Dear Friends,
I hope this note finds you personally as well as can be and managing these challenging and exhausting times. Our thoughts are especially focused on our colleagues and on everyone in Israel, davening for their safety. I also want to recognize the heroic efforts of our departments in meeting the challenge of ever-changing plans for the thousands of students registered for our summer programs.
The Exhausting March of History
These days – these years – have been exhausting. Caring and engaged Jews everywhere constantly shift and pivot as every day brings dramatic developments and surprises. “Baboker tomar mi yitein arev uva’erev tomar mi yiten boker; in the morning you shall say, “If only it were evening!” and in the evening you shall say, “If only it were morning!” (Devarim 28:67) And all the while, hostages continue to languish in the hands of their despicable captors, Israelis have forgotten the feeling of an uninterrupted night’s sleep, and – as conflicts open on new fronts while the older battles rage – our precious and dedicated chayalim and their families soldier on.
The march of history is visibly advancing as earth-shaking events occur in rapid succession. Not every period is like this; at times the world almost stands still.
That contrast is vivid within the book of Bamidbar which chronicles the dramatic events of the forty years from when we stood at Sinai until we entered Eretz Yisrael. Those Biblical stories occurred in only two of those years, the first and the last, when we were poised to move forward in the march of the Jewish people towards our destiny. In the interim, however, we interrupted that march by allowing the spies to dissuade us from heading on to Israel, resulting in the Divine decree that only the next generation would enter the holy land. That led to 38 years during which Jewish history stood still. God continued to miraculously provide us with nourishment and shelter, keeping us safe and sound in the surreal atmosphere of the desert. We were comfortable but we were not going anywhere. Nothing about what happened during those years is recorded by the Torah because nothing of consequence happens when we withdraw from the march of history.
In that light, ours are Biblical times. The march of history is proceeding at an exhausting clip. It remains in our hands to determine whether this will be a replay of our first or last year in the desert, whether we – as the spies – will allow our faith in God to weaken and our determination to falter such that this pivotal moment will pass us by; whether we – as the defiant ma’apilim (Bamidbar 14:40-45) will be possessed by the miracle-induced hubris of imagined invincibility, thinking we have already arrived; or whether we will see that God is with us when we are humbly and faithfully with Him and continue the march forward despite the exhaustion.
Our thoughts are with our brothers and sisters in Israel, those at the center of the Jewish march of history, and we must not tire of praying sincerely and advocating forcefully for their safety and success.
We are tired, but we must soldier on.
Only with God can we get there, and He needs us to remain determined to move forward.
אִם־חָפֵ֥ץ בָּ֙נוּ֙ ד’ וְהֵבִ֤יא אֹתָ֙נוּ֙ אֶל־הָאָ֣רֶץ הַזֹּ֔את וּנְתָנָ֖הּ לָ֑נוּ אֶ֕רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־הִ֛וא זָבַ֥ת חָלָ֖ב וּדְבָֽשׁ׃
“If God has reason to be pleased with us, He will bring us into that land and give it to us, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
(Bamidbar 14:8)
עָלֹ֤ה נַעֲלֶה֙ וְיָרַ֣שְׁנוּ אֹתָ֔הּ כִּֽי־יָכ֥וֹל נוּכַ֖ל לָֽהּ׃
“Let us ascend and we shall gain possession of it, for we will be able to.”
(Bamidbar 13:30)
Have a wonderful Shabbos and may we be blessed with truly good nes, besorot tovot.
Moshe Hauer