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13 Ellul 5762 - August 21, 2002 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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Opinion & Comment
With the Blood of his Heart

by HaGaon R' Yechezkel Abramsky, zt'l

Twenty-six years have passed since the demise of Maran HaGaon R' Yechezkel Abramsky zt'l (Elul, 5736). Aside from the greatness of his genius, which finds expression in his work, Chazon Yechezkel, his finger was always poised on the pulse of his people. His concern for the public welfare was also evident in the numerous messages of hashkofoh which he wrote for various periodical publications. He maintained an unflagging campaign against the enemies of religion, and his exhortations were compiled in a collection of essays.

Many letters and essays, however, did not receive sufficient notice and awareness by the general public at the time. Among these was one Kol Korei which, R' Yechezkel testifies, was written with his very lifeblood. He sent it to the gedolei hador, Hageonim R' Moshe Mordechai Epstein and R' Isser Zalman Meltzer zt'l, begging them to add their signatures to it in order that it be "publicized in every place where our Jewish brethren are to be found."

In the end, this public announcement was never published by him, as his son Rav Menachem Ezra testifies, for reasons we do not fully understand.

In this public outcry, the Chazon Yechezkel depicts the difficult situation of European Jewry eight years before the Holocaust where, in his prophetic vision, he raises the fear which later paled by far in contrast to the actual reality that took place. "And who knows if this tyrant (Hitler ym'sh) will not seize full power?"

Many excerpts seem as if they were written for our very generation, as if we are standing by his very side. They are quoted as follows:

"When Your people, Yisroel, are smitten before the enemy for their having sinned unto You, and they return to You and praise Your name, and pray and plead unto You in this House, then shall You hearken from Heaven and shall forgive the sin of Your people Yisroel, and You shall return them to the Land which You gave to their forefathers" (Melochim I:8).

"Against the enemy that oppresses you, for each and every trouble, may it not come upon Yisroel, shall you sound the trumpets" (Sifri Behaalosecha).

To Maranan Verabonon, leaders and heads of Yisroel, and to every man who bears the name of "Jew:"

Most of the Jewish people is now drowning in a sea of troubles and harsh decrees, which include events and acts reminiscent of the Middle Ages: a virulent hatred, religious coercion and persecution, murder, pogroms, dastardly libels. Once again, Jews are being treated as sheep whom they can blithely lead to the slaughter, their blood `begging' to be shed like oxen, rams and sheep.

But these times are different from former eras in history. In the past, when danger threatened the rule prevailed that, "No harm is wrought upon us without its message and valuable lesson." We received both the good and the bad from the outside, not related to our merit or consent. And [in those days] it happened that upon being beset by many troubles, the kinks and crimps in our hearts [our shortcomings and failings] were straightened out and we were able to see the light of emunoh. At those times, many of the wayward returned to their people and their heritage. And it was, when "they were oppressed" through physical suffering, the Divine Spirit would declare, "So shall they increase and burst forth" -- in their spirit.

However, the terrible situation which threatens us now does not fortify our spirit, does not strengthen our soul, and does not unite us. This time, on the contrary, these dreadful occurrences have uprooted the youth from its place, in a storm that blows violently and attacks and undermines the bulwark of our Jewish heritage. How apt are the words of the kinos lamenter who mourned, "Over the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash which was laid waste and razed, shall I mourn each year a lamentation anew."

In the past, the remembrance of the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash would have a powerful effect upon us and would rouse in us memories of days gone by, sentiments of national unity, and these would bring back our Jewish sons to their heavenly Father. Now, in these many days of agony and sighing, the remembrance of the Beis Hamikdash "which was laid waste and razed," the very days of horror which face us daily, are evil days for Jewry not only per se because of the actual evil that befalls us, but even more so because they do not arouse a spiritual reawakening and consolidation which was always the reaction that took place when disaster struck. Now, to our distress, our spirit is weaker than ever!

Were we not gnawed at by jealousy of our own brethren, if only the unity of the Jewish people were intact and strong as in the past when, wherever a part of us was being persecuted the rest of the body of Jewry would feel it -- then the entire nation would take up the arms of prayer and besiege the botei knessiyos and botei midroshim to plead for heavenly mercy upon those segments of our people who were in danger. And then, our cries and wails would rend the very heavens to rouse heavenly compassion upon the surviving remnant. The groaning and moaning that would issue forth from the tents of Yaakov would fill the entire world to declare that the Jewish people are a single and unique nation in this world, all of whose units are like organs in one body, cohered and adhered one to the other. When danger threatens one segment, the entire body reacts, as it is also directly threatened. When troubles befall one part, the entire mass is in distress.

Now, however, when the nation at large is complacent, serene, unconcerned, it behooves us to declare the day of erev Rosh Chodesh Elul as a day of prayer in which all of Jewry throughout the world, with no exception, resolve to beseech for mercy for us all. May the merciful One overturn the Attribute of Judgment which is extended over us to an Attribute of Mercy. And may our redemption be altogether complete.


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