Al Mah Avdah HaAretz? - Tisha B'Av 5781

 

Every year we observe the three weeks and the fast of Tisha B’Av and every year we vow that this year will be the last. And here it is again. It just doesn’t seem to want to go away!

We would at least like to think that even if we could not dispense of this calamity once and for all, at least we are getting closer. Every year there are vigils and gatherings where we hear great “inspirational” speakers talk about sinas chinam and Lashon Hara and we say to ourselves, “I’ve gotten the message. I’ve rid myself of sinas chinam and do my best to avoid Lashon Hara and certainly do not engage in malicious LH or motzi shem rah. I do not stab my fellow Jew in the back. The geulah must be waiting for the other slackers to fall into line.”

But the yetzer hara is like a fly. You chase it from your lips it lands on your ears, you chase it from your ear it lands on your neck, you chase it from your neck, it goes crawling on the food in your plate. Then you lift up your fork to eat and it’s back at your lips.

This past year has been a year of all types of churbans. The devastation of Covid-19, the Meron disaster, the Karlin tragedy, the Surfside collapse, and not the least of which (possibly even the worst of which), the hijacking of all of Eretz Yisrael into the hands of the erev rav. For the moment, the land is lost.

מִי הָאִישׁ הֶחָכָם וְיָבֵן אֶת זֹאת וַאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר פִּי ה' אֵלָיו וְיַגִּדָהּ עַל מָה אָבְדָה הָאָרֶץ נִצְּתָה כַמִּדְבָּר מִבְּלִי עֹבֵר: וַיֹּאמֶר ה' עַל עָזְבָם אֶת תּוֹרָתִי אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי לִפְנֵיהֶם וְלֹא שָׁמְעוּ בְקוֹלִי וְלֹא הָלְכוּ בָהּ: (ירמיהו ט יא-יב).

Who is the man who is wise and to whom Hashem has spoken and was told [the reason] Why was the land lost, made barren like a desert with no passer-by? And Hashem said, “For they have abandoned My Torah that I put before them. And they did not listen to My voice and they did not go in it[s ways].”

They abandoned My Torah.

What does this mean?

So, all of us look at the gemara in Bava Metziah 85a - Rav Yehudah says in the name of Rav: They did not say the bracha of Torah first.

And we hear many stirring insights on the meaning of these esoteric words. So much so that we lose sight of the complete pasuk. Evidently, Rav Yehuda amar Rav is bothered that the pasuk actually says three sins:

•    We abandoned His Torah
  
  
•    We did not listen to His voice
  
  
•    We did not go in its ways.

Aren’t these all the same? Why did the prophet (or HKBH) use three expressions to say the same thing?

So, Rav Yehuda amar Rav tells us about the first expression, that it does not mean that we sinned. It means that we did not say the bracha of Torah beforehand. I will leave it to the famous inspirational speakers to expound on this. But this is only expression number one. The other two expressions are not expounded on so they need to be taken at face value.

We didn’t listen to Hashem’s voice and we didn’t go in the ways of the Torah. Plain and simple.

But, we can still ask the same question. We now have two remaining expressions which essentially say the same thing. Why both expressions?

Well, let’s go back to expression one and ask – when it says we abandoned His Torah, what part of the Torah does it have in mind? All of it? Some of it? Most of it? How much? Did we stop keeping Shabbos and Kashrus and Milah and Tefillin? These are the exact things we fought and sacrificed for during the second Temple during the Greek oppression.

I want to suggest that the main part of the Torah is the Ten Commandments. As we know, the Ten Commandments were given to us on two tablets. Five and five. We are taught that the first five are primarily between man and G-d. Even the part about kibud av v’em. The amazing thing about the first five commandments is that the first two of which, Anochi Hashem and Lo Yihiyeh Lecha, we heard directly from HKBH. We heard His voice!

These two mitzvos are the mitzvos of Emunah. Anochi – believe in Me. Lo Yihiyeh Lecha – believe in no one else. אין עוד מלבדו. The next three are ways to show it. We fear uttering His name. We display our belief that He created the world in six days by observing Shabbos and we emulate our relationship to Him through honoring our parents. These mitzvos are what we heard ourselves. We heard His voice.

But now, says the prophet, we are not listening to his voice. We are not keeping the first five commandments of Emunah – even if we are keeping Shabbos.

The second five mitzvos are between man and man and it is how we are to behave toward each other. It is the “ways of the Torah”. No murdering, adultering, robbing, railroading or even lusting. This was the part that the other nations turned down. These “ways” are not for them. But they are supposed to be for us. They are the Torah’s ways in which we are “to go”.

But, says the prophet, we did not go in the Torah’s ways.  

So:

• We did not make a bracha on studying the Torah – Abandoned My Torah.
  
  
• We did not observe the first five commandments which is the voice of G-d – They did not listen to My voice.
  
  
• We did not observe the second five commandments which is the way we must go – They did not go in it[s ways].

And, so, the land was lost.

And it is still lost. And if it wasn’t completely lost two months ago, it is now. It is in the hands of the non-believers and even the non-Jewish.

We lost it. We who are the “believers”. We who observe the mitzvos. We lost it. So let’s ask ourselves - why?

Do we make a bracha on Torah study first? I think that nowadays, most of us who study, do.

Do we listen to His voice? I can’t answer that but in our defense I would say that it’s been so long since we’ve heard it. We certainly do not utter His name in vain, we keep Shabbos and at least try to honor our parents. And we do it because we “believe” in Him (although I have a real hard time understanding how so many pious people who “believe” in him need financial guarantees from their future mechutanim that the new couple will be able to live in relative comfort) .

Do we go in the Torah’s way? Of course we do. Well, I don’t murder, do I? I don’t adulterize – I even use a kosher phone and have a filter on my computer which I almost never turn off…um, well, I don’t steal, I think. I never said false things and got anybody else into troub…oh, never mind. I mean, we may not be perfect but who do you think we are, the Corleones?

Okay, let’s say I got a bit carried away. But, even the best and most pious among us, are we really keeping the second five commandments properly? Are we really going in the Torah’s way? (You can probably sense what’s coming…)

Let’s have a look at how Targum Yonasan (Targum Yerushalmi) describes the last five commandments which are all squeezed into two pasukim, Shemos 20:13-14. For our purposes it is sufficient just to study the first one. Here it is:

עַמִּי בְּנֵי יִשְרָאֵל לָא תֶהֱווּן קְטוֹלִין לָא חַבְרִין וְלָא שׁוּתְּפִין עִם קְטוֹלִין וְלָא יִתְחָמֵי בִּכְנִשְׁתְּהוֹן דְּיִשְרָאֵל עִם קְטוֹלִין וְלָא יְקוּמוּן בְּנֵיכוֹן מִן בַּתְרֵיכוֹן וְיִלְפוּן לְחוֹד הִינוּן לְמֶהֱוֵי עִם קְטוֹלִין אֲרוּם בְּחוֹבֵי קְטוֹלַיָא חַרְבָּא נָפִיק עַל עַלְמָא:

לא תנאף עַמִּי בְּנֵי יִשְרָאֵל לָא תֶהֱווּן גִּיּוּרִין לָא חַבְרִין וְלָא שׁוּתָּפִין עִם גִּיּוּרִין וְלָא יִתְחָמֵי בִּכְנִשְׁתְּהוֹן דְּיִשְרָאֵל עִם גִּיּוּרִין דְּלָא יְקוּמוּן בְּנֵיכוֹן מִן בַּתְרֵיכוֹן וְיִלְפוּן לְחוֹד הִינוּן לְמֶהֱוֵי עִם גִּיּוּרִין אֲרוּם בְּחוֹבֵי גִיּוּרָא מוֹתָא נָפִיק עַל עַלְמָא:

לא תגנוב עַמִּי בְּנֵי יִשְרָאֵל לָא תֶהֱווּן גַּנָּבִין לָא חַבְרִין וְלָא שׁוּתָּפִין עִם גַּנָּבִין וְלָא יִתְחָמֵי בִּכְנִשְׁתְּהוֹן דְּיִשְרָאֵל עִם גַּנָּבִין דְּלָא יְקוּמוּן בְּנֵיכוֹן מִן בַּתְרֵיכוֹן וְיִלְפוּן לְחוֹד הִינוּן לְמֶהֱוֵי עִם גַּנָּבִין אֲרוּם בְּחוֹבֵי גַנָבַיָא כַּפְנָא נָפִיק עַל עַלְמָא:

לא תענה עַמִּי בְּנֵי יִשְרָאֵל לָא תֶהֱווּן מְסַהֲדִין בְּחַבְרֵיכוֹן סַהֲדֵי שִׁיקְרָא לָא חַבְרִין וְלָא שׁוּתָּפִין עִם מְסַהְדִין סַהֲדֵי שִׁקְרָא וְלָא יִתְחָמֵי בִּכְנִשְׁתְּהוֹן דְּיִשְרָאֵל עִם מְסַהֲדִין סַהֲדֵי שִׁיקְרָא דְלָא יְקוּמוּן בְּנֵיכוֹן בַּתְרֵיכוֹן וְיִלְפוּן לְחוֹד הִינוּן לְמֶהֱוֵי עִם מְסַהֲדִין סַהֲדֵי שִׁיקְרָא אֲרוּם בְּחוֹבֵי סַהֲדֵי שִׁיקְרָא עֲנָנָן סַלְקִין וּמִטְרָא לָא נָחִית וּבְצוֹרָתָא אַתְיָא עַל עַלְמָא

 

My people, the sons of Israel, You shall not be murderers; you shall not be companions of or partakers with murderers: in the congregations of Israel there shall not be included murderous people; so that your sons shall not rise up after you and teach one another to take part with murderers: for on account of the guilt of murder the sword cometh forth upon the world:

My people of the house of Israel, Be ye not adulterers, nor companions nor partakers with adulterers: nor in the congregations of Israel shall there be seen adulterous people, that your sons may not arise after you to teach one another to have part with adulterers: for through the guilt of adultery death cometh forth upon the world:

My people, the sons of Israel, Ye shall not be thieves, nor companions nor partakers with thieves: there shall not be seen in the congregations of Israel thievish people; so that your sons may not arise after you to teach one another to have part with thieves: for on account of the guilt of theft famine cometh forth upon the world:

My people, the sons of Israel, Ye shall not testify against your neighbours a testimony of falsehood, nor be companions or partakers with those who bear false witness nor shall there be seen in the congregations of Israel people who testify a testimony of falsehood; so that your sons shall not rise up after you to teach one another to have part with those who testify falsehood: for because of the guilt of false testimony the clouds go up and the rain cometh not down, and dryness cometh upon the world.

What does this teach us?

It seems to be teaching us that "going in the way of the Torah" is not adequately accomplished by any individual refraining from these fiendish acts. This isn’t enough. Going in the way of Torah means that one must likewise disassociate himself (or herself) from anyone else who establishes themselves as a murderer, adulterer, thief, or liar with no remorse. (We must accept baalei teshuva). We cannot be a friend to them or a partner with them or permit them to associate with us.

So, even if we – me and you and he and she – adhere meticulously to all the laws of the Torah, but we allow the Torah to be trampled by others and to accept “societal norms” that are against the ways of the Torah, then we, yes we, have not gone in the way of the Torah.

And the land will be lost to the erev rav.

We have to protest and oppose those who publicly call for actions that are against the Torah. It is our responsibility. And if we shirk it, we are to blame.

So says the gemara in Shabbos 54b:

Anyone who has the ability to protest against the misdeeds of his household [and does not], is caught up with the misdeeds of his household. Anyone who has the ability to protest against the misdeeds of his town [and does not], is caught up with the misdeeds of his town. Anyone who has the ability to protest against the misdeeds of the entire world [and does not], is caught up with the misdeeds of the entire world.

This is encoded as Halacha in Rambam Hilchos Deos 6:7.

Many of my loyal readers know that over the past few years, I have written about a horrible debacle in Klal Yisrael. It centers around an observant Israeli Jewish woman who was accused of some indecent activities while she was working overseas. These alleged activities are not as serious as the sins in the Ten Commandments. The allegations may have some basis to them but they have not been established nor is there any sign that the accused is beyond remorse. The allegations facilitated her return to Eretz Yisrael and abruptly put an end to all the alleged activities overseas, even if they transpired.

Still and all, three years after the activities were definitely stopped and the accused was back in Israel, some alleged Jewish “victims” approached the local overseas police to file a criminal complaint and petition for her extradition.

Whether the alleged crimes overseas are real or not has no bearing on what the Torah says is, or is not, appropriate to do three years later. The Torah clearly says that a Jew cannot be extradited outside of Eretz Yisrael – period. This is Lo Tasgir. It says that a Jew cannot be handed over to non-Jews for the sake of punishment alone (as opposed to protection from harm). This is mesira and it is meant to apply even (or especially) to people who are miscreant and worthy of being handed over! It says that a Jew cannot be kidnapped from their home. This is Gonev Nefesh m’Yisrael and is actually the Lo Tignov of the Ten Commandments.

And to allow all this to happen without protest is a chillul Hashem.

This is not the way of the Torah and when the community allows this, they are not going in the way of the Torah. And even if we are the most pious of people, if we are friends with them, if we are partners with them, if we make them a part of our congregations, then, according to Targum Yonasan, we have violated the five commandments.

Almost exactly two years ago, in this time of year, before this debacle reached its climax, I wrote this post:

Revisiting Kamtza and Bar Kamtza--- or Kamtza and (Bar)Bat Kamtza Revisiting Us

 

I tried very hard to protest in the hopes that enough people will stand up for the honor of the Torah and the honor of Eretz Yisrael and halt this sacrifice to “foreign deities”.

In that post, I wrote as follows:

How and when is all this going to end? This remains to be seen, but I can promise this. It won’t end nicely for the Jews in general, not those in Israel and not those in Victoria… It will only be a Churban!

But my hopes didn’t come to fruition.

That was two years ago. Two Tisha B’Avs ago. And last Tisha B’Av we all sat at home watching all the “inspirational speakers” on Zoom.

And in January of this past year it finally happened. The nation that calls itself the “homeland of the Jews”, the land of refuge for Jews persecuted all over the world, extradited a born-in-Israel religious Jew to the non-Jews overseas for the sake of punishment. Not only was the Jewish community silent, so many of us were cheering and jubilating that “justice has prevailed”.

Only, it’s not the Torah’s justice. It’s not the way of the Torah. It is the way of the nations of the world.

For they have abandoned My Torah that I put before them.

And they did not listen to My voice

and they did not go in it[s ways].

Two years later.  

And we have lost so many precious souls to “senseless” tragedies.

And we have lost the land.

Two years later. Have we come closer or fallen even further behind?

Please see:

Revisiting Kamtza and Bar Kamtza--- or Kamtza and (Bar)Bat Kamtza Revisiting Us