26 Nov As Rockets Rain Down on Our Brothers and Sisters in Eretz Yisroel (Part 1)
All of us aspire to acquire somewhat the Keser Torah, the crown of Torah. We must know that Torah is vastly different than any other branch of knowledge. If you want to master calculus or physics for example, you need to have a certain amount of intelligence, a good teacher, and disciplined study habits. This is not sufficient when it comes to Torah. The Mishna in the Sixth Perek of Pirkei Avos informs us that there are 48 tools necessary for the true acquisition of Torah. One of those tools is nosei b’ol im chaveiro, the ability to empathize with another person. I’d like to zoom-in on this vital trait as it pertains to current events, namely, in the past month, Israel was attacked by over 400 rockets from Gaza. There were also rockets from Hamas and from Syria.
The empathetic person should reflect on how parents by the tens of thousands have to wake up their children in the middle of the night and rush them to the miklat, to shelters and safe rooms. How elderly people have to be brought with walkers and wheelchairs to safety. How people have to be shaken and roused out of sleep after taking sleeping pills. How countless people have to keep heart medicine and inhalers in the safe rooms in case they are needed. How modest women go to sleep fully dressed so that they don’t have to run out in bed clothes in an emergency. How families keep a bucket, tissues, and an umbrella in the safe room: the bucket to improvise as a makeshift toilet and the umbrella for a privacy screen. How, when 400 rockets rained down on Sederot and Ashkelon and many other cities, one million Israeli children were out of school. As Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt”l, zy”a, once explained, this makes us very vulnerable for we are taught, “Ein ha’olom mikayem ela bishvil hevel tinokes shel beis raban – The world only survives because of the Torah study of school children.”
Do we consider how hard it is for children to go to sleep when they are worrying about being attacked by a large missile? Do we reflect on how hard it is for a person to go to work the next day after having their sleep interrupted repeatedly by sirens? Do we ponder the thought of just how scary it is to go about your day knowing that at any minute a rocket could plow through your living room?
So what should we do with these ponderings? The answer is unequivocally that our response should be to pray for our brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisroel. As the verse says in Tehillim , “Eileh varechev v’eileh va’susim, va’anachnu b’sheim Hashem Elokeinu nazkir – They come with their chariots and they come with their steeds, but we come with the mentioning of Hashem, our G-d.” Therefore, when we say in Maariv, “Hashkivenu Hashem Elokeinu l’shalom – Hashem, help us go to sleep peacefully,” besides praying that we shouldn’t toss and turn in bed, and besides asking Hashem that we should get along in the nighttime with our spouse, and besides beseeching Hashem that we should be safe from such nighttime dangers and thieves, fire, and carbon monoxide, we should now also pray that our brethren in Eretz Yisroel should be able to go to sleep serenely, without worry of being terrorized. When we say the berachah of laMalshinim in the Shemone Esrei, we should say the stanza of “V’hazeidim meheirah s’akeir u’s’shabeir u’s’mageir u’s’chaleim v’sashpileim v’sachni’eim bimheirah v’yameinu – Those who are willful [which of course includes all the terrorists] should be quickly uprooted and broken and pulverized and brought low and humiliated, speedily in our days,” with much greater intensity during these troubled times. When we say Y’kum Purkan on Shabbos and we say the stitch, “V’yisparkun v’yishteizvun min kol aka u’min kol marin bishin – We should be redeemed and saved from any trouble and any evil happenstance,” we should focus on our Israeli brethren’s plight. This should be front and center in our minds when we say, “Racheim nah, Hashem Elokeinu, al Yisroel amecha – Please have mercy, our G-d, on Yisroel your children,” in our bentching,. We should suggest to our children that they take out a Tehillim and say a kapital for the scared children in Eretz Yisroel. And our children should see us saying Tehillim as well. This is how we teach empathy, achdus, and love of Eretz Yisroel.
In the merit of our heartfelt collective prayers, may Hashem protect our brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisroel and give them the tranquility and protection that they so richly deserve, and for caring for our brethren may Hashem bless us with long life, good health, and everything wonderful.
To be continued…