KNOWING OUR HOLINESS

By Harav Y. Reuven Rubin Shlita

“Alla Yieden Zenen Hielig”, All Jews are Holy, these words were seared into my heart at a young age by Tzadikim who had been thru the worst that Golus could throw at us, and even more.  I have often thought about they’re glowing example, wondered how they survived with their trust and love for all Yieden still intact. It’s as if the grainy pictures we have of those awful days are somehow divorced from the warmth and simcha that those survivors showered us with. As the years slip by, those days of vibrant rejuvenation of Klall Yisroel slowly pass into history. The Great Lions of our rebirth leave and all we have left are their stories. They speak out at us from the pages of glossy new books that depict a bit of their heroism, speak of the terrors, and the conquering of light over darkness.

The magic key that they each held was the innate knowledge of how each soul is holy, no matter its outer garb or circumstances. Thousands of lost yiddisha sheep were gathered up into the arms of those Tzadikim and given the waters of eternal Torah truth bringing them true life.

We live in what has been called “The Post Truth Era”. This refers to the sense that the world no longer lives according to what is the facts are but rather by notions created by the media masters and their ilk. How then can we still feel those truths that our Gedolim have taught us? Where did the notion that all Yiden have a special neshoma go?

On Shevuous we should think of the essence of what those Yiden shared with us. The Torah was given to us because for that moment we were of one heart, one soul. Golus is the antipathy of that wholeness and strives to drive us apart, ripping asunder all that is good, leaving us shredded with anger and strife.

Our generation has been gifted with so much in the realm of materialism. Tragically the more we have the more we are driven apart. Sadly our young are often empty of any knowledge of what their individual holiness is. It lays slumbering under a thick suffocating blanket of selfish emptiness. We stood at Har Sinai, we were One, nothing else mattered, Hashem touched each individual thru our togetherness.

What we see today is chaos. Our young go thru the system with little in the way of appreciation for who they are spiritually nor that they have a unique tikun to fulfil. We must teach thru example what it is to be a Hieliga Yied. All Yieden must wake their souls up and escape the torpor that is enveloping our inner being.

The Aish Kodesh, the Piesnetzna Rebbe Ztl writes in his monumental sefer Tzav V’zirus:

“As a torrent river surges forth, sweeping with it all that lies in its path, penetrating into deep recesses and washing away all buried things, so does the torrent of public opinion sweep along the individual mind. You may not know it, you may even deny it, but you have been brainwashed by common belief. Carried along, perhaps more, perhaps less, you now think along these twisted paths.”

The Rebbe’s words are so prescient, today the titans of the communication industry are not ashamed to say that they are shaping humanity for the future, a future molded to their limited yet powerful agendas. None of these people are elected, yet their influence effects more humans and they reach more people than most nations.

The Rebbe goes on:

“You cannot remain static in this torrent river just by standing firm in your place, you must activity swim against the flow. You may not be successful in swimming upstream, but at least you will not be swept down by the flow.”

Shevuos is the first step, not just a nod to what should be. The Torah is alive, give your hieliga self a chance. Share with your loved ones a living Torah life, work towards cutting thru the cobwebs that stifle your soul and feel the freshness of a positive life.

It is only thru our laziness that so much has been corrupted, now each one of us must turn the tide of our lives and take ourselves to a meaningful place.

The thrill of davening, the wonder of a real Shabbos seudah, this is the nourishment of what our hieliga neshomahs need. We have so many opportunities to grow, let’s take our acceptance of the Torah as the moment we turned ourselves around.