Recent events on college campuses echo the prophetic words of Rabbi Meir Simcha of Devinsk ZT”L (the, “Meshech Chochmah”) at the end of Parshas BeChukosai. The Meshech Chochmah explains the words found at the end of the Tochacha (the verses in this week’s Parsha that deal with Hashem’s admonishment of Bnei Yisrael), that notwithstanding our pattern of abandoning Hashem, Hashem will not forsake us. And then the Meshech Chochmah sums up a dynamic commonly seen throughout the history of the Jewish people.
“The Jew forgets his roots and sees himself as a leading citizen of the host country. His natural tendency to try to achieve and succeed leads him to look at his heritage with a skewed negative perspective. Soon he states, “Our fathers bequeathed to us lies!” He abandons the study of his own religion [i.e. the Torah] in order to study foreign languages [i.e. foreign knowledge and different isms]. He thinks that Berlin is Jerusalem, learning from the most corrupt among his neighbors and not from the more upright.
Then a stormy wind will blow and uproot him [i.e. violent antisemitism will cause him to move]. It will place him among a distant nation whose language he does not know. There, he will know that his true language is Lashon haKodesh [i.e. that the Torah is true] and all other languages [i.e. knowledge] are of fleeting and passing value to him. He will know that his roots are those of the people of Israel, his consolation lies in the comforting words of the holy prophets of Israel, who prophesized about Moshiach in the End of Days.
There in his new land, he will find some respite and will be aroused by a holy spirit. His children will add more fervor and they will disseminate in these new lands, the Torah which has been forgotten. This is the way of the Jewish people from the day that they began their wanderings.”
The Meshech Chochmah explains that the Jew will see the truth of Torah, as a lie, Chas V’Shalom, and even declare it so – openly rejecting his birthright! In other words, he sees falsehood as truth and truth as falsehood. What causes this gross misconception? It is a combination of a desire to achieve and to succeed in his host country and (as stated in a part of the Meshech Chochmah that was not quoted above) to be viewed as a cultural leader and social elite of his host country.
Most recently, we have seen this dynamic on Ivy League college campuses where prior to October 7th, many Jews felt safe and respected as the intellectual, and social elite. They worked hard to attend these elite schools and believed that their attendance conferred upon them a unique status of those who have, “made it” in America. Now, as the Meschech Chochmah foretold (in 1927, when the Meshech Chochmah was printed), violent antisemitism on campus has caused them to reconsider those beliefs completely. With Hashem’s help, the rest of the Meshech Chochmah’s words should come true and our brothers and sisters will leave the college campus and return to their heritage.
