Part II
The first part explained that many commentators say that
the cause of the violence among the Arabs is Prime Minister
Barak's approach that tries for a comprehensive solution,
while they believe that no such solution is possible. It
explained that one of the urges behind the Zionist movement
among all the different approaches is the conviction that
people can themselves bring about a stable solution for
Jewish life. "Let us take our lot into our hands." Torah
Jewry always assumed that until the final redemption there
is no point in looking for any substitutes.
The above has been true throughout all the
years of our golus and suits much more our
catastrophic situation when we confront the Arab Nation, the
offspring of Yishmoel. A tradition has been passed down to
us that we will have no way to save ourselves from their
hatred and conniving ways until we merit the advent of
Moshiach Tzidkeinu.
What the Rambam (Igeres Teiman, ch. 4, pg. 183-185,
Mossad HaRav Kook Publisher) writes serves as a lesson for
us today: "And you, our brothers, you know that HaKodosh
Boruch Hu threw us in the pits of our sin within this
people, the nation of Yishmoel. The evil that they do to us
is oppressing and they seek ways to harm us and make us
disgusting, as Hashem has decreed, `Even our enemies
themselves being judges' (Devorim 32:31). No nation
more hostile will rule over Yisroel, and there is no nation
whose entire aim is to impoverish us and humiliate us, and
to make us disgusting as they.
"Even when Dovid Hamelech a'h saw with his ruach
hakodesh all the future hardship for Yisroel he began to
scream and lament about the evil of the offspring of
Yishmoel, and said as if our nation is speaking from his
throat: `Woe is me that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell
in the tents of Kedar!' (Tehillim 120:5) . . .
Although we are silently suffering their ruling over us,
accepting it with love, without complaining, their lying to
us is more than we can bear, more than a person can
tolerate. It is as Dovid a'h writes: `But I, like a
deaf man hear not, and like a dumb man that opens not his
mouth' (Tehillim 38:14).
"Our Mentors (Midrash Hagodol, Bereishis 25:14)
guided us to tolerate the lies of Yishmoel and remain
silent. They inferred this from the posuk that writes
the names of Yishmoel's sons: `Mishmo, Dumo, and Masso'
(Bereishis 24:14). [The posuk means
shema (hear), dom (be silent) and sa
(suffer their burden).] All, both the most eminent and the
lowest, have agreed that we must suffer their subjection.
This is what Yeshaya has written: `I gave my back to the
smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I
did not my face from shame and spitting' (Yeshaya
50:6). Nonetheless (although we were silent) we were unable
to be saved from most of their evil and recklessness. When
we pursue making peace with them they run after us to wage
war, as Dovid Hamelech a'h writes: `I am a man of
peace, but when I speak, they are for war' (Tehillim
120:4). Surely we endanger ourselves and might be killed if
we awaken their anger on us, and without any basis falsely
proclaim Yisroel's kingdom and the coming of the
Moshiach."
HaRav Chaim Vital zy'a, the renowned Kabbalist and
talmid of the Ari z'l, writes similarly in his
commentary Eitz Hadaas Tov on Tehillim (124).
He explains that after the four Goluyos of Bovel,
Modai, Greece and Edom, at the end of days bnei
Yisroel will live during the golus of Yishmoel.
"As is mentioned in Pirkei DeRebbi Eliezer and in
Midroshim of Chazal and in the Zohar at the
end of parshas Lech Lecho about Masso and Dumo."
This golus will be different from the previous ones.
The four Goluyos are compared to animals as written
in sefer Doniel but Yishmoel the son of Avrohom was
circumcised and is considered a man. He is called a `wild
man' and not a complete `man' since he was circumcised but
his orlah was not completely turned back
(periah) as by Jews.
"Dovid Hamelech a'h said nevu'ah with ruach
hakodesh in this chapter of Tehillim (124) about
all that is going to happen in the mentioned golus.
When Yisroel are in the four Goluyos they will say in
the future, `If not for Hashem Who was with us, let Yisroel
now say' (v. 1). This means that now in these four
Goluyos we would have been lost altogether, as is
written afterward (v. 3), `Then they would have swallowed us
up alive.' Rearrange the posuk as if it reads, `Let
Yisroel say if not for Hashem Who was with us now,' meaning
now in these four kingdoms.
"But there is an additional fifth and final golus
that is more difficult than them all. It is the golus
of Yishmoel who is called a `wild man' as mentioned
beforehand and is not compared to the animals. Then Yisroel
will say differently: `If not for Hashem Who was with us
when men rose up against us' (end of v. 1). Since he is a
man, because he is the son of Avrohom and has the zechus
Ovos, as we find that the Torah says, `If only Yishmoel
will live before You.' He also has the merit of the
mila and because of this reason he is called `man.'
For this reason his golus is more uncompromising than
the other four kingdoms. Chazal say he is therefore called
Yishmoel, because in the future Yisroel will cry out loudly
during the time of his golus and then yishmo'eim
Keil (Hashem will hear them) and answer them."
He afterwards explains that this golus will be
exceptionally difficult since Yishmoel is a lowly nation,
not accustomed to royal pomp and sovereignty but it suddenly
achieved greatness. "Other nations always controlled
different nations, but Yishmoel were always Arabs living in
tents and in deserts and never dealt with others. They are
compared to bandits who deprive other people and afterwards
return to their tents, as is written, `He will be a wild
man, his hand will be against every man' (Bereishis
16:12), but are later to rule over the world and Yisroel.
"Dovid therefore writes (v. 2), `If not for Hashem Who was
with us, when men rose up against us.' `Men rose up against
us' means as the Zohar explains on the posuk,
`Now there arose a new king over Egypt' (Shemos 1:8)
that `originally he was more ignoble than the rest of his
nation and now he rose to kingdom.' Dovid Hamelech is
explaining what Yisroel will be saying during the
golus of Yishmoel when the Arab, their prophet, will
arise from extreme ignobility to the height of importance,
as everyone knows. They will then say, `If not for Hashem
Who was with us, when men rose up against us,' men meaning
Yishmoel, then `they would have swallowed us up alive.'
"The fifth golus in which we live today is different
from all that we experienced in the past. They now want to
swallow us up alive, similar to what is written, `When they
had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten
them' (Bereishis 41:21). Because of their anger they
want to, chas vesholom, erase the name of Yisroel
from the world like something swallowed, that its reality is
not known at all and is as if it does not exist.
"In the first four Goluyos we find that `then the
waters would have overwhelmed us' (v. 4). Those
Goluyos were easier and were similar to someone
overwhelmed by water but his body remains intact since he
was not altogether swallowed. `The stream would have gone
over our soul' (v. 5), only our soul suffered and not on our
body. The golus of Yishmoel will be different. We
will then be swallowed alive with the body and soul
connected together."
He explains at length that Dovid Hamelech a'h is
telling us that initially only our souls would suffer and
not our bodies. "Then the proud waters would have gone over
our soul." Other nations mainly wanted us to convert to
their religion, that we will not be engaged in Torah study
and not fulfill mitzvos, as happened in times of
shmad. These were incidents of "the stream would have
gone over our soul" but not on our bodies. Their intention
was only to trap souls so they would convert, although that
also physically hurt us since they would kill Jews who
refused to convert. "Because of this, on the contrary,
HaKodosh Boruch Hu would have pity on us. This is
what Dovid Hamelech a'h writes (v. 5) `Blessed be
Hashem who has not given us as a prey to their teeth,' like
the story of Daniel . . . that Chananya, Mishoel, and Azarya
did not bow to the idol and many other stories about
individual tzaddikim.
Also the Jewish Nation in general did not forsake Hashem and
were not chewed up by their teeth and still exist. This is
because we saw that their intent was for us to convert our
faith from the Holy Torah and its mitzvos. What they tried
to do for their benefit, ruined their plans. They wanted to
snatch our souls, which would kill our souls since
`reshoim even when alive are called dead' but we were
`not given as a prey to their teeth.' "
(He continues that these pesukim allude to the
immersion in water when accepting the Catholic religion. "It
alludes to the satanic tomei waters that the priests
of Edom would sprinkle on Yisroel. They would convert them
by force without their consent." Since we were compelled,
Hashem had pity on us and never allowed us to be destroyed
by them. "This concerns the Marannos of Spain and Portugal
of which multitudes returned to be Jews, escaped from the
church, and did not remain lost among them.")
The main intent of the nations to damage our souls was only
in the previous Goluyos. "This is different in the
golus of Yishmoel. They want to kill both our souls
and bodies and to consume the Jew's money and swallow them
alive, not allowing anything to remain . . . In the future
they will inflict on Yisroel difficult and different types
of suffering that we have never seen before, and as Chazal
write, they are therefore called Yishmoel."
Anyone who discerns the eternal truth in what
the Rambam and Rabbenu Chaim Vital write, will understand
that we cannot possibly delude ourselves about a "total
solution" to the Arab problem. Neither physical power or
military conquest on the one hand, nor dreams of "a new
Middle East" on the other, will free us from the
gezeira of living in golus under the yoke of
Yishmoel. We must realize that when we call out to them for
peace they will continue wanting to destroy us. "I am a man
of peace, but when I speak, they are for war"
(Tehillim 120:7). But as the Rambam writes, surely
when we proclaim war on them we will much more awaken their
hatred. What is therefore the solution?
No solution exists!
This is the true conclusion about our situation that a Jew
should reach. This is no new, current conclusion, nor has it
been formulated only because of resent developments. Jews
throughout history knew that until the Moshiach comes we
have no "permanent solution" for our being subjected by the
nations. We must actively engage only in temporary efforts
just as a person puts out fires that suddenly start
burning.
In our situation, Maran the Rosh Yeshiva shlita has
directed us to beware of provoking other nations. We must
try to arrive at any temporary arrangement (even if we have
no choice and it involves giving up parts of Eretz Yisroel),
as long as the leaders of the country are not pushing us
into a life-threatening danger.
We have one principle: No permanent, conclusive, and eternal
solution exists. We are only attempting to peacefully pass
over one wave after the other during the years of our
golus until we merit the future Redemption that will
bring us to safe shores.
----
In the past I have cited what R' Shimon Moshe Diskin
zt'l of Chaslevitz, the av beis din of
Luachavitz, who was one of the eminent speakers in his
generation, wrote. He discussed this very topic in one of
his essays that appear in Midrash Shimoni.
He quotes what Chazal write that the Moshiach sits among the
poor and sick at the gates of Rome. They are bandaging all
of their wounds simultaneously but the Moshiach is "untying
one and tying another," each wound being bandaged separately
(Sanhedrin 98).
HaRav Shimon Moshe Diskin explains this in an original way:
"We have a kabolo from the nevi'im, something
engraved in the blood, mind, and heart of every Jew:
Golus is not accidental. This truth has been tested
during our difficult and painful path of life. Even writing
about this at length is superfluous since it is an obvious
axiom: accidents do not persist. Our golus followed
many warnings from the nevi'im, and during all our
years of golus this truth was always clear to every
Jew. The sins of our fathers caused the golus and our
own sins prolonged it.
"This knowledge obligates us to arrive at a logical
conclusion: to abolish the golus, to free the Jewish
Nation from it in natural ways similar to the way other
nations free themselves, is simply impossible. Although it
is imaginable that we can alleviate the golus,
sweeten its bitterness, cancel some of its decrees and
strict enforcement, it is beyond the bounds of possibility
to become free from it and naturally revive the Hebrew
kingdom for our whole nation.
"All the movements that wanted to redeem the Jewish Nation
are liable to make us lose doubly: (1) They endanger
multitudes of Jews when they are deluded to think their
redemption is soon. Do we not see from past experience that
in the times of the false Moshiach Abulafiah and the times
of Shabsai Tzvi many destroyed their previous social status
when they prepared to immigrate to Eretz Yisroel? Thousands
of Jewish homes were destroyed. (2) They endangered us
spiritually. After the failure of the Messianic movement--
composed of all of our energy, power, golden dreams, and
ultimate heart's desires--a period of terrible despair and
horrible disappointment must come. We therefore saw that
these false Moshiachs caused shmad and Frankanistic
decadence. Any popular movement that allures the multitudes
and promises that success will soon come, causes an ethical
and spiritual destruction of those who followed it when it
fails."
HaRav Diskin writes afterward that this is the reason we
have seen that gedolei Yisroel have always intrepidly
fought against all movements that could endanger Klal
Yisroel. During all the many years of our golus
the gedolei Torah constantly interested themselves in
alleviating both the spiritual and physical conditions of
the nation. They employed all measures to remove
difficulties, to regulate our life in golus, and to
build Torah centers throughout the Diaspora. They have,
however, always been careful not to urge people to
forcefully leave the golus.
"All of the slogans of the nation's freeing itself, the
entire fervor of emancipation and auto-emancipation of the
Jewish Nation, came upon us from outside [influences] and
not internally. We saw shtadlonim, leaders of
kehillos, toiling to lighten or annul decrees for
each individual or for the general public, but we did not
see any experts to annul the whole golus. These
shtadlonim lived among the nation and came in contact
with live individuals, those in pain and suffering. These
who felt the need to serve the community neither soared to
the heavens nor pursued gigantic and obscure remedies. They
tried to do what is simple, to relieve the burden of
hardship from the individual, and concerned themselves with
his affairs as much as they could. From R' Yosef of Rosheim
and all other intercessors who concerned themselves with the
public's benefit until R' Itzeleh of Munstirshetizna who
saved the victims of Wheliz and Amtsitzlev, until the
gaon R' Eliyahu Chaim Meizil zt'l and the
Baron Rood Ginzburg--each one according to his way and his
ability -- did not bandage collectively all the wounds of
our nation, but invented medicines that would help for every
decree, mishap, and sort of calamity.
"Before they knew the concepts of `national genius,'
`national ambitions,' and `national demands' they were aware
of the presence of a constant whip of decrees and
unfortunate mishaps, and those who wanted to protect
themselves and others, tried to find ways to evade the
snipping of this whip. We cannot air arguments and demands
to this whip. In this point those of the previous
generation, those who felt the people's pain and tried ways
to intercede, disagreed with the polished people who yearned
for the various tunes of `beis Yisroel will be like
all of the nations' and endeared themselves with the both
tragic and ludicrous game of politics, employing Jews
ministers and Jewish parliament representatives. They wanted
to easily heal our nation's suffering with a common bandage
taken from other oppressed nations, but these remedies did
not help us at all."
He later adds the famous saying of Chazal: "R' Gamliel said.
Once I was traveling in a ship and saw a ship that broke. I
was disturbed about the talmid chochom, R' Akiva, who
was sailing on it. After I arrived at the shore, [R' Akiva]
came over to me and discussed halachic questions. I asked
him: `My son, who took you out of the sea?' He answered: `I
happened to grasp hold of a plank of wood from the ship and
I nodded my head at every wave that came' " (Yevomos
101).
HaRav Diskin describes at length how during that difficult
period in which Rabban Gamliel and R' Akiva lived, the ship
of Klal Yisroel was thrown among the angry waves, and
the gigantic yeshiva of R' Akiva with twenty-four thousand
talmidim crumbled since no one could withstand
Adriyonus's decree of shmad. Rabban Gamliel was
filled with sorrow about the bitter fate of this ship in
which R' Akiva transported the klal through an ocean
of suffering. "But with a few planks R' Akiva saved all of
our ship. With another plank, his talmid R' Shimon
ben Yochai saved generations from floods and drowning in the
ocean. When Rabban Gamliel asked him how he was saved, R'
Akiva answered: `I did not find any general remedy against
an angry ocean. I only tried to pass every wave peacefully.
At each wave I would bend down my head until it passed me by
and I held on to the plank that had remained. Hashem took me
across the waves and brought me here.' We do not have a
general remedy for the afflictions of our nation and the
mishaps of the golus as each other nation has. We
only search for a remedy to dress each wound, each decree.
The general bandage is the coming of Moshiach
Tzidkeinu."
In this way HaRav Diskin explains the saying of Chazal that
enumerates the signs of Moshiach's advent: "All nations have
one way for their existence: either conquering and
threatening other nations, independent existence in their
own country, or their existence becoming nullified, becoming
assimilated and becoming part of the conquerors. All of the
sick (at the gates of Rome) untied and tied their bandage
with one knot, and with one bandage they are cured. But the
bandages on the wounds of our nation, whose days are like
those of the heaven and the earth, are tied and untied with
individual knots. Perhaps the Moshiach will come, the day of
Yisroel's salvation will come, and then each wound will be
dressed and softened. We are saving the nation from becoming
nonexistent, so it will be prepared and await the
Redemption. We do not have one general bandage that will
bandage all our wounds and cure us.
"When R' Yehoshua ben Levi asked the Moshiach when he will
come. The Moshiach answered: `Today.' Any day when you will
uproot the reason for your golus, `if you shall
listen to My voice,' if you will return to Hashem with a
whole heart."
This is our one hope. Only in this do we have
confidence at such a time when we see what an entanglement
we find ourselves caused by those false illusions of a
"total solution" intended to alleviate the hardship of the
Jewish Nation. A Jew who believes in Hashem knows that
during our golus we have only temporary solutions,
partial and local shtadlonus. The complete salvation
will only be at the future geula, and until then no
tactics will help remove the decree of golus--also
not the last and most difficult golus of Yishmoel.
We will conclude with what R' Chaim Vital writes afterward,
"They will in the future inflict on Yisroel difficult and
different types of suffering that we have never seen before,
and as Chazal write they are therefore called Yishmoel" that
"If so, we do not know what we should do. We have no other
hope than to trust in His great name that He will save us
from them." He concludes that we will eventually be saved
through the merit what we learn from the first posuk
in the Torah, and it is therefore written in the end of that
chapter in Tehillim, "Our help is in the name of
Hashem, Who made heaven and earth." "This means we have
faith in Hashem because He made the heaven and earth, and it
was made known to us that He only created them for Yisroel
so they would fulfill the Torah, as Chazal write on, `In the
beginning Hashem created . . .' for the Torah that is called
a beginning and for Yisroel that is called a beginning, as
is written `If I have not appointed My covenant with day and
night, the ordinances of heaven and earth . . .'
(Yirmiyahu 36:25). Since the heaven and earth only
exist through Yisroel, He is forced to save us from them and
redeem us with a complete geula in the future
speedily in our days."
