[New York]
The extraordinary punitive suffering that Jews are undergoing in all countries -- including this supposedly friendly land of America -- must torment every Jewish head and pain every Jewish heart.
We clearly see how dire chastisement is being poured out over Jewry everywhere. When we look at the prophetic Passages of Rebuke, we do not know what verse we are up to: we do not know what tomorrow will bring.
About the plight of Jews in the Nazi-occupied countries there is nothing to say; about the dangers to Jewish life and property in Eretz Yisrael talk is superfluous; and talk is superfluous even about the precarious material situation of Jews in this free and loving land of America.
From the earliest days of this land of freedom, as in all other lands, self-sacrificing Jews stood at the forefront of those who invested all their gifts and talents to nurture its blossoming growth. As in all other lands, Jews contributed a rich share of its inspired personalities and brilliant statesmen. Yet in this same land of freedom, Jewish cemeteries are violated, Jewish children are beaten up, synagogues are desecrated, and rabbis are mocked and assaulted.
Our people comprises two kinds of Jews:
- The Torah-and-mitzvos Jews, who pour out their hearts to the Creator on Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur and on the other festivals which nourish their souls;
- The nebbich-Jews, the Jews of hard times. (They say that two well-to-do families once lived side by side. The cows of one family pastured well and yielded rich milk; the cows next door ate equally well but yielded nothing. Came an epidemic and they all died.) The nebbich-Jews have no Torah-and-mitzvos nourishment. They belong to the category of Jews of hard times, and the Hitlerist epidemic included even third-generation apostates in this category.
Today's holy rescue mission is to alert men and women in both the above camps to the seriousness of the Jewish situation on both sides of the ocean.
Regretfully, we must clearly declare that the principles underlying the current rescue plans are no more than political talk. Quite apart from the fact that they seriously endanger the entire Jewish people and the Land of Israel, as well as property worth hundreds of millions, in this country too they are no more than a deceptive camouflage.
The self-appointed communal leaders, spearheaded by the Yiddish and English-language Jewish press, and aware of the huge volcano seething deep in the hearts of the anti-Semites, stock their thousands of grocery stores with tranquilizers.
These leaders and journalists console Jews by peddling political promises, by reporting meetings and luncheons and encounters with statesmen and famous personalities -- while the Jewish people's lifeblood is draining away.
Not one of those public figures or opinion-makers or pressmen speaks about the root reason for all this suffering, for all these severe edicts and violent deaths. Not one of them offers advice on how to at least alleviate our people's universal suffering.
Torah Or -- "Torah is light": it throws light on all events and indicates clearly what they signify.
Every heart is instinctively drawn to things that are good and useful, and instinctively repelled by things that are evil and dangerous. These reactions occur instantly, requiring neither explanation nor arousal.
When a man is sitting in the dark, however, his heart will not be stirred by the most precious treasure that lies beside him, nor will it be alarmed by the most ferocious beast that lurks beside him -- because he is in the dark.
But the Torah, being luminous, throws light on the meaning of the heaven-rending agony that Jews are now suffering. It shows that this is the fulfillment of the prophetic verse, "Surely with a mighty hand
I will be King over you!"
This is the root reason for all this suffering, for all these harsh edicts. The Torah points out clearly where lies the precious treasure, that is, the true plan for rescuing Jews.
The Torah is our guide in all areas. Of course there is a need for knowledgeable experts to see to the political and economic needs of Jewry, both in the Diaspora lands of exile and in the Eretz Yisrael land of exile -- but these experts have nothing to say about our people's spiritual Torah-life. Their task is to conduct their economic and political work according to the Torah's directives, and then they will prosper.
Fellow Jews! We must consider our situation earnestly. Every man and woman must devote deep thought to the question, Who is punishing the Jewish people, and why? And every individual must himself arrive at the real answer: The current predicament is the same as it has always been, in every instance in which the Jewish people "did evil in the eyes of G-d." Each such case was followed by a famine or an epidemic or a wartime crisis -- until the people returned to G-d and were saved.
"The earth and all therein is G-d's; the world and its inhabitants." Moreover, "the whole earth is filled with His glory." Yet, though He is the Creator and Ruler of the entire universe and everything it contains, He refers to
Eretz Yisrael as "My Land."
The Torah refers to it as the Land "on which the eyes of the L-rd your G-d are constantly focused from the beginning of the year until the end of the year." Jews love Eretz Yisrael, as indeed they should, and sacrifice themselves for Eretz Yisrael, as indeed they should.
Yet Eretz Yisrael is now being led, for the greater part, by G-dless people who rebel against the Torah and its mitzvos, and in various places there Shabbos is desecrated, the Family Purity laws and other practical mitzvos are scoffed at, and Torah scholars and yeshivah students are scorned.
Though these irreligious leaders (if one is to judge by their desecration of Shabbos and Yom-Tov and their treifah diet) have no connection with the Eretz Yisrael eternally loved by Jews, they impose their G-dless schooling on the Jewishly-oriented man in the street, and even hold a number of respected rabbis in their iron vise.
Consider. How would you react if someone were to throw dirt into your private home and damage it? Could the most ethical and tolerant mind of a homeowner patiently accept this outrage, and even respect and encourage those who perpetrate it?
Desecrating Shabbos, eating treifos, conducting an impure family life -- these are "the abominations which G-d detests."
Is it conceivable that people who desecrate
Shabbos and eat
treifos and so on will overpower (so to speak) the Will of G-d, Who constantly desires that
Eretz Yisrael should be a land of Torah and
mitzvos, and that Jews in all other lands too should observe Torah and
mitzvos?
Realize that life and death are in your hands. And we must all keep in mind that "the hearts of kings and statesmen are in the Hand of G-d." The Jewish people will be saved not by statesmen nor by presidents nor by kings, but by G-d's Will, which will act only when we return in teshuvah.
It is commonly observed that when a freethinker or even a G-dless individual stands at the bedside of a desperately ill husband or wife or beloved only child, and the doctors say that G-d alone can help, the latent Jewish spark is wakened and this individual too turns to Him in prayer.
Jewry is a desperately ill patient in need of great mercy. No Jew in any country can be certain of his life, and of course not certain of his property. American millionaires and bankers and prosperous businessmen would do well to draw a lesson from the current state of the migrants: they, too, were once millionaires and bankers and prosperous businessmen.
Fellow Jews! Things are grim. This is the dense and gloomy darkness that precedes the dawning of Jewry's sun, with a complete Redemption through our righteous
Mashiach.
In the meantime it is dark. The one ray of hope is teshuvah -- observing Shabbos and the laws of Family Purity and the other practical obligations, and bringing up one's children in kosher Talmud Torah schools and yeshivos.
Fellow Jews! Vigilantly observe the laws of Family Purity, and Family Purity will vigilantly watch over your children.
Vigilantly observe Shabbos, and Shabbos will vigilantly watch over your property.
Vigilantly observe kashrus and other practical commandments, and they will watch over your lives.
May G-d arouse Jewish hearts by kind and compassionate means, so that for all the Children of Israel there will be light in their dwelling places. Then we will be privileged to witness the complete Redemption through our righteous Mashiach, in the very near future.
Torah is light: Prov. 6:23.
Surely with a mighty hand: Ezek. 20:33.
Did evil: Cf. Jud. 10:6, and elsewhere.
The earth and all therein: Ps. 24:1.
The whole earth is filled: Isa. 6:3.
My Land: Jer. 2:7, and elsewhere.
On which the eyes: Deut. 11:12.
The abominations: Deut. 12:31.
The hearts of kings and statesmen: Aphorism based on Prov. 21:1.
The latent Jewish spark: In the Yid. original, dos pintele Yid.
For all the Children of Israel: Cf. Ex. 10:23.
