December 10, 2010- Vayigash
The following was written last year on the anniversary of the Mumbai attack.
It was this week's Torah portion, Vayigash.
I heard it with my own ears. Someone remembered that 27 years ago, the
Kloisenberger Rebbe gave a talk and mentioned something about Jews in India, dying "al kiddush Hashem" (sanctification of God's name, ie martyrdom). The recording was uploaded to digital and made the rounds - it was broken, scratchy and the Yiddish was very hard to discern, but then right there in the middle he said it. In the times before the Moshiach, the entire world will be brought to an understanding of the Jew through a series of events and even the far reaching places filled with throngs of people completely unfamiliar with the Jew (even by negative association) will be enlightened when one Jew in India is killed "al kiddush Hashem". I know messianic talk is an uncomfortable subject for most Jews - either it smacks too much of christianity or rings of apocalyptic fanaticism - but like it or not it is a central part of normative Judaism. Much like the patriarchs, Moses, the prophets, etc. who grace the annals of Jewish history, there will be an emissary of God, a king to the Jewish people, who will usher in an era called Geulah, or redemption. What this looks like exactly is not our subject here, but in some ways nothing we recognize will remain the same and yet in others nothing will be different other than a sovereign theocracy under this King and God's Torah. Necessarily, Jewish "philosophy" as it were must assume an ultimate state of perfection in sync with the perfection of the Creator, where all becomes revealed - every question answered, every lion with every lamb, and the spiritual truth of existence as clear as day. Our tradition teaches that the span of time before Moshiach will not exceed 6000 years and the redemption can come anytime before. This year is 5769.
What we don't do, however, is purchase megaphones, placards and soap boxes, crowd around times square pronouncing the end is nigh. Nor do we sit around our ancient texts wringing our hands with cacophonous laughter at the coming cataclysms. And yet, our Sages have elucidated for us much of what seems to playing before our very eyes - and the more I read and hear, the more accurate it becomes, and the more the world seems to be following a script that, although I may know the ending, is wondrously weaving its way there with no shortage of surprises and captivating brilliance. The great Rabbi Akiva was remembered to have "laughed" at the sight of Jerusalem's destruction because if the words of the prophets came true in this was with such perfection, then surely their words of redemption and Divine unity will likewise come to fruition. When our Sages, our Righteous predict and foretell and our own eyes bear witness, we're meant to strengthen our resolve, embolden our faith, take our own thoughts and deeds more seriously, and prepare for the battles we'll most likely face - both national and personal.
The Koisenberger Rebbe was the young scion of Sanzer Chassidim. He rose to meteoric heights of spiritual purity and Talmudic brilliance, leadership and vision. He lost his wife and 11 children in the Holocaust, remarried afterwards and bore 7 more, and somewhere in between survived the most horrendous conditions while still shepherding his flock, the Jewish people. He was renowned for leading the Jews in the DP camps, and for rebuilding Torah Judaism and his own Chassidus both in American and Israel after the war, and for asking General Eisenhower to fetch him a lulav and etrog from Italy for the Succot immediately following liberation. When a man of such sacrifice and stature, with such an unbounded love for God and His people, looks into the future, he doesn't prophesize, per se, but he'll intuit the ways of the Almighty much like a parent intuits the thoughts of the child she knows and loves so well.
A Maimonides alum purchased for us a Megilas Ester for Purim online that was printed in Munich right after the war under the American Vaad Hatzala (salvation committee) as a gift to "the Shaaris HaPlaytah", the holy remnants of the Jewish people. This was the Kloisenberger Rebbe's community/congregation. This may have even been held by him (the thought of whose hands caressed these pages sends a chill every time). The Megilah and Purim both tell the story "behind the scenes". Everything on the outside seemed bleak and God-less. And yet in the heart of the darkness, in the depth of the "abandonment", God was lurking in every detail, every second and every turn. Every community will read this Shabbat the story of Joseph where ultimately he reveals himself to his brothers not as one sold into slavery but rather the viceroy of Egypt and savior of their fate. The Megilah tells a similar story. The Kloisenberger Rebbe lived such a story himself, and could see with prophetic intuition the unfolding of yet another such tale. We seem to be the players as the scenes unfold.
Wishing you a very lovely Shabbos,
Rabbi Lynn
It was this week's Torah portion, Vayigash.
I heard it with my own ears. Someone remembered that 27 years ago, the
Kloisenberger Rebbe gave a talk and mentioned something about Jews in India, dying "al kiddush Hashem" (sanctification of God's name, ie martyrdom). The recording was uploaded to digital and made the rounds - it was broken, scratchy and the Yiddish was very hard to discern, but then right there in the middle he said it. In the times before the Moshiach, the entire world will be brought to an understanding of the Jew through a series of events and even the far reaching places filled with throngs of people completely unfamiliar with the Jew (even by negative association) will be enlightened when one Jew in India is killed "al kiddush Hashem". I know messianic talk is an uncomfortable subject for most Jews - either it smacks too much of christianity or rings of apocalyptic fanaticism - but like it or not it is a central part of normative Judaism. Much like the patriarchs, Moses, the prophets, etc. who grace the annals of Jewish history, there will be an emissary of God, a king to the Jewish people, who will usher in an era called Geulah, or redemption. What this looks like exactly is not our subject here, but in some ways nothing we recognize will remain the same and yet in others nothing will be different other than a sovereign theocracy under this King and God's Torah. Necessarily, Jewish "philosophy" as it were must assume an ultimate state of perfection in sync with the perfection of the Creator, where all becomes revealed - every question answered, every lion with every lamb, and the spiritual truth of existence as clear as day. Our tradition teaches that the span of time before Moshiach will not exceed 6000 years and the redemption can come anytime before. This year is 5769.
What we don't do, however, is purchase megaphones, placards and soap boxes, crowd around times square pronouncing the end is nigh. Nor do we sit around our ancient texts wringing our hands with cacophonous laughter at the coming cataclysms. And yet, our Sages have elucidated for us much of what seems to playing before our very eyes - and the more I read and hear, the more accurate it becomes, and the more the world seems to be following a script that, although I may know the ending, is wondrously weaving its way there with no shortage of surprises and captivating brilliance. The great Rabbi Akiva was remembered to have "laughed" at the sight of Jerusalem's destruction because if the words of the prophets came true in this was with such perfection, then surely their words of redemption and Divine unity will likewise come to fruition. When our Sages, our Righteous predict and foretell and our own eyes bear witness, we're meant to strengthen our resolve, embolden our faith, take our own thoughts and deeds more seriously, and prepare for the battles we'll most likely face - both national and personal.
The Koisenberger Rebbe was the young scion of Sanzer Chassidim. He rose to meteoric heights of spiritual purity and Talmudic brilliance, leadership and vision. He lost his wife and 11 children in the Holocaust, remarried afterwards and bore 7 more, and somewhere in between survived the most horrendous conditions while still shepherding his flock, the Jewish people. He was renowned for leading the Jews in the DP camps, and for rebuilding Torah Judaism and his own Chassidus both in American and Israel after the war, and for asking General Eisenhower to fetch him a lulav and etrog from Italy for the Succot immediately following liberation. When a man of such sacrifice and stature, with such an unbounded love for God and His people, looks into the future, he doesn't prophesize, per se, but he'll intuit the ways of the Almighty much like a parent intuits the thoughts of the child she knows and loves so well.
A Maimonides alum purchased for us a Megilas Ester for Purim online that was printed in Munich right after the war under the American Vaad Hatzala (salvation committee) as a gift to "the Shaaris HaPlaytah", the holy remnants of the Jewish people. This was the Kloisenberger Rebbe's community/congregation. This may have even been held by him (the thought of whose hands caressed these pages sends a chill every time). The Megilah and Purim both tell the story "behind the scenes". Everything on the outside seemed bleak and God-less. And yet in the heart of the darkness, in the depth of the "abandonment", God was lurking in every detail, every second and every turn. Every community will read this Shabbat the story of Joseph where ultimately he reveals himself to his brothers not as one sold into slavery but rather the viceroy of Egypt and savior of their fate. The Megilah tells a similar story. The Kloisenberger Rebbe lived such a story himself, and could see with prophetic intuition the unfolding of yet another such tale. We seem to be the players as the scenes unfold.
Wishing you a very lovely Shabbos,
Rabbi Lynn
posted by Rabbi Lynn at
1:56 PM
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