As I was reading the Torah portion this week I was struck by the allusions to the unfortunate death this week of Aharon Sofer. ואשר יבא את רעהו ביער, "And that which he comes with his friend into a forest," is how one case of unintentional death is prefaced in the Torah reading. Later on the protion discussed the finding of a dead body in a rural area. Neither case described in the Torah was identical to the Sofer case, but they were close enough that the echoes were loud. Trying to get a deeper understanding of the Torah's message I consulted a few of my favorite Kabbalistic commentators. Both Rav Moshe Dovid Valle as well as the Ricanti shared the same theme. Each of them explain that the reason for the deaths are strong presence of Din (judgement) in the world. These destructive forces are finding place to vent their nature and people are dying. The Torah then prescribes how to respond to the Din, it describes procedures of how to deal with manslaughter as well as the finding of a body murdered by persons unknown. The intent of these processes is to rid the world of those destructive fores.
Which led me to my next question: Why was their Din in the world? Why did this young man die?
I don't know the answer. Truthfully, in most cases it disturbs me when I hear people give their opinions as to why one calamity or another occurred. But there are reasons why those opinions usually disturb me. First of all, they generally lack any sense of מדה כנגד מדה. We are taught that God metes out punishments measure for measure. A punishment is a reflection of the wrongdoing and helps us to see what the wrong was. Secondly, more often then not, those opining the reasons for a calamity are pointing the finger at other people and telling them that they are the ones who are wrongdoing and responsible for one calamity or another. Rarely is the finger self-directed. I will try to avoid these two pitfalls and share my thoughts.
There is an irony that there was recently a discussion about the propriety of Yeshiva Bachurim in Israel taking vacation while a war was ongoing. Many Yeshivas cancelled vacation, while others, including the Yeshiva which Aharon Sofer attended, had vacation as usual. The Charedi Yeshivos don't send their students to the army because the study of Torah is paramount. It is, they say, more important than being a soldier. Their Torah study will protect the people as much as the army will, if not more. It saddens me, truly, to hear at times those in the Charedi world belittling the Torah study of those in the Hesder Yeshivos as somehow being of lower quality. Truthfully, I have been exposed recently to several works authored by those in the Hesder system. I would venture to say that they are often of higher quality than that which you find in the Charedi world. Perhaps there is something to be said for the תורה שלמדתי באף, Torah study under adverse circumstances, such as those faced by those who are soldier-students, has a significant advantage over the Torah studied by those sitting at peace in Lakewood or B'nei Brak.
Is there not an irony that Aharon Sofer disappeared just as the war came to an end. That those bachurim who spent the next days searching lost their last days of summer vacation? And then the Ellul Z'man was meant to begin in the middle of the search. What could be more precious to Hashem than the Torah learning at the beginning of the month of Ellul? And, instead of being able to be in the Bais Medrash learning, hundreds of bachurim were out searching for Aharon Sofer. What message was God sending to us? Why did He orchestrate this? For those who have been taught to examine things in the manner of מדה כנגד מדה the logical conclusion has to be that He was trying to send a message as to priorities. You think your vacation is appropriate during wartime? Do you think your Torah study is more important that protecting people's lives? There is something interesting in that it was OK to cease Torah study to search for him as it was פיקוח נפש, but not OK to join the army to defend people from incoming missles. And the pictures of women not dressed according to laws of tznius giving instructions to searchers seems to put paid to arguments about not going to the army because of the women there.
It is my contention that people who wish to engage in self-honesty would look at this terrible tragedy and question certain long held assumptions about yeshivos and the army. I know that the past few months, culminating with this incident have certainly caused me to rethink my attitude.
In general, I would suggest, and I am not the first one, that it is time for the Charedi leadership to rethink its manifesto. After the War the Jewish nation was on life-support. Led by people such as Mr. Mendlowitz and Rav Aharon Kotler in the United States, and the Chazon Ish and Rav Shach in Israel, the Jewish Nation was beautifully rebuilt. It is truly a sight to behold. The fact that there are today Ohr Mitzion Kollelim in Modern Orthodox communities and the quantum increase in Torah study in Conservative and Reform temples testifies to how pervasive this success has been. But there comes a time when the patient needs to come off of life-support. He needs therapy to be able to leave the hospital and re-engage with the world.
Judaism was never meant to be a cloistered religion. It wasn't in the Tanach, it wasn't in the Talmud. To whatever extent we were ghettoized in Europe it was at the insistence of our enemies, not our demands.
And, if the doctors in charge do not realize that the patient needs to be given the chance to re-engage, they are facing the distinct possibility of the patient taking charge of his own care. The increasing rumblings questioning the wisdom of claimed Daas Torah is testament to the patient stirring Starting with the Slifkin debacle and on to today's sex-abuse scandals more and more people are questioning the wisdom of the Charedi establishment leaders. It is time for them to show some leadership. To be as brave as Rav Aharon and the Chazon Ish and blaze new paths for today's world.
History tells us that in most wars there was always one army fighting the previous war. They therefore lost the current one. Let us hope that our leaders don't make the same error.
Which led me to my next question: Why was their Din in the world? Why did this young man die?
I don't know the answer. Truthfully, in most cases it disturbs me when I hear people give their opinions as to why one calamity or another occurred. But there are reasons why those opinions usually disturb me. First of all, they generally lack any sense of מדה כנגד מדה. We are taught that God metes out punishments measure for measure. A punishment is a reflection of the wrongdoing and helps us to see what the wrong was. Secondly, more often then not, those opining the reasons for a calamity are pointing the finger at other people and telling them that they are the ones who are wrongdoing and responsible for one calamity or another. Rarely is the finger self-directed. I will try to avoid these two pitfalls and share my thoughts.
There is an irony that there was recently a discussion about the propriety of Yeshiva Bachurim in Israel taking vacation while a war was ongoing. Many Yeshivas cancelled vacation, while others, including the Yeshiva which Aharon Sofer attended, had vacation as usual. The Charedi Yeshivos don't send their students to the army because the study of Torah is paramount. It is, they say, more important than being a soldier. Their Torah study will protect the people as much as the army will, if not more. It saddens me, truly, to hear at times those in the Charedi world belittling the Torah study of those in the Hesder Yeshivos as somehow being of lower quality. Truthfully, I have been exposed recently to several works authored by those in the Hesder system. I would venture to say that they are often of higher quality than that which you find in the Charedi world. Perhaps there is something to be said for the תורה שלמדתי באף, Torah study under adverse circumstances, such as those faced by those who are soldier-students, has a significant advantage over the Torah studied by those sitting at peace in Lakewood or B'nei Brak.
Is there not an irony that Aharon Sofer disappeared just as the war came to an end. That those bachurim who spent the next days searching lost their last days of summer vacation? And then the Ellul Z'man was meant to begin in the middle of the search. What could be more precious to Hashem than the Torah learning at the beginning of the month of Ellul? And, instead of being able to be in the Bais Medrash learning, hundreds of bachurim were out searching for Aharon Sofer. What message was God sending to us? Why did He orchestrate this? For those who have been taught to examine things in the manner of מדה כנגד מדה the logical conclusion has to be that He was trying to send a message as to priorities. You think your vacation is appropriate during wartime? Do you think your Torah study is more important that protecting people's lives? There is something interesting in that it was OK to cease Torah study to search for him as it was פיקוח נפש, but not OK to join the army to defend people from incoming missles. And the pictures of women not dressed according to laws of tznius giving instructions to searchers seems to put paid to arguments about not going to the army because of the women there.
It is my contention that people who wish to engage in self-honesty would look at this terrible tragedy and question certain long held assumptions about yeshivos and the army. I know that the past few months, culminating with this incident have certainly caused me to rethink my attitude.
In general, I would suggest, and I am not the first one, that it is time for the Charedi leadership to rethink its manifesto. After the War the Jewish nation was on life-support. Led by people such as Mr. Mendlowitz and Rav Aharon Kotler in the United States, and the Chazon Ish and Rav Shach in Israel, the Jewish Nation was beautifully rebuilt. It is truly a sight to behold. The fact that there are today Ohr Mitzion Kollelim in Modern Orthodox communities and the quantum increase in Torah study in Conservative and Reform temples testifies to how pervasive this success has been. But there comes a time when the patient needs to come off of life-support. He needs therapy to be able to leave the hospital and re-engage with the world.
And, if the doctors in charge do not realize that the patient needs to be given the chance to re-engage, they are facing the distinct possibility of the patient taking charge of his own care. The increasing rumblings questioning the wisdom of claimed Daas Torah is testament to the patient stirring Starting with the Slifkin debacle and on to today's sex-abuse scandals more and more people are questioning the wisdom of the Charedi establishment leaders. It is time for them to show some leadership. To be as brave as Rav Aharon and the Chazon Ish and blaze new paths for today's world.
History tells us that in most wars there was always one army fighting the previous war. They therefore lost the current one. Let us hope that our leaders don't make the same error.
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