BS"D
YESHIVAT HARA'AYON HAYEHUDI
Jerusalem, Israel
HaRav Yehuda Kroizer SHLIT"A, Rosh Yeshiva
PARSHAT NITZAVIM-VAYELECH
23 Elul, 5766/15-16 September, 2006
THE UNBREAKABLE BOND
"In order to establish you today as a people to Him and that He be a G-d to you, as He spoke of you and as He swore to your forefathers to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob". Rashi comments: Why was the passage that begins: “You are standing today, all of you”, written next to the portion of the curses? Because when Israel heard all 98 curses, their faces turned pale, and they said: Who can bear these? Moses began to console them on the last day of his life, saying: "You are standing today, all of you”, i.e., even though you have angered G-d greatly, nevertheless, He has not made total destruction of you, and behold, you exist before Him.
"Hashem has gone though much trouble to establish you today as a people to Him, and He has sworn to your forefathers that He would not exchange you for another nation. This is why He binds you with this oath, so that you should not antagonize Him, being that He cannot separate Himself from you."
From here we learn the great bond and love that Hashem has with the Jewish people, and our Heavenly promise that Hashem will never exchange us for another nation.
Still, Rashi continues, "The curses and punishments from last week's parsha, sustain you and keep you standing before Hashem". This, at first glance, is quite puzzling, for why would the curses sustain us and keeps us standing before Hashem? What good can come out of curses and punishment?
The holy Zohar teaches us: Hashem said: Do not fear my servant Jacob, for on the great Day of Judgment I will not wipe out the nation of Israel. When the archangel and protector of Esau “Samael” (Uncle Sam) will come on that day before Hashem with a list of all the sins of the Jewish people demanding justice, I will show him all the suffering of Israel throughout the generations, and thus silence him.
Know that nothing is lost before Him. All the beatings, cursings, gassings, killings that the nations have thrown at us throughout our long exile will not be forgotten before Him on that great and holy day. From the Hitlers to the Kissingers – Henry Kissinger, who during the Yom Kippur war withheld shipments of arms to Israel, and in his own words, “to give Israel a bloody nose” - will not be forgotten. The rivers of unspeakable pain and tears, which still follow us to this day, will stand before G-d’s holy throne, and at the last minute of judgment, tip the scale in our favor.
As the prophet tell us: "For the day of Hashem is near, a day of vengeance on all the nations." The Midrash teaches us that in the end of days, just as the nations torment Israel and oppress them and grind their bones and flesh until their souls depart, and no one cares about them, so shall G-d assemble them for judgment on the mountains of Israel and feed their flesh to the birds of the heavens and beasts of the fields, and He will not care about them. As it says: 'And you, son of man, thus says the L-rd G-d, speak to every feathered bird and to every beast of the field: Assemble yourselves and come. Gather yourselves on every side to My festive meal that I prepared for you, a great feast upon the mountains of Israel, and you may eat meat and drink blood'".
And with that prophetic thought, I wish everyone a great Shabbat.
With love of Israel,
Levi Chazen
