According to the Me'am Lo'ez, Shoftim/Judges 5:2 in the Song of Devorah (the Haftarah for Parshat Beshalach) provides intriguing insights into the role of Am Yisrael in the world.
First of all, the Me'am Lo'ez states that "Yisrael is the heart of Mankind."
It goes on to explain that a strong & healthy heart helps the body stay in good health.
But an ill heart weakens the entire body.
A heartbeat determines whether a person is alive or dead.
Although organ failure can also cause death, death isn't defined by a liver's or lung's lack of function.
Only the heart.
Likewise, when the Jews keep the Torah, this Torah-observance positively influences the entire world.
Even the "heathen nations" that deny Hashem experience a subtle influence from the good deeds of the Jewish people (whether these "heathen nations" realize it or not).
As Hashem promised Avraham Avinu, "Through you will be blessed all the families of the Earth" (Beresheit/Genesis 12:3).
Conversely, when the Jewish people abandon the Torah, the other nations worsen too.
We see this today, with the worsening assimilation of the Jewish people to the point that millions of Jews are honestly ignorant of even the basics of Judaism (and many externally committed Jews experience a tepid observance), the countries of North America & Europe & Oceania suffer increased secularism (Europe is pretty much atheistic), depravity, economic downfall, natural disasters, crime, and so on.
First of all, the Me'am Lo'ez states that "Yisrael is the heart of Mankind."
It goes on to explain that a strong & healthy heart helps the body stay in good health.
But an ill heart weakens the entire body.
A heartbeat determines whether a person is alive or dead.
Although organ failure can also cause death, death isn't defined by a liver's or lung's lack of function.
Only the heart.
Likewise, when the Jews keep the Torah, this Torah-observance positively influences the entire world.
Even the "heathen nations" that deny Hashem experience a subtle influence from the good deeds of the Jewish people (whether these "heathen nations" realize it or not).
As Hashem promised Avraham Avinu, "Through you will be blessed all the families of the Earth" (Beresheit/Genesis 12:3).
Conversely, when the Jewish people abandon the Torah, the other nations worsen too.
We see this today, with the worsening assimilation of the Jewish people to the point that millions of Jews are honestly ignorant of even the basics of Judaism (and many externally committed Jews experience a tepid observance), the countries of North America & Europe & Oceania suffer increased secularism (Europe is pretty much atheistic), depravity, economic downfall, natural disasters, crime, and so on.
What Happens When the Light unto the Nations Goes Out?
The Me'am Lo'ez invokes the famous verse "I have made you a light for the nations" (Yeshayahu/Isaiah 49:6), explaining (page 83):
When a group of people go out at night, one carries a lantern ahead of them to guide them.
If he drops the lantern and lets it go out, who stumbles?
He alone?
No! They all do!
When Success Breeds Destruction
At this point, you might be wondering about all the times other nations received the upper hand.
After all, didn't they enjoy that?
For example, many Germans who remember the days of Nazi power still miss those days and even recall them as the best of times.
(They hide it, but occasionally reveal their true sentiments when they feel it's safe to do so.)
However, the Me'am Lo'ez notes that their very power transforms into the source of their destruction.
The glory days of Egypt, Canaan, Babylon, ancient Greece, and Rome led to their utter destruction & dispersion.
Germany, via its reparations to the Jews, managed to gather itself from the dust, but the initial defeat of Nazi Germany included the brutal & merciless destruction of the Third Reich, particularly by the savage Russian soldiers, who showed no mercy on even elderly women.
Today, we see nations from all sides rising up against the Jewish people.
Among civilized countries, they hide their Jew-hatred behind fake self-righteous concern for Arabs in Eretz Yisrael (while doing absolutely nothing effective to help those same Arabs).
Or they hide behind a holier-than-thou focus on how much religious Jews follow whichever government protocols are in current fashion, while conveniently ignoring other religious & ethnic groups who do the same—including those groups who commit much worse acts.
You see this most strongly from the Liberal/Left, but many on the Conservative/Right also proclaim such sentiments (often combining them with badly misunderstood conspiracy theories & the inability to differentiate between fully assimilated Erev Rav & sincerely committed Jews).
After all, didn't they enjoy that?
For example, many Germans who remember the days of Nazi power still miss those days and even recall them as the best of times.
(They hide it, but occasionally reveal their true sentiments when they feel it's safe to do so.)
However, the Me'am Lo'ez notes that their very power transforms into the source of their destruction.
The glory days of Egypt, Canaan, Babylon, ancient Greece, and Rome led to their utter destruction & dispersion.
Germany, via its reparations to the Jews, managed to gather itself from the dust, but the initial defeat of Nazi Germany included the brutal & merciless destruction of the Third Reich, particularly by the savage Russian soldiers, who showed no mercy on even elderly women.
Today, we see nations from all sides rising up against the Jewish people.
Among civilized countries, they hide their Jew-hatred behind fake self-righteous concern for Arabs in Eretz Yisrael (while doing absolutely nothing effective to help those same Arabs).
Or they hide behind a holier-than-thou focus on how much religious Jews follow whichever government protocols are in current fashion, while conveniently ignoring other religious & ethnic groups who do the same—including those groups who commit much worse acts.
You see this most strongly from the Liberal/Left, but many on the Conservative/Right also proclaim such sentiments (often combining them with badly misunderstood conspiracy theories & the inability to differentiate between fully assimilated Erev Rav & sincerely committed Jews).
Warming Relations in the Middle East
Interestingly, as the Jews of Eretz Yisrael make a gradual shift into open-mindedness toward religious Jews & increased Torah-observance, we see the nations of the Middle East warming up in peace toward the Jews of Eretz Yisrael.
It used to be the opposite.
They (the more diplomatic ones, anyway) used to proclaim they held nothing against Jews in general, but only against "the Zionists." (And Jew-haters on both the Left & Right in America still make this dubious distinction.)
The better-informed of us see through this doublespeak, recognizing the lying forked tongue for what it is.
But as Jews in Eretz Yisrael warm up to their own Judaism, we see a parallel warming of relations in the region.
I think part of it also derives from Hashem's promise to gather in the Exiles.
That's just my private opinion, so feel free to reject it.
But here's why I think it:
Before the official borders of today, Jewish populations flourished throughout Arabia
In fact, today's Mecca was originally known as Yathrib and thrived under Jewish authority until around 400 CE.
Mohammadan conquests of Jewish groups included the annihilation of Jewish males and the seizure of Jewish females for the new Muslims—and this happened throughout what is today known as Saudi Arabia.
In addition, the widespread long-term abductions of Yemenite Jewish girls for forced marriage to a Muslim occurred frequently. Furthermore, a temporary law (the Orphan Decree) in Yemen forcibly removed Jewish children orphaned of either parent from their remaining family for these orphaned (or partially orphaned) Jewish children to be raised as Muslims.
So you have a lot of completely unaware descendants from Jewish mothers wondering around Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and so on.
Years ago, Hamodia published the true story of a Jewish girl adopted by frum parents in New York (if I'm remembering correctly), who was born to a halachically Jewish women in Saudi Arabia, whose grandmother had been one of those kidnapped Jewish Yemenite girls.
The Saudi-Jewish mother, raised as & married to a Muslim, knew of her maternal Jewish line.
They lived in a primitive area.
During her third pregnancy after 2 girls, she sensed this third baby was also a girl, which she knew would enrage her primitive husband. Furthermore, she suspected the Arab midwife would kill the newborn girl to placate the primitive father, passing off the murder as a stillborn. (This is weird because Muslim law strictly forbids female infanticide.)
Anyway, the Saudi-Jewish mother arranged for a sympathetic middle-class Saudi-Muslim woman to be present for this village birth, pay off the nefarious midwife, and transfer the baby for adoption by a Jewish family in America. The rest of the story of the Saudi-Jewish woman was not known.
But just think of how many Jews live in that area of the world without anyone (even themselves) realizing it.
At the same time, I'm reluctant about getting too sentimental regarding the seemingly peaceful developments because of the hidden motivations for what's being called the Abrahamic accords, but simply acknowledge that it's happening in parallel to a shift among Jews in Eretz Yisrael AND that I think it also emanates from unknown Jews in those countries needing to be ingathered.
I do think peace is sincerely desired by some, but I wonder about the true motivations of others.
That's all.
Note: When examining statistics of Jews in Eretz Yisrael, one needs to differentiate between the Russian & Ethiopian non-Jews who self-identify as "Israeli," which gives the impression they are Jewish. Yes, there are also many Russian Jews & Ethiopian Jews, but the secularists of the Israeli government—particularly under Shimon Peres as Foreign Minister—brought in & continue to bring in thousands & thousands of non-Jews from both Russia & Ethiopia in order to destroy Torah in Eretz Yisrael.
The non-religious Jewish media always portrays this in a positive light as if they are helping Russian & Ethiopian Jews (which they are not). For example, these misguided Jewish journalists interview, say, a non-Jewish Ukrainian woman who, in a petulant & entitled manner, insists that Israel is obligated to collect her and her non-Jewish children from the Ukraine simply because her husband is a Jew.
In contrast, a lot of regular Jews in Eretz Yisrael are warming up & exploring Judaism.
It used to be the opposite.
They (the more diplomatic ones, anyway) used to proclaim they held nothing against Jews in general, but only against "the Zionists." (And Jew-haters on both the Left & Right in America still make this dubious distinction.)
The better-informed of us see through this doublespeak, recognizing the lying forked tongue for what it is.
But as Jews in Eretz Yisrael warm up to their own Judaism, we see a parallel warming of relations in the region.
I think part of it also derives from Hashem's promise to gather in the Exiles.
That's just my private opinion, so feel free to reject it.
But here's why I think it:
Before the official borders of today, Jewish populations flourished throughout Arabia
In fact, today's Mecca was originally known as Yathrib and thrived under Jewish authority until around 400 CE.
Mohammadan conquests of Jewish groups included the annihilation of Jewish males and the seizure of Jewish females for the new Muslims—and this happened throughout what is today known as Saudi Arabia.
In addition, the widespread long-term abductions of Yemenite Jewish girls for forced marriage to a Muslim occurred frequently. Furthermore, a temporary law (the Orphan Decree) in Yemen forcibly removed Jewish children orphaned of either parent from their remaining family for these orphaned (or partially orphaned) Jewish children to be raised as Muslims.
So you have a lot of completely unaware descendants from Jewish mothers wondering around Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and so on.
Years ago, Hamodia published the true story of a Jewish girl adopted by frum parents in New York (if I'm remembering correctly), who was born to a halachically Jewish women in Saudi Arabia, whose grandmother had been one of those kidnapped Jewish Yemenite girls.
The Saudi-Jewish mother, raised as & married to a Muslim, knew of her maternal Jewish line.
They lived in a primitive area.
During her third pregnancy after 2 girls, she sensed this third baby was also a girl, which she knew would enrage her primitive husband. Furthermore, she suspected the Arab midwife would kill the newborn girl to placate the primitive father, passing off the murder as a stillborn. (This is weird because Muslim law strictly forbids female infanticide.)
Anyway, the Saudi-Jewish mother arranged for a sympathetic middle-class Saudi-Muslim woman to be present for this village birth, pay off the nefarious midwife, and transfer the baby for adoption by a Jewish family in America. The rest of the story of the Saudi-Jewish woman was not known.
But just think of how many Jews live in that area of the world without anyone (even themselves) realizing it.
At the same time, I'm reluctant about getting too sentimental regarding the seemingly peaceful developments because of the hidden motivations for what's being called the Abrahamic accords, but simply acknowledge that it's happening in parallel to a shift among Jews in Eretz Yisrael AND that I think it also emanates from unknown Jews in those countries needing to be ingathered.
I do think peace is sincerely desired by some, but I wonder about the true motivations of others.
That's all.
Note: When examining statistics of Jews in Eretz Yisrael, one needs to differentiate between the Russian & Ethiopian non-Jews who self-identify as "Israeli," which gives the impression they are Jewish. Yes, there are also many Russian Jews & Ethiopian Jews, but the secularists of the Israeli government—particularly under Shimon Peres as Foreign Minister—brought in & continue to bring in thousands & thousands of non-Jews from both Russia & Ethiopia in order to destroy Torah in Eretz Yisrael.
The non-religious Jewish media always portrays this in a positive light as if they are helping Russian & Ethiopian Jews (which they are not). For example, these misguided Jewish journalists interview, say, a non-Jewish Ukrainian woman who, in a petulant & entitled manner, insists that Israel is obligated to collect her and her non-Jewish children from the Ukraine simply because her husband is a Jew.
In contrast, a lot of regular Jews in Eretz Yisrael are warming up & exploring Judaism.
If I Am Not For Myself, Who Will Be For Me?
Once again, listening to our real chachamim (the Me'am Lo'ez) lights the way for us.
While so many well-meaning but misguided Jews fall into Liberal silly-putty values & the deceptive bigotry of soft expectations, the real way for Jews to help unfortunate non-Jews in their society is for Jews to devote themselves more warmly to real core Torah values.
Likewise, non-Jews who truly wish to help their society should not support Liberal Jews (no matter how sincere or well-intentioned) or conversely, try to convert Jews or lessen Jewish observance in any way.
Rather, encouraging Jews in genuine Torah observance is the right way.
And some non-Jews do this, by innocently asking secular Jews, "Why are you eating a cheeseburger? Don't you know you're not supposed to eat dairy & meat together?"
Throughout my youth, non-Jews periodically asked me with sincerely friendly curiosity, "What's 'chosen' exactly? What does it mean that you Jews are the Chosen People?"
I didn't know the answer & I credit them with playing a part in the impetus for me to find out!
But mostly, we Jews need to get our act together and look inward for fulfillment & answers as much as we can.
Looking inward includes looking at our fellow Jews & joining with like-minded Jews.
Meaning, growth-oriented Jews regardless of where they stand in actual mitzvah-observance.
As Rav Miller himself pointed out several times, some outwardly not-so-frum Jews are actually on their way up while some outwardly frum Jews are on their way down.
Certainly, the outside can reflect the inner-growth process.
But not always.
However, as Rav Miller also repeatedly emphasized, the obviously frum Jews are the main place to start as far as loving & embracing one's fellow.
You don't reject or scorn secular Jews.
But you start inside with yourself, and go on from there.
You need to strengthen the base first—or the whole thing will fall over (sort of like we're seeing now).
We can encourage each other, shine & absorb each soul's unique light from each other, help each other, comfort each other, teach each other, and cheer on each other.
And that's the best way to truly heal the whole world.
While so many well-meaning but misguided Jews fall into Liberal silly-putty values & the deceptive bigotry of soft expectations, the real way for Jews to help unfortunate non-Jews in their society is for Jews to devote themselves more warmly to real core Torah values.
Likewise, non-Jews who truly wish to help their society should not support Liberal Jews (no matter how sincere or well-intentioned) or conversely, try to convert Jews or lessen Jewish observance in any way.
Rather, encouraging Jews in genuine Torah observance is the right way.
And some non-Jews do this, by innocently asking secular Jews, "Why are you eating a cheeseburger? Don't you know you're not supposed to eat dairy & meat together?"
Throughout my youth, non-Jews periodically asked me with sincerely friendly curiosity, "What's 'chosen' exactly? What does it mean that you Jews are the Chosen People?"
I didn't know the answer & I credit them with playing a part in the impetus for me to find out!
But mostly, we Jews need to get our act together and look inward for fulfillment & answers as much as we can.
Looking inward includes looking at our fellow Jews & joining with like-minded Jews.
Meaning, growth-oriented Jews regardless of where they stand in actual mitzvah-observance.
As Rav Miller himself pointed out several times, some outwardly not-so-frum Jews are actually on their way up while some outwardly frum Jews are on their way down.
Certainly, the outside can reflect the inner-growth process.
But not always.
However, as Rav Miller also repeatedly emphasized, the obviously frum Jews are the main place to start as far as loving & embracing one's fellow.
You don't reject or scorn secular Jews.
But you start inside with yourself, and go on from there.
You need to strengthen the base first—or the whole thing will fall over (sort of like we're seeing now).
We can encourage each other, shine & absorb each soul's unique light from each other, help each other, comfort each other, teach each other, and cheer on each other.
And that's the best way to truly heal the whole world.
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