Blessing of Peace
Now, it’s important to understand that this Torah principle of “Hashem guides the wicked on the path to salvation”, is not limited to learning the lesson of v’nishmartem; of being careful when you go chop wood or when you build a yeshiva dormitory or cross a street. Chazal are teaching us that yoreh chatoim baderech is a fundamental principle for how Hashem teaches us to live life successfully. He’s always showing us things, teaching lessons.
We say םֹלוָׁ ̆ יםƒׂ ̆ in our tefillah; we ask Hashem every day a few times, “Please give us shalom.” What does shalom mean? Does it mean you’re a millionaire? Does it mean you have ten servants in your house and a limousine with three chauffeurs? No! Shalom means that you’re not in trouble. Everything is quiet. No ambulances came to your house this week. No fire engines. Your daughter is not calling you in the middle of the night to tell you she’s having trouble with her husband. That’s shalom! There’s no war. There’s no invasion of foreign armies coming in, no airplanes dropping bombs on you. That’s what shalom is.
Terror in Congo
Now, because these words fall flat on the ears of most people, so in a certain sense we’re chatoim — we’re sinning against Hashem by ignoring our good fortune — and Hashem wants to be yoreh chatoim baderech; He wants to guide us on the right path.
So what does He do? He makes trouble, let’s say, in Africa, in the Congo. In Africa entire tribes are massacring each other. In Bangladesh and Vietnam the brown people are trying to destroy each other. Or in China, the nationalists and the communists are fighting against each other.
All these phenomena shouldn’t be lost upon us, and one of the purposes is to make us think about our good fortune. Suppose we lived there, in the Congo, what suffering we would undergo. People are constantly in terror, in commotion. Their lives are ruined. How many of them have been destroyed, how many have been maimed, orphaned, widowed, made into refugees! And all the attendant ills of war; epidemics, famine. It’s such a tragedy, a rachmanus.
For Our Sake
And it’s a tragedy that shouldn’t be ignored by us. It’s one of the ways that Hashem is yoreh chatoim baderech, and He expects us to utilize these stories in order to be full of joy about the shalom we have; ל≈‡ָר¿ׂ ̆ƒי ֹוּמַﬠ ̇∆‡ ך≈רָב¿ּמַה 'ה הָ ַ̇‡ ךּרוָּב םֹלוָׁ ַּ̆ב. If we see that in a certain country there are wars, those wars are being waged only for our benefit. That’s the way we have to read the newspaper. If you read them at all, that’s the way to read them.
I’m telling you now a fundamental interpretation of current events. Whatever happens in the world, we know according to the teachings of the Torah, happens because of us; it’s for a purpose of chastising us and making us become better.
Now, some Jews are humble and self-effacing and it seems to them exaggerated to say that world history is only for them. They’re willing to admit that it’s also for them; if they’re pious Jews, they’ll admit that some of it is for them. But the Gemara (Yevamos 63a) tells us, הָ‡ָּב ּ̇נוָﬠ¿רּוּפ ין≈‡ ל≈‡ָר¿ׂ ̆ƒי ילƒב¿ׁ ̆ƒּב ‡ָּל∆‡ םָלֹעו¿ל – there is no misfortune that occurs in the world unless for the sake of Yisroel. It’ll take a long time for this to percolate into our thick skulls, but that’s what we’re here for—even a skull, if you soak it for a long time in a liquid, it’ll soak through.
Going Into Battle
I want to tell you something that you might find surprising but I think it’s true. Hakadosh Baruch Hu made this little war in Iraq now for the purpose that we should appreciate shalom. All kinds of excuses are given why this happened and I’m not the one to interpret it—I’m too small to give such a peirush on the actions of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. But one thing we can be certain about, those poor soldiers who got their orders and now they’re boarding big military planes that are transporting them to the front, it’s to teach us the blessings of peace.
The poor soldiers are in a tumult now. I saw headlines in the newspapers as I passed by the newsstand. American soldiers are writing their wills. They’re very much frightened. A healthy eighteen year old who writes a will doesn’t do it because he thinks he’ll live till 120. He’s frightened. And we can’t blame them. Suppose one of us, chas v’shalom, had to go into battle against the enemy. We would be much more frightened—we would be hugging the rear helm hoping that the battle would be finished before we get to the front where the bullets are flying.
Nothing But Peace
Don’t think that it’s ‘good times’ when bullets are whizzing overhead. Don’t believe the propaganda in the storybooks and magazines. They’ll be creeping around in the desert and enemy forces will be shooting at them. There’s no fun when bullets are flying. In the army, when bullets are flying, that’s when a man begins to appreciate shalom.
Suppose that soldier could suddenly be transported to New York. It’s humid and hot and there’s no excitement. And he would be walking down the street sweating. He has no money in his pocket. And he has no job either.
But he’d be deliriously happy because he has shalom, it's peace. No constant buzzing of bullets all around him. No men screaming in pain, the constant fear of death without a let-up. Just plain shalom! Nothing else! That’s his heart’s desire. The transfer from the battlefront to walking down that hot street without any money in his pocket would make him deliriously happy. “Ooh wah! Shalom!” And that’s what we should feel at all times. That’s how we should feel when we’re walking down the street on a hot day with nothing going our way except for shalom.
Better Than Fun
So Hakadosh Baruch Hu said, “I want to teach My children to stop sinning and start being happy with your life.” And how does He teach us? One way is by showing us the soldiers. They’re trembling in their pants and just because of that we are enjoying! I don’t say we’re enjoying their situation—we sympathize with them—but we’re enjoying what we have!
We’re supposed to do that. We’re expected to appreciate shalom! Right now there’s quiet outside? You don’t need anything better than that. Nobody is shooting bullets at you. No pogroms! That’s shalom!
Now, try to go outside today and convince somebody that he should be happy with the regular routine of life—that’s what shalom is after all—and he’ll look at you like you fell off the moon. “No,” he says. “I want some fun! I think I should get in my car and travel someplace.” The happiness of shalom is not good enough for him. And that’s because he’s ignoring the path that Hashem is constantly showing him.
Peaceful Sleep
It’s a great pity that people don’t understand that. Do you know what a luxury it is to go to sleep in peace? In many places in the world, they cannot sleep in peace. They go to sleep worried that someone will be shooting a machine gun through the window in the middle of the night or that their refugee camp will be overrun by murderous mobs before the sun comes up. Anything can happen.
Even in Russia, you wouldn’t be machine gunned in your home, but in the middle of the night, 2:00 at night—that’s their favorite time—there’s a wild knocking on your door, “NKVD here. Open up!” And they wake you up and ask you for your passport.
I once saw it—it wasn’t NKVD; it was the Lithuanian police. Once, in the middle of the night, some yeshiva men were dorming together in an apartment, and they came pounding on the door with fists and shouting, “Open up.” They were checking papers. You have to get up in your underwear and pajamas and open up.
Bandits, Bums and Babies
And the police were standing there very angry. That’s how police are in Europe. It’s not like in America; in America the police are terrified. I was walking on Church Avenue one night, coming home from the yeshiva, and when I saw two policemen walking, I said to them, “You know, when I see you, I feel confident.” So they said, “We don’t.” That’s two of them!
But these Lithuanian police were cruel: “Where’s your passport?” You have to show your passport. You’re not permitted to be anywhere without it; even at home, you have to have a passport. And this was in Lithuania where there was justice. Lithuania was a decent country. You couldn’t harm a Jew in Lithuania. But still you couldn’t sleep in peace. They had a right to barge into your home in the middle of the night and wake you up.
But tonight, none of you here will have to worry about that. When you go to sleep in America, you know that nobody is going to wake you up. You can sleep in peace. Bands of soldiers are not roaming the streets. Drunken bums are not banging on your door. Not yet, at least. If you vote for Dinkins, maybe, but tonight at least nobody will bother you. Maybe, if you’re fortunate enough to be a mother of small children, you might get woken up, but pretty much, you’re sleeping in peace.
Peaceful Happiness
Maybe some people are worried, so you put an extra lock. Of course, today you must secure your windows at night because the liberals have wreaked havoc upon us. But let’s say you have enough bars on your windows and your doors are locked, then you go to sleep in peace. We’re not afraid that somebody will shoot bullets through our window, that they’ll burn down the house, that all of a sudden at night there’ll be an invasion.
To be able to put your head on your pillow without any fear and to fall asleep peacefully is a very great bracha. Sleeping peacefully is a precious commodity. Not only Lithuanian police and wars in the Congo are teaching us; Hashem sends all types of messages. A man called me up last week; in the middle of the night his heart started...
