Why?!
While the forces of unmitigated evil have wreaked havoc on the bodies and buildings of thousands of Americans, evil cannot and will not destroy the spirit of our nation and the souls of its victims. LIGHT FORM THE FUTURE – PARSHAS NITZAVIM-VAYEILECH LIGHT FORM THE FUTURE – PARSHAS NITZAVIM-VAYEILECH
This essay was written right after the tragic events of 911.
How do we Console Ourselves?
Our minds and hearts have been numbed.
We have all become victims of history’s most heinous terrorist act.
We are now grieving for the horrendous loss of precious life. And at this time so many questions plague us.
Why?
How could this unspeakable atrocity have occurred?
How do we console ourselves?
Do we even try and do we even have the right to comfort ourselves, knowing the extent of the carnage?
Should we be filled with rage?
And, of course, the perennial question when tragedy
LIGHT FORM THE FUTURE – PARSHAS
NITZAVIM-VAYEILECH strikes:
Why did this happen?
No Despair
These and other questions we must leave unanswered because we cannot possibly understand G-d’s ways, as the Torah states in this week’s Parsha: “The hidden matters are for G-d our G-d…” Nevertheless, we must seek to answer one question, particularly as we get ready to take leave of this year, 5761 and enter into the new year 5762.
What are we to do?
In formulating a response to the situation, it seems clear that message is: We cannot and must not despair!
While the forces of unmitigated evil have wreaked havoc on the bodies and buildings of thousands of Americans, evil cannot and will not destroy the spirit of our nation and the souls of its victims.
And because this was evil’s attempt at destroying our nation and indeed the civilized world, we must do everything to respond to that evil by unprecedented acts of goodness and holiness. To be sure, those who can assist with the rescue effort should assist, those who can give blood should give, those who can comfort the relatives of LIGHT FORM THE FUTURE – PARSHAS NITZAVIM-VAYEILECH those who were lost should, by all means, do it.
But, I suspect, that much more is expected of us at this time.
Fighting Evil with Light
To appreciate what it is that is demanded of us we must not delude ourselves. This is war! And we must all mobilize ourselves to fight this evil by doing unprecedented good.
As Jews we cannot stop and be content with general acts of goodness. We must do that and more. For this assault, though directed against the U.S. and civilization the way we know it, was also intended to hurt the Jewish people and the Land of Israel in particular.
And if the attack was against our Jewishness, we must also respond resoundingly by an increase in our Jewishness: More Torah study, more observance of the commandments, more Tzedakah, more support of Jewish educational institutions, etc.
Evil’s Last Stand
And while we cannot possible make sense of this colossal tragedy; we must realize that it was part of evil’s last stand LIGHT FORM THE FUTURE – PARSHAS NITZAVIM-VAYEILECH against the forces of goodness and holiness before the onset of the Redemption through Moshiach.
Maimonides formulated the Thirteen Principles of Faith that form the foundation of Judaism. One of these principles is to believe that Moshiach — a human Jewish leader steeped in Torah knowledge and deeply committed to the practice of Judaism — will, with G-d’s help, of course, usher in an age of peace that will also involve the return of all Jews to the Land of Israel.
However, the road to this age of peace, has been a rocky one, punctuated with millennia of hardship and persecution for the Jewish people. Our Sages of old, based on Biblical texts, have also informed us that the final struggle that we will have to endure will involve the struggle for Jerusalem.
Recent events have made it clear that the world is at a crossroad. One direction is the direction of the forces of hatred and evil and the other is a world of holiness and peace. Part of the process of bringing about the Redemption is to believe in it, anticipate it, yearn for it and live in accordance with its goals.
Forget the Philosophical Explanations
Returning to the question of why, the truth be stated, most
LIGHT FORM THE FUTURE – PARSHAS
NITZAVIM-VAYEILECH of us do not want to hear a philosophical explanation for this catastrophe. What we do want is for G-d to take us into His embrace and comfort us. This will happen when Moshiach will come imminently and allow G-d’s presence in this world to become manifest and the evil will be relegated to the history books.
However, as we await this “embrace” we must do our part by embracing one another (figuratively and where appropriate literally) and embracing our G-d, His Torah and Mitzvot.
In the opening words of this week’s Parsha:
“All of you today (a reference to Rosh Hashanah) stand firmly before G-d Your G-d, your leaders… every Jewish person.”
We stand firmly and will prevail when we all stand together as one people, with the realization that we have one G-d, whose teachings of the one Torah we follow.
May we all be inscribed and sealed for a good and sweet year!
LIGHT FORM THE FUTURE – PARSHAS
NITZAVIM-VAYEILECH
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Nitzavim by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
