Part III. Lifting the Nation
A Nazir for Others
Now, although everything we said till now is a true peirush in the words of the Chachomim and we should seek to apply it in our lives as much as possible, I want to add something to the discussion now. Because the Chovos Halevovos, he says a different pshat; he gives it a little twist. Because according to him it’s not merely that a person is lifting up himself – he’s lifting up everyone else too; he’s raising up the whole nation.
How is that? He explains it like this:
When you see a sotah in her downfall, it’s a symptom of a bigger problem. A symptom, you have to know, is not an isolated phenomenon – it’s a sign there’s something wrong in society.
After all, how could it be that in a frum community, in a Torah society, such a thing should happen? A married woman should be so disloyal to her husband that she ignores his warning? Maybe she did nothing, but still, to go into seclusion with a strange man against her husband’s admonishment? It’s a sign of corruption creeping in among us. And if such a thing could happen, it shows that the nation – not only this woman herself, but the nation as a whole – is straying away from the original, authentic Torah ideals.
Healing Societal Ills
And therefore, what should be the reaction of the people who see that? You should separate yourself from whatever might be causing the symptoms. But not merely, like the first pshat, so that you shouldn’t fall into the same thing. It’s much more than that – you’re trying to restore the general health of that body of the people. Just like this symptom, the sotah, shows there’s a rot in the body of the nation that caused those symptoms to develop, so you’re going to start now creating vitamins for the body to heal that rot.
And by behaving in a way that’s more than the usual norm of decency, that’s going to cause the balance to weigh against what is weighing it down on the wrong side. You’re trying to increase the kedusha of the generation in order to be machria, to outweigh, the not-kedusha of others.
A Satmarer Litvak
I remember I once spoke to a chaver of mine, a Litvak, a real Litvak. He came to America and he put his daughter into Beis Rochel, into the Satmar girls' school. I said, “What's the matter? A man like you?”
So he said, “Times are different today.” And he gave a mashal. When you're walking on a clear day and there’s no wind blowing so you can walk regular, standing straight. But when there's a wind storm and a strong wind blowing against you it's not enough to walk erect. You have to walk bent over; otherwise, the wind will knock you down. You have to bend over against the wind in order to maintain your balance.
And so today when the winds of depravity and materialism and apikorsis and leitzanus are blowing, it's not enough to walk straight up; you have to bend over in order to gather strength. Otherwise, the strong winds are sure to cause you to swerve from the path.
But not only will you be saving yourself – you’ll be saving the nation. That’s the point here. When you see a generation that is turning more and more to evil things – things that once upon a time even goyim didn’t do, today they do it openly. And they boast about it! Wicked things! And so it’s not enough for the good ones to be observant Orthodox Jews. Today is the time for everybody to become more strict in morality, more and more strict in tzniyus, more strict in keeping away from gashmiyus and gentile attitudes, more and more strict in keeping everything in the Torah.
No Internet Homes: Saving the Nation
That’s why if a young man marries a young woman today and he says, “Look; on one condition. No radio in our house”, so she might be somewhat surprised because her parents always had a radio. They didn’t have a television; that much she understands – a television is a sewer pipe that brings all the filth into your home – but a radio?
The answer is today it’s different! It’s not the same radio! The things you hear on the radio today are already outrageous things! And so because he understands this lesson of the Sages and he says, “No radio,” she shouldn’t be surprised. And it should be done with pride! We shouldn’t be ashamed to be the nezirim today who say, “No! We don’t want it! Don’t you see the sotah b’kilkula, the nation becoming corrupted? We have to be stricter today!”
And if you’re married already thirty years, same thing. Say to your wife, “Chana, don’t you see what’s going on in the world? We can’t just be the same as we were yesterday, as when we married. We have to cut loose from the media. How can we continue bringing into our home all of these things that we see are destroying the world?”
A Holier Home
Especially in the home! Don’t you see what’s doing outside? Divorces! Ay yah yay! Children who imitate the gentile ways. Children who go away from Torah. Broken homes on all sides. We never had so much as we have today. And it’s because of the influx of the influence of the gentiles around us. The world today is more uncivilized than it ever was, and it seeps in. Absolutely it comes in. And therefore we have to be especially careful, especially careful, more than in previous generations.
The good Jews should add more to their kedushas bayis than there ever was before. Those who are loyal to the Torah should add chumros upon chumros in order to make an example, and to send out a message of kedusha, of what we want the Jewish home to look like. Today, more than any other time, it’s a chiyuv on the Jewish people to try to reinforce the kedusha of the home and to make the house into a Beis Hamikdash.
Fighting Pollution
I'll give you an example. There was a law in the Gemara that if a woman has a husband in town and somebody comes, let's say a meshulach comes in; he wants to eat. So she can give him a meal in her home because there is a deterrent for evil doing. She has a husband in town and he might come at any moment. She's afraid of her husband.
That was in the good old days. Today, absolutely not.
Besides, that meant in those days, when it was a small town. If he's in Manhattan and she's in Brooklyn, it's not called that. But even if he's in Brooklyn, no. These rules don't hold good anymore. You have to be machmir in dinei yichud much more than once upon a time because not only the woman has her mind polluted by the air, but the meshulach also has his mind polluted. Even if he comes from Yerushalayim but even in Yerushalayim there's pollution – the bad smell of Tel Aviv goes to Yerushalayim. And so even though the woman is a tzaddeikes and he’s a tzaddik – you’re both tzaddikim – no matter! Keep away!
Keep away because even the best people today are spoiled. Today we need more harchakah than ever before. When people are hearing songs all the time and seeing suggestive things in literature, so it’s in the air and it enters the mind; they're constantly thinking about the wrong thoughts. Even though people are kosher in maasim but their minds are corroded with wrong thoughts. Today the minds are as tamei as could be and therefore all the things that our forefathers were permitted to do, we are not permitted anymore. And I know what I'm saying. A bit of experience has taught us that we have to be especially careful today.
Standing Up to Materialism
Same thing with all the materialism of today, all the gashmiyus. There's so much to eat, so much abundance of everything. It’s the old story of if you'll eat and be satiated, be on guard so that your heart will not turn foolish (Devarim 11:15-16). Today, the satiation is like never before. Ice cream, candy, pizza. Stores and stores. Not only food; everything. It’s a generation where Jewish boys and girls have so much, too much, and what are the results? We see the results, the kilkul.
And therefore it's important for some of us, the good ones, to see that and to lift ourselves up from the masses. We should try to raise our children without luxuries. Children should be raised as if you were all poor. Children shouldn't have cars. Working girls should not have much spending money. They shouldn't have much candy and ice cream and cake and another nosherie, good times and traveling.
I see fathers and mothers buying their children expensive watches, all kinds of expensive toys. A father buys his child a $95 toy. A meshugene! When a child comes and visits me sometimes, I can't give him my 25 cent toys anymore. A child is ruined by expensive toys.
Now, we're not responsible for the entire world, but among ourselves at least, the good Orthodox ones must learn to live frugally. The children too; they shouldn’t think they’re losing out. They’re the vanguard of the nation, the elite, the ones protecting the nation.
Just Say No
Don’t waste even though you could afford to waste. Don’t spend even though you could afford to spend. Say no to travel; traveling – such a stupid luxury. What will you find at the end of the rainbow that you imagined there's something glorious far away?
And even going back and forth to Eretz Yisroel, I disapprove of that. You can go if you're going leshem mitzvah, but to use Eretz Yisroel as a second Florida and back and forth and back and forth? I don’t agree with that. I say stay here and send your money over there. We have to live like poor people and our children should be raised like poor boys and girls and that's going to be their salvation.
And that’s what it’s telling us, this maamar. Both peshatim are as true as can be. Because absolutely, like all the meforshim say, if you see a misfortune, a disgrace, then take action. For your own sake you must! Otherwise you can’t survive. You’re saving yourself a lot of tzaros – in both worlds.
But even more than that, you’re saving the nation. If you see that this happened, it means that society needs a special strengthening, it needs fortification with vitamins. You supply the vitamins by being different, by being more extreme to the side of righteousness and that’s going to help society regain its balance.
Be From the Special Ones
Now, what you heard from me are just a few suggestions, a few examples of this lesson. There’s much more and they’re all important. Now, is everyone going to do it? No. Not everyone understands this. Not everyone learned this. And even if you did, there are a lot of weaklings; people who see sotah b’kilkula, a society in decline, a society of degenerates, and they don’t want to respond. I know that I won't be obeyed by most of you, but I'm telling you anyhow because that's the only remedy.
The frum Jews today in this wicked generation who go all out to wear the crown of nezirus, the crown of lifting themselves up and separating from all of the causes of the tumah in the world today, they are the ones who are finding especial favor by Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Because they, not only are they saving themselves and preparing for themselves a great place in the World to Come but they are also the ones who are turning the tide for our nation, strengthening and invigorating our people in the face of the winds of corruption that are blowing stronger and stronger every day.
Have a Wonderful Shabbos
Let’s Get Practical
Keeping Away from “Wine”“One who witnesses the disgrace of the Sotah must swear off wine”. We are witness to the great moral decline of society at levels unheard of before. This means that we must bend over backwards to resist being influenced by the winds that are blowing. This week I will bli neder take one minute each day to think about what I can do to remain firmly entrenched in the camp of the frumme, what can I do to show my loyalty to Hashem and His Torah. May Hashem help us stand strong.
This week’s booklet is based on tapes: 495 - The Nazir | 744 - Restricting the Free Will | 780 - The Night of The Locked Doors | E-50 - Ten Commandments Of Marriage II
