting to note that the battle that the Jews will have against the Midianites is one that is unique in that it was meant to be one that was personalized. Our sages derived from here that whereas all other battles one was prohibited from wanton destruction of fruit trees and the like, by Midian we were permitted to wipe it all out. Destroy them with a ferociousness, the Torah implies. This battle should be personal.

There is one other nation that was also meant to be a personal battle and that was Amalek. If we contrast these two enemies and their threats to the Jewish people, it is fascinating that Amalek was a physical threat to the Jews as they left Egypt, being the first nation to try to commit national genocide, whereas Midian was out for our souls. The Ohr Ha’Chayim notes even further that although the Jews and particularly “Chaim Yankel”, could’ve had a desire for vengeance or even justice against Midian for causing the death of 24,000 of his brethren. Hashem commanded that here the personal battle was meant to be not for the loss of life that resulted but rather a response to the root of what they had done- they had caused the Jews to sin thereby threatening their relationship with their Creator. It was that spiritual threat that they were meant to personalize and to learn to detest anyone that would come to destroy our bond with Hashem.

This past week a tragedy hit the Jewish people that I don’t think it was possible for anyone not to take personally. A young boy murdered on his way home from camp in the most gruesome of ways. I read of how people cannot sleep out of pain and the buckets of tears that have been shed. Support centers and hotlines that have been set up to help with grief counseling and tens of thousands who had participated in the search for him and attended the funeral of someone they had never even heard of before. This became personal to all of us. There are cries for justice and vengeance against the monster that did this. And I understand. Yet I realize that there is only one true Judge who can be Nikom Nikmat Dam Avdecha Ha’Shafuch and an Avinu Malkeinu who is Chomeil on our children and infants more then we can even imagine. He will make sure justice is down and console all of us who are bereaved.

So what can we do? What should we do? Perhaps as in the case of Midian we are meant to focus most on the spiritual tragedy rather than the physical. We have lost a precious neshoma in this young boy. A special soul that united the entire Jewish people in an outpouring of love. How different will the world now be without this boy? How different will we be? The truth is this past month we have lost three great leaders of the Jewish people on three different continents. Did we personalize the spiritual tragedy of their loss to our world or did we just say they were old and had long fulfilling lives? There is nothing more important to us then our connection to Hashem as a nation. Those that bring us close to Him have to be the most personalized thing we have and that we must mourn and appreciate. The loss and tragedy of a world that isn’t reaching its fulfillment because we as a people sometimes don’t fully recognize how significant our special connection to Hashem, is something that we must internalize.

The Slonimer Rebbe notes that right after this command to destroy Midian Hashem commands Moshe to once again count the Jewish people. Although they were counted already before, this time the Torah when counting the tribes adds the letters Yud and Heh to each of their names- e.g. Ha’Reuveini, Ha’Shimoni… He explains that perhaps this is the message as well after the tragedy of Midian; to realize and appreciate that Hashem’s name and spirit can be found in all of us. In the same way we are meant to make enemies out of those that come to destroy the Godliness within the tribes of Israel, we are meant to focus on one another and see that spark of holiness and how precious and important it is in our relationship with one another and Hashem. We all hugged our children a little more last night. We must hold and hug our fellow man as well with more love and appreciation as well.

This week begins the three week period of mourning for the destruction of our ultimate connection with Hashem; the Beit Hamikdash. We not only mourn the loss of the Temple we are also meant to focus on the roots of why we haven’t yet merited to have it returned to us. This year we began our mourning a little early….

May Hashem comfort all of us and may he very speedily return all of us to His loving arms and home soon.

Have a very good Shabbos.Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

This weeks Insights and Inspiration is dedicated to the holy neshoma of Leiby Kletzky. By his funeral his father asked him to pray for all of His brothers and sisters- yet today, he said our family is so much bigger as it encompasses all of Klal Yisrael who share in his grief. May Hashem comfort all of Klal Yisrael and particularly the Kletzky family and may this last tragedy be the final one our people experience Ad Bias Goel tzedek.

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RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL PLACES IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK-

Bar’am -  TODAY BAR’AM IS THE NAME OF A BEAUTIFUL FOREST RESERVE AS WELL AS A RESERVE IN THE UPPER GALILE THAT CONTAINS THE ANCIENT RUINS OF A SYNAGOGUE THAT DATES BACK TO THE 4^TH OR 5^TH CENTURY. WE HAVE TESTIMONIES THAT GO BACK TO THE 1500’S ABOUT THE BEAUTY OF THIS SHUL. TODAY WE HAVE GREAT PILLARS AND A BEAUTIFULLY ENGRAVED ARCHWAY THAT IS TRULY BREATHTAKING OF THE SYNAGOGUE THTMUST HAVE BEEN HERE. INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH THE PILLARS AND ARCHWAY HAVE BEEN DATED MUCH EARLIER THAN THE SHUL AND WERE OBVIOUSLY BROUGHT HERE FROM A DIFFERENT SITE- PERHAPS BECAUSE THE JEWS LIVED IN A PERIOD WHERE IT WAS FORBIDDEN TO BUILD NEW PLACES OF WORSHIP.

NEAR THE RUINS AND IN THE FOREST OF BAR’AM ARE THE GRAVESITES OF MORDECHAI AND ESTHER WHICH LEGEND HAS THAT THEY WERE EITHER SPIRITUALLY MOVED HERE OR THAT ESTHER COMMANDED HERE SON CYRUS TO BRING HERE. AS WELL AS THE PROPHET ISAIAH AND OVADIA. THERE IS ONE MORE INTERESTING GRAVE OF A MIRACLE CHILD WHO SAID A PROPHECY IN THE MIDDLE AGES THAT MANY DURING THAT TIME AND UNTIL TODAY LEND MUCH CREDENCE TO PARTICULARLY AS HE MENTIONS SOMETHING THAT SOUND LIKE AL-QAIDA

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