This week, prominent senior gedolei Yisroel—many of them in their eighties and even nineties—undertook a grueling journey across the world, visiting multiple cities throughout America and Canada, all so that yeshivos and kollelim in Eretz Yisroel can continue functioning.
The very fact that they embarked on such a trip is a testament to their heroic mesirus nefesh. It is no easy undertaking. Many of these rabbonim are elderly and physically frail, and the journey is taxing. Yet their love for the Olam HaTorah and their deep sense of its importance have pushed them far beyond their comfort zones.
And while it is always a tremendous zechus and opportunity to see and hear spiritual giants of such stature, part of me feels a sense of sadness when contemplating this trip.
“Huh?” you must be thinking. “Sadness?! Shouldn’t we be joyful that they are coming and that we will have the opportunity to see them?”
So why the sadness?
There is a pervasive feeling of sorrow because they felt compelled to undertake such a journey. Sadness because the threats to the yeshivos and kollelim are so severe that they saw no other recourse. Sadness because these Torah giants are forced to ask for financial support from the North American community and to personally come collect it.
Sadness because this represents the gravest threat to the viability of yeshivos in decades. Sadness because perhaps Hashem is sending us a message that limud haTorah does not hold sufficient chashivus in our eyes—neither in the eyes of the lomdei Torah nor in those of the tomchei Torah. If we truly valued Torah as we should, perhaps we would not be facing these gezeiros.
In many ways, then, the visit and the entire hatzolas haTorah campaign are tinged with sadness—sadness that it has come to this.
There is yet another reason this moment is so painful: This unprecedented danger to the future of Torah is unfolding during a time of war in Eretz Yisroel, a time of national vulnerability. Instead of uniting in achdus, with every segment of society—shevet Levi alongside the other shevatim—fulfilling their unique roles to protect our nation, vested interests are using the war to deepen the divide. Unlike previous wars, which brought us together, this one is driving us further apart.
The left, the center, and even many on the political right are using the crisis to accuse our bnei yeshiva of “not doing their fair share.” Tragically, they fail to recognize the role that Torah plays in the preservation of the Jewish people. They are exploiting this lack of understanding just as they exploit the suffering of the hostages—for political gain, to topple their opponents.
Prophetic Points from the Parsha
This situation brings to mind a powerful and almost prophetic insight on this week’s parsha that I once heard from the Lev Simcha of Ger. In this parsha, there is a fascinating posuk about the chatzotzros that is difficult to understand. The posuk states, “When you go to wage war in your land against hatzar hatzorer eschem—an enemy who oppresses you, you shall sound short blasts of the chatzotzros, and you shall be recalled before Hashem…”
The Lev Simcha asks: Why does the posuk say “when you go to war with hatzar hatzorer eschem—an enemy who oppresses you”? Isn’t it obvious that one goes to war with an enemy, not with a friend?
He asks a second question: Why does the posuk use the word hatzar—the enemy? Shouldn’t it say “an enemy”? Is the posuk referring to a specific enemy?
When an Outside War Incites Enemies from Within
The Lev Simcha gives two answers. The first is strikingly relevant, almost prophetic. He explains that when there is a war with an outside enemy who seeks to conquer and kill you, just like the Arabs currently surrounding us in Eretz Yisroel, they also incite and embolden internal enemies to rise up against us. A one-front war becomes a two-front war.
There are enemies—Arabs, and sadly even some Jews—who exploit the chaos of war to create anarchy and attack Klal Yisroel, subjecting us to both physical missiles and spiritual ones, in the form of machlokes and division. The posuk is telling us that when “a war comes into your land,” when outside enemies come seeking our destruction, enemies from within rise as well. But even in the face of this dual threat, if we blow the chatzotzros, Hashem will save us.
Identifying Hatzar, the Enemy
The question is: How will Hashem save us? What must a Yid do to merit Hashem’s salvation?
To answer this, the Lev Simcha offers a second interpretation based on the words of the Sefas Emes. He explains that hatzar—the enemy who seeks to destroy us—is the ultimate enemy: the yeitzer hara. The way to defeat the yeitzer hara is to blow the chatzotzros and call out to Hashem.
But the Lev Simcha adds another insight. The posuk immediately following states, “Ubeyom simchaschem—And on a day of your gladness…you shall sound the chatzotzros.” He suggests that this reveals an additional strategy for overcoming the yeitzer hara: to always be b’simcha.
Anyone who reflects on it will agree that the yeitzer hara thrives when a person is sad, discouraged, not in the mood, or depressed. Machlokes also finds fertile ground when people are unhappy and thus more prone to jealousy.
Waging War Against the Yeitzer Hara with Simcha
The Lev Simcha teaches that the way to keep the enemy—the yeitzer hara—from gaining a foothold is to embrace simcha, to be joyful, energized, vibrant, and freilach. The yeitzer hara is powerless against someone who is upbeat, someone who is happy to be a Yid, and, even more so, someone who is happy to confront and conquer the yeitzer hara, thereby expressing their love for Hashem.
The best weapon—the most potent trumpet—we have to defeat all negativity and bring about Hashem’s yeshuah is simcha.
With that in mind, perhaps we shouldn’t allow the sadness mentioned at the beginning of this article to dominate our hearts. Yes, it is painful that our revered gedolim, many in their eighties and nineties, have been forced to travel across the globe. But at the same time, we must be b’simcha over the vibrant Torah world that exists today. We must rejoice that so much limud haTorah exists and that so many Yidden, who already give so much tzedakah, continue to give even more.
Simcha, simcha, simcha! There is no greater remedy for the ills of our generation. Even as we acknowledge our challenges, let us never stop counting our blessings—and be happy about them!
