Keeping yiddishkeit in captivity
מאת ר' ש. קאפלין שליט"א
Keeping yiddishkeit in captivity
A big ישועה happened not that long ago דשמיא remaining live hostages in ארץ ישראל, a gevaldiga שמחה¸ we have been davening constantly for two years for this to happen.
It has emerged that most hostages have said themselves openly that they were very far removed from yiddishkeit before they were captured, and even though they had absolutely no שייכות to yiddishkeit, during this period of captivity they became connected to the רבש"ע.
There is one story how they managed to get the terrorists to give them a small bottle of grape juice, for months and months they made קידוש by pouring the grape juice into the lid of the bottle so that it should last throughout their captivity, although they were thirsty and hungry they controlled themselves and used this bottle for many months to made קידוש. Many of them said that they fasted on יום כיפור – something that they said they had never done beforehand.
When they speak about themselves, they openly say that they kept nothing and yet they connected to הקב''ה during captivity.
Eli Sharrabi was interviewed and spoke about how they were starving and living under extreme torturous conditions, and when the terrorists ימ''ש offered them that if they would convert and become a Muslim they would ease their conditions and give them better food and better accommodation, they adamantly refused to even consider such a thing.
And the question is: where did they get this כח from? They were brought up completely secular society, no שייכות to the way of life which we know, and
,בסייעתא
the
return
of
the
became
of
these
their
suddenly they are connecting with הקב"ה and being מוסר נפש to do מצוות.
One Cooperstein came to בני ברק last week and when he spoke to a crowd he spoke as if he was what we call a FFB – frum from birth, he said, “I’m here today because of the תפילות of כלל ישראל…” He Netanyahu or the war in Gaza, he said, “I’m here today because of the תפילות of כלל ישראל, if not for you I might still be there…” And he took off his cap and he showed that he was wearing a cappel, and on cappel and he had in stitched the words, Hashem.”
And then he continued to say that before he was captured, he didn’t keep a thing, he didn’t keep שבת, “But over these past two years I came to understand how important it is, I made קידוש over water, I sang זמירות, that place made me connected to הקב"ה.”
He described one terrifying moment that he experienced with the other hostages, there were nine of them together. One day they were addressed by the terrorists who said to them, “We are going to kill three of you, you decide who this will
of
the
hostages
called
Bar
didn’t
speak
about
Trump,
“Always
in
the
hands
of
be…” Can you imagine the dilemma, the feeling, the shock? And he said that when he heard the terrorist say that he said שמע ישראל, he wasn’t afraid, “I realized myself I was in the hands of הקב"ה…”
It’s ממש גדלות, greatness, in such difficult circumstances to be so connected, to make קידוש over water and to try as much as possible to keep מצוות. There were no קירוב organizations in those tunnels. So, what happened there? How was it possible?
Big connection to רוחניות
Of course, when we read the תורה we learn about the אבות and other קדושי עליון, we see their connection to the רבש"ע. In this weeks פרשה the רבש"ע tells אברהם "לך לך מארצך..." ,אבינו , he tells him to leave his birth town, and הקב"ה promises him, "והיה ברכה, ואגדלה, ואברכה", he knew he will be rewarded and have a good time, the פסוק tells us, "וילך אברם כאשר דבר אליו ה'", why did the תורה write "כאשר דבר אליו ה'", It should be enough to say "וילך אברם", obviously it was כאשר ?דבר אליו ה'
I would like to explain this with a vort which I heard from Reb Osher Arieli last week בשם Rav Dunner זצ"ל on a similar פסוק in last weeks הקב"ה .פרשה told נח to make the תיבה and again the פסוק writes, " "ויעש נח ככל אשר צוה אותו אלוקים, why did the תורה have to write that he did as הקב"ה told him, wasn’t that obvious?
Rav Dunner explained, נח built the תיבה, this was the vessel which was going to save his family from the מבול, when he built the תיבה, in his mind he could be thinking, “this is going to be my passport to safety and for my family as well,” the תורה is telling us that this was not on his mind, he built the תיבה because הקב"ה wanted him to build it, there was nothing else involved.
Perhaps, the same is by אברהם אבינו, it was all about הקב"ה .הקב"ה promised him great things if he would move away from his birth town, he could have been going for personal reasons and personal gain, the תורה tells us: no, he went because הקב"ה told him to go.
When we read the תורה we see how the אבות הקדושים were totally connected to הקב"ה, but our question is how these hostages had become so connected, how was it possible for them? What exactly is the explanation in what took place?
There was a איד in Manchester called הרה''ג ר' יעקב יהודה פאלק זצ"ל , a very chosuver איד, a איד who was connected to הקב"ה יומם ולילה, I remember he had a massive לויה, everyone felt his גדלות, he was a great man.
When I moved to Gateshead after I got married, Gateshead to move to Manchester to become the ראש הכולל of Manchester .ישיבה כולל I remember I called him up to ask him if he is selling his house. He told me that his house was for sale. I asked him how much the purchase price for the house is. He said to me, “I’m sorry, I really don’t know, speak to my wife…”
I told this story over last week to his son-in-law ר' שמאי בערנשטיין שליט"א from ארץ ישראל, and he said to me that when they came to discuss with him his salary in Manchester they wanted to know how much he was earning in Gateshead. He said to them, “I’m sorry, I really don’t know, I will have to ask my wife…”
When we hear about such a person who is so disconnected from גשמיות we can begin to understand why he was so connected to רוחניות and so connected to .הקב"ה
he
was
about
to
leave
Similarly, by the אבות who were so disconnected diminishing their connection to גשמיות that enhanced their connection to רוחניות, he grew up with trying to connect with הקב"ה and slowly he diminished his connection to אברהם אבינו .גשמיות grew up in the house of עבודה זרה, but once he connected diminishing his connection to גשמיות and that created a greater connection to .רוחניות
That’s all very well with people that are connected. But absolutely no connection! Some of them were dancing on שמיני עצרת in a טריפה festival, a mixed festival where really bad things were going on there שלא ברוח התורה on שמיני עצרת – one of the most special times of the year, no שייכות to yiddishkeit, and suddenly and brutally they were captured and taken into Gaza, put into tunnels, and yet suddenly they connected to the רבש"ע, what is the פשט in this, how did it happen?
from
,גשמיות
by
to
הקב''ה
he
started
these
hostages
had
Connected directly
I would like to explain what the פשט is and why it’s relevant to us and what we can take from it.
The דרך השם writes and elaborates at length about how every singly דבר גשמי – physical matter, is controlled by a שר, by a ministering angel, which of course is ultimately controlled by חז"ל .הקב"ה tell us that every blade of grass is controlled by a מלאך, every rain drop that falls is controlled by a מלאך. So too every nation in the world has a שר in שמים.
The גמרא tells us that when two nations have a war, like when Ukraine and Russia are fighting now for almost four years, who will eventually win will be dependent on the שר in שמים, it’s been a long battle, but the success or failure of a nation in battle is dependent on the ministering Angel in שמים who is in charge of that nation. Everything is controlled by a שר and every nation has its שר.
When יעקב אבינו had his fight with the שר של עשו we don’t find that יעקב’s שר fought the שר of עשו, it was יעקב himself who battled the שר of עשו? Why didn’t the שר himself do the battle? And the answer is: כלל ישראל do not have a ministering angel, we are controlled directly by הקב"ה, there is nothing between us, there is no ministering שר which is in between, that is why יעקב didn’t have a representative, he battled himself. We are connected directly with הקב"ה.
We just went through the יום טוב of סוכות, this is the ענין of the סוכה בצילא דהימנותא, we are sitting in the shade of הקב"ה, no proper roof is a symbol that there is no מחיצה between us and הקב''ה.
שמיני עצרת is a special יום טוב with a special relationship which only ישראל have to הקב"ה, as חז"ל tell us that שמיני עצרת is a יו"ט only for כלל ישראל.
The deep ספרים write, that the ארבע מינים which we take on סוכות, the אתרוג, לולב, ערבה and הדס are the only parts of creation that do not have a שר.
חז"ל tell us that the ד' מינים represent the different types of כלל ישראל, the ערבה represents a person who has no טעם and no ריח, a person who keeps nothing, but we see in these ספרים that even a איד who is connected to הקב"ה, there is nothing in between. It’s a gevaldiga חיזוק for us, we often feel badly of ourselves, I do this wrong and that wrong, I’m not מכוון in עשרה downgrade our value, it makes no difference where we are and what level we are on, we are still connected to
כלל
keeping
nothing
he
is
directly
שמונה
properly,
we
often הקב"ה without a הפסק, there is no מחיצה המפסקת, a איד is connected by default. To be connected I don’t have to create that connection and then diminish the connection to גשמיות to enhance the connection to הקב"ה that I have initially created.
We are connected even without making the effort to connect.
These אידן nebech who were captured, they were keeping nothing, but they were connected, they didn’t feel the connection and they weren’t looking for that connection to feel it because they were so involved in other things and therefore that connection wasn’t felt.
When they were put underground in tunnels without food, without proper water, breathing in moldy air having no גשמיות whatsoever, sleeping on a floor crawling with worms as they said over and flies and insects filling the air, an existence we cannot even imagine, devoid whatsoever.
Suddenly they felt that connection that had always been there, everything was taken away from them, their family, they couldn’t absolutely nothing at all, all that was left
of
any
physical
pleasure
see
sunlight,
they
had
their suddenly it hit them.
That is the פשט, these people said themselves that it didn’t too long until they started feeling connected, they felt the שבת, they made קידוש, they sang זמירות, they fasted on יום כיפור, they were prepared to be מוסר נפש for הקב"ה, they refused to convert.
Like the דרך השם writes that on יום כיפור we connect so well to הקב"ה, he writes that the main connection is through the fasting, that is why we feel so connected, we disconnect from physicality, and through that we elevate ourselves.
A איד doesn’t need to create a connection and then enhance that connection by diminishing the connection to גשמיות, a איד is connected, every single one of us are connected, we don’t feel it, we don’t notice connected, and we can work to feel it and we can grow with that connection.
Of course, we have to control our brains and control our desires, the more we do that connection, but we don’t have to make that already there, starting before we were born.
was
connection
with
,הקב"ה
it
sometimes,
but
we
are
the
more
we
will
feel
that
connection,
the
connection
is
We are all totally completely connected to the רבש"ע, we must know this and tell ourselves this the whole time, we don’t always feel it but if we work on עבודת ה' we will feel it, when we daven we can feel that connection if we take it seriously, when we say פסוקי דזמרה we can connect.
I heard from R’ Shmuel Zucker שליט"א that the word זמרה is a לשון of cutting שדך לא תזמור, we cut away then bad angels who try to make מחיצה before we daven שמו"ע to stop us connecting.
On a simple level we can say we can cut that disconnection that we sometimes have through our distractions, through all the הללוקה’s, the אשרי יושבי ביתך, we are trying to reveal that connection to enable us to say the שמו"ע with a proper connection.
The גמרא says כל האומר תהלה לדוד בכל יום is מובטח לו שהוא בן עולם הבא, he is going to connecting.
I think this is a vey powerful message we can take from the hostages, this won’t happen in any other religion, people who kept nothing, were snatched away from secular קיבוצים during a festival, they were placed underground and suddenly
reach
הבא
עולם
because
he
is
they were connected to the שמע ישראל, because the truth is by them they were always connected, it was just covered with dirt and filth, after removing all of that they felt connected.
Questions are dangerous
One may ask a question: What happened in the second world war? There were אידן who went through the concentration camps yiddishkeit. Of course, we cannot judge them, we don’t know how much better we would be, they went through נסיונות.
Of course, there are a few reasons, some of them were never really frum in the first place, once all the social pressures fell away they became who they really were.
But there were those who seemed to go off in the camps. In the camps they had no גשמיות at all, they were stripped to their identity, how do we explain that?
One answer I would like to bring out is: What happened in the second world war didn’t make any sense to people, they couldn’t understand it, many didn’t know the correct השקפה, and asked what did I do wrong? I was an upright German citizen who kept all the laws, who was I disturbing
and
nebech they
lost
their
by
keeping
a
different
religion? Why should I be stripped of my identity and put in a concentration camp? Why did הקב''ה do this?
This brought out by many people questions, they had questions. When a person has questions on הקב"ה it’s very dangerous, a person won’t feel his connection.
All these hostages who were snatched and grabbed had no questions on what was happening, they knew the state of Isreal was formed, the Arabs want to take it back, Hamas brainwashed their children to grow up with warped minds, they knew very well how they were protecting themselves until then from Gaza and what could happen if they would enter ארץ ישראל. There were no questions on what happened, in their minds this was a normal consequence of history, we’re not justifying those רשעים ארורים of Hamas ח"ו, but there were no questions, every one of those people knew this was a possibility the whole time and in טבע it made sense. They didn’t have questions on God.
We must be very careful in our lives, when things don’t go right we have to look for guidance and explanations, but not to have questions, even about the Holocaust we can see in the ספרים of ר' אלחנן ווסרמן הי"ד who writes from the חפץ חיים many years before who already saw the Holocaust coming and explained the reasons why it happened. But many people didn’t have the right השק פה and it was a few years of questions, “How can You questions cover up the connection.
We must know and remember that we are connected, nobody should ever think
allow
this
to
happen?’
and
he is disconnected, we can’t disconnect ourselves, the אור החיים הק' writes that the נ' שערי טומאה only existed before מתן תורה, after מתן תורה a איד can’t reach the point of no return, it’s impossible.
We must really appreciate that we are connected by default, we have to work on feeling it and enhancing it, not on thinking that we need to create the connection.
Written by Avrohom Dov Kohn – אברהם דוב הכהן כהן
