ISRAEL LOSES 73 SONS
THE JEWISH WORLD MOURNS
THE JEWISH WORLD MOURNS
Rav Lichtenstein cited the statement of the Sages, "if
one member of a chabura (collective) dies, all members of the
chabura should be anxious." If that is true for one member of
a group, what should be the response if an entire group dies?
Anxiety is not just a worry about the future, but includes an
insecurity in the present, for our present situation.
The
Sages state, "If a man be anxious in his heart, let him speak
of it." In the case of a private problem, this can have a
therapeutic value, lessening the pain; but in our case, where
the anxiety is common to us all, an attempt to free ourselves
of the worry and ameliorate the pain would be immoral. Here
the goal must be the opposite - not to lessen the anxiety but
to increase and sharpen the feeling of shared destiny and
common burden of the entire group, and reaffirm our membership
in the chabura.
Together with the feelings of grief, we must strengthen
the feeling of chabura, of fellowship in one group, which is
at once the root of our existence, and, at the same time, the
goal and destiny to which we strive.
Rav Amital then quoted the verse describing the reaction
of David to the news of the death of Shaul and the defeat in
the battle with the Plishtim. "And they mourned and cried, and
they fasted unto the evening, for Shaul, and for Yonatan his
son, and for the people of God, and for the house of Israel,
who have fallen by the sword." Generally, a fast is a means of
prayer, of pleading ("za'aka"). Here we have a fast as a means
of mourning.
Rav Amital then announced that tomorrow
(Thursday), which is erev Rosh Chodesh, will be observed in
the Yeshiva as Yom Kippur Katan, with recitation of the
appropriate prayers after mincha, including the reading of
Vayechal as on a public fast day, and called upon the students
of the Yeshiva to accept upon themselves to fast tomorrow. (A
fast must be accepted the day before it is carried out,
preferably at the end of the mincha prayers, but if not at any
time until sunset. One says, "hareini beta'anit machar," I
accept to fast tomorrow).
Rav Amital then proceeded to explain the two aspects
mentioned in the verse.
Firstly, we have suffered a blow,
losing 73 of our finest young men, caught in the machine that
was supposed to protect them. This is "al am HaShem", for the
people of God. But secondly, we mourn for "Beit Yisrael," for
the house of Israel, for our own family.
Every fallen soldier
is another family, bereft, torn apart, but also there is the
House of Israel, the Jewish people as one family.
Tomorrow, as
one family, we will try to offer our prayers before God in the
rite of Yom Kippur Katan, that He may hear us, so that we
shall know no more grief or disaster in our house.
To the entire VBM community, I would like to forward the
Roshei Yeshiva's message, to strengthen our own sense of
community and membership in the chabura of Am Yisrael. If you
can, join us in a fast tomorrow, or in prayer, irrespective of
physical location.
(As Rav Amital pointed out, a halakhic fast
must be accepted the day before; that is, today, Wednesday).
Out of a sense of unity, and in order to deepen that sense of
unity, let us join together.
