Summer has begun. What have we taken from Shavuos?
When I lived in the secular world, summer was the time for fun and relaxation. School was out and we were free! There was a song in those days, “Summertime and the living is easy!”
But through the Torah lens, summer looks different. People dress less modestly and there is a constant challenge regarding shmiras einayim. In America, observant people flock to the country for precisely this reason. But this is only the beginning. Summer is dangerous. This is the season during which we read about the miraglim, Korach and Balak, events so devastating that they almost destroyed our ancestors.
We left Mitzraim during Pesach and reached Har Sinai on Shavuos. Now we have the Torah, but we have to learn to live it! This is the biggest challenge! Summer ends with the challenging days of Selichos and Yomam Noraim. Will we be able to elevate ourselves and become the Holy Nation for which Hashem created us?
In America, we used to call it the “long hot summer.” This year, we have already been tested with fire, not only the fires which recently raged over Israel, but fire raining down in the form of enemy missiles. Worst of all is the spiritual fire, with sinas chinom spreading among us like wildfire.
As I write these very words, news has come that the shul of Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef Shlita”h, former Rishon L’Tzion and son of the illustrious Rabbi Ovadia Yosef zt”l, has been burned in an arson attack. My friends, do we need more proof? Our own people are attacking our own holy places! On Tisha B’Av our Bais Hamikdoshwas burned. And now, our own people are trying to burn what is left of our kedusha! Are there words to express the tragedy?
On Shavuos we read Megilas Rus. This magnificent sefer tells the story of the seed of Malchus, seed which sprouted from the degraded nation of Moav. Nowhere else was there such moral decay, and yet, from this waste pile sprouted the exalted House of Dovid, one of the greatest people who ever walked this earth.
“Who was Dovid? He was the mightiest of kings, the most pious of the pious, wisest among the wise, humble among the modest and the most glorious of poets who sang praise before G-d. Notwithstanding all this, no one suffered as much anguish in his life as Dovid, from birth … until his very last day, when his son Shlomo succeeded him.” (Book of Our Heritage)
The story of Rus unfolds during the Era of the Shoftim, which is described by these fateful words: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Every man did what was right in his own eyes.” This possuk appears four times in the Book of Judges and describes the semi-lawless conditions in Israel between the time of Yehoshua bin Nun and Dovid Hamelech. The land was torn by bloody rivalries and besieged by enemies. The Mishkan, dwelling-place of the Shechina, stood forlorn, waiting until it could ascend to its resting place in Yerushalayim. When the nation had reached the depths of despair, Hashem sent the Novi to anoint the king, an unknown shepherd whose youth had been spent in the fierce desert, where he learned Torah and spoke to Hashem in solitude.
“Maase avos siman l’banim …. The deeds of our Fathers are signs for the children.”
My friends, today we are in exactly the same situation. Today there is also “no king in Israel [and] every man does what is right in his own eyes!” Just as in the days before Dovid was called from his desert flocks to don the mantle of royalty in Yerushalayim, we are besieged by vicious enemies, torn apart by internal strife and waiting for our king.
He is here. Just like Dovid, Moshiach is hidden somewhere, right now, waiting for the novi to pour the oil upon his head.
In the morning, after davening, I cross the street and look across Ramot to the hilltop upon which stands the Kever of Shmuel ha Novi. And I ask Hashem, “Please send the novi who will anoint Moshiach ben Dovid! Please send him today! Because today, ‘there is no king in Israel and every man does what is right in his own eyes.’”
We are weak. We have no king to unite us in the Service of Hashem our G-d. “If only My people would heed Me, if Israel would walk in My ways, in an instant I would subdue their foes and turn My hand against their tormentors.” (Tehillim 81)
That’s all it takes, my friends. Just as Dovid waited in the wilderness until his time had come, so today Moshiach ben Dovid is here, waiting until we call out with all our hearts for him to come. We have to want Moshiach more than anything else, more even than winning the next election. Because Moshiach is not a candidate. He is not from this party or that party. Moshiach arises from the Heart of Israel, the pure love of Torah which has the power to unite all of us.
“Sing and be glad, Oh daughters of Tzion, for behold! I come and I will dwell among you, the words of Hashem.… Hashem shall choose Yerushalayim again…. This is the word of Hashem, saying, ‘Not through armies and not through might, but through My spirit,’ says Hashem, Master of Legions.” (Haftaras Parshas Beha’alosecha)
We can be saved in the blink of an eye. May we see it soon in our days!
GLOSSARY
Balak: the Biblical non-Jewish prophet who tried to curse Israel
Har Sinai: Mount Sinai
Kever: Tomb
Korach: the man who tried to stage a rebellion against Moses
Malchus: Jewish royalty
Miraglim: the Biblical spies sent to scout the Land of Israel
Novi: prophet
Rishon L’Tzion: Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel
Rus: Ruth, the great grandmother of King David
Sefer: Holy book
Selichos: Penitential prayers said in the weeks before Rosh Hashanah
Shavuos: the Jewish Holy Day on which we received the Torah
Shechina: Presence of G-d
Shmiras Einayim: Guarding the eyes, being careful to see only holy things
Shmuel ha Novi: Samuel the Prophet
Shoftim: Judges
Sinas chinom: unwarranted hatred among Jews
Yomam Noraim: Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
