Part I
The message that the leader of Agudath Israel in Eretz
Yisroel, R' Moshe Blau z'l, expressed in one of his
articles printed in Adar I, 5706 (1946), is as relevant and
timely today as it was then. Among other things, he wrote:
"`Grant us wisdom from You' -- it is vital that this short
prayer be said with great concentration by all the residents
of Eretz Yisroel. The situation is dire for all of Jewry and
no less so for those who live in the Land. Our people has
been tested by very difficult trials. The situation
deteriorates from one day to the next. We are still feeling
the dreadful loss of six million of our ranks and if the
quantity is difficult to absorb, the quality of those missing
is immeasurable. Our great leaders in the diaspora are gone
forever, together with their communities. We lost almost
everything -- but let us not altogether lose our wits, our
minds, the intellect with which Hashem has blessed us. Let us
at least not forfeit this heritage intentionally and
consciously. For this is our last stronghold."
It is not so simple, for how can a person legislate the
preservation of his own sanity? Is there any formula for
this? Is this, then, like money or any other tangible article
of value which one can stash away in a bank safe?
R' Blau does not ignore this question and writes: "Small
wonder if one's intellect becomes confused, if people find
themselves at a loss, completely befuddled. The trials are
too difficult; the disappointments are too terrible... but
Chazal have already foreseen this and instructed us in this
area: If you have acquired wisdom, you have it all. If you
lack it, what have you acquired? If we preserve our
wisdom, we can hope for better days, for improved conditions;
but if we've lost our wits, our senses, all is lost."
It's a good thing that man has common sense, and even better
if he guards it wisely. But how? R' Blau adds a key sentence
which we would be wise to review at all times, especially
during such difficult, confusing times as we find ourselves
in. "The source of the disease is the loss of daas
Torah, the wisdom of Hashem. This wisdom, in which we
were raised, in which we gloried, has been lost from a great
number of our ranks, and this is greatly distressing."
Two years earlier, in the middle of 5704 (1944), the
gaaved of Ponevezh, HaRav Yosef Kahaneman zt'l,
a personal example of that crystal clear wisdom which is
embedded in the wisdom of the holy Torah, addressed this in
the course of one of his famous speeches at an Agudath Israel
convention. Those were one of the most trying times for Jewry
in all of history. The blood of millions of Jews was being
spilled like water; the Rov's entire family, save his oldest
son, was `there' and he had no way of knowing how they were
faring. But he did not stand and bewail his harsh lot, nor
did he serve any criticism against the community at large, or
rail at his audience, who seemed far too complacent. On the
contrary: he was able to extract an interesting aspect of
encouragement:
"Hitler ym'sh," he noted, "is determined to annihilate
us, G-d forbid, and has already destroyed thousands of Jews,
with the entire world abetting him and his genocide . . . And
we are complacent, calm and secure. We find the time for all
kinds of activities as in times of yore, and perhaps, in some
measure, we are even more serene. This shows that we are
indeed secure and sure of ourselves, and in the same measure
that we are sure of ourselves, so are we secure with Eretz
Yisroel. There is nothing in the world that can shake us out
of this serenity.
"Wherein lies the secret and foundation for this? Apparently,
both belong together. They share a common factor which
reveals the very essence of Jewry. The soul, the national
instinct -- the eternity of Israel and the eternity of Eretz
Yisroel for Jewry. How is this? It is an ingrained nature.
`And now, thus says Hashem, your Creator, Yaakov, and the One
Who formed you, Yisroel -- have no fear' (Yeshaya
43:1). At the onset of the Genesis, when the heavens and the
earth and all of their hosts were created, when the laws of
nature were established as immutable, when the heavens and
earth were formed, then was Yaakov-Yisroel established as an
integral part of the work of Creation and, together with the
world, the Land of Israel was also created. Eretz Yisroel is
a distinct creation, part of the Genesis, and just like no
one fears at night lest the sun not rise the following day,
just as no one is concerned lest the moon not reach its
fullness in the middle of the month, so need we not fear for
the continued existence of Am Yisroel and Eretz Yisroel. That
question is therefore inconceivable. We must understand that
Am Yisroel and Eretz Yisroel are fixed, established entities
incorporated into Creation; they are an integral part of the
universe."
*
These days, especially following the tragic bombings and acts
of terror in which many lives of men, women and children were
brutally claimed, there are some who cannot help asking: What
will be? How will we be able to survive this?
The only advice is that wise piece of counsel: "Preserve your
senses." Keep your wits about you. And the only thing that
makes sense, the only wise counsel that has proven itself
viable in all situations, under all circumstances, at all
times, is the wisdom of Torah, as transmitted in the written
Torah itself and through the words of the prophets as handed
down from generation to generation via the Torah sages
through the ages, our guides and leaders, the illuminators of
our paths.
That marvelous counsel of not losing our bearings, our true
sense of direction, is what stood by our leaders in the
generation of the last holocaust, that of Hitler. They did
not succumb to the inevitable depression of bereavement, on
the one hand, and paid no attention, on the other hand, to
the propaganda campaign directed against them by the secular
hegemony and its lackeys which was designed to silence them
and prevent them from continuing their vital spiritual
activities on behalf of the Jewish people. They rose above
all this and mobilized their whole intellect and heart during
those difficult times for one purpose only: the rescue and
resurrection of the Jewish people, the rehabilitation of
their people so that it could again fulfill its mission on
earth as the people of Hashem, the people of the Torah, with
all that this entails.
The storm of heresy raged without. This was the heyday of
leftist politicians, products of the Bolshevist dictatorship
regime. They had a single purpose, both here in Eretz Yisroel
and in every other place in the world where there existed
concentrations of Jews: to eradicate Torah altogether, to
establish new generations devoid of all Jewish knowledge. In
Communist Russia they, regretfully, were colossally
successful. The notorious Yevsektzia enlisted itself
completely to the atheistic, vicious and oppressive regime.
Jews who persevered in religious practice, who opposed them
in any way, were forthwith expelled to the no-man's-land of
Siberia, to hard labor and harsh suffering. Many of them were
brutally put to death without any trial or reprieve of exile.
In Eretz Yisroel, the suppressors of religion operated with
other tactics, ostensibly `democratic' but with the identical
goal of `proving' that the world no longer had any need, or
place, for the eternal Torah of Jewry.
Torah leadership had a farther-reaching vision and was not
fazed by the obstinate determination of its opponents. Torah
leaders kept their heads and therefore knew that if they
persevered in planting spores and seeds of Torah and Jewish
education, these would eventually overcome the powers of
evil. This was surely the hidden meaning behind the
Ponevezher Rov's words that the Jewish people is an integral
component of Creation, everlasting and immutable like the
heavens and earth, which no mortal power can oppose. This, as
he said, applies equally to Eretz Yisroel. His words were
especially encouraging during those times when the domestic
situation was so volatile and so shaky.
End of Part I
