About 33 years ago in Toronto where he was rosh yeshiva at
the time, HaRav Yaakov Weinberg zt"l said that he was
worried about the future.
In some ways, that was a very optimistic time. The world
seemed to have been conquered by modern science, both
practically tamed and controlled by technology as well as
understood by powerful theories. The complete domination of
the physical world seemed imminent or perhaps already in
place. After all, hadn't man reached the moon? Wasn't
prosperity for all achievable?
In addition, there was a tremendous social upheaval in the
West. There were student revolutions in Europe and flower
children in California. It seemed that even the goyim
had realized that it was time to move on, beyond the struggle
for brute subsistence that had characterized the life of man
since the beginning. The curve of development of the material
world had reached a plateau, and there seemed to be a
restless yearning for the transcendent, a genuine desire to
reach spirituality -- at least that is how the optimistic
yeshiva bochurim interpreted it.
The Rosh Yeshiva was well-aware of what was going on, but he
was more skeptical of the sources of the instability, and he
was worried about where it would lead. I hope there is a
his'orerus, he said, because if not, it will get very
bad. Things will have to deteriorate in the world so that the
contrast to the emes of Torah will be much sharper.
At the time, the bochurim responded (among themselves)
by wondering how the Rosh Yeshiva could say such a thing.
Everything looked so promising.
Thirty years later the former talmidim wonder how the
Rosh Yeshiva could have foreseen so accurately what would
happen. Unfortunately, things have gotten much worse in the
world.
Rav Yosef used to celebrate Shavuos in a special way. He
explained his celebration by saying, "If not for what this
day caused, there are plenty of Yosefs in the streets"
(Pesochim 68b) -- and I would just be like one of
them.
There is an absolute aspect to this celebration, but there is
also a relative quality to it. If the "Yosefs" in the streets
are men who live an orderly and reasonably dignified life,
raise their families and even pursue some sort of higher
interests (even if they are far from the heights of Torah),
the contrast to the talmid chochom is still there, but
it is not so sharp. Of course the critical difference is
Torah and mitzvos, but if you want to be able to sing
"Shelo osani goy" with true enthusiasm on Shavuos, you
have to look at the janitors and the bums in the gutters.
That is how it was 30 years ago.
But now the streets are awash in giluy arayos. Those
at the top of modern society are the most degenerate, and
those who can "innovate" a new form of decadence to bring
before the public are admired for "breaking new ground."
Shefichus domim in its lowest form, pure blood lust,
is rampant and accepted throughout the world. Violence is now
entertainment and draws in millions of dollars for those who
can show it most realistically in the media, and terrorists
commit any outrage and the world still wants to talk to
them.
If that is not enough contrast, we were just reminded that
avodoh zora is not extinct, but is now part of the
global marketplace and can turn up in the very garments of
tsnius.
When we consider the Yosefs in the streets today, the quality
of our celebration on Shavuos is different from what it was
in those olden days. We do not have to search to be inspired
to sing, "Shelo osani goy."
The Maharal says that on most days those in the lower worlds
tend to look up to the upper worlds to receive their bounty.
However on Shavuos, where the basic pattern established on
Mount Sinai is that the Torah is brought down into this
world, as it says, "Hashem descended on Mount Sinai"
(Shemos 19:20), the Torah completely overwhelms even the
yetzer hora in the world. That is why we bring
chometz as part of the sacrifices of Shavuos, even
though chometz symbolizes the yetzer hora and
is generally banished from avodoh in the Beis
Hamikdash.
This is the Torah that we were given on Shavuos. Let us fete
it.
