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By Rabbi Naftoly Bier
In 1942, in a labor camp in Poland, where the Nazis ימח שמם, brutally treated the inmates, randomly murdering a few every day, just providing them once a day with a morsel of rotten bread and putrid water; on Yom Kippur almost every Jewish inmate fasted and many prayed at the risk of death. For many, it was the first time they had fasted on Yom Kippur.
One can ask; wouldn’t they belittle the idea of a Creator, the idea of pleading with Hashem for mercy? After all, how could He allow the heinous acts of the Nazis, Ukrainians, and Poles to go unpunished? The suffering they endured isn’t fathomable!
In דברים ל”א, י”ט-כ”ו, Deuteronomy 31, 19-21, we are taught a profound principle.
“And now, write down for yourselves this song and teach it to the Children of Israel, put it in their mouth, so that this song may become a witness for me against the children of Israel”
Reb Samson Raphael Hirsch explains: It was G-d’s will that an answer to Israel’s Complaint should always be at hand. Whenever troubles and misfortune befall Israel, and – feeling the absence of G-d’s special protective providence – it complains: “הלא זה כי אין אלוקי בקרבי מצאוני הרעות האלה”, “It’s Because G-d has forsaken me, that all misfortune happens to me.” Israel should have G-d’s answer which will direct its attention to the true cause of its troubles. For this purposeכתבו לכם את השירה הזאת , so that this שירה may serve as a witness in G-d’s behalf and refute every such complaint on Israel’s part with G-d’s own countercharge: למען תהיה לי השירה הזאת לעד בבני ישראל. This entire שירה is nothing but an answer to the complaint arising from a period of distress: הלא על כי אין אלוקי בקרבי וגו’.
The cause of the defection is the luxury that comes from the abundance of everything good. The spiritual and moral regimen by which the Torah sanctifies also man’s sensual corporeality is not compatible with lush, self-indulgent sensuality. Such sensuality is attracted to paganism – the unrestrained heathen cults that worship sensuality – in comparison to which the happiness of life in comparison to which the happiness of life found in the covenant with G-d seems valueless. Thus, Israel will break G-d’s covenant.
For this is the task that devolves on Israel: to be faithful to G-d and to His Torah, even in the midst of affluence and good fortune. The accomplishment of this task, however, is, even today, still a vision for the future, a vision that will be realized when we will be ripe for our final redemption.
When, as a result of its defection, Israel will be plagued by many sufferings, which constrict insatiable desire and restore a person unto himself, the Torah will at last have the desired effect upon the nation. Israel will no longer blame “its G-d” for its fate, rather the contents of this שירה will restore it to a correct understanding of its fate, and, as a result, Israel will turn to G-d and to its duty.
The words “כי לא תשכח מפי זרעו” disclose the secret of Israel’s eternal survival in the history of the nations and explain why Israel will ultimately be able to fulfill its mission.
No matter how far it may fall, no matter how low it may sink as a result of its sins, one asset will remain with it through all the vicissitudes of its fate, and accompany it on the darkest paths of its suffering. That asset is the Torah.
This indistinguishable Divine spark will be sufficient to turn Israel’s spirit back to the Torah again and again and to inspire the people with enthusiasm for teachings and tasks set forth in the Torah. Thus, this divine spark will keep awake the life soul, which will not allow this nation to die; which will strengthen it to withstand all oppression from without; and which, in the midst of every misfortune, will enable Israel to maintain its clear-sightedness, serenity, warm heart, and open hand – the qualities that have preserved Israel for so long, so that it may fulfill its historical task in accordance with its unique mission.
Even if the Jewish people crumble into particles which are scattered to all corners of the earth, the day will come when the power of its song awakens all the slumbering spirits, and revives all the dead souls, so that they embrace the old truth with fresh courage.
Yes, despite the unimaginable torture, the Jew has a נשמה, a soul, a gift from Hashem, a spark that is actually a ‘part of G-d’ in a person. In the most harrowing circumstances, this element that defines us is ‘magically’ uncovered by all.
In דבריםת ל”ב,ה, Deuteronomy 32,5 it states “… a generation persistent in crookedness, breaking away in opposition.”
The Torah teaches us that the core problem of disobedience to Hashem is dishonesty, a breakdown of what is a firm, internal self. We are being warned, if we do not possess integrity, one will invariably disconnect from the truths of Torah.
It is no wonder that in תפילות נעילה, the last prayer of Yom Kippur, the idea of honesty is solely stressed, not once but twice, as the root of all accomplishment.
