The Times are Changing
I am not trying to give eitzos but I can say one practical thing according to a wonderful statement that I heard from someone who heard it from R. Michael Ber Weissmandel zt”l, who was a gaon and a kadosh. He lived in the period of the Holocaust and saved tens of thousands of Jews. There is a lot to say about this supremely holy man, but let’s focus on this particular statement he made:
During the course of history, there were always changes in the world, but that which once took five hundred years now changes in fifty years. That is what he said. He was referring to the world of before the Holocaust compared to the world after the Holocaust.
Sometimes we hear about how Jews were before the Holocaust, and the difference is shocking. He said that it is like the difference of five hundred years, but in truth is the difference of thousands of years.
And it goes on. About twenty years have passed since the beginning of the Teshuvah movement, and the change that it worked in the Jewish people is tremendous. This is a change for the good, there are a lot of changes for the good, but the world continually moves forward at a dizzying pace.
This is what we can say practically: you should know that the difference between us and our children is the difference of four or five hundred years. The world moves forward, and this child who is just twenty years younger than you can get to places that you never even dreamed of in your wildest dreams. I don’t need to go into details. The world is constantly rushing on.
But the Torah never changes and Hashem never changes. And the way a talmid chacham lives his life never changes. Torah is fire, Yiddishkeit is fire, and that will never change. We need to get back that fire and learn like R. Shimon learned, without making compromises with the modern world. That which was is that which is and that which will be. Spiritual things don’t change. This is the way to leave Galus, and there is no other way.
