Myrtle Rising

Rav Avigdor Miller on Parshat Miketz: The Real Chanukah Story & What We Learn from It

2/12/2021

In Rav Avigdor Miller's dvar Torah for Parshas Mikeitz-Chanukah 5 – Suffering of Chanukah, pages 1-6 contain the Chanukah story, which is very worth reading just for that.

Then Rav Miller discusses the value of suffering & yissurim before returning to the Chanukah story on pages 12-14, including the bitter & not-so-well-known end of the Chashmonai family—meaning, their descendants, not those who starred in the Chanukah saga.

Then Rav Miller returns to the theme of suffering and turns our attitudes on their heads.

We think of times of suffering as "bad" while easier times are "good."

But on page 16, Rav Miller reorients us:

Don’t think that! Those are the good old days!

That’s the best time of your life. That's the apex, the summit of your success.

Your throne in the next world is built on tzaar, on sacrifice and difficulties.

You’ll be sitting on a golden throne because you had to chew the earth with your teeth in order to arrive at even a little bit of success in avodas Hashem.

On pages 18-19, Rav Miller returns to the Chanukah story & explains exactly the miracle of the pure olive oil.

Whenever Rav Miller describes an event from Torah & tradition, he always adds details that bring it to life, and that is exactly what he does with Chanukah story.

Plus, a Q&A appears on the last page regarding why our Sages utilized weapons at times, but today, they don't.

This is a common misunderstanding when people look back and use Jews like the Maccabees, etc., as their role model for military values; it's taking the idea out of context. So Rav Miller clarifies it there.

You can see more of his views on the subject here (including how the young Rav Miller got a hold of his own father's gun, which almost ended in a tremendous loss for Am Yisrael):

Chanukah lights on a window sill in Eretz Yisrael by chavahjacobs

Insights into Jew-Hatred from Rav Wasserman's Epoch of the Mashiach & Ideas for How to Respond Practically

1/12/2021

The following explanation for Jew-hatred is taken from Epoch of the Messiah, a collection of essays written throughout the 1930s by the greatly loved & esteemed Torah Sage (and close disciple of the Chafetz Chaim) Rav Elchanan Bunim Wasserman.

He wrote this during the Holocaust, fully aware of everything happening & everything about to happen—no denial, no rose-colored glasses, no "that can't happen here"—just crystal-clear vision.

He & his yeshivah were murdered by Lithuanian Nazis in 1941.

So here is an excerpt of Epoch of the Mashiach, pages 28-29 (any boldface or underline are my own addition), written in Europe in the 1930s:

The Holy Scriptures record only those prophecies which apply to all generations.

There is no record of such prophecies which were merely of temporary significance (Megillah 4).

Hence all that is recorded in Scriptures is of an eternal nature and has a bearing upon all times, including even our own.

Let us examine then the statement, "The Lord has commanded that Jacob be surrounded by enemies."

Periodic persecution and hostile treatment of Jacob are a necessary evil in the Divine scheme of things.

Whenever, in the course of history, the Jew loses consciousness of his heritage and mission in life, it becomes necessary that his enemies rouse him and restore him to the possession of his faculties.

The magnitude of his enemies and the severity of the methods they employ in awakening the Jew depend entirely on the intensity of the latter's lethargy.

An analogy may be found in the case of a man who is asleep in a burning house.

If he sleeps lightly a gentle nudge may suffice to make him aware of the danger.

However. if he has sunk into an extremely sound and deep slumber, it may be necessary to strike him hard in order to save his life.

Similarly, when the Jewish people are, on the whole, conscious of their Jewishness, anti-Semitism expresses itself in minor annoyances which suffice to prevent the Jew from his forgetting his destiny.

However, when the Jew completely ignores the covenant which G-d made with his ancestors and desires to live like other peoples of the earth, then hordes of beastly anti-Semites swoop down upon him with terrific force and fury, as is the case in our own day.

***

[Isaiah 42:24] This verse in Isaiah makes mention of two classes of sinners:

a) those who sin involuntarily, and
b) those who voluntarily rebel against the Lord -- "They would not walk in His ways."

Both of these classes are to be found among Jews today.

A great many of us are misguided by those wearing the mantel of leadership, and they sin through sheer ignorance.

Many others declare arrogantly to G-d, "Away! We will have nothing of Thee and Thy ways!"

This latter group organizes schools for the dissemination of the denial of Torah, where Jewish children are trained to declare, "We have no portion in the G-d of Israel."

It is this class that is referred to in the verse in Deuteronomy: "And G-d saw this and He was angry because of the provocations of His sons and daughters."

They are the true cause of all that besets us today.

The above stands as just one example of the classic Torah attitude toward Jew-hatred.

Rav Wasserman didn't make this up; it's found throughout Torah scholarship and, as noted above, the Prophets spoke of it with that attitude.

Having said that, a Jew certainly has the right to self-defense.

A Jew may also utilize the laws of the country & the ears of authorities to carry out derech-hateva efforts to curb violent Jew-hatred or acts of discrimination against Jews.

But to completely ignore the underlying reason for Jew-hatred?

Nope.

Ignoring the real reason only makes things worse.

So what should our response be?

Ideas for the Ideal Response

Basically, it's about falling in love with Judaism—falling in love all over again.

It's there within your neshamah.

If you feel pulled toward & energized by grand gestures, then that's well & good.

But what if you don't? Or what if you're already feeling swamped (whether practically or emotionally) or totally lethargic?

So as always, please PLEASE remember that BABY STEPS COUNT.

BABY STEPS MATTER.

Rav Avigdor Miller often provided ideas for baby steps.

(You can search on the Toras Avigdor website for his ideas.)

Say why you're doing it (to revive your commitment to Torah, your devotion to Hashem, etc.) and do whatever you'd like.

Here are some suggestions:

You can bring Shabbat in a few minutes earlier or take it out a few minutes later.

You can write down or say 10 aspects of Judaism for which you are grateful.

You can take 1 moment on Shabbat to feel happy about the gift of Shabbat.

You can take 30 seconds to close your eyes & find an inner happiness of being a Jew.

Read one paragraph (or even just a sentence) from a book of mussar or Chassidus.

Learn one halacha of a subject like shemirat halashon, tsniyut, Shabbat, etc.

But let's say you're feeling emotionally dry...

It happens to the best of us. Literally. Rav Levi Yitzchak Bender spoke of times when talking to Hashem feels totally dry & devoid of any meaning. (He advised to keep doing it until the feeling came back, even if it takes days or weeks, because it's a rough patch, and not a negative reflection on you.)

You can make or buy an extra salad or dessert l'khvod Shabbat, and say, "Hashem, I'm just not feeling it, but I wanted to do something to let you know that despite everything, I really do care."

And yes, you can say this in a totally blah manner. It's still considered an effort in the right direction.

Also, you can just read this out loud with whatever emotion you can muster (and even if you can't muster any):
www.myrtlerising.com/blog/a-60-second-exercise-to-fulfill-your-main-purpose-in-life

Rav Dessler explains this at length in Michtav M'Eliyahu/Strive for Truth. Even if we don't achieve a high level in this lifetime, the bare fact of starting out on that path sets off an eternal chain reaction that continues to bring us to that level in the Next World.

Here's a summary of that process:
www.myrtlerising.com/blog/how-the-baby-steps-in-this-world-create-your-future-world-of-beautiful-pulsating-light

And here are more ideas on the topic:

Today's Experts in Various Areas of Torah (including Mussar & Chassidus)

30/11/2021

Someone asked Rav Itamar Schwartz of Bilvavi about rabbinical experts in serving Hashem.

Here's how Rav Schwartz answered him:

As of now I do not know one who has the comprehensive understanding on how to guide you, but I can give you some examples of names of people today who each are experts at the areas of Torah they are known in.

An expert on any of the words of the Gra is, Rav Dovid Cohen from Chevron.

An expert on the path of Ramchal [Rav Moshe Chaim Luzatto, Way of Hashem, Mesillat Yesharim, etc.] is, Rav Mordechai Shirki, who heads Machon Ramchal.

An expert on Reb Yisrael Salanter’s methods is, Reb Uri Weisblum.

An expert on Maharal is Rav Yehoshua Hartman, who prints Maharal sefarim and who heads Machon YaM, and above him is Rav Yonasan David, the Rosh Yeshiva of Pachad Yitzchok.

An expert at the school of thought Kelm and Slabodka is, Rav Reuven Leuchter.

Concerning the approach of Novhardok — find out from his talmidim in France about who the expert on Novhardok is today, because I do not know about it.

An expert on Chabad Chassidus is, Rav Yitzchok Ginzberg and Rav Yoel Kah, z"l.

An expert on Breslev Chassidus is Rav Kluger from Beit Shemesh.

An expert on Chassidus in general is Rav Yaakov Moshe Erlanger.

An expert on Kaballah is Rav Yitzchok Meir Morgenstern.

https://question.bilvavi.net/blog/2021/11/25/who-are-the-experts-today-in-avodas-hashem/

Hope this helps!

Inspiring Message from Bitachon Weekly

29/11/2021

Inspiring message from Bitachon Weekly Parshas Vayeishev 5782, page 8:

The Main Thing in Avodas Hashem Is Your Effort, Not Your End Product

Working for Hashem is much more pleasant than working for people.

With Hashem, you are working with truth; and He is happy with your efforts alone.

With people, you must have good results, or else they may think there is something wrong with you, and that you are not a good person.

To receive Bitachon Weekly by email, send a request to:
thenewbitachonweekly@gmail.com

The Weekly Vaad can be heard on Kol Halashon:
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www.kolhalashon.com

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Please note: I've no connection with Bitachon Weekly; just find their material uniquely amazing & wish to spread this wonderful dose of sanity in an increasingly insane world.

What to Pray for on Each Night of Chanukah

28/11/2021

The following is found in Kedushas Levi by Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev in 1798.

(The Chatam Sofer says that crying in front of the candles ensures your prayers will be answered.)

Each night of Chanukah holds a different & extra-special power for certain types of prayers.

It goes as follows:

1st night: Pray not to be lonely or depressed.
2nd night: Pray for shidduchim (getting married), shalom bayit (harmonious relations with your family)
3rd night: Good, happy, & healthy children
4th night: 4 Imahos/Matriarchs — to be a normal person in my 4 walls — of true essence
5th night: Chamisha Chumshei Torah — daven that your husband should be a talmid chacham & so should your sons & sons-in-law

On the 5th night more of the Menorah is lit up; daven for more light in your life — daven for a revelation.

6th night: Simcha. Joy. You can have everything and still be sad...so daven for simcha.
7th night – Happy Shabbat. Zemirot & divrei Torah at your Shabbat meals. Shabbat is source of all blessing.
8th night - Daven for barren women to become mothers of healthy children.

8 is above nature – an extremely powerful day to daven.

The author also says that if you are planning to start something new — if you start on Chanuka — it will be blessed & more likely to succeed.

A big THANK YOU to the people who sent me this segulah — I'd forgotten about it, so your email provided a huge benefit.

What Chanukah Lights Say about Reaching the Real You

28/11/2021

An inspiring Chanukah message from Bitachon Weekly Parshas Vayeishev 5782, page 20 (boldface mine):

Bais Shamai says we light eight lights on the first night, and subtract one each day.

Bais Hillel says we start with one, and add one each night.

Bais Hillel taught us to think upwards with constant positive thoughts:

• A person must say: The world was created just for me. [Chazal58].

• The entire world is forgiven through the Teshuva of just one person. [Chazal 59].

• The entire world was created to benefit just one person. [Chazal 60].

Remind yourself of the great deeds you have done in your life.

This is the real you, and you are expected to continue being great.

Forget about your Aveiros and weaknesses [unless this brings positive results].

Keep moving upwards and think BIG [no matter how many mistakes you keep making].

Every person has special qualities that no one else has.

It is his job to:

• find them
• think about them
• talk about them constantly
• appreciate them
• thank Hashem for making him a great person
• keep davening day and night all your life for more and more greatness.

Always think highly of yourself [even if it’s not completely true] since the way a person feels about himself is the way he will eventually become.

The more a person has voices telling him he’s really not so good, the greater he really is, since the Yetzer Hara always starts up with our greatest people.

Please also see Rav Levi Yitzchak Bender's ideas on how to access the secret power of Chaunkah:
www.myrtlerising.com/blog/how-to-access-the-secret-power-of-chanukah

Rav Avigdor Miller on Parshat Vayeshev: Fighting the Jewish Inferiority Complex

25/11/2021

In Rav Avigdor Miller's dvar Torah Parshas Vayeishev-Chanukah 5 – The Chanukah Battle, we start off by receiving a fully detailed scene of what happened when Yosef HaTzaddik tried to escape the clutches of Potifar's wife.

Based on the Midrash, here's the illustrative description (page 4):

So now this poor innocent woman is standing on the street shouting to everybody,
pointing at this dirty fellow who had tried to violate her...

...Potiphar rushed home from work and when she told him the story, all the details about what this wicked Ivri had tried to do, he became full of rage; he seized Yosef and began pummeling him.

And after a good beating, he grabbed Yosef by the ear and she grabbed him by the other ear, and they dragged him to the police station, to come before the judges to be sentenced...

...She and her husband are dragging Yosef through the streets by his ears.

Potiphar was an important official and his servant was well known so this disturbance certainly drew a crowd.

Women and children were staring from the windows; the men were rushing out of their houses to the streets to see what was going on...

And our sages tell us that as Yosef was being dragged through the streets, Potiphar
and his wife were heaping contumely upon his head.

She was shouting accusations, and Potiphar was gnashing his teeth.

“Look what we did for him. We elevated him. We made him the majordomo, the manager of our house, and that's how he tried to pay us back? By acting so lowly?!”

And the Egyptians who witnessed this spectacle, they were looking on and shaking their heads.

“Well, that’s what you get for taking him as a slave in your house. What else could you expect from a Hebrew? Only a dirty Ivri could be that wicked and do such an uncivilized thing.”

Ivri means a Hebrew but for the Egyptians it meant a hated nation, a corrupt people.

And they were kicking Yosef and spitting at him, insulting him as he was being dragged through the street.

At the same time he endured all this, Yosef HaTzaddik kept repeated the same verse (Tehillim 39:9): "The reproach of low people should not come upon me."

Potiphera's wife had pursued Yosef. The Egyptian people were steeped in immorality.

Yet now all the hypocrites came to fore with appalled, offended, pearl-clutching sensibilities.

As if!

Yet Rav Miller notes this as characteristic of Jew-haters.

Dirty people will call a Jew "dirty Jew."

Greedy, power-hungry people will accuse Jews of loving money over all else.

Cold-hearted, hostile people accuse Jews of being the same.

Rav Miller references a letter Pope Gregory wrote to King Louis of France, declaring that “Jews commit the most terrible crimes that are too horrid to speak about.”

Oho, Catholic Church!

Not sure exactly which King Louis & Pope Gregory corresponded here, but we all know about the Catholic Church.

Yeah, there are some decent and sincere people there. In modern times, some proved instrumental in saving Jews during the Holocaust AND returning Jewish children to the Jewish people.

But historically, the Church has shown itself as a bastion of corruption & immorality & bloodshed.

Talk about pot calling the kettle black.

As noted within the PDF, Protestants complained about Jews trying to kill Christians at every opportunity. That was not true of the Jews, but of the Christians themselves.

Nazis accused the Jews of trying to murder & corrupt society...while the biggest murderers & corrupters of society were the Nazis themselves.

The list goes on.

Here's an interesting note on page 6 from Rav Miller:

There is extensive literature on this subject only that you can't get it.

It's very hard to buy these books that speak about the crimes of the church.

There's a powerful organization that sees to it that this literature is not available and therefore to get books, real works that reveal the deeds of the papacy is almost impossible.

One historical work I wanted to see when I was writing one of my books but it was very hard to get my hands on.

There's one copy in the public library in the main branch and you can't take it out.

That's what an organization can accomplish.

Look Who's Talking

Rav Miller notes how a person can feel ashamed if someone speaks publicly in Yiddish—even as Italians & all sorts of other ethnic groups freely speak their language without a care.

Some Jews feel ashamed or uncomfortable with traditional Jewish garb. Even seeing another Jew in Chassidic garb makes them uncomfortable.

Yet scores of non-Jews go about wearing purposely ripped clothes or pants sagging to an extreme, or other extremely undignified or vulgar styles.

Some even feel proud of their ugly, demeaning style.

Many belief systems entered the heads of frum Jews.

At one time, Jews felt attracted to the Egyptian mentality. Later on, many internalized Greek & Roman philosophies—including their music, literature, and attitudes.

Today, many frum people seek to harmonize atheistic & hedonistic ideas with Torah Judaism.

Some do so purposefully while some do so automatically.

Rav Miller elucidates how evolution crept into the Orthodox Jewish community on pages 10-11.

On pages 11-12, Rav Miller mentions books of Jew-hatred from the time of the Greeks until an old edition of Roget's thesaurus.

On pages 13-14, the rav offers examples of Jewish self-hatred.

Fighting the Jewish Inferiority Complex

On pages 14-19, Rav Miller describes the seeds of the Chanukah saga...and it all started out with a massive Jewish Inferiority Complex, which even infected knowledgeable Jews who should've known better.

In a nutshell, everything went into a slide all because of what Yosef HaTzaddik initially experienced at the hands of the despicable hypocritical Egyptians: cherpat naval.

In other words: being despised by lowlife hypocrites.

And here is the main lesson & goal of Chanukah for us today (page 18):

On Chanukah we’re expected to grow great in combating the yetzer hora that caused the trouble of Chanukah.

It means we have to begin falling in love with the Am Yisroel – that’s what Chanukah is trying to teach us.

And if we don’t get busy studying the emes of the Torah, then sooner or later the yetzer hora will win out and we’re going to fall into that error of the ancient Misyavnim [Hellenists].

On pages 19-20, Rav Miller describes his experience with one way to do this: reading Shir HaShirim.

It's true that if you pay attention to the words & understand that it's Hashem speaking to you personally with the uncompromising love expressed within, it's an incredibly powerful experience.

Saying Shir HaShirim for 40 days is also a good segulah to meet your zivug. My husband & I got engaged on Day 39. (He was saying it too, but not sure which day he was up to at that point.)

A synopsis of the real Chanukah story appears on pages 20-25.

Throughout pages 25-31, Rav Miller emphasizes the importance of appreciating the goodness of the frum community.

He acknowledges we are not perfect.

And he goes into detail on those pages.

By the way, thinking of yourself with self-worth helps you act that way. People tend to act to expectation.

Having grown up in a mostly non-Jewish secular society with the Conservative & Reform movements, I always noticed that frum Jews are THE most self-critical.

No other group ever criticizes themselves like frum Jews.

This includes all the frum Jews who constantly say, "We're in denial about this-and-such! Our community refuse to acknowledge/deal with this-and-such!"

No other community does that as far as I've ever seen.

Even the activist frum Jews who ARE doing their best deal with [fill in the blank], still go around decrying themselves by saying "we frum Jews aren't doing enough!"

It may be true they're not doing enough & that so much more needs to be done.

Yes, it's true!

But it drives me crazy when these same frum self-critics refuse to see through the self-propaganda of the non-Jewish/secular society, which portrays itself as having its act together, but really doesn't.

(I think this results from working exclusively with the frum community while studying articles, books, lectures, and podcasts from the non-frum/non-Jewish. You see all the problems in the frum community while the non-Jewish/non-frum community paints a picture of what they want. And let's not pretend their material has nothing to do with making a bestselling book or course, right? Sure, they focus on problems in their society, but with a coat of paint over it. Also, nowadays, many non-Jews lack the values to understand what is a problem & what isn't, and what is a solution & what is not.)

Their supposed resources & solutions are not as effective as they like to claim.

I have personal experience in this with them.

Yes, all their organizations and so forth manage to help some people.

They aren't completely useless.

But the reason why Western society as a whole is plummeting in every area results from a lot of stuff being mostly talk with very little action, or simply ineffective.

They can advertise & promote as much as they want, just like a pig can advertise & promote its kosher sign of a cloven hoof as much as it wants.

But inside, its digestive system acts like that of every other treif beast.

Credit for all material & quotes goes to Toras Avigdor.

Modern Sefardim, Shabbat in Morocco, and the Possible Messages of the Current Attacks on Jews

23/11/2021

In the Morocco of my mother-in-law's days (1940s-1960s), shemirat Shabbat stood as the rule, not the exception.

And Moroccan Jews kept Shabbat happily. It held enjoyment & meaning for them.

Living within a traditional Muslim society also meant belief in one God stood as the norm.

Religious customs, regular sessions of prayer times throughout the day, modest dress & behavior for both men & women, hospitality...this gave the Moroccan Galut a platform to embrace the fundamentals of Jewish tradition.

The moderate climate also enabled abundant harvests of a wide variety of fruits, legumes, and vegetables, which thus enabled a tremendous amount of generosity in feeding the poor.

Even when the secularizing French influence infiltrated both the Jewish & non-Jewish societies of Morocco, it lacked Eastern Europe's rabid craze for the destruction of everything religious.

Making Room for Religion

Even today, you see how less-religious Sefardim tend to give way to the more religious.

For example, during the blessing said during a bris milah, you'll see very secular-looking Sephardi women suddenly cover their hair out of respect for the blessings.

When attending religious weddings—including the not-terribly-religious weddings, even the most secular women make some attempt at tsniyut, whether it's being technically covered up with long pants & long sleeves, or a longer-than-usual skirt.

Normally bare-headed men don a kippah.

In fact, in a wedding with a lot of bare-headed guests, kippahs get passed out to anyone who needs, and everyone dons one. No considers it religious coercion.

In fact, I recently attending a wedding on my husband's side in which the bride's gown showed an appalling lack of tsniyut (as did most of the female guests)...but the initial dancing hosted by the secular-looking DJs featured a mechitzah smack in the middle of the dance floor!

And everyone respected the mechitzah (for as long as it lasted).

BTW, the mechitzah (pleasantly) shocked me because when I first came to Eretz Yisrael around 30 years ago, the solid dati-leumi committed to weddings with separate dancing, but no mechitzah.

So all the more so with this family, a very tepid dati-leumi, I felt sure there would be mixed dancing all the way.

But much to their credit, the first part of the wedding not only featured separate dancing, but also a mechitzah on the dance floor.

When I expressed my joyful shock, one of my older kids told me this has become the norm; most weddings among this crowd feature a mechitzah on the dance floor.

And frum pop songs blared out from the speakers, including chassidish ones.

And everyone loved it, singing along & raising their hands prayerfully to shout, "Hashem Melech, Hashem malach, Hashem yimloch l'olam va'ed!" (Hashem is King, Hashem has always been King, Hashem will remain King forever & ever.)

As another example of mixing: In the slideshow of the new couple projected onto the walls, posed next to his really nice yet extremely immodest kallah stood the chatan...wearing long thick tzitzit.

And a kippah, of course.

(In case you're wondering how the chuppah ceremony is conducted with such a revealing kallah at these secular-religious Sefardi weddings, the kallah usually wears some kind of covering under the chuppah only. Or her veil remains long enough to cover—even if it's a see-thru veil. And the rav acting as mesader kiddushin takes tactful care not to face her.)

Wait a Minute...WHO was Throwing Rocks Again?

At the same time, today's Sefardi communities developed a reputation for patience & acceptance of those seemingly less religious.

I wondered how it all went together back in Morocco's religiously devoted days of yore.

So I very nicely & sensitively asked my mother-in-law whether there were Jews who transgressed Shabbat in Morocco when she lived there.

"Yes," she said. "A few. But only inside their home. Never publicly."

"So there was never public desecration of Shabbat in Moroccan?"

"No," she said firmly.

She also indicated that the minority of Shabbat transgressors didn't want to take their Shabbat transgression to the street.

In other words, they weren't unhappy living amid a shomer Shabbat society, even if they did not believe it for themselves.

Intrigued by this complete (and correct) reversal of today's norm, I said, "What would have happened if they'd violated Shabbat on the street?"

"They'd throw rocks at them."

Oho, I thought. So it's not just those "fanatic charedim"...or so I assumed.

"Really?" I said. "In Morocco, the Jews threw rocks at Sabbath violators?"

My mother-in-law's eyes widened & she went speechless as did a double-take. "No!" she said when she'd recovered from the apparently shocking insinuation. She managed to stammer, "Not the Jews—the Arabs."

Now it was my turn for a double-take. "What—the Arabs?"

"Yeah," she said.

"Wait, let me get this straight," I said. "In Morocco, if a Jew would have violated Shabbat publicly, the ARABS would throw rocks at them?"

"Yeah," she said.

"Why?"

"Because they knew the Jews shouldn't be doing that."

If a Jew in Morocco walked out of his house smoking a cigarette or getting into a car on Shabbat, his NON-Jewish society would stone him on the spot.

The connection between obvious transgression & negative consequence back then & there was obvious to all.

In fact, even if you don't personally approve of it, it's hard to label that as Jew-hatred or antisemitism because the goyim in that situation were davka making sure Jews observed Judaism...as opposed to so many other times throughout history when the goyim tried to force Jews to violate Judaism.

And in addition to the basic respect these Shabbat-transgressors had for their Jewish society, the threat of stones zooming their way also kept their desecrations from crossing into the public sphere (a dynamic that ultimately weakens everyone & brings harsher judgement on a populace).

What Might These Nasty, Sometimes Lethal Hits be Hinting?

For millennia, our Neviim & Sages have been telling us that Jew-hatred is merely the stick used to keep us in line with our unique, holy, and unparalleled role in rectifying the world & achieving personal greatness in the This World & the World to Come.

The surrounding nations are a type of polishing-sifting mechanism for Am Yisrael.

Only rarely do the surrounding societies remind us to return to the framework of halacha in such an obviously pro-Torah manner, as the Moroccan Muslims did when they attacked Jews who publicly desecrated their own religion of Judaism.

Usually, it's much less targeted & much more anti-Torah than that.

(For example, throwing rocks at Jews for doing things like living in Eretz Yisrael or going to daven at the Kotel.)

It doesn't mean we cannot defend ourselves.

It doesn't mean the haters are blameless. They're wicked & will face harsh consequences for their Jew-hating actions.

But it does mean we should also look beyond the stick (even as we struggle to dodge or fend off the stick).

As we find ourselves hit once again by a wave of attacks by Yishmael, we can look at what might be going on beneath the surface.

Once again, the attacks come as hits from behind or from the side—unexpected, short & to-the-point, yet lethal (or almost lethal, depending).

One thing that comes to mind is the nasty little barbs people sometimes shoot at others.

While the offender usually minimizes the nasty barb as "cute," "clever," "funny," or "S/He deserved it," the victim often feels slapped in the face, gutted, humiliated, enraged, etc.

With comment sections & social media, nasty little comments have reached an all-time high, spreading faster & farther than ever—before an audience of hundreds, thousands, or even millions—and staying there theoretically forever.

Another message might be about all the seemingly "little" breaches people make in halacha.

The skirts that are just a bit too short, the shirt that's just a tad too tight. (Men shouldn't wear tight pants either: https://dinonline.org/2016/02/26/tight-clothes-for-men/.)

The hair-covering that's not completely appropriate (because, hey, the main thing is covering the hair).

The one little look at something online not completely appropriate or even absolutely forbidden.

How many men glance at something online when they could be glancing at something in limud?

And as sincere & heartfelt as one's simple love of Hashem may be, all the "little" breaches mentioned in the weddings above are as appalling as the sincerely observed mitzvot in those same venues are meritorious.

(Probably, there are also other ideas I'm not thinking of.)

In so many situations, the Yetzer Hara comes through the back door, sneaking up from behind or to the side of a person looking the other way.

Then the Yetzer delivers that stab, that bullet.

Needless to say, I'm talking to myself as much as anyone else. I also struggle with all sorts of stuff.

Of course, as far as practical protection goes, normal security methods should be implemented & strengthened.

But throughout Jewish history, our greatest Sages have always emphasized the need to invest in good soul-searching & teshuvah when faced with Jew-hatred.

The Beautiful Rose Garden that is You

Whenever we speak of self-scrutiny (cheshbon hanefesh), we must emphasize the importance of doing this with love & compassion.

We should feel GOOD about seeking out what we need to strengthen.

And taking baby steps in the right direction is absolutely fabulous. Generally, you don't need to make grand gestures unless you really feel willing & able to do so.

It shouldn't be depressing or "Oh no, not this AGAIN..."

It should be like weeding a beautiful rose garden.

You are the rose garden in all your glorious beauty—and you just need to do your lovely gloriousness a favor by pulling out a few pesky weeds.

If even that's too much (and for some people, based on their personality & traumatic experiences, it really might be too much), people are also free to dance & sing songs of praise to Hashem as a response.

Simply davening or saying Tehillim are also wonderful responses.

And that's it.

Comforting Quote about Time: Free Graphic

21/11/2021

SOULFUL CELEBRATION: A Poem by Nechumelle Jacobs

18/11/2021

For more posts featuring Nechumelle Jacobs & her incredible poetry, please start here:
www.myrtlerising.com/blog/pearls-of-wisdom-an-inspiring-poem-by-nechumelle-jacobs

<<Previous

Rav Avigdor Miller on Parshat Miketz: The Real Chanukah Story & What We Learn from It

Insights into Jew-Hatred from Rav Wasserman's Epoch of the Mashiach & Ideas for How to Respond Practically

Ideas for the Ideal Response

Today's Experts in Various Areas of Torah (including Mussar & Chassidus)

Inspiring Message from Bitachon Weekly

What to Pray for on Each Night of Chanukah

What Chanukah Lights Say about Reaching the Real You

Rav Avigdor Miller on Parshat Vayeshev: Fighting the Jewish Inferiority Complex

Look Who's Talking

Fighting the Jewish Inferiority Complex

Modern Sefardim, Shabbat in Morocco, and the Possible Messages of the Current Attacks on Jews

Making Room for Religion

Wait a Minute...WHO was Throwing Rocks Again?

What Might These Nasty, Sometimes Lethal Hits be Hinting?

The Beautiful Rose Garden that is You

Comforting Quote about Time: Free Graphic

SOULFUL CELEBRATION: A Poem by Nechumelle Jacobs

Myrtle Rising

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