Do you remember Country Yossi and the Shteibelhoppers? Those beautiful songs from decades ago keep going through my head. “It’s going to be the Kinderlach, the little little Kinderlach…. That make Moshiach come….”
You know what? I believe it. The kinderlach will bring Moshiach!
“Reish Lakish said in the name of Rabbi Yehuda Nesia: the world continues to exist only in the merit of the breath of schoolchildren …. Breath that contains [the taint of] sin cannot be compared to breath that does not contain [the taint of] sin.” (Shabbos 119b) Hashem, please have rachmonis on us and return the world to the perfect innocence of Gan Eden!
Walking home from shul this morning, I met my two “little kinderlach” on their way to school. They are not really “mine;” they are the neighbor’s children, but I have “adopted” them because I love them so much. Whenever I see them, I cannot help giving them a kiss on their yarmulkas (although, as they grow, the yarmulkas keep getting higher!). I give them a bracha and they answer me by returning the bracha, “kefel keflayim … many times over!”
My friends, there is such a thing as innocence. In a world filled with tumah, there is still purity. Whenever I see innocent children, I ask Hashem, “Please bring Moshiach in the merit of these innocent children whose breath does not contain the taint of sin.”
This week we meet the Shevatim. They quarrel, but Chazal tell us that there is “no blemish” in them. (Shabbos 146a). How do we understand this?
I want to tell you a story. I was a child in New York City during the era of the great symphony orchestras. My parents would frequently go out at night to see the Maestro, Arturo Toscanini, who conducted the New York Philharmonic Orchestra like a general directs his troops.
My beloved chavrusa, Rabbi Moshe Grossman Shlita”h, told me a fascinating story. A biographer was writing a book on Toscanini (who, incidentally, fled Italy because he hated Mussolini’s Fascism). One day Toscanini told the biographer, “This evening I have been hired by a national radio network to critique a concert from another orchestra. You will be bored. I must sit by the radio for an hour and listen.”
“On the contrary, Maestro. I want to be there.”
At 8 pm Toscanini turned on his radio. The sound of music filled the room. After the concert, the Maestro turned to his biographer and said, “Well, what did think?”
“What a beautiful concert! Perfect! And what do you say, Maestro?”
“No good! The fifth violin was missing.”
The biographer could not believe his ears. Inside his head he said, “You know, this Toscanini is a fake! He is listening to a concert of one hundred instruments over a scratchy radio from a thousand miles away and he’s telling me one violin is missing! He’s making it up!”
He went home determined to quit the job. The Maestro was a phony.
The next morning, he decided to call the radio network. “May I speak to the producer of last night’s symphony concert…. Oh yes, hello. I want to ask you about last night’s concert. Were there any problems with the broadcast or the performance? Oh, everything was fine. I see. What did you say? What was that? There was one slight glitch. What, one of the violinists called in sick before the performance! What! That is amazing! I can’t believe it!”
He returned to Toscanini.
“Maestro, I must admit that I doubted you last night. How on earth did you know over that scratchy radio that one violinist out of a hundred players was missing?!”
“Young man, you have to understand something. These symphonies were composed by geniuses who wrote them for one hundred instruments. Each artist plays his own unique part in perfect harmony with the other artists. For each instrument there is a different score. If even one instrument is missing, the entire harmony is ruined. That is what I heard over the radio last night.”
My friends, the entire Family of Israel is one huge orchestra. Each of us may be imperfect, but, if we play together – in harmony -- the part which Hashem has written for us, we produce music which brings perfection to the world. Each of us has a vital and unique part! We are all “dust and ashes,” but, as members of Hashem’s Orchestra, we can rise above our nature and bring eternal life to the world.
“Hallelukah! Praise G-d in His Sanctuary, Praise Him in the firmament …. Praise Him with the blast of the shofar. Praise Him with lyre and harp. Praise Him with drum and dance. Praise Him with organ and flute. Praise Him with clanging cymbals. Praise Him with resonant trumpets. Let all souls praise G-d, Hallelukah!” (Tehillim 150)
“Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: what is the meaning of the verse, ‘Do not touch My anointed ones and to My prophets do no harm.’ …. ‘My anointed ones’ … refers to schoolchildren and ‘My prophets’ …refers to Torah scholars.” (Shabbos 119b)
May Hashem protect us and speedily bring the Geulah Shelemah in the merit of His holy children and scholars of the Torah, who fill the universe with music!
GLOSSARY
Bracha: blessing
Chavrusa: Torah study partner
Chazal: rabbis of the Mishnah and Gemorah
Geulah Shelemah: the Final Redemption of Israel
Kinderlach: little children
Shevatim: the Twelve Tribes of Israel
Tehillim: The Book of Psalms
